this has got to be the best day ever!

well.... the best day ever this week, anyway.... hehe.... :)

my diet is going really, REALLY well! yesterday and today my energy level has been through the roof and so i've been able to get some things done that i've been wanting to get done for awhile (aka laundry, cleaning, organizing, etc.) zach helped me rearrange our bedroom and put our new navy sheets that feel like heaven on our bed and the new shite duvet that feels like heaven on the down comforter! we slept so well last night we didn't really want to get up this morning!

plus it's mother's day! and i am so grateful for my mom. she doesn't read this blog because she doesn't know that it exsists, but i love her. she sacrificed for our family for a long, long time so that we would never be in want. i was able to go to any camp, mission trip, school trip, or do pretty much anything i wanted to do (within reason!) because she made sure i had opportunities that she had never had. and now that i'm all grown up and married, she is even cooler! she laughs with me and talks things through with me. she helps me know that i'm going to be ok, no matter the situation. i absolutely adore my mom!

and also, i made the decision on friday night to go to school to become a nurse! can you believe it?!? i think there's something about impending birthdays that make you take inventory and see where you feel you're lacking and work on those things.. i will be 28 in one week and i finally figured out what i want to be when i grow up. it's a really cool thing! it's so funny, because it is the most natural thing in the world for me to be a nurse. :) yay for figuring it out!

i'm am SO ready for 28.... bring it on!

i absolutely love

this time of year... the trees are all turning green, and people seem nicer to each other. the threat of snow is gone in denver (for now, i hear) until winter and life just feels more beautiful.

i started a new diet on monday, and it's going really really well.. i made it up myself so i can only be mad at me if it's too hard or gets monotonous. my goal is to fit into a bridesmaid dress i haven't ever tried on or been measured for on june 7 for my best friend's wedding. i told her today that my diet was going well and she responded, "yay! i'm so happy for you!" i responded back, "i'm so happy for YOU! now i won't look like a platinum stuffed mushroom in your wedding!" i crack myself up! she wasn't pleased but finally laughed. it came to me as an epiphany, so i had to share, RIGHT?? ;)

i am really, really happy with this stationary shop i found on etsy this week! i ordered some notecards for a special someone on may 3, and they were in my mailbox today! and i got 16 cards for $25. what.a.deal! go here: silhouetteblue to see what megan has to offer! she also included a free happy birthday card (even though these weren't for a birthday) and a sweet handwritten note thanking me for my order. i <3 silhoutteblue!

on another note, the daytime receptionist at work is now out on an "indefinite" leave of absence because of a strange stomach thing she has going on.... they have no idea what it is even though they've run multiple tests... she's nearing 70, so this is scary for her, i'm sure.. this means lots of overtime for beth... which i guess is good, since we're going on vacation to texas for my best friend's wedding at the end of may. i'm just going to get a little less sleep than i would like. darn.

saturday, i'm going to start the spring cleaning/organizing of our home! should be a challenge, but i'm up for it!

last note - our landlords are the sweetest! they mailed us an anniversary card with a target gift card in it! what a surprise! :) we love them!

best moment this week:

hands-down.... having my friend's one year old daughter fall asleep in my arms... sigh. nothing but peace in that moment. it makes me confident that when our time comes to have a baby that i will be a good mommy. that even though i don't always make her laugh, i can calm her fears and she can rest with me.

so unbelievably blessed

today is our anniversary.. we've been married one whole year! woot. in some ways, it feels like it's gone so fast, and in other ways, it feels like each moment is frozen in time and i can flip through the year like a photo album... of course, we don't really take pictures, so there's no physical photo album to flip through - ha... it's so nice to be married to someone who really loves and respects me. the operative word here could be "adores" but we'll leave that one alone for now.. ;)

we really did have a perfect day today. we went to church this morning, and i sang a duet with my sister-in-law who is in the states from thailand. i had heard she had a great voice, but i was even surprised with the quality! i'm not sure why.. i should have believed everyone. live and learn. we were going to go to lunch by ourselves, but that really isn't zach and beth... so we went to lunch with a bunch of people from church and had steak. it was very yummy! we then came home and had some sweet lovin's... totally fun and romantic and awesome! then i hung out on the couch and zach made reservations at sushi sasa in downtown denver..

we went down there and it did NOT disappoint.. they had awesome sampler platters so we could each go with our comfort level (mine - medium, zach's - beginner).. that came with soup and salad (amazing house dressing!) and we ordered tempura for appetizers.. our server was fab - thank you brody! we mentioned it was our anniversary and he brought out dessert on the house! we also each enjoyed a glass of wine with our meals. all around great experience! the snow was really pretty coming down outside of the window. the restaurant is tiny - only hold about 62 people, so it was very intimate and perfect for an anniversary.

now we're home and watching CSI on DVR and it's been a literally perfect day. zach gave me two cards that were just perfect.. and i gave him two cards that i loved too.. also, since the first anniversary is the "paper" anniversary, i gave him a package of post-its! too silly.. :)

two things we decided at dinner that are note-worthy:

1. we're going to share 2 experiences a month with each other that we've never done together.. one can be "weak" (this is zach's term) such as a favorite movie or tv show the other hasn't seen... and
2. we're going to take at least one good picture together for each month over the next year. we took only a few pics over the last year and i regret that. we're not going to let that happen again!
   

