once upon a five months ago today....

puppy-tines!

colintines... valentines... pupptines! because puppies are valentines too! charlie tested and approved!

ingredients:

• whole wheat flour
• organic peanut butter
• baking powder
• skim milk
• cookie cutter 

directions:
1 cup of peanut butter to 1 cup of milk

in a sperate bowl combine: 1 tablespoon of baking powder with 2 cups of wheat flour. slowly add these powder ingredients to the peanut butter and milk mixture.

combine all ingredients and mix. roll out the dough
cut out doggie treats and place them onto a greased cookie sheet
bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes :)

valentine's weekend cabining

eight years we've spent valentine's day together! but this past saturday brought us our very first valentine's day as husband and wife. we rented a cabin in Chattanooga for the weekend and were so, so excited to sort of skip town for a teeny little bit. i love, love super love times like those. we both do. i also really love my documenting and looking back and really remembering the big and little moments, because life just gets ahead of us. all. the. time! but so many moments are all right here. and i think that is so neat. february always used to be a confusing month for heart. it's the month of love, and i like my love. but it was also always the month austin left for the forever long baseball season [sometimes the day after valentine's day]  actually, the last time we rented a cabin was two years ago. and while i shared a little bit of it, i never got around to sharing all the moments i snapped on that camera of mine, it's actually still saved as a draft! ha. but my heart wasn't really ready to re-live it then because i was coming off such a fun, fun weekend and dreading the inevitable baseball goodbye that awaited us a few days later. you sort of wish you could jump back in time, hug yourself real quick and say, it will be o.k. !! in two years, you will be at another cabin! and you will be celebrating as husband and wife!  

i could talk about feelings forever. that's me. i feel things so deely. and i'm pretty okay about it all. but!!  moving right along, we traveled to Chattanooga on friday with a car fuuuuulll of food. we ate the biggest crab legs i have ever seen and i don’t know if austin has ever been more excited or happier about food. it was soo good. sooo good! we ventured into Chattanooga the next morning and explored the city. stopping at the aquarium, which i haven’t gotten to do in years! they had penguins. and if the aquarium had allowed me, i would have taken one home. they were the cutest little tuxedo babes ever. i can only imagine charlies reaction if he were to meet one face to face. 

speaaaaaking of my littlest valentine!!! he is truly a water dog through and through. he loved on the hot tub so much. as soon as the top came off, he would be walking up the steps and headed in. ha. so cute to watch. unfortunately, he's not as human as he likes to think and eventually the time came for us to drag him on out so he wouldn't melt away in there. there was a hot tub at the last cabin we rented - charlie was five months old then and it was the first time we had a chance to introduce him to water. we put him in the hot tub [when it wasn't on] and he wanted o.u.t! fast forward two years, a lot of puppy swimming in lakes and rivers and he couldn't get in fast enough :)

so! v-day! year eight, it was a really good one. it's so good for the soul to venture out of your normal surroundings, together. they touched on that at church last week and i really couldn't agree anymore. also i love my valentines <3 the end. 

2014  / 2013 / 2012 / 2011

p.s ;)

colintines day

little snippets from colintine's day! welllll really the day after. it just so happened this past sunday the birthday boy himself made a quick appearance in our dearest atlanta. they were  headed to FL for a show the next night and atl was a good half way spot for their energizer of a bus driver to rest his head for a few ten hours and catch up on sleep. so from about 2 pm when they rolled in, to midnight when they rolled on out, we got to see colin. yay!  and celebrate a belated bday! it's been so much fun getting to see him so much lately. we met up with one of my favorite lady's and her bf and crazy enough, oyster fest was going on right down the street! perfect timing, thank you mardi gras! so as the story always, aaaalways goes, eventually cinderella had to leave the ball [or you know, musician brother had to leave for tour bus] and of course anytime any of my people leave me i feel bits of homesickness but i bounce back. because life! you gotta keep on bouncing. so until the next time! 

one way to celebrate your birthday week...

...opening for luke bryan!

[and that's just how my brother has been spending his final days as a twenty-six year old. Dustin Lynch and his ever talented band joined Luke Bryan's "that's my kind of night" tour this past tuesday and will continue on into his "kick the dust up" tour later this year. we are so excited for them, they work so hard and are so talented and i really love when amazing life things happen to the ones that deserve it so! and if you ask me! i think that is one of the very best ways to celebrate your b-day week!]

chocolate chip bread

i have been a baking bee as of lately. i can't seem to stop! especially not on Saturday mornings when the sun is out and the weather temps are in the sixties, making my soul feel so much more alive and happy. i ! will ! take ! it! so to celebrate - coffee, carbs and chocolate chips and just put it in bread form and you have yourself breakfast! its been the most perfect for our on the go work mornings too and as it turns out.... a really good nightly dessert. because its impossible to resist. impossible! #SOS and if you want to jump on this chocolaty bandwagon too ::: 

ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanila
1 cup chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350 degrees. in a large bowl, beat together the butter, cup of sugar, egg and vanilla. in a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk into the batter just until combined. fold in cup of chocolate cups.

pour batter into a buttered loaf pan.  bake for about 50-55 minutes. and breakfast! [or you know... maybe dessert too]

christmas day reminiscing on the ninth of feb ;)

christmas eve & kevin mccallister. ooof course!

better late than never, they say!! so! just a quick little photo doc of our first married Christmas in connecticut with my family. i am a broken record when it comes to these people, i love them with my whole entire heart. they are my best  friends. they are the sweetest, kindest, funniest people i know and it’s the coolest thing to be related to them. and to know that they are stuck with me forever and ever :) i loved having austin at home with us, getting to experience the way we have forever done Christmas. one by one opening gifts, because take our time we shall! big, big breakfasts shared at the table. getting all bundled up and taking a walk along the river [same route we wak on thanksgiving!] and then before you know it, night time is upon us and its Christmas dinner ham time! all in a day's work, celebrating our Lord and Savor's birthday with the ones i love the most.