One Year

Well, we've arrived, I guess. It's been one year.

I have been eating gluten-free for one year.

I have known that I have a life-long incurable disease for one year.

I started this blog one year ago.

But what does that mean? It's not like a birthday, I can't celebrate with (gluten-free) cake. It's not like the anniversary of a death, I'm not sad and melancholy. One year ago, I got some very hard-to-hear news, and it started me on the best path of my life. It is sad, happy, and strange. I don't know how to feel.

It's crazy to think that one year ago, I thought I was physically normal, I never would have guessed that I had any sort of disease, nevermind an autoimmune disorder. It's crazy to think that one year ago, I was so sick, I couldn't walk from the couch to the fridge without sitting down halfway. It's crazy.

My Last First

The other night, M and I were laying in bed, ready to go to sleep, and this conversation happened.

R: "This is my last first."

M: "What?"

R: "Valentine's day. It's my last first."

M: "That's crazy. You have lots of firsts left. First pregnancy, first kid, first --"

R: "You know what I mean. It's my last first gluten-free thing."

I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling, but I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of this whole thing. I've handled every major holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas), every season, every birthday, and minor things like weddings, baby showers, and banquets. Sure, there are things I haven't handled, but they're things I didn't handle before being gluten-free, so it's not quite the same. There's only one annual thing left that I haven't faced - Valentine's Day. The big V day. Singles Awareness Day.

Tattoo the Second

Well, I got another tattoo. I've been wanting a second since the day I got my first - completely addictive! Quite honestly, I didn't long and hard about this one. I did think about it, I did plan it out, and I did carefully go over the sketch. But there isn't a whole lot of meaning behind it. The design, the pose and the location truly mean nothing to me. It's pretty, it looks great, and I love it. That's what ultimately matters. Besides, why not decorate my body with pretty art that everyone can appreciate?

So anyways. It's a robin, like my name. It's also my favourite bird, because of its name.

There's always this moment before I do something permanent that I think, This is the last time I'll look like this. When I got my ears pierced (when I was a tween), I sat there holding my ear lobes, feeling their undamaged flesh. It was the same when I got my nose pierced. On my way to my first tattoo, I took a picture of my leg. I've never shown anyone, because it's literally a picture of my bare thighs. Not the most attractive picture. This time was no different. As my tattoo artist got everything ready, I sat there with M, thinking that my back would never look the same. I was more excited than nostalgic, though.

Two Years

How do I get through an entire weekend without making food once? I honestly don't understand. I didn't cook a single dinner, or even a lunch. I actually don't think I ate the last two days, besides pb&j, coffee, and some "granola" bars.

I did do something this weekend, though! I got around to taking our second anniversary photos. Neither of us wanted to, but we both knew that if we didn't do it yesterday, it would never happen. And I would regret it forever if we missed a year.

I threw on a dress I'd just bought (and fallen totally in love with, by the way) and he threw on a dress shirt (I later thought he would have looked better in just a t-shirt, especially since he didn't tuck the shirt in, but oh well) and then we got our roommate to grab my old little digital camera and snap a couple pictures of us.

I think they turned out pretty great. Certainly not proffesional quality photoshoot, but great enough to frame one or two and keep them for years to come.

When I printed one at Wal-Mart, the man working the photo department said, "Keep that frame! You should use it every year. That's such a cool idea!" I've heard that over and over, when I tell people our (my) plans. My only regret is that I didn't make a chalkboard in time for our photos last year. I wanted one, but finding chalkboard paint, and then hunting down a frame took too long and I didn't have them in time. We did take a box of sidewalk chalk to a graffiti wall, and at one point we wrote "One Year" but those photos look weird, and you can barely see the chalk over the bright spray paint.

So anyways. Here are the best of our little photo shoot. If you aren't married yet, or have been married less than a year, I really suggest doing something like this. I think it'll look fantastic in several years.

Ironic Foreshadowing

I was just looking through my wedding photos today. (To explain, I decided that we would take photos every year on or near our anniversary, and our anniversary was a week ago, but we haven't gotten to taking any photos. I really want to get on that, I just need some inspiration. As such, I was looking through our wedding photos.)

I live in the middle of Saskatchewan, so we had decided to do a farm photo shoot. It's really pretty, and they turned out stunning. Ironic, though, isn't it?

In one picture, I'm actually laying on wheat (*Okay, maybe it's not wheat, but it is dried farm grass). Oh my god. Just looking at that makes my skin shiver.

I obviously didn't know I was allergic then, if I even was (I know I had celiac disease, I don't think it started effecting me until some time after marriage).

But looking at them now, it just seems a little ironic.

And maybe a bit like foreshadowing.

And yes, I am shamelessly posting several gorgeous photos from my wedding over two years ago. I'll never stop loving looking at myself in such a pretty dress.

Our Anniversary

Today is my second anniversary. Two years ago today, I made the biggest promise I've ever made. I promised to love, to cherish, to obey, and to honour a man. That's not always easy, and the last two years have had their ups and their downs, but I can honestly say I have never loved him as much as I do now.

