The Great Mountain Marriage Test

Sometimes a mountain getaway is all you need. Jeffrey and I jumped in the car Friday after work and drove 5 hours to the North Georgia mountains.

On the way, we listened to music and sang at the top of our lungs, ate Moe's, and talked about life. All of this occurred in the first hour... then it got real! Our blissful, mountain ready car turned into "are we there yet?", "how much longer?", and "you just said 3 hours, 3 hours ago!".

When we finally reached 4 hours into our adventure, we were at the base of the mountain. Let me tell you, nothing tests a marriage more then going up a mountain at 10:00pm with the foggiest fog surrounding you. There was a lot of "OH my gosh", "Watch out!", "Kelsey, I cant drive!", "AHHHH!", and "I can see the road".

After a great deal of heart dropping turns, panting, and straight up scary roads we made it!!!!! Jeffrey and I cheered and hugged because we were still alive. We felt so gratified. Yeah, we made it up the scary mountain at night together, as a team *high-five*!

After our crazy trip, we had a blast. It was so wonderful to see some of our life-long best friends and spend a weekend away. There should be 30th birthday parties in the mountains every weekend!

Jeffrey and I now know, our marriage can survive a scary trip up a mountain at night in the deep-fog! Now, thats something to be proud of! What has your marriage survived?

-Kelsey 

Friday Five Favorites

CURRENTLY...

Listening:
I am in LOVE with this new song by Jana K. Doesn't it speak to every high school crush you ever had? (besides the ones we regret of course) *wink-wink*

Making:
Silhouette Cameo: I have been crafting and experimenting with my Cameo and I love it. It is pretty easy to use and it makes the coolest cards, stickers, and iron-ons. I can't wait to learn more. If you own a cutting-machine, I would love advice and ideas!

Loving:
Tory Burch "Reva" flats: Jeffrey got me these for Christmas, and I am obsessed. They are the most comfortable flats I have ever owned. I was between these and the Tory Burch "minnie" flats. When I tried on the "minnie", I didn't like them at all. They fit awkwardly on me, squished my feet, and I didn't like the look of them. The "Reva's" are a must have and look so classy!

Eating:
Smoothies: I have been making a smoothie every morning to start my day healthy, since it tends to go down hill after that. My favorite smoothie is banana, pumpkin puree, cinnamon and coconut milk.

Watching:
Nurse Jackie: Since Making a Murderer has been watched and obsessed over, I decided to binge watch a new Netflix show. Nurse Jackie follows the life of a middle-aged nurse, wife, mom, and recovering drug addict who is trying to "make it" in the world.

What are some of your current favorites?

-Kelsey

When Facebook Speaks to my Soul!

I was procrastinating cleaning our home so naturally, I was searching Facebook. I came across a post asking for one word to sum up your 2016 resolution. How can I pick only one word, I am a woman of very many words? I thought long and hard… nothing. I decided to cheat and look at the answer of the person who posted this challenge. Her response was, intentional. Wow, what a powerful word. Good thing I cheated huh!?!?

I thought long and hard about the word intentional and what it meant for my life. What does this word mean and more importantly, how can I apply it in my life. Let’s just say, this word spoke to me. I want to be intentional in 2016! To me this word means so much more than one definition.

When I say, I am going to read scripture more that’s great but how am I going to do that? Add in the word intend and you get, “I intend on reading scripture more”. See the difference? The later means, I will make intentional time. I will make this a routine and part of my “daily schedule”. When you are intentional you are doing it on purpose.

I say, I want to exercise and eat healthy, but really I might run some here or there and eat healthy until there is a bag of chips in front of me. When I am intentionally exercising and eating healthy, I am doing it with purpose. I am aware of it and making a true life change.

This year, I will try to be intentional with my personal and spiritual goals. Instead of being nice, I will intentionally talk to others and observe who might need an extra hand or an extra listening ear. Being nice is great, but being intentionally nice is that much better.

I challenge you to be intentional with your life goals and to think of one word to represent your resolutions and “worldly-plan” for 2016. 

-Kelsey

Life is Good, So Good!

Sometimes, all you need in life is a day at the beach with your husband!

Jeffrey and I had a FULL weekend (like most weekends are) so we decided to relax and "play" on Sunday. After church and our errands, we went to the beach and ran around like we were kids. We had a blast. It was the perfect escape from being an adult.

y'all, how handsome is this man? Answer: VERY!!!

Sweet Roxie had an absolute blast running around and jumping waves.

I just adore our little family!

Charleston is one of the best places.

Go out and be a kid and "play" every once in a while, you will be glad you did.

Now, back to reality!

-Kelsey

Hippie Status

I love my pearls and heels as much as all the other southern girly girls... can I get an amen... BUT, I am a total nerdy hippie at heart.

I started brewing my own kombucha tea! I am obsessed with the natural probiotic health benefits kombutcha has to offer. Since I love it so much I decided to make my own. There is currently a glass jar of "tea" brewing with live cultures in my home office... hippie status #1!

