Tuesday Tidbits

1. We put a down payment on a puppy!!! I really, really want to post a picture, but because we don't technically have "him" yet, I feel funny and want to respect the privacy of the breeders. But man, we are so excited! We went to see the new puppies on Sunday. They were only a week old! A beautiful litter of Golden Retrievers, and we were able to pick them up and hold them! Have you ever held a one week old puppy? It was magical. :o) We are able to pick him up on July 25th (when the puppies are 8 wks old) - which, is a whole other story. I'll be in Maine on July 25th! My mom, my girlfriends and I are taking a girls' trip together. I am so excited for the trip but am so bummed I will miss bringing home our little guy! I'm praying super hard that they move the "pick up time" to a week earlier, but I'm not holding my breath, especially considering I don't think they are even allowed to go home any earlier than 8 wks of age. We also don't know which male yet we'll be bringing home. We have to wait until they are a little older for us to go and pick which one we want. It's crazy to think that we are definitely getting one of them, and I may have even held him on Sunday, but for now we don't know which one will be ours! I can't wait to pick him out! Regardless, I'm so excited, and will be sure to post more about this later, including pictures!! And his name! Eeek! It's all so new, but I wanted to at least let you know that we made a decision and will definitely be bringing home our little guy at the end of next month. Hubsy looked at me the other night and said, "Our family is about to get bigger!" It was cute.

2. AWESOME weekend! I promised pictures, and guess what, I FORGOT TO CHARGE MY CAMERA! This is the only one I got before it died! I wanted to show how close we were to the field and got hubsy's head in it too. Trust me ladies, I was all set to snap away the whole weekend. I was so bummed! It's been so long since I've brought my camera that I completely forgot to see if I had any battery life left. We had seats in the FRONT row, behind center field. I think twice a baseball came directly towards my head. I squealed like a little girl A LOT during the games. Kind of scary, but a lot of fun. Braves won the first night and lost the second night. Pretty close seats, huh?

3. Let's hang out. I want to throw a summer party and invite all my blogging lovies. Wouldn't that be fun? Ohhhh, if only.

4. I loveee Bikram Yoga. In fact, I'm surprised I haven't posted about this before. We moved into our new house last August, about an hour away from where we used to live. There aren't ANY Bikram Yoga studios in our new area and it has been a really big struggle for me. It's like loving to play a sport and being told you're not allowed to play it anymore. I miss it! It really is the ONE workout that gets me motivated and going. A lot of bloggers have been talking about their journeys to becoming avid runners, or what they already do as avid runners. I have decided to stop sulking about not being able to do Bikram (ps. there are regular yoga studies everywhere here, but it really isn't the same as Hot Yoga, I don't feel like I get in as good of a stretch and workout) and have decided to start running, or at least attempt. I used to run all the time WAY back in the day when I was in track and field. I would love to enjoy running again. I'm a little nervous to start it back up, since it has been so long, but I am determined to find something else that I love just as much as I did Bikram Yoga. I am going to the gym today and am making myself RUN (or lightly jog, or walk, let's be honest) my heart out. I really hope to start enjoying running again. I'll let you know how it goes! I know to ease myself back in. I just want to skip ahead a few months and be done with the beginners stage!

5. Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are having a great start to your week.

Blessings!

XOXO,

Word Happy

Hellooooo, lovies!! How is your week going so far? This week kind of feels like it is going by soooo sloooowlyyyy. BUT, it is Wednesday! Hip hip hooray! This weekend hubsy and I are going to Baltimore for a weekend full of BASEBALL. Yep, TWO games, two nights in a row. I'm getting myself prepared, haha. I love baseball, but that is a lot for a weekend. My husband lived in GA for a while growing up and his whole family LOVES the Braves. A lof of our friends from school and one of my brother-in-laws now live in Baltimore, and the Braves are playing them this weekend. So, we're making a whole weekend out of it full of friends, family and baseball. Should be fun! This weekend, I am making it a point to take pictures. I know, I have been lacking in providing something fun to actually see while looking at my posts. I think since I returned from Italy I have been a little worn out of the whole picture taking process. But, it's time to get back in the grind!

