Thursday, February 13, 2014

Valentine's Week Linky Party Day 3 - A Few of My Favorite Things


Sorry I'm a bit late getting day 3 posted! Today is all about my favorite person: my husband! I've decided to list the top 5 things I love most about J (in no particular order).


#1 - He is so laid back and easy going - all of the time. I'll be honest... sometimes this can be a problem because if you haven't figured out yet, I'm a girl who needs a plan. I thrive on having everything organized and ready to go. Mostly, though, I so appreciate that he is the exact opposite of me. He balances me out and helps me to let go and relax when I am feeling uptight.


#2 - His love for me is unconditional. God knows I have said and done things I shouldn't have, and yet he still loves me. I have changed in more ways than one since we started dating almost 10 years ago, including putting on quite a bit of weight, and yet not once has he ever said anything to me to criticize my appearance; instead, he makes it known that he still finds me beautiful in his own little ways.


#3 - He is super helpful around the house. He does things with out being asked like loading and unloading the dishwasher, taking out the trash, and helping me clean on Saturdays. Enough said!


#4 - He has to be one of the most considerate people I know. He is always thinking about how others would feel and wanting to do good things for others, even if just something small. 


#5 - He rarely complains about anything. Ever. I mean, he could have the worst week at work, but he will just go with it, knowing things will get better.

I love this man to the moon and back, and I am so glad God let me call him mine! 

I'm not going to do an official "linky" anymore due to lack of participation, but feel free to join in by linking to your blog in the comments! :) 


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Valentine's Week Linky Party Day 2 - Our Big Day


I'm back for day two of my Valentine's Week Linky Party! Today I'm talking about the day little girls dream of their entire lives... their wedding day! I decided to do a question and answer format for today's post, including lots of pictures!

Q: When did you choose to have your wedding?
Our wedding was December 19, 2009. We got engaged in December of 2007, so by the time the wedding rolled around, it felt like we had been engaged forever! We chose that date for two main reasons. First of all, J graduated from Auburn in August of 2009, and we were waiting for him to finish school. Plus, because I'm a teacher, that date allowed us to go on our honeymoon during my winter break!

Q: Did you have a big wedding or a small wedding?
We chose to have a pretty small wedding. I think there were maybe 50 or so people there. Ultimately, we really wanted our wedding to have an intimate feel, so we only invited our closest friends and family.

Q: What was the location of your wedding like?
I loved our location! Because we were having a small wedding, we needed a smaller place. We chose the Townhouse at Mt. Laurel. It's in the cutest little community that has its own corner grocery store, old-fashioned pharmacy, a couple restaurants, etc. It also worked out really well for us because it was two stories. We had the ceremony downstairs, and then everyone went upstairs for a cocktail hour while the downstairs was being rearranged for the reception. Since the wedding, it has actually been turned into a tea room, so I've been able to go back a couple of times for lunch!


Q: How many people were in your wedding party? 
I had 4 bridesmaids, and J had 4 groomsmen. My maid of honor was J's sister, and my other bridesmaids were my best friends, including Jessica (yes, the same one I mentioned yesterday in the story of how we met!). J's best man was his best fried, Nathan (again, the one that was involved in us meeting each other for the first time!). His other groomsmen were my brother, his brother, and his sister's now husband.




Q: What did your wedding dress look like?
I was one of those girls that had a very specific dress in mind... but then ended up getting something completely different! My dress was ivory with a sweetheart neckline, had a lot of gorgeous lace and beading, and was scalloped at the bottom.



Q: Did you choose to do a "first look" or did you wait to see each other for the first time during the ceremony?
J and I knew we were both going to be emotional when we first saw each other, so we decided to see each other privately before the wedding. I am so glad we did this because we were both crying and it was just a really sweet moment that I will remember forever!




Q: What were some of your most memorable moments from the ceremony?
I remember trying to hold myself together as I walked down the aisle with my dad while Pachelbel's Canon was being played by the string trio. I remember being super nervous throughout the entire ceremony, as well as still trying not to cry. The man who married us was the pastor from our church we attended in Auburn and he did a fantastic job! I also loved lighting the unity candles - so special - and of course I remember our first kiss as man and wife!






Q: Were there any funny moments during the ceremony?
Oh, gosh. Yes! Remember how I mentioned I was trying not to cry throughout the ceremony? Well, so was J. We were both quite sniffly! At one point right before he went to put the ring on my finger, he rubbed his nose, and a string of snot literally followed his hand down to my hand. Let's just say I went from trying not to cry to trying not to bust out laughing. Luckily no one else noticed!

Q: Did you have a buffet, sit-down dinner, or something entirely different?
We decided to do a sit-down dinner because the venue was pretty small. I think we had salad, cornish hens or steak (guests chose what they wanted on their response cards), haricot verts, and garlic mashed potatoes.



