Best TV Ever.

Its been a fairly uneventful week. Its been raining SO MUCH. Mike hates it, I love it. Tonight we watched Lost (I can't believe the season is almost over!!). Since I don't have anything interesting to talk about, I thought I'd blog about our favorite tv shows...

Heroes is amazing, seriously. We never miss an episode and they haven't disappointed us yet. Such a cool show.

I've watched Lost since its premiere and it has had its ups and downs. I've really enjoyed the last few episodes and can't wait for the finale.

Mike and I really enjoyed the BBC version of The Office, but weren't really that into the American version until last year.We've netflixed all the past seasons and are in love with this show!

Jack Bauer is a badass. We love the hell out of 24!

Okay, I can't believe I'm admitting this...but I love Battlestar Gallactica!!! I usually hate Sci-Fi, but this show is so good. Mike has helped me find my inner nerd :)


So, these are our shows. Sure I watch other crap tv
(American Idol, The Amazing race, Survivor etc etc) But these are our favorites!

COMH-- Master Bedroom

I've started decorating our Master Bedroom- here it is:

I used our wedding colors--- I loved them :)

Keeping Busy

So I took the plunge and started volunteering at an animal shelter. Bella Vista (where we live) is technically referred to as a "Village". There are approx. 16,000 residents-- its tiny. But, we have our own animal shelter- Bella Vista Animal Shelter. I called on Friday to inquire about volunteering opportunities and on Monday I went and got a tour of the facilities. Instantly I knew I wanted to volunteer my time there.

Right now I'm just involved in animal socialization. I walk dogs and play with the cats--so fun!! I'm also going to be doing some of the animal transports- taking them to vet appointments, picking up donations to the shelter etc.
Here are two of our animal up for adoption"

This is Ava-- her sister is also in the shelter, I played with them both on Monday:

And, this is Gabby. She is the cutest puppy ever! I couldn't get over how huge her paws were. She's going to be a big girl.

So, thats what I've been up to. I plan on spending a few afternoons a week volunteering there. I am so excited at the thought of making a difference in these animals' lives. (even if it is just giving them some love and attention!)

Oh Thank God!!

None of you watch American Idol, but I don't care. I have to celebrate the downfall of Sanjaya. Thank the Lord!!

Call me a bad person, but I couldn't stand this kid.

So Sad...

source:http://www.townhall.com/funnies/2007/04/16/3

Per Sarah's Request...

These are our new barstools-- clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond, only $20 a piece!! They have brown microfiber cushions that match our new couches perfectly. Love them!

Calling All Recipes!!

I cook every night and have been trying new recipes almost every day. I need more recipes. Does anyone have any recommendations? Any good websites for recipes? If you have any good ones, email them to me!

fun weekend!!!!!!!!!!

Easter weekend was fuuuuun!! We bought a ton of new stuff for the house: bedding for the Master bedroom, 3 barstools for our kitchen island, 2 end tables etc... We went to the Catholic Church in Bella Vista, St. Bernard's (there's only 1!) We were the only people under the age of 60, so we're going to try a different church next weekend...


i made amazing baked ziti- super easy and soooo good! I feel like I really am becoming a pretty decent cook. I love trying new recipes and have made something new every night for dinner for the past 3 weeks! I know Baked Ziti isn't very "Easter-like", but it went along perfectly with THE SOPRANOS!!!

We were so excited for the season premiere-- love this show! I think I'm going to do Italian night every Sunday. Its just more fun to eat Italian food and drink some vino while we watch the show!

The other activity that filled our weekend was Guitar Hero!! We just bought it on Saturday and have played it non-stop- so fun!!!

view from the deck...

not much to write about. thought i'd share pictures instead.

The road out of our neighborhood...

i love this view!

Things I Miss:

I miss this show and I miss my friends. I think watching this show makes me miss some of my girlfriends even more. Its tough to meet women in a new city (especially women I have anything in common with and would actually want to spend my time with!). I have met one girl that is a lot of fun, and I'm thankful for that! Oh well, I figure I'm allowed to feel sorry for myself every once in a while.

Best Business Meeting Ever.

Mike had a meeting on Tuesday with all the other ISD (computer nerd) employees at Wal-Mart. Every year they have a surprise performer- this year it was Jewel! I loved her first cd, listened to it non-stop. I'm jealous...

COMH

I figured I'd join the COMH fun! Here is our lovely fireplace that we've never used... I'm afraid a cat would be too fascinated by it and fall in (I can seriously imagine Pinkie doing this).

In other news, we can't make it to the Tulsa St. Patty's Day party and we're sad! We were invited to a party here by new friends in Arkansas. We're looking forward to expanding our social circle in Bentonville!

Hope everyone has fun and drink lots of green beer for us! Hopefully we'll be making a trip back to Tulsa soon -its been over a month since we've seen any of you :(

Making Progress!

Thought I'd finally post some pictures of the progress I've been making with the house. I've been working on the guest room & the guest bath since it looks like Jeremiah will be coming up next weekend. Below are pics from the guest bath:

I still need to get a shower curtain for this room... not sure what color to get-- I want it to feel serene (kinda like a spa!)

The metal bathroom accessories came from this magical place called "The Associate Store". Its a place where corporate employees of Wal-Mart can shop. Its hard to describe, but when vendors want Wal-Mart to carry their products, this is where the samples end up. Its not just Wal-Mart items though- so far I've found Ikea, JC Penneys and Dillards items. Anyway, the entire bathroom cost around $10 to decorate!

I already had the shelves and the Buddhas.

Exciting stuff, right?! Life is still going really great for us, we're enjoying Arkansas, love the area whe're living in and feel really blessed right now.

So..... when are you all coming for a visit???? :)

big trip to fayetteville!

Tomorrow I'm going to Fayetteville to change my name! I've put it off since the wedding, but have decided to get it over with. I'm getting my new social security card & then my new Arkansas driver's license! (I still have the old school Oklahoma license- the one that looks like it was laminated at your house!)

Then numerous phone calls to banks, credit cards etc to update my new name... sounds like fun! :(

I need to take pictures this week of all the new house stuff-- I've been decorating like crazy!

V-Day stuff!

A few shots of Valentine's Day at the Solano house:


my cheesy little table arrangement-fun!

candles everywhere

love getting to use my mixer!

first attempt at cupcakes-ever. yum!

We had a really fun Valentine's Day, completely laid back-- just a great dinner at home, wine and Lost. Mike brought home beautiful flowers & a 4 foot tall stuffed bear-- its hilarious and adorable.

Coming along nicely...

Here's a couple of pics of our kitchen... still trying to figure out how I want to arrange things, but really thankful for the larger space. Our last kitchen was horrid & this one makes up for it!

I hate the white fridge, but it makes no sense to buy a new one right now. And, we're on the lookout for cute barstools. Any ideas?

Notice Brooke's amazing artwork (that still needs to be framed!). I'm not sure if I want it here or above the mantel... But the mantel is enormous and really tall, so I think it looks awkward there.

The view from the kitchen sink- love it!

My favorite part of the whole room-- the vintage string holder my mother gave me. It was originally my Great-Grandmothers in the early 1930's and its been passed down in time. It still has the original scissors- I love it!!

I'm going out for my first Arkansas girl's night! Nothing too crazy--- margaritas & American Idol at the home of Sabrina's cousin (thanks for the introduction Sabrina!). But I'm really looking forward to building some friendships here!

So much to catch up on!

We've finally got the internet again-- I've missed it soooo much!
I've been trying to catch up on everyone's blogs, all the celebrity news and random gossip. Everything here is fabulous. We survived our first week in Arkansas! Mike is really enjoying his job and the house is starting to come together.I'll post pictures as soon as I find our digital camera!

Blogging Hiatus!

We're moving tomorrow and I'm going to have to take a break from blogging (and the internet in general!) We won't have internet in the new house till the 9th!! I don't know what I'll do without my pinkisthenewblog.com, at least I can check gmail on my cell phone.

But...when I do come back I should have pictures of the house & Arkansas! yay!!

We're not going to be homeless!!

We went to Bentonville and found a house! It was the last house we looked at and instantly loved it. We signed the lease and got the keys within about 30 minutes. Its a brand new house (less than 6 months old) and we'll be the first tenants! Here are a few pictures from the realtors website:

The house is much bigger than it looks, its about 1600 sq. ft., 3 bd/2ba-- we have enough room for Mike to have a home office and we'll have a guest room for anyone that visits!

We love the kitchen, plenty of room for entertaining.

Love, love, love the double sinks in the master bath!

The view from our back deck:

I wish we had a picture of the closets-- they are seriously huge--about twice the size of the kitchen in our current house! The house is actually in Bella Vista, AR-- Mike has about a 15 minute commute. The area is gorgeous-- tons of lakes, golf courses, great camping sites etc. Looks like we'll be packing this week and moving on Saturday! We're so freaking excited!!!

We're Moving!!!

Congrats to my amazing husband on his new job!

Mike was offered a position with Wal-Mart at their Corporate Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas & he accepted! He starts on February 5th- so we have to find a place ASAP-- we'll be moving next week. We drove to Bentonville yesterday to look around & fell in love with the area.

We've picked out several rental properties online & will be driving over on Monday to take a look and hopefully sign a lease. We plan on waiting about a year before purchasing a house. Its feels pretty surreal, I can't believe we're finally getting out of Tulsa (even if it is only 120 miles away!)

Possibilities...

It seems like all we do is wait... wait for an interview, wait for a call back, wait for an offer! Mike's job search is going great, but I just wish I knew where we were going to end up. So far, here are the possibilities:

Madison, Wisconsin.

Here is downtown Madison at night--gorgeous! The city itself is in between two lakes (an isthmus). The Madison slogan is "Lake.City.Lake." :) Mike has been dealing with a really fantastic company right outside of Madison. They receive around 1,000 applications a day-- so the fact that he got an on site interview seemed like a big deal to me! Mike flew up last week and we should here something back in a week or two. This city is our first choice!

The picture above is Madison in the winter! The lake from the first picture is in this photo too...its just covered in ice & snow!! Yikes, I know the winters there would be really terrible, but everyone I've talked to thats been there says its a really fun town, I think we'd love it! The housing is more expensive than Tulsa, but I've found some really great houses online- lots of older homes with "character".

our next option is:

Bentonville, Arkansas.

Yep, thats right, Mike could take a job working for THE MAN--aka Wal-Mart Corp. I can hear Brooke screaming now! LOL!! He'd be a software developer at their headquarters in Bentonville. It would be an amazing opportunity for him to get job experience and work for one of the largest corporations in the world!

Bentonville is super tiny, but on the positive side, is only 110 miles from Tulsa and has incredibly cheap housing. I'm talking about houses that in Tulsa would be $350,ooo, are $145,000 in B-ville. Mike and I have been drooling over several realtor websites.

Yet another possibility (although a small one!) is:

Jersey City, New Jersey!

Mike has actually been offered a position here. He turned down the first offer and is waiting to hear a counter offer. This one is a long shot...housing is horrible, the company isn't our favorite and its super far away from friends and family.

But...its right on the west bank of the Hudson River, across from NYC-- thats a big plus for me! I love love love Manhattan. But, its a long shot, I highly doubt we'll end up here.

Finally...

Tulsa!

Mike is in the final stages of is interviewing process with a really great firm here in town. We'd be close to our friends and my family and wouldn't have the stress of a big move. Neither of us are really wanting to stay in town, but if the opportunity is good enough and the salary high enough- we would stay. The great thing about Tulsa is the cheap real estate- we've been thinking of buying a home in Bixby. Its really grown a lot and the new construction homes are fantastic.


So thats our story. Hopefully we'll know something soon and we can start packing!!

I'm loving the new schedule...

The new schedule is AMAZING!

Last week I started a new work schedule-- I only work on Thursday & Friday. Its been heaven, seriously. We've had home cooked meals almost every night-- from actual recipes, with actual vegetables (aka not from Taco Bell or the microwave!). We've eaten at our dining room table. We've had clean clothes to wear, and a nice vacuumed & dusted living room to hang out in.

We also spent some of our wedding gift cards at Williams Sonoma (love that place) and BB&B. Yay for new bathroom stuff, linens, and coffee maker. Mike got the coolest espresso maker-- he loves it & drinks from it way too much!

Brooke's threats have worked, I promise to update more!