Family away from family='s best of friends!

Easter turned out to be amazing thanks to these people...Our family aways from family, our go to couples, our best friends ;) Love them dearly!! The pictures say enough!

A little bit of fake hair and friendship

Before I got married I was told that you tend to not have as much fun when you are married....well that just depends I guess.

Last night I laid in bed at 2:55 a.m after a long night out with Anthony, Lauren and Purkey. We went out to a country bar last night in honor of a guy who got in a car accident and unfortunately is in a coma. All of the money from the bar went to help his family with the financial burden of having someone in a coma for 6 months. It had been a long time since Anthony and I had gone out to a bar together. Typically, I go out with my girlfriends and the boys go fishing, watch a game on t.v. or stay home playing madden.

It was exciting to go out...especially because Lauren and Purkey decided to go out too. We always have so much fun with them. We have two couples that we always hang out with; Lyndsay and Nick and Lauren and Purkey. Every time we are together we have such a great time and it's just nice to be around couples who are going through similar things in their relationship and have each other to count on. As similar as we all may be...we all have our differences, but it is so great to see how we all deal with our crap.

Anyway, last night was so much fun. We danced, we laughed, we played pool, we ate junk, but the highlight of my day was when we lost Lauren's hair. You see Lauren has hair extensions and when we were leaving the bar she decided to take them off. She had them on her lap the whole car ride and the boys kept making fun of her "white girl weave" haha. When we got to the entrance of the apartment we didn't have a gate key to get in. Lauren got out of the car to get this guy to open the gate (mind you it was 2:10 by this time). He opened the gate we got back in the car and headed to her apartment. Then she started freaking out because she could not find her hair. Turns out she had dropped it when she got out of the car and it was probably the funniest thing in the world to drive up to the entrance and find hair extensions on the floor exactly where she had dropped it. It was definitely a, "you should have been there moment."

This morning I was just thinking of last night. I had so much fun! It was a simple night, but a night where I laughed more than I have in the longest time...I literally almost peed my pants at times. I realized how much fun I had. So to those who think you stop having fun when you get married....well they are wrong. Fun and Life is all about what you make it and definitely your friends too!! I love them!

Wondering......

About what the future holds for Anthony & I. We are both so close to graduating and getting back to the "real life" and not this college life; it's pretty scary. I am scared, but at the same time excited. I am ready for the next chapter in our book, to see what God has in store for us.....things like our careers, buying a house, having kids & other things we don't know....every thing so close, but yet so far. I am eager to see how our life will turn out. I am nervous and clueless about so many things, but I do know that I am falling more in love with Anthony each day. And as long as Jesus and Anthony are by my side.....everything is going to be alright!

Our Bucket List

1. Go on a hot air balloon.
2. Travel with each other as much as we can where ever we can go.
3. Become parents.
4. Adopt two kids.
5. Help Saidi graduate from high school and get into college.
6. Go on a fishing trip.
7. Find my father.
8. Fly to NY for the day have dinner and watch a Broadway show....just because.
9. Go to Italy (hopefully can cross this one out soon).
10. Help someone in need.
11. Watch the sunset on the grand canyon.
12. Witness something incredible.
13. Be successful at what we do.
14. Go on a safari in Africa.
15. Visit New Zealand and Australia.
16. Ride an Elephant in India.
17. Get our masters.
18. See the Great Wall of China and visit the Emperor Qin Terra-cotta Army underground tomb.
19. Go to Angel Falls.
20. Visit Stonehenge (hopefully soon)
21. Go to Italy during Christmas time.
22. Witness true beauty.
23. Go on a cruise to Alaska.
24. Buy a house.
25. Buy a Jeep.
26. Go on a road trip to the West Coast.
27. World Cup in Brazil, 2014.
28. Never put money before God or family.
29. Share our treasures.
30. Visit Madagascar, Fiji, and Bora Bora.
31. Own a boat.
32. Never caught up on status.
33. Always be a leaning shoulder for a friend.
34. Never think of ourselves as "too good" to help a person in need.
35. Be generous, loving and kind.
36. Go swimming with Dolphins.
37. Travel through Asia.
38. Sky dive.
39. Go to as many Hard Rocks as we can.
40. Never give up!

