In whatever time we have…

Mark and I get to see each other about twice a week. Three days if we’re lucky. Wednesdays and Sundays. It’s hard when we live an hour apart and have weird schedules. He’s busier than me with school, work, coaching, homework, etc. But he always finds a way to make time for me. Each and every day. Whether its a five minute phone call before I go to bed or an entire night spent at my dining room table while I distract him from his schoolwork with Christmas music and cookies.

This past weekend he was able to come to my Grandmom’s 75th birthday party (where the picture was taken) and then we headed back down to his house to spend some time with his grandparents who were visiting for the day. It was such a wonderful day full of family. And it made me really appreciate the fact that Mark and I make the most of the limited time we have each week. He is the best friend I’ve been waiting for my whole life. He makes sure I know how important I am to him every single day. I am so very blessed.
And I’ll never stop being thankful for his love and his friendship.

Thanksgiving Weekend

 

Thursday
An eight hour shift, with a visit from my dear friend Catherine. spent catching up over starbucks on my lunch break. Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt & Uncles. Kayla brought gfree corn muffins and an amazing gfree pumpkin cheesecake. Mmm mmm mmm.

Friday
A morning showing of Breaking Dawn where all Mark and I did was make fun of Jacob. A five hour shift spent reading the latest Karen Kinsgbury novel. A night laughing for three straight hours with two other friends from high school.

Saturday
Sleeping in until 10am. Coming downstairs to find the outside Christmas lights up and a very pooped father. And also hearing him play the piano.

 

 

 

This is, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year.

A week ago...

Bill & Mel’s Wedding.

Beautiful sunshine. Gorgeous autumn weather.
The church looked beautiful in the morning light.
Melanie was a beautiful bride.

It was wonderful to be there with my whole family. Kayla was a bridesmaid and Bucky was an usher. The rest of us were attendees. And let me tell you – we rocked the dance floor. My father does the Electric Slide and Cupid Shuffle better than most women.
And I promise he didn’t fall asleep during the wedding. Nor were we making silly faces during the ceremony. That all took place during the family picture taking afterwards.

Melanie and Bill – Congratulations!!
We are so thankful we got to celebrate with you :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m thankful for…

Salvation. Jesus. God’s omniscience.

My family.

My boyfriend. My best friend.

My boyfriend’s family. My second family.

The lessons I’ve learned this year.

My job. My coworkers.

My friends. Near and far.

My freedom.

The wonderful places I’ve visited.

And the Thanksgiving dinner taking place this evening with my extended family.

 

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

The morning from you know where

Yesterday morning was epic. And looking back, it really isn’t as terrible as it felt.
But in the moment I was beside myself.

 

5:27am – My alarm goes off. I get up, shower, and get ready for work.

6:17am – I realize I’m two minutes later than normal and hurry downstairs.

6:18am – I realize I never set up the coffee pot the night before and get the coffee brewing.

6:23am – I sit down to eat my cereal.

6:28am – I start packing my lunch. I cannot find my lunchbag anywhere and I am frantically looking through the cabinets while mentally cursing my mother and sister who had baked the night before and clearly hid it.

6:29am – I give up on the lunchbag and throw my lunch in my purse.

6:30am – I realize I never put on deodorant. I sort through my purse and its not there. I run upstairs and root through the bathroom. It’s not there. I crack Sarah’s door open and ask her where she keeps her deodorant. She manages to tell me in her sleep it’s in the middle white drawer on her desk, but it’s not there. So I give up and run downstairs. I throw on my coat, grab my two bags, and then realize I never got any of that coffee I brewed. So I head back to the kitchen.

6:35am – I grab my two bags, grab my travel mug, and grab my umbrella – finally I am out the door. I am now five minutes late.

6:36am – I am holding up my umbrella and have two bags on one arm with my travel mug in the opposite hand. With that hand I am trying to fish my keys out of my purse that is also holding my lunch. I succeed in finding my keys and go to open my back door when my purse turns sideways and everything falls out. My apple is rolling down the street. I was so frustrated I literally yelled out loud. At 6:36 in the morning.

6:38am – I am in my car, pulling out of my street, leaving Mark a voicemail of me pretty much sobbing because everything has gone wrong, I’m late, and I don’t have deodorant on.

6:55am – I pull into work and manage to get the umbrella, bags, and coffee all in my hands once again. I feel something hitting my leg and I cannot figure out what is it. I look down and see that the belt of my trench coat is sopping wet. Yes. Every car that passed me saw this black and white patterned belt flapping in the pouring rain as I drove by. Oh I also forgot to mention. My black work heels are broken. The nail is exposed on the right heel. So I hobble with every step I take and I make the most terrible sound when the nail pivots on the ground. Really really cool, right?

