Back to Blogging World

Hello, friends! We hope to find that you are all doing well. I have been away from the blogging world for almost a month! Our schedules have been packed with school, work, family, friends, holidays, celebrations and among all that, still trying to find time for ourselves. Time and life never seem to slow down, but we wouldn't want it any other way! 

Easter weekend was spent with family.  Our Easter tradition is to attend 7AM Mass as a family and then go out to breakfast afterwards. On Easter Sunday, we woke up ridiculously early... around 5:15 in the morning... to start getting ready for church. If you want to beat the crowds and not have to stand at church during Easter and Christmas Mass, it's important to arrive early! Crazy! My parents and sisters met us at church. It was a beautiful Mass and a beautiful sermon. After church we headed off to Ihop for breakfast. We had a grand time enjoying breakfast, telling stories about past Easters and laughing with the fam. My mom still spoils us with Easter baskets every year filled with all our little favorites. So thoughtful! 

For the past two Easters now, someone has taken the time to surprise us and decorate my parents house on Easter morning! This year they filled my parent's front yard with filled plastic Easter eggs, added decorations to the front porch and wrote sweet Easter messages with sidewalk chalk. To whoever you are, thank you for all you did and thank you for spreading Easter cheer! We appreciate you taking the time to make us feel loved! 

Our bellies were full with breakfast goodness and we were all ready to head back to our own houses for naps. After a several hour nap, we woke up, changed into more comfortable clothes and headed out to Haslet to spend time with some of my extended family. My cousins, Rob and Leslie hosted Easter dinner at their house. They grilled out, enjoyed some of mom's traditional bunny cake & we were able to visit with each other and relax. Can't think of a better way to end the weekend.

Angel and I with baby cousin Myles

Easter isn't Easter without this cake! 

Added this printout to our living room

The week after Easter was busy with the normal hustle of the work week. We tried out a new recipe and it ended up being a win. We love this season of being able to put something on the grill for dinner. 

I snapped this picture of Colt while on his phone. Like many other couples, when we have down time to watch tv and hang out, we also like to be on our phones. It was a hassle to always have to go plug your phone into the wall and charge it. The struggle is real, ya'll! Colt came up with this life hack of adding a "charging station" inside our couch cushions. You never have to leave the couch to charge your phone again! Love doing life with this guy! 

Trying out the new charging station 

Stuffed Jalapeno and Cheddar Turkey Burgers. This recipe is a keeper!

Leg lifts while vacuuming 

Colt making homemade guacamole one night

The weekend after Easter weekend was our cousin's birthday. Myles turned 3 and we loved being there to celebrate his little life! Colt had class that weekend but he was able to show up towards the end to enjoy at least the end to the festivities. 

Right now my job has had lots of activities going on. It's called for some late evenings and exhausting days but it's all been so fun! A field trip to Lego Land, PTA Bake Offs, Our school district's Film Festival, teacher trainings, and professional development just to name a few! 

SO impressed at Legoland! 

Built out of Legos! Incredible! 

One of my students qualified as a finalist at our Film Festival. One proud teacher!!! I just love his little tuxedo and this little guy!

This past weekend was my sister's birthday. We kept it pretty low key and celebrated at my parent's house. We grilled fajitas, had cake & ice cream and of course opened gifts! If you know Angel, she is a huge Dwayne Johnson fan and she loves ANYTHING that represents her alma mater, Notre Dame. Here's to another trip around the sun! We love you, kitty! 

Colt got to see some of his high school buddies this past weekend as well. His friend Graham was in town from New York and they were able to meet up and have a guys night. I can't believe I've known these guys back when we were only 14 and 15 years old! I've known Kris, since Kindergarten! Wow, how life passes so fast! Seriously, where does the time go?!

From L to R: Graham, Kris, Matt, Britton, Colt

If you have ever had to remove your comforter and duvet cover, wash it, and then had to stuff your comforter back into the duvet cover, you know this is no easy task. For our king size comforter, this is a 2 person task and a true test to one's relationship! This is a picture of me actually getting inside the duvet cover to smooth out the comforter. Then Colt thought it was hilarious to button me up and trap me inside. Just another day in our lives, people!

