Anniversary Celebrations Part 2

Okay, now we can get back to our anniversary trip!

Like I told you Monday, Ryan and I went up to Fort Wayne this past weekend to celebrate our anniversary, but we didn't get to leave until after he got home from work Friday night. So Saturday morning we got up and had our free hotel breakfast {we love Hampton breakfasts} before our shopping extravaganza.

Yes. We did our Christmas shopping on our anniversary trip and actually had fun doing it!! Of course, what's a little shopping without a little goofing off?

{I thought this would make a good purse.}

We stopped for lunch at Panda Express. Ever been there? We hadn't, but we really liked it. We read our fortunes in our cookies at the end, and I cracked up when Ryan showed me the pictures he took of me. Doesn't it look like the lady behind me is just praying I get the best fortune ever?

After doing a little more shopping, we stopped for a mid-afternoon snack at DeBrand's. If you're not from here, you're missing out. It's just that simple. AMAZING chocolate, and we just happened to have a gift card, so we felt it only responsible to make good use of it.

Yeah. It was as good as it looked. And maybe even better. {If you're wondering, it was mocha gelato in a milk chocolate dish, with caramel and chocolate syrup and pecans.}

A couple of cups of coffee later, we were back to the shopping!

We were going to go out for a nice sit-down dinner, but we were tired, so we switched gears and decided to drive through the Festival of Lights at Franke park before getting a pizza and going back to the hotel to eat dinner.

The lights were SUCH FUN!! Very different from the lights here at home. We really enjoyed driving through.

{The WBCL light display.}

After our highly nutritious pizza dinner, we visited the pool and hot tub, but eventually it was overrun with kids and we decided the easiest way to dodge cannonballs was to just go back to our room. LOL!!!

Three Years

Dear Ryan:

Three years ago today, we stood in warm sand and said our forever promises in front of a handful of our friends and family and a handful of complete strangers who lurked. {Shout out to the anonymous, shirtless interloper in the video.}

I loved that day. I loved absorbing every moment of my lifelong dreams come true. It was more than I ever could have asked or imagined.

And then we came home from the fairy-tale of warm sand and sunny days and we started real life. Sometimes real life has had its fairy-tale-ish moments and sometimes...well...not so much.

But here's what I have loved about the last three years:

I've loved knowing you're always in my corner, always praying for me, always championing me, always believing in me. I've loved being your person in your corner, praying for you, championing you, and believing in you.

I've loved our many adventures. I've loved traveling with you, doing radio with you, now podcasting with you, making a home with you, and daily life-living with you. Every day is an adventure with you - in the best possible way.

And in these last few weeks, as I have revisited the longing and the prayers of my single days while I wrote about that season of life, I am reminded again what a beautiful answer to prayer you are. How completely God fulfilled everything that remained incomplete and unfulfilled in my life. How you have made it possible for marriage to be everything I ever dreamed it could be - even when those around me told me I was completely unrealistic.

I love where we are at this stage in our marriage. I know we have so much growing and learning and groove-finding to do yet, but for three years out from our lovely wedding day, I'm thrilled with where we are. I'm thrilled with the traditions we've formed and memories we've created. I'm thrilled with the choices we've made, the hard things we've made it through, and the fun we've had along the way.

And most of all, I love you. You are selfless, you are encouraging, you are a leader, you are fun, you are compassionate, you are passionate about the Lord, you are hard-working, and I am so glad you are mine. You teach me with your actions and push me to be better while loving me in my right now.

Happy third anniversary, my love. You have made the last three years the best of my life. I'm grateful beyond what I can pour into words for your presence in my life.

Thanks for choosing me every day. Thanks for making me smile. Thanks for choosing to write these chapters of your life alongside me. You are my joy.

~ AS

Podcasts and Such

I interrupt my own anniversary vacation coverage to bring you today's post. :)

* First of all, happy December! We have not fully {read: remotely} decorated, but hopefully within the next day or two, we will remedy that! I've been completely enjoying everyone's coverage of their own decorations as posted on all forms of social media. Very inspirational!

* We are also excited to start reading His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift today. While on one hand, it still feels very strange to me to read my own writing, I really enjoy this tradition with Ryan! Whether or not you have a copy of the book, I hope you'll do some sort of reading for the Advent season, so I wanted to remind you that today is December 1!

