July 31, 2012

Seven Weeks

And seven weeks later...we close! In an hour I will be sitting in a room with Boo and a bunch of other people, signing all the necessary documents to seal the deal on our house! We can hang pictures and curtains! We can build our fence, and buy a grill, and adopt a pup! We can install our security system, and I can sleep peacefully when Boo leaves for work! We can install a phone jack so we can have internet! We can start thinking about buying a much needed new car! So many things! All involving money leaving our pockets...Ah, home ownership!

I was talking to my mom last night about how relieved we are to be closing. We started this house hunting/buying process in January, so we've been in this mode for so long and are definitely ready to be in a different mode--the home owning kind of mode. I can already feel will be a pretty intense mode, but we're ready for it. There is a long list of immediate to-dos, and a longer list of general to-dos, and a growing list of "what if we did this..." to-dos.  But I love lists, so bring it on (she said naively).

I'm so grateful for everything that Miles and I have learned during this process. And we've learned a lot...mostly a lot to do with being patient. I don't think I've ever had to be so patient for something before. Which kind of isn't saying a lot..but still. And even then, I can't say that I was gracefully patient all the time. Miles has put up with this grumpy/whiney/pitiful wife on several occasions. He had to live in double patience--with the house situation, and with me. So thank you, Boo. You are more wonderful with each new day. You have my heart, home is where the heart is, and so home is wherever I'm with you. But I sure am glad we will own the actual house where our actual hearts will live.

July 23, 2012

And Its Only Monday

At 11 in the morning, no less. 
It has definitely been one of those mornings. And I feel like I've complained too much lately, when good stuff really is happening, so I won't go into details. Because its stupid stuff anyways. But oh, how that stupid stuff burrows under your skin and makes you want to curl up and go back to bed. And it also makes you teary eyed at this picture :


Because even though you were on vacation at the beginning of this month...you need another one. And you need it to be Fall already and not so gross outside. Because you can almost feel the cool, crisp air in your lungs and on your cheeks when you see this picture. And that makes you sad, and its just a picture! So then you feel like a loser.

Or you'd also take simply closing on the house that you've been squatting living in for the past month (living in legally, promise). Closing on said house and being able to hang pictures, or put in your washer and dryer, or installing a phone jack so you can have internet and remember to pay your bills..

Or just...other things, like not being in stressful situations that are only occurring because you don't know how to say "no" sometimes. You really need to learn.

So while you learn, I will be looking forward to this weekend, with the start of the Olympics, getting to see this movie, going to the flea market, and hopefully being done with all the house buying junk by then. Hopefully. 

July 20, 2012

Summer Salad


I made this salad last night for dinner, sans the chicken, and using arugula instead of spinach. LET ME TELL YOU: new favorite salad, fa sho'. The goat cheese, pine nuts and super easy homemade dijon vinaigrette? SO tasty. I had seconds...and then thirds right out of the salad bowl. And I'm having it for lunch again today. Probably an early lunch, now that I've started thinking about it.

July 19, 2012

One of Those Nights

You know those nights where you're so happy and everything looks beautiful? That was our date night last Saturday. The week-long rain had finally taken a break and everything glistened in the light of the setting sun. We stifled our loud laughs all through our sushi dinner, ran up our tab, hopped over puddles and visited a new gelato place. When we got to Edgehill Village, we saw a double rainbow and stood outside staring at it, open mouthed, fingers pointing, with tons of other people all enjoying the exact same thing. For those few minutes I forgot about everything else, all the stresses, everything that sucks right now, and just let my heart swell up with joy. I need more sunset rainbow moments in my life.
At the end of the night, we rolled the windows down and let the sticky air blow in as we sang at the top of our lungs all the way home. The next morning, Miles said we should do that more often. I agreed.

p.s. isn't Boo such a stud with his haircut? Wifey likes.

July 17, 2012

Mountainous Anniversary

For our anniversary, we decided to hole up in a cabin in the mountains, eat, drink, catch up on tv shows, read, and talk a whole lot. And thats exactly what we did. And for the most part, it was wonderful. But I learned that I am just not a mountain vacation kind of gal. At least not in the summer when there are thousands of bugs everywhere and its way too hot outside to sit on the deck and enjoy the view. I think it would be ah-mazing to be in the mountains in the Fall. Something about being in a cabin and being able to use the fireplace, and fire pit, and sit outside in the cool, crisp air...that sounds way more appealing that when we were there. I need to plan more season-appropriate vacations. Beaches for Summer, mountains for Fall. Check.

Also, I really enjoy the whole...being waited on at resorts/hotels and not having to clean up after yourself. How lazy am I? To me, it just feels like less of a vacation when you're washing dishes every night. I'm so posh, y'all. All that to say, Miles loved it, so I'm 100% content with our vacay since he really was able to relax and leave work behind.

We woke up late every morning, Miles made pancakes (since we're waffle people at home, we started out with a few burnt crispies, but by the end of the week, he was a pro. The MOST delicious pancakes I've ever eaten). Then we read. All day. I didn't even bring my makeup, and I wore the same thing everyday. We took naps if we wanted, read some more, started making dinner at sunset, ate together, then watched True Blood and drank all our wine. For four days. That part was wonderful.
Aaaand photo overload:
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We're so thankful Miles' mom let us borrow her suv, there was no way we could've 1) fit our Ikea spoils into my car (and Boo's truck is the worst to travel in) 2) made it up the mountain in my car. Really.

