Remember that one time my husband and I tried to go camping and I almost died?
What about the time we tried to go camping and drove 4+ hours one way, only to be faced with rain and a cancelled race upon our arrival?
Or how about a month ago, when we had big plans for our 2nd wedding anniversary and I ended up getting an appendectomy instead?
Yeah, we haven’t had very good luck with the whole “weekend getaway” thing. But for some reason, we thought we were past it. We thought our losing streak was over. We had been through so much, surely we could plan a nice, romantic, belated anniversary celebration and everything would go according to plan. Right?
Wrong. Oh, how wrong.
Chelsea’s parents were gracious and generous and allowed us to reserve their beautiful vacation home, Bella Rose, for our anniversary weekend. Remember, we had originally reserved it for the weekend of November 20th, the closest weekend to our anniversary. But since I had surgery 48 hours before and couldn’t sneeze without screeching in pain, we thought it best to cancel. Then Chelsea’s parents were wonderful enough to let us reserve it AGAIN, which brings us to this past weekend.
Friday afternoon we both got off work a little early. I made glorious chocolate covered strawberries and packed all sorts of fun things for our trip. I ran to the store to get a bottle of champagne, and when I got home we exchanged gifts. Since the “traditional 2nd anniversary gift” is cotton, he bought me a nice pair of gloves. I’m not sure if they’re cotton, because they feel like suede with a faux fur lining, but I love them. He also wrote me a poem (on 25% cotton paper, which I didn’t know existed) and it made me cry. I got him a new shirt/sweater (and then forgot to take a picture because I am a terrible person) and a CD of 50 George Strait #1 hits. We love us some George. So far, so good.
We packed up our dogs (Aunt Chelsea & Uncle Stephen were going to keep them for the weekend) and left. Stopped for dinner, listened to some George, and arrived at Hurst Castle. Chatted with Stephen & Chelsea, kissed our dogs goodbye, and headed to Bella Rose. We had no idea what awaited us there.
Okay, I had a little bit of an idea. Chelsea had emailed me earlier that week, informing me that the downstairs heater wasn’t working. I purposely didn’t tell Michael because I didn’t want him to question whether or not we should go. I wanted a vacation! There was a fireplace! And a space heater! How cold could it be?!
Really. Freaking. Cold.
We arrived at Bella Rose and made our way inside. After gawking over the gorgeous house, we shivered and ran upstairs to turn on the heater, then back downstairs to turn on the space heater in the main room. Then we tried to turn on the fireplace. Michael tried. I read him the instructions. He tried again. I got down on my hands and knees and tried. We were both pushing buttons, turning knobs, and muttering under our breath. SURELY we were capable of turning on a gas fireplace. SURELY we’re not THAT incompetent.
After about half an hour of trying, we called Chelsea, who called her dad, who called us. Still no luck. Apparently he couldn’t make it work over the phone. Rats. We decided to huddle around the space heater, eat our strawberries and drink our champagne, and head upstairs for a nice hot bath in the jacuzzi tub.
When we made it upstairs, it was warm… ish. No worries. We turned on the space heater in the bathroom and in no time, it was nice and toasty. I turned on the water to draw the bath. It was ice-cold. Oh well, it just needed to run for a little while. I grew up in an old house and I know all about older plumbing. Sometimes you have to run the water for a long time before it gets hot. It’s fine, we had lots of time. We’re patient.
15 minutes later, it became very apparent the water wasn’t getting hot. It was 10pm. I texted Chelsea and she didn’t respond. So we went looking for the hot water heater.
Did I mention it was raining?
The hot water heater is in a room separate from the house; basically we walked outside in the dark torrents of rain to find it. Armed with a tiny flashlight. Again, down on the hands and knees… the pilot was out. Neither one of us know anything about hot water heaters, especially old gas hot water heaters, and since we feel that we’re too young to blow ourselves to pieces over a hot bath, we went back inside. By now I was about to have a nervous breakdown. Was it us? Are we bad luck? Why can’t we have a nice weekend? I was on the verge of tears.
And then my husband looked at me and said: “There is no where else I’d rather be right now and there’s no one else I’d rather be with.”
We grabbed the bottle of champagne, my laptop (and a season of How I Met Your Mother), and the space heater, and spent the rest of the evening camped out in the bedroom. And you know what? It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad at all.
