Unfortunately for Josh, who is probably the best present-giver I have ever met, I'm not so good with planning ahead. Where Josh thinks about presents for months in advance, I am more likely to wake up on the day of and think to myself, "Wasn't there something I was supposed to do today?" It isn't that I don't care or that I don't think planning ahead is important, I am just really, really, REALLY bad at keeping secrets, so to compensate, I have a tendency to, on the day, say, "I am planning to get this for you." Every once in awhile, I will hit Gift Gold, plan months in advance, and actually keep my mouth shut, but those times are rare.
I think my best showing for me was our first birthday celebration together back in 2006 when I got Josh a Dwight Shrute bobblehead and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. This year, I had imagined July to be a month of magic and wonder, but unfortunately things didn't go as pictured (mostly because I was picturing rather than doing, but also because I spent most of July either at school, NARA, or sleeping-- in fact, I had to take a final in the morning instead of doing something nice like cook breakfast).
But Josh still had some excitement on his birthday:
Instead of a cake, I got some birthday doughnutssince there are only two of us.
I may or may not have eaten 80% of them...
Josh pretty much never grew up, so I figured it wasfitting to buy some Transformers party supplies.
They came in handy when we had Josh's desired birthday dinner--Chinese food.
Something that my family does (sometimes-- when we remember) on birthdays is go around the room and say one nice thing about the birthday person. Since Josh and I are only a family of two, it's up to me to fulfill the tradition!
So, here's a list of 29 (in celebration of Josh's 29th birthday) things I love about Josh:
1. He takes care of me when I'm sick, which actually happens more often than it should, for two reasons: 1. I whine a lot, and 2. I get stressed and therefore get stress headaches really easily.
2. He makes up words to otherwise wordless themesongs. An example is the words he made up to my favorite show, "Murder, She Wrote" that starts with "Oh it's a show called Murder, She Wrote..."
3. He doesn't like to eat a lot of ice cream. So this leaves it all for me!
4. He can accurately finish my sentences. I always check to make sure he's right, so that when I say, "I think we should..." and he says, "I know," it isn't that he thinks I was going to say, "I think we should build giant net to catch our neighbor's dog" instead of "I think we should eat pasta for dinner." He's always right, though.
5. He plans ahead for vacations. Right now we're planning for Washington DC in August, and Josh has been reading guidebooks and TripAdvisor for at least 3 months, possibly 6. Just now he said, "I'm going to make a list of all the restaurants in DC to take with us so we'll know where to eat." Before we got a GPS for our car, he would print out pages of google maps. When we went to Austin for the first time, he knew how to get around almost better than my sister who lives there!
6. He does the chores that I abhor. These include: cleaning the catbox, taking out the trash, and washing the dishes.
7. He plays the guitar. He even taught himself when he was an RA at the University of Oregon. Sometimes he'll break it out and give me a personal concert of all my favorite songs.
8. He does the grocery shopping and 98% of the cooking. We have both come to realize that I should not be put in charge of anything involving food. It's not because I'm a bad cook, but because I never think to make food until I'm hungry (at which point I am ravenous and need food right now). Also, and Josh and I both say this all the time, if I had to buy groceries we would find ourselves to have a surplus of turkey bologna, ice cream, and organic Cheetos.
9. He is very, very, very patient, which makes up for the fact that I am very, very, very impatient.
10. He can entertain himself. Josh is never bored and I never have to come up with things for him to do. Sometimes this can be frustrating (like when I have things that I want him to do, and instead he does something else), but most of the time I like it.
11. He lets me pluck his eyebrows. I might have a slight obsession. Plus, his eyebrows go on forever. If he didn't let me pluck them, they would go from one side of his head to the other, connecting at the hairline.
12. He loves cats. And I love cats! So we love cats together.
13. He loves the library. I don't understand people who don't love the library. I mean, it's free! Josh goes to the library at least once a week, which means he carts my books back and forth. There are some things about Josh and the library that I don't love, but that's a different story.
14. We are equally messy. It's kind of bad because it means things are only moderately clean (we both have a tendency to make piles), but it's also nice because we live in an acceptable level of disarray with which we are both comfortable.
15. He motivates me to do more temple work. Josh and I have made it a point to go to the temple whenever we're in a new place, and, honestly, it's entirely Josh's doing. Because he plans our vacations, he always budgets in time for us to visit nearby temples, which is why we've been to 24 different temples together. Last year at this time we took a Grand Temple Tour, which was an amazing experience.
16. He supports me as a student. During my two years (so far) of graduate school, Josh has helped me in innumerable ways, but he supported me when I applied to grad school (and would call him crying almost every day during the application process), when I was interviewing (we almost missed my Pacific interview because we got lost and I was certain it meant I wasn't supposed to continue my education), and when I was choosing where to go (when I was accepted to Purdue he even said he would move to West Lafayette, Indiana for me. Thankfully, he didn't have to).
17. He supports me as a psychologist. It has been hard these past couple years to actually see the ending of all of my schooling. This year, when I worked in a residential alcohol and drug treatment facility, Josh was very understanding about the troubles I faced. Sometimes I would come home and just need to sit and not do anything, or space out and watch tv. Because of confidentiality, I can't really talk to him about specific clients or specific difficulties, but he has been very understanding of that and has never asked me to push those boundaries (and I think I might have done if the situation was reversed because I am endlessly nosey, which is why I'm studying to be a psychologist!)
18. He lets me just be me. The circumstances of our courtship were not ideal, but it also meant that I was at a point where I wasn't trying to be on my best behavior for anyone. It seemed to me that the more I was like myself (my whiney, unwashed, cranky self), the more he loved me. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
19. He loves movies. I have always loved movies. I've seen more movies than pretty much everyone I know. One of my favorite things to do with Josh is go to a movie in the afternoon, then come home and watch another movie. And Josh doesn't think that's weird!
20. He loves history, museums, and learning. Josh likes knowing things. Going places with him is sometimes like having my own personal tour guide. But when he doesn't know things, he's willing to take the time to learn more. And he indulges my curiosity, which is why we went to San Simian on our honeymoon, and why we're going to Hershey, Pennsylvania in August.
21. He makes me laugh. . . a lot! Whether he's singing "Moonriver" in a chipmunk voice or "Johnny Angel" in bass, Josh is pretty dang funny. He doesn't really tell jokes or make puns (thank goodness), but he can make me laugh harder than anyone.
22. He gives great presents. I know I said this earlier in the post, but Josh needs more recognition. He's the kind of person who listens when I say, "I wish I had. . ." and actually does something about it. He's the reason I have the full series box set of Angel, an eliptical machine, and several pairs of cat socks.
23. He likes my family. He actually spends more time with them than I do!
24. He reads the newspaper. So I don't have to!
25. He likes video games, but doesn't play them all the time. He doesn't sit around all day and play Madden, but he will sit, play for half an hour, then get up and do something else.
26. He has three sisters. I think this prepared him appropriately for life with me. Josh was already used to not getting his way.
27. He can find a good deal. I'm not patient enough to cut coupons or sign up for deals, but Josh does all of that. Most recently he had signed up with various companies that give away free birthday things (like a free burger at Red Robin and free ice cream from Coldstone). He also does things like fill out customer survey forms, which usually yield coupons as a reward.
28. He's pretty good looking, for a boy.
29. He loves me! That, I think, is the best reason to love him back.
So, here's a list of 29 (in celebration of Josh's 29th birthday) things I love about Josh:
1. He takes care of me when I'm sick, which actually happens more often than it should, for two reasons: 1. I whine a lot, and 2. I get stressed and therefore get stress headaches really easily.
2. He makes up words to otherwise wordless themesongs. An example is the words he made up to my favorite show, "Murder, She Wrote" that starts with "Oh it's a show called Murder, She Wrote..."
3. He doesn't like to eat a lot of ice cream. So this leaves it all for me!
4. He can accurately finish my sentences. I always check to make sure he's right, so that when I say, "I think we should..." and he says, "I know," it isn't that he thinks I was going to say, "I think we should build giant net to catch our neighbor's dog" instead of "I think we should eat pasta for dinner." He's always right, though.
5. He plans ahead for vacations. Right now we're planning for Washington DC in August, and Josh has been reading guidebooks and TripAdvisor for at least 3 months, possibly 6. Just now he said, "I'm going to make a list of all the restaurants in DC to take with us so we'll know where to eat." Before we got a GPS for our car, he would print out pages of google maps. When we went to Austin for the first time, he knew how to get around almost better than my sister who lives there!
6. He does the chores that I abhor. These include: cleaning the catbox, taking out the trash, and washing the dishes.
7. He plays the guitar. He even taught himself when he was an RA at the University of Oregon. Sometimes he'll break it out and give me a personal concert of all my favorite songs.
