Perfectly Imperfect

Gramma update

2012-02-13T09:27:00.001-06:00

The last time I really updated was back in December. Back in December she had an IVC filter placed in vessel coming up from one of her kidneys that's used to trap and break up blood clots. She is getting blood clots frequently caused by the cancer. They also started her on an oral chemo pill to take as well as her regular IV chemo treatments to fight the lung and adrenal gland cancer in her body. Since then things had seemed to be going pretty well since Gramma had some strength back, her appetite had improved and she had gotten out of the house occasionally with Honey.

this is a recent photo from February 5th of Gramma with all her girls, my Mom, Aunt Kay & Aunt Linda

However, yesterday she was coughing so much she couldn't catch her breath, her heart rate & blood sugar were too high and she was having chills so Honey and my Aunt Kay took her to the ER. They ran some tests and admitted her. The heart Doctor came in to discuss the results of the EKG and found that within the 8 hours prior to coming into the hospital that she had, had a heart attack. I don't know many details on this just yet but hopefully will soon.

They also found that she has a blood clot and pneumonia in her right lung. They are keeping her in the hospital for an undetermined amount of time due to all of those factors. She is trying her best to get some rest in the hospital but the pneumonia is doing a number on her so she had a rough night last night.

She is such a fighter and I can't even believe that she, nor anyone else noticed that she had, had a heart attack. My Gramma is one tough lady and she will continue to fight this battle with all that she can.
I'm thinking I will be making it a short week and heading to Dallas to spend time with her and my family.
I would really appreciate y'alls thoughts and prayers for my Gramma as she recovers from this set back and prayers for her body to heal as best it can so she won't have to fight so hard to just breathe.
Thank you so much

Friday Randoms

2012-02-10T11:58:00.000-06:00

So today is Day 5 of the 24-day challenge and I'm feeling pretty great! I've got way more energy and the withdraw headaches I normally get if I don't have a cup of coffee every morning have not happened at all. I believe that Spark has a lot to do with how great I'm feeling and after trying 5 of the 7 flavors so far, my favorite is Mango Strawberry. We're eating way healthier with plenty of lean protein, fruits and veggies and I'm just overall feeling pretty great.
And because I'm proud of my hubs I would love it if you would go read his story on our main page that they finally updated!

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Savanah and Jessica have teamed up to showcase all the stories out there of how people met online. I've written the story of how we met and fell in love before so I hope you'll go read the first part and the second part

Online dating can be successful and we're just one more couple with a fun story to share

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If you're planning on attending the Austin Blogger weekend with us please make sure that I have your email and that you've linked your blog to Wednesday's post so that all the other attendees can get to know you!

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I went to happy hour this week with two of my Austin bloggy friends, Mandy and Stephanie, and of course each of us are taking steps to a healthier lifestyle so most of our conversation was based on that. Mandy got to telling us about how she's been using the Fitbit; a wireless personal trainer with a sleep tracker. It accurately tracks daily steps, stairs climbed, distance, callories burned and activity level. Measures how long and well you sleep and uploads all the data wirelessly to fitbit.com with no fees. You can see online graphs, compete with friends, log food, your weight and workouts and even has an iphone app.
After hearing all the good stuff from Mandy I decided I needed to try it out myself so I should be getting it tomorrow with my Amazon prime shipping. I'll let y'all know what I think about it

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And if you haven't checked out Scentsy then now is the time! There's a site-wide sale going on now through the end of February before they come out with all the great new products for Spring & Summer.
I'm even throwing in something special for all orders over $150! This is not a Scentsy-wide deal, just something I'm doing for my customers through February 29, 2012
Go shop now and stock up during the sale!

Happy Friday y'all!!

Product of the week

2012-02-09T11:25:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up again today with Aly and Tiffanie to tell y'all about my latest obsession . . .

the new L'Oreal Color Riche Balm

I have been using this religiously for almost three weeks now and I'm obsessed with it! I bought it on a whim just because it looked interesting without reading any reviews first. I purchased shade #819 Caramel Comfort

It's the perfect pink-nude lip for me and after using it for two weeks I found a coupon at my local grocery store and picked up two more tubes at $2 off a piece. They have 8 different shades so I'm sure there's a perfect one out there for your complexion.

I love the way it makes my lips feel and it's something I find myself applying more often than my favorite Blistex Deep Renewal chapstick.

I feel like a dork in that photo so don't laugh too hard at me!

Have any of you tried this before?

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2012-02-08T10:12:00.000-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

I'm Loving that the plans are starting to come together for the Austin Blogger weekend and that it looks like we will have a great group of girls.
I'm adding a linky to this post for each of you who definitely plan to attend to link up so that each of the other attendees can check out your blog
I'm also sending out an email no later than tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 9th) so make sure I have yours if you are planning to attend!

I'm Loving the way I'm already feeling on day 3 of this 24-day challenge. I'm feeling pretty great and I can't wait to start seeing the results they say are common for the first 10 days.

I'm also loving all the emails with support and questions. Y'all rock!

I'm Loving these items on my current wish list and wouldn't mind getting one of these for a certain holiday next week . . . (hint hint hubby)

Source: dooney.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: silhouetteamerica.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: lifeproof.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: polyvore.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I'm Loving the sign orders I'm completing and can't wait to show off my two latest!
If you're interested you can find details up at the top under Handmade Expressions

I'm Loving my sweet, supportive and always handsome hubby!

Happy Wednesday y'all!!

24-days to a healthier me

2012-02-07T17:17:00.001-06:00

If you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything you want

And I believe that in 24 days I can lose at least 10 lbs with the help of Advocare and a healthier diet

Allen and I began the Advocare 24-day Challenge yesterday and we are determined to achieve our goals and see results.
Allen has used Advocare Catalyst multiple times and swears by it for helping him lose weight and get "cut-up" while weight lifting. He finally decided that he was going to try to get others the results they're aiming for which is when he decided to become a distributor. He then decided he was going to do the challenge to see what all the hype was about and to get a good feel for a broader range of their products. I attempted to lose weight last year before our wedding but didn't get the results I wanted so after reading multiple reviews and with a little encouragement from Allen, I decided to join him in the challenge. We have set realistic goals based on the reviews and information we read on the challenge and I truly believe we can get on track to a healthier lifestyle with the aid of Advocare products.

The 24-day Challenge is broken into two phases:
the 10-day cleanse & 14-day max phase
(we are both adding Catalyst to our challenge)

10-day Cleanse
Herbal Cleanse: Helps rid the body of toxins and waste; supports improved digestion and thorough internal cleansing; provides 10 grams of fiber per day; helps remove impurities from the body; supports healthy weight loss
OmegaPlex: Superior source of omega-3 fatty acids; plays an important role in the transport of nutrients; helps support normal blood flow; support healthy blood pressure; helps promote healthy metabolism; helps maintain a healthy immune system
Spark: Enhances mental energy and focus; provides support for long-lasting energy; 21 vitamins, minerals and nutrients; sugar-free and only 45 calories; helps reduce free radicals

14-day Max Phase
MNS Max: Provides a comprehensive system for weight loss and weight-management; supports advanced core nutrition and wellness, provides sustained-release energy; includes 65 percent of the daily recommendation of calcium; offers excellent nutritional support for bones and connective tissue; contains a full gram of omega-3 fatty acids in each serving; supports the digestive and intestinal systems, encourages great skin tone and elasticity; provides more than 50 vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, antioxidants, and other nutrients for comprehensive health and wellness
Meal Replacement shakes: Only 220 calories; balanced meal for optimal nutrition and weight management; 24 grams of easy-to-digest protein; high in dietary fiber (5-6 grams); 50% of the Daily Value of calcium; 26 vitamins and minerals; 1:1 ratio of proteins to carbohydrates
Spark: Enhances mental energy and focus; provides support for long-lasting energy; 21 vitamins, minerals and nutrients; sugar-free and only 45 calories; helps reduce free radicals

So in 22 more days I'll show you our before and after photos, tell you our inches lost and of course how much we were able to lose. We've logged all our "before" info and can't wait to see the results at the end.

I can't wait for March 1st!

If you're looking to jump-start your weight loss or break through a plateau then shoot me an email

scenes from the weekend

2012-02-06T09:20:00.001-06:00

kicking Mardi Gras off in our office with a king cake , inspiring words, sweet tea and grilled chicken sandwich, Natalie's back in the office and on her 2nd day back we were closing the office bar down, Old Navy trenchcoat & NWT Missoni heels from GW, beautiful Texas sky, brand new Elle wedges from GW, sad to find these mallow-bits when I can't eat them & Monday morning fiber drink to kick off the 24-day challenge

painted letters for an order from Heather and absolutely loved how they turned out! They're keeping her name off of their blog so this is all I will show of the finished project.

Stripes, argyle, paisley, plaid and polka dots!

Just realized on Saturday that my brand new bumper had a nice big mark from someone who hit my car. I'm sure it happened while I was parked at work since I back into all parking spots and I'm sure someone was backing out of their spot and misjudged how close they were to my car. I'm making it my personal mission to search for any dark car in my work lot that has white paint on their bumper.

Today is Day 1 of our Advocare 24-day challenge!

The main thing I know I'm going to miss is my morning coffee but I know I can make it 24 days.

Wish us luck!

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

Friday Randoms

2012-02-03T09:23:00.017-06:00

Happy Friday y'all!
I know I should be talking about the Super Bowl but honestly I'm not into it. I don't have an interest in either team so I'm not going to commit to a guess on who will win or even who I'd like to win. I hope everyone has a great time watching the game though and you're all safe in your travels to the parties.
Happy Super Bowl XLVI weekend!

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Are you an Austin blogger? (or anywhere in Texas)

A group of us are getting together here in Austin the weekend of March 2-4 and the more the merrier!

A few of us are staying in a hotel downtown (since some girls are coming from outside Austin) and I've got a great room rate if more rooms are needed. Let me know if you want to join us and I can add you to the email list for details of the weekend shenanigans!

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I had a great week of posts and I hope you all enjoyed them!

We made our own sushi and so can you

My DIY fake nails

A photo a day in January

A look back at my 2008

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And after painting my nails on Saturday with essie Merino Cool (from the DIY photos) I've already re-painted them a new color

I'm so indecisive about my nail color and want to change them so often!

this is Orchid brand in So you think you can salsa. I found this brand at HEB and I now own two of their colors and so far I love them both.

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Allen and I just placed a huge order with Advocare to get our 24-day challenge supplies and I'm so excited! I just know how successful Advocare is and I'm excited to get the challenge going and start seeing results. I will be doing a before challenge post sometime next week where I plan to show some horribly unflattering before photos + stats and I of course will share my results with all of you when the challenge is over.
Allen and I also have some great plans for blog reviews of the products and a huge contest in the future!

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

expect the unexpected

2012-02-02T10:04:00.000-06:00

Linking up today with Tracy for her "Tell Me" series

Life is all about the unexpected and knowing that you just think you have your own plans in life but all the while God has the strings and is making the moves.

I've had a few moments in my short 28 years that have been life changing and I have to say that the year 2008 was full of them.

January 8, 2008 my alcoholic ex was finally out of my life.

January 14, 2008 my Papa passed away and I learned to spend more time and energy with my family and the people in life who truly cared for me.

March 17, 2008 I received a message back from this guy named Allen and from that moment on I knew he was special.
April 4, 2008 Allen took me on our very first date where we listened together for the first time to the song we would dance to at our wedding.
May 9, 2008 after dating for a little while Allen finally asked me to be his girlfriend.
August 25, 2008 was the day I finally moved to Austin to live with Allen in a one bedroom apartment he had picked out for us and the rest, as they say, is history.

I feel like 2008 was such a turning point in my life and is the sole reason I am where I am in life today. I made quite a few big, life changing decisions and I feel like I grew so much in that year. I wouldn't be married to my best friend now if it hadn't been for the events of 2008 and I still sometimes can't get over it.

