All My Life

Posted on by Rebekah Warren

Earlier this month, we celebrated our fifth anniversary. We haven’t had photos done since our wedding, and I thought our anniversary was as good of a time as any to snag a few. Thankfully, my friends Megan and J.D. were willing to take on the task! So, on a muggy August evening, we tromped around our ten acres and looked for pretty natural backdrops while Ruby chased rabbits around us. For a few, we used a quilt that was hand-sewn by my great-grandmother that has been passed down to me, which was really special. Meg and J.D were so fun to work with and made us look good even when we were feeling a little awkward and camera-shy. Thanks for the fun evening and putting up with our crazy dogs running circles around us. Y’all are amazing, and we are so happy with the end results. I had a ton of favorites, but here are just a few. Enjoy!

P.S. How cute is that shot of Adam with our pup, Maggie? I die.

Equine Neighbors

Posted on by Rebekah Warren

These guys live next door to us. The fence that separates our land from theirs is a little bit of a tease, because our garden is barely on our side. The horses often come over while we’re in the garden, maybe hoping to snag a vegetable to crunch. Their owner very rarely rides any of them, and they are pretty content to graze and soak up the sunshine. There are about ten of them in all, and they’re friendly. When we have kiddos over, most of the time they can reach right over and pat the horses on the nose. I sit on the front porch and just watch them graze often. They have all the grass they could eat, thanks to all the rain we’ve had lately. Like most of us, I bet they’re thankful for this somewhat mild Oklahomasummer. 

Currently

Posted on by Rebekah Warren
Oklahoma sunsets can’t be beat.


Watching: ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. I realize these came out a couple of years ago, but we don’t have cable so we didn’t see them when they originally aired. I got the set for Adam for his birthday, and we’ve really been enjoying seeing some of the lesser known sports stories told. 

Eating: potato soup, nonstop. I know it’s summer, but I recently rekindled my love for potato soup and I. Can’t. Stop.

Hoping: that I can convince Adam to take me to the Cheesecake Factory this weekend for a late birthday dinner. Neither of us actually had cake on our birthdays (which were both within the last week), so I feel like that warrants a cheesecake trip. Right?

Loving: having a quiet evening here and there. We’ve been so busy lately that it’s kind of nice to just stay at home and do nothing for a little while.

Reading: the Harry Potter series. I read them every summer. And every time I read them, my heart swells a little more with love for the story and its characters. I am starting Order of the Phoenix this evening and already dreading losing Sirius. (Oh, my heart!)


Looking forward to: seeing the photos from our anniversary shoot with Megan and J.D. last night! I know they’re going to be fantastic. Thanks for shooting in muggy Oklahoma weather, y’all. 

Feeling thankful for: seeing so much of my friends lately. I am friends with some pretty special people. 
Thanks to Danielle for the inspiration for these Currently posts! Be sure to leave me a comment if you write your ow; I’d love to see it! J Have a great weekend. 

Love, Bekah


Five Sweet Years

Posted on by Rebekah Warren
We’ve been married for five years today, and it’s been the best. 
Adam, thank you for:
having more patience than I can imagine
bringing me sweet tea to work on your days off
taking me to musicals
growing the best tomatoes around
taking such good care of our land
the ridiculous amount of ice cream dates
smiling at me
working so hard to provide for us
helping me get to Heaven
being my rock
being my best friend
being your ornery, hard-working, loving self
You’re my favorite. Can’t wait for about seventy more years’ worth of adventures with you, love. 

Center of the Universe Festival

Posted on by Rebekah Warren

This weekend, my brother and I headed to downtown Tulsa for the first annual Center of the Universe Festival. A lot of great bands were playing, but we went Friday night to check out One Republic. We both love them but hadn’t seen them live until Friday night. It was insanely hot, ridiculously crowded, and so, so much fun. We got there in time to walk around a bit, grab some Andolini’s Pizza (yum!), and get a good spot before the show started.

