happy birthday blake!

happy 24th birthday to my wonderful husband!

we'll fling our green and gold afar

today begins baylor homecoming!! i am so excited to join in all the festivities with all my fellow bears. AND we are having house guests! super exciting. in honor of baylor and to kick off homecoming weekend (our 100th homecoming!) i will share some of my favorite things about baylor.

1. the campus. in general. if you have never seen baylors campus, you have really missed out! its so beautiful.

beautiful pat neff.

view from the burleson quadrangle.

2. the bears. we have not one but two live bears on campus. how cool is that?! their names are lady and joy and one of mine and blakes favorite things to do on campus is go visit the bears. (in fact blake goes to visit them on a very regular basis.)

lady and joy doing a "sic em"

3. the traditions. from the baylor line running onto the field before every game to cheer on the football players. to the homecoming bonfire and homecoming parade (largest collegiate parade in the nation thank you very much). and dia del oso where baylor students get a day off from class to play! i just love baylor traditions. i hope i can join in the tradition of starting a family line of baylor-goers in the future!

blake and i with two very famous bears at the homecoming parade last year. jeremy wariner and reggie witherspoon (part of the 2008 olympic gold medal relay team) and me wearing a gold medal from bejing!

4. sing! anyone who hasn't seen it/been in it probably doesnt appreciate it. but let me tell you, its awesome! sing is a giant off-broadway type singi ng and dancing competition. and its a HUGE deal at baylor. all the sororities and fraternities spend months preparing and its all a big secret until the opening night. the top 8 acts go on to perform in pigskin revue the next semester during homecoming.

before one of our shows during my senior year.

alpha chi omegas sing act last year. choreographed by one of my besties laura! it was awesome!

5. friends. its where i met my best friends. i met the most amazing people of my life at baylor. i lived with the same group of girls all four years. they and my other amazing friends, our "honorary roommates", are the greatest friends a girl could have! im so lucky to have such amazing people in my life who i know always will be.

hanging out at our apartment junior year (me, katelyn, amy, katie, stefanie)

at the homecoming bonfire i think junior year (briana, me, katelyn)

at alpha chi semi-formal senior year (katie, amy, me, laura)

our "senior pics" (katelyn, me, stefanie, amy)

6. its where i fell in love with my now husband! we knew each other from back home and had gone to school together since 1st grade but it wasnt until we ran into each other on campus that any sort of romantic relationship began. he transferred at the beginning of our junior year from the university of kansas. and im so happy that blake loves baylor just as much as i do and shares my same desire for our kids (and grandkids, and great-grandkids) to go to baylor!

going to diamondbacks for our 1 year anniversary.

at a baylor basketball game

at our last alpha chi formal

blake and i at my graduation

and then at blakes graduation

and those are some of the reasons why i love my baylor! i cant wait to make many more baylor memories this weekend.

"That good ole Baylor Line, that good ole Baylor Line.
We'll march forever down the years, as long as stars shall shine.
We'll fling our green and gold afar to light the ways of time,
and guide us as we onward go.
That good ole Baylor Line!"

have a great weekend!
xo,Lindsay

the perks of being a texan.

this weekend blake and i attended the heart of texas fair and rodeo. it was a real last minute thing but oh so fun. his dad got some free tickets to the vip tent so blake and i figured since we didnt have anything better to do on saturday night we might as well head down to the fairgrounds for some free dinner, free drinks, some rodeo action, and a little live music.

we got there early so we decided to walk around and check out the rides and food vendors. we of course began our day with the petting zoo. thats right, we were the only adults in the whole thing without a 3 year old with us. but what can we say..we love petting zoos! and when blake saw they had a llama in there, he really couldnt resist.

blake and his new friend

random...

