A Year of Dates-April

Since my birthday and Andrew's Birthday are so close together, every year we only celebrate with one combined birthday dinner both to save money and to save planning two separate dinners so close together.

It's our birthday month! Let's have a classic Andrew and Sarah Birthday date! There is enough money here to go out to pizza hut (maybe even have desserts!). Afterwards we can watch Netflix or a DVD.

I can't wait to spend some quality time with you!
Love, Sarah

I picked Andrew up from college and we did a little bit of shopping before this date. Michaels had a good sale on paper, so we bought a bunch for the wedding. Then we drove over to Pizza Hut. We were both really hungry so we decided to split one big pizza instead of having two smaller pizzas. We were going to divide the toppings (like half cheese, half pepperoni) but then we both realized we wanted ham and pineapple, so we just got a medium hawaiian pizza. It was delicious. And the service was really fast! It was definitely a great way to celebrate our birthdays!

I told him to smile...

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A Year Of Dates:

November

December

January
February

March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

7 TV Shows To Watch As A Couple

One of mine and Andrew's favourite things to do together is watch a TV show. Tv shows are great because they are short, keep your attention and they eliminate the "I don't know, what do you want to watch?" back and forth conversation that inevitably happens when trying to pick out a movie. TV shows are also great because it gives you something to look forward to as a couple. When Andrew and I have a show we are in the middle of we can hardly wait to cuddle up on the couch and watch a bunch of episodes. It's even better if the show is available on netflix since it doesn't cost as much and you don't have to get off the couch to change the disk!

Andrew and I also find that when watching TV shows you get more immersed in the characters. We were both pretty heartbroken when we watched the very last episode of The Office. We love watching TV shows and  we thought it would be fun to recommend some of our favourite ones to you.

The Office

This is our absolute favourite show. It was the first one we watched together and it kept getting better as the seasons went along. We highly recommend this one.

How I Met Your Mother

This is a show that I didn't think I would like at first, but now it is one of my favourites! I love the way Marshall and Lily interact. It's so adorable and funny. Andrew really likes Barney and his ridiculous ways with the ladies.

The Big Bang Theory

I love this one because sometimes I actually understand what they are talking about. It really brings out my true nerd. We both love the nerdy science jokes and how socially awkward Sheldon is.

Modern Family

When I first told Andrew about this show he didn't think he was going to like it and actually refused to watch it with me for almost a year! When I finally got him to watch it he was killing himself laughing! He thinks Phil's bad jokes are so funny. "You can tell a lot about a person from his biography" -Phil Dunphy

Corner Gas

Andrew showed me Corner Gas. We like that you can watch the episodes in almost any order and you won't be confused. It brings out the country kids in both of us.

Community

I think part of the reason why we like Community so much is because we can relate to it and deep down inside we both wish school was more like how it is in this show. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to build a school-wide blanket/pillow fort?

Sherlock

This is the only show on this list that isn't really a comedy. Sherlock really gets us thinking. We are always curious how the criminal did it and it really keeps you on the edge of your seat. I like that this show isn't too intense or graphic.

Duck Dynasty

We love the ridiculous things that this family does. We also love how great of an example they are. This show always keeps us laughing.

There you go! Seven TV shows that we recommend you watch, or at least try out! Leave a comment if you have a TV show you think we should give a try!

I Appreciate You

Andrew and I have started something new recently. We found that we were getting crazy busy and stressed out with midterms and wedding planning over reading week and that we weren't taking enough time to be truly thankful for one another. So we created a little challenge to add to our daily conversation. We decided that every day, at some point during the day we will point out one thing that we appreciate about the other person. For example, yesterday I was really grumpy, and so I appreciated when Andrew let me vent about my day and all my frustrations and didn't question me about it.

We've been doing this for about a week and I think it is really helping me. I feel like Andrew is noticing when I do things for him. I know he noticed before and that I shouldn't need him to tell me that he appreciates me but it feels really good for him to point out specific things.

I would challenge you guys to do this in your relationships, not just your relationship with your significant other, but with your friends and family and with your relationship with God. Everyone deserves a little extra appreciation!

Leave me a comment letting me know something you appreciate about someone you love!

Happy Friday!

A Year of Dates-February

February's Date was a cheap one, but it was so much fun! Here is what the envelope contained:

You know what has great cheap entertainment? 

Youtube. This month let's watch this youtube marathon!

 Some snack money is included so we can get something 

to munch on while we laugh at this youtube playlist.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=FLvrDcFyWBjhR0XM1oMEWXAA

I can't wait to laugh with you!

