FRIDAY!

Ya'll, can you believe it is Friday?! In high school, we used to have a teacher who would make her classes sing "The Friday Song," you could hear it all through the hall on Fridays. I still remember hearing it, and even though it sounded pretty annoying, it was always a great reminder that it was finally Friday! Anyway, I am SO excited! I love Fridays! Everyone is always extra nice and happy! I am feeling kind of craft today and I really want to make a wreath out of book pages! Have any of you ever done this? If so, did you make the rolled pages or the rosette one?! I am just curious! I have LOTS of errands to run today it seems! But, that is ok! I also think I get to hang out with one of my good friends so that should be fun! I am really looking forward to a great Friday! Hope you all have a lovely Friday and a wonderful weekend!!

It's a beautiful day...

Ok, so I was at a loss for a blog title here. I am not talking about the U2 song, nor am I about to quote Mr. Rogers. I woke up today in the best of moods. I attribute it to the FULL NIGHT's sleep I got! Yep, I didn't wake up all night, and Max slept in his bed all night. Who knew a little switcharoo on him would make him stay in his bed?! Well, it did and I am willing to do whatever works!

I am in such a good mood this morning that I didn't even get bummed because I thought today was Friday when it was really just Thursday! Nope, not mad, because I am not going to ruiin my great mood! (I am sure my husband is glad that I got a full night's sleep!) He even told me this morning that I woke up in such a good mood that I was acting silly. (Because I was talking to Max in my little kid voice.) But, it was great and I feel like it can only get better from here!

Well, I don't have much to say today other than talk about my night's sleep. That's lame. Sorry. I will try to do better tomorrow. Here is a picture to make up for the lameness! LOL

Our honeymoon in Fr@nce! I miss it terribly and it reminds me of warmer days!

ThirtyOne

I am excited about the new venture in my life coming up! Have any of you heard of the company and products ThirtyOne? Well, it is a direct sale type company that sells bags, purses, totes, kids stuff, thermal bags, baskets, baby stuff, stationary and lots of other things, I can't even list them all! Well, I had a party at my house in December and I fell in love with the stuff that I bought! The patterns of the fabric are cute, the types of things they have are practical and I really loved it all! The sweet lady that held the party at my house told me that I should start selling it since I loved it so much. I thought about it and I thought that is exactly what I will do. I am SO excited! I love meeting new people and this is a great way to do it! I used some of the things that I bought at Christmas and my family fell in love with it, I also take it to grocery stores as reusable bags! It is even monogrammable so I can personalize it! I really like the hostess specials you get when you host a party! (I got most of my initial stuff for FREE!)

Anyway, I also like the company because they are a Christian based company. Their name, ThirtyOne, is referencing the bible verse Proverbs 31. So, of course, I fell even more in love with their stuff! I have the time and I love the products, so why not huh? Anyway, I was super excited (and all of my supplies should come today) to join and I thought I would mention it since it is on my mind. If you want to check it out, you can go to my personal ThirtyOne website here. You can have a catalog party or an in-home party if you are within driving distance! :) Or, if you see something you like, let me know, you can place an order without having to have a party!

Sorry for the plug today, I was just SUPER excited and had to share! Happy Wednesday! The week is half-way over!

Dinner and Success!

Well, I am here to tell you that I got more sleep last night! And it was WONDERFUL! Not that any of  you care because if you even read my post from yesterday, you didn't comment! You may not have even read it! I was suffering over here with NO SLEEP and you all didn't even care!

Kidding! It was Monday, you are forgiven! Anyway, to recap, I haven't been sleeping because I have a large dog who wants to get in our bed and sleep under the covers and we have to tell him thousands of times a night to get down, resulting in not sleeping one bit! Well, last night, we switched things up on him and switched the sides of the bed that we sleep on! And miraculously, it worked. I guess Max was just so confused that he didn't try to get on our bed! We slept more last night than we have in a while! It was great!

Another thing that I mentioned yesterday was that I was going to start telling you about some recipes that we were trying! Since I have a lot more time to do what I like to do best (cook) I can make more stuff! We had a pork loin in our refrigerator and I decided that last night would be the night it would end up on the table. It marinated all day yesterday in the fridge and then we roasted it last night. I made some Parmesan roasted potatoes to go with it as well. It turned out pretty good. I think I may change the sauce a little next time so it is less sweet (I don't like sweet things really). But all in all, this thrown together, last minute meal was pretty good, I would eat it again! It got approval from the husband too, so that is really all that matters right?! Here is a picture of the finished product:

Anyway, I am off to start my day! That means cleaning the floors in the kitchen! Rain this morning plus two dogs who love to play outside and can open the door to let themselves in equals muddy paw prints on my tile floor before I can catch them to wipe their feet!! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!

Weekend and some help!!

