A lesson learned while eating chocolate and feeling bad for myself.

I am a really bad blogger. I blame 1. graduate school and 2. graduate school. It consumes my life.
Today, I was having one of those days. You know, one of those days that nothing can make better. It's just a feel bad, sad for yourself day. Add in deadlines, a quiz, and emotions and it leads to just one big catastrophe. I came home feeling sad for myself because, well I just had "one of those days." I ate some chocolate. I complained to my loving husband. (the man is so patient... I hit the husband jackpot.) I talked feelings out with good friends.
Suddenly, everything didn't seem so terribly bad. My whole world did a 160 and I felt better. No matter how many no good terrible days that I have...well there is always good. This life was designed to be filled with trials and struggles. Why? So that we could grow and progress and become exactly who we need to become. I guess what I am saying is that after all the bad and the sad, I feel like maybe I was shaped a little for the better. With Him I am always in good hands. At times, it takes me a while to realize the important things in life. I temporarily forget  my blessings. Maybe I don't even forget them completely, I just forget to cherish them.
There will always be days that I will feel the need for chocolate and a Dr. Pepper. It's ok that I will have days that I want to hibernate. It's ok, as long as I remember that everything is going to be ok eventually. Sadness shouldn't last forever because there is so much good to be enjoyed. Life without happiness is really no life at all.

So join me in trying to see the good every. single. day. No matter what may come our way...we've got this.

Texas & I & Love & You.

                                            

J and I took a little vacation to the great state of Texas. J is from Texas and I am a converted lover of it. We left at 4 am and arrived right around lunch time at J's Mimi and Grandpa's house. We absolutely love them. We also absolutely love their pool and freezer full of ice cream.

 

(Not their freezer, but the grocery store was stocked with blue

bell and I couldn't get enough.)

(I could laugh at these pictures all day.)

 

We went on a small road trip to the Blue Bonnet Café. Look at these

pies! I wanted to smash my face into one so bad. We also drove

to Oatmeal, Tx just to say that we went. Home of like 3 people. It's

the kind of thing you do when your with the best Mimi and Grandpa.

 

 

After Chic-fil-a trips, multiple bowls of ice cream, family dinner, and

swimming our hearts out, we left on our own adventure.

 

More to come...

 

xoxo,

Amanda

 

 

 

My weekly top ten.

My current top ten of the week...

 

1. Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry or vanilla. my addiction.

 

2. Quotable kids. I spend at least ten mins everyday telling J

and my mom funny things that my kids at work say.

 

3. School supplies. Grad school has been the best excuse to

get tons of new school supplies. hmmm fresh notebooks.

 

4. Little cousins who fold their arms for prayer and shut there eyes real

tight. I almost cried Momma kinda tears.

 

5. Pregnant announcements. They make me so excited and maybe a little

jealous.

 

6. Husband cooking me dinner. He is the chef in our family. I'm

obsessed with his food skills.

 

7.Baking. Now this is my passion. 3 dozen cookies today.

Not doing much for my fitness/health plans though.

 

8. Sam's Club food samples. We are those people.

 

9. Instagram. I'm an addict. Also pinterest is making me happy again.

 

10. Daydreaming about future homes, texas, graduating, and babies with my J.

 

Cookie Butter.

Have you guys ever had Cookie Butter from Trader Joes?

 

We just got back from our trip to Texas, which also happens to be where

the closest Trader Joes is. Before we left, I noticed that my supply of Cookie

Butter was extremely low. We are talking a couple of spoonfuls left.

It was a national disaster in our house. I needed Texas, Trader Joes, and Cookie

Butter B.A.D.

At the end of our trip we decided to head to Houston, Tx for a

couple of hours before heading home.

2 reasons. 1.  the Houston Temple. 2. Trader Joes.

 

The Temple was beautiful. One of my favorites.

Then it was Trader Joe's time.

We pull up and I storm into the store like I own the place.

I march all over the store.

"Where the heck to they keep their Cookie Butter?!"

