Sunday nights.
As of late, I have been loving Sunday nights.
They’ve been following the same pattern for a few months, and the type A in me loves it.
Sunday nights mean comfort, and warmth, and family, and communication.
I love Fridays and Saturdays and the memories they bring – fun and friends and busy and irregular. But Sunday evenings are something special.
As we prepare for the week ahead, we clean and meal plan and grocery shop. (Not exactly my favorite things.)
But at 5pm, the cork comes out and the music comes on. We put a new record on the player, pour some wine and start cooking dinner together. Husband grilling steaks. Me prepping veggies and salad. Puppy moving from one of us to the other, dying to be in the middle of all the action. We talk about the week behind and the week ahead and the things we’re looking forward to.
After dinner, we catch up on our shared TV shows or watch an 80s movie from our list, then turn in early to read and rest up for the week.
Even as we’ve been traveling a lot lately, we’ve been home by midday Sunday and able to keep our cherished tradition. Or as I’ve been returning from work trips, Husband has meal-prepped ahead of time with wine ready so we can just enjoy each other after time apart.
It’s perfectly boring, perfectly an old married couple evening, and I’m perfectly content with it.
xo xo
life lately
{loving this || CTPG lake days}
{enjoying this || family brunch at pressroom}
{drinking this || perfect for summer days}
{listening to this || Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Panic! at the Disco + Weezer at the Walmart AMP – amazing show!}
{celebrating this || Shelley moving to Chicago – very bittersweet!}
{eating this || the biggest, most amazing BEEF ribs and enjoying a perfect summer evening of yard games, beer + bonfires}
xo xo
Extroverted Introverts: Who They Are and Why I Am One
If you were to ask husband whether I’m an extrovert or an introvert, he would say undoubtedly extrovert. I would strongly disagree. And I did. And we had a 30-minute semi-heated debate about it.
We eventually came to the same conclusion – we’re both extroverted introverts, but I’m a little more on the extroverted side than he is.
I had always thought I was an extrovert. But then I heard it’s about how you recharge, either with people or without, so I thought for sure I was an introvert. I’ve always loved being with people and hanging out in big groups, but I equally loved (and needed) my alone time. (This became apparently clear when I lived with 4 roommates in college.)
Was I an anomaly? Did anyone else feel the same way?
I saw an article recently about extroverted introverts. I clicked, read the article, read another article and was 100% convinced I’d finally found a term to describe me.
So, here’s a little insight into extroverted introverts aka ME …
- We’re often quiet, and don’t feel the need to talk all the time.
- I enjoy listening to people and observing them. I’m very perceptive and want to really understand who you are as I’m getting to know you. This is part of why I loved Journalism so much because it was acceptable to ask a lot of questions and just listen.
- We enjoy one-on-one conversations and hate small talk.
- Want to grab coffee or wine and talk? I would love that. I hate small talk, and would much rather talk about something real so I can get to know you more.
- We’re open to meeting your other friends. Just let us know ahead of time that we’ll be meeting new people so we can mentally prepare ourselves to socialize.
- SO so true, and it’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t understand this. I need to know the level of energy I’m going to need at an event. If it’s just my two best friends that’s one thing, but if they’re bringing two new people that’s an entirely different thing.
- It can be hard to get us out, but we’ll have a great time when we go out.
- If I get home and put my sweats on and hair up, THEN you call me to go out, it will be difficult to get me out of the house. But if I do go, I’ll always have a great time.
- We get mad at ourselves for wanting to stay in and letting our friends down.
- This isn’t just about FOMO, but I also feel genuinely bad when I don’t hang out with friends when they want me to, and can beat myself up for just wanting to stay in.
- Let’s talk about weekends – we love to socialize, but we also need time to recharge.
- I was just telling someone the other day, I can go out on a Friday night, but then I better not have plans on Saturday night. I need my time at home to recharge, read my book and just chill. Doing something every weekday or weekend evening is just too much.
- We make new friendships easily, but have trouble maintaining them.
- When in social mode, I find it easy to make new friends. Maintaining those friendships is another story. It’s hard to disperse my energy between lots of people.
- When in a comfortable setting, we can often be the life of a party.
- My extrovertedness can easily come out when I’m with the right people, that’s why so often people think I am an extrovert because that’s what gets the attention. But …
- We can be so content at home all day doing nothing.
