Who doesn't like a survey?

Anna tagged me in a fun survey!

1. What is your favorite meal?

I would have to say Gordon Bierch's Hummus and Goat Cheese Salad with Chicken....ahhh I miss that a lot....no Gordon Bierch in Nebraska

2. What do you like best about blogging?

Since we moved to Nebraska, we are so far away from all of our family and friends. While it's not exactly another country, it seems like it sometimes and blogging helps me keep in touch with all the friends and family that live on the east coast. It allows us to share pictures and our daily activities which aren't way exciting but it's our life and we love it :)

3. What is your favorite movie of all time?

This is far more Clint's category than mine. I'm not really a movie person, I blame this on my attention span. I would have to say Blind Side.

 

4. What would a perfect day look like for you?
It would be a trip home, spending the day with friends and family.

 

5. What is the best book you've read?
I'm currently reading Green River Killer...ahh that sounds so bad but it's about his wife and her story on how they were married for 20 years and she had no clue what he was doing. It's really interesting.

6. If someone had asked you ten years ago what you would be doing in ten years, would you have answered correctly?
HA! Well, kind of.....I would think I would be married, maybe a child but I'm perfectly ok with the timing of our marriage, I couldn't be happier. I would never in a million, billion, trillion years think I would be in Nebraska....but who knows where life will bring you.

7. What's your guilty pleasure? 
Watching Teen Mom

8. Have you ever broken any bones?
Negative
9. What time do you go to bed each night?
Now it's around 9:30 on the weekdays and 10...sometimes 11 on weekends but 11 is kinda stretching it.
10. What time do you have to get up in the mornings?
Weekdays I'm up around 7, I don't have to be at school until 8:30 which is a big difference from before. I attempt to sleep in on the weekends but I'm always up by 8.
11. Do you have a go to outfit? If so, what is it?
I don't have a specific outfit, but lately it's jeans and black long sleeve shirt w/ a random bright scarf.

Just Another Tuesday

We get the mail today and I thought my dear South Carolina friends would enjoy what's on the front page of the Classified section. This section includes everything our Sun News includes, jobs, homes, cars....and livestock.

Pick your cow....

In other news....$500 later, I have my Nebraska licenses plate.

Notice my dear husband screwed the frame upside down....funny how I didn't notice this until I took a picture for the blog.

In other news, it is warm here. The temperatures are in the 60's today and this is EXTREMELY not like Nebraska. Kids are in summer clothes at school and really its hard to believe it's this warm. I was the only one at the grocery store today with a jacket on. I just hope February and March don't make up for the weather we aren't having in January.

I'm experimenting with a dessert that found on a blog that I read everyday. I will post it later this week if it's not a complete disaster.

LOVE!

-Stacy

Wonderful Weekends

Perhaps we are just kids at heart but who doesn't love weekends? Yesterday we went to Lincoln. We ate at the Mexican restaurant that we found the other week and made it to Hobby Lobby. This picture is a professional picture I found when I was looking on Pinterest today...kind of ironic. It's of Lincoln at night.

It's much smaller than Omaha but still has plenty of things to do. This picture is from downtown and shows their theater and shops along with a few big business buildings.
Today we just stayed in Columbus. There's a park close to where Clint works that I've seen a couple of times. We decided to take Charley there and discover it for ourselves. It's a large park right by our river....I guess you would call it a river or stream or whatever the body of water is. It was frozen so if that tells you that even though I'm referring to today as being warm...it's still cold for this South Carolina girl.

OK, not to be completely cheesy but look at the water puddle we found.

 Clint couldn't help himself. It did look like fun but someone had to be the photographer.

 Me & my other love

 My Loves

 You learn something new everyday.....There was a memorial for Andrew Jackson Higgins. He was from Columbus, NE and he invented the Higgins boat for WW11.

We had a blast and walked along one of the paths which took us along the water and under a few bridges.