* THANK YOU for all the really kind words regarding last week's podcast. {If you missed it, you can catch it here.} It was a scary thing to hit publish on that and then sit back to see what you all thought about it! But you have been kind, and we are grateful. Our work has been well-received, and that relieves us. We are committed to making it better and better every week, so we hope you'll feel we succeeded with that this week! {Please overlook a couple of audio hiccups. Apparently I'm new at running a board.}

* Which brings me to my next point...without further ado, here is our second round at podcasting:

Click here to listen.

* In one of the stories we tell, there is an opportunity to vote to name Ryan's metal wall-mounted rhino head. {If that doesn't complete your day, I just don't know what will.} I promised in the podcast to post a picture of said rhino head in action as a coat rack, in case this influences your decision in any way. {Name options are found in the podcast.} Here is the rhino head and feel free to vote in the comments if you like.

* I don't intend for every Tuesday's blog post to be devoted to the podcast, but who knows. Maybe it will be. I'm new at this. {Also. I just typed "I'm knew at this." I think that means I need more coffee.}

* I shall now get more coffee.

Anniversary Celebrations Part 1

Well, three years ago today, I got up and drove to Fort Wayne to co-host Mid-Morning, and then I drove home immediately after the show so I could get in a car with Ryan and begin the long, long, long, long {you get the idea} trek to Florida for a little event we liked to call OUR WEDDING!

It was indeed a long trip, made interesting by an overnight nap at a rest stop {that I thought would land us on Dateline as the story of the tragic lovebirds slain at a rest stop} and a three hour traffic jam a mere ten minutes from our exit.

That was three years ago.

This past weekend, we began our anniversary celebration, which was relatively low-key in comparison with years past, but no less fun or memorable for the two of us.

Ryan's time off at work is scarce, and between the long vacation we just took in October and the days he needed to save to actually have Thanksgiving and Christmas, he just didn't have time for a long getaway. And you know what? That was okay.

So we decided to keep the celebration close to home this year and just head to Fort Wayne for the weekend. He worked all day Friday, and while he was gone, I planned and packed and worked to get everything ready to go.

He came home in the cold and rain, with an early onset of dusk, thanks to the nasty weather, and we piled in the car to get some coffee fuel and get on our way.

We checked into our hotel, unloaded our car, and headed straight out for dinner. The goal of our weekend was to eat from as many gift cards as possible, so Red Robin was first up on the list. Ryan was excited to find games on the little table kiosk.

I was excited to find food.

Red Robin is in the mall, so after we ate, we walked around for a while to burn off the burgers. Well. Until we found Dairy Queen and Ryan decided he needed a little something sweet...

We stayed until the mall closed, and then we went back to our hotel to rest. It had kind of been a long day!

PS - Can I tell you how much nicer THIS is than leaning up against a door at a rest stop???

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday morning, we wrapped up a sermon series we've been doing for the majority of the fall, and we ended by taking communion together. Ryan and I came home to rest for the afternoon, and we thought it would be a good idea to grill chicken for lunch. It was so cold outside {and we ran out of gas partway through without knowing it} and it ended up taking two hours to grill that chicken! LOL! It was worth it, though. Very yummy! There's not much I love more than low key Sundays at home together!

* Monday I went over to my parents' house to document my mom's candy making process. It's quite an art form, and she's very good at it. {And I ate some of the mess-ups, which is never a bad way to start a Monday!} And to counter-act that, we went to the gym that night, where I braved the big-boy weight room and the kettle-bells!

* Tuesday was a big day for us, because our first podcast went live! It was so much fun to share that with all of you; thanks for being so very kind to us! Ryan's work had a Thanksgiving carry-in lunch that day, and I made a pumpkin cake for it. I was really glad there were leftovers for us to have at home the rest of the week! YAY! And that night we had a special treat: my friend Jessica was in town and came over to have dinner with us and just hang out for a bit!

* Wednesday, Ryan hung up the rhino head gift and officially instituted it as a coat hook. Cracks me up. LOL! I spent the day at home doing various chores and trying to keep Braeya out of my special treat pop that I sprung for just because I could. It wasn't enough, though. By the afternoon, I had to brew more coffee. It was just a sleepy sort of day around here! Before we went to bed, we put Swedish meatballs in the slow cooker to marinate overnight...YUM!!!

* Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we had a great day with Ryan's side of the family. I saw the official family photo after I blogged about the day and we had 37 there for the main part of the day {more might have come in after we left!} - and it was such fun. I had the chance to meet and talk with some of Ryan's cousins that I'd not really seen before, and I enjoyed it! And there was so. much. food. And there was ham. I was excited about that, since I don't like turkey.

* No Black Friday shopping for us. Ryan had to go back to work on Friday, and I stayed WELL clear of the stores until very late at night, because I can't handle the madness. When Ryan got home from work, though, we went to dinner at Red Robin {truly YUM!!!!} and later, he decided he needed some ice cream, so we split a Blizzard. It was a fun night out!!

* Yesterday we knocked out as much of our Christmas shopping as we could. {We even got to do some shopping for ourselves to save our family some time. That was good!} We went to Fort Wayne for our shopping, and of course a trip to Fort Wayne deserves a stop at DeBrand chocolates for dessert. Heavenly. Heavenly. A fun and lovely day together!

The Saturday Six

One.

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I feel I would be out of line if I did not pause to remind you that Fixer Upper starts NEXT WEEK! {Tuesday, to be exact.} Poor Ryan - he'll be losing the remote for that hour. It's the one show I have to watch live, because I have to chat about it on Facebook with my fellow Fixer Upper junkies. Can't wait to see what they come up with this season. Welcome back, Chip and JoJo!

Two.

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Yes, yes!! This!! Putting boundaries on the holidays so you can enjoy them instead of feeling overcome by them. Well said, KariAnne!

Three.

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I think this post has some powerful {and necessary} points about focusing on what is holy instead of trying to make everything perfect. It offers all kinds of grace.  

Four.

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One thing Ryan and I really appreciate about our church is the music. Our worship pastor, Jordan, is gifted. Not just gifted musically, but gifted in her soul. She's insightful, she works hard, and whenever we are away from our church, we sorely miss the music. I just saw this week that she's released some music of her own! These are songs that she wrote and recorded, and many of the worship team folks from our church are part of this project with her. I'm excited for her that she's had the opportunity to share her talent in this way, so I wanted to share it with YOU! 

Five.

It's been a while since I shared an embarrassing photo of the Bekah of yore. One of my high school friends had a birthday this week and another friend posted this one in honor of that day. I'd never seen this picture before. Can you find me? 

Six.

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This week, I took a break from Hallmark Christmas movies {sigh of happiness} to read the fun, feel-good novel Every Girl Gets Confused by Janice Thompson. This book is the second in a series called "Brides of Style" - and even though I had not read the first book in the series, I was able to jump in easily and learn the characters.

While I enjoyed the read, I will begin by saying the book was nothing like what I expected based on back cover synopsis. The back cover focuses on Katie Fisher and her new relationship with pro-basketball star Brady James, and while they are significant characters in the book {the story is actually told in first person by Katie}, the bulk of the love story centers around Katie's 80 year old grandmother, who has found love again, after being a widow for several years. She's not even mentioned on the back cover.

I've actually never read an octogenarian love story before, so I giggled over and over as Queenie {Katie's grandmother} went through the process of finding a dress, having bridal showers, and sharing the details of falling in love with a local minister of a different denomination. It was cute and funny.

Additionally, Katie worked at a bridal shop, so reading about the behind-the-scenes stresses of designers trying to please brides and the in-the-shop stresses of families at odds with each other and bearing strong opinions over dresses and weddings was a fun twist in the story.

Some things, to me, didn't feel entirely natural, but they weren't so over-the-top that I couldn't enjoy the story through them. Sometimes the story line of Queenie and her senior citizen cronies felt a bit too eccentric, but I still found much humor in their eccentricities. Sometimes I wasn't sure I believed that Brady's character was normal for a pro-athlete. Sometimes the push-and-pull issues of one of the main families shopping in the bridal store seemed completely unrealistic. And sometimes I wanted to know more of Katie's emotions, since I saw the story from inside her head. I felt like I got to know what happened around her more than I got to know her, which felt awkward for a first-person narrative.

