My Baby!

This post isn't about my actual baby (I don't have one) or the Bruster's baby that I developed over spring break, but it is kinda sappy.

You know in movies when a daughter like, gets engaged or married or has her first walk of shame, and the over emotional mother is like, "My baby's all grown up!" and then she sobs into her handkerchief?

That how I feel about myself.

My siblings and I with our beloved dog Snowy. We found her in the snow when I was in 4th grade, and she died when I was a senior in college. She was the best dog ever.

I mean, I feel like that about myself and my friends. Within a couple days of getting in engaged, 2 of my friends got engaged and one got married!

I've seen my closet friends do really amazing things in life, from starting families, getting awesome jobs and finding causes that they are really passionate about.

Watching things happen on Facebook is pretty cool too, because you kind of watch the lives of hundreds of your peers unfold at once.

Facebook is pretty amazing because you get to watch your friends' lives change, even friends you don't keep up with regularly. Some of these girls I've know since I was little; through Girl Scouts and braces and freaking out about having your first kiss and graduating high school and really finding our niches in the world.

A lot of my friends are in grad school or getting their careers started or getting engaged/married/partnered up, and it's amazing to think that we're all going through a new period of our lives together, even if it doesn't feel like it. It's weird to think that 30 years ago this was our parents, and years before that it was their parents, and 30 years from now it will be our children. I guess I'm just experiencing such a rush of emotions and I feel like my life is going to change so much, I forget that it's all part of life.

High School Prom. I think I was trying to show my wrist corsage?

I was trying to upload more pictures but Blogger is not cooperating. I really need to switch to Wordpress.

I know it's really sappy and sentimental but sometimes I see my friends and myself and I just can't believe how fast life goes. I never understood that cliche before, because it didn't feel fast. But it's a cliche for a reason!

My brother and I graduating from college.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited. I'm excited about the future, and I'm definitely excited about the future with Alex. I can't wait to travel more and move to new places and experience all the next stages of life with my bud. It just feels a little surreal to prepare to leave the only home, the only town, the only state I've ever known, and start this brand new journey. That is so corny! But I can't help it it's true!

Alex and I in Rome.

Ah well. I think I have to get sentimental about this process otherwise the frustrations in booking the Chapel and the reception site would just make me very annoyed.

So as a reward for the 2 people who read this, here is a picture of my cat cuddling up and going to sleep with her giant stuffed bear named Pancakes. Enjoy!

Engagement Post Word Cloud!

ENGAGED!

Yes! Yes! The rumors are true :) Alex proposed to me on March 25, 2011 and I said yes. At the risk of sounding trite, I'm just really happy.

SO, without further ado, the story of our engagement.

CHAPTER 1- Best Spring Break Ever.

I went down to Panama City, Florida for my spring break (I love that you still get a spring break in grad school!). Alex picked me up from the airport around 5:30 Friday evening and we just had a fantastic weekend. We just spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday goofing around together, going for walks and hanging out with friends.

Alex and I in the luxurious and syrupy smelling La Quinta

As most of you know, Alex moved to Florida in late January. Before that he had an apartment just 1/4 of a mile from my house. We spent every free minute together, and it was amazing. Even doing the mundane everyday tasks are so much better when you have your best bud with you. The move and the distance have gone very well, all things considered, but I still miss Alex everyday.

Anyway, the weekend came to an end, and the work week started.

Alex got up at 4:55 every morning to go to work. I hung out by myself during the day, doing school work and driving around PCB in Alex's car. Florida is perfect this time of year. I had a week of blue skies, sunshine and 75 degrees. Although I can't complain about spending my days driving around in a BMW and shopping at Target (Target, I love you...don't ever leave me...) there were still some challenging days. Most days Alex would get back in the early afternoon, but there was one day when Alex left at 5:30 in the morning and didn't return until 8:30 at night.

It could be a little lonely (and our hotel room smelled like maple syrup. Well I thought it did, Alex thought I was having a stroke), but seeing Alex at the end of the day was worth every minute alone. As soon as he walked in the door we both were just so happy to see each other and forgot about about anything else. At night we would go out to dinner, walk around the base and then relax with a glass of wine. It was a fantastic week.

