NeRdY tHiRtY

Justin turned thirty last week and it was really important to me to throw him a birthday party that would make him feel as loved and appreciated as he is by so many. Since his birthday is so close to Halloween, and he's an engineer that loves over-explaining, I decided to have some fun with the theme and threw a "Nerdy Thirty" party for him. Everyone was encouraged to come dressed as a nerd and for the most part, people really got into it and came dressed the part! 

I started planning the party a few months ago since I knew it'd be a little hectic to take on a big party so close after having a baby and I was really pleased with how everything turned out. I had a lot of help from his mom and was able to remain pretty stress-free until the days immediately leading up to it. Justin's mom made a ginormous cupcake for the centerpiece of the dessert table and the plan was to stencil in a bunch of math symbols until we found this ridiculously huge Smarties that fit with the theme perfectly! The remainder of the cupcakes had Nerds or a "30" graphic I made - all in all I think it looked really sharp and even though it was cupcakes, still masculine.

I borrowed a couple ideas I saw online as birthday cards and made them my own by blowing them up and hanging on the walls so you couldn't miss the nerd theme no matter where you were. I also had my brother send me a math equation that equaled 30 and I scribbled it repeatedly on our front door Goodwill Hunting style and a couple other places throughout the house (convenient having a high school math teacher at your beckon call!). Still, even after Justin tried to explain what all the symbols were, I have no clue. I have to admit, planning this party (especially the decorations) made me feel a little stupid since I often didn't understand the joke or know if it was funny until Justin started laughing.

Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of the pictures of the tables for appetizers or the chili bar. I'm not sure if I was the biggest fan of the chili bar, but it's fine if I was because it was a cold autumn night and it was delicious. We had three different types of chili (beans, no beans and white chicken chili) with all the condiments available (cheese, sour cream, onions, cornbread and Fritos). But by the time people were over and it was time to set the food out, my camera was borrowed for our mock photo booth (and I was a little too tipsy after a half hour to remember to snag it back) but it all went with our color scheme and looked really cool.

Ohhhh the photo booth. That ended up being a lot of fun and everyone checked egos at the door and were really goofy and had a good time - which thrilled me because I was a little nervous about it. Justin had some old sheets from college that had a dark blue and light blue checker pattern that reminded me of graph paper so I stretched it out, stapled it to a wooden frame and we hung it on the wall in the kitchen so when people stood with it and a hollow picture frame it made for some fun pictures!

Ugh, I also missed a full-length photo of Justin and I in our "costumes". He was in a NASA lab coat and a shirt with the pi sign on it with high-water jeans, white socks and dress shoes. It was hilarious, and oddly not that different from his everyday... haha! I had a graphic t-shirt with suspenders, pigtails, thick glasses with tape, a pleated skirt, white knee high socks and Chuck Ts. 

Austin was a bit of a distraction as I was trying to write the math equation on the door:

*sigh*

please excuse me while I brag on my rock-star husband! this pregnancy hasn't been easy... especially considering my pregnancy with Bella was so easy. My back's been hurting a lot lately, I try not to be dramatic about it and I think I mostly do alright about it, until I'm home and then I render myself useless. not only does Justin help as much as possible so I can rest and relax when I get home from work, but he went above and beyond tonight! The other day I was rifling through the mail when I got home and between the catalogs and bills (why do those always coincide? snap.) was a card with just my name on it in J's chicken scratch... inside was a little card with information about a prenatal massage he had set up for me. whaaaat?!

So today after work I head straight to the massage place to get my prenatal massage... I knew they couldn't do any kind of deep tissue massages because apparently I could go into labor (umm, yes please!) but it still was amazing! I left feeling far more relaxed than I'd felt in a crazy long time! SO the hour to myself for a massage isn't even where it ends - a text was waiting for me in the car with directions to stop at Cheesecake Factory to pick up an order of my favorite meal that he had called ahead and ordered. as I was waiting in line to pick up the order all the cheesecake in the display was staring at me calling my name - but I'd been spoiled enough, I didn't need the cheesecake, especially since J's not a huge fan so I couldn't even spin it that I got something for us to share. The lady pulls out my food, I pull out my card and then she pulls out... a piece of strawberry cheesecake - he included it in the order!

now I'm just going to sit here content and comfortable. seriously, my husband is phenomenal.