Despite those things, I enjoyed the story, I appreciated its light-hearted feel, and I thought it was a fun, easy read.

* Thanks, Revell, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *

Thankful, Indeed

Well, I figure today, half of you will be sleeping off your turkey consumption from yesterday, and the other half of you will be out shopping. I'll be doing neither. I didn't eat any turkey and I am NOT a Black Friday shopper.

But did you have a good Thanksgiving? We did!!

It was so nice to sleep in {until Braeya decided we'd had enough and woke us up}. I had grand dreams of running a 5K {of our own} that morning and watching the Thanksgiving day parade, but instead, we slept in and I dyed my roots.

Before we headed out for the day's festivities, we worked to push Ryan's truck into our garage {yes, it's under the weather again}. When yours truly is half the muscle of such an operation, you can know you're in pretty big trouble. We strained and worked...and right about the time we had the truck completely blocking the road, a car drove up behind us. We felt horrible for holding up their travels, but we couldn't do much to make it go faster. Imagine our surprise when they hopped out and told us they lived down the road, saw us pushing, and drove down just to help us! Talk about thankful!! What a way to start the day!

We packed our crock pot of Swedish meatballs in the car and set out over the river and through the woods to find our Thanksgiving lunch!

This year was an unusual year in the land of Shaffer. It was the first time we did not go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving lunch. We went to Ryan's side this year, and it is pretty opposite from our get-togethers. Ryan's immediate family has more members than my whole family. We gathered for lunch at Ryan's aunt and uncle's house, and it was a "small" year with probably 30-40 people in the house.

 One of Ryan's cousins brought the appetizer I could have eaten for the entire meal: dill pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham. Seriously...mouth watering just typing that.

We had a great time talking with cousins and family members we rarely get to see - and I had a good long talk with Ryan's grandpa, too! And somehow, by the end of the day, Ryan found himself outside with the kids:

We did stop by to see my parents on the way home, and we were home in time for a good nap before it was time to wake up and go to bed!

And can we just pause to mention how amazing the weather was? To be able to run around outside without a coat on Thanksgiving is a rare treat in Indiana!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear bloggy friends:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I know this day can bring emotional collision for many of you.

Some of you are dreading it because of who might be missing this year, whether that missing person was there before and now is gone or has yet to arrive at all. Some of you are dreading it because you know it will escalate family drama or punctuate the truth that you're separated from family, even if family brings drama. Some of you are dreading it because you really don't like anything turkey or pumpkin.

But some of you are excited for it. Excited for a day off, a day of rest, a day with family. Maybe some of you are excited for the turkey and pumpkin.

Regardless of the camp you land in today, it's a day to pause and be thankful for what is good and right. Even if you have to think hard, there is something good and right in your world.

We're thankful, here in Shafferland, because we're wrapping up our third year of life together, and while it has been all kinds of interesting this year, we celebrate the things that have transpired since this same day last year.

* We are thankful our Greentown house sold. Last year at Thanksgiving, we were still biting our nails waiting for Ryan's house in Greentown to sell. It held {probably still holds, actually} the record for the longest sale in our Realtor's career. Not exactly what we were going for, but I guess it's good to hold a record in something. This year of just owning one home has been beautiful. And every time we drive by it, we're thankful for the family who gets to enjoy it now. They've had a hard year, and we hope the house has made it a little brighter.

* We are thankful for our health and the fine folks in health care. After a year of continued dental rehab AND gallbladder surgery, I am thankful to be feeling healthy this year. I'm thankful for insurance, for the nurses and doctors who took care of me, and for all the many friends and family members who came to visit and brought delicious food. And I'm really thankful Ryan is so great about health care. He was encouraging and helpful and a prayer warrior when I was so scared.

 * We are thankful for the change in seasons. Leaving WBCL was a hard act of obedience, but we are grateful we said yes to this major life change. This new season of life has brought about much adjustment, but it has also brought about much freedom and much rest that we had sorely been missing in our lives. I am grateful for Ryan's sacrifices so I can pursue writing and homemaking, and Ryan is grateful for the additional rest and free time he gets since he doesn't have as many home-chores anymore!

