scenes from the third month.

I celebrated Cannie Ree turning twenty-four with my best girls.

 I watched Jenette McCurdy perform live with my soulmate.

 yeah, that's right. I said Jenette McCurdy. as in SAM from iCarly!

 I bowled with my fancy and one of our favorite married couples!

 I spent a Saturday afternoon tidying our future residence with my future hubby. fact: our first home is already SO cute!

 I had a yummy drink for an early birthday celebration that came with a glow stick [that glowed for two whole days, might I add].

 I was spoiled rotten for my birthday by P. Sawyer. [I bet you're wondering if we ever take pictures with our eyes open, aren't you?]

Dustin, Freeman, and I were treated to Kanpai by mommy for our birthdays!

I finished up my birthday extravaganza at Smoke on the Water, where I was accompanied by Teesh and Cait Cait. the perfect finishing touch, indeed!

I had birthday dessert at Yogurt Mountain. mmmmmm.

Overall, I'd say this month was perfect. I had new adventures and added a little spice to old adventures and even added a year of experience under my belt. Ups and downs. Smiles and frowns. Laughter and tears. Waking up early and sleeping in. You know, the usual. Except all of it was sweeter than last month, but not quite as sweet as it'll be the next.

"All Nature seems at work.  Slugs leave their lair
The bees are stirring, birds are on the wing,
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of spring."
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge

double deuce.

Raise your hand if you can tell me what today is.

Today is my birthday! Today is my BIRTHDAY! TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

Got it? Okay, good. :)

My birthday celebration began a few days ago, actually. In fact, I prefer to have a birthday preparation week, because I love birthdays so much. Lucky for me, I have friends that LOVE to spoil me. That, among many, many, MANY other reasons, is why I would bet anybody anything that my friends are the most wonderful people on this earth. The MOST WONDERFUL. Not only are my friends, but my family is pretty daggum incredible, too. IN-CRED-I-BULL.

My celebrating officially began on Thursday night. Teesh and I had a date night with Josh and Dorothy that included a yummy dinner at their place followed by bowling. We're so blessed to have so many married friends who are great role models for us--we love them all so much! Thennnn, on Friday night, Teesh and I spent the evening with Savannah, Andy, Candie, Heather, and Robbie for more family bonding. We ate pizza and then played putt putt at Frankie's! Teesh and I cleaned and decorate our soon-to-be home together on Saturday afternoon [YAY!!!!!!!], and on Saturday night, P. Sawyer took me out for a #hpdobirthdays evening! We ate at Bonefish [also known as "heaven"], and then went to see Beastly! It was super appropriate for us to see this together since one of the top items on our "Reasons We Are Soulmates" list is our mutual obsession with Beauty and the Beast. And on top of all that, she even bought me my very first pair of TOMS, a bird candle, and the BEST homemade card I've ever gotten! By the time Sunday rolled around, my belly was [at least] two inches thicker and there was still more eating to be done. We celebrated Dustin and Freeman's birthdays with our whole family [allllllllllllll 30+ of us] with some good ole' home-cookin' at our house, and for dinner, mommy took us to Kanpai. Mmmmmm, Kanpai. Uncle, Val, and Hank came with us, making us the nine most excited people in the restaurant. Freeman, Dustin, and I even got to wear some super cute chef hats to make sure everyone knew we were all turning a year older [the boys loved it, I'm sure you could guess that].

Pretty sweet, huh? And those were just the days leading up to my birthday! I've got more eating, more presents, and more time spent with more of my favorite people to look forward to! Fancy and Cait Cait are coming from Clemson tonight to take me out to eat for my "official" [as if all the others don't count] birthday dinner. See, I told you: best. friends. ever.

These next 365 are going to be filled with many , many changes. Some of which I've already begun planning for [isn't somebody getting married or something?] and others of which I won't see until they hit me. One thing I'm sure of is that this will be my best year yet. I've got twenty-two years of experience on this earth, more than some and less than others, but if I've learned one thing out of all the lessons that have come my way, it's this: your life is what you make it. It's my prayer for my twenty-second year to be bold and compassionate and take things as they come and love people a little more than I did last year and always give my very best and never refuse to wear my heart on my sleeve and push through any pain that wanders down my path and always forgive and follow through with the things I say I will do and never get tired of walking the road less traveled. I may not get to control what happens to me, but that's just half the battle.

So, here we go. Another year to let my light shine. I wonder if it'll happen when I turn twenty-two, too? ;)

"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either." -Walt Disney

still counting down.

Four months. One hundred and twenty-two days. Two thousand twenty-eight hours. One hundred seventy-five thousand, six hundred eighty minutes. Ten million, five hundred forty thousand, eight hundred seconds. Seventeen Saturdays.

That's how long until I marry the only man (other than my daddy) I've ever loved with every single teeny tiny piece of my heart. Looking at all those numbers makes it seem so far away, but then I think about how unbelievably fast the past six months and twelve days of our engagement have flown by. It's almost enough to blow my mind (in the best possible way, of course).

The place we will soon call our first home together is only small projects away from being completely finished. My first two showers are less than a month away. We've got couches (with the perfect pillows that I spent months waiting to find, might I add), a coffee table, end tables, a kitchen table, a bed, a desk for Teesh to studiously finish up his final year and a half of school, lots of nick-naks I've picked up along the way to add little bits of homey-ness to it, and two people who are ready to move in this very minute. We're got all we need, really, with just us two finally getting to spend our lives together. For richer or poorer (or, in our case, very poorer), in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad. I'm ready to have the wedding of my dreams and then get to spend the next fifty or so years focusing on the most important part of the journey: our adventure together.

All of these things haven't come together so perfectly without struggle though. It really is amazing how you think you know everything there is to know about a person, and then in just a few short months, you've learned things and had new arguments that you never dreamed you'd ever have. It's been messy and quirky and fun and not so fun, but it's all been just a little piece of God's plan for our lives.

I get all silly and teary-eyed when I think of how Jesus has orchestrated all of it. The fights, the laughs, the bumps and bruises, the will to keep pushing no matter what. If I had to pick one thing about our relationship to be my favorite, it would always be the same: the Lord's favor on us. Always. Through the breaks ups and the make ups and the people who said we'd never make it and all the billions upon billions of memories that we've been so fortunate to share together. All of it, even when I didn't realize it in the moment, was Jesus preparing us with his own two hands for the most incredible thing that either of us have ever experienced.

Mrs. Anna Bargeron. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? :)

"If something bad happens to us someday, it'll never change what we have now. What we've always had, because you were right...love it real and we have to do everything to keep it alive." -Topanga, Boy Meets World

zumba.

I went to my third Zumba class tonight. I'm not a dancer, by any means, but I am not ashamed to admit that I am quite frankly obsessed with the whole [attempt at] shaking my booty thing. It's probably the most fun I've ever had while exercising, and that is a BOLD statement coming from someone who has tried just about everything in the category of "exercise." I avoid looking at myself in the mirror as much as I possibly can, because my theory is that if I feel like I'm getting into the groove, there's no reason to look at yourself and discover that you actually look like a goon. In fact, I would probably consider myself the gooniest person in the class. But you better believe I'm dang proud of it! Anything for that LGN, Teesh?

I've got four months and six days to get into tip-top shape for my future hubby, which is a little something I like to call #MissionLGN. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what "LGN" stands for, I would just encourage you to use your imagination. ;)

Fuego is one of mine and Shannon's favorite songs to dance to. And we may or may not say goodnight to each other, then run to our rooms and break it down by ourselves. That's our little secret. Which, I guess, isn't really a secret anymore, huh? Ooooooopsies!

Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment, here's a little Pitbull. Feel free to bust a move while you're at it.

birthday month, you're already beautiful.

Spring is almost here. Warm weather has teased us several times in the past few weeks. I turn twenty-two in twenty-one days. I'll be a married woman in less than four and a half months. I just love March. December is my favorite month, November is my second favorite, and March definitely has the third spot.

So far this month:

Teesh and I registered at Target for our showers! EEEEEEEK!

Brendan James and Matt White on a Tuesday night? yes please! absolutely blissful.

MUCH-needed reunion.

I laughed [for the millionth time] when I passed by Wilber's room early in the morning. he is the squirmiest human being on the earth!

my poor baby sister got hit in the head with a bat at softball practice. to say this broke my heart is an EXTREME understatement. [note: this was two days AFTER she got hit and it was STILL this awful. not fun].

Here's to you finally being here, March. I've got high hopes for these next twenty-four days. I know you won't disappoint.

"It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

-Mark Twain