Better Living

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a healthy life.  The first couple of years on my own, there was never enough time in the day.  I had such a high sense of independence but I lost control of taking care of myself and as hard as I tried to cook, I would usually just push it to the side.  I moved into an apartment, completed my full last year of high school, and maintained a full time job immediately after I moved out.  My regular meal was Top Ramen, Microwavable Pizza's, Bagels, or anything that took under 5 minutes to cook.

You can't just take meat out of your diet without substituting it with even healthier food, one mistake I made and I had become anemic after 2 years of poorly eating.  I usually left my apartment at 7:00am and didn't get home until 9:00pm each day, so I never had time to cook a decent meal.  Ever since I started cooking for James, I started to have a better understanding of the nutrients food had and how to have patience to cook food for more than 5 minutes.  I began to see a change in my weight, the way I felt everyday, both emotionally, mentally, and physically thanks to James, who taught me how to cook. He taught me how to use specific spices, how to marinate, and the perfect temperatures things had to cook at.  I am encouraged to cook home meals instead of going out because James is very fond of my cooking.

Eating healthier has definitely made a difference in my day to day life, but having control of my life and being organized was something James showed me how to do.  I would come to him telling him the problem and he would explain to me the best possible ways to fix them.  As you all might know, I'm a stresser and I always have been, but with James helping me take control, my stress meter has settled.

My life feels so perfect, so complete now with James by my side!  This is why I know I couldn't do it without him, he has been my rock and there's always new things to learn in the kitchen.

I just want to say this about James: As a young curious little girl, I wanted to know everything about life and I always asked questions.  I looked at my parents as being most wise and have grown to be a very intelligent person, but I still have questions.  One of the reasons why I love James so much is because he is all knowing, and when I ask him questions I feel like that young naive girl again.  If I could know everything he knows, I bet you we would win those trivia nights at the bar, no problem!

I miss you so much James!

One Long Night!

On the seventeenth day of Christmas, my true love went away.  James has gone a-huntin'. I say this every time but when he's gone either to work or on hunting trips, I gripe and moan about how much I miss him and I will always for the rest of our lives.

I have the hardest time staying else where when I know he's home, my anxiety kicks in and I always hurry home.

I remember staying the night somewhere else one evening with him not there and my heart was yearning for him.  I couldn't sleep at all, just tossed and turned, so I opened up my computer and pulled up a picture of him and put pillows under the blankets on the side of the bed he normally slept on.  I cuddled up with the pretend James and fell right asleep.

I know we have the rest of our lives ahead of us but I want to ache for him forever and I will.

Sometimes, he's left for work very early and when I wake up, it startles me that he's not laying next to me.  I just roll over to find a little note he's left me telling me he loves me so much and how he misses me already.

Yes distance grows the heart fonder, but when you love someone so much you truly can never get enough of that person.  If you never lose that want and know you will always want him, spending the rest of your life with him will be rewarding and all moments will be cherished!

Date Night!

On the sixteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a lovely date night!  James surprised me and took me on a little date tonight, he mentioned we don't go on dates often enough.  It's always fun to have date nights,  just to take a break from cooking is nice but it always brings me back to when we first met, so giddy and new to the relationship it feels because of the way he looks at me.  He still gives me butterflies!

When we went out to dinner on our second date, same place we went tonight and our favorite place to eat in general, I remember I was SO nervous that I could barely eat my food.  I was trying my very best to eat like a lady, I was eating noodles which are hard to eat politely, and he wouldn't stop staring at me.

Just like our second date, James stared at me tonight while I ate as we shared great conversation and our food (James like to take the first bite, he says "Just making sure your food tastes good for you").  We are so happy together, even when we have dinner in bed while we watch a movie or our favorite TV shows (We do consider this a date), I don't care what we do because if we're doing something together I know it will be fun and I will be happy no matter what (I mean this honestly).

The date night isn't over!  Once our tummy's settle, I'll make some popcorn and pull out the giant jar of candy and turn on some Dexter, which is our favorite TV series.  I just got done showing James a video I recorded of him last night, he doesn't believe me that he snores and clearly the video definitely proves it! We've also been discussing a prank war to spice things up.  Our relationship is fun, never stressful, and we are not only partners, we're best friends, we don't ever feel like we're nagging on each other and yes we do ask each others permission to start prank wars so no ones feelings get hurt. To this day he will tell you that I spit in his ear when I thought I gave him a wet willy.  There's no proof on either side, so guess that debate will never be settled.

I'm off to go make Peanut Butter Balls for James (One of his favorite desserts)!

Good Night!

