Birthday Blues

Being in an LDR is difficult on a regular day, but it is even harder on special occasions. Out of 3 birthdays that we have been together, my boyfriend has only spent one with me and I one with him. My birthday always falls around finals so we can’t spend it together; and his is near spring break, but our spring breaks were during different weeks.

This last round of birthdays was bittersweet because on the one hand it’s sad that we aren’t together on our most special day of the year, but on the other hand, it’s good that this is the last birthday we will spend apart.

I wanted to do an April Fool’s prank since his birthday is on April 1st but then he said it was going to be a sad birthday. So I dedicated myself to cheering him up instead of pranking him.

I remembered a few months ago he mentioned he wanted an ice cream cake so I enlisted his sister to pick up the cake on his birthday.

*LDR Tip: Make friends with his parents/siblings/friends! They can be accomplices when you are planning surprises! His sister, Ivonne, always helps me out!

I bought him a vanilla cake with cookies ‘n cream ice cream cake from Baskin Robins.  It was a big hit with his family!

Then, a special package arrived in the mail! I got him an iHome because he needed an alarm clock (he is often late to work). Lol. It was a practical gift.

I asked him if the cake and the present made him happy, and he said yes, but it kind of made him miss me more.

I can’t wait to plan birthday parties and surprises once we live together!

Love Is The Best Medicine

There is nothing worse than not being able to be there for your partner when they need you, like when they are sick. It feels even crappier when you are the one that got them sick then had to leave. Which happened to me one time; I got sick on our trip to Disneyland, and by the time I had to leave for school, he had gotten sick.

I felt guilty and I wished I could’ve been there to take care of him since it was my fault he got sick in the first place. So I thought a care package was the next best thing. This is an all-inclusive-guarenteed-to-make-you-feel-better-asap “Get-Well Soon” care package.

Here are essential items to include:

• Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
• Airborne or Emergen -C
• Chapstick or Carmex
• Box of tissues
• Pocket-sized tissue packets (to blow your nose on the go)
• Hand sanitizer
• Mug
• Halls
• Tea
• Honey (mixed with hot water and a lemon soothes the throat)
• Pleated face mask (this one is kinda more of a joke, but hey it can help prevent the spread of germs)

I should’ve have made a cute card to go along with it but I ended up writing a short note instead. After all, it’s the thought that counts and he loved the package. You should have one of these ready to ship so that as soon as your S.O. starts feeling sick, you can ship it and it will get there by the time their cold is in full gear.

What would you add to a “Get Well Soon” care package for your S.O.?

Love Struck

I’ll admit, Valentine’s day can be a cheesy-Hallmark-holiday. Flowers and candy are ridiculously overpriced during this season and getting reservations at nice restaurants is a nightmare. People should show their affection and love towards one another every day of the year.  However, Valentine’s day is a reminder for everyone to show their significant others how much they are loved. It doesn’t have to be about the money or buying a huge teddy bear. Make your own card, make your own chocolate covered strawberries and show your love in your own special way.

Valentine’s Day 2013

Unfortunately, on our first Valentine’s Day together we spent it 500 miles apart. However, he still made me feel special. He sent me my absolutely favorite chocolate in the world, Ghirardelli milk chocolate with caramel filling, a love letter, AND a single red rose. It wasn’t a real rose, it was an artificial one. In the love letter he wrote:

 

My love for you will end when this rose withers and its petals fall off and after that for another thousand years.

In other words, he was telling me his love for me would be eternal. I though that was the most romantic thing in the world! It was without a doubt the best valentine’s day present ever. Even though we couldn’t spend the day together, I still felt loved. Luckily, we spent the weekend after with each other. He came to visit me and this is the surprise I had for him waiting in my dorm. The very first picture we ever took together framed, homemade chocolate covered strawberries, and hershey kisses in the shape of the number six in honor of our 6 month anniversary.

Valentine’s Day 2014

I decided to continue with the tradition of giving him a framed picture of us. I had this frame custom made on Etsy. I flew down for the weekend since it was a 3-day weekend (President’s Day holiday). Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to print a picture. But as fate would have it, that night when we had dinner at Benihanas they were taking pictures! The picture they gave us is a little too big so I have to crop it to make it fit.

