From Diapers to Bridal Gowns

This past Saturday I had the true privilege of standing up at the altar while one of my nearest, dearest and oldest friends said, "I do" to the man who makes her the happiest girl in the world. Amanda and I were destined to be friends since our moms announced they were pregnant at the same dinner. Over 25 years ago, 4 moms in the neighborhood gave birth to 5 kids (I'm a twin!) within 6 months of each other and from that point on we've been the best of friends. To say we grew up in a magical, special and close-knit neighborhood is nothing but the truth. We all had 2nd (and 3rd and 4th and 5th) moms all over the neighborhood. We were more than a neighborhood, we were family. To this day our parents are all close friends with one another and all the "kids" have stayed close friends into our own adulthood. (Weird... sometimes I still don't believe I'm an "adult.") Most of the bridal party were people from our neighborhood and many of the wedding guests were neighbors. Like I said, our neighborhood and childhood were pretty magical :)

This just shows you how special this girl is to me and to our whole neighborhood. But back to the wedding... Amanda and Ben met on e-Harmony (so yes, we all think they need to make an adorable commercial!) and after their first few dates it was a sure thing. They were head over heels in love and we all could tell. Amanda just glowed when she spoke about him. Her face lit up when he was around. He clearly adored her in every way possible. They just loved one another.... they had found their match. It was so beautiful and sweet to watch. They have had a long engagement so they were both very ready for this day to finally be here. If I didn't already love these two, I love them even more because they are fellow vino lovers. In their spare time, they drive out to different wineries around Virginia and enjoy tasting the finer things in life :) They chose a gorgeous winery to get married at and it set the stage for a beautiful weekend. 

Amanda and Ben - You two are truly meant for each other. It was an honor to be a part of your bridal party and watch you say your vows and commit your love, lives and faithfulness to one another. I can't wait to see how your love story continues...

Here are just a few snapshots of the wonderful weekend!

beautiful bridesmaids

the beautiful bride and me

here we are... friends since diapers :) (not pictured: james)

such a fun bridal party!

bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner

here comes the gorgeous bride!!!

married!!!!!! (best feeling in the world)

my dad and some of his daughters (real and from another mother)

this is langston.. the most adorable nephew in the world!

family shot :)

this is my husband... we are weird.

bride and groom and brother of the bride

And they lived happily ever after :)

Bible Study and Dessert... An Excellent Combination

Jeff and I found an amazing church almost 2 years ago called PORTICO. We meet at Key Elementary School is Arlington. Every Wednesday night we have "Community Group" with about 8 other people and we dig into the sermon preached on Sunday and share our thoughts and wrestle with the meaning of the text together. Before we dig into the Word, we always dig into something yummy! Last night was our night to bring dessert so I brought a Vegan Peach Cobbler. 

Why did I make it Vegan? Because one of the ladies in our group is a vegan.

Why did I make peach cobbler? Well, other than it being of my hubby's faves... my mom had given us A LOT of peaches the other day and I knew I needed to use them up somehow before they went bad faster than we could eat them.

So at this point I knew two things... I would make something vegan and it would involve peaches. Next I needed to figure out an actual dish and looked no further than Pinterest of course! I quickly found a yummy looking Vegan Peach Cobbler from Vegan Cowboy. The only thing I needed to make it "vegan approved" was the vegan butter so with a quick trip to the store (even our terribly stocked and small Giant had vegan butter... I was impressed!), I was on my way to making this delicious treat. Within about 20 minutes of prep and 40 minutes of baking... I had made a soon-to-be decided as "delicious" dessert. Piece of cake! (errr... cobbler) I wanted so badly to taste test the cobbler before bringing it to Community Group but unfortunately its one of those dishes that would be incredibly obvious if I had done a little taste test. "Oh ummm, that corner is missing, you're right. Uhh, its missing because, uhh.. the baking dish is just weird and never cooks in that corner." Yeah... that wouldn't work too well. So I just hoped for the best. I ended up bringing the dish home last night with maybe one servings worth of cobbler left. Turns out it was a hit!

I think people hear "vegan" and (if they aren't a vegan or knowledgeable about being a vegan) think, "Eww no.." But I couldn't even taste one little difference. In fact, I think it was even more delicious! :) I think the vegans might be on to something,,, something delicious!

I can't wait to try another vegan dessert next time... 

From 5.21.11 to Now

Hello!

I created this blog before we got married with the hope that I would be an avid blogger after our wedding to keep a virtual document of our life. Fail. Here it is 14 months after our big day and this is my first blog post. Hey, better late than never right? For those reading this you probably know what has happened the last 14 months so I won't bore you with a detailed re-cap. Here's the Spark Notes version of our life since the "I DOs!" 

May 21, 2011 - I married my best friend Jeff. Jeff married his best friend Rebecca. (right honey?)  Best Day Ever! (Photos courtesy of our photographer Charo)

The week following we honeymooned in beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where we had a week long of glorious relaxation. We drank yummy tropical concoctions (our favorite being the "Banana Mama"), ate past our stomach's content at each meal, slept more in each day than we probably will again and just held hands as we joyously explored this new place together. It was magical to say the least. 

 Stud muffin :)

 The food looked good... and the food tasted good.

 Mmm, I can still taste that broccoli soup.

 This peacock was one of the highlights of the whole trip!

 I am drinking the previously mentioned, "Banana Mama" goodness.

