CRAFT-TIME - Jennifers scrapbook

as i mentioned in the previous post about Jennifers shower that Rachel and I threw for her back in February now i have the result of the scrapbook i alluded to that i made for jennifer as a keepsake gift for the event! enjoy the pics! the theme was, of course, related to the tiffany blue and red color theme but also i threw in a little hint of snowflakes (as a joke on the fact that the first shower was rescheduled due to a freak ice-week) and then my own little doodles :)

the word page below was a fun, decorative way for me to put all the fun stuff we did at the shower since we didnt really have photo proof of ALL the activities. this way its artsy and gives jennifer a way to remember what we did at the shower!


gotta highlight the guest of honor :)






after the decor/pic pages we put in the "Future Prediction" pages we filled out at the shower and then a pic of that guest and jennifer at the shower!


hope you enjoyed it! it was fun to make and i really liked the outcome :) hopefully Jennifer does as well!

Everest Exploration

ok so dont get too excited, im not going anywhere but let me explain the title and upcoming post! a couple of weeks ago Brent decided we were having a movie night and watching an "old" movie for the night...
chris odonnell, bill paxton, chick from the mentalist, and really familiar old dude, etc etc. given the Bill Paxton cast (no offense, i do love me some Twister) but i just thought it was going to be UBER cheesy. However, i was pleasantly surprised and consistently drawn in to the movie. i didnt even get my lap top out to multi-task! anywho, after watching this i was very curious to watch MORE about this moutain

so the next day i found a documentary on Netflix that looked awesome...


its called "The Wildest Dream" let me give you the super abridged version... so most people know or have heard somewhere before that the first documented person to successfully scale Everest was Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 (dont worry, i looked up that details lol). The big question for a lot of the climbing community is that there were 2 climbers George Mallory & Andrew Irvine who attempted the climb in 1924. i say attempted because they did not return from their climb, bodies hadnt been found, and the last time they were seen very close to the summit before clouds covered the summit. So the question has been- did they make it to the top? So this climber hired by a Nova project has been searching for clues to find out for years and finally in 1999 he found George Mallory's body on the mountain and so the documentary follows his and his climbing partners journey (and climb to summit) to see if it was possible that these two guys could have reached the top of everest almost 30 years before Hillary! its a little long but i watched every bit of it! i found it incredibly interesting and i HIGHLY recommend it!

so then after that i kept on looking into it and found fun little fact links to all this cool everest information one of which i linked below -
http://www.mnteverest.net/history.html

THEN, a few weeks later Jennifer and Steven did indoor rock climbing for thier birthday and so i felt like i get a TINY sensation of what these people have to go through to do this climb!

and then Brent and I found a series documentary on Netflix called "Beyond the Limit" (also found on netflix) thats follows a group of climbers from different background, difficulties, etc as they try to reach the summit and its also VERY COOL!

now let me for the sake of sounding obsessive here put out a little disclaimer before i conclude- i have no desire to ever scale this mountain(i would absolutely LOVE to see it with my own eyes one day for sure though) but trust me- im not that hardcore! but it is amazing to me the skill, dedication, tenacity, and strength among other things these people have to have just to get started on the journey to scaling Mt. Everest. its kinda like when i watch storm chasers or other tornado news or shark week- its things that are extremely scary to me but at the same time extremely facinating!

i love to be adventurous and do outdoor sport type stuff and i want to continue to do more in that realm but im not aiming for everest any time soon- ill maybe make some of the 14,000 in Colorado my Everest or something :)



"Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" with the retort: "Because it's there", which has been called the most famous three words in mountaineering"

whats your "everest?"

so i figured id take this post to catch up to the present- i keep going back and forth from old and new so lets go...

After getting back from Seattle i am officially done with work. While this obviously has the downfall of not making an income and back to brent and I literally scratching to get by, it is nice to have time to relax, see people, get important things done, get everything done for school, get us back in the cooking routine, exercising, "tanning", you get the idea....

the day after we got back from Seattle I drove to Waxahachie where my friend Shannon (ironically who lives in washington) was visiting her family! i havent seen her in 6 years!!! it was crazy we let so much time go by but we picked right back up and we had a BLAST!

