Self-Serving Sunday

My favorite part of our wedding was our ceremony. Not only because it made us husband and wife, but we spent a lot of time picking out music and scripture that defined not only our relationship personally but our goals in our marriage. Our friend, Wade, who is the worship pastor at our church (I'm on staff at our church, in case you're new around here) married us, and two of our dear friends who are also worship leaders supplemented our strings trio with a selection of songs. Three of our friends, my aunt and the hubber's sister punctuated the ceremony with scripture readings. Below is a list of those touches...


Mothers and Grandmother processional: Simple Gifts
Bridesmaids' processional: All Creatures of Our God and King
My processional: Hymne Vangelis
Scripture readings: Proverbs 24:3-4, Philippians 2:1-4, Philippians 4:8-9
Song: "Hosanna" - Israel Houghton
Scripture readings: Ephesians 1:17-19, Ephesians 3:14-18
Song: "Jesus at the Center" - Israel Houghton
Recessional: "Never Once" - Matt Redman


Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our ceremony.

All images courtesy of our amazing photographer Caroline Ghetes

Wedding Wednesday

My groom and I opted not to see each other before our wedding, a decision that I'm thankful for. I know that first looks are popular and logistically make a lot of sense, but I personally think that takes some of the sentiment out of seeing each other at opposite ends of the aisle. Locking eyes with him all the way down and having him whisper to me how beautiful I look is something that I'll always cherish. Because of that, though, we decided to take as many pictures as we possibly could before our ceremony to allow for plenty of time to take pictures together afterward. Here are some of my favorite pre-vow shots (and yes, I know this is photo overload and that I have too many favorites, but deal).

All images courtesy of Caroline Ghetes

Marriage Milestones: Part I

I'm well aware that the traditional first anniversary gift is a gift of paper. Knowing that my husband probably won't be too keen on some sweetly designed monogrammed stationery, I decided that each month of our first twelve I'll write him a letter about what each of those months meant to me personally and how they helped define our spousal relationship. Well, he reads my blog, so he'll now know his gift, but I really felt led to publish them here as we go along and rethink the final product when we get closer to April. A short two months and five days have passed since our wedding, so I've documented two letters. The first is below, and I'll post the second later this week.


Davey the Hubbers!


It's been a much harder switch to call you "Davey the Hubbers" rather than "Davey the Fiance" than I anticipated, and you know I've slipped up more than once since we walked down the aisle four weeks ago. Joyfully, however, it's been a much smoother transition to refer to you as my husband to other people. I am so proud that you are mine. This first month of marriage has been blissful, as one might imagine the first month of a marriage to be. Technically, to me, we've experienced three weeks of marriage. The first week doesn't really count since we were tucked away in Costa Rica celebrating our wedding, which, as you have learned, is a much different thing entirely (winky, blushing face). The last three weeks have been all about setting up shop. I never imagined how much fun I would have creating our home. Not just unpacking and organizing wedding gifts (or cataloging them in storage at Little and Daddy's since our micro-condo won't hold it all) but just BEING your wife... washing your clothes, cleaning the kitchen, and waking up beside you. I know in time that those things will fade as the newness becomes the norm, but for now, Davey, I'm relishing it. 


I'm thankful for the work we did pre-marriage to help create a foundation for our communication. One of the best things that we've done is establish a "top 3" list for each of us. Those top three things that are really important to keep peace in our marriage. Your top three are as follows:
1. Keep the kitchen sink clear of dirty dishes. I've worked really hard to keep our kitchen tidy, and as a result, it's now bothering me to let dishes pile up, so well done, sir, teaching me the importance of cleanliness.
2. Blow my nose after I sneeze instead of sniffing continuously. I still don't get your irritation by my sweet delicate sniffles, but, man, I'm working on it. My nostrils are now raw thanks to my allergies, but if you don't mind a red, scaly face, then I sure as heck don't either.
3. Don't text while driving. It's a work in progress. I can't do everything in the first month, otherwise, the next rest of our lives will get pretty boring, you know?


Marriage is by far my favorite thing I've ever done, and I desperately hope that you feel the same way. When you pray over our mornings, my heart melts. The time we spend together investing in our relationship is of incredible importance, and it's so wonderful knowing that you value it the same. Thank you for thirty days of wonderful. I'm excited that we're in motion, and I can't wait for next month!


I love you.
C

Self-Serving Saturday

This week we got our wedding pictures back! If we're friends on Facebook you've basically been inundated with pictures of me in my wedding gown or giddily embracing my husband. We have had so much fun the past few days reliving the entire day and feeling the same emotions we experienced during the ceremony. I'll probably have a few days worth of posts of shots, so here are my favorites from our time prepping and preening...

