Grilling, DC & The Beach

Hello, faithful readers - AKA - Hannah.  Seriously, if you're name isn't Hannah and you read this blog, let me know by commenting, because I feel like I'm writing to an audience of one here ;)

ANYWAY, last week I had a beyond crazy week.  Obviously, Monday was Memorial Day, so my family and Tyler's family had a cookout at my mom's house.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't take any pictures, because my adorable niece, Lauren Priya, was there, and so were my other niece and nephew, Bella and Liam, and it was an awesomely crazy time!  Also, the food was phenomenal and I think I gained 5 lbs eating it all.  You think I'm kidding...but I'm not.  #fattiesunite

Tuesday was the only day last week I actually went to work, because Wednesday-Friday, my boss and I attended a financial conference in Washington DC.  So Tuesday was crazy busy with work, and then Wednesday-Friday was even crazier with the conference.  I went on a tour of DC Thursday afternoon, so I'd say that was the highlight.  (Favorite monuments from the tour - the White House, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial - pictured below.)  Oh, and eating Maryland crabcakes.  Soooo good.  #seriouslyfatties,letsgetthisgoing

I'm so glad I got to see this.  Lincoln is my favorite president.

Cheryl and me in front of the White House! (or in back...all depending on how you look at it)

The Washington Monument (soooo good.)

Friday night I flew home, and Saturday morning, Tyler and I drove to Englewood beach with his family.  We stayed the night and drove home on Sunday afternoon.  Due to the crazy weather, I spent maybe 2 hours on the actual beach. lol

Me & my wonderful hubby at the beach!

So, as you can see, I had a crazy week.  Told ya!  In the midst of all the busyness, working, traveling, and packing and unpacking, I had a chance to meet 5 pretty incredible individuals.

The first individual is Cheryl.  I met her while I was waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up for my tour of DC.  I noticed she was standing by herself, so I quickly befriended her, and we hung out for the whole 4 hour tour.  Luckily, she had her phone and was able to take pictures, because I definitely forgot mine!  She's from the UK (my first friend from there!) and she was the sweetest!

Me & Cheryl after our tour of DC!

The other 4 people I met were 2 couples - the first couple I talked to while we were in the DC airport waiting for the plane to take us home.  The guy was covered in tattoos, and his girlfriend had the more moderate smattering of smaller tattoos (sounds like me and Tyler - though, hopefully, he won't end up COVERED in tattoos).  The next couple I met was on the plane.  It was definitely a God-thing.  I was listening to music on my phone and, sitting in the seat next to the aisle, I was able to see this couple to my right and one row back.  They looked about my age, and they were each reading a book.  The guy was reading a book on worship and the girl was reading one on personalities.  Needless to say, I was intrigued.  So I struck up a conversation.  Turns out they were newly married (less than one year!), and he was a former worship leader in NY who had moved to DC, where his wife was from, in order to serve in ministry there and hopefully find a job in the world of finances.  After a few minutes of getting to know each other, he leaned over and asked me point blank, "Christina, how can we pray for you?"  I was astounded.  That's not really a question I get asked a lot, unless I'm in a Bible study or Sunday School.  I was seriously touched by their kindness and apparent love for the Lord.

All that to say, I had a great week :)  And, on Monday, I got new glasses!  #selfiephotoshoot

This is the first time I've had sunglasses to wear since I got glasses in 11th grade!  Yay!!!!

So, what about you?  Ever been to Washington DC?  What was your favorite landmark?  Who is your favorite president?  Have you ever been asked by a virtual stranger how they can pray for you?

I'm an Aunt...Again!

Yes, that's right, ladies and gents!  My brother-in-law and sister, Paul & Sara, are proud parents of a beautiful baby girl born today.  Her name is Lauren Priya, and she arrived at 4:03 this morning weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  She's a beauty :)  I want to hold her all the time.  Below are some pictures of the proud aunt, uncle, grandma and father!

Ouchie

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and you're like, "I'm gonna get stuff done today!"  But then you actually just sit around, watch Netflix, and stuff your face with junk food?

Yeah, usually that's me every Friday.

But today, I woke up saying, "I'm gonna do nothing all day!" and walked into the kitchen. Where the dishes were piled up in the sink, the counters were full of crumbs and junk mail, the cats were meowing for food, and there was an icky conglomerate of stenches emanating from the cats' litter box and the kitchen trash can.  Needless to say, I spent the next two hours cleaning.  With a bum foot.  I think I deserve an award.

Oh, by the way, I didn't tell you about my recent injury!  Last Saturday, I stopped by Moe's with two friends, Lyndsey and Dakota.  When we were leaving, I walked out the back door first and the alarm went off.  So I turned around to see if a Moe's employee was going to possibly come running after me with handcuffs (an extremely rational fear, I know), and a curb just came up out of nowhere...connecting with my left ankle.  I went down, hard.  And it hurt...just a little bit.  Okay, a lot a bit.

And...I guess that's all I got for today.  If you feel like sending me an award for my above accomplishments, I'll be at home all day. ;)  This is Christina...over and out!

PS: After I published this post, I realized it's my 100th!  Yay me :)

Erikson & Graham

So the title of this post isn't in reference to a law firm - don't worry, I'm not going to court or anything.  Whew.

Although (side note) I am currently addicted to this show on Netflix called "Drop Dead Diva."  Ever heard of it?  Ever watched it?  It's about this model who dies in a car accident and her spirit gets recycled into an overweight lawyer's body who just so happens to WORK WITH THE MODEL'S EX-FIANCE!!!!  Say what?!!  I know, it's crazy.

