we made it!

Today marks one year of marriage to Mr. Hubster. One year of marriage and four years of good ol' cohabitation (or three years of full-on cohabitation and one year of "maybe we should...maybe we shouldn't" cohabitation).

We met five and a half years ago, on New Year's Eve of all eve's. I had weak plans for the evening...the plan was to spend the night at a niteclub with champagne, a close friend and a few acquaintainces. Yet my friend found out at the last minute that her boyfriend had tickets to some Portuguese New Year's party somewhere out at a hall in Richmond. So I thought, "sucks but I'll go ahead to the niteclub on my own". But said friend was adamant that I go with her and tried to score me a ticket to this "exclusive" event (note: the quotes denote sarcasm). Strangely, my friend, who happened to be dating Victor's younger brother, could not get a ticket because apparently it was too late. Low and behold, it was Victor who refused to get an extra ticket for me (this is ofcourse before we ever met) and said I shouldn't even bother coming. Apparently he was not too keen on his brother showing up with two chicas. Don't ask me why...I mean, he's male isn't he? And I was female?

Anyways, Victor's brother convinced me to go despite the fact that I didn't have a ticket. We drove out to Richmond to this hall along the river's edge, walked right into the hall without so much as a receiving table stopping us from entering. We didn't even need tickets apparently because dinner was over. I thought "jerk!" about Victor (again, still hadn't met him). But then I saw him as I walked up to his table...sitting there with his grandma by his side and his parents on the other...all suited up with a tie and everything. His eyes lit up as we were introduced. And that was it...it was over for me.

And even though it was already done, it got better. The Portuguese love their seafood so at midnight, out came huge mountains of prawns placed in the middle of the room. Prawns with heads and hair...or legs and eyes and everything gross. Victor put a plate of them right in front of me and I had no idea what to do. I attempted to pull off the head and peel all awkwardly with a "yuck" face. Victor's grandpa joked in Portuguese that I didn't know how to peel prawns...so Victor, so gallant, would peel them for me, one after the other. And he continued to do so for years until I finally got the hang of it and felt less grossed out by the eyeballs staring at me. And then...really, then, it was over. He had my heart at the prawn peel.

And so, today marked the day that we solidified our love for each other. And you know what we did to celebrate the day? We ate prawns and crab and clams and mussels. Yep, crustaceans and shellfish. And you know what? He peeled my prawns and even cracked my crab for me today, because it's a special day.

It may make me sound like a helpless female...but no, I'm just a sentimental one :)

And I need to get this t-shirt: