be mine

It's a fact- the longer you are married, the more low-key Valentine's Day becomes and even more shocking, you're ok with it.

Valentine's Day around here this year was wonderfully lower-key. It was a Tuesday...in case you already forgot. We decided to give back this year, so I volunteered during the day playing with kids while Tate tutored college Freshmen, oh wait those are our actual jobs. Never mind, although sometimes the paycheck does feel a lot like volunteering. After work we surprised each other with gifts. For some reason we've started doing that thing where we say, "Do you want to do gifts? I don't need anything. You don't have to get me something. Really, let's not worry about gifts." And we mean it, but then we end up getting each other something anyway. I told Tate the only thing I wanted was a good meal, and he delivered...but we will get to that later! He also gave me a rose tree! Love it! As he walked into the house he said, "I could have gotten you actual roses, but those would have died. Well, this will probably die too, but at least it will last a little longer." So true, but I am going to try my hardest and channel my inner Martha to keep this thing alive. I got Tate a mechanic's light {he had been eyeing it at The Warehouse for months} and a vintage tool box. Oh, and the cherry on top was that I made him some Oreo Cheesecakes. True story, he saw them while I was on Pintrest and asked me to pin them months ago. Tate's fuel in life is peanut butter, triathlons and Oreos, so I think he was pleased.

We went to dinner at an amazing steakhouse in Temple, Cheeves Bros. This place is dear to our hearts for two reasons. 1. This is the place we celebrated our first V day when I was in grad school and T was living in Longview.  2. This is the place we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary this October. As you can see, we obviously love this place. I wish I could say it's because we are so sentimental, but let's be honest, it's all about the peppercorn steak in the Merlot reduction. Drool. And I know this is weird, but the tea is good, really good. It has mint in it or something.

After dinner, we drove back to Waco and cuddled by the fire while watching The Notebook. Ok, not really- Tate went back to school to work on his 24 hour test {who gives a take home test on Valentine's anyway?! Cupid's arch nemesis that's who}, while I caught up on some quality tv...probably whatever was on Bravo. Flowers, steak dinner, cheesecake, and Bravo tv- Happy Valentine's Day to me! It was a great evening with the perfect Valentine, and I couldn't be any luckier...unless I had a post V day lunch at Cheeves.

xoxo

girls weekend...just like high school, but better

Two weeks ago Kels, Meg, Kendra and I had a long overdue girls weekend. We hadn't all 4 been together since Meg's wedding...which was almost two years ago!  Gasp! It's debatable how long we've been friends. According to me we've been friends since 7th grade, but Kendra informed me  she was unsure of 7th-grade-Danielle's motives when I asked her to sit at our "cool table" for lunch. Therefore, she says we weren't technically until 8th grade. Anywho, we'll split the diff and just say we've known each other a very long time and used to hang out every day until we all got lame, grew up, got jobs, got married and moved. Looking forward to a fun weekend, we all packed up and drove to the enchanting city of...Tulsa! Look out Oklahoma! It was halfway between Dallas and Topeka, so we just met in the middle. 

We had a great time brunching, seeing a movie, shopping but not buying anything {apparently Tulsans? Tulsites? are loaded because Dave Ramsey told me I couldn't afford anything in their cutesie shops}. We had great meals at girly places like Queenies and The Chalkboard Cafe. And let me tell you- Tulsa is icy! Us "from the South," as Kendra refers to us, couldn't believe our eyes as we spotted at least 3 or 4 ice patches over the frigid weekend. I wish I could indulge you with the rest of the juicy details, but hey, you know what they say, "What happens in Tulsa, stays in Tulsa." All in all, it was great weekend catching up, listening to Calvin Harris' song, "Feel So Close" on repeat, and laughing...a lot.

K, M and K- I'm blessed to have you in my life! Thanks for overlooking the ill-intentioned 7th grade Danielle and sticking with me thus far. Where are we goin' for Girls Weekend 2013?

the warehouse

It was only six months ago Lynley and I opened our own little shop, The Warehouse, in Waco, Texas. We've talked/joked about it for a long time and our dream is finally in the works!  Throughout college we had the charming hobby of collecting a hodgepodge of treasures including mismatched dishes, vintage furniture and shabby decor. These "treasures" were relative to the eye, but luckily we saw the potential in things that most would see as...well...just "junk." We were drawn to anything vintage and had a hard time getting rid of things we couldn't currently fit in our tiny apartment, but one day, just possibly, might have the perfect place for. So, these abounding treasures began gathering in the one place we did have room for them- our parents' garage...which we affectionately called the warehouse. Last summer, when my parents sold their house {uh, rude} we had to find a new home for our treasures. {cue: epiphany light bulbs now} We thought why not open that little {very little as it turns out} store we've talked so long about and share our cute little treasures with the rest of the world...or Waco! When things began coming together, we couldn't think of a more appropriate name for our budding store than--The Warehouse. 

So far, it's been an exciting adventure! We've had fun crafting, antiquing furniture, and perusing flea markets, on the hunt for one-of-a-kind finds. We have all kinds of unique, vintage home decor. And if we can't find it, we make it! Check us out at Spice if you are ever in Waco. In the meantime, here are some pics to see what we've got goin' on...

{handmade cup towels}

  {stamped burlap and bloom/bear throw pillows}

{various chalkboard frames}

{sage and citrus teacup candles}

{owls crate shelf}

{handmade shabby chic lampshades} 

{vintage remington rand type writer}

 {teal and chicken wire curio}

{handmade stationary and vintage scale}

{vintage coke bottle crate and mint suitcase}

{key, lock, and coin pendant necklaces}

{various hanging lanterns and lights}

{floral accent table}

*Hey! If you have questions or custom orders, shoot us an e-mail at TheWarehouseAtSpice@gmail.com 

happy homestaying

Last weekend was Baylor Homecoming, but since we live here now, it was more like a Homestaying. It's so nice to already be in town for the things we would usually drive 3 hours for- football games, basketball and Homecoming! With Tye and Katie living right down the street, and Lynley and Shawn coming into town, it was nice having most of the family {we missed the rents} in the same place. This was the 3rd Homecoming since Tate and I have graduated. I'm learning the longer we are out of school, the less people we know around campus. Which makes sense, I guess. I learned this lesson last year as I went to the parade preparing myself to be bombarded with small talk from old acquaintances; however, I only saw two people I knew-- a teacher and a co-worker. Cool. I'm old.

We kicked off the Homecoming festivities at the bonfire Friday night, which seems to be getting later every year {just confirming the "old" comment above}. To sum things up: It was hot. As the fire was blazing and smoke was filling the air, Tate was wishing he could only "take a few air samples" for his research project. Meanwhile, Lynley lost her coat belt, so we spent most of the time winding through the mass of alumni, searching hopelessly, but she found it!  The jury is still out on who was at fault for the lost belt- Lynley or Shawn. After the bonfire, we worked up the energy to meet up with Tate's fellow graduate students at The Dancing Bear at ELEVEN : THIRTY. Considering I couldn't remember the last time I'd left the house after 10 PM and am not a student, I was obviously the odd one out. While the cool kids talked about things revolving around beakers and air samples, I smiled and nodded. I wasn't the only odd-man out; there was a PHD student there {ohhh ahhh}...but he stood out in a different way among the lowly grad students. Example: He asked what I did and then followed it up with, "You make less than a teacher, right?" Um, I know you are on your way to wealth and affluence, I get it. BUT, do you get the teacher discount at JCREW for the rest of your adult life? Didn't think so. Point for the SLPs.

Saturday morning I looked forward to the best part of Homecoming weekend- the parade! I was well prepared with my satchel purse {to provide hands free access for clapping} and my new gold striped shirt I had been waiting to wear on this very occasion. We live close to campus, so we only had to walk a few blocks and were there. Wrigley was excited to go too. She was clearly a hit as she was constantly 'awwwed' over. As she laid on the ground at our feet she was more concerned with the fallen acorns than the parade. She even army crawled across the busy sidewalk to stalk down a few stray acorns. At that point, Tate picked her up to hold her since "she couldn't see," and she was content in his arms for the rest of the morning.

After the parade was over we visited the StuFu building for the Alumni Reception. This is the place we met, were co-chairs for a year and got engaged so it's pretty special, I mean if you're into that sentimental kind of stuff. It was nice to see a few people we were in the organization with and catch up. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch with friends, napping and a hanging out at a cookout with more fun people and rice krispy treats. We met back up with family at the football game. Lucky us, we ended up sitting directly behind/next to the alumni band. These are the precious people of all ages that come back once a year to play their hearts out for their alma mater. This seemed like fun...until the trumpet section began waving their trumpets along with the fight song. At that point "trumpet juice" {aka stranger's spit} flung out of the trumpet, splattering on our faces. Nice. Despite the unwelcomed shower, the Bears won and it was a good night. Oh and Katie and I matched. Unplanned, yet everyone got a kick out of it.

Sunday after church Lynley and I made cute Christmas decorations for The Warehouse, our quaint, little store in Spice. I'm taking the decorations later this week, but here is a sneak peek at the store, socked up and ready to go for the holidays!

we're alive

Well, hello there. I know we've been MIA for 1/6 of a year, but I'm here to tell you:

the BaylorBarretts are alive and doing well in the 254! 

Things are great here in Waco. Since I've been a bum and so rudely left you out of our lives for the past two months, let's start by giving a little update:

TATE is living the life once again as a college student. He started Baylor graduate school in August, going to class {I think} and teaching 2 labs. That's right, this guy is molding the minds of impressionable college Freshmen...yikes. Tate is studying Environmental Science, which is a two year program. We live a few blocks from campus so he enjoys scooting to class and running the trail around campus, the Bear Trail, or the "B.T." if you are a Baylor girl and shorten everything. Big news- he just bought some new KSwiss running shoes {which is a huge deal in our house} and is getting ready for the Whiterock half marathon in December. When he is not in the lab or running around campus, he can found 17 miles Southeast of Waco in tiny Riesel, TX taking samples for his research project. He's smart. And important.

WRIGLEY is now 5 months old She's roughing it, spending most of her time chewing on socks, splashing through every puddle in sight and snoozing hard. She is the color of pumpkin pie and has the cutest, droopiest eyes I've ever seen on a golden retriever. Not that you care but her day goes like this: Wake up at 6:45.on.the.dot., have mommy dearest let me out of my crate and have her escort me into the backyard {because I obviously don't like to go alone in the AM} in her embarrassing barefoot, braless get-up that she calls "pajamas", eat breakfast, then it's time to wake up pops by laying on his pillow and licking his face, eat lunch with Tate when he comes home for lunch {lucky}, lay around, supervise my servants making dinner in case they drop something, demand dinner by barking at my bowl, eat, get drug around on a "walk", and snooze.

What is DANIELLE doing? Well, thanks for asking! I'm still doing the Speech Path thing. This time I am only at three schools { as opposed to 9} and am not officing out of my car. I get my own classroom...2 actually...Tate is not the only important one in this fam. I am working at Crestview {one of the largest elementary schools in the district}, Viking Hills {smallest school in the district}, and Lake Waco Montessori Magnet School {just a school in the district with a long name}. My job is really different considering I get to use ASL {sign language} as I provide therapy to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students! The Regional Day School for the Deaf feeds into Viking Hills where I have 18 Deaf/HH students on my caseload. It's been interesting, fun and a challenge all at the same time! I love it! My kids and I learn from each other. They have taught me a ton of new signs while I {or my ASL college text book} have taught them a few new ones along the way too. I am also on an Autistic Evaluation Team. Basically, we assess students that are suspected of having Autism and make a recommendation on their eligibility. Lynley and I have opened a cute, little store in Spice called "The Warehouse." It's filled with revamped vintage items and handmade home decor, but more on that later.

Well, that feels good to get that off my chest. I am glad we were able to catch up a bit. So sorry for the lack of pictures in this post. Honestly, I was a little worn out after finishing Project 365 and have taken a total of 4 pictures since...May. Darn. So much for documenting the milestones in our riveting lives. Welp, I hope after knowing we are safe and sound you can rest easy. I am sorry if I have kept you up, waiting in suspense. Until next time!