EMILY POSTS

January in Charleston

2012-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:00

books: The Story of Beautiful Girl

2012-01-13T11:35:00.000-06:00

I recently finished "The Story of Beautiful Girl" by Rachel Simon. I hadn't heard anything about it, but decided to check it out when I noticed it had already been bought on our kindle account. (Sharing an amazon account with your mom and sister was the BEST IDEA EVER)

The story is about a girl that was raised in a hospital for mentally disabled. It was set in the 50s, so it was really one of those terrible places that people put their kids in because they didn't know how to deal with autism or ADHD. It's a great story of love, compassion and family.

The book was very easy to read and the story was easy to follow. It was a great quick read, or travel read because I was able to put it down and pick it back up weeks later without having to thumb back through. While I don't predict this will be one of my top three for the year, I'm glad I took the short time to pick it up.

camera wish list

2012-01-11T14:09:00.000-06:00

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Telephoto Lens

Scott Kelby Digital Photgraphy Volume 1

Life after wedding..

2012-01-09T11:25:00.000-06:00

I'd heard people warn that after the wedding there may be this let down period full of boredom. But let me tell you, it felt awesome to get past the wedding. Since the end of October, the holidays have kept us busy. Preston's been travelling a bit for work, so our first months of being married haven't been perfectly normal, but what's normal anyway?!

P got me a DSLR for Christmas so there have been LOTS of pictures of the dogs. (I seriously have nothing else to photograph.) If you have any book or blog recommendations on "how the hell to use your DSLR" please share. (Especially if it's how to use your DSLR at night, inside, without the flash.)

P ran into Newt at the airport bar in South Carolina

OBSESSED with his new ball

Playing with the nieghbor

Registering with your sister isn't nearly as fun as registering for yourself.

Tucker playing suicide with his duck.

Lots of Christmas break naps..

2011 christmas card

2011-12-25T11:35:00.000-06:00

great gift for my unborn baby that my husband says is five years away but it's more like two....ish

2011-12-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

My kid needs this. My dad is a sailor and Preston is a salt water whore (in the nicest way possible). Christine, since you sent it to me, you have to buy it for me, I mean my kid :)

Daytrip Society Rocking Dory $285

(OMG - I just had to create the "baby" label)

Ranch Oyster Crackers

2011-12-21T10:27:00.000-06:00

This snack is like crack. My parents neighbors give them a tin of this stuff each Christmas. I may or may not have taken it to bed with me last night to finish it off.

Ranch Oyster Crackers

1 oz. package Ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp dill
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp lemon pepper (optional)
1/4 c canola oil
5 cups oyster crackers

Preheat oven to 250.

In a large bowl, combine seasonings and oil.

Add crackers and toss gently until crackers are evenly coated.

Spread crackers on a cookie sheet and bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Gently stir about half way through baking.

great gift for the friend with state pride

2011-12-12T11:44:00.000-06:00

Oklahoma State Cutting Board $40

october 15, 2011

2011-12-06T10:52:00.001-06:00

Stephanie Johnson Mumbai Cosmetic Bag

2011-11-29T17:38:00.000-06:00

Stephanie Johnson Mumbai Cosmetic Bag

[wedding] rehearsal dinner shoes

2011-09-14T11:01:00.000-05:00

I have yet to pick out shoes for the rehearsal. My dress is simple, lace, but not overly dressy. It's actually pretty casual but I want to dress it up with some black shoes and maybe a black or gold skinny belt. I want to look put together, but not stuffy. Since the wedding is in October, I don't want to be summery, but I'd love to have some comfy wedges. Are open toe appropriate?

The dress..

The runners-up..

the dilemma: which leopard scarf

2011-09-13T10:33:00.003-05:00

Which leaopard do you prefer?

Old Navy

Also Old Navy

wedding glasses

2011-08-25T16:08:00.001-05:00

This super sexy bride makes me want to wear my glasses on our wedding day. How cute is she?!

pinnable me: my love affair with paper

2011-08-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

My dream job would be to have my own stationary/paper business. Wouldn't it be nice to design creative and personal invitations and stationary all day? I'm seriously obsessed. (Speaking of, our wedding invites are set to be mailed next week and I will post them a few days after. I love them!)

Some pins from my paper addiction:

Have a good weekend!

beach reads

2011-07-12T09:52:00.000-05:00

We're headed to the beach next month, and I need to start planning my books. (Last year's reads recap.) I finished "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" last month. Can I say I was disappointed? It was a STRUGGLE to get through and then all the business shit at the end after the mystery was wrapped up, really bored the hell out of me. I think I'll pack "Girl Who Played with Fire", but it may not get read.

On the "maybe" list"
Girl Who Played with Fire
Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes
Freedom A Novel
Book Thief
South of Broad (One I started last year in SC, and have failed to pick back up)

I need some good girly book recommendations I started "Remember Me?" at the pool last weekend, and I think it will be a quick read. Any others I should add to the list? I also have a Maui honeymoon to book plan for, so the more the merrier!

as two become one

2011-07-08T11:08:00.002-05:00

As the wedding planning is winding down, and excitement gearing up, Preston and I are working on all the nitty gritty details that goes into actually being married. Bank accounts, legal names, bills, etc. It's super overwhelming, but I'm trying to prioritize and make lists of things that will need to be done. Mostly it's my stuff that will need changed. (Awesome.)

We've always been pretty good about splitting our expenses 50/50, and our method has always worked for us. We really want to want to start saving together, and we think it's best to create a general account that shared expenses come from. I know that everyone does this differently, but we've agreed that we'll each have a separate checking account that we'll get our "allowance", but all income will be pooled in one shared account. (This is probably TMI.) I'm assuming eventually this will probably change, especially when we have kids. But that's what the shared saving is about - being able to plan and adjust for those things.

After looking at combining the accounts, which is a major pain in the ass in itself, I've started to notice where most of our money goes. Kinda makes you sick! (And another reason for our still separate "allowance" accounts. A little privacy is ok!) Insert Dave Ramsey. I'm all about planning, but this guy is intense. Separately we're two mid to upper 20s adults that have student loans, car payments, MEDICAL BILLS (grrr), and credit card debt. I know all of this is normal, but geez it can add up. And we're sick of being normal. We want to be savers. This weekend we're really going to sit down and hash out our combined budget. With Dave's help, hopefully by the time we're legally married, this budget crap will be habit. (I think that's one of his mottos...or something like about making it habit.)

Hopefully by putting pen to paper, and looking at things once a week, we're able to stick to it. It will be exciting watching our savings grow and debt decrease. Dave's budgets are available for print here. My next month's beach read can be found here. How boring am I?!

Has anyone else tried out Dave Ramsey or found any budgeting habits that work for them? Do share :)

Updates

2011-06-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

Did I tell ya'll my sister got engaged? It's been a busy month! Between trying to wrap up things with our wedding, my sister's trying to get a few (big) things set before our wedding events kick off. (And then she has the holidays to work around!) So, my poor parents have many balls in the air.

We sent our Save the Dates. (iPhone photo of the mess up I've been keeping on my desk)

Freakin' blogger won't let you rotate photos. I don't feel like fighting with it...maybe I'll fix it later.

I ordered and received my shoes! I LOVE them! They're even cuter in person and I think they'll be perfect.

My bridesmaids have their dresses. The first plan was that everyone would pick they're own style as long as it was "caspian blue" color (which they also no longer have). But after dealing with backorders and canceled styles, they all ended up with the same one. J.Crew's dresses are excellent quality.

J. Crew Selma

Christine is going to be my day-of coordinator and I couldn't be happier! I know all the last details are in great hands. She's already helped me with so many ideas and final touches I haven't thought of.

