-200- Lit Up

On the way home tonight, I drove down a boulevard that had trees covered in lights on it. I was stopped at a stoplight and noticed that I could see some behind me in my mirror as well as some in front of me. I thought it looked cool!

-199- Washers

I thought I wasn't going to have to use one of these types of community washers ever since I moved out of the dorms sophomore year, but it appears that our second used washer no longer works as it should - so I ended up at the apartment's little laundry room tonight to wash our clothes. Thankfully, our dryer still works so I didn't have to stay for that part of the job. This weekend we bought a new washer and it will be delivered in a couple weeks. I can't wait!

-198- Beware of Dog(s)

This might be weird, but I took this picture of the dogs on the patio of one of the apartments below us tonight before I got out of my car because I think it's funny that they're often out there, just watching passersby. So cute!

-197- Tots & Cherry Limeade

On the ride back home tonight we stopped at Sonic because I was really thirsty. I love their tater tots, so I couldn't resist!

-196- Skinny

Rebekah and I enjoyed each other's company and hot cups of joe at Starbucks this evening. Sadly, Anna couldn't make it, but we had fun anyway. Also, as is not uncommon, the barista spelled her name wrong on the cup.

I tried the skinny nonfat peppermint mocha - I figured that if I could get less calories with the same great taste then that would be a bargain. However, it was definitely not the same great taste. It was an awful fake sugar taste, kind of like Diet Coke (or any diet drink). From now on I will gladly consume the extra calories; they're totally worth the wonderful chocolatey-coffee-minty flavor!!!

-195- Chikin

According to this picture... chikin makes me merry! And that's quite true. We went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast this morning before getting a little bit of Christmas shopping done... but of course nothing crazy like the typical Black Friday shopping!

-194- Turkey Day

Gobble gobble! Aren't these socks cute? My mom sent them to me.

Today is Thanksgiving Day and I can't believe it's already been a year since last Thanksgiving! As usual, we ate lots of yummy food and saw family. I hope one of these days we'll finally be able to spend a holiday with my family in California, but it's always fun with this side of the family too. :)

-193- Wanderer

To be honest... I just took this picture while waiting for Justin to come home so we could leave for Abilene... and it was the only one I took today! It's just Chloe wandering around... as she does whenever she's not sleeping or pooping.

-192- Multitasker

My mother-in-law just got a new standing mixer, so she generously gave me the one she used to use. Let me tell ya, I never would have gotten everything I needed to get done tonight if I hadn't had it. I did laundry, made pumpkin muffins, ate dinner, and made sure all my things were packed for the trip back to Abilene for this Thanksgiving weekend. This thing is great for multitasking!

-191- Return to Sender

Ever since we moved in we have been getting all the previous residents' mail. Most of it was junk mail or catalogs, but this time it took the form of a small box that entirely filled our mailbox. I had trouble taking it out, but once I did, I laughed. It appeared to contain a container of baby formula - definitely the oddest mail ever.

-190- Pumpkin Spice

This yummy candle made our apartment smell absolutely and delightfully autumn-like this evening. I thought it looked nice with the two decorations behind it.

-189- Pain in the Neck

This is the box base of our little fake Christmas tree, which we set up and decorated today. I have no idea how Chloe finds this position comfortable, but she seems to really enjoy it. What a weirdo...

-188- Track Your Order

For date night, we rented Water for Elephants and ordered a Domino's pizza. When you order it online they give you this tracker that shows the different steps of the process and where they are currently. The step I captured in the photograph was the Quality Check, step 4 out of 5. I already loved Domino's pizza, but now I love it even more.

-187- Christmas Wish

I heard this morning on the news that Warner Brothers was going to be taking a leaf out of Disney's book and locking the Harry Potter movies in a "vault" come the end of this year. Amazingly, as big a fan as I am, I did not have all the movies, so I told Justin that all I wanted for Christmas this year were the rest of the movies. I got home from work and these were waiting for me. :) He forgot to get the first one, which I only have on VHS, but he's going to go get it tomorrow. They were only $5 at Best Buy (except for the second part of the seventh book - that was $15). I am one happy girl!

-186- PO. TA. TOES.

I made potato soup for dinner tonight and we had plenty of leftovers, as you can see. I got two different recipes from two different friends and couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I combined certain parts of each of them. Next time I'll have to add less water, but this did have a very nice taste anyway. I was also very pleased that Justin loved it. :)

-185- Taco Truck

We went to Walgreens this evening and saw this food truck in the parking lot. Can you say random?? I hadn't seen one of these things since the semester I spent abroad! (Of course, they didn't sell tacos in England...) If I see it again I may buy a taco or two just to test it out. Who knows, it may be delicious!

In other news, Justin and I have been married for 6 months today! :D I actually had completely forgotten until my mom texted me a happy 6 months. I can't believe it's been half a year already!

-184- Membership

Justin and I have had AAA car insurance and membership since just after we've been married, but they put my maiden name on my first card because that was what was on my driver's license at the time. I went into the office after I'd gotten my new license to ask for an updated membership card, and they made a copy of my new license and said I'd be getting a new one. Well... I never did get one, and never did bother to bother them about it. As you may know if you've been following this blog, we recently purchased a new car, which meant we had to add it to our insurance. I finally got my new card today!

-183- Over the Hump

So, Justin's mom took out his sisters' old dollhouse for the granddaughter to play with, and it has taken up residence in the extra room that we always stay in. Naturally, Justin and I poke around it a bit, exploring all the moving pieces and different dolls. However, he continued to play with it, arranging the rooms just how he liked them. I thought it was funny so I took a picture!

The title of this post refers to the fact that we are just over halfway through the year today! Day 182.5 is the official halfway point, but let's just keep it simple, shall we? ;)

-182- Who Else?

Obviously this photo depicts a wonderful Saturday night spent with my lovely friends, Rebekah and Anna. It was great (as always) to catch up and just be silly together. I love them so much!

-181- Naughty

And this is why we must cover our couch whenever we sleep or leave the apartment. This cat climbs on it! She knows already by now that I don't like her to be on it, so I caught this photo right as she saw me turn the corner and just as she was about to jump off. Little sneak!

-180- Warm, Brown... Hot Chocolate

Tonight we enjoyed nice warm mugs of hot chocolate, topped with mini marshmallows. I forgot to take a photo until after we had already finished drinking it, but that just goes to show that we just couldn't wait to slurp it down.

I also like this picture because it shows detail of our ceramic dishes. I love that there's brown in the midst of this blue!

-179- Diversity

If you've been following this blog, you know that Justin and I LOVE cereal - at any time of day. He remarked today, "Do you realize we have four boxes of cereal in the pantry, and they're each from a different company?" So, I looked, and sure enough - here we have Quaker, General Mills, Post, and Kelloggs. How's that for diversity?

-178- Chicken & Rice Bowls

One of the tastiest, simplest meals that I like to make is this: rice, chicken, veggies, and soy sauce, all in a bowl. It's fast, easy, delicious, and rather healthy compared to many other quick and easy meals. I also love the colors and textures when it's all mixed together, like I've captured in this photo. Plus, it's cheap and one bowl fills you up!

-177- Foamy Figurines

I actually made these cute little Thanksgiving decorations before Halloween, but it's more appropriate that I feature them now that it's a little closer to Turkey Day. My mom sent these to me a year or two ago, but I hadn't ever displayed them until now. Why, you ask? Well, because these figurines are actually foam pieces that I've glued together - and I never had the chance to assemble them until now! They're the only Thanksgiving decorations we have so far, which is really sad, but I'll be getting more, don't you worry!

-176- Erased

You might recognize this whiteboard from my post entitled Love Forever, which I wrote soon after Justin and I married. Up until this evening, it said what Justin had written on it several months ago. We decided that this board may be better used to plan dinners, so I sadly erased the sweet messages that had been etched on since May. I know this has helped already, though, because it's more motivating for me to make a good meal when I have a plan. And as you can see, we are visiting friends and family this weekend, so that's definitely something to look forward to!

-175- Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November

This belongs to our new car.

Yes, you read that right - we bought a vehicle!

It's not exactly new, but it has low mileage and we got it for a lower price than we've seen at any other dealership. We've been looking around for a while online, but today decided to go test drive one - and we were hooked.

The new addition to the family is a 2011 "Tuscan Olive" Kia Sorento. I would have posted a picture of the SUV itself, but by the time we finished all the paperwork, it was dark outside.

I'm so excited! This will be the car I drive most of the time, since Justin has his nice red car, and we'll be selling my older car.

On another note, we did keep up with our November 5th tradition of watching V for Vendetta. For us, 11/5/11 is memorable because this was our first major purchase as husband and wife!

-174- Microsherpa

This is the cuddly fuzzy blanket we bought particularly to keep our comfy couch company. It's extremely soft - they called it "microsherpa" on the packaging. Not quite sure what that means, but it's soft and warm!

-173- Flat

Last night I boiled two eggs for my lunch today. I didn't crack them open until today during lunch, and both of them have these flat bottoms, and I have no idea why. It was weird, but at least they didn't roll away when I put them down!

-172- Breezy

Boy, was it windy today! This resulted in nasty Wind Hair. Rebekah knows what Wind Hair is, but for the rest of you, let me enlighten you: it is the smelly, tangled, messed up, greasy hair that is the product of windy days. And as you can see, it can be painful to comb out.

-171- Calendar Days

I totally can't believe it's November! How weird. I feel like it was just last month that it was February and we were having all those ice storms... and we didn't have to go to school for about a week and we got to play in the snow and enjoy movies and hot tea all day! I've been missing my old roommates a lot lately. We have a lot of good memories together!

I'm hoping Justin and I find a church soon; I miss having friends nearby, and I'm thinking (and praying) that I'll make new friends at whatever church we join. It's hard finding a church... and I hope we don't have to do this for a long time after this!