after the petting zoo (and washing our hands with TONS of soap) we ended up stumbling upon the livestock show and was that a treat or what! talk about feeling out of place around all the kiddos showing their "heifers". then we headed over to the locked and loaded tent for some free georges. now this tent is about a dream come true for blake. free food, free crown, big screen tvs everywhere playing all the football games, what more could a guy want?!

we then headed on over to the colluseum to meet his parents for the actual rodeo. blakes first rodeo to be exact. before kicking off the festivities (rodeo finals..there were definetly festivities to be had), there was a prayer. before the prayer, the guy made a little intro and ive been thinking a lot lately about what he said. im so proud to live in a country where i can go to school where i want, go to church where i want, and that we can pray together publicly! how great is it to be an american?!

so being the rodeo finals, we got to see all the best cowboys in all the different events (my favorite of course being bull riding). for anyone who has never been to a rodeo, about my favorite thing in the world is the mutton bustin. basically little kids (we're talking like 4-7 year olds) ride on the back of sheep. yes you heard that right. they ride sheep! how cute is that?! towards the end of the rodeo, one of the horses collapsed and we were later told he had a heart attack. that just broke my heart. poor horse. i have definietly said my share of prayers for him.

after the rodeo, we headed back to the tent to finish off a fun night with some tracy lawrence and more free drinks. hows that for a texas saturday night?!

tracy lawrence concert.

me and hub.

but in all honesty, it made me re-realize how much i love texas. as blake and i get excited and plan for our future, the idea of moving from texas has come up often. it would probably present us with better job options and it would give us the opportunity to blaze our own trail and discover something new together. and although i love those ideas, i just love living in texas. i love to live in a place where people are proud not only to be an american but to be a texan. i love living in a place that supports our country, our soliders, our God, our neighbors, our children, and each other.

so that being said, no matter where i live i will always be a Texan and proud of it!

xo, Lindsay

austin city limits

this past weekend was one of the greatest weekends of the year in austin. austin city limits music festival is a HUGE musical festival (i mean we're talking like 8 stages, 130 bands, 3 days). it started when i was in high school and i have only missed 2 festivals since then. since last year was one of those 2 years, i was even more pumped for this year.

when early bird tickets went on sale (over a year ago), i realized it was over my bday weekend so i talked blake into buying our tickets waaay before we even knew who would be playing. so when 3 of blakes favorite bands just so happened to show up on the lineup a few months later (dave matthews, pearl jam, and the toadies) he was just as pumped as i was.

our weekend started out by picking up blakes brother ross from the airport and heading to my friend lauras to get her and katie. we enjoyed the nice weather and the pretty grass on friday while listening to kings of leon, reckless kelly, and some other amazing bands.


saturday was a very rainy day but that didnt stop us from having fun! luckily we were able to find a few panchos (every single store in austin was sold out..luckily my dad had 2 in his car?) so katie, laura and i stayed fairly dry. blake and ross on the other hand...

going into the festival before the serious rain began.

waiting for dave matthews to start. (by this time blake and ross found trash bags to wear as makeshift panchos.)

after all the rain on saturday, sunday was a complete, muddy, mess! talk about the largest mud pit ive ever seen. wearing shoes was pointless because the mud was so deep that it would just suck your shoes straight off! (dont worry...none of us contracted any diseases)

me, laura, and katie watching the toadies

i told you it was muddy!

last picture of me and the sunglasses. rip ray bans. we had some good times together.

sometime this week, the realllly cheap tickets for next year will go on sale. im crossing my fingers really hard that we can get them! who knows where we will even be this time next year but i really want to still try to go and if we absolutely cannot go, we should have no problem selling them.

happy birthday to me

im one year older and one year wiser. ha!

i had the most amazing weekend at austin city limits music festival (more to come on that later) with blake, ross, and my good friends laura and katie. for my birthday on sunday, i opened some presents and then went to brunch at the iron cactus with my family. and then finished the day off with lots of live music. what could be better?!

blake and i after brunch at iron cactus. and my new boots blake gave me for my bday.

with the fam after brunch.

