The Love Dare Update and Day Three

The Love Dare - Day Two Update

Yikes!! This one was hard. That's so terrible to say...it was hard to be nice to my husband! LOL But I swear bad habits are hard to break!!! I'm not evil or anything but I could always be nicer!! I tend to get aggravated easily and I always take it out on him. I try to always keep in my mind how I used to act before we got married and had bills and work problems to worry about. We were carefree and only thought of how much we loved each other and when we would get to see each other again. I miss that and I am always searching for a way to get back there. I think this Love Dare is really helping though and I can't wait to grow more and more through it.

My unexpected kindness was actually pretty hard to come up with! I wanted to do something he would actually appreciate rather than make him dinner or buy him something. I decided to organize his side of the closet so he can find things easier. This man has probably 5,000 t-shirts and my rule about everytime you buy one you need to get rid of one, somehow doesn't get enforced. These t-shirts and some random pants and shorts were all stuffed in shelves in the closet and would always fall on top of everything else. Keep in mind these are in addition to his stuffed full dresser in the bedroom. He has also filled up every guest bedroom closet and dresser...hmmm... Anyway, I folded everything nicely and seperated long sleeve, work shirts, nicer t-shirts...etc. It looks amazing!!! I wonder how long it will stay that way...?

So what unexpected kindness did y'all do for your spouse??

Day Three - Love is not selfish.

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor." - Romans 12:10

We live in a world that is enamored with "self". The culture around us teaches us to focus on our appearance, feelings, and personal desires as the top priority. The goal, it seems, is to chase the highest level of happiness possible. The danger from this kind of thinking, however, becomes painfully apparent once inside a marriage relationship.

If there were ever a word that basically means the opposite of love, it is selfishness. Unfortunately it is something that is ingrained into every person from birth. Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves.

Why do we have such low standards for ourselves but high expectations for our mate? The answer is a painful pill to swallow. We are all selfish.

Love is never satisfied except in the welfare of others. You can't be acting out of real love and selfishness at the same time. Choosing to love your mate will cause you to say "no" to what you want so you can say "yes" to what they need. That's putting the happiness of your partner above your own. It doesn't mean you can never experience happiness, but you don't negate the happiness of your spouse so you can enjoy it yourself.

Love also leads to inner joy. When you prioritize the well-being of your mate, there is a resulting fulfillment that cannot be duplicated by selfish actions. This is a benefit that God created and reserves for those who genuinely demonstrate love. The truth is, when you relinquish your rights for the sake of your mate, you get a chance to lose yourself to the greater purpose of marriage.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I truly want what's best for my husband or wife?

Do I want them to feel loved by me?

Do they believe I have their best interests in mind?

Do they see me as looking out for myself first?

Whether you like it or not, you have a reputation in the eyes of those around you, especially in the eyes of your spouse. But is it a loving reputation?

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3

Today's Dare

Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It's hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says, "I was thinking of you today."

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After completing this dare, please answer the following questions in your own notebook but also please share with us your answers too!!

What did you choose to give your spouse? What happened when you gave it?

-Taken from The Love Dare by Stephen & Alex Kendrick with Lawrence Kimbrough

Sweet Home Carolina!

Whew!! What a weekend!!!! We had an absolute blast in Gulf Shores, Alabama but I'm glad to be home!! Last night on the way home I drove through a flippin' monsoon in Atlanta! I was scared to death because I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me but luckily it didn't last long. We got home safe but I feel like I need a second weekend now to rest! ;)

I hope y'all had a great weekend too!! Did any of y'all watch the Jimmy Buffett Concert live on CMT?? My dad recorded it so it'll be fun to watch it from a different point of view. I was pretty disappointed that no one else showed up to help Jimmy out!! It was still a great concert though. The beaches down there are absolutely beautiful and the people are all so nice. Here's some pictures from our weekend!!

The view from our condo! :)

We found some oil on the beach. :(

Ping Pong at The Hangout

Our first concert in the sand!

Please excuse my husband...

Fins to the right!!

We met some great people!!

George!!!

I even randomly found one of my blog friends, Ashley from Miss Ashley In Mississippi!! Unfortunately, our photographer took a video instead of a picture...so this is all I have! LOL

And I am saddened to say that as hard as we both tried...Shannon over at Webbisodes and I were not able to meet. :(  We were in the same place at the same time but cell service does not hold up well in crowds. We had a heck of a time getting a text message to go through. Sorry we missed each other girl!! I hope we can visit y'all some day soon!

Thank you all for entering my giveaway!!! If you haven't entered yet, you still have a week to do it!! Click here! And for those of you doing The Love Dare with me...I hope y'all have been nice to your spouses this week!! I can't wait to hear about the nice things y'all did for them. :) Have a great day!!

AWARDS!

Well, here it is...Monday again!!! I hope y'all had great weekends and I am excited to read about them! We had an AMAZING trip to Alabama this weekend and a FABULOUS time at the concert. I can't wait to tell y'all all about it tomorrow!! But today I need to get some awards passed out!

The first one is from Charlotte @ The Charlotte Observer. Thanks girl!!!!! I just found out she makes cupcakes too and I am begging her to post some pictures!!!! We love cupcakes!

The rules for this award are to thank the person who gave you the award, share ten things about yourself, pass this award onto ten bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fantastic and finally contact the bloggers to let them know you’ve picked them for an award.

Ten Things About Myself......

(I try not to repeat myself so if any new followers want to check out my other lists you are welcome to!)

1. My 4 year wedding anniversary is on July 29th!!! I don't usually follow the traditional gifts...my husband would be rather disappointed if I presented him with linen. ;)

2. I get irritated and mean when I get hungry.

3. I have EXTREME motion sickness. I get sick just watching anything spin around, I can't ride in the backseat of cars, swings at the park make me want to throw up, rollercoasters mess me up for about a week after riding them (which I don't do anymore) and sometimes I get motion sickness from walking for goodness sakes. LOL

4. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

5. I took gymnastics for a while when I was younger. I loved the floor and the uneven bars but I was scared to death of the vault.

6. The first trip my husband and I took together while we were dating was to a little cottage in the mountains and he took me snowboarding. It was my first time and it was so much fun!! We try to go back as often as possible but we are getting old now. Hahaha! :)

7. I'm extremely terrified of ghosts. When I was younger I just knew ghosts were in my room and I would cry myself to sleep every night. I know...it's pitiful.

8. Speaking of ghosts, the house we lived in when I was about 8 was haunted. The toilet would flush at a certain time every day, my sister saw a white figure leaning over her bed sometimes, we could hear people walking up and down the stairs at night and we found out after we had moved that the parlor downstairs had been used as the wake room at funerals a long time before. Creepy right?!

9. I often eat pizza and sandwiches with a fork.

10. It's a family tradition to go to the Wooly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, NC every year. I've been going since I was little and I won't give up that tradition for anything. I won first place in the wooly worm races only once and it was in 2007. I'm pretty proud of that!!

I'd like to pass this award along to:

Cafe' Bellini

3 men and a 'lil lady

a life of color

A Note on the Screen Door

Anticipation!

Daisylee

Leigh Ashley

Polish and Pearls

THE GETTS TIMES

It's the World I Know

The next award is from Cafe' Bellini. Thank you so much sweetheart! I have to apologize for continually butchering your name but I haven't figured out how to put the little mark on top of the E yet. LOL

I'd like to pass this award along to:

Sweet Southern Prep

The Charlotte Observer

The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

The Cure for Writer's Block

The Life of a Suburban Princess

The next award came from Cool Gal @ It's the World I Know. I swear EVERY SINGLE TIME I read her blog name I sing "Cause it's the world I know" from that song by Collective Soul and it gets stuck in my head!!! Hahaha. :)

In order to accept the award, I have to do the following:

*Share where I think I'll be in ten years.

*Give the award to ten bloggers.

Where do I hope to be in ten years?

Well I answered this before and I feel the same way, however I feel like I should come up with something different!! I hope to have perfectly clear skin in 10 years!!!!! :)

I'd like to pass this award on to any blogger who hasn't received it yet!!!

And the last award came from Kate @ The Cow Jumped Over The Moon. THANK YOU KATE!!! I think this award is hilarious and I'm so excited to have it bestowed upon me! :D

Here is what you have to do:

Choose five fictional crushes and blog about them: you can use characters from books, movies, TV shows, etc, etc. You then pass the award on to another five bloggers.

Well, this is going to be EASY! LOL Here goes...

NUMERO UNO!

Michael Weston on the television series, Burn Notice. Have y'all seen this show??? It's AMAZING!!! It's set in Miami and Michael is a burned spy who is trying to figure out who burned him and helps people to make money in the process. It is sooooo good and Michael is super hot in it. Not just his looks but his personality. He's great...sigh...Oh and yes...my husband knows. ;)

Number Two:

Phil Wenneck in The Hangover. I LOVE Bradley Cooper in this movie. His looks of course, but also his attitude. It's so sexy!!! I heard they were coming out with a Hangover 2 and I CAN'T WAIT!

Number Three:

Mike Chadway in The Ugly Truth. Actually, Gerard Butler is amazing in ANYTHING he does...but I love him in this particular movie. This movie is extremely vulgar and really surprised me but it's hilarious and actually a really good movie despite all that.

Number Four:

Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Eleven. How could you not?! Like with all of my choices, it's not just looks...it's attittude. LOVE!!!!

Number Five:

Luigi Mario in Super Mario Bros.. Now, I know I wasn't the only one crushing on him in this movie right??? I haven't seen this movie in a long time...I really need to watch it again!!! :)

I'd like to pass this award along to:

The Survival Guide For The Young, Fabulous and Newlywed

Webbisodes

Life in Dawleywood

Fashion Meets Food

I'm a Nola Girl

I can't wait to see y'alls crushes!!! :)

Sweet Home Alabama!

Okay...Alabama isn't my home...but it will be for this weekend!!! We are officially headed to Gulf Shores for the Jimmy Buffett Benefit Concert! We are all SOOOOOOOO excited!!! Our tickets say NO CAMERAS but that is not even fair...hopefully they just mean video cameras...but I guess I'll find out. I may have to do some sneakin'. ;)

We are crossing our fingers that we are able to get into LuLu's for dinner tonight. It is Jimmy Buffett's sister, Lulu's restaurant on the beach. One of my best blog friends, Shannon at Webbisodes, told me about it! It looks delicious and they are having a Pre-Jimmy Buffett Concert party there tonight! Wish us luck!!

I hope y'all have a marvelous weekend!!! :)

Fourth of July Cupcakes

Thank you all so much for your help on deciding which cupcakes to make for the cookout I attended. You guys gave some really great ideas that I wish I had had the time to make. Although I didn't make them this time, there are some that I want to try eventually like the apple pie cupcakes! They have fruit and frosting in a lattice design on top to make it look just like a fruit pie! So cute!!!

I ended up just making my lovely buttermilk cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes and topping them with tinted buttercream. I added raspberry extract to the blue icing and strawberry extract to the red icing. I left the white icing vanilla. They were simple but oh so delicious!!!!

I also made tinted fondant stars to arrange on the cupcakes. I tinted some white fondant blue and red, rolled it out and cut different sized stars out and voila! Very easy but really cute!

Of course I also made the yummy chocolate covered pretzel sticks that were a huge hit at the party. I posted about them on Misty's blog, The Queen Of My House. Click here to see that post!!

I've been on a cupcake making frenzy lately and am excited about trying new decoration techniques too. I made some buttermilk chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting the other day and I can't wait to show y'all those!! I've got red velvet cupcakes coming up for a birthday and I'm going to try out a cute fondant monogram decoration for them. I'll keep y'all updated!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Oil Cleansing Method

Okay, a little background info for y'all. I have TERRIBLE skin. I have hormone problems and I'm pretty sure that is why I haven't outgrown my acne/oily/clogged pores/blackhead crap. It gets old after a while so of course I'm constantly searching for a solution. That gets old after a while too and it gets rather expensive! I've come to the conclusion that my skin is sensitive, oily and easily clogged. While I am taking hormones to balance mine out and I've been to numerous dermatologists who have prescribed numerous medications, they aren't helping a bit. As usual, I must take matters into my own hands. Have y'all heard of the Oil Cleansing Method? Sounds scary to me especially since I have oily skin...but I've read some amazing reviews on it and it actually sounds pretty great!!!!! Definitely worth a try anyway!

Basically, you cleanse your face with a mixture of Castor Oil and another oil such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Jojoba Oil...etc. The reason it's so appealing to me is because it's natural. I always feel like by buying all of these commercial products, I am putting chemicals and unnecessary ingredients on my skin and making it worse.

Once you apply the oil, you massage your face really well and it is supposed to actually unclog your pores and you can feel the grainy bits coming out as you massage!! Then, you apply a hot cloth to your face to steam and open your pores more. Then you just wipe the oil off with the cloth and start over. You do this a couple of times or until you feel that the oil is completely removed. For a more thorough explanation, please click here and read all about it. It's VERY interesting!!!

So in conclusion, I've decided to try this oil cleansing method! I will do updates of course to let y'all know the exact process and ingredients I'm using and how it's working for me. I'm headed to the natural foods store this afternoon to pick up some oils! Wish me luck!!!

The Love Dare Update and Day Two

First of all, if you entered my giveaway yesterday please check back and make sure your comment showed up!! I don't know what was going on with Blogger yesterday but I don't want anyone to miss out! If you haven't entered yet, click here! I'm giving away a beautiful Stella and Dot necklace! :)






The Love Dare - Day One Update

Good morning everyone!!! Hope y'all are all settled back in to the work week now that the holiday weekend is over. It sure wasn't easy but I'm getting there. ;) So how did everyone do with last week's dare? As always, at first it was pretty easy for me. After a few days though it gets harder. I think I am so used to everything that my husband does and I have a habit of responding in an aggravated, impatient way. I know it's going to take longer than a week to break me of that but I think I did a pretty good job last week. What makes it so hard for me is when you are trying to be patient but he isn't aware that you are so he makes no attempt at being easy to get along with. I think THAT is what this is all about though. Being able to be patient and loving even when it's not easy. I am excited for this week's dare and I  hope y'all are too!!

Day Two - Love is kind.

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." - Eph 4:32

here

Kindness is love in action. If patience is how love reacts in order to minimize a negative circumstance, kindness is how love acts to maximize a positive circumstance. Patience avoids a problem; kindness creates a blessing. One is preventive, the other proactive.

Love makes you kind. And kindness makes you likeable. When you're kind, people want to be around you. They see you as being good to them and good for them.

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man" (Proverbs 3:3-4). Kind people simply find favor wherever they go. Even at home. Let's break kindness down into four basic core ingredients:

Gentleness. When you're operating from kindness, you're careful how you treat your spouse, never being unnecessarily harsh. You're sensitive. Tender. Even if you need to say hard things, you'll bend over backwards to make your rebuke or challenge as easy to hear as possible.

Helpfulness. Kindness graces a wife with the ability to serve her husband without worrying about her rights. Kindness makes a husband curious to discover what his wife needs, then motivates him to be the one who steps up and ensures those needs are met-even if his are put on hold.

Willingness. Kindness inspires you to be agreeable. Rather than complaining and making excuses, you look for reasons to compromise and accomodate.

Initiative. Kindness thinks ahead, then takes the first step. It doesn't sit around waiting to be prompted or coerced before getting off the couch. The kind husband or wife will be the one who greets first, smiles first, serves first, and forgives first.

Wasn't kindness one of the key things that drew you and your spouse together in the first place? When you married, weren't you expecting to enjoy his or her kindness for the rest of your life? Didn't your mate feel the same way about you? Even though the years can take the edge off that desire, your enjoyment in marriage is still linked to the daily level of kindness expressed.

How would your husband or wife describe you on the kindness meter? How harsh are you? How gentle and helpful? Do you wait to be asked, or do you take the initiative to help? Don't wait for your spouse to be kind first.

Today's Dare

In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again this week, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

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After completing this dare, please answer the following questions in your own notebook but also please share with us your answers too!!

What discoveries about love did you make this week? What specifically did you do in this dare? How did you show kindness?

-Taken from The Love Dare by Stephen & Alex Kendrick with Lawrence Kimbrough