Friday, August 31, 2012

Musings...

If you've been following along with some of my past posts you may have noticed on my Bucket List
(that is embarrassingly short, but slowly growing)
that I would like to one day write a book and have it published.

For the most part I thought this was more of a pipe-dream.
However, I have recently looked into the WIDE and ever-growing world of writing an E-Book.

I came across the idea at Mamas Write
and have discovered so many resources and people who have done the research into HOW to take on this endeavor.

I don't expect success in terms of great rewards.
I think it would be fun!
and rewarding to know that I have actually self-published a book!

Have you published an E-Book?
Considering it?
Thoughts?
Suggestions?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Mamas Write

This past weekend, Lauren & I went to the Mamas Write
Blogging conference in Arlington.
Lauren & me. : )
It was such a blessing!!
So many things that I needed to hear at the perfect season in my blogging life.

In fact some of the lessons I learned I am getting to put into practice already!


For example, I haven't had time to post this before now - and it was Okay!
...because
Mandy {Biblical Homemaking} spoke on
how we cannot let the things that matter LEAST affect the things that matter MOST.



Sometimes life will just get in the way and our families amongst other things
are more important than our blogs. It can be hard to remember that.

I learned a lot about how to put into words what my Blog means and is to me.
What I want it to be and how to make sure that it has a purpose pleasing to God.

Amy from Blogging with Amy
I got so many tips and learned about great resources out there for bloggers!
Check out the Blogging with Amy link above - I've already learned so much from her site and I've only visited it a few times so far!

It was great getting to hear her speak!

I also made a new friend!!
Everyone, meet the amazingly talented Amanda from Royal Daughter Designs!
Amongst other things, she puts together great tutorials on how to do fancy Bloggy things yourself!
For someone who is a computer-illiterate as me, this blog is like Manna from Heaven!

Friday, August 24, 2012

A weekend of ...marriage?

I'm still enough of a newly wed (married for just over a year and a half) that I still find mundane things "fun" because I feel "married". 

We were on our honeymoon and John had to do some homework (lame I know), while he studied I got the biggest kick out of making our first grocery list and menu plan for when we got home!

Well this past weekend was much like that afternoon on the honeymoon, it was very... normal.

Normal, that is, if the average married couple gets to spend their weekend with the Wife's brother helping the Husband take the toilet out of the house to remove an Expo marker and some other foreign objects from the pipes under our bathroom.

Friday night we were planning to have date night, dinner at our favorite place - Freebirds!
then off to see a movie.  Plans changed a little (for the good!) and my Dad and Brother Josh came along to dinner!  Afterwards we had planned to go see a movie but the show times were a little off our schedule and so we went with plan B.

You know you are remodeling a house when your Plan B for your Friday evening is a stop at Lowe's for a new wax ring for your toilet!

Saturday I got up early and headed to Fort Worth for a Thirty-One Celebrate & Connect meeting!
(while Josh & John dealt with the plumbing and a few other tasks)
It was great getting to see so many consultants fired up about their business!
Their excitement is contagious and was exactly what I needed!

After my meeting I met up with my close friend Tiffany!
(She was my Matron of Honor and her sweet husband Josh was one of John's groomsmen.)
 It was so great to see her & her adorable Baby Bump!!

On my way home from Tiffy's house I was caught in a rather intense rain storm.
All is well though, and we have since bought tires after I experienced first hand that it was time to replace them!

I didn't get home until late but it was the perfect ending to the day!
I grabbed Pizza and Wings... and The Hunger Games!!
Josh & John met me at Dad's house and the four of us hunkered down for a nice movie night to the sound of thunder!
____________________________________________________________
My challenge for you this weekend is to SLOW DOWN!
Summer is quickly coming to a close and if your summer has been anything like mine it has been
crazy busy!  Spend some time with your family & friends!
Enjoy life!!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

It's OK Thursday!!

 Its Ok Thursdays

 It's OK that I've been looking forward to Thursday all week... because Bestie is going on a Date!!
{I know it's strange that I'm excited about her date...but I can accept my oddities!}

It's OK that I'm going to have to not keep up with all the blogs I follow for the next week or so.
Real life needs some time and attention from me.

It's OK that I pretty much took the summer off from working on my business with Thirty-One,
but it's time to get back to it! And it's perfect timing since the Fall catalog just came out!

