What I Love About Blogging....

What I love about Blogging -

-I love that I have so many friends across the United States through all of my blog friendships

-I love that I can connect with girls and even form friendships with people that I might not normally form relationships with in everyday life.

-I love that when someone is in need of prayer for whatever reason the blog world bands together to get the word out to be praying for this person

-I love it that I can always find amazing recipes throughout the blog world. They are endless

-I love that so many different types of girls come together in the blog world. From the stylish to the simple. From the working girls to the stay at home moms. From the believers to those who are a bit skeptical about the whole "religious" thing. Most of the time those differences don't get in the way of us reading each other's blogs and forming true friendships

-I love that when you find out someone is a blogger you get a little excited inside like they are apart of a secret society with you.

-I love that when I feel like nobody in my everyday life understands me I can create a blog post venting my feelings and instantly I am surrounded by friends who either relate, or just have encouraging words for me.

-I love how even though we all have many different titles in our life we all share the title "blogger"

-I love that I can post something as mundane as "what should I do to my hair?" and you all share your honest opinion.

Just a thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my weird rants, leave a comment, send me emails, or even just stop by.

I have made so many friendships through this little ole blog and I am grateful for all of them!

This is Not Toothpaste

Do you ever have times in your life, where there isn't a lot going on but life seems fast-paced and stressful?

That's how I am right now, I really don't have a lot going on but I have felt very "high strung."

I blame part of this on the February Funk and the other part on my car being a mess.

When my car is a mess I feel like my whole life is stressful. I have no idea what the correlation between the two is and I am well aware that I am the cause behind my car being a mess but it still stresses me out.

Today I stepped into my car and instantly the vision of 4 diet coke cans, numerous plastic bottles of water, 4 winter coats, a pair of jeans, a christmas cookie platter, a bag of chocolate chips, a HUGE home decoration thing that I need to take back to the store and black tennis shoes nearly caused me to bust into tears.

And then I think how I want to clean it, but if I clean it I would have to stand in the cold and then I get even more stressed out thinking about the cold weather. My dislike for cold weather is deep and wide.

However my cause for nearly bursting into tears might have had something to do with the fact that I had a close call to almost poisoning myself this morning.

This morning I reached into my bathroom drawer, pulled out my toothpaste and squeezed it onto my toothbrush.

I thought it came out slower and thicker than normal which I seemed a little strange.

As I was about to start brushing my teeth I decided to look at the label on the toothpaste.

I like to call that moment in time, an intervention from the Lord above.

The toothpaste I was about to put into my mouth and on my teeth was not toothpaste, nor was it toothgel. Instead it was a little thing called ATHLETES FOOT CREAM.

And I almost put it into my mouth.

ME, the girl who gets a pain in her wrist and googles it to make sure that its not a flesh eating disease. ME the girl who has an ache in her big toe and wonders if she needs to go to the dr. to make sure it won't fall of. ME the girl who STILL checks the temperature of every meat she has cooked to make sure it won't poison her or the hubs. ME the girl who is basically crazy, almost put Athletes Foot Cream in her mouth.

I was so disgusted. I spent the rest of the day wondering if I had caused myself some sort of bodily harm by almost putting athletes foot cream in my mouth.

The cream didn't even touch me, but yet all day I thought I had symptoms of athletes foot cream poisoning.

So please learn from me. If your toothpaste comes out slow and thick read the label. It may not be toothpaste.

And also, if you are in your car and you get hot and take your coat off, be sure and take it inside with you because before you know it you will have 4 coats piled up and you will get in your car and start crying and people will think something is wrong with you.

And then you will tell them that you almost swallowed athletes foot cream and they will understand.

Linky Love

Whenever I switched to my new blog layout I erased all of my links on the left so I could start over fresh and add all of the blogs I love to read.

And then I never did it.

This is sadly the story for many things in my life. Slowly but surely I am taking care of the one task at a time.

First I started with my name change, now it is time to conquer the link list.

I don't have it completed yet but the other day my friend Becca shared a list of links on her blog of posts that really touched her that week. Because Becca is completely awesome I am going to copy her. She really is awesome you should go to her blog and tell her so.

