Showers, Sweets, and Santa!

Happy December!  Much like the Christmas elf I am at heart, I have been running around decorating, making Christmas goodies, and trying to find the tackiest Christmas outfit possible.  These past two weeks have been anything but calm, but thankfully, I love being busy doing the things I love, and especially having time to do some of the million crafts and recipes I have on my Pinterest boards!

On the first day of December, I got the opportunity to throw my first-ever bridal shower!  My good friend Brooke is getting married this New Years Eve to my other good friend Deepanshu, and I am always up for a celebration!  This also marked the first time that I have made cupcakes since I moved to Tuscaloosa in May, which is a BIG DEAL for me.  Ask anyone from the Delta State Alumni Association :)  Since a lot of my decorations were already pink, I decided to make a white cake with whipped strawberry icing and marshmallow fluff filling.  OMG.  I will brag a little, and that's okay. They were good.  Aside from the cupcakes, I was honored to share one of Brooke's special days with her, and can't wait until New Year's Eve!  I got to meet some of her really fun friends, and we all had a great time being silly :)

The next day, we did a little Christmas decorating, and put up our "big" tree, our baby silver tree, and our stockings.  My goal one day is to have a tree in every room, and to have a white tree with blue ornaments.  I don't know why, but Justin doesn't seem as excited about the idea as I am.  Maybe I have made him watch Elf five too many times.  He is just lucky I haven't stuck with my original goal for this season, which is to watch a Christmas movie every day until the 25th.  Compromises.  Blah.  I still love him.  I digress...

Yesterday afternoon, I threw on my standard Sunday afternoon outfit, which includes no makeup, hair in a ponytail, and a big ole sweatshirt, and hopped over to Target to load up on some Christmas baking supplies.  Christmas and other holidays or special occasions are typically the only time I utilize the kitchen, and utilize it I do.  And by "utilize" I mean use more dishes than humanly necessary and leave behind an ingredient crime scene.

I say it's all worth it for some Reindeer Chow, right?  Right!  Justin helped me double a regular batch of Puppy Chow and add in some red and green M&Ms, which officially makes it Reindeer Chow!  I got the recipie from the Urban Daisies Blog.  Sooo good!  And I had some leftover mason jars, which I filled up with the chow and labeled them for our student recruitment group for the art department, the Art Ambassadors.  These little decorative touches can make anyone look like Martha Stewart.  That is why I love Pinterest!  And mason jars. A lot.

Up until Christmas break, I have three holiday parties to go to, and all of the chocolate chips, almond bark, and powdered sugar will be made into cute desserts that I will have to exercise my best will-power to stay away from (or just have one or two bites!).  Unfortunately, when you choose to have a March wedding, bridal fittings start in January which is RIGHT AFTER my most favorite holiday of the whole entire year, and the time when faculty members decide to gift you packages of Lindor truffles that you can't eat!  Why do you hate me, Christmas gods?!  Sorry for the rant.  Just know that on our honeymoon, Justin Quinn better buy me my own whole package of Lindor truffles which I will polish off in one sitting with no regrets at all.

Also, tomorrow it is this little one's birthday.  She's NINETEEN!  If you see her, make sure you give her a hug or some chocolate.  I love you, Kater Tot! 

Anatomy of a Cupcake

We all know I am not the most skilled chef, nor do I have a desire to slave away in a kitchen, but one thing I DO love is making cupcakes!  I love experimenting to make the cutest and/or healthiest cupcake recipie.  There is something about those little cakes with fun frosting and wrappers that makes me actually WANT to be in the kitchen. 

My mom and my sister are avid bakers, and have piping bags with different decorating tips, and even make their own batter and icing.  One day, I'm sure I'll reach their level of cupcake-mastery too.  Maybe.  Anyway, these are some that Mom made over Thanksgiving weekend that she took to the Egg Bowl...

I'm making my first cupcakes in my kitchen in Tuscaloosa tonight for Brooke's bridal shower tomorrow!  Pictures (not nearly as cute as these) to come!

