love | that's me in the middle

Today is Casey and my third anniversary. And instead of spending it together celebrating, I’m at work. Watching someone pound the crap out of a giant piñata. Literally.

Ok, so technically the piñata beating happened earlier today but it did happen. And I have since eaten 2 tootsie rolls, 3 Dum Dums, 1 jawbreaker and 4 butterscotches. Apparently it’s 1991.

Anyways! As I was saying, Casey and I have been married for three years, today. I knew that I’d have to work late tonight, so we celebrated last night by going out on a smokin’ hot date. And by smokin’ hot – I mean that the only seats available at the restaurant were along the counter bar of the open-air kitchen, where there was the most intense wood burning stove that would occasionally shoot out burning hot sparks onto the unfazed chefs. Literally the sparks would land in their hair and on their beefy shoulders and they wouldn’t bat an eye. Anyways, despite the tropical temperatures, I couldn’t have been happier to celebrate three years with the cutest boy I know. I mean, just look at him.

On one hand I can’t believe it’s already been three years since we tied the knot at that place with all the wine. On the other hand, I think of everything that we’ve done and seen and MOVED over the last three years and it feels like a lifetime.

Regardless, there’s no one in the world I’d rather be experiencing this with than you Caseface – you are the love of my life. After 3 years of marriage, 6 months of engagement and 4 years of dating, I still cannot believe my luck that I landed you. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love you more than I love when I see a waiter bringing me my food. And that’s a lot.

I love you so much that I’m bringing you home a butterscotch. Maybe even two.

I hope Gus is giving you extra kisses tonight in my absence. I’ll see you boys later. xo Wife

Oops, I accidentally did a bunch of other stuff instead of posting on this here blog. And by accidentally, I mean deliberately. And by ‘other stuff’, I mean watching the Olympics and drinking IPA’s. (See, I’m trying!)

For reals though, I know everyone says this but where the eff did summer go? I realize it’s a late bloomer here in Portland but c’mon… it’s mid-August already? I kid you not when I tell you that I saw an ad for Michaels craft store for Christmas decorations! I meeeeeean really?? I’m overwhelmed by all the fall clothes in stores and by the over-abundance of back to school commercials. (Speaking of which, if I see one more of those Target commercials with the annoying guy or girl singing about back to school supplies I’m going to throw my IPA at the TV. Which would not be cool for 2 reasons: 1) what a waste of a brew 2) a new TV is not in “the budget”. Luckily I’ve been watching way less tube since the Olympics ended so my TV remains hops-free for now.) Phew, sorry for the rant.

Now, what was I talking about again? Oh that’s right, nothing. Carry on.

Here are some snapshots of what I’ve been doing for the past 56 days. Don’t judge me because I counted.

I ate this. I ate this hard. There’s a travel stop in Minnesota that has the BEST bakery goodies EVER. It’s kind of disturbing the amount of love I have for that place. Like an “I ate this 60 pound blueberry fritter in one day” kind of love.

I ran 10 K’s the other day and they seriously kicked my booty. I was not prepared. Maybe it had something to do with a certain 60 pound blueberry fritter I ate.

Gus posed for his senior pictures. Ha! Isn’t that what this looks like?? Such a stellar young man. He’s also the captain of the tennis team. (Teeheehee, dogs playing tennis gives me the gigs.)

I gave Henry Rowengartner a run for his money…..

The hubs made a best man speech that brought me to tears. I was also having my eyebrows waxed at the same time, but I’m almost positive the tears came from his speech. Kidding… his speech was moving and wonderful and reminded me why I chose to be his lady for the rest of our lives.

I wore something cute and felt the need to show it. That blue thing is my $2 lunch box that has joined me at 5 jobs in 4 different states. He’s a keeper.

We did not eat here.

But we did eat here. And it was yummers. Beet burgers for everyone!

This happened.

My pAl and I were going to go to a movie and we ended up here instead. Beautiful night with a beautiful friend. Seriously, she’s amaze… she likes night (and day) drinking and doesn’t refer to her blog as her “creative outlet”. Plus she endured a week+ of dog-sitting the Monster Dog. Ku-dos Al.

Speaking of the Monster Dog…. here he be. Keeping an eye out for us. And no, that is not some sort of medieval torture device on his face. It is merely a “gentle leader”, AKA the thing that takes his barking level down to about 500 decibels instead of 525 and prevents him from lunging at and subsequently eating anything he sees on the ground. Anything. He ate a rock. I saw it go in. I saw it come back out. You do the math.

But on a lighter note, we found a beach!! I was feeling a little blue that the closest beach was 2ish hours away but luckily we found out about the beach at Sauvie Island and made our first appearance this past weekend. We only lasted about 1.5 hours no thanks to Gus, who was so beside himself and out of his element. Yah, he has an element, it includes eating rocks and howling at inanimate objects.

We got married 2+ years ago in this very spot. We were back there for a wedding in July so we celebrated by kissing.. and reveling in our paleness. Gawd, get this girl to the beach!