prepare your heart for... Christmas!!

"The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love...."
{from}
This Christmas I have promised myself to keep the reason for CHRISTmas the main focus in my heart. Its easy to get lost in all the hustle and bustle, feel overwhelmed and stressed and ultimately spend way too much money and go even further into debt. This year I'm turning my focus on something else... something that makes me extremely excited to start preparing for Christmas!!




Visit http://www.adventconspiracy.org to learn how to
[Worship Fully]
[Spend Less]
[Give More]
[Love All]

Surprise!!

I've tried several times to write about the feelings that this video gives me, but nothing I write sounds worthy of the emotions that I feel.  Since yesterday was Veteran's Day, I thought that this was a great day to share this with you all.  I would have posted this yesterday, but I spent the entire day babysitting the most adorable little girl in the whole world. 

I am forever grateful for the men and women who serve our country, and the families that support them.  They sacrifice so much to ensure my freedom, and for that I am humbled and give thanks!

fill in the blank friday

YIPEE!!!  It's time for Fill in the Blank Friday!!! It has been an incredibly long week -- full of physical therapy, getting our rental house ready {our old renters moved out on Sunday and we have new renters moving in tomorrow}, bible babes study with my girlfriends, After I Do bible study with Dustin and a few other couples, lots of work and doing my best not to get sick!!  I am so ready for this weekend!!

Today's Fill in the Blank Friday is all about hair!!!  If you want to join in the fun, jump on over to The Little Things We Do!!!

1.  My last haircut was   in the beginning of September.  I tried out a new way of coloring hair called color melting, and I absolutely love the results!!  If you are looking for someone fabulous to take care of your beautiful locks... call Chris at Mane Attraction 602.956.2996    

2.  My most daring hair moment was   probably when I added bangs to my hair style.  It was {and is} so popular that I had to try it.  But in the end it just made me look younger than I am -- which if you know me, is not something I want.   

3.  A hairstyle I'd never be brave enough to try is   any really short haircut.  I love it on so many people -- but my face is so round {and I have big cheeks} that I think it would look like a disaster on me.      

4.  I've always dreamt of being a (blonde, brunette or red-head)   brunette.  i LOVE when my hair is dark... but Dustin doesn't.  The things we do for men  ;o)    

5.  My go-to hair do is   straight and down.  I pretty much just get out of the shower and let it air dry.  

6.  My biggest hair disaster was   when I went to a new hairstylist to get my hair cut and colored before being in two weddings.  I asked her to color it and just trim the bottoms.  The color was horrible... I looked like I had more roots than I did before I went in, she chopped of over six inches and gave me layers.  I cried for days over that!!       

7.  A hairsyle I am dying to try is   and am trying with great success is curling my hair.  My hair has never held curl until recently, and I love it!!  If only it would magically look this way when I wake up.  I hate spending extra time on my hair in the morning!!  

8.  My best hair day was   probably my bachelorette party!!  One of my girlfriends who is a hair stylist did my hair, and I absolutely adored it.  If I could have my hair look like that all the time, I probably would!!  

9.  The worst hairstyle I ever had was   probably the perm I had all throughout the 80's and early 90's.  I loved it at the time, but looking back it was so wrong.  I can still smell the chemicals.
10.  My hair is   very fine and very straight!!  I wish I had hair that I could go a few days without washing before I became one big grease ball.  

**If you want to see an update of all my hair styles -- check out my 30th birthday post with a picture of me at every year!!

too busy to sit

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It feels so cliche to ask this... but where does the time go?  Dustin and I are so busy lately that we hardly have time to spend with each other.  It's a good thing that we live in the same house or I swear we wouldn't talk.  Dustin is busy with school, trying to get his real estate license and working at Intel.  For me, it is our busiest time of year at ASU since course registration for next semester opened two days ago.  To top it off it is wedding season in Arizona and I am now working with two photographers.  That always makes my "free time" not so free... but I don't mind the extra money and I love the work!! 

