Anniversary
in the midst of it all
August 11, 2011
The night we came home from the hospital, Luis had to get back on his computer to prepare for his classes. Around midnight, I was in bed with little Graciela on the verge of falling asleep in my arms. Luis then comes into the room and says he has something he needs to talk to me about, and that I need to promise not to get mad at him. Conversations that start this way never end well. He then tells me to close my eyes, grabs my hand, places this little thing on my finger
And says, Happy Anniversary.
For those who may not recall, I had left my engagement/wedding ring in Texas last Christmas. Apparently, Luis has had the ring back for over a month, but wanted to wait until our anniversary to give it back to me. In the midst of getting used to all the changes that have come with the new baby, this was about all we did to “celebrate” our 3rd wedding anniversary, but it was the perfect moment and I loved it.
Happy 3rd anniversary Lulu. I love you.
Anniversary Week – Days 6 & 7
August 9, 2010
After being spoiled with so many wonderful surprises all week, it was my turn to put together a little something for my wonderful husband. As Luis mentioned in the previous anniversary week post, I started the day with making breakfast. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Luis figured out what I was doing the night before. Either way, it was delicious and we were able to get it finished without me being late to work.
After work was when the real fun began. Earlier in the week, I spent one of my lunch breaks purchasing a few gifts for Luis. I left them all in my office and had to wrap them there so he wouldn’t try to snoop around the house to get a peek.
Knowing that I couldn’t just hand them to him, I sent him on a treasure hunt throughout the house to find his gifts. Each gift included a new clue to find the next.
Although it was a little cheesy and a little silly, I think he enjoyed finally being the one to get something. And lest you think anniversary week ended here, following the treasure hunt we were off to the date Luis planned for us. We had such a good time looking at books, sharing childhood memories, and then (of course) eating out.
Just when I thought anniversary week was over, I came home to candles, chocolate dipped strawberries, and sparkling cider. I think I am still in shock at how much Luis planned and how he really made me feel like the most important person in the world this week.
We woke up early the following morning, packed up the car and headed to… drum roll, please…
THE BEACH!!!
We met all 3 members of the DK crew in Huntington Beach, CA. Luis became instant BFFs with Kylee.
Katey and Kylee were stylin’ with their sunglasses
The water was freezing, but that didn’t stop Luis from getting a little wet.
Daniel tried to keep out of the sun, but came home with burnt legs.
At the end of our adventure, we stopped by Joe’s Crab Shack for some delicious food.
The weekend would have been incomplete without some last day bonding time with Luis and his little buddy Kylee.
This little weekend getaway was the perfect end to our anniversary week. I can’t wait to see what Luis comes up with next year ;)
Anniversary Week – Day 5
August 6, 2010
In trying to come up with a surprise for Day 4, my main goal was to make sure that Natalia felt loved. For some reason the idea of a Mix CD (lame, I know) kept popping into my head. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I gave her a Mix CD called “NewHeart Mix” for Valentine’s Day back in 2007 (for those who don’t know, I have a weird fixation on the NAME “Bob Nehwart,” but not quite the person… It’s a long story, but we can thank The Simpsons for that).
Anyway, the idea to highlight some songs that have, in some way, reminded me of her was floating to the top of my brainstorm. Behold, the Mertinso Mix:
I set this custom design CD (drew it myself) on the steering wheel so she would find it when she left for work in the morning. A Mix CD?! That’s lame, Luis. Oh, but there’s more. I designed, printed, and put together a booklet talking about each song. It highlights certain lyrics which remind me most of her, and talks about why I chose that certain song.
Below, is a sampling of some of the songs featured in the Mix and why:
VIDEO LINK: http://vimeo.com/13939612
This morning, Natalia surprised me… with an awesome breakfast! She knew I had been craving some french toast lately, and whipped some up for me as we both began our official Anniversary Day celebration. Isn’t she awesome?!
As today is August 6 (our official anniversary) I just wanted to publicly express my love and appreciation for Natalia, for all that she does for me, and most especially, all that she IS for me. There is no doubt that we are soul mates. She is my light, my warmth, and my rock. I look back at our 2 years with a tender smile, and look forward to our future with excitement and optimism. Happy Anniversary!!
Anniversary Week – Day 4
August 5, 2010
Within the first few months of being married we came up with a sort-of ‘game’ that started with the line, “So… tell me something.” We would ‘play’ it when conversation was scarce while at the dinner table, or driving in the car, or going for a walk, or in-bed right before falling asleep.
