Snow Day in the Boonies

We had a little over an inch of snow in my neck of the woods today. It's absolutely gorgeous! And, since I live almost 30 miles away from work, my bosses allowed me to "work from home" today. It's been a great day! I've lounged around and haven't even put on a single bit of make-up. I snapped some pics of the scenery at Nate's house. There are all kinds of rolling hills around his farm, and since the leaves are off the trees now, you can see forever. I hope you enjoy! :)






That, my friends, is the millionth reason why I love living in the country.

Please notice the two deer antler carcuses in the picture with Baylie. She and Boone drag up something new everyday. I have no idea where they come from! It's always a surprise... not always a welcomed one, but they like it.

I have a very exciting weekend coming up that I can't wait to tell you about next week :) Have a great Friday!

Old Man Winter and the Doggies

Morning, y'all! I'm snuggled up in the office today with one of my favorite scarves, new pair of boots, and a nice cup of hot cocoa.


We have a Keurig in our office (yes, heavenly) but I'm not a coffee drinker. So you can imagine how excited I was when my boss brought in some hot cocoa K-cups last week. I've had a cup almost every day since. But, hey, for only 60 calories I don't feel guilty :)

There's a pretty big thing coming our way -- our first real snowfall of the year. We're not expected to get over an inch but it's still going to be quite gorgeous!


It has been a really mild winter for us thus far and I'm welcoming the snow. But, I hope it doesn't make an appearance every day for the next two months. Unfortunately for me, I have to go to the grocery during my lunch break. Not to get bread, milk, or eggs, but to just have some lunch options here at work. Hopefully, all the chaotic, snow-fearing people will get out of my way and let me be :) In honor of the cold weather, Nathan has taken the day off. Well, actually he took off because the duck hunting is good today. Priorities. Anywho, I'm planning to fix a big pot of my mom's veggie soup tonight for supper to keep us warm. Yum-O!

That's pretty much all I got for ya today. I've been working on a big project at work and am thankful that I finished it this morning. Yeahh! I thought I'd share a few pics of the doggies, though. They told me they were feeling a bit neglected on ye olde bloggy ;)

Here's Mr. Boone posing for the camera. Yes, I swear he poses. The dog has an ego. Then again, he's a man. He can't help it :) We think he's the most adorable pup ever!


Nate wanted to prove how much he has grown. We think he's going to outgrow Baylie, which I don't think she'll be too fond of. He's going to be a good guard dog... that's for sure!


And here's a pic of the two of them. Best buds; for real. I was scared to death that they would hate each other when we put them in the same pen, but they are great together! You constantly see, and hear, them rough-housing with one another. Nate and I will look out the window and just laugh at them. They're quite a pair! And don't worry, Baylie was fixed before she was 6 months old. We're not gonna have silver lab/bloodhound pups running wild everywhere ;)


Hope you all have a fabulous Thursday and stay warm out there :)

Wedding Wednesday {a trio}

There are three simple things I'm going to discuss today. All of which are major things I've learned through experiences over the past couple weeks of wedding planning.

#1: Prioritize.


After my recent car trouble on Monday, I went home that afternoon and cut out $1,000 in our wedding budget. Something came over me and I was on a mission. I couldn't tell you exactly what I did but, basically, I prioritized. For us, a great photographer is on top of the list. We've never had professional pictures taken before and it's something I'm willing to put out money for. However, we chose a different package from our photographer and it's going to save us $500! Major relief. We also found some different decorations -- cutting costs nearly in half. I am completely at ease with these decisions and am thankful we'll be able to use the money elsewhere.

#2: Always have a Plan B. Then have a Plan C for your Plan B.


So at the end of last week, I called the owner of the venue where we wanted to have our wedding. Sadly, he informed us that they no longer do weddings there anymore. Bummer. Insert panicking thoughts. Thankfully, my ever-so-calm fiance had many ideas and we drove around this weekend checking them out. I am happy to say we have found what we want :) It will be in a big, gorgeous field on his Papaw's farm. We'll have the freedom to do what we want and more than enough room for parking, tables, etc. We both pretty much have it envisioned in our heads and are extremely excited! However, we have a back-up plan for this venue as well. After researching the costs of a tent and the set-up, it is completely out of my budget. Therefore, in the event of rain, we will have it a local church. We're both happy and, also, at ease with this decision. I know an outdoor wedding may bring more difficulties, but I'm fine with that. It's what we've both envisioned for a very long time and it's our dream. We'll do anything to make it happen! Unless Mother Nature has other plans ;)

#3: Please yourself and your groom. That's it.


The best piece of advice I've gotten so far during this process has come from my groom. During the bit of stress that I had at the end of last week, he reminded me that this day is about us. Nobody else. We should do what we want... and we are. Of course, we need to make it a nice experience for our guests, but our guests will attend many wedding in their future; we will get married on only one day. Talk about perspective, huh?! Yea, he's the best!

To end the post... only 261 days until I change my last name :)

a giveaway, my car, and fiance's birthday

I gotta start this post by sharing with y'all a fabulous giveaway at Miss Katelyn's blog, The Bluegrass Belle. HERE is the link to it! I'm really wanting to win one of these burlap thermoses for myself, but I guess I'll wish y'all luck anyway ;)

Next, I'm going to discuss the recent relationship between me and my car, formerly known as Old Faithful. Currently, I think the two of us could star in this movie.


