Our SECOND Christmas

I think it's so funny that people make a big deal out of your first Christmas together as a married couple. Especially people who aren't the couple. Almost everyone I talked to leading up to Christmas asked me if I was excited for our "1st Christmas." Honestly, I felt like this was our "2nd Christmas" .... because it is! Last Christmas, David and I pretty much knew we were going to get married (he proposed 6 days later) so we spent the holiday like we were a committed couple. We visited each other's family and spoiled each other with far too many gifts. LOL! THAT was our 1st Christmas. So, in today's post, I'll tell you about our 2nd Christmas together :)

Christmas Eve we got together with David's immediate family. This is a feat in itself because of past tensions involving some members of the family (I won't get into it). So it was nice to have his close family together -- especially the kids. I haven't had much interaction with David's nephews and niece so this was my first "real" experience. They were cute and a lot more rambunctious then at the wedding. They were perfect angels at our wedding. LOL! Morgan, the 2nd oldest, found a little keyboard and was picking out Christmas tunes. At one point I started playing with him and teaching him the notes to "Jingle Bells." We opened some presents. Overall it was a fun visit.

The Jean Family on Christmas Eve
(back) David, Me, Annessa, Jason, Pam and Mack
(front) Wesley, Anna Ruth, Grady and Morgan

Christmas morning David and I spent time just the two of us. My favorite gifts where a folding basket that I can use to hold some of my crafting stuff and a new bigger jewelry box. Can you believe my old jewelry box was a present from my boyfriend in High School? That tells you how long I hold on to stuff. David's favorite present was a set of remote helicopters that battle each other.

Christmas afternoon we went back to David's parent's house to have some more Christmas fun. Then we took off for Cookeville to see my side of the family. That night we didn't do much besides hang out with my parents, watch TV, and play with my niece and nephews. This is only our second time playing with my new nephew Carter. He was 2 weeks old at the wedding. Now he's 2 months.

 

 

Day after Christmas was finally my family's "Christmas Day." We had to wait until the afternoon to open presents as my sister had to work that day. My favorite gifts from my family were some books that I've been wanting to read "Crossed" & "Reached" by Ally Condie and "The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling. David got some cool grill accessories.

The Smith Family for Christmas
(back) David, Me, Tim, Dana, Katie, John
(middle) Cole, Mark, Cathy, Carter
(front) Claire and Brogan

After my immediate family opened presents we had some of my extended family (grandparents and aunt and uncle). We always have just a simple dinner and then do a fun game of dirty Santa.

It was a great 2nd Christmas for the "new" Jean family. She got to spend quality time with a lot of family and really cherish the important things that matter during the holiday season.

5 Things I've Learned - #5

We are 5 days away from Christmas! Can you believe it!! Anyways, I can never think of things to post here so I thought I would start talking about the 5 things I've learned since being married. No, I am not saying I am a marriage know-it-all .... in fact if these posts show anything it's that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. LOL!

#5
No matter what, every single toilet in the house will get dirty 5x times faster then when I lived by myself.

I didn't have any brothers growing up -- but I did have a dad and if there's one thing I knew about guys before getting married was that when they use the bathroom they will disappear for a good 10-15 minutes. I remember many a trips to the movie theater or mall with my dad and having to wait outside for what seemed like forever for him to get finished. Well ... it hasn't stopped. Now I'm stuck waiting for my husband. I guess it's punishment for all the time us women make men wait when we are shopping at a store.

Anyways, back to the cleaning. I'm probably a terrible house-wife but I've never stuck to a schedule that required me to clean once a week or even once every other week. I'm the type of person that if it looks dirty THEN I will clean it. Whether that's every other day or once a month. So when I lived by myself it was more like once a month when it came to cleaning the toilet. Now that I'm married it's at least once a week. AT LEAST!

I'm still very lucky that my husband is a clean person -- probably cleaner then me. He puts away his dishes, his clothes, and other stuff. So don't misunderstand me. I'm not complaining about my husband. It's just one of the things I've noticed.

For my married readers? What's something you find yourself having to clean up after your husband?

