Monday, October 31, 2016

Weekend Highs & Lows #46

Hello everyone!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with fun and exciting adventures  



Happy Halloween Friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to enjoy some costumes and parties with friends! 



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Highs:

On Friday night, Justin went out to The Melting Pot to celebrate our 5th Anniversary! It is so crazy to think that we have been married for five years and together a grand total of 12.  Dinner on Friday was so nice because Justin surprised me with rose petals and a bouquet of roses at the table when we arrived.



The evening ended with us watching 27 Dresses and passing out because we had so much food we were in a food coma.

Saturday started with us running to check on my cousin's dog because she had her baby! We were hoping he would be born on our anniversary, but he made his grand arrival on Saturday around four in the morning.  In the afternoon, we went to Justin's cousin Wesley's house for cake and ice cream to celebrate Wesley's birthday before rushing home to partake in the Halloween "Boo" trail and party for the kids in our neighborhood.


Saturday evening, we tried a cooking class at Sur La Table and it was so much fun!  We made some delicious steak, salad, sqush au gratin and dessert.  I am excited to try the Au Gratin Recipe for Thanksgiving in a few weeks! It was so good! 


Sunday in the morning we made our way out to Best Buy so Justin could pick up his Anniversary gift (it was back ordered otherwise he would have received it on Friday).  After Best Buy we made our way to Target to pick up a few things and grab a gift for my cousin's baby as we had planned to go visit them at the hospital.  I also picked up a dress for Thanksgiving! I am in love with this dress from Target.  

After the hospital, we made our way home and spent the rest of the day hanging out at home and playing video games with some of our best friends.  Overall, it was a great weekend!


Lows:

I did zero chores all weekend and I feel a little overwhelmed by all of the things I have to get done by this Saturday!



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Sunday, October 30, 2016

Groupon Goods - Great for Gift Giving

The following is a sponsored post, which means I am compensated in some form for writing it.  All opinions are my own.   


Happy Sunday Friends! 
I hope your weekend has been going wonderfully and you are looking forward to an exciting Halloween on Monday! We are excited to have our first ever group of trick-or-treaters {I think somewhere around 100-150 kids to be exact!} coming to our house to get some delicious candy or toys for those that cannot eat candy.  So of course I bought the full-size bars at Costco.  

Today I wanted to share with you a little bit about Groupon Goods! I have been shopping with Groupon Goods for a while and have managed to get a few great items for myself as well as gifts for Justin.  A few years ago, I snagged a Funko Pop as a stocking stuffer and he has slowly been building a collection as a result of me purchasing that first Batman one a few years ago!  With the holidays around the corner and a few birthdays coming up in my family and Justin’s family, it seems like the perfect opportunity to utilize Groupon Goods for some creative and fun gift ideas. 

If you have not heard about Groupon Goods, you should definitely try them out! They provide a wide variety of gift options that you can purchase for yourself or a loved one ranging from household goods to gifts for pets.  I mean, how cute is this Double Dog Stitch Puff Vest? 


With the holidays quickly approaching, Groupon Goods could help you purchase some items for family and friends without the hassle of going to the store and fighting the crowds to get an item you could possibly get through Groupon Goods {and at a lower cost than in the store}.  The best part is the items you can buy rotate out on a regular basis, so you can get new inspiration for Holiday Shopping every time you check out Groupon Goods.

 So what do you think? I hope you are able to find some fun and exciting gifts for everyone on your shopping list! 

 Question of the Day: What have you purchased from Groupon in the past?

I'd love to hear from you!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received payment from Groupon for this post. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Read my full disclosure policy here.
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Monday, October 24, 2016

Weekend Highs & Lows #45



Happy Monday Friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! This weekend was a bit chaotic for us, but we had a wonderful time enjoying the cooler weather and some awesome people!

Sorry I disappeared for a week! It has been a little crazy lately between work and all of the things we've had happening.  I promise I will jump back on the bandwagon and share some fun content with you all.  

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Highs:

On Friday night we finished painting our dining room! Once we get the table in the room, I will be sure to show the whole thing, but in the mean time, here is a sneak peek of the changes that we made to the room:


What do you think? So far I am loving it, but we have a ways to go before we are finished with the room.

