Still Traveling

Hi friends! I hope you had the most wonderful Christmas with your families :) We are still traveling... living out of suitcases was fun for a couple weeks but I'm really starting to wish we could just transport our ATL apartment to Ohio and make a little underground tunnel that connects it to my parents' house or something. I miss my bed. I miss my stuff. I am also really beginning to miss my nail place, my Starbucks (w/ a drive-through), and my Whole Foods. I've become such a creature of habit! Will be tough to break when we move I'm realizing...

Our days have looked a lot like this since we got to Ohio:

• Sleep late
• Play on computers/drink coffee
• Work out (*husband only... unfortunately for my thighs)
• Have lunch w/ family or friends or each other
• Shop. Shop. Shop.
• Visit
• Have dinner w/ family or friends
• Dessert
• Dessert
• Dessert
• Hang w/ the fams
• More dessert
• Sleep late

I'm about ready to borrow one of my SIL's maternity bands because - sad but true, I swear this on my life - I split my favorite skinny jeans the other day.....!!! 

Yikes. 

To be fair, they were 2 years old and wearing verrrrry very thin in the crotch-ish area. I was doing my usual high kicks and squats around the bathroom to stretch them out (you do this too, right??) because they had just come out of the dryer... and the next thing ya know, I heard a little rrrip and looked down to see my bright teal undies poking through the front! I felt like a big old fatty until I told my sister what happened and she said thats the most common place for jeans to rip......... true? false? Don't tell me. I'm going with true.

I'll be back to my normal routine in a week - workouts included, thank goodness! - soo hang with me til then if ya don't mind! We're scrounging up some New Years Eve plans (disclaimer: I. hate. New. Years. Eve.) and are looking forward to ringing in 2012 and all of the excitement it will bring!!!

Have a safe, HAPPY NEW YEAR and I'll see y'all next year!

Merry Christmas!

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!"

Luke 2: 10-11

For the holidays you can't beat home sweeeeet hooome, right? Right. We rolled into town for the holidays late Thursday night. It was worth every agonizing minute of the 20 hours of driving we did in the past 48 hours to wake up on Christmas Eve at my parents' house to the sound of Christmas music playing through the house, to hear the pitter-patter of Bella running around like a madwoman - homegirl loves being at her grandparents' house! - on the wood floors, and to sip our coffee next to the world's biggest Christmas tree! (It's giant. Gi-ant.)

I totally dropped the ball on Christmas cards this year! I was thrown off by having to do such early shopping and wrapping before our FL trip... so we'll be sending out this "New Years" card instead. I expect it to reach the homes of our family and friends sometime before Valentine's day. Fingers crossed. I wanted to send out a Christmas card instead of a holiday card but couldn't get it all together in time this year. Ohhh well.

So, in addition to wishing you all a very Merry Christmas... 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 

from our family to yours!

 

We hope you enjoy every moment of the time you get to spend with loved ones today and throughout the rest of this holiday season! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

xoxo

Traveling!

Last week when I said I needed a vacation and was headed to the beach... I wasn't kidding! We spent the past week on Captiva Island with almost all of Andrew's family (we were missing 1 out of the 5 kids... not a bad turnout for a family that big!). It was fun and it was relaxing  and it was soo beautiful! We had the best time soaking up the sun, playing on the beach, and exploring the island. I was amazed at how gorgeous the weather was this time of year! We are already talking about making it a Christmas tradition :)

Before we zip off to Ohio - in about 10 minutes - to spend a few weeks with all the rest of our families, I'll leave you with a few quick (read: unedited) pictures from our beach trip! More to come after our 20-hours-in-the-car-in-2-days travel marathon.

Beautiful beaches

Matching tourist shirts ;) 

Gorgeous sunsets

The fam watching the sun set

Coolest dolphin boat tour!

I'll have more details and pictures in the next few days ~ might be after Christmas though, depending on how busy this evening/tomorrow get! If I'm not back on the blog before then --- wishing you a very Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is filled with family, love and laughter....... and a whooole lotta Christmas cookies!

Friday Favorites

As if my life weren't already filled to the brim with weddings my BFF went and got engaged this past weekend!!! We joke that 2012 has to be my skinniest (hungriest) year ever... but seriously, I need to for real stop buying pints of ice cream every Saturday night until after October 20th! I'd hate for my Haagen Dazs obsession - and the sausage arms that are a natural result of said obsession - to ruin anyone's wedding pics.

If you've followed me for a while, you know all about my bestie Sara-Kate.
And that I love her.
And that she made my life complete when she moved to Ohio our soph year of high school.
Annnd that we are soul sistas. In every creepy way.

Our friendship used to revolve around being "lax bitches" and school dances and our boyfriends-of-the-moment. Then the conversations progressed to topics like jobs and exercise (because let's be honest, post-high school we discovered that butts grow dimples). And NOW we talk about cooking and weddings and - dare I even say it - babies!

Madness I tell you. I hardly even recognize us.

Lucky for our moms, SK's cousin will be giving the MOH speech on her big day! Which means I can save all most of our greatest hits for the book I swear I'll someday write ;) In the meantime... here are some Friday Faves: Skate's Wedding Edition!

How amazing is this color combo?! Navy, pink and green... so pretty!

Beautiful preppy pink/navy fondant cake... yum!

Pink + Navy + a pop of Green. Invitation perfection :)

Obsessed w/ navy dresses. And even more obsessed w/ this mix of pink flowers! I looove gerbera daisies!

BRIGHT pink for the maids. LIGHT pinks for the bride... beautiful!!!

I'm such a sucker for monograms. This is a monogram theme (shower, not wedding) done so so right!

And the softer side of this gorgeous color combo ;) 

I'm on wedding overload. I think I need a vacation! In fact......... I think I'll go to the beach right now! Have a great weekend... if you see any amazing PURPLE or PINK/NAVY/GREEN wedding pictures - decor, dresses, flowers, etc. - floating around the internets, feel free to pin them to me!

Auntie Em

A few months ago I got an unexpected phone call from my sis-in-law. I was leaving Nordstrom Rack, shuffling to my car with bags in hand when my phone rang. I was expecting a casual chat. How's school? What's new? Instead, the news I got was the kind that leaves you speechless for a second... I was tongue-tied for quite possibly the first time in all my 25 years. But after the initial shock wore off and the words "you're going to be an aunt!" sank in {somewhat} I muttered a few congratulatory words and told her how proud we were of her.

But there was no "we" yet. Andrew - her older brother by more than 7 years - didn't know yet. I was supposed to tell him. How do you tell a big brother that his 17-year-old sister is expecting his first niece/nephew???

First thing in the morning, while he's sitting down.
At least... that's the best plan I could come up with.

That conversation with him went much better than I had imagined. Sure, I saw flashes of anger and disbelief shoot across his face for a few seconds. But after he processed the bomb I dropped on him for a breath or two twenty, he actually said he was excited! I think he said something like "ya know..... this will be kinda cool" haha. Phew!

So....... there you have it! I'm gonna be an auntie! And husb is pretty excited that he'll be an uncle in just 5 short months!!! He's hoping its a boy - he said "he'll make it badass." But really we're just praying that he/she is happy and healthy, and we're looking forward to showering the babe with lots of love!

Annnd naturally I'm SO excited to help my sis-in-law decorate a nursery while we're home over break!!!!! Here are some idea boards I put together for her. She'll know the gender the week after Christmas, then we can get to work! {click to enlarge}

The timing isn't ideal. The pregnancy {obviously} wasn't planned. And the last few months have been turbulent to say the least. But no matter the circumstances, a baby is a blessing ~ and we couldn't be more excited for this happy little accident to be joining our family in May!

After all...

Friday Favorites

This week's faves deserves a wedding theme in honor of my sister's engagement! I've We've been stashing away ideas for months, knowing that a proposal was bound to happen sometime around the holidays!

And since she hates planning things... I've been dutifully Pinning away ideas to share with her. She has jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon - thank God - so its been a little easier to figure out her taste in flowers, cakes, etc. but she is still sort of all over the place! But one thing is certain: the color scheme will be purple. Her favorite color for as long as she could identify colors :) Which, knowing my sister, was probably sometime around the age of 11 haha... jk. Sort of.

Simple but elegant purple accented cake. Erika is understatedly beautiful and I think this cake is too!

Beautiful shade of purple bridesmaid dresses... I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't excited about wearing a deep purple dress!

Navy compliments these purple hues fabulously... and I'm obsessed w/ this bouquet!

Purple done right. These darker eggplant tones are gorgeous!

Mixed shades of purple make these centerpieces really pop! Love the mix of high and low.

And these are just so cute. I think I need to make them for the future Mr. and Mrs. ... :)

Thankfully I don't fall into the "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" category (otherwise all these weddings I'm in next year might drive me a little nutty!)... I'm happily in the "already was a bride, and now am sooo sososo excited to be a bridesmaid for all the people I love most in my life!" side of things!

Now, if my sis could just narrow down a Pinterest-inspired venue in real life, we'd be all set to get this planning officially underway! With any luck - and a lot of coffee and wine at my parents' house this winter break, no doubt! - we'll have the whole thing planned before we both head back to school in January.

Wish us luck!!! HAPPY FRIDAY!

Break & an Update!

If you've followed this blog long enough, you know by now that this is the time of year when I suffer from my I-didn't-do-a-dang-thing-all-semester-and-now-deadlines-and-finals-are-creepin'-up anxiety. Its also the time where my hair is greasy, my eyes have bags, husband feels neglected, dinners don't get cooked, my social life disappears, and tears inevitably ensue.

Well........ I decided to skip all most of that dramarama this year! I still took my finals, duh. Sure, I had a few sleepless nights, stressful days, and definitely had my fair share of under eye bags... but for some reason or another I just decided not to stress so much this year! I took time out of my studying to finish my Christmas shopping, cook dinners, go to yoga (whaaat? ya, I said it!), and didn't turn down one weekend social invitation! And guess what? I survived.

Finals are done. Did I ace them? Probably definitely not. But who cares?! I've put in my time... worked hard for 3 years... now I'm ready to just slide by and enjoy my last semester of school! Because really, there is just way too much fun stuff going on to stress!!! 

Hellooooo 4 1/2 weeks of winter break! On the agenda: be a stay at home mom to Miss Bella (insert crazy cat lady comments here), read read read for fun!, vaca in FL w/ Andrew's family, home to Ohio to visit for 2 weeks!

Cyber Monday shopping... computer, coffee, wallet, and The View. 

Gift wrapping station in our office... I knew that table would come in handy eventually!

Saturday mall and sushi date w/ husb... how pretty is the tree on our Macy's?

Bella loves to help her daddy take study breaks ;)

Oh, ya..... and.............

MY SISTER GOT ENGAGED LAST NIGHT!!!

The proposal was adorable. The ring is amazzzing. Her fiance is a doll. She is over the moon excited... and I'm SO EXCITED FOR HER!!!!! She is soo in love :) And she hates planning things - so I'm her full-time wedding planner woo hoo!! 

The blinggg! Beautiful just like my sissy!

Looks like 2012 is stacking up to be the most exciting year of my life to date! Weddings, graduations, babies and MORE! Bring it on!

Friday Favorites

I sort of forgot it was Friday. My days were all thrown off this week because of the long Thanksgiving weekend & not having classes since its finals week. I also blame the a$@ kicking I got on Wednesday from my Wills final for totally disorienting me.

All this to say... No Friday Faves today. But in place of the usual, here are some favorites of sorts for you - my favorite kiddos who I'm snuggled up on the couch with tonight watching The Grinch :)

Have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was so different for us in the most wonderful ways. Of course we missed our families and seeing our baby cousins (S/O to my sis for sending pics and videos of the nuggets - that made our day!) but we had such a fun, relaxing day with friends!

The time we would have spent rushing around to 3 different houses, we spent planted on the couch watching football and holding precious little Gia. The hours we would have been stuffed in a car, we spent cooking and baking and midnight shopping! I have no complaints. Also, spending the holiday away from family only heightens the excitement of seeing them for 3 uninterrupted weeks over Christmas! :)

We also found some new favorite recipes - I kid you not, Andrew made the best mashed potatoes in the history of mashers. And not to pump my own tires, but my pies were un. real. This should go without saying, but... of all the things I had to be Thankful for this year, Pioneer Woman just about topped my list! Thank you Jesus for her Thanksgiving recipes. Namely, these ones: Mashers, Pie Crusts, Apple Pie, Pecan Pie.

The big old bird

Tony carving his first Thanksgiving turkey

Sweetest little baby bean

Turkey Day gang! Did I mention the theme was tacky Christmas sweaters?? Well, it was.

Nom nom nom

Ugly Christmas sweaters (theme of the day) are apparently pretty hard to come by. Did you know there are actually websites devoted to Ugly Christmas sweaters? And they rob you! $30+ for a used, fugly sweater??? No thanks. At the Goodwills in the city - pickins were slim. And I'm married to a germaphobe... so I ended up making Andrew's hideous vest. Complete with a light-up component, per his request.

