September 28

Today is a very special day to me! Three years ago today my husband and I went on our first date.  After he played in a golf tournament, that I volunteered to work, he asked me if I wanted to grab dinner (we had known each other for a number of months prior). I had a big test the next day so I had to grab something fast and head back to the library, so we went to chick-fil-a! It was awesome. What should have been a fest 30-45 minute date turned into over 2 hours, we just talked and laughed the whole time. Fast forward 3 years and we are married with our wonderful puppy! Tonight is date night and I can't wait to spend some time with the best husband in the world!

This is the first picture that we had together a month we started dating.

 

This picture was the most recently taken. 

 

I love him and am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life.

 

PUMPKIN TIME!

I got a new craft idea today!  Since it is "fall" the craft stores are loaded with with lots of nice pumpkins.  Since every year I fail horribly at carving a pumpkin... this year I decided to go fake (I might change my mind later).  Since I have a love for glitter and an addiction to monograms I made a glittery monogrammed pumpkin! I have a few monograms left over from our wedding so I am finding some fun crafts to use them on.  Below is how I did it...

 

 

Here are the supplies you need: A pumpkin (real or fake), paint (in the color of glitter you would like to use), painters tape, mod podge (I used gloss finish for this project),  a few old paint brushes, a paper plate, some old newspaper and a monogram vinyl.

 

1. Place some newspaper on your work surface, tape up the stem with painters tape, and paint your pumpkin!

2. Get your glitter ready! I like to use a paper plate to catch my glitter- it folds nicely to get all the excess glitter back into the bottle.  Apply mod podge with a paintbrush one section of the pumpkin at a time and apply glitter, this way the mod podge does not dry while applying the glitter.

 

 

 

3. Give the glitter a little time to dry (20-30 minutes) then apply a layer of mod podge. It looks a little strange but it drys with a nice glossy and you will have much less glitter around your house with this layer than without it!

 



 

4. Once the mod podge drys, you can apply your vinyl. This is time consuming! Since it has glitter and curves it can take a minute. 

 5. After your monogram is applied, cover with a small layer of Mod Podge.

 

 

6. ENJOY!

 

 

If you are looking for a great place to get vinyl monograms check out my favorite place.... Ten23 Designs.  http://www.ten23designs.com/ 



Yesterday was a busy day!

So yesterday started out as kind of a drag, I had a horrible headache and didn't feel like getting out of bed. Once I finally did my day became awesome!

1. I made home made beef stroganoff! This was my first attempt at this dish. It came out well and husband has asked me to add this into the regulars I make for dinner. It was made in the crockpot so it was super easy and allowed to get other things done. Just another Pinterest success!

2. Last weekend I borrowed a mini-sewing machine from my in-law's vacation home. Yesterday I broke it out and started sewing!!!! I started with just a scrap piece of fabric and to see if I could even do it. To my surprise I was successful, this got my creative juices flowing! First I mended a skirt I have not been able to wear for a year and now it is fixed!!! Then I noticed some spare fabric from a gameday dress my mother-in-law made me (info on that coming soon) and some extra ribbon from another project so I made a tote! I can't even tell you how excited I am. This is only the first in a long list of things I will begin to make. I already spent a few hours in Joanns today looking and buying fabric. I want to get a larger machine soon because this one is a little small and moves when in use.

Mom's coming to visit!

I'm getting a short visit from my mom tonight! I can't wait.  Her flight was delayed so she decided to spend the night with us instead of spending it in a hotel.  This is the first time she will come to our new home so I'm really excited! Not I have to scrub the house before she gets here!!! 

Fall is in the air!!!!

 The weather is so nice today! We have a nice breeze and temps are dropping.  I hope it stays this way.  I can't wait to pull out all of my boots and jeans!

Speaking of boots I need some new riding boots and have not had any luck so far without them costing hundreds of dollars.  I live in Florida and we only get so much use out of them so I'm not willing to pay too much.  If we were up North I might think differently but here it is not that important to me.  Below are two pairs I'm looking at....

Dolce via Victoria's Secret

Madden Girl via Victoria's Secret

 

 

I hope to show these to husband tonight so I can get them ordered before the weather gets any cooler! 

Pinning!

As most women are... I'm addicted to Pinterest! I love finding new ideas for craft, new helpful items around the house, beauty and health items and most of all the yummy things that husband enjoys eating. 

I love this site! The people that created it are geniuses. I spend hours looking at ideas being lead to other sites and pinning away! Part of my OCD had me spending some of my day arranging my pins.  Some items needed their own board and some needed to be moved. 

I was able to get a lot of ideas for my wedding on there that saved a ton of money and I think gave better personal touches!  Below are a few of the crafts I have completed:

I painted a canvas with Chalkboard paint and hung with orange and blue ribbons, this is great in front of the TV so we have the channels and don't have to use to guide all day!

This photo has a few items... 1.The decal on the dollar store vase ( decal from Ten23 Designs) 2. Pearl inside the vase, they are large craft pearls from Jo Anns 3. Notice the apothecary jars in the back, these are are now on my bar, I have a few filled with different fun bar themed items... corks, beer bottle tops and pop tops

4th of July Nails!

As most southern girls are guilty of I love pearls! These are just Jo Anns craft pearls hot glued to a wooden "L" from Jo Anns

This is my gameday wreath... love it! These are are just two feather boas wrapped around a craft wreath form.

 

 

As you can imagine I spend a lot of time in Jo Anns! I also just recently borrowed a sewing machine from my mother-in-law so I am going to be trying so new crafts... stay tuned! 

My Bestie!

Today is my Bestie's birthday! I miss her so much... she lives about 6-7 hours away so I don't get to see her often.  She is always there for me whenever I need her. I hope she has a great day and I hope to see her soon.

