Chinese food & cuddles

This weekend my Mr. and I had a little at home date.

Last week he had an INTENSE work week. It was long hours and really strenuous work. He said he almost stepped on a snake too (he is currently working landscaping at big commercial businesses).

I decided that Friday was going to be at-home date day. We would relax, rent some movies, and order some take out. He deserved it.

Martin came home with Chinese take out! I had been looking into Chinese restaurants too! hehe. (: I was so stinking excited!
So we had some DELICIOUS Chinese food in the cute containers ( most places we would go to.. they would put the food in a Styrofoam container.. so we were extra excited about this Chinese food)!

The rest of the weekend was filled with Parenthood and playing/snuggling with little Sophia. (:

she loves to bite his face!

This morning when I woke up.. my heart felt so heavy... I am not sure why or what exactly I was feeling.. but I was like overwhelmed with the feeling of love.

Love for my husband. Love for that stinky little puppy. Love for the Lord. Love for my life.
I can't fully describe it but it was a complete reassurance of being surrounded in love.

It feels soo wonderful!

food in cute containers, cute puppies who bite faces, and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥
Also make sure to check out my new facebook page. (:

blog thoughts & 40 days fast

Happy Monday to you all!!! :)

I have recently discovered a beautiful blog last week. Unveiled Wife is a blog dedicated to encouraging and uplifting wives and wives-to-be. The author, Jennifer, writes beautiful and powerful prayers for soo many marital circumstances and situations. Her life story is real and out there for everyone to read. She is truly an inspiration to me.

I love to document fun recipes and the cute stuff my new husband and i are doing... but above all else, beyond the recipes, pictures of my every day life, and little updates i hope to be inspiring. To uplift. To encourage. To brighten people's day. To be real and raw no matter the cost. To show love and kindness.

My blog is like my journal... rejoicing in the happy moments and contending in the not-so-smiley times. After all, i am a woman who cries when i am sad (or mad). Who laughs so hard at times that my side hurts. I am a girl who makes up phrases and chooses alternatives to cuss words.
I just hope that with the words that i write... even if it is one person who reads it... that the person on the other side feels the hope that is inside my heart.
So laugh along with me... even cry when the moment needs it... but in everything feel inspired.  Inspired to not be ashamed of who you are. Encouraged to be proud of the person God made you.

I am starting a 40 day fast inspired by Unveiled Wife. I will be fasting coffee (and espresso) and all sweets. I will be contending for my friend's, family's, and for my own marriage to be Christ-centered, to fall even more incredibly in love with Jesus, for me and my husband to realize our calling and identity, and for complete restoration to God and to each other in broken marriages that surround me. If any one is interested please feel free to join me!
Read the inspiration for the 40 day fast here. Also, if you need prayer for anything please comment below and let me know. (:

wives learning from other wives, more inspiration, and love. - Monica
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Happy Valentines Day!

Well.. life has been soo crazy lately!

car problems. work. bills. life! hehe.

Everything is finally settling down and i feel like i can breathe (and live) again.

We did have a fun-filled weekend though! Martin, my sister-in-law, and i had a movie day on Saturday. We went to Red Robin and got lunch, hung out at the house for awhile, and then headed out to see 'Machine Gun Preacher' at the "dollar theater". It was really sad.. and based on a true story (which makes it even more sad)!
After that we rushed over to the other theater and watched 'Safe House'. The movie started at 10pm and i will be lying if i said i didn't doze off a few times.
The next morning Martin and i got up and headed out for church. After church we went to see 'The Vow'.

That was also a sad movie based on true events! But... oh... it just made me want to be true to the vows i made almost 6 months ago! 

That night i made a delicious dinner of steak and garlic shrimp sauce while i rocked a scrunchie while cooking.

 Dinner was sooo good!!! Mmmmm... and then i made pink strawberry cupcakes for dessert. 

I truly love going all out for holidays. I love making themed foods (the first time i met Martin's family.. it was St. Patricks day.. and so i brought over green mint chocolate chip cookies). I love making it special and memorable! I know i will do this forever! hehe. Hopefully i will still have the energy and time. 

I made Martin a gift... i found it on pinterest. (follow me on there pinterest.com/monicamv ) 

I made him a '52 reasons why i love you' card deck book. 

It was really easy to make!!! 

Write down (or type) 52 different reasons why you love your spouse (or mom, or sibling, or child), hole punch a deck of cards, glue the reasons on the card, and put it together with a binder clip (or ribbon). 

I added little pictures of us, sayings, and bible verses to the backs so that each page had something. And here is how it came out. 

And that was it! hehe. :) 

He sent me my favorite flower to work today! 

No matter if you are single, married, complicated, divorced, or not even interested... i pray that love will surround you not only on February 14th.. but all year through!!! 

love, love, and more love. - Monica

♥ . ♥. ♥ 

my favorite month!!!

i love all things pink and with hearts.. so of course February is a favored month!

"Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy ; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Okay, i know that sooo many people have probably heard this verse before at weddings, on anniversary cards, on wall art... we probably all know it! Its probably as common as 'For God so loved the world..". But bear with me.. read it again... stop and think what each part means. 