So here are a couple of posts that I wanted to share with you. Check them out.
You need to read this post, for no other reason than it made me smile and maybe even tear up a bit. I wonder if I would have the guts to ask a stranger if I could simply "take their picture."

My friend Megan really needs your prayers right now. I ask that you would committ to praying for her, her husband and her unborn baby Cohen. You can read what is going on here.

Go to Angie Smith's blog and watch this video. What is it about a group of people signing together for a cause that makes me cry?

With his press conference this week everybody seems to be talking about Tiger Woods. I read this post about this person's opinion this week, I think you should read it too.

Well that was kinda fun, I might do it every week!

Project 365 - Week Seven

First of all thank you for all of your help with my hair.


I really appreciate it!


I think I have my decision of what I am going to do with my hair, but I haven't fully decided yet.


So I will leave you in suspense. Please try to continue on with your life, I know it will be hard.


Anyways it is time for Project Life Tuesday!

This night be my most boring week yet. Luke was out of town at a church conference Tuesday through Friday so basically I sat on the couch every night and tried not to hear any strange noises. Strange noises creep me out when I am alone.


So here we go:


Sunday February 14th:
Valentine's Day was pretty low key. I was craving some cookies and when I realized I didn't have all the ingredients for cookies I made this family recipe (that I'm not allowed to share sorry). These are my fav.





Monday February 15th:
This is the only picture I have from Monday and Luke is going to hate it. It is him leading our small group. I love being married to him.
Tuesday February 16th: Luke went out of town this day and this is basically how I spent the rest of my week. I don't know what I would do without Twitter. All my Twitter friends kept me company when I was alone. (thanks girls, you know who you are). Here is my computer, my phone and my pizza. All I needed that night! :-)
Wednesday February 17th:
Luke hates hot dogs. I love them and could eat them everyday. So I took advantage of my time alone and fixed me some yummy yummy coneys.
Thursday February 18th:
I saw a girl on campus walking her PET SKUNK. Seriously, this thing was on a leash and everything. She said she got it from a breeder and it is de-scented. I of course had to take a picture. It actually looks really pretty. Little unknown fact about me. I love the smell of skunk. Never will you see me holding my nose when we drive by a dead skunk. I think it's great.
Friday February 19th:
Luke was STILL out of town so I spent my night reading this book "Same Kind of Different As Me" If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favor and read it. So good! Luke got home from his conference later that night and I was so glad to see him!
Saturday February 20th:
Luke's parents came into town and we went and watched his 16 year old cousin compete in a swim meet. I actually really enjoyed my time, and his cousin is a great swimmer and came in first in all of his competitions. Pretty cool

So that was my week! Luckily there is no fun-o-meter in the Project 365 cause this one would probably be a zero. But it was a great relaxing week which is always nice!

Hair, Hair, Hair

Ok this is going to be one of the most self-indulgent posts I have ever done, but just roll with it......

I've never been too wild with my hair. I basically just go back and forth between light and dark. Never fully coloring my hair, just doing highlights that make my hair look more light or more dark. I hardly ever do just one all over color (with the expection of one time recently). But for the most party I am either brown with some blonde (light), or just really brown(dark).

There are two groups of people in my life:

• those that HATE my hair light
• and those that HATE my hair dark.
  

I'm a very open person in life, so I think that has something to do with people being open and honest with me about my hair.

I can specifically tell you those in my life that like it dark and those who like it light. They make it known. And honestly it never bothers me. I want people to be honest with me.

So now I come before you, oh my "lovely blogging friends."

I am about to get my hair colored and it is that mid point of the year. It's not really Spring (when I would go light) and it's not really Winter (when I would go dark). Well I know officially what it is, but I don't pay attention to that. I pay attention to what it feels like outside.

So I'm at a cross between whether I should do light, go dark, or stay with what I have now (which to me is a mixture).

See, the most self-centered post EVER!

But like I said, just roll with it....

Or skip it if it is too vain for you. I will understand.

