Married for six months!

Man, I've been married for six months already? Time flies when you're having fun!



Andy and I started dating over four years ago. We had been friends (on & off) since 2001/2002. I was always attracted to Andy's personality.



He was so much like me. We are both shy and nervous about letting people in. I always felt comfortable with Andy though.



So I basically asked him on a date and we've been together ever since. Getting married was definitely a highlight but I think our future holds so much more.



When I was younger, my mom told me that it was important to marry someone who was your best friend. I always thought being best friends with a boyfriend was unnecessary because I've always had plenty of friends around. As I get older, I realize what she meant. In the past six months, I've needed a friend and a shoulder to cry on several times and Andy has always been right there.



We've only been married six months but we've already been to Italy, Las Vegas (twice!), Oregon, San Francisco, Virginia, North Carolina and San Diego. We've also dealt with unemployment, a death in the family and other things that would test any relationship.



But we've survived it and come back stronger than ever. I feel more loved than I ever have in my entire life. I have someone who will laugh at my stupid jokes, share my triumphs and encourage me to be the best person I can be. Who wouldn't want that?



So I encourage all of you whether you are in a relationship or not...to not be afraid of telling someone that you love them. Life is too short not to. I'm glad I told Andy!

Can't wait till our one year anniversary!

So tell me; are you in love?

(A food-related post will follow this one shortly. Once I recover from melting into a pile of goo while writing this post. Sorry if the cheesiness lost any of you back there!)

"She feels like kicking out all the windows and setting fire to this life"

I went through a huge Dave Matthews Band phase in high school. I never really listen to them anymore but I've always had a soft spot for "Grey Street." It reminds me of everything I went through and everything I overcame. I really don't know if I would have survived high school if it hadn't been for great music. I remember lying in bed after a breakup, feeling as if it was the end of the world and listening to sad sack music for hours wishing I could feel better. And I always felt better after a good song. I think music has healing powers. Do you have a song that makes you feel better everytime you hear it?



Yesterday, I made myself a fantastic sandwich using leftover cranberry-apple sauce, turkey, irish cheddar, and a tomato. It was beyond amazing. The sharp cheddar cheese went so well with the slightly sweet cranberry sauce. I love sweet and savory combos.



To prove my weird cravings yesterday. I ate a salty pickle, carrots and crunchy pb and 2 Newman O's with my sandwich. The carrots were boring so I dipped the Newman O's in the PB. YUM!



I also wanted to share some of my Christmas decorations with you. I am obsessed with Snoopy. My parents claim it was one of my first words. "Two-pee," I believe it.



Cute stockings from Andy's mom.



A candy dish



One of my favorite ornaments. My parents got it for us last year when we got engaged.



My aunt got us this ornament. I LOVE IT! It says Amanda & Andrew 11/10/08. Our engagement date.





Told you I liked Snoopy.



Andy's favorite ornament. lol.



My first Christmas card from my good friend Shelly.





I got the book Rose made us! It is beautiful in person with plenty of pages for pictures. I can't wait to fill it up with wedding pictures. Check out Lobster Books and have Rose make you an album or a journal.



I love the exposed spine. This picture clearly doesn't do it justice and just shows you that I was playing xbox instead of working.



And the hearts for Andy and I to put our names.



Also Rose, my dad is obsessed with trains. (In a completely nerdy way!) So this card fits me perfectly. How did you know?! haha

Flashback Friday! In honor of my new blog friend Janetha I have decided to participate in Flashback Friday.



Here's Andy and I at our "first look." We both cried a lot.



I look like a T.Rex





This was way fun!



Hope you enjoyed my flashback friday! Would you guys like it if I posted more wedding recaps? And if you posted a flashback friday post, please let me know and I'll link to it!

Tuesday's weigh in and running

Hello everyone!

I lost 0.8 at my weigh in last night. I was a little disappointed after losing 1.5 last week. I realize why I didn't lose more, but I still feel like things should be moving quicker! It's been about 12 weeks and I've only lost 5.6 lbs. (I blame the 4 weeks I took off Weight Watchers for my wedding and honeymoon.) I feel back on track and I feel pretty good about it. At our weight watchers meeting, my friend who goes every week with me reached one of her goals of 30 lbs! She is incredibly dedicated to the program and really works her you-know-what off to get where she needs to be. I am so proud of her. I cried at our meeting talking about what an inspiration she is to me.

