on being dynamic

Me: You're a weirdo. 

Nick: Me? Why?

Me: You just went from "Wagon Wheel" to Ghostface Killah.

Nick: I'm not weird. I'm dynamic.

they're expensive, too

Sometimes, when I see my husband and his twelve year old sister playing together, I feel pretty guilty about not wanting kids. He'd be a fantastic dad: really fun and patient and hands on.
Then I remember that I teach children for a living, and at the end of the school day, want nothing more than to be away from children and around adults. Then I feel OK again. He doesn't really want to be a dad anyway. Too much work.

ew, babies

My husband just told me that now would be the best time for us to have kids. Something about our schedules allowing someone to always stay home with the baby.

I'm totally freaked out. Who the F is this guy? My uterus is on lock.

cigarettes and candy

Me: Potato chips?
Nick: You can have some.
Me: No. You walked up to the store and bought potato chips? And beer?
Nick: I bought other things. Cigarettes and candy.
Me: (blank stare) Who are you?
Nick: Don't write about this. Are you writing about this? I know what you're doing.

getting medieval on your sleep

I'm starting to really like my new medieval sleep schedule.

I come home from work at 4 and sleep until 8. Then I stay up to plan for school, watch TV and goof off on the computer until 2 or 3 in the morning. I get in one more round of sleep until 7:45, throw on some vaguely professional looking clothes, and head off to school.

My favorite part? I get to see my husband when he gets home from working nights.

stupid boat

We're watching some stupid Travel Channel show about boats while I lesson plan for tomorrow (first day of the new semester with new students, hooray!). All of a sudden, Nick says, "That stupid boat's kitchen is better than ours. ...Fuck that boat."

I look up, and it totally is. So... like he said, I guess. Yeah.

Back to plotting on how to make twelve year old boys think my class is all about violence and war. Boom! Crash!

the butterfly effect

There's nothing like finally seeing a movie you didn't see to make you EXTRA happy you didn't marry the guy you didn't marry (or go to see that movie with).

Boy, did I dodge a bullet!

Happy New Year, and thank God for my husband!

a brief re-cap of the last month

I haven't posted in a while.

That's because in the last month, I have:

• moved back into my grandma's house from my parents'
• turned thirty
• received a visit from the Hubs
• finally won a callback for a job interview
• been called and interviewed for then offered another job the day before that interview
• accepted the job and started the next day as Kramer Middle School's new seventh grade social studies teacher
• given up on my PhD(?)
• struggled with my husband's decision not to evacuate for Hurricane Isaac
• watched a relative take most of the furniture from my grandmother's living room, where I grew up
• staged a counter-attack my body's fight against its new sleep and work schedule
• been signed in to the DAR
• fought with my husband incessantly about him returning to D.C.
• received a salary offer that's $10,000 too low
• ignored a thirteen year old's question "Why are you dressed like a fucking whore?"
• pre-qualified for a mortgage loan
• realized that my hair is falling out - literally in handfuls

So I've been busy. I promise to do a better job of writing, and going places/doing things to write about. Because I can't be captive to the classroom. Or my soulless, empty living room. Or my husband's phone calls.

I can't be.

you love some, you lose some

I'm thinking a lot about love and loss today, and wanted to post a photo of two of the loves of my life. I miss my grandmother every day.

KT duct-taped the hem into my husband's pants on our wedding day.

The other one? This city. I'm so glad to be home.

dropping off the hub-hubs

I dropped el esposo back off at the trailhead where he left off his hike, in the tiny town of Pen Mar, right on the (surprise!) PA-MD border.

Literally. Right on the border.

I don't understand why he's so happy out here wandering off into the woods. And I have to admit to resenting him more than just a little for leaving me out here in the real world with all of the responsibilities while he traipses along in the woods.

But look at that smile. That big, stupid smile means I can suck it up for a week.

And he waves goodbye.

Bye, Nick. See you on Thursday.

the hike begins!

This morning, I woke up at 6:00 to drive my husband and his best friend from middle school out to the end of I-66. They've wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail since they were little, and life circumstances have generously allowed both of them ten days free to hike their first segment.

I dropped them off at Chester Gap, and they hope to make it to the Maryland-Pennsylvania border by the 21st. I'm not looking forward to being sans husband for ten days - despite his being a major distraction from establishing any kind of research schedule in the last week - so I plan to meet them for dinner at their halfway stop in Harpers Ferry.

Here's how I left them today - clean and smiling. Let's see what the next week brings.

I'm going to burn those camo shorts when he gets home.

a truly DMV day

OK, so I can't even put all of today's awesomeness into words. (I just went back to read this after I finished, and clearly I can put today into words. Lots of words.)

