Charleston Houses

As  I mentioned in the last post, we spent a day of our vacation in Charleston. Everyone wanted to go shopping, but I knew that Derek would love seeing all the beautiful houses in the historic section, so we ventured off on our own, towards Battery Park, and admire houses along the way. Of course I forgot to bring my fancy camera to take pictures with, but I did have the point and shoot in my purse, and Derek had fun taking pictures with that. So this post is just a collection of some of my favorites.

Summer Vaca

We went to South Carolina with Derek's family about a month ago. We left on Memorial Day and stayed on Isle of Palms in a sweet little beach house for the week. The whole family was able to make it. We totaled 11 people with all the kids included. It was great getting to spend time with all the kiddos who we don't get to see nearly enough and are growing up before our eyes.

Some highlights from vacation:

• The very short walk from our house to the beach
• Walks on the beach
• Laying by the pool
• Playing in the pool
• Playing with nephews

• Visiting Charleston

• Eating seafood
• Reading on the porch

• Celebrating Oliver's 2nd birthday

• Creating a pirate ship sand sculpture (I was more of an observer for that one)
• Time with family

• Watching movies or NBA playoffs at night
• Swimming in the ocean

And the not-so-highlight of the week: Waking up before 6 am to watch the sunrise, only to have the plan thwarted by clouds and getting attacked by mosquitoes instead.

Oh well. It was a great trip and I'm so thankful that we were all able to go and spend a week together at the beach, and for Derek's amazing parents for renting the house.

It's About *Darn* Time!

I am sure that many of you who read this blog have spent the past couple of months watching the NBA playoffs and the past week watching the NBA Finals series. And I'm sure everyone stayed up late past their bed times last night to watch LeBron James and the Heat put an end to the championship series in Game 5 at Miami, so LeBron could get his much anticipated first NBA Championship.

No? You didn't stay up for it? Me either. I'm thankful that there weren't any seats available in my family room so I was able to get to bed at a reasonable hour, and have Derek let me know the outcome when he came to bed at 2 a.m.

Even though I wimped out and didn't stay up for the whole game, I still would like to congratulate the Miami Heat and my dear husband, on their championship.

Derek has been a faithful fan and follower of LeBron James since he entered the league 9 (I think?) years ago. We have been to 2 Cavs games and 1 Heat game, and I even told Derek on Sunday that if he could get his friend Will, who is a pilot, to go with him to Miami and get them free airfare, I would put up the $300+ for a ticket to last nights game. Unfortunately for Derek, but fortunate for our checkbook, Will couldn't get off work, but Derek still reveled in the glory of last nights victory at our house, and has been sporting his number 6, LeBron James t-shirt today.  

In fact, Derek is to thank for this post. About an hour ago he asked why I hadn't blogged in a while and I told him it was because I needed his help recapping our vacation. He then interrupted and told me that I needed to do a post about Miami's championship. I asked if he wanted to guest post, and he said no, so here it is, my tribute to the Miami Heat. I'm thrilled they pulled it out and that I didn't have to watch 2 more games. Go Heat!

Kitchen Reno: The Reveal

I'm finally delivering on those promised pictures of the new kitchen! It's finally finished, but before we get to the new kitchen, take a quick look at what we started with:

And here is the finished product:

 So here's the rundown of what all we did:

• Got new appliances
• Had the cabinets painted *we did not trust ourselves to do this, so paid to have it done
• Added backsplash *Derek and his dad did that - they did an awesome job
• Took out our crazy ceiling thing and replaced the fluorescent lights with canned lights

At least those are the big things. Here are some more detailed pictures.

Our cabinet guy added this little raised bar area on the back of the island.

He also added legs to our island, bead board to the sides of the island and the sides of all the cabinets, as well as trim.

This is my favorite view. I love the stove with the backsplash, microwave and shelf with my cookbooks. Tony the cabinet guy built that shelf as well.

New lighting

We decided to use what was the back of the doors as the new fronts, and added hardware and got new hinges.

Here's a close up of the backsplash. I like it alot :)

And here's one more of the new bar area. This is the new wall Tony built on the back of the island. We got a scrap piece of granite that we were able to get cut to the right size, and Tony added those corbels to hold it up.