heres to a new year and all the exciting things to come during it.

well now all of our muddy laundry is calling my name. ill post about acl later...because in all honesty, putting up all the pics and talking about all the fun makes me a little sad right now because i miss it so much. so more on that later after i have some time to recover!

xo, lindsay

ps. i got my first "happy birthday to my wife" type card yesterday and it just made me so happy! i like being a wife. :)

why im BEYOND excited for this weekend

i LOVE this time of year!!!

im ready for the heat. and sweat. and wonderful wonderful music (including but definietly not limited to...dave mathews band, pearl jam, kings of leon, the toadies, ghostland observatory, etc, etc, etc). and sweet leaf tea. and good austin original food. and friends. and cute dresses. and possibly a dip in good ole barton springs. and all the weirdness that is austin (im not going to lie..i love it!). and being barefoot in lush *grass* (can you believe it?! there will be grass this year!). and crazy dancing. and doing it all with my husband and some of our closest friends.

and i could go on and on. its only one of my very favorite things EVER!

don't worry. there will be updates.

two. more. days.

last week i made a super easy and quite delicious meal that i thought I would share. I borrowed the recipe from Kelly's Korner and its definitely a winner in the Harbour household. I'm a fan of meals that are easy to fix since I'm usually getting home around dinner time and need to cook and eat fairly quickly to get onto studying. So here it is!

King Ranch Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel
1-2 cups cheddar cheese
package of corn tortillas















Tear the tortillas into small pieces and line the bottom of a pan. Mix together the soups, rotel and chicken and pour on top. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubble. THE END!















so you should try it and enjoy!

xo, lindsay

Show Us Your Life- Desserts

Last weekend I tried a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and they were to die for. So since this week is "Desserts" on Show us your life at Kelly's Korner, I figured I would share it. I mean who doesn't love the perfect chocolate chip cookie? I will be making these more often.

I *borrowed* this recipe from Camille Style Events. She is an event planner in Austin and always has the cutest ideas for parties. I will definitely *borrow* more of her ideas in the future! (fun dinner parties here i come!)

So here it is!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 18 large cookies.

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets.

And there you have it, wonderful cookies! I just love baking and I really especially love baking for other people. And that means I can still bake and try it out but won't feel tempted to eat the entire batch if I give them away to people.

So try out the recipe and tell me what you think! And feel free to share any other delicious baking recipes with me. I'm always looking for new ones to add to my collection of "recipes to try"!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Lindsay

why.

lately a lot of things have been weighing on my heart and mind. as we enter this new season (and for those of you who dont live in the great state of texas, trust me...its uber exciting. if you're summer has been as hot and miserable as ours, you know what i mean when i say im ecstatic for the weather change) i feel a sense of excitement for change and a chance to really appreciate the wonderful life God has given me.

right now both myself and blake are in graduate school. we live in the same town that we did for undergrad even after all of our friends have moved away. and although waco has its "charm", its definitely not the type of place we see ourselves living forever. that being said, sometimes we get caught up in being so excited to move onto the next stage of our lives that i think we forget to appreciate the one that we are in. we are living in our first place together and only have ourselves and our two doggy babies to worry about. we should be loving this time of our lives! (and we do love our lives...dont get me wrong!)

so lately ive been thinking a lot about the importance of appreciating what i have and how hard it is to not always feel like i want something more. so this fall, my goal is going to be to do just that. i will enjoy making our current place of dwelling a home rather than just always dreaming about our future "real" home. (dont get me wrong, im still collecting pictures and will still keep good ideas in the back of my head.) and although i cant help but think and plan about what our future will be like (im a planner by nature..what can i say?!), i will be sure to remember to be thankful for my life now.

and now that leads me to why. why do i have a blog? my original purpose behind starting this blog was for blake and i to remember all of our adventures as newlyweds. and that is still my reason. but i think its more now. day to day i am inspired by things i read on other blogs and things i learn. so my blog will be my chance to share my life as a wife. and a friend. and a daughter, sister, graduate student, Christian.

