Heads Up, Heels Down is Not Just for Horseback Riding!

Saaaaay what?! Is it really Thursday! My week seems to be all mushed together and to be completely honest, I felt like yesterday was Tuesday! I know, it's a nice surprise to learn I was a day behind! Since it's Thursday, y'all know the dealeeo! Ashley reached out to me after finding my blog page on Facebook! Come to find out she lives like 45 minutes away, her mom used to live in the area I live in now, and her uncle owns an auto body shop that my friend's husband works at! Small world right?! This gal right here has the sweetest most genuine heart I think I've ever encountered! I can't wait to arrange this blate and I hope it involves horses and riding since I've been dying to get back in the saddle after almost 15 years of saying goodbye to my beloved sport! Enjoy Ashley and wish her a Very Happy Birthday - it's today!!!

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Hello sweet girls!! Birthday girl here, Ashley, and I ramble over at Horseshoes & Pearls! I turned the big twenty-three today! Woo hoo! I actually found Miss Lauran through her blog's Facebook page right around the time I was debating on whether or not to start a blog of my own. After visiting hers and others that I found via Lauran's, I decided to press forward and enter the blogging world. I am so thankful and happy that I did! I have met some amazing women, including Lauran, and I am so thankful for the friendships that have been created. Not to mention, I'm totally in love with Baby Reef, Lauran's lab and her sense of style and the honesty she puts into her posts. OH, and ps, we still need to arrange a blate! 

Hi! That's me!

So, a little about me real quick before I go into my post. I am a newly engaged, wife-to-be to my best friend, Chris. We are currently chin deep in wedding plans, planning and preparing for a September 2013 wedding! See how he proposed, here or view our engagement pictures, here. We live in a small town of Southern, VA with our two fur babies Chevy & Oliver, and two horses, Bailey & Paddy. I'm a very positive person and I try to find the positive in any negative situation. I'm a God fearing woman and strongly believe in the power of prayer. Making people smile makes my heart happy. I've been riding and showing horses ever since I was old enough to know what one was. Graduated from Virginia Tech in 2010 with a degree in Animal & Poultry Sciences, now continuing my education to become a large animal LVT (licensed veterinary technician). I'm very OCD when it comes to cleaning, making lists, staying organized, and making plans. I'm addicted to Pinterest, Instagram, cowgirl boots, Mason jars, the color pink, Kate Spade, polka dots, and Criminal Minds. I love to cook, bake, try new recipes, tackle DIY crafts and projects, decorate, and then re-decorate again. Anything rustic, vintage, or antique is right up my alley. I'm the girly girl who loves hunting, fishing, shooting sports, and sports. Jeans, cowgirl boots, and a strand of pearls is typically my outfit of choice. Closet book nerd and an aspiring professional photographer. And now, on to the good stuff... 

Here's us! :)

And here's a sneak peek from our engagements... about to play kissy face! ;)

So, after reading Lauren's Bare It All post on Friday, I decided what I would write about here today.

I've struggled with weight all my life and am constantly struggling with insecurities and doubts that it puts in my head. I was the "thicker" girl growing up, elementary school all the way through high school... but it wasn't until that day that my weight changed my world upside down. I had a legit "enemy" all through elementary school and middle school. Her name was Ashley, too, and to be completely honest I can't remember why on earth she hated me so much.  I remember the day so vividly that sometimes thinking about it still stings my heart in ways that I just can't really explain.

Gym class, my 6th grade year, we had to start "changing out" in front of other girls in the bathroom before and after class. I knew, compared to my classmates, that I was "bigger" than they were but it didn't really bother me until this.... I was cramming myself into one of the corners of the locker room trying to change for class without really letting anyone see me (regardless of my weight, I still felt super uncomfortable changing in front of other girls, it was just super weird to me). I had just gotten undressed down to my skivvies when my enemy walked over with her little posse of friends and they started shoving me back into the wall. Of course I lost balanced and fell backwards, dropped my gym clothes that were in my hands, leaving me completely exposed, they started laughing, calling me names, mean names that I'll never forget, they grabbed my gym bag, all of the clothes and ran out of the bathroom, leaving me there with nothing but my panties and bra. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't run out after them. I couldn't go get a teacher. I had no clothes. I was just left there, exposed. About five minutes later I started hearing people walking down the hall towards the bathroom and I thought, thank God, the teacher realized I was missing and has come to find out what was going on. No. It wasn't the teacher. It was a group of boys in my grade being led by the enemy and her posse to come see the "fat girl naked." The boys started laughing and calling me mean names right along with the enemy and her friends. This went on for about five minutes until our gym teacher finally realized that there was something going on and came in to cease the chaos.

