the Nonsense in Between

Best Day of Summer

Even with school cramping my style I was able to enjoy a very important day: My husband's birthday. We rode his new (old) motorcycle to Cheesman park where we enjoyed eachother's company and tried not to get robbed by some meth-heads. It was so romantic. There are a few pictures from our excursion here.

Later that evening we saw one of Dominic's favorite comedians, Doug Stanhope, at the Oriental theater. It was shockingly informative and only slightly offensive.

Dominic seems very content since turning 24 and I couldnt be happier to see him so. I'm glad I was able to take a break from school to help him celebrate his day.

Proverbs from a Transient

Yesterday, while at the store with my husband, I overheard a homeless guy preaching: "oh, what a lovely day."
I rolled my eyes and thought: "yeah right. its a horrible day. its cold and windy out. i've gotten nothing but bad news. life sucks for me how can this guy be having a better day?" He must have read my face because he stopped and addressed me directly, "Well, ain't it a lovely day?" I replied, "yeah," like "sure dude whatever, please just dont ask me for change." I'd hoped that was all he was going to say to me, i just really wanted to get home and forget about my day.

Fortunately, though, he didnt stop there. He could see that I wasnt convinced it was a "lovely day" and he was determined to make me see it his way. He went on:
"Everyday above ground is a lovely day!" I laughed and repeated his little addage to Dominic. This made the man happy and he repeated it again in singsong: "Everyday above ground is lovely one! Some people didnt make it through the night to see today. Praise God it wasnt anyone I know. Praise God I'm above ground."

I made through last night, I really hope that guy did too.

noise

i used to have a hard time seeing through the noise.

it's kind of romantic

With my ear against my husband's gurgling belly: "I think there's a man with a machine gun in there."

Husband to me: "let me hear your belly."(listens)
"I hear a man in a sombrero making tortillas"

House of Leaves

Yesterday I had the pleasure of finishing one of the best books ever created: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. If you've not read it you should.

It's easy to spoil the book by saying too much so for your sake I will refrain from spilling my thoughts out here. I will say that Danielewski has an amazing mind. House of Leaves is 709 pages long and not one of them is lacking the cryptic meaning that flows throughout the story. Danielewski's experimental take on literature has left me in awe.

The best thing about my encounter with this book is how it came to be in my possession. On our wedding night as we sorted through a mountain of gifts this book sat unwrapped in the mound. At first we thought it might be a mistake, like perhaps it came off of a bookshelf in the house but we asked and everyone was sure it was a gift to us though no one knew from whom.

After reading it I can see why someone so thoughtfully and anonymously gave this to us on the night of our wedding. Though there is so much to take away from this book I find it appropriate to leave you with a quote that I believe captures, at least in part, it's marital message:

Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati. It does not mean to flow with exuberance. It means to suffer.

Thank you anonymous gift giver(s), House of Leaves has been an incredible experience.

Time Flies when you're alive

Can you believe Dominic and I have been married for a whole month? Today almost passed without us even acknowledging it.

Dominic, thank you for a beautiful first month of marriage. You are an incredible husband. I hope I'm half as good at being your wife.

Life is...

Laughing so hard you almost pee your pants.

Honeymoon Highlights

Everyone's been asking about the honeymoon so I thought I'd post about it.

For those of you who dont already know we spent our honeymoon in Los Angeles. Not the typical honeymoon destination, I know, but what else would you expect from us? There we visited museums, architectual sites (bet you cant guess why), and beaches, saw sunsets, and brushed elbows with celebrities.

The highlight of our week had to be our stay at the Roosevelt Hotel. I must note that we would not have found the Roosevelt without the help of my myspace friend Tyler Shields. We were planning on splurging for one night in a nice hotel and thanks to Tyler ended up here. But the best part came after being let down, disappointed and then frustrated. Our first room was nice, as it should be, but the A/C wasnt working, then the shower didnt drain. Not what you'd expect from a luxury hotel. They moved us to a second room that was the same as the first but with working a/c. The best part came when our keys to our new room didnt work. Upon returning the keys we encountered a hotel manager named Saye. Saye treated us like stars. After all of our disappointment he came through and rectified our stay. Saye moved us to a poolside cabana room, worth nearly three times what our first room was worth, but it didnt end there. He asked us to meet him in the bar where he bought us drinks and then he went a step further and had strawberries and a bottle of champagne sent to our room. We were so impressed we ended up staying a second night.

Our honeymoon would have been perfect regardless but this made it over the top perfect. Dominic are luckier than we even know sometimes. I'd like to take a second to thank the powers that be for all our blessings.
Thank you.

Below are a few pictures from our stay at the Roosevelt.

Life moves on and it moves fast

There's so much going on these days I'm not sure where to begin. The wedding is over and I'm left with a sense of relief and of accomplishment but at the same time I'm sad it has come and gone.

I'm back in school full-time and I'm being reminded this week of how exhausting student life can be. I'm really enjoying filling my head with knowledge but none the less its tiring.

I have a new job (again). I'm still a nanny but with a new family that has significantly less issues. They're a really cool couple with twin boys. The boys are really well behaved and respectful, what a concept. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. Yesterday, we made cork launchers out of a beer bottle, baking soda and vinegar. We shot corks into the sky until we used up the whole gallon of vinegar. Gotta love kids, especially well behaved ones.

Saw a free screening of Last Kiss this week. It is an amazingly well done movie, too well done. Each scene evoked more emotion than the last and now I cant stop thinking about the characters and their heartache. As hard as it was to watch I would still recommend seeing it.

reminiscing

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful wedding. Thank you all for coming, supporting us, and celebrating. We hope you all had as grand of a time as we did.
We'll put up more pictures in the gallery when we return.

Thank you Jenny and Megan for recording our memories.

dont fuck it up

we're grown ups now

After being a little apprehensive about getting old a wise man (my dad) said "It sure beats the alternative".

Twenty-three was full of life lessons. I'm looking forward to learning more and using my newfound wisdom and strength this year.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this the best birthday ever! Your friendship, support, and bar tabs make growing old fun.

and there are pictures here

A picture's worth a thousand words

Wonder, excitement, chance, childhood, adoration, clarity, endless, serenity, reverence, innocence...

This picture was taken two nights ago from our balcony with our new Canon Digital Rebel XT. (click the picture to enlarge)

April Showers Bring May Flowers

After what seemed like a storm that would never end the clouds have finally parted and the sun shines brighter than ever before. Yes, I am proud to announce that things are looking up these days. And with a recent visit from my best friends Sean and Penny we celebrated appropriately. Thank you Sean and Penny for driving six hours to smell my dog's farts all weekend. We miss you already and Oni misses you so much he stopped farting.

In other good news: I'm employed again, Dominic got a raise, Oni's pneumonia is gone, we have a digital SLR (thanks Gary and Dave), and with summer on its way I'm sure there are more good things to come.

Oh the stories we'll have to tell the grandkids

In our short time together Dominic and I have had no shortage of epic moments. Moments we experience together that beg to have their stories told even though words cannot do them justice. Moments that burn such intense memories in our minds they defy time. Last night we were lucky to experience more of the same.

We thought the last encounter we had with Chris Conley was unbeatable, that was until last night! Saves the Day was playing at the Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom and we, of course, were there with bells on. Dominic and I were walking up to the doors and saw the STD tour bus outside. Inside the bus we see a pink haired kid who was unmistakeably Chris Conley. We decided to write him a note thanking him for the unforgettable gift. Dominic lifted me up to the window, I gave a knock and handed Chris the note. He quickly closed the blinds, surprised that he'd been spotted by fans. As Dominic and I turned to go back inside Chris opened up the window and invited us over. He asked us to show him the finished product and his reaction was priceless. With the window open he hung half way out to see the tattoos and talk to us. We thanked him and he thanked us. He said he loved our tattoos and he was happy to be a part of it. We talked for several minutes but i cant recall everything that was said, just that what we were experiencing was incredible. After the show we talked to him again and he let us know that he had told everyone about our tattoos. He seemed really excited about them and told us we're the only people with tattoos hand written by Chris Conley.

It's really crazy to think that we've made such an incredible connection with someone like him. We certainly will never forget him and I don't think, after last night, that Chris is likely to forget us either.

There were some other noteworthy events that took place last night but they dont quite match the tone of this story so I will let Dom post about them.

The Gift

The other day Dominic posted about the gift we received from Chris Conley of Saves the Day. Last night it finally came to fruition.

Let me start at the beginning...
A couple of years ago the Saves the Day song "This is not an Exit" gained a special place in our hearts and lives. The words in that song have meant more to us than any other. Later, when Dominic and I agreed to getting tattoos as a symbol of our commitment to eachother it seemed appropriate to have that title be the symbol. Just weeks after we made that decision Saves the Day was playing a show at the Aztlan Theater. We attended the show and as always had an amazing time. After the show we met up with Chris. We told him how much that song means to us and asked if he wouldn't mind writing it in his handwriting. He graciously obliged. That moment that we shared with him, the words we exchanged, the connection we made is forever burned in my mind, and now inked on my skin.

It being my first and probably only tattoo I feel the need to describe the experience...

First, we weren't even going to get tattooed last night we were just going to get consultations. To our surprise the tattoo artist wanted to do it right away! The artist we had chosen was a guy called Fish at Think Tank Tattoo. We chose him only because we'd seen, and fallen in love with, his artwork on their website. I couldn't have been happier with our choice. He took his time to make the tattoo look exactly as Chris had written it. Fish understood that it wasn't "just text" as so many tattoo artists had described it. It was an amazing experience for so many reasons. We even had the privilege of purchasing some of Fish's artwork that had drawn us to him in the first place. I can't thank him enough for his time, patience, and kindness.

