a sigh of relief and a heart full of love...

i woke up this morning breathing a sigh of relief, that i am sure was echoed by every other 2nd year dental student's wife here in pittsburgh - the semester is FINALLY over! on friday they finished an absolutely grueling semester as they took the last of their 11 final exams, making today the first day in almost a month that joe won't be studying all day and into the wee hours of the morning. for one whole week he won't have to pick up a book at all.



that brings me to my heart full of love....

on the first day in a long time that joe has off school, the first day he has to relax with no homework or lab work, what does he do? he picks up my shift at Costco so i can have the day to rest. he offers to work an extra shift in my place, at a job where he actually gets called sample lady by parents telling there child to, "say thanks to the nice sample lady" right before they look up and see his five o'clock shadow and his stunning jaw line and then they say " uuhhh, oh, i, thanks" and walk off. i tried to protest but he wouldn't hear of it. it didn't matter what i said, he insisted that he work my shift so i could have a day off. he kissed me goodbye and whispered in my ear that he left a list of chores for me in the kitchen. i went in to find this on the table...




i literally laughed out loud - and then my heart melted. to explain the list a little: #1. when i am not at work or school and actually have time at home, i am always feeling like i should be cooking, cleaning etc. you know, the good things to get done around the house. so if i ever do get a day when i can spend it at home i don't really relax, hence his orders to do NOTHING! #2. i LOVE english movies, especially love stories, but really most movies set in the victorian era will do, i.e. sense and sensibility, emma, wives and daughters, persuasion...i could go on and on. they usually make me cry, even if i have seen them a hundred times and i love it. #3. sleeping and taking naps ranks pretty high up on my "top five favorite things to do in the whole world" list. #4. lately i have had trouble eating food that has 57 ingredients, of which all but three are hard to pronounce and i am pretty sure were made in a beaker instead of grown in the ground. joe jokes with me that i am just prejudice against "ingredients", and i can get a little obsessed with finding things to eat that only contain a few "ingredients". and of course all the food that has a million "ingredients" tastes really good and is fun for the taste buds - so with number four he is telling me to relax, and today, eat something that tastes good without worrying about what's in it. #5. i love wine, i am happy when i drink it. i love the smell, the color and the taste. and i guess today i have to open a bottle - i mean, if it's a job on a list, waiting to be crossed off, it's a pretty important thing to do - don't you think?:)

i know i gush about joe - ALOT, maybe even to the point of annoying cheesyness. if i weren't me, there is the chance that i might be annoyed with me and how in love i am with him, how i swoon and try out different nicknames, but I CAN'T HELP IT! i seriously have never experienced love like this before, and it just keeps getting bigger and deeper. when i need someone the most he is the one that's there for me, and he is there in the most perfectly caring, romantic way. when i am lost he is the one who is standing in front of me smiling, saying it's going to be ok. when i am in denial he is the one to show me the hard truth, and he's able to say it in a gentle way that my stubborn head can hear. he sees who i really am and still loves me. plus he is handsome, smart, funny and smells really good. so i'm sorry if it might be annoying that every other post it get schmoopy about joe but I CAN'T HELP IT! :)