MEET RYZE.

This is Ryze and he really is perfect. Who would have thought we'd get a cat? But after a really hard month in November, somehow getting a cat was the most logical thing to do. 

M (from the other room). Laurie?

L. Yeah babe?

M (still from the other room). Laurie can you come here please?

L (thinking something serious). Yeah, I'm here. What's wrong?

M. I want a cat. (something he's never said before).

L. Ugh, sure. Yeah. 

M. I'm gonna go get one. Today.

And behold Ryze. I wasn't even there to pick him out. First thoughts were:

// He's going to snap out of it. 

// It's just a phase.

// He's not going to find any he likes. 

// He's going to realize that we already have two pets and a third one would be insane.

// Doesn't he know we're dog people?

It seemed that he didn't realize any of that and still came home with a 15 week old kitten. But in his defense Ryze is pretty damn cute. He's crazy affectionate. Purrs 24/7. Loves cuddling with Maggie. And follows us around everywhere. Oh! And we're teaching him to walk on a leash. Pretty cool huh? 

Now I'm crossing my fingers for some cat apparel for Christmas.

Christmas tree 2013 + Video

We FINALLY got a tree. Yes I'm aware Christmas is only six days away. But they say "better late than never."

We had to get the smaller tree this year. ONE because all the good ones were taken already. And TWO because we had no way of getting a big tree home. Our little ole Corolla could't transport anything bigger than the one we got. But I'm pleased with our tree. He's a twerp but he's cute. And on the bright side, he only took a mere three minutes to decorate. No complaints from me.

Last year's tree.

I'm back!

For those who are still reading this blog, I'm back!!!

After taking an almost seven week break from blogging, I found myself sitting at home alone with the itch to write. You know that good itch. The one that means you actually want to blog. So here I am back at it. There's so much that I want to write. So much that I want to share with you all. So many changes around here. 

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// Like how we got a cat. His name is Ryze.

// Remember when I told you we got a house? Well we've almost finished moving in!

// I completed my first semester of Photography school! With all A's too!

There's so much more. But those are the most important ;)

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So anywho! Be expecting me to pop in and out again. 

I've miss you all terribly!

My husband thinks girls don't poop.

Beka from Sunshine 2 the Square Inch shared this hilarious video with me a while back & I rediscovered it in my inbox. It cracks me up every time I watch it. 

I've mentioned before that Mitch hates the idea that us ladies do the two, if you know what I mean. So right before we got married I stocked up on PooPourri. It's works wonders! If you haven't heard of it just watch this video. 

Hope that made your Monday a little better!

xx, L

Home alone.

I'm home alone right. And boy does it suck. 

One. Cause I'm bored.

Two. Cause it's dark outside & I'm alone {CREEPY!}

Three. Cause this house is empty & it looks pretty darn sad.

& Four. Cause M isn't here. & I miss him :(

On a good note though!!! -- Furniture is coming Tuesday!

YAY!!!! 

Our home won't be so sad anymore. Maybe then I'll finally be able to post some pictures :)

But for now, here's a couple pictures of what things currently look like. Don't get too excited.

 Nice blurry picture of some boxes in a corner filled with crap.

Here's our living room with no furniture. Notice the kitchen chair? Yeah, we've been improvising.

Who new furniture took forever to ship?! Lalala. Whatever though. We have a home!

Anywho. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. We sure enjoyed ours. I had zero assignments that I "had" to work on this weekend. So I tok it off & relaxed in our naked home. 

Now to start a new week. Bring it on Monday. I'm ready for ya!

Nighty night friends!

xx, L

Life's Update

Holla my peeps!

You might wonder why I haven't blogged on this bliggidty blog in like… forever (two and a half weeks). Well it's because we got a HOUSE!

So I've been drowning in boxes & trying to try up with laundry, while also keeping my grades up & working all at the same time. Oh, don't mention trying to learn how to cook all over again. Which all comes down to, this lil blog of mine has been put on the back burner. Like the one furtherest away. 

