40 Reasons I Love Ty

WARNING:  This post has nothing to do with living abroad...and everything to do with embarrassing my husband on his 40th birthday.  

Ty hates presents, birthday parties, people wishing him happy birthday on Facebook and just anyone making a fuss over his birthday in general because he doesn't like the attention...so I, of course, took him out for a fance sushi dinner in Punta de Mita, bought him a bottle of expensive tequila during a day trip to San Sebastian, asked his cousins, brother and friends to fly to Puerto Vallarta to spend an entire week celebrating his 40th...and now I'm writing this blog post as a personal gift from me (in lieu of one of my signature homemade birthday cards) because as Ty's wife, it is my DUTY (and privilege) to embarrass and annoy him as much as humanely possible...and I take my wifely duties very seriously.  

Ty's 36th birthday in 2013... Our first vacation together and our first time to La Cruz!  

So, in honor of Ty's 40th birthday... I present the 40 things I love most about my husband.  Please read them and enjoy the fact that he is going to KILL me for this:

1. I love his laugh. The sound of Ty laughing is my favorite sound in the entire world.  It makes my insides smile.  It's even better when I'm the one who made him laugh.  (Which is like every day, because I'm hilarious.  Duh.)
2. He's super cute.  I love his blonde hair and blue eyes and contagious smile.  He's like my own Swedish Ken Doll... (That is if Ken had freakishly short T-rex arms and freakishly long toes.) 
3. I also love that he's tall (6'-3")...because I can play the "short person card" when I'm feeling too lazy to do something.  (It's amazing how many things I can get out of by claiming I need a tall person to help me.)  It also makes him easier to spot in a crowd...or in the grocery store when I get lost (aka: distracted by the flip flop aisle.)
4. He's always fun, carefree and happy.  Everything just rolls off his shoulders... (If Ty is angry or upset about something then it's you know it's serious!!)  
5. He's sweet to me when it matters.  Like...when I'm sad or stressed or anxious or grumpy or hungry or thirsty or cranky (so, like when I'm awake, basically.)  
6. He holds my hand and protects me from all the big, scary things in the world.  (Like adulting.  And Costco.)  
7. He has made me laugh out loud all 3,923 days that I've known him.  (Yes, I did the math.) 
8. He's the second funniest person I've ever met.  (Guess who's first...)
9. He's helpful around the house and actually picks up after himself!  He also does like 95% of the grocery shopping, cooking and dishes in our relationship. (Our housekeeper does the other 5% of the dishes, because I'm allergic to dishes...and laundry.)
10. He's an awesome cook.  Delicious food just like magically appears in front of my face everyday. 
11. He lets me "smuggle" (snuggle + smother) on him every day even though he "claims" he doesn't like it.  (The truth is... even though he's the Jolly Gringo Giant, he likes to be the little spoon while we sleep.  He is soooo gonna kill me.) 
12. He's the best bug-squisher I ever met and he never makes me do any gross, critter-related, or dog poop-related things.  Because I'm a classy lady!  (Oh, wait...)
13. He's a good papa to Bloo.  I'm pretty sure he loves him more than me (he definitely kisses him more than me!) but I'm okay with it...because have you met Bloo??  He's perfect.
14. He's respectful, friendly and non-judgmental to everyone he meets.  I've never seen him be intentionally rude, hurtful or act "better" than anyone in the 11 years I've known him.  He makes me wanna be a nicer person.  (But then I remember that people are the worst, and I am the Grinch, so why bother...) 
15. He's goofy.  At least once a day, he'll stop whatever he's doing and start dancing like a silly idiot around the house, complete with butt swinging and hula girl arm motions for the sole purpose of making me laugh.  There's also never music playing when this happens, by the way.  (I've tried to record him tons of times, but that usually just ends in him chasing me around and me shrieking and trying to keep my phone away from him while I'm hyperventilating from laughing too hard.)
16. We have the same sense of humor.  Since becoming (a couple of identically sarcastic, smartass) friends more than a decade ago, we've amassed like 487 inside jokes in that time and every single joke is still hilarious as the first time we said it.  (I'm sure if someone listened to us talk when it's just the two of us, they wouldn't be able to follow our conversation because it would sound like utter nonsense.) 
17. He's always himself.  There is no "fake" or altered version of his personality depending on who he's with... He's always genuine, happy Ty.  And if you have yet to see him dance, then you have yet to see the happiest version of Ty!!  (Please note I did not say the most flattering version...)
18. He's a good son.  He calls his parents once a week to fill them in on our new lives and they talk for at least a half an hour... This isn't because of moving to Mexico either, he used to do the same thing when his parents lived 30 minutes away too. 
