Thailand: days 1-4

Coy and I spent 10 amazing days in Thailand for our 5 year anniversary. Many people have asked why we picked Thailand and to be honest it happened for multiple reasons. I was pushing for Greece and Coy was rooting for Thailand. Coy is obsessed with the beach and while I love the beach I also love culture and sightseeing. In addition to seeing the Kardashians in Thailand a few seasons ago, Coy had also heard a lot of great things from people he knows. Once I started doing some research I was easily swayed to Team Thailand.
This was by far the most amazing trip we have ever taken. It was breathtakingly beautiful, the culture and the people there are beyond amazing, and the food is delicious. This was for sure a trip of a lifetime and one we will never forget. In an effort to make sure we remember all of the details I wanted to document our trip here.
I would HIGHLY recommend a trip to Thailand, and specifically Koh Samui.

Day 1-2:
Between the 11 hour time-difference and a 33 hour trip across the world, days 1-2 were primarily spent in an airplane. On the way there we flew from Indianapolis to Minneapolis to LA to Guangzhou, China to Bangkok to Koh Samui. We literally switched our first flight less than twelve hours before departure so we extended the length of our trip even more. We were both dreading the flight, particularly the almost 15 hour flight from LA to Guangzhou. However, all in all, we couldn't complain too much when it was over. I hated the LA airport, and hated it even more when we realized we had to leave the domestic airport and re-check ourselves in through security and ticketing at the international airport. I had never flown out of the LA so this was new and extremely annoying (especially when it was in the middle of the night to our bodies). We left LA on Wednesday night and landed in China on Friday morning. We were able to sleep for almost half of the flight and spent the rest of the time watching some of the millions of movies that were offered. The food was decent and although a little cramped, it went much quicker than anticipated. I hated the Guangzhou airport - the air conditioning was not working, it smelled bad, and there were very limited options for food. We settled on a breakfast of something's I cannot pronounce and had fresh squeezed watermelon and orange juice. We loved the Bangkok Airport and I wish we had had more time there. We flew Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Koh Samui and LOVED it! It was by far my favorite and shortest flight. The service was great, the food excellent, and they did a great job serving us.

(Breakfast in China)                          (Last flight!!!)                                       (FINALLY...Samui!)

Day 3:
We arrived in Koh Samui on Friday afternoon and were immediately taken aback by both the beauty and the heat. The humidity was something I had never quite experienced before and as much as I would like to say we got used to that, that never really happened. Luckily, the island itself was worth the sweat the poured out of my body for the entirety of our trip.
We stayed at Fairhouse Villas on Maenam Beach and loved it! We chose it because of it's seclusion and that did not disappoint! Although we had considered an upgrade once we arrived we decided to decline this, as our villa was in a great location and we loved it! Many of the staff spoke limited English but they were the sweetest little things and had such a great work ethic. Our villa was adorable. We were pleasantly surprised that we had to take our shoes off before entering and not so pleasantly surprised to find out that our one room key was the only way that the air or electricity would run. To translate - unless we were in the room our air conditioning would not run! This was a little upsetting and pretty blazing hot when we would return after a day out but in the end it was bearable and less dramatic then we thought it would be.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the resort, taking in the amazing view and scenery. That night, despite our exhaustion we headed to Fisherman's Village for the Friday night open-air market. It was amazing. However, by the time we sat down to dinner (I had coconut curry prawns and Coy had sweet-n-sour chicken) we could barely keep our eyes open and made it as quickly as possible to street for a taxi ride home. I LOVED Fisherman's Village, luckily we were able to go back another night and actually enjoy ourselves.

Day 4:
We spent our first full day at the resort. It rained slightly this day but passed pretty quick. I headed a short distance down the beach for a ($9) one hour massage. It was amazing! We also went to lunch a short walk down the beach to Jin's - our favorite restaurant! Jin owns a little shack on the beach that I had read about previously. She was amazing and the food was even more amazing. We ate here multiple times and each time it was better than the time before.

                 (Breaking my coconut for coconut curry)

Chicken Satay                             Coconut Curry

Prawn Pad Thai

Late that afternoon we took the shuttle to Chaweng Beach. This was a much more crowded area. We spent a lot of time shopping and were luckily enough to find a small open-air market at the end of the night. We had fish-therapy on our feet and also a foot massage. We ate dinner on the beach and loved seeing the culture and the views. Every part of the island looks a little different and the beach and streets here varied from Maenam. We had talked about coming back to Chaweng later in the week but this never happened and this was our only time at this beach.

(Our first experience with Thai pancakes. These little carts, attached to a motorcycle make a variety of thin 'pancakes' with various toppings and fillings...all for around $0.10 each!)

                                                             (Mopeds galore...everywhere)

you are not alone.

Sunday was the start of National Infertility Awareness Week. The message of this year's campaign is "You are not alone."

"Infertility is a disease that results in the abnormal functioning of the male or female reproductive system. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recognize infertility as a disease. Infertility affects approximately 10% of the population. Since infertility strikes diverse groups-affecting people from all socioeconomic levels and cutting across all racial, ethnic and religious lines- chances are great that a friend, relative, neighbor or perhaps you are attempting to cope with the medical and emotional aspects of infertility." (Credit can be found here.)

I am one of the 1 in 8 women that struggles with infertility. 1 in 8! You can look around your office, your neighborhood, your church, your friends, your family, at the stranger walking down the street and chances are you are meeting or have met someone struggling with infertility. I would even wager to say that chances are you have met multiple people struggling with infertility. And while infertility is becoming more and more common, it remains one of the most private battles people carry. The pain is real, it can be all-consuming. It is isolating. It hurts so much at times it takes your breath away. Yet, there is hope, even in the most desperate of times.

You are NOT alone. Everyone's story is different. Each story has it's own unique struggle. My story, while distinctively my own, still carries the common emotions and feelings that goes along with the journey of infertility. I might experience these emotions different than my neighbor and they may look differently in my life than yours, but each us of us still knows the feelings of pain, confusion, desperation, and loneliness. There is someone out there who knows this pain you are going through, and although it doesn't take that pain away, it brings a little light to an otherwise dark and suffocating situation.

You are NOT alone. God loves you. He cares for you. He wishes you no harm but wants the very best. He will never leave you or forsake you. Even in my darkest moments He has never left and is waiting patiently for me to return to him. He is big enough for my questions and my cries. He is the provider of hope and I will continue to trust in Him just as he will continue to never leave me alone. "Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10.

You are NOT alone. Even though at times it feels like the exact opposite, you are NOT alone. 1 in 8 people in the United States understand our pain, they've felt it too. We know the disappointment, the grief, sadness, anger and the unsuccessful procedures that have cost more of our money and our emotions than we would ever like to admit or remember. They've cried tears from the same we have. They've been poked and prodded, pumped full of meds, and spent hours upon hours at the doctor and specialist. Some may have it 'better' than you, some may have it 'worse'. In the end those details don't matter. All that matters is that we are NOT alone.

Oscars: Love it or Leave it

Believe it or not, some of the worst dressed, aka "leave it" ended up on some of the best dressed lists. Although, I'm not sure how because I feel like my choices are pretty accurate (how could I not think that though?) What I can say is that I felt like this Oscars there were far less worst dressed and even those in this category did not appear hideous, which is a sigh of relief after some of the Golden Globe choices.

Leave It!:

 Behati

(good thing she had Adam Levine by her side)

Chloe Grace Moretz

Perhaps I don't hate this dress, but I do hate that she had her hands in her pockets all night, including when she presented. No, no, no.

Lady Gaga

What else could one expect though? 

 

Gwyneth Paltrow

I wanted to like this, because I like her and I love this color, but I just can't get over the huge rose on her shoulder. She was on some best dressed list, but I just cannot appreciate this design.

