Where's Waldo? And adventures in getting lost

Halloween

For Halloween this year, John dressed up as Waldo (as in the character from the Where's Waldo? books). He originally needed the costume for a "fun bunch" committee that he's a part of at work, so we repurposed it for a Halloween celebration that we attended. When we arrived, our friends Anna and Brant were also dressed as Waldo!

The costume was a hit among the adults but a lot of the younger children had never heard of Waldo!

The celebration that we attended was at four of our friends houses who all live in a row in our neighborhood. Every year they go all out for Halloween, and this year they made a haunted house in an empty lot between two of the houses. One neighbor counted that over 700 people came! It was a big hit complete with scary music, a fog machine, zombies jumping out, and someone with a chain saw. This short video clip doesn't really do it justice but you can get the idea:

I was outside of the haunted house passing out candy to the kids who were too small or scared to go through... since I think I would have been scared myself!

Corn Maze

In other fall festivities news, John and I attended another Fall Festival/corn maze this year. Although nothing can compare to the pig race that we saw at last year's festival, we had a great time.

This year's corn maze was huge and we were in a time crunch to finish before it got dark. At one point we thought we'd found out way out only to realize that we'd somehow made our way back to the entrance. Towards the end, we found a sign with a map so we cheated a little bit and made it out in time. It's always fun getting lost in a corn maze and has become an annual tradition for us!

Another tradition is shooting something out of a cannon. Last year's was corn, and this year we shot apples. John was much better than I was!

Fall Leaves

Lastly, we enjoyed a weekend in North Carolina at the height of the leaves changing colors. Throughout our three days, the leaves got more and more vibrant. We went on a chilly hike, which rewarded us with amazing views of the fall foliage!

2 years and 1 week, aka anniversary recap

I last left off mentioning our 2 year anniversary celebration plans, so here's the recap from a fabulous weekend:

On Friday, we headed to The Optimist for a 9:45pm dinner reservation, which was so worth the wait. The menu is centered around seafood (my favorite!) and is absolutely delicious. Fun fact: The Optimist was featured on the cover of September's Bon Appetit magazine as one of America's best new restaurants, and I can say that I agree!

On Saturday, we headed to our favorite donut shop, Revolution Doughnuts. They have the most scrumptious gluten free donuts on the weekends, and I love their coffee. John always gets a least 3 different donuts (non gluten free), such as the nutella-filled one, caramel and bacon, or raspberry.

We clearly love donuts, since I just made some gluten free ones for us recently. (FYI they are so good you'd never guess they were g.f.) AND I got John this cookbook as part of his gift. (The gift includes that I'll be doing the baking too! First up to try is the Raspberry White Chocolate Doughnuts recipe.)

The donuts I made a couple of weekends ago:
Double chocolate espresso (with Christmas sprinkles since that's all I had!)

We then drove to Calloway Gardens for a day of biking in the beautiful weather. Neither of us had been to Calloway, and it was a perfect afternoon of exploring the gardens, biking, and stopping for a picnic. They also had topiaries of college mascots in honor of football season, but sadly no Vandy Commodore!

View from our lunch spot

Tackling the Georgia bulldog 

That evening we had a bonfire with friends in our neighborhood and roasted s'mores.

On Sunday, John had planned for us to explore the Atlanta Botanical Gardens but we ended up wanting to rest since we were tired from all of the biking the day before. So we're going to postpone that gift for another weekend. Instead we went for a walk around Grant Park and threw the football and frisbee.

Tuesday was our 2 year anniversary! Many of you probably saw this picture on Facebook, but it's too good not to include here too. I couldn't have imagined that'd I'd be marrying John if you asked me at 9th grade homecoming. And yet now he's my best friend and love of my life; so very thankful for these past two years of marriage...

John and I exchanged letters (our tradition for holidays), and I made him a crossword puzzle to solve as part of my gift to him. The clues were inside jokes or memories from our years of friendship, dating, and marriage. It was really fun watching him solve it and remembering so many good times!

