if I had 496.89 dollars...

Curse you {shopruche.com} for sucking me into your world of pretty things.

Ironically, I just took a load out of the dryer only to find ink all over my favorite clothes.

Where's that $496.89?

how to: enjoy laundry

I'm back with another one of my epic "how to" posts. 

Last time we tackled the tricky "how to get stuff done." (seen here)

This time, it's the dreaded laundry/hanging clothes/purging your closet chore.

 As always, music is a must. Pop in your favorite cd. Click on your favorite Pandora station. Set the mood. And don't be afraid if you start dancing. That's totally normal.

 An audience makes any mundane chore seem like a performance. I prefer two, small, non-talking, covered in fur, onlookers. They don't criticize your methods or dancing.

 Wash your clothes. Dry your clothes. Pile them on to your bed. This works best when you've waited entirely too long and have about 10 loads of laundry to go through.

 Be prepared for sock-nappers.

 ...and their adorable mugshots.

Back to the laundry.

 Brand new, bright red hangers always make things happier. You can buy about 1,000 for 50cent at Walmart. Something like that.

 You need a closet, clearly. This is pre-decluttering, so excuse the broken shelves and lack of organization.

 The best way to force yourself to stay inside and do chores is schedule a cold, rainy day. These days are my favorite, so it cheers me on even more.

 Rule number one: get comfy. Husband's oversized pajama pants are my first pick.

 As you are hanging up your clothes, go through your closet and get rid of all the wire hangers. Replace them with your new colorful ones.

Keep hangers in a neat pile (is that even possible?) because you just know you're going to use them for one of your Pinterest projects. Yeah right.

 Don't forget to break frequently. This is not easy stuff. Do not overexert your body. Drink lots of water. Take cute pictures.

 Enough break, back to work.

 Tshirts take up so much needed space in my closet. So, I choose this crammed, stuffed, guarantee-to-wrinkle-your-clothes way to organize my shirts. I guess if you incorporate tshirts into your everyday wardrobe, this is not the most optimal choice for you. I wear mine at home mostly, so I don't put much into what I look like (sorry, Husband.)

 Make a pile of clothes you are ready to give away. I give away anything that a) doesn't fit right b) I never wear c) I just flat out don't like and never understand why I bought it in the first place.

I did this last week and between Husband and I, we got rid of three large boxes full of clothes/shoes.

Took forever. Felt so good.

I hope this motivated you to stop putting the dryer on it's third round of drying, buy some new hangers, and get your closet organized.

Don't forget the music.

thankful...

Salvation through Christ. puppies. family. laughter. boots. scarfs. teaching. marriage.

snuggling. scary movies. food. musicals. christmas. pennants. glass bottles.

makeup. haircuts. baggy clothes. dr. pepper. mexican food. leggings. swimming pools.

shopping. presents. pictures. coloring. phones. blogging. festivals. lights. our little house.

babies. Husband. in-loves. cards. road trips. board games. parades. pizza. candles.

text messages. memories. home videos. future.

What are you thankful for?

Happy (early) Thanksgiving, guys!

Joy Filled Friday

1 cool, brisk, Fall days 2 pumpkin carving 3 blank canvases 

4 the crazy, unconditional love I undeservingly get from Husband 

5 turning summer dresses into the perfect Fall outfits by adding scarfs, leggings and boots 

6 The Office re-runs (obsessed with love Jim and Pam's relationship) 

7 Essie nail polish 8 dreaming up our future  9 weddings 

10 it's almost time for the rest of the world to catch up with my Christmas spirit!

Happy weekend!

Things.

side-note before the randoming begins-

Life lately has been pretty...interesting.

A whole lot of learning to leap into the unknown.

A whole lot of trusting God is in control.

and

A whole whole lot of crying.

Not cute crying, though.

Nope, nasty, snot-filled, whale talking, crying.

But, as my post yesterday stated,

"I will walk through the valley, if You want me to."

There's a reason God has my husband and I going through this junk.

He is always in control and things will not always be this hard!

Amen.

Now, I ramble.

These are the things on my mind.
I spend 87% of my time thinking about such topics.
The other % (I've never been good at math) just pop into my head and flee before I can really think on them.

First and foremost, I must say that I miss Michael Scott. I have been an avid "Office" watcher, and I feel incomplete without him. I truly wish I had a real-life Michael Scott friend. How stinkin' amazing would that be?! Oh man, the things we could get away with. P.S. I still watch and still laugh. It's just not the same.

Shaving- I hate it. It takes so much time and so much remembering. Like, I don't remember that I haven't shaved in 2 weeks until I put on a dress 5 minutes before leaving. Ugh. Plus, I really only grow hairs below my knee, at least that's the darker, more noticable hairs. So annoying. Sorry Husband.

I really, really want to be able to rock a middle part. I don't know if it's my side-swept bangs, or the shape of my head, but it doesn NOT look cute. I'm slowy parting my side part towards the center of my head. Maybe I can trick myself.

I can't get enough of flowy clothes. Boho-style all the way. So much so, I get uncomfortable if my clothes cling even the smallest amount to my body. Which could also be due to the fact that I'm unhappy with my weight and flowy shirts/dresses camoflouge that for me.Yeah...

Speaking of bodies. I hate mine. There, I said it. First part is admitting, right? Well, I have gained 20plus pounds since being married. There, I said that too. It's mortifying really. Husband is super sweet and claims it's unnoticiable, but I know he's totally lying. Have I done much to change? Truthfully, no. Which, I also hate. But finding a workout routine that fits in my random schedule is near impossible. The school I work at has a gym. But do I know what the heck I'm doing in there?! Yeah, right. Don't even get me started on food. It seems impossible to purchase healthy food we can afford. Cheap food=fat food. But, when that's all you can afford... I hate this cycle. Which is why posting it on this blog should (let's pray) motivate me to keep on riding bikes and try to eat healthier!

