Three

Today is our third anniversary...

Crazy. Time seriously flies, and yet it feels like we've been married forever (in a good way...)

We've spent the day walking around downtown, shopping, eating and the like. We're home for a siesta, and have dinner reservations for a nice place we've never been to tonight...

and then the real celebration will be the first week of June—a trip to the San Juan Islands.


We would both say that marriage, and then obviously especially marriage to one another is the single most amazing thing ever. And then also that it is completely unlike anything we could have expected. Which is how it's supposed to be, right? I think so. I don't think we'd have it any other way.

The weather is beautiful today, and we've decided that for our entire lives, every April 15th, we'll judge whether the weather is nicer that day than the day of our wedding...and we're pretty sure it will always be :)

But that's alright—our wedding was perfect nonetheless, and the weather in Belize was wonderful.

3.1 miles.

So a post every day this week—promise. At least until Thursday, when the Monroes arrive... I know, it's bold. But it's gotten out of control, so something has to be done.

So, we did it. We both ran for 30 minutes on Friday.

If you do the math, that's exactly the close of nine weeks from our start date of the 9-week Couch to 5k program.

Actually, we were in some ways both behind and ahead—I (kirsten) got sick during our 8th week, and the start of our 9th week meant I was not running nearly the 28 minutes I was supposed to week eight. BUT, by the end of week nine, I surpassed it all and ran all 30 minutes!!!

I wish there were words for how much I never ever, ever thought I'd be able to call myself a "runner." Daniel asked the other day why I would ever start something that I legitimately thought I couldn't do...and I guess it's because I'm an idealist...I really wanted to be a runner, but in reality, I thought I would cut corners and make excuses and hate every second of it.

But I really, really like running. We both do. And I think this might be the first goal we've actually followed through to completion. Honestly. And that's pretty impressive.

So, friends. We're runners.



A few weeks ago we even took advantage of our sister-in-laws awesome discount at the Nike factory store and got some new running shoes. And shorts. And socks.



And then to celebrate after our huge success Friday, we got some super yummy 5 guys and went to see Avatar in 3D...I know, I know, we're a little behind the times—it was even the night Alice in Wonderland in 3D came out. But we wanted to see it in 3D before it left the theaters.



We look so cool!

winter blues

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you probably know that for a third of the year it looks like this in portland. i must admit, it wears on me. it's really hard to get up in the morning (it doesn't get light until like 8:30), it feels like 11pm at 7pm, and it can just be depressing. but i'm usually fine until about half way through january, and then i'm just ready for it to be over.

but for the past week or two, we've actually been having some sunlight...



it's amazing, our house fills with light and it feels like spring. i know it's just a teaser, but it's SO nice all the same. ahhhhhh...

during some of the rainy days, we've been getting a bit done, though. for instance, we organized the garage:







and in what is probably (very sadly) the most exciting news of our life right now, we've taken up running. i think we were probably inspired by my cousins over thanksgiving who did a triathlon, coupled with the fact that daniel kept saying he was in the worst shape of his life...so we're doing the "couch to 5k" an interval running program that takes 9 weeks to get you up to 3 miles of running, or 5k.

and let me tell you, i have never wanted to promote something so much. it's working! if you have ever had a conversation with me about running, i've probably told you that i hate it. hate it and always will. not a runner. can do step classes and cycling classes and anything else, but running toward or from nothing gives me no hope and i can run for literally probably 30 seconds and then have to stop.

not anymore! we're 4.5 weeks (half way through it), we run mondays wednesdays and fridays, and this week we've been running 3 minutes, walking 90 seconds, running 5 minutes, walking 2 minutes—twice. and...i don't want to jinx myself...but it's okay. it's hard, but it's okay. and we're kind of having fun. i mean, we're not having fun at all during it, but afterward we feel good and we feel accomplished (bear in mind that daniel could run a mile fairly easily before this)...anyway, we're getting somewhere. and i have no idea how in 4.5 weeks i'll be able to run straight for 30 minutes (approx. 3 miles) but last week i had no idea how in the world i was going to run for 5 minutes and i do pretty easily.

plus, there's an elementary school at the back of our neighborhood that has some trails, so it's super close, and nickel gets to run off the leash with us and loves it.

