Snow Day #4

Can you believe this is my 4th snow day this week?

It's insane.. and I'm going insane stuck in the house all by myself!

I've had a lot of time on my hands, and to avoid some much needed house keeping, I've done some blog editing..

New header!! Yay!

You might notice a new tab at the top called "Love Story".

Just a story of how my sweet husband and I met and got married! :)

Also, If you check out the "Our Home" tab, I've got some new stuff in there for you!

Floor Plans!

Oh yes, I've had that much time on my hands!

I hope you enjoy!

Also, I had a comment earlier on my Photo Editing post about my wedding dress.

The story of my wedding gown is unique.

I wasn't the typical "go into a store, find the dress and cry" girl.

I've said this before, but I'm not exactly a "big spender", and my wedding gown was no exception.

When I began searching, I knew I wanted 3 things:
1. strapless
2. lace
3. sache

After months of searching for the perfect one, I was at a little bridal shop in Auburn with a good friend and found this cute little dress for only $150!!

The only thing it wasn't, was strapless. So I figured I could have someone make it strapless. If they could, great! If not, I'm only out $150!

So I went for it!

strapless: check!

lace: check!

sache: check!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 

Here is what I'm loving on this very cold, Wednesday morning. 

I'm loving that the husband and I got 2 long snowed in days together. He had to go back to work today and I'm ready to get out of the house, but the first 2 days were awesome!

I'm loving that my dog has a routine every morning. He knows as soon as I wake up, he gets fed and then gets to go outside. This is great and all until you want to sleep late. Then he starts whining in my face and pawing me until I get up. He's my alarm clock.

I'm loving the exciting things happening my my friends' lives right now!

I'm loving peanut butter oreos and this recipe I found, here.

I'm loving Restoration Hardware!

I'm loving my wonderful husband, of course!

I'm loving how great our God is!

Resolutions.

Every year I make them... and every year I forget what they were by February. 

Not this year.

This year I'm not only going to make resolutions, I'm going to set forth with a plan to ensure I go through with, at least attempting, my resolutions. 

And my readers get volunteered to be my accountability partners, along with my husband, close friends and family! Yay for you! :)

So here goes:

1. Be a stronger spiritual being; therefore, walking closer with my God. In my opinion, this one should be a the top of everyone's list, every year. As pastor Chris would put it,

 "We are not physical beings having temporary spiritual experiences, we are spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience."

What else could be more important?

If I make this my main focus, I have a feeling that the rest of my resolutions will follow suit. 

Here's how I'm going to work at it this year:

• Every January, our church sets aside a time for prayer and fasting to become closer to God, called 21 Days of Prayer.We believe that fasting isn't about starving yourself just to prove how much you love God. It's about taking distractions out of your life and devoting that time to hearing God. We have decided to stop doing one of our favorite things, eating out, for 21 days. We will cook all of our meals at home, even on weekends (that's going to be a tough one)! This will take a lot of discipline on our part, but in the end will give us more time to focus on our relationship with Christ. It will also be a huge money saver!
• Reading a little bit of God's living word every day in the One Year Bible. (Our church website has a great version that's also a phone app now).
• By joining the 2011 Beth Moore siesta scripture memory team! Thanks to a new blogger friend, Megan, (who  totally wrote about this days ago and has inspired me to do it as well)! The scripture memory team is a commitment to memorize 2 scripture verses a month. A small commitment that, I believe, can make a huge impact on a life.  Who wants to join?!

2. Become a better wife. Another very important resolution that I think all wives should strive for every year. To do this, I am going to make more of an effort to speak in Jordan's "love language" (I talk about it here) and show acts of service. I think I can do this by trying to make the bed in the mornings, making sure the laundry is caught up and there are no dirty dishes in the sink. Try is the key word here, but he deserves it! 

We will also make an effort to attend at least 1 or 2 marriages conferences this year. Those are fun! :)

3. To  use my gifts to serve others. 

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace"

1 Peter 4:10

I want to take this scripture to heart this year and serve others. I will be looking for opportunities to volunteer and give. I hope to inspire at least one person this year. 

4. Focus on my hobbies. Photography and blogging have become such incredible hobbies for me. I hope to learn more about my camera, different lenses and editing softwares. In order to do this I am going to take pictures every chance I get and keep my blog updated as much as possible!

Annnnd, that's it...in a nutshell!

 Sure, there are about a million other things I'd like to accomplish this year, but I'm not organized enough to keep up with more than 4 (on this blog anyways). And that's less "keeping up" for my accountability partners too! :)

adios computer.

Happy New Year to us!

As we say goodbye to 2010, we also say goodbye to our Dell desktop :( 

A lightning storm showed Dell who was boss and we woke up this morning to the black screen of death.

