Our First Anniversary

We had a wonderful anniversary. We spend it mostly just relaxing and enjoying our time together. We opted not to go anywhere (out of town) since we're still settling in the house and have had so much other stuff going on.

We swapped gifts before heading to dinner. Here's Bailey's:

He got a fire pit and a scarf. The first anniversary is paper so I gave him a card too. (And, technically, paper could be burned in the fire pit).

My first gift:

I opened a box which contained these sheets of paper which say, "Happy 1 Year Anniversary, I LOVE YOU." He then told me that I could pick out a photo album--it will contain only pictures/things from our anniversary. Little did I know I had something else coming......

My surprise gift I received just before dinner.

The second band for my ring!!

I was totally surprised. I still can't believe he got it already.

We ate dinner at Texas de Brazil. If you've never been, go. They have an incredible salad bar and then lots and lots of wonderful meat. The house specialty sirloin is to die for. We ate way too much and then, of course, had dessert. Bailey had key lime pie and I tried the bananas foster pie. Both were fabulous.

It's been a fantastic first year of marriage. I am so blessed.

Well Overdue.

Here are some pictures from a few things over the last month...remember to ignore the poor quality of the photos.  We have a camera that gets the job done but doesn't have great quality. Hopefully we'll invest in a better one before too long.

Bailey and I after the Ole Miss-LSU game.

This was in my room at Thanksgiving. My students are 3rd-6th grade (most of them--the ones that made these). Our chain of gratitude is hanging about our handprint turkey.

A close-up of the turkey.

Before the Christmas Party at Felicia Suzanne's.

Of course we had to take a "family photo"--one with Lula. I intended on using this one on our Christmas card, but decided not to.

Christmas

We had a wonderful anniversary and Christmas. I'll post about the anniversary later--I don't have the pictures at the moment.

Since I never posted them before Christmas, here are some pictures of our tree and other decorations at the house.

This is an ornament that my sister gave us. A friend of hers (well, and mine too) knows someone that paints these ornaments--all individualized according to the couple based on the tux and gown, flowers, and of course the faces, too. And, mine was navy since my bridesmaids dresses were navy. You can also choose a verse for her to pain around it (it follows the swirly lines around the ornament.)

This tray is on the left side of the coffee table.

This is on the right side of the coffee table. The trees, charger, and ball ornaments are all from our rehearsal dinner/reception.

Our stockings hanging from the mantle.

The left side of the mantle. The vase with the red and silver balls is also from the rehearsal dinner/reception. The tree DOES have sequins all the way to the top...as they get higher, they become clear. I have some leftover glitter spray but just haven't gotten to spraying it yet. I have my Christmas cards sitting across the mantle. At this time, it appears I only had one that made it into the photo.

The right side of the mantle. The reindeer are from the rehearsal dinner/reception as well. I bought 2 of the 3 sets of ornaments here the day after Christmas at Walmart. I believe the others came from Marshall's.

We bought this ornament on our honeymoon last year.

"First Christmas Together" with two love birds. I actually bought this ornament the day after Christmas in 2007, right before we were in engaged in February 2008.

One of many Fusion glass ornaments we received from showers last year.

Our beautiful tree!

The topper I created. Not sure if I'm completely content with it, but I like it.

This last week has kept us busy. Bailey worked most of the week. After he got off on Monday we did some shopping with his family, like they do every year. It's always fun and entertaining. On Tuesday I baked some cookies with my sister. Wednesday I went shopping again, this time with mom. Thursday morning we had a small Christmas breakfast/party at Bailey's office.

On Christmas Eve, we went to church and then had Christmas at his grandmother's. All of her children and grandchildren were actually here this year.

Christmas morning we woke up and had Christmas ourselves. Then we went to his family's house to have Christmas with them. Next we went to my family's house to open gifts. We then went home to clean up and get ready for lunch at his grandmother's. After eating at his grandmother's we went back to my parent's and ate a bit more. Then we went home and napped.

We are very lucky that all of our family is here in our small town. It makes holidays pretty simple.

Bailey's cousins who are close to our age have been in town most of the week so we've spent a good bit of time hanging out with them. We don't get to see them often but when we do, we really enjoy it.

Saturday morning I woke up early to do some shopping with a friend. I found lots of great Christmas stuff--all on sale!! Bailey and his dad did some shopping at Lowe's and Sears.

Today's been pretty relaxing. Went to church and then had a reunion with my dad's side of the family. Outside of the reunion/church, there was a precious little puppy. She kind of resembled Lula in the face. She is terribly skinny--you can see every rib and her hips. I somehow talked Bailey into letting me bring her home for the night. Tomorrow morning I'm going to take her to the vet to see if they might know who she belongs to. I'll update later on how it goes.

Happy Anniversary

One year ago today I married my best friend.

It was perfect and absolutely beautiful, but I am a bit biased.

