There is something about the way you smile that still drives me crazy. It’s infectious, happy and full of joy. A smile that only a true and deep appreciation of life can inspire. Full of love and excitement, your smile is always there to make the day more bright.
There is something about the way you move. Full of life and freedom. Without a care in the world you dance as the wind plays with your hair. As you dance the laughter erupts and your smile explodes.
The past six years have been AMAZING! More than we could have ever dreamed together. We reflected yesterday on some of our favorite memories, our travel adventures to Europe, buying a home together, and starting our own business together just to name a few. But it’s also the small moments, making pasta together, falling asleep on the couch and waking up at 3 am, shivering together under blankets because we refuse to turn the heat on until it is officially winter, that make being married to you the most AMAZING part of my life. Happy day after our anniversary!!! Cheers to making more crazy fun adventures together!!
This morning I woke up a bit in a funk! (Well actually, I woke up feeling pretty darn good because we slept in a bit and woke up thinking It’s Valentine’s Day and I rolled over to the sweetest Valentine ever, Ryan, and gave him a kiss!)- but then I started watching the Today Show and my mood quickly changed! I had no idea at the time what was going on… but after Ryan pulled it out of me, I realized that I was letting society get to me! All of the roses and chocolate talk about Valentine’s day was making me feel guilty because I had not planned anything “special” for Ryan on this day! Seriously- I let society get to me! :( Ugh!
Anyway, after turning the TV off and taking some quiet time for myself, I realized that I had a choice. I could continue to throw myself a pitty party and feel bad for myself because I didn’t do anything “special” for Ryan for Valentine’s Day or I could listen to my heart and feel confident that the love Ryan and I share everyday doesn’t need to be recognized on this one day out of the year with roses and chocolates! We had already discussed that because our lives have been a bit crazy recently, a dinner date in is everything we wanted for today!
I realized today that I LOVE Valentine’s Day… there are a few reasons: 1. Because this is the day Ryan proposed to me 7 years ago! (Wow… 7?!? ;) ) And 2. Because Valentine’s Day is a day to Celebrate Love! (with or without chocolates and roses)
I have made a clear decision today to make today about LOVE! Whatever that may look like to you! Even though the TV and magazine’s tell you it should be about roses and chocolate, I hope you make today about LOVE! Celebrate the LOVE that you have. Take the time to recognize the LOVE that surrounds you… your friends, your family, your significant other, and/or even the random strangers that exude love that come into your life on days you need it most! Celebrate that!!!… because that is so much better than any chocolate I have ever had! (And that says a lot, because I love chocolate!)
As you are celebrating, we hope you will take a minute to recognize the love that surrounds you by nominating an inspiring marriage for The AMAZING Marriage Project. This can definitely be your own marriage!!…. or anyone else’s too! (Please note: These couples may or may not be celebrating with roses and chocolate today! And that is totally OK! ;) )
This iPhone photo below is just a little glimpse of some love that we encountered while we were in the Dominican Republic last week and we are definitely celebrating that love today! (So much more on this trip to come soon! ;) )
Happy Valentine’s Day friends! With or without roses and chocolates… we pray you have a lot of love that you are celebrating today! ;)
Yes, picture me shaking Ryan to wake him up and screaming, “It’s Christmas!” ;) What a magical day!!We are so excited to complete our Amazing Life Holiday Advent Calendar on this 25th day of December by sharing a little video post with you all! Since unfortunately we can’t be in your living room with you today as you celebrate with the rest of your family and friends (because as you know, we consider all of you family by now!) we wanted to share a video with you so it was kind of like we were there! ;)
Basically, we just want you all to know how much you mean to us! Every comment, every page view, every excited email we get makes our hearts smile! As we reflect on the AMAZINGNESS of today and the blessings in our lives- you are all in our hearts!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! for following along with our Amazing Life Holiday Advent Calendar! It has been so much fun to share some of the AMAZINGNESS that makes our holidays so special and we can only hope that it added to your holiday AMAZINGNESS too!
