Movin' and Groovin'

I don't know about y'all, but I am NOT a fan of moving.

This past week or so has been a tad bit crrraaazzzyyyy!  

Kyle and I officially started moving out of our home this past Saturday.

I was a little worried about the new house because it's a bit smaller,

but so far I am in LOVE!!!!

It already feels so much cozier and more "homey" than the other one ever did.

To any of my readers with pups i'm sure you can relate to this....

Charley was SO nervous when we started packing the house up.

Poor babe thought we were going to leave her there by herself.

She would follow us around everywhere to make sure we didn't forget her,

oh and then there's this....

She's much happier now that we are [somewhat] settled in the new house.

We are SO dang blessed to have family close by that were willing to help us move,

It definitely made the process less stressful and overwhelming and we couldn't be more thankful!

Kyle and I are actually heading to the old house tonight to hopefully finish up

and grab EVERYthing else.

It's amazing how much crap you have in your house, that you don't even use or need.

We've slowlyyyyy started decorating the new house and i'm really loving it.

Here are a few pictures so far!

I think our dining area is my favorite little space so far.

I am obsessedddd with this table that Kyle built for us!

And I scored these beautiful chairs on sale on Wayfair.com.

I can't wait to show y'all the rest of our place!! 

The weather has been amazing the past few days so I have a feeling we might

not get much done this weekend, oh well,

gotta enjoy the beautiful weather while it's here!!

Last night I went to a much needed happy hour with a couple girlfriends,

will share the outfit (love love love) I wore on tomorrows post!

Happy Thursday!

xoxo, Monica

Packin' Up and Headin' Out.

The past few weeks have been a tad stressful.

Kyle was recently transferred to a completely different position at his job,

on the complete opposite side of town.

Kyle and I have been wanting to move more north for a while now. 

We don't really love the neighborhood we are currently in, 

and we have a back neighbor that sits outside talking on the phone all day everyday,

so we can barely ever let Charley out because she barks at him like CRAZY.

We've been looking to buy somewhere near the Cypress area for a few months,

but haven't had any luck AT ALL.

Our lease in the house we are currently in ends THIS month. 

We have always paid on time, and have heard our landlord loves us.

Therefore we figured we could extend our lease about 3 more months and it wouldn't be a problem.

WRONG.

Our landlord decided to raise the rent significantly,

and there was no way we were willing to pay that amount.

Therefore, we started searching like crazy for a new place to rent.

A place closer to his work, in a better area, and preferably with no back neighbors!

God sure is good, we managed to find a place within a week!

When we found it we were informed that it had already had multiple offers.

So, of course we were super bummed and not very optimistic. 

Well guess what?! We were told yesterday that IT'S OURS!

Our official move in date is the 25th,

so we've got a heck of a lot of work to do!

Moving is never fun, and always stressful so please just keep us in your prayers!

Especially because Kyles new job is MUCH less flexible so I'll probably

be doing a lot of the packing and moving myself. 

Although we've been wanting to get out of this house for a while it's still bittersweet.

This was mine and Kyles very first home together, and the only home Charley knows.

So even though I'm super excited to be leaving, 

we are leaving behind some really awesome memories. 

If anyone has any amazing moving tips send them my way!! 

Happy Hump Day Pretty Girls.

xoxo, Monica

Life as a Grown up isn't always fun.

Top: ShopMCE.com

Jeans: Paige Denim via Nordstrom (similar)

Wedges: LuLus.com

How come no one warned me that all of my money would disappear when I grew up?
Gosh, paying bills is so lame.
It's not only lame, it's also stressful and depressing.
Ugh.

Kyle and I are currently renting right now,
and ever since the break in I honestly can't wait to get out.
I know break ins can happen anywhere and it was probably just random bad luck,
but still, I do not feel comfortable here at all anymore.

Can someone just loan us a couple 100k?!
HAHA!
Wouldn't that be convenient?!

One bummer about owning your own business is you can't get approved for a loan
until after you've been in business for 2 years, so that's also holding us back!

Kyle really wants to live out on land somewhere,
I would like land also, but I want to live close to the city as well.
Working from home makes you realize how desperately you NEED errands to run,
and a gym to actually go too.
I also don't want to be too far away from family.

I guess this is what happens when you get married,
life decisions start happening, and they aren't as easy to make as you would think!
Unless if you have an unlimited money supply of course.

If you could just be praying for us that would be awesome!
I'm desperate for us to get out of the house we're in now,
so prayers for us to find the perfect home that we both love and that's in a good location.
And of course for me to be at peace in this home until we are able to find a new one.

Happy hump day ladies, and thanks for being so awesome <3

xoxo, Monica

Weekend Trips and Home Invasions Part II

After florating the river we all headed back to the house

to stuff our faces and get ready for the wedding!

Dress: Tobi.com

Wedges: Tillys.com

Necklace: LuLus.com

The wedding was beautiful and VERY warm.

Needless to say we were all very sweaty and very exhausted.

