Rascal Flatts Concert - Anniversary Vacation Pt. 4

They say that your one year wedding anniversary gift should be paper. And I think we both stuck to that pretty well. 

I got hubby a book and and empty egg to crack open like this.

Hubby got me tickets to...

The Rascal Flatts Concert!!!!

To those of you who don't like country music you can just stop following me now kidding, of course.

Rascal Flatts was the first concert hubby and I went to as a couple 6 years ago oh ehm gee, so long ago.  

So it really meant a lot to me for him to buy me these tickets.

Also, our first dance as a married couple was to "I Won't Let Go". 

Even more reason to be excited for the concert.

I wanted to grace you with a few photos because the concert was amazing.

But the pictures are far from amazing.

There were four bands total which made it even better.

The first opener was Edens Edge.

Then came Eli Young Band.

Followed by Little Big Town.

There was a little bit of motor boatin' action.

Then finally, Rascal Flatts.

It was an AMAZING concert.

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Now we are heading off to Yosemite for the weekend. 

I hope everyone has a safe and fantastic weekend.

Fishes - Anniversary Vacation Pt. 3

Today I bring to you all part 3 of our anniversary vacation that we recently took.

Be sure to go see part 1 and part 2 if you missed them.

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We were told by so many people to go check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium and that we 

would not be disappointed. I had heard so many rave reviews that we planned on staying the whole day there. 

Side note - we have been to many other aquariums together and separate, so we had a lot to compare it to. 

The aquarium opened at 10am and we were going to preorder our tickets online in hopes of not having to wait in a line but we failed to do just that. We arrived just after 10am and there 

were roughly 15 families in front of us so the wait was not crazy. 

The first exhibit that you get to is the old sardine cannery I mean the aquarium is in Cannery Row. 

Hubby really liked that because food factories are his thing and he enjoyed 

looking at the machines this may have been the most exciting part for him.

The sardines are crazy creatures. 

We spent a long time at the penguin exhibit because I think they are just adorable. 

We were even able to watch the feeding and some of the penguins 

were looking for nesting material which was cute to see. 

The brighter fish were beautiful.

And there were a lot of jelly fish, considering they had a whole exhibit for them.

Because sardines were and are so big in this area, there were many areas of the 

aquarium dedicated to them. Just like behind us in this picture.

Then, we started getting bored and hungry. 

So we were trying to look for places where you could see our reflection.

We may have been bored and hungry but we still had to check out the seahorses. 

Overall, we had fun but we have definitely been to better aquariums elsewhere. 

There seemed to be a lot of empty space so maybe they are putting in new exhibits.

If you travel to the Monterey area, then give it a try if you are feeling up to it.

*Tomorrow is the final part of our anniversary vacation so look for that.

Failure

Late last week I filmed a vlog for this month's Girl Behind the Blog series. 

And, today I attempted to edit my beautiful masterpiece.

But - all hell broke loose. 

Seriously, how upsetting is it for your computer's fan to sound like its going to rip all the keys off the 

keyboard and your editing software freezes up and you cannot save the work that was already done?

Well, that is exactly what happened. Not only did I lose the work I had already edited but I had also lost all that material overall. It said it was going to take 2 hours to re-upload the video into the editor.

Hello impatient. You are not welcome here.

So in attempt to still follow along with the vlog series I will be typing out my 

responses for this month - I know you were all dying for bloopers again.

Who or what has influenced me to be me?

Roughly a year ago I moved from Michigan to California. The move away from my family and friends, as well as my husband's family, has influenced me greatly. I am more independent than ever and I now have different ways of expressing the person that I am.

How do I hope to influence people through my blog?

I want to influence people to be themselves. I blog about me and my life and what I like doing. I want people to share and express the person that is inside them. Let that person be shown to the world!!

Is there another area where you find influence?

I find influence from the organization that I volunteer for, as well as, the blogs that I read daily.

Shout outs - Chelsea @ Yours Truly inspires me to get back on the workout 

train and continue with my fitness goals even if I have an off week. 

