Man, Woman, Wild - Our Marriage!

From the very beginning of Chris and my relationship, we have introduced each other to new things.  He has introduced me to The Food Network, new flavors and a variety of foods, hunting, backpacking, "flexibility" as he calls it, "disorganization" as I call it, increased patience, the joy of baseball, laughter and humor when I don't naturally laugh...

I have introduced him to proper grammar, skiing, running, Gilmore Girls (which he really enjoys, but we don't talk about it in public), the importance of thank you notes, improved time management, the joy of college football, the importance of locking our doors...

We have had the most amazing three months of marriage and I just fall more in love with him every day.  We become better and better at being each other's spouse every day -- and we still have 60 years to get the hang of this!!!

One thing Chris has introduced to me is a show called "Man, Woman, Wild" and we LOVE IT!!!   It's a show on the Discovery Channel about a husband and wife who get in survival situations and have to survive together.  It's the perfect mix of survival adventure for Chris and adorable husband and wife dynamics for me.  Check out the trailer below:

So far, the Man, Woman, Wild adventures of our marriage have occurred in the kitchen.  Chris and I have a small television in the kitchen, and I think it might be a bad idea for me to watch these creative cooking shows when I need to just stick to recipes and even those results are not guaranteed...  Tonight I was watching Chopped and Cupcake Wars -- and I added mint chips to the chocolate chip cookies.  I thought it was a good idea.  Well, they certainly are MINTY, and they are kind of flat for my liking...

What do you think?  Does this qualify as a Man, Woman, Wild situation?

Loopy Monday!

Monday, Monday

 via

I'm fighting a migraine on a Monday... and I'm a little dizzy because of the meds...

I love, love, LOVE this guy!

And it's Monday.  I'm a little loopy, but my headache's better.  :-D

A-Z Migraine Distraction...

Chris and I had a great time in Arizona and we are now home.  I am fighting a migraine and about to fall asleep... but before I do, in an effort to take my mind off the migraine, I'm going to participate in Mimi's A-Z of Me!  :-D

A.  Age:  27

B.  Bed Size:  Queen with my Hubby!
C.  Chore that you hate:  I hate all chores when I have a headache... without a headache nothing's that bad
D. Dogs:  Our Labrador puppy, Lloyd Carr is on his way... just waiting on God's timing
E.  Essential start to your day:  The alarm going off...
F.  Favorite color:  Tied between green and purple - green for wearing, and purple for seeing and using
G. Gold or Silver:  Good question... Gold, but either white or yellow
H.  Height:  5'3"
I.    Instruments you play:  Harp, piano but its been a long time, and voice
J.  Job Title:  Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments ages 3-21 across 5 Rocky Mountain counties
K.  Kids:  Not yet, but eventually, in God's timing -- but we have an adorable kitty, Lexie -- why wasn't "C", Cats?
L.  Live:  Yes, I do! :-D  Okay, I live in Colorado.
M.  Mother's name:  Judith Christine -- goes by Chris
N.  Nicknames:  Brookie, Babe, Wifey (just Chris uses those last two), Mrs. Miller
O.  Overnight hospital stays:  Not yet.
P.  Pet Peeves:  Using words other than the medically correct terminology to use the bathroom.  Gross to mention, but there are proper terms for what you do in the restroom, and I'd rather hear those words than the incredibly gross and immature substitutes that 90% of our society uses.
Q.  Quote from a movie:  "Never leave your partner, especially in a fire... Don't just follow your heart.  Your heart can be deceived.  Lead your heart." - Fireproof
R.  Right or left handed:  Right... but my left eye is dominant.

S.  Siblings:  an older brother and sister, Trent and Tracey -- and now Chris' family - twin siblings a brother and sister and another brother because Chris' sister is married -- lots of siblings now!
T.  Time you wake up:  Around 6:30 Monday-Friday and usually around 7am on weekends
U.  Underwear:  Did this A-Z thing really just ask me this?

V.  Vegetable you hate:  Hate is such a strong word that this survey seems to like... I do not like
W.  What makes you run late:  It seems like a bad idea to say my husband or my in-laws (:-D)... so I'll say lack of adequate time management
X.  X-rays:  Are expensive.
Y.  Yummy food you make:  Indian Pulled Pork
Z.  Zoo animal:  Polar Bears

Your turn!  Enjoy the A-Z distraction like I did.  :-D

Autumn Has Arrived!

Autumn has arrived in Western Colorado and Chris and I are thrilled about it!  With average temperatures in the low 40's and high 70's, we are loving this!  This is what my parents always called "great sleeping weather."

On my drive to and from schools today it was even more apparent that autumn has arrived... its just an opening act right now, but it has arrived.  Here are some very amateur pictures I shot today on my travels.  These pictures do no justice to the hint of yellow present in the canopy of these leaves...

As happy as Chris and I are with Autumn, we are headed to Arizona to 90-100* temperatures (good-bye long sleeves and tights) to see my Grandmother and a baseball game!!!  Its fun to pull some summer outfits out of my closet for one last hurrah before 6 months in hibernation.  We're taking Lexie with us, again.  We just love this girl!

You know what?!?!  I miss Caffeinated Randomness that used to happen every Friday, and it was just so fun to be random and silly and a part of a group on Fridays. Does anyone else know of a fun Caffeinated Randomness for Fridays that I can join?

HAPPY FRIDAY!  HAPPY AUTUMN!!  GO MICHIGAN!!!

Learning to Laugh

There are so many things I need to learn about how to be a helpmate to my wonderful husband.  I want to become so much better at the ways I love him and show him how much I love him and believe in him and trust him and ... Oh, I just love him so much.

In addition to all of the above, I need to learn how to laugh at myself.  I need to learn how to laugh in general... but ESPECIALLY at myself.

This morning was a great example.  I am in the bedroom getting dressed and Chris asks me if I have done my hair already.  I tell him yes, I have.  He then tells me that I have a big chunk of hair not cooperating with the braid concept.  Instead of laughing, I scowl like a storm cloud.

 

 My amazing husband laughs all the time!  I love him so much and he is always ready to laugh at everything, anything - himself, myself, our cat, our life... He is always first to see the humor of a situation.

 I want to be quick to laugh.

The Bible tells us to laugh... even the Proverbs 31 *Holy Grail of an Amazing Wife* is praised for her laughter.  And she doesn't just laugh when she is trying to sleep with a cat in a tent or when she's watching bloopers from a movie... no, she laughs at the DAYS TO COME?!?!?!  What a woman!  I still need to work on laughing at the present -- especially in the mornings.

I am so glad I'm only 3 months into this marriage, being-a-wife thing (actually, 3 months on Sunday) because I have so much I want to learn and improve upon.  Some people keep a food item in their refrigerator for 3 months... and I've been a wife for three months!  So short an amount of time and yet my world is TOTALLY different than it was 3 months ago.

 

I want our house to be full of sunshine for my wonderful and laughter-filled hubby!  

As I was thinking about this post and thinking about laughter, I was reminded of two things... first of all this picture my friend and sister-in-Christ and sorority sister, Mary Carol snapped before my wedding.  I don't exactly remember which one-liner joke had us laughing at this moment, but so rarely is just genuine laughter, joy and humor of my parents and me captured like it is here...

 

The other thing I thought of was how hard I really do laugh at bloopers.  I don't know what it is about them, but I just LAUGH so hard!!!  So, I'm hoping I can find a good one on youtube that will make you laugh below...

Here is a clip that had me laughing pretty hard from America's Funniest Home Videos (all of the bloopers clips were either too long to share or had quite a bit of swearing involved).  Some of the spills and falls are less funny than others, but I was laughing especially hard during the clips with the big bouncy balls.  Enjoy and keep laughing.

Most photo credit here.

Dream Wedding: Girls Getting Ready

Today I thought I'd share some fun pictures of the "getting ready" part of Chris and my wedding day.  If you remember, we ran a race first thing in the morning... then we ran home for a quick shower (okay, we drove home for a quick shower... haha) and then zipped to The Creative Edge Salon for pedicures, hair and makeup!

 All of my bridesmaids, my mom and I all got pedicures... here are Liz, Meghan and baby Remy

 Here are Kelley (my maid of honor) and Becky (Chris' sister -- now my sister too!)

 And Momma and me... Mom has already had her hair done!

 

These are my toes being painted after my feet were rubbed and pampered!  Best way to start my wedding day... after a 5K road race of course.

 

Leah was an awesome friend and baby-sitter for Remy who got to hang out with us all morning.

 

A beautiful shot of Becky!

 Here I am holding Remy... because I thought it might be the last time I'd be comfortable holding a baby that day -- what with the white dress and cathedral length veil and all.

 I love this little girl!

  

Next was makeup time for Mom and me while the girls got their hair done...

I think this shot is hilarious... mom and her makeup gal are checking out my makeup and giving their opinion.  Really, you can only trust your mom for a truly honest opinion on your wedding day.  :-D  (I love you, Momma!)

Meanwhile, the beautiful bridesmaids had their hair done.  My request was "Anyway you want your hair that is something special... something you would not do in everyday life.  Other than that, be comfortable."

 "My momma is looking so beautiful!"

 Here's Remy's Momma -- or her hair at least

My mother-in-law also had her hair done and then all the girls did each other's makeup while I was finishing up with my hair...

And I had my hair done -- as you can see, my hair is INCREDIBLY straight.  Karen had her work cut out for her to make my hair fully of relaxed ringlets.

... and adding the Veil!

 Since the veil was cathedral length... so like 10 feet long, once it was in my hair, I had to remember to take care of it the rest of the day... "Oh yeah, I have to wear a veil on my arm like a sleeve, and oh, yeah, its also attached to my head... as if I didn't have enough other things on my mind today."  :-D

Something I should mention is that throughout the months leading up to my wedding, I enjoyed trying on the dress... but there was serious drama regarding the dress.  It was my sister's dress and it was new in 1988, so there were alterations and old lace and sequins, etc.  There were quite a few emotional, stressful tears shed over the dress.

 

But the veil... every time I put the veil on, my eyes filled with tears of joy, tears of disbelief, tears that I really was a beautiful bride about to marry the man of my dreams in the wedding of my dreams surrounding by my closest friends and family.

 

This veil was one of my favorite parts of my wedding outfit!