7 years and counting...

Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of James asking me to be his "girlfriend" during the last song of our freshmen homecoming dance. At the time I never would have thought in 7 years I would be married to him! At the time I thought it would last a few weeks or months and then we would move on, but God had other plans for us. Also at the time I had no clue how absolutely amazing this guy was and how happy he would make me. He is the sweetest, kindest, most loving and generous person I know. He makes me strive to be a better person every day and he encourages me on my roughest days. He is simply amazing and I get to spend the rest of my life with him. He is just the best and I am so dang lucky. Everyday I thank God for this amazing gift he has given me. I am so lucky to have found my soulmate so young in life and I cherish him more than you can ever know.
I wish he would have been here with me to celebrate the special day, but of course he is in Shreveport. =(

While celebrating our four year anniversary 3 years ago he proposed. It was one of the best days of my life. We were spending it at the beach and the second day we were there he decided to make it the trip we would never forget. It was such a special weekend and I am truly blessed to have such an amazing man to call my husband. Our dating-anniversary is always going to be so special to me and something we will always celebrate it. 

I love this man more than anything and the past 7 years have been the best ever and I am looking forward to the next 70 years!!! Love you Babe... more than anything =)

weekend adventures: a wedding, a football game, and homework in between

This weekend was a pretty busy one for us, we had a wedding, a football shindig, and lots of homework!!!
James got home Thursday night to a newly red-headed wife waiting for him. He loves my red hair and from the day I decided to change it, he has been saying he wanted the red hair back. I finally gave in last week and went Thursday for the big change. I have to say he is right I love the color and love how it makes me more unique. (Note to self: listen to hubby when it comes to hair color) After my hair appointment it was time for James to come home!!! They decided to come home on Thursday this week and this wifey was super happy!!!
On Friday I had school and a student teaching meeting (AKA one step closer to graduation) and James went do manly things like going to Home Depot and buying stuff for another project (pictures to come... when the project is done). After I got home from school we spent a couple hours cuddling and watching tv then it was homework time for me =(
Saturday James and I attended an absolutely beautiful wedding. We are good friends with both the bride and groom and were so happy to be there on their special day.
The groom is the person I consider my big brother, he is the closest thing I have to one and I am so happy to see him so happy. He is such an amazing guy and has been such a great influence on my life. He has taught me some of the most important things in life... to drive... to drink... and to never give up on love. He means so much to me. The bride used to work with both of us at Texas Roadhouse and is such a sweetie. Together they are perfect. The ceremony was so beautiful (yes, I cried my eyes out). You could just feel the love throughout the church for two amazing people on their special day. The reception was just as awesome. Yummy food, good music, and great friends. We ended up running into two of James' good friends that we didn't know knew the bride and groom. It nice to catch up with them and see how life has been treating them!
Today, I did more homework all day and then this afternoon we had some friends over for the game. Unfortunately our beloved Saints lost but we had a great time. I attempted pulled pork for the first time... it  wasn't the best pulled pork I have ever had but it was pretty good (definitely getting a different kind of pork next time). We had such a busy weekend but spending it with my amazing husband made it all worth it. Now i am off to finish my last homework assignment of the night and then cuddling the hubs until it is time for him to leave again (5am)!

Here are a few pictures I snapped from the wedding!

everything happens for a reason...

I am not ready to get into details about anything but this quote has been something that has gotten me through this extremely hard week. We would really appreciate extra prayers right now to get us through  this difficult time.

cutting our grocery bill in half

I have been dying to blog about this all month long but I wanted to wait and make sure we actually followed through with our plan! Now that August is officially over I can tell you that we made it through an entire month with only one major grocery shopping trip and with a pre-planned month of meals. I had a lot of doubt in myself when we decided to do this because I am a spur of the moment kind of person, I like to just say I want this and go get it but somehow it was not hardly as hard as I thought it would be. There were two time I did have to make a quick trip, once because we ran out of coffee, orange juice and I needed things to make a banana pudding and the second was because Hurricane Isaac came along and by that point we were out of pretty much out of anything needed to survive a hurricane. 

Okay so my inspiration you ask??? One day on one of my Pinterest binges I came across a blog that said "How to cut your grocery bill in half"and being the penny pincher that I am I could not resist. When I clicked on it I was introduced to Danielle from Blissful and Domestic.  And let me just say it now this woman is super woman!!! She juggles family, blogging, and everything in between so well. I love her and she has great advice. 

