Our Own Kind of Perfect

Who would have guessed that two years ago, I would have found the man of my dreams? For some people it's really hard to find that special person that makes your heart sing. For me, my man makes my life a symphony.

Sure, things aren't always easy, but that's the point. Love in itself isn't easy. The falling in love part is always the easiest; when your heart flutters every time your with that special person or when you smile for the simple fact that your are irrevocably infatuated with someone. Those are the feelings that people come to know and love. The newness and wonder of what will be and if this is the person you are supposed to be with. However, the staying in love part is the component that needs continuous nurturing. Without the will of both people and the ambition to keep it going, love can eventually fade.

I'm so thankful to have such a lovely man who is always willing and completely ambitious to keep our love growing.

With Austin and I, I knew from day one. I know how completely cliche that sounds, but when you know, you just know. I felt it. Our time spent together, even after two years, still gives me those addicting feelings you experience in a brand new relationship.

I won't lie and say that our relationship is perfect, we definitely have had our tough times. It's those tough times that have tested us and made us love each other more.

I have never loved anyone more than I love this wonderful man. He puts up with me when I am completely crazy and brings me back to earth when life seems hopeless. We can laugh and cry together and be completely ourselves. He completely supports anything I choose to do and encourages me to be a better person and to better myself. We are each others cheer leaders and push each other to do things we have never thought to do before. We take the flaws that we think we have and make them out to be the best qualities in each other. We are our own kind of perfect.

My life would not be the same without this wonderful man. I am so thankful that he chooses me everyday despite all the craziness that happens. Do we drive each other crazy? Sure we do, and we are the best at pushing each other buttons. The greatest part? One second we can be arguing about something totally ridiculous and heated, the next second we are laughing and realize just how ridiculous we were being in the first place.

We have done and have been through so many wonderful-crazy-ridiculous things these past two years. I have learned and experienced things that I would never change in a million years. I want to spend the rest of the time that I have with this wonderful man because I know I wouldn't be the same without my other half.

I love you Austin and I can't wait to see what forever holds for us!

Want to see how we celebrated our anniversary? Pictures below! You all know how much I love to take pictures!

This man always spoils me with the most wonderful flower arrangements. I can't help but love how thoughtful he is!

One thing that we love is the spontaneity of being together. A wonderful surprise visit from THE MOST handsome man I've ever seen after work on our actual anniversary date. We love lunch dates during the week when we can snag them!

 

We spent a wonderful night in Scottsdale at the most beautiful resort! It was the most relaxing and wonderful night we have spent away in forever!

Did I mention this resort was beautiful?? Temperpedic beds and the most beautiful hotel room I've ever been in. We had a hard time leaving!

What kind of resort would it be without bathrobes that make you look like a karate student??

 

After regretfully checking out of our hotel, we stopped at the Breakfast Club for breakfast. If you like the hipster, healthy, modern type of breakfast, this is the place for you. This juice was literally the best orange juice I have ever tasted! 

 

Need I say more? This breakfast was DEE-LISH.

 

As a gift to ourselves, we decided to buy our first set of patio furniture! This awesome set was at an amazing price that we couldn't pass up! Hooray for sunset/sunrise meals on the patio. Ahhh.. the little things! Teehee!

I love taking pictures with my handsome love! I can't help but gawk at how ridiculously handsome he is!

We Made It!

*HUGE sigh of relief* I am beyond ecstatic that this semester has finally come to a close! Well, besides a few assignments that is. Let me tell you, if I could, I would slam that door closed on the face of those assignments and tests; take that academics! Haha. I cannot describe how happy and relieved I am to not have to worry for a few weeks about assignments, tests, or anything academic. Especially because Christmas is on it's way and I can't wait to finish my shopping! What girl wouldn't?

In other news, we made it home safe and sound from our vacation. Can I just say how much I appreciate the ground and normal motion after our vacation??? From my first flight, to the rental car, on to every type of ride at amusement parks, I never knew how great it was to be in steady motion and safe on the ground. Not to say that those things weren't a blast because I normally don't get to do those things everyday, but MAN. SO. MUCH. MOTION.

It was so nice to be able to spend time away from work and school to be with the love of my life. We got to see and do so many wonderful things despite the bumps in the road that we hit during our time on vacation. With all the amazing tours of the different studios in California along with some amusement parks, I would say that it was a successful time away from our normal day to day lives.

