Keeping Romance Alive

Valentine's Day is quickly approach, and all over, posts of love, romance, dates, etc. are popping up.  Some people think that Valentine's Day is a stupid Hallmark holiday, while others really appreciate the day as a day made for them and their loved ones.  My boyfriend and I aren't ones to go over the top on Valentine's Day with flowers, balloons, gifts, etc., but we do like to indulge ourself in a nice dinner alone together.  A formal date night...which doesn't happen too often.

Which brings me to the topic of this post...how do you keep romance alive in your relationship?  Whether it be with your boyfriend, husband, or significant other...what do you do to keep romance alive?  My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost 5 years, and I admit, at times, the romance is wearing thin.  Its difficult because we are both finishing up our bachelor's degrees at different schools, so we don't see each other often during the week and lately our time together on the weekends has been limited.  With the stress of school and his job, sometimes I think we are too overwhelmed to take time to enjoy each other.  However, I've been thinking of a mini list in my head of things we do to keep romance alive...and I'd like to share them with you.

1. One nights we are apart, the first one up always texts the other good morning.  Its nice to wake up with a sweet text, it makes the start of my day a little brighter

2. We make a point to call each other during the day, or at least shoot a quick text or two when we are unable to talk.  We like to stay in touch to know what each other is doing.  And we always call each other right before we go to sleep to say goodnight.  It makes me go to bed happy.

3. When we are together, we make sure we leave plenty of time for cuddling.  

4. There are some TV shows that we both love, so we record them so that we can watch them together.  Seems silly, but it is something we both look forward to doing when we are together because it is something we both enjoy.

I know we do lots more to keep the spark in our relationship, but these are some of my favorites.  

Head over to MyPleasure to share how you keep romance alive in your relationship, and be entered to win The Ultimate Romance Kit.

About Me Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show

Day 3-A Picture of the Cast from Your Favorite Show

Of course, I have more than one favorite show, and since you are getting to know me better...I'm going to post them all.  Now you can see all my guilty pleasures :)

Private Practice.  Probably one of my favorites.  I just adore Kate Walsh.

Guiltiest guilty pleasure of them all.  But I can't resist.  It cracks me up

Dexter.  My new show...I'm currently watching all the old seasons through Netflix.  Hot serial killer...sign me up :)

My favorite, favorite design show of all time.  I'm swooning by the end of every episode for the room she just designed.  Until a few weeks ago, my DVR was 95% filled with Divine Design.  It was terribly hard to delete them. 

Gossip Girl.  Love.  Enough said.

Haven't been a huge fan this season, but this weeks looks good.  Hoping for it to turn around. 

Law and Order: SVU.  The longest running, and one of my absolute favorites.  Perhaps because I see a future for myself in this area.  I've been watching all the old episodes on Netflix...I think I'm on season 8 of 11.  

Although not on TV anymore, I have all the seasons on DVD.  And I could watch them over and over.

So...now its your turn to spill.  What are your guilty pleasures?

If you are interesting in doing the photo challenge, clink here for the complete list!

My Blog is Carbon Neutral...and Yours Can Be Too!

Have you heard of this wonderful program called "My Blog is Carbon Neutral?"  Many of us are making an effort to live more greenly this year, and this is a perfect, easy, and free way to do that!  "My Blog is Carbon Neutral" was started in Germany as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  After completing a few simple requirements, you can email the company, and they will plant a tree for your blog.  Planting this tree neutralizes your blog's carbon footprint for the next 50 years!  How awesome is that?!

The trees are being planted in the Plumas National Forest in California, which experienced massive forest fires in 2007.  The Arbor Day Foundation is planting one tree for each blog that signs up for the program, with hopes to rebuild this beautiful national forest.

This program is free, easy, and super beneficial.  All you need to do it go to this website to join.  The requirements are...a blog post about the program, posting one of their buttons on your sidebar, and emailing the company the link to your blog.  So come on, what are you waiting for...go write that post!

To read more about how this program works, check out 1 Blog, 1 Tree-How It Works

About Me Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 02 - A Picture of You and the Person You Have Been Closest With the Longest 

Okay, I realize that I am already a day behind...but I spent all day working on my graduate school application.  The monster of an application has been hanging over my head for the last few weeks, but now all I have left to do is answer one more essay question and put together my resume.  Not too bad!  I need to have it completely done by Monday, but I'm hoping to have it done by Thursday.

So my pictures for today...I'm going to have to include several.

 Me and my momma.  I have to admit, when I was younger (read-rebellious teenage years), we didn't get along so well, but now we are wonderful friends.  I look up to her so much, we learn from each other, and I truly don't know what I would do without her.

 Me and the boyfriend this past Christmas Eve.  We have been dating for over 4 years now, and he probably knows me better than anyone in the world.  We have gone through a lot together, but it only makes us stronger, and closer.

 Me and my best friend H.  We've been friends since high school, and though our relationship continues to change, we will always be together :)


I'll be back with Day 3's post later today.  I've had a headache all day, I'm seriously hoping to go sleep it off.


