Friday's Letters

Dear Blog: I'm happy to be back. Writing for you helps de-clutter my often haphazard brain. You guide things into perspective and allow me to re-live things in life that I enjoy most.

Dear To-Do List: You're pretty good for organizing my brain functioning too, but I feel like these days you only grow longer and never shorter. We need to work on that.

Dear Sabrina, You're the greatest pup ever, and we love you lots, but this trying-to-eat-the-cat-phase that you're going through has really got to stop. Yes, your mouth fits around her head; that's not a good reason to put it there. And while we're at it, can we also work on the awful high-pitched shrieking bark you do out of frustration when the cat refuses to be eaten?

Dear Eliza: I'm sorry. I promise the puppy is not a punishment... or she at least wasn't supposed to be.

Dear Law School Friends Who Invited Us to the Beach: THANK YOU! We are pretty much packed up and will be heading your way soon. I still can't explain how excited I am for some sun and lounging and food and friends.  Also, CONGRATULATIONS! You're finished!

Dear Husband: You are also finished! I am so very proud of you and all of your diligent, hard work for the past 3 years of law school. I'm not sure how you managed to be an amazing student, pet-parent, loving husband, and still have a social life, but you did. AND NOW YOU NEVER HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER LAW SCHOOL EXAM AGAIN! There is still the Bar.. but you're not allowed to think about that until after graduation. K?! 

Oh, and one more thing, husband. Thanks for being the best travel planning partner! I cannot  wait to traipse through Europe with you. I have a feeling we are never going to want to come home.

Hope y'all are having a fantastic Friday!

Love,

DD

A Little Recap

I never remember to take pictures.. I'm getting better (as you will soon see) but usually I'm terrible.  Soooo I thought maybe in lieu of Friday's Letters today I would post pictures of our last two terrific weekends full of excitement and adventure!!... but really it's because I took pictures and now I need to do something with them.

It all started out with a sick husband, sick wife, and cuddly cat who is always doing cute things...

We quickly got over our sickness, however, with the help of some very legitimate Oktoberfest provisions.

And after being completely cured of our ailments, we headed out to the Foxfield Horse Races for some fun in the sun...



Annnd... that's where we saw this guy. And, for a little while I was not having so much fun anymore.

But then sweet friends came along and saved the day (for me at least... I'm pretty sure my dear husband partook in that pig)

And along the way our cat continued to do cute things... yoga is her favorite.

The next week we took off on a road trip through West Virginia and into Kentucky. We could not have asked for a more beautiful drive.

We made it to Lexington, KY where my husband promptly found the largest burbon bar around and declared he was in heaven.... I'm not the only one not getting this, right?

Hubby tried his first HotBrown... and based on the reaction, I think perhaps his last...

And my MIL got artsy with her picture taking....

And a man brought his cowbell and Mississippi State became 5-0 and all was well.

Finally, we finished off the weekend with a freezing cold, but completely-worth-it hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 I cannot advocate this place enough.  If you are ever this way, you MUST MUST MUST experience these mountains. I know there are much bigger and better, but there's nothing like driving through rolling farmland and into tree canopied mountain roads then hiking up to views of those blue ridges and valleys as far as the eye can see to make a girl think she could have been a farmer's wife. : )  I guess its too bad I get home to the greatest husband ever and remember how much I love walking across the street to the grocery store.

I hope everyone has a wonderful wonderful weeekend!

Love,
DD

Playing Catch Up

So I suppose as a newlywed with a blog, it was inevitable I would eventually fulfill the cliché of spending the first many months of marriage documenting every new and exciting adventure via blog only to settle in and neglect my creative and informative outlet.  But, as the story goes, after enough time I buckled down and am making my triumphant return (therefore fulfilling the cliché and even with a blog title to match)!

No Matter! 

As you can imagine lots has happened since my last blog post.  Approximately 4 law school finals, 1,900+ miles, 3 holidays, numerous get-togethers, and an Egg Bowl has happened.  

I am happy to report that Joe (and myself) made it through the first semester of UVA Law.  He of course is the brilliant, hard-working student, but I think there has to be some credit given to the spouse.  Let's just say the weeks of finals in bleak December were not all sunshine and daisies.  HOWEVER, we made it through and after a joyous yet busy Christmas season with family and friends, we came back to C'ville and finally "caught up" with one another.  I can't say we enjoyed the long days and (mostly for Joe) sleepless nights and somewhat pathetically relishing in the coincidence of just bumping into each other in the kitchen. But, after looking back, I now feel incredibly assured that, though surely law school will probably be minor of the course of our lives together, no matter what trials may come our way, we will be able to weather them together.