I'd normally post pictures of our awesome new home, but it doesn't look so awesome right now. We still have boxes in various rooms of the house. Still waiting on several pieces of furniture to arrive (mostly the sofa). But don't worry, we have internet & tv. "So Life can go on!" As Mitch would say.

I promise to show my face more & post lots of pics of our new home :)

It's Friday y'all!!!

xoxo Laurie

Best Birthday Gift Ever

If you don't remember my 24th birthday was last month. M always goes BIG with gift giving. We've talked about doing smalls things for each other but really he's thinking whatever (makes it really difficult for me when it's his birthday). This year he got me a long weekend trip to St. Augustine beach with our two pups. It's what drove me these last three weeks through school & work. I was obviously over-the-moon excited. 

Yes that was a lot of pictures. I have more. Wanna see? Kidding.

This trip was very special. Not only was it a fabulous gift from the Mr. but our girls got to tag along. They both loved the beach. Kodi was more interested in becoming a fish while Maggie couldn't stop sniffing the dunes. Everyday we had to rinse her face off cause there was so much sand on it. 

We didn't try to cram everything into out trip like we usually do. Instead we went slow. Relaxed. Did whatever we felt like doing -- not what we thought we needed to do in order to get the "most" out of the trip. It was nice. Better than nice. It was perfect. My favorite part were the belly laughs. We talked about our future. Wondered when the next time we'd be back with our girls. Even wondered if we'd have a human baby by then. I honestly feel content & overjoyed after that long weekend at the beach.

It's a dog toy. I swear!

Yeah, I fooled you didn't I?

There's a local pet store by our house that we enjoy visiting every weekend. They often have things you can't find at the larger pet stores. We always get Kodi a new toy (Problem? Probably, cause her toy basket is overflowing as I type). Maggie isn't the one to play with toys now that she's ancient, so we resort to treats. Usually ones that make her breath smell good.

Well we found this toy hanging on the wall by all the other toys. Because of it's length & that it floats, M thought it would be perfect to bring to the beach this week. He enjoys finding the toys more than me so I encouraged him & told him she'd love it.

We should have known this toy didn't look right. I mean come on! Look at it! But before we stopped in the pet store we had a large Mexican lunch where I finished my entire plate friends. So as you can imagine we were a bit lethargic. Because... the first thing my father-in-law said when we got home with it was "that looks like a sex toy".

And he's totally right.

So now we call it Kodi's Sex Toy.

Inappropriate?

We're going to make excellent parents.

Oh! We bought the Small. They came in Medium & Large sized too ;)

Happy day my peeps!

Apple Picking

This weekend we were lucky enough to be invited by one of my favorite families to go apple picking in the North Georgia mountains. You laugh Alyson, but I miss spending my days with you guys. We went early enough to beat the crowds, also thinking the weather would be nicer then... ugh by the time we left I'm pretty sure I was developing quite the back sweat. But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves!

We'll be eating apples for the next while. Mmm!

What did you do this weekend?

Choosing to be happy.

This post is going to be very real. I try not to post many like this. I enjoy being very silly & whatever when I write. I want to read through this blog ten years from now & remember things as they were. But that would also mean I'd have to write the bad things in life too. So here goes...

Lately I've been down. Yeah, like the occasionally funk everyone experiences. Sure. But there's a trend with my runts in life -- they are showing up more often. Like almost daily. For the past couple months it's gotten progressively worse & there's no real reason why. Could be because I've been crazy busy with school, work, marriage, looking for a new home. The list goes on. But then I tell myself how petty I sound when I talk about how "tough" my life is. But I still find myself in a funk. I can't be happy. I try to be happy. I try to laugh & think that all things are good. But behind closed doors I see how terribly sad I am. & how it's greatly affected my relationships & most importantly, my marriage. One afternoon when we were home alone Mitch sat down & told me how it was affecting him. How my moods weren't just upsetting me, but him & our marriage too. It hurt to hear that. But I knew that all along. I knew that I was hurting him all this time, yet I didn't try to mask it or seek help. 

