Happies

1. I got a little break from work this week, and as much as I love my job, I think it was needed. I was feeling super busy all the time! This week gave me some time to wind down and focus on some stuff around my house instead.
2. I went and visited with my grandparents on Tuesday afternoon and it was great! Growing up, I would only get to see them once (twice if I was lucky) a year, and I missed them terribly. As much as I would say that I wanted to live near them when I grew up, we all never really imagined that it would happen. I'm so glad that I can go and see them whenever I want now, and it makes not being able to see my parents and siblings that much more bearable!
3. Today I'm going to get myself an iced latte, go shopping with a gift card, and then hang out with my sister-in-law! That sounds like a pretty great day to me!
4. Also, can't forget to mention the eighty degree weather we've been having this week! It's been so nice, my trees are leafing out, everything is green, and it smells like summer. Some years it takes almost until July for the weather to start feeling like this, but this spring has been amazing so far!
5. One more thing, that I almost forgot to mention, I made my goal weight loss for the month! (four days early too!) I'm now only five pounds away from reaching my goal weight! That will put me at the weight I was when I got married, and it's been about four and a half years since I've seen that number. Now I just have to stay focused and keep eating right and working out, and I'm sure I'll see that number in no time.

Yay for sunshine!

Crappies

1. My dog was running as fast as he could around my yard yesterday (which, for those of you that don't know border collies, that's very fast!), and he ran right into my foot as I was walking by! I have giant bruise on the top of my foot now and it hurts when I move it. This is the second time he's done this to me in the year I've had him, and I am not amused!
2. My in-laws went out of town on a two week vacation, and even though it was much deserved on their end, and they're keeping in touch by email, I'm missing them! Kind of a weak crappy, but a crappy nonetheless. Two weeks is longer than we usually go without seeing them, but I'm glad they're having a good time on their trip.

Well, I'm always glad for weeks that are more good than bad!

I hope you all have a happy Friday, and a great weekend!

P.S.-Don't forget to enter for your chance to win an LED Tooth Whitening System!

Okay, it's confession time people. If you're one of my friends, you probably already know this, but if not, let me inform you.

I do not like my teeth!

I've kind of gotten used to them over the years, but they are the one constant thing that I've disliked about myself since I was a little kid. They are crooked, a little chipped, and I have one of those gaps between my front teeth that you don't see very often on adults. Because most people get braces!

And trust me, if they weren't so darn expensive, I'd have them already.  Dane and I always joke about how terrible our children's teeth are going to be (let's just say that he may or may not have had to wear head gear), and I always say that I've got dibs on getting braces first, ha!

So, since I can't have straight teeth, I have to make them look as nice as possible, by making them as white as possible! Nothing is worse than having crooked and yellow teeth!

I am an avid coffee drinker, so even though I always use whitening toothpastes, it's a bit of a challenge to keep my teeth from yellowing. So, imagine how excited I was when I got the opportunity to try out the Smile Brilliant LED System!

Let me just say, this product is awesome! I noticed a difference almost immediately, and by the second time I could tell that it was really working great! Plus, it doesn't take hours and hours. You can pop it in for twenty minutes at a time, and you can use it every single day. It's like professional whitening, but at home!



So, obviously I love it. And one of you will too, because the lovely people at Smile Brilliant are letting me give one away! You'll get the same set I used, which includes:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring is here in full force these days, and if it were just a few degrees warmer I would say summer was on its way in! We had a wet spell for a while that really "greened" everything up, and now the sun is out so we can enjoy it!

I have a bit of a break this week from work, which is much more appreciated when I've been working a lot. I have quite a bit planned to get done this week, but it feels much more relaxed because I can do it all at my own pace.

This afternoon I decided to go to the park and get some use out of my camera (like I've said I was going to for weeks now). It was the perfect day for it, even if I could have waited until later when the light would have been better. I was able to get several shots that I was really happy with, and it is so apparent that we are in that sweet spot of spring.

Also, after I took these, I remembered that today is Earth Day, so it seemed only fitting that I share them with you all! I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all get a chance to enjoy nature today, whatever the weather may be where you are.

P.S.- What do you all think of the (second) new look?

When I first started this blog, it was because I wanted to get back into writing. I loved to write in school, and I always had this dream of becoming a writer. After graduating though, I let it all go by the wayside, and I didn't write anything for a long, long time. I don't think I realized how much I missed it until I started again, and I've been having so much fun with it!

Since I've gotten more into this whole blogging thing though, I've noticed my interest is being pulled in another direction. Something that I think I would really love to get into.

I'm talking about graphic/blog design! I love things that look pretty, and when I see some people's blogs, I am just so curious about how it was created! Not that I want to copy what anyone else has, but there are just so many cool things you can do to make your space unique.

