happy memorial day

I hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day! 

 I'm at the beach with my parents, sisters and brother-in-law.

I'm so thankful for all those who have died fighting for my freedoms to do just that.  For those who have paid the price for our liberties and freedoms.

Thank you, a million times over.

holiday craft coupon bonanza

Yay for a holiday weekend!  I'm 'between jobs' (for real...I'm not trying to nicely say I'm looking for a job!) so every weekend is a three day weekend for me.  Actually, I worked Saturday through Wednesday for about a year so...I'm just now getting used to this whole weekend on the actual weekend thing.

What are your plans for this weekend?  Are you beach bound?  Catching up on housework? Spending time with kids?  Basking in the joy of summer?  I am headed to the beach with my family this holiday weekend.  Actually, my family went on this same vacation last year...and my older sister got engaged!  Who hoo!!  I wasn't with them...boo...so I will just have to celebrate their one year engage-aversary with them!  Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope that you have a magnificent time while honoring the true reason behind memorial day, remembering and honoring those who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.

coupons for life

I know I've blogged before about the daily coupon site Groupon, sharing with you some of the stupendous deals they offer.  This post today is about the same!

Groupon is ushering in summer with National Burger Weekend.  They are offering groupons (a printable coupon) for numerous burger joints across the country!  Most are for 50% off!  For instance, in Jacksonville Beach they are offering $20 worth of burgers, wings and more at Dick's Wings and Grill for only $10!  In the Orlando area they are offering $10 worth of food at Cheddar Jack's for only $5, $16 worth of food at Burger Bar for only $8 and more!

Now that I have your mouth watering and your wallet smiling, how do you even get a groupon?

trip of love - day four, last day

The day had come.  Our last day with my hubby.  It was Sunday morning and my husbands only request was that he didn't have to go to church on base.  As much as it was a blessing to have an 'escape' or sorts for some downtime each week, he missed our church terribly and told me so each week during our phone calls.

We picked him up, once again at 0900 (9:00 am) on the dot! We were unable to find a church that we felt comfortable attending within the limits that he was allowed to go in.  We emailed a few pastors from home who recommended some churches.  Though, we settled on going down to the Alamo and walking around downtown San Antonio with our parents.

trip of love - day three

After spending two days with my husband (the super handsome Airman) I was so blessed to get to spend a whole day off base with him.  He was able to leave base at 0900 (9:00 am) and he told us to be there early because he didn't want to have to wait!!  We were in the parking lot, I was hanging out of the door of our rental car at 8:50...ready to pick up my hubby!

We decided to head back to the hotel to hang out for a little bit.  Matt snacked on some more of the 'goodies' we brought him.  He really isn't a fan of pictures and especially not at 9:00 in the morning!  Though, he wasn't getting out of ANY pictures this weekend!

trip of love - day two

After day one of my trip to see my husband, I wasn't sure how much better it could get!  Then...we got to leave base!

We woke up early again and headed to the base.  We arrived on base and were bussed to the Parade Grounds where we waited for our Airmen.  Finally, the came out and the ceremonies began.  The flights marched across the bomb run (a long concrete path in front of the bleachers) and were introduced.  My husband's flight earned Honor Flight status, for earning the most points of all flights in his graduation week group.  Oh yeah, talk about one proud wifey!!

top it all off

Yesterday I showed you how I frosted the cupcakes for Leslie's bridal shower.  Today, I'm going to spill my secret for the toppers! 

I'm not even kidding you...this is the simplest thing EVER and we got so many compliments on them yet, I didn't feel the least bit guilty when it came time to throw them away! 

They were super inexpensive, too! SCORE!  We made about thirty of them in under twenty minutes.  DOUBLE SCORE!  We also had some supplies left over to use for the picture clips.  TRIPLE SCORE!  The total price of it all...under $7!  HOME RUN!!

What you need:
Toothpicks
Stickers, embellishments, scraps of paper
Scotch tape

trip of love - day one

As you know, this weekend I was in San Antonio to attend my husband's graduation from the Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT).  It was one of the absolute greatest experiences of my life...followed by one of the most heartbreaking goodbyes.