so if you're looking to get into running i strongly suggest it: couch to 5k, but i also STRONGLY suggest these podcasts, where this guy tells you when to run and when to walk and "good job" and "you can do it" all to funky, new agey music. awesome.

but the best part is that we've been doing all this in sometimes pouring rain, sometimes freezing temperatures, sometimes fierce winds, and sometimes all three. actually, we quit one day after uncontrollably running sideways and getting pelted with hail in our faces. it was miserable.

so here we are, looking pretty hot. no. wet.



and nickel, too. i don't know if you can tell that she's wet, but she is.



yep, folks. that's about as exciting as it gets around here. but hey, our sweet, amazing, wonderful church is sending us on a getaway to bend this weekend, so we'll have plenty of pictures from that!!

what we laugh at

a glimpse into our daily life...

last night we had youth group, and both of these comments were from one ninth grader:



(when trying to decide what time he would come over today)

daniel: "what about noon?"

ninth grader: "wait, what time is that?"

daniel: "?"

ninth grader: "i've never been sure. i've never known if that's 12 or one."






(while playing catchphrase)

ninth grader: "the opposite of fraternity!"

everyone: "sorority!"

ninth grader: "no, for moms"

everyone: ...

(the word was maternity)

random

It's supposed to be more than 90 degrees today...I (Kirsten) have been working at a coffee shop this morning and each couple or group that would sit down beside me would start talking about it at some point. I know that it's been basically 100 in Georgia for a week or two now—something I can't even begin to remember.

So I made a smoothie, and I thought I'd share (well, the recipe at least. I can't share the actual smoothie over the internet, even though I think we're getting closer and closer to that.)

So here's what I did:
1/4 bag frozen strawberries
spash of LimeAid
Strawberry yogurt cup

All into a blender until smooth. We drink LimeAid regularly, so we have it in the fridge, but when I made this several weeks ago Daniel's first comment is that it's "tart." I looove it, but I think I might like tart things. I know that my mother in law uses OJ, so that may take some of the tartness out, but we don't regularly keep OJ around.

Anyway, just a small remedy for hot days...and I think 90% of our readers have a hot day today.

ps...I can't wait to have a backyard to enjoy this in...

A baby

Our friends Aaron and Amanda just had their first baby, a little girl—Hannah Grace, born May 1st, 8 lbs 20 inches. SO exciting!!! Just look at that little nose...

This is really the first pregnancy that we've been so close to...we've seen Amanda every week and literally watched her grow, I've talked to her about her options and decisions, and we got a text (you text people these days, you don't call) when she was born. It's definitely been weird seeing and hearing about so much of it, and it's absolutely crazy that our bodies are capable of all this...plus it seems like nine months flew by.

Aaron knew that the baby was a girl but Amanda didn't want to know so she didn't (which we think is just torture, how could he know and she not?!). We definitely thought it was a boy (as did many people at church) but then yesterday Daniel says he knew it was a girl...

Anyway, just some fun news about Oregon friends...

day-late anniversary post

Well, yesterday was our anniversary...and my dad emailed me saying he expected to see "candlelight dinner" pictures on here—would pictures of middle schoolers suffice? because that's what we did last night :)

but we did have a fabulous brunch together and spent all day together (at daniel's office) and got to eat dinner at one of our new favorite restaurants (por que no) after youth group...and most of all we are going to the coast for a few days!! yay!! (i refuse to call it the beach since it would conjur up ideas in our Georgian readers' minds of destin and the such...and this is very, very different :) ....)

but in thinking about our past year yesterday (which is typically of our anniversaries or birthdays or new years or christmases—we sort of try not to, but we end up asking each other all sorts of silly questions. like daniel asked me while we were getting ready yesterday morning what clothes that we were wearing did we own when we got married. turned out all his clothes he owned when we got married...and none of mine...)

