A Great and Crazy Week!

http://www.dogbarkcollar.com 

I got ahead of myself last week when I told you how much I loved my dog....good thing love is unconditional.  Someone is protesting how busy we've been:

I had to tell my sweet students that MY dog ATE their homework...yup - you just read that correctly.  Apparently it does really happen and it happens to teachers, not necessarily just students.  This week he has "eaten" some reading logs, some scholastic book orders, as well as our checkbook.  He knows what he's doing is wrong because he'll immediately go and put himself into his bed.  He's silently protesting the month of October, which happens to have been the busiest month for us.  

In other news, we had a pretty eventful week.  Every Monday we enjoy dinner with my family (including my 1 year old nephew), as well as Bible Study on Tuesdays and Young Life College Fellowship on Wednesdays.  This Thursday was extra busy, as we had the Louisville Young Life Banquet and then I packed up my stuff and headed to Lexington to celebrate one of my favorite friend's  wedding.  My best friend, Laura got married!  I didn't take a single picture, so I had to go and steal borrow from my other best friend's uploading FB pics.  The pictures below will show you some of the highlights (or just what was available to me from my friend's album :) )

On Friday night, after the rehearsal dinner, I spent the night with my BFF, Donielle.  This picture documented our slumber party :)

Donielle is fabulous at doing hair.  Here you can see the fantastic up-dos she did for me and my friend, Elisha

Here is a picture of the wedding in action - if you look to the bottom left, you can see me at the end of the bridesmaids.

Here's the gorgeous bride and handsome groom after the wedding and on our way to the reception (Donielle did her hair also)

Here's a picture of Donielle and I right before they announced the bridal party into the reception.  Because Don-Don is so handy at doing hair and she's also a friend of the bride, she was behind the scenes a lot at the wedding, making sure us bridesmaids (and bride!) looked fantastic at all times.

These next pictures document our love for dancing and acting crazy.  Enjoy!

(my other bestie, Katie, enjoying the act of crazy with us)

Roomies reunited!

Stephen with a weird red-eye reduction mishap ;)

Last picture of the night - what a great time celebrating love and friendship!

Now it's time for me to embrace reality and do some lesson planning and paper grading.  I hope you have an enjoyable week!

A Weekend with the Prince

This post about how spoiled and loved my dog is and the great weekend we had together! Thank youwww.dogfencediy.com for making this possible.

You've met one of the loves of my life, Princeton - in case you haven't, here he is!

I figured a good post to get back into the swing of things was one on this handsome fella'!  I love dogs, always have...but I really love this dog, for many reasons.

1. He's a great companion.  This weekend I was sewing my Saturday away.  My sewing machine is set up in the basement, away from the hub-bub.  All day long, Princeton kept coming downstairs to check on me and to get a good pat and give a big kiss.

2. He loves to snuggle.  We often fall asleep all curled up on the couch next to this snuggle bunny.  Don't believe me?  We have proof:

It doesn't matter the size of the couch, it's inevitable - if you're on it, he's going to join you!

3. The last reason that I'll share as to why I love Princeton is because of how much fun he is.  

If we pretend to howl, he'll join us:

Sorry this video is so dark, you can still hear his talent.

I always enjoy the weekend because that means I can sleep in and lay low.  I know that Princeton enjoys the weekend because that means he doesn't have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn and we're going to stay home with him all day.  Man, I love that dog!

Do you have a canine man or lady in your life that brings you joy?  Can he/she howl on command?  I'd love to see it!

Here's to hoping that I'm able to share all the 16-ga-zillion things on here that I've been waiting to share.  I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogworld.  I've been gone far too long!  I've missed you blogland and I'm excited to return!

Thankful for Old Friends

When I was a senior in high school, one of my good guy friends started dating this girl from another school. This said girl happened to go to UK, which is where I went to college, and despite the fact that she and he broke up, she and me became great friends! This girl happens to be my friend, Traci.  Traci is one of those friends who is laid back and loves you no matter what.  She's one of those friends who you could go awhile without talking to (although I hate it), but as soon as you have a conversation with her, it's as if no time has passed.  Traci and I lived together for 3 years in college and then remained close friends after that. I had the privilege to be in her wedding back in 2005 and I was honored when she agreed to be a part of mine in 2009.

wowzers.  Here's a throw back to 2005...yikes.