Family Vacation

For about 10 years, my family went on Disney vacations and they were awesome. Anthony's family on the other hand went on beach vacations every year. Being a Florida girl, I guess my family never had a need for that considering the beach is a 20 minute drive and we would do bbq's there all the time. I have always heard about this family tradition Anthony shared with his family. Well I finally got to experience it and it was a lot of fun....I got to spend a lot of time with the fam and with cute little Brady, who is a freaking doll and most importantly, I was able to be a part of thatwonderful memory that Anthony always spoke about. Here are some pictures :)

Better Days

It's been a while since I blogged....I have been busy with life. Anyway, yesterday was an awful day. We went on a family vacation with Anthony's family and yesterday was the day we said good bye to everyone. Then Anthony and I got on the road, and every thing was great, until we got into a three hours argument. Yes, 3 WHOLE hours. It was awful! The reason we got into the fight was very dumb and after 3 hours fighting and 1 hour giving each other the silent treatment we both realized how ridiculous we were being. So we decided to turn our day around; we ordered pizza and watched a movie together. It was a great ending to our night and I was so glad we got over our fight and both were willing to forgive each other. I really think we both wanted to stop fighting 10 minutes into the argument, but our pride got in our way. We both discussed how to prevent this argument from happening because it sucked. I mean Anthony is my bestest friend and being mad at him or him being mad at me is simply the worst thing ever.

But any way, today, unlike yesterday, was a completely different day. Today was simply AMAZING. We had such a great day. We woke up went to church, did groceries, hung out with Chi, made smoothies, went to Barnes & noble read books together and bought a book on Europe, bought a pair of glasses, and had habatchi. Talk about a wonderful day! I mean aside the fact that we have spent all the money we set aside monthly for entertainment and it's only the 10th day of the week ;). I think it'll be worth staying in the rest of the month for a day like today!

My little Saidi :)

Last year, as many of you may know, I went on a missionary trip to Africa and it has been one of the most influential trips of my life. It has changed my life and in many ways Anthony's life. I would have never thought that one trip could change my life, but it has.

When I first decided to go to Africa, my thought was "I could go to Africa and change these people's life forever!" How silly was I to think I could go to there and change people. Well when I got there, as I took in every thing around me, I started

to pray and I asked God so many questions...one of them being, "Lord, why am I here?" It took me a long time to realize why I was there. I was there because I needed it. I was there because I needed to learn to be a good wife. I was there because I was a lost sheep. I was there because I loved God. I was there because I needed to learn to be humble. I was there because I need to so many things that I didn't know I needed. The past I have had with relationships and family had messed me up in the head and I didn't REALLY know how to love, until after I went to Africa. It wasn't until Africa that I really learned to love myself, Anthony and God.

Most importantly, in Africa I met Saidi. Saidi is the sweetest little boy in the world. Him and his brother Julius are such great partners :). They spend so much time together and they love Christ! How awesome is that? A 5 year old who love Christ and knows about him? AMAZING! When I met Saidi he was wearing dirty clothes, as if he had never owned any other, didn't have any shoes on, he looked so sad and he was very shy. He wouldn't talk to me or even look into my eyes, so I made it my personal mission to talk to him and get to know him. By the end on my trip we were playing soccer, laughing and just having a good time. He was just amazing...it was at that point that I started contemplating smuggling him in my luggage :). I was really sad that I had to say by to Saidi, but I made myself a promise that I would take care of him! I knew I couldn't make a difference in all the African people, but I wanted to make a difference in this little boys life. As soon as I got home I sent him clothes and shoes and it was so great to get a picture of him wearing the clothes I got him.

I mean look at him doesn't he look so handsome?! Thinking back, I was never intended to go to Africa to change people life....it was me who changed. And I am so grateful for that....so if you ever get the opportunity to go.....GO because it will change your life forever!!

I really wish I could adopt Saidi, but unfortunately all I can do is send him money every month for his food and school since Malawi's laws are so strict with adoption. Anthony and I plan on sponsoring Saidi for as long as we can and we hope it makes a difference in his life. If by chance any of you are interested in going to Africa or sponsoring a kid let me know....there are so many kids that need sponsors.

Our adventure

As many of you may know.......we absolutely love to travel or rather I love to travel and Anthony tags along :). Therefore, you can only imagine how exciting today was for us......we bought our tickets to Europe!! We are so thrilled about this trip and have been saving for the past 6 months. It is a 20 day trip and we will be going to England, Amsterdam, France, Switzerland and Italy. We went and bought our NorthFace backpacks because we plan on backpacking, but we will also be staying with Anthony's family in England and in Italy; which completely excites me! I absolutely love meeting his family and seeing where the Carbon's come from.

I am absolutely looking forward to eating lots of new things, especially chocolate in Switzerland and real Italian cannolis...Yummy!! I will definitely try to keep y'all posted during the whole trip and update you all on our daily adventures.

<3 KC

Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel

Anthony and I really enjoy going to Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel to get ideas on how to furnish our future house...when ever that day comes. We absolutely love everything they have in these store. Crate & Barrel is definitely the place I want to go shopping for kitchen stuff. they have the cutest kitchen utensils and as most of you may know, I am obsessed with mini things, and they have every thing mini, well almost every thing. For instance, today when we went I saw the cutest mini spatulas...they were absolutely adorable!!! Pottery Barn is definitely the place I dream my furniture will come from....or at least where we will get our ideas from since we probably won't be able to afford it on a teacher's salary.....a girl can dream :). But anyway here are some of the things we saw that we loved that I thought I would share....enjoy.

