some things i never shared. oh, and halloween.

i think my last post might have been #400 for me, which would kindasorta be a milestone number, but i'm not completely sure. i mean yeah, blogger thoughtfully keeps a running count of how many posts i have written, which is nice, but it also counts in there all the posts that i have hanging around in 'draft' form, which throws off my total post count.

so in an effort to clean up my blog and get a better handle on my real post-count, i present to you:

Cleaning Out My Drafts Folder

2011 Edition.

*note* this bunch of posts was what was left after i went through and deleted any drafts that i eventually posted as a separate post, or any that were just a title with nothing actually written in them, of which there were more than i realized.

Jan. 19, 2009. amazing grace
how sweet the sound...
i was thinkin the other day about all my fave worship songs, and i was struck by the fact that nearly all of them focus on my God's absolutely amazing grace and mercy.

Oct. 7, 2009. my momma told me there'd be days like these.
i woke up in the middle of the night after having a horrifying dream about a giant spider and a dog the size of a horse (the dog was one of 101 and he was the most giant dalmation you could ever imagine) so i was a little on the tired side when i woke up. and then i yawned and discovered a horrible pain in my left ear. no idea where it came from or why its there, but it chooses to remind me of its prescence everytime i yawn, cough, or hiccup (which everyone knows is fairly often)


July 14, 2010. running very low.
You are running very low on virtual memory.


so there you have it. everything i've been holding out on you for the past two years. exciting stuff. please try to contain your excitement.

and now i can say with certainty that this is now my 402nd post, which means that my applesauce post was actually #400. at least it was a good one. maybe i'll do something special for #500. or maybe i'll just completely forget again by then.

on a completely unrelated note, i hope you all have a Happy Halloween! we will be celebrating by leaving a bowl of already-picked-over-by-us-candy on our undecorated front porch and painting things this evening that we didn't quite get around to this weekend.
we're all about the holiday cheer up in here.

not exactly a party animal.

i am officially the most socially-awkward person i have ever met.

no seriously. you should meet me, and then you would know. when i first meet a person, or am in an unfamiliar situation, or in a large group, my default setting is quiet, shy, and just painfully awkward.

case in point: yesterday's monthly party at work. it was the perfect storm of all three of the situations i just mentioned that make me clam up: since i just switched offices a week ago, i'm perpetually meeting new people, the party was on the first floor of the building (i work on the third, and lets face it the entire building is still new to me), and it was a pretty good sized crowd (even though i'm told the parties drew a much bigger crowd before they stopped providing beer) which means that i was the epitome of awkward.

i knew a grand total of 5 people there (the people from my department) and even when i ran into a guy i knew from college, our conversation went something like this:
me: hey, you work here?
him: yeah, you work here too? cool. where do you live?
me: in maryland.
him: i live in york.
me: cool.
us: *awkward silence, smiles, and head nodding*
and then we walked away from each other and didnt talk any more.

i ate a piece of pizza and a brownie. i stood silently as people around me chatted. i listened to people i dont know (and couldnt really see over the cubicle walls, or really hear over the music on the intercom system) announce some company business, read the suggestions from the suggestion box, and give out the employee of the month award. (surprise! not me.) and then i somehow found my way back to my desk to get my stuff and go home. and that was it. i didn't meet any new people. i didnt hold any conversations that lasted more than 2 minutes. i kept my head down and hightailed it out of there at my first opportunity.

i have a feeling its going to take me awhile to make friends around here.

criss-cross applesauce.

about a month ago, i told you that we went apple picking with my sister and her family, and we brought home a half-bushel of apples. just in case you are not well-versed in the measurement of volumes by bushel, let me put that into layman's terms: we had a crap-ton of apples. especially for just the two of us. we ate them in our lunches, and i baked a couple into cookies once. but mostly, we just glared at them every time we walked past them in the kitchen, using them as target practice for our jedi-mind-tricks, willing them to just disappear.

we are not very good jedis.

we got to the point where there were fourteen apples left, and they were starting to go bad, so i knew it was time to either start throwing the apples out, make a triple-quadruple batch of apple cookies, or cook them into applesauce. i went with the least-wasteful and seemingly easiest option of the applesauce, expecially since the internets told me i could use my crock-pot.

