Thursday, December 21, 2017

DAVE BARNES CHRISTMAS CONCERT

For my birthday Matthew surprised me with tickets to Dave Barnes Christmas concert, that was this past Monday night. I have wanted to go to this concert FOR YEARS. So to say I was excited and counting down the days until the concert would be a complete understatement. 

Monday was my last day at the office until 2018 and I only worked half a day on Tuesday, so the concert was the perfect way to kick off our Christmas break!! I listed to Dave Barnes Christmas CD all day in preparation for his concert that night.


We went to one of our favorites, Maggiano's, for dinner, and as always, it was incredible. We were seated at a table in the corner, away from other tables, in front of double doors that lead to the balcony (the doors were closed, of course) and this was our view. So beautiful!

Matthew got us incredible seats for the concert and I was pretty much in a Christmas-Dave Barnes-music loving daze the whole night. It was absolutely perfect and such a fun night! Dave Barnes is so talented and hilarious! This was the first time I have ever been to his concert and I didn't realize how funny he was.




There were to special guest performers, Matthew West and Charles Esten (Deacon from the show Nashville)! They were really good, too! It was a really fun night and definitely something we want to go to again! 

Thank YOU, Matthew, for the best birthday gift, ever!! 
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Monday, December 18, 2017

HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS BOW 4 WAYS

If you are wanting to take your Christmas wrapping to the next level, I gotcha covered! 


Erica has created videos to show us how to make each bow, and they are so helpful! You can find written directions and more here.

The classic bow is the easiest to make and always a classic.


The double bow is adorable and perfect for those smaller gifts that you still want to add a little more to.


The gift bow has some volume to it and will definitely impress your family/friends.


And last, but certainly not least, the big bow! A personal favorite and beautiful option. This is perfect for those bigger gifts or even to add to a wreath.

Erica, you did a great job on these bow and videos! Thank you for sharing them with us! :)
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Friday, December 15, 2017

HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES

We have been watching Hallmark Christmas movies like crazy this year, and l-o-v-i-n-g-i-n-g them!
They are all cheesy, have most of the same characters, and same story to them, but we can't get enough. Since we got rid of cable last year, we just pull up the YouTube app on our TV and watch them on there. Who knew people uploaded full length Hallmark movies to YouTube?!?! The quality isn't always the best, but it's free, so it will do ;) There are a couple of Netflix originals that are pretty good too. 

Here is a list of some of the ones we have watched so far...


Which cheesy Christmas movies do you recommend?! 
We still have some that we want to watch before Christmas, so send any recommendations our way!
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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

CHRISTMAS CARD | 2017

I am so excited to share our Christmas cards today! By now everyone that we sent them to should have received them in the mail, so I am ready to share them today. One of my favorite things about this time of the year is sending and receiving Christmas cards, I look forward to seeing them come in the mail almost every day the whole month of December. Definitely beats bills coming in the mail. ;)

We went with Mpix this year and could not have been happier! The customer service, quick shipping, and so many options to choose from made it even easier picking out our cards this year.

We had a hard time choosing which pictures to use from our Christmas pictures we had made but ultimately decided on the 4 below. Reagan, of course, stole the show again this year with that smile of hers, and we LOVE it!


I wanted a way to display our Christmas cards from previous years, so with a little twine and mini clothing pins, I hung them on our chalkboard in the kitchen, and love how it looks.

Christmas card | 2016
Christmas card | 2015
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Monday, December 11, 2017

STAYCATION | 2017

Matthew and I took the week after Thanksgiving off again this year. Last year we went on our first cruise, and this year we decided to stay home and have a staycation. We didn't have anything planned, other than a meeting with our financial advisor, the whole week and it was glorious. 

We didn't set an alarm all week, had slow mornings, ate breakfast together every day, napped, watched cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies, Christmas shopped, did a few things around the house, and just r-e-l-a-x-e-d. The weather was also really nice, mid to high 60's all week.

Monday we slept in, finished unpacking our bags and did laundry from our Thanksgiving travels, watched a couple of Christmas movies, finished decorating for Christmas, and that afternoon we decided to go on a date. Dinner and Home Depot to purchase new toilets...homeowner date nights ;)

Last year after Christmas I found this white Christmas tree and the blue and silver ornaments at Wal-Mart for over half off and snatched them up. I thought this color combination would be perfect for our coastal themed guest bedroom. I love how it looks and it's even prettier at night!
 The cutest helper...who slept on the bed while I put it up and decorated it.
Sweet girl curled up next to me later that day, snoozin' away.
Such a good movie!!

Tuesday we took Reagan to the groomer and came back to the house and got started on cleaning out our garage. We cleaned it out on Memorial Day Weekend, but it needed it again. Matthew also finished putting our new workout machine together in the garage and we are excited to start using it!
We ended up making three trips to the dump to throw stuff out and one big trip to Goodwill to donate. We took everything out of the garage, swept and vacuumed, wiped stuff down, and organized. 
Love a clean and organized space!
You  can see our new toilets we purchased and waiting to be installed in our garage lol.
Our new workout machine! Matthew did such a good job putting it together.
We spent the rest of the day on the couch popping Tylenol because we were sore from all the lifting and moving stuff around...old people. 

Reagan was clearly worn out from the day as well

Wednesday we had a meeting with our financial advisor, it was in the middle of the day, so we didn't do much before. Since the weather was still nice, I read on the back patio while Reagan played (and laid in my lap).
After our meeting we spent the afternoon watching Christmas movies and doing stuff around the house. I worked on Christmas cards that night after church.
 Pioneer Woman + working on Christmas cards...the best!

Thursday I finished decorating our big tree in the entryway and we put all the Christmas boxes up.
 Reagan's favorite spot to nap

We went on a mid-day lunch date, which was fun, to Salsarita's! And that afternoon my sister came over and we went to our favorites...Jeni's ice cream and Target.

Friday we watched more Christmas movies ;) and then decided to clean out our closet and go through all of our chest of drawers. We have a couple of big bags to donate and now we have room and things aren't crammed into drawers!!
  It was a little cooler that day so we didn't stay outside too long.

That night we met my family for dinner at Chick-fil-A and to pick up my youngest sister. She was coming to stay the night with us! She wanted me to teach her how to do her make up and we did face masks after. She loved the charcoal mask!

Saturday we went to Five Daughters Bakery for breakfast and then did a little Christmas shopping.
I forgot to take a picture of all of our donuts before we ate them, but I remembered to snap one of mine. I got the vanilla bean and it was delicious!

I finished our Christmas cards that afternoon and made some red velvet cookies to take to the Christmas party with our church group. We dropped my sister off and then headed to the party. It was a fun night and we had delicious food! We played dirty santa, pictionary, and a couple of other games.


We had a great week off and really enjoyed the down time and our time together! It was rough going back to work last week after having such a great week off, (which explains my lack of blog posts last week, ha) but we're looking forward to more time off around Christmas in a couple of weeks!!
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Monday, November 27, 2017

THANKSGIVING | 2017

We are still in disbelief that Thanksgiving is already over, but we had a great long and fun weekend in Murfreesboro with our families!

Matthew and I both worked from home on Wednesday morning, and then I spent the afternoon baking/cooking for the next couple of days. I made three batches of homemade biscuits for us for the next few months and breakfast that morning, my nanny's red cinnamon apples, and a strawberry pie!

I used premade pie crust and it came with two, so I decided to play around with the second pie crust and ended up braiding it for my pie. YouTube and Pinterest definitely make it look much easier, but I just kept playing with it until it looked some what decent and didn't fall apart.

Thanksgiving and Christmas staple in our family.

Thursday morning we headed to my parents house for the day. I helped my mom with cooking, we watched the parade, let the puppies run wild and tire each other out, made a ton of pictures, ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and after everyone left we all watched Christmas with the Kranks before calling it a night.
 

We've made this same sister picture for the past three Thanksgivings, and we love comparing them every year.


When it was time to eat and everyone was sitting down around the table Reagan jumped up in a chair and sat there very quietly lol such a ham! She and my parent's dog, Ellie, kept each other company while everyone ate.

Friday we went to my mema's for Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. I can't believe it, but I didn't take a single picture, so sad! We watched part of a Hallmark Christmas movie, ate a delicious dinner, and then all of the grandkids helped decorate one of her many Christmas trees. We didn't go out for any Black Friday shopping, but we did order a few gifts online when we came across some good deals!

Saturday we had Thanksgiving with Matthew's family at his parents house. We took our hockey net and sticks so all the guys could play while the girls chatted inside. We talked, watched football, ate a delicious lunch, took family pictures, and ended the night watching Girls Trip.

Sunday we went to church and lunch with Matthew's family and then all watched the Pred's game. We went back over to my parent's house for a little bit to drop off some stuff before heading home.

It was good to get home and relax after the long holiday weekend. We weren't the only ones worn out, Reagan was exhausted from playing with all her puppy cousins!

We are so thankful for a long and fun weekend being with all of our family, and we are looking forward to Christmas right around the corner!

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