What have i been doing??

I feel like every time i sit down to blog, i need to make apologies for not blogging for oh... the whole month before. So instead of making all these apologies i will just share with my readers (what is left of them) what i have been doing that has left me with no time to blog.

Working on the house-

If you know us, you know that this is pretty much all matt and i do together. We feel like we are starting to get somewhere and i am actually starting to be able to decorate some of the rooms. (the last year as been spent just getting the rooms to a place to start decorating.) Matt is now back in the full swing of grad school so that has left me doing all the things i can actually do. Things i can do- paint, hang pictures, decorate, move furniture around (sometimes). Things Matt does- build stuff & fix stuff. One of the most amazing things Matt built this summer was our beautiful new white mantle. I love it! and i have had so much fun changing it up... sometimes weekly. (Right Kelly?) I have recently been inspired by fall and the beautiful weather that has come with it, and so i thought i would add a little fall vibe to our mostly cool/summer looking living room.

What do you think??

Buying and selling on my beloved Craigslist-

That's right, i have become OBSESSED with craigslist. This all started when i set up my iGoogle and added a craigslist furtinture box. I'm pretty sure i browse craigslist daily if not more. And now you are wondering why i never have time to blog.... Let's continue. We have bought a number of furniture items for our house on criagslist and have actually made a few sales as well. Our current items up for grabs are a Chest Freezer and our dryer (we got a new one for free! woo-hoo).

Let me know if you are interested in either of these 2 beauties. And yes, that IS a peice of our old flooring as the dryer top. It has rust on it and i think it adds character!

Shooting (pictures not people)

Again, if you know me you know a do a bit of photography on the side. I have always wanted to get serious about it but ultimately didn't think i could do it. Well folks- the tides have turned and i am going for it! I have gotten to know some seriously inspiring photographers (primarily these and these). And so i have been shooting ALLL summer to prepare to launch my business this fall. I bet you are wondering where all the people and images are.... I have been keeping them under-wraps until my website is completed and we are getting close. I am still a bit nervous but very excited!

Here are a couple of images to get you excited about the launch of my new site!

Our Newest Family Member...

Meet Palmer Tucker

We tried to think of a middle name but we decided he didn't have to have one. We got the name Palmer from- you have probably already guessed- The Palmer Building, where we got married. We wanted his name to be something that was meaningful to us in our early years as a couple. We thought about Mayer (John Mayer was the first concert we went to) or Chicago (where we were stuck on the airport of 2 days) and some various other names, but when Palmer came to mind it seemed to just fit him.

People have been asking if we were planning to get a dog and although we have talked about it before, we kinda did it on a whim. We came across a breeder who mainly bread (i don't know if this is the proper use of this word) small-dog hybrids. This seemed perfect for us since i wanted the typical small, cute an curly dog and Matt wanted something not so girly. He had his heart set on a beagle for the longest time so when we saw this little guy- a Poogle- Beagle and Poodle mix, it was love at first sight! We pick him up 2 days after we found him with no dog food, bed or anything else... Needless to say we made a pit-stop at Pet Smart on the way home!

(don't mind our kitchen in this image, it was under construction)

Do we regret the decision? Not in the least. Palmer has been the best addition to our little family and we are so glad we are getting accustomed to him before we decide to have kids. He really has been the best dog ever, sleeping through the night on night 3 and since, hasn't had an accident in the house in a week and he already listens to us so well. He was VERY timid when we got him but he has already grown out of that a ton. It is so fun to watch him run around and chase his tail and do all things puppies like to do (except chew). Plus, he is the best cuddler ever:)

Ooooklahoma!

You know when you get so behind on blogging that it is hard to just break down and blog something? Anything? That's where I'm at. So i thought my trip to Oklahoma would be as good a start as any:)

I had been to Oklahoma once before and the thing that stood out to me was the really flat and strait roads. I love going to other states and noticing the differences from North Carolina, where I grew up and still live. I know we are all in the same country, but if we were in Europe I would have been plenty of countries over so there must be some differences, right? This time I noticed- the wind, the open plains, Taco Bueno, Sarah. And Leah.- the reason for my visit.

Leah lives in a SMALL town. The kind where most everyone know each other, there are miles and miles between houses and many farms and horse pastures to be found, (even though Leah has never ridden a horse, which was shocking to me seeing that she is Native American AND lives right beside a horse farm). Here are just a few images from her property- it was gorgeous!

Sarah lives in Arkansas and came to spend the day with us in Tulsa one of the days i was there. I was SUCH and great time for catch up and great conversation. I love these girls:)

The majority of the time i was there, i had the song "Oooklahoma, where the wind goes sweeping down the plains" in my head. And amazingly, most that time, the wind WAS actually sweeping down the plains! It was so cool to expereince how different the wind feels when there are not tons of trees around. I also happened to be there on the 4th of July and it was incredible to watch the fireworks in those open country skies. Not to mention, Oklahoma does not have any fireworks laws like NC does, and so everyone was selling them on the side of the road, and shooting them off from their backyard.... crazy!

Finally, for years now i have heard all Oklahomans (and some Texans) say that the infamous Taco Beuno was SO. MUCH. BETTER. than Taco Bell. I never believed it. So i decided to try the "oh-so-wonderful" Taco Bueno as a non-biased North Carolinian. I LOVED IT!! I think it is going to be one of those places i constantly crave b/c there is no way to get there. Like some foods from Lebanon. But lots closer:)

2nd post of July

I can't believe i have only blogged once this month! I was out of town for 11 days and we are currently remodeling our kitchen so i guess those are my excuses. So have been taking pics along the way of that project so you have that to look forward too. As well as my trip to Oklahoma, Nashville, Charleston (if you haven't already heard my sister got engaged there!). And some upcoming news:)

But for now... Here are a couple of pics from our friend's Chuck and Ashley's surprise going away party at the Kellers! Just us girls goofing off and me playing with photoshop a little.

Our Wedding in Print!

A couple of months ago, Cheyenne contacted me to let me know that our wedding has been featured on the Weddings Unveiled Blog. I was so excited to hear about this and as you probably read all about it that post. Well, what I didn't share was that our wedding was also picked for the summer issue for the Wedding Unveiled Magazine! I was so excited but had to keep it hush hush until the issue came out... not to easy for me! (i did tell a few people:/) But yesterday when i got home, Matt had the magazine opened to our page sitting on the coffee table. I was so neat to do the interview with the writer, and then see our wedding in print. I am so happy i have this and will be able to show our family for years to come!

The article is also online so click here to read it.

I am headed our to Oklahoma in just a few hours so i may be absent from the blog for a bit. I will blog if I can though. Lots of exciting things coming up!

Proof of Life

Potty training....

for an explanation of this series, go here.

distressed bench

I have been so busy lately with so many things, one of which is still working on getting our house together. Constant transition right?? Starting next week the first step of our kitchen remodel will start and i can't wait to share when it is all said and done!

Until then, here is some before and after of an old bench i re-did. We found this in the attic when Matt's grandparents moved and it has been in our carport forever waiting for it's turn. I also found the fabric i used to re-cover the seat, in the midst of some of Matt's great grandmother's quilting scraps. I am so happy i did b/c it is beautiful and really brings out the antique style of the bench!

before-

Left- after I took the old fabric and batting off. Right- the new fabric that belonged to Matt's great grandmother.

After being painted

The final product! The right is a close up of the distressed look i did and the fabric. I actually love how it turned out:)