It's OK that I miss reading! I'm going to need to pick up a good book soon - maybe on our vacation next weekend

It's OK that I'm super excited about going to Mamas Write (blogging conference) this weekend!!

It's OK that I've been aggravated at work recently... SERIOUSLY - just because I'm "training"
doesn't mean that all that work can be dumped on me plus my normal work load. GRR.

It's OK that I had to break down & box up some of our books because I'm out of room for them to go anywhere else. 

It's OK this week hasn't been the most fabulous blogging content.
It's hard when you know what you want to write about...
what's going on in your real life
but it isn't time to discuss it in public forums.




It's OK that I'm Super excited that one of my best friends from college is moving to our neck of the woods!!

It's OK that John and I are already so wrapped up in football season!!  He tells me every day how many more days until College Football season officially begins!
We bought tickets to Southern Miss @ SMU and Texas Tech @ TCU
this week!!


What's OK with you this week??

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Embracing the Journey - Trials in Marriage

Embrace The Journey Of Marriage & Link Up Party   wednesday rant    seasons newlyweds hardships hard times

So many blogs I follow are authored by lovely ladies who are either engaged, seriously dating or are
newly weds. So many times people avoid talking about the realities of marriage because, well let's be honest
sometimes marriage is messy.  Before I was married all anyone said to me was
"marriage is hard" or "a good marriage takes work".
So although I haven't been married all that long myself, I wanted to
share some of the things I have learned and an insight into my reality of marriage.

__________________________________________________________

I love my husband dearly, but for some ignorant reason
I believed that once we were married, somehow that bond would prevent us from fighting.

I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I was wrong.  Plain wrong.
I tell people (on the rare occasion that I discuss this) that if our marriage could withstand
the first five months, then we were set for life!


When we were married, we paid for the wedding ourselves. Every last penny.
A huge accomplishment we're proud of, and we didn't go into any debt for it.
BUT, it meant we didn't have any savings for a season in life when we really needed some.


We got back from our Honeymoon & hit the ground running.
I literally spent the first night in our home alone. In fact I spent almost every night alone.
I was afraid to sleep in our bedroom alone (I'd never lived on my own before)
so I slept 5 of the 7 nights a week on our couch because John had to go to work.

John was finishing his Masters degree - thank Heaven he was down to a final Sports Law class that was entirely online and he also had to complete his Practicum - an internship with a Soccer Club about an hour from our house. In addition to working 32 hours a week for the Soccer team to complete his practicum requirement; he also worked full time as a night stocker at a Walmart - 35 minutes from home (in the opposite direction of his other job). You do the math... he never slept!

I was also working at Walmart full time (yay for our expensive college educations!)
and I cleaned houses and baby sat on the side.  We were both stretched so thin! (and did I mention we're a 1 car family??)

My Aunt Shannon said to me once after John and I were engaged that sometimes in marriage you have to wake up in the morning and decide that you still love your husband.
I think this was some of the best advice I have ever gotten!

John and I fought about everything.  It was easy to do when you were so tired, and so stressed
and so just Blah!  I honestly thought the marriage would fall apart.
We probably could have gotten a lot of good out of talking to other married couples about their hard times
but we were both so embarrassed that things were hard for us, especially so early in our marriage. It doesn't help that we don't know many married couples our age.
We both knew that we loved each other and it all came down to a promise.

We had just vowed to be faithful in the good times and bad.
In some ways we had a small cheat sheet for our marriage in that we knew things would get somewhat better
as soon as school was finished for him that May. We thought that if we could stick it out until then
all our problems would go away.

Well... they didn't. The stressful things honestly didn't truly settle out until about late September early October (9 months after we were married). But our marriage really took a turn for the better about April. We realized (and by realized I mean that we both screamed ourselves hoarse and threw embarrassing temper tantrums until it was out of our system and only then did we come to understand that BOTH of us had a lot going on and fighting only made things worse!) that yes, both of us would be grumpy sometimes. We would have short tempers but holding it against him and drudging up last weeks fight would only make matters worse. By the time John had graduated and gotten a job in his field and our lives had settled out into a normal routine I had figured out that life isn't just about me.

I know you're probably sitting there thinking, 'oh gosh, she really hates being married doesn't she?' - no actually I love it!  It's the best, most wonderful thing to ever happen to me but reality is that it does take
an investment of time and work!
I think that a lot of the lessons learned in the first six or so months of marriage were ones that every newly married couple has to learn. How to share a space with a person, always having your spouse around, accountability, responsibility, money and time management, etc. Our lessons were just complicated by our stress factor. 

I hope that this post just gives those of you who are maybe having a rocky time in your relationship hope that this is just for a season and life will settle out. Now that we are past our "hard time" (not to say that we don't have stress or occasionally disagree), I feel more comfortable opening up to friends and family about what we went through. 
Guess what, in no way were we alone. If you're struggling with how to adjust and settle in to a marriage. Maybe your marriage or relationship is taking a beating from the other stressors in your life, I really encourage you to take the time to talk to someone you trust about it! They will be able to offer you perspective and make encouraging pointers for ways you can help the problem. 
My advise: Marriage is giving 100% of yourself all the time and expecting nothing in return.



This blog post is a link up with The Unveiled Wife
Embrace The Journey Of Marriage & Link Up Party   wednesday rant    seasons newlyweds hardships hard times

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Me, Myself & I {link up}

I'm linking up with My Beautiful Crazy Life today. 
I particularly like this link up since it only happens once a month!
You should join in too!

 My Beautiful, Crazy Life

1) What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?  
That's an easy one. I would write a book! 
I love writing and I've started several short stories and novels but
I fall victim to only being able to write that story in that particular frame of time (usually emotional state) so I've never finished one.
2) If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?
Spend it with family. I might do a little traveling, but I would want
to be with family during that time.

3) If a front page news article was written on you, what would the headline be?
 Hmm. I'm not sure... but I hope it would be nice! : )
4) What is your biggest pet peeve?
Well I really despise liars...
scraping your teeth on your spoon/fork
... I have others but those are the two that come to mind first.
 
5) What is your favorite chick flick movie?
The American President!!
It is one of my all time favorite movies and it just so happens that it's Besties favorite too! 

Saturday, August 18, 2012

It was a Sucess!

{This post *would* have been up much earlier this week, say Monday! but Google+ and I
had some issues with loading pictures from my phone. Some long frustrating issues!
I'm so happy this is done and I can share our great weekend of moving Jacob into his dorm!}

If you missed one of last weeks posts
I have not been dealing well with my bubba Jacob moving off to college.

I am happy to report that I did not cry once!
 {I however am not handling the fact that I'm home and he's not...}

It only took 4 trips to Walmart (twice here, twice there)
and two car loads of stuff to get him moved in!

Leaving for College!
My Dad isn't feeling well and another brother was scheduled for some medical tests so
he wasn't able to go along.  Jacob & I left early Friday morning and John followed an hour
later after he took care of a few obligations. {I feel so fancy, we had "obligations" hehe}


(I'm pretty impressed with how this picture turned out considering I was driving when I took it!)

Marshall is a cute little town and I'm in love with ETBU's campus!
I'm so proud of him for going to the school that he wants to go to and I think he will
really thrive in the small private school environment!

My Fancy new ETBU Tigers shirt! Compliments of Jacob!
 

His dorm room wasn't *exactly* what I thought...
which being as much of a planner & obsessor as I am - I didn't adjust well, but It will be OK!
His room looking in from the door


& from the bed... it's so tiny!
His Spiffy new band uniform!
If you didn't already hear from this proud sister - Jacob is there on scholarship to play his Trumpet!
 
He's so happy - he has always been very independent.
Especially since Mom got sick.
Though he is younger than me, in many ways he is stronger.
Living on his own (well his own plus 3 roommates) will be great for him!
I could already see his excitement at the new adventure! 
 

I drove him nuts all weekend with my picture taking and random questions into things
that he couldn't care less about or just didn't find to be a topic of choice.
At lunch on Saturday I started by asking Jacob & Hayden (one of Jacob's roommates and his close friend) if they had made any new friends.

Yup... I felt the horror of my question that I couldn't believe had slipped through my lips
reflect all over their faces. Like they were 5 years old and it was their first day of Kindergarden.
Heaven help my future children!

We're all looking forward to this fall and getting to see Hayden play football and Jacob march in halftimes! 
Come on Fall Weather & Football Season!!


