WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY

What we’re eating this week…

I made Ruthie's fried chicken and rice on Monday night. I thought it was pretty decent but Matthew and my sister weren't big fans...I did use brown rice so next time I try it I will use white rice. Tacos last night...because taco Tuesday ;) and we are having pork tenderloin and spaghetti this week, too, and hopefully date night on Friday to kick off the long weekend!

What I’m reminiscing about…

Our Cookeville days...while living in Cookeville this was one of my absolute favorite times of the year. Classes are starting back up and the campus ministry that we were apart of was back in full force with activities literally almost every day. Definitely some of the best days of our lives!

What I’m loving…

Our new paint...the living room and dining room are completely finished and we are loving it! A freshly cut yard. When we first moved into our home we didn't have a lawnmower so we paid someone to cut our grass. Well we finally got a new one and it works GREAT! I love mowing and grew up helping my parents mow a lot so it's fun getting back out there and now mowing our own yard!

What we’ve been up to…

Working, house projects, visiting family, and relaxing!

What I’m dreading…

Not really dreading anything right now! We're just trying to enjoy life to the fullest :)

What I’m working on…

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was working on a new little series for my blog...well I am almost finished and I am excited to share that, hopefully next week! Last week was a busy and stressful week so blogging just took a back seat, but I am hoping to share that next week. Woo hoo!

What I’m excited about…

There is so much to look forward to right now, and we are just really thankful. Fall coming up, cooler weather, and all the fun activities that come with fall. The holidays. Our anniversary cruise (!!!!), fun house projects, decorating for fall and then eventually the holidays, spending time with family and friends, a few weekend trips, and just spending time with my sweet husband!!

What I’m watching/ reading…

Matthew just finished Scrubs and we are looking into a new show to watch. Any suggestions? I was not a fan of Scrubs and really just don't want to watch another medical show. We've tossed around a couple of ideas, but haven't nailed anything down yet. I'm saving all my reading for our cruise!

What I’m listening to…

I love the Safe Haven soundtrack!

What I’m wearing…

Lots of tank tops with cardigans, recently! That way as soon as I get in my car I can take my cardigan off to keep from melting...and when I go on walks at work I just carry my cardigan with me so I'm not a sweaty mess when I walk back into work ;)

What I’m doing this weekend…

I am so excited about our long weekend coming up. Friday night we are having a date night and then Saturday morning I am making some pictures of a friend and her cute little family, then I am picking up my sisters for the weekend! They are coming back over to stay the weekend with us and I am very excited! I see lots of pool time, some house projects and maybe a happy hour Sonic run...or two ;) I am also decorating for fall this weekend!! Even though it will be in the 90's this weekend and next week I think it's a good time to break it all out. I decorated our apartment for fall last year over Labor Day weekend and it worked out great! These next few months are some of my FAVORITE months to decorate, and I am even more excited to decorate our very first house together! 

What I’m looking forward to next month…

Basically everything I just mentioned above lol! Also, next month is my birthday, my dad's birthday and Matthew's grandmother's birthday. Lots of celebrations going on!! We are having a birthday celebration for Matthew's grandmother to celebrate her 90th birthday...so exciting!

What else is new…

Matthew is having sinus surgery next week. Prayers for him and the doctors would be greatly appreciated!

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WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY

SIGNET SEALED - NASHVILLE PRINT

I was so excited when Sarah offered to send me this adorable Nashville print for our Tri-Star guest bedroom. Not only is it adorable but it fits in with our theme for that guest bedroom SO well. 

I love everything on it, so many details! From the hockey stick, to the Ryman, to the batman building. It is all so cute and I think it shows some of Nashville's local favorites!

Coasters // Nashville print 

Nashville print // "Home" Pillow 

Not only does Sarah have tons of different city prints, but she has adorable mugs! We have some friends over in Memphis and this would be an adorable gift for them. Christmas is coming up...116 days if you're counting ;) so go on and get your orders in now. You can never be too ahead on your Christmas shopping.

