23 Birfday Things

So yesterday was my birfday, I turned 23, and I thought a fun way to tell everyone (like the 3 people that read this) about the event would be in 23 points:

1. I still had to get up at 6am and go to work, but I got to hug my husband and hear him sleepily mumble "happy birthday, my love"

2. The toaster oven smoked a little in the morning because there was cheese on the heating element and because our place is so small, it set the smoke alarm off at 7:15am. Poor Mr. Man.

3. I wore my cream colored sweatshirt to work, and after getting in the car, promptly put my elbow right on my peanut butter toast and got peanut butter EVERYWHERE, staining the dang sweatshirt. I am never as klutzy as I am in that sweatshirt. Why is that?!

4. The sky was beautiful on the way to work... the end of the sunrise made the blanket of clouds gold and blue.

5. I made at least 2 really stupid mistakes within the first 10 minutes of work, and had to call people back and feel like a fool.

6. Our fax machine went down, and I spent almost all day on the phone with Comcast. Apparently, AT&T STOLE our fax number that we've had for 3 years. Nobody at Comcast wanted to do their job yesterday. Good grief.

7. My boss took me to Chili's for lunch because it was my birthday. I got a chicken wrap thing that was AWESOME. It's one of their new menu items. I love Chili's.

8. I left work 5 minutes late because the fax line was still down, by the end of the day it was sort of humorous, but we lost a lot of business.

9. My parents, Cathryn, and Rob (my siblings) were waiting outside of my work when I walked out to sing me happy birthday and give me balloons. :) Surprise! (we had already celebrated officially on Saturday) Note: driving with balloons in the car is very interesting.

10. They reminded me about the fact that they're still trying to find someplace that has Wii Fit in stock, and that I will get it soon (they didn't get it in time for my birthday). YAY! I have to quit Curves because we don't have the money, now I have an alternative method of exercise and fun. hehe.

11. Mr. Man called me and asked me to pick up plastic wrap and "whatever I wanted to drink with dinner" on my way home. I bought cherry coke. (We've had a little too much Dr. Pepper lately, or else I woulda chosen that)

12. The drive home must have taken a million hours longer than normal... I knew my husband had made me dinner and was waiting for me.... I kept trying not to set my romantic hopes toooo high, it was the first time he had planned something and I knew it wouldn't be elaborate. (Don't worry about that statement sounding rude to my husband, he would totally agree with me, you can ask him)

13. I walked up to the door, and Mr. Love-of-my-Life opened it with the cutest grin in the world and said "Happy Birthday" He had the table all set with candles and everything (just like I had hoped for)!

14. After I put all my stuff down he hugged me and asked me if I was hungry. I said, "not exactly yet" and he said, "me neither, lets eat!" He had planned too early for the dinner to be done because he was too excited. eeeeeeee.

15. He made gourmet bacon pasta, as I am calling it, and I was SO impressed. It had bacon, red bell pepper, green olive, and a bunch of seasonings and spices in a butter sauce. He tried extra hard to make sure it didn't have anything that could potentially hurt my tummy (there are a lot these days) and it was SO delicious. You would like it too and be just as impressed as I was. It was full of flavor. Yum.

16. He made a special playlist to play during dinner, with a bunch of our favorite romantic music.

17. He told me I wasn't allowed to do any dishes.

18. He watched Sense and Sensibility with me! The first Jane Austen that he's seen, and he paid attention the whole time and actually followed the story. You can ask him what he thought about it, I won't give it away. :) But seriously, how lucky am I?!

19. Next we ate cake (pronounced "kehk"). Our monthaversary is today, and we were instructed by our cake lady (Barbara at Valentine's Cakes) to eat our wedding cake topper for our one MONTH-aversary rather than our one year. We have plans tonight with family, so we decided to eat it for my birthday. yuuuuuuuummy.

20. We ended the evening with catching up on the most recent episode of Psych - basically our favorite show EVER. Corey always predicts the ending way ahead. Smarty pants.

21. He didn't give me a gift this year (the dinner was my gift) because of our financial situation, but the dinner and quality time together was better than any gift he's ever given me before. :)

22. The only thing I missed about past birthdays was Dr. Plew sitting down at the piano with a flourish, and leading whatever choir was in front of him at the time in a well-harmonized Happy Birthday.

23. I have the best husband in the world and while my birthday had its "everyday" moments, it was such a happy and relaxed birthday! And this blog post is pretty cheesy, but I don't care. Maybe it's 'cause of all the bad-for-me food I've had in the last 3 days. hehe.

