Perspective

Every once in a while (read: daily) something happens that puts life back in perspective.  Every morning I wake up and thank God for giving me another day.  Every day I thank Him for my husband, my pup, our wonderful families, and the cozy roof over our heads. 

However, on a regular basis I find myself getting caught up in thinking about the things I want right.now. (read: babies, a house, no debt) and forgetting to just cherish the amazing things that are happening right now all around me.  D and I both have jobs that we LOVE, an apartment that has been a perfect little place to start our life together, and the sweetest darn pup you ever did see. 

We have amazing families, our health, and we fall more and more in love with each other every day. 

One of my favorite bloggers Christina posted about her dad finding out he has cancer, and her mother just recently went into remission after her own battle with cancer.  I read her post and couldn't help but start tearing up.  I can't imagine what she must be going through.  I pray for her and her beautiful family.  I pray that they be strong and that her dad can fight his battle with cancer and beat it.  I pray that God watch over them.

During this holiday season, I am trying every single day to just be thankful and grateful for everything I have in this life.  Someday we'll have a house, and until then I'm going to enjoy the fact that I have a roof over my head and an amazing apartment complex that comes to the rescue whenever we have an issue.  Someday we'll have babies, and while I hope this day comes sooner rather than later, D and I are remembering to enjoy the time we have that's just us. Someday we'll have (less) debt, but for now we are working hard to pay it off and that's enough.

I pray you all remember to cherish each day and to always spend time being thankful for all you have, and not waste time on the things you don't.

-T-

6 Month Anniversary + Decking The Halls

I had a great week at work last week but I was still more than ready for this weekend to arrive.  Friday night I was long over due for a night out and I had a blast catching up with friends and enjoying a few cold beers.  On Saturday I went to a baby shower and then babysat for some really cute kiddos- fantastic way to watch kids movies, play games, and make some extra cash on the side.

Today was much more eventful and an overall fantastic day with my little family.  D had a meeting at work this morning so I got to ease into my day with a festive cup of coffee and puppy snuggles.

 We may or may not have purchased this fantastic hat at Target today.

When he was finished we made a quick stop at the storage unit to pick up our Christmas decorations and then stopped at Target to get a million more.  I'm obsessed with all the cute stuff we picked up! 
We started decorating, but we're saving the tree for tomorrow, on account of we are stuffed to the brim after an amazing dinner date at Carmine's on Penn. My sister Jen got us a gift certificate for our wedding and we were so excited to get to use it for our 6 month anniversary...they have been nothing short of amazing.  I'll summarize all that in a million pictures...

 Love our new snow globe!

 Branch bundle and candles everywhere.

 This potpourri smells so delicious.

The puppy got some pjs :)

 Great wreath from Target last year.

 Tried and true favorites on the mantel...a certain puppy already has some treats in his stocking!

 Celebratory drink.

It's going to be a Merry Merry Christmas!

I got distracted by eating and only remembered to take a picture of our amazing sausage and peppers.  We also had yummy garlic rolls, caesar salad, and baked ziti.  #foodcoma

Needless to say, the Felecos household had a fantastic weekend.  Now to get some rest before an awesome 4-day work week (Friday off!).  Happy Sunday!

-T-

Sunday Favorites

When the snow starts falling, I automatically want to turn into a bear and hibernate.  I want fires, soup, and snuggles with my two favorite guys.  To celebrate all of my favorite winter time things, I wanted to make today a little special. 

D had a morning meeting at his second-job so I headed to the grocery store and picked up some supplies for a perfect, hibernation-worthy Sunday with the hubs and puppy.  When I got home, I immediately cranked up the country music station on TV and started cleaning and cooking in the kitchen.  Pretty soon, our apartment was filling up with the most delicious cinnamon aroma...heaven.

When he got home, he caught me setting everything up...

We had Cinnabon brand cinnamon rolls, perfectly crispy oven-baked bacon, scrambled eggs, grapes, and apple cider mimosas (complete with cinnamon & sugar rim). 

All that's left on the agenda today is praying for a Broncos win and cooking up some delicious pot roast in the crock pot! 

Happy happy Sunday!

-T-

3 More Sleeps...

Since we first started dating, whenever D and I were going to be away from each other for more than 1 night {heck even if it was just 1 night} we would countdown the time until we would be together again in "sleeps".  Well this time around we had to countdown 14 sleeps and letmetellyou it's been rough!  We just got married 6 short weeks ago and we've been enjoying newlywed bliss so very much.  As much as this girl loves binge watching trashy TV shows and drinking wine while snuggling the puppy to death, there is only so much alone-time I can take before I start to get into a funk. 

To help get me out of this little funk I'm gonna do a little recap of some of the fun things I've done while I've been flyin solo the past week and a half.

I went to a Rockie's game with two super awesome girlfriends.  We got to spend the afternoon melting in the hot hot sun and drinking lots of icy cold beer. It was perfect.  And this view...it never gets old.

I got to have dinner with another two of my favorite ladies and watch trashy MTV shows and hang out with one of the cuuutest boys I know.  Have you ever seen such an adorable batboy!?  I'm sure you haven't.

 LOTS of puppy snuggles.  Like enough to get comments from D's friends that they think I post 3x more about Capone when D is out of town.  #puppymomproblems

The furbaby and I have been on tons of walks and the other day we decided we'd park ourselves in the shade for a bit and just soak up the outdoors.  Bulldogs get overheated super fast so I have to be careful with him but he was pretty happy hanging out in the shade with me.  Not happy enough to cooperate with pictures, but whatcha gonna do.

"C'mon mom let's get inside!"

 I ate a lot of delicious fresh fruit and drank my body weight in iced coffee.  I love summer.

Last night I went to a birthday party for one of D's best friends.  I had an absolute blast and it was a nice distraction. I got to hang out with fantastic people that I don't see nearly often enough and I got some serious baby snuggle time in which is priceless in my book.  D was brought up multiple times because everyone missed him and while the party was lots of fun, it was definitely lacking something without him there.  I sent him this picture to make sure he knew I was taking good care of his Godbaby.

 

We ate pizza, drank beer, went swimming, went hot tubbing, got thrown into said pool fully dressed, warmed up by the fire and overall had a fantastic evening.  

 

Tonight looks like this and I must say my heart is pretty happy.  We miss D something fierce and to cope, Capone does lots of snoring on the couch, and I drink wine and look at wedding pictures. To each their own. :)  

I hope you all are having a relaxing Sunday evening.  I am SO thankful I only work 4 days this week, D gets back Wednesday, and we head to Lake Mcconaughy this weekend to go camping for my man's birthday.  

Cheers to 3 more sleeps!

-T-

Weekends Are My Favorite!

We had the BEST 4th of July weekend!  4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I love celebrating our wonderful freedom and enjoying this lovely country we call home.  This year, we enjoyed this lil country to the max. It was my first 4th in Colorado since I was about 6 years old.  I've been home the past 4 years to celebrate my niece's birthday {the 7th} and spend the holiday weekend with the fam so I wanted to make sure our weekend was jam packed with fun stuff so it could distract me from missing home.

Thursday night we had 3 other couples over for dinner.  D and I made these yummy lasagna cups that have been circulating Pinterest and Facebook, garlic bread and cheesy garlic bread, Caesar salad, and s'mores cookies. 

 {Ultimate Caesar Salad Kit}

 {Toasted Garlic Bread}

 {Lasagna Cups-this is the recipe I used but we doubled it and quadrupled the meat :)}

 {S'mores cookies}

We ate a ton of food, drank lots of yummy drinks, and played hilarious games.  One of my best friends stopped over to join us for the 'game night' portion of the evening so the 9 of us played 'Hollywood Game Night' {based on the hysterical TV show} and Cards Against Humanity.  D and I loved hosting our first dinner party/game night as a married couple and we had so much more fun {and spent a lot less money} than a night out at the bar.

Friday was all about the Red, White, and Blue.  We woke up an hour before we were supposed to be at the BBQ  slept in and quickly got to baking our goodies for the BBQ.  D was smart and started marinating his chicken at 2 a.m. after everyone left so he was set to go.  I made these fantastic Mini Fruit Pizzas {recipe courtesy of Natasha and her 4th of July link-up} and they were a hit!

We went to D's Uncle's house to BBQ and swim in the pool.  We invited tons of friends and family and had an amazing afternoon despite the overcast skies. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Capone in his new pool.  We were worried it would be crazy hot out and bulldogs can get overheated real fast, so D went to a million different stores and finally found the perfect pool for our fur baby. He LOVED it.  He wouldn't let any other dogs step foot in it, although they could get a drink of water, and he would chase them around the yard if they tried.  It was the cutest thing!

One of the scariest parts of the day was when Capone fell into the big pool and sunk straight to the bottom. Luckily there were about 12 of us in there and one of our good friends went straight under and immediately grabbed him.  D and I were pretty shaken up though...this little guy is our world and just the thought of something bad happening to him is too much. 

We went to an awesome fireworks show that night with some of D's cousins.  They were hands down the best fireworks I've ever seen!  The town of Thornton had a huge setup at a park near our house with a live band, food vendors, parachute-rs, and unbelievable fireworks.  We loved it. 

By Saturday we were exhausted but we weren't slowin down.  I caught up on some cleaning and laundry in the morning/early afternoon.  We went to a bar to have a drink with a friend to celebrate his birthday and D played some outdoor bar games while I hid in the shade and drank my cold beers.  Then we headed downtown to City Park for a Sam Adam's festival.  They had beer vendors, not nearly enough food trucks, and they played Wedding Crashers when the sun went down.  They literally crossed off every food item we considered eating as we waiting in line so D called Pizza Hut and had them deliver to the park. :) That's my guy!

We ate yummy pizza, drank some beers, and hung out with friends while we watched the movie. It was a pretty perfect Colorado evening.

On Sunday we went to breakfast together and then headed to the mall to do some shopping for a very special 4 year old.  My niece was celebrating her birthday on Monday and my present is late...but totally worth it.  All things 'Frozen' and clothes galore.  I was so bummed I couldn't spend the day with her like all of her other birthdays {and birth} but I know she had the best time in her bouncy castle/water slide with all of her friends!

Needless to say, we had a fantastic weekend. D is off to California tomorrow for some Army time for the next two weeks so I'm hopeful we can have lots more weekends like this one when he gets back. 

Until next time...

-T-

We're married!!

After over 500 days of counting down, our day had finally arrived!!  I slept relatively well the night before and I hoped D had gotten some sort of shut eye.  When I woke I had a few super sweet texts from family members that instantly made me smile and I started to get super excited and nervous for the big event. I wanted to soak in every moment.

 My mom and sisters showed up along with some yummy Panera breakfast.  I managed to eat half a bagel but my stomach was twisted up in nervous knots so that was it!  My beautiful bridesmaids came to the room shortly after and our hairdresser/make up artists showed up to get started.  We ran a bit behind schedule in the hair/makeup department but I was determined not to panic.  We got into the limo a teeeeny bit  20 minutes late and set off for the church!

My gorgeous flower girl #1- Already tired after a long morning of getting pretty!

We got to the church and I made everyone go in first to be EXTRA sure that my groom wasn't anywhere where he could see me! When the coast was clear I made my way to our bridal room and managed to sneak a quick bite of sandwich...hoping to avoid passing out on the alter :)

One of D's best men showed up to deliver my "letter" from my oh-so-soon-to-be-husband and waited patiently to make sure I opened the book correctly.  One side said "I LOVE YOU -The End" and the other was his actual 4 page love note...I totally botched the joke and opened up the real side first, but it was still cute.  He had been talking about this letter for awhile so I knew he put a lot of time and thought into what he wrote.

I did my best to not totally ruin my makeup, but I definitely teared up reading his sweet words.  In no time at all, the priest was telling it was 1:30 and time to go!  We made our way to the front of the church to get lined up and I waited impatiently with my dad.

Mayyybe I peeked a little bit.  My flower girls were SO CUTE and our ring bearer was pulling flower girl #2- baby A down the aisle in a wagon.  It was to die for.

My handsome groom's face was everything I thought it would be when he saw me walking down the aisle.  There were definitely some tears shed, but we were so happy to see each other, everything else seemed to melt away.

Our ceremony went on without a hitch.  We laughed and giggled throughout the whole thing- I was too giddy to hide it.  I almost fell into a vent at one point while signing the marriage license and the priest most definitely thought I was fainting {ha!} but other than that, I managed to not trip and fall on my giant dress. My Uncle Tim and D's cousin Toni each read a reading for us and did a wonderful job.  My best friend Carrie and cousin Jordan sang 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri acoustically and it was truly breathtaking.  I hadn't heard them perform the whole thing until that day, and as I expected, they blew my expectations out of the water.  We were so incredibly blessed to get to incorporate a few of our loved ones into special parts of our ceremony!