I was devastated. Of course the boys, enemy, and her posse were suspended, put in detention and other disciplinary actions charged against them for bullying. But that wasn't any good. It had already scarred me, cut me deep, for life. Still to this day it haunts me. I blame this incident for being the stem of all of my insecurities and self consciousness. It's ruined past relationships and caused me to think very little of myself every now and then. Of course it got better, a little, as I got older and out of high school, but I'm still nowhere near my best. I have my good days and my bad days. My good months and my bad months. My good years and my bad years. But I still occasionally struggle with feeling like I always have to be "skinnier" and "tanner" and "blonder" and "wear more make-up" and "buy cuter clothes" and "always fix my hair"... and honestly, the majority of the time when I'm not these "things", I feel very insufficient.

Chris has been an amazing support system with my insecurities and knowing how I feel about certain things he always makes it a point to encourage and lift me up. He's the first man that I feel 100% comfortable with and we've decided that together we are going to work towards a healthier lifestyle. It's a work in progress, and probably will be for years to come, but I know I'll be just fine!

Of course there's more to feeling the way I do, ie media, social expectations, etc. these days... but I feel like this incident that happened in 6th grade was the base, the stem to all of this. I wanted to share this story to encourage Lauran and others who may be dealing with the same insecurities. It's a very difficult thing to overcome and feeling insufficient about anything can be a real heavy burden on someone. If you struggle with the same insecurities, or ones like it, and want to talk about it and try to encourage each other, I am more than willing to open my arms to anyone and listen, talk, discuss, or be a support system if needed.

A big thank you to Lauran for having me today! And thank you'll so much for taking the time to read my ramblings. I hope that you'll come visit me over at Horseshoe & Pearls! I look forward to meeting you!

 

Follow along...

xo, Ashley

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First off, I cried like a baby when I first read this post, so if you are crying, it's only natural! I think Ashley is already a beautiful person and I'm so glad she is on her way to accepting herself! I still remember being 23 myself! It's definitely an in between stage where you thought you knew who you were but you're starting to find out who you are meant to be! I certainly believe in karma and I believe that you reap what you sow, therefore, I will go ahead and assume that Ashley's enemy is or has paid for the horrible, cruel, and sick way she treated Ashley! Children can be so mean and hurtful and it's sad that they have no clue as to how deep such behavior can affect someone! I'm certainly proud of Miss Ashley for sharing her story with all of us! It takes a brave soul but it's also a way to heal. I think you are on your way to being healed! Keep your head up loves whether you're riding a horse or riding life! 

XoXo, 

Weekend Recap!

Here we are, staring Monday straight in the face, again! Have you noticed how we all seem to live for the weekends?! Counting down the days starting on Monday, complaining how the week is so long and then moaning and groaning about the weekend flying by?! It's sad that we seem to live our lives for the weekend! Buuut why wouldn't we?! It's two days that we have off to jam in all kinds of "to-dos" "must-dos" and fun stuff! I want to try harder at not wishing my weeks away just to get to my weekend! Wishing it away is wishing time away and quite frankly I would like it to slow down just a bit! It's already the mid to latter part of March! Didn't we just celebrate New Years?! Anywho, enough of the serious philosophical thoughts... what kind of St. Paddy's Day shenanigans did y'all get into this weekend? Me?! Buying Bailey's Irish Cream flavored Irish colored French Macarons were about as crazy as I got for St. Paddy's Day!

