I Don't Even Know My Last Name

The other day, my co-workers and I were discussing our maiden names. One of the ladies here asked what mine had been. I looked at her kind of shocked and made some smart-ass comment about her being crazy, acting like she doesn't know. She just stared at me.  Then everything clicked into place and the light bulb came on! She didn't know me then - she's never known me as anything other than Mr. J's Wife.

In all honesty, that sort of caught me off guard. I know we aren't defined by our names but it is weird to think that people I meet NOW, will only know me as Mrs. J....

I guess it shouldn't have shocked me like it did or caused me to pause a moment. The reality of it is, I don't really recall my life when J wasn't in it. Yes I know I had a life and everything and everyone led me to him but it seems like a distant memory. We have done so much together in the last 4.5 years that most of the memories I recall or stories that are told are more recent; pertaining to US.

When I do think about that time [so long ago ;)] I don't think about the boys I dated or the friends I had, I recall all my family time.
J and I sometimes joke that there were no others before him just as there were no other girls before me.  It is silly but it makes us laugh a lot. Sometimes I want to talk about different experiences we both had with other girlfriends/boyfriends from the past. Those experiences we had, molded us for this relationship - why not talk about them?  Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want to know all the romantic details about it all, I just like to hear the stories...I REALLY like to hear the crazy ones. Hearing about all the crazy he has encountered is like a twisted form of positive reinforcement that I am super awesome -- which I know I am but we all like to hear how awesome we are from our significant other.

 

Today we celebrate our SECOND wedding anniversary. So much has changed for us in the last two years.  When we said "I do", The Husband wasn't working for anyone but himself; he worked full time for his own company. In January of last year, he decided we needed more stable income and he got a job working for someone else. It has come with its own set of adjustments but him taking on this new role allowed us to save for a down payment and buy our house in October.

 

I have learned so much about myself and our relationship in the past two years.

-I have learned that just because someone tells you never to go to bed angry/mad, doesn't mean you have to stay up all night resolving an issue. We have found that we can sometimes agree to disagree and not go to sleep mad at one another.  We have worked out disagreements the next morning when we aren't feeling so emotional and can be more objective to the situation. 

-I have learned to keep my mouth shut...this is a big deal for me. I generally speak before I process what is being said.  This has gotten a lot of feelings hurt and definitely gotten me into trouble. 

-I have learned how to think about what is best for the TWO of us, instead of him being an after thought. 

-I have learned that our relationship is stronger when we pray together.

-I have learned that laughing and being silly is so very important. We chase each other around the house and end up in bed tickling and giggling.  This has led to some of our very best conversations. 

-I have learned that I require a TON of attention. It is a little sad but I need a lot of attention; that is my high maintenance quality. I don't need things, I just need snuggles and cuddles, hugs and kisses. 

-I have learned that we enjoy dinner more sitting side by side; I enjoy sitting across from him to look at him and all his handsome, but I like holding hands, sneaking small kisses on the cheek or forehead, feeling his hand on my knee, having his arm around me. Yes - we are the couple who sit side by side while dining out =) 

There is so much left to learn. There are so many things in store for our future.

Our First Anniversary 

In case you haven't looked before, check out the wedding tab OR you can check out the following links:

Getting Ready

Wedding Party

Ceremony

Formals/Bride & Groom

Reception

Cake

Toasts

Special Dances

Garter and Bouquet Toss

Dancing

Tonight we will be sharing a romantic dinner of The Husband's choice. I asked him to pick and place and make reservations and not to tell me. I love surprises =) Happy Tuesday y'all!!

