Today Was My 8th Anniversary with My Husband and We Had An "Alone" Moment...Life IS Good!

Today was mine and B's 8th anniversary.  Although we argued over if it was our 80th (my idea) or 88th (his), it has only been 8.  

You see, it has been a long time indeed!  We've been together FOREVER, and since the moment we met, we already had four kids combined (with custody I might add).  So alone time?  Not so much!  

Back then, the kids were 11, 6, 4, and 18 months.  Seriously didn't allow for much alone time, but we stuck it out and ended up marrying in Ft. Lauderdale, on vacation, in booty shorts (me not him silly), and flip flops!  And we formed a family!  But this alone time thing alluded us!

We figured it out over the years.  We both had jobs.  We both made decent money.  We took vacations.  We took them WITH the kids, and ah...ha, without them.  We had a network of friends in our previous life!  We lived close to family in our previous life!  We had money to vacation in our previous life!  We found enough alone time in our previous life to make 2 tiny new little additions to our family!  But we live in a new life now!

Now?  We are poor-ish.  Now we do not live close to family!  Now we do not have a huge network of friends!  Of course we don't!  We have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, and these babies are wild!  It takes all I can muster to raise these two, and he works so many hours and goes to school.  We have one car.  We do not network.  We do not get out much.  We pay the bills, we go to the pool, we go to the beach.  This is our life.  Our life is good!

But our life does not allow for "Christy and B" time.  Our life does not allow us to be adults who enjoy time together as adults.  Our life is all about our little family.  Again, it is a good life, but I miss our "alone" time.  Mind you, not the making babies alone time because there will be NO more babies for us (although the practice is fabulous) but the gazing into each others eyes alone time.  That's what I miss!

So today was our anniversary.  Dare we try going out to eat?  Of course we dare!  Of course we'll splurge!  It will be fun!  Romantic dinner for four please!  

We head to the restaurant, Salsa's on the Seawall (my favorite Mexican treat) and we file in the booth.  B and Bug on one side, me and Bubby on the other.  Seriously?  Come on guys!  It's our anniversary!  So I say "Hey Bug, don't you want to sit with Bubby tonight?" to which she surprisingly replies "Yes Mommy, it's YOUR anniversary".  

WOW...we swapped seats!   We really did it!  No crying, no fussing, no complaining.  They complied.  The babies sat on one side and B and I sat on the other!  Yes that's right!  B and I sat alone on the same bench, at the same booth, for the first time in like FOREVER.  There was leg rubbing.  There were "looks"!  There was adult talk.  There was a grab me where he shouldn't (but I scolded him for that), but you get the picture.  

My point?  I always have a point, you just sometimes miss it in my ranting!  Tonight, we passed a milestone.  We had "moments", we had "looks", we got to sit together!  Might not seem like much to some of you, but believe you-me, if you have six kids, these moments are few and far between!

B is actually looking forward to retirement.  Not for the reason that most of you are, but for the reason that we will finally have some alone time!  I enjoy my babies, all of them, but I do miss the days gazing into my hubby's eyes!  He has awesome eyes by the way!  

I'm not looking forward to retirement.  And the idea of my babies all being grown up and gone is not a happy thought for me!  So for now, I'll just take the little moments!  Tonight was one of those moments!  Tonight I got to spend a few precious moments ALONE with my husband on the bench.  I live for those moments!  God willing, they will be plenty, and they will last for a long time!

Yes, today was a good day! 

Caramel Apple and Wild Berry Frosty Parfaits at Wendy's....OH MY!

Have you visited your local Wendy's lately?  Did you know about all of the new awesome stuff on their menu?  Have you heard that they now have Caramel Apple and Wild Berry Frosty Parfaits?  Can you believe that they now have Wild Berry Frosty Shakes (topped with whipped cream I might add)?  How about the fact that they've added new drinks and fantastic new salads?  Seriously, did you know any of this?  I didn't (living in this little bubble of mine) until a friend of mine from my Collective Bias family told me about them yesterday!  She highly recommended these new tasty treats.  She said they were addictive!  I was most assuredly intrigued!

We all know I'm a Facebook junkie (Hi, my name is Christy and I have a serious problem) so the first thing I did was go to Facebook (OK, so I was already logged in, what about it?) and looked for a fan page!  SCORE....found it at Frosty on Facebook, and of course I *LIKED* them, of course I did!  You should too!  Seriously, whoever is writing for this page is funny (I know funny, I like funny)!

It was pretty early on in the day when all of this came up and since I knew I didn't have anything in the freezer for dinner, I decided that  this would be as good of a night as any to take the family out to dinner which we do NOT do often.  Where did we go you ask?  DUH....haven't you been paying attention (I seriously hate when you do that to me)?  We went to Wendy's!

As I stated, we don't go out to eat often.  We are a recession family (us and five ga-zillion others I know).  So when we do, the babies get excited.  Heck, I get excited!  I had told them we were going to Wendy's but I did NOT let them know that they would also be getting a Frosty treat.  They would be thrilled!

They sat down with their Daddy as I ordered.  I was amazed at all of the new items that Wendy's had added in the past few months.  We all know about the Wendy's Classic Hamburgers, always hot 'n juicy.  They have ample chicken selections.  Natural cut french fries with sea salt (yummy)!  The best salads in the fast food industry in this vegetarian's opinion can be found at Wendy's, even a new Berry Almond Chicken Salad for the summer!  

