2017: a year in review.

2017 was pretty stellar I'd say. It held our first year of marriage, owning a home, and getting our sweet tillie baby (our cat). Instagram said the pictures below were my top nine and I would have to mostly agree. Sometimes we forget to pause and reflect on all of the dang good things in our lives.

Here's a month-by-month of a few of the Honeycutt highlights.

January - I started my 2nd semester teaching at A&M. Wade & I celebrated our engagement-versary.

February - Spent Valentine's day with my love. Did some shopping at First Monday in Canton.

March - Did spring break right with a trip to Vegas. Also, the largest Taco Bell ever.

April - Celebrated my 28th birthday. Rissa made a trip to College Station to visit.

May - Painted the exterior of our house—talk about hard work!

June - Celebrated Wade's birthday! Taught a summer session. Spent the long weekend in Galveston with the fam. Met my niece Naomi for the first time.

July - Went to my brother's surprise nerdy thirty in New Braunfels with some of our best friends. Made a trip to Lubbock to see family. Got our sweet Tillie baby!

August - The littlest Bragdon graduated from A&M. Wade and I built cedar shutters for our house—also very hard work. Decided to go back to graduate school for my MFA.

September - Took a group of students to Circles Conference in Grapevine, TX. Also took my grandpa and Barbara to a Fightin' Texas Aggie Football game.

October - Celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary and ate year-old cake. It was surprisingly good.

November - I went to Louisiana with my fam for Thanksgiving, Wade had to work (boo!)

December - Went to several holiday parties for work. It SNOWED in College Station, TX. Completed another semester teaching and my first semester as a grad student.

Bring it on, 2018! I can't wait to see what you have in store.

germany!

Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Like, really. It amazes me at the doors God has opened for Wade and I in our relationship so far. Wade wanted to go back to school? Boom—teaching job, bought a house, working remotely, etc. It has all fallen into place so smoothly that I have no doubt that God's hand was weaving it all together.

All of that to say, WE ARE GOING TO GERMANY.

Only for the spring semester, don’t worry, we aren’t moving away for good. Although after a semester in Europe we might not want to come back. If any of you have been following me for awhile (by that I mean like my mom and a handful of my mom’s friends), you saw the ridiculous videos Marissa and I posted while studying abroad back in 2010. If you are new around here, I studied with the same Germany-based program while attending Texas A&M in the spring of 2010. I traveled Europe with one of my best friends, Marissa. We made videos literally every step of the journey, we ate lots of Burger King, and we stuffed our backpacks full of sample Nutella packets from McDonalds. Sometimes I go back and watch the videos just to laugh at how dumb we were (also how young I look). You can watch our very first video here if it interests you, just know that you have been warned. Now, I get to do the same thing but with my HUSBAND—so crazy. Also, Ris is also going to make a guest appearance, so watch out.

I will be teaching motion design at the AIB in Bonn where Wade will be attending classes. We will be living in an apartment in the city of Bonn. Our hope is to explore and travel as much as we can with our school and work loads!

A little more about the city of Bonn, Germany.

The charming city of Bonn with its baroque buildings and century-old history is a modern and dynamic city with an exceptional international and diverse community. The richness of music, culture, science, business and nature, as well as its location at the Rhine River, make Bonn a hidden gem in the heart of Europe.

Since it is located in the heart of Europe, it is easy to reach many of our top travel destinations. From Bonn, it is only a three hour train ride to Amsterdam and a four hour ride to Paris. Many European cities such as London are also only a one hour plane ride away.

We depart on January 10th (WHICH IS 12 DAYS AWAY!!) and arrive back stateside on May 2nd. Follow along for travel posts, design inspiration and even (maybe) some European fashion tips. I will also be using Instagram story to document a lot of the highlights, so be sure to follow me on instagram. Feel free to join the email list too so you don't miss a thing.

That's all for now, I've got a lot of packing to do! tschüss!

merry december!

I can't believe it's December 1st. crazy how time flies! Today was a good day. My husband woke up and came into the office promptly telling me to get dressed. He said we're going to pick out a Christmas tree. weee! Obviously had to make a pit-stop for donuts first.

If there's one thing I'm good at it's saving money and being crafty about it. I guess that's two things. oh well.

Here are some quick tips if you're buying your tree from a retailer (like lowe's, home depot, or walmart)

Tip #1 - save the 1" round portion that they cut off the bottom of your tree to make an ornament! I have one from our first Christmas as a married couple, and now our second. Just drill a hole in the top, tie some burlap through and ta-da! All I need to do is write on it with my gold sharpie.

Tip #2 - shop/steal from the the scrap barrel. At Lowe's and Home Depot they put all of the branches that have fallen off and/or been cut off into a huge bin. These make great additions to your mantel or an already purchased wreath. See my examples below, plus they smell amazing!

Tip #3 - Always have your husband inspect the tree thoroughly, then have him take photos of you with your perfect tree.

Now time to get decorating!

#ootd

My sweater was a black Friday buy that I knew I could dress or up dress down for the winter. It actually has a removable collar which I thought was pretty nifty! The back is also super cute. Jeans are my fav Levi's 711 Skinny jeans in "damage is done." Booties are Steve Madden Kolina's that I bought in the summer on super sale. Very comfy, low heel so great for standing on my feet teaching all day! Also, rocking a top knot because washing your hair is the worst.

sweater: Bealls • jeans: Levi's • booties: Steve Madden • watch: fossil