this & that

i have SO much to blog about.

{obviously}

only problem is...

too much to do, with not enough time. 

{bollox}

for starters....

thanksgiving was a blast.

i have tons of pictures to post. 

the utah game was killer.

the christmas tree is up and standing. yay.

the drive home took for-e-ver.

lovebird has far too much homework this week.

nutcracker rehearsals will be the death of me.

theater week begins on monday. yikes.

i so desperately need to go grocery shopping.

yogurt meal has holiday flavors.

{peppermint stick, gingerbread & egg nog}

and last but not least.....

we got a new camera.

okay, so i know this post doesn't really count.

so i promise to fill you in on our little life as soon as i get the chance to.

until then...

are you going to this? we are. don't miss it! 

have you checked here for ornaments? adorable. 

have you seen this? you have to! it's my favorite movie. 

and perfect for the holidays.

lastly, what are you doing to get ready for the holidays?

home at last

we're home.

finally. and i mean finally.

the normal ten hour drive turned into a 16.

oh well. no matter how long it takes to get home,

nothing is better than seeing the ones you love so dearly.

this thanksgiving will be a blast. scrumptious too. i'm beyond ready for it.

we both have missed dear utah, and it still feels like we belong. 

(which is comforting to me)

check out this gorgeous picture from our road trip...

p.s. my nails are painted red. bright and glossy red. 

supposedly, according to the fashion industry, red is the nail color for

the holiday season. so i am sticking to the trend.

sew excited.

i am anxiously awaiting a certain gift. 

i cannot wait. 

this gift will just add to the crafty junkie that i already am. 

yay. drum roll please....

i'll be the owner of a sewing machine shortly.

as in this week. fingers crossed.  

yipee! 

ramblings.

i love this time of year.

driving down rumble street is currently a breathtaking moment for me.

i do it every sunday. thank you leaves.

and was sort of happy that lovebird wasn't with me, because i

blasted the heat as i took my sunday stroll. {he hates hot air blowing in his face. hates it}

i baked a delicious butterscotch apple cake today.

we just got back from a lovely dinner at our dear friend's house.

my "silly socks" are on. i'm happy. 

i should be packing right about now. but i'm clearly not.

and lastly, lovebird told me how much he loved me today.

and that he was grateful for me.

so....

without further adieu, i would like to return the favor.

i love him.

 he is my second half. my better one, too.

i am beyond grateful for him and all that he does for me. 

i couldn't be happier, more spoiled, or feel a deeper since of love for someone.

it's that time of year to express gratitude. right?

however, i should never need an excuse for my babblings about 

how much i adore my husband,

and just how grateful i am for our eternal marriage.

  

what are you grateful for?

"TGIF"

happy friday!

this week flew by. thanks to how busy i was.

however, due to pure exhaustion.... 

i am now sick.

bollox.

so, lovebird and i will spend the night in.

cuddled up next to a fire watching all the hp's.

{aka harry potter}

while eating a scrumptious dinner. 

yes, this sounds lovely.

minus the sickness.

and i hope your weekend plans are lovely, as well.

xoxo

oh grams!

to "celebrate" the year mark of lovebird's homecoming from the mission, i had high hopes of making this dessert he talks about quite frequently. being the sneaky little girl i am, i emailed a sweet sister over in bulgaria to get the recipe to surprise him.... one huge problem... the recipe was in grams. okay, it doesn't sound that complicated, but it is; because grams of flour weigh differently than grams of sugar. yikes! struggled with that one. but long story short, i asked an experienced cook at my work. the next day, she brought me in julia child's cook book that included the cheat sheet to converting grams. {bless her little heart.} the conversation evolved into the women at work challenging me to do the "julia child" blog challenge. i told them that there is no way in heck i could ever do that. i am too busy, point blank.

however, i did promise that i would commit to making at least three meals a week and one dessert every weekend. {mainly so i could take in the yummy treat to work on monday}. anyway... i guess i've been challenged. so we'll see how it pans out. i can promise you i'll blog about the desserts, and i'll try to blog about the dinners- however week nights are far more busy than the weekends, so i'm not making any promises there. i have decided to take all my dessert recipes out of the martha stewart holiday cookie magazine that my dear friend joe gave me. why? because i haven't made any of them before- they are all new to me. obviously, lovebird and i will both turn into fat creatures but who cares! it's the holidays right?

which reminds me, thanksgiving is next week! can you believe it?

is this year flying by for anyone else?

i mean christmas is just around the corner.

yay.

okay! so the challenge has begun.

i made a delicious pot of taco soup for dinner and this

weekends treat is the cookie in the book that lovebird has requested. 

stay posted to find out.

