Catching my breath today.

Last week I briefly mentioned that I had 3 events going on during the same week, one of which was Jack's birthday, and the other was Monday afternoon where I was responsible for feeding a large group of people for an event at work. All that to say: I am so tired, and it's just barely Wednesday of a non off-Friday week. So here are some random thoughts for today:

• I write all of my blog posts in html like the geek that I am. I feel like it gives me more control over spacing and all sorts of other things, like bulleted lists. (And it's really not hard.)
• I was bathing Jack last night and thought to myself, "I actually paid to take a class to learn how to bathe this kid." Funny how a year will put things into completely different perspective. Not that I'm some professional kid bather, but some things are a little common sense like...don't get soap in the baby's eyes.
• I am thinking of having the boy's picture made with live bunnies for Easter. If you live in DFW and have any recommendations of a photography studio doing this, please let me know. I know they have them at NorthPark, but I wasn't impressed with the quality of the Santa photos (although Santa, himself, was amazing.)
• Today I start counting my points again. I took a few days off for birthday celebrations and all that. Time to get real again.
• I discovered that HEB (an awesome TX grocery chain) had Texas A&M re-usable grocery bags, so I had my mom pick some up for me. (We don't have HEB in DFW.) I've decided to go green on my shopping bags simply to show school spirit. That might seem a bit ridiculous, but regardless, I'm sure the environment won't mind.

Party Recipes

Sign inspiration from Sarah's blog, Life {Sweet} Life
I had very good intentions of making chocolate chip cookies, but by the time Thursday came around I decided to go with storebought. What can I say? It is my heritage and is also likely to be my legacy.

But as for the other stuff, one of the major hits of my holiday season party circuit were these small sandwiches, and I thought they'd be perfect "little man-wiches." There are all kinds of variations of this on the internet. Here's how I did it:

Sweet Ham and Turkey Sandwiches
1 12-count package of King's Hawaiian sweet rolls
3 slices of deli turkey, quartered
3 slices of deli ham, quartered
3 slices of swiss cheese, quartered
1 stick of butter, melted
3 T. sugar
1 T. poppy seeds
1 T. onion flakes
1 T. honey mustard

Spray the bottom of a baking dish with cooking oil. Slice the rolls and prepare the sandwiches with a quartered piece of turkey, ham, and cheese. Melt butter and add sugar, poppy seeds, onion flakes, and honey mustard. Drizzle over sandwiches evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 or until golden brown.

{I quadrupled this recipe on Saturday, which used an entire package of deli turkey, ham, and swiss cheese.}

I've tried to make Pioneer Woman's mac and cheese multiple times now, and each time, although my roux tastes great, the resulting mac and cheese is gritty. And that is gross to me. This one comes to us from recipes.com, by searching "easy macaroni and cheese." It's so easy. And my little Jack loved it, so it will be making appearances at my table often.

Manly Mac 'N Cheese
16 oz. macaroni
16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, sliced (I used mild but will try with sharp next time. Also, I bought pre-sliced.)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 can of evaporated milk

Cook macaroni. Layer a third in the bottom of a greased casserole dish, topped with 1/3 of the cheese slices. Repeat this two more times. Pour the can of evaporated milk over the entire dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top.

Our Little Man's Little Man Birthday Party

This weekend has been a blur and a dream. Or a dream of a blur. Not sure which. My boy has been so fun all weekend long. I don't know if it's the sugar or what, but even in Sunday school yesterday, his teachers mentioned that he was all smiles and talking up a storm. I'm sure he was recapping his party. Right? He's been extra loving and full of grins--just what this mama needed to soothe her "where did my tiny baby go?" heart.

Our family and friends came from far and wide! I was surprised by the turnout, but so thankful that everyone was willing to come and celebrate with us. It doesn't seem adequate to say that we are truly blessed, but that's it--God has blessed us so much.
Of course I wanted to display photos of our sweet guy throughout the year. The old ties I used were mostly from my Pop--my grandfather--which I loved. He cleaned his older ones out for me. I remember him wearing the brown one I tied on the glass vase holding the cookies back in the 80s. I also picked up a few more at Goodwill for $1 a piece. My Pop was there, and I think he liked how it turned out.