You can find Sarah on Instagram, here. Facebook, here. Etsy, here. Her website, here.

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SIGNET SEALED - NASHVILLE PRINT

CURRENTLY | AUGUST

Watching...Just like the rest of the world...the Olympics. Other than that I haven't really sat down to watch anything else recently. However, the other night while we were painting Matthew turned on Kevin Hart so that we could listen to him while we worked, and I was in tears at one point from laughing so hard. 

Listening...My summer playlist. I need to make a fall playlist soon!!

Reading...All of your blogs! I haven't sat down long enough at home to read a book in MONTHS.

Loving...My handsome HUSBAND! He is just too dang cute and literally always has me laughing. Love doing life with my guy. New recipes. That we finished painting our living room Tuesday night!!!!! Weekends with no plans. Upcoming plans/trips. DAILY CONTACT....we decided after my last eye appointment that I should try daily contacts. I tried about a weeks worth to see if I liked them from my optometrist, and I absolutely loved them. They are more expensive, but I 100% believe it is worth it. No more having to wear foggy contacts for a month at a time...woo hoo!!

Wearing....Daily contacts ;) and this adorable shirt! Any fellow Tennesseans out there?? Y'all need this shirt! More to come on it tomorrow!

Eating...I made these pork chops for dinner yesterday and they were delicious! Monday night I made my nannies dumplings and I'm pretty sure we inhaled them. Matthew and I love them.

Laughing...Does at my husband count? He is always cracking jokes or being goofy...and I love it! Also these tweets had me and Matthew cracking up....this would be something Matthew would do lol.

Working...On a new series for this little blog of mine!! Woo hoo! I am excited about it!

Travelling...We haven't been anywhere recently, which is nice for a change, but I think we are looking into going to Cookeville again....and we are PUMPED!

Planning...I'm about to get real boring here and say our meals for next week lol. #noshame in my meal planning game! I am also really motivated to cut our grocery bill in half. Not that it was crazy high or anything, but I came across a blog the other day and she had a whole post about cutting your grocery bill in half and I am always up for a new challenge lol.

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CURRENTLY | AUGUST

WEEKENDING

Happy Tuesday! Our weekend was a GOOD one and we were sad to see it end. We were able to get A LOT done around the house and it felt great. We are so thankful for our home and love working on it together. 

Matthew got home from his business trip and went straight into yard work mode, and I went straight to dinner mode lol.

Seriously, what a man! I am so thankful for him!!

 I made a pizza calzone and it was finishing up right as Matthew was taking a break. Perfect timing!

After dinner Matthew went back to mowing the yard and I ran out and picked up our groceries for the next week. I came back and got to work on painting. I was determined to get the second coat on the whole dining room and Matthew was determined to get the whole back yard finished before it was dark. Thankfully we were able to accomplish both, and we both crashed into bed that night. 

We were back up Saturday morning and ready to go, Matthew had a chiropractor appointment and I got started on the painting and waited for the ice maker repair man to show up. We had a new ice maker put in a couple of months ago but it was a bad one and they finally came to look at it. So we get to wait two more weeks before they can come and install a new one...:) Oh well!

I made our favorite sausage roll ups for a later breakfast that we pigged out on after Matthew got back home and then it was back to work. Painting and yard work that is. Matthew actually went to Home Depot and bought a new push mower for us to use. My dad had let us borrow one of their old ones until we bought one and it was time. So while Matthew ran to pick that up I decided to take a break from painting and went outside to pull weeds. It was a cloudy morning so it was the perfect time. I can't believe I let them get so bad, but I just kept putting it off. Here is the (embarrassing)before and after...

 I realized how awful it was after I filled up a whole trash bag with weeds and looked at this picture lol. We bought some stuff to take care of this from now on. Thankfully!

Matthew got back and got to work in the yard using our new push mower! We love it and I was a little too excited to try it out lol. Matthew also taught me how to use the weed eater and I was able to use it for a few minutes before Matthew took back over. After that I headed back to painting. 

