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

♥ . ♥. ♥ 

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
♥ . ♥ . ♥

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
♥ . ♥ . ♥

what the chicken tacos?

Wow! This week went by really fast.
I adore having my hubby home now. (: I have been practicing my wifey skills with cooking and cleaning (everyday.... when he was out of town working it was always "clean-up friday" since he would come home on Saturdays.).

Last weekend was our first Halloween together (last year we were apart while he was in So Cal for school). We stayed at the house and watched movies. hehe... we are sooo adventurous, huh? We didn't even have trick-or-treaters (which was a disappointment to me..  i love cute little costumes.)
This year was my nephew's FIRST year dressing up EVER (& he is almost 5), so it was a big deal! He was
"robot bumblebee".

my sister said that he wore it all night and the next morning.

I can't wait to dress up my future little kids in super cute costumes. (: I have found some cute ones on Pinterest that i like. (has anyone else noticed that the start of a lot of conversation are now starting or ending with "i found it on pinterest").

this is soo clever and adorable. 

i ADORE this! hehe.

ahh... (: Someday. (:

Also this week i discovered an amazing dinner that i have made twice this weekend (per my hubby's request)  The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tacos . Okay, seriously these were soooo good! I made them last night for my sister-in-law and my husband. I started with boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut it into little pieces.  And cooked it in the pan with olive oil.

We seasoned our chicken with Chicken Taco seasoning and peppercini juice. (my husband pronounces it "pepper-see-knee" i say "pepper-chee-knee". lol. We are in a debate.)

After the chicken is done and cooked... you set it aside and grab a corn tortilla. And this is where it is deliciously unique. You put the chicken IN the corn tortilla and put the whole taco in a pan with about an inch of oil and fry it!

Hold the taco with the tongs until it fries in the taco shape and then flip it over to the other side while you do another.

Once both sides are nice and crispy... take it out and wrap a paper towel over it to get the excess oil out. Put yummy cheese in them immediately so that it gets all melty! yum!

Then.. just put your toppings.. lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, hot sauce. (: and enjoy!

I was soo proud of them and they were soo yummy! (:

Today (of course) is football Sunday and my Sis-in-law came over for the game too. (:

delicious food, cute costumes, fun time with friends, and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