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comments on being married, month eight




as of yesterday, i have been married to adam william for eight months. 


a comment or two, if i may.


i love to snuggle. i have since i was a little girl. adam has taken to calling me his barnacle. it's kind of a strange term. but i'm ok with it. we have a lot of strange nicknames. and a lot of strange conversations. we're weird, but weirdest with one another. sometimes it feels like we have secret personalities, the two of us. we don't hide them from everyone else. but they really come alive with only one another. which is probably a good thing. it's hard to explain. 


and, while i've found we save our best for one another, i think we sometimes also save our worst. we are learning more each day about how to show grace and give benefit of the doubt. but it can be difficult. grace usually comes at a price, and we have to be willing to cover it. often that price is humility. or patience. or both.


you know, i know i'm annoying. like Jo mentioned, we all are.


-i have lethal morning breath. no matter what i do.
-i use twenty kitchen items to prepare a meal that could have been prepared with five.
-even when i get in bed last, i make adam go turn out the light because i don't like getting in bed in the dark.
-my bangs are crazy when i first wake up.
-i leave the laundry in the dryer and forget to fold it.
-i drive my car when it's on empty forever because i hate getting gas.
-i am obsessive compulsive about having my water bottle. 
-i am pushy when we are going to be late, even when we aren't running late.
-i leave the stove and oven on and forget about them. 


and adam can be annoying too. but you know, so what? 


marriage has taught me a lot about humaness. the good and the bad. but also just the freeing feeling of knowing that:


he knows i'm human, and i know he's human. and being ok with this. getting over it. showing grace, because it's freeing for both people. and just loving each other again, every day. 


in eight months of marriage, i've learned the same thing over and over. we love each other not because we are lovable. but,


because Christ first loved us. 


i'm just grateful to have a husband who is willing to put that into action.


love you heaps ad. and thanks for loving me, even when i have morning breath and crazy bangs. and worse.

 



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high five for (hot) friday!

happiest of fridays to you friends!! and boy is it a hot one here in north cackalacky. check this out:





but we nelsons don't mind some extreme heat. 


i say that now. 


before we get started with this scorcher of a weekend, here are my top five favorite things from this week. as usual, i'm linking up with lauren and many other lovely bloggers. you can share your favorite five things too. just click this button.


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one.
i had an oovoo date with my three best gals. all at once. i have a picture to prove it. seeing all of their faces in one place made my heart so happy. two were in virginia, one was in germany, and one in nc. thank you oovoo for helping us deal with our geographical harships.


two.
it's officially okra season. i have been harassing every farmer in durham and wake county about when okra was coming. well, come it has. i bought all the okra that one farmer had at the market on wednesday. he said i could. some of it was purple!


three.
tonight we are meeting some friends at the north carolina museum of art for the summer movies series. they show the films outside in the park. the film tonight: ET. we will all be taken back to ours, and drew barrymore's, childhood. while trying not to get eaten alive by bugs. do you live in the rdu area? you should check out the summer movies at ncma sometime too!
(source)
four.
tomorrow my parents get to nc to move into their new house. :) pinch me. can't wait to squeeze them both and welcome them to the right coast!


five. 
today marks my eighth month of being married to this sweet man. we'll most likely watch our wedding video for the hundredth time (still can't get enough...) and say cheers to the sweetest eight months of our lives. love you ad. happy eight months of marriage. 


in five hundred and ninety two more months, we'll be celebrating our fiftieth anniversary. 


(EK photography)

(EK photography)



and, with that, i wish you all a very wonderful weekend. hope it's just the best. and that you don't melt if you live somewhere as hot as we do.

xo!




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feeling peachy



yesterday, in the mail, we got a box full of peaches, strawberry syrup, and strawberry preserves. you see, adam's best man trevor's family owns one of my favorite local spots in gig harbor. named, appropriately enough, local boys




trevor is always very proud of the produce and other local products that he sells at local boys. but each summer he seems especially proud of his peaches. i can remember showing up one day with my dad and having him shove a peach in each of our mouths. customer service, folks. i know in the south we are pretty proud (snobby) about the quality of our peaches. it's true. and the south can keep the peach prize. but by golly, every year when i try trev's peaches, they taste about as good as any peaches i've had. southern or not.


and with all the love in these ones that travelled all the way from washington, they are even better. 


and they tasted delicious on our breakfast this morning.


do you live in gig harbor? if you do, head to local boys. try some peaches. support your local farmers. support our great friend trevor. and if this cute pup is there, give him a big hug for us too. 


hheeeey samba. 




hope your week is shaping up to be just as peachy as ours!


ps, thanks trev! you are the best.













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back on the right coast, staying put.

last weekend the nelsons travelled to san francisco, 


marking the fifth of five weekends in a row of traveling for us. phew. june, it's been real. july, we're just going to chill for a bit. durham, we've been missing you. i said it. 


so, about that list of things we (i) wanted to do while in ca--as it turned out, we were having such a stinking good time with wedding events and hanging with our best friends from (high) school, we didn't even make it into the city! we hung out in half moon bay, visited some micro breweries in santa cruz, and drove up and down the pacific coast highway everywhere we went. who was i kidding? i've never being a city girl--especially when this is the alternative:





give me some ocean, blue skies, and a sweet man to sit next to on that bench seat--and you can pretty much bet i'll give up my hankering for a visit to ghirardelli. or trolley cars.




but, the sweetest thing of the whole weekend was witnessing this sweet couple's marriage. 

(source)

there is nothing more refreshing than two people getting married who really get what marriage is about. and who it is about. and these two, 


do


i'm excited for them to experience the joys of newlywed life together now. and everything after that too.


congrats joann and david.


(and thanks for having a wedding in such a beautiful place!) 


xo,


nelsons.







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the pacific side of things

every once and again we transplanted west coasters get the chance to travel back to the pacific side of things. this weekend, luckily, is one of those times. don't get too excited washingtonians, this time we aren't heading back to the home state. we heard it was calling for rain all weekend. waah waaaaah. 


instead, we are heading the fantastic city of san francisco, home of ghirardelli chocolate, one pretty big bridge, lots of sailboats, oh and our friends david and joann. they are getting married. :) ad is a best man in this wedding so we won't have much time for sight seeing. but, if we catch some extra moments here and there, i already have a list of things i'd love to do:


-visit the ferry building, and their saturday farmer's market.





-stroll around golden gate park and visit the conservatory of flowers. aren't these rhodies gorgeous?


-take a ride on a trolly car. despite having gone to san fran twice before, i've never done this. shame on me. i'd love to explore the city from the only moving national historic landmark. 
(source)

-and last but not least, visit ghirardelli square. i would break my 2012 chocolate fast to eat a free piece of ghirardelli chocolate while waiting in line for a ghirardelli chocolate sunday. i would.

i think four is an optimistic list, so i'll stop there for now. but, have you ever been to san francisco? what are your favorite places to visit/eat? is there anything we should absolutely squeeze in? here's to one fast paced weekend in the city!

happy wednesday friends!

ps, do you have any fun travel plans coming up?





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three year-olds and cocktails.



this week i am hanging out with 3 year-olds. what else would a recent masters graduate do? it's kids week at the summit church (think vbs, but avoiding the term "school" all together). three year-olds are giggly, energized, usually have snot protruding from their nostrils, and quick to love anyone who will play or jump around doing silly motions with them. they also sometimes cry for no reason. they have to use the bathroom every ten minutes. they aren't always the best of listeners. they get freaked out by loud noise. and sometimes, they are really hard to understand when they speak.

i just can't get enough of my little class. i think, they are the best. 

snot, tears, and all.

that said, tonight i get to hang out with some grown up friends. i am looking forward to this more than i realized after my day with the little ones. we are having a b.y.o.m. to grill party + sides. nelsons are in charge of a cocktail. i love a good summer cocktail. here is what i chose for tonight. what do you think? what is your favorite summer cocktail? 

ps, i also want to try this and this cocktail.





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but, i run





(source)


any runners out there?


i run, but i wouldn't call myself a runner.


it's more like,


i love to move. i love to exercise. i love the outdoors. i love to sweat. i love time alone with my thoughts, or my music. i love people watching. i love feeling tired from energy expenditure. 


i'm not exactly a runner. but i run. 


as i mentioned before i'm running this half marathon in november. i've never done a race this long before, but i'm excited to try. to push myself. the other day i was getting new shoes and the man helping me told me i run like a gymnast who is used to running with men. (how did he know?) apparently i'm loosey goosey because i'm limber, and i have a huge stride because i try to match the stride of the men i run with (adam or dad). i don't imagine running toward a vault and springboard when i run, but apparently i look like i'm about to pull a kerri strug. long strides, arms pumping hard. can you imagine how awkward i must look?


so, i've been trying to fix some things, shorten my stride, relax my arms. it's hard to find your perfect running form. the form that is most energy efficient and easy on your joints. the form that you could run, say, 13.1 miles with.


any runners out there who have gone through this? does it eventually all click into place? i've been running for years and still feel like i'm trying to figure it out.




ps, how many times do you run in a pair of shorts before washing them? i never wash mine after each run. am i gross?