 

Lindsay @ Trial By Sapphire inspires me to be more open and she inspires me to be more encouraging to 

others. She is seriously so sweet and encourages individuals to overcome fears.

Erin @ Shades of Gray and a Pinch of Pink inspires me to not take life so seriously. She is absolutely hilarious and so sarcastic. Each day she blogs I laugh and I want to show my funny side too.

And lastly, Ashley @ 5ohWifey inspires me monthly to participate in the vlog series besides this poor month - aggravated stomp as I storm away from computer. She is amazing for partnering up with another blog and they 

come up with wonderful prompts so we can learn about one another.

Next month I better have my sh** together.

*Linking up with 5ohWifey for The Girl Behind The Blog

and linking up with Caitlyn @ Little Petrie for Wonderful Wednesday.

September Week Four Meals

Tuesdays are by far my favorite day for blogging. Why, you may ask? 

Simply because I get to share my weekly meals with you all. 

Also because I receive new recipes to try from all of you and I thank you for that.

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

recipe found here

  

Cheddar Chicken with Diced Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

via - recipe found here

 If you have any must have recipes that I need to try, send them over my way.

*Linking up with Melissa @ The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife for GFC Blog Hop. 

Across the Miles

I have been talking to a lot of different people regarding my long distance relationship 

that I used to have with my Hubby. I believe all this conversation has started 

since I posted about our 7 years together, here.

I can post all day and night about all the positive that is now in my life and blah, blah, blah.

But really, long distance relationships suck and they are hard work.

The six years in which we were in a long distance relationship was tough on us emotionally, 

physically, and mentally. Some days I felt like giving up I am not sure how Hubby felt about it.

I do not normally share negative things on my blog but I am writing this in hopes that I can help out 

those of you who are in a long distance relationship. I am not writing this to scare 

anyone away from a long distance relationship because each is different in its own way 

but to show the realities and how we overcame them.

So let's start at the beginning. Our first four years of the long distance relationship, we were 

separated by about 100 miles. Now that is really not that far but we were both in school and had jobs. 

That meant that we only saw each other on the weekends or every other weekend. 

This was a very trying time for me. I had never been in a long distance relationship and my prior 

relationship ended in a way that ruined my trust for a long time to come. So how was I supposed to trust someone that I had only known for a year? Trust that this person would be solely monogamous to me? 

Especially while being at a party school, living on campus  which I did not do, he did, and believe that drunk girls would not throw themselves at him? Okay that all may be a bit dramatic but at the time that's how I felt.

Now let's move onto the 5th year of our long distance relationship. During this 5th year, Hubby had graduated college and found a job that relocated him about 730 miles away from me. This was a tough, tough time for me. This time I knew he was not going to be at a party school and such, but that he would be working hard and I did not know how he would deal with being away from his family. 

We tried hard to make it a point to visit each other every 3 months. It got extremely costly but we 

stuck with it trying to alternate who went to visit who. But then all the holidays 

came around and he mostly came to visit me because it was closer to his family. 

We always made it a point to talk on the phone everyday. But often times Hubby would be so tired and fall asleep while I was talking to him. Let me tell you, it is extremely hard to build a close, personal relationship when you are miles apart. Many days I would hang up the phone upset or mad because we hardly had a conversation. Most of the time they went like this, "How was your day? Mine was okay. This, this and this happened. Okay, have a goodnight and I will talk to you tomorrow. Love you too.". It was the same thing day in and day out.

Now the 6th year comes along. Hubby's job relocated him and we were now over 2,200 miles away from each other. It was coming down to 9 months before our wedding and we had our shower, rehearsal, and 

tastings to still attend before our big day. All these details from what kind of 

flower to what flavor cake to seating charts and invitations and so on.

I would try to ask questions about the wedding over the phone but Hubby, again, would fall asleep. 

I couldn't really blame him because he was working long hours and crazy shifts. 

But really, at the time I was pissed. We tried to continue to see each other every 3 months but it 

became hard to work around with all the wedding festivities. 

The longest we went without seeing each other was 6 months right before the wedding.

Those 6 months were a very intense time for me. I felt like I was losing control of what our relationship was and it was all about the wedding because let's face it, I wanted it to be a nice day. During those 6 months, I was finishing school, studying for the NCETM, planning the details for the wedding, and planning my move across country. 

I was spiraling downwards and fast.

Finally, once I moved to be with my Hubby things got so much better. We already knew a lot about each other over the 7 years that living together wasn't much of a surprise. It was just about building our personal bond together since we were used to just talking on the phone. 

As I previously said, long distance relationships can be extremely challenging but each relationship is 

different because of the people and distances between them.

This post was not written to scare anyone. More so to share my experiences.

via google images

So how do you feel about long distance relationships?

*Don't forget to linkup for the 20 Day Polish Challenge and linkup to show days 1-10. 

Unleashed - Anniversary Vacation Pt. 2

Today I bring you another post filled with loads of photos. 

Here is part 2 of my 4 part vacation recap. Yesterday I shared 

with you all our hotel room, so go check it out if you missed it.

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The Hubby and I were so lucky to have such great beaches to visit with our puppy while we were at Monterey Bay. It was crazy how one particular beach would not allow dogs but if you walked 10 steps to a 

certain direction, dogs were allowed. It didn't make any sense to us.

Once we became a bit more familiar with the area, we knew where we could take Roxi and what beaches we could let her off her leash. But we didn't just visit the 

beaches with her, some days we went on our own to enjoy some quiet, alone time.

 Carmel Beach was amazing because Roxi could run free. She has never really been outside in public with her leash off and, of course, she did not know what to do. Her freedom lead to this...

 It was chilly the whole time we were on vacation but I could not complain because 

I have been dying to wear sweaters and you all know I love scarves.

 You could see the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course from Carmel Beach, 

where we planted out butts and the dog.

Of course, not all beaches were okay with dogs off their leash which is completely understandable because some people cannot control their dogs, us being one of them?. But our puppy didn't care. She liked to stalk the birds and then charge them.

 Like I said earlier, we occasionally went the the beach on our own not often though.

 The best part of our whole vacation was being able to walk a few feet from our room to be 

right on the ocean. After touring Monterey or Carmel, it was nice to return to 

our room and walk right out to the ocean to see the dolphins play.

Part 3 and 4 will be posted next week.

Don't forget to linkup for the 20 Day Polish Challenge and linkup to show days 1-10. 

Wedding Anniversary Vacation Pt 1

I want to formally thank each and every one of you who read my posts while I was on vacation.

I really enjoyed putting together a week filled with the Hubby and 

I about our relationship, engagement, wedding day first look, ceremony, and reception.

If you missed them you can go here, here, here, here, or here.

Now that I am back from vacation, I want to share with you all how much fun we had.

I do not want to go crazy all in one post so I am going to break it down into four posts. 

I will post two this week and two next week so be on the lookout.

First post - Our hotel room and what we did at the resort.

Second post - The beaches that we visited.

Third post - Monterey Bay Aquarium because I took a ton of photos.

Fourth post - My anniversary present from the Hubby. 

If you follow me on twitter then you know what we did Thurs. Sept. 13th. But if you

 do not follow me there then you will have to wait til next week to find out.

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We left for vacation Sunday the 9th and headed to the Monterey Bay area which is roughly 2.5 hours from our house and of course we brought out little puppy too because she is our child.

We stayed at The Sanctuary Beach Resort in Marina, Ca. It is a beautiful, secluded 

hotel that is right on the ocean and only 20 minutes from Monterey Bay, Cannery Row, and Carmel.

After we checked into the hotel, we were escorted to our room in a golf cart. Our room was attached to one other room in its own separate building that looked like this.

Outside our building was our own private golf cart to drive around on the premises. 

That's right, we had our own golf cart. And, it was my first time driving a golf cart.

Watch out!!

 Boy, oh boy, did I have fun driving this around.

 Hubby barely got a chance to drive because I always grabbed the keys first or when he

opened the 'door' for me I would slide all the way across to the drivers side.

