That's How You Know He's Your Love

Disclaimer: The following post reaches new levels of cheesiness for this blog. So cheesy that Nate is embarrassed that I'm even posting it.

It's that special season of the year! You know, the one that everyone looks forward to and young girls dream of at night. No, its not Christmas.....it's PROM SEASON! Its that time of the year when you can spend a ridiculous amount of money on an outfit you're never going to wear again, you wear a flower around your wrist even though it annoys you the whole night, you take a million pictures of "the best night of your life", and dance to a cliche love song under the stars, the moonlight, the sea, or whatever overused theme it may be.

Since Nate and I obviously didn't know each other in high school, we had never been to prom together. We certainly couldn't miss out on a once in lifetime experience such as this night. We tossed around the idea of crashing the local high school prom, but upon further contemplation, realized it would be lame to be the "old chaperons" of the party. The only logical solution was to go on a prom at home date!

You could say Nate was less than enthusiastic about attending the prom and perhaps wished it really was a ONCE in a lifetime experience, but my sweet husband couldn't say no when I went to all the effort to ask him to go with me.

 

He answered Yes by making me a cd of love songs and leaving me a love note in the car. I know we're cheesy and some of you are throwing up in your mouth, but I'm in love and I don't care who knows it. Prom was lovely! We had a fancy dinner, got dressed up, and danced the night away. Well, it would be more accurately stated to say I danced the night away while Nate stood there looking awkwardly toward the window wondering if anyone could see us. I quickly realized that I was a bit ambitious when I created a playlist that was 1.8 hours long when after 1.8 minutes, Nate asked "Where are the punch and cookies?" Apparently, that's the only reason he ever went to dances.  A poor oversight on my part.

Here's Nate hand-making my corsage

I already owned this dress and just had to have my mom ship it to me. Nate bought a new studly purple shirt because it's my favorite color. However, he returned it the day after the prom.

We had a fun night (or at least I did and my wonderful husband indulged me). Thanks Baby!

Nate's Brush with the Law x 2

Scene: Dark road in a small town 4:00 AM

Characters: Me, Nate, local law enforcement

Background: Nate and I were flying out of Tulsa at 6:45 AM. We'd gotten a later start than planned (as per usual, cough, cough, Nate) and we were rushing to make sure we would make our flight.

Lights, Camera, Action: Nate, “Oh crap! That was a cop I just passed, and he whipped around and is following me now.” Me, “Don't speed!” Nate carefully obeyed all traffic laws but the cop kept following us. Next thing we know, we see the flashing lights in the rear view mirror. Officer, “You sure were hugging that yellow line...Where you coming from tonight?” Nate, “Bentonville.” I wanted to nudge Nate at this point and say, “He doesn't care what city you're coming from. That's code for are you coming from a bar tonight and driving drunk?” Officer, “Have you ever been arrested?” Just as I suspected, he's hoping for a DUI tonight. After Nate explained that no, he'd never been arrested and that we were on our way to the airport for a flight he was making us miss, the officer put a little skip in his step and hurried to check the license and registration and send us on our way. Fortunately, he didn't send us with a souvenir. We can't afford another ticket! I think this was just a case of a small town cop on the midnight shift who hadn't seen another car for hours and got a bit overeager for some excitement.

Several Days Later....

Scene: Dallas Airport 2:00 AM

Characters: Me, Nate, TSA security guard

Background: Due to a 4 hour delay in Newark, we missed our connection home. We ended up being rerouted to Dallas where we arrived well after midnight. Our flight home was set to leave at 6:00 AM, so we determined it would be best to make use of the lovely airport accommodations. We found a quiet corner and settled into that oh-so-comfy row of chairs for a much needed slumber after a long day of traveling.

Lights, Camera, Action: I'm dreaming of being home in my own bed when I hear a gruff voice. I must be dreaming. Who in there right mind would possibly be trying to talk to me at 2:00 AM in a nearly empty airport when I am clearly sleeping? I ignore the voice, but alas, I hear it again. Are you kidding me? Stop talking to me! I open my eyes to give the voice a piece of my mind but have to swallow my words when I realize there is a security guard standing menacingly over me. His mouth is moving, but in my sleepy haze, I don't have a clue what he is saying. Finally, I realize he is telling me we have to leave. I think ok, we'll just go find another bench to sleep on but then it becomes clear that we are being kicked out of the terminal completely! Nate is still ignoring the guard, so Mr. Let Me Ruin Your Night Even More For You goes over and gives him a shake. Uh-oh. I know from experience that waking Nate up at such an hour is like poking the sleeping dragon. Nate gets up with fire in his eyes, glaring at the security guard, and I realize I'm going to have to intervene to make sure he doesn't get arrested for assault charges! I take him by the hand and pull him away before it is too late. We are forced to spend the rest of the night in baggage claim waiting until they open the terminal again at 5:00 AM to go BACK through security. So ridiculous! Needless to say, when we finally arrived home, we were exhausted and grumpy but still had to go to work! I feel sorry for our coworkers.

You may be asking, what was all this for anyway? A getaway to New York City! While the journey was shall we say, eventful, both there and back, it was worth it for the great trip we had!

Nate's parents met us there and we spent several days seeing all there is to see in NYC. (Well, at least all we had time to see.) We did the bus tour and a harbor tour, saw the Statue of Liberty, went to the 9.11 Memorial Site, walked through Central Park, went across the Brooklyn Bridge, saw a musical, watched the street performers, went to the Original Soup Man from the soup nazi episode of Seinfield, ate some delicious food in Little Italy, and just walked the streets and explored.

Yummy food in Little Italy!

 My top three highlights were: 

3. Eating at a little taqueria owned by Aaron Sanchez (one of the judges on our favorite Food Network show, Chopped.) 

Loved that they cooked the tacos in an old VW van!

 2. Strolling through the beautiful Central Park (yes, we got a hot dog there from a stand. We also bought some delicious Gelato!)

1. Newsies! This was such a fun musical to watch. The dancing and singing were amazing. Also, Jess, from last season of So You Think You Can Dance, was in the play so that was cool to feel like we “knew” somebody on stage.

By the way, this is NOT Jess.

Nate's favorite part was Chinatown. He was fascinated by the two roasted ducks hanging by their feet in the store window at room temperature awaiting purchase. Apparently the FDA doesn't exist in Chinatown. It was a fun getaway that we were glad to share with Stan and Lisa. Where will our travels take us to next?