Is it spring yet?

I don't know about you but I am ready for spring and summer! I'm tired of all the dead grass and trees, ready to see some greenery and blossoming flowers! So since I can't just wave my magic wand and get all that to happen I decided to redecorate my mantel with some spring accents. And boy has it brightened my living room! It also makes me happy that my little Snugget is going to arrive to a bright and happy home. 

I love the fresh tulips, they have been blossoming out so beautifully the past few days. I don't know if you can tell, but the one farthest to the right is my favorite, it curves in a different direction every time I come in the room! Fits my life so perfectly...one crazy bloom just doing its thug thing ;)

On another note Dr says Snug is staying put for a few more weeks so I guess that means I need to waddle around my favorite craft stores a little more and hope to help this arrival come sooner rather than later!

I am linking up with Not JUST A Housewife's party! Stop by for lots of other great blogs and ideas!

Showers and Nesting...The countdown begins!

Since we returned from our trip to OKC I have been one busy bee. I have had two baby showers in two states, worked on Etsy sales, and had family in town for a shower gift deliver/visit! I feel like I should start out first by thanking the wonderful hostesses of both of my showers. These ladies did such an amazing job. My first shower was thrown by my neighbors who have been so wonderful to my husband and I since we moved in, it was really nice to feel a sense of family here in Texas since our family will be so far away when Snugget arrives! My shower at home was thrown by my loving family and was such a fun time, Snugget is already one spoiled baby!

Just a few of the wonderful neighbors who attended my shower!

My MawMaw and Mother!

 

 

So of course, along with showers comes lots of gifts and the where to put all of it! I must admit that since Ryan and I live out here without much friends or family to visit...we sometimes errr let's say let the house take over... So organize time it was! And we have been doing just that. With a couple of weekends to get one shower load settled in before the second load arrived I would say that we have done a rather nice job of cleaning and "baby-tizing".

 

My favorite part of the organization spree was the peg board organizer we added to my craft area!!

 

 I tend to get a little mad scientist in my area and let it start to overtake the rest of the living room and kitchen so having this board helps me to have everything where I can see it without it being strewn about the whole downstairs area!

Here is just a glimpse of how things went from really bad to MUCH better..

I really have to give it to myself for getting this done! I am so much happier working in this space now!!

 

And sadly I have just sent off my brother and grandmother back to Louisiana after they were so kind as to bring all the shower gifts from home since I flew out this time around. It is always so nice having people over, I just never want them to leave once they get here! We had a wonderful time though; we brought them to our favorite nail salon and got a great laugh at my overly ticklish 6'4" brother, had a great dinner and nice relaxing morning before they had to head back to the country. Ryan even set the camera up with the auto-timer so we could all get a picture together!

The next few weeks are going to be full of naps, baby gadgets and date nights as we await the arrival of baby Snugget! Only 4 weeks left!

I am linking up to the Sunday Social again! Hop over to find some other great blogs!



Life in a Hotel: Meal #3

Well friends day three was a tough one! I have been feeling rather exhausted lately with only 8 weeks until Snugget arrives, so let me tell you...I was just not up for cooking tonight. In all his amazingness my husband steps up and says that he will cook dinner!! SWEET! But I knew what this meant in reality...I would end up doing about half of the work.

 

I stayed on the couch as long as possible calling out the directions (and giving a few of my own helpful suggestions) for as long as I could. Just before he went into complete freak out mode I swooped in to help out, but you know what, I'll take a little stirring over cooking the full meal! I suppose I should mention that he chose to cook P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef. I also feel like I should give you a little insight into the way my husband works... He is a process guy, meaning before he starts cooking he completely measures out all the ingredients, if there is a time in the directions he sets the timer for the exact time, and if it doesn't call for it he doesn't put it in! Me on the other hand, I like to get a general idea of the ingredients and directions and just go with it. We are kind of like oil and water when we are in the kitchen together!

 

How was dinner you ask? In my husband's words..."I'm happy you didn't cook this so I don't have to tell you I don't like it!" HAHA! So, we are going to take a little stroll next door to Toby Kieth's I Love This Bar and grab a little grub, luckily today was the day we didn't have to pay for lunch so going out for dinner is technically okay this time. Hey we tried...

 

Just us with Toby no big deal..

 

 

 

Life in a Hotel: Meal #2

Day 2 and we are still holding strong to our eating in commitment! We are having Jo Mama's Famous Spaghetti  tonight. I do feel the need to say that I do know how to cook most of these recipes with no recipe to guide me, however my husband (the super planner) insisted on finding the recipes and writing me up a detailed list of groceries... sometimes I just oblige him, that's what good wives do every now and then..right?!

I feel like I need to talk about the utensils they give you at these hotels.

1 large 1 medium and 1 small serrated knife
1 large pot
1 sauce pan
1 small pot
a collinder
1 set of varios sized Pyrex bowls (thankfully with lids)
and a very small cutting board

Needless to say, my working conditions are less than favorable. Yet, I must say I have done a swell job of using what was given to get these meals accomplished! One large pot to make spaghetti? Thankfully the husband wasn't super hungry, because I had to boil the pasta first then use the sauce pan as a bowl to hold it while I made the sauce! No multi-tasking tonight, but plenty of improvising and even still finished the meal in around an hour and a half. Happy to say we have made it through and I got another back-for-seconds meal under my belt!