DIY Strawberry Fest 2012

So every year for the last 4 years, The Husband and I have gone to the Strawberry Festival. We always have a wonderful time and I LOVE going. Well.....We wanted to get everyone together to go. They were all in but then we couldn't all decide on a day we wanted/could go. SOOOO I suggested we DIY it in town! It was going to be expensive to actually be at the Festival, like it is every year. We are getting ready to celebrate our 2nd anniversary - WOW! I KNOW! I promise, after tomorrow...well Wednesday...you'll stop hearing about it for a year =)

SO we agreed to have it at my parent's house Saturday afternoon. I went shopping with my good friend Jess beforehand - found a CUTE outfit for work and another for mine and The Husband's date tomorrow. SO EXCITED!  We had to stop for Krispy Kreme doughnuts...2 dozen to be exact. Let me just tell you that it is SO difficult to NOT eat one when the smell is filling your car...so I had one =) YUM! Oh so good AND they were a little warm still...it melted in my mouth; for real!

Jess and I stopped at my house to meet up with The Husband and we made a sign for the 'Festival'. It was SO cute! So here we go...picture time!

 

My mom made HOMEMADE strawberry crepes 

That is homemade whipped filling in there y'all! DELICIOUS!!! Once she set them on the counter, we swarmed the plate...that is why the plate is less than half full. Seriously it was PILED high and we devoured them.

We also did chocolate covered strawberries. The absolute EASIEST way to dip anything in chocolate is to get the candy melts from Michael's/Joann's/Wal Mart - seriously SO easy. You just stick those bad boys in a bowl and microwave. SO SIMPLE and you don't have to add anything to them!

 

and of COURSE we HAD to have Krispy Kreme burgers...

 

Everyone was a really good sport about these. I think they are just fabulous! You have to get past the doughnut idea though. I talked everyone into trying at LEAST a bite...some even ate most of the burger...I ate most of mine and was very happy =)

we also had Strawberry Shortcake, a Strawberry Trifle, and Strawberry Daiquiris

We also had some Peach Bellini but didn't catch a picture. 

Now you may be wondering about the mini liquor bottle with the wannabe sombrero...That is a Limon Rum that my dad brought back from Puerto Rico to have us try. No one really loved it but that mini hat was a lot of fun to play with =) 

We had so much fun - my parents, my sis and her husband, our friend Jess, and my mom's co-worker with her two daughters. 

  

We wrapped up the weekend with lounging about yesterday...it rained all day yesterday. That was totally fine with me; it kept us home and relaxing which we definitely needed =)

How was your weekend?
Would you try a Krispy Kreme Burger??

Friday Confessions

I confess

I loathe putting clothes away.
I don't mind switching loads and cleaning it at taking it to the bedroom.
when it comes to physically putting the clothes away, I would rather just leave them hanging over the chair in our bedroom.
I have devised a new system - I am putting all the empty hangers in the laundry room.
That way, when I am pulling stuff out of the dryer, I can immediately put them on hangers.
We'll see how that goes.

I confess

When I am hanging laundry, I will leave some of my shirts inside out.
I usually only do this if the laundry is still warm from the dryer and I am warm from cleaning.

I confess

I feel like the only person on the planet who didn't like Bridesmaids
I don't know if it was the general storyline was absurd.
Maybe it was all the hype leading up to me seeing it.
Maybe it was the fact that it was really awkward - awkward scenes aren't funny to me; they ACTUALLY make me uncomfortable.
I didn't think it was funny.

I confess

Sometimes when I eat, I feel like a chipmunk.
I find that I chew with food on both sides of my mouth and I SWEAR I look like this:

I probably don't but I have to really make a conscious effort NOT to do that lol

I confess

I am really looking forward to this weekend and next Tuesday when The Husband and I celebrate our SECOND WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!! - seriously, where has the time gone!

What are your confessions?
HAPPY FRIDAY!

DIY Photo Canvas

I LOVE LOVE LOVE photo canvases...I do NOT love love love the prices! Nor do I enjoy waiting for them to be delivered. As I have discussed before - I am an instant gratification kinda girl.  So when we moved into our house I knew that I wanted to hang pictures from weddings we had been in or attended in the time we have been together. So far we are at 8 plus ours. I thought it would be really neat to figure out a way to do canvas prints for these photos. But like I said, those things are NOT cheap.

