Seks år i dag (Six Years Today)

Hello there.

We're actually in Seville right now.  Right now. As you are reading this! The internet told me that I should get Paul a present that was wood, iron, or candy.  So I got him Spain.  I'm sure you can follow that logic.

But I thought I'd schedule this little notice to go up on our sixth anniversary, even though we're away.

Because this is something that should be noted.  I have been officialmente married to Paul for six years, officialmente partners for seven and a half years, officialmente friends for eleven years,  Muy officialmente romantico aaaaaaand that fake Spanish is going to stop now.

(I can't help it.  Because Spain.)

But seriously though, I don't get serious on this here blog because it's all public and junk.  I guess I just want to say that, well, I'll never be able to adequately say what Paul means to me (cliche.  always try and always sound so cliche.)  But, what I do know is that anyone who ever actually sees us together knows a bit what I'm trying to say.

We're just real good together, you know?  Paul is my best friend - and you can tell when you see us. Paul is the handsomest human to walk the earth - and you can tell when you see me look at him.  We're a team, we got each other's backs.  We respect each other's dreams and feelings and opinions and don't try to squash each other into stereotypes or expectations.  We're real, complex, human individuals to each other - we fascinate each other.  We just get it.  We're good at us.

So, six years.  Best six years of my life, you know.

Paulless and Architecture and Grapes and Random Title

Welp.

Paul is off in Germany to float around in a space suit 20 meters below sea level and tie knots underwater with his eyes closed.

Fun fact/side-note: Don't volunteer to help someone you love study for their commercial diving exam when they want you to quiz them on all the horrible, horrible medical emergencies that can kill them at 20 meters below sea level.

Just don't do it.

Otherwise...I'm just sittin' here...bored as heck...in the silence...thinkin' about "Pulmonary Barotrauma."

On a slightly interesting and distracting note, I went to an interview today.

It went okay.

They were super nice and the company is perfect and I would do anything to have this position because I would love it to the end of the world and back but I think I blaaaaaaabbered too much and they didn't like the fact that I would be commuting four hours a day for them which is nice but hey I knew what this was when I picked it up ya know and ................. (that's shorthand for more blabbering). At the end they said that there were 125 applications submitted and I laughed...really loud (and then I said, "Well that's fantastic for you!").  But, they had a real nice fruit tray out for the interview so at the very least I got some free grapes for writing that kickin' cover letter.

Anyway, other than free grapes, I was also happy to go to this interview because it was in the Ørestad!  Never heard of the Ørestad?  Neither had I before I read a very amusing book called "How to Be Danish" where, in the chapter about famous Danish design and architecture(Sydney Opera House, anyone?), they talk a lot about this urban experiment called Ørestad where a bunch of fancy architects were pretty much allowed to just dream it, man.

And they did.  Boy did they.  So you take the train to the middle of what feels kind of a little bit like nowhere and then BOOM you get a street lined with buildings like this...

There was also a very, very nice shopping center.  I bought a small pack of gum.  It cost $5.  This was normal.

Engageversary 2014

Numbah six.  On Saturday

As Paul joked, "It's been six years since I didn't ask you to marry me!"

(Because he didn't.  It created a humorous and awkward moment.  Man on knee with ring, expecting an answer to the sentence "I would be honored to be your husband."  My non-answer was, literally, the action thumbs up, man!)

As traditional, we went to the beach.  This time as part of a surprise trip into Jutland to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Jelling and then on to the city of Aarhus on the Baltic Sea.

Black Dot Days are pretty great.  Even better when it is one's Engageversary.

Fancy Rune Stones in Jelling.  

Fem År

Today is our fifth anniversary.

I don't have much to say about that here because there's too much to say about it.

This year was one where we planned the celebration together (rather than taking turns like in the other four).  And we've kind of outdone ourselves this time, I think.  It will be hard to top in the future, let's just say.  At this rate, our 25th will have to be a trip to the moon.  

But, that particular part of the celebration actually won't start until next week.  For today, we just woke up together and went for a long walk in the park at 8am.  Maybe we'll rent a movie from the library.  We'll go out to dinner (mostly so I have an excuse to wear those regular-ol' boring black nylons I got at the department store that ended up costing $35.  Come ON, Denmark!).  