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we were young and crazy, too

this weekend we were at my grandmom's house. there are so many special things about that lady. she is rich in wisdom, spunk, and secret recipes. she is 87 but not a day past 50. as far as i'm concerned, she will live forever. end of story. 


we had a party saturday night and many of her "couple friends" from the past 50 years came. people i'd never met. people she can't remember not knowing. it's funny when you realize again that your grandparents used to be newlyweds. and they used to have crazy groups of "couple friends" too. friends who played practical jokes. had all night parties. friends who went on camping trips and smashed pies in each other's faces. stole the boys clothes while they were showering. bought a giant bra and passed it along as a gag gift for years and years, even baked it into a birthday cake. friends who raised their children together, did projects together, waited for their navy men to arrive home after months over seas together. grew, grew old, grew older together, took care of one another when they got sick. took care of one another when they began losing their spouses, their best friends.


we listened to story after story. everyone was belly laughing as they all recalled memories. "this is only the start of it...we were young and crazy, too" was the conclusion of each story.


i'm not afraid of growing old. i might be a little afraid of losing loved ones. maybe a lot afraid. we have "couple friends" now. we'll probably make more throughout the years. and someday we'll all be old too. i want to be sure we have stories to share with all four generations in the room. stories that inspire belly laughs and also damp eyes, remembering the lost loved ones. those who were key elements in every story. 


my grandfather wasn't at this party. we all missed him. we have been missing him for about eleven years now. especially grandmom. she is joyful, but she is lonely too. who wouldn't be? she lives in the house that he helped build. where they raised all three of their boys. when we leave she is sad and tells us, "if you are going to go, go on and go." and we do. but not because we want to. we love that lady so much.


do you still have grandparents that are alive? what do you love about them? do you have friends you imagine growing old with? what memories will you sit around and tell your children's children? i'm feeling sentimental on this monday morning. maybe i should watch this movie soon:






happy new week friends. :)





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this week.

here are five wonderful things from this week.


what are five wonderful things from your week?


link up with lauren and share yours too!


i'd just love to hear them.

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one.
corrine and pierce's charleston wedding. couldn't have been better. and those southern oaks...breathtaking!




two.
my cousin who we stayed with in charleston's shower was outdoors. so we took all of our showers outside, watching the sun rise over the marsh. it was sparkly on the water. and lovely. now i want an outdoor shower too.




three.
this trail is my happy place to run. sometimes i don't even take my ipod. loved running there this week.

(source)
(source)
(source)
four.
today, we do the final walk through of my parent's NC home and they hand me the keys! almost feels like i'm buying a home! can't wait for mom and dad to get here in a few weeks and move into their new place!


five.
having a couple's date night last night at this awesome place, so that we could surprise all the guys with their deep sea fishing trip. (most of them) did NOT see it coming and the shock/excitement on their faces was priceless. next weekend 11 of them will be heading to the obx for some good old fashioned guy time. there was talk of wearing jorts, wife beaters, and growing mustaches. wouldn't put it past some of them...here's to hoping adam brings back some yummy fish to grill this summer! and here's the sweet boat they are taking.


(source)


happiest of weekends to all of you! any fun plans? we're going to my uncle's retirement party in virginia! wherever you find yourselves i hope you have some time to rest and enjoy the weekend. lots of love! xo.









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C + P snapshots



today, i'm sharing some snapshots from one of the most special weddings i've ever been a part of. corrine and pierce got married last weekend. not only is corrine one of my best friends in the whole world, but several of my other best friends were bridesmaids with me. heaven. not to mention, i had the sweetest, most handsome date ever. he let me dance on his feet when my bare footsies were danced to death. twooo luv.


oh, and this whole party/reunion/celebration, was set in charleston, sc. sigh.


the weekend began with a fun "girl's night"





 




the next morning we spent several hours at the charleston farmer's market. we ate ice cream, peaches, omelets, and other equally delicious southern delights. and googley eyed over lots of cute puppies and babies. 








next came the rehearsal and rehearsal party. oh and mani/pedis in between










and then, 
came the wedding. 
and what a wedding it was. 

















corrine and pierce have got to be one of the most beloved couples in the world. the love was just gushing all weekend. we will surely miss them as they return to germany to start their life together. thanks for letting us be a part of it, you two. 


vi vogliamo bene! e ci giรก mancate! baci e abbracci.


ps, here are some sneak-peaks from meredith mckee, the talented sweet (KD) photographer.







have you been to any special weddings lately? got any on the books?

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