Things we can't live without

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to try and step up our daily lives in little ways, taking small steps to take things beyond the mundane and into the pretty. To combat our mildewy carpets, we got a Wallflower (Exotic Coconut for now :)) and a few fresh smelling candles from Target, and now I can't imagine our house without them. They freshen up the apartment, AND create an amazing atmosphere of serenity--we're totally addicted and light them every night before going to sleep. When Brad and I were little kids, we could NOT go to sleep until we'd said the words "night night, I love you, I'll see you in the morning"--Ellis and I have gotten almost to that point with our candles. :)

Also, while at Target, we picked up THIS!!


While we were in Lynchburg, Tam introduced me to Mrs. Meyer's and it has totally changed my life!! She makes everything from dish and hand soap, to all-purpose cleaner, to a linen brightener to put in the laundry! And she has amazing scents like Basil, Lavender, and Baby Blossom!! I totally LOVE it! We have the counter-top spray in Lemon Verbena and it really does make cleaning fun--I go around LOOKING for things to spray and wipe...so now my bathroom is wiped down ALL THE TIME and my counters and appliances are always lemony fresh! We just got the linen brightener (in Lavender) at T.J. Maxx and now laundry will be fun too! The first laundry load of it is in the works now, so I can't wait to see how they turn out smelling! :)

Another new obsession: flavored water!!! There's this awesome pub in Wenatchee called McGlinn's and they serve cucumber lemon water! I'm never interested in ordering any drink but water because their water is such a luxury, so Ellis and I have started adding a cucumber


and a lemon

to our produce list each week, and now we have either cucumber or lemon water every night at dinner! Rather than forgetting to drink water every day during work, I seriously will daydream about getting home to our fresh spa water! :)

Life Lately

So as you all know, indecisiveness runs in my family. Mom claims to be the queen and says Julie and I are the princesses. The only sense I think that's true is that princesses are queen's daughters, cause I can't believe Mom could possibly be more indecisive than me. All that to say, I keep switching back and forth from wordpress to blogspot, and I think (for now) I'm going to be sticking with blogspot because it seems to be a LOT easier to use.

The big news here at the beach this winter is of course--the snow! Ellis loves any snow he can get, but I'm not a fan of snow here in VA Beach. Because here it doesn't just mean pretty snow, or sledding or snowmen--it means that the world shuts down. No running to Target to grab thank-you notes or mailing a package at the post office. However, the one really nice thing is that people actually drive carefully for once! :)

We did have a really awesome time being "snowed in" in Lynchburg the very last weekend of January! Ellis was competing in the National Government Contracts Negotiations Competition at Liberty, and I came along with the team to hang out with my friend Tamara from college, and her husband and baby! Riley, Tam, Ellis, and I had an awesome time catching up and eating a ton of wintry food and drinking amazing hot chocolate! They live next door to some other friends of ours from NSA, the Heids, so we got to have a mini little college reunion!

The snow in Lynchburg!!


Riley with William (Nick and Jer's baby) and Asher (his and Tam's baby)

Us with Riley and Tam! yay!