If you are interesting in doing the photo challenge, click here for the complete list




I am participating in another blog hop today...come join in the fun :)

About Me Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts

About Me Day 1- A Picture of Myself with 10 Facts

Brussels, Belgium in May 2009

This is the most recent picture I have of just myself.  I love taking pictures, but I hate taking pictures alone.

Soo...10 facts about me:

1. I am currently in nursing school in downtown Chicago.  My final semester starts next Monday...graduation day is May 5th, and I cannot be more excited.

2. I hate needles.  Yepp, I'm going to be a nurse, and I cannot stand needles.  Looking at them makes me nauseous.  

3. For a really, really long time (like, since I was 4), I wanted to be a midwife.  Well, when I was 4 I didn't know what a midwife was, but I knew I wanted to be around babies.  I have a very distinct memory of watching TV in my parent's bedroom one night and seeing this lady stuck on a cruise ship having babies.  She ended up having triplets.  After I saw that, all my Barbie's and all my dollhouse people were constantly having babies (cotton balls make great pregnant bellies for Barbies).  Anyways, I have pretty much been positive on the fact that I wanted to deliver babies as I got older, and I decided that I wanted to be a midwife sometime during my first year of college.  That all changed this past semester...

4. I am now going into psych nursing.  Thats right...me...a psych nurse.  Honestly, I was completely and totally dreading our psychiatric clinical rotation, I knew I was going to hate it.  Well, so much for knowing.  During the semester, I decided that I completely loved it, and it is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing.  I'm still surprised at the change, but I am now super excited for my future.

5. I am currently applying to graduate school to become a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.  And I'm terrified.  I have never failed at anything, I've gotten into every school I've ever applied to...and I am terrified that I won't get in.  The program I am applying to only takes 7 people, and while I have very high academic qualifications, I have no job experience as a nurse, so I'm scared I won't get accepted right away.  Worst thing that could happen is I work for a year and apply again, but I really want to start the program right away. After I'm done, I have future goals to work with victims of rape and domestic violence.

Enough with the school facts, now to more fun ones...

6. I love salty foods.  If you offered me a piece of dessert or a bag of chips, 9 times out of 10 I'd chose the chips.  And I hate chocolate cake.

7. I am extremely close with my family.  My mom is seriously one of my best friends, and I love the relationship we have.  We talk every single day, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.  I consider my two  pretty much my sisters, we lived 9/10ths of a mile away from one another growing up, and even though they are quite a bit younger than me, I'm so looking forward to the future with them.  I don't have any sisters, but I think they are even better!

8. I really love interior design.  I'm obsessed with interior design blogs, I subscribe to about 8 design magazines, and I have an entire folder on my computer of design pictures that I love.  I've got big plans my future house already...hey, a girl can dream, right?

9. I have been dating my boyfriend for more than 4 years now, and am extremely happy with him.  We are so different, but thats what makes things special.

10. I am obsessed with the movie Titanic.  Seriously, I know every single line of the movie...I watch it every time it is on TV.  Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On is going to be my wedding song-I pretty much decided that when I was like 10.  Maybe not the most appropriate wedding song, but it is soo appropriate for me!

Wow...after this monster long post, I think you got to know me a little better!

Again, if you decide to do this on your own blog, please let me know, I really want to see what you are writing and learn more about you :)

If you are interested in doing the photo challenge, click here for the complete list.




I'm doing a blog hop today, I'd love to get more followers :)

About me in 30 days...picture style

Since it is a brand new year, I am going to be trying some new things here.  So yall can get to know me a little better, I'm going to do an about me in 30 days photo challenge.  I will be posting 30 pictures over the next 30 days, starting tomorrow, so that I can easily share a little more about myself.  Please feel free to join me, and let me know if you do...I'd love to get to know you more too!

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts 

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest 

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show 

Day 04 - A picture of your favorite night 

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory 

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day 

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item 

Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh 

Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most 

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with 

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate 

Day 12 - A picture of something you love 

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist 

Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without 

Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die 

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you 

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently 

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity 

Day 19 - A picture and a letter 

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel 

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget 

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at 

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book 

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change 

Day 25 - A picture of your favorite day 

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you 

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member 

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of 

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile 

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss 

I Want...

Happy New Year everyone!  Can you believe that 2010 is already over?  I certainly can't!  What a good year it was, but I am so excited for this next year!  I'm working on a resolutions post, hopefully I will have it finished tomorrow.  I'm currently enjoying the rest of winter break by watching Dexter 24/7, I just got into the show and I'm totally hooked.  I watched almost an entire season yesterday.  Gotta love these lazy days.

Anywho...I wnated to share a little picture with you that makes me drool every time I see it.  One day, one day...this will be on a wall in my house.  Or so I hope.  I already have a seriously love affair with leaning bookshelves, and this one just maximizes its full potential.  Love love love.  

Seriously...look at that beauty.  Sheer perfection if you ask me.  I love the spots for the wine, the glasses, and just all of that open storage.  I hate having to put pretty dishes hidden away in a cabinet, and this is the perfect way to display them.

Image via Crate and Barrel