Sea-ing Rainbows

Forgot that I wanted to mention in the last post about how I saw something pretty amazing and beautiful on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day this past Sunday and we probably won’t have many more like that as winter approaches quickly. But Brian and I took advantage of the sun and the promise of good waves that Saturday’s rain brought and we went out surfing. While out there I struggled to get through the white water and get out beyond the break. Sometimes I let this really frustrate me and I start to feel like I am battling against the ocean rather than playing in it. I take every hit that it gives me as a personal slap in the face and start to feel like I am going no where… because I am, when it is pushing me back to where I started. And I see Brian out there ahead of me just makes me want it more. I was determined to get out. But it was almost like the ocean wouldn’t let me until I changed my attitude.

So… I did. I started to laugh at how silly I was being getting all frustrated. I mean it’s You VS. The Ocean… who do you think is going to win… duh… So instead I waited and relaxed patiently and then saw my opportunity… and with a little encouragement from my honey to keep swimming even though my arms felt like they would fall off … I made it past them during one of  the calmer sets. And oh was it worth it. Even if that was the only time I would get out that day (and it was) It was so worth the effort. After relaxing a bit, Brian was so excited for me to see what he had been seeing all morning. From out behind where the waves crest and break we sat calmly, watching this amazing site.

Looking toward the beach where the waves ahead were cresting, when they threw up their sea spray into the air it created Rainbows. The coolest thing I have seen in a while. So I reflected out there that I need to just enjoy it and not feel everything so competitively. As Brian and I tried to catch a wave… This one wasn’t meant for me, Brian caught it though. But as it passed under me and ahead of me, I lifted my head up from my board and while lightly getting sprayed in the face I saw the most beautiful colors and it was breathtaking. I found a picture online but it doesn’t do it justice to being out there.  Just then a very low flying bird came across the front of my board too and demanded my attention as it glided over the ocean. Ahhh it’s good to be alive. Moral of the story… JUST ENJOY THE RIDE.

Farm Fresh

Last weekend was fun. Bri and I went friday night and got ourselves a can of Chalkboard paint to play around with. So that night we painted some of our fun jars we have so that we can label them with what is inside like for instance popcorn, rice, spaghetti, different loose leaf tea mixes and spices etc etc. We also decided to go ahead and paint the inside of one of our cupboards in the condo so that we have a little chalkboard to leave notes to each other on. Here is a pic of some of that.

Then on Saturday we took the bus out into the rainy grayness, which really made the Autumn trees have a brilliant glow about them that was just fabulous to see. And we went to Heron Pond Farm ( our farm ) to pick up our first week’s batch of vegetables. There were some interesting things in our alloted 20lbs. Like a German Turnip called Kohlrabi. We were sure to have some fun figuring out what to make with all of our yummy veggies. After that we stopped in at a pet store to pick up some fish for our fish tank and they just so happened to be having a puppy sale going on… Oh my!! Little puppy dog eyes begging for you to take them home. It was so hard not to leave with one. They were so cute. Someday. Someday.

We went home and right away Brian started to think up something to make for dinner. While I decided it was finally time to complete a project that I had been meaning to do for a long while now. In our kitchen we have my dining set which consists of a Table, Two Tall Back Chairs and a Wooden Bench that were all purchased from different thrift stores when I was living in my apartment in Manchester. I loved the miss matched look of this but the items all needed some serious sprucing up. So… I found the black paint I had purchased for that purpose and thought about adding some fun accents with the Chalkboard paint for a little fun for the kids… and who are we kidding us too.. here is how that turned out…

I also wanted to show you a couple of the delicious meals that my “husband to be” has been cooking up this week. He is really so talented, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful guy who cooks such great food on top of it all!! I think I will keep him He has decided to try to record all the recipes for the dishes that he is creating each night so that we can eventually have a Winter CSA Local Seasonal Cookbook out of it all. Such a great idea right! So, I wish I had a nicer camera other than my phone to take better photos of these great dishes but for now… Here are a couple pics that do not do any justice to the way these dinners tasted… mmm

Oh and one more farmy thing. We have made the decision to get married at Sunny Slope Farm in Alton, NH and are having the lease agreement signed this week. We will be getting the farm for a week in order to celebrate our love with loved ones and have some relaxing alone time/mini-moon there. It should be great!!

Inspiration

“Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.” -Jim Rohn

Bri and I have a sort of mini tradition started where we try to have a “Date Night” during the work week. We chose Wednesday night to spend some quality time together and do something fun and out of the ordinary to break up the week. Now, we don’t have the money to be doing anything too fancy for date night, every week, when we do have some extra money we usually try to do a music show or theater or movie and dinner and such but sometimes we have to get creative and do some research.