Here are some pictures from our trip! Enjoy! :)

First off, OH MY YUMM! Qdoba is so delicious! They have the most amazing Mexican Gumbo ever! Located by the Scottsdale Fashion Square, we treated ourselves to this amazing place during our night stay in Phoenix before our flight.

Here we go! Leaving for out first flight together! I've never flown before, so it was an interesting experience.

View from the plane. I was the highest in altitude I've ever been. How scary! Luckily, I had the most handsome man sitting next to me, comforting me when the plane took off.

THE most gorgeous driver I have ever seen. I was lucky enough to drive around with this hunk for our whole vacation  in our VERY compact rental car.

Knott's Berry Farm! This amusement park is so much fun! All Peanuts themed, you can hang out with Charlie Brown, Sally, AND Woodstock!

Well look at who we ran into :)

Enjoying a smooch from the most gorgeous man in the world. MmmHmmm.

Big smiles as we rode our first couple rides at Disneyland together!

This photo absolutely cracks me up! Haha. Austin in mid yell as he records the plunge on Splash Mountain, Me as I scream for dear life, and the creeper guy behind me with a look that I am happy that I didn't witness LOL.

We ran into a VERY hungry whale while we were at Disneyland! Austin with his anticipated churro. YUM!

This whale also needed a nice flossing after a delicious churro lunch. Haha.

The Castle in all it's glory! Disneyland was all decorated for Christmas. It was ridiculously beautiful, especially at night cuddled up in my loves arm as the chill in the air approached.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is my all time FAVORITE Halloween movie. The best part? It works for Halloween AND Christmas!

The most amazing clam chowder bread bowl. I excitedly introduced this to Austin and I think he is HOOKED. What a great way to end our first day at Disneyland!

MAN OH MAN. His gorgeousness seriously mesmerizes me. How did I ever become so lucky..... sigh. The Hollywood walk of fame. We found Austin's favorite, Denzel Washington.

After some searching, we found the hand prints of the Harry Potter cast. Every Harry Potter fan's dream! Heehee. My hands fit Emma Watson's perfectly, and funnily enough, Daniel Radcliff's hands were smaller! :)

The entrance to the Dolby Theatre tour that we went on. They hold the Academy Awards here. We are talking about golden statue awards, whole streets being closed, and an extremely amazing building! It was so much fun!

This tour was the most amazing tour I have ever been on. I was so glad Austin suggested it. SO many films and television shows are filmed here. Shows like The Big Bang Theory, Ellen, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Pretty Little Liars, and movies like Back to the Future, and Harry Potter are ran through this company. With city, residential, and town areas that are changed with street accessories and a little paint, you would be surprised how many different scenes from movies and television shows are actually located here. The 2 hours was TOTALLY worth it!

I was one happy camper! Not only did I get to touch the Harry Potter stars hand prints, I  also got to see this crazy car from the second movie. It actually RUNS. It doesn't look that way though, which is the magic of movies :). Although Harry Potter wasn't filmed at this site, it is ran through Warner Brothers still. J.K. Rowling wanted all of the actors to be British and to be filmed in England. The California site did have a TON of memorabilia from the movie! I was so surprised to see some of the things that I saw throughout the movies. However, we weren't allowed to take any pictures :(.

We tried hitchhiking but it didn't really work. Haha. Just kidding. We also got to see Austin's favorite childhood cartoon's vehicle. The Mystery Machine! 

Well lookie there! Can anyone guess what popular television show this scene is from?? If you were a teenager around the 90's I'm sure you could guess..... anyone? No? Okay........ FRIENDS! Yes, this is the actual couch where the cast spent a lot of their time during the television series. It was SO cool to be on an actual television set!

The Central Perk. The expresso machine you can see on the show actually works although it isn't shown in this picture. It was definitely odd to see this in real life when we have seen it on television a ton of times.

One thing I forgot to say..... a plane crashed. The wreckage was ridiculous. Don't worry though, this wasn't an actual plane with actual people in it. This was the plane that crashed in War of the Worlds. This can be found at Universal Studios. Trust me, the wreckage spans larger than this little stretch in this picture. It seriously looked life like!

This last picture is actually quite funny. Given, I know caramel apples aren't much to laugh about since they are so ridiculously scrumptious, but this particular apple was so hard to eat! The complimentary knife that they gave us didn't even cut through the apple, so reluctantly, I had to stow it on my carry on and take it home with us.

 

And We're Off....!

*BIG sigh of relief* These past few weeks have consisted of a ton of homework (big surprise), a couple tests, and getting ready for my handsome love and I's trip! Now that I have gotten ahead of the game by finishing up some work for when I am gone, I am ALL ready for this trip!