this will be my journey learning how to love my husband better. learning how to continue building relationships with friends who live miles and miles away. learning how to survive school and move into a real job one day. learning more about what it means to be a woman of God. learning how to cook and one day how to do some of my own diy projects that i get so inspired by (thank you young house love and others).

here's to life in waco..in our litte apartment..where we're always busy studying and working and going to class. but learning so much about ourselves and each other along the way. i wouldn't have it any other way.

im so lucky.

date night and football.

our relaxing weekend began with our weekly date night on friday night. im really excited that this is something we have been making a point to do every week. when i was in undergrad, i took a class called "marriage and family" and one of the things my professor told us was to always set aside one night a week to spend quality time together. even though you are always together, this date time is really important! (he also said make sure to take plenty of weekend getaways and vacations together...im looking forward to following that advice as well!)

our "date" on friday was pretty low-key since we had been in california the weekend before and were quite low on cash. so we ordered a pizza from an amazing family owned italian place in waco and stayed home with some wine and a movie.


saturday was our first home football game. we were both really excited about it and looked forward to it all day. (we'll just forget about the fact that we lost...) but we made it out early enough to do some tailgating before the game.

at the george's tent before the game

one of my favorite baylor football traditions is the line. all of the freshman make up the "baylor line" and before each game, they run onto the field and form a huge tunnel for the football players to come out through. its really exciting and was so much fun doing when we were freshman!

the line out on the field

at the very hot game!

the rest of our weekend consisted of being lazy and eating some yummy food. two things i like very much. i tried out a most delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe this weekend that i will share later. they were sooo good! in fact i need to bring some to neighbors/work so that i can avoid eating them all!

tonight i am meeting blakes whole economics program at a bbq. eek. i really hope there is another wife/girlfriend/anyone there who speaks something besides math and economics or else it might be a loooong evening for me!

happy monday! (the end of the week will be here before we know it...i hope!)

california dreaming

last weekend blake and i made the trek to californ-i-a to meet up with all my best girl friends and watch our friend katelyn get married! i just love my friends and its always sure to be a good time when we all have the opportunity to get together. blake even had lots of one-on-one bonding time with them since i was busy all day saturday doing wedding preparations and he tagged along on their beach adventures.

we all left bright and early and met in california on friday morning. we rented a super sweet *mini van* to be our transportation for the weekend. she was rightly named tilly and provided us with all kinds of good times.

amy, laura, katie and i picking up tilly

so after going to the hotel to check in, we headed down to laguna beach to find a place for lunch and to sink our feet in the sand. we found a cute little cafe on the beach and then headed out to the beach. after taking a dip in the pacific ocean (and i would just like to point out what a large feat that was. it. was. freezing.) we headed back to the hotel so that amy and i could get ready for the rehearsal dinner.

Amy, Stefanie, Katie, and I preparing to run into the ocean

i love my friends. that is all.

*here is where i became the worst picture taker EVER and have absolutely zero pictures to document the rest of our amazing weekend and the beautiful wedding. i failed. (meaning all pictures from here on out, including a few previous ones, are in fact stollen.)

Saturday amy and I headed over to katelyn's house to have brunch and then to get ready for the big day. we got ready in the most amazing house with the most beautiful view and just spent the day relaxing and primping. we then headed down to the beach for some super cool pictures on the beach before going to the wedding venue.

the wedding was absolutely beautiful and we could not be happier for the new mr. and mrs. jordan steadman. the food was great, the wine was plentiful, and the music was rocking. what more could you want?!

the newlyweds!

this was mine and blake's first wedding since our own wedding five months ago. it brought back so many wonderful memories of our special day. i look forward to sharing this very special time with each and every one of our friends at some point. man i just love weddings!

me and my husband at dinner.

