Summer Vacation Part I

Just a couple posts ago I was saying that I had started planning our summer vacation. Now, as I'm writing this, our vacation has come and gone and I want to go back! Anyways, here we go, prepare yourself!

Sunday we flew into Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We got there at 2 ish in the afternoon and I wasn't really shocked by the weather...sunny, beautiful, and humid to boot! We got our bags and our rental car (which, by the way, we were upgraded from an economy car to a brand spankin' new Nissian Altima for freeee!) and we were off on our adventure!

Once we found our hotel we were both ready for a nap and just ready to relax, so we did just that. We hung out in our hotel room, ordered some room service, read, watched a movie, and really just started our vacation off right by relaxing.

The next morning we had breakfast outside, by the pool and the palm trees.

 After breakfast we packed up the car and headed for the Gumbo Limbo Nature Preserve, right on the coast of Florida. Before we left on our trip I did a ton of research on cool places to visit and neat things to see in the area and so I was really excited to see this place, plus it only costing $5 bucks for us to get in was a good thing too!

This "environmental complex" was such a neat place to go because not only did it have tanks with sharks, puffer fish, eels, gigantic lobster, and stingrays, but it was also a sanctuary for loggerhead turtles. Some of these turtles had been very badly injured and would have died if not for this place. One turtle we saw only had one fin, the rest, they told us, had probably been severed off when then accidentally swam into fisherman's nets. How sad is that?!

This guy was in one of the feeding tanks. We got there right as they started doing the feeding and it was so cool to see the sharks eat and the stingrays zoomin around.

This was one of the turtles in the recuperation/exercise tanks....her name was Lexi.

This was the biggest loggerhead turtle that we saw. The keeper told us he was close to being fully healed and ready to go back to the sea!

Another neat aspect of the preserve was that they had these really cool boardwalk paths through the forest. This one was surrounded by dense trees and bushes and was the boardwalk to the observatory deck.

Pretty much at all times that day there were giant looming rain clouds. Pretty cool to look at, but sucky to get caught in.

This was the top of the observatory tower, about 40 feet in the air. Just behind us was the ocean, pretty darn close!

All along the boardwalk were these giant spiders with their nasty webs and Jordan almost walked straight into this web. Ugh...gives me the heeby jeebys!

Once we finished up at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center we got back in the car and headed to West Palm Beach. Part of the reason Jordan and I were able to afford going on this trip was because we agreed to listen to a presentation on time shares.....so we spent a good part of our day doing that, but our tour guide did show us some pretty cool things along the way.

First, she took us down to the marina and we were able to see the charter boats, the gift shops, a little place called Peanut Island, and we met Captain Morgan!

This was taken right on the beach at sunset. It was as if we had walked into a magazine, the water was so calm, the temperature was perfect, and you could see for miles down the beach!

The picture above was probably our favorite part about the whole trip. This here is a loggerhead turtle nest. After the turtles come up from the water, dig their nest, and lay their eggs the nests are taped off and labeled. On the back of the notice it said when the eggs were laid and approximately when the babies would dig their way out! These nests were scattered all over the beach and the care that people have gone to preserving these beautiful creatures is truly inspirational. The hefty fine associated with messing with these sand piles is pretty insane, I'm sure that helps people from messing with them!

The next day we went back to the public beach in the same area and it was even more beautiful then the night before.

 

Oh, what a beautiful place to set up! The water was so clear and calm, we were even able to get some good underwater pictures!

 

Once we were done shell searching, swimming, just plain tanning, we walked across the street and went into all the beach side shops. Once we were done shopping we cleaned up a little and hopped in the car to head over to our cruise boat! We could not have asked for a better place to hang out for a few hours before we started our cruise.

Another Update!

Wow, it has been almost 3 months since I have last posted. I've lost my way people and I have just found it again!

So in the last few months not a whole lot has changed, except for a few things...

