Seasons of Life

Warning-long post coming up!

So I took a break from blogging...could you tell? At the time I didn't really have anything to say. My life was pretty much groundhog's day everyday. Nothing exciting to report. Then God decided to change the season in my life. This season I'm now in is completely different but so amazing! So let's just start from the beginning, shall we?

Back in February, my bestie asked if should could blog about me on Kelly's Korner when Kelly did the Show Us Your Singles day. I said, "Sure, why not?". I didn't expect anything. At this point I was peaceful with where my life was and where it was going. I just decided to really give it all to God and let him guide me. Well, low and behold, I got an email as a result of this posting. At first, I was a little hesitate. I had a bunch of reason I was hesitate but something just told me to respond and just see what happened. Can I just say that was one of the best decisions I've ever made? Long story short, this fellow and I have talked everyday since February and are in a committed relationship now. Is that not a story of God's plan or what? Oh, and to make it even more interesting, we live 3 hours apart, so we never would have found each other the "old fashioned" way.

So, this wonderful boy has been the top thought in my mind lately which is a reason I've been MIA. Another has been the job.

For the past few months I've just been unhappy with how things are where I work. I'm not going to get into details, but it wasn't good for my mental state anymore. I have so many wonderful things going on in my personal life that I should have been on cloud 9 everyday. Now, I was, but it wouldn't happen until I got off work. However, life is short and I want to be happy everyday all day, not just from 5-10 at night. So, I made the difficult decision to leave my firm. I'm sad that I am leaving some great friends, but I know that God has a plan for me and I've got to go where He leads me. If I've learned anything over the last 4 months it's that He truly does have your life planned and everything really does happen for a reason. Trust Him, He won't steer you wrong.

So I'm on to a new adventure. We'll see where it leads me!

Those are the two biggest things going on in my life right now. They are HUGE (especially my wonderful boy), but I'm at this peace and am happy, so I'm good :)

Last new update (not about me though). Little sissy graduated from college last weekend with a double major. We are SO SO proud of her. She has an internship at the Atlanta History Center this summer. She has such a bright future ahead of her and I am one proud big sis! Here are some pictures from last weekend.

Dad and Morgan

Me and Morgan

Morgan and her boyfriend

Mom and Dad-proud parents

The three of us at her graduation party

Me, Sarah, and Morgan at her graduation party

The girls

The graduate. Double major in Art History and History

Me, Morgan, and our Aunt Kay

Daddy and his girls

Me and my sissy at lunch celebrating her wonderful accomplishments!

Miscellanous Monday

It's Monday...again. The weekend is nevery long enough, oh well!

I got to babysit my Love and Lovebug on Friday night and enjoyed some quality time with them

I cleaned some Saturday morning and then went on a little shopping spree to help decorate the house

 This is an old window I got years ago. I bought the grapevine wreath and gold "S" from Hobby Lobby and then found the owl at TJ Maxx. The sign hanging from the knob is also from TJ Maxx. This is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It is really old and hand crafted. I got it for like $30 off craigslist and then bought red glass knobs to add some more character to it.

 This wall was completely bare and needed something to spruce it up. So I found this metal key at Hobby Lobby for 50% off as well as the vinyl saying "Family- Life's Greatest Blessing" You can't really see them, but on this sofa table are two adorable iron birds. I'm into birds right now...they remind me of my grandmother :) It is only fitting that I put the birds on her sofa table. I think she would like it.

Mr. Bojangles is finally able to be left out all day without destroying anything. So...we officially took down his massive crate. Hallelujah! I was able to bring in this door that we salvaged from my great grandmother's house before they tore it down. It added a nice little touch. There are still a lot of things that I would like to get, but I've got to spread it out so I don't break the bank :)

I also found an adorable cross body Steve Madden purse at TJ Maxx. I figured when we go to Quebec City I will want a smaller bag to carry and a cross body one for extra security. I forgot to take a picture but it's a tangerine and carmel tan color. I love it!

