Just a quick hello to slip in the link to our wedding website. I made it a while ago but never added much to it. Once the invites went out and the website was on the invitations I knew I needed to finish this baby off.

So here it is, a very abbreviated snap shot of how 4 years of friendship lead to 3 years of being in a relationship which in turn lead to 1 year of being engaged!  And we are now only 75 days away from being Man and Wife.

Remember how I was all excited to redecorate my hall bathroom? Yea....I was maybe just a tad niave as to how easy that was going to be.


I present to you the problem. You see the people that lived there before us tried to use this special plaster on the wall to make it look... stucco? Maybe they just wanted some texture, I don't know. What I do know is that I don't like it and that its peeling off and leaving a nice white spot as you can see in the picture.



See the "texture" I'm talking about? Its not the style they were going for that bothers me, its that it was poorly done and looks sloppy and unfinished in most places in the bathroom. Since it appeared to be flicking off quite easily (I couldn't help but pick at it everytime I saw it, much to Mark's chagrin) I had the brilliant idea to just scrape all of the yucky plaster off the walls, prime what was underneath and then paint it fresh since it had nice flat plaster job underneath it all.


So in all my first time home owner, DIY bathroom redecorater niavity I decide to get out a putty knife at oh... 9pm on Friday.... thinking that I would have the plaster off the walls in no time.

Getting ready to leave for my long run... I am trying to get excited about it but 10 miles seems daunting! Nevertheless my race is only 5 weeks away, so the training needs to be happening in full force with determination! No time for being lazy or anxious!

Wanting to keep to what I said in an earlier post, I have chosen a new bible verse for the run. Needing to be filled with love, peace and a grateful heart this morning for all God has done for me.

"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."

Colossians 3:14-16

, Here's a picture of our bathroom... showing a nice view from the tub.  Everything is tan. Tan walls, tan counter top, tan flooring and tan tile in the shower. So, needless to say, it needs some color!

I've registered for bronze bathroom fixtures like soap dish/dispenser etc. because I like the way the bronze will look against the counterops and flooring. My orignal thought was to paint the walls green but I can't find a shower curtain that will complement green walls!

I've already admitted that I am unashamedly addicted to pinterest, but unfortunately most of the things I pin don't ever make it off of the computer screen and into real life. Today however, I can pat myself on the back because not only did I actually MAKE something I saw on pinterest, I did it on a SEWING MACHINE. This girl - who sewed the top of her apron to the bottom of her apron when her grandma tried to teach her to sew - made 2 pillow slip covers! By MYSELF. And... wait for it... I even figured out how to thread the bobbin. I'm not going to lie. I was pretty pleased with myself.

Here's the link to my pinterest which will take you to the site that the original idea came from.

Here's my take on the instructions:

1.) Buy your choice of fabric and either pillow forms or old pillows that need to be covered.
 2.) Measure and cut fabric. Width should be 1 inch wider than your pillow and length should be 2 1/2 times longer than your pillow.
 3.) Lay fabric down so the side you want shown is facing you. Fold up about 1/3 of the length of the fabric and then fold 1/3 of that back down. Its hard to see in this picture because of the way the fabric is but if you look close you can see how I've folded the fabric up so the white side is showing and then back down to see the cowboys side again.
4.) Now fold the top of the fabric down so that you partially cover the fold you made in the previous step. There should be a just a little strip of the fabric that you want to see showing.

Today I took a dip in the Freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean! Every year my work makes up a Polar Plunge team to raise money for the Special Olympics of VA and then one chilly day in February we join with thousands of other people to get together and run like lunatics into the ocean.

It's really quite invigorating.

This year my family came down to watch my crazy antics and I talked my brother into plunging into the freezing depths of the ocean. I thought it would take some coaxing to get him to do it but apparently he's just as crazy as I am and went right along with it!

First I briefed him on the proper way to plunge into the ocean, seeing as I'm an experienced plunger, having done this last year you see.

