Girls Night Out!

Saturday night we left the boys at home and headed downtown for a girls night out! We had the absolute BEST time. Here is my best friend for the past 15 or so years, Meg!!



And my other two best friends from just about as long Jordan and Brittney, who you may recognize from here of course :)



It was a rainy, gross night outside, but we didn't let that stop our fun...



but thank goodness for valet parking :)



After dinner at Liberty we headed to our olllld favorite spot, Corner Pocket. Look who came to meet us! Jordan's brother, Brooks (with a picture of the child he takes care of that is seriously the cutest thing EVER!)...we love him!



and I love HER! I always have so much fun talking with Britt...



And look who else I found! Nikki was out with her girlfriends for a bachelorette party



And last, but certainly not least I was SO excited when we saw Blake's cousin, Natalie at church! I'm not even sure I said hey to her before I asked, "Can I go with you to get the babies?!!"

I grabbed Madison as soon as we got to the nursery, but then Brent quickly stole her away...however, I did manage to get a picture! Aren't they they cutest things ever?!! Love them!

Nikki's Birthday!

Wednesday night we were so excited to get to celebrate Nikki's birthday! Here she is with her beautiful Mom!!



We headed to Smoke on the Water in downtown Greenville (if you've never been, or if you ever visit Greenville make sure to go...it's amazing!) We had the absolute BEST time!



The ambiance is more like this, but my camera always brightens everything. I loved our view of the streets!



The beautiful couple :)



Blake and I were so excited to have such a fun night out!



And when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" we made her blowout the only candle in sight...and our only source of light at the table...



Make a wish to be my sister, Nikki!! ;) :)



I'm so happy we got to celebrate a day just for her...she is so precious, and I am so thankful for her in my life! Happy Birthday, Nikki!! (you get a week of celebrations in my opinion!)

This weekend...

It was a gorgeous weekend in Greenville (South Carolina) so Blake, Brent, Nikki and I decided to go get coffee downtown Saturday morning at the Starbucks in Falls Park...



The boys enjoying themselves...



I love our weekends together!



And then we found Thumper...well, I named him Jack, but his owner who was very interesting (a whole different story) said his name was Thumper...



He carried him around like a child...and then so did Nikki...



That afternoon the boys left to go fishing at the lake so Nikki and I stayed behind.

My dad asked me to go on a tour of homes with him because the Cancer Center of the Carolina's was putting it on, and our favorite thing to do together is to go look at beautiful houses so of course I said count me in!

I dragged Nikki with me and my dad also brought his girlfriend, Rebecca. We had so much fun, and the house was GORGEOUS!



Here was the entrance way just to give you an idea of how large it was...


The beautiful entrance way...



The kitchen cupboard...



The wife's closet...



My absolute favorite part of the whole house...the bathtub. Simply amazing...



And here was dad in the shower...with the 15 shower heads and no doors...I loved it!



And just to give you an understanding...this was a TEN YEAR OLDS room...*ahem* poor child won't know what hits him when he has to live in a dorm one day...



And the gorgeous back yard that had a pool, pond and hot tub to the right...



We had such a fun weekend, Himmies couldn't even stop smiling...



I said, "Himmies, tell me how much you REALLY loved this weekend"....and this was how big his smile got...



:)

Praise the Lord!

Finally!! My favorite fashion girls (well, Ashley being a favorite...MK is just fun to watch) are finally back in the game! I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to "clean up" again...

Here they were last night at the announcement of the CFDA nominees...



Bravo, Girls! You look amazing!

A Total Turnaround of a Day...Little Gift from God

Do you ever have those days where you're just ready to throw in the towel? Those days where you think I can't answer one more phone call at work...Or if you're a mother...I can't think of anything else to do to make this baby happy!!

Yesterday was my day.

After lunch I could feel the anxiousness coming on, and I couldn't stick around for it...

I left work early and headed straight home for the bed. I quickly fell into a deep sleep (which is usually all I need to get out of that little quirky hole) and woke up two hours later.

As I was about to run to the post office to send my sister a package my phone rang, and guess who it was?!

My friend, Brent of Aman Stovall...remember him from this post?! Or this one?! Or maybe you follow him and his gorgeous business partner Mary Katherine here.

Well, he asked me where I was, and I told him, "I'm home...where are you?!"

He told me he and Mary Katherine had just finished showing their line to a boutique in Columbia and he was right down the road...

Can we say perfect time for a quick visit from a precious friend?!!

YES WE CAN.

He said, "We're on our way to your house!"

"HEAVENLY DAYYYY!" I thought to myself, and then I looked around at all of the crap thrown in every direction...

You should have seen how fast I threw things in closets, tossed dishes in the dishwasher, lit candles to hide any trace of the fact that we share our house with two dogs that overtake it and turned on the AC for the first time this year because I had worked up a sweat...

It was like that scene out of Adventures in Babysitting...please tell me you've seen that gem of a movie from the 80's...it was a household staple in our family.

I finally heard them knock on the door and I lit up!

I barely got to through the "hey!! I've missed you's..." before I quickly asked, "Sooooo do you by any chance have the clothes with you?!!"

They told me yes, and I ran and grabbed my camera and prepared for a dress up party...

In my front yard...

:)

So here they are...even more gorgeous in person if you can imagine, and now I am even more obsessed not just because I love their clothes...



But because the two behind the clothes are some of my favorite people ever!



Seriously...I think I found my new best friend in Mary Katherine! She is SUCH a DOLL!! Cutest, sweetest and most down to earth girl ever...LOVE her!!!



And speaking of love...you know my love affair with this piece from their collection...



Seriously...it could not be any more gorgeous!! Any guess what I found out...Mary Katherine had a dream about it, and the next day made it come to life! Love it even more!!!

Love Love Love...that was all that I was feeling. I was seriously on a high.



And then I asked to pull this out because I almost can't breathe when I look at this dress it is so stunning...



And thankfully my sweet husband came home just in time to see all these beautiful things for himself so he will know what to get me when he sees them in the store...

I WANT EVERYTHING, BLAKE!!

:)



I came out a new, slightly sassy, woman



Thank goodness when you feel like your loosing your mind you can sometimes find it in your clothes...

And even MORE SO in your friends! :)

Last night...

Last night I picked Himmies up, walked to the bathroom, stood over the tub and asked him if he wanted "to get clean"...

He knows this means bath time.

:)



and then I repeated this little pep talk with him about 30 more times all the while knowing there was no possibility I was going to give him a bath last night...

"Why?" might you ask?

Because everytime I do it he grips me for dear life, and it makes me feel so loved, wanted and needed as a mother...



and it also makes me laugh...



I'm a sick person...

**Side note...these pictures are from October...it's a bad habit I've been doing for months now. Don't worry, he doesn't have that ugly haircut...

For now, anyway...

5 Minutes in my head...

First off, thank you for all of the votes yesterday!! Thanks to all of you I'll be going with the Aldo ones! :)

Now onto last night...

For some reason this past weekend I was chatty Cathy in Blake's ear.

I'm not usually a huge talker...or maybe I am and don't realize it??

But this weekend I realized it...

I just couldn't stop talking!

It didn't even stop when my mouth stopped moving. Last night I got in bed and laid there as Blake fell quickly asleep, and my mind raced 1000 thoughts per minute.

Here's what was on my mind...in no particular order...


I hope those vitamins I took at dinner don't make me sick in the middle of the night.

Should we keep our money as money or should we buy gold and silver...this inflation thing is kind of keeping me up at night...

Why is Tucker breathing so loud...

Why did I ever let dogs come into this house...

Oh wait...because of that little fur ball, bundle of joy, Himmies sleeping at my feet :)

I wonder if I checked all of the houses on homes.com in Simpsonville...I REALLY want to move there.

I love my husband.

I love Emily Maynard.

I wish I had her legs.

I miss my family.

I need to go to the grocery store...I'll be devastated if I get to the last part of my spicy green beans and have no soy sauce to finish them off tomorrow.

I hope people on my blog know how much I love Jesus. Especially since I like to use the words hell, s*** and other four letter words to enlighten my stories.

That sermon on Sunday punched me in the gut.

I need a small group.

I need a church.

I need some chocolate.

I need a tissue for all the tears I'm about to cry because I miss my niece and nephew so bad.

I want a baby.

No I don't.

Yes, I do.

Right now.

Oh wait, Blake won't let me quite yet.

Or for another few years.

I've gotta go "green" with all my products and throw out anything plastic in this house. Kristen Pardue's tweets (@GFreeDietitian) are starting to freak me out.

Oh shoot, does that mean I can't use my Obagi?? That stuff is really keeping the wrinkles away.

I may have to make just one exception...

Why can't I sleep?!

Tucker, STOP SNORING!!

Blake...STOP SNORING!!!!

And somewhere in between the snores and the crazy thoughts I drifted off to sleep....

Shoe Shopping...and a pair of pants on sale

For the past few weeks I've woken up to go to work, headed straight for my closet and dreaded one simple thing...

What shoes will I wear?!!

I don't know if you're like me, but I have worn each pair to death! I'm talking there is no plastic protector on my heels, they are all worn down to the metal spike, the soles are completely gone, and for some reason it looks like I've taken them through the ringer.

Literally...to death.

So I shared with Blake my frustrations, and because we had a little extra money in our budget this month he told me I could go get a couple pairs. When I got our power bill for this month it said -$16.76...meaning you don't have to pay this month and next month will take $16.76 off???? They do this once a year if you make all of your payments on time, and it is BRILLIANT! Because...I GET NEW SHOES!!!!

:)

So...because I got a little OVERLY excited, I'm having a hard time picking one of the pairs out, and I need your input of which ones you like better! Sadly, two of the pairs won't let me save their picture so you'll have to click on the link, but let me know what you think!

First of all, these are a definite keeper only because I've already worn them :)



Here is the link in case you want them also...I think they're a bit cuter in person than in this picture, but maybe I'm just trying to reassure myself that it was money well spent??

And now comes the voting...

Here is option #1.

I have to have a wedge that I can throw on with everything because I love wedges...

What is more comfortable than a wedge?!! I'll tell you...

NOTHING.

So here were the Diane von Furstenberg one's I was eyeing, but with the $280 pricetag my husband told me to take those eyes elsewhere...



So here were the replicas I found at Aldo. Not too shabby for a replica...I'll take the $200 savings :) Here is the link for these.



Option #2

This one is my budget-friendly pick at $49.99.



And Option #3

(In coral) Because I love "T" straps, and I think these are adorable.

So...help me out, everyone! Which do you like better?!


And one last thing...

Here are the pants I got for $24.99 at J Crew (cheaper in the store) that I may be a smidge obsessed with! :) I plan on making the rolled up pants my staple wardrobe for the spring...these aren't shown rolled up, but just imagine them in your head...

With one of the wedges you like best...

I'm eating Fruit Loops...

as I sit at my desk and avoid work...

And thinking about how my phone was run over last night (by me) and washed away (by the monsoon that made an appearance in Columbia last night).

And thinking how I really wanted that iphone 4, but my sweet husband said no... Because I actually do have insurance on that run over piece of crap one, which would only cost me $50 to replace instead of the $200 for the new iphone.

Actually he told me "it was my decision", but you know if you're married that means...

Hell no.

:)

And I'm thinking about how much I love my husband, and the fact that he can tell me "no" every once in a while because he probably tells me "yes" a little too often.

And last, but certainly not least I'm thinking of how grateful I am that my husband was born 25 years ago today because he's brought a new kind of sunshine into my life that no one else ever has, and I love him with my entire self...

Oh, and the fact that we get to go celebrate at Mellow Mushroom tonight...

HOORAY FOR BIRTHDAYS!!!!!