After I got back from Philadelphia, Vlad was all like, “So where’s my embroidery project?” And because I love him, he got one.
Vlad has a thing with bears. It’s one of his life goals to see one in the wild (not mine). His family has a couple of stuffed animals that he, his dad, and his brother personify with silly voices—to this day. And of course there’s this extremely adorable and very Russian photo of him as a kid:
Is this animal abuse? Probably.
When we’re alone, we are kind of obnoxious. Mushy gushy galore. Pet names out the wazoo. It’s pretty great.
Our primary pet name for each other is Shmoo. As in, “Hey Shmoo,” or, “You’re my favorite shmoo.” Our cat is also a shmoo, but a secondary one.
I mostly fell in love with Vlad over Skype. We went on our first date a week before I left New York for a year for a fellowship program in India. We emailed, Gchatted, and Skyped every day, with few exceptions. He visited me for two weeks and we went to Sri Lanka together. India was a fairly rough patch in my life, and he was my rock. My faith was coming apart at the seams, and I can now see that God sent me this person at this time so that I wouldn’t feel so alone.
This man is freaking great. He’s kind, thoughtful, and sacrificial. He puts others ahead of himself, and he listens earnestly. He has made 99% of our meals since we got married three and a half years ago. (To the guy in college who unironically told me I wouldn’t find a husband unless I learned to cook, BOOYA*). He took all the craft photos you see here and he made this website—which is not as easy as the Squarespace podcast ads make it sound! He is truly my partner in everything life throws at us.
*Yes, that is an unironic use of the word booya.
He’s also incredibly weird. Which kind of makes us a perfect match.
Ok, the crafty stuff. I didn’t use a traditional pattern for this piece, but traced the outline of this clip art. I used long/short stitch for the fur, satin stich for the nose, and beads for the eyes. It’s framed in a four-inch hoop.
And just for fun, some vacation photos of these two shmoos:
