this new bliss

My heart ached knowing it was time to pack up and leave. Like so many other people who feel this same way, I just don’t want the Christmas season to end.

Growing up with a strong family culture backfires on you when you’re grown, hitched, and live thousands of miles away. Leaving home carries with it this cross- the distance. It breaks my heart and over my past two years of living West (first in…

2014 | that was awesome, in photos (warning: serious photo overload)

[Graphic from here.]

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A proposal, wedding vows, and babe on the way later… 2014 was awesome.

It was the year Brad popped the question; the one we lost our favorite Pop Pop (and this Christmas is going to be hard without his light + love + hugs); the year Bradley graduated and landed an awesome job; my first year teaching; the year we said “I do” + found out we’re expecting our first babe.

Mixed…

Unconditional: It doesn't mean what you think it means.

[Not posed but actually praying and kneeling where the Lord would bless our marriage vows just two days later. Captured by Kimberly Florence.]

“Call us naive. I know it’s what you’re thinking.” I wanted to respond.

Instead, I bit my tongue; a skill recently acquired.

Rewind four minutes.

Picture Brad’s office Christmas party. Picture Brad and I standing in the foyer of a fancy home, crowding the…

At Mass + the grocery store (Oh! The places I’ll go..) my black maternity bodicon dress (borrowed from Katrina) fit like fate. I couldn’t help but have my hand on my belly as I sat in the pew or walked around. My mind was thinking baby and my hands were affirmed with this sweet little bump. Up to now it’s been too surreal; it’s just hard to believe! It still is in a way. It’s still crazy to…

One Precious Life: 15 Weeks

There are so many things about this pregnancy that are blowing my mind right now!

Bows or Bow Ties…

While it’s a constant toss-up between Mint Chocolate Chip and Cookie Dough, I struggle with which ice-cream flavor to choose. Deciding whether or not to find out the baby’s sex is no exception to these indecisive tendencies.

This week Harrington babe is about 15-ish weeks, which means we’re getting…

[This is the only Christmas decor us newlyweds own. And it's up! Brad and I love this time of the year so much.]

[At the time we took this thinking we'd use it as a pregnancy announcement. We entertained the idea of some caption about starting the Notre Dame fans young. That didn't happen and now we have this photo that's really not awkward at all of me holding my belly.]

[We are huge…

  [Twelve weeks party with our third favorite Sunday habit.]

[A teeny baby bump might be starting to show!]

Bradley and I have kept a little secret for about eight weeks now. It hasn’t been easy with such joyous news as this. We wanted to shout it out and let the whole world know. And now we can!

We are having a babe of our own!

The due date is exactly nine months after our wedding day on May…

Anchor Point Paper Co. | Labor of Love, part iii

When Emily offered to design our invitations I couldn’t be more excited. The excitement was mostly because she’s incredibly talented. While it was also partly because I had no clue what the heck I was doing. It’d been over a month of being engaged and just six-months from the wedding, I was still scrolling through wedding invite templates that 1,000s of other brides had already used…

There are lots of simple + good things happening right now.

This list began on Sunday, was finished Monday, and is coming to you on Tuesday. So, if you’re confused- no worries! That’s very much justified.

  There is life, and that is good.

There is sugar, and that is good.

There is Second Grade, and that is definitely good as well.

Making : lesson plans for class. Cooking :teriyaki chicken with…

[Looked: beautiful. Tasted: delicious.]

If I told you a mother of 12 drove cross-country (from San Diego, CA to Annapolis, MD) with her children for her third eldest son’s wedding, you’d ask yourself, “Does she has superpowers?” If I then added: she cooked our rehearsal dinner and baked our wedding cake for 150 guests there’d no longer be any question; she has superpowers.

Baking our wedding…

[Homegrown in Grandma's backyard.]

I’ll be writing a few posts of gratitude for all the labors of love that happened for our wedding. The wedding was way too DIY for just a couple of hands to pull off. Many people contributed hours, days, weeks (and even months for some) to make our best day ever all that it was. This first gratitude post is for my Nonnie, my dad’s Mama Cool.

Nonnie grew all of…

“After this, your adventure privileges are revoked for a long time,” he told me, so seriously, with no bit of kidding or spousal teasing.

I can’t believe he went there. My adventure card? Doesn’t he know that “going on adventures with my husband” is my favorite thing to do? It’s a fact; I wrote it down.

It was a bit warranted though. We’d been on the same damn rocky road for one-hour and…

My big sister: a post about an encouraging, selfless + crazy cat lady, with perfect skin

All my memories growing up involve her. Not even 15.5 months apart, we were best buds.

She almost never led me astray. Aside from one noteworthy Christmas Eve. Someone from school claimed Santa wasn’t real, and we determined to settle this rumor once and for all. It was simple, once Mom + Dad thought we’d fallen asleep, we’d head up stairs to check out the tree and catch Santa in the act. Genius;…

FYTD Update  |  My self-proclaimed first year teacher diaries

“Why does this dress feel different today than all the other days I’ve worn it,” I asked myself while stepping into the public restroom at school. “Oh no. It came with a slip. This dress is see-through! It’s sheer. Duh. Ah!”

It was two minutes before the morning bell.

Four safety pins and a long sweater later, I was ready to rock and…

At 12:45 AM Saturday morning we pulled into Brad’s family’s driveway. After the 5.5 hour drive, it felt so good to finally arrive.

We’d made a getaway for San Diego seeing as I have this next week beautifully-wide open (it’s Fall Break at school) and Brad has this one week before starting his new job.

Pulling into the drive, Meaghan, one of Brad’s little sisters, greeted us first (with a big…

Smile in 3.. 2.. 1..!

The photo booth was a hit. So much so that it took the company an unusual amount of time to upload our photos because there were just so many!

I knew that I really, really wanted a photo booth for the reception but they all were so dang expensive! The kindest woman who works for Photo-matica and is also in my mom’s Bible Study, offered to work the booth for us at a super reduced price. She said…