Savannah/Hilton Head via Friends

My 30th birthday fell on a Monday which happened to be our travel day back home from Savannah/Hilton Head/Atlanta. We got home in the early afternoon and after opening cards and gifts and reading facebook messages I couldn't help but feel anything but overwhelmingly blessed. And as I lay on the couch responding to facebook emails I thought, "30?! This is great... I don't feel a day over 24!" It is then that I realized I had just taken 3 ibuprofen and was wrapped up in my body-size heating pad! Whatever works, right?

My friends and Justin offered to celebrate with me in Savannah this year. Justin and I had never been to Savannah, so we were excited to visit the southern city. Our 4 hour ride from Atlanta to Savannah turned in to a 6 hour ride, so we took advantage and visited the sites along the way. Oh, you didn't know Dairy Queen of Macon in the Exxon gas station was a must see? Surprisingly, our little southern town doesn't have a Dairy Queen, so the mini blizzards are a big time treat!



Our hotel was amazing, as was the weather, as was the downtown. The first night we were there we ventured out to experience the night life and at 11:30 Christina said, "It's YOUR birthday, what do YOU want to do?" But of course... what any true 30 year old party girl past her prime would say... "Go to bed." Maybe it was because our husbands were there or maybe because we are getting older, but it didn't go unnoticed that went on birthday vacation, had cocktails and never got drunk. Never even stayed out past 12:30, but we were staying in the Westin and they do have those heavenly beds. Best.Sleep.In.A.Long.Time.

Saturday we ventured over to Hilton Head Island to enjoy the HHI Westin and their beach! The weather was perfect... sunny and beautiful, but not hot and the beach wasn't overly crowded. Truly, we had the best of both worlds experiencing the southern charm of Savannah and the beach! What more could a birthday girl as for?

As with any vacation, it was over MUCH too soon, but I am so grateful and humbled to be surrounding by such kind-loving people. Thank you, Justin, Christina and Ken for making sure I felt celebrated and loved. I've never felt more.

Savannah via Instagram

Allison has been talking about instagram for months and months and due to my twitter/facebook hiatus encouraged me to join so I could share my pictures during my trip. Usually, I just text them to her, but I'm glad she talked me into this. I love the idea of being able to edit them into art immediately.

Paula Deen's restaurant.

No, we did not eat there. We heard it wasn't worth the wait. I do love the tilt-shift feature that makes one thing in focus and everything else blurry.

Chandelier in the lobby of our hotel.

I'm thinking this one might need to go in a frame, but which room. A house is never really finished is it?

Tupelo is a type of honey, not made in Tupelo. Too bad. Have you heard the Van Morrison song? It's beautiful.

Savannah Bee Company

The Andrew Low House

Downtown Church.

I will say, I am super impressed with the iPhone 4. I took several of these while we were driving around and they aren't the least bit blurry. Amazing. I have about 30 more pictures that I snapped Sunday afternoon around the city, but I didn't run them through Instagram, so you'll have to check my facebook. After Easter, of course.

the last week in my 20s

This time next week I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday! It is insane to me that my 20s are almost over. Part of me wishes I had made a big 30 for 30 list or something like that, but alas I didn't. I'm ready for 30! I feel happy and settled like I'm on the right path and I know for sure that the last thing I feel is old. Granted, I have a heating pad wrapped around my neck and back at the moment. Maybe I have a jacked up neck and back, but that doesn't make me OLD! I can remember my 20th birthday like I celebrated it last night. It fell the same night of the Sigma Chi/SAE party, Manmouth, (was that what it was called?) and I dressed to the nines in a black tube top and black skirt. Wonder what shoes I was wearing? Shoes are always a tell tale sign of the times... 2001. Too bad there aren't any pictures. So... here we are, 10 years later and a lot has happened, so I figured I ought to give my 20s a proper reflection.

1. Turned 21. Wasn't the best present of your 20th birthday was that you were 1 year closer to 21? Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't wait to be able to get into Schooners.


2. Graduated from Baylor. I still look back and think about my study habits to social habits and have no idea how I did it. In 4 years.


3. Moved to Austin. People ask me now why I moved to Austin and it was because my BFF was moving there, so why not? Such a wise decision and I'd move back to Austin tomorrow if given the chance.


