48 Hours

Well, I mentioned last week I was strongly considering putting my house up for sale. Just after I posted that, Jonathan and I decided that yes, we were in fact going to put my house on the market. This is how that story went:

Thursday around 5 p.m. my house was officially put on the market and Saturday around 5 p.m., just 48 hours later, I was sending a signed document to my realtor accepting an offer. 

I absolutely cannot believe this happened so quickly. I can't explain it, but when we decided we were going to put the house up for sale, I had this calm, overwhelming feeling that it was the right decision. Not only did I feel it was the right decision, but I knew it would happen quickly. I just felt it in my bones.

As of September 20, I'll be handing over the keys to my house and walking away with wonderful memories of my first home and absolute excitement at the thought of what comes next. What is next, you ask?

Well, Jonathan and I don't plan to live together until after the wedding and this doesn't change anything. I'll be staying at my parents' house for the few months in between. They live about an hour from my office which obviously isn't ideal, but it's so worth getting my house sold and saving money for a few months while I finish planning our wedding. Not to mention, when am I ever going to get this much quality time with my parents again? It's going to be a great few months living with them until the wedding and then I'll finally join Jonathan in our home in January. 

The last few days have been such a wonderful whirlwind and I'm so thankful. Knowing we won't be coming home from our honeymoon in January to deal with renting out, selling, moving out of my house has me feeling so relieved. Just a week ago I was freaking out a bit about what to do about my house and this week all I'm feeling is relief and excitement over how it all worked out. This whole thing has been another reminder that everything happens for a reason and God will always take care of us.

Now, I just need to direct this excitement and energy toward packing my house up. I've got a lot to do and not a whole lot of time to do it! I hope all is well in your world this week!

Breaking up with bread and other updates.

Hi everyone! I'm still feeling a little too distracted to get back to posting regularly, but I want to share a few updates on wedding planning and life in general.

To add to the stress of planning a wedding in six months, I've been wrapped up the last few days trying to figure out what we are going to do with my house. I bought my lovely townhouse almost 4 years ago and I don't regret it for one second. It has been the perfect first home for me and I've enjoyed my time there making it my own. With that being said, I am so looking forward to moving in with my new husband after our wedding in January. I planned to keep my roommates in my house to at least January and then figure out what we wanted to do with the house after that. Well, life is a funny little thing and things don't always go as planned. Things have changed recently and it's kicked my butt into high gear this week and we are making a decision this week instead. There is a good chance that by the end of this week, there will be a FOR SALE sign in front of my house and I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic about this possibility.

In other news, I recently decided it was time to break up with bread...more specifically, carbs. If you know me in real life, you know bread is my weakness. I can't turn down a dinner roll to save my life. Recently I realized I had been in celebration mode since our engagement on June 29. Cake? Sure, I'll have a piece. Ice cream? Why not? Drinks? Heck yeah.

This had to stop. I mean, our wedding is just a few short months away and I'd really like to feel my best on that day. It's been about two weeks and I've done pretty well at drastically cutting down my carb intake and increasing my exercise, protein, etc. I've lost about 5 pounds, which is pretty satisfying considering I don't have a specific goal other than to feel better, get toned and fit into my clothes a little more comfortably.

Most importantly, I feel great. I'm still treating myself to a yummy snack or dessert once on the weekend, but I feel more in control and better overall now that I've gotten my diet under control.

And because I can't let a Wedding Wednesday go by without an update...

I sat down one night last week after chatting with Jonathan on the phone and felt really inspired to write for some reason. I started writing and next thing I knew, my vows were finished. Yes, we decided pretty quickly that we wanted to write our own vows and I have been a little worried about how I would say everything I wanted to say without being too cheesy, too wordy, too serious, but I am so happy to have them done and I'm so happy with how they turned out. I'm sure I'll make a change here and there over the next few months, but I'm so happy I sat down to write that night! Now I just have to figure out how to say them at our ceremony without being an emotional mess.

We also attended our first marriage prep class at the church last weekend. We absolutely loved and I know it will be something we genuinely look forward to every Sunday for the next 12 weeks.

I've also made my decision on shoes, my veil and my wedding jewelry, so I'll be placing those orders in the next few weeks!

We also sent the agreement for our room block, so I was able to finalize our wedding website and share it with everyone. It's crazy to think of how overwhelmed I was when I went to The Knot to start our website and now all the information we needed on there is complete. I'm pretty psyched!

This weekend, my mom is coming to the appointment with the woman who'll be handling our flowers and I can't wait to start talking about bouquets and whatnot. Jonathan and I are also going to the jeweler to choose our rings on Sunday and I absolutely can't wait for that.

