Show and Tell Tuesdays: How I Met Your Father!

It's time for Show and Tell Tuesday again! This week's topic is still related to all the love we've been feeling since Valentine's Day, and we get a chance to tell the story about how we met our spouse. If you want to join in, here are our topics:

This post will be word heavy, since I don't have many pictures of our early days as a couple saved on this computer, or online. I'll post what I can find easily. We have tons of snow outside that needs to be played in!

Steve and I met in September 1998, but that's not truly where our story begins. Let's start from the very beginning...

My BFF Alisa went to school at Carson Newman College, and just happened to be assigned a room with another friend from our high school, plus two strangers. One of those strangers (Sarah) went to Halls High School in Knoxville. My BFF and Sarah became immediate friends, and decided pretty quickly to get their own apartment off campus. They had an apartment-warming party, and Alisa invited a bunch of her high school friends (including me) and Sarah invited a bunch of her Halls High friends, including Steve. Now, I should mention here that Steve dated Sarah's high school BFF and things didn't end well. Sarah didn't have the highest regard for Steve, but they had enough mutual friends that she invited him anyway. 

He didn't come. He had to work, and decided he didn't want to drive to Carson Newman when he got off. However, his good friend Clay did come, and hit it off with my friend Megan. Their relationship started off that night, and for the next nine months, all I ever heard about was Clay's buddy Steve and how he thought we'd be perfect together. 

I was single that whole nine months, so I kept telling Clay to make it happen. He drug his feet until that fall, when I moved to East Tennessee State University, and Megan and I got an apartment together. Clay says that he thought Steve moved to ETSU, too, so he looked him up (back when the phone book was Google). Turned out, Steve lived in the same apartment complex I did! He walked over, sparks flew, and we've been together ever since!

That was in September 1998, and Steve proposed in April 2000. We had been looking at rings, and found one that we both really liked. I knew we were going to get engaged, I just didn't know when. I walked into his apartment one night, and he walked out of his room with the ring box in his hand. It wasn't exactly a grand gesture, but effective nonetheless! He told me later that he had intended to propose on our family's annual beach trip to Myrtle Beach in July, but he just couldn't wait that long. Turns out, we ended up not going to the beach that year because my sister was in the hospital trying NOT to have Tatum (who ended up being born July 28th anyway, 5 weeks early but perfectly healthy), so his plans would have been thwarted anyway. 

We got married in May 2001

Look! I found a picture!

And we lived happily ever after...

Sorry for the lack of pics! I need to get old pictures scanned into this computer. 

Can't wait to read all the love stories!!

XOXO,

Andrea

Show and Tell Tuesday: Groundhog Edition!

Link up with Andrea

I totally skipped the last Show and Tell Tuesday. It was about giving your best organization tips, and lemme tell ya: nobody wants advice from me about organization. This is evidenced in the fact that my husband refers to my car as the "Sanford and Son-mobile". Hardy har har. 

Today's topic is Groundhog Day, and I'm here to tell you about the day that I would want to relive over and over. When I first read this topic, I thought a day would pop immediately into my mind, but it didn't. I don't know that I've yet experienced my absolutely perfect day, or maybe it's that my idea of perfect is constantly evolving. 

So let's play pretend. 

One thing I know for sure, the day I would want to live over and over forever and ever would be a bright, sunny summer day. There are things I love about every season, but I'd set off an eternal summer if I had to choose just one. 

#oppositeElsa

My family and I would be at the beach, laying by the pool or digging in the sand. 

Boat drinks and fresh seafood would be plentiful (and if we're pretending here, calories don't count). 

We would play pool games, 

build sandcastles, read some chick lit,

  (you made it!)

 meet some mermaids...

 play some putt-putt...

maybe catch a quick nap in the afternoon..

We would grill something for dinner, and watch fireworks over the ocean after the sun went down. 

And in my fantasy world, Jimmy Buffett would be playing us our very own concert right there on the beach. 

Ahhhh.... I can almost see it happening...

Show and Tell Tuesdays with Momfessionals

Momfessionals is hosting a new series called Show and Tell Tuesdays, where we share about different goings-on in our lives. You can read about it HERE. I'm going to try hard to stick to this series to mix up my usual day-in-the-life posts.

Today is the first day of the series, and the topic is our New Years Resolutions and/or Goals.

(That may be hard to read- you can right click and save it if you need to)

I don't have resolutions this year, because I've learned that saying I'll get more organized ONE. MORE. TIME. is pretty futile. If I haven't done it in the past 36 years it's not likely to get done this year, either. 

#hereshopingthough

I did set a couple of goals for myself, though. The first one is that I want to be able to do a pull up. I've never in my life been able to do one, and I REALLY want to be able to say I can. And mean it. I am stronger now than I've ever been, so I feel like this is my best opportunity. Also, I have learned through my fitness journey that I have the most success when I have some sort of finish line, preferably with a deadline to complete it. I'm pretty competitive, so even if I'm just competing with myself, I'll do everything I can to win. #confessional

 I don't entirely know how long this might take to complete, but I'm giving myself two months. I'll do some research and figure out if that's realistic. 

I plan to start this by using the pull up/dip machine at our gym. I can do a pull up if I put about 30lbs on the sled, so I'll try to whittle that down slowly. I'm also going to try to get Steve to help me when he can by holding my feet. We have one of those Perfect Pull Up bars somewhere at our house, so I can get some practice whenever I want. Mostly, anyway. 

My next goal is actually a set of goals to serve one big purpose. Steve and I have lived in our house for almost 8 years, and have done very little in the way of improvements. When we first moved in, we were having babies and raising them, and the house just wasn't a priority. Now our girls are bigger and more self sufficient, so I'm ready to start tackling a few of the projects we've been putting off. 

The easiest one for me to personally deal with is painting. I don't mind to do it,  so it's time to get crackin'! I'm pretty sure I've picked out a color (Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore), and I'm going to start with the kitchen. I plan to pick one room a month, and spend that entire month giving that one room a spruce up. 

January- kitchen

February- bedroom (obviously) 

March- living room

April- hallway

May- dining room 

Then I may take some time off until July/August. Ella Kate wants us to re-do her room and I told her that we could do it as her birthday gift. More than anything, she just wants her room painted blue, but I found this picture in the newest Pottery Barn Kids catalog and she and I are both ready to recreate it! 

The only problem is that she won't be getting new furniture, and hers is black. I'll have to lighten the room with a lot of white accents, which is fine by me! I may also choose a lighter shade of blue; I'm not sure yet. This shade is Naval by Benjamin Moore, so I may look at the shade swatches and see what other options there are in this blue family. I'm also considering hiring a painter if we go with this exact color, because any mistakes could be disastrous. 

I'd love to hear about your resolutions and goals this year! Feel free to leave them in the comments or link up with Andrea, too!