2013 - Our big year!

Hello blogging world. As most of you know 2013 is a HUGE year for Ryan & me. Building a house, Ryan's graduation, and our wedding just to name the three big items. :)

This time last year, we found a house that we liked in an area that we really liked...I went and looked at it and everything about it just FIT us. Fast forward to February 2013...Ryan and I decided to build that house plan in that neighborhood. We have a corner lot on an acre and our house is finally taking shape! Last week, the slab was poured and as of yesterday, most of the house is framed! I've posted a few pictures for y'all to keep up with our building process with us!

When they started framing for the slab.

Plumbing!

Tension cables for the slab

We have a slab!

And a frame!!

 

I'll try to keep pictures posted as things keep progressing. I can't tell you how excited I am for the next six months! Three months from today Ryan graduates and six months from tomorrow, I become Mrs. Bradley!

Blogging fail

The lack of blogging lately is due mostly to busy season, but also to the fact that Ryan moved about a month ago and we tried to spend as much time together before he left as possible! We are still adjusting to living halfway across the country from eachother, but I don't think we will ever "get used to it." The last month and a half  has been crazy though!

• Ryan moved
• Laura got married!
• Went to Erica's wedding shower
• Ryan started school (ps he loves it)
• Bachelorette weekend for Erica (including a 5k!)
• Chuck graduated from OSU!
• I flew to see Ryan for an entire 36 hours
• Erica & Ty got married! I had the honor of being a bridesmaid and it was such a fun wedding!

As you can imagine, that list, paired with busy season leaves for little downtime, but oh well! I'll try to post some pictures of some of these wonderful events in the next few days. (Madalene? Takes pictures?! Anyone who really knows me is NOT surprised that I have wayyyyy too many pictures of each event.)

Have a great week!

My life lately

I get to go to Fayetteville today! Yay! I have been out in California for two weeks now, and will be back for two more weeks starting Sunday, butttttttt I get to go "home" for the weekend. Why is this special? For many reasons :) Not in order of importance, well except for number one!

#1 - I get to see my handsome fiancé!
#2 - I get to fly into XNA instead of Tulsa and then having to drive (which is awesome!).
#3 - I get to see my friends!
#4 - Ryan and I get to meet our wedding planner!!! YAY!

I am SO excited to get to work with Amy, Pam, and Ashley! Pam is a friend of my friend Amanda and I have heard about her company for a few years now. Let me tell you, following their blog hasn't helped my love of weddings before we got engaged. There's a reason they're called Details...all the little details that I see in their posts and on their facebook page are so fun! Ashley is their newest addition and I am really excited to meet her tomorrow along with Amy and Pam!

Now the question is if Ryan is even a quarter as excited as I am? Haha probably not.

Although I have gotten to spend the last couple of weeks in sunny southern California, I have mostly been inside due to work (11-12 hour days take some getting used to!), but last weekend I got to go to Santa Monica to see my friend Mary Lauren! I could definitely live on a beach one day :) Here are a couple of pictures from my California adventure:

LOVE the beach

Yes, I am aware that this is a "sappy" picture, don't hate me

Hope you have a great weekend!

Vote for us!

Sooooo Ryan & I are entered to win an engagement session with Beaty Photography!

Here's how to VOTE:
1. Vote in the poll on the blog post (http://www.beatyphotography.com/bling-voting-round-2012/)
- vote once a day everyday this week
- the poll will be open daily from 9am - 9pm CST

2. "Like" the couple's photo on Facebook
- "Like" Beaty Photography if you don't already. (http://www.facebook.com/beatyphotography)
- "Like" the couple's photo of your choice. Each "Like" will be counted as one vote.
- the contest photos will appear in the album: "Bling in the New Year Voting 2012"

We are super behind, but it's still worth a shot! Pleaseeeee vote for us and I will love you forever!
 

We picked a date!