One final exciting bit of news, I finally joined pinterest! I'm still getting the hang of it, but I can already tell this little blog may suffer about from pinterest's awesomeness. (As if it doesn't suffer enough already!)

[wedding] shoes!

2011-05-26T18:09:00.001-05:00

Almost as important as the dress..(which has been purchased BTW!)

Kate Spade Flash $125

Kate Spade Ollie $225

Stuart Weitzman Lastikon $275

Steve Madden Kinnetic $59.95

Nina Eterna $89

Nina Culver $79.95

Ivanka Trump Dermani $129.95

Kate Spade Keeden $298

why didn't we think of this?!

2011-05-26T16:56:00.001-05:00

What a cute idea for an engagement shoot? No joke, on one of our first dates, one of Preston's king size, off shore size lures hooked through my finger and we had to take a visit to the ER to have it cut out. He still has the lure and I'm trying to come up with a creative way of incorporating it into the wedding. Any ideas?

source

our photog

Although, I'm pretty pleased with how ours turned out :)

something worth sharing

2011-05-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

Hard Candy Lash Ink - $7

Once I read this lash "stain" can stay on up to 4 days, I was sold. I must say, I'm lucky to have good eyelashes. (See here.) Mine are fairly curly and lush on their own, long thanks to "the juice" but blondish in color. But this stuff does a great job of keeping them covered, flake free for days.

Normally I'm a messy mascara applicator - I just coat the stuff on and go back with a q tip to clean up any smudges on my eyelids. You can't do that with the lash Ink. It doesn't come off your skin. So delicate application is needed. But it really does last for 4 days. Sometimes 5. Towards day 4 and 5 I've been touching up the ends with a little bit of the regular stuff, but it saves atleast 5-7 minutes of my morning not having to clean up the ol' eyelids. 5-7 minutes is valuable sleeping time if you ask me.

royal wedding

2011-04-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

How precious is that little girl?!

I wonder if he plays weddings...

2011-04-20T12:59:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Melissa, I've been rocking this video for a week now!

[wedding] bridesmaids

2011-03-24T12:51:00.001-05:00

After we got engaged, asking bridesmaids was one of the first things I wanted to do. But I really wanted to find a special way to do it. Two of the girls live out of town, so asking all of them in person wasn't possible. But I wanted it to be personal, thoughtful and me. (Because isn't this whole thing about me anyway?! Kidding.)

Christine helped me scout out the perfect envelopes and paper to line the envelopes.

(Beware of crappy iphone photos. Some taken in dark restaurants!)

I folded in the flap of one envelope in the other and glued the outside flap down. I cut the pieces of alligator paper to fit in the visible part of the inside. After squeezing it in there, I used double sided tape to keep it down.

I really wish I would've taken a pictureof the cards in the actual envelope, but each side had two cards staggered so the header was visible.

The four cards were:

The Four of You - included contact info and a little quip about how I knew each girl

Expectations - the when & where

Attire - all about a dress that I no longer think they'll be wearing

I Promise - the bridal vow to her maids to not be crazy!

All wrapped up with a pretty little bow!

To my sister..

To my college sorority sister in crime, Sarah, my friend since high school, Erin, and my soon to be sister in law, Dori. Dori was here after Preston's surgery so we were able to give her's in person. And I'm so glad we did!

All four said yes, and I couldn't be happier! They mean so much to me and Preston.

Do you know if the hotel is pager friendly?

2011-03-14T14:02:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure how I've gained followers by being the worst blogger in the world these past few months but thank you for the sweet comments on the wedding stuff!

Now for something not wedding related.. except that I hope P's bachelor party is nothing like the first Hangover movie!

in the mood...

2011-03-11T15:55:00.000-06:00

I haven't been in the mood to blog lately. Actually I'm not sure if it's my mood, or my lack of free time. Preston has two more weeks until he's back to work and he's becoming more and more independent every day. We can't wait until he's 100%!

I should actually be blogging because I feel like 99% of what comes out of my mouth is wedding related. And I don't want to be that friend/coworker/sister/daughter that can ONLY talk about our wedding. I also want to make sure, after the wedding is over I remember what normal topics of convo are! This blog should be my relief.

I'll leave with you some our floral inspiration photos. (Sorry, I've been bad and not saved any sources. If you know the source, let me know (to the five of you reading. Including Mom.))

Oh lookie there..some have sources!

first date proposal

2011-02-24T10:27:00.000-06:00

What a romantic proposal on Green Wedding Shoes...

"Ben proposed to me on our first date! It was right after my three-week trip away in Morocco and Hong Kong. When my plane landed back in London, I had a message on my phone from him saying that he wanted to see me. We had been friends for a few months by then and we had gotten to know each other pretty well. He asked me out to dinner and had a whole speech bullet-pointed on a yellow post-it note which he hid in his shirt pocket (afterwards when he washed it, the note stained and to this day the stain is still there!) He told about how he wanted to make his intentions for me as transparent as possible, and he wasn’t going to take me out a few times and then decide whether I was good enough for him. He told me that he knew all the things he wanted to know about me.."

I love how sure the groom is about his bride. So sweet. If he had notes on a post-it prepared, it sounds like he new BEFORE the first date! I think most people could say this about their man by the first couple of dates. See wedding pictures and read the whole story here.

i'm alive!

2011-02-22T10:31:00.000-06:00

*Preston's surgery was two weeks ago and it went well.

* It hadn't given much thought to the after surgery part..but he's improving more and more each day. Last night, in the same rant, he went off about health care and how Lowe's doesn't have a wedding registry. Pain meds are fun.

*I was on the snowed in diet, then the hospital food diet and last week I was on the southern (soon to be) in-law, home cooked diet. Needless to say the wedding workout hasn't been started.

*Wedding planning is coming along! We have a date!

*I want Oliva Polermo's long bob

[wedding] where to begin...

2011-02-01T13:31:00.001-06:00

We've been engaged two weeks! There has been some progress. We're still working on a date..and location. If you live in the south, you know fall weekends are dominated by football so planning a wedding around two different teams has proven to be difficult! We've narrowed it down to a few dates so I'll let you know when we decide.

I have chosen to forgo purchasing an $80 wedding planner and decided to make my own. My friend Erin found these awesome print outs on RussellandHazel.com. No every item will apply to us, but I feel more at ease about planning now that I have something to keep me on track.

I don't know how people plan weddings in a couple of months. There's so much to do!

2011 Reading List

2011-01-25T12:22:00.000-06:00

Before I starting posting about all things wedding (yay!) I thought I'd go ahead and get this reading list out there. Hopefully I can stick to it with it being a busy year and all :)

This may be hard for me to stick to, but I'm excited about a lot of these books. So in no particular order...

2011 Books

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (currently reading. Yall were right! It get's better if you stick to it!)
Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Steig Larsson
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Secret life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
Freedom A Novel by Jonathan Franzen
Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'm sure I'll throw some others in there. My goal is to read atleast 12 books this year. I also got an iPad for my birthday so I'm all synced up, and have my kindle app on every gadget possible!

Happy reading!

the kennedys

2011-01-24T09:55:00.000-06:00

I'm slightly disappointed A&E scrapped the Kennedys project. But hopefully that means it's juicier and too good to just be any ol' documentary. I had heard Showtime was interested, but decided not to pick it up. Fingers crossed someone airs the project; the preview looks amazing!

we're getting married!!

2011-01-18T11:51:00.000-06:00

Once the announcement finally made facebook/twitter my mom was quick to correct that I should've posted "we're" instead of "were". It may be too late to correct on the social networks, but in time to post correctly on the blog! Anyway, I think the mis-punctuation implies our excitement and lack of focus on all things not involved in the planning of the wedding!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the aspects of planning. But trying to quickly get our ducks in a row because the "when & where" questions have already begun pouring in.

