Day 3- A Picture of You and Your Friends

Okay, okay....there was NO WAY one picture was enough.

These are my beautiful bridesmaids. They are my best friends in this world. They are honest and loving. They keep me grounded. I promise that you will be hearing plenty about them later on. 

I love this picture. We were dancing the night away at the lovely Aragon wedding. Every person in this picture is a Show Choir Veteran. We are all singers and dancers who would NEVER turn down a good time.

This is Elder Corey Salamon. He is currently finishing up an honorable mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tallahassee, Florida. He is also a convert to the church who was able to serve this mission because of a scholarship. He is an incredible example to me, and I love and miss him.

Meet the boy who baptized me into the LDS church. He was, is, and always will be a best friend. He recently returned home from his mission in San Jose, Costa Rica. He knows me well...very well, and I can always count on him to be there. We have been through a lot together.

Thea Hallowell is an absolute angel. We have been friends since middle school, and will forever be sisters. Yes, we have had our ups and downs...but this is one of those indestructible  friendship. I love her dearly. And, our husbands get along quite well! It was such a blessing to have her by my side in the temple for my endowment and my sealing. 

I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to be close to my mom. I love talking to her. She is very real, and I love that about her. 

Tyler is my person. That person you are comfortable sharing the most personal information with. He is trustworthy and dependable. I love his love for Jesus Christ and his caring nature. We can go months and months without speaking or seeing one another, and pick up right where we left off. 

These people are some of my most cherished blessings. I have always considered my best friends to be family. I treat them like family. They just love to make my life awesome! :)

Thanksgiving In January!!

        Nick and I have three other roommates living in our new house. So, there are five of us total...and we are all pretty spontaneous/crazy. Yesterday we woke up to find one of them, Melanie, had just come home from W*lmart with enough food to feed more than a few households. She explained that it was her day off and since everyone was going to be off of work and home by four, she was making a Thanksgiving dinner. And she did! 12-pound turkey, mashed potatoes, two kinds of stuffing (plain and with cranberries and walnuts), green bean casserole, gravy, sweet potatoes with pineapple and marshmallows, biscuits, and cornbread. Oh my goodness, YUM! We all sat down to the dining room table and enjoyed dinner with some friends. It was really nice to feel like a little family. Melanie turned to me at one point and said, "You guys are my family. I hope you enjoy the food." So sweet. Needless to say, we love her.

After dinner, we cleaned up and sat down to watch a little TV. Since everyone knows I prefer to bake, I was in charge of dessert. When you think Thanksgiving, you think pies. Yes? But I needed something simpler since Mel had commandeered the kitchen for the day. So I decided to make individual apple pies instead. It is SUCH an easy recipe, and pretty popular! Here you go!

Fried Apple Pies

Ingredients

-2 tablespoons butter

-4 apples peeled, cored, and sliced or 1 can apple pie filling

-1/2 cup sugar

-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-1 teaspoon lemon juice

-1 (8-piece) container refrigerated flaky biscuit dough

-2 tablespoons water

-powdered sugar

Directions

Filling: add butter to large saucepan and melt. Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until apples are soft (about 15 minutes). Remove and cool.

Once apples are cool, roll biscuits out to 7-8inch circular rounds on a lightly floured surface. Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling onto each round. Brush edges with water. Fold circle over filling to make a half-moon. Seal by pressing edges with tines of a fork.

Pre-heat deep fryer with oil to 350 degrees F. 

Add pies to oil one at a time. Fry until golden brown. Turn as necessary (approx. 5-8mins)

Drain with paper towels and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

*I don't own a deep fryer. We are NOT huge fans of fried food. So I simply heated oil in a pot. 

*Be careful with the sugar. These pies are sweet. I recommend Granny Smith apples to ease the sweetness. 

*If you like your pies bulging with apples (I definitely do), I would use 5-6 apples.

Roommates and friends after dinner (minus Erik)

Day 2- The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

Deciding on a name for this blog took me over a week. Yeah. Nick would ask every day if I had settled on something, then tease me and laugh when I frowned and shook my head. In my defense, whenever I asked for his help, I got suggestions like these:

Stupid Dresses

Lighthouses Rule

Sitting There in a Silent Movie Beside the Only Girl Who Ever Knew Me

I Love My Wife

You might be scratching your head trying to make sense of these. Don't. This is my husband's sense of humor. It rarely makes sense. That's why its funny...most of the time :). Nick would sit and suggest these "clever" titles with a rather satisfied smirk on his face. Oy.

