Friday's Letters {32}

dear bub (aka M) So my birfday is rounding the corner. & if I know you (which I do) you've probably already gotten moi something or you're working on it as I type. & if you know me (which you do) you probably know that I'm working on finding out what it is you're working on. Know what I mean? Basically, if you're reading this, know that you need to be sneakier or I'm going to figure out the BIG surprise (which I'm thinking there is a big surprise if I know you at all... which I do).

dear school Holy moly!!! You're already kicking my booty. Like mad hard too. & I JUST realized (like literally this second) that I left two sheets of negative sleeves in lab. Crap! Hope I didn't need those...

dear weekend I know I often say that I'm so happy you've arrived, but this time I reeeally mean it.

dear friends & family Please be in prayer for my family. I know that's broad, but there's so much going on in various parts of the family right now that I just need a large prayer umbrella-ing us all under it. But good news, my mother-in-law has recovered very well. Her voice was gone for a while but it's back & she's getting stronger everyday. Now we just have to get rid of the rest of the cancer. Baby steps yall!

Any plans for the weekend?

Peace loves!

linking up with ashley

Lover boy

It's no surprise I'm head over heels in love with Stephen Mitchell Brotherton.

But I realized you peeps don't really know much about the Mr.

So I thought I'd share some random facts & stories about this dude of mine.

He has this irrational fear of the dentist. He refuses to function normally the day of his cleanings to the point that he won't even eat.

Mitch sucks at driving at night. He'll even admit it. Says something like he can't see well. Hmm... maybe you should let me drive next time babe.

Can do the robot dance perfectly. Maybe I'll get it on tape one day.

Only ever orders chicken nachos at any mexican restaurant. Nothing else. Ever. But it's okay, cause I try to order things I know he'll like so he can share. Yeah, I try to be a good wifey.

He does this thing where he throws his dirty socks at the bottom of the stairs once he gets home from work. It drives me up the wall. & I'll tell him to pick em up but does he? Nope.

His british accent? Terrible.

Must sleep with a pillow over his head. Like suffocating him.

He does this really funny imitation of Schmidt from New Girl. Where he says "all day" with a jersey accent. Like, "I could eat ice cream ALLL DAAY!" (stress the jersey accent). Or, "I can't wait to hang out ALLL DAAY!" 

Bub freaks at the thought of girls pooping. He swears we don't do the two. I've tried telling him we do the duty just like guys but he'd rather die than believe me. 

He drinks Petobismol like it's lemonade. Can I get a collective GROSS!

M's such a romantic too. In college he drove all the way to my place in the middle of the night on Valentine's day morning to leave me hand written messages all over the garage floor. He scattered rose peddles & lit a bunch of tea candles too. Woke me up by knocking on my door & fled the scene. I stumbled awoke. Frightened there were a murderer outside my door. But curiosity got the best of me & I found his surprise. 

He promises me that we'll travel the world together collecting dirt for our jars.

My boy has these awful night terrors. I'd say he has one every month. They freak me out too! Once I found him walking around our room talking about snakes. Another time he was screaming about some train coming through the wall. Eff to the reaking.

The boy knows how to have fun. & he totally knows how to make me feel like I'm loved. 

celebrating 365 days of marriage

a few weeks ago {that's how far behind on posting i am} M & i celebrated our first year of marriage! we joke that we managed to make it this far. but i like to think that making it a year is something to be proud of. because i am proud of us. proud of how well we try to work together {notice the word try}. this year was fun yet also a challenge. we found out marriage isn't playing house but a lifestyle that takes patience & compromise. something that i still need to work on. i'm so blessed to be married to a man that respects me & understands me better than i do. 

so for our first anniversary we celebrated by visiting the town of st. augustine. we were only a short fifteen minute ride from the town & planned to take full advantage of that fact. it's filled with history around every corner & not to mention all the precious shops. being on an island we experienced a few popup showers here & there but nothing could ruin our day. we found an adorable cafe that had bubble tea. boy! was the tapioca soft! we walked along the water hand-in-hand & reminisced about our wedding day. we found the only mexican restaurant on the island which was nicely located by the water to enjoy dinner at. if chips & salsa was the last thing i'd ever eat i'd be okay with that. & no brotherton vacation is complete without overdoing it on the sweets. so when we stumbled upon a fudge shop we naturally bought five squares to share. that same evening after the sun set, we played on the beach with sparklers. 

hidden cafe that had heavenly bubble tea ^^^

our fudge that disappeared quickly ;) ^^^

 sparklers!!!

can't wait to celebrate many more years.
xoxo
-L

a moment to show your appreciation

i'll be honest, growing up i didn't see the value in teacher appreciation week {gasp!}. up until half way through my high school career, i didn't enjoy school. but one year i had a life changing teacher. seriously. she didn't just teach me grammar or how to properly set up my resume. she taught me the importance of reading & pointed out how often we use the word "like" incorrectly. but most importantly, she taught me respect.
it could also be the fact that M is a teacher himself, & i'm finishing up my teaching degree, that really puts it all into perspective, but teachers are people too. & they loved being appreciated almost more than anything else. makes me wish i appreciated all my teachers/professors more often. what they are doing isn't easy or glamourous. so be sure to show your educators a little appreciation this week with a small gift or even a quick "thank you".

now it's time to give my favorite teacher a kiss
to show him how much i appreciate him ;)

-L

our trip to the mountains

i've been swamped at work. so swamped that i had to work on Easter. it was a real bummer. i was so bummed, i refused to decorate eggs. i was sort of throwing a fit. not my finest moment. in order to cheer me up {& also because he's the greatest man... eva} M booked us a trip in the north georgia mountains where i got to do whatever i wanted. at first i thought it was an april fools joke but he showed me where we'd be staying & had our bags packed as proof. let me apologize in advance for the photo overload.

     

we hiked most of the first day & ate lunch by the neatest waterfall. 

water was freezing, yet we still got in.

another {smaller} waterfall we passed.

after a long morning & afternoon hike, i wanted to visit the nearby german & holland inspired town where we shopped around & ate authentic german meals.

the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. they have to be my favorite flowering tree.

the next morning we wanted to hike another trail. this one was less occupied but didn't have any waterfalls. 

there's a whole folder of pictures but i thought these would suffice. i instagrammed mostly food. & let me tell you, pounds of delicious food was consumed, including a pound and a half of fudge.  

the trip was just what i needed. though i didn't relax much, the time together was relaxing in a peaceful manner. oh mini vacation, you were such a treat. thanks for reminding me to indulge every once in a while. & thanks M for planning it all. you know how to spoil me.

xoxo

-L

i'm be guest posting about our 365 project over on chelsea's blog. be sure to stop by!

married to a blogger

L: i need more pictures for my blog...
M: yea?
L: can we stop somewhere to snap a few?
M: ugh, fine.
L: YAY!
M: did you bring the tripod?
L: why would i bring the tripod?
M: how will we take pictures together?
L: silly boy, you aren't going to be in the pictures. just me. {duh}.
M: ...

oh husbands. y'all are funny.
xoxo

-L

update

last post was friday which feels like ages ago. we've been trying to catch up on a few things over here -- sleep for one thing. we both took today off {almost sounds romantic}. we figured we needed the extra day together to simply relax. it's currently beautiful outside. sun shining, wind slightly blowing, the ducks & geese are in the yard, & the water is calm.

 just got back from petsmart, where kodi & maggie tagged along. naturally we stocked up on goodies for those two munchkins. even stopped by redbox & picked up a movie to watch... well, any minute now. gonna curl up in bed with the man of my dreams & probably be really confused by the plot. anyone seen looper? previews alone make it seem like i'm going to be asking a lot of questions {M hates it when i do that}.

i hope wherever you are, you are having a wonderful wednesday!
xoxo

my man

turns 23 today.

happy birthday sweetie. life is so much sweeter with you a part of it. i'm so glad you're mine.

love you.

ps - this time next year we will be in costa rica -- that will be a birthday to remember :)

xoxo