So Long 2012, Hello 2013!

2012 was definitely a year of ups and downs but overall it was another wonderful year spent with my husband, family and friends. I sat down the other day to start putting birthdays and things into my 2013 datebook and as I was looking back through my 2012 datebook I thought I would do a little recap of my eventful year!

• My husband moved to Pennsylvania for two months because work slowed down where we live. Luckily our friends lived only 10 minutes away from where he needed to report to so they graciously let him stay with them!
• We lost my grandmother to cancer. In her honor I started volunteering at a local hospital.
• I attended numerous tabling events, banquets and chamber events on behalf of the bank I work for.
• I reconnected with an old friend.
• My sister turned 18 and attended her last prom and homecoming.
• I volunteered for a bunch of fundraisers and walks through the year.
• I got turned down for a position at the bank I work for, got an offer from a completely different company, accepted the offer, turned in my two weeks notice at my company until my bosses gave me a promotion in title and a raise so then I decided to stay.
• We celebrated my mom and dads 31st wedding anniversary.
• We watched loved ones get married.
• I mourned with my friend over the loss of her sweet puppy.
• Roughed it through a massive power outage.
• My husband and I both turned 25.
• Vacationed in Florida off of the gulf of Mexico for our 3rd wedding anniversary.
• I enrolled in college and started my first class, finishing with a 98.9%.
• I joined the volunteer committee for the Alzheimer's Association.
• And last but not least, I got my first gun - with pink grips!

All in all, 2012 was a successful, stressful, sad, happy, exciting, wonderful year and I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us! Heres to a wonderful New Year to you and yours!


All My Love,
Lyndsay

Loving Lately

What I'm loving lately is these Aussie hairstyling products!
I have naturally straight hair, which I love at times.
But sometimes I just need a little curl in my life.
And my hair hates to cooperate.
Then I found Aussie and my whole life changed.
Okay maybe not my whole life, but you catch my drift.

So if you want beachy looking curls that hold up all day
and doesn't feel weighted down with product then you will love these.

What are your go-to products to make your hair do something it doesn't normally want to do?

<center> <a href="http://www.theallmylove.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v739/lyndsaydanielle/531073_10152293400495092_791256752_n200.jpg"/></a></center> <br /> <br /> <div align="right"> All My Love,</div> <div align="right"> Lyndsay</div>  

All My Love,

Lyndsay

First of Many Lasts

 

My sister is a senior in high school.

The other day, I went to her last choir concert ever.

It made me a little sad.

She's my only little sibling.

Does is ever get easier watching them grow up?

 

She got the call a few days later that she is accepted to the college she has wanted to go to since she was a little girl.

I am so proud of her.

And because I waited so long to go to college,

we are probably going to end up graduating college around the same time.

That would be a cool thing to be able to share together. :)

 

 

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Cheetah Nails

I got so many compliments on these!
I mentioned on my Loving Lately post that I bought these impress press on manicure nails to try and I am happy to say that I love them!
They were so easy and quick to put on, just prep, peel and stick.
The package says they will last a week.
And I have to say I think they would have stayed on longer.
I literally had to soak my hands in water and peel them off of my nails they were stuck that good.
For a fun, flirty look these are an affordable way to go.
There are so many designs to choose from,
I can't wait to put my giraffe print ones on!
So add these to your must-try list and let me know what you think! :)

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Covergirl & Olay

Remember waaaaay back in February when I posted about my Covergirl Foundation?

No?...Oh OK, well here's the link.

Any who, since then they came out with Tone Rehab 2 in 1 Foundation.

Can you say love?

I am in love with this product even more than I was the first one.

It does seriously amazing things to my face.

And I'm someone who breaks out even thinking about zits.

It's annoying.

But this product is top of the line quality in my book.

So I suggest you try this stuff if you like to try new things.

Your skin will thank you.

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Instagram Weekly

 

 

If you know me, then you know I post on Instagram all of the time.

I love it.

There's just something about snapping little pictures of my daily boring-ness that I just can't resist.

And people must be just as bored as I am, because they like what I post!

Which is great, because it results in me doing it more.

It's a vicious circle, my friends.

My husband hasn't even looked at an Instagram, but when I pull out my phone and snap a pic he asks sarcastically,

"You're Instagram-ing that, really??"

At least we have graduated from the sarcastic,

"You're Facebooking that, really?"

 

With that said, on to my top faves this week:

1. My wonderful Aunt Jenny saw that step stool out and picked it up to give it to my husband because he is a train conductor and she's always loved trains. Wasn't that sweet?

