MJB♥

lately.

2013-05-17T08:34:00.000-04:00

Oh thank heavens it's Friday!

- started shopping for our bedroom, it's time to put things on the walls after 2 years!
- Kev picked up the boat and took it to the lake....almost boatin time!
- love my parents yard.
- did lots of yard work at our house and took a bubble bath to relax the muscles.
- mail mail mail will it ever go away?
- the pool is looking clearer and clearer.
- driving around a sweet rental car that started out stinky and now has gone away, thankfully!
- battle wounds from yard work, and it hurts!
- our pine trees in the back yard have these bright green tips on them, thought it looked pretty neat.

It seemed like this week dragged on and on big time. The weekend looks like another busy one, headed to the parents house again and then a bridal shower. Fun times!

Happy weekend.

how i spent my off day.

2013-05-16T09:03:00.000-04:00

Every wednesday I am off work and look forward to this day so very much. It's a nice break in the week, work two days, then off, then work two days, then it's the weekend! Yesterday I had a busy day off, but it was a fun busy. It went a little like this....

Started the morning off by dropping off my precious Acadia to get the bumper fixed. They gave me a nice rental, the Toyota Camry SE leather seats, the works. Everything was awesome except.....it's stinks! Never had a rental car that smelled so bad before but their's a first for everything right? I drove all the way to my parents with all the windows down to try and let the smell out. It wreaked of bad BO, or maybe something spilled in the carpet floor. Whatever it was it's stinky!

At my parents house did a little work around the house. I absolutely love their yard. My Dad keeps the grass so green and it's always so soft. Love love love it. My brother did some mulching for them last week so I snapped a few photos to send to my parents for them to see. It is so peaceful and relaxing there. I love the way their house sits on the lot, nothing but greenery and woods behind them. The newest plant is a cherry tree in the back. Can't wait!

In my parents room, they have this awesome skyline and it had the best sunlight shining through yesterday. And for the fun of it....I took a photo of my Dad in his marine uniform back in the day. So handsome & looks just like my brother!

We started working on the pool! As you can see by the photos, the water is green and looks like lake water, which is because the cover we have sucks! Halfway through the winter the cover fell into the pool (because it was cheap), and we just sorta left it there until yesterday. Seriously. After two trips to the pool store we think it's going to be good now. We threw a bunch of shock in it, and after an hour or so it was already starting to turn blueish. Won't be long before it's crystal clear again!

While the pool boys, aka Kev and his Dad worked on the pool, his Mom and I worked on the yard. We threw away the cheap pool cover, and emptied the long skinny things that were full of water that were supposed to hold the pool cover on but didn't lol and hung them to squirt off on the fence. After all that work, Kev tells us that he's throwing them away. Figures! lol I pulled massive weeds, it looks like our side yard had mole holes all over. But after a little weed spray it'll hopefully look like regular grass again. Kev's mom swept the entire pool area, it looks so nice and clean! It was a lot of work, but loved it.

My poor back was fried! I wore my bathing suit top and with no sunscreen that'll do it! I took a nice long bath to relax the muscles and cool off my back.

My off day was awesome yesterday, a lot was acomplished and that's always a great thing! ! ! !

i love may.

2013-05-14T08:31:00.000-04:00

anthropologie sea gleam pillar, gour mande strawberry lemon coconut cream parfait, amazon's book section we need to talk about kevin, bolthouse berry boost, the land of nod spell ya later letters.

The candle holder from Anthropologie reminds me of the ocean, especially when the candle is lit at night. You can see if you click on the link above, it looks so relaxing. Those strawberry lemon coconut cream parfait's are on my list of things to do this month, it looks delicious and seems like a healthy dessert/snack. I went to the library and took out the book "We need to talk about Kevin" I found it from another blog's list of books to read. I've heard it's very intense but interesting, and the title with Kevin's name in it? Fits even better. Bolthouse Farms has these smoothies that have pure fruit in them, they are delicious and very filling. The Land of Nod is the cutest sight for kids, found a cute banner that would look so cute in Natalie's room.

Happy May.

hey mom.

2013-05-13T09:45:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom!

Hope you enjoyed your flowers and your day in the sunshine!

