See you next year!

Get it? Because tomorrow is 2014? 

I crack myself up.

2013 was sort of really boring. Nothing major happened. No births. No marriages. No milestones. I'm hoping 2014 has a lot more to offer!

I've learned to never set personal goals for my NY Resolutions because I never follow through with them. Ever.

But I will set some goals for my blog!

1. Youtube!! I love watching other bloggers post videos, but I always feel like a weirdo talking to the camera + I hate the way I talk + I never really have anything to vlog about. But I will try this year! Give me some vlog ideas!

2. New layout. I'm actually going to pay for a blog layout this time. I never really love my blog when I re-do the template. Plus it's a headache. So coming soon there will be a new fresh look!

3. More personal posts. Here lately, I feel like I'm just throwing stuff together. I'm going to try to post more about my super interesting life *ahem...sarcasm*.

4. READ MORE BLOGS! Ya'll. I am so bad about posting my own post, and logging off. That's a bad blogger right there. I need to connect more! I'm thinking about doing a link-up once a week just so I can hold myself accountable for reading other blogs.

Do you set goals for your blog? I would love to hear them!

 And just because it's the last day of the year, let's do a recap shall we?

Here are some of my most popular posts of 2013:

*I attended a Book Themed Baby Shower that my SIL hosted, and it was adorable!

*I was asked if I regretted getting married so young once.

*I wrote a poem for my children.

*My daughter tested for first grade reading, and she's in Kindergarten!

*Kenzie turned 5 and Tucker turned 3. Happy Birthday babies!

*We visited Metropolis, the home of Superman!

*I got super personal and posted something that most people, even I, am ashamed to admit.

*I talked about my love for music.

*I got a tattoo for my 24th birthday!

Well, so long until next year! (I just love saying that haha!)

I wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Christmas Traditions

I can't believe it's Christmas time. I think I say that every year, but seriously. Where does the time go? And where is my White Christmas?! I guess Tennessee always bypasses that memo because last week it was in the 70s. Bipolar weather.

Christmas is usually my favorite time of year. Although I do get stressed out and procrastinate entirely too much, I love it. I love the music, the movies, the family time, and the looks on my children's faces when Santa comes!

Here are a few of our family Christmas traditions!

1. Visit Santa at the Mall! Even though the cost for those pictures are ridiculous, you just can't beat Mall Santa. I love listening to the kids tell him what they want for Christmas!

2. Pick out a new ornament! I love this tradition. I love seeing what everyone picks out. This year, I couldn't find ANY that I just loved. Even Hobby Lobby let me down! We did find some at Wal-Mart though. Doug and Tucker picked trains, Kenzie picked a glitter snowman, and I picked a doughnut. 

3. Family time! I have a huge family and I love it. And since we have divorced families, we have a lot of split up gatherings. We have my Poppa's, my Mom's, my Gran's, my Nana's, and Doug's side of the family. Needless to say, there's a ton of traveling and a ton of good eating!

4. Christmas movies! Of course we watch almost every Christmas movie that comes on tv each year. And we all have our favorites. Mine is Muppet Christmas Carol (or any Christmas Carol, really); Doug's is The Christmas Story; The kids love The Grinch and pretty much anything that involves Santa.

5. Santa's Cookies! On Christmas Eve, Doug and I help the kids bake and decorate cookies for Santa! This year, we picked Gingerbread. I just know Santa will love those. *wink wink* 

6. New pajamas! On Christmas morning, we have brunch with Doug's family and we all wear our pajamas! It's so much fun. But this year I waited last minute (shocker, I know), and I couldn't find Holiday pajamas for the kids anywhere. So I just let them pick out "normal" pajamas. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. 

7. Elf on the Shelf! This is our second year with our elf. And I'm crazy because for some reason, I thought our Elf's name was Buddy.

Nope.

It's Happy. 

But we've been going along with "Buddy" and the kids haven't caught on yet. Well, Kenzie found the name "Happy" in the back of our Elf book but I closed it pretty quickly in hopes she wouldn't ask questions. ha!!

So those are our family traditions for Christmas! I would love to hear yours!

Student Mobile Plan - Save BIG! #APlusPlan

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client.

Yesterday, we took the kids to see Santa at the local mall. I was expecting it to be a madhouse, since we are only 5 sleeps away from Christmas! But it was just the normal hustle & bustle! Since the closest mall is about 25 minutes away, I only visit about once every month. But when I go, I can get everything I need in one place! And that includes my technology support! The Best Buy Mobile Specialty Store is conveniently located in the Jackson Mall with some of best new gadgets and deals for first mobile plans.

