Day 355.

Dear New Husband,

Today, we spent all day in the office. Which meant that I actually got to Skype with you. . . Though it was 1 am at home.

Hey, you insisted that I call no matter the time. Though seeing you all sleepy was totes adorbs! [Forget I just said that. . . Yeah. Just scratch that out. 'You were cute when you woke up in the middle of the night to chat.' That's what I really meant to say]

A very productive day, indeed. Although its amazing how much we rely on email these days. How did people work remotely or from afar before email/internet? I guess they just didn't work remotely or from afar at all. . . Boy does that sound nice. Because with wifi and the hour difference, working on the things at the office from home are proving to make me want to put my head through a wall.

Email is a horrible communication tool.

THERE. I said it! Its a terrible communication tool! I don't know why people rely solely on it to chat with people; there's so many nuances and subtleties that you miss with email!!. . . I'm starting to get rant-y about something insignificant. Though I know you really love it when I do that, I'm going to refrain. And instead rant to you when I get home.

Oh, and we have a mosquito in our room. . . So it looks like I chicken pox on my face. Here's to you bloodsucker, jerk. You win this round, but I'm coming for you, you probable malaria carrier.

I love you,
Your New Wife who is thankful for makeup that covers up mosquito bites on her face.

Day 354.

Dear New Husband,

First full day in a very ancient city - but it doesn't feel that ancient at all. So many Western/American things here, its hard to believe that its an ancient city. As well as the fact that I'm 8 hours ahead of you.

At least if the end of the world comes, then I can send you an email really quick to let you know that the end is coming.

Had a pretty good day - spent about 7 US Dollars on coffee and wifi, so you can imagine how indignant I am about that. To add insult to injury, it was Starbucks coffee too. Rats.

Then, had lunch, talked over some more things with the office here and then went to the grocery store. Where Jenn and I were both indignant at prices. But, the things you do when you travel: Spend more money than you ever would at home for a box of crackers. Fortunately, the exchange rate is in our favor, but still - you know how I get riled up over these things.

After we walked/schlepped our groceries back to where we are staying, we cooked dinner. On a related note: Gas stoves are controlled by demonic forces. I'm sure of it.

Thankful that I have you to come home to.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 353.

Dear New Husband,

Made it to my destination.

Slept for four hours on the last flight of my trip. Which means that I missed the entry visa documents and scrambled to find them once I was in the airport. Whoops. First time for everything.

Then, we had a border control officer that spent 15 minutes grilling me about what I was doing there. Definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

So sleepy, but so thankful to be here. And thankful for an El Huz that is always championing my dreams and goals.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 352.

Dear New Husband,

You graciously took the morning off of work to spend time with me and help me finish up packing/finish work materials before my flight left at 4 pm today. Plus, I got to have breakfast with you. Delightful.

Breakfast is one of my family's 'things'; we like breakfast. I remember visiting my grandparents in Ft. Worth as a wee young lass [Thought this blog post needed a little Scottish accent. You know. Just cause], and the morning before we left for home, we would eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel with my grandparents.

Nothing says grandparents and road trip more than Cracker Barrel.

As such, we end up doing breakfast trips before someone departs for whatever reason that may be.

So, tonight I board a plane for Paris, which then takes me to the Middle East. Funny how small the world is sometimes, right? Having breakfast with you, dinner on a plane, and then the next dinner in a Middle Eastern city.

So much smaller than we think.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 351.

Dear New Husband,

More things to accomplish for work before I leave, but I am grateful that I have colleagues that I can depend on when I really need something done that I cannot accomplish on my own. Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief for team players, and celebrate with a stress cry.

But I'm thankful for mini-dates with you, filled with comfort food and beverages. Margaritas and Tex-Mex are probably what I love most about Texas.

Then the movie I was rooting for won the Oscars. Yeah, Argo won the Oscars - because it won best picture. Saying, overall, it was the best. Never mind the rest of those other movies Argo won the Oscars with the Best Picture win.

Plus Ben Affleck gave such a good acceptance speech. I puddle any time someone earnestly [Or is a giant nerd like the sound mixing guy] thanks their spouses and children. Kill. Me. And. My. Tender. Heart.

Thankful for this quiet last evening at home for a while, as I get quality time in with you. Especially as we discuss how awesome Jennifer Lawrence is. And how much of a weirdo Daniel Day Lewis is.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 350.

Dear New Husband,

Today was spent doing a thousand errands. Well. Not really a thousand, but it felt as though it was a thousand errands.

