Old Car...New Car...Black Car...umm, Black Car

I've been DYING to blog about this for the past week, but in our efforts to surprise our families at Christmas, I've had to keep quiet. (And, no, I'm not pregnant!)

Back in the summer, my car had a major blowout (timing belt broke) and thanks to my handy man mechanic cousin-in-law, we were able to get it fixed for HALF of what it would normally cost for something like that. After that, we knew that at 180,000 miles, this little car wouldn't last much longer. Plus in our hopes of one day having a family, we knew that the little Eclipse would have to go (believe me, we've tried to haul Bella and Eden around in the back of that car and if nothing else, it's pretty stinkin' hilarious to see us all crammed in there!). So, we began the search for a new car. We quickly realized that with the end of the year approaching compounded with the economy struggles, we had a really good chance of getting a really good car for a really good price. So, to make a long story short, Marty contacted a friend of ours who attends car auctions, tagged along and got us a steal! But, I'm jumping ahead of myself. Before I brag on the greatness that is our new ride, I must first pay tribute to our 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, better known to us as San Juanita. She's going to a good home and we'll get to see her occassionally, thank goodness. She's been a part of our family for 8 years and in light of faithfulness, I'd like to reminisce on our time together with the lyrics of one of my favorite songs:

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again (literally!)
Your heart is true-you're a pal and a confident.

So long, San Juanita. We'll always love you.



And HELLO new car (yet to be named-any suggestions??)!!!

You'd think we have a thing for black cars (especially black Nissans) but that's not really the case. When a car comes along that's $4000 less than the retail price, who cares if it's another black car?!?! So, here she is! Pretty, huh? It's a 2005 Nissan Altima...3.5 & V6 (she's got some SERIOUS get up and go!) and only has 30,000 miles. She has a pretty black interior with some shiny chrome trim and lots of fun little "bells and whistles". She even still has the new car smell! I had to give up my sunroof and my 5 speed transmission, but like I said, when the price is right, some things just have to go!

Can't wait to introduce you to her...and of course, take you for a spin!

Things I Love Thursday 12.18.08

I love getting to meet fun people. I had a string of good luck a few weeks ago when it came to meeting such fun people.

Our friend Eli, who went to high school with Brandon Heath, got me and her hooked up with some tickets and backstage passes to the Brandon Heath/Third Day show in Asheville. I was so excited to finally meet Brandon (Eli had been talking about him for years) and was also excited about seeing a great concert. After Brandon's portion of the concert, we were able to head backstage and spend some time chatting it up with him. He and Eli caught up and reminisced about old times and then we headed to the catering area and spent some time hanging out and laughing with Brandon and his band. Plus, Brandon was just nominated the day before that for TWO GRAMMYS!! So, it was really cool to be able to congratulate him in person! While we didn't get to see a whole lot of the Third Day show (although we were able to hear every bit of it...and what we did get to see was from backstage!) I really enjoyed getting to hang out with Brandon and the guys. They were so encouraging to us and it was a lot of fun.

Eli, Brandon Heath and Me

Me with the guys in Brandon's band (JP, Hai, Joe and me)...this is our version of the cheesy "Saved By the Bell" picture. They seriously crack me up!

At one point, the tour manager introduced himself to us and said he'd get us passes for the Third Day meet & greet after the show...ummm, ok! I've followed Third Day's music since before they really made it big and was so thrilled to actually meet them! So we followed the group of 20 people to this little room and anxiously waited for the guys to come in. We were able to talk briefly with each of the members of Third Day and were able to get some great pictures, too! We learned from Mac Powell (lead singer) that "Mac" doesn't stand for anything, but that his full name is Johnny Mac Powell...and that his hair should be in a commercial. And I was able to tell Tai Anderson(bassist) that I used to go to camp with his sister, and that our siblings dated for about 2 days back in high school. We were also able to chat a little with Mark Lee (guitar player) and David Carr (drummer).