In the summer months it was pretty easy. We would for many weeks have date nights as simple and cheap as riding our bikes down to hear free live outdoor music in hampton and dance there till our heart’s content and go play air hokey at the arcade, grab something at the sweet shop for dessert and ride home along the oceanside and watch the sunsets etc.

But now that it will be getting colder we will have to become a little more creative. So this week I looked around and found us a FREE poetry reading to sit in on at a small bookstore in downtown Exeter. It was a crisp fall night and we got to sit amongst some great creative minds and listen to them speak beautiful words about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: New Hampshire. They were published in a poetry book all about New Hampshire and then later there was an “open” time of sharing other sorts of poetry. Brian and I sat there probably 30 years younger than most that were attending. And we enjoyed ourselves so much. We almost got up the nerve to get up and share some of our own poems but that takes some guts… maybe next month when they do this again we will be more brave.  After we took a walk in the cold through the cute town of Exeter and then went to a Thai restaurant and ate an absolutely delicious meal and yummy sticky rice for dessert. It was a great night.

From inspirational words to inspirational images…

I have been also doing my research about wedding stuff and have been trying to find images that convey the way that I would like my special day to feel… Small, Simple, Rustic, Casual, Relaxed, full of love and FUN. Here are some of those for all to see.

This Weekend

Ahh, I love long weekends. Why can’t we always have 3 day weekends and 4 day work weeks I will never know.

On Sunday Brian and I took the bus up to Portsmouth and went to the big Farmer’s Market they have there and got lots of yummy fresh foods like eggs and steaks etc etc.

While we were there we also got to finally stop in and see my friend Whitney, who was a fellow graphic design student at Plymouth with me and her new Letterpress Shop on Market Street in Portsmouth. Gus and Ruby

It was so good to see her and her wonderful shop. There was so many cute things to look at. I wish I had the money to buy up one of everything.

One of the items that Brian and I both fell in love with were the Artist Prints of a European artist named Freya. Below was one of our favorites. It just makes me so happy.

There were others too of course. We also really loved the blue one on the lower right out of these here.

I hope to go back when I do have some extra cash and buy some cute things from Gus&Ruby. Maybe even work with Whitney on getting my Invitations made up. I Love Letterpress after all.

Then on Monday my Mom and I (since poor Bri had to work) went and checked out a very potential place for us to host our wedding. It was really great. I still want Bri to see it before making hard decisions but it really felt like the right atmosphere for what I want my wedding day to be like. And the woman that gave us the tour was very friendly. Good feelings all around. I will give you a quick photo here of me at the place and you can get a small idea of what I have in mind.

Exciting Things!

So Bri and I had been talking a lot lately on narrowing in a time frame for a wedding for us. ( yes, I shortened Brian to Bri  for blogging sake… I hope you don’t mind honey! )

Also, we had some trouble with our first potential location that I fell in love with, and started to get my heart set on, but we found out that they do not do weddings there any longer… BOOOO

The sadness this brought on for me although short lived. Made me realize this whole wedding planning stress might be harder to keep away then I thought. But alas, I am determined.

And just like everything else in life…  When one door closes another opens and it has!! I found another location that I think I like even more today that I will be going to take a tour of shortly and I have a really good feeling. It will be fabulous. I can’t reveal too much information yet however but please stay tuned… exciting things are starting to happen!

Side Note: I love autumn in NH! We took a drive yesterday to our new farm stand where we joined the CSA program and will be picking up all of our vegetables, herbs and preserves this winter from! It is located in South Hampton, NH and the drive on the country roads to get there was stunning. It must be nearing Peak for fall foliage in our seacoast area because the trees were just so vibrant!

I found this shot online today and it just made me think of yesterday and how much I love autumn and how much I miss and need a good camera of my own.

Wedding Blogs

I love reading wedding blogs and looking at wedding sites. It is all so inspiring and fun and puts me in such a good mood all day. I am sure that I should be doing work at work instead of spying on other peoples lives and love and wedding plans but it is just so much more fun. Some of the ones that I have found to really help me solidify what I want our wedding to be like are these ones.

theknot

intimateweddings

oncewed

greatgreenweddings

greenbrideguide

2000dollarwedding

I love looking at the real life weddings that people share with the world. There are some great ideas about things we can do ourselves and things that can save us some money as well. I am so excited about how much fun this day will be. I am hoping that it is relaxing as well and that I don’t start to stress out about any of it. Which I think I should be able to do pretty well. As long as our family and close friends are there to share in the love that Brian and I have for each other, everything will be perfect.

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”

We love each other. And it shows. We want to spend the rest of our days together.

So we are getting married.

… because we love each other.