Who knew what a cup of coffee would bring?

Today, Adam and I are celebrating our one-year anniversary. It has been an amazing year and we are looking forward to many more amazing years to come. Here is how it all started:

After getting out of a long-term relationship, I took some time for myself and decided not to date. I had just bought a new house and I was readjusting to the single life. After being single for a while, I decided to dabble in on line dating, as the dating pool for professionals is small. Truth be told, I am still a little embarrassed that I used online dating but I’m getting over that. One night during an intoxicated evening, my roommate and I joined OkCupid.com. We built profiles and starting answering the millions of questions they ask. About a week or so after, we cancelled our accounts thinking how silly it was to open one in the first place. About a month or so later, after dates with ‘eccentric’ individuals from other online dating websites, I decided to reinstate my profile on OkCupid.com. It was a free site, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try again. I signed up and looked at people whom the site seemed to think I was compatible with to meet. Adam was my top match, and I was one of Adam’s top matches. After a few days online, I read through Adam’s profile to see who this guy was. His profile was very sincere and honest. I was immediately drawn to the fact that he worked in a similar profession as I do.

So I made the initial contact via email. We traded emails back and forth for about a week until Adam finally asked to set a coffee date, which I agreed to. We met on Saturday, April 26th 2008 at 3pm for coffee at Allan Brothers on 5th Street. Of course, I arrived early, as I am one of those types. Adam was pretty close to on time. I was nervous and I could tell he was. We went inside to order drinks. I ordered first and waited for the pause for him to pick up the tab, but he didn’t. I paid, and then he bought his tea. (I mention this because it is a running joke that he didn’t buy me coffee on the first date. It doesn’t bother me, but some people think I should have dumped him then and there). With drinks in hand, we headed outside to sit in the sun. The conversation was good however a little awkward at times, as first dates often are. While in conversation, we looked at our watches and realized it was 7:00pm. We had been at coffee for four hours! At the end of the date, he asked for my phone number and asked if I was available early in the week for another date. I agreed, not being totally sure if we had more to talk about then just work. We left and went out separate ways. I went into the date with low expectations, but left feeling pretty positive.

The next day, I got a text message from Adam asking me over to his place for dinner the following night. I was thrilled! I was amazed that it didn’t take him that long to contact me…as some guys have ‘rules’ about calling a girl after a first date. That Monday, I headed over to Adam’s apartment with a bottle of wine. After going to the wrong apartment, I found my bearings and ended up at Adam’s place. He had prepared bread with balsamic, vinegar and garlic, honey mustard chicken, pesto ravioli and a salad. We ate dinner and drank wine as we talked the evening away. We were both quite relaxed, and the conversation was good. After dinner, we cuddled on the couch and watched a movie. After the movie, it was time to call it quits, as I had to work the next day. As I turned to leave, we had our first kiss…although it was an awkward kiss. I jumped in the car and headed home with a huge smile on my face.

After spending the evening with Adam, I knew that he was someone special; I didn’t know quite yet just how special he was. Throughout the next few weeks we only saw each other a few times per week, as our work schedules made it hard for us to spend lots of time together. Very quickly a few nights turned into four or five nights, and soon we were making ourselves have one night apart to keep our ‘me’ times. In the first few months, we met each other’s family who invited us in with open arms. In early August 2008, we said “I love you” at a romantic weekend at the beach. In November of 2008, Adam moved in with me and our relationship moved to the next level.

Today, I am extremely happy to have found someone as genuine, caring, honest, communicative, fun, goofy and intelligent as Adam. Words cannot describe how much I love him. Who would have thought that a simple coffee date would turn into meeting the most amazing partner ever?

I love you Adam!

We spent the morning reshaping the front yard. We have added more to the flower bed in front of our bedroom, added an additional flower bed along our sidewalk accented with a curve, and Adam attacked the hedge. The front yard is finally reshaped. Now we need add some plants/flowers and try to revive the grass. We will attack the back yard next weekend. And will probably be planning a yard work party on Saturday…so those of you who live close by may be asked to help. But don’t worry, workers will be paid in food and beer!

We have embarked on a ‘yard beautification’ plan to fix up our yard. The previous owners of the house did not maintain the yard very well, so Adam and I are fixing it up. I must admit that Adam is doing most of the back breaking hard labor…but for some reason he is enjoying it! Not sure why, but I am not going to ask questions. When we moved into together, we divided the house…my main responsibility would be to maintain the inside of house and Adam’s responsibility would be to maintain the outside of the house. Of course we would always help each other out! Thus the yard has become Adam’s main project with my loving support and labor as well.

