Sunday, December 9, 2012

we are beautiful

You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.
Song of Solomon 4:7

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

smiles

One thing that has been on my mind recently is how people view life itself. With Christmas just around the holidays, giving is often what the "thing" to do is. You give a kind gift to your mail man or garbage man, you donate toys to kids who are in need, people adopt a family who need a little extra help around the holidays, and the list goes on. Or even buying Santa a Starbucks Coffee...yes Santa even drinks coffee! :) Yes, I have been raised up doing all the above, and I still enjoy participating in helping out when I can, however, money and gifts isn't everything.



What I mean is, what about the middle people, who don't need help buying presents, who you don't need to give an extra Christmas gift to, like the person checking you out in the grocery store check out counter, or the mom getting her kids out of the minivan at the mall, or the people you run into at your job. What about all of them? Now, don't get me wrong, I am a poor broke post college student, so I am not suggestion buying random strangers presents, but that is where the smile comes into play. It is amazing how a smile can affect people.





I have realized this awesome concept of a the smile through working at the ER. Seeing so many people that enter through this doors are down in the dumps. Some are really sick or injured. Others are coming to find a loved one that is in the hospital. This is where it all comes into play....you would be amazed at the affect of just giving them a friendly smile can help them make it through their day. So go ahead... smile. It might just make your day a little bit better too. :) 


Sunday, December 2, 2012

sunday

But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I have called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end- Because I am God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That's how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get back, trade the creation just for you.
~Isaiah 43:1-4~


Saturday, December 1, 2012

December 1st

Well today marked the first day of a month of pure craziness. Oh, goodness how I do love the hustle and bustle that takes place over the month of December, but I feel as if this month will surely go super fast. January is already filling up with exciting days, such as bridal showers! :) However, I want to savor Christmas. My last one at home. One for new beginnings with plenty of family events to head off too. With all the Christmas parties, it is often easy to forget the real meaning of Christmas. The day we celebrate Christ's birthday. The other day on Facebook a friend posted a status that said, Jesus wasn't born on Christmas. Which of course started a whole long debate on when he was actually born and so on. Which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I understand that we do not know the date that Jesus was born, or when the 3 Kings came to offer the gifts to him, but the point is we are recognizing Him on this day.  Some say Christmas was also started as a Pagan holiday, but you know what it was still brought back to God in some way. And Jesus doesn't care what day we sing Happy Birthday to him, as long as we acknowledge him everyday and give our hearts to him. Okay, sorry for the obnoxiously long rant....but through the hustle and bustle this year I will make sure to remember the reason my family celebrates Christmas. 

24 Days Left till Christmas Day.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

traditions

"Tradition, tradition... tradition Tradition, tradition... tradition"

Yes, whenever I hear that word, tradition, my mind goes straight to the opening lines of Fiddler on the Roof. Tevye, the papa, is so wise in the opening lines and I love listening to the monologue every time.

"Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years. Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything... how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered and always wear a little prayer shawl... This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how did this tradition start? I'll tell you - I don't know. But it's a tradition... Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do." 

During the holiday seasons traditions are everywhere we look. Kids getting their yearly picture with Santa. Families coming together to set up the Christmas tree. Oh, I am sure the list goes on and on. But deep down I think my family has one of the best traditions...yes I am probably a bit biased. But here it goes. 

WE BAKE COOKIES.


And no, I am not just talking about a a few batches. And not just your normal chocolate chip cookies. We make multiples and multiples of tons of cookies! I will save the number of cookies that we made for the end of the blog...just to keep you on your toes... :) Yes, I am sneaky. But lets start with the beginning.

When my mom & her siblings were little, every Sunday during advent my grandma & her kids would bake a type of cookie. By the time Christmas was here they would have plenty of cookies to make Christmas Cookie Trays. Once my aunts & uncles started to get married and have kids the families would all pick a day to get together & bake cookies at my grandparents house. It was an all day event with family fun. Some of the best memories with my cousins took place during Knobbe Cookie Bake. 



Now, with 13 families each family in charge of one type of cookie. It has become one intense, family fun filled day! Below is a hint of just how big it is....


Yes, you are looking at 4 different ovens all in one house! 3 in the garage down on the farm & one in the kitchen. With the upgrade, we now are down at our family fun with the cows, chickens, & puppies! If you want to see a beautiful view check out our ranch's website, Futura Ranch.




