decorating by candlelight.

 

 

we decked the halls by candlelight and it was absolutely wonderful. so grateful ryan is home this christmas. xo

p.s. my best advice for decorating for christmas (stolen from my mom, like a lot of my nuggets of wisdom): for every decoration you put out, pack something away -- so other frames/bowls/vases. two reasons: your house doesn't all of the sudden look really cluttered and when you get them back out in the new year it's like having new things or seeing a long lost friend! 

picking out a christmas tree.

 

 

last sunday we picked out our christmas tree on the way home from church. this place has so much local charm and i loved the bright blue sky, building with lights and big old christmas trees from north carolina. wait til you see the one we picked all decked out in our living room!

his & hers.

alli has a cute little series going with "his & hers" and asked bloggers to share their version. well, on thanksgiving, there's a big his & hers cranberry divide in our house. ryan absolutely loves canned cranberry. i can't get enough of the real berries. so, we have both! which do you love?

thanksgiving.

 

hosting our first thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful. it was sort of like having my training wheels on (which was awesome) because my parents were here & super helpful. my dad made his famous stuffing and my mom washed dishes and answered my every question like you wouldn't believe.

it was mostly wonderful because we were all together (& i got to sit in between my two favorite boys -- my husband & bro -- that's what happens when you're the place card fairy!) plus, how great is the macy's parade?!

here are some details:

i made the place cards out of paint samples. turns out there are lots of perfect colors -- pumpkin, haystack, firewood, & autumn roast to name a few. they're free. i taped them back to back and used my favorite tool -- a thin black sharpie -- to write the names.

centerpieces were super simple: some pears in a vase, some locally grown pumpkins and a gorgeous white platter we got as a wedding present.

extra fun table b/c ryan's best friend, henk, also stationed here, joined us. the more the merrier! and, he brought an extra pumpkin pie & wine -- such a gentleman.

the menu:

• locally raised turkey (quote of the day, very early in the morning, as we were getting tom the turkey ready for the oven was ryan "yep, this is definitely locally grown and not butterball -- don't worry i'll get the last few feathers") we stuffed it with lemons, apples, bay leaves, onions & sprinkled it with salt and pepper.
• this sweet potato dish (so good, i think it was the two sticks of butter)
• dad's famous stuffing (the recipe has about 100 ingredients, i'll put you in touch with my dad if you'd like it :)
• mashed potatoes from this cookbook
• rolls from a local bakery
• greens
• fresh cranberries (mary) and canned (ryan)
• pumpkin pie also from this cookbook
• & this wine

how was your thanksgiving? favorite recipes? don't forget our thanksgiving eve here!

thanksgiving eve.

 

 

i love when all joyous things are extended, so i'm totally doing a post on thanksgiving eve. and it really felt that way -- we were getting ready for the big day and enjoying showing my parents our new digs.

we went and got the last few ingredients (our local co-op meant almost everything we ate was grown withing 40 miles of our house -- i love that!) our fridge was stuffed! the funnies part of that was i didn't quite understand the quantity of greens i ordered. let's just say, we had plenty. because it was thanksgiving eve, we made a big pot of chili, some pumpkin cornbread muffins (we added the leftover pumpkin pie filling to a traditional cornbread recipe!), and these incredible kale crisps. for dessert, i couldn't resist these pumpkin & cream cheese sandwiches.

it was the perfect meal to fuel us for a long night of cooking to get ready for the big meal on thanksgiving. the most fun part was getting our new dining room ready. literally that day (cutting it close!) we had my parent's anniversary/birthday/christmas present to us installed: this chandelier. which i am: in. love. with. along with our emersonmade linens, my grandmother's silver and our simple white pottery barn dishes, it just felt like a table fit for such a meal.

next up, the big day!

little getaway.

 

 

 

 

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things i never did until he showed up.

so, i have a new blog crush: rockstar diaries. it's one of those blogs you stumble upon and exclaim, "how could i not know about this?!" and then proceed to read the archives to make yourself feel better. well, in the archives i found this post entitled "things i never did until you showed up" and laughed out loud. the idea is the things we never did before our husband came into our lives. i especially loved it because i too never wore old spice deodorant until i married ryan (and sorta thought i was the only one, so wasn't going to mention it...) here are some other things i never did until ryan showed up in my life (and boy am i glad he did):

went to the movie theaters with absolutely no expectations the movie we're seeing will ever win an award (or even get a star). ryan has shown me that going to the movies is incredibly relaxing after a long week, and now i'm the one begging to go. it's our thing and i love it.