Me, Mac Powell and Eli

Me and Tai Anderson

Me and David Carr

Me and Mark Lee
So, I left this night of amazingness and secretly wished that my luck would continue...at least for 3 more days. The following Sunday, Brooke, Lori, Beth and I headed to Raleigh for a little girls' Christmas getaway and to see Shane & Shane, Bethany Dillon and Phil Wickham. And while we'd seen the Shanes in concert about 5 times this year, we were never able to meet them after a show. So we headed to Raleigh with our fingers crossed. After an AMAZINGLY worshipful Christmas show (and we would have expected nothing less from our favorites, the Shanes) our one Christmas wish was granted...Shane Barnard was in the back meeting people. All we wanted for Christmas was our picture with the Shanes (Shane E was sick, and wasn't around after the show), and 1 of the 2 Shanes would do the trick. AND to make our Christmas wish even better, he was wearing reindeer antlers that blinked!!! We were so pumped!! So, FINALLY (after 2 years of traveling to the ends of the earth to see the Shanes) we were able to meet Shane B!!

Lori, Beth, Shane & the blinking antlers, Brooke and me
Then, seeing that Bethany Dillon was just around the corner, we ran over and got a chance to meet her for a quick pic.

Brooke, Beth, Bethany, Sarai and Glory (I mean Lori)
All that fun crammed into a 3 day period of time was almost more than I could handle...but I did and I have pictures to prove it!

Things I Love Thursday 12.11.08

Consider this a follow up post to last week's Things I Love Thursday post...
After looking at boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations for a week, we were FINALLY able to get the house decorated last weekend. Hope you enjoy!


Our mac daddy tree!! It's not real, but it's big and it holds the massive amount of ornaments! We call it our "Winter Wonderland" tree because it's covered in lots of things that remind us of winter...like snowflakes, snowmen and penguins. The reds and blues tie in nicely to the "new" blue walls in the living room.

Marty loves penguins, and this is one of his favorite ornaments. His name is Tuxedo.

And I love snowmen. Here's one of my favorite snowman ornmanents as well as a glittery one that I love as well.

The tree topper is a 3D mirrored snowflake.

I got the first pieces to my Willow Tree nativity a few years ago and love getting to display it above the fireplace.

This is one of my favorite little snowmen and one of the beautiful little tealight holders that my mom gave me.


This might be my most favorite decoration...it's made of metal and has a giant spring inside. When you press down on it's head, it bobbles! :)

This little thing from Hallmark combines my love for snowmen and Marty's love for penguins. It plays music and lights up. The penguins even have little bells on their tails that shake and rattle. It's so adorable.

We started dating on December 27th, so I think it's pretty appropriate that these kissy bears, that go way back to our dating days, make an appearance every year.

I've had these Trolls since I was little, and they just make me laugh! They get to live underneath the memories tree.

Here's the kitchen all decked out. I use greenery, lights, snowflakes and some pretty ribbon to fill the space above the cabinets.

Here's our dining room table all set for Christmas dinner:


I love being able to carry over the black and white theme into my Christmas decorating. It creates such a classy feel.



For the centerpiece, I began with one of my new Pier 1 napkins (thanks, Brooke!), then added a simple white plate. I added a double layer of black/black & white polka dots ribbon to a plain white pillar candle. Then I chose some randome coordinating ornaments from my tree and voila!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my black and white damask dishes!! I was able to tie in a little lime green with a napkin folded over the base plate. Then, I used the little tealight snowflakes for a little ambiance.

There it is, folks! Merry Christmas!

Tuesday's Tip

Don't over commit yourself. I have and I don't recommend it. I won't be posting anymore Tuesday's Tips until the New Year...sorry, but my sanity somewhat depends on it :)

Things I Love Thursday 12.4.08

I love decorating for Christmas!! Since our Thanksgiving trip to FL, I feel like I can't seem to get caught up on anything, decorating included! I've been able to tackle a few little things here and there, but am no where near finished transforming our house into a fun Winter Wonderland! I've got 2 of the 3 trees done and have some garland in place, but that's about it. I plan to post pictures of all the finished products soon, but for now, here's a little sneak peak.

This is what I call my "Memories Tree". It has all the memories that remind me of my childhood Christmases. My mom gets us a new ornament every year for Christmas, so those are on there. There are also some ornaments from our tree growing up. The tree skirt was the one we used every Christmas. The most special things on the tree, though, are the the shiny glass balls, garland and the angel. Those belonged to my Nanny (my mom's mom) who passed away in 1990. I only had a few Christmases with her before she died, but I always remember it being such a love-filled time. I love decorating this tree and remembering all the Christmases passed.


Here's the angel that belonged to my Nanny. Not the prettiest thing, but what do you expect for a tree topper that's probably 30 or 40 years old?!?!

