It is true. I AM spoiled

I didn't post about it earlier. I'm somewhat embarassed.

It is true. I admit it. I am spoiled.

Greg bought me a new Louis Vuitton while we were on Maui. It is his gift to me to celebrate my retirement(as if getting to retire wasn't enough!).

He really liked this new style that just came out - Galliera PM.

Greg is really a thoughtful husband. After I chose which bag I wanted he was nice enough to ask if there was anything else I wanted!

A Happy Wife is a Happy Life. :)



We have our 5 year anniversary coming up in June. I told him that since we both got such a late start in life, marriage-wise, that for every year we are married it really counts as two. I think you earn it too because the longer it takes for a person to get married for the first time, the harder it is to learn to compromise...hence the credit for two years for every year of marriage. Sounds reasonable, no?

That really is just ego justification logic for better anniversary gifts. HA!

Actually this bag is a retirement, anniversary, birthday gift! See I can be reasonable! :)

On a completely different note:

I DID get to see a turtle today! It was absolutely thrilling. She was just swimming around and she let me swim alongside her. Then after following her for awhile, so close I could almost touch her, she came to to surface for air. I could see her open her mouth and get some air, saw a few bubbles in the water as she went back under and followed her for a bit more before the surge took me too close to the rocks. Oh it was so cool!

I am glad Greg got some video of it. I am going back there tomorrow!

I hope this is a good omen for seeing the Manta's tonight! We went into the dive shop this past Saturday to sign up for the Manta trip and the night before the Manta's did not show up. Now that would be very disappointing!

Wish us luck!

The Good, Bad and the Ugly

We went to a shave ice place in Kailua-Kona...close to a really, really good hole-in-the-wall restaurant. This little corner of Kailua-Kona is my favorite!

Now this is authentic Shave Ice. When you look at this photo - this is the size SMALL shave ice.




This brought back memories. When I was a child, my dad bought us a shave ice machine. It was all manual but I can still see it in my mind. You would freeze water in this specific shaped mold that would fit into this machine, turn the hand crank to get the ice shaved and add this sugary syrup to it. I can still see me and Trish fighting over who was going to turn the crank! [Trish, do you remember that?]

Having this "real" shave ice made me very happy!

What didn't make me happy is my NihonV homework. I have been playing with the V-neck cardigan back. I was trying to figure out how to fix my mistake on the provisional cast-on. After futzing with it I just decided to tear the whole thing out.

What happened? I had done a provisional cast-on but rather then stockinette the first 3 rows, I started immediately in pattern. This was my mistake. I won't ever do that again. See? The more you make mistakes the more you learn!

In the last class I learned how to do an invisible cast-on specifically for seed stitch which is what I was planning on doing for the ribbing. I wish I had learned this Before I started my project but I didn't. So yesterday I tore out the back. I was done up to the armhole.

Yes. I tore out the back. I will have to do this with the front also because...I want them to look consistent, especially at the side seams.

I was sad but I just could not figure out how to *fix* my boo boo at the beginning of the back.

Here is the before:



Here is the after with ribbing:


I am still struggling with the V-neck pullover..trying to graft on the "ribbing", invisible cast-on piece (same as my pattern stitch)to the main piece. Since we had not learned the invisible cast-on when I started this project I did the provisional cast-on. With my pattern stitch the 1/2 stitch off between provisional cast-on and ribbing would be very apparent. This is another example of: If I stayed really behind in my homework I would learned the cast-on before I got started and save myself this challenge. I guess it requires me to learn more than other students in my class.

In fact one student has only done stockinette stitch in all her projects. I could have done that to save myself all this headache but I wouldn't have learned nearly as much either.

Here is the pre-grafting materials. The bottom part of the photo - the purple is what I am trying to graft on the main part of the knitting, the white is the material that is my guide to graft with the real yarn - this is the graft row, the pink is just a placeholder which will go away as I graft the bottom("ribbing") to the body.



I am learning a lot about reading stitches and how the stitches are made and what loop goes with this and what loop makes up that. I still can't get the grafting to look right and I really wanted to finish up this project before next class.

With all the time I have taken to try to figure this out, I may just wait until I see Jean and have her help me with it. I just don't have the time to spend on all this fixing right now. I don't like feeling stressed on my vacation!

