Smart Husband?

So this past Saturday, Paul and I had a date day - we spent all day in Austin doing random shopping (didn't find anything, but it was okay because we weren't looking for anything in particular), and then we went to the Melting Pot (thanks for the gift card Rachel!), and then we went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see a movie (a movie that I'll never watch again, but that's beside the point).

So as I'm preparing for this day of fun, I decide I'll actually try to look like a girl, and wear a skirt. I put on my jean skirt, and then decided I'd try a shirt that was different from the norm - it was a light pink linen shirt from Malaysia (I obtained it via Paul's mom), that had a scoop neck with embroidered design in a bigger scoop pattern around the scoop neck. You can almost see what I'm talking about in the picture below (taken at the Melting Pot - the cheese fondue course). So I come out to the car ready to go - we get in the car, drive to Austin, and start our shopping and then eating, and then eating some more (at the movie). During the course of the day, I catch glimpses of myself in various mirrors in the stores - and from the side, I realize that this shirt makes me look pregnant. It is not form fitting, except in the arms, which is NOT what I want to emphasize. So I try to smooth it out, and press the shirt closer to my midsection, to try to prove that I do indeed have a waist, and I am NOT pregnant...all this to no avail. No matter what I do, this shirt is NOT flattering me at all. I don't say anything about this to Paul - I just continue to enjoy our day together trying to ignore all the perceived stares and questioning eyes that ask, "Is she pregnant?" (not really, but that's how I felt).

So then tonight (3 days later) as I was pulling out the laundry from the dryer (which happened to include this shirt), I mention to Paul that, "I think this shirt makes me look pregnant". Why a wife would make this statement to her husband, I don't know. It's asking for a disaster - at a minimum a short fight over a stupid topic (though Paul and I never fight since we both like to avoid confrontation), but this statement was asking for it.

What does my wonderful husband do? He smiles from ear to ear and is silent...SILENT. What a smart guy. He knew that if he agreed with me, I would hit him with the shirt, and start shooting ridiculous questions at him such as, "Why didn't you tell me I looked pregnant when I came out of the house in it?" (Which of course the answer to that is - "We were already 15 minutes late because you were primping and preening yourself, only to come out wearing that shirt, but I didn't have time for you to change shirts, or want to deal with the resulting dissatisfaction with every shirt in your wardrobe, that's why"). And he knew that if he disagreed with me and told me the shirt looked fine, that I'd believe him and wear it again!

I think I married the smartest guy on earth. And for once I'm going to acknowledge that and let the world know (at least the part of the world that is reading this). Other guys - married or unmarried, take note - you can't win these kinds of situations, so just keep silent (don't offer an opinion, regardless if you are right) - and your wife/girlfriend will think you are the smartest man on earth.

Now to the fun pictures of the Melting Pot experience. We actually went all out (almost) and got the cheese fondue, salad, and meat courses (we wer good and skipped the dessert since we were going to the movies afterward). We only took pictures of the cheese fondue - we felt silly even taking these photos, but oh well. It couldn't have been any worse than wearing an unflattering shirt all day long.

Notice the shirt that Paul is wearing - it's normal, fits right, and works with his skin tone...but then again almost every shirt that a guy puts on looks good. Guys have it so easy when it comes to wardrobe - the only thing that changes from generation to generation is how wide the collar is. Anyway...

That's all for now. If I think of it, I might get a picture of the whole shirt added to this blog so you can see the full picture of what I'm talking about. But even if I don't get that photo posted, I'm sure you can appreciate the wisdom that Paul exhibited in that brief (but crucial) moment in time.

Atlanta, GA!!

So over Easter, Paul and I got to fly to Atlanta to meet up with family which was pretty cool. First we spent time with Chris, Terri, Lawton, Will, and David at their house (they had spent a week at the beach prior to that, so it was super nice of them to allow us to stay with them after being gone). I meant to take a family photo of everyone, and should have brought my camera to church since we would have been all dressed up, but I didn't think about it. And the rest of the time we spent vegging and taking naps and watching movies, so it wasn't really a picture moment. But we really enjoyed getting to finally meet Terri, and to get to hang out and catch up on all that they are up to. It was eye-opening for me to be at a dinner table in a house full of boys. It's extremely different than the dinner table that I grew up eating at (girls). I thoroughly enjoyed just watching and listening - there was never a dull moment!

Late Sunday night, Steve (Paul's dad) picked us up and we spent Monday and Tuesday hanging out with Paul's parents (Steve & Evelyn), Ai Lin (from Malaysia), and Paul's brother's famiy - Philip, Felicia, Lydia, and Corban. Monday we basically hung out and rested. Below are some pictures of us goofing off.

Tuesday we went to the Atlanta Aquarium. It was pretty cool! And so much fun to watch Lydia and Corban. The Atlanta Aquarium is supposed to be the largest in the world - I'm not sure what that's based on - maybe they have the largest tank in the world, or most volume of water with fish in it. Because the complex itself wasn't that big in my opinion...but it was fun. I liked the Beluga whales the best - they watched us and made eye contact and were pretty interested in what we were doing, which was kinda cool. The aquarium also had 3 whale sharks - the largest fish that's been identified. Of course I don't have pictures of any of those cool fish, but I have lots of pics of the family hanging out.

One of the days (I think it was Monday), we motivated ourselves to go exercise at the Gold's Gym that the hotel had an agreement with. So that was pretty impressive given that we were all on vacation!

Sea horses are pretty cool in my opinion- this probably isn't the best photo of one, but oh well.

These little things (below) sticking out of the sand are called Garden Eels (I think). Anyway, they stick out of the sand about 3 inches unless they think something is swimming near them, and then they suck their bodies into the sand and only leave their eyes looking out above the sand. It was kinda cool. I don't normally like to watch eels, but these were different - maybe because they were little and didn't seem so much like snakes...euh..my spine shivers just thinking about snakes.

Uncle Chris told us to find these guys - it's a Leafy Dragon. They look like sea weed floating around. I thought it was pretty cool. There are 2 in the middle of this photo - swimming side by side.

Well, that's all for now. Today we had about 550 high school seniors come to the camp so I was on climbing wall duty most of the day. I was so thankful it wasn't 90 degrees like last year. It was the perfect day - we had a breeze all day long and the sun was out, so besides the fact that it was mass chaos, it was a good day. Side Note: It's amazing how high schoolers never change...I was never like that was I? At least I'm choosing to block that from my memory if I was. :)