Yesterday, in between doing laundry and some more cleaning I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and sit out on my deck. Well... I fell asleep and two hours later came inside to find out that I got sunburned, in February!!!! Crazy. Oh Georgia weather you are a wonder :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and have a fabulous week!

Confessional Friday

I'm linking up with Leslie over at A Blonde Ambition today.

• I got my order of Girl Scout Cookies today and it's all I can do not to break open the box of Thin Mints and devour them...it's 9:00 in the morning :)
• It's been in the high 60s and low 70s lately and all I want to do is drive around with my music blaring and my windows rolled down...but instead I have to work inside with no windows in my office :(
• I have been trying to enjoy each day...but I really want it to fly by and be summer because...I'm going to Quebec City with my family!!!!!!!! Can't wait 

• I've taken a hiatus from sweet tea. I know, crazy! I'm just not feeling it right now
• I am absolutely LOVING my Brighton bracelet that I got for my birthday. My "P" family is too sweet to me!



Wow, my arm looks kinda of chunky here...hmmmm not good

Well....looks like that's all I've got. I've been honest with myself and others lately so not too much to confess :) Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Twenty-Six

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I had a wonderful day and felt so loved by all of my friends and family. This was the first year not having my parents around for my birthday and I definitely missed them.

However, I got an early birthday surprise from them when these beautiful flowers were delivered. I was soooo surprised!

Then my sister surprised me with these gorgeous flowers. My family sure knows how to spoil me :)

My co-workers are so sweet and decorated my office for my birthday. Then one of the girls made this amazing cake for me. It was so wonderful!

To top it off, right after I came home my best friend Katie came beating on my front door to wish me Happy Birthday. She brought me this beautiful rose, a birthday balloon, and the sweetest card.

I decided I wanted a laid back birthday so my sister and I ordered pizza and caught up on The Real Houswives of Orange County. She got me this awesome gold glitter phone case (which I had been looking for), a year subscription to Cosmo, AND told me to expect a monogrammed Kindle cover to come in the mail!!!! My sister knows me too well and went WAY over the top for me.

Tonight I get to see my Love and Lovebug and their wonderful parents, Friday I am having dinner and going to see The Vow with Katie and then Saturday night I am having dinner with my Bestie, Jessica. Needless to say this has been an AMAZING birthday and I feel so unbelievably loved and blessed. Here is to the next year and all that it has to bring!

Still here....

So....work is busy (I moved into a larger office, yeah!), mom was in town last week, and I've just not had much to say lately.

I'm just trucking through life right now. Nothing really fun to mention, just living.

The past two weekends I've gotten to spend some wonderful time with my love and lovebug and Shelly and Rob. It's always fun when they're around.
Last Saturday night Shelly and Rob and I went to Electric Cowboy to celebrate their brother-in-law's birthday.

Yes, we did do a shot. It was gross!

OK-1) I rarely go out. Even in college it was rare to see me go out. It's just not really my thing and 2) Woah, Electric Cowboys has some interesting people...can you say Cougers. HA, Shelly and I had fun just people watching. It was an crazy and interesting night to say the least.

January is just a blah month. Nothing really special. It's been unseasonably warm, like mid 60's everyday. I'm loving that. But, tomorrow is February, and it seems like the year is already steam rolling by.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Work is keeping me busy busy, but luckily that makes the weeks go by so much faster :)

Miscellanous Monday

Happy Monday. It's rainy and foggy here, but surprisingly supposed to be in the high 60s today. Quite a change from exactly a year ago when Atlanta shut down for a week due to extreme ice and snow. As much as I love snow, I do not want to repeat last year.

This is the front yard of the house I was living in during the ice storm

This was my driveway. It hit Sunday night and this is Thursday morning. It finally melted enough that afternoon for me to back my car down and get to work that Friday.

Anyway...here's some randomness for you!

