Congratulations, Mrs. Reynolds

Yesterday, I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the wedding of my best friend in the whole world. The newly Mrs. Reynolds is one of the most important people in my life. She and I have shared so many life experiences over the decade that I've known her.

Reagan and I actually just had our 10 year anniversary this past New Year's Eve! We met at the lovely Nancy Ray's birthday party in high school. A bunch of us went to a Clayton King/Jars of Clay New Year's event. Reagan and I met at the beginning of the evening and left that night best friends forever!

I said in my last post how Jarrod is one of the few people in this world who really "gets" me. Well, Reagan is one of the others. Most people in my life I know I need to put in some effort or else we could lose touch over time, but I've never had that worry with Rea. I think of her the same as I do my sisters: I know she'll always be a part of my life, despite how much time or distance may separate us.

More than anyone in my life, Rea has been there for nearly all of my major life events. We went through the giggly-girly early teen years, we experienced a time of religious extremism and spiritual growth, we rebelled together and questioned our purpose and God and found the men that we'd spend the rest of our lives with. Reagan was actually with me the night I met Jarrod. Here's a picture of us just hours before that happened:

I was so blessed to have her with me as I prepared to walk down the aisle. Although I think we both kept making each other cry!

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I love that last one. It's so us!

Living several hours apart and being in different places in life have made it more difficult to keep up in past months, but we spent the other night catching up once again and looking back at some of the funniest and craziest and most life-changing moments together. Then yesterday I sat with her as she got ready to jump into the next phase of her life. I couldn't imagine a more beautiful bride or be more proud to be there those final moments before the BIG MOMENT.

Reagan, your friendship has meant more to me than I could ever express. I love you so much and I have been so blessed to have spent the last 10 years with such an amazing person as you. I wish you the best in this new adventure and above all, I wish you a lifetime of happiness! Just remember, you'll always be my girl.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds!

Happy Birthday, baby

Today's post is dedicated to my amazing husband on his birthday. It's our first birthday we get to celebrate together since we've been married and I'm excited to get to spend even a little time together this evening. Although our schedules don't allow for a big celebration today, I plan to work it out that I can be awake when he comes home from work this evening, eat tacos (per his request) and chocolate pudding pie, open presents (I got him something he's really going to love this year!) and watch old episodes of 24! I dont' know about you, but I can't think of a much better evening.

Jarrod is one of the most incredible people I've ever met. He's kind and funny and adorable and sexy and manly and the best friend I could ever ask for. I feel that very few people in this world really "get" me, but Jarrod always does and I know how blessed I am to have him as a part of my life. Whenever anybody asks what I love most about him, I tell them that he balances me out well. I can easily stress and freak out about things and he always knows the perfect thing to say to make me feel better and put things into perspective. We complement each other well. I also just feel better when he's around. And I mean literally feel healthier just having him there.

Now of course we have our moments, just like any other couple, but at the end of the day there's no one I'd rather spend the rest of my life with, and I'm so excited that I have that chance.

So baby, thank you for being you. I love you and Happy Birthday!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Wordless Wednesday: Love my new wall collage!

I hate that I hate snow...

...but it's true. I've become a bitter, old journalist. And the thing is: I LOVE SNOW! Snow is like God's way of saying, "slow down and enjoy being right where you're are right now." I love the moment of walking out the door the morning after a snow and everything is perfectly quiet and blanketed in white. It's so pure and untouched. I love being snowed in and spending the day eating frozen pizza and cuddled up on the couch watching TV. I've always been the one hoping and praying for the snow to come, and it really gets to me that I now dread it.

Snow now means working long hours (and having to cut my Christmas weekend short), making the same phone calls over and over again for updates, sending crews here and there and back here again, tracking a billion accidents on the roads... It's not that I don't enjoy being busy, because I love breaking news. Breaking news is exciting. It's part of why I love TV news. Snow is not breaking news. Snow just means I have to be working, even if the only thing going on is that it's snowing.

Usually I only have to deal with this once a year and that makes it more exciting. I can still enjoy the only snow of the year, even if it means I have to drive into work on perilous roads when every emergency official in the state is telling us to stay off of them and spend the day inside making phone calls and updating the news. But we are now on our FOURTH snow of the season! And it's only January 10! For years we've always had our one good snow of the season, and it made that snow special. Now I hear snow and I'm thinking, "you've got to be kidding me."

It hasn't started snowing here yet, but it looks like it's coming any time now. I'm sitting at home on my couch now thinking about driving in on those icy roads in the morning. At least going in at 4am means there aren't going to be many other cars on the road, so you're less likely to have any sort of an incident. If you slide across the road, odds are you aren't going to hit anything! There's the silver lining!

I told you, I've become a bitter old journalist.

And Another Year Begins

Well, I'm a couple of days late on the whole start-of-the-month/year goals. Blame it on the long weekend I took. My mind was just on vacation!

But here we are starting off 2011. Looking ahead, it looks starkly different than the past year. (However, as of January 3rd last year, I didn't know how much the year had in store for me.) There are still some very exciting things coming up: I already have 3 weddings planned (including my sister, my bestest friend, and another close friend) and know of 3 babies on the way (my cousin, Jarrod's cousin, and my future sister-in-law). So there will be lots going on with all of those events.

My plan for this year is going to be more focused on "settling in." Settling into the house, settling into marriage, settling into puppy parenthood. I had so many things going on last year that I didn't really have the chance to focus on myself and my growth. I hope that's what this year will bring.

And with that, here are my plans for the coming year:

-I want to read more. I think a book a month is a good goal to set, maybe more, once I get into the swing of things. I'm going to be starting off with a wonderful gift and recommendation from my best friend Rea: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
-Start walking Rylie every day. I got out of the habit when it got cold and sometimes it's just easier to let her play in the backyard instead, but we could both really use the exercise!
-Finish the house. By this, I mean that I want to have each room clean and decorated. I don't mean that I want to complete everything I want to change in the house. But I want to repaint several rooms, hang up curtains in the bedrooms, make the guest bedroom (which has become a sort of "junk room") presentable and hang up some pictures and other things in those rooms as well.
-Cook healthier meals. This isn't a diet or a major change. I just want to include more fruits and vegetables and less sweets. (The holidays really got me hooked on sugar!)
-Set up a more definitive budget and stick to it! We've had a budget this whole time, but I want to really hone it down, cut some things out, make sure we have some spending and savings cash and then stick to it!
-Have a significant portion of a manuscript complete. I want to say just "completed," but I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to that just yet.

So for this month:
-I'm going to have at least one chapter written. I've been doing some planning and research, but it's time to get some words on paper. Even if I end up throwing out the whole thing later, the process is starting!
-Look into graduate degree programs. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, so I want to see what my options are as far as time and cost.
-Put up picture collage in living room. Finally got some pictures printed off!
-Have a fabulous birthday celebration for my husband!
-And celebrate the wedding of my best friend in the whole world!

Time to get moving! HAPPY NEW YEAR, once again!

Welcome 2011!

Happy New Year! and Happy 1-1-11!

I hope it's a year full of love, happiness, growth and new experiences. I pray that in 365 days we'll all look back and see that we're better off for having lived those days. Here's to living each day with a desire to make it better than the last and living with a sense of joy and grace.

2011, Bring it on!

(I'll be posting monthly/yearly goals sometime over then next few days.)