it was a busy, exciting weekend!

The weekend is over and it's Monday again.  I feel like I need another day or two to recover from our busy weekend.  Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but Mr. H and I need time at home on the weekend to lounge and we had no time for that this weekend!

Let me tell you about my weekend...

Friday night I met a sweet friend, Lauren, from our new Bible study group.  We met up for dinner and a movie.  She's a newlywed too so we had a lot to chat about.  We saw The Lucky One and it was much better than I anticipated it would be.  Nicholas Sparks sure know how to make women fall in love with his novels/movies.

Saturday was a very exciting day for our family!  Mr. H and I were at Target shopping for a shower gift when we received a call from my sister-in-law telling us that their parents were in town and we should head over to their hotel right away.  Mr. H and I immediately started coming up with ideas on why their parents were here and we decided that she had to be engaged.  We get to their hotel within the next thirty minutes and saw them all in the lobby.  She had her hands behind her back and said, "I have something to tell y'all..." then she put her hand out and said "I'm engaged!!!!!"  We all knew it was coming, and were all so thrilled and excited for both of them!  They are such a wonderful couple and compliment each other nicely.  I'm so excited for what this year of engagement will bring.  Congrats Sarabeth and Hatch!!

SB and I already have girl's night planned this Saturday to watch Bethenny Ever After and try her Skinny Girl Margarita for the first time.  And you KNOW we'll be talking wedding stuff and looking at wedding magazines!  I can't wait.  It brings me back to when Mr. H and I got engaged.  What exciting times for sure!

That was only mid-afternoon.  Remember how I said we were at Target shopping for a shower gift.  We had a couple's shower that evening for two of our friends getting married in a month.  I forgot to get a picture with them...oops.

Sunday was filled with another busy day.  We have lots of friends getting married and have recently met new friends who are about to have babies.  I had a baby shower to attend Sunday morning, which was so fun.  The food was amazing and we painted onesies with fabric markers.  What a cute idea, right?

Here are some sweet girls from our new Bible study group.  The men were left at home while the ladies talked, ate and crafted.  

Mr. H and I had a fun filled weekend!!  I am sad it's over, but am looking forward to starting the week so next week will come :)

Today will be a great day!  I hope you had a super weekend too!

fashion friday...date night

It's FRIDAY!!!!  I love the weekends because it means lots of quality time with Mr. H!   It wouldn't be  Friday without linking up with the lovely {av} over at long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  

Today's Friday's Fancies is "date night".  I LOVE date nights of all kinds: dinner at a fancy restaurant, casual afternoon outing at the zoo or an evening at home watching a movie or playing Mexican train (a fun domino game we love).  

Okay, I went a little crazy!!!  I couldn't just pick two outfits, like usual. instead I have four amazing outfits!  Here are some fabulous outfits I'd wear on a date with Mr. H or a girl's night out with some girlfriends.

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I think it's time Mr. H and I pick another date out of our date jar.  The last date we picked didn't go so well.  We need to make it up by going on a FUN date where Mr. H won't get so frustrated (ha).  

Whether you have a date with your boyfriend, hubby or girlfriends, I hope you have a lovely time and look fabulous!

I've got a busy weekend planned...Friday: date night with my friend Lauren.  We're going to have dinner and see the Lucy One.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about the movie!  And you bet, I'm going to look super cute on our girl's date.  Saturday: couple's wedding shower for two of our great friends then on Sunday: a baby shower for a new friend in my Bible study.  It's going to be busy, but filled with lots of time with friends; and I'll make sure to make some time for Mr. H and I to hang out too!  

Have a WONDERFUL weekend FRIENDS!

it's craft time...DIY doormat

My friend Meredith and I love to find DYI home projects on Pinterest.  We've recreated a few so far and all have been very successful.  Meredith found this DIY monogram doormat over at Sweet Something Design and I was instantly onboard!

Not only was this project super easy, but it was all made for just about $10.  It can't get any better than that right!?!?

Here's what you'll need to get started...

• Rug from Walmart
• Ruler
• 2 different size plates (or other circular objects)
• Sharpie
• Black acrylic paint
• Paint brush(s)

Head to your nearest Walmart and pick up this doormat for just under $7.00.

To create the circle, you'll need two round plates or circular object to trace.  You can decide how thick you want your outer circle.  I did mine on the think side so my initial could be larger.  You"ll want to make sure it's centered. 

Just trace the outside of your plate (or circular object) with a sharpie.  Here's a tip...line the outside of the plate with tape to make sure you don't get sharpie on it and then peal the tape off when you're done.   

Here's your outer circle.

