For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with my florid and optimistically titled weekly newsletter, Josh and Lauren’s Happy Wonderful Life of Sunshine and Rainbows, I can’t blame you at all. My diction was a product of Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, and the extemporaneous quotes from Twain and Winnie the Pooh  didn’t help my cause.

Anyway, now that that bit of foolishness is out of the way, I can give you an update on our summer. As you know, unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’ve been working on Web Stuff at Clark Nikdel and Powell, and loving it.

I’m really getting into the rhythm of things, getting my groove on. There’s nothing more enjoyable than starting off your morning with a fresh batch of code and some awesome Irish Radio.

Only thing is, my 3-month internship is almost up. The guys at CNP have offered me part-time work after the internship ends, but with Lauren and I having Dreams of House-Ownership, some extra work is in order.

Which brings me to my primary search avenue: Craigslist.

Here’s the thing about the Lakeland Craigslist: about 3 entries come in for the Web Design market, oh, say, every two weeks.(Please, if you know someone who needs a website, do them a favor and introduce them to me. They’ll love you forever for it.)

These range from: “Uh, hey, I want a website, and stuff. On the Internet.” to: “We’re looking for a full-time employee with 5+ years experience minimum and full working knowledge of the following technologies: HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, ASP, .NET, C#, C++, Photoshop, Python, the General Theory of Relativity and the techniques of the Dutch Master Oil Painters of the Baroque Period.”

I’ve been over Craigslist so many times that I think it’s almost time to search the Internets for famously obscure relatives who will simply give me money.

In the meantime while my search continues, here are some gems from the Craigslist pages (absolutely not made up):

Pawnshop Associate!!
Must be able to pass background check and subsequently pass background checks on customers.

Woman 21-39 needed to help Infertile Couple- Earn $25000
And no, they’re not talking about just nannying the kid either.

Sports Forecaster $4,500 a month
“Well Jim, today I’m going to forecast that the Oilers beat the Canucks, the Braves beat the Marlins, and that tennis is still boring. And I’m outta here.”

Romance Professional
Calling all the Barney Stinsons and Mary Worths of the world.

Man Needed
To work as a bathroom attendant. Must have own tux.

Well, that’s it for now. Something will come along. It always does.

Today our marriage is one year and one day old.

We’ve done a lot, seen a lot, been through a lot.

The Wedding: the laughter, the party, the fun. The absolute terror of waiting before the walk down the aisle. I didn’t fully regain my appetite until about a week afterwards. I must’ve changed clothes about 5 times that day.

The Road Trip: the night in Savannah was great. It was pouring rain when we got there– we went to a pub on the waterfront. We dodged the rain and sloshed through the puddles. We walked the city the next day, stopping for photos, ducking in shops the get out of the heat.

When we left, Lauren left her purse at a McDonald’s on the road out and we didn’t realize it until South Carolina. Backtracked 400 miles that day.

The Mountains: I had to coax Lauren up to the fire tower. I think she only came up because she thought a bear was after us. The view from on top the mountain was worth it.

We white-water tubed in Deep Creek, got lost and found by some horsemen, and I was forever thinking that the key to the car would slip out of my shorts.

We met a cardinal named Rupert, who liked the back window. A lot.

I cooked the first steaks of my life (one of the acts of manliness), a little too done, but Lauren didn’t mind.

Moving Times: I don’t even know how we got all of our things in the world together in only a week or two.

Gainesville Days: our first little home. Lauren knows a lot more about what makes a home than I do, but we had some good practice. Cleaning together, cooking together, and enjoying life. I loved washing dishes to Irish radio.

Springtime: I always liked spring semesters better than the fall. It took a lot to weather out the cold winter in Gainesville, but a warm Christmas at home with family helped. We had our balcony garden, and Lauren was nannying again for Baby Audrey. I was just trying to find time between school and SNAP to find a job.

Graduation: I remember the blister Lauren got on her toe trying to follow me as I swished furiously toward the O’Dome on Graduation Day. I felt like Snape in those billowing black robes. I put an argyle orange-and-blue napkin on my cap. So they’d pick me out in the crowd.

Now: We’re home again. Well, sorta. Living with the Lears and the six dogs, working at CNP, teaching 4th grade in the fall, and wondering what the future will hold.

It’s amazing what all can happen in a year. I look forward to writing about the next one.  So the First Year Project continues…

I am officially one graduated son of a gun. It took a lot of pain, toil, sweat and tears (some of them mine) to get here, and I’ve finally finished it. I am a University of Florida alum.

The ceremony, for its part, was extremely boring. The ueber-nerds (6 of them) got fancy glass plaques (hooray?) to commemorate the four years they spent without a life, and then the rest of us (2,000 of us) marched across the platform, shook hands with some people, and then sat back down for the rest of the time. The temptation to give Bernie Machen a kiss on each cheek was terrible.

For those of you who endured the ceremony, thank you. I hope that the food at the party afterwards was enough to make up for it.

For those of you who got me through this whole college thing, I could not be more grateful. Mom, Dad, I’m looking at you. Thanks for supporting me these past 4 years.

For the one who helped get me through these last two semesters, I love you, and I’m so thankful God put us together. Thanks for the many times I’ve come to you with school stuff, and for all the help and advice you gave me.

And finally, for those of you who gave me Lowe’s gift cards, you people rock! I already ransacked the place and ran up eighty bucks worth on a box & saw combo, a hand sander, some lumber and a new strawberry plant for the balcony garden, which has become my obsession lately.

Here’s how it looked a few weeks ago:

And here’s what it looks like now:

It’s really come a long way already. The tomato plant is about three times bigger than it was, the basil seedlings are coming out of their pot, we added some lettuce (in the foreground), and we also planted some oregano, rosemary, and poppy flowers in an old Coca-Cola crate. And now strawberries. I’m having a lot of fun with this, and I’m sure Lauren would too if I ever let her do anything.

So, the real question is, what are we up to after this?

Well, the section of life we’re in for the next two weeks or so is what I like to term The Crazy Hiatus. In two weeks, I start a summer internship at Clark Nikdel and Powell in Winter Haven, and Lauren will be doing Publix and taking a class at PSC to get her teaching certification.

Right now, we’re scrambling to get boxes so that we can pack everything up, and we’ll probably start sneaking stuff home soon. I have some other comments on how things have been going, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s blog post, because this one is already way too l

Josh, italics (because he’s always in italics) Lauren, in regular font

So Lauren’s always talking what a green thumb she has. She’s such a Winter Haven girl like that. The way she talks, it’s like I would automatically kill anything I touch, although, in my defense, I was a miracle worker with marigolds in my youth.

Anyway, I thought that we wouldn’t get to witness Lauren’s gardening prowess for a while yet. We’re still in an apartment, we don’t own any land, and the proprietors here don’t like it when your start ripping up shrubs for banana squash. What I had forgotten is that we do have a balcony.

I don’t act like that!  Although, given a situation with a person from Lakeland and one from Winter Haven- most would side with the one from WH, agriculturally speaking.   Besides, I come from generations of farmers, ranchers and grove workers.  I figure I’ve got to have it in me.   But I have to admit, Josh has the whole “landscape” part of gardening down.  He’s got maps of a veggie garden, a flower garden, a chicken coop, and a bocce ball court! that we’d love to have on some property one day.

Our balcony garden started when my friend, Katie, gave me an extra tomato plant that she had. It was in a small pot and had a small green, leafy sprout. A Lowe’s trip was in order. And we already know Josh’s reaction to Lowes trips…

AYE! I done smacked down that toilet with me plunger. I do love Lowes. So many tools, and shiny things…

So we went there just for a bigger pot, and a pole for the tomato plant, and some potting soil, but things quickly escalated. Lauren spotted the seed racks, Bob’s yer uncle, and she’s got 20 different types of basil in her hands. And then she left me to collect pots and other accouterments for ‘em. 

But Babe, we needed those vegetable spikes to get healthy, plump tomatoes.

Well, here are a few pics I snapped as we sat on our balcony planting in our garden together.  

Yesterday was Josh’s 23 bday, and we had a great time.  We ate at Chili’s with good friends and family and then we all had brownie sundays for dessert and played games at our apt.  It was a grande evening.

And for Josh’s birthday, I posted a little homage to him on my tumblr and decided that same post needed to show up on First Year Project, too.

Lord of the Plunger

 

I love this man with all my heart.  And this picture is one of my very favorites of him.  He’s silly.  And I am so grateful to God for creating him and giving him to me as a husband and best friend.

So, in honor of Joshua’s 23 years, here is a list of some of my favorite things about him:

1.  He can’t wink- but he tries & ends up scrunching up his nose and blinking both eyes.

2.  He will seriously read a 500+ page book in two days, on top of doing work & school.

3.  He doesn’t mind washing dishes at all…and always takes out the trash.

4.  He wrote me a letter every week the first year we dated & were long distance.

5.  He has the prettiest blue eyes with yellow flecks.

6.  He is a mountain man- pieces of his heart are on the AT.

7.  He looks so SHARP in his JCrew suit!

8.  He was fully aware I’m crazy before marrying me and still did.

9.  He is fiercely loyal, even when friends aren’t very good to him.  Proud of him.

10.  He won a Disney Star Wars Trivia Game Show at Disney World.

11.  He owns a 500+ piece Lego model of the Millennium Falcon (prize from 10).

12.  He’s really excited about being a Dad to girls one day.  (and so am I).

13.  He has the best curly hair.

14.  He speaks German.

15.  He has this deep, sexy voice and his laugh is even better.

16.  He has a ba-jillion journals/ moleskin notepads in our apt.  They’re everywhere.

17.  He maintains about 4 different blogs.

18.  He is a badass web designer AND writer.  You should hire him.

19.  He has these really adorable wrinkles around the edges of his mouth when he smiles.

20.  He is a snob about his nose- he thinks it’s perfect.  (It’s a point of mockery- a lot).

21.  He’s got a pretty huge compassionate heart.  Limitless love in there.

22.  He’s also a lover and seeker of Justice- big time.

23.  He could tell you, in detail, every single battle that ever took place between two+ armies on the face of the earth.  Crazy man loves him some war history and non-fiction.

I love you, Joshua!  And for more reasons than these 23! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As usual:  Lauren- regular font,  Josh- italics (because he’s got mad parenting skills)

We became parents this past weekend.  Temporarily.  My friends MattE & Leslee went on a trip to Tennessee with several other couples, my parents included.  So, naturally, we came down to babysit.

However, it was the first time we’d babysat as a married couple for a long weekend.   I’ve watched the kids a couple days by myself, but I knew it would be very different with Josh.  For starters, he wasn’t familiar with their schedule.

Small screaming children are not my strong suit.

Friday was great- productive, scheduled, the kids had a blast.  Not too much t.v.  Played outside.  Got out of the house for dinner.  Everyone was mostly cheerful.  Anna, almost 3, was a little fussy…   only for Lauren.  She adored me.

We fell asleep, exhausted, that night. 

A night light in Nathan’s room, a night light in Anna’s room, and two bright monitors in my room.  bliss.

Oh, if only they were night lights instead of a PA system.  Friday night,  I was jolted out of a dead sleep by wailing and a loud “Miz LAWAN!”  I ran into Anna’s bedroom as fast as I could in the dark, not exactly knowing what was in front of me.   I soothed Anna into hiccups and small wimpers only to repeat this process 6 more times throughout the night.

I slept like a baby.

Somewhere in those 6 trips- I brought children’s ibuprofen.   Anna had been pulling at her ears, saying they hurt.  I couldn’t do anything for her until morning.  The next day we found out she had a double ear infection.   Thank the Lord, the neighbor was a doctor.  With a stethoscope and ear-infection checker at her house.  And antibiotics.

Double ear infections require strong medication.

Meanwhile, Josh was trying to figure out Nathan.

Oh, that child. Squirmiest thing on the planet. Found a way to spread his food to the floor at almost every meal. Scampered screaming from room to room all throughout the day. I could hear him from one end of the house to the other. Things got better after I figured out that he was deathly afraid of tickling.

That’s just a typical 4 year old boy.

All in all, it was a crazy, wild, mac and cheese and goldfish-infused weekend. Parts of it were a bit rough, but it was great to get some experience.

Not to mention, entertaining.  It was great to be with these two kiddos.

One chilly evening during our Christmas holidays, whilst in Winter Haven, Josh and I sat talking in my room.  Then Mama came flying through the door with a lot of “oomph.”  The house phone was to her ear, and her eyes were as big as saucers.

“You have GOT to come see your Daddy!  You’ll never believe what he did……”

And this was her tale:

Dad was chopping lighter knot in the yard – a norm for him during the winter.  The neighbors no longer fear the large man with a large axe.  (Lighter knot is a piece of pine, loaded with turpentine, that you can use to start a good fire with oak or other firewood…just one little piece and BAM! you’re set!)

Well, as Padre was hacking, a huge piece flew up and hit him in the mouth.  And left a HOLE in his lip.  Went clear through his lower lip and hit a tooth.

About this time in my mother’s story,  I heard my 6 foot 7,  grizzly bear of a father belly laughing down the hall.   We took this as a good sign.  He came in the house, hands cupped to his bloody gushing mouth, and swished some water in the bathroom to assess the damage.   The water came spurting out of the hole in his lip and drained down his chin and shirt.

I then turned to my mom, who was still on the phone, and asked “Are you on the phone with a doctor?”

“No.” She looked at me a little puzzled. “Verizon- The internet went out.”

That’s when I started laughing.

“Yeah, never mind Dad.”

“Are you kidding?” she said with a laugh.  “Only your Daddy…after 30 years…used to this sort of thing by now…he’s fine…so normal for him…”

The really great part is when my brother came in and put blood clot-er on Dad’s mouth that he uses to suture up the dogs on a hunt.  At least it wasn’t staples or super glue.

…And Josh says there’s more entertainment in Lakeland.

 

I hope you’ll pardon me for forgetting to write so very often recently. I blame finals, internship projects, and looking up Angry Birds walkthroughs on Youtube, in that order.

To placate the angry townsfolk who are lamenting my absence with torch and pitchfork, I offer these Yuletide photos along with my normal, particular vocabulary:

Here's the Christmas card that we didn't send to all of our friends and relations. Print us out! Put us on your fridge!

This is Aslan, Libby's newest friend/rival for my mother's heart. She's sweet.

Lauren gave me a train set for Christmas. BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER.

I’m back now, in a New Year. It hardly feels like a new one yet, because we had to drive back up to Gainesville on New Year’s Day so that Lauren could get to her Publix shift.

There’s a lot of newness to get through, though. Classes begin on Wednesday. I’m taking a killer lineup of two awesome classes on design and web development, and two snorers on “fact-finding” and “media law.” But hey, I only need to get a C to graduate, right?

In the time that I am not relentlessly devoting myself to my studies, the rest will be spent on work. I need a regular job, which I’ll get, but when I’m not doing that, I’ll be preparing myself to take on the world of web design.

I’ve already got a few local clients, but a dozen or so more never hurt a portfolio. If I can turn around a website in a week when the universe isn’t in my hair, I should be able to put out a few classy sites before graduation in May.

The to-do list includes: design, create, and maintain a portfolio site to show myself off, design some more sites, print some business cards, etc, etc.

This is my very last semester. Between school, work, and other work, it’s going to be one interesting ride.

 

I absolutely love Advent.  My friend Abby and I have had ongoing conversations about this season.  And Josh and I have taken up the tradition of the Jesse Advent Tree and book and all the ornaments that represent each day of Advent.  I love it.   And if you want to read a great post about the meaning of this hope infused season of longing, I suggest you click here.  Abby nails it.

But I simply wanted to share one of my absolute favorite poems, which is especially appropriate during Advent.

“Journey of the Magi,”  T.S. Eliot  

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

The French have a saying that I love- thanks to Dr. Buck for introducing me to it in boot camp at FL Southern.  The phrase is “le mot juste.”  It refers to the pin-point accuracy of a chosen word.  It means exactly the right word or expression.  Language is an art form, and I aim to even make writing research papers art by riddling over the perfect words necessary to convey a thought precisely.  Which is why I have insurmountable respect for people who have the presence of mind and brilliance to speak in such a way.

It’s a subtle intelligence- not huffy, or boasting.  And that’s why I love it.  It’s the kind of brilliance not tainted by the bureaucracy of academia.  It’s intelligence for the sake of joy and pleasure.  And underneath it lies the main motive of connecting to another soul more deeply because you can better articulate your thoughts.   It’s when someone else’s eyes light up with understanding because they see your thought as you see it and because you were, somehow, given the words and inspiration to convey it.  It’s an old art form.  The Hebrew language is rich with this kind of words and phrasing.  A play ground of semiotics.

This, friends, is the epitome and repercussion of “le mot juste.”  And this reason, among many others, is why I love words and language.  But I have come to believe that Josh loves them even more so than I.

My brother-in-law, Joe, shared an anecdote at our beautiful rehearsal dinner back in June.  He teased about the beginning of our dating…when he walked in the kitchen to find Josh and I at the table with Josh reading to me from a collection of Twain’s short stories.   I’m sure he thought “oh, lord…here we go.  Test #1.  Will she put up with this long?”  And then he said that the second time he walked through the kitchen and found me reading out loud to Josh, “I knew she just might be the one.”

The thing is- he was spot on.  Joe knew his brother’s heart-his love for the written word.  And Joe also knows good art when he sees/hears it.   His anecdote was a testament to the power of language and how it brings souls together.  And his story is one of my favorite memories from that night.

Josh and I have been reading together a lot.  Out loud.  We’re currently in the middle of Treasure Island and Ella Enchanted.  Maybe it sounds really stupid, but I love settling down on the couch together with a book.  It really is just one more way to “be on the same page,” to connect and to share the art of language for the simple joy it brings in sparking one more connection and conversation.  Just one more way that our Creator is “knitting our souls together” as my friend, Ashley, once said.