holly, jolly puppy

Look at that sweet face! I tried to get a Christmas picture with Paisley today (yep, I'm that girl) but she, nor my camera, were very cooperative. I wanted to take a comparison picture for last year's and I tried convince her she was perfectly safe sitting in our rotting and worn out patio chair. She was not having it.




  

Needless to say... We moved to a more steady surface to attempt a few more. 

I cannot believe how much she has grown since last year! 

excuse the disaster!

I am currently working to update my blog design. I began last night and accidentally forgot to finish... Oops! Our sweet friends called and invited us to dinner and to see Christmas lights and I forwent blog-repair for a little Christmas cheer. 

blogging 'til the baby

Not our baby, of course! The title of this blog is how rumors get started... My poor blog has been neglected over the last few weeks for this reason or that and I cannot quite figure out how to balance blogging with real-life commitments (which rank far superior, obviously). Well, my sweet, pregnant friend has unknowingly (hope you're ok with this!) inspired me to get back to it. She is currently awaiting baby numero dos, who decided to begin his entrance into the world just a weeeee bit early. And she's stuck in the hospital until he arrives. 

If I was stuck on bed rest in the hospital, I would get bored. Quickly. And one of the go-tos for entertainment would be to stalk my friends (and friends of friends and complete strangers) blogs. So came my idea: blog everyday until baby boy G is here. Not that my life is uber-interesting and my sweet friend N is dying to read about it. But, to give her a little reading/browsing material just in case she's bored. AND to get myself back to blogging. 

Now that I have spent a significant amount of time explaining the contrived method of my return to blogging, I guess I should actually share something share-worthy... I am currently sitting on the couch, already in my pajamas, working on a new blog design and browsing the cable guide for a cheesy Christmas movie. A perfect Friday night? Pretty close. It will only be made better when the hubs makes it home! 

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend.

life goes on

I planned to do a few more "wedding wednesday" posts with more of my favorite pictures from the wedding... However. I'm really over doing wedding posts. (This is where you judge me.)  Don't get me wrong, our wedding day was one of the absolute best days of my life. And I've loved reliving it. But life has gone on since then, and there are a lot of other things I'd love to talk about...

Like life as of lately. CSB turned 30-something and I made his favorite carrot cake. We spent Thanksgiving with both of our families in GA and KY... Lots of driving, but worth it!  

Us and the cake. 

The whole crew for Wednesday before Thanksgiving dinner and CSB's early birthday celebration. 

Like the fact we have the world's most spoiled dog... 

Like the fact I am getting my hair cut and colored by someone new tomorrow. By choice. This is a big, brave, (and hopefully not crazy) thing for me to do. I have been incredibly pleases with the guy who has cut my hair for the last year BUT it is the most un-relaxing 2 hours ever. He talks non-stop and I literally cannot keep up. As soon as I start to answer one question he asks, he almost immediately asks another, in the middle of my first answer. This probably sounds ridiculous... But I always walk out feeling pleased with my hair but like I need a nap. I was very pleased with the lady that did my hair for the wedding so I am going to give her a go for cut/color. Wish me luck! 

Or, the fact it's already December!? Where in the world did fall go?? Sheesh!

After traveling to Atlanta last week for a continuing education certification I am very ready for this weekend to get here... And to relax! I have a sewing night planned Saturday, some crafting penciled in for Saturday morning, and, if it's warm/dry enough, we are planning to tackle our first DIY furniture project this weekend. Also, I have a stack of Christmas cards to address piled on the counter. Not quite as relaxing as I planned, but I"m looking forward to being home after two weekends in a row traveling.

Is it Friday yet??

so thankful.

(this was actually typed yesterday... but I am just getting around to actually posting!)
The time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year (closely tied with the entire month of October/fall). I love the traditions, the decorations, the Christmas music as it begins to come on the radio, and most importantly, spending time with my wonderful family.

The past year has been filled with changes for this Mrs. For starters, I was not a Mrs. at the beginning of the year but instead a fiance still in graduate school. I have now graduated, started a wonderful job, and gotten married. Whew! It's been a whirlwind of the year and I am thankful for those have been by my side through the many changes.

This is short and sweet, as I don't want to take too much time away from what's important on this day. I'll leave you with a few family pictures from the wedding. Happy Thanksgiving!

And a few funnies...

P.S. Not sure why the pictures are blurry! 

DIY details

I took on many DIY projects in the months leading up to the wedding. For any brides planning to do things yourself, I advise: Start projects as early as possible! I am a natural procrastinator and though I got some projects done ahead of time, many were completed in the two weeks before the wedding. Thankfully I had a great friend at work who talked some sense into me or I would have waited even later! Here's a peek at some of the the things I did for the wedding. If anyone would like a step-by-step tutorial for any of the projects feel free to leave a comment below!

Max's sign. SO last minute. And SO easy! 

 Painted on Saturday morning at 6 am. As in the Saturday of the wedding. 

A sweet friend helped with these... I almost forgot about them! I bought hangars on Friday and assembled for myself and all of the bridesmaids. 

Spray painted frame + chalkboard paint on the glass. The burlap votives were also handmade. 

And the moss ones. 

Very thankful for a friend who was patient enough to set up the printing for this. Assembly was tedious but a great zone-out-in-front-of-the-tv project. 

Simple. And painted on Thursday before the wedding...

Another simple project made from a plywood board painted with several coats of chalkboard paint. Moss was glued onto board with a hot glue gun. 

I can't actually take credit here... My sweet momma sewed all of the burlap runners for the wedding! This one is now being put to great use on our kitchen table. 

first look

CSB and I went back and forth several times on whether or not we wanted to see each other before the ceremony or wait until I walked down the isle. For a multitude of reasons, we decided we wanted to see each other beforehand. Looking back, I am very glad we made this decision! It was so wonderful to see him for the first time of the day and get to spend a few quiet moments with him before the craziness (wonderful craziness, of course!) of the evening began. It also gave us the opportunity to do all of our bridal party pictures prior to the ceremony, leaving us with more quality time to be spent with friends and family at the reception. 

 I definitely almost tripped and fell over my dress while showing it off to CSB...

I tied his bowtie for him... This is something I have always done since we have been dating and really wanted to do for him the day of our wedding. 

 While I'm overloading everyone with pictures, here are a few more of CSB and I before the ceremony.

All photos by the lovely and talented Betsy Limabaugh