i hope you have a magical day

Seriously, those people said that ALL THE TIME. What does it even mean?

Anyway, we're back!! We landed in chilly NC yesterday morning and have been recovering ever since. We had such a great time! There's no need for the Disney play-by-play, but because I know you're just DYING for some details, here's the quick recap :)

We...

• Verbally expressed our relief to be out of the cold about 27 times
• Ate A LOT, and thanks to the fabulous meal plan, we didn't have to think twice about the cost of food
• Had our picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Donald
• Went to Epcot every single day, even if it was just to eat
• Ate in: France, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Mexico, China and Japan at the World Showcase in Epcot
• Basically, we fell in love with Epcot
• Saw more meltdowns, arguments and family disfunction than any other vacation ever
• Rode Living with the Land twice - nerds, I know
• Had the world's worst breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey's
• Chatted up each and every one of our servers (most from other countries) to get the "how did you end up in Disney World" question answered
• Sympathized with 5-year-old Andrew after getting off Space Mountain and realizing that no child should ever have to go on that ride
• Had dinner at the Coral Reef, right next to the aquarium
• Went on a make-shift safari and loved it
• Talked about taking our little girls to meet the Disney Princesses one day
• DID NOT ride It's a Small World, nor did we hear the song
• DID hear We Celebrate You, the new Disney song, about 457 times

Basically, we had a "magical" time :)

bon voyage!

Alright, bloggy friends. We're off! Not yet, but tomorrow morning we will be. One last soiree with the boy before he leaves me. Here's to lots of great pictures, good friend and of course, magic.

free at last

After a pretty hellish week, I'm officially on vacation! Andrew made me promise to have the email on my phone turned off before I got home and I had it off before I even walked out. And while my inbox is usually full of at least 50 flagged "I'll deal with these later" emails, it is now completely empty. Check.

So after running a few errands, picking up dinner and a movie, I'm happily relaxing in my PJs with my sweet husband. Who found out today that he leaves me at approximately 2:07pm on Saturday, March 6. Our 4-year dating anniversary and just two days shy of our 2-year wedding anniversary. It wasn't until I got his flight information that I realized how much I am absolutely dreading that day. I don't have any idea how I'm going to react once he's gone, but I can only imagine that it will be pitiful. What's a girl to do without her best friend?

I was reminded today of our wedding vows. A few years ago, I was in a bible study talking about women of the bible who followed/trusted God in various ways. Sometimes they trusted God directly and sometimes they trusted the leadership of someone in their life, indirectly trusting God in the process. I remember thinking then that I wanted my marriage to mirror that. And on the day I married Andrew, I promised to follow him as he follows God.

It has become crystal clear to me that regardless of how difficult the next few months may be, I am trusting that my husband is doing it for the right reasons. And in the process, I'm trusting the Lord to get us through it.

in honor of valentine's day

Andrew and I had a perfectly lovely Valentine's Day. He got back from his man weekend in time to take me out to dinner at Caffe Luna in downtown Raleigh. Generally, I'm not really a fan of Valentine's Day. At least not a Valentine's Day out on the town. I hate how crowded it is and I would much rather hang out in my PJs with a pizza. So imagine my surprise when I was expressing this a few weeks ago and Andrew said "So would you be disappointed if I told you that I already made reservations?" Way to go, Page.

Actually, I was MORE excited because that's totally not something Andrew would do without a little coaxing. He's romantic in a more non-traditional way. Imagine my surprise again when he came home with flowers in tow. I think he's trying to get on my good side before he leaves in me 3 weeks (3 weeks?!). Regardless, I'm glad we went out because we had a great time.

While we were at dinner, Andrew asked me to put my superhuman memory to work and recall every Valentine's Day since we've been together. Then he said that we need to document the early stages of our relationship, so we remember it all 20 years from now. Here's the Valentine's day version of that documentation:

• Year 1: Ten days before we got engaged. Andrew actually told me ahead of time that he wasn't going to propose on Valentine's Day, so I shouldn't expect anything fancy. He brought me roses and we went to Macaroni Grille. Even though we had reservations, we had to wait 45 minutes for a table. We just enjoyed the meal more since we were good and hungry when we got there!
• Year 2: Three weeks before we got married! I drove to Aberdeen - we rented a movie (License to Wed) and ordered a pizza. Remember what I said earlier about that being my ideal date? I totally meant it. Andrew gave me a set of patee knives that he found at an antique store. He actually meant to give them to me for my birthday the year before, but he lost them. He happened to find them the week of V-Day so it was perfect timing.
• Year 3: We cooked a nice dinner for ourselves. Steak, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and (I think) tiramisu. I got my hair cut earlier that day and I wasn't crazy about it, so in all the pictures my hair is pulled back. I got Andrew a card with 2 penguins on the front and the inside said something about being happy doing whatever as long as we're together. It was perfect since he'd been unemployed for the last 3 months.
• Year 4: Caffe Luna, where we had our rehearsal dinner. I guess I didn't mention that before, but that's why it was such a sweet gesture. We even splurged on dessert and it was well worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day, my love. Whether we spend it in our fancy clothes at a swanky restaurant or in our PJs with takeout, here's to many, many more.

the big reveal

I'm embarrassed to say that I spent many (several) hours today getting this new fancy blog together. It wasn't just choosing a template, my friends. There was designing and html code-editing and quite a bit of frustration. But I loved it and it passed the time! I think I found a new hobby.