Ryan Tedder, the lead singer, is originally from Tulsa, and it was the first night of their summer tour. I think they were happy to be in downtown Tulsa. The show was way full of energy. The stage was set up on Main Street, just in front of Cain’s Ballroom, so it was a cool atmosphere. There were over 40,000 people there (which is usually way too many for my taste), but most people were super friendly. I love going to concerts, because there’s just something really neat about that many people connecting over the same thing. Thousands of strangers together, singing and dancing to their favorite songs. Yes, it was miserably hot (hello, Oklahoma in July!), but we had an awesome time. If you get a chance to see them live, go. You’ll have fun. Enjoy these photos! Warning: The last one is grainy–also, see if you can find the dude totally photobombing us in one of them!

Cannot believe July will be over soon. How crazy is that?! Hope you all have a great week. 🙂 Also, my friend Megan is hosting a great giveaway over on Home Sweet ‘Homa today! Check it out! 
Love, Bekah

A Weekend in Dallas

Posted on by Rebekah Warren
A couple of weeks ago, I went with a few of my family members on a short trip to Dallas. My mom, brother, grandma, aunt and I piled into my Jeep Patriot and headed south on a sunny Friday afternoon. After a rocky start to the trip (five grown adults in a Patriot is not as comfortable as we were anticipating), we made it to our hotel, which was a few miles from where our family lives AND which happened to be right next door to a Celebration Station (!!!!), which I was pretty thrilled about.
On Saturday morning, we slept in a little before grabbing breakfast. Then we went to my great uncle’s home. My Uncle Al is my late grandpa’s brother. My Papa, from whom I received my Spanish heritage, passed away when I was eight. I love spending time with Uncle Al, because he reminds me so much of him. Growing up, we went to Dallas a few times a year to spend time with my mom’s cousins and their kids, who are pretty close to my age. Uncle Al has lived in the same house for as long as I can remember. I hadn’t been there in several years, but when I walked in, a flood of memories came rushing back. The living room furniture is still in the same arrangement. The bathroom décor feels similar. Aunt Nelda’s books still fill the shelves. We walked up, and Uncle Al, like he always, always has, hugged me and said, “Hello, mi hijita,” which is a term of endearment that basically means “little daughter.” Instead of properly pronouncing all the syllables, like my Spanish professors would have liked me to do, it comes out more like “mee-heeta,” and I love the sound.  We spent a good part of the day with Uncle Al and Aunt Nelda. Aunt Nelda asked me how my job is going and why I don’t have any babies yet. Uncle Al teased my brother about everything under the sun. It was so nice to catch up and just spend some time with them and our cousins.  I hadn’t seen my cousins in at least 6 or 7 years, so it was fun to see us all grown up. It will be neat to see where we all are a few years from now.
After family time all day, we went to the mall to do a little shopping. It was my first visit to H&M, and I am in love. I spent over an hour in the store and then went to meet back up with my family. Apparently, my brother had done some shopping, too.
Senseless spending spree!

Saturday night, we stayed up way too late and had a blast at Celebration Station, where we raced go-carts, drove bumper boats, played mini-golf, and experienced a trampoline while strapped into bungee cords. So fun! 
I was excited and obviously nervous! 

We drove home on Sunday, and, overall, it was such a great trip. It was a fun weekend getaway, and it was so great to spend time with family that we don’t get to see very often. 
I am looking forward to a short work week because of the Independence Day Holiday. Do you guys have any fun plans?
Love, Bekah

Girlfriends: Megan + Me

Posted on by Rebekah Warren
Forever friends, this girl and me.

Just another memory to document in my little online space.. Last week, I got to have dinner with my sweet friend, Megan. For those of you who don’t know Megan, you’re missing out! She’s a total gem. She’s been one of my best friends since we were about fourteen. Since graduating high school, we’ve stayed in touch as much as possible, but haven’t gotten to spend a ton of time together since we’ve largely lived in different parts of the state. For the first time in several years, though, we actually live close enough to one another to grab dinner pretty often, which has been so fun!