no discussion of babies.. so looks like we're just keepin' on in the same direction. it was really nice to talk to my husband. he's so wonderful and cool. i wish everyone could know him... he rocks my world! :) :)

anyway, i'm in love. so so so in love. and so ready to continue this adventure side-by-side with my best friend.

it's been too long

since my last update... or so my husband says. i think i've been in a funk and didn't want to write about it.. but i'm finally feeling up to writing. my laptop was also on the fritz, and i could have used zach's computer, but it wouldn't have been the same.. weird, i know.

anyway, yesterday was zach's birthday. he is 29, but i have been joking with him that being 29 is basically being 30, so he is 30, and therefore old. i know 30 isn't old, and i will be there in 2 years or so myself, but still... i like being feisty from time to time (or almost constantly).. ;) we really celebrated zach's birthday well.. we went with a big group of friends to the cheesecake factory in downtown denver on friday night and really enjoyed that! we were also celebrating my friend sarah's birthday.. and tonnie's.. and christina's! there were almost 20 of us... but it was great fun! i kind of didn't want to go when i found out how many people would be there because i can't hear everyone and spend time with everyone when there's that many people and i tend to feel overwhelmed in that large of a crowd in an already crowded space... but it was FUN!

yesterday, we continued the celebration for zach by hanging out in the morning, then heading to ophelia's, this little hole-in-the-wall mexcian restaurant for breakfast burritos and then to a wedding shower for his best friend and his wife to be. that was a lot of fun.. then we came back home and rested before dinner with zach's dad at gaetano's italian restaurant. zach has always wanted to go there because of it's old ties with the denver mob families, but hadn't been yet. the food was good.. i have a new favorite ice cream.. spumoni! YUM! then we went to see taken at the movie theater by our house.. full of suspense and shootings and violence. just how zach likes his movies. hehe... we both loved it though! zach says it's better than the bourne series. now, that's impressive!

i really have been pretty frustrated at work the last month or so.. this last week everything kind of hit the fan and i was ready to pack all of our stuff and move away. i know it will get better, but i was really over it. we'll see what transpires over the next 6 months to a year... i really have faith that God is going to move some people around and that it will be a very good thing. i just have to hold out.. that's the hard part.

i'm really excited to see my sister-in-law! she's coming in this week from thailand and i think she said she'll be here 2 or 3 weeks. we're helping put on a benefit dinner for a thai orphanage called house of hope next weekend. it will be really fun and i'm praying that we can raise the money that we need to raise.

it is SUCH a beautiful day here in denver today.... it's about 78 degrees and sunny... a little windy which helps keep the heat from sinking in.. and it's simply gorgeous! we saw a ton of people out working on their yards today.. and it's the perfect day for it!

i promise i will try and post more often.. but this sleepy girl needs a nap!

feeling better

since my last blog.. for one thing, i ovulated, according to fertility friend. and i will take it! zach and i were not having sex during that whole period of possibly fertile to most fertile, and i think it was taking a toll on me... needless to say, we've done the deed and i'm feeling better about that! :D

we had a really good weekend, too. friday night was a girls' night in at my friend reina's house.. just three girls hanging out.. we watched "the secret life of bees" and it was really inspiring. it was also refreshing to spend time with some women from church who i haven't really had a chance to get to know yet..

then on saturday, we just hung out at home and finally went to exchange some pots and pans that we've been meaning to return for about a month! we got a really nice set for our wedding, but we should have gotten stainless steel! the teflon was already flaking off and we all know how healthy that is! so we exchanged the set we got for a larger stainless steel version and i know it made zach really happy. saturday night was our young adult church group, and it was about love. i was really convicted to love better.

today, we went to church, and i sang on the worship team as i usually do, but today just felt good.. i'm not sure why.. afterwards there was a fundraiser for this next weekend's youth and young adult conference in estes park. zach and i are planning on going, and this fundraiser was a lot of fun. by my calculations, we were able to raise almost $1800! that's pretty awesome!! it costs $135 to send one person to the conference, so that's a lot of people we can send.. there was an auction for the right to pie our pastors in the face. the first one went for $60, the next one $125, the third one for $160 and the senior pastor went for a whopping $810!!! WHAT? pretty awesome..

we came home to take a nap and now we're watching CSI: Miami and as soon as it's over, we're going to go grocery shopping and grab a bite to eat. it feels good to have a relaxing weekend with my hubs. i have high hopes for this week.. i hope that it flies by and that i do a good job at work so that nobody gives me a hard time. i hope that zach and i continue to love each other well. i hope that this weekend, everyone who attends the conference has a life-changing experience.

it's going to be a great week. i can just tell.

bitterness

"and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly." 1 samuel 1:10

i'm not exactly weeping, but i am definitely experiencing this "bitterness of soul" that is discussed here in 1 samuel.

the story that this comes from in the Bible, is of hannah praying to God for a son. while i'm currently feeling content with waiting for a baby, i'm also feeling overwhelmed with sadness today. i know part of it is wanting a baby, but it's not all of it. i don't really even know how to explain what is wrong.

i also really have to stop obsessing about when i am going to ovulate, or if i am going to ovulate. i am worried that my last cycle really screwed me up. i need to chill out about it.

i miss my family. i don't feel at home in this condo. it feels too small and too awkward.

i'm going to a girls' night in, and hopefully that will get me out of this funk. i'm going to be ok. just need to chill.......