And when I say convenient, I mean it. As a mom of two, I'm constantly battling with my kids to keep them occupied while shopping. This Best Buy Mobile Specialty Store had parents in mind when they opened their doors! 

 I can't begin to describe how big of relief it is to see something like this lol!

Now I could easily speak with the GM instead of having to shoot death stares at my precious children.

Being that the Best Buy Mobile Specialty Store is located inside the mall, I was able to talk with someone right away, rather than have to wait in line at a regular Best Buy, especially during the holiday season! I love being able to get in and get out with excellent customer service. 

While I was visiting the Best Buy Mobile Specialty Store, I was informed about this amazing deal JUST for students! And being a college student myself, I'm always looking for ways to save money. 

Sprint now has the option to completely slash the cost of your phone bill! But the cool thing is, when they say "student" they mean anyone in school! 
Elementary, Middle, High, College, Vocational, or any accredited school! 

To qualify for this plan, you must:

• Purchase the phone at Best Buy at the student activation price.
• Activate phone at time of purchase on Unlimited, My Way Student Promotion.
• Account holder must validate student within 14 days of phone activation date.

To validate your membership, you can download the student verification form located on the Best Buy website.

The My Way Student Promotion provides students with a FULL YEAR of free calls, texts, and data from Sprint. To qualify, you must be a student and you must purchase a Sprint phone through Best Buy and activate a new line via Sprint's Unlimited, My Way plan.

Right now, there is a special going on for the Samsung GS4 Mini (Sprint) for $349.99. 

And if you are like me, you want to squeeze in as much as you can for your dollar! Best Buy also does trade-ins. You can receive a gift card up to $200 for your trade-in and use towards your new phone!

I think the Sprint My Way Promotion is a great way to save money, whether it be for your child's first phone, or to get by during your college years. 
I will definitely be letting all my college classmates and friends with children know about this plan!

Vegetarian Chili - Picky Eater Approved!

 

I know what you're thinking. Vegetarian? NO meat? Surely you have gone off the deep end.

Well, even though I may have gone a little crazy, that has nothing to do with the food I cook. ;) 

Let me tell you...everyone had second helpings of this. EVERYONE. Including my super picky husband. He didn't even care that there wasn't meat in it. The kids loved it! My daughter hates onions, but I didn't even tell her there was any in here ha! I was worried about the jalapenos being too spicy, but it was just right!

I got this recipe from eMeals and this site has changed my life. Well, at least the meal planning part of my life. As a member of Markerly, I was able to sign up for a free 12 month weekly meal plan and I love it! I use the Portion Control meal plans from Walmart. 

I don't do Weight Watchers, but one serving of this Chili is 6 points for all those who want to know!

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

*1 tablespoon vegetable oil

*1 cup diced onion

*1 cup diced green bell pepper

*2 tsp. minced fresh garlic

*2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

*2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

*2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

*1 cup water

*1 tablespoon chili powder

*1 tsp. ground cumin

*1/2 tsp. salt

*15 oz. can yellow whole kernel corn, drained

Directions

*Heat vegetable oil in a large stock pot; add onions, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapenos. Saute 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, water, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cover. Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add corn and simmer 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Family weekends are my favorite.

This weekend we surprised the kids and took them to the Memphis Zoo. It was their annual "Zooper Hero" weekend, where some pretty cool guys showed up.

 

The kids LOVED it. It was pretty cool, but my arms were DYING from having to hold Kenzie up for 30 minutes lol. Obviously, I need to start lifting weights.

 I love the zoo. Although we didn't get to see all of the animals, since it was so cold, we still had a blast! And we saw my favorites, the penguins and reindeer.

 I love family time. I love making memories with the kids. And I'm so thankful that we are blessed enough to be able to do these things with our children!

 

He makes me better.

As I've said before, my husband is my best friend and he knows me better than I know myself sometimes. We complete each other. [insert cheesy remark here lol]. We've made each other better people and he made me a Mom to two BEAUTIFUL babies, and there's no one in this world who can replace him.

I get so stressed out ya'll. Like, I can't handle the smallest things sometimes. I get pissed off at the world and I don't know how to control it. I just want to melt away in a corner until someone rescues me. And that someone is almost always Doug.

Like yesterday. Oh, yesterday.

I'm SO glad it's over.