We'll just enjoy being together.  It's what we're good at.

5th Engageversary

Friday was our 5th Engageversary.

On March 8, 2008, we were alone on a hidden beach in Oregon.  Paul's knees were wet, I was still a little
     carsick from driving through forested backroads, but we were pretty cheery all the same.

On March 8, 2009 and 2010 and 2011 we went back to that same beach.  The first year, in a fit of romantic
     insanity straight out of some 18th century novel, I thought it would be a memorable idea to both drink a
     bit from a waterfall near the cliff where we first got engaged.
            "Come on Paul!  It's, like, a testament to our love!" I said, as the water trickled down off the edge of        
                   a giant cow pasture.  
     We didn't get giardia, so win!

On March 8, 2012, we went to Warnemunde beach in Germany.

And on March 8, 2013, we went to Kerteminde beach in Denmark.  This year won, hands down, for face-
     smacking coldness, but we still went.  We still walked.  We still took pictures.  And we still have our
     tradition!  Because when you make up a word like "Engageversary" just because you want an excuse to
     say the phrase "testament to our love" and drink cow pasture water... you have to follow through on that.

So now March 8 always means beaches.  And if we ever live somewhere that is more than a ten hour drive away from a beach, we will find a sandbox, fill part of it with water, and walk back and forth across it.  We're not crazy, we're just sort of stubborn.  And romantic.

So Cool It's Not Cool

So, Paul came home yesterday.  And I asked him aaaaaalllllll about his adventures.

And then he was like, "You know that one night we got a tour of the Museum of Natural History?"

And I was like, "Yeah..."

And then he was like, "We ate there!"

And I was like, "Whoa!  Neat!"

And then he was like, "Guess where I ate in the museum?"

And I was like, "...The cafeteria...?"

And then he was like:

And then I was like, "THERE IS NO WORD TO DESCRIBE THE JEALOUS RAGE I AM IN RIGHT NOW!"

And then he was like, "But...I brought you some whoppers?...?"

Four: A Nice Sturdy Number

17 September 2008

Paul and I have been married for four years, as of today.

Four sounds nice, doesn't it.  Fouuur.  It just sounds like a good, hearty, solid number.  True, in German, it comes out something like "fear" (vier), which isn't so nice...so we're just going to ignore that and stick with the English for now.

We're going exploring today--one of the things we do best.  And we'll probably eat some pancakes at some point, because who doesn't want pancakes on their anniversary? (no one)  We're also going to eat at the fancy French restaurant around the corner because our gift to each other this year was a pair of plane tickets to Paris in November.

Turns out that Paris in mid-September is "the most expensive and crowded time anyone could possibly visit."  And right about the time we read that, Thanksgiving on the Seine started sounding super romantic.

You know, wedding anniversaries...they're important and everything, but sometimes I feel like they're a bit arbitrary.  Almost as if they are days to help our families and friends keep track of our commitment rather than for us to mark "THE DAY" (that something...was supposed to change?)  Well...the thing is...there was no huge change in our feelings or relationship to each other between the day before we got married and the day after.

We were already married before we were married, so to speak.

So, around this time of year, I find myself thinking of other anniversaries--other days that marked even bigger moments between us, that not many (if any) other people even knew about.

One example?  Well, I met Paul almost exactly nine years ago, when I was 19 years old.  I was sorting old manuscripts in the library archives and he came through with our boss to be introduced as the newest employee.

Or, there's the day five years and one month ago, when we were sitting on the porch of a little rental cabin in Oregon at 3am and Paul said, "You know...I feel like I could ask you to marry me right now.  Is that crazy?"  And I said, "Nope."

So, I guess September 17th, and maybe all wedding anniversaries, don't have to be just about that single marriage ceremony...Maybe a better way of thinking about it is realizing that they can act as a symbolic celebration days for all the anniversaries within each relationship.

With that, then, Happy Fourth (Fifth, Fifth and a Half, Sixth, Six and a Quarter, Sixth and a Half, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth) Anniversary to us!

This Is A Real Letter

Today, Paul.  


As in, just five minutes ago (though, technically, it could have been thirty minutes or an hour ago, it's all very unclear), I reached a level of culinary mastery that very few people ever aspire to, let alone achieve.

I have just succeeded in burning three boiled eggs to little, blackened, exploded, crispy, carbonized balls of ash.

