10 Day You Challenge - Day Ten :)

To see the other days of this challenge go here.

DAY 10 - 1 PICTURE (of ME!)

Here I am in all my glory :)

I hope you have enjoyed reading this challenge as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.  I would like to thank Stephanie again for bringing this fun challenge to my attention.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Nine :)

Day One - 10 Secrets

Day Two- 9 Loves

Day Three - 8 Fears

Day Four - 7 Wants

Day Five - 6 Places

Day Six - 5 Foods

Day Seven - 4 Books

Day Eight - 3 Films

Day Nine - 2 Songs (**Since I was not able to post yesterday you get two days for the price of one!)

**I have to note that this has been the hardest day because while I love music a lot I don't necessarily have songs that truly stand out...well at least not two that I can narrow down.  But I was able to pick two songs that I thought I'd share with you that are special to me.

1.  You, by Monifah...ever heard of it?  It's a song that came out while I was in college.  It makes me think of the time when I first began to think Rondell was something special.  We would sit in his dorm room and listen to the single and now every time I hear it I think back to those days of new love.

2.  How He Loves Us, by David Crowder Band.  When I feel the need to draw close to God (usually because I'm letting life get in the way) I can go to this song and be reminded.  Oh, how He LOVES us.  Brings me to tears each time.  It is a great reminder of who He is and how He love ME.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Eight :)



For Days 1-7 go here :)

Day 8 - Three Films

1.  You've Got Mail.  I adore, ADORE this movie.  There is just something about it that makes me all giddy inside.  I have mentioned before that I saw it twice in the theater (Rondell joined me both times) and I have it on DVD.  It makes me want to grab a Starbucks latte and read a book each and every time I watch.

2.  The Color Purple. Talk about an inspiring movie.  I love the strength and determination of Whoopi's character...Miss Celie.  I love the music in this movie and the bond between the sisters is just priceless.  I can watch it over and over!

3.  Love Jones.  I enjoy this movie for many reasons...it is set in my second favorite city (Chicago), it is romantic, Maxwell's music (one of my favorite singers) is featured in the movie, I have loved Nia Long since she was Cat on Guiding Light, etc.  Each time I watch this movie I root for Nina & Darius to be together.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Seven :)

Day 1 - 10 Secrets

Day 2 - 9 Loves

Day 3 - 8 Fears

Day 4 - 7 Wants

Day 5 - 6 Places

Day 6 - 5 Foods

Day 7 - 4 Books!

1.  The Bible.  It is God-breathed, it is inerrant, it is my life instruction manual.

2.  Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala.  It is truly an eye-opening book about the power of the Holy Spirit.

3.  Where the Sidewalk Ends...classic.  This just takes me back to elementary school and how kids would fight over who would check it out of the library.  This is a book I need to buy for Jamison (and Caleb).

4.  The Help.  This is my current favorite read.  I enjoyed this book immensely, definitely a page turner.  The movie was good as well, but nothing compares to the details of a book and how you can picture the setting for yourself. 

10 Day You Challenge - Day Six :)

Day 1 - 10 Secrets

Day 2 - 9 Loves

Day 3 - 8 Fears

Day 4 - 7 Wants

Day 5 - 6 Places

Day 6 - 5 Foods

1.  Pizza.  This is hands down my favorite food.  My favorites are Tommy's (a local place in Columbus), Giordano's, & Iacono's (another local place).  I do eat franchise pizza, but I prefer the smaller, local spots.  

YUM!

2.  Apple Crisp.  I'm not a big cake person, I prefer pies & crisps...with apple crisp being my favorite.  It is almost that time of year to go and pick apples (we already have a day scheduled in September) and I'm sure there will be lots of apple crisp in our future.  We have found that Jonathan work best for apple crisp.  If you want the recipe I posted it here.

3.  Steak on the grill.  I love firing up the grill and putting a nicely seasoned steak on there to grill...well I love when Rondell does this ;)  A good grilled steak goes so well with a baked potato and salad.  Oh my!

4.  Appetizers.  Often we will have appetizers for dinner or if I am entertaining I like to have appetizers instead of a full meal, like for a football game.  I love buffalo chicken dip, taquitos, chicken club wrap, taco dip, etc.