From there I made my meal plan. I had already ordered this super cute notebook (another Pinterest find) to make your menu's on so it was perfect timing to put it to good use. I kind of struggled thinking of what I would cook the whole month, I just kept thinking will I really want to eat that in three weeks?!? Since James is out of town Monday-Friday I knew I only needed two-three meals per week (I have this weird thing that I can't cook alone it makes me feel so sad to cook and eat alone so I eat left overs or frozen chicken patties all week long). After getting the list made we spent about two and a half hours shopping at Walmart and then went get fresh produce at a local market. We finished that day spending $150. We just looked at each other in complete surprise. We spent the rest of the month reminding each other that there was NO Walmart visits and if we did not have it we would go without! So from around $400-500 a month to $200 a month on groceries!!!! I am so impressed and so happy we actually did it. There were a few snags in the road and we are still learning how to master this skill but we are doing great and best of all saving money!!!!! Now we are off to make our September shopping trip!!!! I really hope we can keep this up we are saving so much money and I just LOVE it!!!!!!! Happy Saturday!!!!

weekend adventures: Houston

 Since we just bought a house we decided that vacation was a no-go this year and that we wanted to spend our extra money on things for the house... so we decided it would be fun to take a trip to Houston for an over night getaway/buy things for the house/buy things for Malary weekend(the mister refused to buy anything for himself)!!! I am in love with Living Social and saw a deal for an over-night stay in Houston at a really nice hotel that included a $40 credit and valet parking for half off and knew we couldn't pass it up!!! So Saturday morning we woke up super early and started on the four hour journey to the Lonestar State. The drive itself wasn't bad at all, we had so much fun just talking about random things and singing songs to each other(insert a big LOSER sign here). When we got there we decided to go ahead and eat our sandwiches(I packed an ice chest of food, drinks, snacks, and left over chips and salsa from Chili's to save money) and then go take on IKEA and all it had to offer. Let me just say that place was totally mind blowing. I am not sure what I expected but surely not what I saw. It was so cool the way everything was set up so you can see and choose what you like. We spent about four and a half hours walking around shopping and getting ideas for our house. We ended up getting quite a few things for the house beings as the prices are so reasonable. 

After we left IKEA we decided to head to the hotel and check in and just relax for a little while before getting dressed for dinner. Well after a nice long relaxing nap we decided getting dressed up for dinner was not happening and used our $40 credit towards our dinner and just ordered room service from the restaurant downstairs. The food was really tasty and we didn't have to get dressed up or go anywhere. We had also bought a bottle of wine with us and cracked that thing open and had a glass with our dinner. After we ate we thought it would be fun to walk to the mall (one block away) and shop around for a little bit. James had never been to the Galleria and was so mind blown with the fact that there was a ice-skating rink inside the mall!! We had fun and ended up grabbing a couple pieces of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory on our way out to eat when we got back to our room. 

The next morning we slept in (9:30am sooo late I know ;) ) and then got up and headed to the Katy Mills outlet mall. I had to do a little begging for this stop but the hubby gave in pretty quickly. Once we got there I saw they had a Rainforest Cafe and knew James would LOVE it (He had never been) so we split a lunch there and spent the morning shopping and just enjoying each others company. 

This little mini-trip was so nice and relaxing for us. Having a long distance marriage is so hard on a couple and we just missed each other so much. I am so grateful for the time we do get to spend together and I am so glad that this separation has just strengthened our marriage but I am really looking forward to the day he is home for good. It is so funny how much people take for granted having their spouse home every night.

little love notes

Just thought everyone should know how awesome my husband is and how truly blessed I am. 

Thursday night I had to work and was feeling really yucky but next weekend we are taking a trip to Houston so I really needed to work and make some extra spending money. So as I was working my hubby was driving home from Shreveport. Well once I got off of work I got home to this! How sweet is that?!?!?!?! We had been using a tarp to work on a little project and he saw it and thought a little love note would make my night better!!!! He is so freaking awesome!!!!! It totally worked and I was instantly in a better mood. It is things like this that just prove to me that I married the best man in the entire world. He is always putting others first and never thinks about himself and I love him so much for that.

P.S. As I write this blog he is making brownies!!!!! Did I mention best hubby EVER???? ;)

moving announcements

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned it but I have the BEST best friend ever!!! She is so amazing, crafty, thoughtful, did I say amazing already?!?! So when James and I first started our house buying adventure I saw a few really cute moving announcement ideas on Pinterest but I thought well thats too pricy and Ashlyn could totally do a better job. So long story short I told her and of course being the best person ever she designed one for us!!! I am so in love with them!!!! How freaking cute?!?!?!!?

Last week I got them printed and Ashlyn came over with her super cool Calligraphy pens and we addressed them and I got them sent out yesterday!! I am so grateful to have such an amazing friend that is so helpful and crafty that does these kinds of things for me just because she loves me!!! Like I said before she is THE BEST BFF EVER!!!! 

{Ashlyn is a college student that just does this on the side for fun but she would love your business!!! She doesn't have a website yet but if you are interested send her an email at designsbyashlyn@gmail.com}