I love you just like any other day

Then that day came, the day that I said 'I love you'. The day that I said it wasn't the day that I felt it, no that day was long before that, but it was so hard for me to admit. I was like a balloon with too much air; I was so full that the only option left was to burst. That was a happy day, but it was not the day that I knew I would love you forever.


My mind started reeling with the thoughts of our life together. Not just one day, but all days with you. You had proven to me that my worries, all of my irrational fears had no place in our relationship. I learned why you were different, and what trust really meant. Then came the day I found out that you felt the same way, the day I said yes.


Then there was planning for a big day. So much time spent on one day, when all I wanted were all of the days after. I wanted that day to be here, but I also wanted the days to slow down. When I think about that time, I know there was stress and tears, but only the best parts stick out in my mind. All of the moments leading up to our day add to our foundation, and the foundation days are some of the most important days.


Then there was the day. The quickest day of my life. The official start date. I had found something that I could never let go of and I had to make it permanent in my life. I couldn't go one step further without binding myself to you. We were already a team, the best team, this is the day that you became my family too. I already knew that I would love you forever by now, but I showed everyone on this day.


Now our days move forward. I hope that one day we can grow our family and fill our life with more to love. For now it's me and you, and I know that the hard days lead to a stronger team. I know that an argument is just that, an argument. I knew that I would love you forever, but I don't think I'll ever understand how that love changes so much from day to day. Just when I feel like I can't fit anymore love, respect and excitement for you in my heart...the next day comes.

That's what I've come to expect from us, each day being just as meaningful, surprising and exciting as the one before, if not more. So happy Valentine's day to my husband, teammate, family, lover, comforter, father-to-our-future-children and lover of my good and bad. To that man that tells me 'I love your ears, especially when they poke out of your hair' (which I HATE), 'I love your neck, it's so feminine and slender' (and I never even had to tell you that I always felt like a giraffe), 'you're so sweet and considerate, you're the best wife' (after I'm done having a melt down in the car), I owe all of my gratitude.


Jim Bob, I love you more today on Valentine's day, than I have on any other day, but that's because I love you just like any other day.

-Roo

Labels: Jim Bob

Thank you 2011, Hello 2012!

7. Get more tattoos!
8. Eat vegetarian at least five times a week, two of those days being vegan.
9. Blog at least twice a week (that's a lot for me lately).
10. Take another Spanish course.

So I may not achieve all of my new goals, but that's okay because sometimes different goals come up part way through the year. This is why I like meditating on the good things that I accomplished during the year so that even if I didn't check everything off of last year's list, I can still be proud of myself. I mean, I didn't even start the year off thinking that I would run a half marathon, but look at me!

I have to admit something really serious though **serious blogger confession here** I have had a super tough time blogging the last few months (in case you weren't paying attention) and a lot of it has had to do with me being slightly depressed about it. I had a hard time with getting wrapped up in the hype of blogging, trying to keep up with the Jones' to an extent I guess. Not that I was constantly trying to be like others, but just super worried about other people posting something similar to what I just posted, or another blogger posting more than I was, or even others having better photography on their blogs (I am down to just iPhone pics and the quality just does not compare to a fancy-shmancy camera). On top of that, my house being like a construction zone due to a complete kitchen renovation which lasted for MONTHS, I mean MONTHS, did not help the creative juices, it actually made me want to crawl under my covers for hours on end...and some days that's what I did.

I felt like I had a lot of weight on my shoulders, and to make things worse, we were shelling out quite a bit of dough, and still didn't have a functional kitchen until just a couple of weeks ago. Let me tell you, it's ah-mazing what a new set of counter tops can do for a girl's outlook! I think that the running and training I did really kept me focused and helped me from crumpling on the floor every time I walked into the kitchen. Not being able to cook was really hard too. After about a month of eating out every night we got a stove; with no counter tops, sink or dishwasher it was still tough. Even though we could technically cook, it was like camping every night for months after that. I can't believe that we didn't kill each other in the process! Every night that we cook now, it's like Christmas when we do dishes...I mean a sink and a dishwasher, what a gift!

I think our waistlines are still recovering from months of eating out (even with all of the running) but it was all worth it to have a functional kitchen, debt-free! I'll have to do another post on the kitchen and how we got into the predicament that we did, and I'll post pictures, but for now just know that it was a life changing experience. If Jim and I can make it through 2011, we can make it through anything!