So...there it is! I couldn't be happier with it. I'm glad we tried to do some things ourselves, like the backsplash and the new lights over the island, but I'm also thankful that we paid to have the cabinets done. Tony did such a great job with all the extra little details, and that raised bar on the back of the island was his idea. I wasn't sure about it at first, but now, it's one of my favorite things. So it was a trade off. We could have painted the cabinets ourselves and saved a lot of money, but I don't think it would look even close to as good as it does. Also, it was really nice having someone who does kitchens for a living to help make design decisions. Overall, it wasn't the cheapest kitchen renovation, but we could have spent a lot more money. Had we purchased new cabinets or countertops we could have easily spent 2-3 times as much as we did. 

Wanna come over and I'll make you dinner?

Anne and Derek's Whole 30

Twenty-nine days ago, Derek and I decided to take the plunge and give the Whole 30 a try. The Whole 30 is a 30-day cleanse that eliminates sugar, grains, dairy, legumes and processed food from your diet. I had read about it on a blog (you can see their recap here) and as soon as I read about it, I was intrigued.

When you go to the Whole 30 website and read their reasons for why they want you to take these things out of your diet for 30 days, you wonder why you would ever eat them at all. It is kind of shocking to see some of the effects that foods that I thought were healthy, actually have on our bodies.

When I first mentioned it to Derek, he was not on board. But he's been working out a lot, and eventually decided that improving his diet could only help his efforts. It was on our drive home from North Carolina for PW and Amanda's wedding, that we decided that the following day we would give it a shot.

Derek didn't want me to blog about it at first, in case it ended up being an epic fail. But here we are on Day 29 and we have been successful. It has been hard for sure. Inconvenient mostly. But it is safe to say that we are both feeling really great and our clothes fit much better. And while I am looking forward to being able to partake in sweets when we are at a wedding or a party, I can honestly say that I am hoping that going forward, we won't change our eating habits too much from what we've been doing these last 4 weeks.

We would definitely recommend giving it a shot. Derek says that if he can do it, anyone can. If anyone is brave enough to give it a shot, here are a few of my thoughts about this 30 days.

• I spent a lot of time preparing food. Chopping up fruits and vegetables, making dinners, making Whole 30 approved snacks and breakfasts ahead of time. I spent a lot of time in my kitchen. A side note on that: For a couple of weeks during this we were remodeling our kitchen, which added an extra challenge. Luckily we had access to our fridge and stove, and our grill until 2 weeks ago when it broke. So we have had some extra challenges, but were able to stick with it. (Also, finished kitchen photos coming later this week!)
• I went to the grocery store, sometimes multiple grocery stores, a lot. Only eating fresh produce and meats means a grocery trip every 3-4 days. Some things we could only buy at Whole Foods or Fresh Market, so I had to go multiple places.
• Your grocery budget will go up. However, if you consider the long term health benefits of changing your life style, I believe its worth it. There are lots of things I don't need that I could justify spending money on, it's all about choices. You can make the choice to forgo other things so that you can eat healthy.
• Eating out is a pain. There are some places you just won't be able to go. Grabbing a quick and cheap meal is not really an option. You will be the annoying person that orders something and has to ask for it prepared a different way. And eating healthy at restaurants is expensive.

All that said, I would still say it is worth it. I have learned that if I am hungry, it's not the end of the world. I spent the first 2 weeks of this hungry. My body has learned how to feel full without bread or grains. I don't have crazy blood sugar spikes. My love handles have shrunk significantly. And as I have already mentioned...my clothes fit better! I weighed myself and took body measurements on Day 1. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but we have pictures of us at the wedding, so those will do. I'm excited to weigh myself and take body measurements again tomorrow and see the results. I'll definitely post an update on that!

Finally, to wrap up this marathon of a post, here are some links to some recipes and foods that have made this 30 days possible/enjoyable. And, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Todays Letters blog

Larabars - I recommend Apple Pie, Pecan Pie, Coconut Cream Pie and Chocolate Coconut Chew

Whole 30 muffins

Sausage, Egg and Spinach casserole

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara

Fruit Smoothies

Six

Yesterday, Derek and I celebrated six years of marriage.

