The Devil's Fruit

This blog post title is courtesy of my husband. Much to his disgust, I purchased a bag of grapefruits at the grocery story this past weekend. He was immediately repelled as if he was a vampire facing a clove of garlic. Seriously, the man looked at me as if I was the grossest thing on planet earth. All because I was holding a bag of grapefruits at the grocery store.

a grapefruit knife helps, but use a knife to separate the flesh from the skin....

Just a couple days ago I ate my first grapefruit from the bag, and I even talked my husband into taking the tiniest bite. He actually gagged, and then told me, with the most serious face ever, to get that devil's fruit away from him. I kid you not, he definitely had me laughing at his passionate hatred for a little defenseless piece of fruit.

My grandmother ate plenty of grapefruit when I was younger. I must have got my grapefruit tastes from her. She always prepared them with a little bit of butter, brown sugar, and then heated it all up in the microwave. Doctor it up right, and that little devil's fruit grapefruit goes from tart to juicy and delicious in no time flat. Seriously. Not to mention, I just read that grapefruits are good for speeding up your metabolism. That wasn't enough to make my husband take a second bite though, and he doesn't need help with his lightning fast metabolism anyways. I guess I'm going to have to eat the whole bag myself.

just spread on a little bit of butter....

... then add some brown sugar ...


... pop in the microwave for about 30 seconds and enjoy!

Did I mention the grapefruits I bought came from a farm in Florida? Not only did I get to support local business, but I can speed up my metabolism and gross out my husband all at the same time. I'd call that a successful day.

Do you like these little devil fruits too?

Say Yes to the Dress(es)

I wanted to share some of the dresses that I
tried on during my wedding dress search.

There are so many gorgeous dresses out there, and I had the pleasure of trying on some very beautiful ones. It's always fun playing dress up, so I hope you'll enjoy these photos!

Maybe I'll eventually get around to sharing some of our actual wedding day photos,

but chronologically the dress search comes before a wedding anyways, right? (:

tip from the past bride (that would be me):

{ give yourself plenty of time when searching

for the perfect wedding dress! }

giving yourself 8 months or more is not a bad idea.

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Here are some of the dresses I tried

but obviously did not end up with....

I tried the following dresses on at Anna Bé bridal boutique in Denver.

It was such a beautiful place to try on wedding dresses,

and their gorgeous mirrors, free champagne, and natural light didn't hurt.

{ this was one of my favorite dresses while searching for dresses online

before actually trying any on in a boutique }

This next dress was actually the first dress I tried on, and I loved it right away.

It had a sweetheart neckline that I wanted, it was fitted through the torso, and it had a dropped waist.

The bottom zipped off to make a fun short dress for your reception. We dressed it up

with a cute green sash and crystal belt on top to give it a little personality.

It was strange falling for the very first dress that I tried on, but I continued trying more dresses.

I tried a few that I did not love as much.

{ these ruffles are adorable, but still not exactly me }

They "clamp you into" the dresses if the sample dress is too big, and I'm sure that it took a few inches off my waistline in the process. It's nice to feel skinny while trying on possible future wedding dresses. I think the salesgirl knew exactly what she was doing. ;)

{ this one was nice, but it did not suit my personality as well as others }

After trying a few different styles and fits, you really start to hone in on exactly what types you love.

I fell for the cute sweetheart neckline, a dropped waist, and ruched material.

Then it happened....

{ I tried on this dress, and I did not want to take it off.... I wanted to wear it home }

Had we had the money and time for it to arrive in my size, I would have chose that dress!

It was gorgeous. It felt nice. It made me feel beautiful, and I just loved it.

Don't get me wrong... I loved the dress I ended up with (which I will share photos of later),

but I absolutely fell for that dress I tried at Anna Bé.

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I almost want to try on wedding dresses again just for fun. Is that allowed?

Did you end up with the wedding dress you wanted?

I hope to share wedding photos sometime in the near future. It has been a couple of years after all. (:

Our Anniversary and This Busy Life

Over a week has gone by since I last posted a blog, and a lot has happened since then.
Sorry for not responding to your comments! I'll try getting back to you eventually.

This month has already been pretty great!

{ I may be a bit biased, but I just love February because it is the month

that holds my birthday and our wedding anniversary }

Two years ago I married my best friend....

photography by Alison Rose Photography in Denver, Colorado

I don't think I can cover everything in one blog post,

but I figured the best way to catch you up is to start somewhere.

So here are a few things that we have been
up to over the past few weeks:

* someone {that would be me} had a birthday

come back tomorrow for some birthday humor

* we attended ICE in Orlando

more on this later... with videos of ice slides

I promise it's cool {pun intended}

* I found a fun new nail polish idea

you can find a tutorial for this here

I know there has been lots more in between,
but I might have to tell you all about it at a later date!

Happy Monday!

Missing My Husband

This is sort of a rough time of transition for my husband and me. I haven't seen him in almost two weeks, and that's a 'gosh darn' long time* if you ask me! If you've been keeping up with my blog posts, then you might know that he's currently attending training in Las Vegas for his new job. One thing helping me through this transition is knowing that, once my husband gets through training, he'll be home every.single.night. That is a very rare thing when it comes to pilot jobs, and we're both excited to spend more time together! Him being home every night also means that I won't have to sleep with a can of pepper spray on my nightstand every night anymore. That's a major perk of this new job if you ask me.

* {I know that two weeks is nothing for military wives or some professions where people are separated for much longer periods of time... how do they do it?!}

©Alison Rose Photography

On a more serious note, I am incredibly proud of my husband. He deserves every single opportunity that comes his way, because he never stops working hard to achieve his goals. He also possesses this great quality of never complaining. (The few times that he does complain are because stuff is seriously bad. Really. He's not a complainer.) He's so great at seeing the positive when things are tough, and he definitely balances me when I get a little crazy. A couple of days ago, I was having a hard time adjusting to being apart and having no place of our own, and he sent me the sweetest email reminding me that we will be together as soon as his training is done. It's not forever. Sometimes I get carried away, over exaggerate things, and in my mind think something is forever... when it's clearly not. My husband is very patient and calming (most times) in stressful situations. I guess that's one of the many reasons that he makes a great pilot. The email he sent me also contained so many thoughtful things and reminders of why I married this amazing man! He makes me so proud, and I can hardly imagine loving him more... *but I will, because he deserves every bit of it.

* {I really hope you didn't need a barf bag, but I really love my husband to pieces.}

The really incredibly great news is that he's planning on coming home for the weekend! I really don't want to go three weeks without seeing him. That's no good. Plus we would really love to attend the sunrise Easter service at Red Rocks Amphitheater like we did last year. If all goes well, meaning that he can catch a flight out of LAS, then I'll be seeing him tomorrow!

Have you spent a long period of time apart from a loved one? How did you make it?

Closet Freak

I hope no one is reading this with anything sexual in mind, because it's really far from that. I'm talking about being a freak when it comes to the clothes in my closet people! This girl might have a major tiny obsession with keeping things in the closet perfectly in place as organized as possible.

I'm pretty sure that my time working retail, yeah I worked at good old A&F, has ruined me forever... in a good way though. Spacing hangers, hanging my jeans, and folding perfect stacks of tee shirts are some of my favorite things to do! Ha. Okay maybe they aren't my favorite things to do with my free time, but I do put effort into those things when it comes to our closet and dressers. It's in my blood. I can't help it. Perfectionist much?! Anyone else this crazy about keeping an organized closet?

