At-Home Date Night

I’ve seen countless posts on Pinterest now about questionsyou should ask one another before getting married. The truth is, Jason & I spentour first year of dating going through many of the token questions because weare both cerebral people, and I think we really first bonded over enjoyingthose kinds of philosophical, life questions. It also helped that we first “met”through EHarmony, which forced us to blatantly advertise our views before evenmeeting face to face.

But this week I came across a new pin titled “30 Date YourHusband from Home Questions.” Given that it was going to be for people who werealready committed to and living with each other I wanted to see what the authoroffered up.

It only took a few questions to see that she had hit thenail on the head with these, and while there are some that don’t apply to Jasonand I yet (mainly children questions) I decided to make print them out for usto go to the next night we unexpectedly find ourselves with nothing to do.

Jason is in class four nights a week this semester, so weadmittedly have gotten out of the swing of how to enjoy a night together otherthan zoning out to the tv or a movie so I’m excited to pull these out(hopefully soon) to add a little quality to our time.

Because I’m me, I went ahead and made a cute littlecontainer to house all the folded up questions (out of my favorite brand ofcoffee’s container lol) and plan on adding to the jar as I come across more andmore.

Here are the two main blogs I pulledquestions from thus far:  

http://www.ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.com/2013/01/spice-up-your-marriage-30-date-your.html

http://www.lovethegrows.com/2012/11/questions-you-should-ask-before-marriage.html 


I truly believe in getting these important questions “out of the way” before making any big commitment to each other.I know that Jasonand my happiness was founded on our understanding of each other’s views andperspectives early on, so I’m glad to see the online world encouraging othersto do the same!

Computer-Free Morning

I gave myself a break from technology this morning so that I could zone out and focus on something creative and fun. I’m a multi-tasker at heart, but I realized how much less I get out of an enjoyable activity if I’m doing it while I simultaneously have my computer up and music blasting in the background.

In today’s culture it is normal to be available to your friends via chat, texting or a phone call at all times, so it feels normal to have 3 different things running at once in case someone has something they “need” to tell you; but, especially on the weekends, that habit can take away from what you’re trying to “focus” on.

So I got myself a hot cup of my standard (but amazing) coffee (Mickey Mug included) and pulled out one of the many projects I have lined up to complete from now until November (without also logging onto facebook and keeping it in front of me). I said hello to my notorious friend the circle cutter, and got to work on creating a cute “Just Married” sign for our Sweetheart table.

The letters are from a great template from Martha Stewart Weddings that was all the letters of the Alphabet with different borders around them. http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/226239/banner-template)

Now with my handy-dandy self-correcting cutting board, I cut out all the letter circles along with some orange and brown circles with a slightly larger diameter to pull in our wedding colors.

And after cutting out about 30 circles, it came together like this:

As a side note, I am really thankful for the increased popularity of blogging. I've always appreciated Facebook's ability to connect friends that are separated by physical distance, and I think that blogging can be used in the same way. I have many friends from college and family members placed all over the country (some even internationally-based) that I'm so happy to be able to share these experiences with. A wedding is an exciting time for any family, and I'm grateful that my family members near and far are able to go through this experience with me thanks to this blog : )

The Coffee Mate SF Vanilla Creamer to my Coffee

I saw a really cute idea of a valentine’s card on Pinterest that I wanted to make for Jason 

(http://natureofcraftythings.blogspot.de/2012/09/a-couple-of-pics-and-oldish-card.html)

But the truth is it took me awhile to think of the best comparison to use for us... I’m a minimalist when it comes to food (I kinda like Peanut Butter on it's own more than Peanut Butter with Chocolate) and while he is the chilled-out vibe to my anxiety-ridden mind, I wanted to think of something that would tell Jason just how much he adds to my life.

And then it came to me….

If you have any interactions with me before 10 am, you know about my love affair with Coffee Mate Sugar Free Vanilla Creamer. There is truly no substitute. I sadly have had to face this reality the few times I’ve purchased other brands when the Coffee Mate was all out. 

My mornings just aren’t the same without that liquid gold.