Comfy

So we've almost been married for 1 month, and I have officially picked one word that describes our marriage so far: "comfy..."
... or "comfortable" if you prefer a more formal vocabulary word. But I think the informality of the word "comfy" is exactly the point. And it looks cute typed out.

Of course, not everything is comfy. Our financial situation is anything but comfy. Corey's lack of job is not comfy. Our little house has some comfy points, but the little sink is not comfy... the lack of doors is not comfy... the neighbors are not comfy...

But us? We are comfy. Comfy in our love and trust for each other. Comfy in the Lord's sovereignty over our future. Comfy getting to hug each other as long as we want. Comfy visiting family together. Comfy praying together. Comfy laughing at having frozen pizza and mac 'n cheese over and over.

*Sigh* - cause that's a comfy sound.

Hunt-hood

Well, here it is.... that blog post that you've all been waiting for....

I'M MARRIED!!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

But seriously though, I was married to Corey James Hunt on January 9th, 2010, at 2pm in Grass Valley, CA. It was an absolutely beautiful and fun wedding, and I don't think I'm biased. I could not wipe the smile off my face, and I mean that literally. The photographers kept telling me to look serious for some pictures and my face would NOT go serious. It was rather comical. I am looking forward to the pictures from Aric and Casey Photography, they have already posted two pictures that make me quite giddy. If you follow their blog or be-fan them on facebook, you can see them too. :) I had the most amazing time at my wedding with all of our friends! Everywhere I turned I wanted to hug somebody. Our wedding party was THE BEST, and our parents were glowing. I wish I could have captured the feeling of that day in a bottle and revisit it every day.

If you were to ask me what was the best part of the day, I could give you 10 different answers, so I will just highlight a couple of my favorite parts. :)

1. Our "first look," when Mr. Man and I saw each other for the first time. Casey and Aric had me creep up behind a corner, it was sort of cold and I was kind of tense from the anticipation. I was standing behind the wall, and I could see his shadow. I think I called out "are you ready?" just so I could hear his voice. I walked around to see my almost husband all decked out with eyes shining at me, and I thought I wouldn't be able to walk up to him. Somehow I made it there, and we just put our heads together and held on for dear life. (one of the pictures already up is of this moment). We stood there forEVER (or what seemed like it) just trying to gain some stability. The first thing out of his mouth was "You look amazing." :)
2. Eating lunch before the wedding with the bridal party and laughing with all of them... and randomly squealing.
3. Walking down the aisle with my beloved father, who leaned over and said "You look great in white, did I ever tell you that?" (quote from That Thing You Do and a Jim-ism)
4. Hugging my grandparents so tight.
5. Walking into the reception past so many people that I was SO excited to see.
6. The fact that Cathryn caught a part of my bouquet. (There was a main part and 2 single roses)
7. Dad's speech, Jenny's speech, and Turtle's speech.
8. Yelling as we were running out to leave, "I didn't get to hug my mom!!" haha!
   
9. The way that the bridal party planned the get away, and how awesomely fast they decorated the new car (! see below)

Ok, so a "couple" turned into 9, but I don't think you are disappointed. :)

Oh, and yes, Mom and Pop Hunt gave us a new car!! Her name is Jane and she is a green 2-door 2000 Honda Accord and she's BEAUTIFUL. My favorite thing about her right now is that she doesn't leak in the rain like all of our other cars. :) We walked out of the reception to see our other car (aptly named The Legend as it came from Phil Clark and it's an Acura Legend) decorated rather... strangely. Before we could move towards it, friends of ours (Troy and Melody almost-Rankin) ran up and climbed in and sped off. Then our bridal party ran up to the car that was parked behind it and decorated it really fast while Pop said something I don't remember because of the shock! Something like he loves us and... happy car! :)

Corey and I drove off, and headed for South Lake Tahoe for a week of wonderfulness. The weather was beautiful (I took way too many pictures) and we had so much fun. We took a ride on the gondola at Heavenly resort at Stateline which was AMAZING. We went ice-skating, Corey's first time, and of course he's a natural at it. Crazy man. We went snow-shoeing which was nice but we are going cross-country skiing next time. :) We played video games, watched movies, had a snow fight, went to a fancy dinner... and then came home.

Now it's back to the grind, but our happiness has not decreased. I'm back to work, but Corey lost his job the Monday before our wedding, so now he's spending his days looking for a job and running errands for us. We have mostly moved into our little place (and it's MUCH little-r with 2 of us and all our stuff) and I will take pictures when I can finally finish cleaning everything.

