Jared and I have started the super exciting task of planning of our honeymoon! Given the time of year of our wedding, a Caribbean destination is a little too much of a risk for me. Chances are a hurricane wouldn't occur, but it would be just our luck. :) So some other options include Hawaii, Mexico, heck even Egypt has come up! With the heavy travel Jared needs to do for work, we have more than a few points to cash in, and the opportunities are endless! If it has a Hilton, it's on the table. I suppose all the time he spends away has it's pros. (even though I would take him being home any day). I feel so lucky that we can consider so many opportunities for our week in wedded bliss. I never thought I'd say this, but thanks IBM. :)
Tonight is the newest season's premier episode, and you might be surprised to know that I am excited. Something about this show has always interested me; it moves me to tears what these people and their families deal with. This is the second season I have made sure to record and watch. It's graphic, heart-breaking, and interesting all in one. Clearly I'm not the only one who feels this way, as this show won an Emmy just last year. It's not for the faint of heart, but I would definitely recommend it!
Tonight we are expecting our first real snow fall of the season!What better time to go out and celebrate the season by donning our ugliest of Christmas apparel and jumping on a party bus? :) Yes, it's the return of the annual 12 shots of Christmas pub crawl. Ugly Christmas sweaters are required! Wish me luck, it's going to be sooo cold out there!
Words cannot express how excited I am for this movie to finally be released in KS. Just 1.5 more weeks!! East Coast/West Coast friends have already seen it, and are raving! I can't wait. :)
1. Fair Isle Fitted Sweater from Chloe Loves Charlie--$43.00
Friday night, the bestie and me, dinner, wine on lots, a movie or two, slumber party, it's on... And if you recognize the screen shot above from the cinematic adventure we plan to watch, you are a-okay in my book. Who said slumber parties have to end once you graduate high school? Pssssh. :) Have a great weekend!
He is so talented, and Jared and I are lucky enough to have a lot of his work around our home. From wine racks, to shelves, to even a KSU wall hanging. Let me tell you, the craftsmanship is impeccable. Being that I happened to have pages and pages of disintegrating recipes, it was about time I got them organized before they were no longer legible! Using a handy little website called Skip to My Lou, I was easily able to enter in all the ingredients and recipe directions and then print out the 3x5in cards on our printer! Aren't they so cute?
Typically, recipe cards have a tendency to look, well I'll just say it. CRAFTY. The little flower pots and daisies and gingerbread men....it's all just too much for me. These at least make me feel a little more young-ish, if you can be considered young while printing recipe cards. :) With the effects of the stomach flu still lingering, it was a perfect afternoon project while watching some college football games yesterday.
Thanks Grandpa Bill Whitney, for giving me something I definitely needed. :)
1) Navy blue faux suede slouch boots: currently $30! The only thing stopping me is....hmmm...perhaps I can't find a reason? :) I love the navy trend that's happening now. I'm diving in head first.
I took quite a risk by ordering it off of Overstock.com. Without seeing more than an image of it on a website and zero customer reviews to base my judgment off of, I was tentative to say the least. The rug is 8 x 10 approx, which is more massive than I expected, but necessary for the room and furniture. I must say though, I'm pretty happy with the result! The color is slightly different than the picture on the website, but I think it still works.
I figured I'd throw in a picture of my mantle all "fall"ed up. My birch tree painting still continues to be one of my favorite pieces to date, so I had to find a place to use it! I've painted a lot, but this is my go to piece when I want to feel proud and reassure myself that I CAN start an Etsy store. Someday Esty, hopefully sooner than later. :)
So three hours of painting later--the room is much more adult looking.I chose a completely different color, although more muted, it still has some personality. It's a ocean blue/green color and I am loving the way it turned out! I'll post "after" pictures after I get some furniture and decor up in there.
Rupert enjoyed painting time too. I love when he get's this excited, he looks like he's smiling, and that makes me smile :) We love our little man! And yes, he is sporting a Halloween inspired bandanna these days. He's now 11 months old, the perfect time to start showing he's fashionable, yet still tough (scared).
