Things No One Told You....

Well hello there, how nice of you to join me on this lovely Sunday afternoon!

As I sit in my living room with the sounds of my washer and dryer in the background, along with Grey's Anatomy playing (I just bought season 10.... This is probably where I will be sitting for the next few weeks in all of my spare time), I thought that this would be a perfect time to write a little blog.

Here are my boring life updates;

1. Workouts - how it's going, what we're doing.
2. Fall is in the air!
3. I made a pie.
4. Some photo stuff.


Let's talk about workingggg outtttt.

I started working out a little over 2 weeks ago with one of my gal pals. We had planned on going to the gym 5 times a week, but life is proving to make that a little more difficult than I had first anticipated. With work, school, and daily life routines, it makes it hard to fit in that many workouts. I'm still trying though! I have to be honest, I did not workout even close to 5 times this past week. But I plan to start back in tomorrow afternoon!

For anyone that has asked what kind of workout we are doing, these are a few of our workouts lately.

Let's talk about Jilly. Jilly is short for Jillian Michaels. If you don't know who that is, consider yourself lucky. She is the toughest lady in the wild wild west. We nicknamed her Jilly so that we can yell at her during her 20 minutes of torture and it makes us feel a little better about ourselves. We're on the first circuit of her 30 days shred! (Trust me, it's as terrible as it sounds.)

We are also making sure that we do 20 minutes of cardio on top of the 30 day shred. Lately, we have been using the treadmill, but we're thinking about switching it up to the elliptical or the bicycle.

We lift some weights, do some box jumps, and a killer ab workout that I found on Pinterest and that about sums up our workouts for the moment. (Note to self: 3 planks in 1 workout are WAY to many...)


Has anyone noticed how we went from Summer to Fall in a matter of like 2 days?? Not that I'm complaining, this is my favorite time of year! The only hard part: I'm already fighting the urge to put up my Christmas tree. Is September to to early for Christmas decorations? :)


I got my September Ipsy bag this week! Here's what was in it!
Eye liner, lipstick, face cream, eye shadow, and an eye shadow brush!

The eye liner was brown, I usually don't use brown... But it was a nice pencil eye liner!
The lipstick was a super cute color! A dark red, with almost a purple tint to it. Loved the look, hated the texture.
I haven't tried the face cream yet... I'm always afraid to try face creams that I don't know about because I have sensitive skin, but it looks all fancy in it's little container! :)
The eye shadow and brush were wonderful! It was NYX brand eye shadow in a super pretty nude-pink color. The brush was very soft and perfect for blending. It was double sided and at the other end was the perfect size for outlining smokey eye shadow. LOVE it!

And last but not least, the cosmetic bag! It was pretty cute this month! A little edgy with silver studs on it!
These bags are so much fun and they are extremely affordable. If you haven't looked into Ipsy yet, you absolutely should!

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE! ATTENTION PLEASE!













This is SUSPENSE...
































Still suspenseful...








Are you ready yet?





I don't think you're ready for this....









I. Made. A. PIE!

I know! It's crazy! I made a pumpkin pie, from scratch, and it was delicious. Okay... You got me... It wasn't REALLY from scratch.. I got the pumpkin pie filling from wal mart... And the crust from Aldi's.... But I added all the spices and all that good stuff and baked it all by my little self!

That's not that impressive you say? What was all the suspense for you ask?

Have you ever ate a meal cooked by me? Then you would know how big of a deal this pie is! I think I can check another spot off of my new-wife checklist. :)




 Speaking of new wife checklist, I was thinking about things people don't tell you about when you get married and I thought of a few things that I thought I would share!

Things No One Tells You When You Get Married:

1. The term "husband" doesn't change the fact that they leave the toilet seat up. I went into this thing thinking that he would magically have perfect bathroom etiquette. That's not true, in fact, it might be worse! Not only is the toilet seat left up, but the toilet paper roll is empty almost every time I take a seat. Nothing worse than falling in the toilet because the seat is up and then looking over to find a brown roll with a half an inch sliver of white toilet paper hanging by a thread.

2. Your arguments are big girl arguments. You no longer have those petty fights of he said, she said and suddenly you're thrown into a life of bills and budgeting. These arguments are definitely a little harder to get through, but once you get to the other side, it's smooooooth sailing. :)

3. Remember that episode of Friends when Chandler is moving in with Monica and she breaks down crying and says, in the saddest voice ever, "And now I have to live with a boy!" Well that's pretty much how it is. Living with a boy is a whole lot different then I ever imagined. For example, there are deer antlers hanging in my living room. DEER ANTLERS. My living space is now half consumed by boy things. Goodbye glitter, lace, and chevron.

4. These are the best days of your life. After getting married, my life changed drastically. It became more stressful, a whole lot busier, and my living space went from girly to guns. But I wouldn't change one minute of the past 10 months for anything in the world. Being with Thayer every day brings out the best in me. He's my other half, my better half, and the half that makes me whole. :) I'm so proud of him and I'm so thankful for everything we have been blessed with in the past 10 months. Married life is awesome, and I'm so glad we started our lives together.



