September Celebrations

Hey y'all! SHEW! I'm sitting here going through pictures to compose this blog post, and I realized we have done so many things since my last post. I have been working like a mad woman lately and haven't had time to blog. I finally have a couple days off to get my life together. I woke up this morning, enjoyed breakfast and a coffee, and then cleaned my house. There are few things I enjoy more than relaxing in a clean house. I know Tyler will also be glad that I have a day off because that means he will be getting a home cooked meal tonight. Here is a quick and easy dinner idea that we will be trying tonight: add green beans and chicken breasts to a dish, drizzle with a stick of melted butter and a teaspoon of Lawry's salt, then sprinkle dry Italian seasoning over everything; bake on 350 degrees for an hour, covered. We will be trying this with a side of potatoes for dinner tonight. Needless to say, today has been a good day! 

Scruffy has had a good day too! She loves sitting outside in the sun LOL

Tyler and I both have hectic work schedules, so we try to make the time we do get to spend together count. A few weekends ago we ventured to The Capitol Market in downtown Charleston. I have been there before with my mom and sister, but it was Tyler's first time going. They had tons of fall decorations out, and I loved every bit of it! After picking up some goodies from the market, we had lunch at a locally owned restaurant called Lola's. Tyler got a steak and jalapeño pizza, and I got a ham and pineapple pizza. It was SO good! We loved getting to hang out together and have a more relaxed weekend. It seems we are always traveling and running all over the place. We needed some time to be together and just stay home!

We have spent most of September celebrating milestones and achievements. Toward the beginning of the month we celebrated a very special little boy's second birthday. He is so stinkin' cute! We had a great time eating and talking at the party, and watching Chase open his gifts was so fun! I remember going to the hospital the day after he was born, and it has been so amazing getting to watch him grow up into an adventurous, loving little boy. 

We also celebrated the wedding of two of our dear friends, Ryann and Matt. I met Ryann in pharmacy school, and our husbands met after we started hanging out. Come to find out, both Tyler and Matt had many of the same friends. We always love getting to hang out with them! Their wedding was absolutely perfect! Ryann made the most beautiful bride. She is one of the nicest people I know! Weddings are always a time for celebration, but my heart was so happy to see two of the sweetest people that were made for each other get married. We wish them a lifetime of happiness!

Probably one of the biggest celebrations of the month was Tyler getting sworn in to the WV Bar. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! He can now practice in WV and KY. He has made many sacrifices for me to move back to my home state to be near my family. Lord knows I love that man more than anything. I admire all of his hard work and dedication, and I was beaming with pride when they announced all of his many accomplishments to the court before he was sworn in. 

Ray was also sworn in to the WV Bar. I never would have dreamed that we would be where we are today when Ray, Ashton, and I were gallivanting on Marshall's campus many years ago! 

Love my family more than anything! I guess I didn't get the memo to wear pink LOL

I couldn't do a "September Celebrations" post without including Marshall football. I had a blast this past weekend in Huntington with all of my friends and family. I started out the day by attending a meeting at my sorority house. I am so excited to be a part of the housing board for Alpha Xi! Ashton and I attended the meeting together and then ran around town trying to find an outfit for the game. We were "striping the Joan," and of course I didn't have a single white Marshall shirt. My friend Lauren's family has a tailgate spot where we all hang out before the game. It was so much fun getting to spend time with everyone! We had so much food, and at one point, there was almost 50 people at the tailgate! This weekend was much needed!

On Sunday, I went back to my home town to visit my great aunts. I hadn't seen them in forever, so I really enjoyed the time I spent with them. Taylor and I took the baby to meet them. They always tell the best stories! We had lots of laughs. Baby Bo enjoyed an ice cream at Nannie's house. I didn't get any pictures (which I regret), but that just means we were really making the most of our time. We sat around and talked for hours. Aunt Berthie gave Taylor and me some pots and pans, and Nannie sent us home with canned hot kraut, peppers, and apple butter. She also shared how she cans everything. I cannot wait to try it out myself! Of course, I'll have to wait until the almanac says it is okay to do so!

I feel like I always say this at the end of my posts, but I PROMISE I am going to try to blog more frequently. It is so hard to find the time to do it, but I enjoy it so much. For any of you wondering how the "meal prep" went, it didn't. LOL We are still eating out more than cooking in. I have even started enjoying a nutritious dinner of lunchables while working the evening shift. LOL If any of y'all have any easy, beginners meal prep tips or recipes, SEND THEM MY WAY! Until next time.. Take care y'all! 