2. We put up our Christmas tree! Usually I have this done the day after Thanksgiving every year, but I was slacking this year.

3. One of my favorite customers went on a trip with his church to China and he brought me back some green tea and that cool little tin.

4. I reached 200 followers! I was almost in tears I was so excited. You all are the best!!

5. I've been seeing this nail style on several different sites, all unique to those who painted them. So I tried my own version, I wasn't sure at first but I think I like it.

6. The hubs and I went to a little restaurant that's about 25 minutes from where we live and they have the best food and desserts. I added the caramel and it was the perfect combo.

 

 

Hope you all had a good week! :)

 

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Weekend Social Mix

Welcome to the weekend everyone!  What well laid plans do you have this weekend?

<center> <a href="http://fgwl64.blogspot.com/" title="Fromgrandmawithlove"><img src="http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a540/fgwl64/WeekendSocial.jpg" alt="From Grandma With Love" /></a></center> <br>

The Rules for the Weekend Social Mix Blog Hop: 

We want our Blog Hop to include everyone so it's a Social Hop!

1. Follow the Hosts & Co-Host:

From Grandma With Love

Marine Wife, Mommy & Life
All My Love

If you like what you see please leave a comment with how you're following and your bloggy address so we can return the L♥VE if we like what we see!

2.. Link your blog post up using the linky tool below! It can be
ANYTHING! Why? Because it's FINALLY the weekend! Ya baby!!

3. Visit a few blogs that you’ve never been to before and leave a comment/give a follow– you might “meet” someone new
that you will L♥VE!

Everyone ready?  Be sure to leave me a comment that you're following and we promise to follow you back!

Email us, if you'd like to be a guest co-host, at MWML11@Yahoo.com 

Loving Lately!

 

I'm going to try my own little series here on the All My Love blog,

called Loving Lately!

 

And what I'm loving lately is that minty green colored nail polish up top combined with a fun multi-colored glitter.

Sometimes I'll buy glitter polish and the glitter to clear polish ratio is off and I end up getting less glitter on my nail per swipe.

I didn't have that problem with this glitter at all.

 

I'm also loving the impress press on nails!

I bought these a long time ago and like the shape and feel of them

but just recently found that they now have adorable prints on them!

I love anything animal print so I had to snatch them up.

Can't wait to put them on and show you all. :)

 

 

What are you loving lately?

<center> <a href="http://www.theallmylove.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v739/lyndsaydanielle/531073_10152293400495092_791256752_n200.jpg"/></a></center>

 

 

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Hoppin' It Up - Round 2!

Hey everyone! That's right, it's Friday again! 

which means we're one step closer to the weekend!

that means it's time for... the "Friday Chaos Blog Hop!"

This is a link up for bloggers who want to increase traffic to their blogs and meet new friends! 

RULES:

1. Follow both hosts (The first two links below on each link up) 

2. Follow all of the co-hosts (the next 4 link ups)

3. Grab the button and put it on your blog somewhere to be seen.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.ohsoamelia.com" title="ohsoamelia"><img src="http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj578/BericeBaby/Untitled7.jpg" alt="Ohsoamelia" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

4. Don't just add your blog hoping to get followers, join in the fun and visit a few blogs.

4. Tweet about this hop Tweet

If you would like to co-host one of the weeks let us know.

Okay, Lets get this chaos started!

Your Hosts:

Kerry @ Ohsoamelia

Lotte @ Bericebaby

Perfectly Polished

I love nail polish. A lot.
I recently have become smitten with Essie and OPI.
And I found out that our local drug store now carries them!
I've even been finding them at TJ Maxx, my favorite store.
As I've said before, they are quality nail polishes and stay on way longer than any other brand I've found.
I used to have to wait until I made a trip to target to buy Essie or buy OPI from a nail salon.
So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered this.
These are my favorites right now and will be adding to my collection. :)

What are your favorite nail polish colors or brands?

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Missin' My Man

 

Sometimes when I'm missing my husband really bad,
I read through all of our texts on my phone.
Do you know what I realized?

Most of them say:

"Made it to work babe"
"Love you"
"Miss you"
"Can't wait to see you"
"When are you coming home?"
"Are you close to being done?"
"Have a safe trip babe"
"Miss you already"
"I'll call you when I wake up"
"Night babe"

If that isn't falling into a routine I don't know what is.
Talk about being apart ALOT.
I wrote about my husband's job a little while back here.
We say alot of goodbyes and see ya soons.

