Your Dream Night (Day 4) & 1,000 Page Views!

Ahhh!! I just checked my site stats and today is the day that I went over 1,000 visitors!! Sweet! I started blogging in April of 2010 so that's a pretty sweet feat! Thanks to all who read this. I love sharing my life with you guys and hope you find my posts funny, inspiring, or make you feel better about your life ;-) Onto Day 4 of the 100 Day Picture Challenge.


Day 04 - A picture of your dream night:

I chose this picture because it represents one of my favorite things to do: spending time with my family. 


This weekend was a fun filled family time weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday at Storm Training (which was totally awesome). Andy and Kristi had a great time together watching Megamind and hanging with his family. After training, I met up with them for dinner at Montezuma's. Kris ended up falling asleep in the booth next to me and didn't even touch her dinner (which is strange because we were only there from 7-8:30). After dinner, Andy and I took Little Love home and hung out for a little. Sunday we went to church and heard another AMAZING sermon! I'll do a separate post all about it. After church we went to Texas Lunch and had awesome western omelette's. I came home afterwards to do homework/housework while Andy and Kris stayed at his mom's to hang with Matt, Susan, and Carol. I got four loads of laundry and two homework assignments completed before they got home. Today has been fairly productive so far. I got two more loads of laundry done and all our bills paid. Now on to goals:


Room of the day: Working on it.


Business: Made the necessary phone calls today. Just waiting for responses. Got my first real estate agent call. Updated my spread sheets. Just put together my business plan for getting me to ED by the end of March. (Making this a public thing is really scary but I really think it'll help me with accountability. Well, that and my business coach. She's definitely one I DO NOT want to disappoint!)


Quiet time: Today's quiet time focused on Matthew 6:7-15. These verses focus on praying. I always feel so stupid when I pray, especially out loud. I never know what to say. Manny actually made me more comfortable with praying. Last year, he did a sermon and one of the things that hit me and stuck was that Jesus is our friend, our best friend (at least He should be). Manny told us to think about how we talk to our best friend. We tell them how we're doing and what's going on in our lives and what we did today. Well, it should be the same way when we talk to Jesus. Even though He knows everything that happened to us and everything that is on our hearts, He still wants to hear us. Another thing that I love is even when I don't have or can't think of the words to describe my feelings or my days or my life, I don't need them because Jesus already knows what is on my heart. That is just so amazing!


Weight loss: Today is my official first day of being back on plan. I'm doing well. Three MF meals in and about to partake of my L&G. :-) This will be a weekly goal so I'll only update on Mondays with my weight loss success.  


So my plan from now on is to make sure I am in bed no later than 10:30p. I'll read for 30-60 minutes and try to go to sleep no later 11:30. I'm getting up now at 7:00a so I can do quiet time before Kristi get up for school. That way, I start my day with The Word and end it the same way. Plus, I get my much needed me time. 


This is the last week of these two classes and I am sooooo excited! These classes have been killing me with reading and work. I'll have a week break and then start my next and final class. Score!!! I'll be finished school in the middle of May, right before getting married, and have my graduation ceremony sometime in June or July. :-) I'm starting my bachelor's degree in elementary education in June. 


That's my life from the past few days, unhinged. Until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥   

The cast from your favorite show (Day 3)

Mine is the Gilmore Girls:

I have seen every episode of Gilmore Girls like a thousand times. And even though I've seen them a ton, I still DVR them everyday. One thing I love about this show is the witty banter, especially when it involves pop culture references. Many times, a lot the references went over my head but the more I watch them, the more references I'm starting to understand and find it that much more hilarious!