I'd always hoped for a Christmas wedding and since he proposed in February, we had just enough time to plan our Christmas wedding. It was simple and elegant (in my opinion). I had a beautiful bouquet of calla lillies and roses in deep red. My bridesmaids carried bouquets of white roses and daises. Bailey's boutonniere was a red rose and the groomsmen had a white daisy. The only decorations in the sanctuary, other than what is already provided by the church, were two flower arrangements (seen below), two candlelabras, and a few pew markers.

My beautiful bridesmaids.

The guys holding me up.

A real one with the groomsmen.

My bridesmaids being silly with Bailey.

And a serious one with him.

Bailey and his groomsmen.

Playing a little football with my bouquet.

With my family.

With his family.

With all the beautiful bouquets.

I saw this idea somewhere and I had to try it.

In front of the sanctuary.

My bouquet. The lace wrapped around the bouquet was from the had my mother wore with her wedding gown. The pin on it is my maternal grandmother's--it was made with her and my grandfather's ring after their 50th wedding anniversary. These two things composed my old and borrowed.

My cake. It alternated layers--buttercream and strawberry.

Bailey's chocolate cake.

They threw "snow" as we left.

Off to change and then begin our honeymoon!

Happy anniversary Bailey! This year has been incredible and I can't wait for all the years to come.

Back to Blog World

I have not forgotten about blogging, I just haven't had the time (or on some days, taken the time) to sit down and post anything. It's also pretty likely that I haven't had a whole lot to talk about.

We are still settling into the house, very slowly unpacking things. And, of course, trying to prepare for Christmas. I am nearly finished with the shopping.

We haven't had a whole lot of anything else going on. Bailey was in our church's annual "Winter Rose." It was a play with the choir singing between some of the scenes. Then last week we went to a Christmas party held by the Appraisal Institute, an organization Bailey is a member of. It was held at a restaurant in downtown Memphis called Felicia Suzanne's. It had a really great atmosphere and the food was wonderful. It was also lots of fun to get all dressed up.

This past Friday night we did a little Christmas shopping. We stopped at some of the regular places--Target, Old Navy, Marshall's and then we braved Wal-Mart in Southaven.That's not ever a great idea. It was a madhouse. Of course they only had about 5 lines open in the front so they were all as long as they usually are on Black Friday--wrapped around half the store. We found the few things we needed and went to check out in electronics. Bailey was making some casual conversation with the cashier and then the cashier made the comment, "Tonight the animals are lose. Don't feed them." It was very amusing at the time, but we were probably a bit delirious.

Saturday I had a Christmas party with all my girlfriends from college. It was lots of fun. We ate, swapped gifts, ate, played games, and ate some more. Pictures will come soon.

On Sunday we went to a cast party/lunch for all those that were in the play and their families. We had lots of good food. I made green bean bundles and they were a big hit. I think I brought home two.

Since then, I think all I've done is eat. And it won't stop anytime soon.

Tomorrow is my last day of work and then I've got two wonderful weeks off. We're having a potluck lunch and revealing Secret Santa. Tomorrow night is our Sunday School Christmas party/baby shower. Then on Saturday Bailey and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary. It's so hard to believe it's been a year.

More posts should follow soon--possibly with pictures of Christmas decor and maybe even a few wedding pics.

I'm Back

I have not disappeared.

I had the week of Thanksgiving off. However, I did very little resting & relaxing. The week involved lots of painting, cleaning, packing, moving, & more, with a small break for a Thanksgiving meal and lots of Black Friday shopping. And then more packing and moving...

Saturday was our first night in our new house (and no, I don't have any pictures yet--it's still a mess. They'll come later). We had everything out of the rent house on Monday and are still slowly, very slowly, working on getting everything unpacked and in order. But my Christmas tree IS up. I put it up on Saturday. We finally got our cable and internet hooked up yesterday. I went without facebook/blog/and non-work email for 3 whole days. That is quite a long time, but I survived and did lots of catching up yesterday.

I'm going to leave you now with a lovely photo taken in our Wal-Mart parking lot the other night. Enjoy.

Our House

Life has been rather busy lately. Work always keeps us busy, but lately it's been working on our new house! We closed on our house this past Friday.  So we have been rather busy getting things turned on and cleaned up, buying this and that, and, of course, painting. I do not have any pictures yet but will....eventually. Needless to say, my WEEK off for Thanksgiving will be filled with more painting and MOVING!

Two-Thirds Homemade and Our House

Tonight's dinner was two-thirds of the way homemade. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese (the non-homemade portion).

I wish I had an exact recipe for the fried chicken and potatoes, but I don't. They're both things you have to just keep trying until it's perfect (or, nearly perfect).  We know from experience--the first time we tried frying chicken, the pan was way too hot. The kitchen and living room were full of smoke. We had to open windows and doors. The first few times we (well, technically, me) made the potatoes, they were the consistency of glue (those are Bailey's words). Bailey is now responsible for making mashed potatoes--his turn out much better than mine.