* We are thankful for Mo. That may be a first - a couch making a gratitude list. But last year, we stepped away from tradition and scrapped giving each other Christmas gifts so we could get our beloved couch {which we named Mo, in case you're new here and don't have a clue what I'm talking about}. It was one of the best investments we made in our daily life. We love Mo! He was so helpful on my gallternity leave, he's been a great place to curl up and read, to take naps, to offer to guests...we love Mo!

* We are thankful for new opportunities to serve. This year brought about a couple of new ways that we can serve together at church, and we have so enjoyed them. We get to help with greeting and with the little cafe, and both have been a blast for us. Sometimes finding your place in a church can be hard, especially when you go to a big church, so we've been thankful for these opportunities that come our way.

* We are thankful for simple. One of the big things we've taken on in the past year - and are continuing to take on in additional forms - is simplicity. Part of quitting my job was about simplifying. Taking on the capsule wardrobe project was about simplifying. And there are many other things as well. Getting to comb through our house and get rid of what we don't need was freeing. {And I'm about to go for round two.} Having a yard sale and getting to see the fruit of the labor was freeing and financially helpful. So we're just thankful to be at a place where we don't need more stuff as much as we need more simplicity.

* We are thankful for vacations. Vacations are a privilege, not a given. This I learned during about the first seven years of my post-college life when I could not afford one at all. :( So I am hyper-sensitive when it comes to appreciating the opportunity to sneak away, even for a little bit. This year we had the chance to spend a long weekend in Tennessee, a long weekend at the lake with Ryan's family, and a long week running around the eastern half of this nation. We are grateful for safety in our travels, amazing weather, and the beauty of this country that we got to see while we drove and hiked around. Thankful, thankful, thankful.

There's much more, but you have a dinner to go eat, I'm sure. Thank YOU, dear friends, for hanging out here with us, reading our adventures, and chatting with us in the comments. We say frequently that we don't understand why people want to come over and read our crazy stories, but sure are thankful you do.

We love you!!!

The Early Anniversary Gift

It's hard to be the OCD girl when it comes to gift giving. ESPECIALLY when you know there are lists that categorize the themes for gift giving. Anniversaries have themes, you know. Perhaps my gift planning would go more smoothly if I didn't know this, actually.

The theme for the first anniversary is paper, so when that day rolled around, I gave Ryan subway art chronicling our first year. The second anniversary theme is cotton, so I gave him a canvas with a quote he loved. And then comes the third anniversary: leather. What do you even get for a leather anniversary? {Maybe just don't answer that out loud, mmmmmkay?}

After wrestling with it for a while, I finally decided it might be okay to stray from the all-consuming list just a bit and get something that might {are you ready for this???} NOT be leather.

GASP.

Ryan and I love to window shop, and one night, as we strolled slowly through TJ Maxx, he saw a metal rhino head on the shelf. Yes. You read that correctly. A metal rhino head. It was intended to hang on the wall much like a deer head.

I've never seen a human being get as excited as Ryan did in that TJ Maxx aisle looking at that glorious piece of wall art.

You might think I'm kidding, but I'm not. He loved that metal rhino. He looked at the price and put it back on the shelf, declaring it too expensive.

Whew.

But he talked about it the rest of the way through the store. About what a great coat rack that rhino would make for his office at work.

And so it was that a few days later, I tip-toed through the store again, hoping the rhino would still be there. On one hand, I really didn't think I had much to worry about, because hello...obvious. On the other hand, if it wasn't there, I knew I would never find another one, because hello...obvious.

It was there, on the shelf, and even on sale. Bingo. I carried that silly thing to the front, and when the cashier asked if I found everything okay, I said, "Interestingly enough, yes." She laughed.

I'd been hanging onto this little gem for our anniversary, but last week, Ryan started talking about shopping for a coat rack for his office - now - so I decided to give it to him early. After all, it seems coat weather is officially here to stay. So last Friday, when I went to his work to meet him for a date, I took the gift.

I think he liked it.

He was SO excited.

He was even MORE excited after he said "You didn't pay full price for this, did you?" He loved it more when he found out it was on sale.

His new coat rack!!

He said it was the best gift he'd ever gotten in his life. I'm not even sure how to take that, but I am so very happy he liked it.

Even if it wasn't leather. :)