abi & andy

friday...

2012-02-10T13:04:00.002-05:00

iPhone photos from the week.....

I caved. I have been trying to avoid nutella for a while since its not so good for my trying to workout and eat healthier thing....but it was World Nutella day on Sunday! Had to celebrate. And nope - didn't even look it up to verify that was actually a real thing - just saw it on someone's facebook and went with it.
Andy's dinner of chicken and waffles at Cheddar's - look disgusting to me but he said is was pretty good.
Love technology that helps me cut! I am a horrible cutter and love that I can type/design something on my computer and then plug in a machine and magic! It cuts it out perfectly for me! This and the gps were created specifically for me I think.
The word art that my friend and I made.
Looking like spring here - love these blossoms on the tree.
Walking with the baby I'm watching a few days a week.

Happy Friday!

the view this morning...

2012-02-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

I love having a nice, big, open, and bright eat-in kitchen. That was one of the things I liked most about this rental house when we were first looking at it.

And I love how my newly made hope art looks

above the big yellow swirl canvas I have had hanging there

except that I realized the hope is a tad off-center.

I'll move it a bit later if it bugs me.

This morning, our dog, Maggie is waits to come in while I finish picking up a few things before my friend drops off her 8 month old. Going to watch the baby for a few hours this morning. It's such a nice day that I'm going to have her leave the stroller and we'll take a nice long walk I think. And then the rest of my day is going to involve a lot of phone calls and laundry and random things.

But first some nice chai tea latte to help me get woken up.

what I'm loving Wednesday....

2012-02-08T21:44:00.001-05:00

How does Kleenex make their Cool touch tissues? Amazing when you are sick. Feel pretty good on your nose any other time too.
Still loving and using Everyday Mineral makeup. But just their face/foundation actually. Perfect base color match to my skin tone and like the finishing powder on top of everything. This is the longest that I have ever used the same foundation I think. I used to switch up foundations often because I wouldn't like the color after I saw it in different lights or how cake-y I looked. I like some of their other things they have sent me as samples, but just never ends up being a go-to makeup product for me.
Loving the facial that I got today using my spa gift certificate that Andy got me for Christmas! My face had been really breaking out lately (not due to the above make-up since it's really natural - no clue really why, but I've been trying to find good products to help), so deep cleansing felt really good and hopefully will help!
This winter has been awesome! Love the NC warm weather we've had and wearing short sleeves, jeans, and flip flops so often in Dec., Jan., and Feb.
Working out with friends....it's actually getting a little fun since we talk a lot. And getting to know some ladies here better. Had fun showing one of these friends how to make the word sign that she wanted for her house. I made one too and really like how it turned out:

and I'm loving my cutting machine that I used, since I hate and am horrible at cutting.

instagram friday...

2012-02-03T16:05:00.002-05:00

It's Friday and I can't believe it's already February....and I can't believe that I started this post this morning and forgot about it until now(this afternoon). Most of that is because a friend of mine called and asked me to drive to another town with her and pick up something. So I went. And just got home. And realized I didn't finish this post I started.

Babysitting an 8 month old - my dog was nice to the baby, just felt a little left out.
It was so nice this past weekend, husband grilled us steak.
My flowers are growing - one stalk is way higher than the others.
Sewing ruffles for the camera strap I made.

Happy Friday!

look what I made....

2012-02-02T20:42:00.001-05:00

I am sick...again. I feel like I have been sick all of 2012. Not really, but sure feels like it. My husband was nice enough to give me his cold. I am hoping to get over it a lot quicker than my last cold turned ear infection turned asthma and bronchitis.

Anyways, while I was sitting around feeling bad today - I tried to do something productive. I finally got around to making this camera strap cover as a gift for someone. I had the instructions and fabric for a while. Good to finally get it completed. It was a fun, quick project. My favorite kind of sewing!

it turned out pretty well

I didn't feel like taking off my other camera's strap and modeling it for you - sorry!

Decided to let it model with a few of my antique cameras that I've recently started collecting.

Super easy - I think I'll make another one for me sometime soon!

superheroes....

2012-01-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Met up with some photographers in the Raleigh area this weekend to take photos of some adorable kids dressed as superheroes. Check out some more photos on my photography biz blog.
We had a quiet weekend otherwise. Andy had to do a little work stuff to get ready for his station's yearly audit. His big part of the audit was today and he said everything went well - yay!
I had a good time babysitting my friend's 8 month old baby on Friday....and she ended up talking me into helping them out on a regular basis - a couple mornings every week for a while since they got custody of her quickly and weren't able to find a daycare yet. But she is a pretty good, laid back baby, and our dog, Maggie, did really well with her, so it should be fine.

Happy Monday!

friday photos and a few apps....

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Friday.....I seem to either take a lot of iPhone photos or not many at all. This week I didn't take too many, but here are a few:

Checking out a park to do a photoshoot - found this fun field with lots of tall grass that I think will work out great.
I had a bad migraine. all. day. Wednesday. I tried to go out and do a few things and then had to chill on the couch the rest of the day. Our dog, Maggie, didn't mind - she sat on my lap most of the day.
Spying on my husband thanks to this app I was trying out - hoping to use it as a baby monitor while I am watching my friend's baby for a while today and probably next week some. It works pretty well as an occasional thing - I set my computer up and the computer cam live streams or can take a snapshot and send it to my iPhone which is what I was looking for - there are a lot of phone to phone type apps but this is one of the few computer to phone ones I found that were free.
And a display board I put together to help out my women's Bible study group leader. Thankful to have a small paper-cutter - otherwise I am horrible at cutting straight lines!

I heard about a fun app this week called Postal Pix - it's an app that lets you print your iPhone and instagram pics easily.

You just open up the app, pick out the photos to print and you can pay through paypal. Super easy and pretty cheap. Not sure about the quality yet - I ordered a few and they should be sent to me next week. I'll let you know how they turn out - but seems fun for a few of those photos you end up really liking from your phone.

Happy Friday!

colorful life....

2012-01-26T11:23:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I love Craigslist. Sometimes I don't - it's gotten weird and there are a lot of crazies on there. But this week I loved it since I posted my basic Singer sewing machine up on my local arts and crafts sale board and had it sold that day! I wanted to sell it since I just didn't like using it that much - I kept having issues with the tension and just ended up not using it because I always felt like it was a pain to use. And also because I saw, read the reviews, and ended up buying this the day before I sold my old one:

A new, computerized sewing machine. Love it. So much easier and fun to use. And I love the newer technology - push a button and it knows what you want to do and what weight fabric you are working with. I've already hemmed a few pairs of pants that I've been needing to get hemmed (story of my life...I am so short!). It's not a high end machine by any means - there are much fancier and sturdier machines out there...but it's a better machine than the very basic one I had was. And it was on sale and not too bad at all after I sold the other one.

It's a nice addition to my studio - which I recently cleaned up. Still needs some organizing though. I have a lot of art, craft, and sewing stuff in there!

Besides just hemming pants, I wanted a new project to do with my new machine. Even though I had a horrible migraine all day yesterday....I went out to Jo-Ann's and got some fabric and started cutting out some of it tonight. Love these bright, cheery colors - guess I wanted some happy while I was feeling so horrible yesterday! I'll show you the project when I get it finished....maybe....as long as I do actually finish it and as long as it turns out decent.

family weekend...

2012-01-23T18:21:00.001-05:00

This weekend we had some cold and rainy weather! I was planning to go out and shoot at two different events with photographers....and neither happened. One was early Saturday morning and when I woke up to get ready to go, it was raining outside and I didn't want to go shoot in the rain. So I fell back asleep. When I woke up a little later, it had stopped raining and some of the photographers did get together and get some fun shots....oh well. The other event was on Sunday with some of my Raleigh photographer friends - it was freezing cold on Sunday and we had been planning to take photos of some kids and just didn't think it was a great idea to have them out in the freezing weather for a few hours so we postponed that one until next week I think. So no photography this weekend. Hopefully next weekend will be better!

We did have a fun time visiting with family this weekend. Andy's sister was in town for a concert and to visit some friends and she was able to stop by and see our house for a little bit. She also invited me to come out and do a little shopping with her and her friends. We had fun and even got to look around at some bridal stores - since she just got engaged last weekend! We are so happy for her and her fiance' and looking forward to their wedding this summer.

a photo I took of Emily and Josh in December

We also got to run up to Raleigh (even though I ended up not doing the photography thing) to see my Grandmother and cousin on Sunday. My grandmother had been visiting with my aunt and uncle and flew out of RDU airport. We got to go up and have lunch with her before she flew back to Texas. So nice to see her - hopefully we will get to visit with her again soon.

We wandered around Raleigh a little - did a little shopping - and then came home.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend and a good Monday!

instagram friday...

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well this week was a lot better...I am finally not sick! And back to working out with my personal trainer yesterday. Not so much fun since I am out of shape and now horribly weak, but good to get to back to it. Here are a bunch of iPhone photos from the week....

Heading out on our road trip Friday morning
Charleston bridge
At Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Delicious stuffed shrimp

Us at a pub in Charleson
Crossing the bridge into Savannah
Fun bed and breakfast we stayed at in Savannah
Loved the room - pretty and really comfortable

Us at Tybee Island
Fried pickles. Only in the south.
Made this Garlic Chicken recipe - it turned out really good! And of course lots of chicken leftover to freeze and use later.
Drinking tea and editing a few photos

This may not look like it....but I organized the freezer. And was so proud of that fact that I took a photo. I usually throw stuff in and shut the door fast - it was a disaster. Now at least it stays in place better and I can see what we have (tons of veggies and cheese).
I was inspired by Charleston and made Pioneer Woman grits and pork chops - so amazingly good! This photo is of the grits being cooked. And I liked these grits - I think I just don't like the instant ones.

Happy Friday!

more random road tripping...

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

After we left Charleston we drove down the coast on our random road trip.

We checked out this amazingly old and large tree called the Angel Oak (Andy thought I was crazy for wanting to go see it, but it sounded cool and I was hoping to get some neat photos....but the gate wasn't open for another hour and we could only see it from a distance....so no good photos at all). We stopped at a roadside cider mill/store. And we looked around Hilton Head, SC. We were thinking about stopping there for the night, but weren't too excited by anything there....so we kept driving. We made our way down to Savannah. We found a fun bed & breakfast that had room and was pet-friendly - The East Bay Inn and enjoyed staying the night there. It was close to River Street and we had fun walking around Sunday evening and Monday morning before heading home.

Historic River Street

Love the trolleys and spanish moss

We drove across the bridge to see Tybee Island

And walked on the fishing pier

Enjoyed a nice quiet (not too cold) morning on the beach

And then it was time to head home.

We had a great trip - it was fun and unplanned.

Andy said it was a great birthday!

a random road trip....

2012-01-18T15:28:00.002-05:00

For his birthday, Andy decided that he wanted to take Friday off and go on a random road trip over the long weekend. So we packed up the car and started heading south Friday morning. We decided to head down to Charleston, since neither of us had ever been there. We drove off the interstate and stayed closer to the coast since Andy likes to drive the back routes and we weren't in any hurry to get anywhere. I was happy to ride and read a good book.

We made it to Charleston and stayed at La Quinta Riverside since it got good ratings and was dog-friendly. It was nice - not right downtown, but only a few minutes away. Charleston is a neat city - we ended up taking a carriage tour on Saturday to see some of the sights.

We wandered around, did a little shopping, and ate some really good food. We ate shrimp at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. which was a fun place. And Andy got a T-shirt. We had lunch at a great pub called Tommy Condron's. And Andy had one of the best meals ever at Southend Brewery & Smokehouse - pork chops and grits. I don't even like grits, but theirs were amazing.

We walked around the Charleston harbor and saw the cruise ships.

Checked out the Citadel

We went over to Sullivan Island

saw Ft. Moultrie

We stayed in Charleston Saturday night and then got in the car on Sunday to see where else we would go....

insta-Friday...

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Even though my week was very uneventful, as I have been pretty sick and didn't do much of anything....

here are a few iPhone pics if you're interested:

Seriously this was my week - or rather my last 2 weeks. I had a cold last week that turned into an ear infection, that turned into bad asthma attacks. I went to the doctor twice and lots of meds (and breathing treatments - that's what the cryptic photo on the right is) later....also found out I have bronchitis this week. Fun stuff. It's been taking forever to get better and feel human.

On Wednesday, I was starting to feel a little better and dragged myself up to make some Tomato Bisque soup (instead of calling husband to swing by Panera and pick up some for me....like I may or may not have done twice the week before....). The soup was delicious - sorta like Le Madeline's - only I didn't have fresh basil.
I made Andy some brownies for his birthday.... didn't have the energy to make him a cake or cheesecake. He was teasing the dog with them.
And last night I was finally ready to get out of pjs/yoga pants and go out to dinner for Andy's birthday. We went out to a fun restaurant with a few friends and had a great time.
Stopped at Sonic on the way home.

Hopefully next week will be more exciting. And that I'll be feeling lots better.

Happy Friday!

wishing a....

