the 5 contradictory things I say

Lately I have literally found myself laughing at something I said or thought because it was the exact opposite of something I said or thought earlier in the day. I mean we all do it, but I think I have been doing it a lot lately. I figured since I always got a kick out of my quite contradictory statements, you would too.

And while we are on the subject of contradictions, oxymorons, and things that don't make sense. While it was snowing 8 inches yesterday, I dressed Nora up in her swim suit and took some pictures. You're welcome! Enjoy! See crazy pays off sometimes!

"My baby is the most advanced baby ever."
"Oh my gosh. She hasn't rolled over today. Is she developing ok? She is two days behind my baby milestones app!"

"We have way too many toys. I can't find room to put them all away."
{Later on that day at the store} "Look at this baby toy it's so cute. Nora would love this. I think she needs it."

"I think we should wait like 5 years to have another baby. I want to focus on Nora and eventually get some sleep."
{After looking at her newborn pictures} "I want another baby NOW!"

"I'll be so happy when she finally sleeps all night."
"She slept all night, I missed out on all the sweet snuggles, and woke up every hour to check on her anyway."

"Today I will shower, put makeup on, dry my hair, and wear real clothes."
"At least I got a shower???"

Yeah, just call me crazy.

But at least my baby is the cutest thing around!

Swimsuit: Baby GAP 

Sorry, some of the pictures are a little fuzzy. We weren't working with the best lighting, considering there was no sun and it was snowing all day. 

"Happy Birthday Dad"

Nora and I are wishing Ryan a very Happy Birthday!

Its 11:30 and we have made cupcakes, had a photo session for Dad's card and Nora is now napping and I am running around trying to blog, clean, cook, shower, and all the while praying naptime lasts more than an hour today!

This past year was a big year for Ryan, but I know that the best is still yet to come! He is an excellent daddy to Nora and a wonderfully supportive and encouraging husband to me! We are thankful for him every day!

Babymooning

This weekend we headed off to the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro, NC to celebrate a few things actually.

Our 3 year anniversary which was on July 17th

Our last time as just us two before baby joins us really any day now

and

My 23rd Birthday which is the 28th of this month!

So many fun things going on and we really enjoyed our little bit of luxury.

 We had an early check in so we got to check out our really cool suite with an amazing bathroom and then do some browsing in stores near by. 

Now that we are about to be parents you know, we just had to go in the toy store.

It was awesome! We lost track of time in there and I am pretty sure people thought we were crazy. 

Our favorite section, the stuffed animals. If it is an animal they had it in there!

Dinner reservations were at 6 at the Green Valley Grill!

Delicious! You may notice I order a hamburger, but it was seriously one of the best I have ever had!

Ryan on the other had order rotisserie steak!

It was quite delicious too.

The next morning we had breakfast in bed! YES PLEASE!

Seeing as how I am pregnant and can basically eat all day we order pretty much everything.

I was a happy camper.

Not a drop left :)

 This is a flash back picture to our honeymoon where we had breakfast delivered every morning and Ryan would take my picture.

Babymoon complete, now we just need us a baby!

Long Distance in Marriage

Have you and your husband ever found yourself in a long distance marriage for a while?

I never thought I would, but when my husband took his job, we found out he would be traveling pretty much the entire first year!?! 

It's crazy, it really is, but after going through a stretch of woah-is-me I'm the only person who never gets to see her husband, I realized that I absolutely wasn't the only one!

It went kind of like this: "Self, have you ever heard of deployment, or of husbands who have to go overseas for work, or husbands furthering their education out of state?"

It's hard. I'm not going to lie, but this summer, we will have been doing it for one year. 

We have learned along the way and figured out ways to make this thing work for the time being.

Maybe what we have learned to mistakes and successes will encourage you.

I guess it's also not bad marriage advice either, even if you aren't long distancing. 

1. Remind yourself it isn't permanent. 

There is always an end. I don't know an exact date yet, but I know that soon he will be home and working a normal schedule in one town. Looking forward to that time is what gets me through the lonely weeks.

2. Text each other! All day! Everyday! 

We love text message. I mean top 10 best inventions ever, I think so! Tell him you miss him like a bajillion times a day. It's ok. They like to be reminded that someone misses them. Talk about funny things and send funny pictures of you and the dog or something you did that day. 

Source unknown

3. When and if you do get to see them, plan your time together.

Some weekends when Ryan comes home, if we haven't planned anything we just end up staring at each other until lunch on Saturday saying, "What do you want to do?" "I don't know. What do you want to do?" Not productive and Not fun! Breakfast dates are some of our favorite ways to spend a Saturday morning.

