The husband and I just celebrated 6 months of being married - yay - and I'm already thinking about an anniversary trip for the big 1 year marker! What did you do, or plan to do for your first anniversary?

Did you:

• Take a trip?
• Go back to where you had your honeymoon?
• Go out to a nice dinner?
• Stay home and relax?
• Go out with friends?

I'd like to go back to Jamaica, which is where we got married, and renew our vows on the same beach...or maybe take a trip to Hawaii, since neither of us have ever been???

March 3, 2008 - Texan Husband and I had been dating for about 3 weeks. He called me about 9am and admitted that it was his birthday, but gave me strict instructions not to do anything special for him. Naturally, I baked him cupcakes and took him out to dinner :) Later that night he said "I love you", for the first time...and I think that is when I knew that I would marry him!

Fast forward to March 3, 2009! For this year's birthday, I've got much bigger plans than dinner and cupcakes! Here's the rundown:

Breakfast at Original Pancake House...yum!

1st present, opened at breakfast...Road id

2nd present, opened before dinner...comfy robe for the house

Dinner, steak and twice baked potatoes from Eatzi's...oh, and some tiramisu for dessert :)

Final present, the BIG one...tickets to the Samsung 500 on April 5th

Oh, how I love birthdays! But I love my husband more :)

My past few weeks at work can only be described as, "hellish". A heavy workload, plus a recent economy-driven pay-cut, plus some serious inter-office tension have created a very stressful situation for me. To add to the misery, my stress level has caused me to suffer from horrible work-related dreams (and insomnia).

Needless to say, I've been crabby, indecisive, exhausted, and not at all nice to Texan Husband.

And you know what he has said to me every night before we go to bed, when I'm laying on my side sulking and stressing? He says, "I love you. Crabby or sweet, I love you. And you are a great wife".

This is why I married him.

*Please note: this product has not been tested by the FDA, results may vary*

Texan Husband is much better now, thank you for the sweet comments and thoughts - I know they helped him immensely!

He had some pretty wacked-out food requests for the days he was sick - not that I'm criticizing or anything...I always crave KFC fried chicken and mashed potatoes when I'm sick (a meal that I would never dream of consuming when I was well). Texan Husband’s requests varied from tater tots to grilled cheese to a turkey burger with sweet potato fries.

His most normal (and probably good for him) request was for potato soup. I’m not an experienced cook, ya’ll, let’s just get that out in the open RIGHT now! Texan Husband has suffered in silence through several of my little messes that I tried to pass off as dinner – God bless him! The poor man was feeling so bad that even though I’d never attempted potato soup before I was determined that I was gosh-darn going to give it my best shot!

And you know what? It wasn’t half bad! So I’m sharing it with you today – but please note I’m not a measurer when I cook, I tend to eyeball things and add ingredients on a whim. J

Miracle Potato Soup

3 cups of potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes

2 cups or so of chicken stock (I cheat and buy the pre-made kind that comes in a carton)

¼ cup chopped onion (I used some frozen chopped shallots…)

1 can of cream of celery soup (I prefer cream of mushroom, but Texan Husband is anti-fungus)

1 can cream-style corn

1 can mexicorn (or a bag of frozen corn, whatever you have on hand is good)

2 cups of ½ and ½  - I used the fat-free kind because that’s all I had in the fridge, but feel free to go crazy with this!

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 good-sized hunks of velveeta (I think it was about 1/3 of a cup?)

Shredded cheddar cheese (load it up, baby!)

Black pepper, to taste

Garlic salt, to taste

First, sautee the onion in a big skillet until it is brown and tender. Add the chicken stock, bring it to a boil, and drop in the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are tender, then drain off about 1 cup of the stock (eyeball it). Reduce the heat to simmer, and add the can of cream of celery soup, cream-style corn, mexicorn, and about ½ of the bacon. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then slowly drizzle in the ½ and ½ and also toss in the velveeta. (This is not health food, people). Stir constantly so it doesn’t burn, and let the soup get nice and creamy. If it still looks too thick, add some of the chicken stock you drained off back into the pan. Grind in some black pepper (I tend to be a little heavy-handed with this) and add a little garlic salt if you think it needs more flavor.

Pour into bowls, and garnish with the shredded cheddar cheese, and the rest of the crumbled bacon.

Enjoy! (And watch your sick spouse feel better instantly!)

Arizona just scored. The score is now Arizona 23 to Steelers 20. Texan husband is yelling at the tv and attempting to explain downs, rushing, and flags to me. I'm nodding my head like I understand and hoping that the more Miller Light I consume, the more the concept of football will make sense to me. (So far, no luck).

Just sayin.

Oh dear! This will be the first Valentine's Day that Texan Husband and I have spent together...well sort of. Our second date was on Valentine's Day last year - we went and had lunch together and were both thoroughly embarassed by my boss who kept trying to get Texan Husband to send me flowers. (Keep in mind Texan Husband and my boss have known each other for 16 years, but Texas Husband and I had only known each other for 6 days on V-Day last year!)

