Lovin' the weather!

Today was one of those days where you just HAVE to be outside. The sun shined all day and even though it was a little chilly, it was too nice to stay inside. My best friend and I woke up superbly early to get McDonald's and then head to the flea market! If you've never been, go, they have all kind of cool stuff...

This green furniture above holds a special place in my heart. I LOVE this kinda stuff, even though the green is kinda atrocious, I can't help but want it.

They have all kinds of old stuff, it always amazes me the kinda things you can find at the flea market!

These signs, which are generally $10 a piece, are totally my thing. They're in my price range, I can hang them in my house - on my own, and they old and rustic just like I like :)

My shopping trip was a success because I came home with these four things:

(The "Keep Honking" is for my dad for Father's day, the rest I bought for myself!)

After spending a couple of hours at the flea market we decided to head to Wolf Camera. I've been needing a new camera since my old one barely works, therefore I never use it. We did some research and realized with my budget there wasn't many options but I found one I really like and decided to compare price. At Wolf Camera the Nikon cost $170 at Target, I bought it for $116 and got a discount on an SD card!

Thankfully, I got a new camera just in time for Mack's race tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures from that. Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break (if you were on spring break!).

Valentines Shmalentines

Oh Valentines day...how I hate you.

This so called "holiday" isn't one of my favorites, if you can't already tell. 

Valentines day is a day in which you're suppose to appreciate your loved ones right? Well, shouldn't we all be doing everyday anyway?

I know it's unrealistic to appreciate everyone, everyday but I've learned that I try to appreciate the ones I love everyday...

Plus, Shmalentines day is just a reason to make single people feel lonely...

I was thankful to always have parents who gave me cards and whatnot on this certain day to make me feel special no matter what, talk about a great Moms and Pops.

For all y'all peeps out there who spend a TON of money on Valentine's day maybe you should take up the motto of my boyfriend (most girls want flowers on valentines day right?)...

Flowers die, why would I every spend my money on something so useless?

I guess it's good I have 20, 4 year old's to bring me flowers and goodies!

I love my Mackenzie, even if he doesn't believe in flowers. He's my best friend, my love, and so much more. I try to appreciate him everyday, whether it's Shmalentine's day or not. We don't celebrate this certain holiday because neither of us are too crazy about it plus we decided last year to just write lovely little notes to each other to say how much we appreciate each other. It works for us, that's all that counts. 

I hope everyone else had a good Shmalentine's day!

L.O.V.E.

January 16, 2012...

Does this day mean anything to you?

Two and half years ago today I met Mackenzie. 

My best friend, my companion, and the love of my life. 

He's constantly reminding me of what life's about:

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain.

We've had rough times, just like everyone, but we made a pact that we're in this together, as a team and that's the only way it will work. 

We've supported each other through the best and worst times. 

He's been my shoulder to cry on so many times I can't even count. 

We have a beautiful pup together who has changed our lives for the better and made us stronger as a couple, cause Lord knows it wasn't easy raisin this baby...

I wish I could express how grateful I am to have him but words never seem to convey everything I wish I could tell him. I want to thank him most of all for standing by me, helping me through the good and bad, for loving me no matter what, and for always providing me with support. 

I love you and thank you, for everything you've done for me and everything you will continue to do for me.

I feel like a kid again...

Christmas is less than a week away and everyday goes by so FAST I can barely believe it.

By the time I'm outta work it's already dark and cold as Antarctica - the last thing I wanna do is go Christmas shopping! All I can think about at this point is eating.

Thankfully, I got a lot of Christmas shopping done on Saturday. Since it was best friends birthday, she wanted to spend a good part of the day at Crabtree - which, if you know me, is not my kinda thing. I like the kind of shopping where you go in with a list and come out with everything on your list, no more and no less. I don't like to shop around or spend hours at the mall but it's something my best friend could live her life doing so I went.

Lets just say this, Crabtree the weekend before Christmas = a nightmare.

I love the holidays, don't get me wrong, but the ONLY thing I hate about this time of year is how greedy people can be. Pushing through the mall, people being impatient and angry, people strolling for parking spots like they're going to die if they have to walk more than five feet...I can't stand it.

I'm reminded what Christmas is about EVERYDAY when I walk in my room at work. All 17 of my four year olds run to greet me and proceed to tell me Santa's coming soon and it's gonna be Jesus' birthday! They're all so excited about all their family members coming into town. Everyday I hear stories about what family members are coming in when and where, if they're flying or driving, and of course, if they're bringing lots of presents. The looks on kids faces when they talk about Christmas and Santa, it's priceless. It's like when I'm at work I'm in a magical little world where I can't help but be happy because all my kids faces light up the second we start making Christmas ornaments or wreaths.

When it comes to Christmas, kids put all the magic back in it. All the talk of how Santa gets down the chimney and how he's able to eat every kids cookies ALL over the world. It makes me feel like a kid again and for once it feels nice.

Aloe, Onions, and Christmas Trees!

There are 8 million other things I need to be doing right now, like working on my portfolio for Ed Psych that's due in TWO days but instead I feel the need to blog...

1.

Christmas is FAST approaching and Mack and I just put up our very FIRST Christmas tree tonight!

It's a skinny little thing ain't it? It's our first tree so Mack says we gotta give it some slack, especially since my wonderful mother let us borrow it so we could then store it in her attic until Christmas next year, yay for Mom's who have massive attic space!