Friday evenings for us, are usually relaxing nights in! We eat dinner at home, sip wine {for me} and beer {for the hubs} and chill out from our hectic weeks with the pup in front of the TV! This Friday was no exception, though I did grow a wild hair up my rear and decided it was time to tackle the daunting task of cleaning off our office desk. I kid you not, when I say, that there were bills {that have been paid, just needed to be filed} piled up on the desk since before Christmas! Ugh please don't judge! I've been procrastinating on buying a file cabinet and instead of putting everything in their designated folders, I've been piling it up on the desk! Well, I decided to pull out the folders and file it all away. While doing so, Baby Reef decided it would be a grand idea to nap... right in the middle of all my files. He even was brazen enough to move some folders and papers out of his way so he could make room for his napping spot! Silly Silly boy!

Baby Reef in the midst of all my organizing and filing! 

Saturday we slept in which was glorious since we had a morning rain shower come through and it was incredibly grey out. When we woke up, the sun was trying to peak through and the hubby headed off to baseball practice! Meanwhile I decided to accomplish a few things outside of the house since it was turning into a beautiful day! I packed up the car with stuff that has been taking over our dining room to donate to Goodwill and I grabbed my Tory Burch's and a pair of hard worn heels to take to the cobbler for some sprucing up and repairs. Mind you, I've never been to this cobbler, or any cobbler for that matter, and I wasn't sure if they would be able to fix the heels or my TB's. When I walked in the man at the counter stared at me intently, making me feel really uncomfortable. I explained to him that I had never been to a cobbler before and I wasn't sure if my shoes were fixable. He didn't say anything, just kept staring. At this point, even with how uncomfortable I was feeling, I felt I couldn't just turn around and leave. I pulled the heels out first and he paused and looked at them and said they weren't fixable; fine I'll just buy another pair. I then pulled out my TB's and explained that they were very special to me, and I just really needed them spruced up if that was possible. Meanwhile he is STILL staring and looking at me as if I am ET, himself. He took the shoe and said "I can polish them". At that point I was so eager to get out of there, I said OKAY, gave him needed information, took my ticket and ran! Once I got in the car all I kept thinking was I hope he doesn't hold my shoes hostage or something... I should've never left them with this dude! I mean he was just creepy. Thank goodness Baby Reef was tagging along in the car to help with my anxiety attack I was having! I will give the guy some credit! They did a nice job polishing them and they look very much to being almost brand new!!! I plan on taking them to another cobbler the next time they need some attention as to avoid the creepy guy, though. I'd rather not deal with the unsettling feeling again!

Once I dropped my shoes off, I headed to the grocery store to pick up some bread for the appetizer I was making for my best friend, Tatiana's birthday celebration later that night! Then with the windows down, music up, and a doggy hanging out the window, we headed to Goodwill! We dropped off quite a few things and I was immediately relieved to see it go! It was causing too much clutter in the house and needed to go months ago! I'm still purging and organizing so this will not be the last trip but knowing this batch is gone helps relieve some of the purging stress I have right now!

After dropping off the donations, Baby Reef and I headed into Old Towne Portsmouth to visit a local bakery, Artisans Bakery! I had inquired on their Facebook page last week if they sold French Macarons and they informed me that they would have St. Paddy's Day themed ones this weekend! They then commented to me Friday saying they were available for purchase during the weekend! I'd never been there before so I was really excited! Seriously.... cutest place ever! It's a full service bakery/cafe in a historically built home! Absolutely adorable and I can't wait to go back and grab lunch sometime, coffee, and more macaroons! I bought a dozen of them to take to the birthday party later that night! They were green, orange, and cream colored and Irish Bailey's flavored! Annnd they were tasty to boot!

Bailey's Irish Cream Flavored St. Paddy's Day inspired French Macarons! 

When we left there with the goodies we headed to Starbucks so I could use my gift card towards a Chai Tea Latte {my favorite!}. Once Baby Reef said his hello's to the Drive Thru girls we headed to an older neighborhood in the area to check out homes for sale! I love love love the Old Towne area with it's historic 18th century homes and gorgeous architectural buildings! I would love nothing more than to buy a home {renovated or we renovate ourselves} from the early 1900's! They have such character and charm and contain so much history! It's just difficult to find these houses in safer areas and in good school districts. Nonetheless it was really nice to just cruise with the pup and look at the beautiful homes!