Friday began the official weekend festivities of Jennifer and Steven's WEDDING!! :) Rehearsal started a little shakey b/c there was a grossly slow traffic jam on the way to corinth. luckily, most of the wedding party was aware of thier role so we spent most of the rehearsal working on the order of things (which is obviously impt :) ) and making sure the grandparents knew when and how to correctly light thier candles :) it was cute lol Post-rehearsal and traffic clearage we headed to Richardson to hit up a little Casa Millagro for rehearsal dinner! it was very fun and very sweet just enjoying the family and celebrating the wonderful couple! After dinner us girls headed to the hotel to have her last single girl time :) the boys of course went back to the apt to drink and play board games (?) haha!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and although we were dragging a little i think we all got up as early as we did because we were EXCITED :) we met with jennifers sister Sophia for breakfast of cinnamon crunch bagels and strawberry cream cheese and panera to build up our strength before heading to the hair appts lol Hair appts went wonderfully with minimal snags (oh come on, you liked the pun :) ) and make up at Bare Minerals at Northpark was super entertaining. i think we shouldve had those ladies join us at the bachelorette party :) after glamming up everything above the neck we went back to Jennifers house to meet up with the family and stuff our pretty, primped faces with The Chocolate Angel ** side note the chocolate angel is a place, as i said it i imagined the readers picturing us eating giant angel-shaped milk chocolate out of an easter basket or something lol** We all fully got ready and loaded in the car to take Jennifer to do her First Look. A first look is when the bride and groom see each other for the first time, its done before the wedding so that they not only have a private special moment but then also have plenty of time to take great pics together of the day! i think everyone in the car was about to burst with excitement for her as we dropped her off and saw her walking toward her "almost" hubby :) made me nostalgic for when brent and i did that 2 1/2 years ago so i know how she felt in that moment :)

after they had thier private time (not to be confused with post-wedding private time) the wedding party came out for our time in the spot light :) this group did a great job with being sports for all the million pictures and providing plenty of sass for the camera :)

aaaand just as fast as it started we turn around and the wedding is starting! its crazy how fast the day went! thats why i always say its impt to savor every minute on your wedding day because you work so hard getting it ready and then it happens in a flash (also why its impt to get a good photographer and poss videographer ;) ) it flew by for us and were just the bridesmaids lol ive just gotta say all of jennifer and stevens work was worth it..... the setting was BEAUTIFUL- glass building surrounded by trees with sunset peaking through as they exchanged vows on the stage, cute little "jennifer and steven" moments throughout the ceremony (including when jennifer asked the minister to repeat what hed said in her teacher voice lol and calling out steven when he started tearing up (he said it was allergies ;))) GORGEOUS BRIDE and HANDSOME GROOM..... i could go on, but in a nutshell, it was wonderful! :)

the reception was a blast. i swear there was food EVERYWHERE in that place! coconut chicken, macaroni bar, fancy meats, ravioli, sneaker-shaped cake, sorbet, button adorned cake, drinks GALORE, carmel popcorn, etc etc Once we all induldged- and i do mean induldged, itd been a long day and we had all been trying to be in good in prep for the wedding- we decided to work it off to finish the night off with dancing :)

trust me when i say this is an abridged version of the night. there were so many wonderful details and special moments in the evening and i am just so honored to have been a part of it but if i went into all that detail i mentioned, we'd be here A WHILE :) it was an AMAZING day and i am so happy for the new Steven and Jennifer Billingslea!!! :) heres a few pics to enjoy (compliments of alexmphotography.com)

sunday w

as a lot of fun as well. since all the fam was up for the wedding we all got together for breakfast at the pancake house :) the only people missing were brents brothers otherwise we'd have had EVERYONE! since moving to dallas we havent gotten to see our parents nearly enough so i was so wonderful to spend the morning with everyone!

monday, i recovered. :) the rest of the week i caught up what felt like everything ELSE going on in our lives. made calls to the school, unpacked more of our apt (yes, still unpacking), update addresses, call various places to get info i needed for stuff id been putting off, you get the idea! i did take the opportunity, however, to take a well needed break when my dear Erin called and asked if i want to chill pool-side with her on Wedensday! it was soo nice to just catch up and have girl talk aaaand catch a sweet "tan" coughsunburncough in the process! she later relieved us of typical life-duties again on friday by inviting us to broomball with her church group. we may not have won ANY of our games but our team had a lot of heart and i liked it :)

saturday night brent and i got invited to a Kabob party by my friend Lauren. we had WAAAAY more food than any 8 person kabob-ing should have but we had so much fun hanging out (while emilys husband and birthday boy grilled lol- not to fear, the other guys watched him and threw in tips :))

monday i met up with my soon to be school mate the wonderful Whitney for dinner at Olive Garden. we talked about everything from our excitement and fears for school to our grand plans for travel and execise lol shes so much fun to hang out with, soon we will get our guys together for a double date and we cant wait!! tuesday brent, erin, and i went over to maxines for "department manager hangout time"- or DMHT- ha, sounds like we didnt like the title too much if you say the acrynym the right way lol gotta say, pizza, champagne, and 80s scene it was an AMAZING way to spice up my tuesday :) wednesday we met up with my long lost Scott and White buddy Kara to have dinner with her and her super cool fiance Toby! they just got engaged so it was so much fun catching up and talking weddings :)

after dinner we started out 3 1/2 hr trek to oklahoma city! (i know this post seems to be getting more and more random- pancake house, sunburn, champagne, DMHT... but it has reason!) Brents BF Jason is graduating college in may and he was having his final acting performance of his college career this weekend. the only day we could come up was during the week on Brents one day off! and seeing jason and his adorable gf natalie is worth the drive and lack of sleep :) We spent the day checking out all that we could find that OKC had to offer (without a constant tour guide of course :)) that night we saw Jason do an AMAZING performance in The House of Atrius! we were so happy we got to see him perform and he did soooo well :)

that sunday brent had a engagment session with Jennifer and Mikey which for me means fun hang out time with Jen, Mikey, Amanda, JD, and Dexter! :) i always have a blast with that crew and we spent all day laughing and finding cool, non windy (which wasnt too successful btw) locations to shoot :) the shots turned out great though! im so proud of my hubby photographer - if you havent seen him latest work check it out .... www.brentlowphotography.com

this past week wasnt nearly as eventful which for me i was thankful for after the way the last few have sped by, overflowing with activity! i do however have to take this time to brag about the Aggie Womens basketball team winning the NCAA National Championship!!! can i get a WHOOP for that one! :) Brent, Erin, and I watched the momentous ocasion with other enthusiastic plans at an uptown Buffalo Wild Wings- we even joined the crowd in the Aggie fight song post-win! making memories people :)

woo- this post got longer than i anticipated! i did a lot more than i thought in the last few weeks lol! good thing im all caught up now and can move on to present matter :) stay tuned, ive been crafting

Slow Cooker-ness

now that the moving in business has settled down its time to get my slow cooker back in action. This has to be one of my favorite cooking appliances! not only does it ensure you'll have food ready to go at dinner time with little effort done on your part but it also encourages home-eating, which can get very tricky with a hubby on a retail schedule or me on a school schedule, if you have kids, surprise guests, whatever your situation. I just got a new one back in November because my previous one only had 2 functions- high or low. while thats fine if your schedule is routine its a buren sometimes for us who get side tracked, take one more trip on the way home, have to stay late beecause if it only has 2 settings, you could potentially over cook your food. This new baby i got as a timer and a warmer function! so once the alloted time you set is done the food goes to a warmer function so that it stays warm for when you are ready to eat but its not over-cooking the meal!

all this said, getting it out today made me feel like sharing 3 of my favorite, super easy recipes ive aquired! ive included the actual amounts rec. just for yall cause if you know me i'm not big on exact measurements and often add my own ingredients to things. Feel free to experiment with them (some of these below are my modified versions based on my experiences with the dishes)

1. Easy Italian seasoned chicken (what is cooking in mine right now)

ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts
can of ginger ale
1 packet of italian dressing seasoning

directions:
brown chicken in a little oil. Put browned chicken in crockpot and pour packet of seasoing over it. pour in your can of ginger ale and set on low for 6-8 hrs (or high for 3-4)

VOILA- tasty chicken. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes or give it a side

2. 3 packet roast
This one is also super tasty and super easy!

ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 packet italian dressing seasoning
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1 packet dry brown gravy mix
1 (2-3 lbs) boneless beef chuck roast

Directions:
whisk the water and 3 packets of mixes together in a bowl. place the roast in your slow cooker and pour your "sauce" mixture over it. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs. done.

and yummm

#3 Crock pot enchiladas

ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground meat
1/2 an onion
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 large jar of picante sauce/salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 can of corn

directions
brown meat and onions in a pan. Mix soups and picante sauce in a bowl. place layers of beef and onions, soup mixture, cheese, and tortilla strips in the crockpot. repeat layers until you run out. Cook on High for about 1 hr (or low for 3).

i like to have tortilla chips to eat with it and usu some mexican rice! :) OLE!

hope you enjoyed these and maybe give one or two a try for yourself. they are easy, budget friendly, and most often there are left overs for lunches or to freeze for a rainy day (the freezer is another wonderful cooking tool but thatd be a whole other post) :) happy cooking

Seattle vacation 2011

We landed the evening of the 9th and basically just vegged out and went to sleep b/c we'd had a long day and were still on Texas time! i have a tendency (against my will sometimes) to be quite the early riser on vacation, esp the first day when i still was on Texas time! Blake and Hillary had work and school responsibilities on Tr & F so we ventured on our own like "real tourists." Brent and i actually were awake before most of the city Thursday morning! We stayed pretty close to the apt because there was a severe wind advisory in effect for King county that day and boy was it ever an appropriate warning! it felt like it did when we were in Henderson as Hurricane Ike came through as a category 1! we did some shopping, went to the aquarium (thanks mom and dad for the Christmas present :)

aand wait for it..... wait for it..... "LaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawelcometoSeattleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
taped and photographed the experience (of course we did)
ok so we did "make" these faces for the shot but no joke, if we hadnt done it ourselves the wind wouldve done it for us!

if youve seen this port of Seattle youll understand the wind intensity here. if not, let me describe. For Seattle being on the coastal area, its not that "close" to the coast. the water in here is normally pretty gentle and whitecaps certainly arent a usual. needless to say, it was crazy...pretty sure i got windburn lol. after proper documentation we spend the rest of the afternoon snuggled up on the couch, relaxing and watching 3rd Rock from the Sun. :)

Friday was probably our most active of the days. We knew it was going to be a nice day so i wanted to make sure we got some of the "outdoor activities" we had chosen to check out done today. our first destination was a nature preserve called Discovery Park. its on the very north tip of the "peninsula" where Seattle major is (i have no idea what the actual geographic term is for this but go with me on this one).


We took advantage of their more advanced public transportation system (ps costs us $5 for both of us to travel around all day). This park was by far one of my FAVORITE parts of the whole trip. i loved everything about it. it was gorgeous views from the top and on the rocky beach, totally serene, had tons of hiking/biking trails, a historic lighthouse at the tip, SEALS, i could go on and on

anytime i need to de-stress and do a calming visualization technique THIS is my new place ill be envisioning! i just cant decribe or photograph how charming and beautiful this place is... im sure its a little "louder" in the summer but still must be nice!

after hiking we took a "challenge" from Blake to go to this fun little noodle restuarant in the international district (waaaay on the south side of downtown). We took advantage of our bus ticket once more and made our way back to downtown. The district is one area of town we actually hadnt visited in our previous trips. it was delicious food and a very unique area of the city.we then just walked around and enjoyed the nice day. We probably walked about 6-7 miles on Friday! yes, we're conscious of our fitness on vaca too., lol Friday night we all went out to hit up the bar scene of town and went to a fun, frilly little place called The Unicorn. we basically stayed there till it closed but we were all still pretty awake so we headed over to an oddly fancy, 24 hr restaurant called 13 Coins for fried ice cream, rolls, and pie! :)

Saturday we met up with Chad at a popular brunch spot (whos name i cant remember at the moment) in Capital Hill (where Hillary and Blake are moving in a few days fyi- the area, not the brunch spot ;)) we did a little shopping, wondering, pikes marketing, went to Bellvue to see the new Bungie building (it had moved since the last time we were here) and was just as cool and youd imagine, and then picked up Rusty from the airport so he could join our vacation party!