So what are your New Years resolutions? Do you make resolutions or is your method more similar to mine and continuing goals that you've had before? What made you feel good about 2011? Please share! I want some positive 2012 vibes!

Labels: 2012, Blogging, Goals, Jim Bob, Kitchen, New Years Resolutions, renovation

It's Been a While

Jim and I have been SUPER busy the last month. I mentioned it before, but Jim was in a high stakes weight loss competition which ended a couple of weeks ago and he came in 3rd place out of 54 people! He lost 37 pounds and I'm so proud of the method he used. I have to admit that we let ourselves get out of hand with our eating over the summer, and with our kitchen being remodeled, eating out was sometimes easier than cooking-in. So for six weeks we ate a pretty consistent diet (or as I like to say 'lifestyle modification') of mostly plant-based, whole food, healthy meals, and exercised 4-5 times a week. We kind of went easy on things this last week or two because we plan on starting a more rigorous vegetarian diet that won't completely exclude meat, but include it sparingly.

*Disclaimer-I have a nutrition degree in Dietetics, therefore I'm constantly refining the foods that we eat and trying new methods of trying to be healthy. We do usually follow what I like to call the '80/20' rule, however, and 20% of the time we allow ourselves to have a little splurge.

As our splurge after our hard-core, six-week competition (which I tried to adhere to even though I wasn't in the competition), we celebrated Jim's victory by partaking in the Phoenix Food Truck Festival. It was SO FUN! It was the first year that the festival took place and it was a huge success! We got to try samples from tons of different trucks, and wash it down with some Four Peaks brews. It was a great way to support local business as well...I think I was in food heaven!

Here are some pictures of us at the festival and some other fun events! (Sorry, these are a bit out-dated, but better late than never!)

Labels: Arrogant Butcher, Engine Two Diet, friends, Jim Bob, Owl, Phoenix Food Truck Festival, Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta, Tattoo

The One that got away

I know that I haven't posted very much the last couple of weeks, but we've been hard at work at the Strothers' household. We have been working on getting the place cleaned up, inside and out, both of us have traveled a lot for work, I got sick, Jim entered into a high stakes weight loss competition and I am training for a 1/2 marathon! Whew! I don't have to travel as much this month, so hopefully I can get some more blogging in.

ANYWAY. Since I've been doing my training and it's been way too hot out to run still, so I've been spending a lot of quality time with the treadmill. I know this is going to sound cheesy, but I've been listening to a lot of Katy Perry. DON'T JUDGE ME! I liked a couple of her songs so I decided to download the album and it's really good workout music! So there's this one song called "The One that Got Away" that really resonated with me, but for less obvious reasons. There's not an official music video, so here's the best I could find..Hopefully Ariel does it justice.



Normally, meaning before Jim, I would hear this song and think about a boy in my life and be sad or nostalgic and be upset by the song. Now, having Jim in my life I started thinking about what my life would be like without him. I know it's kind of morbid to think like this, but if something awful happened to him, I would be devastated, but I think it would be just as hard to see him move on without me! 
So I started to think about how lucky I am to have him in my life. This song really just made me think about how silly I was when I was younger and how fortunate I am to have such an amazing man in my life. It honestly made me have a very content and triumphant feeling. While it's still a sad song, it was nice to feel a different emotion along with this; knowing that my life is right and that I made the best choice in the end and have no regrets.
I'm so happy because I'll never have to think of my husband as the one that got away...

Sorry to be so mushy, but a girl's gotta share her feelings from time to time! So what about you? Any good songs out there that make you happy, sad, bitter-sweet or make you look at things a different way? Share!
Keep it real,Roo

Labels: Jim Bob, Katy Perry, Life, music

It's my blirthday!

Keep on keeping it real,
Roo

Labels: Birthday, blirthday, Blog, Jim Bob

Cabin Time

I didn't blog all weekend because we were in Happy Jack with my side of the family, enjoying some time away from the Internet and cell phones...it was a rough four days! I didn't even really take that many pictures, it was really nice to not be worrying about getting the right shot for the blog, or getting my phone out in time to catch a photo for Instagram. Don't get me wrong, I love blogging and the process of blogging, but this weekend it was nice to just enjoy life, instead of document it.
I think we need a little more of this in our life. What about you? Blogging get you down sometimes? Maybe it's not blogging, maybe it's keeping up with texting, Facebook, Twitter, family, a social life...How do you unwind, or do you?