And yet this past year of marriage has been memorable perhaps more for what we've learned during trials. I think it's often our nature to forget the depth of our pain and despair during afflictions. It's easier to feel in control when we gloss over the hardships. Either I trick myself into thinking that I am to applaud for emerging from trials or I don't want to remember that adversity can overwhelm me.

So though our anniversary certainly was an exciting time of celebration, I also don't want to fall into the common social media trap of only presenting the glamourous parts of life.

What this past year has shown me, however, is the growth that happens during difficult times. Through John's health issues (which he's fully healed but still undiagnosed), my anemia, making difficult decisions to postpone trips, and trying to be patient while growing my business, God is shaping us for His purposes.

And I am so grateful for a best friend-husband that journeys through the ups and downs with me. Together we have learned the importance of rest and what it means to abide. It is through experiencing these seasons together that we rejoice in triumphs and are beginning to learn what it means to dig in and welcome growth during unexpected difficulties.

John proposed after we'd been canoeing in the Florida summer, midday heat. One thing he said to me was that he wanted us to enter into our engagement real - sweat and all - because we'd be doing all of life together, not just the dolled up and glamorous parts. How thankful I am for a husband who desires to "be in the arena" of life with me because it makes our victories in Christ so much sweeter.

76 Years of Marriage, a 2 Year Anniversary & other stories

A couple of weekends ago, John and I headed out to St. Louis for my friend Alex's wedding. The ceremony and reception were both so intentionally planned, including washing each other's feet and having an open prayer time during the ceremony, and fostering authentic conversations over delicious food at the reception.

Alex and Will's commitment to God, each other, and their community was evident throughout the weekend.

Yet one moment in particular stood out to me.

When it was time for the homily, Will's 98 year old grandfather stood up and said, "Well, you can all breathe easy now because I made it!" He then proceeded with an incredible homily, and with his wife present in the crowd, he spoke of his experience from 76 years of marriage. In a concise yet comprehensive and compelling sermon, he expressed how God rejoices over marriage because it reminds us of our covenant with Him and the ultimate wedding feast to come.

I can't do his words justice, but just the image of him proclaiming - and living out - the powerful impact that marriage can have made a huge impression on John and me.

The newly married couple! (Barefoot from washing each other's feet.)
Will's grandfather is clapping on the left.

With the bride! Fun fact: Alex wore her mom's wedding dress.

"My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." -Colossians 2:2-3, 6

The grandfather's words were a wonderful reminder to us as John and I celebrate our two year anniversary next Tuesday.

John has been sending me clues throughout the last couple of days of what he has planned for us tonight and this weekend:

Harriet is in reference to Harriet The Spy, a book and movie that I loved growing up; so much so that I even had a spy-themed birthday party one year. My best friend and I also used to walk around the neighborhood with our composition notebooks and magnifying glasses, recording clues and working on solving neighborhood crimes, like: Why are there footprints in this abandoned lot? or Who opened the neighbor's front gate? Very serious business.

John and I love donuts (gluten free ones for me, of course!), and tonight we're heading to The Optimist for a very special dinner celebration. I'm excited to see what other plans are in store for us this weekend!

Living An Adventure

When John and I were engaged, we committed to not take ourselves too seriously in marriage. Life and work can be weighty enough so we wanted our relationship to be a haven for rest and rejuvination.

Yet during busy or stressful times you can't just tell yourself, "Lighten up and laugh a little." That would be like adding "Have fun" to your To Do List. Without a specific action that you're going to take to have fun, it's not as likely to happen.

Here's how we've been intentionally putting fun adventures into our daily routine, despite the busy-ness right now:

• Indoor picnic: For dinner one night, we spread out our picnic blanket, lit the candles in our fireplace, and ate our meal on the floor. Bonus: indoor picnics can include wine!
• Indoor bowling: This was all John's idea. (No surprise there with John's love of competition!) We set up three empty tennis ball cans at the end of our LONG hallway. We then competed for who could knock the most "pins" down by "bowling" a tennis ball. After five sets we were tied, so we played one more and John barely won!

