A Letter To My Younger Self

Today I took apart the collage that we used at our wedding -  the collage that contained pictures of us during our dating years.  Oh, my.  I can hardly believe it has been 7 years (8 or 9 years since some of these pictures were taken!).

Our first 5k race, in Knoxville.  It was dark, raining and cold!  I won 2nd place in my age category.  Ha! 

Taken on the walking bridge/Coolidge Park in downtown Chattanooga on the day Brent proposed.  Look at him!  He got all dressed up for the day!  

Engagement photos:

As a bridesmaid (who caught the bouquet!) at my friend Jessica’s wedding.  This was about 3 weeks before our own wedding.

Before Brent’s cousin Stacey’s wedding on the left and after Jessica’s wedding on the right.  The picture on the right was the picture we used for our wedding announcement in the newspaper.

Fun times!  The top two pictures were taken on the Tennessee Wesleyan College ski trip to Winterplace, WV, our senior year.   The bottom picture was taken on the TWC trip to Six Flags.  It was pouring rain when we got there, and they gave us an option: go ahead and go, braving the rain, or wait on the bus until the rain clears. Well, we went ahead and got out.  Obviously!  Come on, there were roller coasters involved!  And as it turns out, we got soaked to the bone for nothing – the coasters don’t run in the rain.  Seriously, about 45 min after this picture was taken, it totally cleared up and we ran into all of our fresh, dry friends from the bus.  Ha!

Our senior formal at TWC.  Quite possibly the only time in my entire life when my hair did not fail or defy me.  Glad I got pictures.

 

Misc:   

Looking at these pictures made me a little bit sad, I’m not going to lie.  While I might look happy and carefree on the outside, inside I was a nervous, insecure wreck.  I have changed SO MUCH over the years!  I know that security and confidence comes with age (not that I am all the way there!), but Brent has played a tremendous role in my “growing up.”  I don’t know who or where I would be without him!  With that in mind, I was inspired to write a letter – more like a list of things to remember -- to my younger self.  Bear with me!

(To clarify: this is written to my younger self (to the girl in the pictures above), not myself now.  Thought that was pretty clear, but Brent apparently didn’t understand and said “Well, then why won’t you ever wear a bathing suit?”)

Kristen,

1.  You are not fat.  There are so many more things to think about besides what you weighed this morning.

2.  You will survive pharmacy school.  And the residency.  You will get a job.  You will pass the boards.

3.  Don’t dye your hair brown.

4.  You will live to age 30.  You do not have melanoma, cystic fibrosis, or a brain tumor.   Stop looking up symptoms on the internet.

5.  Moderation, honey.  Give up the black & white thinking.  You can have a little cake, a little butter, a little sun, a little pizza, a little wine and a little nap every now and then.

6.  Self help books do not work.  Stop buying them.

7.  You are not fat. Put on the bathing suit and go swimming.

8.  You will get out of Athens, TN.  And then after you are gone, you will miss it.  So enjoy it while you can.

9.  Cooking is not as hard as you think it is.  In fact, nothing is.  There is no secret magical knowledge about cooking, God, using a DSLR, being married, and friendship that you do not have.  Just do it.

10.  Salon brand hair products are worth the money.  And please stop cutting your own hair.

11.  And while we are on the subject, a little bit of frizz is not the end of the world. Honestly. One day soon you will discover the Paul Mitchell straightening iron and get it under control.

12.  Don’t stop running.  It is the hardest thing to restart.

13.  Read more, write more, take more photos.  Blog more!

14.  Trust Brent about oatmeal – it will change your life!

15.  Stop eating things that make you want to gag just because they are supposed to be “healthy.”  This includes, but is not limited to: tuna, egg whites, plain grilled chicken breasts, Slim Fast, protein shakes, protein bars, Baked Lays, Light&Fit yogurt, Weight Watchers frozen meals, diet bread.

18.  You are not fat.  Please stop obsessing about it.

19.  I promise, everything is going to be okay!

The end.

Love, your older self

House & Home

The work continues on the house!  Tomorrow morning we are working on the garage/shed a little more.  Making progress!  We have added a few little touches on the inside as well.  Kourtney, these pictures are for you since you have NEVER been to visit us!

I must say that Brent has quite the eye for interior decorating!  Seriously – he has such good taste!  The other day we were at Pier One looking at the furniture and I saw a few little items that I liked that he did not approve of.  I thought to myself that I would just go back without him and get them.  Then I realized that he has better taste than me and so if he thinks something doesn’t look good, it probably doesn’t. :(  So I passed on the cute (in my opinion) white birdhouse.  There is one item still on my wish list – a statue of the Bremen Town Musicians.  I must go back and get it!

The blurry picture above is of two pieces my Papaw Bob made that was at my Mamaw & Papaw Anderson’s home, then my parents’ home, now ours. Love old family treasures and it fits perfectly in our old house! We thought this wall was the perfect spot for it, but didn’t like that it was sitting on top of the vent.  So Brent had a brilliant idea to put it up on “lifts” and it works perfect!  I love it!