Alex and I out to dinner one night at Schooners. Beautiful beach and sunset.

After a long week and a few especially long days, the work week was finally over. It was Friday!

Chapter 2- Sundae in the park with Alex.

I was trying to be clever with that title but referencing a Stephen Sondheim play we studied in Theater History really cements my place as nerd. But I'm not sorry!

Anyway, on Friday afternoon Alex got off work around 3. We decided to go out for some Brusters.

Let me tell you about Brusters. Brusters is a delicious ice cream shoppe that is within walking distance of the hotel. They have all kinds of ice cream, including cake batter and Oreo, and have amazing sundaes, including my personal favorite, the strawberry shortcake sundae. You could say that Brusters and I became intimately acquainted during my visit.

Alex enjoying some delicious Brusters

Hello Lover

So we're eating Brusters, and I think I may have been doing something TOTALLY out of character, like complaining about how I hate the air conditioner in our room because the air smells like a pool used by un-potty trained babies, and he looked up at me and said, "Well what you say if I told you that we never have to go back there?"

And I just looked at him for a second, trying to figure out what he meant. I narrowed it down to A) He booked us a surprise weekend trip, B) He joined a cult and we were drinking the Kool Aid tonight, or C) He was going to make me go camp somewhere.

I would definitely hate C. I believe in camping the way Troop Beverly Hills camps (It's a fabulous movie, you much watch it now, stars Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley as a child). Also he just bought me Brusters, which is the nicest thing you can do for someone you love, so it couldn't be C.

B was possible but not probable. He knows that the giant guy from the Kool Aid campaign freaks me out.

So A it was! We packed up our things, hopped in the car, and Alex started driving to our surprise destination!

Chapter 3- "I fell in love on the seaside..."
After driving for about 20, we started making some familiar turns, and I knew exactly where we were going.

Rosemary Beach!

Rosemary Beach is a GORGEOUS planned community that is a real life Pleasantville. Rosemary Beach is a sister town to Seaside, which is only a few miles down the road. Seaside was where The Truman Show was filmed, because these towns are just that adorable.

Rosemary beach is filled with coblestone streets, stone piazza's surrounded by outdoor cafe's, bookstores and art shops. There are large green spaces all over the town, where people are playing catch or just enjoying the sun.

Green spaces in Rosemary Beach. The ocean lies at the far end of the green.

My favorite part of the town are wooden walkways that connect every house. It's hard to describe, but basically even though all of the houses sit on a street, they are all connect by a boardwalk that goes between and around the houses. It's so innovative, I've never seen another town like it!

Taking a picture break while walking between the homes on the boardwalk.

Alex and I had been to Rosemary Beach once before, and LOVED it.

I found it totally serendipitously. On my first trip home from visiting Alex, the woman who was sitting on the plane next me started up a conversation. She was extremely well dressed, with gorgeous clothes, hair, make up and jewelry. I was in a sweatshirt and yoga pants, no make up and in a bummed out mood about going home. I was so intimated by her I almost just put in my headphones or something so I didn't have to make pleasant conversation! But we started chatting, and she told me I HAD to go to Rosemary beach. She owns a store there, and Alex and I went in while we were there!

Rosemary Beach is now a huge part of our story. It was fate!

So we get into Rosemary beach, and there is one office that controls all the rentals for town. I wait in the car, Alex runs in to get our keys and such, and comes back out. He tells me that we'll be spending the weekend in the Pensione!

The Pensione is a little hotel on Main Street in town. I had actually looked at the website before, thinking ahead for future birthdays and anniversary gifts. It is a cute, affordable place to stay.

A room at the Pensione, taken from the website.

So we start driving, and we pass Main Street. I tell Alex this, and he says that he'll just keep driving on the road we're on and then turn around. We drive past several places where he can turn around, but he just pretends like he's lost. We keep driving into the community and toward the ocean.

Finally, he pulls over in front of this gorgeous house that's right on the beach. He turns off the car and then turns to look at me.

I look at him.

At this point I'm half expecting him to pull out a thermos of Kool Aid and tell me to drink up because I have no idea what is going on.

And then...

Me: "OHMYGAWD! ARE WE STAYING HERE?! WE CAN'T BE STAYING HERE!!! HOW ARE WE STAYING HERE?! OHMYGAAA WE'RE STAYING HERE!!!!"

Yup, he surprised me again with a MAGNIFICENT, gorgeous house right on the beach. The type of house that you can open the windows anywhere in the house and hear the waves crashing outside. The type of house that you never in a million years think your boyfriend will just pull up to and say that it's ours for the weekend.

Our view. Perfect.

View from the deck

Sitting in our living room right when we got there, trying to take it all it.

View of the living room from the loft.

Spiral staircase up to the loft.

Street view of the house.

There was a gorgeous kitchen and an additional floor with the bedrooms on it as well. It is a breath taking house.

So we explore the house for a bit, marveling at how amazing it is and how incredible the view is. After a while, we start to get ready for dinner. We get all dressed up and head out for some delicious food. We had made a reservation at a restaurant called Firefly that we'd been to before and loved.

Us at dinner

We came home, full from delicious food, and went out to the deck with a glass of wine (I'm realizing only now that we drink a lot of wine. We can't help that we're so classy).

We're sitting out on the deck, under a blanket, looking at the stars and listening to the ocean. We're talking about the future, and Alex tells me he loved me. He kisses me, and then says that he can't imagine the rest of his life without me. On bended knee, he pulls out the ring and asks me to marry him.

And I said YES!

(And then he asked if he could put the ring on me and I said OH HELL YES!)

Inside after the proposal. Lovebirds in love.

The ring is PERFECT. I had told Alex that I wanted something classic. There are a lot of neat, intricate rings out there, but I wanted a classic piece of jewelry that would stand the test of time and that I would still love when I'm 60. He picked out the ring entirely on his own, and I couldn't have dreamed a better ring. It is his gift to me. Sweetest man ever :)

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying Rosemary Beach and celebrating with friends.

This post has certainly been long enough, so I'll save the musings of wedding planning and solicitation of advice for another day. I think these last two picture sum it all up more that I ever could.

Wake Up Call

When Alex was still at the Academy, a bunch of the EOD guys would get together and play water polo in the morning. Once he graduated, the people who were still around kept the games going, and even got the new EOD midshipman involved after service selection. They usually play around 5:30 a.m. Because I guess if you dispose of bombs for your day job, intense physical activity at 5:30 on a Friday morning sounds fun.

So this past Friday, Alex gets up around 5 to go in to the Academy to play polo. I wake up briefly as he's leaving, and he tell me he'll be back before I wake up.

Famous last words.

Around 7:30 I'm woken up by a phone call from Alex. The first thing he says is, "Hi, everything's fine, I'm in the ER." I don't know why that didn't strike me has an odd sentence (If you're fine, why are you in the emergency room of a hospital?) but I was like, "Oh, ok. Cool."

He tells me that one of his friends accidentally hit him in the eye while they were playing polo, it's fine, he's just at the hospital as a precaution, and there's no reason to get out of bed. So I wait around for a little bit, and we're texting back and forth, but when they still haven't released him after 2 hours (He was there for a 1/2 hr. before he called me) I decided to go meet him at the hospital.

His friend who accidentally hit him had driven him to the hospital and stayed the whole time with him until I got there. He is such a nice guy and he felt so terrible about what happened.

So I get to the hospital, and after waiting for a bit, I see Alex walk out from the examination room and into a different part of the waiting room. His back is to me, so I get up and go tap him in the shoulder.

He turns around, and there is a RIVER of blood GUSHING from his swollen, bruised eye. The entire white part of his left eye is filled with fresh, bright red blood, and he's having a hard time opening the eye very much. He's having intense double vision. When it happened, he briefly went BLIND in that eye. Oh, yeah, sure, just a little hit to the face, no a big deal.

It turns out that his friends finger had been rammed into Alex's eye, slicing both the white part of his eye and leaving a small scratch on the cornea. A bit more than just a hit to the face.

