August 30, 2009
July 30, 2009
Two glorious months ...
Today marks the two month anniversary since I've been married ... and it's been great! Let me recap.
Josh and I had a wonderful wedding (many thanks to our generous parents) and it was truly all I ever hoped it would be. We had a simple ceremony and a fun reception with lots of food, fun and dancing. We seriously had a blast. Our only regret is that it didn't last longer and that we weren't able to spend more time with the people we love. It is SUCH a blur - everyone told me that going into the day, and they were absolutely 100% right.
(photo by evinphotography.com )
Our honeymoon to Zihuatanejo, Mexico was amazing. We couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and luxurious vacation. We stayed at The Tides resort and would highly recommend this place to everyone. The rooms are clean and beautiful. We had a beach view room on the second floor, which overlooked the beach (duh!). We had a private plunge pool on our balcony, so in the evenings after a long day on the beach (such a hard life!) we would retire to our room and watch the sunset from our plunge pool. It was sooo relaxing.
The food was a.maz.ing, incredible (yet pricey, bring the debit card with lots o' money). All, in all, so relaxing and fun. We went snorkeling, parasailing and went to a Mexican fiesta for some adventures, but I think our favorite part was just relaxing on the beach on the large king-size suspended beds under the cabanas. Heavenly!
Since returning from the honeymoon, I moved to Huntsville, Alabama. More to follow on apartment living, renovating our home and the vendors we used for the wedding and reception!
January 17, 2009
January 05, 2009
Goal-setting 2009
I know I'm a few days late with my goals for the new year, but I needed a few days for the new year feelings to ruminate inside me. I wanted to see what desires came to the surface of my heart and mind for this year, and these are the top 10 goals I have set for myself in 2009.
1. Attend Financial Peace University with Josh. - I believe that as newlyweds being on the same page financially is HUGE. We talk a lot about finances as it is and we set goals together and discuss how we want to spend our money once we get married, BUT I think going the extra step and attending the 13-week session will bring up issues we haven't even thought about and really get us on the same page.
2. Get MARRIED! And move to Huntsville. - This is a no-brainer and will definitely happen. That's kind of why I wanted it on my list, so that at the end of the year I'll be able to look back and say I at least accomplished ONE thing on my list. Sneaky, aren't I? :)
3. Stay ahead of wedding preparation. - This means staying on top of my to-do list, getting things done in advance when I can. (I'm almost done with my wedding invitations because I don't want them to sneak up on me at the last minute.) I have almost 5 months left to plan this thing, so I have plenty of time. I must use it wisely.
4. Meditate on one Bible verse a month. - Some people, like my little brother who does Bible Bowl, are probably laughing at this goal, but I haven't been very disciplined about meditating on Scripture this past year. I want to get back to it, with a bite-sized goal.
5. Make it a priority to have everything laid out the night before for the following day. - My life is so much less stressed when that happens. All I have to do it get myself up and get ready, grab a couple of things and walk out the door. When I have to remember to pack something for lunch or put something in my gym bag, I inevitably forget something. When everything is set out the night before I don't forget anything and my mornings are much less stressed. This leads me to my next goal:
6. Make a schedule for myself each week. I have set up an excel spreadsheet for every hour of my day. I have then filled in all the regular activities like sleeping, working, church, etc. Then I take a look at the rest of my time. It gives me a sense of purpose for my week and lets me see the big picture, instead of just taking it one hour at a time.
7. Have a date night every week with my to-be-husband. - Right now this is NOT a problem because we go out at least once a week just the two of us, but I want to make it a pointed habit at this stage of the game. That way it's a habit for after we get married and for years to come.
8. Join a church in Huntsville and make friends. (Possibly even join a small group this year.) - Josh and I have been regularly attending one church in Huntsville over the past few months and I really like it. I would like to probably visit some other churches before making the final decision. And then once the decision is made, plug in to the church.
9. Tell myself "no" again. - This is less of a tangible goal and more of a renewal of a mindset. I have become lax over the holidays with telling myself no to sweets or to shopping. But it's time to let myself hear the word "no" again and exercise some self-control.
10. Make my bed every day. - I am borrowing from one of my best friend's blogs, but really it's something I've started to strive to do. Everything looks and feels better when the bed is made up. It also makes me more inclined to picking up the floor, or clearing off the desk. It sets an atmosphere of cleanliness in my room, and that's what I need this year.
What are your goals for this year?
December 06, 2008
Car for sale!
My car died. Yes, while making my weekly trek to Huntsville a couple of weeks ago. So last week, the day before Thanksgiving, I bought a new-to-me car: a 2002 Honda Civic. I LOVE Hondas. (And everyone that I've talked to about it has had the same reaction: "you will LOVE driving a Honda." Of course I know this already because I've owned two Hondas before and LOVED them.)
I paid $300 while in Huntsville to get the old car drivable so that I could make it back home. And now I'm trying to sell it. It's definitely a fixer-upper ... but hey, to each his own. I need something reliable, which is what I have now ...
Know anyone who wants an old fixer upper? Listed on Craigslist.
November 24, 2008
My life in bullets
(I wrote this a week ago ... but didn't post because I wanted to add pictures. So it's a little old now ... but still kind of current
.)
Evidently I'm no longer a consistent blogger. Life is just too much fun ... and too busy ... for me to blog.
Weekend recap:
- I drove to Huntsville on Friday afternoon and then Josh and I headed to Birmingham to spend the night with his friends Charles and Sarah. Charles will be in our wedding, so it was good to finally meet him.
- Saturday was the Auburn Alumni Rugby Match - where I got to meet many of Josh's college teammates ... some of which I liked and some of which ... :) I did get to meet another guy who is going to be in our wedding ... and he was great!
- We then drove to Josh's family lake house and spent the night there. It's just nice to get out there ... relax out in the middle of nowhere.The lake was crystal blue and the leaves were really pretty. We didn't get to stay long.
- Sunday night we got back to Hunstville and had dinner with Josh's mom.
- Lots of driving. Looking forward to this weekend where we will stay in Huntsville for the weekend and attend one of his friend's wedding. I've GOT to figure out what I'm wearing.
Wedding update:
- The reception site has been confirmed! YAY! The Martin Center in Brentwood will be the place for fun! I think it's perfect and I can't wait to figure out all the details.
- ...which is what I've been trying to do. In the next few weeks I'm meeting with the florist, baker (cake) and caterer. Should have that all set up before Christmas, at least.
- In the next few weeks I'm going to head out and try on some wedding dresses. For some reason I'm dreading it, but hopefully it will turn out to be fun.
- We are registered ... and if you want to buy me anything for Christas, there's a TON of possibilities. :) Just kidding. We are registered at a lot of places, though ... Dillards; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Target; Pottery Barn; and Anthrolpologie (you have to look up my wish list there).
So that's what's going on. It's all very exciting ... although it looks pretty boring just in bullet points ... but this girl is busy!
October 13, 2008
September 26, 2008
September 02, 2008
The Engagement
For those of you who haven't heard through a phone call, e-mail, facebook or twitter, Josh and I are engaged!
Here's the story ... So the two of us met about 2.5 months ago. And while that may seem like not a very long time to know you want to marry someone, we knew we wanted to get married around about 3 weeks into it. They say that "when you know, you know." And I can attest that it was true for Josh and me. Of course there was a lot of discussion about all of life's issues surrounding marriage and spending a life together: family, children, where to live, faith, morals, goals, football (he's Auburn, I'm Tennessee), jobs, finances, dreams and everything in between. But we just seemed to know from the beginning that this was it for us.
And it hasn't been a secret to our friends and family that this relationship was serious ... the engagement would probably happen as soon as we got our ducks in a row. (We were in this for good.) My mom and grandmother had graciously given me my great-grandmother's wedding and engagement rings to use for my own.
About a month ago Josh and I went looking for the perfect ring setting. We planned to put my great-grandmother's diamond into a new setting and I had a good idea what I was looking for and so I didn't think it would take very long to find it. That Saturday, we had planned to shop around at several places, but after the second store I was getting overwhelmed with all the choices and was frustrated that I couldn't just pick something. So we stopped and went to dinner. We had no plans to go back and look anymore that weekend because we weren't in any hurry. But on Sunday afternoon we were spending time with my best friend and her husband and I decided I needed a best friend opinion. We went back to the first store and it was just a few minutes later that I knew which setting I wanted. I was shocked that I knew, but I did, and April agreed with me. Before we really had time to process what was happening, Josh was putting the setting on reserve and would come back later with my great-grandmother's ring.
The fact that he lived in Huntsville would make it hard to him to maneuver getting the ring all squared away without me knowing, so I thought. We'll come back to that in a minute.
So this past weekend rolls around. Josh had been telling me that he would probably not propose before September. I thought that was perfect since it would be about three months after we started dating. I knew he had been back to the ring store once, but I didn't think there was any way that he could have the ring yet. So, I wasn't suspecting anything.
I left work on Friday around 4:45, as I usually do, in order to get a head start on the traffic going south on I-65 to Huntsville. I knew we would be spending the weekend at the lake with his entire family and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. I was making great time and was about 15 minutes away when Josh called. He was just leaving his mom's house after picking up his four-wheeler and going to grab a bite to eat. I told him that I hadn't eaten yet and was getting hungry. So, he decided to head for his house and wait for me to eat.
When I pulled up to the house I saw him run inside and leave his dog outside. I thought that very strange, but when I questioned him about it, he said something to the tune of "I was just going to see if my dog would jump on you." OK? (I found out later that he had to run inside and put the ring in his bag before I came inside.) So he got ready to go to the lake and told me we were going to go to a nice restaurant (The Chef's Table) in Huntsville before we headed out of town. It's one of my favorites, so far, so I agreed - even though I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops. I was totally underdressed, but he convinced me it didn't matter. (I don't know anyone else in Huntsville, so I decided I didn't care.)
We had a nice dinner and then ran by the grocery store on the way out of town to pick up some weekend essentials. By the time we got down to the lake, it was nearly 10 p.m. and I was beat. We grabbed a drink and headed out to the deck for a few minutes when he suggested that we walk down to the dock. His mom just bought this beautiful lake home and the dock had just been completed. I kind of wanted to go to bed, but I thought I would humor him and go see the dock first.
We found our way down to the dock in the dark and were just admiring the stars, talking about how amazing stars were. If anyone knows me very well they know that I LOVE stars. One of my favorite verses is about stars. I also have a star tattoo and love viewing the sky sparklers from my parents home out in the country. So star gazing is a favorite thing for me to do. And they were gorgeous on Friday night.
While we were gazing at the stars and talking ... I started to think that this would be the perfect place for a proposal. I knew it wasn't going to happen - because he didn't have the ring. So, I was SHOCKED when he pulled me to him and said "I have something even cooler to show you." That's when he dropped down on one knee and proposed with the ring I picked out and my great-grandmother's stone. I said "YES!"
Surprising enough, there were no tears. I always thought I would cry when I got engaged, but really it wasn't too emotional. I was really just very happy. So, we walked back up to the house and toasted to our engagment and sat out on the deck for a little bit before going to bed.
Like me, you might be wondering how he got the ring by this weekend! Well, a few weekends ago he had told me that he had an extra football meeting and that he wouldn't be up to Franklin until late on Friday. Come to find out, he had no meeting and had busted his butt to get up to Franklin before the jewelry store closed. Then that Sunday he told me he had to be back to Huntsville early in order to do laundry and get ready for the week. I kind of got upset because I had wanted to spend the afternoon at the park, which we ended up doing. He told me later that afternoon that he told me he needed to leave early, not to go back home, but to go to the jewelry store. I then instructed him that he needed to be a better liar in order to trick me and get to the jewelry store. HA! He had already done that and only needed to go to pick up the ring! So the next time he was in town he went to "get coffee" after church and I went home with my parents. I knew he was going to the jewelry store, but I thought he was only dropping off my great-grandmother's ring - NOT picking it up! I was surprised by the proposal, even though I thought I could never be surprised. (My parents tried to throw two surprise birthday parties for me in my lifetime, and both I knew about - so my all-knowing streak has ended.)
So there it is. The story of how we got engaged. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of ourselves this weekend, but I did take this picture of my ring the morning after. It's hard to get a good picture because the ring is so sparkly. :-)
The wedding date is not set yet, but is looking like it will be sometime next spring or early summer. I've already bought bridal magazines and have started getting overwhelmed by all that goes in to a wedding. But I'll just do one thing at a time ...
July 02, 2008
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