Thankful (ergh...)

Will and I had a discussion about holidays tonight that's interesting. He told me a looooooong time ago that he isn't a very "I-love-the-holidays" kind of person. In fact, I think he just tolerates them. Tonight he repeated that.

We'd been talking about when to leave Auburn, since my mom has to be back at work on Monday morning bright and early after the weekend. He has no problem with leaving at a decent time, but he also told me he just wants Thanksgiving to be over. And also that part of him doesn't really want to go to Michigan for Christmas. He doesn't like holidays because something always goes wrong (i.e. "someone gets pissed off" is what he said). But luckily, he's not backing out of either one.
Thankfully, some of this will only happen once (like the Michigan visit, since it's my aunt's turn to host our family's traditional Polish Christmas).

'Cause right now it's making me feel like Bah Humbug, and I usually love the holidays. Between last night and this morning, Will asked me if I am excited to go to Auburn. I said no. I'm sure it'll change once I get back from work tonight, and we start packing. And probably get better as we're driving up Wednesday.

Right now, though, makes me think there are just some traditions that should be "the two of us" stuff.

Celebration switcheroo

Okay, so switching holidays isn't new. Will and I kinda knew we'd go between families when we got engaged. This year we're heading to Auburn to spend Thanksgiving with his family. (Christmas '09 will be in Michigan with my fam, since my aunt is hosting our family's annual Christmas Eve party.)

Anyway...I'm really excited about Turkey Day 'cause I love Will's fam, and this year my mom's tagging along. Since she and my dad got divorced and Will and I have been in Alabama at Christmas, Mom spent 2 years of holidays alone. Marme invited her to Thanksgiving when they got to talking at the wedding....and Mom has never been to Auburn. \m/

Of course all this means my dad doesn't do much with me and Will holiday-wise. At least, it's nothing *traditional*. He gives us gifts, but spends holidays with his girlfriend and her son. Sometimes I get the impression that his life with her and the kid isn't all awesome....and it makes me even more thankful that I love both my families.

This holiday season should be a good one :-)

Wife chop

That's what one of my friends calls getting a haircut after you get married. And my stylist Teresa--says lots of brides she deals with, come in for cuts after their weddings. (I know, stylist sounds kinda snobby, but I hate using the word "hairdresser". It's sounds so much like I'm 85....)

Anyway, I changed my Blogger pic to the one I took right after I left the salon. I did a little research and ended up choosing a bob-type style, modeled after Kelly Clarkson's:



I got it cut on Halloween, and I really, really like it! I used to want to keep my long hair forever, but somewhere along the line, it started driving me crazy. Really, really crazy, as in I couldn't do anything with it except a ponytail. That usually made me look twelve, so I decided on a change. And now the real reason for this post...

...Will was afraid of my haircut at first. Just the idea of me cutting it. And typing that just now made me have a giggle fit! He told me I couldn't do it, so I ignored him and started researching anyway (a month ago). Lo and behold, when I reminded him I was changing my hair, he was less skittish. He actually liked it when I came home. Still does.

Or at least, he's less afraid. I think he was imagining me looking like my mom (who has shorter hair than this). Now that I don't, he's probably relieved. Or maybe he was just freaked out because I made the appointment for Halloween....

Will on the air!

Will and I have a system going for the radio. He likes to listen to talk radio, especially conservative stuff, on XM. When we're in the car together, we have to switch between music channels and radio shows 'cause that stuff drives me up a wall!

Last night was one of those talk radio nights..but it was kinda cool. Spencer Hughes hosts Fox Across America, one of the conservative shows Will listens to. Last night Spencer's topic was political opposites. He wanted to know why people with opposing viewpoints would ever hook up, date or--God forbid!--marry each other.

Here's how the rest of the night went: I urged Will to call, and he did! He waited forever on the phone, but he got on the air in the last 30 seconds or so. There were a bunch of male callers before him (mostly conservatives who'd married liberals, like him)...but he seemed to be the only one whose wife was in the room with him(HA!). Spencer said if he had more time, he would've put me on the air too! (That would have been fun--we could've told him the real truth: that neither of us knew the other's political affiliation until about 3 months after we started dating.)

Maybe we'll call in again if a similar topic comes up.... ;)

I'm getting a new computer!

To follow Jamie's lead from this week, "I big fat puffy heart" Will. This whole computer thing started last week, when my mom asked Will (through me) about some problems she was having with her laptop. Keys sticking, running really slow....and generally being annoying. She doesn't play crazy games or anything, but she does use it to email her students' families, email friends, play music and for pics.

Basically...everything a normal, non-techie person would do. She's had it for at least two years, probably more, which is about the normal lifespan of a laptop. And since they can't be upgraded, she's lookin' for a totally new comp. Probably a desktop.