This made me think of the many ways Jason really is like my special creamer. I took the opportunity to remind him how there are many tough times in life (ie. Mornings) and while there are ways to get through them (ie. Coffee) if you have the pleasure of finding something as special as the love of your soul mate (no – I’m not putting my creamer in competition with Jason for this one lol) your tough times can actually turn into really wonderful times.

I’m grateful every morning for my Coffee Mate, and every 

moment for my Jason : )

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jason and I are total cheese balls. We decided early-on in our relationship that celebrating anything we can would be a good way to keep the spark alive in our relationship, and (for obvious reasons) Valentine’s Day has always been a favorite of ours.

Even though Jason has class this evening, we were lucky enough for him to have the day off of work, so we decided to take the day to spend good ole quality time together.

With our new-found love for Nutella, we were both excited for some yummy strawberry and Nutella crepes

and I had a little surprise up my sleeve thanks to this blog’s site via Pinterest:  http://rachelschultz.com/2013/01/30/bacon-hearts/ 

Bacon Hearts! (The whole time these were cooking in the oven, Jason was randomly reminding me “I love Bacon,” “Bacon smells so good,” you get the picture) lol.

It was nice to have a chance to cook together (even if I was having to run back and forth to check my work emails); it's a treat that we rarely get to enjoy right now with Jason's work/school schedule.

With some (very weak - I was working after all) adult beverages and some music to set the mood, we got to enjoy our feast of love :)

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's to hoping you all got a chance to enjoy this day of love in whatever ways you enjoy most :)

Another Hobby Lobby Steal

Like many women, I love Hobby Lobby. What’s better than a store that has every crafting tool invented, constantly has at least 30% of their store on sale and always has a 40% off any regular-priced item coupon available?

This last weekend’s trip to Hobby Lobby did have a specific purpose – and we actually stuck to it (only buying 1 item that wasn’t related to the project I had in mind).

I’ve been seeing posts of DIY boutonnieres all over Pinterest, and while the project looked like it could turn into a sticky disaster, I thought it looked fun and I wanted to see what would happen if I gave it a try.

I knew my trip to Hobby Lobby wasn’t in vain when Jason and I found the EXACT feathers I was thinking of (funky orange and tan) along with all the other supplies I needed (corsage pins and floral tape) for only $27! (I was quoted $65 for 8 of the local florists “grab and go” boutonnieres) That meant that if I was able to actually pull this off, we would have something totally custom for less than half of what the blah, standard boutonnieres would cost us.

When we got home, I was really surprised to see how many feathers came off of each bundle ($4 each) I had purchased, so I stopped after only 2 in case I could return some of the other ones (and save even more of that wedding budget).

We also purchased one large bunch of brown, dried accent pieces ($7 at 50% off, so $3.50); so I cut them all down to make them more manageable.

I then basically just started putting different feathers, wheat and baby’s breath together; wrapping the ends in the floral tape once I had something I liked. I made sure that Jason’s had the most orange in it (since I want the him to stand out AND it’s his favorite color) and then I used the tan feathers for the ones for our grandpa’s and Jason’s dad to give it a more mature look.

In the end I was left with 3 orange and 1 tan feather bundle left, which I’ve decided to keep in case I can make some cute hair pieces for the bridesmaids to match the boutenneirs or something like that. So not including the extra feathers, all 8 boutenneirs cost me $13 to make and I think that’s pretty awesome!

As a side note, Jason and I realized that we probably have a natural inclination for things with the above colors because of a certain furry one that thinks she's the queen of our household ;)

A season of celebrations

Since January I have already had the pleasure of designing three separate projects for friends; some stationery, a birthday invite and a bridal shower invite. Doing my friend Stef’s birthday invite was a really fun project to tackle. Stef told me that she wanted something with script, purple and gray and then let me take the creative reign on layout, etc.

What made this project even more fun is Stef’s personality. I knew that she wanted something classy but also a little funky for her birthday. Of course, out of the 3 options I showed her, she went with the design that had the most attitude. Below is the front and back of the invite Stef used for her upcoming birthday and I think it is super cute!