Archive for May, 2010

Best of 5.23-5.29

May 30th, 2010

Sun 5.23: The loooong drive home from Phoenix with some good, meaningful convos with the Hus

Mon 5.24: My Mister called me at work in the middle of the day just to say, “I love you.” It was very sweet (although he interrupted me and I was busy at work… ;) )

Tues 5.25: A very productive day off! Cleaned a lot, cooked, worked out, and did some work at home

Wed 5.26: My SCB being so supportive of all my decisions and the good discussions we had about the future

Thurs 5.27: Finding out I got in to grad school! I had been having 2nd thoughts and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do (see above, “good discussions about the future…”), but when I found out I got in, I was more excited than I thought! Guess that’s a good sign… :)

Sat 5.29: Once again, I had another cooking fiasco. This time passion fruit sorbet turned into a tasteless goo (Note to the “Newlywed Cookbook: This passion fruit sorbet does NOT work for a passionate night!) The SCB and I spent literally an hour laughing about it.

The girls chatting at the bar while the boys played Shuffleboard Friday night

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Health Corner

May 26th, 2010

As it’s getting warmer out and the days are longer, it’s time to start talking about some summer sunnin’. And by summer “sunning,” I mean summer “no-sunning.”

The number one rule this summer: SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN!!! I know how nice it feels to have a tan. I love being tan. BUT that is another story. THIS story is about skin protection. And that means SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN! And that is something I don’t break the rules on… I apply, apply, apply.

Sunscreen with a minimum of 15 SPF should be applied daily (most facial moisturizers also contain sunscreen) and if you’re going to be out for a while, it needs to be reapplied every 2 hours. The sun’s rays are the harshest from 10a-3p aka = best tanning time! However, if you must be out between those hours (and you must, I know! Cuz I love being out during the day just as much as the next sista!), then a) wear sunscreen and reapply OFTEN (duh) b) wear a hat and sunglasses with UVB/UVA protection.

Check your skin often, and check your moles/beauty marks/freckles even more often. Some things you must look for, especially after being in the sun for a while are the alphabet: ABCDE

A: Asymmetry – One half is different than the other

B: Border – If the border is irregular, notched, uneven or blurred

C: Color – The color is uneven, or changes. Notice if you have different areas that are tan, dark brown, black, red.

D: Diameter – Note if you have a mole greater than 6mm, or if one is suddenly larger than before

E: Exudate – If there is any drainage or fluid oozing.

All of these signs need to be looked at by your health care provider as soon as possible.

Every year, approximately 1 million people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer. Even ONE nasty sunburn increases your risk for skin cancer. If you do find yourself with some lobster skin, try these tricks to alleiviate the pain and help your skin heal faster:

-Take a cool bath or shower.

-Apply an aloe vera lotion several times a day.

-Leave water blisters intact (meaning don’t pop them) to speed healing and avoid infection. If they burst on their own, remove skin fragments, then apply an antibacterial ointment on the open areas and cover the wound.

-Take motrin. This will relieve the pain and also decrease your inflammation

-Drink plenty of fluids.Also, high-protein food (think meats, nuts) will help with tissue repair.

Enjoy summer and remember to practice safe-sunning!

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And now I am deaf.

May 25th, 2010

Ah the joys of apartment living…

I woke up in the middle of the night last night hearing some piercing, loud, obnoxious, wailing in my ear. I think Merrick was a little punch drunk cuz he rolled over and mumbled, “it’s your turn to get up with the baby…” Hmmm. Weird. Anyway, baby or not (NOT… definitely not), the wailing proceeded. We couldn’t figure out if it was the computer or one of our phones or WHAT it was. Once our alarms started wailing too, we realized it was our stupid smoke detector battery yelling at us every 30 seconds, “Change me. Change me. Change me….” (hmmm, maybe he was right, that’s not too unlike a baby…)

Ok, so no biggie, we’ll just reach up there and change the battery.

… Only one problem with that… We live on the 3rd floor and have very high vaulted ceilings, which on any other day, I love. Today though, not so much. It was too high for either of us and we had nothing tall enough to stand on to shut it up.

