Top 13 of 2013

I promise to do a “Year in Review” post later (since I have been a horrible blogger once again this year), but I thought it would be fun to share my top 13 moments of this year :)

Without further adieu, here they are (in chronological order):

1. Attending the National Championship game with my little brother in Miami (January)

Significance:  Although we’ve both seen the Tide bring home National Championships, this is the first National Championship game that we’ve gotten to attend together.  I “chaperoned” for him and two of his friends (Alex stayed back in T-town), so we had lots of brother-sister bonding time, which was awesome!  So glad we got to take this trip together!

2.  Snow Day (January)

Significance: It rarely snows in Tuscaloosa, and when it does, it usually just spits a bit and doesn’t stick.  This time it did and everything was beautiful and white for a little while.  Plus, a picture I took of a giant snowball fight on campus got retweeted by James Spann, so if that isn’t significant, I don’t know what is ;)

3.  Dave Matthews Band Concert (April)

Significance:  I have been a DMB fan since high school, but somehow had never been to see them live.  For my 28th birthday in February, Alex bought me tickets to see them at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Birmingham.  So much fun!

4.  Cooking class date night at Sur La Table

Significance:  Alex and I love doing fun interactive date nights, so when I found out they do cooking classes at Sur la table in Birmingham, I bought him a certificate to one for his birthday.  We finally took our first cooking class in April and we had a BLAST.  Loved getting to experience it with my man : )

5.  Josh’s College Graduation (May)

Significance:  My amazing baby bro graduated from my alma mater with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  Even better, he maintained at 3.8 GPA while pursuing his degree AND pre-med studies.  Words cannot express how proud I am of this guy!

6. Be the Match Run (June)

Significance:  Alex and I ran in our FIRST 5k and it was even more special because we ran in honor of our dear friend Reba!  Proud to have this on my list of accomplishments :  )

7.  Cooper Bryant joined our family (June)

Significance:  I got a new puppy nephew in June (well actually he was born in April, but he joined our family on Father’s Day 2013.  He’s had us wrapped around his not so little paws ever since!

8. ISTE 2013 (June)

Significance:  I have presented numerous times at ISTE, but this one was extra special because it was my first workshop solo ;)  I didn’t know this at the time, but while I was in San Antonio for the conference, my Alex was prepping for the proposal ;)

9.  Engagement!

Significance:  Not that this needs any explanation, but it was definitely one of the best days of my life!

10.  Saying Yes to the Dress (October)

Significance:  I found my dream dress which is obviously a big deal for any bride.  To make things even better, I found it at the same place my mom bought her dress, it was the 3rd dress I tried on, and I was under budget.  I cannot wait to show her off in 2014!

 

11.  10 year high school reunion (October)

Significance:  On the same day I found my dress, I got to attend my high school reunion with my new fiance : )  I had a wonderful time seeing and visiting with everyone!

12. Warrior Dash (November)

Significance:  Before Alex proposed, he had been talking about wanting to do the Warrior Dash (a 5k mud run/obstacle course) and had been trying to get me to do it with him.  I told him that I would only do it if we were engaged and he agreed.  Little did I know that he already had the ring, so joke was on me ;)  Although I reluctantly agreed to hold up my end of the bargain, I actually had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting to experience it with my best friend and future hubby :)

13.  Celebrating nine years!

Significance:  Our last “official” dating anniversary.  I am so proud that we have made it this far and still have a lifetime to go :)

Happy 22nd Birthday, Little Bro!

22 years ago, I became a big sister…..

January 28, 1991

I remember dad picking me up from Kindergarten and telling me Josh had been born.  I could hardly contain my excitement as I gathered my stuff, and headed out the door, but not before I asked my Kindergarten teacher for an extra sticker for my new little brother.

