Thursday 13: Romantic Dates

Oo la la...today we are linking up with Miranda, talking about romantic dates. I don't know that I have been on too many super romantic dates with all those stereotypical symbols of romance, but I'm going to share some of my favorite dates or types of dates that James and I have shared together.

1. Our first date--because it was a semi-blind date (we met online), we met at a bookstore. We ended up spending a good chunk of time in the children's section reading silly books to each other (which I later bought him for Christmas). Then we had dinner together. This is still something we like to do together--just poke around a bookstore and then get something tasty to eat!

2. Walking on the beach. James and I vacationed on the Massachusetts coast two years ago (wow!) and it was nice just to walk on the beach.

3. Learning something new. James and I are all about having new experiences, so we go to lectures, museums, film screenings...whatever it may be...that is something new to us.

4. Hiking. I find the time outside so peaceful and it always seems to bring us closer together.

 5. A day in Saratoga. I think we've only done this one or two times, but it has always been romantic. Sometimes we check out the track, or walk around town, or picnic in the park; whatever we're doing, we have a good time.

6. Spontaneous adventures. I love when James says, "Let's go to (fill in the blank) today." Our best spontaneous trip was to Lake George last summer. We went all out--eating all sorts of tasty food, shopping, taking a boat ride, watching the fireworks, and swimming at the beach.

 7. Taking a walk and going for ice cream. Our favorite thing to do, hands down. We have a park that we love to walk at, and it is right next to an ice cream shop. Walking makes us feel a bit better about pigging out on sundaes!

8. Going for a drive. James and I have great conversations in the car, and these are not necessarily romantic, but they make me feel so close to him. We usually talk about our future, things that are troubling us and, ultimately, how much we love each other. Then I snuggle up with my head on his shoulder while he drives us home.

9. Movie nights on the couch. I mean, who doesn't love to just snuggle up at home?

10. Going to church together. No, it's not a "date," but it is such special time that we share together.

11. Concerts. We've only been to one big concert together, but it was really special. We sat in the rain and got soaked, but we danced together to our favorite songs. This concert, it was Elton John, even inspired our wedding song!

Oh, I love that dumb face!

12. A trip to NYC. We go to New York often because my brother and sister-in-law live there, but last year we decided to take a trip down and be real tourists. We stayed in a hotel right off of Times Square, saw a Broadway show, and went shopping and sight-seeing. It was special for me (I know the city pretty well) to see James enjoying some of his NYC firsts:)

13. Picking out our Christmas tree. This was our first year finding a tree together, and it was incredibly special and romantic. I look forward to sharing this tradition with James for years and years to come!

30+26=Best Year Ever

Today, James and I turned 30 and 26. Happy birthday to us:) Last night we celebrated with friends and family by hosting an E.T.-themed party, because E.T. turned 30 this year too! And that's the party my boy asked for, so that's what he got! I'll let some pictures and captions tell the tale...

A "Happy Birthday" banner with E.T. movie still pictures

 Only the most well-known scene of the movie...in cake form! Made by yours truly.

      

What do you notice about these cake pops? They are the color of Reese's Pieces--E.T.'s favorite candy! Thank you to my sister, Kaitlin for making this deliciousness:)

 We are blessed that so many of our out of town friends came to celebrate with us. My oldest friend, Becky and her boyfriend Brandon

 My sister, Kaitlin and her boyfriend, Rob

 The life of the party--Alexa darling!

 Birthday girl and birthday boy

 

James and his cake...Hilda (James' grandma and master cake-maker) will be so proud!

 Murd, showing off a prize from the "Present Game" (more on that in another post)

 Brandon's prize, an Alien Egg--very E.T.-esque

 James won TWICE! I guess it was his lucky day

 

 Beautiful sissy and me after a successful party!

Cuddles was wiped out from a night of partying, but she got her snuggle on with Kait before she had to go home.

A big THANK YOU to all of our friends and family who made our birthday weekend so special!!! We are loved beyond belief and we are so blessed to have friends who make the time to celebrate with us. 

Today we took a good walk (although I don't think I walked off the 5 cake pops I ate today), and then I took a much-needed nap. James watched some of his new movies this afternoon, and we ended the day with dinner at a local steak house with complimentary dessert (like I needed it!) because the waitress thought it was so cool that we share a birthday! We think it's pretty cool, too :)

Oh, and this post is also serving as my Sunday Thanks--I'm sure you can figure out everything I am feeling thankful for today!

I've been a little busy...

...enjoying my spring break from classes and doing A LOT of wedding planning! My Mom was up from Saturday to Tuesday and we covered some serious ground on the planning. Here are hints about some of the things we planned:

Source: google.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: heatherbaileystore.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: bakememore.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I also made an insane to-do list that is now about 2 pages long. Now that the big things are done, it's all of those little things that creep up on you and take a lot of time and thought. After four days of planning, I was a little stressed and a lot tired. As simple as we are keeping our day, there are a lot of details that go into planning a party for 200 people. Yes, 200 people. When I tell people that our guest list is that big, their eyes get wide and they usually just say, "Oohh, wow..." :) Hey, we have big families and lots of friends, and I think we're doing alright if our biggest "problem" is having lots of people we love to invite! We are having a lot of fun planning, and James and I are both really excited about the specialness and sacredness of our day.

Sunday Thanks: New Toys

I haven't done a "Sunday Thanks" in so long, and yesterday I had such good intentions of writing one! But then James had to go and buy me a new toy and I got completely distracted!

That new toy...a digital camera, baby! Not to say that I didn't have one before, but I had been wishing for a new one for a while. James told me about a week ago that he had decided a new camera would be my wedding present, but that he wanted to get it for me soon so that I would have it for all of the fun wedding events and activities that will be happening over the course of the next several months.

So, I am now the proud owner of a new Nikon CoolPix S9100. It is pretty snazzy and can do lots of fun things that I haven't even discovered yet!

I leave you with a pretty picture of the candles on my coffee table, in sepia:)

Taking Down Christmas

James and I came home from a great weekend with my parents yesterday evening with a plan in mind: take down Christmas. So sad. This was our first Christmas in our new home, and it was fun to decorate, get a tree together, and enjoy the soft Christmas lights in our apartment every night.

So, we got a "not-Christmas-tree" at a consignment store on the way home (for $30!), and adorned it with white lights. This helped to soften the blow for my sweet, Christmas-loving fiance. I'm pretty sure these lights can stay up all year, and now I can pretend I'm eating at Olive Garden every night! What a coincidence--we're having spaghetti and meatballs tonight!

Our Engagement

I'm sure you all have been anxiously awaiting the story of how James asked me to be his wife. I've been enjoying my freedom from the semester, and the joy of being newly engaged, so much that I haven't had time to sit down and tell our tale. But, the time has come, so here goes.

It all started Saturday, December 10th. We had planned to head to NYC that morning to see my brother and his family as well as one of our dear friends who live there. I hadn't been feeling great for about a week, and I felt it coming to a head Friday night, but I was intent upon going to New York running nose or not! Well, around 3:00 Saturday morning, I was ready to change my mind. My congestion had moved to my ears, I had a wicked headache, and I was just a mess. We decided to call off our trip.

I spent Saturday recuperating. We went to the doctor where (to no surprise) I was diagnosed with an ear infection, and spent the rest of the day on the couch watching The Help and eating soup.

Sunday came and I was still feeling cruddy. I didn't go to church, but stayed in my pjs again most of the morning. I finally showered and we took a walk around our neighborhood and a drive up into the mountains. We got home in the late afternoon and I slept for a few hours.

When I woke up, I was craving tuna fish, so James made me some and after devouring the entire bowl-full, I felt much much better. Who knew! Tuna!

We decided we would turn on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a movie James and I watched together when we first started dating. James asked me to go out to the living room to put it in, and that he would be right out. I got it ready and snuggled up on the couch.

A few minutes later, James emerged from the den with something in his hand. He said, "Look, I got us one more ornament for the tree. Isn't it pretty?"

I could see that it was a silver bell. He handed it to me and I took a better look at it. Suddenly, everything registered! Inscribed on the bell was Will You Marry Me, Jennifer? and my beautiful ring was hanging from the top.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" I started sort of shouting and crying and shaking all at the same time! I hugged my James and after a few tears he got down on one knee (asked me what finger to put the ring on) and asked me to be his wife.

Of course, I said YES!

We interrupt this broadcast...

The next few days are supposed to be all about Holiday Traditions, but this is a quick "commercial" from your sponsor (me) to let you know...

We're engaged!

Full story to follow in a few days:)

Sunday Thanks: Weekends Like This

This weekend was reserved for all things festive! We kicked it off right by making popcorn and cranberry garlands for our tree.

 James is our official popcorn popper!

 Lots of garland!

 Cuddles helped too!

Then, on Saturday, we picked out our very first tree!

 This is it!

 What a man!

 Waiting for a tree stand--the one we originally bought was too small.

The Holy Family ornaments (Joseph got a little cut off..whoops!)

 Pretty garland and ornaments.

 Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

Nothing compares to spending weekends like this with the man I love!

12 Questions about Thankfulness

1. Who do I appreciate? My parents. My siblings. James. Cuddles. My friends. My church community, both here and in my hometown.

