Graduation

Some people say life is about the journey not the individual achievements and I can totally side with that in most cases, and on most days but 3 weeks ago I watched my husband walk the stage at his graduation. I know at times he felt like a hamster on a wheel, he likely thought he'd never see the end; but 6 years, two transfers, and countless semesters of not knowing whether or not he was going to be able to afford to go to school he did it! IT being completing our dream of setting a standard of college education for our kids, because you can't seriously expect your kids to do it if you didn't, IT being breaking the generational cycle of not even pursuing a higher education let alone completing it, and best of all IT being inspiring his younger cousins to follow in his footsteps for it would not be easy but it could be done if you wanted it bad enough. As I was chasing him around First Mariner Arena snapping pictures like I was the paparazzi all of a sudden all the emotions hit me like a brick, I started crying (I didn't even cry at my own graduation). I know his struggle and its probably very similar to a lot of students but when you don't have to live it because you were on a scholarship, or had parents (one or both) who wanted to or did help through school you just don't get it. Through the 5 years of our long distance relationship he'd talk to me about it, and I said I understood him but when he moved here and transfered schools to complete the last of his degree I saw first hand all his ups and downs, frustrations and even tears and it made me realize how amazing he really is. He's kind of my hero, and watching him walk out of the tunnel with his cap, gown and his sigma stole on made me so happy for him that it brought me to tears, still does as I type this, because on that day 3 weeks ago, it wasn't about the journey it was all about the achievement! It just goes to show that really can do anything you want, and if you don't its because you talked yourself out of it! 

 signed, proud wifey! congratulations honey bunches :)

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....

Oh how I love Christmas, although Thanksgiving is slowly becoming my favorite holiday I just love the spirit in the air the, the kindness shown to one another, and the DECORATIONS!! Last year was my first time EVER having a real Christmas tree, and Darreals first time picking one himself, so as fun as it was to go Christmas tree shopping and buy decorations and all that good stuff it was also very overwhelming ( the freezing temperatures, and rain snow mix didn't help either). This year we were ready; with hat, scarves, boots, gloves, camera, and better weather we marched over to home depot to get our perfect tree!

 The sea of trees

nope! NOT that one, it's not full enough 

 Ahhhhhh, the perfect tree!

 my Paul Buinyan

 Fits perfectly in the corner, and will be even better when the branches fall down

 Time to light it up

  And put the GORGEOUS ornaments on

 

  

  

 

 and the NEW tree topper, the one from last year was close to hideous

The finishing touch

and the house is officially Christmafied, the only thing missing is a fire in the fireplace. Neither one of us were scouts, so we struggle when it comes to fire making!

So gorgeous, so warm, so homey. Happy Holidays everyone :)

Home for the Holiday

Ahhhhhh, there's nothing like being home for the holiday.... this trip however was probably the best trip home that we've had in a long time. We didn't get to see everybody that we wanted to but those we did get to see and spend time with it was an absolute blast. This trip was also the start of healing other relationships as well. Gotta love it when the family finally comes together :) Life is good

On our way back from MSU we stopped by the University of Toledo so Darreal could be reunited with wonderful men from the Lambda Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Sigma. Steve, Earl, Darreal & Jamal aka 4.M.W.O.B.W.

I was most excited to get home so I could hang out with my nieces! I haven't seen the oldest one play soccer in 3 years and I've never seen the youngest play soccer, so we went to the park to play and they got to show me their soccer skills

My silly girls! Love spending time with them

And there is NOTHING like sliding down a the playground slide with your arms up like a little kid again.... Although the slide was so cold it kind of hurt, but it was still fun!

A little pre-thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner with the fam! Tristan, Nayia, Aunt Tonya, Ty, and my sissy, love you all!

And just like that we're on the road again, from the Ohio turnpike through the Allegheny Mountain tunnel in Pennsylvania, down the scenic hills of Maryland... back to DC, back to real life.

My Big Ten Champs

Well at this time they weren't "officially" big ten champs but they were well on their way! We started a new tradition last year of driving back to MSU to watch my beloved Spartan football and meet up with two of our favorite people in the whole world that we never see enough of, Jen and Brady. Last year was the awful loss to Penn State but this year was an all but heart attack win over Purdue.

With this game being the weekend after veterans day, their was a fly over in honor of our troops. Darreals never experienced a fly over so this was really cool for him, and even though I have this was still very special. Gave me chills!

Love our troops, thank you for all you sacrifice to be there for our country

Let the game begin

The touchdown the sealed the deal!

Victory Formation

Two happy Spartan Fans

Go Sparty!

Great times had by all; last year was a great trip, but this year for some reason was even better... Probably because we won! This was the last home football game of the season, *tear* I can't believe it went so fast but what an AWESOME year our Spartans have had! So until next year, farewell Spartan Stadium.

With This Ring....

Sooooo.... been gone for a while, almost a year to be exact. But i'm happy to come back with pictures from the happiest days of my life thus far, Our weddingmoon! Now the definition of a "weddingmoon" is a wedding and honeymoon in one, and that's what we did ( a little backwards, the honeymoon was the first 6 days then the wedding was on day 7) but we finally did it! After 7 years of up's, down's, and growth I'm so very happy to be Mrs. Darreal Paul Gay! Not really thrilled about the last name, but it'll grow on me, love you honey!

Anyway it's taken me so long to post these because I have soooooooo many pictures that the thought of blogging them was overwhelming. So at the idea of my lovely husband ( i have to get used to saying that) I'm going to show some of my favorites that have not already been posted on facebook, and then my favorites from wedding day!

First time EVER snorkeling, exciting, but a little scary....

first time ever snorkeling AND with the sharks AND without a cage to keep the sharks from eating us alive... exhilarating but REALLY scary!

My girls! (jen, i wish i could photoshop you in)

Groom's ready!

Okay, I'm READY!

Ceremony Area

Anxiously waiting.... Poor man, spends half his life waiting on me!

With this ring, i give you my world

The kiss that brought me to tears.... 7 years finally sealed with a kiss

What a wonderful day... what a wonderful WEEK! Ciobhon, JD, Jen, Brady, Glenda-boo, and Cindy; THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I hope each of you know how much we love you, and how much we appreciate your love and support! For those of you who couldn't make it, thank you for your well wishes. Lastly, for those of you who have been with us from day one we never could've gotten here without you so perhaps the biggest thank you goes to you!

The Beginning of a New Decade

I can't believe it's been a decade! I remember when it was 1999 and everyone thought as soon as the clocks struck twelve the whole world was gonna come to an end! People were at the stores buying canned goods and water and all but saying their last goodbyes, but look where we are now, we've made it through 10 years and looking back on them they sure have been 10 crazy ones. Life has changed so much! So this year, to celebrate making it to not just another fabulous year but starting hopefully 10 more great ones, we rung in the new year at the aLoft hotel on the National Harbor with another fabulously fun couple Mike & Monique... I unfortunately didn't take as many pictures i wanted but let me say this night never held a dull moment!

One of my many self portraits of the night

The ladies of the night (Monique & I)

My first kiss of the new year! Happy New Year!

This is most definitely my favorite picture of the night! Mike said i had the "beyonce" hair hump going on

Us ladies all snazzy in our black & gray dresses!

the cutest couple ever! probably the funniest too! This isn't the best picture of them but its the only one I had! They're still hot!

These four were the cake toppers for the night... They were TRYING to bust a move! It was all very frightening to watch... I wouldn't exactly call it dancing it really just looked like their bodies were moving without them knowing it... All i could do is shake my head, well and take a picture!

The next day we literally watched football ALL day long, but that night when we took a walk on the harbor to attempt to find some dinner (we were unsuccessful, the wait at every restaurant was way longer than my starving belly wanted to wait!) I came across this mural of the DC, MD, VA area. Its pretty cool although this isn't a really good picture of it, the wind blowing off of the water was way to cold so i couldn't stand there any longer and try to get a good picture!

Darreal wanted pictures of our room b/c he said it looks like it came out of an IKEA Magazine

View of some of the cute little shops on the harbor

You can see the Potomac river and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the background

Darreal in all his glory, Ohio State won the rose bowl so he wore his scarlet and gray (mostly scarlet) all day long the next day!

There you have it, we made it through our first Holiday season not in Ohio with our families. It was hard (i cried a couple times) but we did it together, and if i must say so myself we had a pretty good time! I wish everyone a blessed and prosperous new year, may you reach all your personal goals and have a great time getting there!