Thanksgiving....

Here are some photos from the Lytle Thanksgiving!...

Autumn on Lake Park Lane

Pumpkins...

And Chili...

My two favorite things? Perhaps. (Maybe I should be looking for "pumpkin chili recipes"...haha...)



My chili recipe: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/turkey-and-black-turtle-bean-chili.html?cm_src=RECIPESEARCH

It was a 9 out of 10! (couldn't find "black turtle bean", used "black beans"...could have been better...but overall flavor was AMAZING!)...

The Brown Wedding!!!!

One of my dearest friends got married this past weekend and not only was I a bridesmaid (yay!), she gave me full reign to style the event!!! I could not have been more excited…It was a win-win for both of us… she gets a free wedding stylist without the hassle of worrying about everything that goes into a wedding and I got to test my hand at wedding styling…Plus I now have one more beautiful wedding to add to my event styling portfolio!!!


For the ‘ceremony tree’ I hung glass votives w/ white ribbon…they looked so pretty all lit up at dusk and into the evening (didn’t get a picture of that! Boo!)…

Here is the little outdoor seating area…we did custom pillows in her colors, and then made these ‘yarn balls’ to suspend w/ clear string…

And while the professional photographer was snapping photos of the couple, I managed to get this one...

Here’s the gift area I setup near the entry….Bailee had the big yarn-covered “B” (for her new last name, Brown) and I made the flower for it and placed it w/ more pillows in her colors…

And then we hung a cute chandelier above the gift table…

Here is the menu I made...

...the cake table w/ tissue balls (def not the best pic)

…and the 2nd chandelier (hung above bride & groom’s table)…

And this is the dresser I refinished for Bailee for the wedding…
BEFORE:

AFTER (day)

(night):

Please keep in mind that these are just my amateur photos…I hope to post the professional pictures soon…

"Laundry Room"

I have to put "Laundry Room" in quotations because our "laundry room" is in our "kitchen". Ok, wait, no quotations needed for kitchen...it really is a kitchen! ...With a laundry room...haha....

BEFORE...shortly after moving in (hence green obsession)

After...A storage haven for my paints..I liked the looks of the paint in the mason jars (and easy access for quick touch-ups and projects), but I got nervous everytime the washer would bounce around, the paints would fall onto the washer/dryer...it was just a matter of time before our floor was green, tan, black, red...Plus I have some sneaky ideas for those shelves in the living room...

So I ordered these canvases...feels more open (lots more room for laundry piling up!), and I love the 'vintage' feel of them (and obviously the humor...especially the iron one. SO. ME.), but I have been trying to go more neutral throughout...hope I get used to that splash of color! Oh, and the books are hiding the laundry hookups...I know books aren't really 'laundry decor'...And don't mind the giant empty mason jar (Mama needs to go shopping for some laundry detergent!)

What do you think? Better before? Now?...

Long Weekend for the Lytles...

Long awesome weekend that is!!!

We decided to head west to see our friends who moved far far away...

We left Wednesday night after work, planning to drive as far as we could get without falling asleep. We stopped in Amarillo for dinner (yikes. I will try not to say TOO bad of things about this place. YIKES.)...

We urbanspooned (yes, it's a verb now) good eating places...stumbled upon "Coyote Bluff"..drove past it and Cory said ABSOLUTELY NOT. The tiny little place (smaller than our house!) was in between two scary looking car lots...no light coming from inside...a dirt parking lot....etc....


Wellllll then I proceeded to show Cory the pictures from the review. One look at that juicy hamburger and he turned around and pulled back in. HA. The parking lot WAS crowded (that must be a good sign, right?!). So we wandered in the little dive...not as scary on the inside! Felt like a smaller, equally friendly, Eischen's! We both had a cheeseburger....can you say HEAVEN?

I then proceeded to let Cory thank me all night for making him get out of his comfort zone. hahaha....

So we drove onto Santa Rosa, New Mexico...couldn't hold our eyes open anymore...and decided to stop for the night. Wellllll when I saw the pool was still open (at midnight!!!!!!!!!) my eyes were suddenly open! I asked the front desk guy while checking in if we could swim and he said YES!....BEST. HOTEL. EVER. So we took a midnight swim and called it a night!

The next morning we drove onto Santa Fe to stop for a bit of shopping at The Jackalope. I got all sorts of goodies here (you will see some on my Thanksgiving table!)...

After FINALLY arriving in Colorado we have a DELICIOUS dinner with friends...go back home...put on a JACKET (can you believe it?!), and enjoy a fire on the deck with an awesome view of the San Juans...yup, pretty sure I could live here...

Next day we go white water rafting...WOOOOHOOOO!!!!...No pics :(
Next day we go JEEPING! When I told a girl in Colorado that, she was confused. Apparently that is the Okie term for 4-Wheeling. Whatever.

So here are Cory and Jarrott in the jeeps...Cory is in the green one and Jarrott is in the awesome red bronco!!!!

We found all sorts of beautiful things on our trip up into the mountains (like this waterfall I wanted to put in my suitcase!!!)...Then we ate a picnic "on top of a mountain" (Insert Ron Burgundy voice.)...

And the next day we had to go home....to the hot, flat, hot, humid...uhh, did I mention HOT???

(Bree, that pic's for you. Your welcome.)

Someone Found the Peanut Butter...

BEFORE

DURING

I love how he uses his little "hands"

AFTER

Look at that tongue! Ewww!!!

Bird Lady

Last Friday, I went out to my car and I heard squawking..looked down and saw this little bird tumbling around in the flower bed (or should I say mulch bed)...

I immediately thought he was hurt..I didn't want to touch it (afterall, when I called my mom to ask what to do she told me 6 times not to touch it). I did put some water out for him (It was HOT!)...But I went about my business, ran my errands, came back and he was STILL there! Now I was really worried!

I went inside and when I came back there were TWO little birds! What!?! This is getting weird!

So when I saw a little bit of blue on them (dull, not vibrant quite like a blue jay) I went inside and googled "baby blue jay"...well what do you know...that's exactly what it was!

Google Image of "Baby Bluejay"

And look mom, that lady is HOLDING it!!!!!

So I felt a little dumb (I mean they didn't look small enough to be babies, but looking closer at their fuzzy coat, maybe...)...but I was also relieved they were babies, and not injured...I'm no bird doctor.

So the most exciting part is Cory and I got to watch them learn to fly (which they did in 2 days!)...they still hang around the yard but now they are flying!...

The LEAST exciting part....I called Cory an old man for admiring the cardinals in the backyard, and now I am goo-goo-gaa-gaa over the blue jays in the front yard, and he calls me bird lady. KHARMA.

Summer Fun

Oh, how bad I've been! This blog is just one more crazy busy thing in my life I can't keep up with! Ahhh!!!...

Here are some pics from our 4th of July party...it was a great time...

And then we set up the old sofa, Cory's truck (for tailgate...and 'aesthetic appeal'..hehe), and some other goodies...

So it was all lovely....Until it POURED!!!!!!!!!!.......

 

REALLY?!?! Us Okies are always begging for some mid-summer rain, but it really put a damper on the BBQ (no pun intended)...All the cushions were soaked (the rain came out of nowhere and poured HARD for a good 15-20 minutes) and when it finally stopped everyone had to find somewhere dry to sit (boo!). The goodside..it really cooled things off...instead of 105, it was only 95...

And despite these pics, there really were people at this party (28 to be exact)..ha! I just felt weird posting pics of other people on the internet...then again, I'm the only weirdo w/o Facebook...moving on.....

Overall, "great success"...it was a great party and wonderful to hang with all of my closest friends and family in one place at one time...Thanks for coming everyone! Hope you had a wonderful time!