Welcome back!

So I’ve been absent for a few months… during that time.. big things were happening!

I started to learn how to sew.

Jonathan started a new site for me.

I started a new weight loss venture (down nearly 15 lbs!)

I went on a trip to the Azores with Alysha to celebrate her 25!

Thanksgiving.

10 year high school reunion.

Christmas.

New Year’s.

annnnnnnd here we are!

So, I’m welcoming myself back to blogging.

I mentioned Jonathan started a new site for me. it’s not live yet, but I think it will be good when it is! I’ll let you know what it is as soon as it’s ready. 🙂

It’s going to be started with intention and organization so I can blog about the various things I love in a way that makes it easy to follow what I’m blogging about, and in a way that makes me be more organized with my thoughts and ideas.

It’s going to have travel posts and review.

DIY crafts and tutorials.

Recipes and food ideas.

Exercise and healthy living ideas.

and of course some personal anecdotes sprinkled in.

It’s gonna be GOOD!

The other big thing is that I opened an Etsy shop! It’s https://www.etsy.com/shop/SashAroundTheClock

I mentioned that I am learning to sew, and I am selling these SUPER soft, adorable lime green infinity scarves for Valentine’s Day.

If you know someone who needs one, pick one up! I’m including free shipping since this is my first item!

Anyway, until the new site is live, I’ll be blogging here, so keep coming back. I am about to try to make slow cooker chicken and if it turns out, I’ll put a recipe out there tomorrow! 🙂

V-Day Post: Alysha’s Package!

As promised, I am finally catching up on some V-Day posts!

I wanted to show you some of the super cute things my sister sent me for Valentine’s Day…

As you can see in the pictures, she sent me some really cute Owl-themed V-day stuff!  And a really fun “Middle Sister” wine! I was so excited about that! It’s a “Sweet and Sassy” Moscato. I am so excited to drink it, but part of me doesn’t want to because its sooo cute! Also in the picture are a super cute mini-fondue set, a funfetti whoopie pie kit (which we are going to make together for spring break), sweethearts (my fav candy). I am sure a few things are missing from the picture… like the chocolates I devoured. But basically the package was so amazing that I busted into it and started using things before I took pictures. Oooops !

In addition to the things pictured, she also filled the package with some other fun stuff, like some rockin’ sun glasses! And she was kind enough to mail me some of the stuff I left behind at Christmas, like my moshi pillow, teas, and nail polish. I also got an “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” calendar. If you don’t know what it is, it basically makes fun of poor grammar. It’s hilarious and I have been greatly enjoying it.

Everything was WONDERFUL. My sister has great taste. 🙂

So, Thanks Alysha!!! I loved my VDay package and felt super loved by my sister. 🙂

VDay Catch Up Posts: VDay Weekend

Moving on in my VDay posts…

As everyone knows, I’ve been very stressed out and overwhelmed with school lately. So my sweetie planned a very romantic Valentine’s weekend for me, to help me feel loved and relax and destress!

So, last Friday, Jonathan took the day off of work to spend time with me! I also don’t have class on Friday, so that made it really, really nice! I had made him homemade chocolates during my smidgen of free time on Thursday, with the help of two of my good friends! I think they turned out nicely!

(Side note, Alysha, I wanted to make some for you but thought they wouldn’t turn out very good in the mail…so I went with Brownies instead… so we can make some over spring break if you want to!!)

Here’s what they looked like

Jonathan planned some surprises for me, too. First up, we had couples massages! The last time we had professional massages was on our honeymoon, so this was an awesome surprise! Afterwards, I felt so relaxed and amazing!  Jonathan had also booked us a room at a local hotel for Friday and Saturday night, to help get me out of the house and unstressed. It definitely worked! Jonathan had booked a Valentine’s day special, so at the end we got a gift bag with champagne, plastic flutes, candy, and some other goodies. It was really sweet. 🙂

On Saturday, we went spinning. Now, some of you might be thinking, “Ick, 8:30 am biking on your romantic weekend? whaaat?”  But we are so excited about biking the french country side and we love spinning and training for it! After spinning, we got Kolaches (if you’ve never had a kolache, , you should! kolachefactory.com) We took those back to the hotel, watched a movie and ate kolaches!

Post-kolache eating, we enjoyed the hotel’s indoor pool and hot tub. Very nice and relaxing.  Then we got nice and dressed up, and Jonathan took me to the orchid exhibit at the botanical gardens.  I have a ton of pictures from that, so I will do an orchid post later. After orchids, we went to Monarch for dinner, which was also delicious and fabulous.  We don’t do fine dining very often, so it was a really nice splurge. Monarch has southern influences in their cooking, so of course I ended up having sweet tea fried chicken… amazing!  Jonathan got a sweet potato coated cat fish. Which I actually tried, and liked. Crazy!

On Sunday, we slept in, and then we went to Cafe Madeliene in Tower Grove Park for brunch. The wait was long, but the atmosphere was really nice and the food was great!  After that,  I had to go to class, so that was the end of our romantic Valentine’s Weekend.