world market and new babies

I had a wonderful weekend. :) 

It was my 5 month wedding anniversary and so my husband and i celebrated with Disney Monopoly. 

He let me win.. hehe. :) I am a good loser (i lose every.single.time. i play nerts with my husband and in-laws lol) but it was sweet that he still let me win. :)


The next day i went shopping with my sister-in-law. At first we went to Target. I just love that and could spend hours in it! She needed to buy a purse but we didn't find anything good... so we went to JCPenney to see their selection of handbags. She found one and it was off to dream at Best Buy.

I found TWO things that i REALLY wanted! A Hello Kitty blow dryer and a Hello Kitty Blue Tooth (both things i really need) :)

After drooling at all the stuff i cannot buy we decided to covet some more at World Market.

It was funny because for some reason ( i still dont know why) they were giving away free hot dogs.

When we were walking i noticed that they also sold hot dogs in a jar. eeww!!!

But all we bought were Japanese sodas!

Of course mine was a Hello Kitty kind!

I also found a sparkly mask that i wore around for a little while. :)

Life is just so fun with sparkly masks on! :) I also liked these little doll-things!

Although they did look like they needed a hug.
If you want to have fun and kill some time.. head over to World Market and just look around! They have amazing stuff!!!!

After dreaming we went back to my in-law's house and i finished doing our laundry there (so thankful for them!!!).
That night we had a delicious dinner with good family/friends who married us. :) They are an amazing man and woman of God and it is always sooo encouraging and lovely to spend time with their family. They just had a little girl 11 weeks ago and so my heart was overflowing with joy! We are truly blessed to call them friends!

good friends, fun masks, and love.  - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

rainy days

Whenever it is raining i never feel like doing ANYTHING. it is a hassle to even leave the house to check the mail!

Rainy days always call for warm drinks (coffee, hot cocoa, apple cider, etc), cozy blankets, snuggling, and staying indoors (preferably with the heater on).

Here are some things that i do not like about rainy days:
1) when the back of my pant legs get wet.
2) frizzy hair - after i have spent soo much time making it look pretty, only to have the rain ruin it.
3) wet sweaters!
4) dirty floors from walking in the water..into the mud.. and on to my floors!

Rain isn't all bad though. You can dance and sing in it. It gives a thirsty world enough to drink. You can kiss in it. It smells lovely. Rain sounds pretty.

Hmm.. but i think I will leave the dancing and singing to Gene Kelly and go cuddle up to my husband with a blanket, warm drink, and a movie.



rainy days, warm homes, and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

Clam chowder cook-off

We visited my beautiful sister again this weekend. :)

She participated in the town's 'Clam Chowder Cook-off' and so i helped out. :)

My brother-in-law and hubby got there a little after 8am to set up.. and my sister and i were cooking by 10am!

My beautiful sister had to make 6 GALLONS of my Grammie's New England clam chowder! She is amazing and measured everything out so all i had to do was drop and stir. :)

My sister also made a shrimp taco bar for everyone and decorated 'Shel's' in a beach theme. (her name is Michele.. isn't she clever?)

So people would go around to all the different booths and try different types of chowder. When they found one they really liked they would give them a ticket for 'people's choice' and then we would fill their bread bowl up with the chowder.

We did get tickets! i took this before it started. lol

My niece came and helped too. lol.

It was my sister's first year partcipating in this and it was a lot of fun! We didn't win... but we still got this super cool award! 

We cleaned everything up, tried not to freeze our tushies off, and went back to my sister's. 

Of course my nephew was being adorable as ever!

Here he is showing off his muscles!

Here he is making faces. haha. He was feeling my sister's knee (she had surgery on it and she has a rod in there.. you can feel it! its pretty much disgusting!). It was too precious because he kissed it to make it feel better. so sweet!

And we ended the night sooo sweetly with Starbucks peppermint hot cocoa with a homemade marshmallow and crushed peppermint candies! Mmmm! 

The next day was Martin and my 2 year anniversary of being together. So we got up and headed out so we could make it back to our hometown to celebrate! 

We packed up our stuff, took tons of extra food and sponges off my sister's hands, we gassed up, and Martin even cleaned our windows! 

We got back to town and celebrated our anniversary with Chinese take-out, a couple of rented movies, and cheesecake. It was wonderful! We have been through a lot in the 2 years we have been together.. and i am so happy God gave him to me! :) 

We had a wonderful time at my sisters... she of course sent me a lovely text when i got back to town about how much she cares about me. I truly have the best big sister! 

big sisters, 6 gallons of New England clam chowder, and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥

Playoffs and believing in yourself

The big thing that is going on in my house right now is NFL playoffs!

My husband is a lifelong 49er fan. The entire family is. Now... the 49ers weren't always the greatest team, i guess. Apparently they went through tons of coaches went through many seasons with not too many wins. Last year they only won 6 games and lost 10 games! 

This year their record for the regular season was 13-3 and are now going to play in the NFC championship game (only one game before the Superbowl)!

hehe.. i am having to check all this with my husband and my best friend, google.

The most amazing thing about this team this year is that is all the same guys playing. The same quarterback. The same tight end. The same running back. The SAME team. The BIG difference is a different coach. Jim Harbaugh is having his first year with the 49ers and taking them straight to victory. 

Even if you aren't a 49er fan it is hard to ignore the success that they are having. The change is completely evident in their game and the way that they carry themselves. 

It is amazing what one person believing in someone can do! Someone who takes the time to excite the person. To encourage the person. To shape their God-given gifts and grow their talents. Coach Harbaugh is often seen pumping Alex Smith (the quarterback) up with hitting his pads and helmet. Its incredible what can happen when someone in your life INVESTS their time in you. 

When you have someone believing in you, its easier to believe in yourself. My pastor has said that we become what we think the most important person in our lives expects us to become.  If the most important person expects us to become great.. then i think we will have the confidence to do so. BUT if the most important person says that we are worthless, not good enough, that we will never amount to anything, annoying, too much to handle.. etc... then in most cases what do we have to try for? Why would we try to be great when the people around us say that we aren't good enough. 

I know that i am not perfect at all.. but i want to try to encourage others. To believe in them. To tell them they can.. when everyone around is telling them they cant. I want to pump others up and get them excited about what they are passionate about. So that they can someday get to their "Superbowl game" of their life. 

playoff games, believing, and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥

coffee chat (correction)

"A cup of coffee with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent."


My sister bought my hubby and i an espresso machine that i am in love with! Sure it is sooo noisy and often disrupts my husband's tv time... but i am enjoying the delicious tastes that it produces.

I love having coffee with friends. I love just hanging out and hearing each other's hearts. I love spending quality time with people that i enjoy and learning more and more about them.

Recently the thing that has been on my heart a lot lately is taking correction.

Proverbs 15:32 (NIV) says  

'Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds corrections gains understanding.' 

Dictionary.com defines the word 'heeds' as "to give careful attention to." Dictionary.com defines 'disregard'  as "to pay no attention to."
Those who pay no attention to discipline (activity, exercise, or a regimen that improves or develops a skill) despise themselves, but the one who gives careful attention to correction gains understanding.


Correction. We need it. Sometimes it is hard to hear.. and our flesh wants to fight it but we need that correction. We need to take it and apply it to our lives. Being married i am learning more and more about correction. Listening to my husband and hearing his heart is what benefits our marriage. And him doing the same. If he sees something in me that maybe needs the Lord's correction i have to heed that correction to gain understanding. And if i see something in him that maybe needs that same correction... i pray he would do the same.
Its not always easy. Constructive criticism can be hard to swallow... but it can also be beneficial to us. We just need to approach the situation with love, honor, and respect.
So that is where i am at this morning as i type this. Learning about proper  Godly correction.


coffee chat, heeding to correction, and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

being silly

Last night i had a wonderful conversation with my husband. Part of the conversation was that, for some reason, i have forgotten to be silly in our relationship. 

Bills, life, relationships, and work have stolen my joy. My true joy. I don't know how this happens either. ha.

I need to be FULL of the Lord's joy. A joy that is contagious. A joy that will bring others joy. A joy that is undeniable in my life. That is what i want in my life. 

So i will find that joy in my life again. The joy that the Lord has placed in my life. I will be silly again! Dance around. Sing. Laugh. Be free.

"These things i have spoken to you, that My joy will remain in you, and that your joy may be full"
John 15:11 (NKJV)

Sometimes we need to have heart to heart conversations, talk about feelings, and express ourselves... & other times we need to get out our nerf guns and have a shoot out! hehe. 

Laughing is the best medicine! 