Now, since I am well-aware our life is not nearly interesting enough for a play-by-play of the last 2 months, I have taken the liberty of compiling a brief, but sweet if I say so myself, photo-montage of our winter so far.

**In the midst of travel and getting a new phone, I broke my camera's memory card and lost un-saved photos from my phone.  So, very much to my dismay, there are many missing photo-documented holiday events including the tree farm and my husband's first attempt at using an axe. My apologies.**

Back in Starkville! Lots of rainy fun at the Egg Bowl with old friends!

3 in a row!!!

Our Buddy.

He got to eat the cookies after he finished studying for his Torts final.

What blog post wouldn't be complete without either a sweet or somewhat demeaning picture of the 3rd Davis family member.  Here she poses in her winter sweater 2 sizes 2 small.  Possible video of her waddling in it coming soon to fb.

Cheesy, I know, but I made Joe an Advent calendar of sorts to countdown to Christmas break.  Each day he got to pull off a number and read his inspiring message for the day :) 

First Davis family Christmas tree.

Christmas morning gets a little crazy at the Majors'

Boys with their new toy.

Terrible quality, but it's from a very incredible, also dark, visit to the McCormick Observatory where we saw Jupiter!

First hiking trip back in VA to break in our new boots!

 

 

Gorgeous view of creation at the end of the hike.

Lots of love from the state for lovers,

Dianna and Joe

First Separation

So the time has come that my newlywed husband and I must leave each other's sides for more than a day.
I know I know...we knew this day would come, but really it is very bittersweet.  I am leaving for 10 days to travel for work and leaving my sweet Joe and Eliza at home.  And yes, this is sappy and cheesy, but if you have ever been a newlywed I'd like to think you understand.

So in light of a future bonding between my husband and cat, I will leave you with these photos of our child (clearly we are still a little lonely in Charlottesville).  She is our greatest source of entertainment during our frequent mid-week nights in, and I hope she'll forgive me for the exploitation.

Enjoy!

She is very strange...

And very athletic!

This is "Da Bird"... we bought it at a very weird cat store, but it is the  best present we could have
ever gotten our cat and ourselves.. provides hours of entertainment.

Being a newlywed!

We are home in Virginia! A few weeks ago, Joe and I made the 872 mile (15 hour) trip from our lifetime home in Madison, MS to Charlottesville, VA.  We are very slowly, but very surely getting settled in, though lots has happened since we pulled the move-in truck into our parking lot on June first. The biggest change since getting married and moving into a different time zone occurred the day after we moved in.  I went to an interview with an apparel company based here in Charlottesville on Thursday morning, and began work as the new Event Director for Robert Redd, LLC on Friday! Crazy! Joe and I just keep thanking God for the amazing opportunities He has provided us with.

We are loving being newlyweds! It is certainly a new world of shared sinks and trusting your partner with the grocery shopping (which we're still working on), but nesting has been quite an adventure!

We work on the apartment a little everyday and have spent 2 of our 3 Saturdays at the DMV (which as you can see below, we finally were successful with) and at every home/furniture/hardware store in the area.  I'm pretty sure by the time we actually have a fully furnished and decorated apartment, we will be on  a first name basis with the TJMaxx employees.

Our greatest apartment successes so far have been getting the piano out of the truck and into our office/study/music room (which dad, I told you it could be done!) and hanging our wine rack.  This, however, was a 99% success, because after we finally located studs and affixed everything properly (an hour long process) we realized we had hung the rack over our light switch.... minor issue.  We work around it.

Through all of our small trials though, we are really learning to trust each other, especially me! Joe is an incredible husband, and I am so thankful that he is willing to be the dishwasher/laundry man/cat caretaker/ and grocery shopper just to name a few.  We still haven't gotten the grocery thing quite nailed down, but no one does Sunday laundry like Joe and Eliza has quickly fallen in love with him just like I did.  I am so grateful for the life God has provided us with, and Joe and I cannot wait to see what else He has in store. 

(Joe with his adopted daughter, sporting a new Robert Redd shirt. One look at the company I work for and he was already a fan!)

We started this blog to keep all of our friends and family updated on how God is working in our lives, but also to see how we grow with each other in these first stages of newlyweddom! Hope you enjoy!