Living Our Vows...It's Coming!

The idea of starting a series entitled: Living Our Vows 

was realized because as a newlywed married woman,

 i am realizing the importance of living my wedding vows on a daily basis.  

When we said the following vows to each other...

they were more than words...

they were active words...

I Mrs. Pancakes take you Mr. Pancakes to be my wedded husband.

To have and to hold,

from this day forward, 

for better, for worse, 

for richer, for poorer, 

in sickness or in health,

to love and to cherish

'till death do us part. 

After we said our vows...our pastor clasped our hands together and prayed.

To me that solidified the coming together of two individuals into one.

To Team Pancakes, our wedding vows is the foundation in which we stand united in marriage.  

After our faith in God, our vows bind us in everything we do. 

I remember becoming very emotional during the reciting of our vows

 because i believed with every fiber in my being the words in which i was saying.  

I knew when i was saying in sickness & in health...

they were words that were real to me because we were living it.  

Whenever we have disagreements, i don't have to worry 

because we are in this marriage for better or for worse.  

When we worry about the amout of money we have  in our savings account, 

we remember for richer or poorer, 

we will make it work 'til death do us apart!

 In our day to day, we may forget how we are living our vows. 

 Therefore,  i wanted to reflect on what it means to live our vows.  

And in reflecting on this, i wanted to learn from other couples,

 who have been married longer than my seven months...how they are making their marriages work.   

We will hear from couples who have been married 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and 30 years.  

There is so much to learn from these couples

 and I cannot wait to share with you all some wonderful

 expressions of love, committment, friendship and marriage.  

I am excited to take this journey to see how other couples (blogger buddies)

 are making marriages work everyday by living their vows.  

There are so many negative images out in the media 

and i wanted to counteract these images with positive ones of couples like you and myself.

It's all about making good marriages better!

 I hope more than anything this series will allow us to learn from one another and celebrate love!

As part of series...i will be featuring each blogger who participates as the Couple of the Week!

The series is coming Tuesday!

p.s:  
if you would like to participate in the series...
please send me an email.
thank you!

Secrets Newlywed Behavior: The Gassy Situation!

I want to be as honest as possible as a newlywed 

so i thought i would be brave and talk about the gassy situation 

that occurs in marriage and relationships in general. 

I will try to do this without grossing anyone out!

Actually i am not going to use a lot of words...

thank goodness for SATC (Sex & The City)...

because this scene explains my secret newlywed behavior perfectly.  

You can skip to about 1:20!

Mr. Pancakes thinks it's suspect he never heard me do this when we were dating...

well of course some behaviors are just NOT appropriate in the beginning...

 however it happens in marriage/relationships...and it's normal...
only sometimes it happens at the most impromptu of times.

I don't even have a question of the day...just t

Happy Wednesday!

Real or Fake?

When i have nothing much to speak about...i like to be random & play games....

Therefore, today I thought we would engage in an interactive game called: 

Real or Fake...

Which real or fake items would  you choose?

1. Real or Fake (artificial) Christmas Trees?

2. Fake or real hair?

3.  Fake or  Real nails?

4. Fake or Real Pattie Sanger (Millionaire Matchmaker)?

My Answers:

1. Fake Christmas trees (less messy)

2. Real Hair (o-nautral)

3. Real nails..i can't stand fake nails

4. Real Pattie (she looks too weird)

Which items do you perfer real or fake?

Randomlicious Post...

Happy Monday Friends!

Today's post is all about randomness in all it's liciousness 

hence...this Randomlicious Post in five points.

1. Hope everyone is doing well after the Thanksgiving holiday 

and the excitement of Black Friday shopping.

Did you hear about the lady who pepper sprayed another shopper in California? 

Really pepper-spray-lady..it's NOT that serious!

2. Anywho...this weekend was very emotional 

but we were still thankful for all the blessings that God continues to bestow upon us,

 individually and as a married couple.

3. The Wolfpack celebrated another birthday.  

Yes we celebrate birthdays, September, October, November.  

And little Wolfpack (my godson) celebrates his brithday in December.

We went to Carrabba's Italian Grill restaurant...the meal was delicious but the company was even better!

I seriously LOVE these girls...

4. The lovely Mrs. H of Life as Mrs. H warded me the Liebster Award...

and liebster in German means "Beloved".  

Thank you Mrs. H for the award and i am honored you thought of me.  

I'm glad we get to share parts of our experiences together. 

As part of the award, 

i have to nominate 5 bloggers to share my "beloved" award with.  

These following bloggers inspire and challenge me on a regular basis 

and would love to share them with you.

