A Little Positive Affirmation...

never hurt anybody!

While reading a blog of a good friend of mine, I happened on this short video. I couldn't help but laugh... and to be honest, maybe I'd get more done during the day if I started my mornings like that!

365 Days of Total Bliss

That's right, today we celebrated our first anniversary. Hard to believe that a year has gone by...and at the same time, what a wonderful and incredibly exciting first year it has been.

It has been a year full of decisions, firsts for all kinds of things, graduations, changing jobs, international adventures, celebrating with family, and yes really... 365 days of total bliss! Nothing makes me more excited, and more grateful, than knowing that I've spent the past year with the love of my life and very best friend.

We've spent the day celebrating and remembering so many "firsts"... the first date, the first kiss, the first time we said "I love you", and so on. We went to the temple and remembered what we promised, how excited we were, and how normal we felt as we left the temple "married".  There's not a day that goes by that I'm not reminded how lucky I am to have this wonderful man in my life. I love his smiles, his subtle winks, & how I still get butterflies any time he enters the room. It has been a wonderful year & I'm even more excited to spend so many more with my very best friend!

Project: Green Thumbs

Back when we moved into our new apartment Benj had quite a few plants. I was impressed. They were real honest to goodness living things. A far cry from what I had... a couple of silk plants that I purchased after moving away to college because for some reason my attempt at growing anything seemed to fail miserably. I don't necessarily think I have a knack for killing living things, I think it's just that college kept me busy, and roommates and other fun things didn't really foster my responsibility for taking care of house plants. Therefore, I gave in and went for the fake kind that you could only really damage by 1) getting them to close to an open flame, or 2) sucking them up with the vacuum. Both which have happened at least once during my college years.

While we were in Belize, Benj had a chance to read the Square Foot Gardening book. A gardening concept which I completely adore because it seems basically fool proof and it practically eliminates weeds. Growing up in Arizona, eliminating weeds would be like saying that it was 68 degrees at high noon in the middle of July... which is a nice thought, but isn't going to happen anytime soon. So, when Benj suggested that we give it a try and that we grow some herbs that seem to be cooking staples around our house I was all for it.

He got his power drill, which is awesome and worked like a champ. And we both got 8 square feet of garden space and some cool flowers to boot!

It took the better part of two days to gather up the stuff, build the boxes, and plant but we had fun. And as you can see above we had helpers too! And now for a look at the final product, which is currently still alive... yeah, I just checked it's still there and growing!

Feel The Power

Lately it seems like we haven't been up to much; and at the same time, it seems like we've been up to everything.  That said, we finally got around to doing something that we've been talking about for quite a while.

One of our wedding presents was a gift certificate to Sears for tools (thanks Jeff & Julie!). It was the perfect gift. Benj loved it, and so did I because who doesn't need a hammer, screwdriver, measuring tape, level and so on? We did saunter down the power tool row, but decided we'd better buy the basics first and save the power tool purchase for later.

We've gone to the hardware store a bunch of times since then, and we always look at the power tools. I'm surprised we haven't caved to the need to own one before now, but the day finally came.

Behold, the power tool!

Benj loves it. And I love watching him use it. Plus, it was a huge bonus when it came to one of our most recent projects... square foot garden boxes, but that's for another post! At this point though, bring on the home improvement projects & never, ever get between a man and his power tools!

Back from Belize, a Battery & Hot Dogs!

So we're back and recovering from our adventures in Belize. Lots of fun & lots of funny stories to tell as well as a chance to let our lives settle for a minute before we start the next craziness.

That said, I went to start my car when we got home and it was dead, dead, dead. It took us a few days to get around to jumping it because we were to busy recovering from our trip. When we did get around to jumping it though it was still...dead, dead, dead.

So we did some more recovering and just used Benj's car. We were a little sad on the 4th of July. Other than watching the fireworks from the street corner by our house we laid pretty low. And because of our stomach issues, we stayed far away from any type of celebratory food such as hot dogs, hamburgers, or other 4th of July type of foods.

But after resting up a little more and taking a trip to the doctor...where we found out that we're definitely on the mend... we decided to get back to that car battery. And you know what? Benjamin saved the day!

I was worried it was the starter or something else terrible that would cost a bit but, Benjamin took out the battery, and we took a trip to Costco. And less than a hundred dollars later... Benj had put in the new battery and the car started!

Plus, while we were at Costco we decided we were both in the mood for and that our stomachs could handle... hot dogs! A little late on celebrating the holiday, but better late than never! Dates that include trips to Costco and fixing cars are definitely good in my book!