We are ready to walk down Mainstreet in glorious Disneyland!!



We are SO ready for this trip. Not only have we waited for a whole entire year to be able to leave, we have entered mere hours until we leave!

 

It almost seemed impossible given the circumstances that I had to go to the doctor (thankfully I am fine and okay to go) but so did Austin! Dang pinched nerves were really starting to pinch the wrong nerves for me as we scrambled to do everything we could to make sure he was better before we left. As Austin put it, it was a sign that both of us needed a vacation, and ASAP.

 

Thankfully everything worked out and we are now ready to go! With a three day weekend, consisting of a date day for Austin and I to enjoy the fall weather together and do some early preparing for Thanksgiving, we couldn't be happier that the time has finally come! 

 

 

My handsome love got me these on our wonderful day so that we could start getting ready for the baking season!

 

As soon as we get back, the decorating for Christmas can begin (after Thanksgiving of course by the rules of Austin)! Can I say how excited I am to decorate this year since last year was that icky first year where you have to buy everything and start from scratch. This year, we are ready to do some fun christmas craftin'. I can't wait to post about the fun things that we are going to make this year!

 

This week I also got to spend some time with an amazing friend at Denny's to find that they had a.... wait for it.... HOBBIT MENU! Now, I am sure that Hobbits still have the same capacity of stomach room as we do, and the portions are awesome :). They have "The Hobbit" food all in a seperate menu. Things like "The Ring Burger" and "Pumpkin Patch Pancakes".

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Pancakes with Pumpkin Cinnamon Whipped Topping. Can you say UH-MAZING??

  

Definately Stop by if you can, its for a limited time only!

 

 

With that being said, and you walking out the door to go get that scrumptious hobbit food, my next post will be after we get back from vacation!

 

Have a wonderful week AND Thanksgiving!

A Year and a Half With Forever to Go..

It's October and there are so many wonderful things that happen during this month. It is the first actual month of fall, the air becomes more crisp and smells of leaves and thick soups, jackets see the sunlight after being stowed in our closets for months, my birthday, and pumpkins come into season for halloween. One very exciting thing that happens in this month involves my handsome man and our journey together. October marks 6 more months till Austin's birthday and our anniversary and our year and a half mark.

October also puts us under the 1 month mark till our much needed vacation to Disneyland!

There are so many things in my life to appreciate at this time of the year. I am extremely fortunate to have an amazing family that always supports me, no matter what happens in the rough patches. I have the worlds' best dad who will do anything for anyone, an extremely hilarious sister who can always get me to laugh at little inside jokes we share, an awesome stepmother who, like my dad, would do anything for anyone and gets excited about the milestones that life has to offer. My whole family from one side to the other makes me feel extremely lucky to have and to be able to do the things that I am doing right now. With having the most amazing man in my life, I also get to enjoy his lovely family as well. Although there are some not so fun things happening around me, I know I can always fall back on our families to find refuge.

With our vacation nearing our grasp, that is something I am also very thankful for. Who ever may be up there knows we need it! Taking breaks from the real world is nice, especially when you are with the person that you love, and when you add Disneyland and other fun things to the mix, what could go wrong?? (knock on wood). 

There are many other things that I am thankful for, but one thing that is for sure, is that I have Austin in my life. Austin is one of those people that you meet that has the biggest, most thoughtful hearts I have ever met. I am so lucky to be able to receive the love that I do from him on a daily (and secondly) basis. From the second that I spent time with Austin outside of the normal setting, I knew he was the one for me (though, he likes to disagree :)). A year and a half later and those feelings are growing even more so every day. The support and love that he shows never ceases to amaze me. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would have found someone so perfect and ridiculously handsome as he is. He is my absolute best friend and the only one I want to share my life with forever.

Are we perfect, even though we would like to think so? No. We have our ups and downs just like everyone else and any other couple out there. It is the love and respect that we show each other on a daily (and secondly) basis that keeps this relationship strong. We continue to be happy for each other and support each other like we did from day one. 

Now that we are at the year and a half mark, I can see all the things we have went through together and the things that have made us individually and jointedly stronger. It is such an amazing feeling to have found your soul mate!

I love you Austin.

Fall allows me to take such amazing pictures! :)

Ahh... the fall season

When You Know, You Just Know.



