ENJOY

I am currently in Orlando on a trip for work. Even when I'm only a few hours away, for just a few days, I  miss my little family. They are the simple pleasures of my life that I cherish the most.

Praying with my husband. Being greeted by Gilligan who is so excited to see me he may even pee a little, even when its only been a few hours. Watching a movie and curling up on the couch.

For now I will enjoy my giant empty bed, and relax, like a puppy with his head out the window.

A TRIP TO CAPE KENNEDY

For our first anniversary we decided to visit the Kennedy Space Center. As a Floridian, there are lots of things, semi touristy things, that we just never seem to find the time to do. Visiting NASA is one of them. There was so much to see and do! Jared's a space nut, so we upgraded to a fancier tour, but even if you go with the standard you really get bang for you buck. We had a wiley old tour guide, saw about 5 alligators, felt up on a moon rock, and finally saw Hubble 3D in IMAX. All in all a great day. If you like history, science, thrill rides, bus tours, wild life or dehydrated ice cream, this is the place for you! This is the first outing with my new Canon. I am chomping at the bit to learn manual settings.

THRIFT QUEEN

The other day I asked Bird to define my style in a few words. He picked "Thrift Store". 

If the shoe fits...

UNINTENTIONAL ACHIEVMENTS

As of today, I haven't had a soda pop in 3 weeks (?).* I wasn't a huge soda drinker before, but Jared is FULLY addicted. To the hard stuff, too. He drinks Coca-Cola classic like its going out of style. I thought my  abandonment of the icky diet crap I found myself asking for automatically at every meal would help him get past his own personal carbonated demon. So far this hasn't proved true, but I have faith in you yet Birdy! So

Turning my attention to intentional achievements, I would like to set forth a goal for February. The goal is two fold with one intention: to love and honor my body.

I am setting out to work out every day in February. EVERY DAY. Even on Sundays I can fit in a stroll to the park with my boo dog. In addition to this, I would like to take a self-portrait every day. EVERY DAY. This is not (pure) vanity. I need this. Lately I've been feeling, well attractive wouldn't be the word. I want to feel good and strong and healthy. I want to see the beauty that I know is there, somewhere. Anyway, I've got three and a half more days to launch. Anyone want to join me? I will be mentioning my work out every day on the blog to help keep me motivated.

Ok, and maybe it has a little to do with being one month away from 24, but we won't talk about that just yet.

In other news, I am really really fixated on cutting my long lackluster do nothing hair. Any opinions? I loved this cut I had in 2009, sans the pink.

AMERICA;FREEDOM;WILD LIFE;DATEZ

Occasionally, ok extremely frequently, I am so dang busy that I have no time to blog, and then when I do have a spare second my mind goes blank or I don't have the pictures I wanted to share or blah blah blah.

So that's where I am at currently. UNTIL I remembered Jared and I went on a date a weekish ago. We were going to a movie and had to kill some time, so we popped into Wal-Mart (of course). The rest is history.

yup. Then we went and saw Skyfall.

YEAR ONE

It's been a year, folks. But really its been so much longer.

 A year ago yesterday Jared and I got married. It's blowing my mind. It goes SO quickly. Our first year will be known as tumultuous and very very blessed.  We went through a lot of trials, most of them quiet things but some of them very loud. in your face and relentless. Things that made us grow up more quickly then we would have liked to. I'm happy to say that throughout everything we clung to one another. We relied on each other and made it through. To me, today seems more like new years then January 1, because today is when my year REALLY started.

Yesterday we celebrated with a trip to Kennedy Space Center. More on that tomorrow I think.

Jared I love you so much forever. You are the greatest and truest friend I've ever had. Here's to year two.

JUST A FEW MORE HOURS

Justin Hackworth

Its a three day weekend! Hurray! 

I couldn't NOT post this picture. I am obsessed with this girls gorgeous wedding dress and hair. 

Fittingly, Jared and I's first anniversary is on Monday. 

Tonight I will take Gill for his final vet appt before he can visit a dog park (exciting), and visit my wonderful aunt and eat roast chicken and talk finances. Who would have thought that I would be in the middle of investigating Roth IRA's. Yeesh. 