Moving sometimes wreaks havoc on my o.c.d. tendencies. I'm one of those people who really likes to have everything come out of the suitcases, with no wrinkles in them, after moving, and man is that tough! We're packing everything in our apartment, and I try to pack as neatly as possible. Packing neatly. Is that an oxymoron or what?! Either way, it's a little sad packing away our neatly spaced closet, at least my side of the closet. If my husband had his way, we'd just throw (literally) all of our clothes into tubs and be done with it. Not happening, honey. Nope.

anyone else notice the pink hanger...

he must have hijacked that one! Grrr. I still love him though.

Hopefully wherever we move to next has a closet that's big enough for my our stuff. The first closet that we 'shared' was just big enough for one of us to be in it at a time. Somehow we both made it out of that situation alive. Sometimes being a closet freak makes it difficult to get along with the husband when it comes to organizational matters. We're working on it. (:

Advantages of Homelessness

Never in my life did I think that not owning a home would be something I would give thanks for, but it has happened. I'm not talking about being homeless on the streets, but more like not owning a home. There have been so many times recently where it makes me sad to think that my husband and I are almost 30 and don't own a home or have children. However, at this very point in our life I am incredibly thankful that we are not tied down by a home or children.

The reason I give thanks that we aren't homeowners is because we've been hit with this opportunity to relocate. My husband has been hired at another airline, and in a nutshell we'll be moving to where he'll be based. One of the rare things, about the airline he was hired by, is that they don't do overnights. Yes, you heard correctly. My pilot husband won't be staying in hotels, and he'll be home pretty much every night after flying. Crazy I tell you! It's a really new concept for both of us considering he's been working away from home for years. The only way that he can be home every night is if we relocate to the city where he is based, because if we don't then he'll have to commute. Commuting definitely defeats the advantages of no overnights, so we're moving!

We don't have a home or children, but I could imagine those things would make relocating incredibly difficult. The idea of picking up children and planting them somewhere new would be scary, not to mention, this isn't exactly a seller's market when it comes to housing. Basically, we have the freedom to move without the stresses of moving family (besides ourselves) to a new place. After all the whining I've been doing lately, about not having a home or kids, we've been blessed with an opportunity for change and growth. So we're taking it! Thank goodness we don't have major things holding us back or this opportunity would have been a much more difficult decision.

Owning a home would also make a move more difficult, because paying a mortgage plus rent somewhere new would be tough. My husband is already taking a huge pay cut (he has the possibility of making more in the long run), so paying two "rents" isn't an option for us now. We're actually moving out of our apartment and putting our belongings into a storage unit. While my husband trains for almost 7 weeks, I'm going to enter, as my uncle put it, the "nomadic period" of my life. Seriously. I'll be living out of my suitcase and moving from here to there while I go through this homeless time without my husband. I like to think of it as a "little adventure", because I sort of freak out when I start thinking about how weird all of this is. Thank goodness we won't have to pay for a mortgage and rent somewhere new.

At this point in our life, I'm actually thankful that we are not tied down by a home. Maybe being home-less isn't so bad after all. Being free from a home has helped us be able to take this opportunity for change and growth in our life, and I am a big believer in doing things that are sometimes a little uncomfortable. Had I not picked up all of my belongings after college and moved myself to Colorado, I never would have met my husband. We're both looking forward to a move and more time together wherever that is. There are too many things that might not happen if we don't try, so thank goodness for not owning a home! Who ever would have thought being a renter could be so freeing?

We're Moving!

My husband and I are moving again, and this time I'm not just talking about moving to a new apartment across town. This is going to be the real deal. The really crazy and exciting part, about knowing that we'll be moving, is that we actually don't know where we are moving yet. Fun, huh?! (:

On top of the world

The reason behind our move is that my husband was offered a job at another airline! We worked really hard to get him prepared for the interview. I say we, because my job was to grill him with interview questions and help get him a new suit and play stylist. I am super excited and proud of him for getting through the interview and landing the job. There were around 5,000 applications on file, and out of the 60 some pilots interviewed my husband was one of about 15 chosen for a position. (Alright, I'm done bragging... for now). This new job opportunity is the reason for moving, because the airline he'll be working for does not have a pilot base in Colorado.

