Friendship is a funny thing. There are so many people in our lives that come and go, break our hearts, tear us down, bring us up, and the list goes on. But friendship is different. If you are lucky enough to find it - truly find it - it is magical.
I'm sure that we can all name our childhood best friend. I can. We were friends for sixteen years.
But what about your best friend as an adult? And I'm talking besides your spouse. Ryan is my best friend of course, but he's also my husband.
I'm talking about that one person that simply holds the title of your best friend. That one person that you can call in the middle of the night and they won't get mad, who knows you inside and out, who you can tell anything to, who you can call just to say hi, who you can cry with, laugh with, cheer up, make fun of.
I am fortunate enough to have that person. And in fact, today is her birthday.
I met Courtney when we were in college and I couldn't figure her out for a long time. She's the most sarcastic person I have ever met and she's hilarious. She will even admit that it takes a while to get her, but once you do, you'll love her.
I haven't had a friend like her in years. We talk every single day. She calls me when she's leaving work and we talk for a minimum of 45 minutes. About anything, She knows me so well it's scary. We discuss shows that we both love to watch, we talk about our kids (who are 3 months and 3 days apart - clearly meant to be best friends as well), our families, you name it. Everything.
She calls me out, tells me how it is, but then she also reassures me, and is ALWAYS on my side no matter how ridiculous the situation.
I am so blessed.
She will most likely hate this sappiness that I'm writing, but that's okay. We balance each other out.
She is my best friend, but she's also just like family. She was with me when I got engaged, when we graduated college, when I got married, when I was pregnant, when I had Dean, when both of my parents passed away, and everything in between. She is one of the few people that has never left me. She is my family.
Because see, friends come and go. They teach us life lessons, whether good or bad, but the really, really good ones, they always stick around through the good AND the bad.
I am beyond blessed to have Courtney in my life and to call her my best friend. We have been through so much together, and because of that, I know that our friendship will last a lifetime. I mean, we already agreed that when our kids marry each other, it'll be perfect because our husbands already get along and we won't have to deal with any unpredictable family-in-laws.
So here's to telling your best friend that you love them and that you will always be there for them. Because you never know when they'll become your family. Happy birthday to my best friend Courtney. Talk to you in 5 seconds.
xoxo,
Beth
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
The Week of Insanity
In short, this week has been insane.
Last weekend Ryan and I began really cleaning the house. Of course we all clean our house - pick up, do the laundry, dishes, etc. But we were cleaning. That type of cleaning that really only happens every once in a blue moon.
When we first moved into our house 3 1/2 years ago, I used to really clean every Saturday morning. We're talking a solid 3-4 hours of cleaning. Every. Single. Week.
I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking.
A colleague once told me that she keeps her house spic and span because you never know who will come to your house at any time, and you always want to make a good impression. I can see that. But to me, I would rather walk into a house that is "lived in" than one that feels like a museum. I would consider our house "lived in," Clean, but obviously homey.
So this week I worked my fingers to the bone. I hurt everywhere. I have been complaining to Ryan that my foot hurts, my knees hurt, my lower back hurts even worse than normal, my lower abdomen hurts, etc. But for me it isn't just, "Man this hurts! I'm super sore today." I obviously have some life threatening illness. This drives Ryan insane, but I simply cannot help myself. A little while ago I slipped on a book on the floor and Ryan said, "I'll be sure to remind you tomorrow, when you think you have a tumor on your groin, that you simply slipped on a book."
Gosh darn it.
Anyways, this week has consisted of back breaking cleaning. I've been trying to binge watch all seasons of Parenthood and I was so upset that this week consisted of zero Parenthood watching. Dean was so good playing in his pack n' play and jumping in his jumper as I sprinted from room to room doing as much as possible before he got too annoyed with me.
Then yesterday morning I got a call from our realtor. I was instantly filled with nerves. Does someone want to see the house? What if they want to buy it? Are we going to seriously be moving this soon?
False alarm.
She was calling to see if it was okay if her photographer came over today to take pictures of the house. Wahh wahhhh. Not a problem.
But that means more cleaning.
By this point I felt like I had cleaned every inch of the house. My best friend even called me on Tuesday asking if she needed to talk me off the ledge of cleaning before our realtor came to put the house on the market. She knows me all too well.
So I didn't do anything yesterday. I sat and watched TV during Dean's nap and ate a ridiculously large bowl of ice cream. With chocolate syrup.
And then this morning came.
And I panicked.
I was running around vacuuming my already vacuumed house, Swiffering my already Swiffered floors, cleaning the mirrors in the bathroom and putting away the last minute clutter. Needless to say it all got finished of course. It always does.
After a long week, Ryan and I decided to head to the Reds game with Dean. We deserved some serious relaxation. It was our last game that we had tickets to for the year, and our last game for who knows how long. Dean only made it through one batter before he and I headed to the Kids Zone, and then we only made it through two innings because he was so hot from walking all around.
As we were walking out the stadium I apologized to Ryan that we couldn't stay longer. Dean is so squirmy it's difficult to take him to games yet. Ryan said it was fine. He simply liked going and smelling the hot dogs and popcorn, seeing the players, seeing the field, walking through the stadium...
I checked for tears. He held it together.
So we went to the zoo. Dean's obsessed with the zoo and has a conniption every time he sees a new animal. We only stayed for a little over an hour as the zoo had a special event later tonight and closed early.
But the point is, no matter how hard we work during the week, no matter how much we clean, work, or take care of others, we all deserve time to relax and focus on what's truly important in life. Because I could spend all of my time, every day, cleaning my house, but I would be wasting away hours that I could spend playing with my son. I cleaned so much this week because when given the choice daily, I choose what's more important to me - my family.
Here's to a relaxing rest of the weekend and tickling Dean until he can't stand it.
xoxo,
Beth
Last weekend Ryan and I began really cleaning the house. Of course we all clean our house - pick up, do the laundry, dishes, etc. But we were cleaning. That type of cleaning that really only happens every once in a blue moon.
When we first moved into our house 3 1/2 years ago, I used to really clean every Saturday morning. We're talking a solid 3-4 hours of cleaning. Every. Single. Week.
I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking.
A colleague once told me that she keeps her house spic and span because you never know who will come to your house at any time, and you always want to make a good impression. I can see that. But to me, I would rather walk into a house that is "lived in" than one that feels like a museum. I would consider our house "lived in," Clean, but obviously homey.
So this week I worked my fingers to the bone. I hurt everywhere. I have been complaining to Ryan that my foot hurts, my knees hurt, my lower back hurts even worse than normal, my lower abdomen hurts, etc. But for me it isn't just, "Man this hurts! I'm super sore today." I obviously have some life threatening illness. This drives Ryan insane, but I simply cannot help myself. A little while ago I slipped on a book on the floor and Ryan said, "I'll be sure to remind you tomorrow, when you think you have a tumor on your groin, that you simply slipped on a book."
Gosh darn it.
Anyways, this week has consisted of back breaking cleaning. I've been trying to binge watch all seasons of Parenthood and I was so upset that this week consisted of zero Parenthood watching. Dean was so good playing in his pack n' play and jumping in his jumper as I sprinted from room to room doing as much as possible before he got too annoyed with me.
Then yesterday morning I got a call from our realtor. I was instantly filled with nerves. Does someone want to see the house? What if they want to buy it? Are we going to seriously be moving this soon?
False alarm.
She was calling to see if it was okay if her photographer came over today to take pictures of the house. Wahh wahhhh. Not a problem.
But that means more cleaning.
By this point I felt like I had cleaned every inch of the house. My best friend even called me on Tuesday asking if she needed to talk me off the ledge of cleaning before our realtor came to put the house on the market. She knows me all too well.
So I didn't do anything yesterday. I sat and watched TV during Dean's nap and ate a ridiculously large bowl of ice cream. With chocolate syrup.
And then this morning came.
And I panicked.
I was running around vacuuming my already vacuumed house, Swiffering my already Swiffered floors, cleaning the mirrors in the bathroom and putting away the last minute clutter. Needless to say it all got finished of course. It always does.
After a long week, Ryan and I decided to head to the Reds game with Dean. We deserved some serious relaxation. It was our last game that we had tickets to for the year, and our last game for who knows how long. Dean only made it through one batter before he and I headed to the Kids Zone, and then we only made it through two innings because he was so hot from walking all around.
As we were walking out the stadium I apologized to Ryan that we couldn't stay longer. Dean is so squirmy it's difficult to take him to games yet. Ryan said it was fine. He simply liked going and smelling the hot dogs and popcorn, seeing the players, seeing the field, walking through the stadium...
I checked for tears. He held it together.
So we went to the zoo. Dean's obsessed with the zoo and has a conniption every time he sees a new animal. We only stayed for a little over an hour as the zoo had a special event later tonight and closed early.
But the point is, no matter how hard we work during the week, no matter how much we clean, work, or take care of others, we all deserve time to relax and focus on what's truly important in life. Because I could spend all of my time, every day, cleaning my house, but I would be wasting away hours that I could spend playing with my son. I cleaned so much this week because when given the choice daily, I choose what's more important to me - my family.
Here's to a relaxing rest of the weekend and tickling Dean until he can't stand it.
xoxo,
Beth
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
For Sale
Well, it's officially official! We put our first ever house on the market last night. It looks like we really are heading to North Carolina.
As bittersweet as this time in our lives is, we are beyond excited for a new opportunity and chapter. Neither Ryan or I have ever been away from home, so we are headed into this the blind leading the blind. Of course we are sad to be leaving our friends and family behind, but the new adventure that lies ahead of us makes us eager and nervous at all once.
It has been incredibly helpful that everyone around us has been very supportive of our move. When we told our families back in March, we were shockingly surprised at how well everyone received the news. I personally was terrified to tell my Grandma's, but they both completely understood that this is what was necessary for our family. They will miss us dearly, but the opportunity that awaits us is too good to pass up. When Ryan told his mom we were expecting the worst, but she was 100% on board. We looked at each other with shocking eyes as everyone supported us. Not that we thought no one would, but we received so much love and well wishes that we were overwhelmed.
The thought of moving and leaving everything behind is overwhelming, but we are so fortunate to be going with two wonderful people - Fred and Danielle. Ryan has known them since his days of youth group at church, and they are wonderful people. Danielle and I went out to dinner a few weeks ago and literally sat and talked for 4 1/2 hours. We laughed and joked how we will probably have to leave our yoga pants and t-shirts at home when we go to the grocery store, and dry our hair to go to Target. We are on the same page and I couldn't be more thankful for that! As nervous as I am about leaving home, I am so relieved to be taking a piece of home with us in these wonderful people.
So for now I would call yesterday and today a success. We put our house on the market and no one bought it in the first 24 hours. For those that don't know, we put an offer on this house within the first 24 hours of it being on the market. So, no one pulled an "us" over on us.
I continue to pray that the next few weeks go smoothly and that our time here at home is well spent. But I would also call that a success - we did have Skyline for dinner.
xoxo,
Beth
As bittersweet as this time in our lives is, we are beyond excited for a new opportunity and chapter. Neither Ryan or I have ever been away from home, so we are headed into this the blind leading the blind. Of course we are sad to be leaving our friends and family behind, but the new adventure that lies ahead of us makes us eager and nervous at all once.
It has been incredibly helpful that everyone around us has been very supportive of our move. When we told our families back in March, we were shockingly surprised at how well everyone received the news. I personally was terrified to tell my Grandma's, but they both completely understood that this is what was necessary for our family. They will miss us dearly, but the opportunity that awaits us is too good to pass up. When Ryan told his mom we were expecting the worst, but she was 100% on board. We looked at each other with shocking eyes as everyone supported us. Not that we thought no one would, but we received so much love and well wishes that we were overwhelmed.
The thought of moving and leaving everything behind is overwhelming, but we are so fortunate to be going with two wonderful people - Fred and Danielle. Ryan has known them since his days of youth group at church, and they are wonderful people. Danielle and I went out to dinner a few weeks ago and literally sat and talked for 4 1/2 hours. We laughed and joked how we will probably have to leave our yoga pants and t-shirts at home when we go to the grocery store, and dry our hair to go to Target. We are on the same page and I couldn't be more thankful for that! As nervous as I am about leaving home, I am so relieved to be taking a piece of home with us in these wonderful people.
So for now I would call yesterday and today a success. We put our house on the market and no one bought it in the first 24 hours. For those that don't know, we put an offer on this house within the first 24 hours of it being on the market. So, no one pulled an "us" over on us.
I continue to pray that the next few weeks go smoothly and that our time here at home is well spent. But I would also call that a success - we did have Skyline for dinner.
xoxo,
Beth
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