So here we are with light. This is all over blonde highlights (that is my attempt at a technical hair term, meaning I have no idea. It just looks light)

Eww kissing picture. I don't like kissy kissy pics but its a good shot of the hair. I will sacrifice for the blog.
And then we have some dark pics:

This is an old pic of Luke and I from when we were dating, but it shows the dark hair. I have always hated this picture because of the way Luke doesn't have his arm around me.

If we were celebrities this would be in a gossip magazine and it would say:

"How his body language shows that he doesn't really love her"

And all attempts to convince you I am normal just went out the door.

This is basically my natural, just a bit darker.

And you've seen this one:

So what do you think?

Should I go light?

Should I go a bit darker?

Or should I keep it what it is now? Using my hair techincal terms, I refer to it as a "mix".

And I have to say these all aren't the exact same "light" or "dark." They are from different dark, or light season of my life if that makes sense.It probably doesn't....

I know what I like, what do you like?

A Firm Believer

I had the best of intentions to finish my questions from my Q&A post. Which I have stretched out entirely way too long.

But before I started the post to answer the questions, I decided I would do some laundry real quick.

I am now a firm believer that there is no such thing as doing laundry "real quick."

And this is going to be a pretty bold statement but I am also a firm believer that there is nothing worse than a certain jewelry company's commercials on TV.

I'm not going to say the company's name, because that would be mean and some people sat around a table in a creative team meeting and came up with these series of commercials that have the cheesiest lines that I have ever heard in my life.

Wow, that was a long run-on sentence.

But they were probably proud of these commercial and I don't want to hurt their feelings.

Because OBVIOUSLY people who work on the creative team at said jewelry company read my blog.

I'm glad I can keep a clear level-headed mind over here.

Anyways, every time I see these commercials I just bust out laughing. They are funny when they are not supposed to be.

And sometimes that is the best kind of funny.

I felt that it was ironic that several of these commercials came on while I was ironing about 20 of Luke's button up shirts.

Which for the record button up shirts might be the hardest clothing item to iron. EVER.

Which is also why I'm a firm believer in not washing your clothes.

Because then they get all wrinkled, and then you have to iron them, and if the clothing item doesn't get wrinkled then it just feels all weird and takes about a good week before it "feels right" again, and then you start this cycle all over again.

But apparently some people in this world think its gross if you don't wash your clothes. EVEN if you don't stink (which I never do). So my belated new years resolution is to start washing our clothes more, which means ironing more, which means lots of TV watching, which means I see the weirdest commercials ever.

And while ironing these BEAST of shirts that I would have rather ripped up than ironed, this jewelry store commercial came on and I thought, I wonder if that young girl who is so excited to get that diamond and says the most ridiculous thing ever knows that one day she will be standing in an apartment ironing her husband's shirt, worrying that it's not de-wrinkled enough, wondering if people will notice and think she is the worst wife ever because she can't iron a simple button up shirt.

And that my friends is a post coming full circle.

Because I have nothing better to do here is a picture of the beautiful shirts I ironed. I said 20 earlier, I really meant 5

Come Sunday, Luke will maybe wear one of these shirts on stage and I will see him and know that I ironed it for my man, and that will be better than any diamond he could give me.

And we all know that's a lie.

This post has gotten completely out of hand. Goodnight, I need to watch Titanic now. It's safe I know there are no cheesy lines in that movie.

"I will never let go Jack."

Southwestern Taco Pot Pie Recipe

Some of you asked for the Southwestern Taco Pot Pie recipe and I am happy to share it.

These days I get about 98% of my recipes off of fellow blogs and this recipe was no exception.

If one of my friends that I follow in my google reader blogs a recipe that I think looks good I will star it and come back to it later.

Which is exactly what I did over a year ago!!! I got this recipe of of Whitney's blog last year and just never made it.

October of last year to be exact.

I think it really intimidated me and I had to work up to some sort of cooking level I felt comfortable with.

However do not let it intimidate you it is super easy.