So here are the nominees in no particular order:

Ashley @ http://www.luceblog.com

Legally Chocolate @ http://lifeaftertheverdict.blogspot.com

Darby @ http://lifewiththehawleys.blogspot.com

Dana @ http://lifewiththehawleys.blogspot.com

Tiffany @ http://knotchocolate.blogspot.com

Pass the award along ladies!

5. and finally...

See you tomorrow my beloved readers!!!

Let Your Hugs Linger..

Team Pancakes will be attending a funeral today.

One of the nicest and smartest man, husband, father, we know, passed away.

It makes me sad because i feel like he had so much life to live.

But our Father had other plans.

This incident reminded me of the importance of living our lives purposely at all times 

because we never know when God will call us home.  

It also reminded me to hug the ones i love a little tigher 

because that could be my last.

He leaves behind his wife of over thirty years. 

You could tell, just by looking at them, they were still so much in love after all these years.

It's sad he is gone but he leaves behind a life..a life he lived well.

He loved God, his wife, son, family and friends. 

 He was definitely a good man and you only had to be in his presence for a short time to know this.  

He will be terribly missed...but his legacy remains. 

  God must have known he was tired and called him home.

Today i will be hugging onto Mr. Pancakes a little tighter, 

a little longer and we will linger in each other's embrace. 

 Life is short. 

Live purposely. 

Hug someone you love a little tighter and longer &

Let your hugs linger...

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Friday Funnies: Black Friday

There is a running joke about black friday in the Team Pancakes household....

are your ready for it?

Team Pancakes: It's always black friday in our home!

get it...

LOLz...hahaha..harhar...we thought it was funny...

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner 

and were excited to spend time with their loved one. 

Our dinner started a little late but it was definitely fun to spend time with the Pancakes clan! 

I ate and ate but ate slowly!

If you are enjoying the black friday shopping sales....

be safe out there and can't wait to see some of the great purchaes you all found.

Unfortunately i have to work today and thought for all those who are being unproductive like myself, 

we should spend some good quality time laughing at the following commercial...

because seriously this lady totally rocks! 

...and just because he is Justin Bieber & Canadian!

Ladies, Have a Happy & Safe Black Friday!

Question of the Day: 

did you find any exciting deals?

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Thanksgiving...& Giving Thanks!

Team Pancakes would like to run down some of

 the good, bad and ugly of Thanksgiving...

before giving thanks and grubbing!

1) Family

2) Great grub (food)

3) Church Service

4) Fellowship

5) Basketball/Football  games  all day(Mr. Pancakes)

1) All the darn cooking

2) All the darn dishes after dinner

3) Traffic & Traveling

5) Football/Basketball Games all day (Mrs. Pancakes)

1) Crazy drunken uncles (you know we all have them)

2) Uncomfortable & ugly bellies
(great read on eating slow to prevent overeating: Athletes4Life)

3) Unbuttoned pants

4) Going to work on Friday

Team Pancakes is thankful for:

 God because without Him we couldn't be thankful 

for our families, friends (including my blogger buddies), 

health and everything in between...

We give THANKS!

 Reasons Team Pancakes readers are thankful:

• I am thankful for my son, he has made my life complete :)
• This year I am thankful for my family, my battle buddies, my fiance, and waking up each day to live another day.
• I'm thankful for days off and sweet puppies to snuggle with!
• i'm thankful for my family!
• I am thankful for God's grace and mercy which carries me from day to day.
• I am most thankful for my family! They are everything to me!
• I am most thankful for my family! They are everything to me!
• I'm thankful for friends who are like family, who coming so very far to deliver good news to us in person :) 
  And I'm also thankful for blog friends like YOU
• im thankful that im alive and i have a good family and that im loved
• I'm grateful to the Universe for the fact I'm finally starting to be real me and to enjoy in my real life!:)
•  I am thankful for my dog Monte, who makes me smile even when I don't want to.
• I am thankful I have a great hubby and adorable kids.
• I am thankful for my health and strength. =)
• I am thankful for two healthy little boys. They are my life!! 
• God has preserved my son and me and blessed us in so many ways (that I could only dream of) and for that, I am truly thankful
• I'm thankful for another day with my dad. 
  (he has terminal pancreatic cancer & was recently given 6 months, but you never know - everyday is a blessing & an opportunity for hope.)
• I feel so bless to have my wondenful daughter and husband in my family. 
  God bless you all on this thanksgiving day

p.s: 

enjoy the day and don't stress out too much, 

remember the reason for the gathering...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

210 Days of Love!

I cannot wait to celebrate 365 days and 52 weeks of love with you all coming up next year,
but in the meantime, today, Mr. Pancakes and i celebrate 210 days of love!

I cannot believe how fast the days are flying by

 but everyday brings more joys and blessings.

