Five years ago, I said, “I do” to my best friend. Five years ago, surrounded by family and friends, I became my husband’s wife. Five years ago… seems like it was just yesterday.

I randomly will remember moments from that day. Everything from making sure I didn’t run into my groom before I walked down the aisle to the rain softly falling as we stepped out of the church to cutting the cake to doing the Aggie War Hymn to sitting at our little cabin for the night eating summer sausage and drinking Crown and cokes. And everything in between those events. It doesn’t feel like we should be celebrating FIVE YEARS.

But, in the same breath… I can believe it.

I sure can’t fit in my dress any more. We’ve had three different addresses in those five years. We’ve handled job losses and job advances. We’ve lost pets, and we’ve gotten new ones. We continue to chase our dreams, both each other’s biggest fans. We now understand the statement, “I love you more every day.”

We’ve had arguments. We’ve had laughter so hard we couldn’t breathe. We’ve had moments of glory, we’ve had moments of failure. We’ve lived our life hand-in-hand for the last five years, and we hold hands looking to many, many more ahead.

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*Photo by AJW Photo.

This was the 10th New Year’s Eve I’ve spent with my husband.

We rang in…
2003: Billy Bob’s Texas, Ft. Worth, TX
2004: Cowboys Red River, Dallas, TX
2005: Sixth Street, Austin, TX
2006: Jubitz, Portland, OR
2007: Flag Hall, Cyclone, TX
2008: Lexington, KY
2009: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN
2010: Flag Hall, Cyclone, TX
2011: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN
2012: Fiddle & Steel, Nashville, TN

This was the first year that we BOTH worked the night, which meant we were together, but not. My husband taking the cover charge at the door; me, slinging drinks behind the bar.

It was a crazy  night, a bigger New Year’s Eve than I’d seen in… well… ever. SO many people downtown Nashville, and it got scary to look up at the bar patrons. Lined four deep, it got overwhelming at times, trying to keep up with the demand. We ran out of most of our beer, and we actually called it a night a little bit early.

Didn’t help much, as we still didn’t leave the bar until 5:30 am… but I have to say, I can’t think of a more satisfying way to open 2012. Working hard as the clock struck midnight. Lets hope this year is full of hard, satisfying work, where we end it looking back feeling like we’ve been successful in all our endeavors.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wishing my husband a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I’m not afraid. Its just not high on my list of things to do. As in, not even on my bucket list to be knocked off it.

HOWEVER.

I married a man who happens to love motorcycles. Who has had bad accidents on them, and yet still wants to get right back on. There’s something admirable about that… not letting anything stop him from doing something he loves.

Not even a wife who practically wanted to burst into tears over plans to go riding yesterday. Because that “just not interested” turned out to be, “Scared to death.”

When a friend offered us his bike for the afternoon, my husband became more excited than anyone’s kids after Halloween, staring at a big bowl of candy. I couldn’t not go. I couldn’t deny him this excitement. He wanted to share this big part of himself with me, and I appreciated that more than I could share under the quivering, shaking, terrified child I became.

We went to pick up the bike. We got bundled up (since even though it was upper 60s, it would be chilly on the bike), my husband plopped a helmet on my head and… I swung a leg over and had a death grip on my husband as we took off.

We hooked up with some friends to go riding together, and off we went hitting back roads around Nashville. It took awhile, but I slowly released the death grip I had on Hubby’s jacket. I even got confident enough to dig out my phone and take a few photos.

Half-way through our travels, we stopped to have a light lunch together. Fighting daylight, we didn’t linger long before we took off again. Getting back on the bike, I figured out a more comfortable way to sit, and my confidence went even higher.

As the sun started to set (darn time change), it started to get chilly. We stopped to stretch our legs for a moment and come up with a plan. We headed for a local bar for a post-ride drink before calling it a night.

I faced a fear, and I conquered it. I have to thank my husband for being so adamant we were going, despite my fears. I didn’t fall off. We didn’t crash. We only  had ONE vehicle ignore a Yield sign and pull out in front of us — but then, that happens ALL THE TIME here, so it was just annoying versus scary. I didn’t freeze. And… dare I say it? I had fun.

Yes. I had fun. There. I said it.

I. Had. Fun.

And I will be happy to do it again sometime.

My husband and I have sold a hand full of items on Craigslist. And I know countless people who have both sold and purchased things successfully on there. But, random news articles about scams and people being attacked after buying or selling items has left me leery.

Since my husband and I got married, we’ve both lamented that we don’t have bicycles. We want to be in better shape, but somehow walking just… we do it, we enjoy it, but we both stare wistfully at bike riders whizzing past us. We’d talk about how we want bikes, but then the price tag would make us walk away.

