Goodbye, 972.

Today Evan and I merged our cell phone accounts.  We'll be saving $80 a month, we finally got upgraded devices (ie, iPhones with a flash) and I also got a new charger -- which I need, because I accidentally sucked mine up into the vacuum cleaner.

What I didn't expect, or necessarily want, was a new number.

Alas, I am officially no longer a 972. Lubbock just keeps finding new ways to suck me in, and now it's with an 806.

It's all because in order to share a plan, we also had to share an area code. Listen, AT&T... just because I'm ready to share my last name with this man, does NOT mean I'm ready to give up my phone number I've had since I was 16.  I am oddly connected to my old number! I can't memorize something new! I just recently memorized Evan's... and now I have to figure mine out, too? Oy.

Side note, this entire post would qualify for a hash tag -- #firstworldproblems. I'm not ashamed. Only slightly.

Farewell, 3GS. I will miss you, and your Dallas area code. At least I'm still a Texas girl.

Catching up on Christmas

If you're like me, you look forward to Christmas all. year. long. Especially if you live with someone like my fiance, who strictly forbids Christmas music before Black Friday.  So I have to wait. And wait. And wait.

And then it's over! And this feeling of relief always seems to surprise me.  Quite frankly, I'm glad it's only a month. My anxiety and my wallet can't take it. Neither can my liver.

Alas, it is still one of my favorite times of the year. And this year we got to decorate OUR home for the very first time.  Many thanks to our sweet neighbor Cary for answering our call to walk outside for a quick photo sesh, as seen below.

 Didn't Evan do a beautiful job decking the halls?

Unfortunately, our poor garland didn't survive a massive wind storm that blew through Lubbock right before Christmas. 

Whoops.

But onto presents! Keep in mind that Bear is our only child, so he tends to get a lot of attention on this blog.

"What else is in here?" 

"That's it?"

Fortunately, it wasn't. He also got an ornament from his cousin Atlas. It was exactly what he wanted!

We spent the actual holiday in Dallas with my family this year. And 'twas a White Christmas! Just when we thought nothing could top his ornament -- Santa delivered snow for Bear. The dog couldn't have been happier.

"Outta my way, Mom! I'm hot on a scent!"

"Santa?"

We don't get to Dallas nearly as often as I would like, mostly because I miss out on so much time with my niece and nephew. I mean, how cute are these two?

Conversation time.

Cousin bonding.

Parker loves Spiderman... he loved his flashing "Spidey Sense" button.

We got my mom and dad George Strait tickets... her face as she opened them cracks me up. 

Poor Megs was sick and slept through most of opening presents. 

Tough guy.

Tiny Dancer. 

While in Dallas, we also got to celebrate another "old neighborhood" wedding -- this time, Kelly and Alan Arbabi. Basically, any wedding with this group is a favorite of mine.

Brandon & Kaci, poppin' the bubbly.

Musgrave sibling Christmas card, 2012.

And my handsome date... we're next!

So with all the hustle and bustle now dying down... our hustle and bustle turns to finally getting our own wedding underway. (How often do I mention that our engagement is taking too long?! Ha!)

                   

Happy New Year, and thank goodness for 2013! This is our year and I can't wait. :)

Engaged! One Year Ago.

This day in 2011, Evan got down on one knee in front of our tiny Christmas tree in our tiny Tech Terrace house and asked me to be his tiny wife.

And this day in 2012 -- we are.......... still engaged. Ha!

Still, those moments on December 11, 2011 are truly some of my favorite memories.  

I have many complaints and frustrations with having a long engagement, but mainly -- the cons all stem from the fact that I just. can't. wait. We're ready to make this thing official! Uncle Sam! Listen up!

So here's to my last Christmas as a Musgrave. I may or may not be trying to convince Evan to propose again.

What?! I'm a sucker for a good engagement!

But really, Evan, I can't wait to be your Mrs. :) Happy one year engaged anniversary to us!

Four Months and First Freeze

Here's a look at my Sunday night. Now tell me this is not a prime blogging opportunity!

Temperatures dropped this weekend in Lubbock. Finally, it feels like the holiday season! And this year -- we have a fireplace.  And room for a tree. And windows without a draft.  Have I mentioned how much I love our home?

This week, I got an e-mail from my old friend The Knot.  (A website I never use, by the way. I forget about it! Any other brides find the same thing?Whoops.) Anyway, so this e-mail.  I clicked on it, and had to blink a few times. The message said we were 4 months away from our wedding! FOUR MONTHS! I never thought I'd see this day come.

I guess it should stress me out, but it doesn't. I have a tendency to change my mind, so I know better than to buy/plan/organize too many things too far in advance.  And let's be honest -- I work on deadlines for a living.  Of course I'd plan a wedding on that same accord.

So needless to say, I was excited to get to work! This week, we:

1.) Paid our photographer

2.) Approved floral proposal

3.) Booked transport for downtown guests

4.) Ordered a few "prezzies" for our darling flower girl and dashing ring bearer

5.) Registered at Target

Evan clearly has different ideas for what we "need" to start our life together. That's a "gaming ottoman" in case you can't see it. 

6.) Picked cotton (its use is TBA! But we met in West Texas, of course we'd have to incorporate cotton into our wedding.)

And 7.) the best part -- booked our honeymoon! We'll be relaxing our first days as Mr. and Mrs. in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We are SO excited!

We do still have 4 months until the sun and sand, though. Until then -- we'll be enjoying our fireplace and of course, the hot chocolate...

No marshmallow left behind!

