Date night & puppies!



Hubby and I celebrated one month of wedded bliss last night by going out on a date night in downtown Frederick.  And here's to another 999 more blissful months of marriage!

 



Brother in law introducing the new puppy to the horses





Lovely weekend

So, the man has been working lately, and I mean working a LOT.  It's been an adjustment for sure, but he likes what he's doing, and it gives me free reign to rule my social life and not feel guilty about "leaving the husband at home."
Friday night - we took the dive and JOINED THE GYM!!  Very exciting since I've already gained a couple little pounds since the wedding, and I refuse to be THAT married woman that let's herself go.  That, and I need to get my legs in gear if I am going to attempt the 10 miler in April!  After that, I headed up to one of the local high schools for a production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.  I got to have a date with the mother in law, meet some people I've heard a lot about, and remember what it's like to be in a high school without the focus of hanging out with YL kids.  The school did an amazing job, and the sound was perfection.

Saturday hubby and I lazed around the apt and went out to breakfast.  It was probably the first time all week I had seen him for a collective 4+ waking hours, so that was pretty lovely :-)

Saturday during the day Graciebelle and I joined my friends Walter &Yelena and Gracie's friends Blake and Luke for some romping around the dog park.  My stupid silly dog just walked off sniffing grass by herself while all the other dogs ran around smelling each other's butts, jumping, and chasing balls.  Ahhh... she's a special one, but I love that fat old lab!

After the dogpark I headed down to Rockville for a very unique party!  One of the beautiful ladies in my bible study hosted a "my favorite things" party.  Don't know what it is?  I didn't either.  But what I found out is that you show up with 5 of your favorite item in a bag and everyone puts their name in a hat 5 times.  Then, as names are picked, each girl ends up with 5 different favorite items from other people at the party!  It was fun, unique, and a great time, but from this friend - I didn't expect anything less!  The five items I got were body wash, a notepad and post-it holder with Sharpies, a huge amount of tea, (I've already started on it, it won't last too long), some ... ahem... unmentionables from VS, and some really cool colored pencils (hubby will have to hold me back to keep from finishing thank you cards with those!)

Sunday we re-decorated our tree (it has survived the fall, and now we actually have ornaments on it too!). 

I made a delicious dinner of pinterest finds... what else?  I have always been afraid to buy kale because I never cooked with it before, but let me tell you - roasted Kale?  BETTER THAN POTATO CHIPS!! 

And then to top it all off, I let my inner craftiness out yesterday and made yet another Pinterest find.  I cut up our wedding invitation for a christmas ornament, and also butchered my bridal bouquet.  Previously it had been sitting in a vase just rotting away in our apt, but now I have a beautiful ornament with dried peices of my bridal bouquet.  Admittedly, not nearly as beautiful as the bouquet was on our wedding day (Blossom & Basket) did a fantastic job - and I can't wait to show off pictures on here.

All in all - it was a wonderful weekend, with lots of chances to be social, active, and creative.  What more can you ask for?

Oh yea... for the Eagles to beat the Cowboys.  Unfortunately, I think my hometeam would prefer the #1 draft pick instead...

Happy Holidays!

Presenting the Mr. & Mrs!

I have been absent at best from this blog, but with everything going on in our lives, I want to get back into it.  And yes, you read correctly - our lives.  On November 3, 2012, I became a We.  I am losing the Pott part of my name that made me JPott, but so thrilled to take on this new identity as the wife to my best friend.

Kev is a wonderful man, full of humor, a generous spirit, desire to serve others, and a boatload of goodness and integrity.  I can't express fully in words how lucky of a woman I am that he has chosen to spend the rest of his life with me, and how excited I am for the rest of our lives to begin!

Where we are - after a beautiful wedding with 170 of our closest friends and family, we jetsetted ourselves off to the west coast where we honeymooned in San Francisco and Napa valley.  I will make a dedicated blog update about our wedding and honeymoon at a later time. 

If we fast forward to today, we are biding our time in a small simple apartment in the MD Suburbs, with the hope of beginning the process of buying a home within the next year.  We have a wonderful yellow lab (who was previously just mine), and the three of us are one small but very happy family. 

I have started a new job, which I thoroughly enjoy, and the commute has shortened from up to three hours a day (roundtrip) to about 30-40 minutes (traffic pending - about 15-20 minutes each way!!).  The location is obviously better for me, and the atmosphere is one of value and teamwork, which makes me much happier than my last role.

