March Madness

First of all, I can't believe March is already here. Woah Nelly.

Secondly, March is going to be busy month for the Bells. Luckily, it's mostly FUN stuff, and that, my friends, is my favorite kind of busy.

March Madness kicked off with a visit from the pops! My dad had a dental conference in town, so he came to stay with us for a few days. We LOVED having him here. We spent the majority of our time watching Chopped (our newest addiction) and eating like kings.  Yes, my waistline and I are keenly aware of the major food trend happening here.  Somehow, the boys managed to find time between meals for a round of golf. It was cold and windy, but where there is a will, there is a way.  But enough about that, back to the food talk.  We ventured downtown for both of our weekend dining hotspots, and we were not disappointed.  Friday night we had dinner at Spindini, a local Italian place.  It was delish, and we had a great time!  Here's a shot of our side of the table...

But let's move along to the dinner of all dinners.  Flight.  This place is extra-special.  You can order dinner just like you would order dinner anywhere else...OR...you can order flights of food.  Yes, that's right.  Multiple salads, soups, entrees, desserts... SMORGASBORD at your very own table.  If you order a flight, you receive smaller portions of each entree you choose, so the total amount of food equals one typical entree. They have pre-selected thematic flights (e.g., Seafood Flight- lobster, scallops, shrimp), or you can create your own flight, which is what we all did.  Now, I typically don't like photographs of food, but I feel like photos explain this place a bit better...

Salad Flight

Austin's Flight of Entrees

Dessert Flight (mid-annihilation)

Good to the last button-popping bite.  And tons of fun, too! 

Thanks for the visit, Dad!! Come back soon!

Entrez s'il-vous-plaît

We finally decorated our entryway! It has been an empty area of nothingness for 8 months now, but I was determined to wait until I found something I just loved. Turns out it was worth the wait, and I'm quite pleased with what we pulled together on a sweet little budget.

It was a bit of a task because we wanted a table in that space, but we were only working with 12 inches of depth.  Turned out to be a bit of a challenge to find a table that thin...but my favorite antique mall/flea market pulled through again! This is what we started with....right size, right price, wrong color.  So wrong.

But with a little sanding, painting, and cool new hardware, this puppy was as good as new!

Next order of business was something for the wall above the table.  The husband has a 'thing' about mirrors in the entryway...something about scaring himself every time he walks in the door...I don't know.  So the mission was to find some art.  Not my strong suit.  But after months of looking, I stumbled up on this beauty on etsy.

Botanical print on vintage dictionary page.  I swooned.  And then ordered a set of 6.

In keeping with the worn look of the old pages, we went with weathered barnwood frames (50% off at Hobby Lobby).  I was so excited and just couldn't get them up fast enough!

Our house definitely feels a little more complete with these bad boys up.  Here is a look at the whole project... 

So pleased.  I feel like it really fits with our house but also has a unique quality to it.  Three cheers for one less empty wall and for a more welcoming entryway-- Hip Hip Hooray!

Well Hello There...

I am embarrassed to see that my most recent post was about Christmas. Yikes. Worst blogger alive.

But no news is good news, I suppose.  We've just been here plugging along. Doing our thaaang. 

And then some VISITORS arrived! Some dear friends from college made the trek all the way here for a weekend of togetherness.  Let's take a moment to talk about how these precious folks came over the river and through the woods just to hang out for a couple o' days.  Two of these lovies worked all day, hopped on an aeroplane, then rented a car & did some more driving.  Serious love, y'all.  And then my other dearheart couldn't stay all weekend, so she woke up Friday, worked a half day, drove here, hung out for the evening, and woke up the next morning and drove right back home. Talk about making the effort. Blessed to have friends like these.

I wish I could go rambling on about all the super cool things we did this weekend, and how I was just the hostess with the mostest....but I'll shoot straight-- I was kind of a dud in that department.  There wasn't much going on in town, and it was a rainy, icky weekend.  But we did three of my favorite things-- eat, talk, laugh.  We stayed up late chatting into the wee hours every night, and I loved every second.  The only real decision we made was to eat our way through this city, and that is exactly what we did. We planned everything around our meals, and our tummies thanked us for every delicious morsel. We only took one photo all weekend, so here it is.  Weekend commemorated. 

Thank you gals for coming all the way here to talk to me and eat with me. I loved it, and I love y'all.

A few other notable things have happened since my last post (in no particular order)....

• BIL and SIL found out they are expecting a baby GIRL! Could not be more thrilled!
• Dear, dear friends living up in Balty had a baby BOY! So cute, so much hair, so much love! (T minus 32 days!)
• Austy-boy worked around 327 hours in the month of January.  That's a conservative estimate.
• Had some ups and downs in the working world.  Trying to keep my big girl pants cinched tight.
• Spent quality time with both of our families over the holidays.  Loved every minute.
• Had a few contractors come look at our kitchen-- hoping to spiff it up a bit in the near future!
• Finally got around to painting our trim (some of it...). We bought the paint 6 months ago.
• Had a few date nights with different couples around here.  Hoping these mark the beginnings of some great new friendships!
• FINALLY filled our entryway with some decor... Post on that coming soon! 

I'm Dreaming of a Burlap Christmas

Decorating for Christmas while listening to Christmas music is one of my favorite things in the world.  I look forward to it all year.  I traditionally decorate with apple reds and greens to make the house look all merry and bright.  This year I thought I would mix it up a bit, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out.  It's not quite as bright, but I think it's still pretty darn merry.

Because our house has a lot more neutral colors--creams, taupes, blues, etc-- I wanted our Christmas decorations to work well with what we already had going on.  I really felt like the red & green would throw that off a bit, so I went with a more natural look for our decor.  Now, buying all new Christmas decorations can get pricey, so I decided to make a lot of them myself.  And with the help of Pinterest (I am seeing a recurring theme here...), I pulled it off on the cheap.  And I had some fun with it, too.  Onward to the goods...

Ruffled tree skirt that required NO sewing. Booya.

This year's tree with lots of homespun decorations.

Some of our ornaments...

His and hers burlap stockings

Advent calendar created by my dear friend Kelsey Hency for  her new business Salt.
Check out her advent blog at atasteofsalt.com

Brown paper packages tied up with string...

....these are a few of my favorite things.

In the words of one of my sweet little muchkins at school, "Miss Emmy, Crimmas comin'!" And I can hardly wait!

Polos Got Me Down

I am a young gal in my twenties.  I may not be on the cutting edge of fashion, but I enjoy clothes and shopping and things of that nature.

This is what my closet now consists of...

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

I like clothes. I wear a unisex polo daily.  These two things are not compatible.

My not-so-new-anymore job has a strictly enforced dress code.  Everyday we wear a polo embroidered with our logo, black pants, black flats, and a black cardigan (optional for cold weather).  Now, in all fairness, I knew this was the deal from the get-go.  I didn't love the idea, but it came with the job, and that was that.  In the summer months, I whined a bit about it, but I don't care that much for summer clothes, so I was able to get past it.  But now we are in the prime of my favorite seasonal attire.  I don't love winter weather per se, but I love the clothing/accessories that come with it. Boots, scarves, layers, oh my!  Do I get to wear these things?  On the weekend, yes, but those days are much too few and far between for my liking.  My boots are collecting dust, and my scarves have fallen to the bottom of my drawer.  I don't even recognize my closet with all the three-button collars.  Needless to say, I am quite excited about the upcoming two week polo hiatus that is Christmas break.

Now, I think it is only fair that I give the polos a teensy smidge of credit.  (I can't believe I just said that, and I really can't believe I didn't delete it immediately.)  The Uniform, as it is called, has revolutionized my mornings.  There used to be mornings where I would stare at my closet for-ev-er. I may try on 10 different outfit combinations (almost always ending up back to the first outfit-- why do we gals do that?), and then run out the door ranting about how I had nothing to wear and how late I was going to be.  I no longer have that problem.  I always have something to wear...the same thing I wore yesterday and the same thing I will wear tomorrow.  There is something to be said for how easy that makes my mornings.  I can now get dressed for work in a fog of sleepiness, and for that I am thankful.

Now let me be clear. I know this is a matter of no great consequence.  I know this is a very worldly complaint.  But I just had to get it out.  I trust that you you will forgive me for my rant.

Give Thanks

Another feather in my adult  cap-- I hosted my first Thanksgiving! Luckily, I had the help of my mom to pull off preparing the meal.  Our biggest feat was that we managed to cook the entire meal in our teensy, tiny kitchen that has one little oven and virtually no counter space. Whew! We did it, and it was delish.  Mom made the turkey and dressing, and I made all of the side dishes.  It was really fun trying out some new recipes, and overall it was a great success.  But more than anything, Austin and I loved having my parents, brother, and grandmother here for the occasion.  Here are a few pictures to document the occasion...

Hope everyone had a Happy Happy Thanksgiving, too! We have so much to be thankful for, and it was so wonderful to be able to celebrate our blessings with family.  "Let us come before His presence with Thanksgiving; Let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms." -Psalm 95:2

It felt like forever waiting for 1:30 p.m. on Friday to arrive. It was finally time for the highly anticipated Razorback game... How quickly it went from high-fives and bear hugs to hanging our heads in our hands.... It was a rough few hours for the Hog fans, but we enjoyed our time spent at #3 in the country.  It was good while it lasted.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind for this gal. My week off was much needed and much appreciated.  The Christmas countdown starts now...

My Personal Pinterest Party

It was a Saturday night, and the hubs had to work. What's a gal to do?  Here is where most spunky twenty-somethings would have tale about painting the town.  This old soul decided to stay home and craft. (Can you handle the fact that I just used "craft" as a verb?) I went out and grabbed the goods to make a couple things I had seen on pinterest and got busy.  By the end of the evening, I had a new wreath and some art for the wall. Productivity at it's finest. Here is my handiwork...

Burlap wreath-- this thing was so easy! But have you ever worked with burlap? It is messy fo' reals.

Map art-- also sooo easy! Maps of where we met, where we married, and where we live. I like the idea of some of the "art" on the walls having a little personal meaning. And it gave me a chance to cut up and dispose of the '04 atlas that has been living in the back of Austin's car for way too long.

Nothing fancy, but it was fun making something out of nothing.  Pinterest is perfect for people like me-- not creative enough to come up with great ideas on my own but can imitate with the best of 'em! And if you notice the trend, I am always careful to pick projects that are e.a.s.y.

Slowly but surely our walls are looking a little less bare. Hopefully I will have more to show soon!