Engaged! :)

Hey Everbody!

Been a little while since I have said hi so I figure its about time for me to say helllllo :) Virginia is a beautiful state (gonna miss those wonderful Michigan winters though...lol) and I've settled in pretty comfortably in the last few months. The job has been keeping me busy (though not as much as the woman.. j/k) and the people are great. Orion says hi and is keeping tally of the scratches everyone will owe him next time you see him ;).

In case you haven't heard, earlier this month Nicki (yeah the girl that I gave up MI for :) and I took a vacation out to California to go sailing, wineing, etc. With the help of my Uncle & Aunt I made the step to see if Nicki wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and had a huge sail made with the words "will you marry me" in 20in letters (go to the link below for a pic). After sailing the San Francisco bay for a few hours on our way back I popped the big question - with the help of the sail. Well, in case you couldn't figure it out..... She said yes!!! Trust me on this - I have never been happier in my whole life, I smile everytime I just think about it! We have been told that we will be shipped out to Thailand later next year sometime so we have to plan around that for the wedding but are hoping on next September for the actual wedding (give or take a month), which will likely be in Alexandria, VA - so start saving up money so you can come.... and to get me cool presents (j/k) :-p


Oh yeah... should give you a little more history about Nicki & I (in case you were worried about my decision making abilities :) *Note* mushy, romantic story stuff below - you may want to skip this paragraph :-p ----- Nicki & I actually dated a long time ago, back when I was in High School in Bonn, Germany. Due to my parents relocating back to the United States our courtship ended :( We lost touch after a number of years but reconnected last summer at a mutual friends wedding. After seeing her again I instantly realized I was still in love with her... but alas she was to be married in just two weeks! We spent the rest of that weekend together and I knew the connection was still there so I had to say something before she left....and I did.... but I was shot down... and she flew away :( For those of you that knew me during that time period you may remember that I was going to do the whole "I object to this wedding" thing - even took off work that weekend to drive down there but I was convinced by her maid of honor (another friend of ours) not to do it..... and I respected the reasoning so I didn't go down - and I thought she was wed. I myself got engaged later that year, and while Stephanie has many great qualities, we just weren't compatible in the long run (we both knew that we figured we would try -- oddly enough, both of us were in love with other people we thought we couldn't be with). I found out later that Nicki had called off her wedding (just two days before the actual day - but it was kept secret from me.... grrrrrrr) and eventually, she kicked him out and told me that she still loved me. I am usually one to ponder a decision forever & think about all the ramifications but when she told me how she felt, I knew right away that it was time for me to move, to get up and go home to Virginia (home is where the heart is). Neither of us are perfect, and we know that, but we are perfect for each other - she's the smartest, sweetest, most wonderful woman and it wasn't hard to realize that after being seperated for over 10 years and still having the amazing connection that we have now, my decision was the right one, and I wanted to take the next step to make sure we would never be apart again.

Special thanks again to Uncle D & Beki (who really made it all \npossible), Doug (for changing his vacation to take pictures), and Pops & nBecky who made an unexpected trip to be there too.

Ciao!
Christopher & Nicki
http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2006/0906/Sept11/Sept11.html#anchor257278

Cheese please

With wine that is. Sunday was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, and we went wine tasting. Nicki, her bro, Mary (his wife), her parents, & I all spent the day driving around and tasting wine. We got to a little bit of a late start (after noon) but still managed to test out three wineries in the area. The first place we went to had the best tasting wine of the evening (of course we might have been drunk by the last place so you really can't judge that decision :) The houses out there are all sitting on like hundreds of acres of land, beautiful rolling hills, wine abound, horses aloft, and a light breeze just made for the perfect Sunday scenery drive.

ADD Note: I've figured a way to differentiate the parents..... I will call my mom = mom; my dad = pop; and Nicki's mom = momA, Nicki's dad = popA (Their last name is Arden, so the "A" is actually kinda slapstickishy workable).

Anyways, back to the weekend. PopA bought us a Cabernet & Rose` so that was really nice. At the third winery we took a break and had a picnic lunch. The dogs were with us but well behaved and the view was wonderful. Nicki got some really nice shots of the area and a large sunflower pic came out excellent. Now as I mentioned above our tasting of the last place might not have been very accurate - not just for the fact that we had already hit up two wineries before that but also because we were starving by the time we got there and they had peanuts. Wonderfully tasting butter roasted peanuts! Well a mouth full of butter roasted peanuts doesn't exactly result in a neutral palette. Guess we are just going to have to go back there! :)