I couldn't find it.

Pure panic.

I was in complete denial when I decided to ask one of the employees, "Where is my

Cookie Butter??!"

There is a nation wide Cookie Butter shortage.

They only have 12 a day. Gone in ten mins.

She told me to come back tomorrow morning

and wait in line with the other crazies.

 

My heart was broken. I might have almost cried.

I can't even talk about it.

Oh, and if you think that I'm crazy...you have obviously never had Cookie Butter before.

and you probably never will because of the freakin shortage.

I feel for you.

I feel bad for me.

The end.

 

PS- If you happen to find some freakin Cookie Butter...hook a girl up.

 

xoxo

J+A

Memories.

This post is going to be really hard to write, but I feel like I need to for memories sake.

My sweet grandfather, papaw as I called him, passed away one week ago today.

It seems unreal that time has already passed by so quickly, and yet I still feel like It just happened.

I've been working on having the right perspective. He is with my grandmother again.

He is happy. He still loves and cares for me. We are a family forever.

It's been hard, but I don't want to focus on that anymore.

 

I wanted to share some memories of my sweet papaw.

When my brother and I were wee lads, papaw decided that we needed our own place to play.

So he built us a tree swing in a secret little cove in the trees. I thought it was magical.

My brother and I would swing and play for hours in our magic little spot.

When Papaw was feeling up to it he would come and push us.

Our secret swing could only be reached by crossing over a ditch.

One day I fell into the ditch. I'm not really sure how it happened..but all I know

is that brother left me there. haha

It seemed like an eternity before my screams were answered and I was pulled

up from that ditch. Scary then, but a sweet memory now.

 

My papaw was also in love with French fries. That's all he ate...no exaggeration. Every day after

school we would go to his house and he would make us homemade French fries and give us Dr. Thunders (cheap dr peppers). Not the healthiest thing in the world, but that's what Papaws are for.

 

Papaw told us millions of war stories (he served in Korea and Vietnam). He told me stories of

my grandmother who passed away when I was 7. I loved his stories. He also told me how much

Heavenly Father loved me. He always made sure that I felt loved. One day at church I walked in and my papaw was standing there waiting for me. He turned to everyone in the hall and said, "Isn't my

grandbaby beautiful!!" I will never forget how much joy he filled my life with. It was always the simple things.

 

He traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois probably 5 million times. He loved that place. One day he drove all the way there just to eat steak with a few friends. He loved telling me that story. I think it made him feel like he was a crazy kid. I will always think of my grandfather when I hear Nauvoo.

 

I know this may sound silly, but it was always my dream to have my papaw see me get married. I knew that he would be so proud of me. I wanted him to approve of the prince and approve of the place (the temple). I'm so glad that he got to see me in my wedding dress. I will always treasure these sweet pictures. 

Speaking of the prince...Papaw used to call to tell me I had a letter from J. or he would call to tell me

that he was keeping it hostage until I came to see him. Or my favorite...he would claim he "lost" a letter because of his old age. I always had a mini panic over it. He was such the jokester.

 

I know that this post has really no organization, but I just needed to write down some memories of one of my favorite men to ever be. I want to make him proud...I want to be the woman that he

always knew I would grow up to be.

 

-Amanda

 

The zoo is for lovers.

On our one year anniversary we took a little trip to Jackson, Ms. Our first stop was the zoo. If

you know J and I, you know that we are obsessed with animals. The zoo is our happy place.

We had so much fun...and we have the pictures to prove it. Enjoy...

 

 

For the rest of the day I got spoiled. We ate lunch at a cute little place called Sweet Peppers. Then I got to shop to my hearts desire. Let's just say that we spent an hour in Anthropologie and J never complained. He is a saint. But it was a good thing that anthro had cupcakes that day...his reward. He's also the best picker of clothing for me...he knows what I look good in I guess. I won't complain. We really had so much fun just exploring. We ended up heading home and eating crawfish to celebrate our first year of marriage living in Louisiana. Life is good.

