Oh what a beautiful morning….da dee do….

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yay!  What a feeling! :)  I am drinking the most amazing coffee today too.  It’s called Churchill's Sinless Pastry.  It is sooooo good.  I’m normally a Dunkin Donuts kinda gal.  But this might be my new favorite. 

I think it’s going to be a fabulous day!  I woke up early enough this morning to have my coffee, a blueberry bagel and actually put on eyeliner! haha!  Most mornings I will slab on a quick eye shadow and call it good.  But I had time for eyeliner today!  It really does make such a difference for me.  However, most mornings I’m barely making it out the door…..and I finish getting ready in the car.  :) 

I just saw the extended forecast…..and it is going to be crazy HOT next week!  I mean, heat indexes in the 105 range.  I’m loving summer, but that is crazy! 

Just a few cell phone pics of some summer loves.  :)

Confession:  I have never seen Harry Potter or read the books!  Anyone else out there?  Or are there crickets? I do think I’m ready to watch them all though.  I would love to see what all the hype is about.  I’m not sure why I have never watched them…..

Funny story:   Last night in yogalates class…..we were using those bouncy balls.  Well, we had them between our legs doing leg lifts.  And I was reallllly struggling to keep mine stabilized.  (i blame it on my pants!) Well, I lost control and my ball flew out of my legs and almost hit our instructor!!!!! haha!  Probably one of my worst yoga nightmares……except for maybe farting out loud while holding an awkward pose! ha! 

Random:   I am completely addicted to “words with friends” on my cell phone! haha!  Does anyone else play? 

Have a fabulous FRIDAY everyone!!!!!! 

Hugs!

Amanda

I heart surprises.

Well, as I have already stated *multiple* times this week……our anniversary is Saturday.  I have received several fun surprises this week from Mr. Tim. 

I LOVE surprises!  Who’s with me?

Monday when I got home from work, this was on the kitchen table. 

And this was inside!  I have also been blogging about Cherry Berry A LOT! ;)  It’s my new favorite fro-yo place.  Well if I wear this shirt on Tuesdays, they will give me 3 oz. of yogurt for free!!!! yippee!  Plus the shirt has a cherry on it.  Again:  I’m obsessed!

On Tuesday, these beauties were on the kitchen table!  Oh Hot Tamales how I adore you!  Yes that sticky note says “6 boxes for 6 years”.  Thankfully I have shown some restraint and have only consumed 1 box so far.  The other 5 boxes are tucked away in my pantry.  You never know when you might need some Hot Tamales.  ;)

I’m not sure what all is in store for the rest of the week and weekend…..but I’m excited!!!!!  We are planning a few things for Saturday (the actual anniversary).  We are going to wake up early *hopefully* and go for a nice long run on one of the beautiful nature trails in our city.  I’m really looking forward to that.  We have a ton of awesome trails around here.  Then I’m sure we will grab an iced coffee afterwards!  Then I know Mr. Tim has made dinner reservations at an ah-ma-zing place that I have always wanted to go to! 

I have a few tricks up my sleeve…..but I can’t blog about them quite yet!  Mr. Tim reads the blog ya know!  I’m excited about the little surprises I have for him.  hehe!

Lastly…..I really have not been able to WAKE UP today! ugh!  It’s the worst feeling.  I just feel so sleepy.  I am going to force myself to go to yogalates today even though I reallllllly don’t want to go.  

Well, I guess I had better go to yogalates because I still have 5 unopened boxes of Hot Tamales! :)

Hope your having a joy-filled day!

xo,

Amanda

melt your heart….

I have the cutest nephews in the whole wide world!  It’s true! :)  Last week Mr. Tim and I babysat little Landen.  It was so fun and he was such a good boy. 

We snapped the cutest pictures of him (cell phone pics) while he was chillin on our couch.  He got to wear his uncle Tim’s xbox headphones and hold the controller.  And of course Mickey is helping! ;)

  

He is the easiest fella to watch!  He melts my heart!!!!!!!!!

Also, Miss Maddie wanted to say HI on the blog today! 

I knew you wouldn’t mind……

Miss Maddie is going to the spa this weekend!  She is super excited!

A verse I am thinking on today:

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”  Proverbs 18:10

I’m so thankful that the Lord is a strong tower in my life! 

I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far!  Last night I was thinking about several of my “blogging buddies”.  You guys are some of the sweetest people and I’m thankful for you! 

xo,

Amanda

Sugar overload….and a sunburn.

I’m back from our family reunion weekend!  :)  It’s was lots of fun.  I came home sunburnt and a few pounds heavier.  sheesh! 

My body needs cleansed from all the sugary sweet foods.  Tonight the hubby and I are hitting up cross training class.  I’m not gonna lie though…..eating junk food for 3 days was fun!  ;) 

Oh…..husband and I did a paddle boat on the lake!  It was funny!  We wanted to try the kayaks but they only had one. 