The room, itself, was breathtaking. Cozy and warm from the 

fireplace I think the warmest it got was 70 degrees with an amazing view of the ocean.

 The bathrobes were really nice to have because the tiled floors were really cold in the morning.

And the view, you cannot beat it.

 Our door was always open.

On some of the days you could see dolphins or seals playing in the water 

or even pelicans diving for fish. Pretty amazing.

Roxi enjoyed the fresh air and playing in the sand.

The resort left us a nice little note congratulating us on our anniversary.

And on our anniversary, Monday the 10th, we enjoyed a bottle of 

wine and chocolate covered strawberries.

 And maybe some beers were enjoyed as well. You decide when you see the photo.

Hubby did not like taking pictures in this mirror. But I guess that is his usual happy face.

The resort had a restaurant on the premises that we had to try it out once because of their killer happy hour deals. But we enjoyed it so much we went back for a total of four times. The restaurant had Hawaiian American cuisine as well as sushi. Each day we had some appetizers and a sushi roll because the sushi was amazingly good.

Don't forget to linkup for the 20 Day Polish Challenge and linkup to show days 1-10. 

*Linking up with Caitlyn @ Little Petrie for Wonderful Wednesday.

September Week Three Meals

Now that I am officially back from vacation, it is time for me to get back to meal planning. 

It was nice to have one week away from thinking about what we are 

going to eat or think about what I need for groceries.

But, as they say, all good things come to an end.

Here are our meals for this week:

Whole Grilled Chicken with Corn 

Pork Tenderloin with  Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Green Beans

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Big surprise, I know.

Recipe found here.

Beef Sliders with Sweet Potato Fries and Grilled Pineapple

Savory Beef and Broccoli Turnovers  

Recipe found here.

Do you have any favorite recipes that I should try? Be sure to send over the recipe or link.

Don't forget to linkup for the 20 Day Polish Challenge and linkup to show days 1-10.

*Linking up with Melissa @ The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife for GFC Blog Hop.

20 Day Polish Challenge and Polish Swap Reveal

I am back from vacation - whoop, whoop!!
We had such a blast and you all should expect more about it in this coming
week as well as next week.

As for today, I have a two part post for you!

First is the second linkup for the 20 Day Polish Challenge.
Second is the linkup and reveal for the polish swap I participated in.

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I have been having fun going through all 20 of my nail polishes and have found a new love for colors that I have not worn in a while. It has been challenging though to come up with new combinations rather than just painting my nails a new color each day.

 
I cannot wait to see what each of you have chosen to do each day.

Remember, you can linkup even if you only participated one day. And don't forget to linkup to the
main page for the challenge, here. 


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I cannot even explain how much fun I had participating in this swap. 

Which is my very first swap, by the way.

I mean, how much fun is it to meet new bloggy friends and buy them
presents hoping they will love it.

When I got the email from Rachel @ lala Lists telling me who my partners was and what her request for nail polish type was I got super excited and knew I had to check my new friend out.

I immediately clicked over to Molly's blog @ Fiddle-dee-dee cute name, right? and instantly knew that she was cooler than a cucumber. Ha - or maybe just a sweet girl that I could become friends with.

Molly requested metallics and glitter and I knew exactly what to get her.

Go over and see what she received!

Once I sent out her box/envelope, I knew I would receive mine shortly as well. 

One morning my doorbell rang and I got super, duper excited because I knew it was my polish from my new bloggy friend. The box was so cute in lime green wrapping to match along with my neon request.

I requested neon because I do not own very many and thought it would be fun for someone else to pick out my colors.

The inside of the box was just as cute as the outside. 

 

I tore through that tissue paper like there was no tomorrow. 

Not only did she send me two nail polishes but she also sent toe separator thingys what are they called? and nail files. A-MAZING little lady.

Orly - Melt Your Popsicle love that name is an amazing bright, neon orange.

China Glaze - Pool Party is a great summer barbie pink

Thank you again Molly for the great swap and thank you Rachel for hosting the swap.

Linking up with lala Lists for the Polish Swap Reveal.