Wedding Pics!!!

I'm so excited to share that some of our wedding pics were just posted on The Schultzes Blog!! Check them out and let me know what you think!

www.lovetheschultzes.com/blog

Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!

www.loveaffairworkshop.com

Yard Sale Treasures:)

Yard sale season is upon us! My friends Natalie, Rachel and I went out looking for treasures this past saturday and i found a few. Since we are in the process of decorating and getting our house in order, it was hard not to buy more but i tried to use some restraint for my husband's sake:)

I found this window with a mirror already behind it. I was planning to do this project with a window so it saved me some time! Now, I'm just trying to decide whether to paint it or not...

I also found 6 of these blue Mason Jars. Not sure where they will go yet but i couldn't pass up the blue because they are super hard to find...

We actually found this distressed coffee table at the Habitat for Humanity Restore where they had some vendors set up. This little beauty is completely hand-made and i love it!

I know you are loving our 70's couch in the mirror. If you want a piece of that thing, make sure to come to our yard sale May 22nd!

Anyone else out there finding any yard sale treasures??

Happy Birthday to my love!

Today is Matt's birthday:)! B/c birthdays are super special in my family, i wanted to try to live up to that for Matt's birthday this year. I wanted Matt to feel special his entire birth-week. If you are unsure about what a birth-week is, check out my birthday post last year.

So every day this past week (last Tues through today), at a random time in the day, i gave matt some sort of birthday gift:) Some days it was a small as his favorite mint, a DIY bathroom re-model book, shoes or his BIG gift- GUITAR HERO!! See, Matt is not a gift person at all, he just never wants anything and is content with whatever he has. This is a great quality in normal circumstances, but makes him very hard to buy for. I always want to give him a gift that he will really love as well as something completely unexpected. Guitar Hero was JUST THAT. He had no clue that I was getting it or even that he really wanted it. But every time we go to Matt's brother's house he always wants to play... and as we are leaving i feel like i am pulling a child out the door with the constant, "one more game....". We celebrated his birthday at my mom's last night so i went ahead gave him his big gift. Needless to say, he loved it.

After a yummy dinner cooked by my mom, present opening and banana pudding for dessert (Matt's fave), we watched to show "Minute to Win it". Has anyone seen that show? We love it!

Here is a wonderful shot of my sister trying to get a cookie from her forehead to her mouth only using her facial muscles... haha!

Handmade love- Sutton Spring Collectives

If you met my friend Sarah at the wedding, i'm sure it didn't take you long to figure out how creative she is. Particularly when it comes to all things sewing. The last time I went to visit her she taught me to make a whole dress in a weekend. It was SO fun and i was SURE i wanted to start making clothes, start a business and end up on project runway. One of my "dreams". But of course i never really got to it when i got home and so all i have sown since is pillow covers:/.

I've be telling Sarah for MONTHS to start an Etsy shop and she is finally doing it! LUCKY for all of us:) See, her sister Martha is as good as she is and so the 2 of the together make, dun. dun dun...

Sutton Spring Collectives!

The Sutton Sping Collectives Etsy Shop is not open just yet but you can check out some of their work on their blog and start picking out your favorites! Show them some love while your at it:)

Amazing stuff...

Here is a pic of Sarah and I- I am wearing the apron she MADE for me. And she made Matt and manly one that matches the band in the middle.

LOVE IT:)

i'm a dreamer

I am such a dreamer. Every now and then it hits me (usually hard) that most of the things i have dreamed of in my adult life (and some from my childhood) have not actually happened. Mainly because it would be highly impossible for them all to happen in one life time. Some of my dreams even contradict themselves. Nonetheless, this never fails to lead me into one of those days where i am more down than up, don't do much talking, b/c i am constantly thinking about how my life would have turned out if i would have gone this direction or that...

Yesterday was one of those days and here are some of the dreams i recounted- i know some of them are laughable but dreams are suppose to be ridiculous sometimes....

being a corporate supersta'- a dynamic team leader or manager

working for the media in production or photography

winning 'so you think you can dance' (i said some were ridiculous)

being a professional violinist

teaching

working for a social needs group in america

being a mother to many

being a wedding photographer or planner

living overseas long term

working in NYC in the fashion industry

living in america long term

opening a store and/or etsy shop for distressed, shabby furniture and other decorative pieces that i re-do

The thing is, i am one of those 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None' type of people. I am good at a lot of things but not great or professional at anything. I also have a pretty short attention span so i get on "kicks" if you will... My day yesterday mainly had to do with not being a professional at something. I had this overwhelming desire to look back on my life and say, I worked as a teacher or in marketing or as a nurse before i had kids...

