Wedding Anniversary #13

It's our 13th wedding anniversary today - where has the time gone? I can barely remember what I was like 13 years ago, and I can't fathom what I'll be like 13 years from now. I'll have two teenagers -- one probably driving -- by that time. Oh my.

Two states, two cities, two houses, one apartment, two jobs and then a flourishing freelance career. Two kids, of course. Two million disagreements and at least as many apologies. Good times, great times, bad times, the worst times. It's been an eventful baker's dozen.

Thirteen years ago I couldn't have predicted that this is where life would lead, let alone what came in between. May the next 13 years be just as exciting.

Wedding Anniversary #12

It's difficult to believe that Paul and I will have been married 12 years on this coming Sunday. It seems like a long time ... until you compare it to my grandparents. One pair celebrated 60 years this summer. The other, 65 years. We've been through a lot during the last dozen years, but it's clear that we have a lot to learn.

This anniversary also means that we've spent more than half of our married life in Ohio. We spent just a few months short of six years in New York. Of course we were never full-fledged New Yorkers -- how could we be, when we were both born, bred and educated in Ohio? -- but it is the place where we were alone together the most. And so this seems like another milestone that takes us further away from our time there.

A lot has happened in 12 years: two kids, two states, two houses. And we're just two ordinary people who hope to have many more years and adventures together.

11th Wedding Anniversary

August 30 was a Saturday 11 years ago, too -- the Saturday that Paul and I got married.

Eleven years would have seemed like a lifetime back in 2003, and it feels like I've lived at least three different lives since we tied the knot. But hopefully I'm like a cat and have a few to spare.

I'm not going to lie and say I don't feel older. I feel older, I look older, I act older ... I hope. But I'm even happier now that I was 11 years ago, and that's what counts. Happy anniversary, Paul.

Celebrating 9 Years of Marriage

Being married nine years isn't a traditional landmark, but it feels like one.

When we said our vows on Aug. 30, 2003, I sure didn't think we'd be living in New York just a few years later. Now we've spent more than half our anniversaries here. And back then I certainly didn't think that I'd be spending our ninth anniversary six months pregnant with our first child.

New Yorkers are often surprised when they learn that Paul and I have been married as long as we have. It's pretty uncommon to get married in your early 20s here, and we were just 22 and 24 when we got hitched. Mere babies.

Sometimes I wonder why we were in such a hurry. Paul and I have since discussed it -- there was really no rush. But there was really no reason to wait, either. I wouldn't change a thing.

Living in New York When the Honeymoon's Over

Aug. 30, 2003

Our honeymoon in New York City doesn't seem quite as special now that we've lived here three years of the seven we've been married.

Yep, today's our wedding anniversary, and after we said "I do" in 2003, we hopped a plane to LaGuardia and spent a week exploring a city neither of us knew.

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, and now I wish we would have spent our honeymoon in a place we would never call home. New York will forever after be livable instead of magical, and in what fairy tales do the prince and princess get whisked off to some merely habitable locale? I guess we can't all be Cinderella.

And anyway, I can hardly call New York merely habitable. Even three years later, it still does have some of that magic sparkle, honeymoon or no honeymoon. What's more, on our honeymoon we did check off a few of the touristy must-sees that I was trying to avoid when we first moved here in my effort to feel like a local. For example, seven years ago we toured the UN building and went to the top of the Empire State Building. I haven't returned to either.

As can be expected, I was very naive about the city back then. I think we rode the subway only once -- I couldn't figure out whether I wanted to go uptown or downtown, toward Brooklyn or the Bronx, and it was just easier to walk anyway. Now I barely have to look at a subway map.

Without that honeymoon, however, I certainly would have been much more nervous to have moved to New York in the first place. In fact, as much as I loved the city on our honeymoon, New York didn't strike me as the type of place I wanted to live. Obviously that feeling disappeared -- maybe because I don't live in the city proper, but rather the city improper, Brooklyn.

Now do I love living in New York?

I do.

The Best Pancakes in New York City

My favorite restaurant in all of New York is the Clinton Street Baking Co. & Restaurant, and I've only ever had just one dish: the blueberry pancakes.

Now, I can make pancakes. I've even watched a TV show on the best way to stir the batter and flip the flapjacks. I've taken mental notes. I've perfected my technique.

But they're nothing like Clinton Street's. Their pancakes are really more like cakes. Hot blueberry cakes. Not only is the top of the stack covered in a generous portion of wild Maine blueberries, each pancake is packed with fruit.

And that syrup on the side? It's not Aunt Jemima. That's warm maple butter. My mouth is watering just typing this.

Clinton Street is known for its superb brunches ... and also its long lines. But the pancakes are also on the dinner menu, and we've never had to wait for a table.

With the dim lighting and candles, it was also the perfect setting to mark our sixth anniversary a few weeks ago. A restaurant that both Paul and I can agree on? Now that's really something to celebrate.

I probably look happy because I ate one of Clinton Street's delicious cream scones.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

One year and one day. Hard to believe we've been in New York that long already.

Since then I have:

• mastered the subway system (well enough that I can give tourists directions, in any case)
• visited Little Cupcake about 40 times (just a guess)
• figured out which nearby bodegas have the best produce (that took surprisingly long)
• learned to live without a closet in the bedroom (it's not as bad as you think)
• learned to live without a washer or dryer (it's just as bad as you think)

Living in New York still feels like a vacation nearly every weekend. A different museum, a different neighborhood, a different restaurant-- there's always something new to discover and explore.

On that note, we're actually spending our vacation next week not in New York, but in Ohio. Of course we're visiting family and friends, and Paul will be running the Columbus Marathon on Oct. 19. So no posts for 10 days or so, but plenty of pics when we return.

A different kind of "View"

On Sunday night we went to the View restaurant- not the TV show.

The View is a revolving restaurant on one of the top floors of the Marriott Marquis in the middle of Times Square. We arrived at 5:30 and stayed for two hours, so we saw lovely views of the city in the daylight, at dusk and at night. The napkins pictured a map of everything we could see, which included the Chrysler Building and the Hudson River.

But we were there for more than the good views! We celebrated Mom and Dad's upcoming 30th wedding anniversary. I suppose they give Paul and I something to strive for. :-)

We ordered the dinner buffet, which was interesting for more than simply the food. The buffet stayed in place while the part of the floor with the tables circled around it. It seemed that each time we got up we had to walk in a different direction to get to the buffet! The food was pretty good, too. We all especially liked the shrimp, but of course my favorite part was the dessert bar. Who can resist mini-cannolis, bread pudding with vanilla sauce and all the chocolate you want to devour?

All in all, it was an experience I'll be glad to repeat!

Happy Leap Year

For someone as obsessed with dates as I am, August 30 was a horrible day to get married.

I recognize the day Paul and I had our first date, the day we got engaged and, of course, the day of our wedding. Don't get me wrong- we don't really celebrate any of them. We usually go out to eat for our anniversary, but we haven't exchanged presents since our first one.

But I can never celebrate our half-anniversary (you know, like a half-birthday), even if I wanted to. By my count, Aug. 30 is one of only six days that doesn't have a "half." So Leap Day is as close as I come, every four years.

So today is 4 1/2 years (minus one day).