Always

Always and Forever

Sentimental Things

Valentine’s Day

I’m such a Romantic at heart.
*sigh*

Valentine’s day has held a sappy little spot in my heart for as long as I can remember. My dream since youth was to have a Valentine’s Day wedding with roses and hearts galore. Seeing as Prince Charming was still a long ways off and had not yet displayed his royal face onto my horizon, I began writing a letter to him every year on that special day. Letters of waiting, longing, wondering, and hoping. Letters to confirm to him that I was waiting for my One-and-Only, my true love, my soul-mate, my Beloved. Extra entries filled more pages, written on special occasions, holidays, and of course, every Valentine’s day.

Fast forward the time clock a few years to February 14th, 2008, when Mike took me to a movie, dinner, and a Casting Crown’s concert. We were “just friends”, but a couple months later, we realized that had been our very first date.

There are no pictures from that evening, just a pile of memories that make me all warm inside when I think about them. It will probably always stand out as my favorite Valentine’s Day, because that day was the beginning of our love story.

October 4th, 2008 –
Our Wedding Day

In traditional fashion, Mike & I exchanged wedding gifts that evening. His gift to me was a Bible matching his, with my new name engraved on the cover. It was perfect! My gift to him was a leather journal, filled with letters to my love, overflowing with years of waiting for that moment, waiting for that man.

Our wedding did not fall on Valentine’s Day like I had hoped for so long, but in the end, it did not matter. Our flowers were Roses, the colors were red & white, and it was still Valentine’s Day in my heart.

Well, that is my Valentine’s Day story! I’m going to put a MckLinky at the bottom of this post in case any of you blog about your stories and want to share the link. I’d love to read them!

I'm Baaaaack!

I'm back!

Yes, I’ve been MIA the last couple of weeks – first to vacation, the second week to sickness.  2 ½ days off work and a whole weekend at home has left me with a touch of cabin fever, but I’m thankful to finally be on the mend.   It’s a quiet Saturday in my happy little home, I have the laundry in the washer, dishes all done, a big pot of soup on the stove and now it’s time to blog for a bit. … before I forget how!

Thursday morning I finally dragged myself to the doctor (actually, my dear husband drove me there…) and I got some antibiotics.  The diagnosis: Sinus infection, Ear infection, Upper respiratory infection.  No wonder I didn’t feel good.  I drank a hundred cups of tea, spent long hours watching old TV show reruns, and rarely left the couch.  I haven’t been that sick in several years, and I’m thankful to be well on the way to “normal” once again!

Vacation was AMAZING.  There was nothing about Maui that I didn’t fall in love with… it’s all I’ve been able to think about since coming back to the freezing Midwest. But the sun is shining through my window right now, so I’m trying to forget about the fact that it’s only 23 degrees out and just bask in the glow of the rays.  We have roughly 2000 pictures from our trip, so when we get everything organized I’ll do some posts about vacation – it was certainly something I’ll remember forever.    A big highlight for me:  getting to swim in the ocean.  It was a first for me and SO much fun!  The taste of the salt water definitely takes some getting used to, and my eyes never did quite adjust to it, but it was incredible.  I fell in love with so many things there.  More on all that in future posts!

Our health-food kick is in full swing now, and the past couple days have gone really well.  Green Monsters are going to become part of our regular diet (now that I’ve actually become brave enough to make them), as well as more natural and Organic foods.  Yesterday I made some lovely hummus, which is delicious on sandwiches or with veggies.  I’m getting the hang on disguising the taste of veggies and we’re eating many more of them, which I’m rather proud about.  We don’t mind eating them, we just aren’t big fans of tasting them!  We’re also drinking some V8 Fusion in the morning to get the extra servings that we need.  I am so excited about going to the Farmer’s Market in the summer to buy local produce and stock up on all the fresh goodness!

I need to catch up on my blog reading and get back to commenting.  Sorry about the delinquency!  A part of me has enjoyed the break from technology, but I’m starting to miss all my bloggy friends!  Hopefully posts will start coming more regularly again. 

Time to go fold some laundry and enjoy a bowl of soup.