Married Life Meme!

After reading Shannon's anniversary post and meme, I am doing my duty and joining in. :-)


1. What year did you meet your spouse? late in 2000


2. Who said “I love you” first? yeah, so...I can't remember. I even asked Jer, who also can't remember. However, I am 99.9% sure it was me, knowing us like I do. ;-)


3. How long after meeting your spouse did you get engaged? hmmm...we got engaged in early spring 2003. I suppose it was around two years after we met, but we did not begin dating immediately. He was just one of our hot pilots for awhile there and I don't date pilots. Oops. ;-)

4. How did the proposal go? Jer had been on a trip and arrived home to find me scurrying around trying to get ready for an evening out with our friends. He was talking to me and I was running around putting on make-up and fixing my hair. I must not have been paying much attention, because he finally said, "CHALNA! PLEASE come sit on the couch for a second and listen to me!". He had such a serious face when I sat down that I asked him if he was about to break up with me. HAHA! :-) He said the most precious things and asked me to marry him with the most beautiful ring that he bought in Phoenix. He had done a lot of research on the ring and even planned things out with the jeweler there so that he could buy the ring while he was out on the trip. It was the most amazing moment!!!!

5. When did you get married? July 11, 2003

6. What’s something that drives you nuts about your spouse? he doesn't like the same movies that I do. ;-)

7. How big is your bed? King size...we love it because there is plenty of room for Enzo and Ferris Mewler.

8. Who cooks dinner the most? It used to be Jer (he is a great cook!) but it is me since I started staying home with Colin. I think I have gotten really good!

9. Do you have any children? Only the sweetest boy in the world! :-)

10. What city was the first place you lived as a married couple? Bethlehem, PA

11. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We never had an official honeymoon. We married in Vegas over a long weekend.

12. What’s your favorite thing about being married? I adore that I share my life with my best friend. I love that I feel "complete" with Jeremy, like I am with my other half. It is just this safe, whole feeling that gives me peace. We were meant to be...we are just right. That feeling is my favorite part about being married.

13. What is one thing your spouse would say really annoys them about you? Probably that I am horrible with anything related to paperwork. He is so right about that. Jer literally took my voter registration card out of my hand the other day and put it away so I would not lose it. Which I totally would have. ;-)

14. Where’s your favorite place to go on vacation? We both want to spend time in Europe. Jer has been before, but I have not. We can't wait to go together one day.

15. What vehicle was your “get away” car from the wedding reception? a bright white limo! Vegas, baby!

16. Did you have a big wedding? No, it was teeny tiny! We practically eloped!

17. If you could change two things about your wedding what would they be? I would have done the honeymoon...we were so busy with work and I wish I had just done it anyway. I miss that we did not run away to Mexico or something equally great. We said we were going to have one shortly there after, but time got away and it never happened. Other than that, I would not have changed a thing about the actual wedding. It was adorable and perfect for us.
18. What’s your song? "Northern Sky" by Nick Drake. Long story here, but suffice it to say that this song will be important to me for all time.

19. What do you enjoy doing as a family/couple? As a couple, we loved to explore new foods and awesome places to eat before we had the little one. We will get back into that more when Colin is slightly older. We also loved going to the movies. Now, we are all about anything that is fun for Colin. We all love to picnic. Jer and I love to lay in bed at night and catch up on the news together, read, or just chat. Our hours together after Colin goes to bed have become very special to us.

20. How many family pets do you have? two...the famous Enzo the Italian Greyhound and Ferris Mewler the fat cat.

If you are reading this, you have been tagged!

FIVE WHOLE YEARS AGO TODAY!

Today is our 5th Anniversary!! I fished into our old wedding photos to post the pics above...I can't believe it has been 5 years. I know that time is flying by because I feel like we look so young there. :-) We were married in grand style in beautiful Las Vegas! I was so happy with the entire experience...we picked out the most adorable chapel and no, Elvis was NOT in attendance! We stayed for free at the Las Vegas Hilton because of Jer's hotel points and we had a limo pick us up there and take us to the chapel. We had to walk through the entire hotel in our wedding finery and I felt like a princess. People parted for us to walk by and everyone stopped and stared and clapped for us. I remember lots of little girls telling me how beautiful I looked. We felt like celebrities! It was the perfect day! After the ceremony, we had a spectacular dinner at the Paris Hotel on the very top floor of the Eiffel Tower. I will never forget a single solitary second of that day. I had never been so sure of anything in my life, and I am still sure. Jer is my knight and always will be. At this moment, I can hear him in the living room with Colin while they play. We have come so far in five years....Happy Anniversary, sweet Husband!!

Oh, the memories!!

Last night I made the ill fated decision to pull out our old photo cd's to find something I was looking for. Boy, I found a lot more than that! I uncovered a million pictures of my formerly skinny self. I really do understand that I am heavy right now for a very good reason and that I will get back to my former self when I have some time to devote to that goal, but it sure does seem daunting when looking at these pictures. I have decided to look at the bright side...these can act as motivation! The other problem is that I am at the ripe old age of 26 in these photos...these were taken when Jer and I got engaged in the spring of 2003. Yep, these pics are exactly 5 years old. I am pretty sure that turning 31 and having a baby both limit the prospects of finding those abs again, but I digress! :-)

The other thing that these pictures remind me of? The amazing memories that I have with Jeremy. These pictures were taken during our big engagement party weekend in Ft. Lauderdale in April of 2003. We were there with a huge group of our friends staying in the condo that our company owned. This is when Jeremy was one of my pilots and we enjoyed the perks of taking one of the company jets to Ft. Lauderdale or Atlantic City for the weekend. We were a big group of kids in our twenties with access to great things and time on our hands! What good times we had!!!! I was skinny during this time because I had plenty of time to go the gym (trust me, abs don't come naturally to me!). Jer and I had the best time together! I love that we have that history to look back on and it means so much to me!! I kept having to stop writing this post to take care of Colin today and I just sat back down after giving him a bottle and putting him down for his nap. As I was sitting in the glider with his sweet chubby self collapsed in my arms sound asleep, I thought to myself that this is what it is all about. Jer and I have memories of each other as crazy, silly, rock star kids and now we will have memories of each other as crazy, silly parents to a rock star little man! What a wonderful life I am leading...fat or not!! :-)