Josh keeps telling me I need to let everyone know about my new blog via my old blog. So here it is:

http://kelli-thefirstyear.blogspot.com/

Day 109 - We have such wonderful friends!

Last night, Josh and I attended our respective bachelor/ette parties.

I can't express how much it ministered to my worn out spirit to be surrounded by a bunch of my best girl friends for a few hours, haha. I was so blessed by the brownies that the Diehl girls made for me... gluten free, dairy free, sugar free = so yummy for my tummy. It's just a small thing, but it meant a lot to me that they gave me something sweet to eat without the risk of getting sick. The whole get together just really blessed me :) And dude. I was given a slotted wooden spoon, a bamboo salad bowl, and the coolest metal / wooden measuring cups I've ever seen.. I can't wait to use them, haha. The comforter set for our bed is very elegant and I love it.. Oh and Aunt Linda gave me a crock pot! AWESOME. Obviously I got some other super cute stuff ;) which was a blast to go through.

Josh's guy friends hit the nail on the head with his surprise: They rented out his favorite arcade and gave him endless tokens... He was in heaven! He said a bunch of his good guy friends came out and he really enjoyed himself. I was thrilled when I heard what they'd planned for him.. So "josh." I know that he had a BLAST!

Tonight is my last 'date' with my parents before I'm married and I'm leaving them. I'm looking forward to it... We're doing the classic "dinner and a movie" thing. I like my parents and I'm looking forward to what wisdom I'm sure they'll pass along this evening :) It's really hit me this week that i'm LEAVING them, haha. No turning back. I'm leaving the house I grew up the most in, and I'm leaving my family. I'm thrilled! about my new house and my new family, but you know. It's like.. bittersweet. Emphasis on the sweet, though :P I'M SO EXCITED.

Since I'm going out with my parents, though, I'm missing Jordan's last race of the summer :( which means I'll prrrrobably miss him getting to stand up there on the podium. It's not a sure thing that he'll place, but I'm pretty confident that he'll be up there.. it's a bummer that I'm missing it..

OKAY I need to run a lot of errands today. Lebanon, Rivergate, Hermitage, and Providence.. lots of driving. Better start heading for the door, haha. FOUR MORE DAYS OMG

Day 107 - A Conviction

I have to believe that we're more than the decisions we make. I have to believe there's grace beyond the actions we take: I am not what I do. I am who God made me. Nothing I do, even the things that contradict His design for me, changes who I am. If it did, we'd all be screwed; there would be no hope.

You are not defined by what you do. You are defined by who God says you are.

101- Romanania!

I just made a pretty good romaine-banana smoothie. I threw some cinnamon in there too, to spice it up. SO YUMMY.

I am so overwhelmed at the prospect of cleaning and packing up my room. It's really hitting me that I'm leaving this place. I'm so excited about our little townhouse, and i'm even more excited about living with my best friend and figuring out how to make it work :) :) I'm really excited.

Anyway, so my room is a mess, and I keep trying to start, but I haven't gotten very far, haha. Probably because when I say, "I keep trying to start," I mean "I keep looking at my room, getting overwhelmed, thinking, 'i'll start this later' and walking out," hahaha. True story. TOMORROW FOR REAL.

This post has been a little challenging due to the fact that my space bar is sticking. SO DUMB. okbye :)

093 - Happy Birthday, Joshie!

Today is my youngest brother's nineteenth birthday. He's leaving for college several hours away on Friday.. I can't believe it, and I can't believe it. I'm so proud of my little brother. He's had a tough year with lots of curve balls thrown his way. I'm proud of the way he's handled them, and his heart for the Lord is evident through it all. Like me, he struggles with identity and shame issues, so I'm praying hedges of protection around him as he's at college, in a new place full of new people.. May God bless him beyond his imaginings.

I'm missing Arcade Fire tonight because of Joshie's birthday dinner. Kind of a bummer. At least my Josh gets to go.. I introduced him to The Arcade Fire a couple years ago, and now he's a bigger fan than I am :P

Today is Day 1 of "Operation: Clean and Pack Kelli's Room." Eesh, I've got a lot to do in 20 days!