What I'm looking forward to:

1. Learning how to use my awesome kitchen gear! Thanks everyone! Current biggest excitement (and I'm not sure why) is the bread maker.
2. Coming home to a loving man every evening.
3. Saturday. And the next Saturday.
4. Corey gaining employment.
5. Being able to finally get to all those official offices and change my name (I'll have to get off work)
6. The rest of my life!!

Happiness

Well I hope you had a beautiful Christmas. I sure did. It is absolutely amazing to be a part of two families at once. I get to enjoy each family for its uniqueness, but also the unifying love of Jesus we all share. I got to have two Christmas mornings on Christmas day, both concentrating on the fact that we were celebrating Jesus' Birthday, or more specifically, the fact that He came to earth to save our sin-sick souls. I had a wonderful time giving presents to the families that I love, eating food that my stomach hated, playing games with Dad, helping Mom in the kitchen (yes, you should be proud), watching Pop get more excited than I ever remember being at 6am, Mom Cindy's excited face when all of her kids gasped upon opening their HDTVs... it all amounted to love. I experienced more love this Christmas than I have in a long time.

I'm fairly certain that the reason that I had an awesome Christmas filled with love was not because I got awesome gifts, or even that I have a fiance, but because Jesus is re-opening my heart. Life sucks, to be blunt, and my heart has only had a shallow opening to its shell for the last 5 years, hardened by bitterness, anger, pessimism, pain, and hopelessness. Thankfully, Jesus helped Corey to find that shallow opening 2 1/2 years ago, and He has been using Mr. Man to melt the walls. Now, after leaving the environment that was encouraging my heart to be hard, the walls are melting much faster, allowing me to love more, be loved, and be filled with the joy of the Lord again.

Side Rant

I just wanted to tell the world that I am not feeling stressed about my wedding! The plans are going smoothly, and I believe we are rather on top of things. So far, at least. hehe. I am also getting an excited butterfly growing underneath my gut. Each day creeps closer to the wedding, and it gets bigger and bigger and harder to ignore. Mind you, this is an excited butterfly, not a nervous one. All the nervous butterflies can go to your gut. :P

And, by the way, who actually makes their target "wedding weight" anyways? Good grief. That's what I get for having a wedding around the holidays. And I honestly don't mind. For the first time in a long time, I've shaken the self-consciousness that has plagued me for at least 4 years.
Yes, I am a woman, and I have very seriously been embarrassed of my body. A couple of the reasons have to do with specific people, but MOSTLY the reason is called "Los Angeles." Or, specifically, the Santa Clarita Valley, that black hole that sucks away all your contentment and self-esteem. Everyone there is discontent and made out of plastic, trying in vain to purchase happiness with their credit cards. And, of course, I had the pleasure of working retail in that environment, and it honestly messed me up. For example, a co-worker at Banana Republic: probably under 5'2" WITH tall heels, altered top half (if you know what I mean), and a flat tummy. She would constantly say she was "soooo fat" and grab at her flat stomach to make it bulge a little. My body type is not that of a flat tummy (and it never will be) and I would just feel so awful hearing her say that every day. Then take all the ladies that came into the store every day wearing the clothes that I wish would look good on me, and complaining that they have to lose more weight. Oh, happy day, I do not work there or live there anymore, and I am comfortable again! It also helps to have a man that loves you for the way you are.

Rant done, commence wedding planning again. :)

The older I get, the more aware I become of my imperfections

So a couple days ago I donated a dollar to St. Jude's Hospital for Children at CVS Pharmacy when I was picking up my prescription. I think that was the very first time I said yes to something like that, and it was awesome. You know how the person on the other side of the counter just asks out of habit and expects to hear "no, not today..."? I think she was surprised that I said yes. St. Jude's has a specialist in cancer in A-T children (A-T is the name of my sister's disorder, www.atcp.org) and they had a fundraiser with Chili's a while back that I didn't get to take advantage of, so I was excited, even if it was just a dollar. I'm hoping they're still doing it when I go back this month. Do you ever say yes to those sorts of things?

Biggest event of this week so far was the snow! Penn Valley doesn't normally get snow, apparently, but this was a "big'un." I think we had 6 inches or so. I was making coffee in the wee hours of the morning and looked out the window and gasped like a little girl. I ran and turned off the lights, stuck my head inside the curtain and just looked at it. Too bad I still had to work.

