Even being under the weather, today was a great day. Before leaving for my lunch with the birthday boy, I found a special package on my doorstep. Chobani!

I had to dig through a lot of packing peanuts to get to the treasure – 12 containers in a variety of flavors of Chobani Greek yogurt. I am an upcoming featured blogger for their blog, so they sent me some yogurt to play around with for holiday treats. Exciting! And yummy!

Time for lunch. I adore Groupon. Not only do I adore Groupon for the deals they share, but also for helping expose me to new restaurants. A lot of places they feature are fairly local, yet small enough to where I haven’t heard of them before. We visited such a place today for Peter’s birthday lunch - The Kozmo Gastro Pub.

They had a wide variety of options on the menu. Quite a few of the appetizers sounded really tasty to me. However, Peter was the birthday boy and he did not want hummus or parmesan truffle mushrooms, which I gladly would have split if dining with my sister – or one of you who I’m sure those sound good to as well.

Instead, the birthday boy went for classic fish and chips. And I chose a slight twist on a classic – a horseradish chicken salad sandwich, with a delicious side salad.

Any place that serves a side salad consisting of more than iceberg lettuce, carrot shavings, and croutons gets a gold star in my book. I devoured my lunch. The. Entire. Thing.

The last hidden treasure of the day is the best one of all. My man. I cannot fathom life without him. Kind of crazy to think because 5 years ago I was listing off the qualities that would make me even consider marriage…and believing that man did not exist. So, clearly I would never get married. Funny how things work out.

Peter, on your birthday I want to thank you for the wonderful man you are. A man with values and a strong faith, who works with me as a team to build each other up into the people God created us to be. A family man who puts his family above all else, no matter what. A determined man who works hard to care for and provide for his family and can take pride in his quality work. A man with just as quirky and goofy a sense of humor as my own. A man with the utmost patience when I’m moody and cranky and pregnant. Or just having one of those days outside of pregnancy. A man who will happily stand beside me and cheer me on with any dream or goal I hope to pursue. A man who will try new things, because he recognizes what they mean to me. A man who will care for his achy and sick wife, even though its his birthday. A man who gives of himself and loves fully. I love you, Peter. Thank you for being you and happy birthday!

• What qualities do you expect from someone as a significant other?
• What are your favorite things to do with yogurt?

Evening, friends! I like what a lot of you mentioned in response to my last post about getting thoughts out on paper to help not over-thinking about them at night. I could benefit from that since my mind goes into overdrive if I don’t fall back asleep within 15 minutes. Also, I want to say that what I mentioned about HLS is not definitive. It was only through correspondence with Caitlin. She mentioned it wouldn't be likely and not to depend on it. I imagine things could change, so please don't go spreading word that I told you there will be no HLS or anything like that. Kay?

But, you know something? None of my lists nor my lack of sleep nor blog conferences feel very consequential right now. We got news earlier that Peter’s grandmother is not doing very well. She has been pretty ill for awhile now, but things apparently took a turn for the worse today as her kidneys started failing, among other issues. While I don’t know his grandmother very well, it pains me to see Peter’s hurt and to consider that M has never had the chance to meet her. They live in New York and we never made it up there to visit. It reminds me of how short life truly is and that we really can’t take things for granted. Cliché, but the truth.

I adore that poster. I want one for my refrigerator. For the remainder of my post, I will stick with the Q + A. I went through and picked out one of the more fun ones to pick up the mood of the afternoon.

How did you and your husband meet? What did you do on your first date?

It all started at a wine night with a group of girlfriends. I felt frustrated by men, namely the on/off ex of 8 years, which led to me going off to my friend wondering why she would want to get married. I actually expected to go through life in a never-ending drama cycle with the ex. I vowed that I never wanted to get married because the only man I would marry couldn’t exist. I then proceeded to list out the many qualities of the only man I would consider marrying trying to prove my point. My other friend turned to me and said “I KNOW HIM!!” From that point on she felt determined we were perfect for each other and strategized ways to get us to meet. Here’s a picture from the night that started it all…

For her 23rd birthday party, she knew I would be there ready to go out for a night on the town. I later learned she begged Peter over the phone to come out with us, even going so far as to fake cry. The rest of the guests were all coupled off, so Peter & I ended up hanging out together most of the night. The rest is history.

We went on our first date the following week. Spent the entire next few weekends together doing things like hikes, the pool, dinners, and movies. Then, I went to Europe for 2 months. I left thinking, eh this thing is no big deal mainly as a defense mechanism because I thought it was too good to be true. About halfway through my trip, I missed him like CRAZY and really started to fall hard. He felt the same way. We said “I love you” the day after I got back, were engaged three months after that, and married only 13 months after meeting. And I wouldn’t change a thing. This is from the day M was born…

Wow. That did make me feel a lot better. I’m all smiley now. 🙂 I hope you all have a wonderful night!

• Have you ever been set up or on a blind date? Or give me a happy love story or a dating horror story if not.
• Don’t forget to ASK ME ANYTHING if you want to get a question answered for the November Q + A series!