Five on Friday 2014 volume 6

It's my favorite day of the week! Linking up with April for this one! 

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Here are my favorite pins from Pinterest this week:

How cute is this laundry room!? One can dream, I guess....

Vacation plans here are in the works! :)

This is just so pretty and inspiring!

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I've been playing around with my new camera lately and can't wait for more opportunities to use it! Here are a few practice shots...

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I'm not sure if there is something in the air or not, but I have been SO tired over the last two weeks! I'm blaming it on staying up until 3am when I had last Monday off, but could I still be suffering?? Planning to lay low this week and hopefully kick the funk!

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I'm planning on doing an "all the little things" around my house post soon but I can't hide this any longer:

LOVING this "hey y'all" pillow I snagged at Hobby Lobby for half-off last weekend! It was an impulse buy but it's perfect :)

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I can literally feel spring in the air, you guys. Sorry about all you northerners, but it has been in the mid-70's the past two weekends and I even planted some flowers in celebration. But in true Texas form, take a look at Sundays forecast:

Ugh.

Happy weekend!

Five on Friday: 2014 vol. 2

It's another Friday! Go link up with April for Five on Friday, and read my five for the week below!

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I purchased one of these chairs last weekend for the living room... Which one do you think it was?

Check back next week for the answer!

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My parents are coming into town tomorrow for dinner and a little visit (they live about an hour away so we try to plan visits every month or so but usually see them more than that). Like most things in my life, the visit is centered around food. This time we are going to Frankie's, a tex-mex place my dad has been talking about since we moved here. His work buddy has family that lives in the area and they have shared suggestions. Frankie's is in the same shopping center as Shady's, the cute burger place I blogged about here a while ago. Can't wait to see what my parents think of it!

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Today my friend Emily takes off for LONDON via Istanbul! Go over here to her blog and wish her safe travels and good luck across the pond! I've urged her to blog WAY more while she is living over there so throw in a word or two for me. 

Also, I'll be accepting donations for our future trip to visit her so just email me for details. ;)

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My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and while I typically don't think much of it, this year I keep coming across things that I'd love to have! Mark has gotten tired of my subtle texts, but here are a few things I've hinted at...

Mark has bought me my last two Vera Bradley makeup bags and I really like them! They end up wearing out after awhile and I'm well overdue.

I've been really into shoes lately and I totally swoon over these! Aren't they magical!??

I just about died over this purse when I found a look-a-like at Francesca's...I asked for one for Christmas but didn't get it so now I've moved on to the real deal. Still loving Emerald Green!

I think it's about time for me to upgrade from my iPhone pics to a real camera. I've had my thoughts on a DSLR for a while and I'm starting to really think I need one! I told Mark to buy used and maybe go halvesies with a family member, but we will see...:)

I love my necklaces from J Crew and this one is so pretty! 

...and I almost bought these myself the other day when they were having a sale, but I resisted. LOVE!!!

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This was today:

...and this is the weekend forecast. I feel like God is just giving us a sign (in the form of warmer weather) that we better make good use of this weekend! It's back to work and heavy coats on Monday!

 

So, how should I make the weekend productive? What are you guys doing?

Whatever it is, have a happy weekend! :)

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!

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If you saw my post yesterday, I'm doing a follow up today! I really appreciate all of the comments and the comments are still open! Please let me know your opinion, whether you like the idea or not! 

I did some research and it seems that painting the window frame is kind of a trend right now, and for good reason! Check it out:

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I met my friend Macie for dinner at one of my favorite places last night. She is notoriously late so I passed the time by purchasing these below. Oops! :)

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Texas weather. That's all I'm going to say:

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I'm so proud of my hair growth....I sent this "selfie" to Emily yesterday and she was in pure shock that my hair was this long. My hair has a story of its own...I cut it three years ago into a bob (at my then-boyfriend/now husband's request) and I have mourned my long locks ever since. I still have a long way to go (thanks slowest growing hair EVER) but I'm finally happy with the length!

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This isn't our house, but it will hopefully have something in common with it after this weekend...a ripped out backsplash!!! I'm crossing my fingers we get this far tomorrow so when we start the process after Thanksgiving, it will go quickly! 

Share your five things and link up with my favorite Red Raider blogger Darci! 

Five on Friday - I'm back!

Happiest of Fridays to everyone!

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THIS, people, is why I've been checking my weather app for 10 days straight. It's ALMOST here!!! Hooray to a weekend of wearing long sleeves and scarves without sweating!!! 

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Tonight Mark and I are driving over to Fort Worth to see these people and their little bundle of joy. My cousin Adrian had sweet baby Kate about a month ago and we have got to eat her up while they are in town visiting from Austin. I call her "kitty Kate" in my head due to my family's affinity for cats, but I have yet to get approval on that nickname. I'll keep you posted, but I can't wait to see them!!!