Style Me Saturday's

I definitely don't claim to be a fashionista... in fact I feel like I really don't have much of a fashion sense at all.  If I had to label myself anything, I am much more of a plain jane kind of girl and I completely attribute this to three things {1} I don't LOVE to shop {2} clothes cost too much money {3} having fabulous clothes means I have to do my hair and makeup, which means that I have to wake up much earlier for work  ;o)

But... I dream about being fashionable, and having a wardrobe that my friends drool over.  I look through the fashion magazines and day dream about having a closet filled with the latest trends.  Do you have any celebrities that every time you see a picture of them you just adore their style?  My two favorites are Lauren Conrad and Lo Bosworth.  Those girls are just adorable, always looking so put together and extremely classy!!

Yesterday, I found a great new website to play on that let me pretend to shop for some expensive and amazing clothes, and put them all together in a collage.  I'm calling this Style Me Saturday.  I am going to pretend that I am walking around LA with one of my closest friends who I haven't seen in months, a Pumpkin Spice Latte in hand shooting the sh*t and looking fashionable while doing it {instead of working the ASU block party wearing old worn jeans and an ASU shirt which is what I am doing today}.

click here to see all of the elements

Fill In The Blank Friday

Do you know what day it is???  And do you know what that means.... Fill in the Blank Friday!!! This week is homecoming at ASU, so its been a lot of fun to see all the activities on campus.  But that also means that this isn't really a "Friday" for me since I will be working at the homecoming block party tomorrow.  Oh well... anything for my Sun Devils

1.  My Halloween plans this year will include   passing out candy at my parents house. It's always fun to see all the trick-or-treaters.  Also, our church is having a festival on Halloween night so we may try to check that out too!!    

2.  My most memorable Halloween costume was   being able to be a genie one year.  I don't think it's because the costume was particularly special, but more because it was the first year I was excited for Halloween.  Thats me to the left  :o)   

3.  For Halloween this year I'm going to be  nothing  :o(     

4.  I've always wanted to dress up as   Scarlett from Gone With The Wind.   Even though it would obnoxious to walk around in that costume, I think it would be so much fun to feel so pretty!!    

5.  Halloween free association!   pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin seeds, candy corn {especially the hersheys kiss kind}!!    

6.  The wors thing about Halloween is   that it has become an excuse for girls of any age to get slutty.  Seriously, I didn't want to see you in your bra and underwear yesterday, and I definitely don't want to see it today!!  Go home and put on some clothes!!      

7.  The best thing about Halloween is   watching the kids trick or treat. I love seeing how excited and nervous some of the kids are... and always how proud they are with their costume.    

Praise & Thanksgiving 2

{via}

Its a miracle... literally!!!  We have rented Dustin's house!!  YIPEE!!!

Over the last year we have been saving money for this exact time.  We knew there would come a time when our current renters would move out and when we would wait for new ones to move in.  We assumed that with the economy, as well as our asking price, we probably would have a few months while the house sat unrented.  So we followed Dave Ramsey's advice... and prepared!!  We saved enough to cover a little over two months of all the expenses of having that house sit empty.

A few weeks ago my old roommate, Alyssa, randomly asked me when Dustin's house would be up for rent.  She knew some people looking for a place to rent.  At that point we had only listed it on Craigslist once {with just a few inquiries}, and asked a ridiculous amount in rent (about $300 more than what we currently rent at), just to see if we had anyone bite.  Fast forward to last Friday when Alyssa's friends came over to look at the place. They asked all the right questions, but neither Dustin or I could really tell if they were interested.  We walked away thinking that most likely nothing would come from this situation, and Dustin posted another ad on Craigslist.  Within the next hour we got a text message from the guy who came to look saying that they were interested and would like to sign a lease.  They would be able to move in as soon as we would have it available!!  And the best part is, we were able to rent it at what we currently rent it at so we aren't losing any money.

Our current renters will move out at the end of the month, and we will have the new renters in the house only a week later!!  PRAISE GOD!!!   This has been a huge answer to prayers for us!!  Dustin is going to most likely kill me for writing this, but he actually got a little teary eyed when he got the text and he told me how good God has been to us!!  AMEN!!  One of our biggest fears has been the thought of what would happen if we couldn't rent his house, and if we possibly had to walk the path to foreclosure.  We have been working so hard to get out of debt entirely {all except house}and really maximize our savings, and we are making such HUGE strides! And as it turns out, we will be able to continue to put money towards our an emergency rental fund and continue to save!!

God is good!!