Thoughts on Thursdays

Making love last.

This is a reflection from a series at our Church. If you are craving a feeling or emotion with your significant other, put it into action. Actions produce feelings. Loving deeds produce loving feelings. It's easy to act our way into a feeling, but not so easy trying to create a feeling to produce an action. For example if we want to be more appreciated, we need to appreciate first. Giving appreciation to my husband not only satisfies him, but it makes me feel good too. It would be difficult for me to stir up a false sense of feeling appreciated in order to initiate that action.

I know what you're thinking. Sometimes I don't feel like being the first to appreciate, or fulfill whatever need it is at the moment. Sometimes I want to be appreciated first. Sometimes I don't want to appreciate period! But let me ask you this. Do you think Jesus felt like coming to earth? Do you think he felt like leaving the comforts of heaven-the perfect comforts of heaven to hang on a cross?

He did it out of pure, amazing, agape love for us. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want for the ones that mean the most to us.

S0 in everything, do unto other's as you would have them do unto you. Matthew 7:12

25 days of Joy day 3: today I found joy in the perfect example of love I was reminded of.

Bargain Shoppers...

get to Target! They have some really great clearance items right now. I scoured a few tank tops {some cute-sy & some regular tanks} for $2. I'm trying to find a few staple clothing items now for our trip before all the new summer items come out and are ridiculously over priced. I gave myself an allowance {1 session's worth} and was able to stay well under it and get all the things I wanted {cute breezy tank tops, swimsuit, flats, comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses...it will be HOT in France in July} thank you Target & Marshalls! I also got a few pairs of shoes for $6. I love Target for this reason. *hint* Their shoes rotate VERY often, so if you see a pair you like, wait. They will go on sale, and then clearance very soon. I think the rotation is 2.5 weeks {at least at our Target} and I can't honestly remember the last time I bought ANY pair of shoes for over $9. This includes Tennis shoes, boots, heels, flats, anything. We've been sticking to a really tight budget and not buying any extras so it was fun to splurge a little. I'm curious if there are any crazy couponers out there. This lady is a good example. She swears she's never paid for items like toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, or other household items in over 3 years due to stacking coupons, and she pays minimal amounts for groceries. Her blog is crazy. That would be awesome, but it seems like a lot of work to me {you have to seek out many coupons, but she swears it pays off} **update, she posts weekly deals with printable coupons on her site so check it out if you are looking for a deal/coupon! So I'm curious if I know anyone who does this. I have questions for you =) I'm not talking about the person who clips coupons every week and uses them religiously, I'm talking about the person that will use 4-5 coupons per 1 item. E-mail me if you do!

25 days of Joy {yesterday} I found Joy in the sunrise that cast an orange glow in our bedroom. I love waking up to a shining sun! Thank you Jesus!

Ramblings.

I went to dinner last night with Mama & Al at the Nova in Hudson. It was a cute, quaint little eccletic place with really good food. In the summers they have an outdoor patio with live music. We got a table that was literally connected to a fireplace and it was so cozy and warm. It would be a perfect spot for a date too. I recommend it. Onto the funny stuff.

Whenever we go out it's a given that something is going to happen. Strange experiences seem to magnetize towards us. So-naturally when we were seated and discovered the Ukrainian women on a date behind us was a mail order bride, we were not surprised. Let's just say it entertianed us the entire evening. She probably had five english words in her vocabulary, and the man she was with had to explain things to her like 9 times in hopes that each next try would be an ephipany and she would suddenly understand his english. Eventually he moved onto charades and hand movements to explain everything. He would get frusterated and she would just giggle. It was quite the show. They would go from periods of intense stare downs (their faces inches apart) for minutes of silence to charades and more hand movements. I think the waitress came back 4 times before they ordered because she kept asking for things they had in the Ukraine that are not in America. Eventually they finished eating, she put on her enourmous hooded fur coat, and they left. Just thought you would enjoy that story.

Tonight is date night! We are headed to IKEA and REI for a bookshelf and some backpacking/travel items for our trip to France. I can't wait. I've been wanting a new bookshelf for over a year now. We have a teeny tiny one in our bedroom that is jam-packed+double layered. I'm a book-a-holic. I have a hard time refraining from taking them home with me. To be fair--I buy them for like 2 cents {literally} on amazon or like a buck from thrift stores, so I don't spend a lot of money on them, but I have many. So hubby is buying me a home for all of them tonight, and this will help immensly with our organization {we plan on getting a large one so we can also fit pictures and other items on it} We'll post images if/hopefully when we find the one & get it put together! We've been busy bees this week+I am looking forward to some alone time with Jay tonight.

xoxo.

