life before you

you mean so much to me, i'm just
terrible at expressing that kind of thing.
i always imagined myself as romantic.
guess i overestimated myself.

life wasn't the same when you walked in.
it really was like seeing colors for the
first time. breathing a crisp clean air.

i don't regret the life i've lived so far,
but i'm so much happier now than i was then.
it's hard to tell i know.
who knew relationships were such work?


i didn't date much when i was younger.
the only time i truly remember even liking
boys was during middle school. even then,
it wasn't serious.

i was never the pretty one in my group
of friends, ever. middle school or high school.
i'm not of great looks even on my own. just
average i would say. so it wasn't like dudes
were knocking on my door either.

dating to me was a serious thing from the
beginning. my parents stayed together. and by
the time i realized i did want someone, my
two older sisters were already in relationships.

as far-fetched as it sounds, i wanted
mr. right on the first try because my parents
and my sisters had that.

lucky me i did get it. you.
who would've thought that i would find someone
so unselfish in a relationship. so willing
to make me happy first.

i don't want the life i had before you.
i want now. i want forever.


'now you're here and everything's changing, and
suddenly life means so much. i can't wait to
wake up tomorrow, and find out this promise is
true. i will never have to go back to... the
day before you.'
-rascal flatts

date nights in a jar [august]

i've been falling off the mark with these
blog posts! there's always so much to do!

here are chris and i's date nights in a jar
for the month of august!



[those darn purple sticks! :( ]

1. go out for frozen yogurt
we decided on orange leaf because i
have one of those ounce back cards there.
and now here in des moines there are too
many different kinds of fro-yo!

2. go for a walk
this stick was chosen when the iowa state
fair was in town. and as everyone knows
you walk and walk and walk! so, we walked
around the fair and ate tons of things
that we knew we shouldn't have!

3. all things vietnamese date
we love our vietnamese food! but we both
agreed on adong restaurant because, we both
have been there before but not together
and a really long time ago. it was a great
choice! yummy yummy!

4. theme dinner night
football season just got here! we made
hot dogs and ate nachos for stadium-like
food, and for dessert i made cookies in
football, helmets, and trophy shapes!

5. skipped this weeks date night
it's ironic because the last week of
august, we flew to miami and the stick
i chose was 'make a sand castle.' we
totally forgot about it because the
vacation was more for relaxation!

until next month! see you later!

birthday vacation!

my [omg!] 25th birthday was this
last saturday. august 31st.

chris surprised me with a trip to
miami beach! he's the bestest!
yes, i was shocked! because
a] i was not prepared, b] we said no
vacations this year because we wanted to
save for the honeymoon, and c] i dislike
planes and airports and all that so yes
i was very shocked!

it was a short vacation for us just from
thursday to sunday. we didn't take
too many pictures. chris and i really
wanted to relax.

we spent most of the time on the beach.
it was so hot! we though iowa was hot and now it's
really nothing compared to miami! chris is
all burnt up! lol!
we walked pretty much everywhere! went shopping
on/at the lincoln road mall. ate everything too!

it was a last minute decision, but we also went
to the miami seaquarium. we took a taxi, it
was about 25 minutes away from where we stayed.
[it was a whole other island!] this was a really
cool aquarium, although i thought it was a
bit too small. oh well.

we got to see crocodiles. 2 dolphin shows.
and a killer whale show. all the shows were pretty cool.
the killer whale show was pretty awesome.
we were so stupid, we sat pretty close to the tank
and we were drenched by the time we left!

all in all, chris and i needed some relaxation time.
and that's exactly what we got. ;]


here we are sunbathing on miami beach.


we spotted this food truck on the beach and
decided to try it. it was delicious!