he & she {summer edition}

he welcomes summer by turning the A/C up.

she welcomes summer by putting the windows down.

he lets the chickens out every morning before work.

she is teaching the chickens to eat out of her hand.

they are patiently waiting for their first batch of eggs.

he prunes and tends to the backyard vegetables.

she waters and cares for the front porch flowers.

he is driving all around northern Kentucky for his new job.

she is commuting to southern Indiana for her new job.

they are slowly adjusting to their new schedules.

he is learning about aquaponics.

she is catching up on photo editing.

he just turned the ripe old age of 34 last week.

she isn't far behind at her new age of 32.

they will celebrate 9 whole years of blissful marriage tomorrow.

...summer couldn't be better.

he & she {winter edition}

 

{photo compliments of Firm Anchor Photography}

he is enjoying his new(ish) full-time job.

she is savoring the joys of working-from-home.

he is loving the cold weather.

she is so over it.

they are still tan from their recent St. Thomas trip.

he is working hard to launch the Urban Experience this summer.

she is pumped to have some out-of-state weddings on the books.

he is booking the required doctor appointments for the adoption process.

she is filling out the 70 question self-study for the adoption process.

they are hoping to get their second homestudy meeting on the books soon.

he is happy to be reading non-required seminary material for a change.

she is finally finishing the last Hunger Games book.

they are thrilled to see what exciting adventures twenty-thirteen has in store.

eight years.

Dearest Lance,


Seeing that it's almost May 29th on your side of the world, I wanted to be the first to wish you a very happy anniversary.


Eight whole years...

I remember our wedding day like it was just yesterday... how my heart raced with excitement as I walked down that aisle... how that beautiful little church in Troy, Alabama seemed to come to life when I saw your smile... how I could hardly wait to to slip that ring on your finger and say 'I do.'  At that very moment, I thought that I could never love you more.


I was wrong.


Lance, I love you more and more every.single.day.  Thank you for all you do and all you are.  I am beyond grateful to have you as my husband.  I love you forever and always.


Love,
me

love notes...

A little love note can go a long way.  

They can be short...

...or they can be long...

They can say "good morning"...

...or they can say "good night."

They can be for safe travels...

...or for happy birthdays.

Just a simple way to tell someone you're thinking about them.  Lance and I emailed hundreds of love notes to one another when we were dating and he was living overseas for a year.  I've scribbled notes on bathroom mirrors.  He's hidden index cards in bathroom drawers.

Before Lance left for Nepal, I collected various cards and stationary and numbered the envelopes for the dates he would be gone.  Initially, I thought I would just do one card for his birthday and another for our anniversary.  But then I decided to do something similar to this.

Some notes are short and sweet... a simple verse maybe.  Others are more lengthy... love notes straight from the heart.  I stamped the envelopes with my awesome vintage number stamps... one for each day he is gone...

 Then I stacked them up... tied a pretty bow... and hid them in his backpack.

Happy travels Lance... I miss you like crazy.


What about you?  Do you write love notes?

he & she... {summer edition}

he is traveling to Nepal and Turkey this summer.

she is traveling to Texas and Alabama this summer.

he is just days away from his 33rd birthday.

she just celebrated her 31st birthday.

he brought her flowers this week... just because.

she made him cookies this week... just because.

he is finishing papers and book reports from his spring classes.

she is finishing editing photos from her spring photography sessions.

he is planting a vegetable garden in their backyard.

she is just trying to keep her potted plants alive.

he is reading books for his summer classes.

she is reading the Hunger Games series.

he helps the neighbors with yard work.

she brings the neighbors brownies.

they are making this community more and more like home everyday.

field trips for grown-ups

When's the last time you went on a field trip??  Fifth grade maybe?  Yeah, me too.  

I remember visiting the Blue Bell factory in fourth grade... which was awesome.  But who said field trips were just for fourth graders??  I've decided that is a stupid rule... and I'm now declaring that field trips are for grown-ups of all ages. 

Last week Lance and I made our own field trip.  We went to Cincinnati for the afternoon... visiting a few key field trip locations along the way.  It.was.awesome.

First stop: IKEA

I haven't been to an IKEA in years, and I've probably only been 3 times total in my entire life.  I almost forgot how awesome it was.

Probably my favorite thing about IKEA is how they have all these "rooms" set up... just ready to go.  Kitchens, bedrooms, offices, dorm rooms, living rooms, libraries... ideas galore.

I loved the wall-length floating shelf idea.  I saw this in a couple of spaces and loved the look.  How cool would this be to showcase your travel photos and mementos?

I mean, you could seriously just go crawl under the covers and I don't think anyone would find you until closing time.  I loved the natural bedding in this room.

They had duvets galore... and some really pretty ones.  But the bohemian comforter from Target still has my heart... (just ordered it!) 

The lighting options were awesome too.  I mean, seriously... where else can you get a super cute lamp shade for $5??

And what a great place to shop for affordable art?  So many choices...

We grabbed the Expedite bookshelf before we headed to the checkout line... well, I'm not entirely sure if Lance is heading towards the checkout or the $0.50 cent hotdogs...

Second stop: JUNGLE JIMS
What?  You've never heard of Jungle Jim's??  Yeah... me either.  But everyone told us we HAD to go.  So we did.  And it did not disappoint.  Hmmmm... how to describe?  It's like a ginormous international grocery store meets creepy circus fair.  They have food from every country you can think of... and these bazaar ceramic zoo animals scattered throughout the store.  It's weird.  But so-totally-awesome at the same time.

This is the entrance... That giraffe greets you with a low creepy, "Hello boys & girls!! Welcome to Jungle Jims!" with a weird chuckle at the end.  Told you, weird.

But once you bypass the weird ceramic zoo animals, you come across the most impressive cheese selection I've ever seen.  It's sorted by country and it seemed to go on and on.  I don't know much about cheese, so I just poked around in the France section and found one that looked pretty tasty... and it was.

The beer section was equally as impressive... and overwhelming.  They had every beer imaginable... from every country imaginable.

 Yummmm... baked treats.  I had to quickly walk past this section before I asked for one of everything.

 Even their produce section was enticing.  Everything was so fresh and colorful.

They made sushi fresh-to-order... which we did... for dinner. 

Third stop: CHICK-FIL-A
Don't freak out... we have Chick-fil-a in Louisville.  But sometimes it just tastes better on the road, no?  We stopped specifically for milkshakes... and were surprised to see that they were doing some kind of mother/daughter special event.  They had pink table cloths on all of the tables, a pink stretch Hummer limo (making rounds around the parking lot), and the princess chick-fil-a cow.  I totally cut in front of a 3 year old girl for this picture.  

So, there you have it.  Our grown-up field trip.  We'll definitely be doing it again.  Where are you going on your grown-up field trip?

love and strawberries... and such

Today I'm hanging out over at Mackenzie's blog, Friday Night Date Night... you know... just chit-chatting away about boys and love and stuff. If you haven't ever visited Mackenzie's blog, then shame on you... you are seriously missing out. She and her husband are absolutely adorable and are always thinking of the most creative date night ideas. No really... these two love birds are brilliant when it comes to affordable date night ideas.

Well, today Mackenzie invited me over to her blog and asked me to share a mushy-gushy-lovey-dovey story about me and Mr. Lance. Sure... no problem. Yep... so I can be found over here today talking about love and strawberries and such...

the cologne love lock bridge...

There is a beautiful bridge in Cologne, Germany... a bridge you can see sparkle in the sunlight from miles away... a bridge that shows that love can still stand the test of time. It's called the Hohenzollernbruecke Bridge (try saying that 3 times fast... or heck, try saying that at all). The bridge is covered in "love locks" ...and I mean covered. Couples come from all over to express their love to one another and place their lock on the bridge. We couldn't leave Cologne without leaving our own "love locks" on the bridge...

{Lance engraving the lock we purchased}

{Lance & Julia 9-14-11}

{deciding on the perfect spot}

{sealed with a kiss}

{Lance handing me one of the keys}

{tossing our keys into the Rhine River... this is for real people:) }

{Jenna & Chris}

{mom & dad}

{a kiss for good luck}

So, if you ever make it to Cologne, Germany... be sure to lock your love to the bridge, and look for our lock... I'm sure you'll see it:)

what 7 years looks like...

Lance and I celebrated 7 fabulous years of marriage yesterday. After 7 years, your anniversary looks something a little like this...

::Your amazing husband makes a surprise visit to Georgia so you can celebrate in the same state.

::You share a toothbrush, because he forgot his.

::You get a mani/pedi, while he picks up his repaired fly fishing rod.

::You buy him a $3 DVD.

::You decide on a dinner date at one of your long-time favorite local restaurants.

::You make a stop at Dairy Queen for dessert.

::You watch the $3 DVD you bought him and fall asleep half way through.

Happy anniversary Lance! I love you!

embrace the camera

My picture for this week's ETC is from our weekend in Gatlinburg, TN. I have downloaded the super-high-quality-iPhone-photo-with-flash strictly for your enjoyment. This photo was taken Saturday night at an awesome karaoke bar (awesome: translates to no-name-there-are-5-people-already-here-singing-their-heart-out). All 25 people of our group came waltzing in and took over the entire place in a heartbeat. It was fabulous.

Head over to Emily's blog to link up and embrace away!

weekend festivities...

Here's what we were up to this weekend...

On Thursday, our friends Molly & Justin were in town to start my weekend off earlier than normal... I picked Molly up for a lunch date at Dooley's (the awesome pretzel place I talked about in the previous post). Our friend Allie met us on her lunch break as well... conversation swirled over yummy pretzel sandwiches, ranging from cold weather attire, to Molly's upcoming move to NY, to the circle of friends, to Fubu boots... no conversation is off limits when eating pretzel sandwiches.

Then Thursday night we met back up with Justin & Molly, John & Allie... and our new friends, Jason & Rachel (they moved from Louisville just as we moved to Louisville... I'm still a little bitter about this). We, along with the kiddos, ate dinner at Homerun Burgers... I'm in love with their cajun fries.

We then pulled a late night in the (ahem) classy (yet very empty) hotel bar where Jason & Rachel were staying. I have not laughed that much in a very.long.time. Seriously. My cheeks hurt, I think I peed in my pants a little, and before I knew it, it was nearly 2:00am. A great night.

Friday I put in a hard day's work (swear)... and then we were off to a birthday dinner for this special friend. We went to Jenny's favorite restaurant, Erika's German Restaurant... and I'm so glad we did... it was amazing. I almost felt like I was back in Waldkraiburg eating with co-workers. I had the jaegerschnitzel and spatzle... so delicious.

Saturday was fabulous. I slept in ridiculously late... like-a-high-schooler-wasting-away-their-summer-late... and it felt so good. Lance and I caught the afternoon showing of Voyage of the Dawn Treader... I strongly recommend. For dinner, we stepped into Martini's Italian Restaurant, which was the perfect cozy spot to escape the cold and the rain.

Today was equally fabulous... we woke up to a snow-covered ground, headed to church, then back home for Italian leftovers and a lazy day of ABC Family Christmas movies and chocolate chip cookies.

Could not have asked for a better weekend... What about you??