Jordan's parking company has taken over the valet parking at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and he is now acting as the Assistant Manager. He works insane hours and so far, is loving it. I think this will be an excellent opportunity for him and will open many doors in the future. Good job Jordan!

I am still working at JoAnn, but have gone down to part time for health reasons, stress, anxiety, that kind of thing. So instead of working 40 hours a week, I've been averaging about 20. Yes, everything is okay. I was having a difficult time balancing everything at work and at home and that was throwing me into a not so good place, so I decided to make a change.

Speaking of changes, Jordan and I will be moving in with his parents in September. I am really sad to leave the Frisco area, the friends I have created here, and the privacy of our own apartment, but I am glad to be closer to family again. We will probably live with them for about a year or so, enough time to get our ducks in a row, and then hopefully we'll finally be ready to move out.

Lots of change and lots of new things to get used to. Please send your good vibes our way! 

Wowza!

Whew! It has been an busy couple of month for me! I've been working full time at Joann's and when I'm not working I'm at home keeping things in order and so I haven't had any time to get on and blog. Just wanted to give a quick update on us for my dear readers.

Like I mentioned above I am working 40 hours a week at Joann's. It has its good times and its super insane-make-me-wanna-rip-out-my-hair-I'm-so-stressed-and-tired times, but every job has that, right? Right?! Haha, in all reality I'm enjoying it. I work with some really amazing ladies and have met some wonderful customers that make all the frustrating moments worth it. I had forgotten what it was like to be in retail and I'm glad I made the decision to go back. My days go by so quickly and then I get to come home and workout, study scriptures, read my books, go tanning, whatever!

Jordan is also working full time and he is still loving his job, which I could not be more thrilled about. He started school a couple weeks ago and is trying to find his groove with it. He doesn't like being a student, but is motivated to finish his Bachelor's degree. He is such a smart and talented man and I know he is going to do unbelievable things with that lil piece of paper!

We have officially booked our summer vacation! We are going to Florida in August!! Yahoooooo!! We will be flying to Ft. Lauderdale and staying there for a few days, going on a two night cruise to the Bahamas, then going to Orlando for four or five days! We are SO excited! Bring on the sunshine, beaches, and NO WORK!

I had a rough week last week with eating clean, but I'm back on track and have even added exercising to my regimen! I'm feeling better than ever and am on the verge of losing 10 pounds! I've started doing an exercise program called Slim in 6 and I really do feel like it is working for me. If you haven't heard of it and are as lazy as I am, but want to get started....check it out here! It is a low impact exercise program that gives big results. I've been able to stick with it for 3 weeks now and I can already tell a difference, small, but still there.

That's it ya'll! You now have an update on my boring life!

A Testimony

Over the past few weeks I have had several experiences that have led to many hours of pondering and many moments in prayer.

I won't go into detail about any one experience, but I must share the over arching lesson I have learned which is: I know God lives, He loves me, He sent His son to atone for my sins, and I will return to live with Him again. I have been so touched by His knowledge of my life and of the blessings I so desperately needed. He knows me in all of my follies and yet He is still rooting for me, He wants me to keep trying, and wants me to succeed.

I have felt so close to my Father in Heaven as well as my Savior and I can testify to the truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Although I feel inadequate in the amount of my knowledge on different gospel subjects, the knowledge I do have I could never deny and inspires me to continue on studying the vast amount of information not only in the Bible, but in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants also.

I am so blessed to live in this day and age. Although there are many distractions from having a life centered in Christ, I have recently felt and seen my paradigm shift in favor of a home and a life filled with the glory of God. I have witnessed my priorities shift in a matter of moments and all the mumbo jumbo that clutters my life is now disappearing. I am slowly learning to lean heavily on my faith in Jesus Christ and to allow him to carry me through each day. I am an imperfect person and yet the Lord sees the goodness in me to allow the Holy Ghost to dwell with me and to feel His presence moment by moment. I love the Lord and appreciate His patience with me. It has taken me a long time to realize the person I can become with the help of the Lord.

