SPECIAL EDITION: Fabulous Find Friday!

Friends, we have a special treat for you this Friday! Suzanne with Living Rooms Direct has some great ideas to add some life and color to your favorite rooms!

Mid-Summer Makeover

Summer is always a great season to get your group of friends and family together in the living room or outside on the patio for a refreshing drink and bite to eat. Given the state of the economy, many big ticket items that you have been planning on purchasing may have to wait but there is always room to change up the home accents that are displayed throughout your home to add some extra pizazz to your space.

Whether you’re looking to make a full change to the home décor that correlates nicely with your living room furniture or just need a small pick-me-up with one unique item is up to you. One of the most popular trends popping up this season has been trendy, modern accents that include bold colors and prints seen in mirror sets, side table vases, and wall art or décor. Let’s walk through one of Living Room Direct’s most popular collections to hit the online site this season: notNeutral!

Black Links Vase Set / Green Apples Pillow

Blue Flora Coffee Serving Set

Wedding Party...

Kelly is celebrating wedding parties today and I'm going to celebrate mine! You all have heard a time or two about how special my friends are to me, so it should come as no surprise that they made my day by standing by my side as I said my vows. When I said my vows to David they vowed to pray for us as a couple, pray for me as a wife and to hold me to the standards of a Christian wife and friend. I know I can always count on them for wise counsel, a shoulder to cry on and a good laugh! I love you all!

As for our ceremony, it was so special and I hope it glorified the Lord. That was our goal. My best friend Liz's grandmother played the piano beautifully both before the ceremony and during the ceremony. We chose a few hymns for her to play as the guests were entering and then she got hyped during our final selection and started off our worship in the most wonderful way. She played "We are Standing on Holy Ground" and the stage was set. "You raise me up" was my choice for the seating of the grandparents and parents. I'm not sure there are words more appropriate for our families. We would not be where we are without them. After David and I said our vows "The Prayer" was sung beautifully and we still pray that prayer today. While we were so excited to be married we were thankful to the One who brought us to that point.

Hail hail the gang's all here!

Us, our wedding party, house party and ushers.

My girls during the dress rehearsal. Aren't they gorgeous? From L-R:

Kate ~ My sister-in-law
Kristen ~ My MOH and Sister

Allison ~ College roomie and sorority sister

Liz ~ College roomie and sorority sister

Robyn ~ College roomie and sorority sister (see a theme here??)

Courtney ~ College roomie and sorority sister

Hartley ~ precious flower girl and Dave's best friend's daughter

Me

Meredith ~ College roomie and sorority sister

The big day! Time for makeup! (They were also calling me down from the ledge after my dreadful hair appointment....it went nothing like the hair "dress rehearsal")

My besties...my MOH: My sister, Kristen and my Best Man: My brother, Taylor

Dave and his best gal: his sister, Kate

Some of my girls hanging out during pictures

I didn't really do flowers. I had very few flowers and tons of candles! I wanted the romantic light and feel. It was beautiful!

And look at this precious little one watching the guests arrive!

Here we go! My mom made the two large wreaths on the church doors. I loved it!

And like I mentioned in my other post about the wedding, my brother and sister stood by my side and Dave's dad and sister stood by his side. I loved that personal touch!

Look how cute they are! (My brother and sister)

Miss Hartley and her uncle Dave. Precious flower girl!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my beautiful wedding party! They made that day special along with many others!

"Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." ~ Ruth 1:16-17

Good People.

I am so moved by this video, by this little girl, by this town that came together to make her wish come true. They allowed her family to celebrate with her and whether it's in July or December I think it captures the spirit of the season. Do yourself a favor and watch this video...

Video On Demand Texas Cable News TXCN.com News for Texas

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." ~ Romans 12:9-13

Quote of the Day...

"When you moved here in 8th grade, and we were in Mrs. Bethany's journalism class, you had all Clinique makeup and I thought, 'yep, she's a city girl!'" ~ Leah, at our 10 yr. HS reunion

Some things never change...

I have a lot to cover....I'll start with the Bachelorette. Say what you want, I loved Ed. I'm totally at peace with the decision and I would ask you to get behind Jillian and Ed and root for a solid relationship to come out of this. I don't know about you, but I would LOVE for Jilly to be the new Trista. She has better style anyways and could certainly entertain us for a 2 hour wedding special. Hopefully there will be no more "water" sports as I'm not sure the American public can stand those tiny green shorts for one more second, but with the hometowns of Vancouver or Chicago to choose from I'm thinking we're in the clear.