Sunday we headed up to Snowqualmie pass (i drew a visual on the map above for its location) for a little snowboarding. This was Brent and I's first time and we were sooo ready to get started. This was my THIRD attempt to be on the sloped. first time, in high school, i broke my foot after id already paid to go so i still went, with my orthopedic boot in a trashbag, and manned the walkies from the base-riveting. second time was last year up here but they didnt have any snow left to ski on by this point last year. But the cliche proved correct once more and third time was a charm! Once brent learned how to stop (important, yes) he was going down the slopes like it was nbd (he has skateboarded since he was like 13 so i attribute his natural talent for it somewhat to that, and you know basically, hes just awesome (gotta give my hubby a shout out)) Meeee, on the the other hand, while i did eventually get it, it did take me about 2 solid runs to grasp the "correct balance" to get down the mountain and not fall repeatedly on your hindparts! at first i had overprepared by wearing thermals and BOOOY was that the biggest mistake ever. i am a natural hot natured person, i have no idea what i was thinking wearing thermals as if id get cold doing an intense cardio activitiy but here i go trying to pull that off. so the first run not only am i trying to learn-getting frustrated while doing so, falling every 5 seconds, using arm muscles (that i do not have), and just boiling in thermal undergarmets!! man, i was cranky! but once i FINALLY changed and adjusted, i was ready to rock and picked it up pretty fast! once you get it it is an absolute blast! we all wanted to go back for more but we didnt have the time (or $$$) lol aaand honestly by tuesday, and the true lactic acid build up hit, i was moving at the pace of a arthritic turtle so i doubt my skills wouldve improvevd! haha


Monday we just enjoyed that everyone was off work and on spring break and just hung out around the city. we also went to the ever popular Crab Pot to stuff our face :) heres a fun little shot of the whole gang at The Athenian for breakfast...

Tuesday we explored more and more of the city, we HAD to visit Portage Bay which is this local, organic resturant with the tastiest french toast and toppings bar EVER!! went had one more serving of Fish and Chips in Cap Hill, got our 3rd? round of fancy cupcakes-yesssss, and shopped a little more. we even ventured around the market looking for some new fun things we hadnt found before and luckily got some of the best grilled cheese i think i have ever had. NO JOKE- i love me some cheese, and this grilled cheese was amazing, it even deserves its own shot....

we got an amazing surprise at the end of the day when Blake landed 4 tickets to the Seattle Sounders opening soccer game vs the LA galaxy (hottie david beckhams team ;)) the crowd def. loves their cities team and were super pumped up for the game. it was highly entertaining and i know the brothers had a blast which makes it totally worth it!

sadly, the next morning we begrudgingly boarded the plane back to hot, clamy Texas. We really love the city and feel its a place we feel at home. Of course it always helps when youve got people you love hanging out there as well. props to Blake for making it a possibility bc without his help we would not have gotten to do nearly as much, or even couldve come for that matter. it was such a nice vaca and i cant wait to go back.

sipping hot chocolate on March 27th, wha?

not to sound bipolar or anything (nice preface to a blog right?) but today was a GORGEOUS gray scale, 40-something degree, end of march Sunday! i love for the sun to come out, dont get my wrong, but i do loooove cooler weather - #1 my hair looks great, #2 im not sweaty (and when im not hot and sweaty, im a happier person, #3 less people are out because they are weenies so more park space for us #4 my hair looks great! :) the main reason for my love of this gray, chilly sunday was the nostalgic feeling i hadfor dear Seattle! we've been back a week and a half already and that is just so sad that is came and went so quickly. Brent and I absolutely LOVE that city! i know so many naysayers who say...oh its rainy, oh its cold, oh it smells like fish.... well, people dont really say that last one but it does smell of raw seafood in some parts so im sure SOMEONE has used that as a ploy against the emerald city! i digress.... my point is... get a cute rain jacket, dont wear suede pumps, and eat that tasty food that captures the aroma of some sections of the city! it is an amazing city, full of interesting things to see and do, fun, artsy people, and awesome food, and for the most part i like the weather! if you dont believe me that they have nice weather check out my 3 fb albums of prettiness of Seattle. While it seems clear the city of Seattle should hire me as a spokeswoman, lets move on....

i'll get back to Seattle in a moment. After the friends shower mentioned in the previous post Brent and i set out on quickly and ferociously tackling the daunting task of packing! double UGH! for only having a 615 sq foot apartment, not to mention a storage unit fondly called mom and dads front bedroom closet, we have a ton of capital C CRAP! its unreal where this stuff appears from. everytime we have moved since getting married we have donated heaps and heaps of stuff we dont need and yet it still takes a full uhaul and 3 car trips to get it down to uptown. We really try to go with a more minimalist perspective but my craft plans acquire more and more supplies to turn into treasures (im optimistic). We are now finally done with the old place (other than the minor detail of still paying for it) and moved in "mostly" into our new place. PS, if anyone needs a nice, reasonably priced apt near plano/carrolton/addison let me know...i have just the place for you...available now!! honestly we may be super poor based on the decision to move when we did but i do not regret that decision for a second! both of us are happier, more energetic, and more adventurous (like we used to be). Its amazing the difference driving 10 minutes along backroads vs 2 hrs commute in traffic can do for a person's life perspective. lol

i finished up work and milked the last bit of "seasonal helper" that i could the day before we left for vacation. now i have this last month and a half (9 weeks from tomorrow to be exact!) before PA school starts to enjoy my time off, do some crafting, visit my friends and family, spend quality time with the hubs, get into a set routine of exercising, etc etc... Again, we are super poor, but thats ok, its still me time to use at my disposal so im going to take full advantage within my meager means :)

speaking of meager means, we just got back from a week long vacation in Seattle (nice segway, right?) lol actually we were able to do that thanks to Brent's awesome old brother Blake and his gf Hilary! They flew us up there, we got to stay in their amazing downtown loft, and basically enjoy the sweet city life! :) ill end this post at that, tune in tomorrow and ill give the run down of vacation complete with pictures! :) tiill then

the sun is out, bright and beaming

i think thats a song....or something off a comedy sketch (said in higher pitch questioning tone)? either way as i looked out the window and search for a title thats what came out...enjoy! especially after rereading my last debby downer post, sheesh i had to put something to lighten to tone haha... as i read it i could hear myself telling someone that whole phrase, getting faster and lounder as i listed the reasons i was DONE with that day, on the verge of frustration tears as it got closer to the conclusion. aaah so now we have all learned i get a little anxious and cranky when i get cabin fever! :) lets just say id have prob had a completely different tone and outlook if brent hadnt been on his death bed, thats for sure. poor guy! BUT in other news HES ALIVE and HAPPY, as am I! :)

well passing that bit of nonsense, i have exercised, straightened my hair, watched a little Nate Berkus solve minor design crimes and now i am ready to blog! well it is has been one whirlwind of a month and a half! i cannot believe that march is almost done!!! since last blogging i have been packing, moving, hosting showers, attending showers, unpacking, cleaning, finishing up work, vacationing, and weddinging ( you know you like that word...)! its waay too much to blog in one single sitting for my fingers and your eyes alike. so i figured what i would do would be do little installments of the happenings, some of which have photographic evidence while others do not.

first things first, Rachel and I hosted the Friends shower for our dear friend Jennifer the following Sunday after all the snow business. It was a lot of fun to practice some of my D-I-Y-ness and creativity with entertaining people. im not typically the host, dont really know why thats not in my nature, maybe cause i lived with jennifer who is awesome at hosting and organizing so i never had to lol i dunno, either way it was a lot of work but a lot of fun and totally worth every minute! i thought id take a sec to show you some of the stuff i made for Jennifers shower and a pic or two of her enjoying it! :)


as you walked in we had set up a little sign in table complete with a little gift i made for her. Jennifers colors for her wedding were beautiful royal blue and yellow but the second runner up was tiffany blue and red. we figured since she wasnt going to have those colors at her wedding we would make that the theme of this shower so at least she'd have an event in the color. Cool side note- she liked it so much these are now the colors they are going to do in their kitchen (and some of these items seen here will be displayed there :) ) Anywho, i loved the quite and i knew shes love and appreciate it so i made it into a nice little art piece for her. The sign in sheet will go in the little scrapbook im making her for this shower :) You can also see the tissue paper flowers i made for the event!

my craft i am most proud of are these babies. I made a flower bouquet out of EGG CARTONS! i found a little random tutorial online and it was really pretty easy to do (not super easy, but compared to things like paper or fabric flowers it was easy and i feel more forgiving- if ya messed up just glue a button on it or paint over it ;) ) i cut out each one to be a little different, i put everything from buttons, to old earings, to little fabric flowers in side them to complete the look, then different color green pipe cleaners to finish it off. i was really proud of how well they turned out, i may have to make some more....too bad i rarely eat eggs

for my gift for Jennifer i compiled my own version of a Marriage Survival Guide. I got her household items that she can def. use but i put little tags on each of them with a cute wordplay for each item with a tip for a successful marriage... there was everything from a chew toy to popsickle molds in that box lol i should taken a pic of the contents but i forgot! hope she liked it! :)

to finish it off heres a shot of the happy hostesses Rachel and I with the beaming bride! we had some smile shots but this sassy one was my fav, therefore, sassy wins! :)  i think ill finish off with this for todays post as not to overwhelm you with all this excitement that is my life ;P be back soon for more!!

Snow rant

ok let me preface this entire blog by saying the 6 inches of snow we received last night are BEAUTIFUL!!! we played in it, brents feeling a little better, its a unique suprise etc etc BUT i am just soooo over this week now

1. i have been cooped up in 615 square feet for 4 days now - my only escape has been a trip to kroger and a trip to target...woo.
2. my husband has been sick with the flu for a week now...which as the previous statement explains means i have been trying to not get sick in a confined space, washing my hands so much they are RAW, and sleeping on an f-ing air mattress since last FRIDAY!!!! im a tad uncomfortable and grumpy now
3. i can only work so long as a seasonal employee and now i have missed one full week of pay that i likely will not get to make up. thanks.
4. rachel and i have been planning a shower for Jennifer for about 2 months now for this weekend and its really the most ideal for many reasons but now thanks to this stupid weather we may have to move it....its def. doable to move the day b/c we WANT to throw the shower for her because she is so amazing and deserves it, its just this month is soooooo stinkin busy theres not that many available days to reschedule
5. we're trying to lease our current apt/pack the current apt/move to the new apt all as soon as we can and all this iced in business is not helping
6. did i mention my husband has the flu so i couldnt even snuggle with him on these cold long days- double ugh
7. and i could be done with my taxes, have almost everything done for school, etc except my investment company decided to take the stupid govnt extension so i have to wait now till feb. 15th to complete my taxes and fully submit my fafsa as "filled" so i can get money for school so now ill get it right in the middle of everything else we are doing
8. i found out some really annoying info regarding school...itll be fine...im just annoyed
9. did i mention ive been sleeping on air mattress for a week
ok im done ranting, im sorry for the vent but it makes me feel better to write it somewhere... i can only vent to brent so much when hes the only person ive seen in 4 days. :) thanks for listening, now back to positive Lauren

February blew in with a big frozen bang!

i have to apologize for my lack of blogness in...ooh over a month... its been mainly just work work work! but there have been some things going on!

