Matt, Mallory & Maple

I'm so excited writing this post!!

On Monday, Matt went and picked up our newest addition to our home: Maple!

We had been to the SPCA several times looking at dogs, and some were ruled out kind of quickly, soley based on the fact that they didn't really get along with other dogs well.  With as many dogs as there are between our two families and how often our dog may be around other dogs, we knew that was a no-go. But that's not to say they weren't all adorable, loving dogs!

The last time we had gone, Maple was the last dog we visited and played with.  She wasn't one of the dogs we planned on seeing, and Matt kind of just selected her and surprised me with who we were going to play with next. 

I'm pretty sure I just loved her from the first time we met her, because right when we walked in her room, she greeted me with a playful jump of excitement. (She still does this, but she's so gentle about it :)   I loved that she was so soft all over and I loved her coat, because it was so unique.  I had horrible headache the night we met her, but just petting her was so comforting to me.  We didn't get a whole lot of time with her, because the SPCA was about to close, but I was definitely sad to leave her. 

We talked about her for a few days and Matt kept telling me, "If you want her, we can get her." I just knew we couldn't get her at the time, because I knew we'd be leaving for Disney and I didn't want to leave her.  Then, last week brought a complete turn of events. I was checking the SPCA website and Maple's picture was gone. I called Matt and told him, and I was just upset because I didn't think she'd go to a new home.  A couple days later, while we were laying in bed watching TV, I pulled up the SPCA website again and freaked out-I said, "Matt......you're never going to believe this!!"  Maple's picture was back online!  We started thinking maybe she wasn't adopted, and they just took her picture down for a few days to try to get rid of the tons of hound dogs they have, haha. However, we later found out that she had been adopted for about 2 days, but the family's 3 year old daughter was scared to death of her.  Okay, they couldn't have had the same Maple we have, because there's not a single scary hair on her body! haha.

So, first thing Monday morning, Matt was at the SPCA when they opened and adopted our first doggy together! I was soooo anxiously waiting to hear from him afterwards, and he thankfully brought her by school so I could see her while I was at work! 

I've been waiting a few days to post it, because I was hoping and hoping that we'd get a picture of both of us with Maple, but when we're both laying beside her, she can't lay still--she wants to snuggle with everyone and just keeps going back and forth!

Here's Maple: our little shepherd/shar pei mix, somewhere between 2 and 5 years old (her records have two different ages). She's the most adorable, cuddly, playful dog there is, but she's also very chill.  She's the perfect dog for us!

She very quickly found and claimed her spot on the sofa.

She's so adorable in her bed!

She is such a sweetheart, and definitely the princess of the house. I don't know how no one had already adopted her (and kept her), but I'm glad they didn't!!

She loves him.

 So this is really the only picture we have of all three of us (and she looks scared to death!). We had to take it quickly! haha

You know there will be plenty more pictures to come of this little one :)

So, what will she do while we're at Disney next week? Well, Abby was the only one we told we were getting her, although our families knew we had been looking at the SPCA. I started to say, "We might get a dog this week...." and before I could even finish the sentence and ask her, she said, "can I pet sit while you're gone?!" There was the answer I was hoping for! Even though we'll miss her lots, we know Maple will be in good hands next week :)

Mango Salsa

Has anyone tried the new mango salsa at Qdoba? I have and I'm obsessed! After eating it a couple of times, I knew I had to find a copycat recipe and make some of my own at home. When I did a Google search for a recipe, luckily, it took me straight to the Qdoba Facebook page where they shared the recipe they use!

This salsa is seriously amazing and is very light and refreshing, with just the slightest hint of heat.

Recipe:

• 2 cups of mango, diced
• 3/4 of red pepper, diced
• 1 cucumber, peeled, de-seeded, diced
• 1/2 cup of red onion, diced
• 1 1/4 T jalapeno, diced (I just use one whole jalapeno)
• 1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 T sugar
• pinch of salt

And all you have to do is mix it all together! It's wonderful and easy!

