SPRING FEVER = SHOPPING

Right now Hubby and I are stationed in a small town located in mid-eastern Illinois for work. Let me state two very important facts right up front: 1) I'm a little stir-crazy because I'm in a hotel room for most of the day. 2) It's cold here. Like REALLY cold. I'm getting that spring fever kick. I know, it's January, but I'm ready for warmth. Anyways, since it's a small town there's not lots to do. When I have a chance to drive the car (a.k.a. when Hubby is home in the evenings) I try and get out so I don't have to check myself into an asslyum. The two major stores in town are Walmart and Kohl's. There's only so many times you can go to Walmart so recently I've been browsing at Kohl's. Hubby is a big believer in Kohl's. He loves Kohl's because he gets great deals. I've sorta had a love hate relationship with Kohl's. Sometime their clothes are great and sometimes not. Sometimes I can find the right size and sometimes I can't. But today I found some cuties that I actually LIKE! Maybe it's because there aren't any stores around or maybe it's because I've just hit the jackpot with Kohl's. Who knows (insert shrug)?! Here are some of my favorite finds I'm hoping to add to my wardrobe:

A comfy hoodie, I'm always game for nautical inspired prints:

SO Striped Henley Hoodie $19.99

Pretty peach sundress: 

City Triangles Floral Eyelet Dress $53.99

Bunny tee. A note about me, I've always loved bunnies. They're just plain adorable:

Princess Vera Wang Bunny Tee $13.60

 This navy lace dress with the bow belt is darling:

City Triangles Lace Dress $46.99

I love colors. I love birds. I prefer gold over silver = perfect necklace:

Princess Vera Wang Gold Tone Bird Link Long Necklace $18.20

Yellow is my favorite crush color and these little anchors are so springy (is that a word?):

LC Lauren Conrad Anchor Drop Earrings $9

Thanks for shopping with me! Are you ready for spring? What kinds of things are you loving right now?

Love,
Bethany V.

Colorado Christmas!

Going back home for Christmas was wonderful, warm and fuzzy, and a tad crazy! It was our first time back to Colorado after four months of being married and there were lots of peeps to see and things to do. We managed to fit it all in though! I'm thankful Bret and I decided to do "our" Christmas before we left. It really made our first Christmas special and established our traditions as a couple, I think. Our favorite part of being back home was watching all the nieces and nephews open their gifts. The excitement is contagious and their raptures (or disinterest) over gifts is wildly entertaining. Who needs TV?! Both of our parents had lots of food and more Christmas gifts for us to open (we had already had a couple "early" Christmases, lol). They really do spoil us completely!

     

         
 Fun times with my mom, brother Nathan, and sisters Joelle and Meagan......

 The dog, Misty and my big brother Andy

The guys doing some clean up after the Christmas dinner

 

baby Eric and my little main squeeze Maddie Cakes

 Ben and Eric, the nephews, are such a hoot together......

Sophie fell in love with Uncle Bret

and Will takes after daddy with his funny bone!

 Our parents....sorry Bob I didn't snap one of you!

Cold, happy and in love! It was a great time and we loved every minute of being back in our home town. Can't believe Christmas 2013 is JUST twelve months away, ha. Hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year as well!

*dear family, I tried to get a picture in of everyone. Please don't take offense if you don't see more than one photo of you (or in Bob's case, none) we love you ALL dearly!! Okay, that's my disclaimer. xoxo

Love,
Bethany V.

25...last day

Today is my last day to be twenty-five and to a certain extent I am sad. Sad because I liked being twenty-five and well, it just had a nice ring to it. Plus, some of the best things in my lift happened in my twenty-fifth year (getting married for one!). So, instead of shedding a tear on waving goodbye to twenty-five I have decided to write up twenty five things I'm thankful for (please note they aren't written in order of importance.....well number 1 is:

1. My Hubby - he leaves little sticky notes for me to find when he's gone. He loves me when I've broken the budget and I'm grumpy. He makes me laugh! He's killer in a pair of jeans and cowboy boots and well, he's my Man! I adore him and I'm so thankful God brought us together.
2. My Family - they are the best. They're funny, smart, talented, and oh so wonderful. I wouldn't be who I am without them.
3. Our Little House - I've loved nesting. Today I realized how blessed I am to have a little place to call home. It's a wonderful feeling.
4. My slippers - my Hubby bought me a pair for Christmas and my feet have never been happier.
5. A Washer and Dryer - as much as I love "Little House on the Prairie", I like using a washer and dryer.
6. My Kitchen-Aid - it's wonderfully easy to whip up cookies!
7. The Lord - without Him I couldn't' have made it through this year or any of them. He is my strength and song.
8. Phones - I can't imagine not being able to talk to family or only hearing from them every six month because the mail was so slow. I love that I get to keep in touch with friends and family even though I'm miles away.
9. A bed - a warm bed with sheets and pillows. A real luxury.
10. Nutella - not much else needs be said :)
11. My camera - documenting life as it goes by.
12. Flowers - they have to be in here! I love how beautiful and colorful they are. I'm always in raptures over them!
13. Macaroni and Cheese - what can I say, I'm a kid at heart!
14. Freedom - something I take for granted.
15. New Traditions - I'm having fun creating new traditions with my Hubby.
16. Instagram - I love the instant connection with my sisters and friends! Love you guys!
17. My little Nieces and Nephews - they brighten my life with their personalities! I adore being an auntie.
18. Hobby Lobby - a place to let creativity run wild - yay!!
19. Classic, Old Movies - thank you Hubby for introducing me to these. They're wonderful and wholesomely good (I don't think wholesomely is a word, but oh well.)
20. A Hair Dryer - okay don't laugh. I'm pretty happy how quickly this speeds up my life.
21. Candles - they're calming, romantic, aromatic.....wonderful.
22. Happy Childhood - I'm blessed to have lovely memories with my siblings. My parents did a great job raising us. Home was happy, fun and I got to have an imagination as kid, something I hope to pass onto my kids someday.
23. Music - it fills the empty place in the heart with a song.
24. Birds - they're beautiful free creatures.
25. My Twenty-Fifth Year - filled with so many firsts for me! My first love, my first Valentines, my first (and last time :) planning a wedding, my first four-wheeling adventure, my first kiss, my first time being a wifey, and my first time to Hawaii. Yes, it's been a good year!!! I welcome my twenty-sxith year with open arms!

If you made it to the end, I congratulate you. :)

Love,
Bethany V.

Milk Glass Bottle DIY

 Do you ever have an obsession for something?  I have this white/soft white obsession with dishes, vases decor., etc. I absolutely adore milk glass vases, you get the picture. I recently spray painted these cute Owls from Hobby Lobby (clearance from the fall section) into snowy owls for the holidays. 

They turned out pretty good and got me thinking of other things I could spray paint......hmmm. My sister-in-law gave Mr. B and I a gift for our wedding where we open up a new gift every month! It's been really fun and has spread out our wedding cheer! I love opening presents! In October, we opened a pumpkin carving tool set and apple cider. I immediately fell in love with the apple cider jar and couldn't wait to use it for decorating. Since I had the white spray paint from the owls I decided to paint the jar and see what happened. Here's what I used. 1) One apple cider jar, glass (any type of unique jar would work) 2) Krylon Fusion spray paint, in satin. 3) Newspaper.

I did several layers of paint. The one thing I love about this spray paint is how quickly it dries. I'm

kinda of a quick craft person and it drives me crazy if something takes forever to dry.  

Finished Product - ta-da! 

I haven't quite decided where I'm going to put it, and if I'll keep the sticks. We'll see......

(P.S. I raided a deserted bush in a deserted swamp area on my way back from the Post Office today, lol.)

Love, 

Bethany

Delights of Christmas

I love this time of year....the preparing, the decorating, the baking the shopping, you name it! This year is my first Christmas away from home (at the present) and as a married woman, no less (so strange). I have had fun decorating our home and creating a warm fuzzy Christmas feeling! Last year I remember agonizing over what to give Mr. B for Christmas without it being overly sentimental. What a relief it was this year to shop and not have to worry about that part!! I could purchase items like this and not have to stress about being weird (insert smile). We celebrated our little Christmas this weekend. It was a blast! Our holiday tradition we set into motion this year: sleeping under the tree on Christmas Eve. For some reason, I wasn't sure if we'd actually make it, but we did the WHOLE night on the floor and woke up to our beautiful (albeit small) tree which you can see here. To be fair, my wonderful hubby gave me, my very own sleeping bag as an early Christmas gift! Here are 7 Things I'm loving this season: 1) Our Christmas sign 2) House I made last year that lights up at night 3) Red shoes 4) Woodland creatures on our tree 5) Cookies! 6) The reason for the season, Jesus 7) My Hubby = love. Oh, life is good. 

Love, 

Bethany V.

Catching Up!

It's been a short while, okay a long while since I've shared some ramblings. Where has the time flown?? Far, far away. And YIKES Christmas is almost here!! Here are a few snapshots of what's been happen'n this last month!

1) We went to a Nebraska game! Here we are posing with Herbie Husker. 

2) A romantic stroll around the beautiful Chesapeake Lights. 

3) We decorated our twig Christmas tree. 

Love,
Bethany V.

A Little Family Time

My sweet mommy, dear dad, and brother (coolest friend and nicest guy ever) Nathan came for a visit! It's been about two months since we moved. Even though I am very thankful for phones and data plans that allows us to talk whenever we want, it was wonderful to see them in person and just be together. The first night when my parents left our home and we waved goodbye it hit me all of the sudden, "Wow. I guess I'm all grown up now." I must admit it was strange to say goodbye to my parents from my doorstep. I guess there's a first for everything.  I love how my family comes for a visit and right away they are there helping us. They are the best.

What did we do for three days? Well.....we went to the Social Security office and officially changed my name. We also went SHOPPING! I have to say these two guys (please look up) were amazing. They went all day shopping with me and my mom. If there ever was an award for "Brother and Dad Goes Shopping with Girls Award" they would get it.

We also ate a lot of yummy food for three days. It was great! My mom and I hung pictures. Even though we don't need any encouragement around here to EAT, we hung some letters in the kitchen just  in case anyone's feeling timid.

The guys worked on getting our gas fireplace up and running. Now we can be warm and cozy on those cold winter nights! I'm glad Nathan was there to temper the silliness between Bret and my dad......

 We had a cinnamon roll/bacon and eggs breakfast on Sunday morning and then it was time to say goodbye. It went too fast. Yay for Christmas not being that far away!

 We love you mom, dad, and Nathan! It made us so happy you could come and visit. Please come back again soon!

Love,
Bethany V. (and Bret) xox

My First LIVE Football Game

I have fond memories watching football games at my grandparents home. My grandpa was a huge football buff and I'm realizing now how much my grandma knew about football as well (I guess that's what happens when you've been married for almost sixty years)! That being said, I never really understood the game. It always felt like a bunch of players just running around. Sure, I knew a touchdown meant you received points, but I knew nothing about: first downs, punts, kicks, interceptions, a wedge, or a fumble. Okay, I will stop boring you with football terms. Point is, I've learned a lot and all the credit goes to my patient husband for explaining and re-explaining. Little, by little I'm getting it. I feel like I can watch the game and realize it's more like a game of Chess than players just randomly running around. Football gurus, please forgive me. We had the opportunity, thanks to Melissa (my new sister-in-love), to go to an Oklahoma State University game. Or "Ooooo, Ssssss, Uuuuu, Cowboys" as the fans would say! It was really fun to be a part of something that is truly American and to feel the buzz of excited fans. My biggest revelation of the day: the reason a "Flag" is termed as such in football is because.....are you ready? They actually throw a flag on the field! If your laughing at my football illiteracy, I'm laughing with you! :-)

Love,
Bethany V.

2 Months!

Today is our two month anniversary! From the time we've been married till now we've traveled ALOT!   

My wonderful hubby took me to Estes Park for the start of our honeymoon and then we flew to the gorgeous island of Kauai in Hawaii. It's an unforgettable memory I will always treasure and spending it with my best friend, well that was the best part! Once we got back we were home for about two weeks. Then we trekked down to Fairfield, Texas for Bret's work. After three weeks in Fairfield, we drove another 200 miles to beautiful Galveston and spent a week there!  It's been fun, but a tad crazy. I thought  I would share a few pictures from Fairfield and Galveston. Maybe on our three month anniversary I'll share the honeymoon pictures (insert smile).

So true.....

This little guy was very strange

Stewart Title - where Mr. B spent his working hours

The Galveston Harbor at dusk

Lots of Pelicans

Beach house on Bolivar Island

Aaah, the ocean

Palm Trees

One thing I will say is traveling makes you very thankful when you're back home in your own bed! :-)

~ Bethany