In My Own Words, Lifestyle

11… Memories We’ve Made Over Seven Years

Seven years ago today, Dylan leaned against my car and asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes, thinking we’d have a summer fling. We did, but the fling just kept on flinging. I don’t think we could look back on our relationship and call it a fling. We’ve for sure progressed into pawtner territory, which is what we call each other because we are partners in parenting our doggos and in life because that’s just what happens when you build a home with someone. 

Does he still cut my hair?

There is no way I could have known that “yes” would involve moving cross country, starting a new career, adopting a dog, then fourteen whittled down to five more dogs, buying a house, and so many more things. Seven years is such a long time to intertwine lives with someone. It’s been a giant roller coaster. There have been good years and bad years and in between years. We’ve built a life and a family together. We’ve gone through so very much from traveling to moving three times to deaths to COVID to quarantine to not getting paid by the government for months to friend breakups to figuring out who we are to my health issues to so many fucking things, and I don’t hate him. Pretty sure he doesn’t hate me yet either. That’s a win. 

Our family is about as far from traditional as we could possibly be, and yet we’re still here making it work every day. It’s not always easy, but we do our best, and most days, that’s good enough. After seven years, there’s not much I don’t know about him and vice versa. He knows me about as well as any human can. And on the bad days, he is the one I come home to and look to for comfort. He’s my best friend, support system, and pawtner. 

We’d known each other fourteen days… I thought he was crazy and a saint.

People have never been something I take for granted. I tend to not believe people love me or want me in their life. It’s something I will probably always struggle with. One of the few things in my life I do not question: Dylan’s love for me and my love for him. It’s a choice that we continue to make. We choose to love each other, and that means more because I know his capacity for good and bad and he knows mine. He has had every opportunity to stop loving me, to stop choosing me, and he never has. In my life, that is a gift I do not receive lightly. It is a gift I will forever be grateful for. 

Today, I’m looking back at some of my favorite memories we’ve shared. From the ridiculous to the sweet. We’ve lived a life together. I genuinely love our home and family; it means everything to me.

  1. Thirteen days into knowing each other, we went out for my friend’s 21st birthday. I voluntold Dylan to drive. I got so trashed, I ended up peeing my pants and throwing up in his truck. The actual story is far funnier. I lost my underwear in his truck for seven months. I got cocky and mean and an overall shit-show. I woke up thinking I would never hear from this man ever again… I woke up to a text telling me how much he adored me and was grateful I wanted to be with him. So then I thought something was wrong with him… There is, but luckily for me, it’s thinking I’m great.
  2. He loves race cars. It’s why we moved to Houston, but we always had so much fun going to the racetrack together that first summer. I loved watching him race and nerd out on all the things. 
  3. We moved to Houston with my clothes, his clothes, my mattress, my kitchen stuff, and that’s really it. The first month in our apartment we sat on a blanket in the middle of the living room. We moved with two weeks notice and almost no money. We were so poor, and we had a blast. (Holy fuck, look at us now. We have too much stuff.)
  4. Adopting Beau was a huge step for us, and one of the best decisions he pressured me into. No regrets. Six and a half years later, she’s still our best girl.
  5. He started cutting my hair when we moved to Houston because I’m too lazy to find a new hairstylist and make an appointment… He still does.
  6. No one is as enthusiastic or supportive of my love of carousels. He hops on with me every time, so we can enjoy it together. Then he lets me ride it alone so he can make sure I get a picture. 
  7. During our 2018 trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, he let me get him up at 4:30 in the morning so we could watch the hot air balloon festival and the sun rise. It’s still one of my favorite memories.
  8. We moved out of our one bedroom apartment into a bigger apartment in 2019, which allowed me the space to have my first office. Game changer. He pushed for the move, so that I could have the space since I work from home and have no escape. 
  9. He didn’t even bat an eye when he walked in the door one day in February 2020 to find a new and very pregnant dog in the house. He just kinda looked at me and went, “So we’re doing this?” And I was like… “It’s up to you!” So now we have six dogs instead of the one. 
  10. We bought a house. For the dogs. And ourselves. Mostly for the dogs. 
  11. How much he has loved and supported me as best as he can while I navigated my career, my dreams, my travel, my friends, my coming out story. At the end of the day, he is by my side and asks me to just be me because it’s enough. 

Bonus

12. He made our home a safe space for me to be me and write what I want to write and feel all of my feelings. He has given me the gift of time. Time to heal and grow and discover and exist. He has shared my pain and joys and burdens and fears. He’s not perfect. Sometimes, he’s a real asshat. But he loves me fiercely, and all he wants is for me to be safe and happy and healthy. And we’re learning how to navigate what that looks like. We’re no longer 23 and 25. We’re in our 30s. We’re entirely different people, and we have found a way to love each other for who we were and who we’ve become. I hope to continue finding ways to love each other in all our variations to come. Because I can’t see my life without the man I thought I’d have a fling with. 