- True extroverts want to be out and about all the time, doing something, with someone. They don’t turn down an invitation to hang out. And I do, absolutely I do, because I truly enjoy doing nothing sometimes.
- But it’s a delicate balance.
- If I stayed home all weekend doing absolutely nothing, I would be so ready to call up all my friends and party Monday night. But if I went out all weekend, I would be overwhelmed and exhausted and stressed and just not in a good place. This often clashes with my people pleasing personality and I will say yes to things all weekend, and I end up so discontent Sunday evening.
So now you know –
if you invite me to do something and I say no, it’s not you. It’s me.
xo xo
life lately
{loving this || early morning porch time}
{celebrating this || becky’s birthday at theo’s}
{enjoying this || afternoon playing ball in the backyard}
{savoring this || a morning with mom at the farmer’s market}
{eating this || fresh farmer’s market peaches and ice cream. hellooo summer}
{obsessing over this || adorable juliet!}
xo xo
4th of July Staycation
The last month has been BUSY – St. Lucia, family wedding, work trip to LA. So I have been yearning for some serious time to relax and spend quality time with husband, for longer than just a few hours after work.
As we approached the 3-day weekend I realized we (surprisingly) didn’t have any plans. And I told husband I wanted to keep it that way (again, surprisingly).
Though I did have a few moments of FOMO this weekend, I quickly realized I really wasn’t missing out on anything. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I was perfectly content spending my 4th of July weekend at home.
S A T U R D A Y : W O R K D A Y
{16 bags of mulch later …. the couple who gardens together, stays together.
ps – I’m STILL sore}
S U N D A Y : F U N D A Y
{lunch + fruit tart at the in-laws}
{beer + good conversation + silliness with friends}
M O N D A Y : R E S T D A Y
{slept in with my girl}
{brunching at home}
{yoga with husband}
{started a new show and loving it … does anyone watch?!}
Not Pictured: Sitting on our front porch Sunday and Monday night, watching fireworks all across the horizon without having to deal with any traffic. I’d say that’s pretty perfect.
xo xo
Picturebook: California Dreamin’
{Welcome to LA, and first stop at YouTube space!}
{Next stop BUZZFEED! With pretty awesome rooftop views}
{Dinner at an amazing restaurant, Rose Cafe, in Santa Monica. Check out this 48oz steak!}
{SO happy I got to see this lady in Cali!! The night before she got on a plane to Bentonville, ha!}
{Started day 2 with an early morning run on the Santa Monica pier}
{Maker Studio Tour}
{First (of 2) In-n-Out stops. Always incredible}
{Video set for Back to School influencer videos}
V I D C O N
{Amazing food truck lunch!}
{THE BEST PART OF THE TRIP – LUKE’S DINER FROM GILMORE GIRLS!}
{Fun times at YouTube party}
{More fun times at Kin Community party}
{The closest we got to Disney … meetings at the hotel}
{YouTube stars dressed in onesies playing video games … Where am I?!}
{Awesome dinner at Anaheim Packing House and so fun to hang out with these two!}
{The perfect way to spend my final night in Cali – beach and wine in The O.C.!}
Oh, Cali how I love you.
xo xo
Picturebook: Weir Wedding
B R I D A L S H O W E R
B A C H E L O R E T T E P A R T Y
{amazing cookies from sweet little sugar}
{burlesque chair dancing}
R E H E A R S A L D I N N E R
W E D D I N G D A Y !
{mimosas + hairdos at luxe beauty fayetteville}
{seriously obsessed with my hair! hairdresser called it “Vera Wang in the woods” – LOVE}
{the guys getting ready aka drinking beer}
{love these two!}
{hilarious photo of the bride calming her pre-wedding nerves. also shoutout to marcus for an amazing snapchat filter!}
{how gorgeous is this picture?! photographer: megan hampel}
{and we’re pretty cute too}
{my handsome date and brother of the bride}
{and this is practically the only picture I have from the after-party – on the fayetteville square at 3am. we’ll just leave it at that}
xo xo
life lately
A little pre- and a little post- vacation, here are some photos of my life lately.