Saturday morning I got up to go for a quick run before getting the house ready for Sarah's going away party! We had a fun evening spent with fun Halloween costumes, good company and general relaxation.  I love getting together with some friends to celebrate a major life event! Sarah leaves for Bali in two weeks for one year or more! We are so excited to see where this journey takes her.





Sunday was spent sleeping in, a "long' run, cleaning and doing some chores.  Of course, I also had a few in-home parties to go to in the evening and spend some time getting some Christmas ideas for family and friends.


Lows:

Haven't been feeling the greatest lately.  Hopefully whatever it is will go away and I can start getting back to normal.



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Friday, October 21, 2016

Just stopping by...

Happy Friday Friends! I hope you are having the most wonderful week and are looking forward to some fun and exciting adventures this weekend! We are looking forward to painting the dining room and a Going Away/Halloween party tomorrow.

I wanted to pop by really quickly to apologize for disappearing! This week has been a bit chaotic and I felt it would be unfair to you all to just throw together a few posts for the sake of posting.  The last thing I want to do is just post something.  I will admit I am a bit sad I missed another fun round of Show and Tell Tuesdays, but such is life.

On a super exciting note, I finished the Detroit International 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday and I got a new car this week! 


Quick Recap of the 1/2 Marathon

If you do not know what the Detroit International 1/2 Marathon is, it is almost exactly what you would expect it to be.  We run from the U.S. into Canada and back via the Ambassador Bridge and the Windsor Tunnel.  


I have to admit, I really did not enjoy this race {the above picture was taken at mile 3}.  I really struggled to finish this race and was having a hard time overcoming the mental part of running a 1/2 marathon.  I am grateful I had the opportunity to run and finish the 1/2 marathon, but I did not leave this one feeling awesome about myself.  


However, now that a few days have gone by and I have had a chance to really digest the race, I feel super proud that I finished the race.  And I am really grateful for the team with which I run and the organization {and people} we run for.  I look forward to running the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon in 3 weeks!


Getting a New Car!

If you remember, last week I shared about my car being totaled.  Thankfully, the insurance came back and offered us $3000 more than we owed on the car which allowed us to get me a new vehicle.  We had picked out a new car a few weeks back, but the car could not have the deals applied to it until October 18th, so we had to wait to pick it up.

Well, at 9:00 am on the 18th, we got the call we could come get the car and on Tuesday evening we rushed after work to pick up the car.  We ended up buying a 2016 Chevy  Malibu and so far I am loving the vehicle! I feel a little technology challenged because it is so much more advanced than my old car.  


Do you name your cars? My last car had the name Fausta Fiesta and my new car has been aptly named Merida Malibu.  We thought it was a fun name and seeing as I have bright red hair currently, it felt only natural to give her a name after a red-headed character. 


As I learn more about the car, I will be more excited to share with you all! So far, I am most excited about the Apple CarPlay - now to figure out how to actually use it. 

Well that is all for my quick pop in - I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to catching up on Monday!

Question of the Day: Do you name your car? What is your current car's name?
I'd love to hear from you!
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Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Stranded with.... Halloween Candy!

Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope all is well and you are having a great day so far! Today I am teaming up with Shay and Erika for a fun new series called "Stranded With" where you discuss three things you would take if you were stranded on deserted island.


For today's series, we are focusing on....

Halloween Candy!

I love this time of year because that is when some of the best candies come out (besides Easter) and I find myself eating more candy in the month of October than I do almost any other month of the year.  I think the December is a close second when it comes to sweets in general {so many delicious cookies and pies}.  

So here are my three picks of candies I would take with me if I could only take three with me to the island.

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So in general, Reese's are my absolute favorite candy, but when the Reese's Pumpkins come out around Halloween, I am in heaven.  I am not sure what is different between regular Reese's and Pumpkin Reese's, but I love the Pumpkins.  I think the reason I like them so much is because they have a higher peanut butter to chocolate ratio than a regular Reese's.  Whenever I see them in a store, I'll grab one or two and throw them into the freezer at home.  There is something so delicious about frozen chocolate and peanut butter.  Yum! 


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The next Halloween candy I think of and love is Candy Corn, but it's not just the candy corn, but the fall mix from Braich's that has the little pumpkins in it as well.  As a kid, my grandma almost always had this candy mixture in a bowl at her house and I always loved grabbing a few of them from the bowl.  As an adult, I still love them, but I definitely cannot eat them by the handful anymore as they are just so sweet.  


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This is not necessarily a "Halloween" candy, but as a kid I was thrilled when someone had Dubble Bubble in their Halloween Candy.  For as long as I can remember, I have always love chewing gum and Dubble Bubble was the epitome of gum to me and continues to be a favorite to this day.


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So these are the three Halloween candies I would take to me if I was going to a remote island (though I am not sure how well the Reese's would hold up in warm weather).  I hope you enjoyed this post today! 

To read what other people are saying, check out the link up on Mix and Match Mama's blog today!


Up Next on Stranded With....

Outerwear




Question of the Day: What is your favorite 
Halloween candy?

I'd love to hear from you!




Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

I'm Getting a New Car!

Happy Tuesday Friends! I hope you have had a great start to your week and the Monday Madness did not drag into Tuesday for you like it did for me.

Today I wanted to give you all a quick update because I just realized that I had not shared this with everyone yet... but three weeks ago Justin got into a car accident with my car and my car has been totaled.  Thankfully no one was injured and there were no airbags deployed, but the car took a beating.  Justin was driving to pick me up from work and he had someone turn left in front of him thus causing Justin to t-bone the other person's car.

At first, we were thinking that there would not be a ton of cost to fix the car because we could drive the car and the damage did not look all that bad, but the initial quote came back at $4500 for the damage.  Of course, we had assumed my car was only worth $5000, so they would have totaled the car right? Wrong.  


They had to send the car off to the auto body shop to get into the nitty gritty details of the damage to the car and determine what really happened inside the vehicle because the initial quote was just preliminary.  Of course, once they opened up the vehicle they found that the car had damage on the rails (which ultimately meant that the frame of the car was kaput), the car was deemed as a total loss and we were able to finally get rid of the vehicle. 

Honestly, I thought I would be more sad to say goodbye to this car, but I was ready to part with it long before the car ever was damaged.  When Ford designed the vehicle, they made some significant errors that caused the vehicle to have a ton of issues.  Coupled with the construction errors and the poor quality of service at the dealership, I was ready to trash the car myself.  Thankfully, this worked out exactly as it was meant to and we walked away getting $3000 more than we owed on the car which is the perfect amount to put down on a new car.  


So that has been the totaled car drama that we've been handling over the three weeks or so.  I am so happy with how our insurance handled everything and feel blessed that we had insurance that covered 100% of the costs.  The seriously made the entire process so amazing and I feel so good to know they had our back the entire time.  

But on an exciting note, we are looking to get a new car this week! Currently, we are looking at a 2016 Chevy Malibu because it had everything we needed/wanted and it had a ton of great incentives right now.  I will let you know if I end up getting a new car this week!

Well that is all for today!

Question of the Day: Have you ever totaled a car?
I'd love to hear from you!


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Monday, October 10, 2016

Weekend Highs & Lows #44

Hello everyone!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with fun and exciting adventures  



Happy Monday Friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! This weekend was a bit chaotic for us, but we had a wonderful time! 

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Highs:

This weekend was so much fun! On Friday we had someone come out to give us a quote for blinds.  It was great to pick out all of the different colors and swatches.  Now to see how much they will cost us... I think we will be a little surprised by the cost.

On Saturday, my mom and I transplanted some flowers from her house to mine so we could finally start working on the landscaping in the front of the house.  We only managed to get five plants over, but it already adds a little something to the front of the house without being too much.

Saturday evening my niece and nephew came over to hang out for a few hours while Justin's family went to a wedding.  We did some crafts, painted some artwork and made brownies together! It was a blast hanging out with the kids and just enjoying their company.

On Sunday, we went Apple Picking for the 4th year in a row and it was so much fun! It was a chilly day so it was perfect for apple picking! We ended the day with sushi and TV with Nick and Kevin.  I will do a bigger post about apple picking tomorrow, but here is a photo of the group.




Lows:

Honestly, this weekend was so much fun! We had a great time with family and friends and I am grateful for how much fun we had.



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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Currently: October 2016

Happy Thursday Friends! I hope your week has been going well so far and you are looking forward to some fun plans this weekend! Today I am doing another fun round of "currently".  I came across this idea on Becca Dorr's Blog - you should check her out!

Photo Source: UMad.com

ANTICIPATING: Halloween! This is the first year that we will have Trick-o-Treater's! I am so excited to get some candy and pass it out to all of the kids in the neighborhood.  Plus, it will be fun to do some decorating for the house.  If you have a chance, check out my Halloween Craft Roundup that I posted yesterday.  