2012-01-12T11:08:00.002-05:00

to my awesome husband!

Andy is 29 today.

So thankful for him!

We are going out to dinner tonight and celebrating some more this weekend.

Happy Birthday Andy!

celebrating in Baltimore...

2012-01-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend for New Year's we went up to Baltimore to celebrate with my family. We left on Thursday after Andy got off from work, made it up to my sister's house by midnight, and then we got back to NC Tuesday evening.

I had so much fun with my family! We had a girls lunch on Friday while Andy and my dad went to check out Dover and the planes on display there. I think they had a good time. We all hung out at my parent's house and had homemade pizza - made by my brothers and watched a movie. Saturday my sister and I did a little grocery shopping and got supplies for New Year's eve snacking.

Andy was hard at work making us some delicious bbq for dinner the next day.

We all gathered at my parent's house again to hang out on Saturday night and we all made some of our favorite party foods to share. We ended up playing a hysterical game of Balderdash and pulled out some home videos to watch while waiting to ring in the new year.

It was a little scary.

But fun.

And we briefly skyped with our Grandmother in Texas to wish her a Happy New Year.

Andy didn't make it to midnight.

But my niece did. She kept us entertained all evening.

On Sunday we celebrated a belated Christmas.

We did a gift exchange like we have done in a few previous years, but this year we tried using an online secret santa website: elfster.com. It worked out really well - you just have someone enter all the emails (of the people who you are inviting to participate) and then it sends out an email and once they accept it, then the site draws the names and makes sure that no one gets their own name. Each person can log in and add links to things they want or just a general description with sizes or favorite colors or whatever. Makes a gift exchange with a group or big family super easy! I got my mom and I gave her a book she had asked for and some earrings. My dad had me and gave me some these beautiful Noonday earrings - which I love and they support both international adoption and artisans in Africa. I found out about Noonday from this neat blog. Andy got an iTunes gift card from my sister and brother-in-law - which is great because he is still loving his iPhone and putting new songs on there.

My parents also gave each family a fun basket with candy, books, a candle, some Ravens stuff for Andy (my mom made a fleece scarf and my dad got him a jersey!), and my mom made this little quilt for Andy. It is a pin quilt for all his Red Cross and military pins - he had seen someone who had something similar and I told my mom about it. He really loves it. Thanks to everyone for the fun gifts and a good time celebrating together!

My mom really wanted to get some family photos this year.

While we were waiting for the whole family to gather,

I took a few photos of my parents - I love this one of them!

my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first baby in May

they are so cute and are going to make great parents

check out a few more of their photos on my abigail lauren photography blog

This was my pick for our best group shot.

We had fun with the Ravens theme

and they even won that day and are going to the playoffs.

And that was most of our trip. Andy and I went around and visited with a few of our friends on Monday and then we were on the road Tuesday morning. I started getting sick on Tuesday on the way home and am still not feeling well. Meds aren't kicking in like I hoped they would, so I will probably be heading back to the doctor today or tomorrow. My sore throat and ear infection are clearing up, but I am coughing, dragging, and having asthma issues. Lovely.

But we had a great time and were so thankful that we were able to stay with my sister and her husband and see everyone.

lots of iPhone photos....

2012-01-06T10:59:00.001-05:00

In the past 2 weeks, I found that I snapped a lot of pics with my phone. My iPhone is really handy sometimes - it's just quick and pretty much always on me. Not great quality, but fun.

Get the dog pics out of the way first (these are mostly for my husband is always telling me to take pics of the dog with my phone instead of using his!)

Maggie brought all her toys to the door one day while she was waiting for Andy to get home - it was pretty funny. She has been more into her toys lately.
So we got her a new pull toy thing for our Christmas at the beach
We had to wait nearly 2 hours at the vet the other day - we were just getting some shots! It was nuts and we were bored.
Maggie got to visit her friend Buttercup - my sister's dog - when we went up to Baltimore for New Year's. They get a long great.

Christmas eve - 4am - helping husband and the Red Cross as we watched the plane come in with the last group of soldiers who got to come home to their families for Christmas.
We left on Christmas eve morning (after we finished up helping with the Red Cross and the flight) and went to the beach. We napped and then got up and did a little grocery shopping at this neat local IGA shop with a lighthouse that you could climb. This is a pic from the lighthouse of us.
Andy was amazed that I had never tried Jiffy Pop popcorn since I love popcorn (I usually do air popped or sometimes microwave popcorn) so he made some for me on Christmas eve.
Our Christmas dinner - Chinese Buffet!

All the presents and things to take up to Baltimore. Our trunk was full!
I made a football onsie like I had seen on Pinterest for my brother and his wife who are expecting a boy in May.
In Baltimore my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and I went to an amazing restaurant called Miss Shirley's (which has been on the Food Network) for lunch. This is a pic of the monkey bread....with chocolate chips, pecans, and bananas.....so good! We shared it as an appetizer and it was gone in about 5 minutes.
I think I've mentioned it before, but I love our Panera having a drive-thru! I had a bad sore throat on Tuesday and started feeling like I had a cold on the drive home from Baltimore. I have been pretty sick ever since with a sore throat and ear ache. Went to the doctor yesterday and got an antibiotic and he just went ahead and started me on Prednisone so my asthma wouldn't flare up like it usually does when I get sick. Doing a little better today and should be lots better by tomorrow since I usually do well on Prednisone. On the way home from the doctor, I dropped off my prescriptions and grabbed some soup to eat while waiting.

me & my neice

Happy Friday!

top 10 photos from 2011...

2012-01-05T07:56:00.000-05:00

I had so many favorite photos from this year. I got out and shot a lot more with family, friends, and other photographers. It was great practice and now I am loving starting a photography business and getting to meet new people and take photographs of their family.

But I managed to narrow it down to these top 10:

{February}

{May}

{July}

{September}

{October}

{November}

{December}

Check out my post from last year with my Top 10 Photos from 2010 - I think I've improved a lot this year!

And check out some more top 10 shots here:

one little word - 2012...

2012-01-04T17:07:00.000-05:00

Most people have already blogged about their word for this year...but we just got back from Baltimore last night, so I'm blogging it now. I mentioned in my previous one little word post that I had already been thinking about my word. I didn't really want to use it at first since it's such a common, sometimes overly used word right now. But even though I love being different and creative....this is still the word I need to focus on this year.

My word for 2012 is:

Hope can be either a verb or a noun, and it also has several different definitions. The one I am choosing to use is the archaic definition. This article had a good description of the differences in the definitions:

The archaic meaning of hope in the English language is "to have confidence or trust," while the current meaning is "to wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment." Over time, words can experience "semantic drift," meaning simply that their definition morphs. It is the word "wish" in the modern definition that dilutes what hope should mean to us. When politicians speak of hope, they are merely creating "wish lists." Government will make our lives better by giving us stuff. No personal responsibility is required on our parts; we need simply to hold out our hands, and we hope it will be filled.

The New Testament uses only one Greek word, elpis, for "hope." Its verb form is elpizo. It means "expectation of good"—not a wish that something good will fall into our laps but a full expectation of good to come, especially in a religious sense.

These words are found over eighty times in the New Testament, though they are not always translated as "hope." Sometimes, especially in older translations, they are translated "faith" or "trust." Whereas the current meaning of "hope" lends itself to wishing, its original sense was to trust and have faith. Elpis, according to one lexicon, is synonymous with faith. The King James Version translates elpizo as "to trust" eighteen times.

In the King James Version, Hebrews 10:23 reads, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith [elpis] without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised)." Most modern versions have translated it literally as "hope." The great American scholar Noah Webster is said to have known at least fifteen languages (and some claim as many as twenty-six), including Hebrew and Greek. He published his translation of the Bible in 1833. In many places, he changed the wording of the King James, but he left the word "faith" in verse 23.

Paul tells us to hold elpis fast, without wavering. Can we do that with a wish? No, not really. But if our hope is in God's promises, if our faith is in God and His unbreakable Word, then, yes, holding fast is possible.

I'm going to use my word as a basis for Bible study and plan to memorize some hope verses. I am not sure if I'll do much with it on the blog, but you may see a little bit of hope in some of these verses, quotes, or if I feel like sharing any other things God is teaching me about it.

2011...a year in review

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I really enjoyed doing a blog post with the highlights from the year. So here is this year's edition....

January 2011 brought a lot (for NC!) of snow/ice and we were unfortunately iced in when we found out that there were complications with Andy's dads' heart surgery and he was in critical condition. We were able to get out and visit him a few days later - on Andy's birthday. It was good to be able to see him and we were so thankful that his dad greatly improved over the next few days and is now fully recovered.

In February, I got a new DSLR camera and Andy started using my old one. We enjoyed going out to shoot together and finding a hobby for both of us to enjoy together. I was so excited when iPhone came to Verizon that I stayed up until 3am to be one of the first people to pre-order it online.

We were both getting exhausted and a little frustrated with job stuff in March. I got pretty upset when our blog got hacked a few times (when I was self-hosted) and ended up switching back to blogger for my own sanity (was about to save blog content, but sadly, I lost a lot of reader comments in the process). We managed to get up to Baltimore for a quick visit and saw my sister's new house! She and her husband worked really hard with Habitat for Humanity to build a lot of their house - we were so happy and excited that they had a place of their own. We also got to go on a long-awaited vacation - our first cruise! The cruise had been something Andy had been wanting to do ever since his accident. When he was in pain in the hospital, I told him to think of something that he could look forward to when he was all recovered and we had all the legal junk behind us. So he's been waiting for the cruise for a long time and with some of the settlement money that he received, we splurged and went on a really fun trip! We, of course, took tons of photos - you can see them and read about our trip here, here, here, and here (and apparently I meant to do one more blog post as a review on the cruise but didn't ever do it). We had a great time and it was a good break for us.

April brought some spring cleaning, spring flowers, and a tornado very close to our area. We celebrated Easter and found things to smile about.

We enjoyed our little town and some great weather in May. We visited the farmer's market and had fun at annual Springfest. We enjoyed going to an outdoor Vince Gill benefit concert that was in our town. May also brought the sad news that my 96 yr. old grandmother died. She was an amazing, Godly woman and we were glad that we could go up to Baltimore to celebrate her life and be with family.

{photo of my brother and I with my Grandmother from July 2010}

June was a crazy month for us! We announced that Andy would be deploying to Kuwait with the American Red Cross and the military. We traveled quite a bit in June to spend time together and visit with a lot of family before he left. We came back from the funeral in Baltimore, visited Andy's dad and his family at the lake twice, and we took a trip down to Georgia to leave our dog, Maggie, with Andy's mom for a few months while Andy was deployed and I planned to be traveling. We packed Andy up and I dropped him off at the airport. Then, right before he boarded the plane, he got the call that he didn't need to deploy after all due to the changes with the military and the draw-down. We were really surprised, but happy that he didn't need to leave for months. To mentally re-group, and because he missed her so much already, Andy drove back down to Georgia the day after he found out he wasn't deploying to pick up Maggie.

After all the craziness and traveling in June, you would think that we would have tried to relax and stay home a little more in July. We didn't really. We spent 4th of July with Andy's family at the lake and celebrated one year of having a dog. We discussed it and decided that I should still resign from my job at the bank even though Andy wasn't deploying. I was able to go up and visit Baltimore and enjoyed spending time with my family and friends. I got to celebrate two of my friends' birthdays while I was there and we even had a girls weekend at a fun bed and breakfast.

In August I didn't end up blogging much. Why? We were busy moving. We had planned to move out of our apartment while Andy was deployed and move closer to his job when he returned. Since he didn't deploy, we decided to go ahead and move anyway. Now we only live 10-15 min. away from his job instead of an hour! We moved to a great rental house that has a yard for Maggie and I was busy unpacking and decorating it. My good friend, Emily Joy and her family came down to North Carolina and I got to visit with her (but somehow didn't post any photos of her visit on my blog - thankfully she posted some on their family blog).

September is our anniversary month! We celebrated being married 3 years on Sept. 1 with a nice quiet night out to dinner. I took a fun day trip up to Raleigh while Andy was at his reunion with his dad. We got a new grill and enjoyed using it and eating on our porch. And we loved having Andy's mother and grandmother come and stay with us for a few days!

October was a pretty low-key month for us. I finally felt like I was pretty much finished decorating the house and I was painting a little more for a possible painting teaching job (that I didn't end up liking so didn't do...but it was good to get back into painting on a more regular basis). Andy got an iPhone and we went up to visit his family at the lake for the last time of the year. I met and got together with some local photographers and was practicing photography some more.

November marked 2 years since Andy's bad car accident and we are so thankful for how far he has come in healing. My birthday was in November and for my birthday, I traveled to Baltimore to see friends and family (and help my little brother out while my parents were gone - he dislocated his shoulder) and to the beach. I had a great time doing some photography for my sister and her family and of our new niece who was born at the end of October. We also were glad that we got to travel to Georgia to be with Andy's Mother and family for Thanksgiving and celebrate his grandmother's 90th birthday.

{my birthday beach weekend}

{Thanksgiving in Georgia}

December has been very busy for Andy with work. He was working with the American Red Cross to welcome troops home and I went and volunteered when I could. I started to get a few "real" photography jobs and loved taking photos of this big family. We celebrated Christmas with Andy's Dad and everyone up in Greensboro a few weeks early and we'll be celebrating with my family a few weeks late. And for Christmas we got to go to the beach again since Andy only had a little bit of time off.

And that's my crazy long post about 2011!

Let's see what next year brings.

Happy New Year 2012!

one little word 2011 - in review....

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Can't believe that 2012 is almost here.

2011 was an interesting year.....full recap of the year blog style coming in a few days.

But just wanted to do a quick post about my one little word from 2011.

My word for this year has been: develop

{for more info about the one little word project, see my blog post from last year about it}

There were some things I wanted to develop....but didn't. And there were some ways/things I think I did develop. I started doing a weekly post/photo about the word back in January. Then fell off the bandwagon in Feb/Mar. I think the gal who started the weekly blogging about her word even ended up doing hers monthly after a while. Weekly was hard to keep up with! Even though I didn't blog as much about it after that, it was a nice to think about occasionally and I had the word posted around my house to remind me of it. It was much better for me than a New Year's Resolution or goal or anything. The one thing that stands out the most that I feel that I was successful in developing was my photography and getting my business started. I've still got a long way to go, but I feel like I have gained a lot of skills (next week I'll be showing off a few of my favorite photos from the year and compare them to last years and you can see how much I've improved!) and am a lot more confident. And I've even had a few paying jobs now and print orders so I feel good about where it's going.

I'll post about my word for 2012 in a few days. I've already chosen it - in fact it's one I feel like I have been working on for a while - but I really want to focus on it more in 2012.

Anyone else picking a word for 2012? I'd love to hear what yours is if you are.

If you're interested in joining up with other bloggers check out this year's post from Ali Edwards

Christmas at the beach....

2011-12-27T00:29:00.002-05:00

So Santa delivered....we got a mini-vacation to the beach for Christmas!

On Friday after work, Andy came home and went to sleep. I fell asleep pretty quickly too - and ended up getting more sleep than Andy. Then, on Saturday morning, we got up at 1:30am to go and help out at one last flight - the last group of soldiers from the 82nd came home on Christmas eve. We set up quickly, served a lot of coffee...and welcomed the soldiers home. After we cleaned up and unloaded, we came home and loaded our dog and luggage into the car to get back on the road. A few hours later, we were at Myrtle beach.

We had a great weekend of catching up on sleep (after all those late hours Andy had been working for the past few weeks), relaxing, Andy did a little race car driving at the Nascar park, shopping (Andy went to the Coleman outlet and I went to the Coach outlet for a few presents to ourselves....), laughing at our crazy dog, wandering around, and just enjoying being together.

We exchanged a few gifts - he surprised me this year with a gift certificate for a massage and he ordered me a lens coffee mug (like this) that is on its way. I got him a Ravens hoodie and a new alarm clock/iPhone charger. And we got Maggie a ball/pull toy.

On the way home, we saw this neat little rainbow (it's hard to see in the photo - but it's right in the middle) that was a triangle shape. Had to stop and take a picture.

It was nice and relaxing and better than sitting at home by ourselves on Christmas. We were so thankful that Andy's dad and stepmother let us stay at their condo for the weekend.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:01:00.000-05:00

In 2011...

Andy was able to stay in the US instead of needing to deploy for his job.

We moved to a new house with a great yard (Maggie loves it!).

And Abi stopped working at the bank in order to pursue art and start a photography business.

We hope you all are doing well & we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

{our Christmas card this year - virtual edition for all of our blog friends}

instagram friday...

2011-12-23T09:57:00.000-05:00

A few iphone pics from this week....

More volunteering with the Red Cross - serving coffee and snacks to families waiting for soldiers to come home.
Happy that so many soldiers are home and reunited with their families for the holidays.
Took those three tubs of donated pastries from Starbucks to Womack Military Hospital where my husband works. Someone else usually does this, but they were on vacation, so I got volunteered.
Good excuse to get a Starbuck drink!

And last night, I finally started wrapping the pile of presents that I have been gathering in the guest bedroom. I realized Christmas is only days away! But I do have a few more days since we not traveling this weekend but will be delivering them to Baltimore a little bit later.

Happy Friday and Merry Christmas!

volunteering is festive...

2011-12-22T09:39:00.001-05:00

This holiday season, like last year I have been volunteering with my husband who works for the American Red Cross. He had been busy with lots events and helping soldiers and their families have a good holiday.

A big part of that has been to welcome all of the returning soldiers home. The Red Cross goes out to green ramp and brings coffee, juice, and snacks for anyone waiting, since sometimes flights get delayed and people can be sitting there a while. The coffee is great especially for the late night/early morning flights!

I have been going out to help with any after hours flights. It's nice to be able to volunteer and help out my husband, since he is working a lot of long hours.

After we get all set up and take turns serving, we can relax and visit a little with people. I think Andy is telling Santa that after all this work, he wants a vacation for Christmas!

Even with the long hours, we are both glad that we can help out and so happy that so many soldiers are home with their families this Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

{and the last one is my pick for show off your shot}

instagram friday...

2011-12-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a few iphone photos for the week....

We went to a military ball for the military hospital

(Andy is not military but works there and he was invited to go)

It was fun to get dressed up and go to one, but we don't think we'll do it again for a while.

Andy and Santa talking at a green ramp flight - helping out families waiting on soldiers to get home.
Andy's new toys...
My new curling iron is amazing! I needed a new one and saw a few bloggers reviewing this one. It is great - I thought it was really easy to use and it gets super hot so the curls really stay for a long time. This pic is after the ball - curls still going strong 6+ hours later. The next day I just burshed them out a little and just re-curled the front few sections and they still looked good. That's how my hair looked for the family photos below (the Christmas set with Andy's dad side of the family).
And then a blown-out, re-colored and trimmed hair pic from yesterday. My sweet hair stylist friend did it at her home for me in exchange for some photos I'm taking of her family next week.

Our little Christmas card tree
My December flip flops....it was 70+ degrees here yesterday! Love it!
Been trying to walk more....took a few good long walks with the dog this week.

Happy Friday!

a little bit of Christmas....

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

So I finally got around to doing a little bit of decorating. I had been debating getting out our tree and ornaments and all. Andy doesn't really care about Christmas decorations and well...it's just seemed like a lot of work. But I didn't do any at all last year and really felt like a Scrooge, so this year I decided to do at least a little. And even though I only did a little tiny bit of decorating, I am going to go ahead and link up with the nester's tour of Christmas homes - so that you can check out some amazing creative and beautiful decorations from other bloggers out there.

So I got a little tree from Target.

And turned it into our Christmas card tree.

{card tree idea from Kelly's blog}

Right now the cards are just kind of sitting in there,

but might have to hole punch/ribbon them on when we get more.

Works for me - a little bit of Christmas

with very little work to drag out the big tree and ornaments.

And I figure it will still be a fun little tree to have along with a big tree in other years when I am feeling lots more ambitious.

And I just put up a few little things on the TV stand.

I love that little Christmas tree candle holder.

(I still need to get/find tea lights for it)

I got it a few years ago for $1 at Goodwill.

Oh and I hung up our stockings.

But this was probably the real reason I wanted to put up a Christmas tree.

Christmas light bokeh!

And since there are no cute kids to pose in front of the lights,

I had to ~~bribe~~ reward my dog for sitting still with treats.

Merry Christmas and Happy decorating!

{and the last one is my pick for show off your shot}

fun family celebrations...

2011-12-13T10:25:00.001-05:00

We have had a good time visiting with Andy's family lately! For Thanksgiving we went to Georgia and got to visit with his grandmother, mother, aunt, uncle, cousins, and second cousins. We were also celebrating his grandmother's 90th birthday!

Here is the big group shot of his Mom's side of the family.

I posted a few more of his cousins and their cute kiddos on my photography blog.

And this isn't a great photo, but it's pretty funny (and Andy loves this photo).

This little guy and our dog, Maggie were so funny together.

They got along well and here J is trying to find Maggie in her hiding spot.

We had a great time at Thanksgiving and were so glad we got to see everyone!

This past weekend, we celebrated Christmas early with Andy's dad, step-mother, and his siblings. We had a good time getting together, bringing food for a huge meal, a gift exchange, and taking a few family photos.

I love how this year's family photo turned out!

(and I love my camera remote - it was a huge help so that I could easily be in the

photos and take quite a few to get us all smiling!)

warm week in December...

2011-12-08T12:39:00.001-05:00

So this week has been a little busy and crazy. Andy's job with the American Red Cross has had a lot going on and I've been volunteering a bit. Helping serve coffee and snacks to families waiting on green ramp for their soldiers to come home. It's neat. Glad that so many are coming back to their loved ones for the holidays.

But the hours of those flights are always changing. We did one this weekend that went great, was on time and went perfectly on our end. I took a few photos but haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. Then last night we went out late to one and it changed and yeah....just a random late night with a late night dinner at Wendy's since we were starving. But so thankful we live close now so that we can get there and home quickly with all the crazy hours. Hope my husband can make it through the next few weeks as he is coordinating a lot and has a lot going on with his job. We're looking forward to Christmas and relaxing a little together! But it has not seemed like Christmas time or even December since its been so warm here. But I'm not complaining - love it!

I have been busy with a lot of photography things. It's been a lot of fun. So much fun that I decided not to do the painting job - since things there were a little crazy already and it was just supposed to be a fun part-time thing to let me enjoy painting and network - not deal with lots of drama (and not much compensation yet) without even barely starting! So photography it is. And I loved shooting a fun family in our downtown area this week.

We tried to get a few Christmas ones near the Christmas tree in the center of town.

This was at the end of the shoot though and the younger ones were getting a little tired.

This was my favorite shot of the day!

Check out a few more from this photo shoot

on my photography biz blog

that I'm trying to get going

{it was a little chilly on the day of the photoshoot so I'll link them up with You Capture's "chilly" theme}

{and the last one is my pick for show off your shot}

instagram friday....

2011-12-02T11:58:00.001-05:00

It's Friday. Been kind of a long week. Lots of migraines. I am really hoping that they give me a break this weekend....

But here are a few phone pics that I took this week.

This one was from last week - I made two cheesecakes for Thanksgiving and it required a lot of cream cheese!
On the way to Georgia for Thanksgiving
On the way home from Georgia, Andy stopped and got his Krystal fix. He got a dozen hamburgers. And I only ate one. He's crazy.

Love this photo!

They can both be really cute sometimes.

Happy Friday!

some favorite people photos...

2011-12-01T11:18:00.001-05:00

So the last few days have unexpectedly been kinda long...on Tuesday I had to go help husband because the car died (he had taken my old SUV to work instead of his new car that day). Turned out to be nothing but some bad gas or something - so thankful that it wasn't anything major! That SUV has over 150k miles on it and keeps ticking. Then yesterday I had Bible study, and went out with a few of the girls afterwards for lunch. When I was done lunch and running a few errands, Andy called and needed me to come in and help him at the Red Cross since he was short on volunteers and had an orientation to do. I thought I was just going in for an hour or two to help with sign-ins.....5 hours later we left to come home and finally eat dinner after 8pm. Crazy day. But glad I can be flexible and close to his job to go help out with things like cars and sign-ins and apparently a few more Red Cross events next week.

Anyways....I am still editing Thanksgiving family pics.... But I realized that I never got to share a few of my other family photos that I have taken recently on the blog.

This is Andy's step-brother and his adorable family.

I went up to Greensboro to take pro photos of our new niece.

She was so sweet.

And a great first newborn model for me.

Up in Baltimore I had the chance to take family photos for my sister and her family.

I loved this shot!

Both of my nieces so cute.

Wish I lived closer to them.

But so glad I got to visit and take their photos recently!

{and the last one is my pick for show off your shot}

thanksgiving deliciousness....

2011-11-29T15:52:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday, we loaded up the car and hit the road again. We were thankful to be able to go down to visit Andy's family in Georgia for the holiday and to celebrate his Grandmother's 90th birthday. We had a wonderful time visiting with his mom, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins, and new baby second cousins. Photos of family and cute babies coming soon.

We had some amazing food all weekend.

My contribution was the pumpkin pie and cheesecakes.

And just wanted to share that I (am late to the party of bloggers who have shared about this) recently looked at Tiny Prints holiday cards and they have so many fun cards and designs! I might have to get some and send out New Years cards along with the Christmas cards I had already planned on sending.... Check them out if you are still looking for cards for this year.

http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

This is one of my many favorites....

{joy card}

monday and sick....

2011-11-21T15:11:00.001-05:00

I could tell towards the end of the week that I was getting a cold. And yep, somehow managed to catch one (I was really hoping I could stay healthier now that I stay at home and don't handle germ-y money everyday) that hit me hard on Saturday and Sunday. I basically didn't get out of our recliner chair for two days straight. Watched a ton of movies, drank lots of OJ and water, and caught up on all my DVR shows from vacation. hen I was feeling like doing something a little productive, I got the last few photos from my sister's family photo session edited and up on my online viewing site for her. But that was really about it - all weekend.