I am just beginning to get the hang of the grafting but the yarn is very fuzzy, making it hard to easily see the stitches. When I graft it, the front look passable but there are some stitches that are not right on the back side. I am sure Jean could just go *zip, zip, zip* (my attempt at sound in words) and have it all stitched up in no time.

I want to learn how to do this correctly. I don't want her to do it for me.

Now I am off to do some relaxation. I am on the hunt to see some turtles. I've been dying to see turtles! Tonight we are doing a night snorkel(kind of scares me!) to hopefully see the big Manta Rays. Last time Greg was here he saw 10 and they were all swimming around the divers and snorkelers. See the site of the outfit we are going with HERE.

I hear Seattle is cold and rainy. Sorry guys! I will try to bring the sunshine home with me!

Miss Dem Boyz

You all know I am just *slightly* attached to my boys. I have been away from them for 11 days now.

Here are some photos I had on my phone.









My sister Trish is taking good care of them. I call her just about every third day to find out how they are doing. I would call her everyday but I'm sure she would get sick of me calling just to see if they are doing ok.

She did tell me her son Connor had some friends over one night for a pizza dinner and Chase was wrestling with some kid for a piece of pizza. The kid yelled out to Trish "Chase is attacking me". Imagine seeing Chase, a 10 pound Yorkie(yes, he is a giant Yorkie), duking it out with some 80-90 pound kid? Trish said Chase got a good couple bites out of the pizza before she could get it from him. No wonder he likes staying with Auntie Trish!

The only stories I get about Beanie are that he is so easy and he just loves to sit and cuddle on the couch. Maltese were bred for that and he is true to his breed.

One downside of our travels is being away from "the boys". Even Greg admits he is missing them. He mentioned we needed to find a place where we could take them and stay for a few months(we could do this in Bonaire - one of Greg's favorite diving places. He has friends that have a house there and they always bring their dog)!

I never thought I would ever hear him say such a thing because initially he didn't want to meet me because I had two dogs.

Those boys have a way of worming their way into a person's heart. They sure have worked their magic on Greg. Boy am I glad they did!

Our Daily Bread

I had issues getting this posted yesterday. First, blogger was having problems uploading photos. Then when we arrived at our new home away from home, the internet service was not working.

Thank goodness for the iPhone! Since we are "renting" this condo, the don't provide a contact number, just an e-mail. Kind of hard to e-mail if you can't get on the internet, huh? So I just emailed them from my iPhone. Gotta love this phone.

Here is the original post:

This is our last morning at Two Mermaids. I have enjoyed our stay here very much. Being away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds has done wonders for my soul. I had have some much needed rest and I am on the road back to feeling like Naomi again.

Every morning, Juddee brings us a wonderful plate of goodies for breakfast. Here is a sample of what we got in our basket set outside our door.



I also have some random photos of me and my food on the trip.

I had this really yummy french onion soup at a restaurant on Maui called Cafe O' Lei. The soup was delicious and much more than an appetizer size! This could have been my whole meal. The angle at which the photo was taken does not give you true perspective on the size, but it was quite large!



Here I am at the Tommy Bahama Cafe at the Shops at Wailea enjoying a mango martini!



Finally some photos of us at Spago. I'm enjoying the Poke inspired Wolfgang Puck appetizer while Greg sits back and enjoys the awesome view.




We went to the local Farmer's Market this morning after our morning coffee. It is just like the ones at home. We stopped off at this beautiful orchid stand...can't believe how cheap the prices are for cut orchids.





Of course I'm at the Farmer's Market and I go to the booth's with food. Here I am with homemade yummy's in the background.



I'll leave you with a photo of the view from our new place. We want to go out and explore now. I really want to go next door to the beach...this is where Greg saw lots of turtles last time. Have a great day!

Deb, did you see us?

Last night Greg and I dined at Spago at the Four Seasons Hotel in Wailea.

The hotel is absolutely gorgeous! It is so luxurious and the service impeccable.

The reason why I titled my post "Deb, did you see us?" is because my sister Deb, the one that died of pancreatic cancer, would vacation at the Four Seasons Maui every year with her husband. When they had their daughter, then the three of them would enjoy vacations there. I heard stories of seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger with Maria and their kids there as well as how she and Morgan Fairchild became friends while staying there.

