this week...

Alex has been gone since early Sunday morning to Erie, Pennsylvania for business meetings with Erie Insurance. They flew him out, put him up in a nice hotel and fed him three square meals every day. He's been living quite the high life this week, while I've been a little bit lonely. Yesterday I had no eye to eye human interaction until my sweet friends Amanda and Alyssa asked me to come over for dinner, I happily (maybe too happily...) obliged. On Tuesday my Mama, Linda, Libby and Katie came over for lunch and that was the highlight of my day! I didn't want them to leave...I wanted to cry.

I had great plans of things I would accomplish while Alex was away, but so far I've only done one load of laundry and it still needs to be folded and put away. My nightly entertainment has been binge watching Hallmark channel movies, you know the uber cheesy, predictable, girly, sappy ones.

I don't think I was made for singleness, not that I'm unable to survive on my own but I just really like need company and human interaction, Moose is good but he's lacking in the thumb department. This week I've learned that I really do need Alex in my life and now I appreciate him more (personal and professional) than I already did. His flight lands tonight and I could not be more excited!!

Happy Thursday!

brrrr...

I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden it's like a switch was flipped and it's fall! We we're at the Cardinals game tonight and it was chilly, like I'm wearing a jacket and I'm still not warm, chilly! But don't get me wrong, I am super excited for fall's arrival! It is my favorite time of year, with the exception of Christmas. 

All of my favorite things about fall include, but are not limited to: scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, Cardinals post season baseball (fingers crossed), pumpkin decor, boots, crunchy leaves, cool mornings, my birthday, Alex's birthday, pumpkin scented candles, college football, I think I could make this list go on and on... 

Hopefully we have a long lasting fall so we can enjoy every bit of golden sunshine before the short days and dark nights of winter arrive. Happy fall and have a wonderful weekend!

weekend recap

We had a fabulous holiday weekend including two Cardinals games with some of our favorite people, donuts at Strange Donuts, lunch at Dewey's, loads and loads of laundry, Alex mowed our jungle yard, we shopped some of the Labor Day sales and we managed to watch the first four Harry Potter movies...all in three and a half days! Phew, I'm worn out typing that.

Now for the details:
Becky and Jared came down on Friday evening to go the Cardinals game with us, unfortunately the Red Birds lost but we had fun nonetheless. After the game at 10:45 we decided to get some donuts and I wanted to try Strange Donuts, so it was the perfect opportunity! We got a dozen donuts in a variety of flavors: PB&J, Maple Bacon x2, Lemon, Gooey Butter x3, Red Velvet, Sprinkle, Glazed, Chocolate Custard, and Grass Hopper. They were delicious and did not disappoint!

On Saturday morning we did a little bit of local shopping in Edwardsville and then met my parents, Ethan, Nora and Josh & Libby for lunch at Dewey's. We had a lot of fun talking and eating. After lunch Becky and crew said their farewell's and headed home while Josh & Libby, Alex, my parents and I all headed to Run Well. Josh and Libby are running the 5K at the Santa Hustle, so they needed the appropriate footwear and I needed a new pair of shoes too. We all left with new kicks except my mama. After shoe shopping we made a quick trip to Kohl's and then my parents headed home.

Sunday was our second ballgame of the weekend, Cardinals v Cubs. We went with our friends Clint and Kassie, they are Cubs fans but we still make our friendship work ;). It was a close, exciting game to watch and thankfully the Cardinals won!! After the game, Alex and I made a quick trip to the outlet mall for some Labor Day sales. Alex is going on a work trip soon and needs to look spiffy, so we got him some new dress shirts, pants and my favorite: a bow tie (which I can successfully tie!).

Monday morning we slept in and then went on a jog to break in my shoes. When we got home we nestled in to watch a mini Harry Potter marathon. While watching, I multi-tasked and did quite a bit of laundry (I know you were dying to know when I squeezed the laundry in).