I remember our first exchange going something like this:

Alex: Oh hey Jessie thanks for coming.
Jess: OH MY GAWD, MY BABY, YOUR EYE, YOU'RE DYING! CALL THE DOCTOR! GET THIS BOY A GURNEY! WE NEED AN OPTOMETRIST, I MEAN AN ORNITHOLOGIST, OR NO WAIT, AN OPHTHALMOLOGIST, WHATEVER, OH MY GAWD! NO, YOU'RE NOT DYING, NOT ON MY WATCH *administers CPR* BREATHE DAMMIT BREATHE *slap slap slap* I'M NOT LOSING ANOTHER ONE! NOT LIKE THIS! NOT! LIKE! THIS!

So this is Alex's eye late Sunday afternoon, a solid 3 days after the incident. And it looks a lot better than it did on Friday.



And here's another one, just in case there are any bloody eye enthusiasts out there.



Yup, still bloody.

But there is good news to the story! Alex gets to wear an eye patch, and he looks a lot like this guy:

The Official Bad Ass Eye Patch Kit comes complete with doublet, hat and sassy plume.

So anyway, we spend about 5 hours at the hospital, and then they send us over to an ophthalmologist in Annapolis to get more specialized care. He was really nice and helpful, but he reminded me A LOT of Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock.

He kept making jokes about how I was the one who actually did this to Alex and then sent us away with a bottle of steroids and no care information. Like really, NO care information. He was like "Ok, yeah, your eye should heal up pretty good, I mean I think so at least, so um, yeah take some of these, they're the good stuff haha but seriously you'll feel so good. Ok well see you guys around, maybe at Pussers? You guys go to Pussers? You like to party?" Alex and I just nodded uncomfortably and tried to keep inching toward the door as he was talking.

But I took one of the free pens they have out on the desk so we're even.

The biggest reason this event freaked us out so much is that he leaves in 1 week for dive school. He needs to be in the best health possible to get through school. But he's doing much much better and so I know everything will be fine.

Until then, we're enjoying all of the eye humor (Eye ya yai!) and domestic abuse jokes (Alex tells people he fell down the stairs...) we can!

Funny Things That Make Me Laugh

The other day I was hanging out, by myself, and I thought of something that made me laugh. And then I thought to myself, Wow, I have a great sense of humor. I should share it with the world.

So behold, a short list of funny things that make me laugh. Enjoy!

1) Snapple facts is dear to my heart. Alex and I actually saw Pete from Snapple Facts at an Improv show in DC last year, he was part of a UCB ensemble. I just expected him to start reciting Snapple Facts every time he talked.

Also funny story about the word improv. I was on an improv team in high school, and we were making posters for our show, and I hung mine up in the cafeteria. It said, "This Friday, Improve Show!"

...apparently there's no "e" in improv. Someone crossed out the "e" and wrote "retard!" above the "e". It still makes me laugh when I think about it (although retard is derogatory to the mentally handicapped, I wish they had called me dumb instead but I suppose it doesn't have the same ring), and every time I feel good about myself, like yay I graduated college, or nice I just got into a whole bunch of grad schools, I remember that I am, in fact, an idiot.

Anyway, here is snapple facts. It makes me laugh.



2)Sassy Gay Friend. I love them all. I debated which one to put up, and I almost put them all up, because I'm not a big fan of self restraint. So in the end, I picked 2. Because they both make me laugh a lot.



sassy gay friend- Hamlet



And what would this list be without some sort of adorable animal video.




Fin.

Wawa

Alex had to meet his advisor tonight and hand off a project they are both working on. As it so happened this meeting occurred at 11:30 p.m. in a dark Wawa parking lot off of a busy interstate highway.

Anyway we ended up going into Wawa for snacks, and I was telling Alex how I've never had a Wawa sandwich. They look really good, and I want to get one, but I've gone so long never eating one that I kind of don't want to break my streak.

I've never had a nose bleed either.I don't know if lots of people have never had nose bleeds but I choose to think that I'm special. I want to keep my lack of nose bleed streak going forever. I already told Alex that when/if I die, I want my headstone (or the door to my mausoleum) to say "Jessica Talson. She never had a nosebleed."

