Everyday-->AATW-->Proposal

Two years ago tonight I was at Fenway Park rocking and rolling to DMB, completely happy and totally unaware of what was in store for me after the concert. That night Rob got down on one knee and proposed, the DMB show the following night was 10x more exciting partly because of my newly acquired bling and title of fiance, and for the next year, my life was consumed by wedding talk. And now I can't help but think how much has changed in those two years that seem to have flown by. A new city in a new part of the country, with the best dog we could have and did hope for for the past two years, I've got a new job, Rob's a kick-butt grad student, three marathons later, and my new last name has finally stopped surprising me. I'll always remember and celebrate this date, just as I do February 22nd and will July 31st, because it was the start of something good.

What to do weekdays at 4?

Do you remember back in the days of AOL instant messenger and your individual profile that you would update every week or so? If you are older, maybe you never had AIM and do not remember those days, or if you are still using AIM then maybe you are thinking, "What are you talking about? I just updated my profile today." Either way, it does not matter, because this entry isn't really about AOL instant messenger. But I remember a reoccurring trend in AIM profiles where people would write a list of all of their favorite and most loved things. One thing you could always find on my list, alongside the beach, sour patch kids, DMB shows and dogs, was Oprah. More specifically, the Oprah Winfrey Show.

I remember coming home from school each day, getting a snack from the kitchen and sitting in the recliner to watch Oprah at 4pm. I loved her show and still do. I love her topical interviews with celebrities and people in the news, but more so I love her interviews with everyday people like you and me who have a story to tell. I love the makeover shows, the favorite things shows, the shows that reinvigorate you to get back on track with your efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the crazy road trips with Oprah and Gayle, the musical performances, the shows where she makes the dreams come true for deserving people, and those where she sheds light on important topics like racism, abuse, transgender, lifestyles in other countries, addiction and education. I know many people who are not big fans of Oprah, for example- my husband, but none of their opinions or rants have ever phased me. I have grown up with her show, been entertained by it 5 days a week, and have learned from it as well. It has made me laugh, it has made me cry, and for the past few months has taken up precious space on our DVR. When I started working again and realized I was going to be missing many shows from Oprah's final season, I started recording each and every one of them so that I wouldn't miss anything. Tomorrow ends Oprah's long-standing spot on our DVR, because tomorrow is the last Oprah show EVER. I know it sounds silly to some of you, but I don't know how I am going to watch that final show. Part of me wants to save it and save it to make the show feel like it is not really over yet. I know Oprah has her own network now (I am already watching many shows on it) and that she is not going to disappear, but it is not the same. I honestly believe her show is and was one of the best on television, and I do not know if anyone will ever be able to match it.

If I have one regret today it is that I never got to sit in one of the coveted seats in the Oprah show audience. Though if that is my biggest regret, I think I'm doing ok.

The pool is my new beach

I know summer is officially still about a month away, but it has been in the 90's all weekend, making it feel like summer is here already. I'm pleased to say I'm actually sitting outside on the balcony enjoying the sun as I write this. This weekend has felt especially summery. Friday night Rob and I went out for Mexican and margaritas and gladly waited the extra ten minutes or so for an outside table. Saturday morning Rob, Roxanne and I went to an arts festival, and my Saturday and Sunday afternoons were both spent at the pool. Getting a nice tan in May is great and all, but I can't help but think this isn't a normal summer.

A few weeks ago as Rob and I were driving somewhere he said, "You know what it feels like we should be doing right now? Going to the Cape for the weekend, because this is about the time we go down and open up the beach house each year." The thought hadn't even crossed my mind at that moment, but the more I thought about it the more I missed what we would normally have been doing; what we had been doing for years. Opening up the house and putting the outdoor furniture out on the deck, walking across the street to the beach to check out how many rocks had moved in or out of our section of the beach, buying some delicious food and drink at the DPM and firing up the grill, spending an afternoon on the beach even though the water was way too cold to swim in, and looking forward to a summer of weekends on 91 Shore Drive.

To give you some perspective, I have spent every summer since 1998 at 91 Shore Drive in Cape Cod, MA. Before 1998, my family vacationed there for 2 weeks out of the summer. The house is on the market now, so really it could sell at any time and not be 'my beach house' anymore, but until that happens it is very strange to me that it is sitting up there across the street from the beach and I am not there enjoying it. I do enjoy my new pool, and I'm sure I'll be spending many weekends poolside, but coming to the realization that this pool is my new beach is bittersweet.

Driving up to my parents house in South Carolina last weekend, I happened to stumble across something that just screams Cape Cod: CHRISTMAS TREE SHOP! Everyone who lives up North or who has vacationed on the Cape knows how surprised and excited I must have been to find this store in Augusta, Georgia! I wasn't looking for it; I actually got off at the exit to find the Chick-fil-a to stop at for lunch. I never found the chick-fil-a, but when I saw the sign for the Christmas Tree Shop I knew my 3 mile excursion from the highway had been worth it after all.

There was one thing I made Rob promise me before we made the move from Boston to Atlanta. I asked him to promise me that even though we were moving south, that we would bring our kids up to the the Cape sometime for a vacation (or two or three). He said, "Yes, of course."

Cape Cod, May 2010

Banana Republic to the rescue on Benanna's wedding day

Now and then Rob will say or do things that I just have to laugh or shake my head at and say "Rooob." Sometimes right after Rob will say, "Do not put that on the blog" or "Let me guess, you are going to blog about this." Most of the time those incidents do not make it onto the blog, but this past Saturday afternoon in Banana Republic when Rob said, "Well this is definitely going to end up on the blog," he was totally right.

We were in Charleston this past weekend for our friends Ben and Anna's wedding. We stayed at my Mom and Dad's house with Lisa, and decided Saturday morning that we'd go downtown to walk around and have lunch and head back to the house later on to get ready for the wedding which was at 5pm. As I was about to wash my face in the bathroom Rob knocks on the door and tells me he accidentally brought the wrong garment bag with him. The one he meant to bring that had his suit, shirt, tie, etc. in it was back in our closet in Atlanta, and the one he did bring had his tux from our wedding in it! I just looked at him and, "You've got to be kidding me right now, well I don't know what to tell you," and I shut the door. I was thinking I guess he's going to have to wear the tux, maybe he can pull off a tux. Then I went to the bedroom and was reminded of how formal looking the tux really is and thought no, no way can he wear that. Of course some friends, after hearing about our dilemma, were pulling for him to wear the tux, but neither Rob or I could seriously let that happen no matter how funny/memorable it might have been.

So we rushed to get downtown to King Street, where all of the good shopping in Charleston is, and hit up Banana Republic, Jos A Bank, J Crew, and some other expensive custom suit stores which were not what we were looking for. I'm sure I was making the situation even more stressful, which is why Rob told me that Lisa and I could go shop and get lunch without him and let him go suit shopping on his own, but I insisted we go shopping with him. Luckily, Banana Republic was having a 40% off sale that day. Rob found a couple of suits that would work, tried them on, and Lisa and I both voted for the lighter suit which he ended up getting. Lisa and I knew we were going suit shopping, but we didn't know that meant we were also shopping for a dress shirt, tie, belt, socks and brown dress shoes! It was quite the shopping trip.

In the end it all worked out. We had time to have a great bbq lunch before heading back home to get ready, Rob looked handsome in his new suit, and we had a fabulous time at Ben and Anna's wedding with all of our BU/Delta friends.