Year One

Today Nathan and I are celebrating one year of marriage. One year! It's incredible to me how quickly the year flew. It seems like only a few weeks ago we were making the final preparations for our big day!

While it was a beautiful day for both of us and our families, I know it was only the beginning of our story. Even these past 366 (it was a leap year, you know), have been filled with both joy and sadness. We've experienced so much in the past twelve months that have made us a stronger couple... a stronger team.

Our plans to celebrate this anniversary include going out to dinner and eating the top tier to our wedding cake. While this isn't much to some people, it is more than enough for us. We're together. We're healthy. We're happy.

So as I end this blog post, I look forward to the future with the best possible companion I could imagine having by my side. I've heard people say the first year is the hardest. Well, if that's the case, we've got the next 75 years in the bag.



Love's Looking Good on You

In typical Angie-fashion, I am turning to other means of entertainment in order to postpone efforts spent on lesson plans for tomorrow. AKA - I'm procrastinating. Let it be known, however, that I do not normally wait until the last minute to plan. Today is a rare exception. Valentine's Day has completely thrown me off!

Speaking of Valentine's day, Nathan and I were able to celebrate the day together as husband and wife. It's still so weird to say that, even though it's been eight months. Husband. Wife. Marriage. Yikes, I'm grown up! Sort of. Anyway, Nathan even got me a card that is to his "wife." I am lame and didn't do so well in the card department. As in, there were zero cards given on my part. Whoops!

To be honest, I have always loved Valentine's Day. Sure, I get when other people say, "Why do you need a special day to celebrate your love? Do it every day!" True statement. Love should be celebrated every day. However, if I'm playing Devil's Advocate here (and c'mon. Anyone who knows me knows I'm pretty good at that role), I'd like to ask, why do we celebrate individual birthdays? Every day should be a celebration of life. Why do we celebrate Christmas? Celebrate Jesus every day. Wow, this is getting deep. My point is that I am truly a girly girl and love having a special day that I get to spend immersed in feelings of love.

My love for the day of love is probably aided by the fact that I am a teacher and get to spend Valentine's day with my third graders. It's a HUGE holiday to those 8 year olds, by the way. Almost like Christmas. It literally takes over our day, as we make our "mailboxes" and spend time handing out and enjoying valentines from classmates. Yesterday, I was overwhelmed by the kindness my class showed for one another. I also was amazed that I didn't hear the words, "Ew. You LIKE me? Gross!" a single time.  Successful day.

 

Aren't our mailboxes adorable? Their instructions were to use mainly hearts to make an animal. Since we are currently studying animals, I tried to make it instruction-based. Go me.

I know that I have spent numerous words expressing the love and gratitude I have for my husband, and he is another reason why I love Valentine's Day. Historically speaking (in the sense of Nathan and Angie), we have not been huge Valentine's Day gift-givers. I believe that a "special" dinner or a simple card is a superior way to celebrate your love for one another, and I am fortunate that Nathan feels the same way. This year, money is fairly tight at the House of Harris, but we both wanted our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife to be special. What other way to be special than to get your craft on? This happens to be exactly what the both of us did.

A while back, I saw an idea on Pinterest that I KNEW would be the perfect gift for our first Valentine's Day as married people. I had our wedding song printed on nine 8 x 8" cardstock, bought nine 8 x8" canvas frames, mod-podged the cardstock on the canvas, and voila! Beautiful, sentimental art that was super simple to make, and looks AWESOME. Seriously, people don't believe I made this. Psh.

This will be going above our bed as soon as we can get our hands on a laser-level. I say we like I'm actually going to participate in the hanging. Sike.

Nathan also was super crafty, inspired by another Pinterest Post he had seen. I came home from school to this BEAUTIFUL, unique, hand-made frame. Nathan even selected the pictures he wanted on display.

Seriously, how cool is this? I also think it's such a practical way to display a lot of pictures. If I want to change one out, all I have to do follow these simple steps - Step 1. Unclip clothespin. Step 2. Take down picture. Step 3. Clip new picture to twine using clothespin. Done! No more taking a frame down, undoing those finicky little clasps, taking the back out, putting the picture in, putting the back in, redoing those finicky clasps, rehanging on the nail that is always so rebellious. This process is particularly distressing when you are 4'11" and can generally not reach the nail that is being uncooperative. #shortpeopleproblems

Overall, it was a perfect, beautiful day. My students were wonderful, my husband was amazing, and the seven boxes of chocolates I received from students yesterday didn't hurt either. Life is good.

House of Harris

Quick question. It's 67 degrees outside. What month is it? a.) May b.)June c.)January d.)March
If this were a question I was asking my students, I would tell them to slash the trash. Get rid of the answers you know are not true - the ones that are completely ridiculous. In this case, however, slashing the trash would mean getting rid of the correct answer. Yes, it's currently January 7 and the weather outside was perfect. Perfectly confusing. How often do you get to throw open the windows and let the breeze blow through your house in JANUARY? I was telling Nathan that tonight should be a grilling night. Of course, because it is still January and in the always-befuddled state of Virginia, the daytime temperature may be three degrees shy of 70, but the temperature that comes with night will be close to freezing. Not to mention this week has been mind-blowing with the highs and lows. Just four days ago I was wearing my rabbit-trimmed bomber hat and carrying a blanket out to recess because it was 37 degrees at 2 pm.

While I enjoyed the weather today, I still can't help wishing for snow. Every morning when I watch the news I'm eyeballing the extended forecast looking for any sign that wonderful white fluff might be heading our way. There's not even been a hint that the conditions could be possible. My mother-in-law says the farmer's almanac is calling for a big one January 31. I'll keep my finger's crossed for that.

So now for the customary reflection on days-gone-by, also known as the year 2011. Also also known as The Year of the Wedding. It was a tremendously good year for us. We had the perfect wedding and reception, thanks entirely to our wonderful family and friends and I had a smooth transition to being a Vaughan AND a Harris. Nathan and I traveled our of country for the first time ever and together to Antigua for the best honeymoon ever. We made it back safe and sound (although barely) in time to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends, and then one month later we adopted our Atlas, the most awkward, endearing dog I've ever met (besides Gisele, who is really the most beautiful, michievious dog. They've earned different titles). Essentially, 2011 was the year we became the Harris Family.
Insert picture-perfect family portrait here:
Ok, so we don't have one of those yet, but I do have one with half of our family

Speaking of Atlas, that little turkey is almost seven months old. It's so hard to believe he was a "tiny" 17-pound pup when we got him at three months. At last weigh in last week, he was 113 pounds. The scary thing is he still has a lot of growing to do! While he is a giant monster, I am excited to see how big he really will get. Someone said to us he is a "conversation piece" because anyone who comes around him will want to talk to him or will talk about him. We took him to PetsMart last weekend and as we were walking in, a family with a little girl was walking in to. The man asked the little girl if she wanted to ride the pony. Haha!

2011 will be a hard year to top, but we are very eager to see what 2012 has in store for us. Happy New Year, y'all!