Memorable Dates of 2011

Looking back on the past year, Peter and I realized that it's been full of memorable dates. Here are our Top Five: 

Five: December 4    

Ten months after starting to paint the living space, we finished on December 4th! As I've mentioned, it would be more accurate to say "Peter finished." Along the way, we ran into a number of speed bumps that halted our progress and a number of others that became side projects themselves. Of course now that the walls are finished, I've moved on to bigger and better things like painting furniture and nesting.

Four & Three: October 1 and October 7

In less than week in October, two of Peter's best friends got married to a couple of wonderful women. The first wedding was in Seneca, South Carolina and the second in Nashville, Tennessee. We were delighted to share in the the festivities and support each couple. As a side note, I was happy to see Peter in a tux; in nearly eight years, that was a first!

Picture from Facebook.com

Picture from Day In & Day Out

Two: May 18 

On May 18th, I received an email with the seemingly insignificant subject Handbook Draft. The sender encouraged current students to review the draft and send any comments back to him. Upon reading the draft, I learned that Vanderbilt would accept transfer hours. A short email chain and phone call to Univeristy of Memphis later, I called Peter to let him know I'd be moving back to Memphis, full-time, at the end of the week which was seven months ahead of schedule. We were delighted and bewildered by the news!

One: June 19

Late on Father's Day, we saw two pink lines! (This picture is from earlier that day while we were in Georgia celebrating Peter's dad.) I wish I had some sweet story about telling Peter I was pregnant by alluding to him being a wonderful father or giving him some sort of "Dad" gift but I don't. First off, I'm not that cute. Secondly, we were both surprised, in a wonderful and blessed way, by the pregnancy. We now move into 2012 in eager anticipation of this child's arrival.

Kelsey and the Cookbook

For Christmas I decided to compile our family recipes into a cookbook for my three siblings: Kelsey, TJ and Ryan.  Near nightly, my sister and I are in touch with one another, asking, "What are you making for dinner?" or "How do I make this or that?" and the boys always call Kelsey asking the same thing. I figured a cookbook would be a hit. In June, I began asking older family members to send me inherited recipes. While I waited for the recipes from my family, I began compiling my recent favorites. I typed up the recipes and uploaded them onto Tastebook which is a website where you can make very nice personalized cookbooks. By early December, I had one hundred recipes for the cookbook.

Right around the time I finished my cookbooks, my sister learned she has a gluten allergy. Wanting the cookbook to be useful, I decided to alter my sister's cookbook to include as many gluten-free recipes as possible. While the project was a bit laborious, I knew it would be worth it.

One week before we left to go to Baltimore for Christmas I got a bombshell of a phone call. It was my mom, "Parker, you need to talk to your sister! She is thinking about making the boys cookbooks for Christmas." My mom stalled to the best of her ability telling my sister it was a crazy idea and it would take too much time.  But knowing my mom is not a particularly gifted secret keeper, I decided I had to call my sister right away:

          "Kelsey, it's Parker. Don't make the boys cookbooks for Christmas."
          "Why? Mom said the same thing. I think it's a good idea."
          "It is. It's a great idea. And I've been working on cookbooks for them since June. Don't do it."
          "Oooooh! I thought everyone just thought it was a bad idea. Okay."

With the issue of my sister making her own cookbook for the boys out of the way, I decided to figure out a way that Kelsey would still be surprised when she opened her gift. Once in Baltimore, Peter and I hit the mall looking for a decoy present. Peter spotted a very nice apron in Anthropologie that he knew my sister would love. We decided it went with our cooking theme so it would be the perfect decoy gift.

Christmas morning we always start at my mom's house and then head over to my dad's house. Under the tree at Mom's were the cookbooks for the boys and the apron for my sister. When we gave the boys their gifts they were elated. And Kelsey was jealous. Very jealous. She opened her gift to find the apron which she decidedly liked but then said, "I think I'm a bit heartbroken. I want one of those cookbooks. I love to cook." I told her I understood but with her new allergy I just didn't want to give her a gift she couldn't use. Later she asked, "Can I order one of those books on my own?" Nonchalantly I told her she could and we went to over to Dad's.

Hidden under my dad's tree was the cookbook for Kelsey which we wrapped differently than the others. When I gave it to her she eagerly asked, "Is this my cookbook?" I told her it wasn't, just a late birthday gift.  As she shook the box and heard nothing rattle (thank goodness I'm married to a packaging engineer!) we knew she'd given up hope of getting a cookbook from us. When she opened the box and discovered her very own personalized cookbook she was beside herself! Again revealing her earlier disappointment she said, "I really was so heartbroken. I didn't know why I didn't get one." She went on to fervently look though every recipe, beaming with excitement.

It's not every day (or year) that I come up with a clever gift idea but when I do it is so worth it – even if the gift requires hours of work, a few white lies, and a decoy gift to pull off!

Ms. Kathy

Since our Thanksgiving trip to Georgia, Peter and I have been driving his mom's minivan. It makes perfect sense, actually. You see, we'd been in the market for a new loveseat but had yet to commit to one. When Peter found out his folks were getting new couch to replace the current couch and loveseat in their family room, Peter suggested that we buy the old loveseat from them. After a bit of inquiring, Peter's very generous parents told us we could have their loveseat and borrow their vehicle to transport it back to Memphis. After Thanksgiving we left our car in Georgia and drove the van home. Since the van is adorned with a hot pink vanity plate honoring the owner, Ms. Kathy, Peter and I have taken to calling the van Ms. Kathy.

Originally, we were going to hold on to Ms. Kathy for just a week. Ten days after Thanksgiving I had class in Nashville so my mother-in-law planned to meet me to swap cars. However a few days before the planned swap, she called Peter to say she wasn't in a hurry to get the van back and we could postpone the swap until January when she'll be visiting Memphis. We happily agreed to extend our time with Ms. Kathy from ten days to seven weeks.

Knowing we'd be driving Ms. Kathy to Baltimore, we made arrangements to swap our dining room chairs. We took our old dining room chairs back to Maryland and brought back new ones [more on that later].  My family thought taking advantage of the van was a good idea too so when we drove back to Memphis Ms. Kathy was loaded down with a buffet, two side tables, and a coffee-table which I'll deliver to my mom's Etsy customer, along with other odds and ends, all of our luggage, and the four dining room chairs we planned on getting.  

 

Overall, Ms. Kathy has been very good to us. She's very roomy and the stow-and-go seats are pretty cool. We're not ready to commit to driving a minivan full-time but Peter and I have certainly been impressed.