It did give me time to play with a birthday gift that my husband surprised me with - an Amazon Kindle Fire!

{source}

When I was out shopping with him for something work related at Staples, I had mentioned I had thought about it - you know, since it was coming out right around my birthday and all. I figured we could sell the one we had and I could use some birthday money towards it....but just hadn't decided that I really could justify it. I mean we both have plenty of mobile devices with us being a 2 laptop, 2 iphone household. An iPad would be an awesome toy, but thats all I could see it as - an expensive toy. But I had been thinking that I tend to do a lot of my photo/design work at a table/desk anyway and would actually like to leave it docked there a little more and maybe hook it up to a monitor to see my edits better on a little bigger screen. Thats when I could see myself using an iPad or something - if I left my laptop more stationary and then just used a tablet while surfing in the evenings while watching TV or whatever. So even though I hadn't totally talked myself into it, Andy decided to surprise me with one anyway.

I have to admit it is totally not something we need - but it is fun. And it has been nice to have while sick - much less energy to hold up than a laptop. Propped it up on a pillow in front me and caught up on all my blog reading that I had been really behind on. It's not an iPad, and it does have some downsides, but for the price it's a lot better choice for us right now. I like having all my books on it too and I've been reading a little more lately since its right there in front of me. The screen and images are great and the backlit is kind of nice at night - even though I know its not as good for your eyes as the regular kindle ink - but I like being able to leave the lights off and read in bed while husband sleeps.

So this has been my productive point for today - cleaning up a little in the kitchen, making a list of ingredients that I need for baking (and hopefully feeling up to going out to get tomorrow), and blogging. Now back to napping on the couch - since I am still not feeling great. I have been drinking a lot, vitamins, airbourne, and decongestant to try and get better faster - for Thanksgiving! Also trying to avoid my inevitable pattern of getting a cold, then getting horrible ear infections/bronchitis, then having major asthma issues. Which happens a few times. a. year. without. fail. I was just really hoping that it would more avoidable if I wasn't working around so many people/germs like I had been for the past few years. I've also got husband on airbourne and vitamins to try and keep him from getting anything. So here's hoping and praying. And napping.

catching up friday pics...

2011-11-18T11:21:00.001-05:00

These Friday photo pics are from the last few weeks.....

the Baltimore visit pics....

My adorable niece - I took her and my brother out for ice cream/apple cider at a Weber's farm one afternoon while I was in MD. She is getting so big!
Spent an afternoon with one of my good friends while in Baltimore. We did and saw a bunch of random things....but we loved this sign at an antique store! haha
Sushi night with my brother, sister and brother-in-law
And in the ER with little brother who dislocated his shoulder while I was helping out with my parents out of town. Poor guy!

and because I like taking iPhone photos of food....

Sushi - my sister and I tried the raw stuff....we aren't huge fans but found a few things we could handle
PF Changs with my sisters and mom - I took a pic of the food but not us! I need to fix that next time. But the food was really good. And it was a fun girls night out. My dad was so sweet to watch my niece so that we could all go out.
Another fun girls night out with my good friends in Baltimore. They took me down to the inner harbor for my birthday. We had a fun dinner and then grabbed cheesecake from Cheesecake factory and ate it outside. Which was fun until we saw a mouse eyeing up our desserts. Decided it was time to head home after that.
And I finally tried the nutella crepes at IHOP. Delicious. Only I ordered mine without the strawberries that normally came on it. I didn't know that there were bananas inside. It was good, but I would've ordered it without those too. I just wanted pure, plain, nutella in my crepes. Love nutella!

and beach pics....

Me and the dog - roadtrip to the beach
Husband and I on a fun new ferris wheel that gives you a great view of the beach
beach pic - took some with the good camera too for Christmas card
miss the beach already!

Happy Friday!

another year....

2011-11-15T23:07:00.001-05:00

Another birthday. I feel really old. And I had a migraine all day.

Happy Birthday to me.

I will pretend I am still at the beach enjoying the sunset.

I am thankful that I was able to have such a good weekend before my birthday. And thankful that I got to celebrate a little with friends in Baltimore last week.

beach weekend 2011...

2011-11-14T23:08:00.001-05:00

We were so thankful to be able to run down to Myrtle Beach for the long weekend.

We had a great time. Beautiful weather and not too cold most of the time. Fun on the beach, went out to a few fun restaurants, and did some shopping.

Had a great time with this handsome guy

(I love this photo!)

Nice (early) birthday weekend for me!

Thanks so much to Andy's Dad and Rae for letting us stay

at their condo - we really appreciated a weekend away.

time flies.....

2011-11-10T11:00:00.001-05:00

Been a crazy busy week for me! Yesterday I drove back from Baltimore....and it is good to be home. I had a lot of fun visiting with my family and friends. Helped out with my 16 year old brother while my parents went out of town - and he unfortunately dislocated his shoulder and we spent a bit of time in the ER and at the doctors. He is doing better now I think and my other sister is hanging out with him for the rest of the week.

And I've realized that this is the beginning of our traveling and holiday season - crazy how quickly that it has come! And with holiday season starting, I am thankful to be able to a part of Shutterfly's blogging team again this year. We had fun last year designing our card (which included the photo on the header of this blog) and we loved the quality of Shutterfly's cards. They have some great new cards this year and I am trying to get a good photo and pick one.

One neat design is this Christmas Card/letter.

Another one I like is this Merry and Bright ZigZag card (almost Missoni looking?).

And this Sweet Ornament Card is pretty.

So many choices! It's going to take me a few more days to decide. Want to join in the Shutterfly fun? They have given me 3 codes for 25 free cards for my readers. Leave a comment below if you want some free Christmas cards!

(and Shutterfly didn't pay me to write this - they offered me free cards this year and last year and I chose to write a review because I really like their designs and quality)

friday...

2011-11-04T11:53:00.001-05:00

instagram Friday....

pulled out the hot glue gun for the first time in years and made some fabric flowers
put them on elastic for some cute baby/little girl headbands
and make a few adult size for me too!
then painted a flower on a purse for one of my wine and paint paintings

editing photos while under a blanket watching a movie
husband and dog handing out candy to a few trick or treaters - we didn't have as many as we think they do normally in our neighborhood since it was rainy.
driving up to Baltimore - saw this fun megabus - need to figure out how to get on one for a $1
and my little brother - doing pushups and eating ice cream at the same time....

having fun in Baltimore and I think my husband is surviving in NC without me this week....hope everyone has a good weekend!

2 years....

2011-11-03T09:54:00.000-05:00

2 years ago today....

Andy was driving to work and hit head on by a tractor trailer truck.

He had to be cut out of his truck and spent a week in the hospital and had months of therapy. Over a year of dealing with insurance and legal stuff.

But he is alive and doing well and we are thankful!

november...

2011-11-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it's already....

and it has been freezing lately! But thankfully we didn't get the snow that further north got. And thankful that our heater works now.
On Saturday I had a great time taking photos of my new baby niece! She is so cute! Still working on editing the photos and getting them to the parents. I'll get a sneak peek up here soon though.
We had a good day on Sunday and enjoyed church and our new Sunday school class.
Holiday and traveling season is starting....we're busy planning trips to Georgia, Baltimore, and Greensboro. Looking forward to spending the season with our families.
I am heading up to Baltimore tomorrow for a quick visit and leaving Andy behind. I was busy today getting ready and getting the house cleaned. I'm sure Andy and our dog will do just fine without me....and I'll probably have to do more cleaning when I get back, but oh well.

friday pics...

2011-10-28T09:35:00.003-05:00

It's Friday....

here's a little look at our week in iPhone pics....

yum...Friday night sangria!
leftover pizza from Carrabba's for lunch
Sunday morning freezing temps - but we made it to the early service at church and really enjoyed it.
I was returning something at TJ Maxx and made the mistake of looking at the shoes. Found these heels and had to try them on. I wasn't quite sure about them, but decided they were really cute and pretty comfortable. So I ended up getting them.

Working on another painting for the wine and paint shop.

After taking Maggie to get groomed - she was so nice and clean and fluffy.
Always exciting to get packages!
Dinner outside on a nice fall night.
Made a tutu while watching TV one night.

Happy Friday everyone!

adorable...

2011-10-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

I have an adorable niece....

This photo is from last year - when she was 2 yr. old. Today she turns 3! She is even more adorable and my sister sent me the best video clip of her opening the card we sent her. She was excited about getting mail, but then got really excited about the MONEY in the card. We sent her $3 since she is 3. Her mom can take her to the dollar store or Target dollar aisle or something.

And as of yesterday, we have another niece! Andy's brother and his wife welcomed their daughter, Leena into the world. We are so happy for them and looking forward to meeting her. They are going to let me take some newborn photos of her so I will be heading up there to take them soon. I've heard that she is really cute and I am sure I will be showing off lots of photos.

Also a big Happy Birthday to my awesome sister-in-law, Jen! I miss her and my brother Patrick and hope to get to see them soon. We have lots of October birthdays, but these three are really close!

{and un-birthday related}

We had a good weekend. I managed to lock myself out of the house on Friday and walked to Sonic and Target to keep myself busy for a few hours until Andy could get out of work. We made it to the early service at our new church and are really enjoying it. We met some people and tried out a new Sunday school class. Feels good to have a church home and start to get involved. Andy did a little yard work and even washed our cars. So sweet!

friday phone pics....

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a little glimpse of our week.....

Husband took me to Joe's Crab Shack - I'd never been before and it was pretty good. Not like Baltimore crabs in the summer, but still pretty good.
Nifty tool....we just use a wooden hammer back home....
I love popcorn....so does my dog....
My attempt at fall decorating.

What we saw when we tried to go to church last Sunday....
Husband enjoying Home Depot a little too much....
But at least he put his new purchases to work in the yard!
Random bug on the door

Went and grabbed dinner with husband then helped him do a military fair and give out Red Cross info - so nice to live close to where he works now! I can help and visit him occasionally when he has to work late nights or random times.
When Andy gets home Maggie help him de-stress....
Enjoying the fall weather and colors - took some photos yesterday while taking Maggie for a walk
Husband playing with Maggie after work...

Hope everyone else had a good week!

a few photos....

2011-10-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

Been having some fun with my camera lately....

Got together with some photographers in my town last week and we took some photos of some adorable little boys. This is one of my favorites. I'm posting some more on my photography blog.

Today the weather really feels like fall (in the 50-60s temp range), so I took the dog on a walk and grabbed my camera for a few fall photos.

Love this fence and all the colors of the leaves.

Love how the edges are just starting to turn red.

And this leaf is already bright red.

And unrelated to fall, just because I love it - a pic of some fresh salsa I'm having for lunch!

{first photo}

mmm....butternut squash soup recipe...

2011-10-19T21:51:00.001-05:00

Earlier this year, a friend of mine made this amazing soup for one of our Bible study get togethers. She was kind enough to share the recipe with us and I made it for the first time last week. It was as good as I remembered. I am definitely going to be making this quite a bit this fall and winter.

Ginny's Butternut Squash Soup

2 T. butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 med. carrot peeled and chopped
1 sweet potato
1 butternut squash
32 oz chicken stock (or up to double that amount depending on how you like the consistency of your soup)
salt and pepper to taste

Pierce the butternut squash with a fork a few times and bake on a cookie sheet for one hour at 400 degrees. Rotate every 15 min. to cook evenly. When it is done baking, the skin should peel off easily. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and dice.
While squash is baking (when its almost done), chop the onion, carrot, and celery.
Melt butter in a large pot. Add the onion, celery, and carrots. Cook in pot for about 5 min on medium heat.
Bake sweet potato in microwave or oven. When finished baking, scoop out the insides and add to the soup pot.
Add the cooked squash.
Pour enough chicken stock over vegetables to cover them completely. Turn heat to low and simmer for about 40 min. or until vegetables are tender.
Stir either by hand or with a mixer until smooth. Add any more chicken stock needed to get the consistency you like.
Season with salt and pepper. You can also use a little cinnamon and/or cayenne pepper if desired.

The only changes I made were to use already chopped and peeled butternut squash (I was feeling lazy and hate peeling....but Ginny says its really easy if you bake it first! I'll have to be brave and try it next time) and used baby carrots because I had them (which was a mistake - they didn't cook as well as I think a larger carrot would). I only used 32 oz. of chicken broth and had a very thick soup - which I kind of like - but I'll probably try at least an extra 16 oz next time.

It's a delicious, healthy, and filling soup.

Enjoy!

blogging while I wait....

2011-10-18T11:30:00.001-05:00

Random bullet post typing to kill time while waiting on a repairman to fix our heater so we don't freeze this winter.

