Awards!

Sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to some of these, I've been pretty busy with grad work and well just life!  So thanks and I hope you enjoy learning a bit more about me! :-) Happy Friday! (Well, almost Saturday!)

Vee over at Everyday Kings 2003 was gracious enough to nominate me for the Beautiful Blogger award!  She's has a beautiful family and it is so fun following along on her journey! This is only my second award ever, so thank you thank you thank you! :-) 

The Rules:

1. Thank then link to the person that gave you the award

2. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers you've recently discovered & whom you think are fantastic

3. Contact said Blogs to let them know they've won

4. State 7 Things about yourself!

In no particular order.....

So, 15 Bloggers.... I'm going to be cheese and say that I find each and every one of you beautiful!  That's why I follow you!!  So, with that said, please, if you haven't gotten this award, I want to know 7 things about you! So, grab the button and fill us in! :-)

Okay, and now 7 things about myself:

1. I sometimes share too much of what my mind is thinking....

2. I love cleaning, if I'm in the right mood.

3. I am obsessed with my tv shows and frankly, it sickening how many I watch.

4. Scrapbooking is something I love to do, but rarely find time to do it!

5. One of my goals is to meet some of my bloggy friends in real life

6. I sometimes tell people I'm allergic to nuts because I dislike them too much but then end up telling them I am joking because I feel bad for those who do have that allergy.

7. I did gymnastics for 14 years and wish I would have never quit!  P.S.  I've been to gymnastics meets with Shawn Johnson...(One of the Olympic gold medalists!, though she's younger than I am... I totally remember seeing her!) 

 Cat at Nashville Newlyweds awarded me the You're going Places Baby award!  Cat is newly married and become quite the bloggy friend.  She's all about fitness, so direct your healthy questions her way!

Here are the rules:


* Link back to the blogger who sent you this award
* Post where you would like to be in 10 years
* Pass it on to 5 other special bloggers!



In 10 years I'd like to be a mommy to two beautiful children, falling more in love with my husband than ever before, a successful high school counselor and happy!

Again, anyone wanting to do this award, please please please do it! I love all of you so much! 
:-)

Meredith at La Buena Vida presented the Happy 101 Award!  Mer is a pro at photography and all things mommy!  She's a great friend and I love reading her blog! Head on over! 

This rules of this award is to list 10 things that make me happy. Like Mer, I'm taking things literally, and listing things, rather than people/emotions.

1)  Scrapbooking.  I don't have much time to devote to it, but I hope to get back to it soon!

2)  Photography- I'd really like to become good at this!  We recently bought our very first SLR camera and I'm trying to learn how to use it!

3)  Lazy nights in at home-  This is something that I really love to do.  It's relaxing and exactly the way I like to spend the weekends.... Most of the time!

4) Cooking & Baking- I've been trying to use some new recipes lately to shake things up.

5) Running- This is something I'd like to get better at.  I love running and would someday like to run a 1/2 marathon! 

6)  Brownies- Enough said!

7)  Snail Mail-  There is something so wonderful about getting a special something in the mail!  I just love it!

8)  Blogging- I'm still not blogging as much as I'd like to, but it's been a busy year!

9)  Summer-  I absolutely LOVE summer.  Everything about it!

10)  Candles- At all times, there's probably at least one candle burning at our home! It makes the house smell so delicious!

Ok, I'll tag some people for this one.... Just because I think I cheated on the last two awards! :-)

1) Katie at Loves of Life 

2) Lucy at Lucy's Life

3) Vee at Everyday Kings

4) Shaina at Post Smith

5) Summer at B is for Brown

6) Risa at Diva in the Midwest

7) Abby at Nanny2Four

8) Cat at Nashville Newlyweds

9) Taryn at The Colorado Desert 

10) Ria at Life as a Wife

Have fun and thanks again to all those to nominated me! I love reading each and every one of your blogs!  Hope you are enjoying your weekend!!!

Suggestions Please!

So, I'm in the mood for a new layout.... I have NO idea what I'm doing and so I will need to enlist the services of someone who is more intelligent talented in this department than I am!

Does anyone do their own headers or have suggestions of people who could make one for me?  I know it'll probably cost me, so I should warn you, I'm cheap not willing to pay an arm and a leg for one.... With that said, maybe I'll just have to keep my plain old simple one, but we shall see!

Send me your suggestions!  Help  girl out! :-)

Wow with some odds and ends.....

I just realized it's been almost a week since my last post!  I'm so very sorry!  School and work have taken over my life and I'm trying to climb out of a big hole filled with papers, quizzes, assignments and such.