I have seen various tutorials and different variations of creating your own photo canvas. I decided to try out this one - tissue paper to canvas.

I have to admit - I was a little intimidated by this project. So I made my way to Hobby Lobby and I saw a 2 pack of 8X10 canvases for $3.99! AND I had a 40% off coupon. Ok that was totally going to be worth a go ESPECIALLY since tissue paper costs nothing! Seriously - 10 sheets cost me $0.99!! So at this point I had spent a total of $5 for 2 canvases and 10 sheets of tissue paper which will make at LEAST 20 canvases....assuming I can figure this out and I like the way it looks.

First I cut the tissue paper to be bigger than a normal size sheet of printer paper and taped the tissue paper to the printer paper.

Note: I used masking tape...it was all I had and it worked quite nicely =)

My first attempt, I loaded it into the back for the manual feeder - like I normally would when printing pictures. This is a BIG no-no! it crumpled up the tissue paper and I had to emergency stop the job! DEFINITELY use the normal feeder try -  but be sure you know which side it will print on so you have the tissue paper facing the right direction.

 

PRINT!

Please ignore that I needed to dust when this picture was taken...I'm pretty sure the printer itself hadn't been dusted since the old house! This has been remedied and NO JUDGING lol
On to making the canvas - remove the tissue paper from the printer paper...I trimmed the edges ever so slightly with my rotary cutter.

Now - I tried a couple different methods to this next step. I found that the BEST way to apply the tissue paper to the canvas without creating lines in the photo, is to mod podge the ENTIRE canvas before adhering the tissue paper to it. Make sure it isn't too wet when you place the tissue paper on it or the tissue paper will tear and you have to start all over and possibly lose a canvas =/ this is what happened on my first attempt.

I am really happy with the way they turned out!

I did three different styles -

Close-up of The Husband and I from our wedding

 

a photo of the 6 of us from my sister's wedding

 

a huge family picture from my cousin's wedding last May

 

Here is what I noticed - the close up is AWESOME! I love it!! The further out you are, the more detail you lose. I don't know if it is because the tissue paper is so thin and you lose some of the dimension? The closer shots, definitely show a lot of detail and you don't lose a whole lot of depth in the image.

Something else to note - they will probably turn out better in black and white or at least, with less saturation. The next one I try is going to be from our wedding and will be a black and white (or sepia) shot. I will let you know how that turns out next time I can get to Hobby Lobby for more canvases...I used the 4 I had =( and had a casualty learning this project lol!

Do you like the look of photo canvases?
Have you tried to DIY? If yes, what was your method?

So Much To Love

First and foremost - happy Wednesday! We are half way through the week! YAY! Are you excited?! Me too!!!!

I'm LOVING my wonderful swap partner - Aubrey -- go check out her blog. In case you aren't familiar, the swap is for My Favorite Things - I sent HER some of MY favorite things and she did the same for me. Check out last night's post on what she sent me - LOVE all of it! WOOO!

I am Loving Baby Lips by maybelline - it was in my swap package....

Seriously - this stuff is amazing! It is peppermint SCENTED but has no taste =) I smile not for me, but for The Husband. He prefers no taste - actually he prefers none at all lol.

I'm Loving my new hair dryer!  My parents bought me one for my birthday - which isn't for another month - but they love love love me =) and spoil me maybe a little =) Anyhow - I did a lot of research and picked:

It is AMAZING! It blows so hard! there are 2 settings and 3 heat settings! I love it and the flat attachments are pretty sweet =) I love it and it doesn't tangle my hair AND my hair dries in like 8 minutes! WOO! AND it is sparkly!

I'm Loving the ideas that I am coming up with for my birthday. Yes it is a month away but it is never to early to start brainstorming and coming up with an invitation =) MUST remember to put my name on the invitations this year lol =)

I'm loving that at the end of March, The Husband and I decided to take some time off of work and have a 4 day weekend together!  which brings me to my next love...