Traci's wedding - March, 2005

My wedding, 2009

Needless to say, I was over the top excited last Spring/Summer when Traci told me that her and her husband were expecting a baby.  I immediately told her that I wanted to throw her a baby shower as well as make her baby bedding (if she were interested, I'm not into forcing people to take baby bedding ;-)!)  I couldn't wait to celebrate Traci as a mom and I wanted to do it in every way I could.  You can imagine my surprise when Traci told me a couple of weeks later that she wasn't expecting a baby, instead her and her husband were anticipating the birth of their BABIES in November/December.  Yup. Babies with an 's'.  All the more reason to celebrate! 

Here are some pictures from Traci's shower in October:

I picked these invites up at Target and then printed them off
at home.  Too bad I forgot to add my address and my mom
had to help me write it on the back of each envelope so her guests
would know where to go for the shower.  Oops!

Pregnant Traci and her "pumpkin"s as well as me and her Aunt Gail (the other hostess)

The desserts - cake, pumpkin spice balls and pumpkin spice mini cheesecakes

A close up of the cake - I used the same method as here and here.  

A few short weeks later, those 2 cutie pa-toots came into this world: Hudson and Kate are some adorable babies!

3 roomies together again, this time with 2 little babes :)

Here is their birth announcement picture - how cute are they?!

Here is a more recent picture - I can't handle how adorable they are!

And then this week I had the opportunity to catch up with Traci and the babes again.  I'll never turn down a good dinner with a great friend and baby snuggling time!

I love Traci and I love those two babies!  I can't wait to continue to be a part of their life and see how God uses them to share his Glory with others.  Here's to great friends!!!

Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know - it's December 12 - why am I posting about Thanksgiving?  Well, because my body still thinks it's November despite what I keep telling it!  As a result, I'm just now getting around to sharing my Fall decorations with you :).
This year, Stephen and I had the pleasure of hosting my families' Thanksgiving at our new house.  I was so excited to have everyone come over and hang out - I knew that this was what was going to make our house feel more like home (I know, gang me, but it's true!).  Thankfully, I've been loving fall for a long time now and so I had plenty of fall decorations and table linens already.  However, in our Chicago Apartment, we only had a dining room table.  In our new house, we have been blessed with the room for a kitchen table and a dining room for a dining room table (which we inherited from my parents).  So, when I knew that Thanksgiving was going to be over here, my mom and I trucked it to Kohls and we got some good deals on linens to adorn our dining room table.  I was also excited because this would be the first time we used our wedding "china".  I say "china" because Stephen and I didn't actually register for china because we know that eventually, one day far, far away, my mom is going to give us her china.  However, we did register for what I call our "fancy dishes" from PB (the emma dishes) to use whenever our Fiestaware was just too much for the occasion.  This was an occasion that the Fiestaware needed to tone it down a bit!
We were hosting my immediate family (mom, dad, sisters and their husbands - and also Little Elliott of course) as well as my Aunt and Uncle from Bowling Green.  With that being said, there were 10 of us total so 4 would sit at the kitchen table and 6 at the dining room table.

Our kitchen table all decked up for Fall, wearing her reversible fall table runner and place mats that I made last year.  I wanted needed some burnt orange napkins to go with the whole she-bang and scored big time when I found a set of 6 pumpkin fabric napkins at JoAnns for $2 a pack - yes, please!

 A close-up of the table all set.

Here's a close-up of a place setting.

In the dining room, I reeeeaaaalllly wanted this table runner from Crate and Barrel, but just couldn't bring myself to spend the $50 on it.

I was pretty pumped when I found one at Kohls that looked pretty similar only with olive branches on it for a MUCH better cost (I think it was like $15) than the one at Crate and Barrel.  You might also notice that we've painted our dining room....more to come on that, later!