Wedding Day Recap

The last time I posted on this blog was just a week before the wedding ... now we are a month and a half into our marriage. Believe me I've sat down many times to write an update but it seemed like everything was either too mundane or too long to write everything out. BUT, It wouldn't make sense to have a marriage blog if I didn't at least post something about the wedding day.

I woke up that morning having tried very hard to get a lot of sleep. I feel asleep easily the night before because I was SUPER TIRED! But about halfway through the night I woke up and had this intense feeling of "oh my GOD, I'm getting married today!" I ended up talking myself out of freaking out and falling back to sleep. Definitely a God thing.

My hair stylist was getting to the house super early. So my first bridesmaids started arriving around 8am to get their hair done first. Kayla is the name of my stylist. She was super friendly and very fast. Honestly, she wasn't my first choice just because I wasn't comfortable having someone I didn't know do my hair for such an important day. But after doing 2 trial runs with her I was comfortable and she ended up doing a great job on both hair and makeup.

Not a great picture of me
but it shows Kayla



Curling my hair for an updo

Pictures taken by Becca Sanborn

Trina, Becca and I ran to Subway and got a quick bite but then headed straight to the church to get ready. At this point I was feeling really good. I wasn't nervous but more excited to finally get the day started. My photographers arrived and they started snapping as we got ready. Some of my favorite pictures are from this part of the day.

Putting on my mother's veil

Mom helping me put on my "something borrowed"
Earrings from friend Caitlin Hepburn

Double-teamed to lace up the back

After getting ready, we did some pictures of just me and then what felt like an endless number of pictures of my family. Looking back I have mixed feelings about me trying to do so many family pictures at this point. I should have done more with my bridesmaids. My thinking was that we would get to do a lot of wedding party pictures after the wedding at Travellers Rest Plantation. But because it was so cold (Thanks Hurricane Sandy) my bridesmaids didn't last long outside in the weather.

We waited what felt like forever for all the guest to get inside. In the meantime, me and the bridesmaids were tucked away in a small lobby.

My sister and I waiting.

We finally heard all the voice from the main lobby die down and I knew it was MY time. All of the bridesmaids went ahead to get ready to walk leaving me and my dad some time to sit back. We didn't really talk about much. At least not much that I remember. I do remember him saying that he was happy that David and I had found each other and that he was proud.

Really like this picture of dad and me. It was moments before walking down the aisle.

There seemed to be a small glitch with our musicians. The bridesmaids had walked down the aisle and were standing for close to a minute -- but the musicians kept playing their song and hadn't switched to mine yet. So dad and I stood there for a while just waiting. I could see David through the glass and he looked quite nervous. As I knew he would!! Later everyone told me he was SUPER nervous. Finally our wedding coordinator flagged down the musicians and it was our turn to walk down the aisle.

I tried really hard to remember what it was like to walk down the aisle. I wanted to be able to replay that video over and over in my head. I remember seeing specific faces like my friends Andrew and Forrest and some people from work. Then I tried to focus as much as I could on David. I only broke away for a moment when I saw my Grandfather who was crying. It made me almost cry, because I don't have the greatest relationship with my Grandfather ... still at that moment I knew he really did love me.

The ceremony was perfect. It was done by David's childhood friend Paul Bonner and my brother-in-law who I've knew since I was 6, John Capshaw. They each had a different approach and it came together for the perfect package. I did start crying at one point. It was when Paul was telling everyone "our story" and how we met. I started talking about the video I made that I later posted on Facebook that reconnected David and I. I started thinking about how the girls that sparked that video were all sitting in the crowd and how the small things in our life (that we may not want to do) can turn into such great and wonderful things. Of course I didn't have tissues when I started crying, but I was able to rein in back in and do fine the rest of the ceremony. David told me later that he cried when my dad was giving me away -- but I didn't see it until the pictures came back later.

Exchanging Rings

Mr & Mrs. Jean

Final Kiss for my Dad

David and I didn't see each other before the wedding so after the ceremony we did more family pictures and then got into "our car" and headed to the Travellers Rest. The car was one of the things I didn't really care about, but it seemed really important to David's parents so we let them treat us. It ended up being a really nice, classy touch for the wedding. We took David and I's pictures together at Travellers Rest and did as much wedding party as we could -- but again it was really cold. I think my dad said it got down to 49 degrees in the wind.

