I've been looking everywhere for this little guy!

When I say 'everywhere' I mean it, literally! I have been wanting to find some sort of cabinet for the powder room for extra toilet paper, girly things, etc. I needed something that was tall, not

too deep, and somewhat wide. I would have liked for this to be a little wider, but I think it will get the job done. The wall color will be a green color, the painters just haven't gotten around to it yet. I never thought I'd be so excited about finding a bathroom cabinet, but I am!

Dining Room

In our dining room we are painting the walls a warm, buttery yellow (Golden Lab). We already have a 5' x 8' rug that we are pulling the yellow out of and using it as our inspiration.

We would like to get this table and buffet from World Market after we close sometime. The table is a trestle style and we both love the rustic charm that is holds. There is also a leaf in the center that extends the table from within~ meaning we don't have to store the leaf somewhere in the house because it is right within the table. It kind of is hidden underneath, hard to explain. I know!

Ideas Ideas!!!

So lately since I've got the house closing soon I have been thinking of how I'm going to decorate the house.


In the laundry room we are doing Buxton Blue from Benjamin Moore. I found this cute vinyl adhesive to go above the laundry door (when standing inside the laundry room)

I would also like to do a photo collage with black and white prints. I have some great black frames that I got a Garden Ridge forever ago so I'll most likely just use those.

We have stainless steel front loaders and Jason had his workers install a white cabinet with a rod for drying clothes. Jason and I really like the color blue so I thought I could get away with painting this room a shade of blue.

A super easy, super delicious recipe

So tonight we had this really good crockpot dinner. I love my crockpot to pieces, like literally when I walk in the door and the smell of my dinner greets me at the door...I'm in love!
So tonight's dinner is Salsa Chicken....its literally so easy that I have the recipe memorized...Now if that doesn't scream easy, I don't know what will.
So here it is..
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use the 98% fat free kind, and you can't tell the difference)
1 packet of taco seasoning (I use the low sodium one)
1 cup of salsa

place chicken breasts on the bottom of crockpot, sprinkle taco packet on top, add mushroom soup and salsa. cook on low for 6-8 hours. THAT'S IT!!!
We usually cook brown rice and serve the salsa chicken over the rice.

So long since I've blogged

I know its been forever since I've last blogged. Truly a lot has happened since the last time I made an entry. I completed two classes in summer school and got As in both classes. They were easy and I had a great time with all of my pioneers in our ONLY middle level education class. Again, how will I be certified to teach 6th grade? Hmmm......
Jason is also staying super busy with our house it looks so gorgeous and I'm going to have to upload some pictures soon. We are going to visit Jason's family including his grandparents who live in Midland. We don't see them often enough and we are really looking forward to this little getaway.

Happy Second Anniversary Sweetheart!

Jason, Happy Anniversary!
Can you tell me where these past two wonderful years have gone? It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating with champagne in the back of a candy apple red 1968 Buick Electra 225~ affectionately named 'The Duece'. I love you so much sweetie and I'm honored that you chose me as your wife. I can't wait to grow old with you!
Of course, I can't get a wedding photo on here because I can't find the disk and the pictures I'm taking of the pictures (follow me there?) are blurry and don't do our photographer justice. Oh well...

It's been awhile!

I know its been awhile, I've been up to quite a bit. What you ask? Well I survived my Methods semester, at times I wasn't exactly sure how I would do, but I did it and grades should post by early next week. I also got a 2+ (out of 3) on my mini TWS. My professor that graded it said I could have a solid three if I had a little bit more evidence for some of the pieces in my TWS, but next year when I do the real thing, I'll be working with 2nd graders which is hopefully much easier to assess than kindergartners.
Another fun fact since I've last blogged is that Jason and I are building our own house. We are really really excited and it should be finished middle to late September. Its a two story, four bedrooms, and two and a half baths. Our lot has a ravine behind it, so we're fortunate enough to never have a house behind ours. Plus, we are within walking distance from our backyard of the creek~which Sawyer will love and Jason has been mentioning that he wanted to get a kayak, maybe we'll have a real reason to get one now.

My Husband Rocks Friday

Yeah, I know, its been like months since I've posted a MHR post. It's not because my husband doesn't rock, because he seriously does, I guess I just let it get away from me.

Well this week....my husband rocks because he's made this entire process of building our own home a complete breeze. Granted, we haven't really even broke ground yet but he's made all of the necessary phone calls and gotten all of the necessary paperwork together that I've been able to sit back and mull over which tile or granite I prefer. I love you Jason for being so knowledgeable in your work and for letting me be at ease about the whole building process. I know you build a tight house so I'm not in the least bit worried about how our house will turn out. I love you so much!

My Easter Basket!

