Monday hum drum and dreaming

Anybody else out there wish this had been another long weekend?

I would have loved to have another recuperation day.

Oh well, can't get everything I guess.  

What I would really love though would be a little mini vacation right now.

Tell me that doesn't sound lovely?

Isn't it funny that no matter where we live, we all want the occasional escape?

Even in a place as wonderful as Hawaii, I wouldn't mind taking a small getaway elsewhere.
I'd love to go back to Asheville, NC. This is where we spent part of our honeymoon last summer.
Seriously, it's the cutest little hippy town you've ever seen.
It's absolutely precious.
Where would you like to escape to this week?

Weekend, glorious weekend

I cannot tell you how badly I needed this weekend.  

Last week was rough.  Midterms are done though and I can start to breathe again. Thank goodness.

Despite my to-do list for the weekend, I decided to spend some quality time with the husband.

We started off the weekend playing raquetball.  If I told you I was getting good, I'd be lying, but I occasionally get a pretty mean hit in, if I do say so myself.  

Eyewear...always attractive right? Ha.

While I worked on tidying up our little studio this morning, Beau went to campus to take a practice GRE test.

Afterwards, we spent a relaxing afternoon at the beach.  It felt soo nice to just lay out in the sun, soaking in the rays.  We got in the water for a bit at first, but then decided to walk a ways down the beach. We found a good spot, plopped down our bamboo mats, and soaked in the warmth. I think we both slept off and on.  It's hard not to though. Gorgeous scenery, warm rays on your back, ocean waves crashing a couple feet from you. *Longing sigh*, don't you want to come visit Hawaii now?  :)

School Rant

Umm, can I just take a moment to complain about school?

Yes, you say? Why thank you.

I am SO over this semester of school.  Only one more year and I am outta here.

Husband is gonna be a graduate in another two months now.  Lucky duck he is.  

*Sigh* I know, I know, one day I'll look back on my days in school and think, where did those days go?

But come on, today? Not a chance. 

So many books and articles to read. Papers to write. Research to do.  Classes to attend. 

My days are long.  

But at the end of the day, I have this wonderful guy to come home to.

And that is something to be thankful for indeed.  

Wall Decor

Is this not the most beautiful wall you have ever seen?

I've been loving the eclectic look lately and I would LOVE to have a wall like this.
Except for that dragonfly piece on the side wall.
Don't know what it is, I've just never liked dragonflies. Or butterflies for that matter.
Silly me for not thinking flying insects are cute.
But they're colorful you say? Please, they're still flying insects. Gross. 

Monday morning mushiness

Dear Husband,

You mean the world to me. I can't believe it's already been over 8 months since we married.

Thanks for always being there for me. Thanks for playing scrabble with me and watching too many episodes of Lost with me. Thanks for helping make meals with me. And thanks for wanting to look like a hippie with me. Thanks for laughing at my jokes, even though they're low on comedy and high on corniness. And thanks for always making me feel beautiful. 

Love Always,

Your Dear Wife

Sweetheart Ball

Last night the husband and I went to a "sweetheart ball" at church.

It was pretty impressive. I felt like I was at a wedding reception of some kind.  

The food was great, the decorations were fabulous, and Beau and I actually danced.  

Can you believe we've never danced together? It was a big step for him. 

Memory #2

Our wedding day, 19 June 2010.

The day was sunny, hot, and came faster than expected.
We were married at 11:00am in the Washington D.C. Temple
Coming out there was a huge group of people waiting for us. I don't think I've ever been happier in my life.
I was married to the most wonderful man I had ever met.
Everything was a rush, coming out of the Temple. There were so many of our friends and family around
and we couldn't be more grateful for their attendance.  There were also so many more people that we wished could have been there with us that day.

After taking plenty of group photos, everyone left except us and our two lovely photographers.
We stayed and took so many wonderful pictures for probably another two hours.
It was midday, very hot, and we were so tired by the end.
After changing and driving home, we realized we were both starving and so we made a quick stop at McDonald's. Yep, that's right, we ate McDonald's on our wedding day.  Classy, right?

After leaving the Temple, finishing pictures, eating delicious french fries, and spending a blissful hour in yoga pants, we drove over to the ring ceremony/reception.  The ceremony was beautiful and it was so nice to see so many people that weren't able to be at the Temple with us earlier.
At this point in the day it was evening, and had cooled down considerably,
yet it was for some reason was still incredibly hot.
I think it was mostly due to the crowd of people mingling however.
It's true what they say about weddings, you really don't ever get a chance to stop and eat.
Heck, I hardly even got to see Beau at the reception. We were both constantly being whisked away by people. When ever I got a free moment (and yes, literally moment), I would do one of three things.
1. At least make visual of the new-husband (we all know there was no chance of me making it across the room without being stopped again),
2. Sneak a strawberry off the food table, or
3. Go stand on the nearest air vent and let the people come to me.
All in all though,
it was a hectic, amazing, and absolutely incredible day.

Memory #1

I've decided to write a few posts 

about some of the things I don't want to forget. 

So for the next little while, 

bear with me as I invite you into my past.

Flashback to our dating days!

The first picture we ever took together, 31 Oct. 2009

When Beau and I first met, he was practically engaged and I was a fairly new freshman at Brigham Young-University Hawaii. He has later told me that the moment he met me he wanted to date me. That week he officially ended things with his fiance-to-be.

Lucky for me. :)

Three days later we found ourselves in the same Developmental Psychology class together. I used to doodle during class and scribble lyrics down amongst my notes. Beau used to analyze my scribbles to death, thinking every set of lyrics I wrote was somehow about him (good or bad). Silly boy, didn't he know how much I liked him? After our first psych class together I actually had the nerve to invite myself over to his house to cook him dinner. Not sure how that ended up coming out of my mouth, but it did. My roommate and I both  went over and made pesto pizza for Beau and 3 of his other roommates.

When Beau and I first began hanging out, neither of us were too certain what to make of the relationship. I thought to myself, does he like me? He thought to himself, does she like me? Well, we both liked each other quite a bit, but it took us a couple weeks to figure out each others' feelings. One Friday night in September we decided to have a movie night. Beau thought his roommates had some movies at home we could pick from, but aside from Korean action movies we were only able to find one other movie. It was perhaps one of the strangest movies I've ever seen, but we cracked up at the hilarity of it regardless.

The next week we were at Pounder's Beach, just a couple blocks from the school. Beau decided it was the right time to kiss me. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't thinking the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I liked him, and I wanted to kiss him, but something made me turn away. Twice. Harsh, I know. We joke about it now at least. And we finally did get that kiss. A about a week later, on a different beach.

Pounders Beach

Neither of us had cars when we were dating and I lived on campus, so many of our nights were spent just sitting and talking. Weekend nights that is. We were almost always locked up in the library on week nights. When we first started dating Beau was very much a morning person and I was very much a night person. He lost so much sleep our first semester together, since we stayed in the library so late. I tried not to stay terribly late though, because he always had a ten minute walk home every night, and it frequently would rain (and by frequent, I mean practically every night). I never heard a complaint out of him though. 

There are probably lots more stories of our dating days that I could share, and probably will one day, but for now, this post seems long enough.

The elementary class that we volunteered at our first semester

One Day.

I LOVE Anthropologie. Seriously, if someone gave me an endless credit card

(Yeah right! But I can dream),

I would buy almost all of my home furnishings there.  

This is of course once I live in an actual house

 and can fit something more than just a bed and dresser in my place of dwelling.

One day. 

The boy knows me well

Check out the awesome earrings and necklace

that Beau got me for Valentine's Day.
(Sorry for the low quality pics)

He found them at this adorable shop.

Seriously, my husband is the greatest.

Love him so much.

A Valentine's weekend breakfast

Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day.

Food Fest again

Beau and I attended another lovely Food Fest.

Every semester the school celebrates

the different cultures and groups

on campus by hosting 

Food Fest.

Each club gets a station and sells

delicious cultural foods.

This semester we got plates

from the Fijian club

and the Japanese club.

YUM. 

One week til Valentine's day

Next Monday is the number one day of love.

Working at a high school, Beau is anticipating the day

if not for sheer humor. 

Come on, tell me you don't remember high school love...

Boxes of chocolates, balloons, roses, stuffed teddy bears.

Ahh the beauty of love.

Happy Groundhog's Day

Look's like an early spring!

Fun facts for the day now...

Did you know this tradition was patterned after the Roman's belief 

that early February was a predictor of future weather.

Instead of groundhogs however, they used hedgehogs.

When German settlers came to the United States

they could not find hedgehogs and instead used groundhogs.

True story.

If you want to read the full story, check it out here.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Guess what.

Guess what I just realized Sunday was. 

Exactly one year since I was given this lovely thing. 

Isn't it gorgeous?

Wanna know he proposed?

Well, here's the story...

It was Saturday night

and he was driving me up to Haliewa to go have dinner.

As we were driving, Beau told me that his roommate had called 

and said there was crazy traffic on the North Shore.

Well, it's the North Shore, so it didn't come as a surprise to me.

He asked if I wanted to stop and watch the sunset at one of the secret beaches off the road.

We parked and walked down the wooded path until it opened up into a wide bay. 

I'm a little accident prone, and so I had been looking down at my feet almost the whole time,

trying not to trip.

It wasn't until we were actually standing right on the beach that I noticed something.

Right in the sand there were a dozen red roses laid out in the shape of a heart.

Right in the middle was a single white rose, 

sitting atop a lovely ring box. 

I was ecstatic. 

Beau picked up the box, knelt down in the sand,

and asked me to marry him.

It was a beautiful night. 

I can't remember the sunset, 

but I do remember smiling til my cheeks hurt. 

I remember most of our dinner consisting of texting everyone we knew to tell them the good news.

I remember not being able to take my eyes off my beautiful ring,

or my incredibly handsome fiancé.

I love him.