Also, Christmas is coming! I am 10 million times more excited this year than I have been for the past 4 years. College apparently sucks all the festive-ness out of you... or at least it did for me. I'm getting all cozy and warm fuzzied and excited. :) I'm so excited to have a two-family-ed Christmas this year, and to give everyone their presents. hehe.

On a sort of silly note, I wish my fingers would actually get warm for once. Good grief. AND I've been craving a Snickers bar REALLY badly for the last 24ish hours. :P

Do you want to start counting down with me? Only 32 days until I don't have to say good night anymore!! Planning is still fine... not freaking out too much yet. We've had a couple of snags, but all things considered we're lookin' good. I hope everyone remembers to RSVP!

If you're an observant person, you have noticed that the title of this blog post has nothing to with its contents. Well, that is because I am currently emotionally disjointed, maybe because my fingers are cold, and I do not have the stamina to discuss the fact that the older I get, the more aware I become of my imperfections. It's just true.

God is good, all the time

hm... if I am not careful this post could turn into a novel, as I have had so many things I've wanted to blog about recently - little things. Like the fact that I get to watch the sunrise every morning from my kitchen window while I make coffee, or the fact that I'm done Christmas shopping, or the fun Grandma-like lady who is doing our cakes for the wedding, or that my house is really starting to feel like MY home. Maybe things like how awesome Muse's new album is, or how I get to help in my dad's advanced women's choir rehearsal a few times before their concert, or about my freezing trip to the snow with the Hunts to cut down Christmas trees. Or something about the chickens that poop on our porch, or the stress of finding music to play at the reception, or how much I loved the beautiful fall-colored vineyards on the way to Napa for Thanksgiving... but alas, you do not have time to read about all of those things, and I do not have time to write about them.

BUT I do have a couple things worthy of spending a little time on.

First, if you were asked to (in one minute) decide on ONE word to give me for marriage advice, what would you say? The ladies (of all ages) at my bridal shower in Hollister were asked this, and I was very intrigued by their answers. I thought you might be as well, so I decided to type them up:

• tolerance
• blind
• compromise
• work-hard - she sort of cheated ;)
• humility
• unconditional
• sleep
• romance
• forgive
• date
• laugh - #1
• listen
• thoughtfulness
• cherish
• compassion
• enjoy - #1
• laugh - #2
• laugh - #3
• flexibility
• grace
• enjoyment - #2
• selflessness
• omnipresence
• respect
• sharing
  

I think my favorite thing is that the word "laugh" came 3 times and the word "enjoy" came twice, because these might be the two words that describe Corey and I the most... with maybe a "silly" thrown in there. :)

Secondly, I know this is a little late, but I couldn't resist talking about what I am thankful for this year. I have so many reasons to be thankful to Jesus for his blessings in my life! Here we go:

1. Of course, an obvious one would be my wonderful fiance. I wish I could describe my thankfulness to the Lord for giving us to each other. He (the Lord) has used Corey's love for me to teach me so much about the magnitude of His love for each of us. I can honestly say that I am the happiest I ever remember being in the arms of my man. He is home.
2. I know many people are grateful for their families, and it might seem repetitive, but isn't it wonderful that there are families who still love each other in this rotten world? I am grateful on a base level that my family is not broken up by divorce, feuds, or anger. My heart goes out to those who hate being with their families on Thanksgiving. How blessed I am! On a greater level, I am grateful to the point of tears for the love and support of my family.
   
3. I am grateful specifically for my grandparents. Grandma "Ready-Set" Judy is an amazing example of clinging to Jesus with her whole soul, and finding her joy in Christ. Grammie and Grampie in Oregon love me and have helped with the wedding more than I deserve. I am a rotten sort of granddaughter who doesn't try hard enough to stay in touch with her grandparents. If you are that sort of grandkid, might I suggest you fix it as I am trying to do?
4. My job is such a wonderful thing. Corey's job is such a wonderful thing. We are both employed and making money (however little). Praise Jesus.
5. I am grateful for Jennifer Marie Cronk. I think I will cry if I try to say any more. Dang, too late. I love you, Jenny, and I am ecstatic that you are happy.
   
6. I am so thankful to be done with college! I did not realize how horrible the college lifestyle was for me until I was done with it. I worked myself so hard, the only possible way that I survived was Jesus. I am grateful for my time there, and grateful to be well equipped to face the adult world, but YAY that I'm done!
7. There are several other shallow-er things that I am thankful for, such as a car that works, technology that enables me to keep in contact with my friends, and music that can express the emotion of my soul. God is good, all the time.