Bored

I'm sitting here in an orientation class bored out of my mind. Reminds me of the other day too (really tired of these classes!). So I am just going to start writing my random thoughts :). I think I never really realized how busy I have been keeping myself the last month or so.till lately. I've been beating Nicki home everyday (she can sleep in, grrrrr :) and I used that time to do stuff around the house, which I found out recently isn't really good cause she actually wants to do work! (For those of you that knew my last gf & roommates you know why I am surprised :). She's apparantly had the same problem w/ bf and is used to doing stuff too and my cleaning was making her feel bad - so I gotta work less! I got home early yesterday and now there is not much to do, I was hoping to go watch softball but didn't know where to go so I tried watching "the weatherman"........ Which actually made me more bored, lol. I did eventually take Orion for a short bike ride, shopped for car stuff, and pet supplies so that helped a little.
Damn ADD!
Did I mention I am horny? Bored and horny not a good combo while at work.... LOL. Now I am not complaining (really) cause what gets me like this is a good thing, giving Nicki a full body massage - but with her it has the opposite desired effect (makes her sleepy relaxed instead of "happy" relaxed:) ahhhh well.... Just have to figure another way! At least this way I get to touch her all over without getting smacked ;-p
OOOhh.... almost forgot, I wrote most of this on my new Blackberry! First one I have had actually but work gave it to me for free so :) This is a pretty neat little toy, like a super mini notebook. I don't think they knew what they were getting into when they gave me this thing. Muahahahahah. I hope they got me the unlimited data plan.

Disaster Weekend

Gotta love those neat stories so how about we talk about the weekend before last... it was a disaster. So I rented a trailer for the truck to move all my stuff to VA but I had a doctors appointment that conflicted with the pickup time so I asked my sis to go get it since it was in the same direction as her horse stables (which she goes to every Friday). Now I made it very clear before that if she ever drives the truck with the trailer that you can't use overdrive & you have to slow down.... anyways, so, its about 6:00pm (Nicki is flying in at about 7:30pm) and I get this phone call from my sis - she says the truck is on fire. Its raining and the truck is on fire?! I know my sis is special when it comes to cars but I think this tops the list! I ask her what went down and she says... "we were driving along the freeway (with 2000lb 6x12ft trailer in tow) and then the truck's rpm's suddendly went really high, like we lost a gear in the transmission, and we could barely push 60mph."

k, so this is when I started to get unhappy. I mean hoooold on here. Barely push 60mph?!!! With a freaking huge trailer in tow?! So, if you remember, I already told her you can't use overdrive. And if you have ever rented a Uhaul trailer there are huge "SPEED LIMIT: 45MPH" postings all over the trailer. Lets do the math - how the hell is she "barely doing 60mph" without overdrive and without speeding?! She can't!!! WTF?! What does this all equal? Well, it comes out to a transmission that was so overheated from driving it in overdrive (yes, this was verified by the mechanics) at such a high speed with such a large item in tow that it turned the tranny fluid into a molasses like consistancy and started smoking (truck on fire). Cost to fix HER fuck up ? About $2000.... and for those of you that think this is a risk you take when someone uses your vehicle I would normally agree... EXCEPT... she did EXACTLY what she was told NOT to do..... this is straight up intentional neglect and complete disregard for someone else's property!

But don't worry... the night doesn't end there. My sis says not to worry cause she will get it towed to her horse stable using my AAA (I added her to my acct). I said, sounds good, maybe we are really lucky and they could help figure out a solution (this was before I knew how screwed up it really was). About an hour later (time is now about 7:00pm) I get a phone call from my sis - except when I answer it wasn't her - it was the bitch lady from the horse stable who immediately starts yelling at me about how dare I tow this truck to her property and that if I don't get it off of it in two hours she will do it for me (aka - police & impound). Now, I am mad. Not only did my sis completely fry my truck but she 1) towed it to a place for the sole sake of getting to her horse without even talking to them to see if it could go there, 2) gave them the impression it was my idea, 3) gave the lady her phone so she could call me without warning, and 4) never defended me or tried to help with the situation SHE created. About 7:30pm I get another call from another bitch lady at the place doing the same thing - telling me how I better get this truck gone now. So, I have to find a way to tow the vehicle the 200ft into the street on public land.... and figure it aout all before nicki gets here. Plus, lets not forget the trailer is still sitting on the side of the road.

Nicki calls me... she's in! At least something good came out of the night! :) We pick up a trailblazer from AVIS (stock hitch, woohoo). The plan is simple... attach ropes to truck, drag to street, then get trailer. And that is what we do. *side note - Robyn actually called and tried to leave the place and go home without doing anything to help!* Last but not least we still have this trailer that we have to return now (which is actually quite difficult since its supposed to be in Virginia). The next morning I finally found a place that would take it back - only a 3 hour roundtrip away. Overall, how does the weekend fare? Well, we lost about a full day of work (which is huge since I am moving & prepping the house for sale) and almost $2000. And do you know that she never once apologized or offered to help out the entire time I have been working on the house. Great sister I have huh.

Just Don't Care

Not sure if this is a problem or not. I've noticed that in general, for most things, I just don't care. Apathy is " Feeling or showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent. " While I tend to believe that this isn't a problem I have noticed that it annoys the crap out of most people. Now don't get me wrong - there are topics that I am extremely sensitive about (see below) but just about everything else is kinda "ehh" whatever. See I have noticed that most people actually care about almost everything - from what they eat for lunch to what color to paint the wall in the house. I don't. Unless I have a strong distaste for something it just doesn't matter to me. I guess I have conditioned myself to just do whatever because somebody else almost always cares about it more then I do and more often then not, the simple fact that they are happy makes me happy.