Now we're back to reality and I need a nap. Have a happy Tuesday!

dance party

I have been known to have a dance party in our kitchen (Alex occasionally joins in) while I'm waiting for dinner to finish cooking or while I'm trying to avoid cooking. However, I have never claimed to be a good dancer. Taylor Swiftypants has a new song out and subsequently a new music video and her (endearingly sarcastic) dancing is reminiscent of my smooth moves. Check it out!

video via

best friends

I have been incredibly blessed (and lucky) to have some amazing friendships present and past. However, these fella's have lived a much longer life and are still best friends and they're quite funny too. Enjoy this video I stumbled across on youtube. 

santa hustle half marathon

Christmas is my all time, hands down, no doubt about it favorite time of year. I look forward to it all year, every year and this year is no different. Although is it August, I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the hap-happiest season of all. And this year I'm adding a new Christmas event, The Santa Hustle!

I have signed up for my third half marathon and it's scheduled for December 21st (the Sunday before Christmas)! I am so excited for this race and I think it has something to do with the music to be played, the cookies to be served and the fact that everyone will be given a Santa hat and beard to wear (if they choose) during the race. Alex hurt himself training for our last half, so he won't be running by my side but, he'll be cheering me along. Wish me luck and a Merry Christmas if you see me training, I may need the motivation until the Christmas season arrives!

sunscreen, you scream, we all scream for sunscreen

As summer wraps up and everyone is eagerly anticipating the cooler weather, sunscreen is probably the last thing on our minds. I am notorious for forgetting sunscreen at the beginning of the summer and getting an ugly burn (shame on me, I know). However, by the end of summer it is usually the first step of my beauty routine, especially if I'm going to be spending time outside. I found this video and am vowing to be more diligent with my SPF. Watch it all and see the difference a bit of sunscreen can make!

Enjoy!

video via

rap songs + road trips

Alex and I enjoy taking road trips; we like the idea of packing up and driving into the wild blue yonder. It's as much as of an adventure as the trip itself. On our latest road trip, we were driving behind a nice, big, white Cadillac Escalade which got us thinking...

Escalades rose in popularity, in part, due to the rap industry. So, we decided that if rappers would rap about driving their electric cars or their Prius', they would be doing the world and environment a big favor. Gone would be the days of boasting about how big and flashy the Escalade is, but rather how quiet and efficient their Prius is.

I think we're going to take this to a record label and see if we can get some traction with this idea. We'll keep you posted. But, if you hear a new song about a compact electric or hybrid, it was our idea.

tips and tricks

If you have an iPhone and don't use it to it's fullest extent like yours truly, {Life}Buzz has complied a list of 20 little known tricks. If you know them all, you're much cooler than I am and can disregard this blog post. Click on the picture below to discover all of these (relatively) new and (semi) useful tips and tricks!

         

Happy Wednesday!

weekend at the lake

To celebrate our anniversary, Alex and I packed our bags and headed north to Michigan. My cousin Tom and his wife Sara have a cabin on a series of connected lakes just south of Ann Arbor. We were very excited to get away and unplug; we had no internet and chose to use our phones sparingly. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

We kayaked, read, cooked together, watched a couple of movies and enjoyed the quiet. On Friday evening Tom, Sara and Markey came out and we went tubing on their boat. I'm not sure who had more fun, Alex and I or Markey. We ate dinner together and got to catch up all evening. It was a fun, restful weekend and now Alex thinks we should get a cabin...maybe someday.

The front and back of the cabin. The hammock (on the left of the picture on the right) proved to be a bit difficult for me to lay in...I didn't fall all the way out but I came pretty close, much to Alex's amusement.

three years of wedded bliss

Today marks our three year anniversary. Three.whole.years. I feel like time has gone by so quickly and slowly all at the same time. When I look back at the whole of our marriage, it seems like time has just zoomed by. But, when I look at the little details we both say, "it's only been that long since______ (fill in the blank)?!"

I am so incredibly blessed to be Alex's wife. He makes me whole and happy and feel like every cliche in the book, but it's so true. I thank God that He let us meet and marry young so we could enjoy every stage and age of life together. Alex is leading our marriage in an incredibly godly manner and makes me a better wife and follower of Christ as a result. He pushes me when I need to be pushed, encourages me when I need to be encouraged, holds me when words won't suffice and laughs at me when I need to be laughed at. He eats my cooking and he humors my adventures and need for kitchen dance parties. He is truly my match.  

