#54 He Lets Lucy In

"I Love Lucy" runs through my veins.  My younger brother Jonathan and I recite episodes back and forth to each other for fun.

No really, we do.

Our particular favorite scene to do is from the episode, "The Star Upstairs" where Lucy tries to convince the bellboy, Bobby, to help her meet the star who is hiding out in the penthouse of her hotel.  (Ps. The star is Cornel Wilde).

Also, anytime Jonathan calls and asks me, "Gaga, what you up to?",  I respond like this: "I'm up to my neck in housework!".  (A line Lucy once said to Ricky when she was trying to get him out of the house in order to coordinate a scheme).

Aside from random recitations, I've actually learned a lot of important life lessons from the famous redhead.  Here is list of some essentials.  To the die hard Lucy fan, these should make sense.  To others, they will simply make you wonder.

For the housewife:

• A real pioneer woman has no electricity, churns her own butter, bakes her own bread, and boils water for a hot bath. (But, I still love you Pioneer Woman!)
• A side of beef is a lot larger than a side of bacon, and there is never, ever a reason to order two.  
• Chocolates are fun to eat, not to make.
• Pizza dough is hard to twirl accurately.
• If you plan to trick your husband, be ready for him to trick you back. 

For women in general:

• A fake nose and hair wrap can be a great disguise.  But just remember, fake noses made of putty are flammable.
• Expensive designer dresses can easily be made out of burlap sacks.  It's so easy, even your husband can do it!  
• Two girls wearing the same dress can never be a good thing.  (Perhaps this is why bridesmaids have such a hard time getting along!).

In business:

• Business is best left done with strangers, not friends. 
• A million dollar idea might end up actually costing you a million dollars.

In travel:

• Cross country road trips should be planned out accordingly.  Certain routes and towns should always be avoided.
• Never pull emergency brakes on trains unless it is a true emergency requiring the train to stop at that very second.
• If you are going on a cruise and you miss the boat, you can catch up with the cruise ship by going out on a pilot boat.  If you miss the pilot boat, you will have to hire a helicopter.
• Proper pronunciation of Spanish words is essential.
• Moving to the country might be hard for city folk, but it's a great way to end a television series.

Bonus tip: If they won't give it to you, take it yourself.  Chase your dreams despite naysayers, lack of opportunity, or even, lack of talent.

#53 He Asks Me Out

A little whisper in my ear changed my life forever.

Ten years ago today, while standing in front of a locker that he had somehow convinced me to share with him, my hubby asked me to be his girlfriend.

I was sixteen going on seventeen.  He was seventeen going on eighteen.

He was my first, my last, my everything.

(Sorry to begin relating this story through song, it just fit so perfectly).

Summer, 2002

Ten years sounds so long.  When I say it, it comes out like this:

T    E    N        Y    E    A    R    S

Those words smack me in the head and say, "You're old".  So, I look in the mirror, and I see wrinkles instantly  forming and grey hairs sprouting.  

Then reality hits when I see couples who have been together twenty, thirty, and forty years.  Then, my ten years feels really small.  But not insignificant.      

I'm thrilled to have spent ten years loving my best friend.  Truly, what this day does is give me hope deep down that everyone could find their best friend to fall in love with.  I know it sounds crazy sappy, but doesn't knights on white horses and Prince Charmings seem a bit far fetched?  What every gal truly needs is just a best friend who they can love, appreciate, and care for.

That is what my hubby is to me, and I wouldn't ever ask for it any other way.

#52 He Likes The Beatles

There was a radio station that on its first day on the air played, "Here Comes the Sun" on continuous loop the whole day long.  I know because I spent a better part of that day driving around most of New Jersey with my older brother, Justin.

We thought the world was going to end.

Justin is two years older than me.  You might not know it upon first interaction with us.  After a few first dates with his future wife, she told him she was super excited to get to meet his older sister that he had talked a little about (that would be me...).  I guess he never said, "little sister".