I'm not complaining, i have nothing to complain about- i love my life and where it is right now. I think no matter where i am, i will dream ridiculous dreams about he future and think about what the past could have been. Simply because i'm a dreamer.

Matt is SUCH a supporter of my dreams. He is not so much a dreamer but more into making dreams reality, which is so good for me. So, for one my my wedding gifts he got me this...

Now i just have to get out there and USE IT. :)

hitched for a month!

In light of our one month anniversary TODAY:) i thought i would come up with "the top ten reasons i love being married to matthew tucker"...

10- ok, i really do like having tucker as my last name.

9- matt gives me massages a lot and knows how to make my coffee just right.

8- matt is mr. fix-it and i am a decorative and artsy type which makes it fun re-do every room in our house (most of the time:)- we make a great team.

7- he let's me sleep in on saturdays guilt-free

6- he is wise with money but also generous. that makes me feel secure.

5- matt is the smartest person i know, and so committed.

4- he will be an amazing dad and looks forward to it. He also entertains my idea of having 5 or more children:)

3- he keeps me accountable to read the Bible in the mornings b/c he does it every single day.

2- matt does not ever want to plant our roots too deep. He always talk about the future as an open slate, and i truly believe he would go anywhere or do anything if He feels there is a need and the Lord is leading.

1- Matt is the best other half this girl could have ever asked for- if you know me, you know i am loud, talk too much, say things i don't mean sometimes, overly emotional, dramatic, high strung- he is the opposite of all of these things and teaches me so much daily. I couldn't think of anyone better to share my life with. :)

Here is a sneak peek of our wedding pics just posted on The Schultzes Blog:)

YARD SALE!!!

That's right folks! We're having another one. This time we are doing it in conjunction with Chuck and Ashley Moore so there will be LOTS of great finds. The date is either Sat. May 15th or the 22nd:)

Come support our fight against hoarding.

made a wedding blog!

one of my bridal portraits made a wedding blog! this is so exciting to me b/c i was constantly scouring wedding blogs when we were planning the wedding and always wondered what it would be like to be on one... well, wonder no more!

check the blog out here:)

Christmas in the Middle East

On Dec. 18th, Matt and I left America to spend Christmas with our friends- James, Blair and Roman at their home in the Middle East. My family was not too excited about me spending another Christmas in the Middle East but they were willing to give us up for J,B&R:) It was an amazing trip once we finally got there... if you would like to know more about why our trip was so delayed check out this post. After spending about 24hrs in Lebanon (I'll post about our time there next) we headed to their home with all bags (shockingly) except the one that was for J&B (with the Christmas presents!), with a promise that it would be sent as soon as it arrived in Lebanon. If you've ever lived in the Middle East you understand why i did not have a ton of faith in this promise. Insh'allah (If God wills) has a whole new meaning in the ME! Since people seem to like pictures better than words, i think i'll just post some and narrate.

So without further adieu...

First and foremost, we were able to meet this little guy- Roman Willis Weddington. Having a new born, Blair was definitely lacking sleep when we got there. I wanted to help as much as possible so we developed a little system where Blair would hand Roman off to me after his morning feeding around 7am. Depending on his schedule that day, we would nap together, play or just hang out. No matter what we were doing, i loved my time with this little man!

This was how Roman got around outdoors most of the time. Matt and I were always amazed at how Blair would wrap piece of cloth and tuck Roman right down in there. It looks so dang comfy. I definitely want one of those when i have a little one:)

Here is Matt and I in front of a traditional style gate. It is more appropriate for girls to cover their hair where we were, so i got to wear different scarves in different ways throughout the weeks. It was fun coming up with ways to make the scarf look stylish, but I'm sure it could get tiresome doing it all the time.

A shot from one of the rooftops in the Old City. Isn't the architecture amazing?? Who could have ever though a place smack-dab in the middle of the desert could be so beautiful...?