Keep it real,
Roo

Labels: Blogging, Cabin, Family, Jim Bob, Vacation

Sprucing Things Up Around Here

You might notice that my blog looks a little different today...well last night I stayed up really late learning the ins and outs of HTML and CSS and did a little blog make-over for myself. Pretty darn good for my first time if you ask me! Okay, okay I'm totally making that up. My very talented and lovely friend Vanessa of HelloVanny might have played a little part in sprucing up my digs. Okay, she played a BIG part, as in I told her what I liked and she designed this whole thing for me!

Vanessa is a talented blogger, baker and more recently blog designer. She and her boyfriend Aaron tag-teamed this project (Vanessa doing the design and Aaron coding the whole thing) and I could not be more happy with the results. Vanny (as I affectionately refer to her as) has recently made a bold move and decided to switch careers to do web design. Well she's not off to a bad start if you ask me!

In honor of my almost-year blogging anniversary, I thought I would do a little survey for Roofresh. I want your help in deciding what posts will be reoccurring posts on the blog. Basically, what do you like? It is completely anonymous, so please be nice. ;)

I will close the survey after one week so that I can add some fun new features to my blog, pointing you in the direction of the reoccurring posts. I realized that I had quite a few different post-series taking place and it had become very cumbersome to try and keep up with them all on a weekly basis. My hope with this survey is to narrow in on what people really want to read about and spend more quality time on those posts.

I'm so excited for the direction my blog is heading and so appreciative of everyone who has read it over the past year! I love the new design and I think it's a perfect reflection of my (and Jim's) personality. Thank you so much Vanessa and Aaron!

Labels: Blog Design, Hello Vanny, HTML, Jim Bob, Survey

Who Said 'I love you' First?

I don't know why this is such a big deal, but people always ask the question 'who said I love you first' in newer relationships. Well for the record, Jim did, but it's not like it matters. :) So this is a picture of us at a Griffin House show on the night that we said 'I love you' to each other. For weeks leading up to it we kept saying 'I really more than like you' to each other, because we were both too stubborn to say it first.

I know this is all sappy and lovey-dovey but I want to know, did you say it first? Was it your significant other? Can you explain to me why people care so much?!? Ha ha. This was a while back for me and Jim obviously, but I still know the answer, and will probably never forget that even though I said it a milli-second after him, he still said it first!

Keep it real,

Roo

Labels: Griffin House, Jim Bob

Finding Phoenix {Entry 1}

Did you grow up where you are living now? Did you grow up in one town and move away for college, or a boyfriend, or just to get out of the town you grew up in? Have you ever wished so badly that you lived anywhere but here? While I was born in beautiful Oceanside California, I move to Gilbert Arizona when I was three and haven't lived in any other state since. Of course I've traveled and visited different states and countries, but it's so different getting to know that place where you live.

I grew up in Gilbert which is about 30 minutes outside of Phoenix and about two hours away from Tucson.  I used to think that Gilbert was the only good part of Arizona because it was fairly new, I could find my way around, and it just seemed cleaner and safer. After I started dating Jim he shared his love for adventure and trying new things with me and introduced me to a lot of new places that I had never been and some I had never even heard of. He helped me to appreciate new experiences and taught me how to look for opportunities to learn about other cultures and customs that were thriving within my own city (Phoenix).

If you read my post on the blogger meetup, you might remember that a lot of the events took place in downtown Phoenix. I slowly but surely had been discovering new, fun places in the downtown area, but this even was the kickoff to be being submerged in the Phoenix culture; Arizona may be a relatively new state, but that doesn't mean that it is lacking in richness and depth.

Shortly after the meetup I started my new job with Arizona Department of Education which is right in the heart of downtown. I was so excited! I've been there for all of three weeks now but I couldn't be happier. I have already gotten to try new food, go to new places, and discover small nooks of the city that I never knew were there!

I have lived in Arizona for 22 years and I never took the time to look.

I totally feel like I have been missing out, ignorant, neglectful, lazy and static. I missed out on experiences and memories that I could have been making instead of sleeping in on a Saturday or checking out what was on Netflix. So I made a decision...

I have a challenge for myself: I will post a new picture of Phoenix on the blog via the Instagram app (thus allowing me to take a picture anywhere at any time and not have to rely on having my camera with me) every week, and that way finding new and interesting nouns (person, place or thing) will be on the forefront of my mind. I will have a weekly accountability post to keep me on the lookout so that life doesn't get stale.

The photo above was obviously not one that I took recently in Phoenix, it was done by the Sloan Photographers for our engagement session. It does show a lot of the uniqueness of the city and the art district though and is a great example of hidden culture and what Phoenix looks like when it actually gets some rain! (The photo itself was edited beautifully, however, I wanted to keep with the Instagram theme so I did a horrible thing and changed it, eek!)  Now I'm going to post one of my real, Finding Phoenix photos...

Labels: ADE, Downtown, Finding Phoenix, Jim Bob, Phoenix, Sloan Photographers

Most People Your Age...

'Most people your age' has become my least favorite phrase lately. With my 25th birthday quickly approaching I have been informed of the fact that I've already been in my mid-twenties for two years now, that I'm about to embark on my late twenties and that my early twenties were gone a long time ago.  Well, I still say that 25 is 'mid-twenties' but apparently once you hit the half-way-to-thirty mark, it doesn't even matter anymore.

"Most people your age have it a lot worse, one little cavity really isn't so bad," (straight from my dentist's mouth). "Most people your age have skin that clears up pretty well...we'll have to see where it goes from here." Wow it sucks that I'm my age and I'm not most people. If I wasn't already freaked out and sensitive about it enough, I feel that plenty of people around me are making sure that I remember the fact that it's my big quarter-century b-day year.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about turning 25 that is really starting to grate on me. I think subconsciously I feel that my twenties are half way over and that life has gone into fast forward mode and that before I know it, I'm going to be in my thirties. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being in your thirties, heck, my husband is :) but my mind insists on tricking me into believing that the party stops at 30 and that I no longer have the option of a life. It's like "quick, make sure you get all of the fun stuff done, thirty is almost here!"

I can't figure out why I feel this way...maybe when I was younger I imagined things differently...but that doesn't make sense because I TOTALLY love my life! I've got a perfect husband, a great family, awesome friends, and the raddest dogs you'll ever meet.

So in preparation for 25, I'm making a list of all of the things that make this year awesome, and everything that I'm grateful for...

Labels: Birthday, Family, Jim Bob, Life

Bear Love Feature - {HiFi Weddings}

I wanted to share this cool post that was done about the invites that Jim and I did for our wedding. I've posted our invites on the blog before, but Ashley from HiFi Weddings recently did a post on them and I really think that you should mosey on over to her blog if you haven't already. The general idea behind HiFi is real weddings, couples and the music they chose as inspiration for all those who appreciate music. It really is a neat concept and a such fun blog to read!
Cute lil' blog huh? What's your favorite song to hear at a wedding? Did you have an awesome playlist for yours? I'd love to hear what songs really get you movin'!

Keep it real,

Roo

Labels: Blog, HiFi Weddings, Jim Bob, music, playlist

Labels: Arizona, Fashion, husband, Jim Bob, photography

Goals...Dun Dun Duuuun!

I've never done a "goals" post, but that's probably because I know that I'll be held accountable if I publish them...well there's a first time for everything...Wait, I did kind of do a goal post, and I totally failed. Dang! Okay, so here's my new set, hopefully making them public will help me to reach some of them!

Short Term

1. Go to bed by 10:30pm on "school nights"
2. Exercise 5-6 days a week: minimum 30 minutes and not the same exercise two days in a row.
3. Decrease my portion sizes and monitor fat intake...for being a nutritionist, I really don't take my own advise sometimes! I REALLY like cheese though. :)
4. Cook meals at home 90% of the time...If I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner that's 21 meals, that means I need to only eat out twice a week!
5. Drink 64oz of water a day (can be included in teas).
6. Visit a farmer's market twice a month and buy locally grown food.
7. Try one new recipe a week.
8. Try only sitting at work when I'm with a client. While making phone calls, or on the computer, stand or squat.
9. Read one new book by the end of March. OMG I can't remember the last time I finished a book that I started.
10. Do one thing a day that I know my husband will appreciate and will make him feel loved, (AND IT CAN'T BE THE SAME THING EVERY DAY).

