Spill About Your LOVE

When April posted her link-up to spill about your love I knew I wanted to participate. I loved reading all of the answers from her guest posts and can't wait to share mine with you!!

1} Describe your dating life prior to finding your husband/boyfriend/fiance.

I was in a horrible relationship for 3 years of high school. After breaking up I quickly met my next serious boyfriend and went off to college dating him. He was a year younger and still in high school and SUPER immature so that ended quickly. I spent a little time single, dated a gay guy,  dated a guy with a crooked penis and then met Joe.  My Savior!

{2} Describe your husband/boyfriend/fiance in one word. How would he describe you in one word?

I would describe him as goofy  . When I asked him he said genuine.

{3} You had a really silly fight. Embarrassing silly. What was it about?

Like most people I feel like a majority of our fighting is about silly stuff. I guess the last time was this past weekend and I was upset about something that I found out was said about me and after 20 minutes Joe did not want to talk about it anymore. He didn't want to talk about it because he did not think I should take it to heart but I wanted to re-hash and re-hash. I have a tendency to beat topics to death if you will.

{4} In three sentences (and only three!), describe where you both hope to be in 5 years.

I hope first and foremost that we are parents. I hope that our business grows so that we can hire on more employees and allow Joe more freedom. And I hope that some more of our family members are living near us.

{5} Tell us something about your husband/boyfriend/fiance we wouldn't know from reading your blog.

We talk on the phone between 5-10 times a day on average.  To give you background, we started dating and 2 months later I moved to Europe for 4.5 months. Once I moved back we were long distance for 1.5 years.  The first years of our relationship were built on talking. Because of this we are very good at communicating with each other and in turn are just used to talking a lot.

Manic Monday

So we meet again Mr. Monday. I am not going to lie, I am exhausted this morning. I am going to blame that on my friend Taylor who came into town and slept over last night and made me drink lots of wine and stay up late.  What a B. I kid, I kid.

Here is a glimpse into my weekend.

Family Scrabble Time! 

Chillaxin outside

Couple photo at our friends' engagement party

L: Our buddy Matt the Groom to be                     R: FAB cake and photo of the happy couple

Finally got some pool time in.

Friday Five | Songs

Happy best day of the week after Saturday and Sunday!!  For today's Friday Five I thought I would go through my Top 5 songs of all time.

I want to add that I probably have 500 favorite songs but these are the ones that I can listen to at any time and when they come on I am instantly happy and loving life.

Number 1-  Dave Matthews Band  #41





This is my favorite song of all time and has been since the days of training bras. Joe quickly learned that if I was upset to put this on and I would instantly go to my happy place.


Number 2- Eric Clapton "Wonderful Tonight"





This takes me back to high school. Slow dancing with my loser boyfriend, crying that school was ending.. oh the good times. But seriously, I heart this song like whoa.


Number 3- Rolling Stones " Beast of Burden"





This catchy tune was my ring tone for a long time. That is until after I finally bumped out Billy Ocean's "Get out of my dreams, get into my car".  Both classics.


Number 4 - Tracy Chapman " Fast Car"





The song itself is kind of depressing if you listen to the lyrics but I just love it.


Number 5- Dion "Run Around Sue"





This oldie gets my shaking my booty EVERY  SINGLE  TIME it comes on.  We played this at our wedding too. How could you ever feel bad if you are listening to this song?

Linking up with Whitney this week!

HAPPY WEEKEND !!

All About Acupuncture

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be VOLUNTARILY getting needles stuck in my body every week I would have looked at you like you were from another planet and then probably ask you to go back where you came from.

Since going off the pill 3 years ago my "time of the month" has been jacked up. And having a jacked up body means no babies and as you know I kind of have a thing for babies. So I knew I had to do something about this. I went to my gyno and got some blood work done and the doc said the C word.. Clomid.  Now I don't know alot about Clomid but I know it can make you a crazy person and can make you have quadruplets. No and HELL NO!