We went through our entire music library combined. We went through our favorite movies, etc. I came up with a few good ideas, but nothing really stuck. To be honest, I'm still not 100% sold on this current title. But the thought process behind it is just this:

Nick and I were engaged for seven months. My mother and I, with the help of many others, planned our wedding for seven months. We decided on a beautiful outdoor garden for our reception site. We were all SO excited about this. There was a sunset ceremony and an outdoor reception in the garden to follow. Everything was wrapped in white lights. It was perfect. My wonderful and creative mom worked so hard making sure everything looked perfect. And then came the news. It was going to rain on our wedding day. In Tucson, Arizona. Did it rain the day before our wedding? Nope. It was lovely weather. Did it rain after our wedding? For one day, and then no more. 

Reception centerpieces made by Supermom!

Now, when I say "rain" I mean RAIN. Cold, unrelenting rain. But you know what? It was absolutely the best day. Seriously. I woke up the morning of the wedding, looked out the window, and stopped worrying. I was marrying my eternal companion that day. I was blessed enough to be able to share that with the people I love most in this world. And when the rain came down on our outdoor garden reception, we moved everyone inside, set tents and heaters up outside, and danced in the rain. It was so much fun and we loved it. The bottom foot or so of my wedding dress was soaking wet and brown by the time we left that night. 

Nick and his groomsmen dancing the night away in the rain

In spite of the unfortunate weather that day, all I saw were smiles. Smiles when I looked in the mirror, when I looked at my new husband, when I looked at my family throughout the day. So it rained on our wedding. It rained on our parade. And it was the perfect wedding....the perfect parade. I loved every minute of it, and have never felt more blessed. Lately, a day hasn't gone by where I don't remind myself of this. As mentioned before, I am a control freak. Normally, something like rain would halt everything and bring it crashing down. But if we carry such an attitude with us everyday, we are missing life's simple joys. The most important blessings we have in life cannot be washed away by a little rain. It is my new goal to embrace the rain and enjoy life for what it is. And what it is, is what we make it. 

Soaking wet...and couldn't be having more fun

The Haircut

Nick is a man about his hair. Really. He doesn't primp and he doesn't use product. However, his hair is long and he likes it that way. It has been like this almost always, minus his 2-year mission. I have had to make his haircut appointments for the past year or so because he won't go. He hates the week or so after a haircut, until it grows out a little bit. On top of that, his hair grows like weeds. I would be so blessed to have hair that grows that fast!!

Now that Nick has a job with Disney, he has to abide by "Disney Look." This means that his hair needs to be above his ears and off of his collar. He has to be clean shaven every day. Disney is very intent on every single employee being clean-cut. There is no option. Tomorrow, Nick has to attend "Traditions." This is basically an all-day orientation where he will learn about the company, how it started, and what it stands for. If you show up to Traditions outside of Disney Look standards, they turn you away at the door. You CANNOT begin work until you have passed Traditions.

So this morning, I made some calls around town to find a salon that would fit Nick in for a major haircut. Luckily for us, there is a salon right across the street that is very reasonably priced. Nick's appointment was at 3pm, and he spent most of the morning dreading his upcoming haircut. When we walked into the salon, the first thing his stylist said was, "I can tell you don't want to be here." I felt so bad for her. She definitely had her work cut out for her, and Nick had the most regretful expression on his face the entire time. He bit his lip for most of the experience, and forced a smile when he saw the final result in the mirror. We left and went to Target to pick up some product so I could show Nick how to improve his new "do."

He still hates it and has been moping for the past three hours. Here are the before and after photos:

Nick and many of the men in his family...notice any popular trend in hairstyle??

new cut-back

new cut-front

new cut-side 

It is definitely significantly shorter than when Nick has had for the past four years. He will get used to it. I happen to like it!

Day 1-Recent Photo and 15 Interesting Fact About Yourself

 Recent Photo:

Waiting for the bus to take us from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom.

15 Interesting Facts:

1. I have been married to my best friend for 26 days and counting...

2. My new last name (Martell) is just three letters off from my maiden name (Ortelli).

3. I am the eldest of three and the only child who's middle name (Lynne) doesn't come from one of my parents' names.

4. Nick and I spend the morning at Animal Kingdom a few weeks ago. I can still remember going to the opening press event for that park with my family. 

5. I am currently on the my third major: from Choral Music Education to English to Business Administration. Better now than later, right?

