on this day....

on this day, four years ago...i met the man that would later become my husband. i am so blessed + grateful to experience such an amazing love here on earth...a love that grows even more amazing as we both continue to grow closer to God individually as well as a family.

to my husband, my best friend - i respect you. i love you.

here's how it all started {from the front of our wedding save the date}....

  

{graphic design by www.thebeepaperie.com}

skydiving!

october 1, 2007

 

january 18, 2009 - engagement day!!!

**a little perturbed that my pics won't "center", but hey, guess you can't win 'em all! LOL :)

hbd to me!!!

today, june 26th, {well, technically yesterday...since i'm still in china} is my birthday!!! i'm usually REALLY BIG on celebrating birthdays, but since i knew i was going to be in china for work, i didn't really make a big fuss about it. so, i was quite surprised at how my day actually turned out!

although i was away from my family + friends, i still managed to have a pretty awesome day!

• first, i woke up to see another day....{thank you GOD!}
• second, my hubby was the first to wish me a happy birthday both on china time + atlanta time :)
• third, my hotel surprised me with a delicious birthday cake with strawberries + a cute little message {picture above}
• and, fourth, i booked a REALLY awesome, unconventional tour of beijing....and had a BLAST!!! {pics to come in a later post}

i am truly thankful for all of the texts, calls, and facebook "happy birthday" posts i received today...it made being so far away on my birthday a tad bit easier!

china recap

as mentioned in my last post, i was recently in china for work....here's a brief "recap" of my experience {yeah....so much for blogging while i was there!} .

• it's really hard being away from my husband after the excitement of getting married + finally being able to truly live together. people say that absence makes the heart go fonder, but...i don't buy it. i do enjoy my job + the benefits of traveling, but i miss my husband immensely...plus the 12 hour time difference doesn't really help either {okay, enough of the "sob story"...}
• HRC + her crew stayed at my hotel while visiting beijing...i ate breakfast "with" the secret service. {okay, maybe not "with" them, but we were in the same restaurant - so, as far as i'm concerned...it counts}
• another female coworker + i were stranded in the rain for about an hour because we refused to pay "foreigner" cab prices. the cab drivers wanted to charge us 2600% more than a normal cab ride {13RMB/2USD versus 340RMB/50USD} back to our hotel because they "knew" we were stranded + it was raining. we ended up calling our hotel + having them bring a car to get us...which ended up costing "us" about 300RMB/45USD {i'm not good at simple math, so if my calculations aren't right - i'm cool with it. just know...they tried to charge us too much...}
• i did no sightseeing at all - none - except for seeing the "bird's nest/national stadium" and the "aquatic center/water cube" every day to + from the office. i went to dinner with coworkers a few times, but i spent most of my time sleeping the weekend i was there...and it was GREAT! the hubby really tried to encourage me to get out, but i guess i was fine with catching up on my zzzzz's because i knew that i would be coming back in june...AND i'd already been the china - different city, of course, but still
• the ride to + from the office was EASILY the worst part of being there...it would take between 45mins to an hour + a half to get there, depending on traffic...there was really no way around it
• i almost missed my connecting flight from tokyo back home because my first flight from beijing was delayed. i had twenty mins to deboard my flight, go through security, find my gate, go through security {again}, then board. i made it. lucky delta

ni hao!!!

so, i started this blog soon after my wedding on 03.26.10. my intent was to blog about my adventures as a newlywed + up until today, almost two months later, i had yet to write my first post. well, here it is....

i'm currently in china for the next week for a work assignment. when i arrived a few days ago, i came up with the bright idea that while i'm suffering from jetlag + unable sleep due to the 12 hour time difference, that i can blog! well, that was a bright idea for, hmmm...about ten minutes until i realized that basically all blogs are blocked by the government here in china, so i was/am unable to even access my blogger account. after googling work arounds, my husband {dude, as i affectionately refer to him - LOVE that man} came to the rescue + set-up the option within blogger where i can post by email - SCORE! sooooooo, that brings me to my disclaimer...because i can't even SEE my blog at this point, i apologize in advance for it's potential lack of visual appeal, but hey...i should at least get an "a" for effort, right?!? :)

until next time...