Tuesday, December 22, 2015

My Pure Barre Obsession.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 8:30am.


That's when the Pure Barre obsession began.


Monday, December 21, 2015

A December for the Books

Oh, uh, hey there. Just showing up for the first time this month. Alyssa yelled at me. But, let's be real, it's the fastest December ever and I wanted to enjoy it! Speaking of, I'll do a quick recap of what this crazy, awesome, wonderful month has been like!
After a wonderful Thanksgiving full of all the people and puppies I love, I did a lot of Black Friday shopping.... online. Plus, some Cyber Monday shopping. And just a lot of shopping this month.


Monday, November 23, 2015

A Thanksgiving Treat

Happy Monday and short week friends! I'm lucky this year in that I'm only working tomorrow. It's such a relief after years of never having the vacation abilities! I'm so excited.

Today I want to share my favorite treat to make around the holidays. Actually, I really find an excuse to make it whenever I can. We are having a Thanksgiving potluck at work so I knew this is what I'm bringing!


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Thanksgiving Day Outfits!

Happy Thursday, friends! We are exactly one week away from Thanksgiving! Can you believe it? I, for one, am pumped! I absolutely adore the holiday season. I could care less about all those summer holiday celebrations - I live for this time of year. Literally ask anyone who knows me. Seriously, if someone has met me in real life - actually, not even - Becky knew I would approve of her watching Hallmark Christmas movies weeks ago and we've never met (in person, at least)!

Today, I thought I would share some ideas I'm tossing around for my Thanksgiving outfit! All of these are derived from things that I have in my closet already. The actual pictures have some items that are more expensive, but I'm linking affordable versions because the only expensive item I actually have on this list is the Michael Kors!


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

What I've Learned....

A lot has changed in my life over the last year or so - a wedding, a new house, and a career change. But, I would say that the change with the biggest impact on my life would be this little face right here.

Although, this was back when she was quite litte. She looks more like this now:

And she's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Well okay, Zuko is too. They're tied. See:
I digress.

Ellie has made a HUGE impact on our lives. Last night, while I was taking her for a walk even though I felt like absolute poop and just wanted to be in my PJs and on the couch catching up on the DVR, it hit me just how much our lives have changed since July.

Without further ado, some things I've learned since July:

Also, I just added a bunch of cute pictures of her... barely any method to the cute puppy picture madness. 

Puppies are hard. 

I had never had a puppy before that I was in charge of raising. I didn't realize that we adopted a mix of the two smartest and full of energy breeds. I didn't realize how hard crate training would be - and how awful that whine was!
No personal space in this household.
I didn't realize how expensive puppies were either.. vets visits, getting them fixed, training classes, doggie day care, etc. Yes, some of those are optional, but if you meet Ellie you'd realize they're not. I didn't realize that I would be spending the next few months finding every way possible to keep her busy so she wouldn't chew holes in our walls (yes, that happened).

I'm cooking - she's sleeping underneath me.
All of these lead to...

I can survive on less sleep than I thought. 

If you didn't know, puppies have tiny bladders. This means that you're waking up throughout the night - sometimes more than once. I was lucky to have a partner in crime that we could switch off times, but I still hear him when he gets up to get her. So, even though I'm not physically out of bed, I'm awake. I never thought I could survive waking up at 1:30a, 5:30a and then getting up for the day at 6:30a and still be a functioning human.
Don't mind us, Ellie. Your couch.
But I did. 

Dogs will change you're entire life. 

You see a puppy and you think "aw how cute! I wish I had a fluffy snuggle bum with an adorable wet nose and puppy kisses". So, you adopt one. Then you find out they need frequent potty breaks, they want to play all. the. time, they need walks every day, and on and on.

Just stopping to smell the... air?
We've changed our entire lives: we make sure we're never gone from the house for more that 5-6 hours, we choose places to go based on if they're dog friendly or not, we can't go on vacation at the drop of a hat, I leave for work early twice a week for doggie day care - what the heck!

A picture of her at daycare!
Just guarding brewery doors to make sure everyone pets her as they enter.
You can love a dog just as much as a human - even when they drive you crazy. 

Let me preface, I love Zuko SO much. But, he didn't disrupt my life like Ellie has. He literally showed up and started snuggling with me. Yes, he used to sit on top of my textbooks while I studied and he didn't sleep much as a kitten, but I was in college and neither did I!

Ellie on the other hand, like I mentioned, changed our entire daily routine, costs us more money than I ever want to count and has left some great holes in our yard.. And I love her more than I ever thought possible. That little nugget has me wrapped around her little finger and I'm insanely overprotective of her.
Never any personal space. Ever. 
We are not ready for kids. 

The little bit that Ellie has disrupted our daily routines and sleep schedule is NOTHING compared to a baby. I can't imagine having to get up every couple of hours to feed a baby (I'm also just assuming it's every couple hours - I have no idea). Or changing diapers - I don't even like scooping poop in the yard! Or trying to raise a child to be a good upstanding citizen. How do you do that?? I have no idea.

So, we'll just be over here being fur parents for the next few years :)

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Monday, November 16, 2015

A Weekend.


Mondays aren't my favorite. But, I can't imagine waking up and trying to function like a real person in Paris right now. My heart absolutely breaks for everyone affected by such evil and vicious attacks. It truly hurts my soul that we live in a world where terrorist attacks, school shootings, suicide bombings and the like are almost normal to us. We're sometimes desensitized to it all... Paris, we won't forget and will always keep you in our hearts.
Charlotte, NC // Via
One World Trade Center // Via
CN Tower // Via
Sydney Opera House // Via
London // Via
Friday 

I was pretty lazy after work on Friday and since Christian was working late, I had plenty of time to watch Hallmark Christmas movies and snuggle with little Ellie. 


Saturday 

I accidentally took some time off from Pure Barre and Thursday I finally took my first class in a month so I was ready to get back into my weekend barre groove Saturday morning! 


After barre, I grabbed bagels for Christian and I and we had some Jittery Joes as our caffeine fix. 


I fully planned to come home, get ready for the day and head out to run errands. But, instead....


I organized my Christmas Pinterest boards.. yes, that's plural. Don't judge - it's my favorite holiday! I planned out all the Christmas events I want to attend in Charlotte and my must - see's on the ABC 25 Days of Christmas. I have NO shame. I also stayed in my barre clothes + slippers most of the day. 


Finally, I made myself presentable and we went to dinner with Alyssa and then headed to Sycamore Brewery to watch a local band, Of Good Nature, play! We met up with some of our other friends and had an absolute blast! It was a gorgeous night by the fire pit with great friends. 




Stolen from Alyssa ;)
Sunday 

Luckily, Sunday I was much more productive that Saturday! I ran those errands and of course ended up in the Target Christmas section. Shocking. But, I got the cutest snowflake coasters from the Dollar Spot so it was totally worth it :) 
Sorry, it's a little blurry. #snapchatprobs
After my errands a little cleaning, Christian and I grabbed lunch and did our biweekly grocery shopping trip. Normally its just me, but I tricked him into coming with me. SOmetimes you just need some moral support in between all Sunday craziness! After that, it was time for more Pure Barre and then some blogging and LOST :) 

Ellie and Zuko also had a pretty solid weekend as you can see here... 

She loves the weather and LOVES to sit and stare at the sky. 

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

{Wedding Wednesday} The Reception - Part One

Slowly, but surely, I will share my favorite moments from our wedding. I swear. I love looking back through all the pictures and reliving so many wonderful moment. I've shared our First Look, Getting Ready shots, and Ceremony. Today, I'm sharing the reception!

Originally, this was going to be just one post, but I got too excited and now it will be two... I hope you like wedding pictures :)


Our reception was in this gorgeous dairy barn and we opened the doors that you can see here so the reception was indoor/outdoor. We also had the fire pit going in the garden!




Our best man and maid of honor had an EPIC entrance. Travis spun Katherine around and then she squatted down and Travis jumped over her head! Best part: everyone thought she fell at first!










These two had some really solid toasts and I loved every second of them. We are so lucky to have such amazing friends in our lives. 


Christian's face while Travis is talking is hilarious. I swear he was enjoying his toast. 



After the toasts, we cut our cake. I made it VERY clear there would be no cake smearing on my face. But, I did dot a little on Christian's nose. Because I'm the bride and I can. 




Our first dance was to Ellie Goulding's How Long Will I Love You? Anyone wondering why we named Ellie, Ellie, now?











Our Father/Daughter dance was to Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me. I have had this song picked out since high school and I even looked at other songs but this was just the one.





Christian and his mom danced to What a Wonderful World. He picked it out and it was so sweet!




I'll stop here and let the next post showcase all the great dancing skills the Dices have ;) 



Happy Hump Day everyone!

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