Deb would have been in her element there! As I looked from the balcony table we sat at dinner last night, I could only think of Deb and replaying some of the memories she shared with me about her visits there. She loved the Four Season's Maui and looked forward to their annual vacations there. I felt especially close to her knowing how many vacations she spent there.

More about our dinner experience.

The staff was perfect.

Our "bread girl", which is what I called her(I know, it is not the most respectful - sorry!) because she came to each table offering bread - there were 5 types and all freshly made. So delicious. She was from Ballard! We chatted it up with her throughout the night which was very fun.

We had a very extravagent dinner last night - Greg loves these kinds of outings. Honestly this is not my kind of place(I like the more low-key places) but Greg loves this kind of experience. I call this kind of place - "where the beautiful people are!".

The view was beautiful and we booked our reservation early enough so we could see the sunset.

The food was excellent. I had Wolfgang's version of Poke for an appetizer and it was absolutely memorable. No wonder it is a signature appetizer. Greg enjoyed seafood risotto which was incredible as well. I thought about Michale when he ordered it...Michale is crazy about risotto.

We enjoyed a bottle of Cab from a Washington winery called Amavi. It was very good wine.

For the main course, Greg had Seared Ahi Tuna while enjoyed a Macadamia Nut crusted Mahi Mahi. I wouldn't order the Mahi Mahi again. It was ok but the Ahi was delicious!

I did not indulge in dessert because I was just too full. Greg had a nice glass of port to top off the evening.

It was a memorable experience and I wish I would have brought my camera!

Sorry for the lack of photos! I just have not been taking many photos at all!

Tomorrow we are off to the Big Island to enjoy another 8 days of sunshine! I will take more photos, I promise!

More Maui Ramblings

First off, a big round of applause and Thank You to Melinda.

She saved my bacon(which is getting bigger and bigger here - such yummy food!) For one, she transcribed Jean's DVD for the 2X2 invisible cast-on for me. Then she also realized/researched/told me that on Jean's website, that one of Jean's DVD samples is on the 2X2 invisible cast-on! Thank goodness! I've been saved!

Go HERE and you can sample Jean's DVD as well. As I said in my last post, I would highly recommend this DVD!

Yesterday we headed up to Lahaina for lunch. Greg wanted to eat at a place with a view so we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. We sat at a table that was open to the street and had a view of the water. It was very pleasant. Here is a not so good photo from our table.



Here is a photo Greg took...

Honestly I was not fond of Lahaina. It is too tourist-y for my taste. I don't know what I expected.

We walked up Front Street. I HAD to go into the CROC's store(the only store I ventured into). Admittedly I *used* to think Croc's were ugly. Then I got a pair and became a convert. They are SO comfortable! Now I own several colors/styles.

Here I am in the Croc store, looking like I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar:



Greg and I got in a little tiff ("How many of these do you need?" he asks. It is kind of like asking "how much yarn do you need?". This did not go over very well with me as you can imagine! He should know better than to say that to me!) He should be careful. Why? We went into the Louis Vuitton store at the Wailea shops a couple days ago. I threated him yesterday as we were walking up Front Street that today while he was off diving I was going to buy this cute new LV style I had my eye on for a retirement gift from him to me!

Which collection of things would he prefer I add to? Croc's or Louis Vuitton?

Back to the Croc's. I just thought this style was so cute. If you aren't a Croc's fan you won't be able to relate to why I thought these were cute. I'm really a granola/earthy type deep down. Really I am - my sister's always laugh at this. I know...Naomi wearing her Croc's carrying her Louis Vuitton's. Ok, I'm only part earthy.

I stormed down Front Street, totally forgetting to check out the knit shop that I told Joni about. She went there and I didn't. Go check out her blog and read about her yarn. Funny story!

It didn't take us long to be done with walking around Lahaina. We got Shave Ice(like a snow cone but much better!) on the way to the car to head back "home".

On Maui we are staying at a Bed and Breakfast called the Two Mermaids.
Their site does not do the place justice. We are in the poolside suite. Last time Greg was here he stayed in this same room/place but it was just the studio. This time he booked the full suite so we have a full separate bedroom and the studio, combined.

I love it here because it feels like we are just visiting relatives. We are away from the commercialized Hawaii, which is what I prefer.

Here is our view from our chaise lounges. It is so nice to go out our door and lay in the sun/shade, reading.



Here is the entrance to our home away from home. You can see Greg going in at left.