My parents and I met my mother-in-law in San Antonio on Wednesday night.  We hit up Wal-Mart, ate dinner and went to our hotel.  We woke up SUPER early the next morning...MORE than ready to set our eyes upon the man we had missed so bad for eight weeks.

icing on the (cup)cake

For Leslie's (my best friend) bridal shower I knew exactly what kind of cake we would have...cupcakes!  Want to get on Leslie's good side?  Bring her sunflowers, cupcakes and her fiance!

I decided that rather than buy the cupcakes (they NEVER taste very good anyways) I would make them!  Thank you Betty Crocker for your assistance both with the cake and the frosting.  If you have the time, energy or want-to to make cupcakes from scratch then more power to you...this girl wasn't about to make that kind of mess!

After I made the cupcakes I decided to frost them a wee bit fancier than I normally would...and I made toppers that were pretty much the cutest stinkin' thing ever.

blossoms above

Last summer, for my wedding I decided that I wanted to use tissue paper flowers as decorations.  I watched a tutorial online and whipped up about 20 or so with the help of my sister and mom.  They were SO easy to make and were so stinkin' cute when hung up!  I loved these simply and SO inexpensive decorations.  When it came time to plan my best friends bridal shower, I knew jut the thing for a fun POP of color!

off into the wild blue yonder

This picture says it all.

What a great day it was today with my husband...the Airman!

Can't wait to spend the rest of the weekend off base with him.

Thank you everyone who has prayed even a single prayer for Matt and I.

We're so blessed to have such wonderful people in out lives who care so much about us!

leavin' on a jet plane

All righty bloggies...if you've ready ANY of my posts in the past eight and a half weeks I am sure that you know about my husband.  He is in Basic Military Training (BMT) for the Air Force and guess what?  I am leaving on a jet plane this afternoon (though, I know exactly when I'll be back again) headed for San Antonio.  We will arrive tonight and then wake at the (butt) crack of dawn tomorrow to go see my sweet, sweet love!

I just wanted to share a little bit of the process with you...

set the table

For smaller scale parties (baby showers, bridal showers, anniversary parties) I always want to do something special...I mean, these aren't your everyday birthday party.  Though, as you know my goal is always to spend as little as possible without it looking like I did so!

When my bridesmaids and my mom threw my bridal shower last summer they invited me to help decorate the night before.  Some may see this as odd...I LOVED it.  Sitting at home knowing that they were decorating something and that I couldn't be a part of it would have KILLED me!!  They came up with an idea that I think is just absolutely genus!  I used this same idea in the decorating for my best friends bridal shower...trust me, you're going to LOVE it....and love the price tag!

Clipped On

My best friend, Leslie has a favorite flower...SUNFLOWERS!  However, I could not find any sunflowers that I liked enough to use as centerpieces.  I was quite stumped and honestly...panicked!  I knew that I needed something in the center of the tables, I just had no idea what.

Last summer, my bridesmaids (my older sister and Leslie) bought some glasses from Ikea that we used as vases for the centerpieces at both mine and my older sisters bridal showers.  I wanted to use the glasses but, once again could not find flowers to suit my fancy.  Then, about two days before the shower I had an idea...a great one, too!

I ran down to JoAnn's and picked up a package of 20 small dowel rods (wooden sticks) and a package of 24 mini clothes pins.  I stopped at Wal-Mart and got some super glue and black spray paint.  The total cost of my materials was under $10 and the outcome was quite dandy!

Showers of love

Finally!!  I can share with you all of the projects I've been working on for my best friends bridal shower!  My BFF is getting married in June and we threw her a sweet little shower today.  I just wanted to share with you some pictures from the party and give you a sneak peek at the projects I will be posting soon!  Enjoy!

happy happy birthday and more

Happy Birthday to...yours truly!! (that's me!!)  That's right...on this day twenty four years ago my parents birthed a perfect child!!  Ha ha ha ha...my mom is laughing out loud right now.  This year I am celebrating my birthday by whipping up some goodies for my best friend bridal shower, babysitting for my church and then heading down to Orlando.  Why to Orlando you ask?  Well, because IN ONE WEEK I WILL SEE MY HUSBAND!!!  Can you tell I'm excited?  One week from today I will FINALLY be able to wrap my arms around my one true love.  In case you don't know, he is in Basic Training for the Air Force and has been gone for two months.  I get one 15 minutes phone call a week and FINALLY got to see his face when the BMT Facebook page posted his flight photo.