luckily for me, i discovered that one of my apples was rotten to the core when i went to dice it up, leaving me with thirteen chopped up apples, which justbarely fit into my crock-pot.

then just for fun, and because i was following an amalgamation of several online recipes, i added a little water, and some brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

i cooked the apples overnight on the low setting, because i was so excited to be making applesauce that i couldn't wait until the morning to start, so when i woke up, i was greeted by a crock-pot full of delicious smelling cooked apples.

and then i mashed them with a potato masher, and left them sit for the rest of the day on the warm setting, because it was time to go to work. (this is the part where being less impatient the night before and waiting to let them cook during the workday would have made a lot more sense... oh well.)

after work, i allowed the applesauce to cool, and also wisked it to try and get rid of some of the larger chunks of apple. definately not the most hi-tech system of applesauce making, but hey it worked.  

at this point, i realized that instead of having a crap-ton of apples, i now had a crap-ton of applesauce to deal with, and not a very good idea of what to do next. i briefly considered some sort of a quick-and-dirty pseudo-canning process, but after talking to my sister we decided that it was longer than a 2-hour process. (tanning with a t on the other hand may have been added to my list of things-to-do-at-some-point-in-my-life)

freezing the applesauce was also an option, but since i kind of had canning on the brain, i decided that i would rather just put the applesauce into jars, and either eat it all within the next few weeks before it goes bad, or give it away to people who might appreciate the sentiment of a jar of home-made applesauce. 

lucky for me, the spaghetti sauce that i like to buy is packaged in 24 oz. mason jars, (i like to buy it because of the jars) and i have been saving them for any number of potential projects. so i washed up as many would fit in my sink, peeled off the labels, and scrubbed off all the glue residue and even the stamped-on expiration dates.

to get the applesauce into the jars, i made the fortuitous discovery that i own a gravy ladle! smaller than a soup ladle, bigger than a spoon, and the perfect substitute for a funnel of any sort, which i do not own. and just in case you're planning on doing this yourself, you should know that 13 apples = 84 oz. of applesauce, so make sure you have enough jars. which i did. yes sir, yes sir, three (and a half) jars full.

i still can't quite decide if i should be selfish and keep all the applesauce for myself, freeze it in the jars, and pull it out for Christmas or sometime that i want to seem really impressive when i show up at a dinner party with my homemade applesauce, or if i should stick to the nursery rhyme and go with "one for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane." to me, that means i'd keep one for myself, give one to my mother-in-law, and give one to our next-door neighbors.

what do you think? are you as impressed by my most recent kitchen adventure as i am? what do you think i should do with my three jars of homemade applesauce? (i'm not counting the half because i've already eaten half of it) do you think that frozen jars of applesauce would be ok to put in my carry-on to take to Thanksgiving in Wyoming? or do you think that would land me in airport-jail? what if i split it out into a bunch of 4 oz containers? hmmm...

birthday weekend.

this weekend was a prime weekend for celebrating for several reasons:
1. i successfully transferred jobs mid-week despite the most evil sore-throat head-congestion combo known to man
2. Mark worked reallyreally hard this week and just made the deadline for his project submission on Friday (and when i say 'just made' i mean he probably chased the poor UPS woman down the street so she wouldn't leave without his delivery) and
3. the hubs turned 24 on Sunday!

so celebrate we did.

we celebrated the end of our crazy workweeks by going out to dinner on Friday night, and then just chilling out, watching some tv, and working a little bit on our Halloween costumes.

for the rest of the weekend, we celebrated Mark's birthday. We started out with a bang, with a birthday surprise on Saturday morning, in which i took some initiative and kinda sorta forced the man, who since the last tour du bridge (two summers ago!) has been saying he really wants to get a road bike, to finally get a road bike by surprising him with a trip to the bike shop! Mark is in love.

Saturday night, i managed to pull together a pretty sweet birthday party with some of our friends, including decorations and food and dessert and glow sticks and strobe lights and costumes! i couldnt really pick one theme and stick with it, so the party ended up being a Halloween-Birthday-Dance-Rave kind of a hybrid, and i think it went over pretty well with everyone in attendance.

since my real costume for this year (Goldilocks) isnt quite finalized yet, i dressed up as a cowgirl. but Mark got to wear his real costume and spent the evening as Robin Hood - man in tights!

