More Exciting News!!

This pretty much sums up how we feel right now...

Because....

We found out that on August 18th we can finally move in to the bigger apartment that we have been patiently waiting for!!!

It is a corner unit with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, double the square feet that we have right now, more floor to ceiling windows, and a perfect view of the sunset from the huge balcony!

We are so so excited and feeling incredibly blessed, maybe even slightly overwhelmed, by all the incredible things happening in our life right now.

Everything is falling so perfectly in to place and I am so happy be able to experience it all with my best friend.

Exciting news!

"If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

Something huge happened!

DEREK WAS ADMITTED TO GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!

He will be getting his Masters degree in Structural Engineering while still working full time, and we are shooting for a Spring 2014 graduation!

We have been anxiously awaiting this notification for weeks. It has been torture, but the good news finally came. I still can hardly believe that my fiancé is officially a grad student!

I am SO proud of him and we are both thrilled about this new adventure!!!

bits & pieces

This week was exciting because I went on my very first business trip! I stayed at the Hilton Alexandria right next to the Mark Center and enjoyed room service and The Bachelorette. Even better than the view from my room was the fact that my parents were able to come visit me one evening. The next evening, Stephanie and I had dinner at the Fish Market in Old Town Alexandria.

Last weekend, Derek and I must have eaten at least 3 pounds of blueberries each! They were on sale and they were delicious, so we made blueberry pancakes, blueberry smoothies, and snacked on them all weekend long.

I have been proud of myself for sticking with doing yoga before work every morning! We have a yoga instructor come in to the office twice a week, and the other days I have started doing it on my own at home. Kaiah has been enjoying the yoga mat too!

I am not sure how we've never noticed, but we can watch the sunset from our living room! It is so nice to take a moment to stop and admire it each night.

Kaiah's 3rd Birthday!!

Kaiah has been such a blessing in our life, ever since the day she chose us to be her family at a run down kill-shelter in West Virginia.

That day, after spending a few minutes with Kaiah and the rest of her litter, we left the shelter to get some lunch and think about whether we would take one home. We talked about the one puppy that was sticking out in our memory.. the chubby one.

That chubby one was our Kaiah.

After lunch, we walked back up to the kennel that the puppies were in and saw all of the puppies piled on top of each other, sleeping in their little dog house.

All of them except for one.

Kaiah saw us and ran up to the gate, the exact same way that she now runs up to us every day when we come home from work. At that moment, we knew that she was meant for us and we were meant for her.

I can't even believe it! Our girl is now 3!!

Since Kaiah is a shelter puppy, we don't know when her actual birthday is (we've tried really hard to get her to tell us) so we usually celebrate it for the entire month of May.

Kaiah's favorite thing in the world is having her whole family together, and on Mother's day weekend that is what she got. Derek and I got together with both of our parents and brothers to celebrate our engagement, and Kaiah was a very happy girl. She didn't even mind sharing the attention with us. She got plenty of love and treats, and even her own birthday cupcake!

Three years ago, we named Kaiah for that pretty face of hers. Her name stems from the Native American word which means, "Rare Beauty". We know now that we chose the perfect name for our little bear, because she is not only beautiful inside and out, but she makes our lives more beautiful each and every day.

A Perfect Afternoon

We spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon sitting on the harbor, and browsing waterfront shops. We even found a few dog friendly stores! Kaiah was so excited when she got to go  with us into Su Casa, one of my favorite Baltimore furniture stores. She was extremely well behaved and made herself right at home on a cozy rug, underneath the coffee table that we were considering.

Afterward, we sat by the water with some cold iced tea, enjoying the harbor breeze.

neVer forgeT

"Being a Hokie is not a mercenary relationship. It is not a business proposition. It is not an exchange of goods and services for money. It is a shared bond, a love that comes from somewhere we don't understand and can't explain to others. We do not take from this university; it gives to us. Perhaps when we first arrive on its campus, we have our own selfish interests in mind, but by the time we leave, we are transformed. We are Hokies.

It is sad and tragic that this happened to us. Because we love this university, we are devastated by what happened here. But if it was necessary for us to suffer in order for others to benefit, it is a burden we will bear, because our motto -- Ut Prosim, That I May Serve -- tells us that's what we must do. If our tragedy brings you together, if our loss makes you safer and makes you value what is important in life, if our suffering is not in vain, then we are prepared to shoulder this load ... so you don't have to. That has always been the mission of this university, and we are honored to carry it out.

Do not let the deaths of these 32 victims be in vain. Look into your hearts and see what it teaches you, and how you may be better because of what we have gone through. And know that when the bodies are in the earth, when the media has left, when others have moved on and life resumes its course, that for us, there is only one emotion left: Love. Love for this university, love for the people who died on April 16th, 2007, and love for those who are left behind.

Remember this, and what happened here will not have been for naught."

William Neal Stewart

lovely online magazines

Online magazines are quickly becoming my favorite kind. They are free and they can be accessed from anywhere. Because they are paper-less, issues also tend to have more content. I love reading them at lunch at work and on lazy Sundays.

This is a list of a few of my favorites. Below each image is a description or tagline and link to that magazine's archives. Enjoy!

Collected | The art of refined living.

Dabble | Design, Travel, Food.

Gifted | A holiday gift guide.

High Gloss | A guide to a well-lived life.

Lonny | Lifestyle and home decor.

Matchbook | Celebrating classics - shaken and stirred.

Pure Green | A stylish green lifestyle.

Rue | Your pathway to stylish living. {Here are some extras.}

Sweet Paul | Chasing the sweet things in life.

This list is not meant to be comprehensive of all online magazines out there, just the ones that I've found and enjoy. But if you have recommendations, I'd love to hear about them in the comments section below!

A Dream Home

This breathtakingly beautiful Sonoma Ranch is by Walker-Warner Architects. The low profile, the light-filled rooms and all the white and wood equal my dream house.

A post about my best friend.

I love to call Derek "Mother Teresa". Sometimes I say it jokingly, sometimes I say it out of spite. I've said it when he doesn't let me sneak a recycleable bottle into the trash "just this once". I've said it when he's not an aggressive enough driver for my liking. But for all the times I say it, I don't think that I tell him enough how incredibly lucky I feel to have such a kind hearted man to call my own. Of his many wonderful qualities, his kindness is what I love most about him.

Kind feels like an inadequate description. He is so thoroughly and deeply GOOD. Not only is he good to me, but he is good to everyone he meets. He is good when it's not convienient and he is good when no one is looking. He never passes judgement. He is absolutely selfless. I have never in 8 years seen him turn a blind eye to someone in need or to a situation that wasn't just. That brings me to the reason that I was motivated to write this post.

As we were walking Kaiah the other day, one topic lead to another, and Derek casually mentioned that he has been packing extra snacks in his bag on the days that he works in the city. He gives them to the homeless people he sees, who he said are usually surprised and very grateful. He told me this so casually, not seeking any praise. So I did what any normal person would do. I cried. I felt so overwhelmed with pride and love for this man. I think he thought that I had finally lost my marbles, because of course he thought nothing special of his actions.

I feel so lucky to have met Derek when I did. He is the man of my dreams and I am so glad I didn't have to spend another second without him.

City lights

We love going for walks and runs around the harbor! Now that it is getting nice out, we run along the water almost every Saturday morning. A few weeks ago we decided to go on a Friday night, instead. The city lights reflecting in the water were so beautiful!

The pictures below were taken up on Federal Hill, my favorite spot in the whole city. The view is incredible!