Today I Love

Today I love my boyfriends sense of humor. I love that while we were at Fry's tonight, and the self-check told him that the "attendant has been notified to assist him" he turned around, caught her eye, and said "I don't think it liked my chicken!" Then later, when we were home, I love that he told me about his plans for the night [which included things like cleaning toilets and vacuuming] I teased him about his pure masculinity. I love that he came back with, "Well yeah. After vacuuming I was thinking we could munch on some donuts and talk about our feelings!" I love that I get to be with someone who makes me laugh every single day.

Today we love splitting perfectly ripe avocados. Yummmm!

They finished digging our hole today, but don't worry...

Of COURSE we dressed up and jumped up on their machines for a picture or two before they took them away!

 

Today I love being S.O.R.E. just from a little game of catch. I also love that the boy teases me about being "motherly" even though a little after dinner yesterday, he wouldn't believe that I was still full and insisted I grab a fork and help him finish off some sourdough bread dipped in gravy, then today he wouldn't believe that I was okay with finding something at home to eat and got me a burrito and half a cheese crisp from Taco Bell anyway. Sigh, I love being able to rule out starvation as a death sentence as long as I have him in my life.

Today we love shufflin'.

Today I Love

Today I Love that my boyfriend is not above playing catch with his dad and his girlfriend. I love that he's okay with giving my ego a little boost by backing up while I get ready to throw the ball back to him [cause we all know that that is necessary]! I love love that he's so reliant on himself to show his love to his family and I love love LOVE getting to listen to his dad and him go back and forth with stories from "back in the day..." [Especially when they're mostly about how much of a STUD my boyfriend has alwayyyys been. Sigh. I'm so hopelessly in love.]. Really I just love watching him and his dad together. They are seriously the best.

Today we love the feeling of content we get just from being together.

You know, while we were playing today I realized that I'm pretty sure the last time I played catch was with this same boy three years ago. It was one of our random little "meet-me-here" dates. Last time, if one of us dropped the ball we both ran after it, and once, while Levi was hoarding the ball, I told him that I'd hold his hand all the way across the field if he gave it back to me. He did. Double WIN.

Sure am glad we're finally past having to find excuses to hold hands baby! Thanks for being so much fun. You are the BEST best friend in the entire world. Happy Easter. I love you.

Today I Love

That's the face I made to win Levi over. Pretty sure.

Today I love when we sleep for 11 hours straight together. Then I love waking up together and I love that when he gets up first and I tell him I'm just going to "take a little nap, then I'll be up..." he just laughs and tells me to sleep well. I love that he notices everything from the color of my nail polish to the kitchen being clean. I love how open minded he is about everything that means anything to me and I love how I'm the one he talks to first. I love hearing him on the phone saying things like, "Yeah, let me just talk to Amalie about it and I'll call you back and let you know." because it makes me feel important and stuff [Narcissistic much?]. I also love pineapple and bananas and peaches and grapes. Fruit in the summer is the bestest!

Today we love saying things like, "Wanna go hop in the pool for a few??" every chance we get even though it's still just a big dirt hole. At least we'll be ready for it!

Today I Love

Today I love waking up to a bunch of guys pounding down the wall to our backyard and it NOT meaning that we should go lock ourselves in our closet with a couple baseball bats and call 911. I also love when those same men leave a few hours later and all the sudden there's a HUGE hole in our backyard! [Can't believe that thing is going to be double this size!]

Today we loved watching them work from the window and pretending we knew what they were saying.
For example. Pretty sure this guy said:

"Hey babyyy! I'm just sprayin' down some dirt. Watchooo wearrrrinnnnggg?"

Something you don't see everyday.

To get ready for the pool, we had to pull the rocks off to the side of the yard so the Big Digging Machine [official name] didn't mash them into the ground.  We made a mess of our front walk while doing so and afterward, I watched the boy sweep it off. Then I watched the boy sweep off the road. Then I watched the boy sweep off the pillars and around his trucks tires. Then I watched the boy [with a determined look on his face] go over to the little plastic cover of the water controls for our house and sweep that off.

Then I thought, "That, is what makes my boyfriend so special." GEEZ does he know how to go above and beyond. The point was further proven when I got home from work today and he was busy busy busy cleaning up our couchcushionblanketandpillow mess in the front room even though it was already five thirty and bed was in T minus four hours. What. A. Sweetheart.