Last but not least, we needed to get some more nails. We have all but two pictures hung up in our home and those who know me best know that those two pictures just leaning against the wall reallly erks me. Clint being as fabulous as he is, stopped by our version of Lowes or Home Depot and picked up some on our way home. Little did I know that it was a fascinating store. I could of spent hours in there....don't be surprised if I blog next week that I spent my afternoon at Menards. First, I've pronounced it wrong since we moved here. I called it Mean-ers when really it is Ma-nards.

They have everything. It's kind of like a home improvement, grocery, pet, furniture store that just happens to have hair straighteners as well. I was excited....just sayin'.

It was a great day and now it's just time to prepare for another work week. Hope y'all (YES I can say y'all....even if no one else says it here.) had a fabulous weekend and ready for a great week!

-Stacy

Fabulous Friday

I haven't really posted much this week since the snow. We haven't had much news in Nebraska. Most of the snow is starting to melt. It was supposed to snow again today but didn't. The ice on Thursday was the worst. Clint called me once he got to work to warn me about all of the ice. I made it to school safely but will not even begin to tell you how slow I was driving. People were sliding all over the place but lucky for me, school is only about 5 minutes from our house.

In fabulous news, my parents shipped me all of my scrapbooking/art stuff. It didn't make it on the Penske truck when Clint came because I was going to do something crafty for his wedding day present. I made a scrapbook, which ironically he made me one for that day too with the most awesome drawings. While the box looked like it went through a very rough ride all the way to Nebraska.....

Everything was in one piece and nothing broke!

I'm thrilled to have my art stuff here and perhaps I will get some Pinterest projects done.
I've also mentioned that I was expecting my case for my ereader tablet. First, I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my Pandigital tablet. It's awesome for plane rides, trips or even something to read in waiting rooms. I've been looking on Etsy for awhile now and found the cover I wanted. After Christmas I decided that I would go ahead and order it. It took awhile to get (the lady custom makes all of the covers as she gets the order in, based on what gaget you will be using it for) but I can't even begin to express how awesome it is made! It fits my tablet perfectly and would recommend her to everyone! I waited so long to order it because it was more than I wanted to spend on a cover but after seeing how much hard work was put into it, I have no problem paying what I did for it.

 I'm way excited about it. You can find her on Etsy and her company name is Dixie's Window.

We are planning on going to Lincoln tomorrow. I think Clint just wants to go to the Mexican restaurant again and well, I can't wait to go to Hobby Lobby. I will post about our day trip!
Love!
-Stacy

Charley's First Snow

I'm totally not a blog twice a day girl but thought I would share Charley's first snow experience with you guys. It started snowing around 5 today and still coming down. I'm sure we will still have school tomorrow but it's a lot of snow for this South Carolina girl and puppy.

Like any pet or child, he didn't look up when I wanted him to look up. Also, we took a video of him. Obviously, he's our "child".....help us when we have a real child, there will be pictures of every second of their life.



Last but not least....we had to play in the snow too.

It's supposed to snow more tomorrow with temperatures around 9 degrees.....so we will see.

Weekend Fun Day

Yesterday we went to Omaha. We picked yesterday because it's supposed to be snowing today and Clint wanted to watch football today. I was excited for a few reasons. One, I've been working on a little Pinterest project that I couldn't complete until we went to a bigger town than Columbus. It turned out pretty good, I'll post pictures soon. It's a gift to a good friend that I'm pretty sure she reads my blogs so I will wait until she gets it until I post pictures. Secondly, we have been talking about going ice skating for awhile. In Myrtle Beach I attempted to take Clint ice skating at Market Common last year. This was kind of a let down because it wasn't real ice. Instead it was the plastic blocks that were impossible to skate on. We found our ice skating rink.

I've only been ice skating once or twice before and this was Clint's first time but we had so much fun! Neither one of us fell and we had a great time.

We also ate sushi for lunch. Sushi has always been a favorite for Clint and I. We ate sushi for our first date and Hawaii sushi was beyond the best ever on our honeymoon.