So earlier this week I took some photos that were very near and dear to me. My oldest little brother, Allen, will be graduating high school this year and we took his senior photos this week! Here are a few of my favorites!

Allen grew up all of a sudden! I can't believe he is old enough to be graduating high school! I'm so proud of him for pushing through when things get hard and for finishing what he started! He is one tough cookie and I'm SO proud that he is my brother. Congratulations Allen! I love you! :) 

While taking Allen's photos, we drove through a field of some super pretty flowers! Okay, they're actually weeds, but still look pretty in a picture! I thought I would share :)

Okay, let's wrap this up!

Words from Jesus!

Here is a Bible verse that stood out to me recently:

Proverbs 3:11-12
My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

What does this say to me:
Well, first of all, Proverbs always has a way of humbling me. I think that the book of Proverbs can really make you wake up and smell the roses. Just like this verse. God looks at us as His children, so why wouldn't He correct us when we do wrong? When you were little, you're mom probably corrected you when you did wrong, and you were better for it. Hopefully you learned your lesson and did better the next time. God does the same thing to us. He will discipline us, just like our parents did when we were young. Unfortunately, God's discipline can make you feel 10 times worse than any other kind of discipline. But if you are truly trying to live your life for Christ, then you will take His discipline and learn from it. I call those spiritual whippings! They definitely stop you in your tracks and make you look at what you did wrong. So I challenge you to look at something you know you're doing wrong, and think about how God is trying to correct you for it. It really puts things into perspective. Then you can learn and grow from it. That's what living a Christian life is all about. Learning, living, loving, and praise. :)

Have a wonderful week everyone. Love you all, Steph :)

Fall is coming. Hallelujah!

Good Evening ladies and gents! It's a wonderful night for a blog!

Yes, I know, it's been forever. I don't know how I've survived the past few weeks without one single blog!

Sooooo here is what I have been up to lately!

• My new dog, Neeko.... Well... She thinks her cage is a bathroom. So it never fails for us to have to clean her cage. Every. Single. Day. It's terrible, really.
• I have been a crafty lady these past few weeks! Crafts for days!
• Started college for the semester. It stinks as usual.
• Started thinking about my 1 year anniversary and things to do for that special day! (suggestions are accepted as always!)
• Newwwwwwwww furniture! Well, new to me. But I LOVE it! It completely changed the look of my living room! 
• Work is great! I love the people I work with and I wouldn't trade a single one of them! 
• Starting a new workout schedule with one of my best buddies! (She's gonna kick my butt at this.) #outofshape
• New delicious recipes! (seriously, try them. You'll be glad you did.)
• In short, life is good, God is good, and food is good. 

Okay, so lets start with this dog of mine. She's rowdy, she's rough, (she lost a tooth yesterday.. I didn't even know dogs did that?!?), and she eats all of my socks. She has literally swallowed like 6 of my socks. WHOLE. 

Shes's pretty darn cute, but whoever said that Huskies were different types of dogs were ABSOLUTELY correct! She has a different attitude from any other dog I have ever had. But here's a picture of her from last week watching the TV. (She loves Boy Meets World... But who am I kidding, everyone loves a little Cory and Topanga.) 

I complain about her a lot, but I love this pup. She's definitely made her way into our hearts and is a member of the family. :) 

I have also been a crafting fool lately! (No really, it's foolish how much money I've spent on crafting stuff this past week. -See what I did there?) :) 

I decided to do something with the extra 50 pounds of burlap that is left over from my wedding, and I made a cute little wreath! I got the wicker part at a yard sale for 50cents, so really, this project wasn't all that expensive. And it's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself! 

I looked up pinterest ideas (of course) and they had a few tutorials for how to make a burlap wreath. Here's what I found! 

This was a good tutorial to make burlap bows! I did mine a little different though. I just cut two different strips of burlap and laid them on top of each other. Then, I pulled the middle together and wrapped the thin strip around the middle and then sewed it all together in the back. I thought it turned out pretty good, and it was fast and easy! 

Then I made THESE!

Obviously, these are not mine. But that's what they looked like! I took a strip of burlap, folded it in half, and coiled it like the picture about. Then I glued down the edge and VOILA! Coiled, burlap flowers! I made 3 of them in different sizes, sewed them together and attached them to my wicker wreath! 

After that, I took my burlap bow and attached it to the wreath as well. It looked a little empty to me so I added a strip of burlap and just wrapped it around the empty side a couple of times, sewed it in the back, and there ya go! A cute, fall, burlap wreath! ( I completely forgot to take a picture of this for my blog, so I'll try to remember to post it soon)

I love fall. Like LOVE LOVE LOVE fall. It's great for tons of reasons! The leaves are changing, it's my birthday, my allergies get better, it's my birthday, it gets cool enough for scarves, jeans, hoodies, and boots, it's my birthday, annnnnnnd it's my birthday. Did I mention it's my birthday? 

Just kidding, that sounded quite conceited. 

But I am excited! I will be a whopping 20 years old! No more teen years for this chickie. Because that's a huge deal if you guys didn't already know! LOL!

