A Grande Era

I don't know if any of you do this, but I get hooked on a certain channel for a period of time. Like I went through a Discovery Channel phase for about a month and then there is Animal Planet. One month might be TLC with the baby stories and then next it is TCM. TCM is Turner Classic Movies and that is the channel that I am stuck on now. I wouldn't say that I am an old movie lover, but something about the way most of the movies are black and white and how the actors don't seem anything like today's actors intrigues me. I love thinking about what life was like in that era-how it would feel if my life was an old black and white movie. I can just picture Wade with slick back hair, a dinner jacket on, and saying sweet nothings to me (oh wait he does that now, I'm so clever). Of course I would have the perfectly curled hair with bold lips, the big flowing dress, and the soft voice that sounded beautiful when I broke into a solo in my sitting room.

I wonder why those movies seem so beautiful and today's seem so digusting. Romantic comedies now are just full of stupid stuff that make you wish you hadn't paid the money to go see it. I wish they would take a cue from the older movies and focus on the development of the characters and have humor in the movie with witty lines instead of trying to get laughs with crude jokes. Why can't the men be the night in shining armor like the TCM movies instead of slobs or jerks that the leading ladies try to turn into a man.

Here's to Turner Classic Movies, a look back into a way of life that seems lovely (at least for this month, until I move onto Animal Planet).

The beast of change

I just had an amazing time with my friend Alyson today. She has been the friend I have had for the longest and we still are close. We go back to about 3rd grade and went on family vacations together and had tons of fun growing up. We would even sit on the phone and watch a tv show on school nights together just so we could occasionally speak up and say, "I can't believe she said that!" I have so many fond memories with her.
She recently got engaged and she will be the first one of my best friends to get married. As she was sitting at my house and we discussed what people were doing now in Belton she received a phone call from her fiance Brent. I could halfway hear the conversation between the two of them and they sounded so cute together and then I got this realization that will sound like I am an idiot to you, but it seemed so divine at the moment. I realized that the man on the end of her phone was the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with. I know that sounds like I am just stating the obvious, but she is my first friend to get married and for the 15+ years I have been her friend she has been a single woman. I don't know if this seemed so crazy for my head to grasp because I don't know Brent that well or because it will seem so different for Alyson to now be Mrs. Nelson. I can't quite grasp it.

I can't begin to imagine what my friends felt like when I got married. Here I was still in college at the ripe age of 20 and my friends were thinking about what class they could make an easy A in and I was planning a wedding. It didn't seem odd to me at all at the time, but when I am on the other end of it with sweet Alyson getting married a normal way it still seems weird. I must have been like an alien or something to my friends.

Anyway, all that being said it reminds me that change is always going to happen. And usually change is going to feel so weird and sometimes uncomfortable that you might just decide to not even consider the change. We are people that love familiarity and want things to follow the routine that we have neatly packaged, but the best things in life are going to be when we embrace the change. Alyson is going to be the happiest she has ever been when she gets married and I will have my best friend to share stories with and to live life with as a fellow married woman. It will be amazing and it all had to happen with change. Some of the best things in my life have happened because I left everything familiar to me and followed a path that I had no idea of the outcome. It was then that I have grown closest to my Lord and that I have been truly excited to see what God had planned for me-I knew it was going to be good because I wasn't in control of it anymore.

Where's the intensity?

I think this might be true for most of us. I was in the best shape of my life right when I got married. I worked out every other day for like and hour and a half. I lifted weights, did cardio, cut out all fast food, and ate really healthy. Why? Because I wanted to look the best I could for my husband (Wade and I called it the honeymoon bod). Well after I got married I haven't really stopped working out I just haven't had the same intensity with it. I haven't gone off the deep end with eating bad food I just don't mind hitting the desserts or grabbing a Big Mac every now and then.
Right after I moved to Charlotte I found my workout buddy Kelly. Although at the time we thought we were awesome with our 40 minute cardios and our 500 calorie burns we were sorely mistaken. We have since upped our workouts with some heavy weightlifting and some intense cardio and my entire body hurts.
When I look back on this whole workout history I wonder why it took so long for me to get serious again. I always wanted to be toned and have a healthy heart and body and I still wanted to look great to my husband. But there was this whole season that I just went through the motions, but didn't take any risks or endure any pain. I figured I was good to just maintain and I wanted to get by with giving as little effort as possible.

