Love Remains the Same

Once upon a time, I had written a witty and amazing blog post. Perhaps the best one of all. And then reality set in, I was trying to do 5 things at once, and I ended up accidentally deleting said blog post before posting. The struggle IS real. I was extremely frustrated with myself at first, but then realized that I couldn’t do anything about it, so I decided to take a break and restart later. So here I am!

I don’t think I can even attempt to mirror what I had previously written {I’ve slept since then, HARD!} but I will try to think of something right around the same level of amazing {wishful thinking, wishful thinking..} I’m currently sitting on top of my comfy bed, with my new cozy blanket, a cup of tea {with marshmallows in it..because, well, marshmallows!} , a fall candle burning right beside me, and my husband sitting in the other room watching a few pre-season NFL games{which I must say, makes my heart very happy, it's a pleasant sound to hear. Happy fall!}. I think I’m ready for this. Aaaand, go.

As I grow older, I’ve noticed a lot of my tastes changing. They say your tastes start changing every 7{?} years {or so?}, and for me I feel that this is pretty accurate. This ranges from a wide spectrum of things, from my taste in company, food and drink tastes, musical tastes, pretty close to everything.

Ever since I was about 18 or so, I’ve been {gradually} incorporating, and dare I say even liking vegetables, but recently I’ve been LOVING all vegetables that I used to loathe. Tomatoes? Yum. Brussel Sprouts? Pass ‘em over. Okra? Gimme. Carrots? Mine. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do with these vegetable cravings. Was I pregnant? Was I having some sort of mental breakdown? What was the root cause of this sudden onset love of vegetables? As it turns out, neither of the above were the culprit {although I’m sure some people would argue the latter..} I honestly think that I am just getting a bit braver as I get older and more willing to try new things.  

This is a change I am kind of extremely happy about: I am not longer just a sweet white wine lover! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dumping all of my moscato d’asti and Riesling down the drain, but I’m no longer reaching for them at the liquor store. Now, I’m looking for chardonnay and cabernet {and dare I say even the occasional shiraz..} Do I somehow feel more sophisticated drinking these newfound wines? You betcha. In case you were wondering, my current favorite brand is actually by Dave Matthews. The brand is called Dreaming Tree. DELICIOUS and your wallet will thank you, because this wine is budget friendly. A couple more of my favorites are Freakshow and 14 Hands..so walk run to your nearest liquor store and get your hands on a bottle {or two, or three..}

Musical tastes have absolutely changed. I hear most electronic music and I think “wait, is this music?” I’m over my “only rap music” phase, although I do love myself a nice rap song when I’m driving with the windows down. Don’t judge, you know you do it too. I’ve been really digging the Michael Buble Pandora station lately. It features good ole Michael himself, Frank Sinatra, Ben E King, & of course, Norah Jones, the classy lady herself!

You know the saying, the more things change, the more they stay the same. There are a few things in my life that aren’t going to change: my love for Charles, my faith, my love of my family, my chocolate & coffee obsessions, and my habit of watching reality tv shows, just to name a few. And you know what? I’m ok with that. My life is in a better place than I could have ever imagined.

Let's get down to the recap portion of our blog post today:

Fresh Farmers Market flowers..$5 for these beauties that will last weeks. Go home with your $15 bouquets that last 2 days, Wal-Mart. Although I still do love walmart..

You can't beat end of summer nights on the deck with your handsome hubby and a nice glass of red wine. You just can't beat it!

Honestly, it's felt more like fall lately than it has summer {well, at least the nights and the mornings feel that way} so I've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside on the deck with the girls {yes, the dogs..}

While at the lake last weekend, the mister and I woke up at around 6am to a thunderstorm. There's nothing quite like the sound of thunder when you're waking up. We decided to make the most of it and spend the early morning hours cuddling on the deck listening to the storm in a hammock.

When thunderstorms disappear, it's time to take a sunset boat ride with the family..and I'm glad I wore this shirt over my swimsuit and we were BOTH glad I had this blanket, because it got CHILLY.

Lake views..why isn't this my permanent view?

 



You know we love local things, and Friday we got the pleasure of trying out CORE brewing company that just came to our town. What and awesome place! If you're around my area, check it out, you won't be disappointed.

I hope as much as your life changes, some things remain the same. 

24 Years Young..

Hello, bloggyworld!

I hope your week has been as great as mine {but I hope your weather is slightly better than ours..}

It's currently Thursday morning, freezing cold outsdie and the sleet/ice/snow is supposed to be making it's way in for a two day vacation in a few hours. The public school system where I live is closed for the day.

Wow.

I'm all for protecting the children and making sure everyone gets home safe, but it hasn't even started anything yet. Kids these days have all the luck. Back in my day {ha, ha, I've always wanted to say that...} it had to be a certified blizzard before they would cancel school. Not even kidding, and by the time they would finally allow us to leave school, it was already so bad on the roads it would take us two hours to drive 15 minutes.

None of that matters now, of course, because in the big girl business world, my inclement weather policy is this:

Get your butt to work. {Yes, I am serious. Our customers across the globe aren't experiencing inclement weather, so they won't understand why we aren't there to serve them}

Let me tell you a little about my 24th birthday! I was a little concerned I might have a boring birthday, as 24 isn't really one of the exciting birthdays...It wasn't my 21st birthday, so I could already drink, and it isn't my 25th birthday yet, so no insurance breaks for me!

                               

Monday night {birthday eve}, my mom, sister, husband, and I went to one of my favorite local places to eat! Mmm it was fabulous, filled with mango margaritas and rum cake!

            So everyone knows by now that Friday {tomorrow} we were supposed to close on our new house. Well my sneaky husband decided to surprise me on my birthday with closing on the house early {and thank goodness he did, because this snow/ice/sleet storm moving in is no joke, y'all..} So behold, we are HOMEOWNERS! Best husband EVER <3

Stopped by the new house, Elf was waiting on the door for me. Is Charles not the most adorable thing ever?

Charles and I really wanted to do a paint class at a local furniture store {3's Company, CHECK THEM OUT! You will NOT be sorry. They have the most amazing furniture, and you all know how much I love shopping local..suppost your local stores!}They offer paint classes where they teach you to chalk paint and distress your old furniture on the first Tuesday of every month, and it just so happened to fall on my birthday. Here we are after painting for two hours ;)

 

Here's the finished product, before and after photos! I think we did a great job, and this matches our bedroom set perfectly.

 

 

I'll be taking lots of photos of the new house {unfinished as well as finished} so that I can share our journey with you. I hope to be taking advantage of this snowed in weekend to decorate and set up the new house {as much as possible, anyway, we still need quite a few things that we just ran out of time for...}

Have a blessed week!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Back to Business, Sunday Evening Lull

Hello, y'all! I hope your weekend has been fabulous thus far! I know mine has. It is Sunday evening, I'm sitting on my couch under a cozy blanket (I don't know about y'all, but I have a tendency to keep my house on the cooler side...), snuggling up with the two cutest doberman (Cholla, the Min-Pin and the mommy's girl, and Milli, the Doberman pincher, and the daddy's girl), and sipping on a "larger than the restaurants will allow" glass of wine. In my world, you can't really beat that. Oh, and of course, my fiance is sitting next to me watching Mountain Men, we can't leave him out!

On Thursday, I blogged mainly about how excited I was for the weekend, and the plans I made for myself. Now that the weekend is drawing to an end, let me just tell you the turn of events. I honestly don't know why I set myself up to believe that a weekend will go a certain way or according to plan, because it NEVER goes how I mean for it to (no complaints, I like the little unexpected twists and turns)!

Friday night actually turned out just like I planned in my head. I came home from work, relaxed for a little while, got ready, and went to 21 West End. My work colleagues and I had great conversations and a great overall night. If you don't mingle with your co-workers outside of work, I HIGHLY recommend making the effort. It gives you a chance to get to know people in a casual environment, and you might end up viewing someone in a completely different light. I had the pomegranate martini (DIVINE, I tell ya) as well as the Chicken Oscar. I should have made an effort to get pictures to show you all, however time completely got the best of me. I wore a long sleeved black Piko top to dinner, with a pair of high waisted, loose black shorts with a gold chain design to dinner, and I paired it with a pair of rust colored wedges (again, I wish I took a picture for show and tell)!

Saturday morning I woke up and went to our local Farmers Market with Katie, and I'll tell you what, I was impressed!  I ended up purchasing some great items, including cucumbers, onions, garlic, pepper jelly, habanero mustard, and blackberry jam! I also picked up some sunflowers and a bouquet of fresh flowers while I was there. The sunflowers have been placed in my kitchen to brighten things up, and Charles is a sucker for sunflowers! My first farmers market experience was a great one and I know I will be back again, and SOON, if I can keep my butt in town for a weekend! When I got home from the market, I cooked breakfast for Charles and I, and then we went and completely cleaned out our cars inside and out. I can't speak for you, but I feel a LOT better when I start my week when I have a clean car. I think cleaning my car out on Sundays should become a new routine for us. We then spent the rest of the afternoon lying around lazily at the house, until it was time to get cleaned up for the wedding. After the wedding, we rented the movie "Movie 43" (NOT recommended, it was too odd for words) and got some Tassanee's (our favorite Thai place in town) and had a lazy night in.

Farmers Market Haul! ADORE!

Breakfast I made with the delicious blackberry jam from the Farmers Market

Today, I woke up, drank a cup of coffee and tore up Pinterest! I'm so addicted to that site, it helps me pick out my clothes, plan my weekly menu, etc. After that, I spent a little bit of the morning cleaning up (laundry and dishes) and completely cleaned out and re-arranged everything in our fridge! It is so much easier and more pleasant to open up the fridge and know where to find things, and to have everything clean, and all of the old items discarded. I had mentioned how I wanted to re-arrange the furniture, but Charles surprised me on Thursday night and re-arranged the living room, which I adore! After cleaning up, I got ready for a Bridal Fair at Inscriptions, where I was given a free Vera Bradley bag, SO cute! I have a slight Vera Bradley obsession, but I'm convinced this is ok, because all women have a small Vera obsession...right? ;) Charles and I then went to might parents to relax by the pool and grill out. The musician for our wedding came over and we chose the music for our wedding ceremony. It absolutely BLOWS my mind that it is only 54 days away! I can't even stand it!

Vera Bradley bag I scored at the Inscriptions Bridal Event!

I've mentioned several times in this post some local treasures I visit frequently. Shopping local is something I highly encourage to you all, get out there and make the extra effort to find where your local farmers, boutiques, restaurants, etc. are and support them! They take great care of you and you usually get more bang for your buck. If you live around here, I'll share with you some of my FAVORITE local places. For all of you fashionistas and shopping addicts out there like me, go to Suite One! I shop there and follow them religiously, I rarely find myself anywhere else when I'm in search of the perfect outfit. A favorite local place to dine of ours is Ralph's Pink Flamingo barbecue! They cater events, and they have the BEST barbecue (and potato salad...=D) around. Check them out if you live around here! If you're looking for one of a kind, unique gifts for any occasion, or invitations, etc. then check out Inscriptions! They are also a supplier of Vera Bradley bags, which helps my Vera obsession!

I think this is going to be all for me tonight, folks! I start my new work schedule tomorrow (6am-3pm..oh the life of a Freight Broker) and I really need to get myself on a new sleeping schedule! I PROMISE I will be back again, sooner rather than later!

Until next time, xoxoxo

Michele