It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I love Christmas and I LOVE Christmas decorations.  With it being our first Christmas as a married couple AND in a new home, I wanted to get new Christmas tree decorations.  I decided on browns, greens, and dark gold.  Mom helped me put the tree up while they were in for Thanksgiving - which was a huge help!

I've been eyeing my friend Jennifer's stockings for a few years and bought them for Ben and I this year - oh, how I love a pop of leopard!  The tree skirt that matched the stockings was super cute BUT over $100!!  I decided to make one using liquid stitch and it cost about $10! 

Here are a few pics of our Christmas decorations.  I have a few more things to do around the house (and outside) so I'll post those soon!

Our little Christmas tree! 
It looked a little "Charlie Brown-ish" prior to the decorations!

"Pop of leopard (& red)" tree skirt.

I'm obsessed with our stockings!

Our First Thanksgiving

The year of "first" continues as we celebrated our first Thanksgiving as newlyweds.  Both of our parents came to our place to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I was excited to bust out our china for the first time and to host Thanksgiving - I love to play hostess!  We had a great time chatting and stuffing our faces.

We have so much to be thankful for this year!  This year, I'm most thankful for my husband!  He's truly a blessing from God.

Here's a few photos from Thanksgiving...

Our First Thanksgiving!
I'm rocking my new Appetizing Apron that obviously has a pop of leopard!  

Place cards - Cost $0; Pine cones & leaves

Our table decor with our new china.

My cute husband cooking/carving the turkey.

Staycation

In our newly married small group, our leaders has suggested "getting away" quarterly as a couple.  With weddings and work, our "getting away" has not been by ourselves except for a few days in DC before a wedding.  Ben and I had talked about having a "staycation" in Atlanta so when Ben found a Groupon for a night at the Regency Hotel in Midtown Atlanta, he bought it! 

Because we've both been a bit busy, we did not do too much planning, but we did hear about a wine and food truck pairing event in Alpharetta (a suburb north of the city) on Saturday afternoon.  Our staycation started there and then we headed for massages thanks to Ben's friends who are in massage thereapy school!  Ben had never been to the new World of Coca-Cola so we headed there next.  With it being Veteran's Day weekend, Ben got in FREE and I got in for 1/2 price - not too shabby!  When we left there, it was dusk and there was a great view of the city!  I wanted a photo, but of course "self-portraits" are never good.  This is the best we could get....

We headed to our hotel after that and got cleaned up to walk to dinner at Ecco which was about three blocks away.  We had a delicious dinner feasting on a meat and cheese plate, pasta, and some marvelous dessert that I have no idea what it was.  On the way back we decide to drop into a tavern and finish watching the LSU and UGA games. 

It was such a fun day to just have time together.  It's always good to turn the phones off and just enjoy each other and that's exactly what we did!  Married life is LOTS of fun :)

Bond. James Bond.

When you are newlyweds, you are always finding out new fun things about your husband.  This one definitely did not surprise me. Ben loves James Bond movies and has seen them ALL!  When my super fun friend Sarah asked if we wanted to get all dressed up to go see the new James Bond movie on opening night, Ben was like a kid in a candy store.  I obviously don't turn down an opportunity to bust out sequins!

On Friday night, we got all dressed up and headed for the movie theatre.  We had plans to hit up the Four Season before but with Atlanta traffic, we ended up meeting at the restaurant across the street for a cocktail.  We then headed to the theatre - I was in full sequins and Ben in a tux!  The other two couples were also dressed in cocktail attire. 

It was a super fun evening!  We got a lot of stares and a ton of fun comments. 

Bang, bang...on the door baby

I hope that B-52's song gets stuck in your head! 

Well, our home would not qualify as a love shack, BUT, when you come over, there is an updated door to bang on.  Our front door was white with this awful screen security gate.  This gate had one way screws, so the process for us to finish the door has been a little longer than expected.  Since our yard is drabby, I wanted a "pop of color" at our house, so bring on the paint!  I painted the door yellow and then after some frustration, Ben was able to get the security gate off the door.  This weekend, while I was painting our new door decor, Ben was sanding and putting a fresh coat of white paint over the trim.  What a difference a fresh coat of trim paint can make!  See below, our before and after pics!

Before....

After.



I love the wooden monogram on the front door.  It's a bit flimsy so we will see how long it lasts...



Baby it's cold in here...

The joys of buying an older home means the insulation is probably not the best.  Our contractor suggested to us to wait a year to see what we really needed to do in regards to insulation. 
We made it through the summer - our electricity bill was a fun one - and know of a few things we need to do to help for summer next year.

It's been getting cooler and cooler in Georgia and I freeze in 65 degree weather.  The back of our house where our bedrooms are located is at least 10 degrees cooler than the front of our house.  I got home from work last week and discovered Ben had made a little trip to Home Depot and decided to start the insulation process above our bedroom and bath.  Oh, I do love him :) 

Just another project checked off the list....

The trouble with leaves...

I did not grow up with a house that had a leaf problem.  I have no idea what kind of massive trees were in our yard, but those leaves did not fall!  When we bought our house, we knew that leaves were going to be a problem, but holy-moly it's ridiculous!  We knew we had to invest in a leaf blower, but that had not been on the top of the priority list.  It jumped to the top when the leaves were piling up on the front porch and you had to kick them around to get down the stairs. 

On Sunday, Ben bought a leaf blower and decided to test it out.  His first comment "it's so bad, I don't even know where to start."  My blunt response was "well, a clear path from the door to my car would be nice." 

He cleared off the driveway and the street in front of our house.  The leaves in the yard itself are out of control so he tried working on them.  I walked outside and just laughed because we officially have a "speed bump" of leaves around the edge of our yard.  Baby steps....

Appetizing Aprons Blog

 

I wanted to share with you a new blog from Appetizing Aprons.  It's super cute and it's brand new!  Be one of the first to begin following the blog.  It will have segments on cooking ideas, family recipes, crafts, and just about anything else around the house.  From what I've been "told", it will also be light hearted :) 

Check it out!  http://blog.appetizingaprons.com/

I'm on a Boat...

These four words were used many times over the past weekend.  Ben and I headed down to West Palm Beach to celebrate our friends Colleen & Guido!  They were married back in March but had a big weekend celebration for their friends and family and the weekend was capped off by a celebration on a yacht. 
The weather was great - besides the massive gushes of wind.  We had lots of quality time with many of our friends AND we got to meet Colleen's cousin, Nick McCrory who won the bronze medal at the Olympics in Synchonize Diving. 

One of our friends put it best when he said that we need to always cherish the time we have with each other.  Since many of our lives have changed over the last few years - marriage, kids, etc. - we don't get to see each other as much.  We definitely had a GREAT time and we are so glad we were able to celebrate the Otten's!



Bless Nick's heart.  He had to put up with us Cougars! He was a champ!



I love Fall...

Living in Louisiana, there was never really 4 seasons, it was just HOT, HOT, and what I thought was "cold", was actually fall-like weather.  People in the north would argue that Atlanta doesn't have four seasons, but I would have to disagree. 

Since the first official day of fall, many funs things have happened and we are looking forward to what else is in store.  First, I got a new JOB!  WOOHOO!!  I'll still be at the fundraising arm for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital but in a different position.  I've been planning events for over 7 years, so I'm excited for a change and the opportunity to join our Branding & Marketing team.  With a new position came the need for a new car (I will no longer have my company car) so we purchased a Chevy Equinox.

Also, since fall began, we got to spend some time with Ben's parents, eat Apple Fritters, watch the Bulldogs (as in the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs) via internet continue to WIN, AND my dear friend Stacy gave birth to two little miracles, Avery and Brooklyn!  God truly wrapped his hands around mom and those two precious babies! 

Since our yard is practically still a disaster, I decided we at least needed our front porch to look festive.  Happy Fall Y'all! 

Farewell Chipper...

Ben knows that I truly love going to the Braves games.  About a month ago, he surprised me with tickets for me and our friends Sarah and Mark.  I was so very excited!  He didn't realize when he bought them that this was the last home series for regular play for Chipper Jones - I've been a fan since the 6th grade!! 

Earlier in the day, I had two root canals - I know, OUCH!  I have started going to this new dentist who drugged me up with valuim and laughing gas.  I wasn't feeling a thing!  We headed with Mark & Sarah to the game and we talked all things weddings!!  (Sarah is my friend who just got engaged)  I love a good wedding and I know that Sarah's is going to be fantastic!  She told me a few of the details, but I've been sworn to secrecy! 

We saw some of the game, but for the most part, it was GREAT catching up with Sarah and Mark.  We are very excited to have them in our life.  Sarah and I both agreed that we have the same goal in life.....to live in the same neighborhood and have our children grow up together.  We have already figured out the suburb we will be doing this in - HA! 

By the 8th inning, all the meds from the day had worn off and I was in pain.  I popped a few pain pills and was good to go.  I'm pretty sure I'll be high on pain pills for the next few days, but at least I'll be able to eat ice cream and drink hot apple cider without having pain! 

Old Married Couple? I think not....

It's only Wednesday and Ben and I have been up past our bedtime for two nights in a row - I know, we are so wild and crazy ;) 


Random picture as we are in the crowd at the concert...

 Monday night, I had a work event that I actually got to enjoy - this was a first!  Ben, his friend Zach and his girlfriend Jackie joined in on the fun with us.  All of us really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but it ended up being a super FUN night!  We attended a concert of about 150 people that consisted of Edwin McCain, John Michael Montgomery, Sister Hazel, Bo Bice, Justin Moore, Jamie Johnson, Darius Rucker, Jake Owen, and Colt Ford.  Let's just say that Edwin McCain was first and I felt like I was back in High School belting out "I'll Be".  After that I was singing along to JMM's "Sold".  Who knew you could still remember lyrics so well from the 90s?  FUN TIMES!

Last night, Ben and I got to go celebrate my dear friend Sarah as she got ENGAGED!!!  Mark proposed to her via helicopter yesterday evening and then a group of friends were waiting for them at a rooftop bar in Buckhead after the proposal.  This place was super posh, especially for the Worley's!  We are VERY excited for Sarah and Mark and are excited to be apart of their journey through their engagement and marriage.  We will obviously be married couple friends :) 

The Worley's meet the Wilderness

This past weekend, Ben and two of his friends decided to take their wives on a fancy getaway.....camping.  Even though I was not raised a city girl, I have never been camping - like in a tent camping.  I was NOT excited about this little adventure.  The main reason was the mosquitos!! 

Ben and I were suppose to set up camp earlier on Saturday but our plans changed during the day so we didn't get to the Chattahoochee National Forest (yes, the FOREST) until later on Saturday evening when it was almost dark.  We quickly set up camp and waited for our friends to arrive. 

The tunes were playing, hotdogs and sausages were roasting, and the smores were in abundance as we settled into our campsite.  The girls called it an early night, but the guys had a very late night catching up and just having a good time! 

All in all, my first camping experience wasn't terrible.  There WILL be an air mattress if there is ever a Round 2 camping trip.  I think I'll stick to my Marriott's and Hilton's, but if the hubby wants to hit the woods again, I will go with my air mattress and mosquito spray in tow!

Ben knew I was going to need a little treat before going camping, so we stopped by our favorite Apple House in Ellijay to get the best Apple Fritters!! 



 This was definitely not the Marriott...

 I stood there while he built this.  I was of no use!

Coffee was a necessity on Sunday morning, so we hit up a local spot for breakfast and a few cups of coffee!

Couple's Cafe

I came across the blog "The Dating Divas" a few weeks ago.  Their tagline for the blog is "Strengthening marriages one date at a time".   In our pre-marital counseling and now while we are in our Newly Married Community Group, we've heard many stories as well as many words of wisdom on how to maintain a strong marriage.  Ben and I both soak it in and both love the thought of dating each other even after we married.  We really do try to have a date a week, but sometimes with our schedules, going out and doing something just isn't in the cards. 

