Day 235.

Dear New Husband,

I so badly wanted to dress up for our first Halloween together as Han & Leia, circa Empire Strikes Back

Despite not dressing up, I loved enjoying Halloween with you around a fire pit, roasting marshmallows and just getting to hang out with our home group. I love evenings spent around the fire pit. I love that smell of 'fire' on my clothes, and love knowing that smell came while making s'mores. Hubba.

Besides, we can save Han & Leia for another time. And just think, when we get a dog, we can dress him/her up as an AT-AT!

You're welcome.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 234.

Dear New Husband,

A wonderful date night at our favorites of all favorites: CHUY'S.

I know people think its loud. It is. 

I know people think its got crazy, Miami beach decor. It does.

But that doesn't matter. Nothing stands between us and our love for Chuy's. Because it's just that delicious. So thanks for always being up for a quirky date night at a quirky location. No matter what everyone else says, Chuy's is the best.

But only during happy hour when we can get half priced margaritas and free nachos.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 233.

Dear New Husband,

A long and tiring Monday. 

This one is going to be short, because well - I'm tired. And I know that this level of tiredness means that I'm stressed. So thanks for being continually sweet and doing things around our home and for me to pitch in to make my stress level decrease. 

You always da best.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 232.

Dear New Husband,

As Dallas Cowboys tickets fell into our laps today, I knew I wanted to snatch them up for you and a friend. Partly because I feel heinous, and partly because I think you need some 'dude' time without your wifey.

You humor me by buying tickets to Aida, frequenting trendy sushi restaurants, wandering around Anthropologie, and watching my guilty pleasure tv shows next to me. And while some might criticize you for your manhood, I say that this makes you more of a man; you know the important things to your wife and 30 minutes - 4 hours is nothing to you if it means you get to spend time with me. So thank you for humoring your wife and learning to try new things. 

My reward is snagging a friend's free tickets to the Cowboys game and watching you so excited to attend a game that you didn't know you were going to attend.

You're welcome. You deserve fun treats.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 231.

Dear New Husband,

We have really great friends. And a really great life. Sometimes, I forget that we have a great life. We are fortunate enough that I never forget we have really great friends, because they always invite us to cool stuff, like park openings. 

And I have to say, I've been looking forward to this park opening since I moved to our city over three years ago. Its amazing to live in a city that wants to innovate itself, by tunneling a section of highway and then building a park on top of the tunnel. And right next to the beloved Arts District, where you sweetly asked me to be your wifey. 

Naturally, to go along with our evening was a ride on public transit [I still wish we lived somewhere where the public transit was more reliable and not as sketch], crisp autumn weather, FOOD TRUCKS, an Owen Wilson sighting, vino, laughs and our favorites. Thanks for always being a fun date, for always having the best interests at heart and for keeping short accounts.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 230.

Dear New Husband,

After a pretty up and down week, it was very nice to have you come home, pizza in hand and have an evening at home with one of my family's favorite 'Halloween' movies: Arsenic & Old Lace. I'm so glad you have a weird sense of humor like my family does. I mean, we may have not gotten married otherwise.

Well. Almost an evening at home, as we finally ventured out to the Trader Joe's that FINALLY opened in our neck of the woods. And I have to say, I'm a top fan. Cheaper produce, wine, Greek yogurt AND. The mother load.

The goat cheese with cranberry spread that I have been dreaming about since we left France. They had it. And for a steal of a deal. Its taking everything within me to not eat that whole thing at once. Just slather myself in goat cheese cranberry goodness. Hubba.

Thanks for being the kind of guy that follows me around the grocery store as I pad around to find the best deals with my coupons in hand. Thanks for being you.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 229.

Dear New Husband,

After spending most of today in a Benadryl stupor, I thought it was appropriate to try and go play some tennis and bake some cookies. Two very important and accomplished tasks I can check off of my list.

These days, I'm not sure my body really knows how to rest, so maybe all this hives/allergic reaction/anaphylatic shock business was just the ticket. Not that I'm interested in a repeat of last night's events. I could pretty much be fine if I went my whole life without that happening again. 

Despite all that, this break has been good for me. Even in a Benadryl stupor. So thanks for being kind, for taking care of me and going with me to get weird ingredients from the store so I can make Weight Watchers chocolate chip cookies.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 228.