ANYWAY, so in thinking about our past year yesterday, here are some things we came up with that we did/that happened (no promises on the order)


we lived with the monroes (sr.)

nickel lived with my parents

i made a dress and a shirt that i wear pretty frequently

we went to shannon's graduation from college

we went to north gwinnett high school's graduation

matt and kim moved to oregon

daniel was unemployed

i went from working full time to part time for southcomm

i started designing websites

i cut bangs into my hair

we looked heavily at moving to north carolina



we moved to oregon...make that packed everything deemed necessary into our tiny corolla and drove across the country with no real prospect of a job, just a sense that it was what we were supposed to be doing

we started a blog

we lived with matt and kim

the monroes (sr) came to visit

laura belle visited from seattle for the first time

daniel got a job!

we (mostly i) picked fruit, went to the farmers market for our groceries, and watched movies in parks (okay, that was always both of us)...and so many more things that we had been dreaming about portland

we went camping with matt and kim and went on the longest hike we have to date

we (have) met/got(ten) to know (best we can tell) about 200 new people

we got an apartment in portland...on a street with a number nonetheless

we flew back to atlanta, packed up everything deemed unneccessary (but now neccessary), picked up our puppy, and drove a uhaul and the element back across the country
we started the fall with a new youth group

we (have) tried desperately to keep in touch with people in georgia

elizabeth moved to seattle

we walked to dinners, coffees, gelattos, parks, and the grocery store—all from our apartment

we fell (have fallen) in love with several, several, several middle and high schoolers in gresham, troutdale and corbett, oregon

we went to a lot of volleyball games


daniel turned 26

we bought kayaks

we went to a pumpkin patch, got a pumkin, and had our first oregon halloween (zero trick-or-treaters, but friends over for dinner and a movie)

kirsten turned 25

bulldog football grossly dissapointed



i designed leslie's wedding invitations

we flew to texas for thanksgiving

we flew to colorado and stood by as leslie and steve got married

we found out that drew and natalie are pregnant!!

we had a youth group christmas party snowed out

we flew home for christmas

we missed the greater portland area's "blizzard of '93" (except that it was the "snowstorm of 2008")

we had an awesome christamas with people we missed dearly (and ate our share of chick fil a)

we saw our stephanie and michael's new home

we met jessica's new boyfriend

we returned to oregon

we had a completely uneventful new years eve

we bought snowboards

we went snowboarding...and fell...alot

kim got a job with the blazers

the monroes came and visited and we went out to the mountain—we both got better at snowboarding (me a tiny bit, daniel a lot)

jessica got engaged

i went on a women's retreat

i (have) designed (/am in the process of designing) 28 websites through a freelance company (woah...)

we went to hawaii for a week

i started helping out with communications for the church

we met laura belle's new boyfriend

we went to (our second) play that involved youth group kids



what else? can you think of anything? small or significant—anything. just add it in the comments!!

aloha!

we leave for hawaii tomorrow.

what? you didn't know we were going to hawaii? don't worry, we really didn't either.

okay, not so much true, but it really snuck up on us.

its a bit of a long story, but the family daniel lived with in D.C. has generously offered us a chance to go to a Christian conference they put on each year in Honolulu. plus we get the 4 or so days before the conference just to be in hawaii. we're super excited...and it's slowly sunk in that it's actually happening. it will be my (kirsten's) first time to hawaii and daniel's second. we've got reed's camera, reed's sister cindy's snorkeling gear, and (finally...sooo last minute) peaople all lined up for nickel.

and we've been hula dancing around the house for a couple of days now in preparation...

we'll try to keep you updated while we're there, mostly just to make you insanely jealous. we're hoping for lots and lots of beautiful, warm sun, sand and water. yayyy!! and it's supposed to nearly snow here in portland...



and just as a sidenote, since my mother-in-law will probably want to see (and maybe others?), i had decided a few months ago that i really like these: vera bradley toiletries things.


but they're pretty darn expensive and i'm not obsessed with any "patterns." plus, i feel like i gave vera enough money while i was in high school, but i know what i paid was a tiny fraction compared to many...

anyway, i decided i could make my own. i thought about the dimensions for a bit and what i would do, and then when debbie and ron were here like a month or so ago, debbie had one and so i took a good hard look at hers.

and this is what i came up with...


