Shamy Gets a Kitten

 What an eventful few weeks! Halloween parties, kittens, fun, and of course we are now T-minus one week until my big move to Lakewood THIS Saturday. This Halloween William and I decided to be Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his sorta-girlfriend Neurologist Amy Farah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory. If you've never seen an episode, you need to. Extremely hilarious show. Inappropriate, but hilarious. Happily, we both had everything we needed to pull off the costumes except my $1.99 thrift store skirt we had to find and my $0.99 glasses Billy popped the lenses out of for me.

I think it turned out well!

We took a few pictures and headed out to our halloween party. I hope you enjoy the silliness as much as we did!

The left hand picture is of course, Billy and I, and next to it is a comparison to the TV couple.

We had a ton of fun with this. This is probably one of Billy's favorite shows, including my own, so we even had fun role-playing character lines. Yeah, things get lame sometimes with us. But it was fun to be called "Shamy" all weekend. Bazinga.


In other news, the Shamy couple also adopted a kitten this weekend! I can't bring him home to the apartment until after Jenelle and I are all moved in, but we are so excited!
Pet count for the future Mr&Mrs: 1 gecko and one kitten.

This little guy's name is Yetti (with two T's.)

He's an adorable little Tabby, with beautiful gray and white stripes and one heck of a personality. He's energetic and playful, and loves chewing on Billy's coat zippers as we found  today.

Luckily the two boys hit it off!! I may have kind of forced it, as I couldn't hold Yetti AND sign paperwork so naturally Billy had to hold the baby.

And now he is just as excited to bring him home as I am. I already have a pinterest board loaded with toy-making ideas. With my mom-ness and Billy's "Oh, I can make that" attitude, I'm sure we will have no shortage of things for Yetti to play with when we're not home. Oh! Yetti also has an extra toe! Hence the nickname "Yeti" at the shelter because of his hand-like paws and how big they are for him!

So an eventful 2 weeks it has been, with lots of packing and planning. By my next post, I will most likely be typing from my new apartment. Crazy! And possibly with a cat on my lap. Crying because I miss home.

People are really gonna need to give this girl some grace.

-Britney

It's More Than a House

 Well, its official, I'm moving out. That's right!
My friend, Jenelle and I, have signed a lease to move into a beautiful little apartment in the heart of Lakewood! Moving day is November 2nd. We shall bunk together until next summer when Bill & I are wed and he can move into the home I have set up for us. I am thrilled. I'm excited! I am so ready to start my life as an independent adult!
And yet my heart hurts to an amount that I have never felt before. And it's because I'm realizing, I'm not just leaving my house. I'm leaving my home.

I've been in this home since I was 3 years old.

We do literally everything here. Family get-togethers, Sunday family days every week, birthdays, picnics, clam bakes, you name it. Literally. My heart aches. I know I'm ready to move on, more than prepared to take care of myself. But I ache.

What will I do every morning without my mom to tell me "Shine! Shine! Shine!" ? What will I do without 30 pairs of little kids shoes to trip over? What will I do without dogs trying to trample me every time I come in the door? And the greatest question yet, what will my dad do when he doesn't have to use the bathroom in the backyard every morning because I take so long? (We leave for work at the same time in the morning.)

And the answers to all these questions are:

I have no freaking idea.

From all the cookies we've baked, to all the dishes we've broke and all the dinners we have eaten together. My house has been nothing short of the "homey home." I'ts always inviting, always full, and the Spirit of God dwells here. My mother has heard from numerous different people over the years that they "just want to take a nap" when they come over. And I believe it! My house has peace in it, even if it's tenants don't always radiate it. It radiates life, from its messy carpets, to its toy clutter and crayon on the walls.

I'm going to miss this.

So many Christmases (:

This year will be a big one anyway whether I moved or not, because for the first time I will be separated from my little brother Matthew. He joined the Navy and leaves on December 11th.

From that day on, (at least for the next 8 years) he will forever be states away from me.

And it's hard.

But life finds a way of taking you out of your comfort zone, letting God mold and move.

It will be interesting to see how it feels to drive to my house for Sunday cookouts, and then to leave in the evenings to get in my car instead of walking 5 steps to my bedroom.

(Which my sisters are THRILLED to get, by the way.)

I know it will take while to get used to, but it will happen.

And I know for a fact it will be way more wonderful when I can grab my husband's hand and get in that car with him.

It's a new chapter, a new beginning!

And at the same time, an ending of an era and a lull before the greatest adventure of my life as a wife.

All I know is I will miss this place.

My home. My safe place.

So as I dwell on this, I offer everyone a tip; please let me cope with this time in my own way.

"Life happens, you need to grow up sometime."

"Oh it's not so bad, everyone does it."

"This should be exciting, be excited!"

"Your own place, what could be cooler?!"

All are said with the best intentions, but all come to me void in my heart and mind.

Now, I know I am completely biased - obiously - but I beg to differ with anyone who tells me moving out is no big deal. They've never left my home or my family. I am not too young and free to realize this is the biggest thing that has ever happened to me, to date.

So here we go!! One big, crazy adventure.

I know I'll still probably be over my house multiple days a week, still let my mom cook delicious food for me and ask my dad for help on my taxes.

