John's Happiest Birthday! {according to my phone}

John’s birthday was last Monday. & BOY! I am so glad that we were together for his birthday this year! That was a present to both of us in and of itself!

I try to get as many photos with John as I can… Living in Virginia (14 hours from my family & friends) has been a challenge. I want photos to show for our time here. {Que future conversation: “John remember when we lived in Virginia?!”} To be honest, moving away from my family was never in my plan. Ever. Not for college or anything. I have too many cute nieces and nephews to watch grow up!

BUT, I firmly believe that being in Virginia has put me MORE out of my comfort zone than I have ever been. Furthermore, I believe the most growth happens when you are living out of your comfort zone. (Ok, deep thoughts from Emily are done-zo).

How does this relate to John? Well, I made the move to be with John. Being a medical student is seriously a job and a half. There was no way long-distance dating would have worked with us. We would exhaust ourselves by counting down the days til we saw each other again when we were long-distance dating.

Yes, I may be out of my comfort zone. I may miss my family and friends like crazy. BUT, I know that being here with John and having the luxury of spending each day with him is worth it. There’s no better way to build a solid foundation for a marriage than doing it A. with God, of course & B. going through trying times together, thus growing together.

John’s Birthday{Week} Recap

John’s Birthday was last Monday. Yet we celebrated the entire week.

To start his birthday I took him his favorite Krispy Kreme donuts and his birthday card.

He got really giddy when he saw the donuts and opened his card. The card sang the “Stuck Like Glue” song (a favorite of my sister & me.. and John also!) I was able to capture a video of all of this & it is priceless.

I had a busy week with work and traveling but Wednesday night I threw him a party at my house. I only have a couple of photos from it. After work on Wednesday I ran to Wal-Mart to get the goods – it was quite convenient that his birthday is near Super Bowl time – it wasn’t hard to come by guy-appropriate decor! About 20 of his medical school friends came over. It was perfect! He thanked me over and over- I love his appreciation

Then on Saturday we drove to Charlotte, NC to spend the day. It was a blast. I’m crazy over that city.

On Super Bowl Sunday we completed his week of celebration! We went to a party for the first half of the game but I had work to do on the computer so we chilled out the rest of the night.

We had dinner at this delicious Mexican place in Uptown. I loved the people watching there :):)

I ordered my mom a planner from Sweet Tea Paperie – and this was the proof. I just love it! {this is an update for those of you who asked about the brand}