Hippie status #2, I am an Earth Fare, Whole Foods, no GMO, no preservatives, all natural food loving kind of girl. I have celiacs disease which means I cannot have gluten, food dies, or some dairy. Due to my diet already being restricted I began gravitating more towards GMO and preservative free foods. I can tell a HUGE difference. When we eat clean, both Jeffrey and I have more energy and have zero bloating. I never look at carbs, sugars, or fat. All I care about is no preservatives, it is so freeing. We have been "clean eating" for 2 years and gluten free for over 5! Since then Jeffrey has lost over 30 pounds and I am now smaller then I was in college and even high school!

Hippie status #3 is essential oils. I have jumped on the band-wagon and I am never getting off. We have been diffusing tons of oil mixtures and I have noticed a big change in our sleep patterns. My favorite mixture is eucalyptus and peppermint. The other night I was pretty stressed so I put some lavender across my forehead, I kid you not, in about 10 minutes I was completely calm. If you know my hyper-active self, that is amazing!

I have become a pilates hippie woman which brings me to hippie status #4. I am "that person" who checks her posture and makes sure her spine moves in all directions each day. My pilates instructor is basically amazing and I can tell a difference in the way I stand and sit. My favorite piece of equipment is the jump board. We have a love/hate relationship!

Lastly, hippie status #5, is vitamins. I have been taking Juice plus, fish oil, catalyst, and on guard (by essential oils) everyday for 4 months. I am so alert and have completely eliminated the 2:30/3:00 crash. Y'all, I feel so clear headed, it is crazy. I had no idea how foggy and tired my life was until I began taking vitamins. In addition to that, I have not been sick once. Not even a cold! Lets all go knock on wood please. This mixture works great for me, but I would suggest trying different (all natural) vitamins until you find the right blend for you.

So there you  have it, five reasons why I am a total hippie in heels. I would highly recommend trying any of these options, they will do nothing but help you and it can't hurt to try. If you would like anymore information about anything please contact me. What quirks do you have?

-Kelsey 

Game-night!

Please excuse my horrendous appearance, I just get so excited about game-nights.

One of my favorite things to do in the entire world is game-night. There is nothing better than snuggling around a table with good friends in competition. It's great. I may not be the most competitive and I hardly ever win, but I love board games, card games, heck I like any game.

It should be no surprise that Jeffrey and I rang in the new year with friends by, you guessed it, playing games. Here are a list of my five favorite games:

5. Flux // This was one of our first card games given to us by friends in Raleigh. This is a game where the rules are always changing so it keeps you on your toes. I love that we can play this game 100,000,000 times and it will always be different.

4. Pandemic // In this game you literally save the world from virus. I like to pretend I work for the CDC when I play this game. The most appealing thing is Jeffrey and I can play it together without a large group of people.

3. Coup // What I love about this game is, YOU GET TO LIE!!!! I hate lying and I cannot lie to save my life, but I love this game. I think the fact that everyone is lying and that it is acceptable makes it okay for me. If you don't have this game, it is a must have!

2. Cards Against Humanity // I mean, come on, who doesn't like this game? It is amazing, don't lie!

And the #1 game-night game is..... *drum roll please*

1. Exploding Kittens // This game is not as horrible as it sounds. The idea is to not explode so you have cards to make other players draw cards. It is an exciting game full of suspense. Defiantly a must have for any game-night.

All of these can be found on Amazon.
What are some of your favorite games? I would love to add more to our game-night repertoire. Happy gaming blogging world!!!

-Kelsey 

Reality!

Jeffrey flies out today (Monday, for those of you still on "Holiday time") for his new job and will be gone longer than usual because he is the "new" boss and it's a "new" project during a new year. There is a lot of "NEW", which means I will be manning the house in Charleston... aka, "new" is EVERYWHERE! I do not like "new", I do not like change, yet, God has always given Jeffrey and I "new" and change constantly. With each "new" and with each change, our lives get better and we improve and grow. This "new" will be no different. Now, lets do a running count on how many times I used the word "new"... no? okay! Moving on.

Now that my rambling is done, on with my point. With all this "new" (there is that word again) and change, I wanted the week before Jeffrey left to be magical and wonderful and full of love and snuggles. Please, excuse me while I go laugh hysterically in a corner... here is the reality!

Kelsey's fantasy: Snuggling on the couch and watching funny movies laughing together.
Reality: Jeffrey watched a ridiculous movie only he could understand and I, Kelsey ran around the house cleaning and organizing like a mad woman.

Kelsey's fantasy: The house is clean and we paint and clean together getting ready to sell our home.
Reality: Our house is still a mess and we are almost halfway done painting.

Kelsey's fantasy: We cook breakfast together and talk long into the afternoon.
Reality: We cook breakfast (WIN!), but then we get hooked in the show "Making a Murderer" and we binge watch the show until at least 3:00 which wastes our day. Oh, and we never really talked unless it was about our awesome lawyer skills obviously.

Kelsey's fantasy: We go on runs together and talk while we enjoy the view of the bridge or beach.
Reality: We didn't run! Read above where we basically binge watched Netflix.

As you can see, my Disney-romance-brain has a very skewed version of reality. Although reality is very different then what I want, I would not trade the reality we have for anything. Marriage is hard, it's vulnerable, and it can be down right frustrating sometimes. At the end of the day if my reality is being Jeffrey's wife in a messy house with full, lazy bellies then I am one happy girl! Happy New Year! May your reality be all that God has intended.

-Kelsey