• The main paralegal on my team is on a much needed vacation this week, therefore I am left in charge. I'm excited and nervous. I hope to show my firm that I can do this when it is given to me. I have a feeling it's going to be a long busy week!
• I had lots of ideas for things to do around the house this weekend to better my home....what did I do? Nothing! Well, I did break down the billions of boxes that were piled in my garage. Besides that, nada!
• I got back to church on Sunday and seriously felt like my battery had been recharged. It was an awesome sermon and can't wait for next Sunday
• I'm ready to buy a treadmill, but have to wait until next month when I have more moula

That's about all I've got. I really did nothing this weekend except be lazy and paint my nails. Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

New Year...New ME!!!!

Happy 2012! Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's. I babysat my loves and actually fell asleep before the new year (I'm so exciting sometimes)

Me and my Lovebug!

I'm really excited about this new year. I can just feel that it is going to be amazing! I look back at 2011 and can't believe how fast it has flown by. Seems like yesterday I was stuck at my parent's house in a horrific ice storm that shut down Atlanta for a week and to think that was almost a year ago!

Anywhoo! Here are my "plans" for the new year. God's probably laughing, but I'm going to try!

• Lose the rest of this weight. I've been lazy these past few months and with Christmas haven't tried at all, but I am determined to be a different person come this summer.
• Grow a backbone! I love being who I am. I love that I will help any friend in an instant and that people can depend on me, but something has to give. I stretch myself way too thin and need to be selfish. I have a feeling this may not go over very well with some, but I'm done. I've got to do this for myself.
• Work on my relationship with God. I found a great church that I was attending, but with the holidays, I slacked off. I can feel the emptyness from those weeks I didn't go. I really enjoyed going and am wanting to make this one of the priorities of my life.
• Find the inner peace that I feel like I've been missing. I've got to live my life for myself and no one else. I've got to stop thinking about what ifs and the future and live the present now! Life is short, I really need to enjoy every minute.

The theme to 2012 is ME! It is rare that I am selfish or am thinking about what is best for me, but I want this year to focus on me and make myself a better person. Some may see me as selfish and if so, then that is their problem. I haven't been happy lately with who I am in some departments and I want to change this.

So.....here's to the New Year. I hope it's the best yet!

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

Tomorrow night I will be here....

In the great city of.....

With my wonderful parents....

And my sister.....

While travelling with these three crazy dogs!

Mr. Bojangles (Merg's dog)

Shelby girl

Prissy Pants Hamilton

To celebrate Christmas!!!

Yummy treats....

First, let me start by saying that I am in much better spirits this week. I think watching my Love and Lovebug open their Christmas gifts from me on top of doing some Christmas baking helped push my blues away!!!!

Below is an A-Mazing recipe that I found last year (yes, I was living under a rock since this has been around forever). I actually remember when I worked in the pharmacy in CVS in high school that one of our customers brought us this treat and I LOVED it, but could never remember what it was. Well....last  year I found it!

Saltine Cracker Toffee!!!!!!

Amazing, you seriously must try this. It is a sweet salty combo that is ridiculously easy to make. I think in total I spent 30 minutes makes 2 batches of this stuff.

Here is the recipe:

40 ish saltine crackers
2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 400 degress. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Align your crackers in a single layer to cover the cookie sheet.
In a pot boil your butter and brown sugar. Once you have it boiling, let it boil for 3 minutes. Stir the whole time so it doesn't burn.
Next, pour this carmal/toffe mixture over your crackers and spread to evenly coat each cracker. Stick the pan in the oven for 5 minutes. It should get bubbly and hot.
Once out of the over, immediatly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the entire pan. I let mine sit for a minute or two after that. Then you can spread the chocolate to cover the entire pan.
Let sit for a few hours until the chocolate sets, then break into whatever size piece you would like.

Not my picture....I'm lazy sometimes :)

Warning: This stuff is addicting! Seriously. I've seen it called crack on a few sites.

Confessional Friday

I'm linking up with Leslie over at Blone Ambition today for her Confessional Fridays. 

• Right about now most everyone and everything is getting on my last nerve....don't know if it's because I'm cranky or people are just annoying this time of year (probably both)
•   I may or may not have had sweet tea and half of a chocolate orange around 9 o'clock this morning :)
•  I truly really do love my friends, honestly I promise I do, but right now a couple may be part of my irritation
• I spent most of yesterday at work goofing off and not working....whoops!
• I'm officially the Grinch (or maybe Oscar the Grouch) whichever, and I am not too upset about it at the moment
• Lately I could eat cheese dip and chips every night for dinner....yum!!!!

