cheers to 5 years!

How we've made it five years without killing each other is beyond me! See, Bradley and I have that relationship where we can banter back and forth, giving each other a hard time, but we know deep down that we are obsessed with each other. I swear this is the only man who can put up with me. Honestly, we have a good understanding for each other and really know each other's faults. Like I know when he's had a long, hard day at work, I shouldn't nag him even more about the trash not being taken out. I know that will only lead to a bigger argument when it wasn't that important to begin with. And he knows to not make a big deal when our house is a complete wreck. He knows that I know it and don't want it to be, so complaining about it would do nothing but upset me. Ok, sorry for the tangent. This post is supposed to be happy, so let's move on!

We had plans to make a nice dinner at home that night and decorate our tree, but the universe had other plans. Bradley had asked me to pull the steaks out of the freezer early in the day so they could thaw. I did it (shocker that I actually remembered, I know) and put them in the sink. After a few hours they had thawed and I noticed that they had a strange smell. Like possibly they had gone bad. But what do I know? So I left them there for Bradley to inspect when he got home. And no surprise, he agreed that they had spoiled. So now do we go buy some new steaks or go out to eat? We decided to splurge since it was our anniversary and we went out to our favorite Japanese steakhouse. Ohhh and it was so worth it! Here is Bradley stealing picking me a rose from the parking lot of the restaurant! I swear this boy doesn't understand consequences. But I love his spontaneity.

We then made it home and started to decorate our tree! This is my absolute most favorite part of the holidays. Bradley thought it would be sweet to make it a tradition to decorate our tree every year on our anniversary. I love the idea for sentimental reasons, but I don't know if I want to wait until Decmeber 5th each year! The only reason it didn't feel late this year was because thanksgiving was a week later, but next year it might be back to the 3rd week in November. I guess we'll gap that bridge when we get to it.

Bradley always gives me a hard time for how many lights and decorations I like on my tree. I want it to look overdecorated. And I don't know that I've ever been completely satisfied with the number of ornaments! More is more in this case. But obviously that can rack up a rather large charge, so I just keep growing our collection each year!

Thank you babe for five wonderful years! You have truly made me the happiest girl.

christmas lights don't like me

Ahh! It's that time of year again! I was so excited this year to get our christmas tree. It's our first Christmas in our new home, so I wanted to make it extra festive. Bradley works for a landscaping company/ nursery so we got a free tree! I couldn't wait to pick him out. He has to be a little chubby and have some awkward branches that Bradley would want to cut off.

Going through these aisles of trees was a little weird though. I got this unsettling feeling that the trees would all fall like dominoes and I would be burried alive. Haha, so much for it's the most wonderful time of the year!

These lights were my Nana's. I found them after she passed away. The woman kept everything. These are really old and they get super hot. Like so hot, I wouldn't dare put them on a tree. Unless I didn't care if our sweet little home burned to the ground. But I do. So they have a new home, adorning our arch!  

This sweet, little picture is from the third time that I strung the lights. The first time, I included some purple lights that I figured out I didn't like so much. But I didn't know this until they were on the tree. Guess I should have re-read this post! Would've saved me some time and frustration. The second time, I think I connected too many strands together because about 5 minutes after it was perfect, all the lights went out! Talk about a sinking feeling in your stomach! I had no idea what happened and the last thing I wanted to go was take them all off the tree, but that's what google told me to do, so I did. Sure enough, I blew a strand, so they all went out. I was just happy that I didn't have to go buy 15 more boxes of lights. The third time, I strung on all the white lights and plugged it into a power strip. Then I strung all the colored lights, not connecting them to the white lights and plugged them into a different outlet on the power strip. And then I strung all the white globe lights and plugged them into their own spot on the power strip. So far, so good, but I swear if something goes wrong and I have to take down all these ornaments and restring the lights, so help me God.

tis the season

The halls are officially decked! Now about this tree, I think there needs to be way more ornaments, but Bradley cut me off. It just doesn't look over-decorated, yet! Guess I have to wait till next year to buy more ornaments! But I do love these reindeer ornaments! His + Hers. And the lights, oh my god. I bought some lights that said "cool white." Turns out I don't like the cool white. But of course I didn't know this until the tree was lit. So those came off, and some "warm white" went up. And then I had some purple lights that went up, as well, but I didn't like those either. All in all I lit and re-lit this tree 6 times in 3 days. Bradley was beyond impressed by my determination.

And can you believe it's December? How did this happen?!

Also, Check back tomorrow for a holiday manicure, perfect for all those Christmas parties!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Oh, here it comes! It won't be long now, before we are ripping open beautifully wrapped gifts and sipping hot cocoa. And we plan on watching Elf everyday in December. We even got a head start in November, decorating our first tree! I'm still slowly acquiring ornaments, though. My perfect tree looks overdecorated. You know, too many lights, ornaments, everything. So I've still got a ways to go. Good thing it's not even December yet!

And this is a real tree, by the way. Honestly, I don't how you fake tree lovers do it? Where's the magic? They come pre-lit, they don't smell, and they are all identical, which leaves no room for those quirky personalities that we fall in love with! Like my tree has a few awkward, long branches that could probably be trimmed, but that's what I love about him. So they are staying. And you know the other day, I saw christmas tree scented "ornaments" that you hang on your fake tree and you can still have the same smell. But see, that's not real. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? Alright, my rant is over.

Oh and hey! Check back tomorrow for my amahzing (you have to say that like Penny from Happy Endings. Don't know who that is? Google it.) holiday wishlist! You don't want to miss it :)

make a wish!

This post is so unbelievably late, but I couldn't forget about it! November 7th was my dad's birthday! I was in the middle of finals, so I wasn't able to go see him on the actual day, but Rob and I went the first weekend after school got out. He is one lucky birthday boy to get that 13 Layer Cake! And I'm impressed that it made it safely through a 4 hour car ride. My heart completely stopped when Rob told me he had accidentally smooshed it while he was sleeping. Let me tell you, don't pretend to ruin a cake that takes 2 hours to make after the maker of said cake drove you to North Carolina, and it's 6 am and she's exhausted. Yeah, it didn't end well for him.

So, Happy Birthday Daddy! I hope it was one of the best! All my love♥

roadtrip

For the last 10 days, Bradley and I have been all over North Carolina seeing beautiful friends and family. Since the spring, I had planned to visit Mallory in Elon. Then, about a month ago, Shelby called and graciously offered us tickets to the UNC vs Elon game at Chapel Hill. Of course we took her up on that offer. And then she had extra tickets so Mallory and her friend Sarah came, too! It was a hot, hot, hot game so we didn't last long, but don't worry, Top of the Hill took us right in. Shelby's weekend fell on the weekend before I was supposed to visit Mal. So instead of driving 6 hours back to Savannah in between trips, I thought it would be a great time to see my dad! And since Bradley wasn't going to come to Elon with me, I thought he could visit his dad, too.

          Chapel Hill

• A ridiculously hot football game. One where no pictures were taken because we were all drenched in sweat. Lovely.
• Finding the hole in the wall restaurants in Chapel Hill and Durham. We loved Dain's Place.
• Meeting up with Shelby's family. Her little sister, Anneliese is 4 years old. I died when I heard what will happen if she ate a booger. With the most serious face, she said, "If you eat a booger, Santa breaks a toy, and Satan will kill a puppy."
• THE SCRAP EXCHANGE! This is where I found those weird fabric covered mattress springs. I am definitely making them into something, I'm just not sure what it is yet. I have thoughts of them becoming a headboard, after being dyed various berry colors, of course. 
• Sno-Balls. These are not snowcones. They are shaved ice. And they are spectacular. And there needs to be one in Savannah. If you've got one, try peach + mango. ohhh so good.
• Making our own Bang Bang Shrimp + Pesto Olive Oil from Bonefish. We spent way more time and money making it ourselves, but we were determined.
• Getting Kellan from the airport and taking him to Elizabethtown, so he can finally try Front Porch. Shelby already decided that she wants my dad to cater their wedding, so we all thought he should probably try it before the big day!

        

 

 

 

          Elon 

• Printworks. Easily one of my favorite restaurants. Mallory has bragged about it for months so I was hoping it wasn't all hype. Go there. Get the Lemon Chicken Paillard. And then get the profiteroles. Don't forget to chow down on the bread. It's why we went there.
• Speaking of, we chose all our dinner meals by the bread selection. Meaning, if they don't have bread, we're not going.
  
• Shopping at the outlets. I found nothing, but the good news is, Mallory found some socks. Win.
• Fabric shopping at a local shop. Mallory managed to pick the worst fabric they had. Realistic bunnies.
  
• Touring Elon in the rain.
• Going throught the CruzThru. I had never heard of this. But I must say, it was pretty cool.
  
• Getting kinky... see above :) 
• Having ocd moments where you decide to clean the cobwebs off the ceiling.  
• Getting all dolled up for dinner each night. Any chance to wear heels, we take it.
  
• Watching jenna marbles videos in bed with Cheez-Its, till 3 am. Every night.

We had such a great time on our roadtrip around NC. It's a perfect way to end the summer. These lovely ladies are so sweet to open their homes to us. And I'm all for returning the favor :) Everything worked out beautifully and we were able to see so many people that we don't see enough. It was a great 10 days with people we love.

don't do this

 

don't.

don't sign up for a furniture class at scad, and leave your closed toes shoes at home.

don't do this. 

why?

because then you have only two choices:

1. you go home. take the absence and miss the machine demos. (which, by the way are required to pass the class)

or

2. you get to wear your professor's oversized man-shoes that he will so generously lend to you. without socks. of course. and enjoy all of the confused stares from classmates that are wondering why you have such huge feet. and why you are wearing these ugly shoes that look like something your professor wears.

so you can see there actually is no choice. nope. 

shoes it is.

xo Lark

much needed

Date nights lately have not been happening near as much as I would like them to. But last night we fixed that. Thank God. Last minute we decided to go to a movie, which also hasn't happened lately. It was so nice to get dressed up for my babe and even putting on perfume. You know, the good stuff. Saved only for special occasions.

Dinner consisted of popcorn, reese's pieces and krispy kreme doughnuts. Don't judge. And you should definitely know that the doughnuts were "hot now" so we had to get them. By the way, I eat the popcorn and resee's pieces together in one bite. As it should be. And I always try to get Bradley to eat it like I do, but he thinks it's really gross. Just so you know, he's wrong. So try it.

Cheers to date night!

do it

One of my new year's resolutions is to try new things. I'll admit it, I can get stuck in my ways, my comfort zone. Another one is to have more dates with Bradley. Yes, we spend a lot of time together and it's AWESOME, but there's something special about showing off your man.

This is how our date started.

Delicious. This is one of our favorite spots. Lovin' Spoon. It's one of those specialty frozen yogurt shops that you can make exactly what you want and pay for it by the ounce. Also, they have punch cards so when you get 9, the 10th is free. Let's just say we have no problem filling the cards.

mine: amazing. orange sherbert and cake batter frozen yogurt, strawberries and crushed butterfinger.

his: a mess. georgia peach, chocolate and vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, blackberries and chocolate syrup.

We could have called it a day right then and there.

But then Bradley had this idea to take Ginny, yupp that's short for Virginia Tech, on a walk. He wanted to explore. And like I said, I get stuck in my ways. Babe, why would you want to go out in the chilly weather, when we could snuggle under the covers and watch movies. This is what I usually would have said. But my resolutions were in the back of my head, so I agreed to go, hoping it would be fun.

And of course, Bradley was right. It was beautiful out there.

Look at what comes out of saying yes, even when you're not too thrilled about it. So I encourage you to try it. And then come back and tell me how it went.

xo Lark