grateful.

after the piling on of several stresses (including one professor claiming to have never received a paper i wrote and another misplacing an entire project) last night i found myself in the midst of a little meltdown. eventually, i went to bed feeling very sorry for myself and woke up with puffy eyes, a bad migraine and an even worse attitude. tonight, however, i am going to bed with a grateful heart.

thank you to several of my friends & family members who managed to somehow just know that i needed a phone call, text or card. not to mention the new fall arrangement adorning my dining room table. today, i have been truly amazed by these random acts of kindness and can only hope to be that kind of friend in return. you may not have known why i needed it, but you can't know how much it meant to me. so thank you, ladies (you know who you are).

now, i'm off to the land of lovers...see you soon!
*and yes, the bad news came after i wrote my previous "life is good" post. figures.

life is good.

thanks so much for all of your dc tips.
thanks for taking the time to help me plan.
and thanks for being my friend.

i have a lot on my mind these days & lots that i would love to write about
but i also know that tonight i need to clean, do homework, wash clothes, pack and play with my pups
so that's what i'm going to do

but i just wanted to say thanks first
and also, isn't mr. briggs so cute?
g took these photos of him while we visited last weekend.
so many big emotions from such a little man.

virgina is for lovers, right?

me & g leave for washington dc/virgina this saturday. both of us are huge procrastinators & therefore, we have no itinerary yet. we are planning to hit-up the basics (museums, memorials, mount vernon & williamsburg) but we aren't sure we have enough to fill up 7 whole days.

if you've been & have any suggestions about things we must see or places we need to eat, please do share. i am completely clueless about what this city has in store for us, i only know that i am so excited for a trip with my lover. can't wait to spend his big 30th together.

thanks in advance.

i love these people.

welcome to the world, mr. briggs.
you are the cutest little man we've ever met
and we love you so much already.

{briggs was born on 9.27, so i've been waiting to post this darling pic for a while,
but of course, i wanted to wait until his mommy had the honors of introducing him first.}

these pups are nuts.

toby's tongue is always sticking out one side of his mouth

jack is afraid of any noise & jumps every time we breathe
toby is already shivering and the fleece sweatshirt is back on
jack barks at his reflection & other dogs on tv
toby growls & "runs" in his sleep

jack eats his poop on a daily basis (we've discussed this)

our pups are really weird.

do you remember when we danced under those twinkle lights?

we celebrated by dining here, which is also where we held our reception 3 years ago. and i'm pretty sure i chose tuscany just so i could have an excuse to eat there at least once a year. seriously, have you tried their pork chops and pumpkin chocolate chip bread pudding?
no? your life is not complete.

and that courtyard is where we had our first dance as man & wife. some of you might remember that g surprised me by arranging for kalai to show up and play my favorite song live.

greatest moment of my life.
no joke.

three.

4 years ago i walked into my office on the first day of my new job as a real estate assistant.
soon, i spotted a tall handsome blonde who smiled at me from across the room.
weeks later, i still couldn't get him out of my head.

on a rainy day we spoke for the first time and both felt fireworks,
eventually, he told me he was in love & i knew i felt the same.

i still can't believe i got to marry the man i dreamed about for so long.

happy anniversary, love. and thank you for the last 3 years.

they have been 3 of the best.

today is friday.

today sir gilligan's right eye has swollen up and is 4 times it's regular size.
hopefully today, sir gilligan does not die.

today a co-workers coffee spilled all over my car.
so today i am grateful that even though i don't drink coffee, i love the smell of mocha.

today i had to choose between having christmas eve or the day after thanksgiving off.
it made me wish that the whole world could just have both.

today i listened to a voicemail my mother left me, but i could barely make out her words
because in the background she was blasting her music too loudly

today that made me smile

saying goodbye.

I have been trying to decide what I want to say about my last brother leaving on a mission for the next 2 years. I have been thinking about it a lot. Part of me wants to tell you about the kind of friend he has always been to me. I want to talk about that time I was faced with packing up my entire house by myself in one day and feeling overwhelmed with the task, I decided to call my little brother to see if he would join. "Yup" he said enthusiastically and he was at my front door the next morning. We spent the next 12 hours laughing hysterically as we boxed up my life and strategically cut out funny portions of the newspaper we were using to pack with and taping the pictures to the tops of the cardboard boxes for the movers to enjoy. I want to tell you that that day, G came home expecting me to be exhausted and grumpy and was instead glad to hear me say, "Scotty came over and helped, so it was a blast" And it really was.

That is what he has done for me, made every moment better because he was there to laugh along with me.

Most of you will think this is beyond cheesy, but I have never had a better friend than him. And as I drove him down to Provo with my parents, I couldn't help but feel nothing but excited for him and proud of who he is. I am excited for everyone who will get to be uplifted by him the way I have always been. I can't even begin to imagine the good that he will do.

meals on wheels.

Dear friends, I need your help.

I am headed to get the next 2 weeks worth of groceries after class tonight and I could use some serious assistance. Do any of you have any suggestions of things I can make in advance that can be eaten on-the-go? The sad reality of our household is that G and I aren't home to eat dinner together right now. We both just have to run home, throw together a PBJ and run back out the door to class, but we are so sick of it! I feel bad for my husband whose dinner for the past month has been little snacks here and there. I am racking my brain for ideas & coming up with nothing.

To you more experienced wifeys, any ideas of what I should get or what I could cook? What would you feed your husband in this situation? We miss our dinners.

Thanks in advance.