Tag Archives: husband and wife

One Wonderful Year.

September 21, 2013 Pamela Stephens

Obviously, this post is more than a tad late. Please forgive me?? Matthew and I celebrated our one year anniversary on July 28, 2013. Yay!! I wanted to be sure that such a special occasion didn’t pass without celebrating, but it was such a busy time for the both of us, so we had to get creative.Our original plan was to go out of town for the weekend or maybe to the family’s lake house, but we ultimately decided to stay home.When trying to think of ways to celebrate locally, we decided to spend a day touring our town. “Tour your town” initiatives are nothing new, but we haven’t had a chance to do a lot of these things together. I’m pretty familiar with our local landscape from my time at the Convention & Visitors Bureau, but I haven’t been to many places recently, and Matthew is new to many of them.

Since we decided to stay in town, we took the weekend off and spent Saturday hitting up some of our local gems. Matthew grilled us the most delicious BBQ chicken for lunch, and then we began our day at the Biedenharn Museum & Gardens. We frequent the gardens for the Moonlit Garden events, but I hadn’t had a chance to take Matthew through the Coke Museum or to tour the Biedenharn home. I think he really enjoyed learning some of the history. Plus, a stroll hand-in-hand through those beautiful gardens is always nice. It was my favorite soda jerk’s last day at the museum, so I was thrilled to get to see him “perform” one last time. (By the way, that’s not a derogatory term…that’s what they’re called!)

Next, we went down the street to the Masur Museum of Art. The current exhibit was on computer aided art, which was fascinating. There was even a section on video games with a station to play for a bit. Playing video games in an art museum? Of course! There were videos, recordings, printouts, framed java script, and all sorts of computer generated art. My favorite from this collection was huge quilts with blocks of hundreds and hundreds and quotes from researchers. I found it fascinating! I loved how it drew light to the possible invalidity of things media credit to unattributed “experts.” “Experts say, Pamela Petrus is the most talented and amazing woman in the world.” See how this works? Although, I do like where these experts were headed. 🙂

After the museum, I begged to go to the zoo. Matthew wasn’t quite as excited about this idea, but he obliged. We stumbled upon an abandoned wheelchair, and my comedian husband exclaimed, “It’s a miracle!” I’m laughing now just thinking about it again. He’s a funny one, Mr. Petrus.

We ended the day by grabbing some Johnny’s pizza and heading to the Downtown Cinema for an outdoor showing of Star Wars: The Emperor Strikes Back…complete with snow cones, of course! To most, this probably sounds like a boring, uneventful anniversary, but to two more-than-busy individuals, this laid back Saturday together was amazing. We seldom have time to spend an easy going, unscheduled day together, so this anniversary weekend was more than welcomed.

In other anniversary news: year-old, frozen cake is disgusting! I don’t know who created this tradition, but I wish it could have been a more tasty experience! Matthew said all along that it was a little silly, but I insisted we try. Needless to say, we settled with celebratory ice cream instead.What sorts of things have you done to celebrate an anniversary? Please share!

Read about our story here: meeting in a hardware store and the proposal.

The Proposal

August 5, 2013 Pamela Stephens

It’s obvious when I’ve been busy at work…my blog posts are fewer and farther between. Nonetheless, here is our proposal story that I promised. I hope to find a better balance between working and managing this space very soon!

Earlier, I talked about how Matthew and I got our start. The post mentions that we had the wedding of our dreams in just a few short weeks. This is not a joke. Matthew proposed on July 12 and we were married on July 28, 2012. I should also mention that this was after dating for only 3 months!

Before you starting thinking that we were complete idiots, refer back to the beginning of our story. During those three months, we spent every single day together. Not only were we together, but those days were filled with tons of teamwork and learning experiences. We weren’t skipping through fields of flowers. We were working hard…together. Nonetheless, I don’t have to explain myself. When ya know, ya know, right?

