Our Love Story: Part 1

It's February,  the month of love, and I have been reading quiet a few love stories on some of my friends blogs and they have inspired me (Alissa {HERE}, Ashley {HERE} and Morgan {HERE}) so I thought maybe I should tell you mine. 
I know I have mentioned a bit about my husband and I's relationship here but I don't think I've ever given you the full run down from start to finish. And you all know I'm going to tell you the whole truth as I always do! 
So here goes nothin'
My husband and I met when I was 17 years old. At that time in my life I thought I had it all figured out as so many teenagers do. I had already been through quiet a few hardships unfortunately. My teen years were definitely a very dark spot in my life. 
At the time I was about 3 years into a very destructive, abusive relationship with my first boyfriend. I met my now husband at my job. I was "head bus girl" at a fine dining Italian Restaurant (I know, a real big shot, huh?) 12 years later we had our wedding rehearsal dinner at that very same restaurant where we met so long ago.
 My husband had just moved to Santa Fe from New Orleans after high school. He was older than me by 2 years. He was 19 at the time. He got hired on as a new bus boy and it was my job to train him and boy was I annoyed!!  I can remember thinking, "oh great, here's another newbie I have to train. He better get it right." I definitely had an attitude problem. 
We became fast friends and shortly there after he began hanging out in the same friend circles as me. I liked him a lot. Just as a friend. 
Over the next 2 years we grew closer and closer as friends. I found myself crying to him over above said destructive boyfriend and he was always there when I needed someone to talk to. After 4 years I finally left my first boyfriend and my now husband and I started to hang out more and more, still purely as friends. 
But I had a really soft spot in my heart for him and at the time I didn't have a soft spot for many(already jaded at 18 years old, SAD). I knew he cared for me A LOT. I knew he would do anything for me. Somewhere really deep down, even though we were just friends, I knew he loved me.
From my husband's account, he says he knew he wanted to marry me the first time he met me, attitude and all(Of course he never told me this until DEEP into our romantic relationship.)  But I actually think that's half the reason he loves me; MY  SPUNK! 
Anyhow, he had been in love with me since day one but never told me. I had a hunch but we never talked about it.  I moved away a few years into our friendship. I moved to Santa Barbara with my best girlfriend. We had a going away party and I can remember at the end of the night just balling my eyes out saying goodbye to My husband in the street. He must have held me crying in the street for a good 15 minutes. I never wanted to let him go and it was very apparent that night.
Now looking back, I can see that of course there was something there, there always had been, but I was too stubborn and immature to handle it so I moved away and tried to stuff those feeling down as far as I could.  I did a pretty good job for a while there! 

To be continued......................
Here we are the first year we met; JUST FRIENDS!
I was 17 or 18 here.   He was 19 or 20!
I hope you stick around to hear how our relationship unfolded over the next 15 years! 
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DIY *Magical* Enchanted Garden

For my daughter Ginger's Second birthday {PARTY} this year I decided on a princess theme with a huge castle, DIY on that {HERE}, and this enchanted garden. 

I must say it turned out even more magical that I had imagined and am proud to say this was entirely my own idea and completely my own design and creation from start to finish! 

I knew I wanted to warm it up with little lights and floral pom, poms. I also wanted little hints of color everywhere!!! 

So at the end I decided to really jazz it up with butterflies, garlands, and extra flowers. 

I hope this inspires you to make something magical for your kids too!!! 

#1. 

You will need

-a HUGE cardboard box. Mine came to us with a huge drum inside it but you could easily use an appliance box too and I'm sure you could get one for free at home depot or something

-paint for the inside. Honestly, I used what we had lying around so yes the sky is pink but hey I thin it came out great! Don't go waste money on a bunch of paint. Just use what you have! 

-box cutter

-plastic zip ties

-2 kinds of wire, a really thin wire like green floral wire and slightly thicker wire still malleable but able to hold it;s shape.

-tissue paper for pom pom flowers

-crepe paper for lattice on the canopy

-a very short strand of white lights

-decorate as you desire (I used glittery foam butterflies from hobby lobby, made a few simple felt garlands, and added a few faux flowers.

#2. 

STEP ONE: 

Cut the large box down one side so it can open up entirely and paint as desired! 

#3. 

Once paint is dry, stand the box up and shape it into a semi circle. Secure the loose flaps with the plastic zip ties.

#4.

 Now make several small holes with a box cutter about every 3 inches around the entire upper perimeter of the box and weave the HEAVIER wire though. I went side to side and up and down at first, making a very neat pattern but soon realized that it was more stable if I just wove the wire randomly though the holes and onto itself. I was able to mold it into an arch, just like a canopy.

