Life By Lindsey Rae

Today was our third anniversary! Good for us!
Jerrod took the day off and went and ran some errands during the afternoon. He took my car and brought it back all cleaned out and had the windows tinted. He said it wasn't necessarily an anniversary present, because he had been planning to do it anyway, but, it was nice to have it today. I didn't really get Jerrod anything...which I felt bad about. But, the thing is, he said he couldn't think of anything I could get him and that we should just plan to get a present together (we are going to get some rocking chairs for our front porch once we find some we like). But then, he gave me a basket full of chocolates and also did my car stuff for me. I did make him a nice card that I put a lot of time, thought and effort into...but then I always make him cards that I put a lot of time, thought and effort into...so maybe that's not so great...I always like to do fun things for him and so in all my perfectionism, I will probably feel bad for the rest of my life that I could not think of some great, original and wonderful idea for him today. I said that if I came across something good in the near future, I was going to get it....but it will be a little late, won't it?
Anyway, as part of my contribution, I've decided to take it upon myself to find some good rocking chairs for us.

We went to the Melting Pot tonight. I think we have gone there every anniversary so far. It's a fondue restaurant we like to go to for special occasions. We are so full right now though. Its a 4 course meal and so there is so much food. But, it's so good...and so expensive...that you feel like you have to eat every last bit that you can. After we got home tonight, I found that I had gained 6 pounds since I weighed myself this morning. It's a good thing I'm fairly skinny.

Ok, this may not seem like a big deal to anyone reading this, but it is a big deal to me, so I'm going to tell you anyway!
It is my one year anniversary of getting allergy shots. Doesn't seem exciting? Well, this means that for exactly one year I have been faithfully getting one shot, sometimes 2 shots per week. One needle in each arm. I have probably got 200+ needles in this past year. That's quite a lot when I probably only had 30 in my life previous to this. I am just proud of myself that I stuck with it, because it's not fun. You have to go there, wait, get poked...twice...and wait 20 minutes before you can leave. It's just a pain. But, I made it through a full year of it, hardly ever missing.
I'm not sure how many more years I will have, but it seems to have helped some, so I will keep doing it if it will clear up these terrible allergies I have developed. It may take awhile, but I've got a year behind me and some improvement, so I have some hope about it now.

There's one thing I forgot to mention. I remembered it was coming up, but forgot about it on the actual day: August 19th was my 5 year anniversary of when I moved to Tennessee. I can't believe it's been that long. In some ways, it doesn't seem like it's been that long. However, when I think back to all that has happened since then, I guess it really has been 5 years. Jerrod had his 5 year anniversary of moving here about a month before in July. Strange that we both moved here at almost the exact same time and probably passed each other at many a church singles activity, but never met until a couple years later.

Anyway, I was just remembering when I was younger and I wanted so badly to move here. I planned it for 5 years before it actually happened and now it has been 5 years since it did happen! I could never have imagined that this day would have come back when I was 14 years old and first got the idea that I should move to Nashville. And now we are even building a house in Nashville! It makes it seem that we are even more settled here. Sometimes when I am driving places I think to myself that I can't believe I actually know how to get where I am going around here (with my bad sense of direction and all). But then I remember I have lived here 5 years!

I have felt very good about living in Tennessee for the most part. I mean that, I have always felt at home here. So, I am very glad that we are here and very grateful that Jerrod has a good job gives us another good reason to stay...and very relieved that I have my permanent residency so that I actually CAN stay! The only other place I might want to live would be in Osaka...but that's another thought for another day.

Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. I can't believe how fast time goes by. But, at the same time, it does seem like awhile since our wedding. As Jerrod said a couple of months ago, life is progressing. Got married...got a green card...getting a house. But anyway, back to the wedding: That was such a fun day. I wished it could have gone on longer after all the preparation I did for it! It was nice to be able to see so many people I wanted to visit with at once at the reception and then of course, going the temple with Jerrod was an amazing experience. It was definitely the best moment of my life. Best decision of my life to get married there. What a horrible thing it would be to not have the knowledge that our marriage would be forever. I can't imagine how scary that would be. It is really truly something that makes life worth living and I am very grateful that we both have the same goals so that we can keep doing the things we need to do to have an eternal marriage. And to finish those thoughts...a few pictures from that good day!





I wanted to add a few more....but Jerrod rebuilt my computer this week and my pictures folder is missing. So, I need to reclaim it first!

Yesterday I got an anniversary present, even though our anniversary date is not until the 25th. UPS brought it and Jerrod asked me if I wanted to open it...he always does that to me! And it drives me crazy because of course I want my present now, but I also want to save it so I have something special on the the day. So, I decided to wait to open it. But, then he convinced me because he said he wanted to see if it was OK and check it out in case he needed to return it, since he had bought it online...and didn't want to wait until the 25th, 'cause it might be too long. What a dilemma.
So, I opened it. I guess that's a good enough excuse right? I got a waterfall fountain for the new house. That's something I always wanted in my house...its a big one...like 5 feet tall. I always wanted something like that in an an entry way, but thinking of the space in my head, I don't think I would want to put it there in the new house. However I have other ideas...my brain is way too full of too many ideas all the time, but anyhow, I think I have some places I will want to put it. It also has an Asian look to it, which of course is great. So, I'm pretty happy about it.

I always have a hard time buying something for Jerrod...just because it's so much harder buying for boys! But I had the perfect idea....I thought. Jerrod loves Meerkats...we always watch Meerkat Manor...it's the best show...really funny and very interesting and I highly recommend it. I mean look at these little guys; how can you not love them? And they are so smart with the things they do...it's hard to explain...you just have to watch it.
A few years ago I saw these paintings that were done by elephants at the Nashville Zoo. They sell them to raise money to keep them. (I learned it costs them $900 a day to feed one elephant! That's what the told me when I told them it's too expensive to go to the Nashville Zoo. haha.) The paintings were really neat and I wanted to get one in the future. An elephant can paint better than you might think. Well, the other day I was watching the news and they were showing some local happenings, one being scenes from the zoo and I saw that they had the Nashville Meerkats doing some paintings too! They like, dip their little feet in paint and then let them run around on paper or something. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! This would be the perfect idea for Jerrod because it was so original. So, I contacted the zoo and found out that they were letting the Meerkats paint to sell at an auction fundraiser, which is not until July and that's the only way to get one! It's one of those dinner auction things. So, I had to tell Jerrod about it. It was too neat not to tell him; I couldn't keep it in...I wish he could have seen them on the news. But, I had to tell him that my great idea was turning out to be not so great because I couldn't get it by our anniversary. But, he said yesterday he still wants it. So, we are gonna go to the dinner and try to get one. It's a charity thing, so it's good. Gotta keep the elephants eating. And I want a Meerkat painting!!! For Jerrod, of course. :)