The desk + bookshelf above is our most recent addition from Pier1.   Finding this was one of our proudest moments.  We have had an empty wall in the living room for SO LONG and I have hated it!  But we just couldn’t decide what to put there.  We found a picture of a desk + shelves in the Pottery Barn catalog that we loved but of course it was way too expensive.  Then we found this (above) which is pretty much the same concept as the Pottery Barn set – counter height, no drawers, shelves on the outside of the desk and shelves on the outside of the bookcase.  But this one was maybe 1/4 the price of the Pottery Barn set because 1. it was not Pottery Barn, 2. on clearance and 3. we got a 15% discount for taking the perfectly fine floor model – which was perfect for us, because it was already put together!  Then, when I got up to the the cash register, they said that if I opened a Pier1 credit card and charged the thing, I would earn enough points to get a $100 Pier1 gift card.  So I did, despite Brent’s profuse sweating + pacing in the background – AND they let me write a check and pay off the card right there at the same time! This was the best deal I have ever scored in my life!  When the credit card comes, I will just cut it up!

We just need a chair now; that’s on the agenda for this weekend.  And I’m not exactly sure that the painting will be staying there.  You can see my Aunt Gail’s crystal bowl on the bookcase.  That was one of my favorite (my favorite?) wedding gifts.  I have kept it in the china cabinet, but I think it may go on the shelves now!

 

This is the other living room wall (in the back) with the piece that we found in Birmingham (Brent actually spotted it). We actually rented a U-Haul to get it back home instead of paying delivery fees. Probably the nicest piece of furniture we own, actually.  Ha! We are definitely low-maintenance furniture shoppers. The mirror is from Kirkland's & the lamps are from Hobby Lobby.  And speaking of lamps, we still have the the ones we bought from Fred’s discount store for our first apartment.  Still working perfectly!

Here is a collage we are working on of pictures we have taken.  Note sure where we will hang it.

The rest of the living room from the back wall:

I need to work on finding coordinating art to hang on either side of the window. Oh, and that ivy is no longer there, and this is a testament to my unique ability to kill plants that are seemingly un-killable.  Brent picked out the rug, below. We love it!  See the Fred’s lamps on the table!  We got the clock you can barely see (above the TV) for our wedding from my cousins.  It is another item that has been with us at each apartment!

  Dining room:

We got the dining room table at Rooms To Go and actually we saw one of my coworkers and his wife there that day, also shopping for dining room furniture.  We ended up getting the exact same table + chairs as they did.

View of the dining area from the kitchen, with the painting that Talitha painted, that matches this room perfectly!

You can see my favorite piece of furniture in the background – the secretary that Papaw Bob made.  Every single visitor we have – even various repairmen - comment on it.  The flowers are sitting on a pillow cover I got at TJ Maxx for $1.50!  Ha!

We absolutely love our little home.  It has so much character and suits us so well!  We fell in love with it the first time we saw it!   I know that pine is old-fashioned, but I cannot imagine the kitchen/dining room any other way.  I just could not bear to tear the pine out after it has been there so long.  Our neighbor told us the other day that our house has been here since before our road was even paved!  I will post some more pictures when I find some.

Brent found this while cleaning out the shed:

It is a doorstop that my grandmother gave me – probably because she just wanted rid of it but she cannot throw anything away and no one would buy it from her yardsale.  Milly is absolutely terrified of it.  I put it on my bathroom floor and she keeps following me in there and getting spooked.  She barks and barks at it.  Just look at it – can you blame her?

But this is scarier!  Look at those teeth!!!  Bless it.

On the agenda for this weekend…..perhaps?

I hear you laughing!

Before + After

 

I’m a little concerned that frequent and impulsive changes in hair color might be indicative of a serious underlying mental illness.

Or incessant photography of  figs.

Our neighbor came over this week and told us that we just had to see our crepe myrtle from his side of the fence.  It is growing up under the magnolia and I only see a bit of it.  From his side, it is beautiful!

Tonight we saw Inception, and it was really good.  You really had to think, though!  Definitely not passive entertainment.  I am always somewhat in amazement over the creativity required to pull off a movie like that.  Fantastic!

Came home to these jokers. Typical pugs.

This is where Milly likes to snooze in the evenings, when she is ready to bed down for the night. Otherwise she will cuddle up next to one of us.  This (above) is her way of telling us that it is time to go to bid!!!!

Gosh, we LOVE it when Oscar gets his upper lip hung on his teeth.  To date, I have never been able to get the camera out + turned on fast enough to get a picture.  Lucky night!  What a goof!  He looks like an old man!

This is Milly’s panicky face when she wants some food that you are eating and she sees the supply on the plate dwindling down.  This face comes right before the pitiful growls/whines begin.  She’s not big enough to jump up on the furniture by herself.

  

Summer Showers

Today was my day off and I took full advantage of it. I browsed Barnes & Noble this morning, fell asleep reading on the couch with the pugs this afternoon, and baked banana fig bread this evening.  Pretty much perfect.  I also ate pizza & photographed a rain shower.  Sounds like a day from my dreams!

Fresh basil from a local farm on my windowsill – the kitchen smells SO GOOD.

Pizza Fresco from Jason’s Deli:

Afternoon shower:

Coming up tomorrow: the best banana bread I have ever eaten (and possibly the best thing I have ever made!).