He's come a long way...

Our upcoming move will take us out of state, and it will put us somewhere entirely new. (Unless it lands us in Michigan, but I think that chance is pretty/extremely small). There are bases all across the country from the Pacific Northwest to the very Southeast. We won't actually find out more about where he'll be based for around a month or so. Until then we play a waiting game, but we do know that we'll be moving! I figure since I have moved all alone before, that moving with someone very special should be even more fun and exciting.

Road Trip!

There are a few states where we might be based, and they include: Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, or Florida. Which one will it be?! If it was you, where would you like to live?

No matter where we end up, this new adventure will be fun. Either way we are both really excited about this opportunity, and we look forward to what a move will bring.

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* There's so much to write about, but it's hard to include it all. Please excuse me for not being a very good blogger/Tweeter/communicator lately. We have so many things to do in order to prepare for all of this. (:

Out of Sync

I have to admit, that I am a huge fan of sticking to a schedule and having a routine. Being married to a pilot makes that challenging. My husband's scheduling throws a big old monkey wrench into my love for having plans or at least an idea of what might happen next. If anything though, I am getting better at going with the flow of things. However, it's not easy.

My husband and I on a little trip to Estes Park

Lately, it seems like our life has been a bit hectic and we have abandoned any semblance of a routine. Husband gets home after 9pm, and then we eat dinner. We get to sleep around 11pm maybe. Someone *coughAshleycough* likes to read in bed until maybe midnight (maybe 2am if I'm trying to finish a book). Husband gets up early for work, and we repeat. This has been a bit tiring. For both of us I'm afraid. This girl likes her dinner at 6pm sharp! Sort of like we're old folks here. Nothing wrong with older folks, but man do they seem to eat dinner early and stick to a tight schedule. I love it. Hopefully when my husband and I are old, we'll have a strict routine too. That would be so cool. Ha!

Not only have our schedules been somewhat turned upside down, but our apartment is in minor disarray too (I say minor because I'm too anal obsessive compulsive to let it get much further than that). Our lease is up soon, and we actually have no plans as of now for where we are moving to next. Great. We are doing this the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants way I guess. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. It makes things more exciting I suppose. For now, I believe that things are just accumulating around our place in anticipation of being packed away and moved again.

If there's such a thing as a neat mess...

I think it's this.

Seriously though, sometimes being married to a pilot has its perks. It also has its downsides too. Our 'social life' is pretty lame, because we don't have a lot of extra money to spend on fun stuff. We have pretty major combined student loan debt. On top of that, Nate gets his schedule for the following month in the middle of each month. That makes scheduling things difficult, because he has to know pretty far in advance what days off he needs. If something important is coming up, we usually need to know at least 40 days in advance! Even advance notice is not always enough, because he sometimes gets called in to work at the last minute's notice. Though since he has been working in the training department, that doesn't happen as often as it used to for us. His schedule varies month to month too. He doesn't just get weekends off like a lot of people with careers do. That was serious torture for us when I was working every week day. At least it was for me, because I would have a weekend off and he would be working. Thank goodness that has changed. We do enjoy free/cheap tickets to fly places, but we rarely take advantage of it. Being married to a pilot has its ups and downs. That is life.

I really need to work on being okay with...

having plans that are up in the air.

I hope we somehow get back to our 'irregular routine' here soon. Things have been a little more hectic and disorganized than I like them. Plan for no plans. Right now that's our life.

Decisions, Decisions

One of the reasons that I started this blog was to try and get my voice out there and maybe share what it's like being married to a pilot. When I would feel lonely and confused about the unstable nature of my husband's career and our future, it was nice to get online and read about how other pilot wives deal with this unique life. I am thankful for everything that we have... and I would never ever want my husband to do anything other than what he loves to do. He also supports me in what I hope to do, and we share this crazy and ever-changing life! We're in it together, and that's something that I love about this 'adventurous' life we share.

this picture was from my drive across Nebraska

... I moved by myself from Michigan to Colorado.

