A Surprise, Tennessee Adventure!

I have to begin this blog by bragging on my husband for a second.  Will has some clients in Chattanooga and has told me how beautiful it is and how much he wanted to take me there.  We discussed taking a little three day weekend trip to Chattanooga, and he was finally able to get a Friday off last week so we decided to go.  Although I knew we were heading to Chattanooga, that is ALL I knew!  My stud of a husband planned THREE days worth of activities for us….even had an itenerary in the center console with times and addresses of all of the places we were going.  It made my heart so happy to see how much effort he put into this trip and everything we did were things I had discussed wanting to do at some point with him, not necessarily in Chattanooga. Sweet, sweet guy.

Anyways, we headed out of Atlanta Friday morning to head to Chattanooga. We got there and ate at a yummy BBQ restaurant downtown called Porkers.  We then headed to Ruby Falls.  We pulled total tourist moves with the locations we went to Friday, but it was fun and something we had to experience!  We climbed through the cave at Ruby Falls and got to see the beautiful waterfall.  We then drove through Lookout Mountain to head to Rock City. By the way, this time of year is BEAUTIFUL up there.  The leaves were all so vibrant on the trees.  We did the hike through Red Rocks and got to see the view of 7 states from the top. Truly breathtaking.  We then headed to the incline railroad.  This was absolutely terrifying.  Neither of us really enjoyed being in this old training going straight up the mountain.  We did get off at the top and walking down the street towards Pointe Park.  The street was like something out of a movie.  There were beautiful HUGE homes on the side of the mountain with crisp, fall leaves all over the ground.
For dinner that evening, we went to Blue Orleans.  Will had some amazing jambalaya and I had cajun chicken pasta that was incredible.  For dessert, we went to a cupcake shop where I got a peanut butter cup cupcake and Will got some cheesecake.

The next morning we woke up and headed downtown.  They have these bikes that you can rent for $6 for an entire day! It was a great and fun deal to tour around downtown in the awesome weather.  We rode bikes all the way down to the river to watch the big regatta that comes to Tennessee every year.  Will and I know nothing about crew, so we made some friends that taught us about it and got to see the UGA crew team, FSU, and many other large colleges, as well as high schoolers.  It was pretty fun to watch!  We then headed to lunch and then took our bikes back before heading back to the hotel.  We got ready and went to Georgia Winery for wine tasting.  We got to taste wine, as well as went on a tour of the winery.  We went to dinner after that, and then headed to our final destination for the day… night canoeing! I had been night kayaking in the ocean before, but I was still a little nervous about this.  During the canoeing trip we could NOT stop laughing.  We were supposed to stay as quiet as possible to not scare the animals away.  But we kept running into the banks of the river as well as the walls of a tunnel we had to go under and finally ended up switching seats and were finally able to go straight!  We also went under branches of a tree and my headlamp got stuck on a branch and I had to snag it down quickly.  It was a funny experience!  We did end up seeing some turkey and blue heron, but that was about it.  It was still a really fun time!

Sunday morning, we tried to sleep in, but of course with the time change I was up at 6:50 a.m. We got up and packed up all of our stuff and headed to brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe.  I got an omelet and Will got chicken and biscuits.  It was a HUGE piece of fried chicken laid across huge fluffy biscuits with gravy.  He said it was amazing but he couldn't finish the whole thing, which is rare for Will!  We then headed to Cloud Land Canyon for the Mountain Arts Festival.  We then headed home and ended our fun and busy weekend!

I definitely recommend Chattanooga to anyone, ESPECIALLY during fall.  It was just perfect and beautiful weather and it was the perfect weekend getaway for us!

Blessing & Joy

So, hear me out on this post.  I really intended to have this blog as more of a shallow journal.  But here's something on my heart I would love to share.  SO many of my friends are in very similar places in life as me and I feel like this post could be an encouragement to others.

Will and I have been married almost 5 months.  I can't even believe it! It has seriously been the best 5 months, but on a non superficial level, it's also been a roller coaster.  We are both stubborn as mules and we butt heads.  People say that your first year of marriage is either your easiest or your hardest.  I honestly think that it will probably be one of our harder years.  Luckily, when you are in love with your absolute best friend, the hard days aren't even that hard.  We get in little arguments but then it's usually over with and we go on to be all lovey-dovey.

