Candles Candles Candles

I've been making an effort recently to figure out things that I like/love. This may seem silly and extremely easy for the average person, but I've never been one of those people that walked around with an invisible list of things that they liked or were "so them." I guess that I am just on a mini personal journey to discover a little more about my style...so from time to time I will be posting random things that I like and/or love.

Vanessa's First Favorite Thing......CANDLES!!!!

I absolutely love candles. They can create a relaxing or romantic mood and they smell so good while they do it.

My Personal Favorites:

Illuminations Candles

www.illuminations.com

WoodWick Candles

www.virginiacandle.com

(They make crackling noises while they burn.)

and the new....

DixieDIY Candles

dixiediy.etsy.com

(Homemade candles in vintage containers by my friend)

Quote Journal

Back in the early days of high school, I kept a quote journal for a few months. The other night I found it while organizing our bookshelf and decided that it was time to start a new one. I loved reading the random collection of quotes that I had pulled from all over the place. Each one had stood out to me and I still found most of them to be interesting and beautiful today. I'm the type of person that owns a billion journals with the first few pages of each filled out. It's so much easier for me to blog about my personal life than to write them by hand in a journal or diary for some reason. It may seem that my posts are few and far between at times, but this blog is actually my best attempt so far at staying on top of journaling my life.

Despite the fact that I still own many of this almost empty journals, I decided to by a new one to serve as my after college/after becoming a married lady quote journal. I stopped by Barnes & Noble on my way home from work on Friday and purchased this pretty leather-ish journal:

Peter Pauper Press Filigree Journal

I tried so hard to pick one that wasn't blue because it is already my natural tendency to be drawn to pretty blue things....but I couldn't resist. I kept picking up others to convince my self that I loved them, but after returning to this one three times, I knew it was the one for me.

First Married Valentine's Day!!

This year to celebrate hearts & love day we decided to keep things a little more low key. We both were in need of a day to recharge. I had a baby shower to go to in the morning, so Kyle made me breakfast while I got ready. After the shower, we went out for a nice lunch together at a local restaurant. Kyle's biggest Valentine's gift this year was an individual massage for both of us. His massage was scheduled first, so I dropped him off on the way home. When I opened the door, there were some beautiful flowers and chocolate truffles waiting for me that he had set up while I had been gone in the morning. While Kyle was being massaged, I set up his gifts (chocolate, a candy toolbox and a book) next to where my gifts had been placed. Next, I went for my massage, which was super fancy. You got to adjust the room temperature, you could have the bed heated and she even put lavender oils on the headrest. She used hot stones for part of the massage...which was Amazing! I'd never had a hot stone massage before, but I have to say that I'm definitely a fan now. Sooo relaxing....

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies at home. That night we attempted making lasagna for the first time together from scratch and then had our own romantic, candlelit dinner at home. No crowded restaurant, no super expensiveness and no waiting or reservation necessary.

All in all, Valentine's day was everything that I hoped it would be!

Chicago, Chicago--that toddlin' town.

Chicago, Chicago--that toddlin' town.

Chicago, Chicago--I'll show you around. I love it.

Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago.

The town that Billy Sunday could not shut down.

On State Street that great street, I'd just like to say-

They do things that they never do on Broadway.

They have the time, the time of their life.

I saw a man, he danced with his wife.

In Chicago...Chicago...Chicago.

That's my hometown!

~Frank Sinatra

It's official... the plane tickets and hotel reservations are on my credit card. We're going to Chicago in March! So excited!

Busy Busy Bee

Life is definitely starting to pick up again... but in a good way. Work is busy, but not nearly the same level of craziness that Quarter 4 was. I was very motivated at the beginning of this quarter and am trying my hardest to keep that drive. Everything is flying around so fast during Christmas that you feel that sense of urgency to get your ads up as fast as possible. Now that the season is over it's hard to get that driving force back... but I'm certainly trying.

On another note, I am also making an effort to finally get organized to start all of the little projects that were put on the back burner during the holidays.

These projects include:

• Organizing Wedding Cards
• Printing Wedding Pictures
• Putting Wedding Picture in Albums

(...noticing a trend here?)

• Journaling
• Reading -- for myself and Book Club
• Apartment Fixes
• Cutting Clutter (fighting my pack rat tendencies)

Our Semi Wedding Anniversary ~ 6 Months!!!

That's right...It has been six whole months since our beautiful wedding on August 2, 2008. I seriously cannot believe how fast the months have flown by. On the other hand, it's hard to remember a time before we were married. Everything is just so natural. I love him now more than ever and he is by far the best roommate that I have ever had (despite the whole socks under the coffee table thing.)

Six months may not seem that long, but it's still a big deal to us. Unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be a very long day of work for Kyle and I will be working until at least six. No matter what time we both get off though, we will be going out for a nice dinner to celebrate and then coming home for a sparkling cider toast with our wedding champagne flutes. We're excited!

The NewlyMoore's Super Bowl (More Like Awesome Commercial Night) Party

My Homemade Super Bowl Bundt Cake

Recent Happenings

(more to come later):

• Pop Princess Sing-A-Long at the Alamo Draft House
• Church Couple's Game Night at Our Place
• New Hires at Work

Life Goes On...

I'm officially back in the blogosphere again. Honestly, I didn't forget about the blog for an entire month like I have been known to in the past. I really just needed a break from putting any obligations on myself. Every time I started to write a post, I would end up deleting it because I couldn't finish. Sometimes it can be difficult to write a new post after one that meant so much to you. Everything that I could set next to my last post seemed trivial to me. But in the end I know that life does go on. There is no appropriate "next post"...so I am simply going to start writing again. Back to normal. Back to life.