You've got mail

I love good movie quotes but for some reason the holidays make e think of quotes from the movie 'You've got mail'. I'd like to share a few of my favorites from this last Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks romantic comedy.

1. "Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void. "
2. "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino. "
3. "Your daring to march into the unknown with...nothing."
4. "Kevin, this is possibly the most adorable creature I've ever been in contact with and if she turns out to be as good looking as a mailbox, I would be crazy enough to turn my life upside down and marry her."
5. "But the truth is....I'm heart broken. I feel as though a part of me has died and my mother has died all over again and nothing will ever make it right."
6. "Joe Fox: You know, sometimes I wonder... Kathleen Kelly: What? Joe Fox: Well... if I hadn't been "Fox Books" and you hadn't been "The Shop Around the Corner," and you and I had just met... Kathleen Kelly: I know. Joe Fox: Yeah, yeah. I would've asked for your number. And I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling you up and saying, Hey, how about... oh, how about some coffee, or drinks, or dinner, or a movie... for as long as we both shall live? "
7. "Brinkley is my dog. He loves the streets of New York as much as I do. Although he likes to eat bits of pizza and bagels off the sidewalk and I prefer to buy them. "
8. "What will NY152 say today I wonder. I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail. I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my own heart. I have mail. From you. "
9. "Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are. "
10. "Kathleen. YOU, are a lone reed. You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce. "
11. "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does. "
12. "Have you ever become the worst version of yourself. That a pandora's box of all the hate, spite and condescension has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of walking away... you zing them. "Hello it's Mr Nasty". I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about..."
13. " Soon it will be something really depressing. Like a 'Baby Gap'. "
14. "The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."

All of these quotes make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I also just love getting anysort of mail, it makes me feel like people are thinking about me and it makes me feel loved, whethere it's snail mail or email. This is a great movie to just curl up and watch by yourself and just have a good cry. The word that keeps coming to mind is melancholy. When I'm melancholy, I watch this movie. Maybe I'll watch it tonight.

Oh, also there is a song at the end of the movie that just makes my heart flutter.

"Funny how I feel more myself with you Than anybody else that I ever knew I hear it in your voice, see it in your face You've become the memory I can't erase You could have been anyone at all A stranger falling out of blue I'm so glad it was you Wasn't in the plan not that I could see Suddenly a miracle came to me Safe within your arms I can say what's true Nothing in the world I would keep from you You could have been anyone at all An old friend calling out of blue I'm so glad it was you Words can hurt you if you let them People say them and forget them Words can promise words can lie But your words make me feel like I can fly You could have been anyone at all\ And let that catches me when I fall I'm so glad it was you"

Party Hardy?

We tried...

In our attempts to build community, Alex and I tried to throw a holiday party and bring people into our home and love on them cause those are things we both deeply enjoy. Unfortunately our plan failed. The holidays are a hard time to plan anything, nobody ever seems to do exactly what they wanted to do on the holidays or go exactly where they wanted to go.

I will be honest we extremely disappointed that we aren't even on the list of places that people want to go or even on the lists of people to invite to things. But we will make good.
I'm not posting this as a pity party, or for you to feel sorry for us but I wanted to find a discreet way to express my disappointment.

It has been so hard since Alex moved out here in June, we haven't felt like we've found our niche. No one has reached out to Alex and we feel withdrawn and unconnected with people. We have tried various housegroups and nothing really fits with our schedules and with our personalities.

But on the plus side, our fabulous, wonderful friend Lis is coming over on Friday night and I'm gonna make a lovely holiday dinner and we'll do all sorts of chistmasy things and it will be loads of fun. I am very excited. We also tried a new church this Sunday, it was awesome, so close to our house and the people were so friendly, worship was awesome and we both got a lot out of the sermon. The pastor even called me yesterday to welcome us to the church. It was very refreshing. It's nice to feel wanted.

Right now I feel like we are just working to get to California, I know the reality is we probably won't be able to go until after our March celebration, just thinking logically. We both really miss our family and I know Alex really misses his friends.

...What are blogs for if they aren't to express emotions and opinions? Thank God for freedom of speech!

In other news...

Bloggity, blog, blog, blog...

