Precious

A few posts ago I mentioned my Pa was fighting pancreatic cancer. On Christmas Day Jesus received the best birthday gift I can think of- my Pa. I am so so so sad and just plain grieved by the loss of this absolutely indescribable man. The day before Pa met Jesus, most of his family (myself included) surrounded his bed at his home and sang his favorite hymn to him as he slept. He sat up, began to cry, and then praised Jesus for the life he has had. That was the last time Pa was awake and aware and what a sweet time it was. The past week has been full of memories that will be etched in my mind for the rest of my life. Pa's last words to me were, "you're precious." I'll share more soon. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, especially for Gammy as she begins a chapter of life that quite frankly, nobody really wants to be in.
On another yet way too similar note, one of my very best friends, Maggie Riggan, lost her brother and sister-in-law this past week. I have grown to know and love this family over my 4 years at the U of A and as a Pi Phi; Maggie was one of my bridesmaids and her family a sweet, sweet help in my wedding. I could write countless posts on this family's love of The Lord, hospitality toward all, pure sweetness, overflowing generosity, and fun spirit. I am devastated over The Riggan's loss. I am humbled and honored to feel the weight of their burden, although I know it must be much lighter than theirs feels. I can't imagine the pain of this seemingly out of order death. I am frustrated by how out of control I feel and how little I can do, especially because I am in Arlington and not Little Rock, where Maggie and so many of my friends are. I pray I feel their burden for years to come, for full hearts for The Riggan's, for restful minds, peaceful souls, and unshakeable hope and faith. please please join me in praying for this sweet family as they endure the valley. I know one thing for sure: Anthony, Nicole, and Pa are all worshipping Jesus together right now and that is about as comforting as it gets.

With a heavy heart,
Hannah K.C.Burton

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas with my husband

Ha, still weird to say 'husband.'  OK so Karl & I are leaving for Texas early the 23rd so we knew we would have to have our Christmas celebration for two prior to leaving.  I wanted it to really feel like Christmas so I thought waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday would be good and I would totally pretend it was actually Christmas!  Well, apparently Karl had a different idea... he has been working on something in the garage for me for a few weeks now and the second he finished it on Sunday, he began to beg INCESSANTLY for us to do Christmas RIGHT THEN.  Karl isn't much for waiting or patience (I've learned).  I should also add a side note that he claims to hate the surprise of gifts.  I've probably mentioned this before but Karl has pretty much spoiled the surprise of every single gift he has ever given me.  I literally have known every birthday & Christmas gift I was receiving from him at least a few weeks before he gave it to me.  I knew about the following: a TV for my 20th birthday, an SLR camera for my 21st, a lens for my 22nd birthday, diamond earrings our first Valentines, Uggs for Christmas my junior year, and I had a strong idea about my gifts for this Christmas.  Well, I sort of hate that because I LOVE to be surprised with gifts!  I'm horrible at faking surprise and definitely prefer to receive gifts more traditionally (uh, not knowing what it is).  Karl, on the other hand, wants to know EVERYTHING before he gets it.  I totally do not understand this.  He has been trying to tell me what my Christmas gifts are for weeks and has asked me (literally every single day) what he is getting from me, my parents, & his parents.  I always refuse to tell him.  I guess his family are all similar to him with gifts because on several occasions, he has simply asked them what he is getting and they casually tell him.  WHAT?!?  That is totally no fun in my opinion but to each his own :)  Anyways, back to the point of this post: SO, Karl would totally not leave doing Christmas on Sunday alone so I finally agreed.  We each went to one of the spare bedrooms and filled each others stockings and finished wrapping.  Man, it's hard to play Santa. I have a new appreciation for my parents.  Both Karl & I wanted to put others stockings in the living room but without the other seeing it so we covered them with blankets but then that didn't look like Santa left them.  Yeah, what a predicament.  Anyways, to make it feel like Christmas I decided that I would setup my video camera and we would both get in bed and pretend we were just waking up on Christmas morning.  OK this is getting boring.  Climax: I got a BEAUTIFUL hand made (by Karl) 7 foot tall wooden mirror with the most gorgeous detailing! ANNND I got an iPhone4!  WOO HOO!  Bye Blackberry Storm- you've been miserable!  So, Karl & I saw this mirror at Pottery Barn and I really wanted it.  Obviously it was $500 and I wasn't going to be purchasing it... Karl's replica looks perfectly similar but so much better!

This is probably the most priceless gift I've ever been given (Uh, besides salvation, duh.).  It is so so much prettier in person!

