books

I have been quite the reader lately! I had some time on my hands during track out and then this past week as I have been home sick with a nasty throat virus. I thought I would share what I’ve been reading.

Longing by Karen Kingsbury. Because I’ve been addicted to the Baxter Family now Flanigan Family Series forever.

The Hunger Games. Never ever thought I would read these. Seriously, they sounded awful. Then I placed a big Scholastic book order for school and it gave me a “Pick one of these books now for free” from a list of teen novels. Of which I have no use for with my 2nd graders. So I saw the Hunger Games and went “ehh people have said they’re good it’s free so I’ll give it a try.” I COULD NOT put book one down. Good thing this was the beginning of track out because I had the freedom to do just that. And then I precisely bought the second two and read them on my ipad. They are SOOOO good!

Deadly Decor Series by Ginny Aiken. The first book in this series is free for Kindle so I gave it a shot. It was funny, intriguing and had me hooked. I read all 3 and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Save the Date by Jenny B Jones. Recommended by one of the girls in my small group. I got this one on the kindle in the middle of my sick week. It provided me with a good escape.

Bon Appetit and Piece de Resistance Sandra Byrd. I read the first book in the series, Let Them Eat Cake, a while ago and enjoyed it. The other two were equally enjoyable. I was whisked away to Paris (a nice respite from my couch where I have been all week long) in a fun romantic, coming of age story. Only bad part was I kept wanting to eat pastries. 🙂

Most of these I read on my ipad. I use the kindle app. I’ve found that:

1 – I am much too impatient (and lazy in the case of being sick) to go to the store and buy a book. Oh and I’m pretty sure the library has wanted posters with my face on them for overdue fines.

2 – Kindle books are pretty cheap and sometimes free.

The ipad isn’t the absolute best for reading (it’s kind of heavy and I’m sure staring at the screen isn’t great for my eyes) but it works. I would like to get a Kindle sometime in the near future. Both of my parents have one and they recently got a Kindle Touch for my Grandpa for Christmas. But the good thing is I dim the brightness down a lot so it’s not quite as bad.

Fall List

I can’t believe that it’s already September. Where has summer gone? Summer is undoubtedly my favorite season of the year but Fall comes in a close second. I’ve become a huge decorating lover and Fall is full of great colors, materials and just makes me want to “nest”.

A whole first quarter of school has passed and I’m only 2 days away from a much needed break. It’s not a very long one so for the first time in a while I am not planning on going anywhere during my break. I’m going to stay right here and enjoy some down time, some organizing/cleaning around the house, decorating and exploring Raleigh.

I’m calling it my staycation and I’m pretty pumped. I know that first I’ll have to have at least a few days of “nothing” as I’ve been going to fast lately I really need to just slow down! Nothing says track out like sleeping in, waking up, and then moving to the couch. 🙂

I’m in the process of making a list of fun things I want to do during my track out. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

1. Craft in the crafty room as much as possible.
2. Catch up on White Collar (sooo behind)
3. Read at least 3 books.
4. Try at least 4 new recipes.
5. Go to the farmer’s market.
6. Get a pumpkin.
7. Spend time walking around downtown.
8. Eat lunch outside at Whole Foods and people watch.
9. Walk around the lake.
10. Make a craft using burlap.
11. Make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

I’m giddy just thinking about it all right now. That’s the kind of dork I am. 🙂

Happy Fall, Happy Track Out to Me!

What do you love about Fall? Any ideas to add to my list?

Taylor’s Wedding: Rehearsal Dinner

My dear sweet friend Taylor, got married on June 18. It was one of the most fun weddings I’ve been in!

All of the wedding festivities took place at The Arbors, a wedding venue located outside of Charlotte.

Two of Taylor’s soroity sisters have started their own wedding/event business and did all of the decor for the Rehearsal Dinner (check them out: Perfect Pairings). They made all sorts of cute shabby chic decorations that were adorable. Taylor is a big shabby chic lover and every detail felt so “her”.

All of the bridesmaids with the bride and flower girls.

Love these sweet girls!

There was a photo booth and needless to say, we had some fun with it!

I love this one because in college I always got made fun of for closing my eyes in pictures. Taylor got caught this time!

What a fun night we had! (And the party was just getting started!)

Craft Room, Part 1 – Beginnings

Over my last track out I kept myself very busy: weddings, vacation, oh and redoing a room in the house. I had been planning on turning the guest bedroom into a craft room/office for a while. Track out gave me the time to get it all done.

Before and after Amy’s wedding the guest room became a dumping grounds of sorts. From wedding presents to my school stuff it was a mess!

After I got back from Savannah I promptly moved everything into the hallway and got my paint on. Let it be known that I am not a professional painter by any means. I don’t have mad painting skills. But I got the job done and I did it all by myself!

I painted the room the same old tan that is in our living room. While my bedroom is much more colorful I wanted a neutral slate that I could accessorize with different colors and patterns.

That’s the beginnings of my AWESOME craft room. Stay tuned for the reveal!

may, june, july….oh how those months went by

I could win an award for being the most sporadic blogger ever. If you know me in real life and you follow my blog you would probably realize that my most consisted blogging happens when I am out of school. Which is every 9 weeks. So I should title by blog “The Every 9 Weeks Blog”. Oh well, such is life.

I’m going to just dive in and update you all on some fantastic things I’ve been up to.

May:

I saw my sweet friend Amanda get married. Amanda was such a radiant and beautiful bride and every detail of her wedding was lovely.

I had a super hot date for the wedding as well.

I finished the school year. Which also meant that I said goodbye to my coworker Megan as she recently moved back to New Jersey. Megan made my first two years fantastic! I’m going to miss her so much!

A bunch of us had dinner one night to try to get Megan not to leave us. It didn’t work but we still had a lot of fun!

We had some seriously good cupcakes.

June

I had a birthday and thus turned older. Whenever I mention the fact that I feel like I’m getting old I get immediately shot down and told I’m not old. But people, it’s old for me. I’ve never been this age before!

I forced Rebecca into painting pottery with me because I love it so much.

I painted a plate to look like a watermelon! It’s so entirely cute!

I became addicted to Yogurt Mountain and frozen yogurt of any kind. I may or may not have gone many times and talked many people into going. Because the next best thing to developing a new addiction is helping all of your friends develop the same addiction too.

Every time I go I feel like a 5 year old choosing all sorts of crazy ingredients.

Thank goodness my new roommate loves Yogurt Mountain just as much as I do.

I got to spend my birthday on a boat in the sunshine.

Awful picture, but it will do.

The next day my sweet and fabulous roomie, Amy, got married.

She married David, who is quite the funny man.

I’m so happy for Amy & David!

After finishing the school year and workdays, my awesome friend Heather drove down from the mountains to visit. I do this to Heather every year, make her come see me. It’s always a nice time of catching up, eating junk food, watching movies, and taking her to my fav Raleigh places. This year we had a movie marathon one night and I made Heather watch Despicable Me. Amber, aren’t you proud of me?

Unfortunately Heather and I took ZERO pictures together. One day we took two of my favorite boys, Asher and Caleb to the parent’s pool for the afternoon and had a BLAST. They were soooo silly! I loved watching Caleb try the diving board for the first time – he was a pro! After swimming of course they needed popsicles to beat the afternoon heat.

My favorite part was 10 minutes after they finished these things on the way home, Asher asked me if we could go to Yogurt Mountain. Haha. Maybe next time bud!

Ok that’s all I can do for now – next up is my friend Taylor’s beautiful wedding!

Miscellany Monday: Beach Edition

I spent the past weekend at the beach celebrating my roommate with a great group of girls. It was the most relaxing weekend.

1. View of the riverfront in Wilmington. We made a stop there for dinner.

2. Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream = Friday Night Treat

3. A chair outside a shop that I fell in love with and had a desire to take home and put on my porch. Too bad it wasn’t for sale.

4. My view for the weekend. Pure bliss.

5. Steaks on a charcoal grill. So incredibly yummy!

6. I love sitting in a chair on the beach with my feet in the water as  I read a book. If you find me at the beach that’s where I’ll be. Guaranteed.

And with that, I’m so relaxed just thinking about the relaxing weekend that I am going to sleep. 🙂

the adventures of mr. bear

Once upon a time there was a stuffed bear who had no home. He lived on a high shelf in a department store, much like the beloved Corduroy. The stuffed bear dreamed of having a home where someone loved him. One day around Christmas a girl bought the bear. She took him home, wrapped him up with a bow and gave him to her best friend. The best friend was excited about the bear, despite the fact that she was a cool middle schooler.

She took the bear back to her house and gave him a home. The girl gave the bear a name, Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear felt happy in his new home. He had a nice bed to sit on top of during the day and at night the girl would cuddle and fall asleep with the bear in her arms.

Everywhere that the girl went, Mr. Bear went too. When the girl went to college, he packed up his belongings and went too. When the girl went on trips, Mr. Bear was in the front seat. When the girl went to foreign countries he stowed away on the plane.

Mr. Bear made all sorts of friends – both stuffed and human. No one could resist being his friend!

Mr. bear brought happiness to the girl and many others and he still does. He lives in a cute little house in an even cuter turquoise room. He dreams of traveling to more faraway places in the future.

