Kitchen Evolution-The American Dream

I was going to post another chapter to our love story, but instead I wanted to go a different direction today.

Terence and I were married really young.  We were barely 20.  I mean we couldn’t even rent a hotel room alone or drink an alcoholic beverage when we got married! ha!  We’ve been through some tough times over the years and things have not always been easy. 

I know a lot of people who don’t own a home and still live in a one bedroom apartment.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.  Our generation is so eager to live the American dream.  What is the American Dream?  Is it worth putting yourself under so much financial stress you don’t have the ability to do anything else in life? 

Terence and I have always been goal setters.  We set goals and do the best we can to reach them.  In our early years of marriage we had friends who had really nice homes and I was jealous.  I wanted that too….I wanted the American dream.  It seemed like some had it handed to them with a silver spoon.  Life is not always going to be fair, but if you set reasonable goals then you can attain the things your heart desires. 

It’s hard for me to read blogs sometimes because I still have that jealousy.  I don’t know why???  I have a wonderful life and I’m proud of our accomplishments.  But it’s still there. 

When I desired a child I was jealous of all the Mom bloggers out there.  Now that I am a Mom I am jealous of all the stay at home Moms who spend their days getting pedis, having play dates, staying in their jammies all day, and meal planning.  (Yes, I know that’s not all you do!) But some blogs out there portray that lifestyle.  I don’t have time for these things & I constantly feel like I’m missing out on moments with my son.  (cue Mom guilt here) 

I think dang…wonder what their husbands do for a living because they can afford to stay at home in their fancy house and carry a Louis Vuitton purse???  Must be nice. Sigh. 

I’m just trying to be real here.  That is what I feel…and I am not ashamed of what I have, I just feel so much competitiveness…not only in my life, but in the blog world too.  I’m tired of it effecting me or make me feel  less sufficient as a wife, mom, or woman. 

If you feel like you don’t have it all right now it’s okay.  You can get there with goals and hard work & I keep reminding myself that! 

I thought I would share how Terence and I started out 10 years ago…..

This is our very first kitchen.  We lived in a duplex on the Air Force Base.  I remember thinking this is so OLD.  How am I going to live here?  It was definitely a kitchen from the 70’s and it had been well lived in from prior tenants.  I was not thrilled about moving into this house at first…..

But you know what?  I made that kitchen my own and it was great for 5 years and served us well 🙂

Then we moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment in Arkansas after Terence got out of the service.  I then thought “A one bedroom” ???  How are we going to live here??? 

Again, we made it work and it was a wonderful home for about two years while Terence finished school and I worked 2 jobs.  Truth be told we were so busy we just slept there anyway! 

Fast forward to 2007

We moved to Texas and lived with my in-laws for what was supposed to be a few months….and actually turned into two years!  It saved us a ton of money because he was in an accelerated MBA program where he couldn’t work for a year.  We are forever grateful for that time they let us live with them.

When Terence graduated and got a job we moved into another 1 bdrm apartment, again not my ideal home….I thought at this point in life we would already have a home, but it was a step up from previous residences!  It was the nicest kitchen I’d had so far and I was beyond excited about having an extra pantry cabinet in particular  🙂

July 2009 – SURPRISE!  We have a baby on the way!!!  We looked at bigger apartments, but ultimately started looking at homes closer to where Terence’s family lives & my job is.  Terence would always be happy living in an apartment and it really is a much more economical decision…but I finally convinced him to start looking at homes!  I was so excited!  We had never owned a home before and after several searches we found our house…..

This is not my dream kitchen, but it is my DREAM kitchen for now & I am beyond thrilled we have it!
It’s better than anything we’ve had before….and I feel like after all our hard work we have a home of our own and a place to raise our son.  God is good.  Life is good.  Goals are good.

I wanted to show you that not everyone starts out like you think they do…if you work hard and keep at it then you can fulfill your dreams.  Life may throw you a few curve balls & someone else will always have something better than you….but the point is you are happy and content with what you have.  As Americans we have way more than most people in the world do ya know!
The kitchen pictures are just a metaphor…as the years go by and life moves forward things can get better!  Not everything is how you “think” it is on a computer screen…and you don’t know the background of someone else’s life.  All you know is what they choose to show you.  So don’t be so quick to judge.  Trust me…their life is not perfect either!
Find happiness in your situation and others will see that shining within you! 
(I hope you don’t all think I am crazy…this is something that has been on my mind for a bit & my thoughts come out jumbled sometimes…but thanks for listening to my rambles)
xoxo Becky

Fall Foodie

Connor got his first polo shirt 🙂
 Now he officially looks 100% like his Daddy
 I had to get some pictures of him of course 😉
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
He is so hilarious!

