Welcome to the Good Life!

what i'm loving wednesday!

It's Wednesday friends!  I am off to the dentist to get a root canal, but honestly I have been in so much pain this week that I am actually looking forward to it.  Sad, I know.   I do want to share with you what I am loving this week before I head off to my appointment!!

I'm loving summer is here.  I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time at summer camp and I think this water balloon slide sounds just simply amazing.  I'd love to try it out!! :)

I'm loving that my sweet Tobbie is back home with me!  He has been in Kentucky with my mom for a few months and I am happy to have his sweet baby self home where he belongs.  He has been such a rockstar to snuggle with the past few days when I haven't been feeling well.  Tobbie was completely snoring on our way home Sunday--isn't he so cute in this picture? :)

I'm loving that Rob and I have booked a trip to Asheville for Memorial Day weekend!  I am so looking forward to the vacation.  I am counting down the days!  I know we are going to tour the Biltmore, but what else should we do?  I have heard so many great things about the city--I can't wait!

I'm loving this reminder to keep praying and stay faithful.  I need to remember this when times seem to be really tough!

I am loving my family so so much!  I had the best time in Kentucky celebrating both my sister and my mom this weekend.  Rob and I are also working on some home improvement projects and I love his contagious excitement about fixing up a few things around our house.  :)

wedding cake link up!

 

Today I am linking up with Britt at The Magnolia Pair to show off our wedding cake!  I was so anxious about getting our wedding cake because I'm gluten-free, but I knew I didn't want our wedding cake to be.  So, what does a girl do when she wants a cake with regular flour that she cannot eat herself?  Enter my wonderful sister and maid of honor!  Rachel helped me pick out her favorite cake/filling combinations.  Piece of Cake in the Short North did both of our wedding cakes--the regular cake and the groom's cake.  I LOVED working with them--they were so nice and made the entire process stress free!

Rob is a graduate of THE Ohio State University, so I knew I wanted his groom's cake to be themed for his beloved Buckeyes.  His cake was red velvet, of course and was a replica of the OSU football stadium.  Rob had no idea he was going to have a groom's cake, let alone something so fun!  There were a lot of Buckeye fans at our reception and they all got a huge kick out of it, too. :)

For our actual wedding cake, I knew I wanted our monogram and I knew I wanted some polka dots--but I wanted it to be all white.  Piece of Cake had several options to choose from that were right in our price range and I couldn't have been happier with the way our wedding cake turned out.  The only struggle I had was what type of cake topper to use.  I had thought about doing something personalized, but the price tag seemed a little steep for me.  So, I purchased a Willow Tree Promise cake topper.  I still think it is so beautiful and I hope someday our children will be able to use it. :)

Our cake was chocolate with raspberry filling and I heard from several sources that it was delicious!  I had a small gluten-free cake made at a bakery so that we would be able to cut at least one piece of cake and feed it to each other.  The gluten-free cake was carrot cake with cream cheese icing. 

When we went to cut the cake I was so anxious because I suddenly realized this is the one thing I hadn't planned!  Was Rob going to smash the cake in my face?  Was I going to smash it in his face?  Were we going to use our hands?  A fork?  Talk about major stress! :)

In the end, Rob was a complete gentleman and fed me my piece of cake very sweetly. :)

 Thanks Britt for letting me relive such a wonderful day!

 

what i'm loving wednesday! :)

 

Today is my favorite day of blogging--both reading and writing!  I love the positivity out there in blogland! :)

Before I get started into WILW, I'd just like to ask you to offer up a prayer for my papa.  He's having some minor surgery today, but his health has been in a gradual decline for awhile.  They've transferred him to a different hospital because he's high risk. I'd so appreciate your prayers--and I know my papa would too!

Ok--let's get started with the love and happiness out there today! :)  I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love, as always, for What I'm Loving Wednesday! :)

I'm loving this pretty Valentine's Day wreath!  I have minimal Valentine's Day decorations, but I think they are so pretty!  Isn't this wreath genius?

I'm loving this owl nightlight.  As a Chi Omega, I must have this in my life!  Isn't it so cute?!  

I'm loving Goodread's 2012 Reading Challenge!  I challenged myself to read 52 books and so far this year I have read 4!  I'm about 200 pages into a 900 page book right now so I know my pace is going to slow down a little.  However, I love keeping track of this goal--I feel so accomplished! :)

I'm loving my husband, as always.  I love that he makes me feel incredibly special and so very cherished.  That's the way every woman should feel and I am so thankful for Rob.  He even made dinner last night--which is another thing I'm loving! :)

What are you loving this week?  I'd love to hear! :)

 

a few randoms for today!