CLEANING: So much laundry.  No matter how much laundry I complete, I feel like I am constantly doing more.  Justin and I are going to purge some clothing so hopefully that will help, but the biggest thing is doing one load of laundry a day instead of doing 4-5 in one day.   

 DREADING: All of the colds that happen this time of year.  We are still experiencing some very warm weather so the allergens are staying away, but as soon as it cools off allergies will kick in and colds will start happening.

 DRINKING: I have been drinking a ton of Gatorade and water the last few weeks.  Trying to stay hydrated after being sick.

FEELING: Excited! Our annual fort sleepover is a week from Saturday and it will be the first time we are having it at the new house.  I am excited to see how this year goes since we are in a new location! I bet it will be even more epic than years past.

 LISTENING: Currently I am listening to The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman on Audible and it is SO good.  I am about halfway through the book and I am riveted.  Be looking for my review at the end of the month once I get a chance to finish the book.

PLAYING: Last month Justin and I got a Nintendo 3DS in Red and I have been addicted to it.  As a kid I loved playing my GameBoy and this takes me back to the hours of Super Mario and Kirby that I played when I was a kid.  The best part? They have versions of both of those games for the 3DS that I can play now.  

READING: Right now I am still reading What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.  I am also planning to read Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs before the movie comes out on September 30th.   

RECOVERING: For the past week or so, I have been recovering from a stomach bug.  It has been tearing through the office and several people have been sick over the past few weeks.  I was one of it's victims and have been recovering from the bug.  

TRYING: To get more organized.  Lately I've been feeling a little overwhelmed at home and realized it is because things are a bit disorganized.  Part of the problem is I just do not have space to put things and another part of the problem is the fact that we are not done unpacking.  Hopefully things will get moving soon and we will be a little more settled in the near future.  

WAITING: Justin and I ordered our dining room table last week and it is going to take 8-10 weeks to arrive.  I cannot wait for it to come in so we can start decorating that space.  Right now it is just empty and does not have anything in it.  I am really hoping we are able to get it decorated before Thanksgiving.  

WEARING: My booties! I am so excited that it is fall and I can wear some boots and booties.  I picked up these booties from Zulily and love them! 

Question of the Day: What do you have going on "currently"?

I'd love to hear from you!


Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Halloween 2016 Craft Roundup

Happy Wednesday Friends! The week is half over! I hope your week has been going well and you have smooth sailing from now until the weekend.

Can you believe we are already in October and Halloween is only 27 days away? Do you know what you will be dressing up as for Halloween? I am struggling to come up with something and would love some great inspiration from you all.  For today's post, I am going to share some awesome Halloween crafts I came across on Pinterest.  All of these crafts {and more} can be found on my Holidays: Halloween Board on Pinterest if you are interested in getting some more.

I am super excited because we will have Trick-O-Treater's for the first time ever so you know I will be buying some way too much candy for the kids in our neighborhood.  So I needed a few things to decorate my house and loved all of these fun options!



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1. Cardboard Tombstones from eHow



2. Googly Eyes Wreath from DIY Network



3. Halloween Window Display from Jenns Random Scraps 



4. Halloween Yarn Garland from Growing Up Gabel 


5. Trash Bag Spider Webs from Fast Forward Fun



6. Headless Horseman Figure from HGTV



7. DIY Floating Candles from HP Wish List



8. DIY Skull Candle Holder from Endlessly Inspired



9. Mummy Door Decor from Honey and Fitz



10. Spooky Welcome Mat from Creative Live


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Aren't these tutorials super cute? I am looking forward to giving some of them a try to use for the Fall! And boy am I ever looking forward to cooler weather and scarves!

If you want to see other fun ideas for Halloween Decorations, check out my Pinterest board for more inspiration!





Want even more inspiration? Check out these fun ideas from some of my fellow bloggers!

DIY Halloween Jars from Metro Detroit Mommy
Candy Corn Decorative Bottles from Mom Among Chaos
DIY Monster Pudding Cups from Dash of Evans
Lift the Flap Haunted House from Macaroni Kid Ferndale - Royal Oak
Easy Fall Crafts for Preschoolers from Mrs. Weber's Neighborhood


Question of the Day: What is your favorite Halloween Candy? 

I'd love to hear from you!


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