Living Blossoms

On December 29, 2003, we said forever, and (in the words of those poets, the Backstreet Boys) even forever doesn't seem like long enough. To read a pictorial history of the first few years of our relationship (including how we met), go here. In this post will be just pics of us from each year we've been married.

2003 - Our wedding!



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In these seven years we've been to CT, GA, IL, IN, MI, NC, NY (and all the states in between FL & NY), and D.C., Mexico, Bahamas, El Salvador, England, France, Italy, Greece, and Ethiopia. Whew!

Finally, I leave you with a song. I don't remember how we first came across this song in 2008, but we immediately claimed it as our song. Although a few parts don't apply to us, much of it, and the general feel of it, is US. On our first day in Paris, which did not go very well, we heard it in the basement of a McDonald's (there was seating there), and, since no one else was around, we sat there and sang along together, and somehow the day just seemed to get better. So, I present to you, "Lucky" by Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat.

"Lucky" Official Video With Colbie Caillat

Jason Mraz | MySpace Music Videos

Things that made me smile today:
+ Getting done with work extra quickly for no apparent reason
+ Finding out that my modeling agent only accepts 5-10 adults each year... and I was one of them
+ Having good friends over for dinner
+ Their comments on how great the living/dining rooms look
+ Their shocked reactions when told Mandy is 13 years old
+ Isaac being the grillmaster and making some rockin' pork loin wrapped in bacon
+ Showing them all our Europe pics and telling all our stories
+ Giving them some Starbucks ice cream to take home
+ Doing the dishes as soon as they leave so they're not waiting for me in the morning, while singing and dancing along with a great CD, with a hard cider in reach.
+ A husband who loves me, waiting in bed for me

This is my life. I am grateful.

+ It's 80º today! Yes, this is why I daydreamed about living in Florida when I lived in Illinois. Heaven... I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so I can hardly speak. =o)

+ Life has been crazy. I got back from Charleston Saturday afternoon, spent 15 minutes at home, went to work to finish the bulletin, swung by the house (and didn't even turn the car off) to pick Isaac up to go to 20s/30s Fellowship Group at AAAC's, stayed there till 11, then hit Walmart for something I had to get that night, and then finally got home around 11:30. Whew! Sunday morning was insanity. I only made it into Sunday School for the last 10 minutes, because I had to help the kids' Sunday School practice the song they're singing in church for Christmas, and then was asked to get the November financials done ASAP for a deacon meeting Monday night to determine if we get Christmas bonuses this year (I still haven't heard what the consensus is), and then had a few other things come up too. Once SS was over, I had to enter a song into the PowerPoint that was added last minute, and it was really confusing and I couldn't type for some reason so there were typos even after I proofread it. *headdesk* Then we had plans to go out with our dinner group, which was actually relaxing, but still took up time. Olympians that night was crazy, too. I swear all the kids were on speed. They were insane and louder than ever for no apparent reason. I would say they lost at least 10 minutes of game time simply because they would not listen. We were also down two leaders because after doing the lesson my dad was tossing a football with one of the teens who helps out and badly dislocated his pinky finger! So Ange had to drive Dad to the ER so they could put it back in place. (Apparently it would not budge, either. Ange said she had to leave the room because it was so gross how they had to keep pulling. *shudder*) And did I mention that Mom was not there because she was still driving back from Charleston? (Grams and I left a day earlier.) I have decided Mom is no longer allowed to miss Olympians, because last time she did a kid threw up and this time Dad got hurt and the kids were crazed. Anyway, Dad is okay but he has two fingers splinted together and his hand is bandaged so he can't really move his wrist much. Yeah. Sunday was not a good day, except that Ken's final 2 Corinthians sermon was very good.

+ So. ( Charleston. )

+ My Charleston pictures are here. A lot of what I talked about is pictured there.  =o)

+ What else? Oh - I have the best husband ever! While I was gone, he changed my car's oil, changed its tag light (something we had been meaning to do since September...), and cleaned the garage! Dude. I was not expecting any of that, but I am very grateful! Also, he is sexy. *nods*

+ Most of my Ebay purchases sold! I actually ended up selling the boots to t_jay  - how great is that? I still have some shoes left though (the black ones and white ones), so if any of you wear a size 10 and want some shoes for cheap, let me know. Also, if you want to try a Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lipcolor, I have that brand new in Blushed Mauve. It retails for $9.99, but I'd sell it for $4 shipped. Better deal than you'll get anywhere else!