What's unexpectedly changed your life?

January Photo A Day challenge

2012-02-01T06:30:00.002-06:00

I'm happy to announce that I actually completed the January Photo a day challenge!!

I said I would show y'all the finished project and well today is the day!

If you follow me on Instagram @perfectlyjenn then you have already seen each of these photos each day but here they are all at once for your viewing pleasure

Day 1: me
Day 2: breakfast of cinnamon oatmeal & orange juice

Day 3: I adore being married to Allen Roberts
Day 4: my boring work letterbox

Day 5: wearing my "new to me" leopard flats
Day 6: these two pugs make me smile everyday

Day 7: I tell him he's my favorite all the time and he really is
Day 8 : looking at the sky through a DIY glitter ornament

Day 9: my daily routine of coffee and water
Day 10: even in my childhood, I've always loved red velvet

Day 11: I was sleeping right there just 15 minutes ago
Day 12: Sunday morning breakfast close-up

Day 13: contents of my purse
Day 14: currently (re)reading

Day 15: these 3 bring me happiness everyday
Day 16: it's a grey overcast morning

Day 17: view of the water on our honeymoon in November
Day 18: had to buy a new bottle since I was out

Day 19: the sweetest little cupcake shop in ATX
Day 20: I love them more than I can express

Day 21: reflection from Christmas 2010
Day 22: my favorite shoes to wear everyday that I can

Day 23: an old photo of Faith and I at a Rascal Flatts concert (circa 2003)

Day 24: my guilty pleasure each day is adding coffee to my creamer

Day 25: I made this new addition to our photo gallery wall
Day 26: colorful sprinkles make everything sweeter

(No your eyes aren't deceiving you, I took two photos for Day 26 because both were just too fun)
Day 26: colorful sprinkles make everything sweeter (part 2)
Day 27: my sad lunch of alfredo noodles without the broccoli I accidentally left at home :(

Day 28: light from a candle gifted from Summer
Day 29: my absolute favorite item inside my fridge

Day 30: mother nature is stunning
Day 31: me again and the January photo a day challenge is complete!!

Do you follow me on Instagram?

Happy February 1st! Now who's doing the #febphotoaday challenge with me?

Source: fatmumslim.com.au via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

yes, they're fake . . .

2012-01-31T06:30:00.001-06:00

I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember.

It's a horrible habit that I've always hated and been embarrassed about, however I've never been able to quit. My way of getting around it for a long time has been doing my own artificial nails. I used to get my nails done in high school at a nail salon but with how badly I bite them, the nail techs always made my cuticles bleed and I would leave in pretty immense pain. After taking cosmetology in high school and being taught to apply acrylic nails, I decided I was fully capable of doing my own nails. Acrylic isn't really something that you can easily do to yourself with your non-dominant hand so I decided to go the "glue and go" route. I believe I've mastered this application after so many years so trying to explain it in detail is weird because I just do it all on auto-pilot.

Most people who meet me think my nails are my own and are shocked to hear that they're fake. I'm constantly being asked if I just got my nails done and I'm always super honest and admit that they're fakes that I did at home. I've gotten quite a few people in my personal life to give it a try including my Mom. She finally stopped going to get her nails done at a salon after getting a fungus and has been doing these on and off, when she needs pretty nails for an occasion.

I, however, wear them pretty much everyday of my life. I hate being seen without "nails" and when one comes off I immediately glue it back on. When it's time to re-do them, I try my hardest to get them painted and applied as quickly as I can since I know I'll bite my nails in the meantime.

This would be the reason that after all these years I still have nasty, short nails. They never grow enough in between sets for me to leave them alone and think that I've finally getting somewhere with my own nails.

So until the day when I finally stop biting my nails, I will continue to use this technique to have pretty, presentable nails.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Supplies: nails, glue, polish, nail clippers, emery board

my favorite nail kit is this one from Kiss in short square and my glue of preference is Nailene Ultra Quick
I keep the Kiss glue on hand in case I run out of the Nailene brand but hardly use it because I feel like the Nailene brand holds better - personal preferences

Step one: Sort through each size and find the right fit for each finger

I knew I was changing my nails so I had fun with my two new Zoya polishes the night before I took these photos

Step two: hold each nail by the tip and paint polish from tip to cuticle end

Step three: After each nail is painted, let dry. Paint additional coats if needed, let dry.

*One of the most important things I can tell you is to step back and let the polish fully dry. I will usually paint the nails right before bed, go to sleep then wake up in the morning and finish the remaining steps. The reason this is so important is because you will be applying pressure to these nails after polishing and if they aren't dry enough then you will have fingerprints or smudges.

Step four: Apply one to two drops of glue near the cuticle end of the nail and apply them immediately to your nail. Use pressure to release any bubbles that may form in the glue. Hold for a few seconds then repeat with each additional nail

*Another important tip is not to apply too much glue; a little goes farther than you think. If you apply too much then you run the chance of having excess seep out from underneath the nail and the possibility of it getting on your other fingers, them getting stuck or glue getting everywhere. Peeling nail glue off your fingers is not really fun so use the glue sparingly.

Step five: Once each nail is set with glue, clip them to your desired length.

Step six: File each nail to finish the edges

And there you go!

This is how I do my nails almost every week. I can go longer than one week but sometimes I get tired of the polish I'm wearing and want to apply a fresh set. I am known to change just my polish during the week and I have a very steady left (non-dominant) hand so I do that pretty often as well so that one kit of nails lasts me longer. I do buy this french nail kit when I need natural looking nails and apply them the same way sans polish. I used those exact french nails for my bridal portraits and my wedding.

One of these kits has 100 nails and not all of them fit my fingers, so some go unused. Those are the ones that I test new polishes on before using them and try out new looks. I like to see what colors look best with which glitters this way before I commit to actually doing them on the nails I apply.

I hope this answers any and all questions I've gotten ever since I first told everyone that I wore fake nails. I really just apply these without much thought so I may have missed something that you have a question about.

Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

make your own sushi rolls

2012-01-30T09:33:00.001-06:00

After talking about it for forever, Allen and I finally attempted to make our own sushi this weekend and it turned out pretty well.

We treated ourselves to a rice cooker with one of our Bed Bath & Beyond wedding gift cards and I have to say that it made the prefect sticky rice for sushi so I highly recommend one. We got this one

We went to the grocery store and gathered up all the ingredients. Luckily HEB had everything we needed so we didn't have to go to a specialty store of any kind.

We chose to make a modified version of California Rolls that included crab meat, avocado, jalapeno, cream cheese and spicy mayo sauce (sriracha and mayo) topped with panko bread crumbs.

We will call this the Spicy Roberts Roll

(neither of us like cucumber so it was left out on purpose)

I love to sit at the actual sushi bar and watch the sushi chefs create everything so I had a pretty general idea of how to go about making our own rolls. However, this little adventure was not without it's trial and errors. Our first roll fell apart almost immediately and we had to start over and try it again with the next roll. I will say that it is so much easier to do the nori on the outside instead of rice on the outside which I prefer. I will do my best to master the rice outside and show that another time.

Allen cut up all our ingredients into pretty strips

we used mayo on our hands to keep the rice from sticking but let me know if there's something you've used (or that you try) that's better

after the first failed roll I looked at a photo on the back of the rolling mat box that showed you leave a bit of the nori uncovered by rice to stick to itself when rolled

layer in all the ingredients centered on the rice

the rolling part is kinda tricky and you really just have to roll it as tight as you can. We tried cutting with one of our non-serrated chef knives but it ended up being so much easier using a serrated knife and kind-of "saw" it while cutting each individual roll

It turned out rather well and I'm seriously impressed with our results. After the first failed attempt I thought we weren't going to get it right but we ended up doing pretty well.

California rolls aren't my favorite just for lack of flavor (imitation crab-meat) so next time we will be making something with way more flavor. You can add anything you want and I have to admit that we will probably be trying this more often now that we know what we're doing rather than going to over-priced sushi restaurants here in town.

I hope this motivates you to make your own too! Let me know if you find a combination that you love

Friday Randoms

2012-01-27T09:29:00.001-06:00

Is it just me or did this week just fly by? I feel like it was just Friday last week which I guess is a good thing except for the fact that time is just going by way too quickly. We are 4 days away from February and I still feel like it should be 2011!

I hope each of you have an amazing day today and an even better weekend!

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I'm going to finish working on a tutorial to share with y'all on how exactly I do my nails. I've gotten many requests to show the specifics so I'm planning to show it sometime either next week or the following. I've never done a tutorial so I'm curious if it would make more sense to do a video or just step-by-step photos.
Let me know your opinion and I'll see what I can come up with

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I've got a few big sign orders to fulfill and I plan to get those accomplished this weekend as well. I love painting my signs and I love even more knowing how much people like them. I'm not the best out there but at least with me you know you're getting something completely hand-painted and unique. I've never made a sign exactly like the last and I never will.
Thank you to everyone who orders and likes the product I produce

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I ordered these vinyl decals from GroopDealz awhile back and got them in this past week. There are 13 total decals for everything from cocoa to snacks and I'm in the process of applying them to all the clear canisters I've got at the moment.
They're so cute!

If you aren't a member of GroopDealz then I highly suggest you sign up. They offer really cute daily deals and most of it is items from small businesses or stay at home moms.

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In response to my post yesterday, here's a photo of my hair today after curling it this morning. I still need practice with a curling iron since I'm so used to my Chi but I'm liking the curls it produces

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So my last bit of random is some news and no, it's not baby news!
Allen and I have been discussing this for a long time now and we finally decided to take the big step and become Advocare distributors.
Allen is a big fan of all the products since he's very dedicated to health and fitness on and off the baseball field. And I know that now is as good a time as I'll ever get to get back on track and lose the weight that's needed and get healthy. We're about to begin our 24-day Challenge and I hope to share our experience with everyone.
I can't wait to learn all that I can about all the health and wellness benefits and share them here as well. We are not proclaiming to know everything but we can't wait to expand our knowledge as we begin this venture.
If you do have any questions or are already a fan of their products and looking for a place to order from, shoot us an email and we will do our best to help you with your goals.

Have a great weekend Y'all!

Product of the week

2012-01-26T08:53:00.002-06:00

I wanted to link up today with Aly and Tiffanie to tell y'all about my new love . . the Hot Tools Professional 1110 Curling Iron with Multi-Heat Control, Mega 1-1/4

I have been curling my hair for many years with my Chi and as much as I love it, you can only really do so much with it. I've been wanting to try out a curling iron for awhile so after reading many reviews on this particular curling iron, I knew it was the right one for me.
It gets super hot, which my hair responds better to and curls so easily. I'm absolutely in love with it!
If you're looking for a great curling iron I highly suggest this one. Now if I could only find a hair dryer that I love . . .

this is me with really loose curls the day after I first used it. I'll try to take another photo one day of the curls right after

Have a wonderful Thursday!

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2012-01-25T09:13:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

I'm Loving that today marks my 3rd blogoversary here at Perfectly Imperfect!!
I started this blog on January 25, 2009 after moving to Austin to be with Allen. It's been an eventful 3 years and I still can't believe that so many of you still read my nonsense!
Thank you to all my readers for hanging out with me and I look forward to what's in store for the years to come

I'm Loving that my Mom has been such a rock for me this week. When I get too emotional or just need to vent, she's there and has talked me through each moment. I have the most amazing Mom and can't imagine my life without her.
(Mom - since I know you read this, I love you the mostest!)