091 - the days are flying by

I spent the night at the townhouse last night. I love it there. I slept in, and when I woke up, Josh was there working on the computer, haha! He made me breakfast (hey! you look kind of like a knight!) and we got to hang out for a couple hours before I started feeling a terrible terrible headache coming on.. I've never been diagnosed with migraines or anything, but if these headaches aren't migraines........ I can't imagine anything worse, dude. It was so bad Josh just left so I could sleep. :( I hate when I start feeling bad on one of our hang out days. IT SUCKS.

So I slept a little, laid around a lot with ice on my head, took a bath, drank a lot of water and avoided light for a few hours til the headache subsided enough for me to drive to the Taylor's, where I'm watching Josh try to figure out why his Time Crisis is being glitchy. Oh'p, he fixed it! :D

This week went by really fast. I feel like last Sunday was just a couple days ago! I learned how to do patent drawing and have done five pages worth of figures this week.. IT'S FUN. And if I can get the settings down, maybe I won't have to work at Chick-fil-A as much. Staying at home to work > fast food service.

I also went shopping for some of the random things we needed around the townhouse like a laundry basket and pens and such. I got some super cute magnets for the fridge too :P It was really fun walking through wal mart grabbing the little random things that are handy to have around. I really enjoyed it.

hhhhhhhhhhhh i'm ready to be married.

087 - To-Do List reaction

I'm tired of having a million things to do. I'm ready for this wedding to happen.

086 -

We said goodbye to the best marketing manager we've ever had at work today. The Managerial Clique trekked to O'Charley's, where I had some really yummy sweet potato fries.. oh my gosh. Technically a cheat because they were cooked and salted and with ranch dressing, but I mean... you gotta give yourself some wiggle room or you'll just be miserable. Not to mention, we were at O'Charley's = the whole menu is one big cheat. It was a pretty good time + free meal + got paid for two hours of no work, haha. Win win win.

Yesterday, Josh and I recorded a video tour of our sweet little town house. I'm sure if you read my blog, you read his more faithfully (because he posts more faithfully, haha), so I'm sure you've already seen it. But if you haven't and you're interested, give yourself a six minute break from the interwebz and step into our humble abode.

Also, today was awesome because I stopped by the townhouse on my way to work this morning to drop off a lamp / mostly to say hi to Josh... and I got to hug him before I started at CFA. I can't wait til I get to hug him before work EVERY day. <3

085 - Playing House

Why is bubble wrap so much fun to destroy? So satisfying.

Josh and I are at the townhouse today, setting up and organizing all the super cool gifts we got at the wedding shower the other day! I love being here with Josh. I can't wait til this is the norm.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I was watching Josh set up the playstation and I just got hit with another wave of how excited I am to live with him here. Also, I can't believe we're getting married in four weeks. FOUR WEEKS omg

082 - Time to Kill

My little brother is borrowing my car today because his is in the shop. The agreement is that I'll get it back in a couple of hours... We'll see how that goes :P

I bought this awesome book about "acupressure," and I'm really having fun looking through it. It maps out certain points on your body that, when pressed, help relieve all sorts of aches and pains. It's awesome. I learned about a place on the pinky toe that, if pressure is applied, is supposed to help women during labor. SO STRANGE but really cool. My favorite point is in the "webbing" between the thumb and the index finger, right where the bones seem to meet, close to the wrist. If you apply pressure there, pushing up and away from the thumb, it helps relieve stomach cramps. Isn't that cool?!

Now I'm off to work on Thank You cards. I want to get caught up before our Wedding Shower this evening so I don't have too many to do this weekend!

079 - The strictest of diets

Mom and I drove three hours to Florence, AL for a visit with Dr. Rawdon, met with him for an hour, and drove three hours back. I'M TIRED.

Dr. Rawdon put me on a really strict diet again. It's not too much different from the one I was on a couple years ago: 88 oz of various fresh vegetable juices + 50 supplemental pills + one high protein smoothie each day. And when I have room to eat between all the freaking juicing, I get to eat only raw foods and the occasional cooked fish. An adventure, to say the least.