Valentine’s Day 2015

This past Valentine’s day was amazing for two reasons. First, I was fortunate enough to be able to fly down for the 3-day weekend and spend it with Aaron. We had an amazing time together. We ate dinner at P.F. Chang’s, drank delicious wine, had dessert with chai lattes and he got me flowers! He is the best! Honestly, my favorite part was just taking to each other about post-graduation plans. I really miss him so much when we are apart. But what gets us through is knowing that the distance ends in May! No more LDR for us! I wanted to get him another frame but got super busy up with school. Hopefully I can find one and put a picture of us from this year. I gave him my heart; lol literally and a heart-shaped box with heart chocolates, a heart bookmark, and a tiny knitted heart. 

Secondly, I was able to meet my sisters newborn baby! He was born the day after I left San Diego to start my last semester! I had to wait three weeks to meet baby Leo! He is so cute and is honestly the best behaved baby ever! I love him so much! Can’t wait to spend more time with him once I move back home! How cute is he! This baby cupid definitely made me fall in love. 

One Day Closer

LDRs are extremely difficult but what gets most people through it (other than being in love) is that it is a TEMPORARY situation. Knowing the date when the distance ends helps so much. For us, that date comes at the end of May of this year after my college graduation!

I am always counting down the days until I see my boyfriend again, I even have an app on my phone called “Dream Days” that does it for me! 18 more days!

I’ve done countdown-themed gifts in the past, like the “A Kiss for Every Day We Spend Apart” post. So when I saw this shirt I loved it!

I found this cute little Etsy shop “At Ease Design” which caters to a military crowd. Since military relationships are LDRs some of their items fits perfectly for regular LDRs. This “One Day Closer” tank was $27 which is kind of pricy for a basic tank top but that’s the price I pay for being lazy and not making my own!

This is now one of my favorite shirts because it reminds me I am one day closer to seeing Aaron and one day closer to ending the distance!

I’d love to see any LDR shirts anyone has!

LDR Humor

Long-Distance Relationships are serious work, but here are a few silly LDR jokes that will hopefully put a smile on your face!

This reminded me of the movie “Dear John” when he tells her “No matter where you are in the world, the moon is never bigger than your thumb”. LOL.

Life doesn’t stop while you’re apart, but everyone counts down the days until they are reunited with their LDR sweetheart.

This is my favorite!!! I saw it online and decided to try it on Aaron. I’m not sure whether this was meant to be a LDR  joke, but it resonated with me. It is a cruel and unusual punishment to live without your soul mate. But all LDR’s have an end, and if you’re lucky it ends with you living together forever.

Here are a few more for your entertainment!

Have any LDR jokes to share???

I’m Thankful for…

Even though Thanksgiving was two days ago, I’m still posting this because today is as good as any day to give thanks.

Thanksgiving might be a controversial holiday given its history, but I like the idea of dedicating a day to remember all that I have to be thankful for.

(I made Aaron a card with this turkey on the front. I was going to go with the “hand turkey” card but I though that would a little too kid-ish. lol)

 

Here are 10 things in my long-distance relationship that I am thankful for:

1. Having met you
2. That we decided to give our relationship a chance and try long-distance (because although the distance has been difficult, it has made me love and appreciate you more)
3. Only being 495 miles away (it’s better than 496 miles)
4. Being in the same time zone (because we don’t have that added obstacle in our relationship)
5. Not having a large body of water/ocean in between us
6. That we are able to drive to each other in case of an emergency
7. That we are privileged enough to see each other at least once a month
8. That we live in the same state/country
9. That we are able to communicate (text) with each other all day
10. That I was able to spend Thanksgiving with you ❤

What about your LDR are you thankful for?

Tell Me About It, Stud.

Stud muffin that is, lol. The movie “Grease” has nothing to do with this post other than the card make me think of this scene at the end of the movie. During my free time I like to browse Etsy for ideas. When looking for cute cards I found this one! I don’t usually call Aaron my “stud muffin” but it sounds cute!

Of course I made the card myself. I traced the muffin and colored it with color pencils. I didn’t have time to make the muffin myself so I bought one instead. I tried to look for the pre-package kind since I thought it would last longer but couldn’t find one. Besides, with USPS express mail, it only takes two days to get to San Diego from Berkeley.

BTW, I think “Sandy and Danny” would make a cute couples costume for Halloween! Hopefully one year we can dress up as them!