Spices, beans and rice for sale in the market.

Walking through the market. If you want to know what is in the side of that man's jaw, it is called Qat- it would take too long to explain what it is, just google it if you are interested.

We did our fair share of shopping in the market too. Looks like Matt found something really nice:)

Most of the time though, we just hung out and James and Blair's place and spent time together. The green in the back ground is the remnant of mine and Blair's tissue-paper-flower making. If you were at our wedding, you should know exactly what those are:)

A closer look. I love these things.

James and Blair's bag actually did come in as promised. And on Christmas night! We had such a good time exchanging gifts but the bag was mostly filled with things for the little man. Here is Blair getting excited about Roman's goodies the morning after Christmas:)

We decided the last night we were there, which happened to be New Years night, that we actually needed a pics of the 5 of us. :)

We were so tired that we actually rang in the New Year a few minutes early- haha! It was still such a fun night even though we are old.

One of my favorite pics:) James, you are hilarious.

honest.

Lately i have realized that i have become a bad blogger. Not just bad in that i dont post much, which i don't- but bad in that my blogs don't seem nearly as interesting as they were when i was overseas. My blog actually died about my last 6 months in Lebanon b/c of awful internet, but before that it was pretty rockin'. I was reminiscing about overseas life with Matt the other night and decided to pull up my blog. I read him post after post and after every one, i would say, "i wrote that?" The thoughts just seemed so hopeful, and it was a hope that i am not sure i have anymore. So the past few days i was been really thinking about why that hope has somehow disappeared, or is hiding....

One reason is simply moving back to America. I hate to blame everything on America so maybe it is not so much America and more, not being so far away from America. Ok, maybe that's the same thing. Either way, what i am trying to say is that when i was overseas i had so much hope about america, what things could be, how people in my family and friends could grow and change for the better- and when i got back i just realized that for the most part things were the same. It is just so easy to change things in your mind when you are so far away for so long. I had planned share Christ to family and friends who i just knew would respond differently this time. Yet they responded that same way that always had. Or worse, the same fears i dealt with sharing before i left were still there and i didn't even do it. I realized that although i had changed things in my mind, reality had not changed much at all.

It's just hard to balance hope with reality. I'm working on it.

All this to say, i am going to work on making my blog more interesting, hopeful, deep... or maybe just honest. I think my blog is not as fun anymore b/c i care so much more about what people think living in America than i did overseas. Sorry to blame you again, America- you are just the punching bag today. Blah. I hate that i am not as confident here. I hate all insecurity struggles, especially my own.

As i was reading through my old blog, this [To Live is Christ] was one of those "I wrote that?" posts. Something i wrote almost 4 years ago encouraged encouraged me now, and it was pretty awesome.

BACK... with a new name and everything:)

LOTS has happened in my life as of late and updating my blog has not been high on the priority list... But i am REALLY going to try to change that and start updating again.... Sorry for my absence, friends!

I posted last about our unbelievable experience at Chicago O'hare airport but never followed up with our trip to the Middle East which is why we were flying through Chicago in the first place... I'll get to those posts soon!

Since our trip, something slightly big happened in mine and Matt's life together... We got married!:) yay!! I am now Angela Elrod Tucker... The whole Angela Tucker thing has been slightly hard to get use too... ok, REALLY hard... I just dont feel like Angela Tucker yet. I haven't got my name legally changed yet so maybe that will help (hopefully will happen next week!). It is just that many people have called me Elrod, the Rod, El, and more, for years now and so i feel like this is quite the identity crisis. Not that i dont like Tucker, in fact, i love the name:) Many people have told me it is a much better name than Elrod (who says that!?!), I just think it is going to take some getting use to.... My new identity has been about he only difficult thing in my new married life though. I thought moving in with Matt was going to be so hard, living with a boy and not living with my mom and sis. It was hard the first night but has been pretty awesome since. Major answer to prayer:) (thanks Kendar)

I don't have wedding pics yet but my bridals portraits have been posted on Cheyenne's blog here. Enjoy those until i get the wedding pics:) I love how the portraits turned out, and besides the fact that is was freezing towards the end (the scarf was not just for style) it was such a good time.

Be back soon!

love,

angela tucker (ouch.)