We are moving, we don't know when but hopefully soon. We have decided that we are wimps and can't handle chicago's winters anymore...No I'm just kidding, we really have been feeling a pull to go back home to Cali. We feel all the doors here are closing and tons of doors out there are opening, so right now we are just praying for timing and trying to prepare ourselves for the big move. Alex has sent out his resume, hopefully he'll get hired by someone who wants to pay to relocate us, that would be pretty sweet, but I'm working on trusting that if this is what God wants for us then he will provide.

I'm so excited to be social again, it has been so hard out here, everyone has been so busy, including me and I think that some people have this idea that now that I'm married I don't want to hang out anymore. WRONG! Even my own mother said, "you know, now that your married, you don't have to call me as much, I understand." Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my husband, but I spend everyday with him, we have an appointed date night every week so we never really have to worry about not spending enough time together.

I AM a SOCIAL person and I need people, lots of people around me, I think I've been isolating myself and kind of turning introverted lately because I've been so tired and stressed with all the changes in my life recently but I'm starting to recover and seriously feeling the void of females in my life. I work all day with men, I come home to a man, when I go to the gym, all men. You get the picture? I am excited to go back to cali and start up some women's ministy type things in our church and really invest in the women out there. I am excited to start acting again at the LPAC. It's been so long. I'm excited to be on a worship team again. I'm excited to get a kitty and a puppy which we are going to do once we get out to cali;). I'm excited to start saving for our baby fund which we'd like to start working on having a baby withing the next 2 years.

Overall, I have mixed feelings, I am sad about losing my life and friends out here but very excited to start my new life with my husband out west with our families.

On a completely separate note, I'm taking a poll, just curious what everyone's favorite Christmas song is. Leave a comment with your fave please.

...Peace out G...

Pictures from Thanksgiving...

Me and Elvis on the streets of Nashville.

Is it just me? Or is it hot in here?

Ho Ho Ho! What!? It's the day after Thanksgiving!

My pops and my husband at The Grand Ole Opry.

The Holidays

This Thanksgiving, my husband and I drove the 9 hours to Athens, Alabama to visit my dad. When we arrived the dinner was incomplete and my dad looked completely helpless and did not know what to do. I ended up cooking our thanksgiving dinner and it turned out great. Our Thanksgiving day was probably very similar to many other peoples, we drove a long distance, we watched football, and we ate probably more than we should have. I realized I was so caught in being anxious about Alex and my dad meeting and spending Thanksgiving with my two guys, I forgot to be thankful. This really disappoints me, Thanksgiving is usually my favorite holiday for many reasons, I love fall, the colors of the leaves, the weather, the family time, and most of all, a day where everyone can think about what they are most thankful about. So, a few days late, I'm posting my list.

Things I am thankful for this year;

• God's mercy and continuous blessings in my life
• Alex
• My family (both old and new)
• My friends who have stuck by me and have supported me even when I couldn't see it.
• (with gritting teeth) my job.

This is just my condensed list.

I am looking forward to the rest of the holiday season and being able to really appreciate the meaning of Christmas. (On a side note, I just realized, I have been blogging since last December, it's almost been a year. Pretty crazy huh? If you'd like to checkout what I had to say last Christmas here's a link)

More on our Wedding

Ok, so my previous posts were kind of brief, so I want to go a little more in depth about our Vegas Wedding.
No, it wasn't my dream wedding. But it wasn't supposed to be. I wanted the most meaningful thing about that day to be that I married Alex Branning, not that I looked amazing (which I didn't), not that there where beautiful flowers everywhere, and not that we had a giant production.

We chose to have a small wedding with only our immediate families. It was incredibly meaningful, it wasn't pretty, this is why I don't have lots of pictures I want to share. The prettiness will come in March. But the pastor who officiated our wedding struck our hearts and even if I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt I still would have only noticed one thing, that Alex and I were being joined together in the presence of God. I was almost in shocked at how strong I felt God's presence there with us. As soon as I started walking down the aisle the tears started streaming and didn't stop until Alex kissed me. My vows came out almost at a whisper and before I knew it, we were married.

So, no. It wasn't the perfect wedding day, in the way that you would normally catergorize a perfect wedding. But to me it was the perfect wedding because I became Alex's wife on that day.

A couple of Pictures

So this is us right after the wedding, his mom got everone bubbles (defenitly not my idea). So that's why their are bubbles everywhere. These are our wedding rings.

Please keep in mind that these are not the professional pictures. Our big day to have nice pictures will be in March.