Halloween wishes…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

from Rex and Starla!

If you are wondering what in the world our costume is……you probably haven’t seen Napoleon Dynamite.  :)

“Take a look at what I’m wearing, people.  You think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I’m wearing these bad boys?  Forget about it.  Last off, my students will learn about self-respect.  You think anyone thinks I’m a failure because I go home to Starla at night?  Forget about it!”  -Rex Kwon Do

I hope you have a wonderful day!  I don’t think we are doing anything tonight since we had our costume party over the weekend.  But that is fine by me….I’m pretty worn out!

xoxo,

Starla a.ka. Amanda

Nephew Time!

Last weekend Husband and I got to watch our precious nephews!  We took them to a Pumpkin Festival and then we just had fun at the house.  They are really the most well behaved boys ever.  They are so adorable and sweet.  Ugh….they just melt my heart.  I think I’m in trouble when we have our own children! ha!  Sometimes I just can’t handle all the cuteness and I just want to cry. 

They were super excited to sleep on our couches! haha!  We were going to have them sleep in our guest bedroom….but the bed is really high and that made me nervous.  So couches it was!  But they LOVED it! 

They slept really good.  We didn’t hear them start talking until about 8:45 am.  It was so adorable to hear them talking to each other.  Landen (the little one) was asking his brother if he could get up.  And Izaak kept saying NO…NOT YET! haha!  I think big brother was wanting to sleep more. 

Izaak LOVES popcorn!  We put in a movie, gave him a bag of popcorn and he was a happy camper.  Oh and he used to be afraid of Maddie….but not anymore!  They were buddies all weekend!  :)

This one is a little fuzzy….but I love it.  Landen fell asleep while Izaak was watching his movie!  Stinkin cute! 

I love my nephews so much!  They bring so much joy to my heart. It makes me so excited for the day I can become a mother.  I long for that so much!  Not to mention….that Mr. Tim is going to be an amazing daddy someday. 

Our costume party is tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!!!  ahhhh I’m sooooo excited!

Happy Thursday to you & Happy Halloween of course!

xo,

Amanda

Pets & Pumpkins!

Over the weekend Tim and I went to the annual Pets & Pumpkin Days in our city!  It is one of my favorite fall events.  I love it that I can take Miss Maddie!  We go every year.  This year we got to take our two nephews with us!!!!  They are the cutest on the planet.  They also got to stay the night at our house….so we just had a grand little weekend with them. 

Izaak was Ironman and Landen was Batman!  Izaak kept asking Tim and I why we weren't wearing a costume! haha!  We have one…but it is a surprise for our Halloween party this Friday! :)

Maddie looking as adorable as ever….

The little chiuaua is our friend’s Mike & Cori’s pup! 

My sweet friend Cori!

So this might have been picture overload!  I took wayyyy more than this! :) 

What can I say?  The Shepards love dogs and we love our nephews! 

I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!  Oh and Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!

I can’t wait to show you our costumes this year.  They might be my most favorite ones evaah!

Hugs!

Amanda

And the best husband award goes to….

Can I just take a moment to brag on my husband?

Ok. Thanks.

Sometimes there are seasons in life where you just reflect on certain things.  Reflect on life.  This is one of those times.

God is good you guys.  So good. He is faithful and true!  I have just been taking some time to reflect on how He perfectly orchestrates our life together.  Everything is for my good.  For your good.

I know I say this often….but Tim and I are busy people!  We have a lot on our plate and are on the go all the time. 

My hubby is the College Director at our church, is going full-time at seminary, works full-time for Expedia, takes care of our home, is an incredible, loyal friend to people and most importantly is THE SWEETEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD! 

Sometimes he just amazes me with how he does everything and does it well.  I know he must be tired.  He works so hard. 

That is why I balled my head off when I came home from work last week and found this on the kitchen table…..

The most precious fall arrangement and the most heartfelt card.  It was full of sweet words about how great he thinks I am and thanking me for different things.

woah!  It blew me away.  I’m not blown away by receiving flowers exactly, because he is a thoughtful person and it’s flowers.  But I was blown away at the sheer surprise.  At the thoughtfulness of his words.  No matter how busy he was that week, he took time to bless me. 

Well, I was on cloud nine as you can imagine!  What a sweet way to start the weekend. 

So….today.  Today he does it again. 

Last night I had mentioned I was low on gas and that I needed to stop on my way to work this morning.  I had also mentioned that I needed to go to the store soon to get us some things for our lunches.  (I had just merely mentioned these things…)

I went to bed.  Husband stayed up to do some school work and study for teaching the college lesson tonight. 

I woke up this morning, open the fridge and there was a special surprise just for me!

He had picked up a salad for my lunch and left a cute little face on it. 

Then I get in my car to go to work and I had a full tank of gas!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was done people! He is just too precious.  He must have gone late at night to the gas station & wal-mart or early in the morning.

I was just overwhelmed this morning at what a special husband I have. 

And then I felt challenged too.  He has just been blessing me so much lately all the while he is so busy. 

What am I doing to bless my husband?  How am I encouraging him daily to be a better man?  What can I do to make his day better? How can I pray for him better?

I guess that is how the love wheel keeps on turning.  It’s give and take.  It’s selfless love.  Every day is exciting….I love spending my days with Tim.

So, my heart is just full today and I needed to type it all out! 

I’m thankful for my husband!

I just wanted to share the challenge with you….since I have been challenged. 

How can we be a blessing to our husbands today? 

(or wife…if your a man reading my blog! haha!)  you never know….

xoxo,

Amanda

Over or Under?

I laughed so hard when I saw this picture on Pinterest!

This is seriously an important debate people.

