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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Oklahoma Weekend!


 I got to go "home" last weekend to Norman, Oklahoma.  This is one of my favorite places on earth and I got to see so many of my favorite people while I was there.



My Mom and I went to the OU game vs Tech.  Thankfully we won in an exciting game! 


There was a couple hours rain delay and we were a little bored...


We did a bunch of walking around campus and ate some yummy food from Cafe Plaid.  Wish I could order some of this Tortellini tonight.   


We visited the spot where I got engaged. :) 


Drooled over some beautiful furniture. I asked Tall Tan Man if he could build me this.  Not sure where I would put it, but I would make room!


I also got to hang out with this cutie, and her family. 




Have a great rest of your week!

{LJ}

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Painted Pumpkins


Howdy, howdy!  I can't believe October is almost over... Seems like my semester is flying!  This year I decided to buy some fake pumpkins from Michael {on sale of course} and paint them.  In the past couple years I made different pumpkins {here, here, and here} and was always so sad when I had to throw them out.  Well, that's not happening this year!   All I did was tape a chevron pattern on the left pumpkin.  I would suggest you make sure the tape is very secure.  As you can see some of the paint went under the tape.  Next year I may add some edging to hide my mistakes : /


Tall Tan Man thought I was making broncos pumpkins.  I spray painted the pumpkins white, and added some gold studs to the smaller one.  


Hope y'all have a wonderfully Happy Halloween!  


{LJ}

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ms New Bootie

Please tell me you know the song I am referring to in the title of this post.


I found you ms new booty, 
Get it together and bring it back to me...

booty, booty, booty rockin' every where...

Such a classic.  I wasn't sure if I should jump on the bootie bandwagon, but then I saw this picture on pinterest:




Yep,  something that seems classic and a little edgy made me want them.  I bought a pair last year at Old Navy for the same price of a Chick fil a salad.



Tall Tan Man loves them...not.  To top it off he also asked me if I got the heart sweater from goodwill.  I might be 15 years too old for it, but for some reason I felt the urge to buy it.  I found booties that look more like the pinterest picture at Marshall's.  I was pumped. 


 I am kind of obsessed with them.  Styling them has been a bit of a struggle, so I hope I don't look like a fool when I wear them. 



I am off to Oklahoma this weekend!  I can't wait to see my Momma and friends!  Y'all have a great Friday and weekend!  

{LJ}



Sunday, October 20, 2013

One Year Ago

Hi guys, hope you are having a relaxing Sunday.  It's a good day because my Cowboys won and tonight my second team {the broncos} are going to win!!  A year ago today Tall Tan Man asked me to marry him.  



Crazy how much life has changed since then.  I am so thankful he made the choice to ask me to be his wife.  To see the full post click {here}.  Y'all have a fabulous week!

{LJ}

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Knock Off Mirror



 I am a blogging fool when I am not working!  The only downside to having a week off is I am sleeping too long and now I have a nasty crick in my neck... It's rough. :)  I made this mirror a while back, but I just got around to styling the table.  I really wanted this mirror from Pottery Barn:


There are bunch of different tutorials online on how you can make this mirror from scratch.  I decided that I didn't really want to do that, because even making it yourself was pretty pricey.  I found this mirror on sale at Hobby Lobby and I got an extra percentage off because the frame was a little messed.  I believe I only paid $15 on it!  Yehawww. 


Sorry for the terrible phone picture...  My fabulous/design expert/friend Jill, was in town and she helped me on this project.  She covered all the mirrors with paper and painters tape.


I spray painted the mirror with Rustoleum Brushed Bronze.  I also wanted to the mirror to look more like the Pottery Barn one so I added Mirror Rosettes. 


I got these at Lowes {not home depot} in Hardware Department.  I spray painted them, and then attached them to the mirror with super glue.  


I love how the mirror turned out!  I wish the mirror had beveled edges, but this will work... for now. :)


I will be doing a post soon over the table in the picture!  Y'all have a wonderful Wednesday!