I'm Loving these recipes I've tried from Pinterest lately and really enjoyed

Crockpot Chicken and stuffing

Source: team-t-adventures.blogspot.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Poppyseed Chicken casserole

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Pepperoni pizza pull-apart bread

Source: jasonandshawnda.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I'm Loving Susan's post yesterday on No More Excuses and Savanah's post on "The Law of the Garbage Truck"

Both posts spoke to me and I highly suggest you go read them

I'm Loving that each and everyday I fall more and more in love with the wonderful man I'm married to. Allen is such an amazing guy and I'm so very blessed to have him as my partner in life

Happy Wednesday y'all!

scenes from the weekend

2012-01-23T08:49:00.000-06:00

What I thought would be a year's worth of coffee will probably only last a few months. I usually only drink coffee from work during the week but now I've been making mine at home because it's so much better.

I made five cheese rainbow totelloni for dinner one night last week and it was so dang good!

Sure is pretty too

Just loving my pretty new shirt paired with my big red beaded necklace.

Snuggling with lil' Jack at lunch

At the KU vs. UT game with my love

After posting the photo on the left on Instagram this weekend,

Chelsea told me I reminded her of Judy Greer and I have to admit that I kind of see it too

ready to head into the game

we of course asked Taylor to come with us just like last time and I think the lady next to him may have known who he was. She couldn't stop looking! Either that or she thought he was cute!

Kansas wins!!

ROCKCHALK JAYHAWK!

Allen got to meet Thomas Robinson and I think it may have made his year

We had a wonderful weekend and it was so nice having Allen home all day on Saturday with me. He worked all day Sunday (10-9pm) but thankfully that was his last all day Sunday for awhile.

The Kansas game was a nail-biter since the refs were calling the most ridiculous things but in the end the Jayhawks pulled out a W and I went home with a happy guy.

I hope each of you had a wonderful weekend!

Friday Randoms

2012-01-20T10:57:00.000-06:00

This week was super short for me. We were closed on Monday and then closed again on Wednesday for Linda's memorial service but it's felt like the longest week so far this year and I can't help but be over the moon about it finally being Friday. Allen and I are going to the Kansas vs. Longhorn basketball game tomorrow with a couple friends and I can't wait to rock my new KU shirt I got from a website that Molly recommended to me. Allen's always been a big KU basketball fan and I've just converted with his enthusiasm.

So other than the basketball game, I hope to get in some major spring cleaning since I'm still planning to have my garage sale in March and of course Allen will be doing some bbq'ing since he's off on a Saturday for the first time in almost 7 weeks.

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I had to take my ring in on Wednesday after noticing while I was cooking on Tuesday night that I was missing a stone. Thankfully everything is covered so when I took it in they noticed another loose stone so it's being completely inspected and all prongs secured and stones replaced. Plus they are going to re-dip it so it will look brand new again. I have to admit that my finger feels so weird with only my wedding band on since it's so skinny and my engagement ring was so thick. Can't wait for the end of the month when I get it back!

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After the wedding I started drinking sodas again and of course with that, I started breaking out again. I've stopped drinking sodas (again) and have realized that my breakouts have gone away. I am no doctor but I can say that I think those two go hand in hand for me. I'm perfectly fine with a life without sodas if it means that I can have clearer skin and fewer breakouts.

H2O is my bff again

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I've actually gone all week with one nail polish and it's largely due to the fact that this is one of my favorite colors to wear.

Essie's Merino Cool is kind of a purplish-grey that gets a more rich color the more coats you apply. I absolutely love it and suggest it if you're looking for a good grey polish.

And of course I have my accent nail which is a silver glitter Forever 21 polish I received from a swap awhile back with Jenn

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I've posted two wedding recaps this week; our rehearsal & dinner and getting ready
I also updated the pages up there with a new "becoming Mrs. Roberts" page where you can check back every so often and see all the new wedding updates or posts. It also pretty much lays it out what order I'll be going in so you can know what's coming up next.
I can't wait to get to the bloopers post so I can send out some of the hilarious blooper photos and have them captioned by a few of my favorite bloggers.

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and for those of you close to me or interested in reading about my boss and her story, click here
She was an amazing woman and an inspiration to me in so many ways.
She will be forever missed

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

eleven {twelve} eleven: getting ready

2012-01-19T10:46:00.001-06:00

Mama getting made-up

Jenny & Anita

the girls conspiring in the corner

brother & sister

it takes a lot of product!

needing a ~~sip~~ chug

opening the watch I got him

reading the card from my soon to be husband

mimosa with a message

not taking off that Ranger shirt until the last minute

my handsome guy

relaxing while getting my makeup done

getting falsies applied

my parents letting me "borrow" their wedding bands

he needed a little help with his tie

my parents wedding bands were my "something borrowed"

checking out all the work

soon to be . . .

the boys took a moment to lounge by the pool

looks like they're having a good time

Jenny getting help from her Mom to do the last fasten on her dress

getting zipped and fastened

Leslie had a team work on her dress

Mom and Leslie putting in my veil

seeing my Dad for the first time all done up

Leslie helped me with my garter & shoes

with my Gramma Shields

with my brother and Gramma Dennis

everyone lining up to start walking down the aisle

one last look before it's go-time!

The morning started at the hotel where the girls all met me to have their hair and makeup done. They each brought snacks and we even had a few mimosas. My Mom had her hair and makeup done first by my girl and then she got started on me. My friend did each of the girls hair and makeup before going home to get ready herself.

The boys all got ready at the hotel as well and Allen of course needed help with his tie. I'm so thankful for his friends/groomsmen that they took care of him all morning and made sure he ate as well.

The morning seemed to just fly by and next thing I knew it was time to head to the chapel to get dressed. The girls and I all got dressed in the bridal suite at the chapel then went to take photos around the back of the church for a little bit. The boys all hung out downstairs in the church, watching tv and playing with the kids before they were called to begin the processional.

Both my Grandma's came into the room to see me before hand and that was such a special moment for me that my Mom was able to capture on camera. I'm so very thankful for each of them and what amazing women I have in my life.

Next thing I knew it was time to head over to the fireside room to wait for my turn to walk down the aisle and this is when the nerves hit!

to be continued . . .

you can view our wedding rehearsal & dinner post here

eleven {twelve} eleven: wedding rehearsal & dinner

2012-01-17T14:03:00.000-06:00

waiting around in the chapel for the rehearsal to begin

practicing our "I do's"

sign-in table set-up by Jenny, Sandy & Laurie

the cracker jack gifts and guest signing bat

homemade cake balls

vase filled with peanuts

this sign was sitting on the tables

centerpieces

signing the guest bat

my future hubby and I

my parents

with my Mama

Allen's Dad giving the initial toast & speech

soon to be Mr. & Mrs.

Our rehearsal started at 5pm on Friday November 11th at the Prestonwood Baptist Chapel in Plano, TX. We ran through how the ceremony would flow and the general order of things. I remember being extremely nervous just practicing because I knew it would be a packed house the next day and all the attention would be on me. We made it through the rehearsal quite quickly and then made our way to Dunston's Steakhouse in Dallas for the rehearsal dinner courtesy of my soon to be in-laws, Leif & Sandy.

Jenny and Sandy had worked hard on putting together a baseball themed event with the help of Allen's cousin Laurie and Uncle David. They did such an amazing job and we were blown away by all the unique touches. Jenny made a timeline of our relationship as well as a photo board that were displayed at the dinner. Then there were the cracker jack party gifts, the homemade cake balls (with help from the nephews), the guest sign-in bat, jars filled with peanuts and the awesome baseball centerpieces. Every little touch was perfect!

Everyone got up to share something about Allen or myself (or both) at one time or another and it was such a special night. We both left there feeling extremely loved and blessed to have such amazing family and friends there to celebrate with us.
Allen and I left the dinner together and went straight to the hotel. We had our suitcases with us and what we thought was everything we would need for the next day. We got to the hotel and said our goodbye's and I went to the room with Leslie. A little while into mine and Leslie's late night favor crafting session I realized that I had left the most important wedding item at my parents house. I made a desperate phone call to my Dad and he brought my dress to the hotel!!
I still can't believe that I left home without my wedding dress!

I stayed up entirely too late but I was just so excited for the next day to finally get there!

to be continued . . .

scenes from the weekend

2012-01-16T12:05:00.000-06:00

chopping jalapenos makes it hard to breath in the kitchen but it's all worth it for the jalapeno crescent roll poppers

received two of my new Zoya polishes, LC & Charisma; snugglin' and snoozin' pugs on the drive to Dallas; Home {Sweet} Home; decided not to get dressed for the grocery store to get creamer and kept my pjs on to go to the Starbucks drive-thru

my cousin works for Frito-Lay so he gifted us with the nacho cheese doritos taco shells for our mexican food themed family Christmas; playing "pass the pig"; a little Cupcake chardonnay while playing trivial pursuit with my brother, sis-in-law & cousins until 2am

my parents adopted a 2month old puppy and my mom gave my Gramma the pleasure of naming her. Gramma's name is Betty Lou and many people call her LouLou so that's what Gramma chose as the puppy's new name. Look at the size of her paws next to the size of Bella's paw!!

my cousin's wine wall in her dinning room inspired from the Pottery Barn catalog. She used wine hooks she found online, chalkboard paint and they update it every so often when a bottle has been opened from the wall by marking out the name to the side. Love it!

I was woken up today by a text from my coworker Natalie who asked if I had heard the news about Linda, my boss, who passed away this morning.
She was first diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer in December of 2008 and by June of 2009 she had a complete mastectmony surgery and was chemo free. In February 2011 her cancer returned with a vengeance as Stage IV in her bones, liver and lymph nodes. She was undergoing treatment for triple negative breast cancer which only included chemo for the rest of her life. She had been admitted to the hospital on Thursday, January 5th for terrible headaches and dizziness and found that the cancer had moved to the fluid in her brain and was causing massive swelling. They were going to sedate her and do surgery to drain the fluid but she lost her battle with cancer this morning around 4am.
She was more than just a boss or coworker to me since she was the first one to give me a chance when I first moved to Austin. She cried with me when they had to lay me off in 2009 and then she called me while I was on vacation in Florida in 2010 to ask me to please come back to work for them. She was an amazing person who fought such a hard battle and I will always remember her for her kindness and friendship.
Please say a prayer for her family during this difficult time

Make everyday count y'all

Friday Randoms

2012-01-13T10:06:00.000-06:00

Oh glorious Friday, thank you for coming back around!

Today is actually bittersweet. I'm staying home tonight since it's Allen's only night off of work this week so that I can hang out with him but then I'm getting on the road early tomorrow morning to head to Dallas for my Dad's side Christmas celebration. I'm excited it's Friday but not looking forward to my early drive in the morning.

This has been an eventful week to say the least and I'm actually quite ready to begin the weekend!

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I know that everyone pins her recipes now but back in June last year Jessica from How Sweet Eats came to Austin and I got to meet her. She's super nice in person and as well as meeting Jessica, I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful Austin bloggers whom I've stayed in contact with and even hung out with a few other times.

Go say hello to these lovely ladies

Kelly at What Kelly Said, Jessica at How Sweet Eats, Brittany of Less Britt More Life, Mandy at Home with Mandy and Stephanie at Live Cook Love

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This past Wednesday evening was very eventful for me. It started with me getting a call saying that my car was ready to be picked up so I left work early, went home first to clean the rental out and was going to go right down the street to pick up my car. Well I got to my house before 5pm and as I was getting out of the car two teens walked by (one actually walking, one on a skateboard) and they started saying really rude, disrespectful things to me. I was on the phone with my dad at the time and I tried to ignore it but I recognized the girl as one we had, had problems with in the past and spouted off that I would be happy to follow them back home and go speak to their parents about how disrespectful they were being. The boy of the two stopped and looked at me and called me a bitch and said he wasn't going home so I couldn't do anything. At this point they continued walking toward our neighborhood park so I went inside the house, dropped off the stuff I needed to and took the rental back.

I came home and knew that I would be seeing them again so I went to the front room of our house and opened the blinds to keep an eye out.

