8/52

01 / / This weekend has been rather refreshing. I spent it at a little bed and breakfast (it's a 40 minute drive from my apartment, so it's juuust far enough away feel like I'm 'away'). We've crafted pretty much 24/7 and don't even get me started on all the food we've eaten! The guy who runs the B&B works SO hard to create the most perfect dish for each meal. Also, the bed pictured above is incredible and I would take it home if I could.

02 / / I took a mini break from scrapbooking to really relax. I took the longest, hottest bath of my life while I propped my laptop up on the vanity next to the tub and watched Amelie. I sipped on a soda and just let myself chill out for a little while. It was absolutely wonderful. I think I need to do this once a week. Yes.

03 / / Being here makes me want to come back so bad with Blake! We've discussed just doing a weekend away sometime soon since our schedules are so busy throughout the week. We desperately just need to take off from work sometime to just be together. Doing nothing but just hanging out with each other. There are some weeks that just zoom on by and I feel like I've barely spent any time with Blake. It's hard.

04 / / I've been working on a couple of posts, not as personal as my last, but there are still a lot of aspects of sexual purity that I'd like to expand on and really talk about here. Working on it. Slowly but surely.

Happy Sunday!
The weather was so fantastic this past week that I'm dreading the temps being in the 40's this coming week. Spring, are you on your way yet?!

xo H

The Bachelor & other weird forms of dating

We're all friends here, right?
So I can openly admit to you that I, Haley Tucker, am a die-hard fan of The Bachelor.
I haven't been watching for that long, since Brad's second go around with the match making series. But every since that first episode, I was hooked.
I can't tell you what exactly draws me to the series; maybe it's the drama, the constant battle of 25 girls all vying for the heart of one man? I don't know, but man, I am addicted.
Last night, I was thinking about the reality of this show. How strange of a concept it is.
Charlene (one of my favorite gals of this season) mentioned on Monday night's episode that she felt it was unfair that she took someone's spot and that she waste Juan Pablo's time when she wasn't sure if he was 'the one.' She even said that the past 3 weeks hadn't been enough time to be prepared to accept a proposal.

Think about that.

In three weeks time, she didn't feel ready to get engaged. 

WELL, no kidding, Sherlock!
I want to stand up, applaud and give her the biggest of hugs for saying what everyone is thinking! Over the course of like, what, 8 or 9 weeks, these girls are supposed to fall in love with this guy? A guy they've NEVER met before? I mean, come. on.
And no matter how much I love this show, it will never cease to be absolutely ridiculous that these ladies are 'in love' by the end of filming. It's really no wonder why these relationships never last.

But then I hear "success" stories of those who have found love outside of the world of The Bachelor. Breigh texted me last night with news that Kacie B (a fan favorite of seasons past) recently got engaged to her boyfriend. My heart felt so happy for this girl - a girl who I'd never met and had only witnessed on reality television. You see, Kacie B was on TWO season of this show. First, on Ben's season, where she made it all the way to hometown dates before being let go. Then, she came back (to the surprise of many) during Sean's season, in which he let her go pretty quickly (apparently he only saw her as a 'good friend').
So this young woman goes on a reality show to find love, fails, goes on the same show again a year later and fails yet again.
And then a year after her second attempt, she ends up finding love in her own time, in an organic way, letting everything take it's own course. She even ends up engaged with this man, a person she met in a natural environment, outside of the confines of reality television.

I think that has a lot to say about the nature of this dating show, and of modern dating practices in general.
Women (and even some men!) are in the business of rushing relationships. They work so hard to get to certain milestones in relationships, without savoring the in-between moments that can be just as important as the big steps. And with something as fast paced as The Bachelor, you don't get the chance to date that person, one on one. You don't get the chance to find out what makes them tick, find out their weird quirks, or find out even something simple and mundane like their favorite color. And after the fast paced 3 months of constantly being filmed while attempting to get to know this man at the same time 24 other women are, you get engaged and then have to meet in secret over the course of the next 3 months just to keep the relationship under wraps until your season airs? I can't imagine being able to build a sustainable relationship and foundation for a marriage on this premise. Can you?

But this is the way a lot of relationships are conducted these days. Always rushing, always reaching for the next big goal, the next big milestone. And then we end up married and in a relationship with a person we don't know anything about.

Take for instance the last season of The Bachelorette. Desiree Hartsock was the sweetest gal, but she was obviously head over heels (in lust, not love, mind you) for Brooks. And all of a sudden, he up and left because he wasn't sure about marrying her (good for him, because AGAIN, 9 weeks is not enough time!). She was obviously heartbroken about him leaving, didn't want to continue on the journey, etc. etc. But the next morning, she has some moment of clarity and decides that Chris is the guy for her? Oh PLEASE, girl. We all know you just didn't want to leave the show empty handed (literally, I think all she wanted was a rock on her finger). I find it sad that not only is this true in dating shows such as The Bachelor, but in real life situations. Many girls are dating just to make it to the end goal of marriage.
This isn't what a true, real relationship is about! Why must we hurry love? Why must we be so quick to say "I love you," and so slow to really know a person from the inside out?

