What a persistant nose.

She's just been full of them lately, it's horrible. Other gems:

The worst part was that she genuinely found it touching.

Mine tried to censor me when I was a kid, gave up by the time I was ten, and never even bothered with my little sister. Now she says things like, "I went to see the Wolf of Wall Street with your sister and I think the orgy made her uncomfortable! She shouldn't be uncomfortable, it was so sweet! You know, friends just…

Have you tried getting her good and tired at the dog park before you take her out in public? My Queensland heeler has some neuroses, and we've had to do a bit of exposure therapy. It always works a lot bette when he's too tired to be stressed about the skateboard/shopping cart/cat.

The engagement pocketwatch is hilarious, I like your style.

Thanks for speaking up for me :-) That's how I feel too - it's not like I'm rejecting his personal taste in jewelry (which is reliably awesome, btw) because he didn't pick it out. We were just two broke kids that realized 1. we'd been together 5+ years 2. if we kept waiting for financial independence to get married,…

"Does it signal to the world that you're 'taken'? then it's kind of done its job"

BRILLIANT. The set I have now is a platinum infinity band + 1920s filigree ring with one big stone and lots of tiny ones in the filigree so it's bulky and very, very sparkly. It's a lot of glitter for one tiny hand, and it much more classic than the rings I go for so it's very plausibly a special occasion ring. That,…

That's actually part of what I don't like about them - if I lose one of the rings, not only have I lost the damn thing, but I will have lost A Family Heirloom. I really, really don't like that kind of pressure, and his family is REALLY sentimental, due to a lot of people dying young.

That's an excellent plan! 5 year anniversary is right around when I'll officially be a doctor too, so it'll be a good excuse - I won't be able to wear rings all the time so I might as well have one I'm thrilled about, right?

It is. He's a lot more sentimental/romantic than I am in general, so at the time it made sense - we needed a ring for him, he got to design something meaningful, and I'm pretty practical so the vintage ring was lovely and fine. I just didn't realize I was expected to wear it the rest of my life, since I'm not that…

I know I'm late to the party, but does anyway have any thoughts on changing wedding bands/engagement rings after the fact? The story: Mr Parade and I got married this year, young-ish (25 and 30) and because he had a very nice heirloom engagement ring, that's what he asked me with. Yay to not spending an absurd amount…

Oooh me too! I want to share! "Black blur with crazy eyes" is pretty on point for the kitten, too.

Seconded! This year, it's just me, Mr Parade, his brother, and a friend, which is awesome because Christmas isn't going to start until noon and there's no pressure to have meals at the "right" time, so I'm going to spend all day making a bûche de Nöel and we're having rack of lamb, root veggie cake, and spinach gratin…

The last one is a red Queensland heeler! They're soooooo cute and smart, mine looks pretty similar. Hilariously serious dogs. Making them open things is fun, mine can do cabinets.

Umm constantly? Any and all occasions? I definitely do the, "Yes, this not-very-formal party TOTALLY merits my grandmothers cream silk 1940s cheongsam" all the damn time.

That is so sweet! Jade plants are special in my family too, and they do live a hell of a long time - I have cuttings from one that was my grandfathers, that he bought when my mom was a little kid in the 60s. It's a bit sparse now because it's fallen over a few times, but the original is still going strong AND about…

If you have time, exercise in the morning! It sounds really silly, but working off even a bit of nervous energy makes me way less anxious/more confident, so I always try to run for 20 minutes before interviews or big exams.

Your mom got you pencils that say "José?"