And here's an up-close shot of an ornament I made in kindergarten. It just maes me laugh. :)

This is the little tree in our kitchen. It's all black and red and silver and, I think, looks great with our newly painted green walls! I can't wait to get out all my black and white place settings to create a very glamorous and classy dining area!


Here are my favorite ornaments on this tree...some sparkly monogram ornaments.

Oh, and I also love knowing people who know people!! My friend, Eli, went to high school with Christian recording artist (and GRAMMY NOMINEE!!!) Brandon Heath. He's in Asheville tonight with Third Day and is totally hooking us up with free tickets to the show! YIPPEE!!

Tagged by Christal

Christal tagged me for this one!!



1. I love Chapstick. My rule is that the more Chapstick I can apply at a time, the better.

2. I have an obsession with label makers. I label almost everything, sometimes, even things that don't need to be labeled.

3. I have a fetish for all things Christmas, primarily Christmas music and snowmen. I'll be posting some pictures soon of our Winter Wonderland.

4. I almost hate to admit this one, but I love trashy reality tv. Real World, The Bachelor(ette), Rock of Love, such drama, such trash....but I just can't resist.

5. If gaining weight we're an option, I would eat birthday cake and ice cream at every meal (not for the meal, just in addition to) every day for the rest of my life.

6.Items in alphabetical or color order make me giddy....spices, DVDs, books, clothes in the closet, socks...nothing's off limits.

7. I have millions of song lyrics running through my head at all times, just waiting for someone to say something that sounds like one of them so that I can bust out in random song (and sometimes dance, too!).

So, I know it's not the required 7, but I tag these 5 people:

Lori
Beth
Nina
Sara
Holly

Tuesday's Tip

So this is a day late...the sad thing is that I typed it 3 days ago as to have it ready to post yesterday. Here's to hoping that the rest of December isn't as crazy as this week is!

Some of you have been interested in my new money saving grocery tactics, so here ya go!

I recently began "couponing". My friend, Eli, had talked about it to me a while back, and in November I decided to give it a shot. Before, I went to the grocery store only one time a month. This required TONS of planning (from our menus at home, to dishes to take to other events throughout the month, to coupons galore) and several hours of actual shopping. Then, there was the whole process of putting groceries away. And while it was quite a time consuming task, I really liked the fact that I only had to do it once a month. But when I realized that I could go to the grocery store once a week and save a lot of money, I figured I should give it a try.

Here's a pretty basic summary of the different parts of "couponing":

*Coupons are a must.
We buy at least one, if not two, Sunday papers every week as to give us the best shot for the best coupons. I always buy one to start with and check it to see if there are 2 or more coupon booklets inside. If there are, I buy another. There are TONS of options for setting up a coupon organizing system that works best for you. I have a pretty basic system...a little coupon file folder divided into sections like dairy, cereal, beverages, toiletries, household items, etc.

*Get over brand preferences.
The key is to buy what you can get at a super cheap price, rather than to buy items that you might normally buy. I'm not gonna lie, I love Angel Soft toilet paper. But, if I can get a pack of Cottonnelle for 5o cents, you better believe I'm gonna go for it! I've found that, the majority of the time, I end up liking a new brand better than my old stand by brands,

*Buy items based on price, not necessity.
Obviously, things come up and last minute trips to the store are a must. The object, though, is to plan ahead as much as you can to save the most money possible. I've begun planning a week and a half in advance, and that seems to work pretty well.

*Save your coupons & watch for sales.
These two kinda go hand in hand. Some sites suggest that you do a month's worth of research on your most purchased products to figure out the lowest sale price for those items, and then only purchasing them at that lowest sale price. While that totally works, I've adapted my own little system. Instead of doing all the research, I simply wait for the sales ads, check out the items that are on sale and match them up with my coupons. The majority of the time, the items that are in the sales ads are near their lowest price.

*Stock up.
If at item is on sale and you have 4 coupons, use them and stock up!! It's better to keep 3 extra bags of frozen vegetables on hand and get them for 50 cents a piece than it is to only buy 1 bag at 50 cents and then have to pay full price for the other 3 bags later. This goes for items that you might not have coupons for, too, like meat. If a meat item is on sale, we buy enough to make 4 or 5 dishes.

I know I've forgotten some things so please feel free to hit me up with questions or even other ideas you might have for saving money on your groceries! Check out the links under "I Love Bargains!" on the right side of the screen for some tips from other money savers. I can't wait to hear how much you save on your next grocery bill!