Sunday, November 24, 2013

More Than That

Today is our 6th Wedding Anniversary and I couldn't be happier!!!! I am still so very head-over-heels in love with my Love!! I've said this over and over, but I never thought I'd get married. I was an "older" bride (at 38) and I really thought "love" wasn't coming my way. Boy, was I wrong!!!! We were friends for a while before either of us were willing to admit the true depth of our feelings. He was the first to say "it".....

He would frequently say, "I really care for you," and I would always say it back. One day, he just took my hand, looked deep into my eyes, and said, "You know, when I say 'I care for you, I mean I love you." My heart jumped out of my body!! I started crying and immediately said, "I LOVE YOU!"

I can't imagine life without my best friend and my greatest love!!!

I'd love to write something clever about "The 6 Reasons I Love You", but I LOVE YOU MORE THAN THAT!!!

Maybe I could write "The 6 Ways I Know I Love You", but there are so many MORE THAN THAT!!!

There's no way I could share the impact you've had on my life, like on well.....everything, but it's even so much MORE THAN THAT!!

No matter what happens in this life, I will ALWAYS LOVE YOU MORE THAN THAT!!!!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Santa Fe

My sweet hubby and I were able to spend some time together in Santa Fe last week and it was great!! I was invited to Albuqueque to do some staff development for a local Head Start program and Dave and I were able to steal away for a few hours. We had never been to Santa Fe together, and this was the perfect opportunity.

First stop...... The Loretto Chapel

If you are unaware of the chapel, be sure to read more about it. Not only is it gorgeous, but it has a beautiful story to match.

Disclaimer: Sorry about my pictures. I tried using my "fancy pants" camera, but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing! I just turn a lot of dials and click. Guess I really should practice with intention!!
OK - back to our original programming! 

 
 
 
 

                                                   

I took lots of pictures of the actual staircase, again just trying out different settings on my camera. I love how each picture expresses a different feeling and sense. You notice something a little different in each shot.
 
 
  
 
When you are in the chapel, you just know that something extraordinary happened here!

We spent the rest of the time just wandering around the square. It was a beautiful fall evening, just cool and crisp enough to make you know that you are alive!  
 
 
 


It was hard to drive away!! We are already planning a return trip. If you've never been to Santa Fe, you really should go! It's beautiful!! (Plus, there's tons of amazing food and shopping!! What's not to love about that?!?)
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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Closet Clean-out

So, several weeks ago, I shared that my closet was in bad shape...... Partly because I have put on so much extra weight and partly because I just have a bunch of old clothes that are woefully out of fashion.

Welp, the time had finally come to do something drastic! This is super embarrassing because I never should have let my closet get into this kind of condition, but I had. This is life and lately, my life had not revolved around my closet! So, red face and all.....

I'm going in! 
What a mess!!
After 2 days, I had finally finished trying on everything in my closet and the dresser in my bedroom. Yes - I tried on Every.Single.Thing! Whew!!

This picture doesn't do it justice. Between the hubby and I, we donated 12 plastic bags of clothes to a dear friend. Her church was having a garage sale to raise funds for their Widow's Fund. It was a win-win for all of us! Gotta love that!

                                            

Luckily, I had a pretty organized system for my clothes already. I had just allowed things to get overcrowded and messy. Now that I had seriously purged everything, it was time to "put things right" again. Space is definitely not an issue with this closet. We are extremely blessed by the size of this closet. In fact, it's part of why we selected this floor plan. The closet surrounds our bathtub, so it basically has 3 long sides. Dave and I each have a long side and then we split the back wall. For this post, I'm just going to show you my 1 1/2 walls. I have big plans for the rest of the closet and I'll do a complete "Room Tour" when we get those projects completed.

CLOSET AFTER!
                                            

First up --> Shirts. I start by separating them into types: sleeveless, short-sleeve, and long-sleeve. Polos and athletic-types are on the bottom rod. Within each type, the shirts are hung in color-order......Rainbow order to be more precise! (Of course!! I want a Happy Closet!)

                                         

Also on the bottom rod, are jeans and pants. I only kept a couple pairs of jeans and actually zero dress pants. Hubby was SUPER sweet and bought me 3 new pairs so I'd have something to wear! I had to get a slightly bigger size, but that's only temporary. I can live with this new size for a little while.

I keep vests, shrugs, jackets, and blazers on the back half of my long wall. Again, I'll share all that other stuff like shoes and bags when I show the entire closet. This post is really about how I organized my clothes.

It's a little hard to see, but I like my hangers to match. All of my shirts, vests, and shrugs have the same type of white plastic hanger. The jackets and blazers have more substantial clear plastic ones. I've thought about investing in the nice, velvety-kind of hangers, but I really don't see spending that kind of money for hangers. Pants and skirts are both grouped by type and color on pant and skirt hangers.
                                         

The back wall of the closet has a single rod, so I hang skirts to the left and dresses and track suits to the right. For now, winter sweaters are in the suitcase on the floor. Cardigans are on the shelf above the skirts and short-sleeve sweaters are in that Sterilite drawer unit. I'm working on a new system for those items, so hopefully they won't be like this for much longer. It's just not working for me.
 
Since I was on such a roll with my closet, I decided to tackle my dresser. I've been super curious about the new way to fold t-shirts. I've seen this all over Web-land, so I decided to give it a whirl. I'm thrilled with how well it worked!! Hubby was so impressed, that he's going to do the same with his collection of t's.  
                                            

So, I can now say that the State of the Closet is muuuch better!! I feel happy every time I walk in. Sorry for the quality of the pictures. This closet is dark and very difficult to photograph. I am definitely still a beginner with this "fancy-pants" camera, so don't know what I'm doing with lighting and stuff. Bear with me and hopefully when I post the full closet, the quality of the pictures will actually match the quality of the closet!!

Until then, take a look at your own closet. What can you do to make it function better for you??

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Fall Gardens

Just thought I'd share a few pictures of our fall gardens. Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job with the flowers or the pictures this season. Oh well. I know the flowers are beautiful in person and hopefully they'll live through the fall and winter.

ENJOY!

                                           
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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