Friday, August 17, 2012

Dear Friday

Photobucket


Dear Anne Hathaway, I cannot wait to see you in Les Miserables!! Seriously! If you weren't already my fav you would be after this movie preview!! : )

Dear Hunger Games, I'm not quite convinced I can wait until midnight for you to come out!! I so rarely buy a movie when it comes out, or at full price for that matter - you should feel special!

Dear Dexter Season 6, we got you because John likes you so much but you're making me sick!
what is up with such a gory season (I can barely stomach your usual images!)?!? If you don't get less gross in the next episode I'm breaking up with you!

Dear Husband, Tonight is date night and I hope you are as excited as I am!! (He's probably excited about getting to see the new Borne movie... I on the other hand am excited that I don't have to cook as we're eating out!)

Dear Grocery Shopping, I haven't been to the store for more than milk, eggs and bread in a month. We are running out of food that can conceivably prepared into a singular meal. I don't have time for you! It takes so much time for me to match up the ads to my coupons and ridiculously long list. I feel too guilty when I don't compare/price match & coupon though!!

Dear Clyde, you are adorable - but I'm tired of you on the furniture & snoring so loudly you wake me up!
Dear Blog, you are taking a lot of time here of late, I have a few other things that need attention. I'll still give you some time though! Oh, and you're getting a makeover! Just as soon as Lauren and I get a clearer schedule!!

Dear Blog Readers, I'm so glad you're here! And I have 7 followers! I know that may not seem like many to you but since I started this as a way of keeping a "diary" of sorts I'm pretty excited!
I love your comments & keep them coming! I cannot for the life of me figure out how to set up a "reply" option to your comments, but I'm working on it! Promise!

Shelter

I want to brag on my husband.
For as long as I can remember I have been the strong one.

Even as a kid when something bad happened or there was a death, 
I felt like I needed to stand up and be brave.

For years I would push my emotions off and wait to cry.
(defiantly not healthy, I don't recommend it)

One of the many reasons I LOVE my husband is he can
be strong for me.  When there is something that I just can't emotionally 
deal with - he knows that (even without me telling him) and he just takes care of it.

In every case it is an emotional thing for him too,
but he knows that my emotions and heart haven't healed from Mom yet.
He takes the hit for me.
He does the "dirty" work.

It's amazing the way that God designed marriage.
It is awesome the way that your married relationship evolves.
Letting someone else take the reigns and handle something for me
is not something I do easily.
{in fact, it is usually forced}

I fall even more in love with him when I can rely on him
completely. There are times he can't deal with something and I can.
I love that he can rely on me and I can be his shelter the way he is for me.


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Current Crush


 Current Crush Thursdays

I'm doing a link up I've never done before,
but it always looks like so much fun - I've been wanting to try!

If you know me at all, you know that I usually don't wear make up. Of any kind!
I consider it a success if I get up and put on mascera - and I usually only do that because I'm so tired
and having darker lashes makes me look slightly more conscious.

Then the Bestie, Lauren, had a Mary Kay party!

I've been around Mary Kay Products before.  That was my mothers makeup of choice.

I am seriously crushing on the great products I got!

 
I got the Mineral Powder & brush
{I love how light it is!}

The acne gel!
{This is a MK product I have used for years it works miracles for my skin!}

The Tinted Moisturizer
{It's great! Very refreshing for my skin and is a quick fix if I don't want to put on all my makeup}

The Time Wise Cleanser
{I have used this product before, but it has been changed to a gel and I am soo much happier with it now!}

And My Favorite!!
Fancy Nancy Lip Gloss!

I am happy to report that I have gotten up and done my makeup every day since I got these fabulous
products! Maybe what I really needed was great products to motivate me to take the time!

Link up with us at Framed Frosting!


Sunday, August 12, 2012

Sunday Social {Foodie}

I saw the topic of this weeks Social Sunday & had to link up!
Who can't resist talking about food! Their favorite foods!
Thanks to Neeley for this great Link up!

 Sunday Social
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
Hmm... well I'm a pretty picky eater.
I can't think of just one 'real' food... but I'd be just fine eating cupcakes for the
rest of forever!

What's your guilty pleasure/comfort food?
When I think comfort food I think Chicken & Dumplings (made Aunt M style!)
When I'm in a rush and want something spicy (which is usually)
I love making "quick lo mein", 
Which translates into linguinie noodles with soy sauce,
red pepper, seseme seed oil, garlic & onion powders.
Terrible for me, but totally shuts up the cravings!
 