After poking around a bit, I realized the source of most of this awesomeness is Photoshop (duh). But, you see, I can't really afford Photoshop. If I thought I was going to be able to make money off of using it, then I would invest, but that's not something I see happening anytime soon, if ever.

Luckily, I found something for poor little girls like me, and that would be pixlr. I'm sure a lot of you probably know what I'm talking about, because it is the coolest thing ever. You get the professionalism of Photoshop, with an even better price tag! In case you were wondering, that price tag is free.



I'm sure that overall, Photoshop probably runs circles around pixlr, especially in it's newer editions, but I'm really loving it anyway! There are a lot of things you can do, and I'm having a blast messing around and editing graphics. I would love to re-design the whole look of my blog to make it more custom, but there's still a lot I don't know yet. I'm definitely working on it though, and I hope to have a new look sooner rather than later.

So, if you're looking for a good place to edit photos, I would definitely recommend you check it out!

I'm Molly Mae, the voice over at MaeLiveFree, and I'm pretty excited to offer up some grade-A embarrassing story over here today! Lucky for me, and you, it's a love story too. This guest appearance came about in competition (which is actually pretty typical of me and Amy, as are embarrassing stories really). When I recommended choice literature for her to read, and then noticed that she was as unmotivated to read it as I was I said, "Hey, let's say whoever finishes first does a post for the other?" She agreed.

Amy and I go a long way back! We met on my second day of school in Marsing, that little town in Idaho she loves, when we were ten year olds. She was my first best friend in that new school. Then my nemesis, and back and forth it went all the way to graduation. We were pretty similar, both oldest siblings, both loved reading and singing cheesy pop music, both highly opinionated, both royal pains I'm sure as well... We could have been a great pair of friends if we didn't insist on butting heads, and when we were, we were. For some reason though, we couldn't resist a little competition. During the times we got along we had a lot of fun, like at our 8th grade basketball season end party (it's still weird that I ever played basketball) when we were in this weird and apparently hilarious competition of offensive and non-sensical words with Cera and Danielle at a Chinese restaurant. We've also witnessed some embarrassing moments of each other's.  Like me tripping up the stairs at the basketball game we went to at the same party, and tearing my shin up. Or when Amy forgot the words to her solo at one of our Christmas concerts... In the spirit of our history, and her penchants for sharing embarrassing stories here that's what I want to share with you (her awesome readers) today.

On June 7, 2009, I met this random stranger of a guy on facebook (Myspace was losing steam). He sent me a friend request and I accepted just so I could look at his private profile and write him off as a creep...and instead my curiosity was piqued. I thought there was a really good chance that I could love him. Crazy, I know. Especially considering I had just broken off my engagement with my high school sweetheart. Even more so because I had decided that I was really thrilled at the prospect of self-exploration. I told my mom maybe the DAY BEFORE that I would never date someone I met on the internet...then he showed up. It was the worst timing for romance too! My dad had just moved out, and my great grandma was in bad shape with dementia in a nursing home. But for some reason I felt so compelled to know this guy, so I called him out, and messaged him saying that we could be friends as long as he actually wanted to socialize. He thought my initiative was charming and eloquent, so we started talking, via message and text, and I knew I was in trouble! We texted almost non-stop for two days, he stayed up late to talk to me while I stayed up for 64 hours straight in the nursing home leading up to my grandma's passing. Then we decided to meet. He drove 26 miles to pick me up for our first date (I didn't have a car or license at 19!) and when I let him in the door my heart hit the roof. I KNEW that he was my life from that moment on, it was like I'd been hit by a speeding train, and that he had a specific gravitational pull that affected only me. It was the craziest. When we got in his truck he said I smelled delicious and I giggled because my perfume was DKNY Be Delicious.


Fast forward through half a day spent at his apartment just talking like old friends and watching a movie...I meet his roomate, and then his best friend and his girlfriend. The two latter, this fella, and myself decide to go out to his favorite sushi restaurant for dinner. I'm equal parts excited and mortified. I had always wanted to try sushi, but I wasn't the biggest fan of seafood. So off we went in his truck, onto the freeway, when he realized he forgot his wallet. His best friend laughed and remarked on how common that was, and we exited to go back and get it. We arrive at the sushi restaurant and the gentlemen proceed to do the ordering, they know what's good, I trust them. The sushi arrives and we share 4 rolls. Thing to note: I've never REALLY used chopsticks before, so they give me a lesson. I managed to grab a piece of the Spicy Hawaiian roll and bring it to my mouth. Everyone is talking and carrying on, and I'm trying to figure out how to eat it without looking gross or stupid because it's huge! I decide to bite off half of it and the whole thing starts crumbling like a old house being demolished. My mouth is full, and I'm helpless, and suddenly all eyes are on me... I quickly bring my free hand up to cover my mouth and attempt to chew and push the rest into my mouth while they are looking at me: one smugly, one laughing, and one acting like nothing is happening. The latter being my date thank God, he doesn't seem like I've embarrassed him. The good news is that it was delicious, and also that it wasn't the last date like I feared.

We were pretty much inseparable after that first date, I practically lived at his apartment at least half of the week until I did move in, in October. Somewhere in that still-dating-and-not-yet-one-hundred-percent-comfortable stage we were out at KFC eating lunch, those bowls with mashed potatoes, corn, chicken, cheese, and gravy AKA failure piles in a sadness bowl (forgive the strong language, but watch it, do it). We were sitting in a booth, facing each other, and talking about something that I was apparently excited about and I had set my plastic spork down in the bowl to talk with my hands. Are you starting to see the danger here? No, read on...at some point my hand started to come down, hovering somewhere above the spork for a split second (imagine this scene in slow motion, it's best) before coming down and scattering flinging the heck out of mashed potatoes all over me, my face, the table, and probably across the restaurant, but none on my laughing boyfriend. Some guys might have up and run out on a girl then, or grabbed me and got me out of there fast, but he didn't. If I hadn't already known he was the one, I would have learned it then.

As if those two ugly faced, slobby food scenarios weren't bad enough, things like this happen with me all the time...dipping my hair in farina, slopping coffee all over my face and chest, dropping a glob of ketchup on my swaddled nursing newborn, etc. Even today! After spending 10 minutes hand grinding coffee beans for my aeropress coffee, I set out to remove the bottom canister of the hand grinder and dropped the grounds all over the floor. This time my now husband was covered in my shame as well, standing a little too close when it happened.

I'm lucky to have such a soul to witness my awkward encounters though, and reminded of this everyday. He wrote in his wedding vows that it wasn't despite things like me flinging mashed potatoes in my face that he loved me, but because of them. If that's not a victory for the grace challenged like myself, then I don't know what is.


Thanks for having me here! Maybe I'll see you around my corner of the internet sometime. ;)

Happies

1. I woke up to sunshine this morning, and in my opinion, there is just nothing better than a beautiful, sunny Friday! Gets my weekend started off on the right foot. 
2. People are starting to notice that I've lost weight! It takes a little while after I start noticing before other people do too, but it's such a nice boost to hear it when they do. It gives me some extra motivation!
3. Like I mentioned on Wednesday, I got a really great opportunity! Now, I will tell you that it is a product review, but I won't tell you what for. I'm super excited about it though, and like I said, it may or may not be coming with my very first giveaway. So keep an eye out for that, because it will be coming soon!
4. I discovered that I pretty much rock at SuperMario Kart for the Wii! Ok, well maybe I don't completely rock, but I did get the most points out of the group (the group being me, Dane, and a friend of ours). It was a lot of fun, and it was a nice middle-of-the-week breather. It's not very often these days that we hang out with friends during the week, and I would like to change that.
5. Pear Blossom is tomorrow! (That would be my race) I'm excited, but it starts at seven in the morning, so I have to be up early! It will be good though, and I'm hoping that I get a decent time. (And by decent, I mean I hope I beat the walkers, that's how slow I am!)

Crappies

1. My hair is needing a trim in a bad way! I have so many split ends, that it's not even funny. But, being the over spender that I am, I spent my extra money for the month already. And yes, I know we're not even quite half way through! So, I will either have to do a trade (which I probably could because my friend does my hair) or I will have to wait until next month. Hello two weeks of buns! 
2. Before my 5k tomorrow (!) I have to go get registered today. To do this, I need a postcard that they mail to me, and I usually get it a few days before registration day. Well, last night it dawned on me that I haven't gotten it yet! I'm waiting to check my mail before I go, and I'm hoping I get it today. This is the fourth year in a row I've ran in one of this festival's races, and there hasn't ever been a problem, so hopefully it isn't too big of a pain.
3. Right now, I still haven't worked out, or showered, or done anything I needed to this morning, and I still have to take my honey his lunch before I drive several towns over to get my race registration packet. So I probably should go, and wish you all a very happy weekend! 

As some of you may or may not have noticed, I added Dane's and my love story to my pages. Because I'm sure you were all waiting on pins and needles for it! I actually really enjoy reading about other people's love stories. How they met, what all went down. There are some really sweet ones out there! So, if you're interested in reading about how an Idaho girl fell in love with an Oregon boy, check it out.

In honor of me finally posting that, I wanted to share another special gem with you all! It's the story of the most unforgettable anniversary we've ever had! (And not for the reasons some of you may be thinking).

It was our second wedding anniversary. We decided to stay close to home, and just go out for a romantic dinner. We chose a restaurant a little further away than normal, and a little more expensive too!

Fun fact, it was so expensive that I decided to buy the gift card pack from Costco. Yeah.

I remember really looking forward to it, because even though we went on date nights a lot, I'd heard a lot of good things about the restaurant. You could even buy cigars from them and smoke on the deck off of the lounge! If that is not the epitome of classiness, I just don't know what is.

For the most part, everything was going great! The food was delicious, and since I had gotten a 20% savings on the gift card, we decided to order appetizers, as well as entrees. Big spenders over here, look out! As a result, we decided to opt out of dessert. Fast forward to the end of our meal (where I had finished off ALL of my food), and the staff decided to surprise us! In honor of our anniversary, they gave us a free dessert. It even came with a little card, signed by all of them. It was very sweet!

The dessert was just as good as the rest of the food. It was a delicious peach cobbler, with cinnamon and nutmeg. So, so good. So good, that I didn't stop eating, even though I was so stuffed! This was the start of my problem.

After we finished, we left the restaurant. I remember feeling like I hadn't ate that much food in a long, long time. And that I probably didn't need to eat ever again! We were both in minor food comas, and we just wanted to go home and go to bed. Just a few minutes after we started driving, it happened.

"It" would be the weirdest burp/cough thing in the world, which resulted in my vomiting all over myself!

I was horrified! And covered. My hands, my lap, my purse. All covered in regurgitated peach cobbler.

I'm sure you are wondering what exactly in the world happened, so let me explain. Dane likes to make fun of me and say that I over ate to the point of throwing up, but I don't think that was  know that wasn't the case!

We've all had that moment where you burp after a meal, and a little bit comes up into your throat. Don't act like you've never done it. It is so gross, and super unpleasant when it happens! Body fluids are supposed to stay in their designated spot, darn it!

So, this was just that. Whenever I burped, I felt some of that dessert start to come up with it! In that same split second, before I could do anything to stop it, I coughed! That projected everything that was in my throat, up into my mouth! It happened so fast, that there was no time for me to try to control anything!

You can only imagine how disgusting it was. Here I am, covered in my own vomit, gagging, nothing to clean up with, and the car was filled with the smell! Puke and nutmeg. Obviously it took a while to be able to eat nutmeg again.

Dane was freaking out, and so was I. It was a very miserable 30 minute drive home. It was cold, so I wanted the heater on. Which only pushed the smell right at us (and you would think it couldn't have smelled any worse!), so Dane had the windows rolled down. We were both so miserable!

Needless to say, it did not turn out to be the romantic night I envisioned, but it does make for one heck of a story! Hopefully my misery has made you laugh, because that's the only thing that makes these kinds of stories worth it!

And, for the sake of everyone, always burp with care!

One more quick note! I recently had a great opportunity come my way, that I'm so excited to share with you all! It may or may not even come with a giveaway.....
So keep on the look out for it in the near future! 

Happies

1. As much as I miss being with my family in Idaho, it's really nice to be back home! Sometimes it's hard to feel like home is two different places, but I'm happy that I can be happy at both.
2. I have been working tons this week. I don't think I've had a busier work week since I started at the school! It's been a lot of fun though, and I'm really enjoying it. (plus, it's really nice to hear everyday how appreciated I am, by the students and teachers alike!)
3. This weekend I will be working on my garden. I'll be planting some hydrangea bushes, and maybe a few other things. Then, Dane and our neighbors are finally going to take care of the eye sore that is our side bed/weed patch next to the driveway! The neighbors have some dogwoods, so they offered to help plant them there as a bit of a privacy barrier. Our yard should be looking fantastic by the end of the weekend! 
4. I tried out a delicious brownie recipe this week, and by tried, I mean I ate way too many! But I'm justifying it to myself because they were "healthy." They were whole wheat, and made with agave syrup instead of sugar. There was a lot of cocoa powder, so it almost had a flourless cake texture going on. I may share the recipe soon, because they were very good!

Crappies

1. My house is still a hot mess from my being gone! Being so busy has meant that I've only done the bare minimum. I guess house work will be on the list of things to do this weekend as well.
2. Time management has really been on my mind lately, mostly because I'm always running late and being late to everything! I didn't use to be this way, and I'm not sure why it started, but this last year or so has been terrible. I've started noticing a direct link between my nerves/anxiety and when I'm frantically rushing because I'm running behind. It happens pretty much everyday, and even thinking about it starts to make me feel stressed! I'm so over it, I'm going to have to figure out a plan to stop. No more running late for this girl!

Happy Friday, and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 

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