6:56am – I get into work and put my coffee down on my desk. I start dropping my bags and closing my umbrella when something catches my eye. I look back at my travel mug and there sitting so happily is a spider. I’m not kidding. So either it crawled off of me between the car and my desk OR it was crawled onto the mug in my car. Either way I’m not a happy camper. And in most scenarios I would have to give myself a pep talk to even begin formulating a spider-kill-plan. Not yesterday friends. Yesterday I grabbed that travel mug and kicked the spider off and then stepped on it without even really thinking.

6:57am – I clocked in. Went to my mailbox, etc. etc.

7:03am – I finally sat down at my desk. And immediately texted my mother to call me asap. She called and I told her my saga and she managed to stifle her laughter and kept totally quite up until the part where my apple went rolling. And then I felt much better.

So that’s the story of my terrible, no good morning.

Mark just let me listen to the voicemail I left him.
Definitely not my proudest moment.

But its Thanksgiving and today I was totally prepared for my morning .
So Happy Turkey Day!!

Looks I Love: Slipcovers & Mismatched Chairs

Since I don’t have my own house and I probably won’t for a few years… I figured I should daydream about it as much as humanly possible so when the time comes, I’m ready to go!! Because I definitely won’t change my mind between now and then ;)

I have no idea what I ever did before pinterest. It’s really helping my future plans… Here are some of my favorites…

I love the look of mismatched chairs at a long wooden dining table.
And I love white slipcovers that are a little loose and cozy looking…

I love white upholstered furniture but don’t think I’d ever buy a white couch because of dirt, children, and cost. Slipcovers, on the other hand, are washable and fairly cheap. I also love the mismatched chair thing because it’s totally unique and you can keep adding to the room as the years go by. Someday…

Birthday Girls

Today my dear friend Rachel turns 20. And my grandmother turns another year older. I have no idea how old she is. But she’s classy and that’s all that matters :)

To Rachel –

We’ve been friends since student council in middle school – partying it up in SClub7 and spending our entire freshman year together. I will never forget going on the log flume at Dorney Park right before we left with our history teacher (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me). I remember helping you get ready for senior prom!! I have loved our nights spent watching Romeo and Juliet with while polishing off an entire Sarah Lee pound cake with cool whip and our afternoons watching the Notebook on your couch. I miss you terribly and cannot WAIT for you to come home over Christmas break :) I hope you have an amazing 20th birthday.

Miss you so much. Love you Rae

Life Lately…

The sunrise. And the sunset.

Mark’s burger at the brewery. And main street.

Sarah’s first Chipotle trip. And gfree pancakes that were quite yummy.

My wedding date. And this smarty-pants who got glasses.

I love watching the sunrise on my drive into work and watching it set as I drive home from the gym. It’s a little depressing because it gets dark so early, but the pink, orange, and purple skies are stunning. Saturday Mark and I went to Manayunk and walked Main Street after dinner for some coffee. Gosh I love that place. I also continued my gfree diet – more on that later this week. It’s been good and bad and bad. But as Mark reminded me, that’s ok. It’ll take time. And speaking of Marky Mark – what a hunk. And an amazing best friend. Who makes my entire family laugh and is working really really hard to get through this semester. This past weekend was amazing as usual. I live for the weekends.

And now my father is playing David Foster on the piano.
And it’s the best thing in the entire world. A perfect end to Sunday.

Happy Monday!
I hope you had a great weekend too!

There’s just something about New York at Christmastime…

Wednesday we went to NYC to kick off the Christmas season.
It was a bit rainy, but magical as usual.

  

We ate lunch at the Stardust Cafe – we had never been there before. It was probably more fun than everyone told me it would be. My dads co-workers are a lively bunch and really got into it. As you can see, Rufus, our server, whose name is actually Matt, was serenading Sarah with some Frank Sinatra. And she loved it. Not really. But she handles that stuff way better than I did at 12. And the Rockettes were amazing. AMAZING. I can not believe how perfect they are. TONS and tons of practice. And we watched The Polar Express and Elf on the bus rides to and from which made it feel even more like Christmas. I’m definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving next week, but Christmastime is my favorite time of the year. I’m listening to Christmas music right now actually :)
I love New York City. It’s the best.
What’s your favorite thing about NYC?