What if...

Have you ever thought "What if?"

No, really. 

Have you ever thought about how on earth you
ended up in the life you're living right now?

I did the other day. 

Randomly.

I was talking with someone about how I ended up going to school at UofH and while they went on to share how they ended up there too, my mind began to wander.
(Did I ever tell you I'm sometimes a bad listener?)

I couldn't help but think allllll the way back to being 15...

***

What if I wouldn't have spent that one weekend at UofH 
partying with my best friend's older sister?
(You know...as much "partying" as a 15 year old can do.)

What if I hadn't loved it and made up my mind that 
day that UofH was the only school I would apply to?
(Out of ALLLLLL the other major universities in Texas...)

What if I wouldn't have been accepted?

What if I never joined a sorority?

 

 

What if I never became Delta Zeta?

...which I later found out was the sister sorority to Beau's fraternity, Sigma Nu.

 What if I wouldn't have broken up with my high school boyfriend?

What if Beau would have never torn his ACL 
playing baseball his freshman year at a different college?

(Go ahead and look. Baseball players have the best butts. I know...)

What if he would have never transferred to UofH?

What if he never joined that fraternity?

What if I would have never applied for that college algebra course? 

What if he never applied for that college algebra course?

What if I never gave him that chance?

What if he never gave me that chance?

***
Do you see what I'm sayin'?

Funny how God has these little plans for you and
you don't even realize what the hay is going on.

All I know is I am so blessed that I was led into his life.

***
So now I ask you:


What if?

If I Ran For President

Oh hai there!! 

Happy Monday to you too!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! I sure did. I was able to pull out my good ol' cowgirl boots and a dress on Friday night and was lovin' every minute of it. Rodeo is HOW many days away?! Oh ya-31!!

Enough about me...

Today I'm linking up with Erin @ Living In Yellow

for my version of:

"If I Ran for President"...

(OK-maybe I'm still talking about me. Whatevs.)

First things first, can you only imagine what the world would be like if I (me, Stephanie Nicole, this girl) ran for prezzy?? I'm not so sure I'd live in the US of A anymore if I were you but that's neither here nor there...

Ok let's get started, shall we?!

1. Work weeks would only be 4 days long. Max. 

Saturday, Sunday and MONDAY would be the new "weekend" because let's face it...no one likes Mondays.

2. Nationwide nap-time for everyone at 3pm.

Students, employees, presidents, CEOs, stay-at-home-moms.

At 3pm, you lay that head down and you like it.

3. Every company would instill an X% raise each year for their employees.

Need I say more? Of course, things like bringing your boss coffee and picking up lunch for her every once in a while would increase this little percentage but to each his own.

4. Fried foods...nixxed.

Heart disease is THE #1 killer IN THE WORLD. Do you know what causes it????

French fries, fried pickles, chicken nuggets, chips...yes...FRIED foods.
No more.

5. And while we're out it...sugar too.

Diabetes is right there behind heart disease. Not to mention...sugar causes inflammation in the body. Inflammation in the body causes cancer. Cancer feeds on sugar. Vicious cycle, I tell ya.

6. Cigarettes = outlawed.

Nicotine & tobacco companies would be shut down completely.
Can you imagine how many lives would be saved by the one simple movement?

7. The Bachelor would air year-round.

Twice a year is not enough. Surely there are enough crazies out there to make this happen. C'mon ABC...you know how much more money that'd bring in.

8. No driving for Asians. Period.

I love me some Asians and have a few Asian friends 

of my very own but lord knows they should NOT be on the road.

Drunk or sober.

9. Insurance covers vitamins...not just drugs.
 In my honest opinion, I think insurance should also cover all hair appointments...cut and color. I mean-this is what keeps me sane. It's like an anti-depressant...but not.

10. Men would carry babies.
Okay. So this might be super awkward but I'm all for it. Let's let them be fat for 9 months and see how they deal with it? Morning sickness, swollen ankles, buttons popping...take THAT, guys.

11. Each person is forced to have maid service at least twice a month.

Clean houses = happy people.

Happy people = healthy people.

Healthy people = healthy country.

Healthy country = happy country.

12. Men are required to deal with any and all car problems.

From oil changes and tire rotations, to flat tires and blown engines.

Cars were not made for women to fix and therefore, women taking their car in for a simple oil change would be unheard of.

 

13. All nail salons would supply their customers with complimentary booze.

No explanation necessary.

14. No more groundhog day.

Punxsutawney Phil has been wrong for the past how many years? I mean, our country PAYS people to go out every year on the SAME day in February, dress in ridiculous clothing and over-sized top hats to see if this little rat comes out of his hole. Newsflash: if weathermen can't predict the weather for tomorrow, a damn groundhog cannot predict the weather for the next 6 weeks.

15. Picnik would NOT shut down.

Between Erin and myself, I think we've covered just about all the important details.

What do you think?

Would you vote for me?

6 Things I'm Loving & Another Weird Dream

Texts that make me laugh until I cry.

Eileen = Katie

And obviously, those are NOT my feet.

***

My bosses.

Just because? Seriously? Love them.

 ***

Upcoming vacays to Florida.

Naples in February.

Tampa in March.

  Hellllllo beach!!

***

Valentine's Day

All-time favorite holiday. 

Red + Pink + Everywhere = Love.

***

Spring Colors.

One word: CORAL.

Coral + turqoise.

Coral + Navy.

Coral & Yellow.

 (just bought this one. LOVE it.)

Move over hot pink. Coral's comin' to town!

 ***

Wedding Season

(you know I love me some weddins')

March: 3 weddings...Tampa, Dallas, San Antonio

April:1 wedding...Houston (Thank God.)

May: 2 weddings...Magnolia, TX & Cabo

September: 1 wedding...Hawaii

***

Speaking of weddings, last night I had ANOTHER dream that Beau and I got married AGAIN. (This is literally the 3rd or 4th one I've had in the past 6 months. It's the weirdest thing.) For this particular wedding of ours, the photographer actually made it in time but the make-up artist didn't show up and my hair girl got there 15 minutes before showtime. Also, there was a baby tiger involved. Apparently it had been locked in my closet at my mom's house for 4 months by the time I found it. What the hell. Really?

Wedding + Tiger
What in God's name could that mean?

***

Over & out, kids.

Happy Thursday!

He shoots a rifle. I shoot a Canon.

When your husband is out running around the ranch shooting anything with 4 legs and you're left at the ranch house with no computer or no TV, you have to take matters into your own hands... (for lack of better words...you strap on your camera and roam around the five-hundred-some-odd acres searching high and low for objects that make up the letters of your last name.)

Mission: Accomplished

H-O-W-A-R-D

:)

I've wanted to do this for quite some time and now that I have a big girl camera, I made it happen! I just love the look and feel of all the shots.
Matches our home decor to a tee!

I'd like to do this at all the different places
we travel to to pick up on all the different themes.

For example:

Florida would be all beachy. (Going Feb & Mar!)

Colorado would be all mountain-y (When am I going to Colorado?)

TX hill country could be all hill-y & wine-y. (Going in April!)

And one day when Beau takes me to Bora Bora, well...you already know how that would look/feel. (Hey Beau...how 'bout ya get on that...)

Beau thinks I should find objects for every letter of the alphabet so we can give them as gifts to friends. Hi! That would take for-ever and I'm gonna need more than 500 acres. That's all I'm sayin'...

Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to incorporate these into our house. Do I frame all the letters in one large frame? Should I frame each individual letter and hang individual frames? Or should I make a canvas out of it? You know I love me some canvas.

Decisions, decisions...

Who Says You Can't Have an Entirely Yeast-Free Birthday Dinner?

Saturday night, we had Momma J (aka: my mom) and her man-candy over for her birthday dinner. It's so much easier to stick to the diet when you cook for yourself so we decided to stay in and play "chef" rather than go out somewhere else. (Not to mention...we saved ourselves from a pricey dinner tab...)

I got so stupidly excited about our meal, I literally forgot to take pictures of the birthday girl herself. Whooooops! (Sorry mom!)


Did I mention I'm ALL about simplicity when it comes to cooking?! Because I am. Seriously-a 2nd grader could have made all this. You know...a second grader who's mother makes them cook. (Not a bad idea...)

Without further adieu...

Baked zucchini

Cut zucchini into spears, drizzle with olive oil, top with season salt & pepper.

Bake on 350 for 20 minutes. 

Baked sweet potato fries

Slice sweet potatoes into fry-size. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, chili powder & pepper.

Bake on 425 for 25 minutes. (These didn't come out crispy like I'd imagined but they were still to. die. for.)

Bacon-wrapped asparagus
(because, let's be honest, everything is better wrapped in bacon)

 Wrap asparagus with bacon, drizzle olive oil, dash of sea salt & pepper. Top with fresh garlic.

Bake on 350 for 15 minutes. (I like these better on the grill.)

Pan-fried oryx steaks
(Praise the Lord I married a man that hunts. And cooks.)

Soak meat in original unsweetened almond milk & an egg to remove "gamey-ness". Fill freezer bag with 3 cups oat flour. Toss raw meat in oat flour to bread. Add 3 tbs coconut oil to skillet. Pan-fry until golden-brown.

For dessert, we made yeast-free chocolate mini-cakes for the third time within the week. (Recipe here.) I had half of mine already down my throat before I even thought to take a picture of it. Sawwy!

Let's just say everyone left with full bellies & we were pretty darn proud of ourselves!
***
Happy Tuesday pretty people!

 MUUUUUAH!

"The First"

One of my very best friends, Brooke, is the first to everything.

First one to get a "big girl" job.

First one to move out.

First one to meet "mister right".

First one to get that shiny little rock on her left hand.

First one to tie the knot.

And obviously....

the first one to send us "that" text message.

You know which one I'm talking about...

Yup. THAT one.

But I'm more than okay with this.

Why?

Well, for one, she's by far the most mature out of all us girls so naturally, it would make sense that she would grow up before any of us even consider it.

Second, she goes through everything before the rest of us which means "the rest of us" are prepared for when our turn comes around. (i.e.: proposals, engagements, showers, weddings, honeymoons, marriage and now...babies.)

I consider myself to have the inside scoop on life, thanks to Brooke.

Enough with the babble...she had her first baby shower this weekend. Can I tell you how surreal it is to see one of your very best friends rockin' a baby bump??!! 

And let me tell you...sister was rockin' it. :)

Her adorable, American Doll-like neice, Abby.
Where can I find one?

Trying to get this shot was rather awkward lol.

Me & Ash

(Zebra print maxi dress in January? Sure! Why not?!)

I've always wanted to take these pictures with one of my girls! ;)

Kisses for baby Jude!

So thanks, Brookie, for leadin' the way for the rest of us delinquents! 

You can be the first any day! ;)