Happy 4 Year Wedding Anniversary!

Four years ago I married my best friend!  To commemorate this wonderful occasion, I decided to share lots and lots of pictures that show how our friendship grew into a bond that will last forever!  Because, hey, who doesn't love pictures?!??!  I know I LOVE them!

To start, here is us at what should "technically" be our First Date!  The Grand Valley State University President's Ball in 2002.  This was during our freshman year at GVSU.  We were only friends, although Chaz wanted more!  Hahaha!  I always tease him about that now.  But we really consider our First Date as an outing to Taco Bell.  That was when we both liked each other. :-)

This is us in my dorm room during our freshman year!  Again, just friends!!!  But he was being a good friend and cheering me up, so I decided to take a silly picture of us! :-)

Here we are with Louie the Laker at one of our trips to see GVSU Football play in Alabama in the D II Championships!  So much fun!

A picture that I love and Chaz hates!  How can he not love it, we are having so much fun it it?!?! Clearly GVSU won the game! :-)

My Valentine's gift to him in 2003, just after we started officially being a couple!

Our first little apartment together in 2004!

It wasn't long after we got our first apartment together, that we got engaged in front of my family in Las Vegas!  I think I'll share the engagement story in another post sometime!

We were engaged for 2 years!  But finally, it was time to rehearse the big day!



Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

We were married at Cook-Dewitt Center on Grand Valley State Universities Allendale Campus!  GVSU was where we first met, so it was PERFECT!



Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

This was us just 4 years ago!  Sealing the deal with a kiss! :-)

 

Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

This is my FAVORITE picture of our wedding party!  I can't help but laugh every time I look at it!

The  next series of photo's explain themselves! :-)

Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com



Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

 

Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

 

Photo by Karyn May - www.karynmayphotography.com

We did kiss and make up of course! :-)

Just a few months after we were married, we jumped in and bought our first house!  We are really starting to grow up! :-)

Ever since we were married, we make sure to celebrate our anniversary! I know some people don't feel the need to celebrate, but I love it! I think it keeps us closer together when we celebrate that special occasion! It reminds us to keep romance in our relationship and to tell each other how important they really are!

Obviously since I feel strongly about celebrating, I made sure to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary in the traditional way, by eating the top layer of our wedding cake.  This is what was left of it after the little cake fight that you saw... :-)

And here we are feeding it to each other.  Nicely this time!  We were in our new house, we didn't want to mess it up!  :-)

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a trip to Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie!

Our 3rd wedding anniversary celebration was extra special because we were able to celebrate with both of our families!  During the month of September, we went to Myrtle Beach with my family...

...and to Las Vegas with Chaz's family! 

So, this is us right now.  This picture was taken a few weeks ago on a family vacation to Mackinac Island! We are on to our 4th wedding anniversary, and we will be celebrating by going to Niagara Falls (the Canada side) in a few weeks!  I'm looking forward to visiting this new place with Chaz, and having many, many more adventures together! 

Chaz is an incredible husband who I love so much!  I am so lucky to have him in my life and he does so much for me.  From the small things like opening jars or killing spiders, to major stuff like keeping track of the finances and fixing the brakes on my car, there isn’t a thing he can’t do!  So thank you Chaz, for EVERYTHING!!!  I love you!!!  Happy Anniversary!

Say What?!?!?!

Song lyrics.

A lot of times, I know them, without even knowing that I know them. I hear the same song so often, even if I don’t like the song that much, I still catch myself singing along in the car on my way to work.

But the majority of the time, I think I know them, but I really don’t. I often have my own “Sarah Remix” for a song because I sing the words that I think they are saying, and that seem to fit in that space, but I usually find out they are wrong when I happen to sing them in front of somebody else…

This HAS to happen to other people too, right? You’ll just be in the car, singing away, when the other person looks at you with their eyebrows raised, asking “What the heck did you just say????”

“Um, ‘Hood slidin’ like whoa dude’…”

Then comes the laughter! That’s when you realize, that the lyrics you sang make absolutely zero sense in normal people land! But in my own "Sarah language", I totally thought that you could “hood slide like whoa dude!”

Apparently, the actual lyrics are “Hood slidin’ like Bo Duke…”

Yes, the above example is an actual experience that happened to me. The song that these lyrics are from is Dierks Bentley’s ‘What Was I Thinking.’ You can watch and hear the lyrics here:

Fortunately, these embarrassing situations usually only occur with my husband, who is so wonderful to point out the correct lyrics to me.

Just this past Friday, I discovered that I had another lyric wrong! And is from a song that’s been out since 2000! I’ve been singing it wrong for 10 years… Wonderful!

Chaz happened to be singing away this time, and when he said “Chances are – that I might!” I looked at him and started laughing! Haha! Now it’s my turn to point out that he doesn’t know the lyrics. He asked me what I was laughing at, and I pointed out that he doesn’t know the lyrics! “What are the lyrics then?” he asks me…

“Chances are – dynamite!”

Now he starts laughing… oh man, I did it again! In “Sarah language” yes, the chances of something happening could be “dynamite”… but I guess not everyone talks like me! Check out the lyrics video and listen to the song here, and see if you know what I’m talking about!

There have been many more instances of screwed up lyrics, but these are just the few I could remember right now... So anyways, I hope I’m not the only one who screws up lyrics! Will you share what lyrics you’ve messed up?  I need a good laugh! :-)

The Winner!!!!

In my last post, I hosted a GIVEAWAY for these beautiful earrings!

Purple and Lavender Chain Dangle Earrings - See the listing by clicking here!

Thank you to all who entered!  Even if you didn't win and just for reading this post, I will offer you all a special sale at AccessoryLove!  How does Buy One, Get One (of equal or lesser value) FREE sound?!?!?  Just make your purchase and put "Giveaway" in the message to seller.  I will refund the sale price via PayPal.

Well, I did the drawing the old-fashioned way, by writing the names on a slip of paper and putting them into a bowl!

Names in a bowl!

I asked my husband to volunteer to do the drawing!  As you can see in the picture, he is oh-so-happy to help! :-)

My Happy Helper!

And the winner of the beautiful Purple and Lavender Chain Dangle Earrings is.... (drum roll please!)

CONGRATULATIONS SHARRIE!!! I will contact you to get the earrings sent to you as soon as possible!

Again, thank you so much to all who entered!  I hope the new followers enjoy my blog!  I am always trying to improve in my writing and my topic choices!  I always appreciate feedback and comments!

DON'T FORGET:  Even if you didn't win and just for reading this post, I will offer you all a special sale at AccessoryLove! How does Buy One, Get One (of equal or lesser value) FREE sound?!?!? Just make your purchase and put "Giveaway" in the message to seller. I will refund the sale price via PayPal.

I'm Having a GIVEAWAY!!!

In a previous post, I wrote about how I am in the beginning stages of simplifying and decluttering my life. I have been making very good progress on this and I’m very happy about it! So far, I’ve donated a few boxes of stuff to Goodwill, thrown out several bags of trash, and sold a few items via Craigslist and Amazon.com. I will detail more of my progress in an upcoming post.

But right now I am trying to work on selling my inventory from my Etsy shop, AccessoryLove! I’ve got a lot of wonderful earrings that need new homes, instead of hiding away in my craft drawer!

See this pair here

See this pair here

See this pair here

See this pair here

So, to promote my shop and hopefully boost business, I decided to host my first GIVEAWAY!!!! :-)

By entering this GIVEAWAY, you could win these beautiful Purple and Lavender Chain Dangle Earrings! These earrings are a $10 value! You can read more about them and see additional pictures by clicking here.

 ^^^Enter today to win these Purple and Lavender Earrings^^^

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:

You can enter using each of the 5 following methods. Do them all for maximum entries! (Please be sure to include some type of contact info in a comment so I can contact you if you win.) You have until Sunday, September 12 at Noon (Eastern time) to enter!!!

1. Follow or become a follower of my blog.  Leave a comment saying your Follow/Now Follow. (1 entry)

2. Leave a comment with a link to your favorite item from AccessoryLove and why it’s your fave. (1 entry)

3. “Like” the Facebook page of AccessoryLove at http://www.facebook.com/AccessoryLove - Leave a comment here stating you “Liked”. (1 entry)

4. Blog about this GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment with a link to the Blog. (BONUS 5 entries)

5. Make a purchase and complete payment from AccessoryLove. Leave a comment with a link of what you purchased.  (BONUS 10 entries)

Please leave a comment here or on the Facebook page if you have any questions about how to enter! A random name will be drawn at approximately Noon (eastern time) on Sunday, September 12. So get your entries in today!

Thanks for your support!

An Autumn Memory

Forecast from http://www.wzzm13.com/

Cooler temperatures have arrived in West Michigan for this Labor Day weekend, reminding me that autumn is just around the corner. Although the sun and heat of summer makes that my favorite season, autumn is definitely a very close second favorite!