love you all. thanks for reading such a long post. xo

today in 10

picture via: style.com    {look at number 7 on my list}

today.....
1. i tasted the new and delicious MilkyWay. just caramel. {newsflash, in case you didn't already know, caramel is one of my all time favorite "foods"} pretty tasty. i still like the original better, though.
2. i started up an account on twitter. unsure how i feel about it... but check IT out. 
3. i am indeed thankful for the comments and emails i've been receiving from new readers. which leads to say, i'm now addicted to your cute blogs. 
4. lovebird called me a diva. oh, no. am i?  
5. i made two huge turkey.cranberry.creamcheese bagel sandwiches for lunch. lovebird managed to finish his in two seconds flat. 
6. lovebird complimented me on my eyes today. not once but twice. thank you very much. he is convinced green is my color to wear now. we'll see. it's hard to compete with his incredible eyes.
7. fashion trends i'm addicted to write now: boyfriend watch, red lipstick, fedoras, and socks peeking out of boots.
8. church today was a bit on the boring side. just being honest. lovebird was a good cuddle buddy, however.
9. i am starting the countdown to thanksgiving today. which equals a trip home to utah, the big game day, and of course the reunion of seeing our lovely families. 
10.  i was reminded of what a blessing it is to live out of state. the challenges, experiences and friends i would have no other way been able to experience and meet. 

karaoke!

karaoke night!

it was a dear friend's birthday last weekend,

and to celebrate we had a karaoke party at Torri's.

it was a blast.

can't really explain the night,

because most of it was spent in front of the karaoke machine, 

however, here are just a few pictures from the evening.

p.s. the highlight of the night. had to have been when the drunk lady called me out of the crowd to come up to be her back up dancer. i guess my new name is "blondie". sweet. 

i was embarrassed and turned bright red. but i went up there and lovebird has it one film to prove it.

also. my two bestest friends from dance are rockstars. {upper right corner}

we are in love. 

sat.ur.day

{just thought i'd post a little lovebird picture on this fine saturday}

i'm up early.

lovebird is snoozing away in bed. 

i've been blog hopping for quite sometime this morning.

it's official, i have a new blog obsession.

she is adorable, beautiful and SO thoughtful.

{i "publicly" want to thank you for your kind email and new tutorial}

today i have dance until six.

lovebird probably has homework until midnight.

but, we are going to a birthday party for a friend.

karaoke party, baby. 

also, a stop off at one of my favorite stores in modesto

will certainly top off the day. 

have a lovely saturday.

i'll be reporting back with pictures.

"peace&blessings"

hump day

i'm a ballerina.

he's a student.

we are busy. extremely.

it's overpowering, lately.

we are also happily in love

i am thankful for that.

hump days are our busiest days.

therefore, i've started to resent wednesdays.

i remind myself that i am a ballerina because i love it.

and he reminds himself he is a student because he has a purpose.

and i constantly tell myself it is just a wednesday.

it ends in less than 24 hours. no big deal.

little obsessions

isn't she beautiful?

me-o-my. 

gorgeous skin, hair and lips.

love it. 

(picture via anne koch)

dreams and rings

dreaming. 
isn't it crazy? absolutely nuts?
dreams are unreal. 


i woke up today from an intense, somewhat horrifying, dream involving the past and future.
i ran into find lovebird studying, at the crack of dawn, to make certain my dream wasn't real after all.
he walked me back to bed and tucked me in.


however, 
i put my wedding ring back on. 
{i always take it off before bed}
they told me not to sleep with my ring on... but why? DO YOU?


it seems as though my dreams of the past don't creep in when i have it
wrapped around my little finger. 
so i have noticed that, when waking from a bad dream, i don't hesitate to put it right back on.
lovebird came up with this idea. consider him genius.


...and consider me crazy or superstitious.... because i'm both. 


just an observation. worth posting about. 

eat your greens

i know, i know...

i need to eat my vegetables.

but i don't want to.

lovebird loves them.

he eats bell peppers like apples. gross.

help me, someone. 

have any recipes loaded with green things?

roses

i know i've already told you a million times that i am the luckiest girl to be married to such a handsome stud... but i must tell you some more. get this...

the other day, i was having a "terrible, horrible, no good very bad day" and as the day seemed to go on, things didn't let up. being at work all morning, 
lovebird didn't really know the status of my day.

and ironically, just at the nick of time, a "messenger boy" {aka lovebird} 

walked into work with a bouquet of roses. orange roses.

"a delivery for elease stice" he said. simply embarrassing me.

he handed me the roses, i pounced him with a few kisses

and he continued to deny that he was my husband. he was a messenger boy, duh.

he left in a flash. and i was left a work. feeling so much better.

the roses were the perfect fix to a rotten day.

oh, and of course hearing that i had the most romantic, handsome and 
awesome husband from all of my co-workers certainly brightened the day as well.

p.s. if you haven't already, you MUST read this classic children's book. 

it certainly will be a book upon the future shelf in my nursery one day.

halloween

we took a trip to the pumpkin patch

on the most perfect fall day.

we looked at SO many pumpkins.

some with warts some with multi colors.

and some BIG and some small.

these were the lucky two.

little did they know their guts would be

ripped out and...

that they would turn into these two

jack-o-lanterns.

{mine is on the left, lovebird's is on the right}

it was a spook-taculor halloween.

couldn't have been better.

we enjoyed it with a scrumptious bowl 

of homemade chili and cornbread;

{carrying on the "carlson" family tradition. yum!}

the house was decorated with

ghosts, spiders and witches galore. 

The air smelt of fall time and brought with it a 

crisp, cool breeze. 

the warmth of the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies 

snuck out of the oven and filled our home.

and 'thriller' played in the background, as we cozied up

and snuggled the night away.

hope your halloween was a real treat.