You and the person you have been the closest with the longest (Day 2)

Sarah and I my senior year

♥Courtney♥

100 Day Picture Challenge

I don't have a lot of time to update today since I have to be up really early in the morning for TSFL Storm Training (it's going to be awesome!). But, I wanted to share this with you quickly. My sister posted a challenge on FB that I totally want to take part in. It's a 100 day photo challenge. Day 1 is a picture of yourself with 15 facts. Here goes:

1. I'm totally scared of bugs, especially spiders.
2. I prefer my hair short (much to the chagrin of my fiance).
3. I have a 5 year old daughter named Kristi Michele-Annette Ruggiano.
4. I love music.
5. I sing...ALOT!
6. I'm working on my Associate of Arts in Business degree.
7. I'll be starting my bachelor's in Elementary Education degree in June.
8. I've had a fear of toilets since I was a kid.
9. I like to exercise (as long as it's fun).
10. I try really hard to be organized but never quite seem to get there.
11. I adore reading.
12. I love Christmas time and winter.
13. I really enjoying baking, especially cookies.
14. My favorite TV show is Gilmore Girls.
15. I'm a night owl.

Really quick update on goals:

Business: Got the second batch of letters addressed and stamped. I just need to record who and when on my spreadsheet, which will be completed within the next 20 minutes (that is if I can stay off FB). They'll be mailed tomorrow. TSFL--Training tomorrow which is going to be awesome. I plan to spend at least 5 minutes everyday working on each business.

Weight loss: Nothing to report other than both Andy and I are back OP as of tomorrow and nothing will be stopping us this time! My goal with this is to see how little time it takes to hit my goal. As of now, I'm hoping by the middle of April.

Quiet time: Not doing so great with this. Since I'm always so tired at night, I think I'm going to switch and get myself up 20 minutes earlier everyday and use that for my quiet time. I just need to do this. The more time I spend reading, the more I'm going to know how to live my life and in turn, will be happier.

Room of the day: Getting back on track. Didn't get today's finished as I wasn't home all day. The time I was home I spent doing homework. Since weekends are usually my days off from cleaning, I'm going to try to do today's room tomorrow. Hopefully being the operative word.

Kris is finally feeling better. Her school has a 24 hour fever free rule which is why she was home yesterday. With that said, she had a great day back today. She was so exhausted from all the fun and excitement that she fell right to sleep! Yay! That's all I have time for (thank you God for giving me the skill of fast typing!) so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Ups and downs

The last few days have been a roller coaster ride. So as you already know Little Love has been sick. Monday was terrible. Her fever spiked to 103.3 degrees and that was after giving her medication. I picked up some cough and cold medicine for her Sunday evening not realizing that it had acetaminophen in it. Duh! I really need to learn to read everything on the bottle! For some reason acetaminophen just doesn't help her. I guess she's like me in that sense because it doesn't help me either. Anyway... I picked up ibuprofen on Monday after speaking to the doctor and about an hour after she took it, the fever finally came down. I feel so helpless when she's sick because there's just not much I can do to help her other than hold her. She just laid down all day which is very unusual for her. She loves to constantly be on the move. Anyway... Tuesday went off without a hitch. Her fever was gone completely and she was back to her normal self. We stayed at Andy's parents until last night to help Carol with the dogs and what not. Kris and I went for a walk around the block while Andy and his mom went to visit John at the hospital. We took some pictures of the snow covered trees. Kris is a lot like me in that she appreciates and loves snow. She enjoys the beauty of what is does to the earth and it excites her. Here's a few of the shots we took:

We ate at Tito's Tacos since we've all heard raves about the place. My favorite dish to get at Mexican restaurants is Chilaquelas (sp??). It's a bed of homemade tortilla chips topped with shredded chicken, a special sauce, and melted mozzarella cheese and is usually served with a side of rice and guacamole salad (which you totally have to mix everything together to get the full effect). Yum! So I ordered it at Tito's Tacos and was totally stoked about it because I haven't had that dish in at least 6 months. Um, yeah... I thought my tongue turned to ash inside my mouth! I mean, I like spicy food and all but holy cow!!! I ate about 4 bites and couldn't stomach the rest. It was actually making me feel ill :( That was very disappointing because it's one of my all-time favorite dishes. I guess I'll just have to order that one at Montezuma's or El Rodeo.

