The small things...

First, I'll dedicate this long overdue post to my dear friend Bekah, who kindly reminded me I started a blog earlier this year. As I told her, I intended to post entries "occasionally"... once a week, once a month at the least; however, that ship sailed with September, as it has now been almost 2 months.

My family received some good news an incredible blessing today, and it reminded me that nothing is in our control... prayers were answered, and we must be thankful when we are given a gift. That's exactly what we were given today. As my mother reminded me the week before my wedding when some challenging news came our way, "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good". I try to repeat those words to myself any time that I feel challenged, and somehow, they always calm me.  They remind me that however things end up, they are all part of a bigger, and better, plan, and that I should be so very thankful that I am not the one in control.

October is a month full of celebrating - my precious husband celebrates his birthday next week, just three days after my dad and aunt's shared birthday. This month we also celebrate my sweet, sweet grandmother, my other half - my cousin Brittany, my brother in law, and several good friends. What a wonderful month!

In the spirit of fall and all the small things that make me smile during this wonderful season, here are a few things that have brought smiles to my face lately.

1. Our Christmas cards have been ordered and should arrive by Friday! Christmas is my FAVORITE!

2. My sweet husband makes sure the Keurig is ready for me every night before bed so that my mornings are just a little bit better. I love him!!

3. We hijacked my sister, brother in law, and niece's trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday, and we had the best time! I have the absolute cutest niece in the world, and we love getting to tag along to see her have fun!

 

4. Did I mention that I love fall?! I'm SO happy that it's here, and that my last tax deadline for a while has passed... I have a few short months to soak in my favorite time of year before daylight becomes a stranger, yet again.

5. This week we're celebrating our 5th month of marriage... my, how time flies!

We also begin our 1 month countdown to our exciting Thanksgiving trip! We've purchased tickets for Wicked and the Rockettes' Radio City Christmas Spectacular. YAY!

6. I love checking the mail in hopes that something cheerful and unexpected will show up. This sweet card made my day week!

 



That's all for now... Hopefully I'll be back before 2013.

Wedding Day!

In a few short hours, we will be attending the wedding of some of our dearest friends, Stevie and Luke. I am so excited - not only to celebrate two great friends, but also to attend a wedding as a guest again - we haven't been to once since our own. I know we are going to have a great time celebrating such special people with all our our friends!



{Luke & Stevie - 8.25.12}

Once this wedding passes, we can start looking towards the wedding of another fabulous couple which will take place next summer in Mexico!! We can't wait to spend a week with so many great friends celebrating Alex & Andy at their wedding next July :)

{Alex & Andy - 7.4.13}

Great times are right around the corner - let there be LOVE!

Laundry...

I love the smell... but I absolutely hate the chore. I have quickly learned that never ending laundry is the one secret pitfall of marriage that no one will warn you about. It is evil. It steals your time and energy. The constant rerunning of the dryer (because who really wants to fold when the cycle ends...) is not helping our power bill. I completely understand why my Uncle Bob had such a strict system of which days you're allowed to wear darks and lights so that, for at least a moment, there would be peace (in the realm of laundry, that is).

Enough for the griping, though. Other than the mountain of dirty clothes living in our bedroom floor, married life is fabulous. It has been so much fun to have my best friend as my roommate... it's like we're playing house, but so much better because it's real. I can't believe it's already been 2.5 months since we said "I do". The time has flown by, and rightfully so - we've had lots going on. We have celebrated my birthday, had a visit from my mom, celebrated our precious niece's 2nd birthday, taken a family trip to the beach, and I have been on a bachelorette weekend to the beach. Finally, this weekend, we are taking it easy and making no plans, and I couldn't be happier about it.

It doesn't seem like life will be slowing down anytime soon. Some of our best friends are getting married later this month, and we can't wait to celebrate with them! Some of our other amazing friends (who got engaged TODAY) will be in town visiting for the wedding, and we can't wait to have them back in Alabama. We might even have to destroy their airline tickets for their flight home to keep them here a little bit longer... What a wonderful year this has been for us and for our friends!!

We keep saying that we want to take some time to enjoy each other and travel before we think about starting a family. It's a great idea, in theory, but until we put our words into actions, it really doesn't mean too much. So, we have decided to spend our first married Thanksgiving in New York! Being the dork that I am, I lay in bed and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade every year, and this year we will get to see it in person - check one off the bucket list! It just so happens that the day we arrive in the big apple will be the one year anniversary of the day Michael proposed and the six month anniversary of our wedding, so it seems like a perfect time for a fun trip. We'll keep you posted on our travel plans and would love any suggestions you have from your NYC travel experiences.

Just a few things we know we can't miss...

{Central Park}

{Serendipity 3... and frozen hot chocolate}

{Rockefeller Center}

{Lunch from a cart}

{Macy's Herald Square}

{FAO Schwarz}

{Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade}

{9/11 Memorial}
 

Post Number 1.

I decided I'd try this blogging thing for a little bit. It seems like something I should do now that we're married, and since our families are spread all over, it sounds like a good way to keep everyone up to date on any exciting happenings in our lives!

So far, married life is good! We're definitely both adjusting to living together. I never knew a guy would have more clothes than I do, and I'm sure Michael is very much enjoying getting adjusted to my picky, anal, "my way or the highway" organizational style. We really are having the best time though - it's so much fun to come home to my favorite person every single day!

Bear with me since I'm a new blogger and don't really know what I'm doing :)

I probably won't post very often, especially until I get this massive pile of thank you notes finished and in the mail - I really need to get that taken care of because we truly are so blessed and so thankful! We have so many wonderful, new things... our guest room is currently our "kitchen overflow", and every night when I cook dinner, I get to choose something new to cook with. It's fabulous!

I want to include a few several of my favorite wedding images, and several to give you a good idea of what our absolutely perfect day looked liked, so here you go... enjoy!

AMAZING floral arrangements by Mallory @ House of Hydrangeas

Delicious and beautiful cake by Sugarlilly Sweet Shop

Instead of a traditional Groom's cake, we opted for a mini dessert bar - it was a big hit!

I made "MR" and "MRS" banners for our chairs at the sweetheart table

Our beautiful reception venue, Cabana Blue, all lit up at night - love, love, love twinkle lights!!

Me with my maids before the first look

Our first moment together on the day of our wedding - so special!

Pre-ceremony shots with family and the wedding party

First dance as husband and wife - we danced to Let's Stay Together by Al Green

Fun shots at the reception

He did a little dance before taking off my garter... As you can see, our guests thought he was hilarious!

Terri Smith is fabulous beyond words - this is her famous "magic shot"

Leaving through a shower of white rose petals.

All in all, you can see we had a fabulous and magical day. Thanks for sharing it with us! Talk to you guys soon :)

All photography credit goes to Terri Smith Photo, Dede Edwards Photography, and Mallory @ House of Hydrangeas