Accomplishments so far…
-Hedge trimmed
-Back lawn has been reshaped
-Front lawn is in process of being reshaped
-Dying plants are being removed

We still have a lot more to do, and some things we will have to wait on and see as we progress through this project. We want to add more space to plant flowers, tress and bushes in the fornt and back, so we are doing away with lots of the grass. We also want to build a small garden with raised boxes for herbs and vegetables. And who knows what else may come out of this project? You can see our progress through pictures here.

I have a feeling, there will be many more trips to Jerry’s and garden stores in the next month!

While at Black Butte, we went into Sisters (about 10 miles from Black Butte Ranch) to have dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us, Jen’s Garden. In looking at the menu, I knew it would be a different type of food then what I would normally eat and the price was much more than I would pay for a meal on a regular basis. However, treating yourself once in a while is good too. We decided that we would do the full five course meal with the wine flight (a half glass of wine with every course). The wine was wonderful and the food was fabulous. We ended up splitting everything the courses. Here was our menu:

First Course
Fried Oysters and Warm Laura Chenel Goat Cheese over Spinach Chiffonade and Smoky Tomato Coulis
Shittake and Crimini Mushroom Risotto Fritter Stuffed with Cambozola and Tarragon Beurre
Wine: Silvan Ridge ‘Vioginer’

Fish Course
Asparagus and Pear Soup with Lavender Scented Prawns and Julienne of Green Apple
Wine: LaVelle ‘Pinot Gris’

Main Course
Grilled Duck Breast with Blueberry-Lavender Demi over Guyere Cheese and Chive Mashers
Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Green Peppercorn Demi over a Spanish Chorizo and Applewood Smoked Bacon Cassoulet
Wine: Goose Ridge “Syrah-Cabernet-Merlot’

Salad Course
Mixed Greens with Dijon Vinaigrette, Shaved Grana Padano, and Filo Crouton
Wine: Van Duzer ‘Pinor Noir”

Dessert
Date-Nut Tart with Belgian Chocolate Ganache
Lemon Panna Cotta with Mixed Berry Compote
Wine: Quandy ‘Electra’ Orange Muscat

If you are ever in Sisters, OR and need a fabulous place to eat (and you can afford it), check out Jen’s Garden! I highly recommend it.

This past weekend, we spent the long weekend at Black Butte. Obviously it is our favorite local vacation spot mainly because we can stay for free! We drove out Thursday afternoon with no set plans for the weekend. On Thursday, we went out to pizza and relaxed at the house. On Friday, we headed out to Bend for some shopping at the Old Mill District and the Bend Outlet Mall (which is no comparison to the stores in Woodburn). For dinner, we went out to a nice gourmet dinner…something we rarely do. The meal was amazing! Saturday we went swimming, bike riding, watched movies and was generally pretty lazy, which was fine by us.

The Black Butte house is about to be remodeled so we won’t get a chance to head out there much in the next few months. I am crossing my fingers that by August we can take a week off and enjoy the newly remodeled house. Ginger helped with the ground breaking!

Over Easter Weekend, we did the ‘family visit weekend’ through Portland and Salem. On Saturday, Adam’s dad turned 60 years old…the young buck. So as Adam headed off to enjoy some ‘man time’, I participated in one of his mom’s art classes and made a collage. Who knew that I could survive an art class! Once we gathered back together, we headed out to dinner at the best Mexican restaurant ever…La Hacienda. I have never had better fajitas than the ones they make there and their homemade tortillas are unbelievably good. After a yummy dinner, we headed back for presents and cake.

We had a delicious Sunday breakfast then Adam’s mom prepared an Easter egg hunt for us. It was like being a kid again. Deanna painted us two beautiful pictures for our kitchen. Our next endeavor was shopping in Woodburn. Who would have thought the outlets was so busy on Easter? We continued onto Portland in the afternoon. We spent some time with my parents, and then headed over for the family Easter gathering. My family likes to have large family gatherings at least four times a year. It’s always fun to see everyone, but after family gatherings of 20+ people, it can get tiring. The best part is seeing how fast the little ones grow.

This month, I am adding a new job to my repertoire….track coach. Starting next week, I am coaching 4th and 5th grade track with two other teachers after school. I have coached soccer in the past, but this is my first attempt at track coaching. To be honest, I don’t know much about track coaching, but I feel like I know enough to work with elementary kids. My soccer background helps out with the basic conditioning/running part, and my teaching/coaching experience helps with working with kids. So who knows what this new endeavor will bring, but I am looking forward to learning something new and different. Practices start on Monday, so we will see how I feel at the end of the next week!