Three days.

Best Auburn Highlight Video - Sadler Evans from Steve Braswell on Vimeo.

It's almost here!!! SOO ready :)

More projects.

It seems the latest fad is chicken wire! So once I found a perfect frame (for a great price!) at one of my new favorite antique stores I was ready to make my Chicken Wire Frame! I got my dad to help me cut the wire while I was home this past week. (He's so great!)

Then we worked together to hot glue it down. We are all about some hot glue at the Thaxton house (and for the future the Watford house!)

So instead of hanging it like a normal frame I decided to add little bit of color with a ribbon! Leftover from my project for asking my bridesmaids to be a part of my wedding back last summer!

I just love how it turned out! Now I just need to get some of those cute little clothes pins to hang more stuff on it!

So, next project: My new vanity chair for my bathroom! I got it at my favorite antique shop in Homewood! For only $10 at that! I sanded it down and spray painted it black :) love.love.love.

And now my Auburn wreath all hung up and ready to bring in some AU football this Saturday! Now our apartment really feels like home. War Eagle :)

Five days.

Auburn Traditions Video from Drew Walker on Vimeo.

So pumped. War Eagle.

In the kitchen.

I've been cooking up a storm here lately! A few things I've never cooked before... fun :) It's really quite overwhelming for me to think about how I need to come up with atleast 5-6 good meals every week. And be budget conscious too! I think it will take me some time to get used to it and get good at it!!

So like two weeks ago Mammaw stopped by to see us and our apartment on her way to Huntsville to visit with the Tatum girl! She brought us some fresh okra straight from her garden! I pan fried it! It was really yummy, and I was so proud of myself! I only got two teeny-tiny splatter burns!

Of course... another dessert from Pinterest! These were yummy, and I love that its only 4 ingredients! Rolo cookies! We still have lots... come eat them!!

So then I made another Pinterest recipe. We were eating dinner at the Watfords so I offered to bring dessert! Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie- sound delish?! It was maybe one of the richest desserts I've EVER had! But Mere and Mace pretty much cleaned their plates so it was hit :)

A few other new recipes I've tried out are Mimmie's Chicken and Dumplin's and Mammaw's Crockpot Chicken. They both are big recipes so we've been eating off both of them for a few days! Yumyum! It's really been crazy trying to stay on a budget and not eat out. I'm so use to being able to pick up whatever I want when I want it. Here's whats been keeping me in line, when I babysat a few weeks ago I got paid $100. So we said that had to last us till September for out to eat. For most people I guess this would be beyond simple... but I'm an "out to eat junkie!" It's tough!!! So far we went to Chickfila for lunch and just had to pay for the fries because we we're loaded up on coupons! Another night we went out to Johnny Rockets because we had a $15 giftcard, so we only spent about $8 including the tip. Then we went all out on Sunday. (haha, it's just in my blood to not cook on Sunday!) We went to Iguana's Grill for lunch and that was around $17 with tip (good right?!) Then that night I was craving some trash food so we hit up McDonalds (don't judge!!) that was only $9! Woohoo! I'm SOO ready for September to be here!!

AU tulle wreath.

So ever since I became obsessed with Pinterest I've wanted to make some sort of Auburn wreath for our door for football season (16 days btw!) So when I came across this wreath:

Source: yayhome.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

I knew this was the tutorial for me! I love tulle... add a little orange and blue, perfection. So here's how it went:

I bought a straw wreath because they are super inexpensive. I got mine from HobLob for 1/2 off (for $2!) So to cover up all that straw I used some navy ribbon that was also on sale (about $3) Also, I didn't take the plastic off of the wreath so I wouldn't have to worry about the straw sticking out and being all messy!

So once I had it all covered (btw: I just used straight pins to hold it in place!) We cut the tulle in 18 inch long strips (I bought the spools of tulle, also 1/2 off! The orange was double what the blue was because it was "shiney" I had to double what the tutorial said, I originally had 1 blue and 1 orange spool (25 yds each) but had to get another of each!) So then you just tie the strips on. I did 10 orange and then 10 blue! So here it is:

Love.love.love.

I just want to add some kind of Auburn accent (little wooden sign) or white ribbon! And thanks to my sweet sister-in-law Katherine for helping me tie some of that tulle :)

War Eagle!

Embroidery hoops.

Pinterest has struck again! So I was contemplating what to do about our bed... In our new apartment there just seems to be so much wall and so little decor! So after thinking a little bit, I decided to try and do it myself! Whew, something simple- no worries! I found this on Pinterest for a baby's room (and I'd still LOVE to do it for a future child!)

Source: aedriel.blogspot.com via Summer on Pinterest

So I went to Joann's to load up on embroidery hoops and fabric! No tutorial for me, I was on my own! It's not hard at all! I promise!

Instead of picking out fabric and standing in line for them to cut it... I just picked out some pre-cut fabric! It was $1.99 each and I still have some left!

I'm telling you... here's the easy part. You just take the inside hoop out put the fabric down and put the inside hoop back in!

