Posts Tagged ‘romance’

Day 365… What a Year! Is This The End Or Just Another Beginning?

Posted: September 10, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, August 5, 2011

So, all good things must come to an end and our second honeymoon is no exception.  Wait!  Did I call it good?  Sorry.  Make that great!

It was so amazing to share this time with someone who I’ve known and loved for years, and yet in the context of a “new” relationship.  It was truly some of the most blessed days imaginable.

Our room was terrific, as always.  All the rooms have kitchens and we always bring a lot of groceries and do a lot of cooking and relaxing while we’re there.  They also have several great restaurants on site, so we took advantage of that as well.

It was extremely hot all week, so when we weren’t indoors, we were usually either in the lazy river or in one of the several swimming pools.  We also went canoeing in the early morning on the lake and took walks in the evening around the resort.

Tonight we drive home and tomorrow morning, we get up early for our 62 mile Tour De Cox.  Today is 365 days – exactly one year from the day we woke up after our separation and started over on the day we had planned to ride our first Tour in 2010.

Tomorrow, after the Tour, we will welcome family and friends from near and far who will come to share our vow renewal ceremony.  After that?  Well, it will officially be the end of the Restoration Tour, but it will only be the beginning of the rest of our lives.

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Day 361 and Counting… Our Second Honeymoon begins!

Posted: September 3, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, August 1, 2011

We woke up this morning and Ceecee realized that she needed to get her bike adjusted today, before we leave for our honeymoon!  We’ll come back Friday evening and Saturday morning is the Tour de Cox.  She needs a tune up, so we hurried down to the bike shop, explained the situation, and they were very good about taking care of her.

After that, we swung by Mothers, our local craft brewery.  We wanted to get a growler (which is a gallon jug with a sealed lid that you can fill with tap beer, so you get the fresh taste) to take with us to Big Cedar.

They have this tradition where they want you to take pictures with their growlers at different events or places you travel to and they sometimes give away prizes for them and we wanted to do that.  When we got there, they weren’t open, but we found an employee and when we told him what was going on, he took us around to the tasting room and got us one.

We drove down this afternoon and our room is just fantastic.  Big Cedar Lodge is amazingly beautiful and they have tremendous amenities.  It’s supposed to be really hot this week, so I’m sure when we’re not in the room, we’ll be spending lots of time in the water!

Day 352 and Counting… Fun in the California sun

Posted: August 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, July 25, 2011

There’s so much we’ve seen and done in so little time.  This trip has been a bit of a blur.

When we got finished in wine country, we drove down to San Francisco, where we met my brother and his family.  He had gotten us great tickets to a giants game, and after that, we headed to Morro Bay, where they have a vacation home that is shared among various relatives.

We spent a day there, then over the next two days, we visited San Luis Obispo and stayed at my brother’s home just outside of Fresno.  Yesterday, we spent the day exploring Yosemite National Park, which was incredibly beautiful.  We’ve had so much fun, laughed so much, and truly enjoyed each other’s company and the wonderful love we now share.

Day 346 and Counting… The “Poofiest” Dress

Posted: August 14, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Well, my wife bought her dress for the ceremony.  It’s bright orange (yes, I know Alice wore a blue dress in the movie), and I don’t know any other way to describe it except, “poofy.”  We also went around and found a variety of accessories to go with it and it should be a dress that no one will forget!

We ordered the cake pops and I think the preparations are pretty much good at this point.  They kind of have to be, since we leave for California tomorrow!  Then we come back for 2 days, head to Big Cedar Lodge for our second honeymoon, come back home and the next day is our ceremony.

Hard to believe it’s been almost exactly a year.  On the one hand, it’s been the longest year imaginable.  On the other, it’s gone by so fast it seems like last week that we were getting back together.

 

Day 336 and Counting… Invitations Done, Getting Close

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Things are definitely coming together.  Today, we got the invitations all done.  We’re doing a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party theme loosely based on the recent version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.

Ceecee created them herself on the computer and they turned out really neat.  There are several outdoor patios and pavilions at the park and we just decided that we will have our ceremony outdoors and the weather will just have to cooperate.

I’ve picked up most of the stuff for my costume at thrift stores and we ordered a Mad Hatter’s hat on Amazon.  Ceecee found a dress at a store downtown.  It’s going to be really silly and that’s the way we want it.

We’re planning two training rides this week and we leave for California in a week and a half.  When we get back, it will only be a few days until we leave for our second honeymoon! Hard to believe everything is this close.

Day 334 and Counting… More Ceremony Plans

Posted: August 2, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, July 8, 2011

Planning continues for our ceremony.  We’ve picked out some songs we want played and worked on a few of the other details.  I asked my friend Joe if he would play and sing “Marry Me,’ by Train, but he said the guy’s range was way too high and he could never pull it off.

We decided we can just play recordings and picked up a few cd’s.  One of them is by Brandi Carlile, who we had only heard of because of church.