Also I saw this today and thought it was funny.

Do you think that's really him??

The story of lately.

Lately, Levi and I have had a lot going on. And when I say a lot, I mean, a LOT. Well okay, maybe not that much. Maybe just one thing, in particular. But that one thing really has us running around like a couple drops of water in a sand storm.

You see, a couple weeks ago, Levi and I decided to put in a pool. That's right people. A pool.

Confession: WE ARE SO EVERLASTINGLY EXCITED ABOUT IT. It's really pretty. It's getting hot. The tan I worked so very hard on starting at the beginning of the summer is becoming forgotten and faded. Needless to say, we are so not regretting this purchase. The part of it we didn't expect, was how fully it's making us want to finish everything we have started. For example... We have a hammock to finish painting, a couple walls to still finalize a color on, a work bench to add another shelf to PLUS a twin bench to design. We have a pathway out back to lay, a brick barrier between our house and the neighbors that we're putting in. Not to mention I have a wardrobe I'm re-purposing, a [how shall I put it...] ex...wedding dress I'm re-designing for a photo shoot idea I've been working over in my head, a couple wall hangings I'm accenting and altering the images on. Not to mention the couple things I'm in the middle of wanting to wrap up because the misters birthday is just around the corner. And really people I'm not even kidding when I tell you that that is just the start of it. On top of all of which we of course have to work at some point and try to remember to keep eating and exercising and taking care of us. We've taken to playing Monopoly before bed when both of us are feeling fried. You know, because what a great, relaxing game that is!

The good thing, is that even though we have a lot going on, or perhaps more accurately, because we have a lot going on whenever we finish a project or reach a milestone or something of the sort, we're taking time to just sit, enjoy, and talk to each other. Day before yesterday it was under the work bench, yesterday it was at the top of the stairs, today it was outside "in the pool" [Aka: on the grass where the pool is going to be...]. Right now I'm so, so grateful that Levi is so good at treasuring those little quiet moments because I feel like we could get so overwhelmed and stressed out by a lot of this!  He's amazing for staying so cool about it all.

All that being said, [and even though I know I've said it before...] I really am going to try to keep my head in the blogging world through all of this because I feel like taking the time each day to recognize the things I love has become such a great way to keep my head in the right place.

Today I loved the way the sun was coming through our screens outside this afternoon. LOVED it. Hope you had a beautiful Tuesday!

Today I Love

Today I love: that last night after Levi and I finished the above work bench [CHEERS!] we sat staring at it and talking for a good 45 minutes. I love that we talked about how happy he was with it. I love that we talked about our feelings coming up on a year of us. I love that we talked about being here together. I love that we talked about the next project to work on together. I love that he's okay with being quiet and calm sometimes and just, talking. I love that I get to be with my best friend every day of my life!

Today WE love: always looking forward to the next project! [Seriously, there's some things going on right now that I can not WAIT to share with you! Eek!]

Today I Love

Today I love: that he makes up in the areas I lack. I love that he's constantly trying to make me happy and I love that he actually vocalizes it when I make him happy, too. I love how much we agree on and I love how I can read his mind and I love that it still surprises him when I do so. I love gift almonds for having a rough week, and I love turning grocery shopping into date nights. Oh! And I love Chocolat.

Today WE love: home cooked meals.

Dear  Bloggers,
I'm so sorry for my utter lame-ness this week. Can I make it up to you? With new pictures, more posts, and some lovely inspiration?
Love, Me

I'm a witch. [With a capitol B.]

I came home today and witched-with-a-b out Levi. Why? He bwoke my wittle heart in my dweam last night. Because that is definitely something he should have to answer for. Particularly before I tell him about it. Then I decided to start in on him because he finalized something today while I was at work that I wished I could have been here for. Even though yesterday I told him he should just do it. In retrospect I'm not exactly even sure what I told him he did "wrong". You can trust though, that I came up with something. He apologized. He tried to stay excited. He tried to tell me about his day. When all else failed he headed back up to work to give me some space. Now I'm sitting here getting all agitated because he didn't try to force a hug on me or anything.

Ummm, I wouldn't even want to try and hug me right now. I hate these days. Have you ever read that book, by Jamie Lee Curtis about the moods? If I had to pick one for today? "Today I am angry, you better stay clear. My face is all pinched and red ear to ear. My friends had a play date. They left me out. My feelings are hurt and I want to shout!"

