Take a picture. it lasts longer.

Meet Tyler Gould...

eye candy.

Today I am going to share some amazing photos from my friend Tyler Gould.

Tyler did our wedding and engagement and he is super fun and talented. His shots are so beautiful and I love how he sets up and captures these epic scenes. Here are some favorites. Definitely check out his site and see for yourself. To top it off, he's a stellar guy! An hour with his camera in your face and you'll have a new best friend.

Check out his full website here.

Fill in The Blank Friday

Its Friday!...you know what that means!

(see)

Friday Donut Day!

Well, for me anyway. but more importantly, its Fill In The Blank Friday via Lauren over at The Little Things We do. Make sure you do your own and link up here.

Here are mine:

1. If I weren't sitting at my desk right now I'd love to be working on the spare bedroom/office in our house, trust me, it needs a lot of help .

2. When I'm super upset I cuddle with my doggy, unless its him i'm upset with .

3. My favorite thing about myself is my frequent creative whirlwinds: scraps of paper flying everywhere, hammer pounding and nails all over the floor, paint in my hair, but cute new things on the wall.

4. If I found a $100 in the pocket of last winter's coat I'd spend it on shoes and a cheap date .

5. Even though some people might consider this a flaw, I love my lack of need for order, i find so much joy in not worrying.

6. I love the way I feel when i wake up early on my own, curl up with coffee in bed and get into The Word before the rest of the world wakes up.

7. I love my hair most when it's a little dirty with a little texture. Not too straight.

and here are my own add on's...

8. The attribute I really admire in Sarah (here)is her love for life and for who she knows she is.


9. Next time I have 2 free hours I should probably have a good conversation with Benjamin about whatever he wants to talk about.


10. I feel really lucky to not be on the path i was headed down three years ago.

Join The Party!

Looking Forward To..

Its Thursday, and the work week is almost over. Its about that time when i start getting really excited and ready for some relaxing weekend plans. This is the first time since Ben and I have met that we have real weekends off together, and man..we're having fun! Starting at 5:00 tomorrow I will be nowhere near a counting tape or accounting software. I will be doing the following:

#1: Much needed girl time.

with these girls here:

.Echo and little Alomae.

and these girls here:

.Shannon and Melissa.

We'll be having some very much overdue girl time that will consist of:

*sushi.

*portland stroll.

*Almoae's bedtime.

*chat. chat. chat. chat.

*tea.

*chat.

*hugs.

*giggling.

sounds fun huh? I can't wait. I love these ladies.

#2: Somewhere warm, well, pretending anyway.

with these crazy people here:

.Katy and Jeremy.

We'll be havin' ourselves a little indoor mid-winter tropical party. I guess you can call it a party if its only four people, as long as it includes the following:

heat cranked.

tank tops and sunglasses on.

ridiculous tropical drinks with umbrellas.

with a little of this:

and probably some of this:

Should be a good time.

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

do share!

look what i learned.

I made myself a little button! kinda cute eh? I had NO idea what i was doing, but i figured it out!

see!

<a border="0" href="http://www.thenewellyweds.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexf5_bj3TaM6EmtQ3Fr7daeKj8PcDYLwaXFyElS_8DLSjnPdruubarJE4zyEvaUO-OwFH6P2v7KrsiZFrPHqG0a0RqLwX3KcrSxgZJJpmtSos-U3vNIVnYMosljGuK7celAnAvxYRLZdm/s220/button+lamp.jpg" /></a>

The internet is amazing. Thanks for teaching me, internet.


Take it and spread the love!

killer. olympic style.

Ok, i normally would not feel that anything pertaining to me working out would be worth putting on here, but holy cow, these moves from olympic athletes..kill. seriously. in a good way.

if you're into that.

get the whole workout here.

lower back. butt. thighs.

abs. arms. thighs.

(photos via self.com)

If anyone tries it, let me know what you think!

and share your favorite moves too if you want!

we're all trying to get ready for swimsuits, right?

Forest Animals

Why?

Well, they're cute.

That's really all.

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Enjoy the little babies of the forest.

(or whatever else makes you giggle today.)

Reasons I love My Life #2

This guy, right here.

This is Ben. I married him on March 29, 2008. Another day i will share our whole story, which i find pretty darn special, but that's just me. All i can say about Ben is that God knows exactly what we need in a mate, and he gives us just that. He is more than i ever wanted. And when i say that, I mean that I used to have some ideas about what I wanted, and maybe some ideas about what i thought i needed, but goodness, I had no idea.

Here's what i think:

God made woman to be complete in Him, and God made man to be complete with Him AND woman. see? We don't really need a man, we need God. But, in His grace, He chooses to give us men to be helpmates to who LOVE us with HIS love. This is a gift. We get to poor our lives into someone who loves us back and shows us Christ's love.

"I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all
service. I served and I saw that service is joy." -Mother Teresa

Does that make sense? We shouldn't really need another example of God's love for us, because he gave us love personified in the person of Jesus.

BUT (another but) if you're like me, sometimes, you just don't get it. So he gives you someone to show you face to face. To poor into. To love you back right where you are. To make you thrive and glow and live the best life you can. To show you how much HE loves you. And sometimes, if you are like me, the person he gives you is SO much like Jesus, he makes you fall more in love with your maker.

sigh.

Just my musings.

Some reasons why i love Ben:

1:He makes me laugh and take myself less seriously

2:We are 110% different, and that's perfect.

3:He forces me to be a better person.

4:He tells me I'm beautiful every single day, even when i know I'm not. and he probably does too.

5:That beautiful thing he says...he also makes me believe it.

6:He is strong

7:His heart is full of compassion

8:He will make the best dad in the world

9:He gets up every morning to walk Tangle so I can have some quiet time.

10:He makes me adventurous

11:He picked me to get old and wrinkly with.

12:He's not afraid to dream

13:He makes me understand Jesus' love more

Meet My...

Echo over at Birds in Branches asked us to introduce you to some things that we love in a "meet my" post.

So, meet my...

Nanny Carter's house in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Amazing. On the site where the town's very first settler, Ezekiel Norris, built their house.

Pretty awesome porch, huh? Just thought I'd share.

Promise I'll do a legitimate "Meet My" post tomorrow :-)

Join the fun!

Lazy

Well, this had officially been the laziest weekend of my life.

and I love it.


It consisted of Saturday waking up at 10 am (7 am is sleeping in for me, so that was pretty intense), and having Ben's brother and his lovely girlfriend Laura (who was my special guest blogger yesterday) over for breakfast. The boys cooked for us. So sweet. Then we took Tangle for a walk and when we got back, Ben and Tj had shaved their heads.

boys.

We pretty much all laid around until it was time to go to church downtown, where i got to hold babies all night, then went on a date with Laura and Mama Newell to Le Happy. Which was delicious. They put onions in my crepe on accident and i almost barfed so they gave me my dessert for free :-) I didn't almost barf...but i wanted to. i hate onions.




Oh..and i got to see my friend Casey at church who i haven't actually seen in person in a long time! So that was fun. She is looking lovely as ever and has a newly-wed glow which is so cute and becoming on her! We vowed to have a craft day soon and invite Lauren (yes, Lauren from the little things we do) so i can actually see her again after something like three or four years?

Anyhoo, this morning Ben went to coffee with a friend while i..slept in..again. We took Tangle to doggie day care and now I am sitting here blogging. exciting.

And Ben just walked in with my "after Chinese food treat" (which is what he came home with, Chinese food).

He's sweet.

That's about it. Told you. Lazy.

Hope you're all having a great weekend so far!

Saturday Morning Special..except its not morning, its 2pm..

Hi! Happy Saturday! Who's glad its the weekend?

I AM! I AM!

Today I am having my sweetest of all little friends (and kinda sister) Laura create a post for you! Here she is..

on the right, that's her! Ain't she cute?

A Saturday lazy day late breakfast morning at the Newell's. Ben and Amanda invited Tj and I over for scrambles, bacon, toast, and potatoes. It was a lovely time.

Toasty toast

Avocados for the scramblers

Piled high plates

Lodos and Teedles
being extra cheesy

Some good home cookin'

manly men cook for their ladies

Love birds

Amanda taught me how to blog for the first time today. I think I'll make one of my own someday. The day of fun then continued. Excited for tonight to worship Jesus, and have a ladies night at

Le Happy!


Have a wonderful Saturday :)

Love,
Laura

Fill in The Blank

Its Friday!

I'm so glad. I am feeling not particularly inspired today and quite tired and wondering how i will get through the next 9 hours.

WAH WAH WAH. (the sound of me whining).

I am sure there are lots of you who are feeling the same? Anyhoo, sweet little Lauren has invited us to Fill In The Blank with her (i hope she doesnt think i'm stalking her blog)! Oh well. There is nothing new under the sun. So here i go.

1. Today I am feeling like i need my friday donut.

2. If I were you I'd check out my pretty friend Echo's new blog, Birds in Branches.

3. Love is: not about you.

4. I always kiss my puppy on the head before leaving the house.

5. I feel prettiest when i'm on a hot date...at home...eating popcorn.

6. If I had a million dollars I'd buy a house, an old one in the country, and fix it up, and live there until i'm 99.

7. I'm looking forward to my girl date with Laura and mama in law(i hate that term)tomorrow night to Le Happy.

so there it is friends. You guys fill in the blank too! Its a fun little time waster! I'm already having a better day.

I love branches?

Free and Easy.

Its winter time in Oregon and lots of people are pulling their hair out, flying to sunny places, counting down the days until summer, and bombarding the social networks with their longings for 80 degree weather.

Me on the other hand, I find Oregon in ALL its seasons to be lovely. I adore the season changes and think there is something nice about all of them. Right now, I am loving the free decor I am finding laying all over the sidewalks and backyard from the windstorms. Branches. Lots of free, twiggy bare branches. I take full advantage of them in my house during this season. Overkill? maybe! But oh well! I think generally people like to use flowers to brighten up the winter gray in their house, but i kinda loooove it! So why not embrace it?

*baby twiggies*

*branches on the mantle*

(on top of Gone With The Wind, which makes them better, I think)


*sharing his home*


*serving a purpose*


*hangin' from the ceiling*


*Just taking up space*

Do you like to bring nature from all the seasons inside?

Does winter make you sad
or do you appreciate it?

copy cat

I'm a copy cat and I'm ok with that. Well, not always, just in this instance. And some others. Its ok, I know the person I'm copying won't care :-) I am stealing this idea from Lauren over at *the little things we do*. Two things I love around my house. Its hard to pick!

#1: pointless bookshelf.

Pointless because, as you can see, all the book spines are turned in, making it impossible to tell what the books are. Silly. I know. BUT, they look so nice and neutral and so aesthetically pleasing. Ben's reaction when he came home and saw my shelf rearranging went something like this:

Ben:"what the heck, why on earth? That's so weird."

Amanda: "but its cute, they all match"

Ben: "ok? whatever you say?"

Amanda: "thank you"

Well, I like it. Nobody has commented on it so far, maybe people think its weird and don't want to say anything? The only person who has said anything about it is my dad. he thinks its stupid. but he still loves me. When we painted out living room i took pictures of it so I could remember exactly how to put it back on there when i put the books back up, and he teased me relentlessly. I heart him.

# 2: ancient cookbook

This cookbook is from my mom. She picked it up at an antique store somewhere and passed it on to me because it matches my kitchen. There have been several re-printings of this one. But mine is special. It has all sorts of notes from the previous owner, additions, even little clippings cut out and taped in of other recipes that she loved. Its cute, and it does match my kitchen, and its super useful. Everything from perfect chicken pot pie to how to properly melt butter. Thanks Betty and unknown previous owner of this book :-)

I really love a lot of things around my home, but mostly that its my home and the fact that I have one.