 

it was a great party. trust me, you're really sad you missed it.

then on Sunday, since we love this guy SO much, he got another birthday party with the fam. more good food, more presents, and more time just generally enjoying the company of the people around us. it was basically the perfect weekend of relaxation and partying and just general celebration.

now if you'll excuse me, i have a mountain of dishes and laundry that needs my attention...

last day.

today is my last day at my current job.

surprise!

i havent said anything about it before now, not just because i think that writing about and sharing stories from work for the whole internets to see can open up some proverbial cans of worms that would be best left alone, but also because i'm still not entirely sure just how i feel about it all.

don't worry Mom and Dad and various other family members who keep tabs on me here, i didn't get fired and I am still employed. i just decided to take advantage of an opportunity to transfer to a different department within the same company in a different office that is closer to home. i think i will enjoy the work, and i know i will enjoy the shorter commute that will allow me to sleep in a little longer every morning, but i am still emotionally conflicted here.

as much as i am excited to be able to move on to something new, i am still apprehensive at the same time. because no matter how many times i am told that the people in the new office are nice, i still have a feeling they won't hold a candle to how awesome my coworkers are right now. i have spent the past two years getting to know these people, building relationships, going out to friday lunches, and celebrating birthdays and babies and weddings. i really really like them, as coworkers and just as generally good people, and it is hard to say goodbye to them.

i guess you could say my feelings about the transfer are kind of like a crazy mashup of "Oh, The Places You'll Go" and "Annie Bananie"...

Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed (98 3/4% guaranteed!)

but you will never, never ever, find a friend group of coworkers that's half as clever, you will never ever find, a friend people who are as good and kind, no you will never, never ever, ever, find another friend job like me.

**updated to add:

Reason #174 that i love these guys - my going away card:

i'mma miss you guys.

i'm in love with a stripper.

a paint stripper, that is.

maybe i should start at the beginning. about a year ago, i found a piece of furniture at a yardsale for $35 that i just couldn't pass up. i first described it to my mom as "a table with 4 legs." Mark prefers to call it the credenza, but i am of the opinion that since i am under the age of 50, i am too young to own something called a credenza, so i refer to it as the not-a-credenza. anywho, it was in need of some love, and i was in need of some furniture for my new house. it was a match made in heaven.

i decided that refinishing it was going to be my winter project. and then winter came and went and i decided that maybe it could be a spring project. and then spring went by so fast that it turned into a summer project.

so in July, in the midst of our massive drywall extravaganza, i finally made time to start it. after going over the entire thing once with a 60 grit sandpaper, i not only discovered how many layers of paint were on this thing, (at LEAST 4 in colors including but not limited to white, gray, tan, green, orange, teal, and red) but also that sanding them all off was going to take a ton of time and sandpaper. i mean, all those curvy edges and the turned legs look really pretty, but i was not looking forward to trying to sand four layers of paint off of them by hand.

it wasn't pretty. so it sat again for a few more months until last weekend, when in the middle of a frustrated crying sanding-induced hissy fit, the hubs suggested trying out the paint stripper that we had used to get rid of the stray paint splatters on the fireplace brick. and i have to say that for as messy as it was, (the majority of the paint came off with the color and consistency of snot), and as much as i didnt like having to wait 15 minutes between each application and removal, it was way faster and way less of a pain that trying to sand it all.

overall, it took a few hours of paint stripping last sunday and this past saturday, and then a relatively quick once over with 220 grit sandpaper, and this beauty is ready for paint! (i know it still doesn't look extremely fantastic, but trust me its a huge improvement)

i bought the paint yesterday, along with all new hardware, and i am excited to get painting and get this thing back into usuable form. our dining room table has been suffering as the only horizontal surface on which we can dump stuff when we come in the house, which means we have been eating a lot of meals off our laps on the couch, so it will be nice to have the not-a-credenza back in action.

**UPDATED**
since you all (and by you all i mean you, Mom) asked so nicely, here's the color: it's called Blue Agave (by Behr) and i think it's going to be gorgeous, don't you think?

and if you disagree with me you can just go ahead and keep your opinion to yourself. its not like i asked for it or anything...

simple pleasures.

this morning, at my house, it is dark and foggy and rainy. and what i am really in need of is a good reason to smile and be happy. on the radio station that i listen to for the first half of my commute, Thursdays are the day they share their 'simple pleasures' that they are enjoying that week. things like re-discovering an old TV show, or actually enjoying a movie in the theater. those things sounded nice, so i decided to come up with a few of my own. let me show you them.

