simply lovely series {part 2}

Today the series officially begins!  I'm so excited to share with you some of the things Mr. H and I have taken away from marriage over the last year.  You can read the intro from last week here.

if it's not sin...

Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.   Romans 15:7

Like I've mentioned before, Mr. H and I do a weekly devotional together most Sunday's.  The book we've been going through is called Devotions for a Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.  There have been many key points we've taken away so far.

This chapter really stood out to us.  Too often we see our spouse or significant other and focus on their annoying habits and try to change them.  

Thomas explains it perfect when he writes "The man or woman you're married to is his or her own person.  Some things about him or her may not be to your liking, but if the things that bug you aren't sin, you have no right to demand that he or she changes."

Mr. H is always early.  He always joking says, "If I'm on time, then I'm five minutes late."  Silly right!  I am actually an on time person too, but he can be a little extreme at times.  There have been numerous occasions when we'll be needing to leave for something and he'll be standing at the door waiting for me to finish getting ready/freshen up my makeup/etc.  Now, this really annoys me!  I don't like to feel rushed!!  And I know that he's already ahead of schedule so that bothers me even more.  There was one time he had the door open and I wasn't even ready yet!!  

He clearly knew I was annoyed, but instead of nagging at him to stop rushing me (which I've done in the past), the best thing to do is to let him know how irritated it makes me and ask that he wait until I'm ready to leave before standing by the door.  And in return, I'll do my best to always be on time for him.  

If it's not sin, I can't expect him to change it.  The issue is really my issue.  I can either learn to live with it or I can bring it up to let him know it bothers me and maybe he'll change his ways.

I think this is so important because you didn't marry another you.  You married a different person.  Each person has their own quirks, habits, sin and issues.  If the things that bother you about your spouse aren't sinful, then you can't change him.  Thomas states, "If you persist in trying to change things that aren't sin issues, you're going to make your marriage life miserable."

This just reminds me that Christ loves me for who I am at this very moment.  Yes, there are things that I need to work on in my own life, but His love never changes.  And like Christ I am to love Mr. H entirely, even the things that aren't sinful.  

Mr. H and I have been blessed by a wonderful first year of marriage.  I feel very lucky because we haven't had many issues arise so far regarding wanting to change each other's non-sin issues.  However, it's in the back of our minds and I know it will help us in the future. 

Next week I'll have a fun guest post...stay tuned!!

Happy Wednesday!

guess who i talked into getting a pedicure...

Hey FRIENDS!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Mr. H and I sure did.  We had a fun, relaxing weekend.  I'm so excited to share what we did.

friday

Friday evening, Mr. H came home after being out of town for work for three days.  Needless to say I was thrilled to see him.  We had a couples pizza and game night with two couple friends from our Bible study group.  It was sooooo much fun.

I forgot my camera so excuse the poor quality phone picture!

We played Catch Phrase and OMG did we have fun!  We played girls against boys and let me tell you that the girls dominated!!!  Here's the funniest part of the night during a round of Catch Phrase...

boy #1- his hint was "Merry Christmas in Spanish"

boy #2-"Happy New Year!!!!!"  (said with excitement)

boy #3-"Cinco de Mayo"

answer-Feliz Navidad

all 3 girl-dying laughing!!

I'm not sure it translates well via text, but it was hysterical!  The rest of the night proceeded to be just as fun.  I loved hanging out with these awesome couples!!

There are no words.

saturday

Mr. H and I had a lazy Saturday at home.  I always love days when we just stay home and relax.  There's no need to be doing something all the time!  Mr. H had a bachelor party and I photographed the groom's soon to be bride.  She asked me to do a special photo shoot as well as some bridals.  

I can't post a dress shot since she's not married yet, but here is a sneak peak.  Cute shoes, right!

I went to meet her with one of our friends and we had some crazy weather come out of the blue.  It was 98 degrees when we went to pick up the bride.  It started getting really overcast and crazy windy all of a sudden.  On our way to the location for pictures, the temperture dropped over 20 degrees!!!!!!  It was raining on and off; and then when it stopped we saw a beautiful rainbow.  

sunday

Sunday was my favorite day this weekend!  Let me explain...I've been trying to get Mr. H to come with me to get a pedicure for as long as I've know him.  The answer has always been NO!  And that was that.  

Last week, my older cousin, Dennis, who is good friends with Michael, posted on Facebook he recently got a pedicure and LOVED it!  He was very enthusiastic about how much he enjoyed and admitted he didn't know why it took him so long to give it a try.  I knew with Dennis on my side I could hopefully convince Mr. H to try a pedicure too.  This became my goal over the next week!

Let's just say that after a few text between Dennis and Mr. H, I finally got Mr. H to give in and get a pedicure with me!!!!  Yea!!!!  I KNEW he would love it if he just gave it a try.  

I asked Mr. H a few questions before and after about his FIRST pedicure experience...

On a scale from 1-10:

Q: How happy are you to be get a pedicure today?

A: 4

On a scale from 1-10:

Q: How much did you enjoy the pedicure experience?

A: 8

Yes or No

Q: Would you be willing to go again?

A: Yes (I got him to admit that at least once a year.) 

We went all out on the pedicure.  I wanted him to experience it all!!  Mr. H got the milk and honey pedicure and I got the tropical pedicure.

• Foot/leg massage 
• Hot wax paraffin
• Hot stone massage
• Hot towel wrap 

Then he told me that he could see himself going in the futur with our daughter (if we have one).  How sweet is that!!!  I have the best husband ever and I'm so glad he FINALLY gave it and went with me!  It was such a fun date afternoon.

Happy MONDAY!

p.s. I'm looking forward to the Men Tell All on the Bachelorette!

fashion friday...wedding guest attire

It's FRIDAY!!!!  This week was rough...after only working two days last week it was hard to get back into the groove again.  Anyways, I made it, but I'm glad the weekend is here!  Plus Mr. H has been gone since Wednesday so I'm so excited to see him tonight.

Okay, I know this happens to everyone...the year of weddings.  That year is this year for Mr. H and I.  We have SIX weddings to attend this year, SIX!!!  

This weeks Friday's Fancies is wedding guest attire.  By the end of the year, I'm going to be a pro at putting together a wedding guest outfit.

Look at all our amazing friends who are/will be getting married this year!  I'm so happy for all of them and so excited to celebrate with them!!  

color chic

I love this simple dress and I paired it with a nude peep toe pump with this fun stripe clutch.  While it's a super chic outfit, you can add a little fun with the accessories.  I love that the purse is still classy, but it adds a nice addition of color.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

bold and bright

This is my favorite wedding outfit.  I have been on the hunt for a great simple maxi and I love this one. The belt even came with it.  Then I paired it with coral and this awesome necklace.  Don't be afraid to wear a bold color!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

sassy yet sophisticated

I am in love with this awesome black dress with the neck detailing.  I love it because you don't need really any other jewelry because you have so much going on up top.  I added a simple bangle and then black heals and a fun glitter clutch.  This dress is also in line with the new high low dress seem.  I'm digging it!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Have YOU attended any weddings this year?

Do YOU like to wear a solid color dress and pair it with fun accessories

OR

do YOU like to wear a patterned dress with subtle accessories?

I'm linking up with the lovely {av} over at long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  Check out some of the other great outfits fellow bloggers have put together.  It's one of my favorite parts of the link up.

Just because the wedding is about the bride and groom doesn't me you can't be the third person everyone's talking about.  Hahaha.  I'm looking forward to attending the remaining of the six weddings!  You know I'll be dressed to impress.  Hello!

Have a lovely weekend FRIENDS!  

you know what happens july 27???

July 27 is a pretty special day for me for two reasons: 1) it's my BIRTHDAY!!!! and 2) the OLYMPICS begin.

I love celebrating birthdays and mine is no exception.  I don't really do parties anymore, but birthdays are a big deal to me.  I just like the day to be special and spend it with people I love.  That's not asking for too much, right?!?!

Via

I don't know about you, but I LOVE the Olympics!  It's actually pretty funny because I generally don't like watching sports at all.  When it comes to the Olympics though, I'm all over it.  I have been excited for quite some time, and when I found out the opening ceremony is on my birthday I was doubly excited!  

Via

My favorite Olympic sports to watch are swimming, diving, gymnastics and sand volleyball.  It's so awesome to root for your country and at the same time see countries from all over the world together in one place.  It's pretty cool if you ask me.  

Via

If I could go to any Olympics, it would have been this year in London.  I've never been, but I think it's an awesome location for the Olympics.  London looks to be a beautiful place filled with historic sites and hello Prince William and Kate!  Ha.  

I'm super pumped for July 27th to come and you better believe I'll be counting down the days!!  And it's cool because the rest of the world is too!!!!!  

Will YOU be watching the Olympics this year?

What's YOUR favorite sport to watch?

i got flowers again!!!

Mr. H came home last night with flowers for me!!  Read here on Mr. H's philosophy on giving me flowers.

I love my man more than anything and whenever I get flowers, I cherish them because it doesn't happen to often.  I love these because of all the bright colors.  There're so cherry!  

AND since Mr. H left this morning at 6 am...I won't see him until Friday night so these will bring a smile to my face while he's gone.  Let me just vent and say I hate when he travels for work.  It's only two days, but I still just miss him and wish he was here.  I'm a needy girl only when it comes to his time.  We spend every evening together and when he's not here it's just weird.  Thank goodness for facetime.  At least I can "see" him.  

Thanks Mr. H for these pretty flowers and I can't wait to have you home on Friday.  

simply lovely series {part 1}

I finally got around to getting my first series started!  Mr. H and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary coming up on September 10.  I thought I'd reflect on this last year and share what we've learned about marriage so far.

You've heard people say the first year of marriage is the hardest or something similar right?  Well, we heard that too; and it's safe to say the first year of our marriage was actually very easy and pretty blissful.  Mr. H and I will be the first to tell you that it's 100% from the Lord.  Before we even got married, we knew that we needed Christ to be the center of our marriage.

Mr. H and I do a weekly devotional on Sunday at home, which I've mentioned it before.  It's called Devotionals for a Sacred Marriage: a year of weekly devotionals for couples by Gary Thomas.  They are very short chapters, and it's just a time for us to go through it together and talk about what we took away.  It's also a time to reflect on where we are at spiritually personally and a time to talk about our week. There have been a few key ideas we've taken away from this book that I'll be sharing.

I'll also have a few guest posts from some family members and a fellow blogger. I've got some questions I'll be asking and I'm looking forward to hearing their views on marriage.

I'm really excited to see where the Lord leads this series.  I've got several topics I'll be sharing and it will all lead up to our one year anniversary!  Which by the way it feels a lot longer than that, but at the same time I can't believe it's already been a year.  I know that may sound confusing, but hopefully you know what I mean.  Ha.

I'm also really excited because I'll be posting lots of pictures of our wedding.  Like any girl, I think my wedding was the most beautiful ever!!

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

let's talk bachelorette

I'm so proud of my top three guys making it this far!!!!

LIKES

(I want to keep you all!)

Jef-I've liked you for a while, but after every episode I think I can see a real connection between you and Emily.  I think everything you say is so genuine and I honestly think you would be a loving husband to Emily and a fun step-dad to Ricki.  You and Emily had an amazing day and the way you turned down the fantasy suite was so respectful and makes me like you even more!  Emily would be more than lucky to have you as her husband.

Sean-I think the world was in shock when Emily sent you home last night.  I honestly don't think Emily explained exactly why she sent you home.  The only think I can think of is that she saw something more with Jef and Arie.  I think you and Emily would have made a perfect couple and I would have loved to share my city with you too.  I have an awesome friend who will be perfect for you!  I'm sure you read my blog so just send me a message and I'll hook you up.

Arie-I have liked you from the start.  There is obviously a strong physical connection between you and Emily.  Honestly, I thought you would be the one to go home.  I thought she would see that she was missing more of an emotional connection.  Plus to be totally honest, I wasn't thrilled with your family and thought they weren't very warm and welcoming to Emily.  Don't take it personally, I totally like you Arie.  I love how much you care for Emily and want the best for her.  Best of luck Arie!

OKAY, two things: 1) I wish the "Men Tell All" was after the final episode.  I can't stand to wait two weeks until she makes her decision.  2) From the preview of the final episode, it seems as though she doesn't choose either Jef or Arie.  That better not be the case or I'll be very upset.

p.s. What's with the final episode being on Sunday night?  Weird!

Tell me what YOU thought about last night's episode?

Were you SHOCKED Emily sent Sean home?

I'm liking up again with the lovely Meghan from More from Meg.  Check out all the chit cat about the latest episode of The Bachelorette!

Until next Monday!!