Well I have officially failed in my early goals (see about 3 posts down). Robert and I went to my old house last night to clear out the last of my furniture and my belongings, only to realize I had forgotten my key for the house. Fail. And since I was running on only an hour and a half of sleep from the night before (thank you retail), I didn't feel like making a second trip back down. So we got home and I went to sleep...at 7:30pm hahaha it was the most amazing sleep ever.

Tomorrow Robert and I (and hundreds of people within our church) embark on the 511 Favor Fast. Elevation is really good at catchy names (read: b90x, NewThru30, etc). Based on Luke 5:11, where Jesus gives the disciples an abundance of favor and provision, we are acknowledging that the Lord has done amazing things for us as a church and as a body, and we are pushing forward to receive and hear more from Him. So we are fasting for 5 days as Pastor fasts for 11. Altogether seeking God's word for our church. Robert and I are also seeking His word and provision for our marriage and our new life together. I'm excited to do something new in fasting with Him and see how God will use this time to speak life into us.

Blogs I love:

www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com

so funny I can't even handle it. Seriously I was in a bad mood, and now I'm not. Just read it.

www.laurennicolelove.blogspot.com

Lauren is a friend that I cherish. She is beautiful, creative, and impressive in her ability to multitask. At one point in time, I kept her photos of her own bedroom up on my computer for a week trying to get inspiration to redecorate my own. Not stalkerish at all.

www.makeitmad.com

I don't know Max personally, but I know he is an insanely talented writer and unafraid of truth. I imagine his posts would be even more powerful if I were a man, but he's just flat out good.

http://thelangslifetour.wordpress.com/

My friend Heather's new blog that I mentioned in my last post. It's a new blog for a new marriage. She and her husband are newly married, young, and learning together. I'm excited to see what God has in store for them.

So that's it. As I start posting more and (hopefully somewhere along the line) getting some readers, these are people I like to hear from and places I draw inspiration from :)

My friend Heather posted a really awesome blog today about When Life Gets in the Way.

It pretty much describes what Robert and I are going through and how I want to handle it.
I'm very excited that getting married means we actually see each other and spend some time together every day. However, since he works throughout the day and I work a lot at night, we really haven't spent as much quality time together as I think either of us would like. And then when we are home together it's usually him playing video games and me on the internet (our biggest vices, I would say).
Heather laid out a simple challenge to spend actual, real, true quality time with the person you love. To focus all of your attention on them:


"So for this week I have a challenge for you: instead of looking through what is front of you, look directly at it. Look him, or her in the eyes. Remember why it is you picked them. Listen intently to what they say. Laugh with them. Pray with them. Worship with them. Work with them. Spend time cultivating that relationship as if it was your first 6 months of dating. Why? Because at the end of the day, I want you to succeed. I want you to grow in Christ and as people. I want you to experience the fullness that God intended through agape love relationships."

So true. We're only one short month into our marriage, and I don't want to look back and say we spent any number of months playing video games or hiding behind a computer or avoiding time with each other (even if it's not on purpose). I want to remember the dates we went on together, the quality time we shared, the conversations and all the times he tickled me until I thought I was going to break (which literally happens at least once a week :)). Our marriage is wonderful so far. More than I could have ever asked or imagined, and I want to keep it that way. So to Heather, I accept your challenge.  :)

Today was a winning day for my wonderful husband.

He was very patient with me when I overslept today. He bought me a coupon (months ago) at a salon, so today I got a free manicure. The girl who did it was so nice, and by the time I left I felt like we were friends. Then, when he came home, he surprised me with flowers!! I always always want flowers and for some reason he just never gets them. BUT today he did and it was amazing. For some reason, he was really surprised at how much I loved them. Just goes to show you: when your significant other specifically says they want or like something, getting it for them will make them happy! Go figure :) And then he made the most delicious stir fry for dinner.

 my flowers :)


I love my husband.

In other news, I'm a sucker for marketing and packaging and too much of my money is spent on things that look cool. For example, I got lotion today.

Isn't it awesome?!
I love EOS. So crafty.

I also love purity because they put cute/witty/inspiration things on their labels. Or recipes, depending on the scent you get.
I'm a sucker for the package.
I'm starting to love stores like drug stores too much because they carry all the too-expensive almost-fancy brands. Honestly, I'm surprised I have any money left at all.

:)

Getting married is the thing to do right now, I guess.
Our friends Carlos and Brittany got married this week, and they're having a house(apartment)warming party tonight :)

Robert and I went on a really lovely date this week. It was so simple and so satisfying.  We went to Chili's using a giftcard he got somewhere along the road, and then he watched me eat pinkberry for desert haha. It was our first real date since we've been married, and it was so nice to escape the busyness and the to-do lists of our life to spend some time with each other. I hope I always remember how important it is to date and be pursued by my husband.