Justin and I are complete opposites.  He's very gentle, quiet, and to himself.  He doesn't get into anyone else's personal business unless asked to.  On the other hand, I'm like an untamed animal running wild, my hands are in everyone's business whether I'm invited or not, and I'm, well, loud.

Justin, me, and a Thanksgiving turkey.  (The turkey is in the middle).

Growing up, we did everything together.  This wasn't too hard, because with a two-year age difference it's difficult to keep your lil sis out of your business.  Changes didn't begin to happen until he got his license.

He was never home.

As in, never ever home.

Our relationship changed pretty drastically in the course of a year.  We were still brother and sister.  Still loved each other.  But, we no longer spent a majority of our time together.  And that separated us just slightly.

Yet, here is the reason I love my brother Justin.  No matter how much he is away, no matter how far from me he might be, I know there is a section of his heart that has my name on it.

You see, the day we spent driving around New Jersey listening to, "Little darling, It seems like years since it's been here" over and over again, he had his license, but I didn't.  He escorted me to a variety of places of my choice, without complaining.  In fact, it might have been his idea.  And this was all simply because I needed to go to the community college so I could sign up to take classes during my senior year of high school.

It was my senior year of college when he really impressed me with his loyalty.  I found a new appreciation for life after a near fatal car accident on my way back to college left my beautiful Mercury Mountaineer flipped on its side and, needless to say, totaled.

Without hesitation, Justin offered to take me car shopping.  A small gesture to some, but not typical Justin behavior at all.

The best kind of people are those that when you need them, or even when you don't know that you need them, they're there.  Justin is one of those good people.  He doesn't overwhelm you with his presence, but will show up in an instant when needed.

He's a pretty good model of a big brother.  I think I'll keep him.  

#51 He Carves Our Names

I know, I haven't posted in a while.  Blogger changed the dashboard (what I see when I post) and I've been lazily putting off getting used to the new look of things, which meant, no new posts.

Pathetic, I know.

Two weekends ago my hubby asked me if I'd like to go 'hiking' and have a picnic.  To me, that meant we were going to take a little walk and then spread out our picnic in a picturesque place to eat.

Even when he mentioned hiking trails I still wasn't convinced it was going to be serious walking.

Even when he looked down at my sandal-ized feet and said, "You're not going to wear sneakers?", I still wasn't believing it.

So, we headed towards an undisclosed location.  I can't specify where because of the ridiculousness that follows.

We found a nice Park Ranger Lady and asked her if we were in the right place and where the hiking trails were. She gave us a paper map and pointed to the direction we should head.  She told us to go right to get to the river and go left to find the hiking trails and a creek.

I won't tell you who made the choice to go left.

This is what we came upon first:

In case I haven't mentioned this before, I have a secret desire to one day own a farm.  That said, I was loving this view.  In fact, I would have been perfectly content to sit down right in front of that barn and have our picnic and call it a day.

Hubby, however, was intent on eating waterside.  Also, he was pretty convinced that my barn was on an area of the map marked private property.

There was supposed to be an obvious hiking trail at this point.  There was a trail, which we proceeded to follow, but I'm still convinced it was not an intentional hiking trail.

(Oh, and yes, at this point my sandals were dusty and many rocks had found their way underneath my foot).

We walked for about twenty minutes, were continuously picking ticks off one another, then finally decided that we might never find this mystical creek Park Ranger Lady had spoke of.  It was when we came upon a deserted area that had a circle of old tires laid out on the ground that we decided it would be smart to turn around.  Who knows what had happened or was going to happen there.

As we came back to the barn we stopped to observe this tree.

 After recognizing it was covered with inscriptions from lovers in love, I gave hubby the eyes, and he did this:

He's so romantic.


Luckily, unlike our supposed creek, the river was not twenty minutes away from civilization, but rather only about five.

The second we found it we plopped onto the ground to eat.

And then we went home.

 The end.