A Day In The Life
Guest Blogger: Hamburger Petersik
Some of you might not know that Burger’s full first name is actually Hamburger. And you also might not know that we named him two years before we ever got him when we first started dating and agreed that it was the best dog name ever (other favorites: Meatball and Tyra Banks). You also might notice the occasional typo from time to time. I blame Hamburger. Look at how unaware he is of his errant appendages when he sleeps:
Sherry snapped this shot of him randomly poking his arm out across her keyboard as she worked. And after she took the picture, he looked up at her as if she was the one in the way:
Look at those cold, accusing eyes.
Do any of you have pets who like to interfere with your daily routine? My parents’ cat likes to sit right on the newspaper as they try to read, and he’s been known to walk across the computer keyboard mid email. But at least he’s not on Facebook superpoking us or anything…
Hunting For Rhinos
The story of Sherry’s Valentine’s gift starts last month when I got an e-mail entitled “OMG I need this for my birthday” that included a link to this white, ceramic rhino from Z Gallerie. Her birthday is in March (and I already had gift plans for that), so I figured this would be the perfect V-day gift, right? Wrong. It was out of stock and Z Gallerie couldn’t tell me if it’d be available in time for Feb 14th.
You see, Sherry had been searching for a ceramic rhino for at least a year, since she first laid eyes on this baby in the Nate Berkus-designed room pictured below. She even blogged about Nate and included her favorite image almost a year ago, never knowing that the most-likely-super-expensive-rhino (maybe this one?) would someday be duplicated by Z Gallerie for the masses.
Knowing Sherry should never be denied the company of a white, ceramic animal, I pre-ordered it anyways and offered it up to my sister Emily as a birthday gift she could give to Sherry in March. Well, I’m not a great liar. Sherry could tell I’d ordered it and quickly became convinced she was getting it for Valentine’s Day. Uh oh. She even went as far as to gush to Emily about this beautiful rhino I was giving her. Emily thought it was hilarious, but I was starting to panic. Even though the rhino did arrive last week (to my office), Emily wasn’t planning to give it to her for another month. Not to mention that the gift I did get her for Valentine’s Day was more on the practical side. Sherry was surely primed for disappointment.
Fast forward to Saturday morning, as I held Sherry’s real Valentine’s Day gift behind my back, I told her one last half-truth: “I ordered your rhino, but it didn’t come in time. You’ll get it for your birthday.” Then I handed her our digital camera which now contained a new Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card. Again, not the most romantic gift, but I knew my favorite little blogger would save lots of time uploading pictures now that our camera could do it automatically and wirelessly. It went over very well (a big relief to me) and seemed to distract her from the absent rhino for the time being. Being able to turn on the camera in any room of the house and effortlessly upload new pictures is pretty sci-fi. And Sherry loves anything that allows her to blog smarter so there’s more time to fit in more projects that we then get to blog about.
Later that evening we headed over to Emily’s house for a Valentine’s Day party as planned. Sherry didn’t know it, but her horned ceramic mammal awaited. Emily and I decided it’d be too cruel to withhold the present for another month, so she decided to give Sherry her birthday gift early. But not without having a little bit of fun first.
Emily took me aside when we arrived and started pointing to various picture frames around her living room. Inside each of them was a picture that she and her kids had staged with Sherry’s rhino (see a few samples below). We figured the usually-very-observant Sherry would notice in no time. Instead, it took her nearly an hour. During which, by the way, she even pointed to the photo of our niece Olivia reading to the rhino and said “ahhh, cute” without noticing the ceramic animal snuggled nearby. We basically had to say “Sherry, did you look closely at all the new pictures?” for her to finally catch on.
Needless to say, Sherry was thrilled and the scavenger hunt ended with the happy reunion of girl and rhino. I was relieved that I didn’t have to keep secrets for another four weeks and that, with the help of my sister, I hadn’t disappointed my wife on Valentine’s Day. And I’m sure the rhino is very content in his new home in our living room:
All-in-all, a very happy (if not intricately schemed) Valentine’s Day. Do you guys have any funny V-day stories to share? Any gifts you gave that went over particularly well or particularly, um, not so well? Do tell.
Images courtesy of Z Gallerie, Eye Fi, and Nate Berkus.
Take A Picture, It’ll Last Longer
Happy Valentine’s Day!
We hope you all have special, fun, quirky or otherwise lovey-dovey plans for the weekend to show your other half how much they mean to you. Sherry and I are just about ready to exchange gifts over breakfast (stay tuned for those details on Monday) and then we’re off to enjoy our special occasion tradition: hitting up a photobooth at a local restaurant to mark the day (and enjoy some dessert while we’re at it).
Even before we incorporated a photobooth into our wedding, we’ve been going to the New York Deli here in Richmond on anniversaries, birthdays, and any other momentous occasion to capture the moment in four black and white frames. We inevitably walk away with a mix of goofy expressions, sweet poses and (my personal favorite) the stunned “caught off guard” stare. We’ve got the photostrips displayed in random spots all over the house, including this little cup on the floating frames behind our dining table (and also in a white leatherbound book, which is a favorite among our guests since it also includes over 100 photstrips from our wedding).
After our trip to the photobooth I’ve promised to take Sherry to see Confessions of a Shopaholic and then we’re off to a group Valentine’s party this evening. What do you guys have planned? Any special traditions to share? Whatever your day has in store for you, here’s hoping that cupid’s extra good to you!
And no that’s not another ceramic animal in the picture above, it’s a puffin candle picked up on our Alaskan honeymoon. But Sherry has her eye on a certain ceramic mammal so stay tuned…
Just A Smidge
It rarely snows here in Richmond, Virginia. In fact, in the three years we’ve lived here, this is the most we’ve seen:
We got this lovely little dusting this morning and especially appreciate that it didn’t stick at all to driveways and sidewalks (although perhaps if it did the town would go crazy and John would have gotten the day off). Of course as I write this it’s totally gone. Not a trace of snow to be seen. The sun’s a shining and mother nature is probably scratching her head (where did I put that snow? I could’ve sworn I dropped it here…). Let’s just say it’s nothing like those Manhattan winters we used to weather together.
What about you guys? Any snow in your parts? Well, not in your parts… on your lawn/house/car?