In other news, mom totally pulled a fast one on dad and decided to give him a bogus autographed photo of Bono to go with his U2 concert tickets for their anniversary. Apparently he believed her for a nano-second so all of that stuff I said yesterday about honesty and trust...just throw it out the window. Apparently their building the next 30 years on deception and lies. Because Kristen was in town they told him that Oprah is great friends with Bono and Kristen was able to get it for him. Lying is a learned behavior. It's so true...you reap what you sow! Here's dad with his new prize possession. :)

As for my weekend....well, I'm officially OLD. My 10 year reunion is now a thing of the past. Yes, I spent the weekend traveling down memory lane and realizing that while some things change the vast majority of them stay the same. We drove by my old house and it pretty much looks the same. We took a class photo and had the same clowns making the same jokes from 10 years ago. Of course we all laughed. Partially because it was funny and partially because we weren't shocked that the potty humor was still proving effective at near 30 years old. We also found it fitting that the "after party" be held at Whitney's. I sent a text message to my mom saying, "Heading to Whitney's for the after party! Some things never change!" I felt it appropriate that she get the text to know where I would be...considering it was the same place I would have been 10 years ago!

I loved catching up and finding out what people have been doing for the last TEN YEARS! Because my parents moved the week after I graduated I really haven't been back to town except for a wedding in 2005! That meant being out of touch for a lot of things. I met several friends' husbands and children and got to feel a very special baby belly! One of my best friends from high school is having a baby boy in about 2 weeks....I can't wait!

We decided "when in Rome"... so Dave bought a new rifle, Leah and I took pictures in front of the high school, baseball field and we went down on the football field. I spent MANY hours there so I decided to take a few pictures for old times sake. One in particular I figured my mom would get a good laugh out of.

I was SO proud of my amazing "self" picture taking skills. First try and I got the high school in the background. I list it as a "skill" on my resume.

I struck a pose for old times sake and then we needed a Diet Coke ASAP. We knew just where to go.... Dave's Cave. It was like I never left. Between my DC break at Dave's Cave, Lunch at Eduardo's and dinner at the Country Club I pretty much came, saw and conquered. I left no stone unturned.

Then we did a drive by the old casa...That was my room on the far right.

Ready to party like it's 1999...

When Dave and I got home Sunday night I went through my yearbook from senior year and pointed out everyone he had met. It was pretty funny. In all it was really fun and I'm so glad I went! We'll do it all over again in 10 years!

Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,

Hail to thee, Oh Duncan High School!
True to thee, where e’re we wander; Loyal evermore!
Red and white, our royal colors, May we ever hold them high!
Truth and courage ever guide you, Duncan Demon High!

Happy Happy!

I always get emotional when friends are celebrating anniversaries or I hear older couples proclaim many years of marriage. It seems that the institution of marriage has become somewhat under appreciated and so I always find it exceptionally refreshing when couples celebrate another year together.

When David and I stood together on our wedding day and vowed to love each other in sickness and in health until death parts us we were so proud to have our families by our side to support us in that charge. We know it won't be easy and we know there will be days where loving each other might be difficult, but we can't say we haven't been shown how it's done. We are blessed beyond measure to be shown daily what a loving, supportive, Christ-centered marriage looks like by both of our parents and ALL of our grandparents! Isn't that amazing? And today, especially I would like to wish my mom and dad a very happy 30th wedding anniversary!

Mom and Dad, you have truly been an example of Christian marriage. You have been loving, faithful, selfless, compromising, forgiving, honest, respectful, and you have stayed true to your vows loving each other in plenty and in want, and in sickness and in health. I have seen you laugh together, cry together, pray together, uphold each other and never, ever give up on each other.

Thank you.

We love you. Here's to 30 more years! *PS...I chose this picture not because it's exceptionally fantastic of either of them. I mean, you can't even see their faces. But this is one of my all-time favorite pictures because it speaks to everything I just stated above about their marriage. Walking the journey side-by-side. The story behind this photo is that we were at the Race for the Cure and dad walked the entire way carrying the banner with many of our friends' names who have survived breast cancer. Mom being one of them. He stood by her in sickness and he stands by her side every step of the way celebrating her today.