My cold wedding party ....

The rest of the day was sort of a blur. I remember lost of fun moments at the reception like getting to see my Channel 5 friends and friends from college, youtube and Disney. It was a great mixture of people. We also did something called the "Shoe Game" which I had found on pinterest and asked my bridesmaids Trina and Becca to host. It ended up being one of the highlights of the night and for the people that stuck around I think they got a good laugh. We ended the night early, which I knew we would do all along. All and all, I was happy! Of course there are small things that every bride would change looking back -- but that's another post for another day.

Sheri came all the way from Utah. We were friend while working for Disney and hadn't seen each other in 7 years.

Rachel came from Texas. Also a Disney friend.

My MTSU TV gang. 7 years of friendship and still going strong.

Proof that Channel 5 people were there. My photographers sadly didn't get a lot of pictures of them.

10 Days

I know I keep saying it ... but I can't believe we are getting so close to the wedding day! Last night David and I sat down and listed out the order of our reception. Like when we thought would be a good time to cut the cake, or throw the bouquet. It was fun to finally get a vision in my head of how the day will run. My to-do list is also getting smaller and smaller with only a few non-essential things left to do. I've only had a few moments where I've felt stressed out -- but it's mostly been due to other people's complaining or lack of understanding.

I'm also counting down my last days of work. Today is day 1 of 7 in a row. Once I get past day 7 it means all the girls from Youtube will be in town. That's also another thing I'm really looking forward to. It will be the first time we'll have all 4 girls in the same room ... plus a few extra friends. We've got a fun few days planned out including my Bacholorette party.

After the wedding, David and I will be able to enjoy 2 honeymoons. The first is just a couple days in town at a hotel and then some relaxing at our house. Then the next weekend we'll leave for our cruise. Like I said, I can't believe we are getting so close -- but I'm very excited to finally be getting near.

Turning 26 Years Old

With all the wedding commotion this year my birthday was the last thing on my mind these past months. A far cry from last year when I turned 25 and wanted everyone in the world to be at my party and cheer me on into the next quarter of my life. This year with the turning of 26 ... I could care less. However thanks to my wonderful "husband-to-be" he wouldn't let it day go by without some hoopla.

He was actually the first to mention doing something for my birthday. We thought about going out to eat with close friends, but I could never decide on a place I wanted to go that wasn't too expensive or had terrible parking on a Friday night. That's when David had the idea of holding a BBQ at our house. We bought the house back in May but hadn't had an official "house warming" because ... again ... of all the wedding stuff going on. We both thought this would be the perfect oppourtunity.

We were able to buy a nice grill thanks to some gift cards and a gift return. We supplied all the meat and fixings and asked everyone else to bring a side dish. We ended up having A LOT of food left over ... which wasn't too bad I guess. I didn't have to grocery shop that week. It was a modge podge of people that came to the party. David had his friends from church, high school and I had friends from college and work. All in all about 17 people in the house. That's a lot ... but between the living room, kitchen and back deck it all worked out. We had some people stay late so we started a fire in the fire pit and sat around talking gossip and work.

Honestly I had soooo much fun! It was probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a while. Which is funny considering we didn't put too much effort into it. David bought me lamps for our bedroom and a gift certificate for a dinner date later. My family got me money so I could buy some clothes for the fall season.

Almost 2 Months!

As I write the above words I can't even fathum how fast time as passed by. Just 2 months away! WOW! I remember when David and I first got engaged and we had over 275 days to plan for the start of our life together. I remember finally getting past the 200 day mark and thinking ... "Gosh, it's so far away." And I feel like it was just yesterday that I posted on facebook "Only 99 days -- yeah, we are in the double digits." Everyone told me time would fly by and I'm here to report: Yes it has.

In the time that David and I have been engaged we've bought a house, I've gotten a job promotion -- and been passed over for a promotion, David quit his job with the church and he started working for the school system. I feel like life has taken a complete 180 turn from where we were when I first got the ring. But it's a true blessing. God led us to the perfect home that will be home to our family for years to come. And he's provided the income to not only stay in that house but continue to cover the mortgage of the Murfreesboro condo which still has not been rented out.