Dear New Husband,

Well. A day that started out with me being incredibly exhausted still from our whirlwind weekend in Stillwater, the stress of school, and work, and you know, basic existence. We made a great call in having a night in, recuperating from whatever was ailing me.

And then, oh then. Enter hives, trouble breathing, swollen tongue, paramedics, vomiting, low blood pressure, ambulance ride, etc. etc.

"Oh? You wanted a quiet night in? NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND." - Liz's antibodies

Well. At least you know you married the adventure of a lifetime. I swear I never get this ill. But of course, my first year of marriage, I put you through the medical ringer. Hope you're enjoying the ride, El Huz. Because there will probably be more where all of this mess came from.

I love you,
Your New and Allergic Wife.

Day 227.

Dear New Husband,

A much needed date night with excellent conversation. I'm so thankful that I introduced you to sushi and that you actually tried it and actually liked it. Huzzah for treats from the sea! Because let's face it. You say "Wanna go on a date? Get some sushi?" I automatically envision romance.

But I envision romance with most dinners out. That involve food.

Anyway, thanks for making us a priority and for always being willing to take wandering strolls with me.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 226.

Dear New Husband,

Kind of a rough night, filled with tears, honesty and stress. But, such is life with a newly married couple trying to balance being newly married, work and graduate school.

I hope that through all the stress, short tempers and needed apologies that I love you. And that's the most important part of all.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 225.

Dear New Husband,

We were in the car for only 3ish hours but it felt like an eternity.I think being tired saps you of your concept of time, I suppose.

Then I came home to what I think might be the worst life choice I have made in a bit: Working on the last half of my capstone paper that is due tonight at midnight. WHAT. THE. CRAZY. 

Ultimately, I finished, but at the dear cost of my sanity and well-being. I'm just so grateful I have you to feed me, wake me up when I have napped an hour and then make me kettle corn when I am finished. You da best, babe.

I love you,

Your New & extremely tired Wife.

Day 224.

Dear New Husband,

I know your Hokies lost. But the good news is that my team won! We've been having miserable sports weeks, so maybe next week the Pokes & Hokies will win!. . . We hope.

But I loved getting to spend a sports day with you and in Stillwater. I loved getting to see glass blowing with you. I loved getting to hang out with some all time favorites with you. Thanks for always adventuring with me, even when you're tired. And for wearing bright orange, when you want to be wearing Chicago maroon.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 223.

Dear New Husband,

Okay. So to be honest, I'm backlogging this entry so it will count for Friday. But technically I am writing it early Saturday morning. Because we loved Stillwater, OK a little too much tonight.

Thanks for loving my Oklahoma State. I know you will never love it as much as you love Virginia Tech, but I appreciate you loving it, because its important to me.

And now I'm going to bed. I'm too old to be up at 1:30 am.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 222.

Dear New Husband,

In honor of our 222nd day of marriage, we enjoyed an evening of friends, fair and fried foods. Okay, so it was not in celebration of our 222nd day of marriage, it was in celebration of the the fact that we love fair food. 

Deep fried Samoa Girl Scout cookies, corn dogs, turkey leg, deep fried s'mores, Tornado Taters. . . All enjoyed while people watching and having lots of laughs with our favorite friends.

Then, we come home and have my best friend and her Huzzy Huz here as a reminder that we're headed to the best place on Earth tomorrow. Best. Thursday. Ever.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 221.

Dear New Husband,

You are currently asleep as I am up late writing a paper that is due at midnight on Sunday - but as we are traveling to America's Greatest Homecoming Celebration this weekend, I have to figure out someway to rough out this rough draft. 

So thank you for being supportive of me, especially when I want to quit. And for not being too bothered when I hog your side of the bed with notes and books. And for continually saying to me: "Its just the first draft. Its okay." Thanks for always talking me off of my ledge and out of my nonsense.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 220.

Dear New Husband,

You are finally at home! And I even somehow talked you into going to play tennis, despite how incredibly tired you are. 

I'm so excited that you are home and we get to get back into our 'routine' of life. I truly enjoy having our little routine and living life together. 

So thanks for coming home and for always putting us first.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 219.

Dear New Husband,

Almost all of the gifts have been opened and enjoyed - I have one more tomorrow! - which means you're coming home tomorrow. Hooray! I've enjoyed this time to go visit my Momma and enjoy living the psuedo single-lady lifestyle, but I'm ready for you to be back.

Mainly so you can hold me accountable for how many episodes of Dawson's Creek I watch in a given day. Literally. No self control. I'm only partially kidding. Maybe. . . But I am excited for you to be home, not just to regulate how much Dawson, Joey, Pacey & Jen I intake.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 218.

Dear New Husband,

Almost missed my flight back to spend more time with my Momma - worth the stress. But it sure is nice to be back in our home.

I appreciate the fact that you had a quick trip back to our home for yet another work endeavor, and now you are back in Pennsylvania for more work endeavors but you still took the time to pick up/clean up and be the as per usual awesome El Huz that you are. 

Marriage high five. Excited to have you home soon!

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 217.

Dear New Husband,

I spent the day helping my Momma unpack and sort the rest of our wedding decor today, and I stumbled upon so many leftovers of our wedding program. It was a sweet, simple reminder of all the hard work you put into our wedding. You were continually keeping me updated with your progress on the program; always wanting my input. 

And they turned out lovely. I know I already told you how awesome the programs were/are but I'll tell you again: These programs are awesome. Your commitment to something that I saw as something so important only yielded your best efforts, which I know is a reflection of your love and care for not only me, but the stuff I care about. So thank you for always caring about the stuff I care about - even if its as trivial as a wedding program. Or needing to stop everything I'm doing to tell you we need something from the grocery store. Its the strangest things that I see as important - so thanks for not thinking that I am strange. Or at least not telling me out loud that you think I'm strange. 

My ego appreciates it.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 216.

Dear New Husband,

Another day spent enjoying time with my Momma. You are spending another day working. Well, I spent part of the day working. But I digress.

Unfortunately, we are not on par to defeat the McCartney's in nights spent apart. And yet I'm not as bothered as I thought I would be. Mainly because we are separately doing the things we need to do and that is okay. Besides, this time apart means that you have given me all these fun chotckie gifts to open! Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?! Or be upset about why I am getting the gifts!

Sure, you can go on work trips - it just means I get gifties! Hooray!. . . I'm just kidding. Only slightly. Maybe. Yeah, who are we kidding, I'm not kidding.

I love you,
Your New Wife who loves the sweet gifts her New Husband leaves behind.

Day 215.

Dear New Husband,

What.a.day. A reminder of my constant need to 'prove something/myself.' Its a sickness. I want to prove my capabilities, but what a bunch of hooey anyway. I'm still bad at letting people take care of me. Even my own Mom. Whoops!

So thanks for taking care of me, even when I don't want you to; thanks for being kind and gracious, even when I don't deserve it. Also, thanks for being unintentionally funny. And for being a problem solver.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 214.

Dear New Husband,

Happy 7 month anniversary! I only know this because you reminded me about it today via text. To all those girls out there that complain men have no capacity to remember things, just remember this: I literally cannot remember my wedding date and you, my husband, can. That's normal, right? 

As I fall asleep in my old bedroom at my parents house, know that I do miss you like crazy, but I love spending time here. And I'm so glad you are so incredibly supportive of me spending time with my Momma than being home as you have a short stint back in our home, before heading back out to the work event.

Thanks for being supportive in the most simple of ways. And for buying me a copy of Glamour magazine for today's present so I had something to read on the plane.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 213.

Dear New Husband,

As I sit on our couch, watching Dawson's Creek, neglecting packing or anything that looks like productive behavior I should be participating in - I wish you were here.

As much as I enjoyed being single and continue to enjoy girlie activities and solo moments, I love sharing and spending time with you. Things just do not seem the same without me annoying you with all my antics. I mean, really. You're missing some solid gold here at the homestead.

Again, thank you for all my sweet gifts - thanks for leaving me reminders of why you're the best and worth missing.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 212.

Dear New Husband,

I do miss you. Sleeping alone in our bed is kind of weird.

But sleeping by yourself in a queen sized bed doesn't suck.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 211.

Dear New Husband,

Okay. So I was only slightly sad that you missed your flight this morning - and the only reason I was sad was because it brought you so much grief.

But hey, I got to get breakfast with you and spend extra time with you today before you left! Everyone wins! Well. Not really. Unless everyone equates to just me. Which it doesn't. FYI.

