#fremdersforever: Portraits

Happy Monday everyone!!

I'm up at 5am because Drew is up at 5am.

Now, I am NOT a morning person. Actually, I will go right back to sleep after I write this. Buuuuut if I get up and help Drew with his breakfast and lunch while he gets ready for work, then he is a happy husband which makes me a happy wife! And I get to zombie write this Bridal post for you- yay!

Theres not much to say actually, I mean I'm just posting a ton of pictures of myself and thats kind of weird to start with soooooo- Daniel Colvin Photography, ladies and gents! Yay!

I mean, everyone wants a bridal portrait like this, yeah? ;)

oh heeeeey there fancy man!!

Now, maybe you noticed, but I threw some pictures of my handsome groom in there. I tell ya, whew! I'm a lucky girl.

So there you have it, lots of cheesin and happiness on our wedding day!!

#fremdersforever was the hashtag we chose for our wedding....and we're still using it today! Follow us on instagram for life updates :) We are @paigebrownflute and @drewsefer

If you love Daniel's work as much as we do, be sure to follow him on Facebook!

Next time I'll be sharing a little bit about our "bridal party" along with some others :)

HOME (long winded but worth it)

HOWDY Y'ALL!

This post is almost three whole weeks delayed, but as you'll soon understand, life has been a bit of a whirlwind!!!

I can't tell you how good it feels to be on a laptop looking at blogger and being able to access all of its functions without a hitch....and having my photos right there just a click away! My iPad was NOT very kind to me when it came to blogging the past six months. But I also feel like the contents of the last six months weren't very blog friendly for me, but thats ok! I'm home and I'm back and I'm looking forward to probably starting my readership from scratch again. Oops...sorry guys and thanks so much for sticking with me if you're reading this!!!

I finished my flute course with Trevor Wye in England and flew home (USA home, not TX home) on March 31st. I didn't blog through most of my time in England because I was focusing on the flute, which is why I was there. Also being in the same tiny place all day er day for six months is not extremely stimulating for the creative brain juices. Anywhooooo I still have a trips to London, Canterbury, and Paris that I would like to share some very unprofessional photos of. They'll just be, you know, 4-6 months late! Oh. Well.

This is Trevor, super famous flute teacher, dropping us off at the airport! Byyyyye Trevor!!

So now we're getting to the fun stuff. Hiiiii. I'm back!!! Mexican food and pizza please!

***Necessary background story***

I was completely convinced that Drew would NOT be picking me up from the airport. He plays in the Annapolis Symphony and had rehearsals all that week (I got in on a Monday) and since he isn't a tenured member he wasn't allowed to take a rehearsal off without giving up playing on the whole concert.  SO, we were sad. I mean, six months, and then an extra 5 grueling hours before we could see each other?? Mega bummer. BUT our super amazing friends Manny and Sarah (who live in Annapolis) agreed to pick me up, which was totally awesome, and take me to Annapolis to see Drew ASAP.....

fast forward

Airport. US soil after six months in England. Anticipation is CRAZY. It took AGES to get to baggage claim.

I told my roommate Katie (who lives in the Washington DC area) that I was looking for a tall dude probs wearing a button up shirt and awesome Warby's and a tiny adorbs curly haired girl jumping up and down.

When I found Manny and Sarah, they were exactly as described....jumping up and down and all, so I dropped my suitcases in excitement and started giving hugs and all that stuff

*sidenote, my heart is beating out my chest in anticipation like I'm reliving this crazy moment all over again*

and then mid catch-up chat (Sarah was telling me this awesome joke about "how was your clarinet class?" or something like that) I get tapped on the shoulder, only to turn around and see DREW just in time to pretty much have a heart attack. Photo evidence coming up...not my most flattering moment, but totally worth it.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!

And then this happened.

I promise you SO MUCH sobbing was going on in ^that picture. And all the following pictures. 

