a Valentine's that needed a little tweaking.

So often things do not go as planned. life happens. and I keep learning from my sweet husband that's ok.

I told husband I wanted to plan Valentine's this year, and he didn't mind in the slightest.
I eagerly planned a trip to Dallas...

But unfortunately we got a late start, hit some major traffic... and by missing our first stop of the day, things would not have worked our from then on.

I was pretty bummed and felt like I had failed miserably at planning our Valentine's.

My sweet Valentine cheered me up, picked up the pieces and took me out for a night in Fort Worth. It was as if he had planned it all along.

We started off with a Starbucks run for a little needed hot tea.  Then we made our way to the modern art museum. I've been begging husband to take me for months. It was very... interesting. Not what I had expected. At all. Next stop? A little Cajun place for some frog legs, rat toes (not actually rat toes), shrimp, and craw fish... loved everything except for the frog legs. People say frog legs taste like chicken, and they are very wrong. They are rubbery and soft and all I could think about while eating those frog legs was a little yellow slimy frog leaping in the rainforest. blah. Then we went to see the flick This Means War.  I give it 4 stars.  We ended the night with a little chocolate and Martinelli's.

Husband suggested that he plans next year's Valentine's... and I'm ok with that! :)

Man, I love him.

via

Love this guy.

This past weekend marked our one year anniversary!  Husband surprised me with dinner at one of my favorites and tickets to The Nutcracker!! It was a perfect night.

So often you hear the first year goes by so fast, and it did, but then I look back some more and so much has happened in this one year.  One year does not seem long enough for all that has happened to have happened. This has been the best year of my life. It is absoultely crazy how you can love someone more and more everyday, it just keeps getting better and better. I love this guy. Happy Anniversary lover.

P.S. Anniversary dinner and night out counts as dates 4, 5 and 6 of our 12 dates of christmas! :)

TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS :: on our thrid date of christmas...

... We went Christmas shopping!

But first we made a stop at the lovely Mimi's Cafe for some of my fav french onion soup. And here we made our shopping list... and took a couple pictures.

This year husband and I are trying the whole let's not spend a lot of money thing, so we have decided to make quite a few of our presents this year. And because we've decided to be the crafty DIYers this season, we actualldy did quite a bit of our shopping at at Lowe's and Garden Ridge. Maybe I'll post a few pics when we finally finis making the presents, or maybe not.

TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS :: on our second date of christmas...

(Saw this idea on Rockstar Diaries and decided to borrow it.)

... Husband and I went out for dinner and a movie. Twas a delightful date.

Husband doesn't have any classes on Friday, so we hit up a matinee and saw the movie New Years Eve.  It had quite the cast! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my favorite, Sarah Jessica Parker!  I had absolutely no idea she was in this movie.  My review? 3.75 stars. It was good, not great, and I've been in such a Christmasy mood lately, this movie just did not hit the spot.

Here are a couple of pictures from dinner-- We went to a little burger joint called Kincaids Hamburgers. I've seen a few around Fort Worth, but I'm pretty sure we went to the original. Very tasty. My review? 4.5 stars.

This is our pathetic attempt to take more pictures... in my defense, husband would not pose for a picture (he was watching TV) Lame excuse, I know. We will try and work on the whole picture thing.

TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS :: on our first date of christmas...

(Saw the idea on rockstar diaries, and decided to borrow it. )

... husband and I made a gingerbread house!

This little gingerbread house is our work of art. Husband thought we were supposed to eat it when we were done decorating... what? Nah, this proud sucker will stick around for the whole holiday season!

We may have failed to take more pictures, but we'll do better on our second date of christmas.

Decking the halls

Some people think Thanksgiving is a little too early to put up your Christmas tree, but not me!  I begged husband to get the tree down from the attic a few days before thanksgiving. I even went up into the attic and dragged the tree to the top of the stairs, making it a tad less of a haul for husband to bring it down.  Finally, at the end of the day husband gave in after bribing him with the idea he didn't need to help put it up... That was a mistake. For this Christmas tree is 9 feet tall, and I am just a wee little 5 feet tall. It definitely required the manly strength of a husband and luckily he really didn't mind helping out.  Who knew spreading apart branches would take so long. It took hours to put this thing up and it's pre-lit mind you. I think next year we'll go for a real tree.

Here it is folks, our fake tree- inherited from my mother in law, or maybe just borrowed, I'm not actually sure.

Story book ornaments. I found the idea on pinterest a few months ago and couldn't wait to get started. They were pretty time consuming, but it paid off- i love how they turned out!  want to see the inspiration? go here.

This is our first Christmas together as a married couple. Actually second, but last year didn't count. We had been married for a short week and we had other exciting things on our minds...  Needless to say, husband and I did not have stockings! So I did some intense pinteresting and googling.  I found a cute Amy Butler pattern, altered it, and made these Texas inspired suede stockings! One for me, husband, and Sperry!

This is the extent of my holiday decor. favorite thing? my stockings. Whats your favorite holiday decoration to put up?

my thankfuls

here is a little list of the things i am especially thankful for this thanksgiving, and I call them "my thankfuls."

enjoy.

hot apple cider
nail polish
stuffing (oh how i love stuffing)
pecan pie
pinterest
Sperry (my puppy)
Kate Spade and her witty and whimiscal design (so very inspirational)
taxi mittens
Christmas music
pandora and groove shark
modern family
Christmas everything
cozy clean sheets
the blanket my grandma made for me years ago (just took it out of the dryer and it's on my lap right now, oh it feels so good)
pretty fabric
sewing machines
mary kay skin care products (I go through about 10 steps every morning and night which takes quite a bit of time, but goodness it feels so good!)
singing (especially when my husband does it)
babies
family
my oh so freakin cool sister
and my absolutely amazing husband. He has been so patient me these past few mornings as I press snooze button over and over procrastinating the inevitable- getting up far too early.  He just smiles and rolls over to cuddle me while I sink deeper into the covers. I hate alarm clocks. like really really hate. In fact...

here is a little list of the thing i am especially not thankful for this thanksgiving, and i call it "my unthankful."

enjoy.

alarm clocks

but lets try not to dwell on our "unthankfuls" this thanksgiving. So bring on the pecan pie and Christmas music- I'm ready for turkey day!

Who Would've Thought?

I've always known I looked a little young for my age, which I know I will be thankful for when I'm forty... and now on Halloween!! I went trick-or treating this year.   Cake (luke's little sister danielle-she's 11)  asked me to come around the neighborhood with her.  I thought "what the heck! I'll just put on my little cat ears, cat tail, and a little face paint" I gabbed my pink pillow case and went out trick or treating for the first time in ten years! Who would've thought??

 Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy- oh and Sperry is biting my cat tail off-not my butt.