4. Be honest with each other. 

Tell the other person about your hard days or worries. A lot of times when you see your spouse everyday it is easy to read their emotions to see if something is on their mind or upsetting them, but the phone can really make it hard. Marriage is all about supporting each other. Don't let that HUGE aspect slip when you miles apart. 

5. LOVE on each other. 

Do something special for the other person. Something they may not be expecting. Make time for being ALONE when you are together!! And don't neglect the other's needs.

6. Finally, Stay Positive.

Remember that what your going through is hard but there is always someone out there going through something much harder. Don't complain all the time to others about your situation. They will get tired of it, TRUST ME! Have faith that God will bring you through, what ever the separation may be and how ever long, a better and stronger Husband and Wife!!

what LOVE has looked like lately

With so many weddings this summer and now my life long best friend's engagement and wedding coming up, I have been thinking about what our marriage has looked like lately.

Our Wedding {July 17, 2010}

All marriages go through eb and flow, and lately I feel like ryan and I have been blessed with some invaluable time to spend together during this transition time as we have moved to our new town and before our jobs have fully begun.

I am reading a book that I am sure you have all heard about entitled "Real Marriage" by Grace and Mark Driscoll that is so great. In it, it says that the best way to have a lasting marriage is to be your spouses best friend and all else will fall into place.

So in our efforts to always be each other's best friends,
love has looked like:

Nightly 2 mile walks with Sox.

Walks to Whole Foods for gelato after dinner.

Me attempting to play Call of Duty with Ryan. 

{the book talks about wives doing what the husband likes and husbands doing what the wives like}

Antique shopping for decorations.

Cooking dinner together.

Afternoons by the pool, just reading and talking.

Grocery shopping together.

Exploring our new town together, and sometimes getting lost.

Marriage is such a great gift. It takes continual work and humility to admit when you are wrong and your areas of weakness, but it is also rewarding.

There is no friend on earth that I could have who could ever be closer than Ryan.
We still have plenty to work on in marriage, and after almost two years, I realize how little I knew about it when we embarked on this journey on July 17th, 2010. BUT I do know that our friendship will carry us through to the end.

I challenge you to take a challenge with me. 

Last week I took one day and did not get on the computer at all when I was with my husband.

I just get so sucked in. 

I think I am going to make this a weekly thing and take one day 

of every week to "unplug" when I am with my him. 

Will you do this with me? 

I think it will make for a closer friendship and an even better marriage!

Summer Weddings Make Me Feel Fine

Ok, so that is now exactly how the song goes, but I think it sounds pretty good. 

Don't you?

I promised you more pictures of the wedding cake is did for this beautiful bride and groom, 

and here they are.

I apologize because I only had a point and shoot to take the pictures with, so they are not the best, but they do give you a look at the cake!

This is my Dad's Mom who I could not have do this without!!

These pictures are from our other friends', Laura and Jordan Bunce, Wedding!

Dress: Belk

I hope you all enjoyed these more detailed pictures of these fun weddings we have been to this summer! 

And speaking of weddings, my beautiful best friend and cousin by marriage got engaged this past Saturday!
Check out her bling!

More wedding fun to come!! 

The one where we see a train...

I hope you are all enjoyed your Father's Day and are back at it this Monday!

I thought I'd do a little post on a fun date night we had this past week!

We have had a really great week together. I start work at Chick-Fil-A on Today with training to be one of the managers there and I am excited about that, but that meant that this past week we needed to pack in some fun.

Ryan and I went on a date night in downtown on Thursday and walked around a bit before we ate and saw some really cool things.
{like the building I am in front of in this picture}

We also just happend to be at the railroad tracks as a Norfolk Southern train passed {the company Ryan will be working for!!!} He was pretty excited and we got some pictures as it passed.

Notice the crazy face the conductor is making in this picture? haha it was so funny!

After all that fun, we went and at at a restaurant called Nose Dive which we both really enjoyed.
I ordered the vegi-burger and loved it!
It had an asian flair, which was totally new but very yummy, and the best home cut fries ever!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as we have did!

Can you believe it is Monday already?

I am Thankful for ...

The other day, Ryan and I were at the pool just hanging out.

And I can't help but eaves drop on conversations being had at the pool, and if you are honest, you are probably the same way.

I over heard some women talking.

As I listened to their conversation, I heard stories of their broken lifestyle, and my heart sank.

I realized as I listen to their discussions of life that I have something that they don't.
That I am someplace they are not.
Not physically, but spiritually and relationally.