1. hats for everyone at tea time.

2. nephews who know how to share. even with those who are a little piggish sometimes.

3. access to a fantastic dress-up box.

4. the fact that the hubs is letting me post these pictures on the internet.

anyone else out there finding joy in the simple things lately?

please to be sharing!



beyond comprehension.

if ever asked, i would say without a doubt that my wedding day, a year and a week ago, was the best day of my life. i don't think i stopped smiling all day. i felt as though nothing could go wrong. i never felt the chill in the air. my immense joy made me untouchable, and my feeling of joy-fueled invincibility lasted for at least a week.

conversely, if ever asked, i would probably say that the day my Gramma Rita passed away, almost two years ago, was the worst. despite the fact that i knew she was no longer in pain and that i would see her again in heaven, the pain of my loss overshadowed the joy that was brought by that knowledge. i was not ready to lose her. i wanted her to be at my wedding, and get to meet my babies, and keep being my Gramma. but the cancer made her a shadow of herself, and then she was just gone. it was so final, and the intense grief hung around for a long while.

mountains and valleys.

on Saturday evening, the hubs and I had the pleasure of witnessing the joy of a couple who shared an obvious love for one another and also for God be joined in marriage. we shared their joy, celebrated their union, and sang and danced the night away. toasts were given. cake was smashed in faces. laughter was plentiful. and at one point, a slow motion chicken dance happened, Zooey Deschanel style. (anyone else out there watching The New Girl?) it was a great evening, and we felt blessed to be a part of it.

this morning, i learned that on Saturday evening, the wife and preborn daughter of one of the hub's college roommates were killed in a head-on collision in Georgia. i didn't want to believe it. i still haven't quite let it sink in. we had celebrated their wedding with them just a few short months ago. we wished them the very best and looked forward to all that God would do in them and through them, and we prayed that they would share many years together. but it is painfully real. the brevity of their marriage, and of hers and their child's lives. and it absolutely breaks my heart.

i guess the mountains and valleys have to meet somewhere.

the juxtaposition of the mountaintop joy and deepest valley of loss, both simultaneous and yet separated by time and space, is difficult to swallow. as one family is created and celebrated, another young family is devastated, torn apart, and mourned. i cannot begin to comprehend the meaning behind it all, or the divine plans and purposes that are served. instead, i pray for peace. for healing. for daily reminders of the inherent goodness of our God. i pray for love and joy to be continued, and also restored.

because the valley won't go on forever. Psalm 23:4

functionally complete.

Our Final Fireplace Room To-Do List:

- fill all the nail holes with wood filler and sand smooth.

- put a thin layer of touch up paint over the nail holes and fingerprints.

- clean a few paint splatters off the brick.

- clean, paint, and re-install the air return vent covers.

     we actually bought new ones

- put up all the light switch and outlet covers.

- re-hang the light fixture in the nook.

- figure out what to do about window treatments.

and so, without further ado, it is my great honor and esteemed privilege to proclaim our fireplace room (finally!) FUNCTIONALLY COMPLETE!!! 

just as a reminder, here is a picture of the two-toned look this room was sporting from WAY back when, before any of this madness got underway:

and here is the room as she stands this very moment:

NOTE: the china cabinet is not going to live there forever, it just moved there temporarily to be out of the way in the front room.

A Comprehensive List of Things We Did: 
- replaced the 1/8" wood paneling with 1/4" drywall.
- covered the textured ceiling with 3/8" drywall.
- spackled holes and fixed some nail pops in the walls.
- primed and painted all the walls and trim.
- painted the fireplace doors.
- fixed the doorways to accommodate the drywall wall.
- put bigger crown molding around the fireplace.
- replaced all the switches, outlets, and all their covers.

and even though we're still curtain-less in there, Mark moved all the furniture from the rest of the house back into the fireplace room, serving the double purpose of making it look oh so cozy in there and also being the first step in prepping for paint in the front room and dining room.

no rest for the weary here folks, we plan on having the whole upstairs functionally complete by the end of the year... fingers crossed guys, (and your toes too if you can manage it) it's probably gonna be close, but we'll definately keep you posted.

