Anniversary

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary yesterday!  Blake made me breakfast in bed yesterday and we spent the day hanging out and watching the women's world cup game- talk about an amazing ending!  If you haven't heard, the United States came back to tie up the game during extra time and then won in a penalty kick shootout.  It was very exciting!  Blake and I both played soccer throughout our lives so we always watch US soccer- both men and women.  Then, we went out to dinner in DC. 

We went to a restaurant called Zaytinya.  It's a Greek/Lebanese/Turkish tapas place, VERY good!  Blake went there a couple of months ago with his boss and has been wanting to take me there since.  We don't go into DC very often even though we are only about 20 minutes away.  It was a little out of my comfort zone since I'm a rather picky eater but it was wonderful! 

We started off with an order of hummus to go with the warm pita bread they serve.  If I went again, I think I would try a different spread.  Their hummus was really good but I might try their tzatziki spread next time!

Pita!

We ordered 4 plates-Keftedes Kapama, Arayes, Adana Kebab, sea scallops.  Don't worry, we had to point to the items on the menu when we were ordering!

 Adana Kebab is skewered ground lamb (had to get a picture from google images for this one!)

   Arayes is grilled ground lamb and tahini stuffed pita with garlic yogurt

  Keftedes Kapama are beef and lamb meatballs with feta cheese and rustic tomato sauce

 Sea scallops served with a yogurt dill sauce. 

Everything was delicious!  If you're looking for a nice restaurant in DC, I definitely recommend this one!

Day 23: Favorite Vacation

Day 23 of the blog challenge is your favorite vacation.

This is a really hard challenge for me because I've been fortunate enough to have been on many vacations.  Growing up, we were by no means rich but we did always go on a vacation.  It was something my parents felt strongly about.  When we were little, we typically went to the beach.  But as we got older, we started going to different places and seeing different parts of the country. 

Some of my favorite vacations...

• San Francisco when I was in middle school
• San Diego in high school
• Going out west (Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Badlands, etc)
• Grand Canyon right after I graduated college
• Nashville
• Chicago
• Maine and Canada (we would drive to Maine and visit our cousins and make many stops along the way)
• London and Paris when I was in high school (my cousin and I visited my uncle who was living in London)
• Italy with my sister after I finished grad school

But, I think my favorite vacation has to be my honeymoon....St. Lucia  I loved being in paradise with my brand new husband, starting our married life together, sitting around by the pool and ocean and doing  nothing!  It was amazing!

7 Years Ago...

Blake and I become "official."  We started dating in 2003 within in the first month of my first year of teaching.  He was in school down at Virginia Tech and I was living up here.  He actually met Labor Day weekend but he officially asked me to be his girlfriend on September 21st!  On a sidenote, that is always such an awkward conversation!

Perhaps the best moment of the day was when I was almost walking out the door and glanced up at the calendar and said, "Oh yeah, it's the 21st, Happy 7 years!"  The look on Blake's face was priceless and then he responded, "Do we still celebrate those even though now we have a wedding anniversary?"  I assured him that we didn't have to celebrate with presents but a dinner out would be nice.  He's having dinner with his grandma tonight because he has a training for work about 5 minutes from her house.  Maybe we'll have dinner one night this week in honor of it!

A few pictures of us over the past 7 years...

I think this is July 2004

 

August 2004

 

August 2006 at my friend Megan's wedding

July 2007

March 2008

 April 2010 at my sister's wedding!

Five Languages of Love

I was nervous about our first day of Pre-Cana for no reason.  However, it was a long day!  It was a day that was full of lectures and after each lecture we did have the opportunity to reflect on the lecture and answer some questions out of our workbook. 

But, the most interesting thing I learned was Dr. Chapman's concept on the Five Languages of Love.  According to Dr. Chapman, every person speaks at least one of the five languages and many people speak more than one. 

The Five Languages of Love:

1.  Words of Affirmation- These are thh words that build up the other person, "I appreciate all the hard work you did."  "You look very pretty in that dress."