{enjoying this || time with family for Mother’s Day}
{working this || bentonville film festival with bexx}
{obsessing over this || peonies, peonies, oh how I love peonies}
{celebrating this || adorable guy at his first birthday}
{yelling this || “who’s number 1? the customer! always!” at Walmart Shareholders}
{drinking this || lots and lots of beer at our 4th annual fayetteville foamfest}
xo xo
Aldermans Go Global: St. Lucia
D A Y 1
{The first views of the hotel were amazing – Calabash Cove Resort & Spa. I’ll never forget husband’s face when he stepped out of the car and saw our hotel for the first time.}
{We got to our room just in time to watch the breathtaking sunset}
D A Y 2
{Of course it rained our entire first full day. Not just rained, down poured, even though it’s the dry season on the island.}
{We still found ways to pass the time and relax, with good food (prosciutto grilled cheese with mango salsa), good drinks (pina colada) and good books.}
D A Y 3
{We laid in bed and listened to more rain (ugh!), but then it stopped … and we went on the balcony… and saw this. Oh my gosh I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen two sides of the rainbow and this was more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined.}
{It still rained off and on all day, but we couldn’t wait any longer for the pool. Note the swim-up pool bar, that we frequented often where they made us fancy drinks ….}
{Cue fancy drinks – this one was called the Bob Marley and our favorite drink made by Chris aka Mr. Fabulous}
D A Y 4
{I woke up really early, so walked down to the beach with my book (check out my vacation book reviews here)}
{And then came back to our balcony for breakfast. We loved having breakfast delivered to our balcony every morning. How could you not, with these views?? (and french press coffee and fresh local fruit!)}
{Another day, another drink, another amazing day in the Caribbean}
{An end to an amazing day}
D A Y 5
{Our Catamaran for the day, leaving from the beautiful Marigot Bay}
{We met these two ladies from Missouri celebrating their 55th birthdays and decided to boat together}
{Amazing day on the water traveling from Marigot Bay to the Pitons and snorkeling (for the first time!). It was the highlight of our trip!}
D A Y 6
{Started the day off with an amazing couples massage in the gazebo – seriously, the best massage I’ve ever had}
{Then headed to our private beach for some paddle boarding (didn’t work out so well, ask me about the story) and some two-person kayaking (which was a lot of fun)}
{And back to the pool for our last round of drinks at the swim-up bar}
{Last night on the island – sipping champagne, watching the sunset and talking about our next trip to St. Lucia – for our 10-year anniversary!}
D A Y 7
{Before heading to the airport we had just enough time to drink one more Piton beer, walk the grounds again and take a final picture}
We had such an amazing time celebrating our 5-year anniversary in St. Lucia and at Calabash Cove. We would highly recommend this resort to anyone traveling to the island. It was small and quiet, but with everything you could possibly need. We felt like we were the only ones at the resort, with the pool and beach practically to ourselves.
Not to mention the food … wow!! Chef specials every night made it so hard to choose what to eat. A few of our dishes included: Oven Roasted Whole Duck (the best duck I’ve ever had), Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa, Red Snapper Filet with Chorizo Risotto, Indian Lamb Curry (this was amaaaazing), Jerked Shrimp (that we ate every single night as an appetizer), Banana Flambe, Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Pistachio Ice Cream … the list goes on and on. We were all-inclusive, so every night we shared a different bottle of wine, appetizers, main course and desserts. Needless to say, we gained a few pounds and are now on the post-vacation diet, but it was oh so worth it.
Here’s to our next 5 years together!
xo xo
You might also enjoy: Alderman’s Go Global: London, Paris, Munich
A Mother’s Advice
It has been a rough couple of weeks. Everything has just been so busy and insane and I just feel like I’m going to burst.
It seems like everyone is feeling this way. Maybe it’s the pre-summer busyness (is that a thing?) or we’re just getting older and we live busy lives. I don’t know, but it was really getting me, until I took my mom’s age-old advice to heart –
“Take things day by day.”
She has always told me that – in high school, when I had play practice every night and AP homework and was stressed to tears; in college, when I had books to read and papers due (in classes I could care less about) and was stressed to tears; now, when I work all day and dream about work all night and have a busy social life and am stressed to tears.
And when I really stop and heed her advice to take things slow, day by day, sometimes minute by minute, it really helps.
It also helps to remember all of the things I have to be thankful for. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Yes, work has been super busy and stressful, but I really really do enjoy my job. How many people can say that? In the last two weeks I’ve had meetings with Snapchat, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Pandora, Refinery 29 and more … how cool is that?!
