California Love

On Sunday night when I was so full of inspiration and warm fuzzy feelings I should have written it down. On Sunday night when we sat on an airplane, and I reflected on all the wonderful moments Derek and I had with each other and our friends, I should have written it down. Now I grasp onto some random moments in my head and on my heart, but surely they are missing bits. Kind of like the Landon's smile- you know he's smiling, but clearly he's missing some very important teeth. Sorry. Bad analogy, but you get it. I bet I would have had a better analogy on Sunday... So here are some of my favorite moments from over the weekend, in no particular order of course!

Late night talks and laughter with Noah and Michelle before bedtime.

Paleo breakfast with my soul sisters in Santa Monica.

Seeing a bit of Gloucester in a California home.

Feeling the water on Butterfly Beach, surprisingly not as cold in October as Good Harbor Beach in July.

Hugging my girls, taking photos, and just being with them again. 

Derek and I planning our future on a napkin outside one of his favorite L.A. breaky spots.

Holding Derek's hand (a favorite of mine, always- 
it just never gets old).

Seeing familiar places and discovering 100 new ones.

Talking to Carina on the phone while shuffling through $100 jeans that I would never buy.

Being able to be there when Michelle and Noah committed their lives to each other. 

Seeing Noah give Derek a key to their house because of tradition... I swear, I almost lost it in the middle of Urth Cafe. The heart these boys have, you'd swear they're women. ;)

Seeing Natalie and Mike so happy together and so appreciative of each other. It's wonderful to see friends in perfect relationships.

Seeing how old-time friends can get together and create new-time-fun.

Taking about inspiration, love and gratitude with Brendan and Derek over the blasting wedding music.

Watching the dolphins play in the waves with the surfers.

Eating yummy, healthy food!!

Seeing the way Noah and Michelle looked at each other during their first dance. Melt. My. Heart.

Groundworks Coffee every morning.

Laughing and dancing with a tipsy Derek on the walk home after the wedding. He was in rare form. I loved every second of it!

Napping on the beach on the sand. Enjoying the sunshine!

Hanging half-out of the window while Alexis drove alongside the beach with Brendan James' "Lucky One" BLASTING.

Morning walks with my Husband.

Having two "movie dates" with Derek on the airplane.

Hanging out and cuddling with Dexter the amazing dog.

Sleeping in till 9am East Coast Time and getting up at 6am West Coast Time! Feeling refreshed and still having all morning!

Going to a Sunday Morning Farmers' Market.

Daydreaming in the sunshine.

Stopping in Ventura to watch the surf. 

Hands out the window, catching the wind.

Seeing the Beautifully Strong Jen and finally meeting her lovely husband Dr. Nick. They have such an awesome practice out there!

Kiss Buggies, lots of them.

Driving on the PCH. ...Learning what PCH stood for. 

That perfect moment when Derek and I knew that California is where we'd like to settle in the end, and setting the goals to make it a reality... some day. 

Till then, 

I'm a very grateful,

 and very happy Beverlian.

Switzerland is for Love Stories

Derek and my First Year Wedding Anniversary was last week! So I thought I would tell you how we met. I think it's a pretty cool story, and it starts in Switzerland.

In 2003 Derek traveled Europe alone, meeting and making friends along his journey. Just like Derek, my close friends, Alishea and Katie, set out on a similar adventure to travel Europe. While staying in a hostel in Switzerland the three crossed paths and became fast friends; sharing stories about themselves and creating more stories together to tell friends and family back home. After a month or so of traveling Ali and Katie returned to Miami with photographs and stories to tell; many of both were about and of Derek. The night they shared these stories with me was the night I was really introduced to Derek (not including a post card Ali sent me from Switzerland that mentioned their new friend).

In late March of 2007, I created a MySpace account and was searching though “friends of friends” to find people to add to my contacts. I came across Derek’s profile page in Ali’s group of Top Friends. Remembering the stories about Derek, I looked through his profile (to verify this was the same guy, of course) and on April 29th I sent him an email. The email said, “…I'm Ali's friend Heather from Miami. You seem to be my kind of person. So I just wanted to say hi…” In which he replied, “…Any friend of Ali's has to be quite all right, so I'm sure you’re my kind of person too. Your son is adorable by the way...” And that was the beginning of it all.