Drew had ditched the concert cycle so he could be at the airport to pick me up. Manny and Sarah drove all the way from Annapolis to pull off the surprise, which went without a hitch. Patrick Morgan drove my nervous wreck of a fiance to the airport and took these incredible photos for us. EJ and Amanda (and their precious son, Will) were there, incognito and adorable, to greet me and to capture the whole thing on film. I mean, I'm STILL complete blown away. Almost speechless. 

OH! If you were wondering, I said yes! Actually if you ask Drew, I blubbered and nodded my head a lot and hugged him five times before I actually even looked at the ring....

But hooooly moly. Just blown away. They whisked me off to a texmex restaurant where we were all met by Patrick's wife Emily and MORE friends, Joe and Yarina. I couldn't have asked for a better welcome home party. So again, thank you so much to everyone involved, and enjoy a few more of Patrick's photos and the video that EJ took!!!

Watch our proposal video here!

I spent a wonderful, and necessary, two weeks in Virginia with Drew. Now I'm in Texas with my family (another wonderful reunion!!!) and my sweet puppy dog and we are whirlwind wedding planning up a storm!

To be continued......

Travel Log- the Beginning!

I made it to DC! Ok ok, I always say DC, but technically its Arlington VA.

Apparently iPhone 4 front facing camera isn't too great in dim lighting...but its DREW AND BOBBY!

Drew went to work and I got left with $10 to “go explore,” which of course includes coffee and blogging! So I’m sitting here in this little coffee shop a few blocks from Drew’s place, with a name that I won’t even attempt to pronounce, drinking a honey vanilla latte (fancy!), listening to classical radio, and finally writing to you all :)

So, if you follow me on twitter, you might know that my travel day was quite the mess!

This was when I was calmly oblivious of my future travel crazies

First of all let me tell you, I’m an idiot.

Ok, so the story goes: My mom and I drove out to the airport an hour away from our house with plenty of time to spare…..and it turns out I told her the WRONG AIRPORT.

(now you see why I called myself and idiot)

So the airport I really needed to get to was a mere 20 minutes from our house…so we backtracked, hit a bunch of traffic, and I missed my flight for the first time in my life! And it was because I’M AN IDIOT. Luckily for me, US Airways didn’t charge me to hop on the next flight, which was less than two hours later.

I made it to the next flight and we continued to sit on the runway for over half an hour. At this point I realized there was No way I would make my connection flight….super bummer!

Don’t miss your flight, kids! Always do a stupid check on your airport, airline, and departure time before you leave the house…..good-ness.

Cool part of the story is that the girl sitting next to me was heading to see her man (and get married!!!) in the Navy! So we had a fun bonding experience, and it was pretty cool that God stuck us next to each other on a flight where we were both super flustered and anxious. … each of us had a connection that by the time we landed we only had 10 minutes before the next flight took off!

And let me tell you, Praise The Lord, we landed (mind you, we were at the BACK of the plane), had 10 minutes, RAN, and actually made it to our next respective flights. Holy cow. I was so out of breath and embarrassed and of course my bag didn’t make it to the connection flight but I definitely didn’t care since that meant I made it to Arlington! WHEW.

Enough of my embarrassing travel story. I’m here and its great and I’m super happy and we’ve been having a great time!

Went to the National Archives

 

Played with the iOS 7 camera update

We’ve been cooking a lot, which is super fun (I actually have a post coming up on our culinary adventures). Playing ping pong. Visiting “the sites”. And yesterday was extra special for me because I got to see Drew play at a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns. 

I wonder if I will ever stop being obnoxiously proud of him….I doubt it ;)

I’m going to head out for now, but before I do, I have a question for anyone who cares to answer!!

I’m traveling (for the next 6 months) with only my iPad and iPhone. I’m having some difficulty blogging from my iPad even from the regular browser….do any of you blog regularly from a tablet or phone? Do you have any tips or app recommendations for me? I’ll be super grateful!! I’d love the security of knowing I won’t have to borrow laptops from my future roommates every time I want to write a post…which I’m hoping will be often.  :)

Happy Tuesday, friends!!

Happy Birthday

Dear Patty,

You deserve a "Happy Birthday" today first. Happy Birthday sweet sweet momma of my second favorite man in the whole entire world (Daddy still comes first at this point, sorry Drew). I'm so thankful to you for creating this wonderful life that has blessed so many people. Thank you for instilling in him such strength and kindness and loyalty. He is blessed to have you!!

Dear Drew,

You're OLD ;) Today I wish you the happiest of birthdays thus far! You have accomplished SO MUCH this year. I hope today you can take time to reflect on how hard you have worked and how much God has blessed you in the past 12 months. 

(This is my abridged list)

You advanced in every stinking audition you took. 

You won an audition with Pershing's Own. 

You graduated with your masters degree.

You graduated from BCT.

You moved across the country with your best friend,

and you started the job of your dreams! 

What a year.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey, and I can't wait to see you in a few days to pretend like its your birthday all over again! (I'll make you some sort of cake with cream cheesy frosting- promise!) 

Here's to another several quarter centuries ;) LOVE YOU!!

This Weekend, Drew the Decorator...

For a little over a week now, Drew and his BFF have been settling into their new apartment in Virginia, so I'm just going to take this little blog post to brag on his decorating stilllz!!!

(Lets pretend that Drew is the author of this "this weekend" even though I am most definitely writing it but its about him and not me. WHEW. Run on sentence alert!!!)

 

So, this weekend...

Drew (for the most part) finished unpacking/furniture assembling/setting up his new place and then sent me photos to rub it in my face that I'm not there to see it in person.

Ok thats not why he sent me photos, but still...

BUT, check out these mad skills! Boy has got an EYE for home deco. 

I'm honestly a little bit jealous.

Bed frame: ikea
Bed sheets: ikea
Floating shelves: similar

First of all, let us all admire the colors. Beautiful, right? Its "plum" and yet so so manly. Good job, babe ;)

Second of all, adorable old bugle, yes?? This art installation makes me particularly happy because I happen to know that poor little bugle was homeless in Drew's house in Waco.

Awesome floating shelves. Perfect book stacking. Pretty cross and perfect placement.

Lastly, Pixar lamp and rubix cube. Need I say any more?

Vintage 7UP trays: similar

Now lets move to the bathroom and admire the not-even-pinterest-inspired use of a vintage 7-up tray!

I wish I would have thought of that. Very cool!

Check the Army rolled towel.....wait a sec, thats MY Meyers candle!!!

Happy early birthday......just kidding. 

Now, if you're wondering what's in the frame, its a "3" written on a scrap of paper. Say whaaaa

Let me explain: When you audition for a music job (in this case, Pershing's Own), you literally draw numbers to decide what the order will be and to make sure the panel will not know who is playing at what time (I should mention that auditions....first round at least...are played behind a screen). This happens to be the piece of paper that Drew drew (heh....heh heh heh) for the audition when he won his job! He had left this slip of paper in his friend's car, and his friend framed it and gave it to him as a gift after he graduated from BCT! So awesome :) And that story turned out to be the longest part of this blog post. Oh well, its the little things!!!

So, basically my boyfriend is awesome and you should be jealous of his apartment ;)

Oh oh!!!! One last thing- I've told you to check Darbi out before, but now I'm even MORE serious because she just moved to PARIS (happy dance!!!!!) and will be writing about her life there as a flutist and an au pair! So exciting :)

Check her out at Table for One.

Happy Monday and I hope you all have a blessed week!

FINALLY

After 73 days of anticipation, finishing summer school, teaching at camps, being a part of one of my best friend's weddings, and letting myself cry over those "soldiers coming home" videos several times, I FINALLY got to go to Ft. Jackson to see Drew.

My parents and I drove about 15 hours to get there. I was supposed to be studying in the car (my degree oral exam is on Tuesday), but I pretty much just spent the whole time internally freaking out, talking to whoever I could, and going nuts on social media....so thanks for sticking with me through that ;)

SO, we arrived safely AND I even slept that night (kind of). Crazy, right?!

Excited about our hotel's recognition of the local Army base...but "lol" to "Congratulation"...apparently singular.

On the morning of "I GET TO SEE DREW," we met up with his wonderful momma (YAY!) and sat down on some soggy bleachers- with the hugest amount of nervous/anxious/excited butterflies I've ever experienced in my life, btw...

We started to see movement behind the trees and realized "BAH! THEY'RE BACK THERE!"

Lots of yellow smokey things were thrown and lots of booming happened (shown above) and then they CRANKED "Soldier" by Otherwise (never heard of them, but super cool song and incredibly effective) and all our Army boys/girls came charging through the trees and smoke into formation.

It. Was. Awesome.

*Drew later told me that there quite a few casualties in the stampeding process...not real casualties...you know. Kind of funny if you think about it. 
Poor guys were so excited!!

Luckily at this point they didn't have much to say before they let us all loose to mass chaotically find our loved ones. It probably took us 5 minutes to get out of the bleachers, but LET ME TELL YOU, those may have been the longest few minutes of my life!!!

Finally found him. Couldn't get to him. Maybe almost cried...but I didn't (so proud).

So we just stared at each other like this for a little while....

And finally. 

Good grief. 

Wait, what does your face look like again??

I think my face looked like this the whole day.

And then there was this. **Swoon.

Army can't take the goof out of him ;) 

We really had a wonderful day and a half. My parents met Drew's mom for the first time which was GREAT, Drew got coffee (he was very adamant about the coffee), and I got to meet Drew's new trumpet colleague and his wife (although we've actually been in correspondence all summer...whining, angsting, etc)!

But seriously, I really can't put into words how proud I am of Drew! Not only is he an incredible person and a ridiculously talented trumpet player, but now he's a soldier. A soldier that gets to play the trumpet for a living :) 

Now I get to count down the days until I graduate (if I pass my exam Tuesday....say a prayer or five for me) and fly to DC on Saturday!!!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. If you're a new follower, please say hello so I can get to know you! And don't forget to enter the MEGA ad space giveaway going on :)

Don't forget to say hello!

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It's HERE!!

Well friends,

I know I've been MIA without warning for quite some time. The last few weeks have been filled with intense project working, studying, and practicing. I'll probably continue doing that again for the next week.... But I'm taking a quick break from my silence to tell you that I'm currently on my way to South Carolina.

TO SEE DREW. Tomorrow :) 

After this day (his last day of training) he will be finished with BCT- Praise The Lord!!! 

To say that I'm proud and anxious and excited would be quite the understatement.... I don't know how to put my feelings into words at this point. We'll just say that tomorrow is joyously anticipated. 

More coming soon :) <3

Happies and Crappies

Today I'm linking up with two of my faves, Stephanie and Sarah for Happies and Crappies!



Bad news, then good news, right?
crappies
*As I'm sure you guys are NOT aware, I miss Drew.
(little bit of sarcasm there, did you like that?)
*(still Drew related, sorry) I missed like SIX calls from him on Sunday, and I haven't gotten a letter in over a week. Mega bummer!!! Here's hoping the mailman is my friend today....

Drew is on the far left- thanks again Heather from "Army facebook" for posting photos of our boys!!

*I've become a homebody. Nope, sorry, can't see you today, I haven't washed my hair in.....yeah don't ask.
*Sleep has been hard to come by this week. I'm not sure if its because I'm anxious or what, but I'm tired!!

happies
* Sunday is in two days and you betcha my phone will be on full volume and by my side ALL DAY! (refusing to miss 6 more phone calls...that was flat out depressing)
* The countdown is officially under 20!!! Drew has been gone for something gross like 55 days (ok, yes, I counted) buuuuuut......

Tacky cropping, I know, but THANK YOU SARAH again for the pictures!!!

