Blogaversary!

One year ago today, I started this here tiny little blog!  With an awkward little post, I entered this crazy, fun world of blogging!  And what a fun ride it's been so far :)  

I'm so glad to have started this journey in the blogosphere!  In the past year, I've gained this virtual scrapbook/diary/journal of our life complete with pictures and memories that I can go back and read at any time!  My little corner of the blog world has blossomed and I've gained new readers and new bloggers to follow!  I've even had the privilege to meet some "blog friends" and gotten to know these great women in real life!

So here's to hoping that my blog life continues to blossom!  And I sure hope you'll plan on sticking around for the rest of this adventure....wherever it may lead!!

Happy Blogaversary to me, Happy Friday to us all, & Happy St. Patty's Day Weekend!  May your beer be green, your clovers 4-leafed, & your luck abundant! :)

Wonderful Wednesday

Look at these temps y'all!  

This week the weather has been amazing!  It's technically not even spring, but I'm already itchin' for spring time with these warmer temps!  I can't wait til we have a patio (and maybe some patio furniture) to enjoy this great weather!

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Since I've been in a professional development this week, I haven't been out of bed before 7!  My normal wake up time is 530, so 7 am is sleeping in for a weekday - and it's amazing what that extra hour and a half can do!  Wonders!    Especially since I'm fighting some sickness/allergies.  I'm so grateful for some extra shut eye :)

My man is home tonight!  B normally gets home Thursdays from traveling, but this week is home early!!  I love having him home an extra weeknight, feels like such a treat, haha.  Woohoo!

And here is exactly what we'll be doing tonight....

Wednesday night means my favorite TV line up is on & all new tonight!!  You will find B & I on the couch and not watching Dexter for once ;)  These are probably my 2 favorite shows on TV!  If you've never watched, you really should!

Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday!

Weekend Bliss

Why can't every day be the weekend!?  Too much of a good thing?  Maybe....but I sure do love my weekends :)  We had a great weekend over here!  Nothing too eventful, which was nice.  

Friday night was pretty low key...we watched some Dexter, I blogged about our ridiculously busy spring & I made April's Frank's Pizza Chicken for dinner!  Oh my word, it was delish!!  B kept saying, "This is so good!"  We'll definitely be making this one again, so thanks April for the great recommendation :)

Saturday morning, we woke up bright & early for our home inspection!!  EEE....it's seeming more and more real with each step.  The inspection went really well!  In the words of the inspector - "This is what I would call a great inspection, I think you're getting a great house!" That was definitely reassuring and made us feel really good.  No major issues and that is a huge plus!

It was fun to spend a lot of time actually IN the house....exploring - looking back & discovering a lot of things we missed on our initial visit - planning what to hang here, what to put here - checking out the back yard!  We took a lot of pics, but I don't want to share just yet...not til it's really for real official (gulp).

After the inspection, we got a workout in & then I went for workout round 2, the Fun Run & 5K at my school.  Wasn't my best time ever, but it was pretty fun and I got to see some of my kiddos!

After my two workouts on Saturday, I think I fully earned some Kabuto's!  We met my parents, grandmother, niece, nephews, and bro & SIL for dinner.  My parents were in town keeping the kids for my other bro & SIL so they could go out and celebrate their anniversary (Happy 9th Anniversary Josh & Callie!)!

It was the kids first time at a Japanese Steak House where they cook in front of you - and they were mesmerized!!

Pure amazement!

Wells was actually not so sure...

But Jude was a big fan!

It was so fun to watch their reactions!  And the food was pretty amazeballs, too! Afterwards, we managed to save some room for froyo - let's be real - there's always room for froyo :) Rob & Gale joined us and we talked all things house!  They gave us some good advice since they were in our shoes just 4 or so months ago!

We came home to (need I even say it?) more Dexter and turned in pretty early.  I started feeling a little full in the head and my throat was a little sore all on top of loosing an hour of sleep that night - fantastic.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and I made some chocolate chip banana bread muffins for breakfast...

Yum!

I followed that up with a good, long run to fight off that sickness, some laundry, and boat loads of lesson planning!  I wrote 3 days of sub plans....a bit overwhelming...but all for a good reason since I'm in a great math training this week!

In fact, this teacher has homework!  So I'm off to do my reading for my training tomorrow....thank goodness I get to sleep in a bit!  It's the little things ;)

Here's to a quick & easy work week!

A Busy & Exciting Spring

Holy moly, y'all!!  My brain has been a big ol' jumbled mess lately.  My brain feels like an ADD kid all jacked up on sugar!  It's probably because we have, oh, just 9.2 million things going on ;)

I keep going through my calendar each day and starting this weekend - we have something almost every weekend until summer time!  Whoa!

The good thing is - it's all super exciting, fun stuff!!!

It's hard to not be so excited with all this wonderful stuff coming up, so I couldn't help but start some countdowns!  Hold on, it's about to get real busy over here...

Tomorrow morning we have our home inspection!  We're so excited to go back, walk through again & check everything out!  Then, tomorrow afternoon, I'm running in the 2nd Annual Family Fun Run & 5K at my school!  I'm just running for fun, so I'm not too worried about my time!  Should be a good day :)

Next Saturday is the St. Patty's Day Bar Crawl!

It's the biggest bar crawl in the world!!  And a fun day of some bar hoppin' with the friends!  If you're in Charlotte, you should definitely throw on some green and join!

Sunday the 25th Brandon & my brothers are participating in the Spartan Race at the White Water Center.  My SILs & I along with the kiddos are gonna go watch!!  It should be really fun - I'm just hoping no one gets burned from jumping over fire or beaten up from the gladiator style jousters!

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The next weekend starts Spring Break!!  Friday the 30th B and I leave for VA for a wedding shower for my cousin Erin!  My mom, grandmother, my cousin Ashley & I are all throwing it!  It's going to be so pretty, I'm so excited!  It's been so much fun to plan!

We come back to Charlotte Sunday, April 1st and fly out early Monday the 2nd for Miami!!  From Miami, we board our cruise ship to the Bahamas!!!

Hello vaycay!  That's right!!  We'll be boarding the Majesty of the Seas cruisin' for 4 nights in paradise!  All thanks to Brandon's hard work, by the way - he won the cruise from his company!

We fly back to Charlotte April 6th and 5 days later, April 11th we close on our house!!!  We are so giddy to close and have our house!

We won't be moving that weekend, though.  April 13th - 15th I'm off to Charlottesville, VA for my cousin Erin's Bachelorette party and Brandon is off to Hilton Head for a little Brocation!

My cousin Ashley & I have been planning an awesome girls weekend & some of B's best buddies are flying down from Michigan.  Lots of vacay time back to back - I can't complain!

After Bachelorette & Brocation weekend, we'll finally get to move April 20th & 21st!!  Woohoo!  I absolutely hate moving, but there's a lot of gratification in knowing we won't have to move for another 15, 20, or 50 years :)

We'll have a weekend at home, before heading back to Virginia the first weekend in May.  More wedding fun!  Erin & Ryan have a couples shower at the lake!

May will be a bit of a quieter month - I'm hoping it will consist of a little painting in the house & some furniture shopping!!  Memorial Day weekend is usually a good time, too!  I'm hoping for a good cookout and maybe some lake time :)

And then, before you know it, it's June!  June 7th is my last day of school & June 8th - 10th is Wedding Weekend!!

Good gracious...that's a lot, huh?!  So let me just go ahead and apologize way in advance if I seem a complete ADD mess between now and June - but I sure hope you'll stick around for all the fun!

Wonderful Wednesday

Happy Hump Day friends!  Always a good feeling to be half way through the week and closer to another weekend...duh!  

This afternoon, I ran a few errands and then stopped by the mall for some shopping with a little birthday money that was burning a hole in my pocket :)

Ever since our house news I've been dreaming of home decor purchases and immediately thought I should save my birthday cash to buy something for the house - maybe put it towards some new furniture (since we'll have none!) or a new piece of art or decorative something - but B said I should use it to buy some new spring clothes and clothes for our cruise!!

Have I mentioned I love that man!?!  I'm really thankful he told me to do that!  As I've mentioned before, making these big adult purchases in life makes it hard to enjoy shopping or spending money on things I don't necessairly *need*.  So I'm thankful for his 'ok' to make some new wardrobe purchases :)

I've really been wanting some grey skinnies, so I finally got these pretties today at Gap!

Except their grey, like I said!
For the life of me, I couldn't find the grey pair on
their website.

I thought I'd have a little more time to browse around, but I had to make it to a farewell dinner (tear!) for 2 coworkers and traffic was a mess!  On the bright side, I still have some birthday cash left and will hopefully find some more spring/summer essentials soon!

Speaking of pretties, have you heard of One Kings Lane?  My friend Melissa blogged about a deal on One Kings Lane a few months ago, and after perusing their sight I became obsessed!  Their site has tons of pretties!!  This past weekend I made my first OKL purchase...

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Isn't this bag so cute?  I loved the bright, cheery color!  Again, a great purchase for spring & the cruise :)  Unfortunately, I think this sale has ended, but I'm not positive so check out the link!

As I said, I'm now obsessed with OKL because they have the most amazing items on their site.  Don't get me wrong, some of their stuff is crazy outrageous expensive, even on 'sale'!  For instance...

this metal sculpture on 'sale' for a mere $699.00!  I mean, hey, maybe that's your thing and you have 700 smackaroos laying around to spend on this weird lovely metal piece....not really my style!

Ha, no for real though, look at all these beauties I lurve on their site...

Gunmetal Archbed Bed
I think this bed would look fantastic in our master bedroom!

Lux Candles
I can just see these beside the soaker tub in the master bath!

Mirrored Jewelry Box

Table Lamp

Over time, I know we'll eventually acquire some great furniture, like the above, but for now, I'll stick to browsing around & dreaming through OKL!

And Pinterest!  

If you follow me on Pinterest, you've probably noticed that a lot of my pins lately are going on my "For the Home" board. 

I think we might need this bedding!  I just love these
colors for the bedroom!

How cute is this idea!?!

We will be needing this right inside the garage!

Great for the office maybe?!

I think someone should really pull me back down to reality...my head seems to be floating in the clouds a bit much, whoops!

Before I leave you, I thought I'd share a blog post I really enjoyed reading - 10 Things I've Learned About Sex in 6 Months of Marriage!  Rachel retweeted this link/post the other day & after reading it, I felt like it was too good not to share!!  1 - Major kudos to the author, Lauren, for addressing the sensitive unmentionable topic and 2 - thanks for addressing it so well!!!

Bet that's not how ya thought I'd sign off, huh!?  An article about sex!  Haha, well friends, I'm always full of surprises ;)  Hope your week is sailing along smoothly!

Quarter of a Century

Welp, I'm officially a quarter of a century!  The big 2-5!  My dad asked if I was depressed about being older, but so far I like getting older.  Life just keeps getting better and I'm so incredible blessed (it blows my mind really!), so what's not to like!?

I had a fantastic birthday {week}!!  Thursday night the festivities started when I met Andrea for our traditional birthday mani/pedis :)  We relaxed and chatted at out favorite nail bar, Polished, while we got pampered and sipped a glass of wine!  Of course I forgot to take a picture of she & I, but this was the end result for my nails...

Andrea said, "Go big or go home -  you're turning 25!!"  So I agreed & went big or bright actually!  I chose this pretty corally pink and Andrea went wild with some turquoise!  (She's a designer, she can pull it off ;)

We grabbed some dinner at Panera while B scrimmaged a little bit of softball game with a friend's team.  When he got home, he surprised me with this stunner!!

Oh.my.word.  I was so surprised!  Brandon took this tiny little box out from behind his back and my jaw just dropped as I immediately thought jewelry.  All along I had no clue what he was getting me!  I kept wondering what he was planning as I couldn't think of anything else I had asked for besides my iPhone cover.

When I opened the box I was shocked!!  Gorgeous right!?  It's a Black Onyx that he picked it out all by himself.  He's got good taste, I will say!!  I shouldn't be surprised, he picked my engagement ring all on his own, too!

Friday, I woke up extra chipper!  The Facebook messages had already started and I was feelin' the birthday love.  I left for school with my gorgeous new right hand ring, stopped by Starbucks for my free birthday drink (man, I love their rewards!), and my kids were sweet to me all day :)  The social media messages didn't stop along with texts and phone calls and lots of love all around.  So incredibly blessed.

I left school soon after the kids - it's my birthday, I can do that right? - and got in a good run and workout before dinner with fun friends & family!  Nothing like working out on your birthday.  Telling time and your biological clock what's up!

I requested La Paz as my birthday dinner choice since they're finally reopened in the Metropolitan shopping center!  Yummy Mexican!  I didn't take any pictures at dinner, but a few other people did.  Whenever they post those pics I'll come back and add them in.

There were 19 people at dinner.  19!  So incredibly blessed!  Just can't get over it.  Dinner was delish, complete with some fried ice cream at the end :)

Afterwards, a few of us walked next door to Hickory Tavern to continue the party!

Me & my man 

The ladies at Hickory Tavern

The boys

It was such a fun night!  I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends and family!  25 has been a really great birthday!

Perhaps the best gift of all was finding out Thursday that we're under contract on the house!!!  

After my post Wednesday about the craziness that is house hunting, it's all starting to feel worth it!  We still have a few hoops to jump through, i.e. an appraisal & home inspection, but if those go well....we should be good to go!  We drove by today and saw the "under contract" signs.  Eeeeee!!!

So how's that for a birthday gift huh!?  B said between a ring and house I should be good for a few years ;)

The rest of our weekend has been wonderfully quiet.  A simple weekend at home with my man - some shower & bachelorette planning, a little TV, some Dexter, movies, some working out, laundry, endless home decor searches online ;) & some made in the mug brownies.  

Yes, it's been a fantastic birthday weekend!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 21st Birthday to my birthday twin!!!

Me & my cousin Ashley

The best 4th birthday present a girl could ask for!!  So glad to share my birthday with her :)

Wish we could celebrate together Ash, I owe ya a drink next time!!  

Today has been a wonderful birthday so far!!  I just love birthdays :)  All the twitter and Facebook love makes ya feel extra special, ha.  I'm off to celebrate at dinner with a lot of my very favorite people!  Feeling blessed today for sure!

Happy Friday friends!!