I'm pretty excited about these fall months to come. Pictures always pick up in the fall! Everyone loves pictures with the leaves changing and it's cool enough that the kiddos aren't too cranky. It's a beautiful time of year and an excellent opportunity to snap some awesome photos! I'm pretty excited for October! (Because it's my birthday...) :)

In other news, I'M PREGNANT. Just kidding. I'm totally not. And no, I don't plan on getting preggo anytime soon. That seems to be the question of the year with everyone. I think after you get married people think you're gonna get pregnant like the next day. I'd like to get through some college junk first. But thank you all for being concerned with my empty womb. It's pretty content for the moment. :) Plus, I can't even keep a plant alive so..... Maybe babies should wait. ;)

P.S. that was not meant to sound snotty, that's just me trying to lighten the mood and make a joke. Bahahah! (You're laughing, right? Okay, good.)

Thayer and I have been looking at buying our first home! It's pretty exciting, ya know, besides the whole going thousands of dollars into debt thing. That bites. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is being able to PAINT. My apartment has white walls. White EVERYWHERE. I hate white walls. So the first thing I will do when we move out of here is paint my new little home! And maybe try round two on the whole plant thing. (It really didn't work out this year.. Dead plants everywhere. It was a massacre.)

I have been having SO much fun planning my 1 year anniversary with the coolest husband ever! I can't believe we've almost been married a year! I have to agree when people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. We had to get used to living together, doing everything on our own, paying the bills and budgeting, and we have to compromise on everything. It's a pretty big change when you're used to getting your own way on everything. But I'm learning! And I'm pretty lucky to have this guy that has stood by me through everything! 

So, since my anniversary is two days before Thayer's 21st birthday, I have been trying to think of cool things to do for him! Thayer and I have never spent a weekend alone at a hotel or bed and breakfast or anything like that. So I'm thinking that we might have a weekend getaway! A nice romantic weekend with my hubby sounds like a wonderful plan to me! So if you know of any awesome places we should go, please let me know! Like I said, we've never went anywhere so I want to do something special! :) 

I've also been looking for 1 year anniversary gifts and birthday gifts for my honey. I can't say what I have in mind because Mr. Thayer will read this blog and know exactly what I'm gonna do! But I can tell you that Etsy has some wonderful ideas! Tons of custom, vintage, super sweet, keepsakes! It's so cool! And they have things that every guy would love. Definitely check it out. I'll post what I did for his as soon as our weekend is over! :) 

My house has definitely seen some changes lately! Thayer and I got some super cute furniture last week and it COMPLETELY changed the look of my house! It took a little rearranging, but I think it turned out pretty cute. I'll have to get some pictures to show you on my next blog! We took our old furniture upstairs into our extra room and it made for a super cute office and sitting area. LOVE it! 

Work is going great! I work with an AMAZING group of ladies! I was feeling pretty sick these past few days and today they really showed me how much they care. It made me feel so at home! I love each and every one of them and I am so glad I get to work with them at Mercy! It's a fabulous place to work. :) 

Tomorrow, my friend Miss Chasiti Baker and myself are going to start working out together! We were going to start on Monday, but I was feeling sickly, so hopefully tomorrow we will start a routine! I'm not gonna lie, she's probably gonna kick my butt at this. She is extremely strong and I think she will be a wonderful motivator! I can't wait! I think we will have a fun time suffering together. :)

I think I'm going to start back on my weight watchers stuff. I really did lose weight on that program and I think it's time I get back on the weight loss train. So wish me luck! :)

Okay, let's talk Jesus. My favorite part of every blog! :)

I have been working on building a stronger relationship with God. I looked on Pinterest for some fun things to do for Bible study and how to make reading the Bible more fun. I found these examples and thought it was an awesome idea! 

I thought these were pretty cool! You could start a journal and include fun colors, your own thoughts, and little doodles to help you remember scripture. Pretty nifty if you ask me! 

I'm not gonna lie, sometimes reading the Bible is hard for me. I have a hard time keeping my train of thought when I first start reading. So I thought these would be some cool ways to make it more fun and interesting. Definitely gonna give this a try! 

So here's a Bible verse that really spoke to me lately! 

Colossians 3:23 (NLT)

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people."

What does this say to me:

Sometimes when you get in a routine at work, or in anything you do, you feel like your doing it just to keep everyone happy. (You're being a people pleaser... My biggest weakness.) You start to develop a bad attitude and begin to hate what you do. But lately I just think of it this way: What if God was my boss, and what if I was doing this to please Him. Would my attitude be different? Would I work harder? The answer is absolutely. Who doesn't want to please God?! Of course we would do the very best we can and we would do it with a happy heart. So my goal lately has been to be happy in my work. Because God watches everything we do. He knows when we are doing things with a good attitude, and when we do things just because we have to. 

So here is my challenge to you, go into everything you do, for the next few days, and see if you can get through it with a better attitude and a happier outlook. I think you'll find that your days go better and everyone around you will benefit too. :)

Well, I've got to get some sleep. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Love, Steph. :)