My Best Friend's Wedding

As many of you know, I like to do photography as a hobby right now, and I was able to take some pictures at my best friend Brittney's wedding back in August. I was in the wedding, though, so I don't have any of the ceremony, but here are some of my favorites! Let me know what you think!

Five Wonderful Years

Today, Ryan and I have been together for five years! I can't believe it's been that long. Time goes by so quickly, and I still remember vividly the day we met. I am forward to many more amazing years together! To celebrate tonight, I decided to surprise Ryan when he gets off work with a special dinner. I've already made a chocolate pie ( from scratch!), and I will be making Pan-fried Ribeyes, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and fresh green beans! Hopefully it will all turn out well and we will have a very special evening!

True Love

Love is not a place, to come and go as we please, it's a house we enter in, and then commit to never leave. So lock the door behind you, throw away the key, we’ll work it out together, let it bring us to our knees.

Love is a shelter in a raging storm; Love is a peace in the middle of a war, and if we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door.
No, love is not a fight, but it's something worth fighting for.

To some love is a word that they can fall into, but when they’re falling out, keeping that word is hard to do.

Love is a shelter in a raging storm; Love is peace in the middle of a war, but if we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door.
No, love is not a fight, but it's something worth fighting for.

Love will come to save us, if we’ll only call. He will ask nothing from us, but demand we’ll give our all.

Love is a shelter in a raging storm; Love is a peace in the middle of a war, and if we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door.
No, love is not a fight, but it's something worth fighting for.

I will fight for you!

Would you fight for me?

It’s worth fighting for.

"Love is Not a Fight" by Warren Barfield

Ryan

My Struggle

As many of you know, I love history and I love to read. However, I have never felt awkward about buying a book or had to struggle to make myself do it.....until yesterday. For my German history class this week, we had to read excerpts from Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, which means "My Struggle." Being the historian that I am, I have wanted to read this book for a while now, just to get a better understanding of what was going on in Hitler's mind at the time that would lead to the Holocaust. I am a firm believer that without firm, true, and deep knowledge of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, we cannot hope to be prepared to stop this from happening again. But, I just couldn't make myself go so far as to buy the book. Yesterday, however, I started thinking that as a graduate student and later professor of German history, specializing in the Third Reich, I will have to study and use this book. I will have to teach referencing it. And not only that, I shouldn't let others' possible opinions of me buying the book stop me from fulfilling my desire for knowledge . So...I did it. I bought Mein Kampf. However, as to the point as that sounds, it definitely was not easy. I debated with myself for at least a good thirty minutes and when I finally decided to just go check out, the African-American checker gave me the "You racist!" look, and I just wanted to scream, "I'm a freaking history major! Back off! I might be blonde and blue eyed, but that doesn't mean I'm a neo-Nazi!" But I held back, and shoved the book into my backpack as quick as I could. It's amazing to see how this book, even now can cause such a turmoil.

Renaissance Festival pictures

Schatz

For our first Valentine's Day together after we started dating, Ryan gave me this adorable teddy bear. I thought it was so cute and named it "Schatz", which is German for "sweetheart." I loved this bear!



Apparently Layla feels the same way....



Not long after I brought her home, Layla found Schatz, and she fell in love. She might forget about him for a little while, but she always goes back to him. He must be her comfort like he was often for me when Ryan and I were apart. Or maybe he just smells like me....who knows! :)

Catch Up!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted! I promise to try to keep up with this blog better. A lot of things have been going on since I last posted. My mom and dad and brother, Eric, were here the 10th through the 13th, and we had a really good time. On that Saturday, we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, which is about 45 minutes from College Station. It's close to Navasota, so it wasn't a very long drive. I didn't realize how large the Festival would be! We spent 6 and a half hours there, and didn't even see two whole sections of the Festival. It was so much fun, though. We got to practice archery, watch jousting, eat Bratwurst, and listen to some great music. Lauren even got a Henna tattoo! I would definitely go back another time. Maybe now that Lauren has her Dirndl, we can go back on Thanksgiving weekend for the Celtic Christmas weekend. For those of you who don't know, a Dirndl is a traditional German/Bavarian dress. You see them alot around Oktoberfest time.

On Sunday, we went to church and then we went shopping for Eric's birthday and I got some new clothes too! Sunday night, we went to see a new movie that came out recently, Fireproof. I highly recommend this movie! It was incredible. I honestly feel that every married couple, young or old, should see it. It was made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. They are the same church that made Facing the Giants. Wonderful movie!

Lauren and I have been really busy with school lately. We've had the first round of exams, and now we're preparing for a couple more, but other than my Political Science class, I won't have another exam until finals. Lauren's Nazi Germany class with Dr. Krammer is going wonderfully. It is definitely the highlight of her week, with German coming in a close second. I'm really enjoying my Visual Rhetoric class and look forward to going to it.

Speaking of German, Lauren has decided that she plans on continuing at A&M for her Master's degree in German History, specializing in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Dr. Krammer will be her major professor, which she couldn't be more excited about. In that light, she decided, after discussing it with her advisor, to change her minor from Sociology to German. They thought that it would be much easier for her in doing graduate research to have more German background.

I know this is a very long post, but I wanted to catch everyone up on what has been going on with Lauren and me. I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for a great holiday season!

Ryan

New Hair part 2!

I promised everybody pictures of my new haircut too, so here they are. I really like the way it looks. I'll probably have to get it cut every 4 weeks to maintain it, but at least it looks good!

Coke Date!!

When you're married and still in school, sometimes it's hard to find a lot of extra money to go out on fancy dates, but Lauren and I have started having Coke dates, and it's a lot of fun! We just go to Sonic and get a drink, but it gets us out for a little while and we can just laugh and talk and have a good time. And it's cheap! :) Anyway, we had a Coke date last night, so I thought I'd share some pictures.

Here I am enjoying my Chocolate Coke. (I still can't believe Lauren took this picture!)



"Hey Ryan, can I have some of that?"



And Lauren with her staple drink, Dr. Pepper!



Yay for Coke dates!



Ryan

New Hair!

Today, Ryan and I decided that we both needed hair cuts. Ryan's was getting way too long and he was hiding it under his hat all the time. And mine......well, my hair just grows extremely fast and if I don't cut lots of layers into it, it gets really long and stringy really fast, and then I can't do anything with it except put it up in a bun, which isn't exactly the most attractive or professional look. We both cut a lot of hair off, but I do have to say that Ryan probably beat me...which is pretty sad. But I thought I'd let everyone see the change! I'll have to post the pictures of mine tomorrow because it really needs to be washed, dried, and fixed first, but Ryan, being the lucky guy that he is, has wash and wear hair! So here he is!

Before:



And after:



Doesn't it look so much better?! He likes it, so I guess that's all that matters, but I'm glad to no longer have a husband with a mop on his head! :) (Just kidding, sweetheart!)

"Fall" is here!

Well, technically we don't really get Fall, but it's that time of year and I love decorating for the seasons. I don't really care for the traditional scarecrows and other kitschy stuff, but I do like elegant seasonal decor! I saw this wreath at Target and I had to have it! I love how it looks on our newly painted front door! It makes it seem much more warm and like there's an actual family living behind that door instead of just college kids like everybody else in the apartment complex. I really enjoy decorating! Maybe I should be an interior decorator! Haha! Either way, I really like turning blank spaces into a place that really feels like home. It makes it easier to come home after a long day and feel welcome and like this is really home and not just a place to eat and sleep. So, naturally, I had to show off my skills! Just kidding! But honestly making this apartment feel like home has been a task that has been going for over 2 years, and I'm sure it will continue, but I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish so far, so please indulge me a bit!
Here are a couple of closer pictures of the wreath:



And this is in our entryway. I found these cute, white letters at Hobby Lobby, and I decided to paint them and make our monogram for the entryway! I love doing creative DIY stuff like this!



We recently bought this foyer set, and I think it looks wonderful! It gave us a place to display some of our wedding pictures (yes, I know that frame is not full yet.) and a favorite Tuscan bowl! It just really completes the look of the living room!



I will definitely be adding more pictures soon, so check back! It's sure to be good!

Lazy Sunday

We haven't really done too much today, just been hanging out and spending the day together. We are really enjoying the church we have been attending, even though we don't get to go all the time. It will be really nice when we both have set schedules and don't have to work on the weekends and can just spend that time together. We've been going to Holy Cross Lutheran in College Station, and it's been really good so far. The members are very welcoming and they have two services every Sunday. One is traditional and the other is more of a contemporary praise service. They also have lots of different small group Bible studies that cater to different groups of people, such as young couples, etc. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get involved in that yet, but hopefully we will be able to soon. Here is the church's website for those of you who are interested! http://www.holycross-cs.org/

Yesterday, I went to Target to get Ryan socks and underwear, which was a little weird because I have never bought men's underwear before. It was definitely an interesting first that made me stop and think, "Whoa....I'm really married." It's funny how it's the little things like that that will make you really think about the changes that have happened. But while I was in the men's department trying not to look too awkward, I ran across a rack of shorts that were on clearance, so I decided to get Ryan a new pair of khaki shorts. You really can never have too many pairs of shorts in College Station. Seriously, most years, you can still be wearing them at Christmas. There are really only two temperatures here: hot and hotter. But back to the shorts...I couldn't remember what size Ryan wears, and I had no clue about sizing on men's pants, so I grabbed a 38, hoping that was right......well, it's a good thing that I kept the receipt because when Ryan got home from work and tried them on, they wouldn't even stay up! Every day I learn something new about my husband, even if it's something as mundane as what size pants he wears! So, we took them back today and got the right size! Here is a picture of Ryan wearing them!


Also, I am really enjoying my new digital camera. I've really gotten into photography and I'm hoping that I can get a job with The Battalion next semester doing photography for them! So, I thought I'd upload some recent pictures that I've taken.



A&M's Water tower




Students studying outside the library.




Cadet walking to class




Waiting on the bus!

Wedding Pictures

I finally got all of the wedding pictures that my uncle took uploaded to Picasa web albums so everybody can view them now. It took a long time, but it's done. I hope everyone likes them!
Here is the link! http://picasaweb.google.com/lauren.m.gilleland/Wedding1#5250410935367129266

And here's a preview:

This is me and my great-grandmother Elfriede Bontke. She was born in Germany and lived there until she immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 8 years old.



This is me with my bridesmaids and flowergirls!



Here's Ryan and me!


And our amazing cake! It was lemon cake with raspberry filling and it was delicious!