Random Purple Flower

At the beginning of Spring, with we Matt started doing more yard work, he noticed there were a lot of bulbs that were growing along the driveway. He went down and pulled up SO MANY bulbs which we shared with our parents, because there was no way we'd need that many to relocated, lol. After talking to our neighbors, it turns out that a women that lived in our house before had a flower bed that went all the way down the previous driveway (not the cement driveway we currently have), and later on down the road, the flower bed wasn't completely taken up, but rather cement was just poured down over it.

So, Matt pulled up all of the bulbs by the driveway, some that gone a little astray into the yard, and then there was this one........way off in the front of the yard right by the road.  We couldn't tell what kind it was, but we were curious to see. It grew FOREVER before it finally started to bloom into something, and it turned in to something pretty! This random purple flower reminds me of the trees in The Lorax. Anyone else?

We think this flower's life ended last night and didn't survive the torrential downpours we had, but we enjoyed the anticipation of waiting to see what it would eventually be! haha.

*And no, our yard isn't as bad as it looks in these pictures. When I took these pictures several weeks ago, Matt had recently put weed killer down and we (obviously) had a ton of weeds in the front yard.

This picture almost does it justice in showing how tall it is!

Our First Anniversary

Why it takes me so long to catch up on blog posts I will never know. I guess I'm just enjoying living life that sometimes I just forget to take time to document it in one of my favorite ways!

Sunday, of course, was our first anniversary. <3 p="">
We didn't have a whole lot planned, but we did stay busy, yet relaxed at the same time!

I started the day with coffee in the only mug that seemed appropriate...these fantastic favors from our rehearsal dinner!!

We went back to one of the main locations of our wedding weekend: The Berkeley Hotel (and happened to quickly and randomly see one of Matt's groomsmen, Jesse, as he was leaving the hotel with another of his and Matt's fraternity brothers!).  We had breakfast at The Berkeley, just like we did the morning after our wedding. Just in case you haven't read any of my wedding posts, Matt's parents hosted the rehearsal dinner at The Berkeley, the entire wedding party got ready there, and Matt and I stayed the night there after the wedding.

As we ate, of course I kept bringing up, "...I can't believe it's been a year. It just really doesn't feel like it!" Our whole meal was delicious, and, since you get to choose your seat, you know we sat at the same table right by the window.

After breakfast, we headed down to Williamsburg to Yankee Candle (didn't buy anything), the outlets (again, didn't buy anything), and to The Pottery (spent about $3 on us, and also bought a gift). haha. Didn't end up being as successful of a trip to Williamsburg as we planned, but it was still enjoyable. Oh, and we also saw Santa shopping at Yankee Candle. No, really, it was the Santa that sits in Santa's Workshop all day :)

Once we got back, we were trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Only one thing seemed appropriate: Roma's. Since we didn't get to each much of Roma's at our wedding reception, we made up for it this year, even though we got something completely different! haha.

After dinner, we did one of my new favorite things we do, which is going for an evening walk. For exercise and recovery reasons, I love doing this on my days off from running.  We usually walk about 2-2.5 miles when we go, and it's just very enjoyable!

Of course, to end the night, we cut into the top layer of our cake and had the pink champagne flavor I've been waiting almost two years to eat now!! (We chose our flavors in July 2012, and I knew I wanted the top layer to be pink champagne--my favorite of the three flavors we had--to be sure we had it on our anniversary, in case we didn't get it at the wedding!)

(you really can't have cake without ice cream...just saying!)

All through the day, I would randomly say, "At this time, exactly a year ago, we were in the middle of our ceremony!!" or whatever it might have been at the time!

So, now that we've been married a year, what are we going to do??

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

That's right! In two weeks, we'll be in Florida hanging out with Mickey and Minnie, Elsa and Anna (if we're lucky), Woody and Buzz, and whoever else we can find! We've anxiously been saving and waiting to decide on where we'd go, and we can't wait to celebrate our first anniversary in the place where everyone's a kid again!