-Last night Rob and I decided to watch our Netflix DVD of Big Bang Theory.  We got it in the mail yesterday, but when it came time for us to watch it, it was nowhere to be found!  I tried to remember where I had put it...and then I realized I had most likely put it in the outside trash.  :(  I had checked the mail and thrown away the junk in the trashcan before coming inside.  :( :( :( :( :(  So, I put on my big girl britches and dug it out of the trash.  In the rain.  That's how much I wanted to watch Big Bang Theory!  (Also there was nothing else in the trash.  Thank goodness. :) )

-Speaking of, I finally learned the words to the theme song.  I'm pretty much a genius. :)

-On Tuesday I subbed at a local high school but all of the students had work to do--there was no real teaching for me to do. Luckily, I had downloaded my Nook with some fun new reading material including----

Honestly I wasn't sure if I would like this book.  I thought it might be too preachy or perhaps too conservative.  However, I loved the book!  It's written in a way that makes you feel like you are just having a conversation with Tim Tebow!  I really admire him and his strong faith--which he is able to talk about in a way that is not judgmental or righteous.  I like that.  There's a lot about football in there (shocking, I know), so I think that guys would like it just as much!

-I've heard that so many of you are doing My Fitness Pal too!  Let's be friends---beckyjo606 is my username.  This has been such an eye-opening app for me.  I had no idea how much snacking was impacting my calorie intake.  Even if I end up going over my calorie count, I try to still put everything in there, but it definitely makes me think twice about everything I eat!

-Also, earlier in the week I mentioned I had saved a bunch of money through couponing.  One of my friends has started a new blog, Coupning Make$ Cent$.  Jessica has basically taught me everything I know about coupon clipping and the best ways to save money!  She has started posting matchups where she matches up the stores that are having sales with the coupons being offered.  This is how you get maximum savings!  If you're interested in saving some money, check out her blog! :)

-Do you have any good book recommendations?  One of my resolutions for the year is to read 52 books!  I've read 3 so far and I have a few more picked out to read, but I am always looking for more to read.  

Alright, I have shared enough random things with you for the day!  

Hope you're having a great Thursday! :)

what i'm loving wednesday!

It's Wednesday which means it's time to link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love!  I find myself looking forward to this day every week!  I love preparing this post and I love reading about what others are loving.  It is just the best dose of positivity out there in blogland! :)

I'm loving these spoons!  I received an ice cream maker for Christmas from my mom and sister.  Rob and I have made blackberry chocolate chip and strawberry.  Both were SO DELICIOUS!  However, we may have some disagreements over who gets to eat what and when... :)  So--these spoons would be very helpful! :)

I'm loving all of your sweet comments on my blogpost yesterday!  I loved sharing with you about my pretty engagement ring and I am so thankful for each one of them.  You surely know how to make a girl feel special!  

I'm loving the following Bible verses.  I've seen several posts where bloggers have claimed Bible verses for the upcoming year.  These ones are my favorite...

I'm loving my very sweet husband.  He makes me laugh harder than anyone else.  He is so sweet to cheer me up when I've had a rough day.  He just makes my days so much better.  I am so thankful for him and I love him very much!

What are you loving this week?

my pretty engagement ring!

Today I am linking up with CMae to show off my pretty engagement ring.  Rob proposed to me with absolutely the ring of my dreams!  Evidently I had pointed out a few rings to him in a magazine, however I honestly have no recollection of this ever happening!  I don't know if I've ever shared my engagement story on my blog, but here is the short and sweet version of it!

Rob and I started dating in December 2009 and very quickly knew we weren't going to be dating anyone else.  In March, my sister and I went on vacation with some friends to Mexico.  When we flew home, I talked to Rob in the airport and he told me he was shopping at the mall with one of his friends.  This is so not Rob!  I knew something was up--but I didn't know if he had bought anything or his friend had bought something for his serious girlfriend.

Things were really busy from that time on through the summer.  I was working lots of weekends and after I got over the first stage of thinking he was going to propose every time I turned around, I was able to put it out of my mind.  The summer of 2010 we had planned a trip together to South Africa for a friend's wedding and then we were going to be traveling onto Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls.  I just knew Rob would be proposing there! :)

In June, I flew down to the beach to spend part of the week with Rob's family.  The first night I got there, Rob wanted to take me for a walk on the beach.  I was SO exhausted from finishing up a youth camp on that very day, that I couldn't bring myself to go!  It was late so I just went straight to be. 

The next day, Sunday June 20th, Rob and I started the day with his family.  We all went down to the beach and I was loving my life!  We spent the day laying out and I may or may not have taken a nap!  I seriously could spend every day laying on the beach!  

That evening, we went to dinner with Rob's family.  Here is our last picture before we got engaged!

 

We walked around for awhile doing some shopping after dinner before we all headed back to the beach house.  Rob asked me if I'd be interested in a walk on the beach and although I was still pretty tired, I agreed to go!  I figured since Rob had asked two nights in a row, he really wanted to go! 

We headed to the beach and immediately Rob and I started being lovey.  We were started talking about how happy we were to be together and how much we had missed each other the week before when I had been working at a youth camp.  In the middle of our conversation, Rob knelt down and asked me to marry him.  I was absolutely not expecting this to happen!  I started crying/screaming/jumping around and finally tackled Rob before agreeing to of course marry him. :)

Afterwards, we walked on the beach for a little while.  We talked about our lives together, our dreams for our wedding, and just really took in the moment.  Someone down the beach let off fireworks and it just completely added to the feelings of happiness and excitement we both had!  I really wanted to savor the moment, so our walk was almost two hours long!

When we got back to the beach house, Rob's whole family was there to congratulate us!  I called my mom and sister right away to let them know the good news!  I love that Rob so completely surprised me and completely took my breath away when he proposed. :)

Now for the ring pictures....

With my matching wedding band!

Pictures of both of our bands!  Our wedding bands are engraved with two sentimental quotes and the day of our wedding.  Mine says "You're my only".  Rob's says "You're my favorite".  It's something we say to each other all of the time--even now! :)

christmas 2011

Rob and I had a wonderful time celebrating our first married Christmas together!  I know that little kids make Christmas so much fun, but honestly being married and having someone to share all of the love and joy of Christmastime with makes it so incredibly special.  I have had many single Christmases, and I am so thankful to have someone special to spend the holidays with!

Rob and I started celebrating Christmas the Sunday before the actual holiday with his mom's family.  We went to his grandpa's house after church.  Everyone on his mom's side was there--and everyone gets a present!  His grandparents are so generous and thoughtful.  They ask for Christmas lists from all of us!  Honestly though, I would be just as happy there if we didn't get anything.  Spending time with family is what is most important!  

We continued the celebrations by celebrating with our friends on Thursday night.  Two of our friends bought a new home and so warmly invited us all over to their house to have a Yankee Gift Exchange and yummy food!

Friday, Rob and I headed down to Kentucky to spend quality time with my family.  Three days is just not enough--I wish we had so much more time!  My mom had so much delicious food for us--including potato soup because we were both sick!  Rob and I both had the nasty head cold that's been going around.  My sister makes a delicious homemade ranch dressing and the combination of soup and salad was exactly what we needed to feel better for the holidays!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to do some cooking and cleaning for my mom's Christmas Eve Party!  Rob was such a champ and put together a new dresser for two of my cousins.  He seriously worked all day long on it!  

In the evening, a bunch of my moms family came over to celebrate with us!  I love my mom's Christmas Eve parties.  It's a time of fun, laughter, and family.  We also had some very good food!  My mom sure knows how to entertain!  I should definitely have gotten some pictures of the spread, but I was just enjoying myself so much!  I did capture this sweet picture of Tobbie.  He was a little wore out from the festivities...

On Christmas morning after we had opened all of our goodies, Rob and I packed up the car and headed back home.  I was very surprised that I wasn't more emotional about leaving.  The only bad part about being married on holidays is not getting to spend the entire time with your own family.  I love Rob's family dearly so I think that helps a lot!  

We went straight to Rob's parents' home to stuff ourselves with roast beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, broccoli and cheese, and just about every single dessert you can think of!  I tried really hard to limit myself--but seriously everything was so so good!

After lunch, we opened up all of our wonderful gifts from Rob's family.  They go ALL OUT for Christmas and it is so fun to see what everyone gets!  Rob and his BIL always exchange gun/wine/beer gifts and this year was no exception.  They are so excited about these gifts that they are almost more entertaining than my niece and nephew!  So funny!!

And of course I'm sure you are all interested in my goodies I received for Christmas, right?  My mom and sister bought Rob and I a bread maker and an ice cream maker.  I can't wait to get started using these!  So fun!

