high five it's friday!!!!

dear friday, you're hot, you're humid, and you're fantastic. i'm so glad you're here. please be sunny and fun of tanning rays. :) 

[if this were my iPhone, i'd be inserting my sun and my pink polka-dot bikini emoji right about....here!]

dear raisin bran, you're such a fabulous treat for any time of day, but especially dinner.  i don't know what it is, but cereal for dinner is fantastic. maybe because it's like i'm breaking all the rules. i'm a cereal-rebel. lock up your kids folks. i've got a spoon and i'm on the loose. 

dear olympics, i'm so glad you're finally getting close! gymnastic trials started last night, and women's trials start today. my favorite! :) i can't wait to watch all of the talented girls on the telly  while i sit on the couch eating a brownie and thinking to myself...man i wish i was athletically gifted. 

dear random shuffleboard opponents at howdy happy hour, i warned you that i'm a terrible competitor. i told you i had never played before.  i wasn't joking. but thanks for pretending to be disappointed when the game ended so quickly after i gave you the win.  

dear world, i'm officially a chastain now. two hours of standing in line with lots of strangers at the social security office paid off.   next week, i'm going to conquer DPS. bring it.

dear houston, watch out. my bestie is comin to town, and we've got some fun to have! 

how was your week?

and fun friday letters to share??

the perfect honeymoon, part 8

our last day in mexico was bitter sweet.

we were sad to leave our beautiful hotel and beautiful cabo,

but we were also so excited to go back and see our friends and family,

and share our stories and adventures with them.

room 420! :)

anytime we told a hotel staff members what room we were in, they would smile or chuckle to themselves.

we get it!

soooo funny. :)

in the lobby of our hotel,

the marina fiesta.

i'm pretty sure i consumed at least 3 coca-cola lights a day...if not more.

i can't explain it,

but they were just too fantastic to put down.

i might have slipped a few in my suitcase....i'll never tell. :)

the ocean from the plane.

adios mexico!

see ya next time!

part 1 | part 2

part 3 | part 4

part 5 | part 6

part 7

a newlywed apartment: our kitchen

welcome to my kitchen. :)

i'm proud to say that i spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

i love to cook and bake, 

[especially bake. :)]

and lucky for me, bryce is an easy critic to please!

even though our apartment is tiny,

our kitchen is really open, which makes it feel larger.

bar stools - target

 since we have a decent sized island,

we opted for bar stools over a kitchen table,

and so far, it's been working out pretty well! 

wine rack - crate & barrel, bulletin board - DIY project,
apron holder and wall hanging - hobby lobby,
aprons - crate & barrel and anthropologie

my cute aprons! :)

i definitely try and use them every time i cook.

cookie jar - crate & barrel, recipe box - macys,
cake stand - thrifted, cookbooks - friends & family

my cookbook and craft book collection.

bryce's sweet grandmother filled that red box full of family recipes, 

and i can't wait to try a few of them out!

kuerig - macys, mug tree - crate & barrel

and i can't leave out my kuerig.

a.k.a. my best friend.

and i LOVE our mug tree. 

it's so cute and holds 8 mugs while taking up a minimal amount of counter space. fabulous! 

rug - target

 a colorful rug to spruce up the floor. 

if you're going to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you might as well surround yourself with fun and colorful things right??

do you have any fun kitchen decorating ideas?

[in case you missed it,
you can check out my living room here!]

the perfect honeymoon, part 7

on our final night in Cabo, we took a trip to The Office.

The Office is the ultimate tourist destination on Mendano Beach,

so of course we had to check it out!

the tables are out on the beach, so you can feel the sand in your toes as your sippin your rita! :)

 bryce ordered a classic margarita on the rocks,

and i ordered a miami vice,

a.k.a.

half pina colada, half strawberry daquiri.

yummy!

 we decided to take a quacamole break and try out some authentic mexican queso.

 the wall of tequila!

some of the bottles should be classified as works of art.

handpainted, hand tiled, just beautiful.

this is my fav photo of bryce!

when we were walking home, we walked past this mural.

bryce thought the girl was inappropriately dressed, so he tried to guard my eyes and cover her up.

modest is hottest! ;)

part 1 | part 2

part 3 | part 4

part 5 | part 6

sweet treat for a sweet hubby

bryce doesn't ask for much,

so last week, when he made a special request for little debbie oatmeal cream pies.  

i was determined to find them.

we searched and searched the aisles, 

but alas,

no oatmeal cream pie to be found.

apparently they're a pretty hot commodity in h-town.

every kid must have a few in their lunch boxes.

what's a girl to do when her local grocery store lets her down?

she makes her own of course! :)

i found a super easy to follow recipe on one of my favorite food blogs.

[bake or break]

i'm currently in a sugar coma.

the things we do for love. 

:)

the perfect honeymoon, part 6

have you ever been ziplining?

i'm not talking about zipling at summer camp,

i mean ziplining for half a mile at 40 mph over a canyon filled with cactus and snakes in the middle of the mexican desert.

 

we hiked up the sides of the canyon to get to the top so we could zipline across to the other side.

some of the lines were up to half a mile long and we got up to 40 miles an hour.

some of the lines were so steep that you had to ride tandem to make it across, so bryce and i got to scream down the zipline together! :)

i'm not going to lie,

this experience left me sweaty,

dirty,

exhausted,

and i'm pretty sure i complained a few times,

but i am so glad bryce thought to sign us up for this fun adventure.  

i had a blast.

it's kind of hard to see,

but the dark blue in the middle of the photo is the ocean!

how unbelieveable is it that the giant ocean is so close to a giant desert?

the LORD's creation is so perfect and so fantastic.

a newlywed apartment: our living room

we are finally settled! :)

our apartment is super tiny, but super cozy!

imagine a shoebox with curtains and mis-matched furniture.

perfect for newlyweds. :)

it's amazing how much of a difference hanging a few (or a ton) frames and shelves on the walls can make.

 bryce was such a trooper.

he owned that hammer and level,

and our living room is fabulous because of it.

when you walk in, 

this area is the first thing you see, so the curtains were an important purchase.
since the walls and floors and cabinets are all neutrals and browns,
the rug helps to bring so spice & color into the room.

curtains - ikea, rug - target, chair - my parents

our bookcase/tv stand, tv, and shelves.
those four baskets may or may not be full of arts & crafts supplies. :)

entertainment center - ikea, wall hanging - hobby lobby, 
baskets - target, frames - thrift store & spray paint

this trunk has been a great space saving piece.
it's super cute, and also holds all of our blankets and games!
fabulous and functional for the win! 

life is good & owl metal art - hobby lobby, 
frames - thrift store & spray paint

shelves - home depot, trunk - crate & barrel, 

rug - world market

this is my favorite wall,
full of frames and sweet lovey-dovey prints.
are you overwhelmed by the frames?
i have a rather large obsession love for photos.
believe it or not, i have another box of frames sitting in the closet.
i just couldn't do that to bryce.

love seat - hand-me-down, 
throw pillow and blanket - target

the majority of these frames and pieces were used at our wedding, which makes them that much more special. i love being surrounded by encouraging words and photos of friends and family.

 p.s. recognize a few of those pieces on the wall??
 inspired by pinterest!
[follow me here @ mrschastain]

Source: landeeseelandeedo.com via Sarah Grace on Pinterest

Source: mywedding.com via Sarah Grace on Pinterest

 so, what do you think?
too girly??
do you have any small apartment decorating tips??

polka dotted presents! :)

last weekend, 

my sweet husband took me to the at&t store and bought me a new iPhone! :)

then, we went to the apple store and bought it a new outfit. 

even better,

there was a little love note hidden inside:

new toys are the best,

especially when they come with polka dots. :)

the perfect honeymoon, part 5

even though our hotel was all-inclusive,

we decided that we wanted to try a few local restaurants downtown.

so after doing some research, we decided on a little place called Maria Corona.

bryce got a manly lime margarita, and mine was mango.

caution...the locals loveeeeee their tequila.

those margaritas knocked us off our feet!

the trees were filled with super cute beehive lanterns.

i really wanted to take one home,

but i had already bought too many souvenirs. oops! :)

 fajitas served in a molcajete.

 teeny tiny corn tortillas.

p.s. this is one of my fav photos from our trip. :)

this was our favorite meal of the trip and one of my favorite memories.

we had yummy margaritas, the best guacamole we've ever had in our lives, and fabulous fajitas.

it was fun to be brave and go downtown and eat in an authentic mexican restaurant.

a fantastic date night for the win! : )

father daughter boogie down

i know there are a lot of people out there that think their dad is the best,

but their wrong.

my dad is the best,

and that is a fact.

one of my favorite wedding day memories is my dance with my dad.

we spent a few weeks searching and planning and you-tubing songs,

and finally, the perfect solution fell into our laps.

we practiced and practiced,
and the result was perfection.

hopefully this makes you chuckle a little [or a lot] out loud.

dear dad,

you're the funnest person i have ever known, 
and i'm thankful to have inherited your fantastic dancing skills.

you're the bestest dad a daughter could have ever wished for.

i love you so much,

sarah goose

high five for friday! :)

 in the process of putting this post together, i realized two things:

1.  i eat a lot

2. i take a lot of terrible quality photos

o well. i'm trying people.

here are a few highlights of my week:

[1]

my sweet co-worker had a baby shower this week! she is having a baby boy, so of course there were adorable baby boy themed cupcakes. almost too cute to eat. almost.

[2]

for the past 5 months, i've been driving past the construction of a new mexican restaurant,

and it finally opened!

the grand opening isn't officially until next week, so we like to think we are quite in the know.

we're pretty cool. be jealous. :)

[3] 

have you been to the chocolate bar??

oooo goodness. a little piece of heaven on earth,

and my new favorite place for sure.

plus, they will let you sample every single flavor of ice cream.

[4]

is it creepy that i snapped a photo of this strangers super cute tote?

is it even creepier that i spent hours looking for it online?

i want it, and it's sold out.

lame-o.

but good for her for having fabulous taste.

[5]

this is such a fun and encouraging little print.

i'm gonna be silly this weekend. and probably a little ridiuclous too.

Source: richesforrags.tumblr.com via Caitlin on Pinterest

happy weekend everyone! i hope it is fabulous!

the perfect honeymoon, part 4

our hotel was in the perfect location:

five minutes from the beach,

five minutes from downtown.

 

it was so fun getting to explore downtown cabo and to see all of the markets and bars.

they all have the most interesting names.

 

happy endings:

the beer pong headquarters of the world.

in honor of the giggling bride

: )

i didn't take a photo of it, but we also visited cabo-wabo.

anything that rhymes is an automatic favorite in my book.

all of the restaurants, bars and shops were painted in bright colors and had the most hilarious catch phrases. don't worry, they all had the best deals in cabo

so you can't go wrong! :)