Long Time No See... Or Read

It's been awhile! My life has been a little upside down this last week.

On Tuesday my dad had a much needed surgery. I spent most of the week in the hospital with him helping him to recover.

I need to thank everyone who has been so supportive, with their kind words, prayers, texts, and everyone at work who let me take off so much time to be at the hospital.

He is now home from the hospital and recovering. I am so proud of my dad for doing this surgery, and thankful. He was incredibly brave and I know my siblings and I are one of the big reasons he decided to go ahead and have it. Dad, I love you so much, and am so thankful for you.

While I did spend most of my week at the hospital... I also got to attend a fun Favorite Things party on Saturday night! It was so great and a prefect way to relax and have a little fun after a stressful week.

Our host went all out with so many cute chalkboard details and some delicious drinks!

If you are unfamiliar with a favorite things party... Each person brings three of their favorite something. (I brought three tubes of my favorite ever mascara... Better Than Sex Mascara by Too Faced.) You draw three people's names and take home one of their favorite things. It's pretty great.

I came home with these goodies:

Penzeys spices, Wildtree Zesty Lemon Grapeseed Oil, Cool Gear Tumbler, and cute framed quote from the host! 

I had such a great time with some wonderful ladies. Thanks Jenn for such a wonderful party! =)

tobi.com

A few days ago when my stylish little sister was in town she was telling me about a great website she had just ordered a new dress from. I headed over to tobi.com and was presently surprised with what I found. Totally cute dresses perfect for the upcoming holidays and at reasonable costs!

And when you create an account with them and link it to your Facebook, you automatically receive a coupon code for 50% off! Who doesn't love that?!

Here are some of my favorites:

I did not receive any compensation for writing this post. I just like the website and wanted to share with you all! 

Six Things!

Twice in 1 week! I told you I'd be getting better at this!

First of all... TGIF! But I also have 6 things to share with you all.

1. I just saw a commercial that The Little Mermaid is coming out of the vault in October! What what?! Just another reason why I'm loving fall! The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney movies ever, and plays into why I call my grandparents Ama and Doppy. I need to have it. And you know how Disney doesn't like to keep them out there for long! Gotta snatch that up!

2. Some friends from school and I got together after meetings today to get a drink and relax a little. It was so nice to see them all in a non-work setting, and also enjoy good food and drinks! The restaurant we went to is (in a van) down by the river (just kidding ;)) and the ducks were all up in our business!! I didn't mind though, they were kinda cute.

3. I am so excited to have a weekend of doing nothing! There has been some sort of event going on for us for the last eighty (maybe a slight exaggeration) weekends! I am so ready to have a weekend of sleeping in, relaxing, watching SNL, and just hanging out with my Snig.

4. Speaking of Snig! Snig is a nickname Justin and I have for each other. It often gets switched up to different variations as well including sniggy, snigs, snug, snugs, sniggle, the list goes on. I know... we're gross... feel free to excuse yourself if you need to throw up. ANYWAY! A good friend of ours was at a garage sale and found this gem.

"An Exciting Game of Strategy and Chance"

He was kind enough to pick it up for us. We haven't gotten a chance to play it yet but it's on the To Do list for this weekend.

5. Are there any iPhone lovers out there reading? How do you guys feel about the update? Do you feel like it's a little retro feel like I do? Or are you one of the crazies out there standing in line with my husband to get the brand new iPhone 5s? Some things I really like, some things I'm still getting used to. But it sure is bright and pretty!

6. I have been loving a lot of songs lately! Let's get our Friday started with some jams!







And of course I've got to throw one country song in there! I'm going to see Jason Aldean on Wednesday, so be looking forward to a fun recap on that!




Have a happy weekend you all!

Recent Life Happenings and a Little Brain Vomit

Whoa you all. It has been too long. I'm going to get better at this blogging and working thing... I promise.

I've been pretty busy with work but also with some super fun things.

Thursday Doodle got a hair cut. You guys... this is something we do because it is necessary. Not something we do because we think he looks good this way... He grows out in a few weeks and looks super cute again. I promise.

before

after
So sad. 

Shadow also got a haircut. Yes, we give our cat a haircut, and yes she loves it. Bible.

Boots with the fur...

Also on Thursday my MIL and I went to a Bachelorette dinner for our yoga instructor and friend. It was at The Wine Cellar which is a really cool restaurant in downtown Coeur d'Alene. We had the top floor to ourselves and we had such a blast.