June 8th, 2014

A year ago today, I put on my most favorite pair of sparkly shoes in the world! (In my book, they top Dorothy's ruby red slippers any day! ;) )

I walked down the cobblestone streets of Downtown Richmond with some of the best friends, cousins and sister anyone could ask for.

I walked down the aisle with my dad (and stepped on my dress a couple times) past all of our friends and family.

And I walked back down the aisle with my new husband!

I may have only spent a few hours in those shoes (because we all know I was waiting and waiting to put on flip flops!!--and my mom had bought me a fantastic pair of cushioned black Reefs with silver glitter straps---you don't think she knows I love glitter and sparkles, do you?!), but those few hours were some of the best hours of my life!

This past year has gone by so quickly, but I wouldn't change a thing about it! It has been a fantastic year and I look forward to many more!!

Last year on June 8th, I posted a quick little note to Matt about how our wedding day was finally here, so it only seemed fitting to write him another note, this year.

Matt Matt,

The day we planned and planned and planned for came and went so fast, and here we are a year later--me being all sentimental looking back on all of the fun and special moments.

Although the past year has gone by so quickly, it has definitely been one to remember! You've pushed me to reach my goals, you never leave me behind when we're running, and together, we've caught our fair share of mice in the house! haha. But hey, that will always be a fun 4:00 am story to tell.

Thanks for always being by my side, making most of the decisions, and knowing when I'm too stressed out to do anything. On a different note, thank you for always being comforting and taking care of me during the days/hours when I can't get rid of my headaches and I'm no fun to be around.

You are the absolute best friend I could ever ask for and I really am lucky to be in love with my best friend. You for sure make things easier when life gets hard. In the mornings, every time we say good bye (when you wake me up before you leave for work), I wish we had one more kiss.

You make me smile whenever I'm sad. We've grown another year older together and I can't wait to continue growing old with you.

That's our love story. I'll forever be glad I said "yes."

Happy 1st Anniversary!!

I love you!

June 7th

A year ago today, we finally saw the floor of the bonus room (upstairs den) in the house I grew up in. Why? Because for about a year, it housed boxes of vases and anything and everything wedding related! Mom and I scanned the room for any more boxes, and saw that we had labeled everything, and I mean really labeled everything, and carried everything down and out already.

A year ago today, our parents were generously all meeting at the Science Museum unloading boxes and boxes of decorations to store in the back room overnight.

A year ago today, Matt and I were upstairs in our newly purchased house, gifts for our wedding attendants surrounding us, finalizing things, and making sure everyone's cards were signed and in the proper bag.

Matt and I drove to meet everyone at the Science Museum for our rehearsal, me stressing out, of course, because we were coming from The Berkeley and didn't take into account the VCU graduation traffic that would be around us! When we got there and I saw everyone standing inside (waiting out the rain) and waiting to get started, I couldn't believe it was finally our wedding weekend!

We finally had to head downstairs and outside to our ceremony site rehearse, obviously, only to find out that because of the rain that week, we had to change a lot about the set up. (Tropical Storm Andrea came through the week before our wedding, so you can imagine why everyone thought we were nuts when we decided NOT to set up a tent outside.) The grass area where the aisle and chairs would be set up was holding SO much water. To everyone who didn't get to see us walk down a center aisle: Sorry, but we wouldn't probably all sunk into a mud hole.

A year ago today, I wore these shoes for the first time. I loved them because they're shimmery and comfortable to walk in--perfect.

However, due to the fact that we did our rehearsal IN THE RAIN, my shoes started falling apart.....literally.  Part of the back of one shoe came unglued, and it remains unglued to this day. I thought about fixing it so I could wear the shoes some time, but I kinda like leaving the shoes all messed up, for sentimental reasons, haha.  Also, when these shoes got wet, they started rubbing my feet...a lot, which made them not as comfortable to walk in anymore, but I did for the rest of the night! (Until after the rehearsal dinner and I changed into flipflops.)

Huge thanks to Matt's mom for all of the pictures from our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, including the picture above :)