Let’s talk a little about how this plan to marry came to be. One Sunday afternoon, we were sitting on my bed chatting away. (We had likely just finished hanging or unpacking something, as I had just moved into a new rent house.) We were both off work the following Monday, and one of us jokingly said we should go to Arkansas and come back married. This was another one of those moments where we both laughed and then suddenly got serious. (Like the one mentioned in the puzzle/rug discovery…there’s currently a puzzle under my living room rug by the way.) Why Arkansas you ask? Well, Arkansas and Vegas are the only two places that I know of that you can show up, get a marriage license, and get married that same day!

After a few minutes of testing the waters to see if one or the other were indeed serious, we came to the conclusion that we were both ready to commit to spending the rest of our lives together. Not the rest of the year…the rest of our lives here on this earth. We also decided that we loved the idea of shocking the world by just showing up married one day! We both love to do things to defy the norm. However, we decided that we wouldn’t break our poor Mamas’ hearts by not telling them ahead of time. Plus, Matthew insisted that I have a ring and a “real” proposal story to tell. Rather than going that next day in secret, we decided we would tell our friends and family first and go later that month. We spent the next week telling our loved ones of our plan to get married in just a few short weeks. I should mention that prior to this day, there had been no direct talk of marriage. While we both knew it was coming, we hadn’t spoken a word of it. Talk about zero to sixty!

I spent the next week scouting for the perfect vintage engagement ring. (Would you really expect me to have anything else??) I found hundreds that I liked but couldn’t commit to any. Of course, I’d be able to pick the man, but be unable to decide on a ring…so very typical of me. Matthew and I went to Baldwin’s Jewelers, an estate jeweler in a neighboring town, and found the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. I looked through the cases and found 20-30 that I wanted to try on. After trying them all, Matthew said he found one that I should try. As soon as I put it on my finger, I was in love. (With him AND the ring!) I wanted to “think about it some more,” so we walked some through some of the shops downtown while we talked. After being gone for less than 5 minutes, I started to panic! I was so afraid that someone was going to buy that ring before we got back! (No kidding…I started to sweat. That could have been the July heat in Louisiana, but I think it was from fear of losing my ring.) We knew right away that it was the ring we wanted. I should also mention that it fit my size 4 finger perfectly! Sadly, Matthew wouldn’t let me wear it until he actually proposed. It was terrible knowing that my beautiful ring was sitting in the console, and I couldn’t even wear it!

We had agreed to host a party when we returned home to celebrate this special time with our friends and family. On the way to show the ring to my mom, we stopped at his family’s lake house to scope it out for a potential party venue. As we walked around, Matthew told me stories of his childhood. I looked at the stained glass door showcasing a “P” for the family’s last name. It immediately hit me that Petrus was about to become my last name too. The stories Matthew was telling were going to become my stories too. This name that he was so proud to bear was going to become my name too. What an amazing, profound moment! As we stood on the balcony of the barn, overlooking the lake, Matthew continued to tell stories of Easter egg hunts and family gatherings. Next thing I knew, he was down on one knee, asking me to be his wife!

Luckily, I only had to wait 2 hours for the proposal!

From day one, a girl envisions what this day will be like. You think about where it will be and what he will say. It was nothing like what I had imagined…it was even better! I was so happy to leave that lake house with a gorgeous ring on my finger and a plan to marry the most amazing and inspiring man I’d ever met.

And that’s how Matthew Petrus and I decided to get married in 12 days after dating for only 3 months. If I could go back and do it all over again…I wouldn’t change a thing! Some may think it was crazy idea…I think it was fantastic! Our one year anniversary has been a wonderful time to reflect on this special time in our lives. Thank you for reading along! I’ll try to post more about the actual wedding and our one year anniversary soon. If you missed Part One of our story, read it here.

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Our One Year Anniversary

July 28, 2013 Pamela Stephens

On this day one year ago, I married my best friend. What a rewarding year it has been! We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. (Well, I’ve cried.) But most importantly, our relationship has grown stronger with each passing day. I’m going to share more about our story this week, but in honor of this special day, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite wedding photos by the amazing Rusted Spoon Photography. Here’s to another wonderful year learning and growing with my favorite man!

Read how our story began here! Part 2 coming this week!

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Once Upon a Time in a Hardware Store…

July 21, 2013 Pamela Stephens

This time of year brings back so many great memories, because this time last year I was busy falling madly in love with the man of my dreams. With our one year anniversary approaching, I can’t help but reflect upon the journey Matthew and I have started together. Many of you don’t know the story of how Matt & I came to be, so I thought I’d share it here.

It begins, “Once Upon a Time in a Hardware Store,” because my new husband and I met in a local hardware store. Matthew’s family owns TP Outdoors here in Monroe/West Monroe, where he works as the hardware manager in the West Monroe location. At that time, I owned Salt & Pepper…just up the street from his store, and I frequented their establishment for items to complete miscellaneous projects for my store displays.

Being the hardware manager, Matthew was always the one trying to help me figure out ways to make my crazy ideas happen. He special ordered items for me, spent 20+ minutes helping to fix purses, delivered boxes to me when the store needed to move…the list goes on and on.

Finally, after working on so many projects together, I noticed myself finding excuses to go to his store. (The large stack of TP Outdoors receipts from this time confirms this notion!) Matthew was always so positive and welcoming and knew just what to say to encourage me through whatever I was facing. He would ask about my day, and I’d find myself really telling him how my day was going. Next thing I knew, I found myself showing up at TP Outdoors every time I had a bad day. And as usual, I’d leave feeling much better and carrying an unnecessary bag of screws. (Don’t judge!)

Next, I needed help with figuring out some projects for our 2012 Spring Market booth, and Matthew came to the rescue with ways to make all of my ideas happen…plus more ideas of his own! This is how I knew we would make an awesome team. (See a few pictures in my 2013 Spring Market post.) He took the project and ran with it…building pallet walls for us, hauling in railroad timbers…and made our 2012 booth my favorite one of all. (Of course, I could be partial.) After seeing the approach he took to this project, I felt like there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish as a team. So, a few weeks later, we began seeing each other as more than just work associates.

In those first couple of months, we were practically inseparable. We texted until crazy hours of the morning, spent every evening together, and literally talked about everything you could possibly imagine. Salt & Pepper was moving to its new location during this time, and Matthew was my right hand man. We spent many late nights installing purse hangers, mounting railroad timbers to walls, hanging pallets, building custom tables…and the list goes on and on. During these two short months, we not only spent an insane amount of time together, but several of the projects we worked on were strenuous, stressful, and demanding. For example, we spent 8+ hours in a shop with no air conditioning one day (Remember, this is summertime in Louisiana….HOT!!), building a custom table from scratch. Imagine sweating profusely with sawdust clinging to your skin, as you constantly make adjustments to the original plans to make them “work.” On the drive home, I had a sudden realization that we didn’t kill each other! We didn’t get mad, frustrated, or testy with one another. The moment that I realized that this tough task had been so successful, I knew we had something special.

The following weeks were full of similar exciting discoveries and adventures. We began a whirlwind romance that ultimately ended with the wedding of our dreams, just a few short weeks later. I will forever and ever look back on this time as some of the most exciting and wonderful days of my life.

More about our special love story coming soon…

Read more about our first year of marriage here, here, and here.

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Family Reunion at the Lake

July 8, 2013 Pamela Stephens

The past several days have flown by, while also feeling incredibly long…the sun will do that to you. Our Independence Day weekend surrounded a family reunion for Matthew’s side of our family. We spent three days at the family lake house on Lake D’Arbonne doing all of the usual lake activities…boat riding, swimming, riding the tube, eating, and a very serious horseshoe tournament. (I’m not kidding when I say this horseshoe tournament was a big deal!)

We had hamburgers and delicious catfish catered from one of our favorite restaurants, Catfish Charlie’s. The lake house was buzzing with people of all ages, happy to see one another and eager to catch up and reminisce. Children ran and played and meltdowns were few and far between. Our sweet nephew, Riley, rode the tube for the first time and is now hooked. He wasn’t very happy when his final ride of the weekend came to an end. He also got a kick out of refusing to share his chips with me. Luckily, I wasn’t depending on Riley for my sustenance this weekend, or I would have starved!

As always, I should have taken more pictures, but I was too focused on chatting the days away, not to mention that I was afraid of dropping my phone into the lake. Nonetheless, my first family reunion on Matthew’s side of the family was a huge success, and we more than enjoyed a few days of relaxing in the sun with our family.

We had to come back to the real world on Sunday, as we both headed back to work. I worked on listing my second house and showed a total of eight homes to clients on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, I’m exhausted! Matt went to work and then came home to study for a nursing exam. There’s nothing like finishing a blissful weekend with a large dose of reality! Nonetheless, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend together with family. Here’s to a busy week ahead!

I also spent a lot of my weekend snapping photos for the Phone Photography Project. I’ll tell you more about that soon!

Read about our last busy weekend here.

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Our Wild Weekend.

May 13, 2013 Pamela Stephens

This weekend was a busy one. We spent Friday night hanging out at the new River & Rail Cantina with Amanda. The outing originated from an excuse to wear new shoes, but we camouflaged it as an early birthday celebration for Matt. We sat out on the patio next to the fire pits, overlooking the Ouachita River and had the best time laughing the night away. The atmosphere at R&R is superb. (Pardon the water on Matt’s shirt. I couldn’t crop it out or only my head would be left..short girl probs.)

Saturday brought upon a very special day in the Petrus household…Matt’s birthday! Poor thing had to go help with athletic physicals at 7 am (nursing school probs), but this gave me time to wrap presents and tie up loose ends for his big day. I decorated the house as if we were having a big party. Birthdays were always a big deal when I was growing up. My mom always did perfectly themed parties or special birthday activities, so I feel like you absolutely have to make a big deal of the day.

Even though Matt wanted a quiet night at home, I just couldn’t help decorating the place so that he’d have something exciting to come home too. He grilled some of the most delicious steaks, and Amanda came over to play some board games. I hope he felt extra special on this day.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and we invited my family over for lunch. I offered to host the gathering, because I’m the only one in my family who’s not a mommy yet. Matt grilled burgers, which were delicious as usual. We all sat around a chatted for a bit. Of course, I forgot to take many pics, but I was excited about this get together, because it was our first family gathering for Matt and I to host at our home! (Again, the firsts are always special!) I did catch a picture of Dana (my oldest sister) with “check yes or no” written in the background. The girls lost a ball under the house, and I couldn’t resist a picture of their attempt to fish it out. (They taped a rake to the end of a 10′ pole!) We may have lost a piece of siding during the process, but that’s ok. Memories were made, and I have a handy husband who can fix it in no time. We enjoyed the chance to spend some time with my side of our family and are looking forward to visiting with Matt’s side of the family soon.

I hope everyone had as wonderful of a weekend as we did! We especially hope all of the Moms have a fantastic time (especially our moms/grandmothers…we love you all!). Now we’re off to another busy week!

You can read about some of our others “firsts” here.

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What Married People Do: Buy a car.

May 2, 2013 Pamela Stephens

We bought a car! I’m more excited than usual over a new car, because this was mine and Matt’s first big purchase as a married couple.

Funny side note: Matt has learned a very valuable lesson. At first, he didn’t understand that our first of everything was vitally important…our first Christmas, first vacation, first house…I’m obsessed with it all. In the beginning he wouldn’t get very excited about all of the little firsts here and there. After about 6 months in, he realized that I want to make a big deal of all of those things. Now, as soon as I say, “Aww…it’s our first {insert random item/holiday/experience}” – he immediately follows with, “You’re right, it’s our first {repeat random item/holiday/experience} and it’s important because all of our firsts are important.” He figured it out! On a serious note, I’m very happy that my husband will play along with my silly notions.

That being said, I made quite a big deal of our car-buying process. (If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you already know this because I posted 3 pics of the process…more than I usually allow.) However, it felt like a huge deal to me. We had just made our first big decisions as a couple and worked amazingly together…I felt like celebrating!

Our car-buying strategy was a tad more elaborate than most. We spent 2+ weeks analyzing different options…Accords, Altimas, Camrys. New, used, certified. Future trade in values, mpg, insurance, down payments…you name it. If it could be considered, then I guarantee we talked it through. We even had a spreadsheet…a color-coded spreadsheet at that! After analyzing the numbers to death, we finally decided to write which car we really wanted down on a note card and show each other at the same time. (That’s how all big decisions are made right??) Luckily, it was the same car!

Why were we buying a new car? Matt is driving 60 miles round trip to Ruston everyday. Our original plan was for him to drive my car to school instead of his big Dodge with a whopping 16mpg. However, my 6′ tall husband didn’t fit so well into my little g6. So, we decided to buy me a slightly bigger car that he can drive on school days.

I think we knocked this one out of the park. We got a great car with awesome features (You can thumbs up/thumbs down your Pandora from the screen – my fav! Plus, it has back up & lane watch cameras.), and Matt driving it to school is going to save us a ton of money each month.

When I married my husband, one of the biggest draws was that I felt like we could work together through anything. This car-buying experience has shown me that yet again, we make an amazing team. Ladies, when you’re picking a husband, be sure it’s someone you can work through both little and big things with. And someone that you can enjoy the process of making these sorts of decisions with. It will make a huge difference in your overall happiness.

So here it is…the newest addition to the Petrus family – our 2013 Honda Accord EX! We love it’s long list of fun features, the crazy good gas mileage, and the fact that there’s only 3 of this color in the state of Louisiana. Plus, apparently a carseat will fit easily in the back. 🙂

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Memphis: We Love to Eat!

February 27, 2013 Pamela Stephens

Eating and trying new restaurants is possibly one of our favorite out-of-town activities. Having worked in the tourism industry, I always make a point to try local places.

I gave an account of BB King’s in this post. The following morning we had a DELICIOUS brunch at Aldo’s Pizza Pies. I don’t have any pics, but the food and atmosphere were great. It seemed like all of the ingredients were superbly fresh. I swear that these croutons were the best I’ve ever had. (I’m a sucker for croutons.)

You can’t go to Memphis without going to Bryant’s Breakfast. (Shout out to my maiden name! I tried to buy a tshirt, but they didn’t have any. Grrr.) Bryant’s has been in business since 1968, and it’s one of those places everybody goes to. We both had the Breakfast Special…the homemade biscuits are to die for! If you’re ever in Memphis, this is one of those places you must go. Tell them Pamela sent you. I’m kidding…that won’t mean a thing.

I’m also happy to recommend Central BBQ. (I was able to buy a tshirt there!) The environment was so laid back that you felt like part of the family. The owner was working the register and chatted with us like we were old friends.

Their homemade seasoned chips were yummy…and rather addictive! I stocked up on extras to bring home for the girls at Salt & Pepper. I tied little name tags on them to make the girls feel extra special. =)

We also had dinner at Texas de Brazil (not a local place, but our first time to go there). All I can say is show up hungry! For those of you who don’t know how it works, they bring around huge skewers of every type of meat you can imagine, prepared every possible way. You have a card with a red and a green side which you flip to signal whether or not you want more meat.

If you’re ready for more, you flip the card to green and the cycle continues. Lamb, chicken, sirloin, meats wrapped in bacon…you name it, they had it. (Sorry vegetarians!) One of my favorite things about this restaurant was the amazing salad bar. It seriously had the freshest of everything you could possibly imagine.

All in all, we tried some fantastic restaurants. I’d be happy to get to go back to most of them. I must give props to my husband – he talked to coworkers and did his research preparing a list of the best places to go. (This is a good thing because I would have just shown up and wandered in to places that looked cool. This is another reason why we are a good team.) Thanks for doing such a good job planning our trip, honey!

So…there ya have it! This sums up our Memphis trip in a nutshell. Have you tried any of these restaurants before? How about other local places you love? I’m always looking for a new restaurant to try!

Update: Read about how our trip began here. We also shopped, saw a broadway show, and hung out on Beale Street.

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Memphis: Shopping!

February 26, 2013 Pamela Stephens

Anyone who knows me, knows that we will squeeze in some shopping on every trip…especially at antique stores/flea markets.

