today i am grateful for...

November 8: Today I am grateful for my talents and hobbies.

My Webb family was surely not blessed with the singing, dancing, instrumental or any of those other graceful talents. Instead we played basketball and volleyball...very gracefully. It was always kind of a bummer when school or church or family events would come up that involved a talent show because we had nothing to showcase. We showcased our talents every Tuesday and Thursday night out on the court. 

I wouldn't have traded to be a trendsetter or on the dance team though.

(no offense, I loved all your fancy dresses and outfits)

Anyways, despite the obvious fact that I cannot sing or dance, I am grateful for the things I can do and enjoy doing.

Here's some of my favorite:

1. golfing...especially with my husband

2. playing basketball (although I am too old, fat and out of shape to much of this anymore)

3. taking pictures

4. designing and creating anything digital

5. eating - I am a good eater...something only a new baby should be proud of

6. naps. oh i love these and am very good at them. 

7. being friendly and occasionally humorous.

8. memorizing or remembering. (while i stink at remembering names and faces, i rock at remembering book junk)

9. cooking. this is just one of my new found hobbies...it has yet to turn into a talent.

10. writing. i don't necessarily love this talent, but my i did graduate in PR and that's what we do. 

The talents we have come from our Heavenly Father, and to honor Him, we can develop and expand them and then return them to Him. All of us possess some talent which we can practice, increase, and offer. Are you regularly practicing your talents? Perhaps your talent is kindness or gratitude. How about being cheerful, helpful, and unselfish? How about practicing that winning smile? The Wise Men brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We can bring our talents.

(General Conference, 1992)

today, yesterday and the day before i am grateful for...

oops. looks like i failed to be grateful over the weekend. allow me to catch up...

November 5: Today I am grateful for saturday chores.

 Today was Saturday. What does that mean? Saturday chores. All growing up saturday was the day designated for cleaning the house. My chores used to be: 

1. clean my room

2. vacuum the basement

3. clean the garage

4. burn/take out the garbages

5. clean the bathroom -- toilet bowl and all

So today, I vacuumed, dusted, cleaned my bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. Just like my mom would have made me do if I still lived at home. 

I am sure i grumbled the entire time i was scrubbing the gross toilet all my sisters used or while i was getting the dead mice out of the corners in the garage but I am happy that my mom instilled in us the tradition of saturday chores, because now i have and keep a pretty clean home!

Thanks Mom!

November 6: Today I am grateful for Sundays.

This day could very well be my favorite day of the week. 

Everything about Sundays is perfect. 

Here's what I do:

[@ 6:30 am] I peek my eyes open at spencer who is getting ready for his meetings and then give him a morning breath kiss goodbye (ugh!) and then I go right back to sleep for another hour or so.

[@ 7:30-8 am] I get up and get ready at my leisure while listening to my favorite church hymns and contemplating what i am going to make for lunch.

[@ 8:52 am] i grab a pop-tart as i head out the door (a childhood activity that has and always will stick)

[@ 9:01 am] go to my fabulous church meetings (relief society, sunday school, and sacrament) 

[@ 12:30 pm] make and eat lunch, watch football or golf and take a long, needed sunday nap

[@ 5:00 pm] start a movie, edit pictures, go visit friends, play games, etc. 

[@ 7:00 pm] pop POPCORN! (love this tradition)

What is there not to love about a lazy sunday? 

I really actually love Sundays because it just feels like a re-charge day. After having a crappy, unmotivated week I so much look forward to sundays to give me that boost I need to start the week over again - spiritually, physically and mentally.

November 7: Today I am grateful for Pinterest.

Where in the world did this ingenious program come from? 

At first I must admit i was a skeptic thinking "oh, I'll just look at my sisters boards to get ideas...i don't need my own." And now I must admit...I was very wrong.

I got a text from Meag Saturday morning at about 9:32, after I just pinned like 8 new things, that read "is there any chance your addicted to pinterest?"

No meag, I just like it, a lot. 

and ps in order for you to be seeing that i pinned something that early in the morning means you were probably also on pinning away. so there.

but really guys, why couldn't i have been the one to have thought about this? all i can say is my hard drive is also very happy that I have discovered this.

Pinterest solves basically any question.

For example:

What should I make for dinner? 

or where did I see that fabulous chicken taquito recipe?

What do I want for christmas?

(Thanks mace...a $300 gold Nixon watch)

What's something inexpensive i can make to hang on my door? 

{of course... a burlap wreath}

How do I prevent pit stains from my husbands white shirts?

How do I keep my zipper from falling down? 

What should I pack for my next vacation?

Where do I want to go on my next vacation?

How do I want to do my hair tomorrow? 

How do I want to pose the next baby I shoot? 

[when I say shoot i mean take photos of]

How should I build my next kitchen, nursery, backyard, bedroom, breakfast nook, 

play room and storage area?

ETC.

ETC.

ETC!!!!

If you find that you have these same extremely pressing questions, refer to my pinterest page (mckell_m) for the answer.

Have a good Monday!

today i am grateful for...

November 4: TODAY i am grateful for life's simple treasures.

as i was contemplating what i was grateful for today, 

I was eating lunch [a quesadilla] and as my teeth sunk into those two 

glorious tortillas with melted cheese in between and sour cream smothered on top, 

I thought to myself how does something get any better? Seriously. 

How can something as simple as my quesadilla make me feel so happy. 

and then I thought about the hundreds of other simple things that me so stinking happy. 

Here's a few: (and don't judge if most of them are food items)

1. taking a hard earned paycheck to the bank...cha ching!

2. indulging in a good PB&J (there.is.NOTHING.better)

3. hearing the door open at 6:30 when spence is getting home from work

4. booking a hotel (i'm such a child..i think hotels are fun)

5. popping a bag of popcorn (or asking for extra butter at the theater)

6. the 'ding' noise when I get a text message

7. McDonalds McDouble....so delicious, so healthy :)

8. making the drive home

9. brushing my teeth (with warm water)

10. black friday. i love getting up at 3:30 to shop with the other crazies!

11. a quesadilla dipped in sour cream

12. a warm house

13. a warm car...even in the summer

14. jamming to Celine Dion's Its all Coming Back to me Now. (make me smile even thinking about it)

15. seeing my mom's name on the caller id

16. getting picture messages of my nieces and nephews

17. having lunch with fabulous friends

18. walking into the temple hand in hand with Mr. Wonderful

19. sweats and slippers

20. free t-shirts

 21. long baths just for fun

22. making a new list of something

23. pony tails + the BRAID! ... love my horse main

24. a good kiss :) 

25. sunday naps

I could go on and on about all the {little treasures} life has to offer but I won't. I am just so grateful for the pure joy these simple things bring to my life.

today i'm grateful for...

November 3: TODAY I am grateful for jobs!

It sounds really boring but if you think about it, our jobs enable us to live, 

to have shelter, to drive our cars, to go on dates, to do pretty much everything. 

So today that is what I am grateful for. 

Here's what we do:

I currently work like one million jobs that keep me very busy, 

but I love it WAY more than going to school. 

(i really only work like 3 jobs, but sometimes it seems like one million)

I still work as a receptionist at Murdock Hyundai and enjoy the people 

there but not necessarily the work I do.

My next, and second to favorite, source of income is at Harris Research INC. 

This little company houses the world's largest carpet cleaning company [Chem-Dry] 

and also a wood renewal company [N-Hance]. I work in the 

Marketing and Communications department for both companies and 

I absolutely love it. 

My third, favorite and least time committed {job} is taking photos. I love to take pictures but haven't really committed myself to it quite yet. I think eventually it will become my only job but until then I'll continue to piddle with it every now and again. 

As far as Mr. Spencer goes, well he is a hooker. 

{and a dang good one at that} 

Spence can and does do it all at Hooker Appliance. He sells, fixes/services, delivers, etc. 

and he is very proud to sport his big blue Big n' Friendly Hooker Appliance 

shirt with his name on it to work everyday. 

Can you believe that slogan?

joining the bandwagon.

since everyone is talking about what they are grateful for each day this month,

i didn't want to sound un-grateful so i guess i'll do the same. 

YESTERDAY (nov 1) I am sure I was first and foremost grateful for my most fabulous husband. 

I cannot even begin to tell you how fun and great life has been since I married this guy two 

short years ago. He makes me smile everyday, even when I really don't want to. 

I am so lucky to be able to get to spend forever with him.

TODAY i'm grateful for sweats and sweatshirts. 

These never lose their value to me. This morning when I woke up it was 18 degrees outside...burrr. 

So the first thing I did was throw on a pair of my most comfy sweats and an over-sized 

sweatshirt (hood and all) and some slippers. then i turned on my space heater 

(which i am soooo grateful for, but i will leave that for another grateful post :)

we're boring.

you could call us Halloween scrooges if you'd like. 

we did absolutely nothing for the spooky holiday.

no pumpkin carving, painting or decorating.

not a single bag of candy bought.

no thoughts about costumes.

no scary movies.

lights off.

no trick or treaters.

and i liked it. 

thanks mom.

hope you had a good one.

life lately.

hello. my name is McKell. we've met once but you may have forgotten me because i obviously fell off the face of the earth for a quick minute, but guess what... i'm back! i don't really have an excuse for not blogging other than being super tied up with watching grey's anatomy/sing-off/modern family/the office, cooking dinner most nights, cleaning like super woman, relaxing, going to New York City with some of my favorite gals, taking pictures, working here and there in my spare time and hanging out with my handsome, sweet and hilarious husband whom I love ever sooo much.

Notice I said nothing of school. thats right folks... no school. no homework (other than spencer's occasionally). no tricky professors. no cramming. no late nights. no stress. no school.

i love it.

2nd best thing that ever happened to me (spencer is the first)

and i have a diploma and a flattering black cap and gown to prove it.




i sometimes feel bad for spencer when he gets home from work and he has to write a paper or read a text book...ugh!

(first day of school photo)

when i get home from work at 6, i turn on the news, think of something for dinner, maybe do a little more work, edit pictures, organize something, give spence a pep talk and then watch my favorite shows before bed.

did i mention how great life is without school and that i absolutely love it?

and since i have so much more free time, i held a fun back2school party with some dear friends. i decorated and all. we played bocce, had dinner that wasn't so delicious ( i tried a new recipe...ugh), and then rode bikes and longboards in the near by church parking lot (i felt like a punk).

it was a fun evening with excellent company.



2 years and counting.

so the mr. and i have now been wed for 2 whole fun filled years! and i continue to think that i am the luckiest girl that walks the earth.

not only is he charming and so nice, he is hilarious. not a day goes by in our home that we aren't busting a gut at each other. i love it.

so our anniversary was saturday oct 1 and i had booked us a fabulous room at the anniversary inn in July. i was getting soo excited to surprise him with a nice little evening but turns out he had also booked a room at the anniversary inn to surprise me with a nice little evening. thanks to our friends jordan and alyssa, they spoiled a big surprise on the both of us but did save us our $50 deposit!





recent adventures.

i went on a wonderful little trip to the big apple a couple weeks ago. and let me tell you it was wonderful. it was so fun to be able to get away with my fabulous mother-in-law and sister-in-laws. they are a hoot.

we stayed up late.

ate a alot

saw wicked (sooo cute).

walked the brooklyn bridge

rode the subway

saw lady liberty

shopped

and walked a lot.

so fun.