Going the Distance

Blogtember: Pivotal Life Moment

I'm linking up again with Jenni for another Blogtember post:

Tuesday, September 10: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

This one might be slightly surprising to you guys. You might think that it was the moment that I got engaged, and as important of a life moment as that was to me, my life didn't really CHANGE, it just got better.

The moment that I can pinpoint in my life where things took a turn was when my 2 year (almost) long distance relationship ended, quite suddenly. For those of you who don't remember or weren't around then, we'd been planning on me moving to St. Louis in 1-2 months time. I had already told my job that I was leaving, told my apartment complex that I was moving out, and I'd just gotten a job interview for the county that I was going to be moving to.

And then my world came crashing down in one unexpected phone call.
All of a sudden, I didn't have a relationship, a job for the next year, or a place to live. I was devastated.

In that moment,one thing that I realized was just how powerful my friendships were. My roommate at the time, and now best friend, was kind enough to stay home from work the next day with me to make sure that I was ok, which was incredibly sweet of her. The following day, I went back to work and a friend there let me spend the entire day with her class. We talked and it helped. It was a hard 2 days, but after LOTS of tears being shed, I reached a place where I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. You're probably thinking "2 days?? Yeah right!"

But in reality, during that 2 year relationship, I had been worried constantly. I knew that he had cheated on me (still not sure if it was physical, but I know emotionally at least) at least once, and possibly more. I worried all the time about him being faithful and if I didn't hear from him, what was he doing, and with whom? It was a constant state of stress for me. And once it was gone, I realized that I didn't have to worry about it anymore. And that if I was worrying THAT MUCH, that it should have ended sooner. I just wanted my happy ending so badly, that I was willing to talk myself out of what I was truly feeling.

It was also the first time after a break up that I got the overwhelming feeling of "everything is going to be ok....this is what's supposed to happen." Now, sure, I had TOLD myself that with other breakups, but this was the first time that I FELT it to be true.

And then cut to a few months later, I had gotten back out into the dating world, signed up for Match, and I got a nice email from a cute guy who happened to live about 5 minutes from where I lived and we went out on a date...

....and now we live together and are getting married in April!

The pivotal point for me was realizing that I KNEW what I deserved and I KNEW that I wasn't going to settle for what I had been accepting up until that point. I wasn't going to make excuses for someone else anymore. And once I told myself that, and learned a couple more lessons along the way, the universe gave me the guy I've been waiting my whole life for. Someone who never gives me the slightest reason to worry, listens when I'm upset, and works to make our life better. As cheesy as this is (feel free to make gag noises, it's ok), he's the guy that made this quote....

{via}

...100% true.

On top of everything else, if I had moved to St. Louis, I wouldn't have been close by when my dad had his heart attack that October, and I would have been tortured not being able to drive to see him.

In the end, it was a painful time, but one that I felt like I got control of my life back and learned that I was strong enough to stand up for myself and for what I deserved.

Weekend Recap: P!nky's Wedding!

Phew! Another weekend and it feels like a blur since there was so much fun packed in!

Friday after work MG and I hit the pool for a bit to soak up the incredibly nice day (and the last pool day we'd have before our pool closed on Sunday), and then spent the night in.

Saturday I dropped Coop off at my parents' house since we were going to be at P!nky's wedding that night, and my mom got him groomed so he's all nice and cute for our engagement photos in a couple weeks. We then headed to a cake tasting for our wedding and found some really delicious flavors to choose from. I think we may have found our cake place!!

That afternoon, we went to P!nky's wedding. The ceremony was heartfelt and full of love, and the reception was SO much fun with the people we were sitting with!

The church was beautiful and bright, perfect for their day!

After the wedding, my new friends from the bachelorette party invited MG and myself to their house to have a beverage and hang out. After a glass of wine and a fireball shot (eep!), we were off to the reception.

The reception site was nice and the hors d'oeuvres were yum!

And then the happy couple made their appearance!

The whole night was filled with happiness and love--everything I hope my own wedding to be like. P!nky has a great family and group of friends, which made the whole thing that much more fun-filled.

And then there was LOTS of dancing. And I mean LOTS! I can only imagine the hilarity that's captured on video and in pictures.
At the end of the day, I feel incredibly blessed to have witnessed such a great girl get to marry her best friend. I feel even luckier to have had this girl come into my life thanks to the blog world, become such good friends, and get to be a part of such a special day.

I wish you nothing but happiness for a lifetime!

5 on Friday

Two posts in one day? And multiple days in a row?? This must be your lucky week...either that or you're starting to get sick of me. Let's hope it's option number 1 :)

Here's my 5 on Friday list...

{1}-Weekend Wedding

Tomorrow one of my really good friends, and my first blog-to-real-life friend, P!nky, is getting married. I'm SO excited for her (I even had a dream about it last night, and all of the excitement she must be experiencing being a day away from marital bliss) and can't wait to see her in her pretty dress!

