It’s our Anniversary

One year together has been…

Fun

Hard

Happy

Stressful

Loving

Challenging

Growing

and worth every minute

of this adventure.

We decided to celebrate

in Orlando

There was lots of traffic on I-4

I wore my favorite new shoes; since we’d be walking a lot ,I opted for comfort over diva style!

Can you tell Andrew was driving?

We stayed in this Hotel for the weekend and Andrew and I had jokes

for days. It felt like one point away from the motel 6.

It was so bad but we still had fun.

We vowed to stay in crappy hotels for each anniversary like rock stars on tour!

This McDonald’s is voted number 1 Mickey D’s to “play in” We didn’t go in but it was nice eye candy.

Tropical drinks

Sleepy Eyes and hungry bellies as we wait for dinner

The next day we woke up late and missed our continental breakfast

so we had breakfast on I-Drive at our favorite place

I-hop!

I-hop was packed so we waited along with half of Orlando to eat

Andrew and I had to make a stop at our favorite

Fro-yo spot, Menchies

Watch as I go goo-goo for Menchie’s cake batter froyo

Watch Andrew go ga-ga for Menchie’s Cotton Candy Fro-yo

Andrew goes cray-cray for Redbox

We even matched like cheesy newlyweds!

I’m very thankful for a year together with the greatest man I know.

I’m thankful for all the love we shared from our friends and family today.

We were serenaded by our beautiful friend Evey via phone message.

She sang “anniversary” by, Tony Toni Tone

I can’t wait for what this year has in store for us.

This is life after jumping the broom,

BerthineCanty@gmail.com

Reminiscing

It still surprises me that a year ago

around this time I was so very stressed.

Andrew and I were nearly strangling each other

trying to figure out how we would get through

the last details of the wedding

and our moving in together.

I wouldn’t change that time in my life for anything

because I learned so much about time management.

I learned so much about myself, and Andrew

I grew closer to my new family members

that welcomed me with open arms

and help me not to be so stressed.

I know we only got through it all

because of our love for Jesus,

he continues to be the center of our marriage

as he was then the center of our engagement.

************************

As a gift to us

our friends Candice, and Fulei through us an anniversary

photo shoot before our actual anniversary.

Fulei has a degree in fashion so of course she was out stylist and my make-up artist.

Candice has a great eye, and is the wonderful photographer behind our pictures.

As we battled the grueling winds of Clearwater Beach

and the sand whipping our backs

I continued to ask myself how

do models and full-time photographers do this for a living?

It was not as easy as the finishing product looks.

She hasn’t finished editing  all the pictures

but she has given me a sample of what is to come and

I am in love.

They made us look Goooooooooooooood.

What do you think?

There are way more and I will be sure to post as soon as she edits.

For now I am just thankful for the memories we have built this year

and the many memories that are to come for us.

This is life after jumping the broom,

BerthineCanty@gmail.com

Our Valentine’s day

Our first Valentine’s as a married couple

was  simply perfect

Our camera isn’t the best but hopefully it can

tell the story of our day

When I picked Andrew up from work

I was greeted with a bag of goodies!

I couldn’t open since I was being dropped off

to my class (Preaching,Teaching,Storytelling)

I left class early and we were both dressed up

looking pretty sharp for some newlyweds

The GPS led the way and I had no idea where we were going

but I hope,wished, and prayed it was a certain place.

My prayer was answered because we spent the night here

Cinebistro is dinner and a movie meets bourgeois

and it is located in the beautiful Hyde park

It has been one of my favorite places ever since

Andrew and I double dated with our great friends

to see Green Goblet (SN: I didn’t care too much for that movie)

The seats made our behind’s smile

We watched this beautiful movie

Though it was a cliché movie to see on a Valentine’s day

we both actually enjoyed it

Rachel McAdams is just so good

at playing the love interest in

romantic movies.

I ended my night becoming the proud parent of

pink tulips

Her name is Gabrielle

isn’t she beautiful.. she has my eyes

***************

I loved our first V-day as husband and wife and look

forward to many more

This is life after jumping the broom,

BerthineCanty@gmail.com

Preschool here I come!

Andrew and I were married March of 2011

I lost my administrative assistant position in February of 2011

Needless to say that was a hard way to begin a marriage

But we never lost sight that God would provide a way for us

It is almost March and our lease is almost up and

we didn’t get evicted! (yay) lol

After countless job applications

to places I know that I wouldn’t be a great fit for

I finally decided to just use the gift that I’ve God blessed me with

Loving children!

