Here lately.

Here lately has been me hanging out. I hate to admit it, but it is the truth. Currently I am waiting for jobs I have applied for to pan out. To keep me busy Mammaw has been a wonderful host and treats me to lunch quite often (Diane too!) It's a fun time for me to get some quality time with them two... I mean lets be honest- I will never get this opportunity again. So after I get back from Oklahoma if nothing is still not in the works I'm off to apply anywhere and everywhere, part-time or full-time. The sky is the limits :)

On the wedding side of things... BIG news. I got my first W item this past week Haha! It's a stamper like for envelopes and stuff!! It was on sale at Wrapsody and I just had to have it!! Woohoo, I hope many more W's are to come!!

Another fun wedding update: Me and Matthew have been searching around for the perfect honeymoon. It's hard!! He's not crazy about the beach, I'm not crazy about old timey stuff, and we both don't like absolute seclusion. Hmmm, where to go?! Well our latest idea is New York. We've both never been, perfect!! Well, except that everything there is expensive!! So my bright idea:

Our honeymoon fund jar :) Since I'm currently absolutely obsessed with glass containers what a fun project to make. Yes, I said project. haha! I've been reading lots of blogs about doing little crafty things and redoing furniture and stuff... I'm completely inspired! So, this was a good start!

Well to catch up a little bit. Matthew and I headed to Bham and Hunstville this past weekend. We had quite the busy schedule, but it was fun! Friday night he took me out to our favorite restaurant in Bham, Firebirds! It was delicious as always, and we really had a pleasant, fun evening. (except I need to teach him how to do a correct fishy face!!)

After date night, and Lauren and Kyle's wedding in Bham on Saturday we headed straight for Huntsville. We had to take this little detour of a trip to meet with Pastor Stott there to make sure we could use Southside for our wedding! We are approved, and are officially on the calendar for May 7, 2011 :) Yay!!

Tuesday we ventured to Atlanta with Lakeview College and some families from the church for a Braves game! It was really fun, and really hot! Got to spend some quality time with Katherine and Rebekah so that was super fun!

We also got to ride there with the Waldrop family! They were just precious and I so enjoyed getting to know them!! Ahh, I have such a desire to know and love the people at Lakeview like I've known and loved the people at Southside for so many years! The car ride was far from boring with these two cuties in the back seat!! Trent and Tanner, ah I love them!!

So to finish off... let me recommend to you: read The Heavenly Man! I'm not completely through it yet, but it is super good!! I will give you an update when I'm done, then you'll have to read it!!

The Relaxed Life.

Yeah, I'm living some kind of relaxed life right now. Unemployed and done with school, it's a weird feeling... I'm trying to enjoy it because I know it will be short lived, but I'm also trying to get the ball rolling on job hunting, wedding planning, and more!

First off, it's been completely too long since I last cooked. So, while on the airplane to Cali I watched Rachel Ray and fell head over heels for a recipe I wanted to try! It's called Ginger-garlic fish in parchment paper! For the first time I didn't follow the recipe to a "t"... I decided to put my own spin on it. I switched out green beans for the scallions and mushrooms, and used tilapia instead of sea bass. The green beans were ridiculously undercooked, but the flavoring overall was good! I had to cook it a lot longer than the time she gave to get it cooked all the way though! But still, pretty easy for the big taste!

See it was really cute wrapped up in the little parchment paper bag... could be super cute at a dinner party :)

Besides that I have really chilled since getting back from California... I did finish up two cover letters/letters of interest for two jobs I'm applying for. I also worked on a design I'm working on for one of the Watford's friends. It's in a really rough stage right now, but definitely has potential!!

This weekend Matthew had to work on Friday til close so I got some time to catch up with Jean! That was nice, I've missed our girl talks! We could just talk for hours... it's ridiculous! Saturday me and Matthew decided to have a complete chill day. He needed it after doing school and working so much!

We spent some quality time at Target just browsing through things that we may potentially want to register for! HA Then we got the opportunity to break out Matthew's birthday present (his grill!) for the first time!!! It was so fun and he grilled some perfect burgers! We got to enjoy the evening with Matthew's good friends from high school Paul and Ethan and their girlfriends Allison and Rachael! We enjoyed dinner then played some nerts (I'm newly obsessed!!) and went for a walk on campus!! :)

Ready to continue my exciting life tomorrow. Waking early and getting the ball rolling. I'll leave you with a quote from Bro. Al today! I loved it!!

"You don't fall in love, you fall in a hole and you don't fall out of love, you fall out of a tree!" -Bro. Al

So, love grows... and people quit.

Inspiration Board.

I seem to have some free time... I probably really don't. I should probably be working on finding a job and the landscape design project I need to get done. But as an engaged girl wedding plans just call my name!! I just want to sit there and look at the knot for hourssss on end!