This year was extra special for me & my main man. It was our first year contributing to the cookie baking with our own cookie! My parents surprised us the day of cookie bake, with our first official cookie pans (the only cookie pans we allow at cookie bake!), the Knobbe Cookie Bake Recipe Book, & a cookie bake ornament! I was totally surprised & super excited that they surprised me with such an awesome present. 


Now, I guess I can give away the the number of cookies...I dropped enough hints! Did you figure it out yet? Drum roll please....

11,922

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A little behind

Hello my blogger friends,
Wow! The holidays through my blogging schedule off completely. And oh my goodness how I have missed all this blogging stuff, ya know the reading & the writing & making new friends. I have so much to catch up on and write. Like traditions & christmas & how we made 12,000 cookies in one day. But I have a long list of todos for this afternoon and little writing time. So look for the blogs to start a flowing tomorrow!
~Deanne

Friday, November 16, 2012

thankful for my family

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, and one thing I am in desperate need of trying to figure  out how to juggle multiple family Thanksgiving events all in one day. From any of you married women I would love some advice. However, I am very thankful for the family that God has put me in. :)



My sister & I were picked specially for my parents too! We were adopted. God sure knew what he was doing when he placed us with them. We have learned so much and through them we were giving a huge number of loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, & cousins.  My sister, who is also my amazing Maid Of Honor, and I are exactly 5 years apart. Sure, we have are ups and downs but we deep down love each other with are whole heart. We both have our own special adoption story. But the end is the same we were adopted by the parents who loved us no mater what.



That part is the coolest part I believe. I am so thankful how God designed our story. 


Sure, there are days that we drive each other crazy. The days we need to cry. But in the end the family that God put together for us. Is very special and important.

Monday, November 12, 2012

thankful for planners & lists

I was sitting at the counter trying to figure out what my next few days are going to be like and what needs to be accomplished & when. Scheduling sleep into wedding planning, family, & friends can prove to be a bit difficult especially when I work grave yard shifts. Thus, my body has become way to use to the whole being awake 24 hour thing. On a side note, I am totally thankful for a great concealer & eye make up. ;) So as I was saying, I am very thankful for my calendar & list. I am such a sucker for office supplies. Barnes & Nobel has some of the cutest planners and notebooks. My planner is so perfect. It is small enough to fit in my purse but big enough that I can write multiple things down for my days. And my lists, that are paper folded in half, can fit neatly inside of the planner! LOVE! At this point I am sure you are all thinking of me as a little OCD, but I am not...I promise. But I am thankful God has blessed me with a way to stay organized & able to keep my life some what sane. Lord knows, I definitely need sanity now more then ever! 

Happy Monday

Saturday, November 10, 2012

thankful for weddings

The long wedding update post is finally happening! And oh do I feel like I have accomplished so much this past few days. I actually can breathe. Some of the big stuff can actually be checked off of my long list. Which takes a load of stress off. But I am so thankful for such a long list off of my support system; my mom, my sister/amazing maid of honor, and all my bridesmaids, and my cousins.

We met with the invitation designer. It was one of the fastest meetings I have had yet in regards to the wedding. It was great. I went in with the ideas that I wanted for the invitations to look like, the wonderful Kelle had exactly in mind that I wanted. Then she matched the color of the dress from my color swatch to match with the invitation! I am so excited. What do you guys think?


The color will be hot pink instead of the lime green though. If any of you brides need inviattions def check out Unique Moments. They will custom design your invitations and do consultations however you like, via email, phone, in person, you name it they do it! And it does not have to be wedding invitations, it can be any type of invite you need. Check em out!
After we did the invites mom & I discussed what we were going to do for flower girl dresses. We need 3 dresses. My mom is an awesome seamstress. She has made all of Halloween costumes when my sister & I were little. We found a couple cute dresses at JoAnn Fabrics. What do you think of this pattern.


The Save-The-Dates went out to yesterday! So excited!


As far as what my life looks like right now, well here is the view that describes it best.


I am so thankful for the things that have been coming together, slowly but surely for this wedding. Next on the list will be flowers! We can't decide if we will make our own or go with a florist. Decisions decisions!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

thankful for being busy

Oh my where has the week gone, at least that is how I feel as I type this. I have missed blogging & reading other blogs. Oh goodness, I just feel like I have been so behind, but my oh my how I have been busy. I was telling my boss last night, I feel as if this week has gone by so slowly. I was ready for my weekend (Thursday & Friday) on my first night back at work Saturday! Crazy I know.

This will be a post with out pictures, I haven't had time to go through and edit the ones I liked. But let me tell you, I am so blessed with my busy life. I never thought I would say that until I sat down to write my Thankful blog, but I am so thankful God blessed me with things to keep my life busy & entertaining!