Well, this weekend was an eventful one even though I was a hunting widow because Emory was in AR hunting ducks! Friday night I went to the place that I work out (the dance stuff) for a special event that was called Sips n Strip. Basically it is what it sounds like except the dance they taught wasn't really a strip, it was just more of a slow, make you feel sexy dance. It was a lot of fun and I won a massage from the door prizes!!! :) That was awesome! Saturday, I got to help again at the bridal fair with my WONDERFUL wedding photographer Alicia! We always have so much fun! I think watching all of the different kinds of people is always my favorite part! I mean, you should really see these people! Then, I came home and put my feet up! There is nothing like standing up all day and then being able to sit in a comfy chair with your feel up for the rest of the night and watch predictable Lifetime movies! Sunday, I had a board meeting for a non-profit that I have been working with for a while now. That was fun, I will have to tell you about that later! Then, the husband came home and all was right in my world again!

Ok, now, here is where you come in with the help.....I didn't sleep one minute last night. Ok, maybe for a little bit from 5 to 6 (when the alarm went off). I don't have kids, I am supposed to be able to sleep all night for 20 hours if I feel like it! Nope, I don't have kids but I do have Max! He is that cute little Weim that all of you commented about in the snow! Well, as I mentioned, he has decided that he wants to sleep in the bed, under the covers and not on his bed under his blanket! He was doing so well, until the last few weeks or so. We tell him every time he tries to get on our bed to go get in his bed and he gets down and does so and then 5 seconds later he is back in our bed and the process repeats!! He is just too big to sleep in our bed! Literally he tried to get in our bed 5,726 times last night from 10 pm to 6 am. It was exhausting! I was ready to just let him have my spot and me go to the other bed because I was literally UP ALL NIGHT! Now, our other dog goes to sleep in his bed and doesn't get up in the night! Max used to just sleep right next to him until recently! This is where I need your help!! Have any of you had this issue and successfully remedied the situation? If so, PLEASE let me know what your secret is! We are going to try to switch things up on him tonight and see if that helps, he ALWAYS comes to my side of the bed because he knows I am the softy because it is closest to his bed. But something has got to give! This girl needs SLEEP! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Now, as for the blog, I hope I can start sharing some recipes with you guys! We have TONS of ducks in our freezer and we have got to start cooking them! I hope to maybe share some of the things we cook in our house (and not just duck) because we cook ALOT and love it! Anyway, I hope you all got more sleep than I did last night and have a wonderful day!

Weekend!

I know it is Wednesday and I am just now updating my weekend, but I was BUSY and my husband stayed home from hunting so I got to spend lots of time with him, so blogging wasn't on the agenda. Plus, Monday was a holiday and yesterday I took a short road trip, so I wasn't around much!

Anyway, we went to see Little Fockers in theaters, it was ok. It wasn't up to the "Fockers" standard I don't think, but there were funny parts. But again, the whole thing wasn't as funny as the rest of them have been!

Then, we tried a new pizza place here in town with some of our good friends. It was GREAT. The owner of the place has won a Guinness Book of World Records award for Highest Pizza Toss. The food was great and the company was even better! It was fun to have a little date day out with Emory. We don't do that very often because we both would prefer to be at home, but it was so much fun!

I have also started working out at a place called DanceTrance. It is awesome. Basically you lose weight by dancing. They teach you dances and you do dances back  to back for an hour! You will sweat your booty off! It is great so far! I have gone everyday this week! (This is only my second week to go because of the minor blizzard last week that caused us to all stay in our houses for 5 days straight!)

Anyway, I am catching up on blogs today and doing some housework and then relaxing with a book probably! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week! I will be back!

Seriously Snow, a Book for the year and Le Cresuet!

Well, the snow and ice is still here in Alabama. Although, the roads seem to be clear according to my husband who has been to work the past two days. Schools, however, are closed for day number four! Yep, schools have been out all week and will be out again Monday for the holiday even if they are in tomorrow! It has been crazy! I haven't left the house all week. It hasn't really bothered me, because it is SO cold outside. And I HATE to be cold, so I would much rather stay inside with blankets and a heater and as many clothes as I can put on, because let's face it, you can never be too warm when it is something like -10 degrees outside. (Ok, maybe it is like 16 degrees outside, but whatever it is, it is too cold for me!)

I am excited that tomorrow is Friday though, even though it seems like everyday is the weekend when you are home! There is just something about the sounds of Friday and Saturday that change the mood! Since I haven't really been out of  the house I have nothing new to report or talk about really. Other than the fact that I got really bored yesterday and got out the cookbooks and started thinking of things that I could cook with my Le Creuset. Oh, I haven't told you about the WHOLE SET of Le Creuset Emory and I got for Christmas have I? Well, we did. We now have 3 dutch ovens of various sizes, a saucepan, a grill pan, a huge skillet, a stockpot, a casserole dish and a braiser, all Le Creuset! We LOVE IT! We cook alot and this is a set that we fell in love with this summer when we got a dutch oven on sale. It is now just about all we will cook with besides our Rachel Ray stainless stuff. I mean it is AWESOME! So, when I am bored, I try to find recipes that will require the use of the most pieces of our set! We even bought this cute little stand so we could display it and not have to put it in the cabinets because we love it so much! Maybe I will start sharing some of our favorite recipes and our Le Creuset! So, without further adieu, here is our beautiful Le Creuset!