Sunday, we went for a long walk and talked again about how we wished we had bikes. That night, my husband scoured Craigslist, and before I knew it, he had contacted two listings about bikes. He was a man on a mission! I’ll be honest, I’ve not seen him THAT determined in awhile, and before I knew it, we had two bikes secured. We would be off to pick them up soon.

Now, I was apprehensive, as I said. Especially because the first one we went out to the middle of nowhere to get. Beautiful drive, but I didn’t even have cell service when we got there! But, thankfully, both homes we visited to get the bikes were people who were friendly and happy to make the sale. No attacks or muggings for us today! WHEW!

Bike maintenance!

We got the bikes home and went to work on personalizing them. Adjusting seats, moving the brake levers to a comfortable location, making sure the chains were well oiled, and dusting the seats off. It was too dark by the time we finished to go for a ride, but it didn’t stop me from riding up and down our driveway in my cowboy boots!

I’m so glad my husband was Mr. Determined on this! I was skeptical. I was a bit apprehensive. Now? Now I’m just GIDDY. I’m a teenager all over again, I swear! (Thanks, honey, for getting these for us!!) I can’t wait until we get a free afternoon/evening to go for a ride. I can’t wait to see how this opens up our exercise routines (what’s that??), and how it opens up more places to photograph to me.  Like I said, GIDDY!!

Yay bikes!!

We haven’t gone on vacation in a long time, but we want to be able to go to Oregon to see my husband’s family for Christmas this year. So our logical brains prevailed and we decided to, basically, go on a stay-cation. Every day, we got out and did something different… and it was wonderful!

One day we just took off for a drive and discovered a cool “Wall of Honor” literally in the middle of nowhere.

The next day, we visited the Farmers Market, where pumpkins are already on sale…

… then over to Yazoo Brewery’s Tap Room,where we finally got to have dinner from the Grilled Cheeserie, a popular food truck in Nashville…

…then ended up having drinks on a patio in an area of town I’d only visited once before.

 The next night, we headed out to a small Cruise-In and had dinner at a Drive-In. Hamburgers, tater tots and a milk shake for dessert! Yum!

Finally, after finding we couldn’t watch the Oregon game after all, we headed out to Arrington Vineyards. We’d heard it was a fun outing, but we weren’t prepared for the beauty of the area, the delicious taste of the wine, nor the romantic mood the whole thing created. Heavenly! We will SO be back… often.

I often remind myself and my husband that we live in a city that people come to on vacation… perhaps we should take the time more often to explore areas we never visit. I am SO glad we took the last several days/nights to get out and visit different areas of our city. Can’t wait for our chance to do it again!

Yesterday, it was day three or four of overcast, dreary skies. I’ve lost count already, but the funk I found myself in couldn’t be denied. My husband is a bit under the weather, but we both just wanted to get out of the house. Despite gas prices, I went, “Let’s just go for a drive.” So we did. No destination in mind. Just drove.

I don’t know how long we drove, nor did I pay much attention to how far, but eventually it grew dark and our stomachs started to growl. However, we were listening to a radio program that we didn’t want to stop listening to, yet. I suggested we “take the long way” back to downtown Nashville, and then we could eat at our favorite corner bar. Hubby liked the idea, and that’s what we did. We took the long way back, and we probably averaged just under 40 mph the whole time. Still, we somehow got to our destination faster than we wanted, but with stomachs growling, we parked and went to eat.

And you know what happened? Last night, we didn’t talk about work. We didn’t talk about bills, groceries or laundry. We didn’t talk about current events. We talked about each of us individually. Sharing stores from “back in the day” and growing up. It was like we were dating again, just getting to know each other. I think had another patron in the bar not started smoking a cigar, we’d have stayed at least another hour just talking. But with my husband under the weather, we agreed he needed to get away from the smoke. So we headed home and called it a night.

We went on an impromptu date, only this time it definitely wasn’t just an excuse to not cook. This was a DATE. And I loved it.

The Wilson County Fair, in Lebanon, TN, is one of the best fairs I’ve ever been to in my life. They just have it figured out! Great selection of food. Tons of rides. A free concert. A petting zoo. And pig races. In the past they’ve had a banana derby (Monkeys riding dogs!!) but they were sadly absent this year.

My husband and I attended this year with a big group of friends, which just seemed to up the fun factor. Nothing like sharing a ferris wheel pod with another couple that you know, or sharing your various deep fried goodies. (And let it be known, everything tastes better “on a stick.”)

I literally turn into a 10 year old the days leading up to attending the fair. I actually had an upset tummy out of sheer excitement yesterday morning! Then I joked I’d end up with a sick stomach from eating things like chocolate covered bacon, deep friend strawberry short cake and deep fried cookie dough. I think I drank my weight in fresh shaken lemonade and sweet tea mix!