Fabulous Ceasar Side Salad for me with small fries and a drink,  Homestyle Chicken Filet Combo for B, and the babies each got a Zookeeper 4-Piece Nuggets Kids' Meal.  It should be noted here (with that whole nasty recession thing in mind) that at least here locally, Wendy's Kids' Meals are cheaper than "the other guys".  We all ate for under $20.  Can't beat that with a berry!

Everyone finished (they really do love Wendy's and eat all of their food) so I dove in with the SURPRISE and told them they could now have dessert.  WOW, yea, don't worry about that sound barrier thing kids, it's all good!  Seriously, you can imagine their excitement.  B had already spotted that Caramel Apple Frosty Parfait so his choice was made before we sat down to eat our food!  The babies both opted for the Original Frosty in Chocolate.  Of course they did!  I really wanted to try out the Wild Berry Frosty Shake, but I had just indulged on those fries, and me being the perpetual dieter that I am didn't allow myself the treat (stupid, stupid me).  But they did!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids and my husband happy.  Do they "look" happy in these pictures?  They absolutely do NOT!  Are they happy in these pictures?  They most certainly are!  You see, Bug is concentrating, chocolate is not a game you know, its serious business!  B would rather I'd stop taking pictures and let him focus on what in his words was "one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth".  Bubby, well he just kept saying "Choc-o-ate Mommy....MMM!"  Yes this makes me happy!

We left and headed down the seawall toward home via a stop at Walmart (come on, you knew that was coming), happy and full!  I love our family outings!  We will be going back to Wendy's soon because we need to try out all of the other new fabulous Frosty and Parfait flavors.  

You can see our entire experience by viewing my This Moment Picture Story.  I know all of my loyal followers (and once again, let me thank the 10 of you...you rock) love to see pictures of my family in action.  Just click your way through below if you're interested.

Now what are you waiting for?  Take your family to Wendy's tonight to try one of the new Frosty Shakes or Frosty Parfaits!  Don't they deserve a treat?  Don't you?  You can thank me later (all 10 of you)!

Disclosure:  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions, ideas, and photos are entirely my own. 

My Summer with #ClearAmerican. Mission Shop & Swap Complete! Thanks #CBias!

Our mission, should we choose to accept it, was a challenge from Collective Bias to swap out all of our usual crap drinks with Clear American Sparkling Water from Walmart.  It's HOT in Galveston this time of year and we consume a lot of liquids and we don't always choose the most healthy alternatives.  So did we accept this challenge?  Of course we did!

The big boys went fishing, the girls and I, with Bubby in tow of course, put on our best twirly dresses and headed for Walmart!  Why waste time?  I should do this and I should do this now!  So we loaded up the PT Cruiser and off we went, list in hand, with Clear American at the top!

I've purchased this water before.  I like love this water!  It was the only beverage I'd drink while pregnant (yes, that was a lot of times, you don't have to remind me).  I know that it tastes good, better for you than sodas, and I often buy it as a bubbly treat for my husband's lunches.  But swap out our drinks completely?  Even the kids?  Honestly this hadn't even crossed my mind!  They don't like water!  But until I went on a true mission (I'd made up my mind, we were doing this) to swap out our drinks, I'd never paid enough attention to how many flavors were actually available! 

Seriously, so many flavors like White Grape, Honey Dew Melon, Strawberry Kiwi, Tangerine Lime, and Raspberry Apple just to name a very few!  And at truly affordable prices in a variety of sizes.  For more details on all of the flavors and a complete look into our shopping experience, feel free to watch my picture story below!  We had a sparkling good time!

But enough of that!  Let's talk about the swap!  The big boys were fishing in the hot island summer sun!  They would be thirsty for sure!  So the girls, Bubby, and I decided to enjoy the beautiful day and deliver some sparkly refreshments!

A beautiful drive down the seawall to the 37th Street Pier followed by a lovely stroll skip to the end of the pier, Clear American Strawberry in hand for all of them!

B and Bubby both enjoyed their refreshing drinks (and since B had been out there for quite some time, he had 2).  Oh and did you notice that?  My little boy...the one that HATES water? He loves it!  How fabulous is that? 

We stayed and fished for a little while (OK, we watched, we were wearing our best twirly dresses after all) but we had to get home to put our groceries up.  We skipped down the pier back to the car and headed for home!

I literally poured out the old crap drinks that were in the refrigerator when we got home (there wasn't much, I don't waste) after reading the labels and replaced it with all of our Clear American choices!  You see I'm a Diet Coke kind of gal.  I drink WAY too much of it.  There are a lot of zeros on the label but there are also a lot of additives that I know are bad for me.  The Dr. Pepper that was in there for the kids is NOT good for them!  They love it and it's OK as a treat but not for every day consumption.  I had never noticed that not only does Clear American have all of the same zeros as my Diet Coke, but there is NO SODIUM.  None.  Not a lick!  Even my Diet Coke has 35 mg of sodium and we have to watch sodium in our house!  And that little added bonus of no caffeine?  Fabulous!

I'm glad we made the swap!  We plan on sticking with this!  Throughout the rest of the summer, I plan on trying even more flavors (because you know in my family we have favorites, and we each have to find our own) and I plan on figuring out new ways on a weekly basis to keep this swap fun and exciting!  Stay tuned!  

Have you tried Clear American Sparkling Water yet?  Do you have a favorite?  Have you made the swap?  If the answer to any of these questions is no, I think you ought to visit Walmart today and give it a try!  Mark my ever sparkly words, you'll be skipping in no time!

Disclosure:  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias, which is a vendor for Colt Beverages Inc., the manufacturer of Clear American® brand beverages.  All opinions, ideas, and photos are entirely my own.