Sales!

Like I mentioned before, I follow a blog written by the daughter-in-law of one of my friends. It's very cute and sometimes she gives away free stuff!! Check her out at Classically Eclectic! I wish I had even the smallest design bone in my body, but nope. Notta one.

From reading her blog I heard about Joss and Main which is a membership website that offers great deals on a WIDE variety of things for the home and beyond from great designers and vendors. Today I made my first purchase! I can't wait to get my items. I love stationary and it was difficult to choose between all of the great prints. Here are the ones I chose:

I love the stickers for the back flap! I can't wait to use them!

I also couldn't resist these:

As you can see the orange slices are currently of limited quality! There are still lime and lemon slices available as well :)

If you'd like to check out Joss and Main you can use my invite link here: 

It doesn't cost a thing and is neat to look around. You never know what you might find!

New Signature and Template!

So I did some looking around on the internet and personalized the blog a little tonight! There's a cute signature at the bottom and a new fun template.  They were both very simple to do, they just took some editing to get them just the way I wanted them! If you are interested in getting these things for your blog and aren't sure how, read on....
if you already know or aren't into it, we'll see ya next time! ☺

To add a signature (or any words you would want in a fun font)
*These look like a lot of steps but they are very short and simple. I just wanted to be thorough.*

• First things first, I went to Google to look for a website that would help me make the signature. The one I found was MyLiveSignature . 
• Click on "Click here to start"
• Choose the top option of "Using the signature creation wizard"
• Enter the text you would like to use (signature) (then click "next step")
• Next is the fun part! The website gives you 120 different options for your signature.
• Click through the choices and choose the one you like the best! (then click "next step")
• Choose your size (then click "next step")
• Click in the boxes for choosing the background color and text color then click on the color you'd like for each (then click "next step")
• Choose the slope you would like for your signature. I think mine is #5 (then click "next step")
• I chose to "use" the signature. And then copied the HTML code that was given.
• Now go back to your blog and go to settings, then formatting. Go down to where it says "Post Template" and paste the code. Make sure you save it when you are finished!
• Voila! 

Now, to get my template, I went to btemplates.com. There are TONS to choose from. If one were not so decisive as I, one may spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to find the perfect template. Thankfully that's not a problem here. (please note the heavy sarcasm)

There is also a large FAQ page to help you with embedding the code for your chosen template that can be found here.

Hope that helped anyone who might be interested! Feel free to comment if you found some you like!

Wedding Photos

I have some of our wedding photos. I'm hoping to get more from those of you who were there that may have taken pictures! Send 'em over if ya got 'em! I put a little video together with what I have so far....

☀♡Amanda

For Dog Lovers

I follow a blog by a Superintendent in Illinois. He's quite funny and I love reading his blog.  I met his wife at a the ISTE conference in San Antonio in the summer of 08 and have been reading ever since. He has a second blog to which he posts mostly pictures. Here is a really sweet one that I loved. It was actually hard for me to get through it without tearing up just a bit. What can I say? I'm a sap.

Enjoy your Sunday evening.


☀♡Amanda

Hocking Hills

Bob and I spent a weekend down in southern Ohio. My parents reserved a pet-friendly cabin in the Hocking Hills for us on the weekend after our wedding. We arrived late Friday evening to the loud rush of moving water. It was dark with only a porch light and a few interior lights on in the cabin so it was difficult to see any of the landscape or surrounding area.  

I would highly recommend a weekend or week trip to the Hocking Hills for anyone that likes being away from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives! Be prepared, though. No cell or internet service down there! It was nice for a change! I would recommend not watching the I.D. channel (Investigation Discovery).  Being out in the wilderness with not much ability to contact other human life is not a good place to watch unsolved mysteries and other crime investigation shows! Bob laughed at how nervous I was when it was dark.  

Once we got into the cabin we relaxed and settled in for the evening and had a look around. 

The next morning we got up, made breakfast, and headed out on what would eventually be our 6 mile hike.  I wasn't sure how Cabbie would do with the trails and new and different surroundings.  She really seemed to love it!  

We had such a great, relaxing time. It was so nice to get away and spend some time together before Bob had to leave.  

Hope you enjoyed the video! I used Animoto to make it! It's easy and I think the videos turn out great! Much better than I could do with transitions or  title screens!  Have a great weekend!

☀♡ Amanda

What am I thinking?

Bob and I have talked many times about running the Marine Corps Marathon. We were going to do it together, but now that he won't be home for it, I decided to run it for the both of us!  It's in October in DC.
It's currently March 17th. This past weekend the 5 miler was a bit of a struggle.  To say it's going to be a long road (pun intended) would be an understatement.  I am doing my best to fill the next year up with lots of activities to keep Cabbie and me busy. I believe this will do the trick.

I am running to benefit a wonderful organization called the Fisher House Foundation.  You can check out my fundraising page here.  It has lots of information about the charity, links, and a secure platform to donate to my fundraising efforts if you so desire!  You can also check out their Charity Navigator rating to see how they spend their funds.  In my opinion it's much more responsible and beneficial to its cause than some of the big name charities that you hear about every day (like here in this article in the Huffington Post about the Komen foundation and it's antics).  This is also a neat article about the Fisher House Foundation and some of its more famous supporters (Obama and O'Reilly)!

Anyways, it's going to take a lot of work, but I am really excited to run this Marathon! Any encouragement, words of wisdom, or just comments would be great!

Here's a little video about the Fisher House Foundation.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
<3 Amanda

And we're back!

So, that was a little longer than Chuck Woolery's 2 and 2 commercial break.  Things have been pretty hectic around here. Since my last post in December, many things have happened!

• We took a trip to California to visit great friends. Post with photos to come!
• We got married! Future post with photos to come!
• Cabbie learned to be a well-behaved dog :) Obviously, you'll see evidence of this in future posts
• Bob has left for his deployment. :(
• My computer fell ill.  I have not had access to my photos or much from my laptop. It is almost fixed and will hopefully be back to full health soon!

Just wanted to check in quickly to keep this blog active and try to get back in the habit of posting!
We're back!