ANYWAY...

Back to what this post is for real supposed to be about.  Have you heard that song "7 Years" by Lukas Graham?  Read the lyrics here.  Or just watch the below video.  Whatevs.

Okay, so anyway, I was listening to this song the other day, and it kinda reminded me of when we used to study Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development in my college Psych classes.  For those of you who didn't take Intro to Psych in college, the stages of development can be broken up into the following:

1. Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust.  Occurs between ages of birth to one year old.  The child develops trust based on care of primary caregivers, and without the formation of this trust, the child can grow up to be insecure and distrustful for life.
2. Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt.  Occurs during early childhood.  The child becomes more independent and starts making choices about personal preferences and clothing selection.  If this stage isn't navigated successfully, the child may experience feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt.
3. Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt.  Occurs during the preschool years.  The child begins to develop leadership and social interaction skills through play.  Successful completion of this stage will give a child confidence and leadership skills; without it, they will have self-doubt and lack of initiative.
4. Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority.  Occurs between ages 5-11.  Through social interactions and encouragement from parents and teachers, the child develops confidence and pride in their skills and abilities.  If this stage isn't successfully completed, the child will have doubts about their ability to succeed in life.
5. Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion.  During Adolescence.  Which is kind of a hard word to spell, amiright?  Anyway, basically this stage is like, "Who am I, really?" and can usually last well into adulthood.  Sad.
6. Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation.  Early Adulthood.  When the adult looks around and realizes, "Hey, I'm single, and I'm not okay with that," and they try to find someone to marry them.  According to recent statistics, it only works out about 50% of the time, so a lot of people are failing at this.  (NOT IT! hahahahahhaha)
7. Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation.  Adulthood.  AKA finding a career beyond working at Mickie D's during high school and excelling at said job.  This is hard, y'all.  I should know.  I'm still trying to surmount this.  #adultingsux
8. Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair.  During old age.  When you're sitting in your recliner (hopefully by choice and not because you no longer have use of your limbs) and you look back on your life and think, "Was it a good life?"  We all pray the answer will be yes...and also, we hope that we can remember that far back.  #alsheimersawareness

So those are the stages.  If you've made it this far into the post, congratulations, you're a reader!  For all the rest of the people, I don't have a message, because they won't see it anyway.

So back to the "7 Years" song.  Here are the ages he mentions and what happened to him during those ages.  Let's see if he failed or succeeded:

• 7 years old - Trying to make some friends and learn stuff.  Social interaction - check.  Learning (which probably involves parents and teachers) - check.
• 11 years old - Smoking, drinking, and told to find a wife by his dad.  I'm sorry, what?  Things just went waaaaay off track.  He's still supposed to be gaining confidence in his skills and abilities, not hindering them by being drunk or high all the time!  Also, his dad doesn't sound like a great, encouraging role model.  Just sayin'.
• 20 years old - Sometime between age 11 and now, he started writing songs/stories like his dad did.  I guess that's a good way to find identity, so we'll say he completed this stage...ish.
• 30 years old - He hopes to travel, continue learning about life, spend time with friends and his woman and children.  By the way...what exactly does it mean when someone refers to someone else as his "woman"?  Shouldn't that be offensive?  Because I would be offended if Tyler called me his "woman."  I'd be like, "Call me that one more time..."
• 60 years old - He's hoping his kids will come visit every once in awhile and warm the cold years.  A worthy goal, I'd say.

Overall, I'd say this song does a good job of following Erickson's stages.  Except for age 11.  Don't know what happened there.  #tweenlifecrisis

Well, that's just my little random thought of the day.  What do you thing of Erickson's stages?  Which one are you in now?  Are you having trouble, or acing it like a boss?  Do you like the song "7 Years"?  Are all of these questions annoying?  Lesbi-honest.  Haha.  Pitch Perfect reference.  Sorry.

And with that, I'll leave you with these two recent Pentatonix songs I just discovered, so I'm fangirling a little bit over here.  Watch them and you're welcome in advance for enriching your life.  Have a good day!

Engagement Pictures in Old Town

Here they are!  Hope you love them as much as I do!  I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...maybe I'll add a caption here and there if I'm so inclined...  (For those of you who hate photos of people kissing...you may want to get outta here.)

When we first got there to meet up with Sara - look how happy we are!

About to ride the Ferris Wheel!

Wow; I guess we didn't realize how dangerous it could be!

The dip + a kiss = always seals the deal :)

Wait a minute...did we just go Black & White?

This is kinda 101 Dalmatians...amiright?

Tyler's face though...hahahaha

Apparently, he likes what he sees :)

Time for a nap...not!

Awww, what a sweet kiss!  (Ignore the falling debris in my hair. lol)

We make great faces together...

*sigh*  He has the most incredible smile.

Umm...just a bit of us being crazy us!

Probably one of my favorites!

This is the face of someone who's not sure whether or not she is going to get dropped.  haha

Another favorite!

Hey....hey baby!  I wanna know...would you be my girl! (That's a song, by the way.  Look it up :)

I don't usually drive like this, I promise.

Guys, I would never!  (Also, that face - hahaha)

Riding the carousel! :)

Fun times at Fun Spot! :)

Practicing for the wedding reception. Haha

I look so special here. lol

He really does make the best faces!

"Drive like a racecar!"

Sometimes we dance very awkwardly in public...

The wedding date :)

The ring!

Well, thank you to Sara for taking all these pictures - I hope you enjoyed looking at them!  Which one was your favorite?  Do you have any themed engagement photo shoots that you like?  Let me know! :)