#5.

Once your canopy is complete you can weave green crepe paper through randomly until canopy is almost covered. Again, this can be sloppy, it doesn't need to be perfect just cover it a little so the wire isn't an eye sore.

#6.

Now make about 10-15 pom, pom flowers to hang from the canopy using {THIS} tutorial from Martha Stewart and secure them with thin floral wire. Simply hang them from the wire canopy.

LOOK HOW GORGEOUS!!! ALMOST DONE!!!!

Now just the final touches. 

-I wove a short strand of white lights into the canopy to make it extra magical. I highly recommend this because at night it's unreal.

-I made simple garlands out of felt and twine and strung them up

-applied sticky butterflies from hobby lobby 

-secured a few faux flowers on with plastic zip ties

YOUR DONE!!!!!!

Lastly I filled the garden with pillows and blankets, making like a little slice of heaven, I could live in there I tell you!!!!!!

Make some magic for your kids that they will never forget!!!!!!

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Sunday Funday GIVEAWAY

It's Super bowl Sunday and Honestly I don't  really care. We don't watch TV and sadly I don't really understand how the game is even played. I know, it's ridiculous so I thought why not have a fun little giveaway just for the heck of it. 
CLICK is a fabulous protein/espresso drink in one!!!! I AM obsessed with it but have stopped drinking it now that I am pregnant! 
It has amazing flavor, seriously, I am NOT a coffee drinker and this tastes more like a hot chocolate or something but wont break the bank on calories!! 
This is an awesome weight loss tool too. Because It has protein and caffeine it fills you up big time. I never used it that way. I have always used it to train. I like to drink CLICK before I run or workout. It gives you a little boost and fills you up! 
SERIOUSLY.LOVE.THIS.STUFF.
I partnered with CLICK back int eh summer and have case of it sitting on top of my fridge which I cannot wait to delve into but it won't be for a while so I thougth I would turn one of you onto one of my favorite drinks!!!! 
I am giving away one canister of Vanilla Latte CLICK to one lucky winner. $27.00 value!!!! 
See.....I'm obsessed!!!!
ENTER VIA RAFFLECOPTER!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Join Me

Okay.............So I wrote {THIS} post yesterday morning about my "soul work" and how I have found such a great resource in {HAPPIFY}for helping me carry out positive thinking and gratitude everyday!!!! 
I now have my own link to go ahead and invite my readers freely. 
You don't need an invitation if you sign up through 
THIS LINK
Like I said in my previous post, I have found a great deal of enjoyment thus far in my experience with Happify and really hope you'll join me and we can encourage each other! 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far!!!! 
I'm busy writing up a tutorial on how to make that gorgeous enchanted garden I did for Ginger's second birthday party!!!! It will be up first thing Monday!!!
I also want to say how grateful I am for all the new followers I have seen on my blog over the past few days!!! 
I truly love this blog and my readers and just want to say WELCOME!!! 
I am a very warm, friendly person so feel free to email me anytime or leave a comment and I'll get back to you!!! 
Have a wonderful weekend lovelies!!!! 

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Crazy *FUN* GIVEAWAY!!!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!! 

I have an amazing opportunity to share with you tonight!!!!!! 

I have teamed up with 30 other bloggers!!! YES 30!!! I know, CRAZY!!! 

and we are giving away a year's worth of ad space between our 30 blogs. 

All the bloggers are amazing and have great numbers so if you win , you are guaranteed a  HUGE audience of traffic for the next year!!! 

Every month your blog or shop's ad will be featured on multiple blogs at a time all year long!!!! 

This is an awesome opportunity if you are trying to grow your business or blog!!! 

Honestly, I can't wait to see who wins so I can track their progress!

CHECK OUT THE LINE UP AND SIGN UP!!!!!! 

ONE WINNER TAKES ALL!!!!

If you have a business, blog, or website that you want to grow, you do not want to miss this! 

30 fabulous bloggers have come together to bring you 12 months of advertising. 

One lucky winner will be featured on different blogs each month throughout 2013*.

The winner will have the following advertising options during the following months:

*Since January 2013 has come and gone, the prizes listed under January will be awarded in 2014.

