Life before we were "we"

We weren't always a "we".

Of course I can't imagine it any other way now.

It's funny to me how you can be so connected to a person.

Being a wife, a half of a whole, is such a marvelous feeling.

I told John the other day, "You are everything I never dreamed of."

That might seem a little weird to say but I must admit I didn't know how good I was getting it when I married John.

I have thought 1,000 times that I never could have asked for all of the things that John are.

He has qualities that I would have never thought to even desire, but those things I didn't even know I needed turned out to be exactly what I needed.

We are so M-F-E-O.

to read our engagement story click (here)

thanks to her and her for the beautiful photos.

DIY Pillows

(sorry for the horrible grainy iphonephotos)

Of course you do!  

Because for the price of one table-runner at that magical place called Target, you can make 5 pillows!  FIVE! That comes out to $3.59 per pillow!!

I originally got this fantastic money saving idea from my cuz on (her blog.)

We have two kinds of fabric on the table-runner: the embroidered yellow and orange and the solid tan color.  This is nice because it will give you a variety.

Here are the directions for the embroidered fabric:

(when previewing this blog John stayed on this GIF for one minute solid making ironing noises...oh how i love that boy)

Easy right?

For the tan solid fabric I followed the same directions until number 5.  Once I got there I used an iron on transfer sheet and ironed on my design to the fabric. 

This part is where you can really get creative because you can make it pretty much anything you can think of!

I searched on the internet and found some pictures of some old letters that were sent to America from Hermosillo, Mexico (where my John served his mission for two years).

The date on one of the letters was particularly special.  It was sent on our wedding date, only 126 years earlier!!  (well actually on the 25th of May but I edited it slightly...)

Ta daaaaaaaa.

Tilapia 101

Husband and I have really been trying to eat healthier.

This week we both went down 4 lbs!!!

Huzzah!

My sister sent us over a health plan and we have been trying to stick to it.

This week I went to Trader Joe's and bought loads of delicious fruits, veggies, and tilapia.

-place tilapia on a baking sheet lined with tin foil and drizzle olive oil on each side

- lightly salt and pepper each side

-zest half an orange over top of each fillet

-bake at 400 for 6 minutes then flip the fillets and bake for 3 more minutes on the opposite side.

-meanwhile in a sauce pan combine one carton of mushrooms, the other half of the zest of the orange, the juice of the whole orange, a few dashes of red wine vinegar, a tbsp of butter, and salt and fresh cracked pepper

-  bring to a boil and serve over orange zested tilapia

Yum!

Let me just say.  

I love water. 

H2O is the bomb.

We each drank 3 liters of it every day this week.

Our toilets were kept very busy all week...

I needed this today.

Today I found something that touched my soul.

First let me say:

I am a daughter of God.  

He loves me so much.

I am beautiful.

I am talented.

I am full of worth.

I am full of potential.

I am full of purpose.

These truths were not always something that I could easily say.  I have always known that I was a daughter of God but I wasn't always so sure of His love for me.  So often I have thought to myself, "There are so many people in the world.  How can He care about me?  I'm just a number, just another face in the crowd.  I am just one little person.  I don't matter."  

I can't believe how terribly wrong I was.

I was created to feel joy.

I was created to live a happy and full life.

I was made to be a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife and someday a mother.

I am here to learn and grow.

I am here to share my knowledge that I know that we are all children of God.

I cannot wait until the day that I will look in to His face and cry tears of gratitude for the love and blessings that I have received from Him.

I had never heard this song until today but it has reminded me of what is most important.

Unplugged

This past weekend we went to my old house.  

My old roomie Jenna had transformed the awful creepy basement in to a SWEET open mic stage. 

It was the Ultimate Jam Sesh! 

There had to have been 100+ people.  

It was JAM packed!  

We had to have been breaking some sort of fire code...

Hubs and I performed:

You and I

Blackbird

Remember to Breathe

I Wanna Grow Old with You


Then we did Fish or Cut Bait and Sleeping Giants with Jenna and Belen.  
You can buy her album (here).  Seriously, check it out.  Now.

Check out this video montage that shows everybody from the night.

Thanks to Lights+Camera+Love and Taylor Giddens for documenting this for all of us.


Let's do it again!

A Bachelor Party

Today my *tuttah and I went over to our parents home to surprise our mother with dinner.

*a tuttah is an endearing nickname for a lady of whom you share the same mother

She came up with a diabolical plan to surprise our mother with an afternoon of watching The Bachelor and giggling while eating the most scrumptious food.

We made: 

Poppyseed Chicken Salad with Red Grapes and Toasted Almonds on Homemade Bread

and

Raspberry and Lemon Sorbet served in Sparkling White Grape Juice

Mid way through the most horrible, trashy, and WONDERFULLY entertaining t.v. we had our dessert.

I love the companionship of women.  

There is nothing in the world like it.  

You can laugh together, cry together, dream together, and tell each other secrets that no one else in the world could understand.  It is always something that I crave.  I love the safety that is found in the unit that my mother and sister and I have.  We have an unbreakable bond and an unconditional and eternal love for each other...

...even if all we are doing is watching Brad Womack breaking hearts.

LA in May

I hope Los Angeles is nice in May because that is where we will be.

Yesterday I won a competition to be a finalist in the Classical Singer Vocal Competition.

Since we will be "pretty close" to Mexico we are just going to go ahead and hop on down to Hermosillo, which is where John served his mission and lived for two years of his life.  I can't wait to see it all.

This means that the hubs and I will be spending our one year anniversary in Mexico.

I just had an excitement spasm.

Monkey Kisses

Poem for the day:

Monkey see, monkey do.

John Murphy, I love you.

Thank you for surprising me with these ridiculously amazing hats last night.  I believed you when you told me they were ALL sold out.

You little trickster.

You must love me or something.

Do you know what happens when monkeys kiss?

They make little baby monkeys that you want to squeeze and smooch on.

We want one of these.  

But the human version.

The end.

Pee.es.

Did you notice that Mr. Murphy has new glasses.  

He looks like a yummy stud.