Friday Favorites: Anniversary Edition

Happy Friday Loves!

Um, can someone please fill me in on where June went?! This summer is flying by and I kind of wish it would last forever. 

I'm linking up with Amanda to share our anniversary gifts. I hesitate to tell people one of my love languages is gifts. I'm afraid it sounds too materialistic and greedy, but actually it's not about money at all. What's important is the thought behind the gift or the words written in the note. Gifts make me feel thought of and special.

Be forewarned, this whole post is pretty sappy and corny.

{O N E}

One of our favorite things to do as a couple is to go on adventures. Small day trips or week long vacation doesn't matter; we love to travel. For our anniversary we took a weekend trip to Nashville. I had never been there before, but it's one of James' favorite cities so he had fun showing me all around. It was so much fun and I can't wait to share the details about our trip with y'all next week!

{T W O}

We didn't discuss it, but we each ending up sticking with the "paper" theme. I gave him a Datevitation coupon book. Seriously, if y'all haven't checked this website out do so now! It's too easy and fun to put together your own custom coupon book.
Along with the sweetest card the husband gave me a gift certificate to a spa. That boy knows the way to my heart! And of course we celebrated with some pink champagne. 

{T H R E E}

One of James favorite hymns is "Come Thou Fount." It was also one of the songs we had sung at our wedding so it has extra special meaning to us. My gift to James was this beautiful print I found on Etsy here. I had it framed and now it has a special place on our mantle. 

{F O U R}

Let's be honest though. James blew my gift out of the water. I was super impressed that he knew anniversaries even had themes. I was even more impressed that he made me a gift. I know a lot of things about my husband, but what I didn't know is that he's a closet crafter :) The words inside the tree are the lyrics of our first dance song "Sea Breeze." So sweet! Love that man.

{F I VE}

Best gift of all?

Getting to spend everyday with this guy. 

Okay, I gave you fair warning that it would be sappy!  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Here's to a year

As of Sunday I've been a wife for a whole year, and what a year it's been. It's been a year of way more ups than downs. A year where I've learned a lot about myself and even more about marriage. It's been the most fun and challenging year and I can't wait for so many more!

 Here's a few highlights of what I've learned over this past year:

1. For us, God comes first always. Putting Him at the center of our marriage makes it all worth it.

2. Everyday I have to make a choice whether or not I'll let small stuff bother me. Some days I make the right choice and other days I don't. 

3. Advice from other married couple is great and super helpful. However, it's also important to remember that what works for one couple may not work for us. There isn't one perfect path for everyone you just gotta make your own way.

4. The first year of marriage isn't the best or worst. It's just the 1st. There's lots of learning and growing going on, but you get to do it together so it's okay.

5. It's okay to go to bed mad as long as you make up in the morning. I've learned I can be more rational in the morning than I was the night before.

6. Living with a boy is fun :) 

7. Being a wife is hard, easy, and fun all at the same time. Thus far it's best role I've ever played.

8. I married a patient, loving, selfless, hard working man, and I love him more everyday.

Thank you James for this past year. Thanks for sticking by me when I'm being "challenging" and supporting me always. I love being on this journey with you and can't wait to see where we go.

Stay turned next week for a post all about anniversary trip!

Honeymoon

A year ago we were laying on the beach in Mexico soaking up the sun and loving life. This year we're still loving life, but we're wishing we were still on that beach in Mexico!

Instead of just sharing pictures, I'm sharing the video of our honeymoon. I'm obviously not a professional, but I figured this would be a little fun and different.

We ended up not leaving for Mexico until the Monday after our wedding. I loved having Sunday to relax and get everything together. Rather than just staying at our apartment, James surprised me and booked a reservation at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. That night we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Bistro Niko. Our sweet waiter brought us dessert to celebrate one day of being married :)

We woke up early Monday morning and headed to Excellence Riviera Cancun. We went the all inclusive route and could not have been happier. Couldn't recommend going for the all inclusive resorts more!

We spent a week relaxing. A lot of people suggested going on excursions, but the only things we ended up doing was getting a couples message and going kayaking. It was just what we needed.

Okay, enough talking... just watch :)

A Day in the Life

I loved reading everyone's "Day in the Life" posts yesterday, and figured it would be fun to join Rachel and Brittany.

I don't really ever have a "typical" day. I pretty much get to make my own schedule each week. I can be in the office anywhere from 1 to 4 days a week depending on how many clients I'm seeing at any given time. Summers tend to be a bit on the slow side for counselors, so I've had a bit more down time lately than I did a few months ago. 

So, instead I'll share what my ideal day would look like. Every once in a while I get a day like this and it makes my heart so very happy.

My favorite way to start off my day would be to wake up about 6:30-7am and go here for a walk/run. Sometimes I'll call mom or sis to keep me occupied and other times it's just me spending some quality time with pandora. Phil Wickham pandora station rocks my world. 

After walking, I'm ready to sit down for some quiet time. Right now I'm loving the Abide journal from Naptime Dairies. It's been so perfect these past two weeks. It's speaking right to my heart and has been just what I needed.

