Pearls

For some reason, my son loves pearls.  Really, he loves any kind of jewelry--necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.  He will go to any woman with a necklace or interesting earrings and he always wants to chew on Drew's rubber Bound4Life bracelet.

But pearls are his favorite.  He lights up when he sees them.  I don't even have to be wearing them!

Last weekend, my mother-in-law was wearing pearls.  After Gabriel almost broke the clasp trying to eat them, she took them off and let him play with them along with her phone.

Needless to say, Gabriel was in heaven:

Please can I play?

Look at my pearly whites, Mom!

Crazy eyes!

Continued...

Last night, I asked Drew about our first Valentine's Day.  Turns out, he has a better memory than I do!  Who'd have thought?!

He reminded me that he sent me roses.  And not boring old red ones, either!  He sent me a dozen mini Israeli roses.  They were the most beautiful color--pink/peach.  I loved them!

Five Years

In some ways, it's hard for me to comprehend that this is my fifth Valentine's Day with Drew.  Yet in other ways, it feels like it's been forever.  In a good way, of course! ;)

Our first Valentine's Day was spent apart.  We'd been dating for almost a year and Drew sent me a package in the mail.  It's sad; I don't remember what it was!  I do remember the most important part, though:  the beautiful card that was included. <3

Our second Valentine's Day was a month before we got married.  I was living with my aunt and uncle in Southlake, Texas.  We had made reservations to go out, but at the last minute, we decided to give the reservations to my aunt and uncle.  Drew grilled some steaks while I made some mashed potatoes and we had a nice romantic dinner while we babysat my five cousins!

Our third Valentine's Day was our first as a married couple.  Drew went all out on the presents!  Then, I made a special dinner for just the two of us.  It was amazing, and I don't mind saying so!

Our fourth Valentine's Day is when Drew surprised me with tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera.  I wrote a blog about it here.

This year, Drew and I celebrated yesterday, as it was more convenient for our wonderful babysitter, Abbey.  We dropped him off at 2 and went put-putting, which is one of our favorite "couple" activities. :) Afterwards, we went to Texas de Brazil.  It's Drew's favorite restaurant, and it's pretty spanky!  We were planning on going to the Melting Pot, which is my favorite restaurant, but when we called to make reservations, we discovered that they didn't have their traditional menu this weekend.  Lame.  Needless to say, we're planning on going there for our anniversary.  The evening was finished off with a movie.

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our fifth Valentine's Day together.  Sorry, no pictures because I failed hardcore at taking them. :p

When Inspiration Hits...

I've started writing again.

Drew left his job at the beginning of November and has yet to find a new one.  As we are without an income, Drew broached the subject of me getting a job.  It wasn't too intense of a conversation, although the thought did make me want to cry.

See, before we got married, we agreed that I would be a stay-at-home mom for as long as we had kids in the house.  It's all I've ever wanted to do.  It is my personal belief that the greatest job a woman can ever have is to shape tomorrow by raising her children to the best of her ability.  Other women can go out and get careers.  Me?  I just want to be a mommy.

However, if Drew isn't able to find a job, there is no reason why I should refuse to.  My husband is more than capable of staying home with Gabriel.

Drew suggested, facetiously (as it's a conversation that we have rehashed dozens of times), that I get a job that will utilize my degree.  Well, my degree is in English... and I still lack one class.  I got a little frustrated.

And then Drew said the most amazing thing:  "Why don't you write a book and make money?  Treat your writing like a job."

"I can do that."  I said, as if realizing it for the first time.  I did not have any inspiration, but I promised to pull out my files and see what ideas I had been working on before college decided to kick my bum.

Nothing jumped out at me, leaving me more than a little disappointed.

Then last night, I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, when inspiration just hit.  God started downloading an idea into my head that I know I could have never come up with on my own.

So I wrote it down.  I have to say that I'm more excited about this idea than I have ever been about any other idea.

God is awesome.

The End.

New Year

I am not usually one for New Year's resolutions, the reason being that my resolutions are always things that are completely out of reach:  spend an hour with God every day; erase soda from my diet; spend less time online; et cetera.  But this year, Drew and I decided to make our resolution together.

Now, before I say what it is, I would like to clarify something.  Drew and I rarely fight.  If we do fight, it's usually about our different understandings of the word "clean" in relation to our house. ;) However, we do argue somewhat frequently; both of us are argumentative people.  It's unfortunate, but true.

(Drew seems to think that I like to argue because my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice and because Darcy and Elizabeth argue a lot.  I argue that this reason is silly.  Haha.)

In any case, Drew and I have decided that our New Year's resolution is not to argue with each other anymore.  It's going to be difficult, but totally worth it.  With both of us having the same resolution, I'm hoping we'll be able to make it last the whole year.

We will probably fail at least a few times.  But the point of this resolution is not to attain a perfect marriage.  We simply want to create a lifestyle of harmony and an atmosphere of peace in our home.  We have made this resolution with the understanding that both of us are going to come up short.

It's the awareness of how much we argue and how detrimental it could potentially be to our relationship that we want to address.  It's the recognition that arguing is unnecessary to our marriage that we want to acknowledge.

In addition to having a "couple's resolution," I also have a personal one.  It's actually more of a reading list.  But I don't think I'll have a problem with that one. ;)