The ‘rules’ were simple. If I was to start the game, Natalia would then need to tell me something that I didn’t know about her. It could be anything from a childhood memory, to what she had to eat for lunch that day— just as long as I didn’t know what it was already. Then, I would have return and tell her something she didn’t know. It started off as sort of a joke, but we soon found ourselves ‘playing’ quite often.
So, in trying to decide what to do for Wednesday’s Anniversary Week surprise, I decided to do something creative with our little ‘game.’ Presenting, the official “So… Tell Me Something” jar:
Inside the jar are dozens of fun and random questions we can ask each other while at the dinner table. I tried to decorate the jar so that it matched the colors and “feel” of our blog. Natalia LOVED the idea, and execution. “It’s so cute, Lulu! I loves it!” she said. Seeing the smile on her face absolutely made my day.
I told Natalia that I hope to keep this jar for years to come, so that when we have kids, and need something to help stimulate conversation over family dinners, we can play “So… Tell Me Something.”
Natalia mentioned how she can just see the eyerolls from our kids now complaining about how lame their parents are, which I won’t deny. If our kids will be anything like me, I expect nothing less than eyerolls. It doesn’t change the fact that “So, Tell Me Something” is now an official MERTINSO FAMILY tradition. Oh, how I look forward to our future family meals…
Happy Anniversary Week!
Anniversary Week – Day 3
August 4, 2010
For yesterday’s Day 2 surprise, Natalia came home from work to this:
I know that to the average person, this spread may not seem all that impressive, but I can assure you that any day that Luis R. Merino actually COOKS, is a special day indeed!
See, for me, cooking is something that requires going way out of my own comfort zone and walking completely uncharted territory. When I find myself in the middle of cooking and things aren’t going well, I tend to get a little panicky and that in-turn, discourages future cooking ventures. But, for Natalia, I was able to muster up my courage and attempt to make something (however simple and easy the recipe might have been.) Needless to say, she loved that I cooked, and loved the effort I made to try and make dinner something special.
Just look at how beautiful my wife is!
Later, I served Ice Cream Sundaes for dessert.
I ran into a couple of snags throughout the day including not finding reasonably priced candle holders. I tried to scope out our local Goodwill store, but found nothing (and in a future blog post, you’ll actually find out why). Luckily I remembered what we used to do as kids in Honduras while throwing fire crackers during Christmas and New Years– I melted wax onto the glass surface, and stuck the bottom of the candle into the hot wax before it dried.
I went as far as to iron the table cloth to get out all of the fold creases, and even cut the white roses at different lengths in an attempt to arrange them nicely in the vase. Natalia loved it, and I loved seeing the smile on her face.
Happy Anniversary Week!
Anniversary Week – Day 2
August 3, 2010
So, Natalia’s “surprise” for the day, won’t take place until after she gets home from work, so I will report on it in tomorrow’s post.
Looking back at our marriage and courtship, there has been one tool of communication with which Natalia and I have never been further from each other than arm’s length. I’m not talking about the telephone… I’m talking about the computer, but most specifically Gmail’s chat feature. Here is a snippet from Natalia and my first Gmail chat conversation that took place on September 27, 2006 (two days before our first date):
While Natalia and I were apart earlier this year, it was always nice to have Gmail right there… whether I was working, at home, at school, or doing nothing… she was always just right there. I loved feeling like we were so close, when in reality we were 300 miles apart.
Anniversary Week – Day 1
August 2, 2010
Seeing as how I like to do things, just a slightly bit different than the rest of the world (ie. our “Valiversary” celebration), I decided that I would surprise Natalia and do our Anniversary a little different this year. Welcome to the Mertinso Anniversary Week — a week-long celebration of our love and marriage!
In order to introduce Natalia to the concept, I decided to deliver the message personally to her at work.
Not only will I be surprising Natalia everyday this week, our blog will also feature something everyday related to our Anniversary. I even changed the header to help celebrate Mertinso Anniversary Week!
For those Mertinso newbies, here is a look back at our Wedding Slideshow that helps recap our lives, up until the point of our marriage. If you’ve seen it before, give it another watch. Enjoy!
(If you’re viewing this in Reader, click here for the video.)
Happy Anniversary Week, NaNa!
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