La Petite Chic

The Other Side of Wedded Bliss

SCENE
It's about 5:45 PM and I'm in the kitchen, knee deep in boxes and bubble wrap, after coming home from a long day at work.

JONATHAN
(calling to check in from lovely, sunny Arizona)
Hey hon, whatcha up to?

KATIE
Not much, just packing.

JONATHAN
Still?????

KATIE
(Head explodes)

Oh, Jonny, that one will come back to haunt you, my dear :) 

On a brighter note, I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect moving day forecast:

Saturday, Apr 18

High: 78 °F RealFeel®: 75 °F

Sunshine mixing with some clouds; breezy, warm and pleasant; a beautiful start to the weekend.

 

It's about time spring decided to grace us with her presence!

Our Engagement Story

It's nice to take a little break from the internet every now and then, isn't it?  We had a busy weekend of visiting Jonathan's family in Pennsylvania and then it was back to work today as I started my new position.  I spent the whole day in orientation so it doesn't even really feel like I'm in a new role yet, but tomorrow I'll move cubes and start working with my new team.  So far, my anxiety has been minimal and I'm hoping it stays that way! 

Since there isn't too much else going on in my life, save for packing, I thought I would finally get around to sharing our engagement story which I promised you all a long time ago.  So without further ado, here it is...

It was 2005 and Jonathan and I had been dating since the previous September.  On a whim, we decided to go on a Caribbean cruise that December and invited our parents and siblings to join us. To our surprise and delight, both of our parents and my sister decided to come along.

In the months prior to the cruise, I couldn't help but wonder if Jon would pop the question in the exotic locale of some Caribbean island.  We had been talking about marriage pretty much since we started dating and I thought he couldn't choose a more perfect scenario than the cruise with both of our families there.  As anyone who knows me well is quite aware, once I get an idea in my head, it's pretty much impossible to get it out. (See my obsession with learning how to dance en pointe at the ripe old age of 27.  AHEM.)

I discussed it with my mom, I discussed it with Jon's mom and I talked all my girlfriend's ears off about my sneaking suspicion that Jon was going to propose on the cruise.  It just so happened that someone shared my hunch with Jon, and seeing as how he knew I was onto his plan, he decided to throw me off the trail.

One night while we were eating dinner, he mentioned out of the blue that a "little bird" shared with him that I was expecting a cruise proposal. To my dismay, he also added that unfortunately, it was not going to be a possibility as he had just bought a new car and couldn't afford to buy a ring at this time.  SOB!!

I was SO disappointed. And I'll admit it, I cried.  Poor Jon...  I reminded him of my disappointment just about every day leading up the cruise.  I was very stuck on this whole tropical island proposal thing and it seemed as if everyone else around us was getting engaged except for us.  All the while, Jon was playing it calm and cool as he was secretly getting satisfaction out of pulling the wool over my eyes.

December rolled around and we left for our cruise and I tried not to let my disappointment ruin our vacation.  On the second day of the cruise, I happened to notice that Jon's hands were extremely clammy, which is quite unusual for him. I mentioned it and he just played it off as excitement for the upcoming blackjack tournament (which I won!).  I shrugged it off and soon forgot about it.

Later that evening, we were getting ready for our first formal dinner in our stateroom. Before I got in the shower, I took off my promise ring (a sapphire and diamond ring which Jon had given to me our first Valentine's Day together) and very carefully took notice of where I placed it since I have a bad habit of losing jewelry.

After I hopped out of the shower and got dressed, I went to put my promise ring on and it was missing!  I freaked out and had a minor meltdown as the ring was very, very special to me and because I knew exactly where I left it.  It had just seemingly vanished into thin air.  I yelled to Jon in the shower asking if he had come across it, but he played dumb, knowing very well that he was the culprit!

I continued to look for it while Jon got dressed, but still couldn't find it.  It was getting late and we had to go, so I figured I would look for it later.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, Jon teased me about forgetting our 1 1/4 year anniversary the previous day. We used to celebrate every little month that first year we dated, but had fallen out of the habit.   I laughed at him and apologized for missing it and he replied that he loved me anyway and would still marry me one day.  Not one to miss an opportunity, I sulkily said, "Yeah, someday..."

To my astonishment, Jon said, "Well, actually I have a question for you" and proceeded to get down on one knee. (Meanwhile, I'm screaming in my head, "OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD!!!)  Then he pulled out the cleverest little jewelry box (it had a light in it!) and inside was a gorgeous princess cut diamond ring.  Then he asked those four important words, "Will you marry me?"

 I didn't hesitate at all.  I threw my arms around Jon and hugged and kissed him and said, "Of course!" and ended up knocking him over on the bed!  He then fessed up and admitted, "I replaced your promise ring with something better."  Ah ha!  So I didn't lose it!  We ran across the hall to tell our parents and then went to a wonderful dinner with champagne to celebrate. It was absolutely perfect and that is how we came to be engaged in the middle of the Caribbean Sea!