And of course early mornings require coffee. I've been doing really well with limiting my Starbucks runs. However, this week has been a bit out of the ordinary and I went to Starbucks three days in a row (head hung in shame). Best part of that is out of the three trips I made this week, I only paid for my drink once! The other 2 times the people in front of me paid for my drinks! Of course I paid it forward backward, and it made me smile. So, thanks to the sweet cars who paid for my ridiculously expresive addiction.

Normally, this is my view on a week day. My "usual" schedule looks something like see 2-7 clients a day and write notes during my down time. 

However, this week was super abnormal. My dad's administrative assistant was on vacation, so I filled in for a few days. My days consisted of answering the phone, logging items in, opening and sorting mail, and trying not to mess anything up too much.  My for real job is definitely not a normal 9-5 gig, so it was kinda of fun to play pretend for a bit. 

Thursday nights in our house are my favorite because Thursday night means fajita night! Most nights I make dinner, but on fajita night James takes over and grills everything. My only job is assembly. I found this recipe about a month ago here and she found it here. Ever since there its been our go to Thursday night meal.

If you ever come over for dinner there is a 99% chance this is what we'll serve you. It's that good.

Most nights end with us working on some project. The project of the month is refinishing this bench. It's required some serious work, and I can't wait for the finished look. In case you were wondering, stripping paint isn't fun.

The night ends with a little bit of TV and bed time! 

That's about as typical as my day gets. 

Five on Friday; Vol. 22

Hi Friends! Hope you had a great week. This has been a long week and I'm very happy to see Friday. I'm very much looking forward to this relaxing, nothing planned, projecting starting weekend. 

So far, summer (yes, it not technically summer but whatever) and I have been getting along wonderfully. I don't know if it was moving, allergies, or crazy GA weather, but Spring and I didn't mesh well. I didn't want to do anything and nothing sounded good food-wise. #definitelynotpregnant 

So, in honor of feeling like myself again I'm linking up with Darci, April, Christina, and Natasha to share my summer loves. 

 

{O N E}

The one thing I knew I would miss when moved was the great trail we had within walking distance of the apartment. I was very happy to discover we have a great park right down the street from us with a walking trail. I can even walk to the park if I'm feeling really adventurous. On Saturday in the summer it has Farmer's Market! Nothing beats Saturday morning Farmer's Market trips!

{T W O}

Speaking of the Farmer's Market, we picked up some tomatoes last Saturday. Y'all, they are glorious! So red and so yummy! I am seriously loving some veggies right now. I'm loving that I'm enjoying being in the kitchen again and I'm obsessed with fresh Farmer's Market foods. 

{T H R E E}

What would a summer post be without a beach picture? Beach sunsets really are the best sunsets. We've already been to the beach a few times and I'm so looking forward to spending some more weekends there. Also, looking forward to a week at the beach in July with the husband's family. Beaches are great for the soul!

{F O U R}

Fresh herbs! Sis made us an herb garden for our housewarming gift. Having fresh basil, chives, peppermint, and rosemary is one of my favorite things ever. Is it weird that I search for recipes that use these fresh herbs? Who cares what the main ingredients are as long as the herbs can be used :) Now, let's see if I can keep them alive. 

{F I V E}

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but if it includes lavender you better believe I'm gonna try it and love it. Drinking this outside after a day laying by the pool sounds like the perfect summer night to me!

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!

June Goals

It's been a while since I've done a "goals" post, and I've kinda missed it. 

The reason I quit doing them is pretty pathetic, and I'm almost too embarrassed to share it. Picmonkey quit working because they deemed my computer "ancient." So, I couldn't make my Goals header. I got sad and quit since I couldn't find another photo editing site I liked. Yup, super pathetic. 

Ribbet ended up saving the day. I've always used them to create photo collages and had no idea they could do so much more than that! I'm happy again and back to posting about goals :)

1. Spend more time with God: Abide Journal 

I just ordered the Abide 8 week journal from Naptime Diaries. Obviously I won't finish it in June, but my goal is to keep up with it. I'm really excited about this and even more excited to see how God uses it. Hopefully, it will come early next week so I can't get started.

2. Take care of myself: Exercise & walk after dinner

Since getting married I haven't gotten into a good work out routine. It's been pretty sporadic and I'm not a fan. I do so much better with schedules and routines. I also know I feel so much better about myself when I'm working out regularly. My goal for June is to get into a healthy routine and make more time for exercise. Also, James and I went walking after dinner this past week and really enjoyed it. It's good quality time and a great evening activity. 

3. Be intentional with my husband: TV free dinners

We've already started doing a pretty job with this since moving into the house. We're sitting at the table and turning the TV and phones off. I really love being able to talk without the TV as a distraction. I would love to keep this going and have it become part of the nightly routine.

4. Go on an adventure: Anniversary trip

At the end of this month we'll celebrate our 1st anniversary!? Part of me can't believe it's already been a year and the other part of me totally can. We're busy planning an anniversary trip to Nashville. It's one of James' favorite cities and I've never been, so I'm excited for him to show me around. It will be a good chance to get away and celebrate being married a whole year :)

5. Be intentional with others: Spend time with friends

Lately, I haven't done a great job of keeping up with my girlfriends. This month I want to be more intentional about spending time with my friends either on the phone if they are far away or in person. 

Here's to June goals!