To My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet husband, Will!

I have absolutely loved the 8 years we have been together, especially our 4 years of marriage! It sounds so cheesy to say you complete me...but you really do. I always notice it when you're away, because I eat like a bachelor because I don't know how to cook like you do. But when we're together, I feel inspired and able to help cook a yummy meal. Or how I can't sing on key, but you can. 

You are kind, generous, talented, and handsome...but mostly, I love your heart. I love the way you love Jesus. I love hearing you sing when you think no one's listening. Happy Valentine's Day, Will. Thanks for loving me so well and walking in this great adventure with me. I love you!

Our Snowy Weekend in Chicago

A few weeks ago, Will and I went to Chicago with our friends, Logan and Jill. They were celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary (yay, congrats!) and we had just celebrated our 4th anniversary! So we took a combined anniversary trip! It snowed the day before we got there, and it was beautiful and chilly!

We had an action packed long weekend: Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, The Art Institute, shopping on Michigan Avenue, breakfast at The Original Pancake House, drinks at The Violet Hour, tacos at Big Star, wandering around Lincoln Park, lunch at Lou Malnati's (pizza!), breakfast at Yolk, dinner at Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building, and an AMAZING dinner at Girl and the Goat.

We did not eat a bad meal the entire weekend. Everywhere we went...our food was fabulous. And then we walked our butts off around the city, which meant I never felt guilty about all the yummy food. here are some pics of lovely snowy Chicago...

This is Will's breakfast at the Original Pancake House...the Dutch Baby!

It's kind of like a pancake bowl with lemon and powdered sugar.

The sign above us is hilarious, but not why we took the picture.

Warming up with delicious coffee at Intelligentsia.

At the Willis Tower...so high up!

Jill, you were so brave and conquered your fear!

Not gonna lie. I was really excited about seeing the world's largest, most complete T-rex, Sue.

I was completely underwhelmed. On the way there, I was asking everyone how big they thought Sue was. Like could she fit in a tractor trailer truck? Was she super tall? 

And then I saw her. And she was much smaller than I had imagined. Still amazing. And big.

But I was a little bummed. I wanted to be mesmerized. And I wasn't.

The last time Will and I were in Chicago, we were 21 and had been married for about 2 months. This time around, we had been married for almost 49 months! What a difference!

My Big News

I am beyond ecstatic. Since I was born and raised in Franklin and then stuck around for good, this is something I look forward to every year. I have been going to this festival since I was a small child. It's the highlight of my spring activities. I have always loved browsing through all the booths, eating the festival food (kettle corn and chicken on a stick!), and enjoying the crowded streets. And now I will have my very own booth at the Main Street Festival!!!

It's taking place at the end of April, so I've got plenty of time to prepare. Oh, who am I kidding! These couple months will fly by!! I've got to get to work!

Christmas Festivities: Part 2

I don't have photos of all our Christmas events this year, which is such a shame. But we enjoyed eating with Will's dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve, before we headed to my parent's house. Then we woke up on Christmas morning and opened presents with Will's parents at their house and Ellen, Jeff, Caroline, and Harris via Skype. What a blessing technology can be sometimes! Then we enjoyed a full day of presents, food, family time, games, and reading (The Hunger Games!) at my Grammy and Pawpaw's house.

On New Year's Eve, we all trekked down to Lynnville, my dad's hometown. It's so beautiful there. When we get off the interstate and start driving down those curvy country roads, I start getting all nostalgic. I love Lynnville!

We took some random fun family pics outside of Colonel Littleton's shop. If you don't know who Colonel Littleton is...well, you better find out. He makes amazing pocket knives, wallets, and leather goods. This girl's got three pocket knives, and I've bought Will three since we've been together. If you ever need a gift for your husband, dad, brother, boyfriend, etc...check out his site!

Here are the pics from the day...

And if you made it this far in the post...I've got some big news to share tomorrow. So stop back by! And you can also check out the tutorial I did for an ombre cross stitch necklace on my crafting blog, Craft Day Is The Best Day.