So we went to Chipotle and started talking geek over some burritos. At first she wanted Will to build her one, since he built his current one, and he's pretty smart when it comes to saving money. We went to Best Buy to look at the models they had, so she could tell him what she was looking for...and she actually decided on one!

Turns out my hubby is "too expensive" for her. In the course of that conversation, I joked around that my current desktop is crappy--I've had it for since '04--and it's not powerful enough to run some of the games Will wants to play with me.

I said a Will-built desktop might be a good first-year anni gift...but he surprised me by offering to build one NOW! So I'll be getting a new desktop soon, once he has his fun finding all the parts and goodies on NewEgg. He's gonna set me up with plenty of room for photos, music and games. Yay! (I'll keep the parts from this one around, just in case something comes up, or one of us needs something.)

Have I mentioned how much I looooove being married to a geek? Sometimes I wish I knew super-cool stuff like he does, so I'd have an awesome way to repay him. I have an idea in mind, but I'll save that for another entry. :D

"They're our newlyweds!"

I'm finally, officially...Mrs. Murphy! :D

'K, now that that's outta the way, we've been in Ireland since the 8th September. Our tour officially ended this morning, and we're spending the next two days in Dublin on our own, exploring.

The tour was absolutely amazing! I was surprised at tons of things, but mostly by the number of counties we visited: Meath, Cork, Kilkenny, Dublin, and several more. We were the youngest ones on the Irish Fling tour, AND the only honeymooners, so we were something of a novelty. (Seriously, at least three older couples wanted pictures of US--not the landscape, us!) On our first night the tour group took part in a medieval feast in Bunratty, and Will and I were crowned the Earl and Lady or Thomond :) That's just a taste of everything we've experienced so far ;)

I'll post more details with the pics that'll be on Facebook, but we loved the tour experience, and Dublin's just as awesome! We'll be home in two days--pics and video posted on Facebook and youtube then :)

~Mrs. Murphy

2 days left!

Will's parents got in last night, so we took them to Fiddler's Green (a seriously authentic Irish pub in Winter Park) for dinner. Seemed like they really enjoyed it, and we hadn't been there in a while, so....hooray! Perfect thing to get us in the Ireland-mindset anyway :)

Tonight's my bach-ette party at the apartment, and then I'm spending the night w/Will (in Kissimmee--at the house his fam is renting--since we're kicking him out for the party). Friday = rehearsal & dinner, and then his bachelor party.

Then comes.....*dun dun DUNNNNNN* Saturday!!!! Right now the weather looks *okay*. Not excellent, but only scattered rain so far. We have a backup plan, though...so I'm not worried.

Can't believe there's only 2 days to go! Yay :)

Wondering...

...how many of my friends (and blog followers?) are in online relationships, or have had them? Since there's less than 2 weeks before I marry my online sweetie, I've been thinking a lot about online matchups. I was very lucky to find the geek-of-my-dreams online, and since then I've found lots and lots of others who have found their other halves online.

So how 'bout the rest of you Central Floridians in Blogland? Do you have experience with this? Want to tell me your story? Click below to read things I've written about love via the "intarwebz" (as a LOLcat would say).

Waiting game

Two weeks from today I'll officially be a Mrs.! Two. little. weeks. Yay!!

But, we're still waiting on one RSVP from a good friend (Sensei). Long story short, I've known him since 2005, he's an awesome guy, and he taught both Will and me aikido. I tracked him down and talked to him almost two weeks ago, and he said he'd be there. It's almost time to give final numbers to the caterer. He called me yesterday afternoon to tell me....since we last talked, he joined the USAF reserves. So he may not be able to make it after all :(


I'm crossing my fingers he can attend, because it would be seriously awesome. We'll know Sunday.

*crosses fingers*

30 days!

Today there's officially one month until the wedding. YAY!! Makes me think of all the time it took planning this shindig, and it's almost here :)

It's funny to look back now; for quite a loooooong time, I was pretty sure I'd never get married. When I DID think about it, I always wondered how I'd meet my hubby. I sure didn't think it would be online! It was a totally different experience for me, especially since we were 300+ miles apart when we finally got serious.

The long-distance part of our relationship was the hardest, because I knew Will was "there"...but it felt like no one else did! Every time I mentioned the littlest thing, it seemed like my friends were skeptical because they hadn't met Will. (A roommate's boyfriend even told me Will didn't exist, because he'd never seen him!) Once Will decided to move here, things got a little harder.

One or two friends who were skeptical before started showing their true feelings ("I'm surprised you're moving in together so quickly! Aren't you too young? Won't that ruin the relationship?") That rattled me for a while, because I kept feeling like I had to explain myself.

Sometimes I never thought we'd get through it, but we survived, naysayers or not :) HE was the one who chose to move early, and we viewed it as a good choice. Living together BEFORE marriage is giving us a chance to see each other day in, day out...and realize what the other's really like.

Life's just becoming more exciting now, and I can't wait for the rest of it...together :)