Contract.

In approximately 7 hours we will be submitting the contract for our new home. I should probably be getting some sleep but the fact that I've been working night shift paired with the excitement about the house makes it difficult to sleep.

beautiful.

I follow a really well known local photographer's blog (to see all of the beautiful photos she takes!) and this post is one of the most heart-warming I've come across in a while. Check it out!

http://www.stephcarson.com/blog1/?p=3965

two things.

There are two things that have really excited me over the last few days:

1)I successfully started my first IV at work (one of the perks of night shift) onMonday night! I got the vein on the first stick! Go me!

2) We received great news regarding the house we want! We're in the process of getting all the necessary paperwork together for it. It might not be long before I get to do my own "home tour" posts. Who am I kidding... it will be a while before we're settled in, I'm sure.

wisdom.

"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."- Mother Teresa

The previous quote is one of my favorites! If only it were easy to follow ALL the time. As I've mentioned before, I've felt extremely out of balance lately and I'm trying to get back in touch with myself. I really want to finish reading this book I started months ago. It is so eye-opening and it talks about several different aspects of spirituality, personal growth and the meaning of life. I consider myself pretty open-minded when it comes to faith and spiritual outlets. I believe in a God that likes for me to ask questions, so that I can grow stronger in my relationship with him. I do not believe that God created us with inquisitive minds, without wanting us to find our own way to him. One of the most important aspects (and perhaps the best aspect!) of my relationship with my husband is that we are on the same page, spiritually. We both believe that it IS okay to question things and not have all of the answers and we want to raise our children to be open-minded and accepting of others and their beliefs. God is love.

I'm trying to face the reality that I have to go into work tonight. I'm hoping to find out whether or not the house we really want is a possibility still. My sister in law is supposed to let me know sometime tonight as to whether or not they received a contact today. Talk about anticipation!

Slacker.

Hopefully I pick up the pace as far as updating is concerned. I keep forgetting that I have a blog because I haven't for so many years! I follow so many and completely neglect my own.

I love seeing all of the "home tour" blogs that are taking place on many of the blogs I subscribe to-- it makes me so eager to get a house of our own. Yes, we're still on the hunt. We have these two lined up for Tuesday morning & we're also considering a home that some of our family members have up for sale. It's a beautiful home, but we initially declined the offer because of several reasons: it has a cistern and I was worried about cooking with the water (we had a cistern when I was very young- but I really don't know much about them), I was hung up on the fact that we had only known this home as someone else's home and I worried it wouldn't really feel like our home. In any case, the opportunity may have passed us by now so there will be a lot going on this week-- but hopefully some really good news.

Here are the two houses we're looking at on Tuesday:

We've had such a hard time finding old homes with decent sized yards. I can't wait to see these on Tuesday-- or find out about the other house. It will be so nice to finally be a homeowner. Throwing our money away on rent each month stinks!

This week I'm working night shift! I am a much happier person when I'm working night shift hours. Lately, i've felt really out of balance. I feel like things are getting chaotic. Our apartment has been disastrous (which really stresses me out), we've been going out to eat way too much (with a refrigerator and cabinets full of food), we've hardly had any time together because we've been working opposite schedules... oh man. I always feel terrible to complain about anything because I know that we are beyond blessed. We are very thankful to have each other, health, amazing families and friends, and great jobs. God has blessed us beyond words.

past due.

So it has been well over a week since I last wrote. During that time, several things have happened:

1. we took our anniversary trip to Niagara Falls. It was SO beautiful. It's hard to even explain how overwhelming it was when I saw them for the first time. I had seen pictures online but it hardly compared. We spent hours walking around the falls and viewing them from different angles. Our hotel was extremely nice as well! Overall, well worth it and the perfect way to celebrate our first year of marriage : )

2. we made big decisions regarding the house we've been pursuing for months now and we are going to schedule to look at another house this week. Here's hoping for a positive outcome!

3. my friend Sara had her bridal shower (today actually) and it was so much fun. Sara is an amazing friend and I am so thankful for her. She will be a beautiful bride and I can't wait for her wedding in October! (Sara wanted a Derby themed shower so that is the reason for the hats.)

grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.

Almost one year ago (on August 08, 2008) Michael and I celebrated our wedding day and began to share our life in such an intimate way. One year later, I still tear up looking at the photos from that day.

AT THE HAIR SALON

Me.

My mom

GETTING OUR MAKEUP DONE

Me. My best friend (bridesmaid) Valerie.

My cousin Melissa (bridesmaid).

My mom.

Jessica (friend/bridesmaid).
Our flowergirl, Abrianna (valerie's daughter).

MY DRESS

One of my favorite pictures!

MY SHOES

Beautiful, but not so comfortable.

OUR RINGS
GETTING DRESSED
Getting zipped into my dress by valerie.

Ready!

THE BOYS GETTING READY

My brother/groomsman helping Michael with his tie. I love this picture so much.
::whistle, whistle::

THE GIRLS

THE BOYS
My brother, Michael's two brothers, and Michael

THE CEREMONY
(DETAILS)

PORTRAITS

Michael with his parents : )

me and my brother, Ricky

our beautiful flowergirl, Abrianna.

Michael with his brother Nathan and sister Leslie.

Me and my mom. She looked so pretty!

OUR RECEPTION

our cake serving set chocolate fountain. yum!

We danced to "Make me Whole" by Amel Larrieux.
such a beautiful song. we had the hardest time choosing one.
(you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_Ykh9Xu00)

This is the best picture we have of our centerpieces and table numbers. I made the centerpieces myself with the help of my close friend, Sara.

Michael's uncle made us custom wine bottles. They are so neat! He made some for our bridal party as well. The label is our save-the-date.

Our cake. The top and bottom layers were french vanilla cake with strawberry filling. The middle layer was chocolate with ganache filling. I loved our lovebird cake topper!

We had a photo guestbook (of our engagement pictures), framed pictures of our parents cutting their cakes on their wedding day and framed pictures of michael and I throughout our lives.

Memory candles.

Michael dipping into the chocolate fountain for me : ) Otherwise I would have had a brown and white gown!

My dad and I danced to "I loved her first" by Heartland.

Our monogrammed ice sculpture. It turned out so much better than I had anticipated.
At our sweetheart table, listening to the speeches.

Guests!

I hope you enjoyed the photos! I can't wait until we have a house and I actually have space to frame/display some of my favorites.

We leave for NY on Saturday (our anniversary!!!!) so I likely won't blog until Tuesday or so. Have a great weekend : )