She shares the recipe with several pictures here

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (1.25-ounce) package Taco Seasoning Mix
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 (1-pound) package frozen green, red and yellow peppers and onions*
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (11-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup salsa
1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on package
8 ounces (2 cups) shredded cheese recommended: Colby/Monterey blend or Mexican blend

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Brown ground beef in large skillet over medium-high heat for 8 to 10minutes or until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Add taco seasoning mix and water; mix until ground beef is well coated.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat until hot. Add peppers and onions; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and drain excess liquid. Add garlic and onion powders, salt, pepper, corn, and salsa, stir well and set aside.

Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for 2-crust pie using 9-inch glass or metal pie pan.

Combine salsa and corn mixture with ground beef; mix well. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese evenly in bottom of crust-lined pan. Spread 1/2 of beef mixture evenly in pan over cheese, pat down. Sprinkle 3/4 cup cheese in pan and spread evenly with remaining beef mixture, pat down, top with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Top with second crust and flute; slit in several places.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cover edge of crust with strips of foil or a pie crust shield after 15 minutes of baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a drizzle of taco sauce. Also recommended: guacamole, salsa, and diced green chiles.

* If using fresh peppers and onions, use 1 1/2 cups chopped onions and 2 1/2 cups chopped peppers and increase prep time and stove top cooking time.

I didn't really change anything. I used fresh peppers and onion because fresh is always better.

I am planning on doing a cooking post and sharing where I get my favorite recipes pretty soon, I just keep forgetting or think it would be boring.

So I hope you try it!

Does anyone else get intimidated in the kitchen? We all know I have my phobia of cooking meat, which is getting better by the way!

I no longer stand over my meat in the kitchen and cry, because that was just weird.

Project 365 - Week Six

This week for my Project 365 the days of the week are written in PINK in honor Valentine's week.

Don't try and stop this creativity. It is never-ending!

Sunday February 7th:

Luke's birthday!!! My sister and nephew came on Sunday and we hung out and then headed up to the church for the Super Bowl Party. Here is that cute little nephew. We LOVE when he comes to visit us!

Monday February 8th:

My sister spent the night and we woke up to SNOW. Seriously when did I move to Antarctica?!?! It was hard to decide if my sister should go ahead and drive home in the snow or take the risk of getting snowed in. She ended up driving back and I worried about her the WHOLE time. I could hardly get any work done I was so so worried. But she and Maxton made it safe and sound!

Tuesday February 9th:

I am lucky enough to have an uncle who is a professional video person. I really don't know what his title is and I don't want to give him the wrong title but he does video and edits it and probably lots of other stuff that I wouldn't understand. Anyways, he did our wedding video for us FOR FREE and this week he was finishing it up, so I went over to take a look at it and give any suggestions I had. We are SO thankful that he did this for us. Here he id in his editing room.

Wednesday February 10th:

I made this delicious Southwestern Pot Pie. It was amazing!!! I had to take a picture. It was like a pot pie but southwestern style.

Thursday February 11th:

This night I was craving chocolate like nobody's business. I braved the cold weather (which I NEVER do) to go out in search of some chocolate. I bought myself an overpriced heart full of chocolatey delights.

Friday January 12th:

Valentine date night with the hubster. Our sweet treats:

Saturday January 13th:

We went furniture shopping all day and then went to a local high school play. This is a bad picture but I didn't want to pull out my big camera, I was too embarrassed.

Weekly Weekend Update

After I started doing the Project 365 I stopped doing a weekly weekend update every weekend.

I figured doing two recaps every week would become a bit redundant and I am really enjoying the Project 365 so my Weekly Weekend Updates took a little back seat.

However I still want to do them on special weekends, and Valentine's weekend was a pretty special one!

I love Valentine's day and especially Valentine's week but we have never been big into celebrating the day, so we had a Valentine's weekend!

Friday night we went to our favorite restaurant. Here we are headed out the door:

Note to self, if taking pictures in your mirror CLEAN IT FIRST. Thank you.

Before we left we decided to not pick up our phones on our date. No texting, no twitter, no playing Risk (thats for Luke) just us, no phones.

Then we got to restaurant and it was an hour and a half wait. So we went to the car and did this:

To be fair I was reading questions from The Great Date Experiment.

Luke would look up from his game of Risk every now and then to talk with me.

