year 28

Happy Tuesday ladies!

I am now officially in my second to last year of being a twenty-something ;)

I had a lovely weekend celebrating my birthday with Aaron, which makes up for the fact that all I am doing today is working, then going to class...boo! 

But, I'll share all the weekend fun in a post tomorrow! xx

labor day weekend

Yay for a 4-day work week! I hope you all had a great long weekend with your family and friends, celebrating the end of summer...even though it's still a million degrees here :-/ Fall weather cannot come soon enough ladies! I'm so sick of the hot weather.

We had a great weekend here in Columbus, mainly because it was this goofy guy's 1st birthday! :)

My "little" Dexter (aka Bubby)...born Sept 7, 2014 and rescued November 8, 2014.

He is now almost 80 lbs and is the biggest baby ever!

Loves to snuggle, cries and whines when you aren't petting him, and is occasionally naughty (i.e. chews up the arm of the sofa when you are at work)!!

He had a GREAT birthday - we started off with a trip to the dog park to run and play (Deedee included in all of this btw ;) ...then we went to the pet store to get some treats and new tags for their collars. Finally, we went to Graeter's (a local ice cream spot) and they got Doggie Ice Cream treats! Deeds wasn't interested, so Dexter ate both of them...haha! Needless to say, they were both passed out on the couch for the rest of the day, exhausted from all the fun!

On another note, I'm getting my hair done this weekend - for the first time in 8 months! Yikes. I really need to make time to get to the hairdresser more often lol

Anyway - here are the inspo looks I am thinking of taking with - what do you think??

I definitely want to keep it long, and won't be coloring it, but I really like these two styles. Center parted, long layers, and able to curl or wear straight. 

I'll post pictures once it's done on Saturday!!

heart shaped pizza & skull shaped vodka

Thank you for all the birthday love yesterday! It was a really nice day - pretty low key. 

We will go out over the weekend, so yesterday we decided to stay in and snuggle with the fur babes and watch the college football championships...and Aaron had arranged for our pizza place to make a heart shaped version of my favorite pizza for my birthday :) 

My gifts were amazing - as always. Aaron is so great a picking things out for me! - he always remembers things that I have mentioned, even if it was ages ago. He surprised me with one of my new favorite movies (I love Chris Pratt) and a bottle of Crystal Head vodka.

The iPhone was my gift to myself - it's okay to buy yourself bday gifts, right? ;)

Snuggle bugs - these two hate the winter cold! They hog all the blankets :)

 

It was amazing to have a Buckeye win for the first College Football Playoff National Championship! Not only am I a grad student there, but I also work at OSU - so, despite being more of an NFL girl - it has been exciting and the energy in Columbus and on campus has been awesome! Needless to say, everyone was in a great mood at work today :)

1 year old!

Just a quick post...because my little babe is 1 year old today!

We didn't adopt her until July, but May 1st is her official birthday :)

I am so lucky to have this little sweetheart in my life. I can't imagine it without her! She truly is a member of our family and makes my heart so very happy (even on the days when she is driving me nuts ;) I look back at pictures from her first couple of weeks and I can't believe she was ever that small! A trip to Moochie & Co for a new antler to chew on (her favorite) is definitely in order today!

Happy Birthday Deedee <3 <3 <3 

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was super busy - but so much fun!!

On Saturday morning, Aaron and I packed up the car and head up to Akron. That evening we went out for dinner with our best friends to celebrate Abby's birthday (striped shirt). It was a great time, but the place - 3 Palms Pizzeria - was EXTREMELY disappointing. I actually have never had such a bad dining experience. I felt bad because it was Abby's birthday and she just wanted an awesome dinner with her closest friends, and the restaurant kind of ruined that. But, we went to one of our favorite bars after and all was good again!

Winter time + Flash Photography = me looking like I'm out of one of the Twilight movies...summer needs to get here asap so this girl can get some color!! ;)

Sunday was my best friend's bridal shower (I'm the Maid of Honor). I didn't host this, since I live out of town it wasn't feasible, so her aunt and cousin planned and hosted. I will be hosting the bachelorette though, which I am super excited for!