Sorry, friends. I have some making up to go do. Today I [will] love [it] if the boy accepts some serious k-i-s-s-i-n-g up from me. Sigh. Happy Hump Day.

Today I Love

Today I love: getting all ready for the day before the boy see's me [because I don't so much love what my hair does to me in the mornings...]. I also love that he sat through the movie Where The Wild Things Are with me yesterday even though I'm sure for someone with no emotional attachment to the book it could seem just a tiny bit slow. I love adding color to black and white and I love flowers in spring and I love over-sized accessories. Oh, and I love when the boy ends up on my side of "the bed" halfway through the night. Even if that means I have to sleep in [what could pass as] some seriously intense yoga positions for part of the night. Then I love asking Levi the questions that he asks me in his sleep. Today for example, "So babe, did the divers get out okay?" His confusion is pretty much priceless. I love that.

Today WE love: cuddling WHILE cooking. We love multi-tasking.

An unflappingly boring post? My apologies, friends.

Well. We've had a ridiculously busy day and once again I didn't have time to bust out the camera. I'm sorry. I just thought I'd chime in real quick to share with you a little example of how our conversations today, have been going.

Background. It all stems, from my favorite conversation from yesterday:
Upon hearing someone reporting at the golf Masters that one of the contestants wasn't quite "Unflappable".

Me: "Unflappable?"
Levi: "Yeah, unflappable."
Me: "Is that English?"
Levi: "Yeah, to be without flap."

Right, honey. Now define "flap" for me. I actually quite like the word. I think I may use it. Like when Levi is driving with the windows down and I'm in the middle seat. "Babe, could you roll the windows up? My hair is really unflappable today." or like if a girl walks into church late wearing really loud heels, "Could you unflap a little back there?" or if Levi wakes up to pee in the middle of the night and I accidentally left the lid down again he may become a little unflapped. Then he may unflap me for a couple hours trying to make sure it never happens again and when I'm thoroughly unflapped, sleep may unflappably escape me and we may never get unflapped again because who really ever gets over being unflappable enough to not remember to put the dang lid up for her unflappingly blind boyfriend who can't tell the difference between his girlfriend and his pillow when his contacts aren't in, let alone see that the lid on the toilet is unflapped still in time to fix it?? Phew! Just call me the unflapper.

Today I Love

Today I Love: the light of a cloudy day and the smell the day after. I love that last night Levi and I went and bought wood to build him a workbench and I love that the few planks of wood for the top of said bench weigh probably triple what I do and I love that when I was "helping" him carry it out of the truck into our garage and I almost dropped it whilst falling into a pile of bricks he incredulously asked, "What happened there? Was it just too heavy for you or something?" and I love that then we both laughed and thanked the Lord that that was the last piece of wood we had to carry because umm, YES it was too heavy for me thank you very much, but I do love that his mind is so convinced that I truly am just as good of a help as any of his I-spend-all-my-free-time-at-the-gym-and-can-bench-five-times-what-I-weigh-with-one-hand-and-my-eyes-closed guy friends. I also love run-on sentences. Did you get all that?

Today WE love: having the internet back! Oh how we love having the internet back. Levi says I am quite the grump-pot without the internet. I of course haven't a clue what he's talking about. [Couldn't have been the multiple times every day for the last five days that I complained about him cheating for the lead in our Fantasy Basketball finals.] Three cheers for being completely reliant on modern conveniences!

Good Sabbath, y'all.

[PS: Picture chosen as further proof that my arm strength isn't exactly up to the level of his arm strength. Just not quite there yet. I'll have to get to work on that.]

While I was away...

Okay, actually I was right here. It was our internet that was away. We've had a serious discussion with it and it has promised to never let it happen again. [AKA: We bought a new router.]

Here are just a few of the things you missed.

-Levi's top two answers when we take back milk and the manager asks, "What's wrong with it?"
1. They spelled "Shamrock" wrong on the label.
2. We didn't have any graham crackers!

-Our Diamondbacks vs. Cubs rivalry started. That's right friends, I live with a Cubs fan. We're really trying to work it out though, we're thinking maybe therapy. Wish us luck.

-Finding this written on the label of some Blue Diamond Almonds:
"SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SUGGESTS, BUT DOES NOT PROVE, THAT EATING 1.5 OUNCES PER DAY OF MOST NUTS, SUCH AS ALMONDS, AS PART OF A DIET LOW IN SATURATED FAT AND CHOLESTEROL, MAY REDUCE THE RISK OF HEART DISEASE."
Is that really even worth putting on there?

