it has been a hot minute......

So it's been a hot minute since I have carved out the time for this little bloggy here. I have missed it so much, but the truth is I have struggled to balance the time for it. Kev and I have been so busy with getting to know our new surroundings and meeting new people, that it had to take a back seat. I find it so much easier to get my social media fix with instagram and keep up with all my bloggy faves through that avenue. However, I truly miss documenting mine and Kev's lives. That's the whole reason I started blogging in the first place, to have my little space to document the not so exciting, everyday experiences. So here I am, trying to hop back in the saddle.......

Here's a quick glance on some things I missed out on blogging in the spring. Don't mind me, I'll be over here playing catch up for a while.

March 2014- My sweet, sweet Bailey boy turned 8 years old on March 31. Tear. It semi breaks my heart that he is technically considered a senior dog. I hate seeing that on his vet appointment reminder cards. They say that boxers are always two and I believe that 100 percent. Bailey acts as energetic and playful as a puppy does. 

March 2014 - Kev's work space got upgraded and we took my momma to the grand opening. I felt like we were totally at the Google HQ. So proud of him and his new career. He absolutely loves it. 

March 2014- Momma and I tore up Kenwood Mall with some spring/summer shopping. And of course we bought matching shirts. Duh! 

March/April 2014 - We spent a lot of time cheering on our Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA tournament. And we made it the freaking final four!! It was glorious! (even if we almost had a heart attack every.single.game)

April 2014- We had both of our families up for Easter weekend. It was so much fun. Full post to come :-)

April 2014 - We spent the day in Lexington going to Keeneland and meeting up with friends at Pazzo's. A full post to come on this, too. 

April/May 2014 - We started operation "spring yard work". We are loving our landscaping and that everything is in full bloom. 

May 2014 - We have been making new friends and I just love this lil lady and her sweet BF. They showed us around some fun and hip places around downtown Cincy this spring. Kev and I are finally feeling like we are getting to know this place. This particular night was just perfect. We finally made our way to OTR and found a new restaurant and a couple of patios we are enamored with. 

May 2014- I chopped my hair off and added some red tones for spring and summer. I am loving my hair short. I don't know why I try to grow it out. It just doesn't work. My momma cursed me with baby fine hair, but I will forgive her for it. 

May 2014 - We have been spending a lot of time on our back porch for evening dinners and drinks. We love it out there. 

May 2014 - I became obsessed with Bourbon and Boweties bracelets. Absolutely obsessed!

May 2014 - Baby Brother graduated from college. Can't wait to share more details about our super fun weekend celebrating his accomplishment and share his big news. 

Happy Friday Y'all! 

It feels good to be back! 

The Exploring Cincinnati Chronicles

Kev and I have been exploring Cincinnati one weekend at a time. However, the weather has not cooperated. We have had so much snow this winter, therefore most of our weekends have been spent snowed in at our house. Don't get me wrong, we are total homebodies with a capital H, but we are beginning to get cabin fever. Can't wait to explore more of our new city as soon as the weather breaks. I have made it my mission to blog about our adventures in this town and hope you enjoy them as well. 

After church last Sunday, Kev and I headed downtown Cincy for lunch at Nada. Sweet Katie had recommended it when we first moved and it has been on my radar for weeks. Let me tell you....it did not disappoint. Think chic and eclectic mexican food. My mouth is watering just thinking about their chips and queso. So so so good. 

Even though it was freeeeeeezing, it was so fun walking around downtown Cincy and stopping by fountain square. If it had been a tad bit warmer I think I could have talked Kev into ice skating.

Sometimes it blows my mind that I live in a full blown city. I grew up in a town with three stoplights and the closest Walmart still closes at 6pm on sunday. I grew up very naive and sheltered, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. With that being said, downtown Cincy overwhelms me at times, and it always shocks Kev to remember that I have only lived two places my whole life prior to our move....Lexington, KY and Whitesburg, KY. (He still doesn't know how I managed two weeks in Europe at the age of 22 haha!)So when we first walked into the restaurant I immediately went into my shell. It was hopping and full of so many different types of people....and I LOVE THAT, but I can't believe i live here. Like I live right next to a big, bad city. How did that happen lol?!?! I can't wait for us to explore more things here together....i may have a two page list of things I want us to do....and every time we cross the bridge, I get so awe struck by the city skyline. It's gorgeous and I am learning to call it home.

but remember,  you can take the girl out of the country, but you can never take the country out of the girl :-) Amen!  

Superbowl Weekend Recap

Pretty low key weekend over in our neck of the woods, just the way we like it. 

Friday, we said goodbye to our house guest :-( My gal pal, Caitlin, who had been living with us for the past month. We were sad to see her leave. She was so easy to have in our home. The doggies are gonna miss her too....bigtime. 

Kev worked from home friday and I had the day off. We spent the majority of the day in sweat pants and took it easy. Friday night we were glued to the television and finished season 2 of Breaking Bad. 

Saturday:

Top Left: took myself and my little 20% off coupon to Ulta for a mini shopping trip. picked up some bronzer, lip gloss, lip stick, blush and highlighter. 

Top Right: Saturday nigh - Kev and I headed to Cincy for dinner with friends before the Superbowl service at church 

Middle Left: Dinner with one of favorite NKY families at P.F. Chang's in Rookwood 

Middle Right: look at these cute boys, both were fighting over who got to sit by me at dinner. soooo sweet!!! 

Bottom Left:  We love this crazy thing called church :-) Our church has a big Superbowl of Preaching every year where the lead pastors go head to head in a preaching competition that was complete with pre-game tailgating, a halftime show, commercials and commentary. It's a big event with our church with over 20,000 people expected at our three locations (soon to be 4 locations and possibly a 5th!) 

Bottom Right: More pics from Superbowl of Preaching at church. It was our first time attending and it did not disappoint. We had so much fun. Kev and I are blessed to be hooked up with such an awesome church so early on in relocating to NKY. 

Sunday:

We may have slept till 10:00am...which is so not like us...but hey, that is what weekends are for. 

We made a big breakfast including pancakes, eggs, and turkey bacon and hung out around the house waiting for Super Bowl time. 

There may have been a little Breaking Bad watching.....

There may have also been some girl scout cookie eating......

And there may have been some wedding album completing....#itsabouttimeididit

Kev and I had our own little Super Bowl party of two, plus the doggies. We both made a couple of appetizers and were so excited for the game....major let down for us. We were so ready for a Peyton Manning show....and it never came. So instead, we enjoyed our BBQ chicken pizza, deviled eggs, spinach artichoke dip and caprese skewers. 

And of course they didn't play my favorite commercial until the last two minutes of the game. Budweiser stole my heart again...

That's our weekend in a nutshell. Thank goodness Monday is over :-) 

our weekend in a nutshell

This weekend was my kind of weekend. We did a whole lot of nothing....and you will not hear me complain! 

Top Left: Kev picked out these cute boots from tarjay for me. I love them! We love us some weekend target trips together...Kev's wallet...not so much. 

Middle Left: Our house discovered the many wonders of coconut oil this weekend. How have we lived without it? We have cooked with it, moisturized with it and washed off  my makeup with it. I am semi-obsessed.  

Middle Bottom: Our weekend motto. We were snowed in all weekend and spent our no shower Saturday in our pajamas. 

Top Right: We were in our jammies before 9pm and we loved every second of it 

Bottom Right: We started out friday night at one of our local faves - Flipdaddy's. A craft beer and burger joint. It was delish. Kev and I split a turkey burger on a pretzel bun with horseradish, cheddar, sauerkraut and dijon mayo. OHHEEEMMMGEEEE good! 

 Top Left: We stayed in for dinner saturday night and Kev whipped us his famous homemade chicken nachos

Top Right: two thumbs up from me and a photo bomb by Uggie Sue 

Bottom Left: I put on so many layers of clothing, including Kev's coveralls, to play with our fur babies in the snow. I may have looked like the Michelin tire man. 

Bottom right: The snow y'all! It's for real up here in the NKY. We had over a foot of snow in some of the drifts in our front and backyard. Kev shoveled for nearly an hour Saturday morning. 

Sunday - I participated in "a photo an hour" for this bloggy link up. Even for the photo obsessed like me, this task was hard. Can't wait to share.

Hope everyone is having a great week and that you all are warmer than I am....it's a high of 8 degrees here today. Yuccccckkky. 

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

The Northern Kentucky/Greater-Cincinnati area got it's first big December snow of the season and it was no joke!

Friday through Sunday were were dumped with rain, ice and almost 6 inches of snow in our back yard....talk about a winter wonderland!

Kev and I hibernated all weekend long and it was beyond perfect. We originally had plans to be out of town for a Christmas charity event, but due to inclement weather, it was postponed. We made the most of our weekend and curled up in our house with lots of sweat pants, online Christmas shopping, hot apple cider, turkey chili, hot maple toddy and cinnaclove nut crunch candles, apple pie with vanilla ice cream, a couple of movies and lots (and I mean LOTS) of Christmas tree decorating.

I love being on house lock-down in the winter. Nothing better on a cold night than being curled up on the couch with my hubby, the doggies, a wam homemade family quilt and some cider. Sounds like a little slice of heaven to me. 

Not only did we love the gorgeous snow days, but clearly the doggies did too. Uggie would snow "plow" for hours if we had let her. And Bailey is our little polar bear...the snow almost camouflages him, especially at night.

It's the little things this weekend that made me count my blessings.
Happy Monday y'all! 

Happy Housewarming to Us

This weekend was special for Kev and I. We hosted a small housewarming party to welcome our Lexington friends into our new home. It was the first time the majority of them had been to the new house and we loved having them here. Our house is really starting to feel like home.

I worked with the Chitra P Design store via Esty to come up with our invites that were super last minute. She had me a copy in less than 48 hours and was so easy to work with. 

Check out these beauties....compliments of my sweet friend Dana who was sick in bed with a fever and couldn't make it. Her and her hubby sent us this amazing display of hydrangeas, peonies and roses. My mouth hit the floor when the delivery man handed them to me. 

The spread...heavy appetizers galore

Wine for all 

Thanks Steph for directing me straight to Tar-Jay for my wine bucket!! 

 And my sweet momma came down and helped me cook it up in the kitchen. She also whipped up some homemade apple butter for our guests to take home with them. 

Trying my best to be the hostess with the mostess

We had so so so much fun feeding our faces, giving tours of our house, playing charades for hours, and even participating in a small scavenger hunt that Dana helped me with. That girl can make a rhyme on the spot. 

We loved having the laughter and love of friends fill the house. 

So blessed to have these peeps in our life
Such a great night!

and look at those gorgeous peonies that are opening up. I want these flowers in my house every day! Ahhhh perfection!

The Next Chapter

 

 

Hey y'all! Remember me?

A bloggy break for the past 4 weeks could not have came at a better time. Mine and Kev's lives have been completely flipped upside down, but we are almost on the other side of this tornado that swept us up and away from the heart of the bluegrass state.

It's safe to say we aren't in Kansas Lexington anymore.

 

Let me catch y'all up to date - long story short

 

- hubs got a new job in Cincinnati, Ohio causing us to relocate

-we planned on putting our house on the market and Kev would commute back and forth until we sold our home and found a new one

-yeah that plan didn't work because we put our house on the market and it sold in 24 HOURS?!?! say what?!?

(lex girls - Miss Dana is the real deal. do yourselves a favor and use her for all your real estate needs. you will not be sorry!!!)

-our buyers wanted us out in 7 days. (ummm excuse me?!?)

 

So in less than a week we

-packed up our entire house

-moved into a hotel with our fur babies

-closed on our old house

-and put an offer on a new house

 

I am exhausted just thinking about it!

 

We closed on our new house last Friday, but are still living the hotel life which has officially started to take it's toll on me, Kev and the dogs.

We went ahead and decided to re-do hardwood flooring, lay new carpet and paint before we moved all of our stuff into our new home. The house is only 4 years old, but my husband gave in a little on this one. I know ....I'm a total brat!

 

We are hoping to move into to our new home this weekend.

So much has happened in the past 4 weeks and I can't wait to share it all (bare with me as some of it is for personal documentation).

 

Where are we living, you ask ??? Well I am a Kentucky gal through and through and I told hubs I just didn't think I could cross the Ohio border. Although, a cute home in Hyde Park was so tempting, but my blood bleeds blue ya know?!?

(No offense to my Ohio girls out there - ps I can not wait to meet some of you soooooo soon!!!)

 

So Kev and I are officially in the greater Cincinnati area, specifically in the Northern Ky part.

Our adorable town is called Union and we are semi-obsessed with it. It's super close to Florence Y'all! (inside joke for us Kentucky folk)

We are in love with the rural/country/backwoods feel to it, but still have all of Cincinnati at our fingertips.

 

Kevin and I both have the best feeling in our guts about this move. We feel like we are moving into a home that we could potentially stay in for a long, long time. That's such an awesome feeling. We both feel like we bough the home that we will raise our children in one day. It's been overwhelming, emotional, stressful, exciting, sad and happy all rolled into one.

 

But Bottom line - this was a great decision for the both of us. We just know it. We are both looking forward to what the future holds.

We are ready for the next chapter - BRING IT ON!