John Anderson was the headliner for the night at the free concert. I’d never seen him live, and it wasn’t high on my list of things to do at the fair. (So many rides, so much food, so little time!) But I am glad my husband insisted… he was GREAT! And I have to admit, when he sang “Swingin’” I got super excited and gave my parents a concert call.

Ah… so good to see these pure country artists getting a lot of love from a big crowd. Makes my country-lovin’-music-business-livin’ heart proud.

We ended the night with a little more fair food, and lots of big hugs with friends. We had an amazing time, and we’re trying to figure out if we can fit another trip out there before it ends this year. I hope we can, but if not? My heart is full of joy from the night. And I can almost (almost) feel Fall starting to make its way to us.

Right now its touring season, and my husband is on the road more than he’s at home. A fact we are both extremely thankful for, and a fact I strive to work around as much as possible. On his few days at home, I want to be able to move my projects around to step away from the computer and sit on the front step with him watching fireflies, listening to the high school band in the distance.

I like to sleep later than usual, when he’s at home. My rush to get up and start the day disappears for a few days. I’d rather snuggle down and stay where he is for another hour… or two. If he has a meeting to be at, I like to tag along… even if I just sit in the car and people watch, waiting for him to come out.

In the same breath, even when he’s tired from the road and wants to go to bed “early,” he’ll push forward awhile so we can go to bed at the same time. If I have a meeting of my own, he too tags along. He’s always game to any hair-brained idea I may have for us to go do, “Just to get out of the house for awhile.”

We strive hard to coordinate our schedules when we are both at home, knowing the hours together are precious before I’m dropping him back off at the bus to head to another show in another state.

Sometimes… sometimes we aren’t too successful. Take tonight, as I write this. I am trying to keep my schedule a bit “off” for upcoming nights working downtown in a bar. My husband, however, has a session bright and early in the morning. So in an odd move, he went to bed hours ago while I sit doing some work on the computer. In the morning, he’ll get up and head into town, while I snuggle back down under the covers for a few more hours of sleep.

As always, we are thankful for the work. Oh, once in a blue moon, I get a little grumbly, wanting more time together than working, but it never lasts too long. I quickly remember that work is what we prayed to get, and work is what we are thankful to have. We make the most of our time together, and I aim to continue to be able to do that. I don’t want to be ships passing in the night, if I can at all help it.

•  Huh? — When I was down in Texas, my left ear kept flirting with plugging up. My last couple days there, it finally plugged completely. I found my most comfort by just wearing an ear plug (the cool pink ones they have out now!) in my congested ear. After being plugged for just shy of a week, I was finally convinced to go to a doctor. Upon the recommendation of a follower on Twitter, I visited a CVS Minute Clinic. I. Loved. It. I wish I got that kind of thorough and personal treatment at every doctor’s visit! If I did, I’d probably never hesitate to visit a doctor. Ultimately, I found out, I had fluid in my ear, and it wasn’t draining do to sinus congestion that I didn’t even know I had! A steroid spray and some great advice later, I can hear again. My ears still pop and crackle a bit, as the congestion doesn’t quite want to give up entirely, but I’ve never been so grateful to hear.

• Summer NAMM –NAMM is, basically, a trade show for musicians. As I understand, Winter NAMM is held in Los Angeles, and Summer NAMM in Nashville. It’s pretty hard to get to attend, but a friend had an extra pass. My husband was on the road, so I went in his place. He needs some new gear, and ideally needs an endorsement from the company of the gear he wants. (Follow that?) So, despite only being able to hear at 50%, I dove into NAMM with both feet.

The cacophony of sounds — guitars, drums, keys, band instruments, etc. just made it hard to focus with full hearing! Had I not had my ear issues, I’d have easily poked around for hours. I may not be a musician, but the booths were fascinating! I was sooooo lost on a lot of it, but it was interesting nonetheless. I wanted to visit with his current endorsement people, but I was on a mission.

However, I found the booth, and I patiently waited to talk to one of the company representatives. Once I had my chance, I was able to get what I came for… I practically skipped around the rest of the floor. I at least walked past all the booths before leaving with a spring in my step.

• Exploring my city– I like to think I know everything about Nashville, but the truth is, there’s a lot of areas I’ve never explored. This last weekend, my parents and I explored an area that even my husband didn’t know existed. In East Nashville, there’s an ice cream shop — Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams — and my parents and I wanted to find it. My niece’s name is Jeni, and she turns 10 this week. Today, actually! So we went in her honor.

SO COOL! This area is trendy and this interesting little oasis among homes, and just past a “sketchy” area of town. I definitely want to go back… often. DELICIOUS ice cream. CUTE shop. And it is just fun to explore new places.

That’s just a sampling of good times I’ve had lately while being unplugged from my computer. Now its time to go back to normal. It’s nice to do something different for awhile, but I am looking forward to delving back in to all my usual haunts and catching up with everyone.

Did I miss anything?