Dream In Color

This Is My Now...

almost exactly one year to the date of my wedding i moved back to ohio. pregnant. single. unemployed. scared. excited. unprepared. and a little sad about what i was leaving behind. but that day i knew. i KNEW that i was doing the right thing.  even as i left the city that i had grown to love, 2 kids who meant the world to me, and a little piece of myself in a place where i truly became an independent woman, i knew from the bottom of my heart that i had made the right choice. for me AND for my unborn child. even though that choice meant i would face loneliness and more tears than i ever dreamed i could ever shed. i did it. and i have no regrets. 

and through this last year there have been so very very many amazing moments in my life. from friendships lost and strengthened, to a stronger relationship with my family, to finding out who the real cheryl is, the good, bad and the ugly. i became a new person. partially because becoming a mama does that to you, and partly because i was just ready to grow up and find myself and be me without worrying what other people thought. and oh man, the joy of becoming a mother for the first time. i remember so so many tiny little details from the last 10 months my miracle londie has been in my life. the moment he was born and how i couldn't take my eyes off him for a second. the way he curled up under my chin and slept on my chest when he was just a tiny little 7lb baby...to his first word and the day he did it all for the very first time. i love that i had that time with just me and him. i wouldn't have traded those perfect moments of just the 2 of us for all the money in the world. 

but now something even better has come into both our lives. a man that loves me enough to see past my flaws and still think i'm beautiful. a man that forgives my mistakes and loves me anyways. someone that makes my heart skip a beat when i think of him and the way he says my name in his african accent and who's heart is as big as any person i've ever met. a man that is willing to take my child and call him his own and takes the time to work with him and play with him every single day.  someone that loved me enough to ask me to spend the rest of my life with him. someone that made me want to say yes because i knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was THE ONE for me.

that's my nate. that's my husband.

one year ago i had no idea where my life was going or what the future held. now i still don't, but that's ok, because i know that i'll have my best friend by my side to get me through anything that comes my way.

i couldn't be happier or i think i'd just die...

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

  

ALL PHOTOS BY AMY COVEY.  

Come On Get Higher, Loosen My Lips...Faith and Desire and The Swing Of Your Hips...

hello world, it's cheryl ametewee, tuning in from my new base here in savage, md. (i totally just said that so i could write cheryl ametewee in my post) anyways, i have lots of excuses as to why i haven't blogged, but none of them are that great or believable so lets just say that i've been lazy. which would also be true. i am just now recovering from all the wedding planning and the big day. i swear if i would have had to wait another week i would be in a wheelchair by now. but things are looking up now so here i am.

• we've been looking for a new place to live and hoping to get moved in fairly soon so that i can have a place that i really consider to be home and that we can call OURS. i am dying to get my hands on the fresh canvas of a white white apartment or townhouse. i think it's going to be such a fun challenge.  
• nathan has been absolutely amazing about everything. he is quite assuredly the sweetest, kindest  man on the planet...our first couple weeks of marriage he saw way way more of the pain-consumed cheryl than i had ever hoped for him to see for at least a few years. but he just supported me all the way through without ever backing away. and most importantly he assured me that he loved me no matter what. and because of that i fell so much more in love with him.
• ok, enough of the mush, i shall now post my first batch of real wedding pics!! amy was my photographer and min was the sideshooter. they are 2 of my favorite photographers AND favorite friends so it just felt so right to have them shooting the wedding. i haven't seen min's yet but the entire time i was looking at amy's with nathan this afternoon i kept screaming and clapping and saying i just want to die they are so perfect...all the while with tears in my eyes. because amy knows me probably better than anyone...and that is so so evident in the photos. thank you again and again, my friend.  i adore you.
• i think what i'm going to do is a breakdown in each post. today i'll post some out of each category and then next time just nathan and i, and then i'll maybe do the wedding party and so on, so that i don't totally bog down the site with too many photos.
• this is probably my favorite nathan and me photo:
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• my girls were SO amazingly open to try something funky and new. they all totally went for it when i asked them to do punk rock hair for the wedding. our hairstylist was AMAZING. i loved each one...from liz's crazy mohawk to rebekah's afro to the fun colors we all had put in.
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• nathan's guys were complete and  total troopers. no other word for standing out in 95 degree weather in black suits and still being sweet and willing to do whatever we asked. they call me their white american sister. even though sometimes i act blacker than they do. and i love that.
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• couple last photos from after the wedding and then i'll halt with the wedding photos for now. my one main request for the photographers was to capture one shot of the 2 of us right after we got married, because to me those are always the ones where the bride and groom radiate the most happiness. and amy caught them perfectly. i couldn't have asked her to take a more perfect photo than this one (it just reminds me of the two of us on the way to the reception...stopping to get sonic and holding hands and looking at each other every few minutes and saying "i can't believe we are finally married!"):
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• and this one just makes me happy:
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• in other news, i love maryland. when you move back to a small town after living in the city, you soon forget how awesomely crazy city people are. and if there is one thing i love it's people watching. well, life watching really. case in point, we are currently sharing our apartment building with an entire korean family (not sure how they all fit in there, but at last count there were around 500 of them in the 3bedroom apt across the hall), a gay chinese couple that sometimes dress like men and sometimes dress like women, and an 8year old white kid who just rides his bike around all day talking on a blue-tooth. very strange, and oddly entertaining. let me tell you, i feel quite dull in comparison. i'm starting to get the funky hair itch again. much, i believe, to my new, more conservative husband's dismay. 
• in lb news, the kid is INSANE. he climbs up and on everything. the couch, his stroller, the bed...anything that is an obstacle in his way he takes on. i kinda love that about him, actually. in between heart attacks, that is. and i believe that he thinks that crawling is for sissies. mostly because despite the fact that he knows how, he'd much much rather be walking along furniture or the wall or climbing me like a tree to bother with crawling. thank God for nathan who is awesome about giving me breaks every once in awhile. he is the single greatest dad that ever lived. i never even dreamed of anyone so amazing but he has stolen both our hearts with how good he is with lb.
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• and finally...my very favorite new london tricks: holding a fake phone to his ear and saying "hi! HI! hi!" over and over and knocking on the side of his crib when he wakes up. no crying, just patient knocking. man i love that kid.   
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• goodnight all! sorry for the long post, but i had lots to say. i hope to stay in much better touch with everyone once i get my new battery for my computer and find my cordless mouse amongst all the packed boxes...

I Got A Feeling, Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night...

the wedding was exhaustingly amazing and colorful and fun and so perfectly much better than i ever imagined.

but right now i can only show two quick shots because we are in the middle of packing up my entire life into boxes so we can head back to DC by the end of the week so i don't have much time. i'm actually just posting this while nate runs to the store to grab more packing tape.

so without further ado: a couple quick snapshots by the lovely jenna mae. pepsi bottles all around for the very very patient bridal party who took photos outside in 95degree weather. 

it was all mohawks and colored hair and afros and candy and cupcakes and balloons and the absolute cheryl version of perfection.

and the best part? i now get to call myself mrs. ametewee. and there is nothing better than then knowing you are going to spend the rest of your life with your best friend. 

i just love it.