We stopped at Five Below afterwards so Kris could spend her allowance from the last two weeks. She picked up a really cute butterfly decorating kit for her room and a hula hoop. She was sooooo excited about the hula hoop. Side note--I tried to hula this morning. Yeah, that's wasn't happening. It's really sad that a 5 year old is better at it than an adult!!--End side note. We dropped Carol off and headed home, got Little Love in bed, and watched Glee while I knitted a couple of rows on Amanda's blanket. We went to bed shortly afterwards, only to be woken up at 5 a.m. to Little Love crying. When I got her to room, she was sitting on the side of her bed narfing while crying. So we raced to the bathroom to let her finish. I felt her head and she was burning up. At this point, I'm starting to freak because I realized that the ibuprofen was still sitting on his mom's counter and there was no way for me to take her temp because the battery died in our thermometer and of course it only takes watch-type batteries! The issue with the meds being at his mom wouldn't be that big of a deal except that the battery died on the outside keypad for the garage door opener and the alarm was set inside the house. The alarm keypad would be too far away to deactivate and I was pretty sure that there are no 24 hour stores around us that weren't a minimum of 20 minutes away. I got Andy awake and he, like the truly wonderful man he is (I'm so blessed!), remembered that Giant is open 24 hours. So he went to pick up the ibuprofen and thermometer while I comforted Kris. He arrived back and saved the day! :-) I took her temperature and it was back up to 102.2 degrees and gave her the medicine. She fell back to sleep until 9:30 this morning. She's been running a little fever today and hasn't eaten much so she'll definitely be off school again tomorrow. I'm just hoping that whatever she has I don't get!

Goals:

Business: I got 1/4 of my letters mailed today. I finished addressing and stuffing envelopes for the rest of the printed letters. I have about 60 more letters to finish addressing and printing. Oh the joys of marketing!

Room of the day: Kitchen--complete (including a completely unloaded and empty dishwasher!).

Quiet Time: About to be completed.

Weight loss: This came to a halt due to running out of portable food. But on a happy note, my shipment arrived today and now all my food barring one or two boxes is portable! So, tomorrow will be the official first day back op! :-)

It was really nice to get back into the swing of things today. Even having Little Love home didn't put a damper on me getting done what needed to be done. And it's just really nice to be home. With that said--I'm off. Until next time, much love and many blessings!!

♥Courtney♥

Date Day

Friday and Saturday were both pretty eventful days. Friday morning, after Kris got off to school, Andy and I headed over to the jewelers to pick up my engagement ring.

I'm totally enamored with it. LoL! I can't stop looking at it! (And I'm sure you see why!) It was well worth the wait. :-) It's honestly a lot heavier than I thought it'd be. Now, I just have to find someone who can make a LOTR band small enough (like 5mm or under at a size 4).

So I told you all about the wedding dress fiasco in my last post. Well, I just had to get out of the house after getting my ring so I took a trip down to J&B Bridals in downtown Chambersburg. I first stopped at Sheetz to grab my low-fat mint latte and some grapes to snack on (yum!). I got to the bridal store with the sole intention of only looking, not trying anything on. I told the consultant about my fiasco with RomanticGowns.com and she was literally as horrified as I was. She took me to the secret upstairs room with all the discounted, discontinued dresses (they're all marked down under $500...Score!). She pulled about six gowns out so I could take note/stock. I told her I liked all of them so she really recommended me trying them on so I reluctantly did. Here's the pictures of the first 3 dresses (sorry about the quality--they were taken with my phone):

This was one of the first dresses I saw and fell in love with.

I really liked the champagne contrasting.

That detail is what I fell in love with...Gorgeous!

My favorite after trying it on... Dress #2

This dress had the most beautiful detailing.

Favorites: The dip in the back and the faux buttons

I liked the simplicity of this dress... #3

Favorites: The pleating and crystal beads = Gorgeous!!

The simplicity of the train allows for a cathedral length veil.

I loved all three of these dresses. It was a pretty tough decision until I put on the last dress. As soon as I saw it on, I knew it was THE ONE. Pictures will have to come at a later date though since he's not allowed to see it until I walk down the isle. Well, after I fell in love I got worried that the dress was going to be out of my price range. I asked the consultant to check on it for me (they didn't have the sale price on the tag because it had literally just been taken upstairs). She came back and told me that it was a little higher than I wanted, but she talked to the owner and told him what had happened and he said that if I could pay for it in full today, he'd give it to me for the same price as the other dresses. I was like score!!! It's mine!!! I completely believe that it was totally God. On a side note: I'm totally going to talk to Casey about taking a picture of Andy's face when he first sees me :-) He's totally going to cry! LoL! So the rest of Friday was pretty uneventful. I took Kris over to her dad's. Just a note to self: I have seriously got to stop drinking so much water when in the car for long periods of time. I swear, if Jay had been any later I would've totally peed myself. Lucky Kris, she can just sit on the side of the car and go! Oh to be a kid again...Then again, maybe not!

Since we knew Kris would be with her dad this past weekend, Andy and I decided to do our Valentine's Day Saturday. He had a meeting at work from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. so I picked up my dress from the bridal shop and took it over to his mom's. Everyone wanted to see the dress and ring, so I got to walk the runway. I felt like a total dork!  Anyway... After Andy got off work, we had a really great discussion with Shari then we braved the windy and cold to walk around downtown a little. We were going to have dinner at the little bistro on Main Street but it didn't open until 4:00 p.m. so we decided on Cafe d'Italia instead. It's a really cute, small Italian restaurant that sits in the corner of the square. We got to sit in the front, where the windows look out onto the square. It was really romantic. So I ordered calamari (I love it but hardly ever order it because it's fried) and bruchetta and was totally stoked about it. She brought the bruchetta out with Andy's lasagna and then brought the calamari. I took one look and about narfed! There were calamari rings around the rim of the plate but the whole inside of the plate had fried squid tentacles!!! I seriously couldn't believe my eyes!! I have NEVER in the 10 years I've been ordering calamari ever had an experience like that! I asked if it was possible to only get the rings so she took it back and asked. Of course, I heard all the kitchen guys laughing (as was Andy). Needless to say, I won't be ordering that again! LoL! I got a salad instead so maybe that was God's way of telling me not to eat the fried food. After dinner, we went into the lighting place to get ideas for lighting in the dining room and kitchen. Then, we hit the mother load of all book stores. This store has over 9,000 books and even has historical books for sale. It was amazing! Every time I turned around, there was an entryway to another portion of the store. Each room has multiple sofas and/or chairs that invite you to cozy up with a book. There's even a room with a fireplace! It's uh-mazing!

Sunday was pretty uneventful. We picked Kris up, ate at Bob Evan's, and braved the snow driving home. We made it all in one piece. Today's been pretty uneventful as well except that Kris has been sick. She was running a pretty high fever earlier but it's thankfully gone down now. We've been having a pj-movie-watching day. Well that's about all I have time for today. Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Spring is in the air only to rain on my parade

This morning, I awoke to birds chirping outside my bedroom windows. This morning, I stood outside with Kristi and my cup of coffee in jeans and a light cardigan without a single chill running through my body. Today, I spent every minute outside without a jacket. Today, I felt the need to put on old clothes and dig in the dirt. Today, my mind raced to planning my gardens, what would go where and what would be in each. Today, I almost opened the windows to let the cool breeze chill my house (until I saw there were stinkbugs crawling all over the screens!). Today, it was the first sign of spring.

In previous years, the first sign of spring was kind of bittersweet, just as it was today. I love winter. I love everything about it. I love the cold air (but not getting the crap shocked out of me). I. Love. Snow. Absolutely everything about snow (well except maybe driving in it). I love how it blankets every nook and cranny with beautiful white wonder. I love bundling up in warm wool sweaters, hats, gloves, and scarves. I love that I can see my breath when I walk outside. I love to feel the stinging of my rosy red cheeks after spending time outside. I. Love. Snow. Now, the bittersweet part comes because I come to a point where I don't want my love affair with snow to end, but I really want to see everything blanketed in plushy green leaves. Spring signals the beginning, of newness, of birth. Spring ushers in sweet smells of fragrant flowers and beautiful sights of pastel pinks, yellows, and purples.

I'm feeling very poetic today but I think that's about enough. Some of you are probably wondering where I went and who me! Rest assured. I am back! From my dreamlike state to ramble on about the wiles of my day(s)...

Andy and I haven't celebrated V-day yet so I'll update that one after Saturday. But, speaking of romance... My ring is finished!!!! Woohoo! We got the call today! :-) I'll be picking it up tomorrow or Saturday! Score! And yes... you will have pictures the MINUTE it's on my finger. I will take a picture on my iPhone and post it. I can't promise that my phone will capture it's everlasting beauty but you'll at least get the jist. Once we get the engagements photos though, I'll post fabulous pictures of it. Our photographer (who is totally awesome and amazing) is going to definitely be taking a picture of it :-)

Business has been keeping me crazy busy this week. As I told you earlier, I spent time at the courthouse creating my individual lead list and sent them in the mail yesterday. I got my first response to them today--a phone call. While my heart jumped for joy that someone had received it and still chose to call, it immediately did a nose dive once the gentleman started talking. Let's just say he was a little less than nice. The thing that made me laugh afterwards was I offered multiple times to take him off my mailing list and was totally polite about it. At the end of the call, he stated, "I'm not going to tell you who I am!" and hung up. I was like, Oooookkkkaaaayyy. And how do you expect me to remove you from my mailing list if you don't tell me who you are? LoL! Oh well. I'm not going to let it get me discouraged. :-) I know I can do this and it takes those rotten apples to get to the good fruit sometimes. I also compiled my first list of professionals, real estate agents. Just in case you're wondering, there are 168 real estate agents in Franklin County. Um, yeah... I have about half of the letters addressed and printed and only about half of those actually signed and sealed. Who knew marketing was so much work? My dining room table looks like it's been run over by the mail truck! Moving on...

While most of my week has been on the upbeat side, my heart was very saddened and distraught earlier this afternoon. I received a phone call from the company where I ordered my dress. I'm sure I told you all about the dress a little while ago. Just in case I didn't, here's a brief synopsis: We want to keep the wedding low key since we're, um, less than monetarily endowed. So, I found THE. PERFECT. DRESS. in January. It's a strapless, ballroom gown with a semi-cathedral detachable train. It has rouching, beading, and appliqué and is just all around GORGEOUS. Well, I got the call today that they can't get the dress made in time for our wedding at the end of May (even though they told me in January it wouldn't be a problem). Okay, totally like the girl I am, I just sat there stunned and started to cry. The dress was only $225 (and did I mention it was THE. PERFECT. DRESS?)! A total steal, especially since the dress normally retails for $1,000. So I asked, just in hopes, what the earliest date would be that it could be made. Well that answer was the end of August. Okay, so now what? (It was THE. PERFECT. DRESS.) Here's my dilemma. You all know I'm currently going through a lifestyle change/diet. Since starting, I've dropped about 12 pounds. I've done this particular diet last year so I know it works and I know I can hit my goal weight prior to the wedding. My dilemma is that if I go to a bridal boutique to purchase a gown, most places that I have experience with or have talked to won't allow me to order a size smaller than what I am now. In wedding dress sizes, I'm in a 14 (normally a 10 or 12 pants size). I'm planning to be in a size 4 jean size by the time I get married, so I'd need a 6 or 8 for my wedding dress size. I can totally order the size I am now but then I'm going to have to pay a crap-ton of money for alterations which doesn't allow me to keep the dress within my budget and there's a possibility of screwing up any patterning/bead work on the dress. Now my next thought is I'm almost positive that I won't find a dress that has everything I want that'll be within my budget. The other issue is that because my wedding is so close, if I do find a dress that is perfect but have to order it, there won't be enough time to get the dress in and properly fitted/altered before the wedding. So then I'm faced with the dilemma of having to possibly back the date up. Ugh! My head hurts... Anyway, I'll keep you posted on that.