Summer Lovin'

Hey y'all! I wanted to do a quick blog post since I have some free time before I go to work today. As most of you know, I passed my boards and have been training over the last week and a half with my employer. My training period is almost over, and I will actually be working on my own for the first time this weekend. To say I am nervous would be the understatement of the century, but I know the best way to learn is to jump right in and do it! I am absolutely loving going to work everyday.. I know what you're thinking since I've only been at it for about two weeks, BUT working will beat sitting at home studying all day every. single. time. 

Unfortunately, Tyler is still stuck at home studying for the bar exam, which he will take soon. Prayers would be appreciated! I still say it was by the grace of God that I got through my exams. I was prepared, but I have pretty bad test anxiety. I studied the entire prep book, but the morning of the exam was a disaster! I got myself so worked up. When I sat down to take the test, I said a prayer and asked God to just be with me and help me to calm down so I can read and understand the questions being asked. I know it was because of Him that I got through that! 

Since I've been working, Ty and I are trying to adjust to our new schedules. Sometimes I work morning shift, which I prefer, but then there are evenings I don't get home until almost 10:00 at night. That means we are trying to plan meals out for the week, so expect some upcoming blogs to be on things we have tried out for lunches and dinners! Last night I made a Pinterest favorite, Million Dollar Spaghetti, and Ty and I FINALLY cut into our year old wedding cake. My mom did a fabulous job of sealing it up and freezing it because once it thawed, it looked exactly as it did on our wedding day. Unfortunately, neither of us actually ate our wedding cake on our wedding day because we were so busy running around, so last night was the first time either of us had sampled it. The cake was strawberry with strawberry preserves glazing the cake and a rich buttercream frosting. My mom kept the cake at her house in the freezer for us, and I hadn't had a chance to go home and get it which is why we are eating the cake almost a month after our one year anniversary LOL 

Last weekend was my first weekend off of work since I started, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Saturday Kelly met Ty and me and Berry Hills for lunch, and then we had a sister movie date and watched The Secret Life of Pets. It was so cute! We laughed through the whole thing! On Sunday, I went home to lay out by the pool and visit with my family. It felt like it was the first hot sunny day that we've had in awhile, and I soaked up every minute of it! Mom made my favorite dinner: pinto beans, fried potatoes, and kraut and kielbasa. She even made brownies for dessert! We ate (twice) and floated in the pool. My mamaw, papaw, gran, and Bub stopped by to visit, and Taylor came up and brought Bo! We LOVED visiting with them! I'm telling y'all that baby has us wrapped! We love him so much!

Just look at that grin!

His uncle Jim sure does love him!

I hope y'all have a great rest of the week! I promise to blog more now that I don't have to dedicate all of my time to studying. The problem now is that I am working a lot and not doing any fun things to blog about LOL but I will try to start posting more frequently! Until next time.. take care y'all!

An Early Christmas Surprise

Today McComas Video Productions sent me a recap video of our wedding day. Y'all, I am completely blown away! The 27th of this month will be our 6 month anniversary, so this came at a great time. It is like reliving the day all over again. I remember the day of the wedding being so special and fun, but I love it even more getting to look back on this monumental occasion in our lives. McComas Video perfectly captured our day. I can't recommend them enough! When I first saw the video, I laughed, cried, and laughed some more. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do! 

   

This and That

Since the wedding and honeymoon, I have been enjoying married life. I am currently doing my rotations for my fourth and final year of pharmacy school. I am loving it so far! I have met so many wonderful people at my rotation sites, and I am learning a lot. Since I didn't blog for awhile because I wanted to wait on my wedding pictures to come in, I figured my next post should be a short round up of a few exciting things that have happened since the wedding. I am finally getting my life back to normal - well, my new normal. 

1. I cooked. Now that I am married, I have a newfound interest in being a homemaker. I have been cooking ever since I started living on my own a few years ago, but now that I'm married, I actually enjoy it! I love trying to make new things. Sometimes the stuff I make turns out great, and sometimes it doesn't. Hey, it's a work in progress! 

This dinner was delicious! I made pork chops, baked beans, glazed carrots, cornbread, and brown sugar and cinnamon baked peaches with vanilla ice cream for dessert. So good! The recipe for the pork chops can be found on my pinterest "Recipes" board. 

I love flavored teas. As long as it is sweet, I will drink it. I found a recipe for peach flavored tea, so I decided to try it. Y'all.. YUM! It was phenomenal. Tyler isn't a huge fan of peaches, so he didn't care too much for it. More for me! Isn't this pitcher the cutest? My sweet aunt Michelle bought this for me. I love it, and it matches my dishes perfectly! 

I let these peaches simmer in sugar water for about 30 minutes, filtered out the peaches, and poured the mixture into the tea pitcher. Refrigerate and enjoy! 

