May Goals

glass jar photography

One thing that excites me about blogging now is I can start listing monthly goals. I always love cheking out goals for Nancy Ray! So I'm starting to do the same. Now that we've somewhat returned to normal life, Steven and I have our work cut out for us to make this house a home. I'm off work this entire week leading up to the start of my new job on May 9th, so I'm ready to take this time and really get going with some projects!

May House Goals
1. Paint downstairs
2. Pick out fabric for the couch & club chairs & drapes
3. Arrange for said couch & chairs to be reupholstered
4. Move all of my furniture from storage into our house, while moving all of Steven's unwanted furniture into the garage until we can get it to his parent's house.
5. Donate all old clothes/dishes/bedding/lamps/etc to Tornado victims
6. Start shelving project/cabinets in the garage
7. Declutter

May Personal Goals
1. Start walking/jogging 3 times a week
2. Plan meals out starting on Sundays-cooking in larger quantities so we have meals for lunches
3. Visit a new church
4. Figure out new work wardrobe on a major budget (quite a difference in what you can wear coming from all black at Aveda to a financial firm!)
5. Celebrate my birthday with my husband
6. Purchase Quitter by Jon Acuff and start reading it
7. Change my last name (because in all actuality, just because it's on facebook, doesn't make it official)
8. Create a new budget, new banking account with Steven
9. Flea Market trip on a nice Saturday morning
10. ZipLine excursion (I purchased tickets for Steven for his birthday in November and they expire June 1!)

Bonus Goal (if all goes well with the lists above, I'll be treating myself)
Get with 2011 and get an iPhone. Those of you who know me, know I've been carrying around the same flip phone (which is about to flip right into two peices as the hinges are breaking more with each phone call I make) for 3 years. I've never had a smart phone. Crazy, kind of, right?...and I want one now more than ever!

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So, I have alot to do! In some way, that gives me a good bit to blog about (I'm committed!) I can't wait to start giving updates about our house. I'm coming at you with some "BEFORE" photos soon. If anyone out there has good tips for living neatly on a regular basis though, let us know. It's probably the biggest challenge in living with a boy/him living with a gal like me! My stuff (clothes/toiletries/shoes/jewelry) tends to live outside of its designated closets/drawers/cabinets, therefore it becomes all I see at all times. And it's driving me crazy. We're already encountering "letting the house go" after a full work and a week a busy weekend and that results in living in what looks to be a tornado zone. Not sure how that happened! :( My dad is coming to start the painting process with us on Tuesday so we are determined to get this place in order this afternoon and tomorrow.

I am so ready to paint though! We're only working on the downstairs for now and we're painting in shades of taupe/gray. Our kitchen will be the darkest shade and then we're popping color in our half bath! We're going with some shade of orange. So bold. I love it though. I may figure out how to get some gold texture onto the walls, but that's a long shot right now. I think a gold mirror and gold hardware, lighting, and accesories will do! We'll also be painting our kitchen cabinets white (I've heard bad things about white cabinets, but they look so great in contrast with gray!) And while all this is happening, it's a good time to also rearrange our living room. For now, we're off to church to hear my dear friend Joslyn sing in the choir and then we're coming back to declutter. Stay tuned!

Friday Frills!

What better frill than the Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen (how perfect!) gown for The Future Queen of England?! At the first glance of Catherine as she was stepping out of the car, my breath was taken away. What a vision. The dress was everything I expected it to be. Elegant, simple, lace, and sleeves. It's classic, it's bridal, and it has a modern twist. I can't get over her composure and her confidence. She carried herself perfectly the entire time and they just looked so incredibly happy! She was glowing and so radiant. I love that she even styled her own make up! She's keeping it real, and that's why we love her. In case you missed it, here are a few pictures:

Did you have any personal highlights?!

I loved when Harry looked back at Kate as she was walking down the aisle and then he said something to Wills. I loved that they smiled through their vows. Kate's brother reading was really special and I adored that the happy couple wrote their own prayer. The carriage exit was perfect and they were absolutely beaming! The fashion was so cool. I must say, David Beckham looked smashing. The Philip Treacy fascinators captured my attention! I'm definitely inspired to pull one off at some point in my life! I LOVED the two kisses on the balcony at Buckingham Palace! I won't lie, I was slightly disapointed in the first one so when Wills went for kiss #2, I was giddy!

Did you celebrate the occasion? Steven and I woke up super early and watched everything from bed. We made some coffee and then afterwards I whipped up some homemade ham biscuits. We had some celebratory champagne and then went back to sleep! Tonight I'm getting together with my girlfriends for a Royal Wedding Tea Party. We're dressing up in our own bridesmaid gowns (I've added a DIY Fascinator to my to do list today) and watching everything since most of them had to work this morning! I've been brushing up on my British accent and I can't wait!

Cheerio my loves!
Meg

Happy Easter Weekend!!

It's time for the Bunny Hop y'all!! Have a wonderful Easter celebrating the Lord with those you love the most! We're heading to Broadway, NC see the Harrington's for the first time since the wedding. The weather is looking up for a warm sunrise service on Sunday :) Should be a happy day!

I'm planning to make some of these for my hubby and our nephew:

Get the recipe here

Paradise Favorites

So we recently returned from an 8 day stay in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico! Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE some good Mexican food (Daily snack? Chips & guac. It was SO fresh there!), the culture, and the beach. I had never seen crystal clear blue water before. I died. We were basically sitting in a Corona commercial while living out everything Jimmy Buffet ever sings about. It was a perfect honeymoon, to say the least. The resort gave us the royal treatment. We excursioned (zip lined, explored the Tulum ruins, saw the cenotes, cave swam, snorkled), we shopped, we wined, we dined, and most importantly, we relaxed! The spa was AH-Mazing. The best part about it was sharing the whole experience and adventure with my new groom. It was so relieving to not feel anymore pressure from the wedding and not to even have a cell phone! We really had a chance to reconnect and flirt like we had just met. I took about 1000 pictures naturally, so we could relive the whole trip anytime vicariously through our Macbook. We're definitely planning another trip somewhere else for next year, but I'd HIGHLY recmommend The Royal. Such a gorgeous place! We had a ball! Next time we go there, we're dragging our friends or family into the deal. Hopefully we won't have to twist any wrists. It was very much the time of our life!...

...until Saturday when we realized our hometowns were getting demolished by tornados. Talk about a scary feeling. Thankfully, our house was fine, our family was safe and all was good and well with our friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected, though. It could just have easily been anyone we know. We've decided to overhaul all our old (and perfectly usable) stuff anyway since we were so blessed to get amazing upgrades and wedding gifts. We're donating all of it to the tornado victims. Feels good! And now we don't have to plan a yard sale! Whew!

Committed

I've decided to commit to blogging now. Now that the wedding plans have passed and I'm back from the honemoon, I'm excited to have some time one my hands! Even though I'm up to my elbows in Thank You notes, organizing/donating old stuff, and decorating our new house, this will be my outlet for fun ideas and updates on newlywed life! Bare with as I learn as I go about making this more appealing. Enjoy!