Happy Birthday America!!!!

Happy 4th of July...

I hope everyone has had a wonderful 4th of July! Chad and I have been enjoying a relaxing day and are going to watch fireworks again tonight... pictures to come tomorrow!

It would be great to be in NYC for the fireworks!

Anytime I think of fireworks I am reminded of our wedding send-off with sparklers. The sparklers were one of my favorite aspects of the wedding.

When fireworks are not an option sparklers are the next best thing!

Enjoy the 4th!

LOVE, MKH-G

Jen Lancaster... How I Love To Read Thy Books

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
I hope everyone has had a relaxing weekend! I know that Chad and I have been complete bums and laid by the pool all weekend. It has been beyond wonderful to relax and just enjoy each other without the ding of phones or email. We should have three day weekends more often. We spent Saturday night scoping out some fun new restaurants and decided on eating at Lockhart Smoke House. I had seen an article in Southern Living (article found here) and thought that it would be a nice change from the Mexican binge that we tend to fall into. We wandered around and finally decided that we were hungry. Inside the restaurant was really different (a la gas station) and the way the food was served reminded us of an old-fashioned butcher shop.

So Happy... parchment paper and all

It even has neon ATM signs like a gas station...

but dont let it fool you. It lived up to the Southern Living hype.

A few weeks ago (before we were consumed with BBQ and relaxation) I was able to meet one of my all-time favorite authors at the local BBN. (my pictures were lost in camera-land until a few days ago and that is why I am just now posting). I stood in line early one morning to get the "preferred seating tickets" and I pre-ordered the copy of her new novel weeks ago. That morning I think I was 10th in line so I patted myself on the back for getting up extra early when I could have hit the snooze button. The week of the book signing it was all I could think about. It was probably what Christmas is like for little kids but it was even nerdier that I wasn't getting gifts but a book that I would put on the shelf and refuse to read for fear of messing up the binding or crinkling the pages. OCD as it may be it was totally worth it as I sat in the second row during her Q&A and book reading. I was even nervous when it was my turn to have her sign my books, (yes I re-purchased copies of her other novels so I would have the full set signed and perfect).

Reading Chapter 7 from Jeneration X....

Signing all 7 of the books that I re-purchased...

She even told me my pants were very "snazzy"

I am loving her newest book and am looking forward to her coming back next year. Apparently she loves the BBN at Northpark and they love her back and she visits often, which is good for book hoarders like myself. I was actually shocked as she didn't have any PR people or press/handlers with her. I know she is an author but she's been on the NYT Best Sellers List and she has had wine with Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today Show so that makes her famous, right? 

Famous or not it was wonderful to get to meet her and have my books signed. I will be counting down the days until she visits again! 

Until next time... Happy Monday

LOVE, MKH-G

Its Baseball Season....

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone has had a great start to the week. Its been wonderful weather here in Dallas and I can't complain. I have been lounging by the pool since the end of March and the summery weather is a nice reprieve from the awful Kentucky winters that I am used to. As I was bringing out my summer clothes a few weeks ago I found my Uggs stashed in the back of my closet. I am a HUGE Ugg lover and this winter I may have worn them five times. They never saw snow, icy rain, or any slushy precipitation and it made me sad for a quick second and then I snapped myself back to reality. I fashioned myself a wintery person while living in KY (which the winters there are not even close to terrible) but then after moving here it was nice to have days where the freezing temperatures were in the 40s-50s. I know Chad is beyond used to the weather and he has been counting down the days until Summer since Christmas. If there isn't snow on the ground he isn't interested in being outdoors from November-March.

In the interest of warmer weather (basketball season is over... GO CATS!) and baseball season has begun. I don't know what Chad likes watching more, but if the Yankess or the Wildcats are playing you can bet that "Casa de G" is planted and watching. For Christmas Matt/Courtney (SIL & BIL) gifted us with some NYY tickets. We were so excited to go to the Ballpark at Arlington (I was there a few days before with a work function) but it had been several years since Chad had been. We had great seats and we sported our Yankee pride (mainly Chad but I am all for wearing team colors..) in a see of Ranger blue and red.

Lexus Club Level... 

We had a wonderful night (as it felt like the weekend but it was only a Monday) and the NYY won. Chad was very confident that they would win and I am so glad that we got to spend that quality time together with no phone/emails/tweets/dogs  children or any other distractions. We went home full of nachos and stadium pretzels and I hope we get to back again soon!

Tomorrow is Hump Day... and I have added more photos to the house progress tab on the right sidebar. Check it out here! 

LOVE, MKH-G

Its Almost May....

Its almost May and I have yet to blog consistently in 2012.... Well better late than never right? I feel like there is so much to talk about. We have been beyond busy (as I am sure everyone has) and there are exciting things on the horizon for MKH-G and Husby. We are broke ground on a new home a few weeks ago and we are beyond thrilled. You can check out the home progress on the right toolbar or follow the link here. It has been so exciting to watch it go from a grassy plot to walls and a front porch. I am beside myself from all of the excitement. I know (more than ever) have a reason to constantly update you all with pictures.

YES we took pictures with the SOLD sign and YES it was windy and NO that picture is not my attempt at a glamour shot. And I asked if I could keep the sign, no such luck...

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still around. I have had several emails about my lack of posting and I am going to try to get back in the routine of posting a few times a week. I hope everyone has had a wonderful few months (that makes me sound like a complete slacker...) and I will be back soon!

LOVE, MKH-G

Hana Pro... AKA Life Changer

Happy 2012...
I will be blogging about the rest of our Christmas/NYE happenings tomorrow but I have to let you all in on a little secret and her name is Hana. I started using a new hair-dryer a few weeks ago and it has totally changed my entire hair routine. My hair is normally very thick/bushy/unruly if I don't blow it out straight after washing it. Before using the Hana I was using a cheapo Revlon hairdryer that I had a coupon for from Ulta. It worked fairly well but sometimes it smelled "kinda burned" and I was almost afraid to use it. Needless to say the Hana came into my life at the right time. It is literally the best hair dryer I have ever used. The temperature controls were wonderful and a much needed baseline for me as I tend to "overheat" my hair sometimes just to get it dry quicker. Using this hair-dryer cut my dry-time in half which I wasn't expecting and the frizziness was minimal. The only downfall to the Hana is that the cord isn't retractable, but the other positives definitely outweigh the cord issue. The online Hana shop also has CHI hair-dryers and other CHI products if you tend to go in that direction. I tend to steer away from product endorsements but I had to let everyone know that you truly haven't lived if you haven't used a Hana hair-dryer.

I hope everyone had a great NYE.
LOVE, MKH-G

Even The Animals Enjoy The Weekend...

Happy NYE Weekend!

Happy 2012-Almost!
LOVE, MKH-G

Merry Christmas...

 Front of 2011 Card

Back of 2011 Card

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

LOVE, MKH-G

A Drowned Rat With Misty Eyes....

Its Christmas Eve Eve and Chad and I are in Kentucky enjoying time with my family. We flew back into Nashville on Wednesday and we have been going non-stop since we landed. The entire month of December has flown by and I am looking forward to the beginning of 2012. Our flight was super quick and relatively painless as it was non-stop and on time. Mallory (my younger sister) was "supposed" to still be in Lexington when we arrived and we were planning on seeing her when we went to the basketball game yesterday (Thursday). She however was keeping a secret and popped out of the car as Chad was loading our bags. I was so surprised to see her and even started to get a little misty (I try not to cry, and I like to refer to it as my eyes getting misty). It has been a long six months without Mallory and I have realized since moving that I need her more now than I could have ever imagined. I am so thankful that we are so close and if we didn't talk atleast 4-5 times a day I wouldn't know what to do. So naturally the photo-shoot started once we got out of the car at home.

 Constantly laughing....

Hands on hips, smiles on lips...

 MJH & MHG

CWG & MHG

For Christmas we gifted each other with UK Basketball tickets and we spent yesterday in Lexington. It was great to be back in the town where we met/married/and moved from a mere 6 months ago. Of course the Wildcats beat Loyola and Chad enjoyed the game so much.

I didn't think to ask the nice people sitting next to us to snap a shot of Chad and I and I regret not doing so. When we walked outside of Rupp Arena the heavens opened and it rained (and we were without an umbrella) so hard that my clothes (Royal blue ruffle top and cashmere cardigan) were drenched. We were going to eat with friends at Pazzos after the game and we had to stop and buy me a t-shirt because me clothes were so wet. I will save you the pain of looking at my hair as it was reminiscent of my 7th grade school picture which was before my monogamous relationship with Paul (my Paul Mitchell flat-iron that is). I was drenched and it looked like Chad could have been participating in a wet t-shirt contest as his button-up was soaking wet and see-through and we resembled drowned rats. Even though the weather wasn't fantastic we both agreed that we wouldn't have changed anything about the entire day as we were so happy to spend the day in Lexington. Rain or shine the Wildcats never get old.

Until Tomorrow...
LOVE, MKH-G

In & Out Birthday...

Happy Monday.
Its a warm 35degrees in Dallas and I am beyond excited because I feel like I can finally bring out the Uggs and not be a fair-weathered winter Texan. I joked with Chad that everyone busted out the Ugg boots and parkas when it dipped below 65 and sunny. Its been a busy last few days and I have several different snippets to share. Here goes, last weekend Husby and I went to see J. Edgar at the iPic. If anyone lives in the DFW area I would suggest running to the iPic in Fairview because it is the movie theatre of my life (and I usually prefer to watch movies from the comfort of my own couch so going to the movies isnt that great for me but I will jump at the chance to go to the iPic). The movie was great and I can't wait for January when the new slate of movies premiere.

Doesn't it look FANTASTIC....

That Friday Chad's first born child turned four. I have only been around for her calmer adult/non-puppy years and I am secretly thankful. In the beginning we didn't have that great of a relationship as she would growl at me and sit on the other side of the room. I was convinced that she was going to use my Louis Vuitton as a chew toy. She spared my handbag and opted for Chad's Burberry reading glasses instead. I tell him that he has raised a Diva dog and she is conscious of the brand names just like anyone else would be, and he secretly agrees. We eventually adjusted to one another and we have become friends. Granted we still have rules like no dogs (Chad says child, I say dog) on the furniture but we decided to splurge because Hagen is so special.  For her birthday dinner she enjoyed a plain hamburger from In&Out. She loved every bite and was so pleased with herself. Her father told her that this was only for special occasions and she wouldn't be getting this very often. She understood and decided to pose for some pictures to thank us.

 Wait for it....

 Wait for it...

Happy Birthday Hagen!

Since I started blogging I have documented my quest for domestic greatness that centers in the kitchen. I have burned pots trying to make macaroni (not possible you say, I have the photo below to prove it) and I have successfully made lumpy kindergarten pretzels all the while having little motivation to do anything in the kitchen that would be of some great significance. I can make break and bake cookies with the best of them and I have a variety of festive plates to display them but there is something about the fact that I generally have no desire to cook anything for myself or for anyone else. We have loads of decorative plates and super cute cutting boards and dazzly accessories galore but sometimes I open the kitchen drawers and have to ask Chad what these "things" are. I am a high functioning "almost adult" that loves laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, and vaccuming but until recently I have been missing the "let's cook" gusto. For some reason I got an itch a few weeks ago to try and bake some easy recipes from The Plain Chicken. I happened across this blog by total accident and I found several starter recipes that looked so simple that I had to see if it was as easy as it sounded. I am a tad bit picky to put it nicely and I started going through the recipes trying to find ones that I would enjoy to eat. I found several and I took pictures of everything to prove that I did in fact cook something and it wasn't a figment of my imagination.

MKH-G 2009

Burned macaroni pots...tramatic

MKH-G 2011 (the camera has also improved)

Homemade Cheesy bread

Potato Soup

Jim & Nicks Cheesy Biscuits

Cream Cheese Sausage Balls

No cause for alarm as I didn't make all of this calorie infused goodness at the same time. This has been spread out over a few weeks. I also decided that it was time to get into the holiday spirit and figured that I would try and bake some festive sweets. From the small amount of kitchen related tasks I engage in I definitely prefer baking to regular meal cooking (my goal is to cook a full meal in 2012, stay tuned for that post). I found some easy recipes for sugar cookies with edible glitter as I call it (sprinkles to most people) and I was pleased with how they turned out.

Sugar Cookies with Peppermint Hugs

I put them in super festive bags with a glitter Santa to give as treats to my co-workers. 

I also made chocolate covered oreos and chocolate covered Snyders pretzels. I didn't take a picture of them because they were extremely messy but they are beyond easy to put together. I did find these snowman Chinese takeout boxes to go with my Santa treat bags that I took to work. Inside were white chocolate and milk chocolate covered oreos and pretzels. I made just enough to fill six boxes so we wouldn't have any leftovers. Chad and I can be snackers and I didn't want either of us to be tempted. 

They were the perfect size and very fitting for this chilly weather...

I enjoyed putting these treats together and I will be continuing my kitchen conquest after the Holidays.Since Thanksgiving has come and gone I was beyond thrilled to mail out our Christmas cards. I have had these cards stamped, address, and sealed since October. I LOVE sending out Christmas cards (any cards really) and I couldn't wait for the Friday after so I could drop them in the mail. Knowing how excited I was Chad told me that I needed to take a picture so I could eventually blog about (a week or so late but at least its happening). I was so pleased with how they turned out and most of the cards have already reached their rightful recipients. We sent out 100 cards and I can't wait to start thinking about next years. I already have some ideas in mind...

Merry Christmas card mailing day... 

It was early and my eyes are still sleepy but I was so excited.

I think its going to be a new tradition for the day after Thanksgiving

I know this post has been random and somewhat shocking as my basic cooking skills are coming out. Believe me, no one is more shocked than I am. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Tuesday!

LOVE, MKH-G