I don't want permanent makeup, unless it's permanent mascara. Is that even possible? I am a full fledged mascaraholic. I spent 25% of my getting ready routine on my eyelashes.

Trying to stick to my 24 before 24, I have been keeping my nails looking decent and polished. This week, I asked Husband to pick out a color for me. He chose neon orange. I feel like I have traffic cones on my fingers. Yes, I bought this color...but that was years ago. I'm glad it's chipping. Time for a less Lisa Frank color.

Sad, sad, sad news. My mini-shnauzer, Olive, broke herself yesterday. Here's the story: We have two little ones, Bailee (a Malti-Pom) and Olive. Olive eats non-stop (if we'd let her) and she is kind of slow in the brain processing. Well, everyday we fight with her about eating Bailee's food after gulfing hers down in 2 minutes flat. Last night, Olive started to eat Bailee's and Husband popped her (P.S. Yes, we discipline and we will spank when we have children!) When Husband popped Olive, she lost balance and hit her front left paw on the door. Now, I was laying in bed in the other room when I heard her "scream." I thought nothing of it because she is a d-r-a-m-a q-u-e-e-n!!! She wails before you even touch her! But, last night she kept screaming and when Husband was saying "Olive, it's okay. You're okay. Shhhh, babygirl." I knew something was wrong. I flew out of bed, into the room, and immediately tears came to my eyes. Babygirl had her paw as close to her body as she could hold it, just whimpering! We felt around the leg, compared it to the other one, and came to the conclusion that she was okay, just scared. She is still silly, happy, Olive and "runs" as much as she can. We think it's sprained because she still favors it and won't put all her pressure on it. We wrapped it to keep it straight, and man does it break this mama's heart! I get sick just re-thinking about it and seeing her hobble. I don't know what's gonna happen when we have for real children and they get hurt! Oh, man.

How in the world can you eat a Snickers without chocolate flakes and caramel getting everywhere?

I wish I had 10 striped shirts and cardigans. All colors. All combos.

New favorite go-to hairstyle: Braid hair and flat iron over the braids. Let cool. Spray a little hairspray. Undo. Awesome-ness. I have super-duper-notevencool thick hair, so I have to do 2 braids. Also, the tighter the braid, the kinkier the "wave." I do loose braids and I love the messy beach hair look it makes.

Husband and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary this June and I've had fun planning "dream" vacays. I say dream, because in all honesty, we can't afford a super big trip. BUT, I would love *hinthintHusband* a few days at Disney World *hinthintfriendsthatcangetusinforfree*. And, I keep saying  Honeymoon instead of anniversary, which I'm okay with. I like having Honeymoons once a year.

Ladies and (maybe) Gentlemen,
I need a job. Desperately. I work at the college I graduated from as the Staff Writer, but it is NOT, I repeat, NOT making ends meet. Plus, as of May 10, I'm off for summer. I have applied for close to, if not over 50-75 places. With no sucess. Not very promising.

I like this song. I love this version. I actually like any version but the original. Whoops.

okbye.

Joy Filled Friday

1 tax refunds (woo!) 2 buying 100 classical movies for 20bucks. (see picture above) 3 rainy days 

4 eating out 5 brown nail polish (fave) 6 colored skinny jeans

  7 good cries 8 quilts 9 red anything 

10 chick-fil-a (this is probably a constant on my joys... I can't help it!)

This weekend will be much more slow paced than last! I love spending time with my in-loves! It was a much needed mini-vacay. We went shopping (new dress and shoes!) and got to see some friends at church. Even if I came home with a sickness, it was time well spent! 

This weekend, however, we are chilling! Tomorrow morning the guys and I will head out to Tallahassee so I can kick their behinds in a fierce round of disc golf. No, seriously. Then, hopefully, some chick-fil-a will find its way into my belly. (Cause we all know how joy filled that makes me!)

Hope your weekends are filled with love and good food!

Today I...

-showed off the new house to the In-loves.
-ate my weight in Chick-fil-A.
-got new clothes for the school year. Teachers have to go back to school shopping, too! (Thanks In-loves!)
-stocked the pantry with groceries for the first time, ever. (Thanks In-loves!)
-found out my wedding rings won't be back on my finger for another month. (Boo, Jared's!)
-started my running training.
-died.



Ok, so I'm still alive. But, can we talk about my shins for just a moment?! Ouch! I haven't had this pain since my dancing years! I'm so out of shape and I need to get back into it. Pronto.


Hope you guys are having a happy weekend!!

Picture: Last Sunday, after church there were two rainbows! You can barely see the second one, right underneath the bright one. Speaking of double rainbows...

Seriously?!

Mini Messages

Dear Cold/Flu Symptoms,
You kept me awake until 3am. I've been sneezing non-stop and my whole body aches. Please, please, PLEASE go away.

Dear dream wardrobe for teaching this year,
Either magically appear in my closet or make yourself not so appealing to me. My husband and bank account would really appreciate that.

Dear Olive,
Your super long eyelashes get me every time. Just one look into your ridiculously adorable face and I almost forget about the little presents you leave me. Almost.

Dear Husband,
Thank you for taking care of little sick me. I could use a little less BlackOps though, I don't think that's what the Doctor ordered. Maybe some more classical musicals?!

Dear Girls,
You deserve more than you could even imagine. Please stop giving your heart to little boys. It's not yours to give. Let God handle your love. He knows what's best for you and He will never forsake you. Stop breaking my heart by allowing yours to break. Guard it.



Photo: Pretty flowers Husband brought home one day.