I have been so drained every day this week and I have pretty much fallen asleep on the couch every single night. Poor Colt has had to wake me up to tell me to go upstairs and get to bed. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night hardly ever seems to happen for us! Sometimes it seems life is too short to sleep! I did manage, however, to update our kitchen chalkboard!

This weekend is Colt's birthday weekend. It also happens to be TCU's MBA Alumni Weekend. Tonight we will be getting fancied up and attending the MBA Alumni Gala. Until it's time to get ready for tonight's festivities, I am going to lay in my bed, enjoy my bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and catch up on Grey's Anatomy. Undisturbed. ;)

Hoping all of you have a relaxing and super fun weekend ahead! We love you all! 

Spring Break Shenanigans

Happy Spring! It's 7PM and I can't believe how bright it still is outside! We are loving the extra daylight in the evening. It's definitely motivating for us and gets us to be productive and get extra things done around the house.

Since Colt had his Spring Break last week and my Spring Break was this week, it was a little bit of a bummer. This meant that we would be on opposite schedules and most likely wouldn't get to see as much of each other as we would like since Colt would be in class, study group sessions, group projects, etc during the week. This also meant no trip together since we didn't have a full week off together. 

Originally, we had planned for me to fly out to New York to meet up with Colt the Friday I got out of work for SB. That plan got nixed after I had a difficult week at work due to some unfortunate news I received. Besides, the week before SB was hectic as usual. Teachers had to prepare for Open House night as well as trying to still teach and keep 22 5 & 6 year olds actively engaged who are looking forward to having 9 days off from school! That my friends is no easy task!  By Friday at 3 PM I was so exhausted. My feet and back were killing me and I couldn't imagine dealing with packing luggage, driving in traffic to the airport, flights, and all the other normal stress that comes with traveling. Sometimes you have to listen to your body when your body is telling you it needs REST. So that's exactly what I did. Sort of... 

Colt ended his SB in The Big Apple. We have heard nothing but wonderful things about flying Virgin Airlines and we were thrilled when Colt told me he would be flying to NYC on Virgin. How cool! 

First time flying Virgin Air

Birds eye view of Manhattan

Times Square

Colt spent a few days in NY doing business with his Capital Markets Club. While they were there they were hard at work visiting the New York Stock Exchange and Bloomberg Business. TCU has given Colt and his peers so many opportunities. I am so proud of all my husband has accomplished in his first year of Business School or "B-School" as the cool kids call it. 

Colt's view from the top level of the Bloomberg building

Doing great things at the NYSE

Luckily for Colt, it wasn't all work and no play! While in New York, Colt had a chance to meet up for drinks and food with one of his good buddies from high school! We don't get to see much of our friend Graham since he lives and works in NY. I was happy to hear that they were able to have some guy time and catch up. 

Cheers to good ol' high school buddies. Graham and Colt. 

While Colt was in NY, I met up with my best friend, Coree for dinner. Unfortunately, due to our schedules we haven't been able to see much of each other. Having dinner together, talking and laughing was a great reminder that no matter how busy life gets, it's important to make time for friends. Especially for friends who are like family. It's definitely good for the soul. 

On the Monday of my SB I woke up and got this bright idea to redo my kitchen cabinets. I had been wanting to redo them for a couple of years now and I thought this was as good as time as any to get them done. I woke up, watched a few tutorial videos on YouTube then headed off to Home Depot. I love any chance for a DIY project. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! 

Redoing my cabinets was definitely a lot more work than I imagined it was going to be. Unscrewing and taking all the doors, hinges and drawers off was hard work enough. Then I had to scrub and wash off all the grease on each drawer and door. 9 drawers and 17 doors later I wanted to call it quits! I hadn't even started painting yet! We have a small kitchen so I figured it wouldn't be such back breaking labor but boy was I wrong! Next it was on to painting the first coats on the cabinet boxes, doors and drawers. It takes 2-3 hours for each coat of paint to dry. I soon found out this project was going to take longer than a day. I decided since I was on break to not kill myself trying to get the cabinets done quickly. I took plenty of breaks, naps, snack times and tv watching during this kitchen project. Which is also why this project pretty much last all week... 