So... turn off your cell phones, dont talk about money, leave the heart to hearts on the back burner and be silly! laugh. do something adventurous. enjoy life! There is always another time to talk about how to improve your relationship (i am not disregarding that at all.. there are times when those conversations need to said... but have a balance). :)

Also, i participated in the The Lovely Perk-up Challenge the other day after work. Boots and a cute zip-up sweater works wonders for errand day! haha. 

silliness, new joy every morning, and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥ 

our road trip as Mr. & Mrs.

Martin and i had a lovely New Years Eve. We decided it was FINALLY time to take our first road trip as husband and wife and make the looonnngg (a whole 2 hours) trip to visit my sister. (which we realized when we got there that Martin hasn't been there since BEFORE he left for school in So Cal).

Saturday we woke up with NOTHING ready to go. We weren't packed. We didn't even have clean laundry. I told my sister we would be there AT noon.... needless to say that did not happen.
Martin got up and had to start a load of laundry (which quickly turned into two loads) and get a haircut. I jumped, sprung, slowly got up and started to clean the kitchen so it wasn't a MESS when we returned. After that i hopped in the shower while Martin finished our dirty wet laundry. I had to time to straighten my  hair and do makeup! Its amazing how sslllooowww laundry can take!

Martin bought me this new shirt... i wasn't too sure about it.. but now i think i am in love! I thought i looked like a farmer... but at least i look like a cute farmer! hehe

He actually bought my entire outfit. hehe. He's good. :)

But.. i can give myself credit for my oh-so-simple hairstyle. hehe. :)

After laundry was all finished and tummies were full of food, we headed off.

Our radio doesn't usually work (i think we need new speakers) but for some odd amazing reason it worked the majority of the ride there. So my hubby and i grooved, sang, and were silly for 2 hours.
Being a girl.. i tried to start serious conversations... but he asked if we could just have fun. hehe. :) I agreed and joined him in singing and dancing to the radio. I am glad i have him to remind me to be silly. ;) Although this is him being serious driving..because the roads were starting to get icy.

When we arrived in the mountains the temperature DROPPED! And we were surrounded by beautiful pine trees!

Do you like the crack in my windshield? hehe.. i really need to get that fixed.

When we got to my sister's house my nephew ran as fast as he could to.... Martin. Yup, my husband is apparently his new favorite. hehe. But i still got some hugs and kisses.

But he quickly returned to "Mar-TIN". (he pronounces the 'tin' part very distinctive.. it is soo stinking cute!)

Then he, of course, had to show off all of his new stuff he got from Santa.

He really loved this watch he got. It had a little light and would shine different little aliens on the wall. He would NOT take it off! hehe. And every picture he took he wanted to show it off. lol. He took it off to play with Martin some more and had me wear it. He was all kinds of excited when it fit me. hehe. He made sure to tell everyone around him that his watch "fit Auntie too"!

My sister cooked an amazing meal of tri-tip and crab! Sooo good! and then we had cheesecake and carrot cake for dessert.
My nephew and husband played the (old school) Super Mario Bros game on AJ's gameboy. hehe. My nephew cant really play.. but was amazed when Mar-TIN "beat the game" (he only beat one level.. but AJ was soo happy!)

At about 9:30pm we all headed out to my sister's friends house for a New Year's Eve party. Although stuff like that isn't really my thing... it was still pretty fun.
Of course i probably looked silly with my giant Hello Kitty purse (which Martin eventually put it in the car.. because i kept it on all night lol) and my red cup of the kid's punch. hehe. No shame though. lol. :)
At 11pm we went home because my brother-in-law had to work early the next morning.
At home we watched Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve and drank some DELICIOUS Starbucks peppermint hot cocoa with my sister's homemade marshmallow.

That was probably the highlight of New years Eve. I love just snuggling on the couch with hot cocoa! I don't really enjoy "going out". I'd rather hang out and play board games, sipping hot chocolate, listening to music with my loved ones. i know.. i am probably boring. hehe. but i like it.

At midnight we said our happy new years.. and after Martin stopped coughing (he got a tickle in his throat RIGHT at midnight haha) i had my FIRST ever New Years kiss! :) 

It was a really great first New Years as a new wife. :) 

The next morning was the 49er game and so my sister made her brother-in-law an amazing football meal!

She is such a wonderful cook!!! :)

After the game we talked for a little while and packed up and headed back home. :)
Arriving to town the sky was sooo beautiful!!!

We had SUCH a fun road trip together. :)

I am sooo excited for the new 2012 year! My resolution is to continue to get closer to the Lord, be love everywhere i go, and cherish my marriage.

new years, short road trips, and love. - M
♥  . ♥ . ♥