Here is a short list of the items I actually care about:
1) Nichole - absolutely nothing in this world I value more, I really would do anything for her.
2) Infidelity - why the hell are you with the person if you can't be faithful.
3) Drugs or smoking - never & my family better not either :)
4) Truthfulness - I hate lying & I hate being lied to - it eats at me big time.
5) Family - as miserable as they can make me I still love them.
6) Capital Punishment - yup, I support it, less murderous fools out there the better. Sorry.
7) Abortion - Right to choose. I can't as a man, ever say that a woman has no choice, if you can't trust her with a choice, how can you trust her with a child (exception: late term abortion).
8) Mayonnaise or Sour Cream - just hate them, not sure exactly why
9) Moochers - been on the bad end of this so many times it drives me nuts!
10) Immigrants - I welcome those with open arms that have come legally. Those here illegally should be thrown out without a second thought (and punish the hell out of the companies that employ them).
11) U.S. Soldiers - support them 100% no matter what war we are fighting - they just follow orders and have the greatest respect from me for putting their life on the line for our country.

Here are a few things I will never get tired of doing:
1) Eating - damn I love eating, just about anytime (stupid belly). And surprise - I don't really care where we go to eat.
2) Watching movies - wasted many many hours doing this. Surprise again! I like all kinds of movies so I don't care here either! Argh!!! :)
3) Sex - well duh! I'm a guy right? Well, I know a male's sexual peak is supposed to be 18 but I don't know where they came up with that. I'm always in the mood, never gonna say no, and don't see that changing in the next 60 years.
4) Cuddling - Time can just blow away when cuddling with my sweetheart. I can just lay there, talking or no talking, for hours on end.

Course then again... I think I might just have severe ADD. Speaking of... Checkout this website, has a lot of good info on it (http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/adhd/kroplick.htm).

Worthwhile Arguments

So I was thinking about it the other day and it seems to me that people expect to argue.... and to go above that, they actually want to argue. I live in a familiy that argues all the time and to be honest I am soooo glad to not really have that issue with Nicki. We've talked about it a few times and we agree that an argument is enevitable but we haven't really yet. There are those times (yup you guessed it... once a month... lol) that she may be on edge, or me for that matter (get grouchy when tired) -- however, pretty much unscathed in my book. Since I have grown up with arguing and spent a very long relationship mostly arguing I can say that the last two months of relative calm have been supreme. I don't miss it one bit. Now, time to delve into arguments more.

The most commonly used definition of an argument is "A discussion in which disagreement is expressed; a debate; A quarrel; a dispute." Quarrel being the key word here. Why is it that we sometimes just enjoy quarrelling? Why do we expect to do so? I theorize that many of us are basically programmed (especially in the U.S.) that quarrel and competition are the only way in life. Happiness through the defeat of your foes! #2 is first place LOSER right? I've been fighting with my sis & other family members in the last couple weeks and you now what I have gotten out of it? Nothing good... only stress with makes me unhappy. There were several weeks before that in which I didn't fight or complain or argue and it was great.

So when there is a couple that "never" argues they are looked at oddly - as if there is something wrong with them. I've gone from a relationship that argued all the time to one that doesn't and while it does seem "odd" I am perfectly happy with it. There is no harm in discussing issues at hand or putting forth you point of view but why take it to the argument level? There are so many things in life that just arn't worth getting worked up about. Perhaps a good quote is, " “The best thing for an argument is not words and ideas, but to stop arguing”

NWA to Cali? Nah!

Wonderful Sunny, Warm, Califronia! Well... maybe not sunny or warm... but California it was. Just got back from an excellent trip out to California for the weekend. Nicki had a business trip out there today so we decided to make a weekend out of it and visit the coastal waters of the pacific (real hard to twist arms you could imagine :) I headed out on Thursday night after work on NorthWorst Airlines - the mother of all crappy airlines.... lets digress, NWA seems to have fallen into the "Ha ha, we are the only airline to offer any real flights out of Detroit so you are all screwed and we can do whatever we want!" attitude. Now, I wasn't berated or missed a flight or even delayed, but, if you are on a 4.5hour flight I would think certain comforts should be provided. Umm, like what? Well, peanuts for god sakes! Or Pretzels! Come On! You telling me that they can't afford peanuts!? A pillow would be nice... so would a blanket... cause you might need one of those at 30,000ft when the pilot lets what seems to be air from straight outside flow in the cabin. And most of all... I WANT MY MOVIE!! No movie!? One can only handle a flight so long without a movie. Well, maybe I thought, I am not alone. All the other airlines are in trouble too right? So, as much as I didn't desire that fate on my sweetheart, misery loves company..... but wait.... not true.... she got a movie, in fact two movies! And a pillow and blankets! Argh! Damn Northworst! Stupid airline.... grumble grumble.

K... all done there... just kidding anyways, slept most of the way and I brought my own movies, but it was still cold on that plane :)

Hmm... time to get off work... write more later Ciao! :)