The photos hanging on the mirror in my entry hall are all from my Instagram feed. I found a great vendor called Prinstagram that exports your photos to posters and books. So easy to use and shipped to me in a week. I'm going to dry mount this on foam board and take it to the office. I love all the color and the random snaps from our everyday life from this past year.
The cakes were from Bluebonnet Bakery, a wonderful, delicious old bakery here in Fort Worth. As you can tell below, Jack tore it up. That label "A gentleman never forgets the ladies," is on the fruit tray. (My bokeh got a little out of control.) We also had "little man-wiches" and "manly mac 'n cheese." And of course, chips and salsa. There's a reason it's the official snack of the state of Texas.

I know you've been on pins and needles waiting to see what would adorn the table since I gave up on the polka dots. Thankfully, fabric.com shipped out super quick (without paying extra!) and got some navy and white striped fabric to me by Thursday so I could whip up a table runner that I loved. (I will be the first to tell you that no one probably noticed it but me, but it made me happy.)
And the star of my little show here. We love him more every day. He is more fun every day! Those early newborn days of waking up in the night are just a dream now--a far off memory. His independence grows with each passing day. Soon he'll be walking, and I'll be running to keep up with him. So with a bit of nostalgia for the past, I'm looking forward to the days to come. It's just so wonderful!

I hope you don't mind.

I hope you don't mind
that I put down in words,
how wonderful life is now you're in the world.

{Thank you, Sir Elton. My sentiments exactly.}

Happy First Birthday, my darling son. I love you so dearly.

Mom Help Needed.

For the life of me, I cannot find a sippy cup that won't leak. It's really getting to be too much. {Picture me saying that, laying on my couch with the back of my hand on my forehead.} We've tried Tommy Tippee, Nuby, and Playtex (sippy cups, that is) and all leave a swampy mess in the bottom of my beautiful handbags. Is this just destined to be my life until he learns to drink from a regular cup? Wandering about in a wilderness of leaky sippy cups?

Do you have any recommendations? Will you please help a mama out?

Loose lips sink handbags.

The Week That Won't End

I think the fact that it feels like the week won't end is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it's Jack's birthday week, and the longer it is, the longer I'll have a not one year old. Even when he's one, I can still call him my baby, right? Bad because I am just plain tired and could use a nice, long nap. Good thing it's my Friday off week.

It's been such a surreal week, mostly because I feel like I'm re-living "where I was at this time last year." Like last night? We did our taxes. It was the last thing we wanted to cross off the list before Jack was born. Well, would you guess that apparently that night last year we made our appointment for the exact same day (Tuesday) of the same week? That's where we were last night, claiming our little dependent.

Tonight Jack and I had a date night since his dad was working late. It's been so hot this week here in Texas, and he has no shorts that fit, so we hit up the Old Navy children's sale for some. It's supposed to be 80 tomorrow here. I'm convinced it will snow on Easter. My Easter dress and I are both hoping I'm wrong.


Thank you, Ben and his mommy!
In this photo, Jack is concentrating on how to get this placemat into the floor, while I keep foiling his plans since I'm trying to grab a pic. I can see the wheels turning in his head. We're right at that point where Jack thinks everything that is on the table or high chair should be on the floor. I'm finding it incredibly hard to reason with a 362 day old person.

Pssssst! I Found a Better Dry Shampoo.

So there I was, sitting in my hair stylist's chair chatting about not washing my hair everyday. This is a common conversation when I go in there. We also talk about parting my hair on the other side so as to hide all the baby hairs that stick up like a rooster all the way down my part, and how I just can't bring myself to do it because it feels weird.

(Motherhood. Moving on.)
She casually said that another stylist in the salon was using "Pssst" and liked it.
Me: "What?"
Her: "Pssssst."
Me: "Is it a secret?"
Her: "No. It's Pssssst."
Me: "I don't get it. What do you mean?"
Her: "No, the name is actually P-S-S-S-S-T or something like that."

{And scene.}

Well, a few weeks ago I was perusing Walgreen's for a deep conditioner (that supposedly Pantene has just put out, but I can find anywhere) and I came across the aforementioned Pssssst!

Girls, I have to tell you that it's 100 times better than the Tresemme and Suave. No powdery residue, smells like lime and coconut, rather than a product X which you used in Junior High. It truly makes your hair look clean, and instead of gritty, your hair feels normal. I bought mine for $6.99. While it runs a few dollars more than the other products mentioned, it performs that much better, so I'd say it's worth the price.

Apparently it was popular in the 70s, and the can says "new package design" so maybe that was done in the early 80s from the looks of the design. I think there's a lesson here for all of us -- don't judge a dry shampoo by the can.

Weekending.