Recently we've been putting a lot of thought into what/where we might move to next. I have really been gaining this strength within that keeps telling me that you lose so much more from not trying something than from trying something and 'failing'. What is a failure anyway? To me a failure is a learning experience and a chance to grow. So even when you fail... you win. What do we have to lose by possibly moving somewhere new?! Nothing that I can think of. We could always visit our families if we moved away. (I've been living in a different state than my parents live in for almost 5 years now. We're all surviving... and thriving). I seriously feel that our biggest loss would be not trying anything at all. If I had been too scared and never moved to Colorado, then I never would have met my husband (well maybe we would have been pulled together eventually) and who knows where I would be now. We have so much to gain by putting ourselves out there and trying for what our heart desires! I really think that we should just follow our heart... wonder where it will lead us to next?

The water?

 The desert?

The mountains?

... or the city?

On top of our thoughts of moving, in the back of my mind are the questions (I do my best to quiet them) that pop up when I think about my husband possibly getting hired at another airline in the near future. Will that require another move? Will he commute from wherever we live to wherever he needs to be? Will we want to move closer to wherever he is based so that we can spend more time together? Yikes!

Until now... I think I'll just try and focus on where we are moving when our lease here is up. What to do? Where to move?

Remembering Our Honeymoon

With our one year anniversary in our rear view mirror already, my husband and I are a little shocked that it's over so quickly. We don't get another 1st Anniversary, and it reminds us to make each second with loved ones count... because we don't get a redo. Crazy how time flies!

We stayed in Bonita Springs, Florida for our honeymoon last year. People wondered why we stayed there, and we chose it because it was located between the Ft. Myers/Sanibel area and Naples. We wanted to visit places and do things in both areas. It was convenient for the things that we did, and we were happy with our hotel (minus an accidental double charge to our debit card) and how close it was to everything that we needed.

The sandpipers at Barefoot Beach were so cute, and they appeared to effortlessly glide across the water. I could have watched them all day long! Has anyone else seen sandpipers on the beach?

* boat ride in Naples *

We took a boat ride out of Naples on a very sunny but windy and chilly day. The boat captain and other workers pointed out wild life and told us all about some of the owners of the mansions we rode by on Naples Bay. The wind was blowing too hard, and they were not able to take us out onto the Gulf during this trip. While cruising back to the dock, the captain spotted dolphins and they followed the boat wake almost all the way back in to the dock. The workers told us all that this was the most dolphins they have seen follow the boat at once. There were about 7 or 8 dolphins, and they played on each side of the boat for about 10 minutes. Seeing the dolphins jump and play in the wild made my day!

* Caution: the wind in this next video is loud... watch your volume level.

* Pardon my schoolgirl-like giggling. I was seriously excited to see these adorable dolphins leaping and playing. Have you ever seen dolphins in the wild before? 

Hopefully you're not tired of dolphins by now. I am sure that I'll never get sick of seeing them... ever! If these videos don't make you want to be a dolphin... then I don't know what will. This might sound really silly, but seeing these dolphins so carefree in the wild really served as a reminder to enjoy every second of life!

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Hope you're smiling as the sun sets...

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is all about love. As much as it might 'stink' to be single on Valentine's day, it does not mean that you cannot give and receive love and enjoy the day. Tell your family that you love them, spend time with a good friend who is also single, or maybe even just smile at a stranger. Hopefully you find some reasons to feel the love. Today is all about giving and spreading some L.O.V.E.

Happy Valentine's Day

Busy Month

This time of year is a rather busy one for my husband and me. I just had another birthday, and then just a few days after that we celebrated our first year anniversary. Whew! Then there's that love-y dove-y holiday that is Valentine's day this coming Monday. Yikes.

a whole year ago already!

