Too cool for graduation

Though I finished classes LAST May, my graduation ceremony was last week. Woo hoo! I didn't sign up to attend the ceremony since I didn't think we would be living near Baltimore (oops!), so we celebrated in our own way: tri-tip, cupcakes, and strawberry margaritas courtesy of my sweet husband. Plus, not going to the ceremony made me feel like one of those people who is way too cool for silly graduation ceremonies. I'm not, but it was fun to pretend.

Sidenote: Tri-tip is a strictly California thing. Like, people outside of California have never heard of it. This is shocking to me.

Cupcake master surpriser, at it again!

"I would like some tri-tip now, please. Thank you." Is it dumb to make up dialogue for your dog?

David at the Louvre

Give me a minute

David and I are upcountry for the week, participating in a training on malaria prevention for leaders of mothers groups. I won't be able to blog for a few days- we'll be too busy not showering, getting laughed at by little kids, and eating cassava leaf.

P.S. There are over 100 bugs in our room right now (David's estimate).

David's blog

True story over here at David's blog. BTW, did you know the little monkey had a blog? The secret is out. He's pretty cool.

3 years!!!

Happy anniversary to the cutest little guy with the best beard and the kindest eyes. I love you in California, Baltimore, Sierra Leone, probably everywhere in the whole world.

When David has the camera

"Here, take my picture!"

"Thanks, I'll take the camera back."
"Wow, you're really close."

15 pics later..."Okay, that's good."

10 pics later..."No, you're done. Give me the camera. Now."

Absurd: illogical, inappropriate, unreasonable

In class I noticed I had a few missed calls and a voicemail from David. I was worried, so I wrote him, "Hey, I'm in class."

He responded, "What's a substitute for enchilada sauce?"

How absurd is that?

Before & after

Charity

"We are all receiving Charity. There is something in each of us that cannot be naturally loved. It is no one's fault if they do not so love it.... You might as well ask people to like the taste of rotten bread or the sound of a mechanical drill. We can be forgiven, and pitied, and loved in spite of it, with Charity; no other way. All who have good parents, wives, husbands, or children, may be sure that at some times- and perhaps at all times in respect of some one particular trait or habit- they are receiving Charity, and are loved not because they are lovable but because Love Himself [Christ] is in those who love them."

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Happy Valentine's Day to the one who loves me anyway.

Go Wizards!

School is trying really hard to take the fun out of my life, but I'm not letting it. As a belated b-day gift for David, we took the train over to DC for a Wizards-Celtics game. Over the course of the evening the two of us put away nachos, a soft pretzel, a chicken sandwich, a hot dog and two large sodas. Pretty impressive. The best part might have been the halftime show. Watch it, then tell me how it's done. Please.

(A map to the Verizon Center drawn on my hand.)

Birthday boy

Happy birthday little monkey!

Nothing cuter than a husband who falls asleep with a ribbon around his head. He said he was a birthday present. For himself?

The less cute part of the story:

Right before I took this picture he rolled over and the bow got in his face. I stood there, trying not to laugh, hoping he wouldn't wake up, when he woke up because of the bow irritating his face. He looked up and saw me standing over him, camera in hand, laughing with tears coming down my face. He then accused me of putting the bow in his face and wouldn't believe that I didn't until the next morning.

Two of my favorite things

David and vegetables.

My home

Moving to a new place isn't so bad when you have a husband as cute as this. When I look over and see him there, I know I am where I am supposed to be. 

Good burgers help too. 

You won't believe it

Superman flew in and painted my bathroom. 

(He didn't even know I was taking this picture.)

Our last dinner at our first apartment

Oh, Villa Acacia, you hold a special place in my heart. You were our first apartment as a married couple. Sure, you were a little old, sometimes loud, located in the "ghetto" of SLO, and gave us some, ahem, interesting neighbors, but we loved you just the same.

David's idea of packing

$3 massages

(Super cool Lao massage outfits.)

Yesterday I got a massage, and it made me long to be back in Lao where the massages are $3 and you can get one everyday. I think I would be a different person- a much happier, more peaceful person.

The boy who gave me the massage is a student at the youth group, and he giggled when I told him David had been there the week before. In Chinese he asked his parents if they remembered a tall blond guy coming in, and they laughed and his dad held up his hands about 2 feet apart in reference to David's big feet. Then the boy said something surprising: "David is so loud and talks so much, and you are so quiet. How, what... how is it like to talk to each other?" So quiet, huh? Then it was my turn to giggle, and I assured him it worked out fine.

The "summer of Lindsay"

It's hard to believe it has been 2 years since we graduated college. One month later we were married on the beach. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the excitement of that time- the "summer of Lindsay" as my family called it. The planning, the uncertainty, the dreams. Then other times I remember how the uncertainty felt like it would make me crazy, and I was anxious for time to pass and for life to become normal.

Life has different seasons, and I'm learning to embrace them.

Big Sur

This place is a treasure. I can't believe I grew up in California but didn't go here until I was 23. In just 6 hours we explored sandy bluffs, witnessed the fighting of huge elephant seals, watched kite boarders lifted into the air, searched for zebras near Hearst Castle, drove past monasteries and hot springs, and danced in the abandoned fields. Not a bad day. I will miss you, California. I hope I can come back to you some day soon.

The beard

(The beard isn't in its full glory here, but you get the idea.)

So David loves this beard he's been growing. I, on the other hand, do not. It's not the idea of the beard that I don't like, it's the length. It's an inch long! You can see light through it! I've been asking him to trim it for about a month now, and he just giggles, full of pride for his creation. 

Today he finally went in to the salon (apparently his beard deserves Aveda treatment), and on the way he passed a girl who said, "Hey there gorgeous!" He felt flattered and excited that someone finally appreciated his beard. As he told me the story, he added, "She wasn't bad either." I was shocked at her boldness! And a little proud of my husband, impressing the ladies.

Not 10 minutes later, as he walked back the other way, he saw a sign in Sephora that said, "Hey there gorgeous." The girl had read the sign out loud to her friend right as David passed. I laughed so hard. 

But who knows, maybe the girl stole the phrase from the sign but was motivated to say it by David's rockin' beard. A boy can dream, right?