- ♥ -

Mandy

.........................................................................................

Mother's hold their children's hands for a short while,

but their hearts forever.

-Author Unknown

.........................................................................................

lately.

2013-05-10T09:07:00.001-04:00

Hello Friday, so very glad you are here. It's been one crazy week!
- Kev and I both got haircuts this week.
- Discovered this new fruit water at work, it's yummy and zero calories!
- Talked about our favorite go to meal.
- The wedding binder helps out big time!
- Went to the day Reds game on my off day with Kev's parents, good times but we lost.
- Met Jonelle & Falgner for dinner Wednesday night and I got to hold precious little Harper, love that kid!
- Did an awesome painting for team building yesterday, fun fun place.
- Kev and I played our 1st kickball game.
- Walk/ran after the kickball game, our fastest and longest time yet!

Happy weekend everyone, enjoy some time with your Mother's on Sunday.

project life weeks 14-18.

2013-05-09T17:06:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I've updated this lovely binder! Here is week 14-18 in a nutshell.

Instead of going through each week of April, I basically summed up the entire month in one spread. On the bottom two cards I hand wrote directly on the card the highlights of the month.

Week 18 is half finished but I wanted to share what made it in the week so far. We sent out our save the dates, Kev and I have continued our walking/running streak and it feels wonderful to get out and move. We took the kids on a walk, and for the first time Natalie rode her bike instead of being pulled in the wagon. She loved it!

Curious about Project Life? Start here.

See all of my Project Life posts here.

wedding wednesday : the binder.

2013-05-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

A few days after I got engaged, I bought a binder from my favorite place on earth Target to keep everything organized for the wedding. Back when my friend Jonelle got married 7 years ago, I remember using one of the binders I had already on hand to plan her bachelorette party and bridal shower. I knew I wanted to do the same sort of thing for my own wedding!

I searched many different wedding lists and found one that I liked the best. I don't remember where I found it, but it works for me and it's right in front as you open the binder.

Along with the binder I bought plain white tabs to separate each part. Each tab is labeled:

Paper
Photography
Bridal Attire
Groom Attire
Floral
Rings
Ceremony
Transportation
Reception
Favors/Gifts
Rehearsal Dinner
Venue
Guest List
Wedding Party
DJ

Only 23 more weeks until the big day!

our go to meal.

2013-05-07T08:33:00.000-04:00

Do you have a go to meal that you always whip up for dinner? Ours is chicken and potatoes, plus veggies for me. Kev is a non-veggie kinda guy.

We each have a baked potato, chicken, and I add veggies to mine.

The type of chicken we buy is Tyson Grilled & Ready - regular chicken strips and fajita flavored. Our favorite is the fajita kind, but we use both very frequently. We always have Tyson chicken in a bag on hand, almost always. It is yummy and ready to go! Just throw it on the stove top.

I like to mix Kroger brand stir-fry vegetables in with my chicken. It's delicious, I could eat it every night!

We cook the chicken in one pan, and the veggies in another. Once the chicken is just about done, I toss the chicken into the pan with the veggies and let it cook together for a few minutes. Sooo good!

While the chicken and veggies are cooking, the baked potatoes are in the oven ready to come out. This is the meal we make about 80% of the time we are home.

Our go to meal is so good, we seriously eat it almost every night. The other nights we're not eating this, we're usually having Chipolte! He's got me hooked on that stuff....

What types of meals do you all make on a regular basis? I love trying new recipes, it's been awhile since we've made something new.

bits from the weekend.

2013-05-06T07:44:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Brady getting his 1st communion on Sunday and was that boy excited. He has been counting down the days until he can go up in the line with us and receive communion. He was smiling from ear to ear, chomping on the little piece of bread lol

Later that night Kev and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by going to one of our favorite restaurants! Their was a line to get in, which is very rare for this place. And we each got a free tshirt!!! I can't wait to wear it! hahaha That's how much we go here.

Had a good weekend, but back to the grind. Happy Monday.

may goals.

2013-05-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

Writing these goals each month is a great way to keep myself in check for acheiving each goal I set out for myself. Each month I may not accomplish each one, but it is good to have a goal to try to reach for. The month of April was here and gone so fast!

