gift of grace

I love Christmas.

I love decorating for Christmas even more.  I love lavish, over the top, tacky decorations just as much as I love a simple wreath.

Did I mention I was born on Christmas Day?  Yes, on the actual day - December 25th.

So maybe it's in my blood to love this holiday so much. 

The trees are pretty, the decorations are nice, but the real reason I love Christmas so much is because I love sharing a birthday with Jesus Christ, my Savior.  And I hope as Christmas nears, we don't lose sight of what's most important: that God is our Lord, our King in a kingdom.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8

bel bambino

Is it just me or does everyone seem to have baby fever right now?  Maybe it's something in the air this time of year.  All I keep hearing and reading about are people all around me having babies, wanting babies, talking about babies, etc.  But trust me, we are not ready to jump on that train yet.  My mom keeps telling me that we have plenty of time and should wait to have kids, and I'm thinking to myself believe me - you and I are on the same page.  This chica is in no hurry to have little niños running around.  Don't get me wrong - we definitely want children one day.  We just hope that "one day" comes around in about five years :)  Right now, I am content with just me & my hubby and enjoying life as newlyweds.  But when God decides the time is right, we will be ready.  Because we know that His plan is the only plan that matters.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."  Jeremiah 29: 11-14

looking back, it's bittersweet

"Fifteen"
You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors
It's the morning of your very first day
You say "Hi" to your friends you ain't seen in a while
Try and stay out of everybody's way
It's your freshman year and you're gonna be here
For the next four years in this town
Hoping one of those senior boys will wink at you and say
"You know I haven't seen you around, before"

'cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen
Feeling like there’s nothing to figure out
Well count to ten, take it in
This is life before who you're gonna be
Fifteen

You sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail
And soon enough you're best friends
Laughing at the other girls who think they're so cool
We’ll be out of here as soon as we can
And then you're on your very first date and he’s got a car
And you're feeling like flying
And your momma’s waiting up and you think he’s the one
And you're dancing round your room when the night ends
When the night ends

'cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
When you're fifteen and your first kiss
Makes your head spin round but
In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy of the football team
But I didn't know it at fifteen

When all you wanted was to be wanted
Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now
Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
But I realized some bigger dreams of mine

And Abigail gave everything she had to a boy
Who changed his mind…
And we both cried

'cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen, don't forget to look before you fall
I’ve found that time can heal most anything
And you just might find who you're supposed to be
I didn't know who I was supposed to be…at fifteen

It’s your very first day
Take a deep breath girl
Take a deep breath as you walk through those doors.


If you haven't heard this song by Taylor Swift yet, you really need to listen to it.  If you're like me, it will bring back so many memories.  I feel like Taylor & I went through the exact same emotions at that age.  It really is bittersweet reminiscing about the past...I somehow miss being that young and am so glad it's over at the same time.  Fifteen was the year I learned alot about life.  When you're that young you just don't know it at the time, but you really do have your whole life in front of you.  Thanks for the memories, Taylor.

chicken, green beans, potatoes

Last night I cooked our very first meal in our new home and it was none other than Kelly's Chicken, Green Beans and Potatoes recipe!  It turned out delicious even though I used asparagus instead of green beans (not such a good idea btw - I think next time I will stick to using green beans because the asparagus just came out really mushy).  But my husband loved it.  And that's all that matters, right? And of course I took pictures...our first meal in our new house is a big deal! Danny thinks it is hilarious that I take pictures of all my meals that I cook for the first time - I tell him it's for my blogger friends :)

this week

Sooo...this has been an extremely busy week for me!  We spent our FIRST night in our new house on Sunday!  We've stayed there all this week...still no drapes or blinds so the sun has been waking us up bright and early every morning :)  There is still alot of stuff left to be moved at the apartment and we are doing it little by little every evening after work.  We were going to go to the Ole Miss game this weekend, but we decided it would be better to stay home and finish unpacking everything!  There is still alot of furniture sitting in our garage that is just waiting to be moved inside.  I'm looking for someone to make some custom drapes for my master bedroom...if you know anyone who is talented in this area please let me know!  Another thing that has kept me busy this week is that I have been swamped at work.  We had Ladies Night Out on Tuesday night, and I didn't get home until around 10 PM.  Then we had our bi-annual sales blitz all yesterday and today.  Which means I have seen very little of my sweet hubby this week :(  But things are starting to slow down and tomorrow is Friday...yay!  My laptop is broken but I am picking it up today from the repair place so hopefully my posts won’t be so few and far between.  Talk to you soon! :)