I made this meal one evening when I was homesick. It is one of my family's favorite meals to enjoy together. My Nanny cans hot kraut, and it is phenomenal. It is maybe my favorite food ever. I didn't have any of her kraut, so I improvised and made my own. She puts banana peppers in hers to give it a kick. Nobody will ever can kraut as good as Nanny, but my makeshift kraut was pretty good in a pinch! We also had pinto beans, mustard greens, and fried potatoes. It was a good southern home cooked meal!  

This dish was SO easy to make. I found the recipe on pinterest which also can be found on my "Recipes" board. I used Prego Alfredo sauce for this one. Usually I make my own Alfredo sauce homemade, but I was exhausted after work and wanted something quick. I thawed out frozen spinach and mixed that with artichokes. I sprinkled that with some garlic and mixed in the sauce and noodles. Then, I added some Italian blend cheese on the top and baked it for about 20 minutes until the cheese was melted and gooey. It was so good! 

2. I spent time with friends at my sorority sister's wedding. Bree had a destination wedding, but she had a reception in the Huntington area for friends and family. It was like a mini sorority reunion. I loved getting to catch up with the girls, and Bree looked so beautiful! I wish I would have taken pictures of this event. The only picture I have is one that Ashton took on her phone and sent to me. That just means I was having too much fun to be taking pictures!!

3. I attended an Eagles concert with my mom. Guys, she was so excited for this. We had to listen to Eagles songs, watch documentaries, and hear stories about them for a solid two weeks leading up to the concert. It was all she could talk about. I recall one time she was singing an Eagles song to us, and she grabbed her arm and exclaimed, "I just gave my own self chills!" LOL She was loving life seeing them live! Unfortunately, they requested no photos or videos during the concert, so I have two pictures that we quickly took right before the show began. I loved getting to do something with my mom that meant so much to her!

I also talked her into staying Sunday for church. We had lunch at a local Italian restaurant before she headed home. I loved having her in Lex with me!

4. I got a new car! If you read my last blog post, you know I started having car trouble on the way home from the wedding. We just knew it was going to be expensive to fix because the engine light was on, and it was saying something about traction control. Surprisingly, when I took it to the Cadillac dealership, they were able to fix it for a very reasonable price. Just when we thought our problem was solved, the air conditioning started going out. We decided my car was on its last leg. We were worried we would start pouring money into repairs and end up putting more in than it was worth. I had put over 150,000 miles on that thing. It was a beautiful car, and I was sad to see it go. However, crawling into this new beautiful car helped ease the pain of parting with my old car. I told Ty that if I was a car, I would be this one! Tyler facilitated this entire thing. He went to the dealership several times to make sure I got exactly what I wanted. He takes good care of me!

5. I celebrated my birthday. I recently turned 26, and my family and I celebrated in Northern Kentucky together. My dad and Tyler played in a golf tournament up there, so my mom and I tagged along so we could all be together on my birthday weekend. My poor sister was sick with strep throat, so she didn't come. Mom and I had a blast shopping while the guys played golf. My dad and his partner, Chippy, ended up in the play off. Mom, Ty, and I followed him on the golf course and cheered him on. They ended up coming in second. In my opinion, they deserved first! LOL On one hole, Dad made a really good shot, and before I realized what I was doing or where I was, I let out a big cheer. My mom and I started cracking up! I forgot you have to be quiet on a golf course.. oops! Looks like I may need to tone down my inner cheerleader and practice my golf clap!

I love him! Look how cute!

I put my birthday money to good use! My JuJu called me while I was in the Lilly store shopping. She asked what I was doing, and when I told her where I was, she said, "Courtney, you are addicted to that stuff."  LOL Guilty as charged! My friend Tamus said it best when she said being a Lilly lover is a lifestyle. It is more than clothes y'all!! 

I had to work Friday, so I met my parents and Ty in NKY Friday evening. Ty sent me these beautiful flowers to work as a surprise! Everyone loved them!

6. I ate smores in the city. Ty and I love smores, and we found a restaurant in Lex that had smores on their dessert menu. You can imagine our surprise when they brought this out to our table. We got to roast our own marshmallows and everything! It tasted (almost) as good as a real back-yard campfire smore! This is the city version of making smores y'all! 

7. I met friends for dinner. I know no one in Lexington. Okay, okay.. I know Tyler and a couple of people that I have met recently through Tyler, SO you can imagine how excited I was to meet up with some girls in my pharmacy school class one evening for dinner. We talked, laughed, and shared so many good stories. We talked about everything from fall decorations and hair cuts to pharmacy rotations and the latest nail colors. I forgot how much I missed "girl talk." So glad we got the chance to hang out!

