It Is What It Is

Knitting, Bulldogs, Friends, Family, Cats and Life

Monday, September 24, 2007

He doesn’t say “I love you”, he says “I love you so much”.

He doesn’t say “I’m so happy to have met you”, he says “you’ve changed my life”

Weekends are amazing, absolutely insanely great and amazing.

We’re planning our life together.

I even cooked (adding water to packaged scone mix counts as cooking).

Time is our most valuable commodity and we enjoy every moment that we are together to the fullest extent.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Plan


The Components


The Pan


Alex waiting patiently...


The dough in a bowl


Dough on the cutting board


Dough in pan


Scones out of the oven


My attempt at being domestic and making my boyfriend a hot breakfast

Monday, September 17, 2007

My conversation with the judgmental woman next to me on my flight to Atlanta tonight:

To set the stage properly, I was in my casual gear, which consists of a black t-shirt, jeans and Birkenstocks. The bottom edge of the tattoo on my upper arm just peaked out.

Judgmental woman: Why are you going to Atlanta?
Me: Management meetings for my company.

Judgmental woman: What do you do for a living?
Me: I’m a Director in a consulting firm.

Judgmental woman: That can’t be possible.
Me: Excuse me?

Judgmental woman: I must have heard you wrong, what do you do for a living?
Me: I’m a Director in a consulting firm (I didn’t stutter the first time).

Judgmental woman: How can YOU be a Director?
Me: What?!?

Judgmental woman: How can you be a Director?
Me: I have a business card to prove it but I don’t care for you to have my name, phone number or email address.

Judgmental woman: You can’t be a Director.
Me: I’m a Director. You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.

Judgmental woman: You have tattoos.
Me: I also have piercings, what’s your point?

Judgmental woman: You are too young.
Me: I am not.

I then pieced a few things together…

Me: What do you do for a living?
Judgmental woman: I’m a manager in a consulting firm.

Me: Maybe if you were more open minded and less judgmental, you would progress in your career.
Judgmental woman: You are just a punk brat.

Me: Maybe, but at least I’m a Director. An open minded, non-judgmental Director.

I never ever play the title card but this judgmental woman drove me batty. If she only knew how many people really do have tattoos and that typically they are the nicest people you’ll ever have the pleasure of knowing.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

In the spirit of my blog being a "knitting" blog, I give you FO's and a very cool WIP:

My neon socks that have lived in my computer bag for 6 months:



Alex's "professional" scarf, a future xmas present out of amazingly soft bulky alpaca:



and a cool WIP, Alex's "dragon" scarf:

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Actions speak louder than words.

There was a time, early in my relationship with Alex that I was insecure about making the wrong move, saying the wrong thing, stepping wrong, etc. I was very conscious about “should I call him?”, “why hasn’t he called me back?”, “am I his girlfriend”?

My friend Laura remembers me freaking out on a daily basis and coaching me to just “chill out”.

So much has changed over time. I remember telling him I was falling in love with him, when I did love him, and how much I loved him.

I vividly remember within the first few weeks of our relationship that he admitted making a couple variations of wedding list invites and that he saw us moving in together, getting married and having a family.

I just about fell out of my chair when he made the above declaration. I’ve been much more secure in our relationship since then.

I have always emphasized that trust, loyalty and communication are key components for me and that if I can’t trust him there’s no relationship. Not once have I had to question any of his actions or motives, which is a drastic change from all my other relationships.

We’re dedicated to each other, love one another and trust each other without question. We do our best to communicate well, support one another emotionally and just enjoy each other’s company. Since I travel so much we really value our quality time together.

During my vacation last week Alex started moving stuff into my house one small box a day. That way he would have room for everything and it wouldn’t seem overwhelming to either one of us. The end goal was to have everything moved in around November / December. We’re not rushing anything out of respect to our parents and to one another. It started with laundry last week and all 4 loads of laundry once clean stayed at the house.

When I left Sunday, his box for the day was his laptop. Having brought over one of his two major toys, the only one left was his awesome and large HDTV. The tv moved in Tuesday night. With the toys in the house, Alex is in the house. The rest of his stuff will move in over time but it’s mostly just furniture at this point and we need to rearrange my furniture before he moves his in.

Pretty large actions on Alex’s part – timelines have consciously been moved up and we’re both very happy. Our goal is to still be respectful of our parents and take things slowly although we both know we’re going to end up together. He tells me on a daily basis how he could elope in Vegas tomorrow but he wants to be accepted into my family and out of respect wants to wait a few months to propose. We’ve looked at engagement rings and he knows the style I find interesting.

