Decor

So I am feeling a bit blahhhh about our home decor after taking the pics.  But here lies the probably, we are renting this home.  We must use those wall hanging sticky things (my description of course) and they can get quite expensive. So we have, as you can see, only hung a few photos and wall decorations.  We just don't see the point in buying a bunch of those, when we plan to buy and move into our own home within the next year, and waste all that money......

And we can't paint! blahhhhh (again) I hate that! We have all white walls, no color!  This makes for a seriously boring home.  We are also hoarding a lot of our beautiful wedding gifts, that would look amazing throughout the house, but want to wait until we get a new home to put out.  We want to have some new things for our new home, but in the mean time I am DYING to put them out! :(  And as you all know from our table dilemma, I am very hesitant to buy new furniture.  We LOVE a beautiful bedroom set (everything except the headboard bc we plan to finish the one we started) from afwonline.com , but again would like to wait until we buy to make sure it is perfect for our future master bedroom.  OMG all this waiting is soooooo frustrating!!! We want to buy these things NOW, and my patience, as you can tell, is wearing VERY thin!!

Now don't get me wrong, all this complaining makes me sound ungrateful, when I am indeed the opposite. We do have a lovely home to live in right now, with so many beautiful things and we are enjoying the time in the home too, but I think we are just ready ready ready to move on.  We are completely obsessed with HGTV (home and garden) and LOVE LOVE LOVE the show Property Virgins.  We dream of being on that show! ha! We also LOVE Property Brothers, we love to see what can be DIY projects.  One of the things we look forward to when buying a new home is working together to make it our own, WE CAN"T WAIT!! Oh and don't forget Pinterest, and all the wonderful ideas there too!! :))  So hopefully we can make a move sooner than later! All depending on Bruce's Sgts test with the State of CO and Border Patrol! And I am along for the ride! Graduating in May and then from there will start applying for jobs depending on our location.

On another note, Big Red strikes again!!! (Bruce's truck) Yesterday we had to take the old girl into the shop, and it cost us a PRETTY FREAKING PENNY!!  This was a big surprise, but it was taken care of and she is back on the road.  Needless to say, shopping for our new vehicle is quickly moving up in the ranks on the list of To-Do's! :) But on a happier note, I lost 3.2 pounds with WW this week!! Weighing in is so gratifying! Yes, I am stilllllll LOVING it!!! :)) Side note, my skinny husband dropped me off at WW this wk as we had to drop his truck off to get fixed first, and he decided to go and get some fast food to go.  He then ate it in the parking lot of Weight Watchers, haha.  I just had to laugh, too funny.

Running wise, we are doing VERY well!! It was so cold one day, rainy and so windy it felt like I was running in place, but Pudge and I bared the weather because I am totally addicted.  We are just a wk away from moving on to the next section of couch to 10k!! Stilllll loving it.

I also made some homemade dog treats for Pudge.  It was sooooo easy, cheap, and he LOVES them!!! Pinterest is so amazing, if I haven't told you before!! ;) Anyways, we hope you all have a wonderful wk and wkend.

Peanut butter, oatmeal, applesauce, flour, and baking soda! :) 

Love, 

Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xox

House Pics

So I will start off by saying that I am a little far behind on hanging pictures & decorations......I'd like to say it was because I was waiting to hang some of our wedding photos, but sadly it is not.  So please just ignore some of those that sit on the floor and some of the bare walls.  Also some of the BEAUTIFUL gifts we received from the wedding are still in their packaging in the spare bedroom, but that is only because some of them we do not want to put out until we buy a new house! :) THANKS for understanding! 

Our bedroom. As you can see our headboard is still not done....Def our next project to finish!!! 

 Bare walls.....

The rest of our bedroom & Bruce's bathroom

 Spare bedroom. Please ignore Stewy, it was a gag gift to Bruce :)

 Office and storage room. uggggh seeing this makes me want to clean it!! 

 Hallway (linen closet on the left & our toiletry closet at the end)

 Living room 

 Front door from living room 

 Dining room.  We are currently shopping for nice rugs.  The black ones are to make sure Pudge does not get the carpet too dirty coming in from the backyard through the slider & garage :) And yes those are boxes of our Wedding China and wedding photos....ugggh So much to do. 

 We use this as a storage/pantry type deal.  A lot of our gifts still in boxes and all of our electrical appliances & dog food :) 

 View into the living room from the kitchen

Another living room view & slider to backyard

 Main bathroom.  Again, we have all the beautiful new bathroom rugs and curtain, but don't want to use until we get a new house! :) 

 Pinterest took over the counter! :) 

 Living room 

Other side of the kitchen

 Love our cork holder

 Door to garage and laundry room. 

