A Girl's Dad

I am almost certain that I am my dad's number 1 fan. Of all time.

 I just think he is the sweetest, most loving, wonderful man there is.

I could probably pretty safely say that he is my number one fan too.

 

I ski raced competitively for the better part of my life {age 6 to 18}. He never once missed a ski race. He was always there cheering me on. Waiting with me at the top of the course until I was up, and then he would ski along the side of the course down through the trees to meet me at the bottom. Knowing that he was there even though I couldn't see him always made me push just a little harder. I always knew he would be there if I fell. Which I did once in a while. {By the way, I don't recommend it. Taking a fall at full speed onto sheet ice is a doozy.}

 

In the spring, summer, and fall to keep in shape, and train for the ski season I played club soccer. He never missed a game. Not one. He was there, watching in his chair when it poured rain and in the sweltering summer heat. Never complained and never wasn't there. He drove car loads of obnoxious teen girls all over the state to soccer games. He hauled our bags around, iced knees, and made runs to Burger King. He's a girl dad through and through.

 

My dad is not your typical sports guy, dad. I don't think he's ever sat down to watch an NFL game in his entire life. But that didn't stop him from attending every single football game when my sister was in high school to watch her cheer.

 

The last time I was home to visit my mom I was going through her old photo albums and found this photo of my dad and my sister. I am absolutely in love with this photo. I think it so accurately captures exactly what being a dad is all about. The look on my sisters little baby face says it all.

We have the best dad.

 

 

My dad is a no frills, simple kind of guy. Give him a book, a glass of wine, and a deck chair and he's happy as can be. So, when Nick and I got engaged one of the first thoughts that went through my mind was.. oh god, what is my dad going to wear? As far as I know he had never worn a tux. I was so nervous to ask him to wear one that I put it off for months.

 

 

 

Finally, when we were getting close to the do or die deadline for ordering the tuxes, I had no choice but to tell him. He happily agreed and I sighed a huge sigh of relief. {Not only did he agree but he told me that he would wear a giant rainbow afro if that's what would make me happy.}

Wedding day came and my dad showed up in his crisp black tux and tie.... and wait for it...

 flip flops. I loved it.

 

 

 

 

Thank you dad for being you. I couldn't ask for a better dad and I couldn't love you more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 By 30

We have established that I am a list maker. I have so much going on that a lot of times I can't keep track of anything unless it's on a list. I also have a thing for cute note pads so.. there's that too.
 

 This year Nick's cousin created a list of things he wanted to do before he turns 40. A midlife bucket list of sorts. This made me think about the things that I want to see, do, and accomplish in the next few years. I decided that rather then give myself only a year, I'm going to give myself 4.

 

 I can feel 30 quickly creeping up. I'm only 26, but I'm dramatic and 30 feels really close.
With so many major life changes in the near future I know we are going to be even busier. Which is why I've opted to give myself so much longer. I'd like to be able to actually finish all of the things on the list and that just won't happen if I only give myself until my next birthday.
I actually started my list a while ago and kept it running on my iphone. A lot of my items are trips and travel related, but my goal is for most of them to be personal enrichment type things.

 

I think I will do this as an on-going list that I can add to and cross off as we go along.
 

1. Complete my professional certification. Done! I received my certificate this week!
2. Be Maid of Honor in a friend's wedding. {This was an old item, now that I'm married I suppose I have to go by Matron? Ugh. Old.} I can't quite check this one off yet, but my sweet friend Jeanette asked me to be her MOH in her wedding next May. Eeeep!
3. Work from home full time
4. Go parasailing
5. Take a hubs & me only trip to Las Vegas
6. Go skydiving
7. Become a mama {number one, most important ever lifetime goal. No pressure...}
8. Go stand up paddle boarding
9. Find our church home/family
10. See the Grand Canyon at Sunset
11. Go on a hot air balloon in Napa
12. Become an aunt {I realize this is completely out of my control, I just can't wait to love on my sister's little red heads.}
13. Do yoga on the beach
14. Go to Disneyland {I haven't been since I was 7. It's tragic.}
15. Buy our forever home 
16. Go white water rafting
17. Watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with my kids. {Doesn't necessarily have to be in person. I just love waking up Thanksgiving morning and watching the parade snuggled on the couch while the food cooks!}
18. Become a confirmed Catholic & get baptized {I was always a little sad that my parents didn't have me baptized like they did my older sister. But I'm actually glad that this is a choice that I'm able to make now as an adult.}
19. Spend New Years Eve in Times Square

So, as we can see I'm just getting started here. Anyone have any must do's that I should add?



Leibster Awards!

This is an exciting day! Sweet Kaara over at In the Kitch With Kaara has nominated me for a Liebster award! The Liebster award, if you’ve never heard of it, is given to up & coming bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. It’s a great way to build relationships with other bloggers, and to share and grow some small blogs that maybe not everyone has heard of. {Ahem, 4 followers over here.}

Here are the rules:

1. Each person must post 5 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you, plus create 5 questions for the people you choose to nominate.
3. Choose 5 bloggers to nominate and link them in your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them about the nomination.
5. Follow and social media connect with everyone tagged.

Here are my answers to the questions from Kaara.

Why did you begin blogging?

I started Meet the M's after regularly reading some of my favorite blogs for a couple of years. Most of the blogs that I read are from big name bloggers with thousands of followers. I was so intimidated by the idea of these bloggers {beautiful and sweet as they may be}. I didn't get the courage to finally start my own until I started finding other small blogs that I could relate to.  I wish that I would have had the cojones to start telling our story before I did so that I could have documented our wedding planning. I love writing and I also happen to think that I am pretty funny... so here I am. I’m so happy that I started this journey. There is an indescribable rush that comes with blogging just the sheer excitement of getting comment notification emails absolutely makes my day. Seeing my page views growing every day just is the most amazing feeling. Maybe people do care about my ramblings after all? 

What is the number one thing you love about yourself?

I pride myself on being a good person. I care a lot about the people and I think that it shows. I am a good friend and I like to think that I would do anything for the people that I am closest to.

If you could take a trip anywhere, where and with who?

I really want to go to Italy with my husband. I want to see the entire country especially the Amalfi coast and Venice. I want to drink wine in Tuscany and eat gelato wander old cobblestone streets. Someday.

What is your favorite meal?

I absolutely do not have a favorite food. I just love food in general. Also, my husband is an amazing cook. You might even call him my favorite chef. He has a great imagination and comes up with dishes that are far better than anything you could ever order at a restaurant. One of my absolute favorite dishes that he makes is steak with goat cheese and a red wine & balsamic reduction. This dish is primarily saved for weekend nights that we stay in. He just made it a couple weeks ago with garlic, horseradish mashed potatoes and one of our favorite Napa Cabs. Seriously, yum.

What is your summer must-have or special summer place?

One of our closest friends has a houseboat on Lake Don Pedro out in the central valley. This is the place where I really fell in love with my husband, long before we were actually together. The houseboat is summer.We sleep on the roof under the stars and wake up early to go wake boarding before the rest of the lake is awake. We barbeque and play liars dice on the deck. We watch fireworks on the 4^th of July surrounded by hundreds of other boats and eat potato salad for breakfast. We jet ski and wake surf and listen to Kenny Chesney. There would be no such thing as summer without our houseboat home.

I am nominating all of these pretty little ladies..
E at Eclectically E
Colleen at Meet the Sullivans
Tessa at Tessa Messa
Jessica at Hangin' with the Howards
Cari at It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow

Here are my questions
What is your favorite childhood memory?
What does your ideal date night look like?
What is your number one pet peeve?
What is the number one item on your bucket list? Why?
What is your guiltiest pleasure? 　

Thank you so much to Kaara for thinking of me!

Sleeping Through the Storm

Over the last few months, as a means of getting in touch with, and making sense of my faith, I have been making my way through each of Mitch Albom’s books. I bought the first one that I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven on a whim from a suggestion from the Amazon store on my Kindle. I instantly fell in love with the way that his stories are told and made it a mission to read each of his books. I read The Time Keeper next which is his most recent book to be published. Each book is so different, some are true stories, some are loosely based around fables and stories from the Bible and each are so rich in lessons.

I’m on my third right now called Have a Little Faith. I was sitting in the airport on Saturday morning waiting for a flight to San Diego with a vanilla latte and my kindle in hand, when something he wrote struck me and made me stop.

 

The book is about a writer who is called by his childhood Rabbi to write his eulogy several years before his passing. He spends the time sitting and speaking with the aging Rabbi. During one of their sessions the Rabbi tells a story that goes something like this.

A poor man with no work experience asks a farmer for a job. The farmer is distrusting of the man and asks for a reference letter. The man returns to the farmer with a letter that only says "The man sleeps through a storm" and nothing else. Doubtful, but in need of help the farmer hires the man. Soon after, the farmer is awoken during the night by the sounds of a strong storm. He jumps out of bed and runs to the man he hired only to find him sleeping soundly. He goes to the barn to find that his animals have all been put away and fed plenty of food. He finds that his grain bins have been sealed tight to be kept dry from the rain. His crops have been harvested and stored away securely. The farmer realizes that his worker was not woken by the storm because he knew that he had taken care of everything that needed his attention and did not sleep with the anxieties of unfinished tasks.

This was where I stopped. I could feel what I had just read in my stomach. This story spoke to me. I am a procrastinator, an ostrich, and I do not sleep through a storm. I wake up in the night sometimes feeling sick with worry over things that I haven’t taken care of. I find myself lying awake thinking about phone calls I didn’t have time to return the day before, about projects that I need to finish, and so many other things that I need to take care of that I continuously put off until tomorrow, or the day after that. In my line of work the task lists never end, clients are never satisfied, and the emails keep coming regardless of the others that are sitting unread. I get it. I signed up for it. I have no plans of changing careers but sometimes? It’s just gets to be too much. But it isn't all only about work. My anxieties come from my real life too.

Maybe for me this is one of those moments that you hear people talk about. A moment that feels like God is speaking directly to you. Saying Hey! Yes, you! This is for you. Are you paying attention? 

So? Here I am, listening. I started reading these books hoping, praying, to learn something about myself and to grow. Here is my first lesson, and I'm going to learn it.

 

My Sister's Not-Shower

*I'm still under construction as far as I can tell but slowly getting closer!*

My big sister is getting married in just two weeks! My mom and I had to do some convincing to get her to let us throw her a bridal shower but she finally agreed with a few conditions. She was adamant that she didn't want it to be called a "shower" and didn't want to do games or open presents in front of everyone.

 I wanted to make sure that her not-shower was very her.  I wanted to keep it all very simple but pretty and fun at the same time.

I did some Pinteresting of course and found some good ideas that I was able to use pretty easily.

I did the invites first which were inspired by an Etsy find. I got the supplies at Michael's and borrowed a type writer from my MIL. The type writing was the best part of the project. I poured myself a glass of wine,  pretended I was Angela Landsbury and typed away!

Here is the Pinterest invite

Check out this Etsy shop she has some really cute stuff!

Here is my finished invite. Turned out pretty good, ya think? I added an extra lace embellishment on the back fold of the envelope just for extra fun.

I wanted to stick with the lace theme and used a lace table cloth that Nick's grandma had given me for my bridal shower and used some other fun stuff my mom had for table decorations.

My mom was in charge of the food and she found an awesome guy that does natural foods catering out of his house. He cooked up some awesome stuff, including some G-free almond cookies that everyone loved.

I used mason jars for vases and put together small arrangements with different kinds of random pretty little flowers.

My mom knows a lady that makes these cute little goat milk soaps that we used as favors. Fitting, as the wedding will be on a goat ranch.

I made a sparkling ginger lemonade and a red wine sangria and served them in my big glass drink dispensers. I originally bought the drink jugs to use for our wedding and when I bought them I knew that they would used for all kinds of parties, showers, and events in the future. I love them.

We drank out of 1 pint mason jars that I think are just so cute.

I am so excited to watch my sister get married and I can't wait to see the place they call home.

The next day my mom, sister, and I went on a small hike to the McCloud falls. This time of year the falls are especially beautiful because of the large amount of snow melt filling the rivers.

Under Obvious Construction...

Please excuse the terrible, jumbled mess you are staring at right now.
My fantasy self is super great at understanding html code but since I seem to be miserably disconnected with that girl, you're going to have to come back later to see my beautiful facelift that is currently in the works.

The reality? I have no f'ing idea what I'm doing.

Happy Monday!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Some of my regular reads have been participating in a Blog Everyday in May challenge with Story of My Life. I was inspired by yesterday's posts and decided to do my own even though I didn’t join in the challenge.

The topic yesterday, was to list 10 things (I did 11. Sorry about it.) that make you really happy. Mine are in no particular order except for the order that I thought of them in. I’m leaving out Mr. M and the two dogs because, everyday they are all 10 of the things that make me really, really happy.

 1. Fresh daffodils in a mason jar. Or any flowers in a mason jar for that matter.  

 

 2. This season of life. I have anticipated living this moment for as long as I can remember. I can’t think of another time that I have ever been so happy, so content, so in love. I look at my husband all the time and I feel my heart jump out of my chest. I get him? Forever?! Ok I just broke my rule of not including the husband. Whatever.

3. Clean sheets. Especially new, clean sheets.

4. That place between sleep and awake on a Saturday morning, when you realize that it is, in fact, Saturday morning!

5. Cocktails. My live-in bartender husband makes a mean cosmo. I love coming home from work on a Friday night to this pretty pink drink sitting on the counter.

6. Reality TV. Real Housewives of Everywhere, Teen Mom (I know), any kind of cooking challenge, pretty much every TLC show there is. You name it.. it’s on our DVR. Sorry husband.

7. This girl said YES! One of my best friends from college and a bridesmaid in my own wedding just got engaged this last weekend to her college sweetheart. And? Asked me to be her Maid of Honor. I cried like a baby.

 

8. Lists. Lists of all kinds. To do lists, grocery lists, meal plans for the week, lists of things that make me happy, bucket lists, lists of lists I like to make...

9. My Starbucks gold card. I can't help but feel just the tiniest tingle of satisfaction every time I get to hand that baby over to the barista. Yep, Mr. Barista, I earned that card with my name engraved on it.

10. The Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. There are few things in the world I love more than a good hot bath. I’m the only one who ever uses the tub in our house and I like it that way. Bubbles, scalding hot water, candles, and a movie on the laptop. That is living folks.

11. Hair appointment day. You know.

I could go on and on but I’ll spare you.