We woke up the next morning and trekked downstairs. As we descended from the second story to the first, we felt the temperature dropping. WAY dropping. But hey, there’s no where else I’d rather be! I whipped up some fabulous breakfast burritos and Michael made a killer pot of coffee and we huddled together on the couch, watching “Flip This House” and cuddling. When it got to be a decent hour of the morning (we didn’t want to wake anyone on a Saturday), we called Chelsea. Yep, she called her dad, who called us. We told him about the hot water heater, and he told us, “It’s not dangerous, just go ahead and try to light it!” Obviously he doesn’t know our history, or he would have said “STAY THE HECK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE YOU LUNATICS,” but by now we were feeling pretty invincible, so we decided to give it a try.
Half an hour later, we gave up on the hot water heater. We decided that Bella Rose wanted to be alone for a while to sort out her thoughts & feelings. We told her we loved her very much and hoped she’d have us back after she had some time to think. We packed up to leave, but not before taking what will henceforth be known as The Coldest Showers Of Our Lives.
Me: “I’ll go first.”
Michael: “Okay. Just psyche yourself out. You have to tell yourself it’s not that cold.”
Me: “I’m going in.” ***insert shrieking like a banshee***
Michael: “Oh come on Lauren. It can’t be that cold. It’s mind over matter.”
Me: “I can’t do this!! It’s too cold!”
Michael: “You’re being dramatic.”
Me: “Just you wait!”
Now it was Michael’s turn.
Michael: “OK, I’m ready. Let’s do this!”
Me: “I’m warning you, it’s cold.”
Michael: “I don’t think you know how tough I am.” ***insert manly yelling… like a banshee***
Me: “See??”
Michael: “OH MY GOSH! IT’S SO COLD!”
Me: “Oh, honey! You just have to psyche yourself out! Tell yourself it’s not that cold!” ***pushes him directly under water, more yelling***
You get the picture. Let’s just say: I never want to take another cold shower again.
We left soon after and had a great burger at a local place (that had blue instruments hanging from the ceiling like in HIMYM!):
Then we saw a movie and met up with Stephen & Chelsea for dinner. While it was happening, the trip might have seemed like a flop. But as we were telling the story to our friends over a good meal, and we were nice and warm, we laughed and laughed and laughed some more.
Chelsea: “Stephen & I have decided… we’re never going on vacation with y’all.”
We stayed the night at Hurst Castle (they had heat! and hot water! oh the luxuries!) and as we were driving home this morning, we would glance at each other and start laughing. As if the Anniversary Appendectomy wasn’t enough, this will definitely be an anniversary we will never forget.
Post-Cold-Shower Photoshoot
~~~
Readers, here’s your big chance. In honor of our anniversary, I want to do a special edition of Q&A at Lauren From Texas: “Ask The Husband” (!!). Here are the rules:
- You can ask him anything. Leave your questions in the comments.
- Raunchy or inappropriate questions will not be answered (I know, I know – I’m no fun).
That’s it! I’m going to try to get him to do a vlog with me so it’ll be more like an interview… plus you can see how disgustingly cute we are together. HA! He’s still skeptical about this whole “blog thing,” but I’ll attempt to work my magic.
P.S. Check out Chelsea’s super-cute giveaway!
Comments on Bad luck charms.
From legalstyle:
lauren, your stories always make me laugh. perhaps it’s because bad things are consistently happening to you (which i wish were not the case), but they do make for good material, you’ve got to admit. (and then there’s the time you turned a tweet into a similarly excellent story. pioneer woman, hm.)
i’ve got mad love for your blog, girl.
but no questions for the husband! well, i don’t really know much about him other than he yells like a banshee when faced with cold water, but hmm, on that note, how about: what is your most memorable disaster? (you seem to have a lot of them, so he should have a few?) :)
xo!
From Cio:
Lauren, I LOVE your hair!!!! Your “bad luck” reminds me of Nicole, and all her crazy stories. You can’t make this stuff up! lol, Sorry your weekend didn’t go as planned (again), but I’m glad you got to spend it with the one you love. : )
Miguel: a)Will you come beat up my upstairs neighbors? They are SO LOUD, I can’t think! (I’m for serious)
b) You up for another photo shoot with your
lovely wife?????????????
c) Want to come with Craft night? lolz
From RootsAndRings:
I don’t have questions for Michael. I already know everything. Although I do want to know why he would question the importance of blogging since he KNOWS that’s how we met. Without blogging there is no Chelsea. OR STEPHEN. Tell him to ponder that.
I think this weekend was fantastic because we got to spend time with you.
Cold water is good for your hair. Maybe you should thank my parents. Just sayin.
Isn’t there such a thing as vacation insurance? Maybe we should check into that…
From DebbieQ:
That was just too funny. And it is too early in the morning yet for me to think of a question for the hubster. When the coffee does it’s job then I will have a question.
From Sturgmom:
Well, a good story for ye olde blawg is always a silver lining, right?
