Wedding Dress Blog Tour

My Wedding Dress...*sigh* I have mixed feelings about it.  On one hand I loved it, it was beautiful, sparkly, romantic, soft and simple all at the same time...but in another way I almost wish I had tried on a few more gowns and found something else.  Something that looked better on me.  I feel the same way about the way my hair was fixed on our wedding day.  I loved it at the run through, but it didn't look as good on the day of the wedding. 

I think, no, I KNOW if my mom had been there it would have been different.  I know she would have kept pushing me to look at more dresses rather than be pressured by the lady at the store (who didn't want me to try on more than 3-4...MAX) and she would have made the guy who did my hair fix it the exact way I wanted it.  I was so afraid of being "Bridezilla" I'm afraid I let people walk all over me in some areas. 

ANYWAY!  Here are some pictures of my dress:

 

The Dress

Close Up

My husband, me, my dad and all my brothers & sisters

At least my bouquet was perfect!  

Exactly the way I wanted it to look, actually better than I expected!

We got married in 2008, so not too long ago.  And did I keep it? Yes, even though I looking back I may have done things differently it's still my wedding dress and I don't think I could ever sell it.  I still haven't gotten it cleaned or preserved though ;)  I should probably do that...

I love the idea of showing pictures of wedding dresses and stories about them.  I found this Wedding Dress Blog Tour through a few blogs I follow and it was started by Sasher's Life.  Check it out and join in!

Don't you hate when...

Ugh! Don't you hate when you are almost asleep and suddenly you can't remember whether or not you put out the candle?? I was 99.9% sure that it had been blown out by either me or my husband, but because of that nagging 0.1% that wasn't sure I had to get up and check. Not a big deal right? Well, now I can't settle back down to go to sleep...so I'm blogging from my phone at 1:30am. Please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Cloth Diapering on the road??

A lot of people think we're crazy for cloth diapering at all much less when we go on trips.  But I actually have a (possibly irrational) fear of using disposables especially when we travel!  I'm afraid that they will leak, I don't know what to do with the dirty ones when we're on the road, and I just really don't trust them at all.  Yes, I'm crazy, but I'm ok with that.

So how exactly do we manage to cloth diaper while driving over 1300 miles in 4 days?  Well, we're organized...really organized...

First, I have a bucket for diapers and clothes.  We took an assortment of BumGenius AIOs, Rumparooz, Smartipants, Fuzzibunz, Flips and HuggaBunz along with extra Blueberry inserts and hemp doublers and a Imse Vimse swim diaper. Under the pirate towel are his clothes and swim suits.

Second, a basket with wipes (cloth and *gasp* disposable), foaming wipe solution, pail powder, a sample packet of Rockin' Green Hard Rock and a few extras.

Third, we take two FABULOUS Planet Wise hanging wet/dry bags.

Since we stayed with family for part of the trip we simply did laundry there which made things a lot easier.  I took one of our Pressa Drying Hangers from IKEA which is great because it's small and compact but works really well for diapers!

I really do think that cloth diapering anywhere is very doable!  If you haven't tried it, you should really give it a shot on your next road trip.  If you're nervous you can always take disposable back ups, but it really isn't as hard as you may think...and just think, if you don't buy that pack or two of disposables you can put the money towards a dinner out or a night at the movies!

First Piano "Lesson"

We went to go visit family in Arkansas and Josh's parents have a piano...David LOVED it!

Rockin' Green Winner!

You are all awesome! I wish everyone could have won, but alas, I could only pick one...well www.random.org picked actually, but you know what I mean.

So many people took advantage of all of the extra entries and I'm happy to announce that the winner did just that! She even started a twitter account just for this giveaway ;)

Out of 411 entries the winner is...

Congratulations Becky!!!  I'll be e-mailing you shortly!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

"Turn off the radio! I don't like this song!"

Scrubbing Bubbles EXTEND-A-CLEAN Power Sprayer Review & Coupon Giveaway!

How many of you enjoy cleaning your showers everyday?  None?  I thought so.  Personally I want to go at least a few days (if not a week lol) between cleanings.  Perhaps that's lazy, but I have other things to clean and would really love to be able to put off cleaning the shower if possible...BUT who wants to bathe in a dirty shower? Yuck!

I think I have found a solution!!

Scrubbing Bubbles EXTEND-A-CLEAN Power Sprayer!  I was fortunately enough to be chosen by BzzAgent to do a review of this product and I was so excited!

Cleaning Part 1: Application
If you're used to having a pump spray this would be fantastic! We normally use the Scrubbing Bubbles Foaming Bathroom Cleaner, so this didn't seem much easier to apply, both are super easy :-D

Cleaning Part 2: Waiting
I didn't have to wait long at all.  I let it sit about 5 minutes but I don't even think that long was necessary.  One thing to note, it says to make sure the area is ventilated...they're not kidding.  Turn on the fart fan people, it is some seriously strong stuff.  It doesn't smell bad, just strong (and we have a fairly large bathroom).

