Monday, July 30, 2012

awesome birthday!!!

 I'm so blessed to have such an amazing husband, family and friends!  They helped make my 28th birthday so special!!!!!!  I can certainly say that I had the best birthday.

My mom helped me start my birthday by taking me out to lunch at a yummy pizza place.  We then went shopping at a cute little boutique where I got a few clothes and earrings.



Mr. H took Friday afternoon on to spend time with me on my birthday.  I had lots of gifts to open....it felt like Christmas.  


Mr. H got me that cute tote from J.Crew and lots of jewelry.  I love jewelry so that was perfect!  One of my sweet friends got me that Scentsy warmer and lemons and berries scent.  I've never had anything Scentsy so I'm excited to try it out.  My mother in law embroidered an "A" for me and framed it.  I love personalized gifts so that was perfect.  I put it up in our room already!  I also got some birthday money from my parents and several family members.  I'm soooooo blessed!!!  
Then after I had opened all my gifts...Mr. H tells me to close my eyes.  He had another surprise for me.  I opened my eyes and saw this HUGE Michael Kors bag.  He had already told me not to expect a super fancy gift, which was totally okay with me.  Needless to say, I was sort of in shock when I saw this!!


Mr. H got me my first big girl purse. Haha.  I've never had a designer bag before so I was giddy!  He did SOOOOOO GOOD!  I am in love with it.  It's a light cream so it's perfect for fall and summer plus the size is just right...not too big/not too small.  


Mr. H planned a fancy dinner at Old Hickory located in the Gaylord Texan.  I of course needed a picture of me and my new purse!!


Mr. H and I pose for a quick picture before we had one of the best dinners EVER!  Let's just say that Old Hickory will become a birthday tradition.  We each ate a filet mignon and then split olive oil and thyme whipped mashed potatoes and habanero cream corn.  Then we had carrot cake cheesecake for dessert.  Mmmmmmm.



We of course had to take a picture with the statue guy.  Mr. H was being silly pretending to be a statue too and then pretending to kiss him.  Oh Mr. H!



Saturday night we celebrated Chris and Laura's wedding!  She looked stunning and the reception was so beautiful.  I love weddings that are personalized.  You know when you leave the wedding and say...that was so "enter name."  Laura (and Chris) did an amazing job putting their wedding together.


Instead of a cake, they had mini bundt cakes and cookies.  I would describe their theme as rustic chic.  I loved all the burlap accents.


For the favor, they gave each guest an old fashioned bottle of coke with a cute picture of them and a prayer on the back.  I love all the little details at weddings.  It makes them so personal.

  





Here's one of my sweet friends Rachael and she actually got engaged just after the wedding!  I got a text at 11:24 pm saying she got engaged!!  I'm so happy for them.  They will be having a very short engagement so that will be #7 this year.  This is the year of weddings for Mr. H and I!


The groom and Mr. H are best buds.  Chris and Laura, Mr. H and I are so blessed to have you as friends.  We are so happy to walk along side you in marriage.  I pray the Lord will always be at the center of your marriage and remember to love each other daily!!  Congrats!


In addition to my birthday extravaganza and the wedding, my cousins are in town from Amarillo so we spent some time with them.  They'll be here all week and I'm excited to spend more time with them!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Thanks for all the birthday wishes on Friday!





Friday, July 27, 2012

it's my birthday, plus fashion friday!


Okay, I'm officially 28 years old!  Wow.  It's hard to believe in two years I'll be 30.  However, for now I'll just focus on being 28.

The best thing that happened during my year of being 27 is that I got married!  I think that will go down as being one of the best years of my life.  28 has a lot to live up to.

A little walk down memory lane...

Since I have a summer birthday I never had school on my birthday.  Then, once I entered into the real world I had things thing called work I had to go to on my birthday...yuck!  Ha.  I have been very fortunate though to be able to take it off.  So I will not be working tomorrow and instead I'll be spending the afternoon with my mom and then it's off to dinner with Mr. H!  I'm SO excited!!!!  I love celebrating my birthday.  Even though I'm getting older, I still enjoy it.


It's summer (although it's quickly coming to an end), which means it's the perfect time for summer cocktails and cold drinks.  I have a Pinterest board full of yummy drinks and I've never made any.  That was a goal of mine this summer, but hasn't happened yet.  

Here are two yummy ones I must try and I used them as inspiration in creating these two fabulous outfits.  

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*Side note: I wanted to get this dress from H&M to wear for my birthday dinner, but it was sold out in stores and now no longer available to view online.  It was adorable!


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The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics start tonight!  I LOVE the Olympics and am so excited for them to begin.  Mr. H and I will be having my birthday dinner so we'll have to dvr the ceremony.  I'm sure it's going to be awesome.  Michael Phelps starts it off Saturday morning...can't wait!



Chris and Laura are great friends of ours and are getting married TOMORROW!  We can't wait to celebrate with this super sweet couple.  It's been so fun to have all of our friends join us in the married couples club.  Congrats friends!!!




I'm linking up with the lovely {av} over at long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  Check out some of the other great outfits fellow bloggers have put together.  It's one of my favorite parts of the link up.

I think that pretty much sums everything up!  I hope everyone has a wonderful day...I KNOW I will!!


HAPPY Weekend FRIENDS!!!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

simply lovely series {part 3}

Here we are on {part 3} of my simply lovely blog series.  As promised, I've got a fun Q&A for you about marriage.  I'll be doing a few of these over the course of the series.  I'll be asking the same questions to each person so it will be interesting to see how the answers differ.  Each couple will also have been married for a different period of time so it will also be interesting to see the difference.  




How long have you been married?
17 years

What is an activity that you and your spouse enjoy doing together?
Activity?!  Hmmm….Oh yes, those fun things that we get to do when we are not playing taxi drivers for our children.  NAP!  Ha, just kidding.  We enjoy watching movies, working in the yard, cooking and playing games.  Our favorite games to play are Mexican train and yahtzee.  

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you smile or laugh?
He has a great sense of humor…most of what he does makes me laugh or just shake my head.  We joke and say that he is one very large middle school boy.   He makes up funny voices for our 3 dogs.  He pretends like they are talking to each other or us…they have accents and everything.  Too funny! 

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you roll your eyes?
Along with making up voices for the dogs, he occasionally wants to make up songs that he also proceeds to sing.  They usually have the basic same tune of “O Christmas tree” but they are terrible!!  He enjoys embarrassing me in public by singing them or walking in a weird way.  I tend to get “lost” when we are in stores.  

Describe your spouse in 5 words.
Christ-seeking, discerning, funny, social and a leader

What advice do you have for newlyweds?
Keep Christ at the center of your marriage covenant.  Pray and worship together.  Don’t “shelve” your single friends, but monitor their feelings about marriage. When there are tough times and you get upset with your spouse (yes, it will happen!), you need a friend who will listen that has the same ideas of a marriage covenant as you do.  Godly couple friends and a mentor are wonderful to have.  Also, be careful not to criticize your spouse to others—it can create a huge wedge of distrust.  

Is there anything from your first year of marriage that really stands out that you'll never forget?
We were both very selfish and often thought of only our own families and traditions.  This was and still can be difficult around the holidays.  We wanted to hang on to the way things were growing up and didn’t really follow the scripture about clinging to each other as one instead of our parents.  We had to come to the realization that we are our own family with new traditions and figured out a way to blend them.  We needed to consider each other’s histories and not just our own. 

Money is another big one, we thought it was a good idea to have separate accounts and split bills.  Wrong!  It may work for some but I found that it only divided us.  It is God’s money that He has entrusted to us and we work together on how to spend it and to tithe.  It doesn’t matter who makes more, we are a team.  

What is one thing you wish you would have been told before you got married?
I wish that I had been told that men smell bad and mess up the covers on the bed.  No, seriously….I wish that I would have known that just because he is grumbling and mad does not mean that he is mad at me.  I took so many things personally when he was just mad and that it had nothing to do with me. 

Thanks so much Christy for your awesome answers!  I totally agree with you about your advice for newlyweds.  You and Dennis are truly a couple Mr. H and I look up to in so many ways; however, the one thing we see in both of you is your love for the Lord.  Elisabeth and Garret are so lucky to have parents who's foundation is in Christ and who set a great example.  Love y'all!  p.s. I'm excited you'll be coming to town tomorrow and looking forward to seeing you this weekend!!!


I hope you enjoyed this fun Q&A.   On a another note....tomorrow's my BIRTHDAY!!  I'm so excited because I took the day off of work and I'll be spending the afternoon with my mom.  Then Mr. H will be taking me out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.  I've got several gifts waiting for me, but I'm going to open them tomorrow.  It's like Christmas!!  :)


Happy WEDNESDAY!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

the best birthday gifts

As I've mentioned, my birthday is coming up on July 27...THIS FRIDAY!!!  I LOVE celebrating my birthday...I love celebrating other people's birthday.  Birthdays are a big deal to me and always have been.  My family always made it very special and I love to carry on that tradition.


When July 1 came around, Mr. H is started to research gift ideas.  Needless to say, there have been some discussion going on recently about what are gift Do's and gift Don'ts.  I have a hard time figuring out ideas.  When it comes to things I want, usually they aren't that expensive so I will often just purchase them myself.  I know, I know, I shouldn't do that and just give those ideas to Mr. H, but it's just too hard. 

I'm not a type of girl that expects an expensive gift.  More than anything, it's the thought that counts; and I just like it to be a special and meaningful day.  

I know Mr. H knows this, but I keep telling him that...
Birthday + Christmas= gifts you want
Everyday=gifts you need

Do you know what I mean??  Am I right, or am I right??

*Please note, these are just my personal options on gift Do and Don'ts.  





What are some gifts on YOUR birthday wish list?

What are some DON'T birthday gifts or maybe one your RECEIVED in the past?


I'm pretty excited for my birthday!!  I already have one gift from my in law's, but I can't open it until my birthday.  It's killing me seeing it everyday.  Ha!  


