Sometimes and Always #12

Sometimes: I can't believe that I married a guy so country. 

Always: I think my hubby is super sexy with all his country ways...it's how a man should be!

Sometimes: I want to punch my puppies in the face.

Always: I refrain from doing that because they are just too cute. 

Sometimes: I can't believe that hibachi restaurants are so expensive. 

Always: The meals are so delicious that I always say it's worth it!

From this weekend...super yum!

Sometimes: Lifetime movies give me nightmares. 

Always: I keep watching them...even when I'm home alone. 

Sometimes: I wash my hands so many times at work that my skin starts cracking. 

Always: I have a major germ obsession and can't stand dirty hands!

Feel free to play along and link up with your own sometimes and always comments...the more the merrier! : ) 

Love and Kindness

I am SO excited to announce some big news today...

I am joining up with Anna from In Honor of Design and Michaela from Michaela Noelle Designs to spread a little love and kindness around the blogosphere...right in time for February, the month of love!

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Basically, here's the deal...in the next week, do something kind and out of the ordinary for someone. It can be someone you know or someone you don't know. Think of something that would give you a little jolt of happiness...and then do that for someone else! 

Here's a few ideas:

- Pay for the person behind you in a fast food drive-thru. 

- Leave a note on someone's car telling them to have a great day. 

- Offer to go grocery shopping for your grandma. 

- Bake some cookies and leave them on your neighbor's door. 

- Write the mailman a note saying you appreciate his/her hard work. 

- Tape a "great job" note to your coworker's door/locker/desk. 

There's so many things to do...it doesn't have to cost any money! The whole goal is to spread some kindness to those we come into contact with. Think about it...if you brighten someone else's day, they will in return quite possibly brighten another person's day. And the love can continue to spread...

So go ahead and think about a few things that y'all can do...and then be sure to come back here on Feb 6th (next Monday) and link up with Anna, Michaela, and I! 

Love, love!

Friday Five

I've put together a little list of 5 things that I am totally loving/wanting this Friday.

1) A white dress to go with my brown boots. 

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2) A little lunch time picnic with hubby. 

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3) Hair that looks gorgeous at all times. 

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4) Chocolate fondue for dessert. 

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5) A big ole chandelier in our house somewhere. 

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Our plans this weekend include: REST...as I still cannot shake this sickness! 

I promise to stop whining about it someday. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Love, love!

Spread Some Love

I was super excited to see 29 people link up yesterday! Woohoo! I love reading all the posts!

Today I'm sharing three friends that y'all really need to know...like now. 

First up is sweet Renee from This Won't Hurt a Bit. 

We have become blog friends recently and I simply adore her. Plus, we live pretty close and are hoping for a potential blate one day! She is a nurse and her blog covers a multitude of topics, including life, fashion, inspiration, and love. She always has something fun to share! Go pay her blog a visit!

Next is the amazingly creative Amanda at Sweet Tea Paperie. 

Her shop is FULL of absolutely breathtaking things...from calendars to cutting boards to address labels to iPhone cases. And everything comes preciously monogrammed of course! I could browse around in her shop all day! One of my favorite things right now is the desktop calendar...so cute!

Buy here.

Buy here. 

Last up is the adorable Amy, who blogs over at The Charming. 

Isn't she precious?!

Amy's blog is SO full of positive inspiration, words of wisdom, wedding ideas and tips, fashion, etc. She posts super cute outfit pictures (like above) and really loves photography and design. Plus, she's engaged and planning her wedding! She always has such a great attitude and it's really a joy to read her blog!

Go and check my friends out and tell them I sent y'all! Pretty please. : )

Love, love!

Sometimes and Always #11

Sometimes: I take a two hour nap...like as in yesterday.

Always: I hate taking naps because I feel like a zombie afterward!

Sometimes: My hubby and I bake chocolate chip cookies at 10 pm. 

Always: We eat them all. : )

Sometimes: I want to live back in my college town with all my best friends. 

Always: I know that we are where God wants us to be. 

Sometimes: I say "I refuse to watch any more Bachelors because it never works out."

Always: I end up watching...and getting involved...and being sad when it doesn't work out.

Sometimes: I can't figure out how to blow my nose. 

Always: It takes me a few times to get anything out after blowing. (TMI, I know!)

Sometimes: I don't have any pictures to use in my blog post. 

Always: I fall back on old pictures...or couple pictures. You can never go wrong with those!

picture by Brandi Smyth Photography

I'd love for y'all to link up with me! Once you get started, they come pretty quickly! 

Love, love!

Happy Hair

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: I have some of the thickest, frizziest hair that a person could ever have. 

That's why I was literally thrilled when Misikko contacted me to review one of their top-sellers, the HANAair Professional Hair Dryer. I might have checked for the package every single day...and squealed when it arrived. It was like Christmas all over again. : )

Here's the first important thing to note: the box comes STUFFED full of goodies, including nail files, hand sanitizer, Paul Mitchell shampoo/conditioner, a brush, HANA shine serum, bath goodies, a towel, an eyelash curler, and a precious teddy bear. I just stood there for a few minutes taking it all in. Talk about a great package!

So I did what any normal person would do...I rushed to shower so that I could practice blow drying my hair with my fancy new dryer. And then I made my husband time me with his phone. 