I stand by my goals in my last post and have started thinking through ways to actually make them happen, but I also want to turn this blog into something more. I haven't shared it with anyone yet mostly because it sucks. But I do want to start taking pictures and writing and documenting. Usually when I try to set a goal to take more picture or write more or something, it falls through. Sometimes I try too hard. I'd like my life to have an easier flow, more inspiration, more creativity. And honestly, I'm in a good place for that right now. My husband is my biggest fan and greatest supporter. He wants me to do the things that make me happy and push myself creatively. We don't always share the same process, but we can always rejoice with each other when something new is discovered. I love that.
All that to say, I'm hoping to get this blog off the ground and adding more to it. I'm hoping to add pictures and information and life lessons and stories of my loving husband and our life together. Enjoy.

So here we are, halfway through January and I really wish I could say we had accomplished more so far in 2011. But alas, we are still surrounded by unpacked boxes and unwashed clothes.

SO...I want to set some goals up for January and February for myself and for our home/marriage.

-move the rest of my belongings out of my old house by the end of January
-have all clothes, jackets, shoes, accessories, jewelry put away by early February
-finish purchasing small things like a silverware holder and decorative items
-clean and organize master bathroom
-organize remaining boxes in guest bedroom.

so there. 5 simple goals. Not too vague, not too difficult. Each goal can expand into smaller, more detailed goals. And surely by February we'll look like we actually live here. Hooray, go us!

Robert and I have been together about  3 years altogether. We started off as friends serving together at church. He vehemently denied that he had any attraction to me (mostly because of the 6 year age difference), and I spent all my time trying to convince him otherwise. It's been a lot of fun :)
We were engaged for a little over a year, and it was an interesting time because it wasn't spent planning a wedding or...anything really. It was just kind of proving to people and each other that we were serious. Nevertheless, it was a great time, and we grew a lot throughout it. I was going through some of my most difficult personal issues (so far, at least) during our engagement, and we were really pushed to grow with each other and support each other in it. So when we finally decided to just go for it and get married the last week of 2010, it seemed rushed, but it just made sense. We were ready. So we threw aside plans or thoughts of a wedding, told only family and our two witnesses, found an apartment and did it. And it's been great.
I know we're only 3 weeks into it and therefore still in the "honeymoon" phase, but it's truly been awesome. I thought that when we got married, I would miss him less. That I would know he is mine and therefore not be desperate for his attention. Very wrong. I'd rather spend every second with him than do anything else. I thought a lot of things, and I'm sure they'll all be proved wrong over the years.

The truth is, I don't think anyone knows what to expect of marriage before they get there. It's weird, I'm realizing that I didn't prepare for it at all. How do you prepare for that? Should I have read books? Should I have talked to more married women about their own experiences? Should I have prayed more? I don't know. But the point is, other than living together and being together all the time, I had no idea what marriage actually was or is. and obviously I'm still learning and feel like I will be for my entire life. It's kind of exciting. This is finally something that neither he nor I have ever done or experienced. Robert is good at a lot of things I am not and vice versa. But this: the most important relationship and experience we will share together is brand new, and neither of us know what to expect. It's going to be great.

My favorite day of the week is Sunday. I've spent the last 3 years at Elevation Church being a part of the worship ministry with some amazing leaders, learning what it means to lead worship, to offer up my gifts for the glory of God and to see Him come alive in the city of Charlotte. I can never express how thankful I am for Wade, Chris, London and Mack and their influence on me over the last 3 years. I've learned so much, and I feel like I've been pushed to grow a lot as a person and as a worship leader. It's a daily learning experience, and I couldn't be more grateful that God has put me in this place.
That being said, yesterday was awesome. We introduced a new song called God Be Praised and the church responded to it so well. It's amazing to see how God has inspired the songs that come from the church. He has poured out so much love in blessing on this city, it's ridiculous.

I love Charlotte. A lot. I recently got a tattoo of a queen crown to commemorate all the God has done in my life in this city. I'm still learning about the city and all that it has within it, but I know that God has changed my heart here. I met my husband here, I found an amazing church to be a part of here, and I've found a great community of friends to surround myself with. And really I didn't find all those things, but God put them there.

So anyway, this was a random rant post about how much I love my church and my city.

Today was wonderful. I enjoyed a rare Saturday off. I slept in, cleaned up and folded laundry, and did a little shopping.

I've been wanting to get some sort of study or devotional bible for women or wives, and last week I found one! It kills me how expensive bibles are, but I talked to Robert about it and he encouraged me to get it.

It's so pretty! haha it's actually really awesome. It's not a study bible like the one I've been using but it has daily devotionals. It's made so you can go through the whole thing in a year, but since we're doing B90x, I'll just read them as I go. The devotionals so far don't seem to relate to the chapter or book you're reading. They're more like little life lessons or anecdotes or hymns. So far, I'm a fan. Plus, it's New Living Translation, which I've never owned before.

I also got the book, What a Husband Needs From His Wife by Melanie Chitwood (who lives in Charlotte. Who knew?).

I haven't started reading it yet, but Robert skimmed through it and seemed to like it. I had a hard time choosing a book to get because it's just so difficult to figure out who has legitimate things to say and who is just blowing smoke. So for now I just skimmed through some and picked on. But then again, that's how I choose most of my books. Why change? :)

Well the sickness is finally passing away with a lot of cold medicine, ricola and water. I met with London today to go over the songs I'm singing this weekend at church and talk about the new year. Meeting with her is always great. She's like my boss in a way, but she's also a friend and a mentor and I really appreciate the time I get to spend talking to her and hearing her heart for the ministry of God in Charlotte.

So along the road of our engagement, there were always things Robert and I wanted to do once we got married. Things like books we want to read together, couples we want to meet with, stuff like that. So it worked out well when two of our closes friends (also our witnesses the day we got married) said they were going to do B90X to start off the new year. B90x is a play on P90x but instead of insane workouts, you do insane bible reading. Basically the goal is to get through the entire bible in 90 days. It's a challenging way to hear a fresh word from God about the bible. And I mean, it's really challenging. As I type, I should probably be reading because I'm about 4 days behind. I'm hoping it will get better as we get through the *pleasedon'tsmitemeGod* boring books. But really in the end, it's a great experience that helps Robert and I push ourselves to really be in the word every day for more than just a surface level 5 minutes. Click --> B90X to get the reading schedule and join us!

Well, the party was a success! About 15 of our closest friends from church (and my old roommate and her fiancee) showed up. Everyone brought something delicious to share, and it was a ton of fun. We played this game called Liar's Dice (as seen in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie), gave everyone mini tours of our place, ate a lot of great food, and had some awesome conversations. I got to know certain people in the group better and talk through some things with my closer friends, and all in all, it was a great night.

I started to feel a little under the weather during the day yesterday, so I think the only negative of the night was that I had a tissue to my face half the time. But other than that, it was wonderful. I love the friends that God has blessed us with, and I feel so undeserving of how many amazing people are in our life.

Today I'm even more under the weather. I did my typical sunday thing and sang background vocals at church, then came home and slept for 5 hours. Robert is great; he carried me to bed and let me sleep while he went out to move more stuff from his old house. I definitely don't deserve him.

Tomorrow we do our usual monday, wednesday, friday routine of Body By Buck from 5:30-6:30am. It's an intense workout, but we've seen so much change in our bodies and our health over the last several months that it's worth it. It's an amazing program. You should check it out.
We'll see how tomorrow's workout goes with this cold :) wish me luck!

Tonight we're throwing a little party with some of our friends at our new apartment. We're calling it a housewarming party but 1.) it's not a house and 2.) it's also a mini birthday party for our friend, Blake. It should be a lot of fun.

I'm trying my hand at using our crock pot that we got well over a year ago and have only used once or twice. I found a recipe for vegetarian chili made with sweet potatoes and I'm hoping I didn't find a way to screw it up :)
My friend Caleb helped me cut up everything for the chili, and it was great. It's wonderful to be reminded how amazing your friends are, and Caleb is one of the greatest. He's one of those people who are not afraid to openly talk about all the amazing things God is doing in his life, and it's really refreshing. We're blessed with a lot of great friends aaaand I can't wait to hang out with them tonight.

I'm also making guacamole for tonight. Robert and I tried our hand at this one a couple months ago and it was disastrous. We got lazy with the onions and ended up with what tasted like avocados mixed with onion puree. Disgusting. BUT this time will be much better. And less onion-y.

We'll see how it all goes down in just a few hours!

new beginnings

my name is kelly.

i am 22 years old and on december 29, 2010 i married my best friend. his name is robert, and he is the most amazing, caring man i've ever met. he's intelligent, brave, strong, and incredibly funny.

our story is kind of awesome. we've been following each other around the country for years, really. i was born in white plains, ny just 20 minutes away from his childhood home in connecticut. while i was living with my family in mauldin, sc, he was working in the same town and going to college at clemson. and when i moved up to the charlotte area to go to winthrop, he moved to charlotte, too. finally, during my sophomore year of college we met while serving at elevation church and the rest is history.

our wedding was...nonexistent. we got married by a magistrate with two of our closest friends for witnesses and no one else. it was wonderful and stress free and i wouldn't change it. not even for my angry mother.
from here on out, this blog is a way for me to document and process my thoughts, feelings and experiences during my brand spanking new marriage. i'm sure 2011 is going to be a wonderful year.

kelly