1. Who is your man? Erik
2. How long have you been married? 3 years, 9 months
3. How long dated? 3 years to the day of our wedding.
4. How old is your man? He turned 35 in September
5. Who eats more? He does, definitely.
6. Who said “I love you” first? Me, at about the 3 week mark.
7. Who is taller? He is, by 5 inches.
8. Who sings better? Me, by a long shot. Erik’s singing makes Baby Jesus cry.
9. Who is smarter? Mostly him, but I’m pay more attention on politics and social issues.
10. Whose temper is worse? Definitely mine. He’s pretty calm and levelheaded.
11. Who does the laundry? Him. It was an agreement we made when we decided to move into a place with a laundry room in the basement.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Erik does.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I’m always on the right.
14. Who pays the bills? I write the checks, but it’s mostly his money. J
15. Who is better with the computer? Definitely him, he’s the software engineer.
16. Who mows the lawn? When we had a lawn, Erik mowed it.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, always. He can only make breakfast sandwiches.
18. Who drives when you are together? Me, I like to drive and he hates to.
19. Who pays when you go out? He does.
20. Who is most stubborn? We’re pretty evenly matched, but we’re not stubborn about the same things.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me, for sure. Erik’s never wrong. ;) 
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, because they live closer than his.
23. Who kissed whom first? I’m sure I instigated it.
24. Who asked whom out? He answered my online ad, so I’d say it was mutual.
25. Who proposed? Like Amy, it was Erik, but only after I bullied him into it.
26. Who is more sensitive? Me
27. Who has more friends? Me
28. Who has more siblings? He has 2 sisters and one brother, and I have no siblings.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Again, we’re evenly matched. I’d say I’ve got 55% controlling interest.

This year's festivities weren't too bad!! Wednesday I started early by skipping out of work at noon and having
lunch with my mom down at the Supermall. I had won a $100 gift card to Dress Barn (the worst name for a fat-girl
clothing store ever!) that I needed to claim, so we made lunch out of it. I came home and got started on
pre-Thanksgiving prep. Dinner was to be at my mom and stepdad's house, but I had volunteered to make the
turkey, stuffing and gravy. I LOVE to entertain, and I would host every year if I could! I made my now-famous
turkey roulade, cornbread suasage stuffing and gravy from homemade turkey stock. Which I thicken with gingersnap crumbs.

Amazingly enough, everything turned out just right, and we left for my mom's exactly at noon, like planned.
I was amazed that I hadn't f*cked anything up. :)

Dinner was uneventful, just hanging with Mom, my stepdad Ray, his oldest sone and his grandaughter who's 19. We played a few board games and left.

The next day, we took a can down to the train station and waited to start our big trip. Here was the basic plan:
Take the train to Vancouver and cab to our hotel, stay two nights and train back. I LOVE taking the train and will use any excuse to take it.
Besides, I want to bring my new laptop and play some games with Erik, read my new book and play cards.
We got a screaming deal, too. 2 RT tickets and 2 nights at the Ramada right on Granville for $290, total. Score!
Well, the super-cheap train tickets should have been my first clue. When we got to the station, there wasn't a sign for Vancouver on the podium. I asked around a bit, and was told, "It's a thruway." As if that's supposed to mean something? Turns out, it's a fricking BUS to Vancouver. Nowhere on our ticket or one the website does it say a bus, because I never would have booked it if it was. I get carsick easily,
so I wouldn't last very long on a bus! We hemmed and hawed it for a bit, then got on the bus. It took me about 10 minutes before I just flipped out. I couldn't use my laptop, read any of my books or anything. I knew I would just fume I asked Erik how he felt about driving, and he said it would be ok! So we got a refund (didn't even have to complain, the agent at the counter said this happened a lot).
and took a bus home, then hopped in the car and started driving!

Aside from the FOUR HOUR WAIT at the border, our drive was uneventful. Yeah, that's not including our drive time, that was four
uninterrupted hours of waiting, in which we drove exactly one mile to the border. I was understandably cranky by the time we made it to the boothm, so when the border agent started asking me rapid-fire questions, I got stuttery and flustered. That landed us a trip to the office, where we had to wait in another line so they could take our passports for 10 minutes and make us sweat. By the time they let us leave I was ready to scream! We made it to our hotel by 8 and sacked out after dinner. Our hotel was in the West End area of Vancouver, which is our favorite part. Tons of clubs and shops, and everything's open late.

We did a little sight-seeing the next day, then went to a private party that night. The drive home the next day was really uneventful!
Only a 45 minute wait, and the US guard was actually nice.

It was wonderful to get away! We definitely need to take more weekends away with each other.

I had a wonderful weekend! Saturday started off with a fabulous lunch at Ipanema Grill with a bunch of my closest friends. Marcie really outdid herself with party planning! She got an awesome cake from Borracini’s, favors for everyone, balloons and decorations, and a tiara for me. J  The food was fantastic, as always, and it was great that people braved downtown, terrible parking and the walk up the Harbor Steps to celebrate with me. I received a lot of wonderful gifts, and one of the ones I’ll mention was from 3 of my employees who chipped in on a spa gift certificate for a Brazilian wax!

