Beautiful...

If I could go back in time to our awesome wedding, I would most definitely have this song involved somehow...I. LOVE. IT!!!





Here are the lyrics...

Forever can never be long enough for me
Feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do

Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way
Marry Me
Today and every day
Marry Me
If I ever get the nerve to say
Hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Mm-hmm

Together can never be close enough for me
Feel like I am close enough to you
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love
And you're beautiful
Now that the wait is over
And love and has finally shown her my way
Marry me
Today and every day
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Mm-hmm

Promise me
You'll always be
Happy by my side
I promise to
Sing to you
When all the music dies

And marry me
Today and everyday
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Marry me
Mm-hmm

So sweet =)

Greg's 26th Birthday...

The Handsome Birthday Man

Last Sunday we celebrated my sweet husband's 26th birthday! It couldn't have started out any better, waking up in a cozy cabin and then going to get a birthday breakfast at the Donut Friar in Gatlinburg. We hit the road to go pick up our boys and when we arrived at his parents house, Cindy had made some delicious chili for lunch and had surprise cupcakes for the both of us (mine didn't say happy birthday)...sweet! They also gave him a very nice sweater and brown corduroy pants.

We had a nice visit with his parents before heading home with our two pups! When we got home, I headed out to Harry's Farmers Market to get some things for dinner. Upon request, we were doubling up on steaks this weekend (neither one of us eat very much red meat, but Greg does love a good steak), so even though we had a steak dinner on Saturday night, he wanted his birthday meal cooked by me to be steak too. SO, we had filet mignon, cornmeal fried onion rings, and sauteed wild mushrooms (all recipes courtesy of Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa). It was very yummy, but a little too salty for my taste...but, I followed the recipes completely, however, next time I'll back off a bit on the salt! I don't have a picture of dessert, but Greg does not really care for birthday cake, so he asked for something that we wouldn't have a ton of leftovers on, so I made Nutella Wontons...these truly, will make you want to slap your own face. SOOOO good! And they're so fast to make and it's nice because you can make as many or as few as you would like. Seriously. Try them TODAY! For Greg's gifts, I got him a new auxillary cable to hook up his iPhone in the car (since I broke the last one), and the new Cross Breed Deluxe gun holster that he wanted for his new gun. It was a fun birthday and I hope that we have so many more to celebrate together! I, of course, had to tease him about being an old man now since he's on the other side of 25 and I'm still a baby at 22 (soon to be 23)! But I love this "old" man more than anything =)

Happy Birthday my love!

Ten on Tuesday...

Here on the Ten on Tuesday questions from Roots and Rings

1. Do you decorate for Valentine’s day?
Pssh...I barely had time to decorate for Christmas! Perhaps I'll feel differently, when I have kids.

2. Does your desktop have a picture or computer graphic? Is it organized?
Picture of me and my love taken by Erin =)

3. Do you use a paper planner, electric planner or no planner at all?
Paper, dry-erase, and electric. It's a bit intense. And yes, things are color coded and some events even have pictures =) You'll also be happy to know that filling out my planner in school and all through college was one of my favorite beginning of the semester tasks!

4. Do you change purses or bags often or stick with a good thing?
I'm terrible about this. I usually just stick with whatever I've been using until I get a new purse. Which someone gives me because I am not a fan of purse shopping. I have a dilemma this year because I was given 2 purses!

5. What’s your favorite YouTube Video?
It won't let me embed the video, but it's Bon Qui Qui at Burger King...LOVE.IT.

6. Do you use Turbo Tax or a real person to pay your taxes?
Both, I have a real person- Greg, and he uses Turbo Tax.

7. How many states have you set foot (or tire) in? Which ones?

Hmm... a bunch!

31 states!

8. How many countries have you been in? Which ones?
Mexico and Italy

9. How many pillows are in your house? (Sleeping or decorative)

I don't no...15ish?

10. How cold is too cold for flip flops?
It's never too cold for flip flops.

Our weekend getaway...

For Christmas one of Greg's gifts for me was to take me to Gatlinburg for the weekend. It also happened to be his birthday weekend, so we got to celebrate that as well! The weekend was awesome and much needed! You might think that since it's just the two of us, we see each other all the time and have nothing but time on our hands, so why would we need a weekend away?! Oh how wrong you would be! Our schedules are hectic and always jam packed (we're working on this), so a weekend away, just the two of us with no schedules or commitments is just what the doctor ordered =) We arrived at the cabin late Friday, but not too late to play a few rounds of pool and watch a movie! The cabin was adorable and absolutely perfect for us!



On Saturday morning, Greg made a big, delicious breakfast/brunch for us of waffles, eggs, and bacon. Yum!
We lazed around for a bit before venturing out to downtown Gatlinburg. The roads were still very icy, so I had to make a promise that I wouldn't scream if we slid a little going down the ridiculously steep mountain...fortunately, I never had to prove that I kept that promise, however, there were a few times we were afraid we weren't going to make it back up! After an afternoon of walking around, we headed back to the cabin for a nap before dinner. Since this weekend was Greg's birthday, I did a bit of research and decided to find a restaurant to take him out to on Saturday night. The Peddler Steakhouse had some of the best reviews, so that was where we went. It was a fantastic dinner and the steak was wonderful, but the desserts were where it was at....MMmmm the bread pudding was SO good!

(We just had the cell phone for pics...so ignore the quality!)

After stuffing ourselves, we went back to the cabin for some wine, movies, and a rousing game of Scrabble (we're old).

Winner, winner! (note the intensity)

We were so sad to leave such a relaxing weekend behind! Before heading home, we made sure to stop by the Donut Friar to get a special birthday breakfast for the birthday boy!

It was so wonderful and I hope we make this trip an annual tradition. We headed home to pick up our pups (which Greg's parents graciously kept) and then spent the night celebrating Greg's 26th birthday (post to come). I am so thankful for such a sweet, thoughtful husband to plan just a great weekend! Can't wait for our next vacation =)

Why I married him...

This video sums up just another reason why I married Greg. He is so fun...and had some sweet moves =)

Here is a video of Greg dancing with Karis and Laurel while playing Just Dance Kids on the Wii...

Is he not going to be an awesome dad?!

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Pup

Holly's Baby Shower...

The NWed's Girls

(Holly is the pretty momma-to-be in purple)

On Saturday I went to Holly's baby shower, hosted by Joy, Paula, and Brandy. I did a terrible job of taking pictures (the pic above is from Leah's blog), but the girls did a FABULOUS job on the shower! The decorations were adorable and the food was delicious! Holly received some wonderful gifts for her new baby girl, Bella Rose. It is so much fun seeing such great friends go into this new phase of life. Holly and Chris will be excellent parents and I cannot wait to meet their beautiful baby!

Here's a picture of the sign I painted to match Bella Rose's nursery as part of her gift (excuse the poor quality of the pic!)

Closet of Shame...

*** Brace yourself. These pictures are crazy! And on a side note- this is no reflection of the rest of our house. This what just where we hide everything =)

One of my "resolutions" for 2011 is to become more organized and to do a better job staying on top of things around the house. Unfortunately, with a schedule like I had in 2010, I had little time to do anything, let alone keep our house spotless! My idea of cleaning up was taking whatever was laying around and putting it into the storage closet, also lovingly known as: Closet of Shame, Closet of No Return, No Man's Land, and a few other choice names for the disaster that was this closet. The closet happens to be our biggest storage area in the house, we desperately need all the storage space we can get because we are running out quickly. I did not have plans of cleaning the closet any time soon. I figured once I wasn't able to open the door, toss something in, pray I didn't hear glass shatter as the item landed on something else, kick the door closed with my foot as I ran away-I'd be fine. Well...today, I reached my breaking point. The closet was taunting me and telling what a terrible OCD organizer I was...so, I went to work. I stopped halfway through when our kitchen table and floor and couch were absolutely covered, and about had a panic attack of clutter. However, I powered through and cleaned it up! Now, I am no miracle worker. The majority of the stuff in the closet are things that we need and use fairly regularly, so it's not that I can just go on a throwing away rampage, and I certainly don't have anywhere else to put them, so the closet is still pretty full. However, it is a MILLION times better than before-I can see the floor! So, I now present with part pride, part humiliation...


Before
And After...

Hidden posts...

Just so you know...my slacker self is finally getting around to making Christmas posts. So to view them, you have to click on 2010, then December and look for the new posts!

Top 10 of 2010...

It's a new year! However, 2010 was such a good one, that I have to pay tribute to it's awesomeness =) So here are my top 10 memories in 2010 (in no particular order)...

1) Graduating from college! I am so glad to be finished and proud of my accomplishments!
2) Greg getting a new job as a Senior Programmer Analyst in Duluth!

3) Welcoming a new nephew into the world, little SJ! *Interesting fact- for the past 4 years we have welcomed a new niece or nephew each year...sweet!
4) Our trip to Disney with Jillian and Tyler- SOOO fun!
5) Celebrating 2 years of marriage with weekend in Atlanta!
6) Going to the NC State Fair for the first time in YEARS!
7) Being part of an awesome small group and getting to be such awesome friends with these amazing women!
8) Student Teaching- It was such a great learning experience and something I will always remember!
9) Our small group camping trip...even though it was one of the most miserably cold nights of my life...I had a good time with the company!
10) Our surprise trip to the mountains with Jeremy and Joy! The men were AWESOME! What a fun treat =)