I offered my services to anyone I knew that had a child/children

and that really helped out with finances.

After all the encouragement from the parents that I sit for

and close friends I took my daycare certification courses

and passed my test(whooHoo)

Sidenote: The test was very hard!

I began applying for jobs on Wednesday

Got a call for an interview the following Tuesday

Interviewed and hired by Monday!

I’m amazed by the provision of Jesus!

So in a few weeks this will be my 2nd home

Don’t you just love the bright colors

This will be me

Picture courtesy of MadameNoire.com

I’m super excited and can’t wait to start playing/ teaching my tiny friends

Improv

Andrew and I love to laugh and make others as well as each other laugh.

It’s sort of ironic since we both can be somewhat timid and soft-spoken

but we both have extroverted tendencies

especially around the right group of friends or family.

We thought it would be fun to bring our love for laughter together by

taking an improv class together.

I had already been apart of level 1 of the improv class last year

and it was such a stress reliever and an amazing time

+

that is me in the middle and my best friend Ortheline on the left

The above picture was taken at our final class/showcase where we invited all of our friends and family to see all the great tips we learned and make them laugh of course

I blame my dad for my goofy side. He is such a funny guy and he doesn’t even try to be.

anyways, Andrew and I are in the level 2 class together and it has been challenging but fun nonetheless

We try not to be on stage together and work with new partners to give ourselves more of a challenge, but once we did have a scene together and it went great.

Andrew was a prison guard and I was the prisoner. Only i was in prison for keeping a deep dark secret for him and in return he was supposed to treat me more special than the other inmates. He had not been keeping his side of the bargain and I was getting frustrated. It was hilarious. He had a deep southern drawl and I just sounded very devious. Playing pretend with people is fun, I think I could get paid for this

warm up in Level II

Our class is filled with such talented, and hilarious people

which makes improv even better.

Charlotte, and I in a fun a scene

So we had to talk without words just numbers. For example: “How are you?=

1 2 3?

So Charlotte is the student that doesn’t get what I’m teaching her and I’m the teacher obviously (like you can tell from the picture alone.)

By now I’m frustrated with her and we are on number 23 (we have to have a full convo up to the number 40)

I end back at imaginary chalk board and Charlotte finally gets it.. lol

Improv is amazing and if you’ve never had a conversation just with numbers

you should try it, see how far you get.

This is life after jumping the broom,

BerthineCanty@gmail.com

New Blog

I like wordpress so much

I’ve decided to add another Blog Page

I tend to like to go off subject on this Marriage blog

so to avoid doing this

I started Introverted Eyes

A blog including my everlasting thoughts

my passion for Jesus

my love for written art

and just life through the eyes of an Introvert.

It still needs some touching up but stop by whenever you please.

Oh. Don’t worry I am still married so i still will be writing over here of course.

signing off

Ten months deep

10 months sure has flown by

Within these 10 months I have learned so much

I feel completely exposed in my marriage because my struggles are not my own

they affect Andrew as well, that’s why it is important for me to have time with Jesus

One problem that has been exposed through marriage is my lack of motivation

Sometimes when “things” get too hard I prefer to quit, or worse, run away

and come back when I have indulged in some sort of unhealthy outlet.

What outlets you may wonder?

watching too much TV (so guilty)

- eating when I’m far from hungry

- sleeping in the day

laziness

The list goes on and on.

I’ve been encouraged by the advice of my married friends these past months

but recently I have found @LifewayMarriage  and @Themarriagebed through twitter

and they tweet inspirational marriage advice daily.

These daily tweets are the cherry to my sundae, and what I look forward to in the day.

Some are fun like “Sex without love is like eating dirt – it kills your hunger, but it does not give you what you need”- @TheMarriagebed

and some are challenging; “ The areas we hide in darkness R also the areas of our future defeat. (see 1 John 1:7) « Deal with them!”- @TheMarriagebed

@LifewayMarriage included a great article about what makes a successful marriage here .

I know in my marriage I can never be a perfect wife (if she exist can I get tips from her?)

But I also know that beating myself up isn’t going to help the situation either.

So I thank the lord for being 10 months strong

Having wonderful people around me to challenge me when I need correcting

and affirming me when I’m feeling a bit crappy.

These are the joys of marriage

and it brings me joy to share them with you

This is life after jumping the broom,

BerthineCanty@gmail.com