26 Pairs of Acceptance

Last week our friend Maggie (of Maggie and Drew) let me hang out with her kindergarten class. The experience was so inspiring it gave me the push I needed. For many years I've kicked around the idea of becoming a teacher but carried alot of fear around it. Being incharge of the development of an entire classroom of little people seemed awfully overwhelming, a job reserved for saints and angels. Then I realized that all the time I spent in the beauty industry left me wounded. Let me explain something: The beauty industry is full of ugly insecure people who feed off of others' misfortune. With that said, I do believe that I learned alot from the industry. I learned that I am a very strong person with strong convictions. I also learned how to deal with many different kinds of people and how to hold my ground with each of them. And if I had the courage to speak to groups of critical, narcissistic, pompous assholes I think I just might be able to handle children.

From the moment I entered Maggie's classroom I was accepted. I didn't have to prove anything to them as long as I was taller they just trusted me. This experience was so foreign to me. No one was asking me questions designed to stump me, no one challenged my authority or gave me evil looks. Okay, sure they are only five years old but that's just the beauty of youth.

Life at 75 miles an hour

With the world falling apart around me it has been difficult if not impossible at times to see the silver lining. Last night Dominic and I were driving home after spending an hour talking to friends about "the situation" and I was exhausted. Exhausted from talking about it, thinking about it, and reliving it each time I tell the story. Half way home my heart rate returned to normal and my head stopped spinning. For the first time in a week I caught a glimpse of that silver lining. I turned to look at Dominic and that's when it hit me! I have a reason for living and he's right here next to me.

Dominic, Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for being my strength when I have none. And thank you for giving my life meaning.

Congratulations Sean and Penny!

Sean and Penny got engaged yesterday! They are two of the best friends anyone could have and they deserve an eternity of happiness. Sean doesnt get any points from me for popping the question on Valentine's Day but I'm still happy as ever for the two of them.

Sean and Penny, I can't imagine one of you without the other, congratulations on your engagement I wish you all the best. I just have one question: If both of you are my bridesmaids, whose side do I get to stand on at your wedding?

for those melon and orange moments

If you haven't read dominic's blog yet you might not know that the world woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday. This did not only include us and our neighbors but everyone I work with as well. I showed up to work a couple of hours late due to the one car dilemma. Showing up late to work was compouned by not only grumpy coworkers but also having to drive to the top level of the parking garage which seems to take an extra hour. I finally got to work and was bombarded by a number of complaints-not directed at me-but dropped on me. Then I worked extra hard, all day, to finish my project only to have everything disapproved by my superior. By five o'clock I was exhausted and depleated of anything I had to offer, so I left. I usually never leave before sunset so this was certainly a rarity. Frustrated, I rode the extrodinarily slow elevator to the 8th level of the parking garage. After what felt like an eternity, the elevator doors opened. Just then my tired eyes and life were awakened by the most beautiful sunset. I walked to the far west end of the top level of this garage and stood breathless at this incredible site. Tears welled up in my eyes and I'm unsure of whether it was because of exhaustion or for leaving my camera at home but one thing I am sure of is that I AM BLESSED. Blessed indeed, even in difficult times. The exhaustion, frustration and hate were all melted away by this spectacular moment.

I hope that some of you were as lucky as myself to witness and appreciate this beautiful moment.

Everyday Vacation

I woke up this morning feeling rested and full of life. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes I remembered last night. A night like any other. I came home to my beautiful fiance, we made dinner together, and enjoyed eachother's company before hitting the hay. As I laid next to him I remember feeling as though the world were a million miles away, my worries with it. He is my vacation.

I came to my computer to tell you all about this and on my way I stopped at his blog and read this. What can I say? We're retarded for eachother.

Strangers Say the Sweetest Things

Read the comment Marie left on this picture.

Thank you Marie, your comment made my day!

Living the Life

Dominic: "Nicole, you live the life"
Me: "really? why do you say that?"
Dominic: "Because I put toothpaste on your toothbrush everynight"

A statement so simple yet so poignant. My initial reaction was a giggle but as I brushed my teeth I began to think about his words. I really do live the life. This life is not about how shitty or not shitty my job is. Nor is it about how much money we make or how many things we own. This life is measured by the simplest acts of love. And by that measure this life is full.

Dominic, as long as I have you to put toothpaste on my toothbrush I have everything.

The Road Ahead

So it turns out the road of life can be pretty bumpy. It can take sharp and unexpected turns. Other times it can be a peaceful scenic drive. I dont know what the road ahead has in store but I do know that having Dominic to share the drive with makes it alot easier.

Dominic, thanks for driving with me.