Beware the Ides of March!!!

In May of last year I decided that since Quin was going to turn 30 he needed to have a surprise birthday party. It stayed in the back of my mind all year and I kept thinking of a way to plan a party with him right there all of the time. I was thinking that I would do it the day before his birthday, he would come home from work and "Surprise!!!" Then a friend of ours suggested that we go on a motorcycle ride together that weekend. Of course, Quin was sooo excited to go on that ride. So I had to change my plans. The subject was brought up about us having a dinner party with all of our friends. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to plan a party that Quin knew about but didn't know that it was his party. The Saturday before his birthday was March 15th, the Ides of March. In Shakespeare's "Julius Cesar" Cesar is warned by a soothsayer about the Ides of March. Brutus kills Cesar on the Ides of March and you have the famous "Et tu Brute'?" line. Can you think of any better reason to throw a party than that? I can't! We originally thought that we would have a murder mystery dinner, but then we just decided to have a Roman themed party. Above is the invitation we gave to our friends.Quin and his cake. He was pretty surprised when I announced that it was actually his birthday and my friend Stacie brought in this cake. Pretty ingenious if I do say so my self, this way I got him to help with his own party. I forgot to buy candles so we only had a few and tried to make it into a 3--0. I had a dream that I forgot to get the cake. I was so worried about that, I forgot candles. Oh well.
(Note the cake has golf balls and is on the 118th hole)
Most people dressed up, it was so fun! We even went to a party store and rented pillars. You can kindof see them in the background of this picture. We had really tall ones that we wrapped with vines at the entrance, of course we didn't get a picture.
We mostly spent the night talking and eating, what a great combination!
For the centerpieces we bought grapes and put them on gold plates and put leafs around the table. It was easy and tasty!
We had harp music playing. It made for a nice relaxing atmosphere.

Our friends the McArthurs. They arrived late, but they looked good!
How awesome is it that Quin humored me when I told him I wanted an Ides of March party?

The lady in the toga in the back is my friend, Stacie. I couldn't have done it without her!
To everyone who was there, thanks for coming! To everyone that didn't, we missed you!

Unemployed

Well I am now a housewife again. I decided to quit my job and stay home and watch my 'stories'. That is not really why I quit, but that is what Quin likes to say. I am sure I am going to cause all kinds of rumors, but the truth is I want to finish school. I have so many credits that I could probably have a couple of degrees, but no official degree. So I quit and am now going to be a "lady who lunches" as one of my co-workers put it. My boss and I worked out an agreement that I will be on call. When they need a substitute, then they will call me. This works out quite well as far as I am concerned I can go to school, lunch with my friends, and on occasion go to work. Quin is terrified that I am going to get bored (that was the original reason I got a job, because I was going crazy cooped up inside the house)! I guess we will see. I just have to keep myself busy so he won't be right.

Spring is Here

No, these trees are not covered in frost, snow, or ice.

Spring has officially arrived here in Bakersfield, and the almond groves are blooming.

This almond grove is about 8 blocks to the north of our apartment complex. The smell from the trees is sometimes almost overpowering. It is one of those flower smells that is nice faint but almost suffocating when in strength.

As I was driving home from taking pictures of the almonds I saw this tree branch hanging over a brick fence. I stopped and took some shots and was pleasantly surprised by how nice they turned out. Our cheap camera once in awhile really takes nice pictures.


Spring in Bakersfield also brings rain storms. The storms don't seem to put much water down and rarely have lightning and thunder (big disappointment compared to the Vegas rain storms). It also is really windy and LOTS of dirt blows around. The other night Natalie and I went to a surprise birthday party of our friend Shelly Carter (Happy 50th), and there was so much dirt blowing that it was drifting and visibility was reduced almost as much as a blizzard. One of the great things about blowing dirt in Bakersfield is Valley Fever. So now whenever one of us has any sort of ailment (fever, cough, sore leg, cut finger, etc.) we blame it on Valley Fever.

New Year's 2008

Happy New Year!!! Our dear friends the Van Meters invited us over to Morro Bay (a very cute quiet beach town about 2 hrs from Bakersfield to the west) to spend New Year's with them and our buddies the Johnsons. The party was THUMPIN' the night of New Year's Eve. We played Pit (one of the funnest card games ever) til about 8:30 pm. We then played Apples to Apples (one of the other funnest card games ever) until 9:30 when the Johnsons went home. the rest of the party evening was filled with milling about mixed with this and that. At 11:58 we woke ourselves back up enough to open some Martinellis and say Happy New Year. At 12:02 am we all promptly went back to bed. New Year's day was spent playing in tide pools harassing the star fish, sea anemonis, and hermit crabs (Nat's disclaimer--"I did none of the above." She didn't want nature to get on her hands).

And to our friends/family in the north, Yes, this is January 1st.


There is a very nice nature trail that runs along the top of the sea cliff where you can see California Sea Otters and birds of all sorts.

"Ya just never know what yer missing, something could be just right there."--Janet Smith's famous Yellowstone quote

It was so nice and beautiful to spend time at the ocean. It is amazing how big and powerful it is, it makes you feel small and insignifigant and inspires great thoughts.

Natalie, Burt and Kate Van Meter, and Jessica climbing down the cliffs to the waters edge.

Happy Groundhog Day

Well today is February 2nd. That means it is Groundhog Day, my dad's favorite holiday. I am not really sure why, I think it is because it means winter is almost over and you don't really do anything for it.
It is tradition is that if a hybernating animal sees it's shadow on Candlemas (the catholic holiday of candles) there are 6 more weeks of winter. If it does not see it's shadow then it means it will be a short winter. How much shorter is not revealed. The tourism department in Punxsutawney, Penn. decided that they need a reason to have people come to their town and spend money. So they decided that they would have the "Official" groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Every year they pull the poor sleeping animal from it's warm bed in to the frigid air so we can know how much winter is left. We have mastered space flight, but we rely on a large rodent to tell us what a calendar could.

(Poor Phil)

What ever the reason, I love holidays and I love my dad so I have been helping him celebrate. I wrote him this song and called him up and sang it to him.

It is Groundhog Day, shout hurray!
I'd like to sing to you today,
Springs around the corner and summer too.
Happy Groundhog Day to you!

Tagged

Back in August I got tagged by Quin's sister, Elena and I never did it, so here goes:

1. Who is your man? Quin C. Smith

2. How long have you been together: January 13th was our two year wedding anniversary and we dated for exactly one year before we got married. But sometimes I think we met in the pre-existence, ahhhhh.

3. How long did you date: as stated in the previous answer, we dated for a year, but about 5 months before we officially started dating, we went on 3 dates. I wasn't super interested and Quin didn't want to put in the effort. I think we just needed some time to figure things out. We ran into each other a few days before new years and decided to hang out on new years day and we have been together ever since. We distinguish between the two time periods as our first first date and our second first date etc.

4. How old is your man? Quin will be the big 3-0 at the end of March. He used to joke that he had to wait for his wife to grow up, little did he know he wasn't really joking.

5. Who eats more? Ummm... I think it is pretty tied. Which is pretty bad because he is soooo much bigger than me. Although, we will be sitting there eating a meal and I will look down and all my food is gone. He says that I ate it, but I am not so sure.

6. Who said 'I love you' first? He did, he said it in Portuguese because he was too nervous to tell me. When I asked him what that meant, he wouldn't say. A few days later he told me in English. I think I said something like, thank you. Later when I told him I loved him, he said "eww gross." I started crying and wanted to go home. He wouldn't let me. My sister called him a little while later to go jump start her car, he told her what happened and she laughed at him. Some day I am going to write a book of all the really romantic things Quin has said to me, that being the first.

7. Who is taller? He is, I am 5'8" and he is 6'.

8. Who sings better? Well he does, but that is because he doesn't have much competition.

9. Who is smarter? HMMM... that is a tough one. I am really not sure, this is probably a tie. I couldn't marry someone who wasn't my intellectual equal.