The picture above was taken moments after getting to meet this new little man in my life.  Little did I know how this little guy would change my world for the better.  Although I was only 5, well 9 days shy of being 6, I remember walking in and seeing my mom holding my new little brother and begging to hold him.  Being 9 lbs, 8 oz and 21 inches long, he felt like he was almost as big as me, but mom let me “hold” him with her assistance (you can see her hand in the bottom left corner).  Although it looks like I am strangling him, I promise I wasn’t – in my mind, he was my own little living baby doll, and I’m sure I was trying to put him on my shoulder and gently tap him on the back just as I did my baby dolls.

As you can see, I was a very proud big sister that day, and I can honestly say that I am just as proud of him today, 22 years later.  Although our relationship has not always been perfect, I think he knows I would do anything for him (and I think he feels the same way about me). Words cannot express how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to see him grow into the smart, talented, sweet, and handsome man he has become and how blessed I feel to have been chosen to be his big sister.

January 28, 2013

He was and still is the best early birthday present I’ve ever gotten

Happy 22nd Birthday, Brother Bear!  Thanks for being the best little brother ever!  I love you!

Celebrating 8 Years and Counting…

On November 10th, Alex and I celebrated our 8th dating (well, in college) anniversary.  Unfortunately, because I was sick all last week and we had the football game on our actual anniversary, we had to postpone our actual celebration to this past week.  It was well worth the wait, though!

This is the first year that we’ve decided not to do presents.  If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that we have back-to-back “holidays” (Nov. 10 – Anniversary, Christmas, Feb. 6th – My birthday, Valentine’s Day, and Feb. 18th – Alex’s birthday), and the past few years, shopping for every single holiday has gotten more stressful that its worth and we end up getting each other something we don’t really need just to have a gift to give each other for each holiday.  Not to mention, November to March was an extremely expensive time   We decided that if we limited the gift giving to Christmas and Birthday’s, it would be much easier and we’d be able to give each other better quality gifts.  This year, we started with Valentine’s day (we decided to do cheap, and cliché Valentine’s gifts and it worked out well) and we decided to nix the presents for anniversary too.

Anyway, Alex wasn’t too happy about not doing presents this year, but he was a good sport.  I can’t say that I kept up my end either, because I felt like I, at least, needed to get him a card and decided to make one instead of buying it, just so he couldn’t give me a hard time..  I totally felt like he might actually NOT get me anything, but he proved me wrong!

When he showed up at my apartment to take me to dinner, he came bearing this:

Sweet, right?  Sneaky little devil

Anyway, he made my little homemade card (seriously, don’t judge…I made it in less than an hour ), look so sad…

especially since the note he wrote inside made me cry (but, it is for my eyes only…sorry! )

After I took the rollers out of my hair and put the finishing touches on the make-up, it was time for a quick photo op!

I love the first picture, but hate that we forgot to turn on the flash and the lighting is terrible SO you are getting my favorite, and then the pretty picture

Once pics were out of the way, we hopped in the car to head to dinner (which was a surprise until we got there!).  Alex quickly pointed out that he had cleaned his Jeep, inside and out, in preparation for our date that night….*sigh*  He’s too cute!

As we drove to our dinner location, Alex pointed out all of the “nice” places he was taking me…like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Casa, etc.  I had no idea where we were going until he turned in the direction of my favorite restaurant:  Kozy’s!  I was SO excited and could not wait to get there

We’ve been to Kozy’s a few times, but we had never been to eat off of their regular menu (most of the time it was for a special, pre fixe menu) so we were really excited.  It didn’t disappoint!

For appetizers, we had some delicious stuffed mushrooms (they were stuffed with beef tenderloin and aged swiss cheese and had a red wine demi-glace), and then I had chicken chasseur with truffle mashed potatoes and asparagas and Alex had a spiced duck breast with gouda grits and spinach.  Both entrees were absolutely delicious!  For dessert, we shared a crème brulee (without the carmelized sugar on top) with a berry compote.  It was yummy as well!

After dinner, we went back to his house to relax and catch up on Hulu.  Unfortunately, this girl only made it through one or two shows before she was out.  I know, terrible girlfriend right?  I felt so bad, but I doze off on Alex all the time, so I’m sure he’s come to expect it

Regardless of my early ending to the night, it was absolutely wonderful.  Huge thanks to Alex for making it special, without presents

Here’s to MANY more anniversary celebrations together!

Happy Anniversary, babe!  Love you lots!

Celebrating 7 Years

As I mentioned in my previous post, contrary to our previous anniversary celebrations, we decided to have a low-key celebration this year by cooking dinner at my apartment and watching a movie.

With football season in full swing, Alex and I rarely get to spend any quality time together, even though we we “see” each other just about every weekend.  Anyway, we decided that we’d rather cook dinner together and just relax rather that stressing about getting dressed up and going out to dinner.  I have to say, it was an excellent decision because it was perfect!

First up, the gifts.  We decided that because neither one of us really needed anything, we wanted to try and buy things that we BOTH could enjoy now or in the future (as in maybe something for our future home).  I stuck with this idea for my gifts, but Alex kind of strayed away from it (which you’ll see in a minute).  Oh well, I loved the gifts he gave me anyway!

My gifts to him:

A piece of customized letter art:

Alex and I have been purchasing a lot of letter art for married friends, but I wanted to give him a piece of his own.  Guys obviously don’t care about having their last name all displayed in their bachelor pad, so I had to come up with something different that we could both appreciate and hang in our future home.  Anyway, I found someone who had taken the letter art images on the UA campus, and picked out images that spelled ROLL TIDE from locations that were meaningful to us: 

• R – Bryant Denny Stadium (Lots of football memories of course!)
• O – Bidgood Hall (one of the Business buildings where Alex spent a lot of time while working on his business degree)
• L – Carmichael Hall (one of the education buildings – which obviously is a nod to my major)
• L – Coleman Coliseum – Where basketball games and gymnastics meets are held, but also the location for our graduation ceremonies
• T – Bryant Denny – See Above
• I – Denny Chimes – One of our campus landmarks
• D – Bashinsky  – Another business building
• E – Lloyd Hall – Where Alex spent a lot of his time when he was in the engineering program (before he switched to business)

I got the images as prints so I had to get the mat and frame and figure out how to display them.  I was pretty proud of how it turned out!

I actually gave it to him a couple of weeks ago when I went to visit him in Montgomery, just so I could help him find a place for it.  He LOVED it and put it over his TV. It looks a little naked around it, but we’ll figure that out later.

I also gave him an Alabama shaped cutting board and had the designer put a heart over Tuscaloosa.  The man that made it even featured it on his website!

Alex’s cutting board from the crafter’s website.  You can see the heart over Tuscaloosa :)

Alex loved both gifts, so I was excited…especially since I will hopefully someday have a chance to enjoy them too!

Alex’s gifts for me:

 

From L-R:  Shoo, Jimmy Choo:  A Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More; Let’s Get Primitive:  An Urban Girl’s Guide to Camping; Non-stick flexible spatula, Cupcake injector and corer, pink chef’s knife and apron all from Williams Sonoma

Alex was not as excited about his gifts for me, but I thought he did a good job!  As soon as I opened them, he said “Now, I am only giving you things because they are all things you need and want.  I promise I’m not trying to get you in the kitchen” ;)

After we opened gifts, Alex fixed an AMAZING dinner of individual beef wellingtons, caesar salad, and lobster tail.

  It was SO good!  I was going to handle dessert, and I decided to do something similar to Melting Pot’s “The Flaming Turtle” since we’ve had it for anniversary dessert the past two years.  I bought all the ingredients and even a fondue pot, but unfortunately, the dessert never happened :(.  We were so full after dinner that we wanted to wait a bit before dessert, so we snuggled up and watched a movie, and I fell asleep before we got ready for dessert.  I felt so bad, but we kept all the ingredients to enjoy it later!

Even though we didn’t go out for dinner, I couldn’t have asked for a better anniversary celebration (except for the whole falling asleep on him and missing dessert part!). 

We didn’t get a table picture this year, but I made sure that we took our yearly anniversary picture regardless of how rough we looked ;)

Thanks babe for a wonderful night and 7 amazing years!  Here’s to many more anniversary celebrations in the future!  I love you!

Halloween Weekend in Montgomery

Thanks to the University’s fall break and football bye week, I actually had my first free weekend the weekend prior to Halloween and decided to go spend it with my sweetie in Montgomery!

I arrived on Thursday evening, and we just enjoyed a quiet evening in (complete with Alex’s famous spaghetti for dinner…yum!)

Alex got to work from home on Friday, so we enjoyed spending the entire day together.  I have recently started doing some vinyl designs on acrylic cups and Alex picked out his favorite and asked for one.  I surprised him with it as well as his anniversary gift, and he enjoyed his cup all day!

Again, we enjoyed a nice, quiet evening in with a movie and a “fish and chips” dinner :)

Saturday was quite a busy day!  We went to Prattville during the day so Alex could check out Bass Pro Shop (a.k.a. his “happy place”), so while we were there we decided to do some exploring.  We had lunch at a local favorite, Uncle Mick’s

and enjoyed the sampler platter of sausage red beans and rice, crab meat au gratin, cajun potato salad, crawfish etoufee, and chicken sausage gumbo…it was all delicious!  If you are ever in Prattville, you should definitely stop by.  The owner will ask you “what did you have last time?”, offer free samples of anything you haven’t tried because he says he doesn’t want you to order anything you don’t like, and will stop by your table during the meal to check on you.  It was an all-around amazing experience!

After lunch, we walked around and enjoyed Downtown Prattville.

While we were there, we also picked up a pumpkin from a local pumpkin stand on our way home.  Alex wanted to make sure it made it home in one piece so he buckled it in the back seat.

We then headed home and got ready for our “date night”.  Alex had gotten us tickets to the final, and special “late night” showing of Dracula at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival as our Halloween date/early Anniversary present.  We were so excited!

Us before we left Alex’s apartment

Shakespeare got all dressed up for the occasion as well

    Our attempt at getting a picture with Shakespeare.  The sweet guy that took our picture must have thought we wanted just his bottom half.  Oh well ;)

The show was AMAZING!  Don’t just take my word for it though as you can read Montgomery Advertiser’s rave review of it here.  We were very impressed with the special effects (and that’s coming from two folks with ‘behind the scenes’ theatre experience).  They discuss some of the special effects in the video below.

Because ours was the last evening showing (and Alex and I know from experience that it is almost always the best show to see ;)), they held an after-party so that you could mingle with the cast members.  We wanted to stay and party, but it was almost 1 by the time the play ended, and we were exhausted, so we headed home.  We had a wonderful time though!

On Sunday, Alex and I decided to carve our pumpkin.  Surprisingly, in the 7 years we’ve been dating, we’ve never carved pumpkins together, and our first experience was quite entertaining!

Pumpkin all ready to go 

We cheated and bought a kit.  It backfired on us though (you’ll see what I mean in a minute

Alex carving away.  His job was to “gut” the pumpkin

 

My job was to pick out the pumpkin seeds so we could roast them later

 

Good job Alex!

 

Ready to carve!

We chose the Dracula print from the book as a nod to our date the night before, but unfortunately the stencil was too big for our pumpkin.  I had to freehand a smaller version on a paper towel.  It may not have looked that impressive, but it worked!

 

 

Alex marking the stencil on the pumpkin.  Yes, those are sticky tabs…somehow the boy had no tape ;)

My free-hand version of Dracula

Time to cut!  This is the only picture we got because I took over after this and Alex isn’t as good about taking pictures ;)

All cut!

 

Roasted pumpkin seeds…yum!

Our “Dracu-pumpkin”.  We were pretty proud of him!

The next day, I had to get back to Tuscaloosa to get ready for a conference, but I would have stayed longer if I could!  I also had to change out my Halloween decor for my fall decor, but not before I snapped a picture :)

My bar.  Yes, that is still my Alabama football subway art, but it matched my color scheme so I left it ;)

 

Place setting.  Yes, it is pretty much my football decor with some added Halloween touches, but I loved it! :)

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween! :)