Let me back up by saying that we live on a corner where the school bus stop used to be but we were always having problems with the middle schoolers and the trash they discarded in our yard while waiting for or getting off the bus. This one girl in particular has been caught throwing trash into our yard and was repremanded for it. Then one day Allen caught her kicking at our fence trying to break this one lose slat. He confronted her, learned her name and after muliple problems with her and the bus stop, we complained enough that they finally changed the bus stop. We thought we were out of the woods with this girl.

So 6pm is coming around and I see the two teens walking back towards our street so I got my phone out and recorded them through the window walking by my house just in case they decided to do anything. They walked by without incident but about 10 minutes later they came walking back by again so I watched them some more. They were in the middle of the road a few houses down but when they got to my house they came up the driveway and stopped on the sidewalk. They were talking to each other just standing there so I went out on my porch and got my phone to record them. The way our porch is, they couldn't see me until they continued walking by on the sidewalk and spotted me. The boy decided to call me a psycho c*nt and an idiot. They walked around the corner towards the gas station down the road and I heard them accost another passerby so I decided to call non-emergency on them.

A police officer showed up but by this time the boy had already taken off (in a different direction) and the girl was coming back down our street. He stopped her just as her mom was coming out of her house to find her since it was after her curfew. The officer had already asked me what happened and I told him all of the above, then he went to speak to the girl and her mom. The girl told the officer the boys name and sadly that's all he needed because this boy was well known to police and a troublemaker. The mom came over to me to apologize for the bus incident and that night's events then I told her about the fence incident as well. The mom was appalled that her sweet, youngest of 12 kids(!) daughter was hanging out with such crappy kids and that she had never even heard about this boy until that night. I explained that only because of the past events was I worried about the things happening that night would escalate and that I hated getting them in trouble but I wanted them to be more respectful of other people and their property.

The cop left to go to the boys house, since he knew where he lived, and have a chat with him about it. I got a phone call a little while later from the officer saying that he had just left the boy's house and he denied even being in our neighborhood so he was going back to the girl's house to let her in on this little tidbit. He called again a little while later saying that the girl wrote a statement of what happened and he wanted me to write one as well and if I wanted to make sure that this boy never did/said anything again that I could press charges. I declined since it was just words although I did feel harassed at my own home. He came back over to get my statement and after hearing what "might" happen if I didn't press charges and help them teach the boy a lesson, I decided to go through with it. I have my own reasons for my decision and decided it was in my best interest to press charges so that if anything ever happens in the future with this boy, he would be charged with a retaliation felony and jail time. He was only charged with a misdemeanor citation for harassment for Wednesday nights events but I'm protecting myself in the future for pressing charges.

It's a sad story that I'm not especially proud of but I just don't understand why teens (or even some adults) are so disrespectful, rude and biligerent. When I was their age (the girl is 12, the boy is 14) I certainly didn't act the way they were no matter if my parents were around or not.

So that's the story that I promised y'all I would tell and I honestly don't care if you disagree with my decision because it was the right decision for me.

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I left work early yesterday to go spend some quality time at the DMV and finally take the last official step to changing my name. I've had the photo on my license since I was 21 and have loved it so much. I'm sad to admit that I have a much fatter face now then 7 years ago and oh my goodness it's hard to admit that I'm getting so much older!!

The process was simple and now that I've gotten that step and I've already gotten my new ss card I can start to change all the other items that are still necessary; bank, work info, etc.

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Savanah sent me this photo from when I met up with her and her family for the Gaylord Ice exhibit on December 30th. I just love this girl!

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I don't talk about my Goodwill finds too much anymore but I wanted to brag about two things I feel I scored with this week. I've been wanting to find frames to display our wedding and honeymoon photos and I found 11 frames, all the same design but different sized openings, at $3.99 a piece. The brand is Burnes of Boston and I couldn't find anything similar online but they're a bit pricey from the other frames I've seen. These are in perfect condition and some are still in the packaging. The other item is an anniversary clock. My parents have one of these and I've always loved it so when I saw one in perfect condition for $4 I just couldn't pass it up.

So that's about all I've got for y'all this Friday!
Hope each of you have a wonderful weekend!!

currently

2012-01-12T05:00:00.004-06:00

current book(s):

current playlist:

Zac Brown Band - Keep me in mind
David Nail - Let it rain
The Band Perry - All your life
Luke Bryan - I don't want this night to end
Dierks Bentley - Home
Rascal Flatts & Natasha Bedingfield - Easy

current color:

OPI - It's My Year

current food:

my usual whole wheat english muffin with low-fat peanut butter for breakfast = LOVE

current favorite show(s):

current needs:

more sleep!

current triumphs:

we've been married 2 months today!!!

current banes of my existence:

the teenagers I had to call the police on outside my house last night who were harassing me and calling me horrible names

~~current~~ always celebrity crush:

current #1 blessing:

my amazing family & husband

current indulgence:

pizza for dinner last night

current outfit:

current excitement:

becoming an Auntie in August!!

current mood:

excited to go to the DMV today (finally) to officially change my last name!

current favorite quote or verse:

current favorite app:

current favorite product:

Make sure to grab my button and add it to your post & link up!

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2012-01-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

I'm Loving that starting next week I'll begin showing our Wedding photos! Tomorrow will be 2 months since we got married and even though there are many issues with our photos, I honestly can't wait to show them. Not all will make the cut of course but I promise to show as many as I can. Get ready for an explosion of wedding posts
(here's another sneak peek I shared yesterday on twitter)

I'm Loving that I decided I want to do a blooper post of all the photos that aren't quite frame-worthy but too funny not to share. Then Lindsey suggested that I send out a photo to a few bloggers, give them the opportunity to make up a caption, send it back and I post them that way. I love this idea and will more than likely be getting with a few of y'all here in the near future to send you a photo to caption. This will be a way better way to showcase them then just putting my own captions.

I'm Loving that I'll be posting my Currently link-up tomorrow and hope each of you will link up with me. Make sure to include my blog button from over on the sidebar if you decide to link up so that others know where to link up as well. I'm going to work on making a button specifically for this link up but since I'm no good with html-stuff, I'll be enlisting help. I'll be scheduling mine to post at 5am for all you earlybirds.

Here are the topics for tomorrow's Currently post:

current book(s)

current playlist

current color

current food

current favorite show(s)

current needs

current triumphs

current banes of my existence

current celebrity crush

current #1 blessing

current indulgence

current outfit

current excitement

current mood

current favorite quote or verse

current favorite app

current favorite product

I'm Loving these quotes and sayings I pinned on Pinterest

Source: 19miracles.tumblr.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: jesustotheworld.tumblr.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Happy Wednesday y'all!!

Scentsy deals

2012-01-10T09:07:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to pop-in to let y'all know that Scentsy is offering a great deal right now for hosting parties and of course there's still time to order any of the scents from the Bring Back my Bar campaign

https://jroberts8313.scentsy.us/Home

email or comment if you have any questions!

scenes from the weekend

2012-01-09T09:56:00.000-06:00

Allen and I have been gifted tickets to see KU vs. UT again and can't wait! Rockchalk!; my coworker Natalie brought her 1 month old Jackson to see us at the office; I made hot chocolate from scratch using Hershey's milk chocolate chips and milk; Longhorn roll from Nagoya that's so yummy!

my mantle after Christmas stuff taken down and before I requested help on Twitter; my "I love you because" sign hanging up with a message to Allen; lazy pugs who kept me company all weekend; my love and I on Friday date night

Daisy is the princess of the couch pillows and claimed this spot all weekend

my mantle after the help of some Twitter friends, using all things I had on hand (Chelsea thank you so much for you input, I love it . . . however Allen won the green sign placement!)

and if you're curious about the Roberts sign from my "before" mantle photo, it's one of the ones that I've painted. It's an old piece of wood that I actually stole from a neighbor's discard pile, cleaned it up, painted it and then beat it up some more with a screwdriver and a hammer to give it a distressed look. Right now I don't have a way to hang it since it's kind of heavy so I'm going to wait until we move to find the right spot for it.

Our weekend was super low-key since Allen worked the majority of it and I cleaned and lounged on the couch the majority of mine. I love relaxing weekends and enjoyed it thoroughly since this weekend I'll be in Dallas celebrating my Dad's side of the family's Christmas (a few weeks late).
Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

Friday Confessing (usually randoms but today feels like a therapy session)

2012-01-06T11:47:00.000-06:00

I have to admit that this week went by really fast even though I actually worked all 5 days and I'm for sure not complaining one bit. I've had the hardest time going to sleep at a good time all week and of course waking up when I need to in the morning since all last week I slept in until 10am or so and stayed up late. Last night I even went to bed an hour and a half early and it definitely paid off. I feel so much more rested today and ready to tackle Friday.

Which is exactly what I needed it seems because today feels like a great day to let some things off my chest

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Allen is one of the most important parts to every day for me. I really look forward to Friday's because Mon - Thurs Allen works until 9pm getting home around 9:30pm and most days I try my hardest to be in bed by 10pm which leaves us no time together those 4 days. Some Saturday's he works all day but it's never consistent and Sunday's he works from around 11am - 9pm. Sometimes Friday nights are the only night we have together and I really look forward to them. He's a very hard worker and I love his passion for his job but the most sucky part of it is that he isn't treated with respect or given accolades much at all. He hardly ever takes a day off but if he even tries to ask for time off he's met with comments about his pay being effected and that he would have to make up that time. Allen is one of those people that chose to be a Coach not for the pay but because he truly loves what he does for the kids. When I first me him he acted like he had never worked a day in his life because he loved what he was doing so much he didn't feel like it was work. But over the last year or so that's changed due to the people he works with and I hate that he has to be tested every day about his commitment, etc. He misses many family or important functions for fear of jeopardizing his job if he asks for time off. It makes me sad that he's always working and misses so much. His grandparents are even coming to Dallas in a week and he can't even get time off to go up there with me to visit with them while they are here (they live in Florida).

I'm really praying that 2012 brings clarity about this situation and if possible a change in direction. I want him to be happy doing whatever he's passionate about and if this position isn't that for him then it's time to look elsewhere.

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I have never been a tidy person. If you had seen my room as a kid you would know that to be the case. However it kills me that I didn't grow up learning how to keep a neat/clean space. I've tried to rectify this in the last few years and I always find that after I've done a massive cleaning spree it only takes about a week before we just set things down somewhere and neglect to pick up after ourselves. Then the next thing we know, someone's coming over and I'm shoving all the random crap sitting around in closets or under the bed. I wrote about my goals for this year here and this kind of goes back to #6 where I want to live with less. I wouldn't classify myself as a hoarder by any means but I do like stuff. I feel like if I let our house go too much then all the fun stuff that I love would take over.
This is one of the reasons I never really show photos of our house, because I'm not happy with it and all our stuff you would see in the photos. I plan to do some major paring down this year and I'm hoping that by the time we are ready to find a new place, come June or July, that we will have way less to move and deal with.

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I want to clarify that I, as well as most bloggers, do not put our whole lives on the internet. There are a lot of things we keep to ourselves and decide for whatever reason that we won't share. I have many things that happen in my life that I choose not to share with the internet. Sometimes I wish that I could share some things because, to me this is my outlet, but I have people who read my blog whom I don't want them to know every little thing about me. In no way am I hiding anything from anyone and if you know me in person and ask me what's going on then 99% of the time, I'll share it because we all know how good it feels to share the things that are on our minds.
With that being said, please know that I try my hardest to be myself completely on here. If I don't have anything to blog about, then I don't blog. Simple as that. If I don't participate with every link-up then it's because it's just not what I'm feeling that day. I blog when and what I want to blog. I try my hardest to reply to comments but I'm in no way perfect about this. There's just not enough hours in each day to accomplish everything I would like. I can't always respond to every comment and even if you don't hear from me, please know that I value each of you who take time out of your day to stop by my lil' blog and say hello. I don't make money off my blog and I've been blogging for 3 years and don't have half as many followers as some who've been blogging for less than a year. I'm not here for popularity or fame but I am here to share what I can with y'all and maybe make a few friends along the way.

