Arguments and Surprises

Arguments:
I know, kind of a funny title for a blog-but a very interesting question was asked over the weekend "Do you and Nick ever argue?" It seems as though arguments are a part of life-but I suppose I had a bit of trouble wrapping my mind around whether or not Nick and I actually argue. The word argue brings with it such negative connotations and I am not entirely sure why. By definition, argue means to present reasons for or against a thing. I found that my answer was no, Nick and I don't argue much, if at all. This is actually true. However, I did say that we disagree from time to time. Disagree by definition means to differ in opinion; dissent. I'm not entirely sure why disagree sounds so much better than ague, in fact-the definition of argue almost sounds more calm than the definition of disagree. I find it interesting how words change over time and how, in general, certain words have certain connotations associated with them.

I am not sure how normal or not normal it is to disagree or argue with your spouse-It is very rare that Nick and I do not agree on something but would this show that we have good communication and strong similarities? Does it show that neither of us have particularly strong opinions? I suppose I don't really know what happens in "normal" marriages but I do know that I do not like arguing at all and would rather not get my way than argue about something.

Surprises
It is really amazing how opinionated people are with life decisions. Everyone has an opinion on what is a good age to get married (well, it seems to be less about the age and more about "you are way too young" or "you are really getting older, when are you going to settle down?" With all this "too young" and "too old," it seems that the "perfect age" somehow gets lost. Anyway-this leads me to the surprises part of this post. **Disclaimer- No, we are not having a baby. ** Ok, so when Nick and I have kids, I really don't want to find out what we are having. My thought is this-It is only a 9 month wait and there are so few "real" surprises in life. I think that when we have kids, I will care less about what we are having and more about having a healthy baby so really, I would be thrilled with either sex, besides, there is nothing you can do to change the results-even if you find out when the baby is in-utero. So this brings me to the second part of this-plannning. Everyone thinks that you cannot adequately plan for a baby unless you know the sex. Yea. Maybe if you want to drown in pink or blue-but what about all the neutral colors. What if I want to do a zoo theme, or dogs, or yellow and green stripes? (No I dont really like those themes, but it was just an example). My thought is, I am not buying stuff for the baby that will last its entire life during the 5 months it is still baking before birth and there are so many things that people can buy for showers that can be used by either sex. Anyway, people are really opinionated about this topic. I heard the most interesting argument from a guy friend this past weekend. "I would want to find out because while I really would be happy with a health baby, no matter the sex, I would be disapointed deep down if it was a girl and would need those 5 months to get over that dissapointment. And deep down, Kenzie, every man wants a son and even if they don't admit it, every man is disapointed with a girl." Interesting. I sure hope this isn't true with all guys.

Beautiful April Weekend

We had a positively beautiful weekend (in the high 70's I think). Nick and I hosted a friend of mine from SYA Spain back in high school, Josh, who made his first trek from Boston (his home town) to Portland. I was happy to show him around our beautiful state (Portland and Hood River were on the list) and was thrilled that Oregon cooperated with me and showed some sun! Josh even left Portland with a heart in Oregon sticker! Among other things, he got to see Portland, eat at some great restaurants, see Multnomah Falls, sip a smoothie in Hood River, take in the Gorge and sleep soundly in the Oregon fresh air. He brought with him a friend, Rob, who is an extremely talented cartoonist. There was a festival/convention called Stumptown that was a showcase of cartoonists (Portland has the second highest number of them, New York is first). It was really neat to see everyones work. I knew little about this side of Portland before.

Josh and Rob left early this morning and Nick and I are back to our usual routine. Today, I will be more than halfway done with my boot camp. Hopefully it doesnt go too fast, I really enjoy it a lot!!

Celebrate April 15!

I know that there are not many people who celebrate April 15 because this is generally a day that, if you procrastinate, means you will be rushing to the post office to send off your taxes...or maybe it is the day that you cut a big check to uncle sam which is also a bummer.

For me, April 15th means the official end to busy season! No more Saturdays, long late nights, difficult deadlines (for the most part) and backlog of jobs!

I will be celebrating April 15th by going to boot camp at ADAPT which I have been doing for the past week and a half and it is AWESOME!

Easter:
I didn't do an update on Easter. Nick and I went down to Eugene and spent the night at my parents house. Nick and I hung out there for part of the day Saturday and then on Sunday, we picked up a cake at Sweet Life (yummy) and then headed to Nick's mom Joni's house to meet up with Nick's brother Todd, his wife Amber and their 5.5 year old daughter Maylee. Rounding out the guests were Joni and her boyfriend Steve. We had prime rib, mashed potatos and then cake!

I have several countdowns going at the moment. 16 days until I turn the big 2.6. and then 22 days until Nick and I go to Maui. In the mean time, I have bootcamp to look forward to each night and having Nick in town still is a definite plus. :-)

Power 90

Just curious-does anyone know anyone who has ever done the P90X thing? Its that info-mercial with all the DVD's and they use weights and resistance bands etc. During the summer I travel with work which means that I miss out on gym time. I am looking for something that I can bring with me that I can do anywhere and still stay in great shape (even without a gym). If you know anything about it, let me know what your review is.

Thanks!

Quick March Update

Lobby

Nick and I will be going to Maui in May and will stay at the Westin Kaanapali, here are some photos of the resort

Room

Outside

Shamrock Run:

Shamrock Run (5k) After the race (Lindsay, Jill, Ashley and me)

Before the Shamrock Run (Me, Liz, Melissa, Lindsay, Jill and Ashley)

Portland hosted the Shamrock run again this year. It was wet, windy and miserable weather but I ran again with my work this year. I downgraded to the 5k (did the 8k last year) since I have not been running. Nick was so sweet and came out to support us in the rain-husband of the year.

I have been going to the gym every day with Nick and lifting-I have also been eating well and will do the ADAPT bootcamp like I did before I got married. I loved it and it really got me into good shape.

Nick and I have been really busy with work and with working Saturday, it really makes the weekend short. Busy season is almost over and I will just have to push through to the end!

Top news-Economy, Economy, Economy

I just wanted to post this to show the kinds of things we see on the news and internet on a daily basis. I almost dont like to watch the news or read it anymore because it is just depressing.

Wall Hangings

It is probably time to do a post. I admit, I have been avoiding the computer lately-I work on a computer all day long and I just don't really have the eyes for it when I get home. I promise, I do want to read up on my favorite blogs, look up things on the internet, etc. but with all the time I spend looking at the computer, I just have no desire to get back on it when I get home. A typical weekday goes like this...

• Get up at 6 (ok, maybe hit snooze like 50 times and get up at 6:30), fly out the door
• Go to either the office or a clients office (usually the second)
• Sit in front of a computer, move numbers around, look at some papers, type, type, move more numbers around
• Leave the client, go to the gym (that is, hopefully go to the gym)
• Come home, cook dinner
• Go to bed.
  
• Wake up, repeat

Nick and I took a trip to IKEA and got some things for our house. We picked up a front entryway shelf thing with hooks on the bottom for coats and we got a rack for the kitchen where you hang pots. It is amazing how little things like these really make a room feel more homey, lived in.

For Valentines day (Nick and I really aren't into it, but got each other stuff anyway), I got Nick a backpack that can carry his snowboard vertically and he got me one that will carry either vertically or horizontally. He also got a few dry sacks and he got me some perfume, yum.

Jessica had a non-valentines day get together and it was Nick and I, Jessica and Neal, Jen and Ian. We ate tacos, played apples to apples and battle of the sexes and watched the NBA slam-dunk contest. Overall, it was a really fun night.

Today, Nick and I went to a movie (Confessions of a shopaholic, it was ok-cute but not awesome) and met up with our friend Derrick and Ingrid and had brunch.

Nothing really special to report, just a little update.