I have amazing friends and we go to trivia night and events at Crystal Bridges and make surprise Snapchat filters for parties and try to solve clues to get out of an escape room and send silly text messages.
I have a loving family and a house to care for and food to eat and new clothes to wear, and generally want for nothing.
Life can be crazy. I’m not downplaying that at all. But when it gets so crazy you feel like you’re going to lose your mind, here’s my advice – stop. breathe. remember all the things you have to be thankful for. and remember my mom’s advice, to take things day by day.
It’s all we can do, and the day is all we have.
xo xo
life lately
{enjoying this || fresh SPRING flowers}
{eating this || jeni’s ice cream from whole foods}
{loving this || happy hour with these beautiful ladies}
{crying over this || didn’t get out of the escape room in time … but we had so much fun!!}
{beaming at this || saturday sunshine on a bagel run with puppy}
xo xo
Whole30 2.0 – Alderman Edition
I’ve done Whole30 twice now, and it’s worked both times. I lost weight, and felt better in so many ways. But here’s the thing – it’s not practical.
Both times after I stopped Whole30 I went back to my old eating habits. Sure it took a few weeks, but it happened. I made some healthier choices overall, like eating more veggies and drinking more water, but I still ate crap way too often. And I realized, I can’t just keep doing Whole 30 every 3 months and thinking it’s going to stick. What’s that definition about insanity?
So I’m here to share with you the new plan that Husband and I developed and are starting together this week.
We love Whole30 aka Paleo and how it makes us feel. However, we know it’s not practical to eat healthy 100% of the time, yet don’t have enough self control to say “we’ll eat paleo majority of the time” without any specific guidelines.
I remember my friend Samantha telling me (via her friend Jillian Michaels) you should use the 80/20 rule for eating healthy – 80% healthy, 20% not. If there are 21 available meals to eat in a week that means 4 of those can be cheat meals. These are numbers I can work with. That sounds totally doable, right? That means I could eat 1 cheat meal Friday, Saturday and Sunday and still have 1 left over to use during the week. I don’t feel restricted like I can never eat pizza or ice cream again, but I have guardrails in place.
We also set up a few other rules – unhealthy snacks or desserts count as 1/2 a meal; if you don’t use ANY of your cheat meals for the week you get to spend $X (still undecided) on something you want, like new clothes, shoes, etc.
This is in our kitchen, and should be updated accordingly via the honor system. And if I needed any extra inspiration about looking good in a bathing suit, I can see how many days until vacation we have. (yay!)
What do you think? The hope is that this will help us turn healthy eating into a lifestyle instead of just a fad or a diet.
Have any other tips or ideas to share? I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!
xo xo
favorites, round 5.
Things I love and want to share with you, so you can love them too.
- Onyx Coffee – Husband and I are officially coffee snobs. Every morning, we grind beans and make coffee using a french press. We’ve tried quite a few brands and let me tell you Onyx.Is.The.Best. Seriously, the coffee is sooo good. We prefer the more modern flavors versus traditional. (There’s a scale on the bag.) Also, now you can get an Onyx subscription where they mail you a new flavor every week or every two weeks. Of course we’ve already signed up. And you should too.
- Tan Physics – There once was a time when I was addicted to tanning beds, then I was addicted to spray tans (still am, but the price at my place doubled, so…) now I’m addicted to Tan Physics. Shoutout goes out to Mom who gave me my first bottle for Christmas. I was shocked how well it worked, and how quickly! I don’t think I’ve looked orange at all, it hasn’t looked weird on my ankles/elbows/knees, and it only has a very faint smell.
- Younger (TV Show) – This show is so cute! And funny! And Hilary Duff is in it! (Talk about nostalgia.) And the main guy is gorgeous and reminds me of Husband. What’s not to love?! Really though, you should check this show out. It’s about a 40-year-old (Sutton Foster) pretending to be a 26-year-old working in publishing in NYC. The millennials, and the millennial wannabes will love this.
- Quote Tees – For some reason I’m all about the graphic tees with quotes on them these days. I bought one from Target that says “But First, Coffee” and I’ve been wearing it nonstop around the house. Tomorrow I’ll break it out for my first barre class, and later in the season it will be perfect farmer’s market attire. Another one I bought recently – “Today calls for Tacos + Champagne.”