I don’t know about you all….but the Shepard’s are a divided house!

I must have B, and husband always loads the tp as A.

To support my side of this issue….all the fancy hotels and such load the tp with it coming from the top and then they make the cute little triangle (which I love to do when we are having company! ha!)  Additionally, the tp just flows better when it comes from the top. 

Thankfully, Mr. Tim is not the best at changing out the rolls when one is empty.  And whenever he does change it….he always loads it from the bottom. 

Of course I quietly change it whenever I see it. 

(not sure if he notices that I do this or not!)  ;)

So….what say you?  A or B. 

We can still be friends if you choose A. 

xo,

Amanda

Which Wich do you like?

Hello there!  Happy Monday to you!

We had a fabulous, relaxing weekend. I love those kind. 

Oh we tried a new sandwich shop….well it’s not new, but new to us! 

Please tell me you have tried Which Wich?  We fell in L O V E.  We loved it so much we wanted to go back for dinner the same day. ha!  We both got the Turkey, Bacon, Ranch….with different toppings.  Such a good sandwich people!

We drove around town for a bit.  We scoured Marshall’s for a few things.  I found a new rug for our kitchen!  Once upon a time when we had a mouse…..he/she ate the corner of the kitchen rug.  So I had to shop for a new one!  It’s super cute. 

We also went to our favorite Tar-jay!  love love.  We just looked for a long time and picked up a few house necessities.   I debated on getting Maddie some Halloween pajamas?  I passed….but I keep thinking how precious she would be in them!

After our outing we can home to chill and Tim did a little school work.  Oh yeah….and i reorganized our bedroom closet!  Our closets are tiny!!!!! It’s awful.  If you live in an older (charming) home…you know what I mean.  They just didn’t make big closets back then.  Finally, Mr. Tim had a brilliant idea to get an over-the-door shoe organizer.  However, it can’t hang on our closet door since we have two sliding doors.  We hung it on our bedroom door….so only we see it.  It really has already made a huge difference in space! 

To end our evening we got Japanese take-out!!!!!!!  Our fav. 

And that was just our Saturday! :)

Have a great day!

xo,

Amanda

the great concealer debate!

I am on the hunt for the perfect concealer! 

Most days during the week, I am a minimalist when it comes to makeup.  I like my sleep….so I don’t like to mess around with a long beauty regime. 

However, I am a true beauty product junkie and I love getting dolled up!  I only wear a full face of makeup….maybe twice a week. 

My minimalist routine involves concealer, a light foundation, blush and bronzer.  I won’t even do anything to my eyes.  (I’m sure many of you think I’m crazy! haha!)

So, back to the topic of this post.

I am looking for the B E S T concealer out there!  I have tried several over the past year and just haven’t been satisfied.  Here is what I have tried lately:

Cover Girl Fresh Complexion Concealer

I think this one was too thin and watery.  I didn’t get much coverage.

Bare Essentuals Bisque Concealer

I kind of like the one.  It’s weird….some days I do and others I don’t.  I really don’t like it under the eye area.  It is too powdery and dry.  I’m not sold.

Cover Girl Invisible Concealer

I liked this one better than the other Cover Girl one I tried.  But I still don’t love it.

So….those are the products I have tried as of late. 

Here are a few I am itching to try:

Tarte Creaseless Concealer

I have heard good things about this product.  I also have Tarte eyeshadows….and I LOVE them!  So, I thought I might like their other products.

Laura Geller the real deal concealer

I hear that this one is heavy duty….but not thick and cakey.  It has a lot of really good reviews. 

Do you have a favorite concealer? 

I would LOVE to know your favorite products.  Or what have you been wanting to try?

Can anyone else spend hours in Sephora?  hehe! I love it. 

Let me know your thoughts!

Happy Tuesday!

xo,

Amanda

Yep….it’s me!

Hey Everyone! 

I’m still here!  :)

I didn’t realize how long it had been since I made a blog post.  We have been really busy and have had so much going on in our life the past few weeks. 

Honestly I haven’t been in the mood to blog.  You know?

Sometimes that just happens I guess.  I actually have still been reading posts from you all. 

I thought I had better get on here and let you know I’m still around!

Well, this week Mr. Tim got in the attic for me and got down the fall decorations!!!!! Yippeeee!  Now the house is super cozy and welcoming!  I love it.  I got two new fall candles from Yankee!  Harvest and Spiced Pumpkin to be exact. 

We have had beautiful fall, crisp weather!  It has been gorgeous.

We went to our best friend’s home over the weekend and they served us chili and potato soup!  And pumpkin bars for dessert.  A perfect fall meal. 

I think this week I am going to make some taco soup and amish skillet!  I love cooking in the fall.  How about you? 

Oh and Friday we went and saw the movie Courageous!!!!!! Oh my!  You MUST go see this movie peeps!  It was so so so good.  I was laughing and crying the whole time.  They did such a good job and it was super challenging.  Please go out and support this movie.  I truly wish there were more wholesome movie selections out there.  Almost every movie choice is trash these days.  It’s sad….cause we are movie people! 

We got a new mattress topper for our bed…..and now we are sleeping like babes!  haha!  It is so nice!  Our mattress is super old but we didn’t want to spend the money on a new one right now.  We got a memory foam topper and it has made all the difference.  I love bedtime! ha! 

Does anyone know what they are going to be for Halloween?  We are dressing up for a costume party!  I’m currently brainstorming!  :)

Well, as I’m typing out this blog post….I am realizing how much I have missed blogging the past few weeks!  I missed you all!!!!!! 

I am ready for a great week! 

Hope everyone has a very blessed week!!!!!

Hugs!

Amanda