This past weekend was FULL of hard work planting new flowers, bushes and mulching every thing in our sight. Luckily, my neck was healed and ready for all the work! Thank you for your sweet comments below. My neck ordeal was such a crazy experience, but luckily it is ALL better. Sunday evening when we were getting ready for bed, I couldn't stop thinking about what a perfect day we had. Granted, in the midst of being in a permanent state of bending over while mulching, I probably thought more negative thoughts about the moment than positive, but in the end, it was so perfect. Sunday morning we woke up and headed off to church. Our new church starts at 9:30am - EARLY for a non-morning person like me. It's always so hard to get up, but always such a joy when I'm out the door and on the way and feeling refreshed and ready to go. At church we sat next to a young couple who had a two week old baby girl! I couldn't help myself from constantly looking over and just watching her. She was SO tiny and BEAUTIFUL! We introduced ourselves and it turned out it was their first Sunday at our church and they had just moved into the area only a few weeks ago. She moved when she was 38 weeks pregnant, yikes. My hubsy asked them if they were free for lunch and I for sure thought they would be too exhausted (sidenote, they also have a two year old who was upstairs in sunday school). They said they would love to go to lunch! We spent a good two hours at a local restaurant sitting outside on the patio, eating good food and getting to know one another. It was awesome! It felt so good to be able to welcome a new family into our church, especially considering that WE have been the new family that people have been welcoming. We are so excited to hang out with them again and continue to get to know them. After lunch, hubsy and I headed to Home Depot (for I think the third time) and we picked up some more flowers to finish our weekend project. We went home, changed, and got to work. Probably about four or five hours into our hard work, we overheard a neighbor of ours talking to his kids. Our neighbors who are two houses down have a pool and a huge fence surrounding their house. We can never actually SEE them, but we can hear them. The dad goes, "Hey kids, does anyone want a milkshake?" Simultaneously, both my husband and I looked up at each other and smiled. That was it. We decided that sounded SO good that we had to jump in the car and go get a milkshake, or ice cream, or SOMETHING equally refreshing and yummy. We piled in the car with mud streaks and all. We realized on the way there that it was already dinner time, so we first stopped at a burrito place and grabbed some food and drove to a near by lot and ate in the car. We watched the birds and had a good time chowing down. After that, we were off to get a milkshake for myself and a chocolate and peanut butter sundae for my hubsy, his favorite. It was heavenly. We went home, finished our yard work, rinsed off, hopped into bed, and read for a good hour before we decided it was time to turn off the lights. I felt like such a little domestic wifey going to sleep that night. A full day of church, good company, hard work, and a full belly. I loved it! What an awesome Sunday. Whew, I just realizd how much I typed just to tell you about our day! I'm a tad word happy. Oh! What a perfect segway....

Heather at Small Town Girl tagged me! This rules of this tag are as follows:

Share six unimportant things that make you HAPPY ~ Mention who tagged you ~ Tag six fellow bloggy buddies. Too fun! Here we go.

1. The smell of Old Spice deodorant, mmmmm.
2. Sitting by a campfire with a glass of wine.
3. Lipgloss
4. Manicures and Pedicures
5. Getting wrapped up in a good book
6. Eating homemade gingerbread on a cool, crisp day. Growing up, my mom would make a pan of homemade gingerbread on the first, cool day of Fall, every year. Heavenly.

I tag, That's Sassy, Paper Girl, Mrs. Southern Bride, Ricardo and Lauren, Cristina and Emily - My six, newest followers! Thank you so much for deciding to stick around and follow my blog. It's such an encouragement!

Have an amazing rest of your week and weekend! (If I don't make it back before Friday). :o)

Blessings!

XOXO,

PAIN. IN. THE. NECK.

Soooo, Monday night I went for a jog around the neighborhood, and for the first time, I brought hand weights with me. I wanted to go for a run because it was so beautiful out, but I also wanted to get in a little arm workout. BIG MISTAKE! Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling fine. I was dressed and all ready for work, about to walk out the door, when all of the sudden, I got the most horrific pain on the left side of my neck. I stood there actually thinking I was having an aneurysm or something! I couldn't move my head! The pain kept getting worse and worse. As I was standing by the door trying to figure out what to do, my hubsy was getting out of his car, praise the Lord. It was a mess, I was in so much pain and couldn't move my head to do anything. To make a long story short, I completely pulled the muscles on the left side of my neck to the point where they were overlapping in a continuous spasm. I REALLY didn't want to go to the doctor, but when I realized I couldn't even lay down because it hurt so bad, I knew I had to suck it up and go see him. I went to the doctor that night and he gave me a muscle relaxer to try and break the spasm up along with a pain killer so that I woudn't be in pain while I was sleeping. The doctor also mentioned it would be a good idea for me to get a massage. Um, OKAY! You don't have to tell me twice! I informed my hubsy that this was, in fact, orders from the doctor. Last night I had the most amazing one hour massage! Afterwards, I went home and took my meds the doctor gave me and went right to sleep. Today, I feel like a new woman! But, I also feel like a very old woman. Who throws their neck out from running? Well, me, for starters. So ladies, I don't encourage you to run with weights. I should have known better, but I thought that if I wasn't going that fast then it would be alright. WRONG. I don't know, maybe my body is just that puny! This weekend we are doing a TON of yard work. I'm just praying my neck stays calm and collected, otherwise I may have to sit on the front porch in one of our rocking chairs and delegate to hubsy where I want our new flowers to go. I can't risk another neck injury! :o)

