New House Paint

Four years ago a neighbor hit our house with his car. It ended up being kind of awesome, because we had been meaning to paint our house anyway.

Well the HOA started complaining that our house wasn't the correct color. Only instead of complaining immediately, when we could have done something about it, they didn't complain until three years later. Too late to go back to the contractor.

I had to freaking pay to have my house painted again.

To be fair, there was stucco damage we had wanted repaired anyway. And I don't know what the heck happened over the years, if it faded or what, but the paint definitely was the wrong color and an ugly green. So even though we weren't happy about it, the house does look so much better.

Utah Trip for Book Release Party

J's favorite author is Brandon Sanderson. He writes fantasy books. Massive fantasy books. High quality, massive fantasy books. A surprisingly high volume of these high quality, massive fantasy books. 

I used to be quite the reader when I was young, but nowadays the Internet keeps me distracted. So after a few requests, I finally started reading Brandon Sanderson so J had someone to discuss the books with.

I started reading the Acknowledgements, because sometimes authors say funny things in there. J glanced over my shoulder, did a little gasp, and said, "Kara Stewart! I know her!"

It ended up being an interesting coincidence. J had literally, just that day, put in his name to volunteer at the 2016 Comicon for Brandon Sanderson's booth. He was a little disheartened because he didn't think he stood a chance. Come to find out Kara is Brandon Sanderson's right hand woman. And also an old family friend. The two families go way back.

So J got to reconnect with an old friend and volunteer at Comicon and meet a super cool, brilliant man.

Also, Kara is one of the nicest, most authentic people ever. I kind of want her to be my bestie.

So we've been reading the Stormlight Archives series, and J informed me he wanted to go to Utah for the release party for Oathbringer, the third book.

So we took a road trip. We stopped in Vegas first.

We were passing all these casinos. I told J I have an irrational fear that he'll become a compulsive gambler and I'll have to deal with that.

J: Why do you fear that?

Me: It's not just that, I have all sorts of irrational fears. Like what if you were murdered, or got a girlfriend and decided you loved her more than me - 

J: Baby, I would never love my girlfriend more than you.

Me: -_-

J: smirky smirk

Me: I'm not paranoid enough that I need medication. It's just these random little fears. What if you get cancer and died, what would I do.

J: I get it, I have those fears too. Mostly about Tiny, but a little bit about you.

Tiny is our four pound chihuahua who worships the ground J walks on.

J and I love to tease each other, and that was a good one. I got a nice belly laugh out of that one.

We continued on to Utah.

I have two friends I went to high school with who are now living in Salt Lake.

It was so good to see these beautiful girls and catch up.

This is a necessary pointing photo for HP.

Utah is very beautiful. I don't think I captured it with this photo, but it amazed me the whole time we were there.

I was amazed at the sheer number of people that showed up to the release party. Even more amazing to me were the fans that dressed up. J and I were in charge of the game tables, and I had Pictionary. The words were from multiple different books across different series, and the majority of the people had no problems drawing or guessing. Brandon did a Q&A session and the huge room was packed. It must be such a high for him. He created these worlds and characters out of nothing and these people are passionate about it.

J, through the kindness of Kara, received his book early and spent as much time as he could reading it.

We drove back home in one day. I of course drove since J was reading. Since he had a good head start, we were thinking I would only have to drive a few hours.

J didn't finish reading until we were half an hour from home. He offered to take over but at that point I kind of wanted to be able to say I drove the whole ten hours home. Best. Wife. Ever. I'm still waiting for my medal.

On the way home I was in the left lane passing a semi, and the semi almost side-swiped me. It scared the crap out of me so I down shifted into fourth gear and floored it. And passed a cop going 95. Luckily I did not get pulled over. J thinks the cop saw what happened and knew I was just trying not to die.

To the people who drive in the left lane instead of using it as a passing lane: You, sir, are a dingleberry.

During the trip, likely due to my use of the word, J called me a dingleberry. I asked if he knew what it was. He said, "You know, a cranberry that" and started to move his wrists like maracas. I asked if he thought it was a musical berry. Yes. Yes he did.

Seattle

There was a WooCon in Seattle. Since J is a web developer, he tries to go to those things when it makes sense. And I like to tag along to check things out.

Cody and Raquel were there too.

They do not throw around fish at the fish market. It's a lie.

I posted this photo on Facebook and my friend said she thought my nose was bleeding. That is an unfortunate color line up. I was just friggin freezing the whole time.

The condo we rented was pretty sweet and cheaper than a hotel.

This is the view from the living room window.

The condo had a sky lounge, which would have been amazing if it wasn't rainy/cloudy the whole time.

I had about eight hot chocolates.

 My umbrella did this a couple times. It's an appropriate piece of art. I learned why the locals wear raincoats with hoods. Because umbrellas will betray you. Also you might poke someone's eye out on the narrow sidewalks.

There were a couple areas where the streets had a very steep slope. Luckily not too many or I would have been in trouble. I barely made it up this one street.

We were in a shop and J started laughing out loud. I asked him why and he said this soap reminded him of my Mom. 

We went to the aquarium. The octopuses and otters were our favorite.

We checked out the Space Needle. It was, of course, raining.

Ran out for breakfast. "It's just a quick trip, he don't need the umbrella." Don't let Seattle trick you into a false sense of security. Just because it wasn't raining when we left didn't mean it wasn't going to pour as soon as we were a block away.

Kerry Park 

Overall it was a pretty good trip.

Discussion Between Old Married People

I know it's the day before Thanksgiving, but I've already been planning for Christmas. I freaking love Christmas.

I will just whisper "Christmaaaaaaaaas" and J will whisper it back because he has embraced my weirdness.

When I was a kid they only had one style of house lights. The old fashioned, colored, large bulbs. For nostalgic reasons, I had looked for those lights in years past but they didn't have them. Then once they did have them, they were dang expensive. So we got some of those LED lights that have got the job done.

Then Costco came out with super cheap lights. J knew of my love for the old lights and wanted to buy them. I told him no. Not only am I cheap, but I have perfectly good working lights and I don't need to buy new things when I don't need them. So we were in Costco discussing it, going back and forth.

The thing I love about J is that he is logical. It's pretty seldom that we both dig in our heels. We will debate the pros and cons, each present a side, and then someone agrees with the one that cared the most.

So after our discussion, we were both quiet for a moment. Then J grinned really big and said, "Yes! Thank you! We will get them!" and started putting the lights in the cart. I was surprised, because I had just made up my mind to give in but hadn't yet said anything.

He told me, "You sighed your little sigh of defeat that means you've given up."

I didn't even realize I did that. I kind of love that J notices these things about me that I don't notice myself.