Amazing Things Happening

{i screen you screen}

Oh Conan, you are wise man. 

We have company in town which always sends us into overdrive. If I find good peaches I'll be making this over the weekend (yum!) followed by a wedding and lots of conversation geared towards our wedding. We are to double digit days remaining - 99 to be exact - which is equally as exciting as it is terrifying; we have a lot to do. Here's to a productive weekend.

Woe is Me (Huynh)

Though it seems we have a pretty happy life, there are woes to be mentioned. One of the main reasons for our blog is to write about all the DIY projects that we have done, most of which are done to our house. And just when it seems like there's progress we come across setbacks like these:

So... reasons why we haven't been posting more of our DIYs? We (ahem...Huynh) are spending the other half of the time fixing disasters like the aforementioned.

And the culprit is this little devil:

Just joshing...This is just a shameful plug of our stinkin' cute nephew. The real culprit is our all too familiar, separation anxiety inflicted beagle, Gatsby!  As much as we love him... Man he's a handful!

Maybe we will start adding those repairs to the blog as an FYI for others because we know we had to google some of them.

What repairs have you made lately?!?

#coldplayfilm

Twenty-one (!!) songs and an undisclosed amount of canned Shiner later, we are exhausted. Coldplay put on an amazing show - as did their openers Wolf Gang and Robyn! Even cooler were the synchronized light up wristbands that would light up to the beat of the songs in different color patterns. Those Brits know how to entertain.

Weekend, recap

The key to a great weekend is starting it off with a good bottle of wine and Korean food. It was hot this weekend so we did our best to stay cool - bowling, dinners, and fun wedding things like playing with the seal for our invitations and groomsmen suit shopping (so dapper). We tile shopped too which is for another project on another day. I'm excited.

 

To Do

{20x200}

Our to-do list is long this weekend - coming back from a vacation and going straight to work is hard on a house. Compile that with our still out of control office spilling into the dining room and we have quite the cleaning schedule on our plate. I intended on taking a faux-break from wedding planning this weekend only to have our invitations, flower girl dresses, and my wedding gown (gasp!) come in so looks like we will be scurrying around finalizing addresses and getting fitted (all good problems to have). I cannot WAIT to put on MY dress. YAY! Have a good weekend!

Ten Green Salads

{real simple magazine}

Ripped from the pages of Real Simple magazine, these salads almost make this wedding diet bearable. Almost. We tried the herb salad mix with tomatoes, pepper, and Feta which was as delicious as it sounds - I cannot wait to try the others!

Hamburger Wrapping Paper

{food network magazine}

Speaking of wrapping paper, check out this amazing paper I saw in the June 2012 issue of Food Network magazine. Designed to look like a hamburger, the gifts turn out almost too awesome to even open - and with birthday cake and s'mores in the works, I know that I will be adding to my wrapping paper collection soon.

Wrapping Paper Station

Yup, we have a wicked problem. I hoard wrapping paper like it's going extinct - so I knew there was something that needed to be done. In the past, when a gift needed to be wrapped, we would have to haul out this box of paper - which, mind you, is completely falling apart - and the bag of ribbon from the back pits of the coat closet. We would have to scramble around to find a good pair of scissors and pen along with tape from the kitchen all the while hoping that the pen would work and that we had enough of the seasonal paper.

Definitely not ideal.

In the process of revamping the office, we had a dead space behind the door that we knew would just be perfect! After a quick trip to IKEA for the two baskets and Bed, Bath, and Beyond for the curtain rods, it took Huynh a couple of hours of leveling and screwing before we had the perfect little wrapping paper organizer! Yippee!

Disney World // Recap

We're back! Five days and 1000+ pictures later - not including phone pictures which you get today, we are home from our magical trip to Disney World. It was filled with multiple Mickey sightings, glitter, a ride or two, and lots of desserts. In true recap style, let's see if my memory will serve me correctly as I rehash the fun we had.

Wednesday, we caught the earliest flight to Orlando from Houston, hopped on Disney's Magical Express, and met up with the family at Epcot. We had dinner that night at Coral Reef restaurant, had a margarita in Mexico, and a pretzel in Germany. Our favorite ride there was hands down Soarin' followed in a close second by Captain EO starring Michael Jackson (it was amazingly 80s). After a few monorail mishaps, we made it back to the hotel to check-in and crash.

Thursday, Huynh and the boys woke up early to head to play golf while the rest of us went to Magic Kingdom to get head to toe make-overs at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique! We also managed to squeeze in Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Mad Tea Party, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan's Flight. After dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, we found a spot on the curb and watched the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular before the kids started nodding off (adults too). After we had a good nights sleep, Friday, again, Huynh and the boys played golf while the rest of us went back to Magic Kingdom! This time we rode People Mover - more times than we would like to admit, Astro Orbiter, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, "it's a small world", Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, and finally Splash Mountain (the picture is a classic). We ended the trip with dinner at California Grill and watched the sunset behind the castle - it was beautiful.

Saturday, while the rest of the family ended their magical vacation, Huynh and I had one more day to spend away from Disney at Universal Studios. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was so much fun!! We rode all three rides in true Harry Potter style, drank some butterbeer, and shopped in every store. We had beautiful weather so when the people picked up, we moved on and went to Jurassic Park, rode on the Incredible Hulk roller coaster and Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, plus got a caricature drawn. So, so fun!! A year of planning paid off in the best way... we are already scheduling the next trip. Disney World 2015, here we come!

 

 

 

Disney World // Keepsakes

{edu barba}

My favorite movie growing up was Mary Poppins. It's no secret that I love musicals; one of the very first CDs I owned was the Aladdin soundtrack. But oh Mary Poppins. You had my heart at a spoonful of sugar! Practically perfect in every way.

We've grabbed a couple of mementos of our trip while we've been here - in part to escape to A/C, in part to add to our growing travel magnet collection. I also grabbed us a Christmas ornament (obviously) though I am sure that I will get this one too from Hallmark - too precious!

We will be back Monday with pictures! Have a good weekend!

Disney World // How I Wore It

1 / 2

3 / 4

It is HOT here, as expected. I came prepared with a suitcase filled of Nike Dry Fit shirts and shorts to wear until they aren't dry anymore. While I did try to go for cute and colorful, I am definitely more concerned with my comfort level and ensuring that I don't stick to my Space Mountain seat (which was so much fun!). Happy Thursday!

Disney World // What We Carried

The day has arrived! Let the Miller family vacation commence (though, to be fair, the rest of the family started on Saturday). But alas, Huynh and I are currently heading to the airport to catch our flight headed straight to Orlando to partake in a magical vacation at Disney World. I have never been; Huynh has been once - but what has surprised me the most was how much research is required to make such a vacation even more amazing than imagined.

I'm going to come right out and say it: Disney World is a Type-A person's dream. Sure, the lines are long, it's as hot as Hades, and children run amok as if parents don't exist in their enchanting paradise, but really. The amount of planning that went into this vacation is truly out of control. There are phone apps, countless books, and even more websites dedicated to making the most out of your $100 ticket to fairy tales.

The icing on top of our Miller family vacation is the Excel workbook containing multiple worksheets filled with reservation numbers, flight information, and places to visit on our week long joy ride. It was a labor of love nurtured by my sister and helped along by the rest of us who did little parts here and there to help make this trip as wonderful as possible. I ended up researching for days what should and shouldn't be carried with you as you bounce from park to park and ride to ride while avoiding your hotel room for as long as possible. my goal was to maximize items, minimize weight, and distribute items appropriately to both the hubby (or soon to be) and wife.

I just hope our mister fans are strong enough.

In my Vera Bradley mini-hipster: anti-bacterial hand gel, bandaids, camera, cash, cell phone, chap stick, facial towelettes, gum, kleenex, mister fan, pony tail holder (crucial), sharpie (to label drinks), and sunglasses.

In Huynh's Eddie Bauer sling pack: altoids, cash, cell phone, extra AA batteries (for the fans!), hat, mister fan, pain medicine, rain poncho, sunglasses, sunscreen, umbrella, and wet wipes.

Disney World // Reading material

I carry a ton of magazines with me when I travel - they are just so easy to ditch when you are done reading them, thus easing the load! I got this tote in Lime's Up to carry on the plane and grabbed some good reads while I was in Barnes and Noble the other day (including this book). Our bags are already packed; I am so excited about tomorrow. Disney World, here we come!!

Weekend, recap

An instragram dump today (along with a bonus vacation picture!) to start off this Monday morning. We had a busy weekend without being too stuffy - starting Friday with work, then basketball, and wedding invite assembly. Saturday while Huynh golfed, I headed back into work then off to IKEA where I bought 30+ Tolsby frames for the reception. After a coat of navy paint, they will be ready for table numbers and signs throughout the party! I was interrupted so many times while counting the frames that I know I bought at least 28 plus about 8 for good measure (we need at least 33). I was rushing to meet Pam and Meagan at the Galleria so I grabbed a pizza and a coke on my way to my car with all of that wedding swag. That night, Huynh and I drove over to Branch Water Tavern for a little date night - the English Pea Veloute was to die for! We cuddled on the couch watching hockey and basketball until we finally nodded off.

Sunday, we were greeted with an iPhone snap shot from Disney World - we cannot wait to be there! - while we went into total wedding mode: we finished the photobooth props, assembled the invitations, wrote thank you notes, and cleaned up the wedding room/office. We also did house chores and packed (all while watching Rent). It was hard waking up this morning to say the least.

Favorite

{makenzi & madilyn sew}

We are working today in preparation of not being at the office for the majority of next week. I actually love being at the office when no one else is here. I get so much more done! We are buckling down this weekend and giving our house an overhaul cleaning (it needs it) and I'm also hoping to hammer out our Vietnamese invitations - we need to print and assemble! I love when wedding planning doesn't feel like work.