Two

Two years ago today I made the best decision of my life and said I Do to the most wonderful man.  I am still amazed that I get to be married to Brandon and that God chose him to be my partner in life.  God created marriage so that we can have someone to share life's joys, pains, changes, and excitement with and that we would be drawn closer to Him through it.  I am so thankful that my marriage is based on Christ's love for us and that I can continue to grow personally and spiritually through it.  I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us through our marriage.  You can see the video highlights of our special day here.  Happy anniversary Brandon, I love you so much!

Honeymoon Link Up

Today I am joining Jena over at Recently Roached for a fun Honeymoon Link Up.  Whenever I think about my honeymoon I get so happy.  It was an amazing week with my new husband.  We wanted to take a memorable trip and decided on St. Lucia.  We stayed at the Sandals Grande resort and it was incredible.  Every time I look at the photos I cannot believe how relaxed and happy we look.  It was the perfect way to relax after the wedding and enjoy our first week of marriage.  It is a beautiful island full of adventurous activities, beautiful beaches that promote laziness, and service at your fingertips.  I cannot wait to go back one day.

 

Ziplining with George of the Jungle

Top of Pigeon Island.  Caribbean Sea to the right, Atlantic to the Left.

Drive in Volcano Tour

Mud Bath with the mud from the volcano

Botanical Garden, Diamond Falls

Town of Soufriere and the Piton Mountain

Sad to leave

Spending Time

This weekend the hubs and I headed off for a weekend for just the two of us.  Being married you see each other all of the time, yet you don't always spend quality time with one another.  The daily routine, work, cooking dinner, meeting obligations, and keeping up a home quickly interfere with the puppydog love, honeymoon phase of a marriage.  It is crucial that you invest in your spouse, take time to just be with one another and to enjoy life together.  It's often difficult to carve out this special time for one another and you get entranced in the rhythm of life that you don't take time each day to grow your relationships.  I was definitely starting to feel this way and it was time to get out of town for some QT, so we headed down to the ATL. 

We have always wanted to take a weekend trip to Hotlanta, but have never planned one.  Being that my school is on Spring Break, we took the opportunity to pack up our bags and head out for a weekend of fun.  I can tell you, it was so refreshing!  Just being in a new city was invigorating.  I love spending time with Brandon.  I mean really spending time together.  This probably resulted in me being a bad blogger because I didn't take pictures of every moment, but hey there are a few.  We ate candy, cuddled in a king size bed, and visited the many attractions that Atlanta has to offer. 

First we stuffed our faces at the original Chick-fil-a.  It was a Dwarf House, so they serve not only traditional Chick-fil-a dishes, but also other foods like mac n' cheese and cornbread.  It was so delicious!  

Then we checked into our wonderful hotel in midtown, which we booked off Priceline.  A 4-star hotel for cheap!  We changed clothes, and headed to Stone Mountain for some hiking and to enjoy the laser show.  Stone Mountain is a beautiful park with lots of activities.  We hiked to the top of the mountain and let me tell you, it was not an easy hike, but Brandon is an awesome motivator.  It was a really cool experience.  Once you make it to the top it is a 360 view of Atlanta and surrounding areas.   Then we checked out the laser show, which they project onto the side of the mountain while cuddling on a picnic blanket.
  

After a full day we were exhausted and headed back to rest up for a fun filled Sunday.  On Sunday, we headed to the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.  The aquarium was amazing!  We saw the dolphin show where we got to sit on the second row of the auditorium.  Those creatures are incredible.  The aquarium is huge and it took us almost 4 hours to get through it all.  They have whale sharks, beluga whales, penguins, otters, and all kinds of sea animals.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  The World of Coke was also fun and we got a bottle of coke that was bottled right before our eyes.  We also got to try different coke products from around the world.  They even had Inca Cola from Peru, which took me back to the summer I studied there.  It was a great day!

It was a wonderful weekend, but my favorite part was spending it with my love.  Finding those moments to experience new things together and to nurture your marriage are so important and uplifting.  Even if you can't go on a mini vacay, find small ways to spend time together.  It will do wonders for you!

Friendship

Sorry I have been so absent on here lately.  I promise I'm not abandoning you, I've just had some serious writer's block, like really bad.  Anyways, a topic I have been thinking a lot about lately is friendship.  As a woman friends are critical.  Growing up, during your middle and high school years, nothing could come between you and your girlfriends.  They are the ones you told your deepest secrets to, the ones you danced around the kitchen at 2 AM with, and the ones who knew you better than you knew yourself.  As we get older the importance of friendship does not change, but the types of friendships do change. 

Whether we like to admit it or not friends don't always stick around, no matter how close you are to them.  People come and go, your expectations change, you change, and your life moves forward regardless.  I think especially when you get married you redefine your friendships.  I no longer run to my closest girlfriend to pour my heart out to, I turn to my husband.  Instead of planning my weekend around my friends, I plan to spend time with my husband.  Some people stick around for the ride and join in the change, while others jump ship.  

This doesn't mean that a married woman doesn't need friends, she certainly does.  Marriage just changes your friendships, whether we like it or not.  There are times when I yearn for my old best friends and that time of my life was amazing.  The Lord really blessed me with some great friends as I grew up.  Those women shaped part of my life and I am thankful for that.  Friends mold and shape us, they live life with us.  

