a little obsessed

I have always had a thing for bathtubs. They're big and warm, and much better than a shower. Sadly we don't have a good tub for bathing in right now (maybe that's why I've been fantasizing about them), but I used to love soaking with a glass of wine at our 1st place. Its so soothing, a great way to wrap up the day. Whenever we get a house, that's a must have for me. I have collected maybe a few too many pictures of some very happy white bathtubs. 

Indulge below:

even this sparkly black one has me wanting to jump in!! look at that view!

Well, am I too obsessed? Or can you totally imagine yourself sinking into one of these for a good read??

*all images are from houzz.com

training

Ok, I'm training for a 1/2 marathon. Thought about it a lot of times, but never done one before. First of all, it was all very mental for me to even commit to it. I really didn't want to say I was going to do it if I wasn't really going to. I have to attribute the strange bout of confidence that caused me to sign up, to my husband. He encouraged me that I could work up to it, take it one run at a time... its only 4x what I was currently running, etc.

So here I am, less than 2 weeks away from the race and right on track! The best part of all of this is my big sis is coming here and we're doing it together!! She's hardcore, and when I say hardcore, I mean, she's done marathons, and triathlons and trains in -9 degree weather at 9,000 feet up. HARDCORE.

We've talked about running one before, but this was just the right one. She's coming alone, aka, without husband or children! As much as I dearly love her sweet blonde boys, (all 3 of them) we have never spent time like this as just us sisters! I can't wait to host my sister,  - also never done that before! - and do something together that is definitely going to be a very bonding experience. The big day is getting closer, any last minute race tips for a newbie girl like me??

image via flickr

Race day countdown ... 10 days!

weekend update

Weekends are the best, aren't they? I mean, I think my weekend rituals are sleep in, exercise in the day light, bake, eat something yummy, repeat. On Saturday the weather was perfectly dreamy, so we had to get out. 

We took a little picnic lunch to a tiny little town inside Savannah called Thunderbolt. I don't know much about it other than its on the Intracoastal Waterway, and it has its own police system because people wanted to pay less taxes or something, blah blah.  

Anyway, it has this pretty little picnic shelter and a dock for viewing all the pretty white yachts. It was the perfect spot for lunch and soaking up the sun. I could have stayed there all day, I haven't felt the warmth of the sun like that in a few months...um, spring fever!!

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We've also been playing a lot of this...

 

Do you play Words With Friends? Ever since Matt got me an iphone, this is the one game we can't get enough of. Right now we're in the middle of a best out of 5 games. If you play and want to add me, i'm Mrsyow (really creative, I know.) If not, you should download it, it's so fun, and they say games like this are good for the brain!

What did you do this weekend? What apps are your favorite. I'm always trying to broaden my horizons in the app world, so I'm open to any suggestions!






P.S. sorry the pictures look all cheesy, my husband is the one with the rearranging/resizing skillz, and he's in class.  

bakin' it!

Sometimes we like to have a little fun in our kitchen, mostly on weekends when we have time to clean up afterwards, and its usually something really good. Or thats the plan anyway. Here are a few treats we've been baking up recently...  

I had never made buckeyes before, and Matt had never had one before! I thought they would be pretty easy since you don't bake them, and there's not a lot of mixing required (still saving up for a coveted kitcheaid). I some how didn't think of the dipping part, not that it was hard, just really hot.

I just stuck a 5cup glass measuring cup into a pot of boiling water and stirred and added milk until the chocolate melted. Not hard, but kind of annoying really. Once it was finally thin enough to dip, I did, hot steam and all. It got a little tricky since toothpicks are pretty short, and wanted to slip out sometimes. In hindsight, I realized I should have used my fondue pot, duh! Next time. 

 The recipe ended up making double what it said it would, but it worked out to share on New Years! Aren't they cute?

We love making these biscuits on Saturdays, they are so easy, there's only like 4 ingredients, hardly require any prep time, and bake in 15 mins! I got the recipe from a Real Simple magazine forever ago, love it. (i'm sure if you google 'real simple drop biscuits' these would come up)

Blending the cold butter and flour used to be such a hassle without a pastry knife, but since I got one for Christmas it was so so much easier! Thanks mom!!

My favorite thing of all time to bake is cupcakes. They are cute, little, fun and so good. We had some friends over last minute the other night, so I whipped these up. They are chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting.

Because we mixed the frosting by hand it got pretty soft, so they look a bit droopy. But thankfully that didn't effect the flavor, they were so pepperminty!

Any good recipes we should try? We're always up for something new and tasty!

new year

This year for New Years Eve some friends had the awesome idea of a progressive bike ride party! What we did was go from house to house on our bikes, stopping to eat, play a game and catch up on Times Square. It was so much fun! We had appetizers, (mmm, bacon wrapped asparagus) made party hats, main course (mmm, mini pulled pork sandwiches) glow sticks, desserts, (mmm, chocolate brownie bars) and 2ft sparklers! Such a fun night! Sadly I took only a few pictures, its hard to get great pics of a glow stick covered bike posse at night,  so I borrowed a couple pics of a few of us from a friend, thanks Katie! 

This was definitely the best idea yet for new years - it would even be really fun to do for group dates!

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On another note, do you do resolutions? Its already into week 2 of the new year, have you stuck with it? I've always been weary of resolutions, but I do think its a good time to place some new goals for myself. This year I want to make my bed every morning. Its not difficult, it takes a teeny bit of discipline and it looks so nice after I do. Also, a lot less temping to climb back into bed in the morning if its already made.

earrings

I made these earrings for a gift a few weeks back, but I couldn't post them on here until they were given away (didn't want to ruin any surprises!)

 I've been into gold recently, and leaves are always a good piece to have when layering. 

I like the way the beads lay over the leaves, and are just a bit smaller to show off some of the details. 

Both the leaves and the beads were from other pieces of jewelry I took apart for the parts. They turned out pretty cute! 
I recently got some more cute supplies from a fun bead store in Charleston! I'm hoping to get back on my game and make some more things, I think I'll have more time now that Matt is back in class. So hopefully there will be more similar posts to come!

day trip

 

Last weekend we got to take a little trip up to Charleston for the day, so much fun! We started off at hope and union coffee, this place is so awesome! Matt got a nice cup of Ethiopian coffee, we could've sat there forever, such a lovely little place. We walked around, I stopped in a local bead store, (for necklace supplies!) wandered around a book store and had a great time! The city was busy because it was new years eve weekend, so the hustle and bustle added to the fun. We even got a window seat at dinner to watch everyone outside. If you're ever in Charleston check out Monza, it was a fun pizza place, with delicious arancello's. yum! After dinner we got to enjoy what was left of the Christmas lights. It was a way to start off a new year and just be touristy in general.

                                

                                     

                                     

Christmas in pictures

Our Christmas was just perfect - filled with family, walks, gifts, yummy food, games, nephews and lots of rest. Hope you enjoy the pic overload !!

a walk in the woods // master of the trees

always waiting at home for me // woods'in it pt.1

woods'in it pt.2 // uncles teaching catch

special family // hand in pocket

festive // christmas morn!

dressing-up & over-dressing // surprises

our favorites // cookin' with good lookin'

mascot // baby lovin'

outdoor time // bro time

mini rainbow // woods monsters

our favorite spot // curious

christmas #4 // wrapping mess

santa and his elf // family walk

merry little tree // goodbye for now