Archive for "Relationship"
It’s Been a Wonderful 22 Years
Posted on October 3, 2024 by Ching under Life, Relationship, Travel.
Can you believe that Brian and I have been together for a quarter of a century? Neither can I. When we first met in 1999, I had no idea we would be here in 2024. It’s been (and continues to be) an amazing ride.
While we’ve been together for 25 years, we’ve only been married for 22. For our anniversary this year, we decided to go to Colorado. Why? First, Brian doesn’t really like leaving the United States so while my first choice would have been to travel somewhere exotic that’s not really Brian’s jam. Second, we wanted to visit Garden of the Gods because neither of us had been there since we were young (or so we thought).
You know you’re getting old when you start forgetting shit. We were so excited to go on this trip because we thought we had never been. I don’t know if Brian knew it all along and just didn’t want to let on because he didn’t want me to veto the idea. On the trip up, things started looking familiar (mostly to Brian because I can’t remember anything). While we’re pulling into the hotel parking lot, Brian makes a comment about how we’d stayed there before. I just chalked it up to all Hyatt Place hotels looking the same but Brian was convinced we’d been here. To settle the debate, I looked up my emails from years past and, lo and behold, sure as shit, I had a receipt from that same hotel from three years before. I guess we had stayed there for the Great Plains Regional Tournament at Monument Valley Park in 2021. I felt sure that we stayed closer to the tournament venue but I guess not.
Looking back, we probably picked this hotel because of its proximity to Garden of the Gods and we figured that we could check out the park on my non-playing days, which we actually did and I had just forgotten about it.
I looked up past blog posts and here’s what happened – it started raining on the day we went to check out Garden of the Gods so we took a picture in front of balanced rock and then we spent the rest of the time having lunch at the Trading Post because we didn’t want to risk walking/climbing on the wet, potentially slippery rocks. Since we didn’t really spend a lot of time there and didn’t get to do much exploring, I guess the visit didn’t register and completely got erased from memory. This recent trip turned out to be our do-over.
Brian isn’t really much of a hiker. Actually, he doesn’t care much for walking. So when we were at Garden of the God, we decided to take the trolley tour. I found it amusing because it was the two of us and a bunch of old people. By old people, I mean people way older than us — because I suppose now that we’re around 50 we technically fall under “old people” category as well.
I looked at the other people who seemed to have difficulty walking and such and I felt like the two of us really should have walked/hiked instead of taking the trolley. But, hey, it’s a park donation.
After the fact, we did the free, self-paced, guided audio tour of Garden of the Gods in the Travel Storys app which turned out way better than the trolley tour. First, because you can stop at the various parking lots strategically placed throughout the park to do some exploring and then, as soon as you get in the car and start moving again, the guided tour just picks back up where it left off. You really couldn’t get off the trolley so you were just stuck there. And second, because it is absolutely free. We totally could have saved the $50+ (before tip) that we spent on the trolley tour. Anyway, we just chalked it up to a donation but, if we ever do this again, we are totally skipping the trolley tour and just doing the Travel Storys audio tour instead.
Here’s our Garden of the Gods highlight reel:
We also drove to nearby Manitou Springs to check out the Manitou Spring Penny Arcade. They had all sorts of old school games that didn’t cost hardly anything to play. You could get a $5 roll of quarters and be entertained for hours.
Hands down my most favorite part of this trip was our visit to the Convergence Station (aka Meow Wolf – Denver). I am officially obsessed and want to see all of the Meow Wolf exhibits all over the nation.
Brian and I also got to drive through the Glen Eyrie Castle property. You’re not allowed in the castle unless you have an appointment so these highlights are all we got.
The most underwhelming activity of this trip was the Ghost Town Museum, which I thought would be more like Old Cowtown Museum but sadly it wasn’t anywhere close. I joked to Brian that I can see why it’s a “Ghost Town.” LOL.
Anyway, this was a great anniversary trip. I’m glad we got to go.
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The Joys of Home Ownership
Posted on January 19, 2024 by Ching under Home Ownership, Relationship.
We were having problems with our Nest thermostat over the weekend. The furnace kept shutting on and off and the thermostat display showed this error message. It would cut out and then turn back on but our biggest problem was that we didn’t know how to make it come back on when it would turn off and it just did it randomly so we really didn’t know when it would be working and not. It was both temperamental and unpredictable.