Self-care is important.
Our first beach trip with our girl.
Our first picture in our first apartment together.
One of the best days and memories.
He always rides the carousel with me.
This was the announcement picture when we rescued the puppies.
We had to announce buying a house with some Pride. I wasn’t an out lesbian yet, but I was a proud pansexual!
A month into dating… We were weird and still are.
Eateries, Houston

Three Years and A Sweet Cup

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Enjoying Sweet Cup!

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Three years ago last Tuesday, I moved to Houston. I knew zero people. I knew almost nothing about the city except: NASA and it’s an hour away from the beach. Dylan and I were very, very poor. We didn’t even have a couch at that point in time. We were saving money in every way we could, which means we didn’t get out and do much at first. 

There are tons of perks to being in a big city, especially one as international as Houston. Food is my favorite part of a diverse cities because of the access to obscure and unknown foods. The problem is food costs money. When I moved here, there was very little money and a lot of food to try. It was easier not to tempt myself. I did go on the hunt for gelato. I love ice cream a lot. I love gelato A LOT more. 

I found Sweet Cup shortly after moving to Houston. I fell in love with them for their gelato. I liked them even more when I found out they are a female owned business. The owner is even sweeter than her gelato! Sweet Cup was the first Houston business to follow my blog on Instagram. Actually, they were the first business to follow my blog on Instagram. I had no following and no real direction. Although currently, it could be argued my direction is no direction. I bop in literally whenever I’m in that part of town. I’ve even been known to drive across town for a cup. It’s delicious. 

Houston has been home for three years, and I love it. I wasn’t sure if I would that first year because life was hard; I was poor. I couldn’t enjoy the city to its fullest or tastiest at first. Over the last two years, I have fallen more in love with the city, met friends, explored, and tried new foods. But for me, Sweet Cup tastes like Houston. In the beginning, it was all I could afford. Now, it’s a reminder of how far I’ve come and the dreams I’m still chasing. Three years have come and gone in a flash. So much has changed, but some things are just as sweet.  

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

 

Blog + Dog

Stress Peeing

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I wish I could link Beau’s sweater cause it’s adorable! | My sweater |      My jeans | My shoes

These pictures really don’t match what I’m about to talk about, but they’re adorable. Her sweater has a hood, ears, AND a little pouf tail. How can you not love her in this??? Yes. We match. I’m insane.

Two weeks ago, we started the moving process into our new and bigger apartment. Beau loves having all the extra room to run around. We have two spare rooms. One will be my office, and the other is her bedroom – guests will use it when they visit. After moving in, we realized there was some water damage from the previous tenants. The apartment management has dealt with it really well, and it is being taken care of. All the work that needs to be done does take time. Contractors are coming in and out. Everything is in boxes because we can’t really put anything away with all the work still being done.

Beau has been an absolute trooper. She has to be in her box or shut up in a room with me while the contractors work because they’re scared of her. I don’t think she’s completely for sure we’re staying here because the boxes haven’t been unpacked yet. Her anxiety has been a bit high the last week with the uncertainty. We’ve had a few instances of stress peeing. She didn’t even realize she did it. I was a little worried it was a UTI, but she’s just fine. Stressed. Poor baby had to wear a doggy diaper for a little bit. She looked so sad and pathetic.

We’ve gone two days without any stress peeing. No diaper. The contractors should be done by the end of the week. Which means I can finally unpack and organize and maybe get a desk for my office, and Beau can get comfy cozy!!!

xoxo,
Beau + RaeAnna

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Blog + Dog

Moving

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Over the past several days, my little family moved to a new apartment in Houston. Moving sucks. I don’t know anyone who says “Yay! Moving!” After several moves in the last decade, this was the most stressful and the smallest.

Why?

It’s the first time I’ve moved with an anxiety riddled dog.

Traveling with Beau has hurdles. Moving with Beau also has bigger hurdles. The moment things start to change, she gets anxious. Her biggest fear, as far as I can tell, is being left behind. She does everything in her power to be included in everything. The only way to avoid her idiosyncrasies is to hide change from her until the last minute.

Normally, I like to be very organized. Moving is chaos even for the most organized. This was the most chaotic move I’ve ever been in charge of. Chaos ensued for three reasons: 1) We didn’t get back from holiday travels until three days before moving. 2) We didn’t pack at all to help save Beau from a complete mental break. (See above paragraph.) 3) Once we moved in, we realized there was a lot of water damage that needs to be fixed in the new place.

It’s hard to avoid holiday travels.

I had no idea how Beau would do moving, so we didn’t pack anything knowing we would have several days to move. This ended up being chaotic, but a good idea. We took things a little bit at a time starting with all of Beau’s stuff. She stayed in the new apartment as we packed. It helped her get acquainted with the new as the old was being introduced. She settled down a lot once the couch and bed arrived in the new apartment. Although, she did enjoy having a huge empty apartment to run around in with nothing but her toys, which only lasted for a few minutes.

Everything is now in our new apartment in a variety of disarray. It is not sorted or put away because we have contractors coming in and out of the apartment. They’re fixing everything, which is great, but in the meantime, it’s not so great. Beau has to be kept in her crate because the contractors are kind of scared of dogs.

I’m wishing I had one of these magic wands from Sleeping Beauty that organizes, cleans, and puts away.

xoxo,
RaeAnna + Beau

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