So, its not a big secret that I love you. Its not a big secret that I've flown on a lot of airplanes. Yet whenever you fly/travel without me, I get incredibly anxious. Its ridiculous. You have no idea how many times I've had to restrain myself from texting to you: "HAS THE PILOT BEEN FLYING FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS. DOES HE HAVE A FAMILY TO GET HOME TO OR IS HE SHAMELESSLY FLIRTING WITH AN AIRLINE ATTENDANT." These are the eccentricities I only share with you after the fact. Because if they actually showed up, I'm certain you would think I was nuts. Or maybe you already do.

But you're the one that married me. Weirdo.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 210.

Dear New Husband,

Our sports luck continues to decline. Currently, we are probably the biggest sports curmudgeons; greater than. . . Red Sox fans? Cubs fans? Everyone that lives in Wisconsin? So I guess, uh. . . Go Old Dominion?

Oh well. We can't have it all. We've been incredibly sports spoiled these past couple of years, so its time to go back to suffering - well go back to sports suffering and introducing you to sports suffering. It is truly unpleasant. I'll walk you through it.

The upside is that it is finally under 70 degrees here - even better it is under 60 degrees. Hello, cute fall/winter clothing! Another upside is you took me out on a fun and nice dinner/evening. And ANOTHER upside is that you got me presents - one to open each day that you are gone on your nine day work trip. Just so many good things happening all around.

I guess if our teams have to be terrible, then all of that makes it for it. Maybe. Just a little.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 209.

Dear New Husband,

Who wouldn't love a day that is Friday, filled with episodes of 30 Rock, and dinner and a movie with some of our all time favorites?! I mean, really. 

I've had a lot of fun today with you - I'm sad you're leaving on Sunday, but am enjoying the weekend farewell tour with you; its been the best. As per usual, you are such a fun date. Even when MLB Wild Card games are on during dinner. I know you tried your hardest not to watch, but when there are fans throwing trash on the field, who wouldn't be distracted. We'll let it slide. 

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 208.

Dear New Husband,

Kind of a not so great day. But we made it through the day and had a great night. Who doesn't love home made kettle corn and junk tv? Especially that Grey's Anatomy.

I say it all the time "Oh yeah. This is it. I'm done with this show" and then I come back. Hating myself and that ding dang show as soon as its over. Sigh.

This is the wife you married - lamenting over fictional characters way more than is culturally appropriate; I care way too much. But what else is new? However, because I care way too much, I'm pretty sure that's how I landed you for an El Huz.

Or at least that's what I tell myself to make me feel better. . . I mean, you do like that about me, right? Right. Kthanxbye.

I love you,

Your New and Overly Involved with Fictional Characters Wife.

Day 207.

Dear New Husband,

Who knew how challenging tennis was? And that skills you had in high school did not stick around. 

Or maybe you were just trying to make me feel better that I am not athletically inclined. I'm the child of music nerds and book worms - we love art, history, culture! And when you're 5'2" you have to figure out how to offer people your brains, because your sports ability directly relates to your height.

But I did have a lot of fun just goofing off with you - I like being friends with my El Huz.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 206.

Dear New Husband,

As we watched the second part of the Half the Sky documentary series, it is still unbelievable that we have seen some of those places, or similar places and can bear witness to the difficulties that women around the world face.

But we are gifted that we get to see these things together; that we get to bear witness to some of the worst parts of humanity. But we also get to bear witness to the best parts of humanity - how we see people overcoming these unbelievable obstacles to show extraordinary resilience, love and compassion. We get to see amazing things and I will never understand how we got so blessed to be able to do what we do.

So thankful for you and the fact that you are too brave to ever say 'No' to a new adventure. Especially an adventure that involves marrying a complete basket case.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 205.

Dear New Husband,

I'm so glad you worked from home today. Mondays we never get to really hang out or be together, and it was a nice treat to have you here.

Additionally, I'm glad you like Once Upon a Time as much as I do so now I can watch it guilt free with you being interested as well. I tend to feel slightly guilty when I watch 'my' shows; because you politely sit there, trying to understand what exactly is going on. I really appreciate the effort you put forward to try and like/participate in the stuff I like to do.

I still haven't forgotten that you owe me at least one musical attending experience. Just like Rumpelstiltskin  I never forget the deals that have been struck. Boom.

I love you,
Your New Wife.