10 Love Note Ideas

By far, my highest viewed post is 30 Quick Love Note Ideas. It consistently brings in around 100 views a day from Pinterest. Crazy right? And since it's been almost a year since that post, I'm here to add 10 more to the list to help keep your relationship feeling like you're on an eternal honeymoon.

The best part about love notes is they are SUPPOSED to be cheesy. It's expected. So bring on the cheddar people!

1. You are my sunshine!

2. My heart belongs to you, thanks for taking such good care of it.

3. You STILL give me butterflies!

4. Thank you for...

5. Have I told you lately how amazingly handsome you are?

6. Thanks for being such a hard-worker

7. I'm so blessed to call you mine

8. Thanks for making married life better than I ever imagined

9. I love you because...

10. The grass is greener whenever I'm with you!

1 Year Anniversary Photos

I can't believe a full year has come and gone being married to this hunk. I'm so grateful for my marriage. Thank you to Sam Stapley Photography for taking these amazing photos and capturing our love.

10 September Blog Post Ideas

September has always been one of my favorite months. It's the month of my birthday, it's back-to-school time, the weather is still warm but not scorching and it feels like another chance for new beginnings. It can also be a busy time, so to help you out, I've got a few blog post ideas for you to use when you get writers block this month!

* Write about your back-to-school essentials

* Write your own list of blog post ideas

* Share the pictures from your iPhone for the past week

* Write about your favorite high school teacher

* Write a review on a book you read over the summer

* Share your morning playlist

* Share a few items on your bucket list

* Make a list of some of your favorite bloggers with a link to their sites

* Set some healthy-living goals and share them

* Let your pet guest post

Happy almost-September lovelies!

Want to Start Living Healthier?

Isn't that the question of the year? Don't we all want to get a little healthier?

In July I joined a book club that read "The Fit Bottomed Girls Anti-Diet." It was completely online which was perfect for my lifestyle, and I LOVED it. It's pretty much become my health bible.

Carly was the host, and you can learn more about her book clubs here. Everyone in the book was part of a Facebook group where we shared ideas, recipes, quotes and anything else we were learning. Carly posted a reading assignment every day and a daily 10 minute fix (which you learn about in the book).

There will be another group starting in September! It will be a different book, but I KNOW you will love it as well. For more information go to Carly's Facebook page. She also is planning on doing FBG Anti Diet again soon which I PROMISE you won't want to miss.

Being a part of the group gave me the opportunity to ask questions I didn't want to ask anywhere else. It gave me a support system and someone to be accountable to. It also helped me ditch the scale and learn to love myself for the healthy changes I AM making.I loved feeling empowered by the other women in the group. It sounds cheesy, but I seriously felt SO good about myself that entire month, I never wanted July to end.

If you have any questions, email carlymhussey@gmail.com and she can totally help you get started on your new life of healthy living!

$6 Date Night Yo

For those of you who don't know, it's expensive being married. Heck, it's expensive being ALIVE. Dentist bills, groceries, college tuition, iphones, replacing car parts and the list goes on and on. I remember when we first started setting up our budget we tried to include date night, because date night is important at the Jolley home! 

But sometimes we don't have as much money as we would've hoped. We love going out to dinner, but sometimes you know you need to make a car payment with the money instead. And that's okay! Because guess what? You can have Chili's At Home for under 10 bucks baby. I paid $2.99 per individual meal, affordable right?

I picked up a few different Chili's At Home meals to try tonight and boy are they BOLD and YUMMY! Even though we love going out for date night, sometimes it really is nice to use date night as a time to relax and not always be going going going at 100 miles per hour.

These delectable dishes heat up in your microwave in minutes, they don't cool down fast enough, because I guarantee you'll want to devour them immediately. The big bold taste of Chili's is at your local grocery store! I picked ours up from the Fresh Market on our street, but you can find them in the freezer aisle at Walmart, Kroger, and even Albertsons. 

The Island Chicken is for me of course ;)

Now tell me, which one of THESE Chili's at home products would you get for your $6 date night??

Thanks to Chili's At Home for sponsoring today's discussion

Want $50 to Barnes and Noble?

The ladies below and I have all teamed up to give one of YOU a $50 Barnes & Noble Electronic Gift Card, on us! And if you're not into books (but I know you are!) remember that the possibilities are endless at Barnes & Noble - you can purchase movies, musics, calendars, journals, planners, puzzles, gifts, and the list goes on! So don't hesitate to join the giveaway below!

Life with Amberly & Joe // A Little Too Jolley // The Best F Words // From Bisons to Buckeyes
 He & I // From L&P to English Tea // It's a Harr Life

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will run from 12:00 am EST on August 19 until 11:59 pm EST on August 26. All entries will be verified so please be honest! Gift card will be delivered electronically. And best of luck!

Betcha Can't Guess What My New Calling Is...

Last Saturday the Stake President called me and asked to meet with him the next day, and to bring my husband. So I did. I NEVER in a million years would've guess what he would ask...

"Brooklyn, will you accept God's call to serve as the Secretary in the Stake Relief Society Presidency?"

I try to never say "no" to God, as I truly believe He has bigger plans for us than we can ever make for ourselves. So of course I said yes. I was set apart yesterday after participating in a stake relief society devotional. It was a beautiful meeting and a beautiful setting apart.

I am excited to serve. Ever since high school (junior year!) I have served in piano based callings. And while I have loved to be able to bring the power of music with me, I am excited to learn and grow in new ways.

I'm scared. Excited. Hopeful. Anxious. And trusting, that the Lord knows Brooklyn Jolley. And that he has a work for me to do.

Higher

For part of our anniversary we went to the Salt Lake Temple where we were married last year. We walked around the temple talking about how beautiful it is, and how grateful we are for the sacrifices made that allowed that temple to be built. I pondered on my new church calling I've received, which I will hopefully be able to write about soon. I pondered on how easy it is to feel overwhelmed, inadequate and under prepared.

And then I thought of this scripture...

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

All we have to do, is live a little higher than before. All we have to do, is put ourselves in situations that allow us to live a little closer to heaven. And that is truly, all the Lord asks of us.

love story part twenty four: the honeymoon

The morning after our wedding, we woke up as early as we could (think 8:30-9:00) and headed out! We went to Smith's for some treats and drinks for the trip, and then we headed off to our drive to California.

The poor Aveo we had at the time was SUPER overheating from the long drive in the hot sun, so we pulled off in Vegas and wandered a casino for an hour or so.

We stayed in a resort in Ramona, CA courtesy of Colten's mother and step-dad. Our room was gorgeous and I wish we had more photos of it!

We had decided we wanted to start our marriage out on the right foot and not skip out on going to church. Luckily, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint is EVERYWHERE! So we used Mormon.org, found a church, and showed up. The members were so friendly and excited to hear we were on our honeymoon!

 We had a day of relaxing, sleeping, eating and talking, and then we headed to Disneyland bright and early the next morning.

Here we are waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean, one of my favorites!

For those of you who don't know, you can stop at Guest Services on your way into Disneyland for all sorts of pins! Of course, we stopped in for some "Just Married" pins! And at our first lunch in Disneyland, the waitress gave us our drinks free for our 'wedding present'. It was fun to be a little more pampered simply for wearing our pins!

We went to see World of Color one of our 3 nights there, and it was FREEZING, so I ended up buying the pink jacket below. Cars land also had trophies for "Best Wife" and "Best Husband", so of course we took pictures with those.

Here we are exploring Tarzan's Treehouse!

We split a meal at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside of Pirates of the Caribbean. It can be a little pricey, but we wanted the experience! And it was so worth it. We even splured and got yummy drinks with the coolest light up ice cube which we still have in our cupboard at home!

Because both our birthdays were just 2 weeks after our honeymoon (Colten: Aug 31, Me: Sept 1) we got birthday buttons too! And Colten got a first visit pin since he had never been to California Adventures. We were loaded on pins.

Our honeymoon was a blast, we watched plenty of Pawn Stars, drove the 2 hours back and forth to Disneyland for 3 days, and spent the time enjoying our newlywed status. 

The joke during that week was instead of saying YOLO we would say YOHO! (You only honeymoon once)