after the wedding we went out and celebrated with most of the wedding party and wedding guests at a bar in laguna and finished off the night in a most wonderful way! the next day we began our journey back home (alll dayyyy longggg journey).

i am so so so so so blessed to have such amazing friends. even though we are all spread out across the country, every time we get together its just like we haven't been apart at all. and thats what i love about them. i never have to experience that "its kinda awkward since we havent seen each other in so long" issue with them. we all understand each other so well and i know we will be friends forever.

well now i am off to go for a quick run, study, and get ready for some BAYLOR FOOTBALL! its our first home game and blake and i are soooo excited! until next time.

sic em bears!

Get to Know Me!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:30..well actually more like 6:45

2. How do you like your steak? medium

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? gooood question...I think that weird one about aliens..i dont even remember what it was called (obviously i really liked it....)

4. What is your favorite TV show? oh man. So You Think You Can Dance, Gossip Girl, Grey's, Desperate Housewives, Army Wives, anything on HGTV, among others...

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? that probably depends on when you ask...right now i want to live in Boston!

6. What did you have for breakfast? laughing cow cheese..weird i know. i forgot to eat breakfast and i had some at work so that was my breakfast

7. What is your favorite cuisine? LOVE italian and mexican!

8. What food do you dislike? hum random things..not a fan of most beans, mushrooms, onions, ham

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Chuys. cant waaaaait until the one is finished in Waco!

10. Favorite dressing? Caesar or Ranch

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Volkswagen Jetta

12. What are your favorite clothes to wear? in all honestly, lounge pants and a t shirt. but when i have wear real clothes i love cute dresses

13. Where would u visit if u had the chance? i have a really long "someday i want to go there" list that includes: Greece, the Amalfi coast, Australia, French Riviera, and so many more

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? i think most days i would say 1/2 full

15. Where would you want to retire? never really thought about it. somewhere close to family on either a lake or beach

16. Favorite time of day? I have actually started liking the mornings now (minus the part where i have to get up..but the once im up and awake part) and early evenings i guess

17. Where were you born? Shreveport, LA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? on tv, college football or texas ranger baseball, in person football, basketball, baseball, tennis

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? well since im doing this on my blog...

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? see above

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? again

22. Bird watcher? ummm no. but i do like to watch humming birds outside of my inlaws fight over the feeders!

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? neither really! i dont like to wake up in the morning and im an old lady and go to bed early at night now.

24. Do you have any pets? yup! a maltipoo named Nina and a border collie mix named Vinny

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? i'm going to california tomorrow morning!

26. What did you want to be when you were little? haha! i wanted to be a woodcarver. yes you heard that right. and to carve wooden birds. (thank GOODNESS i grew out of that one!)

27. What is your best childhood memory? probably going to the beach with my family or playing outside on summer nights with our neighbors

28. Are you a cat or dog person? dog for sure...im NOT a cat person

29. Are you married? yes i am!

30. Always wear your seat belt? of course i do! and you should too now that you can get a ticket in any seat for not wearing one

31. Been in a car accident? i got rear-ended once when i was like 17 but thats all

32. Any pet peeves? smacking amoungst other things

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? pepperoni and black olives

34. Favorite Flower? tulips, gerber daisys, peonies

35. Favorite ice cream? world class chocolate from baskin robbins

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? probably Wendy's

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None

38. From whom did you get your last email? someone from work

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? if i didnt have to pay it off, probably anthropologie

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? not that i can think of

41. Like your job? its ok...looking forward to my next job though! :)

42. Broccoli? i looove broccoli!

43. What was your favorite vacation? 2 month europe trip (if only blake had been with me it would have been beyond perfect)

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Alyssa, Jessica, and Ashton from class

45. What are you listening to right now? my pandora

46. What is your favorite color? pink

47. How many tattoos do you have? none

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? none

49. Are you a coffee drinker? yesss i am now! i use to not like coffee and now its the first thing i do each morning

Enjoy!

sic em!

i am such a bad blogger! but really its not my fault..its that nothing exciting has happened lately to blog about. i did decide to update from my plain jane template though to a new and improved one. i know, nothing fancy but it will have to do!

this past weekend began a most wonderful time of year...college football! there is just something about the start of the season that is always so exciting! of course i love going to baylor games and all that is baylor football (and well baylor sports in general) but really it goes even farther than that. there is just something about a college football game being on in the background during everyday tasks that just makes that task a little less mundane. like take dusting for example. boring! but if a game is on, its a little more enjoyable! maybe its the fact that football signifies the beginning of fall (well not if you live in texas...we still have a few more months to go people!). but i really do think that if i knew what fall was, it would be my favorite season. maybe one day...

but anyways im so excited for baylor football this year and feel like we have really started off the season in a great way. there is an amazing excitement around campus, waco, and even nationally this year about our team (which does not happen often) and i feel like we're really going to live up to it!

ok enough about that! how was everyone's labor day weekend? ours was pretty relaxing and nice! friday we helped blake's parents throw a dinner party for some of their friends. we brought over our handy dandy margarita machine (yes thats right..we own a margarita machine. don't you want to come visit us now?!) and made some pretty great margs. saturday we spent the day being lazy until the baylor game began. after we kicked butt, blake left to head to dallas to visit a friend and i went with some friends from class (ashton, jessica and alyssa) to la fiesta for great mexican food and uncorked for great wine!

sunday i joined my mom and some of her friends for a trip to tradedays in canton. for those of you who havent been..its quite the adventure. (i brought blake with me my first time and have yet to convince him to return). i ended up finding some christmas decorations and a christmas gift for blake and i to give my dad so overall it was a pretty successful trip! monday was spent catching up on homework that i neglected all weekend long and preparing for my super short week.

this weekend we are off to laguna beach, california for my friend katelyn's wedding. so check back next week for fun and excitement.

*(and if you made it all the way to the bottom of this post, give yourself a pat on the back...you must be really bored!)

girls just wanna have fun

Last weekend, I made a trip to Kansas City, MO for my good friend Katelyn's bachelorette party. I met Katelyn the beginning of my freshman year of college and we have been friends ever sense. Katelyn lives in Dallas now but just recently moved there from kc so she wanted to have her bachelorette party there so that all of her kansas city friends could be there as well.

Blake was very excited for me to visit Kansas City (he lived there a few years when we were in elementary school and went to college for two years at the University of Kansas) so he told me to make sure I saw all of the pretty fountains.

Here we are in front of the big fountain in the Plaza. It is so pretty there! (left to right: me, Ashleigh, Katelyn, Jessica)

The pretty Plaza.

After spending some time waking around the Plaza, Katelyn and her sister Ashleigh went to have some sisterly bonding time at a spa and the rest of us went to start the party preparations!

The food set up. Including the AMAZING cali wraps which I could not wait to try after hearing Katelyn rave about them on a regular basis.

Drink station. Where the "Kate-tinis" were made.

The girls (minus Ashleigh who was taking the picture)

me with the bachelorette in all of her "bachelorette garb"

After beginning the party with games, gifts and food, we headed out the the Power & Light district which is basically a huge nightlife area with tons of different bars all of which are connected together. Very cool.

The next day, we spent the afternoon recovering by the pool before Katelyn and I headed back to the Lone Star State.

Right before me, Katelyn and Ashleigh left for the airport (me, Ashleigh, Katelyn, Lynsey, and Jessica)

Good times were had by all. Katelyn and her fiance Jordan are tying the knot in two weeks in Southern California where she is from. I am so excited for their wedding, to see California, and to see all my super amazing girlfriends from college!

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend! I'm off to do lots of reading and get as much done as I can while Blake is at the library (oh the exciting life of graduate students).

Lindsay