Us 4 ended up leaving after dinner was served.

We got back to the house and did a whole lot of nothing.

Omg I just realized I forgot to mention my new BFF Penelope!

We met her the minute we got there and I fell in love.

she was so precious.

Anyways, we got home, fed some deer, then all relaxed until my parents got back.

They didnt get home till about 10 and we were all SO exhausted.

We were all leaving in the morning, My parents, Tara & Jonathan were going ziplining

and Kyle and I were going to one of my best friends little girls 2nd birthday party.

The night was going well until Kyle received a call, he didnt answer and then

the same number started calling my phone.

He got a voicemail while they were calling me and he listened and it was the

alarm company, so he immediately answered my phone.

The alarm company was calling letting us know our alarm was going off,

and were seeing if everything was okay.

I immediately panic.

We had them dispatch the police and anxiously waited for them to call back.

About 30 minutes later we received a call from an Officer Evans.

By this point I was shaking and anxious and praying for the best.

I am already a paranoid person & always think someone is trying to murder me.

(thanks to criminal minds, CSI, The Following...etc.)

We were hoping and praying that it was a false alarm.

As I was sitting there I was just waiting to see Kyles face make some kind of 

obvious reaction to what the officer was saying.

Kyle was SO calm.

And then Kyle repeats the officer and says

"So they kicked the front door down?"

I immediately burst into tears.

I felt fear, anger, sadness, and so many other emotions.

I know these kinds of things happen all the time but you never really think it will happen to you.

And well, I didnt take it so well.

The officers were walking through the house, going through every room

so Kyle could let them know what he thinks was stolen.

As far as we could tell they only took my laptop.

Which kind of breaks my heart.

I have always taken my laptop EVERY where I go.

It has so many memories, special notes, pictures etc.

I had literally deleted everything off my phone the day we left and dumped it onto my laptop.

The only reason I didnt take it with me is because a few days ago Kyle had spilled

a little water on it and it was running slower, so we were going to take it to the apple store

as soon as we got back.

I think what I was most upset about is that I was finally staring to consider this place home.

It took me a while but it was finally starting to happen, 

but now I literally cant wait to get out of here.

The scary thing is whoever did it must have been watching our house for a while to know

we were out of town.

Oh and did I mention they broke in at 9pm?!

WHO does that? Our neighborhood is VERY busy and we are right by the entrance

to the neighborhood.

The whole thing seriously just blows my mind.

Needless to say I've been extra paranoid lately.

I'm upset about my laptop and other things being taken but beyond grateful

that me, Kyle or charley werent there to experience the break in.

It could have been SO much worse so I am SO grateful that it wasnt.

What also blows my mind is that we have stickers and signs that we have an 

alarm system posted ALL over the house AND front door.

Ugh I dont know the whole thing just makes me feel uneasy.

We are going out of our way to make sure it wont happen again though.

The bastards are lucky we werent here because they wouldve gotten 

a bullet or 3 in the chest REAL quick.

Anyways, thank goodness we are renting this house and we arent stuck here.

and thank goodness it wasnt any worse.

Just pray for us because it's definitely not a good feeling knowing a

criminal was recently in your home going through your personal items,

 it's terrifying actually.

Prayers are MUCH appreciated. 

<3

Hobo Hats and one heck of a recipe.

Cold fronts always mean I pull out my favorite beanie.

Simple, goes with everything, and keeps me warm!

Top: ShopMCE.com

Scarf: Thrifted

Jeans: Kohls

Leg Warmers: Forever 21 (super old)

Boots: Forever21.com

Beanie: ShopMCE.com

Kyle and I have been busy working on our new home!

(well our home for the next year at least)

I can't wait to show y'all pictures! 

It's hard because there are SO many things we want to do, 

but we can't because we are renting it and it's not actually ours.

But hey, that's okay because we are getting a lot of ideas for when we do buy our first home.

As most of you know Kyle and I really enjoy eating, and eating a lot.

We ended up making this DELICIOUS recipe yesterday and I'm SO excited to share it!

I actually found the recipe on "light cooking" which is extremely surprising when you look at the title..

"Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac & Cheese"

I don't know about you, but "light" isn't exactly what comes to mind when I read that.

and then I read the recipe and realized that they only put teeny amounts of all the good stuff!

Well, we changed that REAL quick.

Here is the recipe that I copied, but we used 4 pieces of bacon, and way more cheese.

(you can never have too much bacon, or too much cheese)

Ingredients:

•  ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1 slice applewood-smoked bacon (we used 4 pieces)
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 
• 1 tablespoon canola oil 
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk (we used whole milk)
• 1/3 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded six-cheese Italian blend (such as Sargento) (we used more than 3/4)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded colby-Jack cheese

Directions:

1. 1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
2. 2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.
3. 3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.
4. 4. Preheat broiler.
5. 5. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and colby-Jack cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

We were a little worried it wasn't going to turn out good,
but holy crap it was AMAZING!