And don't get me started on the Fantasy Suite.

7/52 (a little late)

01 / / I totally dropped the ball on this! I actually, legitimately forgot. In all honesty... I can't even remember what I did Sunday. So uh, that's weird? So this is a photo from last week (that I also posted on IG). Valentine's Day was such a dark, dreary day. But Starbucks was buy one get one, so two lattes cost me $4. And I got back to work to find the most beautiful roses waiting for me! Blake is the most thoughtful guy I know. He sets the bar pretty high! :)

02 / / I'm preparing for my scrapbook 'retreat' this weekend! I've got everything packed up and ready to go. I even bought one of those (cool?) organization craft-tool bags. My mom says I'm "official." I'll be sharing more about their Secret Sister tradition and the gifts I made for my secret sister after this weekend - it's pretty fun! (We had to do 6 gifts for the whole weekend, I'm pretty proud of what I came up with!)

03 / / Our kitty cat has been sleeping in our bed every night for the past few weeks. Always on Mom's side of the bed, never Dad's. WHY, LIFE? WHY.

04 / / So, as you may know, Blake and I booked our Disney Christmas trip (we are going the second week of December.. and we arrive on the day they film the Christmas parade for ABC... are we crazy? Probably.)! We are so excited, we talk about it nonstop! I think out of everything we are most excited about, it's the Magic Bands. Magic Bands are a new piece of technology that Disney has been testing out over the past few months with select guests. I think that it's pretty well out of the testing phase so all guests are able to use them now. But anyway, Magic Bands are little wristbands you wear during your trip that hold ALL of your vacation info - room reservations & room key, dining reservations, tickets into the park, credit card to make purchases... All with the little magnetic strip inside it! All you have to do is scan it, put in your designated PIN number and you're good to go! How crazy is that?!
All in all, we are feeling extremely blessed to be in a place where we are able to go on a trip like this. We have talked and talked about going back to Disney before we have kids, and NO, we are not having kids anytime soon, the opportunity to go back to Disney just came up a lot sooner than we had anticipated. ;)

Happy Wednesday! <3
Haley

Bad Vibrations

My husband's band, The Midwest Indies, released a brand new song last week! Bad Vibrations is the first of many new songs that they've been recording and it's pretty fantastic. As any proud wife would, I just wanted to share this here! It's available to download through their BandCamp page, and as always - their first album is available through iTunes (& BandCamp) & streaming on Spotify!

xo Haley

Dad's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

A few weeks ago, I stayed with my parents for a few nights (their house is the best on snow days!), and I got to try my dad's new recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup. He claims that he made it up, but I'm pretty sure chicken noodle soup is as generic as it gets... ;)  but I thought I'd share the recipe since I made it for Blake a few nights ago! 

Ingredients: 

- 1/3 of a 16 oz package of extra wide egg noodles

- 1/2 cup chopped carrots

- 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)

- 1 chicken bullion cube (optional)

- 2 cans chicken broth

- 1 can of cubed chicken

- 1/2 stick of butter

In a pot, melt half a stick of butter. While that's melting, chop your veggies. When the butter is completely melted, add veggies to the pot and saute until they are soft. 

 Once veggies are soft, add 2 cans of chicken broth. Once the broth is boiling, add the noodles and chicken to the mix. Cover and let cook until noodles are done.
And that. is. it.
Seriously.

It took probably 30 minutes total and is so insanely good. The recipe was more than enough for Blake and I, and left plenty of leftovers. My dad usually doubles the recipe when he makes it to feed the 4 of them in the house and leave leftovers. We've found that on the second day, the leftovers are much creamier than when it's first made and it's almost better that way! To warm it back up as leftovers, I usually add more chicken broth (or water), and heat it up on the stove. And! I think next time I will pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, instead of the canned chicken. Yum!
It's an amazing, simple, tasty soup. Definitely worth a try when you need a quick dinner!

Happy Monday!
xo Haley

Happy Love Day!

We celebrated the good old Valentine's Day last night! We both have to work today, so we got all fancied up (Blake wore a tie!), and we went out for dinner, cupcakes, and a movie. We fully intended on seeing Vampire Academy (at my request, of course), but ended up browsing the DVD section of Target because we both had a hankering to watch Pitch Perfect. We were home before 9. We are such old folks! ;) 

Outfit details: Jacket - F21// Dress - F21//

Tulle dress (underneath) - Ruche// Tights - Modcloth// Shoes - Charlotte Russe

 Our first married Valentines Day was quite the success. Valentine's Day isn't over yet, though! I think we are going to the local dollar theater to see a scary movie (Princess Bride is also playing, but apparently we are seeing that another time later this month!). ANYWAY. I hope that you are having the most lovely day and I hope that your weekend is even better! In the meantime, here's my "ultimate" break up playlist! (Subscribe on Spotify here) It's just a bunch of silly songs (I hesitated to include Single Ladies but, I mean, Beyonce... you don't pass up Queen B) - and if you need any idea as to how silly it is? It includes two Taylor Swift songs. ;)
Enjoy!

iPhone Dump.

