Let's Rewind 10 years: pt. 8

2009. So much happened.
~I turned 25! I remember actually being off work this day, so I slept in, woke up, and took silly pictures...because I couldn't believe I was 25. 

~March 7th: After roughly 10 months of dating, Mikey asked me to marry him. Wee! We were on our way to see the Tyler Perry play, The Marriage Counselor, and he went the opposite direction of the Strip. I was like, "where the hell are we going, our play starts in an hour?!" And he was like, "Oh, I thought it would be romantic to get some pictures in the desert, near the area where we first cuddled." (We had first cuddled on the side of the road one night, in the very beginning of our relationship. I was driving and I didn't want to drop him off yet, so I pulled over, turned off my car, we reclined our seats and listened to music with my sun roof open...looking up at the sky and talking. Then he asked me to hop over and just lay on him. *nothing happened* We cuddled, and that was the night.) So, we get to the location and get out of the car. He sets up the timer on my camera to capture some shots of us. But it was surprisingly chilly that day, for Vegas weather, and I was already bitching about wanting to get back in the car. Typical me. He says, "Just a couple more shots and we'll leave." So I put on a smile while he runs back to set the timer & multiple shot option, and then he pulls the ring out and says his little spiel. I was so impressed with how well he planned the proposal and thought to use the timer on the camera. He knows how important capturing happy moments are to me, and now we'll always have this photo to look at, in addition to having the memory itself. 

~March 13th (it was a Friday): We got married. After 6 whole days of being engaged! We just couldn't wait. Plus, he was due to go on a deployment in April and we wanted to be married before he left. We said "I do" in a small civil service office in downtown Vegas. There were 5 people present: our moms, my sister, his mom's bff, and our friend Chryssi. Afterwards, we went out to our favorite restaurant. A Moroccan place called Marrakech. It was simple, but perfect. We were married. That was all we wanted.

~April: Mikey and I flew to Jersey to spend time with his dad before his deployment. It was the first time that I'd been up so far north. I saw New York City for the first time and fell in love with it in a whole new way. I had loved it since I was a kid, but seeing it in person was like...wow! My father-in-law booked us a night at the Trump Tower as a wedding present. It was an incredible stay. Every time we left our room, there was a new free gift on our kitchen table waiting for us! To include a champagne bottle with a congratulations note for the newlyweds...which we of course drank and didn't save as a memento. 

horse carriage through Central Park

Mikey deployed a couple weeks later and the next 4 months sucked. Deployments can be tough on a couple. You'll be so frustrated that you're apart, it makes you fight. And fighting a million miles away is the worst. You can't just call each other whenever you want to make up. And you can't hug or kiss. But Mikey being the sweetheart he is, mailed me bouquets of roses, tulips, orchids, etc. at least every three weeks while he was away. It always made me cry happy tears to see how romantic he was, even all the way in Iraq. 

~While he was gone I started running, for the first time in my life. Well, you get fitness tested once a year in the Air Force, and it includes a 1.5 mile run. So really, I ran once a year, and even that measly little run nearly killed me every time. Running was not something that came easy to me. I couldn't get my breathing down at first. But everyday after work I'd hit the track or the treadmill. I found that running helped reduce all the stress from Mikey's deployment and the new stress I was dealing with at work. I could only run the 1.5 miles at first, then soon I was doing 3 miles a day, and eventually, I was running 6 miles like nothing. I'd gotten my breathing down, learning that if I matched it with my feet, and my feet to my music, I could run for an hour at a time. I remember one day a sergeant in my squadron asked if I wanted to go on a run with him. I met him in front of the squadron and we ran...for 10 miles! He didn't tell me how long of a run he was going for, but I kept up the whole time and never stopped. I soon became someone that lots of people went to for running advice because I had been someone who never could do it, or thought I couldn't before. It was fun to help motivate people the way other runners had motivated me before I started. I was so proud of myself and I'd gotten back to my normal weight. Right now I've gone the longest without running since I started in 2009. It's been about 6 months! Eek! I really need to get back to it. I always felt the best when I was running. Toned. Healthy. Energetic. And I'd wanted to do a half marathon....I think I'll start training for that again. (I put that in here, because it seriously was a big deal in my life. I had never exercised before. With the exception of the three years that I put on alcohol & late-night-munchies-because-of-alcohol weight, I had always been thin, but far from being in shape. When there's something in life that you just never see as being achievable or possible for you, the moment that you find you can do it, or you are good at it, you tend to be extremely proud of yourself. Running was that for me.)

~August: The day he got back we booked two nights at the Palazzo Hotel on the Strip and continued our honeymoon. We'd drink champagne and lay out by the pool during the afternoon and hit up yummy restaurants at night. It ruled. We also both worked out while apart, so here we sported our new bods.

~September: We moved out of a house we shared with three other roommates (to include Chryssi) and got our own apartment. I guess we decided Danzig needed a little brother so we adopted Jaxon. While we played with him at the pet store, he romped around and made us laugh. I had the song, "Jackson" by Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash in my head the whole time so I named him, opting to spell it with an 'x'. Jaxon was the cutest little pup I ever saw. 

Those were the big things of my 25th year/2009. I hope y'all enjoyed all the pictures :)

As always, thank you for reading. 

Love,

Roni