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Soooo, yesterday was my birthday, and let me just say... it was a VERY. GOOD. DAY. :) :) :) The whole weekend was fabulous, as a matter of fact.

I started Friday with a little girl time. Chris had to take a CPA test on Saturday morning (laaaaame), so I figured going out with the girls would give him some peace and quiet and good ol' study time that evening. We planned to see the movie "Gone" at Studio Movie Grill (ya know, a movie theater where you can eat dinner while you watch your flick? Best. idea. EVER.), butttttt when we showed up to SMG, the movie wasn't playing at the time that showed up online. WTH?! The manager said there was some issue with the production company releasing the movie, so they weren't playing that or "Wanderlust." Big mistake. Lots of good business they were missing out on. No wonder the usually packed place was so empty. Needless to say, we were a bit annoyed. I had already drank myself silly before leaving the house... Hey, it was the start of my birthday weekend (That became the running excuse for the rest of the weekend), but I felt I deserved to let loose and get a little silly if I wanted. So, given the presence and influence of alcohol, I was NOT a happy camper. We had already missed the movie at several other theaters and would have to wait until 10:05 p.m. for the next showing someplace else. Say whaaaat?! Mama was hungry and knew waiting around till 10 would be pushing it... by then, the alcohol would be making me sleepy, and I'd be ready to go home and get some shut eye! Whatever. We were already out. We wanted to see that movie. We sucked it up. 

We ended up at Chili's to pass the time (and drink some more), and it ended up working out perfectly fine, actually (though I would never have admitted that at the time).

My friend who has a 6-month-old consumed her first marg since the baby was born. She was enjoying herself a bit. :)

So. It ended up being a fun night. We were a tad disappointed in the movie, though. It wasn't bad... we just felt it definitely could've been better. Got home after the movie and passsssseddddddd outttttttt. 

On Saturday, Chris went off to take his test, and I just hung around the house. We grabbed lunch when he got home and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and getting things done at home. We met friends that evening at a yummy Mexican restaurant downtown that one of my friends recommended. It was good! We ate a lot, drank a lot, and took silly pictures.

Chris and one of our buds. Having a little too much fun. ;)

Best friend.<3

We went to a nearby bar afterwards and partied our little hearts out. We were definitely feeling "old," though- we used to have our fair share of fun, crazy times in college, but since we've been out of school the past couple of years, we've definitely toned it down and don't really go out much anymore. I thought I was going nuts having some drinks and catching a 10:00 p.m. movie Friday night! But, we quickly got back into the swing of things and had a really good time. :)

The next day (Sunday) was my birrrrrthhhhhhdayyyyyyy! :) I slept in and took the morning easy, given the amount of fun I had the night before. ;) Chris made me breakfast in bed (LOVED), and then I finally got up and moving around lunchtime. Because it took us a little longer than planned to get going, the original day Chris had planned had to be done another day because we weren't going to have enough time (surprise to look forward to, though. :) hehe). We ended up going downtown and enjoying the beautiful day, grabbed lunch, and went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Super cute. Super fun. It was a different sort of "out-of-the-box" idea, and I appreciated Chris' effort to do something unique. Plus, I'm a sucker for cool, modern art, so I really enjoyed it.

We headed back towards home that afternoon, picked up the dogs, and went to my parents' for a birthday dinner. My grandmother and Chris' parents were also there, and my aunt and uncle and their fam stopped by. I got some birthday goodies (new clooooothes, shoessssss, and cute things for the house!), and we had fish tacos for dinner (one of my faaaaave meals!). 

Dinner! On cute birthday plates. :)

Because I'm not much of a cake person, my mom made one of her famous desserts, a Hershey's oreo mud pie instead. DE-LISH. We hung around, chatted, then called it a fairly early night. Chris and I came home and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the evening.