This blog has many different ideas - some that we would definitely do and some that we would never even think about doing!  The concept is GREAT and there are some really cute ideas.  I surprised Ben with the "Couple's Cafe".  Neither Ben nor I can take anything serious and laugh about pretty much everything, therefore there were lots of laughs thoughout our dinner at the "Couple's Cafe".  Check out The Dating Divas blog for yourself to get the "Couples Cafe" template as well as other great ideas to keep your marriage strong!  If you've been married 7 months, 7 years, or 37 years, it's always a good idea to keep on dating each other!

The Worley's Take Washington...

Ben and I got to take a long weekend to Washington, DC to be tourists as well as attend one of Ben's military friends wedding.  I have never been to DC so Ben was excited to show me all the "cool stuff".  For those that know me, you know that history is NOT my thing, but I was excited to go.  Ben on the other hand is a History fanatic so this was right up his alley. 

We toured the White House, visited many monuments, a few museums, as well as the Arlington Cemetary.  Ben was loaded and ready to tell me all about the history of each president and everything in between.  I did alot of smiling and nodding :)  He still amazes me with the knowledge that he retains.  I mean, my knowledge consists of what accessories are in style for the season!  The one thing I did learn is that you can NOT wear flats on concrete for 8 hours!  We had to hit up Nordstrom and buy me some Toms for Day 2! 

Below is a little snapshot of our trip.  Enjoy!





 Ben has worn this bracelet since 2001 when he was in the ROTC.  It has the name of a MIA soldier from the Vietnam War.  We found his name at the Vietnam Memorial.

Celebrating the Juhl's at their wedding outside of DC.

A Girl's Best Friend...

Right behind diamonds and shoes, handbags are by far this girl's best friend!  I had always had decent handbags that I use for a few months then get a new one and then entered Mr. Worley into my life..... 

Our first Christmas, he bought me a purple Coach purse.  For those that know me, know that purple is hands down my favorite color.  A purple purse AND it was a designer bag, I was in heaven and he was a keeper - HA!!  I literally carried that bag religiously for the past 2 years. 

I am not a big "birthday" person, but since it was my 30th, we decided I needed something a little more over the top, so Ben suggested a new purse.  This girl wasn't going to complain! 

To Macy's we went to search through the Coach and Michael Kors bags.  I found THE purse there, but of course I had to drag Ben to the actual Coach and Michael Kors stores themselves but eventually we made our way back to Macy's for THE purse!  For those that shop at Macy's, you know that when there is a sale or if you have storewide coupons, they are NEVER for designer anything.  We apparently hit the jackpot!  On the day we purchased the bag, if we made a $5 donation to (I'm sad to say I can't remember the charity), we would get 20% off our designer purchase - SCORE! 

My new Michael Kors is attached to my arm now and I'm loving it!

When I told my mom about my new purse, her first response was "what are you doing with your purple Coach purse?".  My mother has called "dibs on my bag - HA!  I still haven't decided if I'm going to lend it to her...



The Answer is...Yes

The question is....."Will You Marry Me?".  Not only was yesterday the day I turned the Big 3-0, but it was also the one year mark of when Ben asked me to marry him!!  Here's a little throwback photo from 9/3/2011. 

We were in Hawaii on top of a mountain at sunrise.  Because of the wind, Ben looks like he's straight from the Jersey Shore and I look like I just rolled out of bed - which I did, BUT, this is still my FAVORITE picture!  I think I like it better than all our engagement & wedding pictures. 

Since we had my birthday celebration last week, we were very low key yesterday.  We woke up and went to a yummy brunch - along with every other Atlantian - did some things around the house and then in honor of our engagement, cooked Hawaiian style burgers.  We had to do the "healthy" version since we are still doing our Insanity workouts.  Ben also put up the map of Hawaii which was pretty hysterical! 

All in all, my 30th was just the way I wanted it!  Laid back and with the love of my life :)

Appetizing Aprons

My entrepreneur husband has struck again!  We are VERY excited to announce the launch of his first online store - Appetizing Aprons!  Ben with the help of his business partner and his wife have been working diligently to get the site up and running. 

Why aprons your may ask (I obviously asked the same thing)?  Cute aprons, girly aprons, sexy aprons, vintage aprons, etc. are searched hundreds of thousands a time a day online.  Who knew? 

These aprons are SUPER adorable and "Courtney-approved"!  There are aprons for EVERYONE!  From women to men to kids and toddlers, the entire family can be dressed for a fun night of cooking!  Aprons are GREAT gift ideas!  I actually gave super cute aprons to hostesses for one of my bridal showers and they LOVED them.  I was able to get different aprons that matched each of their personalities!  I can't wait for the next bridal shower I go to so I can add a stylish apron with a gift!  Your gift will definitely be a HIT to the bride and all the guests!

You can also ship an apron directly as a gift.  The packaging is super cute and the recipient will love the unique gift!

If you have a shower, house warming, or birthday coming up OR if you just want to look FABULOUS when you cook that mean pot of spaghetti, visit www.appetizingaprons.com so you can be the diva in the kitchen that you are meant to be!

Feel free to pass along this link to your friends and family as we want to get the word out about AppetizingAprons.com to as many people as possible! 

There is currently a FREE SHIPPING promo happening for orders over $49.  Enter OVER49 at check-out to receive your discount!  Now click on over to AppetizingAprons.com and let the shopping begin!

We are BIG time now...

I've suggested a few times that we needed a Costco card. (LA peeps - Costco is basically Sam's)  Hello!!  I'm always throwing a party or shower and need stuff and lets be honest....I love the samples during lunch time.  He usually just ignored the thought and out of the blue a week ago he said "why don't we have a Costco card?". 

Costco and Home Depot are in the same parking lot, so once we left Home Depot on Saturday I had him drive on over to Costco.  The Worley's are official Costco members now!  We feel big time and so very grown up :) 




Ben was basically mortified when I told him to stand there with the new Costco card in hand so I could take a picture!!  His response "is this for your blog"?  Why else would I need to take this ridiculous picture??

Whirlyball

Our newly married community group at church is FULL of August and September birthdays.  One of the guys has celebrated his birthday the same way for 15 years!  He gathers a large group to go play Whirlyball.

If you are like me, you are asking yourself, "what is whirlyball".  In short, it's Lacrosse in bumper cars.  Ben decided to play a game (which lasts 13 minutes) and I was a spectator.  I did realize while watching Ben play that if we are ever blessed with children, I will not be the "screaming mom" at games, but instead I will be Ms. Penny!  If you are from Sterlington and reading this, you know what I mean when I say this.  Ms. Penny was like a second mom to me and she NEVER left home without her camera!!  She probably has an action shot of her three children doing everything and thanks to her, there are many of me too!

Needless to say, Ben scored a point during his Whirlyball match and I almost missed it because I was trying to get the best photo shot via my iphone and through the glass walls!

 

30 is really happening....

My Big 3-0 is coming up in 1 week.  Since my birthday is on Labor Day this year, Ben planned me a little celebration on Saturday.  When Ben mentioned planning something like this, I told him SMALL and not fancy!!  I have had my big party of the year (aka - wedding) and didn't need another.  All I knew was there a a celebration on Saturday and I needed to be ready at 6:30.  I obviously bought a new dress but it was difficult since I did not know where we were going. 

The 30th birthday celebration was held at Front Page News in the Little Five Points area.  It's very "Louisiana themed" and they serve everything from Abita beer to jambalaya egg rolls, to amazing bread pudding!  About 20 fabulous friends came to socialize and have a good time. 

My friend Sarah Cook helped Ben with the location and my friend Sarah Durling had the area all "jazzed up" in Mardi Gras flair.  The best part was Ben ordered a King Cake from New Orleans for my actual birthday cake!  It was DELICIOUS!!! 

Thanks to everyone for helping me ease into my 30s with friends, good food, and lots of laughs! 

Who says marriage gets boring after 6 months?

It's been awhile since I've blogged because between my work travels and Ben's work travels, we have just been everywhere!  Since the last time I've posted, we have eaten peaches from our random peach tree in our backyard, had Ben's family visit us for a few hours, I helped throw a Monograms & Margaritas bridal shower, started the Insanity workout, and Ben turned 29!!  I'm terrible for not posting about Ben's birthday but he was traveling for work on his actual birthday so we had to celebrate early.

Over the past few days, the weather in Atlanta has been unbelievably amazing!!  On Monday night we were cooking turkey burgers and Ben suggested us eating outside because it felt amazing.  Unfortunately, we do not have patio dining furniture yet (one of the many things we still want) so we pulled out our TV trays and enjoyed the beautiful weather while grubbing down!

Since Ben and I have been eating "healthy" - lots of "good fats" - I have been craving something that doesn't consist of natural peanut butter or hummus.  When I got home from work, Ben suggested that after we work out, we get TCBY and then take a walk around Chastain Park before we made dinner.  Hearing the words TCBY made me smile and I probably did a little jig!*

After the Insanity work-out, we headed to TCBY and both got Key Lime Pie yogurt.  I little slice of heaven!  We started walking around the park and decided to stop and watch Pee-Wee football practice. It was VERY entertaining!

I made a comment how we were so not very "routine" anymore after work and Ben's comment was "who says married gets boring after 6 months?".  Well, it's true, the Worley's hit our 6 month "anniversary" this past weekend and we both forgot - HA!  Ben was actually at National Guard and texted me the next day to tell me.

So that's what's been going on in our life lately!  Nothing crazy, but still having fun!

*TCBY is greater than all the "new hip yogurt places"!  Just my 2 cents....

Adult Field Trip

Today our office celebrated a record breaking year for our department.  We decided to be ultimate Atlanta tourist and had the BEST time!  When I left the house this morning, Ben asked if he needed to sign my permission slip - he's such the "jokester"...

We started off the morning eating breakfast at West Egg, then headed over to the new World of Coca-Cola.  I had toured the old World of Coke, but the new one was built a few years ago and I had never been.  It was lots of fun!  We were joined by about 10 other summer camp field trippers - oh the joys of fighting to taste all the different drinks with 200 children running around :) 

We left there and headed to the CNN Center for a "VIP" tour.  My co-worker's husband works at CNN and was able to take us into the studios and behind the scenes - places you don't get to see on the "peasant tour" ;) 

We are heading to Memphis soon to celebrate our year with the other 1,000 co-workers!

World of Coca-Cola

Before the 4-D film in World of Coca-Cola.  Let's just say it was more like a ride!!

They told us the official Olympic torch just arrived and this was it.  Hum....I bet that one is in London.  Either way, I'm an Olympic geek and will now tell everyone - I touched the torch!



Newest studio inside CNN.



The rents are in town....

My parents went on a cruise that ported out of Jacksonville a week ago and decided to drive back to Louisiana via Atlanta and stay the weekend with us!  YAY!!  Ben had Air Guard this weekend, but was able to spend Thursday and Friday lunch with us. 

The last time my parents were in town was for our wedding and our house was literally a tornado.  They LOVED seeing everything.  On Thursday night we went to the Atlanta Food Truck Park where we ate lots of yummies and then came home to celebrate mom's birthday (1 week late) with Gigi's cupcakes.  On Friday, we did our normal routine when they are in town - SHOP!  Macy's and Ann Taylor Loft are always the top shopping spots.  On Friday night we headed to the Braves vs. Mets game and stayed until the end - midnight!!  The electricity in Turner Field did go out for 15 minutes, so that was definitely an adventure. 

My parents wanted to take Georgia peaches home for several people and wanted to go to a Farmer's Market.  I suggested Kroger - HA!  We did go to the Sandy Springs Farmer's Market and basically tasted everything in site!  The only peaches at the market were from South Carolina, so they opted for some yummy Georgia Peach jelly. 

We let mom pick our dinner on Saturday night so we went to Chuy's for yummy mexican food.  They left early Sunday morning to head back to La.  It was so much fun spending time with my parents.  I love when they come visit!! 

On a different note, on Sunday, I got to see my friend Reid go public with his faith (baptism) at our church.  It was so neat to hear his story on the big screen and then see him get dunked!!  God is GOOD!!!