September 2016 Photo Challenge Day #7 SHOES

Hey everyone!

I have always enjoyed taking pictures. I love my wonderful camera that my amazing husband bought me. Sometimes I grab the kids, head down some old country roads near home, and we just all take turns taking pictures of our favorite things! It's a lot of fun and I enjoy those times so much. We bought our daughter an Elph camera and she really has been enjoying it. My nine year old son is wanting a digital camera of his own and I think I might get him one for Christmas. For now, he can share mine with me.

Since I have a love for photography, I decided I would take one of the monthly challenges I had found on my Pinterest board. The problem is that I didn't really care for all of the photo prompts on any one challenge, so I used some of my favorite prompts for inspiration, and then added a few unique photo prompts of my own to create the September 2016 Photo Challenge. Here it is:

I would love it if you want to join me. You can pick any day that you want, but I think it would be fun to see everyone's photos, so please leave me a comment or message me a link to your photos. You can pick any day you want and participate or you can do the whole challenge. It's up to you!

So today is September 7, 2016. I find it so incredible that we have already been one week into this month. Time is flying by and for once I am not going to be so sad about that. I am taking a very hard class in college this year and I am not going to lie: I will be glad when it is all over! It's a tough one!! So, the photo prompt for today is SHOES. I love these shoes. They are my work shoes. I only wear them to work and they save my feet from hurting as much when walking up and down the halls repeatedly as a nurse. LOVE THESE! So here they are:

We can wear any color we want for scrubs and shoes but I went with the black, white, and gray color scheme so I can wear it with any scrubs I want!

Thank you for hanging out with me today! I am so glad you are here! I am thinking of a new idea for my blog posts in October. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Hugs,

September 2016 Photo Challenge Days 4, 5, and 6

Hey everyone!

I have the very best of intentions when it comes to posting on my blog. I have been so excited about this month's photo challenge, but time has just simply gotten away from me. So I hope you will allow me to share Day #4, Day #5, and Day #6 with you today. If you are new to my blog, welcome! I came up with a new photo challenge for this month, which you can find below:

For September 4, I took a picture of my lab BOOK. It is a very challenging course!! Any prayers for my successfully completing the course would be greatly appreciated!

I took a picture of some of the things I use at WORK for the September 5th photo challenge!

Today is my little brother's birthday! We went out to eat on my birthday Friday night to celebrate both of our birthdays together. So I was happy to share my SIBLING photo of my brother and me sitting outside the restaurant after we were done eating for the September 6th challenge.

I will do my best to post as often as I can. If I don't get back each day, I will share soon!! Thank you all for being so patient with me! I hope you'll join me in this challenge. I'd love to see your photos!

Hugs,

#Sept16PhotoChallenge Day #2 and #3

Hey, everyone!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had lab/lecture, then I didn't get a chance to sit at the computer for my #Sept16PhotoChallenge, so I will just add it with my picture for today's challenge!

If you aren't familiar with the photo challenge, here it is again:

So for Day #2 I chose this picture for CELEBRATE:

It is a very sweet card my sweet Handsome Man got me for my birthday with some uber soft pajama pants to celebrate my birthday! Love it!!!

And for Day #3 PERFUME, I chose to take a picture of my favorite fragrance from Bath and Body Works: Love and Sunshine! It is so awesome! I love how light, clean, and fresh the fragrance is. Don't you love the name? What is your favorite fragrance from Bath and Body Works?

I hope you guys will participate in the challenge, even if it is just for one day! Be sure to let me know in the comments section where I can find your photos! Thanks for hanging out with me today!

Hugs,

Love Notes To & From My Children

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share an idea with you all that I found on Pinterest! What would we do without Pinterest, right? I get so many wonderful ideas there that I had never thought of before. Today's post is all about how I was able to get closer to my kids using one of the ideas I had pinned!

First of all, I should explain what lead up to my actually using this idea. I am a nurse and I began working in a new facility. I truly love my job and know that I am doing what the LORD called me to do. This new job came with a new schedule and parts of it are good, but parts of it are not. I wanted a way to communicate with my children when I am not able to be home with them after school. We always talk about how our days went. I help with homework. They talk about issues they are facing. We go over spelling words. I remind them of chores to be done. They tell me if they need something special for school. A lot of communication was being lost with my working the hours I am and more important than that, we were not connecting like I wanted to.

I saw a post where a lady wrote in a composition notebook to her child and they became "pen pals" and took turns writing in the notebooks. Walmart had their notebooks on sale during Back2School specials and so I grabbed a glittery green notebook and a pretty composition notebook with a sparkly heart on the front cover. Javan and I share the green glittery notebook and Kadesia and I share the sparkly heart composition notebook.

I am so excited when the notebooks are waiting for me in my bathroom. When I get home from work and getting ready for bed, I just grab the notebooks and read the precious notes my children have left me. I will then write them each a letter back, sometimes to remind them of something, other times just answering questions they have asked, or just a new message about how much I love them.

My children find their notebooks on their bed and they enjoy seeing what I have sent them, too. I have a little better schedule now but we still like to use the notebooks for times I am gone and they just want to send their mommy a special note. I like that it encourages my teenage daughter to share moments in her life that she is going through. We have been able to swap messages back and forth and then when we get time to spend together, we have already laid the foundation to discuss those big topics that we might have not been able to share at all. My son is nine years old and I love that it is encouraging him to write. He needs practice and he is getting much better. It also increases his reading time because he is reading what I wrote to him, and is comprehending it.

The messages are not the same in the books because both of my children are very different. They are at different seasons in their lives. They are going through different things. They are not in the same grade. But the one thing that is the same in both notebooks is the message of love we send to one another. This was such a great idea and I know in years to come, those notebooks will be cherished memories of how we kept the lines of communication open, even when it was a challenge to share like we used to do.

I hope this inspires you to reach out to your loved ones. Find special ways to stay connected to those you love. Be sure to check out my Pinterest board for more ideas and inspiration! Definitely stop by Jennifer's blog and show her some love for this project. Thanks for hanging out with me today!

Hugs,

Thrifting For My Birthday!

Hey everyone!

Today is my birthday but I have to go to class for the biggest part of the day. Since I can't do anything really fun for most of the day, I thought I would just share a video of something I love to do...go thrifting! I recently hauled a bunch of awesome items for next to nothing at St. Vincent's thrift stores. I got something from Tastefully Simple, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Ikea, and a sweet little milk glass dish just to name a few. Feel free to watch my playlist of Budget Friendly Hauls!

Be sure to leave a comment. Hit the subscribe button on my channel if you haven't already done so, because I have a special giveaway coming up very soon! You won't want to miss it!

Thanks for watching and for hanging out with me today! Enjoy your holiday weekend. Most people get a three day weekend away from work, but I won't be one of them! Boohoo!!! Such is life! Check back in with me tomorrow when I share a special project I am enjoying to help me stay connected with my teenage daughter and nine year old son!

Hugs,

September 2016 Photo Challenge|Day 1 SELFIE

Hey everyone!

I have always wanted to participate in a monthly photo challenge. I would usually forget all about it until I was halfway through any given month. I decided that I would pin a bunch of monthly photo challenges on my Pinterest boards and I separated them by the month. The only problem I had was selecting one challenge to use. I don't really have the time to do more than one challenge, so I decided to make my own! I used a few of the photo challenge ideas that I found online, but came up with a few unique ones of my own.

I want my daughter to participate in this challenge, if she wants to. I think it would be really fun for us to do the challenge together and share the photos on our blogs. Then I thought it would be even more fun if I share my photo challenge with all of you! So, if you want to participate in the September Photo Challenge 2016, please jump right in! Be sure to let me know that you are doing the challenge so I can check out your blog, too! You can also post on Twitter. I do not have Facebook or Instagram so I cannot check out those platforms but I would love to see your photos!

So, here is the challenge:

Here is my first photo:

I really hate to have my picture taken. I am not very photogenic and I would rather be the photographer. But I wanted to include "selfie" on the list because I want to get out of my comfort zone this year. So, hopefully you guys will join me! I would love to see your pictures. Be sure to let me know where to find them! Thanks for hanging out with me today! Hope to see your photos soon!

Hugs.

Simon Says Stamp Pin-A-Palooza

Hey everyone!

First of all, I would like to say that I am just simply sharing something wonderful that happened! I am not being sponsored and I am not getting anything for sharing this information. I just wanted to tell everyone about a treat I enjoyed recently. I have been a fan of Simon Says Stamp for a while now. There are so many awesome stamp sets that I love!! So when Simon Says Stamp announced their Pin-A-Palooza I was so excited to participate!

All I had to do was create a board on Pinterest, pin 10 items on my Simon Says Stamps wish list (but I pinned more than 10!!), email the link to an email they provided, and then I claimed my $10 gift card!!! It was so easy! I love finding cool deals like that!!

So here are the stamp sets that I got!!! I used my $10 gift card to pay for some of these! My daughter helped me pick them out and I think we got a lot of great stamps that I am eager to start using!

If you haven't ever checked out the website, I highly encourage you to go take a peek! I am not getting any special offers for you doing so. I have always received great customer service and enjoy the company so much! There are more than stamps available on the website: Die Cutting, Stencils, Embossing, Ink and Paint, Adhesives, Tools and Brushes, Embellishments, Pens and Markers, Studio and Organization, Paper and Fabric, Scrapbooking, and more! Just click the link below and start your wish list!

Thanks for hanging out with me today! Let me know your favorite Simon Says Stamp items!! Did you participate in the Simon Says Stamp Pin-A-Palooza? If so, what did you get with your $10 gift card?

Hugs

What's In My Bible Study Tote?

Hey everyone!

I love watching videos that show what people carry around in their purses and their bags. I know it might sound crazy to some people, but it's just fun for me to watch them! When I was younger, I remember my mom keeping me quiet at church by showing me things in her purse. I loved looking in there with her because that was the ONLY time any of us ever got into my mother's purse. I also just love seeing how people arrange things in their purse or bag, and it gives me new ideas of things I might want to start carrying with me!

I purchased this little tote at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon. It was very inexpensive, but it was the perfect place to store all of my Bible study pens, paper, and miscellaneous items. I grab this to take to church with me and it's also close to my bed for studying God's Word in my room. If you are curious to what all I have inside, please watch my video below:



Do you have a way to store your Bible study materials? I would love to know what you use to keep things organized. Thanks for hanging out with me today!

Hugs,

How To Organize Washi Tape

Hey everyone!

I absolutely love washi tape! I have a wide array of colors, shapes, sizes, and designs. I believe I have washi in every color you can think of. I use washi tape for my planners, handmade cards, my smash book, and even in my prayer journal. Here is a look at my washi collection:

As you can see from the picture above, it isn't organized right now. I have tried so many different ways to organize my washi tape that I had just about given up on finding a solution that would work for me. I wanted something portable, something easy to access, and something that I could quickly find what I want. Mason jars didn't work because they were too tall and I had to dump everything out to get to the washi at the bottom of the jar. Decorative boxes didn't work because it was too hard to see what all I had. Containers with drawers weren't the right size and it seemed like I could never really keep it organized. So I was at a loss for what to do.

A quick trip to Walmart and the Dollar Tree and $10 (or less) later, I was able to come up with a solution to my washi tape disorganization dilemma. Watch this quick video to see how I was able to get this pile of washi tape under control and organized beautifully! Now I can easily find any washi tape I want quickly and it's portable!


How do you all store your washi tape? What is your favorite washi tape? I'd love to see your storage solutions! Hope this gives you ideas and inspiration for finding ways to organize your washi tape collection! Thanks for hanging out with me today!

Hugs,