For May I came up with 5 simple goals. Simple for me at least.

Excited May is here and the warmer weather is here to stay (hopefully).

Happy weekend.

wedding wednesday : grey envelopes.

2013-05-01T07:40:00.000-04:00

I am having four bridesmaids plus miss Natalie as the best girl. I asked each of them via phone, in person, or text message. I told them I would send something official in the mail.

Here are the envelopes. I'm so proud of these, it was hard for me to send them off I loved them that much! lol By now each of them have received their envelopes so it's game to share them for Wedding Wednesday!

I made up four different cards for each girl....

The four of you : letting them know a little bit about each other, their email address & phone #'s.
Attire : what they might be wearing.
Expectations : obviously what is expected of them.
I promise : not to turn into a Bridezilla.

Each card was printed in PhotoShop and the fonts I used were Susie's Hand and Always Forever, and then printed onto a 5 x 8.5 card.

I used grey envelopes from Paper Source that were on sale! I adhered two envelopes together to make a pocket envelope. The cards fit perfectly in each side of the pocket envelope.

The second envelope that didn't get adhered in, got glued down to the front side of the other envelope. I tied the package with purple string, and stamped the back with the hearts pattern rubber stamp from Paper Source. Love that place.

These envelopes turned out awesome! Since everyone (except one) live a little bit away, I mailed each envelope into a bigger envelope for the mailman. They all loved them!!!

Inspiration via : (Elise)

sprucin things up.

2013-04-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

I've had the same blog design since I've started this blogger journey back in 2011. I've always loved the way the blog looks and never thought about changing anything until I came across Summer's post. So I thought I'll give it a try!

I emailed her and she responded back very quickly and asked me some basic questions for the blog design. Things like what colors I like, any type of looks I'm going for, etc.

The very next day she sent a variety of different designs to choose from! It was very hard to choose just one, they were all so cute. Here were a few she sent:
.....................................................................................

Daily Blog:

.....................................................................................

Photography Blog:

.....................................................................................

Aren't they awesome???? She did such a great job and was a joy to work with! Love them!

Happy Tuesday.

from the weekend.

2013-04-29T08:29:00.000-04:00

- Went grocery shopping Friday night, as you can see by the photo it's been a long time since we've gone.

- Photographed the cutest family on Saturday!

- Worked out Saturday and Sunday this weekend (yes!)

- Had Kev's parents over on Sunday and little Miss Natalie patiently waited by the window for them....

Good weekend was had, as always they go by way too fast.

Happy Monday everyone, hope your week is off to a great start!

lately.

2013-04-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

Another week down!

- Kev met me for lunch earlier in the week. I love it when I get to see him during the day on a work week.
- Our engagement photos are finished & save the dates are being printed as we speak!!!
- Had the last class of Accounting & Excel...thank the lord. Excited to get back to the normal routine with school at the firehouse, not at the college.
- Booked our wedding officiant & is as nice as can be.
- Ran for the 1st time in awhile & used the Nike+ app on the iPhone, man that was awesome!
- Celebrated Administrative Professionals Day at work, the team took me out to lunch...very nice.
- Went to our 2nd cake tasting which was totally delicious!

Had a good week and looking forward to the weekend.
Happy Friday!

kitchen printables.

2013-04-25T08:32:00.000-04:00

Instead of painting our desperately in need of paint kitchen walls, I found a cheap little way to spruce them up for now. Kitchen printables and they are free! I thought these were so so cute. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some picture frames, they were 50% off! Can't beat that price. I picked white frames because our walls are a light green, and thought that would stand out better than say black or brown. So here it goes.....

I printed out the three images on regular white card stock paper. The sayings are adorable! "Roll with it", "Spoonful of Sugar", and "Be Grateful".

These are the frames I picked out at Hobby Lobby. They were originally $30.00 each, and half off was $15.00 each. Good deal for me!

Love the way it looks in the kitchen. They didn't get hung until late last night so the lighting wasn't the best but you get the feel for how they look.

If you'd like to download these fun free printables, just head on over to over the big moon and print some out! Have fun with it!

wedding wednesday : engagement photos.

2013-04-24T09:04:00.000-04:00

I've been hanging out on cloud nine for the past two days, and I think I'll hang out there for a little while longer. Photography by maemylove.

k&m in april.

2013-04-23T09:11:00.000-04:00

Today is two months we've been engaged
and we are enjoying every second of it!

She had the funeral for her Grandpa,
He was right there by her side.

They moved the wedding date up.
She and he are ecstatic about it!

She celebrated her Dad's birthday with the family.
He celebrated from afar.

She found the dress
He is anxious to see it.

We took the kids to a cake tasting,
it was hilarious tasting week old cakes.

She wants the kids to be involved as much as they can in the wedding planning,
He loves it that she cares so much.

They took engagement photos and is over the moon excited about them,
Casey (@maemylove) did a fantastic job & we are so grateful!

what a weekend without kids looks like.

2013-04-22T08:57:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning was nice and sunny outside, a little chilly though like 50 something degrees but it was still sun shining and it was awesome. Worked out for a little bit, then we went to BW's to watch the Reds game at 1:00 in the afternoon.

After we both fell asleep after the reds game I woke up with a headache. So we went to eat at O'Charley's and I literally had 3 Mountain Dew's! It tasted so good and fed my headache just fine. After dinner we went back home and just chilled. Our DJ has a website that we can upload all of our songs to, so that's what we did until 3am Saturday night. It was so fun, listening to all these songs together and laughing at what we don't want played at the wedding.

Sunday morning we drove out to No Wake Marine to pick up the boat, well it was ready but we couldn't get to it. They had the area blocked off with a locked chain, so we couldn't get in. However, the red & black Malibu that is sitting out front? How awesome is that. And to clarify to everyone.....no we are not getting a new boat for our wedding gift to ourselves! We are totally kidding and wishful thinking! That boat is like 90k!!!!

After we left the boat place, we went to Kohl's and acted a fool! lol If you follow me on Instagram, after we posted the dream boat photo, I posted this hilarious photo of Kev with these glasses and said "just kidding!" about the boat. So thank you everyone for feeling the love for the boat, but we've still got the 15 year old Malibu....waiting to be picked up.

After the boat adventure lol we met with our florist for the wedding, and everything went fabulous! What a nice lady she was. Afterwards we went to dinner with Mom to this new place called the Incline Public House. The food is a little different for the plain taste buds Kev and I have, but the view and atmosphere is fantastic! Can't wait to tell the girls about this place, definitely a girls night out kinda joint once it starts to get warmer.

What a weekend. Happy Monday everyone!

lately.

2013-04-19T09:25:00.002-04:00

Another great week, full of lots of things!
- Found some envelopes in my stash at home of the wedding colors!
- Had lunch outside for the first time this season and enjoyed every minute of the sunshine.
- Sent Kev this "I like you" image, we have this thing that we always say instead of I love you.
- Had a really fun time in Covington, the view was amazing.
- Starting the first draft of invitations.
- Our magnolia tree is blooming beautifully.
- My parents grass has to be the greenest in this world.

Happy Friday!

wedding wednesday : colors.

2013-04-17T13:25:00.000-04:00

The color pallette has been an on going battle with myself. At first I wanted just grey and orange, then I was looking at chocolate, cranberry, and earthy tones, then I had blue, grey and greens. After lots of brainstorming and internet searching, I came up with grey, purple, orange, and pink! And I absolutely love it.

These colors are rich, deep, and very fall like. I love the combination. Totally.

i love april.

2013-04-16T08:04:00.000-04:00

Paper Source Hearts stamp ; Chipotle ; Wearlove t-shirt ; Follow your heart pewter trinket dish ; Woo Hoo greeting cards ; Reds Game.

The heart stamp is what I used for some really cool envelopes that should be in the hands of some really cool chicks by now. Think I used really cool too much? lol Kev has officially got me hooked on Chipolte. I have never tried it until we started dating, and now I'm addicted. I love their chicken burrito, it is delicious! The wear love shirt I think is so cute. Go to the link above to check out other shirts. Follow your heart little dish could be used for any kind of jewelry. I seem to always like the follow your heart sayings on things, because it's true. If you follow your heart with situations in life, everything will be just fine! Found some cute greeting cards that have little corks all over them. And finally the Reds. We went to our first game this month with the kids and they had a blast. Whenever the Reds are playing, they always ask what the score is. We will always have a place in our hearts for the Reds because that is how our story started!
.....................................................................................

See other i love posts here, here, here, and here.

.....................................................................................

photo walk : the park.

2013-04-15T08:12:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since I've done a photo walk, and with the weather starting to get nicer it's easier to get out and take some photos! Over the weekend I took the kids to the park, and the weather was goregous. I would encourage you to take a walk around your house, neighborhood, anywhere, and take photos of something specific.

Check out the other photo walks here.

(All photos taken with the Apple iPhone 4S)

...........................................................................................................

Happy Monday, hope the start of your week starts off great!

...........................................................................................................

lately.

2013-04-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday everyone, so glad the weekend is here.

mandy went wedding dress shopping and lived to tell the tale.

2013-04-11T09:49:00.000-04:00

You hear of the wedding dress shopping experiences from TV shows like Say Yes to the Dress, or horror stories from other brides how hard it was to find the perfect dress. Well that didn't happen to me. The total opposite happened. I had the best experience, and was totally surprised how smoothly it went!

Yesterday my Mom and I went on a little wedding day adventure. Took care of some things on the list and then went to just look at dresses. I went in with the mindset of I'm going to try a ton of dresses on and not like one of them. We get to the bridal store and meet our lady that was going to be helping us. First impression was lord help me. But after talking with her a little bit and answering her questions, she was hilarious and so my style. So next she asks what I'm looking for in a dress, I gave her all my pictures and said "this is what I like online, but have no clue what will I will look like in them." So she pulled about 8 dresses for me.

We had the entire place to ourselves, with the exception of one girl looking for a prom dress. It was awesome and so laid back. My Mom sits on the comfy leather couch, while I go in the dressing room with the chick. This part was hilarious, having never tried on a wedding dress in my life. You literally take off your clothes in front of whoever is helping you, but I didn't care. She made me feel so comfortable, it was fun! I wore my spanks and brought a strapless bra in case I needed it. Since it was like 83 degrees outside, the place had the doors open and NO AIR on. Let's just say I was dripping sweat. Some of those dresses were so heavy, theirs no way I could be comfortable in that all day.

I totally felt like the Say Yes to the Dress show! You try on the dress, you have no idea what it looks like on you until you step out into the big area with all the mirrors. All of this may not be a big deal for some people, but for me it was a brand new experience and one that I've been waiting my whole life for! I loved every second of it. Just me and my mama, sharing this moment together. After trying on 8 dresses, I fell in love with the third dress I tried on. Kinda like my ring, after trying some on I kept going back to this certain one. After trying on dress #3, I kept comparing the rest of them to that one. I love the way I feel in it, I love how I look in it, I love the vibe it gives off, I love everything about it! It was an amazing moment and one that I will cherish forever with my Mom.

After we found the dress we went to celebrate by having a margarita!

All wedding images via : (Google)

Margarita image via : MJB♥

introducing wedding wednesdays.

2013-04-10T06:54:00.000-04:00

After looking at a venue last week, we have decided on a October 2013 date! Yes that is this year and I couldn't be more excited. I cannot wait to marry my man and begin our story together. With that being said I'm adding a new feature to the blog...Wedding Wednesday!

I have this routine that I do with my ring. When I'm about to get in the shower I take my ring off. I know you are not supposed to take it off ever as my Grandma used to say. But right now, it almost slides off my finger in the shower. So until I get it re-sized, I take it off. So, I made a ring holder to put it each time.

My inspiration came from pinterest, if you type in "ring holder" you get a ton of different ideas. I took an old picture frame that I already had, and transformed it into a ring holder.

I took four pieces of little fabric tags that I've had for years. I knew one of these days I'd be able to use all the crafty stash I have. For the back of the frame, I cut out a piece of cardboard to use so the pin will easily go in. Used roller adhesive to apply the fabric onto the cardboard. It worked just fine, or you could use a glue gun.

Love how this turned out, and the fabric is just awesome. The words love, beautiful, pure joy, and happiness, all describe this ring and the feelings that go with it. So why not make a special place to put it when it's not on my finger! Love love love it.