Wedding Eve

Exactly 6 months ago....it was the night before my "big day", the day every little girl is trained to dream of....my wedding day.

I had been surrounded by my closest friends and family for the previous two days...getting the last minute details worked out and prepping, rehearsing, enjoying each other's company - and then I was in my room-alone. My sister was sleeping on the couch in the living room, for my support, before the biggest day of my life. I was sitting on my bed, writing a letter to my husband to be about how blessed I felt for getting to marry him the next day. 6 months later, I feel even more blessed.

We are learning together, with this thing called Marriage. We are learning to compromise...the give and take that makes a good marriage. We are loving each other no matter what. We rarely argue or fight, but when we do - we fight fair. We never raise our voice or call each other names. We have learned this from the example of our parents. I think most of all, we understand and acknowledge that we are in "newlywed bliss" even through all of this compromise - and that marriage will get tougher...but we are leaning on God and each other and building a strong core so we can get through those hard times just a little bit easier...

I told my mom today on the phone that on one hand, I feel like it was just yesterday we got married, but on the other hand - it feels like we have been married forever. She just laughed and said "Honey, you will feel that way for the rest of your life". (I love my mom)

Marriage has truly been a gift - but it's even better because i'm married to my best friend, who makes me laugh every. single. day.

In honor of this small anniversary -- here are some favorite photos from our big day...(ok, I lied, here are a lot of photos)

It took an army to get my dress on...

 

 Our wedding bands with my dad's promise ring he gave me at 12 years old...

 My love

 Watching sports while getting ready? Nah, never....

 

I was honored to have my two big brothers walk me down the aisle

 Best flower girl ever! Ella

 Mr. & Mrs. Sandberg

Best. Mom. Ever.

 Sibling love.

 Our wonderful groomsmen

 The most perfect bridal party I could have ever asked for. My closest friends from different periods of life, all came together to support me and stand by me with no drama - like they had all been friends forever. I love you girls so much!

Listening to my mom's toast

 My beautiful sister and I after her amazing toast...best MOH ever!

 It's official!

This is what my Friday morning drive to work looks like......

Randomness.

It's been a wonderful weekend. It wasn't the weekend I had planned on, i'll tell ya that. If you know me well, you know that i've had issues with my jaw since I was 16 or so. It all started on spring break my junior year of high school (Gulf Shores what!) when I woke up one morning and couldn't open my mouth. Fortunately, the mom of one of my friends we were there with was also my doctor - and she gave me some medicine, had me keep a warm wash-cloth on my face, and wouldn't let me eat anything but smoothies the rest of the trip. (Little did she know what we were putting in my smoothies, sorry mom - i'm still your angel!)

Long story short, I have TMJ which is super common. Basically - you grind and tench your teeth in your sleep and it messes up the muscles/joints, gets them super tight and makes your jaw pop and hurt really bad. Then, I got in a car accident, and because I never wore my bite splint at night and chewed gum religiously....the perfect storm hit and a ligament in my jaw pretty much snapped one night. Needless to say, I haven't slept without my splint since, I haven't had a piece of gum since I can remember, and I take better care of my jaw.

Something I have to be careful of is who i go to for my dentist. I have to go to someone who specializes in TMJ - which is hard to find in Colorado because for some reason, most TMJ specialists in this state are not the type of dentists that also clean your teeth and fill your cavities. I finally found one an hour away, and after he did two fillings, he not only messed my fillings up - but he also kept my mouth open for too long and my jaw didn't like it. Because of that, i've been back on a mushy foods/liquid diet since Wednesday. Slim Fast Shakes are my hero - but they are also completely disgusting. What other amazing food do I get to eat? Overcooked pasta, mashed potatoes, soup.....and CHILI!

While Brandon went to a Broncos game today with Brice, I spent the afternoon making white chicken chili for us. It's one of Brandon's favorite things that I make (although that's not saying much since I don't have too many regular recipes). He mentioned when I dropped him off for the game that he wanted it so I went to the store, bought all the groceries for the week, came home and cooked chili all afternoon. I also bought Grey's Anatomy Season 7 while at Target (which i'm already 3 episodes into...I have a bad habit of being behind one full season of any show I love).

Speaking of amazing shows - there are two that B and I have been watching a lot of. Chopped & Beyond Scared Straight. As far as Chopped goes, it's amazing that people can take a basket of crazy ingredients - usually half full of things I had never heard of, and create amazing plates. I take a look at my pantry which is full of food that i'm sure could go well together - but I find myself just staring at it, then reaching for the ramen.

Beyond Scared Straight is about teenagers who are heading down the wrong path - and they go to prison for a day where they actually get a feel for what it would be like as an inmate. It's amazing how invincible these kids think they are - and then when they see how it can all be taken away...they become kids again. Not all of them change, but it's worth it for the few that do.

I have had a couple people ask me specifically how I do my coupons, so I am going to do a post probably next weekend that shows step-by-step how i've been doing couponing, since i've pulled from a bunch of different sites to make what works best for me.

