What Are You Doing?

Last year, The Hubby and I spent NYE in gorgeous San Francisco. This year, we're spending it in our own home since we already took a quick trip to Austin for our wedding anniversary.

What are your plans for celebrating the New Year?

NYE

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Three Years Ago

A little over three years ago, The Hubby and I got married in front of all of our family and friends.

We celebrated our anniversary by staying at the gorgeous seven room Heywood Hotel in East Austin. Our charming little room included a private balcony, free hot chocolate, and even a shower with a skylight. 

The day was spent shopping and shopping some more. The two of us enjoyed the most amazing dinner at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, which is now one of our favorite restaurants ever, and you know just how much we like to eat. We were in bed by nine and hid out in our room from the cold winter night.

The Hubby walked to a shady taco trailer, Veracruz All Natural, early the next morning and brought back some fantastic breakfast tacos and a tasty barbacoa torta sandwich. After breakfast, we indulged in the most luxurious toiletries. My hair looked fabulous thanks to fancy Kevin Murphy shampoo and I had to resist stealing the bottle.

We took a mid-morning nap before having to checkout and enjoyed the wonderful bed linens one more time. Before heading back home, we grabbed some very expensive juice at the Daily Juice and walked around the city and did some more shopping.

I told The Hubby that I didn't want to leave Austin and return back to reality. He responded, "Reality isn't that bad." And he's so right! We're very fortunate people, mostly because of my husband's accomplishments and hard work.

Thanks, Hubby, for giving Bella and I the most amazing life. We love you!

Our Very Merry Christmas

We were especially excited to celebrate Christmas this year because it was our first one with just the three of us. Although we missed our friends and family dearly, we were happy to actually put up all our new decorations in a home of our own. The two of us had never bothered with decorating before because we were never home to enjoy it all. The Hubby and I went a little overboard in purchasing holiday trimmings as we had to start from scratch. The trick is to buy everything on clearance the year before. 

Our Christmas gifts were only put out under the tree on December 23rd. We made the mistake of setting them out in November and this happened:

Yes. This really happened. Amazingly, most of the gifts went unscathed, although I was really peeved that I wasted three hours of my time wrapping everything. I think this was Bella's way of telling us that we shouldn't decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving is over. 

Our favorite Christmas decoration was this amazing train set that The Hubby's grandparents gifted us. I had called his grandmother inquiring about a train set The Hubby had as a child. They no longer had it so they bought us a new one! We are so excited to share this gift with our kids in the future.

Bella, of course, hates the thing and barks at it aggressively whenever we have it running. She even jumps on the couch, that little punk!

Our train is appropriately in Army camouflage and even emits steam when running at full speed!

 Since The Hubby had to work on Christmas, we opened up all of our gifts the morning of Christmas Eve. We really went all out for each other this year with gifts thanks to me actually bringing in a paycheck every month. The Hubby was definitely the more generous gift giver and I was given so many things that I had been wanting for years. 

The funniest gift was this magnet with an image of a yellow labrador retriever and the words, "I ate it." Bella was given a nice bone and a new stuffed toy in her stocking. What a treat! 

We invited a couple of friends over for dinner that evening. I have to give my husband all the credit for cooking that night. His prosciutto wrapped red potatoes were delicious and perfectly paired with our honey smoked ham and green bean casserole. 

Of course, we had plenty of cookies for dessert.

And we took it easy in front of a crackling fire the rest of the night.

The next morning, The Hubby went to work his 24-hour shift. I was able to see him for a bit when the two of us went to hand out homemade cookies to the other Soldiers unfortunate enough to work on Christmas Day. The day was a little sad, but I'm still so thankful that my husband is not deployed and in the States this year because we may not always be this fortunate. 

A huge thanks to all our family members w ho sent the most amazing and thoughtful gifts. We miss you all so much and hope to see you soon!

Christmas Card Outtakes

Inspired by this Pinterest pin, I stuck a wreath around Bella's neck and took some pictures.

And then Bella started tearing off the ornaments...

Happy Howlidays!

Bella wishes all of you a bright and merry Christmas!

Furry Friday

I can't get enough of this little face.

First Rate Version

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Our Loyal Subaru

This new Subaru commercial makes me tear up every single time. I'm going to be so sad when Bella's snout starts turning grey. 

Subaru love.

4:55 am

This was me a few mornings ago. However, the beeping was just a long continuous one that was incredibly high pitched at 4:55 am. I called the alarm company and begged them to help me so that I could go back to sleep. I received the response: "Unfortunately, we're just a monitoring service. I can send a message over to the alarm company and they will contact you within the next 48 hours."

I was a zombie for the next day and Bella went crazy over the noise. The situation definitely made me think of Phoebe, which lightened the situation a bit.

The matter is all settled now, but at the time I was cursing at the fact that Hubby was in the field and couldn't help me. I think if he had been around I would have laughed about it. When I'm alone and something like this happens I get very angry that I have to deal with whatever it is on my own. Oh, the life of an Army Wife.

The Gun Show

Have I told you about The Hubby's Nana before? At 4'10", this grandma can kick your butt and deadlift you afterwards to show you who's boss. Here's a video of her record breaking lift of 170 lbs and her super supportive husband cheering her on. Pop is her biggest fan. 

She has almost 45 years on me, and look at her guns. This was me when I was in the best shape of my life (last July while I was prepping to be a bridesmaid). How pathetic is that?

Congrats, Nana! Another medal to add to your giant collection.

All Dressed Up

Hubby and I were forced to dress up in costumes for Halloween by our bosses. I'm not a great sport when it comes to spirit days and the such, but Hubby loves everything that has to do with Halloween. I didn't have the time to make him a Thor or Max costume so he was Three Hole Punch Jim from "The Office".

My office had a pirate themed Halloween. I refused to pay more than $10 for a costume so I bought a pirate hat and hook set at The Dollar Tree and made myself a bandanna and vest out of some cheap fabric. I had to tape the hat to my abnormally large head to keep it from flying off. I was actually fairly proud of my vest, but not the fact that I basically already had a pirate costume already in my closet.

P.S. Sisters in the 90's. I always insisted on being a bride/princess (but not the Princess Bride).

Furry Friday

Bella lives a tough life.

Happy Halloween!

I plan on hiding in a dark house during the designated trick-or-treating time this year. 

Sorry, Snoopy!

Braless

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I totally threw on a sweatshirt today so that I could avoid putting on a bra. Weekends are so much shorter when you have work bright and early on Monday mornings.

What to Watch When You're Depressed

Thanks, Silly Mango!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Hubby and I were able to head to a pumpkin patch in Marble Falls for the first time last Friday. There were plenty of activities available for all visitors, but my main plan was to buy pumpkins to carve and to take plenty of pictures.

Sweet Berry Farm is set up for plenty of picture opportunities. Hubby has turned into my personal photographer.

My husband was very adamant on finding the "perfect" pumpkin to carve. I wasn't terribly picky when it came to choosing my own pumpkin.

Their ATM was broken so we ended up leaving with only one very expensive pumpkin. We were pretty upset when we realized that pumpkins at Walmart are both better looking and cheaper.

After over two grueling hours of slimy work, we finished carving our pumpkins. Hubby of course went with something spooky while I went with an adorable Snoopy. Sadly, it's very difficult to see the thin and detailed lines of my Snoopy, but it looks better in person! 

Both The Hubby and I are excited to eventually do all this with kiddos. Can you believe this year is almost over already?

Furry Friday

As we leave the house, we feed Bella her kibble in an empty Gatorade bottle so that she can't eat her meal too quickly. I looked back and found this crazy pooch eating like this on the couch, with her butt on the arm rest the entire time. Thank goodness we cover our couch with an old sheet!

House Husband

The Hubby has had more time off of work lately than I have. This meant that I gave him the responsibility of prepping dinner in our reliable slow cooker. I left him my recipe cards, and he did some magic with them. These two recipes were huge hits in our household so I thought I would share them.

Slow cooker barbacoa beef:

Absolutely perfect with warm corn tortillas, Mexican rice, diced onions, and guacamole. We halved the recipe and had enough for two days. Instead of just keeping the slow cooker on warm for eight hours, I think the recipe would benefit from cooking on low four more hours.

Pork sirloin roast with spicy peanut sauce:

Hubby substituted peanut butter with almond butter and added sliced sweet potatoes. I couldn't get enough!

Furry Friday

Our poor dogs suffer a lot of humiliation when their humans are bored. Maybe we'll torture them slightly less often now that all of our favorite television shows are back on.

Photo Dump

A collection of pictures from my phone, both old and new.

Bella tries her best to talk me out of going to work every morning.

Kisses before bedtime.

Riley being her adorable self, as always.

Bella is such a couch potato.

Gloomy day shoes.

Bella waiting for the rain to stop.

I married a nerd.

S'mores brownies are dangerous.

Spent four hours stuffing packages for the USO.

Homemade stromboli was amazing.

My sister's birthday gift this year was a hit.

My water collection gets out of control when The Hubby is away.

I sold my first custom apron to a happy customer.

My first purchase after receiving my paycheck was pretty fabric.

Bad Owners

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Bella now thinks she owns the couch as it is all hers while we are at work all day. I hope she still knows that we love her even though we don't get to spend as much time with her during the day. At least nighttime is full of cuddlefests and kisses!