Joyful, Patient, Faithful

It's almost Valentine's day. A day I used to laugh at because I thought it was either silly or a ploy by the card companies.  But, honestly, nowadays I like it.  This world could use a little more love lately. 

Yesterday I had a rough day.  Nothing went so wrong that I even have a right to complain, but through a compilation of events, I was just downright grumpy.  So grumpy I was even admitting it to people, and had to apologize to someone once.  Now, the person gave me a free pass since I'm "pregnant and hormonal", but honestly I didn't deserve it.  Why was I grumpy? Why was I letting these harsh thoughts come through my mind?  Well, sure part of it might be hormones, but the other part of it is that sometimes its hard to be joyful and patient amidst affliction.  But, the honest truth is: I have so much to be thankful for.  I literally have no reason to complain.  Each day is a new day - in fact, each moment is a new moment where we can start fresh and be joyful, patient and faithful.  So today? Today I am thankful.  So very thankful for the blessings in my life and the opportunity to live another day. 

Baby V. is a ....

We found out the gender of this sweet little one inside my belly the Friday before Christmas.  It was such a sweet gift and the suspense and surprise was just perfect.  We had an appointment Friday afternoon and decided not to find out in the room with the ultrasound tech. We had her write it down on an envelope and give it to us to open when we were alone. After the ultrasound, I took the tightly sealed envelope in my purse, went and got my hair done, then met Brian at home.  All the while, he was texting me like mad because he had gone back to work and simply couldn't wait to find out!  He asked if I had opened it already..oddly, I was more OK with waiting than he was.  Our plan was to go to dinner and open it together then.  Well, I made it home and upstairs to change and that was basically it.  We both really wanted to know.  right now.

We opened the envelope and discovered that Baby V. is a...

GIRL!

Oh, we're so over the moon excited.  We honestly were indifferent whether we had boy or girl, but now that we know the gender it all just feels so much more real and wonderful.

Happy Valentine's Day!

  

 

via pinterest and peppermint bliss 

Happy Valentine's Day friends :- ) I hope you all have a wonderful day shared with loved ones.  We could all use a little bit more love in this world nowadays, so even if it is just a holiday for the card companies, I say who cares? I want to love deeply now and in the years to come, so if I can have another day to express it, why not?

So here's to the love of my life, Brian. I love you more than words can express.  I still get butterflies, babe, and I cannot imagine a day without you in it.  You are amazing, awesome, nurturing yet strong, kind and loving.  Hope you start feeling better today; so bummed you're sick while I'm out of town :( Stay strong and wait just a few more days! (until I'm home for good!)

Gift Guide: Valentine's Day

Ah, the love it, or hate it holiday of the year is quickly arriving!  Honestly, I used to be on the 'hate it' side of the house, but now that I've got the hubs for life, I'm definitely on the 'love it' side. Honestly, I love any excuse to buy Brian gifts and share with him how much he means to me.  

If you can't think of any ideas of gifts you'd like, or your significant other needs a gentle prompting, I've rounded up just a few ideas of things that I would love and think some of you may too!

clockwise from top left 1, 2, 3, 4 

J&M

Where have I been?! Whew, it's been crazy lately.  Also, I've been working on this one post, and I think it's keeping me from posting other things..I have to learn to let one thing hangout for a while and do other things.

Anyways, we had a wedding last weekend.  It was beautiful, truly awesome.  The couple is one of our close friends and it has been absolutely incredible to watch them grow in their faith, and as individuals and a couple.  It's seriously awesome and such a testament to His goodness.  A ton of their friends and family came together to help the wedding go off without a hitch (no pun intended, but now that I recognize it - intended), which I love.  Serving your friends and family is such a blessing - to the server and the served.  Anyways, how about some pictures for this lovely (dreary in Ohio) Thursday?!

Now for some outtakes that some of you may not have seen yet...

Spidey.

 Hope this girl's mom never sees this because I really don't want to take it down - I have like 3 shots of this, the pick, the pull down and the unwedge.  It's awesome. 