This time of year just brings back so many wonderful memories, I can’t help but reminisce about football games, tailgating, first days of school, and so much more! With all of these nice memories floating back into my head, I was reminded of a particular memory that I thought would be great to share as an example of “where I’ve been” for my blog, that has brought me to “where I’m at.”

And of course, that little memory is the first time I met my husband, Chaz!

It was more than just “Hi, my name is Chaz.” “Hi, my name is Sarah.” Boom! Done, we met… I think a lot of little things happened that caused us to meet…

During my senior year of high school, I was all set to go to Michigan State University. I had done the college visit, I had set up an orientation, I had signed up to be in the engineering dorm, and we had our first payment submitted. Life was good.

But I soon changed my mind based on the silly heart of high school girl, and decided I should stay closer to home, and attend Grand Valley State University. However, despite changing to a college less than 7 miles from home, I still made the best decision of my life - to live in a dorm on campus!

So, orientation was cancelled, dorm selection was cancelled, payment was cancelled. And everything was instead set up for GVSU.

I had again signed up to be the engineering dorm, which was in what GVSU calls a “living center” – where the rooms have a suite mate that share 1 bathroom. When I happened to discuss this with my older sister Lisa, she explained that living in a living center was going to be extremely boring, and not very fun. Her impression had been that they were always so quiet because nobody ever had to leave their room. She thought I’d have a lot more fun if I changed to the type of dorm that had a community bathroom where people were always coming and going and walking the halls of the dorm. Looking back, I now wonder if she was serious, or if she was trying to trick me… Either way, I promptly called up GVSU and requested to change my dorm selection. Unfortunately, I had already been assigned a room in the engineering dorm - The Pew, as those who lived there referred to it. I wasn’t going to be able to switch. Oh well…

So, the summer passed, fall was approaching, and it was time to move in to the dorm! How incredibly fun that first weekend was - after move in but before classes started! Some of those memories will have to be in a different blog post someday!

Well, sometime during those days before classes had started, I happened to be on my computer in my room with the door open. A few different people that were living in The Pew had already dropped by to introduce themselves. One more person happened to stop by on this day. He introduced himself (although I’m terrible with names, so as soon as he said it, I had already forgotten it), and he said that his room was across the hall, and he wasn’t from here and had no idea where his classes were. I told him that I WAS from here, and I still didn’t know where my classes were! So, we decided to get out our schedules and venture on to campus to find our classes so we didn’t look like silly Freshman on the first day!

A portion of GVSU's Allendale Campus

On our search for class locations, we chatted about where we were from, what sports we played, interests, friends, etc. We got along great!

Later that day, I can remember talking to my roommate about the people we had met. Neither of us could remember the name of the guy across the hall that we had met, but fortunately each the names of the room inhabitants were written on each door. We peeked across the hall and say “Chad” and “Charles.” Both of us agreed it must have been “Chad” that we met! Of course, we eventually discovered that it was “Charles” who we had met, although he goes by “Chaz.”

That first semester at Grand Valley was so much fun! Unfortunately, Chaz and I didn’t always get along very well. I believe a couple incidents that stick out involve my laundry basket gone missing, and him on my computer. But eventually we started hanging out more and before we knew it, I was his “shadow” and he was my best friend! And he’s been my best friend ever since!

Our wedding day!  We had to get a picture of us in front of where it all began!

Just think, if I hadn’t started at GVSU that autumn of 2001… who know’s where I’d be now!

What is one of your great memories of the autumn season? I’d love to read about them!

Pet Peeves

I get annoyed easily, therefore, I have A LOT of pet peeves! I try not to complain about them too much, but this one tops the list, and I really need to rant about it.

My NUMBER 1 pet peeve is when people bring their pet (typically a dog) with them to the grocery store or to run other errands, and then leave the dog in the car while they go in and shop away!

If you do this, can you please enlighten me as to WHY?!?!?

Do you really think cracking your window an inch, maybe 2, really makes it that much more comfortable in the car? Do you think that helps prevent the inside of your car from turning into an oven and baking your precious dog that you couldn’t leave at home for an hour while you grocery shop?!?!

The other day, Chaz and I were running errands and drove by one of those signs on a bank that said the temperature was 92 degrees Fahrenheit outside. We then park next to a pick up truck that has a dog in it, and the windows are cracked approximately 1 inch! Seriously?!?!? It’s unbearable to even be outside, let alone inside a car! Why would anyone do that????