I am waiting on him to get finished so I can go have lunch with an old high school friend. It is so random - we were both homeschooled in high school and played on a home school volleyball team together for a couple of years. She was really good. I wasn't but had fun trying. We graduated together along with about 20 others at our home school graduation ceremony. Haven't seen her since then. But she saw me a few weeks ago at WalMart and since we're facebook friends, she sent me a message asking if it was me and what I was doing in NC. Such a small world! We are finally getting together for lunch whenever this guy gets finished! Thankfully she is pretty flexible and we've texted back and forth so she knows what's going on.
On Friday night I got together with some photographers in the area and we had fun shooting at some random old train stations downtown. I took several photos I really like of their cute kids who were our models.
This weekend was pretty blah. I had a migraine and was bored and upset that my head wouldn't stop pounding - my poor husband tried to stay out of my way and watched a lot of football. I was a little better on Sunday and we tried to go to church. But it unfortunately didn't happen. We went to the new church that we've only been to a few times and there were a lot of people outside and a big processional of what looked like most of the church and all of the choir singing walking across the street. We were confused and had no clue what was going on. We watched a little and drove around looking for somewhere to park. We couldn't find parking and ended up leaving. We tried to make it to another church we had talked about trying before we decided on that one instead. But we were a about 10 minutes late and my husband won't go into a church late so we didn't go there either. I was pretty bummed. But oh well - God knows we tried, right?
We ended up going to lunch and Home Depot instead of church. At Home Depot my husband always finds too much, but he probably says the same thing about me and craft stores. We came home and did some yard work - trying to get it to look a little more decent!
He is still working on the heater. I really thought it was going to be a quick fix. In fact we were thinking it might have just been the pilot light being put out when they fixed the hot water heater. Guess not. I think I'm going to go out and see what all is going on and how much longer he thinks it will take - I feel horrible for keeping my new (old) friend waiting!
Oh and I got a pumpkin. Our attempt at a fall pic is below.

it's friday...

2011-10-14T09:57:00.000-05:00

I meant to write a blog post all week.....

I was going to write about what a nice weekend we had up at the lake with Andy's family. Andy really needed to get away from work stress and relax and we both had a good time visiting with everyone. I thought this huge rice krispie treat that Rae's sister brought was really fun. Andy and his dad both loved it. We also got together with all his siblings on Sunday for a birthday lunch to celebrate all the October/November birthdays (there were 4 of us!). We are so thankful that we got to go up there and had a great time.

I haven't even been too busy a whole lot this week outside of working on some things from home....the bottom left pic is how a lot of my week looked - I was using both laptops to get a lot done. And Maggie helped by sitting next to me at the door. I did have an emotional day and decided to go get a pedicure. Such good therapy! And while running a few errands, I finally got to try a salted carmel mocha. I liked it a lot at first, but it was a little too sweet for the last half where everything was settling.

And I guess that was our week! Happy weekend!

instagram friday...

2011-10-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

it's Friday again....and here are a few iPhone pics from the week.

We had a fun lunch at Panera and husband snapped this pic.
I started painted this week....and even got a new painting job! I wasn't looking for it, but a photographer I met here in town knew I was a painter and recommended me when someone called her looking for an a painting instructor. It's for a new shop opening - one of those wine and paint shops where groups of women come in and learn to paint something in two hours with a glass of wine in hand. Sounds fun, right? It will be pretty low-key, probably just a few classes a week, but a good way to keep me painting and teaching something I enjoy. So she asked me to do a sample for her and this is what I came up with.
I got a lot of the legal details and other things that I have been dragging my feet on out of the way this week and am working on advertising for my photography biz. Love working at my bright, cheery kitchen table.
My husband got an iPhone yesterday! He decided to get it while it was on sale - and not wait for the 4S since there aren't a lot of changes and he likes mine. Now he can take his own instagram pics and stop grabbing my camera!

And that was a little bit of our week - hope everyone else has had a good one!

living room photos...

2011-10-04T11:40:00.001-05:00

Since I finally got it finished, and since it was clean for company, and since my mom wants more photos of the house.....here are a few more pics of the living room.

I need a wider angle lens. But here is most of the living room in two side-by-side pics. You've seen the sofa and curtains before on the blog. I found a fun vase that is tall enough to be seen from behind the sofa while it is sitting on our homemade console table (cinder blocks and boards from Home Depot and then I spray painted the boards dark brown - I couldn't find one long enough and its never seen anyway - we just need something back there to put drinks and things on).

The left side is what you probably haven't seen. I had been looking for a chair for that spot and Andy originally was so happy with the sofa that he said we didn't need the lazy boy recliner he had always wanted. So a few weeks ago, I found a more decorative chair that I came home and told Andy I was thinking about getting. He decided to come along and get it and.....we ended up getting this red glider recliner instead of the (probably not that comfortable but really cute) chair I was going to get. He talked me into it. And I talked him into at least getting a fabric one so the whole living room doesn't look like a leather man cave. And now I sit there all time.

The red desk is the wood, beat-up desk that I got in Raleigh. I painted it red and then went over it with a black glaze and rubbed it off a bit. I am not sure about the chair. We already had it and it kinda matches....I might paint it eventually. The painting is one that my grandmother painted and I got when I was up in Maryland for her funeral.

I had been thinking about doing a gallery wall on this wall for a while. I had a pile of random frames and things I was thinking about adding to it sitting in that corner for weeks - taunting me. After we got the chair and I finished the desk, I knew it was finally time to commit to putting the wall up. I love how it turned out. And there is room to add on - I am still thinking about making a wide sign type piece to put on top and I just got a fun frame at the antique store that I might paint and put on the right side. The other painting is another one of my grandmothers that I have had for a while to touch up - and I still need to touch it up....but I hung it anyway since I loved the colors for this room. The stamps framed on the far right were a gift to Andy from a volunteer - they are all Red Cross stamps. And my musician brother will be proud - the larger framed piece on the bottom row is sheet music. It's an old piece I found years ago at an antique store and just re-discovered after unpacking - the music is some old song titled "There's a Girl in the Heart of Maryland (with a heart that belongs to me)".

So that's our living room as it is right now. More house pics coming up.
What do you think?

on a fall Monday morning....

2011-10-03T17:56:00.000-05:00

It was cold this morning! So cold that I contemplated turning on the heat or at least seeing if it works ok....I decided not to but put these comfy boots on instead to help warm up.

Last week we had a great visit with Andy's mom and grandmother. They drove up from Georgia on Wednesday and stayed with us until Friday morning when they left to visit Andy's sister up in Greensboro. I took them around town and we had lunch outside in a cute little downtown area on Thursday. When we got home, Andy was back from work and grilled chicken for us all. We were so thankful they could make the trip and glad that we have a good guest bedroom for them to stay in now.

Andy and I had a fun weekend. We went out to dinner and a movie on Friday night. We saw Moneyball - it was a book Andy had read a few months ago and I didn't mind seeing it since Brad Pitt was in it.... It was pretty good. Andy said the book was better, but they did a decent job. I just didn't like all the baseball tobacco spitting going on throughout the whole movie.

Saturday I went to a Bible study and then was checking out a little antique store nearby. I found a picture frame I liked and when I went to pay, the shop owner asked me if I had been up to Cameron yet. I didn't know what she was talking about, but asked what was going on there. She said it was a huge outdoor antique fair that takes over the little town of Cameron - they hold it the first Saturday of every October and May. She said it was definitely worth the 45 minute drive. So I hopped in the car and went to check it out.

It. Was. Awesome. So awesome that I didn't get any iphone photos or anything because I was too busy wandering around, wishing I had gotten there sooner since it closed up at 5pm (and I didn't get there until 3pm). So many people/shops set up tables, tents, stuff on blankets....great antique, old, and vintage things for amazing prices. I ended up getting a cool old suitcase (to use for photography), some bottles for vases, a wire crate, and an old scale for the kitchen. And maybe a few other little things... Definitely putting it on my calendar for May!

And today I got a lot of things done. And I got out my paints and did a painting for a possible painting gig I'm thinking about doing. I am excited by the possibility to work and paint on a regular basis, since I really do love it and I forget how much I enjoy painting. I'll keep you posted if things work out.

friday pics.....

2011-09-30T09:43:00.001-05:00

It's been a good week.....

Lots of good food....

I made some copycat Chick-fil-a nuggets (from a recipe I found on Pinterest - here is the link), enjoyed an Octoberfest on the first day of fall, Andy cooked a beer can chicken, and I made a cheesecake for his mom's visit that turned out perfect! Love my new (to me) oven that sets the temp accurately and bakes well!

and good times with Andy's mom and grandmother coming to visit for a few days. They enjoyed seeing our dog, Maggie again (who in the bottom left pic is my TV watching buddy since my husband is not into all the fun new shows this season). And we loved having them here! Thanks so much for driving all that way and spending a time with us.

grilling a chicken...

2011-09-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

This weekend was good. We had a relaxing Saturday. I did a little shopping, Andy napped, and then we took Maggie to the dog park. On Sunday we made it up for an early contemporary service at a church we both really like. We are both really excited that we found a great church already and are looking forward to getting to know people there and getting involved. And then Andy talked me into going to the Waffle House after church. He keeps thinking that I will eventually love the Waffle House like he does. But I won't. Not a fan.

To make up for a not great brunch, Andy made me dinner. He wanted to try grilling a "drunken chicken".... I wasn't too sure about it so I stayed out of the way (except to take photos).

The random beer can contraption that we found at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Who knew they made these things?

Chicken on top of the cheap beer, being seasoned.

Seasoned chicken with butter...dripping off....

The chicken looks like it's running away from the flames.

But the problem....the chicken on the beer can ended up

being too tall for the grill to close like Andy wanted.

He kinda closed it anyway...and it worked out.

He was just looking a little grumpy and shaking his head in this photo.

It worked great though!

Finished right in the amount of time Andy thought it would take.

He even made some corn on the side and I grabbed a few veggies inside.

It was delicious!

what I'm loving Wednesday....

2011-09-21T08:32:00.000-05:00

This week I am loving.....

my new hair cut and color! My friend (who used to be my neighbor at the apartments and has now moved too - she lives about 15 min. from our new place) is graduating from Aveda beauty school and needed some people to practice on for her portfolio. I went over to her place on Sunday and she did an awesome job! And I brought my camera and set up the shots so she could get some good quality pics. It was a great deal for both of us - free hair for me and portfolio photos for her. I am also going to take some pro head shots for her at some point. Trading skills instead of cash is fun!

new TV shows starting this week....

I got into Castle last year....it started up on Monday night

Biggest Loser - started last night

But it's weird this year without Jillian Michaels

and Modern Family and The Middle are tonight.

These fun recipes I have recently tried:

CopyKat Boston Market Sweet Potato Casserole - so good!

And I used a little less butter and all that so it was a little healthier maybe....

Source: copykat.com via Abigail on Pinterest

Chick-fil-a nuggets - for my husband since he doesn't get them normally since they fry with peanut oil.
They turned out pretty good and were really easy.

Source: mynameissnickerdoodle.com via Abigail on Pinterest

I saw this idea on (where else?) Pinterest and love it. Since I am not great at keeping plants alive...I thought I might try cacti - this blogger's idea of planting them in a flour sifter is really fun for the kitchen or wherever.

Source: fiskars.com via Abigail on Pinterest

and I'm loving that I am not feeling bad like on Monday....weird back pain and more migraines....but feeling better today. And I'm off to check out a women's Bible study. Happy Wednesday everyone!

blog swap...

2011-09-20T18:41:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I heard about a fun blog swap hosted by Leeann. I signed up and a few days ago I got a really fun package in the mail from a sweet gal up in DC.

Jenna was my blog swap partner and she sent me all of this:

The rules for the swap were easy - spend about $20 on a few of your favorite things to send to your partner. Jenna sent me a cheese plate and spreaders because she likes to cook and host, watercolor pencils, and a few more of her fave things: new matte nail polish, moroccan oil shampoo and conditioner, and lotion. Very fun things to try and I love the nail polish color!

Also loved the card she included - it's from an etsy artist, Art Shark. Such a great print! And it reminds me of my first date with Andy...I was in working in Catonsville, MD and he was up in DC at seminary. I met up with him in DC and we ended up walking around the mall and in this very area talking for hours. Love it! I am thinking about framing it and hanging it up on my gallery wall.

Thanks so much Jenna!

instagram friday...

2011-09-16T08:51:00.001-05:00

Here are some more pics from my phone from the week:

Found these fun basic sandals on clearance for less than $5!

I had to paint my toes since I had on fun new shoes....

love this dark teal color!

On Saturday morning we got up eaaarly (yes it was so early that it required 3 "a"s)

to serve coffee, OJ, and the biscuits that Chick-fil-a donated.

Since Andy had to work all day Saturday, I set up the patio with

new (end of summer clearance) furniture and the grill we had been

talking about buying (since our old one had gotten broken in the move).

Husband was surprised (and making a goofy face).

So we have enjoyed several dinners outside this week.

Our dog, Maggie, likes us hanging outside with her.

I need to wear more bug spray though - I have a lot of itchy bites right now.

So I went over to Target on Tuesday morning to check out the Missoni craze.

I didn't actually like the clothes too much. I might have been tempted my the cute flats but they were out of my size.

But I loved this rug!

It was a pretty large bathroom rug and I briefly considered getting it since the purples and greens would go good in our bedroom. I couldn't quite figure out how that would work too well and couldn't justify the $30. Now I'm slightly regretting not getting it and a few of the cardigans I didn't like to re-sell on ebay. Missoni stuff is going for like triple the sticker price on there since it's all sold out in stores and online I think. Pretty crazy. I just ended up getting two little candle holders that are blown glass and not zig-zagg-y.

I loved the weather being a little cooler here this week

- in the low 80s (feels a lot better than 90s!) -

and worked outside a few afternoons.

Happy weekend everyone!

thursday...

2011-09-15T10:39:00.001-05:00

I don't know where this week has gone. Well I sorta do...just can't believe it's already Thursday!

This weekend was busy. On Friday night there were a few Red Cross events that I went with Andy to and then Saturday we had to get up really early (4am) to brew coffee for another Red Cross thing. It was way too early, but kinda neat. We got the coffee ready and then took it to serve to some bikers (the Harley kind) who were riding their motorcycles across the country to support the military. The American Red Cross SAF was serving them coffee and Chick-fil-a brought breakfast that morning. Thankfully we now live close and were less than 5 min. from that event site. So even though it was crazy early, it was much better than if we still lived an hour away! Andy an all day work thing to do after that, so since I was up, I went to some yard sales. I got a few things, but didn't find a whole lot of good ones. I found some great clearance patio furniture and got things set up on our deck for a cookout when Andy got home. Trying to get him to relax a little since he has had to be at work and working from home a lot lately!

On Sunday I went up to Durham for a photography meetup and had a great time. We had fun and I got some good photos for my portfolio. I also got the opportunity to meet up with a few photographers here in Fayetteville last night and we shot a little. It was nice to meet them and network a little. I have been busy working on photography business things and am getting ready to officially "launch" and start advertising. More details and I'll be showing off my new sites soon! That's honestly what has been consuming most of my week.

But here are a few "apple" photos for the You Capture challenge that I have not been good at remembering to enter for the last few weeks. When I was up in Durham, I stopped at Southpoint and checked out a few stores - including the Apple store.

instagram friday...

2011-09-09T07:23:00.000-05:00

I didn't end up taking very many phone pics this weekend....but here they are....

This was my exciting dinner/s while husband was

out of town last weekend - Chili's chips and salsa,

veggies and french onion dip, and diet coke.

Things I love and that he doesn't.

I went thrifting/antiquing in Raleigh and made the mistake of

taking our little car instead of the SUV...

The backseat was already full at this point, so I definitely had to

grab some bungee cords and tie the trunk shut to get home.

I started working on a big painting this week....

And I'm loving having two windows in my studio/office to paint and sew by.

Love me some natural light!

Happy Friday!

what I'm loving Wednesday...

2011-09-07T12:02:00.000-05:00

I am loving not having a migraine today! I had a few this weekend and a really bad one that woke me up at 4am yesterday morning and lasted all. day. long. I was miserable.

But I am so glad I'm feeling better today!

I am doing a few exciting things like laundry and grocery shopping today, but thought I'd share a few other things that I'm loving.

This is the glaze - found at Home Depot this weekend.

I am using it over the desk that I painted to go in the living room.

It gives it a neat look and shows the wood imperfections - which makes it look interesting.

Of all the movies I watched this weekend, this was my favorite. Really funny. The other two movies were "How Do You Know" with Reece Witherspoon and "The Switch" with Jennifer Aniston. They were both kinda cute but just ok...."How do you know" was pretty slow in parts.

I got this scarf at World Market this weekend....love it!

Source: d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net via Abigail on Pinterest

And this is too funny...I found it on pinterest (which I also love...there is a link on the side of my blog if you want to follow me and/try it out) but can't find where the person who pinned it found it. So I might just have to make my own...

weekend adventures...

2011-09-06T10:41:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone had a good Labor day weekend. Andy enjoyed his extra day off and decided to go with his dad to their annual family reunion in Georgia. I knew they would have a good time together and needed some guy time, so I stayed home.

And I had a good time myself. I watched redbox DVDs and ate a lot of chips and salsa and veggies and dip. I shopped. And I painted.

On Saturday I did a little road trip and went through a few small towns and up to Raleigh, stopping at some antique and thrift stores I found out about online. This is my end of the day photo with all of my fun finds.

In the town of Dunn, NC, I was heading to Sunrise Antique store and saw a thrift store that had a lot of things sitting outside and stopped there first. Turns out they were giving clothes away because they had too much stock for their store! It was great and I didn't find anything to wear, but grabbed some clothes to re-use the fabrics for sewing and crafts. I also found the big painting that I am going to paint over and use the canvas.

Someone at the thrift store told me about the town's Habitat Re-Store and gave me directions. At Habitat I found the fun antique umbrella that will be great for photoshoots and the pretty beat up rolling filing chest. I got them both really cheap and am in the process of cleaning and sanding off the filing chest to re-paint it. I think it will work great in my office and will replace the plastic filing drawers I am currently using that don't really match anything.

At the antique store I found a few fun things. I got that tin (above) that I thought was neat and is actually a sewing kit - inside is a bunch of random old and newer sewing notions that I'll either use or gift to my mom. I also got the ruler and the very fun camera! I am starting to collect antique cameras to put in my studio and also to use for photo props and this one was only $8! Love it!

In Raleigh I did a little other shopping (World Market, Home Goods, TJ Maxx...), but I did go to one really fun antique/vintage store that is going to be a new favorite stop whenever I'm in the area. It's called Father & Son and is in the downtown area of Raleigh. It is just a really fun mix of a little bit of everything, including an art gallery on the top floor. It had a lot of vintage clothes and reminded me of some of the shops in the Hampden area of Baltimore. I got the wood desk and and the purple office chair (that the shop owner knew wasn't antique or vintage but was selling it cheap with some of the dealers other things).

This is another find for my studio/office - love the color and it's a pretty comfortable chair. My studio is getting there and I'll post photos as soon as it's done.

The kinda funny, kinda stress-inducing part of my little trip was that for some reason I had decided that morning to take Andy's little car (since he had driven down to the reunion with his dad). I think I was thinking about the gas milage or some little detail like that....but I apparently didn't think I would find so much. I barely made it home with all my finds. I had the filing chest and the chair in the back seat and the desk didn't quite fit in the trunk. I had to go and buy a few bungee cords to get the trunk to stay down for the drive home. I really should've brought my SUV! It would've made things a lot easier.

Sunday I visited a church that I liked and may try and get Andy to go back and visit again with me. I started sanding and painting. And watched another movie. Monday morning I helped a friend and then Andy called and told me that his Great-Aunt died. I had to go down to South Carolina and meet him and his dad so that I could pick him up since he had to be at work in the morning and his dad had decided to stay and see about funeral arrangements.

And that was our weekend. Not highly exciting.....but not too bad.

iPhone friday...

2011-09-02T07:03:00.001-05:00

Here's a few random iPhone pics from the week...

Saw this bottle of wine and Target and loved the packaging.

So I bought it.

Yep - based on the bottle.

But it was pretty good too.

One thing about the new house that we are not crazy about....a big yard.

With hills.

So husband cut the flat parts, but I had to do the hills since his

hip injury leaves him unstable on uneven surfaces.

Lovely.

On Saturday night.

After Irene.

The sky was gorgeous and the night was calm.

I saw this door/windows turned table at our new local Habitat Re-Store and loved it!

Everyday, about a half hour until Andy is supposed to come home -

you can find Maggie sitting at the door and waits for him.

Our third wedding anniversary was yesterday.

We went out for a delicious dinner at the Carolina Ale House. Yum!

Check out some more pics here:

3 years...

2011-09-01T16:16:00.000-05:00

Today is our third anniversary.

It's been another amazing and crazy year of marriage. We have been through a lot of stress and a lot of fun times together and we are very blessed. And even though he does things that drive me crazy like always leaving pens in his pants pockets (and occasionally ruining loads of laundry with them....) and somehow always managing to trim his beard on exactly the day after I clean the bathroom sink....I am still very thankful to be married to him. I am sure I do lots of things that drive him nuts too - right now it's probably all my crazy furniture painting ideas.

We have been so blessed to have so many awesome friends who stood by us,

helped us on our wedding day and have been there for us throughout our marriage.

Love these girls!

Our families' have both been amazingly supportive. (I have great in-laws!)

I have so many fun memories of our wedding day!

We both agree that it was a perfect day for us.

Tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate. When I talked to Andy today I told him that I even was getting dressed up for the occasion - meaning out of the yoga pants wardrobe I've been sporting lately. And while I'm waiting for Andy to get off work - here is a photo of the painting I did for our first anniversary in it's new spot in our bedroom.

I still really like it - which I don't always say about my paintings. And I love how it matches the paint color that the bedroom was already painted. It was in pretty good condition so we decided not to ask if we could re-paint it and just enjoy it as is.

And I finally think the dresser looks good - I painted/distressed it and our other dresser months ago and somewhat regretted it after I was finished. I think it and the other (larger) dresser were too much of that color or something. But when we moved we knew we wouldn't have room for the larger dresser so we sold that on craigslist and bought (from craigslist) two smaller ones that we are using as dual purpose dressers/nightstands. And now since there is not so much of the color in the room and after I finally switched out the dresser knobs - now I like it.

I'll post more photos of the bedroom and the other rooms once I get them finished....still working on curtains....

Previous anniversary posts:

our first anniversary & how we celebrated our first anniversary

our second anniversary

wedding photos by Brian Ray Studios

monday morning thoughts...

2011-08-29T08:45:00.000-05:00

I was up and out early this morning (6ish) to take husband to work since we had left one of our cars there yesterday. This weekend was crazy for him work-wise due to hurricane/tropical storm Irene - he works for the American Red Cross and they had to do some disaster coverage of call centers and things. He had to work on Saturday and early (4am) Sunday morning, so I went to base and took him breakfast yesterday to cheer him up. His job has been crazy in general for the last few weeks and he is pretty stressed - I'm hoping and praying that it gets better for him this week.
We were very thankful to not have really been affected by the hurricane where we are in NC. We were far enough inland that all we got was a little rain and a lot of wind. We put our trash cans and all inside the garage to get ready, but that was about it. We didn't even lose power. So thankful that is was not as bad as expected and praying for those who are still dealing with issues and damages from the storm.
I have been busy with the house still. Last week I got the guest bed set up and got that room straightened out some. Still a ways to go, but if anyone wants to visit - there is a place to sleep now! I started working on my office/art studio and put together a new desk. Pics of these rooms to come when I get more finished. Still need to make lots of curtains.
We finally cleared out our old apartment! We had to pay through the end of the month so we left some old furniture that we were trying to sell on craigslist there along with some random things that I didn't get packed up. We did end up selling a dresser and our old washer and dryer, but had issues with our old sofa! We gave away some things and threw some more out. It took more trips back and forth than I would've liked, but it's finally finished. This whole process of moving has been exhausting. Andy has had to work a lot of hours lately and hasn't been around too much to help and even when he was around, he isn't able to lift hardly anything due to his hip injury. So I have really had to do almost everything by myself. I hadn't ever had to move a whole apartment before and always was blessed to have help from my family and friends for other moves. We are still glad we moved....I am just very glad to be done with it for now!
Last week I had a very fun visit from my good friend Emily Joy and her family. Her husband had a work conference in Raleigh, so she and the kids decided to tag along at the last minute. I went up to Raleigh on Wednesday and spent the day with them - we found a fun rose garden to let the kids run around in and took some photos. We checked out downtown Raleigh and toured the capital building. We did a little mall time and in the evening went to the art museum sculpture gallery. It was a fun day of exploring! The next day Emily Joy came down to visit me and she was excited to see our new place. It was fun to have her over since she has never been able to visit me in NC before. I showed her around our new town a little and we found a children's museum that was a lot of fun for the kids. Her husband even got to come down for dinner, so Andy got to see them too. So glad they made it for a quick visit (and did such a long trip with two young children!) and hope they had a good time.
This week I am going to be working on more house stuff - sewing, organizing, and decorating. Work on my office/studio more set up and hopefully start painting and photography stuff. Hopefully remember to blog a little more too. Still getting new routines going and finally feeling like I'm getting into a new "normal" for my days.

Happy Monday!

iPhone pic friday...

2011-08-19T08:14:00.000-05:00

I've missed a few Fridays lately - been busy with lots of moving and things. But here are my iPhone Fridays that are (mostly) from this week:

This was probably two weeks ago - the day we moved in our new house. Dog relaxing on our new sofa and husband taking a pic of me taking a pic.

Our dog had to get used to having a yard. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but now she loves it. It just took her a few days to realize that we didn't have to have her on a leash - we think she must have been at an apartment or on leash all the time at her previous owners.

Husband putting together a new entertainment cabinet.

Me building things. Slightly dangerous.

