It's Okay To Ask For Help #LoveBlog

Hello my dears,

I hope you had a lovely valentine's/galentine's/palentine's/etc day/weekend and are ready to face the week, Monday is here, eek!

Today's post is on counseling in relationships and such.


I used to think I didn't need counseling, that that was for people who cheated or had step children, or I don't even know. If I thought that then it must've been a long time ago, because ever since Michael and I started talking about marriage I knew that pre-marital counseling was something I would be on board with.


I used to think we should seek out a church or counseling center for pre-marital counseling separate from the pastor marrying us, but we ended up only seeing our pastor for a few meetings before we got married. But it was awesome!


Now, it helps that our pastor was super chill and fantastic and real. He wanted to make our ceremony what we wanted it to be, and give the glory to God in the process. He also wanted to help us know how to live together as husband and wife and work together in the best way possible.

He was the one who gave us the couples' edition of The Five Love Languages and had us take the tests in it (even though we had taken the singles edition test years before). Our results didn't vary too much, just that the priorities are different when you are asked questions about your significant other as opposed to questions about a theoretical person you may encounter. Our pastor helped us analyze our results really deeply (but simply as well) to make sure we understood what the other person needed from us.  For example, one of Michael's top love languages is acts of service; it fills his love tank when I do something to take care of our home or get groceries, etc.

One of my top love languages is words of affirmation; I need to be told very often how he feels about me and why I am not a failure (does anyone else feel like that?). I *know* he loves me, or else he wouldn't have married me, but the way my brain works I need to hear it or see it written pretty frequently to make sure I'm still doing okay in the wife department.


Seeing a pastor before we got married also helped us make sure all our ducks were in a row for wedding day (details, details, DETAILS) and helped us stay calm whenever mini emergencies happened.


I highly HIGHLY recommend pre-marital counseling. We had lived together before we got married (in a PG way, promise!) and still had things to learn about each other. There's still tons more to learn, I know it, but the counseling helped us prepare for the journey we have ahead. We may even have more casual counseling meetings with our pastor just because we love him THAT much! Plus, it's an excuse to go get coffee ;)

How BA and epic does he look? It's like "let's get this wedding taken care of" to me ;) 

xoxo,

Alexandra Anne

Meet your hosts!

Meet Alexandra Anne: wife, gamer, fitness lover, opera-singer, fur mommy, writer, dreamer. Addicted to mugs, music, and finding passion in life. 

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Meet Brita Long: Christian feminist blissfully married to Dan Fleck for almost two years. Lover of Paris, pink sparkles, sensible shoes, manicures, and books. Fueled by hot tea and mimosas.

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Meet Alex: Twenty-something southern wife living in the Atlanta suburbs. Lover of Pure Barre, animals, traveling, wine, eating (a lot), music, and dance parties!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine #LoveBlog

Happy February 4th, my friends! It's Thursday, the work week is ALMOST over, hang in there!

I'm trying to get things done, and keep up the blog hehe, and prepare for my recital this Saturday. Eek! It's not an easy life, but at the end of the day I know I'm working towards some awesome goals, so that keeps me going. AND I get to see my husband tonight! Yay! (Long distance sucks, but thank goodness we can see each other for weekends and he has tomorrow off from work!)


Today's #LoveBlog linkup question is about Valentine's Day! Brita asks us what our valentine plans are and what our favorite valentine has ever been.


This year is our first married Valentine's Day, and we will probably be celebrating the whole weekend and just spend time together. That being said, we also would LIKE to go camping, should the weather permit. One of our wedding gifts was a huge ton of camping gear and a tent and a double sleeping bag, so we really want to utilize that gift! Plus we love hiking and nature, so it'll be great to go up one of Huntsville Alabama's many mountains and enjoy the view.

How cozy does this look??

Huntsville is just gorgeous. We live in a beautiful city!

As for the best Valentine's Day, that's really hard to pin down. I've been with Michael since October of 2011, so we have celebrated 4 Valentine's Days together. Last year's was really nice; we were both broke at the time so we both painted each other little cute cards, and played world of tanks online together (Valentanks day, as we call it) and then celebrated the REAL holiday, the next day, Half Priced Candy Day :) It was really funny last year because I knew Michael had been working on acquiring an engagement ring, but that's all I knew, there were no details. So he kept reiterating to me that I would NOT be getting a proposal on Valentine's Day (which would've been cheesy and kind of lame anyway, BUT at that point in time I wouldn't have minded because I was ready to get engaged!). He did eventually propose, just two weeks later, so I was a happy camper (hehe, camper, see why we need to go camping? Ok, I'll leave the puns alone...for now...). 

The thing about Michael is we can do anything and nothing but as long as we are together we are so happy and joyful. We've been through many hardships over the last four years, and they have only made us stronger. And the thing about long distance is that it makes you appreciate the time in person even more, because you know how the aching feels to be apart. 

Since we are Firefly nerds in our relationship, I'll end with our version of my favorite quote from the show. "No power in the 'verse can stop us." (In the show, Kaylee says "me" instead of us, but I think it's close enough!)

xoxo,

Alexandra Anne 

engagement photo shoot

hello lovelies!

this post won't have much in the way of me writing stuff down,  i just wanted a place to show off our nauseatingly adorable engagement pics from October (thanks to the INCREDIBLE Margaret Marie Photography!! ) and not be blowing up facebook with them (for now anyway..... ;) )

so here are some pics! enjoy :)

xoxo,

Alexandra Anne 

Stuff...?

Ciao blogworld!

I'm gonna post...I'm gonna post... YES! I am!!


I need to commit to this writing thing, ESPECIALLY since I will be attempting NaNoWriMo this year!!! Have you ever tried to write a novel in a month? I have, and have not succeeded. I always give up like halfway through, I need to not do that!!

But...I have no story in mind! I have 12 days to figure it out!!! I'll be a-brewin' for sure (or something like that).


Also, how would you like me to do vlogs every now and then? I want to get myself on the youtube world, I love watching youtubers and want to be part of that community. I've loved the blogworld, time to expand I say!


As far as generic updates, bullet point time!

*I love Montevallo! Tiny towns fit me; I can walk just about anywhere, except major grocery stores which are outside of main street or campus. If it's on main street or campus I usually walk to it.

*I'm taking TEN CLASSES. But that's normal for music majors here; it's 16 credit hours. I just have to sing a lot a lot and show up to a lot of places.

*On the singing note- would you like music major/profession vlogs or blogs? Give me your thoughts!!

*I've been on the Whole30 diet this month! I would say go Google it or Youtube it because I cannot give the definition justice. The gist of it is: no processed foods or sugars or grains or dairy or legumes. If you can't hunt it or gather it, you can't eat it. Ok, it sounds super strict, but there are a LOT of yummy foods you CAN have! And I feel SO good eating good natural foods. AND on a college student budget! If I can do it, YOU can. Look it up :) I'll post more about it once the month is over (it's only a month long program, but I want to incorporate it into my lifestyle after this month).

*I re-subscribed to Elder Scrolls Online! Find me, Chandelier27! :) I'll be trying out some other games and blogging about games soon!


*I got a part time job! I'm a cook at pizza hut :) Yeah, I love cooking and love pizza, so this will be a fun way to spend my weekends!

*Michael and I hit 3 years this month, my longest relationship ever! (And his too!) I love that man so much, he visits me frequently. It's another perk of living closer to home now. Gosh I love Alabama <3 and I love my Michael!! (Mushy pictures to come!!!)

*My cat is just as adorable as ever; she's a year and a half now and adjusting fine to living with a dog in the house (my roommate has a sweet pitbull). Today Zoe, the cat, kneading my stomach for a good 15 minutes straight! I thought it was cute so I let her. From what I've read, that means she sees me as a maternal figure and the kneading is like babies asking for milk? Anyway, I'm her momma and that's how it should be!
Again, pictures to come ;)


*I'm LOVING the temperature drop and would love for it to be 50-60something all the time! It's so crisp and beautiful, and the trees change colors, and oh yes I am so cliche and mushy gushy about it. I don't care! I love fall :)

*I'm a redhead! I have been since the middle of the summer, I love it :) I'm still getting used to it though! I look at old pictures of blonde Alexandra Anne, and think to myself "who was that? Oh right, me."


*Oh hey, I'm 21 now!!!!!!!!!!! So my roommates joke that I look like an alcoholic because I stocked up on some yummy wines and mixers. But really, I hardly ever drink. It's just good to have it there for when I do :)

Pictures as promised!

What's going on in your lives, dear blog friends? 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo,
Alexandra Anne