…See the whole list here…

Sorry this is a day late, I took yesterday off and this is restarting with this post.

My favorite memory is still a blur. Could it be the day I received my acceptance into the University of Florida for undergrad? Or perhaps my acceptance to East Carolina University for my Master’s degree. Maybe it was each of the Bon Jovi concerts I attended. Hmm or the day we got engaged.

No, I think maybe it was the day I finally met Steve after several months of emailing and IMing back and forth. We’d both been dating other people, well, he was engaged to his “other person” but it was crumbling quickly. No, that’s not code for anything sketchy. He had a very strange and erratic work schedule and, while my work schedule was consistent, I was also in school. This meant my nights were filled with conference calls with classmates and lots of homework. On a random day off, he called me and we set up a date for dinner that night. I barely made it! I had to race home from Raleigh to Chapel Hill, change out of work clothes and bolt up to Durham.

The first date had a small complication when my friend started calling and texting repeatedly during dinner. As it turned out, their apartment complex was on fire(!) and they needed a place to stay for at least one night with their cats. I assured Steve that it wasn’t a “bad date phone call” and bolted. Boy, I sure was bolting around a lot that night. Once things were settled with them, I called him and we planned our second date, the dreaded work holiday party, a few days later. And all went quite well at the party, obviously!

The best part is, I consider the jilted date our first date and he considers the party our first date. Regardless of these, our wedding anniversary is in 29 days! And since it’s technically Sunday, we are getting married 4 weeks from TODAY!

My iPhone clearly hates taking pictures of my laptop screen…

…See the whole list here…

I don’t actually remember much about my first kiss other than I was in kindergarten. It was under the table of the reading circle. Or maybe the drawing circle or coloring in the lines circle. I have no idea. I think his name was Frankie. It was either him or Sedric. I remember kissing one while the other kept watch for our teachers. Even at 5 years old we knew to scope out for authority!

Do you remember your first kiss? Hopefully your memory is better than mine. =)

…See the whole list here…

I apologize for the lateness of this post, but it is due to the Jewish High Holiday: Rosh Hashanah. In other words, I was at a family dinner and didn’t get home until after 11pm.

Hmmm, something I love about myself. Is this physical, mental, or emotional? I suppose that’s totally up to me, right? What about all three?

The physical part I love about myself is my eyes. They are super blue when I wear blue anything or greenish when I wear green. I’m told they change colors depending on my mood but I’ve never seen it happen! Even though we all learned in high school science that blue is a recessive gene, the Benaim Blue is extremely dominant. Both my brothers and I have the exact shade of blue that my father has… and mom has brown eyes. My grandfather had the exact same shade as well.

The mental part? Probably my perseverance. When I decided to go back to school for my Masters degree in 2005, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It took me 5 years to graduate, taking 2 classes in both spring and fall semesters every year. The only summer term I took was my final full year. I met some great people along the way and learned a lot about myself in the process. Namely that my time management skills suck hard core, I work better in groups, and liked my technology classes far better than my statistics classes. It doesn’t hurt that my further education and intelligence are two of Steve’s favorite things about me.

The emotional part? Well, I used to be an emotional girl. These days, not so much. I can talk about everything and nothing at the same time, but when it comes down to the hardcore topics, I suck. I am apparently getting better at this.

…See the whole list here…

I actually love the little house we live in. The only thing is, I wish it wasn’t so far from, well, everything.

We are living in a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom cottage with a full kitchen, dining room and family room in Homestead, FL. We have access to 8+ acres of wide open land, a nice pool to play or do laps in, lots of shade, orchids and palms as far as the eye can see, a private yard for Lola and all the puppy friends she could ask for. The cottage is wall to wall tile, has a brand new kitchen (thanks to my wallet, my dad and Home Depot!), a pass through from the kitchen to dining room, and 2 built-in bookshelves in the family room.

Oh, did I mention that it is about 100 years from my parent’s back door? This will be crazy beneficial when the little Fletcher babies make their appearance. Mom and dad’s house has a room all ready for the grandkids. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t paint it that way, they just didn’t paint over it from the previous owners. Also, all the bedroom furniture my father built for us is in the room ready for the next generation. There is a desk, bureau, and a huge gorgeous bunk bed. Seriously, the bed is my all time favorite piece of furniture and I staked my claim years ago; even though my younger brother was sleeping in it at the time.

I lived in this house when my parents first bought the property before moving to Gainesville in 2004. This time there are 2 of us living here, along with a dog and a cat.