Happy Anniversary!

It has been one year since I married the love of my life. I feel blessed each and every day to have Lamar in my life. He truly is one AMAZING man and I feel like an amazing woman when I am with him.

We took a little weekend trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas to celebrate the occasion. Our plans were a little delayed since it rained all day Saturday, but we still had fun.

Friday, we drove to Little Rock after work and stayed in their downtown area. We ate dinner at a local pizza eatery then went back to the hotel.

Saturday, we had planned on going to Crystal Falls, Magic Springs in Hot Springs, but the rain and storms decided to take us a different route. Instead of going straight to Hot Springs we decided to take it slow leaving Little Rock and did a little bit of shopping. Early afternoon we decided to head towards Hot Springs. We got into the quaint little town and decided to wander around the downtown area. We went and ate lunch at Brick House Grill, where I had some of the best potato soup EVER, walked along Bathhouse Row, and strolled into some quaint little shops along the way. By this time, we were both tired so we decided to check-in to our Bed and Breakfast, 1890 Williams House, to take a little nap. After waking up, we drove to Lake Hamilton and decided to have a couple of drinks at the Fisherman's Wharf. We then went and ate dinner at The Porterhouse and had some great steaks.

*1890 Williams House was great! We stayed in the Williams Suite and it was fabulous. It had a nice sitting area with a two person jacuzzi tub and the bedroom area with a four-poster bed. This was such a great place and definitely captured the moment of our anniversary.

Sunday we woke up and had breakfast in our room then decided to drive to Little Rock and go to Wild River Country water park. We stayed there for a couple of hours, decided we had "been there, done that," so we headed back home to Memphis.

Hope you all had a great weekend!! Lamar and I are ready to start our second year of marriage and can't wait to see what life has in store for us.

Owl vs. Brek

So do any of you know a dog that is scared of his own shadow? Well, that would just about explain Brek. The dog should be a chicken.

Last Friday after Lamar had left for work, and put Brek outside, I hear Brek barking. This is quite unusual for him as once he is outside he is usually quite content, but not today. I finally get out of bed and go see why he is barking. I get outside and look into the pen and see this stump looking object in his kiddie pool. Not knowing what to expect I get closer and decide to se if this object is alive or dead so I splash some water on it. As I splash this object, he then slowly turns its head and two big round eyes just stare up at me. At this point I was a little freaked out, I mean what would you think if you saw two big eyes just staring at you.

I, being the "chicken" that I am just run out of the pen and immediately call Lamar to tell him that there is a baby owl in Brek's pool and he is going to have to deal with it when he gets home.

Five o'clock finally rolls around and I meet Lamar at the house. WE then proceed to the backyard so we can get rid of the owl. After Lamar got it out of the pool it just sat on the ground and Brek had to get his turn with the owl. Long story short, the funniest part of this whole situation was Brek playing with the owl. So please be prepared to laugh out loud just like Lamar and I are doing in the video. You will have to excuse Lamar he is on the phone talking to his dad about this debacle the entire time.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

The Crafty Side of Alexis

I'm sure most of you already know this, but I have a little crafty side to me. A couple of my co-workers and I recently threw a baby shower for another co-worker. I of course made the invitations (there is a picture below) and everyone in the office receive one. Most people made comments about how they loved them and that I could do this on the side and earn a little extra income.

So here is where you all come in, I have included some pictures of the invitations that I have created, my wedding and the baby shower and I would like to know if you like the invitations enough to order them from me, if the option was made available. Keep in mind that I can change the fonts, wording, layout, etc to meet your specifications. I am not one to put a lot of graphics or images on my inviations for a couple of reasons a)I am not a graphic designer and do not have the skills, as of right now, to do so and b)I honestly prefer the look of pure paper, ribbons, etc. Below I have briefly described each set and included pictures. Sorry there are so many pictures, but I want to make sure you got the idea of the invitations. Hope you enjoy!

*The pictures are not the biggest and for some reason I don't know how to have them enlarge when clicked on. If anyone wants to help me out let me know.