+ I have most of my Christmas shopping done. I just have Aaron, Dad, and my niece and nephews left - that's if I even bother to get Aaron and Dad anything. They are extremely difficult to buy for and probably couldn't care less if they get anything.

+ I have a surprise for you guys for my anniversary, but you'll have to wait till then to find out what it is. Well, except two of you, who will know in a few days. Don't give it away!

+ My MIL and SIL Hope are arriving tomorrow. They're going to hang out here for a few days and then we're heading down to see BIL Jesse in the WOL GP show Isaac and I used to work for, and bring him back to Jax for them to fly out Monday. I was going to skip WOL to go to the Jags vs. Packers game this Sunday, but the tickets fell through.  =o(  Oh well - I want to see Jesse in SSC too. He's playing Joseph - as in Mary and!

+ Time to figure out some lunch. Kudos to anyone who read all of this.

+ Hehe. LJ's "Undead Journal" header made me giggle.

+ Our heater is on for the first time since March or April. Last night's low was 40-something. I shiver to think how cold it would've been in here if I had forgotten - which I almost did - to turn it on. Tomorrow the high is 60º, and while I distinctly remember putting on shorts anytime the temperature hit 60º when I was a kid/teen in WI/IL, now I will put on a sweater and possibly also a jacket. 60º is a lot warmer in Wisconsin than it is in Florida. I wonder if I can get away with wearing a scarf? Me gusto scarves.

+ I've decided it's a lot more fun to clean with a husband than on my own. Saturday Isaac and I pretty much cleaned the house top to bottom, and it took less than two hours. And this was with stopping to goofy-dance several times to the music we were blasting. Actually, we had to agree to stop dancing and kissing anytime we walked by each other, because we knew we'd never finish the cleaning in time if we didn't. 'Tis a good life.

+ Fellowship group was fun! This is the first time we've hosted. Only two other couples came, since AAAC were out of town and some others were sick, but they are two of our favorite couples (despite political differences, LOL). We made taco salad or burritos, and I don't know why, but that was the best taco salad I have ever had. It was amazing. Isaac gave a cool little devo while I got the chocolate fountain ready. Then we gorged on chocolate-dipped pretzels and fruit while playing Pictaphone, which they seemed to quite enjoy.

+ Yesterday on the way home from lunch, we pulled up next to a car at a traffic light. We had the windows down, so we heard the little old lady driving it keep trying to start it, but it wouldn't turn over. Realizing that she was alone, we knew she'd never be able to get it out of the road by herself, so we turned around and parked at a nearby gas station, and then pushed her car to a nearby parking lot. (Pushing it the opposite way traffic was going in that lane was quite interesting.) We quickly realized we couldn't fix whatever it was, but thankfully she had AAA. Poor thing was stuck waiting at the gas station for over an hour though. Anyway, that was our Sunday afternoon adventure. Hehe.

+ Last night at Olympians all our "older" leaders were gone, so it was just Isaac, Angela, our friend Sarah, and me. The lesson was mostly a skit, but I did the opening and closing bits too. That was the first time I ever did an Olympian lesson! It went well though, I thought. Well, until one little boy who's only been there twice threw up in one of the Sunday School rooms. Oy. Next week is our famous Olympian Fun Fall Festival. I'm excited about that. Oh! Last week my mom put it (O.F.F.F.) up on the board as a reminder, then asked the kids what other words beginning with F we could add to it. We came up with fabulous, fantastic, etc. Well, last night I wrote just O.F.F.F. on there because I couldn't remember how many other Fs we had added last week. One little boy said, "What about the other f-words?" I succeeded at not cracking up, but I looked at Isaac and we smirked at each other.

+ I have been really wanting to go to The Thrift Store lately. Should I go? No. Do I want to go? YES. I haven't been there since Isaac's family was here, way back at the beginning of September. It seems I go there about every 2 or 3 months. I don't want to go alone though. Anyone want to join me? ;o)

+ Work today was semi-exciting, because I sort of redid the bulletin. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, because the copier made it look funny, but it's still better than the old one.

+ I had a blast with hominygrits on Wednesday! I basically met an entire side of her extended family (a set of grandparents and a few aunts and cousins, plus her parents and brother), and had a great time doing so. They are all a lot of fun and welcomed me right into their family vacation. Most of them were either currently or originally from Boston, too, so all the New England accents made me feel like I was with my in-laws. So great. I was a bit worried about meeting Emily since I don't know her as well as most of the LJ friends I've met in person, but there was still no conversation lag or anything. We just had fun. AND I found a sand dollar! Intact! I never have before. So that was a little extra bonus.