8. My sister cut her hair. Okay, I know this isn't something that I did, but I couldn't make this list and leave this out. How cute is she?! Kelly has always had long hair, and she had BEAUTIFUL long hair. The longer my hair gets, the thinner it gets (thank you Jesus for hair extensions). Kelly's hair was always so thick and shiny. When she mentioned cutting it, we were all hesitant, our dad especially. He dared her to cut it. In true Kelly fashion, she did it anyway, and it looks awesome. She went all out on the first attempt and cut her hair from midway down her back to above her shoulders. I think it makes her look so mature and classy. I also think it makes her look like our mother! I found two pictures of Kel in the same dress - one with long hair and one with short. She is beautiful in both, but she is rockin' the short hair y'all! 

9. My best friend got married. Again, another thing I didn't do, but there is no way I could do this post without including Lauren's big day. Everything was perfect from start to finish and was completely "Lauren." The color scheme was ivory and gold, and it was stunning. She treated the bridal party like queens all day! She had us matching shirts made to get ready in and cute totes with our names embroidered on it. She had Panera catered for breakfast and Subway catered for lunch. Two girls came to do everyone's make up too which was a special treat. We took bridal party pictures at my house, so that was fun having all the girls running around taking pictures while the boys hung out in our basement. The decorations at the church and reception took my breath away. The cake table was the most fabulous thing I've ever seen, and the dinner that was served was phenomenal. She really thought of everything. I can't say enough good things about her big day. I know how much time and effort goes into celebrating a new marriage, so I can appreciate everything she did to pull this off.  Lauren had an awesome celebration and treated all of her guests like royalty! Everyone had a great time, but the entire day remained about Lauren and Josh, which I loved! You could see nothing but happiness when you looked at them! I am so thankful my friend found someone that I know will treat her right and love her unconditionally! That makes ME happy!

Here is a picture of some of us at the rehearsal dinner!

Right before this picture, I had just ran from the church to Lauren's house to get the rings, marriage license, and her garter. I made a quick pit stop to zip Terri's dress up before I ran back to the church! Talk about finishing up last minute to-dos before the big event! 

She looks stunning. I remember one year in high school Lauren wore a beautiful white dress to prom. I don't think I ever told her this, but I always thought she looked so gorgeous in that dress. It made me think how beautiful she would be one day in a wedding gown. When she did her reveal to the bridesmaids and I saw her for the first time fully ready, she surpassed any expectations I had. I couldn't believe my eyes. She was literally glowing. She looked perfect. 

These little turkeys kept us entertained the whole day. My mom has an especially funny video of them arguing over who got to keep Lauren's bridal bouquet. There was almost an incident with the cake table, but luckily Nancy and Tamus saved the day. They are too cute for their own good!

10. I spent time with friends and family in WV. If you know me, you know there are few things I enjoy more than spending time with the people I love. Since I moved away, any time I get to spend back home is something I treasure. On Labor Day weekend, my mom hosted a cookout at our house, and it was a blast. So many of our friends and family came to visit, and they all got to officially meet Tyler if they hadn't already. I loved getting to spend time with everyone just laughing and talking (and enjoying some good southern BBQ thanks to my uncle!) 

That same weekend I also attended the Marshall season opener. We went to my friend Lauren's family's tailgate, and it was a blast! It was so good to take Tyler to my old stompin' grounds. It was an extremely hot and long day, but The Herd pulled off a win! 

The following weekend I traveled back to WV for yet another visit (hey, you don't have to twist my arm to go home! LOL) I had a quick lunch date with my sweet momma, and we almost cried when we said goodbye (I may or may not have shed a tear on my way back to Lex that evening). Then I headed to my friend Jill's mom's house to celebrate baby Chase's first birthday! He is such a beautiful baby! I remember going to the hospital the day after he was born to see him, and here we are a year later now. Time flies! 

Jill informed everyone it was time to watch Chase eat his cake, but y'all I was not expecting that sweet thing to walk into the room wearing this! It was a huge hit! Everyone loved it! His party was Mickey themed, and Jill found this little pants and tie set for him to wear during the cake smash. I have never seen anything cuter in all my life! 

This post was a little random, but I just wanted to share what I have been up to lately since I haven't blogged in awhile. I have been busy with rotations and just life in general. I am loving married life. It is fun to spend every day with your best friend! I do miss my friends and family back home, but as you can see, I am still able to see them often. Before, I took my visits with them for granted, but now that I am four hours away, I cherish any time at all that I get to spend with them. I am lucky to live in a beautiful city like Lexington, but there is no place like home! I hope y'all enjoyed this post. I will try to be a more faithful blogger and start doing weekly posts again!