As far as wedding planning is going -- things are pretty on track. I still haven't tacked down a hair dresser and the deposit for the table clothes still hasn't been put in stone. That's really the only planning stuff not done yet. Still I feel like there is so much to be done and for some reason I'm behind. The other day I looked down at my phone which has a wedding countdown on the front. So as soon as I turned it on I saw "69 days" and briefly had a moment of panic. Luckily -- like I said it was brief. Not even 5 seconds passed and I realized how much I've gotten done in comparison to most brides at this track. I have faith that everything will work out the way it's suppose to. And I have even more faith that my Youtube friends coming in from out of town -- who've I put in charged of decorating the reception hall -- will be very helpful not only on my wedding day but the days leading up.

Wedding Woes (Our Engagement Photos)

If there's been one piece of wedding meltdown so far it's been the engagement photos. When David and I decided to get married I was pretty set on who I wanted to be the photographer. My friend Trina had recently gotten married (I was a bridesmaids) and I really liked her photographer. Not only was she enjoyable to work with on the wedding day, but her prices were unmatched for the quality and skill level she had. I don't know what it is about wedding photographers but I think they've secretly banded together to gouge newlywed couples out of any money they possible could have. Anyways ... this girl must not have gotten the memo -- so I'm glad.

When we first booked we didn't have a venue set. I was so fearful we wouldn't get the photograher it was literally the first wedding planning I did. So when I talked to her I said the wedding was Oct 20th which is the date we really wanted. Unfortunately ... they were booked. They insured us that they had an associate that could do the wedding and after seeing his work I was okay with the idea. Then I finally booked the venue, and of course they didn't have the 20th available .... whoomp whoomp. But don't get too upset, because once we did finally solidify a date with the venue and moved our wedding to the 28th ... THE PHOTOGRAPHER WAS FREE!! yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh We still plan on using the associate since he was the one orginally booked but we are using him as a 2nd shooter and our original pick as the first shooting.

If you thought that was the end of my wedding woe, you're wrong! Then begin the fun part. We booked our engagment photos 4 months in advanced -- only to get cancelled a day before because the photographer had gotten pink eye. We rebooked -- only to get cancelled again because they didn't realize they rebooked us for Memorial Day. So we rebooked agin -- only to get cancelled a 3rd time because of a family emergency with the photography. I won't go into detail -- but it truly was an emergency. Of course I didn't know that when it happened. All their booking lady told me was that they needed to re-schedule AGAIN. When I got off the phone I cried and cried and cried. We were going through a heat wave in Tennessee and the place we had choosen to shoot the pictures had all of these beautiful flowers ... which I knew were going to be dead now. Luckily David calmed me, called the photographer, got the full story on why the shoot had been cancelled for a third time and I felt all better.

FINALLY, the day for our photo shoot arrived!! I had read articles saying you should plan to bring props. So after much research on pinterest I was geared up with some cool stuff. Overall we loved working with our photographers and even though it was hot I thought the pictures turned out great. They sent us 60 photos and there were only 2 I didn't like. David on the other hand found about 7 more he didn't like. I'll put some of them below. ENJOY!!

Making Progress (Our House)

Before David and I got married we had talked about buying a house so that when we started our life together we could start in a place that was ours -- somewhere that we could eventually start a family. We always talked liked it wouldn't happen until closer to the wedding, but then we found a house that both of us fell in love with ... and the ball started rolling sooner then we could have imagined. We closed on the house April 30th and I moved in mid-May. I've moved in first while David continues to live with his parents. After the wedding is when he'll move in.

I've never moved an entire house before. I've always lived in apartments and therefore have only had enough stuff for an apartment. During the move into the house we pulled all of David's boxes out of storage from when he lived in his condo in Murfreesboro and then we added in my stuff. Needless to say we had a lot of stuff -- and a lot of doubles of things. We kept the stuff that was the niciest and put the rest in boxes to go into a garage sale.

Besides all the stuff that needed to be unpacked we were also going to buy a new bedroom set for our Master. FINALLY today it came in. It's a King Bed with matching nightsides for both of us and then a dresser w/mirror and chest.