I feel very lucky and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in my life, and wouldn't have had my birthday weekend any other way. Hope everyone had a fun, safe, and happy weekend! :)

Sunday funday

Today was a great day. Not because I did anything crazy-over-the-top-fun, but because it was just a nice, good, relaxing day. And I don't know... I feel like I haven't really enjoyed a day like I did today in awhile. So it was good. First of all, the weather was absolutely GORGE! Which was a nice change, considering it's been disgusting and rainy a lot lately. I grabbed coffee with a good friend, and we stayed and chatted for, like, hours. Seriously. We were there from 11ish-3ish. Cray. But so much fun. She's a friend I go way back with- she used to live 3 houses down from me, and we've known each other since we were 3. We were inseparable growing up, but, like many friends do, grew apart somewhat as we got older because we started hanging out in different groups of friends and what not. But we were always friendly. And she was always someone who I knew I could call and count on for anything, and she'd be there in a second, despite the fact that we were no longer partners in crime. We went off to different colleges in different states but remained in touch. Now, we're both back in our hometown and able to reconnect. She's one of those people you can pick up wherever you left off with, no matter how much time has passed since you've seen or talked to her. Love that. Proves the strength of a friendship, I think.
But... anyway! After coffee, I went back home and spent some time with my puppies and just enjoyed the day. Then, hubby and I went and saw The Vow.

I thought it was cute. There were some mixed reviews about it, but I thought it was a good movie overall. Afterwards, Chris and I went to say hi to my fam because we haven't really seen them in awhile, and my sister is in town. It was a good evening. We ate dinner, we chatted, my dad told us ridiculously funny stories that had me nearly totally peeing my pants. It was nice. Always love time with my family. It was a good ending to a (like I said) good day.

And just to do a very quick little Valentine's Day recap... ;)

There isn't much to report because unfortunately, hubby had to work late. Luckily he didn't have to work as late as he thought he was going to have to, but because he still anticipated being late, we didn't really make any plans (in terms of dinner reservations or something). He's been soooo swamped at work lately, and we hardly saw each other this past week because of how late he had to work most nights. Oh, the joys of being an accountant. There are many, many perks, don't get me wrong... but this is one of the downsides. Tax season is quickly approaching, so that means longer hours for the people at my husband's firm. But, at least he got to come home and I could see him a little for Valentine's Day. It ended up just being a quiet evening at home. But to me, the day isn't about what you do... it's about who you spend it with. (Do I sound like a Hallmark card, or what?! ;) ha) And I'm thankful that no matter how little we did or how little we've seen each other lately, I've at least been able to see him at all, and he was able to come home earlier than expected. It wasn't what I expected for our "first" Vday as a married couple, but it was still a memory to share and something to learn and grow from. Besides, hubs has said he's got a little something up his sleeve to make up for the fact that it was more low-key (not that I really need or expect that), and my birthday is next weekend... so maybe we can do a little more celebrating then? :)

And to end this already-somewhat-deep-and-mushy-post on one last sappy note, I just want to say that I am, at this moment in my life, feeling blessed. Blessed for my husband. Blessed for family. Blessed for my pups. Blessed for good friends. Blessed for health. Blessed for a roof over my head and clothes on my back. Blessed for food to eat. Blessed for the ability to work (and my husband being able to work). And when I find myself feeling down, unappreciated, upset or pitying myself for things I don't have, I'll look back on this post. And remind myself that I am blessed.

New obsession

Guess what came in the mail yesterday afternoon?!

My Erin Condren planner!!! It was even wrapped all pretty. :)

Words cannot even BEGIN to describe my excitement. With my OCD, Type-A personality, staying organized is an absolute MUST. I've spent years trying to find good planners and things to help me stay that way. I've found some here and there that have done the job but none that have really lived up to my expectations (and believe me, those are high). Until, that is, I met Erin. All thanks to Becky at From Mrs. to Mama. :) She blogged about Erin Condren products awhile back, so I got me a nice little teacher's lesson plan book. But that wasn't all I would need. Oh, no. Next would be a planner (check). Then calendars. Desk pads. Stationery. iPhone cases. The list is never-ending. If I could afford to buy out the whole place, trust me, I would. But for now, I'll have to settle on buying things a little at a time. And that's okay. Because it always gives me something to look forward to. :)

This planner seriously has EVERYTHING you would ever need. Cute little inspirational quotes throughout...

Goals and to-do lists...

Big boxes for writing down plans for the day... 

Monthly-view pages...

Notes pages...

A place where you can write down important numbers...

Adorable stickers to add to your plans (including blank ones, where you can write things in yourself)...

A pocket to keep loose papers together...

A little pouch to keep even more loose papers, pens, etc. together...

A page at the back with calendars for upcoming years...

...And so much more. If you aren't familiar with Erin Condren, you should check it out here.

Happy Sunday! :)

I caved.

And got an iPhone. Now, most of you are probably wondering what the big deal is, but if you knew me, you'd know what the big deal is. I've said, for as long as I can remember, that I would never ever under ANY circumstance get an iPhone. Why? Because I CAN. NOT. STAND. the touch screen. Absolutely hate it. Texting drives me crazy. Emailing makes me want to throw the phone at a wall. My friends have all had iPhones. My husband has an iPhone. Believe me, I've TRIED "getting used to it" because isn't that what everybody says? "Trust me, you'll get used to it!" I had a Droid for about a month and gave it a chance (because it's so similar to the iPhone, with the touch screen and all), but I just couldn't do it. But everything else about the phone? I loooooove. Love the apps. Love having music. Love the cool, up-to-date features.

But you see, all those feelings were before. Before I decided to give it a shot. Before I caved.

How did I cave? might you ask. I honestly don't think I really have an answer for that one. I had a Blackberry forrrreverrrrrr, and I really loved it. I loved how easy it was to type. But there were definitely other things I didn't go for, too. The apps were not up to par. The phone would freeze more often than not. And it just wasn't as "with the times" as the iPhone was. Tough competition. So, my Blackberry had been acting up, and I decided enough was enough. I NEEDED a new phone. At that point, I didn't really have it in my mind that I would get an iPhone. But when I got to the store and saw the pretty little iPhone glowing on its own little shelf, I couldn't help but say to myself, I think it's time to try this bad boy out.

And honestly? I hate to admit that I'm pretty pleased so far. It's different than the Droid I had, and I don't know if it's just a mental thing (probs), but typing really isn't as bad as I've always thought. It is weird, though, because I've tried countless times on my friends' or hubby's phones to type and send messages, and I could barely ever make it through one without wanting to scream. Maybe it's different because it's my phone now. That's what I tell myself, anyway. This phone called to me, and now we have a mutual understanding- it'll text and get done what needs to be done if I have a little patience. And it's working for us.

Telling my friends and hubs about it was a different story. I've spent years teasing everyone close to me and INSISTING backwards and forwards that no one would ever see me with an iPhone. So you can imagine the jokes I was in for when I texted people and/or showed them my new toy. Served me right, though. Never say never. ;)

One of the nicer parts of a convo w/ a friend :)

Our Loooooove Story :)

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I figured, What better way to celebrate a little early than through a link-up that Becky started?! (She's the coolest, by the way. You should follow her if you aren't already.) Uber excited. :)


I've decided to answer the questions below, but our "love story" (in a nutshell) can also be found here. :)


1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
Wellllll, this is a funny question for us. We've KNOWN each other since about 4th grade. But we started dating at the end of our sophomore year of high school.

 

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

To sum it up... a few little birdies had told me that Chris had had an itty bitty little crush on me starting in 8th grade. But I, of course, was all about not wanting to ruin the "friendship." We were super close, and I really just looked at him as more of a brother. His itty bitty crush kind of grew (from what I've been told), and thennnn it kind of got awk to hang out because I knew he liked me, but he didn't know that I knew, and then he find out that I knew, and... yeah. Then I had surgery when I was around 15 and was in bed for a couple weeks. Friends came to visit, but Chris would come (with flowers) every. single. day. Just because he wanted to spend time with me. Some found this ridiculous and creepy, but I thought it was the SWEETEST thing. He could've been doing any other thing and definitely having more fun, but he chose to sit around with me instead? That's when I had my change of heart. Figured I'd give it a shot. Didn't really think it'd be more than a little "high school fling." Ha. I was wrong. And am SO glad I was.

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}
Married! It'll be 1 year June 11th. :)

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
We got married in the church I was baptized in (coincidence because neither of our families go to this particular church anymore), and the reception was at a happenin' venue about 10-15 minutes away. I'd say it was a biggER wedding, but not ridonculously big or anything. We had a little over 200 guests attend.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
Ha... boyyyy, do we. Baby, Babe, CJ (I call him), H (he calls me), Booger, Boog, Honey, Lovey, Bud, Sweetheart... just to name a few. ;)