It was a great place and we had a lot of fun. We then walked around the shops around the restaurant. They were similar to Market Common at the beach and even though it was SO cold, we had a great time. We then went to the movies and saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The movie was good. It wasn't quite what we thought it would be like but it was ok.
That pretty much sums up our trip to Omaha yesterday. It was great to play tourist and spend the day with my amazing husband.
Last week, my fabulous parents sent a sweet surprise in the mail. I got it after school on Friday and it brought a smile to my face.



Clint and I both are addicted to fruit and the dried fruit taste delicious!

After checking our mailbox, when we got home last night we had two packages squeezed in there. One was a package from my grandmother. I am so fortunate to have two beyond amazing grandmothers that are such a big part of my life. After talking to my dad's mother last week about what's new with us, we talked a bit about me cooking more. I'm cooking more for a few reasons. One, it's not Myrtle Beach, there aren't so many restaurants and since we don't have the same social group here, we don't go out as much. Also, Clint and I both want to cook more at home. When we do expand our family we want to have home cooked meals and eat healthier. The package my grandmother sent me was a cookbook from her church with a sweet note inside. It made me smile.

Sorry this one is kind of long but we had a lot going on lately and I wanted to share. Miss you all!

Nebraska Life

There's not a lot of new news with us. We are just getting in our routines and loving life. My mom sent me the proof book of all of the wedding pictures yesterday. She picked it up about a week ago at the photography studio that did our pictures.

The notepad in front is my way of picking out the 125 pictures I want in our big book. It really didn't take me as long as I thought it would to pick out my favorites. I can't wait to get those pictures to the photographer and get our book finished. Not to mention how excited I am to get our final copy of the Hart to Heart video.

Totally random...but you know me. The plus side of living in Nebraska is the time difference. For instances, we only had to stay up til 11pm to see the ball drop on New Years Eve. I get to watch Grey's Anatomy at 8 instead of 9 and my guilty pleasure, Teen Mom comes on at 9 instead of 10 on Tuesdays. For those who know me best, know that it's usually a 9-9:30 bedtime for me so this time change came in handy....ha.

I've also gotten blog crazy.....Well, reading other peoples blogs. That and Pinterest are my new addictions. I guess it could be worse.

Quick note about how awesome a teacher from my old school announced she was having a boy. The video was adorable and well worth me waiting until the morning to find out the gender. I actually started my blog after reading hers. I knew we had tons of family and friends thousands of miles away and this would be a great way to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with us. While Nebraska life isn't overly exciting it is different and has been quite the adventure. We are so thankful for all of the friends and family that have been supportive through these past few months and appreciate all of the sweet messages, calls, emails and thoughts.

OH, by the way....(I warned you this blog was going to be random) Today was the first day that I've been at school and it was inside recess due to the cold weather. It's about 9 degrees now and feels like -1. It was 4 degrees when I drove to school this morning and they are calling for snow tomorrow and Saturday. It's ok...I get to wear jeans to work tomorrow...woohoo!

OK that concludes my randomness for the day. Hope you all are doing well. 
Love!
-Stacy

Another January Day

We've had a wonderful past few days. Sunday, Clint and I went to Lincoln. For those who might not be on their A game when it comes to state capitals, it's the capital of Nebraska. It's smaller than Omaha and about 15 minutes closer to us than Omaha is. We tried a Mexican restaurant downtown and it was great. We then went off to see our surroundings. We stopped by Target.....I know, but if you didn't have a Target close by, you would take advantage of the trip as well. We also found a couple of small shops. I was way excited when I saw Hobby Lobby on the GPS. We found it and with all my excitement, it was a huge Hobby Lobby. Finally, I thought I could put my Pinterest addiction to a productive addiction. As we were getting out of the car I could just see the excitement in Clint's face, after all it was his first Hobby Lobby experience. Sadly, there was a sign on the door saying they were closed all day to allow their employees to worship. On the up side of things, there was a group of girl scouts selling cookies beside the grocery store next door. We got a few boxes, all of which Clint took to work. Ok, well all but one box but that's enough for me to enjoy them without eating multiple boxes.
I'm so excited that one of my very best friends in the whole world just found out she's pregnant. So happy my Virginia and Kenny will be expecting in September. So Exciting!!!!!!!
School is going well and I'm trying to get my teaching licenses switched to Nebraska. Clint is still loving work, which is great. It snowed a little bit last night and should snow more Thursday and Friday. I will post pictures once we have a 'REAL" snow, according to the Nebraska Natives.
Love!
-Stacy

And it's Friday!