#1 today is February 1st and North Texas has been hit with a huge Arctic blast of winter weather. As i sit here blogging i can look out the window and see tiny snow flakes breeze reminiscent of tiny white candy dots on a well greased conveyor belt at the factory. Or like cotton candy when its swirling around in the machine before it attaches to the stick....maybe im just hungry? The wind sounds very angry trying to get into my house through the fireplace. Ive got a porch cat meowing outside on my porch, upset that the jacket bed i fashioned for him is now blanketed in ice. I have to say im a little impressed with the weather people this time... their predictions via weather.com (not to discredit whomever it actually came from of course) were almost spot on... rain started about 12:30 am, sleet started about 3:30, and would turn to ice mid morning. nicely done. im sure many texas patrons are a little more upset than impressed that their predictions this time were so spot on but you gotta give people thier victories as they come right? Anywho, currently the actual temperature outside it says is around 19 degrees with a wind chill on 2. did i just write a single digit 2?!? i had to flip back and forth to the  site to confirm but that tiny lonely digit does in fact stand alone. Its not that people up north dont experience this on a regular winter basis but for us Texans... its never 2 degrees.... i mean i was literally wearing a TANK TOP on Sunday (it was 75)! work was called off, hardly any one is driving, and ive got potato soup in the slow cooker for whenever my husband wakes up. sounds like a good day to watch the snow, snuggle up on the couch, and watch SNL reruns on netflix :)



yep, thats 3 lanes of road perfect for the ice road truckers to come through... and while theyre here, drop me off some mac and cheese! :)

#2 my poor husband has come down with the ALASKAN WATER HOPPING BUG VIRUS!!! this weekend! Its a virus very comparable to the seasonal flu but for brents pride and sanity they've conveniently renamed it just for him :) He has the textbook symptoms and has, as a direct quote, felt like death for going on 5 days now. Just like with regular influenza virus, this AWHBV will likely make him feel that way for about 2 weeks unfortunately.  Hes gotten all the way to 104 and that temp stayed a few hrs.....that must be one hearty SOB to cause Brent to roast at 104 that long! Weve been together over 7 and a half years now and i have never seen him this sick, poor poor honey :( :( :( ( 3 sad faces are the equivalent to 3 exclamation marks...to stress emphasis and emotion of course ;) )

#3 I'm hosting, along with my friend Rachel, a bridal shower for my AMAZING friend Jennifer this weekend, at my house, where sickly brent is currently residing. I have been doing a lot of diy crafts for the shower and i think its going to be just great! aaaaand dont worry im going to sanitize this place like its a hospital waiting room. i will def. post some pics of the shower and the homemade goodies after Saturday so check in!

#4 just to make things even more exciting cough*stressful* cough cough for The Lows, we just singed on for a new apartment closer to Brents work/my school that begins in February. The tricky part is we technically have our current residence until JUNE!! unless we can find a new tenant to take it over. Everyone, including the respective apt offices, feel this shouldnt be too hard. Jan is not really apt shopping time so we are just being patient and praying someone wants it sooner than later! otherwise, Brent and I, in keeping with our "lavish" lifestyle will have a nice vacation home up North and a second home in the city ;) soooo if you need a great apt and a really cheap rent for the location hit me up, please ;)

#5 as promised let me show you one of the big secret crafts we were working on for Christmas this year. For our families we hand designed, constructed, decorated, and named all memebers of ......... drum rolling.......... The coalition of Friendly monsters!

From left to right we've got Cupcake, Nugget, Knuckles, Lumpy, Reptillabear, (Next row) Grimace, Lemonsquatch, paislycorn, snaggle, burnt toast, (next row) narwhalicorn, toast, blimpie, and aquasquatch! ta da!!!

On other exciting news Brents website for his photography business is up and running and it looks great! hes already got some bookings for some weddings and kid pics for the upcoming months! he is exstatic and i am so proud! check it out if you havent seen it yet! :)
Brentlowphotography.com :)

i guess thats about it for us right now! February will be very exciting and suuuuuper busy.... we've got moving, trying to sell apts, showers galore, birthdays, valentines, dog sitting, hopefully no more sickness, getting taxes done, and im sure soo much more! stay tuned!:)