Life with Alex is just amazing. He’s helpful with house projects, kind, caring and sweet. There are a lot of little things that catch my attention with him that I haven’t had in my past. When I’m tired we both go to bed, even if he’s not tired. He understands my schedule and that sometimes work is work and I can’t control my travel, my delays or my stress level. He’s understanding and supportive. He explains things when I ask, let’s me try things when I request it and treats me well. He’s protective of me but at the same time is understanding of my independence. He also works hard and he has told me that “he wants to make me proud”.

When I met Alex I discussed up front that I wanted kids and that it’s a deal breaker for me to date someone who doesn’t want kids. Alex replied that he had resolved to the fact of possibly never having kids but was choosing to date someone younger for keeping the possibility of having kids someday. Since then he mentions “little ones”, “little Alex’s”, etc. We’ve discussed potential names. His goal is to be married for a little while before having kids and if we can’t have kids of our own, we’ll adopt.

Some pretty large actions this week. He’s picking me up at the airport tonight if my plan is relatively on time. I’m very much looking forward to seeing him. He’s been alone with the cats all week. He’ll claim he doesn’t like them but he and Trouble have a tight bond that I don’t even have with the cat. Trouble followed Alex outside last weekend to see what he was doing. Trouble hasn’t left the house since coming into the house 6 years ago. None of the cats have ever had a desire to go outside. Alex flipped out when he realized Trouble was outside and that I was going to flip out. The cat went right up to Alex and practically jumped into his arms.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Another great weekend.

The weekends just keep getting better. This weekend was not only fun but very productive and somewhat tiring.

We woke up Friday morning to the mailbox laying in the street – mailbox, post and everything in between. The great storm Thursday night destroyed what was already a dying mailbox.

I managed to make it to Home Depot in the afternoon to buy a new mailbox, post and the installation kit as well as a screwdriver. Together we put in the new mailbox – it was a joint effort and every time I said “Can I try?” Alex would let me.

After the mailbox was successfully in place we divided and conquered our large list of to do’s as we were planning a large football party at the house Saturday night. Alex started on outside to do’s and I started on the inside to do’s and we met up an hour later. I cleaned the laundry room / half bath, kitchen and family room while he installed new driveway lights and fixed some other outside lights. Darkness brought us to a halt for the night.

The next morning we got up early and much against my whining ways went to Hy-Vee to pick up food / drink for the party and came home to return to our house to do list. I can’t complain too much because I was bribed with a Starbucks. Alex ripped out the old driveway lights, finished putting in the new driveway lights, swept the driveway, hosed off the back porch, replaced the track lighting, moved furniture, etc. I helped to the best of my ability and together we accomplished so much.

It was then time for me to go to my piano lessons. While I was gone he continued on house stuff and in the little time I was gone so much more was accomplished.

We then went to sprint to merge our cell phone plans into one. Big kudos to Sprint for their awesome customer service – I’m won over as a new customer.

We came home and I crashed on the couch for half an hour – I was so exhausted but had a huge sense of accomplishment.

The party Saturday night was a hit – we invited the knitters and football fans over for a bbq and to watch the Iowa game. Alex bbq’d for 10 people and the food turned out amazing. We topped it off with koogle a la mode in which you had to be there to understand the concept. A good time was had by all – lots of laughs and a shut out of a game by Iowa.

Alex declared Sunday as “Amy” day – since we had accomplished so much house stuff Friday and Saturday; Sunday was to be whatever I wanted – he started by cooking me a wonderful breakfast. Since we didn’t get out of bed until almost noon and I had a 5pm flight to catch “Amy” day was brief but awesome. We watched Star Wars Episode 6, had a great breakfast and cuddled on the couch.

Alex is slowly moving in, one box a day. That way neither one of us is overwhelmed by the concept and room can be made for his stuff as it is brought over.

He’s very gung ho about having a house and is actively working on improving it. He’s amazing.

We are working symbiotically. I was amazed how well we threw a party – it was fun for both of us. To this day we have not argued, neither of us is moody and we continue to strive for solid communication. I enjoy our time together and I know I have found the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.

He even figured out how to get Berlin to stop crying all night long. The cat just needed a nightlight.



Cute picture of Alex who was trying to avoid his picture being taken -




Thursday, September 06, 2007



"Don't let Mom catch us cuddling..."