our first scare.

my blog is about to go to a place where my blog has never gone before. its kind of personal, but i think we can all handle it. if you dont think you can, then just skip this post and come back later. i'll probably have something to say about grilled bananas or painting furniture thats a little more in line with what we're all used to getting around here.

a couple months ago, i screwed up my birth control system when i forgot to pack my pills before we left for vacation. no wait, thats kind of a lie, because i actually did pack them, but then in a fit of organizational awesomeness i unpacked them to take one the morning we left, and then forgot to repack them before we actually left. i guess thats what i get for trying to be prepared and pack three days ahead of time.

so i was off the pill for a while and yadda yadda yadda all of a sudden there's a chance i might be preggers. (i am not going to elaborate any further on that point because i trust that all my readers are old enough to know where babies come from. you're welcome. go ask your mother.) anywho, this all led to a two-and-a-half week period in September during which i overthought every thing i did or felt and tried desperately to figure out if i was indeed going to grow a little person inside of me. and since you weren't hanging out in my head at that time, i've provided a symptom-by-symptom account of those weeks purely for your enjoyment and a little bit of understanding of why and how i came to be a little ball of silent stress and anxiety.

Symptom: eating a lot of food. a lot of junk food. specifically ice cream.
What I Was Thinking: i am so hungry! its like i'm eating enough for myself and a whole 'nother person... i kind of hope i actually turn out to be preggo so i can justify this junk food binge.
What I Probably Should Have Thought: i do not really need this ice cream. didn't i say i was going to start eating healthy and working out so i wouldnt feel so fat?

Symptom: "i feel so faaaaattttt."
What I Was Thinking: bloating! thats totally an early sign of pregnancy!
What I Probably Should Have Thought: hur dur dumbbutt its probably cause of all that ice cream. and i should probably actually start working out more. and maybe eat a little less cheese.

Symptom: headaches in the morning and a sore back all day.
What I Was Thinking: (google google google) oh man. more signs of early pregnancy. i dont think i'm ready for this. i need to go hyperventilate somewhere.
What I Probably Should Have Thought: i should stop sleeping in my contacts, because i know they give me headaches. and what a good jazzercise workout! i love that sore all over feeling the next day.

Symptom: gosh, i am really tired. i do not feel like doing anything but laying right here on this couch.
What I Was Thinking: that crazy little maybe-baby is sucking all my energy!
What I Probably Should Have Thought: i need more sleep. maybe staying up late to catch the end of America's Got Talent and then getting sucked into the show after that too wasn't really the best plan ever.

Symptom: massive acne breakout. not like "oh look a few zits on my chin" but more like "my face resembles that of a 16-year old boy who refuses to wash their face and/or their sheets and by the way is that a zit inside my right ear?"
What I Was Thinking: (google google google) oh man i didnt even know that acne leads to babies! PANIC!
What I Probably Should Have Thought: um hello? remember how your face kinda sorta does this EVERY month? probably just PMS. chill out and wash your face a bit more.

Symptom: getting up to go to the bathroom like 6 times in 4 hours.
What I Was Thinking: OMG TEENY TINY HUMAN MAKING ME HAVE TO PEEEEE
What I Probably Should Have Thought: well, note to self: drinking approx. 96 oz of water in one day might be just a tad bit excessive. chill.

**SPOILER ALERT** i'm not pregnant. just a little stressed and out of shape and making less-than-stellar dietary choices. sorry to disappoint.

and no, i'm not really disappointed at the lack of babyness in mah bellay. we're honestly not ready for that yet, as evidenced by the fact that one of my main concerns had to do with fitting into the fabulous bridesmaid dress i just bought for Vic's wedding 9 months from now, and that one of the only positive things i could really think about having a baby right now would be having an excuse to get fat.

so yeah. no babies here yet. just thought you might like to know.