Also be thinking about this lovely momma, who will have her first child AT ANY TIME!  Whoa!  Hopefully I will get to see them BOTH this weekend in Hattiesburg! 

Looking forward to hosting a shower for the first time, road tripping, and seeing some long-lost friends (KZ!) this weekend!

The giving of thanks!

This Thanksgiving break was by far one of the most filling I've had in years- filled with food from two different Thanksgiving lunches; filled with miles of traveling to Hoover, Homewood, Plantersville, Tupelo, and Oxford; and filled with lots of love from some of my favorite people who I don't see often enough.  Even though I abstained from doing the Facebook "thirty days of what I'm thankful for" posts, I have lots to be thankful for this year!  I live in an awesome town with true, uplifting friends all around me, I have a new job which I love (and helps pay for graduate school!), and I have two little pups who show me unconditional love with endless slobbery kisses.  To top it off, I get to spend every day with my number one man, AND things have been coming together for our wedding in a way that I never dreamed, both logistically and financially.  YAY!

My break started Wednesday night, when I got off work and plopped down on the couch to soak in the fact that I HAD FOUR WHOLE DAYS TO DO WHATEVER I WANTED!  Needless to say, I was ready for a break!  That whole "soaking up" moment lasted approximately five minutes, and then Justin and I decided it was time for a date night!  I changed into a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers and threw my hair up in a ponytail (because I'm 24 and that's how I like to dress for date night sometimes), and we went to the only place we can usually agree upon- Applebee's!  We are always thankful for their 2 for $20 deal, being that we're usually poor.  After dinner, we headed over to Midtown Village where I picked up a few Christmas presents, and we stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up some books to read over the break.  Why I thought I would have time to read, I don't know, but I DID pick up a book I have been eyeing for quite a while now (Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me) because, thankfully, I was able to find it in paperback, and this gem that we found on the "Humor" table...

The pull-out poster was really the selling point.

Thursday was spent waking up early and heading out to Hoover to have Thanksgiving lunch with Aunt Mary Anna and Uncle Stuart.  We helped Aunt Mary Anna get some dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, and raspberry pie together (thankfully all gluten-free!), and then we set out for Homewood, where we joined LOTS of family for our first Thanksgiving with them.

After lunch, we headed back to Hoover to decorate their lawn for Christmas.  This may sound like no big deal, but when the tallest of the bunch is 5'10, stringing net lighting on trees over 6 feet tall is no small task.  After all of the eating and decorating, we were pretty pooped and decided to head back to Tuscaloosa, passing LOTS of people standing outside at Target and Belk at the cities that are on our way home.

The next morning, I woke up before 8:00, trying to remember where I had stored all of our Christmas decorations from the move (I am THAT crazy Christmas lady). The pups and MK helped me hang garland and ornaments, and by "help", I mean they either tried to eat everything or carry it off into another room.  By the time 9:30 hit, I had a beautiful, Christmas-y home, but felt like I had been to war.  Nothing like chasing down some animals for Christmas ornaments to work off a Thanksgiving meal! 

At 10:00, Justin and I decided we would do our "Black Friday" thing (late, I know) and headed to Pet Supplies Plus, where we got some awesome deals on a puppy bed, some toys for MK, and a car seat for the boys to ride in to Tupelo.  We were officially on the road to head to Mom's by noon, and thankfully, the car seat was a HUGE help!  If you've read my previous blogs, you know that the boys hate traveling, and tend to vomit all over everyone and everything in the car.  I can gladly say that no dogs threw up, and Justin and I were VERY thankful for that!

Two hours later, we arrived at the most magical place on Earth- Mom's!   There is nothing like coming home to a cozy house, Christmas decorations up, and Mom and Neil's hugs.  One member of the family who was not excited to see us and two little pups was Lucy.

