Eight Cents

Tuesday morning my head was full of several things and I simply could not focus. I raced to the store, picked up all of the items I needed, (thankfully I made a list) got to the till and realized I had forgotten my wallet. Frustrated and embarrassed I left to store and found refuge in my car. I turned up the music as loud as it would go and drove home to grab my wallet.

Determined not to let this plague my busy afternoon I once again returned to the store to make my purchases. The man in front of me came to the counter with his one item and the clerk said "That will be $5.08" The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the clerk. She looked at him and said "Sir, I need 8 cents." He began to search his pockets and said "I don't have anymore cash and I didn't bring my credit cards." She looked at him a little annoyed and opened her mouth once again to speak. It was then that I said "I have it." They looked at me and I looked back with their confusion mirrored on my face. Why wouldn't I help him? Wasn't I in the same position not 25 minutes earlier? (accept for my bill was a little higher than 8 cents) I handed the clerk the 8 cents and the man thanked me over and over. To me, it was no big deal. I was embarrassed by the way he went on about it. I payed for my items and the clerk said "You're an angel in disguise." I looked at her puzzled and said "I don't think 8 cents makes me an angel." She smiled and said "You were to him."

Now I'm not writing this story for any recognition or a pat on the back, because to me at least, the hero of the story was that man. I was cranky, annoyed and embarrassed and after my encounter with him, I left a better person. He was kind, patient and his eyes were warm and full of gratitude. I left that store envious of the warmth that emanated from him and I decided that is what I want to be like. I hope that I can be that light to other people.

Shoe Love

Disclaimer: Gentlemen, unless your wife spends major $ on shoes, this post will be totally and completely boring. With that said allow me to begin the intervention for those of you who do spend top dollar on shoes.

I am a woman who loves her shoes, flats, heels, stilettos, sneakers, flip flops, you name it, I wear it. Once Jakob and I got married he quickly established a "shoe allowance" meaning I only had a limited amount of money ($30) every month to spend on shoes and the money did not roll over from month to month. Now I don't have an allowance, because I simply do not shop retail. Once upon a time before my married days I would drop $160 on a pair of shoes without even blinking. Now just the thought of such an action brings me up short. Why spend more when you could spend less? (Whose slogan is that?) Which brings me to my most recent finds.

Exhibit A)
These flats are Steven Madden (a fairly popular name brand) On eBay these flats are $51.99. I got them at a yard sale for $0.50. That is $51.49 is savings.

Exhibit B)


I got these Paris Hilton pumps in fuchsia. Online I could buy them in hot pink for $120. I got them at a yard sale for $5.00. That is $115 in savings.

Exhibit C)

Here We have another pair of Steve Madden heels. (Which totally match one of my skirts perfectly.) Online these beauties are $74.95. I got them for $1.00. I saved $73.95

Exhibit D)

These simply make my heart flutter... seriously I'm in love. Once again another pair of Steve Madden's at Zappo's these are $83.95. I splurged on these and spent $8.00 at D.I. (anything more than $5 on shoes is tough for me) I saved $75.95.

I hope you can see what I'm getting at. Beauty, style and fashion can be achieved at a significantly lower price. In total I saved $316.39 and I spent a whopping $14.50 on four pairs of shoes. Obviously I did not hunt for the cheapest online price. You can find fabulous bargains online. I simply love being thrifty, I get such satisfaction from finding a bargain and I get my shopping fix without putting a large dent in our wallet.

First Day

Jakob started his first day at Alligiant on Monday and as you can tell by the pictures... he's not all that thrilled. I think had grown accustomed to a life of luxury, sleeping and staying up late. When the alarm clock went off at 6:30 someone was not enthused. As most know Jakob is an intern at Alligiant Air and from what I understand he does a lot of data entering and studying numbers. Currently I believe he's researching whether the company should charge customers for their carry on luggage. He is excited to once again be working, he doesn't like to sit still for very long, lucky I married a "doer, I'm a do-what-the-crowd-does, if you're watching movies I'm right there with you. Jakob motivates me to be the best that I can be and I love him dearly. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work that he does for us.

One major benefit to starting an "office job".... dress shirt shopping. I have recently discovered how wonderful the clearance rack at Khol's is. I have seen the light. Between Khols clearance and Ross I almost feel good about shopping retail. Obviously it doesn't compare to Yard Sales or D.I. (post coming soon on some recent finds that I LOVE) but Jakob got several shirts and some smoking slacks at a wonderful price. Finding A Bargin + Happy Husband = Happy Wife.

Balance

Tonight my head is once again filled with a hive of buzzing bees. I cannot get it to stop humming no, it's more than that... zipping. I would love for it to simply hum from thought to thought gently gliding and organizing as it goes; but instead, I sit here in the stillness of our home and my head is bursting with thoughts that simply do not connect. I am feeling overwhelmed, not by life, but the lack there of. Allow me to explain myself. By lack of life I did not mean that I am too busy quite the opposite, I feel as though I am not maximizing my time as best as I should. There is so much that I want to accomplish yet as the week rolls through I end up looking back thinking what did I accomplish? What makes me better this week than I was the last? There is so much more I want to do, become and learn. I want to create, to be healthy, and be organized. I feel as though I am standing at a buffet line looking at all of the possibilities but I simply take nibbles and I don't dive in with my heart, mind and soul. There are so many pathways I want to go down but I'm always to scared of failing.

This week must be a week of balance. I am staring Young Women's Camp right in the face and I feel as though I'm standing in front of a tidal wave about to engulf me. Just recently our camp directors father passed away and she will no longer be attending camp. My heart goes out to her, I can't even imagine how she must feel and if she reads this I want her to know how much we love her. Seriously.... she rocks.

As what was once her responsibilities are placed onto my shoulders I feel inadequate. I feel as though I am standing in the shadow of a giant. How am I to measure up to what this wonderful woman? I feel as though I am not maximizing my calling to the best of my abilities. Nevertheless I can feel the love and faith of the girls pushing me and I pray with all of my heart that it will all come together. I am so thankful for EVERYTHING our director has done. Seriously she just handed us boxes of completed packets for the girls and said... here you go. She is wonderful.

One week... Seven days... How did it sneak up on us so quickly?

Bye Bye Birdie

I spy with my little eye... a bird. Can you see them?

How about now? Jakob found these little guys sitting in their nest outside of our bedroom window. They looked pretty big but were still being fed by their mother. I went to see if I could see them the next day and they were gone. They must have been closer to learning to fly than I thought. I wish we would have noticed them earlier so we could have watched them grow, nevertheless I was grateful to have witnessed a small part of their lives. Bird's nest are so cool.

Putting Pro

This week Jakob was able to attend Young Men's (more often than not he is scheduled to work.) This weeks activity was golfing, Jakob hates golfing, however he attended and returned home with a prize.

Apparently Jakob is a fabulous putter. The Young Men and leaders were in a putting competition against some pros and out of the three rounds Jakob won two. Yes, you read that correctly, a man who hates golf beat a professional. They gave him a hat as his prize.

This victory hasn't changed his opinion of the sport however, he is willing to revisit mini golf to see if he has acquired a taste for that in light of his fabulous putting technique. I sure love this man. He make me smile. P.S. thinking of smiles don't you love his? That boy won't take a serious picture to save his life. Good thing he's cute.

ConGRADulations!!

Congrats to my baby brother Jared. He finished all of his classes back in December and moved out to B.C. a few months ago. He has grown up so much over the past six months and I am so proud of him. I can hardly believe that my baby brother is 18 and finished high school, boy, I feel old. I love the picture below! On the left is Jared's girlfriend Katlynn, one of these days I'll finally meet her. It's nice to have another girl around for family gatherings. Congrats once again to Jared and the Class of 2011!

