Last Thursday evening, I hung out with a friend and Ross went to the mall to do a little shopping with some of his birthday money. Before we left I told him to be sure and get me something. We laughed at this and I didn't give it a second thought as I walked out the door.
When I got home later that night I found a surprise waiting for me:
It was a necklace that Ross bought for me while he was out shopping! I was so surprised that he got me something! As I said above, I didn't think twice about him actually getting me something, but he did! What's even better is that he got it at the $1 Jewelry Galore store where all of the jewelry is about $1-$5. Some of their jewelry looks cheap, but you can get some good stuff there at a very good price!
I asked him where he got the necklace and we had a good laugh when he said the $1 Jewelry Galore store! This necklace is actually pretty nice. I love the necklace and love that he stopped there to buy it for me and love that it only cost him $1.08.
I wore it to work yesterday and when I put it on in the morning I told Ross that I felt like I was putting on something a kid had made for me..... :)
Today is the first Wednesday after Memorial Day which can only mean one thing:
It's "Wear A Dress (or Skirt) Wednesday!"
This is something I started on my own at work in 2009 and have continued it each summer. Every Wednesday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I wear a dress or skirt to work. I started it because I realized that I had a lot of dresses and skirts in my closet, but I never seemed to wear them. I would wear them to church in the summer, but that was only one day a week for a couple of hours. They needed to be worn more so I decided to start wearing them to work. (It also helped that my work changed the dress code and pantyhose were not required and I could wear open-toed shoes and sandals. There's no way I'd be wearing a dress, especially in the summer, if I had to wear pantyhose with it!)
The first time I wore a dress that first summer was a Wednesday, so I decided to make it an every Wednesday thing and gave it the name "Wear A Dress (or Skirt) Wednesday." I have continued this tradition each summer since and have even gotten other ladies in my office involved!
Ross gave me the best anniversary present this year: a framed copy of the vows we said to each other on our wedding day. I love this so much and have hung it up in our bedroom so we see it everyday!
R.S.V.P. - we've all seen
these four letters on wedding invitations, shower invitations, dinner
invitations, etc., but do we really know, understand rather, what it means? I
found the following on a website when Googling R.S.V.P. and thought it was a perfect
explanation:
“R.S.V.P. is a French phrase, "répondez, s'il vous plaît,"
which means "please reply." The person sending the invitation would
like you to tell him or her whether you accept or decline the invitation. That
is, will you be coming to the event or not? Etiquette (defined as “the customary
code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession
or group”) rules followed in most Western cultures require that if you receive
a formal, written invitation, you should reply promptly, perhaps that same day.
For hosts who are planning a dinner party, a wedding or a reception, this is
important from a practical point of view, because they need to know how many
people to count on and how much food and drink to buy. More important, though,
is the simple courtesy of responding to someone who was nice enough to invite
you, even if it is to say that you regret that you will not be able to attend.”
I plan events on a personal
and professional level. Personally, I enjoy having parties, hosting showers,
anything like that is fun to me. Professionally, my title is “Promotions &
Events Coordinator” and I am in charge of the logistics and planning stages of
U.S. Missions events. I like to think I’m good at this on both levels and
often times receive compliments on how organized and detailed I am. (Not to toot my
own horn, but I am very proud of the fact that I planned our wedding and
NOTHING went wrong!)
I enjoy all aspects of the
event planning stages, except for the common thread between personal and
professional events:the R.S.V.P.!
In my experience, more people do not R.S.V.P. than do. The fact that people do not R.S.V.P. to events is such a struggle
for me! Quite frankly, I find it rude. I've really tried to work on my feelings towards this lately and not get upset about it, but it is challenging! And I do try to see the big picture and realize that my event is not the #1 thing on the invitees list, but in reality, does it really take that long to reply?! :) Sometimes I wonder if it’s the thorn in my flesh that Paul refers to in 2
Corinthians 12:7, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these
surprisingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Okay, so maybe that’s a stretch and taken
out of context, but hopefully from that you can understand my great annoyance
when I don’t receive R.S.V.P.s from people!
R.S.V.P.s are so important
because it lets the host know how many to count on, how many places to prepare
at a table, how many party favors to make, how much food to prepare, etc. For
example, say you send out a shower invitation to 30 people and 10 R.S.V.P., so
you plan on 10 people coming. You prepare enough of everything for
10 people, but the day of the shower 25 people show up! It is embarrassing not
being prepared for the correct amount of people. Now I’m sure most people, as
do I, prepare a party for more than the number of people who R.S.V.P. because,
unfortunately, R.S.V.P.ing has just gone by the wayside. I don’t know if this
is yet another sign of the times and people are too busy to reply, or if it’s
something that’s now considered old-fashioned and unnecessary.
As you can
surely tell from this post, I do not think R.S.V.P.ing is old-fashioned in any
sense. I think it is timeless and something that everyone should do,
no matter how busy they are. When you think about it, does it really take that
long to make a phone call, send a text, or e-mail? We’re on our phones all the
time, so why is it so hard to R.S.V.P.? Certainly we’re not too busy (people
being “too busy” now that’s another soapbox issue of mine, but I’ll save that
for a separate post!) to take the 1-2 minutes out of our day to do this simple
task.
So, in closing, I beg of you
and plead of you to please, please, please, the next time you are invited to
something that requires and R.S.V.P., please do so! Please! You will make that host so
happy!
We had a great time on our Jamaica trip! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that was so pretty and had great food. We did a lot of relaxing during the week and spent most of our time hanging out at the beach and pool. I'll let the pictures do the talking in this post!
Anniversary walk on the beach!
The desserts were SO good!
There were little lizards scurrying around throughout the resort. Ross liked them and I finally got a picture with him and one of them...kind of!
Loved the flowers!
The building we stayed in.
You just don't understand how good the desserts were!
Ever since I've lived on my own and been married, Saturdays have been my cleaning days. My cleaning days consist of changing my sheets, changing the bathroom towels and cleaning the bathroom counter top, doing the laundry, and cleaning up the kitchen if needed. I don't clean the toilets, dust, or vacuum every week, only when it really needs it or I feel the urge to do so. My cleaning doesn't take very long, maybe an hour at the most. Of course, the laundry takes longer, but you know what I mean. :)
Some Saturdays I just don't feel like cleaning and really have to make myself do it. That was the case two weeks ago. I just could not bring myself to clean our bathroom. The only thing I had to do was clean the counter top (which I know Ross appreciates...I don't think he'll ever get used to my hair laying all over the sink and floor). It would probably take all of five minutes to clean, but I just didn't want to do it and put it off all day long. That night I apologized to Ross for not cleaning and told him I'd do it the next day, but quickly retracted that statement once I realized that Ross was leaving the next day to go to St. Louis for the week to work. The dirty bathroom sink didn't really bother me that much and I could live with it for the week and clean it right before Ross got home the next Friday. He didn't seem to mind, so I decided to go with that plan and clean it Thursday night so Ross would come home to a nice, clean bathroom.
Sunday came and Ross left for St. Louis, planning to come home on Friday. I was very excited to get a text from him that Wednesday saying he had checked out of his hotel room and was coming home! His area in Springfield was getting pretty busy so they were sending him back home to take care of it. I was very excited that he was coming home early, but then remembered all the things I'd planned on doing while he was gone that I didn't get to, one of those being cleaning the bathroom. I felt bad that he was going to come home to a dirty bathroom, even dirtier than when he left because it had four more days of use and my hair floating around!
That night we were both in the bathroom and I apologized to him for not having the bathroom clean. I told him my plan of cleaning it Thursday night and had I known he was going to be home Wednesday night, I would have had it clean for him. Ross, being the gracious, easy-going man that he is, said it was okay, he didn't mind.
Now to the whole point of this post...just as soon as the apology was out of my mouth I compared the fact that I didn't know Ross was coming home that night to the fact that I have no clue
when Jesus is coming back:
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
(Matthew 24:36-44, NIV)
To me, "keep watch" and "you also must be ready" parts of this verse don't mean that we should live in an anxious state waiting for this great coming, but rather live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and be aware of our surroundings, not letting any false teachings persuade us to believe otherwise. I think it's also a good reminder that we need to live out our Christian life all the time and not just when it's convenient for us. We need to "do unto others as we would have them do to us" even when we don't want to. When we're living and treating others as God would have us do, we're keeping watch and being ready. I felt so bad that I did not have the bathroom clean for Ross, but can't even begin to imagine how much worse it would be to not have "my bathroom" clean for Jesus.