I love blogging and I love the friendships I've made from blogging but I do have a life outside of the internet that I try to give the most attention to. I've done a pretty great job (if I do say so myself) of blogging everyday most weeks and as much as I love it, it's hard work. 2012 may bring some blog changes since I have a new husband and an outside-the-internet life that I really want to better.

If I lose a few followers or all of y'all then I'm okay with that but I hope the genuine blog friends I've made will stick around and support me even if I only get around to blogging a few times a week.

We live in a very technological world and I know that a lot of y'all, myself included, have their cell phones on them at almost every moment of everyday. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to miss something if I don't check twitter every 5 minutes and that's just insane. I mean I love all y'all but I kinda think I'm a little crazy for wanting to be connected all the time.
So along with all the other things I'm going to attempt to be better about this year, I can add to the list that I need to take internet time-outs more often. Kinda just goes along with the bettering myself I think.

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I feel like I'm a pretty genuine person and I expect the same from others in my life. I've had my share of situations where I feel like the people I have in my life could sometimes care less about how they treat me to my face or behind my back. I honestly know who has my best interest at heart and who doesn't and now is as good a time as any to start weaning the bad apples out of my day to day. I'm an honest person and treat the ones I care about with honesty and respect and it's not too much to ask to expect that in return. If someone in my life has negative things to say or feel about me then they honestly can just keep them to themselves. I'm not about to let anyone's bad opinions affect the way I live my day to day life. A long time ago I found the quote that states "Do not worry about the things that you have no control over or cannot change." I don't know where it came from or if I'm even quoting it correctly but it's always stuck with me and I've tried to live it to the best that I can. I'm by no means perfect with it but it does help me in situations where I have to let something that someone said or thinks of me just roll off my back and not affect me. I aim to get better with this as well and I only pray that others in my life can take a step back and really think about their actions and words before they do or say anything so that issues are non-existent.
Recently I've had my feelings hurt by someone close to me and I'm choosing not to waste any more time thinking about it and move on. Just because they chose to act the way they did shouldn't affect me and my life. I've got way too much positive in my life to let the small, insignificant negatives bring me down.

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So with all this rambling and confessing going on today I hope that y'all will still love me through all my imperfections.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2012-01-04T10:18:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

I'm Loving that I went through all my instagram photos and found 34 photos of my nails/polish from last year (last photo is first polish of 2012). I have to admit I'm a big nail polish fan and over the last year I've found my favorite polishes and some that I could do without. If you would like to follow me on instagram, my username is perfectlyjenn

I'm Loving this free printable that Sarah is offering on her blog today. She's such a sweet blogger and graphic designer. I love this idea and I'm printing it today to take home and frame. I love any and all expressions of love!

Source: lifesweetlifeblog.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I'm Loving that I called Allen while he was on his way home from work late last night and asked him if he would mind stopping to get me some cereal. I had been watching Tori & Dean and Dean and the kids were eating cereal and all of a sudden I couldn't think of anything but having a bowl of cereal! Allen must have been having a temporary moment of unconditional love because he agreed and stopped to get me a box of lucky charms and some milk. It's a gesture like that, that makes me fall even more in love with him each day because he continues to surprise me!

Thanks for the cereal babe!

I'm Loving this January photo a day challenge that's going on right now and hope I can get more creative with it as the month goes on. If you follow me on instagram and Twitter

then you'll be able to see my daily photos before I do a collage of those in the beginning of February. Join in anytime and be sure to let me know you are so I can see your photos too.

Source: fatmumslim.com.au via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I'm Loving that Scentsy is bringing back some old favorites for the month of January only and they have the cutest warmer for Valentine's day out now that you can order. Go stock up on your favorites!!

Source: jroberts8313.scentsy.us via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I'm Loving that Zoya is offering their 2 free nail polishes again! Enter code ZOYA2012 at checkout and get 2 free polishes when you just pay shipping. Zoya is one of my absolute favorites since it wears so long, has natural ingredients and they have over 300 colors.
I picked up a few for myself

and I'm still Loving that my brother and sister-n-law are expecting a baby in 2012!! I can't get over it and I can't wait to spoil my niece or nephew. They don't plan to find out the sex or announce any name choices so there's going to be such a sweet surprise come the end of August!

Happy Wednesday Y'all!!!

13 before '13

2012-01-03T06:30:00.002-06:00

I'm setting some goals for this year and in order to hold myself accountable I'm putting them out there for everyone to see. I'm so excited for all that's in store this year and I can't wait to start achieving some self-made goals.

{13 before 2013}

1. Find a church where I belong.

I'm missing this the most in my life and I hope to find a church wherever we're living and make it an active role in my life (and Allen's too).

2. Learn to use my camera.

Whether it requires taking a course or actually reading a how-to book, I will make myself learn my camera. I'm tired of not understanding the settings and not getting the photos I want.

3. Get in shape.

I will drop some weight this year and I intend to get healthier while doing so. I need to tone and strengthen.

4. Spend less - Save more.

I'm an excellent spender/shopper and this year I plan to cut it tremendously and save more than I spend.

5. Travel more.

I already have one trip planned for work but I would love to visit or vacation with my husband this year as well.

6. Live with less.

I need to de-clutter and find a way to live with only the items I really need.

7. Eat healthier.

I plan to make healthier food a part of our weekly menu and cut out some of the seriously bad for us foods.

8. Go back to school.

And not just go back but finish and decide what I want to be when I grow up.

9. Be a better person.

I just want to better myself this year and really focus on the relationships I have with my loved ones. I want to make my life count. I will become a better daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, wife, dog-mom and overall person.

10. Read more.

I am an avid reader but during wedding planning last year I quit reading as much as I had been and I want to get back to where I was.

11. Take better care of my body.

My nails, hair, skin and overall body need an overhaul and I need to take better care of it.

12. Start planning for our family.

I honestly plan to wait until #13 happens before this happens but we all know God has his own plan.

13. Move closer to home.

My dream in life is to live within a short driving distance from all of my family and I really hope God has that in his plan for this year.

I will keep updating this as the year goes on and hopefully I'll be able to achieve some of my goals by this time next year.

What are your goals for this year?

Holiday celebrations of 2011

2012-01-02T13:14:00.000-06:00

Allen and I exchanged gifts with each other on December 22nd

isn't he the cutest?!

preparing our Christmas guacamole since this year the family chose to have mexican food instead of the traditional menu

Gramma doesn't have room for a tree so she set out a rosemary tree and we all put the presents under it

my love and I at my family's Christmas

my brother Justin & sister-in-law Leslie announced they're expecting their first lil' one!!!

Gramma & Honey opening their many gifts from the entire family

Justin and Leslie after their announcment

posing with Allen's parents, Sandy & Leif and then Uncle Harry

with Jenny & Sam then the whole family

lots of snuggles throughout the week with my girls

went to the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan with Savanah, her family & John

tortured my dogs by making them pose with Christmas lights

played Hand & Foot on New Years Eve with the family

with Allen, cousin Rachael, aunt Kay & Gramma

with my Mama on New Years Eve

and my Dad on New Years Day

Happy 2012 from the Mr & Mrs!!

I had a wonderful Christmas & New Years with my family. There was so much packed into the 9 days I was off and these are just a fraction of the photos with more to come.

I'm so ready for everything that 2012 has in store and love that I have so many amazing memories of 2011.

I hope your holiday celebrations were wonderful too!

Friday Randoms

2011-12-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve-eve y'all!!

I'm so excited it's finally Friday so that now I'll be off work for 9 days! I can't wait to get home and spend time with my family. I plan to soak up every moment of my first Christmas as a Mrs. and I plan to take an obscene amount of photos.

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We gave the dogs their presents from their stockings to play with last night and of course both pugs enjoyed their toys and treats. Bella is a nutcase when she gets a new toy and it didn't take much playing with her new frog for her to start panting. She wears herself out. Daisy is less enthusiastic about her new toy and way more into the new treats. She dropped that toy so fast when she saw the treat bag being brought out. I love my girls and I love making them a part of Christmas . . . even if we couldn't wait to give them their presents!

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I finished wrapping all the presents we have right now until we go get all the gifts for the niece and nephews. I don't know why we always wait until the last minute with some gifts and I absolutely hate getting out in the days right before Christmas. But December flew by this year, as did the rest of 2011, so here we are two days before and we still have a few things to pick up. Nothing like last minute!

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I'm really bummed that both my Mom's side and my Dad's side have opted for mexican food for our Christmas celebrations this year. I am one of those people who, when the holidays come around, I eat my weight in turkey, ham, dressing and all the traditional holiday foods. Thank goodness for Allen's family and their appreciation for tradition or I would be going without all my favorites this weekend. There are just some things you shouldn't mess with in life and traditional holiday meals are one of those things.

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I found a super cute infinity scarf last night at Goodwill for $4

I love finding a great deal!

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I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas Eve-eve and remember . . .

Source: polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Happy Friday!!

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2011-12-21T11:41:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

~ I'm Loving the wedding invitation ornament I created on Monday night after being inspired from one I saw on pinterest. They are super easy to create and I've since already made one for a friend who was married in October.
All you have to do is cut strips of the invitation in your desired thickness, curl them around a pencil/pen and insert into a clear glass ornament. Add a bow or other meaningful decoration if you wish (I intend to add a bow) and admire it's beauty and sentiment.

~ I'm Loving my sweet little pug girls. I love coming home to their sweet faces each day and knowing they have unconditional love for me.

~ I'm Loving this english butter toffee that I got from my office. It was a pretty big package but Allen and I managed to take care of each piece all in one night. Just an FYI if anyone needs this information, I love authentic butter toffee

~ I'm Loving all of these projects I've found on Pinterest that are on my "To-Make" list in the very near future

Source: brooklynlimestone.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: dollarstorecrafts.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: lakelandlocal.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Happy Wednesday y'all!

3 days to Christmas!!!!

a walk down memory lane

2011-12-20T12:44:00.000-06:00

As I approach my 3rd year of writing at Perfectly imperfect in January I thought I would take a little look back at some of my favorite posts

Some of you think that you know me pretty well . . but did you know that I absolutely cannot stand whistling? Take a peek at what you would need to know if we were best friends

Did you know that I found my Keurig at Goodwill last year? For $20! And to this day it still works perfectly

On January 21, 2006 my world changed forever when a lil' pug was born and she came home with me in March that year. Then on March29, 2009 another pug litter born out in the country brought my 2nd pug into my life. You can read all about my girls in this post

Allen and I have sent out photo Christmas cards for 3 years now . . . check them out

2009

2010

2011

I participated in a fun handwritten post that you can find here and of course I had to participate in the accent vlog that you can find here

I had the best Christmas of my life last year and shared my Christmas miracle with y'all on December 29, 2010

And of course I can't leave out the best day of my life, when I became Mrs. Roberts

So go get caught up on all things Perfectly imperfect!

Was there something you saw when browsing my archives that you didn't know before?

scenes from the weekend

2011-12-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

got my new camera strap on Friday, made these yummy crackers and took them to the office, filled both dogs stockings with new toys this weekend and painted our very first Roberts sign

My A.M.A.Z.I.N.G friend Lisa surprised me with this wonderful Christmas gift full of fun goodies!!