One year down.

This guy. I like him. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary this past Saturday (4-6-13). It's hard to believe that an entire year has already gone by. I don't think I have the words to sum up how amazing this first year of marriage has been. Of course, things have never been perfect. We don't have the perfect marriage. (No one does). That is something that I have learned this first year of marriage. Love is a choice that you make every single day. If we want our marriage to be happy and healthy and fun....we have to make the decision to make it that way.

J has surprised me a lot this first year. He has surprised me with how patient, caring and kind he truly can be. Of course I knew those things before we were married, but trust me when I tell you I have been a test of all of these attributes. Like when I'm a grump or emotional or just feeling blah. Somehow he loves me so much that he just finds a way to be more understanding, sweeter, and even more patient. I'm thankful for that. It has helped our marriage in every way.

We have taken road trips, gone on adventures, ate way too much, watched countless movies and silly shows, laughed our butts off, sang off key...everywhere, cooked and baked up a storm, had play arguments, missed each other when away, became park people, and worked hard. We had a good year.

You know how people always say "I love you more than I did when we got married."??? On my wedding day I thought..."No way, how could I love J more than I do today?" Now that it's been a year..I can honestly say that I have CHOSEN to love J more and more each and every day. I have learned more and I have grown more. I am learning each day how to love him more and how to be loved more. It's a process....an eternal one. That's why I'm glad that we have forever together....so we can figure it all out.

xoxo,
Amanda M.

Spring.

 


 Spring has arrived. I thrive in Spring...I live for it. The park has become our new hangout since we can go there without jackets now. The flowers are beautiful. Life is full of new beginnings. I've had a lot of changes take place recently. Since Fall of 2009 (when I started college), I have been looking forward to the Spring semester of 2013. This is the semester that I'm graduating with my bachelors degree. This is the semester where I would apply to graduate schools. Last week I found out the good news....I got into graduate school at my number one choice. I'm going to graduate school!! and I'm going to graduate a Speech-Language Pathologist. Unbelievable. I feel so incredibly blessed...because I am. You better believe my blessing book's pages are filling up. I'm starting a new chapter. I also just got a new calling at church to be a Sunday school teacher for the 16 and 17 year olds. I'm going from teaching cute kiddies to teaching teenagers. I also just got a new summer job. There is so much new happening...it's the Spring of my life.

Flowers my mom sent me for getting into Grad school.

 

 

I feel really lucky to have J with me on this new journey. He is the most supportive husband and never fails to cheer for team Amanda. We've been taking time to enjoy being together as much as possible. This includes lots of date nights, park trips, and eating ice cream straight from the carton. Once grad school starts I know that I am going to be a lot busier. I'm nervous about that because J is already sooo busy. If anyone can do it, I know we can. So cheers to Spring in the literal and figurative sense.

 

xoxo,

A

 

 

One wild and precious life.

“No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it.”- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

I'm going to be more proactive about counting my blessing.

Sometimes I forget just how blessed I am.

I think we can all forget, especially if we are busy counting other's blessings.

I used to have a journal where I kept a list of all of my blessing.

Reading through that journal makes me feel happiness and content.

I'm going to start a happiness/blessing journal again today.

We have only one wild and precious life...

I am choosing to make the best of every moment from this second out.

Like my momma always said, "Someone always has it worse than you."

So I'm not going to compete with who has it worse anymore. (I feel like that's what I've been doing)

I'm going to compete with myself to see how many blessing I can count each day.

You see, the prize from counting blessings is so much better.

Happiness.

