Tour of Master BR

Dum, du, du DUM!!! The bedroom is (almost) complete! We have to cover one accent chair, two small benches and cover a side table and then this room is DONE as far as I am concerned. I will share over the next couple of posts what has kept Mrs. Douglas, my mom, and myself busy the past several months! It has definitely been a work in progress :)

We moved the large pieces of furniture around along the big wall and it looks so much better. My mom found the bird prints for the wall and they really fill up the space perfectly!


My awesome mom has come up two separate times to hang drapes for us in the dining room, living room, and now our bedroom. My neighbor from back home made the drapes for the bedroom and I could not be any happier with how they turned out. The fringe down the drape completely makes the room!

My most favorite spot in the room...I love sitting in these chairs and read or watch tv or blog or read magazines.


Thank Goodness I still love our bedding :) I do plan on keeping this "look" for the long haul, much to Josh's delight! We are looking for some coordinating fabric to make a table skirt for my side table.

The perfect chocolate chip cookie

I have made enough batches of chocolate chip cookies to figure out what makes them the best. Here are couple of my tricks:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together BEFORE you add it to the butter/sugar mixture. Trust me, it just makes a difference.
2. Before you cream the butter, make sure that it is room temperature.
3. I use Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips. I have found they're the best.
4. I use parchment paper on my baking sheets.
5. The recipe I use tells me to leave them in from 12-14 minutes. I get the cookies out at 10 minutes and let them sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before I move them. This is key to soft, chewy cookies!
6. Lastly, there's just something about a HOT cookie. Josh and I like to warm them up in the microwave for a couple of seconds then drop a scoop of vanilla Publix yogurt on top! Yummy :)

Back to School

So...finally getting around to blogging! We went back to school on the 9th and it has been crazy ever since. I am glad to be back in a routine and actually think this is going to be a really great year! I am happy to be back at Greenbrier with my wonderful friends and co-workers. I am happy to see my kids walk through my door for speech. I am also happy to be a .8 position, which means I work four days a week. On my day "off", I am seeing babies through BabyNet at their home or daycare. I have been doing BabyNet for a little over a year and love it! It's a nice change of pace from my typical therapy in the school setting.
Besides work, Josh and I spent last weekend celebrating belatedly our anniversary. We had a wonderful weekend spent sleeping, strolling the streets of downtown, relaxing on Isle of Palms, and eating yummy food! Besides a flat tire, we had a great time being together.
We are both looking forward to fall and the start of football season, apple picking, pumpkin spice lattes, and most importantly, cooler weather! I'll be back soon with pictures and adventures.

Grow Old with Me...the Best is Yet to Be

I will probably say this every year until we die, but wow! I cannot believe it has been THREE years since our wedding day! I just put our professional wedding pictures from the disc onto iPhoto since we now have a Mac and it was fun to see them pop up one by one...kind of like re-living the day. One thing through every single one of them...I was beaming throughout the entire day, from getting ready at the church, making it through the ceremony, until we left the reception. Our wedding was definitely the best day of my life and I always think it's so fun to think that ONCE in your life, every single person that you love and treasure the most are in one room together, sharing the beginning of your lives. Marriage has been such a blessing and I do love this journey we are on!
August 4, 2007

August 4, 2008...Savannah, Georgia

August 4, 2009...Maui, Hawaii (UM...Can THIS location really be beat for your anniversary?)

COMING SOON...August 4, 2010

Mary Alice Bridal Brunch

My mom and I hosted a bridal brunch for Mary Alice at DiPrato's in Columbia on Saturday! We think DiPrato's Brunch cannot be beat and it was the perfect spot to celebrate Mary Alice with special friends!
I had the invitations done at Invitations on Main in Greenville. Swoozies sadly went out of business (however, it will be re-opening soon!) and this was the first time I have used IOM, but they were great to work with and I thought the invites turned out adorable! We went with the chocolate brown and blue "theme" for the rest of the party!

Cupcakes! Surely Goodness Cupcakes made these adorable and delicious cupcakes for the brunch! I had them as favors, as I figured everyone would be quite full from the brunch. We packaged them in Chinese To-Go boxes for all the guests to take home with them!


MAP and her sweet mama, Susie!

MAP and the Elizabeth Ann Frame that mom and I gave her! Elizabeth Ann (the frame designer) always has a booth at Holiday Market in Columbia and I always spend quite a while looking at every one that she makes because I love them all!

The whole party...We had a great time meeting everyone's mamas! We had the pleasure of sitting near EA and her mom, and she pretty much kept us laughing throughout the entire brunch. EA gets her story telling honestly!


I was excited to see these two again!

We took a picture just like this at my bridal brunch! Three years later...we do it again!

All of the Bridesmaids, minus Carrie! We missed you!

Mary Alice and all the mamas!

Washington DC 2010 Part 1

We had an extremely early flight out of Columbia on Sunday morning. (6 am early)...however I am in love with flying out of Columbia's airport and I would rather wake up a couple extra hours early than make the drive to Charlotte or Atlanta. There are approximately 3 people in front of you to get through security...there is never a rush to the gate, as they are ten feet from passing through security...in other words, its a travelers dream!
Anyway...we get to DC very early, as it is only an hour flight...we wait for the MetroBus to drive us from Dulles to the city, unpack at the hotel, and scope out our plan for the day. We got a great deal on a flight/hotel package and lucked up to be able to stay at the Willard Intercontinental. The location was great and the hotel was staffed with extremely helpful people. We made our first museum stop at the Museum of American History. It has been newly remodeled and it was really incredible. I will not bore you with the loads of pictures we took--but my favorite part is below, the Julia Childs Kitchen:


The Hope Diamond. Mom and I went in the Museum of Natural History while Banks was sleeping Sunday afternoon. We didn't have too much time but we were able to see the highlights, and this diamond was definitely one of them!

Capital Building. Banks' principal from Blythewood was actually in DC for a conference the week we were there and he had a private tour scheduled with Joe Wilson (along with several other teachers from Richland 2). We were invited along and were able to see a couple of votes being taken and Joe Wilson took us around and showed us several neat things in the Capital.



Ford's Theater. Luckily we thought to order our tickets before we left home. We were able to tour the museum, hear a ranger talk, see the booth where Lincoln was shot and even see the gun that shot him. Lastly, we toured the house where Lincoln was brought following the shooting and where he died the following morning.



Arlington Cemetery. No how many times I see the changing of the guards, it always blows me away.



The Nationals unfortunately weren't playing at home while we were in DC so we travelled to Baltimore's Camden Yards to see the Orioles play. The public transportation switches were stressful from DC to MD, but it was a fun game and the Orioles surprisingly won the game! We are not able to travel to a new city without finding the closest MLB park and catch a game!