our cup runneth over

So much happens in a year. Lots of yummy blessing nuggets were found - some in the core of bitter shells - but God has proved himself o'er and o'er and he is always, always, always... Good!

 Our year has been very full, indeed. I say "year" because it seems the last time I visited this blog was in November 2011... Oops? Well, a lot has happened since then, but no need to recap all of it. This summer alone our cup has overflowed:
 
We have...

• Welcomed Curtis' new, full time, creative position at work as Video Producer and Editor. (and learned how very busy it will keep him!)
• Purchased and moved into our first home!!
• Happy-danced to our first year anniversary of marriage - wahoo!
• Celebrated our friends' milestones with the birth sweet baby Lily, marriage of Alma and Jeremy, and engagement of Cole and Jared.
• Survived Kids Kamp... and all the enormous projects and preparation leading up to it.
• Suffered a painful lung infection (me) and nearly broken hand (C) making a record 2 trips to the E.R. in two weeks.

...all while rehearsing and performing a production of Sondheim's Company.
 

This past weekend Curtis and I made our second-ever trip to McKinney for a celebration of my (seemingly never ending) show finally closing. We celebrated being able to once again spend weekends in one another's company! It was a stupendously cozy day - cloudy, rainy - that we spent browsing antique shops and hunkering down for some of the best English grub and pub the square has to offer.


We've evolved into a pair of little anglophiles and are constantly planning our "some-day" trip to London and surrounding areas. Curtis continues to dive more into his football fan-dom (er...soccer), we frequent the Three Lions food truck, read our British novels, and get excited over finding brown sauce at World Market.

milking the holidays

Curtis and I will be spending Thanksgiving in Austin (TX) with my family and Christmas in Wyoming (MI) with his family. I could use our travel as an excuse to be decorating the house for Christmas early, but the truth is... we would do it anyway.
There's just something so cozy about a Christmas tree :) ...and we have four.
(I apologize for the bad quality of the pictures - I took them with my iphone which is a 3G and doesn't have flash capabilities)

It's Christmas in our living room:

 A little Christmas in "the parlor":

 A Sherlockian Christmas in Curtis' study:

 And a very little Christmas in our bedroom:

This tree is not of the Christmas variety, but it is one that I took pride in creating on our bedroom wall:

So! While we plan on thoroughly enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday this weekend (and an anniversary of sorts), we can also rest in knowing that our home will be ready to welcome us into the Christmas season when we return from our trip to Austin this weekend.

confessions of a quiet, quirky couple

Curtis and I are rolling merrily along with married life (PTL! Being married is awesome. I'm so glad God called us to it.) We're very much enjoying our Awesumn Rocktober dates and hermiting together. Work is great --we thank the Lord daily for providing so well with jobs we enjoy, a house to live in, and our perfect friendship in each other.
The only thing we seem to be dissatisfied with is finding a regular companionship in others --this has been bothering me a lot more than Curtis. We want close friends (the bible calls us to this kind of fellowship), but don't feel like we're living that out in the right way. That is probably a product of our not reaching out.
I've always taken a very long time to get to know and be comfortable around people, but I think something more has crept into my personality over the past few years. Being social is a struggle. I have a desire in me to have deep friendships with people, but feel overcome with a strange anxiety around people that I don't see everyday. Even if I've known you for a while, adrenaline rushes like crazy and I either get really quiet, or unusually energetic with very little to say. This can make for some awkward moments.
Curtis loves me and finds it endearing --I've been this way since he's known me-- and I'm grateful for that.
So, friends: If we seem aloof or reclusive at times, the truth is that... we probably would rather be alone... but! we also want to hang out with you. We'd like you to get to know us, and mostly, we'd really like to get to know you.
We seek your patience and grace in getting to know us! Once you look past the anxiety thing, Curtis and I are pretty dorky fun people. And I think that equals cool.
Yeah! ...that totally equals cool. :)