So I go back to bed dreaming of IV machines and cardiac monitors beeping at me at the hospital and the Mister goes off to work. I wake up at the glorious hour of 9am and hear sweet golden silence… Until the next beep comes in promptly, 30 seconds later. So I call the apartment complex telling them my problemo. I was promised a maintenance man would be here shortly with a tall ladder to turn the baby smoke detector off.

In the meantime I get on with my morning, doing a lot of paperwork, work stuff, and being pretty productive. I’m trying to ignore the incessant beeping in the background and it’s pretty easy to ignore in the beginning. But it’s like Chinese Water Torture. You can handle it for a little while, doesn’t bug you a bit. Then slowly, it becomes more and more noticeable and uncomfortable.  So at the point of “uncomfortable,” (around 10.30), Mr. Maintenance hasn’t come and the noise is starting to interfere with my work. So I call again.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

And I call AGAIN. It’s 11.30 now and I’m really irritated. I keep getting the promise that, “Maintenance is aware. They’re on their way. Blah blah blah…”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEEEEEPPP! BEEEEP! BEEEPPP!! BEEEPPP!

(see, it’s getting exponentially louder and more annoying)

At noon I am ready to rip my ears off my face. I can’t even concentrate on my work and I’ve got a killer headache.

BEEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

And FINALLY! Finally the wonderful, handsome, amazing… (wait, what am I saying? He’s not amazing! If he was AMAZING, I wouldn’t have gone deaf three hours ago. ) Let me rephrase, the late, rude, crazy, mean (well shoot, he wasn’t those either). Ok, the Maintenance Man arrives and climbs his very tall ladder and turns the crying child off. Either that, or I’m so deaf I can’t even tell if it’s beeping anymore.

Ah silence is golden.

Thankfully, it wasn’t this little princess making all that noise… But side note, please notice how she is enamored by my husband (I mean, I don’t blame her…). The whole night she seriously couldn’t take her eyes off him! I think my SCB was about to kidnap her too, thankfully her Mamma and Daddy came to her rescue and I didn’t have to bail my Mister out of jail for stealing babies.

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Best of 5.16-5.22

May 24th, 2010

Best of lives again!!! It has been revived… we’ll see how long it lasts this time! Thing is, I just don’t think about writing down the best part of every day at the END of every day. The SCB and I always discuss the best parts of our days, but I just don’t get to documenting it. Then the end of the week comes and I’m struggling to remember what happened which day (cuz I live SUCH an exciting life!). Once again, I’ve turned a new leaf… You will now be getting regular updates on the best parts of my life.

Sun 5.16: Our anniversary, of course (but you already knew that you little stalkie bear, cuz you’ve read all ravings about my wonderful husband on our anniversary)

Mon 5.17: The ferry ride back from Catalina… had some nice chats with the Hus

Tues 5.18: Remember when I wanted peeps to be excited about my marriage like they were with my engagement? Well the best part of Tuesday was people at work getting excited about our anniversary!

Wed 5.19: Talking with my Frozen Tundra girlfriends and hearing they’re coming to VISIT!!! It’s a couple months away, but I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

Fri 5.21: Resting my weary feet… sigh

Sat 5.22: Roadtrip to Phoenix with the Hus, having deep, meaningful discussions about life, love and everything in between. Had a great time meeting more of his extended family.

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We survived the year!

May 20th, 2010

…without killing each other! Can I please get a standing ovation for that? Seriously, that was an accomplishment in itself this year!

Like I’ve mentioned, I consider my wedding anniversary to be a huge milestone. And similar to looking back at the end of a calendar year (although that is significantly less of a milestone than our anniversary…however, it could be argued they are similar – each comes around once a year, and there (God willing) will always be another one next year…)…forgive my tangent… anyway, upon reflecting back on our first year of marriage, here are some highlights:

May 2009: When it all began…
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May 2009 (part II): Part I of the 3 week, 2 part honeymoon in Hawaii
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June 2009: Honeymoon Part II, Alaskan cruise
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July 2009: Our first trip back home as a married couple, our first visitor since we’ve been married (holla to BMak!), the Bro has a layover at LAX and we hang at Redondo Beach.

