Twenty-Three Reasons Why I Love My Husband

Mr. Horton and I will be celebrating twenty-three years of marriage on Sunday. And guess what!? It's suppose to be storming! April 22nd just wouldn't be the same without a thunderstorm. Twenty-three years ago, it was storming during our wedding, too. But for fun, I thought I would share twenty-three reasons why I love my man.

1.   He tells me he loves me every single day.
2.   He is an awesome dad.
3.   He is a very hard worker.
4.   He helps those in need (gets it from his daddy).
5.   He calls me every day at work to see how my morning is going.
6.   He is a good, Christian man.
7.   He knows how to unload the dishwasher and wash clothes.
8.   He builds me fires in the fireplace even if it's September or April.
9.   He lets me use his razor.
10. He loves me even when I'm unloveable.
11. He knows how to fix things to save money.
12. He likes to surprise me with M&Ms.
13. He can read my mind and finish my sentences.
14. He lives to make me and Alise happy.
15. He puts gas in my car.
16. He has held my hair when I've been sick.
17. He enjoys date nights as much as I do.
18. He has a face that I've never seen without a mustache.
19. He kills all the spiders in the house and snakes in the pool.
20. He supports me and all my crazy ideas. 
21. He knows how to pick a great movie and series. 
22. He grills the best steaks! 
23. He is simply the best!

Check out these posts, My Wedding Ring, and Let's Make A Memory.

Have a happy weekend! I'll be back on Tuesday! 

Flower Power

I was in to flower power before flower power was cool! Ha! Seriously, though, I have always loved floral prints and if they never go out of style, I would be forever happy. I'm linking up with the Babes at The Blended Blog for their weekly style prompts and I can't wait to see what flower power everyone else is sporting today. Be sure to stop by and say hello to my blog friends!

We took these pictures on Sunday afternoon when the temps were below sixty. Needless to say, I was freezing. We are certainly in the throes of "Sprinter" here in Louisiana. The good news is that my two photographers redeemed themselves and took some half way descent pictures this week - even if Wayne did get his finger in the pic. And Alise didn't even laugh at me.

I absolutely love this dress, y'all.  I have always been a fan of navy and pink and the flower design with ruffle sleeves is just icing on the cake. I have had such a great experience with Paisley Grace, but I do suggest sizing down as the "tent dresses" that I love so much do run big. I'm actually wearing a small in this dress and I don't wear a small in anything! I also have no idea why my pearl necklace loves my right boob.

My tent dress even has pockets, y'all! What is it about a dress that has pockets? My shoes are from Target and I'll link them below. They are suede and I sometimes struggle with being comfortable in strappy shoes and sandals, but I sized up and they are perfect! 

Dress//Shoes

I saw this yesterday on social media and it reminded me of my Jumper Inspo post. All I could do was shake my head. It is so true, isn't it! I would probably pee all over myself before I got the crazy thing unzipped! Just saying. 

Calling all my friends! Bloggers and non-bloggers! Please Be My Guest!

Some of you that have been blogging for as long as I have may remember the days of guest blog posts. I've always wanted to host some guest bloggers here on my blog, but never had the nerve to ask. As you know, we're going to Disney in May and I would love to have my friends as guests here on The Horton Family blog while I'm away. You don't have to have a blog to be a guest or even write a long post, but I would LOVE for my readers to meet some of my fabulous friends! You can write about absolutely anything! If you're interested, email me and let me know and we'll talk deets. I would love for you to be my guest! 

Four Things You Should Know About Accountants

Remember the Virginia Slims ad back in the 80s? "She's come a long way, baby"? Well, I think accountants have come a long way, too. At least over my nineteen year career, I can tell a significant change in the accounting profession. If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I'm a Certified Public Accountant and I take those three extra initials after my name pretty seriously because just like a lawyer, I can also be "disbarred" by my profession. Thanks to a bookkeeping elective in high school, I decided that I no longer wanted to be a history teacher, but I wanted to go the accounting route instead and although there were college courses that pained my very existence, I stuck with it, graduated cum laude and took the CPA exam soon after that (while working full time). Studying for that exam was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but with a lot of prayer and no social life, I passed and my dream came true.

Today I'm sharing a few things about my profession just because I want to bust the myth that accountants are stuffy and boring, number crunchers with no social skills that do nothing all day but look at numbers.

1. Excel spreadsheets are our best friends.
A week before I graduated college, I went to work for a local CPA firm (who was JUST coming out of the dark ages from doing everything by hand!). We had licensed software for client bookkeeping, but our main source for spreadsheet analysis and work papers was Lotus. Anyone remember Lotus? Talk about dark ages! That's like comparing a 1973 Motorola phone to an iPhone 10! Thankfully, Microsoft came to the rescue and gave us Excel and although there have been a ton of updates through the years, accountants LOVE Excel! Love me some Excel spreadsheets! They make me oh-so happy! A few weeks ago, I was cleaning my office and decided to let go of the electronic calculator. It's been on my desk (beside my computer!) since the beginning of my career. Now, if I need to add some numbers, I just key them into Excel, highlight them, and it automatically gives me a total. Not to mention all the fun functions and other cool stuff.

I can tell that I'm losing you already, so I'll stop there. A little too much happiness on the Excel train!

2. We're really not boring people.
It really ticks me off that every. single. time. an accountant is portrayed in a television show or movie, we're nerds with glasses. I'm specifically thinking of Ben Afflek in the move, The Accountant (which was a really good movie, by the way!). Accountants unite! We are not nerds! We just like numbers. Just like teachers like kids and chefs like food. We like "massaging the data" and sifting through financial records. We're not back office bean counters. We enjoy being team players and we have innovative thinking skills. We like to have a good time. And I can say personally, that some of us KNOW how to have a good time! Ahem!

3. We love money.
One of my favorite things I got to do when I was in public practice was bank auditing. We thought we were so cool back in the day! We'd show up unannounced at a bank around 2:00 in the afternoon when the tellers would be counting down their bank drawers for the day, and declare a teller window audit. We would also count the money in the vault and the ATMs. My managing partner told our team one day, "If you ever look at a pile of money and the thought of stealing comes to mind, then you know you're in the wrong business." Accountants are known for their ethical standards and professional realism, but unfortunately situations like Enron have given us a bad rep. We love dollar signs and we especially love when everything adds up the way it's suppose to.

4. We really do hate tax season.
Don't ask us how tax season is going. Yes, we're busy. Yes, we're working long hours. And, yes, we hate it. And that's one of the reason I left public practice after five years. I hated those long hours and working on Saturdays while everyone else was having fun. I can count on one hand the number of female peers that I began working with professionally that are still in public practice, working those long and tiresome hours during tax season. It's definitely not a woman's world if she wants to have a family. I don't even do our own tax return!

Recently, our pastor told the story of Scott Foster, the accountant/would-be hockey player that won the game for his professional team. Check it out! It's a great story that I had already seen on social media, and when I read about it, I was like, "YES!!" The perfect example that accountants are not boring, do have pretty terrific lives, and can still save the day! 

A Weekend In Our Life

I've seen you girls' 'A Day In The Life' posts and although they are always fun to read, I never feel like I can contribute because who wants to see pictures of me at the office on the computer or the phone? We go to school, work, come home, eat supper and go to bed. Sorry, I guess our life just isn't very "blog worthy" all the time. Well, all I can say is that I got a wild hair Friday night and decided to show you not just a DAY, but our whole weekend! We had no major plans, but a tornado did try to kill us! I even shared more than I usually do on my IG stories just for kicks. Here's our weekend! 

I picked Alise up from school and she showed me her ribbons that her coach gave her for her and her team placing second in a few relays from the track meet that never ended on Wednesday (She got home after midnight). I still cannot believe that my Baby Girl ran the 1600 relay! She ran an entire lap all by herself! We celebrated with ice cream and then headed to the mall to find her new tennis shoes for Disney.

I have told y'all before how much I love the pick up grocery service at Walmart. We picked up our groceries for the week and I waited less than ten minutes for them to bring them to my car and put them in the back. Sheer bliss!

After Wayne got home from work, we met my parents for pizza despite a tornado warning. I was a nervous wreck as I was scarfing down my pizza. I can't tell you how often I dream about tornados! It's insane the number of times I dream about dying in one! Ha! My late paternal grandmother hated bad weather and I guess I'm following in her footsteps! Fast forward to 2:30 Saturday morning and we were camped out in our hall bathroom because of a "tornado emergency." Never been through an emergency before, but it ain't fun, let me tell ya! This was the second Friday night/Saturday morning that we were camped out in our bathroom with me watching our local news live and praying. All thanks to God, we were fine and had no damage. Earlier that evening, Alise and I did face masks and caught up on Survivor and then later, Wayne and I watched the first episode of season four of Bosch! Love that series. 

Can you tell someone doesn't like black olives? That would be me!

Due to be woken up in the middle of the night, we slept in on Saturday and didn't really get moving until around 11:00. I made French toast and bacon and then Wayne and I finally took those four huge trash bags of clothes that have been bugging me in the spare bedroom to Goodwill. I went to Ulta to find Funny Bunny nail polish that you girls suggested on IG Stories (which, by the way, y'all CRACK ME UP with your comments!), but I had to settle for Essie's Blanc instead. We got my oil changed, too. 

Later Saturday afternoon, I packed a picnic basket and Wayne and I went to a local vineyard for their Saturday afternoon concert series. We had SO much fun and even ran into some old friends. It sprinkled on us for about the first fifteen minutes, but then the sun came out and it made for a great, but cool, evening.

On Sunday, we went to church and had a great time of worship. But my biggest blessing of the day came while we were at lunch afterwards. We ran into Ms. Nellie, who sold us my wedding ring twenty-four years ago this month (I think I put on my IG that it was twenty-three years, but we were engaged a year before we got married). She worked for the jewelry store. I can't tell you how excited I was to see her, especially with our anniversary this coming weekend! Ms. Nellie and her husband go to our church, but since we're in different worship services, we don't get to see her as much. She always remembers us and is just one of the sweetest people I have ever met. 

You can't tell in the picture, but Ms. Nellie is wearing THE finest leopard coat. I was jealous! Ha! She looked wonderful.

The rest of our Sunday afternoon included long naps and meal prep for the week. I see lots of red meat in our future this week with Pioneer  Woman's meatballs and lasagna. It's all good. Especially if it makes this Mama's evening easier.

I've got a really boring blog post coming up tomorrow in time to celebrate National Income Tax Day. Check it out. Or skip it. Whatever. 

{Lots of} Friday Favorites

Hello, Friends! I wanted to give a big shout out to some of my new friends and followers because y'all are awesome! You might not believe it, but I honestly write for myself. It's how I cope with stress and anxiety (and raising a teenager). So the fact that you guys stop by day after day and read the crazy crap I write just blows me away. And all I can say is, "Thank you!" Thank you for your comments, thank you for your love, and thank you for your grace.

It just hit me that today is Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious? I'm not. If I see a black cat, I'm like, "Oh! There's a black cat!" I'm not afraid to walk under a ladder, but when someone opens an umbrella in a room, I'm like, "WHOA!"

As usual, I'm sharing some Friday Favorites for the week and linking up with Andrea over at Momfessionals. Click the link and meet some new blog friends. We're all in this crazy Blog Land together and I absolutely love it! 

Favorite Pandora Station ||
Kelly mentioned a few weeks ago on her IG story about Elevated Praise on Alexa and I decided to see if I could find it on Pandora. I found it! And I am loving this new praise and worship station. I listen to it in the morning while I'm getting ready for work and in between conference calls at the office. Love it! 

Favorite Podcast ||
I was listening to an interview with Jamie Ivey on the Hey Girl podcast when Jamie and the hosts begin talking about their favorite podcasts. Someone mentioned, Book Tour With John Grisham. I've listened to three episodes and I've loved them. I had no idea that the late Susan Grafton was so hilarious! If you're a John Grisham fan, I highly recommend the podcast.

Favorite New Author ||
Speaking of authors...stopped in the library last week and picked up a book my Meg Gardiner. Never heard of her. But I loved her book I just read, Into the Black Nowhere. If you love suspense and thriller, then, I highly recommend it. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Gardiner's books (I guess I would compare them to James Patterson). 

Favorite New Makep Product ||
I drank the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer kool-aid and I can't tell you how much of a difference it has made. After watching Jen's makeup tutorial on her IG stories a while back, I decided to take a chance on this concealer and try blending it the same way and what do you know? It doesn't look too shabby! I really like it!

Favorite Doctor ||
I was so excited to see my favorite doctor this week even if it meant stirrups were involved. Her smile is beautiful and since we're the same age, she just gets me. She also confirmed what I've been knowing all along: It sucks getting old.

Favorite Verses ||
Our church is in the process of building a new sanctuary and this past Sunday, we had a prayer walk and the opportunity to write on the steel beams.

April 2010 - Children's Building (Kids Town)

April 2017 - New Sanctuary

Loved having all of our family verses together in one place. If it hadn't been so cold outside, we would probably have taken the time to actually write them out, but it was 45 degrees that morning and I had worn open toed shoes! It was oh-so cold!

Favorite Watch ||

I've had my apple watch for a year and I am still very happy with it. I know every wearer  is different, but my favorite face to wear is the scrolling pictures option. While I was scrolling through Pinterest this week, some beautiful Bible verses and prayers for children popped up in my feed and I got the idea to send those to my phone. It makes me smile when I look at my watch and see a favorite verse or prayer for Alise in between pictures of her and her daddy.

Favorite Deal ||
Last Saturday, Ulta had Better Than Sex Mascara for $11.50 (half price) as part of their Ulta 21 Days of Beauty campaign. Of course, Alise was with me, so I had to buy her one, too, so I'm not sure I really got a deal.

Favorite Comedian ||
Something else that I recently discovered on a podcast is comedian, John Crist. He is on IG (@johnbcrist) and he is SOOO stinking funny, y'all! Alise told me that he was at our church for our youth's Emerge weekend back in January. He is definitely a fun person to follow!

Favorite Link Up ||

My blog friend, Tanya, is co-hosting a fun blog swap next month and you're invited, too! Go over to her blog and get all the details! It's gonna be FUN!

If you're interested in checking out what else I shared this week, be sure to visit these links: Why You Shouldn't Bake A Cake During A Thunderstorm (which, did y'all know there was a book out there with the same title?? I had no idea until  someone left me a comment!), Show Us Your Books - April 2008, and Green Is Keen.

Y'all be sure to get those taxes filed this weekend! That's a friendly reminder from your blog CPA! Ha! Enjoy it, Peeps!