Bikini time.

So I thought it was about time for a new blog post. Its been about two weeks post marriage, and life is moving along. My husband has officially quit his job, and is starting grad school next week. I too have put in a request to reduce my hours at work by the end of August because I have officially been accepted into nursing graduate school seeking a masters in family nurse practitioner. Back to school frenzy around the Leaney household! My husband loves the fact that I have become his personal shopper buying his back to school items. He's such a good sport, practically wears anything I buy him and I must admit I bought us matching backpacks!

Earlier this week my mother-in-law drove into town all the way from Florida. Now, I must explain my mother-in-law first. She lives in Florida with her husband, who is my husbands step dad. She's not your typically mom or mother-in-law though. She's not the annoying, controlling mother figure or mama's boy type of mom that you dread coming into town, but she is crazy. Now if you have remotely met my husband everything would probably make sense, he too is known by many as being a crazy, outrageous, china man. I would say she's probably a few notches more crazy than him though. A few months back, when I first met her during a trip to St. Augustine, Florida she insisted on taking photos of me on the beach in my bikini. I felt like I was on a modeling shoot, with everyone on the beach starring at me. I was utterly embarrassed and begged my husband to make her go home. Once she had taken a few photos she was content, and left us to enjoy the beach for the rest of the afternoon. When we got home later that afternoon she was ecstatic to show us my new bikini photo portfolio. She reasoned the need for the photos is because I would never be this thin again in my life, and perhaps needed proof to show my kids in the future. I'm pretty sure she's wrong though, considering the genetic make-up I come from. Ohh well whatever floats her boat and makes her happy. I love my crazy new mom and her antics regardless, makes for a more interesting life.

Table For Two

OK so I am finally a married woman. Feels kind of crazy to now say I have a "husband". Life does not feel any different than our lives pre-marriage, and I wonder if its because we haven't gone through the whole official ceremony/reception marriage stuff. From what I hear though, this is very common and we are not alone in how we feel.

The whole living situation is great now. No driving home at 2AM to meet my curfew (yes I used to live with my parents and I had a curfew, crazy right?). Relaxing at home, and going to bed whenever we feel like it. It's lots of fun making dinner together, and just enjoying each others company. If you thought my living situation was crazy prior, let me explain my husbands before we said 'I do'.

So when I first met my husband he was living in an apartment with his best friend, or so I thought. I soon found out after things seemed not right, that he actually lived with his 90 year-old grandmother but also rented an apartment with his best friend (two bedroom of course), and stayed there on the weekends sometimes when he was planning on staying out late with friends, etc. Okay so not only did he split the rent/bills with his best friend, but he also paid most of his grandmothers bills (which I have to say I thought was very sweet, after seeing how he tenderly takes care of and loves her). So the reason he preferred to pay two rents, not because he's completely crazy, was because of his families Chinese values. Yes you heard me, they are penny pincher's. So in the eyes of his grandmother and mother they preferred for him to live at home and live somewhat cheaper than renting an apartment. Little did they know though, that he was in fact doing both. I guess I can understand him though. Being a single man in the dating world, the first thing you are always asked are 'where do you work?' and then comes 'where do you live?'. For many people, I think the response of living with your grandmother would be a turn off. Any who he too has finally made the big move to living in our house with the approval of his family post marriage, and the fact that he bought this house with me versus renting. Again the whole penny pinching idea that buying is better than renting. Honestly I think the same way too, so I can't blame them.

A Case of the Mondays...

Here I find myself again, making late night entries. It's kind of like having the munchies, except instead like an itch/inspiration to write. Okay, maybe it's not all inspiration but also availability of time.

One: I tend to be an afternoon/night person more than a morning person. Two: I'm a full time night shift nurse at a locally recognized Hospital in the medical center. Often times while taking care of my patients they assume I work graveyard shift because I have no choice. In all reality I truly enjoy working at night, less people, quieter, more time to focus on my patients. Times are changing though, and with the possibility of starting school in the fall and getting married, a day shift sort of job may be more up my alley. Personally I'm not a fan of change, but it may be inevitable.

Big wedding wise (in about a year), I attended the bridal extravaganza this past weekend with my mom. Not as exciting/successful of a trip as I though it would be, kind of a waste of time really. At least supposedly I signed up to win some great prizes, although the only "prizes" I think I really got were a bunch of people who are about to send me junk mail with all the personal information they take from you. I think it should really be called a money sucking hole. Just saying. On another note, only a few days until I get married (court house). I'm ready to jump right in, all this waiting/preparation has me exhausted. One duffel bag and an I do later, I will be out of the singles club and in the Mrs club.

Busy week...

Time has flown by. It's been a pretty busy week between work, moving, finishing up the house, and helping my parents get their house ready for visitors. Everything seems to be coming together though, and I actually managed to fit all my clothes in the closet in the process. Only about 4 days left until the wedding!

Anyways, there's one missing piece to our little family that I failed to mention in my last post. So we have a daughter (what my fiance refers to her as) named Nibbles. Only thing is she walks on four legs, barks, and loves her daily walks with her father (my fiance owned her when we met). It's funny how usually you hear about dogs that look like their owners, but instead in this case I think Nibbles actually has the same personality as her father versus looks. They both have a care free look on life, are full of energy, crazy, family oriented/loyal, and the simplest things in life make them happy. If anything Nibbles takes after me looks wise. I sometimes tease my fiance and tell him that he fell in love with me because he likes red heads, since both Nibbles and I have just about the same hair/fur color.

From the moment we met, Nibbles seems to have accepted me into her life with open arms. I can always count on her meeting me at the gate and taking advantage of every head/neck/back scratch she can get. Although Nibbles and I are now good acquaintances, I'm not sure she's quite ready to make the leap into accepting me as her new mommy. There is a difference between like and love when it comes to dogs, let me explain. It's funny how dogs are attached to their owners, the first time Daniel left Nibbles and I alone in our new house, Nibbles sat at the foot of the front door and whined the whole time. I guess she thought Daniel was leaving her forever. I couldn't get her to do anything no matter how or what I did, she was like dead weight. As fawn as she is of me, one thing is for sure, she loves Daniel and likes me. Now that is not to say she will never love me, but quality time with her new mommy is in order.

One year.

So today marks my soon to be husband/fiancé's one year anniversary since we officially started dating. Even more exciting is the fact that we are getting hitched in nine days at a local courthouse surrounded by family and close friends. Although not how I would have ideally planned starting my marriage, I must say there is a good explanation. Yes love is a part of it, but it's a bit more complicated than that. Don't worry no babies on the way.

First you'll need a little background. Seeing as America has become the melting pot of the world I guess it makes sense that he (of Chinese descent) and I (of Hispanic descent) came together. We met through mutual friends, who were moving out of state and throwing a farewell party last June. Of course race/culture was never a factor for either of us, and in all reality I felt nothing was a factor, as I thought I was done with dating and how overwhelming it can be. In my mind I was going out for free dinner and drinks as this would probably just be another failed attempt at finding that special someone. Boy was I wrong. Anyways back to the background... We are both first generation-Americans, and believe me cultural standards/norms still run strong amongst the expectations put on us by our families. Growing up we were faced with conflicting norms both outside the home and those at home. Complicated by, others who did not understand my culture at home, and why I wasn't allowed to go to the school dance, meet friends at the mall, or have a boyfriend.

So going back to the whole marriage thing, ideally we would have gotten engaged and married in about year from now. BUT my family does not believe in living together with your significant other before being married, and since my fiance and I would rather move in together sooner than later, well you get the point. Somehow the order we do everything seems to be backwards, since we first bought a house together a few months back (no we haven't moved in yet until the marriage). Then we got engaged and are soon getting married in nine days. Yikes! With that said, I must confess that we are planning a full-on ceremony/reception wedding in about a year. Complicated? Just a little.

Funny story of the day: My parents helped us move some bigger items into our new home yesterday afternoon. Probably not something most would worry about, but as I walk in carrying some items from my car, I hear the garage refrigerator door open. Instantly my fiance and I look at each other wide-eyed, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. THE LIQUOR! Although we are not heavy drinkers, we do like to keep our fridge stocked. There's one little detail my parents are lacking in all of this.... the fact that we drink! Yes you heard me, they have no clue we drink! Being non-drinkers themselves, they're not the biggest fans of alcohol and drinking. So we were terrified! Later I was questioned by my mom about it, quickly thinking of an excuse, I explained it was leftovers from our engagement a couple weeks back. Phew!