We are getting ready for Christmas, and I have survived Black Friday shopping with my sister-in-law, and brother-in-law's girlfriend.  We only had one potentially minor issue, in which SIL was about to chase down some crazy driver in the Best Buy parking lot.  I am slightly kidding about this, but overall we got some deals, most of the Christmas shopping done, had a great morning together, and got one more thing checked off my to-do list.
We successfully found, cut down, and put up our tree.  We did some decorating of the tree before realizing we didn't have many clips for the ornaments, and also, that we have a pretty bare tree this year!!  I guess over the course of marriage we will try to beef up our Christmas ornament collection... But it's probably best we didn't have the tree completely decorated, because at some point early on Monday morning (roundabout 4am), Kevin awoke to a loud crash but didn't feel like it was anything to investigate, and when we were up for the morning realized our tree had timber-ed itself in the middle of the night!!  We are currently hoping that our first christmas tree together has survived the fall, otherwise it may be a brown Christmas in our home this year :-/  More to come on that...

Also, with the ongoing Eagles v. Redskins battle going on in our home, my eagles are breaking my heart this year, and are majorly sucking.  Regardless... Kev and I get to spend our Christmas weekend at the Eagles game in Philly and I am stoked beyond words since this is the first time I will be at the Linc for a game.  (A wonderful and thoughtful gift from my oh, so dreamy husband...)  However, I have learned the disaster in inviting a bunch of redskin fan friends and family over when I am the sole supporting fan of a crappy eagles team.  Of course, the Philly Dream in me believes that next year will be a much different story, and just like every year, it will be superbowl or bust.  I just hope our team is done busting...

So hopefully many of you are welcoming me back into the blogging world with grace and patience of not updating nearly at all over the last few months, but I plan to be giving more updates and PLENTLY more photos.

Happy Holidays!

Busy busy busy bee!

So... fault - I haven't been blogging.  But to my credit, I have been planning a big wedding for about 200 people in the period of 5 months, right?
I'm gonna say it's a good excuse at least...

So, planning is going so well.  Everyone keeps asking me how stressed are you?  My answer is the same every time.  I'm not.  I have had a couple moments of "eek!  we are halfway through 5 months already!!" But for the most part, I have really enjoyed this process.  It's been nice to share the joy with my family and friends.  It's been great to see apartments and register for items that are going to build OUR FIRST HOME.  It's been great to have our families meet, and plan a wedding that is completely about our personalities and (hopefully) just a blast for everyone who comes.

So far, we have gotten our reception venue, ceremony venue, our ceremony options, food, drink, save the dates (done and out), invitations are gonna be going out by Labor Day, we have flowers, limo transportation, dress for me, dresses for my girls, tuxes picked out for our guys, first family shower/party (which was such a complete success!), we have our honeymoon booked (don't ask where we are going, we aren't going to tell until we get home!), we have a DJ, a photographer (and engagement photos done), mother of the bride/grooms dresses already chosen, favors picked out.  The things I am struggling to decide on are a guest book and wedding favors.  Also the cake/dessert options. But for the most part everything has worked out really well, and yes, we are going to be eating ramen noodles for the first year of our marriage, but we couldn't be more thrilled about getting married in November!

Cue this weekend.  This wonderful weekend.  The weekend before it was kinda hit and miss.  We had a great family shower up in PA for us on Sunday, and another engagement party on Monday for a close friend of mine.  But I did unfortunately end up putting about 20 hours of work in over the weekend too, so it was kinda a wash for me as well as for my super wonderful, graceful, and patient fiance. 


Caitlin and Carousel Rogues rockin out!



Needless to say, this weekend was a welcome break.  I took off Friday, slept in until almost 7am (I know, that is depressing).  I drove against traffic for the first time in a long time, to head up to Kev's to get his car and get it aligned.  (True confession: I did work for just a little bit while waiting for his car to get done.)  Then I headed up to his parent's house for dress shopping with his mom.  It turned out to be a wonderful day.  We got a dress at David's Bridal, had a delicious lunch at Silver diner, and then headed back to the house for some more chatting before I went back to Kev's place with his car.  Then, I headed my butt into DC for some sweet jams and good friends since a friend's band was playing a concert.  The concert was intimate and awesome, and it was such a good relaxing time. 

New recipe: baking turkey bacon on cooling racks and cookie sheets!

Saturday I tried my hand at making crepes for the first time in my life, and then had 6 of the coolest teenage girls I know come over for brunch.  Complete with juice, coffee, fruit, powdered sugar, pumpkin butter, and nutella, we had an amazing brunch of just talking, catching up, and discussing some of life's more important things... Ahhhhh I love those girls.