Happy anniversary babe, here's to many, many more. I love you!

I love this picture, goofy faces and all. 

left to right: Greg, Alex, Abby & Becky

My lovely bridesmaids

l-r: Libby (Cousin & Katie is in her belly), Megan (bff), Me, Becky (Sister &Nora is in her belly) and Amanda (bff). 

I love these girls so much and they are still my favorite people on earth (the babies girls too).  

Alex and his men

l-r: Cory-Alex's (bestie (do boy's use the word bestie?)), Paul (brother), Alex, Greg (brother), Jared (Brother-in-law)

Our sweet, sweet flower girls. At some point in the ceremony they all got tired of standing, but they were so cute! 

l-r: Haley (3), Paige (5), Me, Finley (3) and Addison (3) 

It seems like yesterday and years ago all at the same time.

Thank you to our friends and family who continue to love us, guide us and pray for us; we are eternally grateful for you and your continued support. 

........................................................................

Check out our 2nd anniversary here
I was sick on our first anniversary, so there's no blog post, but we ate our cake and it was still delicious.

flow charts and spread sheets

Alex and I are in this weird stage of life where most of our friends are either married and having kids or single and wild. It's been a paradigm shift when some one announces that they're pregnant; it used to be shocking and taboo, but now it's exciting. I stumbled across this little flow chart on Pinterest and it made me chuckle.

(source unknown)

No, this is not any sort of an announcement of anything, just something that made me laugh. Side note: if my answers are indicative of anything I shouldn't have kids. Apparently you don't get 8 hours of sleep every night, you have to start liking coffee and Disneyland is "exotic"...good thing we're not letting a flow chart dictate our lives :) 

one hundred ten years ago....

In 1904 the ice cream cone was invented at the St. Louis World's fair. If you're a math wiz like me, you're quick to calculate that its been 110 years of goodness! How on earth was ice cream eaten without a cone? Was everyone subjected to using a dish? Preposterous! and they say nothing good comes from St. Louis...

Happy National Ice Cream Month!

via

seriously

have a fantastic weekend!

sweet sweet summertime

Summer is in full swing here in the Midwest. We have been taking full advantage of the longer days and the warmer nights. I am a strict bedtime person- we go to sleep by 9:30 folks...strict I say. But, this summer it seems like I've lost my sense of time. We stay up until midnight or 1 o'clock just chatting. There is something magical about sitting around our little fire pit watching the lightning bugs light up and listening to the wood crackle and the cicadas chirp. It's our own little slice of paradise and we've got the mosquito bites to prove it.

We're trying to milk this summer for all it's worth, especially after the long hard winter we just endured. We've been eating ice cream almost daily, going on walks long after the sun has set, riding our bikes to work, walking up to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, grilling everything we can get our hands on, cheering for the Cardinals and spending as much time outside as humanly possible. The best and worst thing about living in the middle of the country is that we get all four seasons and we get them to each extreme. It's hard to say that I have a favorite season because there are things about each season I love, but I will say that summer is in my top 4 favorites.

Happy summer friends!

Our adventure at Pere Marquette State Park with the Mighty Mississippi in the background. Moose was a trooper all day and walked about 6 or 7 miles. We carried him for a little bit, our clue that he was tired: he laid down in the middle of the trail. 

happy Wednesday

Wednesday has arrived! We have had a lovely laid back week (in regards to our extracurricular's). We've had no where to be at 7 o'clock which is a relaxing feeling. Work on the other hand has been a mad house, a good mad house, but a mad house nonetheless. We've been counting our blessings and praising God for all of the great things He has been doing in our lives. Enjoy your Wednesday and before you know it, it'll be the weekend!

guilty pleasures

We all have a guilty pleasure. For some of you it may be a trashy harlequin and for others it may be ice cream or eating a bag of chips in one sitting. But, for me it's the Kardashians. I know it's terrible but I'm sucked in every.single.time. I don't know what it is, maybe it's their ridiculous drama or their krazy antics. I thought that when we got rid of cable I'd be cured. Nope, I've found ways around that and I'm still keeping up with them. I asked Alex what his guilty pleasure is and he bashfully said, "Grey's Anatomy" and Moose would say digging holes if he could talk.