1.) Rule #1 you must RUN not WALK into the ocean, lest you lose your nerve
2.) Rule #2 you must completely submerge yourself into the depths of the water, even if it only comes up to your knees
3.)Rule #3 you must scream like a wild banchee the entire time. (He didn't comply with this rule for some reason)

After the rules were set we were off! Not only did we run in and out of the water once, but three times! And yes. We went all the way under. We could barely feel our feet as we ran back up the beach to our towels and it took us a good 1-2 hours to warm our bodies back up! But not only did we raise money for the Special Olympics but I made great memories today with my brother! He even wants to do it next year.

Pictures soon :)

My 7 and 1/2 miles on Wednesday went fantastic! Loved using my new watch to help keep me on pace so that I'm averaging a little under a 10 minute mile... if I'm able to keep that up for another 6 miles I'll be beating a personal record at the Shamrock, so I'm encouraged by that! I just need to stick to my training schedule and make training a top priority. But with that being said, I'm also reminding that physical training and self discipline should not be THE top priority in my life.

As I was having lunch with one of my dearest friends a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about our physical training and she brought up the fact that the time she was taking to shape her physical, temporary body was out weighing the time she spent training her eternal soul so she said she came up with the idea to take a new scripture verse or passage to the pool with her and to meditate and memorize the scripture during her swims.

I immediately thought of the passage in 1 Corinthians:


I loved her idea but hadn't put it into practice in my own training. Until now. This need to train my spirit along with my body has been a constant nagging in my mind over the last couple of weeks and I know God is inviting me to spend more time meditating on His Word. Because I don't want to turn down an invitation from my King, I'm going to try memorizing a new passage of scripture on all my long runs. And the first, because I've been struggling with having a true generous spirit, is listed below.

With my wedding less than 4 months away I am beginning to feel the pressure of umm well... not necessarily losing weight per say.... but toning up what I already have. Thats not to say that I wouldn't be thrilled if I lost about 10 pounds in the process but my mom always taught me that we should exercises to be healthy and feel good about our bodies, not to meet a certain number on the scale. SO my mission to feel good not only in me wedding dress but in some honeymoon attire as well [*wink wink*] has officially begun!

I tried to start this process back in November when I was training for the Freedom Half Marathon in Norfolk. I planned to train and then keep up my training through March when I planned to run the Shamrock 1/2. Well I finished the 1/2 marathon in November (3 min slower than my personal best *sad face* but I did get a pretty sweet medal for finishing...see below!) only to be diagnosed with mono a week later. Thus all training not only came to stop but began backsliding in a rapid, ugly fashion to the point where a 1/2 mile FELT like a 1/2 marathon. Thanks to Mono all my hard work was gone and it's taken until now to feel back in shape to start pushing myself hard  during workouts and being able to endure more than a few times a week.

My first long run since Mono is tomorrow morning! 7 miles... EEK! But I'm excited because I got a fancy new Timex GPS watch for Christmas that I haven't had a chance to try out on a longer run!

With countless hours spent on researching wedding ideas over the past 7 months and deciding what kinds of things I wanted to have at my reception and which ones I could leave out, having a photo booth was on the top of that list. That was until I found out just how expensive they were.

I knew it wasn't in our budget to pay the typical $950+ asking price by most companies around here so I began toying with idea of making our own photo booth. Pinterest has several DIY tutorials that I began searching through. While setting up the backdrop for a photo booth seemed simple enough, I never could work out the logistics of who would take the pictures and if we could get the pictures printed instantly with good quality and without costing a fortune to pay for the ink required to print all of these pictures! Especially since I loved the idea of having one print for guests and one print for the guest book. So even though I kept coming back to the idea I always left it feeling thoroughly disappointed.

That was until Living Social came out with a deal... $250 for 2 hours of photo booth entertainment from Smash Elite Entertainment Photo Booth! Now Groupon had had a similar deal a couple of months ago that I checked in to, but they didn't have my date available. So when I saw this new deal on Living Social I called them up immediately. As I spoke to the lady on the phone and she looked to see if May 12th was available I'm pretty sure I was holding my breath. I knew that if this didn't work out I would have to give up all hopes of having a photo booth at my reception. When she came back on the line saying May 12th was open I definitely let out a big, loud, excited "YES!" (Sorry lady on the phone for possibly hurting your poor eardrum.)

I'm so thankful that we were able to find a photo booth that fit in our budget! God is so good to give me these little blessings.

I can't believe I haven't updated since before Thanksgiving! Apparently I'm not so good at keeping up with this blogging thing when things get busy...

I could tell you about all the craziness [good and bad] that has ensued in my family since my last post, including scary ER visits with family members and traveling for a wonderful Christmas spent with 33 of my closest family members in one house, but I'll spare you all of the details. We'll just say things are somewhat back to normal now and my wedding is only 111 days away!!!

Now normally I am not a procrastinator, but when it came to buying my wedding dress I was so afraid of making a commitment to one dress that I put off the actual purchase until this past weekend.... but I am so glad that I did!

The very first time I went to try on gowns I found one that I liked, one that seemed to suit my personality, but I was so overwhelmed with all of the different style choices I couldn't bring myself to make a decision at that time. The second time I went I had narrowed down the style choices and my favorite out of all the ones I tried on was the same one that I liked the first time, but I still wasn't 100%. I left the bridal shop that day feeling like that would probably end up being my dress but I wanted to try a different bridal shop just to make sure... because at this point I had plenty of time! Well I had the week of Thanksgiving off and made an appointment with Williamsburg Bridal and Formal, just to make sure there wasn't anything better out there! Unfortunately I ended up with Mono and my brother ended up spending that week in the ICU... (some of those ugly details I spoke about earlier)...so that trip never came to be, but in the long run I guess it was a good thing!

After the craziness of the holidays, it hit me just how close my wedding actually was and just how much I needed to make a decision on a dress! We still have family in town so this past Saturday several of my female cousins, my aunt, grandma, mom and sisters went back to David's Bridal to get my dress. I decided before going in that I wouldn't try on any new dresses just the one I had liked from the time before to confirm the size. My sister Erin had different plans. She pulled a dress off the rack (a new style that just came out in January) and convinced me to try it on... playing along like the good sister I am I put the dress on, walked out of the room and absolutely fell in love! There was always something about the other dress that I wasn't quite sure about, something that didn't make me jump at the chance of buying it the first 2 times I tried it on. As soon as I saw myself in this new dress I new it was the one.

So for once in my life I am thankful for my procrastination... and also my sisters good eye not only for fashion but for what kinds of fashion looks good on me! I am so excited about this dress, I wish I could post pictures or even describe it, but at the same time I want to keep it completely secret until May!

One last note... my wedding dress is scheduled to arrive by May 7th... my wedding day is May 12th!!! I am so glad I didn't put it off one more weekend!

I know I posted a picture a while back of the house that Mark and I had just started the process of buying... we were in the early stages then and we thought it seemed like forever before we would close on the house and officially own it. But that day has come and passed. Mark signed the papers on November 18th, and while my name is not on the deed yet because we're not married, this house belongs to us. I was able to go over to the house this past Saturday and with the help of my mom and sister, cleaned the house from top to bottom. We scrubbed the tubs, the sinks, the shelves, the kitchen counters and cabinets. We dusted, vacuumed, swept and mopped. We opened the blinds to let the sunshine fill the empty house again and opened windows to let the fresh air in. This day was a dream a come true. Ever since we started looking for houses I dreamed about the day that I would go to the house after it was ours to clean it and make it just that - really ours. As I was cleaning I felt like I was washing away all of the things the walls of the house had seen and heard from the family that lived there before us. I felt like I was wiping the slate clean and preparing the walls to host new adventures...adventures that will without a doubt bring both laughter and tears, struggles and victories, and joy and sorrow through a variety of life's issues.

So New House, you are cordially and emphatically invited to take a front row seat to witness the early days of what will one day soon (165 days to be exact) be the Mr. and Mrs. Mark Poindexter family. Enjoy.

Okay... so I didn't do too amazing on my 7 month wedding check list. Out of the 20 things that needed to get done, I accomplished only 7... YIKES! But no worries, I just hired our DJ Sunday night and it motivated me to keep on top of our wedding plans and try to get major decisions in before the craziness of the holidays. I also prioritized a little and decided some things could wait until January before final decisions have to be made.

So whats on the list for the rest of November?