Anyway, we decided to call one of our friends who referred us to one of his BNI acquaintances who specialized in this sort of thing. But it was Monday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – night so Chad (tech/service guy) said he could come out but it would be overtime. Well, I am way too cheap for that so Brian and I decided to tough it out and have him come out the next day.
Well, on Tuesday morning we woke up to a 55 degree house and the Nest thermostat display was all black – no error message or anything, it was just completely blank. Brian thought the thermostat had finally gone kaput. I’m like, “No way! That thermostat is only six years old and they’re supposed last ten.”
We didn’t really know what was wrong so we called Chad but Chad couldn’t come out until the afternoon because he already had appointments scheduled for that day. In the meantime, we were in the midst of the coldest days in January so we turned on the electric fireplace downstairs, the gas fireplace upstairs, and I moved our little space heater to the living room to help bring the temperature up in the house. I figured that should get me by until we can get the furnace/heating issue resolved. Brian went in to his office and they have heat there so it was mostly just me freezing to death. I decided to work from home on Tuesday so I could let Chad in the house when he did arrive.
Around lunch time, the Nest thermostat kicks back on again. The furnace comes on and everything seems to be working as normal. Of course, we still want to Chad to come because we can just have the furnace randomly turn on and off, specially when we don’t know how to get it back on. That’s just not going to work.
A little bit later, Brian tells me he is on his way home because Chad is on his way to our house. Brian is completely convinced the thermostat is broken (either that or he just really wanted a new one) so he stops by Lowe’s and buys a $250 Ecobee. Chad fixes the furnace and replaces the Nest with the new Ecobee. When I get the low down from Brian (it turns out there’s some kind of sensor on the furnace that has rusted out due to condensation) and realize the reason the thermostat was going off and on was because the furnace was going off and on, I am livid. I’m like, “Why did we buy a new thermostat when there was nothing wrong with our thermostat?”
I felt like we could have saved ourselves the expense. Plus, I’m thinking we’re probably going to pay the labor for having Chad install the new thermostat when we didn’t have to replace our existing thermostat to begin with because there was nothing wrong with it. I just couldn’t get over how wasteful it all seemed.
Looking back, it was interesting to me how I was overwhelmed with feelings of anger, irritation, and frustration every time I looked at the new Ecobee thermostat whereas every time I looked at our new faucet, which we spent about $300 on, I was filled with so much joy and appreciation. The amount we spent was about the same – the thermostat actually cost less. I believe the two things elicited different feelings in me because I felt the faucet was necessary and Brian painstakingly installed it himself; while the new thermostat was a completely unnecessary expense. We could have used the $250 to pay Chad who we still needed to pay.
I felt like we could have avoided having to buy a new thermostat by asking two simple things, “Is our thermostat broken? And, do we need to replace it?” The answers would have been no and no, and we could have saved ourselves $250. But we don’t ask questions. We just spend money because that’s what we do.
I was so annoyed that I actually picked a fight with Brian about this, which I immediately regretted. Well, maybe not immediately. I was still kind of pissed off when I went to bed but then came to my senses when I woke up in the morning. In the grand scheme of things, this is a really stupid thing to be pissed off about. Yes, we spent $500 that we did not expect to spend when we probably could have gotten by with spending half that but it’s a stupid thing to fight about.
I realize now that Brian’s intention was not to “waste” money. He was unhappy with our old thermostat (even though it still worked) much like I was unhappy with the old faucet (that was also working perfectly fine) and so he wanted to replace it. I think the main difference between the two scenarios is that we were aligned on replacing the faucet but we were not aligned on the thermostat expense.
My key takeaways from this:
- We won’t always agree on everything but I think we at least need to make an effort to get alignment before making decisions.
- Brian gives me grace when I screw up – not saying he screwed up but rather he made a different choice than I would have – so I need to allow him the same.
- Brian tries so hard to make our lives better and doesn’t deserve me questioning his judgement every step of the way.
- I was wrong to pick a fight over this. Brian and I have always prided ourselves with being very rational and approaching everything sensibly and I was completely irrational in this situation. If I had to psychoanalyze myself, I think I would have concluded that I was pissed of and frustrated about other things and this just happened to be thing that I could blow up about.
- I just need to be better.
I don’t always apologize because I feel like I’m usually right (LOL) but I did apologize for how I reacted. I hope he knows that the apology was sincere and I do regret my actions. Seriously, though. We haven’t had a fight in over ten years. I wouldn’t have thought it would be over this. What a stupid thing to fight over!
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Nineteen Years and Counting
Posted on August 19, 2021 by Ching under Relationship.