-Levi bought TicTacs last night, [Orange, of course!] upon walking out to the parking lot he offered me a couple and I held out my hand. Shake, shake. Nothing. Shake. Still nothing. Levi examines the blockage. "Oh well." and puts them in his pocket. Bummer.


-I made this zucchini recipe and it's quite possibly the best thing that's happened to me since Levi. Yeah, it's that good.

-We went to the lake for the first time this summer! It was probably about 85 degrees outside. That being said...it was also probably not our best idea to date. That being said. It was still a lot of fun and we're glad we went, it's become kind of a tradition to make our first trip of the year just the two of us. Last year it was not only where I told him I loved him for the first time [besides that accidental phone "Love you!" and the accidental half-asleep-I-hope-he-didn't-hear-that "Love you!"] and it was also where I cussed at him for the first time. Those are stories for another time, but in conclusion, the lake holds many memories for us that we surely don't want to let go of and it was fun to be there again and get to enjoy it while we floated along the water wrapped together and shivering and just simply enjoying the quiet.

Getting back to regular posting is going to feel oh, so good. I can't wait to share some things I've had locked up thus far. This blog has kind of come to mean a lot to me. It's something I can do daily to help me focus on things that I should. Things that keep me smiling and happy and living an appreciative life. Thanks for listening.

And, until I'm back in the swing of things, feel free to make fun of this incredibly cheese-filled, standard portrait I found of us. Remind me never to do that again!

Hope you have a beautiful Saturday!

A month I love.

Hello Bloggers. Happy Aprill. 

[I'm fully aware Aprill is spelled with only one "L" but I had this friend in school named Aprill with two, and I just like that better.]

I love this month, would you like to know why?

Would you like to read an excerpt [or two or three or five] from my journal? 

[Don't get too excited, YOU don't get to choose the excerpt[s].]

This is the kind of thing I was writing this time last year. In Utah.

"As a sidenote. I am seriously crushing on Levi Chell Roberts. You know, the boy I'm going to Seattle with in like two weeks? This trip is going to be so much fun! To be honest...I'm sort of wishing we lived closer to each other. I think it would be such a blast. This weekend...I miss having a [close] boy."

"Here is my favorite text convo for the day: Levi - Woulda been fun to take my girlfriend Amalie to my dads for dinner today ;) Amalie - Aw, woulda been fun to be there with mah boyfriend Levi Chell! What'd we have? Levi - I don't remember! I couldn't stop checking you out! Amalie - I'm thinking I love being your girlfriend. :) Levi - Me too! Don't stop babe. I'd miss u too much. [END TEXTING.] He is seriously such a doll! He makes me super excited."

"I so can not wait to be in Seattle with Levi! I love how he always thinks of me. He's always sending me texts telling me to come with him to this or that... I'm crushing so hard. It's going to be INCREDIBLE when we're face to face."

This month, was the last month last year that Levi was "just a crush". Wanna read some current entries?

"Geez! He's just so ridiculously perfect. In so many ways. I can't get enough of the boy. He called me his lucky charm today. Umm, cute. Sometimes I think back to Seattle and remember now hew and exciting things were. But the thing is...I never miss it. I don't feel like I have to because life with Levi is still exciting. We still love each other completely and love showing each other that love. This will so, never, get old."

"He makes me feel so good about where I'm at, yet so capable of doing so much more. He makes sure I know how much he loves having me here, he still tries to get to know me better, he's interested in what I"m interested in. He's so amazing. So many things I love about him that I wouldn't have even thought to put on my 'What I want in a Boy' list years ago. Geez. I'm so smitten by him lately."

One entire year later and I still haven't been able to stop writing about how adorable he is.

Dear Levi,

This month one year ago you were nothing but a crush. Now I love you more than Snowflakes and Bacon Cheesers. Let's make this another hella good year.

Love, Me

Today I Love

Today I love: catching Levi in the act of seriously feeling his music [Head bobbing, shoulders shimmying, foot tapping!]. I love what happens when he catches me catching him, let the DANCE PARTY commence! I love altering clothes, and I love altering the boys clothes, and I love rocking those clothes in an outfit that makes the boy look twice! SCORE.

Today WE love: being Written in the Stars.