untitled.

I feel like I am on a journey. a spiritual, growing up, peace finding journey. Actually…once I realized this, it became clear that I’ve been on this journey for almost a year now. At times it seems crazy to think about how much life has changed in the past few years, but when I look at the changes I smile. I used to constantly fight with myself between doing what’s right…and doing what feels right.  I almost always did the latter even though I always knew better.  And I almost always felt the blow of consequences that followed. I was frequently frustrated…always confused with what I wanted. Now, for the first time ever, what I want is what’s right. What feels right…and what IS right…are very seldom two different things for me now. I can’t begin to describe to you the peace that has brought to my life.

When Ben and I met we were both extremely unbalanced people.  We were so wrong for each other and the timing couldn’t have been worse. About a year later…everything lined up. We went on a date. Started over. I wasn’t sure we would ever earn each others trust, and let me tell you it was NOT easy. But we did. We found trust, and balance, and priorities. We became a family and most importantly I learned how to put other people first. I was such a selfish person…and I’m learning how to love selflessly. I’m learning how to love the way people need to be loved. The rewards and the contentment and the….peace that comes from it is nothing like I can ever explain.

I don’t know where all of this has come from. Maybe from the awesome weekend that is ending. The weekend I so needed to relax, recharge my batteries (as Ben puts it), and reflect. School has started back and I feel the stress starting to build back up.  I don’t, however, feel that “thing” I used to feel. I used to have this little…ball of energy. Negative, confused energy. It bounced back and forth from side and side and never allowed me to just stop. and be content. and feel peace. This journey of mine has helped that crazy energy go away. I’ve finally said “this is what I want…and I am going to do what’s right to get it”. at times it was damn near impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel…and the number of people who are no longer in my life or who are no where near where they used to be in my life is huge. but the people who have embraced the change..or have at least acknowledged the change and remained patient, i am so so thankful for. no…i can’t do this by myself. yes…i do need help. this is just the beginning ….stay tuned. 🙂

Planting the seeds!

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We can haz green thumbz??

We’ve had some beaauutiful weather over the past few weeks! We’ve even dipped our toes (and heads) in the pool already! We also planted a few really awesome things to put out on the porch! SB and I love to cook, and you just can’t beat cooking with fresh veggies and herbs. The domestican in me wants to be in the fields…with a big straw hat and some overalls picking all my fresh goodies, but apartment living = porch growin’! It’ll definitely do for now. We’ve used the herbs in several dishes but we’re still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our peppers! We have 7 different kinds plus a tomato plant. Fresh salsa here we come!!

*editors note…i will begrudgingly leave the awful pic of myself extremely hungover, but let it be known that my spirits were much higher than they look!

**note to self…recovery from night(s) of drinking is now extended an additional 24 hours due to old age. *sigh*

Rite Aid!

croupons!

I finally had one of “those” couponing trips! Here’s the breakdown…

11 tubes of Crest Pro Health @ 2.29
2 coupons @ -1.50
3 coupons @ -1.00
3 coupons @ -1.00 off two
11 SCR @ 1.50
Total = $0.31 profit!

3 Oral B Toothbrushes @ 2.29
3 coupons @ -2.00
3 SCR @ 1.50
Total = $3.63 profit!

3 Gillett Fusion Power Razors @ 8.00
3 coupons @ -4.00
3 SCR @ 4.00
Total = FREE!

I also used a $5 off $20 coupon I got from watching coupons on Rite Aid’s website.

Total price before any savings $56.06
After coupons and rebates +$5.88 PROFIT!!

I just MADE money and will have toothpaste for daaaays! How awesome is that? And kudos to the lady at the Rite Aid in Canton. Double kudos to Britt and Monica at work who helped me get completely hooked on pharmacy deals! Love it!

Joining the Movement!

The coupon movement that is! For some reason couponing has become like a cult in the last few months with my friends! Coupon parties and entire phone conversations surrounding saving money by clipping. I still haven’t made it to a meeting/class…but my friend Heather gave me the cliffnotes on where to get started! Let me tell you…I was a complete skeptic! (Surprise, surprise) Not that it doesn’t work, but that it would work for me. I try to be a low maintenance person…but at the same time I do like organizing a good grocery list! So I tried it. I bought three AJC’s. I clipped coupons for an hour. I spent 2+ hours preparing the list and researching online. I spent over an hour at the store actually shopping to make sure I was getting what was on sale and the right amounts of each thing (and that was with SB helping!) Over 4 hours went into this trip, and it was a success! For me anyway. 🙂 I’m not sure I will ever be one of those $150 worth of food for $26 bucks kinda people, but I saved 70$ on $200 worth of groceries! PLUS…the awesome websites I’ve learned about helped me buy just what was on sale so we got a TON of food.

It really is true what they say about the rush you feel when saving all that money! I’m hopeful that the time spent on preparation will shorten, and I’ll get into a couponing groove! I’m already looking forward to this Sunday so I can go for another shot at it!

What a Winter Break!

I have had the last week off of work and it’s been B.L.I.S.S. With a sick day AND a snow day prefacing it…it feels like Christmas Break all over again. There is SO much to blog about! SB took care of our Vday weekend with his previous post. It really was a magical weekend for us. It was our first Vday that counts, but I truly hope we continue to have weekends like that for a long, long time. 🙂
Continue reading “What a Winter Break!”

And just like THAT….

no more grrrrrface! Things are still the same with the previous situation…I’m just channeling some really positive energy (from somewhere?) and going to make the best of it until May. It certainly helps that SniperBen is always there to be a voice a reason for me. 🙂

In other news…I have a change in my top 5! I’ve added Bob from The Biggest Loser. We’ve been watching this season and I just love him! He’s hilariously intense and pretty damn sexy! I happen to think he looks like SniperBen as well…*delish!!!

Oh! SB also introduced me to www.thesuperficial.com this week. I have to admit that I am all about these dumbass celebs and what they are up to. This site has the goods! Check it out if you haven’t.

I hope the rest of your week goes by fast…b/c that means mine will too! Winter Break…car shopping…sleeping in…VDay weekend…*SQQQEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!*

Oh Sniper… where have you been?!

A brief update of what Jess, Chase, and I have been up to in 2010.

So it seems The Snipers have been a bit absent or lazy in their upkeep on this thing in the past few weeks. Well, that’s mostly true. The main reason is that we’ve been getting settled in to our new apartment, been working like the dickens, dealing with ailments that just won’t go away, cooking, watching movies, and all manner of things. Now this blog is supposed to capture that all that stuff, so it seems only fitting that one of us go back and jot some things down that have gone on in the past few weeks.
Continue reading “Oh Sniper… where have you been?!”

Christmas…and craziness!

I never uploaded Christmas pics! whassupwidat? Well…it’s been a crazy few weeks. We made it through Christmas with flying colors and everyone was spoiled with lots and lots of goodies. New Year’s was lots of fun and we are slammin’ through January. We’ve moved SO much, and we’re finally feeling settled in the new place. We have a few more things to hang, and a ‘to buy’ list…but it feels like home already. 🙂 Regretfully…we didn’t snap many pics during the movapaloosa, and additionally, I had the WORST virus for the better part of it. What I do hope to do is get a few pics of the place once everything is complete. For now, I want to make sure I post our Xmas pics. Hope everyone is having a Happy New Year so far!
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And so it begins…

What a day! It started off earlier than I’ve been up since Christmas break started. Tea, coffee, oatmeal with fruit..we were off! I am too tired to go through the details, but we got SO much done. We packed up my living room, sold my living furniture, and got Chase his own room up here in Dwood. It’s temporary until the middle of Jan., (hiring a Home removal company and moving to a bigger apartment here at 2Blocks with more room…phew!) but it gives him his own space and a place to keep his things and I love that. He really seems happy up here and I am so so thankful for that. Oh…did I mention we de-Christmas’d TWO apartments today? Yeah..trees, outdoor lights, decor…all of it. Packed up and ready for storage. I have so much to blog about…our Stone Mtn. trip, our official move to Dunwoody, and Christmas of course! We all got so many awesome things from Santa and each other that I can’t wait to brag about. I’m hoping for a calm, relaxing few days. I have some things on my to do list in anticipation of the move, but other than that I want to play games with Chase, watch movies with Ben, and enjoy the rest of my break before heading back to work. A great way to start that is to plan a nice, calm week eating in. Here’s what on the menu. 🙂

Sunday
Spaghetti and Meatballs with Bacon Marinara (yes…bacon. everything’s better with it!)

Monday
Broiled chicken with green beans and rice

Tuesday
Fish Tacos. Muy delicioso.

Wednesday
Brunswick Stew

Thursday
New Year’s Eve dinner in the city. 🙂

Friday
Our first attempt! Roasted chicken, collards, black eyed peas, cornbread. stfu!

Now…off to enjoy a hot bath with my new products from Lush!

Jazz up yer ballz!!

Tis’ the season for ballz!! Sausage balls that is. 🙂 They are a must have and a staple of almost every holiday ‘get together’. Someone says ‘finger food’ and sausage balls’ll be there! Now don’t misunderstand me, sausage balls are the bomb! SniperBen and I started a conversation about a month ago playing around with different versions of the balls. “Bacon balls…Oh..I know! Jalapeno balls! …wait…what about..” and it basically went on from there. The amazing ideas never really came to fruition, however, we talked about it again while walking down stone mountain yesterday with chase (blog on that to come btw!). I needed a good ‘finger food’ dish to bring to Girls’ Night gift exchange and we remembered the balls!! Here’s what we came up with.

Bacon/Ranch Balls
Regular sausage ball mix (the bisquick kind)
add chopped up bacon (pretty small)
ranch dressing mix (powder kind)
*these may need to be cooked a few extra minutes

BBQ Balls
Regular sausage ball mix
add your fav. bbq sauce
we added extra chopped up white cheddar cheese and spices

MexiBalls
Regular sausage ball mix
extra texmex cheeses
LOTS of chopped japs. yummmm….

Maple Balls
Regular sausage ball mix
maple syrup (go on and get the good kind, it’s worth it)
brown sugar

They were great!! I don’t really have exact measurements or cooking times, but you can free ‘ball’ it! (tehehee) The idea is, think of some awesome things that YOU would like and go great with sausage. Cook them until they look “done”. I promise you’ve never ‘sausage’ a great finger food for the holiday! {disclaimer: that corny but funny joke was brought to you by SniperBen}.
*editor’s note: somehow i don’t have a pic of the epic balls! doh…