Hopefully this weekend will be full of photos, a special trip, clean kitchens, thrifting and a good ol' fashioned pedicure.

AWKWARD AND AWESOME

Source

Awkward

Well there was that whole mushroom situation....Gone now thank sweet mercy. Pictures above, soul of our dead mushroom.

Oh and we locked ourselves out of the apt, while Jared was barefoot.

I made THREE yellow cakes with chocolate icing this week before getting one that was edible.

Full on wind and a flippy skirt situation happened just hours ago actually....a rotten hipster saw me and started laughing.

Realizing you really really really need a formalized budget.

Awesome

Despite the challenges, I can say I met this week face-on with a smile. I laughed a ton this week.

My ticket to Europe has been bought and paid for in full. That's a great feeling.

Cheesy YA fiction. I am always a million years behind these trends but I am enjoying Matched so far. Don't hate.

LOCK OUT

Last night Jared and I went for a run and ended up locked out of the apartment. The landlord couldn't let us in until this morning. Meanwhile, Gilligan was locked inside, having just eaten dinner. My little dog friend. I love you. Fifteen hours alone, and he didn't have any accidents and didn't even try to rip open the garbage bag that was sitting on the floor! And it was full of cake! This was the first picture ever taken with my new Canon. A girls best friend. Gilly is currently 3.5 months old and a whopping 13 pounds. He is very loyal, very smart and hates to have his hair combed.

PRETTY PONY

Our home, at the moment, is rather plain. Hanging pictures is intimidating, isn't it? Especially in an apartment. I decided to take matters into my own hands about a month ago and create a piece for over our bed. I was inspired by Elsie at A Beautiful Mess, who stenciled her wall with these prancing ponies.

I took craft foam, free handed a pony (only took me like 20 tries! horses is hard, man), cut it out and glued it to a wood block to make a custom stamp.

Next, I painted a large canvas a deep blue. If I could re-do this, I would spraypaint the canvas. The acrylic paint was really hard to get even and it was a bit frustrating. Even now it has a bit of a weathered look. I thought about spacing the ponies with painters tape, but in the end I just eyeballed it and I am happy with how it turned out. I used silver acrylic paint, and one gold. Two nails and I was done!

A PLAGUE UPON OUR HEADS

Some of your already know how terrible Jared and I's first apartment was. I mean awful. But chalk it up to newlywed life and "In 10 years we will be GUFFAWING about that time we found 247 flies in our living room, clinging to the walls and blinds like fat, buzzing wallpaper." 

New year, new apartment. Shangri-La it may as well be known as. I love our new place. It finally feels like our home. This weekend however, this weekend. 

Jared went to take a shower and then yelled at me to come in because we had "An issue".  The issue? A FREAKING MUSHROOM. A MUSHROOM GROWING RIGHT NEXT TO OUR SHOWER HEAD. We both freaked out, decided we could never bathe there again, etc, and promptly left our house for the errands of the day. 

When we returned, things had gotten out of hand. In 5 hours this little sucker had grown 5 inches. I get the heeby jeebies just thinking about it. UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH. Anyway after some furious googling and a call to our land lord, we dumped salt all over the little beast and opened the window to promote some air flow. I felt like the kid from the Secret Garden "Spores!!! SPORES!"

We're waiting for our landlord to come and save us. In the meantime, I am reminded of an essay from David Sedaris where he questions if he can still be with his partner, knowing that as a child, his boyfriend lived in Africa and once had a Guinea Worm growing in his leg. Don't google that by the way, it's even worse that that disgusting mushroom. This is all to say, can I ever bathe here again? And also, I understand if we can't be friends anymore, seeing as I have this mushroom thing going on. I thought we were safe guys! I thought we were safe. This one may take 15 years to guffaw over.

WONDER WANDER WONDER

So lately I have been a little more then obsessed over Jared and I's upcoming trip to Europe. He will be studying abroad in Cologne, Germany for a month, and I will go over for two weeks after his program to visit London, Paris and a quick stop in Cologne for  a climb up the cathedral. P.S. while I was searching for great food in Cologne, I ran into this. Yes, cologne that smells like waffles. Sign me up!

Picture from my last trip to Paris with my beloved Juju. 

Planning this trip is awesome, guys. I have a spreadsheet and a huge sightseeing list. Every time I categorize something new a little shiver of delight goes down my spine. I love structure and I love travel and I love to be in charge. There I said it. HA. One of the best things about Jared is his laid back attitude, which is a great counter to my often times drama queen behavior. We have such similar interests he trusts me to plan almost everything, which I eat up.

Last year we did our fair share of travel: honeymoon cruise to the Caymans/Mexico, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and as always, Disney World. This said, I thought I would share a few of my go to tips for planning trips.

Flights
Kayak used to be my true boo, but lately I've had this chick on the side named Hipmunk, and shes really been doing me so so good good. Hipmunk allows you to rank your results through something they call "Agony". Basically it combines the factors of price, layover and flight change, putting the least grevious flight at the top of the list. Ya, you may find a flight for $200 dollars cheaper, but 9 times out of 10, thats $200 making sure you don't spend a 17 hour layover in BFE.

Lodging
Hotels, hate 'em. I've stayed in very few hotels where I didn't feel like I was getting ripped off, possibly because I am a cheapskate. Air BnB allows you to rent a room or a private residence directly from the owner. We'll be using AirBnB for our stays in London and Paris. ou can check out my ever growing wishlists here.

Eats
My strategy for eating on vacation is a 70:30 mix. MOST of the time you can eat, and eat well, by stopping in a grocery store or local market, picking up some grub, and then heading to a local landmark or park and having a picnic. This saves you money and keeps you from feeling weighed down by a mid-day heavy meal. That said, one of my favorite parts of travel is the food, so I always research well before hand and find a few must-try's for my trip.


I can't wait to share our experiences both in planning and executing this trip!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awesome

• Lately I've been obsessing over an upcoming trip just the teensiest smeensiest bit. Jared and I will be hoofing it to Europe in June!
• Finally got the camera I have been dreaming of since 2004! Can someone please help me figure out shooting manual?
• www.Skinnytaste.com
• The labradoodle who was mistaken for a lion cub.

Awkward

• Surest way to know its January? Try finding a parking spot at the Y after 5. 
• RIP my beloved gold glitter loafers. I wore you every day for the past 6 months and you have officially bit the dust. 
• Puppy decided to take off up the neighbors stairs and INTO THEIR HOUSE (why their door was open I don't know). Don't mind the crazy woman in the voluminous pink bath robe with the doodle...

AWKWARD AND AWESOME THURSDAY

Print from Caravan Shoppe

Awkward

• Hazy sleep-thoughts floating through your brain like "Oh Gilligan is such a good boy, sleeping peacefully all the way til 10 o'clock!" Dreamily, you think you hear a crunching sound, "Oh, he must be eating his breakfast, blessed lamb." Minutes later you sit up in horror and grab the dog brat because you realize he is eating your brand new glasses. 
• Slipping into a crazed half split on hard wood and having to just lay there for 10 min to keep from falling over dead. 
• Dropping your favorite make-up brush into the toilet and as you bend over to fish it out, dropping your mascara in there too. Pink eye, anyone? 

Awesome

• Teaching myself piano. You're next Jingle Bells. 
• Getting pumped to do an awesome DIY with said piano.
• Jared making dinner twice this week. He's on a roll, folks!
• Clicker training. Gilligan can sit, lay, shake, speak and is thhiiissss close to "roll over."
• Living next door to one of your best friends :)

WE'LL TAKE A CUP OF KINDNESS YET, FOR AULD LANG SYNE

New Years Day!

This year has been so full of learning and trial and blessing upon blessing upon blessing. My marriage, career, traveling bones and body have all served me well this year.

I am resolute in my resolution. I will become a more charitable person. I will make my bed. I will budget. I will have family home evening. I will have a Christ centered attitude. What are your resolutions?