6. I am a control freak. Its bad. Really bad. It drives my husband crazy. I'm a work in progress. I really struggle with trusting others to get a job done the way I want it done. Trust me, I'm not proud of it. My family has dealt with it my entire life. I am so grateful for their patience (especially my mother's).

7. I am a total choir nerd. I fell in love as soon as I started at age eight. I attended an arts academy for 6th and 7th grade and majored in choir. I was in choir all four years of high school, finishing my senior year as Choir President. I continued at the University of Arizona in two choirs a semester. I have been competing since I was 11. I sang with the Youth Choral Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival under the direction of Dr. Armstrong (conductor of the St. Olaf Choir). I sink my teeth into every opportunity I get. Choral singing comes so naturally to me and I absolutely love it. Classical choir, chorale, show choir, jazz chamber choir, a cappella ensembles, etc.. I can't seem to get enough. 

show choir cruise tour- senior year

8. I have a near-pathetic love for animals. I can't stand animal cruelty in movies or TV shows. One of the worst experiences I can think of is going to an animal shelter. However, I would feel terribly selfish if I got my dogs anywhere other than a shelter. 

This is my man, Bear. He's a maltipoo who resides with Mom and Dad and family back in Tucson. He is quite the character, but we love him.

9. I love the south. I grew up here. My father was in the broadcasting business my entire childhood, and we moved a lot. I have lived quite a few places: Phoenix, Pennsylvania, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Raleigh, Toledo, Lafayette, Tucson, and now Orlando. My husband isn't quite as big a fan of the south. In fact, he really dislikes it. But he did grow up with a father in the military. We both get stir crazy quickly and love to move and travel. 

10. I'm a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I joined the church January 5th, 2008. Its been an incredible adventure, and I couldn't be more happy with the direction my life has taken since. I love this church, I love my Savior, and I'm so incredibly blessed. 

11. My favorite movies? Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz, My Best Friend's Wedding, Enchanted, How to Train Your Dragon. 

12. My favorite music? John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Adele, Bob Marley, Fray, OneRepublic, chill....

13. I sleep. A ton. Much of that may be attributed to the fact that I have had mononucleosis at least twice (yes, its possible). I don't do well on less than 6.5 hours. My usual bedtime is 10-10:30pm and I'm up around 8-9am. Having children is going to bring one rude awakening for me. Bring it on.

14. I could spend every day with my husband. I know, I know, I'm a newlywed. But I hope it always stays that way. We're not lazy people. Spending every day with Nick usually means lunch or dinner out, movies, the zoo, bowling, running errands. 

15. My husband is a great cook. Score! We live in a house with three other people who honestly hadn't had a home-cooked meal the 3+ years before we moved in. We try and cook most nights. Well, Nick cooks. I love to help. This is not to say I can't cook. My mom made sure to have dinner on the table every night of the week. She still does. I would rather bake. And I HATE dishes. I mean, I hate hate hate them. I would rather clean a toilet than do the dishes. Soggy food is my downfall. Paper plates are my best friend. 

A Little Introduction

Nick's mom, Martie, is quite the photographer/blogger. Nick and I love to wake up in the morning and check her latests posts. It helps us to feel we're staying close with family. Well, she is currently cranking out this 28-day blog regimen that I thought would be a great way to start off! Here goes....!


day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
day 2- the meaning behind your blog name
day 3- a picture of you and your friends
day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have
day 5- a picture of somewhere you've been to
day 6- favorite super hero and why
day 7- a picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
day 8- short term goals for this month and why
day 9- something you're proud of in the past few days
day 10- songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad
day 11- another picture of you and your friends
day 12- how you found out about blogger and why you have one
day 13- a letter to someone
day 14- a picture of you and your family
day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play
day 16- another picture of yourself
day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have
day 19- nicknames you have and why you have them
day 20- someone you love.
day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy
day 22- what makes you different from everyone else
day 23- something you crave for a lot
day 24- your last five facebook status'
day 25- what I would find in your bag
day 26- what do you think about your friends
day 27- why are you doing this 30 day challenge
day 28- a picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then? "


Visit Martie's blog, The Proliferator!

Blogging Newbie

Hi all! So...blogging. I must admit that setting up this blog has been an eye-opening experience. I am in NO way "blog-savvy." I am slowly struggling my way through familiarizing myself with this stuff. With that said, thank you for your patience! Its going to take some time for me to figure all of this out. However, now that Nick and I are so far away from family, blogging seems the best way to keep you all involved in our lives.