Fat little buddy (he's not really fat.. long story..)

A Wedding Shower!

One of our friends, Michelle, (well two actually, her and Jordan) are getting married in a few weeks and some ladies from church had the opportunity to throw her a bridal shower and bless her.  It was so fun planning with them, and it came out really lovely.  God has some really awesome things coming their way and we're so excited for them! 

  

Prepping for the decorations:

Made these little straw flags (and coordinating menu cards).  If anyone is interested in a template, let me know and I'll share:

                 

The Bride!



There's a Birthday to Celebrate Today!!

Happy 26th Birthday Brian!! What a ride of a year this has been, huh?  We've learned even more about each other, we've grown closer in ways I didn't think we could, and we've been separated in ways I didn't think we should (my work travel).  Oh darling, you have held this year together for us.  I've just been trying to juggle, but it's all an act. I could not have done this without you.  You could not have done this without God.  Thank you for being my rock.  Thank you for leading our family so humbly, so tenderly, so lovingly.  Goodness, am I grateful for you.

Now here's 26 reasons why:

1) You are SO fun and make me laugh, literally every day.

2) Kindness and strength are two of your greatest assets.  How do you balance them both so delicately?

3) You love better than anyone else I know.  You are loyal, so loyal. 

4) You take care of EVERYTHING when I am away from home (the bills, the house maintenance, Charlie, the yard, food, etc). 

5) You plan for our future with diligence and direction from our creator.

6) You are sexy and stylish. 

7) You love giving good gifts, from the heart.  You don't mind receiving them every once in a while, either ;).  How many times can you shake a box and reassess its contents? Like 10. 

8) The way you love Charlie is remarkable.  He is like your son, and its stinkin' adorable. 

9) Family is so important to you.  You Veecks are tight knit, and I love it.

10) The internet goes out so you make our friends music videos to keep entertained.

11) You make amazing scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla shell.  Yeah baby. 

12) You're humble and apologize during arguments, even if it may not be your fault.  You take charge to resolve conflict because you are the leader of our household. 

13) You have blue eyes and dimples.  Must I say more? 

14) You lead incredibly well; consistently and fruitfully. 

15) God is your first point of contact, and all decisions stem from Him. (phew - He is so much smarter than us and you know it!)

16) We have the same desires for the future. 

17) When I'm lonely on the road, you send me random videos of Charlie running around the house.  Just because.

18) You love your job and your dedication to it is admirable. 

19) You invented tent jumping (see below).  Need  I say more? 

20) The tent comment reminded me what a burly outdoorsmen you are.  No way I could have hiked Tallac without you. 

21) When you get a good idea, you don't stop until you see that idea come to fruition.

22) You love Lake Tahoe the way I do, for similar reasons.

23) Garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores are your best friend. It's so entertaining to see what you come back with and watch you make it beautiful again. 

24) Charrrrliee, come to candy mountain Charlie.  God, please don't let us name any future children Charlie..

25) You are a good friend.  Dedicated and loyal.

26) You think I am beautiful, and tell me often, especially at the times I need it most.

Good & Great

Last week, Charlie had a playdate with Maggie, our friends new adopted pup.  I think they might be dating.  I mean who wouldn't love that sweet face??

 But for real, is this how dogs play? We weren't completely sure...

Remember how I posted about peonies?  Well Brian was super awesome and called up Whole Foods to put 2 bunches on hold for us.  We stopped by yesterday to pick them up. 

Then we had a couple splurges... We thought we'd get some cake to celebrate our anniversary.  Cannoli cake anyone? No, seriously, we have a ton left over.

We also stopped by lululemon to return a pair of pants that had ripped a tiny hole in them.  The customer service was incredible.  I had the pants for way over the 90 day return period and they just let me look around the store to pick out another pair to replace them. 

I couldn't help but pick up a yoga mat while I was there.  I'm thinking about taking a class while I'm in Pittsburgh. 

While we're on the topic of great customer service, we stopped by Orvis to return Charlie's dog bed that he had shredded to pieces. Literally.  Similar to the lulu pants, the item was also way over the 90 day return period, but since it was advertised as chew-proof, they let us replace it!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!!!

Wedding Week: 2 years

My friends, I am so sorry for abandoning wedding week.  I have so many special details that I had wanted to share with you all, but only have time to share some of them. I am also struggling with drawing a line so that I am not sharing to many of the "things" that could overshadow the most important part of all of this which is the sacred union between Brian and I. 

Today marks two years of marriage for us.  So crazy how quickly it flew by. We were two young lovebirds when we got married.  We're still young, but with each year we get (hopefully) a little bit wiser and kinder.  Our first year was marked with a lot of unknowns and surprises, good and bad.  It was a tough year for me.  I'm quite independent and like things my own way.  But once married, things can't always be my own way, and marriage when aligned biblically does not mirror my independent attitude.  Our second year was much better. We learned more about each other, we respected more, we loved more (the action not the feeling) and most importantly I sincerely believe we glorified God more through all of it. What's crazy is that we (God-willing) will have the opportunity to continue on this path for many years to come.  My prayer is that we would continually seek Him first, each other second, and the rest to follow.  I am thrilled for what is to come as God peels away layer by layer his plan for us. 

Now a few reasons Brian swept me away and continues to do so: he has the kindest heart of anyone I've ever met, he's bold and courageous, gentle and caring, he's the sexiest stud I've ever laid eyes on, he puts Jesus first and me second, he's extremely goofy (I mean really goofy, like you wouldn't believe), he loves to work on projects with me, he provides for our family, he is a rock, he has pretty blue eyes, he likes random things like ultimate frisbee and the real-deal camping, he makes the best breakfast - ever. I could go on and on.

So in tribute to my babe and in wrap-up to our wedding week, I thought I would share some pictures from our wedding two lovely years ago:

Thanks for sticking around during all the wedding "festivities"! :-)

P.S.  If you are at all interested in hearing more about our wedding, let me know because I'd be more than happy to share.  I just don't want to inundate you with wedding-related things if you're not all that interested.  Ok, all for now - have a great night lovelies :-)

P.P.S.  I really need to work on sizing all the pictures to be uniform.. I'm working on it....

Wedding Week: Rehearsal Dinner

Our rehearsal night was really fun.  To be honest, I felt like I didn't have to worry about a thing and someone magically had it all under control.  There were probably a whole lot of people that were handling lots of little things to make that work out just right.  If you are one of them, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. 

We had our rehearsal at the Renaissance Hotel; Ahh, I was so excited/anxious/nervous/anticipatory this night.. I can remember thinking to myself that I was going to be visibly shaky the next day since I had so much anticipation built up.  What came of all those emotions though was a very giggly, laughter-filled rehearsal that led our pastor to proclaim that it was going to be a very fun weekend.

Can you tell I was excited?

For dinner we went to Trattoria in Cleveland's Little Italy district. A few people stood up and blessed us with well wishes, and we were able to share gifts with the wedding party. 

Let me start with a few photos Rit (our cousin and photographer) took earlier in the day.  I'm so grateful she was there and blessed us by capturing some of these moments. 

This is Chris, Brian's brother. He's single, ladies!

I wish I would have gotten better pictures of the gifts we bought/made for the wedding party.  Brian bought his men a classic razor, and I bought the ladies a little assortment of things (Red jcrew bangle bracelets, Evian water mist spray, Cliffs bars, Lip Gloss [can't remember which kind, maybe mac?], and a few other things) that were all packaged cutely into these little suitcases (to the right in the picture below).



One of my favorite set of photos from our wedding are in the series below.  Before anyone left, our photographer made everyone stand in front of this brick wall and basically just express themselves however they saw fit.  She called it their "mug shot".  You'll see that some people took 'mug' seriously - mainly those that never make a mug face, but that's what makes it all the more entertaining. 

[Now, I do apologize because for some reason I am not finding these photos electronically, but I have them in our wedding book and snapped them with my iPhone.. sorry!]



FUN - Right?!  Wishing you all a very happy Thursday :-)