Will You Marry Me?

We might have forgotten about our dating anniversary last weekend, but I did just so happen to finish a little project celebrating our marriage. If you don't know, five years ago Jordan had the task of finding a way to ask me to marry him and keeping it a surprise. I'm sneaky and nosey, and I don't like surprises, but he was determined that I would not know about the proposal when it actually happened. We had casually been looking at rings on and off and had found one we both liked. Every time we passed the jewelery store I asked if we could stop by to look at it. It was Saturday morning and we needed to return some videos from Blockbuster, which just so happened to be right next to the jewelry store. Of course I begged him to go in and "just look". While in the jewelry store hunting browsing through the glass cases I found the one. The jeweler opened the case and gave me the little white box with the ring in it. As I pulled the ring out of the box, I noticed a little tag attached. On the tag was written "Mary" on one side and "Will you marry me?" on the other. Slightly confused I turned to Jordan. Who was down on one knee. Promptly asking me to marry him. I cried. And asked something about if he was kidding. I think I said yes after that. Then came the red roses (hidden in the back room), kisses, and wondering if it was actually MY ring? Do we pay for it? Oh no, the sneaky man had bought the ring a month before. Waiting for the perfect time to surprise me. See, he didn't have to return any videos to Blockbuster. He was counting on me begging to go see the ring. All the jewelers were in on the surprise. He got me. He got me good.

I saved the little white box and tag from that day. It had been hidden in a drawer somewhere, forgotten. When I started putting together my family picture wall I knew I wanted to incorporate the little tag somehow. I had already created a shadow box for my grandfather's military funeral bullet shell, and wanted to display the little tag in the same way. Last week I found a black shadow box at Marshalls for $3.50. I spray painted it white and lined it with white fabric to match the other shadow box. Now the little tag is displayed in a meaningful way so I can walk by it and be reminded of our special day.

As time goes on and we collect more memorable tokens of our life together I plan on displaying them in the same way. It's little things like this that make a house a home. And I wouldn't trade my humble abode for the biggest, fanciest mansion out there.

Memory Lane

Sunday was an exciting day for us! It was our 11 year anniversary! What a great accomplishment.... too bad we didn't remember this monumental day until the next day. In my defence, I was busy worshipping the porcelain throne with some kind of nasty stomach bug and it was "just" our dating anniversary, which I would never expect Jordan to remember. He still gets our wedding anniversary and his work anniversary mixed up (so glad those two dates are on the same level of importance). After finally remembering what we should have been celebrating I started thinking about how long 11 years is. I'm only 27... I was 16 when I found the love of my life.... that's young. And luck. And scary. And pretty romantic. If I live to be 86 we will have been together for 70 years, married for 65. Those are just some mega numbers I can't wrap my mind around. My goal is 50 years, we will see what happens after that. Of course a good trip down memory road wouldn't be complete without going through the old photo albums. These were some extra special pictures I had to share.

June 1999 - the first time Jordan and I met

April 2000 - one of our first dates - we dated long distance for our first 3 years

June 2000 - the first time I visited Louisiana (I remember looking at this picture thinking I looked fat - what I would give to be fat like that again....)

May 2001 - my prom

As I looked through the albums I came to realize Jordan and I have been through everything young adults normally go through either alone or with passing flings. We graduated high school together, went to college, graduated college, got our first jobs, and bought our first house all together. Can't wait to see where the next 45 (or 70) years take us....

Kitchens, Hymnals, and Fire!

We get our new counter tops on Thursday! The company we bought them from has been absolutely amazing with being on top of this project. From the day we said let's do this, until they are installed will be 1 week and 3 days, including the weekend. Of course we still have to paint the cabinets after the counters are installed. It's a big job but I want to tackle and conquer it on my own! Then we still have to pick out all new hardware. I'm guessing all that will take another 2 weeks, but when it's done I just hope my kitchen exudes this kind of warmth...



This last weekend I finished a wreath I had been working on. I had done the actual book page part previously using pages from a hymnal, but I wanted to add a little something to make it more interesting. I bought some scrap fabric and crystals at Joann Fabrics and used this really neat method of burning the edges of the fabric (and my fingers) with a candle. It was a lot of fun to do and turned the edges of the fabric into a natural looking petal. Put a couple layers of fabric together, sew on some crystals and you've got a flower! Now I just nee to find other things that need flowers on them.....

click to view our etsy store

Oh Kitchen

I seem to have snapped back into kitchen remodel mode in the last 3 days. It started when I found this lantern tile on Overstock.com for our backsplash. When I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton a couple weeks ago the bathroom (the one thing I didn't take a picture of! Ugh) had wallpaper in the same print as this tile and I just loved it.




The granite we picked out looks like this. It's mainly white with grey running through it.



Put the tile and the granite together and so far we've got ourselves a white kitchen. I plan on painting our current cabinets, so the color options are limitless. An all white kitchen is appealing though. It's a classic, elegant look that won't be going out of style any time soon. I searched online to get a good idea of what an all white kitchen would look like and came across these pictures.







While I was looking through Google images I stumbled across this picture.



It was pretty much like the heavens opened up and angels started singing the Hallelujah song. Dramatic, yes, but true.



It's so unexpected and different and dramatic and I love it! But then again is that what I want for my kitchen? When people walk in our front door the kitchen is directly to the right. Is that what I want everyone to be met with? A dramatic, smack you in the face kitchen? If I had some carbs (Carb free for a week now!) fueling my brain this decision would probably work it's way out better. After the granite is installed I'll be able to make the decision easier. Who knows, I might wake up tomorrow and hate it. That's why I always sleep on these things before I make the final decision.

PS I bought this faucet! That decision I didn't have to sleep on.

Body Bags and Bumble Bees

What a busy weekend we had! I wish I could also call it great, but I had to work Saturday night, which is never great, and it was a super busy night (Note to self: never work Halloween weekend again)

Friday night we went to one of my coworker's houses for a Halloween party. Halloween is her favorite holiday and she did a great job creeping-out her house. She even had a body bag in the bathtub.

This is an actual body bag

The buffet


Jordan and I went as Don and Betty Draper from Mad Men. If you're not familiar with the show, just think Desperate Housewives from the 60s with more smoking, drinking and sexual harassment in the workplace. Our costumes consisted mostly of stuff we already owned, played up with a glass of bourbon and a cigarette.



It was my mom's birthday on Saturday, but since I was working we celebrated it on Sunday. Peanut was a bumble bee for Halloween and Jelly was a spider. We didn't get a decent picture of Jelly's costume, but here are a couple we did get.

Peanut is shooting death at me Have you ever seen such a pitiful dog? All of us