latino in america

A Latino Nation
"By 2050, the U.S. Latino population is expected to nearly triple. This October, CNN explores how Latinos are reshaping our communities and culture and forcing a nation of immigrants to rediscover what it means to be an American."  That was a blurb about the new series, Latino in America, premiering on CNN next Wednesday.  The link I have posted above is all about this new series, and it particularly focuses on how the last name "Garcia" has become as common as the last name "Smith" in the United States.  Of course, the reason all of this interests me so much is because my sweet husband is Latino.  And he takes pride in his culture, as he should.  And he wants our children to know his home country and to speak his native language.  And so do I.  Another reason I feel so passionately about recognizing and accepting the Latino culture in America is because Latinos are the backbone of our nation.  Whether or not you choose to accept this does not change the fact that it is true.  And I am talking about all Latinos - immigrants, citizens, residents, everyone.  I want to embrace my husband's culture.  And I wish America would learn to embrace it too.  And, who knows?  Maybe Spanish will be the national language before we know it.  Have you ever been to Miami?  If so, you know that it is really hard to find your way around without knowing at least a little Spanish.  There are so many cities like Miami throughout the United States where Latinos are becoming the majority.  So you can either accept it...or move to Canada.  Just kidding.  But I do take this very seriously.  Americans are made up of every race, every color, and every culture.  I love my Latinos, and you should too :)

Pura Vida!

kelly's tour - show us what you make

I like to think of myself as a semi-creative person, but when it came time for Kelly's Tour this week I realized that I do not make anything (and I definitely don't sell anything!).  I do love to paint, and I also love scrapbooking (love, love scrapbooking!).  I will post some pictures of my many scrapbooks later today.  But for now, I would like to promote Leslie Lambert who designed my blog!  She is so creative and did such a good job!  Take a look at Leslie's blog!

it's official

As of yesterday, we are officially homeowners!  We closed on the house yesterday morning and everything went really smooth.  I cannot believe that we actually just bought a house - it seems so unreal!  We are both so excited and cannot wait to start moving in this weekend.  I took alot of pictures of the house yesterday and will post those this afternoon.  They still need to lay the sod and finish painting the shutters on the front of the house, but they have to wait until everything dries up and stops raining before they can finish that.  Rain, rain go away!

On our way to closing!

First picture after closing - we have a house!

I was like "we have to get a picture!!"

Outside of the house...keep in mind the shutters still have to be painted and we're still missing grass :)

Our living room

Kitchen entryway

View of living room from kitchen

The kitchen

The kitchen

Master Bath

Guest Bath

Master Bedroom

365 days of love

Happy first anniversary, Hubby! I love you so much and cannot believe it has already been a year since our wedding. I am just amazed everyday at how much God has blessed us and I am so thankful that He led me to you. I will love you forever. Here's to many, many more years to come!

No sooner met but they looked;

No sooner looked but they loved;

No sooner loved but they sighed;

No sooner signed but they asked one another the reason;

No sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy;

And in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage. 

-William Shakespeare

nobel peace prize

Today President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."  He is only the fourth president to be honored with this award, and the first to receive it during his first year in office.  This brings back memories of why I voted for change back in November 2008.  Yes, we can heal this nation.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee said, "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future."

bye, bye summer

I absolutely

love

the beach.

Yes, it's October...

...but it still feels like summer down South.

Nos vemos pronto Destin :)

decorating for fall

Can we pause for a second and talk about my love affair with white pumpkins?

I love the idea of carving out a white or cream pumpkin and using it as a centerpiece. I wanted to do this as my centerpieces for my wedding reception last October but it never came together. But what a great idea!