Just about every time we get together, we laugh about how much our conversations have changed over the years. As junior high girls, we had silly dance parties and took a ridiculous amount of pictures together. In high school, we experienced the coming of age rituals that came with driving, Student Council, boyfriends, and Spanish classes. While we were college students, we saw each other less frequently, but always picked up exactly where we left off. Now, as college graduates who have husbands and full-time jobs, it is so lovely to have Megan, among a couple of other girlfriends, to talk about real, actual grown-up things, like buying a home, stress at work, and future babies. Especially when we have so many memories of growing up together! Of course, we still act ridiculous and obsess over Eisley (and the DuPrees in general). And we love going out but it’s kind of the best to just order pizza, stay in, and catch up on the latest hometown news with our girlfriends.

I feel very blessed to call her “friend” and am always blown away by her pretty face and big heart! Oh, AND–Megan and her husband J.D. recently launched Waving Wheat Creative. If you need photos, invitations, or anything along those lines, be sure to check them out!

Love you, Meggie!

P.S. I plan on doing short posts for a couple of my other girlfriends, too. These sweet girls are so special to me!

Currently

Posted on by Rebekah Warren
Watching: The Voice! We have about 7-8 channels, because we live too far out for regular cable and we just don’t watch enough TV to justify spending outrageous amounts on satellite service. So, we get the basics – NBC, CBS,  ABC, etc.. Plus great channels like OETA! Also, no DVR. All that to say, we mostly watch TV when we happen to catch a show we like. I am loving The Voice this season, so I’ve been somewhat making an effort to watch it regularly. This week will be the finale, and I’m so excited to see who wins. I’m totally pulling for The Swon Brothers. Any other Voice fans out there? Who are you rooting for?
Eating: Mexican food. I’m actually writing this on my lunch break, and today I was kind of dying for Mexican food. So of course I went to El Azteca, an amazing little place close to where I work, and got the chicken and rice plate to go! So yummy.

Hoping: that I can get caught up on laundry this evening so I can enjoy the rest of my evenings this week! I am always amazed at the amount of laundry two people can produce. 

Loving: my ornery dogs. I was away this weekend and missed them terribly! Their beagle noses get them  into a lot of trouble, but then they wag their little tails and I can’t help but forgive them.

Reading: nothing, yet. I just finished re-reading Wuthering Heights. I love that story. I always forget how insane all the characters are in their own, proper sort of way. I read the Harry Potter books every year, so those might be next, but I am thinking of finally reading the Lord of the Rings series for the first time. I hear they are tough to get through, but very worth it! I think I can handle them. 😉 Thoughts?


Looking forward to: having a couple of days off next week. Adam and I have tickets to see The Lion King musical at the TPAC, and I’m so excited! 

Feeling thankful for: the time I got to spend with my family this weekend. A few of us went to Dallas (more on that later!), and it was so good to spend a couple of days together.

Thanks to Danielle for the inspiration for these Currently posts! Be sure to leave me a comment if you write your own. J Have a great week! 

Love, Bekah

Goodbye, Love in the Country

Posted on by Rebekah Warren

Hi, friends!

 So, my blog has undergone a slight makeover. I have been wanting to change the look of it for a while now. Last week, I was down with a virus for a couple of days. I only got out of bed to move to the couch, but unfortunately, my head congestion prevented me from sleeping well, so I had lots of down time. I used the time to get a little more familiar with ways to improve my blog page. I’m not finished yet, but I am fairly happy with the results so far!

You also may have noticed that my blog name has changed. (So if you are following me via bloglovin’, make sure you update the address!) I’ve spent some time thinking about its purpose and what kinds of things I want to write about. I have adjusted to country living quite well (though I still have some fun stories to tell!), and want to broaden my topics a bit. The new name, Home + Heart, kind of sums up what I want the focus to be here. I love our country life, but the country isn’t the sole focus of our lives!

I hope broadening the blog’s horizon a bit will let me be a little more creative with the things I want to share. I have a few ideas, but I’d love to hear from my (very few) readers! What would you like to hear about? Can’t wait to get started on bettering this space! Hope you all have a great weekend.

 Love, Bekah