We didn’t have any major plans for our 19th wedding anniversary — just dinner and a ball game. We went to Carrabba’s, our “go to” place for celebratory dinners.
We ordered our usual meatball starter. It’s really good there.
Don’t mind the less than enthusiastic look on Brian’s face. He always looks this way no matter how thrilled he is on the inside.
I’m so glad they finally added the chicken piccata on the the menu. They offered it as a takeout entree during the pandemic but it wasn’t on the dine in menu so you couldn’t order it at the restaurant. Now I can finally get it there. Hurrah for that!
After dinner we went to catch a baseball game at Riverfront Stadium. It was our first time in the Evergy suite.
I’m glad we skipped dessert at the restaurant because they had these delicious brownies there. Actually, had I known there would be food in the suite, we could have skipped our dinner plans altogether.
The stadium is beautiful but I don’t think that many people are into baseball these days. Here are a few more pics that I snapped while there. It seemed pretty dead for a Saturday night.
The company in the suite was pretty good, though. (With the lovely Caroline and Chet Kelley in the pic below.)
This anniversary weekend was super uneventful, which is probably a good thing. It’s a far cry from our 9th wedding anniversary celebration ten years ago. That was a little nuts. Anyway, I’m looking forward to a fabulous year of traveling — now that Brian is finally fully vaccinated (best anniversary present ever) — starting with a trip to Jamaica in January. Details are listed below. Hope you all can join us!
P.S. When you book, tell Jay or Becca that Ching sent you so I can get referral credit. LOL. Until next time, GNG.
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Anniversary Weekend
Posted on August 12, 2020 by Ching under Relationship, Things to Do.
It was an interesting anniversary weekend. We didn’t really have any major plans because flying anywhere is out of the question right now. And then I had already committed to meeting up with Teresa and Ross for manis and pedis (we’ve had to reschedule our couples manis and pedis at least twice so we were all eager for this to happen) so we really couldn’t go on a road trip. We kept our anniversary weekend this year simple and low key.
We started by having some drinks at Bigs before our group appointment at Nails and Beyond. My friend Debbie had mentioned Bigs to me before because they would sometimes go there after Friday night pickleball at Nahola. This was before the pandemic hit. Anyway, I’d heard others mention the place but I’d never been there. Saturday was my first time. It was interesting.
Brian and I got there first and his first impression was, “Wow! We are the youngest people here by 20 years!” LOL. It’s definitely an older crowd. The drinks are strong and cheap, though, so I can see why people (including my friend Debbie) go there.
After a couple of drinks at Bigs, we were off to Nails and Beyond just down the street. We would normally have to wear masks but we were the only ones there during our appointment so they didn’t make us.
Teresa and Ross are so fun. I just love ’em!
After our manis and pedis, Teresa and Ross went back to Bigs. Brian and I went to the Belmont, this new restaurant at Happiness Plaza on Douglas, hoping to try it out but they had an hour and a half long wait.
We decided to go to Carrabba’s, which is our “go to” place. We’re never disappointed with the food or service, and Joe is always so nice to us. We still had to wait but it was shorter – only 30 minutes.
We ate way too much that night. We had our favorite small plate/appetizer, the meatballs and ricotta. We both had Caesar salads and ate way too much bread before our entrees even came. Then, we usually share a Chicken Bryan but I was starving that day for some reason so I decided to order my own meal.
I got the salmon topped with crab. On the plus side, I got broccoli with it, instead of pasta so it could have been worse. I ate every bit of it, though.
Here’s a picture of the Chicken Bryan.
We got two things of dessert to go because we are ridiculous. One was a giant slide of rich chocolate cake that Joe just gave to us. He is so nice!
The other is the “cannoli cake for two” which we still have some of in the fridge.
Our anniversary weekend this year wasn’t too exciting but we had some new experiences and a ton of fun as always. We have another adventure planned on Sunday but, other than that, we are happy to celebrate another wonderful year of marriage and look forward to many more to come.
Until next time. GNG.
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Happy Valentines, Baby!
Posted on February 13, 2019 by Ching under Relationship.
We’re not the most romantic people so we don’t really do anything fancy for Valentines usually. After being together for 20 years, Valentines Day is just another day really. It’s all the other days that matter. And, I must say, Brian does a great job of making me feel special and loved each and every day. Thank you for being not just the best husband ever but the best friend I could ever hope to have.
I love you, baby!
Here’s to another great Valentines together. May we have many, many more!
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