Locks of Love

So in April 2008, I cut about 8 inches off my hair and went the shortest it had been since I was prepubescent. It was short and I started wearing it straight every day ... I even started contemplating cutting it shorter. Then in life's typical unpredictable fashion, Sean proposed 2 1/2 weeks later and I immediately started growing my hair out again for the wedding. Sean was a good sport about me cutting my hair last April, but he made sure to give me grief about it and playfully, passive aggressively remind me that he fell in love with me when I had long, curly hair. Point received. So I have left my hair long and let it grow back.

About two months ago, Sean said to me: "I'm surprised you haven't cut your hair short again." So I immediately took that as a free pass to cut it short again. This time though ... this time I was going to take a bigger leap ... this time ... I wanted it to be a life change. So I decided I would grow it as long as I could, so that I could donate my hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit charity that provides top-quality natural hairpieces to children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any disease or condition. So I spoke to my lovely hair stylist, Tabby Willis, and we made plans to make the donation. So yesterday, I donated approximately 11 inches of my hair to Locks of Love.

I am really pleased that I was able to give something so personal to a child! Sean's a great sport and says he loves the new cut because he can kiss the back of neck whenever he wants.

It feels so amazing to give a smile to a child whether or not I ever get to witness it!

And thanks to Tabby for everything she did for me yesterday! She gave me a smile when I was desperately in need of one! Her kindness and giving heart is inspirational!

some of the Summer's favorite moments

So despite all the hurdles and less that stellar life challenges Sean and I were faced with this summer, we still managed to have some pretty phenomenal moments.

In May, I had the honor of heading out to Newport Beach, California to watch my lovely friend, Ann, run in the Orange County marathon. She had been training so hard, for so long and it was such a hugely significant personal journey for her that nothing could have kept me from being there for her. Sean was still in Arkansas, so I made the drive out there by myself (well me and the dogs). I am so proud of her ... she has a fire in her and a dedication to being nothing short of awesome that I admire more than my words could possibly express!

It was great to be there for her and nice to spend an afternoon in my old stopping grounds on Orange County, California.

About six weeks later, I had an industry conference in my beautiful hometown, San Diego. Sean came out with me (one of the few bonuses of his being unemployed for three months this summer). So we played in San Diego's infamous June gloom and checked out the Del Mar Fair (or the San Diego County Fair for you non-locals) with my parents.

Then we headed to the Gaslamp district for the remainder of the week so that I could attend my conference. This is my favorite picture of Sean from that week. I took it during our sunset stroll through Seaport Village. He's developed quite a love for hats this summer!

A couple weeks later, we found ourselves with no plans for the 4th of July, so I took Sean up to the Tonto Natural Bridge in Payson, Arizona to see one of the most spectacular places I have been here in the A-Z. This is a state park that has suffered major budget cuts and subsequently is only open a handful of weekends a year, so I thought it imperative to share this with Sean before it was closed for good.

Can you believe this is Arizona? Just a short hour and a half north of Phoenix!

And then of course all of this travel were road trips ... which nobody enjoys more than our Tucker B. He is so hilarious when he detects that we are getting ready for a road trip. He gets anxious and whines and pants and runs himself into a tizzy trying to anticipate the moment we tell him and Teags to load up. I love my men!

It's important with the summer of trials we had this year, that I have all these amazing memories as strength to keep going and reassurance that no matter how hard this year has been ... I could have it a whole hell of a lot harder.

I love my family and friends! I love the life they share with me! They're fabulous!

Look we're famous ... again!

So our lovely wedding photog, Deann Barrera, has plastered Sean and I all over her blog header and throughout her wedding website and we love it! It feels great to know that she enjoyed those images as much as we do, but now ... we are famous again!

My friend and our wedding florist, Kristi Pohly, has featured us on her website and her blog. She's so talented and has a great soul!

Aren't we lucky to have found two such talents that loved our day as much as we did?!?!

Check both these ladies out if you are in need of awesomeness ... both will travel for the love of what they do.

Beautiful Princeton

So with the frustration of Sean finding himself unemployed this summer came the benefit of being able to travel with my on some of my business trips.

Sean joined me on my week in San Diego in June for the DIA conference and then a couple weeks ago, Sean and I flew together for the first time as he joined me on my trip to the East Coast.

I had to go to North Carolina for about 18 hours for a couple of meetings and then off to Princeton, NJ by way of Philadelphia. This trip was not only the first time we have flown together, but also the first time both Sean and I got a chance to visit Princeton. For this trip, we had a couple days in the middle of it all to just poke around and see what we see.

The first afternoon there in Princeton, Sean and I noticed this building right next to our hotel in Carnegie Center. This is an old home turned office space that is vacant and available for lease.