I only have a King sheet set -- no comforter yet

The master bedroom finally looks like a room and not a hodge podge of plastic bins and a random twin bed. Along with getting the master bedroom set I was finally able to move the twin into the guest room and arrange all the furniture in there.

I actually really REALLY like this room and the way it turned out. I was worried that the colors wouldn't work together, but I think it's not half bad.

And then finally we got the rug that finishes off the living room. We had been looking around for something that we not only liked but wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg. It's amazing how expensive those things can be. Then we found it -- and for half the cost of other places!!

It's a great feeling to finally have the house coming together. There's still a lot more that needs to be done especially when it comes to the yard, but the house is finally starting to resemble a home. And it's getting so close. Today marks 4 months till to the wedding!

My Bridesmaids

If you had asked me 3 years ago who I wanted as my bridesmaids I would have replied with the same 4 girls I'm going to have by my side this coming October. I might have added a few more, but I would have always kept the top 4 the same. But it almost didn't start that way ....

Almost immediately after David and I got engaged we discussed who we wanted in our wedding party. Without divulging too much personal information on the Internet -- there was some controversy with the groomsmen ... so David and I talked it over and we decided to keep things simple and small. That meant him having two of his friends and me having just my 2 sisters.

(Dana, Katie, Me)

I was a little disappointed. I really wanted to have my two friends Trina & Becca but it just didn't seem possible. I knew they would understand and I even found "jobs" for them to do at the wedding so they would still feel involved.

I was at peace with the decision when a couple months later I was talking with a friend at work about my sisters and the bridesmaid situation. She made a great point!! Why do you have to have an even wedding party? We started looking up pictures online of people who had more girls then boys -- or more boys then girls. And some of the pictures were actually really creative and cool. My work friend suggested if I really wanted to have my friends I needed to talk to David about it.

Not even an hour later I got a phone call from my sister Katie. SHE WAS PREGNANT!! And due 1 week before the wedding. Us sisters have always had a rule that we didn't want to be in each others wedding if we were pregnant -- so I assumed she was cancelling on me. In fact she didn't, but wanted to give me a heads up and also ask for permission to drop out if needed when the time got closer. This only solidified in my mind that I wanted to add my friends to the wedding. Because if Katie did have to drop out at the last minute I would only have one bridesmaid.

Luckily, it wasn't too late and both Trina and Becca accepted to be in my wedding! So this past Tuesday we went dress shopping. I had already picked out the dresses we just needed to find the right size.

Honestly, I think both of them looked wonderful! All 4 of my bridesmaids have such different body types and I think this dress is flattering on everyone. So I'm very happy. The colors they are wearing are not the real color. It's more of a deep purple called "PLUM" which is the color of the dress on the right. That's Claire my Junior Bridesmaid and also my niece. She already has her dress. After dresses, we had lunch and talked books almost the entire time. We recently started a book club between our friends so it's a hot topic for us.


I'm really happy that things worked out the way it did for my bridesmaids. It's great knowing the people I love the most are going to help me start my life with the man I love the most.

Welcome to "Being Mrs. Jean"

Welcome to "Being Mrs. Jean"

Who am I: My name is Samantha J Smith and on October 28th, 2012 I will FINALLY be marrying the love of my life David Jean.

I'll give you a little background if you're new. I originally met David in 2006 while we were both in college. It was a simple friendship -- seeing each other at school events, I sold him an old textbook once, and even worked as a teacher's aid for a class he took. (Yes, that included grading his homework) It was very innocent, nothing more then friends. Then in early 2011, David got in contact with me through Facebook and asked how things had been. He had seen a recent video that I had posted on Facebook & YouTube as part of my group vlogging channel. The video had sparked his interested, which sparked our conversation. That conversation would eventually lead to a date, which would lead into more dates and long story short ... we fell in love. It's not your typical love story but one that definitely fits our personalities.

David and I both work in media communications. I'm a Producer at a news station in Nashville and he's the Media Director of a large church in Brentwood; as well as holds his own freelance business on the side. Our jobs keep us busy, but luckily since we both come from a busy world it's easy to find someone who understands when your schedule changes on short notice or when you have to cancel a date due to work.

This blog is about our life and that crazy journeys that we are about to take on!