Live the Fancy Life.

I was so smitten when Jessica of Live the Fancy Life asked me to be her next 'fancy feature' on her amazing blog. Check it out here. It went live today.

She writes a blog about living the fancy life no matter where you live, how much money you have, or who your friends are. It's very cute, fancy & fitting!

25 days of Joy.

I love when I can check things off my to-do list...especially when they are 'housekeeping' items that I don't necessarily want to do. I am happy to report that as of yesterday, my passport is on the way to getting it's little last name changed!! I had been putting this off FORever...well, obviously since the wedding. Since we had no immediate plans to travel abroad I decided to wait. It's probably the one item on our list that I was not looking forward to. Anyways-I dug out all the necessary documents to prove that I really AM married and my name IS really legally changed, drug myself to take new passport pictures {why do they always turn out awful?} and then happily jammed it in the outgoing mail. Phew! So glad that's done.

We had another craigslister over last night and she cleaned up a lot of our items from our downsize sale...it was pretty much awesome. We are so pleased with how it's been going & so happy to say goodbye to our clutter. We may have another coming tonight to take a look too.

I bet you are wondering about the title of my post, eh? I find myself a little depressed that winter is still here, and I have no immediate warm weather vacations planned {Jay is going to Florida with his baseball team!}...so I am going to delve back into the simple things in my life that I love, and swim around for awhile until springtime. Starting today I'm going to share a simple thing each day that brings me joy. I'll do this for 25 days and that will take me to about April, when I hope spring will start to bloom. If anyone wants to join me on my 25 days of Joy I would love you to link your site in the comment sections of my post!

25 days of Joy: today I found joy in my fresh spring rolls from the little thai store by my work. They are so fresh and delicious and I love knowing that I am treating myself to something healthy+good at the same time.

Weekend updates.

Yet another weekend that went by too quickly. I was lucky enough to get some sister time on Saturday and had Al all to myself for the afternoon! We had lunch together and then headed to the spa for some girl time. We got manicures and facials and loved every minute of it together. I cherish these times together because I know that soon enough, she'll be in Florida and we'll only see each other a few times a year. Oh my, I'm already tearing up typing this. I don't know what I'll do when August arrives....what a precious little person she is to my heart.

Jay & I have been trying out a new church and are happy that we finally have found a place where we feel at home. Today the service was incredible and so uplifting-it really spoke to my heart and answered some questions that I had pondered for awhile. I really felt like God was speaking directly to me. I love that feeling. Afterwards we had a cozy date and shared lunch at this adorable little deli near our home. We delved into some serious life discussions and shared some soul searching. It was a really great afternoon. He headed off to a booster club baseball meeting after dinner and I spent the evening with Mama and Al.

I'm off to bed.

I can't help but feel like the luckiest girl in the world tonight.

xxoo sweet dreams.

Friday night.

Tonight I'm headed to Twilight flow yoga & then the rest of the night is open. I love Friday nights like this. I used to jam pack my schedule, making sure that each weekend I had plans and things to do. The older I get, the more I enjoy my free time. My night will probably be filled with green tea, creative flow, writing, catching up on my favorite blogs, glee, and my comfy bed =) I can't wait. Jay's got some plans with friends so I may or may not see him until later tonight, and either is perfectly fine with me since I selfishly didn't share him at all last weekend!
Oh and I'll probably be doing some daydreaming. Yes, this afternoon I finally booked our europe trip for this summer. I am so so excited. We've decided on the South of France for our 14 day eurotrip. I am so so excited that I can hardly sit still. I've never been to this part of France before, and I've heard it holds some of the most beautiful scenary and culture in all of Europe. We'll be starting in familiar territory {Paris} since Jay hasn't been there before. Then we are heading to the beaches of Normandy, full of rich history from World War II. The rest of the vacation will be spent in the South of France in the French Alps. Here are a few images from the places we'll be visiting.

I am excited for a little 'me' time tonight. Have a blessed weekend!