Fun Stuff!

So my mother-in-law and I started our Christmas shopping together this weekend. I saw these, and I fell in LOVE with them! When I have a baby girl, I want them in every style! I bought a black pair for my new little cousin Jolee for Christmas. because every girl needs black stillettos! You can find them here!

























This I just thought was clever. It's a ceramic vase that looks remarkably just like a paper bag! I think it could be a versatile decorating piece, and I want the small one. You can find it here.

















I was smitten with this gift... It's a smitten, a mitten for two. There are two normal mittens, and a mitten to share, so you can hold hands and keep warm. You can find it here. Happy Christmas shopping everyone!

Cleaning my bathroom in heels... thats how I roll!

Let me preface this blog by saying that Thursday was absolutely terrible. One of my professors does not like me, and with my luck I happen to have her as a clinical instructor too. I let her know one of my weaknesses, and instead of helping me, she used it against me. Thank goodness this semester is almost over.

Today was better. Praise God for that. Christmas is coming, and that is my favorite time of year. I think we might attempt to put up some decorations this weekend.

Rumor has it that sales are starting, and I headed out to look today. Linens and Things is having a going out of business sale, but I didn't find anything. I bought a couple of tank tops at Old Navy for $5 each, and these shoes at Target. They are red patent loafers with a heel, and best of all they are comfortable. I think they look festive, right!?!

New product Review: Srubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber

I liked this product a lot! It worked great on my tiled shower walls, and on the tub. And this may make me sound weird, but I used it on the floor too. My bathroom is really small, and even though the floor looked clean, I went ahead and cleaned a small secion with this, and boy was I shocked. My floor literally shined. So obviously I cleaned the rest of it too:) Use this link to print a coupon for $2.75 off your Action Scrubber purchase!

Dinner tonight

I did NOT get a good nights sleep last night. I felt fine when I went to bed, but sometime in the night my stomach started hurting. It hurt so bad that I kept dreaming about it, and it would wake me up. The thing was that it was a weird kind of hurt in a weird spot. It was my upper abdomen that hurt, it was a dull achy new sort of pain, and my stomach was kinda swollen. Really weird. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very much, and I skipped the one class that I have on Tuesdays.

On a different note, I tried something new for dinner tonight. Since I didn't, and don't for that matter, feel so hot I threw together one of the new Bertolli frozen dinners. We had the cheese ravioli one. They sell in the grocery store for about $8, and I don't think it was worth that much. The only reason we had it was that it was on sale, and that I had a coupon. So for about $4 it was an easy quick dinner.

Link for the coupon: http://www.bertollinightsin.com/coupon.aspx

Fall update

I so would like to blog every day, but it just doesn't seem to happen....

Updates:

The semester is almost over. That is amazing because it means that I am 1/4 of the way finished with nursing school. Bad because I only have a few weeks to make sure my grades are up to par.

Married life is phenomenal. Clay is my best friend. We get each other. Really, really get each other, like nobody else can.

Admitedly I have the baby fever. Instead of eyeing Jimmy Choo's, I eye Pottery Barn baby furniture. Clay says he thinks we will have at least one baby before I graduate.....

Church has been a real blessing lately. We have been going to the Young Married/Parents of Pre-Schoolers Sunday School class, and I have been going to a women's class on Wednesdays called Keepers of the Home. LOVE<>

Another blessing lately has been Mitzi. She teaches my Keepers of the Home class, and I think she is great! I babysat for her one day last week, and got to know her a little better too. She is a really great godly wife and mother, and a great example for a newlywed such as myself.

Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn is my lab partner, and so much more, She is the reason I haven't given up on school this semester. She reminds me of what I need t do, and helps me every step of the way. She even made me promise her that if I get pregnant that I won't drop out and leave her alone. How is that for accountability!?!

Life is rockin lately. Sorry for the lack of pics in my post. I will try and do better. Promise:)

My Sassy Bella Girl

So my friends have kids, and I have.... Bella. I decided I wanted a dog when I was about to move into my first apartment. I had lived with my parents, with a boyfriend, and in the college dorms, but never all alone. My parents had owned dachshunds and I knew I liked them, and one of my favorite patients had just bought one, so I went to her breeder. I called her and told her that I was about to live by myself for the first time, and that I was looking for a new best friend. When I arrived at her house, I had a pen full of about 10 puppies to choose from. The boys were quickly eliminated leaving the baby girls. I limited them down to two- a fat little red one that looked like my mom's Ladybug, and a tiny dapple, the runt of all runts, that seemed so sweet. When I told the breeder my decision, she told me that I was the only person that she had offered the tiny dapple to, and that she had planned on keeping her and breeding her because of her coloring and her small size. She only offered her to me because she was a loner, and didn't play with the other puppies too often, so she thought she might be good for a young, single girl in college. So that is the story... of how I got my girl. These are the most recent Bella pics!