 We probably floated in here for an incalculable amount of hours.

 happy honeymooners

June 2011 - Just a few days after returning from our honeymoon, we flew out to Denver for my sissie's masters graduation ceremony from Denver University. (I hope we find ourselves flying to places on airplanes a lot throughout our marriage :) )

Newlyweds :)

 

sister faces

future album cover

July 2011 - We moved from living in Jeff's bachelor pad apartment in Alexandria to a new apartment, still in Alexandria. We've just signed a new lease so we're here until Fall 2013. 

September 2011 - My brother Thomas lives in Orlando and my brother-in-law Michael was in school there as well... so when Paul and Vicki (my father and step-mother in law) decided to go visit Michael, we decided to join the fun! We had a great long weekend visit with everyone :) 

Paul, Vicki, Jeff, Thomas and me

My big bro!

November 13, 2011 - Shortly after we got married I was begging to get our own dog. My persistent nagging paid off in November when we visited the Richmond, VA SPCA after running our 1st Half Marathon (as a married couple). We adopted an adorable pup that we named Leia Bonnie Howe! The deal was if we got a dog, Jeff could pick the name... hence the Leia (aka, Princess Leia). She very quickly became the light of our lives. (I repeat, right honey?) Leia is half Rhodesian Ridgeback and half German Shepherd. She is seriously so beautiful. To say she's spoiled is an understatement. I can't wait to have a bigger place so Leia can have many adopted, furry siblings :)

Our nephew pup Copper celebrating the victory with us

I had to resist and limit myself just to a few pictures of this beautiful girl :)

November 2011 - We celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws in Newport News but unfortunately, no pictures :(

December 2011 - We celebrated our FIRST Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Howe! Yay :) We started our tradition of cutting down our own tree and decorating to cheesy Christmas tunes. Then for Christmas day we were with my family in Burke.

Did you notice Leia's "pupcake?"

Christmas Eve morning at our apartment

I LOVE Fiestaware so I was thrilled to get more pieces for my Christmas collection.

These are my brothers...

My sisterface with the Princess

Sarzy (my twin!) loves foxes and horses

The hubby and I slow dancing (in my terribly tacky legging things)

Lets see... then it was 2012!

New Years Eve - We went to a local mexican joint, came home and put on the tv coverage of the ball drop and... fell asleep around 10 pm and woke up well after the ball drop. Then I proceeded to get mad at my husband for us missing the ball drop (whoops, wife fail.).

February (whatever day the Superbowl was) - Then this happened...

I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough dip for a Superbowl party and it was a life changer. It basically represents my entry into Pinterest addiction.

March 2012 - My big sister Emily is working in Tuscon, AZ so after my business trip to Scottsdale, my mom and I went to visit her for a couple days.

My amazing mother and me

margaritas!

my big sissie emmy

April 2012 - My wombmate (get used to that term... its what my twin and I call each other a lot) and I turned... 25! We had a small celebration in Richmond where she lives.

Sloughzy and my nephews, Buster and Clyde

Hubby loves grilling

One of my very best friends since early high school lives in Richmond too... so she and her husband came too.

Birthday girl posing with their pups

We ran our 2nd Half-Marathon together in the Outer Banks and booked a dog-friendly hotel so Leia could come!

Leia L.O.V.E.D. the beach

But it sure tired her out...

Hush puppies at our pre-race dinner

We did it! (through the rain and mud!)

Post-run breakfast (We run to eat)

May 21, 2012 - Time flew by just as they said it would and we celebrated one whole year of marriage! We have God to thank more than anything else for keeping our love strong and faithful. We pray He continues to grow us closer and closer to one another and to Him through this amazing blessing of marriage.

 We spoiled ourselves the whole weekend and had so much fun and adventure together. Oh and really good food of course :)

Cooking class

 Breakfast before kayaking

I made it as cheesy as I could with my Mrs. Howe apron and our Mr. and Mrs. mugs. Hey, why not right?

We went to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel we had our wedding reception. Waiting for us was this sweet surprise from my thoughtful parents.

In front of the church we were married in

Jeff surprised me by taking Leia (yes, he knows his wife is happiest when our dog comes along) and me to a bed and breakfast outside of Leesburg.

We had an amazing dinner! Fried green tomatoes... nom nom.

You know a restaurant is awesome when they bring water with ice cubes (Leia's fav) to your dog

It was an amazing weekend. I am a lucky lady to be married to the handsome guy above.

June 2012 - We were SO fortunate to be able to join Jeff's family in Cocoa Beach, FL for a vacation ANDDD be able to meet our baby nephew, Langston. Seriously, we had an amazing week and feel blessed for the quality time spent with family and being able to meet this precious new life.

The whole group... except Jeff (someone had to take the picture)

LANGSTON!!!! Is he not the most adorable thing in the world?

Proud parents, my brother Thomas and Kristen

Jeff already teaching Langston bad habits

Ok, phew... so there's a little recap of our life the past 14 months. Okay, so with all those pictures it wasn't that little... but oh well. I couldn't resist! I guess 14 months had more packed into it than I realized. It was fun to re-live a lot of those moments.

Here's a little summary of me, the blogger. The rest you'll get to know over time I'm sure.

I am...

- a mid 20s girl born and raised in the insanity that is the DC/Metro area

- grateful to be married to my handsome husband who loves me in a way I always dreamed of being loved

- saved by grace, through faith... in God's Son, Jesus Christ, dying on the Cross for me (and you!), so that my sins would be forgiven

- amazed everyday by the above

- convinced I have the best family and friends in the whole world

- a dog lover to the max (Mommy to Leia... hopefully more pups soon)

- a wannabe foodie

- enjoy red wine

- probably waste too much time watching Bravo, HGTV and the Food Network

 

I have no idea what I'll end up blogging about, if anything. But here goes... stay tuned.