So help! Can you recommend any must have books or websites you used during your planning? I've already started looking back at the Style Me Pretty pages I've starred. But I'd really like to have tangibles (books) I can dog ear and highlight that crap out of.

tgif

2011-01-14T18:15:00.003-06:00

I don't know about ya'll but my world has officially been rocked. There is no way in h-e-double hockey stick I am a Sagittarius. I have been, and will always be a full blown Capricorn. (My birthday is Tuesday) The Washington Post outlined the basic changes of my new persona.

Capricorn: Dec. 22-Jan. 19 Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20

Your previous qualities: willingness to work hard and determination to succeed
Your new qualities: philosophical, wide-open and curious nature

I may be many things, but "wide open" I am not. I am practical, prudent, and rigid!! Since I was born at 11:30 pm, that's practically January 19, which is really close to January 20 which is the new Capricorn. Capricorn it is.

Thank you for your emails and well wishes about Preston's surgery change. Three days later, I think we've gained a perspective on things and although it's a hassle to change plans, we realize it will all work out for the best. But damn it sure felt good to have one more place to vent!

Anyone have an special plans on this 3 day weekend? We're going to be grocery shopping, possibly seeing the new Harry Potter movie and chilaxin'. Tonight P has a just guys, diaper shower, so I'll be catching up on the DVR and maybe watching "Easy A". (LOVE Emma Stone)

Speaking of grocery shopping - I planned our menu for the rest of the month and if we can pull this off with only one grocery trip I will be ECSTATIC! I'll let ya know..

Have a good weekend!

image

things change!

2011-01-12T16:06:00.000-06:00

Today was supposed to be the day Preston went in for his hip replacement. Saturday his parents were planning on flying in. But we recieved the call yesterday that his new hip wasn't avaliable until February 1. After our mental breakdown yesterday, today we're regrouping and trying to go with the flow. We're re planning plans and gearing back up to prepare for his 6 week leave at a later date. Preston's working on getting back into work mode as we wait another four weeks for his hip. In the grand scheme of things, 4 weeks won't make a difference. But I know it's painful for him, and it's a pain in the ass to switch flights! I'm looking forward to the 3 day weekend even though a 6 day weekend would've been better. We've had to keep reminding ourselves, that things change. But we can handle it.

I dont know how in the world Oklahoma City DID NOT get any snow! We're dissapointed!!

Have ya'll seen "Inception"? Three days later, Preston and I cannot stop talking about it! What did you think? He wants to watch it again, but I'm not sure my brain can take it.

Amazon customer service is awesome. The keys were rubbing off on my month old Kindle, I called Monday and no questions asked, there was a new one on my doorstep last night. It was like recieving the gift all over again! I love it that much. I was able to re register the new one and start right back into "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in 10 minutes or less. BTW, that book is awful hard to start. I'm hoping it picks up pretty quick. That reminds me, I need to post my 2011 Reading List...

Am I the only one that's having a hard time getting through 5 day work weeks? I feel sluggish. Two more days...two more days... :)

nice little weekend

2011-01-09T18:11:00.000-06:00

We've had a productive, relaxing weekend. (Is that possible?!) I'm feeling better about guests being comfortable in our guest room, but I'm not holding my breath that dust won't appear in the next 6 days. I'm looking forward to my two day work week!

Last night we went to a couples shower for a good friend from college. We look forward to their wedding in February. Hopefully it will be Preston's big, HIP debut!

Tonight we're hunkering down for the first snow storm of 2011 and cooking a good ol' batch of chili. Hope you had a lovely weekend :)

New Year's resolutions

2011-01-09T10:50:00.001-06:00

Resolutions aren't normally my thing, but this year there are some goals that I'd like to accomplish.

Read the Bible. Like really read the Bible. I've read it once straight through for a college class, all while being tested and writing papers, so that should tell ya how much I retained. This reading plan breaks it up easily and seems to be pretty manageable. (To be honest, I haven't started. But I WILL!)
End the year debt free. I'm super anal about balancing my checkbook and saving bills, but not so good with the budget thing. So I've set myself on a plan and it looks completely doable to get rid of all our bad debt by the end of the year, if not before.
Read 12 books. I'd love to read more. List to come soon.
Get into a work out routine. I l oved C25K while I was doing it. But daylight savings came, and I'm not one for running in the dark (or the cold.) I hope to pick it up again soon; hopefully starting somewhere around week 3 or 4. Maybe join the gym? Let's not push it here... :)

Holiday Hangover

2011-01-06T18:56:00.002-06:00

I believe we've made it through the holidays - closests a little bit fuller, house a little bit messier, and pants a little bit tighter but I'm starting the feel the hangover fade. Before I'm completely void of the holiday spitit, I'd thought I'd share some of my favorite gifts!

My mom and Preston both got me a pair of slippers. Slippers are a necessity with hard wood floors. Preston went the cant-go-wrong Uggs (I want to wear them every day) and my mom got me these super cute Ciccia Bella slipper boots. I love them as well. They have a softer sole, so they aren't really an "errand slipper".

I also got the kindle, which I still love. I finished "Catching Fire" during our South Carolina trip. I will never travel with a book again!

Preston's parents got me the Longchamp bag in billberry and I adore it. I want more. It's the best quality bag and I think this deep purple is a really nice neutral.

I had such a good Christmas and got so many great gifts. We are lucky to have such loving parents. We had a pretty low key New Years. For the third year in a row we've had a home made surf and turf meal and an 11 o clock bedtime. It's perfect. We also ate way too many cookies. Pillsbury has these confetti sugar cookies that are easy and to die for. We've now been busy finding a place for all said gifts and getting the house ready for Preston's parents to stay for the week. We've never had week long guests! (Much less parents. I'm stressing for sure. I don't want his parents to think I'm dirty, or can't keep a house but I'm sure they'll know all the filth and dirt is from their son!) And Preston's hip replacement is next Wednesday. (I'm hoping he'll be in good enough shape to keep the house tidied up while they're here :) ) I'll be looking forward to another long weekend with the fam.

Happy Thursday! Don't forget "Jersey Shore" is back on tonight!!

2010 in list form

2010-12-31T19:54:00.000-06:00

BOOKS I READ
Art of Racing in the Rain
Catching Fire **Favorite of the year!
Chasing Harry Winston
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (honestly...I've really only read half but that should count as a book in itself!)
The Help
Hunger Games
Little Bee
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
My Fair Lazy
Peace Like a River
Unaccustomed Earth

BOOKS I QUIT
South of Broad **I hope to pick this up again sometime soon. It just wasn't the right book for the time.
Year of Magical Thinking
Olive Kitteridge

TRIPS WE TOOK
South Carolina (February, June, August, November, December)
Santa Fe (1,2)

SUCCESSES
-I can cook! We didn't starve! (recipes, menus)
-Watched all 6 seasons of Lost. I guess I haven't discussed that on the ol' blog...we finished 2 weeks ago and I still don't know what to think about the finale. We are feeling a void now that it's over.
-Buying a house!

FAILURES
Lima Bean Wreath
Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf

IMPORTANT DATES FROM 2010
February 22 - the date we closed on our house
December 25 - first Christmas spent with Preston's family

Looking forward to 2011! Hope you have a safe and happy new year!

Christmas - round 1

2010-12-30T10:42:00.000-06:00

This year we spent Christmas in South Carolina with Preston's family. This was our second white Christmas in a row! I love the snow.

If we had sent a Christmas card, this would've been what it looked like :)

My mom sent us with our Christmas eve pajamas to open.

And Preston spent all morning, playing with and trying on all his gifts.

Preston's family all got Oklahoma shirts.

It was my first year to not spend Christmas day with my family, and I really felt 100% included and was so glad we spent time with his parents and sister. This was the first trip that everyone stayed up late talking every night. We had a great time and are looking forward to Preston's parents visiting for his surgery in a few weeks.

Tonight we have Christmas with my family. I could get used to this two Christmases thing!

wishing you the merriest

2010-12-23T21:56:00.003-06:00

Wishing ya'll the happiest of holidays and wonderful, relaxing weekend with your loved ones! Isn't it what this season is all about?!

left off the list

2010-12-22T14:07:00.001-06:00

Am I the only one that thinks Time made a huge mistake leaving off the riveting final performance from the 2000 classic "Center Stage"?!

See Time's top 10 movie dance scenes here

not your typical fairy tale..

2010-12-20T12:36:00.000-06:00

Big bad wolf meets the director of Twilight? Yes please!!

Nicole Richie's wedding dress

2010-12-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

So..what do you think of dress #1? I think it suits her. Not my cup of tea, but I'm glad she did something unique and true to her personal style.

Have a good weekend :)

deck the halls!

2010-12-15T12:07:00.008-06:00

Being out of town for Thanksgiving made me feel like it never happened, so we were slow to get in the Christmas spirit! But we've gotten into the swing of things and pulled out a few decorations. We don't have much, but I'm sure we'll collect over the years.

THE tree. Preston's attitude in picking the tree was "bigger is better"...I was nervous once we got it in the house. (I was excited after realizing the recliner may have to go in another room due to the "bigger is better" tree!)

Look at our pour little star. Doing it's best to stand up loud and proud. Our unintentional ornament theme is red, gold/bronze and all thing owl. Preston snuck in a starfish and palmetto tree in there somewhere. (Somehow the recliner still fit...darn. I'm hoping it helps detour the dogs from getting to the window.)

Our tinsel wreath. I didn't use any glue so I'm planning to use the foam for something different in the spring.

Scented pine cones at Target for $3. Best $3 I've ever spent.

I think the leftover Halloween candy adds a nice touch..atleast it's in a little snowman dish. (Next to the book tree that never was.)

I can't believe Christmas is a week away! It came so quick this year. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!

**AHH I forgot to tell you! I got the kindle I asked for! My parents had us over Sunday to give us a few things before P and I travel for Christmas. They're so sneaky :) Now I have a week to find the perfect cover!

my 2010 holiday wish list

2010-12-12T11:27:00.001-06:00

I've already dished out the list to any family members who have asked. But here are a couple of things I'm hoping end up under the tree.

Women's Pattern Poplin Shirt

I love the leather gloves I received from my sister last year but, Echo Driver Touch Wool Gloves would be so convenient

Longchamp Le Pliage Tote

Kindle Wifi, I'm not sure I need all that 3G power

And just in case...(ha no pun intended)

(1,2,3,4)

I have to mention, I wouldn't be opposed to one of these...

Fantasia

Kardashian Konfidential, One Line a Day, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, Freedom a Novel, The Lost Symbol , The Glass Castle, Marcus of Umbria, Orange is the New Black

Kiehls Gardenia Oil

Laura Mercier Lip tint in mocha

Thanksgiving recap...better late than never!

2010-12-09T21:01:00.001-06:00

Here I am two weeks later, just getting all the pics uploaded. Typical holiday season :)

We spent Thanksgiving in New Mexico with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, my grandparents, aunt and cousin. We had a great time. Ate a ton of food...drank too many margs on some days and had a nice relaxing trip. Santa Fe is a beautiful little town and we stayed close enough to the plaza area that everyone was able to do whatever they wanted with a short walk or drive. The art isn't always mine and Preston's scene but it was interesting to spend some time looking at the local jewelry and galleries. I had a great time exploring all the history and architecture in the town. The churches are breathtaking. And the food...OH the food, you can't beat New Mexican food. The local green chillies in everything are mouth watering good. I've had dreams about the green chili cheeseburger we had on the way home...LIFE CHANGING!

This was Preston's first time west of Oklahoma, besides Vegas but you don't to take in much of the desert scenery on the strip. I think he was in awe how beautiful the mountains are in New Mexico. It's always special being with someone who's witnessing something different for the first time. I'm glad he was able to experience something he hasn't ever experienced before. Santa Fe is a special place.

On to the good stuff! There were 4 of us and the dogs in the truck. It was a tight fit but the dogs did great. Good thing they love each other!

(our feeble attempt at an appropriate card picture doesn't really work if the guys have a "no shaving on vacation rule")

I think some of us could've stayed a while longer, but Tuck was ready to get home.

gearing up for tonight!

2010-12-04T14:06:00.000-06:00

Bryn's monthly giveaway

2010-12-02T11:26:00.000-06:00

Bryn at Bryn Alexandra is hosting her second monthly giveaway with a bundle of wonderful things! I must have that necklace!

Enter for your chance here

“Maybe you know … as long as we have each other … the rest is extra.”

2010-12-01T10:07:00.001-06:00

This video and couple seriously make my heart melt. I love their vows. Maybe it's the accent?

Natacha+Jean-Marc Wedding (Next-Day-Edit) from Marrone Video on Vimeo.

back to the grind

2010-11-30T11:54:00.000-06:00

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! I was lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving in Santa Fe, NM. My parents and grandparents love Santa Fe, and frequently drive over for long weekends. This time, they were kind enough to bring the kiddos (and grand-dogs) along.

We embarked on the 8 hour trek on Tuesday, and Preston flew out on Thursday. It was a tight fit..good thing we love each other.

We were so lucky to have a great house, beautiful weather, and amazing company! More pictures to come..

I must say though, I'm kind of relieved to get back to a routine? The extra day off I took to re-coop made me feel lazy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T16:09:00.003-06:00

image

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday weekend!

Things I'm thankful for..
- living in a part of the country that has FALL!
- super supportive family and friends. It's been hard going through the transition of young adult friendships to adult friendships..but I'm so glad to have them
- extremely thankful we can travel and see family as much as possible (also thankful, they live in a not-so-bad place to visit!)
- our wonderful dogs, Buddy & Tucker
- our NEW HOUSE (not thankful for hail storms!)
- our health..or that there are wonderful doctors out there to fix us :)

I'm not sure how 2011 could be any better! (Well...of course I can think of ONE little thing... :)!!)

Thank you all for reading! Have a great weekend!

it's so you

2010-11-22T16:06:00.000-06:00

Have ya'll seen these ads from Crate & Barrel? I wonder what my "it's so you" ad would look like...I love the third one.

another reason why the holiday season rocks..

2010-11-18T09:01:00.001-06:00

The best movies come out during the holidays!

is it hot in here??

2010-11-17T12:31:00.000-06:00

I must say, this Details shoot of Matthew Morrison is way hotter than the one in Vogue. I thought it couldn't be done!

the bling

2010-11-17T09:22:00.000-06:00

I must say, I prefer Kate's over Jessica's.

Can't say I'm a fan of Jessica's.

sources (1,2)

boot double part III

2010-11-16T11:10:00.000-06:00

(part I and II)

Some have you have asked, and most of you guessed correctly, but I went to Target to check the boots out and they were absolute CRAP! The faux distressed thing...wasn't workin'. I also had a hard time getting them on. (And a friend ordered them and felt the same way...too much work to get on!)

I'm over the real thing. Piperlime is having a sale and I need help deciding between these two! HELP!

Wanted Dubai

I like the buckle and toe on these better but they got a lower rating. Come on people, if you leave a 2 star rating atleast comment so I know why!! These also have a 19" shaft..how over the knee is that? (I am currently sans measuring tape.)

Unisa Raena

A friend commented this buckle may be annoying when crossing your legs.

What do you think?

gwyn on glee

2010-11-16T09:55:00.000-06:00

I feel bad for semi-bashing Gwyneth last week... I'm sure she's just generating hype for herself..for her movie. The clips of the Singing In the Rain/Umbrella mash-up look awesome!

my first mom agenda!

2010-11-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

I've been going crazy for the last month, not having a January calendar to scribble on! momAgenda is having a 30% sale on some of their planners, so I decided to bite the bullet.

After deciding which one best met my needs (spiral, with monthly views), the same agenda was 55% off in the sale bin! It shipped for free, and ended up being only $15!

Home Office Addition

too legit to quit

2010-11-11T21:02:00.000-06:00

Hi friends! If you haven't already noticed, I finally purchased the url address for the blog. (The ".blogspot" proved hard for family members to remember!) And at $10 a year, what the hell. I now feel like this blogging thing HAS to continue for atleast another twelve months! I can't believe I almost started a year ago! Who knew I had so much to say!

To my point.. (if you're still reading) my address, e-mail, and twitter are all the same now. So read, email, follow!

emilypostsblog.com
emilypostsblog@gmail.com
@emilypostsblog

I appreciate each and every one of you for reading. I really feel so lucky to have you stick around :)

2010 CMAs critiques from a non viewer

2010-11-11T17:11:00.000-06:00

I missed the CMA's last night, and forgot to DVR. So I was only able to catch a few performances on youtube. (Does anyone know what Carrie sang? I can't find hers!)

Love Taylor. Her new CD is her best yet. I know there are haters out there, but how can you hate a young girl with such grace and talent?!

I haven't read any complaints about Gwyneth's performance, but I'm just not buying it. The fake twang (and incessant blinking) aren't convincing me she's the next Carrie Underwood. I'll maybe believe it in the movie...but why is she on the CMAs?? There are so many other, better artists...that are actual country artists. And sorry Gwyn, I'm not sure your LA/NY upbringing qualifies you as "country strong".

And while we're being honest, the only real reason I'm even seeing that movie is because of Tim. :)

What'd ya'll think? Favorite performance of the night? Favorite fashion of the night? Favorite moments? Fill me in!

hungry for more

2010-11-11T09:14:00.000-06:00

I've been a bad book lover ever since we got back from the beach. I haven't finished one book. I really tried to finish "South of Broad" and hope to someday, but it really is a long vacation book. It was hard to read a chapter or two before bed. I'll pick it up again sometime.

For our trip to South Carolina, I packed "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. I'm sure I'm the last blogger on the block to read "The Hunger Games" (as I am for most other things :)), but let me tell ya, it was so good.

I read every chance I got while we were there.It was an easy read, moderate in length, but the story really kept you on the edge of your seat. It's kind of Harry Potter meets 1984..but still appropriate for young adults.

I'm really excited to read the other two in the series - "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay". But I'm going to hold out until the paperbacks are released, because I'm a book snob like that. Since I currently have the young adult, fantasy bug, and the movie is getting ready to be released, I think I'm going to read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" next!

thanks to you, gap!

2010-11-10T14:05:00.000-06:00

Once again, Gap is pullin' out the stops for the month of November with the Wednesday 40/45% off coupons. Apparently, I spent so much in October they sent me a $20 reward**. And the last TWO weeks I've forgotten to use it!!

Today's purchase-

Gap Diamond Knit Sweater

Isn't it lovely?! It's a little lighter than in the picture, but I love the pattern.

On deck for the next three weeks:

Gingham Shirt

(where were you when I needed you last month?!)

Center Seam dolman Sweater

Shawl Zip Sweater

Cozy Plaid Scarf

Cable Knit Slippers

(Last year's Target slippers are getting kind of gross. If I wasn't lazy, I'd get the booties. Ya know, because the whole "pullin' off shoes before I crawl in bed" just isn't my style :)! )

**For the record, I only purchased City Flats in camel & black and the Forever Skinnies

the latest - traveling down south

2010-11-09T11:52:00.001-06:00

Preston and I got back late Sunday night from spending the weekend in South Carolina with his family. We definitely are spoiled while we were there; you would've thought Sunday lunch was a holiday with the ham and fixin's his mom put together. While we were there, we went to the lake so the boys could do some fishing, a little bit of shopping, LOTS of eating, went to the Clemson game, saw some of P's friends from Charleston, and relaxed..A LOT. It was a shock of cold; Oklahoma's not quite to the 40s and 50s, but we had a great time! (And I love any excuse to wear a sweater or my uggs :) !)

We'll be back to South Carolina again in December and hope to drive the dogs out there sometime next spring. Side note: So glad ONE team we root for won this weekend. I just wish it would've been mine :(

boot double part II

2010-11-08T12:03:00.000-06:00

It was so interesting to hear what everyone thought. Thanks for playin' :)
Boot 1 is the Target Women's Mossimo Supply Co. Kaden Tall Buckle Boots in Tan for $34.99

Boot 2 is the Steve Madden Roady in Cognac for $199. (Check out the Steve Madden black pair. They have a blue zipper!!)

boot double part I

2010-11-07T09:45:00.000-06:00

I've been on the hunt for some more biker-ish boots lately. I have a pari of dark brown and black boots, but need more of a hunt. I'm in love with this pair- full price for $199 and the knock off for $34.99. Do you sacrifice quality for price? I must say, the brand of the real deal has failed to impress me in the past.

Can you guess which one is the name brand and which is the cheaper version?

Boot 1

Boot 2

What do you think?! I'll let ya'll know tomorrow :)

family tree

2010-11-04T09:12:00.002-05:00

Last year for Christmas, my sister and I gave our grandparents a homemade giftcard for dinner out on us. On Monday we finally all got together at Upper Crust in OKC.

It was so much fun! I see my grandparents fairly often, but I always love talking to them about the latest in life and hearing old stories. This week they had a lot to say about the election, world series and Big XII football.

Charming, right?

I aim to please and wore last year's Christmas sweater gifted from the g-parents :)

Carolyn and I are so lucky to have healthy grandparents. They're both history buffs (most of my family are) so it's really neat to have my Grandma tell Preston about our South Carolina ties. We could've had relatives fighting next to each other in the Revolutionary War! (Nerd alert, I know.) One of these days I really want to sit down with my grandma and build our family tree. Has anyone used Ancestry.com? Or any other family tree website?

Grandma said it was the best Christmas gift we could've gotten them. I think I know what we'll be getting them this year! (She also said she wanted a copy of "The Patriot"!) Done and done!

(BTW - Upper Crust has good food and was inexpensive!)

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

2010-11-03T10:07:00.001-05:00

Per usual, I’m trying to get an early start on this year’s Christmas card. Last year was our first year to send “joint” cards, so this year I thought we’d up our game and send picture cards.

Bring on the pressure. (Probably another reason why I want to start now; so we have a good month or so to take a good pic.)

I’ve been searching card options on multiple websites, and I think I have my favorite choices finally narrowed down. In comes YOU! Help me pick!!

Shutterfly has many great options. Multiple pictures, single pictures, folded card, flat stationary, matte, glossy, landscape, portrait, 5x5, 5x7. See what I mean?!

I really love the folded card, but I’m not sure if I would be able to utilize all the space in the inside. Last year Preston INSISTED on signing his own name, (he received many shocked responses from his side of the fam!), so I plan on us hand signing all the cards. I’m not sure if I have 60+ personal notes inside of me. (I know I'm cold..maybe next year.)

Gorgeous Gift Tag Christmas Folded Card

Holly Frame Folded Card

I adore the sleek look of this one, but unfortunately, this year we don't share the same monogram. (Maybe we will in 2011!!)

Classic Monogram Frame

Would six pictures of just the two of us be vain??

Pictures in Red

I'm a huge fan of the 5x7. 4x6 seems so 90's :)

All Wrapped Up Christmas

Or even the square.

Red Revamped Christmas

I haven't quite decided. But would appreciate your input and of course I'll let you know once we decide :)

Shutterfly also has holiday photo cards, Christmas invitations, and gift tags!

halloweeners

2010-11-02T10:25:00.002-05:00

Preston was really excited to have "Halloweeners" this year and we had a total of ONE! And I missed him! P did a poor job of remembering every little detail of the little guy. So I had no sharing in the experience! He did remember he was a boy. And short. Thanks for the deets. (Football can be really distracting.)

Friday night we went to a friends birthday/Halloween bash as Charlie and Lucy. I took two pictures. It was that fun :)

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

rain boots or wellies?

2010-11-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

Is there a difference? My sister says rain boots. I think it bugs her when I say wellies. If one word is more hip than the other, please let me know, so I'm using the appropriate term :)

I picked these up for $25 at TJ Maxx. And the next day I was able to put them to good use! They also have a slight wedge and aren't quite as clunky as the ones I found at Target. I had a hard time deciding between the black with pink lining, or the navy with yellow. Now that they're home, I'm happy I got the black. (And I like the matte-ness...no shine for me)

TJ also had tons of this Kate Spade pair for $70. But I wasn't a fan of the heel.

My sister was; she got them in black!

It's finally hit the 60's in Oklahoma. And the first day I really sweater it up, our office air is broken. So it's been 78 in here all day and I'm a hot mess. Figures :)

Happy Monday!

lima bean wreath

2010-10-27T11:18:00.001-05:00

I could hardly contain my excitement Sunday when I got home with my bags o' lima beans. I pulled out the glue gun, got out my styrofoam wreath and got to work. Being ever so impatient, I ignored all instructions I had read to mark a spiral and glue along the line, or place at an angle. I also didn't glue the beans in rows; I did the top, outside, and inside separately. Once I figured out there was a slight disconnect between the planes (yay, geometry!), I tried to correct it by gluing the beans at slight angle where the corners met. (Am I making sense??) I also read it took Brooke HOURS to glue hers on. Mine? Not even close. Glued, painted and hung within the afternoon.

Here's the wreath before the coat of white spray paint..

Final product.. iPhone photos. I'm just going to quit warning you :)

And then this morning, Preston closed the door a little too hard, and now I have this..

Can't say I'm too upset. I have another bag of beans, and to be honest, walking by and seeing the foam peeking out between the beans was driving me nuts. Maybe I'll try again when the season comes. Maybe I should try acorns? Where do you get acorns??

(The inspiration before the fail)

top 2 tuesday: top 2 halloween or fall crafts/decor/party ideas

2010-10-26T14:16:00.002-05:00

I've already completed my pumpkins for this season, but I can't wait to try this idea from Real Simple next year.

Since I'm pretty much done decorating for the fall, I'm already looking for Christmas ideas. Again found this project in my current Real Simple mag. And I already picked up some red and green hard backs from the thrift store to get this project started. (That place smelled AWFUL today! Worse than normal...ick)

Happy Halloween!

monday monday

2010-10-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

We're expecting house guests this weekend, (and I've been lazy in the kitchen lately), so I chose meals this week we could eat more than once.

This week's meals:

-Penne a la Betsy - It's been almost a month since we last had this. It's time!!

-Chicken Wild Rice Casserole (recipe below) - I found this in the "make it tonight, serve it tomorrow" section of the 1984 Southern Living cookbook. There's some good stuff in there! I cooked a herbed mushroom recipe on Friday, to have with Oregano Chicken and rice, and they were delish! '84 was a good year :)

-Preston's cooking steak, potatoes and brussel sprouts one night

And to satisfy my sweet tooth- Peanut Butter Cup cookies

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole
from Southern Living 1984 Annual Recipes
(yields 6-8 servings)
1 6 oz package long grain wild rice
1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
1 13 oz can evaporated milk
1/2 c chicken broth
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 3 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/3 c chopped green pepper
1/4 c chopped pimento
1/4 c slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Prepare rice according to package directions and set aside.
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.
Combine sauce, rice, chicken, mushrooms, green peppers, and pimento. Pour into a lightly greased 2 qt casserole. Sprinkle with almonds. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove casserole from refrigerator; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove cover, and back at 350 for 35 minutes.

Ugh, did I tell you we think our dishwasher broke?? Not fun. I'm checking with our first year home owner's warranty tomorrow to see if this is covered. Fingers crossed.

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

finally feeling like fall

2010-10-22T16:52:00.003-05:00

I finally got the fall decorating bug and glittered some pumpkins last night. I forgot how glitter sticks to EVERYTHING! I still loved how they turned out.

I used fake pumpkins that were half off at Hobby Lobby, normal cheap, black and gold glitter, foil, and Elmer's spray glue that I had on hand from my lamp shades.

I sprayed and glittered the pumpkins twice.

Not too bad, right?!

Some of my favorites from the week:

I'm all about these wreaths - fall burlap wreath (instructions here). I found these two from Aubrey + Lindsey -bean wreath, and acorn wreath. I've already picked up my foam wreath and lima beans :) I love the look with the red ribbon.

I stumbled upon this blog Strawberry Swings and Things blog surfin' the other day. She has some really great style finds and is super cute. You should check out this super sweet and stylish post she did featuring her own mom!

I'm finally finishing up painting our doors. I can't wait to have this project complete. Swapping out our old door handles for new ones has been a pain. Apparently door knobs used to be different sizes? So we've had to drill, sand, paint. It's a mess.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Boomer Sooner!!

thoughtless thursday - the red of my dreams!

2010-10-21T15:51:00.002-05:00

I've recently been on the hunt for the perfect red lipstick. I'm normally a chapstick/lipgloss girl,

but would love to glam it up every now and then. But red is so hard to match to your coloring..I've always had trouble with mathcing lipstick in general. I also hate pouring tons of money into makeup I won't use very often, so I wanted to try and find a cheaper red. Lindsey had told me Ulta now has testers out for all drug store brands, so I knew this was my opportunity to spend my time finding the one.

Ultimately, the red lipstick had to win me over in two categories: color and texture. Real Simple rated lipsticks last month, and since they never fail me in the recipe department, I assumed they could be trusted in beauty. I was set on trying the one they rated for Best Matte - Revlon Matte Lipstick.

I went for the Matte, because I wanted the longevity without the dryness of a stain. And I could always layer with gloss if I wanted a lighter, shinier look.

After trying the Really Red and In the Red, I knew I had found the right brand. I just had to pick the color! The Revlon went on smoothly blended well, and if I went a little outside the lines, I wasn't left with a weird stain after wiping with a Kleenex.

I have terrible iPhone photos of the In the Red with (top row) and without gloss (bottom row).

I love it! I hope I can rock this look...if I'm off base about being a red wearer, please someone tell me :) Now if I could only perfect the pout...

BTW - Ulta has super deals. I could've gotten a buy 2 get 1 free deal on Revlon products, but needed new mascara so I went for the Maybelline deal - buy one get one 1/2 off. (I got Full & Soft and Volume Express in blackest black. They've always been my go to's. My Falsies dries out too quick - I give up!!)

I'm such a sucker and spend more money than I would've because of these damn deals! But I had to snag some fall nail colors and Ulta always has 2 for 1 on Essie and OPI.

OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark, Miami Beet, and the top coat made the cut..

Ok, I'm rambling! In summary - found my red, spent extra money. All's well in the world :)

Happy Thursday!

wordless wednesday - my wittle baby

2010-10-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

man's best friend

2010-10-18T21:50:00.001-05:00

These amazing photographs featuring senior dogs, brings tears to my eyes. Surely my babies will live forever??

See all photos here. Thanks, Jo for sharing!

all about the food

2010-10-18T11:51:00.000-05:00

Just a quick recap on some of the last few weeks recipes..

Last week's menu wasn't followed at all...partly because I was throw up sick for a few days. And food just wasn't on my mind. But mainly because I'm just lazy and burnt out in the kitchen. I did make the risotto and spiced tenderloin. While cooking the risotto, I realized the recipe on the bag of rice was similar to the Real Simple recipe, except the bag asked for garlic salt. And I'm all about the garlic, so I added the garlic salt from the bag recipe, and didn't think to reduce the salt from the RS recipe, and we ended up with pretty salty risotto. Paired with the pork, it worked. But now I know.

I'm all about the sweets and we've had some winners lately - Trifecta cookies and pumpkin and cream cheese muffins are both equally DIVINE.

I'm anti cooking this week...hence Preston cooking burgers, steaks, and his stew

Sunday
Chicken Fried Rice - this turned out really well! I was worried it would be oily or too soy sauce-y. But it was easy and filling

Monday
Preston's stew. I could pass on this meal, but he loves it. It's just stew meat, carrots and potatoes with his choice of spices. I think I'll be thawing out my PW chicken spaghetti for these two nights.

Tuesday
Stew again. Yippee

Wednesday
Steak, rosemary potatoes

Thursday
Burgers and onion strings. Using the grill as long as we can!!

Friday
Pizza!!

I love bad Craig's list photos.

This add was for the desk :)

Happy Monday!

gives me chills

2010-10-14T09:51:00.002-05:00

Regardless of my old woman rants about Glee being too sexed up lately (I guess it is HS, but geez) the music is has still been amazing.

(I'm not sure why this is mirrored, but I couldn't find it anywhere else)

You can't beat the original though...

wordless wednesday: my sister's funny

2010-10-13T15:24:00.002-05:00

it's hard to cook when nothing sounds good!

2010-10-12T17:19:00.001-05:00

So.. I planned this week's meals on Sunday, had a fabulous double digit grocery receipt and realized today I didn't include Tuesday. And I have a girl's night Thursday. No wonder this week was cheaper than a tank of gas!

Sunday
chili

Monday
I got sick Sunday night...I don't think it was due to the chili but it was a rough Monday. P had pizza...much to my chagrin. I hate missing pizza night.

Tuesday
Pulling together brown sugar spiced tenderloin, bacon bow tie pasta, and squash

Wednesday
Pan seared Tilapia in italian bread crumbs, low maintenance risotto and brussel sprouts

Thursday
Girls night! I'll bring the wine :)

Friday
Pizza?!

guess the decorator

2010-10-11T16:53:00.004-05:00

So, this person (who is just the cutest thing) didn't become famous due to their design work. But is currently employed designing for a popular show.

I've never seen anything they've done until doing a little google search. Do you think you know who it is?

Bachelor/Bachelorette alum JILLIAN!!

So what do you think of her stuff?? I love the pops of color and all the wood and natural materials. But overall I think I'm just "whelmed".

See more pictures on the Jillian Harris website

red walls

2010-10-09T12:10:00.001-05:00

Am I the only one that's over this red wall trend? Reminds me of sorority houses and leopard print paired with lime green. (I have nothing against leopard print. Just when it's paired with neon colors.)

image

What do you think?

lotsa love

2010-10-08T09:45:00.001-05:00

I must've been in a good mood this week. All those endorphins or whatever the happy drugs are from exercise.

celebrities as moms
Spray painting cheap light fixtures. Adding this to my project list.
striped walls without the paint
Spray paint FAQs
loving leather
What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?? (Loved her bee sweater this week!)
yummy cookies

Fall is my favorite time of year because owls are EVERYWHERE!
owl lamps
vintage owls

If you have a full time football watcher inhabiting your home, beware of this dirty trick :)

Hope you have a good weekend!

image

thoughtless thursday: Netflix obsession & C25K

2010-10-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

OHHH How I needed this brain dump!!

I have spent the majority of my day trying to figure out what Netflix DVDs I want to arrive on Saturday. I have mere hours until they receive the two I shipped today. Preston normally requests we have a movie on hand, but when I asked him for any suggestions he rambled off some important football games. No prob. I'll pick two myself! I finally settled on the entire first season of United States of Tara. I'm relying heavily on the quality of this show since my precious two discs will both be the same show. Putting all my eggs in one basket.

I loved you in In Her Shoes, Toni Collette. Sometimes I feel as though I am Rose. That's a blog for another day...Anyway, don't let me down.

I'm Mexican Food-ed out. Never thought it was possible. There goes tonight's meal plan.

Back to DVDs. I've been on a huge television DVD kick. We've been watching Lost and Dexter together and I've been watching True Blood, Arrested Development, Pushing Daisies and Damages on my own. Gosh that's a lot of TV! I don't get a lot of tv time to myself since football season started. And I only watch one show at a time. I just started Damages. I'm so hooked to DVDs I gave up on the current season of Gossip Girl just to catch up when they come out on DVD. Any other shows I should check out?

Last night I completed Day 2 of the Couch to 5K workout. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get through it! I was hesitant to even try because I was sore from two days prior. (I'm out of shape. I know.) But it felt so good to finish. (And it was beautiful outside!)

The poor dogs barely made it. This is a good hour or so later.

Now I want some cute running clothes. I'm sick of the shorts up my butt. TMI?

wordless wednesday: pics from the fair

2010-10-06T08:25:00.001-05:00

We made it bright and early...

I was still hydrating..

Preston was not.

We rode a ride...my pick! (I don't do heights. Or upside down.)

Now, Preston tells me he doesn't do "spinning". No turning back now..

We people watched...And game watched.

And generally had a great time :)

the city flat

2010-10-05T12:26:00.002-05:00

I've seen quite a few blog posts and tweets about Gap/Banana/Old Navy's 30% off deal, but last week the cute skinny guy, with good hair checking me out at Gap said every Wednesday in October you can get 40% off or 45% off when you use your Gap Card.

I picked these up before our Dallas trip. With a 30% off coupon, not a bad deal.

Gap City Flats $39.50

Love them! They're super comfy. They got me through hours at the Texas fair on Saturday. Look at my poor little sunburned feet :) I bought up a 1/2 a size, because the back of the 7s were kind of tight. But the toe area will stretch. The cognac color isn't available online. Tomorrow I plan on getting both the red and black. Beat that Target!!

***PS I'm pretty sure you don't have to be a Gap cardholder to partake in this lovely sale. (Just realized it's only at Gap stores.)

Thanks Christine, for having this on hand :)

why aren't all weekends 4 days long?

2010-10-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

We had a great time in Dallas this weekend! But I'm so glad I took today off to get back to normal. The house was dirty, kitchen cabinets empty, and my body flat worn out.

This week's meals:
Sunday
Pizza. You really think I was going to cook?!

Monday
White Chile Casserole from Tasty Kitchen courtesy of Kate
We had this for dinner tonight. YUMMO. Easy. Tasty. Enough for leftovers. My kind of meal.

Tuesday
First Tuesday Girl's dinner for me. Leftovers for P. Can't lie, I'm kinda jealous.

Wednesday
Deconstructed Enchiladas from Tasty Kitchen
I'm not sure how I'm going to sneak two Mexican-ish meals in this week. I hadn't planned on the theme, but the white chili casserole is more like enchiladas and less like chili. I may swap this one out...

Thursday
Pork chops, squash - Preston's night

Friday
Can I get away with two nights of leftovers? Here's hoping

Saturday
French onion soup for lunch
Chili for the next 3 days :)

Besides cleaning and napping today, I made hummus and some cinnamon bread. I also finally started the C25K program. If you follow me on twitter, I've thrown around the idea for awhile. Heat was always the biggest deterrent, and I knew the week before OU/TX wasn't going to work. So today was the day. I took the dogs, but I'm not sure I'll ever do that again. They do ok on the leash, but two (overweight) dogs...and squirrels...and interval running...I'm surprised they lasted. Hell, I'm surprised I lasted! I'm proud of myself for actually finishing the entire work out. I hope I can stick to the whole 8 weeks! Stay tuned..

