Breaking-in

Ok so here's the story...

This past Thursday, I was running late getting out of the house. I had asked Brandon to run and go grab my phone from the bedroom as I grabbed my stuff. He quickly ran out to hand it to me in the driveway, but Bailey also sneaked out. Brandon, in his boxers, tried unsuccessfully to grab her. He went through the gate into the back yard to try to lure her in so I could drive away and he could get out of the alley in his boxers. I proceed to drive away and close the garage door as I always do, with no thought that the other doors were still locked. Quickly, Brandon realized that he was stuck and I was about to pass by the house in the front (since our alley is entered down the street a little ways). Funniest part...Brandon decides he has to catch me, but I was already passing by the time he comes flailing out through the front yard. I don't see him in our front yard as I'm getting buckled, in the zone driving to work. Nor do I see him as he runs down our entire street to try and get my attention. Poor Brandon. Defeated, he returns to the back yard where he ponders what to do. No open windows. No hidden key, no phone, nothing. Really, only two choices. Go back out there and knock on a neighbors door at 7:30 in the morning. Not a great option considering that the only neighbors we know are the sweet elderly couple whose house backs up to ours in the alley. We have rarely even seen our other neighbors. The only other option was to break a window. So there you have it. Brandon decided on the best possible window to smash, and proceeded to break into our house.


Here's a view of the smashed door from the inside (as it was boarded up from the outside)



Thankfully, I have such a wonderful husband that he pretty quickly found the humor in the situation. For the most part, we were able to laugh it off as a stupid unlucky mistake. But how very unfortunate!!! I just wish I could have seen him running down the street after me in his boxers!

A Question

Here's a question we have for you...Brandon and I are taking a poll.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO...
if you were locked out of your house without any clothes on???


Would you-
a. Knock on your neighbor's door even though you haven't yet met them and ask to use their phone
b. Break-in to your own house (i.e. smash a window out)

Difficult decision!

A Boy's Dream

Brandon found this * video (click here) from the Rangers game we went to last week because he thinks this is pretty much the luckiest kid ever...it really was so crazy to see.

I heart weekends

We had a great weekend. Friday night, Chris and Lacey brought their puppy Katie over to play with Bailey. We had a relaxed evening, and the dogs had a blast.


Bailey with her new friend Katie


Takin' a break- waiting to see who will make the next move


Puppy love

Saturday we got a ton of work done painting and cleaning another room. We have a little more to do on it, but it looks so much better. We were actually very productive!

Jared, Kristi, and Jake came over Saturday night. It was so good to finally see them again- we don't live that far away from each other, but just never get to hang out as much as we want. Kristi brought a delicious lasagna that she made, and I finally made the homemade ice cream that I've been wanting to make all summer. Another wedding gift I'm finally able to use:) I was also really glad to see Colt and have some time with him after he had another surgery early this week.

Today, one of our friends gave us free tickets to the Rangers game. Brandon has been obsessed recently, so he was super excited to be able to go to this game. And it was really fun going with Chad & Melany and Chris & Lacey. The boys sat together most of the time while we girls had a good time talking. The Rangers won, which is apparently some big deal for making it closer to the playoffs. It was sooooooo hot for the first few innings, but life got happier after the shade finally covered our seats. It ended up being a really fun game. Go Rangers!!!


Sweaty but excited


Me & Brandon, Chad & Melany, Chris & Lacey

So we had a really fun weekend. But now we just need a couple days to relax...oh well!
Hope everyone had a good one!

End of Summer

I just can't BELIEVE it's already August! This summer has FLOWN by, and it feels like life is spiraling out of control! Thankfully, this is the first August that I won't be starting another semester of school. That's such a wonderful feeling- no tests, no homework, no scrounging for food. Haha dramatic. And I am really loving my job. It's been an adjustment to get used to getting up so early and working on my feet for 8 hours every day, but I love the work I'm doing. And it really is nice to be able to come home and not have to study or write a paper. I love having the evenings to spend with Brandon. Even though it's kinda been exhausting because he constantly has a new project for us to work on, we're having fun. We're finally feeling like this is home, and we are loving life in a house. Bailey does too. We really don't miss the days of taking Bailey out on her leash all the time. And she really enjoys chasing the bunnies who frequent our back yard. More than the yard work and all that, we are really loving the little things. Like how nice it is to be able to do an actual load of laundry, not just the couple of towels we could fit in our stackable unit in the apartment. And how we can both be in the kitchen at the same time without hitting each other. But most of all, we love being able to have friends over and family come to stay with us. That's been the best part of it all, and we're excited to have a place to be able to have people over.

