Cotton Anniversary

The traditional gift for the 2nd wedding anniversary is Cotton.  While Chris and I didn't gift each other anything tangible this year, we do have a wonderful reminder of our cotton year!

How perfect is this?  Earlier this year the Texas A&M Aggies (where I went to college) participated in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX.  I wasn't lucky enough to score any tickets but did watch the awesome game on TV.  My parents surprised us with this lovely framed picture as a belated anniversary gift.  One of my mother's co-workers took the picture which my mom had framed at Michaels. So thoughtful!!

In other news, Chris finished his busy spring semester and has begun his last (better be advisors or we're going to have some words) 4 electives for the summer.  As a break in between sessions, we took the day off and signed up for the lunch wine tour over in Grapevine (similar to the night one that we took back in 2011).

It was a great break from our regular routine and has us even more excited about our trip to San Francisco and Napa in a couple of months!  Should be a lot to celebrate in August!

If you're married, do you stick to the traditional anniversary gifts?  We did for the first year, but I'm not so sure that we'll stick to it in the years to come.

Baby Quilt

After finishing my first quilt last year I wasn't planning on making another any time soon.  I think it was the sheer size of the first quilt that had me overwhelmed and scared to do it again.

But I decided to give it another go, this time in a baby size that would be much more doable!

My best friend Kristen (who I threw the overseas baby shower for last time) is expecting her second son, and we all know how much I love the colors blue and green!

I wandered through JoAnn's for a while until I happened upon these fun and more importantly soft fabrics.  The chevron pattern was very easy, using the same half square triangle units that I used on my patchwork pillow.

I used the same instructions for piecing it together and the binding from my last quilt.  There is one change I would do next time around.  I used more batting with this quilt to make it thicker, but still used the same 2.5 inch wide strips for the binding.  Unlike my last (thinner) quilt, the 2.5 inch width wasn't quite big enough for the binding.  Next time around I'll go for 3 or 3.5 inch.

I will probably go just a little bit bigger with the next baby quilt.  I really wanted to use my leftover light blue fabric on the back, so I cut my front piece down to match those measurments.  

For only my second quilt, I don't think it's half bad.  Best part is that Kristen loved it!

Two Years

Our second married year is now in the books!  Our anniversary was on Tuesday, but with Chris out of the house at 5:30am for work and not back until 9pm from class we didn't really celebrate until Saturday.  I couldn't let Tuesday go by without doing a little something so that night I picked up some creme brulee from Brio that we enjoyed after his class ended.

Hey Brio - Where's the caramelized sugar??

We didn't exchange gifts this year as the theme was "cotton" and we still have new bedding and bath towels from the wedding that we have not even opened (I can't wait to get them out of storage once we finally, knock on wood, start the house hunt this summer!).  Instead we gifted ourselves a couples massage Saturday morning (under cotton towels, so that's close - right?)

 and then headed out to the Melting Pot for dinner.

Our favorite drinks

Where we finally got our caramelized sugar fix with our dessert fondue!

I have a feeling that our next year is going to be a memorable one, so I can't wait to see what we have accomplished by the time year 3 is complete.

Alphabet Wall

Babies, babies, everywhere!  It seems like all of my friends are having babies, more than a couple are actually on baby number two right now.  In fact 2 of my closest friends Colby & Kristen (BM Cali and MOH Navy from back in my Bee days) are both due with baby #2 within a week of each other.

While I was able to make the shower for Colby's little boy one week after our wedding, I will miss out on the sprinkle for her daughter :(  Although I won't be there in person, I am happy to take part in her alphabet collage.

On the back of the shower invite every guest was assigned a letter with no rules on shape, size or style.  The host only asked that the letter coordinate with one or more of the colors on the invite.  I think this is the cutest idea and after a quick stop to Michael's I was ready to get started on my letter "Y".

I wanted to do a little more than just paint the letter, so I opted to cut Frog tape into circles for the polka dot effect.

Once all those little circles were placed it was time for a little Martha Stewart Glitter paint. 

And by a little, I really mean a lot.  It took a good 6 or 7 coats to get to the shade of pink that I was going for (or, you know the color on the store plaque in front of the bottle).

As you can guess, I finished this last night so the glare of the light doesn't do the glitter justice.

A close up to really get the glitter effect

I hope Colby and her daughter enjoy this "Y" and I can't wait to see a picture of the whole collage put together!

Have you seen or taken a part of any cute baby shower ideas?

Shredding It

Well, well, well... long time no talk!  I can't say that I'm surprised it's been so long.  My work projects have filled my days and by the time I'm done with work for the day I tend to stay away from the computer screens.