I want to be happy. It's hard though when all I'm feeling is this emptiness. This void that awkwardly found a home in me. I have everything in the world I need or could ever want. I'm married to my best friend & we have two perfect pups that easily complete my life yet I feel incomplete. I've seen worse in my life & I was happier then. Why I can't be happy? I know all this sounds so trivial. Like I'm being a whinny twenty-year-old. It's difficult to explain. Plain & simple -- I'm sad. 

source

I read somewhere that happiness doesn't just come into your life unwillingly. It's not something you can chase down & have forever. But you must choose to be happy. It's your choice to be content & smile & feel good at where your life is right now. It's knowing that your complete even with all your imperfections. I have my good days & I think today's one of those days where I successfully chose to be happy. 

Thanks to those who managed to get to the end. #endrant
xoxo
-L

Ture Story.

My hubby, you know the Lover Boy -- aka M, is famous. So basically
you all are going to want his autograph cause he's a big deal ;)

Kinda kidding. But he was on tv this morning.

Here's the link if yall liked to see what he's been doing for the education world.

My famous hubby. (skip to 1:30)

Happy Monday my peeps!

Friday's Letters {34}

Dear Husband you never cease to amaze me. I came home to a letter laying on the keyboard (cause you knew that would be the first place I go). It was from the bub & it basically said how much he loved me :) Well Mr. Brotherton, I stinkin love you too. Lets kiss tonight ;)

Dear gorcery shopping Lets be real for a sec -- I totally forgot how to properly do you that's what she said. No but for real, I went to the grocery store the other day & I was confused. One, I left my list at home. No real surprise there. & two, I basically bought everything I wanted. So yeah, the price was a tad but more than I wanted to spend & I'm sure I'm going to hear it from M. 

Dear Kodi You've started this new game called, Rabies Attack, where you try to play with me but instead you start jumping on the bed like a toddler & try to grab on to my wrists. Yesterday you yanked out a chunk of my hair. Lets not play that game anymore. 

Dear Skype Until recently I've had no real use for you. I mean sure, M & I will occasionally skype from different rooms. But who doesn't do that? But yesterday I used you like a grownup. I skyped with my good friend Chelsea from Lost in Travels. Zeke, Kodi & Maggie were al introduced. Even M popped in to say HELLO! She's a total gem & I'm so glad we met through blogging :)

Oh yeah, Chels, don't hate me for this pic. I was just screen shot-ing away during our chat. This one just ended up being my fav. Kinda looks like you're singing Wrecking Ball to me.

Happy Friday my peeps!

Any plans?

Lately {32}

Uno // A text from my mommy-in-law. Definitely brightened up my day.

Dos // M still doesn't understand what "make up the bed" means.

Tres // Maggie sleeping in the lobby at work. 

Cuatro // I turned 24!

Cinco // Kodi sleeping after a good hike.

Seis // Enjoying pho for my birthday.

Siete // Soaking up the last bit of sunshine before fall sets in.

Ocho // Buying 10 local newspapers. M's class was on the front cover.

Lately I've been wearing a lot of boots & buying unhealthy amounts of cardigans. I mean what can I say, I'm a fall girl. I'm secretly wishing it would hurry up. I'm ready for the pumpkin lattes & excessive amounts of cuddling just to stay warm. I also can't wait for the breath-fog. You know the kind when you go outside to cool temps & you breath fog? Yeah that. I'm also awaiting the fires & watching the trees lose their leaves. Sigh.

 Lately I've also been brushing up on my spanish. I truly suck at it. Tell ya a little secret... in college I took the spanish class online. But I didn't really do anything -- M did it all for me. That's how he won me over ;)

What have you beauts been up to lately?