On day 3, we loaded up and drove out to Rossville to check out the Rusty Propeller. Heather over at Vintage Sale gave us some pointers on what stores to hit up. This one was just as cool as I’d hoped! I loaded up on things for our house and for the store {link}. We made several rounds through because there was so much cool stuff to see! Not to mention that the folks there were soooo nice. We could have stayed and chatted all afternoon.

Next, we rode over to Collierville to check out their awesome downtown. It was such a great little area! Of course, I’m a sucker for a cool downtown. We couldn’t pass up the cheesecake shop. Matt had chocolate raspberry and I couldn’t resist trying the chocolate covered strawberry.

The part I loved the most about this downtown was the cool park in the center.

The coolest thing about it was that it offered wifi! I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a park with wifi. I took a pic of the Tennessee Bank that provides the free wifi…it’s so tiny!

Also in Collierville, was the Sheffield Antique Mall. I can honestly say that this place had it together! It was huge with tons of cool stuff, but the most noticeable thing was that it seemed so well run. They were having a storewide sale, which I’ve never seen at a flea market. They were also having a Mardi Gras party that night. Free food, drinks, and a live band until 10pm. We couldn’t attend, but I thought it was the coolest thing! You just don’t see flea markets with such spunk!

We loaded up on cool stuff at this store. Possibly my favorite find of the trip are these vintage sling back pumps. Being that I wear a size 4 1/2 (Crazy right?!), I don’t usually stumble upon shoes that fit me. Needless to say, I snatched these vintage beauties up!

I was also pumped to find these cool map prints to hang over Matt’s desk. I’ve been really into maps and globes lately, and the wall behind his desk needs some love….these will be perfect! We also came across an old Mary Poppins record and since we saw the Broadway version (our first Broadway show) on this trip, we knew we should snatch it up! As of today, I’m thinking I might hang this one in my office.

Of course, vintage shopping wasn’t all we did. We had to hit up some of my favorite stores in Germantown like Anthropologie, Free People, Loft, & Banana Republic. You just can’t pass up these stores!

Overall, we had a great time exploring the surrounding areas of Memphis and found some pretty cool things to bring home. Have you ever been to any of these places? Where are your favorite places to shop when you’re out of town?

Update: Read more from Memphis here, here, here, and here.

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Memphis: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

February 20, 2013 Pamela Stephens

When we learned of the Orpheum Theater, we knew we had to go to a show! We were lucky to catch the last showing of Mary Poppins, and it was phenomenal!

This was the first broadway show that we’d ever been to, so we were both blown away. The sets and costumes were so elaborate, and the talent was amazing. Matt worked behind the scenes at a few productions at Louisiana Tech, so he found the sets to be particular interesting. I was just amazed by all of the movement and how the scenes switched so seamlessly without the audience even hardly noticing. Plus, bright colors, singing/dancing, and flashing lights are plenty to keep a girl entertained!

My handsome hubby wore a bow tie and suspenders (which I loved!), and I wore one of this winter’s dresses from Salt & Pepper. I seize any opportunity to get all dressed up! I planned on taking more pictures, but we just didn’t get around to it.

These aren't very good pics, but they're all I had, so I decided to post nonetheless. Forgive me. — These aren’t very good pics, but they’re all I had, so I decided to post nonetheless. Forgive me.

It wasn’t just the production that was amazing though. The theater itself was a sight to see. It was like stepping back in time to a theater from the early 1900’s. Everything was so intricate and detailed. I didn’t get to take any pictures, but you can check out their website for a peek. (I’m not one of those people who will stop the movement of a crowd in order to snap a few pictures. In this case, I “took them with my mind” as Matt says.) If you go to their site, be sure to read the history. It’s such a fascinating place!

Mary Poppins — Again, not a good picture, but it’ll do…

If you’re ever in Memphis, make a point to see a show there. I just can’t describe how beautiful it is. Have you ever been to a broadway show? What was your experience like?

Update: Read about how our trip started here. We also hung out on Beale Street. Ate a lot and shopped!

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