 View from laundry room. 

Entire kitchen view 

 Backyard view from slider.  New shed being built, please excuse all the wood.  The backyard is amazing, especially in the summer, full of flowers and our beautiful lawn furniture! :) 

 Hope you enjoyed!! :))) 

We love and miss you all TONS!! 

Love, 

Nichole, Bruce, & Pudge xoxo

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

So yes, I am the fibber!! I got a few emails saying I am a "liar liar pants on fire" haha.  Last weekend I promised to post pictures of our home to show those who have been asking and are unable see it in person or via Skype, and I never did it! I am OK with admitting when I am wrong..... and I admit that I totally forgot!!! Sorrrrrrrrry!!! I will do it ASAP! I don't dare say I promise though hahaha :) 


So here is quick update:

We are all healthy and happy.  Bruce is studying hard hard hard for his upcoming Sgt's test.  I am so unbelievably proud of him! He is such a hard worker!!! He is also still currently getting workout emails from Border, which is always a good sign.  After talking to someone within the agency, we got word that it has been taking longer than in the past, at least 12-14 months, to get in after everything has been approved.  Some sort of hiring freeze I suppose, but he is close to the one year mark, so our fingers and toes are still crossed.

We are currently getting the new shed in.  It's being built and it looks great! We can't wait until it's done so we can de-clutter our garage! We also are happy to report that we are "miracle makers" this year for The Children's Hospital of Denver.  We are very excited about this. It's only $15 smakaroos a month and we figured we are blessed with so many things in our lives, we can give up eating Subway once a month to give back.  And life is funny and can take a turn at any moment, and with us entertaining the idea of starting a family of our own soon, you never know if you will end up there (God forbid).  Just a thought.  If you are interested in donating email me and I can send you some information on how to become a miracle maker :) :)

I am still on track with Weight Watchers and actually really enjoying it! I lost 3.4 pounds last wk!! :) And running wise, we (Pudge too :) are right on track for our upcoming races.  I actually enjoy getting up early enough to go out for a run before all the hustle and bustle of cars and people are out.  I love that I can see Pikes Peak and the beautiful mountains on my runs at home.  It's just me, Pudge, music, and the pavement and I am absolutely obsessed!!! Bruce on the other hand, HATES going too early, so he usually goes later in the day.  But this past wk I talked him into coming with us in the morning and it was so nice to go for a family run.  I am also sooooo excited for the next upcoming months.....NYC with the girls, Lindsey coming out to CO for a visit, Rosie coming out for a visit, WEDDING Season!!!, and of course my Dads annual visit!!! SOOOOO many things to look forward to I can hardly contain my excitement!!

Well that's about all we have to report.  I will get those pictures up soon! Hope all is well with everyone!! We love and miss you all toooooo much!!!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxoxo

Happy Valentines Day!

I am doing the "Link-Up" Love story that is going around all the blogs this week as a Valentines Day post!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?  

Officially since December of 2007

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Well we met the summer of 2007 through mutual friends, and I'd like to say it was love at first site, but sadly it was not.  We eventually began to hang out more often as he became better friends with mine and I his.  Then I broke my foot pretty badly and was pretty much stuck at home for months.  He would come out to my house with one of my Bff's that he became good friends with, to play games and keep me company.  We then became pretty good friends and started to hang out, just the two of us! And that's when we were goners.... :) We just meshed so well and fell completely head over heels in love.  We were almost instantly inseparable. 

One of our very first photos together.....holy young! 

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

We have been married for almost 6 months!!! :) 

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

We got married in my hometown (and the place Bruce attended College) of Sault Ste. Marie, MI.  We had a fairly large wedding, the final head count was 272 people. 

Our Wedding day, The BEST day of our lives!! 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Of course! :) Bruce calls me Babe or if he is trying to get my full attention or the convo takes a serious turn, Nic! But it actually sounds strange if he calls me Nichole. I call him Babe or Baby too. Very rarely do I ever call him Bruce :) 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. He is the MOST selfless person I know.  He would rather go without or give up anything he has or wants to make his family happy with something they want or need.  Truly.

2. He is so incredibly KIND! He has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met.  And all of his actions are truly genuine and kind.

3. He is going to make an amazing Dad.  I know we don't have children yet, but we will sooner than later and I already know this fact about him.  He is AMAZING with Pudge and the kiddos I watch.  He just has an ease about him when he is with kids, I truly CAN'T WAIT to see him as a Daddy!

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

His proposal was perfect for us! He took my on a camping trip in October, which I was reluctant to even go one because it was starting to get pretty cold at night (later he told me he picked a later date because he knew we would be all by ourselves and it wouldn't be busy!).  But I went along anyways because we love to camp! We did some hiking and exploring.  Then we ate a little dinner and all of a sudden he started acting a little bit weird.  He rushed us to a beautiful scenic overview just in time for the sunset.  He was the perfect gentleman and got down on one knee at sunset and asked me to be his wife.  His words were so beautiful and the scenery was also beyond beautiful. And he did his research, he got on the computer to find out the exact time of the sunset that evening so he knew.  Then to top it off he brought a very special bottle of wine with him.  On our first Valentines Day together as a couple, back in 2008, he bought two bottles of wine.  He said one was to celebrate with that night and the other to save and open when we got engaged. Now at the time we had only been dating a few months and thought "yah right!" All this time he had saved and kept the wine safe, even on the move from MI to CO.  He hid it in a shelf that was above the fridge that I never went into.  Well that night he brought it, and we were able to opened it just like he said back in 2008!! It was so beautiful! 

first picture as an engaged couple! 

Cheers!! The bottle of wine!! :) 

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He is def a strawberries, champagne, and rose petals kind of guy for Valentines.  He gets me flowers all the time for no reason at all and that's one of the things I love about him, that he doesn't need a holiday to surprise me and make me feel special (example: Random Tiffany's bracelet! See last post).  But on Vday he has always been romantic too! 

The amazing dozen roses Bruce had waiting at the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at on our travel home from the wedding. Yup, he's AMAZING! 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

A movie and couch kind of girl. We do this on a regular basis on the weekends, and LOVE every second of it! Although I must admit, when we did have the sunset dinners on the beach on our honeymoon set up by the resort, we did love that too! But I think that is more of something we will do on vacations and stuff. 

One of our desserts from our honeymoon dinners!

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Go to Europe! Last year we found a really amazing travel agent when we booked our honeymoon.  So we decided to put deposits down on a trip to Europe.  We originally planned on going for our first year anniversary, but so many things have come up.  We have some exciting weddings to travel home for.  So we are just keeping the deposits down and still putting money towards it and when the time comes we will go.  :) 

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Well as you all know, I am on Weight Watchers and for the first few weeks have vowed to only eat out at Subway.  So we are going to cook a delicious dinner at home and go to the movies.  :) 

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Seriously, I know it sounds sooooo cheesy, BUT could I ask for any more than I already get on a daily basis?! I feel so blessed everyday I wake up.  I have an AMAZING husband that provides everything I need and want everyday! So I would never ask for anything else, I have no desire to! :) 

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Spend quality time together and take advantage of every single second you can spend together! Right now we do not have the ideal situation, as I travel to Denver three days a week and Bruce works 2-10 for the state with odd days off.  But we have made it a point to spend quality time together.  This means once a month we turn off all electronic devices for at least one entire day, something we did for our honeymoon and loved it! We have been able to do this three times since returning from our honeymoon and we love it! We also make sure to have at least two date nights a month, where we do something extra special.  This has been amazing for us! We look forward to these days and the time. We also try and go on an adventure of some sort, like hiking or snowshoeing, every weekend.  We love to do outdoor things and enjoy the time together! 

One of our adventures! :) 

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

This is one of our favorites! Such an intimate moment. This was right after our wedding and we thought there was no one in the back of the church with us! We had NO idea our photographer was there, but we sure are glad she was! 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! 
LOVE, 
NICHOLE, BRUCE, AND PUDGE XOXOXO

SO BLESSED!

I am happy to report we (Pudge too of course) are doing well and in great health.  :)

Remember the last post that was dedicated to Bruce and how wonderful he is?! Well his streak continues...... I woke up one morning, shortly after that post, to a pretty blue Tiffany's box on my night stand.  I hesitated, asking in my head "is this for me?!" Duhhhhh. Bruce was so excited for me to open it.  Inside was a beautiful beaded sterling silver bracelet with a heart tag, for no reason at all except to be so kind, as is his way.  The best surprise of it all, he had NGB engraved on the back!

Now for those of you that don't know, I had a really hard time switching my name from Donaghe to Brown.  I just felt like I was abandoning my birth name and in a way my family.  Now don't get me wrong, there was also a very strong part of me that was overwhelmed with excitement to become a Brown, and I know that my previous confession sounds ridiculous, but it was just the way I felt.  So I asked Bruce if it was OK if I waited until my passport expired (2014) to change my name.  Now Bruce is the MOST understanding man I have ever met in my entire life, but I could tell in his face and by a few conversations we had that changing my name was very important to him, his old fashioned side I suppose.  So I sucked it up and did it.   And to be honest, after all was said and done, it wasn't bad at all.  I have slowly but surely become accustom to signing Nichole Brown and seeing it printed on documents.  And I rarely hear any OJ Simpson jokes anymore, so that's always a plus! haha.  So seeing Bruce extremely excited to show me the engraved initials on the back made my whole world!!! The present alone was such a wonderful gift in itself, but that look on his face is the one aspect of the memory I will NEVER forget.  :)

Weight Watchers went WONDERFUL this week! I lost 7 whole pounds this week.  I was also the highest loser in the group and received a "prize" for it. haha I guess my competitive side is coming out, but for a good cause!!

We headed the Springs this past weekend.  We absolutely LOVE the Springs.  It's soooo beautiful and for a larger city it is quite clean!! Not to mention it's only 40 minutes away and all the great shopping available!! :) We did indeed find a table, and we love it.  It's pretty simple, but fits the room perfectly! We also got our iPhone 4s from Best Buy (we get them from their because they offer a monthly protection plan that blows apple's out of the water) and we LOVE them!!! We went straight home and ordered new covers for them (you can get them WAY cheaper online!!).  We also spent more than enough time and money at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I am SO obsessed with that store!!! It has EVERYTHING you could imagine for a home and we love it.  We are super responsible with our money and usually would rather save than buy, but when it comes to buying things for our home, WE ARE SUCKERS!!! It's a good thing we don't have one where we live.  We also hit up the Apple store, Old Navy, Petco, and DSW for some more treats for ourselves........SHOPPING SPREE!!! We never really do this, so it was really fun!

So that has been our week pretty much!!! We hope you all are doing well!! We miss and LOVE you so so much!!! And for those who have been asking and so patient, I promise to post pictures of the house this weekend sometime!!  But for now a quick pic of the new table :)

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

New dark Wood table and chairs! 

**Please excuse the frames on the floor........I will hang soon! hahaha ;)

The beautiful box I woke up to....

BRUCE

So usually I only post once a wk or so, but I am so overwhelmed with love and inspiration that I wanted to share.....(if sappy love makes you want to vomit or annoys the crap out of you, DON'T READ! you have been warned!)

For those of you that don't know I met my husband over four years ago through mutual friends of ours.  When we first starting dating I repeatedly said "He is just so nice! I have no other word to describe him" I was in complete shock and awww that someone could be so truly kind hearted.  I will admit, I thought it would ware off a bit, but it never did.

Now don't get me wrong, he is not perfect and we as a couple are not perfect, no one is! We have our issues and struggles like anyone else, BUT he IS perfect for me and I him.  I am a handful, as a lot of you probably know first hand. I truly try to be kind and do the right thing, but sometimes I can be just plain hateful HAHA (can't everyone at some point?!). I am not afraid to admit this, acknowledge it, and try to work on it. I am not a mean person by any means, but that hateful bone in my body can pop out here and there.  Bruce handles this with such grace.  I admire him so much for the patience, kindness, and understanding he has for not only his sometimes-hard-to-handle wife, but for his coworkers, friends, family, and even the inmates that he works with.  Now if he isn't a blessing and inspiration to life, than I am not sure what is!!

I finally faced my fears!  A few weeks ago I joined weight watchers.  I have been struggling with my weight for a few years now.  I am a truly healthy and very active person, but wanted to face this issue head on! Weight Watchers FORCES me to be honest and upfront every single week.  I am well on my way and loving every bit of it!! Bruce has been there every step of the way.  He continuously tells me how beautiful I am, day after day.  It is beyond comforting and encouraging to have someone like that behind you.  He is supportive and completely indulged in my success and helps me work towards my goal.

Bruce's love NEVER WAVERS and I wanted to shine a spot light on him in a post.  So thank you to my wonderful, kind hearted, understanding, patient, supportive, and loving husband.  You're the best of the best!! And I am truly BLESSED!!!!

**On a separate note, thank you for all the emails after the last few post.  It is so nice to hear from so many of our loved ones and even people we don't know.  Oh and your advice and tricks of the trade are sooooo appreciated! :)