We are the 2 best friends that anyone can have!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we adopted a new dog. Our dogs are our babies, so I have to be very careful to clarify when I slip and say ~ we adopted a new baby. She's just black and furry and has four legs.

Justin and I had been talking about this for a while and decided to go through with it after Christmas. The main reason we wanted another dog was for Lola to have a companion. Lola has a LARGE personality and never meets a stranger. She about goes into cardiac arrest every time we mention going to her friends house, so we thought perhaps she'd like a friend in her house.

We went to the shelter on a Monday and looked around. Listen here... if you don't want a dog at all, GUARD YOUR HEART ~ don't go to the shelter! Your heart will most certainly break and you'll fall in love. When they took Stella out of her cage, she wrapped arms around me and melted my heart. We gave it a couple of days, and then brought Lola back with us so the two of them could "bond." As best you can bond in a concrete room with the sound of dogs yelping and barking in the back ground. We didn't expect them to be BFF at first sight, but the main point was that they got along and didn't fight.

I'll be honest ~ Lola is a spoiled little first child/only child diva and I was unsure how this new transition would go, but from day 1 she's been very protective of her little sissy. We are 3 weeks in now and it's been so nice to have two.

I was a little worried that having two dogs would be major difficult, but I can't explain how MUCH easier it was to go from 1 to 2 than from 0 to 1. They entertain themselves and mostly Stella does whatever Lola does. It feels very strange to not be followed everywhere we go in the house! However, their personalities are VERY different.

Lola ~ sassy, independent, firecracker, leader

Stella ~ lovey, sweet, gentle, follower

I do feel like we probably adopted some one's almost trained precious house dog. She's very well minded and understands No, Sit, Stay, etc. There have been a few accidents, but she mostly has them in the bathroom or the concrete floor.

The girls are the best of friends and partners in crime. Pictured above is them with their favorite toy ~ the paper towel roll. Lola is guarding it and Stella is on the look out. But look at those faces... how could we not love these babies?

I'm pleased to tell you...

That this here post is coming to you straight from my desktop in the 2nd bedroom by way of our new air card! After our laptop died we hooked up our desktop, but have been waiting on our "people" to send us an air card. It arrived this morning! I can do a LOT on my iPhone, but we live in the sticks and I'm still on the vintage {edge} network, so my phone Internet is sloooooooooow. I was so happy to be able to look up recipes online for my girls dinner tonight. Thank the good Lord for myrecipes.com.

In MUCH bigger news...

I am also pleased to tell you that after 2 years and 1 month of wedded bliss I took the plunge of changing my name. I know you're all thinking... why did it take you so long? Do you not really love Justin? Were you keeping a door open? Because and that's not it and no way. We haven't actually been physically stable in one place for long enough to get ALL my info switched over and we left Texas the morning after the wedding. And really, the only place it mattered was my email and at the bank. Did y'all know that my bank allowed me to use my {illegal} married name on my account? Is that against the law?

One of my 2010 goals was to get it all change and changed I did. It took an ENTIRE day. I had no idea that changing states and changing license and changing names literally took an act of God.



So, after 7 years of long blond hair...



I became a legal resident of Mississippi. That doesn't make me any less a Texan, does it?



{Ps ~ Of course I planned to look much better than this at 8am, but by 4 I was a little worse for the wear.}

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

just a few things.



1. I am not dead! I have a lot of things swimming around in my head, but haven't felt like making time to blog them out. It doesn't help that our laptop completely broke. We are in the process of having the hard drive retrieved and a air card shipped so we can use our desktop at home.


2. I had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. When we surveyed the damage of Christmas it was apparent that we got a lot of STUFF! This is the reality of life without kids, I suppose. The start of a new decade has kick started me into being a different, hopefully better, version of myself. It's a journey, not a destination.


3. The other day I made a beautiful vision board out of a cool frame I found. I have said vision board right by my closet. Staring at my goals/resolutions everyday have made me much better at keeping them.


4. To start the year I did a "No Crap" detox week. No Meat, No Dairy, No Sugar, No Caffeine, No Processed. I lost 4lbs that week and have been taking these. I hope to blog about both of these incidents on my other blog ~ http://www.fourfatchicks.blogspot.com/. In the meantime, go check out the newest feature of Ryan cooking her way through the weight watchers cookbook. VERY cool!


5. Last but not least ~ we have a new addition! Es No BABY! I will go more into detail on a separate post, but I thought you'd like to know that we adopted a new fur-baby into our home! Meet Baby Stella! She is a long haired, dachshund/terrier mix. She has been a delightful addition to our family and she and sister, Lola, are becoming the best of friends.