I was completely "blown" away when I turned it on...the stream of air coming out was so fierce. 

Ready for the amazing results? It normally takes me 15 minutes to blow dry my hair with my cheap Revlon hair dryer. (I told y'all I have super thick hair!) It took me 8 minutes and 27 seconds to dry my hair with the HANAair dryer!! That cut off over 6 minutes...which is 6 more minutes that I can sleep in from now on. 

Plus, the super cool thing was that my hair was SO soft and definitely less frizzy. It even took my less time to straighten it. And it seems like every time I use my new dryer, my hair is softer and shinier. Like it's working magic with every use. And I certainly need some magic on this crazy hair. 

Here's my before picture, after using my old dryer:

And here's the after picture, after using the HANAair dryer:

See how much less frizz there is at the bottom of my hair?! That's amazing. And like I said, it seems to get better each time I use it. 

Final Grade: A big ole' A+

So if y'all are in the market for a new dryer, I highly highly recommend the HANAair Professional Hair Dryer...it is the best hair dryer that I've ever had! They also have an amazing selection of professional hair straighteners and curling irons, so be sure to check everything out. One thing I love about their site is they have so many customer reviews of their products...you really feel like you're getting the scoop before buying! 

Let me know if y'all have any questions...or need some help looking around on their website!

Love, love!

Disclaimer: I was given the above mentioned hair dryer to review, but the opinions listed are all my own. I was not compensated in any other way.

Weekend in Instagram

Other than having absolutely no voice at all (which husband said was "awesome"), I am feeling so much better. I really appreciate all the sweet words and well wishes! 

Here's a little from our weekend, courtesy of Instagram:

- My friends for the past 5 days. 

- Blue eyed hottie. 

- Sleepy bunnies. 

- Saturday dinner...that hubs cooked while I watched tv was sick. 

- Snuggled up in pajamas together watching the new Lifetime movie. 

- Someone got booted off the bed. 

- Fresh baked dessert. 

I'm linking up today with the lovely Jenni. 

What did y'all do this weekend?

Love, love!

All the Noise

Do y'all wanna know something that should be against the law?

Starting construction work at 7 am...especially when someone living super close is sick and needs sleep. We live in a new(ish) neighborhood and houses are constantly going up. 

Right now, they are building three right behind our house and the "bang bang bang" and "smash smash smash" and "tink tink tink" are so loud that I can't sleep in...even with a loud heater AND a sound machine on. It's miserable. And I wanted to call the cops for noise disturbance, but husband said I probably shouldn't. 

The third one is much closer, about two houses down from ours on the left. 

And since that was the first time I got off the couch/chair to go somewhere other than the bathroom or kitchen for the last two days, the pups were super excited and had to run outside and hog the camera. Or maybe they were just excited to get 5 seconds of exercise. Eh. Who knows. 

Cashmere. 

Diesel. 

Radar. 

And all of that made for a very eventful day. ; ) Back to the couch I went. Exhausted. 

Happy weekend! 

Love, love!

The Time Sickness Won

At work Tuesday, I started feeling bad...sore throat, body aches, and cough. I wasn't running fever and I didn't want to leave early, so I toughed it out. By the time I got home, I felt horrible...basically like I had been run over by a huge truck...twice. 

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So of course hubby was at work that night. And I called him...and then started crying, because apparently I'm super emotional when I'm sick. I actually did go to bed early and as I laid there on my deathbed, these thoughts seriously went through my head:

"Why can't my mommy live with us so she can be here when I need her?" 

"Who is going to get up every hour and re-wet my washcloth to put on my head?"

"I have to get up and get my own juice?"

"Why will no one text me back at 4 am? No one should be sleeping when I feel this bad."

So yeah, I basically learned that I'm a big baby when it comes to being sick and I need someone to be there to wait on me. Let's just say my mommy spoiled me. 

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I'm happy to report that I am feeling much better and I'm actually able to get out of bed. Win. 

Love, love!

Sometimes and Always #10

Time to link up for Sometimes and Always! Feel free to join in! : )

Sometimes: I can't think of anything to write in these posts. 

Always: I can usually think of some pretty good ones pretty quickly!

Sometimes: I get really sad/lonely when my husband is gone to work. 

Always: I love having control of the tv and remote control. : )

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Sometimes: I leave clothes in the dryer for days. 

Always: Hubby gets mad and ends up folding them. Win. 

Sometimes: I really hate talking on the phone. 

Always: I screen my calls and wait for people to leave voicemails to see what they need. 

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Sometimes: I really get frustrated with patients at work. 

Always: I remind myself that if God loves them, so can I. But it's still hard. 

Sometimes: My husband watches the most boring shows on tv...like hunting. 

Always: I like to go and jump on him/block his view when the show is something I don't like. 

Thanks to all the beauties who link up with me...I love reading all the posts!

Love, love!

Weekend of Babes

This past weekend hubby and I drove back to my college town for a friend's baby shower. 

Well, I went for the baby shower. Husband went because I made him he wanted to drive with me. I have no actual pictures from the baby shower, but it was so nice to reunite with some old college friends and trade life stories and a few laughs. Plus, the shower was in a cupcake shop, so y'all know that made me happy. 

Afterwards we went to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant and spent time loving on our favorite babies. 

Great weekends sure do make it easier to get the week going, right?!

Love, love!