So Carol came home from the hospital today! Yay! Kris and I went over to her house to see her and hang with some of the Bentzel clan. Kris was really excited to see Sophie and vice versa. We took pictures of them outside and it was the perfect lighting for it. I'll post some pictures once I get them from Shari. The girls played for a little while and we went to visit Pap at the hospital. He looked much better than the last time I saw him. His leg is healing very well. :-)

Well this post was way longer than I meant it to be. (See, this is why I have to start updating every few days!) Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

Isn't that what business leaders drive into our heads??? It's all about the marketing. I'm almost thinking I should have went to school for a marketing degree instead of business management. I never realized how much work marketing a small business with an extremely limited budget can be. And I've only hit the tip of the iceberg! They say that you should spend a minimum of 75% of your time marketing a new business. Once you have the sources, the leads will roll in. (Boy I can't wait for that day!)

That said, I'll segment into my day... Today was an awesomely productive day. After getting Kris ready and off to school, I spent about 1 1/2 down at the courthouse doing research. I got 37 leads which isn't too bad since this is pretty much my first time looking through real estate documents (and wow can they be crazy confusing). After I got home, I spent the next 3 hours on the phone hashing out details for different things, paying bills, and setting up the database to keep my research and lead prospects organized. It's been a long time since I've used Access for anything other than an already previously created template. And that was just to catalog our CD's/DVD's. Plus, Microsoft had the bright idea to change the interface of the Office Suite in 2007 so now I have no idea where any of the buttons are. That took me a better part of 2 hours to figure out and by that time, Kris was home. We hung out for most of the evening and while she got a shower, I got the first round of postcards (first marketing endeavor) typed, printed, signed, and stamped. They are ready for the mailbox tomorrow. Now this is where I have intensely mixed feelings. Up until now, this has just been a okay, this is what I want to do and this is what I would like see happen. But now, reality is starting to set in and I know the minute I mail these postcards, I will more than likely start getting calls. That's a little scary to me since I'm still in the learning stage. I guess the one really awesome thing about this job is that it really is a learn as you earn business. On one hand, that's great because I don't have to study for years before starting to make money. On the other hand, that's a little disconcerting for me. I'm one of those I have to know everything before jumping in. I'm excited and apprehensive all at the same time.

Well, I'm off to do homework and finally sit down to knit. I have to at least finish this lace repeat or this blanket will never get finished. Until next time, much love and many blessings!!

♥Courtney♥

P.S. If you want to find out what I'm working on, check out my crafting blog: On My Needles!

The shame of it all...

I totally forgot to put this in my other post... So last night I got the not so bright idea to dye my hair. I bought Nice N' Easy Darkest Natural Brown. It's only a shade darker than my natural color. I thought dying it a little darker would keep it as close to my natural color when it fades as possible. So here's how it turned out...

A very tired me today

That is definitely NOT darkest natural brown. Um... That's bright black!! I think they put the wrong color in the box. Here's crossing my fingers that it fades before my engagement photos next month.

♥Courtney♥

Movies, Valentine's, and Family

Wow has this week been crazy, crazy, and more crazy! Between school, working, and a couple of visits to the hospital, I feel as though I've had no time to do anything! I'm definitely not complaining because I love my life and the business/craziness. So the week started with a call to school to get my bachelor's stuff squared away. I haven't made my final decision about that so I'll update you about that at a later time.

We had a couple of trips to the hospital with John (Andy's step-dad). I won't bore you with the details but I can definitely tell you that I think Chambersburg Hospital is one of the worst I have ever seen! The care that John has received has been less than stellar (and that's being nice) and because of said care, has had many post operative complications. Anyway... so we've been out visiting him a lot and helping his mom out. Well she went into the hospital a couple of days ago so we stayed at their place to take care of the dogs. (Both of them will be fine so no worries.)

Saturday we went out for some entertainment which we don't get to do very often. First we went to JoAnn Fabrics for their kids craft corner. They usually do them once a month and on holidays. Kristi got to make a card and trinket box:

Front

Inside

Back

 She had a blast! And while she did that, because I of course couldn't see what she was making until it was finished, I got to look around the store. After she was finished, we drove to Gettysburg to see Gnomeo and Juliet. It was really cute. She was absolutely riveted during the whole movie which is definitely not like her!

So that is the short update of my uber busy week. School wise there's really nothing to report. I mostly stayed on top of my work. Business wise nothing really got done because I just didn't have time. House wise, again, not much got done because I just didn't have time.

So there it is... My week in a nutshell and I still think this is one of my shorter posts! Yay for me! Until next time, have a great week, much happiness, and many blessings! Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!!

♥Courtney♥

Weddings and Parties

Yesterday was just an all around AWESOME day! It started off with my sister Sarah, Kristi, and I going shopping for wedding stuff. We started at Chambersburg Mall to look for dresses for both weddings. We found an adorable yellow, blue, and red plaid dress for Kris for Sarah's wedding at Burlington Coat Factory (I seriously forgot how much I LOVE that place). And the bonus--It was on sale for uber cheap!! It's a cotton dress so it'll definitely be good for Sarah's summer wedding at the beach. We also found Kris and Kate's dresses for my wedding. By finding those dresses, I finally settled on colors. I was originally going to do pink and green and more of a pastel palette. But, as I was looking for flowers a few weeks ago, I found this beautiful bouquet that had a dark but bright pink and a brighter orange that was gorgeous so I've been keeping the orange-and-pink combination in the back of my head. Well, after finding these dresses, I totally decided to go for it. They're bright and fun and totally my personality. I unfortunately don't have a picture but as soon as I pick them up, I'll take one. They have orange satin with a pink sheer overlay. The bust area is pleated and there are three flowers underneath. The bottom has a matching satin trim. They are seriously g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. The other really awesome thing about them is that they are dressy enough for our wedding but casual enough to be worn again which is something I totally wanted. And, here's the best part about it--they're only $25! Score!! Anyway... So the flowers I chose are an orange tiger lily with pink center, green gerbera daisy, and small white flower (don't know the name) with very light pink tips. They look great together and really tie in all the colors I wanted to include.

Of course the bouquets will be bigger but I like the simplicity of just these three in a single vase sitting on top of a mirror as centerpieces. We're not having a traditional reception so I don't feel the decorations should be traditional. :-) Sarah found all the flowers for her wedding and she had a great idea of using her and the bridesmaids bouquets as part of the centerpieces. That'll definitely save money in the long run! All the flowers were found at Michael's and most were 40% off. I totally love a steal!

Moving on to business... Not much has gotten done this week. I was uber swamped with school work and getting the rec room ready for our SB party. However, I'll be cracking down this week by checking out some lead options as well as mailing out my letters. I'll also be finalizing the date of my tasting for TSFL and contacting my business coaches to help with that. I'm really getting excited about these businesses! I definitely have to give props to my friend (and wedding photographer/fellow knitter). She has been starting her own business this year and blogs about her progress. It really inspires me to stay on track with my own, so thanks a bunch Casey!!

School has been interesting to say the least. I have a 95% in management and I'm really enjoying the class. I find the reading fascinating and informative so I'm not having any problems with it. I am, however, having some major issues with international business. So much so, that I actually called my academic counselor and professor to see what my options are for retaking it at a later date (but not so late that it would push back graduation). My professor gave me some tips to help with studying. I've honestly, in my entire school career, never had this amount of trouble with a course--not even AP US History. So this is definitely a new experience. I have until the end of this week to decide if I'm going to drop the course. I'm going to see how the assignments go this week and take it from there. IDK... I really wish I didn't need this class in order to graduate. Such is life...

Yesterday we our SB party and although the Steelers didn't win, we all had a really great time. We had about 12 people who came to hang. I made some really awesome, super healthy food, if I do say so myself. My friend Mel gave me a recipe for buffalo chicken dip (I love spicy food)! You can get the recipe for Frank's Redhot Buffalo Chicken Dip here. Here were my modifications for making it healthier: substitute fat-free cream cheese, fat-free ranch, fat-free mozzarella cheese, and grilled chicken breast. Our WalMart didn't have the Frank's hot sauce so I substituted Texas Pete's original hot sauce. I served it with celery and reduced-fat wheat thins. The other dip I created came from Alison Sweeney's website (for those of you who don't know her, she's Sami on Days and the host of The Biggest Loser. If you don't know who that is, well I can't help you!). Click here for the recipe. The one I made was the yogurt and seasoning dip. I couldn't find fat-free greek yogurt, so I just used regular fat-free yogurt. I didn't measure the seasonings but did it to taste. I served this with celery, carrots, and potato chips brought by the guests. I'm a Hellavugood French Onion dip fan but I have to say, I would take the dip I made over theirs any day! I was really surprised at the taste.