{2}-Weather/Sunroof

Holy moly it has been absolutely GORGEOUS in the DC area this week. LOW humidity, sunny skies, the perfect weather to drive with your sunroof open....I couldn't ask for anything better. Other than not being at work so that I could actually enjoy it. Or, having an office that had a window outside that I could open and enjoy the weather....but, I guess I'll just have to enjoy the brief exposure to it when I go in and out of the building, and after work.

{3}-Support
Everyone's support and comments yesterday about my wedding drama were amazing. I love the blogging community because of how amazing you all are when it's needed (and sometimes even when it's not asked for, too!) The situation has been less than fun to deal with (downright stressful and annoying), but hearing your comments, and knowing that I'm not crazy for thinking/feeling the way I do about it, means a lot. So, thank you for the support! It means more to me than you know.

{4}-Cake

MG and I are in the process of finding our cake maker, and we have a tasting scheduled for Saturday morning. It's right before P!nky's wedding, so perhaps doing a tasting of cakes before I have to wear a dress wasn't the smartest idea, but at least I won't be hungry during the wedding (either that or I'll go into a sugar coma....let's hope not tho). I'm excited to eat cake and hope that they can give us a good price and yummy options for our wedding day!

{5}-Organization

Gotta stack and "hide" where I can...

My office is feeling SO much less cluttered and cramped than it did last year. I'm out in what you call a modular (so basically a really large trailer with about 10 classrooms, 3 offices and bathrooms) which means that I have no storage closets in my room. Everything is out on shelves for all to see, and last year I came into an office that I inherited a lot of "stuff." Having been here for a year, I know a little more what I need, what I don't and what's just junk, so I tossed a lot and it's feeling a lot more organized in here. And, I've gotten creative with storing and hiding things....

Overall, I'm feeling a lot more "put together" this year, and less cluttered. I'm excited for the kids to see the room, and to have less boxes and more room to work with! Go me!!

That's it for today. Hope you all have a good weekend! I'll be off eating cake (lots of it), dancing, and enjoying watching my friend marry her best friend :)

Noodles & Co. Pasta Fresca and Shrimp copycat recipe

I dunno about you, but I LOVE Noodles and Company. My two favorite dishes there are pesto cavatappi with parmesan crusted chicken and pasta fresca with shrimp. I've already figured out how to re-create the pesto cavatappi (haven't figured out the chicken part), so when I saw a copycat recipe on Pinterest for Pasta Fresca, I knew I had to try it!

This isn't 100% spot on, but it's pretty darn close!

What You Need:

-1 lb shrimp, thawed if frozen
-3/4 lb farfalle pasta
-2 tomatoes, diced
-2 handfuls of baby spinach
-2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon olive oil
-1/2 red onion, diced
-salt/pepper
-1/4 balsamic vinegar
-1/4 sweet white wine
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 tsp minced garlic, divided (from jar)
-parmesan cheese

What You Do:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain.

2. Make the fresca sauce by combining the 1/2 cup olive oil, white wine, balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix until combined. (You will need to mix it again right before adding, as the oil and vinegar will separate).

3. In a medium skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1 tsp garlic and heat until fragrant (about a minute). Add in the shrimp and cook through (about 4 minutes).

4. When the pasta is done cooking, heat the skillet and add in the 2 teaspoons of olive oil, farfalle pasta (cooked), tomatoes, red onion, spinach and salt and pepper.

5. Stir together until hot and well mixed. Add the shrimp and the fresca sauce. Mix to combine.

6. Top with parmesan cheese (shredded would be better than grated, but grated works, too).

You may need to add a bit more balsamic to the mix for that extra taste. I added some extra to ours.

It was really good! MG wolfed it down and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!

Blogtember: Advice

I'm linking up with Jenni for another edition of Blogtember

Thursday, September 5: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered.

I think the most important piece of advice that I've ever gotten is to try and put yourself in someone else's shoes before you get upset about something.

{via}

I've found that it's really easy to fly off the deep end when you're upset, BUT it's also almost as easy (and avoids a lot of anger and hurt feelings) to take a few and try to see where someone else is coming from and why they may have perceived something one way, while you perceived it another way. I think it's really helped me be able to take a step back and say "I think you thought this, but I really meant this" or whatever the situation may be.

It helped people feel understood and heard. Which I think is the root of most issues and problems. People get upset when they don't feel like they're being understood by someone else. I know that for myself, when someone says "I understand why you felt that way"...my anger and upset emotions tend to fall away and then I'm really open to talking and fixing things, rather than just being focused on being mad.

I would hope that people who know me would describe me as compassionate and understanding.

Wedding Drama: Update

I realized when looking back at some of my old posts, that I never filled you guys in on what happened after the wedding drama where MG's friends (we can use air quotes around "friends" now) asked us to change our wedding date, and then the girl in the relationship sent me an email basically telling me that I couldn't have the same colors, bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen attire, songs, invitations, etc that she had. Read about that here to refresh your memory.

