Return: To Bliss

The day we got engaged!

One of my favorite engagement pictures taken at Laguna Beach!

Our Wedding Day!

Happy Honeymooners!

By the way, today is 9-10-11. Just thought that was fun!

Another eHarmony Success Story!

No, not us, silly! .... I'm talking about our friends, Clive and Amy!

Isn't her wedding dress gorgeous?!  Clive and Amy got married in this quaint Spanish-style courtyard:

I couldn't get enough of the "California" painted on the side of the building.  Perfect for an outdoor So Cal wedding!  The most memorable part of the wedding for me was when the bride and groom sang a duet together of Stevie Wonder's "A Ribbon in the Sky for our Love". It was beautiful and moving and such beautiful, poetic lyrics!

Clive and Amy, we wish you a lifetime of happiness!  May God bless your marriage and your life together!

Carve their initials on your heart

If you have read this blog at all over the past year, it is no secret to you that I loved everything about being a bride. One of my readers told me that my status as "bride" would last, according to tradition, an entire year. I think it's safe to say that I relished my bridal status for every bit of that year! Now that I've had my first wedding anniversary, I decided to take down my big wedding picture masthead. Hubs told me that I'll be his bride for the rest of our lives, so I'm still gonna leave several wedding pics on my sidebar slideshow.  :)

Lately, I've been enjoying doing art and craft projects a bit more, so I decided to create my new masthead using watercolor paints. It is inspired by a proverb I read and just loved :

Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.

Tie them around your neck; 

carve their initials on your heart.

Earn a reputation for living well

in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.

It was so refreshing to see it written so plainly that Love and Loyalty are two virtues required for living well. 

In addition to my regular entries about my daily life, I've decided to pepper my blog this month with posts telling stories of Love and Loyalty. When you think of Love and Loyalty, what comes to mind?

"B" is for Bride

I absolutely LOVED being a bride, so I was thrilled when someone told me that according to the rules of ettiquette, I would be considered a bride for an entire year after my wedding.  Of course, it was even better news when Hubs told me that he would consider me his bride for the rest of our lives--woo hoo! Does that mean I can take out my dress and wear it around the house whenever I want to?

Anyway, I'm totally milking my one year of "brideness" for all it's worth. So when my dear friend Jen Disney had the BRILLIANT idea that my winter wedding dress should be photographed in the SNOW, I said, "Hubs, call the Men's Warehouse! You're going to be a groom again!" Jen took some awesome photos of us in the mountains of California, as well as some lovely photos in picturesque Claremont.  It was so much fun for me to wear my dress again!  

Here are some of my favorites. See her favorites on her awesome photography blog.

Zebras, Be Gone!

Before Hubs and I got married, he was living in the condo that we now share. While it was definitely a bachelor pad, he has good taste and picked a masculine theme and scheme for his place. For example, the artwork in the master bedroom was a grouping of black and white framed and matted zebra prints from IKEA.

Enter moi and a joyous exchange of vows, and ta-daa! It's a new look that's fun for a girl and a boy! Shortly after we married, we repainted the walls and got a new bedspread. And over the past couple weeks, we decided to 86 the zebras from their frames (though they had been taken down long ago), repaint the frames an "Espresso" color, and replace the prints with enlarged sepia-toned pictures of our wedding!

We both really love the way they look!

For those of you worried about them falling on our heads in the case of an earthquake, we hung them with these little tremor-proof cuties and then secured them with museum putty.

Making it all Artsy up in Here!

While most of the nesting has been done in our condo, we've been waiting to hang artwork on the wall above our bed because we were waiting to get the high resolution files from our wedding photographer. Our idea was to convert some of the more "artsy" photos into black and whites, frame them, and hang them on that wall.

My sister and bro-in-law gave me Photoshop Elements for Christmas, and I LOVE it! My photographer friend, Jen, taught me how to convert color pics into these sepia-type images. These are my favorite six that I plan to enlarge and frame. What thinks you?

eSuitor and Starshine's Wedding Video

My friend Mel and her husband are videographers. They shot our wedding and made this aweseome three minute montage. We have loved reliving our wedding day--seeing this brings back so many wonderful memories of what was definitely my favorite day of 2007!

A Week of Thanks, Wedding Style: Friday

I'm thankful that God gave me my wonderful husband this year. 2007 started off with a bang when he proposed to me on the morning of January 1. When Hubs makes his New Year's resolutions, he means business! June 30th was our wedding day. I'll never forget the sincerity in his eyes when he made his wedding vows to me. It's amazing to me that we already have nearly five months of marriage under our belt! We have grown in love and closeness during that time. I'm just so thankful--to my husband for loving me so well, and to God for giving me immeasurably more than all I asked or imagined that a husband could be! My cup runneth over. I love you, Lovey!

My happily ever after!

A Week of Thanks, Wedding Style: Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Hubs and I are in Virginia, spending the holiday with his family. We are expecting to be a group of between 20 and 30 for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be my first time to meet a lot of them!


I am so thankful to have in-laws that have embraced me and love me. I'm especially thankful to have a good relationship with my mother-in-law.

I'll never forget this moment. Hubs and I had just arrived at our wedding reception and his mom came up to congratulate me on being the new Mrs! I love you, Jo!

A Week of Thanks, Wedding Style: Wednesday

I'm thankful for my matron of honor--aka--BEST SISTER EVER!

I love you, Sissy!

A Week of Thanks, Wedding Style: Tuesday

It is such a blessing to have a mom who is also my dear friend. I am so thankful for our relationship. I can call her any hour of the day or night to talk about anything. Her love for me is unconditional, and my heart is full of thanks for her in my life. I love you, Mom!


It is absolutely fabulous that Hubs and my mom like each other! My mom always told me that she would embrace whomever I chose to marry, but thankfully Hubs is easy to love!

Mom, thank you for all you do for me! I never could have planned my wedding without you, but what's more important--I have a good marriage because of all you taught me about life:

You taught me how to love.

You taught me how to pray.

And you definitely taught me how to have fun!

A Week of Thanks, Wedding Style: Monday

I'm really thankful that my Dad was able to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. Our photographer also captured some amazing images right before we walked into the church. I love you, Dad.

Sunday Smiles!

The happiest day of my life!

(Many thanks to my college roommate for e-mailing me this pic! If any of my other wedding guests happen to be reading this, I'd love it if you would e-mail or send me any of your snapshots!)

Happy Honeymooners

Husby and I had a wonderful honeymoon in Kauai. I had never been to Hawaii before, and I always hoped that I would go there on my honeymoon.

The island of Kauai is one of the least commercialized of the islands--not a lot of high rise hotels--lots of natural, unspoiled beauty. We stayed for the first half of our time in the more arid town of Poipu in a condo that Husby found online. It was fabulous--just renovated and nicely decorated. We were on the third floor and every night we slept with our sliding glass door open, as the sound of the crashing waves sang us nature's sweet lullaby.

At "The Beach House" restuarant in Poipu at sunset.

We spent the second half of our time in the tropical, more humid climate of Princeville, located on Hanalei Bay. I absolutely fell in love with Hanalei Bay and the north end of the island in general. I'm still dreaming of the Hanalei Gormet (a local lunch place) where we went twice to feast on their fresh grilled Ahi (yellowfin tuna) sandwiches with dill mayo. YUM!

An afternoon shower would roll through like clockwork, dust us with a little rain, and leave almost as quickly as it came...one time even leaving a rainbow in its wake (not pictured here).

The Taro fields of Hanalei. Isn't the lushness gorgeous?

A view of Bali Hai and Hanalei Bay at sunset.

Highlights of the trip included:

~A helicopter tour of the island the allowed us to see the Na Pali Coast and the inside of a volcano with waterfalls cascading down the side.




~Breakfast on the terrace of our hotel as we took in the spectacular view. We agreed that it must be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Sometimes the previous day's showers would create waterfalls down the mountainside. Now that we're home, we like to sit at our breakfast table and remember the incredible view we had in Kauai and then say things like, "Where did our waterfall go?"

One Sunday morning, our hotel had an incredible brunch buffet. Since they were offering it, I thought it really would be wrong NOT to partake of a Grand Marnier crepe with vanilla bean ice cream and hot fudge. Yeah...I made the right decision!

~Snorkeling at Ke'e Beach with sea turtles.

Beautiful Ke'e Beach is in a peaceful cove protected by a coral reef, which makes for little wave action and clear water--perfect conditions for snorkeling.

~Zip lining across the valley below Mt. Waialeale--the wettest place on earth!

~Going to Secret Beach and swimming in the Secret Lava Pools. So much unspoiled beauty!


~Watching the sunset from the hammock of our hotel on our last night was pretty romantic!