We continue to live, love and laugh always.

To celebrate 210 days of love, 

i thought i would reminisce a little on the 5 AMAZING days 

we spent on our honeymoon in Barbados. 

It was magical in every single way.  

We felt like we were on a secluded island!

We enjoyed gorgeous weather and views, 

The ocean and skies were blue with white sands...

We ate delicious meals everyday, 

walked on the beach and just enjoyed each other's company.  

We didn't want to come back and often try to come up with reasons to return to LIVE!

We fell in love with the island 

and fell in love with each other even more!

YES I GOT US MATCHING T-SHIRTS

p.s: 24 hours until Thanksgiving..i know you are excited...i am...
Im dreaming of candiedchocolate cake!

Inspire Me Series: Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Tuesday Friends!

I thought i would do a special Inspire Me Series: Thanksgiving Edition with the lovely and uber artistic/creative Marilyn...seriously if you don't know her...WHY?! because she makes some of the most amazing and thoughtful things EVER! She inspires me on a daily basis to be more creative and just live myr passion in every thing i do.  I am overly excited she agreed to share a little about herself 

and some of the ways we can be creative this Thanksgiving Day!

___________________________________________________

Hello friends, my name is Marilyn from next door over at The ArtsyGirl Connection. 

I am really excited and truly honored to be here sharing with you all today. 

It's totally a privilege as I LOVE Mrs. Pancakes and her fun inspirational posts 

and admire her faith in love, marriage, trust in God, 

and focus on so much positivity that she shares here in her lovely part of the blog world.

Thanks for having me here today Mrs. Pancakes... 

A little about me....

I am a mommy to two beautiful little one's, engaged to my very best friend 

and a bit of  a craft junkie. I love photography and cooking when I can 

(I'm not that great but when I focus, cooking isn't so bad, lol.). 

I can be the biggest dork but those that love me don't seem to mind...

Hope you can join me sometime and share in my artsy fun rants and raves sometime. 

Have you always been a creative person?

I can't say specifically I've always been creative, I've mostly been organized, 

I was the OCD child who couldn't get chocolate on my hands for too long, 

let alone on my sweater. Haahaa. 

I would have to say, in an attempt to get better at my OCD habits living at home with all boy's,

 I stumbled upon a creative aspect to life at home. 

I got better and better as I got older and when my children came along.

 I've always had my own style, my own little twists to what makes me ME 

and that has developed much into inspirational creativity over the years.

What motivates you to be creative?

A lot of my motivation to craft really stems from having a home and my children. 

My favorite things to create are home goodies and crafts for my kids. 

I absolutely LOVE the feeling I get when I'm asked "where did you purchase this 

or that" in terms of decor in my home or item's I made for the children, 

and can smile and say "oh, I made it"!! LOVE IT!! 

Its really beyond rewarding to know that something I created out of love 

was found good enough to be featured in a store and someone took a minute to mention it. 

That's inspiration and confirmation in every way possible to my love 

for sharing and giving a bit of myself through my creativity.

                          A huge part of why I love to craft also has to do with my business "Plus Events". 

        I don't tend to feature too much of it on my blog 

but it's a little business I have dedicated to weddings. 

To date, I've been able to put together four weddings successfully.

I enjoy every bit of being able to have a bride and groom walk into each event 

(ceremony or reception) and fall in love all over again 

with their vision and be happy that what they wanted for their special day 

was exactly executed and made their day just that much more perfect.

 It's rewarding, it's motivating, it brings upon happy emotions for me, 

that I shared in their experience and they will forever 

be able to remember the intricate details I took a minute to add to their requests.

 I sincerely stay humbled when asked to decorate for special events no matter how small. 

Being a part of making someone’s day special means so much to me.

My GF's wedding i put together last year.

Projects and causes close to my heart inspire me 

and allow for me to find creative means to give back or share 

and bring forth awareness in little ways to help other's. 

I am inspired by various crafty mom's, awesome and inspirational blogger's like Mrs Pancakes and the likes. 

I draw inspiration from all around depending on my day.

 The web can be a wonderful place to get lost at times. : ))

What's your favorite craft to do during Thanksgiving? 

This thanksgiving, my favorite crafts have been crafts focused on creative way's to give back, 

and to show thanks and appreciation to the ones closest to me

 and surprising the unexpected loved ones around me. 

One of my favorite things I created this thanksgiving was my Thankful Turkey 

I featured in my Three Weeks Of Thanks Project for "Thankful For Frugal Crafts". 

I loved the idea of having a turkey featured within our home that we can all take a moment to feather with a thankful note for something we appreciate this season. 

We extended feather's to friends and family stopping in to stuff in their notes of thanks and share in ours.

