The Start of Something Good

Well after I went on and on about the gorgeous, sunny weather on my last post, mother nature has decided to rub my nose in it and the sky is gray and murky - splashing rain drops down from time to time - thus ruining a perfectly free Saturday that I had set aside for pool lounging. Sigh.

Guess the dreary weather will act as the motivator I need to organize this house and US for our trip to Virginia Beach - we leave 1 week from tomorrow!

We are looooong over due for a trip alone together. We have NEVER been on one in the entire 7.4 years we've been together!  We've had a weekend trip here or there with friends but that's it - we never even had a honeymoon thanks to Ben's new job (I'm not complaining believe me!) so we are really looking forward to getting away together to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary- which is 1 week from today!

In honor of our anniversary week I thought I would share some of our story through photos with you this week.

Friendship: 1997 - Well...for always

Really hard to see I know: Ben is on the far right in the 2nd row..I'm the head to the left of him with the bangs- this was at a party our freshman year in high school 

Sophomore year homecoming - Ben in the couple on the left and me with my then boyfriend in the middle

Band camp our junior year in highschool - Megan, Ben, and Me 

Another tricky one to see - Junior Year Homecoming I'm on the left in the front- Ben is the second on the left - both there with different dates than the year before ( : 

Dating: Feb 2004 -Feb 2009
(AKA Look How Chunky I Was...j/k...still good memories)

The first month or so of us officially dating

New Years Eve Ringing in 2004

Ren. Fest

Our 4 year dating anniversary 

Ringing in 2009 

Out and about with friends

My college graduation party 2007

One of our many Halloween get-ups 

We're on a Boat!

Waking Up to a scruffy face! 

The picture that inspired our engagement pictures

And there are so many more  that I could show you but there's only so much time in the day!

We dated for 5 years before getting engaged - something I was convinced would NEVER happen but it finally did....

And I w as going to post those pictures today too but blogger is not cooperating so I'll have to save them for another day!

Stay tuned! For now I'm off to attempt productivity - happy weekend!

Much Love Always,

Mrs. Amber Lane 

Hiya!

Its amazing how quickly time flies when you are not blogging. We're closing in on 2 months of me not posting- but it sure doesn't feel like it! Time flies! Especially now that the weather is toasty and perfect and I literally itch to be outside! 

It wasn't like that the first month of my non-blogging - it was a weather nightmare - rain and tornado warnings almost every night! We are so very lucky to have not been touched by a tornado but May was a very volatile weather month here in southern Ohio! Then it got very hot for awhile - almost with no warning the temperature sky-rocketed into the 90s ! I love the heat but even I was unprepared for the quickness that it sprang up. 

Now as I mentioned - its perfect. I <3 summer so much. I love the pool, I love the beach, tan skin, bare legs, the smell of Hawaiian Tropic , iced tea - summertime is really my season. 

So what have I been up to as we jump into summer?

Glad you asked!

For starters....
I got bangs..... 

I think its a fun look for summer - don't know how long I'll keep it but for now I'm enjoying. 

We said goodbye to our sweet,fluffy,kitty BG who went missing for a week before our neighbors found that he had perished beneath their back porch....

That was most definitely not a good day in the Smith household. Ben is the one who had to retrieve him. Although we more than likely will never know what happened to him- Ben said it looked like he had gotten into a bad fight - maybe with a raccoon or something. I wish he had come home instead of crawling under a porch- but what is done is done. We buried him in Ben's parent's back yard so that we won't have to leave him behind when we finally buy a house. 

I went camping over memorial day weekend
(No pics of that- trust me you don't want to see them)

Celebrated my Mom on Mother's Day....

(I stole her face huh?) 

Ben and I went to a wedding....

I worked between weekends off ( lol that's seriously how I feel right now- work is just something I do between pool lounging sessions and nights out... is that sad? Sorry its my summer brain talking)

I read a couple books...

actually really like the Carrie Diary novels even though I've otherwise HATED Candace Bushnell's writing 

still reading this- a friend left this behind for me - I've never read Jackie Collins - its entertaining - a great pool read.

Spent some time with this doll baby....

hard to believe baby Shelby is already almost 3 months old!

Continued to work on getting to goal..

This is @ my mom's before a Zumba for the cure event. I have not taken off anymore weight but I notice that my body is continuing to change. I'm still in the 140-143 range and still trying to get to 135 but I'm pretty happy with myself. I Zumba twice a week and try to mix in some miles at the park a few times a week too.

I continue to be crazy amazed with the way my upper chest, shoulders, and neck have changed just in the past month or so - even with no additional lbs. lost...

Don't mind my crazy hair or odd expression this pic was literally 30 seconds ago - I slipped off my cardigan to snap a photo in my office.

Other than those things, I haven't been up to a whole lot that's terribly exciting. I think that's why I put writing off for so long. I wanted the perfect topic to come along, the perfect event to re-emerge to. That hasn't happened but here I am none-the-less. Writing is a part of who I am - it always has been whether its in a tiny pink diary with ballet slippers on the front (what my first diary ever looked like when I was 9) or sitting at my computer at work during my lunch break (guilty). So I guess you could say I'm back. I don't promise to be here everyday but I do vow to continue telling my story in the imperfect way that I do. 

So going forward what are the plans for me?

Celebrate a year of this...

With 10 days off and...

5 days here...

June 25th is our 1 year anniversary- hard to believe! This year flew! 

Lol. Well lunch is over by now. Have to run! Hope the start of your summers have been lovely. Looking forward to "catching up" with all of you soon!

Much Love Always!

Mrs. Amber Lane