Back To Where It All Began - An Engaging Story

Seven years ago on Nov 23, 2005, Brad and I went on our first date after chatting online for a week or so. We decided to meet the night before Thanksgiving in Georgetown to catch the opening of RENT in theaters and then grab dinner afterwards.  We loved the show and then stolled our way down M street and landed at Pizza Paradiso for dinner.

Something that night clicked and we both new we wanted to see each other again. That night started it all, and now seven years later we have a beautiful family, with a beautiful home in the burbs. Life could not be better.

On that day -- November 23, 2005 -- I don't think we could have dreamed of the day that marriage equality would pass in both Washington, DC and Maryland.  However, let's fast forward this story a little to November 23, 2012.....

It is not the day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday, and we have made arrangments to go our for our anniversary (we celebrate our first date as our anniv) while our friend, Teresa, babysat Kyler for the evening. Brad was hopeful that we could "revisit" the past and catch a movie at the same Georgetown theater and some dinner at Pizza Paradiso.  Okay...not a bad idea.  We checked into the movies, the show times, and weighed our options for getting there and back in a normal time so Teresa was not with Kyler all night. I made a few brief attempts to just grab a movie in downton Silver Spring and dinner at our favorite restaurant, Olazzo.  A viable option we would enjoy (and save time), but Brad had his heart set on reliving our first date.  Yes, it was a romantic idea and we both agreed to just do it.

We made the drive downtown in record time and found parking pretty quick, so the night was starting off just fine. We got the Pizza Paradiso, and it was packed. Wuh-wah! A 45-minute wait was ahead of us, but that would prevent us from getting to the movie on time. Our chance to relive our first date was starting to come a bit unraveled. Luckily they offered to seat us at the "bar" in front of the pizza makers if we wanted. We jumped at it and sighed relief that we would have plenty of time to enjoy our evening with a pizza. 

Now comes the fun stuff. We ordered some champagne with our meal, and sat back and enjoyed the buzz happening before us. Within our conversation, we started talking about when and how we wanted to get married.  Do we want a big event? Do we do something small & intimate? Do we jump to Aruba and get hitched on the sand?  We had been waiting for marriage equality to pass in our state and planned to marry as soon as it did, but we really hadn't discuss "how."  Well, the time had come....we needed to start discussing what our options were...yadda, yadda, yadda.

Our meal comes, but before we can get to it, Brad hands me a gift to open.  Dammit!  "I didn't know we were doing gifts!"   Now I'm hacked off (internally) because I thought our "gift" was going to be the wonderful evening out we had planned.  Okay, okay....learned my lesson on that one. So, after putting down the lonely anniversary card I had for Brad, I start opening the gift. Low and behold there is a beautiful watch inside. Stunning and shining in the lights of the restaurant, it took my breath away. I could not have picked out a more perfect watch.  **Side note:  if you don't know Brad, he's an amazing gift giver. Quite a talent to always find that perfect gift.**  

So now I feel like the entire restaurant is looking at me (which they're not....get over myself) and I start putting on the watch.  Brad says, "There's an inscription."   Of course there is! This master gift giver has had this all planned out well in advance. I turn the watch over and instantly see today's date "Nov 23, 2012" on the top part of the back. My smile widens...."how sweet is that" I'm thinking.  Then my eyes scan to the bottom part of the back -- there's more inscription. The bottom contains the simple words, "Will You Marry Me?"

WHAT!?  This sneaky sucker....oh how I love him. Catching me off guard like this and doing something so comletely romantic and dripping with emotion.  I just kept smiling. I think at some point he said, "Well?"   Oh yah....I forgot my role.  "YES!" pops out and so starts the celebration and the Facebook posts.

We then made the movie, drove home and relieved our fabulous babysitter of her duties. It was a most memorable evening -- one that we will enjoy telling our children. Everyone needs a story. Even though we are a same-sex couple, we deserve one too. Thank you, Brad, for making our story possible.

WE'RE ENGAGED!

And yes, I did the right thing.....I picked up the restaurant bill and movie.   :)

We Have a Poser on Our Hands

So, every year, one of our favorite things to do is take our Christmas photo that either goes on our Christmas card or is included in our Christmas letter. What once started out as a candid shot taken by us has now turned into a full-on photo shoot....adjusting lights, moving furniture, spraying hairspray, and coordinating outfits. (Yah, I know, let the comments fly)  Here are the shots from the first three years...
  