All is well, life is good, we are so blessed. That's all I have to say about that.

Linking up for Wedding Wednesday.

You have my whole heart for my whole life.

Happy Monday everyone! I've been working on this post all morning, but I keep getting distracted by the gorgeous engagement ring on my left hand.

Jonathan proposed over the weekend! 

Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked. We have talked about the future a lot but I had no idea when he would pop the question.

We've had plans for several weeks now to visit my parents over the weekend. They bought a new house a few months ago and invited everyone up for the housewarming party. The party was Saturday and we spent the day hanging around the pool and around the bar my dad built in their dining room.

Later in the afternoon, while we were all standing around the bar, he grabbed my hand and told me he wanted to make a toast to my parents and their new house. He started his toast by talking about how wonderful my family is and then starts talking about how special I am. This is about the time I started rolling my eyes and getting mad at him for making the toast about me when we are celebrating my parents' housewarming. His voice started to crack as he said he started saying he doesn't know how he could ever live without me and this is when I realize this isn't just a toast to my mom and dad anymore.

Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. This handsome, loving, sweet, supportive, funny, kind man proposed to me. I obviously said yes and kissed my future husband as my family celebrated around us. This will forever be one of the best moments of my life.

I've never really had a particular scenario in mind when I thought about getting engaged, but I can't tell you how special it was for my family to be there for this. Seeing my mother's reaction is something I will always remember and I'm so thankful for that.

With all the more reason to celebrate, the party went on and we all had an absolute blast. I was sure to FaceTime my older sister right away since she lives in Buffalo and wasn't able to be part of it. We snuck off to my parents' bedroom to call her and before going back out to join the party, we took a few minutes to ourselves to let it sink in before heading back out to join the rest of the party.

I am absolutely overwhelmed with joy right now. I can't believe this is my life. I don't know what I did to deserve this wonderful love but I thank God for bringing him into my life.

So, how was your weekend?

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans

Our Weekend at the Beach

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a great time on our trip to Clearwater Beach.

We hit the road early Friday evening and made it to our hotel on Clearwater Beach around 9 p.m. We checked in and got settled in our room and minutes later, complimentary champagne and chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to our room. We spent the rest of the night checking out the hotel pool, chatting on our balcony and enjoying every minute of our alone time. I also drank every last drop of our bottle of champagne that night. Sorry I'm not sorry.

beach bound!

that's one happy guy

After sitting down to a complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning, we spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon by the pool. I wasn't expecting perfect weather and it started out pretty cloudy, but we loved every minute and it didn't even take long for the sun to come shining through. It was absolutely beautiful out. We enjoyed a few drinks, I read and relaxed, we even made friends and had a water gun fight with a group of kids.

our spot for lots of fruity drinks, relaxing and water gun fights

not a bad view!

After the most glorious afternoon nap, we headed down the boardwalk for dinner. This is about the same time it started to storm, so we had a rainy and cold walk back to the hotel. With the stormy weather and whatnot, all we really wanted to do was cuddle in bed and relax. So that is exactly how we spent the rest of the night.

After spending the morning relaxing by the pool on Sunday, we headed back to Orlando fairly early to beat the bad weather and have time to unpack and relax before starting the week. Plus, Jonathan's niece was born on Thursday, so we wanted to stop by and visit her when we got home.

We spent the evening cuddling, drinking a few beers and getting through season 3 of How I Met Your Mother. I couldn't ask for a more perfect way to end such a romantic, fun and relaxing weekend away.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans!

Birthday Weekend Recap & My Birthday List

Happy Monday everyone! I have lots to tell you about after spending the weekend celebrating my 27th birthday and Mother's Day. It was a jam-packed weekend full of family and friends...it was just wonderful. As I do every year, I also have my annual birthday list to share!

First, let me tell you about Saturday. My birthday was on Sunday and not wanting to take away from Mother's Day celebrations, I decided to celebrate on Saturday. Instead of stressing myself out trying to plan a dinner and night out with friends and family, we decided to host a BBQ at Jonathan's house to celebrate my birthday. This way, whoever wanted to come could come and I wouldn't have to stress about making reservations and planning a night out. It was the perfect plan in my book. 

My parents, Jonathan's entire family, my siblings, my best friend, Taryn and tons of our friends showed up and it was such a blast. This was the first time our families were spending some time together and it was also Jonathan's first time meeting my best friend. Most importantly, our families hit it off perfectly and Jonathan and Taryn get along great. Having all of my favorite people in one place made me one happy girl. 

Jonathan gave me the absolute perfect gift...a key to his house. I've been spending most weekends there and have really come to consider it home. Giving me my own key was such a sweet gesture and I couldn't be happier with where we're at in our relationship.

So glad to have my momma there!

Best friend meets boyfriend.

After a long day of celebrating, we were ready for bed.

Sunday, after spending as long as possible snuggling Jonathan, I hit the rode for my parents' house for the day to celebrate Mother's Day. After going to lunch and getting in some quality time with my parents, I headed home to Jonathan's to enjoy the last bit of such a wonderful weekend. I couldn't be happier ending my birthday with a quiet night at home with my love.

And now, I bring you this year's birthday list. If you've been following along for a while, each year I come up with a different birthday list. My 25th birthday was a list of 25 lessons I've learned so far. For my 26th birthday, I came up with a birthday day bucket list. I kind of struggled coming up with a theme this year. I wanted to do 27 random acts of kindness, but didn't really get it planned out in time. I've been thinking a lot about how so many people my age freak out about getting older and it drives me nuts. I still feel so young and still feel like I have so much to learn and look forward to. Because of all this, I've decided to share a list of things I still need to learn. Here goes...I still don't know:

1.    How to dance (hey, just because I love to dance doesn’t mean I am good at it)

2.    My alcohol limits; when I need to stop drinking to avoid being a disaster

3.    CPR

4.    How to use a really nice camera

5.    How to go around making people smile all day and still pay my bills

6.    How to French or fishtail braid my own hair

7.    How to curl my own hair

8.    Okay, just how to do my hair in general

9.    The difference between hungry and bored

10.  How to leave the house without obsessively checking to make sure I turned off the straightener 

11.  How to cook eggs other than scrambled. Sunny side-up, omelets, over-easy, over-hard...I don't know how to do any of this successfully. 

12.  To speak my mind without worrying how people will react

13.  How to change a tire

14.  How to relax

15.  To have more patience 

16.  How to fold a fitted sheet 

17.  How to give a toast without crying

18.  How to argue without getting upset

19.  How to check my oil

20.  How to stop throwing a bunch of random crap in my purse. The other day I had two forks in my purse. Completely unnecessary. 

21.  How to get my dog and Jonathan's cat to get along

22.  How to get Blake more well-trained

23.  How to leave for work without driving back home to make sure I shut the garage door

24.  How to "do" my make up aside from the basic mascara and eye liner I wear most days
25.  How to pack more efficiently. I don't need 12 shirts for one weekend at Jonathan's, honestly.

26.  How to get mad. When I get mad, I just get sad and sometimes that doesn't help.

27.  How to do a cartwheel 

 

I've learned so much about myself and life in the last few years and I know there are still so many lessons to learn. I can't wait to see what wonderful things this year will bring. Cheers to 27 years!

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans!

Times are Changing

I'm so utterly fascinated with life. We spend so long talking about, dreaming of, envisioning what our future is going to be like. We think about meeting the person we want to spend our lives with, we wonder when we'll stop settling for less than we deserve and start to settle down, when we'll start cooking more dinners and having less wild nights out. Then suddenly one day you realize all this stuff isn't some far off reality anymore. You realize you are there. It isn't something you are hoping for, planning on, dreaming of...it's something you are living.

This is where I am. Over the past 3 years (almost), I have documented just about everything that led me to this place on this blog and I have loved every second of it. I've shared, sometimes in too much detail, my search for love; real love. I've shared my adventures and thoughts on who I am, what I stand for, what moves me, the mark I want to leave on this world. I've shared the "rainbows" and "storms" in my life and this blog has helped me survive the storms.

I didn't start a blog to be the next big thing in blogging, to turn it into a career or to make lots of money. I blog because I love to write. On a bad day, I can write and somehow sort out how I'm feeling. On a good day, I can soak in the joy I'm feeling by writing about it. I love documenting things and I love looking back on them later and being taken right back to the moment. This is why I blog.

With that being said, I feel like I am In a state of transition. I've found the love of my life and now rather than sharing my dating adventures, I want to share my thoughts on relationship dynamics and things I'm learning as I begin to build a life with someone. I still want to write about the fun things I do, embarrassing stories about my drinking too much, my thoughts on life and how I found a quote on Pinterest that really made my day.

Unfortunately, because of certain things I've written about, I've kept this blog pretty separate from most of my friends and family. I write on here under my nickname, Millie and I don't link my posts to Facebook or anything.

At this point in my life, I want to open the blog up to everyone, but would need to basically go in and delete posts I wouldn't want everyone to read. I would start a completely new blog, but there are so many non-dating related posts that I am really proud of and wouldn't want to lose. I also may not have a huge following on here, but I don't want to lose that either. I know I want to change the title and design, but I'm a little stumped on what to change it to right now.

Needless to say, I'm a little overwhelmed with where to/how to go from here. I'm also really excited about moving forward and making these changes. I hope you'll continue to follow along no matter what changes I make and please, any insight, feedback or ideas you might have on my next step, please share them with me.

As always, thank you for reading along. The fact that anyone is interested in what I write really means a lot to me. xoxo

2 Years of Blogging Bliss

source

Two years ago I started a blog. Two years ago I was excited, inspired and to be honest, slightly concerned about what I was even going to write about to keep up with a blog. Today I'm laughing at myself because I clearly have plenty to say.

I may not always have something brilliant to say. I may never have a huge following. Sometimes I over share and sometimes I don't know exactly what to say so I just write until it makes sense to me. Sometimes I inspire and other times I make you shake your head in disapproval. Sometimes life happens and it's hard for me to be "Little Miss Sunshine." Other times I might shine too brightly with my positivity. But I can promise you that I'm always true to myself. Having this outlet where I can be me and say what I say has been such a good thing for me.

In honor of reflecting and celebrating 2 years, today I just want to share a few of my favorite posts. Is it vain to say I have favorite posts of my own? I sure hope not because here I go...

Date a Girl
Think of this as a really long personal ad....actually, don't. This post was inspired by a wonderful blog post my mother sent to me called Date a Girl Who Reads. To be honest, I really liked the style and thought it might be fun to write one about myself.

"But My 'Why Not Me?' Philosophy Began..."
This is when I realized that I am a "Yes Girl." Instead of saying "I don't sing karaoke," "I won't try online dating," "I can't do that," I started saying "Why not me?"

25 Things at 25
Birthday posts are always fun and I started the tradition of doing a list for each birthday. This post was basically 25 things I'd learned in my 25 years. I loved writing this one.

The Dos & Don'ts of Online Dating
I'm always entertained by any post in which I attempt to offer advice. This was especially exciting because eHarmony tweeted the link to their Twitter followers and posted it on their Facebook page. I was so excited about this!

Valentine's Day Recap 2 Weeks Later
I've written about my fair share of dating stories on this here blog, but this one takes the cake as the most entertaining in my book. This was a downright nightmare of a date, but I can at least find humor in an awkward situation like this one.

26th Birthday Bucket List 
I warned you; I really love these posts. This was so much to write and to attempt to cross everything off the list!

28 Days of Thanks: Mission Accomplished!
I went on a mission to take time out of each day and send/give a thank you note to one person in my life each day for 28 days. This is the recap and just looking back makes me want to send a few thank you notes this week!

Whether you are new here or you've been following along from Day 1, thank you for reading along. Knowing that people out there appreciate anything I'm writing means a lot to me.

Happy Blogoversary to Me

photo source

Today is my first blogoversary. One year ago today, I spent hours sitting in Starbucks furiously writing away. Walking into Starbucks that day, I was so excited to get started but I was also a little nervous…What if I couldn’t come up with topics to write about? What if I couldn’t find the right words to say? Worst of all, what if NO ONE reads it?

As I sat there and started typing away, I put all of those concerns to rest. It was as if I couldn’t write fast enough and I remember feeling so giddy with excitement about it all! I’ve always loved to write and it was as if I was rediscovering that love all over again. I left Starbucks that day with all of my concerns put to rest. I was a blogger.

As most of you know, this blog came about because I started to live life fully and love everything about it. I stopped taking life so seriously, I entered the dating world with a new outlook, I learned to laugh at myself and I wanted to share those stories with you all. A year later, I am still living and loving my life and learning things along the way. And I really enjoy sharing it all with you guys!

It’s so easy for me to get caught up in number of followers, page views and comments (or lack thereof,) but at the end of the day, this is something I do for me. There are so many times where I feel so overwhelmed and confused over something, that I don’t even know what to write. I sit down at the computer, and next thing you know, everything becomes clear. There are many reasons why I blog, but most importantly, I blog because I enjoy it.

I really want to thank you all for reading and being a part of my story. There may not be a ton of you, but I appreciate your feedback and support more than you know. 

P.S. I hope you all like the new design and blog title!

May: A Birthday, a Boy, a Beach and a Bride

It’s Friday night and I’m staying in. For the first time in a while, I am not rushing out the door to go on a date, to meet the girls, to kickball, to work or away for the weekend. I finally have some alone time. I’m catching up on the DVR and being super lazy on the couch. So it’s time to fill you in all the fun stuff I’ve been up. Between my birthday, a trip to the beach with my girlfriends, meeting The Umpire and traveling to Minnesota for my cousin’s wedding, it’s hard to believe so much fun could happen in one month!

My 25^th Birthday

I turned 25 on May 12. Some of my friends were telling me that turning 25 was going to freak me out, but I felt nothing but excitement over celebrating another birthday! I am exactly where I want to be right now, happier than I ever could’ve imagined being at 25. Who could feel anything but happiness over that?

Me and the girls celebrating downtown.

Girls’ Weekend at the Beach

I’ve had this beach weekend planned with Taryn and Sam since the beginning of the year so I’m really glad we made it happen. We spent three days at St. Petersburg beach and had an absolute blast! With how stressful work has been over the last few months, it was so nice to get out of town and relax.

We might have started a bar crawl at 3 p.m. and actually crawled to the last stop. Such classy ladies. 

After a few stops on the bar crawl. 

We had a picnic at sunset with strawberries and mimosas. We laughed and danced around. It was heaven.

Most relaxing part of the weekend.

Minnesota for my Cousin’s Wedding

When I say I was excited about my cousin’s wedding, I don’t think that quite gets the point across. If you know me at all, you know that I have been dying for someone to get married so I can go to a wedding. My cousin was an absolutely beautiful bride, the wedding was lovely and I was so touched when she asked me to do a reading at the ceremony. Me? Of all people? It really meant a lot to me. Needless to say, the wedding and whole weekend was amazing! Oh yeah, also spent 7 hours at The Mall of America that weekend. Wow.

Best part of the weekend? My whole family was together. 

What a beauty.

The cake was amazing!

In between all these celebrations, I’ve been seeing a whole lot of The Umpire and enjoying every minute, work has been busy and stressful (but going well overall) and our kickball team has managed to make it into the championship, which is next week! Life is busy, exciting, silly and chaotic…I wouldn’t want it any other way though! But sometimes…I need to remind myself of this:

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." Albert Einstein

25 Things at 25

I actually posted this yesterday, May 12, but it disappeared...
Today is my 25^th birthday.

(photo source)

When I was 18-years-old I thought I knew it all. I thought I knew who I was, what I wanted…I thought I had it all figured out. Boy, was I wrong. Now I’m not saying at 25 I have it all figured out either, but I have learned a few things along the way. I don’t know it all and there are still so many things for me to learn, but here are 25 things I do know:

1. You’ll regret the things you didn’t say more than the things you did. It is okay to speak my mind. If someone doesn’t like what I have to say, they don’t have to listen. 
2. Never close yourself off to anything. Trying new things and hating them is better than never having done them at all.
3. Dance like no one is watching. Just live and don’t worry what other people might be thinking.
4. Never stop working hard. If at the time, it doesn’t seem like it will pay off, just be patient.
5. Timing really is everything.
6. Life doesn’t have to be taken so seriously.
7. Speak up about what you want.
8. Sometimes, when you are angry, you have a right to be angry, but that doesn’t give you the right to be cruel.
9. That I am an amazing person and knowing that doesn’t make me arrogant. 
10. Sometimes people just aren’t meant to be in your life, no matter how much you think so at the time.
11. You've GOT to be able to laugh at yourself.
12. To never take your health for granted.
13. Sometimes, it is okay to not have a plan. The most amazing adventures usually happen when I don’t have a plan.
14. Enthusiasm is contagious.
15. Don’t judge people. You’ve probably never been in their position.
16. You are responsible for your own happiness. If something isn’t going right, change it. 
    Don’t expect anyone to do that for you.
17. Don’t regret anything. At one time it was exactly what you wanted.
18. Family really is everything. Those people will be there for you like no one else can when you really need them.
19. Make time for your girlfriends. Everyone is busy, but making time for these girls will keep you sane.
20. When something awful happens, you can either laugh or cry about it. Crying won’t get you anywhere, but laughing is fun.
21. Just because one person can’t see your worth, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
22. Bad decisions make good stories.
23. There really is always a reason to smile.
24. Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road.
25. Trust your instincts.

I’m 25-years-old and my life is nothing short of a dream. I am so blessed to have a strong, supportive family, funny and amazing friends, a job and coworkers I love, good health and more happiness than I ever could have imagined. I’m thankful to everyone who has helped me learn these lessons along the way and can’t wait to see what 25 has in store for me!