From Kathleen:
Okay, the more I read about you two the more I know that our husbands just have to meet. Y’all will be telling these stories for years!
From Laura Kauffman:
Hi Lauren. I found your blog via Ree Drummond’s site. I really love your abiltity to express yourself through writing-something I wish I had! I’m sure it was no fun for you and your hubbie to go through that, but I have to say it made for very funny reading. :-) I guess my question would be, is your husband a leftie? I noticed that he wears both his wedding ring and watch on his right hand/arm. (I’m a nerd at noticing stuff like that) Anyway, love your blog! Please feel free to visit me at mine, if you like. http://kauffmanfamilylife.blogspot.com/
From osarah:
I’m sorry for y’alls bad luck, but I could not stop giggling over the cold shower conversation. Too funny.
However, after reading about how cold you guys were, I’m not ever more concerned about going outside in the sub-freezing temperatures in about 20 minutes. Eep! it’s not supposed to get above freezing at all this week, and this weekend we’re going on a mini vacation and the temps there are supposed to only be in the teens. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
From osarah:
Oh, I forgot to mention I can’t think of any questions. So yes, I can’t think of any questions. I didn’t want you to think I just ignored that part of your post :)
From Lauren:
I love your LOOONG HAAAIR! My jealousy is too much. My blonde locks just don’t seem to want to grow that long.
Question for the hubby:
What’s his favorite thing about you?
What about least favorite?
From Chelsea's Dad:
We are so sorry about the Bella Rose malfunctions this weekend. We knew the heater wasn’t lighting and there wasn’t anything we could do to fix it in time for your visit, but the hot water heater and fireplace were Strikes 2 and 3.
I know how cold the cold water is and I can’t picture actually stepping into a shower without any hot water. The Gulf of Mexico might have been better.
We owe you another weekend that you can really enjoy instead of having to rough it! Those things are getting worked on this week.
Sorry for the tough visit. We’re glad it gave you some lasting memories and a full blog topic.
From Tabaitha:
I’ve been sitting here trying to think of anything creative and this is the best I can do for now (if I think of anything better, I’ll be back).
Q: What is the best gift Lauren has ever given you?
From Lyndsey:
I literally laughed out loud. And then I had to explain to my co-workers the story of my friend who i havent technically met but has met by best friend which totally counts and her husband’s anniversary weekend part two.
On a serious note… it is amazing that two people can go through those types of mishaps and come out laughing on the other side. I pray that my marriage looks like that! Happy Belated Anniversary.
From Amber:
Too Funny! I love it. I do have a question.
Q: I don’t know the details of how you met Lauren, but what was your first thought/impression of her when you met her?
From Meghan:
Amber stole my question. :)
I know it seemed terrible then, but you guys totally made the most of it. Most people would just complain the whole time and leave way earlier than you did. Instead, you made it work. Kudos to ya’ll in that respect. I love/am jealous of your sunshiney outlook on life!
From Kristina:
You’re too funny! I’m so glad I found another 20something blogger (and blonde like me, no less!) in Houston. We gotta keep it real. Y’all. (Sorry, I can’t do gangsta like my friends from middle school can. if they were still my friends, that is.) ;)
I’ve blogrolled you! Unfortunately I make a mess of blogging sometimes, so I have two: one personal (http://kristinamedh.us) and one (my favorite) that is a style blog straight from the heart(/armpit depending on who you’re talking to) of Texas. That is Pretty, Shiny, Sparkly (http://www.prettyshinysparkly.com) Come visit and say hi!
From Stephanie:
Oh, Lauren! That is a fantastic way to spend your anniversary….really! You know that you are married to your perfect man and he to you when you can laugh under circumstances such as those! Life will throw many curve balls your way. The old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” rings true! Congratulations on your second anniversary and may you continue to have many wonderful, happy memories together!
My question is: If you could really undo all of the mishaps of your weekend getaway….would you?
From Sarah:
Michael, if you could be any vegetable, which would you be and why?
From Kyla Roma:
You guys need to go somewhere warm, low maintenance, and REALLY fun next time. No hospital visits, and lots of hot water!!
Sheesh!! lol
My question: Other than your honeymoon, what was the best get away you’ve been on as a couple? What makes a good getaway? Because from here it looks like an equal mix of stoicism and a strong sense of humour! lol
From HoustonGurly:
So funny! Totally reminds me of a trip me and my husband took to Colorado. We stayed at a friend’s vacation home there and it turned out that someone had forgotten to pay the gas bill! Coldest shower ever. :)
From Suburban Sweetheart:
Ugh, worst luck ever.
I can’t think of a single husband question…!!!