I know, I know--what a marvelous thing.

Subsequently, I have lost all desire towards using the oven or stove or, in fact, entering the kitchen for any reason at all in the forseeable future.  This is, of course, because my mortal eyes cannot withstand the glory of my prowess that still glows brightly therein...also it smells like campfire and sour milk and ozone.

So perhaps, in celebration of my culinary achievement tonight, we could make a visit to our esteemed Edeka Grocer for no fewer than five Oreo Milka Chocolate Bars and then parade onwards to our Doberaner Kebab Shop where we will toast my bright, bright, ruined-saucepan future with some lamb-meat pitas and a shared bottle of schorle.

Triumphantly,

Heidi

Engageversary the Fourth

Four years ago, on a deserted beach on the Oregon coast, this happened:

And then, approximately six months later, this happened:

So now, every March 8, we try to do a traditional Engageversary celebration by going on a beach walk.  

And this year, this happened:

Happy International Women's Day!

(And our 4th Engageversary)

Because this video is so amazing I can hardly stand it, I'm sharing it here.  Let's take five minutes to be grateful for the Women's Suffrage Movement, Alice Paul, Henry Burn, the creative workings of Lady Gaga, and the folks who made this awesome parody of the "Bad Romance" music video.

I can't stop watching this!  I just can't!  It gets better and better each time!

Nothing to Report

I love this archive photo I found of our neighborhood.  It doesn't look any different today.

Nothing to report from Camp Hunn this evening.

We're playing a fun game called, "How Long Can We Last Before We Turn the Heaters On."  It's part of this equally fun game called, "How Many Ways Can We Save Money?"

SO FUN, right?!

So, we've dug the trenches, pulled out all three blankets we own, and have decided to warm our hands on cups of tea and our feet on each other.  That's how marriage works, didn't you know?

We All Know Why You're Here

"So chic.  So mod.  So...Aqua."

You keep coming back, waiting to see more pictures of The Handsome.

Especially the final prints from the time we did our traditional "New Apartment Abercrombie-Style Photo Shoot" for Aquahaus.

It's only our second time doing the traditional New Apartment shoot.  The first time was Windy Corner in Coos Bay, where the creative theme was "brown." Which...wasn't so creative.  My muses were stifled!

First Traditional New Apartment Shoot (2008)
Blerrrrg Brown

But in Aquahaus, we transcended the banal.  We discovered the magnificence of art.  We captured the essence of...Aquaaaaaaahhhhh.

And Paul's totally going to freak out that I put that last picture in here.  But just remember!  I'm your Treasure Mouse, okay?
  

We Are Romantic

Paul's checkin' me out.  Ha ha!  Nerd joke!

Yesterday Paul asked me out on a date.  It went like this:

"Blah blah words in German blah blah German German?"

And then I said, "I have no idea what you just said."

And then he said, "Fewer words in German on a Date some more German with me, eating fried foods?"

And I said, "Ja!"

Today, we went on our date.  It went like this:

::walk to what's left of the Christmas Market booths::

::see they are closed::

::walk home::

So, instead, we had a Grilled Cheese Sandwich Contest for dinner.

I made a mozzarella-tomato-tilsitzer on wheat.  Paul made a, I kid you not, a tilsitzer and raspberry jam sandwich.  Which actually didn't taste nearly as terrible as it sounds--points for creativity!

Then we watched episodes of the Amazing Race from five years ago (because you can buy those for cheap) and got into a very long (2 hour) "discussion"...which is as close as we get to a "fight."

They sound something like this:

"Love, sometimes I feel as if maybe our communication is slightly like __(insert very long metaphor)____ and I would like to talk about how we can find a solution to this problem."

"Excellent point, beautiful.  Though perhaps it is more like __(equally complicated metaphor)_____.  I was thinking that perhaps we could maybe try _________.  Do you have any other suggestions that I might implement in my own actions?"

Seriously, we sound like an HR video called, "Dealing with Conflict in a Professional Atmosphere."

We are very weird.

And very romantic.

Now we're going to kiss.

2011: A Retrospective

This was quite the red-letter year for us.  

Paul presented at SICB and I got laid off, then un-laid-off, then laid off, then un-laid-off again (yay!  take that budget cuts!) at SSNERR.