Later, once we were all spiffy and ready to go, the hubby and I headed out to Tat and Kevin's house! Tat decided she wanted to have a "wine/cheese tasting" birthday celebration and she did not disappoint with the spread! Lots and lots of artisan cheeses, salami, nuts, olives, fruit, french breads, and even dark chocolate and of course more than a few of yummy wines for us to try! After all the girls caught up with their girl talk in the kitchen, we joined the the guys for a game of LCR. If you don't know what that is, check this out! I had NEVER heard of it but -oh my lanta- how fun! I'm not much of a gambler so it's not something I think would play ALL the time but it was definitely a good way to add some innocent fun to a party!

The Birthday Girl!

The amazing spread! 

Some of the delicious wine!

Tat and Kevin's sweet puppies Bosley and Kenya! They just so happen to be brothers and are the sweetest little souls! 

LCR

Tat and I have an appreciation for some of the finer things in life and we share an obsession for Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutins! We also share an unhealthy obsession with Paris too! Neither of us have a pair of Louby's but we often chat about buying our first pair one day! Because we share this love, I haaaaad to buy her this wine bottle holder {this isn't the exact one but very similar}! She loved it and I told her that was the closest I could get to giving her the real deal!! I hope when we both can buy our first pair, it's an experience we can have together! And yes, it is that serious when it comes to Louby's and LV!

I had to but the polka dot gift wrap paper! 

Yesterday we did absolutely nothing! And when I say nothing, I really mean nothing! The weather was grey and damp all day which made if difficult to get motivated! I did manage to watch Why Did I Get Married? and Why Did I Get Married, Too? on TBS! I have to give Tyler Perry credit... he makes some movies that really pull at your heart strings! I haven't seen all of his work, but the ones that I have seen always move me, usually to tears, but they do make me laugh too! I did give myself my weekly manicure as well, but other than that and watching the movies, we literally did nothing!

My manicure - Essie Pink Lemonade 

How was all of your weekends?!?! It felt good to be somewhat productive on Saturday! The winter weather has a way of making me want to stay in bed under the covers so it was great to get out in the warm sunshine and accomplish some things! Hope everyone is having a stellar Monday so far! XoXo!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I am crazy excited that I finally decided on how I will be changing up my Wednesday posts {Remember I kind of chatted about it last week here?}. There are still a few things I need to do in order to get it finalized and ready for sharing, like creating a button and setting up the link-up for y'all to join! I think it will be a way for my readers to get to know me on a more personal level and hopefully relate to me even more than they may already. This probably won't get underway for a few more weeks so until then I will continue with the "What I'm Loving Wednesday" series!

1. I am in love with Daylight Savings Time!! Okay... maybe not in love with the fact that I lost an hour of sleep, I'm still trying to catch up,  or that it's still pitch black when I wake in the morning, buuuuuut I'd trade pitch black nights for longer sunshine evenings any day of the week! It's the first sign that warmer weather is around the corner and who doesn't love that?!

2.  Attending my first official Pilates class on Monday night! I'm actually pretty excited and proud of myself for going! I switched my gym schedule around to Tuesday and Thursdays, however because I had my monthly YAAA! meeting last night I decided to go to the gym Monday night and try out Pilates! Holy Moly, if you think it's easy, you are in for a rude awakening! I've done it with at home DVDs so I knew it wasn't a cake walk, but I didn't realize just how much it was really going to work me! I've been quite sore in areas I very rarely work, and it's a darn good feeling! I'm really thinking about adding Monday night to my gym schedule and upping my workouts to three days a week!

3.  Celebrating lots of Birthday's this month!! March seems to be a pretty huge month in our lives when it comes to celebrating birthdays! There is my mother-in-law, my stepfather-in-law, my stepbrother-in-law, our nephew, my close friend Tatiana, my awesome boss Jen, our dear friend Matt, and a slew of other friends of ours! Lots and lots of celebrating going on around these parts!! 

4. Having my first cup of coffee in almost a month! I'm not a coffee addict whatsoever. I've been a one cup a day drinker for forever and can function fine without it. I actually like the taste of coffee, however. about a month ago I noticed I wasn't enjoying the taste of it much anymore so I gave it up and started drinking tea! Lots of green tea, chai tea, and herbal teas and even using my Starbucks giftcard for Chai Tea Lattes instead of fancy coffee beverages! This weekend while at my girlfriend, Whitney's house, I had my first cup of coffee in almost a month and boy was it yummy! I don't think I'll be going back to drinking it every day but I think it would be a nice pick me up on an extra lagging day - say like this week when I'm trying to adjust to this Daylight Savings Time! 

I found this really interesting!!! 

5. Working on our taxes! To most this is probably a daunting task but this marks year number two that we have done our taxes ourselves with the help of TurboTax. Since we don't have a ton of "extras" to worry about like second properties, self employment, or rental income we are able to do them ourselves! It's usually a few day process as I like to, obviously, make sure they are 100% accurate before filing them! I won't lie though, I am always completely nervous when hitting that submit button! It's a great feeling seeing what we should be getting back from the government during the entire process! I'm quite satisfied with the figure we've been given! These suckers should be completely finalized by weeks end and we will be on our way to get our little check back and this will be another task I can cross off our "To Do" list! 

Happy Hump Day my darlings!!! Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far and didn't miss me too much yesterday!!! XoXo! 

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's here, It's here, the middle of the week is here!!! Already we are flying through the month of January!!! Where is time going and what am I loving today?! Check it out below!

1. Getting back to the gym! Monday was my first night back in MONTHS! My Zumba instructor even said "Hey girl! It's been awhile"! Why yes, yes mam it has! What a great work out I had too. It felt good to sweat, to get my body moving, and to feel that much better leaving the gym knowing I just did something good for myself! I'm hoping to head out for a two mile walk on my lunch break today and hit the gym tomorrow night! I certainly don't mind the sore feeling the next morning either! It's a reminder of the good I am doing for myself!

2. Using up my Flex Spending Account before it runs out! Long story short, when I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled, I asked the Dentist office to run the numbers so I knew what price tag I was going to be looking at. I was looking at a $1,000 procedure, including my insurance, or so I thought. Great. Dandy. Fine. To help with the cost I opened up a Flex Spending Account at work with the total amount of the teeth extraction. The only intended purpose of the card was to pay for the wisdom teeth removal. After the dental procedure, I had to pay for the service. Duh. Well, the receptionist tells me "That will be $94.00".... Excuse me?!... $94.00 is FAR from a grand! It's unclear where the mistake was made when the dentist first ran those numbers but now I've had to come up with ways to spend the rest of the account before it runs out in March! The list provided is limited to mainly band aids and pregnancy tests! Literally everything else needs a prescription! Can you imagine.... $900 worth of First Response tests?! ha! Anywho, since I now need glasses {that's a blog post all its on} I have successfully spent the majority of the card! Now I have no fears of eating $900 at the end of March!

3. The Duchess of Cambridge's 31st Birthday today! Yes, the gorgeous and oh-so-classy Princess turns 31 today!! I hope she has one of the happiest of birthdays yet! I'm excited to read about how she spends her day, sans alcoholic beverages of course! More so I'm excited to see what she decides to wear to celebrate her birthday!

4. My second sponsor post for tomorrow! I can't wait for y'all to meet Jill! She has some of the best fashion sense of anyone I know! And yes I know her in real life! I wish I could pull off half of the creative ensembles she creates! Not to mention she has the sweetest personality too and I know you all will love her!! She's a Boston native now residing in D.C. and living the whirlwind newlywedded life! Be sure to stop by and meet her tomorrow!

5. White Collar starts back in two weeks!!! The best part is I've gotten the hubby hooked on it so now he can enjoy watching it with me! I don't know why I considered couch/TV time important, but I think its great when you can sit and enjoy the TV program together! I'm not a fan of watching TV in separate rooms or being in different rooms while you are both home for that matter!

What are y'all loving today?! That the work week is half way over?! Yep, add that to my list too!

Friday's Letters!

Here we are, another Friday, another weekend on the way! This weekend will be busy like most as we will be celebrating my momma's birthday tomorrow and then celebrating Christmas with my Dad, Stepmom, brother and sister on Sunday, since they were in NYC for the holidays! I also hope to get some purging and organizing done on some down time, that is if I find any down time!