I am in love with this living room display!

I have to say this is the most amazing table ever. Considering Anthony and I want to have a lot of kids...this is perfect for us.

I am in love with this media center from Pottery barn. It would be perfect with our flat screen and a big wrap around couch.

Great outdoor furniture. Makes me want to sip on a margarita!

We really love this mirror and it would look great in a house close to the beach ;)

How about this organizer for the kitchen...it's like a little bar. Pretty awesome!

& I absolutely love this organizer....they are so useful!

These were just a few :) Hope you enjoyed!

Oh how interesting life can be!

When I woke up this morning, I was in the mood to clean!! Anthony absolutely hates days like today...can't really blame him. When I get in the mood to clean, I simply want to clean EVERYTHING! I like to move furniture from one corner of the living room to the other and vacuum behind every little crack where dust could possibly be. I mean, if it isn't for me cleaning, this house would be filled with spider webs and I can't have that.

Today I started in the bedroom, I changed the sheets and put new sheets that we got from Anthony's grandmother. I love the smell of new, clean sheets, especially when they are nice sheets that feel like silk. I dusted everything you could imagine and I could already tell Anthony was getting annoyed with me. He seems to have selective hearing in situations like these. For instance, when I ask him to dust his night stand or if he could put the laundry in the wash he looks at Chicago, as if I were talking to Chi and not him. I'm sure he wishes Chicago would do chores around the house and I'm almost sure he is envious of Chicago's life; you know, not doing anything, but the basics. Typically conversations about us having kids is a big taboo, but every time we are cleaning it seems his fatherly instincts kick in. He is always saying, "I can't wait until we have kids so they can do all the chores and I don't have too." Our poor children :).

Thinking about Anthony's annoyed face, right now, make me laugh, because I know how much he doesn't want to help me clean, but honestly, at that very moment when he is ignoring me or trying to avoid me I get so irritated with him. I can't really be upset with him because he helps me all the time. He just hates when I get in the Mrs. OCD mood, which I believe I get from my mother. And as this sudden thought creeps in to my mind, I remember how much I hated cleaning when I was younger because of my mother. Oh my, have I become a mini version of my mom? I remember swearing I would never be like her and here I am, exactly like her. Oh how interesting life can be. Well, I guess I am not as bad as she was considering Anthony left to school before I even finished cleaning the bedroom. He had to leave early to work on school stuff, I wonder if he made that up just to get out of cleaning! Ha, sounds like something I would have tried when I was younger.

Regardless, I love Ant! I can't complain about that man because he helps me so much around the house. I think he rather do it in little sections instead of the whole house like I do. Better than him never doing anything at all. And in all honestly, I don't mind being a little like my mother...after all, I turned out all right!

Where it all starts...

I have decided to start a blog basically to speak my mind. By no means am I a writer, or think I am one, therefore, please don't criticize my lack of good writing and grammar :).

Today, as I was thinking of starting this blog, I was thinking of what it means to be truly happy. I always find myself wondering if happiness means the same to you as it does to me and as I think of people in my life, I come to realize that happiness has different faces, but for the most part we all get happy about the same things.

I want happiness that comes from being a follower in Christ, a good friend, a good wife, a good daughter and sister, a good in-law, simply a good person. When I think of the happiest moments in my life, I get this feeling in my stomach that I cannot control. It's the kind of feeling that eases you, yet makes you get jittery all at the same time.....simply unexplainable.

I also think back to the hapiness that filled the people in Africa, the type of happiness that comes from having faith in Christ and believing in the good of the world, eventhough you seldom experience it. Happiness that comes from seeing a child glow because you gave them a gummy bear, happiness from realizing that an iphone can hold hundreds of songs you enjoy (or seeing an iphone for the first time), happiness that comes from eating meat instead of Nzima, happiness because you see your friend learn a verse from the bible, happiness from getting a job that pays $20 a month; happiness we all take for granted. I had never experienced that type of happiness in my life; simple happiness.

I have to say, the happiest moments of my life are simply simple. I can remember these moments as if they were happening now, like, the way I looked into Anthony's watery eyes when we said our "I, do's," or the sound of the African drums, or the feeling I got when I saw the most important woman in my life after 18 years, or the way my eyes watered watching family celebrate the birth of a child, or the laughter that filled the room when catching up with friends, or the reconciliation of a friendship I thought was lost forever, or the taste of the best darn philly cheese steak in the world, or the buzzer going off in your ear because you said one the taboo words, or the sound oof people praying around you, for you, or the day I got to make green eggs and ham for my students....even the days when there is utter silence and I find peace in my heart.

Those are the moments I treasure and those are the days that keep me going. My happiness is not defined by a big house, a nice car, and a lot of money, it's simply made up of simplicity.