I know He lives. I know He loves me. I know I will live with Him again some day, and in that day I hope he will say to me with arms outstretched "well done, thou good and faithful servant..."

Eating Clean Recipes

The past couple weeks I have been really really lazy about menu planning, so when I get home from work I've been just hopping online and googling for recipes that include ingredients I have on hand. Here are some goodies I've found.

Creamy Salsa Chicken- The original recipe makes a TON of food and since it is just my husband and me I altered the recipe to be enough for dinner and a couple of leftover meals. I used about half of everything that was called for and only about 1/2 of ONE brick of cream cheese and it was still super super yummy!

Chicken and Veggie Stew

Beef and Mushroom Casserole- this I came up with on my own....it was a long day and I was like bleh and threw this together. It actually turned out really really yummy. Not the cleanest of recipes, but still tasty.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. beef
- about 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1/2-1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom (depending on how creamy you want your casserole)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Italian blend of spices
- Bisquick biscuit mix (mixed as directions say)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F.Start by browning the beef. While the beef is browning, chop your mushrooms, onion, and garlic. I don't really like mushrooms so I chopped mine up fairly small. Mix your chopped veggies in a bowl with the cream of mushroom, add salt and pepper and other spices, stir. Once the meat is sufficiently browned, stir it into your cream of mushroom and veggie mixture. Give everything a good stir and dump into a pan. Mix up your Bisquick mixture and plop on top of the meat mixture and spread to each side of the dish. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until your biscuit is cooked, once it is take out your casserole and let it set up and cool for a few minutes. Voila! Of course, if you have more people in your family you can adjust your ingredient amounts. As always, play around with it...add things you think might taste good...like celery, corn, or even some black beans.

Quinoa and Cilantro Salad - yum yum yum!

Quinoa Pancakes - I made these following the recipe, but I also made pancakes with about half quinoa and half pancake mix and both were really good! We made a big batch and froze them and have been having them in the morning for quick heat up and go breakfasts....they taste better and are healthier for you than Eggo!!

Greek Yogurt Biscuits

Date Night Jar

I am so sick of Friday or Saturday night sneaking up on me and when I ask Jordan what sounds fun to do, neither of us can come up with something so we end up sitting on the couch and watching TV all night. I cannot tell you how many hours we have logged watching TV and movies...too many in my opinion. So, out of desperation I got onto Pinterest to see what everyone else in the wide world of cool ideas was doing and I stumbled upon the idea of creating a date night jar!

The concept of a date night jar is simple enough. Come up with a bazillion ideas, write them on sticks and when you are ready to go on a date just pull a stick and BAM there is your date....right on the stick! I looked at probably 10 or 12 different blogs to a) get a wide range of date ideas and b) to find the best way to organize the dates.

I ended up creating a date jar with three different levels or colors of date ideas.

The blue sticks are dates that cost little to no money and require little planning:
- Live local music
- Movie marathon
- Chick flick & popcorn
- Homemade pizza & an Italian movie
- Sodoku & Pancakes
- No electricity night
- Create a bucket list
- Look at dream houses
- Plan a trip (even if it is impractical)
- Take the Color Code test or Personality test together
- Wander around downtown
- Walmart Bingo (free printable found here)
- Go for a hike or nature walk
- 1,000 piece puzzle & pizza
- Blanket fort & movie
- Have friends over for game night
- Picnic at the park
- Window Shopping

The green sticks are dates that require an average amount of money and require little planning:
- Pottery painting
- Swimming at the YMCA
- Geocaching
- Dessert only date
- Dinner & Ikea
- Mini Golf
- Zoo Trip
- Studio Movie Grill
- Go to a comedy show
- Melting Pot
- Dinner & a movie
- Art museum visit
- Ice skating
- Bonfire & S'mores
- Top Golf
- Aquarium
- Arboretum
- Sporting event
- Drive-in movies
- Laser tag
- Hot cocoa & bookstore
- Bowling
- Reunion Tower
- Go play racquetball or tennis