- Chi Hairdryer – I’ve always been the girl who fought spending money on a hairdryer. How could it be that much better than a $20 Revlon? Well, I’m here to tell you – my life has been changed. I used a really nice one when I was staying at someone’s house recently and couldn’t believe what it did to my hair. Since I purchased this one (Chi Rocket) two weeks ago, my hair drying time has been cut in half and I haven’t had to use my straightener once. My hairdresser also told me it’s so much better for my hair. I’d say that’s a win win.
- Deep Sleep Pillow Spray – Another shoutout to Mom on this one. She gave me this for my birthday and I’ve been obsessed ever since. You spray it on your pillow before you go to bed and it helps you fall asleep faster. It’s lavender scent, so smells great (though a little overpowering if you use more than 1 spray). This combined with taking melatonin before bed, and I promise, you will sleep like a BABY.
xo xo
See more of my favorites here: favorite things: gift edition, favorites, round 4.
life lately
I’ve been horrible at blogging lately. In fact, it’s been 2 1/2 months since my last life lately, which is typically a bi-weekly post. Oops. I just haven’t felt like blogging when I come home from work, and with a personal blog like mine, if you want to take some time off you can. No pressure.
But good news, friends, I’m back! The last month hasn’t been too eventful, which has been a nice change of pace. Especially since April-June are already booking up quickly … but before we get into that, let’s look at what I’ve been up to lately.
{dying over this || when I got pulled onstage during a local production of Spamalot because the “Holy Grail” was under my chair}
{eating this || amazing meat + cheese tray for a friday night in with husband}
{loving this || quick beach time in florida for a work conference}
{hosting this || Oscars party! #savewaterdrinkchampagne}
{enjoying this || beautiful weather at a ping-pong tournament at our favorite brewery}
{planning this || a trip to St. Lucia for our 5-year anniversary in May}
Tomorrow, I’m headed to Tulsa for my first trip to Trader Joe’s … with a Trader Joe’s fanatic … this will most definitely be a blog post next week.
Have a beautiful Easter weekend!
xo xo
You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine
My dear friend Erica Keller passed away this morning.
And it’s hard. It’s so hard. Death will always be hard.
But I am rejoicing and celebrating in the life she had because it was truly incredible. Erica was dealt a difficult hand early on, diagnosed with cancer at 14 months. Her parents were told she probably wouldn’t make it to age 2. Today, she passed away at 34 years old.
[Me + E at the Memphis Zoo]
She lived 30+ years longer than the doctors thought possible. But here’s the thing, she didn’t just live. She LIVED. Whether you knew her for a minute, a day or a year – she could put a smile on your face, and she had the most infectious laugh. I’m seriously laughing now just thinking about it, and about how many times we got into giggle fits because of it.
[Me + E during one of her annual summer visits]
She taught everyone around her not to take life for granted and to live life to its fullest. What’s there to be sad about? What’s there to complain about? To her, there wasn’t anything. She was a beaming ray of sunshine on even the cloudiest of days.
I’ve always known E was a special person, but looking back on it now, I truly think she was an angel on earth. Every single person who knew her is better because of it, and they would tell you that. She taught me so much and brought so much joy to my life throughout the years – with our summer sleepovers, endless dance parties and days wasted at Locomotion with Pops.
[Me, E + Husband during an annual summer visit]
We will all miss her so very much, and it still doesn’t make this easy, but it is so amazing to know she is in a better place. She has no more pain. She’s laughing. She’s running. She’s talking my dad’s ear off.
She’s our angel, looking down on us all.
xo xo
life lately
{watching this || Star Wars in IMAX 3D}
{doing this || a lot of post-Christmas shopping
PS – Boots from Walmart.com for $32!}
{feeling this}
{reading (and sobbing over) this || more to come in my next set of book reviews}
{drinking this || Onyx coffee in our new french press}
Dolce Far Niente
Sometimes, you just need to decompress. Breathe. Relax. Let the busyness fade away. And not feel guilty about it.
Husband was away on business (VEGAS for CES, ha!) for 4 nights. 3 of those 4 nights I did absolutely nothing.
