If you really knew me...

you would know that....

i have the hardest time with change. i always get through it, but have difficulty welcoming it with open arms

all of my grandparents that were alive when i was born are still living. blessed!

i talk to my mother every day via text and phone. there are usually multiple facetime convos as well through the week. what can i say? i never cut the cord

i am 5'9" tall with a size TEN ski shoe. i come by it honest from my dad who is 6'9"

i have the biggest heart for animals, but my husband's heart and passion for them is even bigger than mine

i can't function without 1-2 cups of coffee as soon as i wake up...it's kind of a problem

i pay no attention to details, just ask Kev. we are night and day when it comes to that....he doesn't miss anything and i miss everything when it comes to the deetz

that's probably why I can't spell to save my life. as a therapist, i also write in abbreviations and fragmented sentences for a living....that doesn't make my spelling any better. be kind to the errors in my blog. i am not an idiot, only human ;-)

i get really cranky and fussy when i am sleepy. AND, i require A LOT of sleep. like at least 8 hours

i wash my hair only 1-2 x per week...gross i know.

i have a major issue with picking at my face....even grosser

there is hardly a day that goes by that ice cream doesn't enter my mouth. it may be just a spoonful, but it happens.

i often cry at commercials, especially if it involves animals

i am horrible with money, thank goodness my husband is amazeballs at it and always has been, but damn you budget...i still dont like you :-)

i HATE the gym, but love the results

i always go commando to the gym. tis true. sorry if that offends you.

i want kev and i to move out into the country asap and never live in a subdivision again. i want to be able to walk to my mailbox topless if i want to. hey - i grew up in the middle of no-man's-land.

i am a procrastinator, always have been

i have to make myself wash my face at night. i hate the nighttime beauty routine

i look at least some of my wedding photos every day...or watch the wedding video. does that go away???

i have to have communal space in our home clean and neat, but if you open my dresser drawers they are always a mess.what people can't see....they don't have to know about it.

i am the biggest homebody. i could nest, nest and nest

i am HORRIBLE at painting my nails. i would rather pay someone anyday

i DESPISE grocery shopping

we became vegetarians in august of 2012 and are still going strong. we are still eating fish, so technically we are  Pescetarians. i sure do miss fried chicken.....

i am sensitive and tend to wear my heart on my sleeve

my favorite part of the day is walking in the door after work to two dogs wagging their tails and jumping all over me, followed by a kiss from kev.

I have poor time management skills....i blame my mother

i LOVE that i grew up in Eastern Kentucky and have a lil redneck side that comes out to play on occasion.

i got a wee lil bit of botox in my forehead before the wedding.....GASP!!! truth is - i am hooked.line.and sinker. don't judge me because i have dancing eyebrows. and dang it, it's starting to wear off.

Our Office Upgrade

Kev and I have so many things we want to do with the house now that the wedding hype is officially over.

We are breaking it down by rooms in order to see progress and not get overwhelmed.

Furnishing and decorating a house is hard work y'all!

Don't even get me started on building....that is a labor of love. I was very involved with the building process of this house back in 2010. I give you peeps who build a house early on in their marriage props. Cause it's hard and stressful, but so exciting at the same time too.

Our first priority was Kev's office. He actually spends 40 plus hours a week in there since he does primarily work from home.

When we built our home we knew we were going to turn our "formal living room" into a nice office area for KR. I think formal living rooms are so overrated and pointless. Why spend all that money on nice furniture for it to collect dust in the front room of your house?!? I would rather make that a functional room.
That is just what we did.

We knew we wanted the office furniture to be big, dark and nice. It is one of the first things you see from the front entrance of our home. Thank goodness Kev is super neat and tidy and his office space is more organized than any room in the house....otherwise it wouldn't work.

Kev really wanted to have his office be more of a reading room, as the man LOVES to read and write. He has some big plans in the future that I can't wait to share with you all as they unfold. Very exciting stuff!

First order of business with the office was paint. We were so tired of the off white walls, or as my girl Kate put it....builder beige.

Now I think builder beige works, but I just don't like it in every single room of this hizzzouse.

So our first priority was to paint the office. We wanted to keep a neutral color and didn't want to much of a drastic change. We opted for a very light slate color with brown undertones to add just a bit of color and richness to the walls of the office. I believe the actual color was Timber Dust by Valspar.

