Positive thoughts

I was just reading something the other day about how we are more vocal when it comes to our complaints than to our compliments....I want to post positive thoughts on here for the next couple posts. Today...I want you to know why I love my wife. It's not about the money she spends. Or the things we have. It's about much more than that. It's about HOW she shows me she loves me. Check out my list below and let me know what your loved one does to show you how much they love you. Try and think of something small that you noticed or something maybe they think that you don't notice. And then...hey...why not tell them thank you for that specific thing. :)


She knows I hate sweet potatoes.
She knows I love all things lemon.
She recognizes when I have lost some weight.
She helps motivate me to stay healthy so that I can live a long fun-filled life with her.
She listens when I talk and hates to make me sad.
She calls to say I love you.
She texts or calls to say she is running late.
She sits at the table at a restaurant, and enjoys the conversation after we are done eating instead of rushing to get us up and out and on to something else.
She tells me I am beautiful.
She helps to hang up the laundry.
She takes out the trash - sometimes.
She reads our daughter bedtime stories.
She showers with me.
She works with me on saving money so that we can plan fun things to do with our family.
She gives me a salad fork at dinner because I think dinner forks are too big.
She takes care of Lorelli's morning routine two mornings a week when she could be sleeping.
She accepts that I am not always as "pretty" as I seem to be.
She is honest and straight forward with me, whether I like it or not.
We have fun together.
We laugh. A lot!
She holds my hair when I throw up - even if it is on the side of the road and my own darned fault!!
She likes me.
She loves me.
She married me.

Capture the Everyday : Mother Earth

{**SIDENOTE** I posted this yesterday because I, apparently do not know my days of the week. Yesterday was Wednesday. And TODAY is Thursday. So....if you head over there NOW then you will be able to check everything out.}

So...this is my first time joining up with Mel over at Adventuroo for her Capture the Everyday meme. I have been lurking over there for a while, though...and I believe I may have even DE-lurked and posted once. But that could be a lie. I am not entirely sure of myself. What I DO know is that I like reading her blog and I like the idea of remembering where we are at today - for many years from now. That's probably why I take so many darned pictures in the first place. :)

So, the assignment today is in line with the upcoming Earth Day (April 22) to capture something that you are doing to help Mother Earth. So...here is my submission, my resealable sandwich and snack bags. These things are amazing. I have two different kinds in the picture - the zipper bag with the awesome skulls is from ItzyRitzy and the two velcro ones in the bottom are from PBGreen. The ItzyRitzy I love for their zippers. The inside is a "thick and lush PVC free waterproof liner." The velcro ones are lined with "water-resistant,  food safe fabric, that does not contain DEHP, phthalates, or BPA plasticizers." They both come in the CUTEST designs.

I decided to start using these one day when I thought about all the plastic baggies that we were adding to the landfills in our house. We are doing our best to be more earth-conscious and "green." We recycle. I am working on getting a compost bin going this spring. We have joined a CSA and will be supporting our local farmers. We buy local and eat local when possible. This just seemed like the right thing for our family to do. And I feel good about NOT sending my loverly wife and {sometimes} wonderful daughter off with plastic to throw away!!!

I am interested to see what everyone else is posting as this is my first time. I am sure there will be looots of fun pictures for me to go through. So...click the badge up there at the top and head on over and see what others are doing for Mother Earth (but you may have to do it sometime later because it doesn't seem that she has posted yet today.....).

Hello Hello!!!

Do you know what today is? Do you??? Other than Tuesday??? And other than NOT Friday???

You don't? How is that possible? Well...I will tell you what today is....er....was....since the day is almost over now. Today....was the 5 month-iversary of my wedding to my loverly wife. FIVE months ago we ran away to Vermont and got married. Five months ago I became Mrs. Charisse Oates. Let me share with you some of the awesomeness of the last five months...mmmkay???


Taking in Yankee Stadium

Heading in to get married

Billings Farm in Vermont

Am awesome Christmas

Sledding

Family snow play

 Cookiepalooza 2010

Seeing the Statue of Liberty

What's up, Buttercup?

So, here I am. Posting two days in a row. On my new bloggy. And I am so happy about it. What do you guys think about it? It took me QUITE some time to get the colors and the setup JUST so. I am not saying it won't change a little bit here and there, but for the most part....I am happy with it. Super happy with it, actually. And I love that Blogger now lets you have static pages to add to your blog. That was always an awesome Wordpress specialty. :)

So....the last time I posted anything was on Valentine's Day. WHOA! That was forever ago. Soon after that we went to New York City for the first time. You may remember me mentioning that to you a WHILE back. If not, that's okay, too. We DID go to the City. And we did have a lot of fun. We were able to find an AMAZINGLY cheap "bed and breakfast" type place - less the breakfast...it was only ninety bucks a night as opposed to upwards of 150 a night. It was a cute little place - we had the floor to ourselves. Normally we would have had to share the bathroom and the kitchenette with the other guests on the floor, but there was no one else while we were there, so we had it all to ourselves.

We walked A TON!!! We were staying on the top side, just a couple blocks north of Central Park and we walked everywhere. One morning we walked all the way down to Rockefeller Center. We did the sight seeing thing. We saw Yankee Stadium, American Museum of Natural History, Times Square, Toys R Us, The M&M Store, the Statue of Liberty, and even some impromptu break dancing on the Subway.

We purchased a lightweight little stroller to take with us on the trip because we knew we would probably be doing more walking than Lorelli's little legs could handle...and man were we right!!! That was probably one of the best $20 we have ever spent on her. When we weren't using it, the stroller hooked to our backpack very easily. And when the munchkin got tired....we unhooked it and strapped her into it and away we went.

We even did A BUNCH of thrift shopping. It was sooo awesome. We found a thrift store that was doing a bag sale. Everything you could fit into a big grocery bag - only cost a dollar. It ROCKED our socks! I am telling you. We LOOOVE us some thrift shopping...and to be able to do it in NYC - Jennifer got a pair of Lucky Brand jeans for, like, FIFTEEN BUCKS!!!! WHOOOOAAAA!!!

We were there for 4 days and I wish we could have spent 4 more before having to come back home. The last thing we did, before heading home on that last day was to walk through an open air flea market in Union Square and get some ice cream. We figured it was the perfect ending to the perfect vacation!!!!

Away we go......

Well, I did it. I moved my blog. I just didn’t want to be on my only blog anymore. It was dragging me down. I didn’t want to be hampered down by that blog anymore. The person that started that blog was a totally different person that I do not recognize anymore. And so….here I am. I am officially the proud owner of Oates To Sow. It makes me happy to be here. I feel like I really needed this. Already I have the desire to post about what we are doing, where we are going, and where we have been.

Hold on tight. I hope you all made the transition with me without too much pain!!!