He & She :: May 2011

he & she in may.

may was a complete whirlwind.

so much happened, and she completely slacked in blogging.

so here's a five-second update.

she had a wedding shower... that was slightly inappropriate, but oh, so fun. it was definitely out of her comfort zone ;)

his parents and her parents came into town for her graduation.

they enjoyed spending time with them so, so much.

she got a wedding dress while her momma was here and was so happy that she got to spend the day shopping with her.

she went on a graduation celebration cruise with laura jo and had a blast.

he babysat while she was gone... sweet boy :)

the wedding countdown finally hit double digits...

92 days, my friends.

He & She :: April 2011

he & she in april.

they had a very busy month.

they ran a half marathon in st. louis and they both finished, even though it was semi-sucky.

the long drive was... well, long. but super fun. 

they celebrated easter by watching the passion and worshipping at grace community church.

and then they ate a delicious dinner with her brother and rented harry potter and the deathly hallows.

she celebrated big's birthday, a friend's baby shower, and a friend's wedding shower. 

they went and saw an incredible trans-siberian orchestra show in biloxi and she got to eat sushi (even though he hates sushi).

she ended the month at the church's women's retreat, which was completely refreshing and a great weekend away.

he pressure-washed and painted the house while she was gone.

they have two weeks left until she graduates and they're both out of school...

and four months until the wedding.

Weekend with Biggleton

I've gotten to spend a ton of time with my sweet Biggy Poo Kristina the past few months.  It has been so sweet and fun... anyway, this past weekend, I drove to Montgomery to celebrate her birthday, her acceptance into seminary... and... well, other things... :) Whenever we get to spend time together, we really don't end up doing a whole lot.  We sleep.  And talk.  And hang out on the pier on campus // Kristina's back porch.  Its just really refreshing time... but we SUCK at taking pictures. Okay, let me rephrase... I HATE taking pictures.  We took some this weekend.  They are hideous, but I'm going to put them up anyway, because I love time with Big.  And I love you, Big, huge.

Kristina is currenlty living in a cottage in Montgomery... with sweet Christmas lights on the porch.  This place is straight out of The Secret Garden. I loved it, clearly.

We're excited!! About a lot of things :)

Secret Garden House.

We didn't get any good pictures... but this is a typical Big/Lil picture :)

I don't know what this is, but I love it.

St. Louis Weekend

What a wonderful weekend.  Richard and I have been training to run the St. Louis half-marathon (yes, that's 13.1 miles) since January, and this past weekend was the big race! We drove the eleven and a half hours to St. Louis on Friday afternoon and drove back on Sunday after the run.  We needed this time together.  Granted, we were cooped up in his car, and our legs were hurting so so bad on the drive home, but it was so good to have time to just talk... and, added bonus, Richard got to hear me sing for probably four or five consecutive hours... he heard the entire Rent soundtrack, the entire Hairspray soundtrack, and a whole lot of Glee.  I think he's been converted to a showtune lover :)

On Friday night and Saturday night, we got to stay with our friends Katie and Ben.  They moved away from Mobile last summer and are in St. Louis while Ben goes to seminary.  It was SUCH a blessing to spend time with them and their sweet twins :)  On Saturday, we went to Anheuser-Busch on a tour... we got to see the famous clydsdale horses (or "neighs," as the twins called them) and we got free beer samples!! Totally sweet.  Saturday afternoon, Richard and I went to see the St. Louis arch... Richard was fascinated by this thing.  It was a pretty amazing structure.  That evening, we got to spend some sweet time with Katie and Ben.  Seriously, we were so encouraged by ya'll and are so thankful that you let us crash at your house for the weekend.

Richard and the twins :)

The gigundo clydsdale horses.

Richard and I... and a lot of beer.

The beautiful tulips that were everywhere in St. Louis.

And the arch :) It was hard to get it all in one picture, it's massive.

And Sunday was the race! It. was. brutal.  The course was 13.1 miles of hills. Like, 10 minute long hills. Not even a little bit fun.  In fact, they ran out of paramedics because so many people passed out (because they also ran out of water), so they cancelled the full marathon about halfway through.  The half-marathon was fine (so we still got to finish), but a lot of people were turned around at the 10-mile mark.  But, we both finished... and Richard ran his first half! I'm so proud of him, he did such a good job. 

We finished! We. are. exhausted.

Moral of the story: amazing weekend, so great to get out of Mobile and spend some sweet time with fiance and friends :)

Also, I fell in love with these purple trees.

P.S. Ben and Katie gave us their old bed for our spare bedroom.  WHAT?!? You guys are the best.