I came home from work and put on my sweats. I leisurely made myself dinner, blaring obnoxious pop hits Husband wouldn’t have liked. I watched several episodes of my latest binge Parenthood, again which Husband wouldn’t have liked. Then I crawled in bed, cuddling with the pup and read until I fell asleep.
Sounds great, right? And it was. It was so great. Usually I would get bored of doing that after 1 night, but I think after the busyness of the holidays this was exactly what I needed. Of course in the back of my mind I kept thinking – There’s so much I should be doing. There’s so many people I could be catching up with. Why am I wasting my time doing nothing?
But then I thought, I don’t think it is a waste. Your body and mind have to relax, sometimes longer than 1 day. Doing Whole30 is all about listening to your body’s needs, and mine was telling me I deserved time to do nothing.
I also reminded myself I have a very busy month coming up – 3 baby showers, 2 birthday celebrations, a weekend in Vegas and a week in NYC for work. So I have plenty of time to be busy, see people, do things and long for time at home like I had this week.
So for now, I will enjoy “Dolce Far Niente” – the sweetness of doing nothing.
xo xo
2015: my year in pictures
{January: celebrated my GOLDEN birthday with a #26shadesofgold blowout}
{February: Vegas with my new sisters + celebrated Mom’s marriage}
{March: chopped my hair + traveled to Pinterest and YouTube HQ}
{April: went to our first crawfish boil + hosted our first dinner party}
{May: worked (and played) at Bentonville Film Festival, drank lots of beer at Fayetteville Foam Fest + had a wonderful weekend in Little Rock with friends}
{June: enjoyed time with an old friend in town, hiked Hawksbill Crag + ate our weight in food at the NWA Food Festival}
{July: tried for the first time – aerial yoga, lip syncing + paddle boarding}
{August: celebrated this 80’s born gal + hosted the FIL}
{September: #AldermansGoGlobal – London, Paris}
{October: Munich/Oktoberfest + Halloweening}
{November: cabin weekend with these favorite people}
{December: a lot of Star Wars, a lot of amazing family time + the best NYE a girl could ask for with my two loves}
xo xo
[a catalog – my year in pictures] 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
life lately
{obsessing over this || adorable baby E – in our matching sweats!}
{feeling thankful for this || wonderful families to celebrate Thanksgiving with}
{eating this || my first hanukkah dinner, complete with potato latkes, matzah ball soup, challah, lamb and rugelach}
{loving this || amazing guy – my holiday party partner-in-crime}
{learning this || how to play poker … remind me to tell you about that time I kept going all in (just so I could go home and go to bed) and kept winning … :))
{oohing over this || beautiful sunset, 60 degree december weather and my favorite puppy}
xo xo
Weekend Picturebook: 3rd Annual Cabin Getaway
I cannot believe it’s been three years now that we started one of my favorite traditions. The weekend before Thanksgiving our community group rents a cabin and has a relaxing kid-free/puppy-free weekend doing whatever we please – eating (abundantly), napping (occasionally), laughing (constantly) – and just enjoying each other.
This year we had two new couples join us, and had so much fun and made so many memories we will never forget. (Well, thanks to my blog, that is. :))
[Started the weekend off right with Lagavulin and hanging by the fire]
[and a surprise baby shower for Garrett + Rachel with these ADORABLE cookies]
[Each couple was responsible for a meal. We had breakfast and did a bagel bar, complete with schmear, lox, prosciutto, cheese, fruit, pb, nutella, etc. etc., and mimosas, of course.]
[There was time for crafting … ]
[time for napping …]
[and time for exploring.]
[Saturday night, we watched the Razorback game, made s’mores at halftime,
[then mended our broken hearts with some telephone pictionary, where we all ended up crying from laughing so hard.]
[Our favorite part of the weekend was all of the hilarious lake signs hanging around the cabin, and working them into conversation all weekend, including this one, which was our favorite – The trout, the trout, and nothing but the trout, so help me cod.]
[I seriously don’t know what I would do without these people in my life. I am so thankful for their friendship and such an incredible weekend.]
xo xo
You might also enjoy: Cabin Getaway 2013, Cabin Getaway 2014
life lately
{staging this || our Harry Potter and the Golden Snitch Halloween photo}
{visiting this || a Frank Lloyd Wright house uprooted from NJ and brought to Crystal Bridges}
{cheering on this || high school football with mom}
{drinking this || cider tastings at Black Apple Crossing with husband}
{obsessing over this || macarons + cappuccino from the newly opened Onyx in downtown Bentonville}
xo xo
Oh, Baby
Let’s go ahead and get this out there – I’m not pregnant. But that’s exactly what this post is about.