AND Karl got a smoker & a beer making kit... I have negative feelings towards the beer making kit (it's pricey and I'm like 99% sure the beer will taste horrible and make our house smell=potential wasted gift).  The beer making kit was like Karl's #1 present wish.  It was a great first Christmas!  Karl & I were at WalMart the other day and just walking thru all the bikes, toys, and play kitchens made me think about how fun it will be when Christmas rolls around and I have kids to buy for!  Karl can't wait for that.  I, on the other hand, can.  OK, I feel like this has been the most boring post ever and full of mundane details but I just want to remember exactly how our first Christmas was!

To spice things up a bit.. heres a short walk down memory lane

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007
The highlight of Christmas that year was getting to talk to Karl on Christmas Day!  He was in training at the time and phone calls were so precious.  Also noted: not my skinniest year...

On Saturday night Karl & I went and looked at lights & had more Christmas fun!  I'll post on that tomorrow or sometime soon (I've learned to not say things like, "tomorrow" or "everyday," on here as I usually don't follow thru... whoops.)

Merry Christmas Week!

Hannah K.C. Burton

the great men

I suppose I'm feeling sentimental this morning, hence the content of this post, BUT in my cold-hearted defense I must say that I've been planning to write this for some time now.  In my humble opinion, I think I turned out alright as a young woman.  I never really did anything I wasn't supposed to and followed along in life as my parents taught me to (except one time, I went to Belize with my BFF Courtney Collins and I had about 1/4 of a margarita.  I was 15.  Yep... it's haunted me ever since.)  OK anyways, the point of this post is to jot down (and by "jot," I mean peck away at the keyboard) my thoughts on how I turned out so great (joking).  I try to love & serve The Lord each day, even though that always looks a little different.  I think that there are 5 men in my life that have told me, SHOWN me, guided me, and sometimes even had to push me down this path that I am SO, so grateful I've chosen.  Jesus, my dad, Karl, Shane, and my Pa.  I have such a sweet relationship with each of these people, a very different relationship to each one of them.  I have learned (the hard way) to see Jesus as my ultimate rock, the only answer to problems, the One who blesses and teaches and heals and moves.  The most loyal and loving of the 5.  One of the five most influential men in my life is certainly my grandpa, affectionately known by friends & family as Pa.  Unfortunately my other grandpa passed away when I was young so I have just had this one to learn from but I would say that he has overflowed my cup with knowledge and pearls of wisdom.  Pa has given me a slice of learning from every single one of the character traits I have already listed.  He is selfless, loving, serves every single person around him unyieldingly, and keeps The Lord as the center of everything in his life.   I have always had a great relationship with him and enjoyed time with him.  He is fun.  Not one of those grandpas who is boring but always telling fun stories and offering Sonic runs :) .  He is full of life and love.  He has afforded me, my sisters, and cousins life experiences and lessons that make up my most strong childhood memories.  He has impacted more lives through meaningful relationships than I could ever hope to.  He is bold and speaks his mind.  He is currently fighting the "C" word that I can hardly speak or type, yet he continues to teach me and share his love for me.  The most incredible thing about Pa is his very clear decision to share Christ with everyone he meets and anyone who will listen to him.  Pa says I should be an author, he is so proud of Karl's choice to serve the country, loves my career choice and was my biggest cheerleader through college, he is from Arkansas (which I obviously love), raised a big wonderful family, and is proud as a peach of each and every one of us.  He is peaceful and strong and humble and very funny.  A newspaper article showcasing one of his most faithful efforts came out today.  I can think of hundreds of things that Pa has done that deserve a front page spread.  I'm full of memories and joy thinking about all the wonderful things Pa has not just told me, but SHOWN me.  So important to do.  I'm also feeling abundantly blessed by the fact that there are 5 men in my life that have done this.  So blessed to have a wonderful example in my dad, my husband, my friend & mentor, my grandfather, and my savior.  Here's the thing, even if I didn't have these 4 men in my life I am CONFIDENT that The Lord would have taught me AND shown me every single one of the character traits I have acquired from them.  He is more than enough and could be/is every single one of these men to me- he has the desire and ability to be both yours and my unconditionally loving father, selfless husband, wise grandfather, faithful friend, and so much more.  I am very blessed that He put these people in my life, physically, to show me all those things first hand.

Well, that's enough depth for now, eh? Join me in praying for Pa's body & mind and praising The Lord for his saved spirit.
Hannah K.C. Burton

P.S.- I'm saving up my "most influential women" post for a rainy day.

FALALALA LIFETIME!