Love, Sarah

I am kind of a youtube fanatic. I love watching youtube videos. I especially love subscribing to peoples channels and getting to see into their lives. So when Friday We're In Love featured a stay at home youtube date night, I thought it would be a great idea to include it in the year of dates.

It was lots of fun. Their playlist is full of really funny, clean videos. It was so much fun to just relax and laugh at the short videos. Andrew was a little under the weather at the time, so he liked that we didn't go out to have our date. 

I think we will definitely do this date again, we might even try to create our own playlist! It was fun, and inexpensive, which as students, is a fantastic thing. 

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A Year Of Dates:

November

December

January
February

March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

A Year Of Dates-January

For those of you who don't know, for our anniversary this year I made Andrew A Year of Dates. That's twelve pre-planned and pre-paid for dates. This is the third of the twelve dates!

This was the date that I couldn't wait for Andrew to open. Andrew loves hockey, so I decided to take him to a GOJHL game to see the Elmira Sugar Kings play.

What's the best game you can name? 
Spoiler alert, it’s the good old hockey game!
For January's date let's go to a Sugar King's game. 

There is enough money for two adult tickets 

and some extra money for snacks!

I'm so excited for our date!

Love, Sarah

We had planned to go on this date on a Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately school got extremely busy that weekend and we couldn't make it. But we decided instead to go see an away game in Guelph. And we were not disappointed.

We drove from Alma to Guelph, about 30-45 minutes, and stopped at Timmies along the way. I got Earl Grey tea, Andrew got a coffee. We talked and sang to the radio. There may have been some dancing involved. It was a good time.

We got to the arena, and found our seats. We were worried that we sat in the Guelph section, not the Elmira section, but then the Elmira players came out onto the ice and the people beside us went ecstatic. We knew we were right where we were supposed to be.

After the first period Andrew and I went and got some popcorn. It was excellent. There is something about popcorn from a movie theatre or sports arena that just tastes better. I'm not sure why.

The Sugar Kings ended up winning in a shootout 3-2, it was a really close and might I say well matched game. I'm not the biggest hockey fan in the world, but Andrew really likes it. So it makes me happy that he had such a great time, and I might be starting to like the game too.

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A Year Of Dates:
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

Why Frozen is the Best

Yesterday Andrew surprised me with a date. We usually don't see each other until the weekends so when I finally finished my massive assignment that I had spent 40+ hours on and Andrew asked me if I wanted to go see Frozen I was pretty excited. I was worried that I was going to be too tired from working so hard on the assignment and that all my built up expectations from my friends about the movie would leave me disappointed. And I can confidently tell you that I was not. I'm so glad I went to go see that movie. It was so funny and had such a good message behind it. I highly HIGHLY recommend it to you. If you can go see it (Andrew and I saw the last viewing of it in the theatre near us), you definitely should.

I've been working on that massive assignment for over two weeks. I know this sounds silly, but I kind of forgot what it's like to relax and not worry about it. I needed this date. And Andrew knew I needed it. I feel so very special, and like I can conquer all the leftover assignments I have to do this weekend.

Anyways, Just wanted to share with you guys what a wonderful movie Frozen is! I hope you all have a lovely lovely weekend!

Here's the trailer, for those of you who are like "Sarah, what is this Frozen you are talking about?"

I Recently Got Instagram... And Re-Discovered That Andrew Is The Best

A little over a week ago I was working on this huge project for one of my computing classes. This class has a 70% failure rate. It is an extremely hard course, and I am so stressed and nervous about it. I spent almost my whole Sunday afternoon on the project with my dad. While I was working away Andrew asked me if he could borrow my phone. I gave him my phone and he installed Instagram on it as a surprise for me. It is a complicated process for Blackberry's. Andrew had to change some of the code from an Android app and then install it onto my phone (or something like that, I'm not entirely sure what he did). It took him a good amount of time. And it made me feel extremely special. He knew that I wanted Instagram, but that I wouldn't have enough time in the near future to go through the steps to get it. He is amazing. It's little things like this that make me feel like he wants to make me the happiest girl in the world.

One of my many instagram photos so far

So now I have Instagram! You may have notices the design of my blog has changed slightly, The link to follow me on instagram is on the left side as well as a slideshow of my photos. There is also a list of links to some of the blogs I really enjoy reading, so feel free to check those out!

So that's the story of how I got Instagram, I'm such a lucky lady!

A Winter-y Photoshoot

I love taking pictures. I also love having pictures to look back on. Yesterday Andrew and I took some (okay, a lot) of pictures. I'm really proud of how they turned out. Here are some of my favourites:

See what we did there?

