My Green Valentine

Dear reader,
  
Yesterday was Valentine's Day!! Happy Day of Love, everyone! 

Yes yes, I know, yesterday was the 16th, not the 14th of February - Adam and I in the past have always made a big deal of Valentine's Day, starting with the first date excursion back in '06 when I actually started to like him (like, like him). That day was as red-letter (or pink-letter) as it gets - he took me to the circus as a surprise and he wore pink and we stayed up waaaay too late talking in a Steak 'n' Shake in Atlanta, and it was the first time I felt those little flitting butterflies in my stomach when I looked at him.

So this year, we decided to have OUR Valentine's Day on our day off, in order to get the most out of our V-day celebrations. This romantic day also happens to be the anniversary of Adam's marriage proposal in 2009, that led to our wedding 7.5 months later. Obviously, The Day of Luve is a meaningful day for us, and we go all out every year. :)

And if you're thinking right now, "jeez, can she get any gushier and mushier?" you should probably just stop reading, because I can, and I'm about to.

I warned you.

We started off bright and early... by sleeping in. 

I was too excited to sleep too late and slipped out before Adam woke. I was treated to a style-fabulous hair-straightening by our lovely housekeeper, Jess, who had brought her flat iron to work for the occasion. I also wore a skirt, which Adam pointed out was the same skirt I wore to our Circus V-day 4 years before.

Once Adam woke (and oohed and aahhed appropriately over my shiny hair), our day progressed in a blissful stream of wind and sun and mushiness. We hopped onto Jem and ate at one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITE restaurants, La Madeleine. *drooling, just thinking about it...* Then we scooted to NOLA's massive City Park and rode through, over, under and around the whole park. At one point I saw horses and shrieked at Adam to pull over so we could see them. They turned out to be Police horses, and the police officer on-duty turned out to be super proud of his stables and showed us every horse in there, leading some out of their stalls to show them off and let us stroke their silky sides and soft noses. They were all Percherons, and most of them were MASSIVE. The best part was watching 3 of them race around the arena out front, kicking up dirt clods and bucking and kicking. Glorious:

"Trouble"

"Trouble", "Eclipse" and "Gypsy"

After the horse-y side trip, we found a cozy patch of roots next to a pond and dozed a while in the sunshine:

Relaxed Adam

We headed back to town and ate dinner at one of the ritziest digs in town, Irene's. I swear, they put some kind of magic pixie dust, or maybe drugs into that sauce on their veal marsala. I. JUST. CAN'T. GET. ENOUGH. *more drooling*

But I did get more than enough, and felt stuffed to bursting - Adam too, after his excellent bistecca (well, he thought it was excellent, I thought I could still hear it mooing.).

We collapsed back in our little loft and fell enchanted, under the spell of the animated film, "The Secret of Kells."

In the telling, it sounds like any regular Wednesday off we might have. But it wasn't - it was special and beautiful in a way those other beautiful days were not. What was the difference? What turns a normal day off into a Valentine's Day? There were... extra sixteenth notes of love we wove and laced throughout the span of the day, slipping them in at every opportunity:
...building up the day with our words in advance, verbally anticipating the fun of it
...being so in sync with each other that we purchased the exact same gifts for each other
...Having a fabulous excuse for any/all indulgences, and thus avoiding all guilt/concern over spending money


We had all those notes and more (including a love letter "note" by my pillow when I first awoke, so glowing with love it about blinded me), and when they were all strung together, they composed something more special and joyful than the regular, daily tune.

I warned you it was going to get mushier. I'll save you from the ending I considered (briefly) about those notes "equaling a symphony still playing in my heart, etc."

You know what really made it special? It wasn't that Adam and I suddenly started acting like we love each other for the one day; it was a magnification of the love we act out for each other on a daily basis, just in a super-concentrated dose.

There. That's as mushy as I can get without feeling nauseous myself.

Love,

Anna

The power of Microsoft Paint

Don't worry, neither of us is sick at the moment - I drew this several weeks ago when both Adam and I were feeling crummy and ill. It made him laugh, which made me feel better, which made him feel better, which made both of us feel less crummy. Even without kisses.

.

EXCITEMENT! *PLEASE READ!*

Wow, I am so excited.

 

 

Quite possibly the most awesome website ever

Attached below is a message from my older brother Daniel, who lives and works in New York.  He is in a band called Pacific Theater AND he also recently created a record label called Whale Heart Records. (Plus he just got engaged and is getting married in a year!) They have 4 bands signed under their label, all of which are amazing, but 2 of which happen to feature my 4 siblings. Daniel's band has a record out, and my sister Grace just released her debut EP album Tall Shoulders, with her band, Lille. My two other brothers, Rob & Andrew are band members in Lille as well.