But it turned out ok.

I made a table/shelf thing to go behind our sofa since I couldn't find what I wanted.

I love living (very) close to a Target now!

I used to be over an hour away from a Target and missed it lots.

Love BLT sandwiches in the summertime.

When I was working full-time at the bank, I used the excuse that I was too busy and tired after working all day to workout.

Now I have no excuse.

Feels good - just need to get in the habit.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Check out some more fun iPhone pics here:

home depot...

2011-08-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

I mentioned that we were looking for a lawn mower. Andy finally went ahead and got a new one (I was thinking a craigslist used one since we don't know if we will have a yard at our next place, but we couldn't find many decent ones) along with a weed eater, and a lot of new tools when he was at Home Depot last Sunday. He is enjoying having a house and yard and even a storage area in the garage to put everything. Boys and their toys.

I went to Home Depot a few days later and got a few things too. I got a step ladder (because I am really short) and some painters drape cloth. Andy came home and was asking what I was going to paint that I needed so many packages of drape cloth. I told him I had other plans for the cloth - another one of my crazy ideas. I had read on some decorator's blog about how nice and think and texture-y that Home Depot's drape cloth was and decided to try it out. I had been to the fabric store and couldn't find any fabric for a decent price that I liked, so I figured I would try something else and use the drape cloth for some nice neutral curtains.

It took a lot longer and was a lot more frustrating to put up the curtain rods than it should have been....due to the fact that our walls are apparently crazy and have metal or something in them so that I couldn't figure out where the studs were (and I was using a stud finder and everything). But here is what I ended up with:

I really like them. And yes, I did iron them (after I took this photo). I just was so happy to finally be able to get them up!

I still need to make some more pillows (since these are just the fabric draped against the current pillows) but the living room is getting there. I think I might want a yellow striped pillow and maybe a burlap one or two.

Maggie just slept through all my hammering and activity.

what I've been up to....

2011-08-15T14:45:00.002-05:00

So.....I am not working 9-5 anymore....but I have been crazy busy. I went on vacation, packed for a week, and then we moved. Now we've been here a week and I am finally feeling like things are getting under control. I can't imagine how we could have moved here with me still working because we have had lots going on in the daytime that meant I had to be at home during business hours.

Like today. I was at home waiting on a new hot water heater. Yes....we had hot water heater issues again. We have had that trouble a lot lately. At our old apartment we had our hot water heater leak while we were on vacation and cause lots of problems. The maintenance people replaced that hot water heater with what they said was a new one - but we are pretty sure it was just one from another unit - because they had to replace it again this spring. We did see new packaging with that one, so we thought it was finally a new hot water heater. Then we moved to our new place, got the gas and everything turned on and had some great hot showers....for the first few days. Last Thursday we noticed the water was lukewarm and not getting hot. On Friday we had no. hot. water. When I went out to the garage to check and make sure it was lit - I saw that the hot water heater was leaking. Great. Just great. At least it was leaking out in the garage, not inside this time! So I was on the phone with our property manager and although we talked several times that day, she couldn't get us a new hot water heater until Monday. Andy was not happy about cold showers all weekend and it wasn't great for washing dishes. But we made it through the weekend, and I was really happy when they replaced it today and we now have hot water!

And look what else got delivered today -

the antique buffet cabinet I bought this weekend! (and I got the basket thing next to it at the same place)

I had been looking for something for this long wall in the kitchen and I really needed some more storage. I hadn't been able to find anything I liked that wasn't crazy expensive. This weekend we were out looking at lawn mowers and drove by an antique store that looked like a fun place and I went in and loved a lot of things in the shop. It had a lot of neat things and really good prices. I found exactly what I was looking for in this buffet cabinet. It has some rough spots and is missing one of the drawer pulls (I have the other one off in this photo). I am not worried about finding new drawer pulls - will probably try to find something different and funky. And I am still considering painting it. It is in decent condition, but my kitchen furniture is a much lighter wood color and I just like painting furniture. So we'll see.

We are learning our way around and figuring out where our closest grocery stores and things are. We visited a Methodist church yesterday that is really close to us and Andy liked the pastor. We are going to check out a few more churches in the coming weeks, so we'll see where we end up church-wise. Its fun that we live in an area with a lot more younger people than there seemed to be our last town (it was a big golfing/retirement area).

And that's about it. I have been back and forth to the old place a few times to clean up and sell some of the furniture that we left there. I just sold our dresser (that I had painted) to a family re-doing their daughter's room. Love Craigslist!

moving...

2011-08-09T22:28:00.003-05:00

We have been busy. Last week I was frantically packing and throwing things out. I managed to get it all mostly packed by late Friday night and early Saturday morning the moving truck came. Since Andy can't lift much due to his hip injury, we ended up hiring a local company to move us.

We were very glad we did. They did a good job and were really quick - they loaded up this truck with all of our things in an hour, then we all drove an hour to Fayetteville, and then they took another hour to unload the truck at our new rental house. Yes - only 3 hours total! If Andy and I had tried to do it ourselves (even with help) it probably would've taken us all day.

We spent the rest of the day doing a few errands to get things we realized we needed (well a new TV wasn't exactly a need....but Andy decided that it was time to let my realllly old TV/dual VHS go and get a big screen - and we decided to go ahead and do it before the cable/internet got hooked up). We also unpacked the basics and get our bedroom set up.

I've been busy unpacking, organizing, and decorating over the last few days. We still have to go back to the apartment and get the remainder of things there and clean like crazy. I am not holding my breath that we will get our security deposit back because our apartment manager is a little crazy and I'm expecting she will find something wrong....but we'll try to get it all cleaned anyways.

It's been pretty crazy, but we are glad we made the move. Andy only has a 9 mile drive to work now and I think he's happy that he can get home a lot earlier. It also is just a nicer feeling to know that when he does have to go in and do a random event or something on the weekend, it is no longer an all day thing - he can run over there and still get back and enjoy most of the day. After living in apartments for nearly ten years, we both really like the change of living in a house

with a fenced in back yard,

a deck,

and a garage.

Here is the front of the house. Inside photos to come as I get things set up the way I want them. I am still looking for a few random (cheap) pieces of furniture and I need to make a bunch of curtains. And I am still unpacking things. But I really like the space. It is an older, but well maintained 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath - which means we have a legit guest bedroom and I have an office/studio. It has a nice, big kitchen with new appliances. The only downside is that it doesn't have a dishwasher. But Andy has been washing dishes after dinner every night, so I really can't complain about it.

Our dog, Maggie, has adjusted really well and loves having a backyard and so many windows and doors that she can look out.

We are all happy and relaxing in our new home.

I am sending out our new address via email to all of our friends and family - if you don't get it for some reason and need/want it, please let me know!

our poor sofa....

2011-08-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

I have been packing like a crazy person all day. All week really. I feel like I have to weed out and throw out a ton of stuff every time I move so I end up taking twice as long to pack I think because of all the sorting and organizing and finally getting around to putting it in boxes at the last minute. Which I felt like was today. The moving truck doesn't come until Saturday morning, but I have to be at the new house (which is an hour away) tomorrow to receive our new sofa. It should be delivered sometime in the afternoon so I am heading over there with a trunk load of dishes and things that I didn't feel like packing up the right way to put away while I wait.

Wonder why we are getting a new couch?

This is this why.

Yup. Those are some big ink stains on a pretty well worn sofa cushion.

While I was up in Baltimore, my husband left the dog at home for some pretty long days. She did great for 10-12 hours at a time by herself, but one night when he came home after work, let her out and fed her and he left again to get some dinner. When he came back after just 20 min. or so, he found our dog, Maggie, chewing on a pen that dropped out of his pocket. And she had already made this huge mess with the ink leaking out.

When I got home and saw it - I wasn't a fan. But I wasn't too upset either. We had been discussing the idea of a new sofa and this "incident" pushed the discussion along to a swift yes. We got this sofa the week after we got back from our honeymoon when I was frantically fixing up my husband's bachelor pad. I wanted living room furniture that was more the futon he was then using. We didn't have a big furniture budget at the time - just used some of our wedding gift money. I found a really good deal on craigslist (love it!) on a 3 piece living room set of a sofa, chair and a half, and ottoman that were really nice. They have been great for the last 3 years...but we have used the sofa hard and we have noticed that there is lots of pilling on the cushions and we are sinking into it more lately due to one of the boards in the back breaking. So yeah. Not too upset. Maggie and her pen stains helped my cause. But I won't ever let her in on that secret - and I told my husband that he needs to never drop any pens again.

Last Saturday we got the keys to the new house and then we went over and measured our new spaces. We went furniture shopping and we were both pretty surprised at how painless a process that finding a new sofa was for us. I had been shopping around online and knew the prices and ideas of what we were thinking about. We went to only a few stores and I let Andy talk me into getting a leather sofa - but if I was going to get leather, I had a pretty good idea of what style leather I liked. We found one we both liked at a local furniture store that had great customer service and a local warehouse. Which meant that we could the new sofa delivered before we moved and we wouldn't have to move the old sofa and worry about what to do with it when we got the new one in a few weeks like most of the other furniture stores recommended we do since their delivery time was 4-6 weeks later. We both really liked that. It's a little crazy though - neither of us has ever bought a "new from the furniture store and not IKEA" furniture before. And while we were feeling all grown up and all, we decided to go ahead and get the new washer and dryer we had been talking about for a while that day too. Lots of new things to go with the new house.

So tomorrow is new sofa delivery, Saturday is moving day, Sunday is washer/dryer delivery day, and Monday we have the gas and TV/phone/internet guys coming to turn on the rest of the utilities. Pray that all goes smoothly and that I manage to not go too crazy in the next few days!

instaFriday...

2011-07-29T08:12:00.000-05:00

So....since I didn't post these iphone pics last week - here are some random photos from the last 2 weeks.

Before I left NC for Baltimore, I ran around trying to get our rental house lease signed and paid for and all. It was a little chaotic since Andy couldn't leave work and I had to get him the check to give them after he signed later that day. And I had to go on base and get inspected and all. Fun, fun. But this is going to be our new back yard - we're excited that it's fenced in for our dog and that we will get this fun deck to grill and hang out on.

I finally got on the road and drove up to Baltimore.

I love the view of DC and knowing that I'm almost to MD.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer in Baltimore is to go to Little Italy movie night.

They close down a city block and show a movie on the side of the building.

We grabbed dinner from a deli down there and then got cannolis for dessert.

So. Good.

My sister got some MD crabs one night for some of her co-workers and invited me over.

I miss eating good crabs.

You just can't get them anywhere but Maryland.

This was the aftermath of my sister's and my crab eating.

I have been busy packing this week to get ready to move,

but I took a few minutes to make a few "baby legs" for a friend's baby shower.

They were really easy to make - and she seemed to like them!

I have been trying to weed out things we don't need/use anymore

so that we don't move around a lot of extra stuff.

Books are always the hardest things to part with....but we decided it was time.

We ended up getting rid of a lot of books and

we donated five bags of theology books to our church library so that others can enjoy them.

And that's what I've been up to - check out some more instaFriday pics here.

packing...and fruit photos...

2011-07-28T08:39:00.004-05:00

I've been sorting, organizing, and packing. all. week. long.

I really don't like packing. I don't mind the unpacking because it seems more exciting to be finding new places for things. But the packing gets to me. We have way too much stuff that we don't need. So I've been throwing out, donating, and giving away things. I'm sloooowly getting there. Thankfully we are not moving far and we have a few weeks to move stuff over so its really not going to be that bad. I just get tired of it.

But I am also so thankful that I am not having to try and pack after working all day at the bank. And in between packing, I'm getting a few things done to get my business set up and going in the next few weeks (more info to come - probably after the move). And taking a few breaks to take photos.

Here are my fruit photos for You Capture:

Happy Thursday!

bed and breakfast with the girls....

2011-07-26T08:29:00.003-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that while I was in Baltimore last week, I went with some of my close friends to a nearby bed and breakfast to celebrate one of their birthdays. It was a pretty random place - a working farm with a husband and wife owner team who are very enterprising and have about 20 different things going on at their farm on any given day. Fairwinds Stables is in Cecil County, MD and they do horses, lessons, camp, trail rides, produce, and the wife is an actress who has had roles in movies - like The Sixth Sense - and she still acts some but says that she is renting out her animals for movies now too. And they are doing a bed and breakfast, with a tea party and carriage rides. See? Pretty random.

So when my friend saw all of that, I guess she was reminded of tea parties we had together when we were younger and probably Anne of Green Gables movies....and decided that we should go. We loaded up in cars and found this off the beaten path stables....and had a tea party and gave her a few birthday gifts.

Then we all took turns riding in the carriage.

Then the owners had to go do a trail ride or take a pony somewhere? I can't remember - they were very busy people! They told us to make ourselves at home while they were gone. It was very laid back and we ended up playing a card game (Dutch Blitz!) on the porch for a while. Two of the girls had to head home, but three of us were spending the night....so we decided to explore the farm.

They had horses, donkeys, rabbits, goats, chickens, dogs, and a cat.