This is Lucy, not-so-affectionately known as Lucy Furr when she is being bad, which is about 95% of the time.  Lucy was not a fan of the pups, or anyone who came into her home unannounced over the break.  As you can see, Lucy does not like to be held or loved.  We are also thankful that she does not have claws ;)
After lunch, Mom, Kate, and I headed to Hobby Lobby and Kohl's for a little momma-daughter time while Justin and Neil layed on the couch watching football.  The rest of the night was spent decorating the tree and introducing Mom to Grumpy Cat.  Did I mention I love being at home?  I love being at home.

Saturday was EGG BOWL day! 

We spent seven hours in the Grove, and I was thankful to catch up with old friends, sip on some white hot chocolate from the fiance, and relax in a tent with a heater!  The game was not so good, and Kate and I ended up heading back to the tent at the third quarter because we could no longer feel our extremeties, and watched the beat down ensue from there.  Fun times.

This weekend, I was reminded how thankful am for so many things in my life, sleep and rest being near the very top of that list. Hopefully you were able to eat some good food, spend time around those you love, and get lots of much-needed rest!

This weekend will be packed with hosting a bridal shower for a sweet friend, and then traveling to Hattiesburg to see my Big (and possibly her new baby!), and my long-lost friend Katrina!  More traveling and blog posts to come!

Updates!

This past weekend included some of my most favorite things:  fun family, good food, and PLANNING!

Okay, I'll admit, sometimes wedding planning is NOT any fun, especially when considering how to pay for said wedding.  Luckily, I actually enjoy event planning, and I am always up for a challenge.  So far, I have enjoyed making my lists, seeing which flowers are most affordable, and looking into decorating options.  Lately though, it has gotten a little overwhelming.  It feels like things just keep popping up that I had no CLUE to think about, like where to have a rehearsal dinner in Columbus, where to find an affordable sound system, and how to make out my day-of itinerary.  I have been very fortunate to have some really helpful people around me- my Big, Lydia, who is also a bridesmaid, happens to be Mrs. Wedding-Planner-Extraordinaire and has been helping me with itineraries.  Our friend Hunter, who is a groomsmen, is also a talented guitar player.  And my best friend Sarah is planning my bridal shower AND bachelorette party all from Florida!  This wedding prepping has taught me so many things (time and money management!), but the most important is just how blessed I am.  This girl really does have some AWESOME friends and I am humbled at how much they actually want to help me.  I am also challenged to be a more selfless volunteer to the ones I love.  So to all of you who have helped physically or have just listened to me and given me advice, THANK YOU.  I am lucky to have you around!

This weekend, Mom came to Tuscaloosa to visit us, and we all had dinner at Taziki's, one of mine and Justin's favorite restaurants.  Saturday, we woke up early and made a Starbucks run to start the day off right.

In the Beddingfield/Herndon household, when the weather turns cold, we turn to our favorite crockpot dinner staple- CHILI!  I love chili.  Maybe love is not a strong enough word.  Chili is my number-one all-time favorite winter meal.  Chili with or without sour cream, shredded cheese, crackers... I do not discriminate.  This past week, my sweetie pie fiance offered to make some chili for me and have it ready when I got home from work. 

Let me preface this story by saying that Justin is an AWESOME cook.  On a scale of one to ten, he is a 9.5 cook, and I am a .5 cook.  So I am truly thankful to have him, and that he still wants to marry me even though I don't cook.  Thank goodness I have other redeeming qualities ;)

Anyway, Justin made chili, but it was not like the chili I was used to at home.  I mentioned this to Mom, and she brought all of her chili-making supplies to Tuscaloosa, told us which turkey meat is best to use, and taught us how to make what I like to call "Momma's Most Awesome and Delicious Chili".

Yum!  Justin started to assemble all of the chili goodness in the crockpot while Mom and I hit the road headed to Columbus to get some much-needed wedding planning done!  Since Mom was headed home after Columbus, we took separate cars for the trip.  Normally, I love, love to be around people, but I also love the time when it's just me, my music, and the open road.  Not many people want to listen to a mix of Weezer, the Foo Fighters, or Queen for an hour, nor hear me belt out the lyrics and drum on my steering wheel, so I am thankful for this alone time I get every once and a while!

