Nail Polish & Baking Soda

That title is really catchy, right?  Not to mention random.

My nail polish has almost always been stored in this green, round storage container, that came in a set of three containers that fit within each other.  No matter how stuff got moved around, I just always knew that in the middle sized green container was my nail polish.  Well, that worked for years.  Since we moved in to our house almost two years ago, my nail polish has stayed in our upstairs bathroom.  As I started getting new ones, those and the colors I use the most just stacked up in our medicine cabinet in the downstairs bathroom.  It got on my nerves SO much.  Finally, on Pinterest, I came across a way to store nail polish, and I immediately knew that's what I wanted to do.  If you're interested in a new way to store yours, check out this site.  (That link is to the pin on Pinterest, but it does take you directly to the website.) They have other ideas, too, but this was the best one in my opinion.

Also, I randomly came across this pin for cleaning your sink and drain out.  It's probably a very common method for cleaning your sink & drain, but I had never done it before, so I decided to try it out.  It's just sprinkling baking soda around and scrubbing it with a sponge.  The result: yeah, it worked.  It didn't work any better than what I had been doing, so I don't anticipate using this suggestion from Pinterest any more.  Oh well.  Not all Pinterest attempts are successful.

So, I think today's post deserves a "check and check" for my 2015 To-Do List.  One check for trying something new I found on Pinterest and one check for organizing anything. haha.

My New Bible

I have SO many Bibles.  Two Precious Moments Bibles, one being my very first Bible.  Story time Bibles for before bed.  A Teen Bible.  A Bible with activities, like crossword puzzles, in it, to go along with the stories.  The Bible I received on graduation Sunday.  Study Bibles.  You name it!

Despite having plenty to choose from, I've been wanting to get a new one.  You see, I'm funny about my Bibles.  Some of them came from important events in which they were given to me, and others are important for other reasons.  I've never been one to want to write in my Bible or highlight it, until a month or so ago.  When I changed my mind, I didn't want to write in any of the Bibles I currently have, because I didn't want to "mess them up."  I've thought about getting a new one for a little bit anyway, so it seemed like a good idea to buy one with the intention to write in it.  That way, I wouldn't feel "guilty" about doing so.  I know, weird.

I originally wanted a Journaling Bible, to have an extra column on each side.  We went to Lifeway to look at their selection, and I just didn't see anything I really liked.  The small selection of Journaling Bibles they had weren't anything I was looking for, really.  Then, I noticed that most of them don't also have the option of having the study notes at the bottom, which I really like too.  I finally decided that I would just keep looking elsewhere for a Bible I really liked, and I bought a journal to write in instead.  

I searched online a bit and finally came across Christianbook.com.  I found lots of options I liked, and finally narrowed it down to this one!  I loved the color (which ended up being one of the colors on the journal I bought, too, so everything matches!) and the way the design kind of looks like seashells.  Then, something I've always wanted, my name put on my Bible, so I added that as well. (Of course, if you know me and know I hate making decisions, it took probably a good 10 minutes to decide if I wanted my whole name, to include my middle initial or not, or to monogram it.  Ohhhh, and then which font.  Too many decisions people.)

This Bible has so much that I like: study notes, introductions for each book, devotions within all the chapters, a topic index, and, of course, it looks pretty, too :)

I also picked up these Bible highlighters-at first, I wasn't quite sure if I liked them or not.  They don't write like regular highlighters, so they don't bleed through the pages.

Does anyone else remember those twistable crayons? I remember having a pack of pale colors, like pink, yellow, green, blue, and maybe some others.

Anyway, these highlighters kind of write like that, because they glide over the pages easily and don't smear the ink.  They take some getting use to, but I like them!

These highlighters come with a color-coding guide to use, such as using blue for things people said, orange for places, etc., but I don't really like that way.  I haven't thought of a use for every color yet, but so far, I use green to highlight the verses I have memorized, and purple to highlight important things to apply to life and remember about life.

Snow Days

I'm so glad we finally got a good snow this week!  It never really feels like winter (even though it's almost spring!) until we get a good snow + some snow days!!  Even better when it happens on Christmas :)

Our Snow Days consisted of pretty much just hanging out with no set schedule--which is rare around here!  I sat at the kitchen table for HOURS working on a puzzle that Matt got for Christmas.  We also watched a lot of Destination America, as they were showing lots of Behind the Scenes Disney shows about Disney World and Disney Cruises.  We're already ready to go back!!

