CUATRO

this journey started, not four years ago today, but rather almost ten years ago. it started as simply having a shared office space with summer colleagues. these colleagues blossomed into friends. one friend in particular was always a bit special. he always made my heart flutter and my stomach dance. even when i wasn't always in tune to it. i tend to wear my emotions on my face, and whether i liked it or not, it was very apparent to him how i felt.

the summer came and went with nothing more than butterflies and weak knees. several months went by that lead to many random interactions with this sweet soul. it wasn't until december that we actually were able to spend time together.

our journey together began at a hockey game. this memory can only be described as one of the sweetest memories i'll ever have. i was so consumed by this person, that i was seemingly unaware of the things around me. i took in everything about him. his beautiful hair. his gorgeous smile. how tall and muscular he was. his warmth. he made me laugh and i felt comfortable around him instantly.

for it was this night i knew.

i knew i had met the man that i was going to marry.

four years ago today, i married that man. our special day was so thoughtful, intimate, relaxed, simple, and so much freaking fun! there is not much [if anything] i would change about our wedding day. i loved doing the "first look" before the ceremony to spend a quiet few moments with my life-long sweetie. i loved the ceremony on the beach [including the dog!]. i loved the "secret" moments with our bridal party. i loved the all night dancing and photobooth. and i especially loved ending the night by jumping in the pool!!!

i really could go on all day about why this day was so awesome. keith and i committed our lives to each other in front of the people we love most in the world and then celebrated that with a kick-ass party. what's not to love about that? our wedding day [and week] will always be so special and memorable to us. simply reminiscing about it makes me smile.

it makes my heart flutter. it makes my stomach dance.

all those feelings that started ten years ago, they are still a part of the magic today. those feelings of love, happiness, joy and excitement are why our special day is so magical. they are why our journey together is so damn awesome.



and now, some wedding pictures. there are a bunch of kissing pictures. [sorry. not sorry.]

doesn't this dog look a bit like our newest family member? so wild.

happy anniversary, keith. i love you more than you'll ever know. thank you for sharing this life with me. i love who we are individually, but i love who are together even more. i love every bit of wild and crazy adventure. i wouldn't have any other way.

all my love,
FACE



and today is just a little bit more magical than a regular old, smelly anniversary. it is 5.15.15. and if you remember, we got married at 5:15pm. so, today, our day is just little extra special because it is all 5's and 15's. so, let's toast to 5.15.15 at 5:15pm. because this will never happen again in our lifetime. pretty amazing stuff, huh?

xoxo,
ks

3 years later

to my sweet love,

three years have gone by. time flies when memories are being made and life is being lived. three years ago today we vowed to commit our lives to each other. to share our lives together. our marriage has been nothing short of that. words will never be able to express my love, passion, and commitment for you. you are my everything. you are my best friend and my favorite person.

i love our love.

i love the ridiculousness. i love the struggles. i love our deep conversations. i love our stupid jokes that no one else understands. i love our constant support of each others dreams and ambitions [even if they seem too lofty]. i love the zoo that lives with us. i love our constant need for travel. i love our hand holding and snuggles. i love all the "i love yous". i growing with you. i love every single bit of us.

i love our love.

[because, lets face it, me and you together is pretty damn awesome. ;) ]

our life, our journey and our adventure has been extraordinary. you make it all worth the while. i am so lucky to have you standing by my side each day as we conquer and cherish this life....together.

i love you so very much.

always and forever.


xoxoxo,
ks

sealing the deal ;)

close to my heart

i have been married four months (tomorrow). and on our wedding day, my parents gave me this awesome wedding gift. a beautiful necklace.

and i haven't taken off since. and i don't want to. is that ridiculous of me? i want to wear other necklaces. but that means my wedding necklace will have to sit in my jewelry box. *gasp* i don't want my wedding necklace to ever have to do that. so, for now, i only wear necklaces that will accompany my wedding necklace nicely.
i am sure, in time, this feeling will fade. but i certainly hope it's not anytime soon.

i loved everything about our wedding. EVERYTHING. so every moment. memory. keepsake. well, i want it with me always. i cherish it all. and i will always and forever.

and i don't think that is too ridiculous. ♥

xoxo,
mrs. sales

OUR WEDDING ♥

we did it. we tied the knot. we got MARRIED!!!

it was the best day of my life. so far. and the best week of my life.

it was so amazing that there are really no words to describe it. our family and friends made our day and week soooo incredibly amazing. we could not have done it without them.
it all began with the help of my parents with our engagement. they helped keith be sooo sneaky to completely surprise me with his proposal.

and from there we planned our "perfect dream" wedding. it was everything i every imagined it to be!!

we were at a special place to us: the outer banks.

we were on the beach....