August 2009: My birthday! Vegas for the bday (NOT San Fran as thought…)
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September 2009: Football season started! We met our great friend, Casey. Nick’s bomb wig party!
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October 2009: The BIL came out to visit. Went to Universal Studios for the first time (bought year long passes and have YET to go back!). Halloween was a rockin good time, met our good friend Rachel!

November 2009: Out with our peeps (and please note that this IS a big deal because we hardly ever go out, we old!). Vegas to see Jersey Boys. Thanksgiving dinner hosted at Club M (aka our casa)

December 2009: My SCB’s Quarter-Of-A-Century celebration station! My first Christmas back in the Frozen Tundra in years. The beautiful wedding of Maria and Mike. And of course finishing up the year with Jason’s New Years Eve Party.
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January 2010: The Cruise, obviously :)

February 2010: The only pictures I have from this month are of car stuff that the Mister’s been working on…

March 2010: Celo’s birthday party. Meeting Tom Arnold. Wine Tasting. The Mamma Bear visits.
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April 2010: Our first Easter in the Frozen Tundra. TBell and 40’s.

May 2010: Home again, home again, jiggy jig jig. And of course, our one year anniversary and anniversary trip.
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And that brings us back here. They say the first year of marriage is the hardest. Well if that’s the hardest, the next 74 years are going to be a cake walk! Cuz honestly, of course we had our hard times, but it’s never hard loving your best friend, the person who makes you the happiest and is always looking out for you. (Ok, sometimes it is hard to love that person, but the year still wasn’t “hard.”)

Thanks for a wonderful first year my SCB! Can’t wait to see what the future brings us!

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First Anniversary Shenanigans… part III

May 19th, 2010

Your final installment of The First Anniversary Shenanigans. We here at merrickandkatie.com appreciate your patience and your staying/reading power. At the end of this trip, please stop by the front desk to pick up your free gift… (spoiler alert: free gift = a shout out from me on the blog!)

This one’s gonna be a picture documentary… although we didn’t take too many pictures because we were, umm… Busy talking.… or something like that. :)

First off the boat ,and man we be parched! What a better way to quench your thirst than MARGARITAS!
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Just a typical pic of us… crazy. Although these kind of pics are not the prettiest or nicest, these are the ones that I’ll remember when I look back. I remember the great times of us just being US. No frills, no make up, no expectations, no nothin’. Just me and my mayyyyn.
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Our tour to the “Airport in the Sky”… 2100 feet above sea level and with the world’s longest runway
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He smuggled some drinky drinks! We had gone wine tasting a couple months ago and really enjoyed this pineapple champagne. So one day while I was working, my wonderful SCB drove the hour back down to Temecula to pick this up for us! What a sneakster! He’s so sweet :) Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as we remember! But we had fun with it anyway
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So on our actual anniversary (which was the 16th if anyone’s paying attention…) we went to a really nice Italian dinner, dressed up to the 9’s, all grown up, responsible and mature and of course we don’t take any pictures. So then we come back and drink our smuggled champagne in sweats/no shirt, toothpick and in plastic glasses. Cuz we’re high class like that.
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So there ya have it. The mystery of the First Anniversary, unveiled! Stay tuned for some more marriage and anniversary reflections. Until next time, Stay Classy, San Diego!

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First Anniversary Shenanigans… part II

May 18th, 2010

…So after guessing and guessing and guessing (wrongly) every time, we were finally ready to embark on the mystery trip Friday morning. I had no idea at this point where we were headed, and wasn’t even sure if we were driving or flying. I got an email clue from Merrick’s coworker saying, “So I hear you’re heading to the desert this weekend.” This then got me back to thinking “Vegas.” Although all the clues didn’t line up for me… then I got an email later from same said coworker that was, “Please disregard anything I’ve said and still act surprised.” To me that meant that oops, the coworker spilled the beans to me! Ha, little did I know… Turns out, both those emails were ploys from my husband and the coworker… Grrr… they got me again!

So we’re in the car and I get this:

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…paper gift right? So I just read it like a fool, smile, tear up a little bit at the sweetness of my husband… then continue to question him about our destination.