Thank you for your comments on the post below! It was great hearing your opinions on the whole dog front. I also loved hearing your own words of appreciation about your husbands. What a blessing! While I love talking about married life, and my studly man, I want to make sure that the women who read this that are single, know that they aren't alone! I was also in their shoes not too long ago. Kelly from Kelly's Korner did an amazing post this morning about singleness. She gave some awesome bible verses on patience and contentment. She is also hosting a give away for two books, one that is targeted towards single, Christian women. Check it out and leave her a comment so you can be entered to win! When I was struggling with contentment in my single stage, I loved the book What's a Girl To Do? While Waiting for Mr. Right, by: Jane Folger. It's a great book! I wanted to share this because one of the reasons I love talking about my husband and our life together, and why I praise God every day for the blessing I have in my him, is because I've been on the other side! The side where you yearn for God to bring you "the one". Each one of us has a different role in the bigger plan, and while we know God's plan is perfect, it doesn't mean it's easy. I thought Kelly's post was awesome, so I wanted to point it out to you. Blessings!

Happy Thursday!

Random Thoughts

What an amazing weekend! We woke up on Saturday and headed to Hershey, PA for a fun-filled day and night of roller coasters, cook-outs and an amazing hotel room at the Hershey Lodge, all given to us by my husband's company. We had such a great time! On Sunday, we woke up and then drove home to get ready for our Bible study cook-out we were hosting in the evening. We had a great turn out and a fabulous time entertaining and mingling with friends. Our Bible study is taking a break over the summer, and I honestly am a little bit relieved - we started missing so many studies because we have been gone! It will be nice to meet back up again in the Fall.

We have been looking at puppies! We visited a breeder last week and saw a litter of one week old Labrador Retrievers. They were the cutest little things! I have been hesitant about getting a puppy for a while now, since we travel so much, but my hubsy has been wanting one since the day we were married. We agreed that once we got back from Italy we would start looking. And we are! And honestly, now I want one so badly I'm becoming almost impatient! Haha. The weather has been so beautiful and I am so excited to go on long walks in the evening with our little guy (we want a male) and my hubsy. He has grown up with Golden Retrievers and LOVES them. Right now we are looking at Golden Retrievers and Yellow Labs. Any suggestions on which one you think we should get? I know all about the hair with the Goldens and the energy levels with the labs, so I'm really in the middle. We're visiting a few Golden Retriever litters this week. I will keep you posted! I really have never been one too obsessed with dogs, but I can SO see myself becoming one of those owners who refers to their puppy as another child. In fact, we have his name picked out and we aren't telling anyone what it is. How funny is that?!

I'm going to re-do my blog soon. I say soon, but honestly I have no idea when. It's funny, I don't own ANYTHING pink. I never wear pink, I don't decorate with pink...but I love the essence of pink. That's why I chose the theme for this blog to be about pink. But I am honestly getting a wee bit tired of the theme, and soooo much pink. Haha! I love change and I think it's about time to embrace a new one. I also feel that it is time to shift gears a little bit in my writing. I am sure you have noticed, but most of my entries are about what my hubsy and I have been up to and what is going on in our lives. I want to feel open and free to continue these writings, and still add my recipes here and there and other fun things. I'm definitely keeping the same URL, and will still be "Pocket full of pink", but I'm going to change the theme up a bit with the layout and use of colors. But don't worry, there will still be pink!