I got a late start, thanks to the bottle of wine from our wedding. But I picked my baby sister up from her last day of the year at my high school (okay, our high school) at 12:15. I hung around for a while to chat with my favorite teacher and a former classmate who is now a teacher there. I told my sister she could have lunch anywhere she wanted as a "hooray, you finished your sophomore year" treat. And of course the little girl says Chick and Ruth's in Annapolis.

Have you ever had a Chick and Ruth's crab cake? They are amazing.The guy in the visitor's center scoffed when we said Chick and Ruth's had the best crabcake of all time, but when I explained to him that I just moved back from New Orleans, where they put dill and green peppers in their crabcakes, he was aghast. "Go to Chick and Ruth's already!" he said. Done.

Crabcakes, chili fries, pickles and unsweet tea? Um, heaven. Sign me up for round two. Then Libs and I started an African-American history walking tour of downtown Annapolis, but gave up when we realized we'd just missed the Banneker-Douglass Museum. We compensated by getting ice cream and candy from Kilwin's, then headed back to my folks' house in Suitland.

I surprised my sister by stopping in a mega-church's parking lot on the way home. She just got her learner's permit, and my parents refuse to let her drive their manual transmission car. So I taught her the basics in my 1990 Honda Civic. I was so impressed with how quickly she picked it up, until she forgot to push the clutch in as she came to her first stop, and plowed my car into a "parking for church elders only" sign.

Thank God my car is old enough to drink.

She regained her composure, though, and redeemed herself (and my clutch) with a few pretty successful drills of buying me imaginary curly fries in the drive-through lane of an abandoned Arby's. We got home just as our folks returned from work. My dad decided that celebration dinner was in order; my sister declared that it was pho night. There aren't a whole lot of Vietnamese restaurants in P.G. County, so we headed over to Fairfax, near where my husband grew up, and grabbed dinner. My mom hates pho, so watching her navigate the menu is always hilarious.

We picked up my husband from dinner with his mom nearby, and after picking up my car at my folks', we headed to the Revivalists' show at Velvet Lounge. Did I mention in my post about the show how incredible they are? SO. GOOD. While Nick sat and made friends/scouted for jobs at the bar, I walked down the street to 7-Eleven.

Let's talk about 7-Eleven. They don't have them in Louisiana. I was raised on a diet of Coke Slurpees, chili cheese half-smokes and Jamaican beef patties: what? my parents were busy people. I recently discovered that I was allergic to wheat, but there are two foods in the world I will never give up, despite what wheat they may bring: fried chicken and Jamaican beef patties. Do you know how long it's been since I had a beef patty? So I marched down to the 7-Eleven on U Street, and got two. The best part? The almost-skeevy dudes who hit on me on the way down were so clearly college educated, and respectful. Could I have done without the attention? Hell yes. But were they really nice, really interesting guys? Hell yes. It's D.C. What else would they be?

I got back as the show was over, and drove El Hubs back to his mom's house in Fairfax, since he's got a meeting with a friend out here early in the morning. But as I sit here eating this Kilwin's crab claw (cashews, caramel and milk chocolate), I realized that today is the kind of day that I could only have in D.C. Three states, one day, nothing but awesome.

I have been unhappy for a long time. And by a long time, I mean five years. Which is exactly how many years I lived in New Orleans. I loved my life today in a way I haven't loved my life since I left. Nick keeps asking, "Are you drunk? Are you OK to drive?" 

Boo-boo, I had two ciders. I just love being home. I'm OK to drive here for the rest of my life.

our first anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary today. In characteristic fashion, we did not-so-special things that feel awfully special to us, since we can't couldn't do them in New Orleans.

What does that mean? Lunch at Chipotle. A trip to the zoo. Dinner at Tony Cheng's Mongolian barbecue. Dessert and drinks at Old Ebbitt Grill (he was too full for oysters, sadface).

I love the prairie dogs!

Tearing it up at Mongolian barbecue

But most importantly, we had our first meeting with a realtor. She was beyond lovely - she's a keeper. The one. Our realtor. A far cry from the other realtors I've contacted, who don't return my phone calls or emails. I couldn't think of a better way to spend our first anniversary. The whole way home, Nick has been saying over and over, "We're going to be homeowners" and beaming. It's all pretty exciting stuff. Now, we're kicked back on the couch with a bottle of wine we saved from our wedding. You know, since eating year-old freezer cake is gross.

To my husband: May the brightest days of our past be the darkest days of our future. I love you.

He tripped over the broom the first time. This is take two.