 I even took a fun moment to feature some "thankful for bloggy bff's" 

on a  feather with some of my favorite blogger's around. 

It was a really cool project that the kids, my friends and family enjoyed being able to participate in. 

This year, I made a "Thankful Turkey" with the children that was so adorable and meant a lot. 

They got to add thankful feather's with notes and what they where most thankful for and we placed it in our kitchen. We all add to it here and there as the month goes by and we will take a minute to read our notes this thanksgiving after dinner: ))

                                    Another project I worked on this season I loved was about giving. 

I really enjoyed giving back to my neighbors and to the troops. 

A great and frugal way to give this season is creating little treats 

you can Jar up and deliver with little notes to show appreciation for your family and friends. 

I have the best neighbors and created some "Autumn in a jar" goodies with thankful notes for them.

 It was really easy, cheap and absolutely warming 

and fun to see how much they enjoyed them.

You can also give back this season via creative and inspirational projects 

such as "Operation Cards For Soldiers" . 

Sparing literally about five dollar's, you can send the troop's some fun 

Christmas cards with touching and heart warming notes to show appreciation 

and let them know they matter and remain close to our hearts. 

Take a moment and get involved if you can...

Although small, it felt awesome!

I sincerely appreciate you all taking a moment to indulge in a bit about me. 

I would love for you to stop in sometime and say hello. 

I love new artsy friends and will be very thrilled to come on over, visit and indulge in a bit about you too. 

Thanks SO much Mrs. BEAUTIFUL Pancakes for having me here today. 

Wishing you all an amazing THANKSGIVING SEASON... 

Gobble Gobble & Give Thanks..

                         ___________________________________________________

Isn't this lovely lady beyond talented?! 

And she has the best heart in blogland...she is ALWAYS using her blog

 to promote amazing projects like: "Operation Cards For Soldiers".   

Team Pancakes will definitely participate in this project.  

And the Yarn Turkey...i am convincing Mr. Pancakes to craft with me!  

Thank you again Marilyn and i am so glad i got to know a little more about you! 

Ladies, please stop by her blog, The ArtsyGirl Connection, and ask her questions

 about anything artsy and crafty related and just to say hello!

Happy Thanksgiving Marilyn to you and your lovely family!

 

I'm Cheating...Are You?

Im cheating...on my journaling that is! 

Yes this is one of the those titles that was supposed to lure you here!

Did it work? If it did..keep on reading...

Recently I was re-reading some of my diary journal entries 

and realized since I started blogging 

I've been a bad diary journal keeper.

 I am not sharing my mundane thoughts in my diary journal as I would like...

and that makes me take a pause and say: mmhm...

I keep wanting to refer to it as a diary but that was so grade 5...

so i will do my best to refer to it as a journal...

i have kept a diary journal since elementary school 

and for as long as i can remember always wrote in it at least a few times a week. 

But my diary journal is hearing crickets...dead silence.  

Seriously my last diary journal entry reads 10/10/11 and a few sentences.

Sadly I've been neglecting the collector of my thoughts. 

I dont use blogging as a way to share all of my dark and deepest secrets...

that would be oversharing, 

inappropriately wrong 

and uncomfortable for my readers.

 But blogging has replaced in large part the relationship i share/d with my journal. 

And that makes me sad a little.  

The mundane and random thoughts in my journal reflects 

moments in my life which are important and signficant.  

Blogging is a fantastic outlet however it's not the best venue 

through which i feel most comfortable sharing all my darkest, deepest thoughts

(see reasons above)!

As a result of this realization, i am re-committing myself to 

spending some quality time journaling my thoughts at least once a week. 

 I will refrain from stepping out on my diary journal

 and remember the strong bond we shared with one another. 

 Before blogging, my diary journal and i would share quality time together,

 most nights where i wrote and wrote and he would just allow me to be...and share  

Yes, my journal was a he...i don't really know why it's a he...

he was just an awesome listener!

  Journaling has helped me through many difficult times

 and I cannot/shouldn't turn my back on  it! 

I need to remember my love for journaling. 

 I journal because sometimes it's not emotionally/spiritually healthy 

to live in my mind with my own thoughts. 

 I journal because i get to experience my deepest and darkest thoughts 

reflected back to me in my own words. 

 And there is something empowering about that.  

Journaling helps me to change my perspective.  

Journaling helps me to grow as an individual, woman, wife, friend.  

I journal because i get to re-read entries about meeting and falling in love with Mr. Pancakes. 

 So much raw emotions... 

And that's reason enough to continue.  

Questions of the Day:

Anyone else experiencing the same issues?!

Do you continue to journal?

Or like me are you cheating with blogging?

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