If your remember in this post I shared our wallpaper dilemma. Well 1 coat of thick primer, and two coats of our actual paint and the ugly red wallpaper is finally gone!!

Some primer and paint can make a HUGE difference. The top picture is the coat of primer and the second picture is with the first coat of paint.

And here is the before and after of our dining room...I have to admit, I am in LOVE with it. The before picture is a little blurry, but unfortunately it is all I had. I thought I had a better one, but you get the point! 

We used Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams, and honestly could not be happier with it.

Saturday afternoon we cleaned up and got ready for the Titans game. We headed down there and right as we got close to parking the bottom let out and it was raining cats and dogs. Which made traffic awful and unfortunately all the parking was GONE. We could have parked over a mile away in a bad part of town and walk in the rain but we decided that just wasn't safe, and the fact that they don't let you bring umbrellas in the stadium for safety reasons was just icing on the cake lol. So sadly, we left and went back home...in the pouring rain. We did listen to most of the game on the radio though, and we won- woo hoo! Our best friends were in town and came over for a little bit and we decided to go on an ice cream run to Dairy Queen.

Sunday morning was our church's 125th homecoming and it was great! We had some great speakers and it was crazy packed. Since we have only been going there for a little over a year we don't know people who used to go there years ago like a lot of people did, but I really enjoyed watching the sweet reunions between past and present members. We had a fellowship meal after services and it was fun getting to eat with our friends. Rachel and I showed up to church in the same color lol.

After church we made a Lowe's run and then back home for some more painting, but not before we took a small Sunday nap ;) We got A LOT of the living room finished Sunday afternoon and I am hoping to finish the rest of it tonight, so we can have our living room back in order!!

Whew! What a weekend, we crashed Sunday night pretty early too. Hope y'all had a great weekend! 

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WEEKENDING

FRIDAY NO. 28

Matthew has been in Knoxville all week on a business trip and is, Lord Willing, coming home tonight!! Woo hoo! I am counting down the hours until I can bust out of the office to get home and see him.

My sister has been over some this week, we have gotten in plenty of girl talk and Friends binging on Netflix lol. She loves Friends like Matthew and I love How I Met Your Mother.

\

Which makes me think of our Friendsgiving 2015 invitation that I created last year...

Which also makes me really excited about fall and Friendsgiving this year...

I'm not sure why, but I am way to excited to decorate for fall. Wanting fall to get here quicker is so unlike me lol, but for some reason this year I can't stop thinking about how I'll decorate our home, wearing comfy sweaters, and using our fire place! Don't get me started on fall candles...I am patiently waiting to purchase them, because I know if I buy any now they will be burning the second I get home.

I went to my parents house last night for dinner and this view just makes me HAPPY. Corn fields, hay bales and country roads...it's the road that leads me to my childhood home.

Matthew got free tickets to the Titans game this Saturday so we are heading to that tomorrow afternoon. I haven't been to a Titans game in YEARS so I am looking forward to it! Although we prefer college football to NFL, it will still be fun to go tomorrow night! We are hoping for good weather and a win! Other than the game we have some a lot of painting to do, and Sunday is homecoming at our church, so there will be different activities for that all day!

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FRIDAY NO. 28

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PICTURES

I love our anniversary pictures that we had taken a few weeks ago. Although, it was extremely hot that day we were able to still get some good ones! We actually had them made where we had some of our engagement pictures made at. The place is beautiful, shaded and free to the public! It is actually a walking trail but a lot of people use it for pictures. We also saw a lot of people playing Pokemon Go while we were there lol. I searched high and low for a new dress for our pictures, I knew I wanted a maxi dress, but I also knew I didn't want to pay an arm and leg for it. So when I found this one online at Charming Charlies I was thrilled. There is a Charming Charlies close to where we live so we stopped by there one night to see if they had it in store, and they had just a few left, and it was on sale!! Woo hoo! Matthew's outfit is my absolute favorite outfit on him. Navy, white and tan...that on him...swoon. He is just too handsome!! :)

And then Matthew was 200% over having our pictures taken...lol.

He was definitely a champ though, as he always is, and goes along with about 99% of my crazy ideas! A huge thank you to my sister, Mady, for standing out in the heat for over an hour to take our pictures. We love them & you!

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1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PICTURES

AUGUST | GOALS

It's that time again, time for monthly goals! I was kinda sad to see July go to be honest, the end of our "wedding month" as I like to call it, and the end of summer schedules for almost everyone since school starts back around the beginning of August. Although I am getting a little more excited each day for fall...which is weird for me, since I would love for it to be summer 95% of the year lol. I think it's because I know that we will still have warm weather until late September/early October.

Here are my July goals:

1. Celebrate 365 days of sweet, sweet marriage with my handsome HUSBAND!

You can read all about how we celebrated 1 year of marriage in Cookeville/at home here!

2. Have 1 year anniversary pictures made. 

We did! I have only shared two on here, but the rest are coming tomorrow!

3. Do a 6 months update on being in our home.

Definitely didn't do this one, but working on it still!

4. Get a treadmill workout nailed down!

We are enjoying our treadmill and loving the fact that we don't have to run/walk in the heat and humidity!

5. Try 3 new recipes & share.

We tried three new ones, but I only shared one so far! No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream.

6. Create a Christmas binder.

DONE! So glad I made one and I plan on sharing it soon! You can never be too prepared lol.

7. DO VIDEO TOUR.

Nope. Too busy and then we started more painting this past weekend. Maybe this month??

1. Do video tour

I still definitely want to do this one so we can look back on it one day and see all the changes. Pictures are great but and actual video would be fun to do!

2. Do a 6 month update on being in our home.

I still want to do this one too!

3. Go through our guest bedroom closets and pull out all of the totes and decorations and organize it all. 

We moved in our home back in January so we just put all holiday decorations in guest bedroom closets. Well next month I'll be decorating for fall and then Christmas will follow shortly after that so I need to go through and organize all of that so it's not a big mess when it does come time to decorate!

4. Finish painting the whole downstairs of our home.

We are getting somewhat close to this and I would LOVE to finish the downstairs this month! So far we have the first coat on the kitchen, dining room, and the study, which I love, but we need to get the second coat on those and do the hallway, powder room, entryway, and living room!

5. Start Christmas shopping.

Not for everyone, but if I see a good deal on something I want to grab it!

6. Go to the pool a few more times this month!

I have used our neighborhood pool a good bit this summer, and LOVE it being less than two minutes from our house. I know they will more than likely close it after Labor Day Weekend so I need to take advantage of it this month!

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AUGUST | GOALS

WEEKENDING

I was a bad blogger this weekend and made 4 pictures total....two of which I am saving for the before and after of our dining room post that will come soon!

My BIL, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Christina, came into town for the weekend to help us get some stuff done around the house. We got a lot accomplished and were still able to watch a good bit of the Olympics!

Matthew and Andrew worked on hiding all the cords for our TV, Xbox and other stuff, while Christina and I painted. We primed the whole dining room, over that awful red wallpaper and then after they left I got the first coat of gray paint on it. I am in love with the color we choose to paint throughout the whole house, and each time we add it to a new room I get even more excited. We also started painting the living room. Our house is an absolute wreck right now and probably will be for the next week or so, but we are determined to get a lot of painting done! A huge thank you to Andrew and Christina for helping us so much!!

Since Matthew "saved" my blog last week when I thought I deleted it I made him his favorite....

Sausage balls. I usually have a pretty strict rule of only making these at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years but he talked me into it Sunday lol.

And that was our weekend! A lot of home projects, Home Depot/Lowe's runs, good food, and the Olympics! 

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WEEKENDING

FRIDAY NO. 27

I can't believe I am almost to 30 of these Friday posts!! So crazy and I can't believe how quick the year is going by.

