About

Hi! I’m Christi, the blogger & owner of Frugal Novice. I’m 30 and live in Texas, where I am a graphic designer & social media specialist at my “day job.”

My bachelor’s degree in advertising & public relations (with emphasis on graphic design) and master’s degree in communication have all come together to make blogging something I absolutely love. That, and the fact that I talk a lot. That makes writing come pretty naturally, and adds to my love of social media.

I also happen to be married to my best friend in the whole world, Brian.

Here’s us on the night we got engaged back in 2002 – we look so young!

Brian and I were high school sweethearts and got married on our five year anniversary. He’s a talented graphic designer, Lego enthusiast (to put it mildly), gamer, geek through and through, and amazing dad to our two boys.

J is 4 years old and cracks us up daily. He’s definitely the older child with a type A personality to match, and a serious silly streak. He loves Legos, cars, dinosaurs, & playing with his little brother (most of the time).

C is 2 1/2. He’s our resident foodie and will eat pretty much anything – his favorite snack is raw onions (good thing dating is a long way off)! He adores his big brother and is a snuggly kid who almost always has his beloved blankie in tow. And so far, I can’t bear to cut his cute shaggy head of hair.

Sally is the puppy of the family, but she likes to try & put Josie in her place.

I’ve got to mention our dogs, because without them I’d be the only girl in the house! Josie is our 7-year-old miniature dachshund, and Sally is our {huge} Lab/Golden Retriever puppy we got in August 2011. I think they have a love/hate relationship right now, but both are great with the boys and are an important part of our family.

So, there you have us. We’re a tight-knit family with faith at our core. We’re homebodies, but love hosting friends and family for dinners, movies or game nights. We’re not always conventional, especially for west Texas, but we’re happy where we’re at and really feel like we’ve found our place.

When I first started this blog, I planned to chronicle my attempts to live more frugally. I quickly decided it’s a lot more fun to write about everything I love, so you’ll find a mix of topics here, from food and recipes (I love to cook and bake) to crafts, activities, printables and more. I am PR friendly and have worked with quite a few companies both on my blog and through my social media channels.

Thanks for visiting FrugalNovice! I hope you’ll stick around.