more like insta.lately

a couple weeks ago Justin and I were in Georgia and took a little road trip to Athens. It holds a special place in our heart as UGA is our alma mater and we met during our time there.

one morning justin heard a crazy noise outside. turns out it was a momma deer freaking out that her baby had fallen into our backyard. the baby was maybe a month old and scared out of its mind...so justin played hero and picked up the baby and took her to safety. how precious is this baby deer though!

we had the pleasure of celebrating two friends become husband and wife.
so excited for Brooke and Brandon Pilot!

on tuesday i took justin on a date day. we love the zoo, to be honest i think i love it more than him. but the birmingham zoo was surprisingly great! 

we have been GLUED to the olympics this year. seriously watched almost all of it, except the sports i don't understand. but check out bob costas' hipster glasses. made us smile.

seriously depressed that the Olympics have to end soon.
the Karls are ready for an exciting weekend filled with projects and studying for seminary.

new pillows.

i had seen this pinned on pinterest like a million times. so i finally did it.
liked it, but didn't love it.

 Source: organizeyourstuffnow.com via Alana on Pinterest

woah, just realized i used the same fabric for mine. guess i just really liked this one :)

so i decided to go back to my favorite AND easy tutorial to make envelope pillows.

and this way, i made two pillow cases out of one yard of fabric...with a couple inches to spare.

anyone spot millie in the background?

the most stressful part of her life is sitting in front of the window and watching squirrels...but never getting them. such a tough life...

our summer.

it has obviously been a little bit since i have updated.

with good reason, of course.

justin and i spent 6 weeks in east asia this summer. such an amazing experience!

view from our dorm.

our group. 16 college students and us!

visiting the pandas. 

then we took a vacation to thailand...completely unreal. gorgeous and restful.

the beach outside our resort.

yup. a real live tiger.

and yes, he is chained down and trained not to bite our face off.

riding an elephant. words can't describe.

i have been cleaning and organizing like a mad woman since we got home. if you know me well you know that that's not really my thing :)

classes start back in 2 weeks. better get back on my to-do list.

pumped for another semester on campus!

blog break.

so, i have obviously been missing in action lately.

been really busy with life and not that creative lately...and it's been pretty refreshing.

but, i will be back on the blog soon-ish.

we are taking 30 students to new york next week for spring break. whoop, whoop. can't wait for the city!

(from our trip to new york last year)

insta-friday.

we had a really great week!
my parents came and visited this past weekend...and brought along my brother as a huge surprise!
it was fun to show off our house since they hadn't been here since move in day.

dinner at five with my family.

beautiful flowers from my valentine :)

husband is easy to please.

a card and an adele cd and he was pumped.

happy valentines day to myself.

name spelled right...even better.

so, my pictures make it look like we had a lame week. i guess i'm ok with that.

happy weekend.

happy valentines day.

Source: katiefore.wordpress.com via Katie on Pinterest

thankful for God's love today and always.
hope you have a fantastic valentines day with the ones you love!

 

diy flour tortillas.

last night we wanted quesadillas and i thought were were out of tortillas.  of course i found them when it was too late.
but the homemade ones were 4 million times better than store bought so it was worth it.

anyway, i whipped up annie's flour tortilla recipe. they were amazing and easy easy.

my last one turned out pretty close to round.

next step is getting a tortilla press to make them perfectly round. found one at williams sonoma, but the reviews aren't too great. anyone have one??

the girl creative

insta-friday.

spoiled by a husband who surprises me with flowers when i am overwhelmed.

the first coat of paint in my laundry room.

heads up...it looks a million times better now that the paint dried.

it's not a true representation of my week without a picture of millie. she loves her no-stuffing duck. she carries it around the house, its funny to see.

hobby lobby is back.

order has been restored to the tuscaloosa/northport area.

but there is bad for the budget news...it's literally right outside my neighborhood. i could walk, but i'm way too lazy for that.

the sky was looking so pretty the other day.

felt like i needed to share.

happy weekend.

my mom and dad are coming tomorrow. oh happy day!

diy wood sign

we salvaged this wood from the tornado so we wanted to use it to make something special.

i don't know where i first saw the wood wall art, but i love them!

i cut these small planks to nail the boards into the planks for stability.

i sanded the boards to make them smooth before stenciling a Bible verse with these bad boys (from michael's)

so here's the low down. don't run to your Bible as you read this post...

i somehow messed up twice (yes, not once but twice) and got to stenciling before I knew what was next. it was really funny, but you had to be there.

the heart of the verse is the same, its just the alana version.

after stenciling i painted polyurethane on top to seal the wood. what i liked about this kind is that there is no shine, it just made the wood a little darker and the words stand out.

the final product again.

gift to myself.

somehow i lost our crock pot. i noticed about 3 months ago...obviously i was using it alll the time.

that is going to change since i got a new one.

just found a random recipe online. mexican chicken for dinner. really hope its good.

but for real, i am going to need some crock pot recipes. any friends out there have some go-tos??