I then went to my best friend, Mr. Internet, and found a ton of information on acupuncture and regulating your body's hormones. Hmmm, stick needles in my body? There is no way. But the results are pretty convincing and I would rather try natural remedies before jumping on the C train.  And after a little more quality time with Mr. Internet I found her.. my fertility sensi...My Acupuncturist. 

My first meeting with my acupuncturist was kind of scary as I had no idea what to expect.  We spent the first hour going over everything from my first period, to my diet, to my bowel movements.  Needless to say her and I are pretty close now.   After learning all about how my body works she had me lie down on the bed and she started putting in the needles.

I told her up front I was a fainter and she said a lot of people do faint and it is ok.  But after she started I realized I was fine! She stuck needles in my toes, feet, legs, stomach, hands, ear and top of my head. She then covered me with what looked like a piece of tin foil, shut the blinds, turned on soothing music, turned off the lights and left me alone with my thoughts for 25 minutes.  My mind raced wondering what was going to happen during that time. The first 10 minutes or so I didn't feel anything. But then I could feel the needles working their magic. 

My whole body began to vibrate on the inside. If I thought about a specific body part I could feel the humming of that part responding. I knew right then that this was working and it was amazing.  When time was up she took off the tin foil, opened the blinds and removed the needles.  She told me that after the first session I could feel super tired and to just listen to my body. That night I got home and it was like I was drunk. I would trail off mid-sentence and not even remember. And then I fell asleep on the couch. 

Since that first time I have not had that same reaction afterwards. I now go around lunchtime or before work and I am totally fine. I think it was just my body responding to the needles for the very first time. Week 2 is when she introduced Chinese herbs into my regimen.  Twice daily I drink them like a tea.  They taste horrible but now a month in I actually am used to it. 

Body's Reaction after Month 1 

*My energy levels are up a ton. Pre-Acupuncture I would normally drink coffee in the AM, green tea in the afternoon, be sluggish around 3pm and in bed by 9:30pm. Now I have done away with caffeine totally and have energy all day long. 

*Body temperature is up.  Pre-Acupuncture I was a freeze baby and had very cold fingers and toes. Now I can tell my insides are warming up and I no longer have frozen body parts.

*Mind and body more relaxed.  I have noticed a huge change in my mind and body. I can feel the stress levels lower and find myself less reactive to certain things.

*Monthly lady cycles- TBD.  I am at the end of my first month of acupuncture and near the end of my cycle. We will see how things change.  The acupuncturist said it generally takes 3 months to get things back on track.

Tips for First Timers

* Wear loose clothing but not a dress! Depending on what you are going in for you might need needles in the belly so make sure you wear clothes that can be rolled up/down easily  A dress might mean you are sitting in your skivvies the whole time. If you are cool with that then play on playa.

*Go later in the day since you don't know how your body will react. My first session was 90 minutes so I went at 4pm which allowed me to go home right after. I can't imagine how work would have liked for me to be acting a fool and then sleeping on the job. 

*Needles don't hurt so don't be scared.  Some of the needles I never even feel. There are some places (ear, toes) where I can feel her put them in but it never hurts. And I am #1 Wuss so if I can do it you can.

* Be open to the experience. My inner hippie comes out big time when I am left alone those 25 minutes. I tell myself over and over " I am open to this experience. My mind, body and heart accept the changes and are ready for what will come".  Yes, I say that. Your mind is so powerful so why not encourage the process. Leave everything at the door and just RELAX.

So there you have it. I 100% am now on the acupuncture train and I am not getting off anytime soon. Acupuncture can not only treat fertility but allergies, chronic pain, migraines, IBS , stress, etc.  If you have ever thought about it I will be the first person to tell you to do it!

If you have any questions please feel free to email me or ask!

Summer Nights

Once again another great weekend is behind us and we are looking at a full week ahead of us, boo.

Friday I had a happy hour planned with a girlfriend up at Birkdale. She was running later than expected  and it just so happened my girl Kate was there helping her parents get settled so we did some walking and people watching and then I skipped off to meet my friend Sara for drinks.  We then went out to meet up with my friend Shawn for her birthday.