5.  Mexican...pretty much all Mexican.  Well, maybe what I like is more Tex Mex actually, but I love it.  One of my favorite restaurants is Abuelo's and man do I miss Chi-Chi's Mexican Fried Ice Cream.  I have been on a quest to find a great chicken enchilada recipe, but I haven't found one that tastes as good as the restaurants...one day.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Five :)

Day One - Secrets

Day Two - Loves

Day Three - Fears

Day Four - Wants

Day 5 - 6 Places

1.  DESTIN!!!!!!!

If you have been around here for a while it will come as no surprise that this is on my list.  The picture posted above is from when we went in 2010.  It was the trip that made us truly fall in love with Destin.  

This place is just perfect for our family.  The beaches are absolutely beautiful...the sand is clean, the water is a gorgeous blue and they are not over crowded.  We love the condo where we stay because it is so quiet, the pool area is never crowded, and it's in a convenient location to a lot of the sights that we like to see (and the Outlet Mall!)

Our time in Destin is our time to connect as a family, not have to hit snooze on an alarm because no alarms are set, swim until we are too tired to swim anymore, eat fabulous food, and just relax.

We are kind of sad as it looks like we may not be able to go next year...sniff.  But that just means that we will have to really live it up in 2013!

2.  There's no place like Home :)

While I enjoy getting out to do things, I also love being at home.  It is comfortable for me... familiar.  

3.  Chicago...my kind of town

Chicago is one of my favorite places to visit.  One of my favorite movies, Love Jones, is set in Chicago.  There is so much to do, yummy food, and one of my dearest friends lives there.  I don't get to visit as often as I would like, but I cherish the time that I have been able to visit.  

One of my favorite sights there is Buckingham Fountain...there's just something about it.  I love when it's all lit up at night...beautiful.  And of course when I'm there I must have my favorite pizza...Giordano's.

4.  California

Here's another place that I have visited a few times but have not been in a while.  I enjoyed my time in Los Angeles and the one time I visited San Diego I fell in love (Sea World San Diego is a place I must visit again).

I have family in LA and would really like to get Rondell and the kids out there to see the West Coast.

5.  Arizona, Colorado, & New Mexico

These are three states are are high on my list to visit.  One dream is to rent an RV and travel west for a few weeks.  The other dream is for Rondell and I to take a trip to Arizona for a nice kid-free getaway (I may have to start planning this).

6.  The Pool.

I love to go to the pool whether it is alone or with my kids.  I adore the refreshing feeling of swimming and then sitting in the sun to dry off.  I love sitting by the pool reading a book with my feet dangling in the water.

Now if I just had the funds to put on in my backyard...one day :)

**In addition to linking to Stephanie, I am also linking to my blog buddy Becca's party:

R We There Yet Mom?'s Friday Daydreamin

10 Day You Challenge - Day Four :)

Day One - 10 Secrets

Day Two - 9 Loves

Day Three - 8 Fears

7 Wants 

** In no particular order...

1.  I would love to have a pantry, first floor laundry, & a craft room in my house (new furniture would be nice too).

2.  I would like to improve my card making skills (which btw...check me out here.  I'm guest posting over at *Random Thoughts of a SUPERMOM*)

3.  I want my husband and I to love each other more and more each day and grow old together.

4.  I want my children to be filled with God's love, joy & put their best into whatever it is they want to do in life.  I want them to grow up knowing that their mom loves them to the moon and back & that we always remain close.

5.  I want to be thin and healthy.

6.  I want to talk to my grandmother one more time...man I miss her.

7.  I want to grow closer to God each day.  I desire to be in His Word daily (still working on this) and remember The Gospel in every aspect of my life.  I want to live out His Word.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Three :)

Day Three is here and once again I'm joining Stephanie in this Challenge.  **Read Day One and Day Two here and here.

8 Fears

1.  God...this is my only justified fear.  We are instructed to fear Him...it is an example of our faith in Him.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

...but I do have others:

2.  Stomach Flu...seriously, I shut down.  It's called emetophobia.

3.  I fear that some major destruction will happen to my house.

4. I am terrified of bees...I run as fast as I can when I see one.

5.  I fear that I will mess up with raising my children.  I fear that I won't give them enough grace or support or exposure to various things.

