MATRON MONDAYS \\ LOVE + MARRIAGE pt 2

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Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Here is part two of my little interviews with friends who are engaged or newlyweds! I can't believe how many friends are in this stage of life with me. I always get excited with each friend who gets engaged. Admittedly, I am not one of those girls who cries from excitement (laughter/embarrassment--yes), so my excitement is best expressed by a peppering of questions. Since I am so fresh off the wedding planning train, I am always ready to answer questions and help out!

Until then, here are some more really beautiful friends.




What are two things you love about your fiance?

1. He is GREAT with handling all of his finances. Such a comforting feeling.


2. He had never mentioned anything ever about having a crush on a celebrity! So pretty much I have no idea what his "type" is besides me... which is important if you're a girl!
(I obviously have tons of deep reasons that I love him, but those are two that I have been thinking about recently!)

What are the two hardest things about being engaged?

1. Every issue that comes up feels so much more important because we know we will be together for the rest of our lives. The stakes are higher so it's sometimes hard to overlook things like we would when we were dating.

2. Since he has been stable in his job pretty much our entire relationship, he is not as worried about finances as I am. Since I graduate in May, I want to be able to contribute to our finances as much as possible. So I've been putting tons of pressure on myself to find a job before I graduate. I am quickly realizing that I need to stop putting so much pressure on myself and realize that God is in complete control of that (and everything else)!

When is your wedding date?

July 26, 2013 • So we are about 3 months away!

Matt & Allison currently live in The Woodlands, TX. Matt is a Student Pastor and Allison is currently finishing up her degree at University of Texas in Austin. This is a crazy fun year of weddings for Matt and Allison. Allison's older sister got married in January. Matt's older brother, Kris, will be getting married this May. 





What are two things you love about your fiance?


84 days and counting. I am SO ready to be Mrs. Corey David Robinson. In all seriousness, I truly believe the Lord put His very, very best within this man, which is why it comes with no surprise that so many others hold him with as much regard as I do. He's amazing. Never in my life have I met a more humble and genuine individual as he, and it would be my honor to serve him and stand by him 'til the end of my days.


What are the two hardest things about being engaged?

We are so much better together than we are apart. Unfortunately, our entire two-year dating relationship has been long distance, so I'll sometimes find myself curled up in fetal position at the edge of my bed because I miss him so much. Flying out every two or three months to spend only a few days with each other hardly eases the pain of separation.. I miss my best friend. Corey and I are both looking forward to the day when there will no longer be a 1,600mi gap between us. So we just keep reminding ourselves, 84 more days. 84 more days then the world will be all cotton candy and unicorns again. Hallelujah.


 When is your wedding date?
July 7th in Los Angeles! 

 Mavicar currently lives in Los Angeles while her talented fiance, Corey, lives in The Woodlands,TX. Mavicar is studying to be a nurse and is a super talented worship leader. Corey is a graphic designer & photographer. These two lovelies are great friends with my husband! 

 *Special thanks to (my friend) Tessa J. Photography for the lovely picture of Mavicar from their Austin Engagement Session! 
What are two things you love about being married?

One of the best things of marriage, is quality time with John. We are two busy bees (especially myself) and our time together is so dear and precious. Whether its shopping, cooking, playing cards, long walks, or Saturday mornings in bed when we refuse to set an alarm. I LOVE that the time spent with my husband, makes us fall more in love each day! Its so nice to be able to sit down for dinner and not have to think, oh yea, I have to head back to my house after this... Shoot! Your house is with me now! This time is so important to a marriage. I think stopping to take time to share life with your best friend is one of the best medicines for marriage.

Building our lives together is one of the most amazing things to do alongside my husband. I am a planner and a dreamer and it is so wonderful to talk with John about where we want to be in our lives 5, 10, 50 years from now. Talking about what we want to be when we “grow up” and how we will accomplish those things is so fun. From opening a music studio to creative marketing to dabbling in real estate, sometimes, our dreams are quite diverse. But what I love so much about John and our marriage is that we share our visions. Our dreams become one another’s and we pursue them together.


What are your two biggest challenges of marriage?

During engagement, I remember hearing so much about the challenges of marriage. “The first year is the worse,” “the honeymoon WILL end,” etc. As soon as I would hear something like this I would think to myself, yea, but not for John and me. Not a good idea. Engagement is the puppy love before marriage. You think you can be the exception to the norm and all of these sad stories about marriage could never be about you. But the truth is, sometimes marriage can be a little sticky. And it is okay.