The questions were really fun and a great conversation starter.

After dinner we came home and my sweet hubby gave me my gift. We decided not to do gifts so of course Luke got me a little something. Here is my new mug, with the very pretty card that he gave me and some YUMMY cheesecake.
Saturday we went furniture shopping ALL DAY. I usually love furniture shopping but lately I can't find anything that I like. I have started to become very picky about furniture. I am really attracted to antique type furniture but I don't know if I have the skills to hunt out antiques and then fix them up. I wish I was born with that creative niche in my brain but I wasn't. Bummer.

Saturday night we went to a play at a local high school. A boy from our church had a lead role in the play so we went to support him. The play was My Fair Lady, which I have never seen but now want to rent. It was a very good production, it made me wish that I could sing and act.

I just realized that in the last two paragraphs I have wished that I could:

• find antique furniture
• be more creative
• sing
• act

Apparently I need to break out my new book So Long Insecurity (which is amazing by the way).

Sunday after church we went shopping to buy Luke some new summer clothes. We are going on our cruise soon and Luke needed some new shorts and stuff.

It is SO hard to get that boy to buy clothes. First of all he NEVER wants to spend money, secondly if he does spend money he only wants to buy music "stuff."

I will never pay full price for clothes and Express was having a big sale, so we went equipped with my coupons and got some great deals on some clothes for him. It made him feel better when I showed him how much money we saved. I wish I could learn how to save money grocery shopping like I do with my clothes shopping.

I'm sure there are many people who can relate to having a hubby who does not enjoy shopping.

So that was pretty much our weekend.

I hope you had a FABULOUS Valentine's weekend!!

Christmas is over, Valentine's Day is over, BRING ON THE WARM WEATHER.

Sorry I get passionate about warm weather.

A Praying Wife

Several months ago I wrote a post about not doing my part in marriage and putting the burden on Luke to carry us both spiritually which is unhealthy for us both.

Well since that time I have been working on it, and I started reading the book Power of a Praying Wife.

I haven't finished it yet, but since this is Valentine's weekend I thought it would be a good time to do a "mini review" of the book.

I am more than halfway through the book and I really like it and agree with almost all that is in the book.

Reading this book has really opened my eyes about how important it is to pray for Luke, in every area of his life.

It seems like such a simple thing, and how could something so simple like that slip my mind, but the book made me realize that I don't spend enough time praying for specific areas of his life.

In September I showed you my prayer journal that I "made" basically I cute up some paper and stuck it in the clear pockets, but all creative minds have to start somewhere right?

Well I made a tab for Luke not really knowing what I would do with it.

Then I figured out what I could do with the "Luke" tab.

After each chapter I read in The Power of a Praying Wife I write down an area I can be praying for Luke and then put it behind his tab.

For example, there is a chapter about his mind. So I wrote down specific prayers I can pray about Luke's mind.

Like that he wouldn't lose his mind when I go shopping and spend more than the allotted monthly budget.

I kid, I kid.

So now I can open up the journal flip to his tab and start praying for specific areas of Luke's life.

Luke and I were talking about it the other day and he says he can tell a difference when I am praying for specific areas of his life. The power of prayer is amazing.

We decided not to exchange Valentine's gifts this year, as we are hoping to make a BIG purchase soon (a home) but I know that this is one of the best gifts I can do for Luke and for our relationship.

And by no-means do I say this all of this to "toot-my-own-horn", I never want to do anything that involves tooting.

But I find encouragement and gain ideas through so many blogs so I thought that maybe this could be beneficial to somebody out there.

Especially during the month of love, which we all really know is the month of the February Funk.

And even if you aren't married, in my opinion, it's never too early to pray for your future spouse out there!

And eat some valentines chocolates while you are at it.

True story, Luke and I bought a box of chocolates tonight and finished it tonight.

I may make a tab to start praying for our metabolism. It needs to stick around a bit longer.

February Funk

I have decided that I am suffering from a little something called February Funk.

I like to diagnose myself with random things and act like its a really big deal and then never talk about it again.

Anybody remember the Quarter Life Crisis? Well right now it's the February Funk.