Long Term (10-15years)

1. Start a personal business that is self sustaining.
2. Live in a certified energy efficient house.
3. Be debt free including house and car.
4. Live close enough to my work that I can ride my bike there and back, daily.
5. Have a baby! Or 2!

Plan

I feel that the best way to achieve a goal is to have a plan of attack. I think I will do some follow up blog posts to explain how I plan on executing some of my goals. We always tell people during nutrition counseling that the more specific you are, the more likely you are going to succeed in achieving your goal. My plan is to have one goal mastered before I work on the next so that I have habits created and it is easy to sustain my goals.

1. Go to bed by 10:30pm on "school nights" - my boss does a little thing where she will give herself a 'treat' for each goal that she accomplishes. I don't think that food should be a reward in most cases, but I'm going to make one exception: I LOVE Dutch Brother's coffee, a franchise we have here in Arizona, and for every Sunday-Thursday that I go to bed on time I will allow myself the purchase of a DUTCH BROS coffee on Friday morning. Woo Hoo! Oh and make someone OTHER than my husband or mom keep me accountable. Any volunteers? It's already 10:37 here! Lets see how this goes...

Labels: Blog, Dutch Brothers, Goals, Jim Bob, Life, Nutrition

Hello Valentine!

Jim Bob and I were at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and passed the Valentine's Day section and my heart froze when I saw the Hello Kitty invites. I'm not a huge Hello Kitty fan or anything, but it just made me think of being a little girl hand writing out all of my Valentine's Day cards for school. Well of course we had to pick up candy heart suckers to go along with them! So I had a great time writing them all out feeling like I was a little girl again, doing something....just for fun and the sake of doing it!

Labels: Fancy Biscuit, friends, Jim Bob, Valentine's Day

Mountains vs Hot Dogs

Labels: Agritopia, Jim Bob, Mountains vs Hot Dogs, Sloanphotographers, Wedding

Meet Baby Zoe, I'm a Bad Blogger, Lactation Seminar

I acknowledge that I have not been a very good blogger this week, and I'm going to transfer the blame. I recently blogged about my nutrition background and how I work for WIC and this week I have been in all day lectures about breastfeeding and infant feeding. It's a week-long seminar put on by a wonderful team and lead by Molly Pessl BSN, IBCLC. If you don't know IBCLC stands for International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and it's a VERY difficult certification to obtain. When I tell people about it usually their first response is "what could you possibly talk about for a whole week!" I assure them that there is PLENTY to talk about and if you are a mom who has breastfed I'm sure that you agree (or any mom for that matter). My thoughts on it are, if I can spend four years on a degree for adult nutrition which barely scathed the surface of lactation, a week doesn't even seem like enough for infants/breastfeeding! I am learning a lot though and it's extremely fascinating.

With that said, I have been dog-tired every day after getting home and mentally drained! I should have prepared a little better and scheduled posts for this week ahead of time, but sometimes I'm a fly by the seat of my pants blogger. So I want to leave you with a tad bit of visual fun, and somewhat baby related. My niece Zoe was born on the 5th of this month and Jim and I went down that weekend to meet her. Here are some of the photos!

I will return next week with another "Things that are Good for You" post as well as the next "Fashion Cambio, Blogger Edition." Thanks for your patience!

Labels: Asher, Blog, Breastfeeding, Jim Bob, Molly Pessl, Tucson, Zoe

Roofresh on Chictopia

Labels: Chictopia, Fashion, iPhone, Jim Bob, Joe's Farm Grill

Winner of the Vote!

Labels: Jim Bob, San Diego, Stupid face, Vote

Everyone Must Vote!

So I posted a picture on my Koala ♡ The Oso tab earlier this evening, with a picture of me, my sister and my husband. I put a remark under it that went something like...




Actually, that's exactly what I posted. Immediately following this post, Jim read it, thought the picture was awesome and posted this on his Facebook, under the photo which is now his profile picture...




My final response was...

Labels: Jim Bob, Stupid face

It's the End!

I know this is kind of cheesy, but fitting, since tomorrow is the first day of 2011. I'm doing my list of the top 10 things that were awesome in 2010. I won't make you do a lot of reading since you're either on your way to a party, waking up from partying or reading just isn't on your new year's resolution list. 


1. No School

Labels: 2010, Jim Bob, Johnny Cupcakes