Photo taken at dinner right after the proposal:

Grace Vingt-trois

Cheap dates are the best. 

My co-worker sent a mass e-mail yesterdaytrying to get rid of movie passes for a special advance screening of the new comedy, I Love You, Man, playing tonight.  It's been a while since Jon and I have enjoyed a movie in the theater (I think Quantum of Solace was the last one), so I immediately e-mailed back, pleading "Pick me, pick me!". 

I think I might have been the only one who responded because she gave them to me.  HOORAY!!  The previews actually look pretty funny and it seems guy-oriented so I think we'll both enjoy the movie.

As a treat, we're going to our favorite wings place, Chics and Wings, before the movie to take advantage of their awesome happy hour specials (½ price wings) in addition to the buy one-get one free coupon we have. 

Our whole date will probably cost less than $10, unless Jon decides to splurge on some overpriced popcorn at the theater.  He just loves that stuff, but all the butter makes me sick to my stomach!

Yay for cheap date night!

Grace Vingt

Jonathan is on spring break this week and next and we are both loving it, albeit for different reasons.  He's just happy to not have homework looming over him and I'm happy to get to see my husband for more than just a couple hours a day. 

After this semester is over, he only has one class left before he graduates with his MBA and I feel like this is a nice glimpse of what life will be like then.  I'm so proud of him for all the effort and time he's put into this, but I can't wait to have him back full time!  I fully intend to take advantage of our extra time together these next two weeks. :)

On Romance...

Overheard in our living room last night...

Jonathan:  Pffffffffrrt.

Me: Jahhhhhnnnn!  The vibration from your fart hurt my teeth!

Jonathan:  You have no sympathy from me there.  I already told you that you shouldn't worry about the color of your teeth because you're married to me and I don't care.

Me:  I'm not letting myself go just because I'm married!  What if you die?  I need to look good so that I can meet other men!

Jonathan:  Sweet!  That means I don't have to keep on you about keeping yourself up for me.  I can care less about how I look!

Me:  <shakes head condescendingly>

Jonathan:  Honey, let's face it.  You are way out of my league, I'm not going to do much better.  You're stuck with me!

Two and a half years of marriage and look how romantic we still are!

On Ever After

Last night, out of the blue, Jon asked, "Where do you want to meet in Heaven when we die?"  The question caught me off guard as a) I was engrossed in the Oscars and the ever important critiquing of fashion do's and don'ts and b) more importantly, I've never entertained the idea of either one of us dying.  It's something I don't like to think about. 

And besides, I've always quite imagined the whole tunnel with the white light at the end of it thing, with Jon there to meet me as I step into the light.  Of course, that's presuming that he goes first, a notion at which he scoffs.  According to him, my recklessness makes me the likely candidate to go first, to which I sweetly replied, "Well, baby, I hope I do because I couldn't live without you."  Booyah! 

AHEM.  Anyhow, Jon suggested we meet at Whitlows, the bar where we met back in 2004.  While I understand the romantic meaning behind that, there's something about reuniting in a bar in Heaven that just doesn't do it for me.  I didn't have an answer for him last night, but I've had the whole day to ponder it and I think I've come up with one.

When I see my love again in Heaven (after a long lifetime together, of course), I want to meet him here:

"And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon, the moon, they danced by the light of the moon." ~Edward Lear~

(picture taken on our first anniversarymoon in Jamaica)

Home Sweet Home

You know what I really hate about having our place on the market?  It's not the keeping it in the constant "nobody lives here state" nor the having to clean out most of our booze nor the keeping of Lola at my parent's house (though that one is really killing me too).  It's the thought of strange-ass people walking through my home, running their fingers over my countertops, peeking in my pantry, sitting on my furniture and everything else that strangers do when viewing your home. It completely creeps me out and really kind of annoys me off. 

Yes,I know it's a necessary evil in order to get our condo sold but I just can't seem to get over it.  For an OCDish, never-leave-the-house-without-antibacterial-hand-soap person like me, this is going to be torture. 

We had our very first open house today and six separate groups stopped by, which apparently is pretty good.  One couple stayed for over a half hour and, according to our realtor, oohed and ahhed over everything.  He said that people don't stay for a half hour if they don't like the place, especially in a one bedroom condo that doesn't take very long at all to see.  That doesn't necessarily mean that they'll make an offer, but still, it's promising.

And now, after the day of being "kicked out" of our home for the open house, I'm thrilled just to be sitting on the couch and taking in the Oscars with my hubby beside me.  Home is always where he is, no matter what.