As much as I want to put this behind me, I wanted to update you guys so that you're aware of what's been going on, because, let's be real, it is bat-sh*t crazy.

So, after their friend passed away, we decided to ignore the email and hoped that it would go away and not be brought up again. Well, the friend's funeral was that Saturday and on Monday morning I got this email from the girl:

"Just re-sending this to you, to ensure that you got it. Thanks. " and then she re-sent the email that she'd previously sent.

So, at that point we knew we had to deal with it. MG and I wrote up a response and sent it to her later that night. Here's what it said:

Hi {R},

Neither of us responded to your email because it seemed inappropriate to talk about any of this when you guys were dealing with the loss of a friend. We were surprised to see your email last weekend, in general, and given what was going on. With any passing, it puts things into perspective and it has made us focus even more on what is really important in life, because you never know what can happen.

If the things you mentioned in your email bother you, it's unfortunate, but our focus for our wedding is on the bonds we are bringing to our future marriage. We are excited to spend the rest of our lives together and to be married. That is what is truly important to us. Five years from now, what color our wedding was or your wedding was, isn't going to matter. So, I think it's best if we both focus on what is going to make this day special and memorable for us, and on the important stuff here, which is planning a future with our significant others that is going to be strong and lasting. Not the details of one day of the rest of our lives. We want your day to be exactly what you want it to be and how you’ve pictured it, and we know you want the same for us. So, no need to stress one another out with coordinating even more details (after all, there are already so many as it is with wedding planning, as you know). We will continue planning for our ideal wedding day, just as you guys are, and even if there are some similar features, both wedding days will be unique and special to us, our friends, and our families. :)

Jenn and {MG}

The next morning, I got this email back from her:

Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the response! I didn't want there to be any tension while we plan our weddings, and like I said before, I am sure both of ourweddings will be beautiful and a lot of fun. Good luck with everything.

Hoping that would be the end of it (but knowing it wasn't likely), we dropped it. And then we found out that they were going around to different people in the group, telling them that we told them they dealt with their friends' death inappropriately, and various other lies about what the email said. In actuality, our email does NOT say anything about that. And in reality, we hadn't said a word about this to any of our mutual friends, we hadn't sought them out to tell our "side" (even though we wanted to). People have come to us to tell us how ridiculous they think it is, and to tell us what is being said about us.

Also, this girl, who "didn't want there to be any tension" now refuses to acknowledge me at social gatherings and leaves me off of emails to the group and invitations to things. Basically, I'm being 'punished' for planning the wedding that I've always dreamed of. So much for no tension....

What I've realized through this whole thing is mainly that it must suck to be so unhappy, that someone else's happiness in some way threatens your own. Truly happy people are capable of being happy for someone else's happiness. Not to mention the fact that not only are they NOT happy for us, but are going out of their way to tell lies about us that attack our character. I would NEVER tell someone how they should/shouldn't respond or react to a death. It's not my place. THAT part bothers me the most....that they are telling people these things that are blatant lies about the people we are.

So, as much as possible, we are trying to ignore and avoid them at all costs and every opportunity that we can, and if people ask us what happened, we tell them. Whenever that happens, the response has 100% been "it's ridiculous."

That's where we're at. I'd LOVE to hear your comments and thoughts! :)

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting

It's Wednesday, which means that it's time for...

assuming these link ups are actually up this week...

I'm loving that we're already at the half-way point for the week. Means we're closer to the weekend, but it also means I'm that much closer to needing to have a therapy schedule draft done for work. So, maybe I'm not loving that it's Wednesday after all lol

I'm loving our new tv stand in our living room. Our old one was MG's and it was metal and glass, BULKY and didn't really match the rest of our furniture. This new one is sleek, fits with the rest of our stuff, and opens up the room SO much. Love!

I'm loving looking at our wedding registry online. I'm kind of nervous for people to see it, too. We have some big ticket items on there, and I don't want people to be overwhelmed or feel pressure to HAVE to buy that stuff for us. But, it's really fun to picture getting these things over the course of the next 6-7 months!

I'm loving seeing all of my kiddos from last year. A lot of them run up and give me a hug, or purposely come out to my office (I'm not in the main building) just to say hi. One of the many things that I love about my job.

I'm loving that someone had the cajones to say to my "frenemy bride" that her email to me wasn't nice. Finally, someone said something! (Not that it's made any bit of difference in how "frenemy bride" has treated me, but it's nice to know someone saw our side of the situation).

I'm loving Post-it notes. If I had to pick one desk supply item, those would totally be it. I write so many notes to myself and other people on Post-its, I'd be lost without them. #dorkpartyofone

And, as always, I'm loving Pinterest. Here's what I've been pinning lately: