Spring Break: Cake Marathon, Oldie Moldies and Coffee Shop Bliss

This past week was filled with so many different activities that I do not even know where to start! As of right now, I am on Spring Break from work and I am enjoying lazy-pajama- coffee-mornings while catching up on some much needed housework, Pinterest musings, novel reading and TLC marathons. I have been home by myself for the past day and a half and although it is relaxing, I am greatly anticipating the trip down to Colorado Springs for Easter later on tonight. I have always been the kind of person who really does not prefer being alone, thus, getting married has been fantastic for my mental health.

This past weekend, to start off my Spring Break, we visited Haxtun as a sort of pre-Easter celebration. We got to spend more time than usual there, as my dear husband took Monday and Tuesday off for more family time and my birthday, respectively. On Saturday afternoon, I got the pleasure of attending a wedding reception complete with tie-dye cake for some good friends. This is piece one of my cake saga that has still not ended....because then on Saturday night, Jordan and I attended a town gathering called the "Chuckwagon" that was one of the most unusual and fun things I have ever done. We had a meal that included yet another piece of cake, I got to see Jordan's elementary/middle/high school all at once and we got to hear a suprisingly fantastic live band of elderly men playing oldie hits. The music included Bob Segar, Louis Armstrong, and the Temptations. I was in heaven with the music choice and walking around the school beforehand, looking at all the sports pictures of my hubby up on the wall was particularly delightful as well.

My third piece of cake for the weekend brings us to my first 23rd birthday celebration at my In-Laws house where we had the most amazing Oreo ice cream cake! The next morning, Monday, Jordan took me to the Haxtun Daily Grind, AKA the most adorable coffee shop I have ever set foot in. To my pleasant suprise, they had many choices of sugar-free coffee syrup (more than even Starbucks, actually), shelves of flavored coffee beans to scoop yourself, a small accessory boutique and ample table space. For those of you that are coffee shop connoisseurs as I am, the Daily Grind is perfect. It especially  reminded me of my favorite coffee shop in Laramie.

We headed home Monday afternoon and made it home by dinner time, following which, Jordan proceeded to make my second birthday cake. During the time that Jordan was making my cake, I learned something about myself. I can now fully admit that my name is Taylor Hagemeyer, and I am a baking control-freak. I started out just watching and gradually began to just ease the rubber spatula out of Jordan's hand until I got myself banished to the living room. I tried to intervene once again when he started "scrambling" the eggs by shaking them over his head like maracas....but I was unsuccessful at my attempts to leap over the kitchen/front room dividing line. Needless to say, the cake came out perfect, with the smoothest frosting I have ever seen and a top so level, only an engineer could have made it. My birthday came on Tuesday and was filled with several doctors appointents, car shopping and a little for fun shopping too. We went out to dinner, opened presents and ate my fourth piece of cake for the week, thankfully it's not like I have a chronic disease that prevents me from cake binging or anything.....oh wait, ha. All cakes considered though, my blood sugar has been quite perfect for the past few days which is a welcome change compared to breaks from routine in the past.

Tonight brings my 5th (or possibly 7th) piece of cake this week and my 3rd birthday celebration at my parent's house. Thankfully, I will not have a cake overdose because this cake is in the form of a cherry cheese pie! I am looking forward to spending 3 days with my family and celebrating Easter, perhaps the most important holiday out of all of them. I have now successfully unpacked our bag from our last adventure and repacked it for the coming one. I must say that packing just one bag for the two of us is secretly thrilling in a sappy newlywed sort of way. I suppose that is all for now....bring on the cake!

Used Cars and Sonic-Boom-Sneezes

We are now entering month two of wedded bliss and with the wedding gifts proudly displayed in our small apartment and the insurance tsunami of paperwork and phone calls finally curbed, we are quite enjoying a little quality routine time. As of late we have been looking for a used car to fill the category of a someday-family-car, right now not-too-pricy-car. Looking for a car is daunting and I can honestly say that the only looking I have been doing is over the kitchen partition with my hands full of dishes, dinner making, or something or other, while Jordan does all of the research and calls me over when something particularly exciting surfaces. For this, I truly appreciate him and I truly appreciate the ease with which we have already settled into our strength roles within our marriage.

