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I got a free dress! (Alterations not included.) #SayYesToTheDress #TARDISWedding #davidsbridal

Me in the unzipped dress
When my cousin found out that I was getting married, she offered me her wedding dress. But between family, work, and other obligations, I was unable to get out to her to go see the dress and pick it up.

Well, one Saturday, me, Leigh, my sister, and our friend went to Six Flags Over Texas. She found out and doesn't live too far from where we were so she offered to meet us and bring the dress with her. It was late (probably around 9pm CST) and pretty dark but from what I could tell at that moment, it was big and pretty. She said it was a size 14 and and since I am a size 16, I figured that it would give me time to get back down to the size 14 I was a year ago...

Unfortunately, weight is not the problem. I come from a family with broad (but not busty) chests. My dad's side of the family has broad chests and shoulders, so as I tried on the dress this morning, I stepped into it and one of my initial fears was that it wouldn't go over my hips and butt. That wasn't the problem! The problem came to trying to zip it up. As my sister tried to zip it past my lower back, it wouldn't move! I thought it was my stomach, so I did as most women do and try to suck it in. Nope - stomach wasn't the problem. She touched my sides and my back and felt muscle and bones so we knew that it was made for a petite woman - which my cousin is - so my mind raced but then it hit me- David's Bridal! They do alterations!

Early morning me in unzipped dress

So within the next few months, I will be calling David's Bridal to see if they can help me. I mean, this was a GORGEOUS $900 dress I didn't have to buy and if they can fix my problem, I will be one extremely happy bride-to-be!

(It does have a lot of tulle... And while it makes the dress look nice, it also makes it heavy and very hot. My gay friend, Todd, suggested I get the tulle removed while my sister said keep the tulle.)

What do you guys think - should I remove the tulle or keep it as it is?
read more " I got a free dress! (Alterations not included.) #SayYesToTheDress #TARDISWedding #davidsbridal"

How to plan a wedding while working a 40+/hr week job!

Ever since Leigh proposed to me, we have to been trying to plan a wedding, but with one kicker: I work a 40+ hour week as a preschool teacher. I go in early in the mornings and get off late, sometimes staying until 7pm for meetings, so finding time to visit venues or getting information from vendors is very difficult. I have requested days off to visit venues and have used my lunch hour, which I normally would just eat and relax, to call vendors. I've even enlisted the help of my maid-of-honor to call places and get information for me.

So how does one plan a wedding (a Doctor Who wedding at that) while working a 40-hour a week job?

1. Delegate
Use your family, friends, and occasionally, your fiancee to get information, whether it's just getting prices or even just a name and phone number. Have them write down any and all information they receive because while it may not be important to them, it may be important to you.

2. Find time to relax and go over details.
Even if it's just during naptime at preschool (which I have done several times), sit down and just go over small details. You don't have to plan the entire playlist in the setting, but just think of a few songs you think you might want. Save the really major details for when you have a lot more time.

3. IF YOU HAVE TO, request days off.
I only suggest this if you have no other options or aren't off during the week (as most places like venues and some vendors are closed on weekends). Unfortunately for me, I am only off on weekends and by the time I get off work, 75% of the places I want to visit are closed, and fortunately for me, I can request days off to go do what wedding things need to be done without losing pay. Some places offer PTO (with or without a reason) and some done.

4. A Wedding Planner book, a Binder, and a Printer (and an awesome fiancee)
So you don't get completely stressed out, pick up a wedding planner. The day after getting engaged, my mom bought me a wedding planner from David's Bridal. What I love about the one she got me was that it has a checklist by months and makes everything a breeze. But when it comes to gathering information about venues or vendors grouped into one category (like venues or photography vendors), there isn't a lot of pages to gather all the information you need to make a decision as you call venue after venue or vendor after vendor. So what my fiancee did was make a venue information sheet where you can put their name, the person you talked to, pricing, what's included in the price, and everything you can think of and made copies to put into a 3-ring binder I bought. It made getting venue information less stressful and much more organized.

5. When it comes to a guest list, have your fiancee help.
My fiancee has been so helpful through out the entire process so far, and when it comes to the guest list, especially as we get ready to send out our Save The Dates, he is helping me get addresses even from my side of the family. Because we created a Facebook event, he sent out a mass message to everyone we invited asking for their addresses, and 95% have already responded. Social media, especially Facebook, has helped us with getting addresses and figuring out who is interested in coming than wasting money on sending invitations to people who we thought would want to come but have no desire to come. (Plus that gives us a head count, which saves us money on food!)

6. Stay calm.
As long as you stay calm and get as much help as you can, you can easily work a 40+/hr week job and not be completely stressed out! Trust me - when I first realized that I had to start planning a wedding while trying to teach 12 2-year-olds, I freaked out. How was I going to do this? What could I possibly get done? My friends, family, fiancee, and a few moments here and there (like Google while I'm cooking dinner), has helped out a lot!

Plus it doesn't hurt to have caffeine once in a while!

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We're getting married! (And help me surprise my future husband!)

It's been a while (almost a year or so) since we last posted an update. Boy, do we have news for you!

Let us take you back to the beginning. Leigh joined the ranks as our resident game reviewer, building our gaming and technology sections to the awesomeness they are now. As Leigh and I started spending a little more time together outside of business (though we still discussed gaming, technology, and the nerdy sides of our hobbies, mostly Doctor Who and Harry Potter), we felt love's blossom plant its seed. We fell in love, and moved in together.

A few months later, Leigh came to me with what would be my first clue that something was happening. One day, we were at his friend's house when he said "People at work know something about me that you don't. It's about me but involves you.". He wouldn't go into any further details, knowing it would drive me crazy!

As the months went on, he would add more clues, tell more people we knew just so they could say "I know something you don't know!". As it got closer to the day I would be finding out, he went out and bought a white poster board which would eventually be my proposal, written in circular Gallifreyan. (At some point, he had me trace the circles and lines because he wasn't very good at tracing, but would not allow me to decipher it yet.) The joshing became unstoppable right until the hour we left for dinner - I was going crazy!

The day he proposed, he took me and my family out for dinner. As he and I came back inside from talking, he asked my sister to get the white poster board (which I was finally able to translate because as he was writing it, he wouldn't let me and I'm a major Doctor Who fan!).

As I got to "marry" in the translation, I turned around, and as you can see in the video, he is on one knee. I couldn't speak - I could only nod. I was like a bobble head!



We're getting married April 1, 2020 (and no, we're not kidding!) with a Whovian-themed wedding.

Now, here is the part I need everyone's help on! Like I said, we're MAJOR Doctor Who fans and Leigh's favorite Doctor is Matt Smith. I would love to surprise him at the wedding with either a personalized autographed photo from Matt Smith or, even better, a video from Matt Smith! (If I could only help you understand the depth of which this man deserves this and so much more. Imagine your darkest days, and imagine someone holding you as spent the entire night crying so hard, you eventually fell asleep in his arms, exhausted.)

So if you can, help this post go viral and help me surprise my fiancee with something beyond his wildest dreams!
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#IceDragon: Legend of the Blue Daisies Special Event! #FlyBy

This post is sponsored by FlyBy Promotions and Fathom Events. All thoughts/opinions belong to the writer. Your experience may differ.


Based on a short story by Canadian director and producer Bruce Stacey, this inspirational animated feature is about Melody, a gifted young dreamer and her feisty friend, Leif, who must set aside their differences and use the magical power of Blue Daisies and an ancient Song to save their world from an evil Ice Dragon. When the blue flowers that once bloomed around her village begin to disappear, Melody and her eccentric grandfather recognize this as a sign of great danger... but no one believes them. Racing against time, Melody must convince Leif and the other villagers before it's too late. It is the first of a planned trilogy.

This film features the voice talents of Rheal Rees (Melody), Justin Debé (Leif), and Bill Bray (Nicholai).

Ice Dragon: Legend of the Blue Daisies debuts in U.S. theaters for two nights only: Saturday, March 24 at 12:55 p.m. and Monday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m.. (All times local.)

Fathom Events, Chelsea Road Productions and Tricord Media present this special event in more than 700 select movie theaters across the U.S.


To find a theater near you and purchase tickets, be sure to check out Fathom Events!
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Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition for Switch (SPOILERS)

Thanks to Red Hook Games for the partnership. All thoughts/opinions belong ro the reviewer. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links. 

(Once again, much thanks to Leigh for the review!)

For those who don't already know SPOILER ALERT! Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about Darkest Dungeon. For this review I'm going to break it down into three different categories: Graphics, Storyline, and Gameplay.

Graphics

Now as far as graphics go, you can definitely see the detail the designers put into the game, from the way the characters are unique in every class to the town which goes from dawn to dusk. While as for my self, I prefer a smoother 3D texture for my games, this does not at all take away from Darkest Dungeon. 


If you can get totally immersed into games like I do, then the sounds and visual effects make the game very eerie and suspenseful. They can make you feel like you are surrounded in this dark atmosphere and using your torches is not only to make the fights easier but also relieves some of the pressure. When you use your abilities or get attacked, you feel every curse, strike and shot from enemies. But also you feel the relief from your buffs and heals. For these reasons I give the graphics a 4.2 out of 5.

Storyline

As far as storyline, it is as eerie and as dark as I can get out. I mean the first part of storyline that you ever hear is an old man telling you his tale and then committing suicide. Now I like to have a storyline that has its ups and downs to keep you interested in wanting to find the rest of it but for me, the progression is a little too slow. It gets you hooked in real quick and then kind of lingers on and it's quite some time before finding out more but when it does it again, it pulls you into the story and makes you want to continue. For this I give the storyline a 3.3 out of 5.

Gameplay

The game play, however, if you like difficult games that are very challenging and don't make it too easy for you to progress, this is the perfect game for you. Although I don't like the fact that I have to have several upon several different champions just to be able to play another mission, this is another part of the game that what makes it so intriguing.


While you can upgrade your Caravan in order to get better Heroes that start at higher levels, it's hard to upgrade because you have to run so many different missions just to get the items you need to upgrade it and that goes along with anything else in this town, which again, makes it challenging and that I like.


Each dungeon is very unique in its own way. The progression through the dungeon makes it even more interesting for you have to look for traps, which can be challenging, and you have to keep torches lit in order to see the traps and to make your fights a little easier; and by easier I mean you may surprise monsters when you fight them to make it easier to fight them but if you run out of torches, they may spot you first and get the first strike. But the positive side of doing that and letting that happen is that you get better Rewards.

Now the leveling system in which your characters level up is really a bit slow. I can play six to seven Dungeons and my characters will only be level 2. As far as using spells and abilities, they were great for me, some very weak but I know as it progressed, the spells got stronger and more useful. The fact that you get to upgrade everything in the town made it that more intriguing to keep doing dungeons, but in order to do that you have to have a lot of people because they can start losing health and when they do that you have to put them into a place like the bar or brothel or the cathedral so they can pray in order to relieve the stress that's put on them and heal up but again, that makes the game even more enticing. And based on this I would give the game play a 4.7 out of 5.

I recommend this game for anybody who likes the gruesome, the dangerous, and the eerie. However I would not recommend it for children for obvious reasons. I believe this game was well made well-planned and brilliantly designed and I think it would be a must have for RPG players.

FYI: Darkest Dungeon is digitally available for PS4 and Nintendo Switch. A physical edition for both consoles will be available in March. The physical copy, Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition will include The Crimson Court and Shieldbreaker expansions. (Keep an eye out here for more updates on the physical releases!)

If you're wanting to purchase Darkest Dungeon on PlayStation Network or Nintendo eShop (prices may vary), you can pick up gift cards at the following retailers:

GameStop PlayStation Network Nintendo eShop
Walmart PlayStation Network Nintendo eShop 
Best Buy PlayStation Network Nintendo eShop 
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5 Tips to Maintaining Your Car

This post is sponsored by Cars.com. All thoughts/opinions belong to the writer. Your experience may differ.


When it comes to owning a car, there are a lot of things that go into owning a car. You have to think about gas, insurance, and making sure that your car stays in tiptop shape, which includes maintenance on the car. But there are some things you can do yourself to keep your car running like it should. 

Here a few tips to keep in mind when maintaining your vehicle so you're not visiting the repair shop frequently.

Keep an eye on fluids.  This includes brake fluid, oil levels, washer fluid, coolant, and any other levels your car has or needs. Remember: If you're not sure what the correct level is, consult your car's manual.
  • Oil Change - Almost every vehicle requires an oil change every 3000-5000 miles. Not changing your oil can result in major mechanical problems - including a seized engine. (I speak from experience!! A new used vehicle only a year old became a paperweight.) You can check your oil levels while pumping gas!
  •  Brake fluid - It is important to keep your brakes in working order. The brake fluid serves as a lubricant of all movable parts and prevents corrosion. And as we all know, brakes that don't work as they should is a recipe for disaster.
  • Washer fluid - Your windshield gets dirty while you're driving or you notice that it needs a quick cleaning while you're on the highway, so what do you do? Use your windshield washer jets, right? Well, what if there is no washer fluid in there? Your windshield stays dirty, and all that dirt just piles on until a) you wash your car, or b) you finally fill it up.  If there is no washer fluid in the fluid reservoir, internal parts of the pump can corrode and the plastic parts can degrade.
 Learn to do simple repairs. Every car owner should learn to do simple repairs because you're not always going to be able to get to a repair shop when you should or you just simply can't afford it, and this includes changing your windshield wiperss or how to jump your car when you have a dead battery.