A Year Of Dates-December

December has proved to be a very busy month for Andrew and I. By the time we had the time (and energy) to do this months date, we didn't want anymore junk food. We are planning on doing this date later on and I promise I will post Decembers date again. I just didn't want to leave you guys hanging. Here is December's date:

Make Christmas Cookies! 
Let's bake some cookies to share with our families. 
Or not share, we could just eat them all! 
We should have all the ingredients at my house.

I can't wait to throw flour at you!
Love, Sarah

Want to read more?

A Year Of Dates:

November

December

January

February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

A Year Of Dates-November

November's date is the first of our year of dates that I gave Andrew for our three year anniversary. This date was simple, a coffee date at a new coffee shop...

Let's try out the Robin's Nest in Elmira! 

Inside the envelope you will find a gift card. 

Let's be adventurous! 

And super hipster.

I'm excited to try something new with you!

Love, Sarah

The Robins Nest is Elmira's one very hipster coffee shop that I think is pretty cute. We drove over there after dinner one Friday and ordered our drinks. Andrew got apple cider, I got a London Fog, which is like a tea latte. They were both very good. Andrew tried a sip of mine, it wasn't his "cup of tea" :P 

It was a lot of fun, and we have been really busy lately with school and weekend activities so it was nice to have a more low key date this month.

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A Year Of Dates:
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

A Year Of Dates!

Yes, you read the title correctly. This year for Andrew and my three year anniversary I made him a year of dates! The package contained 12 envelopes, one for every month of the year, starting with November! Each envelope has a pre-planned and pre-paid-for date inside. At the begining of each month Andrew will open the envelope and we will decided when to have our date!

I will be sharing stories about the dates we go on with you guys as this next year passes. I am super excited about all of this.

Here are the Dates:

November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September

Being Engaged

As you guys probably already know I recently got engaged! This is a super exciting time in my life and I thought I would share with you guys some of the things I have noticed.

I feel so much different from when we were just dating

But at the same time, I don't feel different at all. It's a weird feeling.

I am abnormally attached to my ring

It was actually so difficult for me to give my ring to a jeweler to get it resized. Those four days were much more emotional than I am proud of. I was actually so worried that my ring would be the one they would lose or accidentally switch with someone elses! How crazy and irrational is that?

I keep forgetting that Andrew is now my fiance, not my boyfriend

I'm getting better at this. I've just been calling him my boyfriend for so long that it's difficult to make the switch.

I have wedding brain

I am pretty much constantly thinking about weddings. I find myself day-dreaming in lectures, while driving and while I'm working on assignments. Basically, I have my head in the clouds... All the time.

AND

I'm loving it!

I'm Getting Married!

I have such big news to tell you guys!

Get ready.

If you hate lovey dovey things you will probably want to skip this post.

Are you ready?

Good.

Here we go!

On Saturday, October 19th, 2013 Andrew asked me to marry him! And, of course, I said YES!!

I'M ENGAGED GUYS!!!

And I would like to share with you how it happened.

So on Saturday Andrew came to my house and brought me red flowers. Now, I know what you might be thinking, "Sarah, why does it matter that they were red flowers?"

Red flowers are a symbol of love and passion. Andrew has never gotten me red flowers before, he was specifically saving them for the day he was going to propose. (isn't he just the sweetest?)

I put the flowers in a vase and then we were on our way. He had told me we were going to the Christian bookstore in Hanover, which is my favourite Christian bookstore and it is right by the camp where Andrew and I met.

We began the just over an hour drive up to Hanover and talked and drank tea. It was lovely.

Then he missed the first turn to Hanover, and the next one, and the next one.

I started getting a little suspicious.

He took the turn into camp and I was almost certain I knew what he was doing. I was so excited. We parked just outside of camp and went for a walk. To the Air Rifelry range.

Now in case you don't know the air rifelry range is the spot where we officially met for the first time.

He then got down on one knee, said some very sweet things (which I wish I could remember!) and asked me to marry him!

I said Yes!

I am so incredibly excited!

I'm going to be a Mrs!

Want to read more of our story?

Our Story {Sarah's Side}

Our Story {Andrew's Side}

DIY Gift Idea: Today I Have Loved You For Card

This past Saturday was a bit milestone for Andrew and I. As of June 27th, 2013 we have been dating for 1000 days. To celebrate I surprised him with Tim Hortons coffee and this card:

I got the idea for this card from this pinterest pin, but I didn't want to buy the card and pay for shipping. Even though the cards are absolutely b-e-a-utiful! So I used microsoft word and printed the card out onto cardstock. Andrew really liked it. He had no idea that we had been dating for 1000 days so it was a complete surprise! His face lit up! It was awesome to see. I love that boy :).

Do you celebrate little milestones in your relationships?

