bed vacancy

So for the first time since we've moved to Minnesota, Mike and I are spending two nights apart. In fact, this may be the most nights in a row we have spent apart since we got married.

Thus, I'm writing this post from my vacant (nearly) bed. No kitty, which we left in New Hampshire and I miss desperately. (Small plug: Adopt from your local humane society.. best animals who need forever homes.) No Mike who does hog the bed and serve as my own personal space heater. Funny, but lying here I remember when I was single and how I would lay in the middle of the bed, this bed in fact, and spread out and think how BIG my bed was. These days Mike and I have begun the debate of whether or not to get a king size or queen size bed because this full size is just not cutting it, according to Mike. You add one person to your life and wham! suddenly things that were perfectly sized are tiny, a pain or something you wish you could supersize.

The thing that keeps me thinking about this bed is this: It was my first "big girl" purchase after I got my first job. When I moved to my first place I slept on a blow up mattress for two months before I purchased it and spent many store hours looking for the right one. And I love it! It's exactly the kind of bed for me.. pillow top, firm but not rock hard, all my bed linens fit it, and it has fit in every apartment since. So letting it go is necessary I suppose, and I imagine we'll keep it just to have in our guest room but it won't be my bed anymore.

So tonight's question? Can I have visitation rights with it? Can I go for maybe a weekend visit? Probably a silly thing to be attached to but.. This is the thing I've slept with for seven years! Its cradled me when I was sick, was the location of a few, uhhh parties (aka sleepovers) and its the right one for me. I don't know if I'm ready to break it off even though rationally I know it's the right thing to do.

Dear Bed,
Mike made me do it.
Love,
Stacey

Surprise?

So my birthday is coming up this weekend, and it's a biggie..... Three Oh. Wow. But I'm embracing it, or at least thinking about embracing it.

Anyhow, this weekend my husband bought me our first "married" birthday present. The first gift giving occasion since we've gotten married and ergo, combined bank accounts. So the question was, how is a gift going to be a surprise if it comes from our account which he and I monitor pretty religiously. Not crazy with a penny by penny accounting but if a hundred bucks was gone, we'd notice.

So my husband's decision was to buy the gift with me present because in his opinion it was coming out of our account anyway and so why not just get it with me there? It was exactly what I wanted and it was on sale (romance?) and we were there, so... Now what? When you first dating, the gifts are amazing. My first birthday with my husband when we were dating he swept me away to an amazing hotel in Maine with champagne and shopping. It was wonderful. This year he got me TWO Le Creuset pots, which if you cook you know those are amazing and top of the line and I will never need them replaced. But.. surprise? No. I feel amazingly lucky that Mike thought to get me these and wanted to get me such a wonderful gift.

So we are left with the question, is a surprise that important or is it just great to have him remember your birthday? As a new to marriage lady, I'm just wondering how do you surprise your spouse with a gift anyway?