Catching Up On Fall 2012

Happy Thanskgiving, y'all!

Oh wait, it's Christmas now, isn't it? My how time flies.

Okay, so here's a quick recap of our fall, in picture form.  Because I realize I'm far behind, but should cover all of my bases.

First of all, Evan turned 32 25 in September. (I wasn't kidding, I'm that far behind.)

Evan's birthday saw!

Not necessarily a birthday present, but our new mower.

Handsome guy, even at 32.

All dressed up for Casino Night, benefitting MDA

In October, OU played Tech in Lubbock, so some of my lovely college girlfriends came in town. Trouble!

Aww.

We may be old older, but it's never a bad time for a little Delta Love.

Evan and I watched a lot of football, and yes -- that includes cheering for the Red Raiders. (Aside from OU/Tech weekend, of course.)

Oh, hey, Thanksgiving. You came up fast!  This year was our year to spend it in Denver with Evan's family. 

Cooking with the soon-to-be mother-in-law!

Christy gets the champagne poppin'

The spread!

Love my sister-in-law to-be.

Back in Lubbock, it was time to get ready for our first Christmas in our first home.

I'm not sure Bear was feeling this pose...

But get him in front of the tree, and he is READY FOR CHRISTMAS! (He probably thinks that present is for him.) (Sorry, bud.)

So with that brief and belated update, I hope all of you are enjoying this holiday season! It's a busy one, but always so much appreciated when you spend it with family and friends.

 And just because I love you all, I'm going to leave you with this.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Hot water, & other adventures in home ownership

Yes, I haven't posted in a long time. No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  But YES -- we have had hot water for nearly two months!

I still get asked about our hot water problem, and it makes me laugh because I already forget the nightmare that we moved into.  That's a good thing!

Let me explain.  We moved in August 10th, and on August 11th we took our first showers. No hot water. We thought it was a gas company issue (forgetting to turn it on?) so we waited until Monday. Nope. So we called our inspector, who climbed up into our attic (seriously, builders. Who had the idea to put the heater in an attic? Stop it!) It was our pilot light -- out. So he got it back on, and we had hot water for... 6 days.

Same thing again, pilot light was out.  So we had someone who knows what they're doing (not us) come look. He messed around with other things, turned the pilot light on, we're good to go! For... another 4 days.

Long story short, the hot water got to where it wouldn't even last 24-hours. So 4 different professionals and a very unpleasant Julie later... our warranty company awarded us a brand new heater!

I'm pretty sure the heavens rejoiced and the angels cried, right at this particular moment. So happy I was able to document it on film.

So it took awhile, but we were finally enjoying our new home AND properly showering. I'm pretty sure my co-anchor was sick of hearing, "hey -- sorry... I wasn't able to shower again today."    I know, I'm such a joy to have around.

We are still slowly making this house our home. I've been busy thrifting and antiquing, and Evan has been making a name for himself as quite the handyman.

Building his shelves in the garage...

And ta-dah! Excellent work!

Evan also fixed a leaky gushing water faucet in our backyard. I didn't take a picture, but you know what those look like. It was a lovely surprise to come home to after we were both out of town one weekend.  But thanks to Mr. Fix It, it was done in an afternoon, and even better -- barely cost us anything!

We have many more projects planned, but it's all taking a bit of a backseat for wedding planning. That's right -- we're still doing that.  More on that to come!

The Move

If anyone's followed any portion of my life the last few years, you'll know I've moved a few times.  I haven't stayed in one place (city or apartment) for more than a year since graduating high school.  I am EXHAUSTED.

So, in honor of Evan and I both finally being adults and putting some roots down, I wanted to document our last (at least for awhile) move.

It's funny though, how attached you get to a place.  Especially a rented one, like the Tech Terrace house. I will miss it. It was the first home we shared together, and where we got engaged. 

Remember this? Aww.

It also had the best backyard, where we had many ridiculous get togethers.  So first things first -- we had to host one last party there.  This is the only picture I remembered to take, but I think it's a pretty fair assessment of how that one went.

The doctor, dancing in lights. Why not?

After we recovered from THAT, it was time to tackle packing.  Evan sure was quick to take my diploma off the wall. 

Look at that grin. What a jerk!

My favorite part of moving is always the cleansing part. It's like my OCD's own little holiday. And I was so proud of Evan, getting rid of so much! We're talking DOZENS of old DVD's, old clothes, books, kitchen stuff he'd had in storage for years, and......... his Nintendo pajama pants. 

To be fair, he bought these for a Halloween costume.  However, a man in his 30's should prooooobably let them go.  (I love you, honey!)

There were still several DVD's that couldn't be parted with after all that.  And here is where they landed on our first day of moving.

Sidewalk Sale! I'll give you a great deal.

I'm not ashamed to say that one of the first things we unpacked was the bar. Still classin' it up with the MD. 

Note: that was a gift from our boss. No joke.

When you move, you come across things that make you say, WHY? Below is evidence of that.

We may not have a cup of sugar, but we certainly have scissors.

We got everything in by Saturday afternoon.  Then it was the fun part! Finding a place for it all. While we did that, Bear kept watch on the 'hood.

What's that? You want to see pictures of the house? But of course! Here's a few. Please bear with me as we still have decorating and painting to do... and the fact that my iPhone doesn't have flash.

Living room, from the front door. 

Living room, looking from the kitchen.

Front guest room.

Kitchen!

Oh, and my diploma that Evan couldn't WAIT to take down?  I found a lovely new place for it. On the center wall of the master bedroom. There was already a nail there! How convenient!

 I crack myself up.

Julie