Via

Dear New Antique Chairs, I am so thrilled Mallory was getting rid of y'all and that I was able to snag you at an unbelievable deal! Y'all are going to look fantastic in our office/library! Dear How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Thank you for being on TV last night! You must know how much I love Matthew McConaughey! You do know he was only 33 in that movie right? Annnnd that he welcomed his third child into the world just a week ago?! Dear Crossfire Series, I think you are better than Fifty Shades! However, I am royally irritated that you left me hanging in book two and I now have to wait until May to purchase the third book! Dear Homemade Leg Warmers, I made you out of an old sweater and I love you. Enough said.  Dear Fears and Intimidation, Can you please refrain from making me feel inferior to others? Can you also stop causing me to be terrified to chase my dreams? Furthermore, can you simply just take a hike?! You are really inhibiting me from reaching some serious goals I'm yearning to achieve! Please and Thank you!

Hope you lovies are having a fabulous Friday!!! Have an equally fabulous weekend and I'll see y'all Monday!!!

2012 ~ A Year in Review!

I feel like it was just yesterday we were celebrating the New Year for 2012 and now here we are staring 2013 in the face! Can time slow down please?! 2012 was a fabulous year in the Harrell household and I am more than excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!

In January, we threw my mom a HUGE 50th Birthday party!!! It was a success and she was beyond thrilled to celebrate such a milestone with her friends and family!

In February, we celebrated our 6th Valentines day together and 2 years of being engaged!

In March, I began blogging regularly which has opened lots of opportunities for future endeavors!

In April, our wedding day was featured on Heart Love Weddings!

In May, we made our modeling debut in a local magazine publication, Suffolk Living Magazine! It was beyond fun and surreal to see ourselves in a printed publication! The hubby was also promoted at work!

In June, we celebrated our first year Wedding Anniversary with a Annimoon trip to Charleston, South Carolina. This city quickly became my favorite place in the states! We documented our trip with a photo shoot by the fantastic Dana Cubbage Photography! I was also promoted at my place of employment!

Our wedding day shoes, our toasting flutes, and our wedding video! 

In July, we celebrated the hubby's 26th birthday with a weekend trip to D.C. to see his team, the Braves, play the Nationals! We also celebrated Baby Reef's 1st birthday with a pool party at his brother's house!

In August, we joined my in-laws in Emerald Isle for their yearly family summer vacation! My best friend also came down to visit for a weekend and we celebrated the engagement of two dear friends!

In September, we bought a new car!

In October, we traveled to the hubby's Alma Mater, Hampden-Sydney College for our third annual Homecoming weekend, with his baseball buddies and their wives!

In November, I cooked my first Thanksgiving Day turkey and pumpkin cheesecake which both turned out to be delicious! We also attended our first black tie event!

In December, we celebrated my 28th birthday and our 2nd married Christmas together!

I can already see 2013 being a fantastic year for us and I truly hope 2013 brings millions of blessings to all of you! Thank-you for making this past year so much sweeter - see you lovely fans next year ;) !!!!

"For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, We'll take a cup o'kindess yet, for auld lang syne!"

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I was so surprised with how many bloggers actually participated in yesterday's Blogger Day of Silence in honor of the precious children and victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy! There were sooooo many of us who participated and I am so proud of the blogging community for this! Healing will happen, one step at a time, one moment at a time, one prayer at a time.

Found here

Now that I'm back to blogging full time, I could not be more excited to get back to WILW! Ready to see my list?! Me too!!

1. All the thoughtful phone calls, texts, blog comments, instagram comments, and facebook posts I received Monday, in honor of my 28th birthday! I felt so loved and appreciated by all of you and I am extremely grateful for everyone who thought of me on my special day!

2. The plans to purge and redecorate our home after Christmas! I adore our home, but much of our decor followed us from our apartment that I first moved into 6 years ago. To say my tastes have changed is an understatement! I'm planning on going a more classic route with french influences speckled throughout! If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll see a whole board dedicated to 'New Home Decor'. Purging is a necessity! We are at max capacity in this house and if I receive one more knick knack I may just flip!