So really, this is our first Valentine's Day as a couple. I don't buy into that story that Valentine's Day is a creation by the card/flower/candy companies, designed to rip-off unsuspecting boyfriends/husbands everywhere. That's a cop-out designed by lazy men. Seriously. It's a day about love, and celebrating love. I even celebrated it when I was single - by eating an entire large box of conversation hearts (note: this does not do your stomach ANY favors, I wouldn't recommend it).

Here is my dilemma: what do I do for Valentine's Day? I want  to do something a little special, but my budget is fairly small, and he's a bit very picky. We've done all the gifts with pictures (digital frames, photo albums, photo books, keychains, etc) that can be done, neither one of us are super-sentimental (please don't suggest writing a poem or song, I posess not one creative bone in my body), he's not a reader or a gamer. What's a girl to do?

Some of my ideas so far:

A new tie - he's fond of 3 brands in particular, but I'm dying to get him one from Lilly Pulitzer (aka, the Preppy Mothership).

 A couple's massage - something we can do together, and he loves massages. I hate having a stranger touch me, but I'll suffer through my unnatural phobia of massages for him.

A surprise delivery of homemade cookies to his office - probably the most likely to happen, and it will also be sweet to give some to his employees that may not have someone special to celebrate with...

Ladies, I need ideas! What are you doing for your sweetie for Valentine's Day?

Hi there! I'm the newest blogger on She Just Got Married, and am so very excited to be a part of this fabulous website. Here's a few things about the husband and I, and I'd love to hear about you, too!

A - is for accent. I have a southern one. It's not too obvious, unless I really want to win an argument(tossing in a "ya'll" or a "don't you think so, sugar?" can do wonders to settle someone down), or have had one too many adult beverages.

B - is for Boys. The husband wants 4 of them. I told him that we can have as many kids as he wants, as long as he puts me back the way he found me. Oh, and if we don't have any girls, one of those boys is going to be wearing a tutu.

C - is for Christmas. My favorite holiday, I love the music, decorations, food, family time, and wrapping presents. Oh, and getting presents. That's good too.

D - is for Dallas. The city where we live, and it's fabulous. I highly recommend it!

E - is for Elope. Yep, we did it. Technically, we did  tell everyone when and where we were going, but it was just the two of us on the beach, and yes, it was fabulously romantic.

F - is for February, 2008. The 8th of February, 2008, specifically. That's when the husband and I met. (In case you're counting, that is less than a year ago. We dated for 5 months, and got married after 7). Do I believe in love at first sight? I sure do now!

G - is for Garages. Ours is sickeningly clean. (Is sickeningly a word? I just made it one). My husband is a smidge OCD. I love him for it.

H - is for Hair. We like it big, here in the Lone Star State.

I - is for Ice Cream. I love it, all of it. Except for mint chocolate chip, that's nasty stuff.

J - is for January. My birthday month!

K - is for Karen from Will and Grace. I have been told I look and sound like her no less than 397 times. It's kind of flattering, actually, she has great hair.

L - is for Life Insurance. We got it this year. I survived a blood test, and the realization that mortality is a reality. Ugh, how horrid.

M - is for Mommy. Mine passed away when I was 12, after fighting breast cancer for 9 years. I can only hope to be half as good a mom as she was.

N - is for Name-Changing. Get ready, brides-to-be. Changing your name on 18 different things? It's a big old pain in the tush. I made some dude at the DMV cry last week.

O - is for Obama. I'll never talk politics to you, because frankly, it makes my head hurt. But his wife has some good fashion sense, that's for sure.

P - is for Perfection. We're never going to achieve it. But you can sure feel close after a mani/pedi/haircut/blowout/shopping spree. Men need to understand this.

Q - is for Queso. One of my 5 food groups, along with; Miller Light, creamed spinach, that salad from Mi Cocina, and cupcakes. (Wow, I just realized how unbalanced my diet is. Oh well). 

R - is for Riding a dirtbike. Something the husband loves and tried to teach me. I rode around in a field, scared out of my wits, for 20 minutes. Declared myself done, and decided laying in the back of the truck tanning, drinking, and reading a magazine was much more fun than riding the dirtbike.

S -  is for Sephora. The mother-ship for good southern girls everywhere. Because you're just not fully dressed unless you've got your second coat of mascara on.

T - is for Target. Because we all love it. It's that fabulous.

U - is for Umbrella. Mine is bright pink, with flowers. The husband LOATHES it.

V - is for Valentine's Day! This is the first time e-v-e-r that I'll have a special someone to share it with. (Sorry, that was pretty sappy.)

W - is for Washing clothes. Laundry is my absolute least favorite household task. I think it might be due to the fact that Texan husband is much better than I am at it, which makes me feel a tad inadequate. I've offered multiple times to hand that duty over to him completely, but he hasn't taken me up on it yet.

X - Ok. You really think I'm going to come up with something for this letter? Please. Move on to the next one, honey.

Y - is for Yell. That's what you have to do to make yourself heard in my family. We operate at a decibel level not usually heard outside of a Def Leppard concert.

Z - is for Zebra. I love love love animal prints. And sparkly things, and patent leather, and bows. I realize this makes me sound like I dress like either a 4 year old or an 84 year old, but I promise - my wardrobe is cute. (I think?)

Off to walk the beloved doggie, please do leave a comment to introduce yourself!

Kisses!