Full of Love

You know what's crazy?  Last night, I dreamed that I found two mice in our bedroom.  When I got to work this morning, I discovered that I had a little visitor in my cube over the weekend.  The foil covered chocolate heart that a co-worker left on my desk on Friday was no more, and the only thing left was the shredded foil!  Then I found not one, but two mouse turds on my desk.  Gross!!  I spent the next hour scrubbing my desk with Lysol.  Not sure if it was related to my dream in any way, but it sure was unusual!

Speaking of hearts, Jon completed melted mine on Valentine's Day.  We've never been go-all-out Valentines and prefer to spend a quiet evening at home rather than spending a lot of money on a fancy dinner in a crowded restaurant.  If you remember, I spent last Valentine's Day at the hair salon, getting my long hair chopped off for Beautiful Lengths while Jon was at class.  Clearly, Valentine's Day is not that big of a deal to us!

This year, Jon got up bright and early to go grocery shopping while I got a head start on packing.  He came home with more than just groceries.  Just look at this beautiful bouquet of a dozen and a half yellow roses, my favorite color!

 

As romantic as the start of our day was, we then spent the next eight or so hours visiting Ikea, clearing out cabinets and closets and packing moving boxes.  I honestly had no idea how much stuff we have until I actually had to start packing it.  Thankfully, clearing these little things out now is going to make the move a lot easier once we sell.  And our place?  It looks gorgeous!  The photographer is coming on Wednesday morning to take the photos for our condo's website (yes, it gets it's own website!) so I'll be sure to post them once they're up. 

Finally, around 6:00 PM, we had both had enough so we called it a day and sat down to a delicious assortment of appetizers (Asiago cheese filone, olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, black olive tapenade and bruschetta).  And we popped open a bottle of wine that we got while in Europe last May.  It was so good!! 

 

About an hour later, Jon got started making the main course, Penne a la Vodka, my favorite pasta dish. He used a recipe that I pulled off of The Pioneer Woman's cooking site several weeks ago.  It was so delicious that I forgot to get a picture of the final product, but here's one of the garlic and onions simmering in a lot of olive oil and butter.  Mmmm....

 

As a final course, Jon whipped out an incredible Margarita Pie that he made at some point in the day while I was packing the linen closet.  The crust was to die for...it was a sinful mixture of crumbled pretzels, sugar and butter.  It's making my mouth water just to think of it!  The filling tasted almost like key lime pie, one of my favorites.  I'm definitely going to request that he make this again! 

 

And the cherry on top of this wonderfully romantic and unexpected Valentine's Day?  Jon showed he was paying attention and bought me a cookbook that I've been itching to add to my collection, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.  It's a fantastic collection of Southern recipes and anecdotes from the author and I just adore it! 

 

It was back to reality on Sunday as we drove two truckloads of boxes and furniture to my parent's house.  I was quite nervous as I drove my Dad's pick-up truck all by myself with furniture in the back and I thought for sure that something would fall out.  I had to drive on both 495 and 95 where 90 mph is not uncommon, but I just stayed in the far right lane and kept my speed at a modest 60 mph.  Yes, people were flying by me, but I didn't lose any cargo!  Sadly, we were also dropping Lola off at her temporary home with Gram and Pop.  Once our condo lists, people can come by with their realtors all day and we just don't want to subject Lola to strange people coming in and out.  She's wary of people anyway, so I don't want to upset her.  I miss her so much already, but Jon is humoring me by letting me pet his belly when I'm feeling especially lonesome without her.  Such a good husband!

Moving On...

My posts have been quite photo-heavy lately, but I just couldn't resist sharing a few pictures from the Virginia Wine Showcase last weekend before I get on with my post. 

We were joined by our wonderful friends Allison and Ryan and Adam and Adrienne.  Adrienne used to be Jon's roommate when he lived in Atlanta and she and her husband live just a few miles from us now!  I don't think I've ever shared the story of how Allison and I met, but it is truly such an interesting and fateful one.  I know I already owe you all our engagement story, but I'll share my Allison story someday too. 

As is customary, I found my favorite wine pourer, Andy, from Peaks of Otter Winery and took another picture with him.  Remember my first and second encounters?

 

The rest of our weekend, and subsequently, this week, has been spent preparing our condo to be listed on the market.  Ready or not, it's going to be listed next Wednesday!  Well, I lie, we're actually super ready.  We ended up going with the first realtor we met with, the one with the blog and the one whom we've known from his open houses in our community for the past few years.  We really trust him and know that he has a good handle on selling condos in our area and we feel that he has our best interests at heart and is not just out to make a buck on our listing. 

We've had just about a month now to accept our fate and to formulate a plan and now we just want to get this over and done with as quickly and painlessly as possible.  I met with our realtor-provided stager on Tuesday night and really had such a fun time seeing our home through the eyes of a potential buyer.  The stager said that we have a lovely home and though she usually gives her clients a Top Ten list of areas to improve and focus on, she could only come up with eight minor things that even she confessed was a stretch! 