Back Home.... :(

Back home from my great weekend with friends and family.  I am truly blessed to have as many great people in my life as I do!

Friday was the day of all days! I started out dropping husband off to get a ride to the golf course with a friend and I ended up spending hours at our friends home drinking mimosas, eating breakfast and laughing! It was just what I needed.  After that I met up with the most talented wedding planner for lunch and small dose of shopping. Then back to our friends home for a little cook-out and so many more laughs. As if our day wasn't packed enough we then went out with a bunch of friends from school!

Saturday we got up to watch some football, had lunch with one of my besties/college roommate.  We then drove about an hour to my sister's house for her step-daughters birthday.  It was so much fun... they just got the cutest little dog! I also knocked it out of the park with her birthday gift... you see I have not been shopping for little girls EVER! My shopping usually consist of the Nerf Gun section.  So I guessed and got a gift card to Justice, she gave me the biggest hug. I was super happy to get it right! After leaving the party we went to have dinner with a friend of Husbands. Tired we decided to just go back to the condo and watch so football. 

 

This morning all we did was watch football and get on the road...

Now its back to reality. I really hate being away from my girls but know I will get to hangout with them very soon.

The Monogram Junkie takes a Road Trip!

Tonight husband and I are heading to St. Augustine so he can play in a golf tournament (side note- he asked me on our first date after this tournament a few years ago!!!!) and we are making a weekend out of it! Super excited.  I am going to see some friends and family and have a great time. 

When I started packing I realized my addiction is pretty bad! Here is just some of the monogram stuff I am bringing with me...

1. My favorite road trip bag: my LL Bean canvas bag- husband got this for me for Christmas last year and I was so sad I couldn't use it until our wedding (didn't want to jink anything!!!!). It was the first thing I received with my new monogram.
2. My Florida Yacht Club tote- this is great for bathroom and hair supplies! It zips closed so it doesn't matter if it gets knocked over.  Thank you Daddy for getting this for me a few years ago.
3. My monogramed Marley Lilly handbag- love this!
4. My market tote with my name- My bestie gave this to me when I was her MOH in her wedding this summer.  I love bringing this for snacks and such, its easy to get in and out of!
5. My Marley Lilly small pouch- I like to use this for my jewelry! I have lots of monogram goodies inside!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monogram Fonts...

Since my monogram addiction is in full swing after changing my last name to my wonderful husband's last name, I have been stuck on the same monogram fonts.  I love anything script and interlocking... I just feel like it's getting a little boring and I need to think outside of the box. I love script and feel that it is classic and beautiful but some times you need a change....

So many decisions but thank goodness so many things can be monogrammed! Now I have to go figure out what I want next and try to think about of the box on my next font! 

Goodies from a Flash Sale

In my previous post I told y'all about some of my favorite places to feed my monogram addiction, well I got a great package in the mail yesterday with some new goodies!  I purchases a few items from Ten23 Designs during a Flash Sale she was having on Facebook a few weeks ago.  I'm so excited for these items I can't stand it.  Is it cooler outside yet so I can wear the amazing monogram scarf?

 

 

These are the goodies I got....

A black cashmere feel scarf with a large bright pink monogram

A necklace with a monogram disk (after the picture I removed the beads- can't wait to use them for another craft)

A pearlized bracelet with a black monogram

A wonderful grey and white wristlet with a soft pink monogram

 

Everything I purchased was a fraction of the price I would have paid if it wasn't for the flash sale.  Hope you enjoy and look out for those flash sales!



New Monogram Bag

Since I am currently not working and looking for a job I spend a lot of time at home looking for a job.  This also means a lot of time spent on the computer, iPad and iPhone! I spend a lot of time on different job sites and boards looking for work, however I do enjoy social media which as completely added to my monogram addiction! Husband wants to contact all the people I order from and ask them to ban me from their sales.  He has also mentioned an intervention but if this addiction is wrong I don't want to be right!!!

Just a little background on my shopping habit... I love it! I would shop everyday if I could but I don't want to put husband in the poorhouse! And I really want to start saving more for our next home and babies! However I shop, I shop a lot! But very very very rarely will I pay full price for something.  I believe you can always find something cheaper somewhere else or a coupon or it will go on sale soon.

Back to my issue at hand... social media flash sales! So many companies that offer monogram products are small companies, most run in a home by one person or two friends, many of these companies rely heavily on social media to get their products out there.  Well I have friended so many of these companies on Facebook, follow them on twitter and like their Pinterest boards.  This has increased my monogram goodies so much! Many of these companies offer flash sales, "social media" discounts that are only posted on their walls or tweets.  They also let you know of sales or new items. So addictive!

I have a lot of new items that are on the way (one of the sad things about getting married is having a new monogram so you can't use the old one- but that also means you get new stuff!!!!!!) and will share as things start coming in. 

This is the new bag I just ordered in grey and I can't wait for fall/winter!

 

 

Here are just a few of my favorites:

Ten23 Designs: I found her on Etsy used a lot of her products for my wedding... She has great flash sales on Facebook also check out her sale page.

http://ten23designs.com/

 



PreppyandPersonalized: Thank goodness on of my friends on Facebook likes this because I am obsessed with these flash sales! Somethings are a little pricey for my taste but they do have a lot of GREAT things. It makes my excited for Monday Nights!!!
https://www.facebook.com/PreppyandPersonalized#!/PreppyandPersonalized

Marley Lilly: I love this site!  Super cute items and for the most part they are super fast processing and shipping orders. To make it better they have a sale/last chance/ damaged items page... with some unreal deals! Sign up for emails and follow them on twitter, you will get some discount codes and special deals.
http://www.marleylilly.com/

I hope you enjoy these sites as much as I do! Happy Monogramming!