I Want His babies

You know how you and your spouse set up a "5 year plan" until you think you will be ready to have children? Well that was our plan, it's been all along and it isn't changing any time soon. *Hint hint* I'm not preggers. But I have to tell you about something that just melted my heart into pieces and, as PW would say "I died." So here's the scenario. My amazing husband and I were hanging out this weekend with some dear close friends of ours (they did our marriage counseling and are pretty much the main reason we are as awesome as we are...really it's by association.) Anyways, they have these four marvelous girls, yes four...all under the ages of 12, four girls, two parents, one house and us. This is our birth control...except for this last trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I have to tell you that I'm going to be writing a little blog about the oldest Larsen daughter who is an amazing woman! Let's just say she puts anyone who ever wants to learn anything about school to shame because she just rocks. Pretty much. 

Anyways, so I was hanging out with Larsen ladies 1-3 when I was trying to figure out where Larsen lady #4 was. She is five, her birthday is the day before mine, she is the baby of the family and she steals my heart. We quote her often in the NM household. Anyways I had been snapping shots of the Larsen ladies #1-3 and went to find #4. And this is what I saw:

Can I have his babies now please? Oh my word, seriously, he was teaching her how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...which, by the way, he didn't know so he learned it on the spot for her. Ugh...I"m in love and my ovaries just flipped.
Ok..that is all I wanted to share with you. I promise to become much more dedicated to these blog posting, I have quite a bit to show you! Lovies.

6 Years for Realz!

So I have done lots of editing for my favorite newly engaged couple, but, first and foremost, I wanted to let you in on a new link of ours. Alas it is not the new website yet, but that is in the deep throws of development and hopefully will arise glorious and beautiful very soon!

BUT seriously, the site I wanted to show you was our new Flickr account because I just don't want to inundate my whole blog with so many pictures in a smaller format so you can't really see them. So you can check the full M & T album out at here. It is our new Flickr account. Apparently I had this one from way back when which has our favorite wedding and honeymoon pictures (apparently way back when was less than two years ago) and then I deleted my Yahoo! account. I tried to get back in so we could take that Url off so we could use it on our new Flickr account, but alas yet again...no such luck.

Now on to what really matters...my hubby and I. (Well for this post at least).

Today is our 6 year anniversary, not marriage but dating. We met way back when in Ecuador South America and since then we've been to Maine, Alabama and all the states in between and even some beyond, Malaysia, Spain (I was there vicariously), Chile (where my heart lies) and the Dominican Republic. We've lived in two locations since being married not to mention the handful with our respective roomies before we got married, we've been to lots of festivals, wasted lots of miles on our car, traveled to Chicago and back too many times to count and joined in the frequent miles club with Amtrak.

We've been in the biggest fights with each other, with others, with ourselves. We've been to concerts, pubs, restaurants, parks, parking lots ;-), beaches, mountains, churches, friend's homes whew..we've been every where and back again (Thank you Bilbo).

I intend to write our story on here at some point. It will be a chapter by chapter deal (copying PW is what I do, she is my blogging role model). There is so much to put in there, so many stories, feelings, conversations that it will take a while and, to my great demise, I am way to detail oriented when telling stories.

*One time Renaissance Man asked me to write out how he proposed to me and it took over three pages. He made me get it into 3 paragraphs. It wasn't as good as the original. *

Anyways, I just think back on how many years we've dated and how we're going on two years of marriage and it's just flown by. Life is ever changing for us. We've been in some what of a stagnant place recently with our current location but from it we've learned patience, faith and trust. We've had time to grow with each other and spend quality time with each other.

I know many couples who in the first several years, if not over the course of their whole marriage, they've only been separated a few times by work trips, tours, etc. But in our relationship RM is on the road several weeks most months, and when he's not gone for weeks he'll be gone for a few weekends. So we've had the torture of separation but the ecstasy of reunion. That feeling, when he walks in the door even if I haven't seen him for 4 days, is just the best. He is SO HOT!

Learning to take part of my alone time as time for me rather than time for self pity and loneliness has been vital to getting through those times. Which will be a whole blog unto itself.

But all this to say, the man I fell in love with 6 years ago and married almost 2 years ago, is still stealing my heart away each day.

Well, I could write a novel more but I will stop here b/c I'm sure many of you are just about the hurl. Thanks Renaissance man for picking me. *He would say "I didn't pick you, we were predestined to be together ;-)*

A Few More

Well I have a few more pics done. They are pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself. Photography is just so much easier when you have a super attractive couple to help! So here you go!

This was taken at the Civil Court.

The joys of the Citygarden

For real, this couple is so sexy!

And of course the ring!

The colors are a little off b/c I manipulated them for web, but the couple will have the originals and hopefully they like them. I'll probably put the pics up on Facebook but I know the colors will not be completely attuned.

Oh well. I hope you like!

Miranda & Troy

So this adorable awesome amazing couple got engaged yesterday...and I took pics of them today. AWESOME! It was totally not planned at all and just spontaneously worked out and I got over 1,000 pics for my first ever official shoot!

I'm totally pumped and stoked and excited and nervous and encouraged and well...you get the drift.