Last weekend was FABULOUS. Not kidding. On Friday I got to go horseback riding for the first time in who knows how long, got to catch up with my cousin Kiera, and had a yummy dinner with the most amazing ceasar salad ever and great company. On Saturday, I got to see even more of my extended family, including my grandparents who I haven't seen in far too long, and then I got to go see my fiancé! Hehe, I just love that word! I got to cook dinner for Ryan and spend the evening watching a movie and doing nothing...which we haven't gotten to do in a long time.

We picked a date! So exciting :) Now we are just trying to nail down a location. We did our first "engaged couple thing" last weekend and went to look at one possible location. It wasn't exactly everything we were hoping for, so the hunt continues!

Oh! Before I forget, we entered a contest with Beaty Photography to win a free engagement session! Hopefully we get to the phase where people have to vote and then I will probably be begging all of you to go vote for us!

I hope you are having an awesome week! Busy season is starting for accountants everywhere which means I will be pretty busy for the next few months!

The Proposal

Although the best place to start would be at the beginning of our relationship, I think I am going to start with our engagement and work our way back :) This is my side of the story (maybe I can convince Ryan to share his side too).

As a new staff auditor, I am a busy bee. For the three weeks leading up to Christmas I was set to be in three different states, so I thought nothing of it when Ryan asked me for a copy of my flight schedules and the citiies I would be in. I thought he was just being a protective boyfriend wanting to know the second I landed that I was okay. Little did I know he wanted this so that he could secretly get to Tulsa to ask my parents for their blessing!

About two weeks before Christmas, Ryan asked me if he was going to get to see me on Christmas. I said no because I was going to be with my immediate family in Tulsa. He then asked if I could come on Christmas Eve to Subiaco to see him and exchange gifts with his parents. I said I would check and see if I could and he was quite persistent that he wanted me to come. He also wanted to go four-wheeling with some friends up on Mount Magazine. I'm sitting at my hotel thinking, "it's freezing outside, you HAVE to be joking." Since he is moving to Orlando for a little over a year, he told me that this may be our last chance to go with them due to my busy season schedule. I should note that Mount Magazine (Buzzard's rock in particular) has been important to us from the beginning (which I will get to that in another post).

When discussing holiday plans with my family, I snuck in that I was going to go see Ryan on the 24th. They were surprisingly okay with this, but I still thought nothing of it because I knew that they all really liked Ryan. On the 23rd, I went to a get together at my friend Ellen's house. What was funny is that a bunch of my friends from high school and middle school were talking about people getting engaged and how crazy it was that we were at that stage. My family was also in attendance, but they all knew I was leaving early to get on my way to Subi.

When I FINALLY got to the concert where I was meeting Ryan and our friends, I asked some of them if they were going to get to go with us the next morning. They all said no and had things to do. Ryan said he still wanted to go, and being honest, in my head I was thinking that he was crazy because it was going to be cold and we were the only ones going! The next morning, he wasn't feeling well so, again, I told him we didn't have to go. He still wanted to, so we got bundled up and headed to Chris' to get the four-wheeler.

Usually when we go four-wheeling, I don't get to take my camera because we end up going through mud and water. This time though, Ryan told me to go ahead and bring it because we could go slow on our way up the mountain and it wasn't a big deal. We finally get to Buzzard Rock and Ryan tells me to go take some pictures and he will be there in a minute. I head out to our favorite area and start snapping a few pictures and realize my camera is about to die! I shouted this to Ryan and he goes "WHAT?!". I told him it wasn't dead just dying fast and when I turn around, he's walking out on this cliff that juts out over absolutely nothing with a little box in his hand.

He walks to where I am standing and as he starts to get on his knee, he said, "You're going to have to help me up, but...". At this point my hand flies to my mouth and my eyes start watering as he opens the box and asks me to marry him! In my head I was screaming "oh my god, YES!," but I actually had to ask him today if I even vocalized that! I know I at least nodded...I really couldn't talk without crying. I didn't even give him a chance to get up before I got down on my knees and gave him a huge hug.

