Valentine's Day

I know I am a little late on this post, but today I will be talking about... Valentine's Day!

As a child, I loved Valentine's Day.  I spent a great deal of time and thought selecting my valentines, and then selecting the perfect one for each of my classmates.  Even at a young age, I was terrified of sending the wrong message to the boys in my class.  I loved making those adorable little mailboxes in class to collect my valentines.  Today, I am not quite as enthusiastic about Valentine's Day, but I do enjoy it.  I was very excited that this year I got to spend it with my husband.  Before we got married we lived in separate cities and were only able to see each other on the weekends (usually it was about every other weekend).  Needless to say, we only spent one Valentine's Day together prior to our marriage (even though we were together for 4 years before we said "I Do").

On Valentine's Day this year, I passed out Dr. Seuss valentines to my students as well as Valentine's Day themed erasers (each valentine and eraser was picked out for each student... I still haven't grown out of that).  I decided to wear a hot pink dress to school, because really, what other kind of dress would you wear on Valentine's Day? lol  My adorable students surprised me with some valentines and candy.  I even got an adorable stuffed bear from one little girl in my class.

A photo of a teddy bear (and valentine) one of my students gave me,
as well as a massive box of chocolate turtles from my husband.

That night I spent some quality time with my husband.  He cooked an amazing dinner for me.  My husband is an awesome cook.  I discovered that he makes the best chicken ever.

All in all it was a great day!  How was your Valentine's Day?  I hope it was happy! :)

Out with the old, in with the new

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." 

-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 Happy New Year!

I can't believe that it is already 2012.  Last year brought many events and changes in my life.  Because I did not get the chance to do it yesterday, I thought I would write a brief look-back post on 2011.

Looking back on 2011

January was an exciting month for me.  My husband (then fiancé), Travis came home from deployment shortly before Christmas 2010.  It is a little difficult to explain, but when you have been apart from someone for a year, you have to take some time getting reacquainted.

The fact is, you both change, even if you don't realize it.  Although it is a little odd, it is still a wonderful feeling.  Every time you are together you remember what it has been like for the last year.  Sadly, we still lived in different cities at the time, so we visited each other as often as possible, but because I was just beginning a new semester at my university, we were not able to spend as much time together as we would have liked.  The next few months did not pass by as quickly as I would have liked.  I was incredibly busy with school, packing, and finishing my wedding plans.  Finally the spring semester ended and I became even more overwhelmed with the preparations for our wedding.  After what seemed like forever, our wedding day finally approached.  It was definitely the happiest day of my life.  It was such an amazing day, and I couldn't stop thinking, "Oh my gosh.  It is finally happening," (after all, we had been engaged for a year and a half).

We spent the two weeks following our wedding on the beautiful island of St. Lucia.  It was such a beautiful place.  It is difficult to describe how wonderful those two weeks were.  I was finally married to my prince charming and relaxing away the stress of the previous year and a half on the most beautiful beach I have ever seen (and coming from a Floridian, that's saying something).

Once we came home, we lived in Travis' hometown for about a month until we found a place to live in my city.  We finally found an apartment and moved to the city.  Since then, we have had a lot of fun getting used to the married life.  In August, I started this blog.  I have had a lot of fun so far, and I am excited about working on my writing, and hopefully gaining some new followers along the way.  Although I don't have many followers so far, I have had people read my blog from countries all over the world, including Russia, the Philipines, Germany, Zimbabwe, Australia and several more.  It is such a wonderful feeling to know that my words are being read.  So a special shout out to my international readers... THANK YOU!  (P.S. I would love to hear from you!)

This December, Travis and I spent our first Christmas together bouncing around from house to house and visiting family.

My fabulous sister and me baking

Max and me on Christmas Eve

On December 31, we celebrated at my mother's house with family and friends.

I have big hopes for 2012.  2011 was such an incredible year that I am excited to see what the future holds for Travis and me.  I begin my second internship in a few weeks.  I can't wait to put what I have learned in school to use.  This fall I will be graduating.  Between those events, who knows. :)

How did you ring in the new year?  What was your favorite event of 2011?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Well, that is all for now.  I hope you all have a very happy first week of 2012!

Fairy Tales

When I was a little girl, I loved fairy tales.  I spent many hours reenacting my favorite fairy tale of all, Cinderella.  I loved dressing up in my purple princess dress, and scrubbing the kitchen floor while singing, "Someday My Prince Will Come."  I would run through the house, "lose" one of my shoes, and make my poor father bring it back to me (he would have to make sure it fit of course!)  I dreamed that I would one day find a prince, move into a fancy castle, and live happily ever after.

Today, I still believe in fairy tales, only a different kind of fairy tales.  Not make believe fairy tales, with dragons and knights, but the real, true-life kind.  I did meet my prince charming, but he isn’t royalty.  He is a country guy who is often found in Guy Harvey t-shirts and something camo.  He doesn’t ride a white horse; he has a pickup truck.  We don’t live in a big, fancy castle; we live in a tiny apartment in the city.

Sadly, I am not exactly the princess I thought I would be.  When I was a kid, I imagined that when I grew up, I would be the perfect princess.  I would be a wonderful cook, whipping up 5 course dinners for my husband.  I would have the cleanest, most organized house in all the land.  I would always be perfectly dressed (as all princesses are).  In reality, I am a beginner when it comes to cooking.  I have been known to burn things, or pick up the wrong ingredients for recipes.  There isn’t much room to organize in an apartment.  I am often too busy to clean or organize.  To top it off, Florida humidity makes my hair frizz and sometimes, I just don’t feel like dressing up.

The point of all this is not to say that my life is not perfect.  Instead, it is to point out that life is perfect because it isn’t perfect.  What fun would it be if things always turned out how we planned?  Not knowing what to expect is what makes life the experience that it is.  It is always wonderful to dream.  But if things don’t turn out the way that you have planned since you were 5 years old, it doesn’t mean that you wont be able to live happily ever after.  My life didn’t turn out exactly as I planned, but you know what?  I wouldn’t want it any other way.