USA! USA!

I wasn't kidding when I said we had been busy --- last week Zac and I also drove up to Columbus to watch the US Men's Soccer Team play in a World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica.

It was a late night for us. I can't remember the last time I wasn't home at midnight on a weeknight, but it was worth it. Zac is a huge soccer fan, but this was my first big game.

We had GREAT seats. It was a blast - I don't think anyone in that stadium ever sat down. People were cheering and singing and jumping and just having a great time.

The US missed what felt like a hundred shots before finally scoring their first goal.

There was something extra special about cheering for the USA on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

The US is in the red/white uniforms, and Jamaica wore yellow. The players look a bit like a "Where's Waldo" book, but I do love their jerseys.

The final score was 1-0... USA! USA!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parent's 29th wedding anniversary! They are an incredible couple - loving, fun, supportive, and joyful. They have been the most tremendous model of a loving marriage for their children, and I'm so grateful to have grown up with parents who made their marriage a priority.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We love you so much!

Today is another anniversary of sorts, also. A year ago today, this little booger came to live with us...

I've told you before that I'm not a dog person.... but folks, I get it now. I get why people are dog people. Derby brings so much love to our house - I can't imagine coming home now without a puppy over the moon to see me. I don't think there's anyone in this world who loves us as much as this dog does, and we love him right back. 

Happy living-with-us-anniversary, bud. We love you tons and we're glad you're in our family. 

It's Our Anniversary!

One year ago today, we were doing this:

And this:

And this!

I can't believe we've been married for a year. It's gone by so quickly, and yet it seems like we've been married for 100 years. 

Being married has been so incredibly wonderful for us. I still don't think people need to get married to be happy, but getting married truly changed our relationship in such a positive way.

To my wonderful husband - thank you for being everything I would ever want in a partner. Thank you for supporting me, taking care of me, and doing 99% of the housework over the past year. Thank you for making me laugh, rubbing my feet, and letting me sleep in while you get up with the dog. 

Thank you for making me feel like the luckiest woman on earth. Here's to many, many more!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Zac and I aren't huge V-Day people. It probably has something to do with the fact that Zac has had to work every Valentine's Day since we met until this year.... the restaurant business is not kind to couples. And I'll be in class all night. I guess the universe just doesn't want this to be our holiday.

I did make him a card, if printing a card off the computer count as making? I'm wishing I'd gotten him this card instead, because I'm all romantic like that.

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'll share with you a few things that I love. And hopefully you'll share some of yours with me!

• I LOVE when I'm sitting on the couch and Derby jumps up next to me and snuggles into my lap. He's so cuddly and warm.
• I LOVE when I have happy hour with just one or two friends. There's something re-charging about that.
• I LOVE sitting down for dinner with my family and getting up an hour later because we're laughing too hard to finish dinner right away (joke credit here goes to Beth).
• I LOVE weekends with no plans. This weekend will be almost that way, and I can't wait.
• I LOVE dreaming with my husband about house projects, future plans, and just our future in general. I should note that he loves this significantly less than I do, but he's a good sport.
• I LOVE waking up and thinking it's almost time to get up - but you've actually have hours left to sleep. Score.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Bedroom Makeover

While looking at my calendar last week, I noticed a small miracle. We had nothing planned from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. NOTHING. That literally never happens. Well, it literally happens once or twice a year. I frantically called Zac to see what home project he wanted to tackle.

We threw around the idea of the dining room, downstairs bathroom, painting the kitchen cabinets... but nothing seemed really exciting. We had been planning to do our bedroom last, like, way way years from now last, but Zac suggested we tackle it this weekend. We hadn't picked out bedding but we had a vague idea of what we wanted, so we went for it!

And we worked HARD. As in, painting ceilings and trim and doors and walls hard. Not putting down drop cloths and having to scrape paint off your laminate floors hard. But it was so so so so worth it.

Fast forward to picking out bedding. I accepted long ago that I would probably never again sleep under a printed duvet or quilt. There just aren't any that we both like. In fact, the following conversation occurred mid-bedding hunting:

Me: "Do you like this one?"
Zac: "No."
Me: "What about this one?"

Zac: "No."

Me: "This would be much easier if you didn't sleep in bed with me."

Zac: "Ditto."

He is a man of few words.

I'm not ready to show it to you quite yet because we don't have curtains or art hung yet, and we're waiting on our duvet cover, but I'll give you a small preview. This is the quilt we found that I adored and Zac thought was "fine." I didn't ask one single question after that. I just bought the damn thing.

                                         

It will have a white textured duvet on the bed, too. It's hard to see it here, but you can see better pictures if you visit the Pottery Barn website. The pictures really don't do it justice - I actually looked at it online but didn't think much of it. When I saw it in person, I was in love.

I had a friend ask why I didn't just make the quilt, but I didn't for a few reasons. One, I can't sleep under something I made every night. I'm too crazy and all I'd see would be uneven edges. I'm not proud of that. Secondly, it honestly isn't cost effective. It would have cost me way more money to make it than to just buy it. Finally, I wanted a solid looking quilt without a lot of piecing. I can't get giant fabric the way Pottery Barn is. And, it took me 20 minutes to buy it. If I made it, I wouldn't have had a new quilt for months.

I'll send you pictures as soon as we have the rest of it finished, which will hopefully be soon. In the meantime, does anyone know where I can find some affordable faux silk white curtains? You might remember my curtain rant from last year. I want these to look luxurious, but I want them to be cheap. Let me know if you find any!

Recipes of Love

One of my favorite wedding shower gifts was a recipe holder from Longaberger Baskets (thanks, Gramma!).  It came with a thick stack of recipe cards, and Zac and I had a great idea for them.

After Zac's grandmother passed away last year, one of his mom's most cherished possessions from her are the recipes that she wrote. She wrote them out very clearly, as if she thought that none of us would ever be able to follow her directions! Reading them in her handwriting sounds like she's talking directly to you.

So we're taking our new recipe cards and sending them to our friends and family with requests for our favorite recipes, as well as some of their favorites we might not know about. Only catch? We want them handwritten. Years from now, I want to be able to tell my kids about their great-aunt as we're making her favorite casserole, or make their grandmother's best friend's delicious coffee cake recipe, and tell them how she would share with anyone except my mother.

I think I'm getting more and more sentimental as the wedding approaches! Do you have any cherished recipes?

Feeling loved!

The bridal shower last weekend was absolutely perfect. It was everything that I had hoped for... the food was delicious, the decorations were adorable and the people were amazing.  

I felt so loved and so special... I felt like the bride!  Here's some eye candy for you...

Feeling so blessed!!

About all this "grown-up" stuff

Over the past few months, it's hit me hard - I'm a grown-up. I don't know when it really started, and while it seems to have been gradual, lately it feels like it's hit me like an ice cream truck. That's my favorite analogy - because it's all good stuff but it still hurts!

Was it when we decided to get married? Sitting on the floor of my sewing room tonight, I'm looking around wondering if it has something to do with this house? Was it going back to school or something at work? Was it watching my sisters get older, or my friends start to move away?

  

                                                          When did I go from this... to this... to this?

All I know is that somehow, things are different. I walked up to my friend Katie's door today and thought, "Wow, her liriope are just goregous!" I'm decorating my house for the seasons, the way my mom does. I'm opting for clothes that are more practical and makeup that stays on all day. I'm noticing things that I never noticed before, like why you close the blinds when you're changing and it's dark outside. I want to know what cleaning product my friend Ashley uses to make her house smell so good.

When did we start talking about having kids like it will actually happen (relatively) soon? When did we hang paint samples on the living room wall to choose between fourteen shades of WHITE? When did we figure out there was more than one shade of white to begin with?

I'm totally freaked out, and at the same time, I feel more comfortable than I have ever been before. All I know is that this grown-up stuff is totally crazy.

And that I love it.

I love you today.

Warning: the following story will probably make you sick. Because it's honestly that cute.

My co-worker's husband goes to work earlier than she does, and he sends her a text message very morning that says, "I love you today." This isn't even the cute part.

Today she woke up and he hadn't sent the message. She sent him a text teasing him that he forgot. A little bit later, he sent her a message telling her to look at the window.  And we saw this:

Oh, you can't see what that is? Look closer:

Still not sure? Try one more time:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It's a sign stapled to a tree across the street from our office that says, "I LOVE YOU TODAY."

You already know that my darling fiancé doesn't read my blog, so if you talk to him, mention that it would be cool if he did something like this. I'm happy to email your significant other to suggest it for you. 

Husbands and Husbands

I found this video on my friend Ashley's blog and WOW...

I hope my future children are just like Calen.  I love when it just makes sense to him: "So that means you love each other!"  Yep Calen, that's exactly what it means.