He & She :: March 2011

he & she in march.

she got a week-long and much needed break from school, during which she was not nearly as productive as she needed to be... but that's the point of a break, right??

he was quite jealous and misses spring break, but was very sweet and happy for her.

they went on a fun red robin // swing dancing date.

she loves dancing with him.

they ran the azalea trail 10k, which was his first race ever... and he beat her by like, eight minutes.

she likes to blame it on the fact that he's a foot taller than her.

she was very proud of him.

they got their engagement pictures and love them.

they have a crazy busy month of april, and she is looking forward to graduation (43 days away).

while we're on the subject of countdowns...

they get married 5 months from sunday.

Happy Spring Break

WOOOO!! Spring Break has arrived... more importantly than Spring Break (if that is possible) is the fact that we are exactly 1/2 of the way through the semester.  Allow me to translate: EIGHT STINKING WEEKS UNTIL GRADUATION.  I am so grateful for this break... I was getting super burned out the last two weeks; this rest is much needed and I am very thankful (as is Richard; my stress level was definitely interefering with my ability to be a nice fiance).  My super intense (not) and fun-filled break will include the following:

1. sleeping // not setting an alarm

2. spending some much needed time with Laura Jo (aka having a week-long sleepover)



3. LOTS of school work / real work :(

4. spending some extended time with sweet Jesus (this one is my fav!)



He & She :: February 2011

he & she in february.

he learned how to tile a floor and did a fabulous job on the half bathroom.

she got a job in the human resource department at a hospital.

so her life is consists of school, work, and homework (oh my).

they celebrated her twenty-second birthday with delicious dinner and a wonderful movie.

they had engagement photos taken...ten months after getting engaged.

its been hard to spend time together recently and they miss seeing each other.

they are getting married in 186 days.

but who's counting?

she took pictures this month!

Birthday Superbowl Weekend

We celebrated my birthday this month... granted, it was the first weekend in February, but better to post late then never, I suppose.  First of all, Richard ordered me Tim Horton's coffee from Buffalo.  Okay, if you're not from Buffalo I know this doesn't really mean anything, but Tim Hortons is a coffee shop that is only in Western New York and Canada... and if you know me, you know I love coffee and Tim Hortons is my fav.  Super thoughtful gift :)

Richard modeling my coffee... what a stud.

My birthday was on Superbowl Sunday, so naturally, we celebrated Saturday night so I could watch the game.  Birthdays take back seat to football.  Richard took me to Felix's for dinner... oh. my. gosh. It was delicious. I had a filet with crab meat on top.  I mean, really?  SO good.  After dinner we went to the Crescent Theater and saw The King's Speech.  If you haven't seen it yet, you need to.  It was incredible; I loved it.  On Sunday, we watched the just watched the big game :)

Richard, Jack and I on my birthday!

He & She :: January 2011

So, recently I have become obsessed with Elise Joy's blog... she has some really creative and cute ideas, one of which is a monthly blog called She & He, which she also turns into a scrapbook.  I love scrapbooking, even if I don't have the time right now, and am going to borrow her idea for Richard and I... except I'm changing the name to He & She, because I'm trying this new idea where I follow Richard and try and let him lead... :)

he & she in january.

he started a new job and is loving it.

she still doesn't understand what he does at work.

she started her last semester of college and is not loving it, but is loving the fact that she is almost done.

they picked a wedding date and are beyond ready to get married.

they are also trying to remember that the Lord's timing is perfect, even if they think it is slow.

he decided to run a half marathon with her in april.

she is loving the accountability and is excited to run together, even though he doesn't like to talk when he runs.

they started cooking dinner together every friday night. recent dishes include chicken tortellini, candied yams, lasagna, green bean casserol, and apple crisp.

he will eat anything.

she is failing at taking pictures (but trying to get better) and didn't take one this month. 



MLK Day

Well, today was my last day of freedom before one more painful semester of school... and I mean that in all seriousness, school may or may not kill me this spring.  My academic advisor has had several conversations with me about how I should drop some classes and take a smaller work load, so it should be an interesting couple of months :) And Richard had the day off from work... so, he took me on a picnic downtown!  We ate lunch in Bienville Square and then we were walking around downtown and found the best bookstore ever!! I found a brand new copy of "The Purpose Driven Life" for two dollars!  I walked around the store for awhile; could have easily spend all day in there.  Then we went to check out the new ice cream place Chill.  I had strawberry ice cream with Oreos, Richard had cheesecake ice cream with all this gross fruit on top... like kiwi and melon and whatever... and the Andes mints.  What?!?!  I try to be encouraging, but that is just wierd.  Strange boy :)

We had a really relaxing and sweet day together.  Thank you Richard, I love you!

Also, I'm adding another New Years Resolution...
#4.  Be better at taking pictures! I suck at taking pictures, and I know I'll be sad one day that I don't have them.  No pictures from date day :(

Welcome to 2011 !!

Richard and I spent New Years Eve togther and it was extremely anti-climatic.  We put in Avatar at 11:00 and I fell asleep before midnight... he watched Avatar instead of any New Year's festivities.  He said he woke me up at midnight, but I don't remember.  Sad day :(

I did, however, make some New Years resolutions!  I feel like if I put them on here and people can actually see them, I'm more likely to keep them...

1. Read through the Bible--Richard and I are doing a chronological yearly plan to accomplish this one.
2. Read one book a month-- I'm starting with Crazy Love, by Francis Chan.
3. Run a marathon--I'm hoping to do the Buffalo Marathon with my parents at the end of May... we shall see about this one, it's kind of intimidating.

December Happenings...

Like I said in my last post, December was a craaazy month but I do want to post some pictures that I took.  Because classes haven't started yet and I don't much care about the National Championship game, I have a lot of free time on my hands tonight :)

Number One: Richard and I got a puppy!!   Our friend Catherine found this sweet puppy near her grandparents house and she decided she couldn't keep him, so she asked Richard and I if we wanted him.  Now, I have been begging Richard to get me a puppy forEVER, but he wasn't planning on it until next spring, right before we get married.  Not suprisingly, Richard's plans for our relationships have been trumped by God's plans since day one, especially when it comes to timing.  We named our baby boy Jack (aka Jack Daniels, Jackary, Jack Jack).  This dog is the sweetest thing ever... he is cuddly and quiet and just precious.  We love him!

Number Two: I got to spend the day with my favorite twins in the land... Ms. Gabbie and Ms. Jocelyn Black.  I'm mostly going to let these pictures speak for themselves, because these girls are so stinking precious.

Twin pic... make sure you hold your cup to the side so you can still see the Barbie Princess movie...

Look at that face!!

Baby girls :) I love these faces... the flash on my camera is really delayed, so we'd get great cheese faces, but by the time the picture actually took, they were a little faded :)

Funny story about the shirts they're wearing... since we were watching a princess movie, we were dancing around the living room like princesses.  When I told the girls they were both princesses, Gab looked at me and said "No Bin, I'm a bunny rabbit!"  You're right, Gab, you are a bunny rabbit :)

Arizona

Okay, I know I'm so far behind with blogging... December was a crazy month with final exams and projects, and then I meant to catch up over Christmas vacation but I forgot to bring my camera cable home to New York; major fail.  So, I'm gonna go back and start with Thanksgiving and catch up :)

Richard and I spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with his family and had a BLAST.  His parents live in Avondale, AZ, and his grandparents in Kearny, AZ--we visited both places.  It was so good to see his parents and spend time with them for the week; I think I speak for both of us when I say that I wished they still lived in Biloxi so we could visit more often.  The plus side of them moving to Arizona?  BEAUTIFUL scenery :)  The mountains out there are absolutely breathtaking.  I've never seen anything like it.  I also got to meet the majority of Richard's extended family, which, as you can imagine, was a tad overwhelming :) But everyone was really welcoming and sweet.  I enjoyed getting to know everyone, and Richard was thrilled to see his family, so that was special for me to see. 

The best part of the trip had to be climbing Mt. Teapot the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  It was simply amazing.  The climb up took about three hours, and then it took about two hours getting back down (mostly because we were falling and sliding most of the way).  Richard and I had lunch together with some of the other family members that climbed and it was stunningly beautiful.  Major props to Richard--he was such a huge help while we were climbing.  Granted, he had to help because he kept forgetting that I was a foot shorter than him and he was making huge climbs up big rocks that I had no hope of being able to reach.  But he helped me all the way up to the top and kept me calm when I thought I was going to die :)

The first time I had ever seen cacti...

Oh, just the mountain we're about to climb... yes, all the way to the top of that peak on the right.

No big deal, right?

View from the top...

Another view...  

Where Richard and I ate lunch on the top :)

We made it!

Richard and I, Richard's dad, and his brother and sister-in-law, Phillip and Darcy.

The whole family that climbed once we were all back down... pretty exhausted at this point.

Also, Richard gets not so major props for telling me to wear SHORTS.  As you can see, the rest of the family wore pants... Richard decided we were fine in shorts and I (for once) listened to him.  I learned my lesson.  Our legs were destroyed.  This wasn't like, grassy rolling hills mountain climbing.  This was cactus, rocks, and thorny bushes rock climbing.  My legs looked like I had been attacked by a mountain lion and they were bruised for weeks.  Never again.