Before

In progress

Even during all this work I managed to cook at least ONE healthy dinner this week! Go me! 

Buffalo Cauliflower Bites were a hit with the hubby!

My vision was to give our kitchen a "brighter" look. I think the light color of the cabinets makes our kitchen look bigger, light and airy. I was going for a vintage, "antique" look and I'm pretty satisfied with how they turned out! 

Why yes, that is a Marilyn Monroe cookie jar

After

Even after long days at school, Colt was kind enough to drill and add the hardware to our drawers. We are still waiting for our knobs to be ordered and delivered. I think the drawer pulls and knobs will really complete the look! 

I can't say enough how glad I am that this project is complete. It looks very nice in the natural sunlight that shines in through the windows. We also hung up our new kitchen menu sign that has been sitting on our kitchen floor for 562773923002486 days. I find that keeping a weekly menu helps to keep us on track with making smart food choices and less likely to order food or eat out. Being organized is my favorite! With my full schedule and Colt's full schedule this really helps us. It also keeps me from stressing out after work trying to figure out what we are going to eat for dinner. 

Random news: I was able to take a break from painting and snag a free cone on free cone day at Dairy Queen. I call that a win! 

This week we also got to dog sit my family's dog, Benji. It was fun having a furry family member in the house. Benji absolutely adores Colt and cuddles up next to him any chance he can get! 

Friday and Saturday were spent shopping all day. Friday my mom and I headed to Southlake for lunch and cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. We tried the Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake for the first time. If you have never tried it I highly recommend it!!! Afterwards we shopped around Southlake Town Square until late in the evening. After shopping, Colt met us at my parents house for homemade enchiladas and family time. Lots of laughs were had by all. 

Saturday morning my mom and I headed out for breakfast and an 11 AM movie. We went to see "Miracles From Heaven". If you're looking to for an inspiring, motivational and uplifting story, this movie is for you! Don't forget to bring some kleenex though, it's a tear jerker! Since we were already at the mall, we decided to make a day of it. We shopped at NE Mall the rest of the day. We had an early evening dinner before I headed home to meet up with the hubs. Colt and I spent last night hanging out and enjoying some quality time together. 

This morning we had our friends, Shane and Alyssa over for brunch at our house. Shane goes to school with Colt. Shane and Alyssa were recently engaged while in Chile during Christmas Break and were finally able to have them over to celebrate! 

Waffles, bacon, breakfast casserole, fruit and mimosas were on the menu this morning. I picked up these adorable bunny ear napkin rings and I was so excited to use them. I totally forgot to get a pic of all of us and didn't realize it until after Shane and Alyssa had left. 

A little bit of Easter front door decor

Chicken Tortilla Soup is cooking in the crockpot for dinner tonight as we prepare for a new school week. Our goals this week include getting to bed early and have enough hours of sleep, manage our time wisely and think positive! 

Feeling very rejuvenated after a much needed week off and having the chance to unplug and unwind. We are looking forward to what the new week has in store. I only have to work 4 days this week because we are off on Good Friday. Wishing you all an exciting new week as well! 

We love you all! 

We've Got Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty

Saturday mornings are my favorite after a hectic work week! This morning, I was able to sleep in and it felt great! There's nothing better than having nowhere to be on a cloudy morning except under the blankets in your comfy bed. Our bed is like sleeping on a heavenly cloud. 

It was fun to hang out in bed this morning, take a mid morning nap,and play around on my phone before heading downstairs to make brunch. My sister was over and we were trying out a new recipe. We prepped all the ingredients and we were literally about to slide the food into the oven only to have the power go out... for 2 hours. What. This entire week has been tornado like winds with strong rain yet no power outage. Today it's been partly cloudy and a little sun. Ironic. 

This past month we have been acquiring a few new gadgets and gizmos for our home. 

I wrote a post awhile back talking about how I had ordered a product I had seen on the show, "Shark Tank". It took 2 months before arriving on my door step. It finally arrived and I was so excited to try it. It's called "Piper Wai" and it is a completely all natural deodorant. 

I have been searching far and wide for a product like this. I have moved away from deodorants containing aluminum and other harmful ingredients over a year ago. When I saw this on the show, I knew I had to test it out! It comes in this tiny jar and its a gray colored mud like consistency. You can use your hand or a makeup spatula to apply it. It has no harmful ingredients and it smells so refreshing. Even after working out, my underarms feel and smell fresh. The scent is a light minty lemon scent. I love getting a whiff of my underarms throughout the day! Hah! I've seen a couple of people on Facebook post pictures of this and they too had positive reviews. It's a 2 oz. jar and I paid around $20 or so for it. I'm interested to see how long this jar will last me. I'm thinking I will get my monies worth though! 

Colt and I are Amazon Prime fanatics so it only made sense for us to snatch up a few of the Amazon Dash Buttons. When we saw these little things make an appearance online we couldn't wait to order them. Colt ordered a couple of dash buttons to start off with. These buttons are genius! The buttons connect to your wi-fi and Amazon account. When you run out of a certain product, you simply press the dash button and your product will be reordered and delivered to your door! How awesome is that?! To start off, we thought we would start with the necessities: dishwasher tablets, toilet paper, trash bags. We haven't run out of these products yet, but as soon as we do, I can't wait to push the button! We placed them in the garage, under our kitchen sink and on the door under our bathroom sink. It's crazy to me how far technology has come. So convenient! I hope they eventually have more of a selection for groceries and/or produce. Still, so cool. 

You probably already know that I am a clean freak. I love organizing, tidying things up, cleaning and disinfecting. It's so fun to me! With me being a clean freak and Colt being a germaphobe... it can get a little ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, we are by no means perfect. Our kitchen gets dirty and piled up with dishes from time to time. Laundry can pile up quickly on the bathroom or bedroom floor. Ya know, things like that. Still, I feel my best when my home is neat and clean. 

I have been begging Colt for a Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot for quite some time now. I just couldn't believe how cool this thing looked when I saw it. It is a little pricey, but I felt like it was worth it. Let's be honest... when I come home from a long day at work, I just do not feel like vacuuming! I figured it would cut down on my cleaning time too. I just had to somehow convince my darling husband that we needed it. After months to no avail, I gave up on this pipe dream. Finally, last month, Colt was sweet enough to surprise me with this fun gadget! 

Having this little guy zoom around the floor really does help!  The first time I used it, I have to be honest, I wasn't too impressed. But then, the more I used it and the more I figured out how to use it, the more I LOVED it! I try to run this little guy daily and I see a difference! I feel like my carpets and floors have never been cleaner. What's even better? I don't have to do a thing. It runs itself and when it's finished, it docks itself back on the charger to charge back up! Genius I tell you!!!! Now, if only they made one that steam mops too...

Speaking of cleaning, we are still loving the "Basic Life" all natural cleaners. They are free of those harmful ingredients and they smell refreshing. They are safe for kids, pets and our environment! I find that I don't have to wear gloves to protect my skin from the harsh ingredients like other cleaning products. Colt has very sensitive skin, so when he would use certain cleaning products to clean the bathrooms and such, his skin would break out in a rash and become itchy. This is much more gentle on his skin! We also love the fact that our home doesn't smell like bleach or any other strong scents after cleaning. We aren't breathing in any harmful fumes and that makes me sleep better at night. I know we could probably make these cleaners ourselves with essential oils and recipes from Pinterest... but we ain't got time for that! Someday, I would love to make my own natural cleaning products for our home. Until then, these products are just perfect! 

Today has been a great start to Spring Break. I am off to meet up with my bestie. It's beautiful patio weather for Mexican food and drinks!  

Be blessed. 

We love you all!