What's the weirdest/craziest thing you've ever eaten?
Bestie and I had a joint 18th birthday party way back when.
We had a chocolate fountain.

Add in roughly 35 teenagers to the party, 
the fruit for the fountain didn't last long.
But I rather enjoyed my chocolate covered Doritos!
{yes, now I recognize just how disgusting that was!}

What foods do you avoid at all costs?
I don't really like mushrooms, so it's very convienent
that John is highly allergic to them! A ready made excuse to say "no thanks!".
 
What meal reminds you of your childhood?
Probably anything having to do with hotdogs. I seriously only remember my
father making meals that mainly conisisted of hot dogs... or the occasional plate of spaghetti.

Chocolate Malts were one of my favorite childhood memories.
Uncle Ted, Granda or Granny would make us a tall glass of chocolate malt and a piece of toast every night when we would visit them. : ) 
 
Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it.
You should check out my post about Buffalo Chicken. It is one of our fav things
to eat and is soo versatile!

All it takes is a bottle of buffalo chicken sauce, a packet of ranch,
and chicken breasts! 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Questions!?!


Question Mark Clip Art

I would like to do a Q&A with my readers.

I feel like you learn so much more about a person when they answer questions someone else
asks rather than what they're willing to normally say in conversation.

I will answer every question to the best of my ability!

What would you like to know about me? : ) 


Thursday, August 9, 2012

It's OK Thursday

Its Ok Thursdays

It's Thursday, and it's OK that....
I'm linking up with Some Days are Just a Complete Waste of Makeup  
and Brunch With Amber

IT'S OK
 That I took half the day off... John is having a root canal.
Love him, but his loss - my gain!

IT'S OK
 That I'm unbelievably excited about tomorrow... Both John & I are off work, we're moving brother Jacob to East Texas for college! Sad to see him go, but happy for the short week!

IT'S OK
That I'm fully planning on having lunch with strangers on Saturday... because they're not really strangers; though I haven't ever met them. I'm getting to meet some of my family that recently moved from Cali to East Texas! So excited!!

IT'S OK
That I'm very annoyed with a particular law firm... how do you not have a Notary on staff?  I do not work for you, I am not at your beck & call. I swear I'm about to start charging you for my services!

IT'S OK 
That I am so happy that my blog is about to get a lot of work done on it! So excited that it will look totally different!

IT'S OK
To be nervous about changes that may be coming.  Please pray for John and I this week. Many decisions need to be made.  Change is never easy.

What's OK with you this week?? 

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Fun Weekend Recap!

It's been a long time since I have had a chance to mark
something off of my 101 List!  I am happy to say that I can mark TWO off my list!!

Numbers 1 (to go to Six-Flags) & 43 (to have a non-family member guest stay the night at our house) are going, going, Gone!

____________________________________________


This past Thursday night John's cousin Drew and Drew's sweet girlfriend Maddie came to visit us!
Friday morning we got up and I went with them to tour the University of North Texas.

It was great!! John spent the afternoon with them at our house while I worked, then
we went to dinner with Drew's other cousin who is living in Denton & studying at TWU.

John, Drew & Maddie enjoying some ice cream!
{Yes, I was a horrible blogger and only have 3 pictures from the entire weekend...
all of them eating ice cream. I will do better this weekend, I promise!}

 The evening was spent watching the Olympics of course (we forget that there is regular television programing when the Olympic games are going on)!

Saturday we got up "early" - Drew & Maddie are early risers apparently, John and I not so much.
John fixed us sausage & french toast for a delicious breakfast.
Then we left for Fort Worth and toured TCU.

We had planned that after our TCU tour for John & Drew to go play golf
and for Maddie & I to go shopping.

... but they came up with an even better plan!

SIX FLAGS!!!

We had a fabulous time!
it was HOT, but still enjoyable with copious amounts of water!

We had some less sugar coated times...
like something mysterious went down the toilet 2 weekends ago...
not pointing fingers but I think my husband may know what.
So now we have plumbing issues.

Turns out Drew & Maddie aren't quite as calloused to widlife entering the house
as we are... so big spiders were an issue. (John went home to kill one for them! lol)

Oh, and we got a new doggie door.  An unplanned doggie door.
 Since this will take extensive repairs, I'm sure a post is to follow about this mess.