It's beautiful and I am thinking it might make a superb spot for the future East Coast Regional Office of Compass IRB. Hehe! Just kidding .... kinda.


Sean and I walked around and looked in the windows and drooled over the lush trees and the moss covered stone walls. Then we stumbled upon this massive fungi. It was so beautiful!

The next day, my husband humored me and let me geek out and walk around Princeton University's campus. It was so amazing to walk around this historic campus and witness something so special ... to walk a place where so many great minds have studies, theorized, and/or taught. People such as one Albert Einstein who spent the last 22 years of his life teaching at Princeton.

I have never seen a university campus of this age. The campus was full of layers upon layers of magnificent buildings; each seemingly the best of each architectural era. Sean and I spent a good 30 minutes just staring at the exterior of this building.

We ended up spending about three hours just walking around campus, checking out the gardens, statues and monuments.

Walking around this campus was inspiring, I even started daydreaming about how magnificent it would be to go back to school and get a graduate degree from an Ivy League school. I would be in debt for the rest of my life and I am pretty sure that second semester of my undergrad freshman year would prohibit me from living my day dream, but it certainly was nice to dream.

This is how Sean entertains himself when I go on a walk

So a couple weeks ago, after a VERY long day at work, I decided to take a much needed early evening walk. Sean was hanging out around the house, bored stiff after hours and hours of unsuccessful job searching, so he grabbed a photo book of mine for inspiration and started sketching some flowers inspired by the images in the book. After sketching some ideas, he said he was going to make me a jewelry box and retreated to his new favorite place, his wood shop.

So I grabbed my tunes, laced up my shoes, and went on my standard hour-long walk. So I came home, stretched, drank some water, walked into the back yard and found Sean is his workshop making this.

He's such an artist! He made this all free-hand from a sketch inspired by a photo in a coffee table book I have had for years. So talented that man of mine is!

My man must really love me

For the past 4 years, I had been driving a 2005 Ford Explorer that as many of you know I hated! I just lived with it ... it was a good vehicle, but it had a lot of computer issues that had a way of never occurring when I took it in to be diagnosed. I bought that vehicle many years ago when was in a much different place in life ... I bought it in spite of my lust for another vehicle ... the Infiniti FX35. Instead, I took the practical route and bought the Explorer ... which at the time was a very practical decision.

Since I met Sean he has drove his 2005 black-on-black Chevy MonteCarlo Super-Charged Super Sport. He loves this car! It is sexy and fast and extremely man-tastic! Then in October of last year, Sean took over my Dad's 1994 Chevy 4-Door Silverado Dually as his new work truck.

So all of a sudden we had three vehicles. Sean has always told me to get rid of the Explorer and buy the FX (since I still drool over it every time I see one). I frequently watch them drive by and mutter: "Look, there's the car I didn't get."

Well when Sean got home from Arkansas in May, he suggested that in these financially trying times, we consolidate vehicles and get rid of my Explorer and ... wait for it .... his beloved MonteCarlo. His idea was that we would trade in both vehicles and get my dream car the perfect marriage of both our vehicles. The Infinit FX35.

Sean only waited for 10 days after being home before we went on the hunt for our new car. he must love me ... because he even shed a tear when he signed over his MonteCarlo ... just so I could have the car I was never going to let myself have.

So here is our first big purchase as a married couple. Finally, Look at the car I got!

So my man gave up his man-tastic sports car, I got rid of my infuriating Explorer, I got my dream car and we save several hundred dollars a month! I am such a lucky girl!

11 wonderful months

Today we are just one month away from our 1st wedding anniversary! And wow! It has been quite a ride! With that said, I realize that I have neglected to fill you all in on much of anything going on in our life, so I vow to get better at that. I know, I know ... I promised that before, but this time I mean it.

So strange to realize that it has already been 11 months since Deann captured this moment.

I am not going to lie; as a matter of fact, I am going to be very honest. This past 11 months has been so hard! Not because of anything between Sean and I, but rather just because life is hard for everyone right now. Mix that in with our whirlwind romance and getting married in less than a year of knowing eachother, life definitely has been testing our strength. The good news is that Sean and I have not faltered ... we have gotten stronger every day. Some days have been harder than others to spot the beauty and the lesson amongst the frustrations that life has brought us, but we have come out swingin' ...ready to take on the world and even more in love than the day before.

So when I woke up in Sean's arms this morning ... yes, we still hit snooze every morning to snuggle back up to eachother ... I felt this overwhelming sense of accomplishment and love and belonging. I am so excited to be married to this man ... he has taught me so much about love, life, and understanding.

Here's to our 11 months of hurdles and challenges and discovering we love each other more than we even thought possible.

Yay Team Brookshire!