And for our next anniversary celebration--it will not be near our anniversary. Getting married July 2nd was kind of the earliest date we could make work, but it makes for busy, expensive vacations right around the 4th when everyone is going...everywhere. Humph.

Hotlanta Before The Mountains

I finally got my new USB cord for my camera and uploaded 700 photos from the past month and a half. Here are some photos from our afternoon in Atlanta before we went to the mountains for our anniversary getaway. We mainly went there to go to Ikea, and boy did we go to Ikea... (? better joke in my head)


And we didn't even buy everything on our shopping list. We didn't have enough room in our car.
Part of me (most of me) longs for an Ikea in Nashville. But dang, that would be really dangerous for our bank account.

After spending way too much money at Ikea, we ate at The Vortex. I got so many good recommendations on where to eat, but when Boo sees "Atlanta's best burger" as an option, theres no turning back.

I couldn't get a good picture of the food since it was so dark in there, I had shaky, hungry hands, and Miles wouldn't allow me to turn my flash on and "draw everyone's attention". But it was deeelicious! My favorite part was the fried plantains as my side. It was like...dessert...as my side.

And then we went to Trader Joe's and filled our cart with an equal parts food for the week:wine, wine & wine. I still can't understand why Tennessee is so lame, with its wine-less grocery stores. 

Next up: the mountains! Oh...mountain vacation...oh, you...

July 13, 2012

Life List

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about things I would like to learn how to do/do more often/make a habit out of.

Learn How To:

Sew.

French braid. I really have no idea...

Use my DSLR without it being on automatic.

Use Photoshop. (Elements or Lightroom? Which one should I get--aka, which one is easiest?)

Press flowers. Surely its not that difficult.

Do More Often:

Stand up publicly for something I believe in. I'm shy, y'all. And a master excuse maker :(

Learn about, and get involved in, local politics.

See more musicals. Actually, can I just see Les Mis every month?

Spend more money on less clothes. aka, stop buying so much cheap junk.

Visit relatives in neighboring states.

Be more adventurous with my weekly meal planning. We eat a lot of the same things every week.
My B.

Go in to the salon for free bang trims instead of chopping them myself.

Eat at more family owned ethnic restaurants in our neighborhood.

Plan dates with Miles so we don't end up watching Netflix and eating pizza doing the same thing all the time.

Get out of Nashville for a weekend away with mahboo.

Make Them Habits:

Plan ahead & buy more gifts on Etsy.

Don't go to Target/ The mall/Trader Joe's/Bookstores just to wander around with the nanny bebe on a rainy/hot day. (Ahem, ex-pen-sive)

Farmer's Market produce shopping.
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Once In a Lifetime:

Be at a live NPR show taping.

Join:

A gym. Like woah.

The Belcourt--we really have no excuse for not having done so already

July 09, 2012

Le Sigh, Will I Ever Learn?

I threw myself a pathetic pity party before I went to sleep last night. Miles did his best to cheer me up, but I was deep in it...for the smallest reasons (adding up to something a touch overwhelming). We still haven't closed. I've unpacked a little more of our stuff, but was reminded Friday that this house still isn't ours when the seller's wife came by the house and asked  bunch of weird questions about closing. We've been waiting for a month to close on this house, held up by a lot of things to do with the seller leaving the country (for a family emergency) without signing the proper documents for our closing. And on Friday, his wife basically asked me what the hold up was...

So there's that. 
And then a bunch of little silly things that I let build up in my mind, resulting in last night's tearfest.

Then, I woke up this morning feeling like a fool and my eyes still stinging from crying over...nothing, basically. Nothing that should hold any real weight in my life. Yes, we haven't really felt like we're at "home" for a couple months now, this process his dragged out longer than I could have imagined. But we're freaking buying a house. Its so amazing that we even have the opportunity to do that. And I have several other things to be thankful for about my life right this moment. I spend too much time dreaming of the future, even if its only seven days into the future, my mind is there and my heart longs for it, and then I miss out on what is right in front of  me. These things are right in front of me:

  • for one year and one week, I have been married to my sweet man
  • he bought me this book for our anniversary. I'm only a few stories in, and I've already cried several times 
  • even though we now know I am not a top of the mountain vacation girl (whereas Miles was 100% in his element), Boo still loves me
  • I trimmed by bangs last night and I don't look like a total dweeb (win!)
  • even though its not "my" kitchen yet, I still lovelovelove cooking in it
  • Boo got his hair cut for the first time in over a year last week, and it looks so. good.
  • He also decided that he's going to cut his hair more often now. Glory halleluyer!
  • my nanny baby was so happy to see me after over a week off work
  • my heart nearly exploded when I saw le bebe after aforementioned work break
  • Singin' in the Rain 60th anniversary showing on Thursday night (doh, thats in the future. but still)

No more pity parties, Bethany. Stop it.

On another note, I have so many photos in my camera from the past month. For the life of me, I cannot find my USB cord in any of our boxes!  I'm sure I'll end up ordering a new one, and then finding my old one immediately thereafter.

July 02, 2012

One Year

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I can't believe that our wedding was one year ago. I remember everything so well. People say you won't remember, that it will all be a blur, but I remember. I remember how incredibly nervous and weird I was all weekend. It was overwhelming! Miles and I are kind of background people and a whole day centered around us was definitely a lot to take in. Sometimes I wish I would've had a different dress, or done my hair another way, or made Miles cut his hair before the big day, or that the a/c worked at our reception... But in reality, none of those things matter. I married my very best friend and have had the very best year of my life.  I can't imagine my life without Miles--don't make me, I'll cry.