Mom and I met my sister (the MOH), and Mom's friend Teresa and her son Tyler, who are helping to coordinate the reception.  To call them a God-send would be an understatement.  I am so thankful that they understand the theme and vibe of the wedding day.  Mom also fully explained how much I detest unity candles (and sand), so we are all on the same page!

We were able to talk about what kind of food I wanted for the reception, where said food tables would go, the outside ceremony decorations, and TONS of stuff that I haven't even thought about, like what color I wanted the serving platters to be, or where I wanted a picture table.  Good thing I'm most definitely NOT a bridezilla... or at least I am not one yet ;)  Honestly, as long as this wedding is heartfelt and a true statement of the love Justin and I have for one another, then I will be a happy girl.  I have full faith that everything will work out and be beautiful!



After Puckett, Mom, Kate and I got to spend some time together and had a late lunch at McAlister's (in honor of Sarah Marcy, who misses McAlister's in Florida), dessert at Krispy Kreme (a New York cheesecake doughnut!  Definitely not wedding dress friendly, but I have been doing really well on my eating-healthy lifestyle lately that I decided to splurge!  Yum!), and a visit to the mall where Mom bought me some really cute socks to wear underneath my boots.  And yesterday was spent doing copious amounts of laundry and catching up on my Gossip Girl (don't judge!).

The rest of this month is all about BABIES!! My grandlittle, Gbaby as she is affectionately known, in my college social club is having a gender reveal party in Columbus for her little one, and my Big is having her baby at the end of the month!  She and Jared were such a big part of my time in college, and I am so happy for them to be parents!! My goal is to come down to Hattiesburg to see their little one- be watching for a baby-themed post next!

Halloween: My Fourth Favorite Holiday

I love fall.  And by love, I mean it is my all-time favorite season.  There is just something about cold, crisp mornings and night-time coming at 5:00 that I love!  Not to mention Halloween, Thanksgiving, and football! 

Oh, football.  You were so much more fun when State was 7-0.  This past Saturday, Justin and I had tickets to the Alabama-Mississippi State game and decided at the last minute to sell them and tailgate on the quad at Alabama all day.  During our 13 hours outside (in the bitter cold), we met lots of interesting Alabama fans.  The nicest ones shared their Direct TV with us so we could watch the games, and gave us blankets to hang outside our tents to block the chilly wind. They were awesome. The meanest ones called us every expletive in the book and threw our cowbells on the ground. They were not so awesome. Such is college football.  Anyway, we still had fun tailgating and eating yummy deer meat, Dortitos, and my favorite, Nutter Butter ghosts!

Mom has been making these cookies since I was little- Nutter Butters dipped in white chocolate (with chocolate chip eyes I added!).  Considering I have very limited culinary abilities, this was my contribution to the tailgate, and they were a hit!  Delish.
Football season so far has been a lot of fun!  The day after I met Justin three years ago, we met back up at  a Mississippi State home game where I was selling concessions for my college social club.  Since then, we have always really enjoyed going to games together, and I am learning a lot and really getting into it!  We also have some aweosme friends around us who love State football too and who are always up to go along with us to games.

Excuse the one in the Alabama hoodie.  We still love him.

This Saturday, we are staying in T-town to watch the Mississippi State-Texas A&M game at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Yummm.