Place your second plate (or circular object) inside and make sure it's in the center of the other circle so all the edges will be the same width.  Now trace this plate with a sharpie.

The outer circle is complete.

Now it's time to draw out your initial.  I'm pretty lucky that mine is all straight lines. Ha.  I used a ruler to do the basic letter and then I made it thicker.  

The hard part is done.  It's time to paint.  I found using a small flat paint brush was easiest.  

It was a little challenging with the rug being woven, I just had to make sure it got in all the crevices.  So instead of using strokes, I dabbed it.    

And that's all there is to it.  Pretty easy and what a beautiful custom doormat!  

I must admit though, I'm a little curious as to how long it will last before the paint starts to wear off after we walk on it.  I plan to put it at our front door.  

We have several weddings coming up this summer and I've thought about making these for gifts.  I would have loved to receive this as a wedding gift myself.  I've done several monogram projects and I'm loving having "H" as my new initial instead of "W."  I'm just saying'  Ha.  

I hope this inspires you to get crafty and add a little something personalized to your front entry too.  If you make one, I'd love to see it!  

Happy day FRIENDS!

i love target

Happy Tuesday FRIENDS!  One of my most favorite stores is Target.  I don't know what it is, but it makes me so happy.  And no matter what I tell myself when I go there, I always walk out with more things than I intended.  Oopps.  :)

Today I'm linking up with Tara from Fabulous but Evil to bring you some of my favorite Target picks!

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I'm wishing I was walking through the aisle of Target right now to pick up some of these fabulous things!  

Have a very HAPPY day!

look how pretty!!!!!!

Happy Sunday FRIENDS!!  I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Mr. H came home Friday after work with these beautiful flowers!!!!  It instantly put a huge smile on my face!!!  Let me tell you Mr. H's philosophy on giving flowers and you'll understand how happy I was to receive these.  In Mr. H's own words..."the less I give them the more special it will be when I give them to you. It has more meaning than an every day occurrence."  Haha.  Now in his defense, he knows my love for sweet treats so I've actually received more desserts than flowers.  In my book, that's okay.

When he does get me flowers, they are always my favorite (pink Gerber daisies or anything pink).  I cherish them when I get them because I never know when I'll get them again.  :)  I love you Mr. H!!

  

Mr. H may lack "flower giving," but he certainly doesn't lack being the spiritual leader in our family.  We have our weekly devotional every (or almost every) Sunday morning...just the two of us.  Today we had a great discussion and I'm so blessed that we are able to take this seriously and realize how important it is for us to build our foundation on the Lord.  Thank you Mr. H for leading us in the right direction!!  I know this will make us stronger years to come.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon!  We're headed to a delicious pizza place with my dad and step-mom and the we'll enjoy some yummy yogurt!  Gotta have desert, HELLO!

fashion friday...picnic pretty

Hi FRIENDS!  It's Friday which means here at Simply Splendid LOVE and I'm linking up again with the lovely {av} at long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  

Today's Friday's Fancies is "picnic pampered".  Picnics are a romantic date.  Spring is the perfect time to find a local park, garden or lawn to have a picnic with your special someone.  Mr. H and I have a date jar and one of our dates is a picnic at the Arboretum.  I think we need to make this date happen soon while it's beautiful outside!  

Even though a picnic is a casual activity, you can still look amazing!  Find a cute dress or a breezy top and add some accessories for a fun picnic outfit.  

CUTE and CASUAL picnic outfit

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FUN and FLIRTY picnic outfit

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Mr. H and I tried a new recipe tonight that I found the other day on Adventures of Newlyweds.  If you haven't checked out Ashley's blog, I'd totally recommend it.

We made pesto pork loin and it was so yummy!  We paired it with broccoli and herb potatoes for a delicious meal.  

Pesto Pork with Broccoli and Herb Potatoes
(I'm sorry these pictures doesn't look as yummy as it actually was.  I just took a quick pic before I devoured it!)

Then of course we had to have dessert.  Mr. H and I love dessert!!  I made a quick instant french vanilla pudding and then topped it off with fresh sliced bananas, fat free whipped cream and reduced fat nilla wafers.  It's healthy right????  :)

Banana Pudding

  

This weekend, grab your friends, boyfriend or husband and go have a picnic date!  Enjoy the weather and each other's company while eating some yummy foods and looking fabulous!!! 

Happy weekend FRIENDS!!

will i ever grow up?

Happy Wednesday FRIENDS!