I hate to admit it but sometime it takes events like these to wake me up and make me realize how blessed I am; how much I have to be thankful for.
It made me feel guilty for the times that I get so focused on myself that I forget how wonderfully blessed I am by God.

Over the past few weeks, I was so temped, and even gave in to the temptation to grumble about moving and starting over, finding new friends, a job, the "hassels", that I lost sight of the blessings I was complaining about!

My husband has a wonderful job!

What more could I ask of the the Lord to provide? 

I am so thankful to be where I am in life right now.
A bright future, with a supportive husband.
I believe that in our moments of weakness and doubt God sends us signs that he has us under his wing.
I am afraid this is going to be on of those life long struggles for me though.

^{Romans 8: 26-28}

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I said I am thankful for my husband. Well I am very thankful for him! 

And not to lessen the mood or significance of this post, but this is just one example why I love him ;)

I was cooking dinner and he said take our picture and I turn around and this is what I find!

Date Night Jar

I am so excited to share with you one of my latest Pinterest Crafts!

The Date Night Jar idea came from Pinterest {of course} and after going to a marriage seminar at our church on Saturday morning, I thought it would be an awesome way to spice up our marriage. 

I am sure if you are on Pinterest you have seen it pinned, but the idea is that you have different dates with different price ranges on different Popsicle sticks.

On a night when you don't know what you and your man want to do, just pull a stick out of the Jar!

What you will need:

Different Colored Popsicle Sticks

Sharpie

Mason Jar

Ribbon 

Decorative Adhesives for Outside *optional

Blue: Saturday Morning Dates

Orange: Restaurants

Green: $$$ (expensive dates, over $50)

Yellow: $$ (under $50)

Pink: $ (at home dates)

Applying the adhesive "Love" to the Jar

        

I was so excited to share my craft with Ryan and he loved the idea, because we can never decide on what to do!

It is inexpensive and really fun to make and is actually quite cute on the shelf! 

I cant wait to pull our first date out! 

Enjoy your Sunday and if you do the Date Night Jar let me know I'd love to know how it goes!

Weekend In Review

What a great weekend!

No schoolwork, lots of rest, full of family, and a bridal shower to top off the fun!

Some awesome pictures of the sunset! {had to share both}

I got to see my wonderful Grandparents after I drove back to my home town.

They were funny and sweet as always!

Here is a picture of my Grandpa hanging out on the couch with us last night.

~

When I was getting ready for bed Ryan called {he had to stay in Raleigh to work}.

He told me to look out my window.

I looked out it and there he was in his car!

He came just to see me for the night and be with me on Saturday morning before he had to work!

How sweet! It was a great surprise.

This morning we had this super delicious breakfast!

And this afternoon I was privileged to go to Jenny's Bridal shower!

It was full of sweet women who all love Jenny and Nate!

The gifts were too numerous to count.

She will be baking lots of pies on the account that she received about 3 or 4 pie dishes!

So thankful for this relaxing weekend and it isn't even over!

Captivating Heart

Happy Valentine's Day! 

I am enjoying this day, 

thinking about the love I have for:

My Heavenly Father

My Husband

My Amazing Mom and Dad

My Encouraging Brother

My Supporting Grandparents

All My Friends

and even 

My Cute Dog!

I hope you take the time to tell someone that they are special.

{It is not all about being sappy.}

There are two lines from a song that have been on my heart for the past few days and I think there is no more fitting time to dwell on these thoughts than Valentine's Day.

{From God to Us}

"Has anybody told you, You're beautiful?

You might believe if you could see what I see.

'cuz everything about you is incredible,

you should have seen me smile the day that I met you."

If no one has told you today, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

This next verse has been the cry of my heart. 

"If it's true beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,

I want my life and whats in side to give Him something to behold.

I want a heart that's captivating."

{Thanks Nichole Nordeman for writing such a wonderful song}

Beautiful For Me

What's Your Love Story?

Today I am liking up with frommrstomama for this cute Valentine's Day questionnaire. 

I hope you guys enjoy!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together? Ryan and I have been together for 6 years on Valentine's Day!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?} We meet in church when we were in high school. I had my eye on him, but doubted that he would ever, in a million years, like me. I asked him to be come be my partener in my dance classes when we learned classical dance. He didn't show up {he thought it was the next week}. He called me a week later to see if I wanted to go eat sushi for his birthday. I went and he realized that I was pretty cute after all ;) He gave me a Valentine's day gift a week later and we started dating.

