Hi tumblr! I know I've been terrible about updating lately. Ned and I went on our anniversary trip at the end of the summer, and then he went back to school, and instead of pining away at home wishing he were with me (and I do miss him quite often), I've staved off my missing him by keeping busy with cases. I've promised my father and Ned's parents that I'll be good and let him finish up his senior year without getting him into anything serious ("kidnapped by a biker gang" was brought up, but come on, that was one time), and I've tried to stick to that. That being said, I'm up at Emerson now, since it's Halloween celebration time and we had made plans to celebrate together. Omega Chi definitely came up with an interesting interpretation of the phrase "trick or treat" this year, that's for sure.
I'll try to do our anniversary trip justice, although Ned is trying to finish up his homework while I post on tumblr, and that apparently involves kissing my neck and trying to tickle me. I swear, if I go home with another hickey…
Anyway. Ned decided to surprise me with our destination for this year's trip, and he wanted to pick a place we had never gone before. I promised him we would take longer than just a little weekend trip, mostly because a) he and I don't ever get to spend as much time together as we would like, and b) I have a habit of finding mysteries when we go on vacation. And when we stay in River Heights. And when I answer a telephone call or open a piece of mail. I'm a magnet. (Ned just told me I was a cute magnet and kissed my neck again.)
Where was I? Yes. Anyway. I may or may not have been doing a web search one day with the word "mysterious places" in it, and I ran across a story about the Lost Colony, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I had been through the state before, briefly, but not to the beach. I happened to mention it to Ned, but he told me that he definitely didn't want me to be kidnapped by pirates, because that biker gang was bad enough (again, that was one time). I just put it on the mental list of places I wanted to go at some point, and forgot about it. Ned clearly didn't. Sneaky. (Did I mention how cute he is when he has his brow furrowed and he's trying to figure something out? Makes me want to kiss his neck.)
He booked accommodation at a charming bed and breakfast on the Outer Banks, and Ned's mother told me when we got back that she had hoped no hurricanes would come through to demolish the place before we managed to make it there. I hadn't realized just how likely that was, but luckily the weather stayed nice for us. He didn't tell me for sure where we were going until we were at the airport in Chicago, but he had given me a few hints; I was still really excited to be going there, though. After we had found the bed and breakfast, he told me that he had bought tickets for us to see the Lost Colony play, and they even have nights when the guests can meet the actors and hang out before the play! Of course I had to do that. (Ned wasn't as positive about it—eek! He has found the most ticklish spot behind my ear and he keeps kissing it. If he's not careful I'll just have to finish writing this tomorrow. Tsk. All right.) Anyway, Ned was positive that if we met any of the actors, that one of them would tell me about threatening notes or sabotage or a ghost ship or buried pirate treasure, so he wasn't as excited about meeting them first. Was I a little disappointed when his dire prediction didn't come true? Maybe. But he kept telling me how beautiful I looked in my floral sundress, so I forgave him. After we saw the play, I told him we definitely needed to explore Roanoke Island for ourselves, even though I was sure many of the clues to the disappearance of the colony had been found a long time ago.
While we were there we toured lighthouses and other historic sites and heard about pirates and buried treasure and all sorts of fun things. We had so much seafood, too, and the most delicious perfectly golden hushpuppies, and gallons of sweet tea. We took long walks on the beach together and went swimming and mini-golfing, and while we were mini-golfing we reminisced about our first real date and how nervous we both were. We rode go-karts and found a little water park with slides and bumper boats and rode those, too. On our real anniversary, Ned saw a sign in a store and asked if we should really celebrate by getting matching tattoos, so we did. They're all faded away now, though; they were henna. I did love all the freaking out when I posted the pictures and my friends saw them, though. Most of them guessed they weren't permanent, and it was a lot of fun!
Then we went to a really nice restaurant for dinner over candlelight, and the view was so beautiful, with the moonlight on the waves crashing outside. We were so happy to be celebrating so much time together, and Ned told me again how happy he was that I had agreed to marry him. (I can't believe it's so much closer now! It's almost November, and that means it's just over a year until our wedding day!) Then we exchanged our anniversary presents. Ned gave me the sweetest gift; it was a photo album he had put together, with snapshots and other mementos of our time together, like one of the souvenir napkins from the first prom we attended together. I loved it so much, and I loved it even more once we were back at the bed and breakfast and able to look through it together. The very last page was a picture of the two of us holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, and underneath Ned had written, "To the best five years of my life - here's to spending the next eighty with the woman of my dreams."
I will be the first person to admit that I'm not good at finding sweet romantic gifts, especially for Ned. He likes to joke that as long as the night ends with at least one kiss, that's the romance he really wants. I like useful things and I like to give Ned useful things; one year I even gave him a portable digital recorder for a present. This year I gave him a really neat solar electronics charger I had found, so he can keep his cell phone charged even when we're camping or traveling all day and away from power outlets. The only down side, as I well know, is that the farther we are from power outlets, the worse cell reception will be—but Ned loves to put apps on his phone, so he's forever needing to charge it. My other present to him was a silver compass keychain, with a note engraved on the back: To my own North Star. Love, N.
While we were there, I might have investigated a tiny mystery involving smugglers and ended up bound and gagged and in the bottom of a rowboat. That might have happened. (Ned has his eyebrow raised right now and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.)
Anyway, we're back now and the bad guys are behind bars, so in other words it was an incredible trip. This year for Halloween, all four of us, Ned and Bess and George and I, have decided to go as comic book characters: I'm Black Widow (Bess dyed my hair a darker shade of red just for the purpose), Ned's Captain America (he refuses to dye his hair blond, but he looks incredibly handsome in his suit), George is Wonder Woman, and Bess is Carol Danvers, or Captain Marvel. I think she searched blonde super heroine, because Bess and I aren't nearly as into comic books as George and Ned are. George approves Bess's outfit, though, because it isn't "sexy witch" or "French maid," so at least that argument was headed off this year.
Okay, apparently Ned's finished up with his homework because he has definitely stepped up the tickling. More later! If my hands aren't otherwise occupied… :)