And then Kev came down and we embossed thank you cards.  We resolved that embossing and creating our own thank you cards needs to be regulated to the showers, and that we are NOT going to take on the challenge of making our own after the wedding, but it was still fun to create something together.  We welcomed new roommate 1 of 3 (we have two more moving in the next month), on Saturday night and finished off a great day with a run and then some Chinese food.  Mhmm... life is good.  Sunday was some more just relaxing, and getting stuff done.  But after being so go-go-go for the last month or so, it was nice to just relax and enjoy the good relationships and laid back time with the people that mean the most.

Mhmm... Life is so good, and I do believe, it's getting better... <3>

I sparkle...

Sometimes I get in this fantastic rhythm in which I keep up with my blog.  I offer witty stories, cute photos, and at least bearable updates on my attempt at an adventurous life.  And inevitably I always lose my rhythm and fall into a funk of not posting for weeks or months at a time.  And sometimes you are just so fortunate to have a life event amazing and wonderful enough to catapult you back into blogging and sharing your life again.

A few weeks ago, my life changed in a wonderful and spectacular way.

The day was planned.  I was going to go to Downtown Baltimore for the Sailabration.  The Sailabration was the bicentennial of the War of 1812, and of course the creation of our beautiful Star Spangled Banner.  (For those of you that don't know this about me, I actually really dig history, and although I am not the most patriotic person in the world, I am pretty freaking proud of this country and my right to be an American.  I digress...).  So you can imagine that a day to celebrate this point in America's history while featuring Naval Ships from all over the world at Inner Harbor, a Blue Angels airshow, a sunny warm summer day, and fireworks sounds like a perfect win for me.  So Kevin and I planned to go to Baltimore and meet up with some friends for the Air Show.

A couple weeks before the Sailabration, Kevin asked if we could go to Annapolis in the morning before we went to Baltimore.  It made complete sense, I LOVE being in Annapolis and right along the water there.  It's out in generally the same direction as Baltimore from DC, and we had gone there a couple times before, and even have a favorite brunch place there.  As far as I was concerned, it was a good excuse to go hang out in the water, have brunch, and enjoy a quiet morning before the hustle and bustle of downtown Baltimore. 

Kevin came to pick me up around 7ish that morning, and we headed out for the day.  We had coolers packed, sunglasses on, and even a CD that he made specially for me (cue: AWWWWWWWW).  We got down there and headed on over to this park that we had gone to before.  There is this beautiful little bench right along the water and it is out of the way enough that no one really comes to bother you.  You can just sit nearby and take it all in.  So here we are bright and early along the water in Annapolis.  (Melt my heart now.)  Kevin had brought his big clunky camera bag, which I always make fun of him for bringing, because we never seem to take pictures when he brings his camera.  (Let me assure you - that day was the same.)  What I didn't realize though was the the camera bag was a decoy for him to fit a perfect little ring box inside without me ever suspecting. 

We sat on the bench.  We joked and laughed and talked about the times we had been there before.  Like the time we went to watch the sunrise on his birthday (in January) and almost froze to death before we realized that we actually didn't have a good view of the sunrise there.  So we drove a couple blocks up and watched the sunrise (while still shivering) from a different spot.  Or like the time last summer when we went there, and sat at the same park and for about 2 hours sitting there, I had a mental war with myself to tell this guy that I loved him.  (Which I chickened out and didn't even do that day - but it made for a better story anyway.)  We pulled out a log book attached to the bench, started flipping through stories people left when they found this park.  Some about heartbreak, or family vacation, or quiet times of contemplation, or seeing Venus orbit.  After reading through stories, we went to write our own, but Kevin said he had something he wanted to do first.  I gave him the most confused look, and then the next thing I know he is down on one knee... and he has something in his hand... it looks like... it is... OMG he's asking me to marry him! (That was kinda my train of thought.)  Of course I said yes and cried and kissed him.

His brother happened to be there snapping photos and showed up a couple minutes later.  I sat there with my fiance grinning like an idiot, taking in the rest of the morning of being there with him by the water.  Then we went to breakfast, then headed into Baltimore for friends and festivities.  It was the most wonderful day, and included so many of my favorite things - he did so well, and it has so far been the best day of my life.  I am very excited, and needed to share with anyone who may stumble upon this blog how awesome and fantastic my fiance is, and how happy I am to be the girl that gets to end up with him. 

My pirate!  Surrender the booty!  (We are engaged, so I can say that now, right?)

One of my most favorite pictures ever :-)

The blingin ring!