• Six Flags: We went to Six Flags one Saturday morning, racing around the park to ride only the best rides. It was my first time there and I had a blast!
• Dance off: Pretty self explanatory: Turn on music and compete (see a theme here?!) for who has the best dancing skills. I believe I won this one :)

On the theme of living a life of adventure, I just finished reading Donald Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know how to live a good story in life. 

Through vivid, funny, and poignant stories, he explains how what makes a story great are the same elements that make a life great. And great stories are full of adventures.

"The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person's story is about, just ask them what they want...when we live a story, we are telling the people around us what we think is important." -Donald Miller

From how you are living your life, what would people say is important to you? 

"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us that life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story." -Donald Miller

Are you living a story that others want to hear about and be a part of, one that "invites other people into the story... giving them a better story too"?

Perhaps this book resonated with me so much because of my passion for helping others be embraced by the journey. It's my hope that as I try to live a meaningful story that the little slices of adventure that I show on this blog would encourage you in your journey. Not every adventure is movie-worthy or even fun. Donald Miller talks a lot in his book about good stories requiring sacrifices. And I certainly do not have all of this figured out for my own life either. Hence, why it's about a journey and not a destination.

So go live an adventure today!

If you want to read more about keeping your marriage adventurous, check out these posts:

• How to keep your marriage adventurous
• How to fit adventure into your marriage

  

How to keep a calendar when you're married

The tradition is to save the top of your wedding cake in the freezer and then celebrate your one-year with a (hopefully un-freezer burnt) slice. Well... almost two years later, John and I finally cut into the cake at the beach over the 4th of July. The top of our cake has been taking up a lot of space in my parents' freezer, so I think they were more than ready for us to finally finish it off!

It looked less than promising...

...especially after knowing what it looked like on our wedding day.

We were nervous to give it a try, but it was surprisingly still tasty!

Not quite as elegant as at our wedding!

Thankfully, as John said: Our marriage has held up a lot better than the cake did!

Recently, one of the things that we've been doing to keep our marriage strong is changing the way that we keep our calendar.

Although schedules are less than romantic, keeping our calendar in a new way has allowed us to keep our marriage adventurous. We are both "J" on Myers-Briggs (i.e. like to plan and schedule a lot), which meant that when we were first married we were setting plans over a month in advance.

Planning so far ahead, however, prevented us from accepting a lot of invitations and hanging out with friends on a whim.

But what really got our attention is when John was sick the first few months of this year. His illness prevented us from keeping a lot of our plans, so when he was well, we found our weeks slammed with one rescheduled commitment after another. This left not a whole lot of downtime or time for date nights.

And as someone who needs a little time alone in order to recharge, I was exhausted.

So we regrouped and came up with a way we could keep our calendar that still allowed us to plan ahead while protecting our down time. Here's our method:

• At the beginning of each month, we sync up our calendars to make sure we're both aware of big events or other happenings that we are scheduled to attend that month (either together or separately).
• Then we go week by week and schedule our nights according to three categories: (1) Night of rest (i.e. time alone together or a date night), (2) Outreach night (time with our neighbors, church community group, new people we want to reach out to, etc.), and (3) Friend night (time with our friends)
• We don't have to set who we'll invite over or what we want to plan, we just ensure that each week has at least each of those categories per week. 
• Then when someone invites us somewhere or we want to have someone over for dinner, we can use our scheduled night for that category.
• We're also not rigid about it, so as long as we have one of those each category per week, we can switch nights around accordingly.

This practice has been helpful for us, so I thought I'd share it in case others could benefit from how to schedule yet still be flexible. Let me know if you have questions and happy planning!

What the Shack's are up to lately

Last week I was in Orlando, working on an exciting new project for Student Launch Pad to develop an online platform for my curriculum. It was a change for me to be the one traveling instead of John!

After working long hours and having meetings, I got to enjoy time with my parents, including delicious meals that my Dad made, like this one:

I love learning cooking techniques from him! 

Dad (wearing my apron!) and I cooking together last time he visited

My flight was delayed coming home Thursday night because of bad storms in the Atlanta area. Like the last time when John and I flew home from Chicago, I boarded the plane, we were ready to go, and then had to get off the plane and wait several hours. I'm glad we waited though, because this is the picture of Atlanta's sky that my friend Heather sent me:

While I waited, I wanted to enjoy my dinner (as much as you can enjoy airport food). One small problem: as soon as I sat down to eat, everyone around me started watching a mouse that was running around our seats! That definitely took my appetite away. As I was gathering my belongings to change seats, the man next to me started laughing that I would move because of a mouse. Yes I would!

After finally returning home, I was able to meet up with Heather (remember this girl's wedding?!) for breakfast before she left from her business trip. I always love reconnecting with friends in person!

On Saturday, John and I had our weekly coffee date (a part of us keeping our marriage adventurous) at a new place for us: Revolution Doughnuts! The donuts here were amazing, including a nutella cream filled one and a caramel donut topped with bacon. I opted for their gluten free almond, chocolate, and coconut one, which was delicious!

That afternoon, we "braved" the heat at the Braves game. We took the seventeen-year-old son of the family that John lived with during his internship in Atlanta, and it was a great afternoon and evening spending time with him. By baseball standards, the game was even exciting for me to watch as the Braves took the win in the last inning!

On Sunday we met up with friends to play tennis, and on Monday night we had friends over for dinner. A full and wonderful weekend!

There is a firmer foundation than answers to my "why's"

My friends know that I am not a so-called "animal lover." But when my Mom called to let me know that Callie, my 16 year old calico who I got as an Easter gift in second grade, had to be put to sleep I was upset and sad.

2013 has been a difficult year. From my husband's sickness to my own illness, from a grandfather battling cancer to my other grandfather passing away, from family friends struggling through trying times to our country mourning many disasters and losses this year, my cat having to be put down was another trial to add to the list.

Yet while this post could easily become a litany of grief and hardships, this one thought has been circling my mind. On my run yesterday (first of all, I'm just thankful that I can run again), I kept thinking:

We have a God who lets us cry. He not only allows us to cry, but we also worship a God who desires for us to cry out to Him. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

I am realizing that I don't have to have my act together. I can come to God with questions. I can show up for my church small group and not have answers to "What is my role as a wife to a sick husband? What is my role as a daughter during trying and tiring experiences for my family?"

Beautiful Chicago, a reminder of many blessings

I can ask, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" (Psalm 42:5) Because even if I don't understand, I have a firmer foundation than answers to my "whys."

"Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." (Psalm 42:11). 

I have hope because I have a promise: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold" (Psalm 18:2). Now that is a litany I want to repeat. Strong words of "rock, fortress, shield, stronghold." This is my hope and promised salvation: a Deliverer. This is my joy.

And that is why I continue counting my blessings in my gratitude journal. Numerous blessings like family visiting, a friend's wedding in Chicago, beauty in nature, a friend's birthday, the list continues...

Celebrating Becca's birthday

Before the wedding in Chicago 

My sister-in-law Emma and I visiting the CNN Center

As I count my blessings, my joy increases and I can cry out in sadness and in praise.

I had to include this adorable picture of sweet Callie

Date Nights & Yard Days

This weekend included a lot of enjoying the outdoors, being active, spending time with friends, and a date night for John and me. Here's a recap of our weekend in pictures, including some delicious, quick, and summery recipes at the end!

Friday Night
We had a double date night with our friends, the Pursers, at Stone Summit, a large indoor rock climbing center.

Our friends are excellent rock climbers so they taught us some helpful tips,
like using your leg strength instead of your arms.

Saturday
John did a lot of work in the yard, including mulching and weed-wacking. My contribution was planting herbs. Since my vegetable garden did not do well last year, I decided to try herbs this time around.

My herbs include: oregano, parsley, basil, rosemary, thyme, mint, lavender, sage, and tarragon.
Get ready for some recipes centered around herbs!

Sunday
After church, lunch, and John's softball practice, some neighbors stopped by for wine on the front porch. Samantha, our next door neighbor's cat, was being adorable the entire time John and I were outside this weekend.

Samantha being cute at the top, and our pollen covered porch on the bottom. 

Sunday Night
John and I had a stay-in date night. He grocery shopped, prepped, and cooked all of the dinner for us, served on our nice china too! The meal included grilled romaine lettuce for course 1 (I made the salad dressing but that was my only contribution!), grilled watermelon with fresh parsley and jalapeno slices for course 2, and grilled mahi mahi with a spice seasoning and jalapenos/parsley for course 3. Delicious!!

To grill romaine lettuce, keep the leaves on the grill just until they get the beginning of grill marks.
To grill watermelon, keep the slices on for about 3 minutes per side, then flip over and transfer to top rack for about 2 more seconds.

All and all, a fabulous weekend!

R&R: Learning to Abide

This past week, John and I had the opportunity to spend time just resting. Since we had already blocked off our calendars for our trip to Uganda, we decided to still take the time off even though our trip was postponed. Instead, we spent the week in Vero Beach, FL, where we were literally the only ones on the beach for a mile.

It was such a time of rejuvenation and just what we needed after the stressful past few months. John and I spent the days waking up late, reading on the beach, throwing the football, playing Bocce ball, going for long walks, and making dinner together at night.

Gluten free chocolate cake that we made

Shrimp tacos with homemade guacamole 

If we had a rainy day, I was planning on writing but the weather was gorgeous the entire time... that not too hot, not too cold feeling. And instead, it was refreshing to have nothing in particular to do at any time.

In this busy, fast-paced society it is difficult to incorporate rhythms of rest in your day, your week, or your month. And this constant striving is exhausting.

Something that John and I talked about was how to bring a rhythm of rest home to Atlanta with us. We're starting with going through our calendars with each other at the beginning of every month, and setting days aside each week for downtime together, evenings with friends, etc. Intentionally blocking off days on the calendar to stay home we think will help us incorporate more rest into our schedules.

The week was such a needed time of R&R, and when we returned home the importance of rest was reiterated during the sermon on Sunday:

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." -John 15:4

Abide: remain; hold onto.

So often I find myself going, going going and doing, doing, doing as I try to "produce fruit" from my own efforts. Yet I was reminded at church that we are simply called to remain in Christ ("in the vine"),  and fruit will be produced through us.

This gives us the freedom to rest, knowing that One more powerful is doing work through us.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30

How to Fit Adventure into Your Marriage

Early this Fall, I wrote about "How to Keep Your Marriage Adventurous," and it's been one of the most viewed posts on BeEmbraced. Since it seems to be a topic that is important to many people, here's a way that John and I have recently started to fit adventure into our marriage.

After the holidays and all of our travels (and I still have one more trip to write about!), John and I have been trying to get back into a routine. While that word sounds boring even just typing it, routine can actually help facilitate your sense of adventure in the new year.

This past week, John and I set goals for 2013, and one of our first ones was to have a planning meeting the first weekend of every month. Sounds dull for a marriage goal. However, the motivation behind a goal is the purpose of setting it in the first place. So why the planning? Because in addition to wanting to have fire pit nights with neighbors, game nights with friends, and other get-togethers, date nights are a top priority.