 Last year we really did it up with our five year celebration, (you can read about it here, here and here and see the awesome song/music video Derek created here) but this year was much more low key. We spent the day together, grouting our new back splash in the kitchen!

Romantic, right

But the good news is the kitchen is sooooo close to being finished. Hopefully I will be back with pictures later this week or early next week.

But, back to the anniversary. I told Derek that I think we are really hitting our stride in our marriage. We are starting to think the same way now, and often times it seems we're reading each other's minds. Which has certainly not always been the case. We have this ongoing joke that whenever I am waiting for Derek for something, as soon as I lose patience and call him and ask where he is, is the exact moment he is arriving. At this point, I make myself wait til I absolutely can't anymore, and I know that once I call him, he will show up. And it has worked without fail recently.

I've heard that 7 is the magic year, that most divorces happen within the first 7 years of marriage. And as we are one day into our seventh year, I can honestly say that our marriage has grown so much in these past 6 years, and I think we are really turning a corner, from being two selfish, sinful individuals, to being a "we" instead of a "me", to putting each other before ourselves, and to kind of sharing a brain. It has been fun, and I can't wait to see the ways God continues to grow us closer to each other and closer to Him.I'm so glad I married Derek 6 years ago. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Also, we did go out for dinner to celebrate. We changed out of our work clothes and had a really tasty dinner at the Chop House. We took a self portrait at the Chop House and that was only photo to document the day.

And finally, I would be remiss not to wish a happy Mother's Day to our moms and to our wonderful friends who are moms. Derek and I are both incredibly blessed with wonderful mothers. Seriously, they are awesome. So happy Mother's Day to my mom and to Linda. We love you so much and are so blessed to be able to call you both mom.

PW & Amanda

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of heading down to North Carolina to be a part of our good friends PW and Amanda's wedding.

First of all, I have to plug PW, because he is an amazing singer and songwriter. You can check out his website here. Also, within the past couple of years, he has begun a non-profit, called The Hundred Movement, whose mission is to "rescue and restore one hundred women and children from the bondage of human trafficking in the U.S." You can check out that website here.

Anyways, PW and Amanda were getting hitched, so Derek and I arrived in North Carolina on Thursday to partake in the wedding festivities.

The weekend was a whirlwind, with lots of unexpected twists and turns, including several trips to the emergency room with PW due to an old back injury that flared up several days before the wedding. All I can say is that God is faithful and hears our prayers, because PW was in some serious pain nearly the whole day of his wedding, but for the 5 or so hours of the wedding and the reception he felt great.

The wedding and rehearsal were at Carolina Point, a new young life camp in the mountains, right on the border of North and South Carolina. The venue was beautiful. The forecast called for rain Saturday, and we all prayed that the weather would hold off, especially for the ceremony, since it was outside. Not only did the rain hold off, but it was sunny and beautiful during the ceremony. When we left that night, not even 5 minutes away from the camp, the roads were soaking wet and it looked like it had been pouring. Again, prayer.

Carolina Point

Another really cool thing about this wedding were the people in it that we got to meet. We went knowing only PW and Amanda, no other guests or members of the wedding party. But the people we met, particularly the other groomsmen, since that's who we hung out with most of the weekend, were some of the most awesome, sincere, Jesus loving people. There were 13 or 14 guys who were part of the wedding party, most of them didn't know each other before this weekend, and by the end of it they were all close friends. There really aren't words to describe how much fun we had getting to know these people and spending time with them all weekend. It is not surprising to me all of the prayers we saw answered that weekend, knowing the people that were doing the praying. The time we had with everyone was a blessing and a joy.

There's lots more I could say about the weekend, but I think I'll share pictures instead.

Beautiful Scenery - with a little cabin construction in the background :)

Me and D!

Beautiful Reception

PW & his Best Men

Lookin good Mr. Warnick

The beautiful bride

Exchanging vows

Laying hands on and praying for the couple

The kiss!

Mr. and Mrs. PW Gopal!

We had a great weekend celebrating PW and Amanda. They both love the Lord like crazy, and I know He is going to do amazing things through their marriage. We consider it an honor to be friends with them, and to be able to be a part of their wedding.