Blogging Break

Hi friends.

I'm taking a little blogging and twitter break.

I'm dealing with some tough personal stuff right now and I'm just not to the point where I can blog about it. I don't want to continue my happy-go-lucky posts about traveling, decorating, or cooking when I know that's not where my heart is.

Just to squash any rumors...
- My marriage is fine. The Mr. and I are not divorcing (or even close to divorcing :) ).
- I am OK. I don't have cancer. I'm not dying.

I hope to return soon. Thanks for understanding.

Newlyweds Divorcing?

No, we're not getting divorced, silly.

But I did recently find out that the Mr.'s best friend from college is getting a divorce from his wife of 3 years. And this comes on the heals of his best friend from childhood getting a divorce from his wife of 4 years this past spring.

Um, that's enough to make a happily-wed girl feel pretty nervous when I see marriages crumbling all around me. And while I don't know all the reasons these couples split up (dudes tend to be more tight-lipped about these things), I must say I am shocked. We're too young to know divorcees!

How could 20-something, basically "newlyweds" be getting divorced so quickly?

Well, according to a USA Today article the medium duration of first marriage, when first marriage ended in divorce is 8 years. And according to the CDC 43% of first marriages in the U.S. end within 15 years. Wow. Sad.

So I was right, these couples DID get divorced early.

So I googled to try to find out WHY young couples would get divorced. And while I could not find out specifically why newlyweds would get divorced, I found out the top reasons overall for divorce are:
1. Poor communication
2. Financial problems
3. A lack of commitment to the marriage
4. A dramatic change in priorities
5. Infidelity

Yeah that about sums it up.


So, what's MY chance of divorce, I thought to myself? I'm committed, faithful, manage money well, and I like to think I'm a good communicator.

Then I found the "Divorce Calculator" on divorce360.com



It told me people with similar backgrounds to me who are already divorced = 1%
And people with similar backgrounds to me who will be divorced over the next five years= 4%

Ok, we have 96% chance of still being together in five years. That makes me feel a little bit better. But this whole thing was a good reminder to not take my marriage or husband for granted and to work every day at making my marriage just a little bit better.


Do you know 20-something couples who got divorced in the first few years of marriage?

What does the Divorce Calculator say your chance of divorce is?

Halloween Recap: USC vs. OR, Cookies, and Little Red

Happy November everyone. Hope you all had fabulous Halloween Weekends!

Ours started out with USC's Homecoming Game against #1 ranked Oregon.

USC lost, but we had a great time at the game. We tailgated with USC Alumni and our friends from Oregon who were in town.


Now I'm rooting for the Ducks to go all the way to the National Championship!


Sunday morning I made Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Chip cookies. It's a little tradition of mine to make cookies on Halloween, I think it satisfies my Halloween sweet tooth!


I think I need to buy some new baking sheets. Why?

I made 1/2 the cookies on one kind of darker color cookie sheet and the other 1/2 on a lighter cookie sheet and they turned out totally different.

The cookies made on the darker sheet turned out like this:


The ones on the lighter cookie sheet turned out like this:


The ones from the darker sheet were much fluffier and rounded. I never realized the kind of cookie sheet matters so much! That said, what kind/brand of cookie sheet is your favorite? I am totally going to buy a couple of new cookie sheets.


Finally, my Little Red Riding Hood costume turned out pretty cute!

This is me before heading over to our church's Halloween Carnival to pass out candy to the kiddos.


The Mr. was an "80s Rock Star" like Axel Rose or something. Hilarious.


You can't really see my boots, but these are my new suede boots from DSW. I love them! DSW is go-to place for boots.

How was your Halloween Weekend?


PS - My CSN Stores giveaway ends today. Enter here!