Rocket Science

One of Justin's projects he worked on three years ago during his first stint with NASA at Zin Technologies is in space! Part of his project was installed into the International Space Station in January. I'm SO proud of him - how cool is this?!

maybe he'll build us a house on the moon next... ha!

Year of the Brownie

To celebrate Justin's birthday I took him to a Browns game this afternoon - Tora helped me get tickets and they were ridiculous! We were in the club level (the only way to watch a football game in my small snooty opinion) and it was one of Ohio's few sunny days. It was perfect autumn weather, not too hot not too cold, and Tora babysat Bella so we got a chance to cheer loudly, high-five complete strangers, and just spend time together. At the end of the day the Brownies blew a 17 point lead and we lost - but I'm almost used to the comical sigh of frustration that comes with being a fan of Cleveland's sports teams...

Happy Birthday J!

Beautiful Surprise

Today was my first day back at work - it was actually easier than I thought it was going to be, but that was solely because Bella was still getting over a cold so Justin stayed home with her and I didn't have to take her to day care yet - and when I got home Justin had a surprise for me to keep my spirits up.

He took a bunch of videos we've taken since Father's Day and put it to the song I had in a previous post... my wonder boy makes my heart happy! It's too good not to share:

Pomp and Circumstance

I've been meaning to update my blog for awhile, but work's been insane and anytime I'm home is basically devoted to getting ready for Christmas so needless to say blogging has been neglected. -technically I blog all the time though, if I could just devote the keystrokes to the blogs I narrate throughout the day, I could possibly publish a book with them all. Yeah, I think that highly of my imaginative on-a-whim stories... haha!

Justin graduated with his Master's degree in Engineering from the University of Akron on Saturday! I'm not sure I could be more proud of him. He had a full-time job, has consistently been an amazing and attentive husband (and father-to-be!) and managed to graduate in just two years and finished his graduate career with a 3.850 grade point average (which not to brag, but since he deserves the praise: that's technically all A's, but a few were A-). He's phenomenal, simply put!

I was hesitant when he first talked about going back to school for his graduate degree... how we would pay for it, how much time it would take away from life at home, if it was the best timing if we were hoping to start a family, etc. etc. I never doubted his ability to succeed, I can't picture him ever failing really, I just wasn't sold on the idea it was perfect timing. Go figure I'm the one with doubts and he has faith that everything we need will be provided. As it turns out, his work paid for his degree and he just has to stay with the company a couple more years (if we move or anything we'd just have to pay them back) and I got a job with the Cavs so nights away from home wasn't a big issue since I had so many game nights and events to work. -plus we adjusted schedules and made the most of weekends taking short trips or planning the days so they weren't wasted.

The day of graduation was awesome (once I threw some elbows and got a good seat in the middle of the auditorium for photos, sorry to one particular grandma, but her student was getting their baccalaureate, mine was getting his masters! I'm terrible!) when pomp and circumstance started up by the band the uncontrollable tears welled up. I can't imagine how proud I'll be when my own child graduates because when it was my best friend and husband I couldn't help but cry. I'm SO proud of him!

-and because the day couldn't go entirely without drama, when Justin put his robe on that morning (trying it on any earlier just wouldn't make sense!) he called me in the room and held up his hands to show what looked like oven mitts--the end of his sleeves didn't have holes for his hands! The look of confusion on his face was completely priceless! I came over ready to cut holes with scissors if necessary, and saw these small slits about six inches up on the sleeve... both arms had them so I slipped his hand through the slits and it looked like he had bat flaps, it was so bizarre! We got to the auditorium though and luckily all the other graduates with their masters had the same bat flaps on their robes, so I guess we figured it out (?)

How many Master's students does it take to get a polyester robe on correctly...