{LJ}

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

New Updated Sweets Page!

It is snowing today...  I have been posted up on the warm couch doing some blog updating.  I am super happy with how my {Sweets Page} turned out.  All of the desserts now have pictures to help you navigate. 




Hope y'all are staying warm!

{LJ}

Monday, October 14, 2013

Halloween Bark


I love, love, LOVE this time of year.  Something about Fall and the crispness in the air make me one happy lady.  Now I will admit, I despise pumpkin flavored anything.  This is staple for a lot of Fall lovers, but I just can't do it.  Thinking about it make me a little nauseous...

Last year made this {Rice Crispes Bundt Cake} and I thought it was pretty delish.  


A couple weeks ago I spotted this {Halloween Bark} recipe from the {Pioneer Woman}.   I think she is a genius and I wish we could be friends.  I loved this recipe because you can add whatever toppings you feel like.  


yummmmm.

 
I am not doing a full write up so please go checkout Pioneer Woman's website.  I promise you will drool over her yummy looking food and beautiful pictures!  My one recommendation is make sure you put plenty of salty toppings on, it adds an amazing flavor.  Have a good week!



{LJ}

Friday, October 11, 2013

Happy OUtx Weekend!




 This has always been one of my FAVORITE weekends of the year!  Fall, football, family and friends.  Life doesn't get much better.    When we were trying to decide where live I put the Oklahoma Football as a pro for living in Dallas and a con for living in Denver.  I have missed being able to go to Norman this year, but thankfully Tall Tan Man and I found a little "Norman" in Denver.  The Denver OU watch party is pretty fun, and they have OU themed food and drinks which makes me smile.  Since I can't be in Dallas for this years Red River Rivalry I thought I would throw back to previous years. This is the first year since 2005 I will not be in the Cotton Bowl cheering on my team.  When I was looking back through all my facebook pictures I realized my first tag was actually on October 23, 2005.  Right after that years OUtx, pretty crazy how the times have changed. 

~2006~


 ~2007~


~2008~


 ~2009~


 ~2010~


 ~2011~


 ~2012~



It's funny to look back on all the styles and realize I really don't look 20 anymore.  haha  I think we look better with age!  Hope you guys have a great weekend and please wear crimson! 




{LJ}

Thursday, October 10, 2013

14 Ways We Saved $ On Our Wedding


Our wedding seems forever ago...  It's funny to me that Fall now reminds me of getting engaged and planning our wedding.  I had meant to do some posts after life calmed down about things I learned from the wedding planning process, but as you can see that didn't happen.  This post is not about how to find the perfect man or how to have a great marriage {I am not sure if I will ever be qualified enough to give advice on that}.  If you are working on no budget or a rather large this post is not for you.  The budget is one of the most difficult parts of wedding.  Tall Tan Man and I had different priorities which made things difficult.  TTM said all he cared about is good food, a band and a videographer.  Well, honey ALL those things aren't cheap. I wanted everything to be pretty and fun. :) After many tears talks we came to a couple compromises. These are just a few things we did to save money while still having the wedding of our dreams! 

1. Flowers

Flowers can be soooo ridiculously expensiveve.  Yes, they are pretty, but they die.  I did some research and hydrangeas were in season...which = CHEAP.  So make sure you do some research.  I had 8 bridesmaids so I did not want to spend a ton a money on their bouquets {no offence ladies, you know I love ya}.  


I only paid $25 a pop.  I ended up using a grocery store in Plano {Market Street} which I think helped my price. I loved my bouquet.  Again, I researched flowers and I fell in love with Ranunculus. 


After it was all said and done my bouquet/boutonniere bill ended up only $400. Cha Ching.  $100 under budget.   




2.  Buy your dress off the rack

I was panicked when I decided I would plan a wedding in 3 months.  How in the world could I order a dress and get it in time?!  Well, turns out some dress stores carry smaller sizes that they are willing to sell right then and there.  Annnnddd they will give you a discount!  Bonus!!  I got my dress for $300 under budget.  I found out after that my alterations were going to cost me $250.  Geez oh pete.

  
I was happy.  One more piece of advice I would like to add is I was told I had to get my dress professionally steamed.  After getting a quote for $150 my Mom and I decided we could do it!  And by golly we did it.  We borrowed someones steamer so it ended up costing zero dollars.  :)

3.  Cupcakes

I always knew I wanted cupcakes as our {Wedding Cake}.  My decision was confirmed after finding out that the venue wanted to charge us a $1.50 per slice cut.  Heeeck no.  I shopped around at couple cupcake shops that wanted $3+ per cupcake.  My Mom found out from a friend that got their daughter got her wedding cupcakes from a grocery store {Market Street, same as our flowers}. 


  
I was soooo happy how everything turned out!  I think it all turned out beautiful and delicious, and everything was only $140.  Steal of a deal.  I know not all grocery stores work the same, but the one we found worked with us to do all the things we wanted {peanut butter frosting!!}.

4.  Creative Groom's Cake

My man does not love sweets.  Crazy, I know.  He does love Oreo's though...

     
I wanted everything to be personal, but not expensive. Check, check. 

5.  Exit with Rice

First off, I wanted to exit with everybody throwing confetti.  I loved the idea, because I felt like it was the perfect way to end the celebration.  That idea got nixed by the event staff.  I shouldn't of asked... It wasn't in the contract.  I started looking around online and saw that throwing rice doesn't kill birds.  Urban legend.  Rice it is!  Our exit cost us $5.  


Booo yah.  

6.  DIY Invitations

You can read {here} how we made our own invitations and saved a toooooon of money. Total cost without postage $70.

   

7.  Make your programs

We used a couple card packets from Hobby Lobby {I have a ton of envelopes left over if you want them...}, and white/black card stock.  We were able to use the same embosser from our invites, and TTM added a little chalk which looked awesome. 


  
I'm telling you, you can save a lot of money by doing your own printing. Total cost for 100 programs was $22.

8.  Make centerpieces & arrangements. 

There are so many options when it comes to making centerpieces. Our tall centerpieces were made from sticks from a forest, and spiced up with gold spray paint.  Pine cones and ball jars were also free.  I did a bunch of after Christmas shopping to get all the glittery gold stuff.  Tall Tan Man can't wait till Christmas when I get it all out again and decorate. 


We ordered hydrangeas a couple days before the wedding from Whole Foods, and arranged our own flowers.  Trust me, it wasn't that hard. 


We also arranged our own flowers to put down the aisle {we also used these at the rehearsal dinner for decorations}.  



9.  Get married in the winter.  

This is not always an option, but it sure helps the price of a couple of things.  This helped us get our DJ, rehearsal dinner place, and videographer at a better price. 

10.  Let your bridesmaids pick out their own dress.  

This was simple.  My girls have good taste & I wanted no drama.  I loved not worrying about this. 


11.  Join Groupon  

We got our photo-booth from groupon, and we used this as our {guestbook}.  Best Idea Ever.  




12.  Be careful with the small stuff. 

Everything will add up quickly so be smart about small purchases.  Hobby Lobby sells Garters and you can use 40% coupons.  I found a headband a Charming Charlies {but I forgot to bring it to the hairdresser...whoops}.  I love my earrings that I found from Stein Mart.



13.  Shop the fancy outlet places for shoes.  

    I found these Stuart Weitzman's for %50 off of %50 off.  Score!  



14. Search for the unexpected caterers. 

We probably tried 10 BBQ and Mexican places for our rehearsal dinner before deciding on a winner.  Our winner ended up being a whole in the wall place that tasted amazing and cost only $8 a plate.  Thank you Hutchins BBQ.  



All of the beautiful pictures were taken by incredibly talented Caroline Jurgensen {the rest were most likely taken by my iphone}.  Hope this was helpful!  What tips do you have?

{LJ}

PS.  I am on FALL BREAK!  Yep, us Coloradans have the next 10 days off...what to do...
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