Weekend Update

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Friday night Jonathon wanted to go visit his old high school to watch a playoff football game with his friend Kevin. He tried so hard to get me to go, but I really needed to come home and chill out and plus I didn't want to freeze my booty off. I was still trying to thaw out from the state game from last weekend. Unfortunately his high school ended up losing, but I think he enjoyed spending some time with his friend Kevin, who is expecting a new baby any day now!

Saturday, we woke up early to head over to the granite store. Oh boy! It was a lot of fun and it wasn't as difficult as we thought it would be. There was some really pretty pieces of granite, but there were some that were just entirely the wrong color, so it was fairly easy to weed some pieces of granite that wouldn't go with our color scheme.

We walked through the warehouse and picked our granite. We even had to sign a liability waiver!

After we were finished at the granite store we decided to grab lunch and headed over to Clarkston Woodshop, a smokehouse that was voted best pulled-pork in Michigan.We actually tried to go here before one night, but there was a two hour wait. Good thing we decided to go over there for lunch because there was a line to get in before they even opened!

The food was so great it's no wonder people wait it line to get in! Their pulled pork and mac and cheese was astoundingly great and they gave us so much food we ended up eating our leftovers for dinner and was as good reheated as it was when we first ate it. I know will go back there again and I can't wait!

Yesterday we saw Wreck-It Ralph which was a super cute movie! It's all about being yourself and loving yourself for who you are. I think we were the only adults in the theater who didn't have kids! LOL We went to the 1130 am showing and the tickets were only $5 each! Although next time we go we have to sneak in treats because it was $13 and some change for a large pop and popcorn!

All in all we had a pretty good weekend. Next week is going to be a long one. Jonathon is going out of town for business and I will have the place all to myself which could be fun or extremely boring. After this week things should start ease up on Jonathon and he won't have to be gone so much for work. I can't wait plus he's so stressed out. He doesn't complain about it, but it's all over his face! Poor guy!

What did you do this weekend?

TGIF!

Let me start with... thank God it's Friday!

I’m hoping this weekend will be peaceful and relaxing as this has been a really long week for Jonathon and me and next week will be a long one too. The fall is one of Jonathon’s busiest seasons at work. He’s been working 10-12 hour days every week. The past few nights he’s been staying at work until 9 PM. We only live 45 seconds away from his work, so fortunately he doesn’t have a long drive home. After the end of this month things should slow down quite a bit and hopefully we will be able to spend more of our evenings together. J

Last night Jonathon and I met up with Stan from KSI to go over the layout of our new kitchen. It was fun and we are getting more and more excited about our new house! Stan said he will be emailing us a virtual draft sometime next week and I can’t wait to see it! When our house is finished being built I will write a post for each room and share photos. I also plan on sharing photos and details as we furnish each room.

 
Tomorrow we will be looking at granite for our kitchen and bathrooms! Jonathon said he is excited for us to do this together because he enjoyed doing this when he picked out a granite counter for his kitchen in the condo. I promise that I will snap a few photos and share them with you.

 

I also changed my purse out!

 

Vera Bradley- Folkloric

 

This was a sweet randon gift from my hubby. He found a great deal on RueLaLa.com and decided to surprise me. I was so excited when he presented me with a RueLaLa box! He's such a sweetheart!
 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll catch up with you on Monday!

Weekend Update

This was a busy weekend, but a fun one!
 

Friday night, Jonathon and I met up with Dony and Karen at the Moose Preserve. It was a nice time and the food was as delicious this time as it was before. Dony and Karen also recommended some other restaurants that we are both looking forward to trying out very soon. I also feel the need to mention that the next time we see Dony and Karen they will have a little baby in tow! Karen is due at the end of the month and she looks great!
 

Saturday we drove around looking at homes built by our builder to get ideas on brick colors, shingles, siding, etc. for the new house. When we were done with that we drove to East Lansingfor the Michigan Statevs. Nebraskagame. It was so cold outside and the game didn’t start until 330pm, so as the game went on it continued to get more and more cold. My legs, feet, and fingertips were frozen and numb by the end game. Sadly, Michigan Statelost during the last few seconds.
 

After the game, we met up with Nate, a friend of Jonathon’s from college and Nate’s dad for dinner at the Pizza House. The pizza was pretty awesome! It’s a Chicago style pizza which was a fabulous treat after sitting out in the cold for 4 hours! Nate’s dad has to be the sweetest man I have ever met. He’s such a kind-hearted person and is always encouraging. Jonathon hasn’t seen Nate since we got married, so I think he enjoyed being able to catch up with him as well.
 

On Sunday, we had a meeting with Elaine to start selecting things for our new house. It was far less difficult than we had anticipated, but perhaps if we thought it was going to be easy it would have turned out to be harder? Who knows! For weeks we have mulling over what color cabinets to get in the kitchen and we finally figured it out on Sunday. That was a huge relief and we will be meeting with the cabinet guy soon to discuss our layout design and appliances. J Elaine was very helpful despite having a cold. It’s so nice being able to work with someone like her. She is super easy-going, but is also helpful at the right times when we need it.
 

I think I will wait until we’ve definitively made our decisions before I start sharing the things we’ve picked.
 

After our meeting, we decided to drive by our lot and we were so excited to see that they’ve actually broke ground! Yipee! I wish I would have taken a picture! We also saw that a house with the same layout as our as new house was currently being built. Fortunately, we were able to walk through the framed house to see the actual layout of our home since we have never really been able to walk through it. Walking through it made us really excited.

 
 

This is what Jonathon emailed me today:

I think walking through the Cheshire yesterday got me really excited. I'm more excited now than I was before. I think it really hit me just how beautiful the house is going to be and how much space we're really going to have. Our master bedroom and bathroom is going to feel like an award. I feel like all of our stress and hard work are going to have a big payoff.
 

J His email made me smile.
 

What did you do this weekend?

iPhone Dump

I hope everyone is having a spooktacular Halloween!

I've been on a bit of a blog hiatus, so I thought I would share some of my recent photos from Instagram. Enjoy!


P.S. I will be back to blogging regularly very soon!

Weekend Update (late again)

Ugh… pretty much sums up this weekend!

Saturday we drove to East Lansing for the State game and no sooner than we left drive way it began to rain and it wouldn’t let up. There was no way I was going to sit in the cold and rainy weather to watch the football game. Fortunately, I was able to catch a ride home with our friends Kevin and Stephanie, Kevin’s Aunt Red, and Stephanie’s dad Steve who also did not want to sit in the cold and the rain. It was a nice ride home though! We were all chatting during the entire ride. We talked about Real Housewives, Honey Boo Boo, Long Island Medium, and so much more! I also enjoyed being able to hang out with Stephanie and talk about the baby! Only four more weeks until he/she is here!

Jonathon came home a few hours later in a terrible mood (Aunt Red predicted this to happen) because the Spartans lost the game. We made our run to the rental house to drop some things off that we didn’t want the movers to move. Jonathon was moody for most of the night until the Tigers beat the Yankees! He finally started to perk up and was acting like his usual cute and nice self again. This made me very happy!

Sunday we spent the whole day finishing packing and made a few runs to the rental to drop more things off.

Monday morning we woke up very early and organized the big stuff for the movers to move. The movers arrived at 9 am and six hour later they finally had everything moved into the rental. We spent the rest of the day/evening cleaning, getting the cable and internet hooked up, tying up loose ends, and getting things organized. Finally, at 9pm we were able to eat!

I can’t believe we’re going to move again in 7 months!

Window Shopping

When I was younger, I could shop for hours and hours on end. In fact, I would usually make a day out of it and shop for 5-7 hours at a time. Now days, my schedule would never allow me to do that. Not to mention, I have more bills and more responsibilities’ then I ever did during my marathon shopping days.

