Day 8 - A place you've traveled to

Well, my favorite place that I've traveled was for our honeymoon in the beautiful PUERTO VALLARTA! We spent seven blissful days on the beach, in the 'city', and in our villa... Get ready for picture overload :)

We made it!!!

What we woke up to every morning - bummer, huh??

View from the villa we stayed in down to the non-toursity beach we frequented.

We spent plenty of time in these two chairs. It was HEAVEN.

THE NEW ME! :) I was very excited about this, can you tell?

Dear God this was a bad idea. These drinks were a little too sweet for us, but they sure are cute!

Beautiful beach. So different from Galveston.

On our hiking trip that we took. This will take anyone's breath away. The raw beauty of the nature out there is incredible.

A trip to Mexico would not be complete without GINORMOUS margaritas! Look how much I'm cheesin' over this. I was pretty excited.

4-wheeling up the mountain. Again - the view was indescribable.

The two guys that worked at the villa we stayed at invited us to their championship soccer game (just league soccer, not professional)... They won! It was so exciting and a little scary and a nice little dose of REAL Mexico.

On our snorkeling trip. I was terrified. I have a big fear of open water and the fish kept brushing against my legs. But I survived and I got to hold a starfish!!

Ahhh I loved Mexico! I would also love to visit somewhere across the pond soon... Maybe Italy.


xoxo

Rachael

Day 7 - Favorite movies

I LOVE watching movies!! Here are some of my favorites:

Sean and I love to watch Anchorman. And we laugh like idiots everytime. Something about all of the simple stupidity of the movie brings us to tears laughing. It's the little things in life, right?!

I can't get enough of Elf. My best friend and I used to watch this OBSESSIVELY our freshman year of college. I can watch this Christmas favorite year-round, it just makes me happy!!

Any time I am desperate for a good cry, I watch this movie. Nothing like a glass of wine, some handsome men, and a good love story :) This is a favorite for my mom and I.

My mom and I have been known to grab some wine, pop in this movie, and sing our hearts out during all the songs. This is such a good, happy movie!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!! And I can't imagine how any one could not love it. It's a movie with everything - action, adventure, love - perfection!

No movie favorite list would be complete without some Disney. And Cinderella was my all time fave growing up. I used to watch it and as soon as it was over I would rewind it (yes, this was during the days of VHS) and watch it all over again.

If you haven't seen this movie, you must. Zach Braff and Natalie Portman are incredible - even skeptical Sean ended up liking it a lot.

I think I'm getting carried away again, so I'll leave it at that, even though I could go on and on - I love movies!

xoxo

Rachael

Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy

Let's be honest, I would never choose just one when there are so many good memories to be shared!

Sean and I at the Texas State v. UH game representin'.

My parents playing washers with Sean & I in Galveston.

Hiking on our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta.

Some of my BEST friends at my wedding (and bridesmaids of course!)

And I'll leave you with one more because I think I'm getting carried away...

Be still my heart. My husband and I right after we got married.

xoxo

Rachael

Day 5 - Your Siblings

I have four siblings, all of varying degrees of actual relation to me.

My oldest sister is not REALLY my sister - but she is. My dad was married prior to marrying my mom, and when he married his ex-wife he adopted her little girl as his own. She is AWESOME. When him and his ex-wife divorced, she kept my dad as her dad. And when my dad moved from California to Texas, she came to Texas too.

That being said, she is my sister through and through. I don't care if there's no blood relation, I love her to death. I admire and respect her, and think the world of her. So she IS my sister.

My older brother is my half-brother. He's also my older sister's half-brother. So you see the relation. He has had his struggles throughout life, and continues to struggle. I pray for him and hope that one day he sees how blessed his life is. We aren't close, but I hope one day we are and one day he sees how much everyone cares about him.

My little brother is fully mine! :) We're 6 years apart, but that hasn't stopped us from being extremely close. He is a bright spot in my day and I've been known to call him and cry when I needed a shoulder or a listening ear.

He's always been incredibly protective over me - at one point growing up (he had to have been 9-10) I had just suffered through a very painful breakup with a boy and the boy came over to my house and we were arguing in my driveway and I was bawling my eyes out and my brother came out and told him he had to get out of the driveway RIGHT NOW otherwise he was going to get my dad to throw him out. Haha. That's love.

I'm so glad I had siblings (and still have them!) growing up - they've impacted my life in ways they probably don't even know!

I have to add in my honorary sister too, because my life is nowhere near complete without her. My best friend, who I've known and been best friends with since kindergarten, is considered an honorary member of my whole family. She calls my mom "mom" and dad "dad" and we are closer than most people ever will be. She is AMAZING and I love her so much. We've been close for the last 20+ years, which is a beautiful and rare thing. Other people have been extremely close to her and I both, but no one holds a candle to our bond. It's just one of those things you can't compare.

And here is a picture of my whole family minus my older brother (Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother-in-law, Brother, Honorary Sister and Husband):

xoxo

Rachael

Day 4 - Your parents

WOOHOO! What an AWESOME thing to post about!

My parents are phenomenal. There's really not enough words to express how highly I think of them.

I've said it before, but I am so blessed to have the parents I have and to have grown up the way I grew up. I think I'm in the vast minority of people that never really 'falling outs' with my parents growing up. We had our disagreements here and there (usually having to do with boys) but for the most part, I can't ever remember 'hating' my parents or anything of the sort. On the contrary, I've always really looked up to both of them.

I can honestly say that maybe I was a little spoiled growing up, but all of my being spoiled was balanced out. I got the car that I wanted when I turned 16, but I had stipulations on it - i.e. I had a $10,000 limit, they wanted me to get a Saturn, and I had to have a job because I had to pay my own gas and insurance. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I started working immediately after turning 16 and I have been a working machine ever since.

My mom is my best friend. She is just amazing. I was telling my dear friend Tosha this weekend how I don't know what it was she did while I was growing up for me to be so in awe of her all the time, but I hope that I am able to have the same relationship with my daughter (God willing that I have a daughter!). She really is my idol though. My mom didn't work the whole time my little brother and I were growing up and I think that plays a big part in why we all our so close. My dad owns his own business and we never had a lot of money growing up, but we had enough. My mom clipped coupons, shopped clearance, and made it possible for us to never want anything.

Today, I spend my Sunday's clipping coupons, I always shop clearance (if it's not 50% off I just don't feel right buying it most of the time) and I hope and pray that I set a shining example for my kids like she did/has.

My dad is one of a kind. He's talkative, he's opinionated, and he's AMAZING. My dad and I could talk for hours about anything and everything. I've never really hid much from him or my mom. He has the ability to break me down to tears, but only when he's passionate about what he's talking about. I hate him during the conversations and at the end of it when I'm reflecting back on things I realize that once again he's right and I'm just being stubborn (like him) and not wanting to admit it.

When I would get in trouble for doing what ever rebellious thing I was doing (like getting my belly button pierced when I was 16 at some shoddy place in Conroe after they specifically told me not to) he would lecture me about it, I'd cry my eyes out, he'd lecture me about crying and then he would tell me that because we were done talking and he'd made his point that we were over it and we'd move on. And he would never bring it up again. To me, that's amazing. And amazingly effective.

Now I completely understand why they say that when girls are searching for their soul mates they look for their dad's qualities in that person. If you ever have my dad and Sean in the same room, you'll be amazed at how alike they are. They spend hours talking politics and they both are stubborn as can be. And I'm crazy about them both.

My parents definitely employed the 'never go to bed mad' theory. I can only remember one time, one time, growing up that I knew that they were in a fight. They have always showed each other unconditional love. My dad tells my mom he loves her all the time. They still hold hands. THAT is what I want in my own marriage.

So now that I've written a novel on my parents I'm sure you can see that I am blessed. I have incredible parents.

xoxo

Rachael

Day 3 - First Love

My first love...

I don't really know what to write about. Sean says I should write about the NFL changing their rules on hitting, but I don't think that qualifies as my first love.

Recently I read or heard somewhere (but I can't for the life of me remember where) a really different, but accurate (in my opinion) take on being "in love" and finding "the one"... (That sentence looks strange to me, that's a lot of "quotation marks".) (I'm having trouble concentrating today, if you can't tell.) ANYHOW... they were talking about being "in love" and how you go through life falling in and out of love and how that really isn't being "in love" but it's more of sampling different kinds of love before you settle on "the one". Kind of like a taste test until you find the right flavor.

I like that take on things. I think I did a lot of sampling growing up, and then I met Sean.

So with that being said, I think that my first love, my first real true love, is sitting on the couch next to me right now.

xoxo

Rachael

Day 2 - Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

That's easy enough... 'Tales from a Suburban Wife' came to be because being a wife is one of my greatest joys. I live in the suburbs and am not yet a housewife. I work 40+ hours a week and do all my 'housewife' things on the weekends - making my weeks fly by. As for the 'tales' part, well, if you know my husband you know that he can't stay out of trouble to save his life, so we have some pretty interesting tales to tell from time to time :) I love him all the same though. 

On 94.5 this morning they were talking about if it's ok to keep things from ex-boyfriends/girlfriends... Which I thought was kind of interesting because I am in the midst of a massive clean-out of all Sean and I's things and it wouldn't really surprise me to find a box of old notes from old boyfriends and such that I have been hanging onto all these years for no real good reason. And I got to thinking, I should probably just throw all that stuff out. What do you think - do you hang onto your ex's notes and such? 

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend - the weather could not be more perfect!

xoxo 

Rachael

30 Day Challenge

I've seen the 30 day blog challenge in a couple of places and  I think I'm going to give it a go. It seems like a good, solid way to get into blogging, right?! So here it is and here we go!:

30- Day Challenge

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3-Your first love

Day 4-Your parents

Day 5-Your siblings

Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7-Favorite movies

Day 8-A place you've traveled to

Day 9-A picture of your friends

Day 10-Something you're afraid of

Day 11-Favorite tv shows

Day 12-What you believe

Day 13-Goals

Day 14-A picture you love

Day 15-Bible verse

Day 16-Dream house

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

Day 18-Something you regret

Day 19-Something you miss

Day 20-Nicknames

Day 21-Picture of yourself

Day 22-Favorite city

Day 23-Favorite vacation

Day 24-Something you've learned

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26-Picture of your family

Day 27-Pets

Day 28-Something that stresses you out

Day 29-3 Wishes

Day 30-a picture

Day 1 - Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

My name is Rachael and I am 24 years old. I'm married to my best friend and we have been married six fast blissful months. I have an excellent and stable family and am blessed with parents who have been fortunate enough to have a lasting, wonderful relationship - they are my role models! I am also blessed that Sean's parents have an equally stable marriage - something that I think has played into Sean and I and what we wanted in our own marriage.

Here is a recent picture of Sean and I after we got engaged last year. It is the perfect depiction of our relationship, combining two things we both love - each other and being outside:

15 Interesting Facts

• I love to buy shoes. Of any kind. I tend to buy heels that I don't wear often and I live in my grey converse shoes.
• I love to run and wish I could run farther than I currently do. But considering I was never a runner growing up, I think I'm doing OK.
• Speaking of - I am signed up to run my first 5k in January! And after that, I am going to tackle a 10k.
• Summer is my favorite season because I love swimsuits and flip flops. But fall holds a special place in my heart because that means one thing - CAMPING!!
• I learned how to wakeboard this past summer. It was terrifying exhilirating. I never wanted to before because if you know my husband, you know that he is the kind of person that gets on a wakeboard and does backflips.
• My mom is hands down my best friend. And so is my dad. I love my parents indescribably and am incredibly close to both of them.
• I am blessed to have two parents that have set a shining example for me as to what marriage is... And even more blessed that Sean's parents did the same. I think it defined what our marriage is and will be.
• The day after I met Sean I told my best friend I would marry him. A year and a half later we were dating. And here we are today.
• I love to write and edit. It was always my dream job to be a magazine editor.
• Cooking and baking are two of my favorite relaxing things.
• I am a health nut. But I can rarely turn down ice cream or french fries. And if I'm at Wendy's then I have been known to dip my french fries in my frosty.
• Speaking of Wendy's - I almost never eat fast food. I would much rather be cooking.
• I love to take vacations where you can be active too. Perfect vacation in my opinion? Somewhere beautiful where I could go hiking and kayaking.
• I love love love to read. Books are windows to a different world for me and I always live vicariously through the characters.
• I am awesome at playing washers. And if Sean and I are on a team together, we will most likely beat you. Not trying to be cocky, we're just good. Some weekends we just play each other in our backyard for hours - its one of my favorite things to do!

There you have it!

xoxo

Rachael

SUCCESS!

Forewarning: This is probably not an interesting post...

I am not a lipstick person.

I want to be, but for some reason I can just never seem to get it right when it comes to color. I'm not a very flashy person, and lipstick kind of freaks me out. BUT I noticed in pictures how much better it would look if I had some color on my lips so I decided to give it a go again.

On one of my bi-weekly trips to Target (yes, I pretty much single-handedly keep them in business) I found THIS lovely product:

Perrrrfection! It goes on really light so I don't feel as though my lips are screaming for attention and it adds just the right amount of color! I'm in love!

Anyhow, if anyone has good lipstick suggestions - I am open!

xoxo

Rachael

A Little Bit About ME

For starters, I'm not very good at blogging. I've tried before and I always am really pumped about it and then I just dwindle off into nothingness because it blows my mind why people would want to read about my boring exciting life. Even though I love reading about other people's, even people I don't know... BUT I'm giving it another try!

So to give you some background about me:

• I married my absolute soulmate and best friend earlier this year and we are having a blast being newlyweds
• I am obsessed with fixing our house up, I've put more money and time into that then is reasonable
• I love being active - running, hiking, camping - you name it and I will at least give it a try, and possibly add it to my list of things to love
• Speaking of love, I am indescribably in love with my husband. Sometimes it scares me just how much I really do love that boy man.
• We have two cats that I adore, even though I grew up saying I was NOT a cat person (guess I am?)
• I have the most awesome friends anyone could ever ask for... And I know that everyone says that, but really, I do!!

I am also PUMPED that it's Thursday for two reasons:

1. We are having our annual work Oktoberfest at St. Arnolds Brewery tonight
2. Tomorrow is FRIDAY! And thus brings the weekend... thaaaank goodness!

And I'll leave you with one of my obsessions:

xoxo

Rachael