This week has seemed to fly by. I'm getting adjusted to my new school and my new routine. I did figure out we can wear jeans every Friday. I found this out when I was the ONLY person in the entire school wearing dress pants last week...but I know now :) I enjoyed wearing jeans today. Funny how something so simple can make your day at work so much better.

I also miss southern manners....just a please, thank you, yes mam and no mam, gets it so far in life...just sayin'.

Another odd thing....we do not get out of school next week for Martin Luther King Day. Since I'm on the topic of odd things...Nebraska will not let me use my maiden name as my middle name. They said they have never heard of that before and I would have to get an attorney to do a name change if I would like it. However, I can have two last names....Stacy Lee Shillinglaw-Morrison. There's not enough bubbles on any form to fill that one out. Needless to say.....I'm having to drop my maiden name. Argh.

The snow has mostly melted but the cold weather is beyond cold. It was 4 degrees when I was driving to school this morning. Currently, it's a warm 25 degrees. This weekend is supposed to warm up (40s), which I'm looking forward to. I never thought I would say that I was looking forward to 40 degree weather. ha

While I'm getting adjusted to our new surroundings I miss the dear friends at "home". Today, I read my book that the best friends a girl could ask for made me before we left. It makes me realize that even 1,500 miles can't separate true friends. I'm really so very fortunate to have you all in my life and can't wait until May.

Along with my Pinterest obsession, I've also enjoyed reading blogs from others. My new favorite is:

http://www.runsforcookies.com/

It's about a lady who has been on Dr. Oz for her weight loss. She's lost over 120 lbs and her story is quite inspirational. She has awesome, realistic tips and advice.

I did just get an email saying the cover for my tablet will be mailed out by the end of next week. I'm getting it from a lady on Etsy and so excited about it! I had it under my favorites for a couple of months and finally bought it right after Christmas. Can't wait for it to get here. Ahhh www.etsy.com another one of my favorite websites. That is where I got the felt flowers for our wedding.

We don't have any big plans this weekend. I did find a few ideas on Pinterest that I really hope I get to this weekend. One down side, is living in a town where there is no Michaels, HomeGoods, Target, AC Moore....you get the point. We will see.....hopefully I will have some pictures up by next week of some "finished projects".

LOVE!

-Stacy

snow day- noun. A day you drive to work in Nebraska

It snowed...I mean, it is snowing. It started around 10 this morning and is coming down. There were kids outside at recess as I was leaving school. I mean, it's snowing....the rule here is outside recess unless the temperature is in single digits. AHHH this girl is not in South Carolina anymore. I did drive home in the snow....first time I've driven in the snow....ever. This is going to be quite the experience.

I've been addicted to Pinterest lately. If you haven't gone on there...you are so missing out! http://www.pinterest.com/  I've "pinned" so many fabulous ideas and hopefully will start trying out a few soon. I did make a recipe last night....Chicken Pesto Pasta. Clint did ask if I got it from that pinteresting site.....Kelly, I thought of you!



 It was delish if I say so myself. Clint enjoyed it as well and will be something we will try again. My cooking skills aren't quite "Aunt Joanne" but they are improving :) 

All who know me, know that I do love sweet tea. It's a southern thing and well something I miss from South Carolina. Nebraska doesn't have it anywhere. Even their unsweet tea doesn't taste like South Carolina unsweet. While at the grocery store yesterday I found........

 While it's not exactly Mcallisters....it was good and something to have here and there. You just brew it in a cup with ice in it. Then you have sweet tea!



Charley is in shock with the cold weather. It's far more windy than I imagined it would be. The wind is really blowing Charley around when he goes outside to go to the bathroom. One thing is for sure....he finds his spot quick fast in a hurry and the races back inside.