And I completely made up February Funk, but I'm digging it.

Lately I have just feeling blah. Now don't get me wrong, life is good, I am blessed beyond what I deserve, but I'm allowed to feel a bit blah from time to time right?

Last night I decided to see what I blogged about in February 2009.

Guess what? I wrote about how I was in a funk.

So then I ventured on to see what I blogged about in February 2008 (isn't an online journal just the coolest?) and in that month I blogged all about how I am so ready for Spring.

I'm thinking that February is the month that winter starts to become redundant and I crave warm weather.

It's supposed to be cold during Christmas. Christmas is over. Bring on the warm weather.

Another reason for the 2010 February Funk could be because this happens to be a year when the sun disappeared.

Seriously, does anybody remember what it looks like? I seem to vaguely remember something shiny in the sky but I could be wrong.

Omigosh, see? I'm such a complainer these days.

That also made me think of going out in elementary school on the playground with weird glasses on to look at the sun. Did anybody else do that?

Did I dream that?

Anyways, I have been in such a funk I didn't even jog this week. Which is sort of driving me crazy.

I tend to have an obsessive personality (Twilight, Ryan Seacrest, Titanic, to name a few) so the fact that I became obsessed with completing my 5K was no surprise.

But I've decided this week that I don't want to be obsessed about it, I just want to do it to do it. So I am ok with taking a break off. As long as I stay disciplined.

It's all about discipline people.

Speaking of discipline I have this rule that I won't buy new soda until I have finished drinking all the soda that is in our refrigerator.

Well last week in a weird random moment I was craving Dr. Pepper, so I went out that moment and bought a 12 pack.

Word to the wise, if you are craving something that you normally despise do not buy a 12 pack.

It was the worst impulse buy since my black stretchy gaucho pants my sophomore year of college.

I shutter thinking of how tight those flimsy little pants were on my buttox.

Anyways, I have been choking down this nasty Dr. Pepper so that I can finally go buy some diet coke.

It has been torture, and I blame the February Funk.

So thats all I have for now.

I know I haven't finished the questions from my Q&A post and I fully intend to do that.

I just need to finish my February Funk and the nasty Dr. Pepper.

I just had a thought, I wonder if my funk has anything to do with the swamp water I am consuming also known as Dr. Pepper?

Something to think about.

Can anybody relate to the feeling blah right now?!?

Project 365 - Week Five

So last week my Project 365 pictures were all "item" or "landscape" shots. No people. But this week is all "people" shots, in fact they are almost all ME, which I apologize for. I did not mean for that to happen.

Sunday January 31st:

It was still icy and yucky outside and our church was canceled. We went to another local church which was great and then drove around town. This is just a random picture from that day.

Monday February 1st:

I finally got my new passport. After I got married I forgot to take care of some essential name changes and my passport was one of them. We are going on a cruise soon and I was SO worried that it wasn't going to come in the mail in time for our cruise but it did. Woo hoo!

Tuesday February 2nd:

I tried a new recipe, it was really yummy. I think its supposed to be healthy but you are supposed to use whole wheat pasta (sick) and probably not 2 lbs of cheese (which I did).

Wednesday February 3rd:

Me doing The Shred, Luke snapped this picture. Look at that form. If it's wrong please don't tell me. Ignorance is bliss.

Thursday February 4th:

Another picture Luke snapped, can you tell he likes to play with the new camera? This is what i usually look like when I am writing my posts.

Friday February 5th:

SERIOUSLY, sorry about the overload of picture of me. I'm kinda embarrassed. I need a kid or something. This is when I officially became a Tree!

Saturday February 6th:

Luke's parents came up on Saturday morning and we spent the day with them celebrating Luke's birthday. That night we went out to eat with a group of his friends. So fun.

Super Bowl Birthday!

It's Super Bowl Sunday and also my cute hubby's birthday!!

Luke was sad that his team the New York Giants weren't in the Super Bowl and thought that would have been the perfect gift. I guess Eli Manning didn't get the memo. Maybe next year babe!

He is 26 years old and is on the "downward" slide of his twenties. I probably shouldn't remind him because it really stresses him out.