6. Name 3 things that you love most about your honey.
Chris is the BIGGEST giver and has the biggest heart of anyone that I've ever met- he will do anything for anyone, especially family and close friends. His sense of humor is out of control. He is insanely motivated and driven in all that he does.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Long story short? I'll try. We were on Spring Break our senior year of college and were staying at our friend's house (his family lives on a lake- bonusss!) with a bunch of our friends. At the end of the week, Chris and I planned to go home for a couple days to spend a little time with our fams before heading back to school. Little did I know what he had planned... AND that he had told all our friends at some point during the week what he was up to for the coming weekend. After a super fun week, we headed home and talked about doing a little something to celebrate our upcoming anniversary. (*Side note: Our anniversary always fell during final exams week at school, so ever since we'd been in college, celebrating usually consisted of ordering chinese and studying together. Womp womp.) So, where was I? Oh yeah, we wanted to celebrate our anniversary since this was our senior year, and the previous years we hadn't done much, and we had the opportunity to celebrate a little early, etc., etc. He told me he'd surprise me with dinner plans, so I didn't think much of it. I got ready that afternoon/evening and was quickly curling my hair when my sister (who knew NOTHING about his plans) walked into the bathroom and said, "What do you think, you're getting proposed to or something? Why are you curling your hair?!" Ironic much? I legit LAUGHED (because that wasn't at all in my mind) and simply told her that becausssse I didn't bring many "cute dresses" home from school (since I spent most of the break practically living in my swimsuit), I was making up for it a little by curling my hair. Come on, we were going to a nice dinner! What was the big deal? So, Chris came to pick me up, looking handsome and dapper as always, and we were off. I didn't have any idea where we were going, but when we finally pulled up to the restaurant downtown, I was THRILLED. It was a restaurant that we had always talked about going to since we first started dating and had never made it there. Little did I know that that was the first of many surprises. I started to walk inside, but Chris told me we were a little early and suggested waiting outside. He then led me over to a horse-drawn carriage. (*Second side note: I am a hopeless romantic and have ALWAYS made jokes about wanting to go on a carriage ride around downtown. Chris has always thought that was cheeseballs and would tease me for it.) Now, this should have been a clue to me. But I? Was oblivious. I was thinking he was just doing it big for all the other years we did NOTHING for our anniversary.

I was so excited, and we set off on our ride. Halfway through, the driver said something "seemed to be wrong with the carriage" and asked us to step out for a second. Uh, are you kidding?! We're nowhere near the restaurant and are going to be late for our reservations! was all I could think. Then I got a little annoyed. Shame on me. Chris seemed calm, cool, and collected and suggested we sit and wait on a little bench in this beautiful courtyard outside of a big cathedral where the carriage had stopped in front of. Okay, fine. We sat. And then he started talking. Not saying anything weird at first... and then, he started to get a little mushy. I just kind of looked at him, and all I could say was, "Chris?" He kept talking. And getting mushier. And I just kept saying, "Chris? Chris? CHRIS?!" Before I knew it, he was down on one knee. I threw my arms around him (without actually answering) and just started screaming and crying. I realized I hadn't told him anything and yelled, "YESSSS!" Then we walked back to the carriage, where our little driver was so proud of herself for helping him pull that little trick off. We rode back to the restaurant, with the driver telling everyone on the street, "THEY JUST GOT ENGAGED!" So that was fun. Lotsa people cheering and clapping for us. I was on cloud nine. Then we got back to the restaurant. Still more surprises. We were still a tad early, so we waited outside, and I was dying to call family and friends, but Chris wanted to just "enjoy the moment just the 2 of us" for a bit. Kay. Sure. Whatever. Works for me! I didn't care about ANYTHING. ELSE. We finally walked in, and the hostess said our table was being set up and suggested we wait at the bar for just a second. Fiiiiine. As we walked over, I saw someone who looked like my dad... then got closer and realized it WAS my dad... and the rest of my family, Chris' family, my grandmother, and our best friend growing up (who wound up being our best man).

We all celebrated with a little engagement party at the restaurant. It was truly the most perfect night of my life.

Little memento from the carriage ride :)
 

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Mmm, probably depends on the situation and what's going on. I'll combine the scenarios and say he's probably a flowers, strawberries, and champagne kind of guy. :)

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
Like #8, that depends. I usually love nothing more than to spend time with my honey at home, making dinner together and watching a movie. Buttttt sometimes I like little romantic surprises and would totally go for a sunset dinner on the beach. :)

Mauritius

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
Travel more and/or live in another country. Temporarily, though. I wouldn't want to live away from our families for toooooo long. ;) The last *big* trips Chris and I took together were in 2008 (when Chris came with my family to go visit my dad's side of the fam, who live in Mauritius- an exotic island off the coast of Madagascar) and 2011 (our honeymoon, duhhh).