3. If married, how long have you been married? We have been married for 1 year and 7 months!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  We got married in my grandparents small town in eastern NC. I loved their church which was full of stained glass. It was very special to be married there.Our wedding was medium sized. We had about 160 people there {give or take}. I would say it was quite perfect.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Well, my nick-name is baby squirrel and I don't know that I really call Ryan by a nick-name.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey. I love his kind heart and how he is so giving. I love his silly habits. {like saving every glass jar or anything that could potentially be a storage device for anything from seeds to shoes hahahaha} I love his muscular arms and soft skin.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Well, we had been talking about getting married, but the day he proposed, I had no clue. We had gone home from college for the weekend. When he picked me up from my dorm to go home he had flowers for me which I thought was awful sweet {but i thought nothing of}. We had hung out on friday night like usual. On Saturday his family was going to eat for his great grandmothers birthday. He called me and said that he was going to come over a little early before we went to dinner. When he got there he came on in my house. We sat around and talked then he said he had something for me in his car. We walked out to his car {he parked it far down my parents long driveway}. It was more beautiful flowers! I said "aww thanks hon that's so sweet" etc... We started walking back up the drive way and he stopped me and said, "Is that all you thought it was?" I didn't know what he meant. Then he said so many kind sweet words and got down on one knee right there in my drive way and asked me to marry him. I was soooooo happy I jumped up and said "Yesssss" {and fist pumped haha}. Meanwhile back inside my brother looks out the window and says, "I think Ryan just asked Clara to marry him." 

I got to show off my ring that night at dinner!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? I would say he is more in between. Kind of like flowers and strawberries.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? I am also kind of in between. I am more like dinner at the best restaurant at the beach, then a movie back at the beach house kind of girl.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere? I would probably spend all day traveling around the beautiful beaches of Greece. That is somewhere I would love to go and experience with Ryan. He would love the old world charm and I would love the blue ocean.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. Since Valentine's Day is on Tuesday we will probably go out the following Saturday night to dinner and enjoy some time just relaxing together. Maybe watch a new movie. Get coffee the next morning.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day? I don't ever ask for anything for Valentine's Day, we usually go with cards and sometimes I get something small. I leave it up to him.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. It is important to remember that love is something that is always growing and changing. As your circumstances change your love has more to build upon. Take time to thank your spouse each day for the things that they do for you. Never take the little things in life for granted. 

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

This is my favorite picture of us. It is just so ... US!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is Ryan's 22nd Birthday!

So obviously I dedicated this blog post to him.

He truly is the best husband and best friend I could ever ask for.

I am so thankful for him in so many ways.

Here are 22 of my favorite things about the Birthday Boy!

1. He loves God and tries to read and be all he can be in Christ.

2. He loves me so much {even when I feel unloveable}

3. He makes me really good coffee the morning.

4. He genuinely tries to help with the house work.

{Most of the time it all goes great}

5. He is a good back scratcher :) and I am not :(

 6. He makes everybody laugh with his funny mannerisms.

7. He is really smart and reads a lot of books.

8. He makes me smile when he is playing with Sox.
{I know he will be a good daddy one day}

9. He knows I love candles so he will light them and that makes me happy.

10. He enjoys doing arts and crafts with me.
{a real keeper ladies, don't be jealous}

11. He is so kind to my grandparents and he treats them like they are his own.
{I love that about him}

12. He will encourage me in whatever my crazy mind thinks up to do.
{blog, bake, cook, craft, workout, eat-healthy}

13. He has a servant's heart.

14. He irons his own clothes!

15. He wants me to be happy and healthy all the time.

16. He laughs at me every single night when I get in bed, because I always slam my head on the pillow.

17. When I was in the hospital and we were still dating, he brought me the best get well package of anybody: A giant coloring book, 40 pack colored pencils, and a lap desk. I will never forget that.
{and he sat there with me the whole time}

18. He is really adventurous and pushes me to go outside my comfort zone.

19. Every time we listen to his radio station {rock music} he quizzes me on bands and I fail every time.

20.  He has made some great friends in college and I am so thankful for them.

21. He works really hard in school and is going to be a graduate on NCSU soon and an Engineer.

22. He is my husband and I am just glad he picked me to spend the rest of his life with!

I love you!
Happy Birthday

Love in Photos

Well....

love looks different sometimes

here is what it has looked like this week....

Love was

Dinner at Noodles and Company when I just didn't feel like cooking dinner

Love was

Playing dress-up with Sox...

{isn't he a cutie}

Yeah I saved the best for last...

drum roll please ...

Love was

Me not freaking out when Ryan put Dawn soap in the dishwasher and suds were going alllllll over the place....

{Love is Patient, Love is Kind}

What has love looked like for you this week?