Hello, Fall!

Since my last post, it has really started looking, and feeling, like Fall here in Grayson.  We all know that Fall reminds us of Thanksgiving and this past week, Preston and I have been blessed with countless things to be thankful for.  Last week went by pretty quickly and we were off to Pikeville, Abingdon, and Elizabethton for a long weekend.  However, all of that excitement is in another upcoming post.  Today, I am sharing a couple of my  fall projects that I have been working on...my first attempt at wreath making and some outdoor decorating, warning: lots of pictures!  

Making my wreath was wonderful, who knew some fake leaves and a glue gun could be so much fun?  I loved every minute of it!  I had looked on Google images for a few ideas but didn't really find anything so I just went with my own idea.  After getting my supplies at... you guessed it, Hobby Lobby, I couldn't wait to get started.  I first applied the leaves and berries and followed with the bigger items, the last being the beautiful bow (which my fantastic Mom assisted with).  Enough words, here are the pictures! 

Love this!

I just love that sparkley corn!

As mentioned before, I loved making this wreath and really love how it turned out, I can't wait to make one for Christmas, Winter in general, and any other time I can make one!  

Outside, thanks to Nana and P-Paw, we have a lovely bale of straw with some pumpkins and gourds to spruce things up a bit. We really enjoyed picking out our pumpkins and gourds, even had to make a second trip back to get more!  Here is our or hanging wreath and outdoor decor!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our fall projects, come back to read about our future home! 

Brooke

A Crafty, Relaxing, Weekend

Hello!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend, I know we did. We had plans with friends on Saturday, but our plans were canceled, however, we still enjoyed a fun Saturday.  After sleeping in, we spent the day with Rachel, John and their boys, Owen and Camden, and Adam and Meghan.  We started by going out to the playground by our apartment where Owen was enjoying himself on the swings, slides, and ropes.  Soon after, the guys headed in and us girls and Owen and Camden went on an adventure.  We wanted to do something crafty and Meghan had a great idea she found on Pinerest.  Have you heard of Pinterest?  If not, check it out here. There are so many wonderful ideas all on one website!  We went to Hobby Lobby for our supplies, of course.  Afterwards, Owen and I went into the fish store where he was mesmerized by all of the "Nemo" fish!  Anyways, we got home and started our project, which took longer than we thought.  Project of the day: Crayon letters.  These are great for kids' rooms, teachers, and such, but mine is simply going on a wall in our craft/office room.  Sorry I did not take pictures through the whole project, didn't even think about it until after!

Supplies needed:

• 1 shadow box or scrapbook frame (we used 12x12 scrapbook frames, either is fine)
• 1 piece of cardstock  
• crayons (amount depends on letters, I used 3 boxes of 24, Crayola)
• Sharp knife
• Running hot water
• paper towel
• Glue gun/glue

First of all, put all of your crayons in the freezer.  Weird, yes... but it helps! Next, we opened a word document to create the outline we would trace onto the paper.  By inserting word art, stretching the letter is easier.  After printing the outline we liked, we cut them and traced them on to the paper.  Now comes the longest part of the project, cutting the crayons.  Get one pack of crayons out of the freezer.  By measuring  eyeballing the right size needed, the cutting begins.  First, hold the knife under the hot water and then wipe it off with the paper towel, find where to cut the crayon and begin.  Do this for the entire letter.  It is fun to use tips of the crayons and pieces without tips.  I used a whole crayon once or twice.  Take out boxes of crayons as needed.  After getting all of the crayons cut and you have enough to cover your letter, arrange them how you like, don't be afraid to mix and match the colors.  Next transfer them onto to paper they will be glued on.  Now, pick up two or three crayons at a time, put hot glue on the paper and glue them in place.  Do this for the entire letter. After all crayons are glued and the entire letter is covered, simply put your creation into your frame and you're finished!  It is fun to put a name beside or under the letter, but I just did the letter in case I want to add something later.  Here is my finished product:

I think it turned out quite nicely... hope you enjoyed it! 

On a totally different note, I absolutely love fall decorations and I made a simple centerpiece for our table...

Hope you have a great week, check back for my wreath making project!

Brooke

Welcome to the Riffe's

Hello!  I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  Preston and I didn't have many plans for our long weekend, except to catch up on some much needed rest and enjoy our Monday together.  Saturday we enjoyed a baked salmon dinner with friends, John and Rachel.  They were so nice to invite us over for the evening.  Sunday we enjoyed a great worship time and message at church that was followed by a yummy lunch at home.  Soon after lunch was a fantastic nap, man... it was wonderful!  Sunday night we had fun with Adam and Renee with game night, including Apples to Apples and cards.  That catches us up til today, Monday.  This morning, Preston and I slept in and then after getting ready, we headed to Ashland.  After not having such a great week last week, we decided we wanted to do something fun today.  Our first stop was Hobby Lobby.  Now, if you know me, you know that I consider just going there fun.  Well, it was great!  I have been planning to get supplies to make a fall wreath and I got everything I needed.  There was SO much to choose from, and it was all 50% off, score!  I plan on posting about my wreath making process next week.  After Hobby Lobby, we stopped at Cheddar's and enjoyed a delicious lunch... Lemon pepper chicken? Yes, please!  After lunch we hit Wally-World for a few groceries and came home.  We really enjoyed spending a date day together. 
Now, I have been meaning to post about our apartment, since we have been living there since May and I decided I should give you a picture tour today.  Here we go!

When walking in our front door, you enter the living room/dining area.


Our Living Room




Another angle of the living room,
thanks for the painting idea, Emily!




Living room, again.

 From the living room leading into the kitchen, is where our dining table is.

From the living room, you can see our teeny tiny, yes I said teeny tiny, kitchen.  Even though it is small, we can still do everything we need to.  This makes me look forward to the day that I have a larger kitchen!

As we go down the hall way...

Our first stop is a bathroom... we often refer to it as "Preston's Bathroom" simply because that is where he gets ready every day and he picked out the decorations.

Now you are coming to our spare bedroom/office.  We have a futon that pulls out to a full size bed when we have company.  Surprisingly, we have already had great use out of it from different guests we've had.  The first one of course, was Miss Brinley.  This room has lots of stuff from our dorm rooms, hence all of my pink!

I just realized that I forgot to take pictures of the laundry room, but it isn't that exciting.... so, oh well!
Here is our bedroom:

Last but not least is the master bathroom, also known as "Brooke's Bathroom" because just like Preston's, this is where I get ready and I picked out the decor... of course it had to match the bedroom!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed touring our apartment... see ya next time!

Brooke

So much!

Hello everyone!  With all of the hustle and bustle of getting things ready for the wedding and finishing up my junior year of school, blogging seemed to be put on the back burner for me.  However, I never stopped reading... just posting.  Well, I have decided to get into it again and hopefully do a better job than I did before.  There has been so much that has happened in the last few months so it is going to take a little while to get you caught up... 3-2-1, here we go!
My last post was in March, so I will try to briefly recap each month since then, in April, I was completely consumed in school, finishing my short term practicum, final assignments, ect.  I was going home every weekend to get wedding "stuff" taken care of, whether it was getting invitations ready, taking bridal pictures, or stuffing kiddie bags, there was always something that needed to be done.  Then we get to May.  May started off by ending my junior year with  exams, and then the 7th was Preston's (my husband for those of you  who don't know) college graduation.  Sadly, I do not have a picture of him in his cap and gown on my new computer or I would share.  Moving on... the next 6 days were busy busy busy... because on the 7th day, I married my best friend.  The ceremony was amazing and we had a wonderful reception, everything went to smoothly.  Well, other than our ring bearer not wanting to go down the aisle, but hey, he's cute.  Here are some moments of our big day:

Me and my Daddy-O

"I DO"

Mr. and Mrs. Riffe!

Wedding Party

Our Family

Getting ready to eat!

Father/Daughter

silly picture :)

We are so thankful for the many blessings we had throughout our wedding, including the showers, attendance, prayers, and thoughts that were with us as we started our new journey together.  Well, soon after the reception came to an end, it was time to head to Cincinnati... we had a 7am flight to catch the next morning, a flight to Miami we were boarded to glorious Carnival cruise ship, Glory!  We were so excited about our trip, especially since Preston had never been on a cruise before.  We made it to Miami and got through security at the cruise terminal lickity split with no problems.  The only wait we had was right before we boarded due to a storm.  We got on the cruise and we were off to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Isla Roatan (Honduras).  As you can imagine, we had a wonderful vacation that included snorkeling with sting rays and checking out the Mayan ruins!  Pictures don't do the trip justice, but I'll try to give you a little peak of how much fun we had!

First time on our balcony!

Our fabulous view

snazzy!

Cozumel :)

Belize

2nd elegant night... we lookin' fiiiine :)

bliss.

 We returned from our honeymoon at 4:30am, yes, you read that correctly, 4:30am.  We had flight delays in Chicago- it was storming as result of the storms/ tornadoes in Joplin.  We are happy to be home safe and sound.  We had a day to get things settled, and then I began working my summer job.  I had a work study in house keeping and let me tell ya, it was hard  exhausting!  In June we celebrated Preston's 23rd birthday.  We had a visit from Nana and PawPaw that we enjoyed and I baked/decorated a cake for Preston.  In July we really just continued the basic stuff, with an addition to a fun trip to King's Island amusement park.  Now it is August and school has started back.... but hey, it's senior year- almost finished!  I am currently working on getting my practicum placement set in stone and I am sure you will hear all about it when I know where I am going.
I know I have left out details, but now that I have got you somewhat caught up with our lives for the past few months I can continue posting... see you next time!

Brooke 

Wedding Showers!

It has taken a little while, but as I said before... I am posting about our wedding showers, one was in Pikeville and one was in Abingdon.  We were so blessed to be given these wonderful showers and we are grateful for everything we recieved! 

The Pikeville shower was at Coal Run Church of Christ, the church we are getting married in.  It was on March 5th and there were lots of people that were there!  It was great to see everyone and enjoy time together as Preston and I are getting things ready to live our lives together.  From preparing food, to decorating, to enjoying the good DELICIOUS shower foods, to opening presents, it was a great day, here are some pictures!


The Soon to be Riffe's



Drink Table

Gift Table

Cake Table... that cake was not only beautiful, it was delicious!



My favorite candle, Candleberry Hot Maple Toddy, Thanks Mom!




My bride bear, made at Build-A-Bear, stuffed by my Daddy-O, she even has a blue garter!



Preston's Bear, created and stuffed by my Mom



MawMaw and Grandmama :)




Our Oh-So-Cute Marshmellow Flower Boquets

Our Throw that has all of our important dates!

 Our Abingdon shower was at Suburban Christian Church on March 12th, showers back to back Saturdays was pretty fun!  Nana, Connie (our wedding director) and others prepared and decorated and when we got there, I thought they did a fantastic job, it looked wonderful!  It was such a great shower, Bruce and Lindsey (Preston's best man and his wife) were even able to come up from Charleston, SC where they are living currently while Bruce is in his Navy training.... it was great to see them!

So pretty!

MawMaw!

Nana and PawPaw

Bruce and Lindsey

Ribbon hat!

 Hope you enjoyed the recap of our wedding showers, we really enjoyed them!  Tomorrow is the bachelorette party, not promising a post for that one! Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Only 50 days until the wedding!!

Brooke