10. Who's temper is worse? Mine is by far, there is no comparison.

11. Who does the laundry? I do, that is because I don't let him.

12.Who does the dishes? we usually do them together, Quin washes the extra food off and I load them, even if he does load, I usually go through and move things around.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

14. Who pays the bills? I do. I have been paying the bills for Quin almost since we started dating. He used to wait until the bill came in pink envelopes "because you knew those were bills and that they were serious." Yeah, we don't do that any more.

15. Who is better at the computer? He is, why should I learn, that's one of the benefits of marrying a nerd.

16. Who mows the lawn? We live in an apartment complex so the lawn guys do, but we would love to have our own lawn so he could do it.

17. Who cooks dinner? We usually do it together, but he does the majority of it. He really likes to cook and is really, really good at it (except sometimes experiment night doesn't go so great).

18. Who drives when you are together? He does with me front seat driving right next to him.

19. Who pays when you go out? We take turns, it's all on the same credit card account but we joke about who is treating whom.

20. Who is more stubborn? I think I am more stubborn, but Quin has his moments.

21. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I am sure that if I ever were wrong I would admit it.

22. Who's parents do you see the most? I would say probably mine, but we don't see either sets enough, my parents are 800 miles away and his are 1000.

23. Who kissed who first? I kissed him first and it surprised us both.

24. Who asked who out first? Quin asked me out first and almost every time after that. I kept trying to think of ways to get out of the dates, but he was persistent. One day I woke up and realized I couldn't live without him.

25. Who proposed first? He did, but we don't like to talk about it, it will be included in the book of romantic things he has said to me.

26. Who is more sensitive? I almost don't even dare say for hurting his feelings. Quin is WAY more sensitive than I am. But I keep telling myself that having a sensitive man is a good thing.

27. Who has more friends? Quin, without a doubt. He is such a nice, good natured guy, everybody loves him. It is one of the things I love most about him. He is your friend from the moment you meet him.

28. Who has more siblings? He does. I have one and he has three.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? He calls me the President and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of the Smith Family Household so I guess that means that I do, but he is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer).

So if anyone out there actually reads this I tag you.

The perseverance award

Back in October (which, is when we started this post, but had some technical difficulties) Quin's work sponsored a golf tournament. Other than the mini kind, I had never played before and Quin had only played a few times. So of course Quin signed us up. I was not excited at all (Quin says I was disgruntled, but I don't remember that)! I finally agreed to go on the condition that if at lunchtime I wanted to go, we were out of there. I had such a blast that by lunchtime, leaving was the farthest thing from my mind.

Here we are before we first teed off. Another condition of me going was that I got to drive the golf cart.
Quin doesn't like this picture, he calls it his Jaba the Hut impersonation picture.
The Fantastic Four--we were teamed with Kirk and Dmitri, they were so nice and a lot of fun.

Quin pretending to sink a putt

This was after I had actually sunk the putt. We played "best ball' where you hit it from the best spot from your team. Here we got a birdie, which was a hole in two thanks to yours truly.

Quin played with SpongeBob SquarePants golf balls (you can kind of see it flying by the trees). One of the things that made the day so great was that Quin would hang out of the cart while I would floor it and try to grab our balls as we cruised by. One time I hit a bump right as he was reaching for it. He went flying out of the cart. Fortunately his ninja training took over and he rolled and was not hurt. The best part was, we were around a ton of his co-workers, they were talking about it for weeks.

The day was great for golf, not too hot, not too cold. The sky was clear and blue (quite a rarity for Bakersfield, usually you cannot see the sky, no joke)!!! To top it all off, T.J. Cross gave us these great matching shirts with their logo on them.

Look at my mad skills, I believe that went like 5 yards!

We had a great day! We are now golf addicts, Quin even went out and bought us clubs. Who knows, maybe we will have to go pro.

This is a video of my first time teeing off in the tournament

We won the perseverance award, which sounds good, but it actually means that we got last place, but they gave us these great big nice duffel bags and hats with the T.J. Cross logo on them. Hey better last place with stuff than 2nd to last with nada.