3 Years Down. Forever to Go.

Tomorrow, January 23rd, marks mine and Luke's 3rd anniversary. We will celebrate by having bacon and waffles with fruit and whipped cream for breakfast, going to see Sherlock Holmes, and enjoying dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Mmmm.... beef....

It has been so fun to be married to Luke! These 3 years have just flown by and have been filled with some really fun adventures. Here are some things I just love about Luke:

- he makes me laugh everyday

- he listens to me and respects my opinions

- he lets me cry when I need to and talks me down from any moments of extreme hysteria

- he supports me in doing my art

- he helps me solve problems and helps me see things differently

- he works hard to support our family and so that we can have interesting opportunities

- he makes sure that we talk everyday, even if he's on a business trip half way around the world (we've spoken to each other everyday since we started dating - it's a streak we can't break now!)

- he is tall and handsome

- he's totally comfortable in any social situation

- he fits in great with my family

- he is a faithful Mormon man

Yep. And there are more, but I won't bore you.

Here are three pictures - one of us in each of our three fun years of marriage.

2007: happily wed

2008: in Las Vegas for the 4th of July

2009: after a trip on the overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg

Walking on Spy Pond

I went for a walk the other day and came upon Spy Pond - one of my favorite spots in Arlington. During the winter, it is usually frozen, even when other ponds in the area aren't frozen. I don't know what it is about the pond that helps it freeze so easily. I guess in the olden days they used to ship ice from Spy Pond out - I don't know where to.

Anyway, after seeing a few people ice fishing in the distance and looking at the very solid ice next to the little beach area, I decided I wanted to walk on it a little. My first few steps were very tentative, but then I realized that this ice was really solid, so I decided to walk to the island. I've always wanted to go to the island, but have never gone canoeing at Spy Pond. I figured this was my chance. So, I did. And I talked to some of the ice fishers and saw a woman walking her dog and saw a man skating around with a hockey stick - impressive because that ice was rough with frozen ripples. Anyway, I felt a grand sense of adventure and enjoyed walking among the really tall reeds that surround the island and enjoyed the crunch of the snow followed by the soft mush of leaves underneath that covered that island.

So, when life hands you a chance to try something new and different: think about trying it. But do it safely. Not all iced over ponds are safe enough to walk on.

Last Stop: London

The last city that we visited on our Summer Trip (wow, that was so long ago!) was London. London really got the shaft: we were already tired from so much travelling and sort of touristed-out, it was way too hot for comfort, and some of our time was eaten up by certain mistakes - mistakes that I made. Mistake #1: I left my journal on the train that we took from Paris to London - just left it in the seat pocket in front of me. I realized this, of course, after we walk from the train station a few blocks to our hotel. So, we drop off our luggage and pretty much run/speed walk as fast as we can (very grateful, mind you, that we can understand the language) through the train station to the lost and found. We get there and the man explains that they're checking the trains now - it'll be another 15 minutes or so before we'll know if any one found it. Fortunately, they found it! Mistake #2: I realized, while waiting for my journal, that we had walked to the wrong hotel. Same chain, just not the one that I had a reservation with. So, we had to make a choice: go with our original hotel that was closer to more touristy stuff but would require getting our bags and taking the tube or a taxi to the other location, or see if we could change our reservation and be able to walk to the the train station that would take us back to Paris (and that already had our bags.) We decided to do the later. After all this, I have to say that I felt like a prize idiot.

The things we did in London: went to the Churchill museum (which is awesome!), went to an organ concert at Westminster Abbey, walked to Buckingham Palace, saw the outside of the houses of parliament, went on the London Eye, went to the Tower of London, took those double decker tour buses, saw the outside of St. Paul, saw the movie "Last Chance Harvey" in a theatre (we just wanted the AC), and waited for a while with a big crowd in some square to see Johnny Depp. They were there for the premiere of some movie. Can't remmeber now. A lot of stuff for 2 days. Luke and I don't mess around when it comes to being tourists. However, our sanity, happiness, and relationship may have suffered a bit. We were a bit sick of each other by the end of the trip.

Here's Luke along the road leading to Buckingham.


In the London Eye. A man had rented out the capsule next to us for his girlfriend/wife/fiance? and some man to pour them wine and take their pictures. That was fun to see.



The houses of parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye.

St. Paul's cathedral.

Here's Luke beside one of the "Beefeaters" (aka: guides) at the Tower of London. It was a really hot day and I felt bad for those guys in their heavy outfits.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip and got to see some amazing things. I am so grateful that Luke and I enjoy travelling and discovering things together.