Indulge Me for a Minute...

Yeah, I've been a really bad blogger. But according to my blog following list I'm not the only one! So I don't feel quite as bad.

I hope that everyone had an AMAZING holiday season! Is it just me or did it seem to be a whirlwind? There was such a huge lead-in to the season and then it was over in a heartbeat! But I have to say it was so nice to get out of dodge for a little while. Disney was so much fun and the weather, oh it was so nice we really didn't want to come home! It was so nice to see my family as well. Andrew and I have decided that we might need to try and get home more often. We miss our friends and family but it's hard to get home as often as we would like.

So anyway, Disney. We had so much fun! I had forgotten how much the parks are just as fun as an adult as they are for kids! We also went to Universal Studios and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Aside from the cray cray crowds, I'm so glad we took the time to go. So get ready for a little bit of a photo dump!

Needless to say we had a good time. I am so excited for the new year and all the possibilities that come with it. For those of you still traveling visiting family for the holidays, safe travels and to you all, a very Happy New Year!

...

I had wanted to post a Holiday Party post about what women could be wearing to their holiday parties this year. But after this morning's horrific shooting here in our state, that seemed inappropriate.

To all those families who will not have loved ones come home tonight and to the families who have to explain this tragedy to their children this weekend, our thoughts and prayers are with you. This unbelievably sad day is the second worst school shooting in U.S. history and that blows my mind.

The President said it best, "we have had too many of these tragedies in the recent years." This needs to stop. Love each other. I know that sounds silly but events like this bring the fragility of life into harsh perspective. Take care of one another. This holiday season needs to bring some good out of this. Hold the door open for someone. Smile at someone.

God bless the families going through something no one should go through. Thoughts and prayers for all those involved

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: It's Only Money!

I have decided to link-up with Kay and Allie for this weeks WBW. It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I have been a bad blogger but I suppose that is what the holiday season does that.

Now, on to the holiday question!

If money were not an issue, what would you buy for husband for Christmas this year?

It's not so much about the money but more of the time. If money were not an issue I would do things like replace his computer with an iPad or get him a bigger television for the man cave. But what I would really like to give him is more time off. We haven't been home to Michigan since March and we aren't really planning on heading back until next July. This brings us down since there are lots of reasons why we want to go home...

I know that it was our decision to go to Disney World and not come home but we really wanted to take this trip and it really was the best time to do it. But we miss our friends and family. Sometimes there's just nothing more valuable than spending time with the ones you love. Happy Holidays!

Holiday Craziness Has Begun!

After such a whirlwind Thanksgiving weekend that involved a little food, a lot of work and online shopping, I can say that come three weeks from now I will be totally ready for our Disney vacation.

So work is going to be cray cray these next few weeks. Actually the craziness has already begun. One of the joys of working in retail is that when it is busy, it's hard to keep an eye on everyone in the store and I have learned that there are an astounding number thieves in this world!

Yesterday, for example we had a homeboy come into the store with a bag FULL of Ann camis and long-sleeve t-shirts and no receipt. Now, here was his  first mistake...coming in and saying that his grandmother had come and bought a bunch of stuff for "him and his girl." After looking around he says with a shrug, "so you guys don't sell anything for men in here? Not even cologne?" Maybe, dude, you should learn what kind of store you're going into before you try to bring back stolen goods!

The stupidity of people astounds me sometimes. We obvi could't give him money back but offered store credit with I.D. which he didn't have. After he left to go home and get it. My manager called the store at the mall and found out that he had already been there to try and return the clothes there.

Moral of the story? Don't steal things! I thought that this was a rule learned at the age of 2. Clearly I was wrong. What I love is that the man had the brass pair to come back! We told him that his I.D wasn't valid and he said he'd go home and get something else with his address on it. He hasn't come back but if he does while I'm there I plan on bursting into tears and saying something like this...

via

That should scare him away for good. This is my life now people...

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: Thankfulness!

Hello friends! I hope that everyone is super excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow! I missed out on last week's WBW but decided that this week's question was well worth answering. 

What are you most thankful for in your marriage?

There are so many things that I am thankful for in our marriage. When we got married there were a lot of people that doubted us, and since we moved to the East Coast right away some thought that it would be "too hard" for us. But they were wrong. I am so grateful that we had the chance to break free of our single lives and start anew. We really had the chance to grow as a couple in the past year and I will be eternally thankful for this time. 

I am also thankful for the roof over our head that Andrew has provided. He works so hard to take care of us. To have food on our table and a place to call home is such a blessing that not everyone is able to have. Sometimes we forget this but Thanksgiving brings all our blessings to the forefront of our minds. 

I am thankful for Andrew. I was pretty lucky to find a guy like Andrew. He's such a good and kind man and supports me in everything I do. He keeps us safe as a couple and just rocks overall. As we continue to grow as a couple I know that he will stand by my side. 

Even though we will not be able to be with family for the holiday we are looking forward to spending time with just the two of us before work gets super cray again. I am also thankful that I have yet another year to practice my Thanksgiving Day cooking skills before I ever have to host the day. We can't wait for leftovers!!! We wish you all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Fake It Till You Make It

It's been one of those weeks. Exhausting. Currently a little bit on the homesick side with the holidays approaching. So I was taught that in times like this you fake it till you make it! To do that, for work today I actually did my hairs all nice and I plan on putting a dress on. Oh yea, a dress.

While work has been super busy the last few days I do want to share with all of you what I've been working on! We have been changing the store over for the holidays and when we unloaded all the new clothes, I have to say I was a little skeptical. There was a TON of color and it just all seemed too bright for the winter season. But then we started putting it all together and it turned out like this...

A little bit of black but SO much color!

So Thursday, the team spent the whole day changing things over and I got to try my hand at setting different sections, including a window!

Each of us who had a section had a list of what went in each section and then run around the back room to find each piece. 

This was the first part that I worked on. 

This is what the whole section looked like completed. So much color!

Like I said before, I got to work on a window too and that was the most fun. I worked with one of my managers and we cranked it out!

Pretty colors!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram already saw this, but I am just so proud of it. Everyone that walks by gets to see this and it's just so festive! With these other couple of smaller window decorations...

Apologies for the glare...

I know the sweaters are crooked, I fixed it right after taking the pic lol

...so ended my first time working on the floor for a store set. It may seem silly but I had so much fun and it is really cool to see my work on a professional level.

I have to say I feel a little better after writing this post. Maybe I won't have to fake it so much today.

Hope you all have a great Saturday!

The Biggest Hint List Ever

I have been listening to Christmas music for about the last week and I am totally not ashamed to tell you all this! Because of this I have totally been getting all kinds of excited for this Holiday season and getting my small Christmas list together. Since we're going on our trip, we aren't exchanging gifts with family but Andrew and I still want to exchange gifts on our Christmas morning.

Possibly here again? *hint hint* via

So we are attempting to stick to a budget this Christmas. With Black Friday coming up and then Cyber Monday after that, it is a GREAT time to do some shopping. So, honey, when you read this if this isn't blatant hint dropping then I don't know what is! :D

This in gold with our initials (S+A) You'll find it in the cart already...

This Rachael Ray scooper has been on my radar for like a year, I just haven't gotten around to getting it, but it makes a great stocking stuffer! link

My absolute favorite Christmas movie is now on Blu-Ray! I'm so excited! This could come before actual Christmas and I would be OK with that. Link

So there it is. Christmas List 2012. Short, simple and straight to the point. I hope that all of you bloggy friends are enjoying the Holiday season and getting ready for the big turkey day next week! It's going to be another quiet one for us, just the two of us, but sometimes that's nice.

Spoiled Rotten!

It has been an amazing last three days! It was my first Saturday off in a couple of weeks so Andrew and I got up early and did what? See a movie, of course! We had free tickets to see a preview of Rise of the Guardians at 10 am in Hartford, so armed with coffee and bagels we headed out around 8:30 to wait in line for 45 minutes. But it was SO worth it! I will let you all know when our review is up because it was so amazing and the perfect Holiday animated movie to take the kids to!

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After the movie we headed to a great breakfast at A.C. Peterson's and then for some retail therapy. Unfortunately all the therapy was for Andrew, but I LOVE dressing my man. 

A couple new sweaters, running clothes and a button-up later and we finally headed home to run and clean-up around the house. 

The icing on the cake to a great weekend was that Andrew didn't have to go into work until late today and it was so great to be able to sleep in and get up to go on our best run yet! Andrew even went grocery shopping with me! How lucky am I?! When A went to work, I settled in with Sex and the City and this little piece of heaven from my Holiday Ann Taylor meeting...

Salted Chocolate Caramel on Shortbread and a little red wine

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and a spoiled Monday!

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: Prince Charming? I'll take My Man over any Disney Concoction!

 Excited to link-up again with Kayla and Alli for yet another Wedded Bliss Wednesday. 

1. When you were a child what did you imagine YOUR Prince Charming to be like?

Tall, dark and handsome. I always knew I would marry someone not blonde. But like most young girls my prince charming looked like this...

Oh. Well maybe that was just me...via

2. Does you husband match your prediction as a child?

Of course he does! It took me a while to realize that he really was my prince charming, but once I saw all past the cheeseball that is my husband I knew I was a goner. "Tall" is a relative term. To me, Andrew is tall. As far as dark and handsome, well I would say I have a winner! :)

3. What about when you were a teenager and knew it all about love, does you relationship match that scenario you had during those rebel years? 

Oh I was totally into the bad-boy thing in high school. I tended to go for guys who were, of course, bad for me. They were either a**holes or needy or had no idea what was going on in their life. As I hit 20 I snuck some good ones into the mix but it wasn't until I let my guard down with Andrew that things got good. Although if any one of these guys came a callin I'd be gone in a NY minute and Andrew is aware of this...

Ok, so there might still be a little bit of that bad boy thing going on...

4. What love movie would you best match your relationship to? Why?

I can honestly say I do not match our relationship to any movie in particular. I can pull different things from movies tho. I pull my part in the start of our relationship from Pride & Prejudice. I was TOTALLY an Elizabeth Bennet! I can pull Andrew from Moulin Rouge, he and Ewan McGregor have some stuff in common. But I'm more interested in creating our own story. I did that in the past, compared my relationships to movies, and funny enough the relationship NEVER measured up to the movie. Funny that...

I hope you all have an amazing Wednesday!

Weekend Recap/ AT Look

Hello bloggy friends! It has been a while since I did a little post so I decided to link-up with Sami, Dana and Leeann for a little weekend update!

Now that October is over, it is terrifying to think how fast the holidays are approaching! In only 6 short weeks we will be in Orlando for Christmas in Disney! I cannot wait to see my family and have a much needed vacation. That leads me to an update on our "Skinny by Disney" work-out plan...

We have been keeping up with our running (about 3 times a week) and adding in crunches and squats and I am excited to say that Andrew and I are shrinking! We're measuring by the inches and we have successfully shrunk in all the right places!

Even though I worked every day this weekend, I still had time to have fun! On Saturday we went out on a double date with our good friends, Rob and Bettina! After a yummylicious meal at Rizzuto's, we shut the place down with fun conversation and drinks!

oh well hello again Tuscan Sunset...

After seeing some fun movies this weekend too, I can say that it has been a jam-packed weekend and I love it! I have to say, friends, I have been feeling pretty useless around the house since I lost my job. After a week of not a ton of hours, my managers at Ann Taylor have been awesome and have scheduled me for a bunch of hours over the next couple of weeks! I'm really grateful and blessed to have a job and an amazing husband that is so understanding!

Last but not least, I am going to leave you all with an outfit that I rocked at work one day and got rave reviews on. What do you guys think?

It's a lot of color all together, but I loved the geeky/preppy feel of this outfit. Next time I might forgo the necklace and add a belt to make the peplum pop. I welcome any and all comments on it!

Wedded Bliss Wednesday Gift Edition!

It's another Wedded Bliss Wednesday and this is a good one because I love me some Holiday time! 

What is the best gift to give your husband?

Anything sports related really. Whether it is something for the Man Cave or tickets to a game, he loves his sports so I know I can't really go wrong with sports. Books are good too but he takes FOREVER to get thru  He's also into box sets of movies and shows such as the James Bond box set in blue ray or the Lost TV show but those aren't as high on the list. 

What is a meaningful gift that you can give that does not cost money?

Oh now, c'mon that should be an easy! ;) But in all honesty the best gift that I could give him would be just to spend time with him or watch a Lion's or Patriots game with him. I mean he'll watch the games no matter what but he likes it when I sit in there with him and act like I'm paying attention.

What is the best gift you have given to him?

Well he likes this collage I made of all the words that are significant to us. It was so simple to make and practically free!

What is the best gift he has given to you?

Oh there is no way to decide which gift is my favorite. He does a really good job at picking out jewelry, clothes, movies, anything really! What can I say? I picked a good one! 

But I did love when he took me to NYC for Christmas last year. 

What are you giving this holiday?

This holiday we are doing Disney for Christmas with my family so Christmas is going to be sparce in the gift department. But if we do exchange gifts, I can't exactly say what I'm going to get him on here now can I! He does actually read my blog.

Happy Wednesday!

We Survived!

Well Sandy came in all her wrath and rain and I have to say...I was bored. Yes, everything that happened to NYC and New Jersey is absolutely awful and our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone without power and damage. But here in the Keck household we were waiting for some cray cray storm! (And I do think it's a little tacky to compare this one to Katrina.)

Sandy, you disappointed me.

BUT, we did lose power for a hot second and we headed outside to make sure there were no lines down. It was eerily silent and I snapped this picture that summed up a Halloween feel to this storm!

They talked about the full moon having a big part in all the flooding and it sure was out and shiny!

We do appreciate all the concern from friends and family back home. Who'd have thought that when we moved to the East Coast we would have to deal with hurricanes every year?!

So this was just a quick little update! I received the Versatile Award from Jen over at Mise En Place  so I will be filling out all those questions tomorrow or Thursday since tomorrow is Wedded Bliss Wednesday! Be sure to check back!

Is it November Yet?

The weeks and the months are flying by faster and faster these days, but I am really excited for October to be over.

With Halloween and every single scary movie imaginable clogging up the television schedule, I am ready for a little happy holiday spirit! I have this nasty little habit of playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. While it drives most of my family and friends crazy that I do this so early in the holiday season I don't really care. It just doesn't seem quite fair that we get such a short amount of time to celebrate such an amazing time of the year. So I stretch the timeline a little.

And with so many fun things coming up this holiday season it's hard not to get excited!

I mean, HELLO! Most Magical Place on Earth on CRACK! via

November also marks the end of hurricane season. When we moved to the East Coast I had no idea that we would be facing a hurricane every year.

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 Hunkering down for the storm would be fun and all if I wasn't worried about Andrew getting back from MI tonight. Ah well, it could be that Sandy won't even hit us that hard and we will have prepared for nothing. 

I hope that everyone has had an amazing weekend and stays safe if you're anywhere on the East Coast! 

Friday Letters

Happy Friday everyone! I decided to link-up with Ashley for Friday Letters.

Dear Week: I have to say, I am really glad that you are over. There has been some crazy changes going on and I'm ready to get back to some form of normalcy...whatever that may be.

Dear Husband: Thank you so much for putting up with me this week and for your patience and support. I don't know what I would do without you, even though I am a little bummed you get to go to Michigan this weekend. 

Dear Weekend: I am looking forward to a little peace and quiet. While I love the Tigers, I am ready for them to stop turning my husband into an angry elf. 

Dear Blog: I love that I have more time to work on you now and getting to know new friends is always fun! 

Short and simple today but I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend! If you haven't entered Kay's 500 follower giveaway, get on it!

And welcome my dear friend, Tara to the blogging world!

Wedded Bliss Wednesdays Time to Turn the Table!

It was time for another Wedded Bliss Wednesday with Kay and Allie. This time, however, it was up to the husbands to provide this week's entertainment! I introduce you to my husband, Andrew. Enjoy!

What was the first thing you noticed about your wife?

Other than the first thought crossing my mind being, "Wow, she looks kinda b*tchy," because she stormed into our first day of journalism class looking like she meant business and wasn't meant to be trifled with, the first thing I actually noticed about her was that she had the most beautiful brown eyes and hair. I was instantly smitten.

(Sarah:)

When you first started dating your wife, what kept you calling/asking her out?

Well, we were friends for over a year before we started dating, and even when we did start dating there was never an official "Will you go out with me?" sort of thing. It just kinda...started. But I had been trying for that year-long period to get her to start dating me and it's because I identified with her so well, we had a lot in common (interests, sense of humor, smashing good looks) and I just knew we were meant to be together.

What is your wife's best quality?

That's a bit of a loaded question because there are a ton of great qualities about Sarah, but my favorite quality about her is the love and care she shows not just for me but for her family. (Okay, and I love her humor. I have many funny friends, but no one makes me laugh as hard and as sincerely as Sarah does.)

What is your favorite thing to do with your wife (ahem, keep it clean!)?

Easy: go to the movie theatre and see a movie. Obviously along with our movie review blog we write together, we also just enjoy watching movies together, and we play a game before each movie where we guess how many trailers will play first. It's silly but I love it.

What are you most excited for for the future with your wife?

I'm excited for a lot of things. We're planning a West Coast trip to take in a few years, we're already starting to save up to buy a house someday, she fights it but some day we hope to have a nice little family and maybe live a little closer to our parents when that happens. I'm just excited for our future in general. Sounds sappy but it's true.

How do you make your wife feel loved?

Every single day I repeatedly tell her I love her and how beautiful she is. I'm sure it annoys her from time to time, but I say it because it's true and because her beauty literally compels me to do so. I also try to surprise her from time to time with flowers or gifts, we dress up and go out for dinners where we can just talk about things, and she's knows I'm 100% supportive of everything she does (like this blog, which I think is awesome). I try to pick her up when she's feeling down and overall just try to be the best friend and husband I can be.

Is What It Is.

Welp, people, I've been dumped. Heaved ho. Hasta la vista baby. I was with this entity for a year and change and I get dumped like a hot potato. Not a fan of being the dumpee. So that means this is what my afternoon looks like today and possibly for the foreseeable future...

what you don't see are the sweatpants I'm also rocking

Yup, big cookie, tea, blogging and what used to be a good television show. 

Yes dear blogger friends, I've been fired. For the first time in my life I was fired. Emily's let me go after a year working for them, because I took another job...one that I love to be clear. But I was bummed nonetheless. Although I had been planning on leaving soon anyway, the sting is still here. And that sting comes from the fact that I was fired over an email. Not the way I would have done it but it is what it is. 

even tho this is what I sorta feel like

There is a silver lining to all of this tho, I get a chance to take on more hours at Ann Taylor, I can get up and go for a run in the morning instead of in the evening and I get more time to work on my blog! 

So while it is going to be tough to get used to my new found free time, I am excited to see what this new opportunity brings.