Here are the facts: I’m 26, Husband is 28. We’ve been married for 4 1/2 years. We always had a 5 year plan – Go on a big, two-week European vacation (done), then start trying to have kids.
If you had asked me two months ago if that was still the case, I would have said yes. I had baby fever like you wouldn’t believe. One of our dear friends had her adorable baby boy several months ago, and of course that made my fever skyrocket. Everyone around me was getting pregnant, and I thought I was so ready. There was just one little problem, Husband was not ready. (That might be a problem, right?)
I fought it. I knew I was right, that we were ready, there was no time like the present, we weren’t getting younger, etc. etc. I was devastated that I so desperately wanted a baby at this moment and Husband wasn’t quite there yet.
Then I got some wise words of advice – Pray for God to align your hearts.
So I did. And you know how they say, “Be careful what you wish for”?
A month ago, we went on a trip of a lifetime. We enjoyed every minute of the trip and every minute with each other. Then we came home and I realized something, I wasn’t ready to have a baby. I was enjoying this precious time with Husband so much, and there were still so many adventures for us to go on.
God sure did align our hearts, but He aligned mine to Husband’s, instead of the other way around which I was POSITIVE would be the case. God’s pretty funny, yeah? I know this was His plan all along.
It’s easy to get frustrated when people around you want you to have a baby, and talk about it or ask about it a lot. But then I realized something, we are SO lucky to have those people in our lives because they love us and are just excited for us. We are SO lucky to have two incredible families within 20 miles of us who will be there for us every step of the way once we do get pregnant and do have a baby.
So no, we will not be having a baby soon, but you can keep asking. Because I will not get frustrated, but instead, with a genuine smile will say, “Not right now. I’m enjoying time with my Husband.”
xo xo
Life Lately [post-Europe]
[snuggling with this || as much as possible – we missed our baby!]
[doing this || basic white girl fall activities – pumpkin picking, corn mazing, pumpkin carving + haunted houses]
[loving this || date night + celebratory dinner at Mister B’s steakhouse]
[enjoying this || amazing game day tailgating + calling those hogs all the way into 4OT. WPS!]
[eating and drinking this || oktoberfest with friends, complete with sausage + sauerkraut, german beer tasting, games and of course, german chocolate cupcakes]
xo xo
Life Starts All Over Again When it Gets Crisp in the Fall
Fall feels like change.
Fall 2014: My mom tells me she’s getting re-married.
Fall 2013: I spend some wonderful last weekends with my dad (Halloween, Thanksgiving). Unbeknownst to me the change that is to happen soon.
Fall 2012: I get a new job, and a change in my career I will forever be grateful for.
And this fall, I came back from a wonderful vacation with more change at work than I could have ever imagined. It was all good news for me, but still a lot of change.
I’ve written before about the only constant in life being change, focusing specifically on my Fall 2014 change. But for some reason I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
As much as I love fall, it also makes me melancholy and nostalgic, probably due to Fall 2013 change. And also because fall brings in the season of holidays, a wonderful time of year, but also a time of year where we really miss the ones who are no longer with us.
I miss my dad. I really, really miss him. I really missed him this weekend when husband and I ate at Waffle House and I remembered the first time I ever ate at a WH was in high school because my dad was appalled I’d never been and insisted we go. I really missed him when we got back from vacation and I couldn’t tell him all about Oktoberfest. I really miss him every.single.time I see a Jeep Grand Waggoner “Woody” because he thought his was so cool and I thought it was so embarrassing.
Change is hard. But the thing is, you can’t stop it from happening and you just have to deal with it. You are where you are for a reason. Whether it’s opening up to a new family, dealing with grief or learning a new job, you have to accept the change and be determined to make the best of the situation you’re in.
Or you can just follow my new life mantra –
That works pretty well too.
Either way, YOU determine how you feel and YOU determine how change will affect you. No one else can do that. So I say, embrace whatever change fall has brought you.
Or, just drink a lot of wine.
xo xo
m.davis xoxo 