We've had a slow and partly rainy weekend, which has been good to slow the pace a bit. It kept me from running all over town like crazy getting things together for Jack's party this coming Saturday. I got caught in a downpour Saturday while at Wal-mart and probably spent $50 more than I should've just during the time I was trying to waste before going out in the rain. (At least $10 of that was for an umbrella so I could finally go home, and oh yeah, Easter candy.)

But backing up to Friday night, it was Parents' Night Out at our church, which is so nice. But the past two months we have ended the night in Target, shopping for Jack. How does that happen?

So at some point in the party planning I've been doing over the past few weeks, I decided that I wanted a blue and white tablecloth for my table. Below is what will go down in my file of "Brilliant DIY Ideas Which I Do Not Have the Fortitude to Complete." I think I wouldn't have felt as hopeless over it if I had not chosen a 102" length tablecloth. I would be painting polka-dots in my sleep, plus there is NO WAY I had the patience to line them up. Those were all eye-balled, and who knows what it would've looked like on the far end. And furthermore, (can you tell I am still trying to talk myself out of completing this) the color blue is not "true navy" as the bottle said. And I want navy.

{Convinced. Sort of.}


It makes me tired just looking at it. And oddly, I feel the urge to play Twister.

Have a great week!

Of Life, Love, and the Wakefield Twins.

This marshmallow fluff came to me by way of Amazon this week.

I plan on devouring it this weekend, that is if I'm not stressing about party plans.


I know you read both series too (that is, if you were born prior to 1990.)

So tell me,
are you a Jessica or an Elizabeth?

{Total Elizabeth here.}

First Birthday Sneak Peek

I think most people giving it any serious thought would agree that a child's first birthday party is really for his parents. Moreover, it's primarily for his mother. In this Pinterest-crazed society, man, is there a ton of pressure put on yourself to craft a beautiful, creative, semi-homemade, age-appropriate themed party at the end of which your young tot will have absolutely no recollection, even when you show him his masterful and detailed baby book at the age of 20. I would love to tell you that I am better than conforming to society's norms on this and am settling for a simple cake and ice cream party.

But that would be a lie. I love a party, but I especially love a themed party!

Here's a sneak peak of the invitation for Jack's first birthday party. It was designed by Empress Stationery, and those girls were a dream to work with. I've been following their blog for a long time now and was so excited to finally contact them with a project. I'm trying to invent another reason to use them again soon because they do such exquisite work.


But all that being said, I don't have a lot of time to plan all those amazing details that everyone likes to pin. I'm okay with that. On top of my job, I have 2 other events that I'm planning, and somehow everything falls in the same week. I've pulled a couple of ideas for Jack's party, had some of my own, and we'll just see if I get it all taken care of.

For this year, we've invited mostly just family, and so far, almost everyone has RSVP'd yes! It's going to be a full house, therefore, I'm hoping for good weather for us to spill into the backyard. Who knows though? Yesterday the high was 73 degrees, but the Sunday before, we had snow. Texas living. I love it. (No really, I do!)

Resemblance.

As we inch closer to Jack's first birthday, I can't help but look through all the many snaps I have of him. Some days he is a carbon copy of me and others, he's a spitting image of his dad.

It's incredible to me how much he is of both of us. I love it.

Happy Valentine's Day

art in our bedroom

I'll be eating happy pink cookies and loving on the special people in my life today.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7

A very happy Valentine's Day to you!

Weekending.

I feel like we should have had a slow and relaxing weekend, but somehow I managed to fill it with a million things, not the least of which was laundry, baking, cleaning, and running errands to make sure everyone has everything that they need. When I say everyone, I mean me. And when I say everything, I mean that I have procured my preferred color of eye shadow, my preferred moisturizer, and my favorite dress from the cleaners. So maybe I'm being a little dramatic.

Friday being my day off, we met up with my friend Hailey and her sweet daughters for lunch at Chick Fil A. I got to know her while her husband was our student minister, and he has recently transitioned to pastor a church still near our city, so I've missed catching up with her! It was a fun time, and we decided we must do it again soon.

That evening after Mr. G finished work, we left for Dallas and some quick shopping at NorthPark and the PGA Superstore in Plano. The PGA Superstore is like Mr. G's NorthPark. It's his favorite store ev-er. Sadly for him, we got there only 30 minutes before they closed so we had to powershop. Think Supermarket Sweep and this was us in the PGA Superstore. {I am QUEEN of powershopping. Seriously gifted. }

I spent all day Saturday running around. Except for his naptime, my little guy was right beside me. Dry cleaning, haircut for the little man, picking up a gift for a friend, and making Valentine's for Jack's Sunday school teachers. By 7 PM, when B had asked twice: "Are we going to have supper?" I decided I might have gotten a little carried away.