2. How am I fortunate? My family has been so healthy! I hear about so many families dealing with illness, and I have to thank God that He has protected the people that I love most. 

3. What material possessions am I thankful for? My home. My computer. My car.

4. What abilities do I have that I'm grateful for? I am a good communicator, which has helped me to sustain wonderful friendships and relationships with my family and my boyfriend.

5. What about my surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) am I thankful for? I am so thankful for the diversity that Albany offers. I love that we live in a neighborhood that we can walk in and easily get to food, shopping, and our friends. I love that our home speaks to both of our interests and feels comfortable and welcoming to our friends and family.

6. What experiences have I had that I am grateful for? I am grateful for my education and everything that has brought me to where I am today in my career. I was in a very serious relationship before James, and I am thankful for all that the relationship taught me by it not working out--I believe it's prepared me to be the better girlfriend that I am now.

7. What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that I am grateful for? Today I will finish a paper that will let me relax for the rest of the week and enjoy my family for Thanksgiving.

8. What opportunities do I have that I am thankful for? I really feel that I can be whoever I want to be because of the support of my family and friends. Fortunately, I have been raised with many opportunities and that has just continued as I've grown into my own person.

9. What have others in my life done that I am thankful for? I am most thankful to anyone who has loved me and guided me and encouraged me. I wouldn't be who I am without those three things.

10. What have others done that I am benefiting from in my life (even if I don't know who those people are)? My parents have sacrificed for me and all of my siblings so that we could have everything we want in life. Individuals throughout history have fought for equal rights and freedom for everyone, which I am most definitely benefiting from. Jesus came here to Earth so that I might have an example by which to live my life, and He died so that we might know God's love for us. 

11. What relationships am I thankful for? The relationships I have with my family and friends go without saying. But I am so very thankful for the relationship I have with James. He loves me in a way that no one has ever loved me before and the respect he has for me is amazing. He makes me feel safe, confident and happy every day--I can't be thankful enough for that!

12. What am I taking for granted that, if I stop to think about it, I am grateful for? I take money for granted all the time. I am certainly thankful for it, but I don't think that I think about just how grateful I should be for it enough.

I took these prompts from Ashley at The Shine Project. Thank you for making me think about all of the things I am thankful for this week!

Sunday Thanks: Honesty

I'm a big fan of honesty, and I pride myself on being a pretty honest person. Today, James reminded me of how simple honesty can be and how it plays such a big role in our relationship and our ability to stay consistently in love and best friends.

I was washing the dishes and I started thinking about baby names. Now, James and I talk about baby names all the time, and we (and by we I mean James) have already picked out the names of our first baby boy and first baby girl. But, I was thinking about other names today and one of the ones I like was Decklan. I shouted from the kitchen, "What do you think of the name Decklan?"

"Nope," came his response.

"Why not? I sort of like it."

"What's there to like?"

That's my James.

It sounds like a simple story, but to me it's a great way to sum up the way that we interact with each other and the comfort we feel in being honest with each other. I can tell you for a fact that if a past boyfriend had said that to me I would not have been happy. But with James, eh, I know he's just telling me the truth. We don't sugarcoat anything just to make the other person feel happy. We are honest with each other so that we are deeply satisfied, knowing that the other always has our back and our infinite happiness in mind.

And you know what, upon further thought, I don't really like the name Decklan that much anyway...and James probably knew that too.

Source: dominicwilcox.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Home Sweet Home

Welcome to our home! Hope you enjoy this little tour of our new digs:)

 The kitchen: this is the most counter and cabinet space I have EVER had!

"My porch": We are able to use this addition all year round, and it has become my little creative space to do crafts, tend my plants, and enjoy my colorful things!

 My little chairs need a make-over...maybe once the weather isn't so sticky.

 A housewarming plant from Tabitha, and a Jenn miniature original

 The dining room: I love the indoor windows looking from this room onto the porch

 The living room: I'd like to do more with this room, but it hasn't spoken to me yet. For now it is pretty cozy and gets a wonderful breeze.

 No, Cuddles is not dead, just hot!

 The Movie Room (James' room): A place for all things movies, and our BIG screen TV...plus a guest room for all you visitors!

 Some pictures I took for James and gave him for his birthday

The bathroom: enough said

Our bedroom: still needs some warming up, but I am loving my new comforter which you are finally getting a look at!

Our individual things came together so nicely in our new space! James and I have a similar sense of style and we like the same colors, so it was fairly easy to make everything work together. We are so happy to finally be together in one place with our little cat. Thanks for taking a peek into our world! Now, come visit!!