Preparing for my trip consists of not only doing things, such as buying play-dough and gifts [Oh the life of an international social worker], but finishing up so many work commitments and documents. I've accomplished so much, but I still will not be able to finish everything. Such is life - no one is a super hero all of the time. Even Bruce Wayne fudged it up every now and then as the caped crusader.

But I digress. Mainly because I don't want to speak ill of my favorite superhero [I mean, HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY HAVE A SUPERPOWER. AND HE IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY DAMAGED.WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE?!?!?!?!??].

Anyway, like every psychologically damaged superhero, I have my own personal sidekick. Except Robin seems like a weird name for you. Plus I've always thought Robin was a weirdo name for a sidekick anyhow. So we'll just give you the sidekick name that you've earned and I use anyways: El Huz. So grateful for you and for you joining me on this journey. Thanks for earning your sidekick title and for never being pushy like Robin.

Makes for a way less grumpy Batman.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 349.

Dear New Husband,

Our Friday night consisted of what I would like to call: Choose Your Own Adventure.

Which I was incredibly disappointed to hear that was a book series that you had never read as you were growing up. Then we went to a bookstore, only to see the disappointment dance across your face as you looked at a treasure that was a lot cooler in childhood than adulthood.

No matter, because tonight was Choose Your Own Adventure night - and it was a great night to adventure through a mall.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 348.

Dear New Husband,

Being married and working in the same office, and yes - even the same department, can be wonderful and terrible.

However, I'm happy to say that most of the time, we err on the side of wonderful. Though it presents unique challenges, i.e. Today's set of challenges [I'm being incredibly vague because I'm still not sure where those set of challenges are leading to. . .].

But I'm glad that you're still you and I'm still me and we're not bomb diffusers or professional cross word puzzle solvers. In other words, we don't have high intensity jobs.

Think about it. Professional cross word puzzle solver would be a high intensity job.

Thankful for you and that you are kind when I don't feel well and want to go to bed before 10 pm.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 347.

Dear New Husband,

Productive days at work.

Heartbreaking Oklahoma State loss.

Win some. Lose some.

Literally. But, I still love my job and I love my university. Except, really - make your free throws, y'all. Those are free points! Fundamentals. Sheesh.

Thankful for the cold chill of today, because that means that all the mountain cedar that makes me itch my face off is dead, dead, dead in the ground.

Amen.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 346.

Dear New Husband,

I am officially an MBA, intramural basketball widow. Sob sob sob!!

But not really, because both of those things are important. You know how I get right before I leave for trips - that time is fleeting and we will never get to spend time together ever again. You know how the drill works.

However, I did enjoy tonight as I lugged out the computer I had all through college and for my first year with our organization. It was bitter sweet; sweet looking through old songs, pictures, memories. Bitter because I want my 18-year-old metabolism back.

Thankful for the road that lay behind us, and the road we don't even see yet.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 345.

Dear New Husband,

A busy day, as I spent today running around the city we live in, obtaining different goods for my upcoming travels.

And then to end the day with a viewing of Identity Thief with some 'Best Palzzzz' of ours. . .

Great day.

It had its extremely frustrating points, where I longingly wished that I could punch technology in the face, and tell the workers re-siding our apartment building to take a hike, but that's beside the point.

Small stresses are nothing compared to an overall productive day followed by a fun evening!

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 344.

Dear New Husband,

Again, another quiet day. However, we did get a visit from some favorites of mine that are planning their wedding. . . A process I don't quite miss. Cake, flowers, photos, dress fittings, etc. were the fun parts. The small details that set your teeth on edge - those are not the fun parts.

But today I have reveled in small tasks such as dusting, finding a keyboard for my iPad, booking all the travel for our trip with your family this summer, and making a grilled provolone cheese & horseradish sandwich.

Da life.

Now, as we watch the season finale of Downton Abbey, I'm again thankful for our relaxing days. Especially a Sunday evening where we can peer into the fake lives of upper class, British society.

Ahhh, the life of a PBS watcher.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 343.

Dear New Husband,

Today pretty much only consisted with us taking a much needed visit to the grocery store.

And that made today all the more glorious.

Well, besides an Oklahoma State men's basketball win in Bedlam. That makes today even more glorious. Especially with all that glorious-ness coupled to old Saturday Night Live episodes on Netflix; laughing so hard, tears rolled down our faces, and our sides were stitched with deep laughs.

. . . And all God's people said: Amen for a restful Saturday.

Especially considering the impending international, crazy travel that is yet to come.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 342.

Dear New Husband,

Because we are both practical people about celebrations and the dates on which they happen, we celebrated Valentine's Day tonight with a trip to a Brazilian steakhouse.

Some might not think a Brazilian steakhouse is romantic, as the servers are wandering around the restaurant with skewers of meat. . . But let me say that romance, to me, consists of a delicious meal. And having that meal being toted to you on a skewer is just a bonus.

Plus, you got my car detailed for me for my Valentine's Day present! Hugo the Honda is looking like he dressed up for our date night. Even more exciting, it doesn't feel like I have glaucoma when I look out my windshield.

In addition to celebrating the Happy Heart Day, we celebrated the fact that I am going on a work trip to the Middle East in just 10 short days. Originally, it seemed like I wouldn't be able to go on this trip, but after much flexing from you and my boss - I'm now able to seize this wonderful opportunity.

And I'm so thankful for a husby that adamantly advocates for me to chase my passions and desires.

I love you and Happy Valentine's Day,
Your New Wife.

Day 341.

Dear New Husband,

I have to start this off by saying that we did not have Valentine's Day plans. You have Thursday night classes, and we're both way too practical to actually try to go out and celebrate on February 14th.

Despite knowing all of that, I was very saddened when I awoke to find that you had been up all night, informally introducing your body to the porcelain throne. I would be sad to find you sick, no matter what day of the year it was. Because, lets face it, out of the two of us you're the one that is winning in the immune system department; so when you get sick, its akin to finding out that Santa Claus isn't real and that there are actually calories in cupcakes.

Therefore, our Valentine's went better than was originally expected, because you were actually home on Thursday night, and we got to watch The Breakfast Club together rather than me watching it alone, with only my Girl Scout cookies to keep me company.

Thus, if I could explain tonight in a photo, it would be this one:

So, I'm sorry you're sick. But I'm not sorry we got to spend time together.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 340.

Dear New Husband,

It has been another long, yet productive day, as we both continue to crank out projects for work. And you also have the productivity of your class tonight.

In addition to that, I realized how bad I smelled thus needing to take a shower. Overshare? Maybe. But I hope everyone that admires my style, hair or me [Which lets face it - that one is pretty slim to none. I'm not delusional enough to think I have throngs of admirers. I do, after all, complain about almost everything] knows that my hair is pretty because it is washed intermittently. And my style comes from whatever is clean. And my personality comes from being raised by nerds, and realizing that if you're going to be 5'2", you better find something to offer to make up for your obvious lack of athletics.

So there you go, dear one. There's the recipe to finding another me, should I die from lack of showering or from getting into a car accident because I'm too busy smelling how dirty my hair is.

Ya welcome.

I love you,
Your New and Occasionally Hygiene Deficient Wife.

Day 339.

Dear New Husband,

Its been the kind of day where we both came home and immediately changed into our jammies.

Its been the kind of day where we both were waiting for a socially acceptable hour for us to go to bed. That socially acceptable time was only 10 pm.

We're tired chumps.

But I'm thankful to be tired, and loving our jobs. Not everyone is tired because they love what they do; we voluntarily work this hard because we are extremely passionate about our work.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 338.

Dear New Husband,

I don't know if you're still feeling sorry for me after we had to drop off the dog yesterday, or if you are just that sweet [Well, either way you're really sweet. So I guess this is a win-win situation] but you let me rent Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood off of Apple TV at the astronomical price of $4.00.

However, we had spent the two hours previous to the chick-flick watching, heckling our DVR'ed recording of The Grammy's, so I think you really didn't mind. Or maybe you do still feel genuinely sorry for me. Which, I'm sorry too - I wish things would've worked out with our little interim dog.

Thanks for being you, for being sweet, patient, loving and kind, and for always being up for pizza when I really don't want to cook anything in our fridge.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 337.

Dear New Husband,

A very difficult day indeed, as we said our sorrowful goodbyes to our interim dog.

As soon as we left from dropping him off, I proceeded to sob, and even you shed a tear or two. That four-legged, friendly, fur ball really is the sweetest and I hope someone out there sees his sweetness and brings him home to their family, and the dog that they already own. He will be missed very much, but I know this is what is best for him.

I appreciate you taking me to Ulta to buy unnecessary make up items to cheer me up. Then, you even ran errands with me at Target to accomplish things that we have been putting off for the last month or so.

Thanks for doing the best you can to cheer me up. And thanks for not thinking I'm completely insane for getting so emotional over our interim dog.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 336.

Dear New Husband,

A great date night that included finally seeing Silver Lining's Playbook. . . But somewhat sorrowful as we realized that our two weeks are up with our interim dog, we need to give our interim dog back.

He is the sweetest little thing, and I love him dearly, but he is not happy in our home. If we had another dog, he might be happy in our home - but unfortunately we don't have the time or space to get another dog; one dog took convincing enough!

I know this is the right decision for us, and for him, but that doesn't make it any more difficult. However, it eases my mind to know that some family out there is searching for a playmate for their dog and will find the perfect, sweetest, most loving dog to add to their family.

And then I proceeded to spend the rest of our evening crying and snuggling the squirmy interim dog even more close than before.

Send help.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 335.

Dear New Husband,

We try our darndest, but we really cannot will ourselves out on Friday nights.

The woes of a marriage between two introverts.

Therefore, most Fridays are spent at home. Which I, personally, enjoyed as I am still feeling under the bi-polar weather, which is laced with my allergy nemesis of cedar.

Thanks for not thinking I'm boring, and for being okay with eating dinner at CiCi's and then doing nothing. Well. You later went out with your friends, but I appreciate all the nothing-ness that you participated in this evening.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 334.

Dear New Husband,

A difficult start to our day, led to some intentional lunch time together this afternoon, which turned into more intentional time together watching old episodes of Downton Abbey after your Thursday night class.

Thank you for wanting to work things out, for trying to put your best effort forward, and wanting the best for us. Things get away from us and we, in turn, tend to neglect each other. But as soon as you realize what has happened, you always step up and make things better. This always takes courage, forgiveness, and a lot of silly memes.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 333.

Dear New Husband,

Another night at home for us. Mainly because we needed it after a bit of a rough start to the week. And more days of lots of work, and for you, lots of school work.

I feel that sometimes people can be critical of the boundaries we draw for ourselves, but I'm proud that we are able to step back and say: "We need time together" rather than forcing something that wouldn't be beneficial for our relationship.

As a social worker, I'm so proud of our self-care!

I love you and our quiet evenings together,
Your New Wife.

Day 332.

Dear New Husband,

A day that started with fever and a runny nose and ended with me feeling well enough for us to chase some deals at Macy's.

WE EVEN GOT A MALL COOKIE.

So much of my childhood [And current] pleasures revolve around cookies from the mall. Seems not much has changed, and to be honest - I like it that way. Which, I am pleased to say, you find these traits just as endearing as I do - which means they will endure being endearing for the rest of our days. Hooray!

I'm glad that I took the chance to stay at home, baby my cold/fever/sickness so I could spend some time with you picking out pillows and other fluffy items to make our home a little more comfy.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 331.

Dear New Husband,

A day that started off with a somewhat forgotten dentist appointment for me, and ended with a somewhat unexpected illness for me as well.

Just a smattering of fun that happens in our home. At least I fulfill my life long promise of always keeping you on your toes!

But I had a great time meeting you for lunch after my dentist appointment, as well as enjoying a pass through World Market as you politely say nothing as I buy more chotckies for our home. Danke, dear one.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 330.

Dear New Husband,

2 SuperBowl parties.
1 SuperBowl power outage.
2 SuperBowl stuffed gut spouses.
1 exhausted interim dog from playing with his interim friends.
1 Beyonce filled halftime show.

An immeasurable amount of fun with our pals. We should eat this much and laugh this hard every weekend.

Actually, maybe not. I don't think I could handle this much fun every weekend.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 329.

Dear New Husband,

For some reason, we never go to P.F. Chang's. Probably because we can get the same quality of stuff at a place for a lot cheaper than what they sell their Chinese food - but then again, The Chang's is selling ambiance.

However, a great date night together as we huddled around steamed dumplings and sweet desserts, talking about the joys of interim dog parenting and deciding that we should keep our interim dog for another week to decide if he can actually fit in with us.

To polish the evening off, we watched What Lies Beneath, since you had never seen it. I mean. Really. What more could you want? Ghosts, Harrison Ford, 2001 technology?!

Thanks for a great evening and for always being willing to rent a ghosty movie, even when you don't want to watch it.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 328.

Dear New Husband,

As we continue to dream dreams and plan for whatever the future holds, its always reassuring to hear that people like us, appreciate us and see talents, skills and potential in us. Pretty neat stuff.

What else is pretty neat is that I took our interim dog to the dog park today. He is an incredibly social dog and loves being around his kin-pack. Unfortunately, or fortunately - if you have a sense of humor, our interim dog does not like older gents that wear slicky track pants to the dog park, so he promptly used that man's pants as a toilet.

Fortunately, the man didn't notice. At all. Which makes me think the dude needs to go to the doctor and get that checked out. But first, he should probably change his pants.

Here's to you, four-legged friend for giving us another story to tell at parties, and another reason to love you more: Because you're such an insane weirdo.

You have already fit in, little one.

I love you,
Your New Wife, who sits by in horror as our interim dog pees on some unsuspecting stranger's leg.