I miss snow...

Among other things. I was just reminiscing about last year, Alex and I got our first Christmas tree, which turned to be a bit of a headache but it was so beautiful and smelt wonderful. We also had the joy/pain of having a lot of snow. Scraping our windshield, defrosting our cars, making snow angels, wearing scarves and gloves. I got to drop Alex off at the train everyday and the street was always lined in twinkle lights and lovely Christmas Ornaments, houses with nativity scenes and snowmen and over sized candy canes and enjoying my peppermint mocha that warmed me up on the inside. I realized how much I'm gonna miss that this year, and even if we had the money we couldn't fly back to IL for a little bit of Christmas charm and the beautiful display on Michigan Ave, also known as the Magnificent mile. Considering I will be almost 8 months pregnant at Christmas!But we do have places that snow and as soon as we can we will drive up and enjoy some snow, put on a scarf and some gloves and my snow boots and enjoy one God's most beautiful and extravagant creations. I am not one for a beachy Christmas, I think it's a shame to not need a coat during the winter months. But alas, I am here, I will try to make the best of it. This is my second Christmas with my husband and I know it will be as magical as our first.

San Luis Obispo and One year of marriage...

So we stayed on Friday night with our friend Bobby and Jenna, it was so cool to be able to see them and hang out for a while. In the morning I made french toast with texas toast, it was so yummy. I love making meals for a lot of people...4 1/2 people is a lot to me;). And then Bobby and Jenna took us to downtown San Luis and we got to walk around, I was so happy it was absolutely beautiful, it reminded me a lot of Evanston. Of course it was a college town, maybe that's what all college towns are like, who knows? I did a lot of walking so I'm very sore still...but it was worth it. The weather was amazing, it was cool and then as it warmed up there was a little humidity followed by a cool breeze, it was like natures air conditioning. It was so cool.

After my plea for some caffeine we came across a starbucks and Alex agreed to feed my craving;). And then we walked around until we were about to drop and came across the coolest ice cream place. You get a cup, fill it with soft serve and then fill it with all the toppings you desire and they charge by ounce, so two huge cups of ice cream with toppings were like $6. Pretty sweet!

So then time comes for us to check in to our fabulous Apple Farm Inn and we get there and I am just like a little kid in a candy store, outside has giant toy soldiers and over sized Christmas ornaments hanging from the roof and it was all just beautifully decorated and very homey. When we walked into the Lobby, there was coffee, iced water with lemon, and cider, and a big bowl of apples just waiting to be taken. We checked in and they informed us we were just in time for the welcome reception out in the garden. We walked out to the garden and the offered us wine, apple cider, and hor'derves. It was loveley, I think we were too excited at this point to think about taking pictures but we did get pictures of our room. Thanks Alex!

The room was super nice but the decorating was a little on the cheesy side, ginham with floral, matching wallpaper to curtains...need I say more. But it was comfortable and perfect. I mean come on, they didn't have me decorate;). We had a King size canopy bed and the canopy was like foot from the bed so I felt a little claustrophobic. There was a besket of sparkling cider and chocolates which was so cute. And there was a cute little seating area next to the window with a real window seat. And last but not least, this amazing fireplace at the foot of the bed. With a light switch to turn it on. It was very romantic and we loved it.


We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was a little out of our budget but the food was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect. I saved giving my present to Alex till we were at dinner and it was great, he got all choked up, it truly was the most romantic dinner ever. After dinner I was very coy and thought how cool it would be to surprise him by taking him somewhere and singing to him since he sang to me when he proposed, well I didn't get a hold of the bar so I just decided to take him there anyway, under pretenses of he needed an after dinner drink.;). We showed up and he saw it was a karaoke place!

I ended up singing I can't take my eyes off of you and then he sang Your Song (Elton John) and then we both went up and sang You're the one that I want. We had a lot of fun. We got back late last night and crawled into bed with sweet dreams of Apple Farms with no Apple trees...;).

