4 1/2 years late

Tim and I have been married for 4 1/2 years.  4 1/2 years ago we hired an amazing photographer to capture our special day forever.  We got the most amazing wedding album of our day and ordered a few prints to hang in our home and we were happy and in love.  There was one thing that I have always regretted...we didn't have the money to purchase the digital cd of our images with the copyright release. 

It was just too expensive at the time...

So, 4 1/2 years later I called up my amazing photographer and inquired as to how much it would be now, and to my surprise the price had decreased significantly!  I guess it was good to be patient all these years!

So, here are a few of my favorites from that day 4 1/2 years ago.  A day that changed my life forever, but for the best! 

June 20, 2009

For those of you who know Tim and I, you know we met at UC where Tim was a percussionist and I was the field commander/Flute player.  I spent hours of our dating relationship sitting in a practice room watching him practice marimba.

 

This pretty much sums up my brother and I.

My beautiful parents.

I am so lucky to have in-laws that have accepted me into the family and treat me as their own.

I can say that each of these girls are still my best and closets friends.  God has surrounded us with wonderful people to call "Family" outside of our actual family.  I count my blessings every time I pick up the phone to chat with any of these girls.

Our beautiful flower girl.  She was seriously adorable!  There is one picture where she is giving her mom a "thumbs up" because she was doing what she was suppose to be doing.  I love it!

How can you not adore this!  It captures all of our closets friends.

She was an angel!

This is my mother-in-law.  I'm not sure what was happening when this picture was taken, but I love her face.  That is what pure joy looks like!  I'm just glad she has the look of joy and not the look of, "OMG!  I can't believe he's marrying that creep!"  :)  Like I said, I am one lucky girl!

Blessings

Tonight I am writing because I am blessed.

I told you the horror story of my MRI.  The good news is that I don't have a tumor.  I knew I didn't.  It was still nice to hear that from a doctor. 

But this isn't why I am blessed.

I am blessed because the medication they told me only had a 10% chance of working is doing exactly what they thought it wouldn't do.  It is working.

And for that I am grateful! 

For that I am blessed.

You see, I have a God that is bigger than a doctor.  He can heal things that doctors can't heal.  He can do things that doctors don't think are possible.  Or that they think are only 10% possible. 

My God pretty much rocks!

You know what else rocks? 

My friends and family. 

My family loves me dearly.  Of course they will pray when I call on them. 

What has really amazed me is the dedication of my amazing friends. 

Those who have called me to say, "How are you today?"  The ones that have said, "OMG!  It is a brain tumor!" because they knew it would make me laugh.  The ones that I have prayed for me right there on the phone.  The ones that told my story to KLove when they called randomly about their prayer drive and had them praying for me on air.  The ones who have said, "I just know the medicine will work!" even when the doctors said it probably wouldn't.  The ones who have let me cry without judgement.  The ones who have listened to my rants over and over again.  The ones who haven't made fun of me when I call a blubbering mess because it is working and I'm so full of joy that I can't hold back the tears.  The ones who know how much I love them even though I don't tell them enough. 

I am blessed. 

I hope that the whole 5 people who read my blog know how amazing God is.  If you don't know, ask me!  I have a lot of amazing stories to share. 

Life

Over the last few weeks we have been anxiously awaiting the birth of our first "nephew".  I say "nephew" because he isn't really our nephew, he's our best friends baby.  Regardless, we will be aunt Rissa and uncle Twix. 

His parents are two of our best friends on this Earth and really the first people that Tim and I have been super close to as they welcome a new life.  It's been one of the greatest experiences of my life.  I have so loved watching my friends become parents.  I have felt so close to baby, even though he isn't mine.  When I watched him snuggle with his parents just minutes after he was born I couldn't help feeling like he was part of my family.  As I left him at the hospital with his mom and dad I missed him.  Tonight as I snuggled him for hours I loved him.  There's something magical about becoming an aunt!  I get to do it "for real" in Dec. when Tim's sister has her little gal! 

So, what does this mean about me and hubs having our own...someday, but not today!  Right now I'm happy loving on all the nieces and nephews! 

Company

In one week from today the world better watch out because I get to have lunch with one of my greatest friends of all time.  Seriously, the two of us being together may cause catastrophic things to happen. 

Heater and I have been friends since her Freshman year of college.  You see, she was lucky enough to be placed into my upper class-men suite.  Although, I will have to admit that I was quite aggravated when I found out there was going to be a FRESHMAN in my upper class-men suite.  So, my suite mates and I devised a plan to run said freshman off.  Because that's what you do!  Sadly, we didn't follow through with our plan because we actually liked our freshman suite mate.  She was quirky, and sarcastic, funny, she loved FRIENDS and she put up with us (especially our love for Kentucky Basketball even though she grew up in *GASP* Tennessee).  Thus began our beautiful friendship.