Cleaning Part 3: Wipe Away
It's seriously just as easy as wiping everything down with a damp cloth or sponge.  No scrubbing at all! It took MAYBE 2 minutes to wipe and rinse everything and the shower looks brand new! SOOO EASY!

Want to know more?  Here's some info straight from the company:

• 
  
  The benefits of Scrubbing Bubbles® Extend-A-Clean™ Power Sprayer:
  • Active cleaners work overtime to keep your bathroom cleaner, longer
  • Invisible grime barrier is activated each time bathroom surfaces get wet, working for up to 4 days
  • Power Sprayer provides better coverage for easier cleaning
  • Makes bathroom cleaning simpler, easier and more manageable

Works on most bathroom surfaces, including tubs, showers, glazed ceramic tile, stainless steel, chrome fixtures, fiberglass, vinyl and glazed porcelain. Avoid prolonged contact with wood, aluminum and painted, lacquered or soft surfaces. DO NOT USE on gold plated fittings, semi-glazed and resurfaced enamel baths, natural marble, travertine or brass. 

The Scrubbing Bubbles® Extend-A-Clean™ formula leaves a layer of active cleaners so dirt and soap scum get washed away easily every time a surface gets wet. Plus, it keeps working for up to four days.

Back to me, want a coupon??

BzzAgent and Scrubbing Bubbles were nice enough to send me coupons to share with my friends which include my fabulous followers!  Instead of doing a standard giveaway I figured I'd just open this up to the first FIVE followers to comment that they want a coupon.  I have two different coupons:

• $5 off a Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayer Starter (Extend-a-clean OR Daily Shower Cleaner)
• $1 off any Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayer Refill

Simply follow me and say "Send me a coupon!" Then tell me which coupon you want. It's that easy!

**The coupons for this giveaway were provided at no cost by BzzAgent and Scrubbing Bubbles. BzzAgent provided the product for review but this was not a paid post. My honest opinions have been given, however others experiences and opinions may differ from my own**

Are you suffering from baby name regret?

Sounds funny huh?  Most people I talk to just simply can't imagine their kids being named anything else but their name, but apparently according to this Bounty.com article that I stumbled upon one in five parents regret what they named their kids!

The weird thing about the names (to me) is that they are "normal" names. I don't see anything wrong with them personally.  It's not like some names that I've come across that honestly look like someone just sat on a keyboard and decided that was a good name or pulled a TOTALLY random word out of the dictionary or Bible.  That's not saying that unique is bad.  Unique is great! But just remember to test the name first.  Pretend that child is an adult and read this like as if a newscaster were reporting on it: "Today the Vice President, [enter name here] gave an update of the status of..."

ANYWAY!  Want to see the list of top 10 most regretted names?

My husband and I are both on the list...and we're both #6.  Special huh?



Boys names parents most regret 

1. William
2. Oliver
3. Jack
4. Alfie
5. Thomas
6. Joshua
7. Daniel
8. Charlie
9. Harry
10. James

Girls names parents most regret

1. Chloe
2. Ruby
3. Olivia
4. Emily
5. Grace
6. Jessica
7. Charlotte
8. Evie
9. Sophie
10. Daisy

Wordless Wednesday

Rockin’ Green Detergent Review and GIVEAWAY!!

OK, I admit it. We have been having some issues with diaper stink. I know just about every cloth diapering family faces this, but I was in denial about it ever happening to us. I did everything I was told. Washed with Rockin’ Green Classic Rock every other day, started with a cold wash (no detergent), followed by a hot wash (with detergent), and ending with one or two cold rinses. Then we hung the pockets to dry and dried the AIOs and inserts in the dryer.

David is almost a year old and we just recently started having stink issues so I guess we’ve done pretty well, but it bothered me…a lot. I tried everything. Washing over and over to get rid of residue, soaking in Rockin’ Green for hours (even overnight once), drying in the sun and nothing seemed to help. Whenever I would open the dryer when the inserts were done this wave of hot stink would hit me. It really wasn’t horrible, but it was enough that I knew that something had to be done.

Then I heard that Kim was developing a new formula of Rockin’ Green. Really?!? Something stronger?? Count me in!! As soon as the new scents came out I order three samples. They were bombarded with orders so it did take a little longer to get here than usual, but they arrived! The new packaging is great! No busted bags or leaks, woohoo!

So anyway…of course as soon as it arrived I wanted to try it out. I haven’t rocked a soak yet, but even just washing them in the Hard Rock made a HUGE difference! There’s barely any odor now! I’m sure if I soak them for a few hours it will be completely gone, I just didn’t have time today.

I have to admit, I miss the old scents. I love that the new scents are all natural, but I’m going to miss Cherry Lemonade, Cherry Almond and Monkey Snacks  So far I’ve only tried the Orangevana and honestly I’m not a huge fan. It smells like something orange that my grandmother used to have in her house. I usually love everything orange or citrus scented, but this must smells like a combination of orange and old lady. It’s probably just me because I’ve heard from a lot of other people that they love the Orangevana. Hopefully I’ll like the other two samples better.

Now for what you’ve been waiting for…the GIVEAWAY!!

Kim was nice enough to let me host a giveaway for one lucky reader in any scent/formula you want!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
Publically follow me and visit the Rockin' Green Soap Website and then come back here and tell me which scent you want if you win . (It's that simple!)
Be sure to leave a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win. If I can’t find an email address your entry will be disqualified.

EXTRA ENTRIES:  Only valid after the mandatory entry has been completed
Please be sure to leave me a *separate* comment for each entry you complete above including with each, your e-mail address so that I can easily and accurately contact the winner!!

3 Entry - Follow Rockin' Green Soap on Twitter
3 Entry -"Like" Rockin' Green Soap on Facebook
3 Entries - Sign up for Rockin' Green Soap Mailing List (leave your email address so we can verify)

3 Entries -Subscribe to receive Jessie’s Ramblings feeds in your inbox (leave your email address so I can verify)
3 Entries - Grab my button and add it to your page (be sure to leave your link so I can check it out!)
3 Entries -Follow @jessiessie on Twitter
1 Entry - Tweet about the giveaway and leave the direct link (You can tweet up to THREE times per day at least 2 hours apart for additional entries!) You may use this if you like:

FREE 45/90 load bag of @rockingreensoap from @jessiessie http://bit.ly/bUPpZu #Giveaway #win

5 Entries - Blog about this giveaway on your blog (be sure to leave the direct link so I can verify)
3 Entries - Share about this giveaway on Facebook Share

Check out my other blog posts for other entry opportunities hidden around ;)

This giveaway will end May 24th at 9pm EST and is open to the US and Canada!  The winner will be randomly chosen and will have 48 hours to respond. A big thanks to Rockin’ Green and good luck to everyone entering!

**The product for this giveaway was provided at no cost by Rockin' Green Detergent. No product was received and this was not a paid post. My honest opinions have been given, however others experiences and opinions may differ from my own**

CSN Stores Gift Certificate Winner!

The winner of the $40 CSN Stores gift certificate is #62, congratulations Anna!  I'll be e-mailing you shortly.  Please respond within 48 hours or I will choose another winner.

Mother's Day Part 2

Sorry for the depressing post last night...Here's something that makes me smile.  One of the last pictures taken of me and my mom together.  We (my sister, niece and I) had just given her a makeover and actually got her to put her wig on long enough for us to snap some pictures ;)

Mother's Day

Everyone takes things for granted and I know I am guilty of this too.  I truly try to be grateful for everything that I have. I know that I am SO fortunate to have a wonderful husband and beautiful son as well as a sweet family. I am very blessed and I know that while there may be things that I want, I don’t need anything. I have my family, food and shelter, which is much more than so many in the world.

Knowing that I have so much and want for so little makes me feel guilty sometimes.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. It’s my first official Mother’s Day as a new mom, but it’s bittersweet. I am thrilled to be able to celebrate with my husband and baby boy, but I never thought I wouldn’t be able to celebrate my first Mother’s Day without my mom.

My mom passed away in January 2008, a year and a half before David was born. She didn’t get to celebrate with us when we found out that I was pregnant. She didn’t get to see the ultrasounds or hear his heartbeat. She didn’t get to visit us in the hospital right after he was born. She never got the chance to hold him, see him smile, roll over or crawl. She didn’t get to hear him laugh or cry. And he will never get to meet her here on earth. I can’t call her up and ask for advice or just to talk. We can’t go on road trips together and laugh so hard we pee or even get into arguments over silly little things that really don’t matter. I can’t tell her “I love you and I’ll see you soon.”

Sorry for rambling, but I just want to remind everyone to be thankful for your mom. Remind her tomorrow that you love her and how special she is to you. Thank her for everything she has done for you and loving you always.

David & Ginger Barking

Almost Wordless Wednesday

"I'll be right back David"
*ran to the w/c, peed, washed hands, ran back...less than 30 seconds*

23 pounds of pure distruction....but I suppose it was my fault t leave the stuff in a kitchen chair that he can reach ;)

1st Birthday Party Ideas??

David's first birthday is coming up in exactly ONE month!  First of all, I can believe that he's almost one...Second, I have NO idea what we're going to do for his birthday!

I've mentioned before that I really wanted to use the Meri Meri Animal Parade set, but unfortunately I can't find anyone with the whole kit available.  I haven't been able to find anything else that I like!  I know I'm just being picky, but it's his first birthday and I want it to be cute (but not spend beaucoups of money lol).  Everything that I've seen out there has bright primary colors and just looks cheap and/or cheesy.

Anyone have any ideas?!?  I'm running out of time lol

Cloth Diaper Week at Loves Jurn3

Loves Jurn3 is having a weeks worth of cloth diaper giveaways coming up! If you want extra entries check out this post: Extra Entries

Just a tease...

I am SUPER excited about my next review and GIVEAWAY!!! Woohoo!!! And just why am I so excited you may ask? Because...I get to do a review of Rockin' Green's new Hard Rock formula AND giveaway a little something special for one of you! As soon as the samples arrive I'll get going on testing and writing!