After the ceremony- it was time to get the party started.  We were done with all of the 'formal' parts of the day and ready to kick back and relax!

The limo was by far in the top 3 moments of the day.  All of our bridal party was with us and we listened to music, drank champagne and anything else we could find and made some YouTube videos {still haven't gotten up the courage to watch ours :)}

Wanna know the best part about those moments in last 3 pictures?  WE WERE OFFICIALLY HUSBAND AND WIFE!!  

That's all for now!  Park and Reception details coming soon  :)

-T-

Wedding Week Update!

In the past month, I’ve survived the week before the wedding, gotten married, gone on an amazing honeymoon, and landed right smack back in reality {surrounded by mounds of amazing gifts}.  To say it’s been a whirlwind would be the understatement of the century and this little corner of the universe had to take a back seat to more pressing matters.  D and I are so incredibly thankful to be married and we’re soaking up our first few weeks of wedded bliss.  Now for some recaps…we’ll start with the week before the wedding and work our way back to today!

{The Week Before The Wedding}

The week before the wedding was insanely stressful but I tried to focus on enjoying the moments that were quickly passing by.  My mom was in town for most of the week and she helped with some last minute crafts {welcome bags, favors, reception decorations}. I worked through Wednesday that week and was relatively useless to the workplace considering the running to-do list in my head BUT I made it through.  Thursday and Friday were much welcome days off.  My mom, oldest sister, and I got our nails done on Thursday and I ran tons of errands getting everyone’s last minute gifts together. Friday I spent packing for the hotel and trying to make sense of the chaos our apartment had become.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law came and packed up all of the rehearsal decoration goodies from my apartment {including 27 handmade cupcake stands} and my parents loaded up their car with a million {read 250} chair covers.

I said goodbye to my apartment for the next 48 hours and gave Capone a big kiss and hug since I wouldn’t get to see him until after the honeymoon and headed off to the liquor store with my dad.  We had a little too much fun cramming every inch of my Ford Escape with liquor for the big day.  So many people stopped us to ask where the party was, and I was so excited I probably invited them to join us. I regret not taking a picture of what my car looked like that day- so funny!

When we showed up at the reception hall for decoration mania, there was an army of family and friends making our venue come alive.  A couple hundred chairs were lined up and chair covers were quickly being slipped on, tables were everywhere and had the most perfect purple tablecloths {this was the first time I got to see the actual color after being told countless times I “shouldn’t worry about it”}, I was being pulled in a thousand different directions for opinions and such but it was absolutely perfect. I almost cried at the sheer joy of having so many of the people I love working so hard together to make our day come together.  We pushed our time limit on decorating to get everything just so and rushed back to the hotel to get ready for rehearsal.  This is where I finally started to get nervous and had a monster case of butterflies in my tummy.  It was real.  The rehearsal itself was kind of a blur but I hoped I’d remember everything for the next day {which I did J}.  We left the church and went to D’s parents’ house for a BBQ themed rehearsal dinner complete with friends I hadn’t seen in years.  We laughed until we cried a few times and just enjoyed each other’s company.  I felt relaxed and so thankful to be in the presence of my favorite people. 

When dinner wrapped up I said my goodbyes and had a final “single” kiss with my soon to be husband.  I headed back to the hotel to spend time with family and he headed out for a drink with the boys, followed by a last minute frantic search for his passport {that he needed in order for him to come on our honeymoon…yes I’m pretty positive I would’ve gone without him if he hadn’t found it!}.

I went to bed that night all by myself and successfully got about 5-6 hours of sleep.  When I woke up the next day – it was game time and I was over the moon thrilled that the day was finally here {we counted down over 500 days from our engagement}.

Next up:  We’re Married!

 

It Works!

I have been a busy bee lately and part of my time has been invested into starting up my It Works! business.  If you haven't heard of it, you definitely need to check it out.

I started using the ItWorks! wraps to help me tighten and tone up for the big wedding day/honeymoon that is QUICKLY approaching.  After a few wraps I was hooked and I wanted other people to know about this amazing business.

I am incredibly results-oriented and there are few things better than instant gratification in my book.  It Works! delivered in both of these categories for me and it can for you too!

If you have any interest at all in learning about these products, send me an email ourlittlecornerotw@gmail.com. I'd love to fill you in on all of the great stuff we offer!

Hopefully I can get back into a normal blogging routine.  Work has been absolutely insane and we are SO CLOSE to the big day!!

-T-