Anywho, my 32 ounce Big Blue nalgene bottle has traveled the world with me and survived a recycling bin outside of the US Capitol (who knew you aren’t allowed to take ANY fluid bearing receptacles into the Capitol- even if empty) over these past 2.5 years but lately it has chosen to carry a bit of a funky smell.  While I do run Big Blue through the dishwasher once a week and also occasionally rinse him out with hot water and dish soap he had developed a strange odor, which was transferring over into the taste of my water.  Not cool Big Blue, definitely not cool.

So after some perusing on the interweb yesterday I came across several solutions; the one that appealed the most to me was good old vinegar and baking soda!  So home Big Blue went and I filled it about a third of the way full of vinegar and added a couple tablespoons of baking soda.  After the initial fizzing I went ahead and screwed the top on and shook him up (be sure to let the initial fizzing slow down and then unscrew the top as soon as you are done shaking to avoid a pressure build-up catastrophe!).  I think Big Blue appreciated his vinegar fizz bath  And big win for me too, because there’s no funk today!  Nothing but the smell of nothing- which is exactly what I want my water to smell like!

I feel so incredibly blessed to have Nathan as my life partner.  As a teenager I prayed constantly for my future husband and our life together and God has abundantly fulfilled those prayers and blessed our life together far beyond anything I could have ever imagined or asked for.

So first, Thanks be to God for so fully blessing us and caring for us.  Without Him our marriage and life would not be what it is today.  We have done nothing to deserve His awesomeness and all that He has done for us, however He blesses us anyway, and we are so very grateful.

Second, thank you to Nathan, for becoming the man that God has called you to be.  For being everything I need and giving me everything I always wished for in a husband.  You are exactly what I prayed for and even more beyond that.  You bless my socks off babe and I love you more than words can say.

Love,

Amy

Jeremiah 29:11

God works in some pretty amazing ways.  Three years ago the cry of our heart was to have good, Christian couple friends.  A husband and wife team that we would click with, that would grow with us, encourage us, and just be uplifting.  Never in my small minded ways did I realize how fully He would answer our prayers.  In our prayers we asked for A Christian couple, and God saw fit to bring several couples into our lives.  Men and women of God who have been such an amazing blessing on our lives.  Men and women of God that have helped us grow and that have encouraged us.

To those couples,

You have blessed us with your friendship more than you could possibly know.  We are so thankful to have you in our lives and to be a part of yours.  Merry Christmas to you all.  And may God fully bless you as he has so generously blessed us.

With Love,

Amy & Nathan

We feel so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing family!

Take a look at my pinterest board here:

https://pinterest.com/amylhein/

Currently I am obsessing over the idea of re-doing our laundry room!  It’s such a small place and so cramped and as Nathan and I (eventually) add to our family we need to make the most out of all space available, because let’s face it, our home- while completely awesome and adequate- is not exactly huge.  I’ve always been bummed that we lack a linen closet (however, trading the linen closet for a second full bath was completely worth it), but I’ve been seeing some ideas on Pinterest that might help me make my laundry room into a storage haven aka linen closet

Currently we have a floor drying rack that takes up a lot of valuable space, one of the things I would like to do is recruit Nathan’s help and build a drying rack like so:  

Pinterest is definitely encouraging me to dive into the DIY projects.  I’m looking forward to seeing what we’re able to do over this winter

There’s no end to Your love
There’s no end to Your love
You’re with us
You’re with us

I cannot help but be humbled by the all the blessings that God has delivered in the last month. Baby announcements, engagements, opportunities to serve, opportunities to give, opportunities to reach out to those in need…just to name a few. Prayers are being answered and lives are changing. I shall simple close with this…God is able.

A walk through the park on a cold winter day

Sometimes it’s hard to find those in-sync moments in your marriage.  Find probably isn’t even the right word, create would be more like it.  But when one of those perfect moments is made, life just could not get any better.  Our marriage is far from perfect (believe me when I say this!), but this morning could not have been better!  ”Perfect” moments come far and few sometimes, and that just makes them even more memorable when they happen.

We woke up this morning and decided to do our usual walk, and then I noticed it was $2 hot drink day at Caribou so quickly proposed that we walk the three plus miles to Caribou.  Nathan, being the always-ready-for-an-outdoor-adventure-man that he is, quickly agreed.  Out came the long-johns, jackets, scarves, hats, and vests (this is Minnesota people! It’s cold!) and off we were!  As we walked we discussed everyday life, thoughts on our future, and travel plans/goals.  Halfway to Caribou we decided to swing through Cub as well and try to put together some of our favorite foods from Paris- croissant, fixings for baguette sandwiches, and fresh fruit.

Caribou was quite the busy place!  We enjoyed our fruit and a croissant (which paled in comparison to the French’s!) surrounded by the Saturday morning bustle then headed out once our coffees were ready.  Nathan decided to pull out the camera on the walk back for some Saturday morning fun photos as well.

6.5 miles later we’re snug as a bug in a rug in our toasty home, yet the cold of our beautiful Minnesota wasn’t bad at all all snuggled up in our layers and conversation with each other.

I’m writing this to remind others and myself to remember to take time for just you and your spouse, even if it’s just a Saturday morning date and you’re spending just a few dollars on fruit and coffee.  It’s moments like these that remind us what our marriage is all about…

St. Chapelle & Notre Dame

First stop was St. Chapelle Cathedral where we also acquired our Paris Museum Pass- this is a must do!  It gets you admission into most of the major Parisian museums as well as line-skipping privileges- this saves so much time and Euro!!!  The outside of the cathedral wasn’t anything special, however the stained glass inside the main sanctuary is amazingly beautiful.  After a quick few in St. Chapelle we headed a block over to Notre Dame, we were there just in time to tour the inside of the cathedral as it opened.  It was HUGE, and so surreal to see such a famous landmark in person. After touring the inside we headed out to get in line to climb the Notre Dame towers (covered by the Museum Pass). We have been climbing a lot of stairs in Europe, Notre Dame was extra special though because there were Gargoyles to greet us atop the towers along with a birdseye view of Paris.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance is indescribable.  Onward to the Archeologie Crypt (another Museum Pass stop) where we could see the foundations of ancient Paris- cool but skippable- nothing super special, we were in and out in under 10 minutes.

Museums- The Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Musee l’Orangerie

The Louvre was up next (Museum Pass again- long line skipped too with this!), we made a beeline for Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, we wanted to see these items first before the museum got even busier.  I liked Venus de Milo most, it’s such a beautiful statue.  The Mona Lisa was awesome too, but if it weren’t the most famous painting in the world I probably would not have thought as much of it.  It was also extremely crowded and loud around her.  You have to fight/push through a crowd to get a front row view.  It also surprised me that the Louvre allows photographs everywhere- including the Mona Lisa.  After viewing the ‘must-sees’ we ducked into a low-key African Art room, we had fun taking some goofy pics and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful setting as compared to the busy areas of the Louvre.

Musee l’Orangerie was next up- a museum devoted to Impressionist art- meaning lots of Monet.  Those of you that know me well know my love for Monet!  There are two huge oval shaped rooms that are devoted to Monet, the ceiling is natural sunlight, providing a natural glow for 4 Monet canvasses in each room.  Each oval shaped room is lined on each side with a canvas from about 6 feet tall to 20ish feet long.  For a Monet lover it was heavenly.  To be so immersed in his work left me speechless.  It also provided us with some great ideas for future decorating

Musee d’Orsay was our last stop of the day, and it was a quick one.  We were a bit art-ed out so quickly beelined our way through the Van Gogh section and onto the massive Impressionist Gallery.  Another bit of heaven for this Monet lover.  Dozens upon dozens of Monet’s work.  Love!

Champs-Elysses & Arc de Triomphe

In between l’Orangerie and d’Orsay we took a break from the museums and walked the Champs-Elysses, ending at the Arc de Triomphe.  Champs-Elysses was fun to window shop, people watch, and see cars that cost more than I make in 5 years.  The Arc de Triomphe (another win for the Museum Pass) was pretty sweet (we’re really getting into shape with all of the narrow and winding stairways we’ve been climbing!), it provided another great viewpoint of Paris.  It’s also so much bigger than I expected!  An the way back down the other side of the Champ-Elysses we noticed a very large crowd gathered in a winding, long line outside of a building, the air was also perfumed.  We were immediately curious as to what all of these people were waiting to get into- Abercrombie & Fitch was the answer.  Nathan and I could NOT believe that soooo many people would wait in such a long line just to enter an A&F store!  The line to get into A & F was longer than the line to get into Louis Vuitton’s flagship store- another surprise.  Crazy people.

Dinner

After a few hours respite in our hotel room we ventured out for dinner.  We ended up at a nice little restaurant near the Pantheon.  We shared Cote de Boeuf- beef for two, and our first French Creme Brulee.  It was all amazing delicious, but I have to admit our friend Megan’s creme brulee was right up there with the French stuff.  In fact, I might even prefer hers! It was still pretty amazing to eat Creme Brulee in France though