Little Girl

If you follow me on Instagram, then you've already seen this picture. 

J and I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family!! She is currently 5 weeks old and we'll be picking her up the first weekend of April!!

It's crazy how things work out sometimes... J and I have been searching for a goldendoodle for a while now. We had just put it in our minds that we were going to have to get her from some strange breeder that will charge and arm and a leg and a foot (because they can be so darn expensive). And then make us sign a contract... No thank you! 

So while talking to a breeder in Georgia, a friend from college had posted on twitter that they had goldendoodles for sale! They're closer to us than GA, they're cheaper, available sooner and won't make us sign a contract. And we know them!!! That was the best part to us. 

So get ready y'all... In the next two weeks, I'm sure all social media outlets will be filled with pictures of our new little girl. You can check out our friend's page here.

Until next time, 

Melissa 

Color Oops.

All of us have had a bad hair color job where it turned out way too bright or way too dark or just doesn't look good with our skin tone, especially if using a box! I have had a few myself as well. However this past time when I got my hair colored, I went from ombre to dark red. It looked really, really good! 

Before & After

The only problem with it was instead of fading out, it gave me awful roots!! So instead of recoloring my hair the dark red again, I wanted to get back to my natural. I wasn't sure what to do or how to go about it without stripping it. While doing a little research online, J and I ran across "Color Oops."

Other than the smell, I would say it worked incredibly well!

The picture below on the left is after color oops. The picture of the right is natural hair - absolutely no color on it.

I'd say it's pretty close to my natural if not completely natural again! I'm so happy to not look in the mirror and see 2 inches of roots!! And I know my family is so happy to have my natural color back again!

After using this product, I applied a deep conditioner on it to make sure nothing was damaged in the process. The box states it's ammonia free/bleach free so that's a plus! It does state that it won't take bleach out ... It will only go from dark to lighter, not lighter to dark. Since i had some bleach on my hair from the ombre, you can still see a few blonde pieces but I wouldn't say my hair is ombre again.

Anyway, if you're struggling in the hair department with getting back to your natural, this is definitely the product for you!

Until next time,

Melissa

Spring and a Book Review.

This girl is ready for sunshine and warm weather... maybe not quite ready for shorts yet, but definitely craving warm days and cool nights including bonfires with friends. Maybe you remember last year when a group of us got together and had a crawfish boil...I'm thinking that might become an annual outing! 

So the husband and I have been reading "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. It's a great nightly devotion for us and if you haven't heard of it, please do yourself a favor and buy it. Its less than $10.00- so it definitely won't break the bank and the benefit is well worth the money spent.  It's not your average devotion; Each day is written as if Jesus Himself is speaking to you.... which is pretty cool (spoken like the character that plays Miley Cyrus in the SNL skit...)

Anywayyy, here is a little glimpse into last night's reading.  

“When I gave you My Spirit, I empowered you to live beyond your natural ability and strength. That’s why it is so wrong to measure your energy level against the challenges ahead of you. The issue is not your strength but Mine, which is limitless.” –Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.

2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 5:25

A new way of thinking, enlightening, and encouraging... therefore nothing to lose. : )

Until next time,

Melissa 

New Little Toy.

That's right... This girl is going to learn to sew. Be sure to check back for my progress!! 

I get to spend my weekend with these beauties!

...and I couldn't be more excited! 

Until next time, 

Melissa

Hellllooo There!

Helllllooooo?? 

Hi! 

Here again and so excited to be back! And let me tell you, so much has happened since the last time i blogged (back in October).... Maybe we'll go through everything a little later. But today I want to talk about the landscaping of our house, or the lack there of! Maybe you remember way back when, when I blogged about us moving? Maybe not... Check it out here. 

Before living in this lovely home of our's, we lived in an apartment in town. It was a nice little place, but it was an apartment none the less. We had a family connected to the living room wall and an older lady who couldn't hear well connected to the other side. Evenings watching television became interesting as our volume competed with two others. However, both neighbors were really sweet and home at a reasonable time. They were mature and didn't have parties to the wee early mornings. And for that we were very, very thankful! If you've lived in an apartment then you can definitely relate! At the apartment, we had a tiny, tiny yard, and now we're so very thankful for some land!!

Anyway, back to the new house! 

But look at this picture. The trees in the background just make it so picture perfect. However, there is one thing that is truly missing... We need some trees y'all! Hopefully this spring all that will change. It's actually kind of nice since it's an open book! You know? We don't have to pull anything out that we don't like. We get to be the designers! 

I've been working on my pinterest boards to get some pin-spiration.  Here's what I've got so far. 

Check back for more landscaping updates and a photo home tour! 

Until then, 

Melissa

National Bullying Month...

Why I've been missing...

We moved! Our new home.

Princess Molly

One spring morning ten years ago, instead of getting dressed and ready for a school, my dad contacted my eighth grade teachers to explain I would be out for the day. Little did I know what he had planned for us. You see my dad and I always did "father, daughter" dates and they were my favorite, however we always planned them for a Friday night, not during the day. I knew something special was going to happen that day! We loaded up the truck: him, me, and a cardboard box. Still suspicious as we drove up to a house, roughly three hours later to hear puppies barking.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie.