He tells me, “It was just in your hands…”

So I grab my letter again and realize (with a little bit of help from the Mister) that it’s an acrostic poem, and that we’re going to CATALINA! It finally all made sense! We had both been there briefly on our cruise in January, it’s cool at night, we stayed in a hotel (vs someone elses place or a cruise), and there are no cars allowed on the island (except for locals and there’s an 18 year waiting list!) so we had to walk everywhere! The 3 oz liquid thing, similar to the desert clue, was just a ruse.

Another “myspace” picture (we’re getting good at those… thing is, no one’s ever around to take a pic of us 2!). Pre trip (and pre KNOWING where we’re going!) pic!
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and just to keep it spicy, more to come!!…

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First Anniversary Shenanigans… part I

May 17th, 2010

So as promised, here’s an update an the anniversary SURPRISE I teased you all with in the last post…

Merrick had the whole weekend planned, so I claimed Thursday as my day. So Thursday I made him a really nice dinner – Caesar salad with homemade dressing (delish!), chicken cordon bleu (succulent!), green beans (with a killer sauce!), passion fruit sorbet (sweet!), cheesecake brownies (his 2 favorite desserts combined into one incredible dessert), and a personalized bottle of wine with our picture on it that we received for the wedding. (Can you tell I’m selling myself, making up for this post ).

So the first anniversary is traditionally supposed to be a “paper” gift… whatever that means. So by “paper,” I took it upon myself to decorate our apartment with post its of 365 reasons why I love you (him, not you… although I’m sure I love you too… although I can’t be certain). It took forever and was a lot harder than I thought. I ran out of time but ended up with 229 post its around my apartment (I’m slowly adding the other 136 posts when he’s not looking) It looked AWESOME! This pictures here don’t really do it justice, cuz a picture never can truly capture everything. But let me just tell you, my SCB LOVED it! LOVED it, loved it, LOVED it!! And that, of course, made me the happiest little bear there ever was!

What the SCB saw on our door before he came in…
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A few reasons…
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and a few more…
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…Imagine these post its x like 200 more. It looked pretty awesome. And we of course dressed up for our pre-anniversary dinner, so we had to capture that…

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Now his paper gift, and the trip… well those are to be continued…

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…and now on to marriage

May 13th, 2010

So my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY is coming up right around the corner… Let’s just take a minute and get excited about that ok…

(chirp. chirp. chirp.)

…Oh wait? Nobody cares about my marriage anymore but me? Yeah, I figured as much.

Then let’s backtrack a little bit and consider when we were engaged…

EVERYBODY swooned over the ring and the story (and if you’re curious, it’s right here). I had a million people saying I had the engagement “glow,” people were all excited about which flowers and colors and styles I was choosing… People couldn’t get enough of my fairytale engagement! (And I must say, I loved all the attention too!)

…And now on to marriage.

Right after the wedding, nobody cared anymore. I still got a few questions about seeing pictures from the wedding, and those who weren’t at it occasionally asking how it was. All I could say was, “It was perfect, it was the best day of my life!” I mean, how else can you sum up a day planned for a year and dreamed about longer than that? Again, nobody cared about the details but me. And just a few short months later, nobody cared anymore. At all. I didn’t even get any questions about pictures trickling in and then I got too embarrassed to even BRING pictures in cuz nobody would be interested to see them! The whole world had moved on to what they thought were bigger and better things, while I was still stuck reminiscing about my perfect day and talking about it to anyone who’d listen.

So now, a year later, I’m trying desperately to get the engagement attention again. Because I think my one year anniversary is a big deal, no matter what you suckas say! And guess what, you’re GONNA listen to me get pumped about it!

…or not. But I’ll still get pumped about it, BAZINGA!

Anyway, for anyone who cares (shout out to my 2 favorite sistas!), I’ve been pumped for weeks now about our upcoming trip. It’s a surprise which is very typical of my sneaky husband (and so irritating too cuz a) I can NEVER surprise him and b) I like knowing and the not knowing is KILLING ME!). He’s been leaving me little clues all week and I was so certain I had it figured out… twice. Until he gives me the next clue and I’m completely baffled again!!!

Here’s what I got, maybe you can help me figure out where my mystery destination to the GREAT BEYOND is:

-“pack your liquids in 3oz bottles” … ok so we’re flying somewhere, right?

-“make sure your car has gas in it for the trip”… hmmm… so flying or driving now?

-“it’ll be too cold for your bathing suit” … but it’s Mid May and we live in SoCal right? So where would we be going for a weekend that’ll be cold in mid May? Europe? Canada? I’m stuck on this one

-“we’re staying in our own hotel room” … duh, right?

-“we’ll be doing a lot of walking” … I’m getting closer now

-”I’ve (he’s) been there” … I got it! I got it! We’re going to San Francisco! He’s been there, it’ll be cool, we can drive or fly and we have to walk everywhere! UNTIL…

-”you’ve been there”… Nope. I’ve never been to San Fran. I’m stuck again.

So we’re leaving tomorrow (I have to be ready by 10.30a… which also throws me cuz I thought he has to work tomorrow?). He’s gonna help me pack tonight (cuz hello?! WHAT do I pack to a mystery destination? Shorts? Sweater? Heels? Sandals? Aaahhh!!). I’m so frustrated and bouncing on the walls with questions!

let me just tell you though…

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

even if we are simply, “… on to marriage”

Our wedding cake! Well, a new top layer of our wedding cake. The actual one is still frozen in my parents garage, where it’s likely to stay FOREVER!

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Recap of Meeeechigan

May 9th, 2010

We had a great time going back home last week… It was busy busy busy but fun fun fun (till her Daddy took the T-Bird away…)!

It started out a day early actually when my poor father was at the airport looking for me to get off a plane I wasn’t on! Thankfully, he was able to go back to bed, rinse and repeat for the same red eye flight the next morning with nothing more than a few bags under his eyes (Sorry Pops!). After landing last Wednesday at the butt crack of dawn and sleeping until about 2pm, I realized a few things:

1) Not a new realization, but I re-realize it every time I travel. I hate flying. Hate it. I get really anxious and I have to be at the airport seriously like 2 hours early (ya know, to get the best seat in the house!)

2) I’m about 50-50 on red eyes. I don’t sleep on them, so I lose a night of sleep and then sleep the whole next day, so I lose a full day when I first land. BUT it’s better than losing a day traveling during the day. So I guess either way, I’m losing time when I travel. I’m still waiting for my engineer to make something that transcends space and time and make us kajillionaires!

Anyway, back to the home-biz… All of the celebrations turned out really well and I’m so glad we were there for all of them!

1) The First Communion girl looks happier than a bride on her wedding day! She looked so pretty and we were all so proud of her!
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2) Went up to MSU to see the college grad… Wow I can’t believe my baby sister is done with COLLEGE!!! She’s doing mission work in Belgium next year (which is where my parents met…. hmmmm, do I smell a brother-in-law coming in the picture? ;) ). Clare is such a strong beautiful woman and I really admire her and look up to her (literally, cuz I’m the shawtie in the fam). I wish we lived closer. :( We walked around campus, ate, watched a movie and here we are in Barnes and Nobel doing our favorite activity – listening to jams. PS the Glee soundtrack is pretty bomb!
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3) The in-laws anniversary party was a blast, per usual party at their casa. They sure know how to entertain! Lotsa peeps, lotsa laughs, lotsa drinks, lotsa good times! We caught the 2 lovebirds stealing a kiss ;)
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4)  My mom and I spent a lot of time together this week which was really nice. We worked out together, went shopping together, cooked together, cleaned together. I saw her very sassy brand new Chevy Equinox, it was a beaut! My Mom and my aunt and I on a nice sunny afternoon!
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Honestly this was the first trip back there where I could see us moving back. The Mister and I even took a flyer for a house for sale in his neighborhood! (serious about being ok moving back, not serious about buying that house. seriously). I think the nice weather had a lot to do with it… I have a significantly better time anywhere in warm weather than in the cold that normally prevails in the Frozen Tundra. Well, nice warm Michigan, I have had a good time with you. Till next time when we continue our love hate love affair with each other and the weather you lend me. Hopefully I’ll be back to love you while you’re still offering me sunshine… but alas it may be months and months away until we meet again.

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