One of my biggest challenges came a few months into being married when I realized the entirety of my vows and what marriage meant. Eternity with every beautiful thing I love about my husband, but also everything that can drive me crazy (I do love those parts as well). I felt anxious, alone (what kind of newlywed thinks like this??) and sad. We want to live in different cities! We want to have kids at different times! We are SO different! Luckily, I married the most caring and patient man in the world. Between him, and time with the Lord, my heart was slowly healed and transformed from being scared of the uncertainty before us, to excitement about our future.

Our other challenge, is work and opposite schedules have been the biggest pain in the butt during our first year of marriage. John often works late nights and long hours at the airport while I work two part time jobs and take a gross amount of graduate classes. At times, our schedules are totally backwards. This leads to us missing one another, which leads to frustration, which leads to bickering, which leads to tears, etc. We have had to be pretty strategic in making sure we spend quality time with one another and have found that we need it to function and to alleviate some of the symptoms of our busy lives during this season.

John & Mina currently live in Springfield, MO. These two lovely people will celebrate their 1-Year Anniversary on June 15th! I had the privilege of attending college with Mina's husband, John. 


MATRON MONDAYS \\ LOVE & MARRIAGE

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I'm so excited about the site refresh. As a creative I feel like I am my worst client when it comes to designing for myself. This weekend was awesome! I had the privilege to brush up on my camera skills at my bestie's first photography workshop, OHHH Snap!. It was spectacular! I met a local food blogger, a few teachers, some nurses + a few mommas. I was shocked I was the only graphic designer there! It was such a fun mix of generations, learning how to use the camera on manual modes and fully understanding aperture, iso and shutter speed. Practice is practice!




Welcome to my new series MATRON MONDAYS . Each week I plan on posting about marriage or the home. My hope with this series, is to get a conversation started. Over the next few weeks, you will hear from some of my friends who are newlyweds o engaged. This month marks the halfway point of our first year of marriage. It baffles me to think of how many people told us the first year is the hardest. I honestly thought dating + the engagement was harder, but I'm totally learning that the first year of marriage has it's challenges in different ways.


What are two things you love about being married?

I love being able to dream about the future together... owning a Tumbleweed tiny house on wheels, buying land, gardening, and being self-sufficient. It is so much more inspiring and real when your partner is motivated and passionate about the same things as you are. Creativity is always nurtured while dreaming together; more than it ever was when I was single and unsure of my future.

As simple as this may sound, I thoroughly enjoy having a cuddle buddy when I fall asleep at night. I love being able to run my fingers through his hair and watch him fall asleep peacefully after a long hard day of working and learning. Just watching someone fall asleep and being able to cuddle with them seems to give you a sense of sentiment and appreciation that can easily get misplaced throughout your normal, daily routine.

What is hard about being married?

One of the things that I am struggling with the most is our time together. Our schedules just never match up. Since we have school and work on our plates, it makes it very rare to have spend quality time together.

Another thing that is really hard about being married (at least during our season of life) is the fact we get to do all of this dreaming of the future together with no means to act on it at the moment. When you are young and first starting out, you don't normally get to buy your own house and do all of the things that you are blessed to do when you are more established. So the waiting period is the hardest for me. We have to set our dreams on a shelf in our one bedroom apartment in the city, and keep dreaming of the land in the countryside.

Cody and Bre currently live in Nashville! They will celebrate their 1-Year Anniversary on May 27th. Cody is a close friend of my husband & use to be in a band with him. Cody is currently at Belmont studying Audio Engineering. The guy is a musical creative & Bre is a jewelry maker! 




What are two things you love about your fiance?

1. He loves God!

2. He has this special light about him...I call it the Taylor M. light. Everyone who is close to him knows what I'm talking about. He's a magnet! (I agree with Monica! I know this guy, and he is positively the sweetest, most magnetic guy you could meet. His heart is huge!) You want to be around him. His heart is so beautiful.

What are the two hardest things about being engaged?

1. Being engaged and not having a wedding date set! Which means not being able to plan. Double !!!!

2. The waiting. Waiting to start our life together!! I'm SO ready and SO excited. He is my soulmate! I'm ready to get this show on the road!

Do you have a date set?
No date set, but would really really love a January 2014 winter wedding. 

Taylor & Monica currently live in The Woodlands, TX. Monica is just a little trendsetter! She is an up-and-coming pop artist and rock-star Jewelry designer!  




What are two things you love about your fiance?

