Personal Touches ~ Thanks Playtex!

My sister found these awesome sippy bottles that are too perfect for your little one. The inside of the cup comes with blank paper and a coloring sheet for your child to decorate himself. I decided to take a regular size sheet of scrapbook paper, run it through the printer, and viola! I have super cute bottles for our nephews to carry around the day of our wedding (what cute photos, huh?!) and use again!
Colby's says "My aunt is the Bride" and Hayden's says "My uncle is the Groom". I kept it with the paisley theme but used blue instead of pink and green so their mommies would let them use it more often! haha

Directions on getting the cute bottles:
Go to www.drugstore.com
In the search box, type in "playtex create your own"
The bottles should pop up. The only thing is that you can't pick your bottle top color, but I've ordered a few of these and they all seem to have been unisex colors.

If you look around on the site, they also have cute plates that you can create as well.
Another good idea, is find fabric, cut it to the matching size, and take it to get monogrammed with the baby's name or initials!

Enjoy!

MORE SNOW!

More snow!! Ok, yes, I have been wishing for snow, snow, snow...but now I'm done!! We've missed a lot of school and I am worried about my poor little students not getting in all the information before the stupid CATS testing! WHY do they make the test so early in the year anyways?! Who knows, but I'm over the snow!

However, Brian and I were both off yesterday for President's Day so we were able to play in it a little and get a bunch of things done for the house! Have I told you how impressed I am with his handyman skills? I seriously thought they did not exist, but once he was given the chance he's awesome!

The picture is Brian playing a little golf in the snow...he's crazy!




Read more: http://www.mylivesignature.com/mls_wizard2_1.php?sid=54488-75-0A7D038DE2E305B273FF2D0EE179AAD0##ixzz0fBiQN1Za

Personalized Gifts

These are some of my absolute favorite websites for personalized gifts. I know not everyone likes their initials and monogram on everything...but a little bit never hurt anyone! I've bought a lot of things on these sites for bridesmaid gifts, hostess gifts, flower girl/ring bearer gifts, baby gifts, etc.
After the wedding I can't wait to outfit my home with the websites! I would love to post my fav. items from the sites, but I can't yet since I haven't had the Bridesmaid Luncheon yet! :)

My Preppy Monogrammed Gifts:
http://www.preppymonogrammedgifts.com/catalog.php?category=42

The Pink Monogram:
http://www.thepinkmonogram.com/php/first.php?ACT=9125

The Lily Pad:
http://lilypademb.com/

The Wedding Fairy:
http://www.weddingfairy.com/

Olive's Limited:
http://www.olivesltd.com/Intro.html

Snootie Patootie:
http://www.snootiepatootie.com/index.html

Hosting my first shower in my new home!

I've hosted a few showers before at my Merrick Place apartment, but this past Saturday was my first shower to host in my new home. I was so nervous about having it there since Brian is the only one living there and we haven't exactly finished our decorating! I threw it for my friend, Amanda, whom I know from college. With that said...you know how much you always want to impress your girlfriends - especially your college ones!!! Most of the girls already have beautiful homes that are decorated to a 'T', and I wanted to be up to par!
After lots of planning, and actually not a lot of stress (yea, for real, can you believe it?!) I pulled it off! Of course, Brian also realized from now on when I say I am 'hosting' something, that also includes him! He was such a good help to "get me this, lay this out, clean that, etc.". What a good man he is!

Some of my favorite things from the shower, that I would recommend others doing to really show the Bride how much you care are:
-Make it all about their bridal colors, for a bride-to-be, these are the only colors they see in!(gift bags, food, plates/napkins, punch, etc.)
-Think of small things that makes your shower stand out - like a Movie Maker DVD playing in the background with music for guests to see, or monogrammed items with the bride's new last name (who doesn't love the idea of the 'new name'!)
-Try doing something that shows the bride that all her friends are so excited for her - like having guests write short notes on a champagne bottle to open on their 1 Month Wedding Anniversary (this is the only time since high school relationships where you can celebrate each month of your love~of course ONLY for the 1st year or people will be grossed out, ha)
-Take good notes for bridal gifts - brides want to be able to personalize thank you notes so write down everything each person gets her

What ideas do you have that have worked well or you would like to have?

Aunt Anabel Shower and BBandT Bank Shower

Here is a glimpse of the last 2 showers I had. My shower given by Aunt Anabel almost didn't happen due to the snow! Luckily, we were able to reschedule it to the next day (Sunday) and my future mother-in-law was still in town to be able to attend. My Aunt was so thoughtful with diamond accents everywhere and tasty food!

Brian's office also held a shower for us in their conference room. Once again we had delicious food and such thoughtful gifts! :) This engagement time is so fun!!

Response Cards

One of the most FABULOUS things is getting the response cards back from the wedding. I went back and forth between being more modern and using the voice mail machine or doing the traditional paper...I am SO GLAD I did the paper. Every day I run home to open the cards. It's also so neat when people write little notes. Who ever knew to do that? I feel so bad I never did, but I will from now on!

Church Shower

I have been so blessed to have already had 2 showers. Last Saturday, my mom's church friends hosted a shower for me. It was so fun to see all the women I've grown up around attend the shower and even neater to receive 'marriage tips' from them. It had wonderful pink and green decorations, yummy food, and very thoughtful gifts! :)

It finally SNOWED!

I love snow. I know people in Kentucky always wish they could go live somewhere warmer...but not me! I love that I get all 4 seasons in the state I live in! I also LOVE snow days. I remember when I was younger, my teachers acted like they hated snow days. You know what? They were lying! I tell my kids to wear they pj's inside out and do the snow dance!
Well...it worked this time! We got snow...and a lot for Lexington! AND 2 snow days off work! :)

Can I teach a 28 year old to cook?

I love all the things Brian can do. I'm even learning things (as I think he is too) about him becoming a handyman around the house. But one thing Brian has never learned to do is cook. Oh he can grill, and I appreciate that very much...but when it comes to cooking, he can't.
Really, I am just starting to learn, too. Our first summer together my mom bought me a cookbook and I started to learn how to read directions and follow simple steps. I know, right? Those of you who remember me from those early post-college days would laugh. I remember sitting in Bridal Creek apts wondering why my tacos were so oily... I had forgotten to empty out the hamburger grease. Gross, I know. But, after much practice, I've come to enjoy it and almost need that sense of calmness after a long day at work. So, therefore, I usually cook around 3-4 times a week for us.

Well today I had the Sunday night blues. I didn't feel like getting off the couch but I was hungry. After much pleading, Brian said he'd try to make us something. He found Velvetta Shells and Cheese in the pantry (thanks Allison and Yancey!). Below is the conversation that happened next:
Brian: So...what kind of pan do I use?
Brian: When it says 6 cups of water, how am I supposed to know how much that is?
(yes, I showed him what measuring cups were and where we keep them...)
Brian: There is no boiling knob, how do I know what that is?
Meanwhile, in between answering the questions I ran upstairs to pack up for the week to stay at Mom and Dad's when I heard... "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!" I ran down the stairs-
Brian: I mean, it just spilled. The water kept getting higher and it just bubbled over! Is it going to stain the stove?
As you can imagine, he was so upset by this. Does he really think I don't let that happen at least once a week! Ha! Poor thing. But it doesn't stop there...questions of how to get the water out from the noodles followed, but I have to tell you all--the mac and cheese was delicious! AND the best part about it is...Brian is even more appreciative of my cooking than before.

2 Things I Learned:
1. I'd rather cook any day and have him clean up the kitchen (I hate it, and only do clean up at other people's houses, when feeling pressured, or needing to feel nice!)
2. Brian can make a mean mac and cheese in case I'm not around :)

New Year's Resolutions

When I think about resolutions, I usually only make very goal-oriented ones that I know I basically have to keep. You know, like pay my car payments on time {YES!}, (now) pay my mortage on time {YES!}, etc. This year I am really going to try and challenge myself with some real resolutions I have to keep.
Going to the gym at least twice a week, stopped after {ok, probably before} the wedding
get married (yay!!), DID it! Best day ever!
stop worrying so much (those of you who are close to me know this one will be hard to keep!), Hmm, this is day by day. Some days I did, some days I didn't...
and find a place where Brian and I can volunteer or make a difference often. Whoops! I think this is on this year's list! Didn't make the goal :(

On the last one, we've been trying to find somewhere we can fit but it hasn't come yet. Our minister encouraged us (as well as the book we're doing - Love & Respect) to find more activities and volunteer opportunities we can do together now that we're going to be a family. I can't wait.
What are your new year resolutions?

*Posted in the RED are as of 12/31/10

Christmas

Christmas was very different for us this year. We were able to spend it together and with both of our families. Through the driving back and forth to Berea, Lexington, and Cynthiana; we realized how lucky we truly are. Yes, the gifts were awesome... :), but knowing we both enjoy being around each other's families was the best gift of all. We're looking forward to many more holidays spent together!