I love surprises. Always have. In fact, much of my marriage has been explaining in painful detail to my husband exactly how I’d like him to surprise for me birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and on and on and on. He loves has grown to tolerate it.
Virginia is finally Spring-ing. Every few days, it will still drop to the 50s, but for the most part, we’re all sprung. Right on into a blooming, blossoming springtime. And here are some of the fun …

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Mimic the noises your dog makes back to him to see if you can have a conversation.
Show up without shoes. But with purple socks on.
Pee with the door open.
Proofread out loud. In character.
Eat cereal at your desk. And chips and salsa. During the same lunch hour.
Roll your eyes and laugh out loud at the ridiculous, last minute request in your inbox.
Decide not to swap the post-shower towel for actual clothes.
Decide not to shower.
Keep the same Amos Lee song on repeat …

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Did I mention that I’m freelancing full time? Yeah, that happened. Sorry if you didn’t get invited to the party, but you wouldn’t have come anyway. It was in God-forsaken Newport News.
We added to our family. Her name is Tyra and she is a sparkly black 2011 Honda Civic and awesome and I love her and throw out that coffee because we’re leasing.
The gym has been oh-so-good to my moods. And my love handles.
Clayton and I stumbled upon a little …

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I’m thinking that a couple’s massage has the potential to be either the most awesome or the most awkward experience ever. My knee-jerk reaction is that watching some perky, fresh-faced University of Phoenix massage program grad rub all up on my husband doesn’t exactly facilitate relaxation. Rage, maybe. Then again, if I could spend 60 minutes staring at my pretty husband while a hunky, exotic import rubs all up on me, um…yes, please. None of this matters, of course. We …

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While I fine tune my resoluting, please enjoy some pictures of our journey through twenty-ten. (Click on the post title to see the pictures. WordPress is being funny.)

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Heading down the road in a U-Haul towards the craziest thing we’ve done. Besides skydiving.

It snowed in February. Again and again and again. It was an undeniable statement that we were not in the Sunshine State any …

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I was worried to write a list of “thankful fors” because it would be too expected. But if one day I woke up in a world where too many people were saying what they were thankful for too many times, I think I’d be okay with that. So…
for a God that loves me when I fail every day,
for a husband that can roll his eyes or kiss my forehead or follow up my movie quote with the next line or …

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The calm before the storm has arrived. It could be my imagination, but the leaves swirling around the backyard are whispering “Don’t break Thanksgiving. Don’t break Thanksgiving.” I’m a little more than nervous about the menu I’ve planned; could have been too ambitious. But we’ll find out in about 36 hours.
On a less panic attack-inducing note, my dear friend Matthew got engaged Monday night. I wish I could have been there to celebrate with him and his soon-to-be Mrs. Robinson. Matthew …

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I want an honorary Ph.D. in Retail Argumentation. The unfounded but so meticulously organized reasoning that I present to my husband when I want a new pair of whatever is, basically, brilliant. Can I tell you how I talked my way into a new pea coat last weekend? Here’s the argument, more or less:
“Well, I know I bought that coat last year, but it’s teal, and that doesn’t go with everything. Also, it’s short, so I wear it when it’s …

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Working from home is every bit as delightful as you’d imagine. You should actually be completely jealous of me every Friday.
I had announced (to my husband) boycotts of Walgreen’s and DirecTV after being pissed off by both companies in the same week. But then DirecTV was installed properly, and I. Am. Obsessed.  Walgreens’ photo department can still suck it.
You just can’t not like the Miami Dolphins.
I decided to cancel the event planning because Flip, Flip, Flip-irginia just isn’t as catchy. …

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Clayton warned me. He made sure that I understood taking on the Noa name was basically painting a giant bulls-eye on your forehead. That ends up being crooked and totally not the colors you requested. I thought the Noas were exaggerating about their trouble with companies and customer service departments. Two years in, I completely get it.
Yes, everyone has issues with installing this, setting that up, having this delivered. But with the Noa surname, it is EVERY installation, EVERY set-up, and …

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