Oh, also, doc says i HAVE to go outside and exercise every day... ha. I wish I liked running or something, but I just don't.

Admittedly, I'm not looking forward to 32 oz of fresh carrot juice every day. I'm not looking forward to being forced to plan ahead when I'm not going to be around the house. I'm not looking forward to swallowing a million pills every day. I'm not looking forward to the detox symptoms I'll experience. But it's totally worth it, because I know I'll feel better. And I won't have to have surgery this way. That's a big deal..

I got a couple recipe books for raw and gluten-free vegan food! I'm excited to start working through those. We also picked up an acupressure guide to "potent points" for "self care for common ailments." Super interesting! I'm looking forward to trying out the techniques next time I get a headache or stomachache. :D

Just 34 more days and I'll be married, dude! I can't believe it. I'm ready to be married and to be done with planning this wedding, haha. True.

So now Josh and I are sitting here sifting through the unbelievable amount of information I got today. I think I'm going to look up what each of the supplements do for me...

074 - Learning.

The internet around her was spotty for a few days, and then I just didn't bother to get online for a few days.

I'm still learning to pay attention to my body and understand when it's telling me to slow down. I hate that I get worn out so easily, and I hate that I have to sit out on some things when I do get worn out. I guess I haven't gotten enough sleep this week (I don't regret the reasons for less sleep, but it does contribute to the tiredness), and of course planning a wedding is stressful enough without the addition of health concerns, major diet changes, starting the process of moving out, and family stuff. Lack of sleep & stress = my worst enemies.

So tonight, I'm laying low. I was going to go out to Brentwood with Josh for a video shoot, but now I'm being "responsible" by staying home and getting to bed early. SIGH. I've got such a hard life! haha. Just kidding.

I'm ready to move into that little townhouse. It already feels like my home, so I'm just itching to get out there. 39 more days!

I'm going to bed. G'night.

068 - Happy 15th!

I woke up to my mom shaking me with the phone in her hand, saying, "It's Dr. Briley's office; they need to talk to you." She scared the fire outta me. Thankfully, they were just rescheduling my appointment that was supposed to be tomorrow morning; a mixed blessing. So, I called Josh to let him know the good news: no 8:00 doctor's appointment downtown = no need to get to sleep super early = we can go see Eclipse tonight like we had planned earlier this week. WIN :D Since he was on his way to work (and a little early) he said he could stop by for a few minutes. DOUBLE WIN. I love starting my day chatting with my best friend. It makes the rest of the day so pleasant.

Since I didn't really need to be awake yet, I went back to sleep and slept in (wonderful).

After I woke up the second time, I jumped online and started researching the Green Smoothie detox "challenge." Since I'm going to go see my naturalist doctor-friend in a couple weeks, I wanted to get a head start! ha ha. I like smoothies, but if we're being honest, that mushy consistency gets to me. However, I plan to persevere in the name of health!

A quick visit to Josh at the station and a stop by the townhouse to "check in" rounded out my afternoon (Who am I kidding, I'm obsessed with the place. I cleaned up the kitchen and sat in the living room for almost half an hour, dreaming about what I'll do with it. It's really starting to feel like home!). I also stopped by Grace Ministries to pick up our certification of pre-marital counseling, so we can save 75 big one$ on our marriage license.

I'm looking forward to this evening. One of Josh's coworkers kindly donated a bookshelf, so we're going to take it over to the town house for safe keeping. Also, it's the 15th, so Josh and I are having a date night ;) Eclipse, here we come!

[EDIT]

- Eclipse was the best of the Twilight movies so far.

- I just got my first taste of coconut milk ice cream..... OH MY GOSH. <3

- Going to bed. G'night :)

067 - Again

I have to share how incredibly wonderful my sweet fiance is for helping me through all the overwhelming stuff going on right now.

Thank you, Josh, for being patient while I picked a fight with you (until I realized what I was doing), for letting me cry my eyes out and for letting me talk about everything that's been stressing/scaring me, for holding me 'til I calmed down, and then for giving me the sweetest goodbye kiss ever before you left.

I can't wait to marry you, Josh.

067 - *Insert cliche apology for abandoning my blog*

But, I mean, it's true.

Yesterday, I had to go to the third doctor in two weeks. You'd think that after so many different doctor's visits I've lived through, a new doctor would be a piece of cake. You'd think I could get through that process without crying even a little bit on my way to the doctor. Shrug. It's scary. And I don't like going downtown on my own. Anyway, yesterday, I was forced to go by myself to an unfamiliar place full of unfamiliar faces, and I just broke down. I said, out loud, "God you have to bless me today, because I'm not going to make it through today without you."

And he did. The nurses were the kindest and friendliest nurses I've ever encountered, the doctor was also the kindest and friendliest, easy to understand (seriously, so important to me), and very gentle. I really appreciated him. And he finally helped me understand why I keep dealing with some of the symptoms I've been dealing with for three years, now.

It was honestly a little frustrating.. it's like, I've been to how many different doctors and told them all the same information, and you're telling me it's the Crohn's disease (and not the other, scarier, impossible-with-my-lifestyle cause?)? Three years. Man.

Anyway, I'm going to see ANOTHER doctor on Friday. But this time there's a bit of hope in understanding. There's hope that since the cause is something that actually makes sense in my life, it's something that can actually get taken care of in my life.

Sorry this is so vague. I'd give you the details, except they're terribly personal and inappropriate to have just lying around on the internet, ha. I just wanted to share how God blessed me when I came to the end of myself and asked him to take care of me. I'm learning all sorts of new things about myself and the way that God loves on me these days.

Also, an aside: we worked out program details yesterday and they are a w e s o m e. seriously, I love 'em. I can't wait to see what they'll look like on the right paper and all assembled and such. <3

Now, off to work. Eesh.

043 - A week later, still nothing to say.

I haven't posted in a week.

Only ten weeks left! Josh and I will be married in seventy days. We'll be married.

Lots of Metroid this week. <3

Also, lots of major wedding-related decisions. FEELS GOOD. Figured out the majority of catering stuff and we're working on getting a photographer that everyone can agree on. (Everyone = my parents. But I mean, I like his pictures too, so it's all good.)

I don't know, still not much to say. I started reading a book about Mary, Queen of Scots today! It's holding my interest pretty well. I'm interested to find out what happens next, so it's succeeding as a novel in my life.

Happy Father's Day :D I've got a great Dad.

036 - Why my abs will be on fire tomorrow.

I haven't updated since Wednesday. I know that's not such a big deal. But I did slip up in my diet on Thursday, and Friday night (though, that one was unintentional. I thought the salad I ordered from Chili's would OK, but turns out I was wrong).

The water heater at the house is busted again, so the water was turned off this morning. >.< HOPEFULLY dad got it figured out today.

Josh got me to work out a little with him today :P I was kind of impressed with myself. For someone who hasn't actually worked out in years, I held my own pretty well. That was encouraging... I'll have to remember how good that felt. I'd like to work out more often, I think. Get back in shape. We'll see how that goes..

This weekend was wonderful. It started with me not having to work on a Friday night, for once. Josh and I dropped off my ring to get it re-sized, then we had dinner with Emily, Barry, and Jared at Chili's. It was a good time. Yesterday, Josh and I did almost nothing. It was wonderful. We checked my oil and realized that my poor car is so old. Discussed buying another one, but Mr. Ray talked some sense in us, but the fact that it's burning oil did unsettle both of us a little. That was pretty much all that happened yesterday, haha. Today was just as relaxing, but we got a good amount done. Shrug. This is sounding like a boring play-by-play, huh. BLAH BLAH BLAH, huh. Well, I guess we found out what's wrong with my car, and we're gonna get it fixed within the next couple of weeks. I get paid on Friday, so I guess after then.

I'm not really looking forward to work tomorrow, but since the weekend was so nice, I don't mind as much as I normally do. I can make it through a short shift.

K BYE.

032 - Not in Kansas Anymore

The big news from today was that the Taylor's house was destroyed by a tree. A few trees, actually. And I'm really really over-exaggerating when I say, "destroyed," but there are trees leaning against and on top of their house. Because of that, they don't have the internet, but Josh said he'll put up a video surveying the damage as soon as he gets access to the internetz. They thought it was a tornado or something when it happened, but it seems like it was just some RIDICULOUSLY INTENSE wind. It looked like a disaster zone, dude.

I love the Twilight series. I know, I know. Sue me. But I love those books. Stephanie Meyer put up a "novella" called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner to stay up for about a month.. It's about one of the minor characters of Eclipse, and I read the whole 178 pages in about two hours this afternoon. I enjoyed it, and I know that makes me so lame in some circles, but I don't really care :P

Food Diary:

no breakfast (i slept in)

lunch - leftover 6-inch veggie sub from Subway, water, two Dove chocolate heart candies

afternoon snack - some trail mix with m&m's and two of Mrs. Laurie's famed almond butter balls

dinner - baked salmon, brown rice, and sweet potato fries YUM, water, and a blueberry muffin for dessert

Alright, time for bed. I'm such an old woman -- I've been getting sleepy around 9 lately. Last night I kicked Josh out and was in bed asleep just before 9 even rolled around. Poor Josh. I can't wait to live together so I don't have to do that anymore; it makes me feel bad cutting our hang-out time short.

G'night.

031 - The foods I eat, the premarital I counsel, the training I give, the hang out I do

Last night, I decided that I need to do a better job of not "cheating" with my food. I don't mean that I'm on a diet to lose weight or anything, my body is just very sensitive to what I eat. I haven't done the best job lately of monitoring this, so I'm gonna try to write down everything I eat each day, to help me stay accountable, and so I can visualize all the times I cheat. (Italics indicate an item I shouldn't have consumed.) A lot of the problem is that, when I'm presented with the opportunity to eat some yummy treat that isn't necessarily good for me, I think, "Oh, I've done pretty good lately, I can afford to cheat just once," but these little cheats add up fast! SO here's my food diary for today: (a pretty good first day, I'd say)

breakfast - a small bit of leftover rice, half an apple

break @ 10 - Panera's Asian Sesame Chicken Salad YUM, raspberry lemonade

after-work snack - a piece of candy, a few handfuls of dry Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal, water

dinner - a 6-inch veggie sub from Subway, water.

Tonight, Josh and I went to our (probably) last pre-marital counseling session. Mr. Dale said that as far as he's concerned, we're done, but to call him if anything big comes up and we feel like we need some help. That feels good. The whole experience was really helpful for me--I have learned a lot about myself and the way that I try to do things apart from God. It was cool for us as a couple, too. We got to read Sacred Marriage (which was AWESOME), we learned some little things about each other that will help in our relating with each other, and we walked away from each session with smiles (usually) and good conversations. But I'm glad we're done--we were both ready to stop driving out there and giving up an evening each month for that.

Today I trained a new kid at work, and it was the first time I've ever enjoyed training someone. His older sister had worked there before him, so I guess she gave him some pointers.

Anyway. That's it. Josh has patiently been waiting for me to finish this post since I decided to write it in the middle of our hang-out time. He's the best. I'm gonna go hang out with him now.

029 - Chill Day

Chick-fil-A officially has 11 meals instead of 7. Whoohoo... I had to go to a meeting on my guaranteed day off to learn about that? Just hand me a packet next time...

Ok, ok, so I know that's a bad attitude to have. It was an extra hour or so on my paycheck for doing virtually nothing. And I learned all my co-workers' favorite treats, so. Super useful info. I wasn't really feeling that well, though, so I just didn't want to be there. I took an awesome nap after that, so all was not lost.

That's... honestly been the extent of my day. Since I woke up from my nap, I've just hung out with Josh and his family <3

TWELVE WEEKS EXACTLY WOOOOOOO