Little Man with a Little Haircut
(It was his second.)

The Little Man's Valentine's
This week is one of my favorites of the year. I love pink and hearts and flowers and the whole nine yards. My office always does a special celebration on Valentine's Day, which makes it that much more fun.

I don't know if you watch Parks and Recreation (in my opinion, you should!), but according to Leslie Knope, today is Gal-entine's Day. So make sure and wish the special girlfriends in your life a Happy Gal-entine's Day! I'm going to lunch with one of mine, and dropping off a special Gal-entine present for another.

Have a great week!

Secret Family Recipe Revealed.

My weekending post will be up later today. I've been pondering being a working mother since Friday from all the of the clicking I did over at Kelly's blog. What I have to say is not ground breaking. It's simply a memory I have of my own working mother here at Valentine's Day. I thought it might help out some of you ladies short on time this evening.

My mom worked at the neighborhood elementary school I, and then my brother, attended. (We're 6 years apart.) Back in the day when children could have parties in school, one Valentine's Day I wanted to take treats at last minute. My mom marched into the grocery store, bought pre-made sugar cookies, then iced and decorated them. While you may think that's too semi-homemade, I thought it was brilliant.

I still do.

So on this day before Valentine's Day, I'm letting you in on the little secret family recipe. I still take these in to my Co-Workers every year for my "party at school." Feel free to make your own sugar cookies, use a mix, or just buy them pre-made in the store. Add a can of strawberry frosting and some of those Valentine hearts that will probably be picked off and tossed aside (at least, that's what I do with them.)

My mother (and dad too!) never missed a beat when it came to my brother and me. She was just "mom" to us, and I never gave a thought to whether she was working or not. Every year when I make these cookies, I'm taken back to a much simpler time in my life.

So if you're in a hurry tonight and need treats for tomorrow, you'll find this simple, delicious, and quite festive!

Show Us Your Life: Working Mama

Two linked up days in a row!

I'm linking up today with Kelly's Korner. Her Friday series "Show Us Your Life" features working mom bloggers, so I'm joining in the fun.

Hailey Erickson Photography
Hi, I'm Emily and thanks for stopping by! As a mom who works outside of the home, I have a lot of encouragement from my sweet friends and family, not the least of which is my wonderful husband who talks me down off the ledge when I get overwhelmed. In particular I'm reminded of the second Monday of January (the first one was a holiday) when I rolled over in bed and said, "I think I'm just going to take a vacation day and stay home." He reminded me that if I did it once, it would be too easy to do it every other Monday, and pretty soon I'd be out of vacation days.

When he's right, he's right, you know.

I should mention that this discussion took place at 4:30 AM, which is when I start my day. I commute across DFW which takes right at an hour one way. I'm in the office super early so I can get back home to my sweet, almost 1-year-old boy.

One of the sacrifices of working this schedule is being there in the morning to see my boy when he wakes up. He is always so, so happy in the morning, which I love. But I'm there by 5 to pick him up in the afternoon, so I get a full evening to play with him. It's my absolute joy, and at 4 PM I'm usually found sprinting to my car to get home. My favorite reason to work this schedule (9 hour days) is that I'm off every other Friday. It's worth it.

Some where in the middle of wifery, child-rearing, and working, we are heavily involved in serving the Lord through our church. That's our family here in our town, so we wouldn't have it any other way. I constantly find my nose in a book, even if it's just my default favorite Pride and Prejudice. And like other ladies, I take great pleasure in making my home a home and eating cookie dough. I excel at that last part, which is why I count my points.

So there you have it--my working-mother-life in a nutshell.

VIA

I found this image not long after I went back to work from maternity leave. It rings so true. I'm fairly convinced that I can do anything I want. I have so many great encouragers cheering me along my way, and by the strength of the Lord, I'm making it {with a lot of prayer, very little sleep, and one diet coke a day.} But one thing I am always reminding myself is although I can do it all, I should not do it all. That helps me guard the precious time I have with my husband and son.

Speaking of precious time, I'm off to enjoy my Friday at home and a fun Valentine's Day weekend with my guys. Have a great weekend!

Our Love Story.

I love celebrating love in the month of February. It's just so sweet. I've seen several other bloggers link up at From Mrs. to Mama to share their love stories. I thought it was so appropriate for this week, so here we go.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Mr. G and I've been together since December, 2003. He asked me out on our first date the night before Thanksgiving that year. He took me to a Michael W. Smith Christmas concert. It was awesome. So that makes 9 years. WOW!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met through our mutual friend Amy, who went to church with Mr. G and was the sister of my college friend Sherry. She had told me about him for a while and finally arranged an Aggie football watching party so we could meet up. {Note: If you have single friends and you keep telling them, "Oh you really need to meet so-and-so," it's a good idea to follow through with that. It was a success in this situation.}

We exchanged e-mails for a while, spent long nights on the phone, dated from about 50 miles apart, and got engaged on February 11, 2005. It was one of the happiest times in our lives, this falling in love. Random: we discovered that we lived in dorms right next to each other in rooms that faced each other during our sophomore year of college. We even had mutual friends, but never met at school. The year we lived literally yards from one another was the year Bonfire fell, and there were 43,000 students enrolled at A&M.

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We married on July 16, 2005, so I've been Mrs. Gentry for 6 and a half years.

Pre-digital wedding photos.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We were married in my hometown at First Baptist. The reception followed on the campus of our local college in the Arts and Sciences Center. My cake was pink, and I do mean pink.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We're pretty normal. Nothing more exotic that sweetie or babe around our house.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

He loves the Lord. He is thoughtful, as in, his opinions are always well thought out, as well as in general he's just thoughtful toward me. He is so kind and an awesome dad. And he does my math for me, which is why there are 5 things listed here.


7. Tell us how he proposed?

He proposed 3 days before Valentine's Day. I was completely unsuspecting. After picking me up in a limo, we were carried to the exact spot where he first told me he loved me at Thanksgiving Square in downtown Dallas. It was wonderful. It was perfect.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

I would say he's a "get whatever I am hinting about kinda guy," because he is smart. But I also usually receive flowers.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Since there are not many beaches around north Texas, most nights I'm a pop in a movie kinda girl. But I would take the beach over the mountains any day of the year.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

We love vacationing. I mean, who doesn't? But really, I'm looking forward to retiring and spend all day, every day with him. (Poor Mr. G.) The first day back at work from vacation, I'm always missing him.


11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

This Valentine's Day, his parents are coming to keep our sweet boy while we run to the restaurant that's become our Valentine's Day tradition. Nothing fancy, no reservations required, but we eat there every year. Last year we were only 12 days out from meeting our boy. This time of year has become especially dear to us now.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

I've dropped a few not-so-subtle hints. We'll see if he picked up on them. He's getting a golf bag because his not-cart one (not sure what it's called) broke. (Shhhh. Don't tell. And I only know the cart bag is called a cart bag because he asked for it for Christmas a couple of years ago.)

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Place the Lord at the center of your marriage. He is love. When you are focused on Him, your behavior toward your significant other (and everyone!) is more grace-filled and understanding.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Happy Pink Cookies.

I love to bake this time of year, but I pretty much only stick to pink cookies. The chocolate chip bar cookies I made over the weekend were just to give some chocolate variety. But those pink cookies? They are delicious! And strawberry! And made from every woman's secret homemaking weapon...the boxed cake mix.


You've probably had these before. They taste great from a chocolate cake mix, but my favorite is strawberry, which is what those happy pink cookies all in a row up there are made from. If you use a cherry cake mix, they taste similar to Collin Street Bakery cherry ice box cookies (that's my hometown, world-famous bakery), and they're also pink.

{Yay, pink.}

Cake Mix Cookies
1 (18.25 oz.) box of your preferred flavor cake mix
1 egg
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. I used parchment for the first time ever to bake these, and I wanted to hug the genius who invented it. They bake for around 15 minutes. Mine made about 2 dozen so I grabbed a second box and made more.

An often forgotten about, super easy, perfect for Valentine's Day recipe to make. YUM.

Weekending, one day late.

Like I mentioned on Thursday, Jack spent the weekend with my parents since we were busy with D-Now this past weekend. Due to that fact, I took a planned vacation day yesterday to spend time with him. We sat in the floor and rolled a ball, grocery shopped, ordered a 1st birthday cake (oh my), and mailed birthday invitations. Oh, and we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It." He has the clapping part down, which is adorable.

But back to the weekend! I also took off early on Friday to pack up my little Valentine and meet my mom to drop him off.


I spent a good part of the evening baking up a storm. Strawberry cookies and chocolate chip bar cookies to drop off at the home where my seniors were spending the weekend. Banana bread to drop by the home of some new parents. I accidentally didn't ever sign up to take supper by, but I thought banana bread for snacking would be a nice treat.



We spent the rest of the weekend chasing teenagers around. The bulk of Saturday was spent at a service project where the students painted two hallways at a night shelter. In fact, our 80+ students were spread out all over DFW doing all sorts of service projects. It was a great weekend, not just because of their service, but for the commitments they made to the Lord through the True Love Waits movement.

Sunday was of course the Super Bowl where I chased our kiddo around and visited with friends. I didn't see Gisele on TV, and I don't remember any great commercials. Who even played? But I had fun regardless.

I have a three day work week before my Friday off. It's sure to be hectic, but c'est la vie!

D.E.A.R.

via
We didn't call it drop everything and read time at my elementary school, but I wish we had because I'm a sucker for cutesy acronymns. I did a lot of reading, regardless. My first chapter books were the Little House series, and I still remember my first grade teacher marching me down to the library to check out the first one because I gone through all of her readers. Right now I'm going through Pride and Prejudice again because it's my default. (Jane has just found out that Caroline and Mr. Darcy have convinced Mr. Bingley to go back to town. So tragic.) I need something new. That's where you come in!

What are you reading, and do you recommend it?

Today is a day for list making.

I have something like 4 lists going right now: housework, packing, to-do, plus this one. (See how I just included a list of lists in the count of lists? OOC.) This weekend is Disciple Now at our church, and while we're not hosting kids at our home this year, we'll be heavily involved in driving them around, delivering food, and all kinds of fun things. Really, there is no telling what will happen when teenagers are involved.

Last year, I was in active labor when I showed up for the Friday night events, then delivered a baby the next day. D-Now is a few weeks earlier this year, but nonetheless it's giving me waves of nostalgia. This weekend Jack is visiting my parents (hence, the packing list) so Mr. G and I are free to run around and be out late for all the fun stuff. I know my boy will be in good hands, but I will miss him!

Lacking a good transition, I submit unto you a list of random Thursday thoughts/items:

• If you use Google Reader (and you probably already know this), you can hit the "j" key to skip down to the next post in your list. You can hit "k" to jump back up. I was pondering yesterday how much I enjoy this feature because it allows you to jump quickly through a blog post that is a. too long, b. doesn't apply to you on this day, or c. boring. If you continue to hit "j" for the same blog everyday, it might be time to edit your subscriptions. (This is not an invitation to unsubscribe from me, however. Please and thank you?)


• I am receiving spam text messages. As much as I would love to claim my $100 reward certificate from the anonymous 1-800 number in the most recent text I received, somehow I don't feel like that will end well. I'm on the national do not call list, so I'm not sure what else to do. Suggestions are welcome.


• Speaking of texting, data, and the like, I achieved top 5% status of AT&T's data usage in January. While I think this is fairly impressive, AT&T does not. I have unlimited data, but at reduced speeds if I hit that threshold again. Surely I'm not in a class all to myself. Are you also the 5%?


• I went to the Gilt City Warehouse Sale last weekend with my mom. It stressed me out and reminded me of why I pay retail and also enjoy online shopping so much. I don't do well in snatchy grabby situations, even when there are designer goods at stake, however I did score a cute handbag in this particular instance.

That's all I've got. Have a great Thursday!

Marriage Matters Month & Printable

This month being February and traditionally a month of love, our church is kicking off a series on Marriage Matters. God blesses me so much through B, so I love this. We just got our monthly church newsletter and in it are suggested ideas for couples to think about strengthening their marriage. Included are reminiscing when you first fell in love, ideas to appreciate your spouse, planning a date for V-Day, etc. These kinds of things are my jam, and thus, I'm terribly, terribly excited.

{Apologies in advance to Mr. G for my forthcoming cheesiness.}

One of the things mentioned to do were to list the reasons "I love you because..." This immediately reminded me of Sarah's super cute blog that I found after following her on Twitter.




via Life Sweet Life
Sarah has provided a free printable here for you to create your very own "I love you because" message board! She placed it out there in multiple colors, so surely there is one for any decor. This idea is brilliant for your February love notes, and perfect to keep out all year round. You print it out, frame it, and write on the glass with a dry erase marker. Super easy!

As for me, I'm printing out the grey one for a gaudy gold frame (it's what I do best) near the door we go in and out of most. Three cheers for a simple, cute, and fun way to help build up our spouses. Thanks, Sarah!