truly blessed.

My amazing lovies. 

My sweet husband, me and J-Dub.

Robbie and his crew.

Me with Shannanigan!

This past weekend was beyond amazing.  Whenever I'm with my old roommates, my amazing best friends, it feels as though no time has passed since we last all saw each other.  I really feel so blessed to have such amazing women in my life.  Some day I will have to post our "love story" on here.  We have an awesome God story on how we all met.  It was also so great seeing all of Robbie's buddies.  They all have so much fun together and always make me feel like part of the gang.  Well, actually, I am part of the gang!  I married in.  :o)

Starting this weekend, I (we) have something going on EVERY weekend until the second weekend of December.  Isn't that crazy?!  But it's all so much fun.  NYC for a weekend (yay!), my sister and niece visiting us for a weekend, Nate and Shannon visiting, taking Michelle to State College for our last home game one weekend, THANKSGIVING weekend....and the list goes on.  This time of year is the best.  I have yet to visit a pumpkin patch this Fall, but Robbie and I have that on the agenda as well.  We found an AWESOME place right near where we live, complete with hayrides, corn mazes and everything else Fall-ish and wonderful.  I am seriously in love with Fall.  Every night while I cook dinner, I light our lovely fall scented candles, turn the fire on and put a good movie in the DVD player.  I love that our kitchen is open to the family room.  It's so cozy!  I also love how this time of year makes me want to cook all of the typical 'warm and fuzzy' fall meals.  This is where my amazing crock-pot comes in super handy.  Homemade chilli and meatballs have been on the menu.  Gosh I'm getting hungry just typing this.  I love to cook, but what I love even more is EATING.  I think that's why I like to cook so much - it's an excuse to have all of the awesome food!  Last night I made marinated beef cubes with sauteed mushrooms and onions and for on the side I made homemade sweet potato fries.  The sweet potato fries were AWFUL!!  I have no idea why, and plan on making them again soon to see what went wrong.  My mom said it's hard to get them to cook evenly, so maybe that was my problem.  I put on all the right seasonings (according to my recipe), but nonetheless, AWFUL.  My sweet husband poured ketchup on them and ate every little bit.  Next on my list to make is Split Pea Soup, and I have been dyeing to try a homemade Curry dish.  I cannot say I am a great cook, but I can say that I enjoy trying to be.  Okay, now I'm hungry.  If anyone has some awesome recipes they love, please let me know!!  I love exchanging recipes.  Haha, I sound like such a wife!  But I'm sure Robbie doesn't mind.  Have a great evening and enjoy the rest of your weeks!!

 

making progress!

I took a picture of our cute front porch so you can see it.  And the mums I planted!  I'm kind of proud of them.  :o)

This weekend is PSU's Homecoming!!!  Robbie and I both took the day off Friday so the festivities can start early.  My girls are going to be there, Rob's guys are all going...simply said, it is going to be an absolutely AMAZING weekend!  Not to mention that we are currently ranked #3!!!!  That's huge considering what we were ranked at the beginning of the season.  Man I love my Nittany Lions.  And Grandpa Joe.  :o)

Have a great week!

artistic flare.

Things have been awesome around here lately.  God has REALLY been guiding me in a direction vocationally that is a huge surprise and also a dream come true.  I am still trying to follow Him earnestly and wait patiently to see how, and if, this fully unfolds.  Until it does, I would like to keep it within a close circle and not divulge details on here.  But prayers are REALLY appreciated right now!  

I have been doing something on the side for a while now - graphic designing and web art.  I did a website for a private company and have been doing a few blogs for people.  It's so fun!  I don't think I'm THAT good at it, so it is strictly a hobby.  But one that I really love!  I think it's about time I change my blog up.  I made my header above in Adobe Illustrator a little while back and it took me forever.  I have since then been using photoshop and various websites like scrapblog and html feed.  I feel like I'm cheating when I use these websites, but MAN, it sure does make it go a lot faster!

I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Over the weekend I put up our Fall decorations and planted colorful mums in our front yard.  I am so in love with how the house is coming along!  I really do need to post some pictures soon.  I want to wait until it's all finished, but in reality I don't think it's ever going to be FULLY finished.  At least not for a while.  :o)

Enjoy your Wednesday!  God Bless!

PS.  Please feel free to post a little comment!!  I miss them.  :o(

Oprah tomorrow.

I have to make this quick because we are walking out the door, but I want to mention that tomorrow on Oprah there is a segment on the Whitakers and the horrible tragedy Sugar Land went through six years ago, one many are still facing and healing from.  I went to school with Kevin and can't express enough how great of a guy he was.  Every memory I have of him includes him smiling.  The story that unfolded after that tragic evening is indescribable.  I know a movie has been discussed, but no movie can do justice to the portrayal of forgiveness and faithful humility Mr. Whitaker has displayed over the course of the past six years.  It was such a hard thing that people went through and part of me is not looking forward to it being relived on television tomorrow, but yet, it is something Mr. Whitaker has been going through EVERY SINGLE DAY since tragedy struck.  His wife and youngest son are gone and his only other son is now on death row, sentenced for the plot of the murders of his family.  Yet through it all, Mr. Whitaker has shown only forgiveness and spoken of God's faithfulness and love.  Please watch it.  To get the full story you can look at the article I'm providing below.  Please pray for the Whitakers, their family and friends and the alumni of FBBA that knew Kevin and loved him dearly.  

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/48hours/main3381002.shtml

I know!!

I know, I know...I have been terrible at this.  I'm sort of working on a big project right now and it's consuming a lot of my free time.  I pray that it will come to fruition soon and I will be able to tell you about it!  Robbie's birthday was a blast and our one year anniversary was BEYOND amazing!!!  I'm working at an awesome boutique right now since the job market is so slow, so there's a little update to share!  Pretty much, right now, Robbie and I are soaking in the pleasure of being married for a year now and we're enjoying every second of this Fall weather.  I love it!!!  My parents gave Robbie and I two rocking chairs we picked out to put on our front porch so we can sit and enjoy this awesome weather.  Haha, I know you're thinking we sound like grandma and grandpa, but in our neighborhood a lot of people have rocking chairs and sit outside and watch the kiddies play and sip lemonade or apple cider.  It's amazing!  AND, I'm putting out all of our fall decorations up tomorrow.  We decided to wait until October instead of rushing and putting it out on the first full day of Fall since it was on Rob's birthday and his bday decorations were still up.  Okay, this was a super quick update.  I hope everyone is having a great week and has a fun weekend ahead.  Blessings!