Stream of Consciousness 2

I realized that when I write for me, not to impress the both of you readers, that this blog can be much more than pictures and craft projects and still be ok. So I am selfishly writing this "stream of consciousness" post for me. This is me being vulnerable so that when I look back and read this in a few years I remember LIFE-like it really was, not just the peaches and rainbows facade that is so easy to portray with the blog.

So much has been on my heart lately. I am so grateful to be back in Houston with both mine and Jimmy's families, and to own a house--what a blessing! And especially that the Lord has blessed my photography business exponentially since moving back. I can't thank Him enough for that. Know that I am grateful for His favor.

But I miss Dallas. Not so much for the city--although it was nice to have a change for a little while. I miss the "us" factor. It was just the two of us, figuring out this crazy life on our own and with the Lord. The sinful, selfish part of me misses not having to "share" Jimmy. We are still "just us" here--as in, we don't have bambinos yet and aren't planning to any time soon--but we have responsibilities to our house, Jimmy has commitments to his basketball league, and now he's coaching a team, we are both committed to our church, etc. etc. Our evenings are filled with much more than just relaxing time with the two of us. I knew this was a necessity, and I'm sure just about everyone reading this is gagging that we had the luxury of spending all our time together-but I guess I was hoping/expecting that "honeymoon phase" of life, not just marriage, to last a little longer.

We knew we wanted to take on the effort that comes with owning a home so that we can open up our home to friends in need. We want our guest room(s) to be more than a place people stay for just one night-but a refuge; a place of peace. I just lost sight of that for a minute--and writing this post helped me remember that.

I'm done complaining. I am so grateful for the hard work we have put into this house as a team, and the REALLY hard work that Jimmy has done by himself!! I literally cannot think of the words to express my gratitude for my husband- he amazes me. My hope is that when I go back to read this in a few months, or even years--that I remember how full of love and gratitude my heart is at this moment. Which reminds me-our bathroom "mini-reno" has turned into a full blown renovation thanks to a little friend called MOLD!! aye-aye-aye...

That's another post all together! Coming soon.

But alas--if you would like some REAL perspective on life-take a minute to read the blog of some friends at our church in College Station who just got back from serving God for 10 months in Haiti--with their entire family! It will rock. your. world.

Letter to my Mac

Dear Computer,

We have spent countless hours together since I decided to make photography my full time job. I feel like we have gotten to be best buds. A few months ago I noticed you were working pretty hard, so I took a load off your back with a terabyte of external memory.

Everyone told me since your name was Mac, that you would last twice as long as my old friend PC, but I guess you have just gotten tired of spending so much time with me in the last 2 years.

That being said, if you make it through this next week of 6 photoshoots to edit and 4 MORE to be taken, I will take you to the doctors at the Apple Store to fix any booboo's you may have.

Godspeed dear friend, Godspeed.

Courtney

Happy 1st Birthday Sammy!!

Happy 1st Birthday Samantha!!! Your aunt and uncle love you SO much! We wish we could be in Minnesota for your birthday today, but know that we are missing you and thinking of you here in Texas!

Africa & the Zoo!!

Look at me actually keeping up with the blog!! :)

On Friday, one of my best friends, Emily, came into town to visit us before she goes on a month-long trip to Africa. She is traveling to Ethiopia with The Mocha Club- an awesome organization that you can support for the price of 2 mochas a month (hence the name). I am so proud of her for following God to the ends of the earth to share the gospel and encourage women in need. Anywhoo--we had an AH-MA-ZING weekend!! Friday night we all played Settlers of Catan with Jimmy's brother Josh, and Saturday . . . (drumroll please) we went to the ZOO!!!!

I have been dying to go to the zoo for over a year!! Unfortunately, I thwarted Jimmy's plan to surprise me with a much-anticipated trip to the zoo for our anniversary (less than a month away!), but it was the perfect weekend for the zoo!! We loved the giraffes, the elephants, and especially the new baby monkey! The best part was spending the day with some of the 2 most amazing people in the world! After the zoo, we had a picnic lunch at the park, Jimmy played golf with the boys while Em and I went to the new Sienna pool. Maybe we utilized "adult swim" to go down the slides while the kids watched from the side. Maybe... ;) And to top the day off, a bunch of our friends came over to grill hamburgers and hang out on our patio. It was probably one of my favorite, most relaxing, fun days of all time!! I give it a 10! :)

Here are some pics from our trip to the zoo! And yes--Jimmy and I each carried our Camelbaks with us the whole day! We Griffins do not take hydration lightly! :) And lastly, the picture on the bottom right of me and Jimmy as monkeys-probably one of my fave pics of us EVER!

Mother's Day!!