1. I put together Valentine's surprise boxes for a few sweet gals that I'm pals with on IG. I'm so excited for them to receive them (which will probably arrive AFTER V-Day of course... Ugh, my procrastination skills are killer). 2. We've been saving our monies to go back to Disney World for Christmas this year. Happy to report that our room is now officially booked and we are 100% going - first weekend of December (which is the exact weekend they are filming the Christmas parade. Are we crazy? I think yes). 3. Steak & Shake dates are the best. And their new red velvet milkshake is a big NO. 4. Walt loves the Drive soundtrack. 5. I rearranged our living room (and so happy with it!), but Walt is just so unsure of it. He keeps walking around very slowly like's he's never been in the room before. 6. No caption necessary. Just bask in the cuteness of my cat. ;) 7. Friday night, I made homemade chicken noodle soup (recipe coming soon!), and we watched a totally 90's movie (The Paper - so good!), and then started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We must be super old because we both passed out half way through. 8. My scissor necklace is the best thing to wear to work. Jack always takes it (while I'm still wearing it) and holds it to my nose and says "I'm gonna cut your nose off, snip snip snip!!" It's absolutely the most precious thing ever.

Happy Tuesday!

6/52

01 / / Walt has been extremely photogenic lately. He's pretty much the cutest. And he's oh so lovable!

02 / / I just found Forever 21's Spotify profile and I'm addicted to their Girl Power playlist. (Also. This time two years ago, I was SO skeptical of Spotify - and of paying $10/month for something that was essentially like iTunes in my mind - but holy crap, it is SO worth it. If you haven't, try it out. Asap.)

03 / / My little man (Jack, one of the kids I nanny) & I had the best sleepover last night! His parents were out of town & his sisters were at their own sleepover. So we partied hard by eating lots of popcorn and watching Octonauts all night. PARTY, I tell you!

04 / / I finally found my Valentine's Day "look" for our date night! We are actually having our date the day before, since we will both be working on Valentine's Day, but that's a-okay with us - less crowded restaurants. ;) I do believe that I will have to do a legit outfit post for this one, though. I mean, this outfit is CUTE.

05 / / I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately on how to curl my short hair and not look like a total dork. Yesterday I tried curling my hair with a 3/4" curling iron. Chloe told me my hair looked like Molly's fur (Molly is a golden-doodle.....) So maybe I won't be doing that again.

Have a great week, see you soon!
<3

02.

I totally aimed at having this ready at the beginning of this week, but hello procrastination! ;)

ANYWAY. I wanted to share some of the music I've been listening to this month. I love February. With the exception of the snow and ice on the ground & the hideously frigid temperatures outside, I am a big fan of February. Mostly because it's a short month and it contains the best non-holiday ever. I've never been a huge sucker for Valentine's Day, but the past few years I've been ALL about it. It's kinda funny trying to remember what all Blake and I have done on Valentines past, but I struggle to really remember them. I'm hoping that our first married V-Day will be a little more memorable! So, in honor of the month of love, I've compiled some music that keeps me in the mushy, lovey spirit. These are just a few favorites. <3

And that's not all! (I sound like an infomercial...)
Next week I'm sharing my ~*ultimate breakup song playlist. It's a lot of sappy, depressing songs mixed in with a lot of peppy F U type songs. So it's going to be AWESOME.

Enjoy your weekend and see you Sunday!
xo Haley

PS, I couldn't figure out the Grooveshark playlist ( and because I have zero clue how to fix things like this), so here's a link to it!

5/52

01 / / this is the furbaby, Walt. He enjoys his bed (that is too small; he won't touch his new, big bed), he loves listening to records and watching them spin. He also loves cuddle time with mom while she watches The Bachelor & Dawson's Creek (mama's boy!).  He's a fat little kitty and we love him so.

02 / / it seems to be super bowl Sunday around these parts?! I'm not a sport kinda person, but today I told Blake I was excited for baseball season. I don't know.

03 / / as we speak, I'm fixing up my February playlist to debut tomorrow! I'm also working on a breakup songs playlist, also. Just because.

04 / / I'm finishing up my little Valentines care packages this week and sticking them in the mail this weekend! I'm super excited about these boxes of love! I'll post about it as soon as my ladies receive them!

05 / / Breigh and I roamed the mall yesterday afternoon (well, I pushed her in a wheelchair!) and we went into Aeropostale for the first time in like a million years. I bought a sweater! I could hardly believe how cute it was. I mean, really... sometimes it pays to go in those ugly junior high kid stores. My sweater was only $15!

06 / / what are you listening to? Watching? Reading? Give me all the suggestions.

Happy Sunday! See you tomorrow!

Haley