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by Bethe

On a lighter note

After Monday’s mushy post, I thought I’d lighten things up a bit and talk about what Mr. Right and I have been up to lately.

These past few weekends we have relished being home–after a full summer of traveling–and have had a blast piddling around on our house. As we continue to unpack and discover furniture and decor that came with a wedding and combining two homes, we have loved getting to slowly decorate and “finish” our house, at the cost of almost nothing but a little spray paint and a lot of creativity.

Our latest addition is these shelves, which Mr. Right purchased from Ikea and used in his house to hold food since his cute little house–built in the 1950s– didn’t have a pantry. We finally found the time to cart these shelves from his garage, where they’ve sat lonely for several months, over to their permanent home. From there, I used this Pinterest inspiration to decorate our blank canvas with treasures we already had. Since we both love to entertain, we already had tons of white serving pieces (I already had a set of dishes that fed 15 people–a byproduct of hosting 20-30 people every year for Easter), and then added a few fun extras from our wedding registry. I’ve found that if I can’t easily reach (or see) something, I won’t use it, so we brought all of our favorite pieces out of storage, and it’s amazing how in only two weeks we’ve used so many items off of here. I already have big plans for decorating them for Christmas. Mr. Right, who despises seasonal decorations, is probably rolling his eyes as he reads this–but I love him anyway because he’s so darn cute.


I mentioned that I’m working on a top secret quilting project. Well, you know me, I can’t keep a secret to save my life. Just ask my family. I decided there’s no use in exploding from the excitement of not being able to share… so I’m sharing. I’m just not telling you who it’s for. But here’s a sneak preview – it’s an relaxed, neutral quilt in a brick pattern, and after I finish piecing everything I’m going to add a bit of flair – my first foray into applique, so I’m excited/nervous about what it will look like.

This where I can also mentioned that I asked a sales lady in the sewing machine section at my local JoAnn’s Fabrics store to help me with some applique questions and she responded with her hands on her hips and a “Don’t you know young people know ANYTHING about sewing?!” (boo hiss) Thankfully my crafty sister gave me an over-the-phone tutorial and I think I’m set.

In the meantime, last weekend we decided to explore the antique store right around the corner from our home. We had overcommitted maximized our social calendar for the weekend, so we made this morning trip our date for the week – it just so happened that they were having a giant sidewalk sale outside our antique store, and digging through all the junk goodies was so much fun! I picked up some vintage jars for my new sewing room shelf (note to self- post picture of the shelf Mr. Right built me – it’s adorable!) and Mr. right snagged a vintage cruiser bike to add to our ever-growing collection of bicycles. We also may or may not have picked up a top-secret gift – one that I really will keep a secret because it’s just that good. Totally worth it. You can’t break me, don’t even try.

This is a vintage quilt I snagged a photo of at the antique store that may become the inspiration of a future project. I love the combination of solids and patterns into squares, and I adore the bright colors.

 Saturday night we ran in a 5K race for my work. I was a bit worried since in all the craziness of life these past few weeks (hello, organizing the largest special event of my career) I didn’t make have time to train, other than a few short runs scattered here and there (mostly there). But, inspired by a pair of kickin’ new running shoes and feeling cute in my t-shirt (which I designed) I was able to RUN the entire race. Not that impressive since I’ve run a half marathon before, but impressive considering most of my working out lately has been in spin class or sitting at my quilting machine. Regardless, it was a total blast, and so fun to be able to do it with my man, who–for the record–ran it significantly faster than I did. What can I say, I’m a bit proud.

Time to find another one to sign up for…

by Bethe

To the nice lady who…

To the nice lady (who knows me) who said to me this morning… “You don’t even LOOK pregnant…”

You’re right. I’m not.
And I will never again wear this flowy, puffy shirt without a belt. Ever.
And I’m going to spin class tonight.
And I ate a salad for lunch.
There. I feel better. Almost.
by Bethe

Halfiversary

Today is our Halfiversary. Six whole months of newlywed bliss. I think back to what I was doing six months ago… what an amazing day.

I could be all mushy about it, but my husband has gotten plenty of mush lately. So instead I’ve got a top 10 list of “aha” moments from our first six months of marriage.
10. I am now an expert at brushing the collars on men’s shirts. My husband has been so impressed with me.
9. I have watched more testosterone-filled action movies than my first 29 years of life combined. And you know what… as long as they don’t have too much blood and at least a semblance of a love story, I really don’t mind.
8. I still get teary when he takes out the trash, lifts heavy objects, or fills my car up with gas. I just never thought I’d be that girl.
7. It’s amazing how quickly his family felt like family. Now when I walk into his parents’ house, I know where the silverware drawer is and how to load their dishwasher. I even spent a very sick night there in the midst of my uber-annoying health problems.
6. I now sleep better when Mr. Right is in bed than when I’m by myself. Funny, after a first month of very sleepless nights.
5. We’ve learned how to argue. Learning to live together (and having someone there when you’re at your worst) obviously brings disagreements, but I think we’ve done a good job of learning how to disagree with the end goal being reconciliation or a mutually beneficial solution. I constantly remind myself that he wants me to thrive more than anybody else on the planet, which helps me when my feelings get hurt.
4. We’ve mastered a budget. It helped that we took the Dave Ramsey class twice (long story… Will helped put it on at our church, then after we finished that our Sunday School class did it). Working toward a common financial goal has brought us closer together.
3. He has taught my old dog new tricks. Harley the Wonder Schnoodle acted out the first six weeks
by Bethe

Because I can be horribly uncreative with my prayer time, I like to step back and pray through scripture. It takes me away from the “I want, I need, please give me” pattern that I tend to fall into, and helps me focus on scripture, on

Praying through Romans 12:9-18

Let love be without hypocrisy.

Lord, help me to love people purely and unselfishly, without self-centeredness. Help me to love people without thinking about what they do or don’t do for me. Help me to love others the way you have first loved me – not based on merit, but simply because that’s what you called me to do. Because they’re loved by you, so I should show them that same love.

Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Lord, help me to stay sensitive to the things I should avoid. Help me to run from sin and to crave what is good. Help me not to compromise.

Give preference to one another in honor

Help me to put others first, instead of myself. Help me to remember that the world doesn’t revolve around me.

Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Lord, sometimes I get tired. Or burned out. Please renew my spirit and my desire to serve you and your people. Help me to stay focused, and excited, and passionate about telling others about you, and what you have done for me. Please show me new ways that I can serve you. Please find me a place.

Rejoicing in hope

Oh Lord, I know that no matter how difficult life becomes, you are King, you are in charge, and you are coming back. I can’t wait for the day I get to see you face to face… oh how I long for that moment. May I continue to remember the hope I have even on my darkest days. Please make my hope contagious.

Persevering in tribulation

Lord, I’m a huge wimp. Please make me strong under pressure. I know I can do all things through you, who gives me strength. Help me to live like that is true.

Devoted to prayer

Thank you for the mighty honor I have in coming to you, anytime I want, in prayer. May I never take it for granted. Just as I want you to strengthen me in other areas, I ask that you strengthen my prayer life. May I pray in a way that brings you more honor, more glory. Grant me the faith to pray without ceasing.

Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality

Open my eyes to the needs of those around me. Give me a generous spirit. Help me to remember that everything I have belongs to you, including my home, and my checkbook. Help me to be unselfish with my resources.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Lord, this is so hard for me. Just as you have given me forgiveness that I did not deserve, I know I owe that to others. But especially in the moment, it’s so hard for me to bless someone who is persecuting me. And the persecution I suffer is so much smaller than what Christians around the world face in your name. Lord, please help me in this – I cannot do it except through you. Soften my heart – replace my heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Lord, may I not be jealous. Help me to be genuinely happy for others who receive your blessings.

Weep with those who weep

Lord, grant me sensitivity and the right words to say to people as they mourn. I ask that you use me as your tool to bring peace to folks who desperately need it.

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

On most days, I want the world to revolve around me. Help me to shed the self-importance and judgment and to see people for who they are – someone who is loved by you, regardless of what they look like, or act like, where they live or what they do. Help me to treat everybody the same. Help me to humble – a scary request, but one that I obviously need.

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.

Help me to be quick to forgive.

Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

Help me to make decisions that glorify you and don’t make others stumble. I know others are watching me, and I ask that you help protect me from making decisions that could adversely affect someone else. Help me to crave what is good.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Lord, help me to leave peaceably with others. Help me to guard my tongue and my actions so that I don’t cause trouble. Help me to give others the benefit of the doubt when they make mistakes, since that’s what I want from others for myself. Help me to remember that the stakes are high and that my pride is not worth disappointing you.

by Bethe

The latest

Well, I was tear-free for two whole days, and then yesterday I got frustrated again. My sweet husband has been oh-so kind to me and responds so sweetly to me when I get emotional. He usually asks “What’s your biggest frustration?” and then lets me verbalize all the crazy emotions going on in my head that haven’t yet formed any words.

Here’s how our conversation went yesterday:
Mr. Right: What’s your greatest frustration?
Me (in tears): I’m tired of not having any energy and it was a holiday and I wanted to have fun with my family but I was too tired to do much and I hate not getting to help clear the dishes and I feel like a lazy butt and I’m hurting and frustrated that my medicine isn’t helping and tired of taking my medicine and we’re newlyweds and we didn’t deserve to be dealing with sickness so early in our marriage this isn’t what our life is supposed to look like I’m mad at the world and frustrated and tired of having a bad attitude.
(sigh, I hate that he even had to sit through that)
Mr. Right: What’s your greatest joy?
Me (still in tears): Being married to you.
(now, at the moment that was all I could think of, but obviously this isn’t true… I’m so incredibly blessed and have been particularly thankful for a few friends and family members who have been praying me through this season… but in the middle of the tears, this was all I could muster)
Mr. Right: What do you think God is teaching us through all this?
(Don’t you just love my husband for asking questions like this? I sure do…)
There are several things I think God’s teaching us, but I think one of my biggest take-aways is this: As each part of my identity has changed, as each role that I’ve been so proud of has slowly disappeared, what is left? When I’m no longer a Sunday School teacher, or a leader, or petite, or physically fit, or a great hostess, and my social life is almost nonexistent… what’s left? When I’m not a domestic goddess keeping the perfect house for my husband… when I no longer feel beautiful… when I’m struggling to make it through the work day… when I can’t juggle and multi-task my life like I’ve always done… when I can’t do the things I want to do…
… then what?
Is God enough in those circumstances? Can I be thankful?
Or will I let the insecurities fighting for my mind win the battle? Will I be defeated? Will I give up?
NO. I may cry so much my eyelids swell (this really happens, my husband and I got a great laugh out of it one morning), but I will not let this kill my spirit.
Last night, after our conversation, I found this on my bathroom mirror. (Again, don’t you just love him? I sure do…)
And today I saw a specialist who thinks he can fix what’s wrong with me. Not only that, but he thinks he can fix it with meds that shouldn’t change my quality of life. I may be on antibiotics indefinitely, but they’ll be minor, low-dose drugs that should avoid many of the side-effects that I experienced during my first nine rounds. So I’m praying that doctor #4 and antibiotic #10 will do the trick and get me back to normal.
And when it does… I’m going to celebrate. By running a 10K. And I’m going to be incredibly thankful for the opportunity to do it.
by Bethe

A house full of eggs, none for cooking

My husband and I eat a lot of eggs. Correction: my husband eats a lot of eggs, and since I’m hugely influenced by peer pressure, I end up eating eggs with him. Boiled, fried, in stews and plain, my man loves his protein. And I love him.
There’s only one problem – he boils a dozen eggs at a time and then puts them back in the egg container so that they’re ready to grab when he’s on the go. I’d never thought about doing this before, so you can imagine my shock when I went to make him cupcakes as a thank-you for house sitting for me while I was on vacation last year, and the first egg I broke… was boiled.
Huh?!?!
I figured it was some sort of fluke from the egg manufacturing company, so I cracked a second. No dice. Boiled too. I went through and systematically broke every egg in my egg carton, and NONE were breakable.
Mr. Right never warned me about this little quirk of his. I quickly learned my lesson, but since we got married and he moved in, it has become a game… how do I decipher the cooking eggs from the batch of boiled ones? I try tapping them, shaking them, and to no avail – I’m never right. I closely examine the carton for some sort of labeling… and nothing.
And then I complain to my husband, and he shows me the very clear labeling he did on the INSIDE of the carton.
But when you’re a super stealth cook like me, you don’t bother to pull out the container of eggs and examine the INSIDE of the carton for the labeling. You just reach your hand in and hope for the best.
Maybe it’s the difference between men and women. Or maybe it’s because I’m usually in a hurry.
We’ve now worked up a compromise – he labels every square inch of our egg carton, and most of the time I am able to figure out his system.
by Bethe

Wedding Crazy

My whole life I’ve judged Bridezilla. I’m a professional event planner, and I knew planning a wedding would be a breeze. Ain’t nothin’.

And then I went wedding crazy.
It started with a to-do list a mile long. Add in a crazy-busy fall at work,
by Bethe

My life… the adventure

Woah nelly, it has been a crazy summer! Here are a few of the highlights:

-The fire department broke into my house. Someone in my neighborhood called 911, and the dispatcher got the address wrong and sent the fire department and ambulance to my house. Nobody answered when they knocked, so they assumed the person was REALLY sick, and forced their way into my house. Only after a team of firemen traipsed through my place, probably scaring Harley the Wonder Schnoodle to death, did they realize that it was the wrong house. Trust me, the police and fire departments were quite apologetic about the havoc they wreaked that day.
-Then, the ambulance company charged me $1400 for that little mishap. We’ve since gotten it straightened out… I hope.
-I made my first trip to Central America (Panama) and South America (Colombia). Okay, technically I only visited the airport in Panama, but I did enjoy some Empanadas and some fabulous foreign chocolates.
-I took roadtrips to far East Texas and far West Texas. I dipped my toe in the waters of both the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean. I used every trashy gas station restroom between Dallas and Destin, and I convinced my boyfriend to pee on the side of the road (with my eyes closed and covered) instead of leaving me in the car alone while he used a scary gas station bathroom after midnight.
-I was attacked by sand fleas in Destin, bed bugs in Colombia, and a gecko at my house in Texas.
-I hid in the bushes to secretly photograph my sister’s engagement. While I waited for the big moment, I kept having to explain to all the passersby that I wasn’t scary or weird, and that this was a good thing.
-I got my first airbrush spray tan. I’m hooked.
-I tried P90X for the first time, and could barely move my legs for the next three days.
-I won a Women’s Longest Drive contest at a golf tournament, and I wasn’t even the only woman there.
-I started the Dave Ramsey “envelope method” budget, and then immediately lost all my envelopes filled with money.
-I got my first traffic ticket in six years, and then had a tear-filled meltdown as soon as the policeman drove away.
by Bethe

Strangely Quiet

Goodness me, it’s been more than two months since I wrote last. Not to worry, the reason I haven’t written anything is because I’ve been so gloriously busy enjoying life that I haven’t had the time or desire to write much. I’ve noticed that whenever I date someone, my blog seems to go dark… probably because I have someone who will let me prattle off everything that’s going on in my head, and there’s no need to recount it twice. And thus you, my blog reading friends, must suffer.

But this special someone isn’t just anybody… and the silence won’t last forever. I must get back to writing, if for no other reason, so as not to let my writing muscles atrophy simply because I’m having fun.

Since I last wrote, I have sunned myself on beaches on two different continents. I’ve trekked out to West Texas AND East Texas, had more romantic dinners than I can count, spent time with some amazing friends, made some new ones, and lived a few adventures. The highlight of my summer was a week-long mission trip to Colombia – my first trip to South America, and my first big mission trip since high school. It was an amazing experience which I plan to recount on here as soon as I get a free moment.
And in between all the thrills of an absolutely lovely summer, I’ve seen first-hand God do some crazy-big things in my life, and in the lives of people closest to me. We sure do serve a pretty amazing God, don’t we?
More later…
by Bethe

10 Quirky Things About Me

My family shows love by bringing each other drinks at work.
Just about everybody in my family has backed into each other. I backed into my sister’s ex-boyfriend. Then my mom backed into me with Sarah’s car. Then Sarah backed into Lindsay’s car. It’s dangerous to park in our driveway.
I collect sassy aprons. I’ve found it makes cooking more fun.
One of my great joys in life is throwing a party. Because of this I collect dishes and could probably host a sit-down dinner for 30 without borrowing anything.
I carry a little yellow inhaler on my person 24/7. You will NEVER find me without it.
I love fireworks, Christmas lights, and gift wrap.
My current food addictions include pears, avocados, and chocolate pop tarts.
You will never see me eat cheesecake, meat on a bone, or fish. Unless the fish is sushi, and then I love it.
I can never remember if Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are cities or states.