She is so incredibly sweet and such a good blog/twitter friend. I'm going to Phoenix in February and can't wait to meet up with her while I'm there! Thank you so much Lisa!

these of course are my incredibly adorable pug children demonstrating how they spent the better part of their weekend . . . lazy bums

I rocked some worlds this weekend when I confessed via Twitter that I wear fake nails 98% of the time and that this is how I paint them to achieve as close to perfect manicure as possible. You will notice that I did not show you my natural nails in any of these photos due to the fact that I bite them so bad, I'm embarrassed by them. Hence the fake nails!

I of course had to add some bling to my festive red manicure and did so using some super sparkly Martha Stewart glitter I had on hand. One coat of clear polish, sprinkle on the glitter then two clear coats after shaking off the excess glitter.

I don't believe I've shared our tree yet this year since I'm still sad I can't find all our special ornaments but here it is with the ornaments that I could find and a few I've made. Allen and I picked up that "Just Married" ornament this weekend as our 2011 ornament to each other. While I had the glitter out for my nail I went ahead and made a pretty red glittered ornament for the tree.

And I managed to accomplish wrapping two presents so far last night with many more to go.

I made this ornament awhile back and not sure if I shared it here or not. I got the idea from Pinterest of course and filled a clear ornament with sand and seashells from our honeymoon. Then tied it with a green ribbon leftover from wedding crafts and a tag. I love that we will now have a little piece of our honeymoon on our tree each year.

And the news I'm most happy to share is . . .

We won the photo contest last week!

Thank you to everyone who voted and especially to my sister-in-law Jenny for bribing her volleyball team to vote! Their votes sent us over the top and we won by 121 votes!!!

This last weekend before Christmas was filled with lots of crafts, shopping and relaxing and it was wonderful.

Hope your weekend was great too!

Please VOTE!

2011-12-16T11:26:00.000-06:00

I don't ask for a lot of favors but I need this one desperately!!

We have until 5pm EST today to collect votes and I need each and every one!

Right now we've been bumped to 2nd place after all week of being in 1st :(

Take a moment and go VOTE!!

http://bit.ly/rDZYUn

Thank you all so much!!

You can't miss this deal!

2011-12-15T11:24:00.000-06:00

For only about 14 more hours you can grab this amazing deal from Plum District

Spend $25 and get a $50 Gift Card to Restaurants.com AND a $25 Gift Card to Target!

Go NOW before you miss out!!

Plum District

currently

2011-12-15T09:06:00.006-06:00

current book(s):

I'm very sad to say that I am not reading anything right now. There are a few books I want to purchase but have held off for the time being.
Any good recommendations?

current playlist:

Baby, It's Cold Outside - Lady Antebellum
How Great Thou Art - Carrie Underwood
Winter Wonderland - Sugarland
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Michael Buble
O' Come All Ye Faithful - Jeremy Camp
O' Holy Night - Kerrie Roberts
Mary Did You Know - Kenny Rogers

current color:

current food:

current favorite show(s):

current needs:

I would really enjoy a little extra sleep

current triumph(s):

we are currently in the lead in the contest with only 110 votes but the 2nd place photo has jumped to 108 votes! Please go vote if you haven't already!!

PLEASE VOTE

current bane(s) of my existence:

cancer

current celebrity crush:

kinda love these two . . . funny guys are my favorite

current #1 blessing:

my wonderful husband

current indulgence:

recipe

current outfit:

current excitement:

there are 9 days left until Christmas!!

current mood:

stressed for many different reasons

current favorite holiday decoration:

current #1 item on your wishlist:

Source: dooney.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

current new year's resolution:

stop biting my nails once and for all

Happy Thursday y'all!
Don't forget to link-up if you participated, add my button to your post and tell others where to link-up!

Will you link up?

2011-12-14T14:00:00.002-06:00

I've decided to do my Currently post tomorrow and I hope that you'll each link up. I wanted to give the post topics again since the last time I did this was back in August!!

I've added a few new topics that are seasonally related to add to the fun.

Get your posts ready and link up with me tomorrow!

currently . . .

current book(s)

current playlist

current color

current drink

current food

current favorite show

current needs

current triumph(s)

current bane(s) of my existence

current celebrity crush

current #1 blessing

current indulgence

current outfit

current excitement

current mood

current favorite holiday decoration
current #1 item on your wishlist
current new year's resolution

I'll have my post up as early as I can in the morning so keep an eye out for it!

Our 2011 Christmas card

2011-12-14T09:17:00.000-06:00

This is our 1st Christmas as Mr. & Mrs. so I knew we couldn't skip sending out cards!

I knew we weren't going to have wedding photos back in time but I had to get a current photo of us to send out so that's when my amazing sister-in-law Jenny came to the rescue the day after Thanksgiving and shot maybe 10 photos of us and we chose two that we really loved.
(She's so amazing that I honestly wish she had been able to take our wedding photos!)

So of course I present to you this year's Christmas card complete with our fur-kids, Bella & Daisy

I of course had to add a little something different to the back and I chose to put our important dates so everyone can add them to their calendars. I doubt I'll do this every year but I'm just so darn proud of our wedding date that I had to incorporate it!

Some of our cards are still on their way out since I had to get an extra order to meet our quota this year but I just couldn't wait to share our wonderful cards we were gifted from TinyPrints

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the new Mr. & Mrs.!

Prayer request

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

My Gramma has gone back into the hospital. They ran some more tests and have found that the cancer has spread again.

Please say a prayer for her

Thank you all

I need your vote!

2011-12-12T16:20:00.002-06:00

Remember how I mentioned last week that one of our wedding photos was going to be entered into a contest our photographer was hosting?! Well today is the start of that contest and it ends on Friday so I need each of you to go NOW (or whenever's convenient) to take a few moments to vote for our photo.

The contest title is Beautiful Bridesmaids Dresses and can be found under George Street's "Top 10 Contest" on the left side of their page. You have to like their page first and only one vote is allowed per computer or network address. (I use both internet explorer and firefox and I was able to vote using each one)

And just because I can't wait to begin sharing our wedding photos and especially so you know which photo to go vote for, here's a sneak peek for your viewing pleasure!

me and my headless, but wonderful, bridesmaids!

click the below link to go straight to the voting page

http://bit.ly/rDZYUn

Thank y'all so much for voting!!

and today Allen and I have been married a month! Time is seriously flying!

scenes from the weekend

2011-12-12T10:25:00.000-06:00

We started out the weekend going to dinner to celebrate Allen's birthday, just the two of us, on Friday night at Eddie V’s. If you've never been then I highly suggest it. We had wine, an appetizer of kung pao calamari, Allen ordered the 22oz bone in ribeye and I had the herb crusted smoked salmon with a side lobster tail. We ordered two sides the truffled macaroni and cheese and the twice baked potato. Little did we know how much food we were getting but it was all amazing. Best steak I've ever tried and everything else was just as good. They gave Allen the choice of complimentary dessert and he chose their white chocolate coconut pie.

(If you've heard about our honeymoon already you must know that we didn't even think about this as we ordered it but realized about 6 bites in that we had just ordered something with coconut in it so we immediately put down our spoons - those of you who haven't heard our honeymoon story have something to look forward to)
It was a wonderful dinner and we look forward to going there again.

Saturday Allen worked most of the day but we made dinner plans with friends to go out again for his birthday. We met them at Chuy's then went back to their house for a few more drinks. I tried my first homemade sangria and I loved it!

On Sunday I attempted to get our tree decorated and went through every single Christmas labeled box I could find but had no luck finding all of our special ornaments. Allen and I get each other ornaments every year and they are all so special to us but they're no where to be found. Looks like I'll be going through all the other unlabeled boxes in the garage to look for them. I gave up on the ornaments and started the rest of the decorations before leaving to meet up with Mandy to go to the Austin Food Bloggers Holiday party at Walton's (One of Sandra Bullock's restaurants). As you know I'm not a food blogger, but Mandy is and she brought me as her guest. We were instructed to bring a white elephant gift and while there we had a great time playing and stealing from a bunch of strangers. I ended up with a cute snowflake dish towel, wine-rating note pad and the infamous pickle ornament. It was such a fun event and I hope to be able to attend more with Mandy in the future.

Mandy recently got a Silhouette (I'm SO jealous!) and she etched our monogram onto a vase for us - isn't that sweet?! It was hard to get a photo of but I just had to show it off. Thank you Mandy!!
It was a full and fun weekend, however you would think I've forgotten that Christmas is now less than 2 weeks away since I've done absolutely no shopping!! I'll have to get on that this week

Happy Monday y'all!

Friday Randoms

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-06:00

Friday has made it's way to us again!

I actually think this week went super slow but I'm excited to see the weekend arrive again. What are your plans for the weekend?

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As you all know, yesterday was Allen's birthday! We went to lunch together but otherwise Monday - Thursday he gets home around 9:30pm so we weren't able to do much celebrating last night. I did however make him dinner, including steamed lobster tail (our grocery store had a special), baked tilapia and the bacon, jalapeno and cream cheese filled crescents that he loves. I also attempted to use my new silicone cupcake liners but I must have done something wrong because the cupcakes didn't rise like usual. Overall Allen was happy with his dinner which makes me happy and feel successful.

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Yesterday while I was at work I got a call that my car was ready to be picked up. I had my accident on Halloween and I was getting really tired of the rental I was in. I went to pick her up after I got off work and it was so nice to see my car all pretty and new looking. I know if I want to trade her in at some point in time that it will be a hassle with a wreck listed but it feels so nice to have my own car back in my possession.

Isn't she pretty?!

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Our Tiny Prints Christmas cards came in early this week and after shelling out a nice amount for stamps, I was able to get them in the mail on Wednesday. I will share our photo and design with everyone next week.

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Starting on Monday, December 12th one of our photos including myself and my bridesmaids will be up for a vote in the Top 10 photos of the year for our photographer in the "Beautiful Bridesmaids Dresses" category on facebook.
I would love each of you to take a moment on Monday (don't worry, I'll remind you again!) to go vote for our photo. Plus, it's a guaranteed way for you to get a sneak peek of one of our photos . . which I know is part of the appeal!
So for those of you not on facebook (cough* Michelle *cough) you better figure out a way to get on facebook and vote since I won't take no for an answer :)
Right now there's a different contest going for another category so be sure to check on Monday for the "Beautiful Bridesmaids Dresses" contest to begin by clicking this LINK
(you of course have to like them first to vote in the contest)

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And just a reminder: you have until December 19th to place your Scentsy orders to guarantee Christmas delivery.
Scentsy has plenty of stocking suffers, gifts for kids and a scent for everyone on your list!

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!!

Birthday boy

2011-12-08T10:07:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited to share that today is Allen's birthday!!

(is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!)

I'm so thankful for this day because I'm so thankful that he was put here in this world for me to share my life with. I'm also thankful that I get to spend the rest of his birthdays with him and I get to love him for the rest of my life! I love you babe!!

Poor guy works all day today but we're celebrating by going to Eddie V's tomorrow night just the two of us then out with some friends on Saturday night to celebrate again.

and let me just tell you how much fun it was to look at "husband" birthday cards for the very first time! it was so hard to choose

I hope you will all leave him some love today

Letting it out

2011-12-07T17:14:00.000-06:00

So my wonderful blogger-friend, turned in-real-life friend Aly does a "Let it out" post every once in awhile and I asked her if I could copy since I needed to do a little venting. She gave me the ok so here goes . . .

(If you aren't interested in reading my vent session then please click the pretty red 'X' at the top of your screen and we'll see you in tomorrow's much lighter, happier post)

to my lovely coworkers: It absolutely grates on my nerves when each of you walk by my desk, commenting on the fact that the Christmas tree is still sitting pretty in its box and that I should "really think" about getting it up sometime soon. Have you ever stopped to think about how much this tree weighs (53 lbs.) and the fact that I have sciatica and cannot lift that tree out of the box all by myself to even begin thinking about putting each piece in place?

Then when one male coworker comes to help me, after I had to send out an email, he worked on putting the dang thing together for a good 15 minutes. I can't even imagine how much I would hurt tomorrow if I had attempted to do it on my own.

to a so called "good friend": I think it's really funny how much I used to bend over backwards to be a good friend to you but you don't do the same for me. You never ask me how I'm doing or what's going on. It's always about you and your life. It's getting really difficult to convince myself to talk or hang out with you when all you care about is yourself. I'm tired of being the good friend and getting treated like crap in return. Now you know why you weren't chosen to be a bridesmaid, since my day was going to be about me and I couldn't risk you trying to make the day all about you.

to our 2nd wedding photographer: it really upsets me that we paid extra to have you photograph our wedding day since you weren't included for the whole day in our package and come to find out that you played with our neice and nephews for a large portion of time before the wedding began while you should of been photographing the groom/groomsmen/fathers/details. I'm just really curious to see how our photos all turn out since you didn't do as you were instructed but instead had conversations with my husband-to-be about your whole life and how rough it's been. We didn't spend the extra money on you to have you relax and kick back like you were a wedding guest. (more to come on this topic later)

I'm sure there's way more that I could vent about but these 3 things are top on my list right now. Sometimes it feels good to get things off your mind and out in the open

Show me Christmas: My wish list

2011-12-06T06:30:00.000-06:00

I'm excited to link up with Aly and Becky and share my Christmas list with each of you.

I've actually had a hard time coming up with my wish list since I honestly have more than I could want right now. Allen and I were blessed with wonderful gifts for our wedding and a lot of items I really wanted were either gifted to us or we purchased with our gift cards. I do love to shop, however, so I've asked most of my family to get me a gift card to one of my favorite stores if they're unsure what else to gift me.

I'm definitely a gift card lover and do not mind at all getting them as a present. I don't understand the aversion to giving gift cards especially if you know it's a place where that particular person loves to shop.

So other than my favorite places to shop/receive gift cards from, I've put together a few things (in no particular order) that I would love to have and haven't gotten around to getting for myself

I've wanted this glitter set for quite awhile. It's always seemed like a big want instead of a need so I have kept it on my wish list. It will probably stay there but I still love them

Source: amazon.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I've been wanting a pair of TOMS but once again haven't figured they were much of a need. Also I've had a very hard time deciding which ones I would like the most and wear the most. I think these chocolate herringbone ones are nice and wouldn't mind adding them to my shoe collection

Source: toms.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I desperately want an owl cookie jar. I saw one once in Florida at an antique store and would have purchased it if it weren't $60 and I'd had a way to get it home. I came across this one a little while back and fell in love. I NEED it in my kitchen, yesterday

Source: anthropologie.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I have a slight obsession with flats and these gold, snake print ones have caught my eye and I just love them.

Source: zappos.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

I've entered every single giveaway I see that has one of these to giveaway and I've yet to win one so it's stayed on my wish list. If someone wanted to make me super happy they would surprise me with a Silhouette Cameo

Source: silhouetteamerica.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

What I REALLY want this year is a new purse. I'm very picky when it comes to my handbag and the one I've got right now was more of a settle because I was tired of looking. But I have a few that I've had my eye on and this is where a gift card would come in handy so I could choose one on my own. Here's a few that I love right now

In order of preference - 1. Dooney & Burke 2. Michael Kors 3. Kelly Moore 4. Fossil

I think that's enough of a list for here but there's always more on my Pinterest Wish List

19 more sleeps 'til Christmas!!

Calling in sick

2011-12-05T13:43:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately whatever Allen was sick with last week has now been passed onto me and I'm down for the count. I had a 100.1* fever this morning and decided to stay home.

So now it's just me, my couch and Theraflu for the rest of the day

See y'all tomorrow

Friday Randoms

2011-12-02T11:45:00.000-06:00

TGIF!!

This was my first full week back at work after our wedding and honeymoon and I've been waiting for Friday something fierce! I have so much planned this weekend and honestly can't wait for 5pm to get on home and start my to-do list.

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I can't even begin to describe the mess that is my house right now and all I want is a magic wand to wave and have it be back in a pretty, clean condition. With wedding planning and traveling every weekend for almost 11 months our house took a backseat and now it's time to clean up/put away all the wedding randoms and purge ourselves from all the miscellaneous stuff we don't need.

My closet is going to get an overhaul for sure in the next few weeks! It's like a clothing store was bombed and I honestly can't even see the floor! Allen and I plan to have a garage sale of all the items we want to get rid of and I'm sure I'll make a small fortune on the amount of clothes I plan to sell. I don't know if any of you saw the newest episode of Tori & Dean but if you did then you can just picture their home when thinking of all the stuff I have to get rid of. Only mine isn't antiques but clothes and home decorations.

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On another cleaning note, I'll have to reorganize our living room this weekend if I even want to attempt to get a Christmas tree up or any other decorations. We have so many wedding gifts and honestly not enough space for all of them so there's a nice pile in the living room that needs to be tended to before any tree can be assembled. It honestly doesn't feel like it's December yet because we have yet to put out a single decoration but I plan to change that this weekend. Hopefully I'll at least get a head start on it even if I have to finish next week.

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My office closes early on the 23rd and then it's closed the whole week after Christmas so I plan to stay here in town until then and soak up as much relaxing at home as I can. I love being in Dallas with my family but there is just something so wonderful about being in your own house and not traveling for a little while. Now how to make it where I have a house in Dallas is a whole other situation in itself.

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We have my office Christmas party this weekend and without my work bff there I'm not sure it's going to be much fun. But with 25 different gift cards up for grabs, I intend to win one again this year like I did last year which will make the party worth it.

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Speaking of my work bff, she had her little boy via emergency c-section on Wednesday and baby Jackson and Mama are doing well. Natalie's had quite a bit of pain as a result of the c-section but I'm hoping she recovers quickly with as little stress as possible. I went by to see the new family last night after she text me saying she was feeling okay for the moment so I seized the opportunity to meet the little guy. He is absolutely adorable and I'm in love with him already. I'm just hoping she doesn't get sick of my request to come hang out with lil' Jack but hopefully she'll take it as a mini-break for relaxation.

Congratulations Natalie & Matt on your sweet lil' boy!

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Do I even need to mention how much my ovaries hurt while holding that sweet 2 day old baby?

Yeah, didn't think so . . .

********************

I know everyone keeps asking when I'm going to post wedding photos and I promise I'm not holding out on y'all at all. As soon as I get the email that our photos are ready you bet your buns I'm starting my blog posts on each and every little detail. I'm just as anxious (honestly more so of course) as all of you and can't wait to get my hands on them. So just think of this time as a good break from all things wedding here on Perfectly Imperfect because when the photos start going up, I can't promise you when the posts will stop!

I have already heard from our photographer that some of our photos are going to be included in an upcoming contest so I'll keep y'all posted on that as well so you can help me with votes.

********************

I couldn't end all this randomness without mentioning again that I'm now an independent Scentsy consultant and that December 19th is the last day to order for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

Get your butt over to my store and start shoppin'!

(just click the button below to go straight to my website)

I hope each of you have a wonderful 1st weekend of December!!

Gramma update

2011-12-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

So it's been a little while since I updated everyone on my Gramma and I've received a few questions about the latest news.

I am very happy to share that she was able to attend our wedding ceremony and she even walked down the aisle on the arm of my brother. She looked amazing that day! I'm so thrilled that I was able to see her before the ceremony and that she was strong enough to make it through a few photos after the ceremony with the family.

I last updated on October 27th how she had been in the hospital and they had found another cancerous tumor on one of her adrenal glands/kidneys. While I was on my honeymoon, I talked to my mom on her birthday (November 17th) and she let me know that Gramma's cancer has spread to her other adrenal gland on her other kidney. She has since begun another 6 weeks of chemo and radiation to attempt to shrink those tumors. Another PET scan will be done in January to see the progress of the treatments and we're hoping that surgery can be performed early next year to remove what's left of each mass.

Please continue to pray for her strength and health. She is such a fighter and I'm so blessed to have such an amazing woman as my Grandmother

WILW & Oh, How Pinteresting

2011-11-30T09:46:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up with both Jaime for What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday today - Love these girls!

~ I'm Loving that I finally ordered our Christmas cards from Tiny Prints with a photo that Jenny was able to take of us and the dogs last Friday. It was such a tough decision choosing the design but I eventually found one that worked perfectly with the photo and I even added a little something extra to the back. I can't wait to get them and send them out!

~ I'm Loving that I'm now an Independent Scentsy Consultant and my shop is open for business!!

~ I'm Loving going through all of our honeymoon photos and can't wait to share those with everyone very soon. I may have to share those before I show the wedding photos since I think I still have another week and a half before I even get to view those myself.

What do y'all think? Show the honeymoon photos before wedding photos or wait to show them until after?

~ I'm Loving all these holiday crafts I've seen on Pinterest and want to try. I'm hoping to finally do some Christmas decorating this weekend and I can't wait to spend cold nights snuggled up with my hubby in front of the Christmas tree!

Source: wwwourunexpectedjourney.blogspot.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: crybabyink.blogspot.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: bowerpowerblog.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Source: kimberlypetersen.typepad.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Happy Wednesday y'all!

I sell Scentsy!

2011-11-29T08:46:00.000-06:00

I am an official Independent Scentsy Consultant now!

I had been looking for the perfect opportunity to start selling Scentsy and felt like I needed to wait until after all the wedding shenanigans were over before I made the commitment. I'm so happy to have something to put some time and effort into now that wedding planning is over since I feel a bit lost not thinking about flowers, officiants, dresses and hair!

At the moment I'm still learning everything involved in being a Scentsy consultant but my shop is up and ready for business!

Scentsy products are truly amazing and I'm so excited to begin sharing it with everyone.

If you're still looking for the perfect gift for a loved one this Holiday season then please check out all that they have to offer by clicking on my button above or the direct link below.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me

https://jroberts8313.scentsy.us/Home

Happy Tuesday y'all!

scenes from Thanksgiving weekend

2011-11-28T10:41:00.000-06:00

my contribution to the office Pie contest - Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Peanut Butter pie

Natalie is ready for pie!

and she was 1week from her induction date!

Jenny reading to Mason

Mason and Grandpa watching the Thanksgiving day parade

sweet Allie

Grandpa and Brenham reading the new cars book

Happy 4th Birthday to Mason!

wrestle time with Uncle Allen

Uncle Allen with his boys

Sam & Jenny

our 1st Thanksgiving as Mr. & Mrs.

Rachael, Kay & Amber browsing the ads for Black Friday

playing mexican train dominoes with the family is a tradition

I got 5 inches chopped off

fire pit at Justin & Leslie's

roasting smores and hotdogs

hand & foot shenanigans

taking a break from the festivities

I sent my cousin Kristy the plans for this Pottery Barn knock-off mirror and they made it!

Mama & Aaron

Allen likes his desserts

Kevin & Kristy

Brayden & Ava

Texas Hold'em

Hand & Foot: table one

Hand & Foot: table two

snugglin' with Daisy before leaving for Austin

Bella chewing on a toy fox

I just feel more ME with curled hair

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is now past and we're less than a month away from Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend that was jam-packed with lots of quality family time. Thursday morning I woke up super early and started on the white-chocolate macadamia nut cookies and oreo truffles I was contributing to my Mom's side Thanksgiving meal. We spent the early afternoon celebrating (and stuffing our faces) with Allen's family and also celebrated Mason's 4th birthday while we were all together. Thursday evening we went to my Gramma's house to eat again, play games and celebrate with my Mom's side.

On Friday I went and chopped 5 inches off my hair and I'm in love with it! Then we went over to Jenny's house so she could snap a quick photo of us with the dogs to send out on our Christmas card. We left there and went to my brother's house for a little fire-pit fun with everyone. We also played a round of hand & foot before realizing it was past 1 am and we all had to be up early again for another round of Thanksgiving.