That's right, I'm dedicating my first (and definitely not last) Christmas post of the year to Lifetime.  No movie reviews here, just a girl grateful for the nightly Christmas movies on Lifetime.  I find them WAYYY more entertaining than any blockbuster Christmas movie.  Anyways, on to more important news: I've finally finished Christmas decorating!  For all you soon-to-be brides I have a pearl of wisdom to share with you: buy all your Christmas decorations THIS YEAR, after Christmas when everything is on sale!  I did that last year anticipating mine & Karl's first Christmas after that advice was shared with me by my cousin, Lincoln!  It was great!  I bought our tree, tree skirt, stockings, some decorations, and a few ornaments and saved a ton of money.  The weekend after Thanksgiving Karl & I ventured to the closest Crate & Barrel (4 hours away...) and bought the majority of our ornaments with our shop card.  THENNNN my grandmother, Gammy, and I cleaned out her Christmas cabinets and she let me fill a big box with decorations that I wanted and she shipped it here.  That was so fun!  All in all, I only had to spend about $20 out of pocket!  Woo Hoo!  More money for gifts!!  Well, now that you know the monotonous details of how I acquired my decorations, how about some pictures?  Well ok.

I can't wait to spend my first married Christmas with Karl!  As hard as we try to make this house our "home," we are both DYING for next Thursday to come so we can jump on a plane and go home, for real.  We're so excited for tons of Christmas celebrating with both sides of our family and thankful to be getting to go to Texas for all of it.  More Christmas posts to come, swear :)

Go watch a lifetime movie.
Hannah K.C. Burton

single lady.

Well, we're going on week 5 of Karl working at night.  That equals 5 weeks of falling asleep by myself aka LIVING IN TERROR.  I HATE Karl being on nights... I feel single!  My former roommates and my family are all VERY familiar with my fear of, well, nighttime, I guess.  I don't know what it is about the sun going down but it produces extremely irrational fears for me.  Nightly, I lie in bed 100% certain that Karl will come home in the wee morning hours to a murdered wife.  Isn't that horrible?  AND ridiculous?  Yes.  It is.
Walk down memory lane:
-never had a reason to sleep home alone during college BUT even before that, I've always just a paranoid person (thanks, Mom.).  Throughout junior high & high school I would check behind the shower curtain before I brushed my teeth and washed my face.  As if someone were in there.  Sometimes, I would even sacrifice and wash my face with my eyes wide open in fear, read: soap in the eyes.

-freshman year: I didn't have a roommate my freshman year (she stayed at her boyfriends every night except for two) and my dorm friends LOVED to scare me... like hide under my bed and jump out at me. Thanks, Patrick, Jill, & Gandy.
-sophomore year: I lived in the Pi Phi house with DOZENS of people and somehow still managed to live in fear.  I blame the older girls for passing on the ghost stories of a haunted house.  Read: now I'm scared of paranormal activity... SO SO SO RIDICULOUS
-junior year: Jill & I lived in a two bedroom apartment.  Terrifying.  Walking in a night, being home alone when Jill went home for the weekend.. I had like an industrial doorstop that I was hell bent on using 24/7.  Oh, and I had locks on ALL the windows.  Jill & I experienced our fair share of terror in there... like scary neighbors and unannounced late night visitors.
-senior year: I lived with Charis & Noel, both of which were well- aware of my fears... mostly because of my weekly text while they were both at Cru to, "Come home quick. I heard something."

Marriage was my big recipe for not having to be alone at night, scared.  Well, here I am, planning on falling asleep on the living room chaise because it's the only room where I feel aware of the whole house and what's going on.  Am I single again?  I have adrenaline rushes & hot flashes on a regular basis.  I feel like a crazy person.  Like, I'm a totally different person at night.  We live in a great neighborhood and I'm pretty sure crime doesn't exist in this tiny military town.  I'm slightly resentful of Karl's refusal to let us live on base... I know I wouldn't be scared then!  Well, I thought it was only appropriate to share "nighttime Hannah," with the blog world.  There you have it.

I know how to use Karl's handgun... and it's loaded... next to my bed.
Consider yourself warned,
Hannah K.C. Burton

Celebrinasties

I'm pretty intrigued by Hollywood/the lives of an elite list of celebrities.  On the flip side, I'm really repulsed by a few A-D listers too... for some reason, the ones on my "get outta here" list like really, really disgust me.  I think they contribute nothing to this world and I'm always super confused when they get any press or why anybody has them on their 'intrigued list.'  So, in an effort to persuade people to write off my 3 least favorite celebs like I have, I felt it necessary to list them.  This list is in no particular order as they are all tied for #1 most disliked.

-Kanye West.  Here's the thing, my life would be just as good if I had never heard "Gold Digger."  I'm a George Bush lover and a disliker of ignorance... therefore, Kanye West, GET OUTTA HERE!
-Melissa Etheridge.  Although I like, "Come to my Window," I do no like appreciate the public condoning of marijuana, so, GET OUTTA HERE.
-Kathy Griffin.  OK, so maybe I do have a top notch, #1, most disliked.  Her.  I will literally change the channel if she comes on TV, like looking at her puts me in a bad mood.  She gives gingers a bad rap and she is obnoxious to the 10th degree.  I have a serious disliking for ANY AND ALL stand up comedy so that in and of itself is reason enough to dislike her but on top of that she is loud, profane, and gross.  Kathy Griffin, GET OUTTA HERE.