 

we had a dog run through our ceremony....

 

and as keith said that would happen to "only us."

we represented our pirate nation and pirate hearts well...purple and gold were everywhere...even on our feet!

we danced the night away...

and did the "best exit eva"....or so i'm told ;)

yes, i jumped in the pool in my wedding dress :)

it was all we every could have asked for! we had the greatest time with everyone who was there. and like all brides and grooms say, we wish we could have had more time with everyone. it all went by soooooo fast. we tried to just enjoy each moment and live in and relish each moment. but it still just flies by.

after our wedding day we spent the week at the beach with our family and friends who stayed with us. it was a wonderful week of relaxing, sight seeing, eating out, staying up late, and "vinsonalizing". it was AWESOME.  

i miss it all. i told keith the other day that i miss our wedding. i would live every week of my life just like our wedding week if i could :)

it was a fairy tale.

xoxo,
Mrs. Sales :)

moving on....to the next step.

may 2011.

this might could be the best month of my life. so far.
let me give you some details as to why this month is so awesome...

may 4th: i passed my national certification exam for recreational therapy!!! the certification is called NCTRC, which stands for nation council for therapeutic recreation certification.

may 6-7th: graduation! mostly for keith, who is now a doctor of physical therapy. that's right, it's now doctor sales. i am so proud of him!! i also "walked" in my graduation ceremony. i am finished with all of my course work to complete my master's in recreational therapy administration. i have to complete my thesis and internship to obtain my degree in december. my internship starts in august. so hopefully i'll get my thesis done in the mean time.

may 11th: keith has his first 'real' job interview. he is nervous. i tell him he shouldn't be. but i know it's hard. but i am just so proud of him to have completed his schooling and now he gets to move onto the next phase of his dreams. working (haha)! but more importantly, doing something he wants to be doing.

may 13th: we head to the outer banks to start our WEDDING WEEK!!!! i am so ready!!

may 15th: OUR WEDDING!! (which is one week from today!). i can't believe it's finally here. after all that we have been through this semester. not bad stuff....it's just been crazy busy. all good, amazing stuff. and it's all finally ending and coming together. i just can't believe it. i am so excited!!!!!!!!! :) ♥

may 14-21st: wedding week. we'll spend the ENTIRE week at the OBX. it's going to be awesome. we will have our rehearsal dinner and wedding, then get to spend the rest of the week relaxing and hanging out with our family and friends. we couldn't be more excited! i know, i keep saying the word "excited", but i just can't help it.

after our wedding week, we come home to pack up our lives to move.....to RALEIGH!
i can't believe that after being in one place for 3 years, we are moving. moving. and to think, i haven't lived in raleigh in almost 5 years. as much as i didn't want to move back to my home town, i am really looking forward  to it.

and somewhere during all of this ryan and stephen bought a house and ryan just got promoted! i don't remember the exact dates, but i do know that it's all happened within the last month. so it makes everything pretty damn exciting. because all of this good news and growth is everywhere!


none of this seems real. none of it seems like it's happening. but it all is. everything is coming together. almost perfectly. it is amazing. and we're just trying to suck it all up and enjoy every freaking moment of it!!

so, here's to the next step! for anyone who may have a life changing event...moving, babies, a promotion. congratulations to you!
and a big congratulations to the graduates. good luck with your future endeavors. i know you all will be great at whatever you do. because as we heard yesterday...."you can care, you will care, you do care."

hello again :)

hello bloggerverse.

i know it's been awhile. i feel like my life owns me. i am constantly busy with school. thesis writing. wedding planning. hockey. visiting friends.
you name, i am doing it. i am not here to complain one bit about it all. i am just letting you know why i've neglected you so.

the major thing on my mind these days: OUR WEDDING! after all, it is only 52 days away.
i am not stressed by it. i am excited and ready to celebrate with our friends and family! i feel like there are more loose ends than i'd like. but it'll all work itself out. it has to....right?
it's the most important and best and awesomest day of our lives. i just can't wait. so i know that if the minor things don't get taken care....it will still be awesome. and probably no one will even notice anyways.
and i haven't really blogged about our wedding because i want it to kind of be a surprise to all that will be there to share our big day. i mean, i have no problems telling anyone things about our day or about plans that we've made....if they ask. but i feel like that if there are a few surprises, it'll make it more fun and exciting!
and you know after the wedding there will be plenty of pictures! :o)

so, that is my story. i feel like i have lots to share. but not much...all at the same time.

