Sometimes you have just a perfect evening. Earlier this week J and I had one of those evenings. We grilled, sat outside on our new patio set and played with the dogs. I think Maggie is used to me taking pictures of her…
Tiny doesn’t sit still long enough for too many pictures, but little Maggie doesn’t mind a photo or two …or three.
Here’s to more of these perfect evenings.
Cheers!
It’s official. Summer is here. The humidity is up and my allergies are finally starting to subside, a little. I put together a little list of fun things that I’d love to do in these next few months. What do you have on your to-do list?
1) Attend a Cardinals Baseball game
2) Go to the lake as much as possible
3) Grill majority of our meals
4) Learn to make a new summer cocktail, preferably with raspberries.
5) Work more on our wedding plans (getting those invites addressed without pulling out my hair)
6) Commit to Crossfit at least 3x a week (fingers crossed)
7) Spend time with J’s family and my family
8) Teach Tiny a few new tricks
9) Start saving for my Bachelorette party(!!!) in NOLA.
10) Go to Founder’s Park to watch a movie
Cheers to a great Summer!
Want to know a secret? I’ll let you in to a little personal secret of mine pertaining to my past relationships. You see, back in high school and undergrad of college most of my friends thought of me as this “2 week girl.” No, not because my relationships would only last 2 weeks, but because I couldn’t stand having a disagreement with someone. I just never saw the need to fight or not get along. It wasn’t really important to me to fight. I thought, why waste your time?
So, that’s where my “2 week girl” came into play. You can bet that after an argument that I just didn’t see the importance of the guy and me would be over in about 2 weeks.
I promise that I am not this cold-hearted, stone-faced woman. I really do have a heart and I would bend over backwards to help my partner out. I would be there for them, whether if it was helping study, a family crisis, etc. I was there. I just did not see the need to fight. Why?
Then it all changed. One night, I met J and he changed my world. We fell fast for one another. We decided early on that it would be the two of us. The two of us against the world and we would be together.
It hit me one day – J was worth fighting with. We may not always agree on every topic. We frustrate each other. Our personalities are not identical. I am much more reserved and J is very outgoing. I am a homebody and J is happy out with people.
We also make each other happy, laugh, and work harder at being a better person. J pushes me to go after my dreams. I do not think I would have been as passionate about MereLynneConcepts on Etsy without him. We are there to listen to one another and help each other.
As women (well most women) we watch these romantic comedies, you know – the cliché ones. The movies where at the very end, right before the credits roll the two characters embrace and say something like, “I’d rather fight with you then make love to anyone else.” Then there is an extremely long and passionate kiss.
Super unrealistic.
J and I may get into it time from time, but he is worth every hard discussion, every time I have to admit I’m wrong – J is worth it all. We’ve had to learn how each other react to a fight or disagreement. Not just learning but compromising our typical actions for the one we love.
I may not have the romantic comedy ending, but I do have the person that makes my soul instantly melt. I found the person that I will face the world with, as a team. For that I am grateful.
I saw a pin on Pinterest awhile back and it linked to lauren.david.style’s blog here. I fell in love with the idea of packaging all the details and knick-knacks about the wedding into a nice box to give to my bridesmaids.
I had already asked the fabulous ladies to be my bridesmaids and now it was time to get them some info about J and I’s big day.
I decided early on that it was not worth the stress to find a dress that fit in with the style of the wedding that made each girl feel beautiful. Each of my bridesmaids are their own woman and knows what fits them the best. I have given them some guidelines and details of what our style is so that they can find a dress that fits them and their budget.
I included information about:
the big day – when, where, what time, and paint chips to see the colors.
my bridesmaids – a little introduction about each of my girls and how they came to be such a large, important part of my life.
their dress and accessories – navy blue, knee-length dress with eggplant (plum) heels or wedges.
their role – to feel beautiful, to have fun, and know that I am truly grateful for them standing with me on my day.
Cheers!
I feel as if I’ve been M.I.A. for the past few days. I haven’t felt like doing anything. My poor house is a mess, the dogs need baths, and my little ole blog has been neglected.
Where have I spending my time?
Well for starters I’ve been attempting to do Crossfit 3x a week… it’s slowly getting there. At least I can wake up the day after and not fall out of bed because my legs aren’t there to catch me.
Next, we went to a Springfield Cardinals game last week. J had won a contest at work and got free tickets to the Budweiser suite. Of course we could not pass up a night of Cardinals baseball, beer, and stadium hot dogs.
Then I’ve been adding prints to the MereLynne Etsy shop. If you haven’t seen the new listings, please check it out. Plus, learning the ins and outs of Etsy has been a bit challenging for me. Promoting my pieces, my site, and my Facebook page are a bit time consuming.
