Are we there yet?

This time last year (well 5:30 pm August 3... I wrote this yesterday), I was hooking my hand into my dad's elbow, preparing to walk down the aisle toward my fiancé. I was surrounded by gorgeous bridesmaids, handsome groomsmen, our adorable flower girl, loving parents, our amazing pastor, family, and friends. Everyone was waiting for me there. Normally, I'm not one for attention, but on this day, it didn't matter because all I was there to do was to place my hand in that of my husband -in front of God- and to show loved ones what He had ordained. Just like life, there are ups, downs, laughter, tears, a time for everything, yada yada - all those (true) cliches. Marriage reflects those things well. But what we are learning to do is to let our marriage reflect the love, mercy and grace that exists between Christ and the church. Love that is innervated only by the Holy Spirit who guides us, and nothing that the other can do for us. It is beautiful. I'm so grateful for this year, and for everyone who has loved us through this transition (which is still in progress)! Although we dated for a long time, there are a lot of new things that have been reserved only for marriage and it takes time to learn how to respond to each other, family and friends, how to shift our relationships accordingly and how to be purposeful about the way we love each other and those around us. 

Thank you Aubrey for being SUPER honest, for being just as excited to be near me as when we first met in Berry College Church Choir... and for the little things like still opening the door for me (after 9 years!), always pulling me closer and waking me up with a kiss on the forehead. I'm still learning how to be such a hopeless romantic, but thank you for loving me anyway. After waking up next to you for 364 days, I can't wait for the next 365. 

I'm grateful for this year - for getting a chance to learn how much I didn't know already. Everyone says the first year is an adventure and it is. Here's to a hundred more :)

<3 

  

  

 

R.I.P. Charles

Cake

February was an interesting month for us. We celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary, and our first married Valentine's Day consisted of watching Rent (first time for both of us), eating a delicious pizza from Peace, Love & Pizza, and a very special dessert ... Our wedding cake! 

We thought it was a special enough occasion, especially since we also celebrated our first 6 months or marriage. It was actually Aubrey's idea, and I liked it because the thought of eating 1-year-old cake, as sentimental and meaningful as it may be, well.... it really grossed me out (I'm gonna keep telling myself that 6 months is totally not gross). I'm sure I'm not alone on that. We received the top of our cake in a small white box upon our return from the honeymoon. Mom had kept it for us, but whoever packed it at Payne-Corley didn't wrap it according to the directions (I can't blame them... It was a super busy night!) so I wrapped it in Saran Wrap and foil and placed it back in the box, fully intending to convince my new husband that we should go ahead and enjoy the cake while it was still fluffy and fresh and moist! So, as according to plan, we decided to eat it on our 1 month anniversary .... Oops, maybe on our 2 month anniversary .... Ok maybe on our 3 month anniversary? No. We are procrastinators in the truest sense of the word (working on it though). 

I must say, I appreciated the timing of this moment. (Warning: I'm about to get sappy on ya) Physically, I'm sure the cake would have tasted better months ago, but emotionally, the flavor improved with age. I knew my wedding day would come and go, and that I might want to hang onto that special feeling that I will never feel exactly the same way again. It's bittersweet. 

I know we have a limited time to experience life as newly weds- with fresh and exciting perspective on our lives ahead - and even as newlyweds we have already become busy enough to forget reminiscing about the day our covenant was made. A kiss the night we shared a toast with loved ones and cut the very first slice of that cake, and now on each others lips we alone shared the taste of the very last slice.  

Oh yeah, and the cake was coconut with buttercream frosting and coconut filling ... Still tasty :)

Charles 

So another thing that happened in February is that we got our first pets (my mom had given us Boo and Darlin but these are the first pets we picked out)! Aubrey surprised me with them this past Tuesday, but he had to point them out because I didn't see them at first. He got us 2 fish! They were beta fish, or Japanese fighter fish. We decided that mine was the feisty bluish-purple one in a tall glass votive holder and that Aubrey's was the orangey-red one in a recycled glass honey mason jar (wedding gift from his parents). 

Today, I happened to get particularly excited about caring for the fish after we returned home from dinner. I had noticed that Aubrey's fish had been moving slower, and days ago, Aubrey noticed some spots on it. I took it as a challenge to give them a proper home (bigger, cleaner vases) and care for them. We decided to give them names finally. Aubrey thought his fish looked like a "Charles" and I named mine "Chris Brown" because - well it's a long story. But anyway, we had fun with that. We figured out that they like warm water and sunlight, and that the water needs to be cleaned frequently. I got to work on the Internet and found some info about remedies for fungal infections, which was our diagnosis of Charles. For whatever reason, I spent a lot of time on this- I guess I was excited about watching how they would respond to our care. 

I knew something was wrong when I saw Charles starting to float sideways.... So I tried the saltwater remedy, but long-story-short, I accidentally killed Charles. I mean, maybe he was already dying but I think I sped it up in the process of trying to help. Aubrey was half asleep and tried to comfort me, saying "maybe he's just tired". Yeah, tired of me messing with him. I feel bad that I killed Aubrey's fish, and also that it was our first pet together- the first life we have been responsible for together, and I managed to kill it the same day I really started "helping". At least Aubs was sweet about it like he always is (and it sounds a little sweeter in half-asleep hubby voice): "It's ok. I'm proud of what you did, honey. We'll give Charles a proper burial in the morning ". That's the kind of thing teammates say to each other. Of course we've had much tougher times than these within these first months, but little things remind me that I have a great teammate for whatever else may come.

We're ALIVE!!!

We made it!!!! Through what, you ask? 

Well, the Snowpocalypse of 2014. On Tuesday, Diana was dismissed from work at 12 pm due to the impending doom, I mean, weather. Approximately one hour later, she came to the grim conclusion that her keys were very unfortunately situated inside of her locked car on the passenger seat. After another hour, the keys were retrieved, thanks to some very kind CDC employees who were skilled at that type of thing.   

After about 3 hours of "driving", Diana had made it a whopping 4 miles down the road and was finally getting on the highway just in time for her car to epically overheat. No big deal. She would just have to stick with it another 12 hours, nursing one water bottle and a random bag of sugar to keep energy up til she made it home. (Bad day to skip lunch)

Aubrey, on the other hand was in hero mode, rescuing damsels in distress who overestimated the ability of their cars/trucks/school busses to make it up a ginormous icy mountain of death. In the process, he became quite familiar with our neighboring apartment residents and proved to himself firsthand that it is, in fact, possible to get frostbite in Georgia, 3 days before playing soccer, wearing shorts and a T-shirt in 70 degree pseudo-summer weather. Who woulda thunk it... Georgia winters are always an adventure. 

Long story short: it was rough but we made it!