until next time....

life flies.

it's november.
holy shit.

this has been the fastest semester of my life. it was august like 5 minutes ago. and i'm not even kidding. i feel like it is going by so fast that i can't even enjoy a freaking minute of it. we live week-to-week. with all of our crazy plans. we barely scrape by just to begin another crazy-ass week. phew, i feel worn out just thinking about it. i mean it's tuesday. i work all day today. tomorrow will be a school day: school work and night class. thursday i work all day. friday i have to work a half-day, then i have a lunch date and wedding dress shopping! yay! then football saturday! arrrgghhh. and sometime in there i will have to find time to do more school work for next week. but when? who knows. i can only think so far in advance.

and that is just school and work stuff (plus a little bit of play). i didn't even touch on wedding and thesis stuff. those are two other big things that occupy my life. i am really surprised my head hasn't spun off yet.

here are my saving graces:

keith. seriously. he keeps me grounded. probably more than he realizes. but also he can tell when i am starting to unravel. and helps me to relax.

making ME time. everyday i try to save time for myself. exercising is usually my ME time. i enjoy it. plus i want to look super sexy on my wedding day. so, it's somewhat two-fold as to why i do it.

i have finally learned that i can't do everything all the time. i can only do what i can do. if it has to wait until tomorrow. well, then it will. the world will not end because it has to wait. if the laundry piles up, so what? if the house goes un-vacuumed for one more day, who cares? contrary to popular belief, i am not superwoman. i have to rest sometimes too. so the laundry, vacuuming and school work can wait.

my life is crazy. it always will be, as much as we try to fight it. so instead of fighting it, i think it's time we just embrace it and enjoy it. because most of the time we do!

so much to do...so little time.

so. we're getting married.
i'm writing a thesis.
i am taking 12 hours of graduate credits.
i work 20 hours a week.

above all of this: i am not complaining. there are days when i feel overwhelmed and that my entire world is going to cave in on me. seriously. i just know it. everything is just going to crush me. like there is no way i can manage all of it.

but then there are days that excite me. i am so excited about our wedding. we have most of the big stuff taken care of. which has relieved a lot of stress. my thesis is stressful, but thanks to a prof who made me create a timeline, it somehow seems less stressful now that i have a plan. plus doing my own research project is exciting! it's mine. all mine. and all of the graduate work is exciting in its own rite. i chose this, so naturally it excites me. most of the time.

so today, i am somewhere inbetween excited and overwhelmed. i feel relieved to accomplish everything i needed to this week, but i know there is still more to do for next week. i had a busy week, with another busy week right around the corner. however, i feel like i have to take 5 minutes for myself to just relax and to just breathe. otherwise i will be crushed by everything that is going on around me.

there are a thousand lists and "things to do" swirling around in my head. they'll get done. or forgotten. haha.

NEWS! no, i'm not pregnant.

ohhhh blog. how i have neglected you.
please forgive me.

so, i have some pretty amazing news. except i am not sure what to do with it....yet. i have been offered a graduate assistantship for the spring 2011 semester....andddd summer session 1. It's an amazing position because I will get to help with research, build a program in the community, and hopefully use all of this for my thesis. yay!
the catch: we were hoping to be out of greenville by middle of may 2011. and well, summer session 1 ends at the end of june.
so, really not a HUGE inconvenience. but yet it is. it will delay my internship. and if i delay my intership, it will push back our wedding. again, not a huge deal...but still. it could delay keith obtaining a job. it delays us getting settled...where ever the hell that might be.
anyway. it's an amazing opportunity that really is just going to delay other plans. sooo, in the grand scheme of life...what's the rush? right?

after briefly talking to keith about it...i think i'm going to do it. it'll be good for me. professionally. i'll get to learn more about my field. which i feel i so desperately need. i'll get to work side-by-side with an RT agency to learn more and more about RT. so, only good things can come of this. (a job, perhaps?!)

so if it delays other things, it may ultimately just be leading to lots of really great other things too. so, whatever is getting delayed, well, they'll still be there.

PLUS: keith has some pretty amazing things going on for him professionally too that just might keep us in greenville FOR-EV-ER. hahaha, just kidding. not forever. but maybe for longer than we could have ever nightmared about.