So I couldn't wait and did a quick edit on a picture that so far is my most favorite of my 100 favorite (I couldn't choose just 25 for realz!)

They are planning on getting married this summer! So they are getting really close to the date but it's going to be beautiful and they are going to be such a great marriage!

Anyways, enjoy this picture and I promise more will come soon...potentially along with the big reveal of our new website which is looking SWEEEEET!

Cuban Coffee or Cortadito

(* Clarification from my wonderful Tia Lisi: Mom and I were just perusing your blog. just a couple of points of clarification. Cafe Bustelo is cuban coffee, not Italian. also we don't usually use condensed milk...we use either regular or evaporated. The "experts" make a "pumita" by steaming the milk so its nice and foamy. me alegro mucho que esten disfrutando las tacitas de cafe!*keep this in mind as you read :-) sorry!)

My husband is half Cuban. His grandparents are Cuban refugees who've been living in this free country for over 40 years. They had a wonderful life in Cuba: an hacienda, careers, extended family, earth that belonged to them and someday to their children. All that changed with the rising power of Fidel. They brought with them few possessions but many memories, traditions and stories.

A few months after Naphtali and I got married a package arrived for us...at the wrong house. Abuela had sent it to the only address of ours she had but we had recently moved. Thanks to sweet retired truck driver Lloyd, we got our packaged. Lloyd is one of those guys who has just a caring heart and happens to be married to the funniest polish woman I've ever known. Lloyd has an illegal CV radio in his house so he can listen to what the Cops are doing. :-) Anyway, Lloyd called us and told us we had a couple packages. One of which was from Abuela which held something invaluable.

She had given us a set of six espresso cups and saucers. She gave us this precious set which she had brought with her to the United States so many years ago when fleeing her mother land. Naph and I haven't used them since we got them because we've been too nervous but today that changed. We made cuban coffee and used these heirlooms. It was delightful!

My sweet man, who I think I shall dub my Rock Star from here on out (we'll toy around with the names..), will be making me a LEGIT blog at some point and we'll transfer all this over there along with, hopefully, a story about these cups..I have to get with Abuela on that one :-).

So in the meantime, if you want to know how to make a "cortadito", or "small one."Here is how you do it.

First a "cortadito" is espresso made with a percolator and then mixed with sweet and condensed milk...which we didn't have any of so we improvised. It was still ever so tasty.

You will need: a cuban coffee maker or percolator, good fine espresso coffee, water, patience, cups that make you feel nostalgic, sweet and condensed milk or 1/2 & 1/2 or whole milk which we used today, sugar-preferably as close to sugar in the raw that you can get (if you are using S & C milk you won't need sugar), and time to enjoy this piece of heaven.

First get a good espresso coffee. We are partial to Cafe Bustelo which is delicious and finely ground, 100% italian coffee

.

Then you pack it into the base of the percolator.

Fill the base of the percolator with water. It should have level marks on it so take it to the highest one if you want a good 4-6 small cups out of it.

Then put the coffee in the base of the percolator.

Screw the to of the percolator on (I know these are in depth but I just got a new camera and I am obsessed...bear with me :-))

Put the stove on Medium:

Let it percolate:

Isn't it beautiful?!

Get out your espresso cups:

Aren't they beautiful?

Add the milk:

And Sugar:

Pour the Coffee:

Then all you need to do next is marry a Cuban:

And enjoy!

New Pictures

I've been starting to take and edit pictures thanks to the help of my darling Husband who has been teaching me Photoshop. I'm really excited and I'm thinkin...I'm not to bad. We got a new pro pro camera. A Canon 20D. We're definitely satisfied right now with it though we can tell we'll definitely want to upgrade. This one has a few glithces and I've not had tons of time to check it out completely.

Anyway I got two great models, Troy and Miranda to let me shoot them after a little birthday celebration for him at a great sushi restaurant downtown. We went out until about midnight and I'm sure I would have had a ton more quality pictures of I knew how to shoot at night but practice makes perfect right?!

These first two, the first is the edited and the second is the original. Vice versa for the second set. My Cuban Rock Star is making me a special website so I can make it a little more fancy looking so for now I'm sorry you have to deal with my technological handicaps. :-)

Stateside Once More

Well we've been back over 24 hours now. Naphtali has just finished the show that we came back to the States for and we're trying to keep our attitudes in check. We've had a hard time transitioning back. We...well mainly I was pretty nervous about seeing the house as we had a little bit of drama with the girls that were taking care of it. But things are generally in order, a few broken things here and there which I guess is to be expected.
Our biggest adjustment has been our attitudes for sure. Now that I know this part of my husband's life, I want to have it forever. I've never had as hard of a time leaving a place as I did leaving Chile. When we arrived in Dallas for our connection flight one of the welcomers said "Welcome Home" and Naphtali just got so frustrated.
But we're starting to reconnect with friends, praying more about where we are suppose to be in life and know that God has a bigger plan than this. I'm trying to keep my tongue in check because I'm still having hard feelings towards these girls and gossip is rampant in this town.
So we're back, we're bitter, we're praying and hopefully we'll be thankful before the sun goes down.
Thanks for prayers!
Lys