So, maybe you agree that when it is 92 degrees out, you leave your pet at home. But even at 65 degrees, the inside of a car gets extremely warm. I challenge you to test it out. On the next mild temperature day, park you car outside, get in it, and crack your window an inch. See how long you last before you are drenched in sweat and miserable and ready to die… Could you make it 30 minutes, an hour? Then think about that the next time you consider bringing your pet with you just to leave in the car while you go do human activities.

If that doesn’t convince you, then try thinking of it this way… People insist on treating their pets like children, I admit that am included in this group. Would you ever leave your child in an oven-car with the window cracked? No! So don’t do it with your pets either!

You Can Simplify More Than Just Fractions!

So for the past who-knows-how-long, I have just not been very happy. I've felt unfulfilled, restless, anxious, and stressed. And I think the reason for all of that was because I've been focusing on a lot of different activities and priorities, and I haven’t been very focused on what I love most. After reading a few inspiring blogs, I made a short list of what I love most, and I am going to work on getting rid of everything else that didn’t make that list.

So, I’ve started to simplify my life by getting rid of the extra stuff that just stresses me out! This has actually been going on for a while, but I didn’t even realize it. Before, I was basically focused on cutting out unnecessary spending, but looking back, I realized that this was actually simplifying my financial life.

One of the first things I did earlier this year was down-grade my cell phone. I used to have a Verizon plan that I only used about 15% of the minutes each month. I really don’t talk on the phone that much, I mostly keep in touch through emails. So, I switched to a phone where I pay by the minute. Not only did I down-grade the plan, but now my phone is just a phone! No camera, no downloaded ringtones, no internet. Basically, all it does is make/receive calls and it can still text message. A bonus about this phone is it is made from recycled materials and is also easily disassembled for recycling at the end of it's life. Plus, it came with a pre-paid envelope to send in my old phone for recycling! The only downside is I was unable to keep the phone number I’ve had since I was 16, but I’m starting to get used to it.

The next financial simplification involved Chaz. We finally got rid of his car at the beginning on the summer! We bought his BMW back in 2007 at the same time as we were buying our house. Looking back, that was a really dumb idea! The car itself wasn’t necessarily the financial drain, it was mostly the interest rate on the loan that was ridiculous. We were basically paying all this extra money for nothing. So, he listed it on a Craigslist, and in less than a week, it was sold! What a relief that was! So for a while, we were a single car family. It worked for us because we work less than a mile from each other, so we were able to carpool to work. Then, we were lucky enough that my mom decided to sell us her old Taurus for extremely cheap, so we still don’t have a car-payment! The other expenses that this elimated were full-coverage car insurance, and the pricey upkeep of the BMW! It feels great to be car-payment free!

Since the idea of complete simplification struck me, we started working on getting rid of the clutter in our house and garage. In our years together, we have just accumulated so much “stuff.” And most of it is stuff we don’t really need! So last night, we brought a car-full of stuff to Goodwill to donate. That barely made a dent in the clutter, but it was a start. We plan to go through our basement soon and remove a bunch more junk.

And finally, I did the unthinkable to move towards simplification. I cancelled our cable!!! When we first moved into our house, we had Digital Cable with HDTV, a premium sports package, HBO, Encore, Showtime, and DVR. When the economy took a downturn and both Chaz and I took paycuts, we downgraded to what we thought "we couldn't live without" - which was only Digital Cable with HDTV and DVR.

Now that I am focusing on what I love most, I realized, we can live without cable TV. It is really a time drain for both of us. The TV is currently on from the time I get home from work, until I go to bed at night. I’m not always watching it, but I do get sucked into it and it takes away from the time I could spend being productive around the house, or quality time Chaz and I could be spending together. By ridding TV from our lives, it would free up so much more time. So I just wanted it all gone!

Well, I called Comcast today and said I want to cancel my entire cable package. Of course, they tried pressuring me into other packages, thinking that it was only financial reasons behind my cancelling. I tried to explain to them that I just wanted to eliminate TV because it was just a distraction. Unfortunately, it was actually less expensive to keep the very basic package of only local channels because it gave us a discount on our internet connection. So, there will still be a little bit of distraction left around. But since we’ve gone from getting 100+ channels to getting 10 channels, hopefully we won’t be drawn towards the TV as much!

There is still a lot more in my life that I need to simplify, so this is just a start for now! I'm looking forward to my journey of simplification and focusing on what I love most!

"Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it."
~Robert Brault