$6 for 1 year of GLAMOUR

I don't know about you but I LOVE magazines.  I don't know why but, every time I get one in the mail I feel like I've hit the lottery.  My only problem is that I DO NOT like paying for them.  My husband would treat me every now and then when seeing me eyeball the magazine racks near the checkout at Wal-Mart.  It was sad!  He would say "do you want a magazine?'  I would respond "no, they cost too much...and I can just flip through them while you stand in line!"  His comeback: "please don't be so cheap...I will buy you a magazine!!

I follow some blogs who have posted about some free subscriptions and I am very proud to say that of the fiveour magazine I receive...I pay for only one, and that was less than $5!  However, today Groupon had a deal that I couldn't pass up.  They are offering a one year subscription to GLAMOUR magazine for just $6.  That is .50 an issue, I can deal with the cost.

To snag your subscription, head on over to Groupon and sign up for an account if you don't have one already.  Set your city and state to Jacksonville, Florida and click on the link for the $6 one year subscription to GLAMOUR.

double fail

I know I failed you with the whole Thrifty Thursday debacle...and here I am on Friday night failing you again.  Ooops!  I've been working on some things for a friends wedding and my best friends bridal shower so my house has taken back seat.  You should see the mess I've made...it's REALLY taken a back seat.

However, I promise you that I have some tricks up my sleeve to share with you.  I've got plans in the works for my living room wall and for my craft room and also that Mother's Day project I was telling you about yesterday.

Just to prove to you that I haven't been sitting around neglecting my faithful bloggies...here is a sneak peek of the little bitty tool I had to visit Home Depot three times in the past few days to finally find!

Now doesn't that look exciting?!

thrifty thursday #8

So, Thursday has come and gone and I've shared nothing with you!  I apologize or my failure.  I pinky promise that I have a project.  Well, I have most all the supplies...sort of.  I just need to exchange a drill bit at Home Depot tomorrow and then I can tackle this special Mother's Day gift I have in the works.

I guarantee you won't be disappointed with the outcome...unless i completely screw it up.

Hey, good intentions are better than no intentions...right?  Check back for the results of my project!

50% off LARGE prints and 1 FREE

Now through Saturday, May 7th you Walgreens is offering 50% off of poster prints.  These are prints 11x14 and larger.  I am ordering a few for the picture grouping I am planning for our living room wall.  The best part is you can order these prints from your computer and pick them up in store in just hours!  The normal price of one 11x14 enlargement is $10.  I am getting three of those puppies for just over $15!  Oooohhh yeaaaaah!!

Just head on over to Walgreens.com and upload your pictures.  Be sure they are high resolution photos so they will be clear when enlarged.  At check out use the code: MOMPOSTER for 50% off your entire order of poster size prints!

They are also offering a free 8x10 collage print when you use the code: FREECOLLAGE or code: FORMOM
That's right...two codes, which means two collages!

Be sure to order yours now, what a great Mother's Day gift idea!!

PIZZA GIVEAWAY!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA®. All opinions are 100% mine.

That's right, you read correctly.  I'm hosting my first ever giveaway and it is sponsored by new FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ pizza!  You could win a coupon for a FREE frozen FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ pizza AND a bamboo cutting board!

the 'everything stew' of appetizers

One night while sitting at home I decided I wasn't hungry enough for a whole meal...and didn't want to clean all the dishes that came with it.  I decided I would make something light and quick.  I had no idea what, though!  What I did know was that I had some specific cravings...cheese, bacon and crescent rolls.  So naturally, I decided to join the three and made a delicious little snack that I want to share with you!

Don't worry, I didn't eat ALL of them that night.  What was left my brother-in-law and two sister-in-laws heated up and ate.  They even said they were good...so it's not just me!!

I can't wait to have a party of get together so that I can whip up this little treat to share with more people!

Here's how I did it: