In fourth grade I proudly wore my favorite outfit to school. It was a red and white striped boatneck top with a matching skirt and attached black bike shorts. I thought it was the most awesome fashion invention since puff paint and snap bracelets.

I put effort into dressing up that day. I brushed my hair. I picked out my matching scrunch socks. My Keds were white as snow.

My enjoyment over that outfit lasted approximately two hours, before a boy in my class — Aaron — asked me why my legs looked shiny. My legs looked shiny? I didn’t know. I didn’t make them look shiny on purpose.

But the mere fact that my legs looked shiny gave Aaron enough ammunition to completely mortify my 9-year old self.

He told everyone I shaved my legs.

Shaved my legs!! Can you imagine? Why would I ever do such a thing, I argued. I don’t shave my legs! Shaving is weird! I didn’t! I swear!

It didn’t matter what I said. By the end of the day the whole class thought I was shaving my legs, and it was enough for me to put that outfit, my wonderful red and white striped boatneck and matching skirt with attached bike shorts outfit in the back of my closet, never to see the light of day again. Because, ugh, SHAVING. How WEIRD.

(To be fair, 9-year old me also thought regular hair and tooth brushing were optional.)

This morning, Facebook “suggested” I become friends with Aaron. I’m thinking of taking a picture of my three (ok, four) days unshaven leg (umm…it’s cold out? And…I’m wearing a lot of pants?) and sending it to him with my friend request.

“Remember me? The LEG SHAVER? How do you like me now?!”

A water main in town broke.

Which means no water at our house.

If only I had showered yesterday…

I went with my friend on Halloween night to take her younger brother and his friends trick-or-treating. Along the way, I noticed some things:

- If you’re 1o years old and want to dress as a pirate, dress as a pirate. But not a sexy pirate. There’s no reason you should  be wearing fishnets and knee high boots with no jacket and a lot of skin showing. (On a side note: why are these costumes even being made for kids??)

- If you’re wearing those knee high boots, your feet are going to hurt. And no, you may not leave the group by yourself in the dark and go home to change. You’ll wait until we go back together and maybe you’ll remember to wear sneakers next  year.

- It’s customary to say “trick-or-treat!” when you ring the doorbell, not just hold open your bag of candy. And what ever happened to saying “thank you”?!

- If the house looks dark, no one is home. If the porch light is out, even if they’re home, they’re not answering the door. Do not knock on their window, please.

- “Please take one” means please take ONE. Not four.

- If you’re old enough to drive yourself from house to house, you’re too old to trick-or-treat.

Last night I dreamt my hair was falling out. I was standing in front of a mirror pulling clumps and clumps away from my head and tossing them in the sink. In my dream, I wasn’t freaked out, but when I woke up, you can bet the first thing I did was reach for my locks to make sure they were still there.

According to some internet research, this dream symbolizes I am afraid of losing my youth and vitality. At 26.

I wasn’t aware I was having this panic, but hey, who am I to argue with the leading experts on dream analysis. (Cough, cough.)

*****

About a month ago I wrote an email to a blogger who I really enjoy reading. It isn’t often I write these type of emails, but I really wanted to say it. They never wrote back. Part of me knows that being a little hurt by that is stupid and juvenile, but the other part of me doesn’t care. I guess I would have liked a response.

Which got me to thinking about all the wonderful emails I’ve received and the possibility that maybe I didn’t respond to all of them? I have a bad habit of reading emails on my phone, then forgetting to go back and respond to them.

So if you ever wrote me a heartfelt letter and I didn’t respond, consider this my officially apology. You deserved a response — a thank you. If you write to me again, I promise I”ll write back this time.

*****

I received a Happy Anniversary tweet from this woman and nearly fell out of my seat. I adore her. Like, total blog crush. It kind of made up for the unanswered email.

*****

A few of you asked for pictures of our anniversary trip and um, well, I didn’t take any. Mostly because it was raining the first day and the second day I just forgot until right before we left, when I pulled Michael into a gazebo to take a “proof we were here” photo. It didn’t come out so great. When your husband is 6′4″, you tend to cut out his head in self portraits. All the time.