I just cut with scissors really close after and it worked great!

So here's the final product! I really like it, it's exactly what I was going for :) So the total for the hoops and fabric was about $20. I did some research though and you can actually get the hoops at HobbyLobby for cheaper! When I went they we're running quite low, but I would definitely go there if you're going to do it :)

And once again I could go on and on about how much I LOVE me some Pinterest!! (this not having a job at the moment thing leaves lots of room for crafts! fun! don't tell Matthew! ;) haha)

First.

This is such a first for me. Living in a new place that I've never "known." Granted, I have definitely gotten to know my usual route, 65 to 459 to 280, rather well in my college days. But this whole new city, backroads, and where traffic is and when is so so so brand new! (This is all with the exception of my short month in Atlanta- all I did there was sleep and work, no adventuring and learning the place!) Thus far Hunstville/Madison and Auburn has been my home, its what I knew. It's where I knew how to get where to where the quickest and easiest. So, back to Birmingham. I am oh so excited to learn this great big new city! I've managed to only get lost once and I figured my way out of it like a pro :) Every day I expand my domain!

Well the learning (exploring!) of the city Tuesday led me to Homewood. Might I just say, I love Homewood! I could see me living my life there in a cute little house with Matthew and a few kiddos. It's little downtown strip seems like a little "everybody knows your name" town, but all within this huge city of Birmingham. Well that's a few years down the road! So... what I wanted to share is this super duper amazinggggg antique shop me and mom found there! Couldn't tell you the exact name but all I have to say is, LOVE. I could see myself making a monthly trip there to just browse. We each wished we could bring home about 30 pieces each but settled for 2. I found exactly what I was looking for... we needed something to put our printer on, but I also wanted it to have a shelf below for books/paper. FOUND it, love it!

The other piece I got is a cute little small ironed chair. I'm going to put it at our vanity in the bathroom. )I don't have a picture because it needed a slight little fix, which my wonderful father is taking care of at home! hey, it was only $10- I can handle a little fixin')

Today I actually had to "work." I don't know if you can call keeping the sweetest three little girls work, but it was 9 to 5 none the less. I just love these girls and cherish every little second with them :) I told Matthew we are going to have to get parenting lessons from their parents because the kids are so well behaved!

We had our first house guests at the apartment! Blake and Katherine were in Mississippi for an interview and decided to stay with us on the way home :) We were happy to have them, but sad to make them sleep on an air mattress! Sorry guys!

I promise picture's will be put up as soon as we put everything on the walls. I have a pinterest idea for some decor in our bedroom! AND big news, I'm making an Auburn wreath... can't wait to share pictures and details!!

My graduate.

Done! All members of our small Watford family are officially alumni of the wonderful Auburn University :)

I'm so proud of my Matthew!

So I had told you this past weekend was going to be a whirlwind... it definitely was! Thursday morning we got up early to complete all the packing and load up and head to Birmingham. Mike, my wonderful father-in-law, came to our rescue and brought a trailer down to help us move our furniture! While all this was going on... Matthew had gone to get his cap and gown that morning but they gave him the wrong persons gown: a Jonathan Watkins. Oh brotherrrrr, so I had to go back up to the AU bookstore to get the right one. It's not a big deal, just a pain. So we eventually got it all done and headed toward Birmingham! We had a long day of unpacking and setting up and a I LOVE our new apartment! So we got to spend the night that night! Friday dad brought our table and chairs from Huntsville and we went to dinner (with Liz and mom) to Firebirds to celebrate Matthew's graduation :) It was delish as always! After we headed to Auburn ready for a day of graduation festivities on Saturday!

Woohoo! And now we are all settled into our apartment and Matthew is currently in the real world working away! Pictures of our apartment coming soon :)

Packing.

It's happening... and it has taken over our home.

I think it's actually wayyy worse than this picture shows. Because the piles are everywhere... and I mean everywhere. But looking forward to finishing up and packing up early Thursday morning :) It will all be worth it! I can't wait to set it all up and share picture with you all.

So a quick update on this past week. It was my last week keeping the kiddos. They were super sweet on the last day and surprised me with a cookie cake :) Little did they know that it is my recent favorite! It was the perfect ending to a great summer. Elizabeth is being the best little sister ever and keeping them for me next Monday and Tuesday before they start school. Matthew starts work on Monday so it would have been so tragic for me to have to stay! Thanks sis :)

On Friday we loaded up one load of moving junk and headed towards Birmingham. Matthew had been planning to get together with the guys to camp so I found it a perfect opportunity to go home and do some chilling, shopping, and Tatum-loving!! It was nice and fun, of course I would have liked Matthew being there with me though!

It had been quite a while since I had spent some quality time with my TatumTot so it was definitely time. She is growing up so fast and can now crawl (she's a pro!) and almost stand up perfectly on her own! She say's a few words, but doesn't really go for the "on-demand" thing anymore but it's still adorable!

So thats about it... have a crazy few days ahead that I will catch you up on later!