Love,
Hannah K.C. Burton

D.C.

So, I'm kind of playing catch up here with this post and maybe a few others but I wanted to document mine & Karl's impromptu trip to D.C. last month!  My parents+Maddie & Emma knew they wanted to take a long weekend trip after mine & Callie's weddings as a little celebration of getting back to normalcy and just a time to relax, especially for my two younger sisters and all they put up with living in wedding la la land for over a year.  Well, within like 48 hours they decided they were going D.C. and the next thing I knew, they were there!  I then took it upon myself to google map the distance from D.C. to Sumter when I noticed that they were a mere 4 1/2 hours away... my mind began to tick.  Well, I took the next logical step and invited Karl & I to crash their weekend as a new family of 4 and the Cuppett's seemed OK with it!  Woo hoo!
(details on getting there that you can choose to skip if you would like)
So Karl & I decided that financially we should just plan to stay 1 night but wanted to be there first thing in the morning on Saturday so our options were to either a) leave crazy early Saturday morning or b) leave Friday night and sleep in a hotel about halfway there.  Well, option "b" doesn't make much sense because that defeats our "save money and just pay for a hotel for 1 night" thing and option "a" isn't pleasing to Karl because he just got home from work and he is super tired... what to do, what to do?  Then Karl comes up with this idea..."we'll drive about halfway and then stop at a rest stop."  What did I just hear?  All I heard was, "we'll drive about halfway and then sleep in your car and risk our lives because someone will most likely kill us when we are pulled over on the side of the road because we are young and in love and that's what happens and also you won't get to brush your teeth or wash your face and your standard of living will immediately drop 100 points."  Wow, does my husband know me at all??  Is he seriously suggesting that I, Hannah K.C. Burton sleep in the car?  So how did I respond?  I agreed with one stipulation: Karl had to bring his hand gun.  Crazy town USA.  So we are approaching the halfway point and it's getting really late.  My parents are starting to call to make sure we are safe and to try and plan our day for Saturday.  I panic: I know that I cannot possibly let the words, "Dad, I'm sleeping in my car,"  come out of my mouth but I also know that I can't lie if he asks where we are staying the night!  I need a new plan.  I start begging, BEGGING Karl to let us stop at a hotel.  I even concede and say I'll stay at a motel. Ewwww (more on this later).  It takes a lot of begging and we even get into deeper issues like how I am innately a Hyatt girl and he is a KOA guy (I learned what KOA is on this roadtrip) and he says that I need to lower my standard of living but I say I can't because I have glitter in my blood... OK anyways, we stopped at a motel... the sickest motel ever.  Better.off.in.my.car.  I blame my mother for my high hotel standards.  As a child, we were never barefoot in hotels and she uses her own sheets and pillows... now I do too.
OK back to the actual vacation...Karl and I got to our hotel bright and early and ended up on the same floor as my family (yay!)!  We paraded around D.C. in a double-decker bus all day Saturday & Sunday enjoying hot dogs from street vendors and absolutely gorgeous historical sites!  We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, The Capitol, The White House (unimpressive, sorry), went to the national museum of Air & Space, Museum of Natural History, we walked and walked and walked, had starbucks for breakfast each day (definite luxury for this country bumpkin), and had a blast.  The weather was gorgeous, the days were long, and did I mention how much we walked?  It was great... I would say that all that was missing were Jeremy & Callie (which they were) but technically Karl & I weren't supposed to be there so it wasn't really a family vacay... well, it was fun regardless.  Karl & I wouldn't have gone & crashed their vacation if it weren't for the fact that I had just vowed to myself to be more spontaneous.. yep.  One of the main perks to living out here and on the east coast is the accessibility to the northeast and all the fabulous states & cities that I've not visited before.  I love to travel and am dying to see more of the northeast so I just couldn't turn this opportunity down!  OK, enjoy some pics now!

Love the travel bug (which I got in our nasty motel room... not really but maybe)
Hannah K.C. Burton

whoa.

So, I was just clicking around here on the old blogger (blogger is the name of the site I blog from and have my blogging account thru) and found a "stats" tab.  I clicked on it for the first time and found some vurrry interrrusttting information.  Y'all, over 5,000 people have viewed my blog in the year that it has existed... people in the Ukraine, Australia, Spain, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, Ecuador, Canada, & France, oh and Alaksa... is this super creepy to anyone else??  Guys, if you blog with blogger, you have to go check this out.  Here's the sitch: I love knowing that people read my blog but (call me crazy) I would prefer for those people to be friends, family, old high school pals, acquaintances, or even friends of friends of friends...I don't have high standards here people.  I'll just say that I don't know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who lives in the Ukraine.  Also, I can tell that my blog has been accessed thru a bing.com search... a) I think it's crazy that I can tell this has happened b) IDK how I feel about bing.com in general (I'm a google lover) c) weird that someone is binging "dynasty living."  Do not worry, I cannot tell who has visited or anything like that so all you non-followers and commenters are still safely hidden from me :)  Well, for now I'll deal with the international and search-engine creepiness as there's nothing I hate more than being privacy blocked by blogs I'm snooping on AND I love sharing what's going on in mine & Karl's life but when I have children, I'm clearly going to have to make this bad boy like invite only or little Burton's are going to get 'napped at their schools and cheerleading camp.  Just saying.  Lastly, I have nothing against Ukranians and I believe in the freedom to be creepy, until I take it away.

Love,
Hannah K.C. Burton

foodie.

Well, I have a horrible long term memory.  It takes one of my sisters or parents telling a very specific decade-old story for me to remember anything prior to the age of 17, with the exception of one thing: food. I have a lot of memories centering around food.  I can remember sitting around the dinner table with my family, I can picture Emma (my youngest sister) as a baby in her high chair as we ate dinner, I can feel the glob of Country Crock butter in my mouth as I snuck into the fridge (circa 1993) for a spoonful of delight away from my mom's watchful eye, I can remember one of my first pit stops as a newly licensed driver being to Long Johns for one thing: crunchies.  Well, all this to say one thing: i.love.food.  And moreso than the average person.  Here's the thing, I get hooked on one thing and stay there for a while and I obsess over it and drag roommates and sisters into it.  Let me take you on a walk down memory lane for a few examples.

Age 5: butter.
Age 7-8: Grandy's fried chicken.
Age 9-10: baby food, peach baby food more specifically
Age 12: Girl Scout Samoas.
Age 14-15: an entire onion (after school snack, every single day.)
Age 16-17: Long John Silver's crunchies (like, order nothing else at the drive-thru)
Age 20: Mushrooms (sauteed, like an entire package)
Age 21: Bush's baked beans (as often as I could.  microwaved. in front of my 'mates.)
Age 22: asparagus, roasted in the oven, a little on the burned side

the one food that has stuck thru it all: bacon.

Most people have like the one thing that they have always liked and people that they spend a lot of time with can even pinpoint that persons "one food."  For example, my dad is a spice drop guy, Charis Anderson is a pecan pie girl, I have a few Pi Phis in mind that are sushi people, my cousin Lincoln is a mac 'n cheese person...  I'm not that person because it changes so much!  Well, needless to say, the asparagus is in the oven as I type.  It is so good but I cannot stop eating it... like, my pee has started to smell like asparagus.  Yeah, TMI I know but I just have to relay the obsessions that I develop over "my one food."  I eat an entire bushel of it every.single.day.  Well, I guess thats all for now.  I can't believe I haven't posted about this huge personality quirk/flaw/trait of mine yet!!  It defines me.

Asparagus lover,
Hannah K.C. Burton

Seasons

It NEVER ceases to amaze me what The Lord reveals to me during different seasons of my life.  Like, one verse or parable will really speak specifically to me while I'm on a mountain top time in my life and then The Lord will use the same verse or song to show me or remind me of something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT when I'm walking through a valley or in a different season of life.  I love Kari Jobe, like I have 1 CD that has been in my car for literally years- that praise & worship CD has seen more praise, tears, bad singing, early mornings, late nights... you name it, it's my go-to CD.  Well, all this jibberish to say that I'm loving/clinging to "No Sweeter Name," by Kari Jobe (obvi) right now.  All of her lyrics are such sweet, simple reminders of God's grace, His promises, redeeming love, and hope.  So, through the mountain tops and valley lows I'll cling to the sweet name of Jesus.

Hannah K.C. Burton

Post Wedding

So I keep thinking, "ok I'm done blogging about my wedding."  OK, lie.  I will blog about my wedding until the day I die.  That being said, I just got all my pictures!!!!  I'm so excited, like I seriously have been looking forward to this for so long!  Karl's at work so that gave me something to do for the past... 3ish hours.  I may or may not have listened to my wedding ceremony playlist while looking at them which may or may not have led to tears, several tears, bad idea- yes.  I just LOVE that I still feel the same feelings I felt that day- so, so, so in love with Karl, overwhelmed with feelings of love & support from friends and family, the tightest and most unconditional Pi Phi bonds, and in complete awe as I watched my parents fund this shindig (in cash, gaffaw.) solely to make my dream day come true because they love me and Karl so much.  Like literally, could this day get better?  Actually yes, if our car hadn't been trashed with greasy unmentionables and someone had just stuck to some traditional "Just Married" and cans tied to the back and if our DJ hadn't turned the reception into a bad rave... icing on the cake.  But seriously, I (for my own memory) want to remember in a long long time how I feel right now and how I felt that day- overjoyed, peaceful, in love, loved.  When people ask me how married life is, I'm always quick to tell them that I still don't "feel married," as in I don't think it has set in yet.  Well, going thru these pictures helped A LOT.  I am absolutely honored by the guests that came that night, by our close friends and family that devoted their weekend to celebrating us, I'm flooded with the nervousness I felt walking out to Karl and then how much fun he & I had the rest of the day- I am obsessed with these pictures, what sweet treasures they are and what precious memories they help to jog!  I'll post more pictures this week after I get our photo CD in the mail, the ones I have access to now have Nine's watermark on them & would just be copied off their website.  The whole several hundred picture gallery can be viewed here, click on "client proofs," then type our password into our gallery- ParkSpringsHK

Bride forever,
Hannah K.C. Burton

Happy Birthday, Gammy!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful grandmother, Gammy!  I am so so so blessed to be one of her 12 grandchildren (her favorite, actually)!  She never ceases to amaze me with her wit, trendiness, servants heart, intelligence, and love for our Lord & family.  She is absolutely incredible- she pours herself into our family and community day in and day out seemingly effortlessly.  Gammy is an awesome cook, florist, decorator, and host, she gives great advice and is so fun to be around!  Happy Birthday, Gammy!  Karl & I wish we could be in Arlington to celebrate such a blessed day with you.  We love and miss you!  Also, thanks for being one of my few loyal blog readers :)

Love,
Hannah Kate Davis Cuppett Burton
(OK Davis isn't technically apart of my name but it's my mom's maiden name and Gammy's last name so I may as well throw it in here since I've been into switching up my name lately... I'll always be a 'Davis' girl anyway.)

The Burton's list of loves

So I have worked on a post of "Things I've learned about Karl Since saying 'I do'" multiple times.  This list is so short it's not even worth posting.  I guess I'll keep adding to it and post it once it's actually worth reading.  In the mean time, I've noticed myself saying to Karl that, "Oh, you & I love that!" So apparently since saying 'I do' we have quite the list of joint loves...

-Sarah Palin & her show that we are absolutely watching every episode of (TLC, premieres November 14)
-Walking around our neighborhood
-Falling asleep to HGTV
-Homemade Mexican food
-Taylor Swift (Karl says "not that much" but I know he does) & John Mayer
-Cooking
-DIYs and decorating (Karl has incredible taste, seriously)
-Impromptu traveling (and more specifically, going home)
-Family time... I think we both have an unhealthy attachment to our families, see above.
-Antique, thrift, & retail stores
-Yard work (I like to pull weeds... Karl does the rest)
-SEC football, more specifically the RAZORBACKS
-World Market
-Camping (I use this term loosely... I like blow-up mattress/RV/clean bathroom camping, Karl likes "real" camping)
-Colorado

I love that Karl & I have so much in common (although we still have our own VERY DIFFERENT interests) and I can't wait to grow this list in the coming months & years!!  Now to work on the list of things I've learned about Karl...

Happy Wednesday!
Hannah K.C. Burton

Sweet Pork Tacos

I have really, really enjoyed cooking these first couple months of marriage!  My parents really started to cook new, exciting, and ambitious meals as my sisters and I got older so that coupled with the rest of my family's incredible kitchen skills have given me some serious kitchen confidence.  I find some major inspiration from my grandmother (hello, she has authored and published a cookbook), my parents (who I would describe as "fun" in the kitchen- homemade pizza, lots of fried food, and attempting to make their fave restaurant meals- so fun), and one of my best friends, Maggie (who cooks the most savory food that makes company feel like royalty, every time).  I've had a couple of dinner blunders but for the most part Karl has been eating pretty well, if I do say so myself.  I think all it takes it being able to follow a recipe, I certainly don't come up with dinner ideas or concoctions myself.   So, in honor of my self-professed success in the kitchen, I'm going to share one of mine and Karl's new favorite dinners!  We had this last night and it was sooooo good.  One of my favorite restaurants in Arlington is Habanero's because they have such great Sweet Pork Tacos but their service pretty much sucks and I no longer live in Arlington... so I found this recipe and it was a hit!

Photo & Recipe courtesy of DishingWithDish

Sweet Pork Taco Meat

1 2-3 lb. Pork Roast

2 8 oz. cans of El Pato (I found this in the Mexican food aisle, it's in a yellow can)

1 8 oz. can of Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

Salt & Pepper to taste (I used Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper)

Note- if you're like my mom and can't eat ANYTHING with ANY amount of spiciness, just use 1 can of the El Pato and crank up the amount of regular tomato sauce a touch to substitute.  The El Pato has some kick to it.

Second Note- you could easily cut this recipe in 1/2 if you're cooking for 2 or 3 because it makes A TON of food.

Place meat in crock pot with just enough water to cover.  Cook until fork-tender (about 8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high).  Remove meat, drain water.  Place roast back in crock pot and shred with two forks.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Combine shredded pork with all remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

1/2 envelope dry Ranch dressing

3/4 cup fresh Cilantro

2 small Tomatillos

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1/2 cup of sour cream

juice of 1/2 lime

combine all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth- tah dah!

Don't forget...

Taco shells or tortillas

whatever taco fixing's you like... Karl & I just enjoyed avocado on ours!

Yay!!  Enjoy this SUPER easy meal (like REALLY easy)!

Love,

Hannah K.C. Burton 

(yes, that's because I had my name officially changed this week to Hannah Kate Cuppett Burton... "Kate Cuppett" is now my legal middle name.  Ha.)

Venom.

Well, I'd like to think I don't use my blog to vent (at least I try and disguise it) but no, not this time...

Dear "Precious Moore" (if that really is your name) in Nigeria,
You nasty fraudulent skeeze.  How dare you buy my husband's PSP 3000 off Ebay, not pay for, then buy it again when I reposted it.  Then you sent us a fake PayPal email saying you had paid for the item.  I loathe you.  You don't even have an account with PayPal you nasty.  I hope the Nigerian mean people get you for this.  You aren't worth my energy or words.  I'm praying to forgive you and to love you... even though I don't want to.

distastefully signed,
Hannah K.C. Burton

P.S. If you were planning to visit Karl & I anytime soon, count on not having a bed as our funds from selling this were going towards our "Buy a guest bed" fund.  You can thank Precious for that.

update...

so, an update on my climb towards socialization in Sumter: Karl & I are going to a meeting tonight at a church we've been visiting to hear from 3 local ministry organizations on their need for volunteers and how we could get involved with each of them; one of them is the pregnancy center :)

I'm waiting on a call back from a different church's Mother's Day Out program... a delightful way to spent one day a week although I may or may not get paid for it- at least it may lead to babysitting (I never thought I would be babysitting as a married woman- hello humble pie).

Still waiting on that email reply from the professor I contacted for career advice...

Annndddd... I may or may not have responded to a craigslist ad for a reading & math tutor... Oh.my.gosh.

Love,

desperate for something to do with my life besides watch TV, blow dry my hair, grocery shop, and blog (no offense)

Digging my feet in

I got Karl an iPhone for his birthday.  When I was at the AT&T store setting up his service they were asking me all these questions for our account... they asked me where I am employed.  Normally I just say, "I'm a student," and I feel cool and educational and stuff... this was the first time I couldn't say that so I just stared blankly, like an idiot, at the salesperson and blurted out, "unemployed." Ha.  I have no excuse for not having a job at this point- I've been in this town for 5 weeks now, I have a college degree and a license to practice nursing, I'm not a mom, my home is clean and every ounce of laundry is done, our home is "settled."  Well there's this thing... I do not want to be a nurse.  Oh, that's just great.  So, here I am, a newlywed pining for a second income, in a town where I know like 4 people (Karl and 3 of his friends), with a degree I have no interest in using in it's conventional way, desperate for friends and social interaction, with no reason to get out of my PJs at all.  TIME TO DIG IN and get acquainted with Sumter.  So, I contacted the local Pi Phi alum club for it's meeting schedule (and by local, I mean 45 minutes away), have penciled into my planner the next volunteer information meeting for the local pregnancy center because I always wanted to volunteer at the one in Fayetteville and never did, and have emailed an old professor for career advice.  SO, here is my desperate attempt.  I wish there was an eharmony for friends because I would totally do it...

Also noted: If you are an employer in Sumter, SC- you want me bad.  I'm interested in being like a nurse educator or a makeup nurse.  The "makeup nurse" is a title I made up and also a position I made up.  I would test out tons of makeup on myself and tell you if there was anything clinically wrong with it.  So, I can send you my resume in a hot second and I could add in head shots if you want.  I'm totally qualified, swear.

So, while I'm waiting for the perfect Makeup Nurse job, I'm going to find basically everything I can do to get me out of my PJs... on my list includes: pregnancy center volunteering, switching out our summer clothes for our winter clothes, becoming active in the Columbia Pi Phi alumni club, wishing I could be on AAC for USC Pi Phi, shopping online daily for home decor, thinking about how I will decorate for Christmas, and finding other ways to get out of the house.  Thank you.

Love,
Mrs. Burton

hannah + karl play house, round 1

Although I'm still basking in the glory of all things wedding I thought I could manage to break from wedding posts and share a few pics of what Karl & I have been focusing on lately... our first house!  We have been busy here in South Carolina- finding the perfect place for all of our wedding gifts, attempting to part with some of my hard loved on college furniture, and learning to maintain and keep up with a house all by ourselves!  It's fun, definitely an adventure, and totally my thing.  We still have a lot of work to do on this place, and if I had to guess, I would say that by the time we move out of here I still won't be satisfied with the level of decor and furnishing BUT it's fun to continuously hunt for the perfect piece for a specific place in the house.  So, due to demand (believe it or not) and without further ado, I give you our first house, in all of it's incomplete, amateur, tactfully refined glory...

My decoration weak link is walls... we have bare walls EVERYWHERE!  I'm on the hunt for the perfect wall decor for several places in the house

Our coffee table is the cake table from our wedding, Karl just chopped the legs off to make it the appropriate height.  

The aspen log lamp is another Karl creation- it was a vase at our wedding and he turned it into a lamp!

Next to do, paint the table cream colored and distress it.  ANNND  Karl's begging for a big TV... oh Lord.

Obligatory kitchen picture... I'm kind of weird about a non-cluttered kitchen so it's pretty plain with the exception of my ever-loved lantern :)  Karl hates that I won't even let us keep the toaster out.  Sorry 'bout that, hubs.

I have so many decorative pretties from the wedding- an abundance of mason jars, string, raffia, spools, fun chairs (the yellow chairs are the ones that K & I sat on at our reception)... you name it.  It was so fun to decorate the dining room table!  So many gifts to fill it with!  Oh and that's our bedroom back there...

There's our little desk, still on the hunt for the perfect chair for it though.  The display that we used to show all the letters Karl & I have written back and forth to each other at our wedding is now the perfect mail catch!

Our room!  Projects still to do: find Karl the perfect old white/cream side table, NEW HEADBOARD!  Ahh, I'm dying for a new headboard.  Ask Karl, it's all I talk about.  ANNND  I'm trying to find the perfect finish to our bedding (euro pillows, quilt for the end of the bed)... see, what did I say? WORK IN PROGRESS!

This is the wall parallel to the bed.  Another reused aspen vase and the sign that was at the top of our 'Love is...' door

K & I used a chunk of our big Crate & Barrel gift card to outfit our home with lamps!  I didn't realize that we had absolutely NO lamp light until we moved in so we literally ordered like 6 lamps!  I love this one on my side of the bed that sits on my recent bedside table antique store find!

Bathroom!  We used the "Mrs" & "Mr" signs from the backs of our reception chairs above our sinks! 

I love getting to brush my teeth next to Karl every night.  Luckily, he brushes his teeth in a Cuppett-acceptable way. Ha.

So happy to reuse these buckets that our potatoes were served out of at our reception!  Also super obsessed with our ruffled and lace shower curtain... that was an Anthro splurge.

Just to give a reference point... the hallway from the living room/entry down to the guest bedrooms/bathroom/laundry room

Ah the canvas The Chapman's gave us/Amanda made for us.  I love it.  Hung so I see it everytime I come home!  This is a little cut out in the hall way where the laundry closet and craft space is.

The guest bathroom across from the laundry room... the only thing worth looking at is the shower curtain, hence the super tight shot.  Come visit us and maybe you'll have the pleasure of seeing the counter and sink too.

Guest bedroom numero uno.  Ready and waiting on two special guests!  Still needs some finishing touches- candles filling the candle holders, buds for the bud vases... 

So proud of Karl for this pallet bed!!  I told him what I wanted and it turned out better than I could've imagined!  It was super affordable- we had the door left over from the wedding, all the bedding from my dorm days, and the pallets were free (thanks to some creeping behind WalMart).  All we had to buy were the wheels!  It was a breeze job for Karl who is a genius with wood and a power drill and saw.  Come visit and maybe you'll be lucky enough to sleep on this dream.

So, the 2nd guest room isn't done yet... it's currently so messy I won't even reveal it in its entirety on my ever indiscreet blog.  Here is my inspiration for it though... it's a little more glam than the rest of my house but don't worry ( I know you were), I'll keep all the wood elements rustic and distressed, in true Burton fashion.

Because the closet currently looks like this...and that just won't do.

So, make my day and plan your next vacay out to see The Mr. & Mrs. in South Carolina.  I'll treat you like royalty and you'll never want to leave!  I'll expect an email soon with your arrival date and I'll begin to plan our itinerary immediately.

Love,

The Burtons