Hmmm....this list seems kinda negative, let's hope the weekend sweeps my grouchiness/blues away. It is Christmas and all

Christmas Traditions

Every family has their own set of traditions for the holidays...these are mine.

Christmas Eve:

Growing up we went to the children's Christmas Eve service until we grew out of that and then we would go to the midnight service. The midnight service was my favorite because at the end we all lit candles, they turned out all of the lights, and we sang "Silent Night". It was the most magical and best way to bring in Christmas and the birth of Jesus. We've moved around a lot these past few years so we haven't  had a set church in awhile. This year however, since my parents moved back to their home town we will be going to the church my dad grew up in!

Then we went home, had ham biscuits for dinner, and opened the presents from each other

Christmas Day:

We've never had a "set" routine for Christmas Day. The biggest tradition is that my sister and I always sleep in the same bed Christmas Eve night. I believe this started when she was around 6 and "Santa" ended up bringing her bunk beds in her room so my parents convinced us to sleep in the same bed that night. Then it kind of just stuck! My sister and I would stay up late under the covers with flashlights playing cards until we fell asleep. Now we just wake up whenever and are lazy. We usually cook a big breakfast and now that my sister and I are older my mother fixes Poinsettias for us to drink (Cranberry juice and champagne).

Random Traditions:

• We make sausage balls EVERY Christmas. To use it isn't Christmas until we have these.
• My aunt used to always make my dad Martha Washington balls for Christmas. Since her passing I have taken over that tradition and have to have these every year.
• Cokes in a glass bottle...enough said!
• The It's a Wonderful Life village has to be put up before it is "officially" Christmas

This Christmas is going to be a little different from all of our others. My parents moved back to North Carolina so my sister and I will be travelling up there with our three dogs to spend Christmas with them. The thing I'm looking the most forward to is spending Christmas with my grandfather and great aunt. I can't remember the last time that I got to spend Christmas with them.

So there are some of our family traditions. What are some of yours?



My greatest weakness

Disclaimer- this is to no one in particular, just venting in general

So I have a major weakness, or flaw, in my personality. Some may disagree and say that it's a good thing the way that I am, but lately I would have to argue that.

My greatest weakness in life is that I am too nice.

I was rasied to follow the Golden Rule ~ "Do unto others as you would have done unto you"
I truely live and breathe by this. I treat others with respect and kindness and never shy away from helping them no matter what it may be. I have a major problem with saying "NO".

However, lately this has been a huge burden on me in that I feel like it is taken advantage of. Just because I will help you does not mean that you should come to me with EVERYTHING that you need. Yes, in part it is my fault because I don't say no. However, that is another flaw of mine that I know I need to work on. I just have this fear that I will dissapoint someone by saying no, therefore I try to always help. (Maybe I need some therapy to break this thought process)

I try to be the best at everything I do and therefore others see this and just assume that I will do things better than them. So, instead of sucking it up and doing things themselves, they ask me to help them. Again, this is partly my fault for not being able to say no, but come on people! How are you ever going to learn to do things if you constantly ask me to do them?!?!?!?

I pride myself on the fact that I am a nice person. I try not to be mean or cruel or rude or hateful towards others and am so glad to be who I am and that I was raised the way that I was. I just wish that others could look at things the way that I do and realize that life can't be lived by others doing everything for you.

I'm planning on 2012 to be a different year in many ways (more to come on that in another post), and one of those ways is going to be changing how others treat me and how I want to be treated. Wish me luck on that one!