I got bangs and Paul more or less moved into a permanent, sexy-lumberjack, man-scruff look (Except for those three months when he grew "The PhD Beard").

We reached our goal for having a six-month emergency savings fund and our little coastal town got slightly hit by the tsunami from Japan.

In May, we both flew out to Germany so Paul could interview for the Max Planck Institute and I could play the employment field for a possible job.

Paul was offered the job.  I was offered part-time work.  And we agreed to take that six-month emergency savings fund and use it to move to Europe and travel.

Paul became Dr. Paul and we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary! (In style: On a Northwest Tour Extravaganza)


My sister got married in October and had the best reception (and bouquet) I've ever seen in my life.


Paul turned 30 (!!) and we celebrated in the Czech Republic and spent Thanksgiving in Turkey.  I found out that I was accepted into Penn State's MGIS program (woo! but...expensive!).

We moved into Aquahaus, in the old-city neighborhood of Rostock, which served as our base for an awesome first German Christmas.

I'm so incredibly grateful for everything we've been able to do and see this year, and especially that we have each other.  Paul is everything wonderful in the world and he tells me that I'm pretty cool too--I think I'm just cool by association then.  All in all, I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be The Year of the Hunn.   

Happy Silvester (as it's called here) to you and we hope you have a good slide (as they say here) into the New Year!

Last Night at the Aquahaus

The Classiest Christmas Wish You've Ever Seen

And to all a classy, classy good night.

Christmas Traditions

This is our first Christmas on our own, away from our families.  And, even though we'd both like to see them all, there have been a lot of good things about having this time just to ourselves.

We've been able to start thinking about what traditions we want to have for our own separate little family.  And so, even though we don't know which ones will stick in the long run, it seems as if everything we've done for Christmas this year has an extra special significance as "the first time we..."

It was the first time we got a bunch of real live mistletoe and hung it in our kitchen.  It was the first time we decided how to decorate a Christmas tree (with small souvenirs from our travels around the world).  It was the first time we made plates of cookies for our own neighbors.  It was the first time that Paul started reading each stave of The Christmas Carol leading up to Christmas Eve, with just us listening.  

I wonder how German culture will affect our family traditions now, since our "first times" for so many of these things happened here.  

All different styles of the glowing  Bethlehem stars
so popular here.

For example, we have a frozen, butchered duck in our freezer right now because we want to make a traditional German poultry dish on Christmas day (goose or duck)--and I think it would be nice to do the same thing every year.  

We put treats (or a bouquet of flowers in my case) in each other's shoes on St. Nicholas' Day on December 6--and I think it would be fun to celebrate it every year now. 

It would be fun to make kartoffelpuffers every year as a treat (big, flattened tater tots with applesauce), because that was my favorite thing to eat at the Christmas Market here.  

I want to light candles for each Advent--something that was practically unheard of in my Mormon childhood, and have candles in my windows and a glowing German star-of-Bethlehem hanging on my porch.

I'm sure we'll keep a lot of the things our families would do themselves for Christmas, but I'm really happy that we have so many more things to add now from our experiences here in the Christmas-Celebration-Mecca (hahh...that sounds funny) that's called Germany.

Third Lap. High Fives All Around!

(September 17, 2008)

Today is our third anniversary.  Let me tell you about what we're going to do together to celebrate!

Aaaaaabsolutely nothing.  Stupid continental separation...

It's not a total wash, though.  I had some nice young man in Germany bake and hand-deliver a gigantic chocolate cake to Paul's lab.  Booya!  Awesome Wife Points!  (+250!)

Also, there was that whole 'Two Week Farewell to the Northwest Extravaganza Anniversary Graduation Present" trip we took in August.  I know that I should just do what we did back then and say, 'Yay, that's our anniversary!'  But the thing is...today is our anniversary, and there's no way to get around that fact.

And I miss my husband who is nine time zones away from me.  NINE!  Count 'em.

I wish I could turn to him right now, give him a big hug, and start power-chanting, "Three more years!  Three more years!" in between kisses.

So, Paul, when you read this, know that I'm jumping up and down on the couch with my fists in the air, hollerin' and whoopin' and generally acting like Tom Cruise because I want you, the world,...and Oprah... to know that I love you!

And I always will.