So what?!?!

Yup-it's been one-a-those days!

SO what if it's really a Sam Houston State University necklace?!?!


It just so happens to be my "married" initials and I'm sportin' it! (Not to mention-daddy graduated from Sam so ha! It has two special meanings!)

Beau claims it's "bad luck" to wear it before the wedding.

Pssshh...

Who needs luck when you've got love, right?! (ok so that was suuuuper cheesy. So what?!?!)

SO what I'm on page 60 of my book for work that has to be read by tomorrow? Oh-and I have to write a report on by 5pm??


SO what I'm leaving to go out of town tomorrow and not a damn thing is packed OR washed?!?

SO what I haven't washed my hair since Monday and it's been coated with baby powder for multiple days in a row??! Just one of the benefits of having blonde hair-right?! (to my defense you'll be happy to know that I HAVE, however, bathed everyday...you're welcome!)


SO what I haven't been to the gym more than twice in a week for a while now seeing that I have to be in a wedding dress in 108 days?!?

And on that note...SO what that I know exactly how many days left 'til my wedding on any given day?!


SO what all I ate for lunch today was Greek yogurt and beef jerky?!?

SO what I'm paying for a car that hasn't been drivable since March and there's not a single thing I can do about it?!?

SO what I've watched "The Holiday" every night for the past 3 weeks and have never stayed awake past the first ten minutes?!??

SO what I had a really bad attitude at work today after being repulsed by the woman breastfeeding in our store?!?

So WhAt??!!

HaPpY hUmP dAy giRliEs!! Who else is overly excited about the 3 day weekend?!!!!

XoXo

Steph

Simple DIY Coaster

...so simple that even I could do it!

I find myself to be pretty crafty & creative but when it comes to DIY stuff, psssshhh. I always wind up wasting a ton of money on all the ingredients and end up throwing the whole thing away.

Not. This. Time!

What you'll need:

StazOn Stamp Ink
StazOn Stamp Cleaner
(both found at Hobby Lobby)

Stamps (your choice!)
FYI: I found out the designs with simple, thin lines work best-like the cross.
The stamps that were all kinds of detailed (like a paisley) kinda bled on the tiles.

Mini felt pads
(Wal-Mart)

4x4 tiles
(Home Depot)
I got a pack of 9 for like four bucks!

TIPS!
Make sure you wipe off each tile with a washcloth.
I did NOT wet mine when I wiped it off & it worked fine!
The stamp cleaner can be used if you mess up but keep it close by so you can erase any errors immediately!

Stamp away and this is watcha get:

Beautiful, semi-handmade coasters!

You can also do the same thing on larger tiles and make trivets for your kitchen!

I think I mayyyybe spent $15 and they make GREAT gifts!

OH! And there is NO way I can take credit for these little cuties!! All props go to Tanya at Trey & Lucy--go see her...NOW!

A look back at Christmas 2010

*This is truly for my own personal keepsake but if you'd like to read along, be my guest!

1. Christmas was at mom's house this year for the first time in a long time. I was home. Home for my very last Christmas morning breakfast. Home with my pup. Home with mom to help ease the hustle and bustle of making Christmas dinner...even if I did eat more during the prep than the actual meal and possibly make a huge mess.

My oh-so-talented Christmas tree salad. :)

2. On Christmas Eve, Aunt Moni, Uncle Gary and the boys came over and we all played "What are yours like". Seriously funniest game ever! I still can't believe how BIG my cousins, Blake & Bryan, are to be 15 & 20! They make me look like a shrimp!

Bryan (20), Me, Blake (15)

3. I blame whoever brought the coffee cake for my weight gain. (ahem...this guy.)

4. Happy tears were shared with mom when I gave her a digital frame stocked with our engagement pictures-along with a very touching mother/daughter poem. ((more on that later))

5. I must say I am very proud of myself for taking a ton of pics!

my pretty pretty princess

Classic Christmas tree photo
Chris, mom, me, Beau

massive amount of presents

6. I took myself to Home Depot, picked out the right parts and fixed mom's toilet. On. My. Own.

7. I learned that although I love my family to absolute pieces-sometimes they are just out of their minds. Maybe that's why I love 'em??

8. Aunt Monica (dad's sis) pulled out OLD home videos of daddy & Skippy (my grandpa). Dad was 2 in most of the videos which means they were archived from 1961!! There was no sound back then but the videos were simply perfect. Dad looked the exact same. Blonde hair. No shoes. Big belly. Forever a smile on his face. How I miss him...sigh....

Thanks, Aunt Moni :)

9. I realized how truly thankful I am of the people I have around me. My family. Beau's family. Everyone.

10. Favorite gift received: ALL of them. Honestly. I got so many great things off our registry for Beau and I!! Comforter, pillows, canisters, blankets, kitchen gadgets, rugs, blender, you name it! I also won the award for best wish list! (Ok I cheated. I told everyone to buy everything off our registry and they really did!! SO much that there are only 2 unfulfilled items on our Target registry. YAY!)

Christmas morning
(no make-up...I apologize)LOVE these throw pillows!
Thanks, mom!!

11. Between our dogs, my brother's dog and Aunt Mary's dogs, there was a total of 7, SEVEN, dogs at our house ALL weekend long. I attempted to hand them out as party favors at the end of the night but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Lilly had enough of all the festivities

sleepy little angel

12. The day after Christmas, Beau & I found thee most perfect little town home to live in!! We move in for the first time together in 3 weeks and that, my friends, was the icing on the cake!

Beau signing his life away!
Holy beard?!

Home. Sweet. Home.
(1.14.2011)

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!
I know I did!

We've been elf-ed!!

Merry Christmas!!

The last one.

This is my absolute last Christmas to wake up at home and not with Beau ((finally!!)) & that is enough to be merry about! Although I love being at home with mom, Chris and all the pups, the idea of waking up next to my bug, on a cool, crisp December morning, just the two of us, a fire and a warm cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer just melts my heart and i. cant. wait.

Enjoy every bite of fried turkey, every ounce of mama's sweet potatoes, and every last morsel of that pecan pie. Who cares if your jeans don't fit right at the end of the night-that's what New Year's resolutions are for.

I hope y'all have a beautiful time with your closest friends and families!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Blogger iPhone App!!

The answer to my our prayers!

Well...not really. I never actually prayed that I would find a blogger app but I did search for a while and well, I'm on it now!!

It's a whopping $2.99 so it won't break the bank and you can even post pics, change font sizes and everything!

Side note: It does not, however, give you a dashboard and/or the list of all the blogs you are following for easy reading/commenting. As far as posting, it's prefect and very easy to use.

It's called BlogPress and can be found in the AppStore (duh). For all you Blackberry and/or Droid addicts...sorry 'bout your luck. You're on your own.

Anyways-just thought I'd share!

Goodnight lovelies!

What I've been working on...

...a blog post for my company as a "real person" rather than writing as a "company".

And since I get this question all the time in my personal and work life, here are my answers!

What Vitamins Should I Take?

My thoughts, exactly.

I really do love Christmas lights but this is priceless.
It always seems to make me snicker.

Happy Monday, y'all!

It finally feels like Christmas!

This weekend was the 2nd annual Howard/Joffrion/Pennington outing to ICE! at the Gaylord Texan!

Beau and I began our trek to Dallas Friday afternoon and I must say I'm pretty proud of myself for several reasons:

1. I drove almost the entire way there AND back which is asking a lot
   
2. I didn't get lost once
3. I somehow managed to spend $200 in Bucee's (the coolest non-gas station gas station in Texas)...I don't know if I should be proud of this but we got some pretty good loot so I'm ok with it now.
4. I didn't eat one healthy meal all weekend (ok so maybe I shouldn't be proud of this one either...)
   

Anyhoo...Saturday morning we woke up to go visit one of my high school girlfriends, Christina, and her little family! I'm so glad we took the time to go visit them & their little boy, Colt, who is just presh! ::Babies...sigh::

He smiled for this one! :)

Looks just like mommy!

That afternoon we met up with Aunt M & Uncle J at the Twisted Root for exotic burgers. Aunt M & I had turkey burgers (ok, so we didn't go all that crazy) but fiance and uncle got buffalo burgers which seemed to be pretty yummy considering there wasn't a crumb left on their plates! They had thee best milkshakes (hence the empty milkshake glass), chalkboard walls in the bathrooms and snuggies you could rent whilst sitting at the bar!


Saturday night we headed up to the Gaylord Texan to go see ICE!, which, by the way is one of the coolest/prettiest hotels in Texas!

Basically, the Gaylord brings in 40 artisans from China for 4 months to sculpt these amazing ice figures out of, well, ice! There are over 2 million pounds of ice that go into this event and you really just have to see it to believe it! It's pretty inexpensive to go and they give you a parka to wear throughout the tour since the temperature is below freezing. Ok, it's like 16 degrees to be exact but you know us Texans are drama queens when it comes to cold weather. Last year the theme was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This year was Charlie Brown!

Uncle John got a new pair of Luchesse's so we had to take a boot photo!
Beau, me, Uncle J

Snoop-a-loop

ice slides!

Love them!

I was secretly wishing his tongue would get stuck.
mwah ha ha ha...

This is me pretending to have a Canon Rebel

...and again. Clearly I need lessons. Oh, and a Canon Rebel.

After all the cold weather, Christmas shopping and hot cocoa sipping...it finally feels like Christmas!