The pink sticks are dates that require a higher amount of money and require planning:
- Weekend Getaway to Dallas
- Couple massage
- Dinner cruise
- Horseback riding
- Purchase a $50-$100 Groupon and use it
- Road Trip
- Dinner & a show (theater, concert, etc.)
- Dinner & the symphony

I had so much fun making my date jar and I discovered a ton of stuff there is to do in the Dallas area. Check around in your area and if you have white water rafting or paddle boarding or hot air balloon rides or sand castle building available and it is something you have always wanted to do....put it on a stick! You should tailor your date night jar to things you and your better half would enjoy!

Have fun ya'll!

Gone Crafting Crazy!

I was supposed to start training at Joann's last week, but it turned out that there weren't enough hours for me to come in and work a few days, so I had the whole week off! Long story short, I went craft crazy!

Wednesday afternoon I got together with one of my good gal pals, Amanda, and we tried our hand at making homemade lotion bars. They turned out pretty well!

** A couple of notes for future use: 1) I would highly recommend using silicone molds versus plastic or metal ones. 2) Next time I'm going to use raw cocoa butter or raw shea butter and not the cocoa butter that you can buy from Walmart. 3) I'm going to try a few different scents.

** I got my coconut oil from Kroger, beeswax and scent from Hobby Lobby (but if you can be patient and get it off the internet, you can probably get it cheaper and much better quality!), the body butter and Vitamin E (not pictured) from Walmart.

Thursday I woke up, ate breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen a little, and then went. to. town! First, I put up a decorative shelf in our bedroom and put pictures and little knick-knacks we've collected from trips on it. Next, I rearranged my living room (which was no small feat) and then took out all my extra decorations that were shoved away in my laundry room. I knew I wanted to use most of them so I re-vamped them to better incorporate each piece into my new rearranged living room.

This is what I came up with! *Deep breath!* Here we go!

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, of course. I couldn't find any print-outs for the background, so I just made my own. I created mine in Photoshop, but you could easily create one with some cute scrapbooking paper and scrapbooking stickers/supplies.

Jordan and I see a ton of movies and since the tickets are small, I liked the look of the 8x8 shadow box rather than a larger 8x10 or 10x10, plus it is what I had tucked away in the laundry room.

In addition to a shadow box, there were also some of those collage frames. It took me awhile to decide on the pictures I wanted to put up, but eventually I decided on some older photos from vacations past and the reliable last name word art. 

Among other unused frames hiding in my laundry room was this bute!

Originally I liked the frame because of the dark accent it created, but after it being empty for almost a year, I decided to re-vamp it so it would be better suited for the color scheme I'm trying to develop in my home.

Boom baby! Silver can of spray paint + unused frame = delightful new decoration! I still wasn't quite sure what to put in the frame, so I had a major brainstorming session and decided to jump on the "subway art" bandwagon.

Voila! I'm so proud of how it looks! Quite eggcellent I'd say! Tee hee!

My last project of the day, in no way related to my home decor projects, also turned out to be fantastic! Again, I got the idea from Pinterest, however the website it originally came from was in a different language, so I pretty much had to go off of pictures and my own experience with sewing.

I had an old pair of jeans lying around that I didn't wear because the unflattering straight leg cut on me. I thought this project would be perfect for that pair. I was so excited about this project that I wanted more than one pair and I actually tried my luck at Goodwill and miraculously found a pair of jeans for $6.00 that fit perfectly!! My laced jeans turned out really well and I'm so excited to wear them around!!

 These were the jeans I had already and just cropped off. 

These are the jeans I got at Goodwill for $6.00!

I'm really happy I was able to reuse and recycle many items already at my disposal and that I was able to turn them into things I now adore. Here's to creativity! *Fist pump!*