joy in me

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:16:52 +0000

A 3-day weekend. Glorious!!!! We are busy today doing housework. John’s house is coming together really nicely! We finally hired someone to take down wallpaper and paint the living room/kitchen/stair well. We tried to do it ourselves, but it wound up taking a LOT of time–so we figured we should get someone who a. knows what they’re doing and b. can do it in one-sixteenth of a time. So, that’s what we’ve done–and thankfully so! It’s been a bit of a conglomeration of ugly, peeling wallpaper from the 70s, random paint colors, and an attempt at painting the living room once (and figuring out we didn’t pick the right color…shocker) for the past year. We’re finally getting things together. We bought a bookshelf for the living room and have thrown out/re-organized a bunch of stuff. Next will be to re-doing closets and storage spaces (shelves, etc) to maximize every bit of space we have!

John’s birthday was this past Wednesday. We celebrated Wednesday night by having dinner with the kids and then celebrated last night with dinner at my parent’s house. Pulled pork (dad grilled it for 19 hours–yummmmmmmmm); baked beans; cole slaw; a greek salad mixture of artichoke hearts, heart of palm, green beans, feta cheese, and some spice s(a yummy recipe from a dear friend and one of John’s new favorite side dishes); and a YUMMY strawberry cake (a recipe from my cousin/aunt). Lots of John’s favorites and a fun family time.

Dad made some awesome pizza Thursday night.

In other news, wedding cakes have been tasted, picked out, and ordered! Hooray! We’ve been working on tie options this week-and next will be to make final decisions on flowers! Woo hoo!!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Our Weekend

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:38:52 +0000

It was a fun weekend. A simple, but busy weekend. A visit to Winter Park/Lake Mary to see some of John’s family (Winter Park is a lovely little town), a lovely cloudy white sky, a few fun meals (pig belly and lobster tacos), a trip to Ikea (not pictured), wedding band shopping (haven’t made the purchase yet!), a birthday lunch with John’s dad, cake tasting at Publix with my family, a trip to pick up a new-to-us kitchen table (Craig’s List!), trip to the grocery store, the beginning of wall paper removal prep, and a SUCCESSFUL bathroom tile cleaner (hallelujah!). The weekend ended with a bang (literally), as last night brought torrential downpours and the comfort of a rainy evening. We are livin’ this life!

All That we’re after is a life full of laughter

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:32:15 +0000

By Kimberly Stanton Photography

Thanks, Kim, for capturing who we are.
I’ll think we’ll spend plenty of days laughing!!

Wedding Update coming soon–we have a TON done!!! We also scored a new REAL WOOD kitchen table+6 chairs from craigs list tonight for $100 (sorry for the typo earlier). YES!

On finding her calling

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:14:43 +0000

One of my best friends (and bridemaids!) Melisa is following her heart, chasing her dreams, and totally trusting God to unveil His plan for her life. She’s starting a non-profit. And it’s really cool.

Check out her blog, Do Something That Matters.

To say I’m proud of her is an understatement. What she’s doing is really cool.

There is nothing above You.

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:45:03 +0000

Our hope is secure. You fail us not.

For some reason my blog won’t let me embed a YouTube video, but click HERE for an awesome song, video, and reminder that our God is BIG!