For those of you who do not know I work in the ED (better known as ER). The ED I work in is also one of the top Trauma Level 1 hospitals in Saint Louis. Working in this environment, I see everything...and when I say everything I mean from the littlest one to the oldest person, & from a simple cut to a massive car wreck! Each day I go into work I realize how blessed I am to be in the life that God gave me. Even though there are days that push me on edge, I sit back and realize I may be a busy between, family, friends, church, & work, but I am so thankful I have all those things in my life. God really did bless me!


Saturday, November 3, 2012

30 Days of Thankfulness

This post is being posted a little bit late today. My laid back day turned into a busy go go go day, but it was well worth it, and oh did I get a lot finished. Progress in wedding planning. :) What a big relief. Wedding planning post will come soon! 

I wanted to talk about what I am doing through the month of November though, since I did not really cover it much in yesterdays post. Through the month of November I will be posting one thing (or two depending) on something/someone I am grateful/thankful for. So many people see the Holiday commercials beginning and jump straight into the crazy Holiday plans without taking time to embrace Thanksgiving for all that is worth... being thankful! We all have so many things to be thankful for, instead of being envious of what others have...I want to take time in each blog and sit and express what I am thankful for and why. Sometimes it could be something little, like yesterdays blog, or other times it could be something serious and heart warming. So many other amazing bloggers have taken time to write their things down, and it is a great start, women encouraging other woman, sisters, wives, mothers, all together encouraging one another reminding each other of what we have to be thankful for in our everyday lives. That being said, today I am thankful for my main man! 


I am so blessed to have him in my life. He challenges me in every way possible. Pushing me to be the best that I can be in life. Encouraging me when I get discouraged. Loving me with all my flaws. Stepping up and leading me. Always there to make me laugh no matter what, he can get a smile and a giggle. I cherish that! Today, I was reminded just how special he was. Justin surprised me with the fact he took today off so he could spend the day just with me (something we have not done in a long time!) and wedding plan. The first stop was Wedding Wonderland Cakes. Oh, the best part of wedding planning, it was so "sweet". We even found our cake.... of course this was after trying every type of cake flavor they offered. Oh how my tummy was satisfied!

The sample of what our cake will look like. The flowers will be HOT PINK & the the letter will be M!

The samples of our cakes.

After the cake, we had our lunch date,  where we continued our wedding plans. However, we checked our a new place we had never been. Bailey's Range. Words can not describe the fun atmosphere of this restaurant.  They even had mason jars for the cups!!! The main table was just one long community table. If you are ever in Saint Louis I recommend you checking on this fun place. Just look at the pictures below!



I was sure spoiled today by such an adorable man! Thankful for him and the surprises he shares with me each and everyday!


At the Black Thorn where you can write with chalk. How cute!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Falling in love with Fall

One thing I absolutely love about fall is the atmosphere. The warm afternoon sunshine, followed by the brisk, cool night air. The colors that the leaves turn and the sounds that they make beneath your feet. Even the awesome fall fashion. Ya know, the chunky sweaters, the scarves, boots,  & the fun fall jackets! I am a girl that truly loves the layering look in fashion and fall fashion makes that extremely possible. Yay! Another huge part of fall that I adore is the pumpkin spice lattes. If I were to be honest, I would say the pumpkin spice latte is a guilty pleasure of mine.




And even if fall couldn't even get any better, it does! It is the start of the holidays! November is here! Let the countdown to one of my favorite holidays begin... Thanksgiving! Yes, I will admit, the food does have to deal with the favorite part, however, it just like fall, I love the atmosphere of Thanksgiving. The memories that I have made on this day with my family. All from sampling my uncle's turkey stuffing before dinner was ready or watching movies all night (yes, including RugRats' Thanksgiving) with the impromptu cousin sleep over in my grandparents living room. No matter what goes on, I love every minute of the enjoyable holiday, feasting and all! And oh how I can't wait to share with all of you the big family tradition that goes down on the farm the Saturday after Thanksgiving! The annual cookie bake! It isn't just your averagage chocolate chip cookie bake, it is every type of cookie you can imagine plus a few thousand cookies! But I can't tell you all my Holiday blogs this early now can I? :) 

But in honor of Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, I am going to end each blog leading up to Thanksgiving  with something or someone I am thankful for. Today I am thankful for fall weather & pumpkin spice lattes. 


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

LAX

It is time! I am so excited I finally have time to hunker down & blog. It has been to long my dear friends. This weekend was entirely to busy, but in a good way I do believe. LAX game, dinner, family, friends, work...all of it was so enjoyable, yes even work! :) Oh but the game, how fun it was to take pictures and watch the boys play again. The boys had ended their MBU LAX career in Chicago last year with a very bitter loss. Watching them come back and play as Alumni was wonderful. And of course, they won! Here are a few snap shots of what the day was like! 


I just love the lime green shirts & the lime green head on his stick. 




The colors just make me so happy! Such beautiful fall colors!



I think I am biased but I just love this picture of my man! :)
Game planning! (Left; Alumni & Right; Students)

The team! Wish it wasn't as blurry!
Hope you all have a wonderful and very safe Halloween! And in good spirits, I will end this blog with a joke. 

Q: Why weren't apples allowed on Noah's ark?


A: Pairs were only allowed!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Cake, Coffee, & An English Pub

Another beautiful, fall morning in the Lou. I had the wonderful opportunity to wake up early, yes that includes a Starbucks run, to go and shoot some pictures at the MBU Alumni LAX game. I must say I am so excited to edit the pictures and post them later this week. The colors of the leaves, the grass, and the sky made for a beautiful & fun backdrop during the game. To add to the mix of fun, the Alumni chose VOLT (aka NEON GREEN) as their choice of color for the game. Talk about colors popping during the game. Be on the look out later this week for the bright colors and action pictures.

So, as I promised yesterday; Cake, Coffee, & An English Pub. Growing up I was one of those picky eaters, who only loved the simple stuff; pizza, mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, etc. Then my freshman year something clicked & I began to expand my horizons and actually enjoy food. When I say enjoy food, I mean savor the taste, try new foods, enjoy food. My fiance' often jokes I can put away more food then him because I tend to be a "hearty" eater if I enjoy the dish. Growing up with a big family who enjoys the holidays and has an uncle as a chef, you are brought up to be a hearty eater though. Even though I enjoy the healthy pastas, healthy veggies, I am a "sweet tooth" person who is willing to try any new sweet dish set in front of me. My fiance' challenged me with a desert that was far more complex then your simple chocolate cookies. So of course I accepted, much to his surprise. So here is the story which I all know you are just ready to hear & and see if I accomplished the task at hand.

Justin's birthday was coming up, we are are the kinda of couple that drops hints left and right leading up to birthdays. You know the kind of hints that you all know the person is hinting even though you act like you don't know. We are both terrible about it. So he kept saying "ya know, I really like chocolate cake." or "I could really use a new lax stick." I would just say, back to those hints that he better save his money or I don't have time to bake cakes do to my work schedule. So we were watching t.v. together one night, and he looked right at me and said, "I really want to have a tie-dye cake for my birthday." Obviously, I thought he was joking. (Which I should have known better, when my man gets an idea in his head....well lets just say he is convinced he can make it happen!) So, I blew him off. I told him only bakeries do those type of cakes, and I just did not know how to make that kind of cake, but when his birthday came, I would make him a chocolate cake like he wanted. Well, let me tell you, Justin had his mind wrapped his head around a tie-dye, colors of the rainbow, cake. I kept telling him no, at this point I knew he kept nagging me, just to give me trouble, he was not expecting a tie-dye cake.  So to me this meant, challenge accepted, surprise Justin for his birthday is on! The night before his birthday, thankfully I was off work, & he had to work. For once, Pinterest came in handy! I found this idea and lets say I ran with it.  Thanks to Bird On Cake the man's dream cake surprised him in multiple ways. 

I made the top part tie-dyed, and he thought that was the big surprise for his birthday! He was so excited and bragged about it to all his friends! Little did he know....

Surprise! The inside was tie-die too! Oh I thought he was about to flip! :) He loved it!

Challenge completed! Now, just had to share a quick coffee tip for any of you that brew your own coffee! I make my own caramel lattes at home. Here is how in just a few quick steps. (trust me if you love Starbucks, this will help you save money.)

1)  3/4ths the mug full of coffee.
2) 1/4th or more (depending how milky or dark you like you like your coffee/latte)
3) Add caramel syrup instead of sugar.
4) Mix all of the ingredients together.
5) Add whip cream on top.
6) Add caramel drizzle to the top.
7) Sip and enjoy!



Whew, what a long post! Hope you all loved it! And before I sign off, I just had to show you this instagram picture from the cute little English Pub! If you are ever in Tulsa, OK, Check out The White Lion Pub. You will fall in love with the place & the owner Miss Betty. A little English Lady who started the pub based on the old times pubs in England.