In fact, we've only heard positive things from everyone we've worked with so far.  My favorite comment was from a realtor who said that you could tell the instant you walk into someone's home if it's just a house to them or a place they're really proud of and enjoy living in and she said we were obviously part of the latter.  I love hearing stuff like that because Jon and I are so proud of the way we made our little condo our home and it's nice to have others recognize that.  Once our place sells, we will be moving in with my parents for at least 3-6 months or so to rebuild our losses and then we'll resume our search for a new home.  Despite everything, we're optimistic and happy and are really looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.   

St. Lucia and Barbados

For San Juan, St. Thomas and St. John, click here and for St. Maarten and Antigua, click here. 

We had a bit of rain in St. Lucia, but that didn't stop us from going into town and exploring a bit.  We did some window shopping, then found a tiny little bar that overlooked the sea.  Jon and stopped in for a beer (Piton, the national beer, named after their famous mountain peaks!) and watched the rain fall until it finally dwindled into sunshine.  Typical St. Lucian weather!

 

St. Lucia is often described as the Hawaii of the Caribbean, and if you've ever been to Hawaii, you'll understand why.  It's very tropical and green with lush plants covering the rolling hills and mountain peaks.  It's breathtakingly beautiful with small lagoons scattered about, surrounded by colorful houses. 

 

This trip marked our first time back to St. Lucia since our honeymoon in September 2006.  We actually went to two islands on our honeymoon because Jon and I both felt very strongly about where we wanted to go so we figured, why not do both?  You only go on your honeymoon once, right?!  Jon picked St. Lucia and we decided to go there first because the atmosphere seemed more relaxed and secluded and we figured we would need that after the excitement of our wedding!  It was perfect.  (In case you're wondering, we went to my pick, Jamaica, for the other half of our honeymoon.)

Imagine my surprise when our cruise ship sailed out of port and we passed right by the Sandal's resort we stayed at!  I took over 40 pictures because I was so excited, but I managed to narrow it down to one for you all to see.  Notice that blue building peaking over the right side of the main building?  Jon is convinced that was our honeymoon villa.  It was definitely around there somewhere, but I'm not so sure that was the villa.  Regardless, it was pretty cool to see that place where we spent our first week as husband and wife.

 

I took this picture of Jon as we were sailing out of port.  Rain brings rainbows and this was one of many of the gorgeous ones that we saw throughout the week.  Doesn't hurt that it's right behind my gorgeous husband too!

 

This was the only group portrait that we managed to get the whole week.  The only time you're ever really all in one place is when you're at dinner and this is exactly when it was taken.  From top to bottom, left to right:  Joani (my mother-in-law), Eric (my father-in-law), Linda (my mom), me, Jon, John (my dad), Tiffany (my cousin-in-law) and Bradley (my cousin).  We really had such a good time with everyone.  I couldn't have asked for better and more fun-loving parents, in-laws or cousins and of course, my incredible husband who loves to travel as much as I do!  I'm such a lucky girl.

 

Our very last port of call was Barbados and it was certainly worth the wait.  We took our third and final snorkeling trip here where we visited a popular sea turtle hangout and a shipwreck.  Can you make out the skate (kind of like a stingray, but mainly found in warm seawater) in the sand below?

 

We also saw another beautiful rainbow from end to end.  I haven't seen this many rainbows since my family and I visited Scotland when I was younger!

 

We waited and waited and waited for a turtle to come and I had just given up and gotten back on the boat when one finally decided to visit.  I jumped back in for a closer look and it was really one of the coolest things I've seen.  It glided so gracefully through the water and was such a serene and peaceful creature.

 

The shipwreck was actually a submerged barge that was sunk there as an artificial reef.  All of the wrecks Jon and I have dived and snorkeled on have been submerged barges, but they're still pretty cool because they attract a lot of fish. 

 

After we were done snorkeling, we went to a beautiful beach with our rum punch in hand.  Here I am looking for more seashells.  The racerback on my bikini is totally what made me fall in love with it.  I think it's safe to say that this is my favorite swimsuit EVER! 

Now this is what I call paradise.  Just look at the blue of that water and the sand on the beach.  That's our boat in the distance.  And of course, rum punch in hand!

 

I found these baby hermit crabs when I was searching for seashells.  They were so tiny and they tickled when they crawled across my hands. 

 

If I were ever stranded on a deserted island, Jon is definitely the person I would want to be stranded with me.  Especially if he brought rum punch along too! :)

 

This was the view of Barbados from our ship.  Isn't it exquisite?  I would love to spend a whole week there.

 

The second formal dinner on the cruise was that night and I finally got to wear my emerald dress!  I love it so much that I think I'll be wearing it to every wedding we attend this year!  May as well get my money's worth.

 

This was the very last picture I took, the striking view from our balcony.  Le sigh.  Until next time, Caribbean.