3 years and counting

Today El and I celebrate THREE(!) years of marriage. Time has not only been flying by, it's been speeding up steadily. I was thinking lately about the notion of time; I remember in elementary school, and even high school, where time just dragged on and on. It seemed like forever waiting for special events, tournaments, dances, or the end of chemistry class at 3:10 PM. It seemed like an eternity until it was next Tuesday when the new episode of Gilmore Girls was on.

I came to the conclusion that time must have seemed to be moving so slowly because I was hyperfocused on my excitement for future events, probably causing me to take for granted the present moment. I like to think that nowadays time is flying by at record pace because I am enjoying each and every moment (or most of them) and I'm not spending time thinking about time (except for the duration of this post, of course). I still look forward to special occasions, but honestly, all that is just "the gravy train" as the guy from 'Storage Wars' so eloquently puts it.

So in honor of the man who makes my life so gravy-licious, a short and sappy photo tribute...

our engagement shoot

our wedding day.

How could you not love this big ol' bear?

A taste of summer living

Well, somehow the photos from Disneyland and the zoo were put on the external hard drive, so in an effort to keep the posts flowing I am going to save those for a rainy day (or whenever I run out of backed-up material).

Despite what most people who live outside of San Diego might think, we actually DO have chilly days and nights during winter. The change in temperature might be especially considerable to us weenies because we do have so many nice, warm+sunny days, but in any case it's not uncommon to wake up to frost in the mornings.

Most of our winter days at the beach look like this:

Bundled up with layers and rain boots, and avoiding the frigid water at all costs.

So when we had a few {weekend} days that bestowed upon our shivering asses temperatures reaching the mid-80s, we headed straight for the beach!

mid-80s at our house means at least 10-15 degrees cooler at the beach, so it wasn't a true beach day (meaning: El still did his hair)

Mar didn't mind, though, and immediately stripped down to frolic as only she can.

Then she discovered her newest/favorite hobby: catching and releasing sand crabs.

Low tide is the best time.

Small wave surfing is the only way I like to do it--I can't WAIT for summer!

We found an old seaworm/coral colony.

After awhile, we packed our beach crap and headed up the bluff stairs for some lunch at Bull Taco-I'm pretty sure this taco shop wins for best view in the world. Also, there was a guy on guitar playing acoustic Bob Marley songs...I'm not gonna lie, it was a little bit cutesy.

Then, just when you couldn't imagine things being more picturesque, a pod of dolphins passed by, just beyond the cluster of surfers. I know, I know.

Mar's been earning stickers for 'good behavior.' This day, good behavior meant eating her lunch without putting up a fight. Sigh...

After earning her 'Terrific!' sticker, Mar tried to get a closer look at the dolphins.

This summer will be amazing.

3 months in a few days: February

I've already fallen behind in my '3 months in 3 days' goal, but you would too if you also spent the entirety of yesterday at Disneyland! El was able to get the day off and we took my brother to celebrate his 22nd birthday. Needless to say, we were pooped by the time we got home--I wasn't even able to open my book before passing out, and I'm reading The Hunger Games right now so that's saying something.

On to February's update...

I found this paint on clearance ($2.00) at Home Depot.

and used it on this awesome mid-century nightstand that I picked up at my local dump store.

The finished product.

We ran a 5k.

Enjoyed some time at Grampy's house.

El and I celebrated Valentine's Day early with a solo weekend trip downtown.

One of Elgin's dreams came true this day. Our getaway was conveniently planned around Padres Fan Fest.

Another V-day surprise: El hired a professional photographer to take a nice picture of us.

Fondue delights.

We tried for a cutesy self-timed V-day shot, people. We tried.

The weather got warm, and I got to work.

BFFAEAEAE Ivy had a sensational bridal shower.

A waste not/want not ideology resonated with me one morning, so I harvested one million limes at their peak- then had to figure out what to do with them.

So instead of lesson-planning, I spent my entire Wednesday off: juicing, candy-ing, canning, and otherwise preserving limes. WHy??!? I don't know.

The candied ones are actually really good.

A failed sewing attempt at an adult-sized ruffled scarf ended up a success for Marlowe's growing collection of accessories.

Wow, that was a lot longer than expected. February 2012 brought with it not just an extra {leap} day, but also an above-average amount of photo documentation. More posts to come!

3 months in 3 days: January

After a 3-month hiatus, we're back! So far, we have no complaints about 2012, although I have been watching reruns of "Doomsday Preppers" on the National Geographic channel, so our perspective may change if any of those crazies have accurate predictions. Anyway, I've decided to do a 3-part mini-series to catch up instead of one giant, photo-heavy post that no one wants to read. We'll start with mid-December/January...

Marlowe helped me seal the deal during finals week; my first semester of graduate school was a smashing success.

Once winter break was in full-effect, we were able to catch up with some friends.

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, we hosted our first X-mas dinner. Of course there is no 'before' picture.

Nice weather allowed for shirtless expeditions at Dog Beach.

Only 6 months until real summer.

We had our first kidless New Year's Eve in 3 years. We camped at a friend's property, and promptly bailed just as the sun was rising and hypothermia was setting in.

Mar got her first taste of Disneyland.

Disneyland and a trip to the San Diego Zoo with Grandma Leslie both happened in January, and both are deserving of their own special entries, so I actually may extend '3 months in 3 days' over a few more days. I could go back and edit my title, but I like the concept of catching up for lost time with more frequent, shorter posts.