an at home date

so this weekend we had two whole days with highs in the eighties. after who knows how many days of brutally hot not even worth knowing the temperature because it might make you cry .. 88° feels like pure heaven. and it was the first tailgating weekend so the weather was basically perfect. RT and i love to have people to the house on game day. we live about seven steps from the stadium of the college we went to so you can literally hear the game plain as day when we are hanging out on the back porch. RT usually grills or smokes something and i make all the sides and we all just hang out and enjoy the football company. as far as we are concerned the more the merrier. our team kicked major booty this weekend too and RT's parents were in town so it was extra bonuses on every end!

yesterday at church the sermon was on being burned by marriage .. or any relationship but he was referring to marriage specifically. RT and I have a great marriage and we are in a super happy place right now but it got us taking on the way home. one of the things we agreed on was that we want to date each other again. I know you hear about this all the time .. date your spouse. but we decided to seriously make a priority of it. one of the things that RT said that I absolutely loved was that when we were dating .. if I suggested we go to a movie he never would have said maybe tomorrow hunny I'm tired tonight .. {ha!} it's funny but also so true.

so last night .. ironically we were both really tired and didn't want to go out and do anything .. soooo we had date night at home. I made giant buffalo tostadas {recipe inspired by and adapted from skinny taste link} for dinner .. yum!

 

and we snuggled up on the couch to watch the movie safe house on pay per view. it was so fun!! seriously!! even though we stayed home we still got out of our normal "anything good on dvr" routine and ordered a movie. we turned off all the lights so it was sorta like being at the movie theater except it was much cozier .. a lot cheaper .. and the dogs got to come too. The only things we were missing were giant sodas and family sized packs of candy.

hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

happy monday!!

on the real

RT takes the pictures for my blog and he left the house a little bit earlier than normal today to go play golf so there was no time for outfit pictures. i decided the next best thing would be to lay it all out and capture it that way. i have tried to take pictures myself with a stand and a timer in the past but it takes FOREVER and the quality is always pretty boo boo. so there ya have it.

something that has been on my mind lately is getting comfortable with who i am. who i really truly am way down deep in my core .. and on the surface i guess.

you see i look around and see all different kinds of people.

some are trying hard to be "normal" .. whatever their definition of that word is .. they want to fit in .. act like .. look like .. be just like those they choose to surround themselves with. i picture 'the plactics' from the movie mean girls.

then you have those that are trying as hard as they can to be "different" .. again the definition of the word is key and also dependant on the person. but still they are normally a part of a group of people who all have the "different" goal. thus they too are striving to fit in. find acceptance. be liked. just not by the plastics.

i have .. at one point or another .. had both of these attitudes.
as a kid i went to private school and {as much as i hate to admit it} i was our version of plastic. i desperately clung to the acceptance of the people i was friends with and i would have done or said anything to stay a part of that group.
then in high school i went through some tough stuff and ended up switching to public school. it was a great decision and with these challenges and changes i made the abrupt switch to trying to be different. i still had friends and i still wanted their acceptance but i didn't necessarily want to be POPULAR. as a matter of fact the mention of that word might have actually made me gag back then.

finally in college i fell into the group of friends that i have now and we are all so different that it is basically impossible to try and be just like everyone else. i love it. transitioning to college i lost touch with everyone i knew in high school and started over AGAIN. and again it was perfect for me. i was forced to be honest with myself about what i wanted to do and who i wanted to be. from there it was easy to just kind of fall in with a group of friends .. and later a husband .. that we all just accept each other. no matter what. i hope it will always be this way.

all of the people that i was friends with when i was in elementary school and middle school are still friends with each other. all of the people that i was friends with when i was in high school are still friends with each other. i think that is so special and occassionally i have little pangs of remorse that i am no longer in touch with those people but it just wasn't what was right for me. for my life. i changed. and i think {hope} it was for the better. i have to trust that GOD is leading me down HIS very specific path and would not lead me astray.

all of this to say that as i have grown i have changed and hope to continue to change. in light of this i have a new personal goal .. to get to know myself. on the real. to learn and embrace all of my quirks and crannies. you see i still want to fit in .. be liked .. find acceptance but i think everyone does. the thing is that i am never going to be anyone but me. and i wouldn't want to be. CONFIDENCE HERE I COME {ha!}

ok ok .. i know .. enough ..

happy wednesday!!

then and now

today is janey's very first of kindergarten. it is hard to beleive that my sweet angel jane is already old enough to be in elementary school. it seems not that so long ago she was starting preschool for the very first time. i am not even her parent and i still feel like she is growing up way too fast. all of my nieces and nephews are for that matter .. not cool .. not cool at all!!