This morning we were up at 4:30 am. Both of us couldn't sleep. We would have to get up at 5am anyway.

Our daily routine is to head over to Piilani Village Shopping Center...



to get our morning Coffee.



Greg has already made acquantances with another man he sees at 5:20 am. Today I met an adorable and friendly dog that let me pet him all I wanted. Made me really miss my boys.

I had to call my sister right then and there to get the latest on Chase and Beanie. (Don't worry-5:20 our time was 8:20 Seattle time) As usual she describes Chase as a character, and Beanie as such a cutie. She also relates how easy they are to take care of. Yep. Sounds about right.

I drop Greg off at the boat at 6am and head back *home* which is less than 5 minutes from the boat launch.

Well enough for now. I'm off to do may daily routine. Sit out at the pool in the afternoon and just read and nap! I'm starting to look more like a local rather than a Haole.

Oh. Funny quick story. Last night we did take out because I didn't want to get dressed up to go out. So we are waiting at the Hawaiian take out place. There were some locals in front of us and when they packaged up their order they asked if they wanted "Shoyu". I grew up calling soy sauce Shoyu.

When our order is ready they ask "do you want soy sauce?". It must have been Greg that made them think we were Haole! :)

Jean, Help!

Yesterday morning I got intent and serious about doing homework. I was all set to frog back my V-Neck Pullover. After talking with my fellow Nihon student Sarah, she had me convinced I could just undo the provisional cast-on and frog up and undo the front, back and sleeves to my preferred length.

No. This doesn't work. You have to cut. Which took me much longer than I had anticipated. {WHINE}

I go to start my invisible Cast-On so that I can do the ribbing and eventually sew it on to the body. I thought I had written instructions on how to do the 2X2 invisible cast-on. This is why I DID NOT bring my Knitting with Jean DVD. NO, I DO NOT HAVE THE WRITTEN NOTES EITHER. So I cannot finish the project. I brought it all the way to Hawaii and...I have the pieces but cannot completely finish this. {BIGGER, LOUDER WHINE. ALMOST A SCREAM}

I love Jean's DVD. If you don't own this, I would highly recommend it. Maybe I could get Jean to overnight me a new copy(not really, Jean). Actually I'm hoping Joni brought hers! Maybe I could borrow hers for a night and watch/take notes.

I worked a little bit on my homework last night. I was working on finishing up a sleeve for the Crewneck Cardigan.

We have been tooling around the island a bit. It is so beautiful. Many of the South Pacific islands Greg and I have traveled to are much less populated and very much less developed. This feels like being at home. You don't need a passport, you don't need foreign currency and you don't need to take multiple flights. I'm liking Hawaii.

Most of you probably don't know this but my dad was born and raised on Oahu. His siblings still live there. I don't know my cousins from that side of the family very well at all. I feel connected to the Hawaiian islands but I have always chosen to travel to further, more foreign destinations. That may change now. I love that it is only a 6 hour flight. That is nice!

I would post photos but I haven't taken many. The ones Greg has taken of me are mostly food related. You would think all I am doing here is eating!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Lots of sun! I saw the amazing Lava Fields(too lazy to load the photos). I promise photos soon.

I hit a milestone on this trip. The first full day I was here, I felt relaxed. I don't know how to convey it. I felt an inner relaxation that I have not felt in about 2 years, honestly. I told Greg and he could see it.

The last big trip we took was about a year ago to Bonaire. I thought I would get that relaxed feeling then but I had the skin cancer scare and Chase was admitted to the hospital while we were gone-I was pretty stressed out. I just haven't had any down-time. The work project I was on has been a big stress. It is so nice to feel that peace and relaxation again.

Fast forward to last night. I had this stress dream. After not having what I need to finish one of my Nihon projects I started stressing out about getting all my course work done!

I had a crochet stress dream. You know I don't crochet and yet I have to complete a Nihon Vogue crocheted garment.

I dreamt I was at this bookstore and I was perusing all these really cool vintage crochet books. I had my eye on a couple of them thinking, "I could use these for my class project". Then I was thumbing through one and went to go pick out the other ones and the whole bookshelf was GONE. I was thinking "where did that whole bookshelf go? That can.not be! A whole bookshelf gone?". I looked around and was just confounded. Inthe dream I was stressed out, thinking "those books would help me do my homework! What will I do now?". I looked around the bookstore and could not find that one bookshelf.

Maybe I am getting anxious about the crochet project?

Getting Used to my New Job

Here I am getting used to my new "job". I'm looking at this two week trip like intensive training for my next job.....relaxation!!!! Hee hee.

I have been a heavy caffeine addict lately(work stress combined with not sleeping = extra caffeine consumption). I woke up with a headache.

The bed and breakfast we are staying at provides us the most yummy fruit platter delivered to our door every morning. We chowed down on that and quickly ran out for my caffeine fix. This is me this morning enjoying my much needed Starbucks. (Don't look too closely on what I am knitting....it isn't homework. It is my BMFA sock club socks!) Also don't look at my pasty looking skin! That will surely change of the course of the next couple weeks!



We just arrived last night on Maui. The weather a welcome change from Seattle! I just looked at the weather report for Seattle and it got down to 34 last night at home. Almost hit the record. BBBBRRRRRRRRR

I must report that 1/2 of my luggage space was taken up by my Nihon homework stuff. There were pieces of projects, yarn, tools, and my very voluminous notes.

I am planning on meeting up with Joni this week. She is a fellow Nihon Vogue student. She arrives tomorrow.

Greg and I are off now to venture about the island. More of Maui(and homework progress, hopefully) soon.

26 Days

I'm feeling especially good today. Monday, we discovered there was a problem with a process in the budget system. I had to do a re-design and re-coding of a somewhat complex process for the production budget system because it needs to run very soon in production and I believe I solved the problem today. Coded, tested and ready to migrate to the user acceptance testing environment in the morning.

I felt triumphant leaving the office today.

This morning I received a very annoying email from someone that breathes purified air(how we describe the folks in charge) so I took a few minutes to look at the calendar and count the actual number of WORK days left before I leave, retire, look freedom in the eye.

26

Plugging Away

I took a week off of homework to just *be*. Okay, that isn't true - you know I have to keep busy.

I am feeling back to my old self again. Yay! I so appreciate the times I feel normal because I have been to the harder, more challenging side of life recently. Maybe the trip to Hawaii coming up is helping too!

Sweet Amy(I didn't call her this because her latest post is on Trophy Cupcake) made me a very cheery gift! I love it! My iPhone cover is perfect. The colors are cheery and who wouldn't want one of these?



Here is my homework progress. Before I go through each one I must point out that each one has its own set of challenges. What do I mean by challenges? Read on and you will understand!

Here is the V-neck pullover. I love this - the fit is great and the yarn is comfy. I am very pleased with how well the V turned out!



The learning/challenge part is this yarn grew in length. I talked about it a couple entries ago. If using Berroco Ultra Alpaca you must make a large swatch, a very large swatch. So my challenge is 1)It is too long and I want to cut some length off. Right now it is a tad bit long for my taste in a finished garment(even without the ribbing).

The "ribbing" is 2X2, as is much of the design. To continue the 2X2 ribbing below the cable, I want to cut off about 8 cm. Even though this project should be complete, I want to check with Jean first before I snip.

I'm nervous about snipping because I have never done it but I'm sure I can figure it out - I'm just nervous about snipping the cable part. I'm sure I'll get over it once I get going.

The second challenge with this is I will have to graft this 2X2 ribbing to the sleeves and bottom. I can't just cast off - they all have a provisional cast-on. Now if I would have known that grafting this 2X2 rib would have been such a headache because it will be 1/2 a stitch off if I were to take the provisional cast-off off and start knitting down. I have to actually graft the ribbing on. Had I known this(or thought about it more completely) I would have done an invisible cast-ON to begin with. Long and short of it, I will learn a lot about all the things one must consider in a custom design. The good thing in dragging my feet is Melinda has some wonderful posts on how she grafted her ribbing which I will refer to when I get there.

Next challenge. Round-Neck Cardigan. Here are the blocked front and back pieces.



This isn't so much a challenge, technically. I take that back. At the side seams I have some YO's before the selvedge stitch. I cannot sew this up using the method Jean has shown us. She needs to show me how to seam with the Yarn Over next to the selvedge. Good excuse to not have this sewn up..

