My Life As A Youkstetter - Year 1

Well here we are. I have officially been a Youkstetter for one year now.

The first few months we were married life seemed to move along at a snail's pace. As soon as we were out of the parent's basement - and off to Boise - life has been a whirlwind since.

Seth & I celebrated our anniversary LAST Sunday (the 21st). Actually, I shouldn't say celebrated that day. We both worked. My MS bike tour happened to be the same weekend as our anniversary. Crappy timing. However at 7:00 am when Seth walked up to my starting line (he was there to serve as one of my medics) I ran (well crept initially) and jumped into his arms. We spent the rest of the day out on my bike route but did manage to get one Anniversary picture of us in.

Once bike was over I had to head back to Boise. Which was a bummer considering that all of the Youkstetters were in McCall for family vacation. But alas, I had a supply truck to unload, deposits to make, follow up emails to send, etc.

On my way out of town I did stop by and say hi to the family. Seth surprised me with a small box.

Jewelry!?

Oh yes yes yes!

I was elated to open the box to find the most precious wedding band ever.

When Seth & I got married we paid for the majority of our wedding - well I did - Seth wasn't working. Seth was finishing PA school and didn't have money for a wedding band. We talked about getting one at our 1 year anniversary - so he did.

I was so happy! For Seth's gift I surprised him with this really dark, cool print he loved from Comic-Con. I had it matted and framed. It's a dark Alice In Wonderland and it is pretty damn awesome.

On my way home to Boise I thought how odd it was to not even be sleeping in the same bed as Seth on our anniversary. We plan on celebrating officially later this fall. Maybe a trip to Paris or something!

That was our anniversary in a nutshell. No cards, no fancy dinners, no traditions (except we did have a bite of our wedding cake a week later).

After being married for a year to Seth, here are a few things I have learned:

1. No matter how relaxing of a day Seth has had, he will ALWAYS sigh and grunt loudly when getting into bed. Then he'll get excited and kick his feet under the covers.

2. Seth will always turn on the shower at least 3-4 minutes before he intends on getting into the shower.

3. My OCD cleaning means I will make the bed every morning, pick up the socks he pulled off right before climing into bed (and groaning), and straighten the pile next to the bed.

4. We have the ability to pull each other out of deep work funks. Trust me, we have both had rough times adjusting to the new jobs. I realize I don't work at a prison, so he definitely has more to complain about.

5. We have, as anticipated, each gained some of the "newly wed" weight. We just can't resist the Pac-Out burger joint across the streeet.

6. We will always fight over the last pickle in the pickle jar and even will fight over who gets to drink the pickle juice.

7. No matter what dinner I make, Seth will have a "suggestion" on how I could make a better meal. He doesn't mean it in a rude way, but I don't always take it the best.

8. It is possible to live life like you are in a musical. We make up songs about everything - and tend to sing them in a rock ballad type of way. "Becky is super grumpy, she doesn't want to do the dishes - today." or "You always wake me up when getting ready for work - today". for some odd reason "today" has to make an appearance in every song we sing.

9. It is possible, and more comfortable to sleep in a full body spoon than I realized. I have a hard time sleeping without Seth in bed.

10. We will argue at least once a day about the temperature in the house. I want it colder, Seth inevitably wants it warmer.

11. We are both oddly comforted by Harry Potter. It's true. If Seth is having a bad day, I will read to him before he goes to sleep. It helps take his mind off things. If I am stressed, we will turn on Harry Potter and fall asleep watching it. It's awesome.

12. If Seth is around while I am getting ready in the morning he will always tell me what I am doing wrong. Example: "Don't wear makeup. You are so beautiful you don't need it." or "Why do you part your hair? You shouldn't part your hair!" This frustrates me as well. Should make me feel better right? It doesn't. It just frustrates me.

13. I may very well allow us to own a cat in the future. I'm sorry but if you got to hear Seth's Fritas voice you would be willing to have one too.

14. Seth is obsessed with shopping online. He will think of something that he wants to purchase and will spend hours researching the best item, and will work hard to find the cheapest item. I am an impulse shopper and will see something I want, and buy it.

15. An outing to Costco is very exciting. We love Costco, the food samples, the cheap electronics, the books, etc. We excitedly plan evenings around Costco jaunts. Oh and 52 inch TV is simply WAY too big for Seth. We then downgrande to a 45 inch and then I hear over and over "This is just too small. We should have kept the 52 inch"

16. We have learned that you don't always need groups of friends to keep you entertained. We have learned while living in Boise that we are the best of friends. We love golfing, running, biking together. We also love curling up on the couch to indulge in Watch Instantly Netflix. We enjoy going to dinner and acting like total food snobs. We love exploring in Boise. We miss our friends but we have learned that the two of us can be all we need most of the time.

17. Nothing is funnier than the male body. Seth makes a point to pose or dance in a goofy way when he gets out of the shower. Every time he gets out of the shower. I am not exagerrating.

18. No matter how chubby or unattractive I feel Seth will always tell me I look beautiful. I am trying to learn to believe him.

19. Seth makes me laugh every day. He thinks he doesn't but he does. I try to make him laugh too.

20. I love the guy. I am so glad we took the leap of faith and got married a year ago. I love being a Youkstetter and can't wait to see what our future holds.

The Crazy Disera Girls

Every summer the women on my mom's side of the family decides to go on vacation together. This "girl's trip" has taken us to Phoenix - Vegas - The Ranch - Midway - Newport - and this year - Seattle.

We were sitting around in Grandma's kitchen last March or so, making candy, and discussing where the girls should go this year. Being the big city lover that I am I throw out such ideas as "New York!" or "How about Boston?" and finally said "I know - we should go to Seattle!"

It was settled. Seattle is a big city but at least it isn't completely across the country. Seattle it was! Oh and did I mention that it was not my responsibility to plan the trip?

For 14 people?

Ugh why does the planner in me always have to jump in the air and scream "I'll do it!!"?

Really though I was happy to plan it. I was even more excited to see the ladies than usual since I don't see them much anymore.

I won't go into much of a replay of this year's trip. But here are a couple of highlights -

Canoeing

We had a blast doing this. Today was a perfectly sunny day (the only one we really had while in Seattle). It was actually even a bit hot.

Jenna suggested jumping in the water because it was hot and it felt lovely. We didn't have our swimsuits on but I decided "what the hell" and decided I needed a nice cooling off. Abi, Jenna and I rowed over to a park, got out of the canoes we were in and - well - stripped down.

Ok Abi and I did. We didn't get naked but we did take off our pants. I had on these cute polka dot undies that really could have passed for a bikini so I wasn't worried. Jenna however, due to her garments thought it best to remain fully clothed.

We got in and the water was great. We swam around for about 10 minutes and decided to start heading back to shore.

I looked up on the shore and realized "oh good, there aren't really many people around" and proceeded to climb up the rocks and onto shore.

It was then that I heard a lot of commotion.

I turned around and soon realized that I wasn't alone - I was in fact being watched by a yacht full of 30-45 college boys who were whooping and whistling at me.

Being the "shy person" that I am. I promptly turned around stuck my butt out to them - and smacked it a few times.

I have no idea why I thought that was the best thing to do!

My aunt Lori was watching this from a canoe and says, "Oh for goodness sakes!"

Indeed Lori, indeed.

It was pretty dang funny though.

The Duck

We decided a great way to see Seattle would be to "Ride the Duck". The Duck is basically an all terrain vehicle/boat. It took us around the city and then drove right into Lake Union. It was freezing but fun.

We all danced - even grandma - of course. It was great.

Vancouver

About 3/4 of us even ventured up to Vancouver for the day. We shopped, ate, went to the Vancouver Aquarium, and Ally was nearly eaten by the world's biggest seagull - but it was fantastic.

Heather had this idea that we should go find Olympic park on our way out of the city. We find out where it is, take a detour and have visions of posing in front of the Olympic cauldron.

But wait -

Where is the cauldron?

And why is there nothing here but a giant bird statue?

Oh well - I had to pose as the cauldron since one was missing.

Wouldn't you?

Bainbridge Island

On our last day we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island. I have to say, I personally loved this. It was a great view of the city and a fun thing to experience. We didn't have a long time to stay on the island but it was a good time.

However before I end I must point out a few things you can always count on with the Disera Girls' Trip.

1. Shopping - oh boy do we like to shop shop shop. We shop until our feet hurt. We shop until the shops close.

One year (in about 1997) we bought over 30 pair of Doc Marteens. Many of the girl's trips are planned around good shopping. I was personally thrilled to shop at the world's best store.

2. Food - The Disera ladies love food. I also will say that all of the women in our family are great cooks. When on vacation we love to eat. We also love to talk about what we can eat. This drives Ally particularly crazy. We are the family that will go to dinner, share food, order dessert and then STILL stop at the cupcake shop on the way back to the car to pick a treat up - no matter how full we are. We also love to shop for food!

3. Bring out the calculators! I think this is just a "women thing" but after meals the calculators come out. I find this hilarious because we are all family and my mentality is either "I'll get it this time, you get the next meal" or "Lets just split it evenly. What's $2 difference?"

Not with the Disera women. They will pay what they owe - and the cell phones always come out to help tally that exact amount. It's really quite amusing.

4. Grandma is a trooper. Grandma just had her 81st birthday. You would think that would slow her down but it doesn't. She is willing to go wherever we all go. A few years ago I called her up and said, "Hey grandma do you want to go to New York with me?" She instantly agreed. She even went out to dinner with me and some friends and ordered a "cosmo". When in Rome!

Grandma will go wherever we go and will do it happily. She may be slowing down a bit each year but she is still there and the heart of our family.

I love this tradition. I love the adorable women in my family!

What's Works & What Doesn't Work: Comic-Con Edition

A couple of weeks ago our friends Sean & Britney invited us to Comic-Con. Comic-Con in long term is the Comic Book Convention.

I know...

But I don't even like comic books...

I promise...

However I will say this, Comic-Con is now more of a pop culture convention. A ton of celebrities go there to promote their TV shows, new movies, etc.

You all know how much I love celebrities (hangs head in shame).

Seth & I decided that it was something we needed to experience. Believe it or not but they only give out 160,000 ticket - which pretty much means it is hard to get into. Sean had the chance to get us tickets so we decided it would be a good idea to go.

So here is a recap of this weekend I will never forget.

First - costumes. Now a lot of Comic-Con is really all about people watching. It is a giant gathering of really nerdy people. Nerdy nice people though. I have to say that for as crowded as it was, it was a very considerate crown. I consider myself a nerd in a lot of ways. However I would not go to Comic-Con in a costume like SO MANY people do. Some costumes work -

Notice the ghost detecting tool he gave me pose with in the picture

Some costumes definitely work!

Seth loved this the most. I wonder why? Oh because she is wearing nothing but lingerie and a cape. You work it girl!

I swear this guy was so spot on. Britney and I were worried that it was in fact Johnny Depp and we missed it. The guy walked and talked exactly like Jack Sparrow.

Some costumes kind of worked -

And then there are those that definitely DID NOT work.

I love how he is working that sweet mullet!

Honestly there are no words for this -

I should have taken more pictures of the costumes. The last night we were there we attended the Masquerade that was nothing like this -

and sadly more like this

The masquerade was insane. It was full of people that make their own costumes - and then they display their costumes in a skit of some sort. Think of the high school drama nerds (like me) and then remember the "stage crew" kids. Yep - it was totally the stage crew kids putting on costumes and acting something on stage. It was a train wreck. Amy Banner would have loved it.

Moving on -

Next there were panels. This is what I was excited about. Panels are discussions of your favorite shows, with some of the stars of the shows, and getting sneak peaks of your shows. My highlights included this guy -

You know how I love Dexter. Michael C. Hall is even hotter in person, so eloquent and so charming. Love him. Watch Dexter - don't make me tell you again. They previewed Season 5 and I almost died.

We also saw a panel for "the Other Guys" and cried we laughed so hard at Will Ferrell. He is so damn funny in person.

Eva Mendes was also there. She's in Seth's top 5. Luckily she didn't ask to run away with him. I am pretty sure he would have left.

We saw a handful of other celebrities promoting movies: Liv Tyler, Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office), Ellen Paige (Juno), Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), and many many more. That part of Comic-Con was super cool. Winner!

The final part of Comic-Con that is worth noting was the giant display hall. Oh my goodness. Britney and I were filmed while "Buried Alive" - again promoting an upcoming movie.

You can see her clip here - http://www.getburiedatcomiccon.com/index.php?id=814

We sang "Glee Karoeke" and we were awesome.

We got overly excited when we saw the Fandango characters.

Ok I did - I nearly peed my pants

Seth perused the art section and I bought my first set of comics:

See - you can't make me a total comic nerd. I still have the political junkie in me.

Overall it was a funny weekend. I am certain that I never need to go back again. It was a very expensive and overwhelming weekend (see my upcoming post about how crowds make me anxious) but I am glad we went. It was a very unique experience.