The good thing is, the Lord's timing is perfect.  He knows exactly who we need in our lives at any given moment.  I can speak this through experience.  I know that my old friendships are not going to be brought back to their glory days, but I do know that the Lord is constantly moving.  As our lives change, the people are strategically placed at any given moment.  See, the Lord makes all things new.  I used to be in a really dark place in the area of friendship in my life.  I don't like to admit that, but it was a dark time of my life.  The good news, the Lord is working through and making friendship new in my life.  I can see him placing Godly women in my life and bringing me out of the darkness to a new point of light.  He is restoring my belief in friendship and I see a new purpose through it all.   
 

My How Things Have Changed

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much my life has changed over the last few years.  I am 24 years old and looking back even three years ago, my life is drastically different now.  It's neither better nor worse, just different.  

I used to be a night owl, staying up until 2 AM on a normal night and not getting up until at least 10.  Now I go to bed at 10.

My Saturday night used to be filled with friends and fun events.  Now, a normal Saturday night consists of dinner with the hubs, pajamas by 8:00, movie on the couch and I typically don't complain about it.

 

I used to have lots of girlfriends and girl's night was a common occurrence, which I sometimes miss.  Now, I cherish the time I have with just my husband and we rarely have company.

I used to be able to eat whatever I want and not have to worry about it.  Now, I am counting calories and painstakingly working out 4 times a week.  I quiver at the thought of summer and bikinis.

 

My only responsibilities were schoolwork and having fun.  Now, I own a house, have a job, have pets, etc.etc.

Even though life is different, life is still beautiful.  Yes, it may not be a wild and crazy weekend, but it's spent with the ones I love.  It may be stressful at times and adulthood is daunting, but it grows you as a person.  The journey is still exciting and what lies ahead we don't always know or expect, but we are always changing.  Embracing the change makes the difference.  Will it be beautiful or will it be unwelcomed?  I choose to welcome it.

 

Our Love Story

Let's be honest, I've been having some major writer's block lately.  What better way to cure it and still keep this little blog going than a link-up!!  Today I am linking up with Becky at From Mrs. to Mama for a super adorable link-up called What's Your Love Story.  So appropriate since it is almost Valentine's Day!!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Brandon and I went to middle school together, but didn't start to actually know one another until high school.  We became friends our sophomore year and started dating our senior year, which means we have been a couple for 7 years.

Senior Prom

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
Brandon and I actually went to middle school together, but we did not start becoming friends until high school.  We sat together in Spanish class and developed a friendship.  During our senior year our two groups of friends started to merge and things took off.  We started flirting and finally he asked me out while sitting in my parent's den.  We went to senior prom together and ended up enrolling in the same college.  Throughout college we continued to date and fell in love.  We knew we wanted to get married and were just waiting to graduate college and become financially stable.  Brandon landed a job as an Engineer  and I got a fellowship to get my Master's in School Counseling.  Brandon proposed to me on September 14, 2009.

 

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We got married August 14, 2010.  It will be a year and a half on Valentine's Day!

 

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? 
We got married in the church that I grew up in in our hometown.  It was an average size wedding, not too big, not too small.  It was perfect.  You can see details and a video HERE

 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
I call Brandon "Brando" and he calls me "Wienerschnitzel"

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

     1. I love his sense of humor.  He make me laugh even when I am in the worst of moods.

     2. I love how giving and caring he is.  He can make friends with anyone he meets.

     3. I love how patient he is.  This is one area that we are complete opposites in, but he           definitely balances my lack of patience.

7. Tell us how he proposed?

Brandon asked me to dinner, so we went to McAlister's to pick up some sandwiches. We then went to the nearby lake and ate. After eating, Brandon said he had some gifts for me. He pulled out a series of small boxes. Each one had a letter on top, which made no sense to me at the time. Inside every box was a slip of paper with a word or phrase of something we had done together over the years. With each box he gave me a small gift that was a reminder of that time.  The final box had an "A" on it and said "Prom" inside. He then asked me what my favorite part of prom was and after a few wrong answers I said "How you asked me", which was that he got down on one knee on Valentine's Day. He asked me to stand up and began proposing. I still didn't know what the letter on the boxes meant. We had a running joke that everything I want to do, include get engaged and married, Brandon always says "One Day". I respond "well that will be one great day!". He was proposing and said "You know how I always tell you one day we will get engaged? It's today!" I looked over and the boxes spelled out "It's Today". He asked me to marry him and I said YES!, of course. It was the perfect, sweetest proposal!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Valentine's Day is usually pretty low key for us.  We usually just do flowers and a nice dinner, so I guess he is a combination of the two.
 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
Most of the time I am a couch kind of girl, but I do like the occasional romantic evening out.  Either sounds like fun to me!  

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
We have a whole list of things we want to do, but traveling is definitely a dream of ours.  One thing we would love to do is go on a mission trip together.  Hopefully, next summer we will be able to plan one somewhere overseas like Haiti or somewhere in South America.  We love serving together and are growing every day in our faith.  

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
This Valentine's Day we are going to a nice dinner and relaxing.  Nothing too fancy shmancy.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
We typically don't do gifts on Valentine's Day, so I am not asking for anything.  I do know that he got me a small gift, so I guess I should probably get him something small too.  I usually just bake him some sort of treat.  You know food is the way to a man's heart ;)

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.
Always hold on to each other.  All around you there may be other people or fast-paced action, but when it is just the two of you the world seems to stand still.  I love this picture because the people in the background are all active but we are embracing the moment.