Saturday morning I woke up early again and made another chocolate peanut butter pie and some bacon jalapeno poppers to take over to my Dad's side for Thanksgiving. We ate more turkey and played more hand & foot. Later in the evening, Allen and I left to go spend a little more time with his parents and had even more turkey for dinner.

I have to say that our 1st Thanksgiving as Mr. & Mrs. went very well! I'm very thankful for the amazing family I have and all the blessings God has given me.

I hope your holiday was wonderful as well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:30:00.002-06:00

Source: etsy.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Just stopping in to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

We're splitting our day today with Allen's family and my Mom's side of my family and then Saturday we're celebrating with my Dad's side. There's lots of turkey and dressing to devour and I'm ready to get this wonderful holiday started.
Last year was one of my favorite Thanksgiving holidays ever but I know this one is going to even more amazing now that I'm a Mrs.!

Enjoy your holiday to the fullest and be thankful for all God's blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thankful

2011-11-23T09:52:00.000-06:00

I'm Thankful for . . .

God and his immense blessings in my life

the gift of an amazing family that I love with all my heart

the gift of an equally amazing family to now be married into

my wonderful extended family members who make my life complete

the cutest pug children I could ever ask for

amazing friends who stick by me and love me unconditionally

Hope and Prayers

blog friends whom I've met and those I've yet to meet

the most amazing parents God could have ever blessed me with

insurance to fix my mistake :(

and

I'm so incredibly thankful to call this man my husband

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

Swap goodies

2011-11-22T10:00:00.001-06:00

Awhile back I mentioned that I was participating in a nail polish & scarf swap that Ashlee and Jessica were hosting. Well the week before my wedding, when we arrived in Dallas, there was a package waiting for me at my parents house from my swap partner Kristen!

She got me a beautiful scarf with neutrals, pinks and a pop of coral and two polishes; Sally Hansen Ruby Rush and Milani Jewel FX in Gold.

I'm wearing both polishes this week after going a week with french nails for my wedding and I love this deep red. In fact I would love to be able to custom paint my car with this Ruby Rush polish color!

Thank you so much Kristen for the lovely swap gifts!

I'm Back!

2011-11-21T11:22:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!! I've missed y'all!

I have to first thank the wonderful ladies who were able to guest post for me in my absence with super short notice from me! Thank you Celia, Sarah, Kori, Michelle & Meg!

I'm just getting the chance to read their posts, the comments and attempt to read some of the posts in my reader so bear with me a few more days.

I truly appreciate all your sweet comments, tweets, texts and emails during wedding week and after. We just got back into town last night and I've got a lot of catching up to do!

It will be a little bit before I start to share any photos of all the wedding events since we don't get our photos back from the photographer for a couple more weeks and with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching I've got to get in the kitchen in my downtime and whip up some turkey day treats. But I promise as soon as I can I'll begin to show off the goods.

Happy Monday!

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hello Jenn's friends!

Aww I'm so happy that Jenn asked me to guest post for her. Honored actually.

Well, I am Celia from ...just trying to find my way. I write about anything and everything that tickles my fancy.

I absolutely adore Jenn. She is one of the most genuine bloggers I know. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her in person yet, but I hope to one day!

Source: Uploaded by user via Virginia on Pinterest

Jenn is one of those people who just seems to have the biggest heart ever in life. A couple weeks ago my sweet kitty passed away. I check the mail a couple days later and there is a sweet card in the mail from Jenn. I was in tears again. Partially out of saddness, and partially because that was so unbelievably thoughtful.

She has made me want to push myself to work harder on my friendships instead of pushing people away.

I need to find a way to get her to move to Houston so we can hang out, and become real life BFF's!

If you haven't had a chance to really get to know her I think you should.

...and

Happy 1 Week Anniversary Jenn & Hubby!

Source: lace-and-love.tumblr.com via Celia on Pinterest

Tattoo fever

2011-11-17T08:00:00.001-06:00

Hi there! My name is Sarah and you can find me over at Life is What you Make it! I'm a Canadian who is a lover of coffee, glamour magazine (note to self: buy novembers issue ASAP,) reality tv, nail polish like Jenn :) and God.

I found Jenn's blog back in early February/March and I'm so glad that I did! She quickly has become one of my favourites and I am so excited to see her wedding pictures when she gets back from a much deserved honeymoon!

Well, now that the introductions are out of the way I can get on to my post.

I have "tattoo fever" right now. Not to be confused with "Bieber Fever."

For the longest time I've wanted a tattoo, I want to get "family" written somewhere on my body. I *think* I want it on my wrist. My mom has four and my brother has one so its normal to my family. I almost got one back in summer 2010 but when I look back on what I wanted, I'm so glad I didn't get it done! You know those family stick people that people put on the back on their car? Ya, I wanted that, and design each of my family members.

I cringe at thinking that could be on my back right now. Ugh.

Like everyone else in the world, I am obsessed with Pinterest. I'm pretty sure its to blame for my tattoo fever! I mean, there are so many "pins" of beautiful tats.

Here are the pins that have me crazy for one!

The only thing I would change is the "A" wouldn't be that big. Other than that, I love it. Of course it would say "family."

Pinned here

I love this one too :)

Do any of you have tattoo's? If so, what do you have? Do you still love it? Don't be shy :)

Thank you Jenn for having me today! And a big thanks to YOU for reading :)

Don't forget to say hi over at Life is What you Make it

Going Native

2011-11-16T09:26:00.001-06:00

Hi there, I'm Kori from Blonde Episodes. Jenn asked me to fill in for her while she's off celebrating her wonderful marriage and I'm just thrilled to be here!

On my blog, I'm known for talking about current fashion trends. Today is no exception. Is anyone else but me noticing all the Native American inspired pieces this year? I love them! Ponchos, moccasins, hats, etc. They're all so much fun! Check out some of my favorites and tell me what you think.

All images courtesy of Pinterest

Thanks again Jenn! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Kori xoxo

Thank Goodness for Waterproof Mascara....

2011-11-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

Hello lovely readers of Perfectly Imperfect!!

My name is Michelle, and I am the owner/operator of The Vintage Apple!

Over at my little bloggity-blog, you will find some lovely randoms about my life, my loves, and everything else in between! Come visit me sometime! I would be happy to have you!!!

www.thevintageapple.com

When Jenn asked me to guest post for her while she was off getting married, I knew I would have to write about something wedding related since I'm a newlywed myself! I just married four weeks ago!

Here is a pic of me and my very very very handsome hubby!

So, while Jenn is off on her honeymoon....you are stuck with lil ol me. Hope that's ok!

Today, I'm gonna blog about the UGLY side of my wedding...

My ugly crying face.

I don't cry as ugly as Heidi Montag, FYI.

Yup.

I cried.

Not once.

Not twice.

THREE times.

And not the little drop of one or two tears....I'm talking about full on, pouring buckets, smearing makeup, thank God for waterproof mascara kinda tears.

Believe me, they were the happiest of happy tears...

I am just a damn ugly crier! I hate to admit that, but I am.

Don't believe me??? Here is proof.

Crying Episode #1:

I cried the whole way down the aisle. The second I saw my future hubby waiting for me at the end of the aisle---I lost it.

Crying Episode #2:

When my sister and my husband's best friend gave their speeches---I lost it.

Crying Episode #3:

When I danced with my daddy for the Father/Daughter dance---yup, you guessed it. I lost it.

Why am I admitting this to you all?

Crying is part of who I am. When I am overly excited or happy about something, I tend to tear up.

When I am beyond angry or upset, I cry.

I have ALWAYS been this way.

So if I wouldn't of cried at my wedding...

People aka my guests would have known something was wrong with me!

I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried on my wedding day---those were the happiest tears I have ever cried in my entire life.

Oh, and just to prove to y'all that I didn't cry the entire wedding/reception....

Here is picture of me, not crying.

Doing the robot.

You're welcome!

Be a Blushing Bride Every Day

2011-11-14T08:00:00.001-06:00

Hello, everyone! My name is Meg, and I run a blog I lovingly refer to as O. is Me. Please stop by and give me a holler whenever you get the chance! You can also follow me on twitter, s'il vou plait!

I am so honored that Jenn is having me guest post today - she is one of my favorite bloggers around! I have also had the pleasure of meeting Jenn. She came in town for a little bloggy bridal shower we held for Michelle. Let me tell you, girls, this girl is super special. She is absolutely charming and even more lovely in real life as she is on her blog!

Tara, Heather, Michelle, Me, Savanah, Jenn

Anyway! Before we get down to the nitty gritty, I'd like to give a HUGE congratulations to Jenn as she is now a married woman and soaking up the sun on her honeymoon!!

via

Since I love to blog about beauty products, I'm going to focus on something I absolutely love wearing every day - BLUSH! And how appropriate for a blushing bride, right?? I am so darn clever!

Blush is something that instantly brightens up your complexion. I wear blush and bronzer together on a daily basis because a bronzer does more contouring (pulling things in and shadowing) while the blush really highlights and brightens features. I never really was big into blush until the last couple of years - now I can't get enough of it!

Here are my Top 3 Blushes!

Perfect for anyone-- not just blushing brides!

#1: The Bridal Bouquet

Bobbi Brown Blush in Peony

via

Honestly, this is my favorite blush of ever (until I find something I love more, I guess). If I had to pick one blush to wear for the rest of my life, this would be it. I love the shocking bright pink and how beautiful it looks on pretty much any skin tone. I enjoy how this blush is matte but instantly it brightens your face. This blush reminds me of brides to begin with, specifically since it's called "Peony." I think this would be the perfect wedding day blush!

#2: The Spicy Honeymoon

Nars Orgasm

via

This blush is just plain lovely. It has a subtle shimmer to it and the coral-y pink tone is universally flattering. The name itself suggests a bit of spicyness, no? Maybe that's why I like it so much! Now I've got myself blushing! Honestly, though, this blush can be worn day or night. It's hot like that.

#3: The Happily Ever After

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed

via

This blush is really a lovely more muted nude/pink color. I would describe its color fairly neutral - definitely not cool-toned like the Peony but not warm-toned like the Orgasm. It's a lovely, natural flush of color. It reminds me of how I feel when my hubby gives me a kiss, when we cuddle, or even when I feel my little baby moving around inside of me. I love this blush for everyday looks, or if I am trying to look as natural as possible.

So there you have it! My top blushes!

What are some of your favorite blushes? Do share!

eleven {twelve} eleven

2011-11-12T06:00:00.006-06:00

Source: bridalguide.com via Rachael on Pinterest

Today is my Wedding day

I will begin the day as with my maiden name and end the day with my married name

I will say my vows and promise to love, honor and cherish my Mr. for eternity

I can't wait to begin the second part of our journey

and

I can't wait to do it with my best friend by my side

Today I become a wife and life-long partner

Let's get this show on the road!

I love you with all my heart Allen!

From the beginning of the creation, God made them man and woman. Because of this, a man is to leave his father and mother and is to live with his wife. The two will become one. So they are no longer two, but one. Let no man divide what God has joined together.

Mark 10:6-9

my last day as a Ms.

2011-11-11T08:00:00.003-06:00

When the bells chime tomorrow at 3pm I'll make my way down the white marble isle of our chapel and vow to spend the rest of eternity with my best friend.

I can't wait to see Allen's face when he first sees me!

Source: vintagerosegarden.tumblr.com via PerfectlyJenn on Pinterest

Tomorrow is my wedding day y'all! Can you believe it?!
I almost still can't!

our engagement photos: part 3

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

These are my absolute favorites from our session with Jenny from July. The rest of the photos can be seen on Monday & Tuesday's posts

I could look at these photos all day, every day and never get tired of them

Make sure to tell me which ones are your favorite!

next thing you know I'll be sharing our wedding photos so that gives you something to look forward to!