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Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy New Year, that was 2009

Wow 2009 was a hell of a year. There is not much else I can say about it. It was just amazing. Everything went as planned, but it was so much better then I expected. The big point of the year was March, 21. My wedding day. The whole year up to that point seemed to be getting ready for the wedding. I will admit that getting ready for the wedding was stressful. I will say the first three months of the year was more stressful than the rest of the year combined. It was worth it.


The rest of the year after that was about learning how to be a married man. Kate and I lived together for about 16 months before being married. Lots of people ask if being married was different than not being married, for me it is. Things between Kate and myself became intense. It was like the stakes are higher. If I did something wrong, I felt worse about it. It was like the reality of being married hit me.

My God Father's Wife Janis gave us a piece of advice after the wedding. She told us that you need to work at you marriage everyday if you want it to be good. This seems true to me and I have been trying to live this idea. I try to work to be a better person for my wife. It is not always easy, but it is always worth it.

This year Kate and I went to Portland, Sacramento, Monterey, Comic Con, Baseball Games, and all over San Jose. This year has been about the two of us. We have spent a lot of time together, even both did National Novel Writing Month this year. We stayed home this Christmas so we could have our own Christmas Tree, It was really cool.

The best thing I did not related to getting married was getting my bike back on the road. I decided it was silly to drive to the gym, ride the bike at the gym to warm up, and drive back. That got my bike back into riding shape. It took a little more for me to get myself into riding shape.

Being married has been really good to me. I am losing weight, getting more exercise, and feeling better. I really feel this has been one of the best years of my life. It was definitely the best year of my adult life. I am hoping the trend continues. I know that I need to work at my life to keep that trend alive.

Below is my first photo from 2009

Labels: 2009, best of 2009, kate, marriage, self, wedding

- Rich, 6:01 PM

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

2009 Mayfly

Mayfly 2009

I got married, yes that amazed me and it was cool. It still surprises me I am married. It defined my year. She's great.

Past Mayflies

2008, Mayflys: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2002, 2001,

Labels: 2009, kate, mayfly project, self, wedding, year in review

- Rich, 10:12 PM

Friday, September 04, 2009

Steak and Cupcake Day

Today, the Friday before Labor Day, is Steak and Cupcake Day. This day is the anniversary of the day Kate and I first met. That was also our first date. As they say, the rest is history.

The Steak refers to our of our favorite dates when we were first dating. Since we started Dating during football season, we would go out for Breakfast to see the Eagles play. I told Kate that she could have Steak and Eggs if she went along. This was enough to convince her. Maybe she wanted to hang out with me also. Watching the Eagles, eating the steak and eggs, and hanging with me turned Kate into an Eagles fan. It also might have won her heart.

We had cupcakes at our wedding instead of cake. It turned out to be the perfect choice for our wedding. We did it because we were trying to keep to a tight budget. We found out it would be easy to spend way over budget. The cupcake is a symbol of our marriage. It is also a symbol of our commitment for each other. It is also something that has happened in our relationship, when we trust our instincts with each other good things happen. I think that is a big part of our relationship.

We are going to celebrate tonight with Steak at Henry's High Life and Cupcakes from Suger Butter Flour. I took the day off so

Labels: kate, marriage, relationship, Steak and Cupcake Day

- Rich, 8:22 AM

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Vows

11-ALT
Originally uploaded by KayMTee.

Here are the wedding Vows that Kate and I said to each other. We decided really early that we were going to write our own vows. It just seemed like the right think to do. People at the wedding told us they liked them. Maybe they were just being polite. I hope that people like them.


Kate:

Love of mine, you are one of the most beautiful of God's creatures.
It is my good fortune to have you in my life I am better for knowing you.
I pledge everyday to seek your gentle smile.
Looking inside my heart only finding you.
Give you comfort and rest
I pledge to be present in our life together.
To be careful with you.
To be vulnerable
I pledge to also be strong and patient
To compromise with you
To nurture the good in our relationship
I will not try to fix things but just to listen
To be honest with you as well as trust you
To bend but not to break
Along the road I may disappoint, anger, or make you sad.
Know the mistakes I make are only my own frustration
No matter what it looks like all I bring you is love.


Rich:

My love, from the first time I kissed your lips, I knew we had a bond
The days since that first kiss, my love for you has grown and flowered
I pledge you my hands
That they work hard to support you
and be there for you when you need them
to be ready to act when times get hard
I pledge you my mind
That it will find the word to bring you a smile
and think through every challenge life brings us
you will never be far from my thoughts
I pledge you my heart
With every ounce of love I can muster
I will let you into my heart
making our lives a place where we can always find joy
I will be present, patient and loving
Thanking God for everyday we have together
As we build a family and a life together

Labels: kate, self, vow, wedding

- Rich, 4:17 PM

Saturday, February 14, 2009

State of my Heart Address 2009

I started to write the state of my heart address in 1994 as an indulgence. It was a way for me to wallow in the way I was feeling. It was a way for me to be a depressed 20 nothing being in touch with his emotions.