Mine came from a local thrift store. It was  bedazzled, so I was a little nervous about tossing it in the washer... but I'll be damned if I was going to wear that thing without washing it first! Well, my $4 sweater almost turned into a $400 sweater... I thought I ruined our dryer. There was black fuzz everywhere. The inside of our white dryer was literally black and I spent an hour trying to clean it out. I continued to shed black fuzz all over the place for the rest of the day - on couches, on Andrew, on sinks, and {husb's favorite} on my own face in the shape of a beard. Needless to say, this heinous garment landed in the trash by late evening.

So, those were the highlights of our first Thanksgiving sans family. Babies, baked goods, and ugly Christmas sweaters. All in all, the day was a success! Here are a few other random pics of our Turkey Day for your viewing pleasure... hope you are recovering nicely from the day's hustle and bustle (and food coma)!

Remember these from my Friday Favorites?

Pumpkin Pie and homemade whipped cream

Waiting in line at Target. Insanity...

EVERYbody was thankful for this baby girl!

Christmas Cards

Its that time of year again...

The minute the turkey is cleared from the table and I come out of my food coma, I go into full speed Christmas mode! This year I braved the crazy midnight Black Friday shopping rush {never again} and after 2 hours of that madness I made myself a vow to finish the rest of my holiday shopping online. Thank God for Cyber Monday!

This is also the time of year I try to organize my thoughts and ideas for our Christmas cards! Its always tricky - in my opinion - to find a mix between cute and classic. Especially when we don't have kids or some big long brag letter to include with our cards. But thankfully there are wonderful websites like Tiny Prints that let me customize a card to fit our needs. My goal: a pretty card with a simple greeting and a recent photo for Nana to display on her fridge. I usually opt for a single photo, flat card. Its a simple, fun way to wish our friends and family a happy holiday from our little family without being too over the top.

When we first got married, I chose a more classic card and included a wedding photo. Last year, I picked something a little more contemporary and used a photo of us with our kitty girl. This year, I want to choose something a little more relaxed. A little more fun. Something not so red-and-green-and-Christmasy. Here are some Tiny Prints designs I've got my eye on...

Click for Design

Click for Design

Click for Design

Click for Design

Each of these designs jumped out at me as being unique and different enough to stand out from the dozens of other Christmas cards people will be opening over the course of the next month or so. As if narrowing the card design down wasn't hard enough with so many cute and creative options -- now I've got to narrow down the picture(s) we'll use!

Here is my best Christmas card ordering tip for newly(ish)weds: limit the input you get from hubbs. My usual game plan:

Narrow the card designs down to 3. 

Narrow the photos you want to use down to 4. 

"Personalize" each card design with your photo and names... 

and then and only then show the {limited} options to your husband! 

Works like a charm. And if you pair the best picture of him with your favorite design, he'll be more likely to go with the card of your choice! Magic, I tell you.

Have you picked your holiday cards yet? If not, head on over to Tiny Prints!

Pies

What I'm learning today about pies...

Making the crusts? Not so hard.
Making the fillings? Seriously easy.
Making them PRETTY?

.....seriously SO stinkin hard! Ugh. The crusts look awesome before they bake. Then somewhere along the way, they collapse into a lopsided mess!

Here's to hoping they taste better than they look. At least there will be no denying that these suckers are homemade ;) thanks Sheila for pointing out that the "special" crusts make my pies "endearing" and "charming" haha.

2 down (Pecan and Pumpkin!), 1 to go (Apple)!

Crust on its way into the oven...

...Crust on its way out. Womp womp.

Thankful

"Last Thanksgiving my pastor said that gratitude reduces stress and other weeds in our minds and hearts. It's a weed killer inside the heart. If your heart is full of gratitude, then no room exists for despair, anxiety or hatred... A thankful heart is fertile ground for stability of soul, without the weedy emotional traumas of life."

- Edna Ellison -

I read this passage in my Bible study book last week and was blown away by the perfect timing of that chapter. Its so easy to dwell on the stress in our lives. To focus on the busyness of school and work and family responsibilities. 

via

And its so easy to forget all the things you really are thankful for when there are still so many things you're wanting to have... and to do... and to work toward.

via

Thanksgiving only technically comes around once a year. But I'm hoping to work on being thankful all year long. And showing it more, too. Because really... there is just so much to be thankful for!

via

Amid the hectic preparation that this wonderful holiday brings with it - the shopping, the cooking, the hosting, the cleaning, the visitors, the entertaining - I'm going to do my best to focus on the blessings in my life and to really truly be thankful. Deep down in my little heart. For all of it.

via

I hope your week is filled with gratitude. 

And your Thanksgiving table is surrounded by love!

...And of course, really really good food :)

via