Feather

I got 3 feathers put into my hair and I love, love, looooove them. I have been thinking a lot lately about changing up my hair style. I am one of those people who simply gets bored with the same look. So I made up a pros and cons list for short, long, blonde and brunette.

Advantages to shorter hair: It's cute and would be much cooler in the summer, plus it's something I've never tried before. Disadvantages: I'd have to style it every day. This one was killer, I love being able to throw my hair up into a pony or a quick updo, if I cut my hair that would no longer be possible. Curling it would be horrible and I'd have to wear a wig for all of my princess parties.
The final verdict: Leave it long.

The blonde battle was a little easier to come to a final conclusion. I loved my hair blonde, but it is high maintenance (I'd have to get it done every 6-10 weeks to cover my roots), it's expensive and it fries your hair. Plus I would not be brunette enough to be Belle or blonde enough to do Cinderella ect.
Final verdict: Leave in brown.

So I decided to find another way to spice up my look. I have seen these feathers everywhere and I instantly fell in love! I can shampoo, curl, straighten and blow dry them and they last anywhere from 6-8 weeks. Hopefully I will find a place where I can buy my own feathers so I can do it myself. We all know how I love a bargain. I am so pleased with my new look.

The Dress From H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks

This dress was seriously, one of the most frustrating items I have EVER created, and that is saying something.

I bought the this pattern thinking "It's modest, it has a cap sleeve, I can lengthen it if necessary, scoop neck, piece of cake." WRONG! The neck was too low and the shoulders too narrow consequently making me immodest. I figure if I'm going to take the time to sew a dress I had better make it modest without needing to add tank top and so on.

Cap sleeves were not going to work so we had to create those, easy peasy. Okay, I thought, no big deal we'll simply raise the neck line and widen the shoulders a smidgen. Wrong again. Because of all the seams around the neck line it took some serious thought to make this baby work. HUGE shout out to Mom Tobler! My mind would have never wrapped around the concept, and it still doesn't but she made it work... or so we thought.

On the first fitting we discovered that my bust is three inches too low. I don't think Jakob will ever let me live that down. Not like I can help it or anything... anyways. This small detail caused quite the problem, consequentially I to had to tear the dress apart and start again.... and again.... and again... and again. Can you see a pattern forming? Once we finally got it to the spot we wanted we discovered there was a bubble. Tired and annoyed I handed it to Mom and simply said 'Please.' I knew in her capable hands all would be well... wrong again. She fixed the bubble but then the neck line drooped. I'm saying.... dress from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks!

Back to the drawing board we went. We finally ripped it apart for the sixth time and Mom hand stitched to while I was wearing it. Talk about a custom fit! Still the neck drooped. Struggling to keep our sanity Mom made a last ditch effort to correct the problem. And it worked. She sewed and elastic band in the neckline to help hold it together. Brilliant, there was still a funky spot so we decided to add some flowers for flavor.

At last the dress (that I thought would only take me 3 days to complete, and instead took me 6) was finished!!!!! I am so pleased with the end result and even more pleased that it's finally DONE!

Skate Into My Heart

Jakob and I have decided to reinstate "date day." Not that we ever had a designated "date day" before but now that we both have pretty busy schedules we figured it was about time to schedule some time just for us. This week was Jakob's duty to plan the date.

So we went ice skating, in June, in Vegas. I knew it was going to be wonderful as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Low and behold there was a pile of "snow" just calling out to me. I tried to build a snowman to no avail. Some Canadian I am.

The last time Jakob went skating he was 8 years old. He looked at me and said "It's just like riding a bike right?" Growing up in Canada I've been skating many times but I was still a little wary. I took lessons when I was 6 but I didn't think that would give me any advantage.

Neither of us could stop but we could go forward. I showed Jakob how to go backwards. He wasn't very good at first but after an hour and a half of practicing he had it down.

We then raced off to Yogurtland. SOOO GOOOD!! I had so much fun. I think I am going thoroughly enjoy date days with my sweetheart.