The reason I feel as though the first year will be hardest for us is because most of the little arguments we get in pertain to something we're having to adjust to by living together. We're both having to adjust to living with someone we know we will be living with for the rest of our lives.  Most of the time they're silly things like picking stuff up that is laying around the apartment, or not leaving stuff all over the bathroom counter, or putting dishes in the dishwasher.  Unfortunately, on days when I am exhausted after work or frustrated about something, Will is the easiest person to take it out on.  But I am always left feeling horrible afterwards.

I have been reading a book called Lies Women Believe by Nancy DeMoss.  As I read on into the chapter about lies women believe in marriage, I couldn't help but examine myself and my heart.  I found myself guilty of expecting fairytale things from Will.  I wanted to come home some days to him cleaning and making dinner as a surprise.  Don't get me wrong, he does sweet things for me all the time.  But they do not include cooking and cleaning.  My frustration took a heavy toll on my heart and I just found myself to be bitter every time we were in our tiny Atlanta apartment and he had something laying around.

I came to a subsection of this chapter on marriage where it was talking about a lie we believe as women that our husbands are supposed to save us.  If you believe the Bible and believe what it says about the roles for men and women, then you would know that God made the woman to be the helper for the man.  BUT she goes on to say

"…this does not mean that men are not to serve their wives and children.  If men are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, there must be the willingness to lay down their lives and become servants, even as Christ did for His bride.  But if we as women focus on what we "deserve", or our "rights," or on what men "ought" to do for us, we will become vulnerable to hurt and resentment when our expectations are not fulfilled."

THEN came the kick to the stomach:

"Blessing and joy are the fruit of seeking to be a giver rather than a taker and of looking for ways to bless, serve, and minister to the needs of our families."

That was what I needed to hear.  I need to be a giver.  I was/am selfish, and I wanted everything my way.  I wanted my husband who goes to work for 10 hours a day to come home and clean and cook while I watched T.V. and surprise me with all of these perfect dates and little gifts and cute ideas that are a dream.  I take for granted and look past everything he does for me and enter my own little world of self-pity and imagining everyone's "perfect" marriages and ALL the sweet things their husbands do for them.

I have found myself in a much more joyful place since reading that and since studying scripture on what God has called me to as a wife.  If there is anyone that reads this silly blog and is struggling with something similar to this, just know that you're not alone.  And there are plenty of other women that probably secretly agree with this blog but would never admit it about themselves or their marriages.  Marriage is work.  There is no lie in that.  But it is also the biggest blessing!! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

Long Overdue...

This blog post is EXTREMELY overdue.  I wrote pretty much the whole thing last weekend and included all of the pictures when I pressed remove to remove a picture and instead it decided to remove my entirely too long blog post.  So now that I have cooled down about it, I'm going to start all over!

First big and exciting news around this Welch household is that I got my first brand new car!  Here is it: a 2013 Nissan Rogue!

I've always wanted an SUV, and a I researched quite a few before we discovered this one.  It's a smaller SUV but it's great for nannying since I am constantly putting two small kids in car seats in the back.  I am SO in love with it.  It truly is a great car from all of the research I have done and from 3 weeks worth of driving it.  If you're looking around for a new car, I would check this one out!

But buying this car meant I had to trade in the old Jetta.  I was so excited, until I saw it sitting there and realized it was no longer going to be mine and I would never know where it ended up.  That was the car I drove to high school in and drove all of my friends around in.  I went off to college in that car.  I made many homesick trips home in that car.  While I had that car, I met a boy who I never knew I would someday marry.  I got married while I had that car.  Will and I took a leap of faith and we packed down that little Jetta and moved to Atlanta.  It went with me through many HUGE milestones in life.  I never knew how much I would miss it!  Ok, I may be a little dramatic.  Will- I know you are laughing at my exaggeration and drama in this post. haha


Saying Goodbye


Moving on...my job has been going SO well!! I love every single day of it.  Last Thursday,  the mom stayed home to work from home so we ended up taking the kids swimming in their pool in the backyard and she made me lunch!  They spoil be unbelievable amounts.  I am so thankful for them and their family.  I feel like nannying is a real hit or miss job.  I know people that have been miserable working for the families they work for.  But I guess I got extremely lucky!  Here are some cute pictures of the kids!

A cute video I sent to his mom one day!

