Leaving on a jet plane & a graduating niece.

Happy Friday lovelies!!!

My beautiful niece is graduating high school in one week and my sister blessed me and bought my plane ticket. I will be flying to California on Sunday morning. I still cannot believe she is that old!

Awh... when she was little.

I am only 8 years older then my niece so we grew up in a very different relationship then the normal aunt-niece relationship. Its kind of like I have two sisters - my sister and my niece. hehe. We were really close growing up and she was my maid of honor at my wedding (my sister was my matron of honor -- I had two of honors).
I am extremely proud of her and so excited for this next season in her life! She is a beautiful young woman who will do amazing things! (: 
 __ . __ . __ . __

I am actually sad to leave Martin for 8 days. We are still newlyweds and this will be the farthest that I have been away from him. I have been a housewife since we have been in Alabama and I am just hoping my house doesn't fall apart while I am gone. Hehe.

I have never traveled this far alone before so I am a little bit nervous too... but I really am excited to see my family! My brothers' birthday is June 4th, so I am hoping I can see them too! (:

Happy weekend! (:

Air travels and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

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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

♥ . ♥ . ♥

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
♥  . ♥ . ♥

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
♥ . ♥ . ♥

Wedding invite ornament

Happy Saturday!

So... i have been working the past few days. I have been participating in the Lovely Perk-up.. but i have to wear my uniform... not the cutest thing. hehe. (:

A few weeks ago i made a super cute ornament that i found on pinterest. It is made with my wedding invitation... but it can be made with ANYTHING! baby announcement. birthday cards. love letters. :)

So.. the first step was to buy a simple clear bulb. This one i got was plastic and i got it at Michael's for like $1.75. 

Then i took my wedding invitation and cut it in little strips. I made different sizes... and i cut it so that every detail was in a strip. 

After it is all cut into little strips... take one strip and wrap it around a pencil for a few seconds. 

When you're done it will be all twisty and curly... put it in the clear Christmas bulb. Keep doing that with all the strips. 

They will all wrap around each other, just keep stuffing them. (: It is sooo stinking cute, fast, and easy!

I wrote our names on the bottom with the year with a sharpie. I made one for my mother-in-law, one for my sister, and one for us. (: I am sooo pleased with this little project. 

cuteness, simple crafts that make you feel crafty, and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