I went shopping at Forever 21 recently and thought I would share some of my purchases/deals.  As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not 21.  You might be shocked by this, but it's true.  I'm sadly approaching 30 much quicker than I'd like!  However, I can't seem to break the ties I have with Forever 21 much to my dismay.  It seems like every time I leave, I always say to myself...that's the last time.  I guess I go through phases of finding things and not finding things.  The day will come soon when Forever 21 and I no longer see each other.  Honestly, what I love most about the store (like all other girls) is that it's cheap and trendy.  Let's face it, I'm not going to Forever 21 for staple items that I want to last years. I'm lucky if I get a few wears out of _______  (fill in the blank) before it rips, tears, breaks, etc.  It doesn't bother me too much now, I like to stay in style so I find myself always needing wanting new clothes anyways.

Enough about that...let me show you a few great little things I picked up.  Out of the five things I purchased, nothing was over $16.00 (hence why I love Forever 21 so much)-gotta love that!!!!

Threaded Bangle Set

Ruched Corset Top

Retro Rose Earrings

High Rise Polka Dot Shorts

Painted Flower Bracelet

The polka dot shorts are my favorite and I'm excited to wear them soon!  Have a wonderful rest of your week FRIENDS!

what's your love language?

It's Monday...booo.  It's my least favorite day of the week.  Getting out of bed every morning kills me and Mondays are always the worst.  Anyways, I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I sure did.  I got to spend some great time with friends and family.

I married Mr. H last year on 9.10.11 (yes we did that on purpose) and before we got married we went to a premarital class through our church.  One thing that stuck out to us the most was the topic of love languages.  Now, I've heard people talk about this before, but it didn't really click on how important it is to know your own love language as well as your spouses.  You can find out more about the love languages in Dr. Gary Chapman's book The 5 Love Languages.

In case this is new to you, here are the five love languages... (if you click on the link above you can find out what each of these five mean in more detail)

1. words of affirmation
2. quality time
3. receiving gifts
4. acts of service
5. physical touch

In most cases, each spouse had a different order.  Everyone wants to feel loved, but the problem arrises when you are loving your spouse like you like to be loved, when in reality they feel most loved a different way.  For example, say your husbands top love language is acts of service.  He feels loved when you serve him so he thinks that he can serve you too and you'll feel the same love.  He does the dishes, cleans the bathroom, make dinner, but meanwhile you aren't feeling loved because your top love language is quality time.  You're probably thrilled he's doing all this wonderful things, but what you really want is his time. 

This topic intrigued us and after our premarital class that Sunday, we drove back to Mr. H's apartment  and talked about what we thought the order was for each of us.  Then we found an online quiz which lets you know the order of your love languages.  This is the crazy part and goes to show how much alike Mr. H and I actually are...our top three are the exact same, pretty lucky I know!  How meant to be are we! :)

My love languages                                                    Mr. H's love languages

1. physical touch                                                        1. physical touch
2. quality time                                                            2. quality time 
3. words of affirmation                                              3. words of affirmation
4. receiving gifts                                                        4. acts of service
5. acts of service                                                        5. receiving gifts

I consider us very lucky to have the same top love languages.  It makes it easy for us because while I'm loving Mr. H by cuddling up next to him on the couch, I'm also feeling loved because I'm receiving the same thing from him.  

For anyone who's in a relationship whether it be dating, engaged or even married, I'd highly recommend looking into what your love languages are.  I think it will make all the difference in your relationship and give you and understanding of how your signifiant other feels loved.  You might be surprised and realize while you've been loving him, it's been different than what truly makes him feel loved.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday and enjoy the coming week.  Have a happy Monday FRIENDS!

p.s. I chose those two pictures of Mr. H and I because I felt they express our love languages well: physical touch and quality time.  Plus they are some of my favorite pictures!!

pretty, pretty pastels

Hello FRIENDS!  I'm so excited the weekend is here!  It's Fashion Friday here at Simply Splendid LOVE and I'm linking up again with long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  

Today's Friday's Fancies is "pretty in pastels".  I'm sure you've noticed all the bright, bold colors for the spring, but don't forget about the pretty pastels too.  In fact, my favorite pastel color right now is coral.  I've never liked orange, but I've been loving coral recently.  

Now that we are past Easter, it's officially acceptable to wear white.  I love this because brights and pastels both look awesome with a skinny white pair of jeans or a cute pair of white shorts.  I just bought a pair of skinny white jeans and I'm so excited to start wearing them.   

A cute date night inspired pastel outfit!!

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A fun tropical pastel inspired outfit!!

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I've got a fun weekend planned with friends and family.  I'm inspired to wear a pretty pastel color and perhaps my new white jeans.  I need to browse my closet to see what I can come up with.  

I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of fun and beautiful colors!!

Happy weekend FRIENDS!