Julianne Moore

She was also on some best dressed, but I just can't. I hate everything about this.

Keira Knightly

She may just be beat to her own drum as her dress at the Golden Globes was also hideous.

Laura Dern

Metallic is OUT.

Rosamund Pike

Poor Rosamund, can't win an award and dresses poorly to both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

 

 

Love It!

 

Kate Blanchett

Simple and chic and I love the color combo.

Dakota Johnson

We should just be glad her boobs aren't showing!

Emma Stone

She is one of my favorite and although this dress isn't my favorite I think she rocked it and I'm glad she has finally worn something worthy of appreciating after the past few award show.

Jennifer Aniston

She is just hot.

 

Jennifer Hudson

This color is divine.

Jessica Chastain

Talk about consistent, I feel like she always makes an excellent selection. I think she looked great and this dress color with her hair was amazing.

Kerry Washington

After her Golden Globes choices I am happy that she stepped up her gain. I adore her and if you missed her 'jig' on the red carpet on her way in, then you missed out!

 

Octavia Spencer

She frequents my best dressed list. I just thought she looked great! She does so well at choosing dresses the compliment her figure and complexion and this was no exception.

Reese Witherspoon

She also frequents my best dressed list. How can you not love this one?

 

Until next awards season...



welcome 2015 and the best and worst dressed.

to save I have neglected this blog would be an understatement. not only have I been extra busy and seemingly stressed in the past few month but I have felt like I have little to offer on here. however, I have decided that writing here, no matter the content can be therapeutic for me. so, in effort to make better life choices in 2015 I decided I'd better start blogging again.

what better way to start then to highlight my best and worst dressed of the 2015 golden globe awards. I wasn't as into the awards this year as I hadn't seen most of the movies and wasn't terribly invested in who won or lost. however, I was of course invested in the clothing selection. this year brought some great disappointment but also some breathtaking reactions as well.

enjoy!

worst dressed:

the shoes, the color, etc.

this pattern? is she going to the prairie?

I don't know who she is and probably never will but the wings

on this dress are miserable.

the dress itself is not so horrible...it's the dumb belt.

ugh.

she is my favorite!! so I was so sad to see her in this. I guess either you love or

hate this, because she made many different best and worst lists this year.

looks like an old curtain...and that color. woof.

when she spoke honoring George Clooney I could hardly focus because I was

distracted by this miserable dress and that awful hair to go along with it.

spider web circling around the boobs?

so many tings wrong with this.

I can handle the bottom, it's that dreadful top.

ugh.

 

best dressed:

I was terribly disappointment this year and felt like there were slim pickings for this category!

 

love this dress. love the color. love her.

this surprised me but I ended up liking it.

not a huge fan of her but thought this was a great choice for her.

she is gorgeous. I love everything about this, the color, her hair, her date, the list goes on and on.

wow - she wow'd me. gorgeous.



although I like top much better than the bottom I thought she looked amazing.

 

 

until next year...

Renovation Realities

Little by little Coy and I are making necessary updates to our home. Last year we focused on smaller projects - replacing/updating the light fixtures, painting, landscaping, etc. This year we started some larger (which in this case larger means more elaborate and more expensive).

 

In the past month we had our house repainted. Although our house is only trimmed with wood it was still a pretty extensive project. 

We attempted to pick out a color slightly darker than the original color on the left (sorry for the poor quality, I forgot to get an actual 'before' pic and this was the best I could do); however, as you can see it turned out not only darker, but a little blue. I've heard that grey either ends up looking slightly purple or slightly blue so I'm glad it was latter. It look a minute to grow on me since the change was pretty drastic, even though it doesn't show in this picture, but we ended up loving it! Makes our house looks years younger!

We are pretty pleased with the finished project.

 

Next, we moved onto the countertops. Although our original countertops weren't awful, several of the end caps were missing portions and despite our attempts to find a piece just to replace the end this ended up being more difficult than we originally anticipated.

