March Cara Box Reveal

I came across a few blogs last month that were posting about their blog swaps brought together by Kaitlyn at Wifessionals .
Each month has a theme to use as gifts to your swap partner. This month had to be stuff connected to the first letter of your first name.  My swaps were with Holly and Heidi.
 Holly's blog is Curious Sprinkles  and she was paired with me as my sender. I was paired with Heidi  who's blog is Heidi's Wanderings that i was to send  to.

I received my creative package from Holly last weekend.  Isnt this cute?

I have some pencils that look Homemade, Hershey's bar, colored Hemp, a bag of Hunter mix, and some Hankies.  As y'all know i am collecting hankies for my upcoming wedding and i was too excited to get them.

I really enjoyed getting to know Heidi and i loved that she had a common interest in vintage. I was able to find some fun stuff for her at one my favorite antique stores. 
Here's a pic of what i sent to Heidi.

Swaps are fun but at the end of the day i enjoy meeting 2 new bloggers that i will continue to follow. Sweet sweet girls!

I Stand for what I believe

Have you seen this? Many people are sharing it and or making this their profile picture. This symbol is for equality in marriage.  My post today is not to persuade you to think the same way I think. In fact I respect your opinion or difference of opinion regardless. I also understand that I could lose a follower or 2 for what I believe in. I’m OK with that as well!!  Do I consider myself a BELIEVER in JESUS and GOD? Yes, as a matter of fact I DO!!!   I also believe that to judge others is not up to me and that I don’t need to concern myself with who can marry who. We will all find out who is accepted or not by GOD when we meet HIM at the Pearly Gates.  I was raised catholic and attended Catholic schools up into high school.  I lived in California during my middle school years and my mom’s boss (Bev) at the time happened to be gay.  At 12 I don’t know a whole lot or understand anything about sexuality but what I did know is that my parents trusted Bev and Bev’s girlfriend to babysit me one weekend when they had to travel out of town on business trip for the weekend.  I was treated like a princess and I loved it with moms company would have company parties. I was always invited and Bev always included me in any holiday gifts. Hey , when you’re 12 , you’re always all about the gifts!  We even invited Bev and her partner to my confirmation which was a big deal and only had 4 tickets per family. We didn’t have any other family around us ( they were here in Dallas) and so they were there.  I remember one night having a serious discussion with my Mom and crying because I was so confused. I wanted to love Bev and wanted to make sure it was OK because of my strict religious beliefs being taught. My mother has always been a very liberal loving soul. She taught me  right then that she is trying to raise me to be a woman who will make my own wise decisions with no judgement and to follow my heart. She would not tolerate any Hate or bullying from me and that I need to love the person regardless of what any religious organization tells me.

Today I have so many gay friends in my life that I honestly know my life would shine much less brighter if they weren’t in it. In fact 2 of my closest friends are gay and both of them and their partners will be at my wedding.  My one friend Michael has been so supportive and loving and the perfect friend for many years. He gave me a free airline ticket one year  (before I traveled and earned points) to fly my Mother in from Montana when we both couldn’t afford it. He understands the importance of family and the need for my mom. Michael was raised in a loving ,church going family in the South and his parents have accepted his choice many years ago. Just like the ol joke goes, show me a family now that doesn’t have a gay and mine would be no exception. My sweet cousin Layne is gay and he came out to his right after high school graduation.  He moved to London where his partner (Clive) is from 5 years ago and they are legally married there. My cousin deserves to live somewhere where he can hold hands with his husband as they walk into the grocery store and not be judged or even worse threatened.  Can you imagine growing up in Red Neck East Texas and being gay. He literally is scared to walk with Clive inside walmart  in fear of being hurt. Yes this still happens. Do you need reminded of  Matthew Shepard in Montana?  There are countless hate crimes where gay men and women were beaten and killed . For what?!  Layne and Clive have been together for 10 years, Michael and his partner have been together for 15, my friend Kevin and his partner have been together for 10, and my friend Fred and his partner have been together 28 years people! Do you see that LOVE is LOVE and their relationships is what I’ve seen as a model for long lasting commitment and love. Its because I’ve seen them work like any other couple I know to make things last.

I cant NOT love my friends and my cousin because they are Gay. I  just won’t let anyone tell me that they are any less a person with rights as I am.  The symbol above is truly a gesture on Facebook that has already made the Global news for the support of equality. Little things can make great things happen!

Have a lovely Wednesday Y’all!!

Tuesday's Tunes

 

I'm really enjoying this song on the radio when i need some heavy metal rock. This is a Danish band called Volbeat and this song is called Warriors Call.  Its about a Danish boxer. I think this song should be played now during sporting events.

The Foo Fighters is one of my most favorite rock bands ever and i never get tired of listening to their Cd's! Dave Grohl has come a long way since being the drummer in Nirvana.

Happy Tuesday Y'all! Grab our new button and link up.

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A sneak peek of our engagement pics....

I still am just not myself this week and I have not had the energy to blog.  I had to take a minute though and tell y’all that I finally got my engagement pics take last weekend.  Todd and I have been so crazy busy, then trying to have a weekend with decent weather, both of us feeling well, etc. 

  My lovely cousin Lauren is our photographer and she of course did an AMAZING job!

I will give you guys a small sneak peek of some of our favorites….

Have a great weekend y'all!!

Tuesday's Tunes

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Join us today for Tuesday's Tunes.
Here are my choices that were on my mind today:
This first one has been around a while and its used A Lot in commercials. Its AWOLNation and the song is Sail.

This next one is Imagine Dragons and the song is RadioActive. This video is kinda weird but i love it. I had the biggest crush on Lou Diamond Phillips in the 80's and he plays the bad guy in this video.

I havent blogged since last Tuesday but i felt like DOO-DOO the whole week! I'm feeling much better this week but still have a slight cold. It hangs on.
Have a great day Y'all!

Me and 100's of others - Join me on BlogLovin

Hey y'all, like the rest of the blogging world who uses Google Reader- we're having to jump on the Bloglovin ship. So here: follow me please.
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Tunes on Tuesday

Hello Y'all! I have some great news for our Tuesday Tunes coming up. I happened to stumble on another blogger's page who also hosted a Tuesday Tunes with same idea in mind as ours. Lauren and I reached out to her and we are going to combine forces. Her name is Leslyn and she blogs at Leslyn's Lovely Life. We're all so excited!! We're in process of coming up with new button and our names on it and we hope that more people will join our hop. Until then lets talk about music.
I spent the weekend with my sweet grandma Nanny and she's a huge country music fan. She watched country videos all day and i get caught up on the most popular songs in the countdown. Some of the songs i saw videos are what i'm sharing with you today.
Grab your tissues for this first song because it really tore at my heart. The song : I drive your truck by Lee Brice is so sweet. Its about 2 best friends but one dies while serving our country.

This next one is so awesome because Don Williams is a country crooner from way back. His voice is so sweet and he has so many great hits. He joined up with cutie pie Keith Urban in this song and i cant get enough of it. The song is Imagine That.

My last choice for today is a duet with a really fun group Train and country girl Ashley Monroe. Train is typically more rock and pop so i love the diversity. This song is called Bruises.

So there you have it today my friends. Please link up: