Miscellany Monday

1. Today was my first day as a nanny. It was so much fun! I can already tell I'm going to love it :)

2. I'm excited to look up different craft ideas to use with the children. I already have a Valentine's day activity running through my head.

3. The Bachelor comes on tonight!! I will readily admit that I love it. I really want Emily to win. I sure wish he would get rid of Michelle... She is absolutely crazy!

4. AND can't forget about Pretty Little Liars :) I just love this show & their cute clothes don't hurt either! Especially Aria's!

5. Even though I'm not participating, I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's 30 for 30 outfits. I wish I was creative enough to do this, but I have a hard enough time getting dressed in the mornings as it is haha! 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday! I know I am already looking forward to the weekend :)

Day at the Park

It's finally the weekend!! :) My parents are coming to town tomorrow, and I could not be more excited. Matt and I are really looking forward to spending time with them. What all do y'all have planned for the weekend?

I practiced my photography skills yesterday by going to the park by our apartment. Our apartment complex is near a beautiful lake, so I thought it would be a great place to practice!

Design Advice Needed!

As I was laying in bed last night, I got to thinking about how I would decorate our new rental home. I know, we aren't moving for another month and a half... what can I say? I like to plan ahead. Just ask the fiance! I drive him nuts with all of my plans :)

In the new house, there is a formal dining room which is really nice BUT we hardly ever sit at our table to eat. It seems like such a waste to use the entire room for just the table. I need some ideas of how to incorporate other functional furniture pieces such as a desk into the room. I need this room to be multi-functional!

This is the dining room. This picture came from the rental advertisement, so this is obviously a previous renter's things. Not the best pic.. But it's all I've got right now! The wall that is not shown is an entry way into the den.

This is not our exact set, but it is very similar. As you can see, it's a very small table. I just can't see using the whole room to only house this baby.

This is the exact desk that we have. Since it is a small home, I don't think there will be room for our desk in the guest bedroom which is where we have it in our current apartment.

Any ideas on how to incorporate both of these items into the room without it looking junky or a hodge-podge of furniture?? All ideas would be greatly appreciated!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with JAIME for WILW

I'm loving...

that everything worked out with the rental house! We move in March 15th :) Thanks for the kind words & prayers everyone!!

that I had lunch with my fiance at Chik-fil-a today. We rarely get to have lunch together on days that he works, so this was a nice surprise! (& i LOVE chicken salad sandwiches)

that I got the movie Red for us to watch tonight. It's supposed to be pretty funny.

that the Lord blessed me with the fantastic job I told y'all about yesterday!

-AND-

all of YOU :) Y'all have been so supportive! I really appreciate all of the sweet comments that I received lately. They really brighten my day!!

This Calls for a Celebration

I GOT A JOB!!!

Yep, I'm going to be a nanny for 3 wonderful children :)

For those of you who don't know, I am currently finishing my last semester of college by taking online courses. All I had left were elective credits to get, so the classes I'm taking are fairly easy and not very time consuming. This has left me with uber amounts of free time and lots of boredom! After realizing how much free time I had, I decided I needed to get a part-time job. Plus, it would be nice to have some extra cash! Matt loved the idea ;)

Over the past few weeks, I interviewed with a wonderful family with three cute children. They interviewed others as well & had it down to me and other girl. BUT last night I found out I got the job!

I could not be more excited about this! It's the perfect part-time job. No minimum wage, no crazy hours, no working weekends. Much better than say working retail. I'll be working 12-5, five days a week. 

The children are absolutely adorable! They are 4, 6, and 8. The two youngest are girls and the oldest a boy. I look forward to spending time with them and forming a relationship with them!

I'm sure with time I will have lots of funny stories to share with y'all & I will probably be asking for your advice. Heck, if you got any tips now I would love to hear! Especially ideas for craft projects! I love hearing y'alls thoughts and opinions :) Thanks so much for being so supportive and sweet to me! I really do appreciate the kind words, especially the other day when I told y'all about the rental house. Hope everyone is having an amazing Tuesday!! 

Kiss the Cook

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! Mine has been off to a great start :) I thought I would share with y'all what we are having for dinner tonight. I fixed chicken & dumplings and they turned out to be delicious. Here's the recipe :)

Chicken & Dumplings

What You Will Need:

1 can chicken broth

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can of chicken (like Swanson's)

1 can of water

1/2 box of dumplings (I prefer McLib's)

These are the kind of dumplings I like to use

Directions:

Empty 1 can of chicken broth, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, and 1 can of water in a large cooking pot. (I also add a tablespoon of butter, but this is not necessary) Bring this to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain chicken and chop into smaller pieces. Add chicken to pot. Then add dumplings one by one, so they do not stick together. Let this cook on a low boil for 6-7 minutes. Stir occassionally. Add salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!

Matt in his Auburn cooking apron he got for Christmas. He was in the process of cooking us some okra for supper last night!

I don't know about y'all, but I can't wait to watch the Bachelor & Pretty Little Liars tonight! Thank God for DVR so I'm able to watch both :) Have a great night everyone!



Wonderful Weekend

Hey everyone! Hope y'all are having an amazing weekend like I am. My parents were supposed to come up yesterday and stay the night with us. That ending up not working out though, so I was a little bummed. BUT the weekend turned out just great! Even better, I still have today to enjoy with my man :)

I think we have found a house downtown to rent! I wrote earlier about looking for apartments last weekend, and how confusing it made us. We decided that we weren't really thrilled with any of the apartments or their high prices, so we decided to check out houses for rent. I'm sure glad we did! The house we looked at yesterday is just PERFECT and we feel in love with it instantly! It's convenient to all sorts of neat restaurants, cafes, and shops. It's super cute AND allows pets, so we might just be getting a dog as well. I would REALLY like a puppy to keep me company while Matt is out of town, and there is even a huge fenced-in backyard for the dog to play in!

We plan on talking to the landlord today, and hopefully we will be able to get the house. Only problem is the people living in the house right now will be moving out in the middle of February, and we weren't looking to move until mid-March when our current lease is up. I'm really hoping we can work something out in order to hold the property for us. Everyone keep your fingers crossed! I'll be sure to keep y'all updated.

After looking at the house yesterday, Matt and I spent the day at the movies. We saw two movies back to back- No Strings Attached & The Green Hornet. I just LOVE having a movie marathon. It's so exciting! No Strings Attached was pretty dang funny. I recommend everyone seeing it, but don't take your children ;) haha

The Green Hornet... ehhh, what can I say? It was a bit lame but funny at times. The best part about this movie was that it was in 3D. This was my first experience of a 3D movie in a regular theater... I've been to an IMAX theater, but that's about it. As for the movie, I wouldn't waste my money. Just wait and watch it when it's in Redbox.

 i-phone pics of us looking cool in our 3-D shades

 

I'm off to finish meal planning for next week and making my grocery list. Hoping the man wakes up soon... We stayed up much later than usual playing Mario on the Wii. Never realized how addicting games like that can be haha =)

Five Question Friday

1. Where did you meet your spouse fiance and did you instantly know it was love?

Matt and I meet when I was in the 8th grade. We went to the same high school, but he was three years older. We definitely did not know it was love instantly... I was actually dating one of his friends at the time. We reconnected when I got to college. I fell for him pretty fast; however, it took him a bit longer haha silly boy!

2. What is your favorite room in your house?

Our den. I just love to snuggle up on the couch and watch our tv, read, or blog.

3. Can you wiggle your ears?

Nope. But I've always been amazed by people that can.

4. What is your evening ritual?

Don't really have a set schedule. But my evenings usually involve spending time with my man, cooking supper, working out, catching up on my reality tv :), showering, and getting things ready for the next day.

5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

I need at LEAST 8 hours of sleep to function. If not, I'm super grouchy all day. I really prefer more than 8 hours... I know, I have a problem! ;)

The PERFECT Find

I found this beautiful thing at Plato's Closet the other day & I am IN LOVE!  Even better I only paid $15 for it. It's from Forever 21... I'm sure it wasn't much more than this in the store, but I still feel like I got it for a steal =)

For some time now, I've admired outfits that incorporate blazers and have considered buying one. I really did not want to spend a lot of money on one, since I wasn't sure that I could really pull the look off. Also, I knew I would have a hard time finding a nice fitted blazer for cheap. I am rather petite on top, so things tend to look bulky on me.  BUT this one finds just perfect!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Matt has been out of town this week. He comes home tomorrow, and I could not be happier!

Out with the Old

I spent yesterday and Sunday night cleaning out our closet and dressers. Let me just say, this was much needed. Our closet and drawers were over-flowing with clothes, shoes, hats, etc. & I haven't even brought my summer clothes up here yet. I left them at my parents' home back in Alabama. Something had to be done about the excessive amount of clothing, so I started sorting through all of it.

Sunday, the fiance woke up from a nap to me asking which of his clothes we could get rid of. haha. I had made several piles of things that he never wears & he allowed me to get rid of most it =) That guy has more khaki shorts than anyone I know. I got rid of about 6 pairs, and he still has a whole drawer full of khaki shorts. I think he has a slight obsession!

I also went through my things. I found lots of tops that I have been holding onto for quite some time but just never wear. I took some of the clothing that were still in good shape to Plato's Closet and the rest went to GoodWill. I got about $75 from Plato's Closet which wasn't as much as I got the last time I took things there, but hey it's better than nothing. AND our closet/dressers look a million times better! Now there's room  for my summer clothes!

These are things that went to GoodWill

Matt's things that I took to Plato's Closet

My things that went to Plato's Closet

PHOTOSHOOT

Last night, I received the rest of the pictures from our photoshoot last month. I am quite pleased with the way they turned out! I can't wait to get them printed, framed, and hung up in our apartment. We may even have more pictures made at a different location the next time we are in Alabama.

This picture explains our relationship :) Usually I'm laughing about

something dumb & Matt is looking at me like I'm a rah-tard. haha.

Decisions, Decisions

Today Matt and I ventured into downtown Columbia. Right now we live in the suburbs but are considering moving into the city in a few months. We will be closer to USC where I hope to get into graduate school. We looked at four different apartment complexes today, and I am officially more confused than ever about where we should live. Thank the Lord, we have a few months to decide. While we were out, we stopped at a park by the Congaree River. I took a few pictures and thought I would share =)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Mine has been wonderful :) We made it back to South Carolina yesterday without any problems or having to sit in traffic & I have successfully cooked three new recipes this weekend... woo hoo GO ME! Learning to cook has been quite an interesting adventure. I plan on sharing those recipes with y'all next week.