All images courtesy of our amazing photographer Caroline Ghetes 

The Butt Of It

Earlier this week while in the shower following an intense hot yoga class, while the hubbers was working a very late night, I noticed an itchy bump on my lower right buttocks. Naturally I became fixated on it, and naturally it was in a locale that I could only scope out by feel rather than sight. Reverting to a decidedly six year old mindset, I decided that the only way to remedy the situation was by applying a Band-aid. The only way to apply a Band-aid the adult way is to apply Neosporin first, so I worked to pop a hip and shoulder out of socket in order to shmear my rump in the ointment to heal my ailment. The only Band-aids I could lay my hands on at the moment were the Batman ones I'd gotten for the fella after a work mishap with a hot pan and sharp knife, but I assumed they'd be okay. As I felt my way. cautiously, to the work in the rear, I contorted my body in such a way that I lost my footing and completely wiped out, pulling my lady bits and bruising both my behind cheeks and pride in the process. Gingerly I got up and slapped on a criss-cross of Batman and Robin and proceeded to send this text to my sister and doting husband...

"Just tried to bandage my own @$$ and fell down. Now I have a massive bruise in addition to the first ailment."

My husband replied, "Sigh." Much later when he returned home he would remember to make sure I was all right (luckily for him, I was). The next day as I was changing he also caught sight of the Batman and Batmobile bandage cross proudly displayed on my tush and laughed himself silly.

My sister replied, "Hahahahahahaha."

Today I am very thankful to the people in my life who show so much care and concern to my maladies. Thanks, guys, my fanny and I love you too. And yes, the Neosporin worked, thank you very much. Not that anyone was asking.

Got Milk?

Yesterday evening I attended a 75 minute hot yoga class with my sis and promised her a homemade meal afterward while we watched The Bachelorette. After nearly passing out in class, I knew a hearty dinner was absolutely necessary. After trolling through the aisles of the neighboring grocery store actively dripping sweat to gather the necessary ingredients for avocado macaroni & cheese, we successfully settled in at home to cook and watch the ABC nonsense. 


Since I've gotten married I have refused to log on to a single wedding blog or Pinterest bridal boards, no matter how pretty. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't be one of those women still planning their dream wedding four years after walking down the aisle. That means that instead most of my digital perusing time has been dedicated to recipes, fitness and home decor blogs and Pin boards. The avocado mac & cheese was one such newly pinned recipe, and despite my hatred of macaroni & cheese as a dish, I was excited to try it. 


I had compiled a lovely little grocery list before leaving work for the yoga studio, and naturally left it on my desk, so our shopping trip was based more on me trying to remember what I needed. About halfway through the recipe I realized that I'd forgotten milk, which was a necessity for the cheese sauce. I couldn't leave it on the stove to go grab some, so I quickly consulted the sis and reluctantly opted to use the unsweetened vanilla almond milk that I did have on hand (I mean, cheese and nuts go together, we surmised). In the meantime I also need to make avocado sauce, and since the food processor is stored so high in our kitchen and is quite heavy I opted to pull out the hubber's blender. Well, I learned that blenders and avocados aren't a great combination and after burning out the motor of the blender (sorry, fella. I put it away like I found it, so you wouldn't know about that) I made my uber-height-advantaged sister get the dang Cuisinart down anyway to finish the sauce. Her gangliness is useful from time to time.

Despite a few bumps in the road, the finish product turned out to be delightful. Zesty, flavorful and creamy... a golden trifecta. After a few bites I asked the sis if she could taste the vanilla from the almond milk... "Well, yes... but not in a bad way?" I mean sweet and savory is in, right? I'll keep my grocery lists close by next time. Just in case.

So On & So Forth

Over the past few weeks I've gotten a little more adventurous in the kitchen... I'm never one to shy away from bold flavors and unusual combinations, but I don't typically follow involved recipes. From chicken tikka masala to crockpot BBQ beef & mango quesadillas that the fella and I prepared for an impromptu Memorial Day party to a delicious Thai coconut chicken dish I whipped up for a little Bachelorette night with my sister, and chili lime grilled sweet potatoes for a spontaneous mini-dinner party, It's been so much fun to stretch away from the usual and experiment with this flavorful fare, and it's been inspiring me to think up my own new creations, such as these ever-so-popular-with-the-fella mango butter banana waffles...

Speaking of stretching, I've been going to hot yoga 3-4 times a week... something I never thought I'd say... ever. In fact, the hubbers and I have a standing Friday morning date at the studio to sweat it out together, and we both love it so much. I've been a cardio addict 5-6 days a week for nearly 10 years, but I haven't ever seen so many changes to my body as I have in the past 4 months of hot yog'ing. If my arms could handle it I'd probably go multiple times a day.


In other, equally mundane news, I've been farmer's marketing like a champ for all of our produce needs, and yesterday I spent my day off flowering and decorating our little deck that we've been pretending is an outdoor living oasis (don't mind my yoga mat drying on the rail). Other than that we take time to relax when possible like this morning's mid morning nap and cuddle session. Life could be much worse.