Michelle came over early and we got ready together...I did her hair and makeup so she could relax, then we head over to the shower around noon. It was a good time, exhausting though! Events that have tons of people I don't know and have to interact with just drain me...I'm truly an introvert ;)

I'm still editing some of the pictures from the shower for her, but I'll share when they are done!

Is anyone else still exhausted from the time change? I am still tired and can't seem to get enough sleep to catch up!

xo

Birthday Weekend!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! I had a wonderful weekend, despite having a million things to do on top of celebrating my birthday ;)

I am not a huge fan of roses, so Aaron got my a gorgoues bouquet of tulips, lillies, and I'm not sure what the wide lavendar colored flowers are - but they were my favorites. I love hydrangeas (one of my all-time favorite flowers) but unfortunately, they are not good for dogs if injested. And with our luck, Deedee would find a way to eat them!

On Saturday night we went out to Cantina Laredo, a fabulous Mexican restraunt in Columbus with amazing food. It's kind of a birthday tradition, Aaron takes me there every year. They have great margartias, and fresh guacamole made right at the table for you! And my favorite part, dessert - hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream on a sizzling plates of brandy butter {YUM}.

We were a bit let down this year though...not by the food, but by the atmosphere. We went late, about 8 pm, and were dressed up because it is a nice place. But, apparently since last year, they have incorporated a kids menu, and every family in Columbus decided to take their kids out to eat that same night. We were sat in a room full of families which was quite annoying. Don't get me wrong, I love kids...but it was obvious we were on a date and I don't think it was very professional to seat us next to a screaming baby and toddler watching noisy cartoons on his ipad. Not romantic. Oh well, we will pick a different place next year ;)

What places to you ladies go for date nights??

Forgot to get a picture of us all dressed up for dinner, but once we got home we changed into pjs and snuggled up for drinks and a movie. Perfect night to me!

On Sunday {my actual bday} my best friend Michelle and her fiance, Jeremy stopped by and treated us to lunch! It was so great to see her...we have been best friends forever, but she is one of those people I just don't get to see enough. We realized it had been a year and a half since we last saw each other!! We are planning a lot of time together coming up soon, though since her wedding is in May!

We didn't get around to buying my succelents {that I wished for in my last post} but that will go down this week for sure :)

I did get a new winter coat though! I've been wanting a high-quality down jacket for winter since it gets so cold here. Criteria - matte black (dislike the shiny ones), long (knee length, butt covered), and no fur hood, bonus if it has a removable (non-fur) hood. Oh, and decent brand since I want it to last a long time. 

All the ones I've seen have been so expensive or not quite what I was looking for...but we stopped in Macy's since they were having 50% off outerwear, and I found a perfect Calvin Klein jacket! Then, using your Macy's card, you got an additional 20% off...so an almost $300 jacket went down to about $120 after tax. Win.

Couldn't find a picture online, I'll post one later this week :)

Finally, if you follow me on Instagram {emiliestorey} you know that this little sassafrass has been a bit naughty, and been caught regulary biting at her cast - so on goes the cone. It is hilarious, but she is instantly a super grump and follows me around endlessly, bumping me with it, trying to get me to take it off. 

Did you do anything fun this weekend?? xo

Five on Friday 1.10.14

Hope you are all staying warm! It has been such a cold week here...like step-outside-and-want-to-die-cold.

We actually had two "snow days" on Monday and Tuesday - which is amazing because Ohio State almost NEVER closes. Just to put it into perspective, they have only closed for weather 9 times in the past 35 years....until this week. It was nice getting an extended weekend and having those two extra days off, but for some reason this week has still felt extremely long! But I'm happy it is once again the weekend :)

1} Breathe.

Because after tonight I have completed my first week of grad school and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be ;) Still a bit intimidating, but I'm sure in time I will get more comfortable and confident during class.

2} Celebrate.

 I turn 26 this weekend! My birthday is Sunday - so I'm excited to go out with Aaron and then see by best friend, Michelle, and her fiance...she is coming up from KY just to see me and I couldn't ask for a better present!

Fun fact: her bday is July 12th - so we are exactly 6 months apart and have half-bdays on each other's birthdays!

Holy throw back! Pretty sure this is 2006 (senior year of high school) - and is the only picture I could find of us. We have been best friends for almost 20 years and barely have any pics together! It is a crime really.

3} Read.

 This technically isn't out yet, but you better believe I already pre-ordered my copy on Amazon. She is hilarious, and I've read all of her other books within hours, so funny you can't put them down!

4} List.

Clutter stresses me out, majorly. So, I've had enough with all the useless crap laying around our house and cluttering the basement, especially when none of it gets used. Speakers, bike racks, motorcycle stands, snowboarding jackets, endless pieces of technolgy, etc etc.

So...the goal this weekend is to get rid of it! And how will I do this? Ebay, of course! Why not make a little seed money in the process of de-cluttering?? Genius plan, me thinks.

5} Plant.

I got a fabulous wooden {indoor} planter from Aaron for Christmas...because he knows I love succulents and thought it would be fun for me to have them inside. For my birthday, I asked that we go to the local nursery and pick out some things to fill it with :) The planter is super modern, like a wooden puzzle - hard to describe, but I will take picutres once it has plants in it!

Side note: this is totally adorable and such a creative gift, he got major points for this one. I never would have even though of it myself. 

If you don't know what succelents are...see below.

Basically, the cutest little rubbery plants - I love them :)

As always, thank you so much for reading ladies!! Will you be linking up for Five on Friday? I always love reading everyone's posts at the end of the week :)

Health Scares and a Happy Ending

Well, this week has been a stressful one...but I got through it, and it has all ended well, which is what's important :)

To start off, the other night, Aaron looked at me while we were watching TV and said, "Babe, I can't feel the left side of my face". After a few minutes, he mentioned his eyesight was now going (in the left eye). We dropped everything and rushed to the hospital. I was panicked, because these are all signs of a stroke (but it couldn't be that - I kept thinking - he's way too young right?). 

We spent a good 6 hours at the hospital in the ER from 8:00 pm until almost 2:00 am. It was rough, but we were kept entertained by the drunk man across the hall who had fallen and busted his face open - but couldn't remember any of it, and kept trying to get his friend to stitch him up ;)

After CAT scans, blood work, etc...we came away with the doctor telling us Aaron was fine - no stroke, no tumors - and they think it was possibly a severe migrane. I had no idea they could be so intense! But, we were happy to hear it wasn't anything major. Needless to say, we slept in the next day (2 am is WAYY past my bedtime ;)

Later in the week, I had chest imaging done due to a lump they found during my annual exam. This took me a long time to schedule - as I was petrified to go. My mom had breast cancer twice, and I didn't want to face this appointment in fear that something was wrong. But, I finally made myself do it - and turns out it is nothing to worry about. Whew...hugh sigh of relief.

So, after all this stress was over, we got to celebrate Aaron's birthday!! He turned 37 on December 10th (almost 40 babe - yikes! ;) Many people don't know he's actually 11 years older than me. What can I say? Age is just a number...and I'm an old soul. When we met, the difference didn't matter in the slightest - we just fit.

I had all his gifts planned out (have to be organzied since he bday is only 2 weeks before Xmas) but my plans were ruined when he accidentally found one of his Xmas gifts (Keurig he's really been wanting) in the basement! I was so bummed, because I work really hard to buy gifts that are thoughful and I hate when surprises are ruined...but he felt so badly for finding it since he knew I would be bummed... so I just decided to adjust my gift plans.  He got the Keurig for his birthday, and the orginal bday gifts have now become Christmas presents.

Deedee wanted to help unwrap - but then she was scared. Haha she is going to have a hard time at Christmas! ;)

We both hate store-bought cake and icing - so I got him a mini apple crisp.

The birthday shenanagins continue this weekend...maybe he will get a home-made cake then! (probably not ;)

Happy birthday to the love of my life! The most handsome, and goofiest guy I know, and my best friend <3

{Sorry for the mush!!}

xx