+ I have officially decided that Bones is the most disgusting show on television. CSI may have pushed the boundaries for showing gross things on TV, but Bones has taken it to a whole new level. I should've counted how many times they've shown bowels that are, uh, disemboweled. Nasty. But, I do love the show. Very much.

+ So I knew melyndie was cool, but I didn't know how cool. Then I found out she's a big Gilmore Girls fan. And then I found out she's a Logan girl all the way! We both see WAY too much angst and emo-ness in Jess and Dean. I think she's the only other Logan fan I know, unless some of you are hiding in the closet of Logan-love.

+ Isaac and I have mostly given up eating out until Seth gets home from WOLBI, 'cause we know that with him back home just for a few weeks, and with Melody coming to visit, we're going to be eating out extra. (We've gotta take them to Dave & Buster's, The Landing, Wasabi...) The only way we're allowed to eat out before they're here is if someone else goes too. Then we can use the excuse of fellowshipping. Hehe. Anyway, last night I made up a recipe for baked chicken that turned out really good, and paired it with some potato wedges that were amazing. I will definitely be making those again. We're really going to try to curb our eating out anyway, 'cause then we can save more money for Europe (and termites and the roof and - well, you know the list by now). We'll see how long it lasts though. Hehe.

+ Speaking of Pippy - er, Seth - he graduates a week from tomorrow! Anyone else think this year has gone by at warp speed? Yeah. If not, you do realize it's officially August now, right?

+ My icon makes me want to watch Newsies. Well, actually, I've been wanting to watch it again for quite a while. Who's up for a Newsies party at my house?

+ Last night neither Isaac nor I could fall asleep. That's really unusual; usually he's out 5 minutes after he gets in bed, and I'm usually up for quite a while wishing I was like him. After doing the usual thing married people do when they can't fall asleep (watch TV, duh. Get your mind out of the gutter. Okay, actually, leave it there... but we watched TV too. ;o) ), we talked about a lot of stuff. We were coming up with retorts for when rude strangers comment about our (future) kids, with varying skin colors, belonging to us whiteys. That was fun. Yesterday I searched for adoption stuff on CafePress, and found this awesome shirt for kids that says, "Don't tell my parents, but they don't look anything like me." LOL! I'm so going to buy that for our kids. I also really liked the one that said, "Superman was adopted." Hehe.

+ Oh yes, and six of you think I smell like pickles. I'm not really sure how to take that. I was not surprised at those of you who chose that option (I'm looking at you, pair of curly-haired sisters), though I was surprised that only six were unable to resist temptation. ;o) Oh yes, and the clear winner for Mandy pictures was this one. It had 23 votes. The next closest had only 5! I think I might enter two though, so now I can't decide whether the second should be this one or this one. (The picture(s) I submit is not the actual one that will be used on the calendar. They will take pro photos for that.) I like the one y'all chose because it shows her prettiness, but one of the other two shows her cuteness. And yes, I do love my dog a bit too much. Hehe. Any thoughts on which of those two photos I should use?

*My subject line references this hilarious video. Watch it if you haven't yet.

Yep, it's true. Today we've been married for two whole years! It's strange because it feels like there's no way it's been two years--but it's like that both ways. It seems like we've been married forever because how on earth did we live without each other? That's not possible that we just got married two years ago. On the other hand, it seems like we just got married a week ago and what? Two years? You're kidding me! And both are in the absolute best way possible. So. In honor of today, and kind of as a gift to myself, this post is going to have several pictures from our past. Some you've seen, some you haven't, but I'll be telling the stories behind them as if you've never heard them. Prepare yourself for a pretty long entry (I suppose you do that every time you come to an entry from me, hmm?), but if you don't read it all, that's okay. It's mostly for the sake of my memories. =o)

We met at Word of Life's Sights & Sounds of Christmas. We were both students at WOL's Bible Institute, though he attended in New York and I in Florida. That's why it took us till nearly 3 months into the school year to meet. He came down with a group of about 50 other NY students to help us put on this massive production--hence the makeup. At the time, the first scene took place in the Victorian era--hence the costumes. He and I hit it off immediately because we have practically the exact same sense of humor. He had a girlfriend whom he'd been dating for over 2 years and besides, he was too short for me, so romantic notions never even entered our heads.


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Well, probably most of you didn't make it through all that, but that's okay. It was fun just writing it down and reminiscing. =o) Now, I'm off to put my two roses (one for each year, he said =o) ) into a vase and get dressed up for dinner at our favorite Japanese steakhouse. Good night, everyone!