Found here

3. My continuous effort to gain more experience in PR and Marketing to land a new job in the future! About a month ago, I finally decided I needed to beef my resume up to appeal to hiring managers and companies in the PR and Marketing field. Yes, it's what I majored in and studied in school, but they don't care about that! They want the hands on experience... and... well... I'll be the first to tell you, landing a job without the experience is nearly impossible! After mulling over ideas I finally decided I would volunteer my extra time {what extra time?} and help organizations/ companies with PR and/or marketing work! I just finished working with VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads on a campaign to help them win a $7,000 grant! Unfortunately, I floundered! Or at least I feel I did as they won 4th place, however, they did win a $2,000 grant so I assume that is better than nothing at all! I plan to continue to help them when I'm needed! I am also currently in the process of helping a local photographer as her acting PR representative. I have a lot of research and work ahead of me but I am looking forward to working with her! Lastly, starting in January, I will be helping the PR division of YAAA! Hampton Roads {Young Adults for Alzheimer's Awareness}. I know I will be extremely busy in the next few months but I am looking forward to it because I know the outcome will be more than my little heart desires!

4. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting!!! I know this news is a few weeks old but holy moly I am so excited for them!!! While I do wish they had waited a wee bit longer {so her and I could be pregnant together} after watching TLC's A Royal Baby Story I have a new understanding of the pressures they are under to produce another heir to the throne. I think for American's it is difficult to totally comprehend the monarchy, their traditions and expectations. Ultimately it is Will and Kate's decision and I think they are perfectly capable of making the decisions that are right for them! I know having a boy is preferred but I secretly {not so secret now} hope they have a little girl! It doesn't really matter what they have because of the rule change that even if it's a girl she can still take the throne! Girls rule and boys drool!

Found here

5. The world Darling! I seriously believe I am going to make this my new favorite word, next to Fabulous of course. What is it about Dah-ling? It sounds sophisticated, endearing, eloquent! Classic as it gets! I do believe hunny is being replaced with Darling... asap! Now if only I had the English accent to accompany this beautiful word!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far! I've been busy starting and finishing up Christmas shopping! I have already promised myself that I will not wait this late next year! WIll NOT!

XoXo my Darlings!!!

28 years, 336 months, 10,226 days, 245,443 hours

I've been blessed with 28 years of life today! 336 months, 10,226 days, 245,443 hours of life on this planet! I'm truly humbled when I sit back and think of how lucky I am to have seen those hours, those days, those months, and those years!

I can recall being 18 years old and looking at 28 year old adults, thinking how old, wise, and mature they were! How they had great careers, how they were married, some possibly with children, and how that seemed to be so far away for me! Now it's here and while I do feel wise beyond my years, I don't feel old. Maturity comes and goes, depending on how you define maturity! I handle situations like an adult but I enjoy having fun; laughing, joking, being a kid. I may not have a great career but I'm working on it, none-the-less, I do have a job with benefits. I am now married and while we do plan to have a family, it won't be any time soon, Baby Reef is enough for now. It just amuses me to think of the 18 year old views I had of 28 year olds, and now that I'm 28, some are accurate while others are far from it. 

I can also remember thinking of where I would actually be at 28! I had no doubt I would be living in NYC! Working as a journalist for a big time network! Frequenting the most popular hot spots. Wearing the hottest fashions and designers. Living in a penthouse in Manhattan with a husband or a fiancé...or neither! I was okay with the idea of being Miss I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T! My how times and things have changed! While I would love to know if I could have made it in the big city, I'm perfectly happy with the life I now live! That life now consists of owning and living in a townhome in the suburbs 30 minutes away from my hometown. I work for a Mortgage Company as an Executive Assistant. I've been married for 1.5 years and I'm a momma to the sweetest yellow lab. My favorite hot spot to frequent is my home and lord knows I save my hard earned money for the few designer duds I own! Not an outlandish life to most, but it's ridiculously perfect for me! I know God has put me here and has given me this life over the other for a reason and I'm grateful for every day that I have been given to live it! 

While most of my birthday's have been celebrated with overexcitement and celebration, I'm spending this one, just appreciating what all I have! No parties, no big dinners, just keeping it low key! Spending the day with morning snuggles from Baby Reef, Christmas shopping, using part of my birthday gift from the hubby and going to get a mani and pedi, and having a sweet little date night with my one and only! I think occasionally forgoing the hoopla allows us to focus more on what we have and what we've done with our lives, to appreciate where we are, who we've become, and what we've done with the gifts we've been given. 

