monday lunches

 
Over the last year, Joel has been counseling at a local counseling center on his day off.  He works four 10s at his regular job so he can allocate his Mondays to building a client base and doing what he loves so much.  It's also a great perk for me because that means he's in town and not 45 minutes away, which most of the time means we get to spend our lunch breaks together.

During college, we would leave campus and have lunch pretty much every week, usually at Jason's Deli (ha!).  He would pick me up in front of ceba after my marketing class, and we would head over for a lunch that was usually more expensive than we should have allowed, mainly because he always insisted on paying.  But man, how I looked forward to those lunches. There was no stopping my smile once I saw his truck waiting in the parking lot.  :)

These days, that truck is now retired, and his goatee and faux hawk have been replaced with a burly beard and product-free hair, but I can definitely say that I still get as excited waiting to see his car pull up in front of my window as I did back when I was still getting used to the idea of having a boyfriend.

And yes (in case you're wondering), we have branched out from Jason's Deli's salad bar and soft serve and now try to find local places that we wouldn't normally think to go.  So if you know of any great lunch spots, let me know--we just might need somewhere new to go next Monday.

30 before 30 [wisdom gone]

I kind of almost forgot about this one and may have been a little more excited about this surgery had I remembered that I would get to strike through one of my list items.  Either way, I FINALLY got my wisdom teeth out after being told so for about 8 years!!

10. get my wisdom teeth out

I know I can be a little dramatic at times (or at least that's what a certain someone tells me), but this was definitely in my list of top 5 worst life moments.  All four were impacted and somehow growing into the roots of my other teeth. At one point during my almost two weeks of being swollen, I was convinced that I would never be able to see my cheek bones again (or ears for that matter).  I also convinced myself that somehow I ate the wrong thing, and it was only a matter of time before I would have to be rushed to the ER to fight some infection. I have also sworn off mashed potatoes for the next 10 years.

But thankfully, I have a husband to calm me down when I was being crazy and just tired from not being back to normal.  And I have family and friends who eased my fears with their recovery stories and an especially sweet friend(/dental hygienist) that humored me by bringing some supplies and checking on me when one of my stitches was giving me issues after a week and a half. (Thanks Amie!)

Needless to say, I am beyond relieved to cross this one off my list.

28 years young

Last month, we celebrated Joel's 28th birthday!  Here are some highlights from his birthday week. Yes, birthday week.  I think birthdays are such a special time and like to celebrate them to the fullest--this usually means week-long festivities!  To kick it off, I figured I would start the post with a glimpse into his younger years.  :)

 [red is still his favorite color to wear]

 [let the birthday festivities begin!]

 [this is joel stepping toward the direction of his generation with his first ipod]

 

 [and this pot was too pretty to pass up--he's taken quite a liking to
plants and gardening in his old age]

 [hooking it all up]

[birthday baseball game]

[i surprised him and the team with some specially made cups for their water]

   [the morning of his bday, justin (his old college roommate and now neighbor)
tied this to our mailbox for the whole neighborhood to know...
joel quickly took it down once he saw in fear of attention]

 

 [joel's birthday cake and banner!  i bake his favorite every year (yellow cake/choc. icing)--i also gave a spin at the ruffle trend.  that's manly, right?]

 [for his birthday, he requested a special riskapades game blowout.  food, dessert, and an all night game--you should check out the videos--you'll get to see a different side of the bday boy]

[and this game continued until the wee hours of the morning--
there also may have been live stream involved]

well that was it!  i was bad about documenting all of it; i'll do better next year. i still can't believe how close my husband is to 30!!  when did that happen??