There was a pretty garden area in the back that the owners where the owners might start doing weddings.

We decided to do a mini-photoshoot.

The beautiful, pregnant, birthday girl (who needed a break - she has two other little kiddos at home!)

The sun was setting and we had a fun time checking out another pasture with more horses.

(This photo is my pick for this week's Shutter Love)

After exploring the farm, we went out to the little local downtown area and got some food. Then we came back and stayed up late talking and catching up. It was like a middle/high school sleepover - adult style at a bed and breakfast...where we didn't have to cook or clean up or have husbands or kids to worry about.

{photo by Emily Joy - who had fun learning to use my camera}

There was a fun wooden swing out front that we all had to try out as we were loading up the car the next morning. We had a good, relaxing time and were glad schedules worked out so that we could all be there (and thankful for husbands who were at home watching the kids and the dog).

back home....

2011-07-25T09:31:00.001-05:00

I am back from a nice, long, vacation up to Baltimore. Andy had to stay here and work and he and the dog managed ok (with only a few issues....namely destroying our couch....I'll show you a photo of that later) without me.

I drove up to Baltimore last Thursday and drove back home to NC this past Friday - so I got a whole week up there. And in that week, I went to a really fun street festival called Artscape that I used to love going to when I lived in MD. I went with a really good friend and we had a great time. Then that night we also went to a movie in Little Italy in downtown Baltimore - the movie is played on a screen of a building and everyone sits in a parking lot and it just kind of invades the whole block - it's a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my family and we went and saw the last Harry Potter movie together. And we teased my 15 year old brother about girls - but he was a good sport and he and I got along good together while my parents were out of town. I stayed with him at their house for the week and drove him back and forth to the day camp he is working at this summer. He even did a "senior" photoshoot with me - in the crazy hot weather. He was a good model. Here is one of my favorites:

We will do his real senior photos next year.

While I was there I got to celebrate a lot of birthdays! My good friend Emily celebrated with a few of us girls by going out to a bed and breakfast about an hour outside of Baltimore. It was on a farm and a fun, random time. A few days later we also celebrated another good friend's birthday with chinese takeout, a movie and some brownies.

Love these girls!

We have been friends for over 15 years now - crazy how time flies!

And I got to bake a cake and organize a little family get-together for my sister, Katie.

My brother and sister-in-law from Boston came in that night on the way to other things that weekend so we were happy they could join us!

It was a fun week and I got lots of good girl time in and some cute photos of their kids! I am so thankful that I was able to get up there.

Now that I'm home.....I have to tackle a lot of packing and cleaning. Yes - packing - since we are moving out of our crazy apartment! Before I left for Baltimore we signed a lease for a new house that we are going to be renting in a bigger city close to where Andy works! He has been commuting about an hour everyday for over 3 years and its really been getting to him lately. We were planning to move after he deployed, but now we are just going to go ahead and do it since we had already given our notice at our apartments. We can move into the house as early as this weekend.....but since I am only just starting packing, we are thinking that we will take our time (since we don't have to be out of our apt. until the end of August) and probably move over the next few weeks.

We are both really excited about the move and love the house that we'll be renting.

I just hate packing.

And I've been sitting here blogging and procrastinating enough.....more updates later.

one year ago today....

2011-07-23T17:57:00.001-05:00

it's been one year since we got our dog, Maggie.

We weren't sure we wanted a dog. It was more my idea than Andy's (only because I knew he really wanted a dog and thought it would be good for him), so I found a dog online that sounded like a good fit and called about her. Andy wasn't as excited as I thought he would be and thought it might be too much work or something. But I talked him into going to check out the dog, just in case she was a good fit for us. And he fell in love with her right away. So we agreed that she was a good dog for us and we would come back to officially adopt on Friday, July 23, 2010 after work so that we could spend the next two weekend days with her, getting her used to her new home.

I really am not a dog person....but Maggie is a really good dog. I am so thankful that it has worked out so well with her. She has been a great source of entertainment and stress relief for Andy....and she hasn't stressed me out too much.

Happy One Year Anniversary Maggie!

For your present we are getting you a fenced in yard....at our new house!

(more info on our moving in the next few weeks)

my last day...

2011-07-11T21:47:00.001-05:00

Today was a big day.

It was my last day working here.

I was very blessed to get a job at this little local branch of a huge company nearly three years ago. I interviewed for the job on the phone and then in person when I was down here visiting my then fiance' and bringing a carload of my stuff down to NC. I found out that I got the job just a few days before I got married. And I started one week after we got back from our honeymoon. I had an awesome teller manager (who is also a pastor's wife) who was very patient with me learning a completely new job. It took me a while to get the hang of balancing and counting money. all. day. long. For a little while it was a good challenge and I got to know a lot of people and businesses in the community. But for an artistic person, this was not a job that my friends thought I would do for very long. I think I surprised everyone, because I lasted longer there than I thought I would and we really were blessed for me to have such a close, decent paying (for this area) job in a crazy economy.

I've been ready to do something new for a while now. I thought I was going to get to end my time there last year when we were going to move to England for Andy's job.....but then plans got changed and all of a sudden we weren't going. So I had to ask my manager if I could stay at my job since we weren't moving after all. They were glad to have me stay. And I made it through another year of doing a very repetitive, right-brained job. I felt like I did and said the same things every. day. all. day. long.

So this year when we found out that Andy was going to deploy and we now had some financial stuff taken care of (thanks to Andy's settlement)...we sat down and looked at our budget and decided that I really could quit my job at the bank and try and get my photography and design business going while he was gone.

But as you all know....he didn't end up deploying.

And while we are very happy about that.....it once again changes our plans.

We had to sit down and look at things again. And we ended up deciding that while things will be a little tighter, we still can make our budget work without me working at the bank. I felt a little weird about telling my boss that I still was going to quit on the same date we had originally set - and that nope, Andy wasn't deploying. It is one of the first times in my life that I have quit a job and not had another job lined up. I have worked really hard, usually at multiple jobs, for years and years. But now I'm just leaving a job. And going to try and figure out how to do some things I love and actually get paid for it.

My husband is amazingly supportive and has even decided that he is going to be my Vice President of Sales (he came up with that title). And we are probably going to be moving to a little bit bigger place (so that I can have a room for an office/creative space) that is closer to Andy's job since we don't have my job tying us to this area. And I've got a lot of other ideas about things I want to do with my new freedom.

I'll keep you posted.

iPhone friday photos....

2011-07-08T05:11:00.000-05:00

I'm having fun taking quick pics with my camera and then sending them out with the iPhone instagram app. My husband is too - he is the one who told me to instagram a few of these!

Anyways, here is our random week.....

I made some Rolo brownies to take to a family gathering.

I was planning to make Rolo cookies but when I got home on Friday night,

I was exhausted and my foot got twisted or something at work and was killing me.

So these seemed easier. And still delicious.

On Saturday we went to the Darius Rucker concert.

It was a really good concert at a great outdoor concert venue.

And we went with Andy's family - we all had a good time.

Even the non-country music lovers in the group.

Fourth of July up at the lake.

Husband swimming.

Me and the dog up on the dock.

I had taken a shower and didn't feel like getting back in the lake water that day.

I did a lot of swimming the day before.

We have been traveling so much lately that I have not been doing hardly any cooking.

We have been grabbing quick meals and take out.

This week I went back to cooking.

Also made some blueberry muffins with fresh summer blueberries - yum!

This was a photo that my husband told me to take.

I was trying to type and the dog was trying to "help".

Not so helpful.

And that was our week....check out some other phone photo pics here.

lazy 4th of July at the lake...

2011-07-06T22:34:00.002-05:00

After all the deployment and then non-deployment craziness of last week....we are getting back to normal. And getting ready for a new normal.

But this weekend we decided to go have fun and relax with Andy's family up at their lake house. We went to a concert on Saturday night, had a huge family meal at the lake on Sunday, went swimming, and had a great time. We visited a little bit on Monday, but then we headed home a little early to avoid 4th of July traffic. When we got home we didn't do much of anything else. I heard some fireworks nearby....but we didn't even go outside to see them.

But we are glad that we are free to do that in America and thankful for all of the military who have and are sacrificing for our freedom (but I am thankful that my husband is not deployed overseas right now like he was supposed to be!).

We also celebrated our adorable nephew's first birthday.

He was born a few days before the Fourth of July,

but it's fun to be able to celebrate his birthday with an Independence day get together!

check out more patriotic photos here:

and the first photo is my pick for:

insta-friday...

2011-07-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

Last weekend while on our mini-vacation, we had fun wandering around in Atlanta.

Andy convinced me to go check out the CNN building and go on a tour.

It was a pretty neat place - lots of activity and huge plasma screens everywhere.

We went up to the top of the Westin and checked out the view.

There is a cool rotating restaurant called the Sundial up there too if anyone ever wants to do an interesting date night in Atlanta.

My husband loves the Varsity restaurant and so we always try to make a trip there when we are in town.

This time we just did the drive up and I tried an apple pie.

We drove home from Georgia and waved hi to Pedro's as we went through SC.

Unpacking....since Andy ended up not deploying.

What to do with all the random stuff?

Finally got around to grocery shopping after just grabbing things here and there for the last few weeks in between trips.

I got the essentials - wine and chips and salsa.

water....

2011-06-30T06:37:00.001-05:00

Since we've been traveling a lot lately....a few things have been neglected. I do not have the greatest green thumb, but I do like having a few plants in our home. So I found a really hardy variety of.....something....and it has stood up to my abuse for the past 2 years. But this Tuesday when we came home and I happened to look its way - I thought I had really killed it once and for all. It looked really dead....all the leaves were beyond drooping and there were quite a few brown ones. I decided to try and give it a little love anyway and picked off some of the brown leaves and gave it a lot of water. I should have taken a photo.....but I didn't. Trust me. It was really dead-looking.

The next morning, I was amazed - the plant had bounced back and looks like this now. Which is a lot better then how it was before. Gotta love the miracle of water.

This plant however, is a replacement. I had a little hydrangea that did die. Even though I tried to revive it to - it was apparently past the point of saving. So I picked up this pretty rose bush last night and am going to try and take better care of it!

Check out more water photos here.

a boy and his dog....

2011-06-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

My husband loves his dog.

I don't mind the dog too much. In fact, I picked her out. Andy says she is the best rescue dog he's ever met. But when he was going to deploy and I was going to be doing some traveling, I talked him into letting me try and board our dog, Maggie, somewhere so that she would have a nice, stable place to stay for a few months until he got back and our life settled down again.

When we told Andy's mom about our wanting to board Maggie, she said that she would like to keep her for us instead. She was so sweet to offer and we knew she would take great care of Maggie for us.

And Maggie would even get a playmate - her dog, Schmoop.

Maggie was a little sad when we took her down to Georgia and left her there. But she did great after that.

But then when things changed again and Andy ended up not deploying...he decided to drive back to Georgia today to pick Maggie up. I thought he was a little crazy for driving all the way there and back today....but he really missed his dog. They are both back now and life is getting back to normal.

We are so thankful to Andy's mom and grandmother for all their help and so glad that we got to go down and visit them.

june...

2011-06-29T21:43:00.001-05:00

June was a crazy month. Lots going on. Lots of memories made and photos taken. But this was my favorite photo, I think.

We went up for a quick trip to Maryland for my Grandmother's funeral at the very beginning of June. A sad time, but a good time with family. And it was great to spend a little time with my family.

My adorable niece kept us smiling. And when she saw this photo of herself on Facebook, she said "Oh no, made mess". But she's such a cute mess!

expect the unexpected....

2011-06-28T19:59:00.001-05:00

So the last few days have been like a whirlwind. Lots going on. Lots of traveling. A whole lot of craziness.

Last Wednesday we left for a little trip to Georgia. We were going for a couple of reasons - to spend some good time together before Andy left the country for a 4 month deployment, for him to say goodbye to his mom and grandmother, and to leave our dog with his mom for a little while. We had a good trip, enjoyed spending time with his family, and then we had to come back home on Sunday so that he could finish packing up. We packed like crazy Monday morning - you need a lot of random stuff for 4 months! After we got his one suitcase and stuffed backpack in the car, we went up to see his dad, stepmom, sisters and brother up in Greensboro. We had a fun dinner with them to say goodbye and were glad we got to see everyone.

This morning we got up and went through the emotional drama of saying goodbye and I dropped him off at the airport. It was hard, but we were both ready and knew it was a good career thing for him. He had his military orders, got his plane ticket and went through security.

I decided to do a little retail therapy in the city before I came home to an empty house. About an hour after I dropped Andy off at the airport, I got a phone call. He called and said I needed to come back and get him because he had just been notified that his team didn't need to deploy after all. He was notified 20 minutes before he was going to board the plane. Crazy, right?

So tonight we are both back home and are thankful to be not be separated for 4 months. And Andy is going to take a few more days off to re-group mentally and go pick up his dog. We're looking forward to celebrating 4th of July with family.

We are just recovering from all the craziness tonight.