FIRST MARRIED THANKSGIVING

Last week was crazy busy and left me with no time to blog at all. So today I'm sharing about our Thanksgiving! 

 I posted this picture on Instagram on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. I was really excited to make 4 strawberry pies. I got the recipe from my good friend, Rachel. I had Christmas music going and was working away in our tiny kitchen.

Unfortunately, they didn't turn out right and I was pretty bummed, but there were PLENTY of other desserts to make up for it lol.

I got off early on Wednesday and had to make some pictures for a friend's family, and Matthew headed on to Murfreesboro. I got there in time to make it to church. We stayed at Matthew's parents and his two brothers (and sister-in-law) were home, too! So fun all being together again.

We have two places to be on Thanksgiving day and one place to be the day after Thanksgiving. I would say we are pretty lucky, only having three places to go. We know people that have 3+ places to go. 

We had lunch with Matthew's family on Thanksgiving Day, and everything was delicious!

Here's the dessert table...SO many good things!

 Matthew's dad put these centerpieces together! I loved them!!

Then we went to my parents house for dinner later that day and ate more delicious food!!!! It's always so good to see all of both of our families!

And of course we had to take some pictures! The weather was so warm and it felt great!!

This might be my new favorite picture of all of us! I just love my sweet sisters.

Friday morning we woke up and had breakfast with Matthew's family and then headed to my mema's house for Thanksgiving lunch! We helped her decorate the "grandchildren's Christmas Tree" that we always do every year at Thanksgiving. 

Another successful Thanksgiving with my best friend, except this year I didn't have to tell him bye at the end of the day. Absolute perfection!

First married holiday in the books, and now we're ready for Christmas! 

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FIRST MARRIED THANKSGIVING

5 ON FRIDAY

1 | Washer & dryer

Our old washer and dryer that we had decided to start acting crazy on us. Mostly it was the washer, leaving rust stains on our clothes and eating the ends of our nice new towels we registered for and love so much. So we finally decided on buying a new set and they are delivering TODAY! It's like Christmas Day for us lol. Matthew did a ton of research on them over the past couple of weeks and there was a really good sale going on so we just couldn't pass it up. We knew that this would more thank likely be one of our first big purchases after we are in a house anyways since most houses come with kitchen appliances so we decided to pull the trigger this past weekend. 

Soooo basically we're grown-ups now.

2 | FRIENDSGIVING

Is this weekend! I have worked on centerpieces a little this week and I am so excited to see how it turns out and to have everyone over to our apartment! The weather is looking perfect and I am planning on having the windows open ALL day. 

3 | Car ride & lunch dates 

 Tuesday & Wednesday of this week Matthew was working at a client's office really close to mine so we decided to carpool into work together. I was so excited to ride to work together and loved it lol. 

We even went to lunch together at one of our favorite Mexican places close to my office. So car ride and lunch dates are my new favorite :)

4 | Predator's game

The SOC made a trip to Nashville last night to watch the Pred's play so Matthew and I decided to join them! Sadly the Pred's lost but it was good to see everyone! 

5 | Christmas mantel decor

I have been searching away on Pinterest for the perfect Christmas mantel decor piece(s) and these three I am really loving. Our mantel is white so I am wanting some greens and reds up there to really pop. You can find these and many other similar pins on my Christmas board. 

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5 ON FRIDAY

BEARS & PUPPIES

Yesterday I recapped about the first half of our long weekend trip to Gatlinburg and today I am going to share the second half....which includes bears and puppies!

Saturday after we left Ober Gatlingburg we decided to go back to the cabin and just take it easy, Matthew was still pretty tired from work that morning. We were getting out of the car fixing to go into our cabin when we heard someone yell and say "better lock your doors the bears will get in your car if you don't!" We never saw him clearly because of all the trees but it was our neighbor in the cabin close to us. He was standing on his balcony and said the bears are out. I immediately got excited and asked where they were and he told us to look under his balcony...

You can't see them all because some were behind trees or in them but there were 10 bears! I about died. I started snapping pictures and Matthew talked with our neighbor. The neighbor told us they have lived there for 8 years and this is the most active they have ever been. There were two mama bears and eight cubs. The cubs were playing around while the mama bears just laid around. At one point two cubs started growling at each other and "fighting" it was really fun to hear and watch. We stood there for a good 10 minutes watching them when all of a sudden I saw something out of the corner of my eye...