Yup, since the beginning of summer, she's had a quite a few repairs. New AC, new tires, new battery, and now I don't really know what the deal is. However, once she gets fixed again, we're having a serious talk. This crap is getting old, y'all! Anywho, it could always be worse and things can always be fixed... prayers for a nice mannered car would be appreciated, though ;)

Now it's time for a recap of Nate's birthday festivities. As I suspected, it was an extremely quiet weekend! One that was much needed. My new recipes were an absolute success for the birthday boy... I recommend them to you all! Here's the finished product: BBQ chicken, PW's twice baked potatoes, green beans, and rolls. (You can check out all the recipes in my previous post!)


Warning, though. Apparently, they make you sleepy. Poor boy was out of it by 9:30 ;)


Hope your Tuesday is treating you well! I've got quite an interesting Wedding Wednesday post coming up tomorrow... lots of updates and funny stories. Well, they're funny now, anyway. Cliffhanger, huh?! ;)

TGIF

Hey y'all! TGIF, right? First week back to work in almost 3 weeks for this girl and I'm ready for a couple days off! It's turning out to be a pretty low-key but special weekend. The fiance is celebrating his birthday so I'm sure there'll be some festivities for that but he loves nothing more than a quiet night-in... and I couldn't agree more!

Right now he's duck huting a few hours away with some of his best friends but he'll be back tonight and I truly have no idea what our plans are. However, I do plan to fix him a nice supper on Saturday night and I'm sure his family will do something for him on Sunday. On Saturday I'm trying out several new recipes including crockpot BBQ chicken, Pioneer Woman's twice baked potatoes, green beans, and chocolate cake. Nate's mom makes THE.BEST! MADE.FROM.SCRATCH! chocolate cake ever! There's no way I'll ever be able to recreate that so I'm just going with the pre-made mix kind. He'll get the homemade one, I'm sure, on Sunday. There are pictures and links below to the new recipes I'm trying. All via Pinterst, a-course.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken


PW's Twice Baked Potatoes


I have to end this by giving a nice little shout-out to my future husband. Yes, it's weird to say that.


Enjoy your day, year, and my cooking! ;) I can't wait to share this year with you as it will be a special one. It's going to be a fun, and sometimes stressful, journey but I'm glad you're there to bring me back to reality. Love you to the moon and back!


PS - I'm glad you're older than me so I can always bug you about it ;)


Have a great weekend!

Random, Happy Wednesday

Hello there! I'm having quite a lovely day today... being productive at work (without being too busy), getting organized, and a few other things. I guess that's what this blog post is all about, eh? :)

I finally gave in and signed up for Pinterest. I've been stalking the site pretty much since the Fall and gave in to the temptation. There goes all my free time, I guess ;) I've found some delicious recipes to try for Nate's birthday this weekend and I'm hoping to do some more serious pinning once I get home tonight. You can follow me HERE. :)


Back to the organization. I loaded lots of brand new music to my iPhone today. (Many thanks to the little sis!) It always tends to make me feel better when I have new music on there -- especially when I'm working out. The next bit of organization deals with the wedding. One of my best friends gave me a binder back in the summer on my birthday to organize all my ideas, to-do list, etc. Yes, I got it long before I was engaged... we all knew it was coming. However, I didn't start putting anything in it until this morning. I can breathe a sigh of relief to know that all the ideas in my brain are now all in one spot. When I'm trying to explain something now, I can just point it out! I might be a bit partial but I think we're gonna have the best wedding evaaa! ;)

I'm meeting up with the fiance in about an hour for a late lunch at Zaxby's. It was all completely his idea and I love that my job allows me to do things like this every now and then. It's nice to do things like this during the week when we typically only see each other on the weekends. I'm ready to get my hands on some food because I'm starving!!!


I worked out for the first time in almost 3 weeks yesterday - yikes! The holiday break always screws me up. But, it only comes once a year so I don't tear myself up too much about it. It is nice however to be doing healthy things again. But I confess to being sore. Yup, guilty.

Lastly, I'm enjoying the lovely winter weather in KY today. No, we don't have a blanket of snow or huge mountain around my neck of the woods, but I swear that the sky is bluer and clearer during the winter. There's not a cloud in the sky today and I'm loving it!

One thing I'm not happy about, however, is that I have drop off my ring to get it resized this week. I might shed some tears. OK, not really, but it will be a nice reunion when she fits me better :)

I hope you are all having a fabulous day as well!

the beloved Christmas pictures (finally!)

It took me a mere 2 minutes to upload these pictures at work and I waited hours at home to try and get it to work. Just another perk of living in the boonies ;) Anywho, here are some snapshots of my Christmas:

This little one was SO into Christmas. It totally made my night! I can't wait until her little sis is the same way and we have 2 little ones in the family obsessed with Christmas :)





My little sis was tickled to death with this Christmas present. Like for real, I've never seen her so excited!


A hilarious picture of the 3 of us. Somebody taught her how to stick out her tongue ;)


Then came time for Christmas with Nate's family. I think this is a great picture of his family. The future M's -- including me :)


This picture sums up our relationship pretty well ;)


Christmas 2011


It was a great Christmas for us... extremely busy, but I guess that's just part of it. Huh?! :)

Friday and Saturday were very chaotic with my Papaw's funeral, but we had a great time at our NYE party with some close friends. I managed to snap a picture of a couple of my best friends just before the new year :)


On Sunday and Monday, I felt exhausted. I think the emotions from the engagement, holidays, and my Papaw all caught up with me and totally drained me. Luckily, they were very low-key days for Nate and myself. I even snuck a little cat nap in on both days :) I'm back to work today and am glad to be back in a routine! However, my to-do list is calling my name. Hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday! :)