Is it odd that I've been in bed by 9:30 the last two nights because I've been so exhausted and just didn't feel like keeping my eyes open?  Only to sleep until 7:00am, yes a total of 9.5 hours of sleep...... Guys, I'm so ready for spring/summer when I have more energy and get to enjoy the lovely fresh air! Maybe I've fallin into a sea of seasonal depression because we've been graced with 49" of snow so far this year... Or maybe it's the freezing cold temps that we just can't seem to break out of!

Either way, I'm going to get through it! :-) I just entered a class that is 9 weeks long where I have 14 quizzes, 28 short activities to do and a 10-12 page paper to write.  I've since (in one week) completed 7 of those quizzes and 14 of those activities!  Guys, I'm pretty much 1/2 way there!  There is sooooooo light at the end of the tunnel!

In other news, there are going to be some positions opening up sometime soon in my field (School counseling at the middle & high school levels).  I'm not technically qualified yet, as I do not have my license (I graduate May 2011), but I will be able to get my Class G license this Summer which would qualify me to be a counselor for one year before gaining my actual license.  So, please say a prayer for me, I really really need/want one of these jobs!

It's less than 2 months until my big 25th birthday!  I can hardly believe it.  Isn't this some sort of milestone? No?  Eh well we'll make it one!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and I hope to be back to my regular scheduled postings soon!

Weekend Recap

So, what's better than it being Thursday?  The fact that I'm finally getting around to my weekend recap!

This weekend was filled with lots and lots of happenings!

Friday:

 I had the day off!  It was glorious!  It was spent picking up the house, taking Josie to the vet and working on some homework. 

We then headed out Friday night to meet up with another couple for a dinner date night!  The food was DELICIOUS!!! It was topped off with an amazing dessert.  Have you ever heard of: mascarpone? It's a simply delightful cheese dessert (like cheese cake).  I have never had it, but I will definitely have it again!  

We finished the night off with a few glasses of wine and headed home.

Saturday:

Hubby worked during the day while I stayed home and worked on homework.  We went to see Dear John 

, which I was not all that impressed with.  I cried during some parts, but it just wasn't all that good.  I'm sorry to those of you who have yet to see it or to those of you who liked it.  It was just one of those movies where I got kind of bored. 

After the movie, we headed to our favorite Chinese restaurant for some takeout and went home to watch Night at the Museum Two . It wasn't as good as the first one, that's for sure.

Sunday:

My parents came to visit so that my dad could help hubby put in a new water heater.  I was so tired of taking 1/2 cold 1/2 hot, as I'm sure you've already heard from my complaining for the past few weeks!
After all was said and done with the hot water heater (a mere 6 hours!) we ate pizza with my parents and then they headed on their way.
Hubby and I then exchanged Valentines Day cards (as we had agreed on no presents!) and cuddled up to yet another movie to end our wonderful weekend!

We split up our celebrations by doing something together each day this weekend.  It was actually quite nice because we didn't waste it all on one night! 

It sounds like all of you had a wonderful Valentines Day weekend as well!
And because I've had a lot of pictureless posts.... Here is one for added fun :-)

 

Hubby and I on our first Valentines Day 2/14/07!
(Hard to believe we just celebrated our 4th valentines day together!
Somedaysit seems longer, some days it seems shorter! haha

 

And the heart shaped pizza I made him from scratch :-)

Catching up

Sorry guys!  I'm playing catch up this week with homework after our busy weekend.  I will be back tomorrow with new posts! 

I'm watching TV at work....

We've recently undergone a bit of construction at my office.  We have had new windows installed, new paint, new drop down ceilings and the latest, new computers!

As exciting as this might be, I'm beginning to think my LASIK may go down the tube from these new monitors.  These babies are ginormous! HUGE!  They are 21.5" wide.  I kid you not, these puppies are a mere 5.9" smaller than my living room TV.  I feel as if I'm sitting on top of my screen now.  My mom always told me not to sit too close to the TV, but now, I don't think I have a choice.  It's ridiculous!  As much as I'm going to love having a new computer that doesn't crash every time I open up Explorer (I work in non-profit people, we cannot afford anything!), it's going to be a big adjustment because I'm running out of room on my desk!

In other news:

In one hour & 15 minutes I will be enjoying the start to my weekend!  Yes, I know many of you get a 3 day weekend, I am not lucky enough to get President's Day off, so I decided to take tomorrow off to get a few things done.  I'm taking Josie to the vet and then heading to the chiropractor to see if she can't help me out.

After that, I will be cleaning, doing laundry and getting ready for our first night out of the weekend!  We're headed to dinner with a couple and I am so excited!  It's going to be a great night.

Tonight is also another new Grey's episode!  I'm pretty excited about that.  Even though it's gotten pretty weird, I'm still hanging in there.

I'll probably have a weekend post for you tomorrow, but in case I don't, have a wonderful weekend!!!

Burning Question of the Day

I'm stealing this from Mer over at La Buena Vida, she does BQOTD  every once in awhile.

My Burning Question of the Day is:

How do you and your partner in crime handle finances?  Do you share your money and the bills equally, do you pay them all, do you both have a say in where your money goes?  OR do you each have your own separate accounts and just pay a portion of things?  If you do share your money, do you get to spend it equally?  As in, if he gets something, you get something?

I think money is a huge responsibility in relationships.  I think it can make or break a marriage and I think it is argued over all too often.  I know people who share everything and I know people who have separate accounts.  I'm not saying ONE way is better than the other, I'm just curious to know how other people do it.

I guess I figured that when it came to money, we are married, we have the same bills and we're working towards the same goals.  Whether it be previous student loans, car payments, etc... You still want to eventually be debt free as a couple, if at all possible.  We have one checking account and one savings account.  I actually pay all of the bills, because I have a system and I'm kind of a control freak about some stuff.  It has to be done just right!  But all of our money goes into the same accounts and we don't keep track of how much he makes and how much I make.  To tell you the truth, we have never ever really argued about money.  We don't tally up what I spend and what he spends and try to keep it equal.  We both pretty much get what we want, within reason, and if we're thinking about spending money on something that is over our agreed upon price range, then we talk about it.  We are just very open about money and make sure to be smart with it. 

So, how do you do it?

Welcome and a weekend recap

I've had a few new followers lately and I just wanted to say welcome!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find what I have to say slightly interesting.  If not, I don't blame you for leaving :-)

On to the weekend recap!

Let me just say that this weekend was spent doing the following in no particular order:

Relaxing.

Wine drinking.

Reading.

Grad homework.

Laundry.

Movies.

Cooking dinner with hubby.

Running a few errands.

Buying new bedding. (I'll share it later!)

Watching the snow fall.

Cleaning.

Releaxing.

Playing video games with hubby. (yes, I'm sorry, I admit going to the dark side from time to time!)

What I'm looking forward to:

Day off on Friday.

Getting some much needed things accomplished.

My parents visiting this weekend.

Getting a new hot water heater!

Shopping with my mom.

Dinner date with two of our good friends on Friday night.

Dinner and movie date with just hubby on Saturday night.

Said movie date to Dear John!

Lunch with my parents on Valentines Day.

Relaxing.

Do you have anything fun planed for this weekend?  It is the BIG Valentines day weekend! 

Hubby and I usually buy a small gift and CARDS, (I love me some cards, especially from hubby) but this year we're forgoing gifts to do a fancy dinner!

What do you do to celebrate the Day of Love?

And the winner is......

No, I'm not talking about the Saints, as gloriously as they played last night.  I'm talking about something bigger! Eh, maybe not bigger than winning Super Bowl 44, as I think the Saints were well deserving and played a terrific game.... Don't get me started on the commercials though.... I was not too impressed this year with most of them.  Not sure if people just didn't want to pay the money for the big time commercials, or maybe it was just me...

Anyway, back to the point of this post!  I used Random.Org to find a winner for my latest giveaway! I'm none to fancy when it comes to this here website..... (Please note the poor grammar was intended) I don't know how to copy and show you the actual number, but trust me? Mmmk?

The lucky winner of a small coupon organizer from GlowGirl is.......... #3

Taryn from The Colorado Desert!!

Taryn said...

Caddy Green and Blue Leaves Fabric is so cute. I loved the black one with swirls the most- but it is the mega sized one. = ) thanks so much!

I follow you in google reader!

So, Taryn, please e-mail me with your address and I will forward it on to Deb at Glowgirl!  

Don't forget, you still get free shipping on your orders with Glowgirl Until February 14th, 2010!  

Thanks for entering!  Have a great Monday!!!

**P.S.  Does anyone know how to do a screen shot of the winning number with random.org?  

Don't forget!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!  It ends tomorrow at 5:00 CST! 

Also, don't forget that you can still get free shipping by heading on over to Glowgirl's Etsy site!  There is lots of fun stuff, so don't miss out!

Hope you're having a terrific weekend! :-)

January 7th, 2009

Holy crap ladies!  I cannot believe I missed my One year blogiversary! (or however you spell it!)  It came and went without a thought!

Back then, I had no idea what I was going to write or even why I was starting a blog in the first place.  Hubby thought I was crazy and I figured nobody would care what I had to say.

However; there are some of you out there that really do care!  Some of you who comment on every post and brighten my day!  Some of you who have even helped me out along the way! I've met people who live in other states, I've only dreamed of visiting and people who live in my very own state!  I've even met one blogger , recently, who seems like my long lost sister!  We have so much in common, it's scary! 

I have to say that I've been presently surprised by the blog world.  I have found answers to questions I've had, been corrected on some things I thought I knew, learned some great recipes and even made some new friends along the way!