i went to their house this morning to hang out with the twins while audrey, jason and deuce dropped janey off for her first day so i got to see her before she left. her mommy had curled her hair and she had her nails painted and was done up so pretty. very true to janey form.

i made her promise to call me when she gets home and tell me all about her first day and i am anxiously awaiting that phone call! i know she will do great! i love that little girl so very much!!

happy tuesday!

ironic

the song ironic by alanis morissette is playing at the hoop right now. that is just plain awesomeness!! when that song frist came out, my best friend and i spent an entire weekend passing the lyrics booklet from the inside of the cd case back and forth until we both knew every word to the song all the way through. and as it turns out, it's like riding a bike. you never forget.

in other news .. a long weekend is ahead of me! no work on monday because of labor day! RT took saturday off so that we can enjoy one last lake weekend hoorah with family and friends before everyone's kids go back to school and what not.

i love fall and winter so very much but this last summer weekend always gives me little pangs of sadness. during lake season i get to see my family and all the kiddos all the time. they all go out to the lake pretty much every weekend. so i plan to soak this weekend right on up!

wishing all of you a fabulous labor day!

happy weekend!!

top: target

skirt: see you monday

shoes: dolce vita

ten random things

1 .. it feels like monday. yesterday did too. a week of mondays .. hmmm

2 .. i bring my lunch and snacks to work with me pretty much every day but today i couldn't decide on anything for lunch so i just brought snacks

3 .. i am expecting a new pair of jeffrey campbell boots in the mail tomorrow .. SURPRISE!

4 .. in my opinion 'so you think you can dance' is the best show in the whole entire world

5 .. the majority of my pictures on instagram are of my dogs sleeping in various locations. i am not sure why i think my dogs are so cute but i do and i obviously feel the need to compulsively document it {ha!}

6 .. RT will be 29 years old two weeks from this sunday + i am still just 25 = BEST THING EVER!

7 .. i am horribly notorious for checking text messages while i am doing other things and completely forgetting to text people back. if i have done this to you {probably many times} i am very sorry! don't take it personally. i do it to everyone i promise

8 .. RT and i play the game words with friends and i lose every single time .. it's kinda sad honestly

9 .. i didn't brush my hair today. it looked pretty good {miraculously} already and i didn't want to upset it with a hair brush {ha!} if you see me today and notice a big knot in the back of my head be sure to let me know

10 .. i am really tired today. we are talking abnormally eyes burning from being so tired kind of tired

happy wednesday!!

top: free people

pants: genetic denim

shoes: jeffrey campbell

a hair affair

my whole life I have been in this cycle where I let my hair get kinda long and then I chop it off and then I grow it out again and then I cut it short and so on and so forth.

about five years ago I went in for a cut and boy did I. my hair was just longer than my ears in the front and slightly stacked in the back. we are talking short!! it was really cute though and after the initial shock I liked it a lot.

but ever since then I have been experimenting more with color than with cuts {much to the dismay of my mother}. I have kept it mostly brown but went through a bout with some highlights. and now I have a hot pink chunk in the back that I LOVE!

this photo is from when RT and i were very newly dating
when i met him i had short hair AND hightlights AND bangs .. ugh!! too much!!

anyway .. all that to say I am dying for my hair to be really really long. when it was short I had some clip in extensions that I wore sometimes and I am considering buying some more. I want to take my hair from long to super long.


I have done some research and am thinking of buying this luxy brand. do any of you know anything about it?? I for sure want real hair so I can style it and wash it and what not and I love the idea of getting some added length and fullness.

photo from luxyhair
check out this before and after!!
i want my hair to have these results!!

anyway that is my hair affair today {ha!}

happy monday!!

the bitty one

why are dog's eyes always so creepy looking in pictures?!?

this week started off rainy and humid and for some reason i haven't been able to get motivated to actually do my hair ever since then. wet. run product through it. shake it around a little bit. then hate it and feel like a rag doll for the rest of the day. such is the existnece of my hair this week. oh well. maybe next week will be better {ha!}

layla comes to work with me everyday .. yes i have the best job ever .. and she is such a little cutie in the store. everyone who comes in loves her and wants to hold her and snuggle her. too bad she is crazy shy of strangers! but she is quiet and sweet and if im holding her she will let anyone pet her.

so this is what we look like at work today. the bitty one in all of her cuteness :) and me in some free people shorts, a bluebird top and vince camuto clogs.

this weekend RT and i are going to my parent's house to hang out on the lake with family. then sunday my sister and i are starting our first day teaching the 2yr olds at church. i am actually pretty pumped about that because i have missed teaching sweet little babies since i stopped working at my mom's preschool.

happy weekend!!