You’re Like a Bookend, You Hold Me Up

I know I usually post stuff I do for my boyfriend, but it was “Treat ‘Yo Self” time. I undertook a DIY project for myself. I needed bookends for the books I’m reading this semester that kept falling over on my desk. I began by looking on Etsy (as always) for bookends for my desk. I was going to buy seashell bookends but then this cute one popped up.

Boy & Girl Bookends

If there were “official LDR bookends”, this one would be it! They cost about $24; I didn’t want to spend that much money on bookends when I didn’t love every aspect of them. So I decided to make them myself.

I searched online for similar silhouettes and found this one that I liked the most. Again, I didn’t love every aspect of it so I decided to combine the two images.

I needed to buy the supplies to make bookends on my own; it was surprisingly cheap. Each bookend was $2 (total of $4). And then I bought two pens, a sharpie for tracing the details and a paint-based pen for filling in the silhouette. The pens cost about $5 total. So all in all, this DIY Bookends project cost me less than $10!

As you all know, I am artistically challenged, but I did my best tracing and combining the two images to make the perfect silhouette. This was my original idea: a guy and girl simply reading back to back. But then my wonderful roommate, Joseline (who I regularly ask for advice on all things on my blog) suggested I add a tree in between. And I couldn’t simply have a tree without a heart with out initials carved in it! So I added that!

Then I came into a slight logistical problem. The details I was able to draw on paper were hard to cut out. So I asked my friend to draw the image free-hand on the bookends themselves.

Once my friend drew the images on the wood, I traced it with the black sharpie.

Next, I colored in the silhouettes with the paint-based pen.

The last step was tracing the tree with the paint-based pen. Wa-lah! Here is the finished product!

When I started putting together this post, I was searching for inspiration for the title. Unfortunately, most of the poems about bookends were sad; totally understandable since the word has “end” in it. Finally, I came across this poem entitled “Bookends” by Gill Winston Spooner and it had a happy tone; it was about family, specifically parents. Anyways, I changed the last stanza to fit our situation. Here is my version:

we’ll be bookends, too.
you can be on the left
i’ll be on the right
strong, beautiful bookends we’ll be.

How We Met

I’m not sure that I have told you all how we met. Like in HIMYM, there are a lot of little things that led to us meeting. I’ll try to keep it short, lol.

Back in the summer of 2007, my sisters’ enrolled their kids in swim lessons and thought I should take some classes too since I didn’t know how to swim. So I enrolled and learned to swim. I was not that bad, so the instructors told me to try out for the recreational swim team, and so I did. I made it on to the team and competed a little.

In March 2008, when swim season came around at my high school I decided to try out as well. I made it on the team. Then one day they announced the Aquatics Career Education, a program to train people to be certified lifeguards. I didn’t meet the age requirement(16 years old) but they still let me take the class. I passed the class and became a certified lifeguard. I was still too young to work for the city so I found a lifeguarding job at community pool.

In April of 2009, with some work experience under my belt and now a year older, I went to the hiring hall to be a city lifeguard. I got the job! My first choice was the pool where I learned to swim (Memorial), and my second choice was the pool closest to my high school, Bud Kearns pool (BK). Fortunately, I didn’t get my first choice; I was hired at Bud Kearns.

It was mid-May when I went Memorial pool to tell the Pool Manager the great news when she told me someone from BK pool was working there right now. Then this stud walks in; he had just gotten out of the pool. Then the manager introduced us. As you probably guessed, that stud was Aaron.

Here are pictures of us from the summer we met:

Bud Kearns Pool 2009

Bud Kearns Pool 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was easy…all I had to do was take those swimming lessons, learn how to swim, then join the recreational swim team. Then join my high school swim team and take the lifeguarding certification classes, pass the class and get the job at the community pool to get work experience and get hired at Bud Kearns pool and meet Aaron.

How did you and your sweetheart meet?!

Happy Halloween!

Thankfully this is the last Halloween that we are apart, so I’m looking forward to our couples halloween costumes in the years to come!

Here is a spooky treat that I sent my boo this halloween:

I bought a little jar from the Target $1 section and filled it with candy corn! But you can fill it with any halloween themed candy! Then, I painted on a little ghost and outlined it with a black sharpie. 

And I made this scary ghost card based on the drawings we exchanged. You can read more about it here. I traced the ghost and paint it with water colors!