Monday, July 23, 2012

let's talk bachelorette...final rose!!

Congratulations Emily and Jef!!!

I had to adjust our church schedule so I could watch the Final Rose because I sure wasn't going to miss it!  I am so, so happy with how it turned out!

With all the hype leading up to the final episode I think we were all a little weary of what the outcome would be.  I believe a fellow blogger commented a few weeks ago and predicted that she would send one guy home before the could propose.  Once she mentioned that I totally agreed!


Jef- I am so happy for you and Emily!  I think you are super genuine and honestly have Emily and Ricki's best interest at heart.  I love how you are so good with words and how you talk to Emily.  You did an amazing job at interacting with Ricki and I'm so happy that Emily was able to let you meet her.  I think it would have been hard for both you and Emily to move to the engagement phase if that hadn't taken place.  I truly think this relationship can work.  I think it's so different than any other we've seen.  I think you specifically are totally in it for love and not at all about the fame!  Congrats Jef and I can't wait to hear how your relationship progresses!!!

Now, let's walk down memory lane...

The first introduction.  You could tell that Jef was a cool guy from the moment we first saw him.  Riding up on a skate board showed his fun side and he wasn't cheesy at all.  


I think this is when Emily said she wished he would have kissed her.  You can see in her face how much she like him.  I think it was better that he waited personally.  He drew her in and made her want him even more.  Then, in London when he did kiss her, it made it that much more special! 


Remember this episode when they had to compete with each other?  A little foreshadowing to the final episode with Jef vs. Arie.  




Arie- Now Arie, I think you are an awesome guy!  You truly loved Emily and it showed.  It's one of those things though where she had to pick one over the other and if you could see what we saw with Jef, I think you would agree with her decision.  I'm sure you'll make one lucky girl really happy!  And frankly, I think you and Emily would have worked out, but I'm not sure how Ricki would have fit in.  Best of luck Arie!



I'm a little puzzled as to why ABC chose to have the proposal site in the little village surrounded by flowers.  I mean they are in Curacao and they beach was amazing!!!!!!  I'm just saying, if I were Emily, I'd much rather prefer to have the setting be a picture perfect beach setting than a random village.  How amazing would that have been???  

I LOVED Emily's season and I can't wait to find out who the next Bachelor will be.  Sean anyone???? And I'm clearly going to watch Bachelor Pad too.  Anything Bachelor is a guilty pleasure of mine!  

What did YOU think?

Will YOU be watching Bachelor Pad?

Who do YOU think the next Bachelor will be?

TheBacheloretteDish

I'm liking up again with the lovely Meghan from More from Meg.  Check out all the chit cat about the latest episode of The Bachelorette!



Happy Monday!




Friday, July 20, 2012

fashion friday...pretty in pink!

I'm all girl and with that being said...I LOVE pink!!  I love all shades of pink: light pink, pale pink, neon pink, hot pink, etc.  When shopping, I'm always drawn towards pink no matter what I'm looking for.  

I'm embarrassed to say that in collage and even after collage, I decorated my room with pink "things."  As much as I'd still love to decorate my apartment with pink, I know Mr. H sure appreciates me holding back.  I'll have to hold out until hopefully (fingers crossed) I have a girl someday.

Anyways, today I'm talking about dressing pretty in pink.  I used to have a lot of pink in my wardrobe, but I have really tried to venture out to wear other things too.  


hot pink and orange
This color combo is super hot right now!  I didn't like it at first, but I am really loving it now.  I paired gold accessories because honestly gold looks amazing with bright colors.  

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pink and mint
I saw this blouse on Pinterest and totally WANT it!  It's so reasonably priced too.  I might have to give it and get it!  Okay, I would wear this outfit in a heartbeat if it was in my closet.  I love how the necklace ties it all together.  LOVE!

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hot pink and black
Hot pink paired with black and white is literally my favorite ever!  I consider these my favorite colors.  I know it's silly, but it's so true.  Anyways, I love this simple maxi paired with these accessories and fun purse.  I'd die for this look.  This outfit totally has Anica written all over it!

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I'm linking up with the lovely {av} over at long distance loving for my Friday's Fancies.  Check out some of the other great outfits fellow bloggers have put together.  It's one of my favorite parts of the link up.

There's a super cute hot pink dress at H&M I WANT for my birthday dinner dress.  I saw a girl at church last Sunday wearing it and then came across it online.  I think I will get myself an early birthday present!  I'd love to pair it with black and white or even go crazy and get yellow accessories or teal.  Hmmm!

Mr. H and I have family time with his family this weekend.  His parents will be in town for a fun surprise.  Looking forward to a fun, relaxing weekend!!  

p.s. However, we've been infested with bugs the last week so it may not be as relaxing as I'd like it to be.  I'm sooooooooooooooooo over it to the point where I'm incredibly mad!!  I was going to do an entire post about it, but I would just be ranting the entire time and that's no fun!  I pray they will go away fast!  I can hardly handle it anymore!  To give you some idea of how terrible it's been, we've killed over 50 bugs in the last three days!!!!!!!!!!  


Happy Weekend FRIENDS!