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!)

Updates on Life {via Instagram}

It's been a full couple of weeks, my friends.  Full and awesome.  We ended our Daniel Fast today, and it's sort of bittersweet.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I am so happy to have the "restrictions" lifted from my diet (mainly sugar, caffeine, dairy and eggs).  But, it was also such a rich time in my life.  Much of it, I'll keep personal between me and God, but what I can say is this: If you are waiting to hear from God, or you feel like you are in a lonely place, disconnected from Him, taking the time and persistence to fast from certain things that you normally "rely" on can have an incredible, eternal impact.  Through refining things in our life, and placing more reliance on God, we open ourselves up to a clearer God-ordained communication channel.  Maybe more on this later :-)

We spent a few days in Columbus last weekend.  On Friday night, we attended a firefighter event where Brian's dad was honored to receive the title and accomplishment of becoming "Badge 1" until he retires (as he is the most senior firefighter in his unit).  He was completely in his element, socializing with everyone, showing off his family, and humbly accepting a great honor.  {Love that family!!!}.  After the event, we spent time with Katy and BJ and explored Columbus a bit (they had fun with Patagonia, to say the least!).  Wish I had gotten a pic with Katy (next time, girl).

A quick interlude to share shameless pictures of our pup, Charlie.  Readers of this blog alert, you will probably have to suffer through pictures of our pretty pup at least until we have children.  Sorry, but he is our child for now :-) 

Brian and I have both been traveling quite a bit lately, him to the east coast, and myself to Pittsburgh.  While we were both traveling this past week, we did a trial run of me taking Charlie to Pitt.  It was interesting, to say the least.  I can't imagine city living with a pup!  It was hard to find a patch of grass, and it's funny to see people's reactions when there is a goldendoodle eagerly awaiting scratches in an elevator.  Hmm, what else? I bought a pair of glasses (hopefully being delivered soon!) and I am nervous about them.  I love them, but they are definitely bigger than most.  I like them a lot though, so be nice :-).  We've done a small amount of organizing at our home.  I'm so fortunate to have married a man that doesn't mind organizing (because I hate it!!).  Lastly, if you haven't been to Lucky's in Tremont, you are missing out!  We enjoyed a great meal with incredible friends today.  So blessed to have this community in Cleveland. Thank you God!

Holiday Recap: Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE

Ahh, it's good to be back, friends.  I've missed this little internet blogland.  Our days have been filled to the brim lately, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I've had the past two weeks off of work, so I've been home and enjoying every minute of it.

I haven't shared many personal pictures lately, because, well mainly, I just haven't taken the time to upload them.  But here we are, January 2nd, and finally getting around to it!

This year for Thanksgiving, we celebrated at Brian's aunt's house.  His cousin, Rit, and her boyfriend, made an incredible meal.  I'm talking - a humongous turkey, ham, 20 sides (slight exaggeration, but not really). We had a really great time soaking up family time and just enjoying everyone's company.  This was also the last time we had the opportunity to spend quality time with Brian's grandma, who passed away Christmas day.

A few days before Christmas, Brian's family came up to our house to spend a few days and celebrate Christmas.  For the Christmas weekend, we ended up going down to Columbus to spend a few precious hours with his grandma and family. She passed Christmas day in peace and surrounded by family.  I may share more on this later - it was such a bittersweet time.  She loved Jesus, and is now in heaven, so that is the sweet part. Loss is such a hard situation, but the celebration of her life was in fact, quite beautiful. 

Ahh, we are now to NYE.. Brian and I made a fun sequin wall photobooth so that we could get pictures with friends.  I'll let the fun photos speak for themselves :-)

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..)

Napa Valley

What a delight Napa Valley was. The amass of rolling hills covered in vineyards, the good nature of the people there, the incredible food and wine.  You don't often here of the great food in Napa, but they really had the best food. We stayed at the Westin Verasa Resort in the heart of Napa.  As soon as we arrived we walked through the town and enjoyed a nice wine tasting.  While there, we met some locals who told us of a few good restaurants in the area, one of which was Bottega, Michael Chiarello's establishment in Yountville.  We were lucky enough to snag last minute reservations due to someone cancelling and oh goodness am I grateful. It was out of this world - I recommend it in a heartbeat.

The next day we ventured to Swanson Vineyards for a lovely wine tasting. Most of the pictures below are from this place.  For someone who appreciates those small details, Swanson does not disappoint. 

 

San Francisco

Oh dear Lordy, if I do not get up at least one vacation post before the end of Brian's birthday, I think he may have a mini-stroke.  We've been back for almost a week now, and though I don't want to admit it, it's taken me almost this whole week to catch up from being away.  It doesn't matter though, every minute of that vacation was incredible and words cannot describe how necessary it was for us.  Anyways, enough talk.  Shall I show you some pictures?  First stop, San Francisco. 

We had a short stint in San Francisco.  Walked our way from south of the Financial District up to the Wharf, through Chinatown and other neighborhoods.  My legs were sore, so on the way back we learned how to take their public transportation (aka buses).  Every city is just a little bit different..

  

More to come my friends, don't you worry!