Today, on this last day of our AMAZING Life Holiday Advent Calendar, we invite you to take the time today to think about what Christmas really means to you! Reflect on it… share it with others… and truly be grateful for all of the AMAZINGNESS in your lives!
“I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause, underneath the mistletoe last night…” As that song plays over and over in our heads (and lets be honest, as we sing it loud and proud throughout the house!), we thought it would be fun to pull a little mistletoe into our Amazing Life Holiday Advent Calendar! On day 22, we invite you to go out and purchase some mistletoe to hang in your home and watch the magic happen! ;) lol. Ok, well… share a few extra kisses with your loved ones this holiday season! Ok, this post was probably one of the most fun to create! ;) Not necessarily because we got to kiss a lot in order to make sure we got the “perfect” picture! Haha! But because we reminisced about our very first Christmas together! ;) One of my all time favorite pictures of Ryan and I is from our very first Christmas together underneath the kissing ball that hung in our home! (Yes, a whole ball of mistletoe!! So fun!). We went back to our scrapbooks to find that photo and a whole rush of memories came back! There was something so amazingly raw about our emotions that year and it was so much fun to relive that through our photos!
As we hang some mistletoe in our home (or Ryan just starts to carry it around with him over his head! Lol) we welcome those raw emotions and carefree spirit! We are so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and having the mistletoe around is a perfect reminder!
Nothing makes it feel more like Christmas then the smell of a fresh cut live tree. Ever since I was young I have had the experience of hiking out into the woods to cut down that perfect tree. Once Liz and I got married, we continued the tradition and have cut down our own live tree each year. For Day 13 of our Advent Calendar, we are sharing our Christmas Tree Cutting adventure and encourage you to cut your own tree too!
For us city folk, there is just something extra magical about getting in our car and driving out to the country to cut down a Christmas tree. Sure we could pick one up at any one of the dozen or so places they are sold in the city but then we would miss out on the fun that mother nature has for us. This year we headed up to the Jarrettsville Nurseries (click here for coupons on a tree!) to find the perfect addition to our home.
A quick side note, we strongly considered purchasing a live tree in a burlap bag/pot this year. (Thanks to Sere for suggesting it on Facebook as her way of making her Christmas AMAZING this year! ;) We did some research and unfortunately we don’t really have anywhere to transition the tree from indoor to outdoors in order to keep it alive to plant after Christmas. Also, we don’t really have anywhere to plant a tree… lol. But that wouldn’t have stopped us because I am sure we could have found a school or a park that would be happy to take it off our hands! However, we also read that you should only keep them in your home for 4-7 days?!?… If anyone reading our blog has experience with live trees, leave us a comment! We’d love to hear from you and to learn more about your experience because we would ABSOLUTELY love to do this in the future!!
And now back to our Tree Cutting Adventure Date Day! :)
They had a few saws, but we came prepared and brought our own. :)
After we decided which type of tree we wanted, we grabbed a sled and were off. We wanted that strong Christmas smell of a fresh tree so we decided on a Douglas Fir, which according to our friend at the tree farm has the strongest aroma.
This tree was easily over 12 feet tall! I definitely had a Christmas Vacation moment… our neighbor from across the street saying “Where do you think you are going to put a tree that big, Ryan!” And if you have seen the movie you know what my response would have been. :)
Since Liz finally convinced me this one was too big, and that we didn’t exactly want to live out that Christmas Vacation scenario, we decided to continue on.
This picture looks like I am giving the tree eskimo kisses!?!? It definitely smelled AMAZING so maybe I was! ;)
Is this the one?
And of course we had to get a picture of us together next to our new family member, aka “Lucy the Tree.” That’s Lucy on the left. After we took the picture above, Liz looked at it and started laughing. Apparently she didn’t think the saw was very romantic.
Attempt two without the saw. :)
“Trust me, I know what I am doing” :)
Success! We found our tree! Today we will be adorning her with fine accouterments, so be sure to follow us on Facebook to see Lucy once she is all lit up and looking pretty! :) And if you have any fun Tree Hunting Adventure Date Day Stories of your own, be sure to leave a message in our comment box! We love to hear from you!
