It's been a year!

Tomorrow will be exactly one year since the day I married my best friend. I remember bits and pieces of the day; the stirring commotion and jittery butterflies. I remember arriving at my venue and getting to our suite where my friend Clelie was ready to do our hair. I remember the first time I walked onto the terrace to have a look at my groom and the tears that followed. I remember taking pictures in my dress down by the river in downtown Louisville... which led to me sweating profusely in 100 degree weather. In turn I almost passed out and went straight to the suite and instructed my bridesmaids to "Please get me OUT of this dress!" That may have been my only bridezilla moment of the day! :)  I was so nervous before walking down the aisle that I thought I might puke, but there really is something in seeing your groom waiting for you at the end that made the whole room go quiet. I don't remember much about the ceremony or the reception.... they were both blurs of memories and excitement. Looking back the day went by too fast. I wished I had stopped more that day; took a little more snapshots of the moments I was making with my best friends and family.  The first year of our marriage seems to have gone by just as fast but I know that I will have a lifetime of memories to make with Nick.

Tonight we are celebrating with dinner. I don't really know where we are going, but I know Nick has put thought into where he wants to take me. He is always thoughtful like that. We will be coming home to some wedding cake dessert, which I am both interested and scared about. Ours will probably be freezer burned and moldy!

I'll be sure to post some wedding pictures tomorrow along with the deets of our dinner and presents!! I can't wait to get mine :)

Run Nick Run

This past Saturday we ventured to downtown Louisville, at 6 in the morning mind you, so that the hubs could run in this years Derby mini-marathon. Yes, that would be 13.1 miles of running goodness (or torture if you're talking to me). Fortunately for my hubs, he loves to run which makes this the perfect little tradition for him. I tried to train for it last year but soon found out I love to lay on the couch and cook dinner more. I digress.

Anyway, my hubs and I have been getting back into shape since the beginning of the year. We have CHANGED our eating habits and exercise at least 3 days a week. This has helped him get in such great shape for this years race... and it paid off! His time from last year was around an hour and 45 minutes and this year he ran it in 1:33:51 which is awesome. I was such the proud wifey cheering from the sidelines!

This next picture is a bit distorted because I took it from my phone while he was running. You wouldn't believe how many people run in this mini marathon/full marathon. I'm talking 15,000+. Nick was in group B (based on your running times the faster you are the closer to the front you get) and I promise you it took 20 minutes for people to just get through the starting line because they were in group F or more.

The finish line was a street over. Basically the whole race was a big loop around downtown Louisville.

I snapped this right as he was getting ready to cross the finish line. He was checking his watch to see if his time matched the finish line time. Every runners bib has a chip on it so it automatically starts when you cross the starting line and finish line. Therefore, the finish line clock might be off by a couple of minutes. Your official time is your bib time.

After the race and after getting his medal (which all runners get) he was exhausted but we treated ourselves to breakfast at Toast on Market when we left. It was extremely hard work watching people run 13.1 miles. He He.



Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	1:36:55
Chip Time	1:33:51
Overall Place	257 / 11383
Gender Place	222 / 4952
Division Place	37 / 630
Age Grade	63.1%
10K	44:18
Pace	7:10

I am so proud of him! And doesn't he look cute in his outfit? He likes to coordinate :)

A Girl Walks into a Bar.... Part 2

So let me back up a little bit...ya, know before the whole part where we meet back up and he grabs me and tells me he missed me (ha, it's so true and I LOVE it). Altogether we were a part from December to the beginning of March. It was such a short time that seemed to drag on forever. We never did the break up where we talked and ran into each other out in public. Louisville is a pretty big place and I knew him well enough to know where he would or wouldn't go. I tried to stay away from those places because I didn't want to be that girl. I hate that girl. The needy, stalkerish, completely dependent girl that guys can't stand and actually feel sorry for. Um, no thank you. But trust me when I say I felt all those things.
I really never thought I would see him or hear from him again so imagine my shock when I get an email one day out of the blue. It was a beautiful day outside and I was going to be stuck in front of a computer typing up a portfolio for work. Around 11 that morning I decided to drive to the park and go for run and I happen to post it on my facebook... turns out that as soon as he saw my post he put on his shoes and ran to the park he *thought* I would be at... turns out I was at the one right next to it. So instead, he drives to my apartment and emails me from the parking lot. My heart literally fell out when I saw it. It basically said he was sorry for how things ended and he wanted to apologize. It was confusing really... an email out of the blue to say sorry... that was fine. He was always a super nice guy that would never intentionally hurt me. It would only make sense he would feel the need to apologize but I couldn't help thinking there was more to it. I waited a couple of days to email him back, making sure all my friends proof-read my response to a-ok it. :) Anything that happened after that would be in his court.
About two weeks later it was St. Patricks day and I went out for my friend Amanda's birthday. We went to Bardstown Rd (why, of course!) and hung out at one bar then decided to go to another. When we got to the second bar, we walked around and I immediately made eye contact with one of his friends... my heart skipped because that meant he was there! I smiled and kept walking and about a minute later I feel a tug at my hand. I turned and there he was smiling at me. I had no idea what to say and how to act. I walked up to him and congratulated UofL on their win and then waited. He hugged me and told me that he missed me and he had made the biggest mistake of his life... cue the music and love song people!!
From that point on we have been together and I can honestly say that even though that was a truly difficult time, I wouldn't change it because of where it brought us. I grew closer to the Lord and I learned to rely on Him for everything and in turn He made our relationship stronger and more focused on Him.
Now I certainly can't say that every break-up might have as happy of an ending as mine did. There are people you are meant to be with and ones you aren't. Never once during our breakup did I question God. No, I didn't understand it but my constant prayer was that He show me what He wanted of me and I just tried to listen.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11



*Next post... hear about how I planned and made my own engagement dinner!

A Girl Walks Into a Bar...

I'll explain the title of this post in a min... my hubby saw my blog today before heading off to church and he was a bit disappointed that I blogged about UK before blogging about him {male ego sheesh :)}. He just doesn't understand... he is a Louisville fan and all. {And BTW my boys in blue rocked it out today. Can we say FINAL FOUR!}
Anyway, back to the hubs... without further adieu.

Yes, I met him in a bar but it was through my bf Mandi and her husband. It was one of her husbands friends birthdays {ya following me here} and she didn't want to go by herself and be the only girl. I figured I didn't have anything going on anyway so I went. We showed up to Diamonds in Louisville and I am not kidding when I say hubs was the first person I caught eyes with when I walked in. We were introduced and talked casually throughout the night. Let me make this clear... I was NOT looking for any type of relationship at the time. None. But I was a bit surprised how nice he was and how easy it was talking to him. We talked for a couple of weeks and then he called me and asked me out to dinner. I'll be honest when I say I fell for him immediately... like, it was bad. You know when people say "when you know you just know" well that was me. I just knew... but after nine months someone forgot to let him in on the secret.... because he broke up with me. His claim? ha! "He just didn't know!"
I. was. floored.
And certainly most of all devastated. My friends rallied and picked me up even when I didn't feel like picking myself up. I honestly did nothing but pray for the three months we were apart. I repeatedly said to myself "I know that was right, I just don't understand!" And I truly didn't. It was like my mind and my heart weren't even in the same body. But, things began to change in more ways than one. I really felt like God was telling me something was happening and I was really trying to listen.
Then, three months later I was that girl that walked back into a bar...