shiny, clean, and protected

Because the universe is a right cruel bastard/bitch, two months after taking delivery of my car last year, I was swept up in the ever-so-entertaining world of shingles and its "uncommon complication" postherpetic neuralgia. On my trigeminal nerve, no less, with optic nerve and corneal involvement. So in addition to the pain (holy shit, the pain, great googly moogly), I was also gifted with no vision out of my right eye for months (which in turn caused the left eye to squint and water), then extremely limited use of the eye for another month after that. Plus medications that played merry havoc with my balance, memory, digestion, speech, and (oh, cruel irony) visual acuity.

All of that combined meant my poor car sat for six months, sad and forlorn, the red light of the trickle charger blink-blink-blinking away. For another three months after that, I wasn't able to drive for any distance or useful period of time, so minimal miles were added to the poor thing's already neglected odometer.

I'm still fighting the neuralgia, still fighting the pain, but it's finally settling into a routine. I'm much more familiar with the triggers, the twitches, the nausea, the fallout, the rebound, and the exhaustion that come with living with nerve damage and chronic/constant pain. That means I can start driving more (huzzah!), and to celebrate and because he's awesome, Will arranged to have my car fully clear-wrapped by our friends at SS Customs (they've done multiple cars of ours, including the camo wrap on the McLaren for the GG2H rally a few years back).

We picked up my car today and grabbed a few pics on the way home, before it got too many bug guts splattered on it. I love the look of a freshly detailed car, especially one that now has a protective vinyl wrap keeping it safer from chips, dings, bugs, washing, and all the other things that would turn its paint into scratchy swirls, annoying divots, and faded patches.

Here's hoping the universe keeps its grubby little paws off the Bad Luck Stick for a while, so I can put some well-deserved miles on this puppy...

and now we know at least part of the answer

Whenever people ask us how we met, Will and I say "at work". When they ask *when* we met, we kind of shrug and say "not really sure, sometime late 2007/2008ish, maybe?"

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, we now know that eight years ago on this day, May 7th, we had at least learned each other's full names:

Collage details, clockwise from the top right:

"Disneyland is full" - We went to Disneyland on our honeymoon for their Leap Day "24 Hours of Disneyland" and were greeted with this sign while stuck in traffic for four hours to go about three miles (no joke).

Vegas 2014 - That's us peeking out from the background with Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method in the front center. We did a "be part of the band" thing and had dinner with Ken and Scott (aka "The Crystal Method"), their manager, Ken's parents and brother, and some family friends. After dinner, we hung out with everyone as Ken and Scott played, with much partying, dancing, drinking, and fun being had. (Ken's brother Frank is between us in the photo...Frank is the one who painted the portrait of our dinner with everyone that night).

Memories of our time at the "Pure McLaren Driving Experience" - We flew to London for a few days, then headed to Woking for a tour of the McLaren factory, dinner in the country with Frank Stephenson (designer of the McLaren MP4-12C (and the 2002 Mini!)), an awesome time screaming around Goodwood racetrack in McLarens, and an equally awesome driving them through the English countryside and city streets (that's when I realized the McLarens were just as viable street cars as they are track cars).

Stacy and Will in the car - That's our friend Stacy ("the other Stacy" or "No-E Stacy") going for a ride in the McLaren. I giggle at Facebook choosing a picture of another Stac(e)y for this collage.

"Will Lawton is married to Stacey Lawton" - The inset pic is from our trip to the World IPv6 conference in Paris; we are at the top of the Eiffel Tower, pointing at the "United States is this direction" placard. When we changed our relationship status on Facebook, that's the picture the algorithm chose...love that it makes it look like we are pointing at the announcement of our marriage. :^)