[love] Five Years

This past Friday (6/13), Nate and I celebrated five years of marriage!

We celebrated by spending the weekend in Austin: nothing extravagant, Austin is only 1.5 hours from our home, but we wanted the weekend to be carefree and relaxing (hence why I did not post my Friday Favorites: we were too busy relaxing! So this is my "favorites" post for the week... favorite photos of US!). And it definitely was. I am so blessed to be Nathan's wife: the foundation for everything he does is in Christ, he leads our household, keeps me safe, loves me unconditionally, and treats me as such. I love, love, love you Nathan! I am so proud of you for all of you have done, both personally and professionally. You are HOT, smart, strong, courageous, determined, and loving. Thank you for all you do for us! Love you!

Here are some snippets from our past five years as husband and wife:

2009: First vacation (besides our honeymoon) as husband and wife to Disney World in Florida!

2010: First snow (with our first pup, Chloe) at our apartment complex in Euless!

2011: Favorite pastime of ours... watching the Texas Rangers!

2012: Another favorite of ours... traveling by cruise ship (this specific trip was in celebration of our three year wedding anniversary)

2013: Road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a wedding. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas (and freezing cold and snowy)!

2014: Enjoying the sun and water in Honduras

“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." Ruth 1:16 (our wedding vows)

How do you all celebrate anniversaries? Dinner? Vacation? Party? Do tell. I'll be sharing our anniversary trip this coming week: a review of the hotel we stayed at, and the different things we did/ate while gone. Have a great Sunday (and Happy Father's Day)!

[Friday Favorites] You Tube

So did you all know there is a whole world of "YouTubers"?

Like, You Tube is their job.

Really! It blew my mind: I started watching You Tube channels on a regular basis at the end of last summer when The Daily Tay recommended Eleventh Gorgeous in one of her blog posts. There is a huge variety of You Tubers: beauty, fashion, cooking, DIY, random whatnots, plus vlogs which just follow them in their everyday life. I watch these videos while I get ready in the morning or when I'm folding laundry, and they are pretty addicting! Here are five of my favorites:

Tanya Burr: She is SO sweet! She lives in England and shares tips on about beauty, fashion, some cooking, and vlogs.

Miss Glamorazzi: Ingrid lives in California and films about beauty, fashion, home, and healthy eats. She is where we got the inspiration to begin doing green smoothies!

Eleventh Gorgeous: This channel belongs to two sisters (NOT twins) who live in Alabama. They share all things beauty, ipsy/Birchbox comparisons, challenges, and vlog about their adventures together. They are hilarious!

Zoella: Her and Tanya are friends in England, so many times they appear on each other's channels! Zoe films on fashion and beauty, with lots of vlogs thrown in the mix.

The Saccone Joly's: I found out about their channel through Zoe's favorites one month. This is a DAILY VLOG on an Irish family (Jonathan, Anna, Emilia, and Eduardo). They have filmed their lives every day for at least 3 years and they upload every night at 6pm (UK time: not sure what it is in TX, but it's always there by the time I get ready in the morning)! They are about to move to London from Ireland, so their daily vlogs are full of moving, their two adorable babies (two under 2!), and their sweet 6 Maltese pups.

Let me know if you have ever watched their videos: there are many others who I could've listed, but these five are the ones I watch on a regular basis. I really enjoy the makeup tutorials the girls do, and watching the Saccone Joly's each day is so fun! I especially like to see what Anna prepares for dinner each night... does that make me weird? Probably... Ha!

 Happy FRIDAY! Woot woot! Enjoy your weekend!

"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns."

Psalm 46:5

[Friday Favorites] Backyards

[the HTML has been wonky today... I apologize in advance if the post looks strange to you!]

"Friday Favorites" is when I go through my Pinterest boards and share the things I have loved for a specific topic. This week's theme is BACKYARDS since summer is here! I am so ready to get the ball rolling with our backyard landscaping and turning it into a place where we can entertain this summer.

Here are five of my favorite ideas to incorporate into a backyard space this summer: use the links below to go to the image's source (please "pin" from the original source and NOT from my page)

[one] Use pallet boards and pavers to create an easy DIY bar 

[two] Use glow in the dark paint to naturally light up your walkway at night (from Residence Blog)

[three] Lights, small table with chairs, beautiful stone "floor": easy essentials for a backyard dining space (from Apartment Therapy)

[four] Use metal poles, galvanized buckets, and string lights to create whimsical lighting for your backyard space that is both practical and beautiful (from Martha Stewart)

[five] Create a fun way to show your family's favorite places to travel (this gal even makes them for you! visit her Etsy shop: from Fresh Picked Whimsy)

All of these ideas (and more) can be found on my Outdoor Living Pinterest Board. How about your backyard? Are you coming up with new and improved ideas to brighten up your space for summer? Do tell: I love me a good backyard idea!

[favorites] Pumpkin Style

For this week's Four Favorites for Friday, I have turned to the lovely season of Fall... more specifically, Halloween, to share four great ideas incorporating pumpkins. I haven't purchased any pumpkins yet for my front porch (I have a scarecrow out there, along with a plastic Jack-o-lantern and many gorgeous fall flowers... but no pumpkins!) so maybe this inspiration will get me in gear.

Click on the given link below to head to the original location. On one of the links, it is only a generic site given... so I included that link plus my Pinterest pin. Enjoy!

[one]: How fun is this? Instead of carving the generic Jack-o-lantern face, use your drill and make designs and/or patterns. Then pop your candle/light in and watch the fun begin without all of the tedious work! Genius. (photo link only: if you know its original source, let me know!)

[two]: These pumpkins are right up my alley. I painted polka dot pumpkins last year and "monogrammed" centipede pumpkins the year before, so painting pumpkins is my sign of a good time. Plus the added bonus of the gorgeous ribbon? Beautiful! Ramblings of a Southern Girl did such a great job on these pumpkins: so fun!

[three]: Anything with a "J" or "Johnson" on it is good with me. Using a Silhouette, you could cut out letters or designs on cardstock or scrapbook paper: the possibilities are endless! This would look super cute on a front porch for trick or treaters to see! (this is a generic link to a main site, not to a specific post... so here is the link to my Pinterest pin as well)

[four]: This is such a great idea for a table centerpiece: candles visible in the pumpkin tops! Use the drill bit thingy that has a rectangle... thingy on it... you know, instead of a straight drill piece, it has a rectangle on the end of it? And it can make wide circles? HA I sound ridiculous. Just click the link to see what I mean. And I am a carpenter's granddaughter... Don't tell Grandpa (Mom and Nate, I'm talking to you two)!

People are just so creative. That's one of the fun things about Pinterest! And blogging! Seeing everyone's creativity... wondering, duh- why didn't I think of that! Such fun!

Happy weekend! We are enjoying Nate's parents being in town- they get to stay for three nights!!! That's a big deal when it is a weekend AND you're a minister (Nate's dad is a music minister). Can't wait for the fun to commence this weekend!

"He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2

[favorites] Young House Love

For this week's Four Favorites for Friday, I turned to the first blog I ever read, Young House Love, to find four of their projects that I can't wait to tackle someday. If you have never read their blog, I strongly urge you to go there now! You will be there for hours. They are two average peeps who love to do DIY to their home and share it with the world on their blog. Projects from painting, building, decorating, sewing, crafting, and anything/everything in between. Here's four of their projects I can't wait to start:

All photos from www.younghouselove.com: specific links listed below.

[one] turning an old door into a desk: Nate and I pulled the door off of our "toilet room" (an itty bitty room/closet in our master bath for the toilet: seriously, if you had shut the door, it would've felt like a coffin in there) as soon as we moved in. I have the perfect spot in a hallway that leads to our bedroom to turn this door into a long, fabulous desk!

[two] sewing a baby quilt: Not that I'm pregnant or anything, but Sherry made sewing this striped quilt look so incredibly easy! It is adorable and if you use special meaning fabric, it will make it that much more special.

[three] recovering a lamp shade: We have some u-g-l-y standard lamp covers in our house that I would really like to update with fabric that matches our decor. Tools? Fabric and a glue gun. Yes please.

[four] lining dresser drawers with scrapbook paper: How fun is this little surprise in your dresser drawers?! Using scrapbook paper (which costs like .50) and Mod Podge to update a dresser in a fun and modern way is such a great idea. We have a dresser in our bedroom that could definitely use some sprucing up!

Click on the link provided to visit the specific post where John and Sherry do some fabulous DIY-ing!

Happy weekend! Nate and I are in Dallas currently visiting the State Fair of Texas (it's a big deal) and attending a Texas Rangers game (also a big deal)! Expect posts accordingly next week!


Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

[love] Four Favorites for Friday

Is there anyone else out there as excited as I am for September to finally be here?! September means fall, my favorite season! In honor of fall, I went to Old Navy's website to check out their new line of dresses for the fall season.

Adorable. Am I right?!

[one]: This red dress has birds on it! It just reminds me of an apple... is that weird?! The red color is perfect for fall and paired with boots and a denim jacket, it would be adorable.

[two]: A color blocking dress. So cute! I'm a fan of the coral paired with the grey stripe and it almost looks like a really long t-shirt, which equals comfort in my book. Cute and comfortable!

[three]: The longer sleeve with this red dress calls for the cooler temperatures of the fall season. And it could be dressed up for a wedding/event or paired with boots and a denim jacket (again) for a more casual affair. And it has POCKETS. Yes please!

[four]: I am on the hunt for a great chambray shirt... but lo and behold, Old Navy has a chambray shirt DRESS! Isn't this cute?! Definitely could be worn in the classroom as well.

Thank you Old Navy for your affordable and stylish fashion! They didn't pay me, I'm just a fan :)

Happy Friday!!!

"today's the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I won't worry about tomorrow, I will trust in what You say, today's the day." -Paul Baloche

[love] Four Favorites for, er, Saturday

Oops! Last week, I started my first Four Favorites for Friday post and I forgot to share another yesterday! My parents came in town last night and we were busily preparing for their visit! AND high school football started last night, so if you are from Texas, you know how big of a deal that is.

This week, I'm sharing four nail polish favorites I found via Pinterest. I will link the site where I pinned them from :) Onward!

[one]: The subtle polka dot pattern on the gray polish is so cute! I tried this technique this summer using a bright red/coral color and black for the polka dots. I used a toothpick for the polka dots but my sizes of dots were all different... Hmm. I will need to find a new strategy!

[two]: Glitter! Fun for a party... or for a Tuesday... c'mon, I teach Kindergarten. I could totally rock those nails in my classroom!

[three]: This polish would be gorgeous for fall... only 20 more days until it is official!!! Essie Hot Cocoa... Beautiful!

[four]: Using a neutral polish and a neutral glitter makes this look work for day and night. And again, GLITTER!

Happy THREE DAY weekend! Today calls for shopping and college football. How about you? Any exciting holiday weekend plans? Have a great day!

"we will run to You, we will run to You. turning from our sin, we return to You. Father, heal Your world, make all things new. make all things new." -Gungor

[love] Four Favorites for Friday

Ahh, the first full week of school is complete. And as a reward to myself for a job well done (ha!), I want to treat myself with virtual window shopping. Join me as we do the best kind of shopping: free shopping!

Store: Forever 21

[one]: Sheer Pleated Collar Top
The structure of this piece is appealing to me: a bit of a throwback teacher-vibe, don't you think?

[two]: Metallic Tribal Print Top
Flowy, patterned, and shiny. Yes please.

[three]: Geometric Print Top
I'm seeing a pattern here. Again, flowy and with a pattern.

[four]: Metallic High-Low Sweater
This top would be fun for a weekend event, possibly a date night (hint, hint Nate!)

Wasn't that fun? Virtual window shopping. This may be my Friday wind-down-from-the-week new tradition. I like the shopping appeal. Nate loves the free appeal. Everyone wins! So my goal each week will be to find four favorite things for Friday (also, I like alliteration if you couldn't tell).  Happy weekend, friends!

"This is the story of the Son of God hanging on the cross for me. But it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea. O death where is your sting? Cause I'll be there singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord." -The City Harmonic

Friday Favorites

What I have been enjoying this week!

1. Five Ingredient Fix
Claire Robinson hosts "5 Ingredient Fix" on Food Network and it is RIGHT up my alley. If you know me but at ALL, I am an extremely picky eater. Therefore, I don't cook that often. Nate is more of the chef in our house- I prepare the "sides". This show is super interesting, and it's awesome to see what dishes she comes up with using only FIVE ingredients! My kind of cooking. Simple and delicious.

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2. Dog Groomers
As you know, we have two dogs. Chloe, a short hair Jack-Russell Terrier (and low-maintenance on the grooming front). In December, we received Oliver, a shih tzu (who is extremely HIGH maintenance with grooming). He is supposed to be a lap dog, but he thinks he can do the same things as Chloe. Therefore, he's been playing and romping in the yard and getting all sorts of burr's and other outdoor-ness stuck in his fur. It got really matted, so it was time to get him groomed. They cut him superrr short, but we really like it and we think he will look like this from now on!

Before...

After!

3. Emily Giffin and her book, "The Heart of the Matter"
Just purchased this book from Emily Giffin, my 5th purchase of her books. They aren't a series (well, the first two are, but then the rest of the books are their own stories- some of the characters may pop up in other stories though). Her books all look the exact same on the cover, just different colors (same font, style, etc). They are so good! Her first book, "Something Borrowed" is becoming a movie. Can't wait!

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4. Handy Husbands
We FINALLY purchased a TV for our bedroom. Hooray! No more yelling at Nate to come to bed: he can finally watch TV in our room while I fall asleep! Yes, you may call me lame, but I like going to sleep with Nate by my side. He keeps my feet warm! :) Now, he has no excuse to not come to bed when I do. It is a flat screen so he actually hooked up the wall mount to the wall and the TV to the wall mount ALL by himself. Both those suckers are pretty heavy, but he did it! So proud of my handyman!

5. Spring Break!
'nuf said :) No work until May 2nd!!!

Friday Favorites

I know, I know. I haven't done a REAL post in such a long time. I'm lame. And really have zero excuse. I've been keeping up with my teacher blog, but I need to pay attention to this ol' thang too! Nate's completed some fun manly projects around the house, so I will share those soon too.

Now, on with the FF post!

1. Dairy Queen Blizzards

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We have a Dairy Queen in town, which I am so happy about because there were NO DQs in the town we lived in before now! Their food is meh, but their Blizzards... YUM! My favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough... So good! It's full of calories and all sorts of sugar, but if you have them in moderation, it is good with me- and by moderation, I mean once a week :)


2. Moms

My mom visited us this weekend! We have a HUGE flea market/antique sale (Warrenton/Round Top) going on near us and in the fall, it was so fun! It is back for its spring sale and we went yesterday. I came home with a few glass bottles, a green thing for spring decor, some scrabble letters/letter die for future projects, a wrought iron swirly thing for above our bed, and I think that's it. It's so nice to have a mom who is involved in your life and unconditionally loves you and you can call her your best friend :)


3. Zoo

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I took my class (18 five and six year olds), along with my aide and 12 (holla) chaperones to the zoo on Friday! It was so fun! The zoo is one of my absolute favorite places. The animals are just so fun: it literally freaks me out that all of these animals are right in the middle of the city! So fun! The kids had a great time, we didn't lose anyone, and the weather was nice :)


4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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My HTC Inspire Android (name dropping, forgive me) has a Reader App on it. One of the free books it came with was "Alice's Adventure in Wonderland". Alice in Wonderland is probably on my top 5 of favorite Disney classic movies. I watched it CONSTANTLY when I was younger! Sure, it was weird, but I really liked it. Seeing the book on my phone for FREE made me so excited! I've never read it before, so when I get a chance, I can read it :) So fun.


5. Planners

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I am an organization kind of gal. Planners, color-coding, labels... All these things make me happy. What doesn't make me happy is when people (ahem, doctor offices) stray from their schedules and CANCEL ON YOU. Sheesh, isn't that the point of planners? Anyhoo, I enjoy getting to scratch things off my to-do list in my planner, write down important dates/events/schedules, and highlighting in various colors for more organization. If you came to my classroom, you probably wouldn't be able to see that much organization, but I promise it's there! I'll get on it this summer :)

Have a great week everyone!

Friday Favorites

Here's another installment of Friday Favorites :)

1. FRIDAYS  

Enough said. It was one of those weeks at school. We didn't get our spring break... and we probably could have used it. Ours starts on Good Friday... About a month away... So I was very thankful for 3:30pm on Friday afternoon.

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2. Uncle Sam. We received our tax refund yesterday!!! WAHOO! Needless to say, many jobs will be getting done around the house :) Stay tuned!

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3. Secrets from a Stylist. I watched "Design Star" and I was totally rooting for Emily the entire time. Now that she has her own show, of course I watch it too! It's one of my top 3 favorites on HGTV because her show is ALL about styling and decorating: not like the other HGTV shows that have personal carpenters to build amazing pieces... like I could ever do anything like that in real life. So Emily, I thank ya :)

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4. The HTC Android Inspire phone. YES, Nate and I traded in the ol' iPhone for an Android! We are so STOKED about this phone. We went back and forth between this phone and the iPhone 4G. They basically have the same capabilities (my essentials: calling/text capabilities, Facebook, e-mail, camera/video, map/navigation system), only the iPhone is laid out more simply (and more boring, snore). This phone is so sleek and sophisticated, so technologically savvy. It rocks. ANDDD I can check my blogs on it MUCH more easily and quickly! That's always a plus.

5. My husband. He's awesome. He takes care of me. He teaches me how to be a grown up. He loves me unconditionally. He makes me laugh. He is awesome. Love him.

Friday Favorites

I'm going to start a new blog series called "Friday Favorites". I've seen some varieties over blogland of "Things I'm Loving" etc. Here goes my soapbox... :)

This all started from a drama my youth group did like 10 years ago (when I was in middle school- I think, but my brother was in the high school choir that did this drama... maybe that's why I remember). Anyhoo, this drama started out with various high schoolers in a dialogue that went sorta like this:

1- Hey, I went to this pizza place last night.
2- Oh my gosh, I LOVEEEE their pizza! It's so good!
1- I know right! It's the best thing ever.
3- Hey what are y'all doing?
1 and 2- Oh my gosh, I LOVEEE your sweater!!!

etc. and so on.

Do you notice something? The drama went on to explain how we use the word "love" so freely, especially with materialistic things that are obviously not going to love us back. It continued to talk about the three types of love from the Bible, and how God's love for us is so powerful: we cannot even begin to comprehend. How can we use this same word to describe a sweater or food?

I've been feeling somewhat convicted of this: of using the word "love" too loosely, especially for materialistic things. I've been trying to say "enjoy", "adore", "like" instead of love. Please don't take offense to this if you say the word "love" like I described above: this is simply my blog and things that I have been thinking about and/or feeling. This is in no way a directional shot at anyone. This isn't to say I'm being perfect about it: I still catch myself saying "love" every once in a while. I'm working on it.

So here is where this "series" comes into play. It's called "Friday Favorites", basically things that I have been enjoying through the week. So- enough with the to-do's, here are mine for the week!

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1. Tote bags! These things are so efficient, especially for teachers. I have a similar damask pattern bag to this one above, but I got mine at DOLLAR GENERAL for $4, holler! I take it back and forth to school, carrying anything from papers, lesson planner, teacher manuals, my lunch, wallet, keys, etc. The huge size makes for a practical bag choice for a teacher, and the pattern is fun too!

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2. My Sirius radio. My husband will tell you otherwise, but I really do use it! Scratch that, I actually listen to it more at HOME on our Dish Network while I'm online or cleaning/organizing (my commute to work is 30 seconds, so I don't really have the time to enjoy it in the car). Zero commercials? Yes please. Favorite stations are The Pulse (basically pop music from the past decade), The Message (Christian), and The Highway (country). Oh how awesome it would be if they had a Texas Country station. Randy Rogers? Eli Young? Yes please.

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3. My Tervis Tumbler cup! I have 3: one that has a black "C" on it that I purchased myself, the one pictured above (from a student for Christmas), and a leopard print one (from another student for Valentine's day: my class sure does know my taste)! Because I have 3, I keep one at the school and I refill my water every morning and every day at lunch. One thing you may not know about me: I only drink water. I mean, I'm not one of those people who likes to drink water. It's ALL. I. DRINK. I crave water. It's what I like to drink when I'm thirsty, with meals, or just to have. Even during winter, my co-workers could not BELIEVE I wasn't filling up on coffee. Gag. And my Tervis Tumbler doesn't leave a puddle of condensation on my teacher table :) Hooray for that.

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4. This clutch :) My mama bought it for me last weekend at the UT-Austin Co-Op (of all places). We are big Longhorn fans: my brother went there and graduated in '06 and I almost went there: I got accepted into my school, had a start date, my major lined up: my brother, however, swayed me.... "Chrissy, I'm not sure if you'll like it... it's really big. And people here are different... and mean. And you're sweet and conservative. I mean, I'll be here and we'll have fun, but I'm just not sure you'll like it." So I listened and went to DBU instead (which was SUCH a better choice: I mean, I met my husband, ch-ello)! Anyways, back to the clutch: anytime my family is in Austin, we usually stop at the Co-Op to update our Longhorn attire. This clutch is a good way to sport my burnt orange pride. And to those of you who think that if you didn't go to that school, you can't cheer for them.... Honestly, find something else to complain about. I can be a Longhorn fan all I want: sorry my university didn't have a football team: another soapbox for another day :) 

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5. Yumm-o 100 Calorie Mini Fudge Striped Cookies! I won't write a long, detailed description of these... They're just delicious. And 100 calories. Athankyou :)

Sorry this turned into a long rant/detailed description/rambling post: when you have the night to simply enjoy at home, it lets your writing bug escape :) Happy weekend!