Cuddle Bear!

On the fifteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me straight genuine snuggling.  Tonight James came onto my side of the bed, wrapped his arms around me, and intertwined his fingers in my while we watched TV.  We're always so busy with so much in our lives, we never forget about each other but we don't always get time to just hold each other.


Cuddle (Which is the proper word) 
verb (used with object)

1.

to hold close in an affectionate manner; hug tenderly. 


You know you love someone when all you can think about is his heart beating, how tight he's holding your hand, and always wondering what he's thinking.

P.S. I got it straight from man himself: when you're wondering what he's thinking, most of the time he's really not thinking about anything.  

Surprise!!!!

On the fourteenth day of Christmas, James' true love gave to him a neat-o surprise.  Who has two thumbs and got her hair cut off to her shoulders? This girl!

If you brush your hair and five minutes after, your hair has a big rats nest in it or if your man (James)has been sitting there for 30 minutes trying to piece by piece untangle your hair, you know it's time for a cut.  


For some of you who don't know, my hair was approximately 18 inches long (almost to my belly button), and today I cut it to my collar bone.  


I haven't seen him all day and for hours I tried styling it, just to make sure it looked nice for James when he got home.  When he got home, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and as soon as he saw my hair his face lit up, he also gave me the 100% smile with the eyebrow lift.  He really likes it!  


I will be posting pictures at www.facebook.com/UAweddings


I have a feeling this will be a nice change for the fun of our relationship.  You always get excited when your partner makes a significant change, feelings become refreshed and you are getting use to something new or really learning something new about them (She looks really good with that type of style I've never seen on her before).  On top of all that, he says I look a more mature with a cut like this, which is kind of what I'm aiming for!


Now, let's see long I can handle this length before I start getting frustrated with something falling in my face or not being able to stay in a pony tail...

Growing this heart fonder!

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me peace and quiet.  James and I didn't see each other too much today.  He's been working all day, as have I, but once he got home he ran into the kitchen and greeted me ever so sweetly!  We see each other everyday, sometimes it's nice to have some time apart, say for example alone time for me to do my crazy work outs!  James' mother showed me these amazing work out videos on demand, I was so excited to try them that I did three different work outs today.  Technically, I did 4 but I quickly gave up on the weird looking belly dance exercise, dancing is definitely not my thing, however I don't think kick boxing is but at least I can physically do it.  


I got some things done around the house today, usually on James' days off I want to spend time with him so I only do the most important things.  I also had a chance to make some cute Christmas Bell cookies for him from a family recipe, he loved them and as soon as he saw them he knew they were the cookies him and his family use to make when he was younger.  



As much as I see James, I am always so excited for him to get home, even if he just wants to go lay down for the night.  I'm almost always in the kitchen preparing dinner or if I'm lucky, I'll go sit on the stairs and wait for him to meet me at the top.  Tonight, like most nights I was in the kitchen racing to get the salmon and potatoes done.  The one thing I love the most about him (Really, what's there not to love?) is his smile, and when he greets me he always smiles, it shows me that he's truly happy even when days are rough (You can usually tell me the size of the smile).  He greeted me this evening with a full smile and even gave me the raising of eyebrows, which actually puts his happy level at 100%.

These are the Christmas Bell cookies I made, and they actually taste fantastic!  It was a hit or miss at one point because I thought I hadn't read the recipe correctly.  James' humorously pointed out that I forget the little bells at the bottom and yes I did! Let's just point out again that I should probably sit down and read the directions 2 times all the way through before I actually start cooking....

It's the Little Things

On the twelfth day of Christmas, love gave to me a day off!  I had a hard time waking up this morning, but when James burst through the door with a huge cup of Hot Cocoa, I immediately woke up and knew it was going to be a good day!


I had so much to do today and knew I had a long day of head of me, filled with meetings and my daily things to do around the house.  When I got home this afternoon, I found that James had cleaned the kitchen.  I had been dreading this chore, for I knew I would need to scrub everything down due to the fear of raw chicken remnants hiding somewhere waiting for me to touch it (Yes, I am really that paranoid of raw chicken).  I also found that he warmed up the house with our amazing wood stove, so cozy.  


I am so appreciative that he did that for me today, when he really didn't have to do so. 


Unconsciously, we tend to do things in a competitive behavior, in a good competitive way.  For example, when he does something nice for me, I do something nice right back.  Since he cleaned the kitchen for me today, I matched and folded all of his socks.  It's a reflex of ours that happens on a daily basis, and it's one way to keep the relationship rewarding.  I know we think about what we're doing but don't usually think about why until after it's happened.  Remember, when doing something like this, don't think "Wow, I just did something great for him, I wonder what he will do for me?".  Instead think about how much he will like it and that's it, never make it about you because your actions will not be genuine.  