Each of the following bloggers were handpicked based on the quality of their blog, their readership, and social media following:

  Bouffe e Bambini -- Chasing Davies -- The Chiffon Diary -- Crowley Party -- For Lauren and Lauren -- Freckled Italian -- Frills for Thrills -- Glam Hungry Mom -- Jessica Who -- Kendra Kay Pahukoa -- KV's Confessions -- lala Lists -- Let it be Beautiful -- Life in a Break Down -- Local Sugar Hawaii -- The Marvelous Flight of Cara -- The Mermaid Chronicles -- MessyDirtyHair -- Mish Lovin' Life -- ModaMama -- Not Your Average Baby Blog -- Olive and Ivy -- Perception is Everything -- Plane Pretty -- Shannon Hearts -- STYLELIXIR -- Sunny with a Chance of Sprinkles -- Thistles and Twigs -- To Sew with Love -- Whispering Sweet Nothings

Enter to win using the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please refer to the Rafflecopter form for complete terms and conditions.

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Happify Your Soul

I have been doing A LOT of "soul work" lately! 
You all know I have been having some pretty serious internal struggles in the past year. This third pregnancy has been REALLY hard on my physically and emotionally. So in turn I have been doing a lot of soul searching and a lot of what I like to call "soul work." 
For me to be a normal healthy, happy, well adjusted person (well I might never be well adjusted but humor me) I have to REALLY work at it daily!!!!!
I read daily devotionals, I keep gratitude journals, I pray, I meditate(or try to.) I am constantly in communication with my emotional brain trying to mold it and steer it to where I want it to go ( happy, relaxed, loving places)  instead of where it wants to take me (scary, anxiety ridden, weak places).

Until I reached "real" adulthood, which for me really wasn't until I was about 29 or 30, I was just lolly gagging along in life living day by day not really having a real thought about my actions or what my consequences might be 10 years down the line. 
Don't get me wrong, I have always been very smart and done very well in life. I graduated from nursing school with honors. I was always a straight "A" student and have held many management positions and often 2 jobs at a time.  I am very street smart and have a lot of common sense but the emotional side of me has always been a bit lacking and for many years I neglected it. I would just pacify myself with whatever I could to get onto the next, whatever the next was, never really having any true peace.
So right before we decided to start having children I kinda started to wake up and realize that if you want your life to be a full life and be free from emotional baggage there is a lot of work to be done around that. At least for people like me there is. 

35 WEEKS

So, I am really excited to introduce you to a place that is completely designed around this purpose. It is a place that is solely directed at how we can make ourselves more happy on a daily basis. It is a HUGE tool to help us and guide us into our happiest selves! 
#1 MISSION=HAPPINESS!!!!!!
I L*O*V*E this!
Let me introduce you to HAPPIFY!!!!
I was asked to be one of their site's pioneers!!!! I was so honored and honestly have really, really enjoyed my experience there so far. 
I love Happify because it takes all those individual things I would be doing to better myself as a person anyway and organizes them all into one place, reminds me if I am slipping, and keeps me focused.  It's kind of a life saver really.
Plus you get to upload photos of your "happy" and "grateful" moments to go along with what you share just like Pinterest or Facebook but I assure you, there are ONLY happy, beautiful things to be seen there. 
Also, it's all based on science. If you'd like to read a little bit of why it works find it {HERE}.

Headband:{Lemons and Lace} Dress: Gap Sweater: JCrew Boots: Ugg I would love to invite you all to join me! 
 We can encourage each other on a daily basis to be grateful, happy and to get more fulfilment out of our lives. 
It will ask you to initially log in with facebook but it has nothing to do with facebook and none of your activity will ever be seen on facebook. Everything is done through Beta!
I hope you will Join me {HERE}.
WHAT DO YOU DO TO KEEP YOUR SOUL HAPPY????

I'D LOVE TO KNOW!!!!!!

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*Snipits*

Here are some snipits of our daily life!!!!! 

I suppose this post should be titled *snipits* THE TODDLER ADDITION as I seem to be spending 24/7 trying to tire out this little cuties so I can rest a few minutes a day!!!! 

DATES AND TREATS!!!!!!!

It's snowing here AGAIN!!!! 

CAROUSELS AND RIDES!!!!!!!

No Makeup preggo Face with my cuties! 

Yes, I feel very swollen these days! 

TROUBLE SQUARED right here!!!!

ANOTHER  MIRACLE!!!!!

WOW.......I am just astounded by the mercy and gifts we have been given!!!!!! 

This past Sunday at church the worship team handed these Whole Foods gift cards to husband!

When he came home with them I was speechless! 

The Princess in her glass slippers!

 MORE Bubble baths!!!!!

SHENANIGANS AND MAYHEM!!!!!

 Crafting and Making Fun Stuff. 

I hope you are all having a fabulous week. I am trying to make sure things are lined up for baby #3's arrival but honestly I don't have a list and I'm not even really sure what needs to be done! I suppose I should make one, huh?
 It's funny how the more and  more children you acquire, the less and less prepared you become!!! 
Like maybe pack a bag for the hospital might be smart!  Pin It