Saturday during the day I ran errands and got the house all beautified for our extra special guests that evening.  Before they arrived I popped into Walmart to get some things and found some new cushions for our outdoor furniture.

I LOVE how it gave our plain old furniture a little pick me up. So fresh and happy looking.  And don't even get me started on how much I despise Walmart. I NEVER go but they had the cheapest price for cushions so they sucked me in. Never again.  Moving on.

After going to Alexa and Glenn's place a few weeks ago we wanted to get them up to our neck of the woods.

Homegirl brought the beverages AND the koozies.  I love southern friends.  We spent the evening sitting outside, grilling up ribs and cedar planked salmon, dancing to doo wop songs and laughing our butts off. My dogs were in heaven with all the attention they were getting from their new friends.

We attempted a group photo.. it only took 3 tries to get everyone smiling. You can see I am the most mature of the group.

We didn't realize until the beer ran out  that it was so late since we were having such a good time.  We turned in around 2am which led to a very non-productive Sunday.  I am happy to report that my much younger company texted us that they were hungover and having a lazy Sunday too. Glad it's not just us "old folks".

Summer Dessert | Recipe

Happy Friday!!! I am bringing a banging recipe to you guys this morning.  With all the yummy produce being in season Joe has been stocking up on blackberries, raspberries and strawberries to have as dessert.  Homeboy has a major sweet tooth so I have been loving him snacking on fruit vs artificially sugary snacks.

When Joe and I first started dating he was a sous chef in my dad's restaurant. So when I saw him whipping out the food processor the other night I was really excited to see what he was creating. Turns out it was a coulis to go on our summer berries.

What is a coulis you ask?  A coulis (/kuːˈliː/ koo-lee; French, from Old French couleis, from Vulgar Latin cōlāticus, from Latin cōlātus, past participle of cōlāre, to strain) is a form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits.


And let me tell you, it is amazing. It adds something special to fruit to make you feel like you are eating a decadent dessert. 


Joe's Summer Coulis

1 mango
3 peaches
1 Kiwi
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
3 tbs honey
1 tbs white wine vinegar

Peel fruit and throw all ingredients into a food processor. Blend until smooth thick consistency.

Place coulis in a container and refrigerate until cold.  Then serve over your favorite berries.

This recipe is easy enough to do at home during the week and delicious enough to bring to a summer cook out.  Speaking of summer cook out. We have friends coming over tomorrow night and I really hope this monsoon like weather goes away so we can enjoy it!

Happy Weekend Friends!

Getting Rid of Baggage | A Tutorial

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know I have some major anxiety over my under eye area.  I spend 100's of dollars every year on new products to try and get rid of the bags and dark circles. I have even looked into plastic surgery but Joe is adamant against any kind of plastic surgery and somebody cutting up my face is just about as scary as Joe when he is adamant. Unfortunately most of this is hereditary and I will be battling these bad boys the rest of my life.

I feel like recently I have the dark circle situation a little more under control with the 15 products I use daily. But those damn bags were seriously stressing me out. So I went to my bag of tricks (aka YouTube) looking for answers. And here is what they suggested.



Yep, plain old tea bags.  I had heard about this before but passed it off as hippie nonsense.  Now with my acupuncture and Chinese herbs regimen, my inner hippie is just begging to be set free.  And who can deny that?

Now, this might be scary. Here are the BEFORE pics.

Woof. Change in lighting can't even save this face. But see how puffy I am??! So I went ahead and got to making my tea.

**I read up on black vs green tea.  Black is good as it has more caffeine and that stimulates the under eye area. The green tea is good for also decreases some of the redness.

After you steep the tea bags for a few minutes place them in the freezer until super cold.  Drink tea while waiting.

Once they have cooled lay down somewhere comfortable, place bags completely over eye area and relax for 5-10 minutes (the longer the better).

And now here are my AFTER shots. 

WOW! I am seriously impressed with Mr. Tea Bag.  I have deep cavernous eye sockets so I always have some type of area ish going on but I could not believe the difference.   I have since tried green tea and I think black wins hands down.  I now do this fun little trick almost every day. 

Thank you YouTube for solving all of my major life crisis's.