I just took my cinnamon bread out of the oven. Fail on the bread. But the cinnamon, sugar dough tastes yummy :) Just keepin' it real.

are you out there?

2010-10-01T14:27:00.002-05:00

I'm bored with me lately. Are you losing interest? I feel scattered and all over the place. I'm preoccupied with food, football, holiday travel. Juggling two teams (in two conferences) and a fantasy team is stressful. (I don't have a team..Preston has a team. So that means we watch all the games possible.) Finding the time and money to split holidays and game days is hard work. I don't think I've had anything of value to say recently. Or the strength to type in complete sentences :) I apologize!
To finish the week off on a positive note, Stephanie posted this yummy recipe for pumpkin and cream cheese muffins that I can't wait to try!

We're headed soutbound 35 to support the Sooners! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

too great not to share

2010-09-30T15:40:00.001-05:00

I'm never up late enough to watch this good stuff...

only the lonely

2010-09-29T10:57:00.000-05:00

Love today's picture from kissssing. Could that man's head be hanging any lower?! I don't blame him!

all shiny and new

2010-09-28T09:48:00.003-05:00

My campaigner has sat virtually untouched in our office since coming home. But after noticing how dingy the brass was, we decided to get to work.

The goods

The one on top has been cleaned...what a difference!

Good as new!

rain drops on roses..

2010-09-27T18:32:00.001-05:00

Some favorites from the last week:

a blog about kissing
Jenny @ Little Green Notebook did an amazing job pulling together Jo's home (1,2)
Thank you L+L for reminding me how great Lonny is, after drooling over Rue for two weeks

(Lonny)

love the do'

2010-09-27T15:35:00.000-05:00

Love this hair look. So simple and chic.

via Style Me Pretty photographed by Joielala

what's for dinner

2010-09-27T11:29:00.001-05:00

I had a nice little three day weekend so grocery shopping and menu making was all completed on Friday!

Saturday- GAME DAY
My contribution: pasta salad, buffalo chicken dip, guacamole, and hummus

Sunday
Penne a la Betsy

Monday
LEFTOVERS YAY!

Tuesday
fish tacos (combining these two)

Wednesday
chicken brochettes

Thursday
(Preston's night) pork chops

I'm already looking forward to the weekend and another sooner win!

loving: florence + the machine

2010-09-23T14:23:00.002-05:00

ikea recap

2010-09-23T10:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, my mom, sister and I made the trip down south to the big blue store. Ikea! It's amazing what a few throw pillows and curtains can do for an area.

Recap of purchases:

Ikea Stockholm throw pillow - $12.99

West Elm silk floral pillow - $19.99 (no longer online) *too spring/summer?? I kind of like the added texture and pop

sleeping puppies - Priceless :)

I know you can't really tell, but I'm kind of playing around with two living room tables. The round wood and the black chest. Very functional and adds different elements to the area. Love it.

The dining room is the hottest in the house. Before we weren't able to eat dinner in there between 6-8 because you'd get sunburned. Poor planning on my part, I know I need a curtain on each side of the window, but I was one set short. And we need the windows covered completely most of the time.

Ritva curtains in grey - $19.99

BESKÅDA curtain rods - $7.99

Our corner window in the front was a bit of an issue. I didn't know whether the window needed two sets of curtains, or just along each side. We need the shade but it's nice at time to have the light, and the dogs always love dirtying up the window sill barking at the neighbors. I'm happy what I decided for now.

Ritva curtains in grey - $19.99

BESKÅDA curtain rods - $7.99

We used two rods, and just had them meet in the corner. Exactly like John and Sherry did.

At first I didn't think I'd use the finials, but I ended up liking them. I may extend the rods a bit over the hooks.

The white filter panels are Ikea Lill - $4.99. They are 108" long and come with two. You can cut these to whatever desired length or width desired. I love that they add the extra privacy but are light and airy. I actually used one here, and just placed it on both rods.

What are you opinions on the billowing at the bottom? I don't own an iron, but hemming is possible. Two weeks later and the doggy hair the curtains are collecting is bugging the crap out of me.

Many other items were purcahsed at lovely Ikea. Kitchen stuff and hooks and bars mainly. Love that place.

Did I tell ya'll I got my FIRST speeding ticket on our way out of town? After all the money we spent in Dallas, they stuck me with an 82 in a 70. I have yet to look up how much this is going to cost me. (Still contemplating showing up at court since the date is the day after OU/TX.. do you think it's worth it??)

randomness

2010-09-22T15:24:00.001-05:00

image via Sweet Simplicity

Last night I was on the verge of a major freak out as Situation was almost kicked off DWTS. Instead of Bristol or Cho. I know he's ridiculous, and Jersey Shore's terrible for society (and my brain), but they make me laugh and I enjoy the drunken debauchery. Especially when chicken tits end up in their hot tub and the guys start tossing them around like beach balls. (I'm not the only one who enjoys him!)
I am not a "design blogger". It sucks that all these design bloggers (and many more) were invited to attend the Nate Show and no appreciation was shown. Not even recognition. I think he's really done it now...Nate has no idea the power of bloggers on twitter/facebook/blogs! I haven't seen the Nate show. Once I heard it started and sucked, I chose not to waste precious DVR space.
Glee was UH-MAZE-ING last night. Next week looks to be better!
Another game day cook out this Saturday! Looking forward to smoked ribs. I have yet to decide on sides or desert...post to come later. Is it too soon to make fall themed deserts? It still doesn't feel like fall.
Finally ate at Big Truck Tacos Monday night. (We have a hard time sticking to the menu) It wasn't bad! And cheap for sure.
I wish someone would throw me an owl themed birthday party :)
I will not be watching The Bachelor if they bring this guy back. And I mean it this time!
Somehow I deleted all my wedding blogs. Can you suggest any good ones?

Christine and I are actually going to do the C25K thing. Meaning, I've downloaded the app and made the playlist...tonight I need to double check my workout wardrobe. Start date TBD.

What's on the playlist you ask?! Well..

Happy hump day!

gleeked out

2010-09-21T18:49:00.007-05:00

In the spirit of Glee's premiere, I wish I could pull off red lipstick as beautifully as Diane Argon.

photographed by Paola Kudacki

see all photos here

hold on to your decorating cliches

2010-09-21T16:31:00.001-05:00

Jenny at My Favorite and My Best did a series of posts on decorating trends bloggers love to hate with help from her readers. She's hilarious. And offensive. And she hates some things I love.

Including:

white kitchens
cluttered coffee tables

flat screens over the fire place. I don't LOVE this, but come on, the man of the house gives me the other modest 1400 sq ft, I can give him 52" over the fireplace.

slip covered furniture
wellies under the table. I would die to have wellies to put under my table. (Not really, but I really want some.)

I do agree with her here:

hipster weddings. I seriously do.not get the mustache thing??

wall decals. especially on front doors. Unless they are house numbers. But in general really don't like these.

fabric covered rocks. WTH??

Check out her findings here - 1, 2, 3

i love lamp

2010-09-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

Patience is not my forte. Recovering these lamp shades proved to be challenging, but I'm super pleased with the results. Creating the stencil was the hardest part!

the tools:

newspaper

fabric

and shades! (I also used spray elmer's glue)

Done! The inside of the shade is bugging me. The edge of the fabric is messy. Hoping to add trim soon.

You think you can tell which side of the bed is Preston's?! I didn't even attempt to tidy up in fear of discovering capri sun straw wrappers. The damn things haunt my life.