I guess that's enough for one day... Until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

P.S. If you want to find out my latest project, check out On My Needles!

Staying "On Track" at Parties

Okay so there's not a way for me to share this directly (they totally should get those share buttons) however for those of you who are close to me know I've been on a weight loss journey. I have found the most amazing plan that really works! Anyway, Dr. Wayne Andersen has a blog which he updates and I found this post that I wanted to share. I wanted to copy and paste it here but now that I'm thinking about it, that's probably copyright infringement, so here's the website: http://www.drwayneandersen.com/2011/02/be-a-winner-at-your-super-bowl-party/. If you struggle like I do at parties, this is a must read! Enjoy!

Snow days

Kris didn't have school on Tuesday so we spent the day lounging in our pj's, hanging together, playing games, and just having fun. We started with breakfast and then played some games. Tuesdays are my day to clean the bedrooms. Kristi wanted to help so I asked her to pick up her room so that I could vacuum. She lovingly obliged and put Gregorian Chants in her CD player to clean to (such a proud mama!). About 15 minutes after she started, she called to have me see. I walked in and was so proud because there was nothing on the floor! Then, I noticed the closet doors were closed. Out of curiosity, I checked inside and viola--all the stuff from the floor was now in there. I laughed, completely and totally. I did explain that "cleaning up" didn't mean stuffing everything in her closet. She was like, "Oh." So, she took everything out and this time really put everything away. And she did it all without complaining! Once that was done, I started vacuuming her room and she of course wanted to help.

The vacuum was a little heavy for her but all in all she did a really good job! So after we finished that, I did some laundry while she played. She helped me cook stir-fry for dinner. It was a really nice day of just spending some quality time together. :-)

As far as business is concerned, not much has gotten done there this week. Same with cleaning (except for yesterday). This week has been pretty crazy with things. 

On the weight loss front, this week was definitely disappointing. I only lost .5 lb which didn't make me very happy, especially since I've been 100% on plan. I don't know; I guess it's just an off week.

I got my upstairs office more or less completely set-up. That was a yay! The downstairs office is now 100% business only. It's kind of nice having my areas split up. I can't stand how cold it is downstairs so this is definitely helping me with school work and paying bills (although this week I'm already behind). We got the spare room/office set-up, all except the bed. All the pieces are there to finish setting it up except for the hardware. We went through more boxes in the rec room but still haven't found it. I'm assuming it'll be in the very last box we look in because that's just our luck.

After Kristi got home from school, we went to the store to get crafting stuff. Kristi was so excited to spend her allowance for the first time. We've been having some behavioral issues with her lately so we started having her earn allowance for obeying us, helping with chores (i.e. cleaning her room), getting ready for school without complaining, and going to bed without complaining (these have been the biggies for the past month or so). So far she's doing great. We've only had one evening and one morning where she lost part of her allowance. It was really cute to see her so excited though. I told her she could get whatever she wanted except for candy and she immediately gravitated to crafting projects (yup... she's totally my kid!). Here's what she picked out:

I have to say though that I was a little disappointed with our Dollar Tree's selection of crafting supplies. We have a HUGE Dollar Tree here so I thought there'd be lots of stuff to choose from but the crafting supplies other than paper was slim. I figured, "Why not go to Dollar Tree so she gets the most for her money?" The one in York has an isle with all kinds of glitter, glitter glue, popsicle sticks, fuzzy balls, googley eyes, etc. so I assumed this one would too. I think next time we'll just take a trip down there or maybe to Hagerstown (if there's one there). We could probably try Five Below too. I think the one I was in was pretty awesome! Anyway... She got a new folder for school since her other one is all messed up and she was really happy about that. She ran out of construction paper so she was really happy to find that. Of course, anything Ariel or Princess is a must on her list. LoL! :-)    

Well, that's about all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

P.S. If you want to know what I'm currently working on, check out On My Needles!