Scott & Ann Marie: 10 Years!

In some ways, I think, "I couldn't have been married for 10 years already!"; but in other ways, I cannot remember what my life was like before Scott!
Of course, at 21 and 23, we were children when we married! ;)

So, here's a fun "then and now" comparison! 

10 years ago, Scott had just finished college the May before and finished the Managment Associate program at AmSouth Bank (now Regions). He was opening new branches, managing branches, poised to become a junior executive. 
10 years ago, I was almost finished at Jefferson State Community College with my Culinary Arts degree, working full-time at Saks, Inc. Corporate Dining. (Remember when Saks 5th Avenue was headquartered in Birmingham??) I was the catering assistant and deli chef. I liked my job, but really, all I wanted was to be a homemaker. I wasn't really keen on working full-time outside the home.

Now, Scott just began seminary at Beeson Divinity, and works part-time for SMIC and Berney Points Baptist Church. He is the College and Young Adult Minister for our church, and we couldn't imagine a better ministry! Over the last 10 years, his focus for a career has certainly changed!

Now, I still work outside the home for an OB-GYN office, doing secretarial work, and I own my own business, Tres Beau Weddings and Special Events, planning and designing weddings! I had quickly learned that full-time chef work was not what I wanted long-term...I still keep my hands in food (so to speak!) but doing some catering on the side! I also cook dinner for the college group weekly Bible study and the Young Adult Bible study. 

10 years ago, we were attending Shades Mountain Independent Church, our home church, where we've both grown up. I sang in the choir, and if my memory is correct, we still had two services back then. Scott led worship in the Youth Group with Jonathan. (Ah, the pre-cursor to Adoration Band!)

Now, we still at attending SMIC! As mentioned above, we do the College and Young Adult ministries. Scott went to work for the church about 4 months after we were married, to do the church administration. We thought that this would be short-term job, then he would either start applying for grad schools for economics, or go back to the banking world. Eventually, we felt the Lord's call to full-time ministry. (This realization took me much longer!)

10 years ago, Scott and I signed for our house the day before the wedding (happy birthday to our house!); however, the house was not "live-able", and required 6 weeks of intense remodeling after our honeymoon! We were so grateful for our families who helped non-stop and several friends who worked long hours with us! We bought our 1948 cottage, thinking that it would be a good "starter home", and that in a promotion or two, we'd upgrade.

Now, we are still in remodeling process (I've already re-done the bathroom for the 2nd time). We love our little home, and couldn't imagine living anywhere else! Our most recent (still not finished) projects include re-doing the outside from the old siding to cedar shingles, adding on a laundry/mud room, and a re-configured deck. 

10 years ago, the September 11th attacks happened right before our wedding. We changed our honeymoon plans because of this, because international travel was so if-y. We went to North Carolina instead and had a wonderful, relaxing time. But patriotism abounded at this time, and the Afganistan/Iraq War was beginning.

Now, we all know that the wars are still going on...but we caught and executed Saddam Hussein and more recently, Bin Laden. Scott and I made it to London and Paris for our 5th wedding anniversary, and have also been abroad for missions. We are planning our big 10th anniversary trip to Paris for January!

How about some pop culture and price comparison info! This should be fun!

Gallon of Gas:
2001: $1.47
2011: $3.45

Pound of Coffee:
2001: $3.06
2011: $10.00 (depending on your brand, of course) and/or $5.00 for an espresso-based drink

Postage stamp:
2001: 34 cents
2011: 44 cents (wait, people still mail things??)

In 2001, Wikipedia came online and Apple released the 1st iPod!

Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, was released that Christmas (totally went to the midnight release!). Shrek began his movie franchise, as did the Ocean movies. And Harry Potter began his 10 year reign (while Southern Baptist preachers were denouncing him from pulpits) with The Sorcerer's Stone.

On the music scene, we had a weird mix of "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias, "Here's To The Night" by Eve 6, "Beautiful Day" by U2, "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado, "Fallin" by Alicia Keyes, "Independent Woman" by Destiny's Child, and "Lady Marmalade" (Moulin Rouge soundtrack!) for some of the good stuff. Unfortunately in 2001, we heard, "Drops of Jupiter" by Train (over and over and over), "It's Been Awhile" by Staind, and "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed....


Happy Anniversary to me and Scottie!

Two Thousand and Eleven

I'm sitting here in front of my computer screen trying to think through all of the things that have happened in our lives over the last 10 months...that last time I blogged was last November, 2010! But alas, words are escaping me.

Me and Scott in Zurich, Switzerland, en route to Montenegro this August

We've travelled--North Carolina, California, Montenegro/Switzerland/Italy/Croatia. Anniversary trip to Cali and missions to Montenegro (by way of the other countries). See Cali pics here! And my pics from Camp Monty here.

Us with the Cali nieces and nephews!

College group Spring Break trip!

We've closed one book of our life and opened a new one--Scott started post-grad work at Beeson Divinity. He is no longer employed full-time at SMIC, although we are continuing in our college and young adult ministry there. And the Lord provided a full scholarship and other employment!

Scott's stack of books for seminary...semester one! Many, many, more books to come!

I'm trying to grow a small business, while still working full time--Tres Beau Weddings and Special Events is growing so well, and I'm so thankful to be able to do what I love! I'm formulating a new business plan for expansion, with possibly a store-front! Learning as I go, of course.

One of my biggest weddings of 2011, Josh and Julie Payne!

 

 

And the other big wedding this year just happened to be my cousin's! Chris and Natalie!

We've also had some hard times this year--job changes, and circumstances thereby, were hard emotionally. Scott still struggles with pain from his two shoulder surgeries, and probably will for the rest of his life. And last week, cancer invaded my family once again, with my mom's diagnosis of breast cancer. It's early for her, and she'll have a double mastectomy next week. But her genetic testing came back also with a positive for BRCA, or the "breast cancer gene", so that has some serious ramifications for me and my sister.

Mothers Day 2011 at Mimi's house

So, there's the BIG highlights of 2011...see my Twitter if you want the specifics, and my Facebook if you want pictures....I'm MUCH better at keeping up with Facebook and Twitter!

Scott and Ree's Guide to New York City: Part 1, Restaurants

We are not experts (whatever that means) on New York, but plenty of people ask us all the time about what to do/see/eat while visiting the Big Apple. It's one of my favorite places in the world (right behind Paris, duh) & we go at least once a year,  so without further ado, here's Part One, Restaurants.

Our Short List:

Brasserie Les Halles

This French restaurant is owned by Anthony Bourdain and has traditional French cafe-type dishes. Surprisingly, its affordable too! We first went there for my 30th birthday last year and also visited last summer. It has a bustling, dark interior, wood paneling and white tablecloths. No reservations are needed, but might be useful if you are visiting on a weekend evening. There's two locations in New York, but we have only been to the Park Avenue South location.
I've ordered the steak frites and the steak au poivre and both were excellent. (Randomly, they have the best butter that I have ever tasted! Its cold, smooth and creamy, not too salty but has an amazing fresh taste. And I cannot figure out who their supplier for that butter is either, or I would buy some and ship it to Birmingham!)

Grimaldi's Brick Oven Pizza 

This Brooklyn classic is tucked under the Brooklyn Bridge and is a short subway ride away from Manhattan. In nice weather, and if you feel like some exercise, it is fun to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. You can get some great photos of Manhattan from the bridge!

Be prepared for a wait--we've never caught it when there isn't a wait. But the pizza and atmosphere are well worth it! While you sit and wait on your order at the checkered-tableclothed tables, you can watch the pizza chefs toss the dough, throw the toppings around and slide the pizzas in and out of the ovens. It's a noisy, crowded, fast-paced New York pizza joint, and so much fun!

Yummy!!

Great views from across the Brooklyn Bridge!

Worth the wait!

 Magnolia Bakery

This bakery's popularity exploded after being in a popular TV show, but it remains a nice little spot to grab a snack and explore a unique NY neighborhood. We usually go to the one in Greenwich Village, but have stopped at the Rockefeller shop too, out of cupcake desperation.

There's no seating at the Greenwich Village location, but in nice weather, we like to sit in the little park thats across the street and enjoy the neighborhood while enjoying our cupcakes. And cupcakes particularly are the draw here, my favorites are the ones with sprinkles!

In rainy or snowy weather, take your little cupcake box and head to Grand Central Terminal or to Rockefeller Center to people watch while cupcaking!

Serendipity 3

This restaurant is always crowded as well, as it's a popular tourist spot. The main thing here is their signature Frozzzzzen Hot Chocolate. It's like a chocolate milkshake/sundae thing, and its reeeeeally good. Its topped with plenty of whipped cream and served with a spoon and a straw. It's more than enough to share with a friend. However, they have a minimum charge per person that is required here. So if you only come for dessert, everyone has to order a dessert and a drink to spend enough. So, that's kind of a bummer, unless you go and also order regular meal. So we reccommend Serendipity with these reservations. 

Chocolaty goodness!

The restaurant is very cute, decorated in fanciful Art Deco style. Its a fun girls place for sure!

Fun Lunch Options in NYC:

Shenanigans in Central Park after lunch

Enjoying our lunch, just watch out for the squirrels!

• Find a deli or sandwich shop that's not a huge chain--grab a sandwich and head to Central Park. Find a shady bench and enjoy! Hands down the best way to eat lunch!

• Bryant Park- There's lots of options around the park to grab lunch and there's also a cafe. We haven't eaten at the park cafe, but I'm sure its worth trying out! This is personally my favorite spot in the city! Its a small park, but it seems to be where locals eat and enjoy good weather on their lunch breaks. In the warm months, they have an abundance of cafe tables and chairs set up on the lawn. In winter they convert the lawn to an ice rink and have little booths set up for shopping. Southwest Air sponsors a patio that sells drinks and appetizers and even provides Snuggies and patio heaters in cooler weather!

Even though it was rainy, Bryant Park was still a great lunch spot!

Fun Dinner Options in NYC:

• Little Italy: Yes, its a tourist trap, but decent Italian food can be found here. We don't have a particular favorite, so take a little time and look at menu boards and decide what fits your craving and budget. In the summertime, most restaurants have patio seating. After dinner, find a gelato stand and you can't go wrong!
• The Upper East Side: This posh residential area of Manhattan is sprinkled with restaurants of all price points. Do a little research and find something that sounds good! We've eaten at a couple of good places, so be adventurous and try something new!

Our General Advice:

• Try to eat local! Why would you spend all that money to go to the best city in the world and eat at a place you have at home?? 
• Your meals don't have to be expensive either--we are usually dragging a group of college students around, so we definately can eat on the cheaper side! And work deals like hotel breakfasts too. 
• I haven't done food carts or trucks, but that's a huge trend right now in bigger cities. Great for lunch and late night. Next trip I'm wanting to research that and see what I find!
• Avoid Times Square area like the plague...I try not to go there in general anyway, but its worth seeing the spectacle, especially at night, if you've never been. But don't eat there. Please. The restaurants will be sub-par and over-priced. 
• Remember that you are in arguably the food capital of the world--try a new type of cuisine! Do a little research ahead of time if you know you want a type of cuisine. Rachel was in the city at the same time I was last August, and she had researched Greek restaurants, so we met at one of them for lunch!

Bon appetit and happy travels!

Home Improvement Afters

I finally blogged and told yall what we've been working on, showed you some "before" and "during" reno pictures, but I suppose you'd like to know how our projects turned out, huh? :)
Here's a few from our almost-but-not-quite-finished home improvement projects:

My fab aqua trim in the re-decorated bathroom!

The Bathroom: got a complete redesign, going from black and white toile wallpaper to soft gold walls with antiqued aqua trim on the window and door frame. I haven't finished getting all of the accessories, but we did buy a new mirrored medicine cabinet and did away with the over-toilet cabinet. I found rugs the same color as the walls, but haven't decided on fabric for a shower curtain...still searching for just the right thing!

Wide-shot of the wall color with the trim!

Shot of the inside door trim...still deciding on painting the entire door aqua...what do you think?

The trim work was painted aqua, then sanded down with the power sander and then glazed with 2 coats of brown glaze to tone-down the blue and antique it.

This was my inspiration for painting and antiquing the trim:

This was taken in our room at the B&B we stayed in in Montreal last year for our anniversary!

The other major project we tackled was the laundry room addition! I haven't taken a lot of afters with the shelving in and my new, fun laundry sorter, but these few pics will give you a good idea of what it looks like!

My brother Jacob & Tommy hard at work, with my dad supervising :)

You can see how the room was extended out to the right, enclosing what was the outside door from the kitchen (you can see the white door behind the ladder). The room was also doubled in width! And then, you can see the window that's now being enclosed, right in the center of the new room. On the other side of that window is the 2nd bedroom (that we use as a den), so that window got taken out and drywalled in.

Here's the new room with walls! That hole is now the door to the outside, which will walk out onto the new deck (yet to be finished)

So you can get a good idea of how it looks now! There are two windows that were cut out after this pic was taken, and of course a door installed. We changed the roof-line so that we can accommodate any future additions!

I painted the walls a nice light tan. For the flooring, we finally chose a tile that looks like travertine. Maybe I'll get pics of the inside soon...

Oh, Hey, I Remember Blogging

I suppose I should talk about how sorry I am about not blogging in such a loooong time. But instead, I'll just do some pics n' bullet points about what's been going on in the Leveille household in the 6 months since I last talked on here...

Scott and Ben hard at work tearing the laundry room out!

Ok first up is some home improvements! We hit the house stuff pretty hard this spring and early summer because of Scott's 2nd shoulder surgery (more on that later). Here's what we did:

• Bathroom--stripped the old wallpaper, saying "au revoir" to the toile...made me a little sad, but it was time for a change. And if I ever try to wallpaper something again, slap me. Stripping wallpaper is NO fun!
• Bathroom--got repainted to Pale Gold 2 and the trim done in turquoise with an antique-ing and brown glaze to tone down the blue. Definitely a very different style!
• Laundry Room--we totally demo-ed! The "before" LR was a lean-to type of room tacked onto the back stoop outside the kitchen. Some of the college group guys came over and had fun slinging sledge hammers through the walls!
• Laundry Room--we hired a general contractor to help with the re-design. The new LR is about triple the size! The back door was moved, the hot water heater has its own little closet, and I have LOTS of storage space! 
• The rest of the front facade was re-sided to the cedar shingles and the door and window trims re-worked. No more shutters, but pretty, wide woodwork! The front of the house is now much more presentable!
• Deck--oh golly...the poor deck was demo-ed, but hasn't been put back together yet...but we've re-designed it and it will be bigger, wrap around the side to the back, meeting the new laundry room addition. Hopefully we will have that finished soon!

Laundry Room in the middle of demo!

So, while the laundry room was torn apart, we had to live with my mom, because the hotwater heater lived in said laundry room, and it spent 6 weeks in the middle of the backyard. Can't live very long without hot water! But, my mom was very gracious, letting us take over her house, doing our laundry, and generally putting up with our messiness. And, as home improvement tend to go, an estimated 1 week project turned into 6 weeks. 

At the end of which, Scott had his 2nd shoulder surgery, stemming from an injury when we were overseas last summer on missions. 

So here's how THAT weekend in June went down:

Scott has surgery + staying overnight in hospital + Ann Marie coming down with stomach flu + lack of sleep because of hospital neighbor singing all night/Scott in crazy post-op pain/Ann Marie running to the bathroom + Ann Marie in mini-tern at UAB with crazy amounts of papers to write + a house that was torn apart and dirty = we were REEAALLLY glad to be staying at Mom's house! :(

OK I think that I've reached my writing limit for this afternoon...stay tuned and I might will finish the story later this week. 

I'm trying to be more disciplined in writing....but don't hold your breath! ;)

Both Feet In

So this has been a really busy semester, as I have doubled by class load to TWO classes at night, but it has stretched my schedule pretty much to capacity. Thus, blogging has suffered quite a bit. In fact, I am writing this on Friday and I should be at least doing some research for my paper proposal thats due Wednesday, or doing reading for class discussions...but this is important and I wanted to make sure that I blogged about this before time goes by too much!

Here's a little bit about our ministry story and what is new...

When we were married 8 1/2 years ago, Scott worked for one of the largest banks in Alabama, working his way into the corporate world. Through a series of events in our lives and the church as a whole, Scott quit the bank and came to SMIC as the financial/business administrator the spring after we were married. (Ironically, a job that his dad held for like 15 years and had vacated a couple years earlier...weird, eh?) We THOUGHT that would be almost a temporary gig...he'd go in, get everything in shape and running well, then go back tot he business world.

As I have pointed out many times since then, life is seldom what YOU plan! And thank God for that!

It's now eight years later, and Scott is transitioning to a pastoral role at SMIC! A couple of years ago, the college group was orphaned when their latest leader left our church. Someone needed to take them on, and Someone decided it could be Scott and I.

I, admittedly, was NOT in favor of this. I can't really explain why, aside from my selfishness, except that I felt like we did enough around the church and we didn't need any more responsibilities. (Ridiculous thinking, I know)

Eventually, God worked in my heart, and actually, did a lot of shaping in both of our lives, and we threw ourselves into college/young adult ministry. It was at the Thirsty Conference in 2006, put on by Louie and the Passion team, that I really let God mold me and lead me into whatever He wanted of me/us. We felt the call of college ministry pretty strongly.

As we have deepened relationships with students and others we have been ministering to/with, the desire to do MORE ministry has grown in both of our hearts. But its frustrating because our scheduled literally do not allow for anything else!

Scott has been the go-to person for anything non-pastoral at SMIC (including grounds and facilities, budgets, HR, insurance, technical stuff...and probably more that I'm forgetting!), but had let Harry know of his desire for having a more free schedule to focus on ministry, the desire to learn to preach and his passion to see others develop their intimate relationship with God. But no one saw a way out of him doing all the other business stuff.

Meanwhile, a man in our church who has served as board chairman, Gary, lost his job...at a BANK, of all places. He had been feeling the pull to get out of the business world. SMIC also lost our Executive Pastor, Jeff, last year, as he returned to his homeland of Australia, and we had a vacancy in our pastoral staff.

So, long story short, Gary is coming in to be the business administrator and Scott will transition into a full pastoral role as the college/young adult/young marrieds/discipleship pastor. We are excited, because this truly has been a desire of both our heart, but nervous as well.

As I was telling Harry and Karon the other day, its a little scary because its so official. Officially moving from the Professional to the Pastoral. For some reason that is sticking with me. I think before, we had one foot in, and now its both!

So, the future at SMIC is exciting for us and we are privileged that the board and staff are willing to give Scott this chance at doing fully what we believe God has called us to. I've been at our church my literal entire life, and everyone there is truly family.

I'm still working full time and going to UAB at night to finish out my BA, but Scott is looking at starting seminary too, possible later this year. We continue on a full, busy schedule, but looking forward to what God has in store for us and our SMIC family!

Professional Croissant Taster and Other Jobs I Wish I Could Have

Scott and I are headed to Asheville, North Carolina this weekend for a quick get-away and to visit his grandparents. Asheville is one of our favorite spots and it's so convienient to travel to from Birmingham. And we've always said that if we lived anywhere else in the Southeast US, it would be Asheville. So, that got me thinking about what I would do if I moved to a different city. Just for fun, here's my plan for a couple different places!

Asheville, NC

I would get a job at the Biltmore Estate, "America's Largest Private Home" (AKA-Castle)

I could be a hostess and welcome people on their visit and tell fun, historical facts. I love history and I love the Biltmore. Its amazing and you should visit one day!

And I would insist upon wearing a period Victorian costume to work. Something like this:

Because I am that ridiculous...

But seriously, I would probably apply to work in one of downtown Asheville's chocolate shops. Our favorite is The Chocolate Fetish! They make fabulous European-style artisan truffles and chocolates. Heaven. May favorite truffle is called Velvet Sin. So great I can't even describe it.

Or I could apply at The French Broad Chocolate Lounge, where they serve coffee only in French presses. How great is that?! They serve what they call Liquid Truffle Sipping Drinks...this is no ordinary hot chocolate!

Scott enjoying his treats at the Chocolate Lounge when we were there in September.

Paris, France

Mais oui, I dream about living and working Paris one day because I am obsessed with that city and French culture. But what would I actually do if I do go to live in Paris?

Would it be acceptable to be a professional Francophile and Student of French Culture? I know I could study language, but what about walking around the lovely streets of Paris or sitting in cafes while wearing a scarf and beret? Will someone pay me to do that?

How chic is she? Source: The HiP Paris Blog

Or what about being a Professional Croissant & Cafe au Lait Taster?

From In Praise of Sardines Flickr stream.

C'est la vie...that certainly would be the life!

So what about you? Where do you dream of living and working (or not working!) ?