Pie Time and Nathan's Birthday

These past couple of weeks have been insanely busy! On the 17th, I hosted an amazing party for Nathan's 30th birthday, complete with awesome decorations, a tasty cake from Billy and Vanilly (peanut butter pie cake, thank you very much) and all of his close friends and family around. Don't believe me? Well, I have photographic evidence on just how awesome the party was below...

 Us at the Casbah. 

 

Just a sampling of the decorations. Everything said "30", just in case Nathan's old man brain forgot how old he was ;-)

The amazing cake that weighed at least 20 pounds. 

The awkward panoramic view of the group, resulting in at least 2 heads looking squished. 

Probably my favorite part of that weekend was that we got to spend it with our favorite people, including my oldest, and arguably most awesome friend, Sarah. This chick drove down all the way from Minneapolis just to see us, which I'm sure is no easy drive considering the only thing to look at for 7 hours is farmland, McDonald's and the occasional roadkill.

Us out being two foxy ladies. It comes naturally. 

The night was a success because it consisted of Nathan's 3 favorite things: his friends and family, beer, and cake. The morning after the party was over, we scarfed down a coma-inducing breakfast at First Watch, and then we had to say goodbye to Sarah and get ready for birthday celebrations: part 2. Since Nathan's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, we decided to go out with my family to Nathan's favorite restaurant/brewery, Freestate, the night before Thanksgiving. This was also when Nathan received all of his presents and we (of course) ate more cake.

Nathan's second cake. Yes, that is the most awesome picture of him with the caption of "Ermehgerd I'm 30."

Before we went out to dinner Wednesday night for Nathan's birthday though, I first had to help my mom out with some Thanksgiving pies. One thing you should know is my mom's apple pie is the best apple pie known to exist. People cry when they taste my mom's apple pie....well, not really, but every does agree that it's amazing. This year I helped, hoping to get closer and closer to completing my own pie someday.

Pie 1 of 3 complete. Deliciousness. 

 In between pie making, I also marveled at how my 6 year old nephew, Ayden, knows more about iPhone apps than I do. We also took pictures.

Ayden and I both smiling. Seeing how this looks unnatural, we decided to take a photo with the face we usually make. 

There we go. Much more natural.
 

I'm sure by the time that kid is 10 he'll be showing me how to use the hottest tech gadget, and I'll be fumbling around with it like a monkey trying to figure out how to tie shoes. Either way, I'll still like being his only aunt who kisses and hugs him in front of his friends while he pushes me off and tells me I'm annoying him (get used to it kid, I'm around for LIFE). 

Married to a distinguished gentleman

So lately, life has been pretty crazy, hence the laziness with the blog. I've been working out 4-5 days a week (I finished a half marathon in October, and my goal was not to be lazy after in case I want to do another), trying to figure out this "full time wife" thing, and working (also full time, but it could be argued that it's much easier).

Finishing the KC Half Marathon. What a bitch.

Nathan (my husband) and I got married a little under 2 1/2 years ago, and up until September of this year, he had been on the road or in the air traveling 50-60% of the time. I used to get the question a lot of how I liked him being gone, and I would always respond, "well, it gives me my "me" time so it's not so bad" or "it's fun having girls nights," but that was just me looking on the bright side of things (very uncharacteristic of me).

Now that he's been home (almost) every night for the past 2 months, I don't know how I ever got by. Even little things, like taking out the dogs or helping out with the laundry make me realize how much I'm glad he's home. Don't get me wrong, we're like any other married couple that gets on each other nerves, but I would much rather him be home and us bicker rather than us having a polite conversation 5,000 miles away (or less/more). Now that he's home I have a reason to cook, clean, and attempt to appear somewhat presentable.

Which brings me to my latest "why I haven't blogged" excuse. In just a week and a half, I will no longer be able to refer to myself and my husband as a "20-something couple" because my husband will officially be THIRTY!

Us after the Color Run 5k this October

Yep! I know, right? He looks like he's 12. We look like we just graduated high school. Wait, we're married?! We look so young! I've gotten all of those comments and more. Truth is, my husband just knows how to age gracefully....by not aging at all. Our future children will look like they've been drinking from the fountain of youth, and it will all be thanks to Nathan's genes. Really, I know we'll appreciate it someday, but I still get seriously annoyed with some of the comments he gets when we go out. He's 30, show some respect for the old man! 

Throwing a party has proven to be a seriously time-consuming task, as I am faced with lots of decisions. No one wants to be the wife that threw the crappy 30th birthday party, so I've got to amp it up this year and make it his biggest birthday yet. So bring out the awesome cake, unforgettable atmosphere, and rediculous gifts because I will NOT be defeated by my lack of planning, poor judgment, and overall indecisiveness. Awesome pictures will be posted after. You just see.

Work, Life, Love and the Pursuit of Balance

So I guess this is where I write...which will definitely be a new "thing" for me. Writing was always the one thing I've never particularly enjoyed, but if other people are doing it, why not me? I can hear someone saying now, "if everyone were jumping off a bridge would you do it?" but let's get real, I can differentiate blogging from jumping off a bridge. Blogging is much safer....maybe.

First off, I think this blog will just be all over the place, which is fitting because that's how my life works. I'm a mid-twenties wife with two pugs, a full time career and a wonderful husband. Usually the first thing people know about me is my husband and my dogs, mostly because my husband is my best friend (cliche, but if he wasn't I wouldn't be married to the guy) and my dogs are like my children. Yes, I know real children are different than pugs, but since that's pretty far down on our "to-do list," as in, we'll get to it in like 3-5 years, they're my children right now. Don't like dogs? Well, I may question if you have a soul or not, but I'll respect your opinion.

Right now in this point we're in an "inbetween" phase of our lives where we've been out of school for awhile, we've been in our careers for a bit, but we have yet to dive completely into the adult pool. Don't get me wrong, paying bills can make anyone feel "adult-like" (in the least fun of ways), but I feel like until we start a family we'll still be able to grasp onto some remanants of being young and stupid.

Well, I think that's good for today. Have a good weekend everyone!