The end of April gave my family some good news and some bad. There are going to be some busy and exciting days ahead for us, but also some really tough days for one of my family members. Please send good vibes, prayers, and love. Not sharing any details, but I may not be posting as much. But will still be hosting the Love Your Body series and you can find me on Porch.com too if you don't see me on here. 

Make the best of May, make the best of every day and fill it with love and family. 

xoxo

Love Your Body

Welcome to the Love Your Body series, featuring guest posts from amazing women bloggers who are brave, inspiring, beautiful, smart, and pretty kick ass! They are here to share their body-related stories to encourage and inspire you to Love Your Body. 

As I sit here reading through a few of their guest posts, I am not only learning about who they are but I am learning from them as well. Every day isn't going to be an "I Love My Body" kind of day, but guess what ladies? That's okay! Life is a journey, it's a roller-coaster of emotions filled with ups and downs.  Some days our jeans will fit better than others, some days our hair won't cooperate because of the high humidity. And on those days you'll just want to scream, "I hate my thighs" or "I hate my hair", and that's okay, we all have those days. 

But what is not okay is to feel ashamed of your body, especially because someone else said, "Those jeans look terrible on you" or "Wow, I really hate that hair color on you". It's also not okay to feel bad about how you look because the media keeps body shaming celebrities like Kelly Clarkson, Melissa McCarthy, Mindy Kaling, P!nk, and others. 

Ladies, don't compare yourself to someone else and don't strive to look like someone else. LOVE YOU; love your hair, love your thighs, your eyes, your skin tone, your booty, love it all and just LOVE YOUR BODY! 

To all who are new here: Hi, I'm Diana. I'm 6 foot tall, weigh 215 lbs, I have grey hair coming in, I wear size 14 jeans, large to x-large top, glasses, size 10/11 shoes, and I LOVE MY BODY! 

These things about my body don't define who I am as a person. Growing up and being teased for being the tallest girl, for being "big boned" {overweight}, having bushy eye brows, stained teeth, and frizzy hair, I thought that's who I was and I thought these things would follow me every where I went. 

But then in college and post graduation I finally met people who inspired me to be more than a label, I met people who thought I was beautiful, who thought I was funny and intelligent. I met people who believed in me and pushed me to believe in myself, which is why my word for this year is "Believe". 

{My favorite necklace from Creative Carmella}

It took me some time to finally Love My Body, but thanks to those around me and thanks to getting away from those who put me down, I can say it and I can say I love myself and I believe in myself. I'm paying it forward to anyone who wants to listen, anyone who needs to believe, who needs to hear the words, "You are beautiful" because you are. You are beautiful and you are worth it. 

Thank you for listening to my Love Your Body story, stay tuned to next Wednesday when Marie of Just Plain Marie will share her story with us. 

Our Love Story: It Started with HELLO!

This post is sponsored by Lindt but all opinions of their delicious chocolate are my own!

I often talk about my husband and how he helps me with my DIY projects, mentioned things we enjoy doing together, places we visited, and have blogged about our wedding and anniversaries, but I have never really shared our love story before. 

Back in 2005 I started a new job as a data entry clerk and met the man I was going to marry. It's crazy to think that next year we'll be celebrating ten years together and five years married, how time flies when you're in love!

This adorable interactive web-series from Lindt Hello titled, "It Started with Hello", featuring office mates Eva and Jude reminds me of how Mike and I met at work and makes me wonder how things would have turned out if he didn't say hello. But it also makes me think back to that moment when he did and what it was about him that made me say hello back! Can your life really change with one hello?

I bet it can change with one hello when you have Lindt Hello chocolate!

 There are so many ways to break the ice when you want to spark up a conversation, whether it's a romantic one, the beginning of a friendship, or when you're new in an office. You could pay them a compliment, find out if you share common interests, get flirty, or hand them a fun new Lindt Hello chocolate bar that will do all the work for you with it's creative and catchy "Hello MY Name Is..." packaging.

How cute are these candy bars?! They actually say "Hello" and "Nice to Sweet You" on the chocolate bar pieces. If these were out when Mike first said hello to me, I would have adored him even more! Actually, come to think of it he did win me over with food! I worked second shift and right around dinner time he returned to the office from his deliveries and ordered us a pizza....swoon! He said it was for everyone in the office, but I know he really did it so he could stay longer and we could have dinner "together".

 As you can see I was very excited to try these out and purchased one of each flavor, which were inspired by classic desserts. If you love cheesecake then you are going to fall in love with the Strawberry Cheesecake chocolate bar, it's so smooth and creamy! The other flavors are Caramel Brownie, Crunchy Nougat, and Cookies & Cream, and are just as amazing as the Strawberry Cheesecake!

What I love about the Lindt Hello besides the taste and fun packaging, is the range of sizes they come in. You aren't stuck with just trying to sneak a big candy bar on your co-worker's desk when you're trying to be flirty. You can grab an assorted mini-stick bag instead and drop a little hint of hello on their desk when they step out of the office! But if you really want to be someone's best friend, I'd go with giving them a six piece Lindt Hello chocolate stick, which is a great way of indulging in chocolate without going overboard....and is best friend approved!

Is there someone in your office or already in your life who you would love to share a Lindt Hello chocolate bar, stick, or mini stick bag with? If so, then stop by the Lindt Hello website for your chance to win one of five prizes...


To enter the sweepstakes, visit the Lindt HELLO Sweet Connections Sweepstakes Landing Page and enter your email address. Entries can be made daily for additional chances to win the below prizes.

5 Weeks of Prizes – Connect with Someone You Love, or Someone New!

Week 1: Table for Two (9/10 – 9/16)
• Dinner & a movie with the +1 of your choice!

Week 2: Double the Fun (9/17 – 9/39)
• Say HELLO to a fun double date night + Lindt HELLO chocolate for dessert

Week 3: Girls Just Want to Have Fun (9/24 – 9/30)
• Enjoy a shopping spree with the girls + yummy Lindt HELLO Chocolate!

Week 4: Sweet Staycation (10/1 – 10/7)
• Lindt HELLO treats you to a pampered night in – movies, books + chocolate!

Week 5: Besties Reunion (10/8 – 10/14)
• Reconnect with your bestie at the spa for a day + Lindt HELLO chocolate to sweeten the deal.

* No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 years or older (19 in AL or NE and 21 in MS).  Void where prohibited. See Rules at  for weekly sweepstakes entry periods, prize descriptions, odds and other details. Ends Noon on 10/14/14. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Lindt & Sprüngli (USA) Inc., One Fine Chocolate Place, Stratham, NH  03885.

More on our love story to come next time, as they say, to be continued....

My Reality Come True

You were in my dreams and now have become my reality.
I didn't need a fairy tale, I didn't need a castle.
I needed someone to hold, someone to love.
I didn't need a million dollars or a house on the beach.
I needed someone true to themselves, and true to me.
I wanted a reality come true, I wanted someone like you.

Dreams are made of cotton candy, lollipops, and candy canes.
Life is made of ups and downs, the good and bad, right and wrong.
A relationship isn't what you dream, it's what you make.
You can dream for happiness, but only we can make it happen.
My reality has come true, because I am in love with you.

(Pictures in a Snap)

How's Married Life?!

It's a question you hear all the time after your wedding. Everyone wants to know how things are going now that you're married! For us it's just as wonderful as it was before being married, but now we feel more connected. Now that I have taken my husband's name I feel like I'm part of the family and I'm officially his wife and stepmother to his children. When I call him my husband and he calls me his wife I feel my heart flutter and I feel proud. When someone asks me how my daughters are doing, I feel like a proud mother. How is married life for you? Has anything changed for you? I love married life, every day is an adventure and there is always something to do! ♥

Here is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding @ Glen Foerd Historical Mansion...more to come!

(Pictures in a Snap)

I love how beautiful the mansion is in the background and how well it fits into the photo. Everything about this photo speaks of romance; it's the perfect wedding photo! You can see my veil, my train, his tie, and we look (because we are) so in love as I am touching his face! He looks so handsome!

Life is Good...

What a wonderful weekend with my MOH and my bridesmaids...and of coarse my fiance too! I found my dress! And we also found bridesmaid dresses. But the thing is...we forgot to take pictures! Well...the story is that we were told we were'nt allowed to take any pictures unless we were going to buy that particular gown...but through all the trying on and excitement we forgot to take pictures of the dress when we finally knew that it was, "The One"!! I'm planning to go back to the bridal shop sometime soon...maybe this week...to try on the gown again for my mom who couldn't make it to this gown trip. But I knew the wedding gown was the one...it has everything I am looking for...lace, beading, sparkle, and it makes me look thin!! LOL! We all knew it was the one...the girls loved it, and the sales lady was so nice...goofy, but nice! Then after shopping the girls and I got some chinese food for lunch and then saw X-men Origins: Wolverine...which was a little violent...but it is a great movie for all the X-men or Wolverine fans! :) We came home and I sooo wanted to tell fiance about the dress...but I guess I can keep the details to myself until our wedding day! On Sunday we had a nice relaxing day with each other after the kids and MOH went home. And then you look into each other's eyes and you know that they are "The One"...and that you are lucky in love and lucky in life. How amazing is it that I get to spend the rest of my life with this human being who makes me feel this way. So since I didn't get to take any photos of my gown yet...here is a new scrapbooking layout I made tonight! Happy Monday!

All Women Stalk

Please check us gals and guys out on All Women Stalk...it's a fun blog about Celebrities, Fashion, Love, Lifestyle, and much more!!

PS...I just started to write on there about Bridal tips/advice!


Thanks!! :)

Scrapbook post coming soon!

Scrapbooking!

I've finished our pre-wedding scrapbook and I love it!!! He got me a few scrapbooking items for Christmas that came in handy when I was putting together the last few pages. He knows me very well!! I will be posting pictures very soon!!! I just have to say that I love scrapbooking, it's such a relaxing hobby. I love looking over the pictures and remembering things like our first date or our first trip together. On another note...we bought his younger daughter a scrapbook set for Christmas...she LOVES IT!! We had so much fun putting it together...the older daughter helped and she loved it just as much so we bought her a scrapbook set for her birthday, which we will be celebrating this weekend!!! His younger daughter calls me her "scrapbook buddy"!! I just couldn't imagine life without my new family. They are just such wonderful people and my future step-daughters are so beautiful inside and out. :)

Three years!

One week from now will be our three year dating anniversary...or our pre-wedding anniversary!! I still cannot believe it has been three years. We have been very blessed in finding each other. I love him with all my heart. This coming April will be one year till our wedding! And I will also be trying on wedding dresses for the first time...I think I may have mentioned that before! I am most excited to see our girls (my future step daughters) in their bridesmaid dresses!!