Honesly, basically, I am sick of knitting this pattern. I have one sleeve about 1/2 way done and one full sleeve left to do. It is killing me. It is almost like I need the coordinating pink Pepto Bismol to combat my nausea with this project. It is really pretty but...for some reason I am really ready for this to be DONE! [I know. It is sport weight yarn. Takes WAY longer - see next project]

V-Neck Cardigan. I cast-on for the back yesterday. I took my drawing out and had to modify the ease. Because the pattern repeat is 12 stitches in a worsted weight yarn, in order for the pattern to fit my front/back measurements I had to decrease my ease by 1cm. I had to re-draw the sleeve cap because the armhole was being decreased by the 1cm.

This is what I did yesterday. I cast-on about noon and was done with the back up to the armhole by dinnertime. Yes. I am taking the approach for the next projects - bigger needles and bigger yarn. I can whip this out in a flash.



As is the trend with ALL my projects...I always have some small *problem* with each and every one of them.

What is my problem on this? Well...its a bit of a long and circuitous explanation. When I started this class, I did a provisional cast on crocheting stitches ON to a needle. Most students crochet a chain and then knit into the bump on the chain. I couldn't ever *see* this bump so I learned this alternate method(before this class).

When you do it the way I do it, it is a bit different and there are different rules than if you knit into the bump on the crochet chain. So the last couple projects I learned how to read the crochet(a needed skill for the crochet project, don't you think?) because some of the instructions she gives us assumes you do the provisional the way she does. Well I purled into the bump as I was knitting onto the chain. This is wrong I realize. I just thought that when I do my first pattern row I'll be on the right side and can start my pattern.

As I was knitting away SOMEHOW(I blame it on Chase who was bugging me) and provisional cast-on started coming off!!! Yikes! I didn't realize it right away but when I did, it was not pretty.

So, when I put the "live" stitches on the needles, it looks very funky and some don't seem "live". I'm going to need help with this. I can't sweat it too much because I'm not starting over.

See, the more bone-headed you are, the more you learn!

While I was taking my week off from homework I took a book and learned something on my own. I took 2-at-a-Time Socks and learned how to do this. First I started with two circular needles(since this is how I knit socks before) rather than the one 40 inch she recommends. I quickly learned why using a 40 inch is better. You don't confused at which direction, what end, you are on. With a single 40 inch needle, there is only one direction you can go.

I thank Rebecca for getting me to try this. Melinda and I were talking about this at lunch the other day. She related a story about a time she knit some mittens and they came out different sizes purely because of how her guage was changing. I frequently have this problem and knitting two socks at time will help ensure they come out the same size!



I have also been doing some spinning in little 15 minute spurts. I have about 14oz of some BFL I bought at Madrona. Ellen and I are spinning some yarn up so we can both make the Wool Peddler Shawl from Folk Shawls. Slowly but surely I'm getting my spinning done. I have done about 4.5 ounces so far.

I just keep plugging away!

An Anniversary of Sorts and Sundara's Season's Club is Open

I just got an email from Sundara that the next round of her "Season's" Yarn Club is now open.

Go HERE if you want to join the color fun!

If you sign up, let me know what season you signed up for!

Greg and I have an Anniversary of sorts today.

I met the most wonderful man in the world on this day 8 years ago.

He is my absolute soul mate. I have never had someone outside my birth family love me as much as he does. He has taught me how a man should love and treat a woman.

He spoils me. He will go to doctor appointments with me if I am too scared to go by myself, he comforts me when I can't sleep, he makes me dinner and does the grocery shopping, he loves and cares for *my* boys like I do, he is thoughtful, loving, an absolute hugging monster like I am.

We laugh everyday. We can always find something to laugh about(in fact laughing everyday was in our marriage vows). We laugh about how giddy in love we can be, we laugh because we can both be silly and kid-like.

He has never shown resentment, he does not anger easily, he loves my family and friends like I do. He even sweeps, mops, cleans the bathroom and does laundry if I don't get to it first!

Every morning he makes me my cappuccino and brings it to me as I get ready for work. If it is the weekend, he still makes my coffee and brings it to wherever I am in the house.

I send his parents thank-you notes for raising such a giving, caring, loving, gentle and thoughtful man. I love him so very much and I reflect today, giving thanks to my God for bring us together.

April Fools Day always has special meaning to me because it is the day I met the man that is perfect for me. In all my prayers and thoughts about the perfect man when I was single, I never imagined love could be this comfortable, this fun and this fulfilling.

I love you Greg. I never want to ever be without you.