I’ve been feeling the urge to bake some fall goodness lately.  So off to Pinterest I go and I found these cuties!  Aren’t they cool?  That’s a Halloween oreo in the middle!

 Pretzel sticks held together with white chocolate to make a web
 This is an adorable idea for candy.  It’s “battyful”!
I really want to make these s’more cookies next week
Recipe found HERE & they look super simple

I ordered jewelry last week from Jewel MintGroupon was having a deal where you got two pieces for $20 (a $60 value) so I used a credit and basically got these two pieces for free!  

 I LOVE this necklace
You can wear it two ways
(Not so sure the earrings are my style?….Giveaway maybe?)
AND….
I MUST HAVE THIS CUP
LIKE…..
MUST!!!

A Hiking We Will Go

We took Connor on his very first nature hike Saturday.  We woke up at the crack of dawn & headed to Starbucks for coffee then to the trails.  Poor little Connor was so tired, but he quickly livened up and was ready to go! 
We had a good time as a family…here are a few pics of the day:
Getting ready to go!
Connor loved playing with the camel back
Connor loved riding in his kid carrier & it was a great workout for Terence too! ha..ha..
It’s called a Deuter Outdoor Kid Carrier.  We got lots of questions about it while we were out, so I thought I would share what kind it was.
 HOT! HOT! HOT!
 Drinking lots of water

Here I am with my “spider stick”.  It was almost comical the amount of spiders we encountered.  It seemed like every two steps we would walk through another spider web.  Ick! Ick! Ick!  We were also attacked by ginormous horse flies.  Next time we’ll be covering ourselves in bug spray, but I’d rather just wait until fall to do this again so it’s not so hot and all the buggies are DEAD!

We had a great time together & I’m thankful to God for my boys and the blessings that they are in my life! 
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too 🙂

I am Loving….

I’m not doing “Make Me Over Friday” today because I already posted about it on Tuesday.  You can see all current giveaways on the right hand side bar.
I am loving this sweet boy today:

 I am loving Talbots new fall clothing line:

 I am loving my Chi hair dryer.  Honestly couldn’t live without this thing!

 I am loving that Dexter season 5 came out….unfortunately I can’t find a copy on the planet to rent it! Boo!

I am loving Emma Stone’s Bright red locks.  I don’t think I’d ever have to courage to dye mine this color though : /

I am loving these two shirts I got embroidered for Connor for less than $10 bucks!
I am loving this Papyrus elephant wrapping paper I got at Borders for 40% off!
I am loving Shutterfly is offering FREE photo books 🙂

What are you loving this fine Friday???

Linus

It seems we now have our own little Linus. 
We can’t go ANYWHERE without the blankie these days or he freaks out!

Love you my little Linus….
My twinkie and I were Skyping the other night & both realized we were wearing our NYC shirts 🙂
Totally not planned…ha..ha..it’s a twin thing!

Lots of peeps have been Tweeting about their new Erin Condren planners.  One thing a lot of us noticed was that the tabs were wearing down quickly.  I just throw mine it my purse & I’m pretty rough on things : \

I used some clear duck tape over each one of mine and then cut the excess tape off.  It was an easy fix and now they are sealed and will hopefully last longer. 


“Wow…that was EASY!”

Make Me Over-Dark Under Eye Circles

I usually do the “Make Me Over” post on Friday, but I wanted to go ahead and do this one today because the product I’m posting about is about to going to have some great deals featured on HSN tomorrow & Friday. 

I love makeup, I’m a hair product hoarder, and I love to play dress up!  I blame that on growing up with a twin sister and always doing makeovers on each other. We even used to video tape our makeover sessions! LOL! Remember Bon?  Those videos have come back to haunt us!

Do you ever have those ugly dark circles under your eyes?

I do….and that’s probably why I drink a significant amount of coffee eh??? ha!

The last few weeks I’ve been using a product by Kesari called Dark Circle Brightening Cream

I put it on before I apply my moisturizer and foundation and it relieves my puffy tired eyes!  I’ve really noticed a difference and I feel like I don’t look so tired 🙂

Info about Kesari Dark Circle Brightening Cream :

Reduce the appearance of dark under-eye circles and puffiness all around your eyes with our rich, emollient eye cream. A unique combination of Indian Botanicals, Peptides, Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamins C and K1, and Chamomile results in smoother, brighter, and firmer-looking skin for your complete eye area.

Would you like to win Kesari Dark Circle Brightening Cream?
TO ENTER
Tell me why you would love to win!
(Extra entries for tweeting or sending me your Starbucks photo 🙂
Cheers!
Have a bright & Shiny Wednesday!