It's Our ONE-YEAR Anniversary

No, we have not been married a year yet, but TECHNICALLY, Ryan and I have been dating for one year :) We met on LEAP DAY 2008! The night was supposed to be a girls night. Emily and our friend Mary went to listen to Molten Lava who are now called Boom Kenetic - a great 80's cover band. Little did I know that I would meet my furture husband. Below is a picture from that fateful night of me and Mary. I still have that top and will probably NEVER get rid of it now. We had so much fun dancing and hanging out with friends and I had even more fun having the first conversation with the man who would soon become my best friend and boyfriend.

Love you Ryan and thank you for the wonderful year (or 4)!!!

Tri Delta Cookies

For all of my fellow Delta Sisters - here is the recipe for those yummy sugar cookies we use to get on Chicken Finger Fridays.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Funfetti cake mix


• 2 eggs


• 1/2 cup butter (softened)

Mix all together and bake for 9 minutes at 350 degrees.

They will come out perfectly chewy. Mmmm Yumminess!

Ebates

Have yall heard about Ebates.com? If not, I am about to change your life and change the way you shop online. Ebates is an awesome site that PAYS you to shop online. I was very skeptical about this at first but after I tried it a couple times, I realized that there are truly "no strings attached." I have been on it for 10 months and have been paid $153.34 simply by going here before I buy anything online. I added up my purchases and that is 11% back. Below is a summary of my account.

How it works

When you know you are going to purchase something online, first go to ebates.com and search for the site you are about to order from. Each site has a different cash back precentage. It ranges from 1%-40% cash back. Not every site is on ebates but I have not come across one I couldn't find yet. Once you find the site, click on the "Shop Now" button and it takes you directly to the retailer site where you purchase normally. And that's it. Ebates tracks your purchase through that "Shop Now" button and as soon as your order is confirmed it will add the cash back total to your account.

Example

Ryan and I decided that we were going to purchase a new TV for our christmas present to each other. He found one he liked at Sear's. We looked through Ebates and the cash back precentage at that time was 10%. We bought the TV at $299.99 dollars and $30 was depositied into our account. Sear's has a ship to store option so we didn't pay any shipping costs which made it cheaper to purchase online than in the store with our Ebates cash back.

Do It!

I am telling you people, this site is worth it. There are no annual fees or anything like that. Not only can you make retail purchases but you can make hotel reservations, buy magazine subscriptions, restaurant gift certificates and several other options. It is especially useful during the holidays for those of your that shop online. Most retailers double their cash back percentages too durning the holidays. You get sent a check every quarter so it ends up being a little extra spending money that you didn't expect. During this economy, who wouldn't need that?

Another perk of simply signing up is you get $5 automatically. If you would like to create an account, email me and I will send you a link so you can get the $5 since I am already a member. Signing up is easy also - simply submit your email address and a password and you are done and $5 richer.

Go take a look at Ebates and share the wealth with others (pun intended).

Journalism School Auction

For all of you Ad/PR, broadcast or print majors from the University, check out the Journalism schools' silent acution fundraiser. You can bid on a lunch with one of your old professors, hour-long photo sessions, a signed Bobby Petrino football, cooking lessons and much more. Click on the picture above to see a complete list of auction items and to place a bid. ANYBODY can make a bid, even if you weren't a Journalism major or went to the University.

The Glass Slipper Prom Project

I recently volunteered to work 2 Saturdays between now and Prom for The Glass Slipper Prom Project in Fayetteville. A close friend of mine in Junior League is the co-advisor of this group and got me interested in helping.

This organization is a non-profit that provides girls in the area, who could otherwise not afford it, with dresses, accessories, shoes and prom tickets for FREE so they can fulfill their dreams of going to their high school prom. They are also assigned a personal shopper, which is what I will be doing, to help them put their complete outfit together. The girls then come back the day of the prom to get their makeup and hair done, again for free.

With that being said, we NEED DRESSES, shoes, jewelery, purses, etc. so the girls can have tons of shopping options. This organization is completley run off monetary donations and donations of the dresses. I know all of you have all your old prom, homecoming and formal dresses sitting a closet collecting dust. You know you will never wear them again so send them to me! Even if you think they are out of style, still send them, a girl might just love your dress.If you don't have any dresses, please consider sending jewelry or shoes that could be worn on prom day. Below is a part of last year's stock of dresses.

If you have any questions or would like to donate an item (hey - it's a tax write-off) please contact me and I can pick them up from you or arrange for shipment. Thanks!

RIP Whitney

I was deeply sadden to hear of the news that one of my favorite singers of all time, Whitney Houston, died on Saturday night.

This was much, much worse for me than Michael Jackson's death. And I think it is so bad because we don't know how or why she died.

Whitney was the first cd I ever bought, "I Will Always Love You" is still one of my all time favorite songs and EVERY TIME The Bodyguard comes on TV, I watch it. I was disappointed when she went down hill during her Bobby days and drug abuse, but I still listened to her old music. She was a very strong and independent woman and I think that is why I admired her.

In honor of my dear friend, I will be listening to my Whitney Houston Pandora station all day. Rest In Peace!

Happy Birthday Papa

Today my Papa turns 89!! He is a retired preacher in Memphis and I was so lucky to have him marry me and Ryan. He is such a strong man and an amazing example. I am so lucky to have him and Nana in my life.

Love you Papa so much!

My Matron of Honor is in GLAMOUR!