Love and Kisses to you all! Have a splendid Monday and even though it may not be your birthday - sit back and take a look at all the blessings that surround you. It puts so much into perspective! 

XOXO

Weekend Recap!

Howdy Hoooo! So yes I realize I did not post but only two days last week! Forgive me as I did not plan out my blog week, as I should have, and couldn't find the time or motivation to write! Ooops! I'll try to do better this week!

Be prepared for photo overload! We had a pretty productive and full weekend! Well kinda sorta. More like a full Saturday and a productive Sunday! Friday evening, I made the hubby's favorite meal {meatloaf, in case you didn't know or wanted to know}, we relaxed a bit and then headed to bed at a decent hour in preparation for Saturday!

My step-sister-in-law, her hubby, and my nephew and niece live in Northern VA. They actually live a stones throw from George Mason {which I find pretty cool since I went there for two years of my college career}. Anywho, my niece's 4th Birthday party was Saturday and considering we've never been able to make it to one of her birthdays, the hubby and I decided to go! To drive this in a day is possible but spending 6 hours in the car {if not more because you NEVER know how traffic will be} is not my cup of tea, nor the hubby's, and nor my in-laws... so we flew!

I may have also failed to tell y'all that my step-father-in-law {we will call him B} is a pilot. He pilots a personal jet for a doctor who travels constantly, between here, NOVA, NYC, and any other place he wants to go! "B" also has his own personal Comanche plane that used to belong to his father, it holds some serious sentimental value, and it comes in handy when "B" and "A" {my mother-in-law} take day, overnight, or weekend trips. Considering Saturday was a day trip and the plane sits 4, we were in luck!

The Birthday Party was at the Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon! What a unique place! It's home to the last working farm in Fairfax county AND has a public equestrian facility. There are animals everywhere, from sheep to pigs, to goats, to roosters, to peacocks, to cows and so on and so on! They also have an on site carousal for the kids to ride! My favorite part was the equestrian facility. As many of you know I used to ride horses and I miss it, a lot! Being in the barn and smelling the familiar smells of hay, leather, horses, and yes... poo... all brought back some amazing memories of my younger years! What I would give to get back in the saddle again. Why I ever stopped riding, I will never understand, I guess I just got "too cool" for it and thought boys and cheerleading were more important.

I'm pretty sure my niece had the best birthday ever, not to mention she got some pretty awesome gifts! Annnnnnd the one we gave her seemed to be one of her favorites! It was a Puppy Spa, a little furry stuffed dog {that she named, Maria} that came with brushes and combs, bows and jewels, a necklace and crown and a few other little things! She carried it around with her the majority of the day and I'm quite ticked I didn't get a picture of her with it!

After flying back home Saturday evening we literally spent a few hours cuddling with Baby Reef and then hit the sack! I'm pretty sure I turned out the light before 10:30! I mean we did get up at 6 a.m.... we were beat!

Yesterday, the hubs got up and went surfing while I slept in a few extra hours. Once I woke up though I was ready to roll! One of the most productive Sunday's I have had in some time! I did a TON of laundry, ironed, started AND completed a Pinterest craft, meal planned for this week, went to the grocery store, folded all of the laundry, picked up around the house, decorated a bit more for Fall, watched my Skins lose {Thanks Morgan... you need an attitude adjustment!} and finally worked on the blog! Listing it all out, doesn't seem to be that much, but I was on the move ALL day! SN: The hubby did vacuum for me... I wasn't doing ALL the work!

None the less, here is my photo dump of the weekend! Enjoy!!!! 

Our ride for the day! 

 Private Jets at Dulles! This wasn't even half of them! 

Kinda scary! 

The Birthday Princess!!!

Frying Pan Farm! 

Goats! 

Wilbur's Cousins! 

Our new little friend! 

If only I could have opened that stall! 

Nostalgic! A barn used to be my home away from home! 

My Pinterest Craft! A Book of all of our Wedding Day Cards! 

I'm kind of in love with it! 

Love my baby boy! 

Hope y'all had fabulous weekends as well!!! Wishing you lots of love for a great week ahead!!!

XoXo,