:(

So now we face our first dilemma of 2011, what computer to get?

Option 1- We keep our Dell monitor, keyboard, etc. and buy a new computer tower, knowing that sometime in the future we want to buy an iMac. 

Option 2- We dip into our savings and get the computer we have always wanted and were planning to get sometime in the future.

photo: www.apple.com/imac

Option 1 may cost less now, but might end up being a waste of money if we are planning on getting an iMac sooner or later. Should we just go ahead and get the one we want?

What to do...what to do?

wish lists and reality.

I really want this camera bag.

You can find it here.

Gorgeous isn't it?

The reality of it is, this bag is $250. Even if I had that much to blow after Christmas, I could still think of about 10 more things I want need more than this. Plus, it's hard for me to buy anything if it's not on sale. It's okay to look though... right? Maybe one day I'll find it on ebay. :)

Dirty Santa

Why is stealing presents from people so much fun?

 

Sometimes the joy of unwrapping a present can be ruined by opening unwanted items, such as BOD spray (You know, the fragrance spray for men that practices false advertisement by placing cartoon shirtless men on the box implying "wear this and you'll look like this!"). If you haven't seen it, click here.

I tried to avoid buying the cheap $5.00 gift that no one wants and decided to get crafty (I also avoided the "funny" gift giving). I went to the thrift store and bought an old picture frame. I painted and stenciled it, and came out with this:

I kinda wanted to keep it when I finished. 

I ended up with a $5.00 gift card to Yogurt Mountain. I was happy with that. You know where to find me after church Sunday!

Hope every one has a VERY Merry Christmas!

:)

Happy Birthday Wall-E!!

Wall-E turned 2 on August 18th!!!

It might sound silly to celebrate a dog's birthday, but hey when you're bored at home by yourself just about anything sounds fun! HAHA! I really didn't "celebrate" anyway, I just thought I'd make a cute video.

The song is "Your adorable Beast" by Bobby Bare Jr. 

I thought it was adorable! 

Wall-E is special to our little family and he keeps us laughing. :)

Where's Waldo?

Where's Waldo Wall-E?

 Can you find him in the picture?

He's right...

Here.

This is what Wall-E does every time I go outside to check the mail or when he hears something outside. It is hilarious! 

Not good for the blinds though.

*If you like the cross on our front door, I can tell you how to get one of your own. My sister-in-law makes crafts that can hang on your door, stick in your yard, or decorate your room! She can make anything from initials and college football decor to holiday celebration decor! I'll blog pictures and details next! :)

May Flowers...

It's probably pointless to post this, but I'm excited about my blue hydrangeas blooming in our back yard!

Snowy, Crazy Valentine's Day Weekend!

Don't you just love it when it snows in Alabama? I can't help but think about when I lived in Michigan and how it never failed to snow. People would just keep going with their every day lives, not thinking twice about the beautiful white fluffiness that was falling down upon them. I wonder what they think when they hear people from the South are running to their grocery stores to stock up on Milk and other necessities because it is going to snow a few inches? They probably laugh hysterically!!

Snow is fun, but I definitely prefer it here in Alabama, when it comes down in moderation. I also love SNOW DAYS!

Here is the story of our snow day and our first Valentine's Day as a married couple:

Friday at my internship, we were having our Valentine's Party, only to be cut short due to the fact that snow was coming down. It was a crazy day, but the kids were so excited, reminding me of why I love teaching in the first place. I was so excited to be leaving at 11:00, meaning I would be able to get home and make our first snow man at our new house before the sun melted all the snow (Jordan could help when he got home). Just as I was on my way home I got a call from Jordan, saying he was very sick and was leaving work to come home.

Two thoughts came to mind:
1.Oh no, my husband is sick and it's Valentine's Day weekend! :( 
and 
2. Yay! Jordan is coming home, I'm sure he feels well enough to come outside and at least make one snowman with me!! :)

Turns out Jordan had a stomach virus. So I went outside and made the snowman (or should I say snowgirl) all by my self.  But wait, there is a twist to the story.

The minute I came back into the house, my stomach started hurting as well. I had the stomach virus too!! :( Trust me, this weekend was rough. Two people, newlyweds, coming down with a terrible stomach virus at the same time, talk about getting to know each other on a whole new level.

On top of being sick, everyone in Gadsden was snowed/iced in their driveways. No one could come and take care of our dehydrated selves.  It was pretty pitiful.

It was our first Valentine's weekend as a married couple and we pretty much stayed sick in bed until Sunday. We had plans, but they were quickly changed.


On a brighter note, this weekend definitely proved that our love is unconditional! I guess our Valentine's Day wasn't completely ruined after all :)