Alright,.... Back to work!    

Long Day of Play!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a full day of quality time.  My apologies that my blog was a little late, James and I have literally been spending all day today together doing various fun activities.  We started our day off early, 9am, and watched a ridiculous movie, so ridiculous I can't remember.  I made brunch right afterwards and we sat down for another movie.  Now, I know this doesn't sound fun but it really is, it would never be fun for you because James and I talk throughout everything, discussing scenarios or people or places and repeating the funniest lines.  I know that we watched Beerfest, Super Troopers, a few episodes of Scrubs, Salt, and Year One.


We both took a quick power nap and proceeded to team up for Oblivian. Funny thing, and I'm sure James' best friend would agree with me, it is so much fun to just watch him play his games.  Yes, that's right I watched him play today while he played.  It's like watching a movie, he's so good at gaming and he rarely makes mistakes, crazy action movie!


When it got closer to dinner, I went to clean up the kitchen and make way for today's amazing creation.  I had a whole chicken I needed to use so I whip it out (I am very germaphobic, so it took me a while to open up the packaging) and James zooms into the kitchen to help me cook dinner!  He helped me cut off all of the meat... Okay, so HE cut off the meet and I cut off the fat.  I made up this AMAZING batter, washed my hands, coated the chicken with the batter, washed my hands, wrapped it all up and stuck it in the fridge, washed my hands, washed a spot on my face because I had a tickle and unconsciously itched it, and prepped the rest of my ingredients.  I made home made Buffalo Chicken Wings.  Best of the best!


We topped our evening off with some comedy shows and more relaxing.  We do talk to each other a lot, which I do enjoy and we talk about everything!  I take off at least one day with him, making sure I get everything that needs to be done either the week or day before so he can just relax.
Tip: The day before your man has the day off, do all of the laundry so everything in the house smells so good and comforting.  The night before his day off, stick all his comfy clothes in the dryer, warm them up and give them to him when he gets home from work.  Who doesn't love right-out-of-the-dryer-warm clothes?! 


I love spending time with him and I had such a wonderful day!

Hungry Hungry Hippo's

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me his try anything hungry belly!  I love cooking for James!  I'm very cautious about what I cook him but with what he is limited to eating, it's my chance to get really creative. 


Yesterday I was watching Man vs. Food and it got my creative mind thinking, so this morning, I made James a different kind of breakfast. 

This is my Garlic Texas Toast Special!  This amazing sandwich (which had meat's I do not eat) is constructed very percisely, Garlic Texas Toast, Egg (you can do Sunny-Side Up or Scrabbled just make sure it crumble off the bread), Sage Sausage, Sharp Cheese, Hickory Smoked Bacon, and top it off with another piece of Garlic Texas Toast.  To make Special and to keep it together, I stuck a overly large tooth pick with an "I Love You James" flag at the top.  

What did you think about my Special Sandwich: "It was good but too much Texas Toast" - James

This photo doesn't do it justice,... the sandwich was VERY tall, probably my obsession with Man vs. Food.

I really do enjoy cooking for him and he tells me all the time how much he appreciates it.  He is an AMAZING cook himself, however I do not let him in the kitchen very often.  I have specially organized the kitchen because I use it the most and he gives me a hard time about how he can never find anything. 

Starts with F and ends with Amily

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love shared with me his wonderful family!  We visited with James' parents today, it's always so much fun just to see them and spend time with them.  When I first met his mother, James and his best friend gave me the "Heads up", telling me to be careful, one mistake and she may never invite me over again.  At this point, I was terrified, and I spend countless hours trying to pick out the perfect outfit and figuring out how I should do my hair and makeup.  Once we arrived at their wonderful home, I was shaking as we walked up and the door opened.  She came to greet me with her arms wide open for a hug.... Great joke guys, we all had a great laugh and when his parents found out why I was nervous, they joined in on the laughter.  


I have learned so much from his family, I truly cherish them and look forward to all the amazing family camping trips, hunting trips, amazing dinners, Thanksgiving dinners, and much more! 


I see James' father in him, his values and how he was raised.  James is a true gentleman, just as much as his father is, always opening doors for me, watching where I am to protect me, really treating me like a Lady.  


One thing that James has taught me is that family is important no matter what, as much as I have heard that so many times before, what he has shown me with him and his family is much more eye opening.  I love my family and I love his as my own as well.  What a wonderful gift!