Tires are VERY important! Have you ever noticed a car with bald tires? More than likely, that car has trouble gripping the road and will spin or fishtail during bad weather. Safe driving should always include tires with good tread. One simple way to check your tire's tread is the Penny Trick. If you can see Lincoln's head, you are in dire need of tires. (Tip: The Penny Trick is something else you can do while fueling up!)


Clean those mirrors and windows (along with your headlights)! If you clean mirrors and windows at home, you should do the same thing for your car. Headlights looking a little, well, foggy? They may need to be restored. (Found this awesome guy at the Wal-Mart in Hillsboro, Texas that does AMAZING headlight restoration, and Wal-Mart only charges $30 for it.)

Your interior should look just as good as your exterior. If you ever planning on selling your vehicle, a clean interior can mean the difference between the amount you were looking for and a much lower sale. Wash the exterior at least once a month and clean the interior every 3 months. Some people get their cars detailed. Go to Cars.com to find out more.

What are some other tips you use when it comes to keeping your car running and looking great?
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Gamers get a competitive edge by using #TurtleBeach Elite PRO PC Headsets

Thanks to Turtle Beach for the partnership. All thoughts/opinions belong to the reviewer. Your experience may differ.

(Thanks to Leigh, our resident gamer, for the review!)

I have been a gamer for many years and have played on multiple platforms and have playes multiple genres of games. But I have always wondered what could I do to improve my play style.

Of course I've heard numerous ways to improve one thing or another in a game but it usually comes down to the gear you use to play - a custom or advanced keyboard can help you prioritize skills, abilities, and weapons better than a normal keyboard, while a custom mouse could also help you  with reaction times, aiming, and spell or skill set manipulation through macros.

Although I have tried many keyboards and mice to find a set that works better with my play style, I always seem to be lacking in some aspect. I never knew how much sound quality could affect how well or poorly you do in a game until I was able to use the Turtle Beach Elite Pro Professional Surround Sound PC Gaming Headset.

I have used many different brands of headsets and mics and each one seems to be the same. They all seem to put out good sound quality and comfortability and clarity when it comes to talking with your team... Or so I thought. I never knew how wrong I was.



COMFORT & SOUND
After using the Turtle Beach Elite Pro Headset, not only did I immediately notice how comfortable they were and how they had adequate ventilation for your head and ears, but I also noticed that the sound quality was unrivaled in its ability to pick up every single audio detail.

We all know thar when playing games, the quality of each game has improved over the years to where even the slightest sounds from reloading a gun to a tip toe are in each game, but what I noticed is on most headsets is that those sounds are so faint of a sound, you can barely notice them.

After using the Turtle Beach Elite Pro, I could hear every subtle detail in sound that I've never heard before, or at least not clearly. I played several rounds of Call of Duty and noticed that my KDA had improved tremendously compared to other games before using it. I was able to hear the small reloading sounds from behind a wall or someone trying to crouch and sneak behind me; therefore it decreased my reaction time and I was able to dodge and move out of the way or kill someone I normally wouldn't have heard before.


MIC
As for the mic on the Turtle Beach Elite Pro, my teammates and friends could tell me how much better of a quality of sound was coming from my end and how they could hear more clearly what I was saying to them in terms of strategy or any other situation you may need it for.



OVERVIEW
If you are one of those people who always wonder why it seemed like other players had a bigger edge over you in a game, there is a good possibility they are using a high quality headset like the Turtle Beach Elite Pro Surround Sound PC Headset. I would recommend anyone who wishes to just improve their game or even if they plan to become pro to purchase the Turtle Beach Elite Pro. Watch your score skyrocket.



SPECS

  • What's in the box: Headset, removable microphone attachment, 3m PC USB Amplifier Cable with In-line Controls, 1.3m Console 3.5mm Audio Cable with In-line Controls, Quick Start Guide (a full user manual is available for download)
  • Audio: USB For Windows PCs / 3.5mm Jack for PlayStation 4 Pro/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Mobile/Tablet
  • ProSpecs Glasses Relief System
  • Superhuman Hearing
  • Unidirectional Gaming Microphone
You can purchase the Turtle Elite Pro Surround Sound PC Gaming Headset for $199.95.


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