I loved that he then goes, "do you even like the ring? You didn't look at it!!" I laughed because I was so focused on the words coming out of his mouth and the fact that he was kneeling on a cliff that I had looked, but I hadn't really seen the ring. So he put it on my finger and it fit perfectly (which is amazing because I have never worn a ring on this finger, nor have I ever known what size it was). It's gorgeous and he obviously knows me very well :)

I think I made him stand on that rock for about 15 minutes before I could move. I don't think he minded. :)

We then started back down the mountain, but talked about our future and our wedding the whole time. By the time we got back to the truck, I wanted to call my mom. I will admit that I cried on top of the mountain, but I seriously couldn't hold it together when I was on the phone with my mom. I'm SO proud of her, my dad, my brothers, and Ryan's parents for not letting it slip!

We headed back home and got to see his family and some of our friends before I had to go back to Tulsa. I catch myself looking at my ring instead of concentrating on other things. I get to marry my best friend in the world and I'm so, so, so excited! Here are a few pictures from that day!

We were standing on the left side of this when he proposed :)

He had a reason for wanting me to bring the camera :)

WE'RE ENGAGED!

Oh my freaking gosh! My best friend asked me to marry himmmmmmmmmmm!! I am so beyond thrilled it's crazy. Blog world get ready for some wedding planning, Madalene style :) I cannot wait to spend my life with Ryan! AHHHHHH :)

I apologize for the screaming, obviously I'm still on cloud 9 :)

Halloween Rag Wreath

Since I have been all about wreaths lately, I decided to make a halloween wreath! This one is really easy to make, but can take quite a while. I got the inspiration from pinterest, but found different ways of doing this online.

Things you need:
-fun holiday fabric (4 patterns, 2 yards each)
-wire wreath form (I got the large one with 4 rings)
-ribbon to hang your wreath from
-wooden letters
-paint to paint wooden letters

A. Cut strips of fabric, about 6" long and 1" wide (longer if you want), and tie in a random pattern around your ring.
B. Take a piece of ribbon and tie a loop about the top of your wreath to hang it from.  I tied it around the second ring.

C.  I wanted to attach the word "BOO" but the craft store was out of "b" so I went with "EEK."  I painted them orange and then topped it with sparkly spray paint.

D.  Attaching the letters to the wreath ended up being a little more tricky.  I ended up hot gluing ribbon to the back of the letters and tying them on to the wire form.

Here's my finished product!

A New Wreath

I made a ribbon wreath for my parents! It's very monochromatic with black, white and silver ribbon, but seriously, we represent four different universities and it's football season. Kind of hard to choose one school to put on the front door. (Let me rephrase - it would be easy to choose for MY front door, but for my parent's house, it was much harder). To see the tutorial on how to make this wreath, check out my post from February.

The only things that I did differently were to use pearl picks instead of jewels and I put a fun M on it! (Had to get my razorback color in it somehow!) I just bought a wooden M, painted it red, and hot glued straight pins to the back of it. After that, you just have to push it into the styrofoam form! Pretty easy.

Stay tuned, there will be a new wreath for Halloween soon!

Chicken Casserole

I haven't posted in a LONG time! Lots has been going on! I wanted to share one of my (and Ryan's) favorite recipes- Chicken and rice casserole! This casserole freezes well and it tastes even better each time you reheat leftovers. I could seriously eat this daily for a week or two...probably not a good idea! Funny thing is that this is the first meal my grandma made when my dad brought my mom home to meet the family. I have received a few requests for this recipe so I figured I would post it on my blog. So in the style of Ree Drummond, I am posting pictures and giving you a step-by-step tutorial.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked rice
• 1 medium package frozen broccoli (chopped or in small pieces)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 can water chestnuts, sliced
• 1 small jar cheez-whiz
• 3-4 cups chopped or shredded chicken (use more if you want!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• Shredded cheese

I always forget about the milk....luckily if you DO forget to put it in, the casserole is still delicious (trust me, I've done it)

 Hmmmm...why is there a diet coke with the ingredients? Oh yeah...I'd don't cook without diet coke. Let's be honest, I don't do much of anything without diet coke. :)

 Place chicken in a pot and fill with water. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Go ahead and turn the oven on to 350 if you are planning on cooking this now.

 While the chicken is cooking, go ahead and cook the rice.

 Drain the water chesnuts 

 Combine milk, cheez-whiz, broccoli, cream of chicken, and water chestnuts in a bowl or pot.

 Add chicken! I like to shred mine, but chopping works too. It's just whatever is easiest for you.

 Start adding rice until you think the mixture seems thick (but not too thick) - I end up using about 4 cups.

 Place mixture in a greased baking dish.

Sprinkle cheese on top. Seriously, who doesn't like extra cheese?

Pop in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes or freeze for later in the week. I think Ryan can vouch that it tastes pretty yummy after being frozen!

Not the prettiest picture, but I PROMISE it tastes amazing! If you do try it, let me know what you think!

Hope you have a great week!

I know some pretty talented people...

Over the last year or so, I have been kind of addicted to photography and local businesses :) I feel a need to share my favorite things with you!

The one who started the addiction to local business - Miss Allyson McGuire. Originally, Allyson was just incredibly artistically talented and used these talents to decorate coolers, canvases, and chairs for sorority stuff. Please believe me when I say that she was heavily utilized! Once she became an alumna, she was making and selling so many of these crafts that she decided to turn it into a business. She has been incredibly busy this year (even with just orders from me!). She also is into photography and does some graphic design work (all which is fantastic). Please check out a couple of pictures below as well as her blog and her facebook page. I am so very proud to be able to call her my friend and look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

Cooler made for my brother's birthday :)

Hog ornament!

Canvas (I want this so badly!)

What began the addiction to photography - Mrs. Madison Vining. I have known this talented woman since grade school. One random day last summer, she sent me a facebook request to "like" her new facebook page. Of course I went and looked at it, happened to win a discounted photo shoot for my family, and fell in love with her style of photography. My family got to be one of her first clients and I hope to take more pictures with her soon. Over the past year, I have seen her grow artistically and creatively and love every new picture she takes more than the last. All of her pictures are FABULOUS, but please check it out for yourself on her website and blog. She is especially talented with kiddos (I bet it helps that her son is the MOST adorable child I have seen in my entire life and a complete ham for the camera). She is an absolutely amazing photographer and from the looks of it, an even better momma with kiddo #2 on the way! Did I mention that this is the first time that my family has loved pretty much every single picture we took together? From boudoir to lolli parties to marketing for other companies, this woman has it all. She is able to get a feel for what each and every client wants, and delivers every time. Do not hesitate to call her and book, I guarantee that she will give you everything you want plus more!

Caden (her son) - I told you he was cute!

One of the pictures of my family :)

I haven't actually gotten to work with this next person yet, but I get to on April 30th! Ann Bennett is incredibly talented and I still can't believe she is new to this business. We both know common people from Tulsa, so of course I looked up her business on facebook when those common people had "liked" it. I instantly loved her style of photography as well as her graphic design work so I was super excited when I won a mini-session with her this spring. My best friend had the opportunity to do some engagement pictures with Ann and they are GORGEOUS. Like should be on the cover of a magazine. I know that Kara and Daniel loved her approach to the session and I absolutely can't wait for my own session at the end of the month. She recently redid her website as well and like everything else having to do with this woman, it's incredible. Here's a picture from Kara's shoot, but I will definitely be posting a lot after I get to take some pictures with Ann! Pleaseeeee go check out her facebook to look at some of her other photos.

Oh...and if you're in the market for a wedding photographer, I just heard Madison and Ann are teaming up. Ummmm let's just say the day I get engaged, they are getting a phone call because I cannot imagine a better team!

Okay...that's all I have time for now, but I promise to get some more of my favorite vendors up here soon! Hope you all have a fabulous day!