Now on to my next topic- my fourth favorite holiday!  At first, I couldn't figure out if Easter or Halloween would take the third spot in my ranking of favorite holidays, but unforunately, Easter won out and Halloween came in fourth.  I think this decision was heavily influenced by my love of new Easter dresses.  Nonetheless, I am a huge holiday enthusiast!  I love EVERY holiday, and decorate way too much for each one (but is there really such a thing as too much decoration?)  Sometimes I just don't understand why more people don't get excited about holidays.  I had lunch with one of our Art Department employees yesterday, and he told the group an awesome piece of life advice- "The more passions you have in life, the more alive you are."  I wholeheartedly agree, and holidays are one of my passions.  Every year, I have a list of Halloween costumes that I want to be, and the hardest decision is always in choosing who to be.  This year the list consisted of Rainbow Brite, Annie Oakley, the tooth fairy, the Black Swan, the Morton Salt girl, and Strawberry Shortcake.  I had originally decided on Rainbow Brite, but because I couldn't find a rainbow belt, the blue sparkly tutu did NOT work out, and I am broke, I pulled an outfit together from my closet this morning.  Since I have a maxi dress, long necklaces, and an abundance of flower headbands, I decided to be a flower child for work!  Not my most creative costume, but it did the job.

Also, I love face paint.

This year, I have compiled a list to help us all understand the importance of having just litte bit of Halloween spirit, and to embrace the childlike joy that comes with it.  I like to call them "Brittany's Rules of Halloween".

Brittany's Rules of Halloween!

Rule #1: Commit to the costume!

Do not halfway do your costume.  If you decide to be Katy Perry, I better see you with a blue wig on.  If you are a black cat, wear a tail!  I do not care if it is hard for you to sit down.  It's Halloween, and we make sacrifices for Halloween!  I wore Jesus sandals in 45 degree weather this morning.  Did I complain?  Yes.  Did I call Justin to bring me some close-toed shoes to work?  Absoutely not!  It's Halloween so I sucked it up!  And I ran fast to get inside buildings.

Rule #2: Do not be a Halloween hater!

Just because someone has more Halloween spirit than you does not give you license to make fun of people in costume. We must always remember that there are some people (adults, mind you) who choose to wear fairy wings on non-Halloween days just for the fun of it, not that I'm judging. On Halloween, you have the license to dress as crazy as you want, ALL DAY LONG (we'll cover this in rule #5).  So, I see you, 20 year old college student who is staring crazily at me.  You walk around campus every day in Nike shorts, even in 40 degree weather.  I do not make fun of you, so give me this one day to not look like the professional young lady I am, okay?

Rule #3: Candy for breakfast!

This rule is pretty self-explanatory.  Candy is acceptable at all times today!  I personally had Sweet Tarts, Laffy Taffy, and a Blow Pop all before 9 A.M.  I am on board for any holiday that makes eating candy for breakfast socially acceptable.  And as everyone knows, diets do not count on October 31st!  So go ahead- eat enough mini Snickers to equate to five regular-sized ones!  It's Halloween!

Rule #4: Pre-game it!

Who says we should only celebrate Halloween on October 31st?  ABC Family makes it easy to get into the Halloween spirit before Halloween!  This year, I've watched Hocus Pocus twice, Beetlejuice (favorite!), and half of the Scooby Doo movie before Justin made me turn the channel (he is obviously NOT a holiday enthusiast).  Browse Pinterest for sweet treats to bake!  Make all the funfetti cupcakes you and your neighbors will eat!  Decorate your house in early October, even.  This year, we have two scarecrows, pumpkins, black cats, and glitter leaves lining our porch.  The most important thing to remember is that you don't care what anyone else thinks.  If they think you're crazy, just know that you have more holiday spirit than they do, and you are a happier and more cool person than they could ever wish to be.  Just give a funfetti cupcake to these Halloween haters.

Rule #5: Halloween lasts 24 hours!

So don't just celebrate at night!  I listened to the Halloween Party Pandora station this morning when I got up, and Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits on my way to work (because he's kind of a creepy dude).  Halloween candy has been eaten, and I've already been to a costume contest!  Tonight, I'll give little kids candy (Lord, please let there be trick-or-treaters), dress my dogs up in their costumes, and pester Justin until he decides to throw a costume together.  And maybe we'll watch another Halloween movie?  The possibilities are endless!

Even if you don't celebrate Halloween, today is a fun day to dress up, eat candy, and act a little silly while you're on your sugar high.  Embrace it!  And just remember- the second-best holiday (Turkey Day) and the BEST HOLIDAY IN THE HISTORY OF EVER (Christmas, duh!) are coming up!  So that's reason enough to celebrate, right?