Must admit that the picture doesn't do it the tasty justice that it deserves, but here you go!



 

 

Life in a Hotel: Meal #1

Ok so as promised I am going to bring you an easy, budget friendly meal a day this week! My husband wanted to help (he is the planner in the relationship) so he got online and chose all the meals and wrote out my shopping list...how sweet...But he really did do a good job finding me some low prep/cook time meals.

 

Just to give you an idea of what I am working with...here is a look at a Residence Inn kitchen.

 

Not much counter space for this southern cook to work with! Not to mention my husband hustled me out of the house so quick and early this morning I forgot to bring any of my own pots, pans and knives. So this really is going to be a test of how well we can live in this room for the next week!

Today we tried Creamy Cajun Chicken. I must say it was a good choice! Quick and easy, well except for the fact that the two burner stove was a bit too small for both my sauce pan and the pot I was boiling pasta in! But had they both fit this would have been prepped and cooked within 30 minutes! Great easy recipe for anyone trying to wow on a time constraint!

Finished product:

Day #1 has been a long but successful day. Woke up at 5:15, in Oklahoma City by 9am, kill time all morning before check-in, shopping after husband gets off work, meal cooked, and BCS Championship watched! Yes, I swallowed every bit of my Tiger pride and cheered for Bama tonight...happy for an SEC win and hoping for a better year for my boys this year!

Do you travel with your husband?
What are your favorite cities to travel to?
 

New Year, New Blog

I have been less than attentive to this blog as of late. One of my resolutions is to really focus on this blog and make it a functional part of my business! I love reading other blogs and I am constantly wishing that mine was as good as theirs...yet as you can tell I haven't made my way back here to work on my own blog! So no more whining, this is the beginning of a new year and I will make this page a success this year!

This week I am traveling to Oklahoma City with the husband while he is on business. We are really trying to keep to a strict budget so cooking in at the Residence Inn is going to be a must. To keep us on track with the budget I am going to make it a point to write a post a day about an easy meal that you can whip up in the tiniest of kitchens! I will alternate lunch and dinner recipes as we get a small allowance a day for food so I WILL be making him take me to dinner at least one night! In the end I hope this helps moms on the go and wives who, like me, get to travel once in a while with their man!

I also wanted to start this new blog year with a checklist of things that are going on/coming up.... 

• I suppose the biggest event coming up would be the arrival of our little Snugget! Only 8 weeks left and if my mommy intuition is right it will be less than that because I feel like it will be a February baby not March. Since we are not finding out the sex of the baby it will be just as big a surprise to use as you! 
• March 31 marks the first anniversary of my Wedding! My husband who is so wonderfully sentimental has decided that we will get married again every year on our anniversary and I look forward to many more weddings with the man I love!
• MAY!! We are moving home! I am so excited about this, mostly because we will be near family and friends again. You should be happy because this means that we will be buuying a new home which means RENOVATIONS and lots of fun ideas and tutorials and before and afters! I know I can promise some great things to come out of this because we will be very close to my sister-in-law who is chomping at the bit to help me re-do my house. I can't say good bye to this rent house soon enough!
• Summer. I love summer. And with this will come an obnoxious amount of pool and beach pictures of my sweet Snugget (please let my baby get my husband's olive complexion!)

That is a quick list of the things coming up this year! I think 2013 is going to be a great one I so look forward to all it has in store for my family! This is my promise to keep up with this blog better this year, I promise to not dangle all these wonderful events in front of you and not fill you in on how they turn out!

I am linking up to my first linky party! One more reason to hold myself to working on this!

Do you think it will be a GIRL or a BOY? 
Is your husband or boyfriend super sentimental too? 
Are you moving to a new home? What is the room you most look forward to renovating?

Change..Change..Change

It has been quite a while since I posted last and boy have things changed in that time! When I started this blog I was going to be taking a month off work to recharge, reassess, and redecorate. About a week and a half into that break from work my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first bundle of joy! A week later we found out that he got the okay from his boss to move home! So needless to say, things are not only different for our small family they are absolutely wonderful.

 

So why the long break from the blog? Well I was kind of confused as to what to do now. I had no idea what to do and what direction to take the blog since we wouldn't be living in the house much longer and would be kind of silly to spend much more money decorating it the way I wanted to. Once everything had some time to sink in and we talked about things I realized that we still have to live in this house for a few more months...so while I might not do all the things I had in mind at first, I can still make the house enjoyable and liveable as well as document the building of my business. So there it is, change directions and keep on moving on!

 

I have really been working hard the past few weeks to build up my stock of wreaths and other house and holiday decorations. I am signed up for three festivals in the next few months so I will certainly be keeping busy trying to prepare for those!

 

I am so happy to be back and have new life to bring to this blog! Can't wait to spend the holidays crafting and blogging! Speaking of holidays...I thought I would finish this post up with at little Halloween spirit from a spooky Snugget (that's what we are calling baby since we aren't finding out what we are having).

Hope you enjoy this little skeleton face as much as we do. It is such a joy to watch my Snugget grow!