Everybody knows and loves Glamour Magazine right? Well I got a text from my MOH last week that said "Pick up a March issue of Glamour and turn to page 260" Well I did and was shocked to see her and her husband Chris!!!

For those of you who don't know, Chris is a captain in the Army and has been deployed several times. This November he came home from Iraq just in time for the Holidays. Glamour did a section in their magazine on 6 different women and their husbands coming home from war and Stacia was one of those 6!!!

I read the article and got a little teary eyed but also had to laugh. When reading it, I heard Stacia saying "I was worried my hair would get frizzy."

Stacia has been through a lot and Chris is one of my personal heros. I am so happy they are together again and even more excited that I get to show off one of my best friend's picture in a magazine that has 2.3 million readers!!

Above is her page and her story is on the right side of the page. The picture at the bottom is of their first kiss when Chris got home.

Stacia and Chris - Love you guys. Do you think you will get recognized on the street now? :)

Learnings from my Bible Study

On Tuesday night, I attended the first session of a new bible study group of young women from our church. There were 7 of us in attendance and we had a great time getting to know each other and starting the first lesson. We started a lesson on the book of James recommended to me by my good friend Kelsey Hency.


Throughout the first lesson, a common theme occured - opening your heart to learning about Jesus so you can spread his word. We had a great discussion how, as much as we are in Love with Jesus, it is difficult to sing his praises to others. I myself find it so difficult, more times than not, to put into words my beliefs and feelings about my savior.


So with that in mind, I am challenging myself to share my thoughts, feelings and learnings after each lesson in attempts to be a better child of God and truly showing my love for him. I am hoping to touch at least one person somewhere in the blogosphere. If I can at least make one person think deeper about their faith, I will have succeeded.


So wish me luck. Here I go.....

• Romans 15:4 teaches us the word of God gives us Hope above all else


• By insulting other people, you are insulting God


• By storing up God's Word in our hearts, we are able to learn it and apply its teachings


• God wants us to question as we learn


• Psalm 119 - God wants us to open our eyes and hearts to his learnings and we are dependent on Him to understand what he is trying to teach us

These are fairly basic insights but sometimes we all need to be reminded of the basics in order to grow in our understandings.

A Girls Night Out

I had been waiting for last weekend since March 2010! What you say? Well remember this post about one of my favorite books coming to the Big Screen? Last Friday the movie was finally released (almost a two-year wait!!) so we decided to make a girls' night out of it.

I told friends at work about the movie so they decided to read the book as well. So five us went to a new restaurant in Fayetteville and then to the movie. We ate at Posta Plata, a new fancy Mexican restaurant which was fabulous! I had the best margarita I have EVER had and they made pretty good guacamole at our table.

After dinner we went to the movie and it was hilarious! There were a few differences from the book, but overall pretty much the same. I loved it! I really hope they make another movie. There are 19 books in the serious so far, and yes I have read all of them.

Once the movie was over, it was only about 9 so we went back to Posta Plata and sat in their bar to have another drink. We had so much fun together and have already planned another girls night out.

My AMAZING drink - Habanero Lime Margarita made with all fresh ingredients

Our group, do you recognize the gal standing next to me.....

Yep, that's right. Its Bridget from Channel 5 in Fayetteville. She was their nightly anchor for years before moving to New York, and then moving back to work for Mitchell. She might be the funniest person on the face of the earth!

Me and Brandy. Funny Fact: Brandy was my RA at Reid Hall when I was a freshman at the U of A. She started working at Mitchell about 6 months before I did. Small world right?

Christina, Tammy and Bridget

Brandy had a Hibiscus Martini that had real hibiscus flowers in it.

Christina with her Mango Mojito.

Freezer Meals

A couple of weekends ago me and two girlfriends from work got together to have a cooking day. We all had been noticing a new trend of people making several meals on one day and then freezing them to eat later. So we decided to try it.

We chose 3 meals that you freeze and then dump into your crockpot for cooking, which is even easier. We made 2 meals of each of the three receipes so we ended up with 6 complete meals.

It took us about 3 hours of chopping, measuring and pouring into our freezer bags (plus a few bottles of wine might have been consumed). We had a blast doing it. We split the ingredients up to purchase as well. I was in charge of onions, garlic, honey and zuchinni. That made it nice becaue all three of us didn't have to buy soy sauce or corn starch (or any other ingredient we weren't going to use a lot of) which saved us money. I calculated it up and with the ingredients I bought plus my own meat, I spent about $24 for everything. That is $4 per meal and $2 per person (me and Ryan). Plus, no cooking involved!

We have already decided to schedule another cooking day next month. I would highly recommend it.

Three stations ready to get started

Christina mid sip and Brandy mid chop.

My Bridesmaid Luncheon

I know I am 7 months late, but I wanted to share the pictures from my bridesmaid luncheon the day before my wedding.

My aunt and grandmother hosted it at the Springdale Country Club for us and it was beautiful. It was a great way to thank my friends and family for being a part of my day.

The room. My mom, aunt and grandmother decorated the tables and they looked great!

My place setting and menu

I loved the centerpieces. Limes and flowers - so simple and gorgeous

Me and my mom and MIL

All my bridesmaids. I love them and they truely made my wedding special! Front row sorority squat! yes! Ryan's grandmother, me and my grandmother

The Hostesses

This was a great way to kick off the wedding weekend and I am so thankful for everybody that made it happen!

Happy 7 Months!

Today we have been married 7 months! Wahoo!!