This isn't even all of it, but it was all that would fit on the cute little stand! :) LOVE

Elizabeth over at Musing Experiences is hosting a book club, for the ENTIRE YEAR. It is a book for the entire year to inspire happiness! Hop on over and join us!

Oh sNOw!

Well, as you all know I live in Alabama. We normally have two seasons, cold and hot. Well, Sunday night it started snowing here and didn't stop. They were warning us to stock up on milk and bread, which flew off the shelves. Normally when  they predict snow, it rains. It is when they don't predict it, is when it happens! Well, the weathermen were actually right this time! We woke up Monday to about 10 inches of snow! EVERYTHING has shut down. The banks aren't open, the stores are closed, schools are closed, the mail isn't running. Even the interstates are closed. We just aren't equipped to deal with the white stuff. Especially now, it is starting to melt, yet the temperatures are in the  teens so it is freezing causing ice. Needless to say, we haven't left the house. We can't. There wouldn't be anywhere to go if we could! So, we are going on day 2 of being snowed in! It is actually really fun to be stuck in the house with my husband and two fur boys! We took advantage of the time together yesterday and played in the snow, made soup, made snow cream and took a really long nap. We then watched DVRd shows in order to avoid watching Auburn play Oregon in the National Championship game. We had lots of fun. Who knows what we will get into today, since we definitely aren't going anywhere today either. There are already muffins in the oven!! Enjoy some pictures of our time in the snow! (Which the little ones in our house LOVE!!)

Emory and I in the snow!!

ME and Max! He was taking a break from running like crazy!

A rare moment. Me , Max and Scout!

Pictures I couldn't upload the other day....

Picture of our living room tree...

Ornament we bought on our honeymoon in France!

Eiffel Tower ornament from Target!

Santa Clause my dad carved!

Apparently that is all Blogger will allow for today. Maybe I will get back with some more tomorrow or later tonight!
Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Thursday! I can't believe the weekend is almost here!

I interrupt your sleep....

.....to sleep on  your face and nuzzle under the covers at all hours of the night. No, I am not talking about my husband, I am talking about my six month old, sixty-plus pound puppy! He has found the bliss in snuggling in under the covers and gets on our bed every night to do so. Multiple times. After we put him back in his bed and cover him up with his blanket! You would think we had a child in our house. He has a bed, he has a blanket, we get up every couple of hours after we go to bed, and there are toys ALL OVER THE HOUSE, no matter how many times I pick them up in a day! Anyway, that is my rant! He is still stinking cute and I don't know what we would do without him. But it is so funny how different the two dogs are! Scout HATES the covers and is really neat with his toys and you hardly know he is around. Max on the other hand is literally always in your face letting you know he is here and you need to pay attention to him!

Now, the real reason for the post is catching up on Christmas and the joyous things that come with it! Since it was our first Christmas, we put up a tree together for the first time. Well, two trees. One thing that was a common theme for people  to give us was ornaments, which I loved! Now here is the part of this post where I would show you all of the pictures, but Blogger is not letting me upload any of them. Maybe I will try again later and you will have a complete, unboring post!

The view from here....

I am loving my new coffee cup that I got for Christmas from Anthro. My bro and his gf got it for me. There is just something about a dainty little cup that makes my coffee taste so much better, and makes me so much more productive (or makes all of your blogs just  that much better). Here is to a new year, a new week, a new view and an awesome new coffee cup! :) I will be updating all week with some of my favorite gifts from Christmas that I am getting to use now that Christmas is over since I didn't get to update much in December! What are some of your favorites?

2011 : New Year : New Everything

Wow, I can't believe I have been gone so long! I haven't blogged in a few weeks, but I must say, December 2010 was probably the worst, heaviest month of my entire life as of yet! First, on December 8, my grandfather passed away, this made the holidays especially difficult, then on December 30, my very first and oldest friend passed away. It was a tough thing to swallow on the first day of a new year, to bury someone who is 2 weeks older than me.

Even though December was very tough, the rest of the year was actually the best one yet! In January, Emory and I rang in the new year in New Orleans and The University of Alabama won the BCS National Championship! In February, we celebrated Emory's birthday with snow at the beach and getting ENGAGED! In March, I moved and in June, we were MARRIED and went on a fabulous 2 week honeymoon to FRANCE! The rest of the year was spent getting into the routine of being married! Then, we all know how my December ended up.

But, now that 2011 is here, I am very optimistic! I think there is no reason that this year can't be just as good as 2010! I am looking forward to everything that it has in store! A few goals that I would like to work toward: 1. Blog more. 2. Exercise and get back to my pre-wedding weight. 3. Read more books. 4. Travel more even on little day and weekend trips. 5. Spend more time with my friends. 6. Cook at least three meals a week. (We have been really good at this so far!)

Well, here is to commencing a great year! I know it is already the second day and this if my first blog post, but I am REALLY hoping to blog something everyday of the year!! Maybe one day I will blog twice to make up for missing yesterday! Anyway, thank you for hanging in there with me for 2010, here is to a great 2011!!!