4. Lived on my own~ish. Enjoyed all my roommate experiences, some more than other, and some I wish I could form a compound with now. But my single girl studio apartment that I lived in in Chicago is my happy place. I go back there in my mind when I've just got to get away.


5. Changed my hair ~ In the past 10 years I've been red, brown, black, blond, purple. Short hair, long hair, messy hair, angled bob, The Rachel, straight, "curly", teased, flat, frizzy nappy. Of all those, I think I want to revisit blond.


6. Watched every single episode of Sex and the City. Saw both of the movies and then watched it over and over and over again. How is it that the episodes are still relevant and their clothes don't look out of date?


7. I started my career, but at the time I had no idea that it was my career or how it would all pan out.


8. Met my good friend, the stiletto. In 2004, I wore 4-5inch stilettos every.single.day. I thought there would never be a time when I wouldn't feel more comfortable in stilettos. Now I can't wear them for more than a couple of hours at a time.


9. Tried sushi. Gagged my fool head off at first bite and now I love it. Spicy tuna, y'all!


10. Traveled from coast to coast, but not out of the country. If I had to pick between NYC or California... I'd pick California. Obviously, not the city, but such a great place.


11. Moved to Chicago. God closed a door, opened another one and that move changed my life.


12. I met my best friends in my 20s. I lost some best friends too. Martha Stewart once said, "Sometimes best friends are not, and that's too bad." Couldn't agree more. Losing friends, I believe, has shaped me into a better friend. I'm so thankful for the best friends I have. Truly, they are the best.


13. I lost all of my Grandparents. It is so weird to think that they are all gone, but I am very lucky that I had all the years I had and made the memories I made.


14. Friends ended. "I didn't get on the plane." I bet a week doesn't go by that I don't drop a quote from "Friends" in a conversation. Still so funny, but unlike Sex and the City... their clothes DO look out of date!


15. Started a blog. Well, a xanga, then a blog and here we are. Wish I had known then that the internet is written in ink, but I do love looking back and seeing how I've changed.


16. Met my husband at an Avis Car Rental in San Diego, California. When he introduced himself, I immediately looked for a ring. I was pretty sure that he was way too conservative for me. He's made me want to be a better person. I think I've made him a little less conservative.


17. Got healthy and lost 20lbs. To look back on where I was it boggles my mind to realize I'm at a place where I like to exercise. I had a couple of glasses of wine the other night and confessed that to Christina. I guess it's no secret... I enjoy working out. It takes a long time to get to THAT place!


18. Taught myself how to cook with the help of my good friends at the Food Network. Now it's one of my favorite hobbies and I get to do it all day every day and most nights at home.


19. Moved to the South. I NEVER thought I'd move back to Texarkana because it was so small and now I live in a town that is half the size of Texarkana. Welcome to Mayberry my friends... a far cry from Austin and Chicago, but charming all the same.


20. Got 2 babies... Lola & Stella. Good grief I love those angels. Not sure if I would treat my kids as good as I treat my fur babies.


21. Bought a house. Basically by myself, because Justin was out of town. I adore our little cottage, but wish that it had of come with endless funds to make it fully my own.


22. Started drinking wine. Wine got a bad rap in college... it was just so snotty and pretentious. What was I thinking? Give me a glass, a bottle or a box... I love it all!


23. Got an iPhone. Think back to your first car phone/cell phone. Now, how great is the iPhone? I've had 3 now and I can never go back!


24. Didn't learn how to not put my foot in my mouth. My Stupid Mouth by John Mayer is still one of my most played. Maybe I learn how to shut the heck up in my 30s. Here's hoping!


25. Didn't learn how to arrive early or on time. I'm still late everywhere. STILL! My internal time clock is just 10 minutes behind the world clock. My weakness will always be my weakness.


26. Ran a half marathon! It felt amazing to push myself to new levels, and now 2 years later I'm thinking about doing it again this year. Running isn't an addiction for me, but I do enjoy setting and reaching goals.


27. My feet got smaller and my hair got thicker. Is that a getting closer to 30 thing?


28. Got Facebook. Deleted Facebook. Got Facebook again. How different would life be without Facebook? It's taught me how to be a better internet stalker and that nothing is ever truly private!


29. My real body age, which was tested a month ago, is 24. The truth is, I feel far better now than I ever did at 24. If the 20s were any indication of what's to come... my 30s will be fab.u.lous!


30. Finally, that no matter where I am, God is always faithful to provide. Even when I scan this list, I can't help but think how undeservedly blessed I am. For that, I am so grateful.

~Christmas Home Tour~

I've been collecting Christmas decorations since Justin and I got married 3 years ago and all they've really decorated were the inside of boxes in our storage! I bought everything after Christmas, and immediately put it away, so most of it I had completely forgotten about! This year I was more than happy to pull out my decorations and did so the week before Thanksgiving! We had about 15 guests in our home for the holiday and I wanted everyone to feel festive and cozy!

Allison sent me a link to a blog home tour and I was so inspired to share with y'all! I so loved getting to decorate for the first time ever, that I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do!

First let's start with the mantle and all the little decorated areas of the house and then we'll move on to the trees!

The stockings were hung by the chimney that's closed off... but still! I definitely would have liked to have done more here, and I probably will next year, but I have a strict rule about buying decorations AFTER the season when you can get them for the best price. I do like the festive touches that brought our mantle up to season. I like the glitter pine cones in the pink stems so much that they might just stay year round. Is that ok?

This is our entry way table with glitter tree that I've put our cards on. I took this picture a while back, so there are a few more that haven't made it on the tree yet! Can't wait until it's full of friendly faces! I filled my milk glass bowls with black, gold & silver ornaments and a Merry Christmas sign!

I snatched these gold candle sticks from my Gram's house a few visits ago. My mom hated them, but I just love them at the opening of my dining room and living room! These glitter pine cones and tiny birds have found their perfect home in the rim.

Funny story about this tree topper. I snagged in on sale last year and never actually put it on a tree! This year when I was decorating it wouldn't stay on top of either of my trees! Can't figure out why they would make a tree topper that wouldn't top a tree, but I digress. So, during the process of decorating this topper moved from room to room, but finally found it's home on the coffee table amongst the mercury glass, feathers and magazines! Now I think it looks like it always belonged there!

This was another thrown together hodgepodge that I thought turned out so nicely! This is on the side table of the couch. It's a gold and silver garland that I fastened together, threw some cream fabric in the middle and added some mercury glass. Like the previous topper, I was hoping to put this one on my gold tree, but it was too tall and too scary for hard wood floors. (Side Note: I've never dropped so many things in my life as I have on my hard wood floors! I am getting to a point that I need to buy extra of everything because I am bound to drop one and break it!)

On to the dining room. This is our green hutch and I thought this would be the perfect place to display the only red and green decorations that I have in the entire house! Can you imagine Christmas without red & green? Come visit my house and I'll make it easy for you. One of my Christmas trees is gold & one is black... I don't even have green trees here!

I picked up some of these Santa mugs last year at Justin's grandmother's antique store and picked up more of them and the jug from my gram! Gram's have little green rhinestone eyes. They fit in perfect with all the glitter and sparkle around here!

I love glass ball wreaths, but forgot to buy balls last year so I could make my own! I ended up going to a thrift store here and finding bags of glass balls for right around $8 total. Add that to the $1 I spent on tinsel and I have a fab new glass ball wreath for less than $10. If you look at this one up close, you can see how old and eclectic all the balls are and that makes me very happy! You'll see this one again in our Christmas picture!

Here is the "Diva" Tree! This was a green tree that I got last year and spray painted black. It was $40 cheaper to buy it green and buy the paint to make it black rather than just buying a black tree! It's a 6ft tree and I love how the mesh netting and over sized ornaments turned out! Wouldn't this be perfect in a sassy little girl's room? For now it's just perfect for our master bedroom where the colors are mostly black, white and pink.

This is the gold tree that's in the living room. I die a little inside every time I see the red wrapping paper, but I didn't wrap those presents, and I felt a little wasteful to unwrap them all and re-wrap in my paper, so you must forgive just like me. It's really hard to get the full effect of the gold tree without it looking white, and if I could invite each of you over for hot chocolate you could see all it's vintage glory with your very own eyes.

Here's the entire room lit up at night so you can get a better picture. I keep wanting to apologize for the quality of the pictures, but really, I'm not a photographer with a fancy camera, so this is a good as it gets and it could be a lot worse, right?

Family pictures inside the cottage.

Family pictures outside the cottage. It was actually snowing outside when we took this. Thanks for indulging me and looking at my house! From our house to yours... Merry Christmas!

Jersey Boys is kinda like Jersey Shore, right?

I'm kind of a middle of the road Valentine's Day person. I don't swing too far either way. Didn't black hearted HATE Valentine's Day to it's core when I was single and don't Oooey Gooey Butter Cake LOVE Valentine's Day now that I'm married. I think it's fun, so why not embrace it and if you don't have a man to embrace, embrace the chocolate! Chocolate will love you long time.

So, guess what we're doing? Really, I'm so excited... we've had these plans since December!

It is my Mom's 50~ish something birthday, so me and Justin are taking her to see...

I knew Mom had been wanting to see this for a long time and it was playing ON her birthday {which is also Valentine's Day} so Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday! Justin has never seen a Broadway show or a Broadway style show, so I am so excited he gets to see one. He's going to love this!

It's playing at...

The Orpheum in Memphis!

It's going to be a fun weekend. Mom's been losing weight & doing more aerobic activity {her words}, so I think I'm going to take her to the gym or perhaps let Jillian punish her. Don't worry ~ I'm going to feed her good too! Can you say steak dinner on Saturday? Here's hoping it's her best birthday in a LONG time!

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you ~ may you get flowers at work or give love the double middle finger. Either way hope your weekend is wonderful and exactly what you want!

xoxo

Merry Christmas

Justin and I are celebrating Christmas in Kentucky this year. We surprised our family and have been enjoying the past few days away. We hope that all of you are having a wonderful time with your family and enjoying all the delicious holiday treats. We won't judge you if you're enjoying the treats more than you're enjoying your family!

ps ~ this was our card that we sent out!

christmas card photo shoot 2009

Justin and I have to cram in a weekend worth of housekeeping and to do lists into Sunday and this past Sunday take Christmas card picture was on the list! Unfortunately, it was below eating lunch, flipping a switch at the restaurant and grocery shopping! After all that, we rushed home and got ready for the big photo shoot. I asked Justin to get Lola bathed so she wouldn't look ragamuffin and he said, "I don't need to shower do I?" He hadn't showered and his hair didn't look too much like bed head, and people advise about picking your battles in marriage, so I un-picked that battle! Eventually he did end up showering, and I thought you might want to see a couple of the shots that we took but did not use on our actual card!


Test shot outside our front door. It is not going to be easy to get my darty dog to cooperate!


This is the little pond and "track" outside our apartments. I've run this track MANY a times, and I think this picture would have been great if the water didn't look so dadgum murky! This however, is the first time I've been out by the pond in a little black dress.

By the holly bush! Lola is looking for her best friend June to come save her from the giant red bow and Justin is about 37 pictures over his limit. "I thought we were taking pictures in one pose." How on earth could I make my decision more difficult for the most indecisive person in the world if we only had one pose?

Of course I will show you the actual card as soon as ours go out for all of you blog friends that I don't have an actual address for.

Thanksgiving 2009

The new Thanksgiving tradition for our family of 3 is to spend Thanksgiving away from our families. Our business has it's busiest day of the year the day after Thanksgiving, so it doesn't make sense for us to travel, but we would love to have our families here. I think they are all afraid we'll put them to work the next day, so they shy away.

Last year was a fail. We ate mexican food and went in and worked. BOO! This year, we invited friends over that had no where to go and made a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Much better for the heart and soul to stick to traditional Thanksgiving plans (and not go into work when not absolutely necessary!)

First, I tackled a turkey breast. There were only 3 of us, so really there was no need for 15lbs of turkey. I worried that it would be dry, because it seems that more often than not turkey is dry, but the method worked.

I did a variation/adjustment for size on Cooking Light's Ultimate Roasted Turkey. Don't shy away from the "cooking light" in the title. I patted him down with herb butter and slid some under his skin. I basted him every 30 min for 2.5 hours and he was moist and delicious!

To accompany the bird, I fixed Sweet Potato Casserole {for me}, Southern Cornbread Dressing/Stuffing (depending on where you're from) {for me & justin} & Hash Brown Casserole {for justin}. And of course, Sister Shubert made my rolls. I just looked back through all these recipes and they all came from Cooking Light as well. The Sweet Potatoes {save for being under the broiler for too long} and the Southern Cornbread Dressing were both delicious! I couldn't tell that they weren't chocked full of bad for you calories.

I made everything the day before so all I would have to do was bake the dishes and I do not think that was a wise choice for the hash brown casserole. We all ate it, but it wasn't as good as I'm used to.

Justin told me later that day, "Babe, honestly, that was the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had." No better compliment.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

from The Flowers'

Pumpkin Time

I ended up buying those pumpkins that I had been eyeing the other day. Justin didn't want to get the gourds, because they were bumpy and he thought they looked cancerous, so we went with a big pumpkin and some mini pumpkins!

The only thing left to do with a big pumpkin is to carve it! Justin drew out the design ~ Mississippi style! Our Jack-O-Lantern is missing some teeth in his grill!

My job was to pull the guts out! I love this part and can't wait to roast them seeds! Please please forgive how nasty I look! Only hours before I let Jillian kick my butt and boost my metabolism. Rough!

Can you see the best part? He made the ears detachable so they'd stick out! A master carver if I do say so myself!




Ready for the lights...

Happy Fall Y'all from the Flowers'

"Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer."

Our trip to Orange Beach was our first time back at the beach since our honeymoon in December of 2007. We've taken little trips here and there, but there's no place quite like the beach.

2009, so far, has been a rough year for the two of us. We work together and I think we work well together picking up where the other lags, but this assignment has been hard and quite frankly frustrating. Some days it feels like I get to work with my husband and other days it feels like I'm married to my boss.

When I say we needed this vacation I'm saying we needed to get away from our daily life for a minute. Mostly we needed good rest and no schedule to follow. We work 6 days a week and the thing about being married to your boss means that you bring work home...actually you take work with you every where you go. Except the beach. They don't allow work there.

We arrived Saturday afternoon, and the minute we laid our stuff out on the beach we lathered sunscreen and immediately fell sound asleep. Our bodies wasted no time adapting to the vacation way of life. We went for long walks on the beach, ate good food, went to bed early, and reconnected on many levels.

These pictures were taken on our last night & it was so cold on the beach, and that was the only this we would have changed about the entire trip. 10 degrees warmer, and it would have been perfect. I'm realizing that perfect doesn't fit well with our life & our marriage and this year has made me see how imperfect the two of us are and how hard we have to work to keep our happy marriage happy. But as far as birthdays and vacations go, this one will definitely be one for the books.

People usually have big opinions when I say that I work with my husband and I have one too. It's not easy everyday, but let me put it this way... membership definitely has it's privileges.

*Thank you JF for such a meaningful birthday gift. I'm still as lucky today as I was December 1, 2006 when I met you at the avis counter.

were you worried about us?

This picture was taken 11 hours into our trip & 14 hours into my 28th year. We spent the first 5 or so hours of the trip in the car, but vacation life is grand folks! We have done much relaxing, resting, eating, more relaxing and more eating. Definitely what the doctored ordered for the two of us. Off to enjoy Day 3 ~ not sure if we'll ever come back.

Ps ~ very special thanks to my sweet friend Shanda for kindly agreeing to keep our little toot nanny Lola. Don't worry, Shanda, if anything will make us come home, it will be her!

Orange Beach, Alabama

Justin surprised me yesterday with a birthday trip to Orange Beach, Alabama! We leave either tomorrow night or early Saturday morning and honestly, we need this so bad! This will be the first holiday that we've celebrated since his birthday in February, LAST YEAR! Do you know how many holidays have happened since his birthday LAST FEBRUARY? A lot!

There is much to do to get ready to leave for a while, but you know I've already been looking for yummy restaurants! Have any of you been to Orange Beach? Got any good suggestions of places we have to dine? Other than eating, I hope to do a LOT of relaxing and maybe take a trip to Target. Can you imagine living in a place with NO target? I can, because I do!

to all a good night.

My Christmas wish to all of you, my sweet friends, is that you had a classically delightful holiday like you've been dreaming about all month. I let it be known around the table this year that I will be spending Christmas in Hawaii next year. This is the most wonderful time of the year, right? So why can't a girl dream big? It's going on my vision board as soon as I get home. Another item of business on my vision board is that everyone will learn how to use my camera without being shakey-mcshakerson! Love the natural light, hate the blur. Guess you can't have it all.