1.) Buy a Dress! - Isn't this one of the first things Bride's get done when it comes to wedding plans? Why is    
                             it taking me so long to decide?! But my appt with Williamsburg Bridal and Formal on  
                            11/22 will help me make up my mind!
2.) Purchase Save the dates - I've already found adorable Save the Date magnets from Libby James, so I
                                              will probably do this in the next week.
3.) Set aside block of rooms at nearby hotel - no reason why this shouldn't get done in the next few days!
4.) Finalize Invitations - I already have these picked out too! I just need to work on the wording and  
                                      finalize the time of the ceremony.
5.) Finalize guest list so I know how many invitations/save the dates to order!

I should be able to handle five tasks right? Maybe if these get accomplished before December I can add new things to the list!

6 more months. *sigh*

Oh! I was totally a slacker and didn't post pictures of my epic pumpkin cake failure... so here's a little summary of what happened:

In Gary Thomas' book "Sacred Marriage" he poses the question, "What if God designed marriage to make us holy rather than happy?"

If you've grown up in a church setting as I have, you've probably heard of or seen your church put on marriage conferences or maybe marriage classes for the Wednesday night bible study. Some popular classes at my church, which my parents have often lead and facilitated thanks to their strong example of a christian marriage, have included "Love and Respect", "Fireproof", and "For Men/Women Only". Mark and I have read the last 2 books at the suggestion of our parents in preparation for our marriage and these books largely focus on how to better understand your spouse in order to improve your marital relationships. I enjoyed reading those books and with out a doubt gained insight into how a man is designed and what he needs, but this book by Gary Thomas takes the focus off of building a better marriage. It shows that marriage can be the avenue for experiencing a deeper relationship with God.

Not that bettering your marriage (or preparing for my eventual marriage) is wrong, in fact I believe this is a good thing. But shouldn't our main focus, whether we are single or married, be on developing a closer, deeper, more intimate relationship with God? Because in light of eternity, that is the relationship that counts. There will be no marriage at the resurrection, except for that of Christ and his Church. The relationship between husband and wife can reveal the character flaws that God is trying to correct in our lives.

I just finished chapter 6 (out of 13) which was titled "The Cleansing of Marriage". It spoke about how his marriage has held a mirror up to his own sin. Forcing him to honestly face his flaws and selfishness. He quotes an author that says "Sometimes what is hard to take in the first years of marriage is not what we find out about our partner, but we find out about ourselves."

This book has challenged my thinking on preparing for my future role as a wife. I need to purpose to not only understand the way God designed Mark in order to understand how Mark is thinking and communicating his needs so we can grow closer as a couple, but to view my relationship with Mark as a platform for growing closer to God. I need to view my future marriage as a way to be cleansed spiritually, to view it as a spiritual discipline. My main focus on entering this marriage should not be on becoming emotionally fulfilled or romantically charged (though I am excited about those things and believe those can be a result of a godly marriage for sure!). My predominant reason for entering this marriage should be so that I can become more like Jesus Christ.

 I'm thankful for my dear friend Robyn who gave this book to me as an engagement present of sorts, for she is always spurring me on in my relationship with Christ. Urging me not to become satisfied with the things of this world or lose track of my eternal focus. God gave her to me to be my iron, and I only pray I return the favor in our relationship.

I'm excited to continue reading and gaining new insight. This should definitely make it on your "to read" list. [Or am I the only one that has one of those? :)]

its the season, maybe its the thought of soon becoming a housewife, or maybe its just my mouth watering, but whatever the case yesterday afternoon was spent doing some much anticipated fall baking!

The set up:






 It turned out so much better than I thought it would! My fiance, who happens to be a very picky eater, even enjoyed it! [success!]

Overall the baking yesterday proved to be very therapeutic. This is why I've already planned out my next baking adventure, which is also inspired by my internet obsession.

However this will have to wait for another day because Noah's 13 birthday is today, so we're spending the afternoon celebrating with him!

I'll be sure to post pictures of my pumpkin cake baking process when I do finish it!
Happy Fall Baking everyone!



P.S.
Thanks Mallory Kessler for helping with the photos!

What a weekend!!!