I'm Loving (and I'm shocked) and that NEXT week we will celebrate our SECOND anniversary!

I'm Loving that we are doing Strawberry Fest 2012 this weekend!

I'm loving my amazing husband; I love him more and more each day. He is so good to me and such an amazing man.

What are you loving?
Don't forget to link up here!

Favorite Things Swap

Y'all - I participated in My Favorite Things swap hosted by Mamarazzi! 




I loved that she hand picked partners instead of doing it randomly. I have really enjoyed getting to know my swap partner - Aubrey - check out her super cute blog High Heeled Love.

I got home after a long day at work on Monday and found a VERY happy package on my dining room table - no my postman doesn't come inside, The Husband beat me home =)

EEEEEE!!! Look at the INSIDE - I was so so excited!

Here are my goods!

 

OK so before I give y'all a break down - let me just tell you, as I was pulling each item out and unwrapping them, I felt like I had shopped for me! This was so so much fun! In fact, it was so much fun that every other month, The Husband and I will be doing a small swap together with different themes...more to come on that later =)

Now - for the beak down of goods!

1 - insulated grocery/beach/lunch tote (this is going to be so so handy - I already have it in my car!)
2 - Twilight Woods Bath & Body Works Shower Gel (I have to finish off my Country Chic first lol)
3 - Maybelline Baby Lips lip protection/balm/spf (I'm already using the crap out of this! love love LOVE!)
4 - Owl mug (LOVING the owl trend right now!)
5 - World Market Coffee (The Husband tried the coffee this morning and said it is really yummy!)
6 - Sea Salt Bagel Crisps (YUM! I barely got everything set up for a picture before The Husband and I dug into those!)
7 - TAZO Relaxing Herbal Tea (can't wait to try!)
8 - Laughing Cow Creamy Swiss cheese triangles ( I LOVE this stuff - we have several flavors and I JUST ran out of the creamy swiss!)
9 - Hershey's dark chocolate kisses (I'm not usually a fan of dark chocolate but these are SO creamy and yummy! Perfect after meal chocolate)
10 - Real Simple and Women's Health magazines, and a special note on SUPER CUTE stationary from Aubrey

Using the Baby Lips by Maybelline

If THIS is not THE cutest mug ever, I don't know what is!

Thank you Mamarazzi for hosting the swap and thank you Aubrey for being an amazing swap partner! =)

This Means War

You will be delighted to know that this post title has nothing to do with my life or potential drama in it! Woo HOO!!! I am talking about the movie.

After the chili cook off on Saturday, we headed to the movies. First of all, I just want to say that AMC ticket prices are INSANE! Thankfully we had gift cards and I always ALWAYS smuggle snacks in my purse.



 I absolutely 100% LOVE Reese Witherspoon. I think she is so talented oh and how about she is gorgeous! Do I hear girl crush?! I watched Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama on Sunday because I think she is amazing. ESPECIALLY in Legally Blonde- the role she almost turned down! (I know these aren't her very best movies - but they are the ones I own lol)

The men in this movie were super fun to look at and they acted well. Don't roll your eyes - sometimes people are cast in a movie for their look but they can't act a lick! There are a handful of movies that I feel are like this but I won't hate on them =) Maybe I just don't get it =)

Overall - I would most certainly give this movie an A! It was funny, romantic, had some action, had some crazy...it ran the gamut! Seriously - something in this film for everyone =) ....except maybe the kiddies! =)
The story line was fun, albeit a tiny predictable, but come on! It was a rom-com with some action built in...there is USUALLY a little element of predictability. That just goes with the territory.

I recommend this movie hands down - it was a great date night film! Yes - The Husband also found it extremely entertaining.

In other news - I received my Favorite Things Swap package! I'll be posting about it tonight when I get home =)

Have you seen any movies lately?
Do you warn people about bad movies?