A Music Video? OK!

John Murphy and I made a music video.

With the help of our friends over at

Lights + Camera + Love

we think we created something that is pretty cool.

This is the first song that we wrote together.  Some of you may have (seen it before).  But we wanted to document it in something a little less....web cam-ish.

Click on this picture to see our music video of "To Be".

(a few more tunes you might enjoy are here, here, and here.)

This week is a pretty big week for me as I will be in Savannah competing with 30 other singers from around the country.  

It's called the (American Traditions Competition).  

The top prize is $12,000 and a recording contract in New York City.  

I feel so honored to be competing with such talented and nice singers.  

I had my coaching today and even though I am 10 years younger than most of the singers here, I feel pretty confident with where I am.  I am so grateful to have a talent that I can share and refine.

I am missing John like crazy.  He won't arrive here until Thursday when I finally get to perform.

I can't wait to see what the rest of this week holds.

French things make everything better.

Day 4 of the Snowpocolypse.

School had been cancelled for everyone again.

Despite what you might think, we were not going stir crazy.

Good thing we brought some of my homemade wheat bread.  

It is full of flax seed, oats, and crushed almonds.

Yum.

We decided to try to make some homemade french toast with the wheat bread.

Here is how you do it:

This morning John left for his first day of school for this semester. I'm gonna miss that guy during the days.  The Snowpocolypse spoiled us.

I'm feeling a lot this morning as I think about what this semester might hold for us. 

I'm scared I might get bored.  This is the first time, since I was four, that I haven't been a student.  I feel like its hard to gain a sure footing right now.  I am faced with all of this time and the freedom to choose what I would like to do with it.

I have always been an extremely busy lady.  

I have prided myself on my "to-do" lists.  I went through school in a whirl wind of things to do, songs to memorize, assignments to complete, and places to be.  I had a schedule and places where I knew I had to be present.  Now, I feel like I am floating around in some sort of uncharted territory.  Although now I occasionally have work, voice lessons, and a grocery run, I find myself in possession of one of the most precious gifts: time.

My father-in-law encouraged John and I to read (this talk) from October General Conference again.  We did, and I am so grateful for that.  Here are some things that Dieter Uchtdorf said that spoke to my soul.

"Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives."

"It is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Over-scheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a point where milestones can become millstones and ambitions, albatrosses around our necks."

"Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from placing our attention and efforts on the basics of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most.

Let us simplify our lives a little. Let us make the changes necessary to refocus our lives on the sublime beauty of the simple, humble path of Christian discipleship—the path that leads always toward a life of meaning, gladness, and peace. "

I am very much looking forward to devoting my time to simplifying my life and emphasizing the basics of the gospel in my life.

I am looking forward to being a supportive wife while my husband soldiers through another semester of college.

I am looking forward to the next time I can make this french toast.

And I am looking forward to all of my precious time and turning it in to something wonderful.

Zombies, Shock Collars, and Pastries

When it snows in Atlanta, the whole city shuts down and we like it.

Except...that's when the Zombies come out.

They must have known we would be stranded here for 3 whole days.

It's Snowpocolypse 2011.

We successfully survived the Zombie Snowpocolypse.

Being snowed in for 3 straight days has its perks.  

We have had to get quite creative with how we spend our time. 

1.) We all tried out our new shock collar system for our dog Pippi, on ourselves.  The boys had a little too much fun with that.

I think being snowed in does make you a little coo-coo. See.


2.)We discovered the glories of food storage. 
We have made:


Strawberry Rhubarb Pastries

(the mess on my chest is a heart tattoo that my mom gave me, with a pen.)

*recipe for crust (here)

*strawberry rhubarb filling from a jar from Kroger or Publix, I can't remember.

Homemade Biscuits

Homemade Monkey Bread

* recipe for monkey bread (here)

3.) We have had ridiculous snowball smack-downs.  

Are husbands supposed to beat up on their wives like this?

4.) We have watched all 3 Lord of the Ring movies
Hancock
Dispicable Me
2 Episodes of the new Bachelor Season
(I hate Michelle by the way.  And I don't want to fall in love with Emily, but I love her. I really do.)
some clips of Man vs. Food
and
Maverick


5.)We have cuddled by the fire.  
It has been going for 72 hours straight.


I suppose tonight I am going to force my husband to watch The Wedding Planner with me and my mom.  
School has been cancelled tomorrow for the 4th day in a row for the hubs and my mother.


There are only so many tongue twisters we can do, we are running out of ideas...

I would always choose...

...a night in.

We are 

home 

bodies.

Friday came this week and we moaned and groaned about what to do.  I always feel some sort of unnecessary pressurized feeling to do something cool freaktastic awesome just because it's a Friday.  

So Mr. Murphy and I threw some ideas around.  We thought about going to Chicken and Waffles, we thought about going mini-golfing, we thought about venturing to the $ theater.  But all of these things required jeans or some sort of pants that are definitely not better than leggings paired with an over-sized shirt and tall socks.

So, we decided on a lovely evening with our new flat screen, ice-cream, and Hulu/Netflix.

I let the hubs pick out my outfit to go out for our evening trek to pick up our night-time treat.  I almost left the house in a purple shirt paired with some zebra heels. 

Almost.

I had to veto husband's shoe choice.

As we perused the ice-cream section in Kroger, Mr. Murphy came close to me and his warm soft hand slid into mine.  That moment may not have meant anything to him but to me it was unforgettable.  Everything got a little hazy and it felt so good. We stood there chatting about what flavors to get and in my mind I was saying this...

"I don't care what I am doing as long as I am with you. You make everything fun, everything interesting, everything exciting. Our life is amazing, is everyone this lucky?  The simplest thing makes for the most lovely of memories, and this is it. Having you makes every moment of life enchanting.  There is nothing in the world I would rather be doing than standing in front of the freezer section in Kroger holding your enormous comforting hand. Nothing."

The sound of New York Style Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream brought me back to reality.  So, then we ogled all of the new flavors and decided on these two gems.

and

You know whats cool?

Hanging out with your husband in sweats and leggings. 

Eating copious amounts of New York-Style Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream and English Toffee Ice Cream.

Making-out every time the stupid Verizon commercial with weird lightening plays AGAIN, just so you have a reason not to have to watch it for the billionth time.

Watching old episodes of Felix the Cat and trying to learn the theme song.

Watching old episodes of Rugrats.  You know you remember Tommy, Chucky, Phil, Lil, and Angelica.

Eating maraschino cherries from a jar.

Staying up unreasonably late with the sweet sweet feeling of knowing that you can sleep in however late you'd like the next morning.

Yellow argyle socks that go half way up your calf.

Pillow Fights at 3 a.m.

Staying in on Friday nights, dare to be different.

Dear 2011, you've got a lot to live up to.

2010 was quite possibly the best year so far.  

It brought me a husband and college graduation.  

It proved to be a year of growth and learning about so many new things.  I'm sad to see it go.  

A tear rolled down my face a few minutes after 2011 came as I said to John, "That was the last time we could say we got married this year."  

I am still looking forward to 2011 and it's surprises.

We spent New Years Eve all by our selves in our little apartment.  

We sipped on Sparkling Apple Cider, Italian Pomegranate Soda from the World Market, and Sparkling White Grape Juice.  

It got a little crazy.

We watched Netflix the whole night and snuggled on our day bed in the living room.  We had piles of pillows and blankets and wallowed in them and watched The Office til we couldn't take anymore of the awkwardness that it displays.

We ordered in chicken habenero sandwiches and chocolate lava cakes.

Dear 2010,

You were oh-so-good to us and our favorite year so far.  It was a pleasure to be married during your year and go on a glorious honeymoon and bask in our love. 

We loved the discoveries that we made about each other and learning to serve one another.

We loved making dinners together.

We loved doing the dishes toegther.

We loved late night talks and cuddling in the most comfortable bed in the world.

We loved laughing endlessly at things only the two of us could ever understand.

We loved having friends over in our little apartment and sharing a piece of our world with others.

We loved playing new music together.

We loved being students together (even for just one semester). 

We loved playing "1-2-3 come and jump on me" and breaking our bed.

We loved stopping at the rest stop in Arkansas coming home from Colorado for Thanksgiving and having a spitting contest. (Even though I ended up spitting on myself)

We loved staying up til 2am almost every night just because we couldn't ever get enough time with one another.

We loved sharing our first holidays together and building a home and a life together.

We loved becoming a family.

We sure hope that 2011 can live up to you.

Lovingly,

Rachel and John

Dear 2011,

Bring it.

The Murphys