Mauritius

Mauritius

Honeymoon :)

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.
Not sure yet. We haven't really talked about it, and hubby's been swamped at work, so it may be more of a low-key evening. I have a feeling I'll end up working my magic and planning a little something for him, given how busy/stressed he's been. :)

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day?
Nope. We just moved into our new house and are still putting so much (money) into that, so we're taking it easy on the spending for a little while. Plus, I'd rather save up for a little trip or something we may take this summer!

13. Give us one piece of advice for keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Oh, gosh... there are lots of things you need to keep a relationship strong! I think one big thing (other than r-e-s-p-e-c-t) is not to sweat the small stuff. Life's too short. Enjoy each and every moment together because time will go by soooo fast, and you never know how many more moments you'll get!

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Whatcha waiting for? Head on over, say "hi" to Becky, and link up! :)

Makeover Schmakeover

I'd like to just start off by saying that HTML and "coding" and using CSS and all that stuff is a huuuuge pain in my arse! MAJOR props to everyone out there who makes/designs blogs and webpages because I just don't think I could do it. (Obvi, which is why I don't. And they do.) But seriously, I get in these little moods where I decide to make my blog look cool and cute and super snazzy, and then I end up spending hours upon hours trying to figure everything out and making things look perfect (such a curse) only to find out that some code didn't work, and things are more screwed up than they were to begin with. 

It's exhausting. And makes me want to pour myself a glass of wine. At 10:00 a.m. While I'm hopped up on cold/flu medicine. No bueno.

In any case, what you see is what I've done so far. Probably not finished. Probably going to attempt to work some more at it. But, I'm okay with what I've got (for now). Hope you like it! And anyone who's HTML-savvy and wants to help a sista out, feel free to leave me a comment letting me know. I'll love you forever! :)

WILW

I am LOOOOOOVING that it's the FIRST day of FEBRUARY! I love this month. It's the month of L-O-V-E. And my birth month. And the shortest month of the year, which I think is cool. And unique. 

2011 birthday fun; wonder what's in store for 2012?! :)

I am LOOOOOOVING that my mama and sissy brought me some soup and Jamba Juice since I'm still stuck at home sick. :( (That's something I'm, by the way, NOT loving. Hmph.) 

I am LOOOOOOVING that I finally bit the bullet and "joined" Pinterest. Even though I was basically a member beforehand anyway. You see, I have this awful habit of going to some websites (i.e., Pinterest, Blogger, Twitter), scoping things out, stalking following my friends and/or other people I know to see what they do and how things work, visiting said websites fairly frequently, but then REFUSING to "join" or "give in to the trend." Can you say LAME with a capital L?! I know, I call BS on myself. I don't know why I do it, really... especially because I always end up giving in and joining and then basically becoming obsessed with the sites anyway. {sigh} Whatever. Point is, I gave in. I get a little credit for that, huh? :/

I am LOOOOOOVING that I've been keeping up with workouts and eating healthily (minus this week). Every year, at the start of the year, I say (like everybody else) how I'm so sick of feeling so blah and how I wanna get in better shape and eat healthy and all that. Well... we all know how that goes, don't we? But, I'm pleased to say this year that I've really stuck with things, and I like it. I think the biggest change is that I'm not FORCING myself to work out like crazy every single day or follow some strict diet; I'm just exercising to the point of feeling good and putting into my body what makes me FEEL healthier. Lifestyle changes. No complaints. I'm itching to get back into gear once my head stops feeling like it's gonna explode.

I am LOOOOOOVING that I get to spend a little extra time with my babies this week, even though I've been ridonculously ill. But they tend to help me feel a little better. How could you not when you look at their sweet faces?!

And, as ALWAYS, I am LOOOOOOVING that sweet ol' hubby of mine. He's been giving me lots of extra TLC this week since I've been sick, and I appreciate him more than he'll ever know!

What are you LOVING today? Head on over to Jamie's blog, link up, and share!

Xoxo,

H