The End (for now).

miscellany monday

1. I officially have 24 days left with my kiddos! It’s crazy how fast this year has gone by. I love this group of kids and will miss them a whole lot! This time of year is very fun though as we do our play, enjoy field day, watch our caterpillars grow into butterflies and go on our last field trip.

2. In approximately 40 days I will be wearing these hott shoes for my friend Taylor’s wedding.
Which means I have 40 days to learn how to walk in these babies. I totally never wear heels. I wish I was a heel wearin girl but I’ve never been able to get the hang of it. That whole blonde and lack of balance thing, you know. I feel like I need to go on the TV show MADE and have a coach that teaches me how to walk in heels and makes me do all sorts of drills like running in them or walking down a fashion runway until I get the hang of it.

3. Yesterday I had my mom and dad over for Mother’s Day lunch. I was excited to host at my house so that mom wouldn’t have to do any cleaning or set up or cooking at all! I made chicken angel hair pasta and then a spinach salad with strawberries and glazed pecans. I think it all turned out pretty good!

4. After lunch dad tested out my new futon and promptly fell asleep. 🙂 Mom and I found a cheesy Christian movie on Netflix, What If, to watch. It was so predictable and I kept telling mom what I thought was going to happen which she didn’t like. She kept making all of these faces like she didn’t know what was going to happen or was nervous and  Dad (who finally woke up) and I kept saying “Oh well, this movie isn’t going to end well, what a bummer” which sent her into fits of laughter. It was a pretty entertaining time.

5. On Saturday  my roomie and I went to the local flea market and then the farmer’s market. I got a sweet white chair for $10.

This metal cross for $5.

At the farmer’s market I got a huge bucket of fresh strawberries and a 3 1/2 pound bag of the most delicious pecans ever. Seriously, they are good. I’m going to have some awesome lunches this week. On the way home we stopped at a new thrift store near our house and I found a coffee table!

It fits perfectly with my couch – which I got as my first ever craigslist find a little over a month ago.

6. I love the flowers in our garden!

7. Happy Monday!

my mom, the rockstar

My mom is a rockstar.

Not the kind that sings and plays the electric guitar – talk to dad about that one ;). But my mom, she’s pretty much the best.

I get my blonde hair from my mom. And yes the blonde moments that go along with that. There’s nothing better than the two of us laughing about a movie or something silly we’ve done while snorting at the same time.

Mom is so much more than a mom to me. She’s an example of great fashion.

Don’t you just love the keds?

She’s an explorer and adventure seeker.

She’s had to put up with some rough characters.

Amazingly, she’s stuck around through it all. 

My mom is so many things to me. She’s my number one prayer warrior and a great role model of godly womanhood. She has a servant’s heart and loves to help people. I could tell you story after story of things my mom does to help others, going above and beyond. My mom is a wonderful hostess, ask anyone who’s been over to her house. I definitely get my sense of hospitality and knack for decorating from my mom. My mom is kind and patient and is always there for me. She’s been with me through thick and thin and everything in between.

It’s funny because as I get older (and not like old, just older) I realize that I’m slowly turning into my mom. I only hope that I can somehow get half the grace and love and kindness that she portrays on a daily basis.

Most of all, my mom is MY mom, the woman that God chose to put in my life. For that I couldn’t be more thankful or happy! I love you mom! Happy Mother’s Day!

katie & david tie the knot

This past weekend I watched my dear friend Katie marry David, the sweetest army captain I know. (Okay, okay he’s the only army captain I know.)

The happy couple practicing at the rehearsal.

Katie’s grandparents just celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. They are precious beyond belief.

I was pumped to see my boo-slice Sydney! She’s all happily married now! The two of us together is major trouble. 🙂

Sister and mother of the bride.

The rehearsal dinner at Winston’s was uh-mazing!! For dessert I had Bananas Foster. It was incredibly delicious! I didn’t think I would ever be able to eat again after that meal!

Katie was completely stunning.

It rained Friday night but cleared up Saturday morning just in time for pictures. I loved the girls bouquets – such a fun color pop!

I love this girl.

After bawling my way through the ceremony I headed to the ceremony. It was at the Cotton Room in Durham and it was gorgeous! I was the guestbook attendant. Katie had the great idea to use a scrapbook and trace a 4 by 6 photo onto each page. At the reception I took the guest’s pictures and they signed on a page. Later after the pictures are printed they will go on the same page as where each guest signed.

I had someone snap my guestbook picture with my cool friend Emily. She’s holding a cherry lemon sundrop in a mason jar. Isn’t that fun?

What a lovely married couple.

Father/Daughter dance – Katie and her dad did a Carolina Shag. It was very cute.

Congratulations Katie and David! I love you both so much!