I don’t know what’s gotten into me this Valentine’s Day but I’ve been crafting and coming up with ideas like no ones business. I kind of feel like a previous version of myself and I like it. I’ve been making little gifts for my friends and my nieces and nephew. First up are the Valentine’s bags:
I put together a little kiddie pack with pom-poms, pencils, crayons, markers, a cup and some fun pencil toppers. I put it all together in this cute little bag and put this cute little bag topper on it. You can download the bag topper here.
I also made these cards out of scrapbook paper and cardstock. I used a solid 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper, folded in half and cut it. Then I used the cut piece and folded it in half and the chopped off the bottom part to make a 4×6 card. I made some printables for this project also: Valentine’s Day banner and inside card stock.
Tagged as:
bag tags,
crafts,
Valentine's Day
I can’t even tell everyone how much I’ve been into making stuff the past couple of weeks. I kind of feel like my old self again. So here are some Valentine’s Day cards I made which you can print out on cardstock and give to your friends, family and co-workers.
Get the whole set here.
Tagged as:
crafts,
graphic design,
printables,
Valentine's Day
I don’t know what it is about Valentine’s Day but it always brings out the wrong type of emotion in my life. Maybe because I spent so many years not having anyone to celebrate this Hallmark holiday with. Now I’m married and I would actually like to celebrate the holiday.
This morning the husband and I had a little tizzy about the upcoming holiday because we were talking about gifts. He told me no gifts because there’s Christmas and birthdays. Well why no gifts? I understand our anniversary is right after Christmas. This year for our anniversary we didn’t do gifts because we did Christmas up so well. But Christmas gifts and Valentine’s Day gifts are two different animals. Christmas gifts are things you want to buy people, Valentine’s Day gifts are just the gifts that show that you care. Kind of ridiculous I know. Why should you have to give a gift to let someone know that you care? Simply put, you don’t. You should show that person you care all year round. Valentine’s Day gifts don’t have to expensive…or don’t have to cost anything at all. It could be a hand written note or a lovely poem or something home made. That’s what Valentine’s Day is about, putting in the effort to show someone that you care.
I guess my issue here was I’ve been really thinking about what I was going to do for my husband for Valentine’s Day and it just seems like he wasn’t thinking about it at all. He’s kind of just brushed it off like another day and has moved on because there is Christmas and birthdays for gifts. And then I got: “Well most people give chocolates or flowers. We can’t have chocolate and you don’t like flowers.” True statement, but you can’t search your imagination for something else? I guess it’s about the trying part with me.
Plus, Valentine’s Day is day of love. A day of celebration for your spouse, parents, kids, siblings, friends…and whoever else is important in your life. We should all take the time to share with them why they are important in our lives and that we love them.
I’m a natural gift giver. I like to give gifts. I like to make things for people. I just like to show I care. And I guess sometimes I would just like it back. I’m not saying that my husband doesn’t appreciate me because I know that he does. Romance is not dead fellows. A woman still wants to be romanced and doted on in life and Valentine’s Day is the day to that for your lady. I’ve probably opened up a whole set of worms with this post, but here are my words…and that is how I feel.
He says no gifts, but I’m going to do something just because that’s the type of person that I am. And I guess maybe it’s unfair that I would expect something from him too because he’s not me. He is his own person. But the whole conversation just left me feeling slightly empty.
Tagged as:
husband,
married life,
Valentine's Day
It’s kind of like Ghost Writer. “We don’t know where he came from; he just showed up one night.” That’s what happened with our anniversary photo. I really wanted to wear a dress so I went to the Gap to search the clearance rack and found this dress that was probably like a cabillion dollars on sale for $20! My husband who has never ever been in a Gap store found shirt for $10 that just happened to match my dress. And that is how our anniversary picture became a Gap advertisement.
I am wearing some not Chuck Taylors in the picture because none of my shoes fit me anymore. Lose weight = drop two shoe sizes. This should make me happy but it doesn’t because I don’t want to have to go out to buy new shoes. I’m not really a shoe gal, but I guess I must buy shoes now.
Back to my anniversary, two years ago I married an amazing man. I don’t want to say all those cliche things that people always say about marrying my best friend (which I did) and being really happy (which I am). Honestly, the people who knew me P.M. (Pre Marriage) were probably ready to drown me in a lake because I wasn’t really happy at all. I can say this now because hindsight is 20/20 you know. But A.M. (After Marriage) I am much happier. I see the brighter side of things, I make things work and I don’t stress like I once did. I owe this to my husband because he balances out my high strungness and makes me stop and think about things…instead of just stressing. He’s a really good person who has taught me the ways of being a better person. Plus, he really makes me laugh and smile when I’m not interested in doing so and that’s a hard thing. So he’s pretty much the best person in the world for me and I love him. Now I’m ending the mushy stuff so you can see the Gap ad!
And I took these photos myself because we’re too cheap to pay anyone to do it…and I like to fancy myself a photographer.
Tagged as:
anniversary,
marriage,
photos
Eating out since embarking on our weight loss journey has been a very painful thing. Nutritional information should be required for every restaurant. I’m not saying force it down people’s throats and make it know, but it should be available for the people who do want it. You would be surprised at how many places DON’T have a nutritional information. To make things easier on the people I was hanging with, I thought it would just be better to grill in. We did hamburgers (extra lean ground beef of course), baked fries and grilled veggies (asparagus, squash and zucchini). Turned out the burgers didn’t agree with me and the husband the next day which made working out a pain in the butt, so there are no pictures of those burgers here.
The real reason I wanted to grill in besides being able to keep track of my calories was having dessert. I really wanted it and I wanted some of these brownies. Melissa has one of those Hershey cook books and we made these brownies last year. And yes we pounded the whole batch and made more. This year I just wanted one (or 2 over two days) and they were delicious. FYI: They are Double Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies or something along those lines.
And then there was the alcohol, gotta watch out for that too so I got some Skinnygirl Margarita and it was delicious. I don’t suggest drinking it straight, I mixed it with Crystal Light and it was a nice balance.
All in all, it was a great meal and fun time with some hard conversations in between. But I had those conversations and know where things stand and know how to move forward with my friendships with people. I’m just glad I’m in the know right now even though I don’t agree with some things. I’m just glad that I know. Tired of me being vague? This is not an issue I’m ready to discuss on my blog yet and there certainly isn’t a picture to go along with it. So when the picture opportunity arises then I will talk about it I guess. Until then you have to read on without knowing.
I’ll have one more batch of birthday pictures coming up soon.
My 30th birthday was this past Saturday and I wanted to do something I had never done before. You know, start my 30 years off with trying new things. The first stop of the day was the Barton Creek Farmers’ Market. I have NEVER been to a farmers market and I was quite pleased with what I found. I really went to the market in search of produce and yes there were some, but there was a lot more there. Salsas, low sugar sodas, arts and crafts, music and of course produce. I did make a couple of purchases and admired the things I couldn’t buy like the wind chimes. I really enjoyed my time there but it was so freaking hot so I didn’t stay as long as I wanted. The Texas hit was definitely a scorcher on July 2.
But I did buy some of this great soap. I got the oatmeal and brown sugar variety and it smells so good. The soap is supposed to be good for your pores and getting rid of toxins or something like that.
More pictures from my 30th birthday day soon.