19. He is my best friend...and he's the best friend I've ever had.  And I'm not talking about that cheesy "I'm marrying my best friend!" line newly-engaged couples like to throw around on Facebook after knowing each other for like a year.  Like...we are literally best friends first, partners second.  We're inseparable.  And we're pretty much the same person.  (This is most likely due to the fact that we both have the maturity level of 19 year-old boys who were left home alone for the weekend.) 
20. He's supportive of everything I wanna do regardless of what it is, and regularly tells me, "I'm only happy when you're happy."  I could tell him I wanna become a trapeze artist and he would (pay someone to) build me a trapeze thingy and buy me some leotards.  
21. He's patient and calm.  Even though I give him plenty of bratty, whiney, selfish, obnoxious reasons to, he never gets angry or raises his voice at me.  (Unless I go over my data usage for the month, thennnnn I'm in trouble!)   
22. He compliments me every day.  Even at times I KNOW I do NOT look anything close to cute, he tells me I am.  And he compliments me on my wicked bed head every morning.  Like, the messier it is, the more compliments I can expect to get.  Even when I look and feel my worst or ugliest or fattest, he still looks at me like he won the lottery, for some reason.  (I don't get it, but I love it!) 
23. He thanks me every day.  Whether I cleaned our room or updated our websites or emailed guests or fed the pups or cut his hair or shared my food with him...there's always a "Thanks, Friend" in it for me.
24. I love all of his "terms of endearment."  He has about 20 nicknames for me and it feels super weird when he actually calls me by my real name which is exactly never (or only when he wants me to say, "Ewwww!  Don't call me that!")  Some of the names I've collected over the years are:  Pain in the Alissa, Monster, Pretty Girl, Babe, Little Tree, Little Lady, Little Friend, Little Turtle, Bess Fren, Amiguita, Bummaloons, Jerk Store (don't ask) and Arissa-Roo....most of them coming from inside jokes, of course. 
25. He's humble.  You'll never ever hear him bragging about himself or his skills or his accomplishments (that's my job, obviously!)     
26. He's hard-working.  (Well... He USED to be hard-working.  Now he's a greasy beach bum.)
27. He's honest.  (Like, if I have an unsightly zit on my face, he will totally point it out.)
28. He's a minimalist.  He'll never be impressed by a big house or fancy car.  He doesn't like "things" or "stuff" or clutter (except unless those "things" are golf clubs, of course.) 
29. I never want to be away from him.  We've spent like 94% of our time together over the last 10 months, and I still miss him when he has appointments or errands to run.  (I....on the other hand....annoy the hell outta him at least half a dozen times a day by smothering him with constant attention and affection, because I basically behave like a 4-year old who just got a brand new puppy for Christmas when it comes to him.  But I'm okay with it.)
30. He makes every day fun.  Even when we're doing nothing, we're having fun doing it.  
31. We're on the same page like 92.5% of the time.  We have the same opinions on everything important, we think the same way, we want the same things, we like and dislike the same things... (Except for exercising.  Getting that boy to workout with me is like asking a vegan to fry me up some bacon.)  
32. We balance each other out.  He's good at things I'm not good at and vice versa, and we both know our roles and tasks in our relationship without even having to discuss them. (Like he's good at dealing with people in real life and I'm good at cracking jokes behind a computer screen.) 
33. He spoils me.  After mentioning how fun it would be to see Bruno Mars in concert this summer, I woke up to Ticketmaster confirmations and swanky hotel reservations for my birthday in July.  (I might have sent him links to very specific websites and laid on some funny, cute girl charm via email, but still.)  
34. He's a problem-solver and good communicator.  (Like, he says... "Here.  Fix this!  And then I fix the problem.) 
35. He's forgiving.  He doesn't hold grudges or hide his feelings.  If I mess up (which, of course, is suuuuuper rare) there are never any leftover feelings of bitterness or resentment.  (Again...unless it's data usage-related.) 
36. He's selfless.  Even though he doesn't even drink coffee anymore, he gets up before me every morning and makes freshly-ground coffee so it's ready for me by the time I get my lazy bum outta bed.  He usually follows that up with feeding the dogs and washing the dishes and making me breakfast.  (Spoiled rotten, I tell you!!)
37. He's smart.  (He married me, so duh.) 
38. He's talented.  (He scored me, so duh.) 
39. He has good taste.  (He chose me, so duh.) 
40. And the 40th thing I love about Ty... is that I wish he was turning 80 today so I could keep bragging about how incredibly awesome he is and how lucky I am to call him all mine!!! 

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, BABES!!  Please don't kill me...