hung out all morning. i'm a doer. a classic type a, "it's 7 a.m. and we better start accomplishing something" type of girl. ryan has taught me how to relax and be ok with not considering a to-do list until after lunch (or ever) on the weekends.

knew anything about the military. when i met ryan the naval academy could have been on a boat, i had no idea there was a difference between enlisted and officers, and i thought army/navy was when a bunch of soldiers and sailers played each other in football (it didn't even occur to me it was a COLLEGE football game). i called his uniforms outfits and his cover a hat. now, i'm a full fledged navy wife (still learning new things every day).

said all sorts of funny things. we've been married a year and all of the sudden i will say something, catch myself and think "oh my goodness, that sounded JUST like ryan." i also say navy things like "roger that" in everyday conversation.

wore polo shirts or boat shoes. ryan loves them, and what can i say, you learn to love things through the people you love (and when he buys them for you & you can't resist the smile on his face when you wear them).

there are more, but just for the record, i also have made him fall in love with guacamole and roasted vegetables, showed him that indiana is NOT a fly over state, & made him a little bit more of a planner (it's never really going to happen, but i'm planner enough for the two of us). 

i sort of laugh when i think we have only been married a year and our lives have intertwined this way -- if it weren't for the foot height difference and opposite hair color, i'd think we'd be the same person soon :) oh yeah, and he flies helos for the navy for a living and i'm still scared of guns and loud noises, so ... there's that.

earlier this week i shared my thoughts on our first year of marriage and being a navy wife. xo!

first year of marriage.

one of my childhood friends got married in august -- it coincided with ryan's winging, so we couldn't get back to indiana for it, but luckily my parents went and gave me a complete play-by-play. the groom's father gave some thoughts on marriage and what he said ended up being my big epiphany that finally helped me articulate what i've felt this whole first year of marriage. he said that marriage is of course about quality time, but it actually sort of bucks the idea of quality over quantity, because quantity of time matters a lot in marriage. 

marriage is not just about one magical dinner a week where you have the perfect conversation and look smashing. it's about all the absolutely small, ordinary, mundane moments in life. it's about being there when life is not perfect or magical or even really fun. it's about paying bills and running errands and sitting down after a terrible day to try to figure it out. it's about biting off more than you can chew and having someone to help you try to get it all done any way. it's about realizing it's impossible to be the best version of yourself 24/7 and that the other person still loves you when you're a grouch, selfish or down right rude. it's about taking a big chunk of your free time to do something for someone who is important to them, because that's enough to make it important to you too. it's about having a runny nose and not being showered or even out of sweatpants and him still thinking you look beautiful. it's about grace and understanding and forgiveness on a level you've never needed before. it's about inside jokes and a silent understanding and knowing each other in a way only marriage can lead to. ryan & my marriage feels more solid when we're getting that quantity of time. when i've been traveling a lot or he's been on base 16 hours a day, i feel it in our marriage. a few meals a week isn't enough, we need the breadth and depth of time to grow closer. it's why we wake up next to each other, share a fridge, have joint responsibilities, take on one another's families -- that quantity of time is what is making our marriage.

i'm really blessed in that may parents have been married 31 years and my grandparents have been married 61 years and i have these amazing examples of what a marriage can be. remember how i told you that my parents meet for lunch sometimes? (even though they have breakfast & dinner together most days) well, i see in their marriages how that quantity of time has led to strength in their bond.

the elephant in the room, which will be my next post, is that by the very nature of ryan being a navy pilot, we will be spending significant time apart. we will be on opposite sides of the world and that quantity of time will be, in many ways, impossible. but just as we both fight for that quantity of time together now (& it's never going to just happen) we'll do that during deployments. we will make the time for skype and to write letters and to share things that allow us to continue to go through life together. and it will make us more present and grateful for the times we are in the same place. 

we're far from having this all figured out (& i think my grandparents would say they're still figuring it out), but i can literally feel the character of the quantity of time we have had this first year of our marriage. we're not the same as we were a year ago, in some ways, we're really different. and, i absolutely love it.

alright, newlyweds, got any other thoughts? xo

one year later.

 

 

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best year of my life.

i cannot believe sunday is our one year anniversary. in so many ways, i cannot remember what it was like not to be married to ryan, it seems like it's the way things have always been. in other ways, i feel like i've only blinked since that truly amazing day.

we're in st. louis for the first half of the weekend, but sunday we'll be home going through photos and telling good stories about our big day! (for those of you who were there & a huge part of our lives: thank you). next weekend, we're celebrating with a little getaway just the two of us!

next week, i'll be back with photos of the big day and then some thoughts on our first year of married life and my first year as a navy wife! have an amazing weekend! xo