Our 1 year wedding anniversay!

So tomorrow is the big day! We are leaving for San Luis Obispo tonight! I'm sooo excited! Tonight we are staying with our good friends the Odenthals, and then Saturday we are staying at the Apple Farm Inn, I'm so excited! As I was finishing up packing for our trip I received a huge beautiful bouquet of stargazer lilies, if you've been reading my blogs, you know that's my favorite flower. I really did marry the best man ever! See the cute little teddy bear? I am sooo lucky!

Halloween!

So I had it all planned. I was gonna make a yummy fallish dinner and pumpkin shaped cookies, but I also had to do my laundry and go grocery shopping. Well needless to say dinner did not happen, but I did make half of the cookies.

I did a fairly easy costume this year. I was a pregnant kitty;).

So instead of my fabulous cooking skills, we had not so good take out and watched Pushing Daisies, our new favorite show. It is hilarious! Ok well that's all for today.

Monday morning...already?

What a weekend! What a week! Last week was pretty crazy but I got a lot of stuff accomplished like finally organizing and cleaning my office! Which is really hard when you don't have any bookshelves or file cabinets, but thanks to the suggestion of Kristen, I bought some baskets and neatly organized papers and books in them and it actually looks quite decent. It sure is nice not having boxes piled up in our office anymore, that's for sure.

Alex has applied for a business loan so he can work from home and be his own boss, which he is very good at. We are very confident that he is going to get it. It will be so great for both of us.

Saturday, Alex and I just hung out being goofy and watched some funny, yet painful episodes of Curb your enthusiasm, but it was good to have a day just to ourselves, even though we would have loved to hang out with others.

Sunday was very busy, church was really good and afterwards we went to a birthday lunch for my friend Hannah, that was fun. Her mom asked me to be in charge of the birthday decor, it's much harder at a restaurant than it would be at someone's home but I did what I could;). I ate so much at the luncheon I had to take a nap when I got home. A few hours later we went over to David and Christin's house for dinner, which was a blast. Alex is so obsessed with baby's it cracks me up. Anytime he saw their 8 month old, he automatically snatched him up so he could hold him before anyone else, it really is quite a site;).

I'm loving the cold weather, I'm just really hoping it stays cooler, My basil temperature has risen and I can't handle the heat any longer. Plus I love fall/winter. Oh it's going to be such a great winter! It rained for a few minutes on Saturday and it put a smile on my face, I love the rain. We need more of it!

Well, that's all for now.

Dream House

This is the house Alex and I would love to have, it is perfect in every way...except the price. There is one option for us to buy the house and that's if one of them goes into foreclosure. One of these houses is already for sale by owner because they couldn't afford the house anymore.

This is a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with a huge kitchen and 2 seating rooms and a fireplace. It also has a large backyard. The inside is absolutely beautiful. High ceilings, beautiful lighting fixtures, soft carpet, it even has a laundry room...specifically for laundry, with a hook up and a sink and lots of cabinets. I think this room could make me enjoy laundry...;)

In the master bathroom there is a make up vanity built in with a curling iron holder built in the table! And it has a jacuzzi style tub and two sinks and a huge walk in closet that could be a little bedroom, actually I think it may be the same size as our second bedroom in our apartment. It's huge. I love it! We are absolutely drooling over this house. We have been to see these houses at least a dozen times. Sometimes when we have nothing else to do, we'll just come over here to see the house. They have a model open so you can look inside anytime and I love being inside there.

Back to Blogging

Well this is my first attempt back at blogging. I know I haven't blogged in a long time but hopefully I can do it a little more regularly now.

In case some of you don't know, I am 5 months pregnant.;) We are having a little girl March 10th.
Her name is Alexandria Victoria Branning. Alex and I are so happy!

God has really been teaching Alex and I alot throughout this process. It is amazing to see so many things through different eyes.

I don't have a whole lot to say today but I just wanted to jump back in there, hopefully more to come soon. I definitely have the time.