The cream pumpkins in the picture above look so country and elegant.  And, yes, you can use those two words in the same sentence.  Gorgeous.

I can't wait to move into our house in a week so I can put white pumpkins all around my house. They just look perfect for fall.

long time no talk

So I have been without computer access since Saturday which means no blog posts, no facebook updates and no checking email. I just got back today and am trying to catch up on everything! I left Saturday morning to attend a tourism conference in Destin, Florida. It was a good trip but I did not even step foot on the beach. We did do some shopping though - gotta love those outlets! Danny couldn't come with me as he had to work, but I went with about five other girls who work in the tourism industry in my area. I went by our house when I got back in town to see how much progress they have made since I've been gone. There are a few things that are still left to do (sod the front and back yards, touch up paint, appliances installed in kitchen, etc) and we are closing next Wednesday. I am so anxious and excited! My internet connection is in and out right now so I will post some pics tomorrow :)

bath & kitchen pics

These are some updated pictures of our guest bathroom, master bathroom and kitchen. I promised my older brother I would post these so he could see our tile I picked for the bathroom counters...I was a little unsure about the tile but it's starting to grow on me. These pictures were taken at night so please excuse the darkness (and my photography skills)...

kelly's tour - baby gear

Well, we don't have any children, and don't plan on it anytime soon, but I still wanted to join in on Kelly's tour this week.  First off, I know this is not baby gear, but I love Tiny Prints, and I especially love their birth announcements.  They are so elegant and pretty.

These monogrammed bloomers from Sew Happy Baby are precious.

Love this round crib from Posh Tots.  Beautiful.

...and this cradle from Posh Tots.

And last but not least, if I had a boy, this would be the nursery:

Gorgeous.

our story

Danny and I have a story that I enjoy telling over and over again. It begins with my sweet husband being born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica. Danny grew up in a very close, very big extended family: his mother has five sisters and one brother, his father has a sister and a brother, grandparents, over 25 cousins and with two brothers of his own, he knows what it means to put family before anything else (other than our Lord and Savior). He was raised with an appreciation for music and the beautiful beaches and wildlife that surrounded his city. Danny’s family also instilled in him a great love for Jesus Christ. He attended an all-boys high school in San Jose and developed a passion for basketball and guitars. He graduated at 17 years old and went on to attend the Costa Rican Institute of Technology, where he majored in business administration. Danny worked extremely hard in college, taking a 45-minute bus ride to and from class every day. Halfway through his senior year, Danny heard his friends talking about an internship opportunity in the States. Not quite ready to graduate and be thrown headfirst into the real world, he decided to apply for the internship which would last for seven months. Only weeks before the internship was scheduled to begin did he find out that he was accepted. This would be the single most defining moment of his life, as both of us would soon realize.

I am a Southern girl, born and raised. My mother likes to say that I came out of the womb singing and dancing. I liked attention and performing in front of my family from a very young age. My great-grandparents were born and raised in Bologna, Italy. They immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and my maternal grandmother, affectionately known to us as Mamaw, was born in Natchez, Mississippi in April of 1918. She had eight brothers and sisters, most of whom were born in Italy. Given my Italian heritage I was raised in the Catholic church and I attended Catholic school as a child. I was in many performance troupes and choirs growing up. From children’s choirs to youth performance companies to ballet, I did it all. I loved acting and I loved singing. After graduating high school, I attended the University of Alabama, where I was a member of Phi Mu sorority. I loved college but after two years I was getting a little worn out. One afternoon in February of my sophomore year, I was at a friend's house. They were talking about how they would love to spend the summer working as princesses at Walt Disney World. That got me thinking: how would I spend my summer? I had to get away. I went online and found that Disney World actually had college internships that lasted for about seven months. Done. I was sold. I applied for the internship and waited anxiously for weeks until I finally received my acceptance letter. My life would never be the same.

Danny and I met after being assigned the same work site (Star Tours) at MGM Studios. I still remember my first words I ever spoke to him. It really was an instant connection and before I knew it we were spending all of our time together. We were able to experience the happiest place on earth together while growing more and more in love. And the rest...is history. I like to think Disney World really is a place where dreams come true.