Because his birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday we knew we would have to be at the church for a gathering so we decided to celebrate his birthday on a later date.

However all of our friends still made the day special for him.

Our friends Stephanie and Todd got Luke the cutest little (well I say little it was HUGE) cake.

Luke with his cake:

Close up of the cake:

They also brought him a gift his favorite cookies:

My sister Kati came down to spend the night with us and of course brought the cutest little guy with her.

He spent his time during the Super Bowl doing lots of this:

And here he is cheesing it up before bed:

It was a great day and I hope that my husband had a great birthday! (even though I didn't give him his present today, I ordered it off line and it still isn't here, aren't I a horrible wife?!?)

In jewelry news....

Last week I mentioned that I had a Stella and Dot jewelry party and I had a couple of friends that wanted to see the cute jewelry I got and I am happy to share.

First off I had my eye on two necklaces, I couldn't decide which one to get but went with this beauty. It is absolutely gorgeous in person, so shiny.

You can wear it several different ways. Here it is again, please PLEASE ignore my camo shirt, I don't normally wear camo.

I also got this chunky bracelet. I have been all about bracelets lately and this one is fabulous.

And last but not least I got a set of three rings:

I tried to get a good shot of them but it was hard.

I don't sell Stella and Dot I just really like their stuff. Very cute and good quality.

So that was our Super Bowl Sunday. I honestly didn't watch 5 minutes of the game and I am ok with that! I will catch the commercials online!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Officially a Tree

After 17 months of being married, and 17 months of procrastination I finally went and had my name officially changed.

I feel like a new woman.

I can't pinpoint exactly when it started but for some reason, somehow, somewhere in the past 17 months I developed a PHOBIA of getting my name changed.

It had nothing to do with commitment, or Luke or the actual last name, I was living the life of a Tree in every way, just not according to the government.

Which kind of seems like a crime or something. Hm...

Anyways, it was something that I kept saying I needed to do and then the thought of driving to the office and sitting there sounded horrible.

Pretty much every married girl that I had talked to made it sound like they went to hell and back to get their name changed.

And I had no desire to go to hell and back. So I continued to fake being a Tree.

I mean my blog name is Tales of the Trees, how much more official does it get than blogger?

But after about 20 panic attacks at different times I realized that I needed to get my name changed if I wanted to continue my life as a Tree.

I had too many different names floating around and I was beginning to think it might catch up with me someday.

Although it was sort of exciting to feel like a character from The Bourne Identity or something.

I have no idea why I just picked that movie. It just seemed appropriate.

Anyways......

I took off Friday afternoon and begged Luke to pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease go with me since he has Friday's off.

We arrived at the office around 1ish I took my appropriate number and sat down for what planned to be hours.

I had asked Luke to come so that he could keep me company during this trying time.

So here he is "keeping me company"

In case you're wondering as soon as we got there he put his headphones in his ears and started reading a book.

If that's not true love than I don't know what is.

We had been there for about 5 minutes when I realized that my bladder was about to burst. I gave my number to Luke and told him to listen for it, knowing that my number wasn't going to be called for another 6 hours.

I then went to the bathroom. We will not discuss this bathroom. If I develop a disease in the next 2 months I will know where it came from. That bathroom. I was thankful to be wearing a scarf because I used it as my face mask.

I came back to the holding room (or waiting room) to find Luke all in a tizzy. They had called my number but he didn't know who had called it and they moved on to the next person.

All I have to say is, "If looks could kill".

I'm pretty sure I made a baby cry from the way I looked at Luke.

He had one job, ONE JOB.

I may have even contemplated not taking his name at that moment.

So after trying to problem solve and walking around in a circle trying to figure out what to do, they finally called my number again.

And I looked at Luke like he better thank his Lucky Stars.

I eventually I got everything taken care of and finally changed my name.

Here I am so happy to have it done, and only a little bit mad at my lovely husband, all while wearing my red face mask.

And it only took 17 months of procrastination, a 15 minute drive to the building, 1 almost throw-down with the husband in the waiting room and a 30 minutes wait.

Thats what I call success.