Merry Christmas

Justin and I are celebrating Christmas in Kentucky this year. We surprised our family and have been enjoying the past few days away. We hope that all of you are having a wonderful time with your family and enjoying all the delicious holiday treats. We won't judge you if you're enjoying the treats more than you're enjoying your family!

ps ~ this was our card that we sent out!

Brown Eyed Bride

Ali & Cody got married last weekend and Justin and I had the special privilege of attending their wedding festivities! I know that many of you also follow her over at Brown Eyed Blogg, so I'm sure she'll be sharing many more pictures from the week, but I thought I'd show y'all some of the ones I took!

Justin and I made a weekend of it and went to Little Rock early to get some shopping done and enjoy staying in a downtown hotel. Saturday night was the Bride's personal shower, held at the Capital Hotel, so we took a picture in front of the tree!

The guy that took our picture accidentally moved the camera before it actually snapped, but I thought it was funny ~ top & bottom view!

On to the wedding! It was at the beautiful Marlsgate plantation in Scott, Arkansas. Justin and I got ready that morning and headed over. We pulled up and saw the beautiful arrangement for an outside ceremony.

OOPS! I was the ONE girl there that didn't wear opaque tights. When we got married 2 years ago on this weekend it was NOT cold. Oh well ~ the ceremony was beautiful, and Justin brought his wool coat to wrap around my legs like a blanket.

Nice touch ~ Ali's family members wore one color of pashminas and Cody's wore another. I believe all of their dresses were different, but honestly you couldn't tell. If you're getting married soon and can't pick bridesmaid dresses, you should totally consider doing this. Let the girl pick their style so they can feel comfortable! I could NOT tell a difference and I'm hyper critical of that kind of stuff and I thought they all looked fantastic!

This was so unique ~ it was their guest book that little artsy~fartsy Ali created and it was soooo cool! I'm assuming that she'll frame this in their home. What a neat memento to have forever.

Me and the blushing bride! {My blush needs to be darker} Ali was stunning! Her hair was perfect {naturally}, she looked amazing and her dress was timeless.

We love you, Ali & Cody! Thanks for allowing us to be apart of your VERY special day!

christmas card photo shoot 2009

Justin and I have to cram in a weekend worth of housekeeping and to do lists into Sunday and this past Sunday take Christmas card picture was on the list! Unfortunately, it was below eating lunch, flipping a switch at the restaurant and grocery shopping! After all that, we rushed home and got ready for the big photo shoot. I asked Justin to get Lola bathed so she wouldn't look ragamuffin and he said, "I don't need to shower do I?" He hadn't showered and his hair didn't look too much like bed head, and people advise about picking your battles in marriage, so I un-picked that battle! Eventually he did end up showering, and I thought you might want to see a couple of the shots that we took but did not use on our actual card!


Test shot outside our front door. It is not going to be easy to get my darty dog to cooperate!


This is the little pond and "track" outside our apartments. I've run this track MANY a times, and I think this picture would have been great if the water didn't look so dadgum murky! This however, is the first time I've been out by the pond in a little black dress.

By the holly bush! Lola is looking for her best friend June to come save her from the giant red bow and Justin is about 37 pictures over his limit. "I thought we were taking pictures in one pose." How on earth could I make my decision more difficult for the most indecisive person in the world if we only had one pose?

Of course I will show you the actual card as soon as ours go out for all of you blog friends that I don't have an actual address for.

~Glow Getter~ by Soap & Glory

I have a new favorite beauty product! A few weeks ago I was browsing Target in Birmingham and since I don't have the good fortune to browse Target in my normal shopping life, I took my sweet precious time. I've been looking for a new self tanner, as I had used Neutrogena and L'oreal Sublime glow, but they were out and I wasn't crazy about either of them.

I am definitely swayed by cute packaging and when I saw Soap & Glory's Glow Getter Sun Powder Spray I thought hmmm... powder spray? I figured that it was all packaging and no delivery. Thankfully, I was wrong! I am in L.O.V.E.

I spray on the areas that will be shown and then rub it in for coverage. I control how glow~ey I want to be. At the end of the day, I bathe the tan away. I love that part! No streaking, no mess-ups, but a nice little glow to rid away the winter blues! The one draw back, is that because it's a powder, it will get on your white clothes, so you have to be careful.

Another great thing that I recently read in Allure is that Soap & Glory was started by the founder of Bliss spa. Who doesn't love Bliss and how can you not love Bliss on a budget?

But, for those of you that have joined the 2009's and gotten OUT of the tanning bed, this is the perfect ~tan~! Also, would make for a great stocking stuffer or nice little gift for a gift exchange!