All those years later I am happy I started this tradition. I am happy that I have been writing about my love life in this kind of specific way. It gives me something to look back at and see the way I have grown and changed.

I has spent the past year with Kate. In that time not only has she been my lover, but also my best friend, confidant, cheerleader, and companion. We got engaged last March. By the next time I write a State of My Heart Address she will be my wife. This makes me happy. I enjoy seeing Kate as the woman who will be my wife. I will be even happier when she is my wife.

In the past year I have learned and grown more than I ever expected. I have learned about myself and about Kate. I feel like I am not the same person I was a year ago and that is a good thing. I have more patience, more love, and more understanding, but not just for kate, but lots of things.

I know I feel different now than I did a year ago. A year ago I still had the rose colored glasses of a love that was new. Now I have the warm and deep feeling of a love that has grown. I think it is harder to describe, but much more rewarding. I remember hearing a wine critic one say that a good bottle of wine should not show you everything in the first taste. There should be more that you keep discovering and learning. I am finding that love is the same way. Every day we grow a little more and as we grow there is more to learn.

For the first time in a very long time, I can see myself in the future. I can foresee what my life might be like. I can see the road I am on and imagine where it might take me. I know that life changes those things, but it is nice to have some idea where I would like to be. It is good to have an idea what I want the future to bring me.

The state of my heart is good and It will get better god willing.

Labels: 2009, kate, self, State of my Heart Address

- Rich, 12:23 PM

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

2008 Mayfly

The idea of a Mayfly is to summarize your year in 24 words. I will tell you it makes you think about what is important.

Mayfly 2008

I asked with a picture
she said yes with a smile
knowledge increases love grows
Lost job New job
Looking forward to the Wedding


Past Mayflies

Mayflys: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2002, 2001,

Labels: 2008, kate, mayfly project, self, wedding, year in review

- Rich, 11:39 AM

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Travelogue - Portland Wrapup

To say the least, my trip to Portland was great. Kate really loved Portland also. We only went to a fraction of the places that I usually like to go and she still loved it. We talked about the chances that we would move to Portland some day. I told her that there were only a handful of places that I really wanted to live. Portland was near the top of that list.

It was a great trip for a lot of reasons. Kate and I travel well together. I am someone who like to keep plans open when I travel. I see that this did not bother Kate. We spent a lot of time visiting with Don and Jenna. Kate did not mind that we spent a lot of time with someone she had never met before. He instantly clicked with Don and Jenna and we all had a good time. That is also important to me.

Things I meant to show Kate but did not have the time:
Powells City of Books
The Rose Garden
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Pioneer Courthouse Square
SW Park blocks
Bagdad theater

I have the feeling that Kate and I will make our way back to Portland. It would be cool if I could live there again. Even if we just go visit there it will be cool. I have visited Portland on every even year since I left. I do not see that trend ending because of Kate.

Labels: kate, list, Portland, tag overload, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 10:39 AM

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Travelogue - Engaged

I asked Kate to marry me in Portland and she said yes. Yes, I asked her on March 17th St. Patrick's Day, but I am getting a head of my self here.

Kate and I started Monday by sleeping in. After breakfast and internet at the Kennedy school we looked for places to get Kate's nails done. We drove around Portland for a little bit before meeting Sean for lunch.

The whole time all of these things happened I was trying to figure out when I was going to ask Kate. Kate knew the proposal was coming soon. She knew that I ordered a ring but I did not have it with me in Portland. Knowing that, Kate has accused me of being kind of "squirrelly". She knew something was up.

I figured my only chance was to make her think I was going to do something at Dinner and ask her earlier. After a couple of text messages with a friend I decided I was going to ask her on the Hawthorne bridge in the late afternoon. I wanted to get my hair cut first. I was just hoping that the weather would hold out.



I had an appointment for get my hair cut and Kate had a nail appointment. My best friend for high school and college, His sister Shannon is a hair stylist in Portland. I had seen her over Christmas. She said she would be happy to cut my hair. We tried to hook it up two years ago, but the timing was all wrong.

It was cool to have my hair cut away from home by a person who knew me. It was a good haircut. I do not have a hair stylist in San Jose I like this much. If I lived in Portland I would go to Shannon at Dirty Little Secret all the time.



I told Kate after the Haircut that I wanted to take some photos of her on the Hawthorne bridge. Earlier in the trip I told her how the Hawrhorne bridge in Portland. Not only did it go between two of my favorite parts of town, it is also a beautiful bridge. Since I take a lot of photos it was not hard to convince Kate that I wanted to take her photo on the bridge.

I knew that I wanted to ask Kate with a photographic months back. I got the idea while we were in Philadelphia after Christmas. I wanted so way to ask Kate that I could later post on Flickr. In February I had Peter Conrad make the sign for me and take the photo of me. The photo of me at the top of the post was taken at the place where Kate and I had our first date, Mission City Coffee.

