M.I.A

Missing. In. Action.

That is what I have been lately!  Sadly, most of the action hasn't really been too exciting, ha!  Just the regular old stuff.  Work, working out, playing with fur babies, cooking, cleaning....it's a glamourous life really ;)

Last week we celebrated Valentine's Day!  I am spoiled with somewhat of a romantic husband, and he definitely speaks my love languages!  I posted "The Story of Us" last year on Valentine's Day, so feel free to read up on us if you like :)

B & I cherish good quality time together, some in part due to the fact that Brandon travels 3 nights/4 days a week.  So for Valentine's Day this year, a nice dinner in, some wine, our sweats and Grey's Anatomy sounded like a perfect evening!

And perfect it was!

B spoiled me with flowers at school, in addition to the gifts he'd already given me!  (We're so bad at waiting to gift each other!!)  See...I told you, spoiled!

I got him a coupon book!  Yep, you read that right.  Haha, a coupon book!  A real one, too!  From the cutest website called Datevitation.com.  You should definitely check them out for a unique gift!

B now has 10 super fun dates that he can cash in whenever he likes (some require more planning than others) like breakfast in bed or visiting a nearby winery!  I'm so excited for him to use them up :)

We were super surprised to see some snow this past Saturday!  They were calling for us to get some, but we were skeptical.  We were sitting on the couch doing our taxes, looked up and the ground was almost completely covered from the down pour of snow that started!

B dog loved it!!  He was sprinting around the back yard!  Crazy dog.

We braved the roads that night and headed out for dinner to celebrate our friend Greg's birthday!  The roads weren't too bad and, per usual, good times were had by all :)

I was so thankful to have this past Monday off!I had a super productive day, if only every week could be 4 days!

I took a crack at the above workout I found on Pinterest on my day off!  Kicked my butt :) in the best way possible of course!  I dare you to try it!  And if you do, tell me your time!  I finished in 16:35.  I'll have to try and beat that again soon!

I'm so glad this was a short work week!!  Even so, it felt so. long.  Bless it!  Is it bad that I already feel like I'm in survival mode!?  Just trying to survive til spring break...til summer.  Yikes, it's probably too early for that :/

At least it's the weekend!!  Cheers to that!  

Happy weekend friends!!!

Lately

Worst blogger ever.  This girl.  Right here!  

I feel like I preach the same sad song whenever I get a chance to get on here and write a post...I'm so busy, I have no time, my poor blog is so neglected!  Wah, wahh, wahhh right!?  Haha

I'm still reading all y'all's blogs, though, trying to keep up & commenting as much as I can!  So now I'll attempt to play catch up.  Here's what's been going on here lately...

Loving - Bachelor Monday Nights!  My friends Andrea and Lisa have been coming over pretty consistently every Monday night to make a yummy Paleo meal, have some girl talk and watch a little trashy, awkward TV!  Good times :)

Watching - Bachelor!  I loved Sean last season which I think is probably the only reason I'm watching this season.  Well that, and an excuse to have a girls night!  Ha, but oh how I cringe as I watch him on some of these dates!!  They're so awkward.  I literally have to look away sometimes!

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Looking forward to - My birthday!  I'll be 26 in about 3 weeks and even though I keep getting older, I still love my birthday and celebrating another year!  Talk to me in about 3 more years when I'm pushing 30, maybe my tune will change.  But so far, life keeps getting better!  I can't complain!!

Making me happy - This guy!

Seriously, being married to your best friend is the best thing in the world!  Cheesy sounding, but true! We have fun no matter what we're doing.  And he spoils me rotten!

Thursday, Brandon sent me this picture and said "Happy early Valentine's Day!  Sorry I'm such a tease!"  So I had to wait all day long to see what was in that bag!!

I opened the bag that night to find this pretty...

And, a new phone cover!  Mine had been on the outs!

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See, spoiled!  I thought we were just doing a fun at home date night, ha.  Good thing I have something up my sleeve ;)

Celebrating - This sweet girl's 7th birthday!!

It's hard to believe the sweet little girl that made me an aunt is now 7!  Roen is so precious & I just love being her aunt!  We wrote on her card this year she was our favorite niece....she can continue to hold that title til niece number 2 gets here in May or June!

Loathing - All the paperwork I'm drowning in lately!  I'm trying to be super organized & schedule when I'm doing what paperwork.  It seems to be working!  This too shall pass, right!?

Browsing - Pinterest!  My love for pinterest has never wavered, but like blogging, I typically don't have a lot of time to aimlessly browse around!  But lately, I have been pinning lots of yummy Paleo recipes & butt kicking workouts!  I try to skip over all the deliciously-looking-terribly-bad-for-you-make-you-want-to-stuff-your-face-with-all-the-food pins.  I've been mildly successful :)

Oh, and you can follow me here.

Missing - My blog!!  My goal is at least a post a week, if only to journal what's going on in our lives! But I'm itching to get back to a more regular blogging life.  Maybe one day when life slows down, right?!

I'm off to cook, maybe watch the Grammy's & snuggle on the couch with my boys!  Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Friday Tidbits

Alright friends, it's Friday....and well....

So here are some tee tiny tid bits to start off the weekend...

Joy of all joys...I got to go to the DMV this morning to renew my license!  Yay! (insert sarcasm)  Oh the joy of turning 25.

I was in and out in under 20 minutes, though - I'm pretty sure that has to be a record!  I mean, my latte was still hot when I got back in the car - for real - and I passed my signs test with flying colors!  I consider this a big fat success!!

I am now a licensed driver for another 8 years :)  Phew.

I think my mind is still in Valentine's mode....all I can this of is chocolate and cupcakes! This is bad.  One of my students gave me these for Valentine's day and they are little tiny pieces of heaven in your mouth.