In all honesty I haven't done much blog worthy activities in the past month either, but that's not to say that I'm not enjoying my down time.  My best friend Kristen (MOH Navy for those of you that followed me on WeddingBee) is back in the states with her little son, and son #2 on the way.  It's been amazing just to hang out and catch up on life changes during her time in Japan.  San Fran/Napa plans with Corinne are coming along - flights have been booked and hotel/bed & breakfast reservations have been made.  I don't think I'll make it to August without some sort of trip, so Chris and I are starting to look at a weekend road trip.

And then there has been this:

Mom got this crazy idea from her sister to try out this new diet and roped me into it.  We started right after the Superbowl and are now nearing the end of our 5th week (we took a week off when we both made trips to Florida for work).  I'm not going to lie, after throwing up on day 1 I did not think I would be able to make it through 6 weeks of this.

But surprisingly, I'm getting it done.  5 weeks in, 16 pounds down and I just feel better in general.  

I'm now walking/jogging 1-2 times a day, 6-7 times a week and I honestly look forward to this time.  I used to enjoy my morning walks with Gypsy, but as the weather got colder and with the loss of my walking partner I just stopped.  Now, I look forward to my lunch break everyday so I can get away from work, listen to my iPod and just think about anything and everything.  I even packed work out clothes and made it to the hotel gym twice during my 3 day trip to Jacksonville for work.  Everyday when my mom gets home and goes for her walk, I join in.  It's a great time to catch up on our days and just get in some quality mother/daughter time that I know I will miss when we move into our own house.

When it comes to food, there have been some hard days (I'm not a big fan of veggies, but I'm getting better) but for the most part I've never been hungry.  I guess that happens when you're having 4 small "meals" (which can range from protein shakes, smoothies and salads to chicken and veggies) and 3 snacks a day.  This diet has really helped us to look at the labels when we're grocery shopping and think twice about what we order when we eat out (we tend to do the diet for the majority of the week, allowing ourselves one night to eat out).  That food knowledge and increased physical activity are the two improvements that I know we will take with us once this diet is complete.  

Have you ever had success with a diet? 

Benched

After getting our hair done on Saturday, Mom and I were off to run some errands.  She has been on the hunt for a statement mirror to go above their large mantle in the living room so we try to frequent our local Home Goods.  The problem is, good finds go quick at that store!  And with the hold area at the front of the store (items purchased and waiting for the customers to come back with larger transportation) you always see those great finds and get jealous that you didn't find them first.

Mom struck out again on the mirror hunt, but I scored a home run with this lovely bench!

I have dreamed about our future master bedroom which includes a new king bed to go with the king bedding that we received for our wedding (we were thinking ahead!).  I've always loved the idea of a bench at the end of the bed, but didn't have space for it in our old apartment.

Just enough space for one person to walk between the bed and dresser

While walking through the mirror section with mom, I actually spotted an identical bench in darker brown first.  It was nice, but once I saw the neutral color I knew it would work better with our bedding (and any future changes in bedding).

Pillows from our king bedding

And true to the nature of good finds going fast at this store.  From the time I spotted the bench and decided to buy it (standing by it while waiting for the guy to carry it to the front), 2 sets of people came up voicing interest in it.  

And the best part?  It has storage space!  

Perfect to store some of the blankets that always seems to be thrown around during the colder months.

Do you have anything at the foot of your bed?

30th Birthday Destination

First off - Thank you all for your sweet words on my last post!  We were both pretty ticked off with the outcome, but we're pushing forward, rearranging some plans and will be oh so happy if things work out for the August graduation.

So now onto the fun part! The destination for this year's annual birthday trip is...

via Wikipedia

San Francisco and Napa!!

There were some close guesses in the comments last week (Carol's San Diego).  We will be heading west to California, adding another state to our map.  Although I have been to Los Angeles & San Diego before, Chris has never set foot in the Golden State.  Since we both turn 30 this year, we decided to do a little more than a road trip.

One of the best parts about this trip is that we will be meeting up with my life long friend and her husband!  C and I have known each other since we were babies - our parents met in Lamaze class when they were pregnant with our older brothers who were born 2 weeks apart.  In 2011 we had the joy of being bridesmaids in each other's weddings.  We've been talking about planning a trip together ever since our weddings, and finally pulled the trigger for a fun week out west in August.  I love the timing because we get to continue our birthday trip tradition AND we get to celebrate C and her husband's 2nd anniversary out there.

Now for some advice!  I know that some of you live (or have lived) in San Fran or have traveled to Napa before.  I would love any tips/places to see/wineries to visit if you would like to share!  We are going to hit some of the big tourist attractions like Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, but if you have any other spots we should check out or places to eat do share them in the comments! :)