Q: What flavor of cake did you have?
Our cake was pretty simple! It was almond cake with buttercream frosting, and it was delicious! Seriously, we still have people telling us it was the best wedding cake they've ever had!




Q: What song did you dance to for your first dance? 
We danced to "Some Kind of Love" by Sister Hazel. I love that song, and the lyrics were so perfect for us.



Q: How did you make your grand exit?
Everyone got sparklers and waved them in the air as we made our escape to the car!


Q: What were some of your favorite little details?
The details were really important to me because I made and designed just about everything myself (except for the flowers of course!). So, I specifically asked the photographer to get pictures of all the details!










Q: What are your five favorite wedding pictures?
Okay, I realize there are technically seven pictures below, but three of them go together as part of a series of events! The first one is when my dad saw me for the first time, the second is of him hugging me, and the third is of me drying my tears after seeing him.










Q: Is there anything you wish you would have done differently for your wedding? 
The only unfortunate thing I can think of was that it was extremely cold on the day of our wedding, so we weren't able to get as many pictures outside as I would have liked because we were all freezing to death! Otherwise, it was a perfect day!

I'd love for you to link up below to share the details from your wedding day. I always enjoy looking at wedding photos! If you do link up, please share the link to my blog (http://unicornandme.blogspot.com) so others can make their way back over here to link up, too! Also, stay tuned for two more fun posts this week, and two more chances to link up! Tomorrow I will be blogging about the reasons why I love my husband, and Friday I will share some of our favorite memories together!


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Valentine's Week Linky Party Day 1 - Back to the Beginning



As promised, I'm back today with the first of four fun posts in honor of Valentine's Day this Friday! Today I'm taking you back to the beginning of my relationship with J. This is the story of how we met!

This tale takes us all the way back almost ten years ago to our high school years. That's right - we were high school sweethearts! It's kind of strange, because I literally just always had this feeling when I was praying for my future husband that I would actually meet my husband while I was in high school... totally a God thing, because that's exactly what happened! 

Anyway, it was springtime of 2004, and I was a high school senior about to go to the beach for spring break with my best friend at the time, Jessica. One day the week before spring break, Jessica and I were sitting across from our mutual friend Nathan in the good ol' school cafeteria, and it just so happened that he was going to be at the same beach as us with his friend, Jeremy. At the time, I didn't even know Jeremy existed! I knew his older brother who was in my grade, but not Jeremy, who was a junior. Jessica and I made tentative plans to meet up with Nathan and Jeremy at the beach, not really knowing for sure if we would end up hanging out with them at all.

Well, as I'm sure you have already guessed, we did end up hanging out with them at the beach on a few different occasions. We spent time together swimming and going in the hot tub at J and Nathan's condo (we must have thought we were so cool), eating at this seriously terrible Mexican restaurant (where J ordered chicken fingers... thank the good Lord he has realized that there are better things to order at Mexican restaurants since then!), and played a round of putt-putt golf. 

It was during our time at miniature golf that I distinctly remember having a conversation with Nathan about how Jeremy "liked" me. (Again - we must have thought were were just so cool... you know how high school relationships go!) I definitely thought he was cute, and was interested in getting to know him better. 

The problem, though, was that Jeremy was shy. Like, ridiculously shy. So, even though Nathan gave him my number, I wasn't really expecting to hear from him... but, a week or so after we got back from the beach, he called me on a Friday night to see if I wanted to go to a car show with him the next morning. (That's a story for another day, but let's just say he was really into cars at the time, and he had the most awful yellow truck with black racing stripes, rims, the whole nine yards... I called it the bumblebee.) We had a great time at the car show, hung out again that night, and became official after having Easter dinner with his family the next weekend. As they say, the rest is history! 

And... this post wouldn't be complete without a few (low-quality - AKA very old) pictures from the first few months of our relationship! I so wish I had pictures from our beach trip, but the first picture we ever took together, along with a few others, will have to suffice.

The first picture we ever took together :)

I guess the second picture we ever took together? Ha!

Having a fun time on the lake

Date night at the skating rink

When J and I started dating, I already had a date to my senior prom that I didn't want to just cancel on... hence the reason I am all dressed up and he isn't!

Gosh we look like such babies! Stay tuned for three more exciting posts this week... and three more chances to link up! 

Wednesday: Our Big Day - Fun Facts About Our Wedding 
Thursday: A Few of My Favorite Things - Reasons I Love My Husband
Friday: Blast to the Past - Favorite Memories from Our Relationship

Don't forget to link up today by clicking the linky button below! I can't wait to read everyone's stories! Also, I'd love it if you'd include the link to my blog (http://unicornandme.blogspot.com) in your post!