Miscellanous Monday

• Well...unfortunately the Walton Raiders did not win the State Championship on Saturday. They did play their very best and I am so proud to say that I am a Walton Alum
• I spent 5 hours Christmas shopping on Saturday and still haven't finished :(
• I'm sitting here drinking coconut water with mango dreaming that I'm on a tropical beach with no worries
• I did a specific diet last January that helped kick start my weight loss...I've been thinking about doing it again after the holidays. I'm not having trouble maintaining my weight, but I am having trouble losing more weight. We'll see....
• I've never had such a hard time buying Christmas presents before. Maybe it's because I'm trying to not spend too much money this year and therefore have less options? Maybe it's because I've really realized this year how pointless material things can be
• The biggest thing I'm looking forward to about Christmas is my mom's(my dad has made them too) sausage balls! They are a Christmas tradition in my family and they are amazing! (definitely won't help the weight loss though)
• I'm looking forward to the new year. Not my actual New Year's Eve plans, but to start fresh and have a new take on the year
• Even though I'm looking forward to the new year, I am NOT looking forward to the birthday that comes with it. I hate my birthday!

Ok, I'll leave you with those for now. On to start this week and hope it goes by quickly. No plans for the week to look forward to so I'm guessing it will go by slowly. Happy Monday!

Way Down in the Valley....

Way down in the valley

I heard a great noise

It was the mighty mighty Raiders

Justa beatin' them boys....

I loved high school. I grew up in a small community where it felt like family. My senior year of high school our football team made it to regionals but didn't get to state. Well....come Saturday afternoon they will be playing the Grayson Rams for the title of state! I am so proud to be a Walton Raider Alum. I may have graduated almost 10 years ago (gasp!), but still feel the pride and am blessed to have gone to such an amazing school. GO RAIDERS!!!!!!

Bah Humbug!

I'm trying. Really really trying. My house is decorated. I'm drinking peppermint mocha creamer in my coffee. I have a Christmas themed desktop background on my work computer. I have Christmas music playing on Pandora. There are Mint M&Ms on my counter......but I can't get into the Christmas spirit!

I'm in a major funk. I don't want to do anything. I'm blah and no fun to be around :( I'm not really sure what brought this on. It could be work, could be the stress of Christmas, could be that I have a dreaded birthday coming up (yuck, I hate my birthdays!), who knows?

I usually love Christmas and being able to decorate. Especially since I have a house to decorate my own way this year, but alas, I'm not excited.

I'm in such a mood that I have no appetite (which isn't really such a sad thing, I still have lbs. to lose).

Who knows...... All I do know is that I'm just blah blah and more blah! So just call me the Grinch. Hope everyone else is feeling the Christmas spirit.

Miscellanous Monday

• I killed a scorpion in my house this weekend. Yes, a scorpion. I'm hoping it was tucked away in a box that was kept in my parent's basement up in the mountains and I won't see one again
• I can now only fall asleep if my wind/cricket sound machine app is playing on my iPhone
• My favorite part of Christmas is buying Christmas tree smelling candles and car fresheners
• I can't stand Walmart...I hate when I go to Target and then later remember I forgot something, so I stupidly decide to run across the street to Walmart. Never a good decision
• I'm a bad fur momma sometimes. When Shelby doesn't want to come inside I have to bribe her with a "treat"...then I don't always give her that treat (she needs to lose weight), mean mean momma!
• I've only bought 3 Christmas presents and have NO idea what to get anyone this year
• I'm not at all in the Christmas spirit, but want to decorate more
• I saw an awesome make-up tutorial about gold glitter eyeshadow and really want to try it, but don't know when or where I would wear it :(

That's all I've got, Happy Monday!

Home Sweet Home

Back in September I decided to rent this amazing house in a neighborhood that I have LOVED for some time now. This house is perfect for me and my sister and our three dogs (yes, three, and one is almost 80 pounds!) I've finally got it looking almost like I want it to. Of course there are a few little things I still want to do (like draperies), but all in all it's ready and comfy cozy. I just took these pictres so you will see it decorated for Christmas as well. Enjoy!

 Looking from the kitchen

 Looking from the dining room

 The dining room

 My room from the hall

 My room from my bathroom

 Right side of the bathroom

 Left side of the bathroom

My huge closet!!!

I love living here and the area I'm in. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!