2007



2008

2009

2010's Christmas photo promised to be a special one in our hearts for the rest of our lives. It was going to be our first Christmas photo as a family. But good grief, how were we going to pull this one off?  Not only did we need to reign in both of our crazy dogs, but we now also needed to incorporate Kyler....a 9 week old. Needless to say, it really pushed our limits of organization and patience. For example, 24/7 our two dogs want us to be on the floor and them to be in our laps. However, at the moment we both get on the floor to have them sit in our laps...they'll have nothing of it.  It's like they knew. There goes using the Staples "That was easy" button. Little cusses!

Kyler was actually pretty good the for the most part, but by the time we got the dogs a little settled he was getting a tad fussy.  Figures. Plus, to top it off, I had a wool sweater on and was starting to sweat like the Christmas goose. Not pretty. That's about the time I was ready to just call it off and try again another day. I'm thinkin' "Ugh! I wonder if Tyra goes through this."  But then all of a sudden, it all came together and Nellie (our best friend photographer) was able to snap some great shots!  Whew!  "Get this sweater off me!!!"

Here are a few from the shoot:

Ugh, this is hard work keepin' us all lookin' good.



Lucy....dammit!



FINALLY.....as good as it gets.    2010 is in the books.

Okay, so that's a wrap!  The hot blasted sweaters started coming off, the lamps and lighting all were all adjusted to normal, and we started putting the furniture back.  Our fabulous photographer was busy putting away her camera ..... when out of the blue, we all spotted something.  Amongst all the chaos ensuing from finishing the shoot, we see our little Lucy sitting underneath the Christmas tree....simply posing.   "Pssssssst, Nellie.......get your camera back out quick and see if you can get a shot."  And did she ever.  Lucy definitely takes after me.

So, now I leave you with our final shot of the evening......our little Lucy.....our little poser. Can you stand it?

"Hi.  Merry Christmas"

Do you have any Christmas photo stories (or photos) you'd like to share? Leave a comment and share your story.

A Kyler(s) Christmas

Tonight was the holiday party for our condominium building here at MICA. Our Social Committee worked hard to beautifully decorate our media room and put on a great spread, including cheese and chocolate fondue. I might have said, "I do" to the fondue!


We dressed up Kyler in his little red Santa suit (see below) that was given to him by his Auntie Kathy from Seattle. He stole our heart once more when we saw how cute he was in his outfit. This was Kyler's first official party, so he needed to look his best.  ;)  

Santa suit from Aunt Kathy

The fun part of the evening was the arrival of 9 month old Kyler, who also lives in our building. Can you believe it? We only have about 4 babies in our entire building, and one of them shares the same unique name with our son. They are only 7 months apart ... if given time, I bet they could be besties. The other Kyler (OK) is extremely cute and almost looks like he has the same nose as Kyler. OK's parents seem very sweet, so we are hoping for some play-dates in the future with our sons. The picture below captured a very funny moment between the two of them. We sat Kyler down on the floor next to OK to introduce them, and Kyler's expression here is like, "This kid has my name already, and now he wants my Santa suit. HELP!" It was actually very cute ... OK gave Kyler a couple of pats to the face and then was on his way. 

"WTH?"

Kyler did play a key role in the evening though. During the White Elephant gift exchange, Brad was holding Kyler and stole a Pier 1 snowman ornament that had been previously opened. Brad was keen on keeping the gift, so he put the ornament in Kyler's hand and was saying to him, "Don't you just love your ornament, Kyler?"  At that moment, he had won ... no one was going to walk up and steal this ornament from the hand of a babe ..... or Kyler's.  LOL!  It was a brilliant move by Brad, and that's one of the many reasons I love him.....always thinkin'. 


All in all, it was a great celebration. Kyler's first holiday party was a success.... no cranks, no poops, and no smelly gas.  It's a 100% in my book, if you ask me. 


-The Brads


Questions:  Have you enjoyed any holiday parties yet? Do you have a favorite memory from a holiday party in the past? Do you hate holiday parties?

Baby, It's GAY Outside!

Yes, it's that time of year again.........time to kick the holidays off right with the men from GMCW! It's our Holiday Extravaganza entitled, Baby, It's GAY Outside. Come and join us for one of three fanastic performances this weekend, and don't forget an unwrapped toy to donate. Don't be the only one who misses this festive event!

See a preview of Baby, It's GAY Outside!

See you at the show!