First Married Valentines Day

Valentine's Day...my favorite holiday!  A lot of folks can't get into Valentines Day but from a pretty early age it has been my most favorite holiday.  I think mostly I remember the candy and cards in the mailboxes from elementary school but even when I think of the high school carnation deliveries (I never got one) I get all giddy.  Let's all celebrate LOVE, whether that be galfriend love, romantic love, family love, or love for our neighbors.  Or fur children, because I love them, too!

We rang in our first married Valentines Day by celebrating a bit early on Friday night the 12th and going to see Beauty and The Beast!  I have wanted to see this show from as long as I can remember.  Beauty and The Beast is my favorite Disney movie and the little town depicted is rumored to be based off of Dijon, France where I studied abroad.  The play did NOT disappoint in anyway.  It was complete magical to see them transform the Disney movie to stage, even if that meant they add a few more songs and scenes not true to the movie.

How neat that the shopping center where we had a pre-show meal (Pizza...duh.) had this tribute to LOVE!

A little pre-show wine for Valentines Day was a new treat for Disney productions.

Yep this is the view from the second to last row, but a mighty fine view with a great date by myself if I don't say so myself.  

So here is to love, of all types, and a celebration of 8 months to marriage to this fella by my side.

Our First Married Christmas

Between quitting two jobs, applying for jobs, starting a new job, closing on a house, packing up a townhouse, and moving two states away, I wasn't really sure what our first married Christmas would look like.  In some ways, it was INCREDIBLY special, as we got to get settled into our first home (that we own!) and begin making it feel like ours. And boy, it already does.

Here are a few memories from our first married Christmas, some spent in North Carolina, and some shots from our new house in Virginia:

A quick and easy DIY banner I've had for two year now learned from another blogger favorite of mine.  It may be my most favorite decoration in our house at Christmas time.

 For the last 4 years this little lady has LOVED Christmas lights.  She really calms down and loves to sleep at the foot of the tree.

 This year for Christmas Rich's parents got him a pirate ship lego set he has wanted for the last fifteen years.  He spent two hours putting it together and can only imagine how hard it would have been to assemble all those years ago.  I helped him for a bit but eventually gave up because let's face it, girls toys come pre-assembled and it is way better that way.

 Even Sophie got in on the Christmas action.

Happy Birthday Jesus!  We just LOVE celebrating your birth.  

A special date with two special little ones.  When your cool Aunt and Uncle come in to town, you can get whatever size scoops you want.

Love this Christmas house in our neighborhood.  I am ga ga over the two story sunroom.

Keeping it REAL (or fake)!

Life is teaching me a lot about expectations in the year of 2015.  I am learning I am a bit of the expectation queen, even when I don't realize I am!  I thought I was pretty low key about most things, but as it turns out, I have these lovely latent expectations and they sure are getting challenged.

Oh you think you are getting settled do you? Move to Virginia expectantly.

Oh you think you will have a holiday that looks just like what your head thinks it should look like?  Move to Virginia during the holidays.

Oh, you think the house hunt will be easy?  You have old pipes and a way too old roof!

Oh you love your job?  Time to find a new one!

All kidding aside, what a learning lesson the last few months have been on grace and just going with the flow!  That being said, we have done something I never expected: we now own a fake tree.  With the thought of moving and celebrating Christmas, I wasn't sure if we'd be getting a tree at all, so against my common sense judgement I jumped at the chance to buy this fake tree from Target and get it assembled in our house for the last few days of our tenancy.  We will transplant it from this living room to the one in Virginia. It may be the only piece of "furniture" we have in that new house for a few days.   But, it will be beautiful and blessed. And we will truly FAKE it till we make it. 

So there you have it, this is how we will trim the tree and our house in the last few days we have in Charleston, grace-filled.

Thanksgiving Holiday Recap

 

Vest (Similar in plaid)

Now that I am finally done being stuffed full of turkey and resorting back to normal meal portions, I am going to document our first married Thanksgiving!  We are VERY lucky to have family that lives in the same state, and pretty close geographically to one another, so for as long as this remains, our holidays will be a bit easier than most married couples.  Here is a quick look at how we spent our first married Thanksgiving being thankful for ALL we have and all the folks who have blessed us.  

 I'm not sure if this counts as part of my last November goal but Rich and I did manage to make roasted vegetables to have as part of my family's Thanksgiving lunch.  Other than our youngest niece, the veggies were a hit. 

 Our precious little niece was none too pleased with her dad's turkey carving noises. 

 The most spirited of little turkeys this Thanksgiving at the kids table.

 

 After Thanksgiving lunch with my parents we headed to celebrate with Rich's family in Raleigh!  The food and company must have been too yummy because this is the only shot I got from that dinner celebration but the table was gorgeous!

 Black Friday took a different spin this year since we ended up at Lowes buying a few things we need for our new house.  See that ladder right there? That's the ladder that's going to help the menfolk paint our new house in less than two weeks! 

 The grandkiddos put on a Christmas play, complete with costumes.  Afterwards they grabbed all their suitcases and coats and said the play was so good they are going to Hollywood. Imagination is a real thing in elementary school y'all. 

Mark me at the very top of the list of people excited my middle niece has shown an interest in the sport of tennis.  I got to hang out with her and teach her a few things. 

 Saturday meant I got to spend some time watching my Deacs take on my Duke fellas in a bit of football.  Duke won but it was a great game till the end.  Also, you couldn't beat the weather for late November in North Carolina. 

 Most importantly I got to see my best best friend and her sweet baby boy.  We haven't seen him since he was 6 weeks old on our honeymoon so it was great to see all of them. 

But there is no questioning who enjoyed the holiday season the MOST.  This little lady just loves playing ball in her poppy's backyard.  She also doesn't hate the crunch of real fall leaves underneath her either.  She rolled in the grass for hours, tail wagging.