So I attempted my first inspiration board tonight:

I'm not very good, I need ML's help!! haha I really like that cake, it's the first one thats really popped out at me! I'm really not certain of a lot of things I want so thats why I let myself search and search these wedding websites and blogs!! Any recommendations are welcome?

Sleeping animals.

Fun day with lots of walking. As I lay here my arches are killing me... they've never hurt like this before! Ugh- how annoying!! Today we checked out of the LA Zoo.

It was pretty cool. Most of the animals were either sleeping out of sight or just hanging out in the shade. They said a lot of the animals would be in the shade because of the major "heat wave." Oh how funny, these people don't even know what hot is!! It was also kinda funny to see all the different types of people here. It was SO crowded, and we were definitely in the minority... welcome to the Great American Melting Pot!! But it was still pretty fun to see the zebras and chimps have their moments of craziness!!

After the zoo we were pretty much famished so we were off in the search of food! We ended up in Glendale at a little outdoor mall thing. We got In-n-Out again, and mom got hers from another little shop. We had a potato hurricane! It was so delish!!!

After lunch we went to check in to our new hotel, right next to the airport. It's huge, and were on the 12th floor!! A little different then our last stay. After we checked in we were off to see Manhattan beach! All the little houses were so cute, and we could definitely see how this could be a fun beach vaca! The beach was really cold though!! The wind and water were freezing!!!

When we were driving around looking at the beach and houses we came across a Joe's Crab Shack... if you know the Thaxton's then you know we can't help but eat some Joes!!! Me and dad shared our regular BBQ crab, and it was delicious!!

After driving around for a bit we headed back to the hotel and then spent a little quality time in the hot tub!!

So a good day to end our trip, now were off to traveling home tomorrow. I'm thrilled about getting back to my Matthew :)

The Trail of 100 Giants.

Day 3 in California consisted of DRIVING, and lots of it.

We were off on an adventure for sure! We headed out and turned the GPS on mute so we could go where we wanted. haha Dad wanted to take the scenic route to show us the desert on the way to the Sequoia National Forest so we ended up traveling there for a good 4 1/2 hours.

The pictures we got were totally worth it though.

It was all so pretty, and so different then Alabama or the South! For lunch we ate at Mimi's Cafe. The service was absolutely horrendous but they did send us away with muffins for breakfast! Oh man, now I must go on my soap box about the AMAZING Sequoia trees!! I'm not sure the pictures will do it justice. They are H-U-G-E!!!

They were spectacular! We walked on a trail that was a little over a mile called the Trail of 10o Giants. It was true, there were quite a few "giants." Please notice how teeny tiny we are below:

Absolutely magnificent! After driving back, which only took about 2 1/2 hours we searched for a fun pizza place but ended back at the hotel to get some made by their restaurant. It was yummy, and we pigged out!

So tomorrow another day... I hope we go to the LA Zoo :)

They got more bounce in California.

Oh how I love me some quality California time.

On Thursday I was off to Atlanta for a night at the Fox with my sweet friend Hannah. She got tickets to see the Phantom of the Opera for her birthday and she asked me to go with her :) It was a wonderful show that we both really enjoyed! After we got to experience some (what we think were) street racers and then a good time of hanging out at her apartment!!

Friday afternoon my intern friend Nicole picked me up to take me to the airport!! Ahh, boy do I owe her! We stopped at Willy's for lunch - which we heard was a "better" Moe's, we disagreed. And then she dropped me off and my airport fun began. Ever since my first flight to California with my dad when I was in 8th grade I have LOVED airports. I think its because they are a stepping stone of taking me where I want to go :) So I made it through checkin and security like a pro and waited for mom, dad, and Elizabeth to arrive on their late flight from Huntsville!

They showed up, and we boarded our flight and we were off to Cali. It was a wonderfully easy flight and now-a-days they even have internet to buy: that sure does make for a quick flight. We also got to watch some of the World Cup- it was funny when everyone cheered when different things happened. Also got to catch an episode of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals and got a good recipe!

California day 1 and 2 went off excellently. When we got there we were off to Santa Monica Pier to hang out and have a fun happy birthday dinner for mom at Bubba Gump's!

Day 2 was spent in and around LA. First we headed up to Griffith Park to the observatory for pictures with the Hollywood sign!

Then we went to Hollywood and also got to get some yummy ice cream at Disney's Soda Shop. Some of our favorites that had visited there as well are the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus!

Then we spent some time in Beverly Hills (because "thats where I want to be!!!"). We drove through Rodeo Drive and some fancy neighborhoods before heading to In-n-Out Burgers for lunch! This is one of my fav's so I was super happy! It happened to be right by the UCLA campus, so that was neat!

After that we headed to a famous donut shop dad had heard about! It was really yummy!!

After that we were kind of worn out so we went back to the hotel to rest up before dinner! For dinner we went to a place called Claim Jumper. It was a neat little place with a good atmosphere and yummy food!