on the fifth date of christmas...

...my true love gave to me, a photo shoot in the park!

I love Christmas cards!  Actually, let me rephrase that.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have an unhealthy obsession with creating an awesome Christmas card.  Which is all well & good, minus the fact that I am not a professional photographer, and it's not in our budget to spend money on one.  That's where Christmas date #5 comes in to play!

I figured that we could have some fun trying to use our point & shoot skills to see if we could get a Christmas card worthy picture.  We got dressed and walked Popeye down to the park by our house, but unfortunately my timing was terrible and it was getting dark just as we got there.  We still had fun playing around, chasing the pup, and trying to get some photos.  There were a few good ones, but most ended up looking a little crazy, like this...

or this...

(Popeye apparently wanted to get in on the action too!)  It's the thought that counts though.  Right?  Maybe after seeing these pictures someone will offer me a photography lesson! Hopefully we'll have a cute Christmas card to show you soon!

on the fourth date of christmas...

...my true love gave to me, a second stab at the Christmas tree!

After some time away to let our wounds (and our pride) heal after our first attempt at decorating the tree, we  decided we were feeling brave enough to try again. There was no big fanfare this time, but I am proud to announce that Christmas Date #4 was a success!

We somehow managed to get all the lights and ornaments up without mishap this time around, and if I do say so myself, it looks lovely!  We just won't mention the fact that it's not quite straight.  Or that the tree topper refuses to stay on correctly.

Check out those proud faces!

on the third date of christmas...

...my true love gave to me, a walk in a winter wonderland!

This date was actually a last minute decision.  The boy & I had both been working most of the morning, and as I was headed home I saw a sign reminding everyone that Lights in the Heights was that night.  I had forgotten, but I knew we had to make this Christmas Date #3:

It's essentially a big neighborhood block party where a few streets are closed off, the residents all decorate their houses, there's live music playing, and you can just feel the Christmas cheer everywhere!  We hadn't been since we first moved to Houston (and went with the wrong people, but that's a story for another day) and had been talking about going for a while, so when I got home I sweet talked the boy into going with me before the party we were attending that night.

We had a great time walking around and seeing all the creative light displays, reminiscing about the last time we went (this time was MUCH better!), and picking out the house we'll buy if we strike it rich.  There's not much that I love more than walking around holding the boy's hand.  Although this giant dinosaur may be a close second...

on the second date of christmas...

...my true love gave to me, a decorated  crashing Christmas tree!

Yesterday I was so excited that December 7th was here, and that we could finally have Christmas Date #2:

You know, the tree that has been sitting in our house just calling our name for almost a week now.   Does it seem a little weird to leave the tree naked for so long?  Probably.  But in our house it's all about tradition.  Two years ago on December 7th Brian came over to my little apartment to "decorate the tree".  And never left.  So it became our official tree decorating day, and the day we look forward to all year.  (Even more so for next year, because we'll be getting married!)

Brian kicked off the night's festivities (yes, there are festivities.  I told you it's a big night in our house.) by surprising me with a sweet book (books are so much more fun than cards) with an even sweeter note written inside.

No Christmas tree decorating date would be complete without a giant boot full of coffee porter.

(And no, we didn't intend to drink all that beer in one night.  Brian had picked up 2 six-packs to surprise me not knowing I had picked up one to surprise him.)

We hesitantly got to work on the lights.  Let me backtrack for a second here and mention that last year as we were putting the very last string of lights on the tree the lights went out.  On the whole tree.  We wiggled and jiggled the strands, plugged and unplugged, but to no avail.  We had to go buy new lights, then unwrap and relight the whole tree.  Not fun at the time, but comical now.  Thankfully, this year we made it through the lighting of the tree with no major incidents.

While we took a break to make dinner I snuck Brian's book into the tree, along with a little ornament.

After dinner, as we were singing along to our favorite Christmas jams and finding just the right spot for the ornaments on the tree, I heard an "uh oh" from Brian and looked over just in time to see the entire tree pitching forward.  It was one of those moments that seemed to go in slow-motion.  The tree coming toward me, Brian trying to hold it up, me trying to grab it.  A slow-mo moment we were lucky enough to relive 6 times last night.  After the first fall, we tried lifting the tree back up & just straightening it in the stand.  It fell.  We tried taking the stand off, adjusting it, and lifting the tree back up.  It fell.  There were tears.  There were not so nice words aimed at the tree.  There was talk of throwing the tree out the window.  Finally, as we were about to admit defeat & just to to bed, on the 7th attempt the tree somehow (miraculously) managed to stay in an upright position.  The celebration ensued!