I should get my Nebraska licenses plate soon. It takes a few weeks to get through the "application" process. I'm sure it will be easy to spot the South Carolina driver in this snow....the girl with like 15 layers on, shivering, driving 15 miles below the speed limit. Clint says I'm driving to get dinner tonight.....I say, cereal sounds fabulous!

Until Next Time,

Stacy

Catching up on the weekend events

What a great past couple of days for us! This weekend was great! Saturday we stayed around the house. A wonderful lazy day. I had to test out one of my new favorite kitchen additions (Kitchen Aid Mixer) and make our favorite, red velvet cupcakes.

OK ignoring the unique one on the bottom left, they turned out great. The mixer is awesome to say the least.

On Sunday, Clint had to test out the mixer after I bragged a bit on it. He made pancakes.

They were delish and now he hearts the mixer as well.
We then decided to go to Omaha. There's so much to do in Omaha. We were both ready for a mini day trip and figured it was a great day for it.
There's really not a lot between here and Omaha.

On the other hand, there's a lot in Omaha. There's a few malls, outdoor shops, parks and a few Super Targets. What girl doesn't love Super Target? We spent the day there and got a few things at the mall and Target. We also found a new store Charming Charlie. It was very Stacyish....full of random big jewelry that was really cute.

Totally random but instead of hurricane evacuation route signs that we have at "home" (obviously no hurricane concerns in Nebraska) they have snow route signs......



Before moving to Nebraska, I figured they had corn, the road was flat and I might just need an US map to find the exact location. Welll it is flat and they do have a lot of corn and I don't need an US map anymore but to give you an idea this is what our GPS looked like the entire way home from Omaha. It's kinda hard to get lost.

When I got home from school today I had a package at my door. It didn't say who it was from so I was excited. Partly because it said my name and partly because, who doesn't like to get a package?



 I opened it up!

And.....it was the dried fruit snacks! If you have never tried them before, they are freeze-dried fruits. They have no preservatives or sugar and are perhaps the most delicious snack ever! They have them at WalMart at home but not here :*(. My FABULOUS mother & father ordered them from Costco for Clint and I. Ok so I kinda lied, they are for both of us but he was at work and my patience level isn't the highest when it comes to a package at the door.

One last thing, all of our wedding pictures are online. You can go to http://www.photoyoung.com/ and then proofing gallery. You enter your email and the password is stacyclint. I love how they captured how much fun the night was. Pictures are awesome. They help tell the story of how our lives go by so quickly. They capture the good, the bad, the funny, the sad and every emotion that life brings us through. Pictures also don't lie....so when my wedding cake is missing cupcakes because you so rudely took back to your room and couldn't wait until we cut the cake to get. I know, it shows character.....sad thing is, the video shows it wasn't a child.

Off to walk Charley on this "warm" 34 degree afternoon. It's supposed to snow Wednesday.....whoa.

Lots of Love,

Stacy & Clint

A bit of this and a bit of that

So.....my first day of school was great. I'm so thankful to be back into the swing of things. My school is much smaller than my last. We have grades K-5 and 2 teachers per grade level. Much different, my dear NMBP friends! I'm bouncing between rooms kindergarten through 3rd grade and mostly focusing on literacy. While somethings are similar....SMART boards and DIBELS....other things are way different.There's a coat rack at the office that everyone just hangs their coat at.....a cabinet that everyone just sits their purses in.....complete honor system.. There's a refrigerator that if you want a soda you just get one and put 50 cent in a box....same with snacks. There's one hallway that has all the grade levels on it starting with oldest to youngest.  It's so great to see different schools and get a better understanding of how kids learn in different environments. Everyone has been so welcoming and I can't help but to instantly feel that at home feeling at this school. So far it was a wonderful first day. The kids are great and you can really tell the teachers are all doing what they love.

I've had a few picture requests from dear friends that said they might not make the Nebraska road trip anytime soon, ha.

Our Home

 OK.....so I always wanted one so we used some of our Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards and this is by far the best thing ever! I LOVE the green tea and chi latte. Even Clint, who is not a coffee drinker at all, loves the green tea and hot cocoa.

 Charley has found his spot back on the couch. He seems to still think he's a cat and picks the top of the couch but he's making himself at home.



The weather has been wonderful! All the people at work told me not to get used to it because this is so not typical of Nebraska in the month of January. It was in the 50's today! I'm sure we will get the cold weather before we know it but are loving the nice weather while it lasts. 

Tonight we tried Pizza Ranch. I've been kidding Clint since we moved when he will take me there. It's something about the name that cracks me up.....Anywho, it was really good. They have a salad bar and pizza. Then they have corn (ok, I'm hearing the jokes already....yes, they have corn on the pizza buffet line in Nebraska). They also have other vegetables, in my defense.

Hope all my teacher friends had a fabulous first day with kids back! Miss you all!

What a Day!

Today marks the day that I'm not a South Carolina resident...officially. Well, I guess it happened before today but today I got my Nebraska drivers license. Clint already got his a few months ago. My trip to the DMV was quite the experience. After only having one proof of address and then going back home to get my second I finally got it all done. Well, kinda.....they give you a temporary paper license and I will get my new one in the mail within 20 days. The DMV is way different here. It's a very small office in a big building. They had one guy working and after all got all of my information they sent me to another office downstairs to pay and get my paper copy of my license. Much different than our huge DMV with 15 or more DMV workers with numbers displaying who's next. Ahhh what a new adventure this is.
I also did all of my paperwork for my new job that I start tomorrow. I will keep you all posted on how it goes. I talked to my new principal today on the phone and can't wait to meet everyone tomorrow. The lady at the district office today was so beyond sweet. She said she missed her daughter and knows that I missed my mom...she said to just call her up if I need some mom time. I'm enjoying this small town love.
I also changed my last name on cards and oh let's not forget....I found the post office all by myself. This might not sound like a big accomplishment...but it was.
OH and did I mention, we have the best grocery store ever. It's got everything....kinda like a Harris Teeter plus Lowes Foods combo called Hyvee. Tonight we had steak, baked potatoes and asparagus. It was fabulous. Watch out, I'm getting domesticated!
Then the most exciting thing.....most of our wedding photos are up. I'm so excited! I have my favorites but waiting for the ones of the reception to start picking out favorites.
Off to get ready for school tomorrow....ahh that sounds so good. I'm so glad to get back into a routine.

Welcome

Hello! We are excited to start our new blog. Since the big move to Nebraska, we wanted a way to keep our friends and family up to date with what's going on with us.
The wedding was everything I could possibly wish it could of been and we loved every second of it. It went by far too quickly. I'm most excited about our Hart to Heart video that captured the wedding and will develop a DVD of our wedding story.

Clint loves his job and is doing great. He moved to our new home at the end of October and started working then. His job is everything he always wanted to do and it's so great to see him come home everyday, loving what he does at work.
I start my new job this week. I'm very excited and thankful for getting a job before I even moved here. I'm a reading interventionist for kindergarten through 5th grade. I drove by the school yesterday and I can't wait to start this new adventure!
How could I forget to mention the honeymoon? FABULOUS!!!!! We went to Hawaii and stayed at the Aulani Disney Resort. It was amazing. We went snorkeling, discovered volcano's, rain forests and waterfalls. Let's not forget the BEST sushi imaginable! DELISH! It was the best of both worlds, we had the fun Disney part plus all the awesome adventures in Hawaii. I was sad to leave.

My parents came a few days later to drive my car out here and let's not forget Charley. We had a great time with them and it was hard to say goodbye Saturday. I might be 28 but will be the first to admit, I will miss not being 15 minutes from my friends and family.
We are all settled into our home and I'm really getting better at navigating through our new city. I'm excited about my new job and all of the adventures we will have in Nebraska. FYI: I'm most certain I'm the ONLY one wearing my USC shirt in Nebraska today....it's the Capital One Bowl and at this point we are winning :)