How was your weekend?

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Mamas Write



Bestie and I are attending the upcoming Mamas Write Blogging Conference!

It is being hosted on Saturday, August 25 in Arlington!

It is going to be a great blogging conference for Christian Ladies who want to learn various ways to
blog and still let their Light Shine for Christ!


Topics will include
  • How to find and keep your blogging motivation.
  • How to discover your blog niche and voice.
  • How to come up with blogging topics.
  • How to use your blog as a ministry.
  • How to make money through blogging.
  • How to guard your heart in a vulnerable arena.
  • How to take better photographs through composition and technical tips.
  • What to avoid and how to learn from those who’ve gone before you.

 What I am probably most excited about (other than spending a day with the bestie!)
is that Mandy from Biblical Homemaking will be one of the guest speakers!!
{I seriously LOVE her blog}

If you are in the area it would be fabulous to see you there!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

New Beginnings

My "little" brother Jacob is moving to college this week.
{I say "little" because he is whole head taller than me!}

I think I'm going to cry...
oh wait, I have/will/am crying.

{Yep, I was the crazy woman tearing up in Walmart while I shopped for his dorm room}

I do not know how parents do this!
Sending your kids off on their own has to be nerve wracking!!

Jacob was convinced that he didn't need to buy much, or anything really, for college.
I of course was of a different opinion.

For example - I kid you not, he thought it would be OK to take his current bedding rather than buy new.
Where to begin, his current bedding is Old, it is full sized and I don't know any dorm rooms with full sized beds. AND, the best part - it's my old bedding!! It has HUGE blue flowers all over it!

Fortunatly, it wasn't just me that thought his idea of taking his old bedding was a less than
stellar idea.


Two awesome families at church set him up with all the bedding and towels etc that he would need.

That left me free to focus on essentials like, laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap,
food and hygiene products.



Oh... and the all important social money item
CANDY! 

John & I will be taking off from work on Friday to move him to East Texas.
He is excited and we're excited for him too!
(my emotional status is slowly getting better!)

I can't wait to help him set up his dorm room and get settled in.

I'm so happy I have the opportunity to help him get what he needs & get settled in at school.
It's a little bit of unfamiliar territory for me since I never lived in a dorm or apartment
{he's one of the lucky kids who gets to live in the University Apartments, yay for Transfer students!}

What were some of the things you moved into the dorm with that don't usually make the "packing lists"?

What one thing could you not live without?

 

**Edit** I had a couple of great suggestions come to my email and facebook - I wanted to share them here!
  • Door stop
  • Meds - getting sick the first time away from home is usually awful

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Social Sunday {Fall}

I'm linking up with Neeley at Some Days Just are a Complete Waste of Makeup
for Sunday Social!
 Sunday Social
1. What is your favorite Fall activity?
 Football... football and more football!
plus I love that it's cool enough to actually enjoy the outdoors and not bake like a chicken!

2. Do you follow a football team? if so which one and why?
 I follow Texas Tech!
My family is full of Dallas Cowboy Fans 
(except John, but shh, don't tell them he hates them!) 
so I guess by default I am too. 
I prefer college football in general. I think the pros are spoiled
and make way too much money to act like divas.

3. What is something fun about Fall in your area?
 I don't know if I would call it fun... but it is finally not so hot that the asphalt on the roads melt!
I think that qualifies as fun!
 
4. Fav Fall outfit staples?
Outdated or not, Nothing beats a white shirt with a fun colorful scarf!
Oh, and boots!
 
5. Thing you are looking forward to most about this coming Fall season?
Less HOT weather!!
Seriously though, it isn't anything fun, but we have a massive
fencing project that we need to get done.
It's just too gosh darn hot to do it now.
So that will be nice to get it taken care of this fall. 

6. Favorite Fall holiday? Traditions?
Thanksgiving hands down.
It isn't about the food at all... thought that is nice.
I just love having all the family around and making memories.
Some of my best childhood memories are from Thanksgivings and working in the kitchen with all the Pierce women.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

McSteamy

Okay, so I realize that many of you probably don't give a rats patooty
about Greys Anatomy...
but I do!

(I highly encourage you to watch the series from the beginning!
It's great!
One of those shows I can watch over and over again!
You don't have season 1-7?
Bummer!
I do!
Come over and watch with me!!)

Any whoo...
It was announced at the end of last month that McSteamy
aka Dr. Mark Sloan
aka the President of the Dirty Mistresses' Club

will not be returning for Season 9 of Greys.

I'm so sad... particularly because I assume this means he "dies". : ( 

Is anyone else upset by this news??

They also announced the Fall Premiere Dates...
... I know what I'll be doing on September 27!
{that and frantically reading J.K. Rowling's newest book The Casual Vacancy!}

In other Seattle Grace news...
{no, I do not care for the proper Seattle Grace-Mercy West title. And I still miss George!)

Izzie needs to come back, or at least make an appearance.
Seriously!!
She has even said she would like to!
So do it already!!
{because of course  I'm sure Rhimes totally reads my blog and takes what I think into consideration}


Are you particularly excited about a returning (or new) show for the Fall Lineup?

Friday, August 3, 2012

Retrospect


This morning I went with my hubby's cousin (Drew) and Drew's sweet girlfriend (Maddie)
to tour the University of North Texas.

There is just something so invigorating about touring a college campus
everyone there raidates
youth
energy
enthusiasm.

I miss college!

I wish that I could have turned 18 and known all that I know now.
Funny thing is, most of what I wish I had known, or wish I had been told...
... I was told. {in some form or fashion}
I just didn't listen.

So odd how we have to learn things ourselves.
Make our own mistakes and learn our own lessons.


My Dad insisted that I should go to Nursing School 
(I had several of the classes done already)
then use the degree to pay my way though as much future school as I wanted.

Did I?
no. I thought the extra year seemed like too much.
Funny how a year seemed like a long time a few years ago.
like too much of a sacrifice. Now it's merely a measurement of time.

My Aunt M. wanted John & I to have a small wedding.
{lots of reasons, all valid}

Did I?
no. I decided that a small wedding was the way to go the week of my
very large, very stressful, very expensive* wedding.
(*expensive for us... I would love to do a future post on how affordable our wedding was and paid for it all ourselves!)


I've learned a lot of lessons.
Many weren't that painful, just informative.

But where are my new beginnings??
What's next?


What lessons have you learned {the hard or the easy way}?



Thursday, August 2, 2012

It's Okay Thursday! (week 2)

I had so much fun with last weeks link up with Some Days are Just a Complete Waste of Makeup
I had to do it again!

So here I go...

Its Ok Thursdays

It's OK that I decided our weekend guests are going to have to sleep on the couches...
I just don't have it in me to get the guest room ready
(we're talking hours of work - aka the carpet still needs to be ripped up!)
They're young, couch surfing is still acceptable, right??

It's OK that I keep hitting "refresh" a million times on my facebook hoping for any leaks of information from Thirty-One's national conference going on this week!
Fall product reveal is happening now!!!
(Ahhh! So going next year!!)

It's OK that I'm about to go broke updating my Thirty-One display with all the new and AMAZING products that are coming out!!

It's OK that I have completly cleared out our DVR with the exception of Olympic events!

It's OK that I cried a little when I walked into Chic-fil-a yesterday!
So amazing to see so many people standing up for what they believe in!

It's OK that I'm excited about girls night tonight! The bestie is hosting a Mary Kay pampering party!

It's OK that I am greatly annoyed by clients calling with "emergencies" (aka lack of foresight on their part) that tend to interrupt my lunch!

It's OK that I'm very proud of the things I can get done before the microwave beeps!


What's OK with you today?

Happy Thursday!



Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Bucket List

It's pretty self explanatory...

This is my Bucket List

It's not complete, by any means.
Just a place for me to put my goals, hopes and dreams
as I think of them.
Lord willing, I will have a chance to cross some of them off too!

  • Go to an Olympic Games
  • Go back to Paris, take John
  • Have a baby
  • Adopt a child
  • Learn to play the piano
  • Write & Publish a book! 
  • Go tent camping in New Mexico or Colorado
  • Go Snow Skiing
  • Have a camper trailer and take trips to all the Texas State Parks
  •  Visit Washington, particularly Seattle but while we're there we might as well see Forks and make sure we take a ferry ride!
  • See Mannheim Steamroller in concert for Christmas!
  •  attend a Presidential Inauguration