a lesson about frogs

So I was going through our Costa Rica pictures and realized that my dating life has been a lot like these two frogs. Go ahead, try to name one attractive quality about this beast of a creature. Besides being slimy and having thighs the size of a polish sausage, it eats all the other frogs if it gets out of its cage; just wipes them all out. While my dating history before Nate didn't include anyone with unusually large thighs, there might have been a few that fell into that slightly (or not so slightly) slimy category.

But, look at that red-eyed tree frog. He's friendly, colorful and the kind of frog that everybody likes. If my mom actually liked animals, she'd love for me to bring this one home, I'm sure. Nate tried to get me to put this little guy in my pocket so we could take him home with us. (Which, by the way, was pretty much what I wanted to do with Nate after our first date three years ago.) But, fearing that he might get squashed somewhere along the way, I left him peacefully on a leaf. Sure am glad I married the red-eyed tree frog type.
By the way, visiting the Ranarium, as they call it in Costa Rica, was probably one of Nate's favorite experiences. I loved the butterflies, but he couldn't get enough of the frogs. We even went back to this place one evening for a special 'night frog' experience. Talk about big time adventure.

Paradise FOUND!

Wasn't it John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost? I think I was supposed to read it in AP English all those years ago. I didn't. In fact, if I'm being totally honest, I think the only book I actually read that year was something by Henrik Ibsen. Something about a guy named Torvald who always called his wife a squirrel. Thankfully, Nate uses other terms of endearment. But, that aside, I can tell you that paradise is not lost. We definitely found it in Costa Rica. After navigating for a few hours through the country we arrived at Tabacon, which I'm sure translates directly to 'paradise' from some tribal rain forest language. This place is amazing. Just google it, you'll see. It was like our perfect day just kept going. Here we were in the middle of the rain forest, during the rainy season, and it didn't really rain all that much. When we were inside, rain. When we wanted to go out, no rain. I was starting to think we might have superpowers or something. But, thanks to Russ, I've learned that those kinds of powers only exist in utero.
Thanking Nate for bringing me here turned into almost an hourly occurrence. It was a perfect balance between relaxing and being adventurous. Who can complain about having their own personal chef and waiter for an evening? Come to think about it, I should probably still be thanking Nate.

...the best day

I've heard people say that your wedding isn't supposed to be the best day of your marriage because every day is supposed to get better after that. Nonsense. I do agree that every day is so good, but how many days in your life do you get to be the absolute center of everything? It will probably never happen for us again. A sweet family walked past us as we were taking pictures outside the temple and their little daughter said, "Look Mom, it's Cinderella!" I haven't really ever thought of myself as the Cinderella-type, at least not the one in the ball gown. It's not that I run around with little mice or anything. It's just that Nate and I are both just pretty casual and laid back. Not your typical Prince Charming and Cinderella, Brad and Angelina or any other attention getting folks. We are, however, still talking about how perfect that day was: the weather, the leaves on the trees, the food (oh, the food!) and so many friends and family to celebrate with. Actually, being Cinderella was great, even if it was only for the day. And after the most perfect day was over, we headed to Costa Rica. Maybe the days did get better and better...

getting started...

So it's been a pretty uneventful second month of marriage for the two of us. We survived the holidays, and Nate has been studying for the CPA exam ever since. Our spacious 790 square feet of living space doesn't have an office so Nate has set up shop in a corner of the living room. It works out o.k., and I'm getting used to being in the same room as him for the evening without saying a word while also suppressing the urge to watch American Idol. I guess I could spend more time in the bedroom or bathroom, but I'd just fall asleep on the bed and the couch seems more comfortable to relax on than the bathtub. So, now that I have completely exhausted the internet for dinner recipes and counted the number of diamonds on the linoleum in the kitchen, I decided it's time to get a blog going. Since we're a couple of months into marriage, I guess I'll start at the beginning. The wedding...