Spilling my Secrets...

Check out the new countdown---only 100 more days until I am done with college FOREVER & moving back to Brenham! Other than that, I have nothing new & exciting that I can tell you about so for now in my boredom here is something for you to read in your boredom!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8 am. It is so nice to be a college student and not have to be at class until 9:30. Enjoying it while it lasts!
2. Diamonds or pearls? I wouldn't complain about a big fat diamond but I am more into colored stones! Hence my wedding ring...
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Sherlock Holmes with the family in Colorado & Nathan slept though the whole thing!
4. What is your favorite TV show? One Tree Hill, Cougar Town, Brother's & Sisters and anything on HGTV and the Food Network.
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? A bowl of Special K with red berries. If I'm lucky my husband will bring it to me in bed :)
6. What is your middle name? Nicole
7. What food do you dislike? I pretty much like food. Period.
8. What kind of car do you drive? 2006 Nissan Pathfinder
9. What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance, clinginess (sp?)
10. Favorite item of clothing? Dresses in any shape or form for EVERY season. Love them!
11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Greece
12. Where would you retire? I want to live on some land with a couple of horses, a house with a white picket fence and wrap-around porch so I could sit on the rocking chair and drink lemonade next to my sweet husband and watch the grandchildren run around playing in the grass. ...I know, I sound just like my Mom ;)
13. What was your most recent memorable birthday? This past year when I turned 21. It wasn't memorable because I was turning 21 only because I could have cared less because I couldn't wait to get married 11 days later!
14. When is your birthday? October 6th
15. Morning person or a night person? Neither. I like my sleep! But more of a night than morning...ask Nathan, I am not very nice that early.
16. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I am done with College in 100 days!!!!!
17. What is your favorite flower? Alstromeria or Zinnias
18. What was the last thing you ate? A Banana
19. How is the weather right now? Pretty gross...it has been drizzling all day. Yesterday was beautiful though! I hope this Texas weather isn't just teasing us --- please stay in the 70's & start Spring early!!!!
20. Favorite restaurant? Nami, Hula Hut, Pappadeaux, Pappasitos, etc...I just like food!
21. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hippity Hop
22. Summer or winter? Since I like minimal clothing, that would be Summer. (I mean shorts & dresses opposed to sweaters & jeans Haley!!)
23. Chocolate or Vanilla? Predominantly Vanilla but a girl always has to have a good dark chocolate fix every once in a while!
24. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday...it was stupid. Men just don't get it when they hurt your feelings sometimes. What's up with that!?
25. What did you do last night? Made a new delicious Stir fry recipe, went running, watched American Idol & Cake Boss & procrastinated homework
26. What are you afraid of? Snakes & Roaches!!!!
27. Salty or sweet? Sweet---I am my mother's daughter!
28. How many years at your current job? Exactly 1 year this month but in 100 days I will be back in Brenham starting a new adventure---So excited!
29. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
30. Do you make friends easily? Sometimes...women can be so strange!! Once you get past initial awkwardness & become friends, you often realize you were both intimidated by the other & made life so much more difficult than it had to be!

So, there you have it. Go fill it out for yourself so I can read about you! I know, it's a time waster but who cares --- it's fun & it will make you feel like you are in Junior High again!!

Check it...

Check out our feature in Texas Live Magazine! Also check out my sister's "Cut the Cake" article on pg. 58-59 of the magazine. It is incredibly clever & witty...as always!

Oh & be sure to look on page 57 at my Dad's ad for Glasco & Co. Landscaping as well as my Aunt Traci's Spa!

One of Those Weeks

Have you ever had one of those weeks where hardly anything seems to go right? Well, for us it has been one of those weeks. Among multiple other things, we woke up Friday morning to frozen hot water in the kitchen. Nathan had already left for work so I left as well not really knowing what to do about it. When I got home from work the hot water had unfrozen and was running & running & running.

You guessed it...the freeze broke our faucet which kept us from being able to turn it off. After weighing our options and making some calls we decided it would be best to go try to buy the broken piece in the faucet. We headed to Home Depot, found out they don't sell the $0.25 piece we needed so we had to buy the last $50 faucet instead. We take it home and of course as our luck has it, it was damaged. Nathan angrily gets back in the car and returns it with what I'm sure was not a very good attitude. He then heads to Lowes for some pitiful customer service that made him even more angry and returned home with 2 ugly outdoor faucets to use as a temporary fix.

As you can see, this was the bootleg result until we could find the right wall mount faucet that we needed.

Saturday morning we left the faucet dripping so it would not freeze again while we were out of town. With water running from every faucet in the house, we headed to Mexia to see Pat, Kim & Mallory. Unfortunately, poor Mallory had a runny nose & an ear infection. Even though she wasn't feeling very well, we were excited to see her now that she is walking all over the place!

Saturday night, Pat & Kim had a surprise party to go to so Nathan & I were happy to be the babysitters! Mallory on the other hand was not quite so happy and she had no problem letting us know. I tried to set her down in her high chair to feed her & I swear you would have thought I was murdering the poor child! Nathan quickly volunteered to go pick up some dinner & as soon as he left, Mallory almost instantly fell asleep in my arms & finally the poor baby was peacefully sleeping.

It was a fun experience & we love Mallory to death but Nathan made sure to let me know that we would not be having kids for at least 5 years! haha It was a nice reality check as to what it is really like to have kiddos and to be quite honest, we thoroughly enjoy handing the kiddos back over to their parents and heading home to our newlywed home! I really promise we are not kid haters and we will volunteer anytime to watch your kiddos but at the end of the day, will gladly give them back!!

After leaving Mexia, we stopped through Waco to pick up the faucet we needed and headed home to end the madness. If only we knew what was waiting for us at home... As I unlock the door at our lovely home I hear LOUD water running & dread what is awaiting us. As I step inside the back door, my suede boots splash in a big puddle of water... The bootleg faucet that pointed sideways had gotten sudden burst of energy while we were gone & water was EVERYWHERE---on the counters, all over appliances, soaking the floors & the inside of all the low cabinets, etc. It was a disaster...

After finally cleaning it all up, I sat down to finish reading 90 Minutes in Heaven (great book that I highly recommend), do my much needed Bible Study, and finally to take a nap! After relaxing for a little while & being in the Word, I had to remind myself that when we are trying to grow our relationship with Christ, Satan loves nothing more than to attack us. I know this is exactly what is going on but it is just hard sometimes not to let all the little things pile up & get you down. Anyone know what I mean? Surely I am not alone in this...right??

Needless to say this is going to be a better week! I am not going to let the fact that the door knob fell off this morning or that the hot water was frozen AGAIN get me down! As I start my FINAL semester of college I am going to try to enjoy it as much as I can & attempt to let the little things roll off so I can enjoy life that much more!

We will see how it goes---Hope everyone has a great week!

So...my sister actually stole my idea & wrote about this first but I am still going to post about it! She is a way better writer than I am & way wittier so you can go check her post out as well!

Since the wedding we have been featured on a few blogs which is really cool! One feauture was by our photographer's assistant Ryan Price. He & his wife were amazing & incredibly helpful throughout all of the wedding picture taking! He had lots of really nice things to say on his blog---most of which were compliments to all of my Mom's hard work!

We were also featured in Coutoure events by Lottie. I guess she saw the photo's on Ryan's blog & posted this photo that he took. Read about it here!

We were also featured in the January/February Country Wedding edition of South Central Texas LIVE Magazine so go pick one up & check it out!

More Wedding Talk!!

Happy New Year to all! Maybe I will eventually feel like writing about our trip to Colorado...maybe not. For now I just wanted to say congrats to my best friend Sarah who got engaged on New Years Eve to her lovely boyfriend Abel! Check out her cute blog to read about the proposal.I am so excited for these 2 and look forward to their wedding May 15th! Love you guys!

It's rough being married...

Considering we were still in school when we got married we had to take a delayed honeymoon. We had no idea what to do or where to go until we were shocked by the generosity of my Aunt & Uncle who gave us a Caribbean cruise as a wedding gift. Needless to say we quickly accepted & anxiously awaited the end of school so that we could finally go on our first real vacation as a married couple!! After school was over we quickly packed our things and hit the road!

Considering we were not seasoned cruisers we were not exactly sure what to expect. About 5 years ago I went on a cruise with my family but Nathan had never been before. Nothing could have prepared us or anyone else for this cruise though. As you can see in picture above there is quite a bit of fog behind Nathan. I use the phrase"quite a bit" lightly considering it delayed us from leaving port for over 24 hours. We finally got out in a small window of time but were still surrounded by tons of fog! We were fortunate to get out because the Royal Caribbean ship did not get out until the next day!! After lots of fog we finally saw the sun! The most ironic part was laying next to a pool with Christmas music playing in the background!

This was our first formal night on the ship.

This was our second formal night. Right after this picture was taken Nathan was chosen to be in a dance-off...let's just say he was a good sport about it but was NOT happy! He pretty much hates me for videoing it so just ask if you would like a good laugh!! haha

Our schedule got all screwed up because of the weather so we ended up missing our stop in Freeport, Bahamas. After being on the ship for almost 4 days we finally got to get off one evening in Nassau! We quickly got taxis and headed over to see the infamous Atlantis Resort. Luckily we got to tour it for free because it was so late --- typically they charge $40 per person!!

This is the Atlantis resort in Nassau, Bahamas. I can't even describe how huge it was. It is a place I would highly recommend seeing! Nathan gets bored easily and he even said he could stay there for a week because there is so much to see and do! I can't guarantee we could afford to stay there but it is a nice thought...

The beach was gorgeous! Nathan played like a 5 year old in the water---it was great to watch!

This is the dolphin cay at Atlantis. Shortly before this photo was taken we were able to swim with the dolphins. It was so much fun & I wish I would show you pictures but well---we don't have any because the minimum package to purchase was $60...for 2 pictures!!!!

Also, speaking of outrageous...notice the bridge between these 2 towers. That is the Michael Jackson suite that goes for the small price of $25,000 PER NIGHT!!!!! You have to reserve it 2 years in advance for a MINIMUM of 4 NIGHTS!!! But no worries it is all inclusive...that makes it all worth it, huh!?

We really enjoyed all the shows on the ship! The only problem I had with them was the costumes---I didn't really want my new husband looking at all those skanky girls running around in thongs!! I told him now I knew why all the men didn't mind there wives dragging them to the shows---go figure!

This picture doesn't even begin to show you the record breaking amount of rain the Key West, Florida got while we were "touring". We were dripping wet from head to toe after the torrential rain that no one had "ever seen before in Key West at this time of year"!!! Typical! Oh well, we will always remember our trip to Key West!

Nathan thoroughly enjoyed all the food on the cruise! The whole concept of 3 meals a day completely went out the door for him...he ate all the time! The pizzeria & the soft serve ice cream were his most frequent stops! He became quite the dessert conesuier with EVERY meal as well (this being the man who told me when I first met him that he doesn't eat sweets)!

After 2 1/2 hours of madness during debarkation we finally got off the ship & were headed home! Despite all the obstacles, bad weather & EXTREMELY grumpy people we had a wonderful honeymoon & thoroughly enjoyed our vacation! We are extremely blessed to have such wonderful family that made it possible for us to go & have as much fun as we did!

Oh how I hate packing!

Finals are over & now it is time to hit the road...or should I say beach! Tomorrow we will be saying "Bon Voyage" as we head off to the Florida Keys & the Bahamas for our 7-Day Honeymoon cruise! After we return from that we are heading to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family! What can I say, it's a rough life...you feel sorry for us, I know! Anyways, needless to say I am extremely excited but there is so much to do before then considering we have to pack for the next month...

So, while I attempt to get everything done enjoy a few of our wedding pictures that I just got!

Thanks Lyns! You are AMAZING!!