I am so proud. They are pursuing their passions/dreams, and making beautiful, beautiful music - two things I love very much, done by people I love very much.

Here is Daniel's message - read it and do as he says:

Friends & Family,

I've been working really hard for the past two years building a record
label called Whale Heart Records with my good friends Dan Ryan and
Todd Buchler. We've poured countless hours, dollars and gray hairs
into building a start-up business centered on the ideas of community
and family and we're proud of what we've accomplished so far.

Today marks a huge leap forward for us. We've launched our new
website, which we believe to be not only a testament to our work, but
also the creativity of the artists we represent.

It's a fully functional (thanks to our amazing programmer Sanjay
Cherubala) and beautifully designed (thanks to the insanely talented
Luke Hughett) home for music in this digital world. And for those of
us who still treasure holding a physical product in our hands, we make
records. And we love making records. But it's not easy to sell records
and that's why we're striving to make a hub where buying music can be
fun and easy.

So this is my one and only plea to all of you. Please check out our
site. Please tell your friends about our site. Please sign up for our
mailing list. Please blog, tweet, post and whatever else about it. And
if you like what we're doing, maybe even buy a song or two.

www.whaleheartrecords.com

Thanks for your support. Much love.
DB
 
 ______________________________________________________


GO crazy! Support the arts and the Bellurys at the same time! :D


Also, if you're in Atlanta, you need to go see Lille perform at the Buckhead theatre on November 13th - they're opening for the Dresden Dolls!

One year resolutions

We celebrated the first birthday of our marriage in style.  

Happy Anniversary to us! We got off work for the night of the 31st and the morning of the 1st, and we relished every nostalgic second of our time off. The arrival of our lovely wedding photo-album only days before made the nostalgia very easy to capture.

Adam surprised me with an evening dinner cruise aboard the Steamboat Natchez, an historical steamer that has live jazz bands and a buffet dinner to accompany the captain's  tales of the Mississippi over the loud speaker.

The woman on top of the boat is playing a calliope

Adam claimed he had commissioned that grafitti just for me

I had a harder time believing him when he said he also requested to the captain that we pass by the sugar factory so he could tell me I'm "sweeter than the whole factory." Just kidding, he didn't say that.

US govt saving on docking fees by parking side-by-side

Sunset on the Mississip'

Still feelin' the newlywed bliss

It was lovely. After disembarking, we snagged some beignets at Cafe du Monde before heading to our  S W A N K Y hotel, the W.

Nom nom nom

Coolest hotel ever

We went through two bottles of wine without drinking one single glass - the first one smashed to bits on the deck of the Natchez (whoops) and the second was undrinkable. bleagh. Of course, Adam and I have no need of alcohol to party, and we had a fabulous time despite the absence of fermented grapes.

The next morning we copied the Arnold newlyweds by ordering room service for the first - and probably last - time in our lives. We ate breakfast in (our hilariously huge) bed and watched TV for hours, two other things we will probably never do again for the remainder of our year in New Orleans. But hey, one-year anniversaries only come once in a lifetime! ("Just like 2-year anniversaries, 3-years, 4-years..." Adam said with an impish grin)

In closing, it was a magical night and utterly decadent morning.  Can't wait for next year!

I love you, Adam. The song "More Today then Yesterday" by Spiral Staircase definitely applies in our case.


POST. SCRIPT.

I just would like to note that ever since August 1st 2009 and it's glory, it has become clearer and clearer every day just how beautiful and precious life is. Fast forward to August 1st, 2010 --> Now that work has calmed down to the point where I actually leave the hostel every day, I've resolved to be a better communicator. With myself, with my husband and with everyone I know. And I've been doing very well so far, though today was very possibly overkill. (In the past 4 hours, I've replied to 5 emails and 10 facebook messages before screwing up my remaining energy and writing this post. )

Life is beautiful and precious and all that, but it's the relationships I cultivate and cherish that make it so. And that's my goal for this year: cultivating the relationships I have and love. I'm in a job where relationships are created and dropped in 3 days time, over and over again. Maybe some of them will stretch into something permanent and surprising, but I don't want the short-term to become my habit.

That's enough - my brain is communicated out for now. Cheers!

Sister

You don't get to choose your siblings.

But if I had been given the choice, I would have chosen Grace.



I love having a sister (her birth was one of the most exciting moments of my childhood), and I especially love having Grace for a sister because I think she is a beautiful person and I like hanging out with her. And I am ridiculously proud of her. And today I am feeling particularly sad that I can't be with her on her special 18th birthday.

Summary of this blog post: I love Grace!

(and really, who doesn't?)