In other news, Jared and I are thrilled to have a buyer for this monstrous children's playset hanging out in our backyard. The previous home owners left it here for us, so we're not too upset to make a buck off of it as the thing is a beast and in great shape. The buyer is coming by tomorrow to buy and hauling it off later this week (hopefully). No more mowing/edging around it. YAY! Although it IS tempting to take a ride down the slide myself, there are not near enough trees around to keep my neighbors from seeing, so I'll pass. :)
My nose is raw, I've taken whatever remaining sick days I had left for the year due to frequent migraines every other month, and currently, KSU is being schooled in the sport of football by Nebraska. Ouch. Here's hoping for a refreshing weekend. Yeah, yeah, I know....bah humbug. :)
Love it....anyways, my life has been relagated to trips to Lowe's, Target, and Wal-Mart for the past 2 weeks. Believe it or not, I have not been to Bed Bath and Beyond once! I am so anxious to get this house setup and not only looking like, but feeling like a home, our home. This obviously cannot be done in such a short time, but I can't seem to stop trying! I remember thinking that I would blog about the new house, pictures, before and after shots....holy crap, who has time for that!? :) Eventually, I'll get there. I promise.
And here Jared and I thought he would be happy as a clam with a nice, lush backyard to run and play without any leash or chain. I guess he just doesn't know what to do with his new freedom. Sigh....Here's hoping he settles in sooner, rather than later, as he is adding more projects to our "to-do" list than we can keep up with!
The inordinate amount of Dell computer boxes are a family heirloom of sorts. My sis and I have used them for the past 3-4 moves between the two of us. A big thanks goes out to Garmin for "providing" these boxes back when my sister used to work for them. :)
This weekend consisted of packing for the majority of the time, sprinkled with my sis's 30th b-day party, a wedding, and a viewing of Avatar 3D to give ourselves a much needed break! Here's Jared and I sporting the sweet 3D glasses they provide for the second release of the movie:
Who made this decision to buy a home while trying to plan a wedding? Surely it wasn't me??? :) Coupled with an unusually terrible couple weeks of work, my body is doing very strange things in reaction to the stress. I'll save you from the laundry list, but one of which is a gimpy shoulder after a terrible night of sleep that I can't lift laterally without shooting pains down to my fingers. That can't be good....I think I need to take some time to slow down and get back to normal before things get any worse. (Deep breath). Moving day is almost here, then I can get at least one thing off my plate! Despite the stress, the excitement continues to build to FINALLY be into the house! The much needed extra space, the backyard for Rupert, and last but certainly not least, a place to call our own. Closing on Friday, moving day on Saturday--it will be here before I know it. Now, to get through the next 3 days...:)
I know what you are thinking....I'm a total treehugger. Well, yesterday, I said my final goodbyes to my tree. Yes you heard me correct, MY tree. Picture kindergarten-age Abbey, three and half feet tall with my blonde hair so light that it is nearly white, bringing home a tree sapling planted in the bottom half of a child-sized milk carton, begging "Please can we plant it? Pretty please?" My parents, being the good parents they are, allowed me to plant the tiny little sapling in the front yard of our house (Of course with little expectation that it would survive numerous mows, winters, etc). That picture, is me, next to my tree as of yesterday. That tiny sapling was a strong one, as it has now grown so large, that it is taller than our house and impeding upon the house space. After countless trims the tree continues grow into the house, thereby leaving no choice but to say goodbye. Hence sad puppy face in above image. The entire tree could not fit in the image, but here's a better look at it.
It's already received a serious trim job in the prep work before the entire tree comes down. It is important to mention the tree just in the background to the left of my tree, is my sister's tree. She also was lucky to have her childhood tree survive in our front yard. It stayed a much more modest and manageable size. If anyone out there is looking for a good quality tree that provides great shade and minimal upkeep, look for a Little Leaf Linden like my sister's. Not that I don't love my Honey Locust tree, but her's really was the winner. :)
Fantasy football. Some may think it is the most ridiculous idea of a game and the thought of participating would be about as fun as watching grass grow. Well, this is not at all the case for me. In fact, I look forward to football season more than any other sport because let's face it, football simply IS the best spectator sport there is. No other sport can make me jump up and down, yell and scream at the TV in excitement or anger, and literally clear out an evening/afternoon just to watch a game (Although college basketball is a close second). To this day I still believe that had there been an all girl league of football when I was younger, dare I say that it would have been my sport of choice rather than soccer. Would I have been good at football? Most likely not and I'm sure I would have cried on multiple occasions due to my rather low tolerance for pain. Football certainly would not have been a good fit for me, but I digress, this obsession with the sport as a spectator is only furthered by the addition of a fantasy football league or two.
I drew Pick #5 out of 12 total. Not too bad, but not great.