8. He does the grocery shopping and 98% of the cooking. We have both come to realize that I should not be put in charge of anything involving food. It's not because I'm a bad cook, but because I never think to make food until I'm hungry (at which point I am ravenous and need food right now). Also, and Josh and I both say this all the time, if I had to buy groceries we would find ourselves to have a surplus of turkey bologna, ice cream, and organic Cheetos.
9. He is very, very, very patient, which makes up for the fact that I am very, very, very impatient.
10. He can entertain himself. Josh is never bored and I never have to come up with things for him to do. Sometimes this can be frustrating (like when I have things that I want him to do, and instead he does something else), but most of the time I like it.
11. He lets me pluck his eyebrows. I might have a slight obsession. Plus, his eyebrows go on forever. If he didn't let me pluck them, they would go from one side of his head to the other, connecting at the hairline.
12. He loves cats. And I love cats! So we love cats together.
13. He loves the library. I don't understand people who don't love the library. I mean, it's free! Josh goes to the library at least once a week, which means he carts my books back and forth. There are some things about Josh and the library that I don't love, but that's a different story.
14. We are equally messy. It's kind of bad because it means things are only moderately clean (we both have a tendency to make piles), but it's also nice because we live in an acceptable level of disarray with which we are both comfortable.
15. He motivates me to do more temple work. Josh and I have made it a point to go to the temple whenever we're in a new place, and, honestly, it's entirely Josh's doing. Because he plans our vacations, he always budgets in time for us to visit nearby temples, which is why we've been to 24 different temples together. Last year at this time we took a Grand Temple Tour, which was an amazing experience.
16. He supports me as a student. During my two years (so far) of graduate school, Josh has helped me in innumerable ways, but he supported me when I applied to grad school (and would call him crying almost every day during the application process), when I was interviewing (we almost missed my Pacific interview because we got lost and I was certain it meant I wasn't supposed to continue my education), and when I was choosing where to go (when I was accepted to Purdue he even said he would move to West Lafayette, Indiana for me. Thankfully, he didn't have to).
17. He supports me as a psychologist. It has been hard these past couple years to actually see the ending of all of my schooling. This year, when I worked in a residential alcohol and drug treatment facility, Josh was very understanding about the troubles I faced. Sometimes I would come home and just need to sit and not do anything, or space out and watch tv. Because of confidentiality, I can't really talk to him about specific clients or specific difficulties, but he has been very understanding of that and has never asked me to push those boundaries (and I think I might have done if the situation was reversed because I am endlessly nosey, which is why I'm studying to be a psychologist!)
18. He lets me just be me. The circumstances of our courtship were not ideal, but it also meant that I was at a point where I wasn't trying to be on my best behavior for anyone. It seemed to me that the more I was like myself (my whiney, unwashed, cranky self), the more he loved me. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
19. He loves movies. I have always loved movies. I've seen more movies than pretty much everyone I know. One of my favorite things to do with Josh is go to a movie in the afternoon, then come home and watch another movie. And Josh doesn't think that's weird!
20. He loves history, museums, and learning. Josh likes knowing things. Going places with him is sometimes like having my own personal tour guide. But when he doesn't know things, he's willing to take the time to learn more. And he indulges my curiosity, which is why we went to San Simian on our honeymoon, and why we're going to Hershey, Pennsylvania in August.
21. He makes me laugh. . . a lot! Whether he's singing "Moonriver" in a chipmunk voice or "Johnny Angel" in bass, Josh is pretty dang funny. He doesn't really tell jokes or make puns (thank goodness), but he can make me laugh harder than anyone.
22. He gives great presents. I know I said this earlier in the post, but Josh needs more recognition. He's the kind of person who listens when I say, "I wish I had. . ." and actually does something about it. He's the reason I have the full series box set of Angel, an eliptical machine, and several pairs of cat socks.
23. He likes my family. He actually spends more time with them than I do!
24. He reads the newspaper. So I don't have to!
25. He likes video games, but doesn't play them all the time. He doesn't sit around all day and play Madden, but he will sit, play for half an hour, then get up and do something else.
26. He has three sisters. I think this prepared him appropriately for life with me. Josh was already used to not getting his way.
27. He can find a good deal. I'm not patient enough to cut coupons or sign up for deals, but Josh does all of that. Most recently he had signed up with various companies that give away free birthday things (like a free burger at Red Robin and free ice cream from Coldstone). He also does things like fill out customer survey forms, which usually yield coupons as a reward.
28. He's pretty good looking, for a boy.
29. He loves me! That, I think, is the best reason to love him back.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHERS!
