30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 11

Edited to add: This was originally supposed to go up while we were in Rome. Then I paused the challenge because of Rome. And then I forgot to un-schedule this post. So, here it is. Hope you enjoy. :)

Greetings from Rome! I’ve scheduled my 30DPC posts to still go up. While I hope to have internet access at the hotel, I still don’t know if I will yet or not. I should be on the way to the Vatican in my appropriate clothing. Happy Monday and Spring Break my friends!

A Photo of Something You Hate

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. I hate intolerance. I’m not a big fan of the word or idea of tolerance at all. But intolerance is ugly. That’s the only thing I can think of that I honestly hate.

~The Countess~

On Pause

My in-laws made it in yesterday for their Spring Break trip to visit with us. Which means that I’m running around like crazy to entertain them and get ready to get us all to Rome. Not to mention, I’m still doing a bit of teaching and partying with my friends.

With that in mind, I’m going to go ahead and pause the 30 Day Photo Challenge. I really want to finish it strong and I don’t want to be rushing out little snippet posts just because I need to get a post up that day. I’ll still be trying to check in every now and then – like while they’re getting ready to go or after they’ve gone to bed. I just can’t promise that it will be regular, especially since I don’t know if I’ll have internet in Rome or not. I’m also going to try really hard to get the SFC post up as well, though again our flight leaves out at 0530 on Monday morning and I’m 6-9 hours ahead of most of you…so I don’t know if that will happen either.

Hope you all have a great week! I know I’m going to have a ton of catching up to do when I get back.

~The Countess~

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 6

A Picture of a Person You Would Love to Trade Places with for a Day

i'm the fiddler

There was a time that I would  have given anything to be the girl playing the fiddle in the above picture. The popular musician, always onstage, traveling to perform, surrounded by friends and adoring fans. I only played a few festivals, but even in the short time that I did, I got recognized in grocery stores and stopped by total strangers and asked about my music. It was exhilerating.

But, she would have given it all up, every last bit for this:

beloved

She would have left her jobs, left her family, and left all of her friends just to find this man and be with him. In fact, that’s exactly what she did. She had her dream job – a little updated – instead of performing she was teaching the world’s future performers – but she had it. And she quit it in a heartbeat. There was never any hesitation. She lived really close to her family, she had just relocated the year before to be closer to them because she loved them so much. And she left without regret. There was never any doubt. She had friends to go out with every night of the week, she was never lonely, she always had plans. And she said goodbye without a second thought. There was never any other choice.

He had become her world. He still is her world. And yes, sometimes that world is scary. And yes, sometimes that world is hard. And yes, sometimes that world is lonely. But it has him, so it’s all worth it. So who would I trade places with for a day? No one. I’m right where I want to be. I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I’m right where I’m meant to be. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

~The Countess~

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 5

A Picture of Your Favorite Memory

husband and wife

married under a tree

Today was an easy day to pick a picture. The following is copied from my original post on my wedding.

That perfect day that is planned from the earliest of ages. Weddings are the things that dreams are made of. Little girls wrap themselves in sheets to be brides while little boys play at being ghosts. Little girls pick their bestest of best friends to wrap up in sheets and be the bridesmaids. Fights are fought over who gets to be the bride, tears can be shed when a little girl doesn’t get the part she wanted to play.

As these little girls get older, their dreams change, now they want the big white princess wedding in a church decorated with thousadnds of candles in flowers, now they want a wedding on the beach in an exotic locale, now an outdoor wedding near their home with an elaborate reception. Always, they are surrounded by as many friends and family as can make it. Flowers, music, cakes, food, alcohol, friends, gifts, family, dancing and all with someone snapping a priceless photo of every single second. There’s the moment the mother’s walk down the aisle and the tears start. The music is soft as the bridal party enters before swelling to greet the bride. A monumental celebration. Lots of friends. Lots of family.

On August 17, there were no flowers. No music, no family, and just three friends. The weather was gorgeous – sunny with a slight breeze. The courthouse was pretty as far as courthouses go, but not elaborate. There were some trees and underneath one, the ceremony was held. Just a bride in blue, her groom, and three friends. The two witnesses stood on either side of the bride and groom, both in black shirts, blue jeans, boots, and cowboy  hats. A third friend took the pictures as the simple ceremony was held.

The was no music. Just the ambient sounds of small town USA on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. There were no rings as there was no time to get them. Just love between two people. There was no family present. Just the knowledge that they two were family enough for each other. There were no flowers. Just a bride and her groom clasping hands, tears in their eyes as they promised to love each other forever, through everything.

The bride choked up as she said her vows and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in spite of all that the day did not have, it had everything she ever wanted and everything she would ever need. The flowers, music, cake, reception, those could come in time, but they could never replace, that courthouse wedding that united her with her love forever. It was a perfect day.

It is without a doubt my favorite memory. I honestly wouldn’t change anything about it. Because when I think of my wedding day, I think of B, I think of us becoming one person, and all the rest is peripheral. The rest hasn’t yet come – but when it does, it still won’t take the place of my true wedding.

~The Countess~

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 4

A Picture of Your Night

This is my reality right now. I live in an amazing country with easy access to all of Europe. I can drive to France in less than an hour, I can fly just about anywhere in Europe in less than two hours. If I get a craving for Belgian waffles then we just go to Belgium.

The photo above was taken on a last-minute tour to Paris – we just spent one Saturday there, and I guess that’s what I find so amazing. It’s a great way to remind myself of how fabulous it is to live here.

~The Countess~

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 2

Day 02 – A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

This was actually a really hard photo for me to pick. There are a lot of candidates for this position, but truly, there is only one winner. She has been my biggest support, my loudest cheerleader, my most dedicated fan, and my closest friend. Through thick and thin, good and bad, ups and downs, laughter and tears she has always been there and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she always will be. She is the hardest person for me to be away from right now. I talk to her pretty much every day of the week at least by chat – staying in touch with her keeps me grounded. Truly I can say that she knows me better than anyone outside of B.

We share so much in common – we both love sports, corny movies, good books, and old crafts. We love to spend our time together shopping, spoiling each other, and cooking. I’ve considered her my best friend since highschool.

I love you Mom!

The photo above was taken in 2006 – Mom and I’s birthday gift that year was a road trip to North Carolina – we both loved it and had always wanted to go. I went and attended a folk music week while she toured the area with one of her sisters. We had a fabulous week together. That week was probably the highlight of my collegiate years – it was exactly what I wanted – time for just my Mom and I and doing whatever we wanted.

Sadly, that is the most recent photo of the two of us that I could find. I guess we’re both more likely to be operating the camera if there is one, but in our family, we’re often more about living the moment over recording it. I’ll be sure to get pics of us when I’m back home this summer.

~The Countess~

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 1

This has been going around facebook and while I don’t want to repost photos there…I kind of do here. I’ve been at a bit of a loss lately for what to say, so, I’m going to use the photo prompts as a launch point for my blogs. I’ve reordered things a bit and will probably choose to be liberal in my interpretations at times, but for the rest of April, I’m going to do my best to post a photo a day.

Day 01 – A picture of yourself with ten facts

10 Things I Know About Me:

1. I know that I love to cook for people. I like to make food that people want to eat. I like putting together meals. I like collecting and trying new recipes. But I want my recipes to be recommended to me. I like the soul side of food – and I want there to be a connection for a recipe. I can’t just go cook one out of a cook book – though I have no problem finding it on the internet as long as it comes with a recommendation. So yeah, if you ever want someone to try a recipe for you, I’m a willing guinea pig. Added to that is that I like hosting parties/events. I can’t wait to have a group of people that want to come over and eat my food.

2. I know that my useless college degrees are really paying off. Yeah, I have a Bachelor of Music in Piano Pedagogy and a Master of Music in Historical Musicology. Besides containing words that are long and crazy sounding…and having been a lot of fun to earn, the degrees have been deemed “useless” by many esteemed people. I laughed all of last year at my old jobs and I’m laughing now as I’m happily employed here in D-land.

3. Speaking of my old jobs, I’m so lucky that I actually got to hold my dream jobs before the age of 25 and before getting married. Being a military spouse involves a lot of sacrifice – constantly moving, being away from friends and family, long periods without your spouse and I’m so grateful that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s worth it. Those dream jobs never held me at night or told me they loved me.