6.  I am scared to fly...even though I do it because I like to go places. 

7.  I am scared to fry chicken...sad, but true.  One day I'm going to conquer this and make PW's recipe.

8.  I am scared that I am going to fall down my basement stairs.  It happened once...it was awful.  Now when I have to go down there I hold onto the banister really tight.

Wow, I think I need to listen to some happy music after this post.

10 Day You Challenge - Day Two :)

I am back for Day Two of this fun challenge.  If you want to see yesterday's challenge go here.  Today:

9 Loves

 1.  Absolutely #1 is My God, my faith, my Bible.  The Word of God is my foundation...His Grace, His Love, The Gospel.

2.  My family - I love these 3 people to pieces...they complete me.  And of course too, my parents, siblings, & close family members.

3.  Friends...I link to my friends label to share my wonderful friends.  I adore my blog friends as well who have become more than just people who comment on my blog...truly.

4.  Blogging.  It is truly something I love to do...write blogs, read blogs.  I am so happy to have found such a wonderful outlet.

5.  Destin.  It is my happy place.

6.  Sunflowers...they are such a happy flower.  My goal is to plant some on the side of my house next year.

7.  My planner...I would be lost without it.  And I love this specific planner...the Life Planner.  It's so colorful, has tons of space to write, & is personal to me.  Everything goes in here!

And...if you go to the link home you could have a chance to win $ towards one of your very own (unless my name is picked...wink, wink) 

8.  Stamping.  This is a hobby I never thought I would love as much as I do, but I am hooked.  It is so soothing to sit and make a card for someone.  I enjoy swapping techniques with other stampers.  Stamping definitely makes me smile :)

9.  Pizza/Coca Cola...they go hand in hand.  I adore them both :)  Wanna be my friend, bring me a piece of pizza & a can of Coca Cola.

**Join in on the fun here**

10 Day You Challenge - Day One :)

Recently I started following a blog named How Sweet it is!  Stephanie has the cutest little girl and makes some pretty neat blog headers.

Today she posted about a little challenge and it looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try.  She found it on another blog, who found it from another blog...you know how that goes.  Not really sure where it originated.

So, for the next 10 days you get to learn more about me than you ever thought you would.  Aren't you excited?

Ten Secrets...

**Now I'm guessing this is not about deep dark secrets (not that I even have any of those), but things that I may not normally share.

1.  I really want to be a stay-at-home mom.  I have such a desire to do so much more as a homemaker and there just isn't a whole lot of time.  I also really would like to be more involved with my kids' schooling and I would love to be able to drop them off at school and pick them up.

2.  I HAVE to sleep with a fan.  No, you don't understand...I HAVE to.  When I travel, I take a fan.  When I  went into the hospital unexpectedly to have Caleb, I requested a fan for my room.  If Rondell turns it off while I'm sleeping I wake up immediately.  It's a sickness.

3.  I'm not trendy...I do not like to shop for clothes, I'm not into the latest styles, I have one pair of tennis shoes and one pair of casual shoes, etc.  It is just not my thing.  When I find a shirt that I like I usually buy a few in a few different colors.  Give me The Container Store over Nordstrom anyday!

4.  I get intimidated by new things.  It is probably the reason I haven't put a full effort into sewing or why it took me so long to set up my etsy shop (which is here finally...shameless plug).  I don't know what it is, but I just freeze.  I am working on being more brave.

5.  My favorite color has not always been yellow.  It used to be green until after college...gasp, I know.

6.  I watch Y&R daily...I love it.  It is my guilty pleasure.

7.  I do not eat or drink after my kids...I just can't.  I am always thinking that they may be sick and then I will get it (especially my feared stomach flu) so I just don't do it.  If they want something to drink/eat that I have I will just give it to them and get myself something else or get them their own drink/food.

8.  I did not know how big Ohio State football was until I started going there...no clue.  Now I know (and knowing is 1/2 the battle...Go Joe!)

9.  I sucked the two middle fingers on my left hand until I was in 5th grade...oh yes I did.  My parents tried everything too.  I even had braces that had spikes on them so they would poke my fingers, but that didn't stop me and I have the callus to prove it.

10.  We still have tube TVs...shocking, I know.  One day we'll take the plunge into the world of flat screens.  And yes, Rondell does work at Best Buy part-time and is tortured constantly.

**Tomorrow is 9 Loves!

Join in on the fun :)