New Year!

This year has been such a wonderful year, I wanted to share some of the highlights! I didn't have Facebook for most of this year, so a lot of it shouldn't be a repetition. 

Last New Year's was a blast. I finally met some of Brittney's closest friends. 

We had dinner, drinks, enjoyed each other's company, watched fireworks, and her friends threw her a going away party. 

Brittney moved to Texas not long after that. Houston was bit closer to where I was living at the time and I visited her often! This was my first visit to Houston.

We had our first Valentine's Day together!

That was also my last semester at The University of South Alabama. Had I not taken the classes I chose, I would've never met one of my great friends, Lisa, and fell in love with her adorable son, Bren!

Lisa and her family also happened to move to Houston around the same time I did! This is me and Bren at the Natural Science Museum!

Brittney came to the coast to celebrate Easter and spend her first holiday with my family.

We went to our first concert together! The Lumineers!

The very next day, Brittney proposed in our kitchen with unloaded groceries all around us after her proposal plans were ruined by a sudden hail storm!

She even came to the coast to celebrate my 22nd birthday and announce our engagement!

In June, we took a trip to the beautiful state of Alaska. It is by far one of the most gorgeous places I have ever visited.

This was also my very last summer on the beloved Dauphin Island, where I took all of my marine biology classes. That place and the the people I met there will always hold a special place in my heart!

After I was finished with classes, I was Houston bound! Not long after, Brittney announced her job change to XL Parts and we moved into our very own place together!

In August, we had the honor of being there when two of our very best friends got married!

In October, with the help of Brittney and the support of family and friends, I opened my own online art gallery!

Around Halloween, Brittney and I took a vacation to Tennessee. We visited friends at the oyster roast, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, spent a day at DollyWood, and Brittney got her braces off! Look at that beautiful smile!

We took our engagement pictures and sent out save-the-dates! I started planning our wedding as well.

Brittney spent Thanksgiving with me and my family on the coast!

I also graduated this year with a Batchelor's in Marine Science from The university of South Alabama! Whoo Hoo!!

We spent our first Christmas together!

And our family continues to get bigger and cuter!

Well that about sums up our 2013! It has been a fabulous year. 2014 has ALOT in store for us. 

Happy New Year!!!

From, The Moore Family

Don't Mind My Bragging....

Is it ok to brag about what Brittney and I received for Christmas? It's my blog so I don't care. 

This year, Brittney and I decided to just fill up each other's stockings rather than buying a ton of gifts for each other. We both went a little over board with it. First, Brittney bought us a puppy! 

I bought her a Sony Handycam video camera. Hey, it fit in the stocking!! 

She then suprised me with tickets to Lady Gaga's concert in Houston in July, which I am so excited about! I absolutely love her and have never gotten the chance to go to one of her concerts.

Those were our big gifts to each other. Some of the little things that I got her were pretty awesome though. There was a bit of a theme. I'm sure you will catch on.

 I ordered a custom acceptance letter to Hogwarts, complete with a supply list and train ticket! The first thing she said was, "I wish this was real!" 

I also got her this awesome key chain.

And made her this awesome coffe mug...

I'm sure you get the picture. Harry Potter everything! 

And we now have an awesome bookshelf, thanks to my grandfather, decorated with many of our wonderful gifts! 

There really isn't enough blog space in the world to express how thankful we are to have such wonderful friends and family. This Christmas was extra special. My family far beyond exceeded my expectations of making Brittney feel like part of the family. I know she had a wonderful Christmas and was able to experience the love I feel from those closest to me. I can't thank you all enough!

Thanks for reading!

Burgundy

A DIY Christmas

This year, I decided to give my family homemade gifts! 

1. Sugar Scrubs

The first and easiest project I tackled was homemade sugar scrub. This one is super simple and easy to customize. All you need is sugar (white or brown depending on the scent you use, oil (olive oil works fine but you can get fancy and use any massage or skin oils), and essential oils for the scent. The scents I used were eucalyptus, peppermint, warm vanilla, cinnamon cran-apple, lemon, and coconut lime. I put them in cute little jars and tied a ribbon around them. They were a hit and smelled wonderful!

2. Wine Bottle Candles

This one turned out to be a bit trickier than I expected. The Pinterest way of cutting the bottle by wrapping an acetone soaked string around the bottle, light it on fire, and dip in ice water, did not work. After several attempts, I gave in and bought a bottle cutter at Hobby Lobby. It made it a lot easier. Once I got the hang of it, it turned out to be a lot of fun. You score the bottle with the wine cutter, and alternate dipping the bottle in boiling water and ice water. It breaks off on its own. I then measured and cut the wicks, melted the wax, added the scent (I used cucumber melon because it's my favorite candle scent) and poured the candles. They smelled delicious. I added cute yarn pom poms and they were done! Look how cute! 

3. Artsy Coffee Mugs

This one was quick and easy as well. I bought a bunch of plain white dollar store mugs, a few sharpies, and started drawing. I did a bunch of different geometric designs, flowers, and polka dots. Set the oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes. Once cooled, I sprayed them with acrylic spray just to make sure the design didn't wear of. They turned out super cute. 

4. Coasters

I made two different sets of coasters. One was made out of wine corks. I cut the corks to relatively the same size, mod podged them to felt, and added a layer of mod podge to the top. The trick is to make sure the corks were glued tight together and all about the same size. After a trial run, I finally got the hang of it. I added a strip of felt around the sides and filled in the gaps with more mod podge. 

The other set I made were beer carton coasters. I bought a few square tiles, cut the carton to size, and mod podge it to the top and felt to the bottom. I didn't get a change to snap a picture before I wrapped them but I made them with Newcastle cartons. 

5. iPad/Cookbook Stand

The final DIY project I worked on was an iPad stand. This one was very satisfying when I was finished. I bought a finished wood board a bit bigger than iPad that had carved edges, some wooden pieces that were the width of the board, and hinge, and a few decorative piece. I glued two of the long pieces on the front bottom to form a ledge to hold the book or iPad. I glued a few more pieces together to make the stand and screwed on the hinge. I tied the stand off with a piece of ribbon and secured the ribbon with screws. I painted it gray then added white crackle paint and sanded it to give it an aged look. I was very proud of it when I was finished. 

Well, those were all of my gifts to every one. Everyone seemed to like them! Maybe, I will make more next year. 

Thanks for reading!

Burgundy

Holiday Cheer

How were your holidays? Ours were great! Brittney did not spend the holidays with my family last year so this was her first Christmas with us. She was showered with gifts of course! 

We arrived in Gulfport,Ms the Friday night before Christmas. Saturday, we drove north to Jackson, Ms to see Papa Charlie, my mom's father, and Granna Diane, my mom's stepmother. We looked at lots of old family pictures which I always love doing. It was so great to see them and they gave Brittney a very warm welcome!

We made a visit to Melanie's, my maid of honor, to watch the Saint's lose on Sunday. Even though they lost, there was good food and good conversation, nonetheless. 

Monday, we had a meeting with our DJ, Marcel Lanoux of Nightshift Sounds, which went well but, I am saving that for a later post. 

We had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Darwell's. They have THE best crawfish étouffée. I convinced Brittney to get the étouffée burger and she enjoyed it. The small restaurant has a great atmosphere. I love all of Darwell's paintings hung around the restaurant and  the lights strung all around. 

That evening, my little brother, Alex, and sister, Emma, were home, so we decided to decorate cookies with them. They are always a handful but, I never turn down spending time with them. They enjoyed it and ate all the cookies in no time! 

Christmas Eve is when my mom's side of the family celebrates and opens gifts. There was lots of food and wine! When the gift giving began, it was quite chaotic as always. When there are kids involved, you don't take turns opening a gift at our house. Everyone doles out their gifts and you get to it! 

As usual, I made everyone take a picture together!

And here is how we normally are...

The beautiful tree!

The next morning, Brittney, Joseph, my oldest brother, and I made our way to my Grandfather's house to open gifts with my dad's side of the family. 

We had lots of food and wine there as well! I didn't get to get a picture with everyone there unfortunately. 

I did snap a picture of the pretty trees there, though! 

This tree was made out of a crab trap!

Brittney, Melanie, and I went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie. It was great! I always like to go see a movie Christmas night and apparently, so does everyone else! It was packed! 

Thursday, Brittney and I took advantage of all of the after Christmas sales and went shopping. It wasn't as crowded at the mall as I thought it would be and we got some good deals! Brittney found some J. Crew shirts to go with her new bow ties she got for Christmas!

Friday, we headed back home to Houston to pick up our Christmas present to ourselves, our Great Dane puppy, JuneBug!

Well, that's the rundown of our holiday week! I hope yours went just as well! We enjoyed spending time with family and spending the holidays with people we love. 

Thanks for reading!

Burgundy 

Thanksgiving!

It has been a while since I have posted and it sure has been a busy week! So much wonderful food and time with family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Gulfport, Ms with my family. It was a long 6 hour drive from Houston to Gulfport, but we made it in the knick of time Wednesday night. 

Meiko made himself right at home in no time at all!

Brittney made her "famous" banana pudding the morning of. It was a task because I messed up and didn't buy the right amount of ingredients, but we made it work!

Brittney said the smiley face is her signature! It was oh so delicious! Maybe she will let me post the recipe on here.

First, we had lunch at my grandfather's house. There were lots of people there this year and they had a beautiful place setting!

I loved the fresh flowers they set out on the table. It was a nice touch. The food was great as usual. Turkey, stuffing, spinach, corn casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, lima beans, sweet potatoes, rolls, cornbread, and my grandfather's classic gravy. Oh so delicious.

Brittney said those aren't the foods they usually serve in Tennessee, but I think she enjoyed it.

My grandfather took the time to snap this picture of all of us at the table!

And we, of course, took selfies with our wine glasses!

Later, we made our way over to my grandmother's, where my mom's side of the family celebrated with dinner. Oh, and more wine...

More great food there! There was so much, I couldn't fit it all in the picture!

Brittney took a power nap while waiting for all the family to arrive!

And I took selfies with my brother, Joseph.

I made everyone get in for a family picture!

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving! Lots of catching up with family and friends, great food and wine.  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well. I can't wait for Christmas!

Thanks for reading!

Burgundy