The other night I woke up around 4am and was FREEZING! It was so hot during the day but it cools down so much at night. We didn't have the windows open or the AC on, and I'm usually never cold at night, but for some reason I was absolutely freezing. I was only half awake too, and started earnestly looking for my comforter that I had kicked off earlier. My hubsy woke up and asked me what was wrong and I mentioned that I was so cold. He SHOT out of bed and ran and grabbed about four, huge pillows and started building a nest around me. He had the pillows so tight around me that I felt like I was in an oven. It was heavenly. He tucked me in, kissed me and went right back to sleep. An hour later, his alarm went off and he was up and off to work. I woke up later in the morning, still nice and toasty, and wiggled myself out of my "nest". I just sat there astonished at what an amazing man I have. He is always taking care of me. It didn't matter he only had one hour left to sleep, he got up and went about making sure I had everything I needed to be comfortable and warm. I praise God every day for giving me the man that I married. I love him so much and am caught up in disbelief every now and then at the fact that he is, in fact, MY husband. How cool is that?! It will be two years in September and I am just as giddy as day 1 at the fact that we're married. What a gift I have in him. I praise God so much for loving me enough to give me the blessing that is my husband. And I am praying extra hard this week that He will guide my actions and my words, and work with me to be a continuous gift in my husband's life: supportive and loving. I can do anything in Him!

Here's to a new week! Happy Monday!

Poo-Pourri & Awe-summm-ness!

Oohhh my, this makes me laugh! Last weekend I was at the NYC Stationery and Gifts show. There was one booth in particular that caught my eye. The whole booth was set up with a fabulous, vintage style. I soon realized that the booth was also set up for only ONE product. I read the name and thought it sounded so odd, almost like it had to be a mistake. May I introduce to you: Poo-Pourri. Maybe you've heard of it! Apparently it's creating quite a buzz and has been featured in several magazines. The woman at the booth gave me a sample and went on to say, "Spritz the bowl before you go and no one else will ever know!" I then read this catchy little poem written on the sample:

There once was a young lad from Rhone

whose odor he'd rather disown

now he's taming his poo

by annointing the loo

and now happily sits on his throne!

I was beside myself with laughter and curiosity! It was claiming to be an actual elliminator of all unpleasant odor rooting from unpleasant bathroom experiences, and here's the thing, it's not a spray to be used AFTER, in an attempt to cover up bad odor, but to be used BEFORE your bathroom "adventure".

The Poo-Pourri official website goes on to say that "when you spray Poo-Pourri in the toilet bowl, our proprietary formula creates a film on the surface of toilet water. The film adheres to solid matter as it enters the water, effectively trapping the offending particles inside. Flushing releases additional formula to help neutralize odor the air. Poo-pourri does not have the medicine or bathroom cleanser smell that similar bathroom odor control devices leave behind. Instead, your bathroom is left with the smell of citrus and a hint of your favorite essential oils."

I must say, I have not actually tried my sample! But I am still quite tempted to order a bottle for the bathroom. They are pretty convincing! Have you ever heard of this stuff? If so, does it work?! An inquiring mind wants to know! Too funny.

Now, on to something exciting. I want to say a HUGE thank you to Ms. Quite Contrary and Ms. Heather for giving me this AWE-SUMMM award! I think YOU ladies are awe-summm! So fun, I am loving this. My queenly duties are to list 7 things that make me awe-summm and then nominate 7 other ladies/blogs that are awe-summm. I know I know, but I can't do it. Seriously, only tag 7? Each and every one of you are an encouragement to me, and I find your blogs AWE-SUMMM. Nope, can't tag 7, I tag all of you, because without you, my blog would NOT be awe-summm by any means. I'm allowed to bend the rules a bit, because, well, it does say Queen of ALLLLL things. :o)

SO, without further ado...

1. I've been skydiving THREE times. Pretty much, the most awe-summm thing ever.

2. My husband is awe-summm, which means I'm automatically awe-summm, associated through marriage.

3. I love to eat and I love to cook. I can't say I'm any good at the cooking part (I KNOW I'm good at the eating part), but I love to try.

4. I've mentioned it before on here and I'm mentioning it again: I went to clown school. I think that puts me in the top 5th percentile of awe-summm-ness.

5. I'm the daughter of a King.

6. I went to Penn State, the most awe-summm school in the universe. :o)

7. I am BLESSED beyond belief. And that, is AWE-SUMMMMMM.

I hope everyone had an AMAZING Memorial Weekend! Happy Tuesday!! YAYYY for a short week!

XOXO,

Little Bee

After Thought! - I mentioned below that I will post on Monday, but I completely forgot that it is Memorial Day and I won't even be here!! I have to change it to Tuesday, and still promise I will follow through! :o)

Hello, my name is Anna. Do you remember me? I used to make an appearance on here on a semi-regular basis. Ahh, what a terrible blogger I have been! My apologies! To say my schedule has been quite insane would be an understatement. I feel as though I have barely had time to breathe lately! I have been a busy little bee. How are things with all of YOU? Trust me, I have been reading your blogs!! Even if I haven't been able to comment, I have been doing quick reads at every opportunity I get. The comments will start pouring over to you from me soon, I promise. NYC was great! Super busy, but super great. I came home on Monday and we immediately had guests come into town, which was so much fun, but another little thing keeping my time occupied from the blogging world. I have used this image before, but I really have been like a chicken running around with my head cut off. I know it's a lame excuse, but it truly has just been so hard to find time to sit at my computer and post. Next weekend we'll be out of town again and well, this weekend, tons of stuff going on! I am very grateful for the busy-ness in our lives. While it may be overwhelming at times, it is a blessing to have a full schedule. I wouldn't want to be sitting around doing nothing! I keep reminding myself of this. A busy schedule is a blessing. Soo, all of this rambling to say that I sincerely hope you will stick around, regardless of my lack of writing. You are my friends and I thoroughly enjoy keeping up with you in the blogosphere. I know there has to be an end in site to the madness. The posts will start flowing again regularly, I am sure of it. Please stick around!

That has been on my heart. Glad to get it out. NOW, on to fun stuff. I have some more pictures below from Italy! Nine days of pure bliss. It almost feels now like it was ages ago. It was definitely a well needed vacation; I hope every single one of you gets to have a vacation SOON!! Hopefully even this weekend for some of you. It was so rejuvenating. I hope you enjoy the pics!

On Tuesday, (yes on Tuesday, I promise! No excuses.) I am excited to write you a post about something I saw at the conference I worked at over the weekend. I was at the Nationel Stationery and Gifts show in NYC and kept walking by this one booth. I finally stopped and asked the woman what the heck it was they were selling. It is hysterical!! I can't wait to tell you about it. Monday, Monday. Also, and this is IMPORTANT, some of you have been so amazing to have left me awards and tags on your blogs. I am SO thankful and apologize that I have not addressed them yet on here. I am excited to post about it and can not tell you enough how appreciative and thankful I am!

Happy Wedenesday! HAVE AN AMAZING, LONGGG WEEKEND!!!! Have so much fun and please, please, please be safe!! Blessings to all of you, my sweet blogging buddies!

The yellow, Tory Burch jelly ballet slippers worked out GREAT!

Mmmmm, gelato.

My sexy husband.

I wanted to run up and squeeze him!

Here are some of my attempted "artsy" pictures. I really wanted to capture the amazing colors!

XOXO,

BAAAAAAACK!

WOW. To say that was one of the most amazing, phenomenal trips of my life would be an understatement. I am still in awe. We had the most magnificent time seeing so many amazing places that kept us constantly in awe of God's goodness and BEAUTY here on earth. It was also an amazing week spending quality time with my husband's two brothers and his parents, and honestly, I left more in love with my husband than when we got there - if that is EVEN possible. It was so romantic, so amazing and SO PERFECT!! I have a bazillion pictures, but here are a few! We visited so many places! Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa, Recco, Lucca, Portovenere, Porto Vallarta, Santa Margherita, and the list still goes on - we packed a lot in! I hope you enjoy these pictures, I can't wait to share more. I hope everyone has had an AMAZING past two weeks. I can't wait to start getting caught up on everyone's blogs! I'm actually off tonight for my parent's house and then NYC for four days, PHEW, and will be back on Tuesday for more pictures and stories! I missed ya'll!! :o)

Cinque Terre!!! I dreamt of this moment for FIVE YEARS, being able to share it with my husband. It was PERFECT!

The view from our balcony! Our Villa was amazing!!
Bike riding in Lucca!

Another view from our balcony. Isn't it breathtaking?! We were so blessed.

On the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence! Ponte Vecchio Bridge in the background.

Pisa! Look at how beautiful the sky was!! And the model is quite beautiful too. :o)

Town of Recco

Town of Portovenere

Blessings!