House Guests

            We had our first overnight house guest this past weekend. Robert’s younger brother, Michael, stayed in our guest bedroom Saturday and Sunday. He and their mom drove to town for Mother’s Day weekend. They both received their first tour of our new house. It was so nice to have their perspective of how great the house looked and just how exciting it is that we own our first house. It helped to change my eyes from looking at everything that wasn’t unpacked or every project that I had not yet started and remember to enjoy this process of making our house a home and appreciating the excitement of this new adventure in our lives.

            Their visit also prompted a little extra cleaning and unpacking prior to their arrival, as is the benefit of having company. We paid special attention to the guest bedroom. No, it is not exactly as we want it, but there is still time to get it there. It is painted a very, very bright pink. We chose some neutral shades for the bed linens to tone the brightness down a bit. We are grateful to Robert’s sister and her husband to giving us their extra guest bed. Robert only just brought it home the weekend prior to Michael’s stay. So, all-in-all, we are proud of what we have done with the guest bedroom and bathroom. They make for a cozy stay this early in the game, which is impressive.

            While Michael was here, I noticed we had, perhaps, overlooked another house guest. We haven’t actually seen this guest “up close and personal,” but our new tenant has made its stay undeniable. 

Snake Skin

Robert's Wedding Poem

Here is the poem that Robert chose, which was read by his friend, Patrick:

Wondrous Moment

            By Alexander Pushkin

The wondrous moment of our meeting
I well remember you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.
 
In hopeless ennui surrounding
The worldly bustle, to my ear
For long your tender voice kept sounding,
For long in dreams came features dear.
 
Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
Old dreams, and I from year to year
Forgot how tender you had sounded,
Your heavenly features once so dear.
 
My backwoods days dragged slow and quiet
Dull fence around, dark vault above
Devoid of God and uninspired,
Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.
 
Sleep from my soul began retreating,
And here you once again appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.
 
In ecstasy the heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.

Photo by Kristina Strane

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Amberly's Wedding Poem

We both picked out a poem to be read aloud during our wedding. Here is what I chose, read by my dear friend, Kimberly:

A Birthday

            By Christina Georgina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a daïs of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Kristina Strane

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Photo by Rachel Beasley

 

 

Photo by Rachel Beasley

Amberly Turns Thirty

Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty. ~Robert Frost

            I wasn’t totally thrilled with the idea of turning thirty at first, but it began to grow on me. Maybe now that I’m married and own a home, I feel more ready to be thirty. I feel more like myself, like I’m on my life’s path. It took a couple of painful years of the Saturn return to get me on my path, but here I am and it feels great! Someone very dear to me recently told me that, “thirty is when a woman comes into her own.” I can definitely related to that sentiment!

            My sister-in-law invited me to go to the beach with her and her three sons (my new nephews) for four days before my birthday. It was such a renewing way to ease myself into my thirtieth year. I’ve always been a fish out of water, but it’s been years since I went to the beach. Being in the water and under the sun was so soothing. I also learned the lesson that the concept, “all things in moderation,” truly means ALL things in moderation-including the sun! So I entered my thirtieth year with a reminder from the folly of my youth to reapply sunscreen. I also discovered sunburns don’t heal as quickly as they did when I was 19. Ah…the great lessons life has in store for us. Despite the sunburn, the trip was great. I enjoyed spending time with my sister-in-law and nephews, and had plenty of time to read the day I was stuck inside, in bed, healing from too much sun, not enough reapplication of sunscreen.

            We returned home just in time for my birthday, literally. We hit loads of traffic on the way back, so it was after 11pm when we arrived home. Robert and I spent the following day in typical Amberly birthday style. We tried out the Flying Biscuit for the first time and loved it! We did the traditional trip to the bookstore and Italian food for dinner. We also watched P.S. I Love You as a tribute to my love of all things Ireland. It’s a good movie, but I definitely recommend the book by Cecilia Ahern, which is very different from the movie. The whole book is set in Ireland, and it tells an interesting, moving story.

            The following week, we celebrated my birthday with family at my sister- and brother-in-law’s house. We grilled out, visited, and had cake with a candle worthy of a thirty-year-old.