Five

Happy Friday everyone!

I no longer have Fridays off, so no more 3 day weekends. 

This is actually not too bad because we are only open til noon and it makes me get my day started early instead of laying in bed all morning. Plus my bank account is going to like the little bit extra.

Anyways, it is Friday so that means its a 5 on Friday post.

+ This week I started back to having a more regular yoga schedule. 

My body has been really tight and I know that when it comes time to start running 

again I don't want my legs to be all tight. 

Plus yoga allows me to really relax after a long day at work.

+Our friends Courtney & Darrin announced that they are expecting!!!

I am so excited. Since they live a couple towns away we have kind of drifted apart

but on Sunday we are going over to their house for the Super Bowl 

and I am going to help her with the nursery and everything.

I cannot wait to see her since the last time was at our wedding!!!

+Meal Plans. 

I finally stuck my meal planning for the week.

I love having mexican night & having tacos.

So easy to throw together!!

You could call it my cheat meal of the week.

+This week these twinnies celebrated their birthday.

Today we are all hanging out & making centerpieces for Jesie's wedding.

I am so excited!! 

I always have fun when we hang out & throw in some wedding crafts and I am in heaven!

+awkward sleeping positions of Tank!

I swear he has always slept in the funniest positions since he was a little puppy.

Its so funny though because when he sleeps like this he can't balance on his back long enough to stay there and he falls over to his side in like 30 seconds. He attempts to sleep like this are 10 times before he finally gives up and sleeps differently.

Such a goofy dog but I love him to pieces. xoxo

linking up with the girls for 5 on Friday

Darci | April | Christina | Natasha

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend & if you are lucky enough to have warm weather please get your batooskie outside and enjoy it! Meanwhile I will be enjoying the temps in the positive numbers, its gonna feel like a heat wave after this week. I might even be able to get a run in outside if it warms up enough and the snow and ice thaws out some. 

xoxo

Photo An Hour

When Steph said that she was planning on hosting a linkup party for photo an hour I immediately knew I wanted to participate in this. Just like Steph I am might be a little nosey and I like to know what other people get into during their day. 

Isn't that why we all check our instagram feeds so often?

We are all human and wonder what people are doing.

So yesterday I took a picture during every hour of my day so that you can take a walk in my shoes for a typical workday (9-4) and evening at home. 

My mornings always start with Anthony rolling out of bed around 5:30 a.m. (he is a crazy early riser and is up before the rooster) I always roll back over and try to steal another hour or two of shut eye. 

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but I squeezed in another 45 minutes before Diesel was whining for Momma to get out of bed. So my feet were hitting the floor a lil before 6:30...

Breakfast time for the boys.

Car is already started and warming up, kissing the boys good bye, turning on their radio & I am bundled all up to brave the cold. It usually takes my car a little while down the road to fully heat up.

Just a little moisturizing at work. 

Our FedEx shipment always comes between 10&10:30. Gotta get them checked in, removed from the system and make appointments with the patient to get their hearing aid back.

I get the pleasure of decorating our office for all the holidays and I love it! 

It is probably a good thing the other girls in the office don't do it.

Heart banners made by yours truly!!

All caught up on actual work stuff so taking advantage of reading some blogs, checking my personal emails and scrolling through IG a little bit until someone gives me more work to do.

Back to work stuff, making some spreadsheets. 

My obsession of greens and blues carries on everywhere!!!

I can't help it and hey it all looks better with pretty colors and tables right?!

Your probably wondering when does this chick eat?

I typically take my lunches later in the day around 2:30 or 3:00 because for one I usually have a mid morning snack that holds me off to take a later lunch and secondly when I eat later in the day it makes my afternoon go much faster since we close at 4:00. The plus side of this is that I am not tempted to snack when I get off work and I can wait until dinner to eat again.

My last hour of work always flies by (unless I am watching the clock) and by 3:56 I am chomping at the bit to flip this sign, lock the front door, unplug the coffee pot, turn on the answering machine, send the daily report to my boss and get outta there for the day. I have two dogs patiently waiting for Momma to come home and play with them and spoil them with treats so I usually go straight home unless I need to stop at the grocery store.

Dinner time for the boys. They have already had their bellies scratched, gone outside and are ready to eat.

Yoga time.

I can usually squeeze in about 30 minutes of yoga in the evening unless I get too caught up in blog reading or playing with the boys. Tank doesn't usually let me get by with much more than half an hour

my sweet boy

I finally finished our Shutterfly book of our Honeymoon & ordered it!

Just in time to use this $20 promo card from Aunt Lori! (exp.Jan.31)

cuddle sesh with my hubby.

 late supper. leftovers, taco wrap.

Time to disconnect from the electronics. 