(No tree decorating date is complete without jager bombs either.  And yes, I fully realize we're not in college anymore. It was going to the store to get Red Bull for shots that led to our first kiss though, so the tradition stays!)  And then we went to bed.  Exhausted, sticky from the sap, and covered in scratches.  The decorating part of our date wasn't exactly a success, but it wouldn't be a proper tree decorating date without at least one mishap.  What was a success though was making a memory that will be the source of laughter for years to come.

on the first date of christmas...

...my true love gave to me, a giant Christmas tree!

After pinning a ridiculous number of Christmas ideas over the past few weeks on Pinterest I decided it was time to actually sift through them and pick a few things to make happen this Christmas season. One of my favorites was this post over at Dream Home DIY about the 12 Dates of Christmas.  Last year I did a variation of the 12 Days of Christmas & gave the boy little presents every day, so this seemed like a fun way to step it up (and of course spend some quality time together).  Since we were already planning on heading out to the tree farm this past Sunday for our 2nd annual tree hunt it seemed like perfect timing for Christmas Date #1:

Brian & I packed up the car with our blanket and some straps to tie the tree down (we were prepared this time) and headed out to our favorite little Christmas tree farm, Tinsel Time.  We ended up at this place last year and loved the fact that it's family owned by the sweetest couple.  If you're in the Houston area it's well worth the drive out to New Caney!

It was a gorgeous day out (unlike the rainy mess we encountered last year), so we enjoyed taking our time and looking for the perfect tree.  I fell in love with a giant one that Brian had to talk me out of completely veto by reminding me how we could barely get our tree into the house last year.  After some debate, we finally settled on this handsome guy and got right to the business of chopping him down.

If you've never cut down a tree before let me tell you, it's hard work!  As you can see, we were pretty proud of our job.

We hopped on a sleigh ride to take our tree back up to the front of the farm, and they put it in the netter.  And then it got stuck.  Very stuck.  A grown man sitting on the table while three other people tried to pull the tree through stuck.  It didn't budge, so the owner engaged in what he called some "redneck engineering" and hooked the tree up to his four-wheeler.  I've got to hand it to him. I wasn't convinced it was going to work, but on the second try the tree came sliding right out.  Well, color me impressed sir.  Many thank yous for their extra effort later, we tied the tree up and hit the road.

Not even 30 minutes down the road, the tree started bumping and jumping all over the top of the car.  I'm pretty sure a 10 foot tree flying off our car and bouncing onto the highway wouldn't have been a good thing, so we pulled over to secure it better.  Safely home, we hauled the big guy up the stairs.  Thankfully we remembered the lessons learned from last year and there were no broken picture frames or giant scratches on the bathroom wall.  I think it's safe to say that Christmas Date #1 was a success!

Our tree is now safely up and in our living room, anxiously awaiting Christmas Date #2 (my most favorite of them all), decorating the tree!  Counting down to Friday!

the most wonderful time of the year

It's less than 4 hours until December, and I don't think I could be more excited if I tried!  I love, love, love the month of December and everything it means in our house.  Because above everything else, December to me means love.

While Brian may try & deny it by playing it cool, the fact of the matter is that on December 8th, 2010 we both realized that "hanging out" & decorating the tree the night before had led to something neither of us saw coming.  I'm not quite sure that there's any way to fully describe the feeling when you wake up and realize "Oh. Wow. Last night I kissed one of my best friends, and now I think I might be falling in love with him."  All I know is I wouldn't trade that feeling for the world.

Here's to December, and all the joy it brings.  Go kiss your special someone and let them know you're still just as in love with them as you were at that moment when you just knew!

hello again

Well it sure has been a while.  I have to admit that I sort of forgot about our little blog.  So five months later, here we are.

That sweet puppy found a new home, the bathroom renovation is finished (and we're still engaged!), and our bamboo is growing back.  It's been a little hectic.  Maybe I'll catch up on all that later, but for now our latest project...

Save the Dates!

This is first wedding-related thing we've actually decided on since we booked the venue back in August.  I've been feeling like a major slacker on the wedding planning front lately, so it feels good to get started on a project.  (As if the hundreds of wedding related pins I've put on my Pinterest boards aren't wedding planning or anything....)

After a little an exhaustive search of Save the Dates, we kept coming back to this cutie:

While we most definitely aren't bibliophiles, we do have a shared love of children's books, and they have a special little spot in our relationship.  Instead of giving each other cards for birthdays & holidays, we give children's books with little love notes written inside.  Our little tradition started with 365 Penguins

and now I can't wait for a holiday (or "just because" occasion) to spend some time browsing the children's section of Half Price Books or Amazon to find the perfect book to give my boy.  But back to the story, Save the Dates...

Brian was ready to commit to the book check-out card idea since we both loved it, I wanted to sleep on it. I mean, I realize that in the grand scheme of things the design for your Save the Date really isn't that important.  Most people are going to mark the date in their calendar & then throw it away (unless it's a magnet for their fridge, but don't get me started on magnets...).  I just want what we do to be unique, and really represent us and what matters to us.  Plus I'm super indecisive.  Plus every time I look at Pinterest I see something cute that I like.  But I digress (again).

The next day at work I was chatting with the school librarian and happened to ask her if she knew where I could find book check-out cards.  Ten minutes later I was walking out with this little gem:

A sweet little orange box filled with cards, and the pockets they go in!  Any indecision I may have had about our Save the Dates flew out the window, because free was just too good to pass up.  So for now, our wedding budget can breathe a little sigh of relief.  Now for the fun of designing the cards!

our newest addition(s)

Life has been busy around here, thanks to this new little guy:

He was a stray that kept hanging around outside my school, dodging cars on the street & trying to sneak into the front office.  I kept him safe in my classroom for a day, and he was a hit with the kiddos!  They absolutely adored him!  He let them get all over him,

and even played patient to our resident classroom doctor!

After some convincing, he's now living the posh life at our house, playing chase with Popeye, trying to jump on the couch, tearing up the backyard, and peeing on our baseboards!  Brian & I named him Dos (since he's got two eyes, corny we know!), and we've been "fostering" him for two and a half weeks now, and we're torn about what to do.  He's a great little puppy, but he's just that. A puppy.  Full of energy, clumsy, pleased to mark his territory all around the house, and eager to chew on everything.  Like my ballet shoes.  (Apparently he thought I needed a new pair before recital).

We've got to decide what to do soon though, because Popeye and Dos are becoming bros, and we're growing a little attached too.  I'm just not sure...

As if a new puppy wasn't enough, Brian & I brought home this sweet little number yesterday:

A funky vintage dresser converted into a bathroom vanity.  On a random trip to the Salvation Army looking for bikes, we stumbled across this beauty & it was love at first sight.  We knew it would be perfect for the guest bathroom we've been longing to update & almost took it home that night.  Our more logical sides prevailed though, and we went home to sleep on it.  Which for us meant lying in bed & looking at the picture we took of it, and talking about our plans for the bathroom.  Big dorks!

We went back and bought the vanity on Friday, total steal!  The original price was $329, but Brian was able to bargain with the guy & get him down to $200.  (He's so sexy when he does that!)  After the fact, I felt a little bad that we haggled with the Salvation Army since they're just trying to do good things for people, but I'm also thrilled we got a good deal.  Now, I'm just trying to rein Brian in from taking a sledgehammer to the bathroom!  He's super eager to get started and I am too, but my parents are coming to town in two weeks, and we just can't have a bathroom that's not functional while they're here.  Plus, my dad can bring down the tile saw when he comes, saving us some cash  if we don't have to rent one.  We're all about DIY on the cheap.  Hopefully, in a few weeks we'll have a nice, pretty "vintage modern" guest bathroom to show off.  Something along these lines:

the tip of the iceberg

I'm so excited to share that tonight, the first of many (many, many, many, many) DIY wedding projects is finally coming together!  After the boy proposed, I knew I wanted to find a creative way to ask my favorite girls to share in our special day.  I came across a great bridesmaid box idea over at The Wedding Chicks and fell in love!  I started this project a while ago and then got sidetracked by work.  It's been sitting there all sad and lonely, calling my name, for about two weeks. 

After a few not so subtle hints from the boy that he wanted the dining room table back, I decided today was the day to tackle the project. Using my oh-so-fabulous Silhouette (my birthday present from the boy last year), I cut out some vinyl in one of my new favorite fonts from my old standby font website DaFont.  Seriously, it's the best free font website!  You can type in your phrase & then see how it would look in all of their fonts.  I've been obsessed for quite some time now, but I digress...  Vinyl cut, I rubbed it onto the tops of the boxes and voila!

Pretty little bridesmaid boxes!  After a few painting oopsies, they turned out even better than  expected. A slightly blurry closeup:

I wanted to add a personalized touch, so I monogrammed the girls initials on the front. 

Now all that's left is the things to go inside!  Unfortunately, in all my initial excitement about the project, I completely overlooked the fact that the book I bought doesn't actually fit in the box...

But hey, what's a DIY project without at least one little mishap?  I'm sure I'll figure out something to do with it.  Next up, making a card for Brian to send to his groomsmen.  He's already texted a few of him, but I think I've finally convinced badgered him into doing something at least a little creative.  (Yet another reason to adore him!)

That's all for now.  Time to get ready for the long week ahead!

the great venue hunt

It's strange to me to be sitting at home on the couch on a Sunday afternoon, and not out touring yet another wedding venue. The boy has been teasing me because since we got engaged, I've wanted to do nothing but find the perfect venue! Do I realize that our wedding is still almost two years away? Yes, honey I do. (600 days today, if we're being precise.) I just can't help it. I'm excited! And I want to pick a place so we can start planning other details, and so that it doesn't get booked up!
And hey, I look at wedding venues while the boy watches sports. Sounds like a win-win to me!


Lucky for me, my fiance is a trooper. So are my parents. We've scouted out 13 venues (so far), and everyone is still smiling (I think). For anyone considering a Hill Country wedding, here are the highs (and lows!):

Cedar Bend Events

We were initially drawn to this place because of their gorgeous ceremony site. After a long, winding drive into the country we arrived. The owners (and their dog), super friendly! Ceremony site, gorgeous. The rest of the place, nice. Unfortunately, there was not much indoor space at all, which is a concern since we're having a December wedding. Next!


Memory Lane

Another long & winding drive (are you noticing a theme yet?). It was at this venue we discovered that photographers are really good at taking pictures of only the pretty stuff, and making the not-so-pretty stuff look nice. Overall, it was alright, but not what we were looking for.

Wildflower Barn

Long drive on a dirt road? Check! If we were having a small, springtime wedding this place would be absolutely perfect! The owner was incredibly friendly & the place was meticulously maintained. The little barn was adorable, and perfect for dancing. Unfortunately there was only one restroom, and that will just not work for 150ish guests. Although this did lead to some funny phone calls to rent-a-toilet places later that afternoon.

Old Glory Ranch

The drive out here was gorgeous! Everything here was an add-on to an already expensive package though, and there wasn't a lot of flexibility to do things yourself. We're DIY people, so definitely not our style. However, Brian & I are still talking about the donkeys that serve beer at your reception!

Terrace Club

We stopped at this place on the way home on a whim. It was pretty, but lacking the hill country feel we're going for.

Vista West

Everything about this place is beautiful! We love that it has on-site accommodations you can rent, and has the perfect hill country feel! This place also had the most winding drive, and someone (no names!) got carsick on the way home. Maybe we could include "just in case you get sick" bags with our wedding favors?!

Rancho Mirando

This was our first stop in our second trip to Austin, and we had to get up super early to make it there on time.  As we were getting ready Brian sarcastically commented that this place better be worth it, and we probably wouldn't pick it anyway.  Fast forward a few hours and he was eating his words.  This is definitely at the top 2 of our list.  The owner was so friendly, the views are breathtaking, and you get to rent the place for the entire weekend.  How perfect for out-of-towners!  They're also building an indoor pavilion for receptions that will be ready by our date, just in case the weather is cold!


Mercury Hall

Definitely the closest to Austin place we checked out, and we actually stayed on paved roads the whole time!  This is an adorable place.  The indoor area is a little small though.


Hideout on the Horseshoe

Great for a family reunion, not for a wedding.  We were drawn in by the idea that everyone could stay on the property, and even though we're going for laid back, this was a little too much so for us.


Ceres Park

Home of Jester King Brewery, this looked like a good potential venue, but turned out just being a great place to stop after a long morning!  We had a blast trying beers (minus the one that tasted like pickle juice) and getting my parents to play cornhole (which we decided would make for a fun cocktail hour game!).


Three Points Ranch

Definitely the furthest out of any of the venues we visited, this place was very rustic & unique.  And they had a toilet we dubbed "the throne" that was at the top of a few stairs, in a bathroom where one of the walls didn't go all the way to the ceiling.  


Red Corral Ranch

Their big red barn drew us here, and the fact that you can rent it for the entire weekend.  It was a great property, and our tour guide was so sweet.  Might be a little outside of our price range though.


Whew!  That made me tired!  And to think I still want to look a few more places!  But hey, this is only happening once, so I want it to be amazing.  Thank goodness I've got a patient boy....