This past weekend we started cleaning our our garage and we decided to take pictures of some things to sell. One of those things was our old table that we used at our apartment and fixed up. I wrote this post on our dining room table makeover last fall and we used it for a couple of months after we moved into our new home, but decided a round table would look best in that space. So it's been sitting in our garage every since. Matthew wanted to to just throw it away, but I knew we would be able to sell it. So I finally posted it yesterday morning to my Facebook and Instagram just to see if any of our friends would be interested. We honestly didn't think anyone would be interested and that we would eventually put it on craigslist or something. Well after an hour of posting it I had NINE people messaging me and asking to buy it. To say I was shocked would be an understatement! The first girl to message me about it decided to buy it and will hopefully pick it up this weekend! If anything falls through with them still wanting it, then we have 8 other girls interested in it lol. Matthew was just as shocked as I was. I do have to say, I am a little sad to see it go. I remember picking out this table, addressing and stamping our wedding invitations at it, eating our first cooked meal as a married couple at it just days after we got back from our honeymoon, and then spending ALL of Labor Day weekend last year giving it a makeover. The best times around this table with my sweet man!

As you all know, Instagram is now doing Instagram Stories. I thought it was a little weird at first but didn't freak out about it like a lot of people that I follow on Instagram did lol. I'm definitely still using Snap Chat (mrsshelbycoats), but I'm interested to see if people start using Instagram Stories more or not.

My BIL, Andrew, and his girlfriend are coming to stay with us this weekend and we plan on doing house projects all weekend long!!!! So excited to cross some things off of our list...our farmhouse table being one of them!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO! While the guys are working on building stuff I think Christina and I are going to paint. 

I know November is still a couple of months away, but I am really excited about hosting Friendsgiving again this year! I think I am pretty sure I know what our tablescape is going to look like, or at least what I want it to look like lol, and I designed the invitations last week! We created a Facebook event this week, just to go on and put the date on everyone's calendar and I'll send the invitations our closer to time. We are doing it potluck style again, so I'm excited to see what everyone brings! You can read about our Friendsgiving last year, here!

My two youngest sisters have their first half day of school today, so I am anxious to get a call from them this afternoon to hear who they got and all about their half day. My youngest sister is starting middle school today...sniff sniff. The youngest Kelly baby is growing up!

We had a gift card burning a hole in our pocket, so we decided to have a date night last night. I will always LOVE dating my man! Unfortunately his food wasn't too good, but we made up for it with a skillet cookie for dessert...so delicious!

Happy weekend!!

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FRIDAY NO. 27

NO-CHURN VANILLA ICE CREAM | DESSERT

This ice cream recipe has been a hit at our house lately. It's soft and creamy and absolutely delicious. The best part about it is that it's only three ingredients and doesn't take a whole lot of effort. 

Ingredients

- 1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream

- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

- 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Add the vanilla extract and sweetened condensed milk to a small bowl and mix well.

2. Add the heavy cream to a separate bowl (I used our stand mixer!) and whip on high for 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form. Once that happens turn the mixer on low and slowly add in the vanilla extract/sweetened condensed milk mixture. Let that mix on low for 2 minutes, or until mixed together well.

3. Once mixed well, pour into a freeze-safe container (I put mine in a small bread loaf pan, and it worked like a charm!) and let it freeze for at least 6 hours to overnight. 

We let ours freeze overnight and then I set it out about 5 minutes before we served it, and it was easy to scoop and tasted delicious! 

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NO-CHURN VANILLA ICE CREAM | DESSERT

I CONFESS VI

Time for another confession post!

I confess...my dress that I bought for our anniversary pictures is my new favorite dress, besides my wedding dress of course! It's navy with cream detailing on the shoulders, but in the pictures it has a purple tint to it. So weird!

I confess....school has started back this week in our town and that means I go back to my "school time commute" as I like to call it. I take a completely different way to work when school is in to avoid two school zones and getting stuck behind school buses and in traffic. During the summer and school breaks (fall, Christmas, and spring break) I take the interstate, but other than that I take back roads to get to work. Some days my commute is shorter with my "school time commute" but if there is one wreck or anything small going on my commute it shot and it takes over an hour to get home.

I confess...even though we aren't in school anymore or have kids in school, I get excited to see all the school supplies out. Is it just me or is it a lot cuter now days?! Target is killing it with all the cute school supplies this year!

I confess...Monday's are always the longest day of the week for us and I usually try to plan something quick and easy for dinner, because we are just really tired after work. Well, this past Monday we were in the bed a little after 8:00...it wasn't even completely dark yet lol. Matthew watched Scrubs and I blogged until around 9 and then we were both OUT! #oldpeoplestatus

I confess...Matthew has gotten into the show Scrubs....and I just can't get into it lol. I have absolutely zero interest in it and the opening theme song gets on my nerves, every.single.time. I hear it!! It's okay, he feels the same way when I re-watch One Tree Hill episodes lol.

I confess...I thought I deleted my blog yesterday and completely freaked out. Long story short, I was trying to update my email address associated with my blog and deleted admin permission from myself (lol) but Matthew figured it out (THANK THE GOOD LORD ABOVE) and now I know to never try anything by myself again when dealing with my blog. I am also looking into backing up my blog in case I ever try to do something crazy like that again. Have any of you backed up your blog?  

I confess...I think this is the first year that I am actually really excited for fall to get here. Usually I want it to stay summer time 11 months out of the year, but this year I am getting really excited for all things fall!

I confess...speaking of fall, I need this dress from Old Navy, this dress from Target, and I am on the hunt for a cute pair of ankle boots. I have never owned a pair because I just can't find any that I like. I borrowed my sisters last year and that was it. I needed a pair, but since it was so late in the winter I decided to wait until this fall. So I am finally going to buy some that I like this year.

I confess...I have been eyeing this fire pit on Amazon lately. We have the perfect patio for it and I think we could get some good use out of it this fall and probably some in the winter, considering it was 70 degrees last year on Christmas day! 

I confess...I didn't mean for this to turn into a "what's on my wish-list" post, but we had a couple of Target gift cards left and used them to buy this adorable lamp last night. It is in our guest bedroom that has the coastal theme, and we're going to fill it with sand and shells that we find at the beach over the years! I'm so excited and I love them! I mean just look at this cute idea...

I confess...I tried a new recipe last week and it was a big fat fail. I took one bite and then told Matthew to pick between Sonic or McDonalds, because it was just that nasty. He chose McDonalds lol.

I confess...I tried another new recipe this week and it was a success (finally!) Cajun chicken and sausage Alfredo...I'll share it soon.

I confess...the other day I saw these in our little cafe at work and decided to try it. Well that was a mistake, now I want one every day lol. They are SO stink' good! Literally my two favorite pieces of candy mixed together, pure greatness. 

I Confess I

I Confess II

I Confess III

I Confess IV

I Confess V

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I CONFESS VI

MAILBOX DECAL

I have been eyeing these mailbox decals every since we moved into our home back in January. Not only are they adorable, but I think it adds a lot to a plain mailbox that everyone on your road has. Or at least everyone in our neighborhood has the same mailbox!

Patty from Wall Awake sent me this beautiful decal and I think it is just so cute and classy! I love how it looks on our solid black mailbox, and we have already received many compliments from our neighbors.

This decal comes in two different pieces. The top part looks like this...

and the second part is our address part. You can see them both below...

I blacked out our full address for privacy reasons, obviously, but you can get a feel for how it looks!

Patty sends detailed directions as well as something to smooth the decal out for a simple application. 

Very easy to apply and looks great after! I am so pleased with how it turned out and LOVE seeing it each time I pass our mailbox.

Patty also has some door decals that I am kind of obsessed with right now too...

Seriously, how adorable?!

To see what all Patty has to offer check out her Etsy shop, Wall Awake!

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MAILBOX DECAL