1. I love that Cody has such a beautiful heart of worship and sings and plays for the Lord. 

2. I also love his face. He's hot!

What are the two hardest things about being engaged?

1. Being engaged is awesome, but it sucks at the same time. Saying goodnight is really hard for us, because we are just ready to finish up a lonnnngg hard day of work and fall asleep together.... I'm very much looking forward to that when we are married. Being able to just relax at night together and not have to say goodnight and good bye. 

2. And of course the obvious. We are getting closer, and want to get CLOSER if you know what I mean (wink wink)!!!! It's hard to resist the temptations, but the day is coming soon, and I get him for the rest of my life. So we are being patient!!! ( hehehehe )

Do you have a date set?

My wedding date is June 7th.

Cody + Britta currently live in Albuquerque. Cody is a worship leader & Britta is a videographer. Cody is yet another friend of the husband and former band mate. I am most excited for this wedding, because I get to finally travel to New Mexico & see more of America. 


** All Photographs Courtesy of  Bre, Monica & Britta.** 

MATRON MONDAYS

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Our weekends are usually not low key. Jimmy plays electric guitar, so most weekends he is scheduled to play at a few different churches in the area. This weekend was a unicorn weekend (they do exist). One of those weekends where we both had a clear schedule to just relax and unwind. Saturday we had time with our friends. The husband hit up the gun range with his man friends and I had some brunch crepes at the only French Cafe in town. I also was able to go to my happy place, the country. Spent some time getting a few shades darker by the pool. The relaxation had by the two of us separately joined together in our evening homebody party. We always say we're boring. We hit up the hulu and went to bed before 10pm.

Sunday was yet another unicorn like day. We got ready for church together, ate breakfast together & drove to church together. If you are a spouse to a musician at church, you know how rare this kind of Sunday is. I'm such a creature of habit, once I'm ready for church I am ready. Here's the deal, I absolutely hate being late to church. I blame it on my grandma who would be at service an hour early for prayer meeting. I was at church an hour early until I got my drivers license. Sunday is that bizarre day where breakfast never existed. Maybe the message soaks in better on an empty stomach, or getting ready & out the door is more important than food. That was until I met my husband. The dude is not a functioning member of society without breakfast -- Sundays included. On days off, my guys is on leisure time as opposed to his call-time punctuality. All those who have been married longer than 3 days know what "discussions" happen in moments like this. In the end, we were on time for church.

Since we are young, wild & free, we like to explore. So we drove around Houston all day. Ate terrible barbeque food down on Kirby, walked the aisles of Whole Foods and then ended up in Old Town Spring (random). I would say the highlight of the day was just laying in sun next to each other. Quality time is something we are good at. It was a good unicorn weekend! So good I didn't get to grocery shopping until 6:30am today. Surprisingly, I didn't mind having the entire store to myself and morning shift. I spent the majority of my time in the produce section.



I am in week two of the Simple Green Smoothies. So far I skipped Saturday & today I couldn't finish my smoothie. Today I made a cacao powder smoothie that was not for me. I have come to the conclusion, I really don't like savory smoothies. I like pineapple or berry based smoothies. What I like the most about this challenge is the lack of waste of produce. I usually don't finish a box of spinach. We start strong with eating salad on Monday, come Friday we might have finished half the box. Our vegetable intake has definitely doubled.

Meal planning is focused on protein and vegetables. Last week I ventured out and tried some new recipes. This week's plan focuses more on a variety of vegetable sides.



I made what you see above, tonight to get rid of the rest of our cauliflower head & use a bag of frozen cauliflower I bought for this recipe a while back. I did a bit of experimenting and this recipe is based off of a recipe I found here. Lucky for my husband, this experiment was delicious. 

Thyme Cauliflower 
  • Medium-Size head of Cauliflower, florets
  • 3/4-1 cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
  • 1 tbsp of Thyme
  • 3 Cloves Garlic
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
  1. In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut milk for 5 minutes.
  2. Add Cauliflower florets, Garlic and thyme. 
  3. Heat until Cauliflower looks translucent and tender. (about 5-8 minutes) 
  4. Blend, using an immersion blender stick or blender. (Don't over blend)
A few things I would probably change next time would be adding another texture and don't over puree. My husband loved it and I loved it. We paired it with barbeque baked chicken. I honestly didn't expect cauliflower to give the same texture as mashed potatoes. These were tastier than the powder mashed potato mix my grandma makes for holidays and easier. I really like knowing that there was nothing unhealthy in this recipe.