i'm actually super happy with how this turned out. and it was one of the first things in a while that i've made without a specific pattern, which makes one think in a different way and is really fun. so here it is, my new toiletries bag. thanks for watching :)

oh it's bad

Daniel and I both have the flu. Honestly, I don't remember the flu being this awful. Our couch (and sometimes our bed) has been our permanent place of residence for the past two days. We've worked here, eaten here, and coughed, sniffled, and sneezed a lot here. But that's really all we've done. We've gone through two boxes of tissues and had two 14-hour nights. 14 hours of sleep. I've watched more House, CSI, Cold Case and Trust Me than I ever thought I would. Normally I would be going crazy having sat around so much, but honestly the mere thought of doing something other than sitting makes me nauseous. And the house is a disaster. When both adults in the house are this sick, the government should just give you a maid for a few days—the dog is useless. She's mostly just confused about why we're sleeping so much. Make that a maid and a dog-walker. Anyway, if you're looking for us, we'll be here...

windy

it's a tad windy here. i heard on the radio that there were 123 mph gusts of wind on mt. hood. 123. woah.

the last sixteen days

well, it's been a while. honestly, we're falling apart here a bit: since we returned to oregon on the 28th nickel's chewed apart like 2 pieces of clothing, we've broken like 3 things, we locked ourselves out of our apartment to the tune of a dollar amount i don't want to even talk about, and nickel has gone to the bathroom inside twice—something she hasn't done is about 3 years...yeah. but to back up to better times, christmas was great. really, really great. so here goes:

we made sure to frequent some essential restaurants:


for all our oregonian readers, this is zaxby's, and trust me. you're missing out. it's all in the sauce here — yummy chicken, crinkle fries, texas toast (daniel always lets me eat his)...but the sauce. and no lie: you put a tarnished penny in that sauce for like 2 minutes, take it out and rub it off and the penny shines. weird. and who knows what it does to your stomach. but it's good. plus, zaxby's originated in our school-town of athens. all the better.


and look! overcast skies! just like here...


quite possibly the greatest restaurant in the world...do i even have to tell you? awesome sweet tea, healthy and amazing chicken, waffle fries, and so much more. really, really good. oh we miss you chick-fil-a.


and this wasn't a must-go at all, but we did go into a johnny rocket's all the way across from oregon and you know what we found? can you see it?? it says tillamook cheddar cheese right there next to rocket single. woah.

but anyway, christmas is way more than food. we had amazing times with both of our families, saw not nearly as many friends as we would have liked to see, but a couple of really important ones, and opened a lot of presents.

so just to show you oregonians what we're talking about when we talk about christmas craziness, this is just a taste:

i don't know if you can tell just how many presents and people and stuff there is there, but it's a lot.

and then daniel told our cousin amanda last year that he would put his video of her opening her gift on you tube. well he never did, but he promised her this year too and so here's what we got amanda! love you amanda! you look great :)

but alas, we eventually returned to our new home and immediately picked up our dog who obviously missed us tons...this is what she did for like the first 45 minutes of being home:

and once that was over, just lots of this:

i know. lots and lots of videos. aren't you excited??

so, in the midst of several small disasters and frustrations, we went snowboarding yesterday, for my first time ever and daniel's second. it was pretty amazing — i fell like 200 times. but the good news is that daniel's practically a pro by now (at least on the green run that we took like 20 times.)


it was snowing super hard and i think daniel's showing us that his fingers are going numb (don't worry — he had gloves, he had just taken them off for the camera.) we went up the ski lift at one point and by the time we got to the top we had like an inch of snow all over us...


and can you see this? my leg is completely immersed in the snow. apparently the base of the mountain had 80" of snow on the ground. over 6 feet. wow.


and can you tell what this is? a car. completely, completely covered in snow. just the antenna there. sooo crazy.

and speaking of snow, portland got like 19 inches of snow while we were gone. apparently record-breaking, the "arctic blast" resulted in the national guard being called in. so that's pretty crazy. we'll just pretend like we were here.

that's it! merry christmas and happy new year!!!

waaayy too much for one post...

