Since I usually talk about my house, diy projects, baseball, etc., I figure I'd give a little life update. Well I guess those are all my life updates but I'll give you a few different ones for kicks. School wise, I just finished a semester of 18 credits...or hell if you will...and got straight A's! I took 18 credits the last two semesters but have never gotten straight As in college before so I was pretty proud of it. I worked my butt off the last two semesters and while the first one was definitely my hardest and most challenging, the one that just passed was also pretty difficult. One thing I realized was that I am REALLY good at connecting quotes from books/authors that I haven't read. Like really really good. Basically why I passed my classes with flying colors. Just saying.

So that puts me with only ONE more semester until I graduate! 4.5 years of college, not bad! I changed my major 3 times and took a few summers of summer school, so I would say that it pretty darn good. I can argue that I should've graduated this spring (2015) because all next semester is, is student teaching. So I won't even be at UNLV or on campus and will be full time at a school...but we won't go there. That is an argument ALL education majors will have once they reach this point. I'm not really sure if I'm going to start working as a teacher right after I graduate or wait until the next full school year. I guess it'll all depend on if I get the right offer from the right school. I've only heard horror stories when you start halfway through the year so I'm not rushing into anything. And then I will graduate in December if all goes well. My mother-in-law got a free cruise for us during graduation (we're becoming cruise veterans!), so I won't be walking (which was a little upsetting at first, but not totally) because Ryan made a good point: I'll be "walking" on a beach in Honduras, Belize, and somewhere else I can't remember right this second. I can't really be too upset with that. 

Click to read about the question I constantly get...kid related. 

10 Things I've Learned About New Jersey - Week 1

I've decided to narrow this post down to 10 things instead of the million I had to keep the interest of time. Because ain't nobody got time for that! And quite possibly because that's all I had. But we'll go with the latter!

Before I list what I've learned, I must say that I'm not generalizing or making fun of the people of NJ, this is purely from my perspective (and humor) with no intention of offending or stereotyping anyone. 

Ok, now that that is out of the way. This first week has been QUITE interesting. I always try to keep an open mind when visiting new places, although last season in Canada was an entirely mind-blowing experience. I love seeing new places and meeting new people. You wouldn't think that other states could possibly be THAT different, but trust me, every state I've been just reminds me of how naive I am. Ways of life everywhere are different than the good ol' blooming city of Las Vegas.

Also, I apologize for my lack of pictures this post because I'm literally always driving when I remember to take some, or I Snapchat them and forget to save it. I'm a mess, I know.

1. SO MANY COPS! - If you follow me on Snapchat, then you've already seen and heard about this, but there are literally a million cops. I could say that I have seen more cops in this city in one week, than 1 year in Las Vegas. That says something. Every corner, every street, there is a little white (or big white) cop car waiting to get ya! Do they need to meet their quota or something, because this is crazy!

2. EVERYONE (almost) SPEEDS - Ironic? UM HELL YES. If you're asking why in the world people would speed in a place where cops are like Dunkin' Donut shops around here (coincidence? I think not) I couldn't answer that for you. So naturally, I try to go the speed limit, if not, a max of 5 over. Back in Vegas, my dad would call me Danica Patrick. If you don't know who that is, she's a nascar driver - pretty famous and pretty fast. I don't exactly ever go the speed limit back home, well because....I have no reason or excuse. I'm just a faster driver and always have been. But after seeing how many cops sit around here, I made it a priority to NEVER speed. I mean ever. But when I do that, when I drive like a normal person that is, I find myself the "bus" of the trail of cars. By that, I mean that I'm the one everyone is annoyed with because I'm going "so slow". I haven't had anyone honk at me yet, thank goodness, but people sure like to kiss my butt if you know what I mean. I'll leave it at that.