I can hardly believe we've been married for two whole years. Time just flies by with him. The first year was quite an adventure, as we moved twice, and adopted two fur-babies. The second year was a little more settled, we're still living in the same house, and we only adopted one more fur-baby, but we did spend two months apart, and we spent half of the year dealing with Celiac disease. The last two years have felt non-stop, but I love being busy. We've figured a lot of things out, and it's starting to feel like life will be just like this for the rest of forever. I know more things are certainly going to change, but it'll always just be me and him, at the core.

Since our anniversary fell on a Monday, M insisted we both take the day off work. I reluctantly agreed, and it's a good thing I did. I ended up getting scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday at the store, so I wouldn't have had a day off normally. Thankfully, we took this one day to just be together, all day. It was splendid, and I had the best time.

We spent the morning getting pampered. Well, I got pampered. I had a massage, a facial, and a pedicure. M had a massage. He then spent an hour sitting around the spa, waiting for me to be done, which he was totally okay with, but I felt a little bad. Ah, well.

Afterwards, we went out for lunch. We just decided to go to Boston Pizza, and both had meals we've had before. After lunch, we opened the presents we got each other, and then did some running around. I know it's totally lame to do errands on our anniversary, but we both work office hours, so we never get a chance to do errands.

We planned to go to Rock Creek for dinner, because it recently opened here, and neither of us have been, but I had an alfredo dish for lunch (Boston Pizza got GF alfredo!!), and I didn't feel so good. I keep forgetting that I'm lactose-intolerant too. I like to pretend I'm not.

We spent most of the rest of the night laying around at home, me nursing my tummy, and then we went to the midnight launch of Grand Theft Auto 5. I know, I know. I can't believe we went, either.

I went because I wanted Sims. It's the only video game that I play a lot, and really enjoy, and I went to play it yesterday, but I lost the most recent disk, and the lovely thing about PC Sims is that you only need the most recent expansion pack to play. So if we just go out and buy a newer expansion pack, I can keep playing. The video game store was closed by the time I decided to do this, so we waited until 10pm, when they opened for the GTA5 launch, so I could buy Sims. M's one condition to this hair-brained scheme was that he was allowed to buy GTA. I'm kind of against the game series in general, but he convinced me he's a responsible adult, who can make his own decisions, and isn't going to drive around killing hookers in real life. So I caved, and we each bought a lame video game.

Fantastic anniversary, huh? I wish I wasn't sick so much, we could have had a lot more fun. Ah well, he still loves me, and I still love him.

Melrose Place in Moose Jaw

A new restaurant opened up here. I'm not quite sure when exactly they opened, because they had an "Opening Soon" sign up for like two years. Last night, my in-laws wanted to take M and I out for a late birthday dinner for M and his step-dad (their birthdays were in August), and for a pre-anniversary dinner (mine and M's anniversary is Monday). They suggested Melrose Place, and I thought, "What the heck. Let's walk into another restaurant totally blind. I didn't get sick from the first one." I want to try new things, I don't want to be stuck going to the same two restaurants forever.

There used to be two Melrose Places in Regina, but one closed down, and now one opened here. My in-laws had been to the currently-open one there, but none of us had been to the one here.

The atmosphere is great. The restaurant is huge, and very nice. It's very modern, without being ultra-modern. It has an expensive feel, without making me want to backpeddle out the second I walk in.

The menu looked good, with a very Greek influence, offering things like spanakopita and souvlaki. I really had no idea where to even start, and I instantly had a bunch of questions. So when the waitress came with drinks, I told her I had a gluten allergy. She had a vague deer-in-the-headlights look that let me know they don't have GF-friendly menu. She offered to bring the chef out, so that was good, I guess.

The head chef came out, and, well... I was a little shocked. He managed to swear three times while he was standing there, and he didn't seem to have a high knowledge base of gluten. He told me that no BBQ sauce has gluten in it, and then corrected to say that his [stuff] doesn't. He basically did one of those "You could eat just about anything on the menu, then. Except bread." I hate those. Now I'm stuck staring at the menu, breaking things down, and sending the waitress back with a million questions.

Which is exactly what I did. The first one was about the potato skins, an appetizer that is baked with bacon, cheese and such. She came back to say, "You definitely couldn't have the potato skins. Potatoes are a starch." Oh boy. This chef really had no clue, huh? Was he going to say no rice, too? She also informed they are deep-fried, so that was still a no.

I ended up getting some lamb souvlaki, served on a bed of rice, with a side of veggies and a baked potato. Because I wanted my potato; take that, chef. It was delicious. Well cooked, the right temperature, flavourful, and presented well.

No one had any complaints, and nothing had to be sent back (not to say M and his parents are picky, they're just... selective. And, well, you know me).

On the way home, my mother-in-law asked everyone for a rating out of ten, and we all agreed on six. It was good food, good menu, good atmosphere. We had to actually ask to get a water refill, and although the waitress pretty much ignored us, we could see four or five waitresses just standing around. Oh, and the head chef had no clue what etiquette meant, or what gluten was.

I would recommend it to a friend, but I would recommend they don't get their hopes all up.