 Our dining room table wearing her new table cloth, runner and wine colored napkins, all ready for Thanksgiving!

A close-up of the set table.

One of our emma place settings - sorry for the turned picture!

I loved decorating for the season, but I also loved baking and preparing just as much!  My sisters, mom and I tagged team the efforts for our big Thanksgiving Feast and it was a success (if I do say so myself!)!  My mom bought the turkey and I had the honor of preparing it and roasting it.  If you've never done this, please know that it is incredibly disgusting!  I immediately got on the phone with my mom and my mother-in-law and thanked them for graciously doing this every year!  My mom also made a beef dish (for all those none turkey goers out there) and pecan squares for dessert.  My sister Melissa made a killer goat cheese and beet salad, as well as an amazing pumpkin, gingerbread trifle - a true pinterest success!  My sister Laurel made my mom's famous cheese grits, as well as her spinach casserole.  I made (with the help of all listed above) mashed potatoes, Southern Living's cornbread stuffing (to-die-for) as well as a tasty brie appetizer (recipe compliments of Melissa).  My Aunt brought her sweet potato soufflé as well as her cherry fluff.  Needless to say, we were all holding our bellies and wallowing around for a bit after the meal :).  

If I had to pick, my favorite Thanksgiving dish is my mom's cheese grits.  I know that may not sound Thanksgiving-ish to you, but boy does it scream Thanksgiving to me!  What about you - what's your favorite dish?  Anybody else out there from the south and enjoy some good grits on T-day?

I can still post about fall decorations....right???

I had so many things that I wanted to share with you, and before I knew it it was December.  How'd that happen?!?!?!?  It just didn't seem right to share with you our Christmas decorations without sharing our Fall Decorations, so despite the tardiness, here they are!  If you're interested in seeing our fall decorations from last year in our Chicago apartment, click here.
Fall is easily, hands down, my favorite season of the year.  There's something about the air turning from hot and muggy to crisp and cool that gets me excited.  I would be lying if I told you I didn't like smelling the faint scent of smoke from a good fire or hearing the band practicing for Friday night's big game (assuming you live somewhere close to a college or high school).  I love the anticipation of the holidays and the excitement that comes to my mom and husband as they gear up for football season.  So, with all that being said, needless to say, I love to decorate for fall!

 I love having the bookshelves on either side of our fireplace - the decorating capabilities are endless!

 A close-up of the fireplace.  If you like the wheat bundle on the left side of the mantel, I made it last year and blogged about it here if you're interested in making one for next year.  

 The bookshelf to the left of the fireplace.  I made the fall artwork in the upper righthand side of the bookshelf a couple of years ago and blogged about it here.  The greatest thing about this artwork is that you can make it for any season or with any cutout you'd like.  

 To the right of the fireplace

Do you remember my fall pillow that I made with my friend Amanda last year?  Read about how to make your own, here.

Our coffee table.  I snagged the candy corn dish at Kohls this year for $1.50.  I was so excited to bring it home to my candy fiend husband!

The entire falled out family room!

Did you really think I was done? :)

This was in the kitchen, next to our 'fridge.  I got the small pumpkin thinking I would paint it and decorate it with a monogram...that didn't happen.  Maybe next year???

Our hall bath downstairs.  The fern wallpaper wasn't my doing - please remember to only look at the fall decorations in this picture :)

Whelp, there it is - my homage to fall!  I feel a lot better about sharing Christmas decorations now that I've shared my fall ones!

Are you all decorated for Christmas????

Christmas Card Picture Preview

My sister snapped some pictures of Stephen and I in front of our new digs.  Enjoy the slideshow and help me pick the picture that should adorn the front of our Christmas card :).

Choice #1:

 #2:

 #3:

 #4:

 #5:

 #6:

 #7:

These next 2 won't be on the front...but they could make an appearance somewhere in our cards...

Stephen is claiming in this next picture that we're #1! 

 #8:

 #9:

 #10:

So, what do you think?  Which one would you like to see hanging from your 'fridge; sitting on your mantel; in your Christmas card display?  I need help! What about you - are you sending personalized Christmas cards this year???