But it makes the time we spend together that much greater.
I love when he tells me he can't wait to see me.
After all this time, he still manages to give me butterflies.

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Hot Chocolate Done Right

 

There's nothing I love more than a hot, chocolate-y drink on a cold almost winter night.

I found those amazing flavored marshmallows of joy from Walmart.

I want to put them in everything. Literally.

But hot chocolate seemed the tastiest way to go.

And boy was I right.

 

 I may have gone a little overboard on the amount I added.

Oh who am I kidding, how could you ever have too many marshmallows?

Although, you do want to be careful and pay attention to how long you microwave your cup of water.

And test the cup before you just pick it up without thinking.

I may have injured myself in pursuit of my marshmallow fix.

Really... I did. There's no may about it, ha.

 

Okay, so you've got your hot chocolate mix? And your marshmallows?

Put it all together with your favorite mug and you have yourself a cozy evening.

 

 

All My Love,

Lyndsay

On a Serious Note..

I lost my grandma in February of this year.
With the holidays coming up, I am thinking about her more and more.
I have yet to really deal with losing her.
I think about her all of the time.
But it doesnt really sink in that she's gone.
It just feels like I haven't seen her for a while.

Sometimes I look at her pictures and I have to remind myself that she's really gone.
It's hard.

This will be our first Thanksgiving without her.
Out first Christmas without her.
Her birthday was on Christmas.

She was such a stubborn woman, too.
You never had to wonder what she was thinking.
She was such a gossip, we all knew it and she knew we knew it.
It was so funny, she never left the house but she always knew what was going on.

I miss her.
I didn't cherish my time with her the way I should have.
I let her get on my nerves sometimes.
I regret that.

But towards the end, I had wonderful conversations with her.
She knew where she was going and she told me she wasn't scared.
I find comfort in that.

It's taken me a long time to be able to write about her.
But I feel like this is what is going to help in my healing process.
I love and miss you, Nanny. <3

All My Love,

Lyndsay

School, Clothes & Boots - Oh My!

 

I just finished my first week of class.

Only 7 more weeks to go.

I don't know what I was so worried about!

I may not be so happy once I get my grades.

I have no idea how I did, I'm a little rusty on this whole school thing.

 

Anywho, up there is my favorite outfit right now.

I got the shirt on clearance from JC Penney for like $8. Awesome sauce.

The boots are from Maurice's and are the only boots I've found that will go over my jeans and my thick calves.

Are those not adorable?

 

I'm in love and I wanted to share!
(Click the picture to view them on Maurice's website)

$39 and I'm pretty sure you can find coupon codes online if you just have to have them like I did!



What are your favorite finds lately?

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Happy Halloween!

In the five plus years my husband and I have been together,
we have never carved pumpkins together.
I have never carved pumpkins to sit outside of my own home.
It has always been a tradition to do it at my parents house.

This year, I wanted to make it our own tradition.
So out came the knives.
Ryan said "I don't like the way you hold a knife. It's too knowing... like you've used one to kill someone before".
Evidently I'm a pro knife holder...

It was so much fun to just sit down with my man
and work on something together.
Real quality time.
My husband is the cat's meow.
The witches cackle.
He's awesome. And I love him.

Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween!

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Just Say No!

I need to remember this more.

I get so wrapped up in everything I need to do and places I need to be.

Between work, work events, volunteering and now college - I am busy!

Somewhere in there I have to make time for my husband (when he's home)

and my family and friends.

I was looking at my schedule today and I have so many things coming up.

I always stress myself out about it all.

But today it dawned on me that stressing myself out about things isn't making my life any less busy.

I have a hard time saying no to things.

I try to fit everything in that I possibly can.

My mom would say that's my father in me.

I need to slow down and prioritize.

I want to spend more time at home, snuggling with my husband.

Rearranging my furniture.

Spending quality time with my sweat pants.

Doing the crafts and organizing the things that I have been putting off.

I need to learn how to say no and not feel bad about it!

 What I'm going to start with is sticking with the commitments I've already made and then TRY to pick and choose the things that work around what I already have to do (like work, school, and volunteering at the hospital),
things that wont take up every free part of my schedule.

I am going to try to say no.

Any tips would be much appreciated! Do you ever struggle with trying to be super woman and doing it all?