Love suffers long (NIV says "is patient" but i like the "suffers long"... it is more honest, i think). Patience (suffering long) is not something i am perfected in. After a long day at work with the general public and then coming home to do housework can often times test my patience. And sometimes that impatience inside of me will have me react in the not-so-kind way. Then the ripple effect starts... I am sure my husband will tell you! 

But my heart is to represent love to my friends, family, and to those around me. I do not want to be rude or think evil of others. Sometimes we need to make that FIRST choice... to love. To be patient. To be selfless. To be nice... and see the ripple effect of love start. 

These verses aren't written to give us those warm and fuzzies based in emotion. These verses (i believe) are to teach us and encourage us to love correctly. It is a challenge... and every single morning we get up and choose to love again. It is so much easier to be impatient, or arrogant, or selfish.. but it is more rewarding to follow the advice of Paul and be love. :) 

re-reading common verses, pink hearts, and of course .. love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥

2011

Well the year 2011 is almost gone. I am still in shock that 2012 is almost here!

So many amazing things happened this past year. Lets take a walk down memory lane (bee dee doo dee bee doop du dooo. *that is flashback music*)

At the end of the year 2010... i did get engaged to a wonderful man!

The early months of 2011 were filled with a million wedding decisions and changes. My wedding was at first going to look like this:

A room filled with red roses and black and white accents.... but half way through.. i changed it to this:

Beautiful fuchsia all over and dark plums scattered all around. Gerbera daisies all about. :) 

I planned and planned and planned majority of the first half of 2011. In May i turned 24 years old... and also in May my wonderful then Fiance graduated from his ministry school and returned home. We met him at the airport.. signs in hands. 

Nine months of long distance (4 of the months while we were engaged) prepared me for his job where he had to travel. hehe. 

I remember seeing him walking up to us.. i remember being so nervous! As he approached us he looked soo different for some reason. My heart was pounding and my hands were sweating. "THIS is the man. THIS is the man i will be marrying", i thought. We hugged and my heart finally started to calm down. That was our little beginning to our happily ever after. :) 

In June 2011 Martin and i got approved for our new little apartment. Looking at it then.. it looked small.. now that i live in it.. it feels even smaller! hehe. We also started learning and growing with pre-marital mentoring.. and Martin started working.

July and the beginning of August was filled with last minute details. Martin working a lot out of town. And paying all the bills for the wedding. 

August 20th, 2011 i became a Mrs. 

My wedding was definitely the highlight of the year 2011.

The next 4 months has been filled with cooking, cleaning, and learning to be a wife to my husband.

I am sooo excited for the new year 2012! :)


new beginnings, beautiful pasts, and love. -M
♥ . ♥ . ♥

my Hello Kitty obsession.

Every since i was a little girl i have always LOVED Hello Kitty!

i remember my mom buying me cute little Sanrio stuff - pencils, erasers, coin purses, coloring books.
I am not ashamed of who i am. i am a girl. i love anything pink... doing my hair for no reason... music... makeup... dancing around my house... glitter... and Hello Kitty. But i think i am more like a little girl then i am a high-heeled wearing girl. hehe.

In high school i always had Hello Kitty purses.. that i would later pass down to my niece (who is 7 years younger then me). I had coin purses and maybe some pencils. I always kind of kept my obsession quiet. No one really knew how much i loved it.

BUT - then i found Kandee Johnson (a makeup artist, blogger, youtuber, and mother of 4) and she inspired me to be who i am! Long story short... i went public with my Hello Kitty love. I at first got my Hello Kitty ATM card (which reminds me to call the bank to get my new one with my married name). Then I bought a HUGE Hello Kitty purse that i ADORE (i always have it with me... and i get more compliments on it the anything else). I hope to someday share this love affair with my little daughters.
The Hello Kitty love has spread and pretty much everywhere you turn there is SOMETHING Hello Kitty out there!
Clothes. Pens. Pencils. Ornaments. Women are painting their nails in Hello Kitty. necklaces. rings. Cd players. Toasters. Sewing machines.

Of course cell phone covers. Picture frames. Alarm clocks. Laptops. Really to many things to name.

So yes... some of those things i found (i just did a google search and found TONS) are a little extreme and i wouldn't be able to get away with ALL of it. I am lucky that my hubby embraces my love for all things Hello Kitty. Last year for Christmas he bought me some pink Hello Kitty slippers.
I was at work ALLLL day and night yesterday and he bought me some early Christmas gifts. He bought me Hello Kitty socks, Hello Kitty fuzzy pj pants, and some mittens and a beanie (those are just pink and cute!)

Hello Kitty, obsessions, and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥

The Big Give.

Christmas season is here. Which means twinkling lights. cookies and milk. snowball fights. ornaments. the smell of pine. caroling. ANNNDDD giving gifts.

In honor of the birth of Jesus Christ (and because she has a big big heart) one the bloggers i follow, Nicole is raising money to donate to Samaritan's Purse to give the gift of a water filter to a family in need.

For only $100 we get to give a family something that many of us overlook - clean water. (As i type this i am drinking clean water from a water bottle that my husband and i bought). She is calling this The Big Give. 

Lets all pitch in and help with this very worthy cause. Simply go to her blog and donate anything you can. 

It feels good to give back and make a difference! 

giving back and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