We feel so blessed with some of the best friends we could ever imagine. God just places people in life who He knows we need. This week I've especially been reminded of that. It was Beth's birthday, my best friend in Nashville. We talked and caught up and I just feel so blessed to still have her as such a good friend despite all the miles we are apart. And Brooke just moved like 15 minutes away from here, which is so exciting for me. We've been apart for these last two years of Grad School, but now we get to finally see each other again. And I also got to hang out with Meagan and Ashley the other night for Meagan's birthday, and I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have friends that can just get together every once in a while, catch up, and have so much fun. God has really continued to keep such close friends in my life at the times when I need it, while He's also really been blessing us with new friendships that I hope will also be lifelong. Our friends from church are exactly what we've been praying for- guys that Brandon can relate to and be dumb with, and girls that I can talk and have a good time with. Not to mention puppies that Bailey can play with:) I guess this week I've kinda been thinking about that a lot. God is so good.

Living Room Renovation

We have finished our living room! And by that I mean that we are done with the painting, trim work, furnishing, and decorating. Here's the finished product (minus some updated lighting and art for the walls). We finally took pictures of the room so you can see the comparison to what it looked like before we moved in...


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A few more...

Coldplay, Columbus, and Catching Up

I'm so behind. So here's my attempt at getting caught up on life. Sorry (once again) that it's so long. Hopefully I can soon start keeping up instead of having these crazy long update posts.

COLDPLAY
Ok first things first. Coldplay was so amazing. I was so excited to see them because Brandon and I both actually love their music. It was the PERFECT night for a concert. We sat on the lawn, and it was just perfect. I never realized how crazy Chris Martin is, running across the stage full speed. He was so fun to watch. I can just imagine what a fun marriage he and Gwyneth have together. And of course, they played all our favorite songs and I sang out loud for most of them. It was just the perfect summer evening.







Best pic I could get...


"It was all yellow"


Viva la Vida- such a good show!!

COLUMBUS
My cousin Ryan got married on July 24th in Ohio. I got to fly in for the big day and have a couple days with my family. It was good to be able to be there for his big day. We had such a fun weekend and I got some good quality time with Allie, who I miss so terrible. Unfortunately, the weekend just wasn't long enough and Jess didn't even get to come. But we had a lot of fun and even got some good shopping done. It was really great to see my grandparents, who I just don't get to see enough anymore. It was sad leaving, and I miss my family already!


With Al at the Rehearsal Dinner


Sitting with our sweet Memommy and PopPop


Mom and Aunt Marlea


Pretty bride with her new family


When I got back to Dallas, Brandon had done lots of little home improvements. The most impressive was that he replaced our old brass glass shower door! The new one looks so so good- a silver finish to match everything else. I just never knew how handy Brandon is! He's so good at learning how to do all these home projects. At this rate, our whole house will pretty soon be renovated! He's such a hard worker (a little obsessive compulsive almost), and I love that his hard work is going into our new home. With every little update, our house is feeling more and more like ours.



FURNITURE
We've been looking and looking for new furniture for our bedroom. We already knew what we wanted, but the price tag was just never affordable. After searching more furniture stores than we knew existed, we decided to just wait until we found the perfect fit. Well, one day we stumbled into this little store that was going out of business and got a great deal on just what we were looking for! Here are just a few pictures...






We're excited to have furniture in our bedroom, even though the room still isn't set up exactly like we want it. But it's a start!!

BACHELORETTE
Once again, this season had a HORRIBLE finale. I know full well how dumb and girly I sound, but it really does just disappoint me every time that they don't choose who they so obviously would have the best life with! Jillian chose Ed. Whatever Jillian. Be that way. Even though you would have had a perfectly, blissfully happy life with Reed. Or even with Kipton! WHY doesn't she just ask ME my opinion?!?! I am just frustrated even though I loved every minute of that silly shallow show. And because they'll probably choose Reed to be the next Bachelor, I'm sure I'll be sucked into watching it again next season. And I'll still, I'm sure, love every second. Until then, I'll be irritated that ABC yet again topped it's own record for a dramatic finale. And that Jillian is going to miss out on the love she almost had...too bad for her.

WEEKEND
This weekend we had a wonderful time getting some very needed chores around the house. Brandon got to go see The Rocketboys downtown on Thursday night and hang out with two of his best college buddies. Saturday night I went to a Lingerie/Bachelorette Party for Becca, one of my best Grad School friends. It was so fun to finally see those girls again, and we had a lot of fun. Then, Sunday we hung out with Cortney and Brandon who came to church with us. Then we got to meet one of Bailey's future BFFs. We kept trying to talk our good friends Chris and Lacey into getting a dog. Well, they kept coming up with excuses and deciding against it. Well, Friday night, we were hanging out when Chris informed Lacey that maybe they should get a dog. Well, the next day, they came home with Katie, a 8-week-old yellow lab who is the most adorable thing ever. We went to play with her yesterday and I already can't wait for Bailey to meet her. This weekend, Brandon and I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done. Our living room is finally done, so I'll post pictures of that soon. Also, my sister Jessi and her boyfriend Jonathan left for surgical clinic in Antigua, Guatemala this weekend. So say a little prayer for them as they're down there for the next week doing some really great missions for the people there.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Viva la vida!

So we're off to the Coldplay concert! All day, I've been hoping Chris Martin will do like he does in this video (click here). Maybe he'll dance like that tonight. And maybe I'll see Gwyneth! Can't wait!

Birthday, Play dates, and Renovations

We've had a very busy week, once again. We've done lots of painting, cleaning, organizing, you name it. But we also got to have some really good church friends over and Bailey even got to have some puppy play time. It was really fun. Unfortunately, on Monday night on the Bachelorette, Jillian kicked off who I think could have been the love of her life.HUGE mistake. But I can't get into that- I get way too emotional. OH and HARRY POTTER!!! We saw it on Friday night with some friends and it was amazing. Really, sooo good. Almost makes me want to go back and read the book. Almost:)

Well I had a really good birthday hanging out with friends yesterday. It's weird to be 25- not quite sure how I feel about it all. I still just feel like a college kid who happens to have a wonderful husband, a good pup, and a new house. I just really feel so blessed to be at this point in my life and be surrounded by such sweet and encouraging friends. For my birthday, I will get to be going to the Coldplay concert here on Tuesday night! Brandon hasn't ever been to a really big show like this, and it's amazing for us to get to go to a show we are both so excited about. I've been dropping "subtle" hints for months, but really gave up hope when they sold out really quickly. So that will be really fun. And then this weekend I get to see my family at my cousins wedding! Hooray!!!

Tonight Bailey got to have a play date with Knightley, Josh and Suzie's new puppy. They had a BLAST and never slowed down more than for a couple minutes. Here's a few pictures of them-


BFFs


Isn't Knightley the cutest thing?!?!


Also, we've been doing lots of updating on the house. Here's the most completed project so far...
Master Bathroom Updates

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A few more "After" shots...




We still have a few little updates to do on it, but that's it for now!
More project pictures to come soon!

Seriously!?!?

The heat in Dallas is getting to be unbearable. Today it was 104 degrees!!! Are you kidding me, Texas?!?! It's like you literally bake yourself a little bit just to walk across the parking lot to your car! I've never really had to deal with temperatures like this. Today was the hottest yet this year. The weathermen keep saying that maybe we can hope for temperatures down in the 90s this weekend. DOWN in the 90s??? That's still like crazy hot! I'm used to summers in the 80s, maybe low 90s when it's really toasty. Nashvillians THINK they know heat, but no no no. I now truly realize how miserably hot summer can be.