One Year and Counting...

Our One Year Anniversary has already come and gone. On Saturday, October 26th we started off the morning with sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos - brought to me by my sweet husband. We then headed up to McKinney and visited the Cotton Mill where we got married. They were setting up for a wedding, which was looking a lot like ours and we just casually walked around the venue like we were supposed to be there. It was such a perfect (freezing) day last year. So thankful!

They changed quite a bit of the venue (for the better) and it was so sweet to walk around. I loved remembering the excitement of that day and realizing how fun it will be to take our kids there in the future.

After the Cotton Mill, we headed to McKinney Square where we looked at shops, picked up our complimentary wedding topper from The Cake Stand and of course, stopped at Bloom.

Delicious! Amaretto with Buttermilk Cream filling. Ugh! So good!

Here's the necklace I found at Bloom that I want!

This year has been incredible! We have had so many wonderful things happen!

• We've repainted, fixed up, and made our home together!
• We're finishing our kitchen remodel...more to come soon!
• We've experienced the blending of two families who love us greatly!
• We've learned so much about each other and how to communicate.
• But the greatest experience, so far, is that we have a baby GIRL coming on the way! Lots more to come on this... we're so excited and feeling so overwhelmed and truly blessed!

You Tube-d

Well, in the attempt to appeal to our students, our staff made a YouTube video to participate in the Harlem Shake madness! See if you can see me... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qo6A2_YOnnE

I don't care what our students say, we ARE awesome!

A Year Ago...!!

I can't help but relive this night again...it's been a YEAR since our engagement!! What a joyful memory!

On our first date Michael and I tried to go to a "fancier" place for dinner, but wound up going to Gloria's in the Bishop Arts District. I loved it! We were both really good friends before we started dating, so Gloria's just felt perfect. After we walked around Bishop Arts we headed to White Rock Lake. We did the same thing on the night of our engagement. The only thing was that I had NO IDEA what was about to happen!

We headed to the Bishop Arts District to meet his parents for dinner. We get to see the Keane's a lot and so I thought it was just another special night out with them. After dinner though, Michael mentioned how stunning the sunset was and that we should go to White Rock Lake. I was trying to convince him to take other routes so that we could see more of the sunset, but he was insistent on this one spot. I literally thought nothing about it. When we finally pulled into the parking lot, my eye was instantly caught by about a dozen geese. I walked, or ran, over to them and was very excited to tell Michael about a time when geese used to scare me, but again, he was insistent that we keep walking.

Then I saw the pier! It took a lot longer than it should have to realize that it was set up for me and I instantly started freaking out inside! I said, "Wait, is this really happening...?" and Michael just wrapped his arm around me!

He surprised me again by heading to his house where his entire family and mine were waiting with friends to celebrate!! Our dearest friends came in from Houston and Austin to celebrate with us!

"Look what I found..."

My mom found these on her computer today and emailed them! Ahh, college! The days when my responsiblity was simply to show up to class and learn. And have a great time being an Aggie!

 

Cheers to the Fine Hunnies!  

 

Buffalo Chicken Goodness...

I want to share that this recipe is not my own. It was 100% seized and used from Pinterest! I have made it two times now and it might make it onto the regular rotation schedule. Every time I think about this dish my mouth starts watering! (Like right now...)

Buffalo Chicken & Potato Casserole

You'll need:

1.5 pounds of cooked chicken (you can do cubes, strips, or shred the chicken)
5 cups of shredded potatoes (I bought frozen hashbrowns and called it a day)
1/3 cup of buffalo sauce (I prefer Franks)
1 cup of Light Ranch dressing
1 can of Cream of Chicken
1/3 cup of bread crumbs
1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese
Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F
2. Grease a 9 X 13 pan
3. Mix together the shredded potatoes, can of Cream of Chicken, cheddar cheese, and cooked chicken.
4. Combine the Ranch dressing and buffalo sauce together. This is where I add some pepper.
5. Place half of your potato/chicken/cheese mixture "stuff" in the bottom of the pan and pour half the Ranch/Bufflo Sauce over it.
6. Repeat step 5 and top with bread crumbs.
7. Cover the casserole with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
8. Remove the foil and cook for 10 more minutes. The bread crumbs should be slightly browned.

I mean wow! This is delicious! The best part is that it's amazing for lunch the next day! You can also add more cheddar on top of the dish before you bake it if you'd like :)

What a Weekend!

This past weekend was so great! Friday night, Michael and I thought about prepping our hallway for a makeover, but opted for recordings of Disaster DIY on HGTV! It's one of Michael's favorite new shows where we watch other people make costly mistakes as we learn from them :)

Saturday, I was fortunate enough to get to attend, my new friend, Jessi's baby shower at Breadwinners in Uptown. It was such a sweet atmosphere and a great way to share an incredible breakfast!

Later that day, we FINALLY got around to working on the hallway! Poor Michael spent a lot of extra time painting the ceiling, because the previous owner thought it would be a great idea to paint the walls and ceiling all one color. Easier on that guy, but it certainly created a dungeon effect and more work for us/just Michael.

 



You can see the before color of the walls- which weren't too bad, but overall, not helping with the windowless hallway. We selected a Creamy Mushroom (which reminds me of every casserole I make) from Behr at Home Depot. We thought we would need two gallons, but ended up only needing one. This works out though, because we'll use the other gallon in the front room. (Updated image to come for the hallway - it's still a work in progress!)

Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner and to play a few dominos...great dinner!

Sunday we hung those mirrors that I bought at Target and we're still debating whether or not to lower them one to two inches It's a tough call because they were fairly challenging to hang. We are still going to paint the walls and railings, but what do you think? Should we lower them?



Imagine grey walls, with the wood repainted white :)

We wrapped up the weekend with a wedding! We've been married four months and a few days and I just LOVED going to this wedding! What a beautiful reminder that our spouse is our encourager for a deeper relationship with Christ and a motivator in helping us become who God wants us to be!

Congratulations Greg & Christina! 

Fresh Photography

I can't help looking through our engagement pictures every now and then. It's crazy that it hasn't even been a year since Michael proposed! My wonderfully talented friend, Kate, with katelovephotography, took our pictures and she did an incredible job! Here are just a few of my favorites:

 

 

She's the best!

Suitable Substitution!

The wall in our kitchen "eating" area is quite long, and fairly large. I had a collage up there, but I think I'll be moving it to the hallway after we paint. So, what to do with wall??...well "not pay a bunch" was the bottom line. So I took to the internet!

I found these mirrors that I thought would open up the space since there isn't a ton of lighting in there. I also love symmetry sometimes (most times)



Notice the multiple mirror look...so great!

 

The mirrors above are from Ballard Designs and so great, but not at all in our price range...so where did I turn?? Target of course! Talk about several winning seasons with Target Home Decor lately!

 

I found these! (below) Three of these mirrors on our wall will look great!  I'm waiting to show you what it looks like because we still need to paint the wall where they'll be, so for now - you get to use your imagination :)

 

 

The best part is...I got them for WAY less than other places! Not the exact look, but similar!

 

I'm so thankful for Michael and all the hard work he's pouring into the house! ...way to go babe! 

 



Master Haven Complete

We did it! I'm so happy with the outcome of our master bedroom! I love, love, love how warm and homey our room feels whenever I walk in! The best part of it is that Michael built our headboard and our matching nightstands! He has become incredibly talented at building furniture and fixing up things around the house! Click here to see the before pictures when this room belonged just to Michael and it was two shades of green! :/

Welcome Chest!

When you first walk into our home you are greeted by a collage and a chest that I've had since college. My mom picked it up from a garage sale for $10 and I've always had better hopes for it. A whopping 8 years later, I finally got around to sprucing it up.

Here are the Before shots:



The collage was completed by Mrs. Lauren Johnson!

Cute, right?



And the After shots:

Ta-Da! I'm really happy with it!

Thanks for all your help Lauren!



Head towards the light

While Michael and I move (slowly) through our home renovations, I've come to a, surprisingly, time-consuming decision to make. We need to replace the majority of the lighting in the house and I haven't a clue where to begin. I tend to lean more towards the Pottery Barn look of things, but lighting can be ANYTHING you want it to be. I'm constantly looking online at Shades of Light and Rejuvenation for their lighting options, but I can't come up with a cohesive design throughout the house. Which brings me to my question...does it have to be cohesive?

The first stop on my lighting transformation highway, is the kitchen! We have this terrible light in there and we want to change it. So do we go with can lighting? Do we dabble with some pendant lighting? Under the cabinet lighting?? It never ends!

The picture below is NOT our current kitchen, but what I love is that: it's the layout of our kitchen! I don't love everything about it...but we're working with the same one-window situation and I want white cabinets :)  (Image is from HGTV's Designer Portfolio)

Here's the direction that I want us to go in. We obviously won't have that killer range set...

So here's to weeks of looking, pricing, and deciding...I can't wait until it gets done!

Also, if you have any other great lighting websites you'd like to share...PLEASE let me know!

The Master Haven: In Progress

After our honeymoon, the first order of business at the house was to transform the master bedroom from a bachelor pad to a peaceful and resting haven for our slumber. We're still working on some of the details, so I'll post pictures soon!

Before!

Before!

Before!

 



And then we were one...

October 26, 2012 was the greatest day. Ever. Michael and I were joined as one and we got to celebrate our new beginning with our friends! The weather was cold, but it was still so beautiful and perfect! Here are just a few snapshots of our wedding provided by twopairphotography from Abilene, TX. Tressie and Chad are incredibly talented and I'm so thrilled with all of our pictures!

Our wonderful, and crazy good-looking, bridal party!

 

The beautiful ladies in waiting!

 

Parents and new in-laws!