Around Easter, they did the song “The Story,” which was played at the end of the movie, “The Lucky One.”  When they sang it in church, we were amazed by the lyrics and my wife immediately leaned over to me and said, “I want this song for our ceremony.”

We found out that a bridezilla has booked the entire building at Nathaniel Greene Park on the day of our ceremony for her own wedding, so we’re looking for plan B.  I’ve always only envisioned having it there, but we’ll figure something out.

My friends Joe and Kevin are both going to speak, as is our daughter, Angie. We’re not going to have a preacher because we’re already legally married and we don’t know anyone in that capacity who knows us well enough to really be part of this.  We’re also going to write our own vows and say them to each other.  I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to say, but I’m not worried about it.  It’s not a matter of not being able to think of anything.  It’s a matter of wanting to say way too much and needing to get it down to what’s really important.

Day 322 and Counting… Restoring Eureka Springs

Posted: July 25, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Yesterday was one of the most important days on the restoration tour.

Friday was pretty significant as well, but in a different way.  Our 80’s date was a lot of fun, but was also somewhat painful, as it brought out a lot of memories and feelings that neither of us really wanted to be part of our night out.  Even so, it was good and I’m glad we did it.

Yesterday, we restored Eureka Springs, though.  That was huge.

We hadn’t known about Eureka Springs for that long before all of our problems really became a threat to our marriage.  We had “discovered” it after years of people telling us how wonderful it was, but us just thinking that it was in Arkansas, so how great could it be?

When we finally went, we fell completely in love with it and it became sort of a magical getaway place for us.  It was also the place we went for a make-up weekend after I came clean about what had been going on with me during the time that I felt like our marriage was maybe no longer going to work.

It was where I got Ceecee to go with me prior to our separation last year, when I thought for sure that if we could go to that place and spend a day together, that she would realize that we needed to stay together and work things out.  She didn’t, and that day in particular has haunted me ever since.

No more, though.

Yesterday we went back as a happily married and in love couple and experienced that beauty of that place the way we had before and always should have.  We went to all our favorite spots, enjoyed all the feelings that came with it, and exorcised those memories from last year.  It was one of the last major stops on the tour, and we’ve only got a little more than  month to go!

Day 294 and Counting… Starting with a Bang!

Posted: June 24, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Summer of restoration started with a bang this morning.  Literally.

I unexpectedly didn’t have to work at Macy’s and we decided to have brunch with Mimosas at the loft.  When I was opening the bottle of bubbly, the cork shot up and off the ceiling.  We had a good laugh and have spent the day mostly laying around.

I still have to work Monday and Tuesday, then no more second job.  So much to look forward to this summer.

My parents surprised us with a blessing that I’m really excited about.  One of our counselors at school has a timeshare at Big Cedar Lodge where my wife used to work.  They sometimes sell rooms for a good price and they had a one bedroom for August 1-5 and my parents paid for it so we could take a second honeymoon!

Day 277 and Counting… Restoring Ceecee’s Birthday

Posted: June 11, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, May 13, 2011

Ceecee’s birthday had to be epic this year.  I mean, it absolutely HAD to!

I keep thinking about last year’s birthday, when I took Ceecee to Old Chicago and had the kids meet us there with gifts, even though she had insisted we weren’t celebrating.  She was turning 39 then and had gone on about not being old and going to run a marathon to prove she wasn’t.

That was around the time we were splitting up and I was trying to hold things together and understand what was happening.  After we left Old Chicago, I had surprised her with a road bicycle, but it had been a difficult and painful birthday all around.

This year, we’re back together, and I went all out to restore her birthday and create new, happy memories to replace those ones.

My wife is a kid at heart, so i decided to give her a princess birthday.  We both really hate those “over the hill” 40th birthdays and I certainly wasn’t going to use the “you’re getting old” theme, so I went the complete opposite way.

I bought princess wrapping paper, silly bands, and little girl party favors.  I gave her gifts throughout the day, filled her car with pink balloons, and organized a silly little party at our downtown cupcake shop with a few friends.  I also gave her a necklace to match her ring and the bracelet she got for Mother’s Day.

It was a beautiful day of restoration and a lot of fun to plan and be part of, and she loved it.  The best part about it for me was when she said that she could really tell that I knew her well enough and had thought about it enough to understand what she would want and how special that made it for her.

Day 272 and Counting… Restoring Mother’s Day

Posted: June 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Today being Mother’s Day is another important step on the restoration tour.  Not that Ceecee is my mother, of course, but she is the mother of our children and I’ve always tried to honor her on Mother’s Day and make it special for her.

Being empty nesters now means no kids to get up and get ready, so I made Ceecee breakfast in bed and just let her lounge around for the morning.  Last year’s Mother’s Day was far from being a celebration, so this is another stop on the tour and it’s important to make the day special and meaningful.

Our oldest daughter Angie – on behalf of the kids, although it was really her – came by today and gave her a bracelet to match the ring I got her for our anniversary last year.  I helped her pick it out and we had it all planned, and it was really a nice way to top off a terrific day!

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