Faithful in the Fray

I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to write a blog post. I’m not going to lie to y’all; the past two months have been insane. So, I decided that I was going to write a crazy, long blog combining the two months, highlighting some of the things that went on.

          Month Five:

• Our Martha Stuart Christmas Tree. Back in October Jeremy and I found out we didn’t have a Christmas tree. We thought that we were going to be given one and when that didn’t go through, we went on a hunt. Well, actually, it just sort of happened one day. We went into Home Depot to get the floating shelves. (remember those dang floating shelves?) and while we were in there, we found an amazing tree! It was absolutely beautiful and we knew the price was going to be well worth the investment. I’m very traditional, I love the white lights, and a tree that is pre-lit makes my heart leap that much more. We spent one Saturday pulling out all the decorations I bought for a trillion percent off last year and started getting our little home ready for the holidays. We stopped by Hobby Lobby and Home Goods (my love language is gift cards to home goods stores) and after shopping for hours and a zillion percent off, our home looked awesome!

• Our dryer broke. One Saturday morning I got up to get ready for the day when I went to check our laundry. I noticed that the clothes were still wet and so I started the dryer again. When I pushed the button and let go, the dryer turned off. I figured that I didn’t hold the button down long enough so I pushed it again and let go. Nothing. I opened the dryer and pulled out the sopping set of queen sized sheets, towels, and random work clothes that Jeremy had piled into the washer the night before. The heat boiled into my face within an instant and I was livid. I slammed the dryer door and mumbled something along the lines of ‘and this is why I always do the laundry…’ totally neglecting the fact that Jeremy was trying to help. I slammed the door one more time (hoping to wake him up) and went about getting ready. I walked out of the bathroom to see my sleepy, half dressed husband, leaning over the dryer trying to see what I was freaking out about. I snapped at him saying ‘YOU broke it. You put too much stuff in it. We’re leaving for Pennsylvania on Wednesday, how are we going to dry our clothes now?’ and walked away. Let me tell you guys, I’m good at dropping the mic and walking away. No proud of it either. Between holidays and weddings, and being out of town, our dryer still is broken. We’ve been using my parents when we can, or scraping $1.50 per cycle when we absolutely need to dry our clothes.

• A Pennsylvanian Thanksgiving. We loaded up our car the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and headed up north. This year we spent Thanksgiving with Jeremy’s family and Christmas with mine. We figured that would be the easiest thing to do and flip flop them next year. It was so strange not being with my family on a holiday as this was the first one I’ve ever missed, but it was nice to be able to spend time with my new family, joining in on their traditions. It even snowed on Thanksgiving! What more could we have asked for? Our trip up and back was pretty uneventful; we managed to only stop about two times during the 13 hr trek. Thanks Africa, you’ve taught us well!

• Four weddings. Four sets of our friends all got married within six weeks of each other. I had the opportunity to go to a few bridal showers and some bachelorette parties which made me so happy. I’m a firm believer in girl time and guy time. It’s so good for the soul, and the fact that I have a loving husband who allows me to spend a night away from him is something I do not take for granted. It makes me love coming home to him so much more! I’ll give more details on the weddings in month six!

• Parties and brunches. We had a party a week it seemed like. December was so much busier than I could’ve ever imagined. I had a women’s brunch at church that my family was all in some way taking part in. My grandfather, dad, and brother sang in a men’s quartet. It was a sing-a-long for Christmas songs. Then I was asked to sing a song as well during the brunch. I love singing, but goodness I get so nervous when I’m supposed to sing in front of other people. Why can’t I be blindfolded every time? I guess that would look a little silly, wouldn’t it?

Month Six:

• Magical Nights of Lights. We went on a double date with some of our friends from church to Lake Lanier. We heard that it was an amazing date night place and so we figured, why not? What we didn’t take into account was the fact that there was one way in and one way out of this place. We sat in traffic for a solid 2 ½ hours before ever getting into the Island. It was a lot of fun, and the lights were okay, it was mainly just mass chaos all around. As we were leaving we saw a car had broken down, causing all the cars behind it to wait even longer. Gross.

• Surprise date to the Sundial. At one point Jeremy looked at me and told me he was going to take me on a date. I told him I would love that and asked where we were going to go. He told me he would take care of it. A few days later he told me that I had to be dressed nicely and ready by 5:30. He took me to the Sundial in downtown Atlanta. We went there on our first date, just to look out and watch the sunset. There we were, 2 ½ years later, having a date as a married couple. The meal was fabulous, and we talked, laughed, and dreamed about the New Year that was upon us. It was such a refreshing time of being together, just the two of us!

• Our first Christmas. Jeremy and I were dog sitting for a good friend of ours during Christmas so we had an extra house guest with us for the holidays! We went to my grandparent’s house for Christmas Eve and had a dinner with all our family, and then we decided that we were going to sleep over at my parents Christmas Eve! We didn’t want to wake up alone, just the two of us, so we took all our own presents and the goodies for my family and had a big family Christmas. Jeremy was so good to me. He got me a beautiful Giving Key necklace and also tickets to see Wicked which is my absolute favorite musical of all time. I can’t wait to go and see it, as well as have him experience it! I was able to surprise him big time with a custom built longboard from one of his best friends. I was so sneaky about this, I surprised myself. He loved it, and can’t wait for the weather to change that way he can ride it all the time. On top of that, we all got passes to Andretti to have a family day before Nathan left for basic training.

• Epic Game night. We had a huge game night at our apartment at the end of December. We wanted to get as many of our friends together as possible while they were all in town. It turned out to be a big hit, we had around fifteen people there and played a few different games. I love having people over, and now that Jeremy and I have our own space we are able to do this more often! I can’t believe it took us almost six months to make it happen! We’re so looking forward to entertaining more in the future. I don’t think we have laughed this much in a long time.

• Long Live King Harris and a Holy Frozen Matrimony. We were able to go to a beautiful wedding reception for a couple of our friends who eloped in Thailand back in November. It was so much fun to get so many people that Jeremy and I knew, together, in one room. We then had a weekend up in Pennsylvania at an apple orchard to watch a couple more of our friends get married. Jeremy was in the wedding, and so we made the trek up, with four other humans in our car. I don’t remember the last time I have felt this full of life. The time spent with one another was just what everyone needed. It was insanely hectic, but the moments we spent together and the friendships that were made are for a lifetime. Our community has a way of inviting all in, constantly growing bigger and bigger and it’s something I so deeply love. It was an honor to watch two marriages happen, and to be a small part in all of their lives is the biggest honor.

If you read all of this, thank you. If not, I completely understand. I’m sure Jeremy and I have bickered more, and had funny things happen to just the two of us, but one thing you should know about Jeremy and I is: we’re all about community. Our lives are lived and intertwined with so many others, and that’s okay with us. It’s what makes us, us.

I’m sure I’ll be blogging more and more, so keep checking back!