I see how this happens with us spiritually as well. I can look back at so many times in my life where I was pursuing God with every ounce of my being and then others where it felt like I was mainly just going through the motions. It doesn't take much for us to lose the focus or take our eyes away from the the goal. Sometimes I think we just give it a tiny bit of effort just so we can strike it off our list or so we can tell ourselves we are good little Christians. But the truth is if you aren't giving it your all you are still a slacker. It takes more than just having this feeling of maintaining your relationship with Christ. It takes upping the intensity and pushing past the pain. If we get to a season where it feels like we are just gliding along or just going through the motions then we need to evaluate how we are connecting with our Lord and then do something to make it a little more intense.

Oh the Joy of Marriage

Wade and I have the awesome privilege of doing marriage counseling for two of our friends. We had dinner with them last night to see what they want to get out of this kind of thing. To tell you the truth it seems like Wade and I are newlyweds still so it was kind of funny to be the wise old married couple at this dinner. But we are so excited to pour into this couple's life and share how things worked for us. I know two and a half years isn't long to be married but I feel like Wade and I have learned a lot from each other and we realized that alone we can't do this, but when we center our marriage and our lives on Christ then it makes us willing and joyful to lay down our selfishness for the sake of our husband/wife.

I am guessing that people must see this special glow around Wade that makes them want him to be part of their weddings because this past Saturday two of our other friends got married. And Wade had the honor of being the one that married them. On the day before and the hours leading up to the wedding I don't think I have ever seen Wade that nervous. But you would never have known it once he started. It seemed like he should take a side job of marrying people. I was so proud of him and so happy for our friends to be joining the married crowd!

So if you want a marriage tip of the day from counselors Wade and Ferris then it would be to never joke about divorce. Never use it as a way to scare your spouse. Just don't use it.

Christmas Thoughts

First off I want to thank everyone for giving Wade and me some great movies to put on our list. We finally have the tree up and stockings and I would say our house is looking pretty Christmasy. I am pretty shocked at how much scented candles are. I mean how hard it is to form wax into a cylinder shape. I am sure it isn't $15 worth.

Also, I am shocked (well not really shocked) that Target doesn't sell any Christian ornaments. I think it is lame that stores have taken it so far to remove Christ from Christmas. I understand stores having Happy Holiday things for sell so that they sell even to the the people who remove Christ from Christmas, but couldn't they keep the Christian stuff so Christians who shop at Target can buy those?

And I haven't done any Christmas shopping. I am really excited about it though. I mean I have Baby Pressley to buy for this year so that will make it fun and I can go to the mall during the day to shop for people so that makes it a little less hectic. Maybe I can knock everything out a few days next week. I can never decide if it is better to make a list of what I want to get people or just let the mall inspire me. Making the list takes a lot less time in the long run and I probably have gifts that are more thoughtful. There I decided to make a list this year.

The Christmas List

Wade and I are the couple that love Christmas but since we have been married we really haven't started any of our own family traditions. We did make our own Christmas ornaments for two years, but last year we ended up not doing that so there went our one tradition. So we decided this year to embrace the festive Christmas spirit and emerse ourselves in all its goodness. So right now we have two things on our list that must be done before Christmas.

Number one is a list of Christmas movies that we must watch before Christmas is over. The list is growing and right now we only have the Santa Clause trilogy and Polar Express. What other movies do you recommended to be added to our list?

Number two is that our fireplace has to be used at least one time. This is may not happen since we have a real fireplace and that means we have to go get wood and really start it and then who knows what we need to know about our chimney. So if this one doesn't happen I won't be too upset.

Then on my own (I guess this counts as three things) I want to make our home feel like Christmas. For previous years, if you weren't in the room with the Christmas tree then you wouldn't know it was Christmas at our house, but this year I want to embrace holiday hand towels and stock up on red and green candles and liven up the table with a christmas centerpiece.

So here is to Christmas and the need to go to the store and buy things to make it feel that way.