Tamara Shannon

I just felt like posting this...it was taken like 5 1/2 million years ago, but it's not everyday you see the Banana Republic/Brooks Brothers brand rep playing cowboy.  He loves it.  Though, as  you will see, he can't fight the urge to dress the part...he's sporting a pearlsnap in honor of visiting, what we affectionately call, 'the farm.'  Growing up we always referred to my (maternal) grandma's house as 'the farm.'  Located down south in Kenedy, Tx....actually in the middle of nowhere.  My mom and I have already planned the future of my children.  They'll be the super cute little fashionable ones at home and then will have their little wranglers, button-downs and boots for 'the farm.'  Brent will resist, but my mom's already made up her mind....probably already purchased the clothes! WeDdInG uPdAtE! The parents finally met!! The Shannons made the long journey to SA this past weekend to meet the Jungs.  We ate way too much food, but did m...

The moment you've all been waiting for....(DRUM ROLL)....I present to you "THE DECK!!" 2 years, 1 month, and 14 days later... Ok , so it's not technically 100% finished.  He still needs to sand and stain it, but structurally dunzo !! Oh, and then (cough) the landscaping....lots of projects. 

I finally convinced Brent to finish up registering with me.  First stop--Bed, Bath & Beyond.  As you can see, he didn't come without a little coercion from me (Sonic tends to do the trick...well, as long as he's not hungry we're all happier)!  As usual, he managed to entertain himself.  I'm going to go ahead and just say, in advance, Brent had the gun the entire time and not always with supervision....I haven't seen the registery so.... We went to Target another day and finalized everything there.  Just our luck it finally rained in SA.  Not only did it rain...it hailed!  Perfect time for the truck to be in an open parking lot, yay!  I don't think there was any damage though. My car-safely parked in the garage at work. Phew! 

 After my suggestion to have a professional come clean the carpets was quickly dismissed, we opted for the HEB Rug Doctor! 3.5 hours and $40 later, we had some  dang clean carpets!  Not too bad...though we didn't start cleaning until about 8:30-9pm (on a work night)....I do not recommend this.  Brent did all the shampooing.  I prepped the rooms by vacuuming and cleaning the walls.  Oh, I also moved ALL the furniture out of the living room. Yup, all by myself.  We had it for 24 hours...so we decided to make the most of it and clean the couches/pillows/cushions.  Revolutionary idea of the night: flip the cushions...mind boggling . 

We FINALLY took down our Christmas tree.  We took the ornaments off earlier this week, but weren't sure what to do with the ginormous tree.  We opted for the "Christmas tree cocoon ."  $3.98 at Lowes for some plastic wrap...not a bad deal!    Don't judge the dirtyness.   Aaron moves out this week, very bittersweet for Brent.  This is the first time in years that he's without a roommate....not for long!! Then he's gets one for life!  I'm eager to steam the carpets and starting cleaning/organizing.  I already did a number on the pantry!  So relieving for me...I'm one of those people that feels anxiety when things are cluttered and dirty.  This doesn't always get me to clean/organize when I should but... Plus, I'm trying to channel my finances towards this wedding so I'm fighting impulses to go to the Container Store, Target etc.  and load up on organizational accessories.  

Though I'm so intrigued by the little football game on right now, I manage to pull myself away to take some time and update our blog.  Sat. we took our engagement pictures!! Bright and early at 8am (this of course meant I had to get up at 6:30 to prep) we ventured to Boerne to meet our photographer, Jim.  As Texas weather would go, it was a brisk 31 degrees when we started...a mere 60 degrees difference from the day before.   Burr !  Our photographer has 'the hook up' at the Dominion Golf Club here in SA, so that's where we went.  It was a really pretty resort and we had a lot of fun.  Brent wasn't feeling too well...we've both been suffering from the sniffles and coughs (we're constantly blowing our noses and coughing up stuff...we're so hot!).  He of course prevailed and managed to look as handsome as ever.  I was actually very comfortable with the process; I hardly even noticed that the photographer was there.  We just stood around staring at each ot...