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You might have noticed, but I did a little update on my blog layout. Not much, since I'm not an html master, but I changed the header and added a pic of our baby on the right hand side. :) I use PicMonkey to edit my photos for my header and it's really simple and easy to use if you're a beginner blogger like me. I highly suggest checking it out if you want to learn as you go!

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Mark and I chose to forgo cable TV when we moved to the new house (saving $100+ a month is really that easy!) so we ended up purchasing a chromecast a couple of weeks ago. It's basically a wireless HDMI device that can stream from your iPad, iPhone, or computer so you can watch Netflix, Hulu, and any other video on your TV without having to use a physical HDMI cable. It was about $35 at Best Buy and luckily we had a gift card so it was only about $16 for us. I highly recommend it if you have Netflix or use Hulu anyway, or if you like watching TV episodes in order. We get some regular local channels on our TV but we haven't even bothered with them lately because we have been using the chromecast. I suggest you check it out!

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With the addition of the chromecast, Mark has successfully talked me into watching Homeland with him. When Claire Danes won for best actress last year (was it last year? I've lost track of time) we talked about how we should watch it. Mark is big into the popular shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, The Wire, etc. so he was intrigued. I was too, but at the time I wasn't making much time for TV, so Mark went ahead and watched the first couple of seasons without me. I'm still bitter about it, but it sounded like a good show and it was a good excuse to use the chromecast, so we started about a week and a half ago on season one and I'm LOVING it! I love documentaries and non-fiction, so this is a little more realistic and interesting to me than something like The Walking Dead. Obviously Homeland isn't a true story, but it seems like it could be and we are loving our lazy evenings knocking out an episode or two. I think we are on episode 9 of the first season. No spoilers please!!!

(honestly I think Jess is GORGEOUS)

That's my five on Friday, linking up with April! Have a great weekend!

My favorite Five on Friday yet!

I've got a sore throat, but I think I slept off all of the anxiety from last night and I'm here for another Five on Friday!

As usual, I'm linking up with April at A. Liz Adventures. Check her out!

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I have been checking the weather lately to see when a chill in the air will make it's way down to Texas, and I'm pretty excited about this outlook next week:

I mean, it's no Canada, but it's a welcome break from the heat and the signal of the beginning of fall!

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I saw that there was a sale on boots at Nordstrom a couple of weeks ago over on Shay's blog (yes, she is "Sean the Bachelor's" older sister!) and I've been slowly saving my pennies for a boot splurge, so I bought these puppies:

They are REALLY tall, great quality leather, non-slouchy, and on sale right now for 50% off! Yep, that's just $89.99 for a pretty nice pair of boots! Get on over there and buy some. Plus, Nordstrom always has free shipping and free returns. Can't beat that!

*update-I was a little annoyed when I went to link to the page where I bought these boots because I noticed they had been marked down even more and were now $40 less than what I paid for them just a few weeks ago. I planned on stopping into Nordstrom this weekend to see if I could return and re-buy the boots at the sale price, but on a whim I decided to give them a quick call. I didn't have to hold at all to wait to speak to a real person, and they INSTANTLY credited my card with the sale price difference. I was on the phone for less than a minute! I have to give them mad props for being the company that consumers want to buy from. Way to go, Nordstrom, and happy day for me!*

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I'm thinking this weekend calls for some blog TLC. I haven't been paying much attention to it lately just because my life has suddenly sped up over the last couple of weeks, so it needs some love! I want to add a sidebar feature about Motley and Mark, but what else do you think I should change or add? 

She's sad because she doesn't have a sidebar feature.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Speaking of Fall, I'm holding out as long as I can to put out my decorations. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fall and Halloween, but with a combination of the heat, our unfinished house, and the effort of cleaning around fall decor, I just want to wait until the moment is right. Here are some photos of my previous decorations over the last couple of years:

A little decor at my first Dallas apartment!




I loved this fireplace...even though it didn't work!


Harvest blocks courtesy of Kelly. Aren't they cute?!


My sister as a TMNT and me as Amy Winehouse!

The spread from my Halloween party a couple of years ago.

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I mentioned I had high anxiety last night, and if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll know why. It's because Texas Tech (I might have mentioned them once or twice here and here) had their first conference game against a new rival, TCU. My sister and other family members went to TCU and if anything, they have some pretty die-hard fans. Tech and TCU haven't played each other much over the last 10 years, but TCU joined the Big 12 conference last year and I can see the early makings of a pretty big rival, even outside of my extended family. Mark and I joined friends at a "Tech" establishment with about 100 other fans and watched the game on the big screen. It was a nail-biter, but we pulled out ahead and are undefeated so far! Tech always seems to bring a dramatic game, and this one was no different. Here are the headlines this morning from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and the Lubbock Avalanche Journal:

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lubbock Avalanche Journal

Now, there is rarely a game with perfect officiating and this game did have its questionable calls, but all in all, my Alma Mater won and it was a great game! I'd love to address some comments from TCU fans on Facebook, but I'm trying real  hard to bite my tongue...and that's all I'll say about that! Wrecked 'em!

Happy Weekend!