Our New Digs

Confession: I called in sick today because packing, moving and driving 4 hours back and forth between our current and future residences is wiping me out! Crazy and hectic though this weekend was, it was wonderful, and we have our keys! I'm keeping this short and sweet since I have about a million and a half things on my to-do list. But take a gander around our new pad:

Living Room from the front entrance

Dining Room

Kitchen from the Dining Room

Behold, the world's smallest kitchen. This is going to take some work.

Bar and half bath in the basement. Chuck is very excited about this aspect of the house.

Master bedroom

Master bedroom closet

Guest bedroom

Full bathroom

Second story living area

Second floor half bath

Wife tested, Hubby approved

And because I totally flaked and forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house, here's an outdated picture from Google Maps:

So excited to finally have a house to call our own. Apartment living is for the birds!

Time Flies

This morning as I sit, dazed and confused, staring into the brightly lit abyss that is my work computer, I can’t help but think about how quickly time flies.

In fact, it was nearly two weeks ago that I submitted my resignation letter to my supervisor.

It was over one year ago that the day I’d been planning for what seemed like an eternity, came to pass. I went from ‘me’ to ‘we’.

It was over four years ago that I began my senior year of college, riding high on my semester abroad.

It was over seven years ago, that I was a brand new high school graduate. A child, with nothing to guide me but a dream, a few student loans and a desire to be like Him.

It just seems so impossible that so much time has elapsed. In so many ways, I still feel so childlike, wandering doe-eyed through life. And yet, every morning, I wake up next to my husband. My husband. How is it, that the hopelessly self-conscious and awkward girl of my youth managed to find her soul counterpart and begin living her happily ever after?

I don’t really know that this post has a direction, or a point to be made. Just some times the fact that life can be so fleeting really strikes me.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Life is short and beautiful. Live accordingly J

Spilling the Beans

Hooray! I can finally break my blog silence! We were waiting for all the affected parties to be in the know and to get all our affairs in order, but...

I got a new job!!!

In Ohio!!!

Which means we're moving back!!!

Too many explanations points? 

Honestly, I want to be more excited than I am. But right now, this is me:

There are boxes to pack, security deposits to make and good-byes to be said.

I don't think either one of us can say we're sad to leave Pittsburgh, but there are definitely aspects that I'll miss. I worry how living so close to family will affect our relationship. And I'll miss all the awesome date night opportunities.

But we're ready to be done moving. I'm ready to be at a job where I know I'm there for the long haul. I'm ready to live in a home that really feels like home. I'm ready to have friends and family members at my disposal again!

In short, I'm ready to be a Program Coordinator at our (newly) local food bank.

Wish me luck!

A Love Letter to...You!

I know I've been noticeably absent from my blog lately, but as I alluded to before, life is changing for the Hubby and I at the moment and it’s CRAZY. I’m not quite ready to spill the beans yet, which makes it hard to write when all I want to write about is what I can’t write about!

Anywho, I thought I’d use this opportunity of Blogger’s Block to try to better my participation in Blogtember! I had every intention of seeing this blogging challenge through its entirety- so far I think I’ve done two posts. For shame, Kaity. For shame.

Today’s topic is to write a public love letter.

Now, it would be incredibly easy to continue to mush and gush over my darling husband. But I think I do enough of that already. So today, I thought I’d write a public love letter to my fellow bloggers.

It's no secret that I love spreading Bloggy love and I love to highlight my favorite ladies whenever the opportunity presents itself. So here goes...

To Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals, I love that you pour your heart and soul into your blog and I love that you are so invested in your blog friends.

To Katie @ Hope Engaged, I love that you are a constant inspiration to me and I love that you are constantly helping to challenge and grow my faith. You are such a beautiful woman of God.

To Lucy @ Lucy the Valiant, I love that even though we've never met (and I don't even know your real name) you feel like a true friend. I love that even after weeks of absence, I anxiously await each and every one of your posts.

To Tara @ A Brew of Blessings, I love that you so obviously adore your husband and your life together and I love that you seem like one of the most genuinely sweet people I've ever known.

To Melissa @ Little Mrs. Married, I love that you are so raw and open with your journey and I love that without fail I can always count on you for the nicest compliments.

To Laura @ A Hearty Overflow, I love that you always dole out the best financial advice and I love that you are a woman of such incredible integrity.

To these ladies, and so many more that I neglected to mention...

I LOVE YOU!

Just Me

Possibly my favorite self portrait.

No fancy makeup.

My favorite t-shirt and coziest sweater.

Just me.

Linking up today:

A Change is Gonna Come

Every single day, I come to this space. I browse through my favorite blogs and then proceed to stare at this empty white space, waiting for something to come to me. You see, it's hard to write about anything when life is crazy, things are changing and you're awaiting your ducks to organize themselves in an orderly fashion.

No, I'm not pregnant.

But exciting things are happening, nonetheless, and I can't wait until the day I stare at this empty white space completely and unabashedly sure of what I'm going to write :)

Just for fun, a sneak peek from our One-Year Anniversary session with Amy Dugan Photography:

Where the Green Grass Grows

Ever heard this song by Tim McGraw before? If you haven't take a listen, because I'm pretty sure he wrote it about my life.