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Awesome Jewelry Finds

Kohls Find

More Kohl's finds

Cookie Lee Brand off of EBay



Local Yard/Estate Sale Finds

I love jewelry.
Probably a little too much.
I always hit the clearance section in Kohl's every time I go.
And find good deals other places too.
It could also be considered another one of my obsessions.

I've been into bronze and gold jewelry lately.
It feels very 'Fall' to me and I love it.

Whats your go-to jewelry this season?
Where do you find the best deals?

All My Love,

Lyndsay

A Quarter of a Century

Old.

That's what I used to think of this pretty little number.

But now that I've reached this number, I no longer think that.
25.

Twenty Five.

I am twenty-five years young today.

My insurance is going to go down.

I can rent a car without paying that pesky underage fee.

See what all I had to look forward to?!

OK, so maybe that sounded like something an old person would say.

But I'm telling ya, 25 feels fantastic.

Even though birthdays are mostly about presents and wishes and cake, I like to reflect on everything I have learned from birthday to birthday.

To reflect on how truly blessed I am for this life the Lord has given me.

I plan to make the most of every day, every week, every year.

Don't get me wrong - I still love getting presents.

And being the center of attention while people sing to me!

I mean c'mon, who doesn't?

Everyone deserves at least one day every year to celebrate their awesomeness! When do you celebrate your awesomeness?

All My Love,

Lyndsay

AKA The Birthday Girl :)

My Own Worst Critic


I had a mini freakout moment yesterday.

This week is preview week for my online college class. I was all excited and logged on eager to see what I would be learning about. I opened the syllabus and froze. There is so much to do! A bazillion projects and journal entries and on and on.

I panicked.
I haven't been in school for over 6 years.
What made me think I could do this?
I'm going to fail.

I hollered for my husband and he came into my office. I must have had the panic written all over my face because he immediately asked me what was wrong. When I got done explaining everything, he looked at me and said
"You can do this, I believe in you. You are smart and you will do great. You are way too hard on yourself"

This got me thinking.
Why am I so hard on myself?
Why is it that the minute I think something will be hard I immediately convince myself I can't do it?
I've never really failed at anything to make my brain think these things.
But for some reason I lack confidence in myself.
So I prayed for the Lord to help me.

And you know what I have found out?
I am even more determined to do well in this class.
And every other class I'll be taking.
The lack of confidence that I saw as such a bad thing has actually driven me more to succeed.
I am ready for this.
I want to learn and succeed.

I'm taking a step towards a more confident Lyndsay. And do you want to know something else? I downloaded my book and the first chapter is about personal growth and change. Coincidence? I think not.

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Will Read For Fun

My husband can't understand how I can sit down and read a book for hours. I can tune everything out and go into my own little world. He doesn't understand how this is fun for me, but it is. It's the perfect way to unwind after a long day. Draw me a bath, light me some candles, hand me a book and I'm a happy girl.

Here's my list of must-reads for fall and winter. These have been on my bookshelf for weeks now and I have yet to read them. I buy more books than I can keep up with! My goal is to get these six read before I buy anymore:

• The Ragamuffin Gospel: Manning
• The Wedding: Nicholas Sparks
• True Believer: Nicholas Sparks
• Not a Fan: Kyle Idleman
• Heaven is For Real: Todd Burpo
• Bethenny Frankel: A Place of Yes

I figure that's as good a place to start as any. Have you read any of these?

I'm really looking forward to the Nicholas Sparks books, I love all of the books I've read of his so far. We are doing a study at church right now on the Not a Fan book, I'm about a chapter in and I am getting so much from it already. I like anything from Bethenny Frankel so I had to buy her book. My mother in law loaned me Heaven is For Real, I have heard its very good.

What will you be cozy-ing up to and reading this winter? Any suggestions? Let me know! :)

All My Love,

Lyndsay

Nailed it!

    

I love to get my nails done. Obviously. But I'm not a whole painted, crazy design on each nail kind of girl. Don't get me wrong, I like those styles but I like having just my tips done more. That way, when I'm too busy to go get them filled - you cant tell as quick. Genius, right?!

I don't know what it is about having my nails done that makes me feel better about myself. But I do. Kind of like having my eyebrows done, but sometimes I let those suckers go wild. Oops. Theres so much I have going on, its hard to keep up sometimes. Do you ever feel like that?

Anywho, I actually made time to go and get my nails done after the event I have to attend after I get off of work and I can't wait, I need some me time. I usually do my nails myself but those pics up there are some of the styles I've had done by a salon. I havent decided what I'll have them do this time. I'll be sure to instagram it. :)

All My Love,

Lyndsay