 

 



Luca goes to camp for most of the time that I am there so that's really why I only have pictures of Layla.  Luca doesn't stop moving long enough to take any cute pictures :)

A few weeks ago at church, a children's choir from Uganda was there performing. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.  Before they performed, they showed a video from one of the little girls in the choir.  She gave us a tour of her home and introduced us to her little brother.  He is 3 years old and walks 40 minutes each way to school by himself every single day.  Their lives are so encouraging with the way that they love and praise God everyday for what they have, even though it is not much. You can check out their website here if you are interested.

 

I've been really impressed with how much I have improved at cooking.  The following pictures are pretty simple meals I've made lately, but I have made some more time consuming meals that have actually turned out really well.  To let you know how far I have come, I have to let you know what I made Will the first time I cooked for him while we were date.  It was a box of boiled bowtie noodles with a jar of alfredo sauce on top.  That was it. No meat, no bread, no salad,  nothing. Just noodles and sauce.  We have also been trying to eat a little bit lighter and we try to eat around 6, if possible, so we have time do go outside and do some sort of activity.  Our favorite after dinner activities include throwing the frisbee at Piedmont Park, going on walks, and our new favorite is geocaching.

 

 

 

A few weekends ago, we tried going to Summerfest in Virginia Highlands because one of my favorite bands, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, were going to be there for FREE!  So our friends Trey and Katie and Clint and Catherine met at our apartment to go.  Naturally, a huge storm blew through Atlanta but was over in about 15 minutes.  When we got to Virginia Highlands and finally parked, we walked to where the concert was supposed to be.  It was hot as all get out by then but the sun was shining and the sky was blue.....and the band was packing up all of their crap to leave. Go figure.  So we decided to head back over near our apartment to a local coffee shop.  Catherine and I were sitting under this extremely classy painting, so where better to get a pic?

 

 

One of our favorite things to do at night is to drive around and house hunt. No, we're not buying a house ANYTIME soon.  We just LOVE looking at all of the different kinds of houses around Atlanta.  ESPECIALLY, the houses, or shall we call them castles, right over where I nanny.  Here's a preview of one...and crazy enough, that's not the biggest one we saw.

 

When we got home, we encountered this crazy beautiful sunset!  I like to drive to the top of our parking deck at our apartment to get pictures.  Sunsets and sunrises are my favorite things...but I usually only catch the sunsets :)

 

 

Oh, and for your viewing pleasure, here is Father's Day videos gone wrong:

*Disclaimer: Events from this video were during my reckless High School days. And I do not have a criminal record.  And my dad is not a creep.*

 

 

 

new job + memorial day!

Today I finished my second week at my new nanny job.  I am truly LOVING it so far!  Both of the kids have been so sweet.  Chasing around a wild 3 1/2 year old gets a little tiring, but it's so worth it.  The family has been nothing but inviting and so sweet to me. 

His mom sent me this video one evening.  It warmed my heart! :)

Anyone else obsessed with the Beautiful Mess App??

 

 

Last Friday when Will got off work, we took our first trip back to Valdosta together.  We just had plans to hang out with his family and go to the beach on Saturday! We were both so excited for our first (and hopefully not last) beach trip of the summer.  We ventured down to Fernandina beach for the day on Saturday.  It was super windy and almost too cool to be on the beach, but it was really nice because we never got too hot while laying out.  I think I hardly moved out of my beach chair.  I was so happy to relax and enjoy the ocean breeze.

 

LOVE this guy :)

 

 

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!

 

**Side note:  We have had the most beautiful weather in Atlanta lately. Will and I spent two evenings last week at Piedmont Park. We even had a picnic one of the nights!

 

 

I love this city.





First Job in Atlanta!

This week has been a complete sigh of relief.  Since we moved to Atlanta, I have been on Care.com searching and searching for a nanny job.  The majority of my working time has been in child care or in the restaurant business.  I knew I did not want to be in the restaurant business, so I looked into nannying.  I had a few interviews with families that just did not excite me….but it was a job and money and I needed to do what I needed to do.  Well, as good old Garth Brooks put it, some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.  The Lord knew exactly what I needed, and I didn't get these jobs.