Well, I'm from a map dot. A stop sign on a black top.
No one has ever heard of my hometown. People 20 minutes away don't even know where it is. But the truth is, it's like every other American, run-of-the-mill, small farm town. Our high school hosted Tractor Day every summer, where farm kids would park their rides on the front lawn of the school. We had a Homecoming Spirit Week cow that everyone competed for...and the seniors always won. After graduation, my friends and I had a bonfire at our friend's house where we drank beer, played Truth or Dare and skinny-dipped.

Life was simple, slow-paced and very much alcohol-infused, as there was not much else to do there. 
I think this song is especially true for me because as a college-bound, 18-year old girl, my greatest ambition was to leave that town and never come back. I wanted to change the world, be immersed in new cultures and escape the inevitable, small-town drama. I wanted to be someone. 

Seven years later, those dreams haven't completely died out. I still hope and pray that I'll leave this world a better place than when I entered it. But I feel almost guilty for abandoning my hometown the way that I did. All of my high school friends have since left, and aside from holidays to visit the parents, there's no reason for me to be there.
And yet, living in a major metropolitan area has allowed me to see that I may not have given my hometown enough of a chance. You see, in a city filled with hundreds of thousands of people, I have never felt so lonely. Never have I so badly craved that small-town drama. 
A few weeks ago when I made an unplanned trip up there, I couldn't help but make a mental note of the fact that I felt so incredibly at peace. The sun shown over the glistening corn fields, and I smiled as I recognized a woman from my old Church. Everything was exactly how I had left it.

Which is the beauty of my hometown. No one really changes, the topography stays the same and the snow relentlessly pours down on it without fail, every single year. In an ever-changing and chaotic world, it's nice to know I will always have Cato to come back to.
It's nice to know that, although it may not be in my childhood hometown, one day I'm gonna live where the green grass grows. 

Our Wedding: Looking Back One Year Later

In honor of my very first wedding anniversary, 

I present to you my favorite pictures from the most amazing weekend of my life...

Not only was this the best day of my life for obvious reasons...you know, the whole marrying the love of my life thing. But honestly, it was a perfect demonstration of how many genuinely kind people we have in our life. When the tail end of Hurricane Isaac forced our outdoor farm wedding into a tiny farm garage, my wedding dreams could have been completely shattered. Instead, I trusted in God to redeem whatever wedding we wound up having.

As it turned out, God used some crappy weather to help illustrate the goodness of our friends and family. Chairs, decorations and lighting magically appeared in the garage, turning something dirty and ordinary into something rustic and quaint. Our friends pulled our entire wedding off without a hitch while I sat back and did virtually nothing. I will never be able to thank them enough for what they did for us.

They gave us the most perfect, blessed, happy day imaginable.

One Year as Mrs.

The day that felt as though it would never arrive, has come to pass, and much quicker than I anticipated.

As of today, 

I have been married for one year.

So here are some flashbacks to the day I said "I do," an obnoxiously sweet glance back at our first newlywed year and what I've learned in my...

i don't need a man.

Before I even met Chuck, I held this notion that a beautiful relationship should be rooted in a want to be with your partner and not a need to be. I think it is far more romantic to be an independent, self-sufficient woman who chooses to love someone versus being a dependent woman who derives her happiness and sense of worth from her partner. I was confident in who I was when I met Chuck, and content with the idea that if I never married I was responsible for my own happiness and could make a life for myself that was beautiful and full of adventure. I think arriving at that place of self-acceptance was foundational to my new role as a wife. I'm not some needy, pathetic person who needs my man to be happy. 

I am a woman who chooses to love my husband every single day.

marriage is a mirror.

The good, the bad and the ugly. That's how I see myself through my husband's eyes. Being one half of a marriage means I am constantly viewing my behavior and actions through a new perspective. Gaining insight into how Chuck sees me is humbling to say the least. One minute, I feel like the most special and significant person on the planet. And the next I do something completely selfish and through this mirror see what a complete asshole I can be sometimes. This mirror before me is relentless and honest. It has made me aware of my selfish behavior, my lazy attitude and my inner bully. But mostly, it has helped me on my way to becoming a better wife to the man who deserves the purest, kindest and most unconditional love.

not every second is great.

There are times when I wish we could fast forward past the petty fights, past the moping around with our homesick hearts and past the pre-mature grey hairs that our money matters have given us. Not every second of our first year has been blissfully happy. But every day has been good. Every day with my husband, is one more day that I thank God for this astounding and humbling blessing I have. Even with all the not-so-glamorous moments, there is absolutely nothing in this world I would trade for a lifetime with my husband.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to share a life with my best friend. And most days, feel so undeserving of the love Chuck showers me with every day.

I love our late night conversations on our back porch.

I love the sound of his laughter when I mercilessly tickle him.

I love when he walks through the door at night and drops everything so that I jump into his arms and be his "joey."

My most profound lesson learned during my first year as Mrs?

Marriage is awesome.