Ok, like I said,  random rant....time to go relax with B before bed - then tomorrow morning - I'll cheers to a better week in the am with my slim fast shake.

Crazy Coupon Lady?

Alright, alright - I admit it. I'm a couponer. While the show "Extreme Couponing" is actually what inspired me to start saving money - it's also what gives couponers a bad name, and they drive me nuts.

#1 - I do not spend 40-100 hours a week on coupons. I spend between 15 minutes-2 hours at most per week.

#2 - I do not clear shelves. I don't take 50 coupons in for one product. The most of any product I buy is six. Yes, six.

#3 - I don't buy things with coupons that I wouldn't normally buy anyway.

#4 - I would not be able to do it with such ease without the help of some amazing websites that match up your coupons and local store sales to get the best bang for your buck. (Let me know if you want the sites!)

#5 - Last but not least, I stay organized - so my checkout process only takes about an extra minute for the cashier to scan the coupons that are in order, ready to go, so no one gets stuck behind me. I also shop during downtimes at the store when there aren't long lines to start with.

We all know that money is one of the biggest problems in marriages, so Brandon and I have made a conscious effort to start our marriage off on the right foot. We have been taking the Dave Ramsey class "Financial Peace University" (which I recommend with all my heart), learning how to budget, learning how to prioritize, learning how to do things together financially when we are so used to doing this thing called life independently for the past 27 years. (And yes, Brandon is one year younger - let's just get that out there now because he reminds me every.single.day) One of the things i've realized as we have been going through the program is that I can greatly decrease our grocery/toiletries bills by couponing - and applying that extra money to our debt or to plane tickets (ok, and maybe to Coldstone Creamery).

Here are my two most successful trips - which I proudly documented for my mom and friends who aren't quite sure how i'm managing to do this:

This was my first trip. $84.73 worth for 29.43. The toothpaste (4 tubes) and tide stain release were FREE!

 And trip #2 (can you tell we eat a lot of spaghetti in our house?). I saved 47% on this trip, and my highlight was the six bottles of laundry detergent that equals 300 loads of laundry (should last us at least a year) - for $15.21. I noticed at the store that the current detergent we have was listed for 15.99 for 96 loads.

That's the beauty of coupons. Getting the staples that you are going to use anyway - for a fraction of the cost. Call me a dork, fine. Call me crazy coupon lady, fine. But this crazy coupon lady and her husband are heading to Mexico for vacation a lot sooner than we would have been able to otherwise.

Other money-saving things i'm working on, and will update on soon: Once a month cooking day! My friend Carmen introduced me to this, and I can't wait to get  going! Cash envelopes, paying most everything in cash vs. debit cards (because paying in cash hurts, so i'm less likely to splurge).

What are your tips on saving money?

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Before I sign off - I must share a picture of my love, Charlotte Marie. Charlie is my first niece (brother Jeff & Rochelle's beautiful baby). She is such a joy, and I desperately wish I could see her every single week! I was fortunate enough to fly to Chicago over Labor Day weekend to spend some quality time with my mom, Charlie, Rochelle and Jeff. I am blessed.

<3

Welcome to My Simple, Crazy Life...

I have been wanting to get back into blogging for a long time now. I used to blog on a consistent basis for most of 2005-2006, and then I got into the "real world" and wasn't able to stay up all hours of the night to write and post like I was able to in college. However, i've chosen to get back into it for a couple of reasons:

1) I miss writing. I miss putting down into words what i'm thinking and feeling and doing. I was always into writing and reading since I can remember...(I was that girl who checked out 4-5 books a week from the library during grade school summers and read every single one). I kept journals and a diary when I was little. I was a writer and editor for my high school paper, then an editor for my community college paper, then the advice columnist for a while at CM-Life at CMU. Studying journalism put a damper on my love for writing...but blogging will hold me over until that novel (someday, somehow) gets written.


2) My friends and family are all over the place. Since I moved to Denver over two years ago, I have family and friends back in Michigan, but I also have family in LA, North Carolina and Phoenix. Friends in Atlanta, Chicago...all over the place. So blogging is a good way to keep them in the more "daily" details of my life, much more than what is discussed on a 10 minute call over a lunch break or texts throughout the day.


3) It's a way for me to keep connected with new interests of mine, like finding amazing recipes and then sharing them once i've tried (and hopefully succeeded). 


I'm kick-starting my re-entrance to the blog world by writing this first post at 11:15pm, way past my bedtime. (Now this really shows i'm not in college anymore!) My husband, Brandon, is in Aspen for a work conference until Wednesday - and I feel as though my routine is completely thrown off. His absence has kind of thrown me back into my single days - or at least back to the days we were dating long-distance, where I ate when I wanted to, watched what I wanted to on TV (no football), and now - am staying up way too late. While the "freedom" is nice, I sure do already miss him after only one day. How did we do 1200 miles apart for 1.5 years again??

To start my new blog off...i'm pulling a quote from my old blog-dated Wednesday, July 19, 2006:

"You know you're surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work." 

That quote is going to be my motto as I enter this work week...


I think it's time for bed.