life is sweet.

 

23 years old. 

As I turned 23 yesterday, I realized that at the age of 23, a lot is going to change. The short list:

1. Getting married.

2. Officially moving out of the parent's house. 

3. Building my first home with Zach. 

4. Traveling outside of the US.

Yep, thats the short list for now. 

There is a lot to come in this 23rd year, but life is sweet and it will be great. 

So for the 23rd, we went and did the final meeting with the florist, had lunch at rumors, picked up my super cute apron (a birthday gift from Leah) and dad grilled.

Not to mention we had a mouth watering delicious strawberry cake thanks to Mom and Paula Deen of course. {Note: I recommend substituting the icing for plain cream cheese icing- delicious!} 

After resting, Zach and I headed up to Franklin, to move his tv into his mom's house.

With this came our first furniture purchase for our future home.

It came in a thousand pieces.

Required a lot of work...

But ended up turning out just swell.

So there you have it, a dandy tv and tv stand; all it needs is its official home. 

On the agenda today: 

Seeing my best friend for the first time in 5 months! 

Best birthday present: Lindsay moving 8 hours closer to home on my birthday weekend!

Talk about perfect timing!

with love. 

Christmas jewels.

Zach and I were blessed this Christmas with some great gifts. When family and friends asked us around Thanksgiving what we wanted for Christmas we directed them to our registry, since it contains items on it that we needed and/or wanted. We were blessed by family and got some amazing items!

Zach's parents got us our entire set of everyday dishes! We were so excited!

Mom and Dad got us our flatware! I never imagined being so excited over flatware!

 

Opening our flatware! 

Zach's aunt had drew my name for Christmas and got the one thing off the registry that I simply just wanted; Zach could have cared less about it. It was not a necessity but more a want that I figured we wouldn't get. BUT I am soooo excited to have it! For those of you who don't have one of these jewels and love a good Starbucks's frappuccino and get tired of the expense of Starbucks, well look no further!

{Image Credit}

So far, I have made only one recipe due to lack of ingredients. But I must say they are the real deal!

Now, we officially have the first pieces for our future home. Only a few more months to go!

 Christmas # 7

No. 8: Thankful

This Thanksgiving, I find myself more than ever realizing how much I truly have to be thankful for. Life is busy and often we forget all the little things we have to be grateful for. This year its even the simplest things that I am thankful for. For starters, family, especially my healthy, loving, always providing parents. Living at home with them for the stint of time that remains until marriage has reminded me once again, just how lucky I am to have such wonderful parents. They are a blessing and the best team to have on your side.

I am also thankful for love. Thankful to have Zach by my side. Thankful that in 5 months, we will begin building a home together and taking those first steps as husband and wife together. I cannot explain how thankful I am to have him and to know that I have him to share all those treasured future events with. I am thankful for 6 years of pure joy and can't wait for many more. I am also thankful for the wonderful family that I will be becoming apart of, well "officially" becoming apart of. Although I already consider them all mine, I am glad to be officially apart of the clan. (I even get my own stocking!)

I am thankful for warm loving friendships, new and old. I am glad that even with my closest friends 75+ miles away that I can still have weekly conversations that keep me in tact. I am thankful for the blessings in their lives and hope God continues to bless them with wonderful opportunities. I am thankful for new friends, for a work family I could have never imagined being so wonderful.

Simply put, I am thankful. I am thankful for all of the blessings that the Lord has so graciously given me. I am thankful for His continuous lessons. I am thankful for His grace. I am thankful for His enduring love. I am thankful.

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 106:1