After lunch Erik and I head down to the Hotel 1000, where we had booked a room. This place was beyond amazing! Totally modern and just gorgeous. The bathroom was truly striking: a glass partition separates it from the rest of the room, and you could lower a privacy curtain if you wish. There was a shower and a toilet in an etched glass stall, and a huge tub. The water spout was in the ceiling, and went straight down into the tub is a smooth, splash-free column. No faucets digging into your back!

 

After some relaxing in the room, we headed down to Contour for their legendary happy hour, which is 3-8 every day! We noshed on $1.95 apps and filled up with 4 apps and 4 drinks for $23, not too bad!

The next day we just chilled at home and I got caught up on my nerd TV.

Monday was the annual birthday shopping orgy with my mom, and I got a new wool coat. I was searching for a white pea coat, but couldn’t seem to find one in my size, so I settled for a lovely dark grey one.

And then when I got home, I saw that Elizabeth had sent me flowers! Such a nice surprise to come home to. J

But tomorrow I go in for my second kidney stone surgery, and I can’t say I’m too excited about that. Hopefully they’ll get it right this time!!

March 10, 2001 (approximately)

Erik answers Brittany's Love@AOL ad with his own ad. By this time, Brittany has had her ad up for almost a month and after a lot of near-misses, losers and even good dates that went nowhere, she's ready to throw in the towel. Then Erik changes everything.

March 14, 2001

After talking on ICQ and then the phone for 3-4 days, Brittany and Erik decide to meet. He picks Brittany up at her apartment and they head out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Brittany is pleasantly surprised by how handsome Erik is, as she had some terrible experiences previously. Brittany shows her cheap side by offering a 2-for-1 coupon, and they joke about how it would be in terrible taste for Erik to use a coupon on a first date.

March 16, 2001

Brittany and Erik decide they have something pretty special, and agree to be mutually exclusive.

March 30, 2001

Brittany introduces Erik to her mother and step-dad at her mom's birthday karaoke night. Erik wins Mom's heart by fearlessly ruining Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Brittany tells Erik she loves him on the way home. It takes Erik a few more days to say the same.

June, 2001

Erik moves into Brittany's apartment. He agrees on the condition that the spare room becomes "his office."

August, 2002

Brittany and Erik move to a new apartment together in the Greenwood area.

October, 2002

Erik has an opportunity to work as a contractor in a villa in Paraguay for 6 months. He promises Brittany he will propose to her upon his return. They make arrangements for Brittany to move down there with him for 3-4 months until his contract is up. Meanwhile, Erik asks Brittany to pick out ring styles for him. She's miserable when he's gone and cries a lot. They have tense and pitiful conversations on IM. Erik swears he will never be gone for so long again.

December, 2002

Brittany has given notice at her job and trained her replacement when Erik finds out that his project has been cancelled and that he'll be coming home unemployed at Christmas.

Christmas, 2002

For some reason, Brittany is certain that Erik will propose, but no ring is forthcoming. They drive to Portland on Christmas Day to spend it with Erik's family, and Brittany is heartbroken, thinking Erik has changed his mind. She spends all day trying not to cry.

January 8, 2003

A mysterious package arrives in the mail, and Erik suggests a picnic at Golden Gardens. Brittany knows something is up. They pack up some food and freeze on the windy beach. Erik proposes, after a slightly cruel game of "guess which box has the ring in it?" Brittany says yes.

March 14, 2004

Erik and Brittany are married in a beautiful noon ceremony at the Lake Union Café.

I'm feeling much cheerier on this hot and sweaty Monday. On Friday, Erik worked from home, which just makes me feel nice. :) It's silly, really. He worked from home for 3 years, and I could not WAIT for him to go back to a normal job. When I first started my business, I worked from home as well, and being together 24/7 for weeks at a time was starting to take its toll on, us I think. That, coupled with the hygiene issue, really made me push him to find a job out of the house. So now he works downtown and has a work-from-home day every week, which I love! Sometimes I'll come home and have lunch with him, or we'll go out for breakfast, or on extra special days, he'll make breakfast sandwiches for us. He can't cook anything else, so I have to make a big deal out of his breakfast sands. :)

Saturday was a good day, we got a lot done here at the shop. I'm constantly having supply issues that annoy the crap out of me, but there's not much to be done. Sometimes my suppliers just run out of paper, and I have no control over it. Of course most brides don't care, and all the explaining in the world won't crack through that bridal brain, but I try.
Saturday night E and I head up to Elizabeth's Happening Luau Palace for Peabody's birthday, and that was a blast! A small turnout, but all the people I love, so that made it fun. Elizabeth totally outdid herself with food and decorations. I keep telling her what a great hostess she is, but she never believes me. :)
I felt a little pain later in the day, but I honestly couldn't tell if it was kidney pain or legitimate back pain. It seriously feels just the same! No matter, the Percoset took care of it in style. :)

Sunday was a fabulous day. I had 5 people working and because everyone was so fast, we finished by 2 instead of 6. Well, finished what we could, anyway! We had talked about bringing lunch from home and hitting a park or beach. Since we finished so early, we just decided to have lunch after "clocking out." I love that my staff wants to hang out with each other and me after hours! I have to brag for a minute here; I just love my staff! I've got 2 every-weekend girls, 2 usually every-weekend girls, and 2 few-days-a-month girls. And then Marcie, who defies categorization. :) But I'm just so thrilled with how everyone gets along, and does a fabulous job. I rarely have to worry that someone's going to royally screw up or get lazy and not care. With my current staff, I can totally depend on a quality product! I'll be sure to appreciate them while I can because it won't last forever. Being a seasonal job and all, I know people won't stay forever.
When I got home after our beach picnic, Erik surprised me with "Do you mind if we go shopping for computer stuff?" Like I would ever say no to shopping of any kind! He recently hired an artist to work on tile art for his new game, and since she will be working in my studio, we needed to get some things ready for her. We got a 20" flat panel monitor for $189 on sale, and Erik was feeling generous, so he got me one too! I'm writing this from the hugest, brightest monitor I've ever had. I feel like an uber-professional now!
We'll probably get another work table in here soon, and then take on of the desks and move it over to the only empty space in my studio, and the artist, Brett, can work from there. Which is where my new assistant will also work, whenever I get around to hiring him/her.

After setting up the new monitors, we went to see Ocean's 13, which I loved! I figured it would be the same as the first two, which was fine with me. I was resistant to seeing the first one, mostly because I can't stand Brad Pitt. But I relented to watching it on DVD, and then kicked myself for not seeing it sooner. I love caper movies! We need more of them, I think. Well, this one didn't disappoint. It delivered exactly what I expected of it, which, sadly, is how I tend to rate movies these days.  

All in all, it was a terrific weekend, with very little kidney pain. I guess I'm in the clear for a while. But how can I get more Percoset? :)

I woke up to some excrutiating back-area pain this morning, and after an hour decided that a new kidney stone had set up residence. I had a kidney stone last year, and the pain was unbelievable. Eventually it went away, but I didn't get the diagnosis until it was gone. This time I get to start fresh, yay. I have an ultrasound scheduled tomorrow so they can see if it has the potential to block anything important. Meanwhile, I have Mr. Perky Set to keep me company. :)

I need to find cheerier things to write about. I really don't want to become one of those boring people who always goes on about her illnesses.

Sometimes I forgot about LJ for weeks at a time, so that's why I'm not posting that much. But it's been a while, so I thought it was time for an update.

My Body Warranty Has Expired.
It truly sucks when you wake up one day and realize how old you've become. Or how you never appreciated your health when you had it. Ostensibly because you were young and had other things to complain about! Your health is one of those things you never think about until it all goes to hell. For me, a whole bunch of crap start up at once, so I'm more aware of it. 
It started with the hand; the doctor told me the fetching growth is called a ganglia, and "it'll go away on its own." Here I am, 9 months later, and my "lovely lady lump" is gradually increasing in size. It doesn't hurt anymore, unless I'm really straining my hand. Luckily, it's my left hand, so it's not that inconvenient. I'm much less concerned about my lumpy hand since my ankle has thrust itself out in front of the Annoying Pains Race.
I broke my ankle very badly about 10 years ago, and had a plate and several pins placed in it. I guess I forgot that the pins and plate were supposed to come out, because I never thought about it until it start giving me some pain. Apparently one of the pins has unscrewed itself out of the plate and is now joyriding around inside my leg and ankle bones. Lovely! That would explain the arthritis. The truly wacky thing is that flat shoes make my ankle ache like hell. I'm wearing heels pretty much every day now to keep my ankle pain-free. My most comfortable pair? 4" cork platform wedges. I have made an appt with the original surgeon who put the pins and plate in there, hopefully it will be a quick and painless surgery to get them out. But the arthritis will be a lifetime souvenir, I guess. A funny side note? I ran into my surgeon at a kinky event years ago, and he was very embarrassed that I remembered him. 

I can't think of any other interesting things to mention. I'll try to check in more often and do the 10 Things once in a while.

Oh well, fuggit. Sorry. 

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following…They must be REAL places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your name:  Brittany
1. Famous Athlete:  Beckham, David
2. 4 letter word: bite
3. Street name: Blanchard
4. Color:  Blue
5. Gifts/presents:  books
6. Vehicles:  BMW Z-3
7. Tropical Locations:  Bahamas
8. College Majors:  Black History
9. Dairy Products:  Butter
10. Things in a Souvenir Shop:  beanie babies
11. Boy Name:  Brendan
12. Girl Name:  Bella
13. Movie Titles: Beetlejuice
14. Alcohol:  Banana Daiquiri
15. Occupations:  Beekeeper
16. Flowers:  Bougainvillea
17. Celebrities:  Beyonce
18. Magazines:  Bird Fancy
19. U.S. Cities:  Bellevue
20. Pro Sports Teams:  Baltimore Orioles
21. Something Found in a kitchen:  Bundt Pan
22 Reason for Being Late: broken leg
23. Something You Throw Away: bad lettuce
24. Things You Shout:  BITCH!
25. Cartoon Character: Bugs Bunny