But here’s the view from our suite last year:

And then I tried to be all artistic and take a picture of our rings with the lake in the background. Fail.

I think I’ll stick with writing as my hobby.

*****

Yesterday I found a PostSecret-inspired secret in my library book. It read: “I used to think that my mom would be attacked by a lion in her sleep…so I started sleeping in the doorway of her room to protect her.”

I’ve heard about people finding handwritten secrets in books, and I think it’s awesome. Maybe I’ll add my own before I return it!

Today I’m thankful for:

- my husband, who did lots and lots of laundry yesterday from start to finish. Since I’m not working, I’ve basically taken over all house stuff as my job, but it still meant a lot for him to take over that task yesterday.

- the discovery that Kodiak LOVES baby feet. We’ve encountered two babies on the beach lately (don’t you just love when they’re strapped on their parent’s chest with the feet kicking?) and both times he beelined for their little toes, covering them in kisses. This is good, since I plan to fill the house with lots of baby feet in the future.

- Thanksgiving. It’s right around the corner and this year we get to celebrate twice! The actual day with my in-laws, then the following day with my family. Melding two families can definitely get tricky when it’s holiday time, but this year things worked out great. And…twice the stuffing! (My favorite.)

- Real maple sugar candy, that we stocked up on before heading home from New Hampshire.

- Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin on ABC tonight. I’m a sucker for the Charlie Brown holiday specials.

What are you thankful for today?

We just got back from our anniversary-moon and it was perfect. We decided to save D.C. for the spring (cherry blossoms!) so I’ll be taking all your recommendations into account. Instead, we went back to a beautiful resort in New Hampshire and it was lovely.

What I didn’t expect, was to wake up on our anniversary with a horrible sore throat. Blah! Wanting to nip it in the bud, I drank a lot of tea and rested and hoped and hoped that it would be better the next day.

It wasn’t. It was worse. I couldn’t swallow without pain and the fire! Oh, the fire!

That’s when I remembered a homeopathic recipe my friend had tried in desperation, when she found herself getting sick again. She has the type of immune system that likes to kick you in the crotch, punch you while you’re down, then spit on you for good measure, so I figured if it worked for her, it could work for me.

The solution sounds a little wacky (and a little gross), but I swear to you, I’m a convert.

- Boil water as though you’re making tea. Just before it boils (so it’s nice and warm, but not scalding) take off stove.

- Cover the bottom of a mug with honey. You’re going to want a lot of honey. Trust me.

- Squeeze in a quarter of a lemon.

- Mix in 2 heaping teaspoons of apple cider vinegar.

Yes, apple cider vinegar is the magic ingredient here (and the reason you’ll want beacoup amounts of honey and lemon to mask the Easter egg flavor). The reason? Apple cider vinegar is known to naturally kill the bad bacteria you don’t want hanging out in your throat.

I made my first mug at 9 p.m. and fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at 11 coughing up some major phlegm, then went to bed.

This morning, I feel amazing! Just the slightest hint of a sore throat and I’m enjoying my second mug right now. (It’s really not that bad. The smell will just transport you back to egg dyeing as a kid.)

You can drink it every few hours as needed, and you can feel good about not putting any drugs into your system.

Give it a shot and let me know if it works for you!

Time is a funny thing. A year can feel so slow – like the year leading up to our wedding day. And then it can go by in a heartbeat.

Tomorrow, October 24th, we will have been married for one whole year.

In the nearly eight years we’ve been together, this has definitely been the best year yet.

We have the type of love that people search their whole lives for. I know how truly blessed I am to have found mine so young.

Michael is my best friend, my heart, my everything. He brings out the best in me always and I am honored and so, so, SO happy to be his wife.

Here’s to many more years!

I should have mentioned this earlier, but our photography was done by the super talented Scott Zuehlke Photography.

Making these posts has really been great for me, because I’m reliving such a wonderful day. Thank you for letting me share it with you.

More pictures!

Saturday is our one-year wedding anniversary. I cannot believe how quickly this year flew by and woah, what a year it was.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite wedding photos this week to commemorate. You’ve seen some of them, but I think that’s OK.

Happy Love Week!