Taylor's anniversary gift

I posted about a month ago about picking up Taylor's anniversary gift after work one day. I wanted to stay with the "paper" tradition of the first anniversary gift. There was this poster from when Switchfoot and crew traveled to Singapore last spring while on tour and we had been holding onto it since because we wanted to do something special with it. Well of course, one year later.. it was still in our office waiting. So I decided to have it framed to surprise Taylor for our anniversary. We had already decided that we weren't going to spend much on gifts since our big gift really was our new furniture. But he loved it and it turned out great. I finally decided to hang it in our hallway today because I couldn't stand to see it sitting in the office waiting to be hung on the wall in there anymore. I'm so glad that he now has this memory saved and somewhere that he'll see everyday!

Living Room Makeover- Part 2

Here you go! A full look at our living room with the new furniture and drapes! Please excuse the red lamp shade. I wanted this lamp so bad from Target and I knew that I could replace the shade once we had the new furniture in the room. I can't find a shade that is not the color of our furniture anywhere in town. I've looked at Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes. Any other suggestions where I might be able to find something? I'd love a little something with pattern on it like this... but that's not really in the budget right now. So I'm going to try and make something to work that's going to give me that same kind of feel. I need to replace our other lamp shades too, now that they match the furniture color so well. But for now, I'm just dealing with a whole lot of beige and champagne and I'm okay with that. I'm just thankful to be rid of the plaid. I finally feel like after a year and a half in this house, our living room is starting to feel more like "home".

Miley, our beautiful puppy, decided to make an apperence in a few of these pictures. She didn't understand why I wasn't just taking pictures of her like always. 

So there you go. A peek into what I was doing all last week. Laying on my new furniture and planning on what the drapes were going to look like. It took me a lot of time to make them since I paid a little bit more attention to the detail in sewing these than the ones for our master bedroom. I lined the back of these drapes so that they would seem more full once they were hanging up, but also so the color would show up a little better when the sun is coming through the windows during the day. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about them and the way that they turned out. I know that these pictures aren't super detailed but I wanted you to be able to see the furniture as well. 

Miley even decided to pose for you. She went to the vet on Friday and is currently weighing in at 66.5 lbs. And I was told that she needs to lose a few lbs. So we are on a workout plan, both of us. 

Post tomorrow: the new accessorries that I've added over the weekend and the plans for the rest of the fabric that I now have folded on my desk in our office just waiting on me.

Living Room Makeover- Part 1

Our new furniture was delivered on Wednesday morning. I hurried home from work because I couldn't wait to see our living room without plaid furniture. It looks great and is exactly what we wanted! (Promise to post final pictures tomorrow.) Five minutes later, I was on my way to the fabric store with one of the accent pillows from the sofa. I wanted to pick out fabric for our drapes right away. It didn't take me long to decide on this:

I bought WAY TOO MUCH fabric but loved it and couldn't wait to get started. I worked on them on and off most of the day Saturday and Sunday afternoon. I don't have a space to really spread out so I used the living room floor. Taylor hung the rods up for me on Friday afternoon before he left town. A few trips back to the fabric store and to Target and I finally had everything that I needed! Even a few new accessories that we needed to match the new color scheme.

To be continued...

24th Birthday

My birthday is tomorrow. The same day as Easter Sunday. We'll be checking out of our condo and making the 3 hour drive back home, in separate cars. We drove over to Destin on Friday morning to do a little birthday shopping at the outlets. Amazing. I was able to pick out a few things at J.Crew that I am really excited about. Then Taylor told me that I was going to be able to pick something else. A new Coach purse. The Coach Outlet Store was fully stocked with plenty to choose from. I love what I got. 

We got back to the condo and he put something else inside of it, wrapped it back up in the tissue paper from the store and I'm not allowed to open it until tomorrow. I am so spoiled but so blessed. Two of our best friends will be in town from Atlanta tomorrow night and they will be there to help me celebrate. I'm looking forward to getting home, seeing our friends and waiting patiently for our new furniture to arrive on Monday. 

And....... the dog will return from a long week at her grandparents house. I cannot wait to see her! Besides one weekend last November, this is the most that we've ever been away from her, or been without her since we got married. We got her the day before the wedding and picked her up the day after we returned from our honeymoon. My parents have loved every minute of having her at their house. She has spent just about every day while they were at work at their best friends' house at "Doggie Daycare". She won't know what to do when she returns home to our lonely backyard without someone to play with, besides us. 

She sure does love little dogs but she's a little too big now to be playing with someone who weighs about 7 lbs when she weighs over 70! I cannot wait to wrap my arms around her! 

vacation

Our getaway... or at least mine. I took a few days off work to be able to spend time with Taylor while he's in Panama City, FL working for a church Easter production. I woke up this morning a little under the weather. A trip to the doctor and two antibiotics later, I am set to drive to the beach and meet up with Taylor. He'll be busy over the next few days but we are going to love being "away" for a little while.

one year

We celebrated our one year anniversary all weekend. Friday night was dinner with my parents. On Saturday night, we went to dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurants-- Kabuki. Then we followed that later on by going to a new place for drinks and dessert. It was wonderful and so much fun to sit on the patio and just enjoy one another. On our actual anniversary, we made breakfast for lunch (pancakes and bacon... our favorite) and at our year old cake-topper for dessert. Taylor was working the Easter program at Frazer and had to be at the church early in the afternoon. I spent a few hours at home alone with the dog before driving her to meet my parents in Greenville. She is staying with them for the week while Taylor and I are in Panama City, FL for something else he has going on for work Easter weekend. I can't wait to get away for a few days.

It's hard to believe that one year has already passed. We have experienced a lot of changes in our lives and it's been so wonderful to have my best friend right by my side to enjoy it with. I am truly blessed to have a husband that loves me the way that he does and teaches me so much day by day!

booked

we officially booked the cruise today while i was here in the office. i'm beside myself because i'm so excited.

hello mexico!

Surprise Vacation

We had an April Fool's joke planned for our boss this morning. We were told to dress up for work today since we would be leaving the office for lunch at the country club. We wear scrubs to work so it was a big deal to be asked to dress up for the entire day. It is so nice to wake up in the mornings and know what I have to put on instead of spending an extra 30 minutes deciding what to wear. All of the girls agreed to still wear our normal Wednesday scrubs to the office this morning and bring our clothes for lunch to change into. The plan was to act like everyone forgot that we were going to lunch today. He would have been soooooo mad. But of course, one of the girls acted like she "forgot" this morning and showed up already dressed for the lunch out. So the joke was ruined but the day was just starting to get interesting.

Our office is open from 8-5 Monday- Friday. We are never closed for lunch. We have a 30 minute lunch break if we have to leave the office but most of the time, we all just work through lunch and bring something in or eat what is provided that day. So for us to actually close our office from 11:45 until 1:45 today was a HUGE deal. We all loaded up and headed to the country club for our staff appreciation/anniversary lunch. It's been 5 years since the doctors that we work for left their other practice and started their own. So this lunch is a tradition every year. 

We enjoyed our meal and getting to be out of the office for a little while and waited on the doctors to arrive from the hospital. Once all 12 of us were there, we had to pose for a group picture outside to update the website and to be hung in the staff kitchen. Before we headed back inside to enjoy our dessert, we were hit with a huge surprise. 

A cruise.

Yes, Taylor and I will be leaving for a cruise the last weekend in May. We could not be more excited!

The experience that I have gained from my job has been incredible but the relationships that the Lord has allowed me to make are immeasurable. We are all speechless about this experience and looking forward to the days ahead for the practice!