To put the “social” in social media a bit more, I couldn’t help but participate in the latest Old School Blogging Q&A that I was tagged in by Kerry from Breadwinning Mama. Blogging certainly has given me a glimpse into the minds and lives of so many interesting people – many of whom I consider “virtual friends,” as I eagerly read about your latest musings.
So if you want to know more about my marriage, babies, and sources of bliss, read on! And feel free to participate too by grabbing the Old School Blogging button & copying and pasting the questions below.
1. How did your husband pop the big question?
He had just moved to Pittsburgh the night before, and I remember him calling me several times during the day while I was at work. I thought it was a little out of the ordinary for him, but I figured he was bored with unpacking. After another phone call, I came home and was greeted at the door by a very dressed up boyfriend. He brought me inside, where he had arranged all of the postcards, letters, and little things we had exchanged while living in separate states and even countries (I worked in Tokyo, Japan, and studied in Vienna, Austria after dating my now husband for only six months). He brought up memories of our relationship and said something to the effect of, “You’ve given me all of these things, and now I have something I’d like to give you.” He got down on one knee, broke out the ring, and popped the big question! I said YES!
2. What are the three most surprising things about married life?
Time passes so quickly – we’ve been married for seven years now, and I can still remember our wedding like it was yesterday.
It really can take a lot of work to make time for each other – especially after having children! We try to do date nights at least once a month and are trying to carve out time daily to connect with one another.
We have discovered new hobbies together – we first met playing basketball, but have also played volleyball together. We also enjoy cooking, searching for the best Wisconsin cheddar, drinking wine, snowshoeing, hiking, and traveling. My husband is also an amazing driver’s ed teacher, patiently teaching me how to drive stick-shift!
3. How did you find out you were pregnant for the first time?
I thought it was bad Mexican food that I had while going out to eat with two of my closest girlfriends. After calling them, and realizing that they were not sick, I took a pregnancy test the next morning. When the “pregnant” line became clear, I woke up my husband to share the exciting news! He asked if I followed the directions (not sure how you can mess up peeing on a stick besides “missing” all together) and was sort of in a morning haze of disbelief / excitement.
4. How did you choose your first baby’s name?
My husband actually found my daughter’s name, and I found our son’s name. I think they both came from baby books, though I do know that we liked the meaning of their names. My daughter’s name means wisdom, and my son’s means diligent. We hope they are BOTH smart and hardworking…someday!
5. Describe where you see yourself in 10 years from now…
Hmm, this sounds too much like a job interview question! Well, I will be working in a marketing / management role. Okay – on to family life –
Our children will be in late elementary school and middle school! We would eagerly share in their activities and continue creating our own memorable family outings and vacations. I’d like to travel internationally with my husband to Japan and with my entire family to the UK and Austria. We will most likely still live in Wisconsin to be close to our families, while traveling across a few states to visit aunts, uncles and cousins from time to time. I know for SURE that we will escape Wisconsin winters for a little reprieve!
6. Describe how you find bliss, either with words or images.
I find true happiness in some of the most unexpected moments. It can be something funny that my children say – for example, my daughter refused to run ahead with me during our walk, saying she wanted to stay with our whole family. I always love a good hug and cuddling up to read stories together. The images below are wonderful reminders of how blessed and happy we all are!
Now tag 5 of your bloggy friends!
I’d love to read about engagement, marriage, babies and bliss from my friends at these fabulous blogs – Motherhood is an Art, Keeping it Real, Pursuit of Plenty, The Sadder but Wiser Girl, I Will Have My Cake.
Anyone else who’d like to play, please do, let me know and link up with Elaine!
go mama o. 
I love your engagement story. So romantic! And your kids have the sweetest little faces. I know what you mean about finding bliss in those simple moments. Lately, my two-year-old’s vocabulary has exploded and some of her sayings and expressions just crack me up. Thanks for letting me learn a little more about your life and for playing along!
Thanks! Yes, kids say the funniest things, and I love it when they start adding more and more words. My son told me to “stop singing” over the weekend. Geesh!
I completely could relate to tagging in and out with your husband when taking care of the kids. It is also pretty funny (and surprising) that a spouse doing housework is a turn-on now!! These were fun questions!
Oh the nose wrinkle!! I love it! I absolutely adore your engagement story! That’s amazing that he saved all of that stuff and presented it to you at that moment! Perfect move to solidify you saying “yes”!!!! Thank you for tagging me in this! It looks like fun! I will actually have to think about a couple of those answers though. For the life of me I am not remembering how I knew I was pregnant with my first. Hopefully my husband does or I wrote it down in her baby book!
Yeah, I am a total sucker for the nose wrinkle too. So stinking cute! I don’t think our engagement would be possible these days with so little letter-writing, so yes, it was very special! I still have a lot of the letters that he sent me too. 🙂
I hope you enjoy answering these questions as much as I did. I also had to ask my husband about a few of the answers, as I THOUGHT he wore a shirt & tie when he proposed, but I couldn’t quite remember. Details…details!
nice to meetcha! 🙂 my cousin lives in Mars, is that near you? it all sounds very far away. 😉
Hmm…I’ll have to check where Mars is..I haven’t heard of it. We are more familiar with the East side of the state. Nice to “meet” ya too!
Oops – I’m sorry, you meant Mars, PA! YES, I do remember where that was when we lived in Pittsburgh. Now we live in Wisconsin, so I made the mistake of thinking there was a Mars, WI. This reply was LONG overdue.