weekend fun

First of all, I'll start out with apologizing to you guys for being m.i.a. for a while, and that my posts have been so few and far between. This week has been nutso and the next few are going to be at least as busy, but after that, hopefully, I should only have work to keep me supper busy, instead of work and a billion other thing.

This weekend has been a lot of fun! Two of Brandon's friends came all the way from Idaho to visit us for a week, so we've been having fun with them. It's been nice seeing some familiar faces.

Saturday night we made semi-homemade pizzas and some homemade pumpkin cheesecake made by yours truly. It was soo good, that my pants didn't even complain when I could barely zip them up once I was done eating. Haha. My friend Ashley introduced me to this cheesecake recipe a while back, and that is one more reason why I love her. (if you feed me or share some awesome recipes with me, I will love you too. haha).

This picture is really out of focus because I suck at taking pictures... But trust me, it was delicious!
Sunday we went to six flags and let me tell you, I think I'm getting old! I don't have nearly as much fun in those roller-coasters as I used to. Each year it just gets worse and worse... I used to love them, and now I feel nauseous and have a terrible headache after every. single. ride.

But it was still fun to just get out of the house.
And I really should have taken some pictures before we got on any of the rides, because just after the first one, my hair looked awful. But at least the boys had lots of fun!

I hope all of you had an amazing weekend. Happy Monday!

One more thing I love about fall

Finally, I'm done with work for this week! Finally, I can sit on the couch and catch up on my tv shows with a pint of Starbucks Caramel Macchiato ice cream in my hand, which may very well be finished by the time I'm done writing this post. This stuff is just as addicting as the coffee they sell. Finally, I have a second to count some more reasons why I love fall sooo very much! I love fall because it has so many yummy and healthy fruits that I love to eat...

Like pumpkin.. Yep, pumpkin is technically a fruit, and a delicious one, as you can see..

.... and grapes

... and apples...

...lots
...and lots of apples!
I sure am getting my source of fruits this fall! How about you?

Weekend Recap

This was a supper nice and relaxing weekend which I was in a dying need of. On Saturday, after coming back from church, I pretty much slept the entire day! It felt sooo good to get some sleep! Sunday, we went shopping since two of Brandon's best friends are coming to visit us for a week all the way from Idaho! I'm so glad that I get to see some familiar faces, even though I'm jealous that I don't get to see any of my friends!
Our initial plan was to go to a pumpkin patch and have some fun finding some pumpkins. However, we didn't know where we could find a pumpkin patch, and the only one Brandon found was on the other side of town. Therefore, instead, we found ourselves in wall-mart, and somewhere between the groceries and produce aisle, we were able to find a few pumpkins. I should add though, that I thought it was ridiculous that they were selling them per pound! This is really new to me! I've never seen pumpkins being sold by pound!
On our way home
So here is my lazy attempt at decorating our fireplace. It felt really cozy though as we turned off the lights and lit up another cider scented/pumpkin candle which filled the room with the sent of fall.
Next we snuggled on the couch, with some hot yummy, super huge cups of apple cider in our hands, and watched "Sleepless in Seattle." It was my first time seeing it, and I loved it! I know, you guys are probably all surprized that I've never seen it before, but my excuse is that I'm a foreigner (it seems to work pretty well, so I use it quite often. haha). So this was our weekend in a nutshell.

Next, I would like to thank the very gorgeous, talented, and funny Aubrey for the "Superior Scribbler Award." She has an amazing blog, and I am privileged to know that she thinks I'm a superior "scribbler." Rules include passing this along to 5 bloggers...Link to them...link to who gave it to you, and enjoy!

Here are five awesome blogs I shall pass this to, and I hope it makes their day, just as it made mine:

1. Jax from "The Roaring Twenties"
2. Callie from "Through clouded glass"
3. Katie from "Loves of Life"
4. Jessica from "Called to serve"
5. Susan from "Musings of a Wanderer"
   

Now I'm going to bed, since I have to work tonight and for the next three night in a row! Booo! Hope you guys have a lovely Monday!

I'm bringing sexy back....

If I were to choose my favorite fashion era, the 50s and 60s would most definiteness be my top two choices. The women had such breathtaking poise and elegance. I love everything about them. From their makeup, to their hair, to their well chosen and alluring outfits, they were the definition of true perfection. I am certain that not all were this way, but the picture of them painted in my mind is flawless, and I prefer to keep it that way.

Sofia Loren

Jackie Kennedy

And this is my version of a "modernized" sixties look. What's your favorite fashion era?

Scarf swap joy

It's only 8am right now, and I just got done working my second 12hr night shift this week. One more, and I'm done for the week. I'm tired beyond belief, really late on reading and commenting on all your awesome blogs, and wish it was Thursday already soooo badly!!!! Anyhow... this post is supposed to be a happy one, so I'll stop complaining.

Katie hosted this wonderful scarf swap, and of course I HAD to be a part of it, along with a whole bunch of other amazing gals. We got partnered up, and I was really surprised to find out that Kristin was my partner, since we were classmates in nursing school for 4yrs, therefore, know each other in real life! I picked a scarf for her, and she picked this gorgeous thing for me! I LOVE green soo much, so I was supper excited when I opened the package and found this pretty thing looking back at me! It is so fall-happy, and I love matching it up with lots of different thing! Thank you Kristin! I really do love it! So here are some pictures, so all of you can admire my new scarf, too!

I even took it out to Starbucks the first night!

Hope you guys are all having a fabulous week, and I promise I'll get back to reading all your blogs, as soon as I get some sleep!

You're beautiful...even when your legs are not shaved

Do you think that if we would see signs like this one more often we would love ourselves more? Do you think that we would embrace our inner beauties and forget about the extra pounds around the waist? Do you think that instead we would love those small or deep wrinkles around our eyes, our freckled faces, or the sudden gray hairs that may have snuck in on us one of those days when we were just not looking? Maybe. Maybe I wouldn’t compulsively pinch my “love-handles” every single night in front of a mirror that is, most likely, overly exhausted of reliving the same dejavu each day; Maybe.

Do you think that if we would see signs like this one more often we would judge less? Do you think the young girls in our societies would see themselves as beautiful creatures made perfect in His image? Maybe. Maybe it would help them ignore the stereotypical, plastic-world media that expects them to fit in a box. Maybe they would realize that they are circles, triangles and possibly even the more rare hexagon, and that no matter how hard anyone tried they just couldn’t be squeezed to fit in a squared box. And that would be ok with them. They would love their unique and individual shapes and forms, and the colors and sizes they come in. Maybe they would realize that brave hearts, and carrying souls, are so much more beautiful than a supermodel’s perfect body. Maybe signs like this would make her see that it’s her thin lips that give her that radiant smile, and if she had Angelina’s, it just wouldn’t melt everyone’s heart the same way. Maybe. Maybe she would realize that the freckles she dreads so much, have been carefully placed there one by one for a purpose; maybe she would realize that it’s those freckles that give her face that unique welcoming look that everyone loves to see. Maybe.

Maybe seeing signs like this would help us, as well as the younger women in our society, to embrace our individualistic, inimitable, corky personalities, and make us fall in love with our true selves, starting inside-out. But more than signs, it’s people that make those around us see how beautiful, unique, and irreplaceable we really are. It’s people like you and me. I may not be completely sure that signs may make a difference, but I am certain that you and I are able to make a significant impact on someone’s life each day. My challenge to you is to love yourself even when you’re legs are not shaved, your hair is dry and brittle, and your scale doesn’t tell you what you want to see. And as you love yourself, reach out and touch someone else’s life by telling them how truly beautiful they are.

Be peaceful. Be lovely. Be corky. Be yourself. Be beautiful… from inside out.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time" Ecclesiastes 3:11

Have a cup of humor with that award

It's finally Friday! So very excited that the weekend is here, even though it means that I have a million thing to do, and a supper messy house to clean. Still, it's all real good in the hood 'cause I don't have to work and I love weekends! And thank you guys soo much for your encouraging words from my last post! You ladies are FANTABULOUS! You probably wouldn't feel as sorry for me if I told you that I brought it all on myself when I chose that crazy night schedule: IDIOT! I mean, I actually had the choice in the beginning of working nights or days, and I only saw the "four dollars an hour more if you work nights" part of the agreement. And since we were kind of real broke at the time, I said "I'll do it". So here I am, taking one for the team and whining about it nonstop. Ok, I'm over it! I promise! .... at least for this week...

Anyhow........ As I was entertaining myself this morning, I came across this IKEA commercial and it made me giggle, so I though I should share it with you too, lovelies... By the way, I LOVE IKEA! It's one of my favorite places, and by that I mean I tend to waste hours and hours of my time (especially with my mommy) and carelessly give them all my money like it wouldn't matter because I have more growing in that backyard tree... you know which one I'm talking about. Good think it doesn't happen often (only bc I don't have one around me)!

And now to the more important part. The supper gorgeous Jax from "The Roaring Twenties" just told me that my my blog is "Over the top" with an award! I'm as excited as a woman in a shoe store... with unlimited selections... and 80% discounts!!! Jax you made my morning! Thank you thank you! So have I mentioned that beside being beautiful, this lady has an exquisite taste for style and a very fabulous blog? Well, she does! So you guys should definitely check her blog out! Now it's my turn to pass this lovely award on to some other beautiful ladies!

So here are six lovely ladies that I shall pass this to:

1. Paige at Live, Love, Laugh
2. Lidiya at Happily Married
3. Courtney at Starting Out
4. Amy at Kelinda.Kelinda
5. Jane at Wishful Thinking
6. Annie at Chapters of our life

All of you ladies are beautiful! Happy friday!

Simple pleasures

I never thought that two days of work would be enough to make me miss soo very many things about my pre peaceful (mostly unproductive) life. I started working my 12 hr night shifts (7pm-7am) this monday, and this is day three. I pretty much have to sleep the entire day in order to be awake and not kill anyone (accidentally, or on purpose) at night. So far I've been good, and all my patients are still alive! But here are a few things that I never knew I would miss or appreciate so much until now:

1. I miss seeing the light of day, and the sunshine outside, even though according to everyone else who is actually awake during the day, I haven't missed much because it's been raining a lot. Still, I miss it.
2. Not getting all my days confused. I start work on one day, and leave the next: "So today is Monday, wait no, now it's Tuesday!"
3. I miss drinking my coffee in the morning instead of at 6pm in order to keep me awake.
4. I miss going to sleep with my hubby and falling asleep next to him.
5. My favorite part of the day now it's when I come home around 8 and after taking a quick shower to wash all the blood, urine, and other bodily secretions along with multiple diseases off of me, I get to cuddle next to my sweet man and have him hold me for 1 hr before he has to go to work.
6. And finally, I really miss reading all your blogs! I have lots and lots of catching up to do, so I shall do that now with some ice-cream in one hand and some of those chocolate covered strawberries in the other!

Two year anniversary baby!

Well, it's not really our two year anniversary...it's our two year and two months anniversary! Still, I thought it would be fun to share with you lovely ladies, ten of my most favorite moments of our wedding day.

Our supper yummy chocolate-raspberry wedding cake! Loved it oh sooo much!


The handsome boys! The one in the middle belongs to me now and forever more, til death do as part! AKA I own his behind for eternity and beyond!!!! I joke, I joke!

The super gorgeous ladies and I
My parents walking me down the aisle. I just saw HIM!
I LOVED our wedding ceremony!!! It was soo very beautiful!

The Kiss


One of our last pictures before it started raining cats and dogs


Getting ready... One of my last pictures as a single lady
So I debated for a long time if I should or should not share this embarrassing moment with y'all. Well, I hope you don't laugh too hard at my poor singing, and if you do, I'm glad I made you laugh at least. This was a surprise for my husband; he had no idea it was happening and he loved it. I had supper amazing bridesmaids that were willing to be silly with me, and I am ever so thankful. (Make sure you pause my other music, or it will be a hot mess!)



Side note: When I'm kissing him in the video, it's because I could not sing that high and didn't know what else to do with myself! Haha

So grateful for weekends...

This weekend was so busy but sooo much fun! Weekends are pretty much the only time Brandon and I get to spend any time together, so we try to spend as much time together as possible. Since we knew it was supposed to rain the entire next week, we decided to go and visit the Botanical Gardens on Saturday.

It was sooo beautiful there, and most of the sights are free, so it made for a really good, fun walk.

They have a big rose garden and it was so awesome, peaceful, and humbling, to admire all the beautiful nature that God has created just for us to enjoy.
So we snapped a few pictures along the way, and had about a 40 minute peaceful walk...
... before this crazy rain made us run for cover. It felt like the flood from Noah's time was coming our way again! So needless to say, we ended up going home way before we planed. Still, the little time we had, was very well spent, and most definitely greatly enjoyed.
Today we got one of our friends married, and I snapped a quick picture with the beautiful couple while Brandon was stuffing his face with food and laughing with his family...
...but here are the two of us cheesing hard right after the wedding!
After the wedding I really wanted to find a Russian store, which was closed, so we stopped by an arabic restaurant that we found on our way. Middle-eastern food is one of my favorite foods EVER!!! This is chicken shawarma, rice, and the best garlic paste ever!!!
And this is fattoush, which is an Arabic salad, also one of my favorite salads in the whole wide world! Needless to say, this food was supper-trooper amazing, and totally hit the spot!
To make this dinner even more perfect, I had to have some desert too. So I just got some sugar from my hubby! Now both my stomach and my soul are satisfied!
I am soo thankful for this weekend and can't wait for the next one to come around!

Happy Sunday ya'll!

" Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures for ever." PS 107:1