Seriously, we've become the best of friends.  Not many people get me the way Heater does.  I can tell her anything.  I call her when I have any problem.  In fact, I called her this week because I was spiraling out of control over something that was out of my control.  She grounded me.  Then calmed me down again when I started to spiral again.  Because that's what we do! 
So, let the countdown begin!!  Oh, and you'd better show up this time!  Not like that one time when you said you were coming up and then didn't because boy proposed!  Don't think you'll get off that easy this time. 

 

Big Bang

I love the show!  I think it is hysterically funny.  But more so, I wish that I had pitched the idea to Hollywood before the writers of Big Bang did. 

You see, the show is actually a perfect display of my dorm life in college.  I use to joke about making a reality series about our college suite.  I knew it would be a hit.  Now here we are, several years later and it is true!  Big Bang is a hit! 

In our dorm there were 8 girls.  6 were science geeks, just like the show.  Then there were the two "normal" girls, as normal as we could be anyway.  The truth is, none of us were "normal" and we were all quite geeky.  Thus lead to hysterical nights of fun and laughter. 

Sometimes I miss THAT part of college. 

Anyway, my favorite part of tonight's show.  When Amy called Sheldon a "sexy praying mantis".  Seriously, I laughed until I cried. 

You guys better start watching!  This season is going to be good!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I've been blessed to have an amazing circle of friends.  Girls that love me for who I am.  Girls I laugh with, cry with, pray with, and love with.  Girls that have supported me and encouraged me.  When I began college I met an amazing group of girls.  We had funny names for our group.  We endured crazy conditions.  We supported each other in the great times, and in hard times.  We even got together a few weeks ago for our 10 year reunion of when we met.  Times were great, and I love that we still keep in touch. 

I also have what I call my "inner circle," the girls that I could not function without. 
I have my college roomie.  The original roomie.  The one that I went to high school with but really didn't know until college.  The one who was there when I broke up with my idiot boyfriend and helped put my pieces back together.  The one who cried with my when I lost my granddad, came to his funeral, and was there the first holiday without him.  The one who laughed with me when I did stupid things.  The one who I confessed my "crush" to, the one I confessed him as being the love of my life to, and the one I called and asked to be my Maid of Honor when he proposed.  The one who called out of the blue and I had FroYo with tonight just because we both needed a break from life.   The one I can tell anything to and know that she will pray till her knees hurt. 

I have the one who I met my freshman year of college but didn't really talk to until my junior year.  The one who co-created the MKL.  The one I hung out with every Friday night for three straight years in college.  The one I shared my first apartment with.  The one that helped my hubs pick out my engagement ring.  The one that got married two weeks before me.  The one that I have shared all my married secrets with.  The one that is literally my family here in Nicholasville.  The one that is expecting her first baby and begged me to get pregnant so we could do it together.  The one that will call me "aunt Rissa" when her baby boy is born.  The one that I love like a sister.  The one that just moved 45 minutes away and I'm not sure how to function now that she isn't next door. 

There is also the one that I met my Junior year of college.  She was the one that I tried to scare away because she was a freshman living in our not freshman suite.  The one that I can be sarcastic with.  The one I can laugh hysterically with.  The one that tackled me in the hallway of our dorm and the other suite mates thought we hated each other.  The one I use to call "heater" and the one that use to call me "smelly lake duck".  The one that my hubs called to help him pull of his proposal.  The one that I called first after he proposed.  The one that lives in the land of the orange, but I know deep down loves blue.  The one that loves storms and will send pictures, videos, and texts just to freak me out.  The one that I watched fall madly in love, and despite what many said, has a beautiful, successful relationship with the man of her dreams.  She's the one that I can trust with my life and I know she'll take it to the grave.  The one I can talk religion with and know I won't be judged.  The one I hardly ever see, but I know we'll always be just as close as we are now. 

So, here's to the "ones".  The ones I met in college.  The ones I couldn't live without.  No matter where life takes us, you will always be the "ones". 

Transformation

I decided about a week ago that I was over my long hair.  This has been coming.  I really hate my hair  long, but I had grown it out for my sister-in-laws wedding.  Anyway, if you know me you know I like my hair medium/short length.  Today I fixed it!  I hacked it all off!  8 inches off!  Here are pictures so you can see what you think!

This is the "before" shot.

This is a pile of hair on the floor.  Yes, it's gross!  That's only about half of what she actually cut.

And this is the after.  That's Kate!  She's so beautiful!  She's also a great stylist!  I would tell anyone to go to her!  Posh Salon and Spa in Lexington, ask for Kate!

Friends

I would also like to say THANK YOU to Heather Mays for helping figure out my layout problem!  You can find Heather here: http://absurdreporter.blogspot.com/