...so we'll make it two.
first up. leslie's wedding. we were in colorado last weekend to see leslie and steve get married and it was wonderful. we have a pathetic number of pictures so let's begin by apologizing for that...

but the trip was sure an adventure. we left friday morning and met up with laura belle at the airport, who flew in from seattle...the three of us rented a car (daniel and i's first car rental), saw the first snow of the winter, and drove the three beautiful hours to buena vista.

leslie and i were on the same young life team while i was in college (and she was a fresh graduate of clemson) and we lived together my senior year. then about a year and a half ago leslie felt drawn to colorado and settled in at the tiny town of "bv."

buena vista is adorable and tiny and has some great restaurants and shops. lb, d and i got to stay at leslie's house (now les and steve's house) and take care of their puppies. we settled in and relaxed and family members and the bridal party and les and steve were running in and out all day. we walked around a bit and then headed over to the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner—yummy, yummy breakfast.

saturday lb and i went to a super-fun pajama brunch for leslie and then shopped with our friend victoria. then daniel, lb and i went to a cute bistro called mother's to eat lunch and play board games. (i know, all of these would have been great photo opportunities in hindsight...)

we showed up for the wedding saturday night and everything was gorgeous...lots of green and white and christmas lights and candles and absolutly beautiful. it was a stunning wedding and an amazing reception...

...and then the trip took a turn for the worse. there was much talk about how bad the weather was gonna get that night and how it would be a disaster in the morning and so we decided, with our friends bart and victoria, to drive back to denver after the reception, while the snow hadn't had time to harden and freeze and turn to ice, while there were still several cars on the road, and while the snow plows and salt trucks were still on the roads—rather than leaving at 4 am.

but it got worse earlier than we expected and so we left the reception early and got on the roads early, with bart and victoria following. a grueling 5 hour drive later, we arrived at our friend's drew and natalie's and stayed up for a couple of more hours talking with them. then we woke up super early to more bad roads, drove everyone incredibly slowly to the airport, and arrived in what we thought was just on time to catch our flight. little did we know.

first, the guy at the check in couldn't find our flight. not our tickets on the flight, but the flight itself. then once he found it we realized we were about 20 minutes early, so maybe the one good thing the entire trip. we made it to our gate and waited. the plane was delayed. it was coming in from salt lake city, which is where we were going, and was delayed...so we waited.


once we got on the plane, we realized we were going to make it into salt lake city about 5 minutes after our connecting plane left. super. well, we had to gate-check our carryon rolling bags because they were too big for the tiny plane we were on. when we arrived in salt lake, our connection plane, while all the way across the terminal, was still there. but, apparently a little pink tag that daniel attached to his carryon had fallen off, and while we fought the attendant, he wouldn't let us take the bag. after another 5 minutes, assuring a missed plane, he told us that he would have to put the bag on the connecting plane for us...the plane we would surely not catch. super.

so we ran to our connecting plane's gate anyway, and of course missed the flight. we then waited in several lines for a while before being told that we were confirmed on a flight 10 hours from that time, but high on the waiting lists for two flights between.

we got some lunch and settled in. didn't get on the first flight, but by some miracle got on the second. a mere 8 or 9 hours in the salt lake city airport. horray.


however, in denver we had decided we had to cancel a youth group christmas party for that night...not because of our flight disaster but because of weather in portland. super. but at least the party didn't go on without us...

oh. and did i say that the temperature in denver the morning we left was -5 and the jetway in salt lake city was like -20. at least we were inside all day. so that's something...

and we got home safe! several, several hours late but with lots of snow on the ground in portland :)
(our street the next morning...and you can't tell, but the road is essentially ice.)

december

well, we're back from another texas thanksgiving. it was super rushed, but really great. so good to spend time with family that we rarely see. but just not enough time with everyone, as always. i'm (kirsten) really enjoying "getting to know" my cousins as we get older. getting to know isn't right, but just being able to talk and hang out with them. but sadly there was family that we only saw for three or four hours, which we hate. plus, there was enough food to feed a small country and less sleep than i've ever had (both are exagerrations, but there's some truth there).

and before i move onto christmas — to give thanksgiving it's due credit — i should say that i didn't get any good pictures, so i'll point you to mat and beth's blog and flickr page (link for the flickr page there — pretty much everything i was involved in is at the end of page one and page 2, but my cousins (really second cousins) are really cute, so look through all of it.)

and i intended to blog AS SOON AS we got back, but travelling takes a lot out of me and of course we had to decorate immediately as it was already December 1st.

