Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In

Sorry for the Mafioso title; Paul and I recently started watching The Sopranos for the first time…the day BEFORE James Gandolfini died.

It’s a symptom of your early 30s (in my part of the country anyway): The wedding invitations gradually stop showing and baby shower invitations start picking up. In fact, this year, Paul and I were invited to only two weddings. On May 19th, my friend Jenn married her longtime love, Karina, and then, for the first time in nine years, Paul and I didn’t have a single engaged friend. Continue reading

How Meeting Other Couples Is Just Like Meeting Other Singles

Who couldn't make friends in this serene setting?!

Paul and I were lucky enough to get away for our five-year anniversary a few weeks ago (and by lucky I mean Paul separated his shoulder 96 hours before our trip and we got the Dr.’s OK to still go fewer than 24 hours before), and we wound up staying at a hotel with many other couples around our age. While I didn’t expect our vacation to revolve around making friends, the opportunity to do so became very appealing. Continue reading

Can You Really Ever Spend Too Much Time with Your Spouse?

That's Bert dancing on the left. Just kidding; he wasn't invited to this happy hour.

The other day, like many other Thursday nights, Paul and I went to a bar with our friends. It just so happens that all of those friends are Paul’s coworkers. Which led one of his colleagues, with whom we’re not buddies and to whom we weren’t talking, to accuse Paul of the following. Continue reading

Attention Married People: Don’t Pose for a Photo Like THIS

This past Friday, Paul went to his friend’s birthday party. I wasn’t feeling great (I’ll blame the free buffet at the Chinese New Year celebration in our apartment complex), so I stayed in. A pal of the birthday boy went around taking pictures of the revelers, including this unfortunate one of my husband. Continue reading

I Married My Middle-School Bully

Everyone who knew me at Paulo Intermediate School knew at least two things about me: that I had big teeth (still do) and that I had a big crush on my classmate, Paul. Telling everyone I encountered about the object of my affection embarrassed Paul; he’d gone through physical puberty before his brain had a chance to catch up. In retaliation for the humiliation, and probably in an effort to inspire me to move on to the next poor, unsuspecting sixth-grader, Paul teased me mercilessly. Continue reading

The Absolute Silliest Reasons for Which I’ve Gotten Mad at My Husband

I don’t enjoy being angry. I much prefer to talk about butterflies and sing. Truly. But when you’re with someone for 17 years, you’re bound to get mad about something. I try to limit livid responses to only Paul’s most abhorrent actions. Still, on occasion, I’ve become furious over admittedly stupid things. Here are the highlights. Continue reading

Lamenting the “No Spouses” Rule for Company Holiday Parties

Last week, I asked one of Paul’s co-workers what she’s wearing to their company’s semi-formal holiday party. She went on to describe two beautiful-sounding options and asked me to help her choose. Then, she asked what I was wearing to the event. “Oh, I’m not invited,” I said sadly. Shock crossed her face. Here’s why I suspect that happened. Continue reading

Marriage First: Working from Home Together

I don’t know if you heard, but there was this hurricane called Sandy in the Northeast earlier this week. Paul and I were two of the extremely lucky ones in New York–no damage to our home or car and we haven’t lost power. (But of course, we’re devastated by the images of destruction in our hometown of Staten Island and the other affected areas.) The storm had an unexpected side effect: forcing us both to do our separate jobs in our not-huge apartment for a few days (and counting), which made me realize some surprising things. Continue reading