I die

The box is still half full ;) but those chocolate covered strawberries are gone!  They didn't stand a chance against the fat girl in me.

We're babysitting my niece and nephews tonight :)  I'm sure there will be much playing, book reading and hopefully Basil take out for the adults!!

We started the Dexter series last weekend which also means tonight will consist watching more Dexter while sitting on my bro & SIL's couch (once the little ones are in bed of course) and quite possibly drinking a glass of wine or 3.

Happy Friday y'all!!

The Story of Us

I've seen a lot of bloggers participating in "The Story of Us" link up from Mrs. to Mama and I couldn't resist joining! I've loved reading everyone's posts & what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day while my Valentine is traveling than sharing how I met and fell for him!

So here it is...

The Story of Us

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?  This March (March 21st to be exact) will mark 3 years since we met!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}  I would just like to preface, Brandon & I are the exception to the rule for sure!  (If you've seen "He's Just Not That Into You", you know what I mean.  If not, ask and I'll explain!)  In true classy form, Brandon and I met at a bar in Charlotte - The Attic, which is now a bar called Prohibition.  I was out with some girlfriends & he, reluctantly, was out with his guys - he hadn't planned on going out that night, but after some arm twisting they convinced him.  Brandon approached me as I appeared to be double fisting (holding my beer as well as my friend's beer while she was outside making a phone call).  He introduced himself and asked my name.  "Hey, I'm Brandon.  What's your name?" "Michelle." "Rachelle?" "Yeah."  It was loud.  All night he thought my name was Rachelle and I had thought he said Michelle so I didn't even know to correct him.  He didn't find out my actual name until he went to put my number in his phone...."So it's R-a-c-h..?" "No, no, no, M-i-c-h.." "Ohh!  Omg!" "Haha, it's ok, it's pretty loud!" :)  And the rest is history....he followed through, called when he said he was going to and woo'd me all the way to the alter!

Not long after we started dating - May 2009 at a Knights game

Of course we needed an engagement picture outside of The Attic :)

3. If married, how long have you been married?  We got married November 20th, 2010 and have now been married for almost 16 months.

4. If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?  We were married at Grace on Brevard in Downtown Charlotte and our reception was at The Big Chill just outside of downtown.  We had about 110 people at our wedding - so medium sized I'd say?

Best & most fun day of our life!!

Our full wedding, reception & rehearsal dinner posts can be found here and here.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!  Brandon often calls me "Cuff", "Cuffies", "Cuffles" or just "Acuff" which is my maiden name.  At first I wasn't sure I liked it, now I'm a Shuck!  But it's really grown on me and I love it :)  I call Brandon "B" a lot on the blog just because it's easy, but in real life I mostly just call him "babe".

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.  Brandon is so disciplined in many areas of his life and I really admire that!  I love that he makes me laugh and that he takes me just as I am :)

7. Tell us how he proposed?  Brandon proposed on the first night of our vacation in Puerto Rico on April 3, 2010!  We were getting ready for dinner and Brandon was hanging out on our ocean view balcony while I finished up.  He wanted to open the champagne we got earlier that day (hindsight's 20/20 - while at the grocery store I was thinking "why are we getting champagne?") so we both had a glass of that and cheered to our vacation.  He was being so sweet and saying such sweet things.  I showed him my new David Furman (fake David Yurman) ring and he mentioned "I think we need to get you a ring for the other hand." I slapped him on the shoulder & said "why don't you get on that!!"  And about that time he pulled the ring out of his pocket!  I was shocked!!!

We followed up with dinner at Ruth's Chris which was connected to our hotel.  The tears hit on the elevator ride down :)  Getting engaged on vacation was awesome!  We made phone calls and told every one of course, but we had a few days to spend just us before the rush of seeing friends and family and planning began.  We had a date picked out and everything by the time we got back!  Some of our engagement details are here.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?  Thankfully, he is not a teddy bear kinda guy.  Haha, I'm not really a stuffed animal kinda girl so this works out!  He's a flowers, strawberries, & champagne kinda guy!

He surprised me with these delicious treats today at school!!

Brandon's definitely a romancer & I love that about him.  I think that's a love language, or should be.  He always knows how to make me feel special, whether there's a reason or just because!

9. Are you a sunset, dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch kind of girl?  I honestly can't pick - I choose both!!  Ha, obviously the whole watching a movie on the couch thing happens way more often because, well, we don't live near the beach!  But each comes with it's own greatness and I just can't choose!

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?  Definitely travel.  We have Bora Bora on our Bucket list as well as Europe/a Mediterranean cruise!  Also, Brandon's never been to NYC and I think California would be really fun!  I've only every been to San Fran.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.  The life of a traveling salesman's wife - oh so glamourous!  NOT!  Haha, B is on the road tonight so it's just me & sweet Benson.  Have no fear, he gives really great snuggles in B's absence.  We celebrated a little early this past weekend with dinner & dessert at Crave!

Fondue was UH.maz.ING!!!  I highly recommend it :) 

My love (and a rando girl in the background!)

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?  Brandon & I have been wanting some Toms, so we bought each other some for Valentine's!

     

Some classics for the Mr & some ballet flats for the Mrs :)

Sadly, I ordered the wrong size so they're currently being exchanged!  But B's are here!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.  I'm not sure if we're still newlyweds technically since we're past the 1 year mark, but either way, we're definitely still learning!  Some advice we've heeded and things we've learned so far are - always give 100%!  It's not 50/50, it's 100/100!  Don't keep things bottled in, listen and always say I love you!

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Our Honeymoon in Jamaica Nov. 2010

Taking the plunge, a leap of faith, the trust fall, all hand in hand :)

I hope you all felt loved today - whether it was from a spouse, significant other, family, friends or a fur baby!  Happy Valentine's Day friends!!