* I got an A in my final graduate music history class!!! Don't ask me how that happened (thank you Jesus), but I'm one step closer to my degree!
* Winston is with me in Waco for the week. Y'all know how happy that makes me....just look at his little face!!!

'

"Look at me, I'm so cute and this rug is cute!"

* Bestie/past roomie Christina is getting married SOON! I'm excited to spend time with her in Austin in two weeks before her big day! And its her fiance's birthday today- Happy Birthday Michael!!

#tbt (a day late) to 2011 Mu Phi formal- and yes, we're gonna dance like this at her wedding.

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have an awesome weekend ahead of you :)

Time Flies!

Aren't you supposed to put at least one picture on each blog post?

(belated) 4th of July Winston

So I've been reading all over the bloggy interwebs that these little blogging "funks" tend to happen in the summer and AMEN sisters, I have one of those too. 

But I'm here to give you a little update on what's been going on over here in Paige/Baylor land!

1) Its my dad's birthday today. Happy Birthday daddy!!!! I don't know if you read this, but I love you! :)

2) My final class of grad school is OVER! Now I just need to get a passing grade and pass my oral exam in August....but no more class, essays, 45 minute presentations, and written tests! Woooohooooo!

3) I finally finally finally, after 5+ weeks, got a phone call from Drew this past Sunday! After several weeks of getting my hopes up and being disappointed, I had convinced myself that my only way of communicating with him until his graduation from BCT in August would be letters. (Letters are GREAT though, don't get me wrong!) So on Sunday, when I was studying my behind off and working on a presentation, I was completely shocked (to tears) to see his name pop up on my phone!! I'm pretty sure I've never been so happy for a 14 minute conversation in my life...but I also know that I'd be content waiting 5 more weeks for another 5 minute phone call. *sigh

Drew is in the center (back) looking studly in his glasses!- source: 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment Facebook page

He's going strong and we're so proud of him! Not to mention thrilled that he graduates in less than a month!!

4) I have 3 weeks to myself-ish to prepare for an upcoming audition (maybe more on that later!), a final independent degree project, and my oral exam before CRAZY ensues. It feels a little like the calm before a storm.... 

Anyone have any tips or advice for staying organized and motivated when you don't have an actual "schedule" to follow? Maybe I'll just make a schedule....and then try to stick to it?

Can you guys believe we're more than a week into July already? Half way through 2013!! Time flies....

*Linking up with Lisette from Northern Belle Diaries

Love is a pretty cool thing...

Prepare for sap-fest 2013!
____________________________

Drew is finishing his 5th week at BCT- I really can't believe it! He's almost halfway done already :)

I'm incredibly proud. I miss him like crazy, but the fun part is that getting a letter is THE BEST feeling in the entire world. The neighbors probably think I'm crazy for checking for the mail 3 times a day....but whatever ;)

S.W.A.K. - are you KIDDING ME?! He's CUTE!!!

I'm at the point where I link pretty much everything back to Drew (Paige, shut up about Drew, you're annoying). "Oh, Drew would LOVE that video" "Drew would think that was SO funny!" "That guy has glasses like Drew's" etc, etc... Good thing I'm a loner this summer or I'd probably reaaaally annoy some people. 

So today I stumbled upon a Chive post (yeah yeah....they have some interesting stuff!! mixed in with a bunch of junk...but still) called "Love is a pretty cool thing." 

And I read....

"My heart...it feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like its trying to escape because it knows it doesn't belong with me...it belongs with you."

*fought back tears, like a big sappy baby*

So I then spent a good chunk (I actually really hate that word....chunk...sorry) of time going through pictures back to when we first met. Good stuff :) 

First photos together- December 2011

Still Dec. 2011?

                                     

Spring 2012

Previewing that bunch of photos, we're kind of a couple of weirdos BUT thats pretty much the only kind of photos I have of us together for the first 6 months or so.... Love it!

So I hope you have enjoyed reminiscing with me! For those of you wondering, no I still haven't gotten a phone call from him BUT its the weekend now, so here's hoping.......