Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope you are all having a wonderful morning filled with love and laughter!

This Christmas I am reminded of how blessed I am. I'm surrounded by people I love and we are eating such delicious food! It truly is great having a day relaxing with my family and getting to spend some quality time with them.

My family is pretty big on traditions. Since before I can remember, we have done the same thing every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving is spent with my mom's side of the family and Christmas is spent with my dad's. Every Christmas morning, my family wakes up early and all gather in my parents room. My sister and I descend the stairs together so that we can both experience the surprise of all the presents. We sit in the same seats every year around the tree and we always start with the stockings. Stockings consist of makeup, candy and jewelry. We then go around the room exchanging gifts to each other. We sit in anticipation for each gift because each one is always so thought out. There's usually cheering as someone opens an especially exciting gift! 

After all the gifts are open, we put on a fashion show of everything we got. There's lots of Ooooing and Ahhhing. We eat breakfast and get ready for the day. We head to my Grandma Kitt's house for Christmas part 2! The present pile at her house is absolutely massive! We open presents here and spend the day relaxing with family and end the day with a feast!

I love Christmas. I love our traditions. I love my family.

This year's Christmas is a little different for us. 

It is the first Christmas since we lost my grandma. It has almost been a year since she passed. I still miss her just as much as I did then. I miss her everyday but especially today. There is a hole in our Christmas without her. I miss her laugh and her smile as we would open presents from her. I miss her stubbornness when we would try to get her to sit down and stop working in the kitchen. I miss her hugs. I miss her stories. I miss her influence in my life. 

Christmas is different this year without her. Our traditions are all thrown out the window. This family is going to have to find new traditions. I pray our new normal is as good as our old normal. 

As for today, I'm going to love on my family and be thankful for everything I have! I'm also going to wear a super cute outfit I know Grandma Kitt would be proud of.

God Bless you all! Merry Christmas!

(Photos from tumblr.com)

Bachelorette Party at it's Finest

I really thought that over break I would be able to post twice a week on here, but with the wedding almost three weeks away and Christmas next week, I am just as busy as ever. Instead of school, my days consist of wedding tasks, Christmas shopping and keeping an eye on Josey, who seems to have lost her mind lately. The one thing that is really a blessing is that I am catching up on sleep! It isn't until you start to sleep really well that your body finally shows you the damage that was being done before. 

Speaking of no sleep, last weekend was my Bachelorette Party! According to my sister, "what happens at the Bachelorette Party stays at the Bachelorette Party", but I will share a little. =)

The party started off a little fuzzy...

Becky was my ride to the beach house in Bethany and she had asked me earlier if it would be ok if we made a pit-stop to watch her little sister sing a solo in her school's Christmas program. Of course! Her little sister is adorable and I knew the party didn't really start until the next morning. 

We were at the program for about an hour and to be honest I was getting a little antsy. I was excited for my party, duh! Her sister was up next. Becky, her family and I waited in anticipation for her sister to come out. The song begins, her sister sings two lines and then walks off stage. We look at each other. Maybe she has more lines later? Nope. That was it! I don't think Becky's ever going to live that one down. It was hilarious! Making the bride late for her party for a solo that was maybe 4 seconds long! How dare she!?

We spent most of Saturday shopping at the outlets in Rehobeth. For dinner, we went to a restaurant called, "Irish Eyes". Coincidentally, I had been there before. It is an Irish Pub with live music and the best food you could ever find. Our table sat in silence as we enjoyed our food. It was that good. I saved half of my Reuben sandwich for Johnathan but ended up eating it myself. I'm not sorry either.

My bridesmaid's are really incredible. I feel like you always hear horror stories about bridesmaid's gone bad but my girls are top notch. They all took such great care of me and made sure everything went smoothly. Being a person who needs to have control, I was confident that everything was being taken care of while I just relaxed. 

It was such a great way to end the semester and to spend some time with my closest friends. You really know someone loves you when they agree to be a bridesmaid because it sure isn't a walk in the park! 

Thank you so much to these wonderful women! And a huge huge huge thanks to my Maid of Honor and my sister for planning this whole thing!

What Is My Crazy Life?

At this point, twelve hours a night has become the requirement for me to function normally throughout the day. Of course, this isn't exactly possible, resulting in me not functioning even close to normal. 

It's been a crazy week.

I'd first like to tell you why my family is the worst. They all decided to come into this world really close to Christmas. My mom has a birthday in October, my dad and fiance have birthdays in December, and my sister has a birthday in January. I believe they are all conspiring together to see how close to broke they can get me. And every year...they succeed.  

Last Friday was Johnathan's birthday. I planned a tiny, tiny party that consisted of beer tasting and a baked potato bar (basically I was trying to accumulate wife points early). This was my first time hosting anything and the perfectionist in me was FREAKING out! I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to 1. throw the perfect party 2. make Johnathan proud and 3. make sure he knew how much I loved him. I managed to chill myself out enough to really enjoy the party and I was really satisfied with how it went. I think Johnathan had a pretty banging birthday!

I learned that hosting is a very rewarding activity. I'm almost hoping that this is what God can use me for as a service to Him. Key word is "almost". Guys, I was exhausted. Being an introvert, it took every ounce of my energy to throw this party. By the end, I had nothing left. I was so happy and fulfilled the next day but I could not get myself off the couch. I will have to find a balance because the satisfaction of serving people in my home felt good and felt right.

The next day, John and I went to my friend's wedding which was magical and wonderful and I was an emotional mess. I think weddings become a lot more real when you are about to have one yourself =) My friends stood up in front of everyone and took a vow to love each other forever. That's amazing!

This leads to the fact that we are a month away from our wedding!!! I think I may write a post about the whole engagement process because there is so much to be said about the journey that it is. We are also two days away from being engaged for a year! 

There's other crazy things that happened this week; my dog destroying the apartment, finals, and the Victoria Secret Fashion Show (haha just kidding!).  

All in all, I think this has been a pretty good week. Though I wouldn't mind a more relaxed one in the future...

Bring Chivalry Back

The saying today is that "chivalry is dead". Unfortunately, I'd have to agree...mostly. This breed of men is on the verge of extinction but they are still out there!

Early this morning, I walked out to my car to defrost the windows. I'm a bit petty when it comes to the cold so I sit huddled in the car until the heat does it's thing. Next to me was a man scraping the ice off of his car. When he was done, he came over to my window and asked if I'd like him to clear my windshield. I thanked him profusely and we went about our days. But that small act of kindness stuck with me and I've continued to think about how rare that is today. 

I'm extremely blessed to be marrying a man who is as chivalrous as it comes. He holds my door, he carries my bags, he protects me and makes me feel secure. His parents raised him right and I am eternally grateful for that. 

It is troubling that these values aren't taught or even encourages as of late and there are many factors that go into that. But being a woman of God and knowing what His plan is for us all, I know how truly important these actions are. 

If God blesses Johnathan and I with a son, I want to teach him to be like his father. I want him to respect women enough to see the importance of taking care of them. I want him to do the little things, like holding doors and walking them to their cars. I want to teach our son to treat women the way God intended them to be treated. Yes, women are just as able as men are at opening doors and carrying their bags but that's not the point. The point is to let the men protect you and serve you. 

If God blesses Johnathan and I with a daughter, I want her to allow and encourage the men in her life to treat her with respect. I want her to respect herself enough to let a man protect her and show her this kind of love. I don't want her to put a man down for holding her door because he is making her feel "weak" and "useless". That is not what this man means and he should be praised for going out of his way to help her. 

I thank the man that helped me this morning. He started my day off with a smile. 

(my photos are all from tumblr.com)