2.

The ornament shown at the very top was sent to us in the mail from Mack's little sister, Sunny, we loved it so much we had to put it as close to the top as possible so everyone could see it.

3.

Carley Sue isn't very happy with me at the moment. The Christmas tree is actually in the spot where her bed usually goes (hints why she's sitting so close to it now) and she was extremely mad that I chose to move her stuff and therefore proceeded to try and eat the Christmas tree once I got it up. What a baby.

4.

Mack got us this AWESOME magnet for our fridge from his sister Shawna - she made it. She also makes all kinds of other cool stuff (pictures, cards, etc.). Check her out peeps - http://www.etsy.com/listing/88539084/spread-joy-original-miss-lizzie (this is one of the MANY things she talented at!)

5.

Now, Mack's mama would be a proud mama if she could see this...

My aloe plant's gotten SO big it's taking over my counter - I love it though, it's not really liking being inside, but it loves my kitchen lights and continues to grow because of it. Thanks for all the aloe wisdom Mama Diana!

6.

All y'all out there who love some snacks, let me open your mind to something amazing...

Hello Trader Joe's. These things are the BOMB (and not bad for you may I ad). Mack and I ate whole bag the first day we got them and continue to love them. Thinking about them makes me hungry. Yummy.

7.

Last of all, this little man sitting in front of us at the last State football game had this shirt on and I'm in love...

LOVE IT!

Hope everyone's having a wonderful time decorating for Christmas!

What a crazy time of year.

a.

I can't believe it's December 7th - it's already exam time and Christmas break is finally in sight...

b.

I spent last week/weekend celebrating my birthday with the ones I love. Starting on Wednesday my family had lasagne for dinner and cinnamon pizza for dessert. Then it was back to focusing on the last week of school until Friday came.

d.

Friday was spent celebrating a friends birthday which was great. I spent all day at my parents getting all 100 (no joke) boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic. After hours of that, mom and I set out on a shopping adventure.
Mack and I then turned around and spent Saturday night celebrating my birthday with my friends. (Note: Chili's doesn't take reservations, they do "call ahead seating" which doesn't do anything for you, my party of 12 had to wait for an HOUR before we got seated - psh!) Either way it was great to spend time with my friends.

c.

Sunday was spent with the Cooper fam celebrating my birthday yet again at the Bass Lake Ale House which has delicious food. We then went back to my parents to put up the Christmas trees and ornaments with my best friend. Once both 8 foot trees were up and one was fully decorated it was time to go to TSO. My parents bought the four of us tickets to go see it for Mack's birthday since he LOVED them last year. If you don't know what TSO is, you better learn, FAST, because they're the bomb diggity. Here's a video for you...

(they're still WAY better in person)

d.

The weekend finally ended sadly and now I'm full gear into two weeks of exams. I got my first exam out of the way today but I still have a portfolio due tonight, an exam Friday, and two portfolios due next week. Please pray for my sanity!

e.

Christmas is in sight which I'm thrilled for - the tons of Christmas shopping I have left to do, not so exciting, but it'll be worth it on Christmas morning when everyone opens their gifts and you see all the happy faces and family that you love.

Thanksgivin'

I posted recently about how Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up soon and how much I can't wait to spend time decorating and eating with my family but think about this...

What if you didn't get to spend Thanksgiving day or Christmas day with your family?

Understandably, it's not the actual day that makes it important it's the thought but our society depicts a specific day out of the year for these holidays to occur. I'm starting to realize how many people out there aren't as fortunate as me - they don't get to spend Thanksgiving day or Christmas day with their families because they're busy protecting us - the people who are privileged enough to get the opportunity to make wonderful memories and enjoy their holidays safely.

I can't imagine what's it's like for our soldiers in other countries and how hard those days must be knowing they can't see any of their loved ones. Unfortunately, I can't walk/fly across borders to feed them Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner but I've decided to try to make a difference in my own area with the people who directly protect me and my family.

This is TONNYYYY and we've been friends for about 3 or 4 years now (and yes, I say his name just like that every time I see him and people always make fun of me for it but that's alright).

He's one of my best friends and he's a fireman. Now, his dad was a fireman too and he drove the ladder truck for the town for a looonnngggg time. He comes from the nicest family I've ever met and I can see why he's such a great man now.

I guess I never really appreciated firemen and policemen in the way that I should until I became friends with him. Firemen hold a special place in my heart now. He's opened my eyes to so many amazing men and women who work in my town to protect all of us on a daily basis.

This year I feel the need to give back, not just to Tony, but to the stations within my community that keep my family safe. Tony, like the rest of his shift, have to work on Thanksgiving Day - they don't get time to go have lunch or supper with their families, they have to work all day long. So this year I've decided I'm going to make Thanksgiving supper for Tony's station. How am I going to do this? I don't know yet but they deserve to have a home cooked supper just like the rest of us! I may need help with this cooking adventure (I'm hoping to get a couple of people involved in this miraculous idea) but I'm determined that this is what I want to do, I want to thank them for all they do. And if for some reason I'm not allowed to do this I'll find someway to show my appreciation.

That's what Thanksgiving's all about right? Giving thanks? I think sometimes I lose sight of that but not this year and hopefully not any year after this one.