I try to lay in bed right before I go to sleep and read an actual book instead of staring at my ipad screen.

By doing this I usually drift off to sleep and am out by 10:00.

So that is a day in my life. 

Nothing too exciting. My weekends sometimes get a little more rowdy.

Okay most of them are just spent cuddling with Tank and playing with Diesel in the snow.

A summer weekend would be much more visually appealing right about now considering this is what my Fridays (ok usually Sat&Sun too) consist of between May and September

is anyone else yearning for these warm summer days to be back?! 

Please excuse me while I go do some online shopping for the cutest bikini I can find from Vickies!!!

Make sure you swing by Stephs or Meg's to see what everyone else is getting into during their day.

WEDDING WEDNESDAY - Jewelry for Our Big Day

Hello everyone!!!

I am back again for some more Wedding Wednesday and linking up with fabulous ladies
Jordon  & Meredith

Today I wanted to share a little sentimental part about our wedding.

I had two necklace options to wear on my wedding day that did not involve me having to buy something new to match the earrings my Grandma Spiker gave me to wear for the big day. These two necklaces were ones that Anthony had given me when we were dating that I actually wear on a daily basis almost. Since I wear them so often I kind of thought I should get something new but I wanted to have something sentimental.

It finally dawned on me one day that the two people that I would give anything to have there with me on my wedding day would be watching from Heaven instead, my Grandpa Spiker (my Mom's Dad) and my Grandma Beulah (my Dad's Mom). Since they could not be physically present I knew I wanted to have a picture of them in a locket around my neck, close to my heart.

Source: Chloe's Vintage Jewelry etsy shop

So the search was on. My Mom and I scoured the internet for months looking for the perfect locket.

Source: birdzNbeez etsy shop

Finally one day, like a month before the wedding, I found The One!

Hanging By A Thread etsy shop

My Mom ended up ordering it for me and surprising me with it.

I absolutely loved it. The chain was a little too long so we ended up getting a new one for TJ Maxx at the jewelry counter for my wedding day. Putting the pictures in it and having them there was the perfect touch to my wedding day

Frequently I find myself wearing this locket and every time I put it on I think about my Grandpa Spiker and Grandma (that I never got to meet)

Angie did a wonderful job and if you are looking for a locket for your wedding or any special occasion you should totally check out her Etsy Shop. She has lots of other very cute pieces.

I am personally favoring a couple pieces that I might be thinking about getting or maybe hinting to Anthony that I would like for Valentine's Day.

I really like this ring. It would match my locket pretty well too plus I love anything that shows our outdoorsy style and between feathers and arrows as a jewelry staples I like them all.

Verdigris Feather Ring

Vintage Flower Brooch

get yours here

Along with the locket I wore these beautiful earrings that my Grandma gave me for Christmas.

I was going to try to find a bracelet to wear too but I decided that I didn't want to go for a real blingy look so I kept it sweet and simple

locket, promise ring from Anthony (circa Christmas 2005), earrings and most importantly the new rocks on my left hand!!!

Do any of you have a special locket that you wear? or what kind of jewelry did you wear on your wedding day? Make sure you check back next Wednesday because I am going to share a little DIY that I did for our cake toppers!!! Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday. xoxo

OPERATION END THIS INSANITY: Photo Organization pt.1

I was originally going to tackle our budget and making a family binder with a whole slew of organization to start implementing into our lives but I decided not to do it just yet. I wanted to tackle something more fun this week especially since we are still getting hit with the Polar Vortex and I am avoiding going out since the roads are so bad so I am going to get a grip on all our pictures.

I have not scrapbooked in over a year and have only gotten a few pictures actually developed.

Thank God for my Aunt Erin doing our wedding album for us because there is no way I would have been able to get it done in one week.

So here are my plans for this week:

• Finish sorting and categorizing all the pictures on our computer.
• Find an effective way to backup our pictures instead of cds.
• Scrapbook my Bridal shower pictures.
• Do a Shutterfly book for our Honeymoon pictures.
• Finish putting the pictures in the Project Life album I have of Tank and Diesel.
• Find a way to start doing yearly photobooks for our little Family. 

Sorry I don't really have any pictures for this post.

But there will definitely be more pictures on Saturday of what I get done.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I am actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow since I have been cooped up in this house since Friday evening, cabin fever is kicking in.

Operation End This Insanity: Closet Organization pt.2

How are you all surviving Snowmageddon 2014?

We got so much snow today that I didn't even end up going anywhere which kinda blew my big idea for our closet makeover out the window. That is okay because I was perfectly content with laying around with the furbabes. We even went out to play with them in the snow for a little bit after cabin fever started kicking in.

It was nice to go out and get some fresh air but I cannot stand the cold so it didn't last long.

Anyways back to the closet makeover.

If you missed part one last Saturday you will see how much better it looks now!

 Here is a little before and after

 We cannot believe how much better it looks now.

The major difference is the new paint.

I ended up using a gallon of paint I bought a couple months back at Habitat For Humanity for $8. Unfortunately the color was not on the can but I have ended up using it for the kitchen and now our closet. Definitely the best $8 I have ever spent.

Now how about a break down of what is actually going on in here now:

 I was going to use shower rings on a hanger for scarf organization but then I found these hangers from some blankets we bought at TJ Maxx and they are working perfect for all my scarfs.

This is Anthony's side (he has about 3 loads of laundry that need done) and in the back are my summer dresses. I ended up pulling all of our camo, hoodies, and coats out and putting them in the laundry room closet. 

 Over here we are hanging all of our pants and above are belts and camis on a circle hanger.

We are a little behind on laundry too because the rest of our pants are in there right now too.

Below on the other side are all of my clothes.

Can you tell I purged out a full laundry basket of clothes to get rid of?

I was easily filling up a whole bar and a half in here before.

It is so much easier to get ready now.

 Some more of the organization is just putting stuff in baskets.

Above is all my swimwear (left) and lingerie (right) and below is a long basket I got at Hobby Lobby for our wedding programs to go in and it is now the home of all my workout shorts.

My favorite part is the mini gallery wall I did on the back wall.

The heart was a wedding gift my cousin Missy made me and the other picture frames are all from TJ Maxx.

The chalkboard I made for our wedding as a menu on the bar and I am still trying to decide what I am going to put on it now. I figure some quote since this would be one of the first things I read in the morning while getting ready for work.

Some stuff I did to end the insanity we had going on were

• Pull out all the clothes we no longer fit into or just do not wear.
• From now on we are doing the little trick of flipping hangers to decide what needs to go at the end of the season. My method is going to be backwards from how it is done normally. When I put clothes back I am going to put them back in backwards then in the six months I will pullout what is still facing in. I am doing this because I am more likely to pull something out to wear that is easier to take out and then I will most likely wear something more than once unless it is a favorite.
• I moved all our hunting gear to the laundry room closet since they are so bulky
• I also moved all our hoodies and coats to the laundry room closet because usually when we get home from work we take off those clothes and put on comfy clothes (sweat pants and hoodie) and by having these items in there we can take off our dirty clothes and put them in the right basket to be washed.
• Socks and underwear were moved to on top of the dryer in little canvas tote baskets so they can just be pulled out of the dryer and thrown in the correct basket without spending the time to actually sort them. We all know there is always a match missing anyways.
• I was originally going to put a tall skinny dresser at the end of the closet against the wall where we would store socks and other under garments along with running shorts and whatever else couldn't be hung up. I had the dresser painted already at my Mom and Dad's and was going to go get it today but then it ended up snowing like 7 plus inches and even the interstate here was closed because the County and State are running out of salt. Needless to say the dresser idea was nixed and in exchange I put up the awesome gallery wall, so it all played out for the better anyways.

I am planning on checking back in here in a month on the result of if this was a successful change for the better. I am hoping it will prevent us having clothes building up on the floor and laundry getting so backed up because it never makes it to out of the bedroom. Tomorrow I am going to be revealing the next project we are going to be working on to be more organized in 2014 and hopefully for years to come if we can make it a habit and stick to it.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!

5

Gosh these Fridays have been sneaking up on my all month, I cannot believe next week is our last Friday of January! Before we know it we are going to be floating around in our favorite swimming holes, sippin on a cherry coke just watchin the days go by (nice picture in your head huh!?)

This Polar Vortex can get lost any minute now! 

Anywho I am once again linking up with all the lovely ladies that host 5 on Friday...

Darci :: The Good Life
April::A. Liz Adventures
Christina::Carolina Charm
Natasha::Hello Happiness

This is kind of a little brain dumpy and it probably looks like we watch way too much tv but hey its cheaper than going out for drinks and dinner every night or going to every Justin Moore or Luke Bryan concert in the state of Ohio and surrounding states every chance I could get on the weekends. Don't worry if our budget and my husband allowed I would totally be following Mr. Moore all over the Country on his tours.

But alas we are newlyweds with some debt over our heads that needs paid off first.

1. The Bachelor.

Ok first off I have never watched the past shows of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Two weeks ago I told Anthony that I had never watched a television series from the very beginning to end and that I wanted to do that this year. I guess I always get bored and start watching something else. I have tried it with The Voice and Grey's Anatomy but somehow once I skipped one show I couldn't get caught up or I found something else to do on the nights they were being aired. 

Second, we do not have DVR (in an attempt to save money we nixed this little extra. to begin with we were not going to have any television but TWC told us we would get the basic channels with our internet package) so this leaves me with having to watch The Bachelor on Monday nights when they are aired. 

Last week I found two other bloggers that have pretty good commentaries and reviews on The Bachelor and they were so spot on and I found myself laughing at how similar our thoughts are about this show and the crazy shit that goes on. 

Kylie In The Sky and Ashley over at Oh Jones... 

Here are some of my thoughts and opinions about the show...

-the first time meeting Juan Pablo (JP) was the most awkward thing I have seen. I just sat there waiting to see what other random thing the next girl would do. 

I totally lost it when the girl came riding in on a piano bicycle! you have got to be kidding me

-Anthony was like who the heck would bring their dog on this show?! 

I would totally be that girl and Tank would steal the whole show!

-I feel like opera singer is sneaky and just stirring shit. I mean one minute she says she doesn't feel the connection that she thought she would with JP and isn't even excited when she gets rose the first night then in the previews for next week she is all over him!!! I really don't think she has actual feelings.

-one lesson I learned from last weeks show and I don't know how I have gotten this far in life without..

Life is about straddling people

Thank you Victoria for this insight about life. I am sure my husband will thank you later!

2. Luck of the Irish. 

I know its not even March yet but I have kind of had a good round of lucky happenings this week.

Last Sunday I went to a bridal show with my friend Jesie and all the things that anyone could enter in were for the bride and I was just fine with that since I am still getting emails and phone calls from going to a couple shows when we first got engaged over two years ago. The one thing I did enter for was a free facial and what do you know Tuesday morning I got a voicemail congratulating me on winning!!! HECK Yeah!!!!

I will definitely be spilling the beans on how that goes when I do it (:

Then I got an email from Amanda at The Lady Okie saying that I won a Runner's World magazine from her along with a cd of her favorite running tunes!
Anthony brought the package in on Tuesday and I was so excited.
I am already half way through the magazine and have sticky notes all over the pages of good ideas for when I finally get back into running and I have some awesome music to had to my running playlist! Thanks so much Amanda!!!

This week I also put in my two entries for Cash Explosion that I got for Christmas.

Crossing my fingers and toes that something good comes out of that!

3. Tank Update.

A lot of people have been asking me how Tank is doing. 

He is doing pretty good. I guess as good as he can limping around on 3 legs.

We opted out of having it amputated since he isn't good at walking on four legs let alone three(read: he is a big clumsy guy) so now he is limping around on it. It has taken us about a week to figure out his medicine routine because the Remadyl makes him very sleepy and he was taking it twice a day. We cut back on it and started him on large doses of baby aspirin (being 130 lbs he can take 4 at a time). Since changing this around we have been able to enjoy him more because he isn't sleeping nearly as much and wants to play more which helps us a lot with the whole realization that he does have cancer, has a diagnosis of 3-6 months and that he isn't going to die right now. 

I think in the beginning I was completely overcome by the fact that he has cancer that I put aside the fact that we do get more time with him. Even though I know he isn't going to be around a lot longer I do have time to spend with him and I am going to savor every second of it. 

Now if I could just get boss my to agree that he can come to work with me I could gain much more time lol
Pigs will fly the day they agree on that!
until then him and Sparta are going to be chillin' like this through the week until I can join them on the weekends. Pathetic!!!

4. Photo An Hour.
I saw this idea a long time ago but it got pushed aside and I forgot about it until last week Steph at Southern Mess mentioned that Meg O had done this and she was planning on doing one too.
Well now they are putting together a one time only Photo An Hour link up next Thursday January 30.
I am so excited to do this and am actually thinking about doing a two parter because my Monday-Thursdays are pretty repetitive and my Friday-Sundays are more enjoyable (:
I am really looking forward to doing this and seeing what everyone else is getting into (my nickname was Nosey Rosey growing up and I still find myself living up to it)

5. Hulu Plus
(I am not compensated by Hulu in any means, the following are my own thoughts about this company)
Last night we decided to try out Hulu after many recommendations from friends and family on newer tv shows that we need to catch up on but since we don't have DVR we don't really like to sit around and wait for news to come and we are so behind on all these episodes that there is no way to catch up unless there is a marathon going on and then we would have to spend the whole day watching tv.
We ended up spending our whole evening snuggled up together catching up on an old time favorite, Greys Anatomy. Yay for no more indecisive nights of what to watch together and goodbye with Cops (don't get me wrong I love a good episode of Cops but after 7 months I am pretty sure we have seen every episode).
If you are interested you should totally try out Hulu, they have a free week of Hulu Plus available on their website (no secret codes needed) and just remember to cancel your subscription before the end of the week or you will be charged $7 a month for it, unless of course you want to continue with it then by all means don't cancel it and enjoy tons of tv episodes!!!