One thing I have noticed in the process of looking for a car that is completely unrelated, is a little habit that my dear husband possesses that can only be described as borderline terrifying. I am referring to the habit that I shall henceforth call the "Sonic-Boom-Sneeze." It just so happens that when Jordan is sick with a cold, as he has been lately, he tends to sneeze repeatedly with an intensity that is only comparable to a jet engine taking off or a rocket ship re-entering the earth's atmosphere. I wish I was exaggerating, but believe me, these sneezes are not only loud, they are completely startling and catch me off guard every time. I find myself repeatedly flinching at the very loud and very sudden sound that can strike at any moment. I have yet to even see a pre-sneeze face to warn me, it just seems to go from silence or conversation directly to astounding decibel sneeze levels. I don't know whether to say "bless you" or to duck onto the floor and protect myself from an overhead meteor shower. I do think that both of us are beginning to get used to many of the other person's habits; however, I fear that the Sonic-Boom-Sneeze and I will never quite acclimate. 

On the topic of other habits, for example, Jordan understands with a feigned annoyance and more amusement, that I do have to leave multiple glasses of water around the house because I am often thirsty and cannot remember where I last left my glass. He has nicknamed me the "Signs girl" because of the little girl from the movie "Signs" who does the same thing and in the end saves her family from the aliens by dumping water on them. I have decided that the little quirks and habits that make us uniquely us keep life interesting and entertaining. And so what if I leave glasses of water everywhere? And so what if he can't hang up his towel or remember where he put his keys/wallet/phone even two mornings in a row? What's important is that we love each other and are figuring each other out....and if one of these times one of his ear-drum rupturing sneezes turns out to be an alien spacecraft landing on our rooftop instead, we will be armored with water glasses and ready to fight back thanks to me....

The Triumphs and Tribulations of Carpooling

Ah, marriage…..One of the best and worst things about being married is carpooling to and from work. We are blessed to work only a block from each other, so carpooling is obvious. It is the best in the morning because we get to ride together, I can do my make-up and drink coffee while he drives and all the while we save gas, car mileage, etc. On a side note, the application of make-up and the drinking of coffee are my dear husband’s two least favorite activities of mine. Throughout the duration of our traffic-filled mornings, I am repeatedly reminded that there is no reason for me to apply “that goop” to my face because in fact, I am beautiful and “ wasn't beat with the ugly stick” and that the “gut rot” I am drinking can only be one step short of sheer poison. These remarks usually just make me roll my eyes, laugh and give him points for truly caring about my self-esteem and my well-being. 

Okay now, back to carpooling…The mornings are great; however, it is NOT the best in the afternoons. Why? Because although it makes perfect sense to ride home together, since we are going to the same place, it saves gas and saves the environment or the whales and all that, I unfortunately have the task of waiting around from 3:30pm-5pm for Jordan to get done with work. Now don’t get me wrong, carpooling is an excellent idea and normally, I am extremely inventive at coming up with things to do while I wait until that magic five o’clock hour. I go shopping at Ross across the street, I go to Starbucks and apply for summer jobs or call my family and friends, I hang out in my “clubhouse,” AKA the third floor break-room at J’s work or I steal his gym key and workout on the second floor. The unfortunate thing is that when it is in fact blizzarding outside, I have blood sugar that is much too low to run, the internet is not working in my “clubhouse” and I have no spare change to spend on Starbucks at the moment…carpooling seems evil. Thus, I am writing about the joys and grumbles of married life on Microsoft word as I listen to the overly-obnoxious vending machine whir and look out at the snow, begrudgingly wishing that I could speed up time or take a nap. I plan to paste this into my blog when internet eventually becomes available again, or we go home. 

I suppose in life, and in marriage as I am always learning, you have to sometimes make sacrifices and do things that are not your favorite for the good of the “team.” So while this player on the team has to sit around and wait, the other player on the team works so hard for the money that provides for the former little grumpy player, which I guess means I should stop whining. Anyway, I’m looking out the window at the snow again and thinking Fettuccine Alfredo is in order for dinner tonight to cheer me up from my boring afternoon, and hey look, it’s already ten til five….