After getting some sun

Friends that we shared the wonderful afternoon with!

"And will the Younglife and Youthgroup leaders please stand" said no graduation speaker - ever

After 4 years I am hanging my hat.  By the time this next school year rolls around kids will be going back to school, fall sports will start up, Friday nights my high school friends will be watching football games, leaders will be starting to get kids excited for fall weekend, and hundreds of grown ups will find themselves using twitter and facebook again to get their YL kid's attention.

But not me.

My time is done.  No more campaigner Sunday afternoons, crazy club games and skits, club talks that seem to stress me out until I give in, give it all to God and suddenly I have something worthwhile to share with the kids.  No more laughing about how silly our club games were on Thursday, or taking goofy pictures of kids with pots on their heads and lolipops in their mouths.  I will miss the days of cuddling together with my younglife friends during cabin times, and club talks, and praying with them through the hard times, and the rare but most beautiful moment of all - when they want to talk to you about changing their life to have a REAL relationship with God.  All of the mentioned moments have been some of my absolute favorite over the last 4 years.

I have loved my time as a Younglife leader.  It has taught me humility, selflessness, the servanthood and grace of Christ, and how to push on through the tiredness to have that late night conversation with a kid, let them cry on your shoulder, and spend tons of time/energy/money/all the above to try to be where kids are and pursue them.  It has taught me the pleasure of being a kid, living life, finding joy, and the satisfaction when you know you are accepted just for who you are.  Because of Younglife I know what dubstep is, can sing more Justin Bieber songs than I would like to admit, have have at least 2,307 car rides screaming Taylor Swift songs at the top of my lungs, I bravely bought a pair of skinny jeans, I have learned how to create no less than 7 interesting prom hairstyles, and know that high school boys are just as cute/adorable/frustrating/obnoxious as they were when I was in high school.

I went to graduation for the high school the other day.  They asked the pivitol people in the kid's lives to stand.  They started with parents, and then grandparents and siblings, and then teachers.  They never asked for youth leaders to stand up.  And I love that - I think every youth group leader does.  The one thing I have learned over the last four years, is that it isn't about what we've done for our high school friends.  God placed me as a leader to learn that - I think - because I can so easily make life about me.  The last four years I have gotten to see God more clearly, and been able to try my hardest to grow more like the others-focused, loving servant that Christ perfectly modeled.  There may be times where we question our impact on a kid's life, but we are so quickly reminded that it isn't about US and what WE are doing with the kids - it is what HE is doing for THEM, and how fortunate we are to be used in that way.

And at graduation, as each of those kids are sitting there, they are waiting for the moment that they walk across the stage.  They are revisiting what their time in high school meant, what they stood for, what they are leaving behind.  And it's all about them.  Welcome to being a YL leader.  It is all about them.  We love them for who they are (and as frustrating as it is, we love them for their mistakes too).  It is so great to know that because I have been given the gift to spend time with them, some of those kids have had encounters with Christ through high school.  And some got it, and some didn't.  But they are all off to new things now.  And I don't get to go with them.  If I am lucky, I get to stay in touch with them and share a wonderful friendship with them.  But where they are going - I don't get to.  God does.  And for any time I ever (selfishly) felt under appreciated, stretched too thin, or taken advantage of, I know that I did it in the name of Christ, and to draw them closer to a God who loves them and wants life with them.  And hopefully for most of those kids I've met, they will let him go where they are going.

Leaving Younglife is a sad sort of contentment.  I will miss this graduating class, just as I've missed the ones before it.  I will miss leading YL for the girls that are still at RM for the next year(s).  But I know that I have been set aside so Christ could use me and bless me, and now it's time for someone else to have that blessing, and I hope they love every moment as much as I have.

Congratulations RM ROCKETS 2012!!

And I'm off...

Well... another CA-RAAAAAZY week [almost] survived.  I am looking forward to a nice date night tomorrow and then flitting off to Charlottesville, VA for a friend's wedding.
There seems to be a lot of moving and change around, enough so that - even for me - it is a bit overwhelming.
Photos?  Of course.  A new city and a wedding.  How could I not come back with some good photos?
Catchya on the flip side friends!  Happy weekend :-)

Catching up and the simple joys...

Sometimes we can be running, running, running, and it seems to stress us out even more to find times to rest.  I found myself running on E on Friday, and I just started to shut down. 

"And He said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest for a while.'  For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat."  Mark 6:31

Likewise, Psalm 23 gives us a beautiful image of God leading us to a restful place.  The imagry in the passage alone makes you want to get a cool tall glass of lemonade and start chillaxing in a hammock with the sun streaming down on you.  Hmmmm....