Happy belated Mother's Day!! Yesterday, we hosted both of our families ( really only part of Jimmy's family-we missed you McKinneys, Minnesota Griffins, and Lisa) for a Mother's Day lunch at our house after church!! It was 9 people in all and definitely a day to remember! We finally got to use ALL of our wedding china and serving pieces!! Whoop!

The idea for the luncheon came to me when I found these party circles for free from The TomKat Studio's blog. I merged them with their cupcake circles from the Royal Wedding and changed the colors to match our color scheme for the day (pink & silver/grey). Once I saw those cupcake circles, the ideas just kept coming!! Also, notice how the new image I chose matches the damask pattern on the tablecloth! (I take joy in little detials!) I found inspiration for some of the decor online, and some I came up with myself!! I wish I had spent more time preparing and less time planning. Anyone have suggestions on how to be more of a Mary and less of a Martha when entertaining? I definitely need some!! You can see the beautiful china cabinet that was my great-grandma's in the pics below!! :) I got the letters for the banners from Ruffled Blog here, and the idea for the topiaries from Two Twenty One blog here. I found the pots for the topiaries from Goodwill for $2 each and spray painted them to go with our theme. Can't beat that!! Also--I made those Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms I've been seeing everywhere!! I have been looking for an excuse to make those for ages!

A HUGGGEE shoutout to my husband-the best mister in the world!! I couldn't have put together this day without him (or my sister Mere for that matter). Thanks for going to the store twice for me to pick up last minute ingredients--once at 11:30 pm! We served Southwestern Salad, fruit salad, chicken and pork tamales, chili, queso, guacamole, chips-etc, and homemade cutout sugar cookies! It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it!

And after all of the hard work to make our mothers feel special, I didn't even get a pic of us with them!! (kicking self!)

Mom and Mrs.G, I hope you both felt blessed and honored at your Mother's Day lunch!! Our lives are blessed tremendously by you both! Thank you for being such great examples for me. Love you both! :)

P.S. A very HAPPY birthday wish to John Griffin-winner of "best-brother-in-law-in-Minnesota!" :) We hope you had a fantastic day!

HOME SWEET HOME!!

What's that? You forgot we had a blog?!?

Don't worry...so did I! Not really, but you probably thought I forgot about it. We have been super busy fixing up our house and working! Jimmy has also been learning to fly, playing in a bball league, and coaching high school competitive basketball! I have pretty much just been busy working and promoting my photography business.

So last time we checked in we were living with Jimmy's parents, but finally after SO MUCH hard work and waiting and paperwork, we closed on our house!! Home ownership is harder than we had expected, but so worth it!! :)

Here is a little photo virtual tour of our house. It still needs a lot of work--the walls still don't have paint on them. We are in the process of mini-renovating our master bathroom, and the backyard--that is a whole post all on its own. I will try to be better about posting house updates as we make changes, but for now-here is our home!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE...

Q: What does a blog post covering the past 3 months of newly married life look like?

A: A LOT OF PICTURES!!!

DECEMBER

Remember our homemade Christmas gifts that blew up my twitter? Well, here are just a few of all the frames we made.

And as promised, here are pictures from our first married Christmas!! These are just the tip of the iceberg. We love our nieces Sara, Leila, and Samantha!

JANUARY

There aren't too many photos to document January. We've been living with Jimmy's parents in Sugar Land while we wait for our house to close. The original closing date was January 26th and keeps being pushed back. I have been waiting to show everyone a picture of the house until we actually own it, so be looking out for that (hopefully) very soon!! The highlight of living at the Griffins, by far, is getting to hang out with and form relationships with my 2 younger brothers-in-law. They are so funny, and crazy, and goofy-but they have the biggest hearts. It has been a blessing to witness how the Griffins do life.

Here are some pics of the freeze though...

FEBRUARY

To start the month off right, I gave Jimmy and Josh haircuts! It was the first time I had ever cut Jimmy's (or anyone's) hair. I would say it was a success because neither one of them is bald! Here is Jimmy's haircut: before, during, and after!

On Friday, Jimmy and I went down to Surfside to have a relaxing Valentine's date. Despite not having water or heat when we first arrived, we had a great time filled with the finest cuisine... ;)

We had a very laid back Valentine's Day, since technically our gift to each other is a house AND a hot water heater which we will need as soon as we move in. Jimmy was so sweet and got me flowers in a wine decanter (which we needed, smart man), and a card while I got him IBC Cream Soda (in lieu of flowers) and a card. It was the first time I could look for cards in the "HUSBAND" section!! That was fun!! I think I lingered in the Target card aisle a little longer than necessary just to soak in all the husband-ness I could. :)