These are all pictures taken during the time of my senior year. The middle one and the one to the upper right of it were included in my graduation announcements that were sent out. The upper two on the left are pictures of my best friend, and partner in crime, Sarah, and I from senior prom and the Prescott Vs. Bradshaw game. Obviously you can see by the smiles on our faces that we WON against Prescott and showed those Badgers not to mess with us! I was also a very dedicated choir member during my high school years. My family got some family pictures taken also during this time.

Before Austin and I started dating, I was on the cusp of finishing my high school education. With graduation soon approaching, I was very anxious for the school year to be finished. With hours of homework and finals, my last choir concert, and graduation coming, I didn't have time for any distractions until I laid eyes upon the most handsome man I'd ever seen.................



This is the picture that I had come across on a lazy night after work.
Isn't he the most gorgeous man ever?? :)

Austin and I had been friends for quite awhile but our actual friendship hadn't started until I came across this photo on Facebook and commented on it. We both found out we loved Disney characters, baseball, along with a bunch of other things in common, and for us, it clicked instantly. After talking for awhile, we started to hang out and spend every free second we had with each other. Austin came to my last choir concert, Graduation, and even came to be by my side at the hospital when I needed surgery for an aggravated appendix. He always was, and still is, by my side and supporting me every single step of the way. During the summer, we went on tons of fun dates and experienced some things we never experienced before with each other. Before we knew it, we were TOTALLY and irreversibly IN LOVE :).



This is us now. Absolute BEST FRIENDS and SO in love.

I won't pretend that we are absolutely perfect, although most of the time we would LOVE to think we are. We have our problems, our ups and our downs. We have a TON of good days for every one bad day we have. I think the reason why we are so strong and why we love each other so much is because we are learning more and more everyday about what makes a relationship successful. Patience, support, compromise, trust, respect, and empathy are just some of the main ingredients for a healthy, amazing relationship. Without one, or not enough of one from both sides, the recipe is incomplete. We appreciate the qualities that the other one has, good and bad, and love each other even more because we both know that at the end of the day, it IS us till the end. We learn from each others mistakes and work together. As Austin put it, "I know you hear people say relationships are 50/50. But that never made sense to me because you shouldn't be in a relationship 50% of the time. It should be ALL the time. Both people need to be in it 100% for it to work out." Let me tell you, we are both in it over 100%. We are SO crazy about each other that we actually argue over who loves who more.

It is such an amazing gift to have found the person you know your supposed to be with. To no longer search or be alone is the best. Although Austin doesn't believe me, I knew I loved him the first time we ever spent time together. I know its kind of corny to say, "When you know, you just know" but its totally true. I think anyone who is happily married can vouch for that statement. I thought it was completely idiotic when I was younger to hear that when people would say that, but it IS true and you WILL find someone who will prove that to you. I am so glad to have found mine :).

I love you so much Austin Morrison.

The Little "Train" That Could

I could feel my annoyance swelling into hot, prickling tears as I looked at my homework load for the week. A test in my Spanish class, a test in my Biology class, two papers to write, an hour and a half long video lecture to watch for Biology, AND my normal homework load for the week along with cleaning up the loose ends for one class that ended early this semester. This couldn't be right, I had to be reading something wrong. Sadly, everything I was reading was correct and due within a week. "Okay," I told myself, "I can do this."

As you can tell, this is how the past couple weeks have been going, which is why I have been absent from my blog. Homework assignment after homework assignment and due date after due date, the semester had come into full swing and I was feeling the stress. My gas light had come on and I was no where near a gas station to fill up.

After completing both papers, my weekly homework load, and lecture watched, I felt better even though I had two tests that were coming up that I was NOT excited for. Whoever created things called "tests" must not have known that they would be the source of hatred from college students for years to come.

On a happier note, I did have something fun on my plate for the week. TRAIN!

My handsome and completely amazing man bought me tickets for the Train concert along with a dinner reservation for an early birthday present! I am SO completely spoiled. I had so much fun shopping and coming up with an outfit to wear, he just HAD to give me an excuse to go shopping :). Pictures from the concert and my outfit adventure to follow soon!

With the Train concert flirting the end of the week, I was quite ready for the week to end, all my homework to be done, and to spend some concert time with the love of my life.

On top of the many wonderful things Austin has done for me, he has influenced me to get onto an exercise regimen, despite my heavy work load during the week. I figure that on top of writing about various things during the week to have an outlet for for my emotions, exercise will give me the chance to be healthier, spend some time with my love by exercising together, and it will get me into shape for our California trip in November.



Exercise, here we come!