Rob was incredibly generous, as always.  He is such a thoughtful gift giver and I love that about him.  This year he surprised me with a pretty La Mer watch that I had been eyeing for some time.  I received this pretty purple one with a travel charm on it!  So gorgeous! 

Rob also gave me a purple North Face.  Are you starting to notice a trend?  This isn't the exact one, but it's close.  I wore it while running errands on Monday and it was the perfect lightweight coat!  The color is also pretty cheerful which makes running errands more fun!

My SIL and her family completely surprised me with this necklace--but with my own initials, of course.  This is one of my favorite gifts!  I love my new monogram and am so excited to show it off!

This Christmas was absolutely one for the books.  I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded with such a wonderful family and to have married into a wonderful family, as well.  I am forever grateful for the times we get to spend together! :)

our fun weekend away!

Rob and I had such a perfect weekend away together!  We headed out right and early on Saturday morning.  Rob and I met up with Rachel to drop off Tobbie!  I am so thankful she was willing to meet up with us so we didn't have to worry about him during the weekend!  Tobbie's feeling so much better after his surgery, but he's still not 100%!  

When we rolled into Cincinnati, we made a stop at Jungle Jim's.  Jungle Jim's is an enormous grocery store.  Grocery store seriously doesn't even come close to accurately describing all of the amazingness that is Jungle Jims.  They have a huge hummus bar, olive bar, cheese bar--we even saw a butter bar!!  When we were on our honeymoon in Spain, Rob became obsessed with jamon, a dry cured ham.  It was pretty delicious--and it was so dirt cheap!  They don't really sell it in the US, but we found it at Jungle Jim's!  We bought 1/4 lb because it was $120/lb.  AH!  It was something Rob talks about all of the time, so it was a fun splurge.  

 

 

 

Also at Jungle Jim's, we saw this amazing gingerbread house!  It was seriously 4 feet tall!  I loved it so much, so I had to take a picture of it to share with everyone!  I kept staring at it--it was such a work of art!  Isn't it beautiful?

After we finished up at Jungle Jim's, Rob and I met up with my friend Sarah while we did some shopping at Nordstrom Rack!  I had never been to NR before, and it wasn't at all what I expected.  I was a little worn out from driving, shopping, and driving again.  SO, I couldn't completely go shopping like I wanted to.  Nordstrom Rack is totally a store that you need to go through all of the racks to see what they have.  I picked out a couple of dresses, but they were just ok so I ended up only walking out with these awesome running pants---

 

Rob and I said our goodbyes to Sarah and we headed to our hotel!  Sarah did give me some very sweet gifts--a Louisville Christmas ornament and a Louisville platter that I will share another day.  I love them though!

When we got to our hotel, there was an impromptu fireworks show downtown!  The fireworks were right outside our window, which was so fun!  Rob and I snacked on the jammon and wactched the pretty fireworks!  I was a little bit lame then and ended up taking a little nap.  However, it seriously let me enjoy the evening so much more! 

Rob had picked out a romantic restaurant for us to go to to celebrate our dating anniversary!  Our first date was to a French restaurant, so Rob stuck with that theme and took me to Jean Roberts Table.  Such a perfect restaurant and I am so glad Rob kept it a surprise! :)  Here we are in the elevator ready for our night out on the town!  

I am so so thankful to my husband for taking me to Cincinnati and for making reservations at such a beautiful restaurant!  Rob really knows how to bring the romance--and it was just the most perfect time for us to get away and celebrate our relationship!  :)

Our Wedding

These posts contain all of the pictures and descriptions of the happiest day of our lives.  I hope you enjoy looking through them and hope they may inspire you for your own wedding! 

Bridal Brunch

Wedding Preview!

Getting Ready for the Wedding

Cute Wedding Candids

Time for the First Look

Before the Ceremony

Onto the Ceremony

Formal Pictures

Reception Part 1

Reception Part 2

Honeymoon Part 1

reception...part 2!

Thanks for sticking around friends while I finish up these last wedding posts!  My goal is to finish up our honeymoon pictures in the next few weeks, as well.  We have been married for almost 7 months afterall! :)

I love this picture our photographer snagged of me getting our of my car!  It gives you a little bit of an idea of just how enormous my dress was.  I LOVED all of the layers, but it looked pretty hilarious in the car--especially with my veil added to it!! :)

Here are a few pictures of us signing our marriage license.  Hurray! :)

This is the outside of our pretty programs, along with our blinging rings!  I love ring shots. :)

This picture is so special to me because it's a candid of my catching up with my two best college girlfriends.  Who knows what we are talking about?  But, I love the expression and the obvious happiness in all of our faces. :)

This picture was taken just before Rob and I walked into the reception. Love it.