A huge shout out to Coy's Uncle Mike who really is a handyman genius. Coy's dad was also a huge help and we couldn't have done it without their help!

 

Once we got started on the project we realized that our new countertops were slightly shorter than our old countertops...meaning that we had a slight gap of unfinished drywall above the edge of the countertop. We debated between caulking and painting this section and adding backsplash. We ended up choosing backsplash because neither of us could bear the headache of all the tedious work the painting option would have led to. Well that and we have wanted some sort of backsplash since we moved in and got rid of the old/ugly backsplash.

This led to another debate of what kind of backsplash. Something not too time consuming to add nor too expensive. Thanks to the helpful guy at Home Depot we ended up doing a stainless steel tile option. He sold me with 'this stainless steel option will be twice the price but will take 1/4 of the time to complete.' For once, a home project went better than expected and this was SUPER easy.

 

 

We both love the final result and can't stop staring at it whenever we are at home!

 We are already compiling our upgrades for 2015 so stay tuned!

 

see ya satan.

Recently, when processing through some tough things going on at work I finally came to realization that Satan was trying to get the best of me. For the first time, in what feels like a long time, Coy and I have been in a place of contentment. Not contentment in a bad, "don't change me God" kind of way, but a peaceful contentment encircling our lives...For the first time in our marriage and probably his entire adult life, Coy is finally doing work that he enjoys. In addition to playing with kids all day, he has been blessed with an amazing opportunity to serve the students at our church. Speaking of church, we are finally feeling at home after a long journey following a hard 'break-up' with our previous church. And the good times have kept rolling...we haven't been strapped financially every 5 minutes. We have been able to make some upgrades to our home that we have long been seeking. We haven't been constantly consumed with thoughts of never having children and when that thought has crossed our minds it hasn't been as devastating as it has been in the past. We've enjoyed vacations, laughter and sunshine in abundance these past few months. The list could go on and on and Satan has hated every second of it.
While life had seemed to finally be throwing us some peace Satan attacked me where I was most vulnerable. That place doesn't necessarily happen to be my workplace but in this occasion my workplace was used to start making me question my capabilities, my work abilities, my competence, and most importantly the respect that others had for me. I pride myself on my skills and my leadership and when some of the things I value most about myself seemed to be questioned it rocked me to my core. It left me unhinged, hurt, confused, and just pretty low. Satan has battled and lost in so many other areas of my life that he struck a stable place that had never been struck before. While it was a hard few days and weeks I was reminded that my honor and my value is not found in where or how I work or anywhere else for that matter...my honor only comes from the Lord. No matter what happens in my career, God will remain my mighty rock. If Coy and I never have children God will remain my refuge. If life continues to toss and turn me, as life always does, I will keep my eyes focused on God and I will trust in him at all times because he has never let me down and I don't think he will start to now.

 

Psalm 62: 7,8

God's Goodness.

As you think about this past year how have you grown? What experiences has God used in this past year to take you to a new place?

 

Several weeks ago at our small group this question was raised.

While it was fairly difficult for most people to remember all that has taken place over the past year and relate it one area they have grown or a new place they have been taken to - that was not the case with me. I am on a constant journey with God. Often times this journey takes a new form on a daily basis; however, over the past year I can look back and know for sure what God has been teaching and showing me through all of my experiences.
While God has constantly been revealing his faithfulness to me His goodness is what has been so abundant over the past 12 months.

Goodness

1. The state of quality of being good.

2. moral excellence, virtue.

3. kindly feeling; kindness; generosity

4. the best part of anything; essence; strength.

 

God is gracious and generous. He has provide strength time and time again. He has provided the best part of everything I have and everything I am. I am so thankful that I can look back over the past year and know God was there in each moment. I am thankful that even in the moments when He is silent He is working out a great plan for my life. And I thankful that I have a loving God who has rescued me.

Although I wouldn't want to necessary relive the past year I am grateful for the ways God has revealed himself to me time and time again.  

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