An afternoon in the park is always a great date idea

Our goals for dates are:

• Have a date night (or afternoon) outside of the house at least once every three weeks
• Have a date night inside the house at least once every two weeks
• Go on a walk together at least once a week

One of the new goals that we incorporated this year was to have date nights inside the house. Although we have dinner at home with each other most nights of the week, it's fun to plan some adventure into the evenings. Movie nights are great, but this year we wanted to get creative with our dates.

A date night last year: Watching the Gwinnett Gladiators (and the ice was pink for Breast Cancer Awareness)!

For example, on Monday night we had a fancy dinner at home together. The past week had been busy with John traveling, me having my first book club meeting, John playing basketball, and us having friends over Saturday and Sunday nights. With both of us off of work for MLK Day, we decided to have a date night - without leaving the house. We made a nice dinner of grilled fish, roasted acorn squash with brown sugar, red lentils, salad, and complete with red wine. We dressed up in nice clothes, turned on the Frank Sinatra Pandora station, use our china plates and crystal glasses, and John brought home flowers for our table. And afterwards, to keep in the evening's theme, we caught up on Downton Abbey of course!

Our dinner date, using our nice china and crystal! 

What made this date night even more enjoyable was that we planned it in advance, allowing me to look forward to it all week. It also made it no hassle, knowing I could plan for the dinner when I went grocery shopping a few days before.

So there you have it: how planning can actually add adventure into your marriage. Otherwise, life seems to fly by without scheduling how you can incorporate fun date nights with your spouse.

What about you - what fun at-home dates have you had? Do you plan on setting goals with your spouse this year?

Travel Journal 2: D.C. Wedding Weekend

After our trip to Orlando for Christmas, we returned to Atlanta on the 26th for John to start his busy week working on the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Of all of his projects at work, this event is the biggest. Since he would we working the entire week through New Years, it was perfect timing for me to go to Washington D.C. to be the Matron of Honor in Heather's wedding, who is a dear friend from college!

After working on the 27th and feverishly doing laundry and packing (from D.C. I would be heading straight to Tahoe, but more on that in a later post!), I left for D.C. on the 28th. Remember that sweet surprise birthday dinner that John planned in Orlando? I really appreciated his forethought since the 28th was my birthday and we wouldn't be able to celebrate together. 

I arrived in D.C. just in time for the bridesmaids/close friends luncheon. It was so much fun to honor Heather and celebrate with each other.

Yay for being the token blonde! The bride is Heather, who is in the middle of the picture.

We then went back to Heather's parents' house to get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The dinner was lovely, and it was special watching the slideshow of Heather and Chris through the years.

Bridesmaids and bride at the rehearsal dinner

Then, wedding time! We spent the morning getting pampered as we had our hair and makeup done. The entire time we were getting ready, it was snowing outside of the window... so pretty. We danced and sang to 90's music to get pumped up for the big day ahead. I was so impressed my hair was actually able to stay curly the whole day and night too!

We then headed (in a limo!) to the reception place for some pre-wedding pictures. With the newly fallen snow it was simply beautiful.

Vandy bridesmaids: Me (Matron of Honor) and with curly hair!, Aysha (Maid of Honor), and Kathryn

With the bride

We always have so much fun together!

The ceremony was also special since it was complete with parts unique to Heather and Chris... like Heather high-fiving people down the aisle and the pastor making jokes during the sermon. One highlight: In the busyness of the day, I forgot to get Chris's wedding ring to give to Heather during the ceremony. Thankfully, the Best Man had both rings, so I had to awkwardly reach across and get the ring from him for the exchanging of rings, oops!

The reception was just as fun as the newly married couple! It started with some appetizers before we were served a delicious dinner. Aysha and I, and the Best Man, gave our toasts, and then it was time to dance! It was so good to catch up with Vandy classmates and dance the whole night. We did take a break to snap some pictures at the photo booth too. It was a wonderful wedding weekend!

That would be me with the goofy sunglasses on

A few of us stayed in D.C. through New Years after the wedding and had a great time exploring the city and hanging out. More to come on the second half of D.C. in a later post!