Also be checking Facebook for pictures of my super cute pups.  Hopefully they'll stay in costume for at least five mintues so Mom can get a good picture.

Embracing my Inner Mee-Maw

I know I haven't updated this blog in a very long time.  This is mostly due to the fact that I don't have anything too entirely exciting to post about.  And honestly, that is just fine with me.  I have come to some important life realizations these past few months, so I'm going to take this post to share a little about my self-discovery.

In August, my baby sister went to college, at my alma mater in fact!  Since she is just an hour away now, I got to help her move in, see her during recruitment, and go to her bid day when she joined her social club.

So of course, now I think that since Kate is only sixty miles away, she can come over whenever she wants, do laundry, have a home-cooked meal (by Justin, of course), and have her own room to sleep in.  I obviously have forgotten what it is like being a college freshman, because the only time she has had a chance to come see me was this past weekend, during her fall break.  On Saturday, I got up at 7:30, turned on a marathon of America's Next Top Model (my guilty pleasure), and hardcore house-cleaned.  Dishes were done, laundry was washed, dried, and folded, rooms were cleaned, and the puppies' toys were put up.  I even went to Hobby Lobby to get two small scarecrows (on clearance!) to finish my autumn centerpiece, and grocery shopped at Publix and picked up snacks for Kate and Sam, who was also coming to visit.  I got home, unloaded groceries, fixed a sandwich, and sat on the couch, and took a look around at my clean house, happy puppies, and Pinterest centerpiece.  I literally have never felt so content and at peace- alone on my couch and knowing that Kate was about to visit and that Justin would come home soon from his LSAT. 

I feel like if someone would have told me five years ago that I would be happiest washing dishes, grocery shopping, and hanging out at my house with my family, that I would have thought they were crazy.  I spent the majority of my college years NEVER slowing down.  I was involved in as many extra-curriculars as time would allow and was always thinking about different things I could do to add to my resume.  Once I got to the W, I was surrounded by people constantly, from 7:00 at breakfast with my sisters, til late at night when we would all pile up in the dorm and get homework done or watch movies.  On the weekends, I was going back and forth to Starkville or some other town.  After graduation as a recruiter, I was all over the state, usually leaving town on Sunday night and coming back on Friday afternoon.  I had gotten so used to being busy, that I literally did not know what to do by myself anymore. 

Maybe this happens to everyone at some point in their 20s, but I am learning to embrace my inner homebody, and becoming more comfortable with being alone.  I think about the things that made me happy at 20, which are not at all the things that I look forward to at 24.  My single most favorite thing to do is to come home after work, curl up with my pups, and watch tv with Justin.  That's it.  That is literally my favorite thing to do.  I value spending time with the people I love more than I ever have.  I also have never realized how much I miss my mom and wish she were closer. 

At 24, instead of online shopping at Target, I am looking at real estate sites to see what kind of houses Justin and I can afford.  I am staying in to watch Breaking Bad instead of going out every weekend.  I am attending and throwing bridal and baby showers and loving every minute of it. 

Its crazy how my priorities have changed in just four years.  I used to get panicked whenever I thought of committing myself to one person for the rest of my life.  How would I choose the right one?  I was a child of divorce, and I could not wrap my head around having a man who would be faithful to me and want to be with me until the end of my life.  I had never known a marriage like that.  Now, I have found the one I want to marry, and have never been so sure of the vows that we are about to take with one another.  To know that I have found him gives me so much peace.  I also never thought I wanted children.  I had no desire to raise kids in a world like this.  Now, I can't imagine not having or adopting children, and showing them a love in a world where there sometimes feels like there is none. 

To the world, I may be boring, but to me, I have never been more comfortable in my own skin.  I'm not 20 anymore, and that is MORE than fine by me.  I like being a mee-maw, and I won't apologize for it. 

And to end this post, a few things that have made me a happy girl lately: