Yours Truly, Melissa

Book Club {January}

2012-01-31T20:16:00.000-06:00

Always wanted to join a real book club, and this year I have! I know, you can hardly believe it and wish to celebrate. You'd think that a book club would be easy to come by, but that is where you are sadly mistaken! Or maybe I was just never in the know...or just uninvited. Sad...

The idea to form a proper Book Club came to a friend and I whilst discussing what a bunch of us girls could get together and do besides happy hour, or "girls' night out" on the town yet again, or eating mass amounts of food. Not that there is anything wrong with those things! No, not at all! In fact I thoroughly enjoy happy hour, girls' nights out on the town, and especially eating mass amounts of food, but we can do that whenever! We wanted to do something different, so the idea to form a Book Club was born.

Last week was our first time to meet. Verdict? It was great! We kept the group smallish on purpose, (there are only 5-6 of us girls) so that there would be opportunity for everyone to join in on the conversation. Our first book was Mark Haddon's the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

Here's the book's description according to Amazon:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

Sounds pretty interesting, right? The verdict among the Book Club ladies was good as well. Have any of you read it? What was the last good book you've read?

book image source: goodreads.com

Regarding Running

2012-01-29T21:22:00.000-06:00

I'd never claim to be a runner...more like a jogger and even that's a stretch. When I first moved back to Oklahoma in October of 2008, I kinda got into jogging for lack of other things to do. Fall in Oklahoma can be really beautiful with sunny skies and temps in the upper 50s which = great jogging weather. So during that particular Fall I found myself lacing up my sneaks 2-4 times a week and hitting the pavement. Nothing too serious... I was filling up my time with these short jogging spurts. I didn't even know why I did it, I just did. It was a couple months of this, before I finally agreed to go on a jog with a neighbor because I was certain I'd tire easily, or slow her down, or wouldn't be able to run as far as she could.

Well the opposite was true! I found that I could easily put in three miles at a faster pace than I thought. So I continued to jog and got to where I could log three miles in just under 30 minutes. Not record breaking, but for me, a never runner, it was pretty impressive. Then one time, I ran five miles! Five miles, I couldn't believe it! I never thought I'd run that far. Ever. Sounds silly to regular runners, but for me... it always sounded like such a far unattainable distance.

I never meant to stop jogging...but then I got a five day a week job, winter kicked in with temps dipping into the 30s, I met Matt, and I developed a bit more of a social life. Jogging just sort of slipped away...and even though we were only close for about three months I missed it and thought about it often, like an old friend.

Eventually I laced my sneakers back up and would go for a jog here and there. Sometimes on the treadmill (my least favorite) and then around the neighborhood when the weather was nice. I'll usually run for a mile and a half to two miles, not really enjoying the experience but wishing I did. What is that? Not enjoying something (jogging) but wishing you did...?

I've been in this pattern for a couple years now: the super short and not that enjoyable jogs.

Then today, the weather was perfect. Sunny...cool, but not too cool. I told Matt I was thinking about going for a run and asked him how far he thought I'd go. Before he answered I told him that I'd probably make it about two miles and he challenged me to do three.

So I went a different way...tacking on another mile at the beginning before looping onto the route I normally take. It was like I was tricking myself, but not really. Then before I knew it, it was three miles. And it felt so good. Sure I'm closer to a 12 minute mile pace as opposed to the 10 minute mile pace I was (3+ years ago!), but it still felt great! It's like I felt a piece of what real runners are talking about...the jonesing to get back out there to be better. I felt/feel that today.

These words I type, seem so weird to me... a non runner.

So tell me joggers/runners, what is it that motivates you? What gets you to lace up your sneaks, to get up before the sun, and to just hit the pavement? Also what the heck do you wear in the winter? Seriously, I want to know.

Vacation Flashback: Hawaii

2012-01-26T13:41:00.002-06:00

Back in October of 2009, I had an opportunity to visit a college friend of mine who was living and working on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. I wasn't quite myself during that year...I had been back in Oklahoma for about 12 months after one of the most trying times I'd ever gone through. Matt and I had been dating for about 10 months, I was suffering through a job that I despised (and lost shortly after this trip), and despite the leaps and bounds I'd made up to that point, I still felt a bit overwhelmed from time to time.

I needed a breather.

A trip to Hawaii seemed like the ultimate getaway. And it was.

Before my DSLR days:

The travel time from Oklahoma to Hawaii isn't short, and it felt freeing and independent to travel alone. Sure it was just a flight, and I stayed with a dear friend for the week I was there...but I needed bits and pieces of independence during that time. Just to show myself that I could stand on my own two feet. Or something like that...

On a side note: Matt and I were talking over dinner the other night and I told him that sometimes it's hard for me to share, to trust because part of me struggles so hard to be independent. He smiled kindly and said, "You don't say?" in a tone that said "tell me something I don't know." Then we laughed and discussed how far we'd come and how thankful we are for each other. Those are my favorite kind of nights.

I forget, but I've been told that I wear my thoughts and feelings all over my face. Needless to say, this character flaw of mine has gotten me in trouble a few times. When I'm with people that know me well, I suppose they are use to this fact about me and therefore don't react. Their lack of reaction makes me forget that I ever do this.

I know that there isn't a perfect relationship, but I'm thankful to be with a man that loves me, a man that puts his love for me into words and actions, despite my flaws.

My initial post regarding my trip to Hawaii here

12 Meals, 12 Months : January

2012-01-25T21:52:00.000-06:00

So I'm not exactly starting out the 12 Meals, 12 Months, 2012 project with a bang. Nope. For starters it kind of looks like cat food, and I had to make this meal twice because the first time I absent mindedly added sugar when I should have added flour.

Ooops!

Matt ended up ordering pizza after that first attempt, and when I was determined to make it right a second time, he was not interested in digging in.

Soooo not exactly a smashing success. But that's okay! It's all about trying something new every month, win or lose, good or bad. This is what I tell myself anyhow... because after that first weirdly sweet chicken pot pie concoction I first came up with - I was thinking cooking and me were just not meant to be.

But no. I've decided to do a project this year and I will complete it!!! Ahhhh... Determination makes me sound so...Determined!

I used the Chicken Pot Pie recipe from this month's Real Simple magazine. Click here for the recipe and a much more appetizing picture of what it's apparently supposed to look like.

What I did different (AKA what might have been another reason this recipe wasn't a smashing success): a) I didn't use my crock pot - instead I cooked it on the stove top in my Le Creuset because this is how I've made many other delicious soups and stews. b) I used button mushrooms instead of cremini mushrooms because my little grocery store didn't have any, and I was too lazy to drive to another store to find the special mushrooms.

I probably won't be adding this dish to the list of things to definitely make again. No, it didn't taste like cat food, it was just...eh, okay. Maybe it would have been better with real a real biscuit topper instead of the puff pastry topping they suggested... or maybe I've just been turned off by the memory of sweet chicken pot pie. Gross!

Have you made anything new this month? Feel free to share and link up!

In other news, I've bought three new healthy meal cookbooks to aid me in my efforts for the next 11 months. We love to eat around here, and I'd really like to add a healthy side to our dining experiences... Matt's not exactly thrilled, since healthy and low fat can often mean tasteless. But I know that good for you food can actually taste really good too. The mission continues...

Wish me luck!

48 Random Things About Yours Truly

2012-01-22T20:25:00.002-06:00

I normally don't do meme's on the ole blog, but I got a wild hair (actually I got bangs - again!) and decided to do this one I spotted on Living Aloha. I'd love to read your answers, so let me know if you decide to play along!

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

1. What time did you get up this morning? We went to a birthday party last night and stayed out pretty late so I slept in until 930 this morning! Sleeping in on the weekends is so great!

2. How do you like your steak? Perfectly grilled - Medium

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. We rarely go to the movies and Matt wanted to do something low key on Friday, so he picked the movie and we sat in the balcony. This was our first time to experience balcony seating. Let me tell you, it’s fancy with wait staff and super large heated chairs. The movie was really good…I had no idea what it was about so I had no expectations. The little boy who played the main character is a very talented actor.

4. What is your favorite TV show? New Girl with Zooey Deschanel – light hearted and funny - the way I like TV

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I love living in Oklahoma because it’s where the majority of the people I love the most live. But just for fun, I’d say that I’m pretty sure Matt and I would love, love, l o v e to live in big city, particularly New York City.

6. What did you have for breakfast? A frittata with egg, spinach, and tomatoes

7. What is your favorite food? This is hard because I enjoy all different kinds of food, but if I had to pick I’d say Italian food is my favorite.

8. Foods you dislike? I'm not a picky eater, but I know that I do not like liver. Ew!

9. Favorite place to eat? Locally: Charlestons, Benvenutis, O Asian Fusion

10. Favorite dressing? Annie’s Shitake Sesame Dressing (SO GOOD!)

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? a small suv crossover – I haven't ever really named my cars...

12. What are your favorite clothes? Casual dresses – so easy

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Italy, Italy, Italy!!!

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Depends on my mood… I like myself better when I say half full!

15. Where would you want to retire? Right where I am and travel the world.

16. Favorite time of day? Sunset

17. Where were you born? Clark Air Force Base, Philippines (Air Force brat here!)

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? OU football

19. What is your favorite fragrance? Coach Poppy

20. What is your favorite face cream? Oil of Olay’s Age Defying Daily Renewal Cream

21. Favorite baby/kids products? n/a

22. People watcher? Yes, especially at the gym. Makes the dreadmill go by faster…

23. Are you a morning or night person? Neither really…

24. Do you have any pets? Two dogs: Millie and Penny Lane

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? We’re going to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary! You already knew that though… :)

26. What did you want to be when you were little? An actress and an author

27. What is your favorite memory? Too many to count, what comes to mind right now is my wedding and honeymoon.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog person all the way

29. Are you married? Happily! Our one year anniversary is fast approaching!!

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yep

31. Been in a car accident? A couple fender benders

32. Any pet peeves? People who are hypocritical and overly egotistical.

33. Favorite pizza toppings? Mushrooms, Canadian bacon, and olives!

34. Favorite flower? Hydrangeas and tulips

35. Favorite ice cream? Chocolate chip cookie dough

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? I’m not eating fast food this year, but if I had to pick it’d probably be Taco Mayo. Their crunchy tacos are delish!

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Passed with flying colors the first time

38. From whom did you get your last email? From Angie on Living Aloha replying to a comment I left on her blog. She's a doll, you guys! Check her out.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Pottery Barn

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Not lately…

41. Like your job? I do.

42. Broccoli? Always adding broccoli to my salads at work!

43. What was your favorite vacation? My honeymoon

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? My husband. We had Italian!

45. What are you listening to right now? The Xx on my Pandora

46. What is your favorite color? Red, turquoise, and white

47. How many tattoos do you have? None!

48. Coffee drinker? Absolutely. Every single day.

Okay, now your turn!

I'll be sharing my January meal this Wednesday! I had to make it twice, and not because it was so good that we had to have it again.

New Coffee Table Swag

2012-01-18T22:29:00.000-06:00

Seems that I'm a sucker for pretty glass objects. Make it in the shape of an old timey milk bottle with some pretty etching and I simply cannot resist.

Nestled onto a drift wood colored tray, I'm liking the way this little trio looks on my newly revamped coffee table.

Craft Day with Girlfriends

2012-01-15T21:57:00.000-06:00

Feeling a bit low on quality time with my girlfriends, I proposed to two of my closest that we make a point to get together at least once a month for a girl’s night. They both thought it a grand idea and so I volunteered to plan our first girl’s night, or rather girl’s afternoon.

I thought it might be fun to have an afternoon of crafting and chatting, so I consulted pinterest for inspiration and came across this cute yarn wrapped wreath. We set a date, time, and place, and after a little research, I emailed everyone a list of supplies needed.

If you plan on attempting this project for yourself, my suggestion is the thicker the yarn the better!

My ~~masterpiece~~ craft project hanging on the front door

So it falls a bit short of our inspiration photo, (hello sad home-made lookin' felt flowers!) but we had a lovely afternoon chatting and catching up. Therfore, even if the craft project wasn't an all out success, the point of getting together certainly was. :)

Can’t wait to see what we do next month.

Do any of you ladies have a standing girl’s night with your dear friends?

Cooking & a Monthly Project

2012-01-12T19:57:00.000-06:00

Between my husband and I, it’s safe to assume that he’s the cook, and rightfully so! Matt can grill with the best of ‘em and whip up the most delicious dinners just by looking to see what we have in the fridge. And don’t get me started about the decadence that is his shrimp alfredo.

He doesn’t go off recipes. Okay, granted he may peek at a recipe or watch a cooking show as inspiration, but that’s really about it. Nine out of ten times, whatever he’s making turns out delicious.

You know that secret-ish profession you’d love to pursue (rocket scientist, interior designer, Victoria Secret model)? Well Matt’s is to be a chef and own his own successful restaurant.

And that’s all fine with me. I enjoy his cooking, he likes to do it, and does it so well. I’ve pretty much taken a very back seat to meal preparation around here. If I’m honest, I’d have to say it’s partly because I think that whatever I make will be subpar to anything Matt has made. Which, come on, is probably true.

However, Matt doesn’t make dinner every night. (We do way too much take out, eating out, and scrounging around). So sometimes I cook. Like earlier this week, I made taco salad again:

And it was good and so much better than ordering take-out Thai again. (Now, don’t get me wrong, I love me some take-out Thai food, but I was starting to fear that we were becoming too familiar at the Thai place down the street.) We’ve actually had this taco salad on several occasions since I very first made it. No, it’s not gourmet and fancy. Nor is it tofu or the most healthy option in the world, but I do use lean ground beef and the rest of the ingredients (minus the dollop of sour cream) are actually good for you. I know what’s in it and it’s a heck of a lot better than fast food. (Which, by the way, I have resolved to not eat in 2012). And Matt actually likes taco salad, he polishes off his portion every time.

Last month I made this hearty beef and veggie stew (whoa, sorry about the blurry picture! I was ready to eat, not take photos!) Matt said it was the best thing I’d ever made.

This morning, inspired by Hollie, I made baked eggs with fresh spinach, grape tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella pearls. It might not look that appetizing, but it was really tasty and fairly healthy!

So what I’m getting at is that I think I should cook more. Sure I use recipes and all my meals are fairly simple, and I run the risk of cooking something that turns out to be not so good. At all. But then, sometimes it turns out to be a tasty meal that I know I can make again! Plus, when I cook I strive to make healthy-ish meals, which we could use more of around here.

I want to try and make a new-to-me meal at least once a month this year. This will be my poject:
12 (new-to-me) meals, in 12 months, in 2012
and I’ll share with you what I made (be it good or bad) on the last Wednesday of every month.

What do you think? Attainable, right? I’d love if you wanted to play along! You could post a new meal you’ve made at the end of each month on your own blog: be it simple or fancy, healthy or decadent, tasty or not so much... (as in don't make this!) and then link back up here. I'd like to extend the invite to both expert and novice (like me!) cooks.

What do you say?Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll feel a little more confident in the kitchen with a handful of tasty, and fairly healthy, menu items to add to the rotation.

A Lovely Surprise

2012-01-08T23:27:00.000-06:00

our NYC tourist books

You guys!!! Next month Matt and I will have been married for an entire year! Where does the time go? 2011 just seemed to fly by in a flash. We were married exactly two days before Valentine’s Day and took our honeymoon in New York City shortly after saying “I Do”

Since we were married so close to Valentine’s day, we have practically decided that we’ll always celebrate the two occasions together. (Who am I kidding? This was my idea; Matt could care less about Valentine’s Day!) Instead of gifts, we thought it’d be more fun to celebrate by going on an annual weekend get-away together. This will be our third year to keep up the tradition. (The first year, before we were married, we road tripped down to Austin for a long weekend in February.)

As our anniversary quickly approaches, I started throwing out ideas for little road trips we could take to celebrate our anniversary. Matt seemed only half way interested which I was a bit annoyed by, but not too surprised, since he likes to plan things last minute. Finally he just told me that he thought it might be his responsibility to plan something … as sort of like a surprise.

Oh. Well okay! I’m down for surprises.

I didn’t really have any expectations and the surprise was revealed to me after a particularly brutal day of work last week. I came home mentally and physically exhausted and we had settled into our usual routine of chatting and dinner. Finally Matt blurted out, “What’s on the coffee table?”

My sweet husband has booked us a long weekend in San Francisco, such. a. lovely. surprise. Totally eased my bad day. And he purposefully picked out the exact same travel books we used in NYC to present his surprise to me. I’m still impressed by his thoughtful plan and by the surprise!

I already knew it, but I’ll say it again… that man of mine is a keeper.

p.s. I'd love any San Francisco related suggestions. Especially restaurant recommendations!

p.p.s. I'm in the market for a new camera lens. I'd love to know what you shoot with! I'm looking for a great zoom/walk around lens - something good for traveling - but of good quality. (tall request, right?!)

Year in Review. 2011

2012-01-04T14:40:00.000-06:00

Another year has gone and I can’t help but participate in recapping our year. This little blog of mine has become so dear to me, because it’s such a great way to document all the things we do and see. Thank you for reading along and leaving your sweet comments!

2011 started was busy right out the gate, we were planning for our February wedding and in January I took a bit of a time out for a girl’s weekend in Austin AKA my bachelorette party. Matt and his boys went to Florida for a fishing weekend signifying the end of his bachelor days. ;)

{our first married kiss and my brand new husband showing off his new ring}

{hands down, our favorite vacation to date}

February brought snow, our wedding day, and a fantastic NYC Honeymoon. It was a big, h u g e month for us.

Along came Spring and we welcomed the warm weather, budding trees, an afternoon of baseball on the berm, a girls’ weekend trip to New Orleans with Matt’s mom and sisters, and my sweet dog’s 10th birthday.

We closed on our first home at the end of April!!!! We spent the remainder of Spring renovating: down came a wall, up went some paint, and hardwood floors were installed. If only it was as easy as 1,2,3. (Totally worth it, by the way…)

We moved into our new house on Matt’s birthday, June 4th, and he put his birthday present together in the middle of our new living room. Oklahoma had the craziest summer that started with some intense storms that resulted in the demise of our oak tree. The rest of the summer was miserable, and I mean miserable with record breaking heat.

Our summer included a few summer concerts, time spent in the yard, a weekend road trip to visit my parents and a wildlife reserve, a relaxing weekend at the lake with friends, and another relaxing weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama with family. Pretty good, despite the heat.

Come Fall and we were immersed in OU football, decorating for Fall, and a fabulous weekend in Montana. We had an unforgettable day in Yellowstone National Park. Everyone should go.

We went to OU/TX weekend, Matt spoiled me on my birthday and I had a birthday dinner with my girlfriends.

Halloween was a hoot! And I revamped our coffee table.

All along I’ve been sharing the steps and progress we’ve made in making our house a home that reflects our personal style… still progressing!!

November arrived and so did the holidays – these past few months, really, just flew by…

We ended 2011 and greeted 2012 by hosting our very first party on New Year’s Eve.

Whew! What a great big year for us! Here’s to a fantastic 2012 and wishing happiness and health to you and yours.

Our 1st party

2012-01-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to you!

In keeping up with our year of “firsts” (first year of marriage, first house, first Christmas as a married couple, etc, etc) we celebrated our first New Year’ Eve as husband and wife by throwing our very first party. Can I tell you? Party planning kind of stresses me out because I am a perfectionist stuck in a procrastinator’s body. Weird, but totally accurate description of myself.

The pressure I put on myself can make sometimes make the process the opposite of fun. Luckily, I was able to keep the self-induced pressure mostly at bay, and planning and party were a success! (Our house has never been so clean and our fridge has never been so full!)

We had such a lovely time celebrating with a few of our friends in our new home. Matt even got sentimental, and broke out our wedding champagne flutes for our New Year’s Eve toast.

{Side Note: Several of our friends, who have all been married longer than Matt and I, told us that they’d only used their own wedding champagne flutes once or never at all!!! I’m a big believer in using and enjoying everything you own. No sense storing fine items for “special occasions”! My take is that we should all celebrate life n o w and go ahead and enjoy our fancy towels, crystal, and best china! That's what it's for.}

Coffee this morning was sipped over confetti and party hats.

We had a great 2011 (which I plan to recap with photos – stay tuned) and I’m looking forward to 2012 and all it has to bring. I’m a sucker for New Years and the idea of fresh starts and hopes for conquering new goals and dreams, arent' you?

Tulsa

2011-12-28T22:50:00.000-06:00

Earlier this month, Matt had to attend a work conference in downtown Tulsa. Glancing at the calendar, I was happy to see that I had a big chunk of time off work that coincided with Matt's conference. It was a no-brainer decision to tag along...

While Matt conferenced the day away, I had no trouble keeping myself entertained. I worked out at the hotel gym, finished up some Christmas shopping in Utica Square, and of course had a lesiure afternoon thanks to all my various forms of technology.

In the evening we got dressed up and ventured out for a fun dinner date in an unfamiliar town. With full bellies we cozied up in our king size hotel bed (we sleep in a queen at home!), put up the Do Not Disturb sign, and slept in a bit the following morning. Getting away with my man, just because, sure is nice.

Christmas Eve Weekend

2011-12-26T17:03:00.000-06:00

How was your Christmas weekend friends? Ours was great. In fact, one of the ladies at work volunteered to work my Christmas day shift and therefore I was free to spend the day with my family! I was overjoyed! We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family as orginally planned then partaked in lots of relaxing on Christmas day.

M&M Christmas Eve

with my gorgeous sisters in law

our tree on Christmas Eve

Matt's mom's tree on Christmas tree.

Each ornament is personalized. Matt and his siblings each have a personalized ornament from every Christmas (there are over 100 for the family). I was included in Matt's ornament last year, which happened to be right after we were engaged:

our ornament for 2010

our ornament for this year is a picture of the front door of our new house!

and, of course, our wedding date

The rest of the weekend involved tons of treats like cups of hot Christmas flavored drinks and

lots of time spent wearing the coziest clothes possible.

We both go back to work/the real world tomorrow and I am not looking forward to work this week. I'm working three 12 hour shifts in a row, which is something I never do. Ever. Ah well, having Christmas day off makes it all worthwhile.

We are also planning on having our first party at our place for NYE and the list of TO DO's is overwhelming. I'm trying very hard to focus on getting things "good enough" as opposed to the impossible: perfect.

merry & bright

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Can you believe that Christmas day is this Sunday? Our presents are wrapped, our tree is trimmed, and more than those things, we look forward to spending Christmas with family.

Where ever you are and whoever you're with, I sincerely want to wish you a happy, happy Christmas.

May it be merry and bright.

Not a puppy...?

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Where in the world did all this white hair on my pup's face come from? These old lady hairs (and the arthritis she gets in her right front leg during cold weather) are reminders of Millie's age.

Sure she goes to bed on her own around 8 o'clock every night, but she still has the fastest wagger in the west!

and the most kissable puppers face I ever did see!

I love my old girl. She's still got that puppy spunk in her.

click here for more about millie

Our Christmas Card

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

We're having a year of firsts. I wanted to personally (and virtually) send you our very first Christmas card we've ever had together. Of course I've erased our last name after the cursive green "the" in the lower left hand corner because who knows what kind of crazy folks there are out there! I'm kidding! (mostly) (okay I'm not kidding).

Matt's mom took several pictures for us at the beginning of the month and these were my two favorites. Luckily I didn't have to choose and was able to slap one on the front and one on the back. They look much better in person - my scanner didn't exactly scan in DLSR quality, but you get the gist, right?

I'm loving our first Christmas card and will keep one as a memento forever. Obviously.

Do very many people send out non-personalized Christmas cards anymore? We've received one so far and it's very cute, but otherwise the rest are all personalized cards with photos. I think photo Christmas cards are much more fun because it's nice to see everyones smiling faces in print. I usually keep all the photo Christmas cards we receive.

Did you make a personalized Christmas card this year? I'd love to see!

My Husband Cooks

2011-12-20T06:30:00.000-06:00

When I’m in the kitchen, you get taco salad. When Matt gets in the kitchen, you can look forward to things like shrimp and penne pasta with homemade alfredo. None of this sauce in the jar business either – he actually makes the sauce himself with all the fattening things you don’t want to know about because it’s just too good to care at that particular moment.

He paired our pasta with a garden salad tossed in a citrus vinaigrette (that he also made himself), and a crusty baguette. He made this meal for my parents and me this past Saturday and went to three different stores to collect all the ingredients. This effort alone makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

I have no complaints.

None.

Well besides the weight I’ve gained since we’ve been together. There’s that…

Weekending

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Kicking off the weekend right, I attended an all girls’ “dirty Santa” party. Ladies were instructed to bring something sexy or sassy within a certain price range. Funny enough, practicality won out and every single girl brought usable everyday gifts: comfy PJ’s and cute panties. I scored a cute boxer/sweatshirt PJ outfit.

Aren’t girl nights great? We all need them from time to time and I’ve had several discussions with different girlfriends this weekend with hopes of starting a monthly tradition of getting together. I hope it happens!

My parents also came to our house for the day on Saturday to celebrate our “family Christmas” (sadly work schedules/responsibilities/distance keeps us from celebrating on actual Christmas day). Matt cooked us lunch and we exchanged presents. Love my family…

The rest of the weekend, Matt and I laid low at home. We dined on take out, built fires, napped on the couch, and slept in till 10!

A weekend of family, friends, and relaxing = a winner in my books!

How was your weekend? Relaxing? Exciting? Or a mix of both?

Fire and Wood

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Matt ordered a rick of wood and it sits neatly stacked on the back porch.

We’ve been geeking out over having a fireplace ever since the temperature has dropped. For the past week and a half or so, we've had a fire burning. I just can't believe that it's already cold enough to actually use the fireplace. This past summer of unbearable heat has thrown my seasonal clock off, because I feel like we just skipped summer (we were indoors June through early Sept) and therefore, it just seems too soon to already be the middle of December.

Last Sunday was cold, gray, and drizzly. We lit the fireplace around noon and fed the fire logs until bedtime. I even became brave enough to throw logs onto the fire all by myself (because it's such a difficult and dangerous task!), but it's still mostly Matt's job to keep the fire roaring.

Starting Monday evening, we've had a fire going from the time Matt arrives home from work till bedtime. I won't be surprised if we repeat the all day fireplace usage this upcoming Sunday.

Something about a wood burning fireplace makes things oh so cozy.

We sit on the brick “bench” in front of the fireplace and warm our backs for as long we can take the heat. I educated Matt by informing him that the blue part of the flame is the hottest - a little tid bit I recall from junior high science. (Teachers, am I right?)

We're ready to buy a couple arm chairs for the fireplace sitting area so we can sit back, prop up our feet, and listen to the logs pop in the blue and orange flames... But since we just bought two armchairs, we're going to wait a bit. One thing at a time...

Is it cold where you are? Stay warm, stay cozy!

Household Chores

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

The other day I was talking to my dad on the phone, and we were discussing Matt’s cooking (because he is the primary cook in our relationship – and he happens to be an excellent cook at that). This upcoming Saturday my parents are coming to have “Christmas” at our house and Matt’s whipping something up in the kitchen for all of us to eat. I think homemade shrimp fettuccine alfredo is on the menu. You guys, I’ve had it before, and it’s decadent and delicious.

So while Dad and I were discussing our upcoming meal, he told me I was lucky to have found a husband that loves to cook. He’s right. I am lucky…and not just because he cooks!

He also happens to do his own laundry.

That’s right. He does his own laundry. He has since he was a boy and since he’s so good at it…why change? ;)

When it’s so easy to focus on the negative, I try to take a step back and really look. Because there’s more positive than negative around these parts…and no one likes an ungrateful Nancy.

What small and excellent things about your significant other do you find yourself overlooking from time to time?

Wham! Christmas Decorations!

2011-12-11T17:56:00.001-06:00

What’s your favorite Christmas music? I’m kinda a Wham! gal… (that sounds wrong), but seriously I love me some George Michael and Wham! tunes. Blame it on my 1980s upbringing…or just blame it on me being incredibly dorky from time to time.

For your listening pleasure: Wham's! Last Christmas (it’s very, very 80s)

Alrighty, while you listen I wanted to share some of our Christmas décor. Namely our tree and a couple Christmassy additions here and there… And as you’ll see I seem to have leaned, once again, toward some more mercury glass, burlap (surprised?), glass, pops of red, and gold and silver.

This is Matt and I’s very first Christmas together as a married couple, and it’s also our first Christmas that I’ve had the pleasure of decorating for. I’ll have you know that I didn’t purposely shop for mercury glass, burlap, gold, and silver – the stuff just draws me in like a moth to a flame. Luckily it all goes together, or so I think.

I didn’t come across any tree skirts that just wowed me, so I improvised. Three yards of burlap from ole Hobby Lobby did the trick just perfectly. No sew, no fuss, can’t get cheaper than that! ($4 and some change with a 40% off coupon!)

My friend Michele has given me an ornament every year for the past several years – this is one of my favorites! Tulips are one of my very favorite flowers (I adore hydrangeas these days as well).

What’s Christmas without a splash of red? Don’t you love that little knit Christmas tree ornament? I picked it up last week and I bought two more to attach to the gifts I’ll be giving two of my very best friends: Kathy and Michele. The three of us have been exchanging gifts for the past 10 years or so… love them both!

Mercury glass

glittered and nature inspired

glass ornaments

spare ornaments find a place on a side table

How are your Christmas decorations coming along? I’d love to see!

New Favorite Show: New Girl

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

Are you guys watching New Girl with Zooey Deschanel?

Of course it’s cute, it’s funny, and Zooey Deschanel is obviously beyond adorable.

(obviously)

Zooey plays the character Jess and the show basically chronicles how awesomely awkward/dorky she is. I’ve watched all the episodes and have laughed out loud many a time.

Here she is attempting to defrost a frozen turkey in the dryer- awesome!

And here she is wearing lacy undies on her head while pretending it’s a bonnet and speaking in an old fashioned accent - super awesome!

But the most recent episode has now secured me as a definite fan of New Girl. Jess is trying to impress Justin Long, her love interest, by being sexy. This endeavor just becomes one awkwardly hilarious event after another. She puts on this number over her underwear (which I’m pretty sure is supposed to be worn on its own) and then proceeds to bust out all her moves which includes "light choking".

I laughed hard. For a good five minutes. And every time I stopped laughing I'd think about it again and laugh some more. The next day my friend Kathy and I talked about the show and she said that she had the exact same reaction. Then we proceeded to laugh all over again just talking about it. It was funny, ya'll!

I guess what makes the show so funny for me is that it reminds me of my own girlfriends and how awesomely awkward we all are. You should watch it.

What’s your latest favorite TV show?

All photos from New Girl’s Facebook page – oh yeah, I totally “liked” that business!

Oh (Bokeh) Christmas Tree

2011-12-08T16:53:00.001-06:00

If you’ve spent any amount of time around these parts you may have noticed that I like to take lots of pictures. Loads of ‘em, really. Sure I’m a hack, but I love it so I keep snapping away.

Everyone loves a good bokeh every now and then, and bokeh twinkle lights are so pretty, no? For these photos I used my macro lens and the following settings: f/1.8, 1/50 seconds, and 1600 ISO.

Gibber jabber, that's what that all means. I'm a bit clueless when it comes to photography talk, but I can tell you that it's something about how large the lens opens, how fast the shutter opens and closes, and how much light you allow into your camera through the lens. It’s very complicated for my feeble mind and I really have to try and concentrate when I want to understand what it all means. Basically I referred to this awesome tutorial and figured out that things worked better once I switched the setting on my actual lens from automatic focus to manual focus.

So our tree is up and decorated, is yours? This year is special in that it’s Matt and I’s first Christmas as husband and wife, in our first house. In the middle of the hurry and scurry that this time of year brings, I’m trying to remember all these special first moments.

I used my kitchen

2011-12-05T22:16:00.001-06:00

Don't alert the press, but sometimes I cook. Okay, it's not very often. Mostly I let my husband get after 99.9% of the cooking because a) he's better at it and b) he actually likes to do it.

Works for me. (Don't be jealous!)

But the other week I grew a wild hair and made dinner not just once, but twice. Ground breaking! Even Matt declared it a pre-holiday miracle. I made this crock pot chicken noodle soup that was, eh, just okay. The recipe calls for frozen chicken breasts which pales in comparison to chicken noodle soup made with chicken on the bone. I doubt I'll make it again (but you know I ate it anyways!)

So we've got one not so impressive meal on the books to Ta Da: Taco Salad!

Oh wait...that's not really that impressive either... but it tasted so good. Matt liked it so much he declared it a new staple in the M&M household. That's a lot coming from my man.

I have my friend Michele to thank for introducing me to these edible taco bowls that you can find in the refrigerated section at the grocery store. We make ours by layering lean ground beef, smoked cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and avocados, warm black beans, fresh torn lettuce, and Matt likes to add salsa and sour cream to his. Obviously, you can come up with endless ingredient combinations. You can easily make it vegetarian by omitting the meat, or substitute the ground meat with chicken, ground turkey, or even steak!

What's your go-to easy peasy somewhat healthy week night dinner? I'd love some new recipe ideas!

(also, you guys are awesome! thanks so much for all your sweet comments on our living room update!)

Living Room Progress

2011-12-01T09:33:00.000-06:00

First off, I'd like to say a big thank you for all the sweet comments left regarding my little coffee table makeover! Your kind words really made my day and the fact that you took time to say them is what makes this whole blogging thing extra great.

After I'd finished the coffee table, I took advantage of how fairly clean it was around here to snap a few photos. Matt and I have continued to work on making our living room more "ours" since moving in 6 months ago. You can see the initial before and afters of our living room here and get a feel for how incredibly messy DIY home renovations can be here.

Here's a run down of where we sit (literally!) at the moment:

1. We've done some furniture re-arranging
(the couch was moved to it's current spot to make room for our new chairs)

2. We had plantation shutters installed a couple months ago and love them!
Prior to these beauties, we were using curtains that the previous owners had left behind. Despite being laundered, they were looking p r e t t y terrible since they have been taken on and off, thrown on the floor, and probably used as a sort of napkin from time to time during our whole construction phase...

3. I love lamp. (we've bought a few accessories here and there)

4. I have a sander and a paintbrush and I'm not afraid to use them: Project Coffee Table Makeover

5. We finally got two matching arm chairs! They are super comfy and not too shabby lookin' in my humble opinion.

I love the oatmeal colored fabric combined with the dark details. I wasn't too sure how I felt about the nail head trim at first...but I've come around to definitely liking it.

So we obviously need some things to dress up the walls and a few more details here and there, but I think that we're coming along nicely. Instead of going to a big furniture store and just buying a living room set right off the floor, we decided to live here first and see how we want to actually use our space. Besides not having unlimited funds, buying a matchy-matchy furniture set just isn't appealing, now is it? (Well that's what all the decorating magazine and bloggers say anyhow!) ;) We also didn't want to spend money on a piece of furniture prematurely only to later decide that something else would work much better. We're taking our time around here!

Now just for comparison's sake, I've put together a little before/progress collage (but you can see and read more of the details here and here) :

{Notice the grimy curtains in all the pictures?}

And six months after the photo labeled pre-renovation we have:

Much better I think.

Ears Up vs. Ears Down

2011-11-30T16:38:00.001-06:00

How's Wednesday treating you? Are you giving it a ~~thumbs~~ ears up like Penny Lane?

Or are you more like Miss Millie?

Ears down?

I'm somewhere in the middle. Doing my best to be in a good mood, but man oh man, some days it takes all you have to fight the fact that woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Am I right?

Good Things

2011-11-28T06:02:00.000-06:00

{beautiful blooming roses}

Hope you lovely people gobbled up lots of good food with those you love the most this past weekend. We certainly did… and doesn’t Monday and the return to the grind of everyday life always come back around too quick?

Mondays were made for remembering the good things, no matter how small they seem:

{Cozy fires (first fire in our first home together!) that keep us cozy and toasty}

{Especially on cold and stormy nights!}

{Thanksgiving dinners not just once,}

{but twice}

Thankful to have loving families on both mine and Matt’s side.

{Setting up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving}

Oh…I really do love the holidays!

Thankful

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

"Thank you for the food before us, the friends beside us, the love between us, & Your presence among us."

Project Coffee Table Makeover

2011-11-22T06:33:00.000-06:00

Once Matt and I moved into our new house we inherited an array of furniture from various family members. Before we had moved into our current house, we were living in a duplex with a living area the size of our couch. It was a tight fit in the ole duplex, so imagine how we felt after we had knocked down the wall in our new place? We were all holy moley - SPACE!

I digress…

So one piece of furniture we inherited was this coffee table:

Right off the bat I liked everything about it: the size, the shape, and the cute little scallops! Only problem; I wasn’t crazy about the color. I mean its brown, which is fine. But if you know me, you’d know that I love white furniture, white kitchens, white comforters, WHITE WHITE WHITE. (What kind of crazy Google searches am I going to drudge up now?)

So all along, I had plans on refinishing the coffee table white and luckily Matt was on board (it’s from his side of the family), because he agrees (!!!) that white is such a great contrast to our dark hardwood floors.

What better time to knock this little project out than this past weekend while Matt was off on a recreational boys thing? Before diving in, I perused some online tutorials and gathered that I should start by sanding off all the shiny finish:

(I totally carried this thing outside (and back inside) by myself. Turning it on its side then lifting it up I managed to bang the edge against my shins twice. P a i n f u l. I may or may not have screamed out a few choice words.)

After it was sanded, I rolled on several coats of white paint that I scored at Sherwin Williams during one of their 40% off sales a couple months ago (thanks for the heads up LBH!). Note: do not use a large roller meant for painting walls like someone I know did. That girl was dumb! After I, er, she did that she had to go back over it with one of those ultra smooth mini rollers meant for painting cabinets and such. And all was fine.

Here she is after a couple coats of paint. I like the way it looks in this picture, but in person it was a bit too white, so I decided to try my hand at glazing (after more online research).

Glazing was pretty fun – I tried to make it look “perfect” at first but then realized I’m too lazy to be a perfectionist and I don’t think glazing and perfect go together anyway.

A little imperfection adds character anyway. Or so I tell myself to cope.

I went heavier on the glaze along the grooves and spread a thin layer of glaze all over. Matt came home and said he thought it looked great. (He’s so smart, that boy!) And I like it too! It’s definitely much more my style now.

Best Time of Day

2011-11-21T06:42:00.000-06:00

With all the gorgeous trees in our new neighborhood, the one downfall (in my opinion) is that you can’t quite see the horizon. Which is kind of a bummer, but since I can still see the sunset light up the sky, I’ll keep my older neighborhood with mature trees.

Sunset, twilight, or dusk…whatever you want to call it, it’s the absolute best time of day. Someone wrote that they make a point to be outdoors every day during sunset, and it made me think that I should aspire to do the same.

Hands down, my most favorite part of the day. I shouldn’t miss it.

Fresh Blooms 10

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday and hooray for scooping up half a dozen of pink roses for $2.50! Two dollars and fifty cents! Sure they may keel over at a moment’s notice, but that’s the price you pay for two dollars and fifty cents. I’ll take it!

My weekend plans will be mostly on my own, since Matt has some outdoorsy guy stuff planned. He even bought some weather proof coat marked down from $110 to a mere $10. Apparently we are a bargain shopping duo…(smug much?). But anyhow, you should’ve seen him. Matt was super excited about his thrify find and proceeded to model his weather proof jacket for me before reading off all the features of said jacket in his best accent impersonation of a redneck.

It was a long 10 minutes.

Back to my weekend plans… maybe I’ll finally get around to refinishing our coffee table. I want to sand it, prime it, and paint it white. Then maybe distress it. I’m not sure.

Or maybe I’ll tackle some organizing around the house. I really want to do that whole thing where you go through all your belongings and ask yourself if you actually use it or love it and then chuck the things that don’t make it into either category. (I feel as though there’s a third criteria…but I can’t recall.)

So either way I hope to be painting or organizing. I haven’t decided which. And I plan on having a glass or two of wine and maybe a visit or two with some of my girlfriends. And reading.

How about you? How’s your weekend shaping up?

I Love Lamp

2011-11-16T19:09:00.001-06:00

For a while now I’ve been lovin’ me some burlap and mercury glass. So much so, that I incorporated both elements in my wedding this past February. But anyhow, the point I’m trying to make is that I’m drawn to anything burlap or mercury glass. The stuff just catches my eye, what can I say?!

Have you seen this gorgeous burlap and mercury glass lamp from Pottery Barn? I love it…obsessed a little, maybe… But at two hundred and sixty bucks a pop, I’ve refrained.

And I’ve also settled on replicas and bargain shopping. It all started with our bedroom lamps…

I found these cute burlap shades at Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale several months ago. I really like the button detail. Plus you should’ve seen the other shades I had on them before (boring!)…it's big improvement!

So some time passes after the burlap shade purchase and I’m perusing TJ Maxx when, BAM, I come across this cutie pie of a lamp with a mercury glass base:

{This little guy sits atop the roll top desk in our front common room. }

And last but not least, I found this beauty at another Hobby Lobby 50% off sale the other day! It has both my loves: burlap shade and mercury glass base!

Big guy lives on a round end table between our couch and one of our new armchairs in the living room…

Okay, not exactly like the Pottery Barn lamp, but a darn good replacement! I love bargain finds, don’t you?

You’d think I was done with my lamp shopping ways, but I’m still in the market for a tall floor lamp…I think I’ll shy away from the burlap and mercury glass and go a bit of a different route. I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

Good riddance to the boring lamps we've been sportin around these parts for some time!

We're just another light closer to making this place more ours.

p.s. "I Love Lamp" name that movie! (pretty easy, but humor me)

Fall Foliage

2011-11-15T22:40:00.001-06:00

I’m no stranger to Oklahoma’s autumns, but this year, the colors really seem to pop! I can’t tell if they’re just more vibrant this year or if I’ve just been unappreciative all this time… Surely not! : ) Seems like lots of folks around the interweb are enjoying Fall this year… hope you’re included in that bunch!

Surprised at 60

2011-11-13T21:45:00.001-06:00

My husband’s family lives in the same exact town as we do. This, I realize, could be a real source of tension on a brand new marriage, but luckily I one hundred percent love living near Matt’s family… they’re seriously awesome in that they have completely welcomed me into the family with open arms annnnnnnd, they invite us over for incredibly delicious meals on the regular! Winning!!!

My side of the family, on the other hand, lives a two hour drive away. I realize this isn’t too terribly far, but it's far enough that we can’t just pop over for dinner or get together on a whim. Which is kind of a bummer… (I’m always hoping they’ll move up here…)

{60 is the new 27}

Living in the same town means it’s fairly easy for all of us to get together for each other’s birthday dinners. (Which we do!) And this weekend, Matt’s mom turned 60 and he and his two sisters threw her a surprise birthday party . All three of Matt’s mom’s siblings (from out of state) were there to celebrate along with 20ish other friends and all of us, of course. She was completely surprised and the party was a success!

{Make a wish!}

Matt’s youngest sister, and her husband, hosted the party at their adorable home.

{Their boxer, locked away, and checking out the party}

Do you love your in-laws or your significant other’s family? I know that relationships with the in-laws can often be strained or difficult (seriously, I unfortunately know!). I also have heard that the relationship with your in-laws can change once children/grandchildren are added to the mix…? We’re not at that point yet, but if and when that day comes I sure do hope our good relationships continue!

One more question, Surprise birthday party? Would you love it or hate it?

I’d love it, Matt says No. Thank. You.

a book, a movie, & a song

2011-11-10T21:15:00.001-06:00

Closing out the week, I thought I’d share what I’ve read, watched and listened to lately. First up:

The Thirteenth Tale is a great book to read during dark and gloomy weather (to match the mood of the story). The book is about a famous author and some creepy twin stuff. The end.

What a great description, right? The folks at Penguin Publishing are blowing up my phone right now because I’m such an eloquent and articulate Book Reviewer Person (that’s the official title).

Okay seriously, this was a good read. For some reason I’m currently having a hard time telling you about this book without giving away the entire story. So instead of ruining it, I will tell you that it’s sort of spooky, suspenseful, and has an interesting twist at the end. And it does include a mysterious famous author and creepy twin stuff. I have my friend Laura to thank for the recommendation!

We don’t make it to the movie theater very often, so I didn’t see this until last week when I rented it from the On Demand. Annnnnd being a lover of chic flicks, I loved it! What’s not to love? Ryan Gosling is obviously easy on the eyes, Steve Carell always makes me laugh, and Emma Stone’s just great. Also, Ryan Gosling’s easy on the eyes… oh did I say that already? So have you seen Crazy, Stupid, Love? What’d you think?

Um, have you seen this Subaru commercial? Did you Shazam the song on your phone and then promptly download it off iTunes too?

No…?

Well now that you know that I’M THE COOLEST EVER... The song is called Powerful Stuff by Sean Hayes and I’ve been listening to it along with the new Coldplay Album on repeat in my car. If you like to get new music recommendations from Subaru car commericals you can listen to the entire song below via youtube, but just so you know, the iTunes version is much better.

So tell me, have you any book, movie, or music suggestions for me? Or, perhaps, you'd like to recommend a new Volvo commercial?

Happy Friday! Wishing you a fun filled weekend!

images/videos via: Goodreads.com, pinterest.com, google images, and youtube.com

Scenes from Yellowstone, Part 3

2011-11-07T21:38:00.000-06:00

Wrapping up my Yellowstone series tonight complete with photos from Old Faithful and two waterfalls (You can check out part one here and part two here).

First, let me just suggest that you don't time your arrival to still be in the parking lot as Old Faithful finishes uh, blowing? Geysering? Shooting off? Because if you do, the above photo is what you’ll be staring at for the next 45 minutes or so. Ah well… can’t always have perfect timing!

Since we were in for a 45 minute wait, we made our way to the log cabin hotel and had a quick bite to eat in their cafeteria (I do not recommend the food).

Then we settled into a couple rocking chairs on the porch to watch the show (which I highly recommend!) We were in the shade, out of the crowds on those backless benches, and entertained by a lady who held her camera at the ready for 15 minute increments – so as not to miss the geyser! Duh! (We are awful, do not go on vacation with us. Or do! Because we are terribly fun!)(Okay, seriously, how could we not snicker? Weren't her arms getting tired holding that dang camera up for such long periods of time?)

Well when the time finally came, I simply pulled out my camera, while the other lady obvioulsy had her camera out and ready to go! Unfortunately her battery was dead by the time Old Faithful made it's appearance... I'm kidding! But wouldn't that have made the story more funny?

Here she starts…

And thare she blows!

OR you can watch this super high tech video I made:

Impressive, right? ;)

One of the last highlights we hit before leaving the park were the waterfalls. It’s quite a walk down, and, oh my goodness, the hike up… just make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes and that you don't have a serious health condition. Thankfully we were with comfortable shoes and without a health condition, but we still were unprepared for the ~~walk~~ hike back up.

But I’m not really complaining, the gorgeous views were well worth it!

beautiful Fall foliage in early October

There you have it; our day in Yellowstone Park in three little posts. Thanks so much for reading along as I babble on about our Montana and Yellowstone adventures!

Taking it Seriously, Taking it Easy

2011-11-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

While we were in Montana, we went to a really good friend’s wedding. Her reception was at this fantastic old hotel surrounded by towering trees shedding a million pretty yellow leaves. Shutterbugs, it was the perfect spot for catching a few photos.

What I love most about being married, is that I’m married to this guy:

He’s a cutie

He’s silly

And I’ve been having the time of my life since we’ve met. Really.

He knows how to not always take things so seriously. He loves to play and have a good time. I'm really just a girl who wants to have fun and, therefore, my husband is the perfect match for me.

Because sometimes, I'm goofy. Really goofy.

I know that blogs are usually a place to share the good and happy things in life and my little old blog is no exception. We’re certainly not perfect around here. Sometimes we argue... SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!

Oh...you’re not surprised because you know how real life goes?

After the excitement of the newness of love, all of us normal people get to the place where you realize that this thing called love can be a bit of work. Someone once told me that love isn't just a feeling, love is a decision. I believe that statement with all that I am.

source

{ Words to live by, right?}

I value marriage, always have. I really value my own marriage and take it seriously. I love my man and appreciate his commitment to me, more than words can express. Once after we’d made up from an argument Matt said to me “I can’t help but love you…even when I hate you.” HA!

Hate is obviously such an extreme word, but you get the gist of what he meant. It’s one of the best things anyone has ever told me. Everyone should want to be in relationship where you truly love your significant other despite the times when you don’t really like them. Know what I mean?

So what I'm saying is, commitment is serious. Duh. There isn't a "perfect" marriage/relationship, but between the blips, during the rest of life it's fun to be with the person that you have the time of your life with. I've never known love like this. Now that I'm married to Matt, I know. And I'm grateful.
Thank God.

You're a little tea pot

2011-11-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

Central Oklahoma got a bit of a cold front mid afternoon today. It's turned out to be one of those blustery overcast days which makes me seek out ways to be as cozy as possible:

hot baths

cozy socks

good books

emo music

and pots of hot tea

I haven't always been a huge fan of hot tea, but during our honeymoon in New York we drank some hot tea in China Town and couldn't get enough. It was delicious! So... I've discovered, there's a difference between store bought pre-bagged tea and loose leaf tea. Big, HUGE difference.

Today I stopped by Teavana and the sales person made me the most wonderful cup of tea. It. Was. Amazing. He used a blend of three different kinds of tea, sugar, and cream. Don't ask me what kind of tea it was, because I have no idea. Just know it was good and that I'm obviously useless in obtaining important information.

Hope your day is cozy with fluffy socks and pots of hot and yummy tea.

(Also thanks so much for all your kind comments on my owl costume! You guys are the best.)

Halloween's a Hoot (part 2)

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

{ Party Time! }

This was our third annual Halloween party together. The company Matt works for throws a big costume bash every year complete with awards. It’s usually good times and checking out what everyone comes up with is so much fun and pretty hilarious.

{ Cheech… and her husband was Chong! So hysterical! }

{ With the “birthday girl” – her husband was a piñata! }

{ If you’re looking for Carmen San Diego, I seemed to have found her! }

{ Just hanging with my Love }

Hope your Halloween festivities were fun filled! Can you believe it’s already November and we’ve officially entered into the Holiday Season? Ready or not, here comes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I really do love the holidays!

Halloween’s a Hoot (part 1)

2011-10-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

I pretty much abused that phrase, “Halloween’s a hoot!” all night long. Along with “don’t ruffle my feathers,” I managed to dork myself out to the nth degree and coax a few chuckles out of my fellow party goers.

{ Matt was an old fashioned golfer complete with sweater vest, knickers, and knee high socks }

I think he’s the cutest! He decided to stand on the fireplace for that one picture (ha!) and Penny Lane can hardly stand being away from Matt whenever he’s home so that's why she's there...

So I was an owl. And a winking one at that ; )

I didn’t really want to wear a mask all night, so I made mine masquerade style on a stick. It’s literally been about 10 years since I’ve last wielded a glue gun and I now have the burn blisters to show for it. Making your own costume is a bit time consuming you guys… I was so unprepared! I pretty much lost my life to making my costume last Wednesday. Luckily Matt helped me with my production system – make a feather template on cardboard, trace all feathers out on felt with chalk, cut feathers out, then glue all feathers onto dress. If he hadn’t suggested an organized system for me, I probably would’ve wasted time doing something stupid like cutting out each feather one by one.

Here’s some detail pictures of my costume, taken after the party of course. Taking detail pictures beforehand would make too much sense! Now you can see the wear and tear in detail:

{ are you winking at me? }

{ looks like my feathers ended up getting ruffled after all }

p.s. my inspiration for my owl outfit came from here, here, here, and here

p.p.s. my owl dress is actually last year’s flapper dress repurposed, the gold sequins lining the neck were already there! Win! How resourceful am I?

p.p.p.s. a small group of us met before the party to have dinner and a complete stranger came up to me and asked if she could take my picture with her camera phone. I got super embarrased, but kind of flattered too! Someone appreciated my hand crafted costume. You know I hid my face with my mask for the stranger's picture.

girl friends and Italian cuisine

2011-10-26T22:53:00.000-05:00

Do you know those girls who say that they don't have any girlfriends? They say they're only friends with guys because girls are "too much drama"?I always feel sorry for those girls. And not to pass judgement, but I guess I do, in thinking that maybe they're actually that girl who brings this said drama. Or, they just haven't befriended the right kind of girls. This can happen too. As for me, I love my girlfriends! I don't have a million friends, but I do have a handful of really great ones. Most of us have been friends for 10 + years, some of us even longer. So to say that things are always "drama free" would be a lie, but like any successful relationship you get over it because you love each other. I don't have a sister, but if I did, I imagine that some of the silly squabbles I've gotten into with my close, close friends are of the sisterly kind. We've gone to college together, been roommates, stood beside each other in weddings, helped each other through break-ups, held each others babies (not my babies!), gone on multiple vacations together, and I cannot even imagine how many phone calls we've logged over the years! You can't expect smooth sailing through all of that! ;-) But it's been a blessing to expect that you can count on each other when you need to.

Okay, enough of the sappiness!!!

As we've gotten older, we aren't able to get together and have a girls night as much as I'd like. Life gets in the way! But when we do, we laugh, we drink wine, and we talk like there's no tomorrow. I was lucky enough to meet up with these lovely ladies ladies last week to celebrate my birthday.

{pardon the blurry photo, i was having camera issues}

We went to Stella's in Midtown, Oklahoma City. It was my first time to go and I loved it! First off, it's Italian food (if I had to choose one type of food to eat for the rest of my life, you better believe it'd be Italian!!!) and the decor was trendy, dark, and moody. I look forward to going back with my man for a romantic date night oooh la la. (Sometimes, I'm Real Dorky).

In other news, my Halloween craftiness is complete! I had to finish things up today because my upcoming work schedule = no time before costume party. I used a glue gun for the first time in like 10 years and now have burn blisters to prove it.

Getting in Costume

2011-10-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

So it's Monday again, and being the perpetual procrastinator I have to rush around this week in order to get my Halloween costume together. This year I decided to make my costume, mostly because I'm a procrastinator and never went out to buy one. This could be a disaster, this home made costume making business.

Do you all get into Halloween?

We don't either.

Whatever! Yes we do!!! This will be Matt and I's third Halloween party together. We have so much fun dressing up with so many of our friends. Who says costumes are just for kids? Not us!

Would you like to see our costumes from previous years? Well alrighty then, here you go:

last year's costumes

Matt bought his costume last minute and had to wear a fat suit under his XXL costume

our very first Halloween together

I love looking back at older pictures - reminds me of how giddy we were in the beginning

this was when I'd first moved back to Oklahoma

I had decided that very day to go out for Halloween with a couple friends (I hadn't met Matt yet)

this "artist" costume was what I came up with in a couple hours

HA HA HA!

I can't believe I'm showing you this photo, but it seriously makes me laugh (and laugh and laugh and laugh) This was back in San Diego with my two very favorite co-workers and friends...

(recognize Marie on the left? We went to Montana for her wedding).

They insisted we all wear wigs and I refused to wear a crazy colored wig for some reason. So they bought me a wig that was my same hair color and cut in bangs. It was awful and awesome all in one. This is the least embarrassing photo of the bunch (and the least inappropriate) which I realize isn't saying much. Funny thing is that none of us work there or even live in California anymore. It's strange how drastically life changes. I miss both of these ladies a ton.

San Diego, 2006

I actually liked my Minnie Mouse costume a lot - even if it was, maybe, a bit saccharine.

I built this costume around the Minnie Mouse ears because I already had them for some odd reason. This was another last minute costume idea... (Seeing a theme of last minute costume ideas?)

I blotted out the other two girls' faces because I haven't talked to them in years and don't know how they'd feel about being pictured here.

Thanks for strolling down Halloween-Costume-Memory-Lane with me. ;)

Are you dressing up this year? Are you going with store bought or are you a handmade creative type? Do you plan out your costumes way in advance or are you last minute decider like yours truly?

(more) decorating for fall

2011-10-21T06:37:00.000-05:00

Using a few things I've had for a while, along with some clearance items I'd scooped up during the end of last season's sales, I managed to do a bit more decorating for Fall. Nothing fancy, but I think that even a few fall themed decorations cozy things up around here!

Plain and simple!If you like things that smell fantastic, you should go out and buy Bath and Body Works' candle in Marshmallow Fireside immedieately!

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Scenes from Yellowstone, Part 2

2011-10-20T06:30:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that so many different landscapes can be seen in one defined "park." The word park is such a funny word to describe an area so large and so incredible.We were lucky enough to see some wildlife. Namely buffalo and one elk as we were leaving the park that night. Sadly we didn't see any bears... I really wanted to see a bear. But we did see some buffalo swimming across a river. There were even some baby buffalo in the group!{us & the swimming buffalo}This lake was e-nour-mous! We pulled over as the sun was setting and looking out at the water framed by the mountains and steam rising from geyers (see: "Yellowstone AKA Geyser City") was quite the sight to see. So lovely...

There he is! The elk with Matt shining the car lights on him so I could try and snap a picture. I was so nervous and hurried that this is really the best shot I got. Obviously National Geographic is begging for rights to publish this awesome wild elk capture.;)

p.s. here's Scenes from Yellowstone, Part 1 in case you're interested

Scenes from Yellowstone, Part 1

2011-10-19T00:49:00.000-05:00

Matt and I renamed Yellowstone, Geyser City.

{Side Note: In our relationship, anything with an overabundance of a particular thing becomes Fill in the Blank City. For instance, our backyard often becomes known as Sh*t City when the, uh, pet waste is in need of maintenance. Just a little trivia for ya’ll this morning!}

Geysers, or special hot springs that occasionally erupt, are literally all over Yellowstone National Park. Sure, we’d heard of geysers before but we’d never actually seen them in person. There are also these things called Fountain Paint Pots, which are just basically holes in the earth with visible boiling water and/or mud. Boiling water!!! Boiling mud!!! Like if you fall in you’re toast, or rather... boiled!

We were amazed. The colors of these pools of (boiling!) water were just gorgeous!

All the fountain paint pots were beautiful in their own right, but this one, aptly named Sunset Lake, was particularly special.

I'm always happy to see new and interesting things.

Fresh Blooms 9

2011-10-17T08:01:00.000-05:00

Good Monday morning to you! I have the next few days off, so I realize my Monday morning cheeriness may be a bit unwelcomed. Or, perhaps, stir within you the overwhelming desire to express where I might place my cheery Monday morning. Well, to that I say...fair enough.

I picked up this Autumn hued grocery store bouquet a couple days ago. I love the nod of cheeriness it lends to our kitchen table. Has anyone else ever noticed how inexpensive flowers seem to last a lot longer than most fancy florist bouquets?

Anyhow, in all sincerity, I'd like to wish you a fabulous upcoming week.

And thank you for all your kind birthday wishes. Your sweet comments really brightened my day.

Birthday

2011-10-15T22:23:00.001-05:00

Today's my birthday. It's been a low key, wonderful day. I didn't get anything I listed on my wish list... but I'm not complaining in. the. least. My husband completely spoiled me with an unexpected surprise... see it up there? Nothing I need, but something I totally wanted but didn't think I'd be getting anytime soon. I'm a fortunate girl and don't I know it!

Matt and I spent the entire day together. There's no one I'd rather have been with! (Pardon my cheesiness!) We celebrated by sleeping in too late and going out for lunch.

I got many a sweet phone call and text message from my family and my friends wishing me a happy birthday.

Tonight Matt whipped up a delicious birthday dinner and now we're parked on the couch watching the Sooners play in Kansas. Sometimes low key birthdays really hit the spot.

Happy birthday, indeed.

Another Birthday

2011-10-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

We like to celebrate birthdays around here. Mine is coming up this very weekend. Originally I was scheduled to work, but I managed to get things switched so that I could have my actual birthday off. We don't have any huge plans. Dinner with my mister is on the books, of course. And I always look forward to dates with my man.

Anyhow, just for the fun of being a bit self indulgent, I made up a quick birthday wish list, just like last year:

1. Installation of a direct IPod connection in my car stereo - none of this adapter business that require a designated radio station that inevitably ends up with poor sound quality and lots of static
(Yes, my car is sadly behind the times!)

2. A Kindle, in white please. We've discussed the e-reader business before and like most of you, I love to hold a real book. But the Kindle will come in handy on vacations (download multiple books without having to lug around an actual book(s) while traveling) and my library is now participating in e-book lending!

3. A sewing machine. This is a new hobby that I'd love to get into. I see myself making pillow covers, curtains, table runners, a new cozy for my my new kindle... the possibilities are endless! Any seamstresses out there with recommendations on a good sewing machine for a beginner?

4. Pottery Barn's Emmet Jewelery Chest

5. Diamond Studs - because I'll obviously need some new baubles to put in my new jewelery chest, right? Right?!

Oh Birthday d r e a m s... aren't they fun?

Do you always celebrate your birthday with a bang, or prefer no such attention?

Mum's the Word

2011-10-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Gardner I am not, and my thumb is most certainly not green. There have been less than a handful of times that I’ve attempted to keep a plant alive and I have to sadly report that those were all unsuccessful attempts. Despite my murderous history with all things botanical, I decided… to try again. A couple weeks ago, when I was decorating our front porch for Fall, I planted two mums in two pots. They looked just like this:

And well, what would you know? A couple weeks later they are not dead! They have, in fact, bloomed! One yellow and one orange! SEE?!

Aren’t these the most beautiful mums you ever did see? (No? Not so much?)

Well, anyways, I’m just so proud of my gardening ways.But wait! I even bought two more mums, but in hanging baskets! Report card shows that they are also, alive and well! Hoorah!

{hanging mum}

It gets even better. I have kept more plants alive… inside the house! Hard to believe, but check out my little tropical plant. Granted, little fella doesn’t look too great, but he’s still green and that, my friends = success for me.

In our kitchen window I have also placed three, cute as a trio of buttons, succulents. I’ve cleverly numbered them for your counting pleasure:

I love seeing them there in the morning as I fill up the coffee pot with water or whenever I put a scrub down on some dishes. In fact, having a window in the kitchen, over the sink, just makes the chore of dishes so much more enjoyable. Have you ever had a sink that looked into a wall? Talk about Mundane Marcy.

Anyhow I’m not sure who I am with all this mum/plant business… all I can say it that I hope they're not dead in a week.

What about you? Any garden lovers out there?

More Montana

2011-10-11T11:01:00.001-05:00

Bozeman was actually a lot bigger than I expected, but it still had that small American town charm. (My expectations stem from actually growing up in a very, very small town in Oklahoma.) Downtown Bozeman was quaint and busy with pedestrians, bicyclists, and multiple shops and places to grab a bite to eat.

Can I tell you, Montana at the end of September was gorgeous. We couldn’t have lucked out on better weather and the changing leaves were such a treat to set sight on.

But here’s the real reason we went to Montana: to see these two lovely people get married!!! The bride was stunning, the groom was dashing, and the reception was a blast!

Marie and I actually use to work together when we lived in San Diego. It’s been over three years since I’ve moved back home to Oklahoma and Marie actually moved herself, to the Denver area a couple years ago. Cherished are the friends that stay in touch and close despite the time and distance that separates them.

My husband and I at the reception… taken with my point and shoot. Does anyone else have problems getting people to take your picture with your DSLR? I always bring both cameras because when I try to get someone to take our picture with my “fancy” camera the shot always comes out blurry and in a weird color.

{love, love, love him}

Marie’s wedding was on a Friday. Matt and I flew in on Thursday morning and left Sunday morning, so we had lots of extra time in Montana. We even got to hang out with the bride and groom after their wedding day on Saturday night, which was so fun!

We loved Montana! Up next, photos from our day in Yellowstone National Park!

{ Click here for Part one of our trip to Montana}

OU/TX Weekend #3

2011-10-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

We are back from our third OU/TX weekend together (I’ve been several times before and Matt has been going since he was a child) and what a looooooooong weekend it was. I’m exhausted and you all know that I normally take lots of photos, but this unflattering photo of myself is all I’ve got for you from our weekend in Dallas:

What you need to know is that WE WON! And we won big! Boomer Sooner! What you also need to know is that it’s a huge annual rivalry game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns. It’s a big, big, big weekend in Dallas for OU/TX fans and you can read more about it here and here or you can look at my pictures from last year. That’s all the energy I can spare for describing OU/TX weekend because it took us five and a half hours to drive home from Dallas today when it normally takes three. Two of those hours were in bumper to bumper traffic in the city of Dallas. Miserable, I tell you!

Between last weekend in Montana, this past weekend in Dallas, and our two trips in August I’m ready to be home for a while. Which is saying a lot because I love to travel! But I guess I don’t have to worry about packing my bags anytime soon because we do not have one single upcoming trip planned.

Well friends, it’s raining outside (hooray!) and I’m eager to sink into the coziness of my own bed with my library book and call it a night. Before I go, I leave you with some Oklahoma Loving finds in honor of my alma mater’s victorious weekend.

Credit for both images on my pinterest - (shirt | necklace)
(I’m pretty sure that the necklace is my most re-pinned pin on pinterest.)

Oh Montana

2011-10-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

Bright and early last Thursday morning, before the sun had a chance to rise, Matt and I were in the car on the way to the airport. Neither of us says too much at such an ungodly hour, but the early rise ended up being worth it. See, our friends from Denver had invited us to their hometown of Bozeman, Montana to celebrate with them as they said their I Do’s.What can I say about the state of Montana? Being my first visit, I'd say Montana is mountains and valleys topped with an endless sky. There's no shortage of twisting rivers and rocky streams. At night the sky is brilliant with a million stars that you can actually see, since big city lights just don't seem to be Montana’s thing.

Every turn you make, leads you to yet another, incredibly gorgeous view.

What about the people? I'd say they were were impressively friendly with their charming northern accents. (Matt tried to share his "talent" of imitating accents (badly) whenever we were alone in the car together. So sorry you missed out on that!) Everyone in Montana seems to ride bicycles or drive Subarus. We saw so many Subaru wagons that Matt and I became convinced that Subaru must be the official sponsor of the entire state of Montana.

We were only there for a short three days, so we soaked in as much of Montana (and a bit of Wyoming) as we could. Here’s a peek of what our weekend in Big Sky Country looked like: Pretty, right? Once I find my way out of post vacation chaos, I’ll share more. Have a good start of the week friends!

decorating for fall (& being a grownup)

2011-09-28T11:40:00.001-05:00

Late last Sunday afternoon Matt and I ventured out for errands. Two hours later, we arrived back home armed with three pumpkins, two budding mums, and more tools for completing yard work. As the sun started making it’s descent, Matt trimmed the hedges (again) and I busied myself outfitting the front porch for Fall and transplanting the mums into pots. I was so proud of my newly decorated Fall porch, that I texted a picture of my efforts to one of my best girlfriends that lives in Austin. She responded with “OMG! So cute! You’re like a real grownup!” Love her…

Even though I’m into my early 30’s, happily married, with a mortgage, and a steady job I still catch myself feeling surprised that I am indeed a real grown up. When Matt pulled out his wallet to pay for the pumpkins earlier that day, I remember thinking how I would never buy pumpkins when I was college aged. Back then, an extra $22 dollars was precious cash reserved for weekend entertainment or a haircut… certainly nothing frivolous like pumpkins for decorating a front porch.

p.s. I used this image as my decorating inspiration. Obviously I’m expecting Better Homes and Gardens to beat down my door at any moment, begging to feature my handy work on their front cover.

p.p.s. I’m thinking about painting my front door black. Or red. As you can see, the front door is surrounded by white siding and (not pictured) red brick just on the outskirt of the photo. Thoughts?

weekend, wonderful weekend

2011-09-25T21:43:00.005-05:00

We had one of those fantastic weekends filled to the brim with happy. The sunset at the game on Saturday was just incredible… I was left wishing for my SLR camera instead of my little point and shoot that I had happened to slip into my purse before walking out the door.

Weekend highlights included OU football (of course), gorgeous sunsets (see above), grilling out, a decadent birthday lunch (for Matt’s brother in law), a late night filled with laughter & friends, mums & Fall decorating, and more Monarch butterflies.

How was your weekend? What’d you do? Anything fabulous?

Sweet Somethings 18

2011-09-23T10:04:00.004-05:00

Today actually feels like Fall in central Oklahoma. I’m excited to welcome the new season and everything it brings: scarves, boots, hot cocoa, warm bowls of comfort food (namely soups and stews), orange and red leaves, football games, and cooler nights - which are perfect for snuggles...

Have a great weekend everyone!

photo source

talkin' about the bees and the butterflies

2011-09-22T08:18:00.001-05:00

Our backyard is a hot mess in desperate need of weeding and landscaping. Oh, we’ve tacked it onto our long list of To Do’s and To Improve…

In the middle of our jungle, I caught these beauties with my camera the other afternoon.

Bees

and butterflies
these are monarch butterflies, I believe

so delicate and beautiful…
I used my macro lens to snap these photos, but they’re so fast and I’m such an amateaur... Aren’t they gorgeous anyhow? Perfectly dressed for Fall in orange, black, and polka dots.

We know how to make a mess

2011-09-20T11:58:00.003-05:00

Remember how I said I’d share with you the mess we made during our DIY Living Room Renovations? Well eons later, I’ve delivered. A real big mess it was…

To the right side of what’s left of the wall, we pulled up old carpet. And right in view, to the left of the remaining wall, is where I was in the process of scraping up the parquet wood floors. My shoulders were a bit sore for a few days after that and Advil was my very best friend.

My man knows how to use power tools… while on a ladder.
A real demolition derby, and just think about the all the fun we had cleaning it all up!
Construction debris – Be Gone!
My man, he knows how to put up dry wall. (Thank goodness for his construction jobs during his summer breaks in college. His skills saved us a pretty penny!)

Eventually, the time came to install the hard wood flooring. We chose a hickory wood with a tobacco colored stain.

So, guess what else? Yeah... Matt knows how to lay hard wood floors too.

Installing hard wood floors is no easy task. I thought I could help out… Wrong! Those individual pieces don’t just slide in place… at all. And that green floor glue? That’s some nasty, super sticky, gets everywhere stuff. It’s back breaking, knee breaking work. Knee pads are a must.

So what did I do? In re-painting every single room in our house (excluding the two bathrooms), I did 90% of the painting. (that'd be the main living space, the kitchen, the laundry room, the hallway, and one, two, THREE bedrooms) In fact, I painted the master bedroom t w i c e because the original color I picked reminded me of a baby boy’s nursery. Lets just say, I haven’t had a desire to pick up a can of paint or a paint brush in quite some time. As I mentioned earlier, I’m the one who ripped up all the parquet wood flooring. I felt Super Woman tough going to town on that floor. And of course I helped with all the clean up.

Obviously, I’ve got to give my husband the real credit because he did all the hard manual labor that involved power tools and dry walling. He told me that he knew how to do all those things, but seeing him in action was still impressive! I'm proud of him.

So just for fun, here are some more before and after pictures. Hopefully sooner than later, we've got plans for more furniture and different ceiling fixtures.

BEFORE – our 1st view with the previous owners still occupying the home - carpet and diving wall still intact

DURING – wall gone, floors down to the concrete = a blank slate

AFTER – our new open space! This was taken back in July, a month after we moved in.

Slowly but surely we’re making it more and more “ours.” We love our first little home and all the work we’ve put into it!

Weekend

2011-09-19T10:52:00.003-05:00

How was your weekend? Mine was just so-so, mostly because I spent both days at work… The highlight of the weekend was watching the Sooner’s score a Big W against the Seminoles Saturday night!!! (it was an away game)

Final score: Sooners 23, Seminoles 13

A weekend at work = no photos, so I leave you with some photos from last year’s OU football season. (all taken with my point and shoot camera)

Since Matt and I have been together, I’ve had the pleasure of attending many an OU football game. His family has had season tickets to all the home games as well as tickets to the yearly OU/TX game for years and years. Since our dating days, his family has welcomed me with open arms. I have to say…my in-laws are top notch, I couldn’t be luckier.

OU/TX 2010

tailgating with my two best girlfriends

evidence of our self-portraits

So are you a football fan? Do you go to football games of any kind?

Lately, time off

2011-09-15T16:10:00.002-05:00

All day it’s been gray skies with off and on drizzling rain. The air just outside our front door is a crisp cool 58 degrees, hard to believe. I've been puttering around the house, listening to Pandora, and sipping cups of coffee. I've been longing for a day like this, so glad it's finally here.

The dogs just want to be outside, but instead they are dramatically suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. Doesn't help that the squirrels taunt them in plain sight through the back sliding glass doors. (My apologies in advance...)
Sometimes I just crack myself up, I tell you.

Today is my second of three days off, which I’m enjoying immensely. Be it the full moon or just crazy people, work’s been hectic and reeking of cranky co-workers. Cheers to a three day "weekend." Here’s what I’ve been up to lately, with my time off:
Leisurely mornings with cereal and coffee. You know how you can put beer mugs in the freezer? Well you should try this with your cereal bowls because:

frosted cereal bowls > unfrosted cereal bowls.

I’ve been wearing my new necklace, which I love. I’m a simple girl most of the time.
I got Matt to hang my necklace hanger on the wall in our bedroom. The story behind my necklace holder is that I wanted something made out of rustic wood, but was at a lost for where to find some. That sweet husband of mine remembered me on one of his fishing trips and yelled for the car full of his buddies to be stopped so he could rip this piece of weathered wood off an abandoned house they were driving past. He was teased mercilessly, of course.

He sawed it down to the size I wanted and helped me attach the silver accordion rack. I love it for so many reasons.

{le creuset – one of the coolest wedding gifts we received, courtesy of my sister in law & her husband}
I decided to make dinner one night! If you read here very often, then you’ll know that Matt is the main cook in our family. But we had a lot of leftover salmon that Matt had grilled on his green egg the night before and I got a craving for chowder – salmon chowder to be exact.

I used this recipe as a guideline, adding a bit of cream to the skim milk, more chicken broth, and extra bacon for the toppings. Verdict? Tasty! (p.s. the dogs actually ate most of the bacon, so what the recipe called for would probably be enough if you're looking to keep things low-ish in fat).

I got this house plant at Lowes for around a buck fifty! I potted it in this perty bamboo planter and am hoping I don’t kill it. I didn’t have much luck with the last house plant I bought, but I put a bit more effort into this one by actually taking it out of the plastic container it came in and adding more soil. We’ll see…

Daffodils and tulips to be planted in our front flower beds! Hoping we have cheery red and yellow blooms out front next Spring…

Happy Thursday, hope you’re enjoying it!

Oklahoma Summer Breeze

2011-09-14T22:01:00.003-05:00

We only made it two Summer Breeze outdoor concerts this season, the first one in May and the very last concert which was this past Sunday. The weather was pretty much perfect, cool with a slight balmy breeze. Listening to live music, people watching, and relaxing for the hour we spent there was a refreshing change from the busyness that my job has been throwing at me lately. Ugh, sometimes work is just a pain in my everything...

Once the sun went down, they passed out free glow sticks. I swear this town is inundated with hippies…we love it!
Leaving after a mere hour was partly because we were both starving! So we picked up dinner to go and watched the season finale of True Blood. (there's the other reason) Oh guilty pleasures…everyone’s got one, right?

good things (and one not so good thing)

2011-09-08T22:09:00.005-05:00

Let’s get the one not so good thing out of the way. See the picture above? That’s our old oak tree on the very day we closed on our house with arrows pointing at the first two major branches that cracked and fell on their own. The little picture enclosed was taken the previous winter and just shows you how big the tree was. Sure, it was sort of funny shaped, but it was ours and we loved having a house with a big tree out front. After much sadness we knew the tree had to come down.
Here’s all that’s left today: (a bunch of logs and sawdust)
Not to be a complete tree hugger, but I can’t really tell you how sad this makes me… I do, however, appreciate all your kind words regarding our tree!

Okay...lets move on to the good things I’m enjoying lately, shall we? PB and J on a whole wheat English muffin. Only it’s almond butter, not peanut butter, and it’s good!
I finally got some photos printed! Hooray! It only took me like three years. Now all our empty frames can be filled with some of the memories we’ve captured over the year. Don’t you like that bright red frame? An old friend from college gave me that as a birthday gift last year and she said that she thought it’d look good with a picture of Matt and me at an OU football game. I couldn’t agree more!
I got a library card today and I’m excited about it! Thanks for all your feedback on the e-reader debate. I’m definitely still in the market for one, but like most of you, I still like real, honest to goodness books, but think an e-reader will come in handy when having a hardcopy book is not so convenient (i.e.: vacation, etc.). Thanks to a sweet friend, I learned that you can go online, reserve books under your name, and then pick them up the very next day. All the books that you selected will just be waiting for you and you can self-checkout out the books and be out the door in 5 minutes. How convenient is that?

This weather. Oklahomans can’t quit gushing about the weather because it feels so fantastic. So fantastic that I went on not one, but two, jogs outside this week. I hate jogging on the treadmill so my jogging efforts have been pretty non-existent all summer. So glad to be heading into a season that welcomes activity outdoors.

What good things are you gushing about lately?

a question for the readers out there

2011-09-06T21:12:00.005-05:00

I’ve always loved reading books. In fact, I actually love books themselves. Growing up I’d get giddy over opening the front cover to a brand new book, the way the binding would creak, and the weight of the pages beneath my fingers. I even loved the way the dried ink smelled on the old pages.

Whoa…total dork alert just then, but I’m betting there are some of you out there who know exactly what I’m talking about! Shout out to the other nerdy kids who spent their summer breaks at the library!!! Woot! Woot! We’re crazy ya’ll!

With that being said, I’ve been hesitant to partake in this new-fangled e-reader business. However, I think I’ve succumbed. My sister in law brought her kindle on our recent family vacation to the beach. Lounging under our shade umbrellas, she read all the live long day. And after all my magazines were read I’d look over and she’d still be reading and did not take too kindly to being interrupted for a chat.

Oh, I wanted to snatch that stupid kindle away from her, push all those silly buttons, and get lost in a good book myself. S u r e, I could’ve brought a real book of my own, but I didn’t have room in my luggage or the desire to lug one around. What was I going to do with it when I finished? Leave it somewhere? Yeah, right! I’d have to drag that thing all the way back home with me and I probably would’ve picked out some big Bertha like Gone with the Wind... or something like that. My sister in law tells me that she fits her kindle right into her purse and will whip it out whenever she has to wait for a bit anywhere. She’s crazy, ya’ll!

But seriously, how very convenient, right?! I’m sold!!

source

So how about it book lovers? Have you gone over to the e-reader side? Do you prefer the Nook or the Kindle? I’ve read a couple reviews and both were more in favor of the Kindle, but then I’ve talked to a few people here and there who are fans of the Nook. I’d like your opinion! Please share it… and while you’re at it mention your latest favorite reads. I’m in the need of good book recommendations too.

labor day weekend

2011-09-05T22:53:00.004-05:00

Don’t you just love long holiday weekends? I certainly do! We had a pretty great, albeit long, weekend. Strangely, the only camera I busted out the entire weekend was the one on my phone.

Saturday was no ordinary day in that it was the kickoff to the Sooner football season. Hooray! Matt and I are both graduates of the University of Oklahoma and OU football season is a blast.
I love my Sooners but you should know that my husband, and his entire family, are fanatics. If you’ve never experienced college football at a major university level, you should really make a point to attend such a game. It’s a one of a kind experience (or in our case, an ongoing Fall experience) and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Saturday was unbearably hot and I didn’t enjoy the day as much as I normally would because I ended up feeling ill from being out in the heat too long. At one point Matt said I looked green and I just couldn’t shake that yucky sick feeling until I woke up the next day. Such a bummer… The upside was that OU won. 47-14

We woke up on Sunday to find another branch had fallen off our oak tree. (It's happened before.) While Matt, his stepdad, and our neighbor worked on cutting up the ginormous fallen branch, another major branch started visibly and audibly cracking away from the main trunk too. Down it went as well.

See how huge? Its lays completely across our two car garage driveway and blocks out the view of the house across the street.

It even spilled out onto the street. See Matt’s head? This thing was huge!

Split to the base.
*Sigh* we’re honestly pretty sad about the state of our unhealthy tree. The rest is coming down sometime this week. No longer will we have a large mature tree in our front yard, which was one of the things we really liked when we initially bought our house.

The weather for the rest of the weekend was heaven sent. After this 110 degree summer, cool fresh air was more than a welcomed break from all the record breaking heat! The relief was so wonderful that we’ve been able to sleep with our windows open. All day I’ve been enjoying the fresh breeze that blows through our house after a long summer of stale AC air. Ending our weekend on a good note, called for an easy dinner... take out baked potato soup from a favorite local spot, and a decadent dessert.

cheesy, creamy goodness

a little chocolaty peanut butter yumminess

How was your Labor Day weekend? What’d you do?

Sure, come on over...

2011-08-31T14:15:00.003-05:00

How was your weekend? We’ve had busy weekends the past million weekends… sure feels like it anyhow. Last weekend we went to, probably, the fanciest wedding I’ve ever been to. We enjoyed ourselves so much that I didn’t even bother to take one share worthy photo. We drank wine, danced, and ate yummy food. Then after the wedding DJ made his exit (lame!), a bunch of us headed over to a small watering hole for a few more drinks and to hoof it across the dance floor.

Can I tell you? I love that my husband loves to dance and spin me around whenever there’s a live band or DJ around. Sometimes I act like I can’t be bothered... but he’s never fooled.

With all our busyness this month, the housekeeping around these parts has been a bit subpar. All I want to do today, and maybe the next few days, is veg out. So really, feel free to come over, make yourself at home, and clean my kitchen…and bathrooms. Feel free to sweep, mop, and, vacuum too. While you’re at it tackle the laundry! I really won’t mind.

photo source

Mini Beach Vacation - the Gulf Shores

2011-08-24T22:03:00.006-05:00

Who knew Alabama had such pretty beaches? Granted, Gulf Shores, Alabama is basically an extension of Northern Florida, so I guess it shouldn’t be all that surprising. Matt’s dad’s wife, Judy, planned the entire weekend as a surprise for Matt’s dad’s 60th birthday. The surprise plans turned out to be a success! Matt’s dad was definitely not suspecting to open the door and find all three of his children, their spouses, and his step daughter’s family yelling SURPRISE! It was great! I then told Matt that I love surprises and he said he did not. He never wants a surprise birthday party. He's crazy! I think they are awesome!!! (obviously... see how it's exclamation point city right now?!)

For ten people (one being a three year old), we rented a four bedroom, four bathroom penthouse (woot! woot! p e n t h o u s e) suite right on the beach. Quite the upgrade from the “resort” we stayed at the weekend before on the lake.

Every morning we spotted dolphins from our balcony, we even spotted schools of fish. The clear green water was pretty great with the exception of a bit a sea weed and a few jellyfish. Okay the jellyfish really freaked me out, but there were just a few (that we saw).

Oh, I love seafood. One night, we spread out newspaper sheets for a pretty awesome shrimp boil on the balcony. I’m so happy to have married into a family that loves to cook and eat good food. We also went out a couple times for more seafood: fresh oysters, broiled oysters, crab legs, and more shrimp. Did I mention that we love seafood?

Three cheers to family vacations at the beach with seafood galore!

For Hire

2011-08-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

We have this blank area in front of our fireplace with the exception of a rug that my mom gave me. It’s sort of real ugly (sorry Mom!)… or rather it’s not really my style, but for now, I've left it there for a couple four legged members of our family. They seem to enjoy it.

You’re welcome for that.

Seriously, don't mention it.

Consider it my gift to you.

Don't say I never gave you anything!

So anyway back to the empty space in front of our fireplace. I kind of want to make it a seating area for reading, conversation, or whatever. I’m thinking a couple comfy armchairs and a table of some sort in between the two chairs. Maybe even something like this:

Obviously not exactly like this...just the concept of it.

Thoughts?

Home Again - Post Mini Beach Vacay

2011-08-22T12:17:00.004-05:00

ignore my mis-shapened hat

We’ve had back to back weekends on the water. First it was the lake, and this past weekend it was the beach… in Gulf Shores, Alabama for Matt’s dad’s 60th birthday. An extended weekend with family always goes better than expected when you’re on the beach sprawled out on a chaise lounge under a big shady umbrella. Extra bonus points goes for the cabana boy that comes around every so often to adjust said umbrella to keep you nice and cool in the shade…

But now it’s Monday, and thank goodness I have the day off. If you have the luxury to take an extra day off of work after vacation, by all means, DO IT! Sometimes you really do need a vacation from your vacation.

Soon I’ll share more pictures, but for now I’m off to tackle loads of laundry and love on our dogs who are not so happy with us for boarding them the past two weekends in a row.

Weekend at the Lake (part II)

2011-08-17T21:26:00.003-05:00

We stayed at a little “resort” over our lake trip weekend. It was sort of reminiscent of the resort that Baby and her family went to in Dirty Dancing. Only it didn’t have the giant mansion… or the dance lessons… or Patrick Swayze in tight black jeans for that matter. Okay, so maybe it was more like the housing for the servants... only smaller.

You know what? Let’s just say it was “campy.” Nothing fancy, it was clean with the basic amenities (including a full kitchen), and a housekeeper that came by to drop off fresh towels and make the beds while we were out pontooning on the lake. It sufficed and we certainly had a good time hanging out there in the late afternoons and on into the evenings.
{that'd be my pink chair, thank you very much}

{always in charge of the grill}

A couple of the nights, I was ill prepared for temps that dipped into the low 70s/60s as the sky darkened and burst open with heavy rain storms. Luckily, the Resort Gift Shop sold me an overpriced fleece. Stupid expensive fleece saved me from freezing to death from the drastic temperature change as we all huddled under the gazebo with our fold up chairs and brewskies.

Such a fun weekend, aren't friends the best?

Sweet Somethings 16

2011-08-16T16:18:00.000-05:00

Pretty sure I've been a member since I could form run-on sentences all on my own.

source

Weekend at the Lake (part I)

2011-08-14T18:57:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was filled with lots of sun and carefree relaxation. Matt and I, along with three other couples took a long weekend and headed out to the lake. The eight of us rented a pontoon boat for the weekend.

Armed with a large cooler packed full of snacks and icy cold beverages, we were prepared for long days on the water. Fun times for all. There's not a whole lot better than being outdoors and on the water. After an excruciatingly hot summer, things cooled up significantly for our weekend at the lake. Like magic! I love my friends and I soak up these special times when we get to all be together, just to hang out, and to just be us without all the worries of adulthood.

How was your weekend? Hope it was filled special moments with your loved ones too!

Hung Up

2011-08-10T22:37:00.004-05:00

Besides a small photo of us on our wedding day, this is the only picture I've hung on our walls so far. I bought this print a while back, and love it! Certainly fulfills my coffee lover and cheese-factor needs all in one fell swoop .

I had it professionally framed at Hobby Lobby during one of their framing sales with museum quality glass. Oh yes, I'm so fancy like that. We have a lot of blank walls to fill around here. We also have a lot of empty picture frames...now if only I would actually print some of the photos I have. I certainly have a "few" to choose from. Where do you get your personal snap shots printed? Do you upload them to somewhere like snapfish and have them mailed to you, or do you take them somewhere to be printed for instant gratification? I can't get motivated to do either for some reason...

Hedged In

2011-08-07T23:29:00.005-05:00

While we were busy renovating the inside of our home, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that we’ve somewhat neglected the outside of our home.

Embarrassing right? Yes, kinda. Well I guess my “casual mention” of how terrible the front of our house was looking prompted Matt to invest in some new power tools! So late Sunday afternoon he got to work on trimming back the hedges.
{Side note: I hate our hedges. They are holly bushes and their pointy little leaves are pure evil.}

Much better! I think Matt did a really great job. Of course I had to get in there and help him out, because there was a whole lotta mess to clean up.
If you find that you ever have to clean up these stabby little leaves, get yourself a metal scooper and some garden gloves with a thick backing.

I snagged these silly little green gloves at Tuesday Morning a couple weeks ago on the cheap. They saved my hands from turning into pincushions.

Of course our weekend wasn’t all work and no play. We enjoyed dinner with Matt’s family on Friday night with a bit too much wine. A little too boozed up, and I was all about convincing my husband to swing over to the closest bar for one last nightcap before heading home. We had q u i t e the blast which meant that Saturday was spent mostly on the couch watching movies and nursing my wine hangover… Oops! We always wind up our summer weekends with the newest episode of True Blood, I’m addicted. Any other True Blood watchers out there? It’s pretty creepy this season! Tell me, how your weekend was spent?

fuss & pout

2011-08-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

Fuss and pout when I don't get my way? Nah! Never!!!!

Okay, maybe sometimes.

Listen to Sweet Pea

{lyrics from Sweet Pea by Amos Lee}

Hipster Groceries

2011-08-03T18:35:00.005-05:00

Pretty sure I’m not cool enough (or young enough) to ever be considered a “hipster.” A hipster, I believe, has to be in their 20s and I have proudly moved on (sob!) to the next decade of my life. But just to be sure, I decided to educate myself and discovered that “hipsters are typically in their 20s and 30s.” Oh goody! I’m still within the defined age group and maybe I can be a hipster after all. More research is needed, obviously.

What do Hipsters enjoy: Independent thinking (me too! i think…what do you think?) Progressive politics (whhhhaaaat? See… I fail) appreciates art & indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter (I too, enjoy witty banter.) I learned all this from Hipster Definition #1 on Urban Dictionary. Have you spent any amount of time on Urban Dictionary? H I L A R I O U S and so detailed. (I bet hipsters do not enjoy Urban Dictionary.)

Did you also know that hipsters wear thrift store style clothing, tight jeans, and androgynous style haircuts? That’d be both men and women sporting the androgynous hair dos. Okay, so I’m out on all counts. But when we were in NYC for our honeymoon, we came across a lot of hipsters. One in particular stands out in my mind. He was a skinny guy with a mean, hardcore look on his face. His expression said “Get in my way and I will cut you.” Then my wonderful husband punctuated the moment by thinking out loud, as he normally does, “You can’t be hardcore and wear tight ass jeans.” So true, Lover, so true. How was that guy with his side swoopy androgynous haircut, tight ankle hugging jeans, and tap dancer shoes going to intimidate anyone? Well...maybe if this was West Side Story.

source

But back to the point of this post. Hipsters, I know, like to shop for organic food. (See definition #7: “…enjoys indie music, a good cup of coffee or tea, grocery shopping at an organic store and vintage clothes shopping ” (p.s. I really enjoy a good cup of coffee or tea myself! coincidences galore!!!)). When I lived in California, I habitually shopped at Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market. Oh the produce at Whole Foods… it’s overpriced and wonderful. I miss it. So you must know, I was excited when a new little organic grocery store opened up in my very own little city.

I’m certainly no hipster, but nonetheless, I slipped on my Toms, grabbed my re-usable grocery bag, and ~~rode my bike over~~ drove my car over to check things out… It was pretty much what I expected. A sign on the front door shouted NO DISPOSABLE GROCERY BAGS PROVIDED, it smelled like ~~dirty hippy~~ er, natural soaps, and there was even a beach cruiser parked at the bike rack out front. Ahhhhh…. Wonderful. I took my time perusing the aisles and loaded my mini cart up with some of my old favorites and a few new things to try. hummus! kalamata olive flavor! OH JOY!

Okay, so all joking aside, see also Hipster Douche. ha ha ha HA! "Wears little sister's T-shirts"

p.s. if you are a "hipster" i mean no offense

p.p.s. If you are a "hipster douche" you should move to Austin according to urban dictionary. I adore Austin! I'll come visit you for sure!!!

p.p.p.s. If it wasn't 112 degrees outside I'd totally be up for riding my bike to the grocery store.

p.p.p.p.s. pretentious stereo types are funny

itsy bitsy spider

2011-08-03T14:32:00.004-05:00

Oh hey, look what Matt found the other night on the back patio. Fun right? A cute little spider with a funny red belly… interesting, huh? Um, no. That is a black widow spider in case you weren't aware.

{ Jumps up and down, squealing in fear and general feelings of the heebie jeebies }

So, I’ve never actually seen a black widow in person and actually hope that I never do, ever again. That thing seriously gave me the creeps and still does (my skin is crawling). For your information, I’m pretty sure that bright red spot is the mark of the devil. I’m kidding! haha (sort of)

But fear not, I did a little light reading about our little ole spider, and apparently, a black widow spider bite rarely causes death…. Good news!

R a r e l y, certainly doesn’t mean ever or never, now does it?
Be gone evil spider and never return.

Before & After - Our Living Room

2011-07-31T13:24:00.005-05:00

Hello Friends, I’m finally getting around to sharing some before and afters of our living room renovations. Let me tell you, we looked at lots and lots of houses before we finally settled on buying our 1960's ranch style home.

Here are some of the things we loved right off the back:

- obvious reason #1: within our price range!
- older well established neighborhood with mature trees // neither of us wanted to live in a brand new “cookie cutter” neighborhood
- well kept // we could tell that the property had been well maintained by the previous owners for the most part
- the curb appeal // we both love the look of a red brick ranch style house
- lots of windows = natural light
- room to grow // moved from a smaller duplex to our 1780 sq ft home meant plenty of space for the two of us and our two dogs
- two car garage
- a big backyard

As for the complaints, of course, we have those too. For some reason we just couldn't seem to find the perfect house with the perfect price tag! ;)

{Obviously, for us, the positives outweighed the negatives since we are now happy homeowners.}

So, just to be fair, here’s a few of the things we don’t love about our new place:

- outdated kitchen // read flowery wall paper as a backsplash, outdated cabinet accents, and hunter green formica countertops (screams bad 1990's)
- tiny, tiny, t i n y & outdated master bathroom // the hall bath is outdated as well, but not as intolerable since it’s outfitted with pretty plain white tile
- outdated fixtures throughout the house // ceiling fans, cabinet hardware, lighting… we would like to eventually swap it all out to something more fitting to our taste
- weird and closed off living room floor plan //we both really wanted a home with an open common area

That last negative point lead us to our very first home improvement project. Right from the get go, our priority was to make the living area one big open and common space. Pre rennovation, there were two long living areas separated by a wall. Walking through the front door you'd look to the left and see the first living area which was a carpeted and used as the TV room by the previous owners. The second living area had parquet wood floors, the fireplace, access to the kitchen, and a sliding glass door leading to the back yard. Each room was long, narrow and, in our opinion, awkward for any kind of furniture arrangement.

Matt and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work! Down came the wall dividing the two living areas and the fabulous result was one nice big open room. One of my favorite things about knocking the dividiving wall down was how much more natural light was available. What else did we do? Well, we pulled up the carpet on one side of the room and all the parquet flooring on the other side. We painted the walls a warm gray and put down some pretty hard wood flooring. I also slapped a fresh coat of white paint on the mantle and bookcases framing the fireplace to brighten things up. One little change with a big impact was to trash the gold bookcase hardware and gold door knob on the entryway closet and bring in some sleek oil rubbed replacements. Much better!

We are t h r i l l e d with the way it turned out. Obviously we still have a ways to go… We have a lot of blank walls and I want to change up the furniture by either getting new stuff or at least paint all the brown mis-matchy furniture white. We need more seating options, figure out what to do with the space right in front of the fireplace, get some pretty window treatments, and eventually we’ll move onto renovating the kitchen.

I’m pretty sure it’ll be a never ending project!

But I'm happy with the way things have started out! We're certainly heading in the direction we want to go. What do you think? :)

Lookin' out my window

2011-07-26T20:02:00.005-05:00

Unlike the duplex we used to live in, our new (to us) house has lots of natural light. Thanks to all the windows. “Lots of Windows” was listed high on my list of priorities when we were house hunting.

We placed the desk in our office right in front of a big window. On the other side of the glass sits a large crate myrtle with pink blossoms that sway in the breeze. It’s quite pretty. Especially when the sun sets and the sky changes colors behind it.

Fresh Blooms 8

2011-07-19T22:22:00.003-05:00

Some would say I have a pretty fantastic work schedule, and I would have to agree with that statement for the most part. Right now I’m particularly pleased with said work schedule because I went into work on Monday (after coming back from a four day weekend) and I don’t return to work until Friday. So in the span of eight days I will only have gone into work one time without having to use any sort of vacation days. I love, when by happenstance, my work schedule includes these nice long breaks because then I'm free to do important things like arrange a five dollar bouquet of purple carnations in a mason jar.
pretty, no?

So before you turn green with envy, let me go into further detail about my work schedule. It’s not all unicorns and rainbows. Yes, every now and then I’m blessed with these nice long stretches off work. Naturally I enjoy having days off during the middle of the week to run errands and be on my to do whatever I like while everyone else slaves away at the office. These are the days, I win!

Basically, I work three days a week for 12 long hours at a time and the days I work vary from week to week. The unfortunate side of it all is that sometimes I have to work weekends and holidays. Let me tell you, it’s a real drag to be at work on Saturday afternoon when you know that all your friends are at a pool party drinking margaritas and having all the fun in the whole wide world. (How dare they!?! Sob!) I’m also scheduled to work Christmas this year. As in Christmas Day. I happen to L O V E Christmas. Seriously, it’s my all time favorite holiday. I lose.

And there you have it: the plusses and minuses. The pros and cons.

Weekend with Family

2011-07-17T20:54:00.003-05:00

Such a fun afternoon! I love my family and I love spending time with them, no matter what we do! If you can’t tell from the pictures, Oklahoma has had one hot summer and being out in the weather just wears you down. We’ve had record heat with temps soaring above 100 degrees with little rain. The wind is barely any relief because, as Matt describes it, any breeze just feels like a giant blow dryer blowing hot air.
It’s been HOT! Have I got that point across? I adore summer, but I’m more than ready for these temps to cool way down. How’s your summer been? Keeping cool? Have you done anything out of the ordinary lately?

Lately, on being crazy

2011-07-15T11:19:00.005-05:00

- Yesterday I was that girl. You know: crazy, emotional, maybe a little irrational. Ever been there? Poor me! Or rather, Poor Matt! Eventually the craziness had to stop and so I just spilled the beans on what was bothering me as best as I could. And lucky for me, my husband wrapped me in his arms and said all the right and reassuring things. Genuinely. Then he told me to get dressed and took me out for a couple drinks and dinner and forgot all about his wife’s crazy behavior. Note to self: I have an amazing husband.

- I got up at 6 am the other day and met some ladies for a long bike ride. We rode over 28 miles. According to my little heart rate monitor/GPS tracker I burned 1277 calories. Whoa!!! I was exhausted.

E X H A U S T E D.

But I loved it and want to go again soon.

- Our house. Who are these people that unpack and get organized within the first day of moving in? Or even the first week? WHO ARE YOU? And please come over and help me because that’s never been me. And I want so many things for our new place. Plantation shutters vs. bamboo blinds, a new rug, rocking chairs for the front porch, new patio furniture, more seating in the living room, new desk for the office…etc, etc, ETC!

- Plus the TO DO List: paint furniture, finish touch up painting in the living room, finish organizing every single room, and how am I going to decorate those built in bookcases by the fireplace? But again, I love it. I love it and I hate it. So if I had to pick one, I say I love it.

- This weekend is all about stepping back and having a visit with my side of the family. It’s long over-due and I’m looking forward to it. Chatting with my dad, mom's home cooking, lounging on the back patio while talking about everything and nothing, coffee at the breakfast table, and not having a damn thing to do. Sounds pretty fantastic to me.

What about you? What’s been going on lately? Any craziness? Tell me I'm not alone!

Jazz in June

2011-07-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

Every June our little city puts on an outdoor Jazz concert. People and children file in with their blankets, lawn chairs, and coolers packed with cool and refreshing drinks. Then we all settle in for an easy evening of music, food, and community. It’s a good thing.

Part of me knows that I’d thrive in big city life, but with all the places I’ve lived, my heart has always tugged me home to Oklahoma. Coming home, I met the love of my life and returned to my beautiful friends and precious family. The state of Oklahoma certainly carries a stigma, regardless...I love it here. The people are friendly and the sunsets are gorgeous.
Matt claims that we live in the best city in Oklahoma. Of course he’s partial, but so am I because we do live in a great little city. It’s a college town and with that brings diversity and culture. As we live our lives, we may eventually move somewhere fast paced and exciting or we may live here for the rest of our days. Who knows? I know that right now I’m happy and I’m content with being right where I am.

Listen to Home