4. I’m a huge sport fanatic. To those of you who know me IRL this is no surprise. If you’ve searched my archives it also may be of little surprise. I used to blog updates about the Rice Baseball games for my own amusement. My Mom “made up” my name while watching football, so I guess it’s no surprise that I love sports. B is the first guy to not be intimidated by this though, most don’t like that I know the rules and understand the plays better than they do. Just don’t ask me random trivia questions about random players – I don’t know it and don’t care to. Baseball is my hands down favorite though Team Handball keeps trying to win my loyalties.

5. I know that I’m addicted to reading. And I’m a speed reader. I finished the last Harry Potter Book in less than 2.5 hours. A couple of weekends ago I was cruising along at 160 pages per hour – while texting B. I don’t speed read on purpose, I honestly just don’t know another way to read. My Mom sent me to my room for an assigned reading when I was in the 3rd grade, I think I had to read 2 chapters. I came out of my room after 10-15 minutes and told her I was done. She didn’t believe me, especially when I told her I’d read the whole book (it was a stupid kiddie chapter book), so she asked me every chapter’s “study” questions. I aced them. She never assigned books to me again. I love fantasy and, thanks to B, redeveloping my taste for sci-fi. I’m currently reading the Dan Brown trilogy in preparation for Rome.

6. I know that I am the most nervous car passenger in the world. Yet I’m a confident and slightly agressive driver. I hate not being in control. I hold on to the side handles of a car almost constantly when driving. B has taken to holding my hand to try and prevent this, but it just makes me crawl up the seat. My family used to tease me as a kid about trying to crawl into the middle of the car when we were passing semis and I still can’t stand to be next to them. I was a nervous driver until I spent two years in Houston – that cured me of all fear. I will shout at other drivers from my car when driving, but make me the passenger and I’m reduced to slow breathing techniques to not hyperventilate.

7. I know that I still believe that I’ll get my princess wedding some day. Everyone keeps telling us that people are losing interest, but I don’t care. B and I had to have a rushed wedding thanks to the military and they already steal so much from us. They don’t get that day. I will get to try on pretty white dresses, I will walk down an aisle to music, I will be surrounded by people who care. It’s getting harder to believe in, but I’m still clinging to it. Likewise, I’m determined that I’ll get my honeymoon too. Even if it keeps getting postponed, it will happen.

8. I know I miss having a girl to gossip with. I miss chatty conversations over a bottle of wine. I miss shopping in a real store with a girlfriend. I miss picking out crazy items for the other person to try on. And yet, I’m scared of forging new friendships here. I look for the flaws in others. I refuse to get my hopes up because it feels like I’ve been let down a lot in just a few months. B does his best to be a good substitute for me. Not to mention that he buys me pretty much anything that I think will look cute. He also got me a subscription to Cosmo and still buys the magazines for me in the store when they don’t come in on time. Still, I’m not giving up looking for a new friend.

9. I know that I have a love-hate relationship with movies. I absolutely hate going to see a movie without knowing how it ends first. Most of the time I look up the endings these days as it makes me more likely to be okay with seeing them. My most vivid movie memory is seeing The Lion King 5 times the month that my grandfather died. I loathe that movie to this day. That’s when I started not liking seeing movies. This developed more and more in college and beyond as people used movies as a replacement for actual interaction during get togethers. I hated the pressure to like or dislike the movie. I hated people getting into arguments about a piece of entertainment. And I hated sitting in a dark theater for 2 hours, when that was the only time I was getting with my friends. I’m a quality over quantity girl. That said, B is a huge movie buff, so he’s been educating me – our first movie date didn’t come until 5 months in though – and he knows that it’s better to let me know the ending.

10. I know that I am hopelessly in love with B. I have been since about 2 weeks in. I wrote a song about/for him right around the 1.5-2 week mark and another at the 6 week mark. It was crazy how fast it hit us both. But yeah, there’s no recovery, I have a terminal case of him and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for us. The ups and downs are all good when you take them with the right person. That’s not me saying that things are always easy, but rather, that they all have a gilded lining – my love for B outshines everything else.

If you’re interested in joining me in the Photo Challenge, just leave a comment and I’ll shoot you an email with the order of posting as I’ve arranged it at the moment.

~The Countess~