Kev did all the painting himself. He's actually a darn good painter.

We then wanted to add a "reading chair," side table with lamp and also a curtain rod/valance. Kev loves the natural light from the front window and we didn't want to add curtains to cover that up.

We ordered an oversize chaise lounge chair that came in this weekend. Yay!

I then spent many a trips to hobby lobby, pier one and home goods to pick up little accent pieces to add here and there.

I just need to add a wedding photo or two in our empty frames and we are good to go

Here is our final product......

I love the rich feel of the office. I love even more that this area is such a used and functional space in our home.

weekend fun

Linking up with miss Sami  for .....

Top left: Friday night, Kev and I met my gal pal Amber and her hubby for pizza. Sissy is about to pop. Her lil one will be here in less than two weeks!!!

Top middle: Saturday morning I had my 1st First Watch experience with KR. It did not disappoint.

Top right: We picked up our new chaise lounge chair and added some final touches for the office. can't wait to share the details.

Middle left: We had a low key saturday ....and it was amazing. We spent Saturday night at Kroger for the weekly grocery trip. Saturday nights are the shizz at Kroger. There were zero peeps around. Kev and I were a lil slap happy and made some Vine videos of our steals. They were pretty darn funny.

Middle: Raising the roof for our good finds in Kroger

Middle right:One word: Beyonce'! I am obsessed with my girl. She consumed my DVR with her Oprah interview and the hbo documentary that I confess to watching twice in less than 24 hours. No shame.

Bottom left: two words: more beyonce'. I am dying to see her Mrs. Carter Tour. Of course she isn't coming to KY, but she will be in Nashville in July.

Bottom middle: The hubs made us a delish vegetarian friendly sketti for lunch while I worked on some clean-eating meal prep for this week. Must get back on the wagon.

Bottom right: My bestie and her hubby accompanied Kevin Rex and I to church sunday evening for our third installment of the Marriage-ish series we are currently in. Some powerful stuff :-) I am so thankful for the great and mighty Lord we serve.

Happy Monday Y'all!!!

Our Wedding Video Sneak Peek

Ok, ok - I just couldn't wait till monday to post this.

Here is a sneak peek at our wedding.

Can't wait to show you all the final product.eeeeeeeek

Turn up your speakers too :-)

Best.Day.Ever!

Happy Valentine's day y'all!

Just some sweet photos for you......

from our wedding day  :-) photo by amy campbell formerly of AAP

I tend to think Valentine's day is overrated. I am a big fan of birthday's myself :-)
However, Kev and I always do celebrate. This one is even more special because it is our first as Mr. and Mrs.

We have dinner reservations downtown at Shakespeare and Company, a rather new restaurant in lexington added in the last year.
Neither of us have ate there, but you may remember S&C from here......



It was one of the backdrops for our engagement photos, before it's doors were even open. We just stumbled upon it and our photographer asked if we could snap some photos there. They decor is so gorgeous. Something you would not expect to find in Lexington, Ky. I am super excited to check it out tonight.




Happy Valentine's Day friends!
 May you be surrounded by those you love, and who love you the most.

The morning after our wedding...

What a whirlwind the wedding weekend was.

TIME.OF.OUR.LIVES

Most of you know that Kevin and I got married on a Sunday (due to baby brother's college football schedule) and we opted to leave for our honeymoon the very next day. Call us crazy, but we were in the love with the idea of living in the moment and riding the wedding adrenaline as far as we could.

That is just what we did.

We left our hotel at 5am the morning after our wedding and headed to the airport. I don't even think we got back to the hotel room till after 1am the previous night.

I rocked my wedding hair the next day. Bobby pins intact and all.

We got to the airport early enough to have some breakfast and take time to breathe before jumping on the plane that was. St. Lucia bound.

That morning there was a lot of traffic flying into the Atlanta airport, where we would have our connecting flight.

Side note: we had approx 50 min to make our connecting flight. We knew it was gonna be a fast paced morning. ATL airport is HUGE.

Kev and I noticed our plane was running a little behind schedule, and about that time the captain came over the plane loud speaker to announce we would be on at least a 30 -45 minute delay.

I thought Kev was gonna loose it. He was so mad.

I, of course, started crying.

There was no way we were gonna make it to our connecting flight on time. No possible way!

Total bridal meltdown occurred that morning.

Somehow, by the grace of God, our pilot made up for lost time in the air and the flight attendant assured Kev and I we would make it to our gate on time. We would have to book it, but would make it, or so she insisted.

As soon as the plane landed and the seat belt light came on, Kev and I ran off of that plain and sprinted through the ATL airport.

Let's just keep in mind I have full bridal hair and a hoody embroidered with
JUST MARRIED

on the back....and we are running on zero sleep.

We were running so hard that I literally had to stop in the middle of our frenzy to catch my breath. I would hardly so I was in bad shape either since I had been in full operation wedding dress mode for 2 months.

We ran and ran and ran.

Of course our gate would be at the furthest end of the terminal.

I ran up to the ticket counter and the man said "you barely made it."

Yeah, no sh*t Sherlock!

Bottom line, we made it to our plane just in the nick of time. Surrounded by other honeymooners that were St. Lucia bound.

However, most people had been married on that Saturday. I felt like Kev and I were the only crazy ones running around on an hour of sleep, in full panic mood that the first night of our honeymoon would be spent in Atlanta.

I look back on it and laugh now, but it was far from funny in that moment.

At least we have a memory right?!?

We spent the next weekend in paradise on the island of St. Lucia.

Come back friday to read all about it :-)

weekend shenanigans

I feel like KR and I started our weekend on thursday last week. That needs to be a new rule in our house. Even though we still had to work friday, we took thursday night off from the daily grind.

We headed out for some greasy-cheesy mexican food. Yum!

Oh by the way, I got bangs again on thursday.

Very long bangs, just in case I change my mind and want them to grow back next week into my inner carrie underwood bang swoop :-)

Chips, salsa, queso dip and margaritas for two please!

Oh mexican food, i do love thee.

Friday after work, we hit up target and walked away with a thinner wallet....how does that happen?!?!

Every.Time!

We ran some more errands and bought some finishing touches for the office are area that we have been re-doing in the house.

Pic to come, don't you worry. We are still waiting on our beautiful chaise chair that was damaged when we went to pick it  up Saturday. Major Bummer!

Saturday mornings are my favorite!

Before the wedding I spent saturday morning sweating for my wedding dress.

The dreaded morning aerobics class.....

I am still all for sweating for the bikini these days, but there is just something about sleeping in on Saturdays that I love.

Needless to say, the aerobics class has not seen my face in a few months weeks.

I love waking up to no alarm clock, cooking breakfast, lounging around the house with Kev and the doggies and talking about our plans for the day.

I made french toast saturday morning. Was sooo good.

and that's pseudo-sausage down there - going vegetarian strong since august - i gotta post on that topic soon.

Saturday afternoon we watched the UK game after our furniture pick up plans got a snag thrown in them.

GO BIG BLUE (Cats are finally ranked again!!! wooty woot)

Saturday night we spent the evening out with friends in Lexington.

I could not tell you the last Kev and I went downtown and stayed out till 2am, but we did and had a blast.

We celebrated our good friend Gene's birthday and caught up with some familiar faces.

We met for dinner at The Vue on top of the Chase Bank building downtown.

I sipped quite a few glasses of vino......and chowed down on sushi, crab cakes and birthday cake.

After dinner, we made our way to one of my favorite lil Lexington night spots - Parlay Social.

They always have a live band every night and a full dance floor. It's not one of our regular spots, but is always a good time.

I ran into these beauties from the good ol' college days. Loved seeing them out and catching up on their lives. Sweeties!

and also ran into the fabulous miss brooke and tara

I just love these girls!!

aren't they dolls?

We came home to the doggies that night as usual. Bailey actually handled being in his crate well that evening. Our normal routine is to take him out of crate, out to potty and then back in the larger pen.

While i was eating some 2:30am mac-n-cheese (the best kind of course), bailey decided he would just jump over then pen and on to the pallet (the nickname for our current bed in the living room) and just sit beside of me. Can we please keep in mind that he has strict precautions of NO JUMPING!!! I almost had a heat attack. Thankfully, he seems a-okay. Shewwwww.

Sunday we spent quality time on the pallet watching movies and consuming carbs.

Have y'all seen Flight with Denzel?!? Sooo good!

We let bailey boy out of his pen for some loving and snuggling. Lord knows he needed it....and so did I.

We made it to church Sunday night. We are in a great series called Marriage-ish that has been so powerful for Kev and I as newlyweds.

I treasure my weekends and sure do hate it when Monday rolls around.

At least it is tuesday, and that means we are that much closer to friday :-)

Enjoy the rest of your week friends!

One year ago....I said yes

One year ago today, Kev got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It was one of the greatest days of my life.

You can read all about it here

February 11th, 2012

Fast forward to the present.......

We have been happily married for 3 months this weekend.

I love him more today than I ever have.

Kev and I don't really celebrate anniversaries (except for our wedding one of course).

 I can't even tell you the exact date we started dating. I just know it was March of 2009. So no, we will not be celebrating an engagement-versary today, but this day will always, always make my heart smile.

Happy Monday y'all!

Honeymoon Preview

Here is a lil photo preview of our honeymoon in St. Lucia.

One word: AAAAHHHMAZING!

Don't worry, I have a whole post lined up with all the St. Lucia fun :-)

The resort had private photographers roaming around to take your pic at any given second. Ummm hello, you know I was all over it.

Poor, poor Kev.

A couple of mojitos and breswkis later, I even talked him in to getting in the sand with me for some beach photo ops. I need y'all to appreciate this because it is so not his style.

We did almost get washed away, but it made for a great laugh and memory.

I thought Kev would have a heart attack when we went to the photo station at the end of the week to bring some pics home with us. Let's just say for for 10 -14 digital images I could have done some damage in the retail therapy department. But hey, it was our honeymoon and like any good husband, he bit the bullet and broke out his credit card :-)



More on the honeymoon to come.

I can't say enough good things about St. Lucia.

Total paradise!

Bailey Recovery Update

Sweet Bailey is 3.5 weeks post surgery.

We had our follow up with the doggie orthopedic surgeon last week and Bailey Boy checked out fine.

He said everything looks great so far and we can start backing him off the pain medicine. We go back in 6 weeks for x-rays and to make sure the bone has healed completely. At that time we can start slow leash walks. He said to continue to keep him "quiet," meaning 6 more weeks locked up in his pen. Out only to go potty on a short leash. Sigh....we are all hanging in there.

We have spent every night beside of our lil guy right here...

On what we have grown to call The Pallet.

On the upside, our master bedroom has never been so clean

His personality is starting to come out in full force.

He is full of energy in the A.M, making it difficult to keep him from playing too rough.

We have always called him "a morning boy" because he is so hyper when he wakes up.

His hair is growing back slowly and I think he is less embarrassed about it.

Uggie is ready to have her brother out of there so she can play with him.

Bailey has tried to chase her some along the pen, but we always have to make him stop :-(

It's pitiful, but we have to the bone heal fully.

Kev has been a trooper when it comes to taking him out in the frigid cold.

The 7 degree temperatures on Friday were miserable.

Overall, Bailey is doing great! He is putting weight on his back leg and starting to walk without a limp. We think he is feeling great, which makes it even harder for him to understand why he has to be all couped up. It's been a challenge to keep him as inactive as possible when he is starting to feel so much better.The TPLO surgery is definitely hard on the owner's. It has changed the doggies routine and ours too, but we are not complaining.  Kev and I have started getting out of the house together for longer periods of time. We have made bailey's pen larger, giving him more room to move around. Don't get me wrong, the first two weeks were miserable, but every day has been better. It's just been a change for the four us, but we have adapted and are almost at the 1/2 way mark.
I am hoping by the middle of spring we will be back to normal....and maybe sleeping in our king size bed again :-)

Rehearsal Dinner

November 17th, 2012

My last night as a single gal.

I seriously LOVED our rehearsal dinner.

It was very small and intimate with only immediate family and the wedding party.

We wanted a comfortable and down home type atmosphere for our rehearsal dinner.

With all the stress that can come with a wedding planning, Kevin and I insisted the rehearsal dinner be a causal affair where people could let their hair down, kick back and have a good time.

And that is just what we did!

We choose Ramsey's diner for our Rehearsal dinner.

Ramseys is a very old fashion yet eclectic diner locally owned in Lexington since the 1980s. Their menu includes things like the infamous Kentucky hot brown, fried cat fish, soup beans & cornbread, and chicken fried steak with gravy.

It may not be the best place for you cholesterol, but I guarantee your taste buds will thank you.

 If y'all are ever in Lex it's a must stop on your list.

We snapped a few photos of the house before making our way out for the evening

I just love this pic of me and Kev

Kev and all his groomsmen minus Ron

Our menu included the Ramseys' staples: fried chicken, fried catfish, hot browns and country fried steak to name a few....and all the country fixins to go with it.

(there was a grilled chicken option - just fyi for all you health nuts)

We also served pecan and peanut butter pie family style. It was all so delish!!!

Kevin "Rex" and his parents

My close gal pal Caitlin and her bf

Although the dress at Ramsey's is very casual, I rocked my Vera Wang dress.

Jeans and boots were encouraged, but I was the bride and I could break any rule I wanted to.

When my momma and I picked out my dress, it became a running joke that I was wearing such a fancy schmancy dress when most people would be in blue jeans.

I remember trying it on for Kev the first time...his reaction....

"are you REALLY going to where that?"

Hells yeah I am! And I did.

My bestie Meg, my MOH

Shauna, a bridesmaid, and her sweet baby Quinn

My long time bestie and other MOH, Katrina

On the left is lil miss Anne, one of my closests friends. She would be the one marrying us the next day!

That sweetie on the right is Cati who is finally living in the USA! Watch out Austin, Texas!

Bridesmaids: Megan, Katrina and Amber

My new in-laws :-)

Kev got all of his groomsmen these fun Justin belt buckles with their last name initial on them. They wore these with their suits and boots on wedding day. I love the country/rustic look to them

The whole wedding weekend I was in love with having friends together from different parts of my life. Childhood, high school, college, grad school, post college

It was on those paths that I made some of the most important friendships that made our wedding that more special.

There was something about your friends and family in one place that completely filled my love tank.

I still can't believe I got to marry this man!

After we gorged on pecan pie, the bridal party headed over to my favorite hole in the wall bar in Lex...

Chinoe Pub.

This isn't just any dive bar, it comes equipped with karoke. And karaoke here my friends, is taken very seriously!

It was the perfect way to spend the night before our wedding if I do say so myself. Nothing better than you and your friends crooning some country tunes with some cold ones.

Baby brother's girlfriend, Brittany, was the ultimate right hand woMAN this weekend to my mother and I. I don't think we could have done it without her. I will murder my brother if he doesn't marry her one day. We just can't let her take him to back to sunny California. We like them here in Kentucky.

My brother had the weekend of his life...oh to be 22 again.

The lil momma to be didn't let her bun in the heaven keep her from hanging out with us all night. She was a trooper!

I felt so lucky that night because not only do I have such a great group of gal pals, but Kev has the best guys in his life, too. I love all of them to death. I am so thankful for them and the relationships they have with my groomy.

Baby bro and Megs got the party started with some Tom Petty.

How many of you gals can say you sang karaoke with the pastor that is going to marry you the night before your wedding.

.

I bet not too many of you.

and if you did happen to do that the night of your rehearsal....did you sing Gangsta's Paradise Coolio style?

I think not! :-)

It was classic

We were planning round 2 to be TLC's Waterfalls, but it just didn't happen. Too much excitement or booing in round 1. oops!

What rehearsal dinner night could be complete without the last single girl kiss?

That night all I could think about was ....i am going to marry Kev.

I mean let's be honest, I had nine months to think about that, but that night it just hit me. I was gonna spend the rest of my life with this man. Nothing on this earth could have made me any happier.

We spent the night in a local hotel, me in the bridal suite with my gals and Kev was with his boys.

I had butterflies all night.

Megan and I shared a bedroom that night and I remember he saying before I went to bed......

"you are gonna be Whitney Winchester tomorrow"

I had dreamed about that moment for years.

It was happening!!

2.5 months later, I still think about that night and how excited I was to wake up the next day to marry my best friend. I can honestly say that I wake up everyday still excited about being his wife.

I love you Kevin "Rex"!