On Monday, when the snow started, Matt and I both got home early, so we took Maple out while it was snowing.  We were excited for this snow, because we've been wanting to see Maple's reaction to it!  She loved being able to walk up and down the street with us.

I can't stop laughing at this picture of her mid-shake!

 

We went back out after dark, but I didn't get as many pictures.  

My camera battery died while we were out there!!! I was so upset!

 

On Tuesday, we were both off, so it was a nice day for the three of us :)

 

Every now and then, she gets to run around with no one holding her.

She usually goes straight to the back and doesn't run off, but she loves not being pulled back! haha

 

I LOVE this picture!

 

Once she got over to the door, she kept looking at it like, "hey guys, please let me go in now!!" haha

 

A few nights ago, we went to Petsmart and bought Maple a retractable leash.  Now, she LOVES having so much more freedom to run around, while still be held.

Valentine's Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Weekend!! It feels like we celebrated all weekend, because there were so many great things!

Friday night, we headed to The Patron for dinner. (It's so hard to not call it El Patron, like in Farmville. But I'm pretty sure I still call this one El Patron anyway, oh well.)  It was a last minute decision, but I was glad Matt thought of it, since it was where we went for dinner last year on Valentine's Day.  We had a great dinner, but I really could've just eaten chips and salsa the whole time and have been perfectly fine!

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed out to New Kent Winery to participate in the Race for the Chocolate 5K/10K.  Let me just tell you, it was COLD.  The wind made it the worst, but we made it through!! Once we started running, the wasn't as bad and we did warm up.  However, the last .2 miles, we running up hill and against the wind.  We could see the finish line, just couldn't get there fast enough!

I was really surprised and proud of us for how well we did.  Neither of us trained at ALL for this.  And by that, I mean that the most running I've done in the past month and a half was running 1 mile on two different days.  That's it.  We've been doing more strength training than cardio.  I signed us up with a predicted time of 70 minutes and we finished in 69!! The only times we stopped were about half a mile in, when I had to re-tie my shoes, and then again at 4.9 miles, for some quick stretching.  That's it.  Like I said, I'm definitely proud of us!

These were the post race snacks, along with water and a Monster energy drink.

There was also a (long) line where you could get wine, but neither of us cared about that, so after getting our food, we just headed towards the car instead!

 

They also handed out flowers at the end of the race, but didn't order enough.  Since we were unable to get one, Matt found one that had been dropped on the ground, but still looked great, so we kept that!  Matt made it look pretty in my glass:

A few hours (and a few sore muscles) later, we headed to Outback for dinner.  It was YUMMY!! We had their wonderful bread, a blooming onion, soup/salad and our dinner!  The wait really wasn't bad, seeing as that it was Valentine's Day.  They told us a 45 minute wait, which we were totally okay with, and 30 minutes later we were at our table (and luckily, a booth!!).  I could go on and on about how delicious everything was, but we also had a fantastic server, who definitely made it a great meal to enjoy!

I have to share one of the Valentine's gifts Matt gave me: earlier last week, Matt found the Disney version of Robin Hood on Netflix.  I told him, "you cannot start watching this now, because it's too late for us to both get sucked into watching it!!"  (Robin Hood is one of my favorite Disney movies :)  Well, Matt found the Robin Hood DVD, out of the vault for a limited time, or whatever it is, so of course he bought it!  We haven't watched it yet, but I'm thinking it'll be a good movie for one of these snow days coming up! ;)

And, can't forget the Valentine's gift Matt got for his favorite girl:

 "How do I get these treats?!"

Matt's first home brew was finally ready this weekend, so he was excited to try it!

Sunday morning, we had Valentine's donuts for breakfast, which Mom, Aunt Dot and Uncle Lee brought on Friday!

For lunch, we went out to eat again with Mom at Mexico.  When I asked her if she wanted to go there for lunch, she gave me the strangest look because I NEVER want to go to Mexico! Haha.  But, after having Patron on Friday, I was definitely crazy some more chips and salsa! ha.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend have a warm week coming up with all this snow! I'm *hoping* to be home at least a few more days with my Maple.  We can't wait for her to go out and play in the snow for the first time!  I'm definitely going to have to take some pictures!