So, this week I decided I was going to create a meal plan for the week - I wanted to make things that were different than the norm. Last night I made "Chicken Pot Pie' that I found on Real Simple. I was super excited about this recipe for several different reasons - first off, I had never made Chicken Pot Pie nor did my family make it much growing up. And secondly, I was really looking forward to eating lots of veggies (I'm weird.) 

Crowned Accessories.

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privileged of meeting the beautiful, Stephanie, who is the owner of Crowned Accessories (with her grandmother!). There is something about Stephanie, and I can't figure out how to pinpoint the words to describe her... First off, she is beautiful on the inside and out. She will make you feel super comfortable in any situation, even just meeting her for the first time. She has a love and passion for live and what it's brought her. I could probably go on and on, but I'll stop there and get talking about her business. 

Crowned Accessories specialize in headbands, scarves and aprons - and they are awesome! I bought a headband, and am super excited to purchase my next one soon. With every accessory purchased, Crowned Accessories gives back to  Agape International Missions (AIM). 

DIY Coaster

So this weekend was full of do it yourself projects... My husband and I have what we like to call a "junk" room or a "catch all". Anybody with me? This "junk" room is also known as our second bedroom. It's a room that has become our storage room, or one that holds the things we don't want to look at after moving in over a year ago. It was pretty bad (notice keyword: was). J's cousin came in town Friday evening and we were determined to make it as cozy as possible. We worked for a good 3 hours cleaning that room. But i'm glad to say we came out with a good, cozy room and about 5 DIY projects. I'd call that success! If you're ever going to come to our house, you'd see a lot of these types of projects.

52 Reasons I love you.

So I know I haven't updated in some time now, but life has been crazy! In my previous post, we were getting ready for our cruise which was so much fun! We celebrated our first year of marriage together. I can't believe it's already been a year! The time has FLOWN by. Anyway, for our celebration of our first year we wanted to keep our gifts traditional - So for the first year, it's paper. Ha! So funny to me. I got creative and used the help of pinterest and made this little happy for my sweet, sweet husband. 

Poppy Seed Chicken

Okay, so I realize I've done WAY too many recipe posts and this will maybe be the last one for a while. What can I say, I have found a love in cooking. I look forward to cooking - strange I know! I guess getting married and knowing I'm the one who provides the meals, is important to me. I love cooking for my husband! I get nervous cooking for other people, but I've not heard any bad comments yet, so that's a good thing.

Whoopie Pie Filling.

So I'm a huge slacker on this post because I didn't get a picture to show how awesome these whoopie pies looked in the end. I decided to go with the chocolate chip cookie dough (no eggs) rather than a butter cream filling or even a marshmallow cream only because I was craving some chocolate. Anyway, super easy to make and super yummy to eat! 

Whoopie Pies.

I'm obviously in some type of cooking/baking mood this morning and it's only 10a.m. So far, I have made pancakes for the hubs, before he left for work and now I'm currently working on Whoopie Pies! Like most of the recipes on here, I've never tried anything like this. We're going on a little road trip this afternoon and I wanted to take something special for the trip. So this past week I ran across the recipe Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Whoopie Pies and if you follow me on Pinterest you saw I had pinned the recipe from Cookies and Cups. I've been dying to make it since I pinned. If it's not any good, then I'll delete the pin and move on with my life. I know, sounds weird but I've been known to do it in the past... 

Anyway, on with the recipe.... I haven't made the filling yet, but the actual pie is to die for! So yummy. A little  richer than I expected but none the less, delicious. 

For the Whoopie Pie: 

I made my recipe a little different than the original. 

It's Official.

WE'VE BOOKED IT AND WE'RE LEAVING IN 18 DAYS!!!!!!

The Monster.

Many of you know already, husband and I have a precious 4 legged child... TERK! 

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

A couple of weeks ago I got on a homemade bread kick... I was bound and determined to make a delicious, sweet, desert-type bread. My first recipe was Cinnamon Sweet Bread - it was eh. My sweet husband said it was good and ate most of it along with his brother, who complained that it continued to rise in his mouth! I obviously didn't let it rise long enough... 

Then I came across another recipe called Cinnamon and Sugar Pull Apart Bread, also known as Elephant Ear Bread. It was awesome!!! And it only took me two recipes for the bread to turn out right!! (I was slightly proud of myself!)

Anyway, here's the recipe for the pull apart bread... 

per http://www.foodsnots.com/2012/03/cinnamon-and-sugar-pull-apart-bread.html

Trip 1: Gulf Shores.

We went to Gulf Shores last weekend and got FRIED! It was a blast though. We drove down Saturday night after a wedding Jordan sang in. Which was so beautiful and J did such a great job! I wanted so badly to nudge the girl next to me and say, "hey... pssst... that's MY husband!" But I didn't. 

According to the Jeep GPS, we were supposed to get there at 11:30p.m and beat it by an hour! It's only about 3 hours to get there for if you want to visit us, we go to the beach one day or for a weekend! 

Here are some pics from our weekend trip. There will be more later to show our exciting adventure!! 

Be looking for it!