While at dinner we all went around and gave the bride-to-be our best piece of marriage advice. It was so great to be able to give advice as a married woman!! But also so nice to hear advice for myself as well! Some key notes... Pray. Pray with your husband, pray for your husband, pray for patience, and love, and just pray. Also remember how you felt on your wedding day and all of the reasons you got married and love your husband. Also, keep that fire alive!

Friday Justin and I decided to have a night staying in, just us two. We made eggplant parmesan for dinner, yum. And when I say we I actually mean Justin made it and I read him the recipe. We also watched some of our favorite TV shows... including about 5 episodes of The League. Do you guys watch this? Oh my goodness I think it's so funny. It's definitely kind of a man show and can sometimes be a little bit raunchy but if your man wants to watch it, give in. You'll get points for letting him pick the TV show, and its actually really funny. And it's on Netflix! Win.

On Saturday my MIL and I had a total girls day. We went to yoga in the morning and then spent the day sipping wine and getting ready for a wedding that night. The wedding was at a church at Gonzaga University and was so amazing.

It was such a beautiful and fun night spent with good people having such a great time and celebrating a great couple.

Sunday was spent recovering, and thats about it. Oh, and mourning the Niners loss.

I don't want to talk about it.

In other news it's 100 days away from Christmas today so that's great. I almost want to make one of those paper count down chains but I'll hold back... at least until after Thanksgiving.

Also, as much as I love fall... it was dark tonight when I got out of yoga. At 7:45. This is the first time this has happened and it made me a little sad. But then the new Miley song was on the radio and that made it a little better. Speaking of... I'm loving that song, but why do her videos have to be so weird?! Miley... why do you have to lick random things and have your tongue out all the time?

When did this become a thing? I don't like it.

Well that's all for now... enough brain vomit for one night.

Happy Monday loves!

5 Things

I'm sorry that  have been so MIA lately people. I have been crazy stupid busy. Want to know what I've been up to?! Good! Because I'm going to tell you.

1. Last week on Thursday we went to the fair! The fair is kind of a big deal for us because the fair was our very first date. You can read about it here if you really want to. 

sweet sand sculptures

the only ride we ever go on

Tiger!

Yes... this is a baby llama with a diaper on drinking from a bottle. 

We decided to test our strength with a classic fair game.

Justin

Wyatt

Me... yea, Justin is a great photographer, huh? 

And because I was the strongest (not really) the carny woman gave me a pity prize. Which I gave to Doodle as soon as I got home. He really appreciated it. We also stuffed our bellies with amazing fair food. Seriously, it's one of my favorite things.

2. Camping! Another thing that I seriously love and another thing that always reminds me of Justin and I first meeting and getting together. We left Friday morning after the fair and came back on Sunday morning. We went up around Mica Bay with Justin's mom and stepdad and we had such a good time. We love getting to spend time with them. 

Cheese, crackers, wine, and SkipBo... this is how we do camping. 

What is camping without s'mores?!

Doodle is not the best swimmer. This is something we have really been working on. Poodles are actually supposed to be great swimmers and actually have webbed little feetsies! It drives Justin crazy that Doodle hates the water. We decided to try one more time with the support of a life vest. Yes, I'm serious.

He still hated it. Thank goodness summer is almost over and we don't have to try again for a whole year. 

3. Monday was my first official day back to work. I spent all day in my classroom setting up cubbies and bulletin boards and organizing crayons and markers and pencils. Pictures coming soon!

4. Monday was also the 26th of August. That means Justin and I have officially been together for 2 years. I know that most people don't celebrate their anniversary of dating anymore once they are married but it's still a special day for us. So we went and got sushi for dinner. Justin also said that this anniversary is like fate's anniversary and our marriage anniversary is our planned anniversary. So they are both special for different reasons. I just love that man and feel so blessed to have him in my life. 

The 26th of August was also National Dog Day. So shout out to my favorite furry friend. I love you so much and am so sorry I put embarrassing pictures of you in a life jacket on the blog today. (I'm sorry in advance for the overload of Doodle photos. We're a little obsessed.) 

5. We are also starting the couch to 5K running program today. I downloaded the app on my phone which I love and we are going to do it together to keep each other accountable and motivated. I'm really excited. 

Ok you guys, thats what I've been up to! I'm going to have to really focus on not being a sucky blogger  now that I'm back to work! How do you guys do it?! Hope you're having a great week so far!