2. Gift-Giving- A gift tells the other person that you are thikning of them even though you are apart.  The gift doesn't have to be expensive, but somethign that is meaningful to the other person.

3.  Acts of Service- Doing somethign kind for the other tells them that you care.  It can be cooking a meal, doing the dishes, opening the car door, or filling up the car with gas.  Doing somethign you know the other person would like you to do is an act of love.

4.  Quality Time- Setting aside all else that you are doing and giving the one you love your undivided attention will tell them they are important to you. 

5.  Touch- A huge or holding someone's hand can let you know that you are there for them.  Touch communicates affection. 

I found that my primary language of love is gift giving and then acts of service.  Blake's primary language is acts of service and then touch.  I found these results to be very interesting- giving gifts has always been something that I've really enjoyed doing and even though I didn't pinpoint it until today, receiving a gift is a way that I feel loved.  It is also the language that Blake listed last!  This is funny because this was often a way that I've showed Blake love over the course of our relationship; however, this was not a way that Blake showed love often.  Now, I know why!  We will definitely be working on this!

*All information taken out of workbook, "Preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage" by the Archdiocese of Washington.  To learn more about Dr. Chapman, click here.

Pre-Cana Nerves

On Saturday, Blake and I will be going to our first day of Pre-Cana.  For those of you unfamiliar, it's the pre-marriage counseling for the Catholic Church.  We had the option of choosing a weekend retreat from Friday night-Sunday afternoon or two Saturday sessions.  We opted for the 2 Saturdays.  I thought it would be plain weird to be sharing a hotel room with a stranger (Blake would be in a different room). 

I have heard from many people that it is a much better experience than you expect and you leave feeling very close.  However, I worry that there will be lots of lectures and biblical quoting.  Blake is Lutheran so I hope it's not all about Natural Family Planning and why Catholicism is so wonderful.  I'm also worried that we're going to have to answer relationship questions and then share our questions with strangers!  Agh.  That just freaks me out.  Rationally thinking, I'm sure we won't have to do that but the irrational part of me isn't so sure. 

I do know that we will only take away what we put into it... I am hoping we learn more about each other, communication tools and problem-solving tools for our future.  My sister, Katie, told me there were quite a few couples in her Pre-Cana session that had apparently not had some pretty major conversations (kids/no kids, how much in debt they were, etc.)  Blake and I have had a lot of those conversations (after all, it's been 6 years!) but I do hope we are asked to discuss issues that we have not thought about or issues that could be potentionally upsetting.  After all, isn't the point to identify challanges your marriage may face?

Here's to hoping it will be an enlightening and positive experience!

Honeymoon Booked!

We did it, we booked our honeymoon!  It's only been something we've been talking about since we got engaged and looking into since the Fall. 

We finally got Blake's vacation schedule worked out and we're booked.  We leave the Monday after our wedding and get back the following Monday.  He's taking Tuesday off too so he doesn't have to come back and immediately go back to work, yay!

Ah, paradise!  I can't wait!

Christmas Reflections

I've always been a huge fan of family traditions, especially around the Christmas holidays.  In fact, this is the first Christmas Blake and I have spent together because I never wanted to give up any of my family or family traditions. I really have a hard time with change.  I know this and I'm working on it.

I'm used to a large family gathering of about 20-25 people for Christmas dinner at my aunt's house and this is after Christmas brunch with 12 at my parents in the morning.  But this year, Blake came to brunch and I skipped dinner to eat with his family- it was his mom and dad, Blake and I- that's all, only 4 people.  Don't get me wrong, it was a very nice dinner it just didn't feel like a Christmas dinner.  I'm used to a loud dinner, laughing, and teashing and everyone talking at one time.  This was just a different feeling.  I know that marriage is about compromising and we started this year by each giving up a little.  It will be interesting to see how we compromise next year in our first married Christmas together and how we spend our day together.  I'm already not looking forward to making those plans.

I wish I had taken some pictures that day, I'm not really sure how I managed to take not one picture that day.  I'm going to have to get better!