wedding week: getting ready

christmas eve marked our 3 month anniversary. i teased y'all with a picture stolen from facebook awhile ago but have been accidentally hoarding my wedding pictures for about a month.

so i thought i was about time to share with you some pictures from our big day. i'll share a bunch of pictures this week. hopefully you are ready for wedding overload!

first up? getting ready.

next up? the ceremony.

merry christmas

taken this christmas morning

our first as husband and wife.

hope your days were merry!

tis the weather

for soup.

i *lurve* soup. it's one of my favorite things ever. however, i am the type of person who can only eat soup when it is fall/winter. eating soup in the heat of summer just doesn't feel right to me. but on a day where the high is 50 degrees and it has been gray all day...now that is the most perfect day for soup.

a few weeks ago, it was that type of day. and so i gathered my ingredients and set out to make broccoli cheddar and potato soup. and oh it turned out so good.

broccoli cheddar and potato soup
recipe originally from here. my adapted version is below.

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced small
• salt and fresh pepper
• 4 cups (about 2 heads) broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
• 1-1/2 cups 2% shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 tbsp parmesan cheese

Chop onion, carrot, and garlic.

In a large soup pot, melt butter.  Add chopped vegetables and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add flour, salt and pepper to the pot and stir until smooth.

Add vegetable broth, milk and potatoes and set heat to high until it comes to a boil, then cover and cook on low until potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add broccoli florets, parmesan cheese, and stir well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Cook uncovered until broccoli is cooked, about 5 minutes. Add cheddar cheese, stir well and remove from heat.

Using an immersion blender, quickly blend part of the soup for a quick second or two. If you don't have an immersion blender (like me!), remove about 1-2 cups of potatoes and broccoli, place it in your chopper, then add it back to the soup. This helps thicken it a bit.

A and I really enjoyed this soup. I served it with some yummy bread and it made for a perfect meal. Enjoy friends!

girl christmas

we counted. this is girl christmas #10. i can't believe we have held this tradition for 10 years. it is truly one of my most favorite traditions that comes with this season and i love that we just keep going. we will be 80 year old ladies one day and will all be at girl christmas. i just know it. we all cherish it way too much to stop the tradition anytime soon.

this year was one for the books. perhaps one of my favorites yet? it was so special to spend time with these girls and see what everyone crafted. we chatted it up, opened gifts, squealed, ate gouda bites and sweet treats and hung out all day long. it couldn't be any more perfect.

this year (as we have done the past 3 years), the rule was that everyone would make a little something for each girl. and those little somethings have to be crafted (which make them extra special).

my craft this year was little picture magnets made to look like polaroids.

each girl got 6 magnets. some had jenna's gorgeous pictures (like those above), some had pictures of weddings, babies and families. they turned out wonderfully and i was so happy that each girl felt the same.

i originally got the idea from {here} which links up to {this tutorial}. i followed that tutorial completely. she even has a template to use in photoshop (which was the most helpful thing ever). I had some trouble finding the perfect backing for the pictures. i tried foam board (don't even think about it) and also tried artist drawing board. neither worked well and were super hard to cut. i ended up using the back of 2 notebooks. they were thicker cardboard but not too thick where i had a lot of difficulty cutting them out.

that is all i will say about that. i will let you follow her tutorial if you ever give this craft a whirl but feel free to ask any questions. it was a lot of trial and error for this girl.

the rest of the weekend was spent eating yummy food, shopping, staying up way too late, watching a christmas movie and squeezing baby parker.

it was such a great weekend. went by so so fast but A and I had such a great time. my goodness we are so blessed with such awesome friends in lexington.

until next year...

our first christmas home

so the last time we left off, we chatted about birthday dinners and other things. then thanksgiving came and went and now we are fully engulfed in the christmas holiday. i have been visiting with loved ones, shopping for wonderful gifts, listening to hours and hours of christmas music and crafting for girl christmas. i thought it was about time for a blog update. shall we?

our christmas tree is up and lit every single night. it makes me so very happy.

i went with a red/silver/gold theme this year for our little tree. we also picked up some little felted animal ornaments from crate & barrel last month. i love our tree. it's colorful and sparkly. love lighting it up every night.

one of our favorite little felted friends (you can see a little moose in the background too)...

since we moved to a new place, we now have a FIREPLACE. and although we don't ever use it (dang high gas prices), doesn't mean i can't jazz it up for the christmas season. i just put some mirrors up that i already had, put up my wreath i made last year and hung our new stockings. one for A and one for me. and one for a puppy. he needed a stocking too.

these little guys hang out up on the mantle too. love them. they were originally ornaments but i knew i wanted to cut off the string and put them on display. and now the two hang out on a christmas book on the mantle.

so there is our first little place all decorated for christmas. i love that we are about to experience our first christmas as a married couple. can't wait to make our own traditions and wake up on christmas morning together. oh what fun...

lately {according to my iphone}

so my birthday came and went and it was wonderful. i took a 1/2 day off of work just because. no one wants to sit at a desk for 8 hours on their birthday. so i didn't and it was perfect.

for my birthday night, A and i went to my favorite restaurant downtown. i know i have written about going here before {here and here}. i guess i'm predictable like that. i don't switch it up for my birthday. i want my favorite and so off we went.

and i actually paused before chowing down to take a picture. i told you the food was delish and now you can see for yourself.

also for my birthday, i knew i wanted to try a bold lip. i have seen a few bloggers + lots of inspiration on pinterest with bold lip colors and i knew i wanted to try it. my birthday dinner seemed like the perfect time to go for it.

let's just say i am now obsessed with a bold lip, found a new favorite lip product and immediately ordered a red one to try over the holidays. life is too short to not have pretty lips.

A and I had to run to charlotte this weekend and spent a little time at the mall there. does anyone get completely inspired by the visual merchandising at anthropologie? i do and i took this picture to DIY it someday just because it was that awesome.

yes...those are plastic spoons.

and last but not least, tonight i bought a couple of birthday treats for myself...

that is enough randomness for one post i think!

happy birthday to me....

{birthday balloons}

welcome home

so A and I have been in our new place for 10 days now. we absolutely adore where we are now. the location is perfect and we have so much more room then we had in my tiny one-bedroom apartment. we are loving our little rental home.

10 days later....and we are still unpacking. i didn't think i had that much stuff to move but i guess i do. i would say we are about 70% unpacked and settled. it has been so great to be able to make this house our home. i felt like when A moved into my other place (even though it was just for a month), i still felt like it was "my" place. but now it feels different and we love it.

i figured i would let my iphone pictures do the talking. we are more unpacked and the boxes aren't completely taking over anymore (although we still have a good amount to unpack). i will do a little house tour once we are all unpacked. there are definitely things we want to get to fill our house a little more but that will have to wait. it takes time and dollars to make a house what you want it to be. little by little i am sure we will get there.

onto the pictures...

moving day. my little car was packed to the brim.

our new kitchen filled with boxes

a small part of our living room. ignore the hideous curtains. can't wait to get our own.

bought the prettiest tulips ever at whole foods. flowers instantly make a house feel more "homey"

can't wait to give you a little tour soon!

what i've been up to lately...

packing, packing and packing...

wedding thank you notes...

finally upgrading my phone...
isn't she a beauty?

beyonce

so this past weekend, i met a beyonce.

sorry for the reflection

if this means nothing to you - go read all about it {here} 

be warned - there is a lot of cussing. and for me, it only makes the story funnier. 

enjoy :)

back

hello dear friends.

i am sitting here on a sunday night thinking about how i want to be better about posting on this blog. i love blogging and documenting my life and thoughts. right now, i'm sitting on the couch with my hubby, puppy sleeping on the floor and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins cooling off on the stove and football on tv. it's the perfect time to update you on my y life as of late.

three weeks ago this weekend, i married my best friend. sounds so cliche but it is so true. we had a glorious wedding day. the weather was absolutely perfect and we were surrounded by our dear loved ones. our good friend eric married us that day and i can't even begin to describe how much we loved everything he said to us. we were so encouraged as we said our "i do's". the reception was everything i had pictured in my head for so many months before. twinkle lights strung above a little garden area made for the most perfect setting. we had such a wonderful time but my goodness it goes by so quickly.

monday after the wedding, we were whisked away to our 10-day honeymoon. off to vieques (an island right off of puerto rico). it was absolute perfection. gorgeous resort, wonderful tropical island, perfect sunny weather and the most relaxing trip ever. it is such a blessing to spend such precious time with my new hubby. pictures to come soon...

last week was our first week back in the "real world". it is bittersweet. nice to be back home but i still miss the beach and our view from breakfast every morning. but being home and having a hubby in the apartment is such a sweet experience.

and some fun little news...2 weeks from today we are moving to a new place. such an exciting time for us. we live about 20 minutes outside of greenville right now and we are moving up to the city. we are so happy to be closer to everything and have a bigger place. we are a little crammed in my one-bedroom apartment with a girl, a new hubby, a puppy who isn't little and a bazillion wedding boxes. i have already begun getting things ready to be packed up and getting rid of things that don't need to come with us. i love moving (true story) so i am excited for the next two weeks to happen.

that is all for now my friends. hopefully will stay committed to blogging more often. i made a list of things that i wanted to blog about so hopefully that will keep me on track.

and of course, i will blog wedding pictures (when i get them) and honeymoon pictures soon. i know there are some ladies out there who are antsy to see our pictures.

happy sunday night sweets.

thursday travels

{photo}

vieques island, PR

made for a wonderful honeymoon....

sneak peek

showered

a few weeks ago, a few girls from my work got together and threw A and I a shower at a restaurant downtown. it was a glorious night with fun times had by all.

one of our hosts brought a homemade peanut butter chocolate cake. it was so delicious. i had to indulge and have a few bites. YUM. 

a few of the girls got together and gave us a digital camera. sweetest thing ever (we don't have a camera) and i may or may not have started crying immediately after i opened it. A was super excited to get something electronic as a gift.

my lovely coworkers. i am super lucky to work with such wonderful ladies!

vino and van gogh

here in my wonderful city of greenville south carolina, we have recently had a few artsy places pop up. they are all the same idea - you pick a painting off the website and sign up. then you go paint the fancy painting with friends and bring your own wine and munchies. it's a really fun idea and one that i was definitely on board with.

one of my friends and i decided it was time to pick a painting and go. we ended up picking vino and van gogh out of the 3 places in greenville that offer it. we picked a fancy monet painting of a bridge over water. i wish they still had the picture up so you could see what it looked like when they painted it but alas - they have taken it down.

on second thought, i'm happy they took it down. now you have nothing to compare ours to and maybe that is a good thing? we are amateurs people. NOT ARTSY.

so our finished product after two hours of painting:

mine on the left. my friend jaime's on the right. 

excuse the blackberry picture. neither of us brought a camera to take pics.

overall it was a super fun experience. i definitely didn't have a perfect painting at the end but i still love it and we really had a great time. i am not artsy at all but it was therapeutic to sit there for two hours while the teacher (who was absolutely fabulous might i add) walked us through what to do next. and it was great to spend time with a friend and chat about life. while having a little glass of wine.

a fun little evening for all.

fluff

cutest puppy in the whole world.

thursday travels

photo from my {pinterest} via {here}

switzerland

bbq succotash

i have discovered a little dish that is oh so perfect for summer (or really anytime of year for that matter). i'm pretty sure my friend purdy made this for dinner one night and then we rediscovered it when she was down visiting earlier this year. it's perfect for shan since it is a vegetarian dish but i promise you will love it just as well. it really is the perfect succotash and super easy/quick to make (and healthy to boot!)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin or vegetable oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1/2 red onion, chopped (i use a whole onion because i love it)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen corn
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup smoky barbecue sauce (i use sticky fingers memphis original)
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives, parsley or cilantro leaves, for garnish (sometimes i do, sometimes i don't)

Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and peppers and saute 5 minutes.

 Add beans and corn and season with salt and pepper.

When corn heats through, add barbecue sauce. Stir to combine and serve succotash with chopped chives, parsley or cilantro to garnish.

 Finished product (absolutley horrible iphone picture. i need some food staging classes stat).

this dish made me fall in love with red peppers. i was kinda "meh" about them before but now i *lurve*. do share some new recipes you have discovered. or some staples that you always make.

ps: i can't wait to have new dishes/cookware.
pps: i need a camera stat.
original recipe found {here}.

weekend plans

i have some visitors this weekend...

mama and sister are coming down for a little weekend visit and to help me with some wedding stuff. we are only 7 weeks away so i need all the help i can get.

happy weekend blog friends!

parties in kentucky {part two}

the day after the bachelorette party, my MOH hosted a shower at her lovely abode. i know a lot of girlies chipped in to help and it made the day feel super personal and special. i know they worked hard (and the MOH was sick and still made a wonderful hostess).

one of the games the girls planned was to dress friends in bridal gowns using toilet paper. it was hilarious to watch and fun to judge. mandy and katie won since their dress looked like something that you could literally buy.

a fun little treat (mishap?) happened right when everyone was being decorated with tp. our sweet innocent gilfedder may have caught herself on fire from a candle that jen jen had burning on the coffee table. jenna was fearful. i may have cried from laughing. (gil was not hurt and the flames were little. i promise it was funny. see? even gil was laughing after just a few minutes)

the next "game" was not really a game but something that made me super excited. the girls got together and decorated 2 serving dishes for A and i to have in our house someday. the girls were super creative and the end results were adorable. i can't wait to get my hands on them soon!

we may or may not love to take "fake" laughing pictures that always result in real laughter.

together since high school freshman year...

sister and mama bear.

A even snuck in at the end to take a quick picture with his bride. (sidenote: when going through all the sweet gifts we received, he picked up the glass tupperware and exclaimed "this is my favorite gift". who knew he was so easily pleased?)