One, Part Two.

and/or How To Freeze Your Cake and Eat It Too. 

so i told you all yesterday about our super-special low-key anniversary plans. dinner at home, watch our wedding video, open our wedding jar, and eat the top tier of our cake. out of all these pretty standard anniversary events, one of the most anticipated was definately the cake. did it survive an entire year in the creepy downstairs freezer? would it be edible, or moldy, or frozen solid like a big cakey icecube? what did it taste like in the first place? (turns out neither of us ate any of the cake when it was fresh) did we ever actually take it out of the box and wrap it up? which one of us did that anyway?

only one way to find out. 

 we trekked downstairs to the far corner of the basement where the creepy old refridgerator resides. we opened the freezer door, and lo and behold - there was something wrapped in aluminum foil. a good sign.

we figured that whatever was in that package would thaw better if it were unwrapped, so thats what we did. after removing three pieces of clear packing tape (yeah i don't know why either) and the first layer of aluminum foil, we found ANOTHER layer of aluminum foil covering what we were assuming to be the top tier of our cake.

peeling back the second layer revealed a layer of plastic wrap...

...followed by a layer of wax paper. apparently whoever wrapped this thing up meant serious business.

and it turns out that inside all that wrapping was indeed the top tier of our wedding cake, just like we remembered it. and take a look at how good this thing looks after an entire year in that getup!

I transferred the cake from its plethora of protective layers onto a plate for mostly aesthetic purposes, and let it sit for a bit.

while we waited for dinner to finish, and the cake to thaw, we listened to our wedding music and opened our first wedding jar.

inside the jar was a plethora of good advice, a copy of the BFOTB's speech, a few reminders about the outcome of the football game that day, and not one but TWO warnings about the cake. specifically, not to even bother with it.

well that only made us more curious to see how ours survived its year in the freezer, so after dinner we decided to chance it and cut ourselves a piece. (and i would just like to say that i was pleasantly surprised to find that my cake-cutting skillz have greatly improved over the past year)

time for the moment of truth...

the verdict: it tasted like cake. not particularly good cake, but the kind of cake you would expect to get from a grocery store bakery. which incidentally is exactly where our cake was from. we each ate a whole piece, and since we're not puking our guts out today, i would have to call this adventure in cake-freezing a great success!

 additionally, i would like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who did eat cake at our wedding and then spent the rest of the evening with green teeth. my bad.

our only dilemma now that the cake turned out to be edible and reasonably tasty is that we're having a hard time justifying just throwing it out, which is what we were planning on doing. so you tell us: what should we do with the rest of our cake? feed it to my coworkers? have a second wedding reception? wrap it up and leave it on a strangers front porch? the possibilities are almost endless...

One.

so this is what a first anniversary feels like...

its a little bit...

well...

is 'normal' too harsh a word for such a supposedly special day?

i feel a little bad because i don't have anything really deep or insightful to say here. 

maybe its because my mind has been focused on other things lately and i haven't taken time to really reflect on the past 12 months. i mean, we've done a lot. we've travelled to some different places. we've had a lot of fun. there has been laughter and movies and snuggles and fights and reconciliations and surprises and projects and celebrations. and i loved all those things. i honestly wouldn't change anything about our first year of marriage. but on some level, it was just another year. another span of 365 days, just like the last one, just with different memories.

maybe its because we didn't make any huge plans. it is a Monday after all. and i was out of town all weekend. we plan to make dinner together tonight. we plan to watch our wedding video for the first time. we plan to eat the top layer of our cake. we plan to open our first wedding jar. and then on Friday, we plan to dress up fancy and go out to dinner somewhere nice. somewhere new. there may or may not be presents. i had lofty ambitions for an awesomely crafty gift for the hubs that would be heartfelt and let him know just how much i love him. and then i ran out of time. so instead i picked up a neat little something while i was out this weekend. i didn't ask for anything. i didn't really even hint about anything a lot. and is it too corny to say that i might not even mind all that much not getting something because i'll be happy to just spend time together?

maybe its because i've always just built it up in my head to be more than it really is. i mean, yes, its a big deal. its our first real anniversary after all. but i have celebrated a lot of anniversaries prior to this one. every month that we dated, every month that we were engaged, and every month that we've been married up to this point have all been major milestones for me and for us, and i celebrated accordingly, even if only in my head. so maybe i thought that when they all were added up into one big, full year that somehow it would feel bigger? but really it just feels like every other milestone.

but i know that its not. i know that this day is the one that matters. i know that February 15th, and March 20th don't even hold a candle to October 3rd. i guess there's just something about promising to love another person for "always and forever, no doubt whatsoever" and really meaning it that makes a day extra special. and i wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy FIRST Anniversary Mark! One down, hopefully at least 49 to go...