After the meeting, I went home and watched a teeny bit of "The Biggest Loser." It's hard for me to enjoy that show because I constantly compare myself to the contestants and envy them for their high weight losses. UGH that show makes me mad. Once again, I started to feel bad about myself wishing I could have lost more than just 0.8lbs. (My goal is to lose 30 lbs total.) I had to stop myself from feeling negative and remind myself of three important things.

1. Comparing yourself to others is never a good idea.
2. I haven't been eating as healthy as I'd like.
3. I haven't been working out!

So this week, I aim to start working out with a group. I'm hoping it will make next week's weigh in just a little bit higher!

Talk to you all later,

Amanda

PS. Just for fun here's a picture of Andy and I at our wedding. I can't believe it's almost been three months! Where does the time go?

Our wedding ceremony

Hey everyone! Since we are still unpacking from our move on Saturday, I decided to continue posting wedding pictures, why not?

Love is having three ridiculously handsome groomsmen. I love these guys.

Love is having your best friend tell you that you looked like a pug walking down the aisle! LOL! I couldn't agree with her more! Look at that cryface.

Tiffany (my best friend and Maid of Honor) spent a ridiculous amount of time making these placecards by hand.

I loved the chocolate brown against the green grass.

The aisle.

Our wedding ceremony was beautiful. I hate trying to sum it up in one word but if I had to...beautiful would do the trick. I was so overcome with emotion not only because I was about to marry the love of my life, but I was surrounded by people that loved me. I have such a supportive family and wonderful friends. People came to California from as far away as Chicago!

I thought our florist did a great job matching the girl's bouquets to their dresses. Each bridesmaid had a different accent color.

Here I am walking down the aisle with both parents. I cried like a baby! So did my mom....I loved being able to walk down with both of them. I figure, they both raised me so they should both "give me away." I have always had a close relationship with my parents and I wanted them both to know how important their blessing was to me. (Who am I kidding? They were begging Andy to take me away from them!)

Andy waiting at the end of the aisle. We opted for a first look so he actually saw me before this! I will post those pictures soon. If you can handle the lovefest.

Andy cried at the ceremony as well. A lot. Just one of the many reasons why I love him.

All pictures taken by Chelsea Elizabeth Photography.

Bridal Party Portraits

While the girls and I got ourselves pretty; the second shooter took some great shots of the boys.



Love this pose.



My new husband <3



With my bridesmaids.



I loved our bouquets. I had a vision of dark purples, greens, whites and pinks and it just came together so nicely! I'm thankful for all of the appointments with the florist and the frequenting of wedding blogs.



With my maid of honor, Tiffany. Tiffany and I have been inseparable since 7th grade!



With Sarah. I've known Sarah since middle school as well. We met when we were both in a Hanson fan club. Go ahead and laugh, you know you have a guilty pleasure too!



Ashley is Andy's best friend Mike's girlfriend. She is fantastic. Like me, she has a food blog. I love her.



Tiffany (Yes, there were 2 Tiffany's) flew all the fly from Wisconsin to be in our wedding. I met Tiffany through Andy. They've been friends for a very long time. She needs to live closer.

I have about 6,000 pictures to post so the wedding series will continue for awhile. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. Foodbuzz's Food Blogger Festival in San Francisco?????? I am 100% in.

Getting ready to get married!

I have no good food blogs posts for you today so I decided to post some wedding pictures. This is the 1st in the series. Expect more soon!



Here I am getting ready. I was totally weirded out by the idea of me in a wedding dress.



Bridesmaid Tiffany helps me get ready.



One of my sister's nosegays.



Cute bridesmaids! Bridesmaid Ashley in the middle writes the blog, "On the Rocks"



Drinking water before the ceremony. At least I *think* it was water!



Figuring out how to put on my birdcage veil. I wore the birdcage after the ceremony.



my bridal portrait.



sans glasses. I'm glad I wore my glasses. I feel much more "me" with them on.



lip glossin' it up.