I found my new favorite fro-yo place in town.  It’s Cherry Berry!!!!!! It is simply amazing!  It is my dream place because I have been obsessed with cherries my entire life.  There are cherries all over this store.  And they have cherry air freshener too!  Sheer joy.

This is now my go-to spot!!!!!! 

It has been over 100 degrees in our town the past few days! yuck.  And I think the heat trend is suppose to continue this week. 

Guess what?  Mr. Tim and I celebrate 6 years of marriage this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!  We are so excited.  It is so fun reminiscing about the past 6 years and of course….dreaming about the future.  I LOVE my husband!

Speaking of husband……

He did pose next to a cardboard cut out of Justin B.  :)  Next to the fragrance section. 

And I had to get in on it too! heehee!

Hope everyone is staying cool inside!  However…..my mom is on a business trip in Cali and she said it’s a cool 70 degrees there! wow. 

Summer hugs & kisses!

Amanda

true blue friends.

Last week Tim and I got to spend time with some of our very best friends that moved away to South Carolina a year ago.  We miss them so much!  But we know they are exactly where they are suppose to be and God is working through them in amazing ways.  Brian is a youth pastor at a church there.  Brian and Jade together do such an amazing job with the teenagers!  It was so much fun just getting to talk for hours and catch up on everything. 

They stayed the night at our house one evening.  We were up until 3am talking! Well…..I dozed off a few times! Haha!  That is waaaaay past my bedtime.  But it was worth it.  It felt like nothing had changed……and we all just picked up where we left off!  Isn’t that how great friendships are?  It is special. 

We had planned on getting up and making a huge breakfast together…..but the 3am thing kinda messed us up! :)  We all slept until about 10 and then we decided to go to Ihop! ha!

(this pic ended up blurry…..but i still love it)

Oh poor Maddie! haha!  She loves them…..

I think I probably drank 5 cups of coffee!!! ha!

Jade tried this sour apple lemonade!  It looked pretty in the glass. 

We had such a wonderful time together.  Even though we miss them, we know we are all right where we are suppose to be. 

It’s so nice to have friends near and far!  What a blessing.

Happy Thursday! 

(oh and guess what?  this is actually my friday!!!!! weeeee!)

xo,

Amanda

1 Bouquet: 5 Ways

I am certainly not a florist……but I managed to make 5 cute arrangements in my home from a $5 Wally World bouquet!!!!!  I am really pleased with it.  It has freshened up my home so much.  Fresh flowers really do make me smile.  And I’m smiling even more because they were only $5!  :)  So this what I did…..

I used a crystal juice pitcher for the kitchen table.

I used a Izze bottle for my kitchen buffet.  (it was the clementine flavor!) yum!

I used a Stewarts’s Orange ‘n Creme bottle for our kitchen counter.  (cracker barrel!!!!!!!)  LOVE!

I used a sugar pourer for the bathroom.  (this was mine and husband’s favorite one!)  Having flowers in the bathroom feels like your on vacation!!!!

Lastly, I put some in a vase in the guest bedroom for our company last weekend!  It was a lovely touch!

I hope to do this a few times a month for sure! So cheap and it really makes me happy.  Mr. Tim said our house felt like a cute bed & breakfast! 

I don’t think bouquets come much cheaper than $5…..unless you have your own amazing flower garden! Lucky!  ;) 

Hugs!

Amanda

I made cake balls…..and other things.

Welcome back after a nice long weekend! :)  I’m sad it’s over….but I love the fact that this will be a short week.  (plus, i’m off work on friday too!!!!) 

Oh….I made cake balls this weekend! It was my first time and I gotta say it went well! It wasn’t hard, it was just very time consuming.  I was up until 1am Friday makin cake balls!  I believe my efforts were worth it in the end.

(picture taken by our friend Landen with his new sweet, amazing camera!!!)

I ate one too many cake balls over the weekend.  Cross training here I come! 

At church Sunday the choir was asked to dress patriotic.  Of course I have no problem with this at all!  I am the queen of dressing festive to the max! ;)  So, I show up to church and one of my friends was dressed opposite of me and we were both wearing patriotic high heels! It was fun…..so we got a picture with my phone.

Do remember Danny Gokey from American Idol?  I’m listening to him sing “Endless Love” right now on youtube.  sigh.  I’m feeing sappy and romantic.  Mr. Tim and I’s 6 year wedding anniversary is in 12 days.  We have already started reminiscing about newlywed life and how fast time has flown. 

We had a blast with our best friends in town over the past week!  It was joyous!  I’m so sad they are leaving.  I’m feeling sappy again…..

We are going to a family reunion this weekend!  Those always bring lots of excitement!  Of course I will document it all with my camera.  It doesn’t leave my side! :)  It will be nice to catch up with everyone. 

Oh….I have some of the cutest flowers in my house right now!  I bought a $5 bouquet from Wal-Mart and made it into 5 different flower arrangements that are sitting around my house.  I think it’s the best idea I have ever had!  Husband actually mentioned how much he likes them too.

Well, I guess those are all my thoughts today!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

xo,

Amanda