This is what our dining room table looks like covered in birthday and anniversary cards. Just a few nights ago, while eating dinner, Nate complained that he couldn't use his right arm because there were too many cards in the way. I think there are worse things that could happen than having too many cards (the greeting card kind) on the table.

I made an anniversary card for Nate, because I love a chance to get a little creative once in a while. I used iPhoto to choose the wedding pictures that I wanted, and then I just printed them as a contact sheet so they would come out all on one page and in small sizes. My old architecture school supplies (xacto knife and cutting mat) always come in handy when I need to cut things out on the apartment floor.

Nate bought me a really pretty bouquet of flowers, and the last lilly just opened yesterday. I was really sick during our first anniversary, and it made me really happy to look around and see all of the cards that people sent. The flowers made me smile. So until after Valentine's day, our apartment will be covered in cards and flowers.

After Valentine's day is over, we don't really have any other birthdays or holidays that require cards until the fall. I love having a table covered in cards as a reminder that people are thinking about you. I just might have to find some other reasons to give cards... because I sort of like getting and giving them.

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I hope everyone gets a little something sweet on Valentine's day!

Time Flies

Here's to some obligatory end of year reflecting!

Yes, it's already that time of year again, and I just went through some of my old facebook posts... about three years worth actually. How quickly I was able to read through those posts blew my mind, because it was three years worth of words from friends and family. It seems like such a long time ago already! Looking through all of the old posts made me realize there are a lot of people that I've lost touch with, and that always makes me a little sad... to think about so many people who have been a part of my life but maybe aren't any more. There are also people who have remained my friends, and I'm thankful for them... because good friends are rare! Seriously. I've always been the person who would rather have one great friend instead of one hundred acquaintances. That is just who I am. I can be downright anti-social when I feel like it. It's those really great friends who bring me back to earth and remind me that they're still there for me, and thank God for them. Friends and family and love really do make the world go 'round.

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Nate and I early in our relationship

Us on our wedding day

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It's amazing how much, and how quickly, life changes. We meet new people and make new friends, we lose loved ones, and new lives come into the world. It seems like just yesterday that I met Nate, and we've been together for almost four years now! It's almost hard to believe. Last February we were married, and I absolutely cannot grasp that our one year anniversary is right around the corner. Time flies when you're having fun. I love every moment we spend together, good and bad. Everything shapes the person you are today. You never know what will happen tomorrow, so live for today.

This holiday season is a little different than most that I've spent with my husband... or maybe I have a bad memory? First off, this is actually our first Christmas together as a married couple. Pretty exciting if you ask me! Also... we're spending way too much time apart from each other. More than I would like any way. Guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Frozen lake in northern Michigan

I am pumped to visit family and friends in Michigan, but then worry starts to settle in when I think about my husband. Will Nate be okay while I'm gone? What is he going to eat... will he cook? I sure hope he doesn't just eat Chick-Fil-A every night (even though it is quite tasty), because if he has a fast-food-induced heart attack I'll feel like the worst wife ever. I could cook him a bunch of food that he can warm up, but we're a little short on cash after Christmas gift shopping... and he doesn't get paid until after I leave. Dang. Then I start wishing that he could come with me to Michigan. He'll be there for a few days, but I'm going to my friend's Christmas party without him... and he might have to leave Christmas eve or Christmas day due to really heavy flight loads the day after Christmas. This is when I need to remember to breathe and go with the flow, because everything will be fine. :)

Under dressed for Mich. winter weather

... yeah we were freezing. December 2007

Don't get me wrong, I'll enjoy time spent in Michigan while I'm there! Not to mention, northern Michigan was blanketed by a bunch of beautiful white now... and I cannot wait to play in it. The Denver area doesn't really get much snow, and the brown landscape is starting to make me a little homesick. This will be the first time in a long time that I spend more than a few days in Michigan, so I am looking forward to it. It's sort of bittersweet. My husband will probably survive too... he made it 25 years without me. (Although I have no idea how) kidding!

Stay warm this Christmas!

Blood Is Funny?

I have done the near impossible task of finding something that my husband is not good at doing. Blood. He gets faint at the sight of it... not on the television so much, but in real life for sure. The scene that unfolded last night made for, what I think, was a rather entertaining evening. It was funny after Nate panicked, I realized I would live... and I did not need stitches. (at least I don't think I do) I hear super glue works just fine for some cuts. I'll let you know how it works.

* If you have a weak stomach proceed with caution. No, I am not including pictures with this blog *

Anyway, I find it amusing that my husband, Nate, could land a full plane with both engines on fire without even breaking a sweat, but when he catches a glimpse of blood it sends him into a full on panic. I say this because that's what happened when he glanced at the inside of my fingertip last night. I screamed while slicing sweet potatoes (wedges are considerably more difficult to cut than just chunks), because I cut right into the side of my middle finger and nicked my ring finger, all at the same time, with a chef's knife... the sharpest chef's knife you've ever cut with too! Crud! The fact that I had just cut myself scared me more than anything, because I had no idea what I would see when I looked down at my finger. Then came the blood. Gallons of it. (That may be a slight exaggeration.) Nate jumps up from the computer to see what happened. (I knew he shouldn't have done that.) The first thing he did was freak out at what looked, to him, like a chunk of finger nail hanging from my fingertip, but I quickly pulled it off and showed him it was just a small piece of sweet potato. No harm there. After assessing the situation, I realized that I needed something to stop the bleeding... like paper towels for instance. While I'm thinking about stopping the bleeding, Nate is running around the apartment trying to figure out what to do. I asked yelled nicely "get me some paper towels please?!" I mean my finger is bleeding profusely, and it's about to get all over the place. First things first! Stop the bleeding. While I put pressure on my finger, Nate was online trying to find out if I needed stitches. Nothing like a little self diagnosis from the internet. The following discussion went a little something like this:

"Can you see bone or yellow, fatty tissue?"
"I don't know but I'm not going to look... I'd have to pull the cut apart. That would hurt."
"Oh gross." ( I think he almost puked here)
"Come and look."
"No way! I'm not looking."
"Me either. It's fine."
"Do you think we should go to the emergency room? We have insurance."
"No. I think it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"No. (I meant yes.)"

After this going back and forth, Nate called him mother, who's a volunteer EMT. (Of course... there was a lot of panic and no action for the first few minutes after I chopped my finger. Why didn't we think of calling her sooner? Seriously, Nate would never panic if there was an emergency on an airplane under his watch!) Nate's mom pretty much talked us through the evaluation of the cut, and I decided no doctor was needed. Why call the doctor when you can just use super glue? I hear it works just fine... can't wait to see the results.

I quickly resumed helping finish dinner, which was so abruptly delayed by my awkwardness while cutting tubers. Always protect your fingers! Nate acted as if I had just lost a foot or something. If I even glanced at the knives he said "no, sit down", but I refused to be useless for the rest of the evening because of a "little" cut. He barely even let me use the grater to zest some lemon for the green beans. I mean when you fall off of a horse, you're supposed to get right back on it. Right? Nate can fly metal tubes in the sky for a living, but if I so much as slice my finger with a knife he panics. Funny how that works. I think I'd rather cut myself with a knife than have to fly a plane with a disabled engine any day. But hey, to each their own. I get my thrills by cutting with sharp chefs knives.

My thrill of choice

Nate's thrill of choice:

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Nate told me later that he thought the sweet potato under my finger nail was a piece of finger hanging off of my hand. Nice imagination.... I like it! This is the second time I've cut a finger badly while cutting a vegetable from the tuber family. You win some, you lose some. I'm hoping not to lose a finger one day. :)