Then, I had my last interview with this lady at Starbucks.  I felt so relaxed and comfortable with her, and it almost felt like we were friends right off the bat.  She even bought my drink!  I left there just feeling like her and her family would be perfect for me, which was a feeling I did not have with the other interviews.  They have two kids: 1 boy & 1 girl.  The boy is 3.5 years old and the girl is 5 months.  It's the best of both worlds!  I  LOVE babies but I also love being able to run around and play games with little kids.  The schedule was perfect: 35 hour weeks with Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off! And they live about 10 minutes away AND I can take backroads….aka NO TRAFFIC FOR THIS GIRL!!! I mean, who wouldn't want that??

Well, later that week her and her husband invited me over to their home to meet their children.  First off, their house was something out of a dream.  Their whole neighborhood looked like something out of a movie.  Most likely, it has been in movies.  I was in complete awe driving through there and then walking into their house.  I was immediately in love being the House Hunters addict that I am.  Then, the CUTEST little 3 and a half year old munchkin came running to the door and welcomed me into their home, followed by the mom with the sweetest 5 month old chunker on her hip, and the dad following right behind.  I felt so invited in, and everyone seemed so excited I was there!  They immediately showed me out to their backyard where the little boy wanted to start playing with me.  They have an awesome playground and a pool that I can enjoy with them!  They gave me the rundown and I spent about an house with them.  She then told me that they would let me know their final decision within the next week.

So the waiting game began.  I checked my e-mail probably…..15 times a day. No joke.  After a week went by of not hearing from them, I started to lose hope and began thinking about searching for new jobs.  But I just did not want to give up on this family.  Will insisted I needed to e-mail them to find out if I needed to be more patient or if I need to continue on my search.

Well, I finally got the e-mail back I had been waiting for.  She continuously apologized for taking so long, and then I read the best words: I'm sorry it has taken so long, but we would love to offer you the position!  Will and I were sitting on the couch together and I could not stop smiling and happy tears almost fell from my eyes!  Especially after I read the last sentence that she wrote: We would be very excited to have you be a part of our family!  


So, I will be starting part time next week to get in the swing of things, and start full time at the beginning of June.  So excited about this blessing and to get to know this sweet little family!  Thank you to all who prayed or thought about me during the search time.  I'll definitely keep everyone updated on how my first week goes!! :)

The Most Random Blog

Well, once again I ran into the problem of not really having a lot to talk about.  I was convinced to set this little blog to the side and move on.  But then I remembered why I had this thing: to keep memories of our marriage and of life during this new, exciting time.

A couple weekends ago, Will surprised me with a date to a local restaurant called Bocado.  It was within walking distance, so we took the five minute walk.  When we got to the corner across from the restaurant and I realized where we were going, I started jumping with excitement because I had been dreaming of trying this restaurant! I got some delicious steak with roasted sweet potatoes and Will, being the picky eater he is, got their famous burger.

 

After our dinner, we walked down the street to this place called Wired & Fired to paint pottery! It was fun and a wonderful date idea, but due to cost I would probably never go again.


Before

Before





After

After

 We painted a cappucino mug that we have proudly displayed on our built in bookshelf. :)

My parents also came down one night and took us to get tacos at Taqueria Del Sol, one of our new favorite places!  They have a small, simple menu and it is so reasonably priced but absolutely DELICIOUS!  We spent the rest of the night having a fun Mexican Train competition.

Will and I spent a weekend house-sitting/dog-sitting for my sister & brother-in-law.  We had a fun time with our little niece pup!

My friend Jamie Lea and I have been doing a lot of walking around the ATL!

 

And eating King of Pops and dancing at the food truck park on Friday afternoon....



 

And laying out at the pool....

 

Will's brother Wesley and his fiance Abby came up to Atlanta for a couple days and stayed with us.  We went to dinner at Six Feet Under the first night they were here.  Let me tell you, the view is absolutely incredible from the top deck at this restaurant. It's also a plus that we can walk from our apartment.

 

The next night we all went to a Braves game.  We just bought the cheap tickets in the upper level, but my sister and brother in law were sitting in the third row by third base and the ushers quit checking tickets, so we moved down there in the 5th inning.  The seats were SO good and SO close. It felt like you were sitting on the field!

 

& we got to witness Tim Hudson get his 200 wins! So that was really fun.

 

And not really an update, but just a cool picture.  Will and I try to go walking after dinner sometimes and we were walking over the bridge near our apartment and the clouds mixed with the pops of color on the buildings caught my eye.  I seriously love this picture!

 

 

 

Well, that's it for now! I made a few really good meals recently, so I will put up the recipes for those soon for any other newlyweds on a budget. :)