Here is our officiant offering up a prayer before we all ate.  I am so thankful for Stephen!  His parents are friends with my mom.  We are obviously friends and he officiated my wedding!  These little details were so important to me on our big day. :)

Aren't my friends beautiful?

I think at some point I've mentioned that I had ten bridesmaids and Rob had nine groomsmen.  Right?

Two of my bridesmaids had to go in with one groomsmen--but look how well they all pulled it off!

Here's my pretty sister and MOH giving her toast.  She's so pretty too, isn't she?! I am always so thankful for my sister because we are incredibly close, but it meant the world to me that she was there to support me so much through our wedding planning and actual wedding day.  She, of course, made me tear up a bunch.  She's just the best.

Here is our first dance.  I love this shot from our photographer so much--and I'm so thankful I waited to take off my veil!  Isn't it beautiful?  It was originally attached to my dress as kind of a veil for the dress.  (Weird, right?)  My awesome seamstress/third cousin-in-law made it into a cathedral veil for me.  So, I ended up with a $500 veil for free.  Amazing.

Our first dance was to "Blue Sky" by the Allman Brothers.  Even though the song was over five minutes long, I wish it was so much longer because the time just flew by!

Rob dancing with his mom.  So precious.  It makes me tear up a little bit, actually.

Funny story about this picture.  Rob picked the song he wanted to dance to with his mother.  I objected because I thought there were several other songs that would be more appropriate.  However, it was Rob's dance with his mom so I let it slide.  Halfway through the song, Rob realized the semi-inappropriate words for dancing with your mom so he grabbed me and Rob's mom grabbed his dad.  So hilarious, but it led to this pretty picture of us dancing once again!  And, I don't have to tell you who ended up being right, do I? ;)

I  was a little bit worried about people dancing at the reception.  (Ok, let's be honest.  I was major worried about it.  I was also major worried about the food, the dresses, the hotel, just about every detail.  Aren't all brides?)  However, the dancing was in full swing until the very end of the reception!  In fact, we extended the reception an extra hour because people were having such a great time.  All of those worries were definitely wasted.  Look at these pictures--everyone's so happy! :)

Here's my cute nephew and some of Rob's cousins dancing.  Aren't they hilarious?

This is one of my very favorite pictures from our reception--my mom rockin' it out on the dance floor.  Isn't she darling?  She's the cutest. :)

Because we got married in the off-season (March), our DJ threw in a free photobooth.  That's right, free!  This turned out to be the biggest hit--as you will see in the pictures!  We have copies of all of the pictures, as well as a scrapbook where our guests were able to write sweet wishes to us.  Such a priceless treasure!

Here are some ladies I go to church with!  Aren't they hilarious?!

Here are some of my cousins in the photobooth--I love the sombrero/feather mask combo!

And of course--our sweet ringbearer, Eli.  Isn't he the cutest little boy you've ever seen?  I think they ended up letting him keep the fireman's hat because he just loved it so much.  So so sweet.

Rob and I cutting the cake!  We were both sweet to each other when it came to feeding each other pieces.  This was one thing I hadn't thought about and I was suddenly filled with so much fear!  However, Rob was very sweet and the cake was delicious.  We had three kinds--gluten-free carrot cake, chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and red velvet.  I heard a positive review about our yummy cakes! :)

Here is my sweet friend and bridesmaid, Katie.  She caught my bouquet.  I can't wait to start planning her wedding. ;)

Towards the end of the night, our photographer snuck us out of the reception to snap a few quick dramatic photos.  I totally stole this idea from our reception site's website.  In fact, it was part of the reason I went out to check out the Jessing Center in the first place.  No judgement? Didn't the pictures turn out beautiful?

Thanks friends for making it through all of our wedding pictures with me!  I'll have all of my wedding posts together at the top of my blog for easy access later.  Thanks for indulging me!  This truly was the best day of my life.  I am so thankful for all of our friends and family who made this day a dream come true.  And, of course I am so thankful for my husband Rob who indulged me a thousand times to make sure the day was everything I had dreamt of since I was a child.  Looking back through these pictures was such a wonderful way to relive the day I married the love of my life! :)