Here's what I'm thinking. Andrew and I are about to do some incredibly crazy things over the next few years. Blogging, dears, will be much more than the "what we did this weekend" recap. I imagine that at times it will be my therapy.

New beginnings should come with a new blog, don't you think?

trial run

I'm all alone! Andrew is spending the weekend with some guys from college. We won't call it a going away party because he's refusing to think about the fact that he's leaving, but that's essentially what it is. And believe it or not, in the almost-two-years since we've been married, this is the first time I've stayed alone. He's been gone before, but it always worked out that I had plans too. Not this time. Just me and Mr. Rudy. Who is NOT HAPPY, by the way. He's been uber pouty since I got home from work and he realized that I didn't bring Andrew with me.

Anyway, all week I've been preparing for this weekend - planning all kinds of things to keep me busy - and actually looking forward to it. Here's the list:

1. Clean - DONE! I wanted to do that ASAP so I could enjoy the rest of the weekend.
2. Play on my sewing machine.
3. Pick up a few things from Target.
4. Update my craft/idea books.
5. Clip some recipes from a few magazines and maybe organize my recipe box.
6. Redesign the blog. Get excited.
7. Read - I'm currently reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks and Desiring God by John Piper.
8. Maybe check out the flea market tomorrow morning?
9. Organize my closet.
10. And don't laugh, but I may or may not start packing for Disney World. Because it's going to be 70 degrees down there and I'm just THAT excited.

Let's see how long I can keep myself busy without feeling lonely. Also, it's snowing (again) which may put a damper on any of the plans I have for outside the house. Although, Andrew did leave me with his new fancy 4-wheel drive truck for the weekend.

Things could get very interesting around here.

tar heel born, tar heel bred

We're watching the Carolina/Duke game, hoping for a win after a less than stellar season for these Tar Heel boys. Naturally, I'm thinking about our wedding reception. Friends, family and strangers gathered together in the lobby of the hotel to watch the game. I secretly prayed for weeks that we'd win that game because, let's be honest, who wants to end a fairy tale day with a loss to Duke? We did win and we circled up to sing the alma mater and all was right in the world. Who says God isn't a Tar Heel?

And now I will forever remember that night each and every time we watch this game.

I love that.

14 days and counting!

Disney World is just around the corner! Remember the commercial with the little boy is thinking about Disney World and says "but we're too excited to sleep!" That's how I feel. For real.

For the past few weeks, we've been getting all kinds of mail from the Magic Kingdom - luggage tags, ticket confirmations, vacation planning guides, a DVD, some maps. Andrew and I cracked up over this letter from the "Senior VP of Creating Relationship Magic." It was our customizable maps that I made online, marking a lot of the attractions we're most look forward to. It says: "Have fun planning your vacation. But be forewarned! While our maps are extremely helpful, you're bound to get lost in the magic..."

Nice Disney World. Real nice.

The other day, I was at work and I remembered that I needed to make a few dinner reservations. I called Andrew and told him to grab the list of restaurants that I had looked at over the weekend and email me the list of highlighted places. And yes, I realize how (crazy) organized that sounds, but what did you expect? Anyway, when he emailed me the list, he sent this picture, saying "Rudy wishes he was going to Disney World, too."

So cute. Maybe we can find some Mickey ears for him?

snowed in!

First, let me say that I have a really bad habit of playing things out in my head so much that I think I actually did it (i.e. emailing a friend, calling someone back, writing a blog post). Then 2 weeks pass by and I realize that I, in fact, did not do what I thought I did. So last night, Andrew said to me "you need to update our blog about the snow!" Hey buddy - you update our blog about the snow. It's not like you've got anything else going on. Just kidding! I know you just LOVE reading it, so you can't wait for the next post. Love you :)

Anyway...

We got snowed in this weekend! I am absolutely obsessed with snow, so when everyone else was questioning the weather man's predictions, I was romanticizing about our wintry weekend. We went to Trader Joe's on Friday to stock up on wine and cheese, I stopped by the library to stock up on good books and lucky for me, I already had a few craft projects in the hopper that could pass the time.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like a 4 year old. On a day that I usually love to sleep in, I was ready to go at 8am. After a much needed deep clean of our neglected house, we stayed in our comfy clothes all day while chili simmered on the stove. It was glorious.

Rudy was sad at first, because he was bored being stuck inside.

Then we took him for a walk and he was beside himself with excitement.

He's a huge fan of the snow. A dog after my own heart.