Finally, I’ve been spending some quality time with J and the pups. I’m sure they appreciate that the quality time does not involve water and soap, but they can’t escape that for long. Honestly, I should have cleaned around the house this past weekend. I really, really should have. But the couch looked some comfortable and there was a really good movie on all day… so alas I did not clean.
I’m pretty excited because my parents are coming for a visit this weekend. My Dad hasn’t seen our new place yet. Which means two things: 1) our house has to spotless before 8pm on Thursday night 2) we need to go grocery shopping so that it appears we have food and are doing just fine.
You know, the basics before any parent comes to visit. Don’t look like a slob and pretend that you have enough food to feed yourselves.
It’s going to be a pretty busy week and I’m glad that I took the weekend to prepare for it. See, I’m still trying to convince myself that it was a good thing I was lazy this weekend.
Cheers!
It’s a pretty exciting time for me right now. I’m ready for what the future has to offer, my eyes are open and I will not ignore any more opportunities.
The most exciting part of 2013 is J and I’s wedding in November. We’ve been planning, organizing, and buying items for it. The closer we get the more ready I am for it to get here. I haven’t been too overwhelmed yet, but I’m sure it’ll hit. We are almost 5 months away from the big day!
These two pups mean the world to me. The love I get from them and give to them is priceless.
And finally, my new Etsy venture is thrilling. I will be adding more items to the shop this coming week. I’ve spent time creating new designs, working on my policies, and even my business plan. I may have a degree in Marketing, but actually attempting to use what I’ve learned is a whole new ball game. I’ve been reading up on SEO, advertising, sponsorships, etc.
Cheers to exciting times!
photo by DColeman Photography.
Priorities. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I know what makes me happy in life from work-life to home-life. I know what I need to succeed and go to bed each night knowing that I have accomplished something that day. Whether my accomplishment is big or small.
For me, it’s pretty simple (at least I like to think so). I need:
– the love of my fiance, J
– cuddles from two rowdy pups, Maggie and Tiny
– a job that not only pays the bills, but one that I feel I am truly helping someone else
– a roof over my head
– something to be working towards
– my friends
– my family
– being creative
A lot of these parts intermingle with each other. For instance, being creative, having a job, and something to works towards can all be combined. I believe that if I find a passion that combines all three then I will have found my dream job.
Having something to work towards is something that I’ve recently struggled with. I graduated with my undergraduate degree. One year later, I started pursuing my Masters. Now, I’ve graduated and … now what? It’s hard for someone who has always been working towards some sort of degree to know where to go to next. I know that I need to find a career that I am passionate about; however, I am wanting to move out of Springfield within the next few years. So, for me this time needs to be spent finding out what qualities of a job make me the happiest, what qualities I want to avoid at all costs, and where J and I want to end up.
It’s a process. A deep process with quite a bit of thought and time. I cannot rush and I have to go with the flow.
For someone who is as Type A as I am, this time can be challenging. Here’s to hoping that I can take a deep breath.
Cheers!
Here we are: six months to go till J & I say “I Do.” Whew! TIme flies when you are having fun.
I found my dress – that was a huge weight off my shoulders! My dress is absolutely perfect, in every way.
Here are a few tips that I’ve discovered along this wedding planning process:
– check your budget. It’s very, very important to stay on top of your budget. Buying wedding gifts, favors, and little things here & there can really do a number on your budget. You think you are a-okay and in the green, but then as you get closer to the big day and final payments are due then you might shock yourself.
– prepare your rehearsal dinner. I have the venue booked for our rehearsal dinner and a menu in mind, but it’s time to start narrowing down your guest list. If you’re wedding plans are similar to ours then a small, imitate dinner is all you’re looking for. Our venue is a room at an event center where we can come and go easily. It’s small enough that we are envisioning a room full of family and future family sharing stories, laughing, and eating some good food.
– block hotel rooms. J had one task that he made his own. I had no input in which hotel he blocked, I just wanted to make sure that we had a room. I have to admit – he did good! We have one of the nicest hotels in Springfield reserved with a shuttle for our guests so no one will have too much to drink and no way to get back to their room.
We are still working on finding an officiant. It’s next on our list and will be done ASAP! It’s making me a little nervous that we don’t have someone booked yet, but can have everything fall into place perfectly. So far, I will not complain about how smooth the wedding plans are going.
Cheers!
Anytime J and I will be at home visiting my folks we always try to make a stop at the gun range. Something about showing up J and my dad on my awesome marksman skills makes a girl happy. However, I do have to admit that J isn’t too bad of a shot. 
Cheers!
It’s finally springtime in Missouri … well at least it is today. It was in the 80s earlier this week and then snowing on Friday. So, we don’t know how long this weather is going to last. When we do get a burst of nice weather the dogs have eaten every second of it up. Well, J & I have soaked up using our new grill a lot too… I’m not complaining!
Cheers!