No matter where I go, that house is still my home.

It is forever in my heart, as are all the memories.

I'm asking God for strength- it is desperately needed.

The photo to the right is Jenelle and I moments after signing our lease.

As my fiance pointed out yesterday, there's no masking the joy.

It's crazy how you can feel two conflicting feelings whole-heartedly!

As always, this is only possible when you give a girl grace.

(Never more true than now!)

-Britney

That "moment"

My fiance and I had a "moment" today.
One of those brief snippets of time when we were both "Oh, this makes sense now."

When you've been with someone for so long and are s-l-o-w-l-y awaiting your wedding day, sometimes there are a lot of  "Why, God, why?" days.
Why do we have to wait so long?
Why do we see each other so little?
Why do we tend to argue more as time goes by?
And the answer is because we NEED to. I've never been naive to the fact that God has used our long relationship and engagement to only benefit us. 4 years away at college seems like forever, but there's days when God blesses you with a showing of His view of the "Big Picture" instead of our tiny little piece in time. And today we got that blessing!

Billy and I are sort of opposites.

In some ways were 100% alike, like our sarcasm and love of exercise. And other ways we are polar opposite, in ways such as problem solving or social interaction. When I'm angry I like to cool down and move on, while Billy is a "hammer-it-out-now" kind of guy. I'm a social person who will find anything to make conversation, while he refuses to talk about the weather just because that's the only thing to talk about. (Don't ever tell him we're having nice weather today.)

Our biggest disagreements have been in the area of child-rearing/choices. Sometimes we get funny looks when people hear us talking about such things before we're even married, but call us crazy, we'd rather figure this stuff out before "there's no going back." And it works for us. 

Its been tough. I guess you could say I'm sort of....a hippie. Home birth vs. Hospital birth, Breastfeeding without a cover, Vaccines vs. Non-vax, anti-infant circumcision, spending the extra dollar on healthier food choices. These are all battles we had to duke out together as a couple who would have to live together with our choices. And we've disagreed on every single one of these topics throughout the years. Some got really ugly, some were simple fixes between us. As a "crunchy" girl and him being in the medical field, you can imagine the debates. And to further that, when you know how stubborn both of us are, our coming to a like-minded solution really is nothing short of a dang miracle.

And today we solved another one. My heart soars when we reach the same opinion, especially when I know it's God's work in us. And we both know that if we had gotten married sooner, it would have been harder. So for a brief moment we can stand back and say "Okay, I see it." We needed these 4 years to get to know each other deeper before living in the same tiny room. Someone could get hurt.

Would we have made it if we went through all these struggles without being able to go home to different houses to defuse? I believe so. I know he's for me and I for him, so it will all work out. Would it have been a tougher road than I can even imagine? I don't even want to think about it.

I am a firm believer in giving relational disagreements to God. I've done it every time thus far, and it has blessed our relationship and my nerves. God will solve things on His time. Even in problems where I yell "Oh my gosh, he will never see where I'm coming from!" Even on the days when I knows he's right and I'm not (those are the worst! Right?) But we've always solved it. In time. 

Thank goodness for the big picture. And thank goodness for Billy's infinite wisdom that even though I am way more difficult than he deserves most days, everything goes smoother when you give a girl grace.

-Britney

I Think its Time...

^Andalou Naturals. Love it.

To buy new shampoo. Yeah, that's all.

People that know me personally know I don't wash my hair often. 

Only twice a month. And no, Its not gross.  

Its called "no-pooing" and even I don't follow the term to its exact definition because I do in fact use shampoo, just very rarely. True no-poo-ers don't use shampoo at all and use a homemade baking soda shampoo. (If anything)

So this lovely bottle of shampoo and conditioner has lasted me a grand total of....drum roll....

19 months!....and counting :)  (There's still a lot left in there!)

Early March 2012 I decided to start no-pooing to save my hair and scalp. I had dry hair, split ends enough for the entire population, and my hair got super greasy after a day. After countless attempts at growing my hair out over the years, I was getting frustrated. It would just get too dead to be grown out!

So I decided to give it a whirl. I bought this lovely shampoo from Earth Fare, and I'm not going to lie it was like $10. Each. But I figured it would last forever from then on out, so I wanted good quality, healthy shampoo.

The first part of my journey with no-pooing was indeed gross. I had to break my hair's oil cycle, and I would never wish such a terrible process upon someone. Just imagine not washing your hair for 3 weeks, right from the rip. It was terrible. Needless to say my hair did not leave a pony-tail.

I did this for about 2-3 cycles. By the end of it, my hair was saved (: I can now go 2 weeks without shampooing, and by the day I shampoo my hair looks like about what it would be after an average 3 days of not shampooing for a normal girl.

I love it, and I'll never go back.

My hair grows like a weed now. I consistently need haircuts every 6-8 weeks. And not because of split ends! I barely ever get those anymore. I need a haircut because it grows wildly and I lose my style. I've had the same hair stylist through this all (since I was 15/16), and even she says my hair is extremely healthy and soft every time I see her. Each haircut I get only a 1/4in taken off. Just 'cause I should. 

I love no-pooing. I love the results, I love knowing my scalp is healthy, and I love saving money.

And so does Billy.

-Britney

Happy shampooing!