Jason was super sweet this year and filled my basket with lots of goodies, most of which don't cost a single dime. Inside my cute eggs are 'coupons' to be cashed in. Some examples are 'date at the ice cream parlor' (see post below), 'dish duty', '30 minute massage' 'breakfast in bed', 'car detail' '1 week of no homework'.
My man is so sweet to me! I love you Jason!

Date to the Ice Cream Parlor

I cashed in one of my many cute Easter gifts from Jason. We went to Marble Slab on Friday night and I loved every bit of it! Jason stuck with his usual....vanilla with chocolate chips. I, on the other hand, love to experiment. I got vanilla cinnamon ice cream with heath bar mixed in. It was divine, but you know what was even better? The company.

Martha's Easter Eggs

I watched a very cool episode of the Martha Stewart show this week about Easter decorations. She did silk-dyed Easter eggs and I was amazed. Maybe by this time next year, we'll have a house and I will have a larger kitchen to do this great craft in. We have absolutely no kitchen space.
Check it out!
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/silk-dyed-easter-eggs?autonomy_kw=easter%20eggs&rsc=header_7

blog tutorial

okay, even though i've had a blog for quite some time now, i still know diddly squat about posting pictures, etc.

can someone please tell me why my captions are off to the sides of my pictures? i've gone back to the edit posts section and have added numerous spaces between the images and it continues to do this.. it is very frustrating.

thanks in advance!

Oh Lilly, how I love thee....

So I've loved Lilly Pulitzer for several years now but lately I've been wanting all things Lilly. I read a blog several days ago stating that her local T.J.Maxx had some cute Lilly items, and with that line being so expensive I thought "Yippee!".

I present to you my latest Lilly steal...

Even the box is cute!

There is a cloth Lilly print enclosure for taking my sandals on vacation. (Wouldn't want to get my clothes dirty!)

Oh Lilly, you always pay attention to the details!

and the best part of these sandals? they retail for $138 and I got them for.....

That's right! Only 40 clams! Sorry for the nasty scuff marks on the bottom, you don't honestly think I could wait to wear these bad boys, did you?

Please tell me this is a joke...

Since St. Patty's Day was this week, I thought I'd include a link of some pretty funny news coverage. I'm just going to leave it at that. Check it out for yourself...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8

So sorry, So excited

Okay, I'm sorry I have been so bad at blogging lately. I have been so overwhelmed with school and my camera has been acting very funny right now so I don't have any new pictures.

I did want to say that I'm so excited! What about, you ask? Well, I just found out that I got placed in Conroe ISD for my student teaching next semester. It's the district I wanted and I'm so thrilled.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm going to try and be very productive with homework so that I can update this blog in my 'free' time....ha!

Happy Birthday Daddio!

Happy Birthday Dad! My incredible Dad celebrated 56 wonderful years of life on the 23rd, I decided I wanted to make him a cake to celebrate since he is absolutely the hardest person to shop for. He loves Strawberries so I decided that I'd go all out with his cake. Overall it was pretty good, though very rich. I got the recipe from Hyper Homemaker's cooking blog 'Good Things Catered' I highly recommend checking out that blog.
My Dad is my hero; he is always looking out for the well being of his family. Growing up my life was pretty consumed with volleyball and my dad made a very conscious effort to make it to as many games as he could. Thinking back on it now, I don't really remember many games that he did miss. He and my mom were my biggest fans and always supported me in whatever I was doing. I love you Daddio and I hope that you had a great birthday... I'm sure you did 'cause you got an iPhone out of it!!!!

This is a picture of the cake I made him using his new toy, the iPhone, it takes pretty good pictures, wouldn't you say? I should have taken one from a different angle but I didn't think about it. BTW, I used Milano cookies instead of ladyfingers, it was delish!

Our conversation last night

Jason and I have the funniest conversations sometimes when we are in bed trying to relax and fall to sleep. We were talking about what we think one of our friends' babies will look like. Here is last nights' convo...
J: "Probably blue eyes and lots of blonde hair just like the dad"
A: "Well if our babies have curls, then I'm never cutting their hair....ever"
long pause....
J: "Wait, what if we have a boy?"
A: "Oh, I'm not cutting his either, not until he's like four or something, I'll just be too heartbroken to chop off those curls, I'll cry like a baby"
J: "Um, okay but we're gonna have to go ahead and get those tears out, okay?"
A: "What do you mean?"
J: "Our son is not having long, gay hair"

Well there you go, our sons will not have long hair, curls or no curls. Though, I highly doubt our babies will have curls since Jason's hair is stick straight and mine was straight until I hit puberty. I guess time will only tell.

Sawyer helps Daddy workout!

Sawyer is very much a 'velcro dog' meaning he has to be everywhere we are. Here is a perfect example of him 'helping' Daddy get a workout on. He is so intrigued by what J is doing.

Amazing group of friends

Jason and I are so fortunate to be apart of our Life Group. They are a bunch of amazing couples and they truly are awesome. So awesome that I received a letter in the mail from a great gal in our group. She's so great and I'm so pathetic because I still to this day haven't taken a moment to call her and thank her properly. The note is sitting right here at my desk waiting for me to pick up the telly and call her. So since I'm so lame, I figured I'd make a post about it. This gal is so encouraging and a great model of an amazing Christian wife and mother. She (and the others) are a great testament to me and they help me to strive and be the best Christian and wife I can be to Jason. Thank you Lindsay, your note really was the best thing I received that week and it meant a lot to me that you took the time to sit down and write me a very encouraging note. Thanks Ladies, you all are amazing!

My Husband Rocks Friday

Well my friend April *see The Landes on my friends and family section* does a segment on her blog every Friday (or almost every) about her husband Matt. I think this is a great idea because most husbands do so much for their families and don't usually get any credit for it. Jason is one amazing man, I wonder everyday how I'm the one who scored him. He does the sweetest things for me pretty often and I don't usually acknowledge it as much as I should. Well this past week I was frustrated with our apartment being messy and just feeling like I can never get it cleaned (thanks to our newest addition). Well on Wednesday night Jason and I went to Coldstone, he knows that I love ice cream and he isn't much for going out and getting sweets. I got cake batter with sprinkles and he stuck with chocolate with chocolate chips. We even had a coupon so it was a cheap dessert date!

Then last night he told me that he would clean the kitchen. I have to admit, usually when he says that I think to myself "okay well he'll clean it now, but i'll have to really clean it later". I hate that about me, I'm a perfectionist and it really gets to Jason, I know that and I'm trying to work on that. But last night he told me he'd clean up the dishes and clean the kitchen. I was just relaxing watching some shows on DVR and when I got up to put away my glass at the end of the night, my kitchen was clean. I have to admit, he did a better job than I would have done. He had handwashed the pots and had even put them away. I have a bad habit of washing them but letting them airdry which means a rag on the counter with several pots resting on it.

It may not seem like a lot to some, but for me, it was perfect. I'm a simple girl, though J says otherwise! It's the little things that matter to me and I love you for it. So, there's my first MHR post. Even if I have nothing else to write about during the week I hope I can stick with a post every Friday about the sweet things my man does for me.

Dog Park

Since we got Sawyer we've taken him to the dog park on a pretty regular basis. We try to get there at least once a week because we feel very strongly about socializing him early and putting him in every kind of situation he can be in. He absolutely loves that place, he doesn't even care that he's one of the smallest dogs either. I'll try and get some pictures, or better yet, a video of him there. Needless to say, he has to have a bath when we get home. Every. single. time. He rolls around in the dirt and it's quite a sight. We're going on Saturday, so stay tuned....

Our little guy isn't so little anymore :(

Well Sawyer is growing like a weed, in one month's time he gained 10 pounds, he's really a lot of fun. Especially since we don't have to get up in the night anymore, man those weeks were hard!

This is what our little guy does best~SLEEP~ and what do you know, he has to be right at my feet at all times. I'm sitting at the desk now and he's right under me.

Here he is using this rag as a pillow, can you see how long he's getting?

I just had to throw this one in, when Sawyer gets a little too rough 'mouthing' or what we call biting with razors (because that is what his teeth feel like) Jason puts him on his back and holds him in place and puts him in his place! It really is quite funny because it works like a charm, it doesn't hurt him at all and he won't make eye contact with Jason when he's doing it to him. Then when Jason lets go of him, Sawyer will come over and will lick him constantly like 'I know, Dadda, I'm sorry I was playing too rough with you, please forgive me'. Its the cutest thing.

Last night, as Jason was cleaning up the dishes from dinner we suddenly couldn't find S. Jason looked in the dining room area and there was our little man, sleeping under the tower to our entertainment center. He can just barely fit under it and he seems to be utilizing it every minute he can until he can't fit under there anymore. Of course, when I walked over to get my camera he woke up, but isn't this just hilarious?

'Oh, Momma, did you want to take my picture? I'll pose for you now'

Little pup, you have grown so much in the short time that we've had you. You have brought us so much joy. We love you!

Starting Point Baby Shower

While I don't have any pictures to prove I was there at April's baby shower, I can say that I had a great time! I'm ashamed that its taken me this long to actually attend one but I did have a lot of fun. April got some goodies and we also had another member of our Life Group give birth while we were there (well she was in the hospital~of course!) Avery Morgan was born Saturday, January 31st. She is absolutely beautiful and I love the name. Congratulations Josh and Michelle!