Life has been busy, but joyfully busy.

Last week I attended a very nice Younglife Banquet to celebrate and raise funds for Montgomery County Younglife.  There were a few sudden surprises thrown my way, but it turned out to be a great evening, reconnecting with friends across the county who support the ministry, and being part of something I believe in so much.  Younglife has, is, and will continue to change lives, and I am blessed to be a part of it.  Not only that but I got to hang out with some of my kid's parents, and I got a graduation gift for the baby sister, Rock Climbing for me and the boy, and a 1.5 hour date with a massage therepist around the corner from my house.  Mhmmmm....  Lovin it.

Friday was my day.  That was the day I shut down.  Cancelled my plans.  I picked up sushi, and watched the Flyers v. Penguins game with my roommate.  I did not even make it to the third period of the game because I went to bed around 9:30.  It was glorious.

After a much needed 10 hours of sleep, I trudged out of bed for some breakfast with some wonderful women from my chuch (and an adorable little man who joined us!).  Then I spent most of the rest of the day cleaning out and organizing the storage room.  It was tedious, messy, and frustrating at times, but at the same time there is so much peace that comes from cleaning up and clearing out space - I loved it.  I went to softball practice and then to Kev's parent's house for some out of town family, working on a car, and dinner.

Yesterday I started the Daniel fast, and that was pretty much the biggest accomplishment of my day.  It was quite a low-key weekend, and it was so wonderful to have a low-key weekend after all the business and craziness lately!  Now, I just need to make it through this wonderful week with pedicures, weeding, Younglife Club, and then Charlottesville for a friend's wedding this weekend!  Whooop!

Pictures from my recent busy-ness:



Easter creations!  Tim, Kev, and I made Peep sushi, found on Pinterest over Easter weekend.  So cute, fun to make, and deleriously sugary.  Yum!



Carousel Rogues - Friday night on the town with roomie, boyfriend, and YL friends.  What a great time!

Yep... he already has a girlfriend?  Not a big surprise...

Wyeth and Kev on our Saturday Virginia day.  This was at the winery just enjoying fun, sun, wine, and family.  What could be better?

Updates to my bucket list!

So I have my two lists... my bucket list and my 30 things to do before I turn 30.  Made some updates since turning 25, and still have quite a ways to go!

1- Ride an elephant in the Jungle
2- Skydiving May 2011

3- Missions trip in a foreign country

4- Hike to the peak of a mountain Spring 2010

5- Take a sailing trip

6- Go on a cross country road trip

7- Learn to drive stick shift (I CAN drive a stick shift, but I want to feel comfortable at it)

8- Kentucky Derby with a big hat

9- Ice skate at Rockefeller at Christmas

10- Ride on the back of a motorcycle

11- Give everything I have to someone (can be everything I can give, everything I have at that moment… I’ll know when it happens)

12- White Water raft on the CO River

13- Run a ½ marathon OR do a sprint triathlon
14- Worship with a different culture

15- Dance freely in front of at least 10 people Enter the Haggis concert January 2010

16- Take a helicopter ride

17- Go rock climbing

18- See the Northen Lights

19- Visit and explore Rio de Janerio

20- See Victoria Falls

21- Visit all 50 states

22- Ride the biggest roller coaster in the US

23- Make my own wine

24- Read all 100 books (I have a list of 100 books to read)

25- Not be in control 2010 - the whole year

26- Spend a weekend, just me and God

27- Do God’s will, not my own Younglife again this year!! Whoooo

28- Help build a home Kevin and I helped build a home in GA and plan to return :-)

29- Spend Christmas at a shelter

30- Make a difference in someone’s life

31- Write and publish a book

32- Watch the 50 Greatest American Movies of all time

33- Be a loving mother and wife

34- Go on a safari

35- Spend mornings with my husband and coffee on the porch

36- Attend a professional tennis tournament

37- Create an art project I can proudly display

38- Live in the now

39- Start a collection of willow angels I bought the Sunshine angel this year!

40- Watch the mummers parade – live

41- Send my parents to a YL camp as adult guests Northbay Camp June 2010

42- Drop everything to help someone

43- Have a life changing conversation with a stranger about faith after giving someone a ride to the metro from the Dr's office.  A wonderful woman from Kenya.

44- Go back to school

45- Stand out of the sunroof of a moving car

46- Grow a garden

47- Sleep under the stars

48- Build or fix something

49- Explore the beaches and ocean of Australia

50- Learn to surf

Here is my more immediate list of things to before my 30th.  And with 26 coming up, I guess I need to knock a few more out of here! (Some are new and some are borrowed from the list above)



1. Build a recipe book - started this!  just need to make it prettier :-)

2. Spend a whole weekend with just me and God

3. Sleep under the stars

4. Take and survive a yoga class

5. Start my willow angel collection (see above)

6. Refurnish/re-upholister a peice of furniture

7. Ice Skate at Rockafeller Center

8. Move out of Rockville, MD

9. Grow a beautiful garden

10. Lose 20 lbs.

11. Learn to surf

12. Break 100 bowling

13. Take a gorgeous photo

14. See the Mummer's parade live

15. Join a book club

16. Take a dance class

17. Go to Indonesia or Thailand

18. Do a missions trip in a foriegn country

19. Carve a great jack-o-lantern

20. Fingerpaint with kids

21. Get married (I don't think I get to choose when that happens...?)

22. Do a photoshoot with balloons

23. Go white water rafting on the CO river

24. Wake up looking at the water

25. Manage my time and relationships better

26. Have a real snow day

27. Have a great date day with just my mom and sister Philadelphia premium outlets and dinner.  LOVE.

28. Get paid to be creative (even if it's a one-time thing)

29. Take a trip on a whim

30. Buy a house

Best friends and weddings!

So 2013.  That is the year.  Yes, I am going to start packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and eating ramen noodles for dinner.  Because I have a lot of traveling and wedding gifts to be saving for.

I say it like that, but really I am so thrilled.  So far I have 5 weddings planned for next year, and while it might be a smart idea to pick and choose the ones I'm closest too, I can't possibly miss any of these weddings.  Between all 5 of them, I am most excited about the three below who have been some of my closest friends and together we have made it through life's craziest times.

Sara and Mike:
Sara and I have known each other literally since we were in diapers.  I get to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, and am so thrilled for her that she met Mike.  They are going to get married next October with a beautiful New England Fall wedding with an incredible backdrop to their wedding.  I have loved this girl like a sister for most of my life.  She has pushed me toward God, toward shooting for the stars, and has taught me that if you don't truly love yourself, you aren't living the best life possible.  We have been friends across town, across the east coast, across MD.  Been close and been far.  We've survived becoming teenagers, discovering boys, playing basketball, and producing creative plays and musical presentations for our parents.  Mike is amazing for her.  He is supportive, encourages her love of teaching and kids, has a great heart, and can ALWAYS make her smile.  He treats her so well and you can see how much he loves her.

Maris and Eric:
The most recent couple to take the dive into engagement-hood.  First of all - STUNNING ETSY ring (he did a very good job)!  They are very cute together, love to do nerdy things, indulge themselves in the hipster-ness, and can always be relied on to have something new and interesting to do.  Maris and I became friends in high school.  She liked the guy I liked, and I had the mentality "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."  I got to know Maris because I wanted to keep her from edging in on my man.  DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT THAT STORY.  Well good news is that the guy has come and gone from both of our lives, and we are left as half of a complete breakfast.  Friends like Maris are a dime a dozen, and I often think what would a hormonal girl do during teenage angst without her good friends to drive around P-ville in the middle of the night taking ridiculous pictures, having dance parties, and hitting the local diner up at 3am?  But Eric is a great man for her, and I love how independent they both are while still being so completely in love and committed to each other.  Eric is funny, and smart, and can get along with her dad really well!  While it will be sad to see these two up and move halfway across the country, I have no doubt that they will be living an incredible life together.  And oh - did I mention they are quirky, funny, and super ADORABLE??

Kyle and Caitlin,

Kyle is a different kind of friend than Sara and Maris.  I think Kyle and I became friends out of convenience, and stayed friends out of awesomeness - but that cemented each other as a big part of each other's lives.  Freshman year of college 2 of Kyle's friends were in my dorm late on a Saturday chatting up some girls on our floor.  Then another one of his friends became interested in my friend.  Through these interwoven relationships, I met Kyle.  Throughout college, a group of friends formed, including Kyle and I.  Then we started having classes and inevitablly being nerds together.  We would hang out at 1400 Linden and light Kyle (and eyebrows) on fire, watch Nip/Tuck, have parties, play pranks, have dance parties, going to Pennies and winning the World Series, and lived the college dream.  I am partial, but our friend group was pretty much the best.  Junior year Kyle and I went to London together for spring break, and had an amazing time. He drove Lisa and I to a house party in an ambulance one time, and we had countless other memories that need not be mentioned on a public blog.  Kyle was like the big brother I never had.  When senior year came around, Kyle had a 3 bedroom apartment in MD outside of DC, and had only one girl roommate.  When I got offered a job, I moved down here into the extra room in their place.  That first year out of college we played kickball together, made some interesting friends, and some really cool ones, discovered DC, had a terrible cat, and almost had our apartment burned down one time.  Now he and Caitlin are back up in NJ, buying a home and starting a life together.  They have an adorable dog, and have come very far in their careers.  They are perfect for each other and I am very excited for their wedding - which is bound to be beautiful because let's face it - Caitlin is planning it!  Sad that they are now up in NJ starting a life because it reminds me that that part/time of my life has passed, but still VERY excited about what is in store!

Just a little post to celebrate my friends.  Trying to be better about post updates so y'all can see what's happening in my life!

I may be giving up on hopes of a real update...

So here are some pictures to show you what's been up in my life, and I will resume my blog-life where I am at right now.  Enjoy!
(sorry they are out of order!)

Biggest bottle of champagne, and Sadie's hair is a BOW!  (a great pinterest find)

Last men standing in our ugly sweaters :-)

Central Park with Danny

New Year's Photobooth

Busting a groove

Photobomb!

Watching a plane land at the air and space museum

So guess where we went for Kev's birthday??

His favorite, the Lockheed Martin Blackbird

Erica and I out in DC for her last happy hour before moving to Jersey

She is thrilled that it's her last time on the DC Metro

No words...

Will miss Aunt Elise (Dec 1920-Jan 2012)

Me, auntie, and the kids a few years ago

He calls himself the king of 2012 because of the crown

Life is not always perfect, but often it is good

Like weekends full of:
Sleepy early Friday nights with the boyfriend falling asleep on his shoulder.
Early Saturday mornings cheering on my Younglife girls at a swim meet and hanging with their super wonderful parents.
Saturday afternoons sitting with high school friends and cheering on the high school Poms team in their county competition.
Randomly stopping by another high school friend's house and talking about life, her baby, and hanging out with her family and sharing love with them the way Christ does with us.
Dinner with old friends - celebrating growing up, new engagements, home ownerships, and realizing that some things never change.
Sunday mornings at church sitting next to a couple of great friends, and one particularly wonderful man.
Afternoon runs with yet another Younglife friend - our junior leader, and then having her crash lunchtime with said wonderful man and I.
Superbowl parties with good food, decent commercials, plenty of half-time entertainment, and casual laid back conversation.

What else is good is:
Wednesday afternoons working from home (trying to beat the snow that DIDN'T stick...)
A run to David's bridal to see what I will look like when I am standing in front of the church watching my best friend commit her life to her best friend.
A little innocent gossip between roommates that is not altogether juicy to either one of us, but definitely draws some smirks from the cashier.
A night of invention in the kitchen with brightly colored, delicious tasting veggies.
Chocolate covered strawberries.
Spending time with a friend who will not always be so close (physically).
Finding out that kitchen inventions can be delicious and healthy!  (and pretty)
A glass of red wine.
Watching Modern Family with ALL roommates present.
Leftovers of said healthy meal.
Random music videos and dance parties for Shake It Country Girl, and MMMBop (we are all country girls who grew up in the 90s.  Don't judge.)

Pictures and videos below to show you some of my Wednesday night.

Roomie dinner night!

Just start with a little brown rice...

Add the most colorful veggies in the market...

Ensure proper garnish (cheese) and tools for proper cooking (wine)

Melt Chocolate Chips onto some fruit for the best dessert imaginable...

MMBop & Shake It Country Girl


Tonight was a REALLY good night.  This past weekend was a REALLY good weekend.  Yes, life is sometimes not easy or downright hard.  But I have a lot of love in my life, and that is a very very good thing...

Life is so good, and I do believe it's gettin better <3

it's only been 2 months since Thanksgiving, so...

Why not take this completely time-appropriate opprotunity to update you all on my Thanksgiving?  (Don't laugh, or judge me... ok fine, you can and should.)

So I have a crazy family.  We see each other three times a year on my dad's side, and two times a year on my mom's side, so Thanksgiving most years can not come fast enough.  I love getting together with my family, we usually go to my Grandma's house for noon social/pre-dinner snacktime (aka- MINI LUNCH).  And then we head to Steve's for dinner and football.  I can't remember a year where we didn't do that.

