Friday's Letters

 

My Dearest Darling Momsy and Popsicle, (perhaps I'm in a bit of a musical mood) I am so so very happy that we've worked out travel plans to come see you after all! This time next month you, me and the whole Majors clan will be happily reuniting and feasting on turkey (and hopefully grandmother's caramel cake) and I could not be more excited! Thank you for everything!

Dear Thursday, You were not as kind to me as I hoped and we did not end up being nearly as productive as we should have. Now yesterday's to-dos will become the weekend's. I hope you are happy.

Dear Les Mis Cast, (clearly Broadway is on my mind) I'm pretty stinkin excited about the film, but I really hope that you have the chops to live up to the reputation of this musical. Anne Hathaway, I'm keeping a very open mind (you did make me tear up in the preview) but I'm looking at you.

Dear Husband,You are way too good to me. You've got a lot on your plate, but you still carry it all with grace. Thanks for being you.

Dear Husband, Despite how good you are to me, remember that time when you woke me up whistling and singing Rebecca Black? Let's not do that anymore. It's not very nice. Even if it's Friday.

Dear Anyone Reading, If you have not seen this video of the making of Tom Hooper's Les Misérables, watch it. You're welcome.



Happy Friday!
DD

April 24, 1990.. TWINS!

Folks, this week I have a very important topic to discuss.

BIRTHDAYS!!

Today, 22 years ago, my sweet parents gave me not one, but TWO little siblings, and for this I am very grateful.  These guys are the best and today is their Birthday!

As you can see this picture is a little dated, but other than my sister becoming more beautiful, my brother more handsome, and myself not so blonde... not much has changed!

Well, maybe a little more has changed.  Jennifer Catherine Majors Cranford grew up, got married, and is working on becoming a nurse. Also, she's even more INCREDIBLE than she was 4 years ago!  Jenn has one of the most giving, loving hearts of anyone I have ever known and her big sister seriously looks up to her.  She's also just pretty cool.  She owns a hammock, rocks an acoustic guitar, and if she were ever stranded in the wild, the only thing that would need be afraid are the ducks she would hunt and eat for dinner. Oh, and she'd stay incredibly beautiful doing it.

And then there is Joshua Wallace Majors.  A tall, lean, handsome boy that we've had to all but lock away to keep the girls from throwing themselves at him.  But, really, who can blame them? He has become a mean drummer, aspiring pianist, and has a tremendously beautiful voice.  Basically, he's a musical machine.  OH, and did I mention he too is a fierce hunter? I guess too much blame can't be put on the girls... he's just a little too amazing.  He does like to tease his sister maybe a BIT too much, but I guess his general awesomeness makes up for his little-brotherness.  :)

I am so proud of these two!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWINS!!
  
P.S. Another very important birthday post is soon too follow.. can you guess who it will be for?


XOXO,
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

Embracing Autumn

Well, I have failed to update at least twice a month as vowed, but Joe and I are back to the blog world and with lots of new adventures to share!

This last month and a half has been filled with a lot of traveling, hiking, baking, spending time with new friends, seeing old friends, and taking in all a Virginian fall has to offer.

The biggest news, before I fill you in on our personal adventures, is that my baby sister is married!! I cannot believe how fast the big day came and went, but her wedding was beautiful and her husband is wonderful, and I am so excited for Jennifer and Philip's new life together.  Speaking of which, tomorrow marks 6 months for Joe and I! WOW how time flies. It feels like it was just last week that we were getting married, especially since I can remember our own wedding day so vividly! However, we have learned so many new things about each other and about relationships since that glorious Saturday.  I know I am certainly still finding new reasons to love my husband more each day.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

We also got to see many tried and true friends during our trip home for Jennifer's wedding and it was wonderful catching up. It's amazing how we can be gone for months but it only takes a minute to feel like we never left.  I feel so blessed to have such great friends.

Other than our 13 hour drive home and back (yes that's 26 hours of total driving and my poor darling made the first 13 through the night... alone) we've also voyaged to D.C. to see the sights with some fellow law schoolers.  We had a blast seeing D.C. and Arlington and having what we now fondly remember as a "couples decathlon weekend"...you know with the usual games such as Ladder Ball, Catch Phrase, Euchre, Cranium Hoopla, and an American History board game... All I can say is that it was a riveting weekend.