3. EVERY MILE IS BASICALLY A NEW SPEED LIMIT - I am not exaggerating. The "highways" aren't the same as those in Vegas or California, at least not where we are. They are mainly 2 lanes surrounded by the beautiful green stuff they call trees. Those don't exist in Las Vegas so I'm constantly smelling and staring at them. Forgive my weirdness. One minute, you will be going 35mph, the next minute 45, then 40, then 50. It's a constant change. No wonder there are so many cops. You'll pass by 3 speed limit signs before you even realize you are going 20mph over. The struggle is real y'all.

4. ROAD KILL - First, I must say RIP to the deer and opossum. 1 week out, I saw 4 deer, 2 opossums, and 1 squirrel (or small rodent) resting on the side of the road. Incredibly sad. Signs are posted everywhere to watch out, but the truth is that it is inevitable. "Deer are suicidal" as Ryan likes to say, which isn't far from the realization that they will jump out in front of you going 40, 45, and 50 mph. Its a sad sad reality for these little guys, but I get it. They are hungry, they think they are fast enough, and to be frank, they aren't very smart. RIP.

Click through to read the rest of the things I've learned so far!

Week 1: Arrival

I've arrived in Sussex County, New Jersey. Well actually we are staying in Vernon and the team plays near Augusta. There are basically a few different towns we drive through everyday so it gets a little confusing. We are staying at a ski resort, or "mega resort" as they like to call it, and it's pretty awesome. We got our own one bedroom condo style thingy and in the summer months, the resort is a pretty intense mountain biking trail with weekend competitions and such. Living the dream? You could say that. Again, if you haven't read the blog, my husband plays baseball and I am fortunate enough to get to travel with him during the season. And no, I'm not trying to rub it in. We are just so blessed. Typically, players stay with host families or bunk up with other players in apartments (all depends on the city/team) but I do have to say having a wife is a major perk! *wink wink* because we scored with this place! Praise the Lord. 

We are just about 30 minutes from the field, which is a hefty drive when I have to take him to the field and then go back for the game. I have a rule though, because each day is different. 3-4 hours until game time means I can drive home, relax, get ready, etc. Anything under 3 hours I need to hit up the donut shop and surf the web until game time. Some days Ryan needs to be there early, or workout before, in which I'll workout with him or take him to the field and drive back. In other cases, he only needs to be there 2 hours early before the game and then I'll bring my laptop and find a Dunkin' Donuts to hang out at (Starbucks are rare in these parts).

If you follow me on snapchat (minsuepin) you would have seen that its been pretty darn wet and rainy for the time that I've been here. The last 3 games have gotten banged (baseball term for cancelled because of poor weather) so its been movies on top of movies at the condo, which hey, is totally fine with me. On the 30 min drive to the field, its basically forest the whole way, with the occasional ranch, houses, and run down/abandoned barns, or "murder barns" as we like to call them. This city (or collection of towns) are partners with nature. Their words, not mine. This whole state, from what I've observed, is super in-tune with nature and consists of a ton of major trails and hikes. None of which I have been able to do because of the darn rain! But I'm hopeful it'll lighten up soon.

I'm working on a "Things I've Learned My First Week in NJ" post that'll be up within the next few days. It'll describe NJ a little bit better than this post but it's hilarious if I don't say so myself. You'll be surprised how different and IRONIC this place is. I haven't been to NYC yet, but that's on my list the next coming off day.

Stay tuned! Happy hump day and happy baseball!

Because I'm Missing My Man

I have one week until I see my man, so why not dedicate a whole post to that handsome stud. I thought I'd share a really fun shoot we did when we first got engaged. It was amazing and so fun. We went to a place just outside of Vegas at this old country/town type setting. I really wanted to do a paint war after some inspiration I found on Pinterest. I ordered the paint in bulk on a teacher's supplies website so it was super cheap and we pretty much used all of it during the shoot. I originally wanted wet paint, but figured powder would be better for pictures and not make us look like we jumped in a pool of rainbow goodness.

Excuse all the kissing pictures...what can I say, he's totally in love with me. (;

Xoxo

Cheers to everyone's summer being filled with sun, baseball, love, and slurpees! Happy week y'all!

The Whisper Challenge - YouTube

Hola! For the past few weeks, Karessa (one of my friends) and I have been talking about making a YouTube channel basically for fun because whenever we are together, we literally say and do the craziest/funniest things and never get them on camera. Perfect for television right? Anyways, we have been trying to come up with content and discovered all these challenges that people do and record and thought it would be hilarious to try them out.

Our first contender is known as the Whisper Challenge. I explain it in the video, but basically one person is wearing headphones with loud music while the other person whispers something (words or phrases) and then the person with the headphones tries to guess what they said. It's hilarious let me just tell you, and a lot harder than it looks. Although, Karessa is pretty dang good at it, either that or my phrases were just too easy.

So we are going to film challenges each week, so comment and let us know which ones you want to see! Enjoy!

*Warning: I have a loud and high-pitched voice and pretty much screamed the entire video because I couldn't hear myself think or speak. Apologies in advance. 

Backyard Update

I haven't written the actual post where I go in depth of all the products, process, information, etc. about the backyard but I feel like I've let y'all down with any sort of update to begin with. It's finally done (with the exception of a few minor details) so here's a sneak peak! I promise a more in-depth DIY post will follow soon! Just need to get more pictures.

A DIY/how-to build these outdoor couches is coming soon! Stay tuned. For now, here's quick and short source list to give you an idea of where I spent all my money. 

Source list 

-Couch frame: Lowes (blue print and how-to from Ana White) 

-Cushions: IKEA (Shipping was INSANE)

-Pillows: Target/Lowes

-Globe Lights: Target

-Coffee Table: Craigslist (stained in Java Gel)

-Solar Lights Accessories: Target

-Wood Bowl: Target

-Corner Candle Holder: Craigslist

Basically all accessories are from Target...I love that place. My whole bank account goes there. I have a problem. 

I should've gotten my degree in interior design (not that I'm even remotely good at it) but I seriously have a passion for it and just absolutely love designing and renovation. I need to pitch to HGTV for a new show. Any title ideas? (Totally...partially kidding y'all).

Summer Baseball Awaits

UPDATE: I just realized I never posted this. Better late than never! It'll probably make a lot more sense now reading the blog with me always referencing this post and it never be there..Ooops! 


Hi guys! We found out where we were going for baseball this summer and if you don't follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you are out of the loop! Just kidding.

Its NEW JERSEY baby. All the way across the US of A y'all. We actually new just about a month ago, but knowing how baseball is (very very unpredictable) I decided to wait to be sure. As sure as you can with these things. We are super excited to be living on the east coast. For me, it'll be the first time in the east so it should be very interesting. 

We loved Canada last season. We made friendships that are going to last forever, experienced an entire new culture, and Ryan loved playing for that team (they treated their players so good).

But if you know something about baseball, trades are pretty much unavoidable, along with releases unfortunately, and Ryan signed with the Sussex County Minors in New Jersey for the upcoming season. Check out their website for stats, games, live feeds, etc. Goooooooooo minors! And go hottie #3!

Goodbye

If you don't follow me on Facebook, Insta, or Snapchat (minsuepin), then you won't know that I only post snaps of my dogs. I have a problem...but if you like seeing super cute dogs and an occational picture of me, go follow! Lol anyways I have been sleeping alone with my pups for the past week. They are huge bed and blanket hogs and Homer likes to wake up in the middle of the night to walk around to then only plop down on a body part to go back to sleep. That dog is weird. Really weird. But I love having someone sleeping next to me, preferably my husband ;) but the dogs make a good substitute.

Ryan has drove cross-country to New Jersey (if you haven't read in a while, we are playing there for the season!). 36 hours y'all. Thankfully his dad went with him because let's be honest, there was NO way I could be a copilot on that trip. I fall asleep in the car to California only 4 hours away so just imagine us going across the U.S.! Within 30 minutes of driving, I would be passed out. Smart choice, honey.

Man, I have one good looking family. Baxter is so black you can never take a proper picture of him. 

Ryan's first exhibition game was today, (still going now, c'mon Minors!) and I still have no idea when I'm going out there to be with my hubby. We bought my plane ticket for a week and a half from now, but realized that I could go up there earlier so we are figuring out our living situation and then I should be headed out. Let me tell you trying to get ready to leave for almost 4 months is HARD. I have to think long term (in this case - summer long term) in clothes, shoes, beauty products, children, house, family, and pretty much everything else. It's been a little chaotic. 

It's a difficult process but so worth it to be so fortunate enough to travel all summer on pretty much a baseball watching vacation. 

God is good y'all! 

Backyard Happenings - Progress

Hi y'all. I wanted to give you an update on our backyard reno progress. When we bought our house, we transformed the backyard from a dirt lot to a semi decent turf/brick/rock combination. I could not for the life of me find a "before" picture of when we first moved in, but just imagine a long dirt/rock/trash-ish backyard and you have ours. Standard in Vegas now-a-days. After it was all said and done, I knew it wasn't my "perfect backyard" and that I would eventually take on renovating it at some point in time. Here's what it looked like after our makeshift turf and brick border, yikes. Decent, but so far off.

I think it was raining that day so Homer was too chicken to go out there. Why are dogs so afraid of the rain? Or is it just my dogs? Anyway, the whole yard was covered in sports turf and there was a 2ft brick border with rocks filling it to the walls. BORING. We originally created the yard for the dogs so it wasn't a big deal, but I soon realized that I love sitting outside on nice days (and Vegas has a lot of them & I'm also probably the only one who'll say that) so adding a patio area/grill area/game area was on my list of to-do's for the house. Ryan will say that to-do list is never-ending, and he may be right.

The time has come and we finished all the major work, with the exception of furniture (which I'm building and will have a post up soon!) and a fire pit. We bought grade A turf this time and I must say it makes a world of difference. It looks like real grass and the pups love it. Its so much more plush and nicer to walk on. Proof: picture below.

We also didn't have any sort of patio area so I bricked an entire 10x11ft patio myself. It was A LOT of work but well worth it. We removed all the old turf so that's why everything is all black from the sand/rubber. Also, the first picture is of it wet from filling the cracks with sand and watering it. Because everyone knows you have to water your brick so it grows...

We had a grill area against our house next to the sliding doors until it literally turned the side of our house black from the smoke so we built it's own little area next to the patio.

Now there's turf on one side and a patio on the other, and the walkway you ask? Well, we struggled a solution for that because no one had rocks we liked, either that or the super nice ones were going to be crazy expensive. That will come in another post because this one is already so long. But just giving you an idea of what we were juggling, I pulled a few inspiration pics from none other than Pinterest. Duh.

I really love the river rock look but the decomposed granite style was what we ended up going with. I don't have a picture just yet because we just finished that portion (takes days with tamping and watering and more tamping and more watering) but I'll get that up tomorrow. So far, the backyard looks AMAZING with designated areas. And.........

Here's a sneak peak into my current project of building my own outdoor furniture. 

Yes, I built that! On my own! And no, it will not break when you sit on it. I'll go into detail once it's done, but basically made of 2x4s, stain (which I only did the outsides because cushions are going on top), and a few handy tools you can get at your local hardware store. It took me only a day to build (few hours) and 2 coats of gel stain baby! Stay tuned, DIY how-to coming soon. 

A Couple House Updates (Floor Update, too!)

We're making headway people! Well...sort of. We've done a few new things to the house since I last updated it on the blog 20 years ago. Our new floors got put in but they look absolutely terrible on camera, which is why I have yet to post about them. They're dark, but have some hues of blonde, but in pictures the blonde comes out so much more making them look like butthole. Excuse my french. So until I can figure out a way to make them look how they really do in person, you'll be getting snips of them here and there.

Here's they're before though, just for your reference.

They were red toned laminate and sheer ugliness with our grey paint. Also, during the process, we would walk on these and then our new ones and they are loads different! Much better on our feet. 

I found this amazing tufted vintage chair on CL. Originally posted for $100, I haggled to $80, then Ryan picked it up and they took $60. A STEAL. Chairs like this are worth at LEAST $300 (probably more) but I'm not giving this bad boy up, that's for sure. Still waiting to put a lamp and foot stool. I was thinking something along the lines of these at Target. 

[Source list: Chair: CL, side table: CL, pillow: amazon]

Lamp:

Foot Stool: or maybe a leather pouf

But as you can see a slight picture of our new floors, the light parts are really picking up in the picture that don't in real life. It gives our house a more luxury rustic feel, if that's even a possible combination but can be appreciated way more in person. I'm trying to modify the pictures I have to make them look as they really do but even photoshop can't do these floors justice LOL. 

A few more house updates:

Our Tv stand/dresser type thing, which is shoe storage for us, but finally put some decor pieces on there. I actually didn't mean to make it a white/teal theme but just so happened to put those pieces like that. Ryan's dad just cut into the wall and hid all the cords, YAY! It is off-centered, no, you are not crazy. Unfortunately, that was where the studs were and there's nothing I can do about that, but it doesn't bother us anymore honestly. Do you like how I styled my shoes for this shot? lol.  

Source list: all items are from Marshals except the blue Tiffany's journal & box, which was a gift.

I finally brought over my piano from my parents house. This style is temporary because I have a few vintage paintings I want to hang over it, but need to get them framed. So for now, our "model-esk" picture will suffice. Remember how I said I wanted to take on a massive project and paint that piano? Well it turns out that the stain is in really good shape and it would just be a shame to cover it up. I thought it was a lot more beat up, which is why I wanted to paint it in the first place, but because the stain is very rich and dark-toned, it goes well with the floor and gives a lot of warmth to the room. 

Lastly, I moved our chair picture ledge and added a mirror to the entryway. 

I'll have to admit that it looked better on our blue wall, but I've got bigger plans for that baby so stay tuned!

XOXO,

minsuepin

New Business

I designed my husband's new business website today. It was hell. But it turned out awesome so check it out! I'm sure not many of you are investors, but if you know anyone, they can contact Ryan anytime!

http://www.redeemedpursuits.com

Appreciate it y'all!

xoxo

Teaching at Cheyenne High School

I realized that I never talk about teaching. Its going to be my profession after all yet I find no time to write about it and only time to complain about it to my fellow teacher friends. How cute. It all started last semester when I started teaching part time (for the education program at UNLV) at Silvestri Middle School. After subbing for about a year in all grades, I was determined NOT to teach in a middle school because those dang kids are mean. MEAN MEAN MEAN. And they are hormonal. TERRIBLE combination y'all. But after last semester where I logged over 120 hours of teaching, I realized that middle school is the sh***. The kids actually want to learn and aren't "too cool for school" just yet. Bless those little 7th grade hormonal-don't know who they are-hearts. 

This semester I was placed at Cheyenne High School which is about 1 million hours from my house. 45 minutes to be exact. It was a true struggle at first because I was not used to waking up that early...well since I went to high school. To be blunt, it's considered a ghetto school as well. The exact opposite from the middle school I was at prior. Its only been a few weeks and so far it isn't too bad. I could complain about A LOT of things but I won't because once you put something on the internet, its there forever. But I will say that I am learning a lot as a teacher and don't want to quit yet. So that's gotta be a good sign. 

I Have Not Died...

I'm ALIVE I swear! My blogging however, has been very very neglected and for my readers (aka my husband and all 2 friends) I am very very sorry. You see, I get into this super intuitive blogging mode for a few days, and then I get into the lazy don't want to upload pictures mode which is really contagious if you didn't know. I know I've said "I'm back" several times, so don't worry, this isn't one of those times. But I wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to start slow and only post major events, funny stories, let's be honest, they're all funny, and the occasional house DIY project. This may be a little odd as I already do that anyway, but I've gotten a few comments about where my blog has been and what have I been doing, and I really do love blogging. I just don't dedicate time to enjoy myself. So with that being said, HELLO AGAIN!

I just wanted to let you know I wasn't dead, in case you were wondering or were concerned. Goodness I sound so full of myself. 

XO