I had men at the house ALL. DAY. LONG. trying to fix our floor heater. For the second winter now.

The kids were extra whiney and annoyed each other to no end.

The heater people didn't even leave until ten minutes before I needed to leave for class. Therefore, my hair was on top of my head and I felt like a hot mess.

My class last night didn't get out until 9:30pm. And almost everyone in my class was driving me crazy.

THEN I had to come home and do a Pre-Cal test online that was due before midnight.

But when I walked in the door last night, I saw this:

 I almost cried.

The note says, "Got you a few of your fav things to help wind down from a stressful day. You're still my hero. Love you, Doug."

And it was like the storm cloud drifted away. 

I smiled SO big and ran in the living room to hug him and tell him I loved him.

For some people, it's just a Dr. Pepper and some snack food. But to me, it's the thought that counted. He wanted to make my day better by buying me a few things that he knew I loved. 

That is why I love him.

I love him because he still loves me even when I'm going crazy.

My plans for Christmas Break

I'm counting down the days until Christmas break from school! 3 weeks to go!

I have decided I'm going to do a whole lot of nothing. And since I'm a mom, that's never going to happen. 

BUT. I do have some exciting things planned. 

And by exciting, I mean totally boring for normal people.

I plan on:

-reading at least three books. Ender's Game and Allegiant are on the top of the list. The third is just a freebie.

-playing Harry Potter Lego & Sims. For hours.

-watching Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, and Arrow on Netflix until I'm caught up.

Umm. So that's my life. Books, video games, and Netflix.

But those are just my plans. I have TONS of activities planned for the kids!

I love this season!

Poppin'Treats Cake Pops!

Who loves cake pops? 

Answer: everyone. 

 Am I right?!

Recently, I was given the opportunity to do a review for Jasmine (from The Jasmine Maria blog) for her Etsy shop, Poppin' Treats. 

Of course I jumped on this. I mean seriously, it's cake pops, people. 

I. Love. Cake. Pops.

I might possibly have a problem.

Moving on!

I received my package 2-3 days after she shipped them, from Wisconsin to Tennessee, and they tasted like they had just been made! 

SO moist and SO delicious. 

 I received a variety of cake flavors, including chocolate, red velvet, strawberry, and brownie. 

I was in cake heaven.

Each cake pop was topped with chocolate + toffee.

The smell was enough to make you want to melt!

Of course, Doug and the kids got in on the action, too.

They loved them!

I've eaten at least one a day since Saturday lol.

And I'm down to one left....I'm not so sure it will make it until tomorrow.

Jasmine was kind enough to include a discount code for my readers!

Use the code TNHONEY when you check out to receive 15% off your order! Believe me, you will not be disappointed. These would make a great holiday gift for neighbors or co-workers!

Be sure to follow along on Facebook & Twitter, too!

Datevitation {Review + Giveaway}

I was super excited when I was contacted by Camille from Datevitation to do a review and giveaway! If you are like me, you've seen these adorable/awesome "love coupon books" floating around in blog land and you've probably really wanted one to give to your significant other! Am I right? Well, now's your chance!  

Books normally start at just $25 so it makes for a thoughtful yet economical gift.  But as a special treat for my followers, you can use the code  ‘TENNESSEE10’  for $10 off your purchase plus free shipping (total value of $13.50)  That means you can get your loved one a one-of-a-kind gift for Christmas starting at just $15!  The order cut-off date for guaranteed delivery by Christmas is December 13 so make sure to get your order in before then!

  

Here's a little more information about Datevitation.com. It is the web's first online platform to create a custom love coupon book. Unlike the pre-packaged love coupon books on the market, you pick the dates and can customize the text to your liking.  Once you are done customizing the text in your book, Datevitation will print it out and ship it to you. 

You now also have the option to add your own faces to the coupons! 

I did this when I made mine (which will be here by tomorrow...EEP!), and I loved it. I thought it was so cute and it felt more personalized.
The Datevitation site was easy to navigate, plus they had SO many date options to choose from! I loved it. I think Doug is going to love it, too. 
Christmas is just around the corner and these would make the perfect gift, even for parents!

Be sure you use the code "TENNESSEE10" for $10 + free shipping by December 13th to get your order by Christmas!
I will definitely be posting more about my personal date book when it arrives! And if you order one, I would love to hear about yours as well!

And now's your chance to WIN your own love coupon book from Datevitation! 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was compensated for this post + my book, but all opinions are my own.