On Saturday I had Don run out and make a print for me. I knew that I was not going to be able to slip away from Kate for long enough to get it done. This lead to the whole thing with me acting "Squirrelly".

I walked Kate on the bridge and started taking some pictures. After a few pictures I said I had a prop for her. I handed her a bag with the photo in it. The print was 8x10. She looked at the photo and was surprised. She did not expect me to ask her there in this way. I am happy I could surprise her. I told her there were two more signs in the bag, 'Yes' and 'No'. I told her she needed to pick one of them out and hold it up. She held up the 'yes' sign.



We were both floating six feet off the ground when we got off the bridge. We went back to the Kennedy school. It was packed when we got back there. St. Patrick's day attracts a lot of people to the Kennedy School. We used their soaking pool for a little while. It seemed perfect. The water was warm and air was cool. We were as close to weightless as we could be. We floated around each other was we talked about the future.

We headed back to the room to take advantage of the Romance package, which was a bottle of champagne on ice and two chocolate truffles. After a little time in the room we decided to get some dinner in the hotel restaurant. The wait for the restaurant was 90 minutes, but when you are staying at a hotel with its own brewery and six bars, waiting 90 minutes for a table is not too hard.

We had a lot of beer, chicken wings, tater tots while we waited. We mooned at each other over steak and beer for dinner. Steak has become a celebration meal for us. It seemed perfect that night. Lets just say we were pretty free with the drinks that night. Everything that night seemed to make us happy.

We stumbled back to our room after a few hours. When got there I wanted to make sure we finished I wanted to make sure we finished off the bottle of champagne. I paid good money for it and I did not want it to go to waste. It was a little warm and flat for sitting out, but that was fine by me. The only glass clean in the room was a pint glass. We ended up sharing that glass, trading it back and forth. I ended up Twittering "we finished a bottle of flat sparkling wine out of a pint glass. what a perfect day."

After that I had this Idea that we should go out side and look at the stars. We we got outside we found out it was raining. The sky was gray and we could not see any stars. So we ended up dancing outside in the rain. It was still pretty cool. It was the end of a perfect day.

Labels: kate, Portland, proposal, tag overload, travel, travelogue, wedding

- Rich, 4:07 PM

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Travelogue - Road to Portland

The first Stop is a Denny's on I-80 on the say to Sacramento. We had a Kathy like experence with a homeless guy when we got out of the car. He walked up to me and asked for money. I was pinned in with another car right there. Scaring people is not a great way to get me to willingly give money.

We are one hour into the road trip and it is going well. Once we hit the road everything was great. There was a little getting on each other's nerves as we were packing the car, but that all went away. More about the trip later.

Labels: I-80, kate, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 8:19 PM

Thursday, February 14, 2008

State of my Heart Address 2008

I am love. I am not sure how I can say it any plainer or clearer. That is not the best part. The best part is that the woman I am in love with loves me back. Maybe that is not the best part. Maybe the best part is that I have never felt this way about someone before.

I do not know what to say about my love life. I spent my 20s being alone. I did not have a meaningful romantic relationship from the age of 19 to the age of 30. When I turned 30 a friend told me that it was about to change. Guys like us look better in our 30s than in our 20s. I guess he was right. I am not upset at not having relationships in my 20s. I think it has helped mold me into the person I am right now. I think I am a good person now, ready to love. I am doing my best to use my past to my advantage.

I cannot put into words how I feel right now. I have deleted this paragraph four or five times. Every way I try to describe Kate seems to fall short. The worlds do not seem to live up to the task of conveying the truth. I cannot find words that show what is really in my heart. She is so much more to me than I ever expected.

I have seen Kate very day in the last four months. I cannot not imagine not seeing her everyday. I cannot imagine seeing her more than I see anyone else. I cannot imagine her not being this close to her. I cannot imagine being without her touch, her sent, her voice, or her close to me. I want to spend the rest of my life being close to her.

The state of my heart is very good right now. I am amazed at everything that has happened in the past few months. I was not expecting it to happen. I was not looking when it happened. I was opened to the idea that it could happen. When it happened, I was not afraid of what could happen.

Labels: 2008, flickrpost, girlfriend, kate, self, State of my Heart Address

- Rich, 7:01 AM

Monday, November 19, 2007

Going back to Philadelphia

Meeting my parents in Mesa: High School Best Friend
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I am going back to Philadelphia for Christmas. I am taking my girlfriend back to meet my parents. It should be one hell of a trip. I am looking forward to Kate meeting everyone and everyone meeting Kate. I am a little stressed because there is a lot of planning and I am not close to the planning. I am just hoping it will be a good trip.

It will be good to see my parents. I think they will like Kate.

Labels: Christmas, family, kate, parents, travel

- Rich, 1:38 PM

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