 

With Train, exercise, my week work load dwindling, AND one of my classes finished for the semester (Whoop!!), I also have the support of my amazing love, along with my family and friends, to keep me going!

Found this on the screen of the computer along with a card when I went to take my test. Austin is SUCH a keeper! :D

Out of the Ordinary

Rolling with the motions. The routine of everyday. It becomes so easy to get used to a set schedule. A set mind-set. Get up, go to class, go to work, come home and make dinner, write a paper and reply to a discussion board post, drain in front of the television and go to bed. Get up the next morning and repeat.

Life can be so chaotic at times and it is almost nice to not have to think so much when you have a set schedule.

It can be so easy to become cynical about everyday life. You get used to the fact that bad things are going to happen at some point and it almost doesn't surprise you when it does happen. The thing that Austin has taught me is that not everything has to be as horrible as we make it. We can deal with angry customers and people all day long and it is fairly easy to let them influence our days too. It takes a strong minded person to not let the pressures of everyday get to us. Car troubles, friend and family troubles, career and education worries, financial stresses, and other things happen on a daily basis that we can't always control.

I came across this post from a very talented writers' blog and I found such inspiration from this, even though I am not the most religious person you can find:

"These are some of my absolute favorite hints that the seasons are changing. Little clues, that fall is coming and winter is not far behind. The best part is when it's still summer, still summer, still summer, and then one morning...it's fall. There's no exact date, there's no way to tell for sure when it will happen, it just...happens. I love how it parallels God's nature and is an illustration of who He is. 

When we are praying for something to happen or change, there are often signs that things are shifting. However, we're still in the summer's heat of a problem. We're still in the midst of the hardship. We still don't have a job, we're still sick, our loved ones still aren't saved. It's easy to become cynical that things will always be this way. But God has designed things to only last for a season. 

It's a set amount of time that only He knows, but it WILL end. I love how C.S. Lewis put it, "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different?" That's why I love fall so much. It's an illustration and testament that the Creator of the universe uses to point us to Him. To remind us that, though we be in the midst of a trial, it's not a permanent situation. We will never change the seasons on our own, but God will change it when the time is right. No sooner and no later.

Seeing the signs of fall this past weekend in Prescott did my heart so good! It was the perfect reminder that God is at work, things are changing, and to stop and enjoy the moments we are given. Don't lose heart if you are dealing with an issue or challenge. Soon you will be looking back on it. Soon...it will be fall."

click here to read more from this amazing lady! Austins' sister, Rachel, is an amazing writer who inspires, encourages, and gives great tips!

I never realized that I focused on all the little, negative things so much that it was affecting other aspects of my life too. My relationships with my family, friends, and the love of my life were all punching bags to the things that were happening to me. It's easy to let that happen to the ones you love because you know they will always be there for you when you need them to, but sometimes, it's hard to see how intense we may be acting sometimes.


It wasn't until recently that Austin helped me realize that my life had become a routine. I wasn't doing anything fun or out of the ordinary and it was making me go insane. I was just doing what I had to do and not what I wanted to. I looked on Pinterest for crafts and things to do with free time, but I never did anything with it. I love to bake, but I stopped because so many other things became more important. But I am realizing now that it's the things we don't think are important that are the most important. Doing something nice for yourself every once in a while.  

I resurfaced my old, ugly, lamps into something more fitting and modern for my space.

My handsome Director filming a short film in the living room at 12 AM.

Although there are no pictures of me (since I was behind the scenes taking pictures) I made my debut in this short film as a 'concerned neighbor who faces her death by the hands of this guy'. He does NOT like cheese pizza!

The last poor soul who brought him a cheese pizza.



Austin and I worked together and baked cupcakes and made home made cream cheese frosting. Something he had never done before and something we had never done together. Not to mention it gave us the excuse to make a mess in the kitchen, laugh like there was no tomorrow, and re-connect on a creative level. :D

After doing these things, I felt SO much better about everything. It was like some of the weight from everything that had been going wrong had been lifted from my shoulders. It helped bring me and those people who did these things together closer. The bad times do pass; all the bad times are meant to teach us a lesson. Austin and I are taking the challenges that we are being given and working through them to become stronger for each other. It is all one big test and I know we can make it through all of them together as long as we both work to hold up the other one when we are down or when things aren't going right. Without those hard times to work through, where comes the improvement? We want to be the best people we can be and to be the best we can for each other. Things do change and get better as time passes! I promise!

Our new goal: to come up with fun, different things to do together and for ourselves every once in a while. It mixes up the ordinary and gives us an excuse to laugh and be together!