I wonder why we're so guilty to admit what brings us enjoyment? Maybe we're too concerned about what others will think of us or maybe we're too embarrassed to admit them. Either way I judge myself for tuning in to see the drama of Kourtney, Kim and Klohe and now you're judging me too...

time flies when you're having fun....on the river

Did anyone else look at the date yesterday and have a small panic attack?! It's JULY! Where has time gone? It does not feel like life is going at normal speed right now. We have been here, there and everywhere lately. We started June in Seattle/Port Angeles, Washington and ended in Steelville, Missouri. We made a lighting fast trip to Ikea, got a fire pit and made lots of s'mores, killed my lavender plant, revived some flowers, installed a new door, hired our first employee, spent time with friends & family and we managed to work a lot too! It has been 7 months since I started working with Alex at AW Insurance....SEVEN! It has been very good and challenging (in a good way). It took a while to get in the swing of things but I really do enjoy it and it's a bonus to get to work right alongside Alex.

Somewhere up in that paragraph I mentioned that we went to Steelville. Alex and I, along with my parents, Jared, Becky, Ethan and Nora headed down to the Mermac River in Missouri for a weekend away. We stayed at Cobblestone Lodge which was like stepping back in time, in a good way. We each had a little cabin (ie: bedroom and bathroom) ours was like a mini duplex, so we shared a porch with my parents. It was all inclusive and the food was fantastic (Alex said it was one of his favorite parts). After breakfast and lunch they would take a us down to the river where we could either take a raft, canoe or tube down the river. We chose to raft and canoe. It was a lot of fun and we would love to go back.  After we checked out on Sunday, we stopped by the Mermac Caverns.  We all enjoyed the cool 60 degree tour, the kids did great and I left triumphantly with my rock candy!  After lunch we all headed home to catch up on laundry. We had a great weekend and are thankful that we got to go. Also, we are very thankful that Alex's parents were willing to watch Moose- Thanks Eric & Sue!!

Rafting down the river

We almost tipped over, but Jared hopped out of his canoe and rescued us. After that Alex was a master steer-er and did 99.99% of the work. 

I want to be a cool mom when I grow up....

If I only I could be this cool when I have kids......

Check out their blog here. 

twelve hours + basement update

What would you do on a lovely Saturday for twelve hours? Well, here in the Williams' household we think a quick trip (4 hours each way) to Ikea sounds fun. On Thursday of this week, we are excited to be bringing on our first employee, Ryan. But, he'll need somewhere to sit. Therefore a trip to Ikea for a desk and some chairs was in order.

We woke up bright and early and headed north. We found everything on our business list, family member request list and personal list...or so we thought. We rounded the corner to the check out lines and were almost in line, until I realized we forgot the "as-is" section. So we wheeled our cart over to check it out. AND there she was, the couch of our dreams....and our budget's dreams, it was 45% off!
We talked about it for about two minutes and decided we would be foolish to leave this little gem behind. So, we told the as-is dude we'd take it! He and Alex loaded it up on a cart and we then headed to the checkout.

Why was it in the as-is section you ask? It was the showroom model and has a teeny tiny little hole on the bottom by the leg.

Fitting Ikea furniture in any vehicle is like a tricky game of Tetris. But, we got it all to fit and the ride home was very cozy. And now, what you've been waiting for: the couch in it's natural habitat! 

Why, yes! Those are our new floors...very observant of you!

Our lovely grey new couch. I need to make some cute pillows and re-cover the ottoman (or as we affectionately call it: The Turd)

and in case you want to know what it looks like to sit on our new couch: Tada! Regarding the red spacers in front of the fireplace, we still need to put the baseboards down, Alex's deadline is my birthday (in September) so we have a little time. 

Thanks for stopping by our basement and checking out our new couch. I'll post pictures of the other side of the basement that we've been working on putting up walls, drywall and the same flooring. It's all coming together very nicely!