During those long shopping trips, I spent a fair amount of time window shopping. I have always had a love affair with things. I love things! Well, now that it's not longer possible to have marathon shopping sprees I fulfill my need to look at pretty things by online window shopping.

Some of my favorites places to shop and window shop online are:

1. 6pm.com- this is the perfect place to find quality shoes, jackets, dresses, and much more at bargain prices. This is the website I purchase from the most. Plus, they have free shipping!
2. Gilt.com- I have yet to purchase anything from this site yet, but as soon as we move into the new house I plan on making many purchases. They are an outlet website that sales high-end merchandise for men, women, and children; home decor and furniture, as well as, vacations. Most of the time, I look at their home decor items and kitchen gadgets.
3. RueLaLa.com- this site is a lot like Gilt except their items are usually more affordable. We bought our Waterford champagne flutes and cake cutting set on this site at a really great price.
4. JossandMain.com- this is a new site that I found randomly and I fell in love with it right away. They sale lots and lots of home decor, furniture, and kitchen gadgets at great prices. I can't wait to shop on this site when we move into the new house!
5. Pinterest.com- if you are a woman and you haven't explore this site yet, all I can say is... ENTER WITH CAUTION! This website is highly addictive! This isn't really a website store, it's a virtual pinboard, but I had to add it because I've wasted countless hours pinning pretty things, recipes, interior design ideas, and so much more.
6. Etsy.com- I love this site! This site is an online marketplace where you can purchase items that are usually crafted and made by the owner of the market. I purchased many items from this site for my wedding.

Where do you like to window shop online?

Moving- the trasitional period

 

While I love that we will be moving into our new home (in about 7 months); I definitely do not love the moving! Unfortunately for us, we will have to move twice because we sold our condo very quickly and have to move out before the new house is built. So, for the next 6 or 7 months we will be renting a house. I’m not looking forward to this transitional period at all.
 

After the wedding was over, I was looking forward to cooking and decorating, but since we will only be living in the rental for a relatively short period of time it would such a waste of time to unpack and then turnaround and repack everything in 7 months. This means no decorating or major shopping! We also decided not to unpack any kitchen supplies except for silverware and dishes. Which means very little cooking!
 

On the upside, Jonathon and I will be making some very fun and big decisions for our new house! Since we will be building a new house, we get to choose the kitchen cupboards, lighting, carpet, hardwood floors, tile, sinks, brick colors, and many, many more things! This excites us and so far we’ve being agreeing on just about everything. We’ll see how things go when it’s time to make the final decisions though!
 

Here are a few things that I would love to see or have in our new home.

Beautiful Patterned Rugs

 

 

Beautiful Staircase


 

Dark Wood Wide Plank Floors

 

 

 

Awesome Patio


 

Vintage Chic Bedroom


 

Pottery Barn Styled Home Decor

Weekend Update

Weekend Update

After work on Friday, I met Jonathon, so we could sign the lease on the rental we will be living in while our new house is being built. It was actually the first time I saw it and I was pleasantly surprised, it’s close to the expressway and right around the block from Jonathon’s work. The basement is big enough to store all of our things, so we won’t have to pay for storage. When we were finished signing our lease, we went to The Moose Preserve to celebrate and also because Jonathon’s boss offered to pay. J Jonathon has been getting lots of praise from his clients and so, as reward his boss offered to buy us dinner. We were very appreciative and dinner was very tasty.

Saturday, I went to Karen’s baby shower. It was really nice to hang out with everyone again (for the second week in a row). This time I had a front row seat and was able to see Dony and Karen’s reactions as they opened their gifts. I think everyone started to tear up when we saw how emotional Dony and Karen got while they were opening up gifts. They’re such a great couple and we are so excited to meet their little one.

We spent the rest of the weekend packing and moving things to the rental. Sorry for such a boring post!

Birthday Celebration

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile and haven’t gotten around to it.

My husband’s birthday was one month after our wedding and I knew I wanted to do something special for him because this would be his first birthday as a married man. I know it sounds a little corny, but it’s the little things in life that make us happy!

I also knew I wanted to bake him a cake and when I found this recipe for Summer Strawberry Coconut Cake on the Carolina Charm blog.

This was my first attempt at baking a cake from scratch and I think it turned out fairly well despite a little issue with the frosting. :)  

Click here for the recipe

I think next time; I will use half of the recipe to make cupcakes. This cake was too big for just the two of us and there was way too much leftover icing.



 

 

Isn't this banner too cute?! (sorry for the bad lighting)

Sad to be 33!

 

Weekend Update ( a little late in the week)

On Saturday before we headed to the MSU football game in East Lansing, Jonathon and I decided to put up our “sold” sign on our new property where our house is going to be built.

 

After putting our “sold” sign up we couldn’t stop smiling.

We are really excited about our new house! It’s a constant subject between the two of us and luckily it seems to make us both happy. I think we’re really excited about building “our” own home and forging “our” own family and lives together.

After that, we headed to the football game where Michigan State lost to Ohio State by one little, but very important point. We were pretty bummed out, but I did feel encouraged by the fact that the Spartans showed some improvement from previous weeks. The guys were actually catching the football this weekend!  Since our day started out on such a good note and then turned not so good after the Spartan loss, we decided to stop at Dairy Queen to end our day on a sweet note. We were also pleasantly surprised to see that DQ is still offering buy one Blizzard and get the second one for only 99 cents! Score!

Sunday, I attended our good friend Stephanie’s baby shower. Stephanie and her husband are also our MSU buddies and are also season ticketholders too! They attend the games with us and sit our section! Jonathon was also Kevin’s best man and Kevin was a groomsman in our wedding. Kevin and Stephanie are a really fun couple and they’re expecting their new baby to be here sometime around November 11^th. This is also Kevin’s birthday! Jonathon and I are so excited for them and we can’t wait to meet him or her!

 

Her shower was beautiful! Kevin’s mom and aunt made all of the centerpieces. They also had sugar cookies that matched her cake and the food was absolutely delish! It was really nice. I wish I would have taken pictures to share!

I also have 2 more baby showers over the next two weekends! That makes 3 showers for three consecutive weekends! I don’t know who put me on the baby shower circuit, but I’m enjoying it thus far!

Weekend Update

This past weekend, my husband Jonathon and I drove 2 hours to Mount Pleasant to see the Central Michigan University vs. Michigan State University football game. We had a great time!

Along the way, we stopped at a cider mill and got donuts! We quickly told ourselves this was going to be the last day we would “be bad” and eat junk food and sweets. Of our many differences, we do have one strong common liking and that is sweets! I don’t believe there is anyone else that loves sweets as much as we do! Eating sweets not only makes us smile, but also makes us giggle like kids who just stole a cookie when mom wasn’t looking.

Jonathon’s aunt and uncle both work for Central Michigan University, so we met up with them before the game. It was nice being able to spend time with them one-on-one which is a rarity when you come from a big family. I just wish I would have taken some pictures to document it.

The game ended up being a big blowout; I think the final score was 7 to 41, making this MSUs 2^nd win for the season. J On our way home, we stopped in Lansing and ate at DeLuca's which is one of Jonathon’s favorite restaurants that he frequented when he was at MSU.

We both enjoyed our little road trip and we’re looking forward to doing another away game in the future. Maybe to a Bowl game next time!  

Sunday we spent the entire day relaxing. We also started watching the first season of Dexter and we really like it! It is a bit gruesome though! I started to feel a little queasy when I was eating my leftover pasta and watching the show at the same time. Next time, I should try to eat before I watch the show.

What did you do this weekend?

Just Sold!

In my last blog, I said that we were thinking of putting the condo on the market. Well, we did and we sold it! We listed the condo on a Wednesday, viewings were scheduled for the following Saturday and Sunday and we accepted an offer on Monday!

I still think we are in shock at how quickly we sold our condo!

We also found the perfect builder and the perfect location for our new home. We are super excited!

Since it will take anywhere from 7-8 months for our new home to be built and because we just sold our current place we will be moving into an apartment. I’m sure this will be a little adjustment, but I’m sure we will manage just fine. J

Who, What, Where, When, and Why

Who:

 

My hubby! He has been super helpful!

This weekend we took my brother to the outlet mall to help him get some new clothes for his new job. Jonathon helped my brother piece together dress shirts, ties, and dress pants which my brother has not the slightest clue as to what goes with what. I know my brother is very grateful for all of Jonathon’s help. 

What:

 

Michigan State football!

I am a season football ticketholder via my husband, Jonathon. Jonathon has been an MSU season football ticketholder for over ten years! Although, MSU isn’t my Alma Mater, I am still a very big fan of MSU sports even before I met the hubs.

We have a great time at the games and enjoy spending time with our family and friends who are also season ticketholders. We usually have a couple of tailgates throughout the season and have been known to take an occasional road trip to away games. It’s a lot of fun!

In fact, we already have a road trip planned to see an away game at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan in a couple of weeks! We’re really excited!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

Where:

About 2 months or so before our wedding, my husband decided it was time that we should start to look for a new house. Say what?! Yes, that was my reaction, but he’s the type of person who makes a decision and goes with it while I’m the type or person who likes to mull over decision for a looooong time to the point that no decision ends up getting made. Not to mention, looking for a new house while 8 weeks out from your wedding day is not the kind of thing a neither rational nor sane person would choose to do!

We have narrowed it down to a few areas we would like to move into and are possibly considering a new construction. We still have a lot of work to do and figuring out to do before we make a full fledged commitment. While I’m not in love with the condo that we currently live in, I will be a little sad when we leave. I do love living off the lake and being able to walk to the bakery, the root beer stand, Dairy Queen or the new frozen yogurt shop nearby, and having a sports bar with a nice sized patio in walking distance. With that said, I’m not in a super rush, but it will be nice to find a new home, the one we’ll raise our family in which always makes me smile.

When:

Since we’re on the topics of families… everyone seems to want to know if and when we will have kids! They ask in such a way that it almost seems as if they need to plan around it or something. It’s not super annoying yet, but sometimes I feel like saying it’s none of your business! I especially get annoyed when people say, “you’re going to have kids right away aren’t you?” implying that I’m getting too old and I better hurry up!

I suppose inquiring minds want to know the answer… well, we’re thinking probably by next summer we will start. Send us good fertility vibes please! 

Why:

Why do have to wait so many months to watch the new seasons of our favorite TV shows? I currently am missing watching the following shows: the Walking Dead. Once Upon a Time, Californication and Fringe the most!

Weekend Update

This weekend we decided that it was time to finish putting away the rest of our gifts that have been sitting in our living room since April. After we got back from our honeymoon we were able to make room in our kitchen to put most of our gifts away, but we still ended up having quite of few gifts that we just didn’t have room for. So a couple of weeks ago we made a trip to IKEA to look for a storage piece to purchase.

After looking around the showroom, we found this cabinet that we both really liked and thought would go well with our current furniture.

HEMNES glass door cabinet from IKEA

When we went to the self-serve warehouse to retrieve the hutch we suddenly realized that this item would not fit in our car. Thankfully Denny, a family friend allowed us to borrow his truck this weekend, so we were finally able to bring it home.

We also found another peice of furniture that we could use for additional storage during our second trip back. It was only $69.99 and we just couldn’t pass up this great deal!

EXPEDIT shelving unit from IKEA



  

After two days of (Jonathon) putting together our IKEA purchases here is the final result! 

Not to bad, eh?

We were both satisfied with the end result. We still are working on getting rid of the oversized chair and getting the decorating down right, but we are super happy to no longer have a piles of wedding gifts in our living room! 

What did you all do this weekend?

Oh, how pintersting!

I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple for the "Oh, how pinteresting Wednesday."

Let's start pinning!

Create a chevron pattern with masking tape.

 

Such a warm way to welcome houseguests during the fall season.

I'm so excited to send our first Christmas card as Mr. and Mrs.!

Cute photo to display on a Christmas card.

This is precious!

I definitely want this mailbox when we move into our new home.

Someday I would love to have an MSU weathervane.

I NEED this for footbal season! Go GREEN! Go WHITE!

What are you pinning?

Skin Care Regimen for Wedding

When I first became engaged I started to seek out a new skin care regimen. For years, I had been using a fairly popular brand of skin care products that worked really well for a long time, but recently it seemed as though my face had become immune to it and that it didn’t work quite as well for me now as it did in the past. I also need to say that I contribute a lot of my skin care problems to being under an overwhelming amount of stress. While trying to plan the most beautiful wedding ever, I was also working and going to school full time. It nearly pushed me over the edge, but it was my skin that really suffered.

So, I did what any girl with bad skin would do when she is about to get married. I found the best make up artist ever (Of course in my most unbiased opinion)! I read countless raving reviews about Janelle Thomason from the Make Up Loft (I will write another post about her in the future). I quickly called to schedule an appointment to meet with Janelle ant talk about her services. I was so impressed with Janelle’s work and the variety of services she offered at her boutique that I ended up booking her for my wedding that same day. If you knew the type of bride I was, you would be shocked that I would book Janelle’s services so quickly without having visited any other make up artists. Janelle’s approach was calming and she assured me that she would never pressure me into buying any unnecessary products or try to up sale me (and she kept her word).

Janelle Thomason with MISS USA Rima Fakih source: The Make Up Loft

I casually mentioned to Janelle that I would like to get a few facials done before the wedding day and she told me that she doesn’t like to pressure her brides to do anything unless they really want to, but thought it was a great idea and that it would also allow her the chance to become familiar with my skin before the wedding day. I had always wanted to get a facial done in the past, but I was also concerned that it would be a huge waste of money and that I would just get pressured into spend lots of money on expensive products that would just work so-so. With my skin on a downward spiral, looking its absolute worst, I knew I wanted to give it a try and that even if it did nothing at least I would know that I tried my best.

When I went for my first facial, Janelle informed me that all of the products she uses are by Mario Badescu. Janelle also recommended using Mario Badescu's Skin Care Line, but said that if she could just recommend one product for me to use it would have to be the Drying Lotion.

Source: Mario Badescu

From the Mario Badescu website:

The Drying Lotion is a fast acting, effective acne spot treatment. Formulated with salicylic acid, calamine and other quick-drying ingredients, this product will shrink ugly whiteheads virtually overnight while you sleep. While other acne spot treatments can irritate and dry delicate or sensitive skin, this product is safe and effective for all skin types.

How to Use: Before bed, after cleansing, toning and moisturizing apply a dab of lotion directly on the whitehead using a cotton swab. Do not rub in. Let it dry and rinse off in the morning. DO NOT shake the bottle and apply only the pink sediment on the skin.

Beauty Tip: Great for back acne and breakouts on the chest. The Drying Lotion will also take the itch out of mosquito bites fast!

This stuff really works! After I saw such great results with this product I decided to start trying other skin care products from Mario Badescu. I just wish I would have taken before and after photos because the results have been pretty dramatic. My skin was glowing on my wedding day and has never felt more healthy than it does now.

Oh yeah, the best part is that Mario Badescu's skin care products are very affordable! Mario Badescu products range between $10 and $30 dollars. You can purchase Mario Badescu skin care products online at Mario Badescu and at Ulta.

Other Mario Badescu products I recommend (and use):

Acne Facial Cleanser

Alpha Grapefruit Cleansing Lotion

Oil Free Moisturizer

            Silvier Powder

sources: Mario Badescu

Did you start a new skin care regimen in preperation for your wedding?