Joe and I have also spent alot of time enjoying God's beautiful creation.  We've been hiking a few more times (lots of pictures on facebook), went to a cider press party with a group from our church, and recently went apple picking in an orchard just 10 minutes from our house.  Nothing says fall like picking apples in a sea of red, orange, and yellow then drinking hot cider and finally arriving home to unbundle and watch some college football.  Are you jealous yet?  I am! I cannot believe all of the new opportunities we are getting to experience.  I feel like every weekend is a vacation!  

Proud of our freshly picked Pink Ladies.

It looks like someone left off all the "y"... some people just don't know any better here.

I was also inspired, at Joe's constant probing, to make some autumn inspired cupcakes which we shared with our neighbors and favorite cat-sitter.  I, as per usual, couldn't make my mind up on someone else's recipe so I pieced several together to make my own delightful pumpkin spice cupcakes with a spiced brown sugar cream cheese icing... just talking about them makes me want to go eat another one!  They turned out great and I'd be happy to share the recipe.

That pretty much summarizes our journey to this point, though I would be amiss not to mention Joe's constant and very diligent studying.  Pray that he makes it through this first semester.  I know if he (we) can make it through this semester, the rest of law school will be a breeze... or at least easier.  Oh, and my living room is painted!! It has taken many painstaking hours, but we love it.  Now just on to the other 5 rooms... we'll update on that soon!

Waffles and Devo

As a very newly married couple, I am proud to say we have already established a family tradition: Saturday morning waffles and family devotion.

Since our very first Saturday in our new home, we have been taking advantage of our waffle maker (why, yes it was a wedding present) with an awesome recipe that we tweaked from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." (which, by the way, is a great cookbook but is even better as a great teaching tool on the basics of cooking.  I am happy to report my husband has made wonderful use of it.)

Our Saturday mornings start out with us getting to use our two favorite appliances.

LOOOVE my Kitchen Aid!

To make the waffles we use this recipe (half of Mark Bittman's original recipe for

 Everyday Buttermilk Waffles with a few variations)

1/2 cup whole wheat all purpose flour

1/2 cup white all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 1/8 cup of milk

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons butter

Combine the dry ingrediants in a large bowl.  In another bowl wisk the yogurt with milk and egg yolk.  Stir the butter into this mix. Combine all the ingredients. Then, in a separate bowl, beat the egg white until it holds soft peaks.  Fold these into the batter.

Brush the preheated waffle iron with a neutral oil (we use grapeseed oil).  Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter into the waffle iron. When the iron is finished (3-5 minutes), enjoy soft, golden waffles.

*We divide our batter to make 3 waffles, we learned the hard way not to overfill your waffle iron*

Following our delightful waffles, we settle on the couch (and sometimes our darling cat even joins us) for our Saturday morning devotion. We take turns reading out of Devotional Classics. It is a book comprised of selected readings from well-known theologians and Christian authors.  The selections are beautifully written passages and sermons to lead the reader into "spiritual renewal." So far, we have heard from the likes of C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Jonathan Edwards, Francis de Sales, and Spanish monk John of the Cross.

If you are looking for a deeply spiritual, well-written devotional, I highly recommend this.

Attempt at a family portrait.

We are still working hard on our apartment, so stay tuned!

Hopefully before and after pictures will be up soon!

Wheat Waffles

Yummy Saturday Morning Waffles!

As a very newly married couple, I am proud to say we have already established a family tradition: Saturday morning waffles and family devotion.

Since our very first Saturday in our new home, we have been taking advantage of our waffle maker (why, yes it was a wedding present) with an awesome recipe that we tweaked from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." (which, by the way, is a great cookbook but is even better as a great teaching tool on the basics of cooking.  I am happy to report my husband has made wonderful use of it.)

Our Saturday mornings start out with us getting to use two of our favorite appliances.

LOOOVE my Kitchen Aid!

Healthy, Yummy, Wheat Waffles

1/2 cup whole wheat all purpose flour

1/2 cup white all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 1/8 cup of milk

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons butter

Combine the dry ingrediants in a large bowl.  In another bowl wisk the yogurt with milk and egg yolk.  Stir the butter into this mix. Combine all the ingredients. Then, in a separate bowl, beat the egg white until it holds soft peaks.  Fold these into the batter.

Brush the preheated waffle iron with a neutral oil (we use grapeseed oil).  Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter into the waffle iron. When the iron is finished (3-5 minutes), enjoy soft, golden waffles.

*We divide our batter to make 3 waffles, we learned the hard way not to overfill your waffle iron*

Top Waffles with honey, agave, or just good ole fashioned Maple Syrup!

Bon Appétit!

Dianna Davis

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!