On March 30, my Dad and I went hiking in Arkansas. We've done this a few times before and decided to go again this year. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had a nice time hiking. I don't remember the name of the trail, but it was in northwest Arkansas, near Ponca. We hiked about 1 mile in to a waterfall. The area was so nice and peaceful. It would have made a great picnic spot!
We were so close that he could reach out and touch the water! I love pictures like this!
Monday morning I came in to a very nice surprise on my desk: a thank you card with a $40 Target gift card inside from some ladies at my work.
They gave me the card as a thank you for leading an exercise class at
work earlier this year. It was six-week class that started in January
and met on Tuesdays and Thursdays during our 30-minute lunch break. I
had seven ladies that came on a regular basis and they all did a good
job. It was fun to see how they progressed from the first class to the
last class. In fact, on the last class of the session we did the same
workout that we did during the very first session. I told them to take note
of how they felt for a few days after that class to see if they were as
sore as they were after the first class. Everyone of them could tell a
difference, that they had gotten stronger and weren't as sore. We all
enjoyed the workouts so much that we continued them after the session was
over, but decided to end the classes in April due to schedules getting
busier and the summer coming on. I think we'll plan to pick it back up again in
the fall.
It was so much fun to see the girls progress and get stronger. I'm sure they weren't too happy with me at times when they were sore, but know that they all agree it was good for them!
Thanks girls! I will definitely enjoy spending the Target gift card!
Last January I wrote a post about using rubber dish washing gloves, like my mother. She used those gloves when we were growing up and I hated them, even though I never used them. They were ugly and smelled. Well, last year I discovered that the gloves aren't so bad and have been using them ever since.
My mom always planted marigold flowers in her flowerbeds and I never liked them. They just didn't seem like that pretty of a flower to me, but every year we could count on seeing the gold and yellow marigolds in the flower beds. My sister and I have made fun of my mom about this for the past few years, although I don't know if Stephanie disliked the marigolds as much as I did. In fact, I think Stephanie even planted some marigolds for herself last year.
This past weekend, I made my annual trip the the greenhouse to buy flowers for my flower pots. I perused all of the flowers, picking up petunias and impatients (of which are amazing flowers: don't water them for five days in the middle of the summer, water them on the sixth day and they come right back to life!) and walked right past, rather snubbed, the marigolds. I did a mental inventory of the flowers I had in hand and the flower pots at home I had to dress up, and realized I needed more flowers. I walked around the greenhouse again and for some reason - that will probably end up being one of those top ten questions I ask God about someday - I ended up by the marigolds. And, not only did I walk back to the marigolds, but I picked some up and put them in my box - my "to purchase" box! I was laughing to myself as I was doing this, remembering all the times I've made fun of my mom for planting marigolds. I still don't know what made me plant marigolds this year.
For our first anniversary, my Mom
gave us a poem she wrote along with a glass bottle filled with rocks and
a bag
of pearls tied to it. The rocks in the bottle represent God, the
foundation of our marriage. The pearls represent the treasure we have
found in each other through our marriage. The poem tells us that each
year on our anniversary we are to take a pearl from the bag and place it
in the bottle, saying "Happy Anniversary, I love you dear!" The pearls
will represent the years that we share together and help us remember all
of the memories we've made. You can read more about it and zoom in on a
picture of the poem to read it here.
Ross and I celebrated our second wedding
anniversary two weeks ago today, and this past Sunday added pearl number
two to our jar. It was so much fun and we look forward to doing this
for many, many, many more years to come!
Two little
pearls are now in the jar, reminding us of our two years of marriage!
I love you beyond measure am so thankful and happy to be your wife! I'm so proud of the wonderful man you are and look forward to spending many, many, many, many more birthdays with you!
Growing up, May 1st meant it was time to put together May Day baskets. My Mom helped us make the baskets out of construction paper or sometimes we covered old, plastic containers with wrapping paper to make our baskets. We would cut a hole in each side, and tie yarn through the holes to make a handle for the basket. We would place flowers, cookies, and candies in the baskets and take them to our neighbor's house. Once there, we would place the basket on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run away!
I also remember being in fifth or sixth grade and wrapping streamers around a May Pole as the "entertainment" for a PTA meeting. In fact, I think I played the piano as the rest of my classmates sang a song and decorated the May Pole.
I don't really know where or why these tradition started, but I think they are fun and have fond memories of them. I hope to carry on the May Day baskets tradition with my kids someday!