This year mah seester came down in October, met the boyfriend, and guilted me into inviting him up for Thanksgiving.  I know - I wrote guilted me into it.  I know I should have been the one to think about inviting him up, but I am a bit horrified of committment, and my family can be... well... a bit intimidating.  Trust me, I love them to death and wouldn't change them for the world, but I have never brought a guy home for Thanksgiving to meet the family.  As a matter of fact last year, I got the comment that every single girl hopes she never hears.  Steve pulled me aside and said "Are you ever going to bring a man around for Thanksgiving?  You know... you can bring a girl too, if you think you might be a lesbian."  AWESOME.  Thanks Steve.  My response was some sort of mumbled "no, I'm not a lesbian, I'll bring a guy home sometime.  I hope..."  But he was kidding.  That's Steve.  He's a kidder.  But that just goes to show that after 25 years my family was starting to wonder where the men in my life were hiding.

I remember talking to my sister about him.  I remember saying "FINE, I will invite him."  (I mean, I was so crazy about the boy, it was just terrifying.)  I was talking to him on the phone about a month before Thanksgiving and said "so... if you want to come up for Thanksgiving or something, that would be ok."  Pause - let me just say, bless his heart for dealing with me and my quizzical words.  Resume - He asked if I wanted him there, and I told him yes.  It was set, and I had about a month to prepare for this nerve-wracking experience.  Fortunately, we have a mutual good friend who gave boyfriend a heads-up on my crazy family, telling him stories from when she came to the beach over the summer at met them at their finest. 

Fast forward to driving up to Thanksgiving, and I actually felt good about bringing him around.  By this point in time he had already met my dad and my sister, and I was already committed to it.  I hardly remember most of the weekend, simply because it was so long ago.  I remember that Thanksgiving day my sister had the bright idea to take a family picture.  I was excited because we had boyfriend there to take the photo.  But NO.  Boyfriend got put in the family photo.  Well... this could be awkward if he didn't survive the weekend.  "Look everyone, this is how nice and happy he looked just before horrendous torture and subsequent death from girlfriend's family."  (Fortunately, my man is a trooper!)  Needless to say, we just kinda looked at each other as if to say - Really family picture?  I'm not sure we are ready for that...

But we survived awkard family photo moment, all jumped in one car (yep.  We really stress family closeness with new people) and headed out to Gma's house.  The prying, the questions, the grilling - all that boyfriend had been prepared for, was replaced by good food and easy conversation.  I was blown away, but trusted that when we got to Steve's that he would really go through the ringer.

After our pre-snack, we went to Steve's for dinner, where he was surely going to go through the ringer.  I think his heart almost stopped when cousins #1,2,3&4 started talking about their night out.  Fortunately, Patty slammed the conversation shut and we started eating.  Boyfriend was not grilled or tortured at all.  We enjoyed a really nice dinner with some conversation and football, and then we called it a night.  I could not believe what just happened, and knew that it was a miracle.

We piled back in the one car, and headed home until my dad provided torture of his own (if you were in the car, you know - if not - no need to rehash traumatic memories).  And hey, boyfriend didn't run out of anyone's house screaming and dumping me in the process, he survived about 2.5 collective hours in the car with my mom, dad, brother, sister, and I (which can be taxing for even me sometimes), and hey - Steve doesn't think I'm a lesbian.  I would say it was a nice and successful Thanksgiving dinner overall.

The next morning, we got up, headed to Philly for some brunch with old high school friends of mine, and drove back to Maryland for some Christmas tree shopping and recoverly.  Crisis averted, now if I can just figure out a way to sidestep the inevitable torture he will endure at summer beach week, I will be good to go.  Time to get my master plan wheels turning...

More updates to come!!

SO overdue!!

Lots of things to catch up on (I expect to have lots of posts up between tomorrow and Sunday!!)

~ Thanksgiving with the family, in which the boy came to PA with me!  Eeeek!
~ Ugly Sweater Christmas party (whoop whoop!)
~ The engagement of the girl-also-known-as-sister who after 25 years of bestfriendship will be preparing to become a Mrs!!
~ Christmas, sisterhood lunch dates, and skiing adventures
~ (maybe you can even look forward to a 2011 recap??)
~ New Year's Eve with some wonderful friends
~ Passing away of my sweet Aunt CeCe
~ Doing a missions trip in Georgia with the boyfriend.

So... at least I have excuses for NOT blogging lately, but I promise I won't make it a trend.  In the meantime, please enjoy this wonderful video, baby. (baby, baby, ohhhhh).  I promise it will make you smile.  Happy Tuesday!