So thank you to those of you who have chosen to follow me on this journey! I hope I have not disappointed you!  I'm hoping that 2010 brings so much more than 2009 ever thought of bringing!  So, sit back and relax, 2010 is going to be an amazing ride!

Happy Friday everyone!

P.S.  Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!   you have until 5:00pm CST Sunday February 7th, 2010.

What are you waiting for?

Yesterday I promised ya'll (no, I'm not from the South, but I threw that out there anyway!) a surprise and I'm finally ready to reveal that surprise.

Without further ado..... Check out the amazing giveaway I have in-store for you!  

Deb at one my favorite Etsy stores is graciously giving one lucky winner from Livin' the Great Life their very own Coupon holder, courtesy of Glowgirl- Eco--friendly coupon organizers, sandwich baggies & Carry-all totes.  The lucky winner will get to choose any one of the small size coupon organizer from her store! She has a ton of amazing cute styles of coupon bags to choose from! (Plus a lot of other cute things as well!)

 

 

How cute are these things??  I bought mine last year and I use it all the time! 

I know a lot of you love using coupons and I've found that using this amazing bag helps me keep them organized so that I can go right to the coupon I want to use.  I also keep important receipts in here towards the back and other punch cards that I may need for some stores.

Glowgirl is also giving Livin' the Great Life followers Free shipping when you buy from her store!  So, if you are not the lucky winner, please head on over to her shop and pick something up for yourself anyway!  Just mention the blog: www.jesseandkaylacrane.blogspot.com or Livin' the Great Life in the comments section and she will credit the shipping right back to you!  It's that easy! (Hurry, offer only lasts until Valentines day! 2/14/2010!)

How to enter?

1 entry- Head on over to Glowgirl's shop and tell me which small size organizer is your favorite!
1 additional entry's- Become a follower of Livin' the Great Life or tell me you already are one
1 additional entry's- Become a Facebook fan of Glowgirl and/or sign up for her quarterly newsletter
1 additional entry's- Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me where to go to read about it
2 additional entry's- Buy something from Glowgirl's shop, come back here and tell me what you bought. (I'll verify this from Deb at Glowgirl)

That means you can have a total of 6 entries!  So, what are you waiting for!  Enter the giveaway to win one of these uber cute coupon organizers! 

Giveaway will end at 5:00pm CST Sunday February 7th, 2010.

Things to come

I smell something exciting coming this week to Livin the Great Life!  You may just want to stick around to find out!

I'm talking, something you will not want to miss, exciting.

Do you use coupons?  Do you like saving money using them?  Maybe I can help you in your search to save money while shopping..... We shall see! 

Stick around and I will reveal the exciting surprise on Wednesday! :-)

Hint...... I'm pretty sure I gave it away by my label.... haha

February Goals

It is the first of the month and I am trying to be more organized with things, so I am all about sharing my goals for February and looking at how I did for January!

Let's take a look at January's goals:

• Paint & put up new window treatments in office.  (Yes, this goal is already complete, but it was an actual goal that I wanted to get finished in January!) 

This was completed in the first week of January and I am soooooo very excited about it.

• Continue taking vitamin everyday

Done, done and done :-) I think I missed one day the entire month!

• Cut back on spending.

I think this was probably a complete fail.  We ended up buying a new car for hubby and still have yet to sell the Jetta.  We also had to purchase a new hot water heater, because I'm tired of taking 1/2 cold showers.  We also had a few unexpected expenses come up, so this was a complete and utter failure....

• Cut back on eating junk food.

I think I did a great job on this goal.  I have lost 4 lbs total, which isn't huge, but it is HUGE when you consider the fact that all I did was cut out the majority of my junk food.  I didn't workout anymore than I hd previously done and I didn't cut back on anything else.  

• Repaint the laundry room.

Fail.  This wasn't even considered during the month of January!

So, let's hope that I do better in February.  I know some of you hate the aspect of posting goals on your blogs, but for me, it helps to hopefully keep me accountable for some things that I just really need and want to do. 

February Goals:

• Sign up for my last "extra" class for my masters since I am not a teaching major.
• Sell the Jetta
• Workout at least 4 times per week for 30-45 minutes each time.
• Eat more fruits & veggies.  I'm talking a good veggie for every meal, and potatoes do not count.
• Start looking and applying for any counseling positions in our area
• Plan at least 2 meals per week ahead of time.
• Have new water heater installed by my hubby and my dad
• Visit with and shop with my mom!
• Hopefully get back home to spend some time with my brother and future-sis-in-law
• Have a fantastic game night, complete with plenty of food (to try and throw me off from one of my previously mentioned goals) and lots of friends!
• Celebrate Valentines Day with hubby by going to Dear John and out to dinner :-)

I don't think this month's goals are too hard, but we shall see! Happy February everyone!