Her favorite toy is a squeaky soccer ball. That makes my soccer-player husband happy!

I tried to show her different-colored eyes.

I feel like she looks puppyish here.

Sleepy little girl is just waking up from a nap.

Huh? What?

Thinking back 1 or 2 years ago, I was a completely different person. I was independent, debt-free, organized, confident, pretty, thinner, .... I worked full-time for hospice, I went to school (barely studied and still got good grades), on-again off-again with a guy that I didn't really care about, and I spent time with all my friends all the time. My house was on of our hangouts, and it wouldn't be crazy to walk in and find 5 or six people playing video games in my living room and 3 or 4 in my kitchen cooking. I was a part of all these different groups. There were the sorority friends, the frat guy friends, the church friends, the school friends, the work friends, and the hometown group. I fit in with every single group, and I had my place in each one.

Now I feel lonely, kinda. Don't get me wrong, Clay is amazing! I just need more. All I do is go to school, and stay home with Clay. We go out occasionally with Shae and Tyler, but that's pretty much it.

I don't have groups anymore. I am taking a class at church, and I thought that I would might make friends there, but that hasn't worked. There are a few people in Clay's family that could possibly be friends one day, but they are only there right now when it's convenient for them or when they need me. I tried hanging out with the video game crowd, and it wasn't for me either. I have friends at school, but they are just friends at school, and not outside.

I just feel like I have to find my place in this new life I have.

Wedding!!!

Our wedding was Saturday, September 20, 2008. In the days right before the wedding the arguing and tension cleared up and gave way to excitement and anticipation. I don't want to forget anything.... yet I don't know what to write.

My maid-of-honor Shae and I stayed up all night the night before the wedding doing last-minute stuff. We were silly sleepy, and got about two hours sleep. We made pretty, pretty flowers that could not have been better if we had spent thousands at the florist. I wasn't sleepy the day of the wedding, and it surely must have been adrenaline.

I loved my hair. It took forever, and wasn't what I had originally wanted but it was great. It was big, like Hairspray big. I stumbled across these vintage bobby pins with black bows on them the day before the wedding, and they held back my pin curls. My bridesmaids were really helpful and really sweet. They answered my phone, painted my toenails, put on my makeup, helped me go to the bathroom, put on my bra, and did just about everything that I needed or wanted.

The photographer was intimidated by Janae takin pictures, and kinda gave up. Which I kinda find funny.

When we arrived at the venue, my dad opened the door for me and my mom, and she didn't recognize him! He got teary and told me I was pretty, which made me cry the first time of the day. Everyone ate Taco Bell tacos before the wedding b/c they were all hungry. Raven and Mia chased each other in the hallway until they were both sweaty. Clay got me a wish box that plays a song. We both wrote wishes last night.

He was nervous, I could tell as I was peeking out of the froyer. Mia didn't throw down an flowers, she just ran to her Daddy who was a groomsman. Raven ran out of flowers before she reached the end. My Daddy made me cry again when he gave me away. My handkerchief was in my bra. My hands were shakey, really shakey. Clay kept asking me if I was okay. My feet hurt because I insisted on wearing some really high polka dot heels during the ceremony. Afterwards I wore polka dotted Converse. My Daddy danced with me until we both got tired half way throught he song. My mom laughed at him for wanting a fast song.

Big emotional moments were talking with the pastor and his family that I were at my church when I was a little girl. I loved them so much, and even though I haven't seen them in forever, I think about them all the time. Their sons are like little brothers to me. I still have this gum wrapper in my Bible that the pastor's wife LaDonna wrote me a note on when i was like 8 or 9. She taught me how to study the Bible, and to hide it in my heart. <3

Next one was my Brooke. The photographer was trying to corrall us all and take family pictures when I saw her. I just walked off and found her and cryed and cryed and cryed. I love her so much. Like seriously next to my husband, she is the most imortant person in the world to me and always will be. She kept saying please don't, please don't, please don't cry. But I bought out the ugly cry, and let go. I really love her with all my heart. I'm so glad she was there. It helped make my day.

Afer we left the wedding, Janae took pictures of us downtown, and they have turned ot amazing so far. I don't know what it is about those smelly gross bridges that look so cute in pictures, but they work!

Here are a few wedding pics:

Shad tying Clint's tie

My groom with my wedding ring on his pinky

Clay with two of his groomsmen

Clay with all his groomsmen- Justin looks the most into this pic. He is workin it.

My Daddy made these signs for me, and I painted them. You can see the guys horsing around in the background.

Suprise, suprise!!!

So last night was another one of those nights..... I stayed up all night studying. I drank two pots of coffee, and then threw up. *Note to self- If you are gonna drink that much coffee to stay awake, then eat something to prevent throwing up coffee:) The good news is that I feel amazingly confident for my test. It is over 7 chapters, all of which I have thouroughly studied. I have taken online practice tests over and over until I can asily get 100's on all of them , and rationalize the wrong answers as well. I think I'm ready. Thank you Lord!

Rocky Road, but not the ice cream

Again tonight I find myself wanting the wedding to be over. Clay and I are fighting like crazy over stupid stuff.

I had just talked with the girl that is gonna do my hair for the wedding. She and I had discussed plans, and the plan was that she is going to meet us at the place we are getting ready at 9:00am, and since we have to be at the venue at noon, that only leaves us 3 hours for hair and makeup. Obviously my hair is the first priority, and then my mom's, and then the three bridesmaids. Well as soon as I get off the phone with her. Clay calls his mom, and tells her that she should come over there too. Seriously! She probably isn't gonna have time to even do the bridesmaids hair, and Clay is sending in more people.

I wasn't do much mad at what he did, but just mad that he keeps doing stuff without asking me. I hope this isn't a forecast into our marriage....

I'm done wih it all.

I'm done with it. All of it. I'm tired of - wedding. I'm tired of my house being messy, and my dining room being covered in wedding crap. I'm tired of having to call my mom every few days for more money to pay for all the crap. I'm tired of my husband to be adding more people that I don't know or care about to our already overflowing guest list. I'm tired of his friends and co-workers thinking that they can bring 3 extra people with them. I'm tired of inviting everyone that works for his freaking company.

It's not what I wanted. I wanted to elope. That would have been special to me. It would have been just me and just him, and all the other stuff wouldn't be there.. Shad and Janae even said they would go with us to witnesses. Now I have a whole crowded room of people coming that I don't know or care about, and I want to pull my hair out. I'm not getting the intimate romantic wedding that I really want. It's making us fight.

And I'm sick. i have a super bad cold, and our wedding is 6 days away. Joy.

Ugghh!

No sleep. No seriously... none. I am admittedly behind in my classes. I would probably have to read 20 chapters collectively to be caught up where I should be. I have 3 assignments due tomorrow, and my first test of nursing school. I have done the assignments, and all I have left is to study. It's 2:30, which means that I literally will not go to sleep tonight. And tomorrow is my long day. Class from 8-5:30. And then a class at my church from 6-8:30.

Tear.

At least I'm getting caught up with my DVR while I am studying. Maybe I should make a pot of coffee....

My disorganization is getting the best of me as well. I didn't realize that I had so much to do today b/c I hadn't read the syllabus or written it down. Having a planner doesn't really help if I don't write my assignments in it! I started out proud of myself this morning because I actually made it to class on time, I was 15 minutes early to be exact. I walk into class, and Allie the girl that sits next to me said, "Did you go take the drug test?" Great.... We were suppossed to be at school at 8am to take a drug test. So I had to literally run to another building, hoping the whole time that I would be able to squeeze out enough pee to fill the cup. Doing the drug test made me 20 minutes late for my first class. Usual. I'm mad at myself right now.

My girl

I have a Brooke!

Brooke was/is my very best friend in the whole wide world. We met each other at a difficult time in my life. I had just suffered my first broken heart, I was in a town I didn't know, and I was all alone. I was depressed and near suicidal. She was just my lab partner, but she stepped up and took care of me. She brought me food, she made me shower, she tried to make me go to class. In the process, she became my best friend. She was my lifeline, she helped me decorate my first house, we played at the park on our lunch break, we got our nails done and tanned together, we got to know each others families, and we took the same classes.

And then last summer..... we broke up. She was in Maryland on an internship, and I was back here in Oklahoma. It was silly and stupid. I made her tell me what she thought about the guy I happened to be with at the time. She told me what she thought. I cried, and hung up the phone, and that was that. My best friend and I broke up over something so ridiculously stupid.

Over the past 4 months or so we have started communication again. Myspace messages, a mailed wedding invitation, texting.... and now I have my best friend back. I loved her the whole time, and I still claimed her as mine, but now it seems right again. Yesterday changed everything and now the hole where my right arm should be is filled once again.

And although she won't be in my wedding as I had envisioned all those years ago, she will be there with me in the audience, and I couldn't be happier.

What's red, white, and black all over?

I was awoken this morning to someone knocking at my door and my dog barking at them. It was the postman. And he was delivering, my wedding "flowers".

This is my bouquet:

These are loose button stems that I'm gonna mix with fresh red roses for my bridesmaids.

These are the boutonnieres for my groom and his groomsmen.

This is my mom's corsage.

Clay got a new blackberry today! He is super happy. And he kinda knows how to work it. Haha....

This afternoon we went to Petsmart and they were having adoption days. So, as you can expect, I fell in love. She was a seven year old strawberry-blonde dachshund named Trixie. And my mean fiancee wouldn't let me take her home with us. I cried and cried.... Well after we made up Clay explained that he really wanted a puppy, and promised that we would get us a puppy by the end of the year.

On a totally separate note, my family is having some issues, and I am really mad at certain people, and really sad for others. I don't really wanna talk about it though.

Hickory smoked goodness....

Today I finished the last thing on my list of things I had to do before starting nursing school. I got re-certified in CPR for Health care Providers. The class was really long and boring, but at least it is done.

Tonight Clay and I ate at a new restaurant for us. It's a little barbecue place that's really close to our house, and it is phenomenal. Clay ate ribs, and I had a hickory burger. Every other hickory burger I have had has just been a burger with hickory barbecue sauce on it, but this one was a hamburger patty that had actually been hickory smoked. It was sooo yummy. I predict will will be frequenting the place.

I am moving onto plan B for my aisle runner. My original plan was to make one out of a 50 ft. long piece of fabric, but this ended up being a big hassle. My new plan is to buy one of the cheap ones that is already on the roll, and go from there with the decorating.

Come away with me...

I'm sick!!! It's just my period, so I know I'll survive, but gosh..... this month is bad. I haven't gotten out of bed today.

It's a bad all-around day.

I'm not too happy with our wedding venue. They keep going back on things that they've said they would do or have. But I didn't have it written into the contract so, I could kick myself now. The newest thing is that I have to find a portable PA system. Basically all they have is a cd player and speakers. There is no microphone, and there isn't even a way to hook up one to what they have. So I either have to find a portable one that has everything in one box that a mike plugs into, or one that is connected to amplifiers and a mixing board.

I wish Clay would just run away with me and elope.

I just... love him

I'm having an emotional day I guess. I dunno. Everything is making me cry. Could be stress, could be that school is starting in a week and I'm not ready, could be that my wedding is in a month and I'm not ready, could be that I'm jealous (currently praying about that by the way), could be that I miss my best girl-friend and I wonder what happened to us, could be that I'm just a really lucky girl.



I feel so lucky to have Clay. He is that guy for me.

When I'm scared or worried about something, he reminds me to pray.

He is quiet a lot, but one look in his eyes shows me what he's not saying.

When I cry myself to sleep, he holds me and he prays with me.

He takes care of me, and he makes me take care of myself when thats what I need to do.

He is patient with me, even when I don't deserve it.

He tells me what I need to hear, when I need to hear it.

He guides me in the right direction.

He hopes with me.

He dreams with me.

He tells me about our babies.

He loves me all the time, even when I'm gripey, when I'm pms-ey, and when I'm cry-ey.

He looks at me like I'm something special.

He kisses me goodbye even when he's running late for work.

He appreciates me.... and I appreciate him too.

I'm a country bumpkin

I went to my parents house last weekend. For those of you that don't know, they live in the country... the real country. I look at things there a little different now. I notice things that are common there that you don't see here in the city.

I woke up one morning to find a whole litter of kittens having breakfast in the backyard.

Bella liked the kittens too.
This will be hamburgers and steak this fall.
One of my goals in going down there was to help my mom pick out a dress for my wedding. The one she picked out was an ivory-gold silk suit with tiny little gold polka dots on it. Thank goodness for Dillards. There aren't too many places to shop where they live.
This is my Daddy's garden. He spends hours everyday working in it. He sent me home lots of fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, squash, zuccinni, okra, cantalope, and watermelons.


There are frogs. They especially come out in the evening. I noticed these little guys on outside screen of the living room window.

Young and In Love

Sheesh! It seems like I have been busier than ever recently. Today was a really great relaxing day though. Clay and I slept in because we were tired from swimming yesterday. We went to a local flea market to look at puppies. We want another dog, but we haven't seriously looked or even decided what kind we want. There were a couple of cute chihuahuas but none that we fell in love with and had to bring home. We went out to lunch at Poncho's- a Mexican buffet kinda place. Then we walked around Babies R' Us for a couple of hours and fantasized about starting our family. No worries. I'm not pregnant. Just imagining, thats all. This was my favorite crib. It's all metal and looks antiquey.

Ahhhh.... to be young and in love. We are home now, and I plan to spend my evening cleaning house and getting wedding stuff together.

Wedding Bells at The Palace

So today my friend Beth and I went to view the venue where Clay and I are getting married. I hadn't seen it since the owners were in the construction phases and I was pleasently suprised to see that it was beautiful. They call it Metropolitian Chic, I call it antiquey and intimate. I had been worried that the space was too small, but after seeing it today I think it will be great. Our wedding is going to be intimate with only about 100 people.

This is a picture of the dancefloor. I love the lights. that is my favorite part.

This is just another view.

This is the bar. We won't be partying too hard though. We are having an open coffee bar. It was one of our pricier choices, but I think it will be fun for everyone.

Ewww!!!

Today has sucked! I couldn't sleep very well last night. I didn't want to wake up Clay so I watched tv in the living room. We about 5 am I started to feel sick. I woke Clay up and I started puking at about 5:30 am. I didn't want to make Clay stay miss work, so he went ahead and left. And I kept puking all day. Seriously that has been my day. Throw up a little, sleep a little. Anyways Clay and I are snuggled up on the couch now watching a gangster movie. lets hope today is a better day.

Fast Forward

So I haven't blogged everyday like I thought I would. I will try and work on that. I had to blog today, didn't have a choice. It just came out of me.

God is good. Karma is good. Paying it forward makes you rich in the end. Everything is okay in the end. Hmm....... So my life a year ago= I moved to the city from the country. I was hours away from people I knew. I lived in my little apartment, I couldn't drive anywhere without getting lost for an hour first, and I was told that I wouldn't be able to go to nursing school. I was told that I didn't even have a college degree. I fell apart. I had moved all this way to go to my dream school, and it didn't work. I was lonely. I was sad. I didn't know what to do....

Fast Forward=One Year Later
I am about to get married. I have the best guy in the whole world. We own a cute little house, and he is a daddy to my baby (Isabella the weiner dog). I have learned what it really means to love someone with all my heart. I have learned who my real friends are. And.... dumdadadum..... This morning school fell into place. NSU said that my degree was oficially posted to my transcript, and that my diploma is in the mail. And I enroll in grad school tomorrow, at the school I wanted.

So today-no pictures, no "this is what I did today", I bought this today. No. Today is all about how God is good, I am blessed, karma is good, and how paying it forward makes you rich in the end.

A Day in the Life...

Today was an all around good day. Clay leaves for work at 6am, and I usually go back to sleep until about 10am or so. I have decided that I am going to try and do better. I also decided that I am going to be a better housewife, well... stay-at-home-finacee'. Meaning that I am going to keep a clean house, cook meals at home instead of eating out, keep up with the laundry, and try out a new recipe every week. So this morning I cleaned my kitchen from top to bottom. So my kitchen might not seem impressive in the pic, but if you had seen it before, you would be thouroughly impressed. I took a break for lunch. If you can't tell by looking, it is frito chili pie. Yeah... this is what unhealthy people eat. After my unhealthy lunch, hehehe...., I put up a new pot rack in the kitchen. I think Clay's mom bought it for him. It was in his garage in a box when I moved in. So... tada!

I am a big ebay person, and I love a bargain no matter where it comes from. So the postman brings suprises a lot, especially wedding stuff recently. And today he brought our toasting glasses. I am in love with the Tara Collection from Things Remembered, and I got our glasses on ebay for around $4o. They came in this great black velvet box too. After Clay got home from work, and after dinner, we went to the mall for a quick little walk through. Clay had told me that I could get a few clothes, and I never complaing about hearing that. I only found one thing I couldn't live without. It is a polka-dot halter dress and it looks sooo great in person. I think it is gonna be my dress for our rehearsal dinner- with a red belt and peep toe red patent heels...... mmmmmmm! Clay got a Sports Illustrated Basketball book, but I though my dress would be more visually appealing:)