There was another cub sitting up on the hill behind a tree about 20 feet from us watching us. I couldn't get a good picture because it was hiding out behind the tree waiting for us to leave, and I wasn't getting any closer to it to get a picture. After we saw him we decided to go on in since he was so close lol. We both ran up to the balcony to watch them and that's when the cub that was so close decided to go to our car and try to get in. Matthew and I didn't realize how smart they are. He seriously went to every single door and pulled on the handle to try and get the door open and then went to the trunk and tried to raise it. We we so amused by watching him lol.  After he realized he wasn't getting in our car he just laid down in the yard lol

We watched them off and on for a good hour or so and more tried to get in the car and then a mama and two cubs crossed over our front porch to go up in the mountains. It was so interesting and fun to watch them, but we were a little hesitant to go outside to leave that night for dinner lol.

Sunday we decided to go to Flapjacks for breakfast and it was really good! We stopped in Cookeville on our way home to hangout with everyone again and to go to church. On our way to Cookeville we decided to stop in Knoxville and drive around the University of Tennessee's campus since I have never seen it. It is a very big campus compared to Tech's campus! We also decided to stop at a place I have heard about through multiple friends call Puppy Zone. You can go in there and play with the puppies, and of course buy one if you want to. 

Matthew fell IN LOVE with this little guy, a shih poo. He just want to lay on and be held by Matthew, and every time he put him down he would jump back up on the side of the bed and wait for Matthew to hold him. It was THE cutest thing in the world, and my heart melted every time I looked at them. Unfortunately little man was about $1300 so we had to pass, but Matthew said if he would have been cheaper he wouldn't have been able to leave him...

We both thought this little one was cute, but definitely agreed that if we had to choose one it would have been Matthew's little buddy.

My favorite picture of the two lol

Every since we left Puppy Zone Matthew has been researching all about shih poo's and looking up different breeders in and around Nashville while I am trying my VERY best to convince Matthew that it would be better to wait until we are in a house to get one. 

It's really hard to do that when he keeps sending these kind of messages to me throughout the day...

and then he started adding little messages "from the puppy" to them

STRAIGHT UP KILLIN' ME Y'ALL.

#staystrongshelby 

And yes, my husband's name in my phone has a smiley face beside it. It has been that way since we started talking back in spring of 2010 and I don't think I'll ever be able to change it. :)

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BEARS & PUPPIES

GATLINBURG

We had the best time in Gatlinburg this past weekend, and as usual we were sad for it to end.
This was our first trip just the two of us since our honeymoon so we were really excited and had been counting down the days until we left. We stayed in a cute one bedroom cabin that we fell in love with. Our cabin was called Sugar Booger. It was even called Sugar Booger on Google Maps, how precious?! It's completely outdated with floral wallpaper everywhere and could use some new paint (we have been watching too much HGTV, hello Fixer Upper!) but that is what we loved most about it other than it's location! If you are looking for a cabin I highly recommend looking into Mountain Laurel Chalets!

We left bright and early Friday morning around six and decided to stop in Cookeville and meet our friends for breakfast at Chick-fil-A, because is there a better breakfast for a road trip? No.

We got to enjoy this beautiful sunrise on Friday morning

We can't travel without road snacks!

Not pictured: Matthew's road snack...Buncha Crunch

Our first stop once we got there, Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Matthew and my dad love this place. We took our time and browsed different knives and guns, and even picked out my dad's Christmas present! Matthew decided on a new pocket knife and then we headed to the Lodge Cast Iron store. If I could I would but every piece of cast iron in there. Especially in their scratch and dent section. A small scratch and they knock off 40%...I'll take it! Unfortunately since we have about 0% of cabinet space in our kitchen we decided to just browse the store. We still enjoyed it though!

We were almost into Pigeon Forge when we started getting hungry. Matthew saw this place called Boogaloos and decided that's where we NEEDED to eat. I was a little skeptical about this place as there were only 3 cars in the parking lot at lunch time. Matthew was feeling adventurous and talked me into trying it...without looking up any reviews...gettin' crazy y'all!

I had the caesar salad with blackened chicken and Matthew got the chicken strip basket with fries. 

It actually turned out to be REALLY good! There was no one there so we enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and the waiter was on his game since he didn't have to wait on anyone else. The waiter did say they are really busy at night, which we believe as it is a sports bar lol. They had it decorated really cute for Halloween. It was good enough that we would definitely go back...during the day! We love finding places like that.

Our next stop was The Christmas Place. Hands down this is one of my favorite parts about coming to Gatlinburg. I could stay in there and shop forever. Matthew gets his time at Smoky Mountain Knife Works and I get my time at The Christmas Place...compromise y'all compromise. ;) We picked out a few really cute pieces!

We finally made it to the cabin and unloaded the car. When checking in the guy told Matthew to watch out for the bears, they are active this year. Of course when Matthew told me that I about died from excitement, but tried not to get my hopes up because we have been told that before. 

We decided to stay in on Friday night and just relax. We ordered Pizza and went and picked up a Red Box movie. Ski Mountain Pizza was on the way up to our cabin so that's where we got our pizza from. It was okay, but not something we will get again. 

We got back to the cabin for the night and Matthew started the fire while I got the pizza and drinks out to eat. And yes, I brought our favorite candle with us. #noshame

The location of the cabin was absolutely perfect. We were about 5 minutes from downtown Gatlinburg or as we call it, the strip, but we still had beautiful views of the mountains and fall foliage.

This is the view from the living room upstairs.

The cabin was perfect for the two of us, and we plan on going back to that exact cabin if the dates are available!

The view from out bedroom on the first floor. We absolutely love the glass sliding doors on the first and second floor.

Matthew had to leave early Saturday morning to go to work and I was wide awake so I watched Christmas movies on Hallmark while waiting for the sun to come up lol. 

LOVE Snap chat filters!

The best way to enjoy my hot apple cider.

Matthew got back from work around 11 and he took a nap, then we decided to go to Ober Gatlinburg.

We rode the sky lift 3 times and played mini golf. We were going to do the alpine slide but it started sprinkling and they closed it for the day. Huge bummer! While we were riding the sky lift we looked for bears but never saw any. Someone said they saw some off in the distance but we never them. I was convinced I was never going to see a bear in the wild...LOL little did I know.

I was really afraid we had missed the leaves changing colors since they had reached their peak the weekend before (from what I read on various travel sites) but I think we went at THE best time. We couldn't stop talking about how gorgeous the colors were. I told Matthew it's something about Gatlinburg, because even the green leaves were a different green than the ones here at home. 

When we got off of the sky lift this is the beautiful views we got to see!

I'll share about our Saturday afternoon and trip home Sunday, tomorrow!

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GATLINBURG

October Pins

I love Pinterest and could honestly spend hours upon hours just browsing different things on there. I always love looking for new ideas for an upcoming event or season, and Pinterest can really help a girl get ready for the next season! I don't know about y'all but all of these fall pins that have been floating around makes me even more excited for fall. It's the first day of October and the weather did a complete turn around this week. Today's high is 65 and the highs for this weekend are in the upper 50's. Don't worry, it's supposed to be back in the 80's by next week...#Tennesseeweather ;)

I would love for you to follow along on Pinterest. I always love finding new people on Pinterest to follow and get new ideas from. I have rounded up my favorites and can't wait to share with y'all! My FALL board is where all of these pins came from.

I love milk glass anything and I'm obsessed with my dish I found at an antique store for $8!

Matthew and I dream of having a farmhouse style table one day that we can seat at least 8-10 people at and I absolutely LOVE these boxed centerpieces. You can change out the decor per season!

I absolutely love decorating the mantel for a lot of holidays. I grew up with two in our house and now we have one in our apartment and I LOVE IT! There are always so many ideas floating around Pinterest, too!

 I absolutely can't wait until we have a front porch of our own that I can decorate for fall. Yellow mums are the perfect fall decoration!

 I really want to do this!!

There are a lot more I could share with y'all but this is a long post already! As much as it pains me to see the best summer, ever, go...it's officially fall!!

Happy Thursday & happy October!! 

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October Pins