World's Worst Blogger

I know, I know, I'm a horrible blogger. I get online every single day and have several blogs that I follow daily. I just personally think that my life is boring so what is there to fill you guys in on? Hmmm, I better get thinking and I'll try to get better at this whole blogging thing!

new year's resolution

Yesterday I did great with my new year's resolution. I started the day with a bowl of fat free activia yogurt and some organic yogurt, along with an orange. I didn't eat bad all day, when I needed a snack I turned to an apple with peanut butter (for protein) and later in the day to some organic cereal (not sure on the name but its the organic version of lucky charms- and its pretty tasty too!)
I ran some errands during the morning so that Sawyer can get used to spending time in his kennel. Later that afternoon I ran for an hour straight. My goal was to get 6 miles in or more since my goal for the marathon is to finish within a reasonable amount of time. I would like to finish in 2 hours or maybe a little over, hopefully no longer than 2 hours 15 minutes. We'll see on the 18th! So anyways, I was only able to get in 5.25 due to some stomach issues. I have a really sensitive stomach when it comes to running, for some reason after a couple of miles I get really bad cramps like I need to go. Any and all help would greatly be appreciated. It probably didn't help that I needed to pee the second I began running and I was holding my camelback bottle full of water- which probably weighed 2 pounds or more~ my forearms were tired after running from holding the bottle the whole time!
Anywho, thats what I've been up to....Plus, biggest loser began on Tuesday, J and I love that show. I'm hoping that is motivation for me as well!

Oh, Sawyer!

Okay, so I'm in a much better mood than I was the other day when I wrote my post on being frustrated. Sawyer has been doing so well, he rarely soils his kennel now, I'm thinking it has a lot to do with moving it into our bedroom (I really didn't want to do this, but we weren't getting any sleep and I was having to constantly bathe him). He seriously cracks me up. He has so much fun playing with us, but I secretly thinks he enjoys playing with himself more. All day he will play with his toys, or chase/bite his tail. I have always wanted a dog that was fascinated by their own tail, and he sure does love his. Many times when I'm playing with him, his tail will just be sopping wet from him biting on it all day. While playing with him a couple of minutes ago, he discovered his long, floppy ears. He kept trying to lean his head over so that he could put his ear in his mouth. It was quite a site to see. I'll leave you guys with some of the latest pictures. Who could resist this face, look at those ears!

Frustration!

That is what I've been feeling most of this week. This has been my last week off before school is in full swing again- 16 hours including my Content Methods Semester. I have really wanted to take this time to get super organized with my school paperwork, laundry and just everything else really. Between this puppy and freaking out with the marathon in less than two weeks I haven't made any progress, or at least it doesn't look like I've made any progress. It seems like all I've been doing lately is laundry, and when the dryer is constantly peeping at my I'm still trying to finish putting away the previous load....it's a vicious cycle that is leaving me frustrated! We were able to get the spare bedroom and bathroom cleaned and ready for Marylyn on Sunday but the desk, our bedroom, the laundry, and our bathroom just seem neglected.
Now that I'm thinking about it, as Sawyer sleeps at my feet I better get busy...

workout update

Hey there! So today is Day Two of Jillian Micheals 'The Shred'. Basically its a 30 day program with three different levels of intensity. You do 10 days of level one, then 10 days of level two, and finally 10 days of level three. After thirty days, if you've been working out consistently with the dvd and eating right you should have lost some weight and inches all over. I'm a little disappointed in myself, I used to be in such great shape- where did that body go? I'm over here huffing and puffing with Jillian and this is only level one?!?!?! What am I getting myself into? Oh yeah, that's right all of my size 4 clothes. I'm tired of having a vast array of sizes in my closet and not sure which ones fit, only to be in a hurry in the mornings to realize that only about 3 pairs of dress slacks actually look good on me. New year....new me! I'm tired of that old lethargic body, plus the Houston Marathon is on the 18th!...eek!

Happy New Year!

Well Happy New Year everyone!! Jason and I had a great time hanging out with some great friends last night. We liked that it was very laid back and relaxing. Wow...2009 is here, where the heck did 2008 go? We are very much looking forward to what 2009 holds. We've got a new puppy that is going to change and grow so much, hopefully a home will be in store for us (oct.ish) we'll just have to see what the economy looks like this year. One of the biggest things that we're looking forward to is my graduation!!! It is a day that I have been looking forward to that day for a long time now. Overall, we are just very hopeful for 2009. Jason has mentioned that he's a little worried about his job seeing as the market is supposed to get worse before it gets better; but we've just decided that it is in God's hands and whatever his plan is for us, we are okay with. I'm not sure we could do that without the faith we have in our Savior and without the great friendships we have been so lucky to have created with those in our Life Group, thank you guys!