 

 

 

 

The real stuff. (What you should read if you are feeling really REAL)

I have hope today. Hope that I will kick away the emotional funky blues that has been following me the past couple of days. The emotional rollercoaster that comes around once a month (you know the one) is messing with my self-concept. It sucks to put it bluntly. I have spent quit a few hours complaining to J about blah blah stuff. He shared some advice with me and I'm going to share it with you. "Amanda, all you ever see of everyone else's life is the good stuff. You see their blogs about happy times and vacations.  You don't see that they have fights with their loved ones, cry over silly things, and get bored just like you." J is pretty darn smart. He was also smart enough to take me out to dinner last night instead of having me attempt to cook under my emotional state. (usually resulting in burnt food)

I spent time at my cousin's townhome yesterday (we are next door neighbors) talking about our troubles and eating different flavors of chips. It helped a lot. Sea-Salted dark chocolate was also involved in this month's recovery process. Oh and let's not forget the very important J cuddles that restored my sense of happy. Today, I'm getting my nails done for good measure.

This post was mainly just to record the normal. My life isn't filled with fun filled adventures every. single. second. I have cry moments and sad days. My husband has to be patient with me....and sometimes I'm just a big baby. So if you ever have one of THOSE days, you can come here and read this post and feel all better. Because the sun doesn't always shine...we don't always capture the perfect pictures of our perfect family....and sometimes that new recipe from pinterest...sucks.

Valentines Smalentines

Our first Valentines day was pretty lo-key. We both spent the

majority of the day working, but we still found time

to celebrate love day. Josh leaves for work before me every morning.

So the night before V-day, I snuck muffins in his car and had

chocolate milk waiting for him in the fridge.

I thought I was pretty clever until I woke up to these beautiful flowers

and a love note from J.

He wins.

J is the only man who has ever given me flowers. I like that because

he is the only one who counts anyways. My flowers are still living and reside

in on our bedroom nightstand.

When J got home from work we decided to go out on the town.(After I gave him his present)

 I however had

an emotional breakdown about having nothing to wear. My wardrobe is going

through an updating period right now and I have given a lot of clothing away.

The closet emotional breakdown 2013 put us behind schedule.

Meaning that all restaurants were booked up and packed out.

I told J all I really wanted was a burger and fries.

He made my wishes come true with Five Guys.

It may not be the most romantic Valentines date spot, but that burger rocked my world.

We then decided to stop and rent a movie and get some candy.

I got a huge pack of sour straws and we rented Timothy Green.

Everyone told me that this movie would make me cry,

but no one told me that meant crying the entire movie.

I want to own this movie and watch it a million times.

Overall, our Valentine's day was a good representation of US.

We are pretty low-key and relaxed.

We enjoy the small things.

We love each other.

 

Hope everyone's V-day was just as sweet.

 

xoxo-

Amanda

 

 

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

J and I spent the weekend in Hattiesburg, MS cleaning up tornado damage.

It was hard to believe that a storm could do this much damage to a community.

There were trees down. Houses, churches, and neighborhoods destroyed.

I didn't mind all the hard work because I knew that in some way I was helping.

Helping to restore some sense of normal to my fellow brothers and sisters lifes.

 



I was the only girl in the group...and that came with a lot of challenges.

I have never considered myself "one of the guys."

All of that a side, I had a rewarding weekend filled with helping.

I also got a really good rib recipe from one of the locals.



I found a lot of love in unexpected places.

I also got to spend a lot of time with J.

I think service bonds a couple closer.

The entire time we were working I kept singing "Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad or made someone feel glad? If not I have

failed indeed."

For this weekend, I was happy that I could answer YES.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

 

J and I show each other that we love one another every single day. Valentines day is just an added day to scream I LOVE YOU a little louder. Thank you J for being the best husband I could ask for every day of the year. The flowers didn't hurt this morning though. ;)

 

xoxo,

A

Our cozy little reception

 

We had a cozy reception in my small hometown. It was a DIY wedding reception held in a tiny brick church. I felt so much love. We ate yummy food (yes, even us!), smashed cake in each other's faces, had a money dance (people pinned money on me in order to dance with me.), and laughed until we were on the floor. Literally. I think our reception was filled with the perfect amount of magic. I loved going back and reading love letters that everyone left us. Oh, and you see that high five between J and I. I waited my whole life for my wedding high five. But that's a story for another day. I love these memories.

 

xoxo,

A