Here are some guidelines/suggestions for making the fried chicken.

• You'll need: chicken (I don't do bone-in chicken--just make my own chicken tenders), flour, an egg, milk, and some oil to fry it in. And, any seasonings you'd like to add to the flour--I like to add some paprika and/or Tony Chachere's seasoning, but you could just do salt and pepper.
• Cut the chicken into tenders/strips.
• Mix the egg with some milk (enough to dip the chicken in before dipping in the flour mixture).
• Dip chicken in egg mix and then flour mix (repeat, if you'd like). Then I let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes so the breading sticks.
• Pour some oil in a pan (enough to coat the bottom plus some). Heat oil over medium heat (again, I remind you--don't let it get to hot).
• Once oil is hot, start frying chicken. (I usually test it out with one piece). Fry chicken on each side for a few minutes--until golden brown, or cooked through. Try not to touch/flip chicken too often--that causes the breading to fall off.

Yum!!

A few guidelines/suggestions for homemade mashed potatoes.

• 
  
  You'll need: several potatoes, milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste
  
  
  
• 
  
  Peel potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces. Put potatoes in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let boil until tender, about 15 minutes. (As I said, this is Bailey's job so he's the judge of when they're tender enough).
  
• Drain potatoes and return to pot. Then mash them up--we use our handmixer. It does a fabulous job. While mashing, or mixing, add a splash of milk and some butter (as much or as little as you'd like). Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
  

Recipe for macaroni: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese from a box. However, I'm planning on trying to find a homemade recipe for this too.

Moving on to something else....we found out earlier this week that we may be closing on our house within a week or two. Now, I've got to decide on paint colors and a few appliances. Hopefully, more on this subject later.

Our Trip to Auburn

Bailey's brother, Bedford, is a manager for the Ole Miss football team and gets two tickets to each game, home and away. So, a little while back, Bailey and I decided we would go to the Auburn game. Although the outcome of the game wasn't too pretty, we really enjoyed our trip. Here's a recap of the trip....

We left Friday morning amidst all the rain. We detoured to Oxford to pick up a few things and then got on the road again. We stopped in Tupelo to eat lunch at Abner's and then continued on. Luckily, we didn't really have any rain after leaving Oxford. However, we ran into A LOT of traffic in Birmingham. It took us AT LEAST an hour to get through Birmingham, probably longer. As we sat in stop-and-go traffic we tried to keep ourselves entertained. Here are a few pictures of the things we encountered while in this traffic.

This Alabama tag is dedicated to farmers (like a Choose Life, college , wildlife tag, etc.) If you can't see it very well, the top reads, "FARMING FEEDS" and this particular driver's name must be Bill. So, if you read it altogether it states, "Farming feeds Bill." We found it amusing.

Here's the Pink Package Store. We just thought it was picture-worthy. In the parking lot beside it was a Crown Royal race car.

This is a Sonic with a playground. The first one I'd ever seen. (We also saw a Sonic with a playground when we stopped in Fulton on the way home.)

This is a picture of Bailey's dream car--a Porsche.

We also saw a baby blue Escalade but I didn't have the camera ready. There were probably a few other things, but these were the most memorable.

We got to our hotel later that evening. We stayed outside of Auburn in the town community of Valley. It consisted of two hotels, a fireworks store, two gas stations, about three places to eat, and a football stadium. Needless to say, we didn't have many options on where to eat dinner, so we ate at Waffle House. It was good, just not exactly what we wanted.

When we checked in we found out that we were in the Eastern time zone. Well, approximately a mile into it. It was a bit confusing but we just kept ourselves on Central time since Auburn is.

Saturday we got up, ate breakfast, and headed to campus. We got there easily and found parking easily (for free, too--it was $30 across the street) and relatively close to the stadium. We walked around for a bit and then talked to Bedford for a few minutes before heading into the stadium.

A quick pic before going in to the game.

This is Jevan Sneed's dad (our quarterback) and a few of his friends. Got to love the rain-covers for the cowboy hats. The state troopers and other officers also had these lovely covers on.

I won't go into details about the game. It had it's ups and downs, but not a good ending. We did get to see a really cool Auburn ritual--where they release the eagle and he flies down to the field. I tried taking a few pictures of it but they didn't turn out well.

After the game we saw another ritual of Auburn's. After every win, they roll an area of campus called Toomer's Corner. Here's a not so great picture of it.

We headed to Chili's (our favorite) to eat and warm up and then headed back to the hotel to relax and watch more football. Sunday morning we made a quick stop at Starbucks and Target before heading home. The trip home was not as eventful as the trip there. All-in-all, a very enjoyable trip with my wonderful husband!