From April till about November Derek and I sent long pages of emails back and forth about our day, our lives and who we were - really getting to know each other. Along with the lengthy, flirty emails we also exchanged pictures of sunrises and sunsets. Being on the East coast in Miami, I sent the sunrises. With Derek on the West coast in the Bay Area he, of course, sent the beautiful sunsets. Because of these exchanges, sunrises and sunsets hold a very special place in our hearts. We also exchanged gifts and music in the mail; he was the one to introduce me to my all-time favorite band Steven Kellogg and the Sixers.

It was around mid November when we exchanged phone numbers. Afraid to mess up the bond we’d created over the Internet we cautiously proceeded with text messages for the better part of a month. The night Derek actually called me still reminds me of being in middle school. The nervousness, the butterflies, the screaming girls - no really, he called on a “Girls Grey’s Anatomy Night”, and all craziness broke lose. Carina and Chrissy actually tried to wrestle me for the phone because I wasn’t going to pick up (and I didn’t). Eventually I pushed Carina and Chrissy out of the house, said goodnight to my Mom and walked outside. I paced around the driveway for a good 15 minutes and then made the call. Derek was charming and funny, as he was in his emails, and we stayed up all night talking, laughing and discussing what we thought the other person might have sounded like. Which wasn’t a big deal to someone on the West coast, but 4AM on the East coast with classes the next day… oh who am I kidding, it was totally worth it.

So when did we actually come together? Well, almost a full year after our first email interaction. February of 2008 was my 25th birthday, and I invited him to fly to Miami for it. Though he could justify the trip as a way to see Ali again (because they still kept in touch and had visited each other throughout the years), we both knew it was more than that. Derek flew out and when I picked him up at that airport I like to say it was love at first real sight, but he thinks maybe it was just a verification of the love that was already there. We’ve been together ever since…

You know, many people think meeting people on the Internet is, well, lame, but honestly thank God for it. Not only did it allow Derek and I to connect across the country, but who can honestly say that they have their first interactions and conversations written down somewhere? I’m so happy to be able to say, we do. 

…In a way, we did meet in Switzerland, that’s where our unexpected journey began.

And a year ago we got hitched... but that is a whole other blog post.

 Happy Anniversary, Love.

Inanimate Objects

Have you ever played 20 questions with your friends? I have. It's one of my absolute favorite games. I don't think it will ever get old. Well, here is a question I was asked once.

What is your favorite inanimate object?

Having a favorite inanimate object is like choosing your favorite child. They’re all special in their own right, aren’t they? Though, my mind does go directly to three specific things: my wedding rings, my sewing machine (a gift from my brother Brandon) and a drawing my son, Landon, did of me as a gift for Mother’s Day when he was 4-years-old.

Here’s the set up. We were living in Australia at the time, and Landon’s school was celebrating Mum’s Day. ALL the mums were there, and we had all just watched a very cute short musical they put together about working together. Adorable. After the show the teachers announced the children had a surprise. Yay! They had made portraits of their mothers. One by one the children presented their portraits to their mums. All the mums had rainbow hair, long eyelashes, big heart shaped lips and rosy pink cheeks. And then… then Landon presented mine. It is possibly the ugliest picture a mother has ever been given, and it REALLY gives meaning to “a face that only a mother could love” because I do, I do LOVE it.

Take that other mums! You have eye lashes and rainbow hair? PPPpppppppp! I have WAR PAINT and SHARP TEETH! There is no question about this one, forget beating up the other mums- I would eat them alive!! 

But really, it is my absolute favorite thing. Ever. It’s never been hidden away either, it's always been proudly displayed in the kitchen or living room. Just a few months ago Landon (now 7-years-old) stopped in front of it and made a face while stating, “Mom, you DON’T really look like that…” It’s nice to know that this is not really how he sees me.

You know, it is very similar to paintings by William DeKooning. He had some major mother/women issues... I wonder if I should be worried...

19 questions left. Who's got one for me?