I feel like people would walk by, and go "huh." (They would also be like, what the hell? Does she know that you have to pay by the letter for these things? ) But they might think about it for a second or two, and imagine what kind of person I was. I think it would be kind of interesting if every headstone had a little fact about the person it represented. Like if they said that this person could put together Ikea furniture ridiculously fast , or that they always drank Coke, never Pepsi or they talked in their sleep. I like knowing those little things about people.

I love knowing those idiosyncrasies about people you're close with. I like knowing that at restaurants Alex likes diet coke with very little ice and I like regular coke with extra ice (but only if the refills are free...I'm not made of money. And soda is just syrup and carbonated water it's not that expensive the idea of not having a free refill is outrageous and unAmerican.) And the waiter will always try and put the diet coke in front of me and give Alex the regular. Ah, gender stereotypes :)

Anyway, so the sandwich, they looked really delicious and I was hungry, but I didn't get one. (I know...everyone was on the edge of their seats.) I'm a woman of few principles, but the ones I do have I stick with. So Alex and I went to Dunkin Donuts instead and I got a Boston Cream. (creme? I guess it depends on if you're fancy or not.)

Now they can write on my headstone "Jessica Talson. She never had a nosebleed, and she never had a Wawa sandwich, but she loved Boston Cremes." And then when people walk by 100 years from now, they can go, "Yeah I guess the obesity epidemic in the 2000's was real."

And we're back

I can't believe it's December.

The last few weeks have been very good to me. We had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving party at Alex's place and it went really well. I was planning on making hand made invitations and sending them out in the mail to all the guests, but I ended up sending them to 3 people, only 2 of whom received the invite before the actual party. Ah well, procrastination is my specialty.

We had a whole bunch of really good friends over and I think everyone had a really good time. We combined Alex's dinner table and desk to create a long table. We covered them in table cloths and I finally got to use my fall seasonal candles that I bought from the Museum Store like 2 years ago. We had a mish mosh of plates and utensils and chairs and everyone sat around and ate together.

We had about 16 people at the sit down dinner, and then a couple more friends who were able to make it later in the night. Both of my siblings were there, as well as 2 of my cousins and some of my best friends.

It's nice having family and friends close. Sometimes I wish everyone just always lived in the same town that you grew up in, so that you never had to say goodbye to people. Although some of the people who I'm saddest about saying goodbye too didn't grow up in this state, or on this coast for that matter. So I guess if I was an optimist I would say that it's wonderful that people can move around and have friends all over the world. But I'm not an optimist so instead I'll say that everyone I love is leaving me and I'll never see them again ever.

Speaking on people I love leaving me, my little sister is spending the spring semester in France and will be leaving within a few days of my boyfriend leaving me. Ok, so maybe I spent a semester in Rome and left her all by her lonesome, but...well I don't have an answer for that. I'll just miss her a lot :) Also my brother moved to Brooklyn so it will just be me hanging out with the roommates.

I'm terrible at saying goodbye. When I said goodbye to my college roommate before I left for Rome, I just couldn't bring myself to say it. I think we were standing in the living room of our apartment, and we hugged and then just stood there (I think I was crying) and I just looked at her and was like, "well...I'm just gonna go to the bathroom. Be right back." And then I left.

(Don't worry, she knew it was my loving way of saying goodbye! She knows my body, man. Shout out to Renee Lorenz!)

I love people that you mind meld with. They make you feel so much more comfortable in your own skin.

Saying goodbye to Alex when he leaves in January is going suck. He'll be going to Florida to continue his training for the Navy. For whatever reason, I started to cry a bit this morning. Alex asked me why I was crying and I tried to blame it on "lady problems".

His leaving just feels so close. I know with the end of the semester and then Christmas break, the time we have left will just fly by. I'm really happy for him, because he is already incredible at everything he does and I know that he'll really be in his element down in Florida. I've met some of the guys who will be down there with him and they are all really nice people.

It's just hard to deal with change. I know that he is really ready to dig into his training, and I'll be working on my master's up here, and Florida really isn't that far. But I still have that feeling of dread when I think about it.

Oh well, it's really not that far and I'm already building up my southwest points so I can come visit him. And I'll probably have time to pick up a new hobby or something...

Having a blog is awesome. It's a way to avoid doing work and be completely self indulgent, writing ridiculous stream of conscious details that I'm sure no one cares about. :)