We have some generous friends at the church who grow Christmas trees and then let friends come and cut them down for free. So nice. But it doesn't save us the $70 that we expected it to — trees only cost like $20-$30 out here. Apparently evergreens grow everywhere... (you can't really see, but our friend tyson is to the left of the tree above. he's holding a chain saw and you can kind of see his face, but a rain drop fell right in front of his face. that's rain — definitely not snow yet. oh, and it was like 4:45 pm. that's how dark it gets. ridiculous.)


And then pulling it all out and setting everything up.

And watching some classics as we do.

Still no good pictures of the tree, so sorry all of these are blurry.

And by the third day of the month, we've already gone through 3 of our 7 Christmas movies (Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Grinch (Jim Carey), Grinch (original, pictured), A Charlie Brown Christmas and Home Alone). Great movies.

And by the way Mat, Beth, Steve and Elizabeth — Elf definitely has to be added to the list of funniest movies in the past five years. I know it gets sappy at the end and it's really season-specific, but it's hilarious.

a sweet visit and more

two weekends ago lb and lizzie came down for the weekend to help celebrate my birthday! it was super fun (can't you tell...)

no it really was. we got to just hang out and talk, take a walk, eat some really, really yummy food and just play.
seriously i had no idea it would be so good. this place certainly isn't unfamiliar to me still, but for whatever reason these two girls are so familiar to me that it's just comfortable being able to be with them. i'm not explaining that well, but it was so nice. and so fun. and our first overnight guests, which was neat.
plus, we took this picture and i have no idea how it happened. crazy. in other news we're a little swamped here at the monroe household. we're going out of town for essentially all of next week — with a staff retreat and then thanksgiving. and then tomorrow and saturday 8 middle and high school girls are sleeping here and we're going to a conference in town. so there's wrapping up work before all that for me, cleaning to prepare for the girls, presents, which we exchange at thanksgiving and which i'm making all of (which i really like, don't let me make you think it's a burden...it's just time consuming), plus packing and planning and all.

and of course getting ready for the c-word. if you know daniel well (or possibly at all) you probably know that he's obsessed with christmas. it's a big time for us. but we're not allowed to mention it before thanksgiving, so we're waiting in excitement and anticipation...

oh! and guess what just happened?!?! so we have a credit card that earns us points for flying, right? super smart because as it turns out you fly a lot when you live on the other side of the country from your family. well, our card has been pretty lame. there aren't blackout dates or anything, but it's been way slower than we had expected. and then we have friends here who have the same card but talk about having enough points for several flights and we've been pretty confused. but then yesterday daniel probed and found out that if we just have the card with an annual fee we get like 12 billion more benefits. it's a $75 fee, and the benefits will allow us easily double the number of flights we get, plus all sorts of other stuff we haven't been getting! it's crazy! including the fact that if you buy one ticket within the U.S. over $299 and pay for it with the card, you get one ticket for the same flight free! WHAT?! yeah. that's huge for us. um, we're flying twice in the next four weeks and both of those flights would have qualified for this. grrr.... but at least we have it now. so, if you're in the market email us and we'll let you know about it !

Happy Halloween!!! and October wrap-up

Here is our pumpkin this Halloween, which quickly rotted and molded and had to get thrown out yesterday. Oops...But "we" worked hard on it—meaning Daniel worked really hard on it while I roasted the seeds...But he was great while he lasted.

Well, if you don't know, I absolutely love fall. Fall weather, fall clothes, fall decorations, fall leaves. But within fall, October has definitely been my favorite month so far in Oregon. The farmer's market has been absolutely amazing with all sorts of pumpkins and squashes. And fun, fun, fun.And the leaves are unreal. These trees are right outside our apartment and the pictures really doesn't do the colors any justice. Also, we voted this month. That's right. That's because in Oregon, you vote by mail. Everyone. Everyone votes by mail. Which we didn't know about at all and were prepared to go to the polls and get our stickers, but on like Wednesday I was reading these things we got in the mail and realized they said that Oregonians vote by mail. Huh! So we voted by mail, and won't be getting any stickers...And lastly, here's Nickel in here tutu. We'll be going trick-or-treating. Okay, not really, but we might go walk around and pass out candy since we won't be getting any treaters.
Alright! Sorry this is disjointed, but it includes a few posts I've had in my head for a while!!!