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Andrew and I went to go see the new Star Trek movie this weekend. It was great! I actually was sitting on the edge of my seat. Like literally. Even ask Andrew! I'm not even a hard core treky. But now that I've seen the movie I kind of want to start watching star trek. Anyways, If you haven't seen it and like those sort of movies, I highly recommend it.

Hey, wanna read a cute story? Of course you do! So during the previews I was freezing, they must absolutely crank the AC in theaters. Andrew saw that I was shivering and asked me if I was cold, I said no, insisting that I was fine. A few minutes later Andrew told me he had to go to the washroom and asked for his ticket back. He was gone for quite some time but I didn't really think much of it. When he came back he was out of breath and had a red sweater for me. He had run over to the store and bought me a sweater since he didn't have one. He is the sweetest guy I have ever met. It was totally unexpected and definitely made my day.

Even though the rest of the day didn't work out the best for either of us, this was a really fun way to spend the afternoon.

This idea was inspired by My Summer Bucket List.

Breakfast Before Church Date

This weekend I crossed an item off of my summer bucket list. Andrew and I went out for breakfast before church.  It was great, even though it didn't go completely as planned and both Andrew and I were super tired. The reason why we were so tired is that we stayed out talking until about 2 in the morning. Andrew is going to be working for his grandparents for three weeks about three hours away from where I live starting the next day. So I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

We had planned for Andrew to pick me up at 7:30 and then we would drive to the Tim Hortons near Andrews church and get our coffee and breakfast. It was a great plan. The only problem was I forgot to turn my alarm on to wake up. So I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating with a message from Andrew telling me that he was here... Opps. I got ready as fast as I could (it only took me about 5 minutes) and then we were on our way. We both got toasted bagels with cream cheese and coffee.
I'm really glad we did this. It gave me quality time with Andrew and we both laughed a lot because we were so tired. I'm happy to say that I have crossed this off my summer bucket list.

DIY Gift Idea: A Kiss in your Pocket

I made this as a part of Andrews Christmas present last year. I found it on pinterest again, but with no instructions. It’s a flip book that looks like you are blowing a kiss! Supa cute.

Here is how I did it:

Supplies:

-Camera

-Printer

-Marker

-Cardstock

-Glue

-Ribbon

What to do:

1) Take a picture of yourself blowing a kiss

 

I edited the picture so that the background is mainly black and white, but you can do whatever you like

2) Print off several copies of the picture, cut them out and glue them to cardstock

3) Now what you want to do is draw hearts on the different pictures. On the first picture draw none, on the second draw one, on the third draw 2 or three, and increase the number until your picture is full of hearts.

4) Hole punch the pictures and put them together in a book, tying them together with ribbon.

Good Luck!

DIY Gift Idea: Daily Love Notes

As I have said before, I love making little gifts for Andrew. Here is one that I made a while ago and today I thought I would write a quick post about it.

It's a weekly pill box that I filled with one note for each day of the week and at the time I put some skittles in each slot. I found this idea on pinterest, but it had no instructions, so here is what I did. It's really simple.

Supplies:

-Pill Box (you can get them at the drug store and at some grocery stores)

-Small Candy

-Paper and pens

What to do:

-Write a note for each day of the week, fold them up and put them in the individual slots.

-Fill the remaining space with candy

I liked this idea a lot. Sometimes you just need a little note in the morning to start your day off. This also might be a cute gift if someone is going away for a week. 

An Alphabet of Memories

Hey everyone. As some of you may know, Andrew's Birthday was on Monday. He is officially 20! I thought I would share with you part of the gift I made for him. Finding homemade things to make for a boyfriend can be really difficult. Here is one idea I came up with.

It's a flipbook of the alphabet, and every letter has a memory associated with it. For example A represents when we taught air rifelry together.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Here are some pictures from the process.

This was extremely fun to put together. 

Do you like getting home made gifts? what are some of your favourite gifts you have received?

DIY: You Have a Message

I love making Andrew little gifts. And he says that he likes them. Here is a little gift that I made for him recently which I found on Pinterest.

Things you will need:

-Black Pen (sharpie, or something similar, with a fine point)

-White Paint

-Red Pen

-Paper

-Glue

-Wooden Clothes Pin

How I Did It:

1) Open up your clothespin and trace around the top (where the message will be)

2) Cut around the traced part

3) Write your message in the middle (no to close to the edges though)

4) Carefully fold the paper in half

5) Pinch the folded part of the paper in the clothes pin so that the edges line up

6) Fold the sides down and glue them to the clothes pin

7) While it is drying, decorate your clothes pin however you please.

Leave a comment below if you have any questions!