My wedding invitations


This is the front of my invitation. It was a pocket-fold invitation.

Once opened, this is what you saw: The invitation portion was on the top of the fold, and the information cards were below in a pocket. Since I had a destination wedding there was a lot of information the guests needed to know. Inside the pocket there are cards for Accomodations, Event Details, RSVP, and Directions. Sorry the wording is marked out, but I wanted to protect the information at the time.

This is the invitation itself.

These are two of the cards that were included, the Event Details and Directions

My wedding programs

My programs were a fan and here is a picture of them closed and open

Baby shower invitations and diaper cake

These are the baby shower invitations I made. The shower was for a baby girl and the colors were chocolate and pink.

This is the diaper cake that I made for the shower. The lollipops spell the baby's name and fresh flowers act as the cake topper.

A Must Try Recipe

Wow! It has been quite a while since I last posted. Not much to say for myself, other than I just haven't gotten around to doing it.

I found a great recipe for Taco Salad that I just had to share with everyone. I made it last night for Lamar and I and I have to say it is probably the best taco salad I've ever had. If you make it let me know your thoughts.

Taco Salad from Campbell's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef (I used diced chicken breast)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup water
1 pkg. (1.12 ounces) taco seasoning mix
2 tbsp. chopped green chiles
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 can (about 15 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or whatever kind of bean you like)
2 cups tortilla chips
4 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 medium tomato, chopped (about 1 cup)

4 green onions, sliced (about 1/2 cup)

Shredded Cheese (I used a four blend cheese, but you can use whatever you like)

Directions:
Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.

Stir 1/2 can soup, water, taco seasoning, chiles, cumin and beans in the skillet and cook until the mixture is hot and bubbling.

Heat the remaining soup in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat until it's hot and bubbling.

Arrange the chips on a large serving platter. Top with the lettuce, beef mixture, remaining soup, shredded cheese, sour cream, tomato and onions.

Serves 6.

On the Mend

Brek did great yesterday at the vet. They told us he was a very well behaved dog and everyone loved him. I know everyone always says this about their own dogs. He is at home on the mend. He got to stay inside today and will probably stay inside most of the week. He is not supposed to get his incision wet so with it raining outside, that would be a little hard not to do.

THere is some good news and bad news in this whole situation though. Which do you want first? The bad news...no no let's go with the good news first....

The good news: We are going to Hattiesburg this weekend to see Lamar's family for Mother's Day. I know isn't that just great!

The bad news: While in Hattiesburg, Brek is going to be one unhappy dog. Not only will he not be able to play with Carmel, Lamar's parent's dog, he will not be able to get in the ponds and swim. You see, he is not allowed to jump or run for a week and he is not allowed to get wet for 10 days. CRAZY!!

The poor thing doesn't know what's coming...Again! I hope he isn't too mad at us after this is all over.
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Ok so this next part is completely off subject, but I need a new name for my blog. Anyone have any stellar ideas?

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-Lex

A New Man

Our little man went to the vet this morning and he will come home a different man.

Happy May Day!!!

***Update- See below in Purple, the significance of not being seen***

Did you even realize that there is such a holiday as "May Day." Well there is and you know what, as a kid, my family celebrated this holiday.

It dates way back, and is not very popular in the United States. If you want to read more information about go here and read the History of May Day.

As a kid, we would always make our baskets the night before and get them ready to be delivered. You would then wake up the next morning and go to different people's houses, such as family and friends, then put your basket on the door or ground (depending on the type of basket you made) and make a beeline so they wouldn't see you. **The trick is you don't want the neighbor to see you! If you get caught, you are supposed to get a kiss.**

I remember celebrating May Day in Nebraska in the little town I grew up in and everyone was familiar with the holiday and participated. After we moved to Tennessee, we did it one year and no one had a clue what it even was. So needless to say, the tradition of celebrating May Day in our family went away.

Happy May Day Everyone!!! Sorry I don't have a little basket for you.

-Alexis