valentine's..a little late

Memaw passed away right after Valentine's, so i haven't had the chance to post about it till now.  it was by far the best one i've had!

first of all, i had gotten a hotel suite at the hilton about 3 weeks before valentines, because i wanted to make this one better than the year before (i was sick with a bad cold.)  but of course i couldnt keep the secret and i told taylor about the reservation a few days before.  he was pretty excited :) we both think that staying at a hotel is pretty cool; it makes you feel important for a day.  i got the "romance package" ..kinda cheesy but it included a dozen chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne (that we didn't drink), and breakfast in bed the next day.  but we ended up just going down to the restaurant, because we wanted the buffet.

on his side, taylor made reservations at Luigi's, my favorite restaurant in town.  its a little italian place that is pricey and gets booked early, so i was really happy that he thought ahead and we got to sit down right when we got there.  I ordered the seafood stuffed crepes, and he got the salmon.  he also got us a bottle of our favorite wine, moscato.  try it. i'm telling you, even if you dont like wine, you'll like moscato.  the best part of the night was the culmination of a mistake on my part, but it was hilarious:

before our food came-
taylor - "i dont remember what sides come with my food."
me - "pretty sure its mashed potatoes and steamed veggies, i remember looking"
taylor - "oh cool."

our food comes, waiter leaves-
taylor to me - "where's the mashed potatoes?"
* i look at the white puddle on taylor's plate*
me - "right there i guess" *points at said puddle*
taylor - "that's what i figured, it just doesn't look like mashed potatoes"
me - "well take a bite, i bet its just fancy potatoes"
*taylor takes bite*
taylor - "s'more like whipped-into-a-frenzy potatoes"
nikki- "...huh..well, i guess that's just how they make it"

later, when waiter comes back to see how the food is...  taylor has eaten all of the potatoes
taylor - "hey, can you tell me how yall make the mashed potatoes?"
waiter - "potatoes? i'm not sure..do you want me to bring you a side order?"
taylor - "no mine were good."
*blah blah blah, figuring out that he wasn't eating potatoes..blah blah blah*
waiter - "you didn't have potatoes, that was just a cream sauce for your salmon"
taylor - "great! thank you very much!"

waiter leaves
*taylor stares at me with a mixture of amusement and exasperation*
me - "glad you liked your cream sauce..heh heh"
taylor - "i feel like an idiot"
me - "the waiter definitely doesn't think you are. promise."

a little later
taylor - "the salmon is pretty dry"
me - "too bad you ate all the fancy mashed potatoes already"
taylor - "har har"

it just struck me funny that i made him eat cream sauce bite-by-bite all by itself.  yum.  i couldnt stop laughing at him.

but all in all, it was a great valentines.  I also heard the next day that my cousin and his girlfriend of 7 years got engaged.  not cliche at all guys :) but i still love you and i'm so excited for yall! (and hopefully me and taylor wont be too far behind!)

AND i am officially down 10 pounds! Oreos can suck it :)

Miss You Always

The afternoon sky is beautiful today,
A clear, cloudless, warm sunny blue.
Rain, wind and cold feels more like
What i should see, echoing how much i miss you.

You looked fate in the eye and said "no, one more year,"
Doing exactly what everyone said you wouldn't.
It was only for us, not you, I think,
Trying to prepare us for what you knew we couldn't.

It helps to know that you are more free than ever;
I imagine you flying over mountains and trees.
You can be my special guide when I get there,
You'll show me all God's creations as we please.

We'll swim in the ocean, and circle the stars,
We'll bask in the light of that wonderful place.
And you'll show me your house, and I'll live right next door.
My Angel, will you take me to see God's face?

Till then, I don't know how to move on just yet.
For patience and peace and understanding, I pray.
But knowing that your struggle is gone forever,
I suddenly don't hate this perfect day.

Rest in Peace. 2/17/11

It's been a week since my grandmother died now.  It's been a rough one.  She was one of the greatest people I know.  Anyone who knows my family knows how close we all are.  We get together for every holiday, and then for random weekends with no particular occasion in mind.  We're down at the lake almost every weekend, aunts with nephews, cousins with grandpas, mothers with brother-in-laws.  It doesn't matter, we all fit together.  And Memaw was the glue.

I helped my dad prepare the eulogy he gave.  So many memories; how can you possibly fit someone's life into a 10 minute speech?  My aunts prepared a slideshow of pictures of Memaw.  There were about 5 in a row of me and her together when I was little.  Tough.  But it was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person.

It's going to be a long time before I remember to say "I"m going to Poppy's," instead of "Memaw and Poppy's."  I really dont mind saying that, but I know it hurts to hear.

My only comfort is that her free spirit isn't burdened by her broken body any more.
I'll see you soon Memaw.

snow day!

it had gotten really cold all last week, and finally on friday it snowed!  college station may have gotten a total of 1/4 inch, but by golly it was enough for campus to issue out a snow day.  worked for me, because i work on campus :)

this was the view out my front door on friday morning

people up north would laugh in the face of this..um...snow? was it really snow? ah well..3 day weekends are the best.  BUT the heater in my apartment went out at 5:01 on friday, too late to call the front desk for help.  so me and taylor braved the icy roads *cough* to try to find a space heater.  target, heb, big lots, home depot and walmart were all sold out.  i guess none of us texans like the cold.  luckily i remembered that i had 2 space heaters, albeit archaic, at the lab and we went and got them.  they worked really well, and after i decided that the decrepit little things wouldnt catch my place on fire, i woke up nice and toasty on saturday.

we didnt do much over the weekend.  we played the new donky kong game on the wii.  i recommend it to anyone, sooo fun.  and it's two players so i let taylor jump on all the bad guys because i have horrible jumping trajectory skills.  on sunday it warmed up and it turned out to be a really pretty day.  i went on a 5-mile run/jog/walk thing.  it made my butt sore, but i liked it and it made me feel totally guiltless about spending the rest of the day on the couch. 

speaking of workouts, i am down 7 pounds!  i am way too excited about it.  week three of dieting/working out and i'm still going strong! i'd like to make it a round 10 before this weekend (we're doing valentine's then, because the real day is a monday..boo) but i dont think that'll happen.  still! i'm surprised i've made it this far, so i decided i want to see how much i can do.

till then, the europe itinerary is still in the works, and i am crocheting a blanket for..somebody.  dont really know who yet.

it just keeps coming!

i'm still on the mend from bronchitis.  forgot to mention that.  it made me miss 3 days of work and took up that weekend as well. even now that i feel better, i still have an annoying cough.  what made it worse was seeing taylor come down with it too. 

so its only been about a week since he got better and now this!!

a broken hand.  3rd or 4th metacarpal, whichever the ring finger is.  he got hit in the face by some guy that was supposed to fake foul him (training for an intramural soccer ref job) and he fell onto it.  not sure how an elbow to the temple equals a crunched hand... but ouch.  he's going to the doctor again today to see if he needs surgery to fix it.  hopefully not!  i asked him if he wished he had a better story for why he has his arm wrapped up to his elbow and...he didnt respond.  embarassed?  a little.  pissed?  kinda.  damaged ego? definitely.  :)

surely the month of february will be more kind.

Update 2/2:  no surgery!! they just put his hand in a funny angle and splinted it.  He'll go back in 2 weeks to make sure its healing correctly.  Here's the x-ray..

i'm pointing to the break, which is actually two breaks.  Taylor is mad because he can't wear a jacket right now, because his hand is making a funny shape like when you're doing a shadow puppet of a duck.  it wont fit through a sleeve! haha.  poor boyfriend. <3