Big Time!

My not-so-little-little-brother has a baseball card!! How cool is that??

Fabulous Find Friday!

This fabulous find is going to be random because I'm going to share my current wish list with you. I'm sure you're all terribly excited. In case you didn't know, Dillard's, Macy's, Banana, Anthro....just about everyone is having HUGE sales right now. So get your boo-tay out there and treat yourself! Or...get some early Christmas shopping done. Whatever tickles your fancy.

The first thing on my wish list is only that....a wish. I'm not delirious, I know I won't be getting it, but a girl can dream, right? And maybe, just maybe I can find a great knock-off somewhere! I've been eyeing this fantastic Michele watch. I like it and it likes me!

But, since I'm in the business of finding deals and saving money (someone brag about that to my husband!) I found this gorgeous Swiss Army watch at Dillard's last week and guess what......It was almost HALF OFF! Yes mam, it was marked down to $250! I was with my mom and we stayed there for a good 20 minutes (Well, we went over to shoes but we were thinking about the watch too...) deciding if it was going to be my Christmas present from her and my dad. In the end I decided NOT to get the gorgeous watch because I have one almost exactly like it that my wonderful hubby gave me. No need for duplicates people....if that isn't willpower I don't know what is! So will one of you please go get it and then tell me about it so I will know SOMEONE took advantage of that steal of a deal? Thank you.

Moving on from Accessories...I also love this dress from Anthropologie. Work, church, date night, night out with the girls....it's a multi-use piece.

And here is where it gets random, people. I'm loving these glasses from PB! They are on sale too. I have this weird "issue" where I love fun plates and fun glasses for different seasons. These glasses just scream Summer to me. I get weird visions of cookouts and having friends over sitting around the table outside drinking out of these stinkin' awesome glasses. Could you please pass the lemon for my water? Oh wait...you don't have to pass it when I can get it myself! How genius was the guy that added the lazy susan to the dinner table?? Pretty clutch if you ask me. :)

The Dance...

I posted this same thing on my other blog, which I hope you will visit, but I just think it is powerful enough to make 2 blogs. :) So here goes...

Last night I was watching So You Think You Can Dance like I do every Wednesday night, and I was picking out my favorite dances and deciding who I would send home...and then....

And then choreographer Tyce DiOrio stunned me. He put together the most moving, beautiful, heartbreaking, fantastic piece about a woman battling breast cancer a friend standing by her side during her battle. I watched it twice and cried like a baby. It's just phenomenal.

Christmas in July...

If you've been with me very long you know that I heart Christmas. I love the meaning, the smells, giving others gifts, everyone being happy, the MUSIC, the decorations, my parent's house....

I also love, love, love to wrap my presents really pretty. I always pick out my color scheme and my ribbon and I do my best to stick with it throughout the season. Each year I pick different paper and go with a new "look". Although I'm normally a paper bag, tissue and ribbon kind of girl for most gifts (because it looks really nice AND is super easy), I try to wrap everything at Christmas so everyone gets the joy of opening their gift. All this to say....Hobby Lobby has their stuff out! And it's on sale....so I just might need to start gathering the goods for December. I like to spread the wealth so I'm not buying EVERYTHING all at once. So my wheels are turning....what will my tree (or under my tree) look like this year?

If you can look past my adorable/mistreated (or so he thought at the moment this picture was taken) dog, you will see my presents from 2 years ago. I did green paper with a red bow (and those FUN glitter snowflake ornaments that were 4/$1 at Target) and then brown paper bag paper with a green bow and the ornaments. It looked fantastic if I might say so myself.

So do tell...do you wrap with whatever you have on hand? Do you reuse your paper from year to year? Do you wrap in gift sacks? Do you have a color scheme too, or DO YOU THINK I'M CRAZY? :) Merry merry!!

The Best Things in Life are FREE!

Need a little pick-me-up this morning? Head on in to Starbucks and get a FREE pastry with your morning joe. Just tell 'em I sent ya! (Kidding...if you tell them I sent you they'll just stare at you. They won't really care.) You can print off the coupon or just pull it up on your PDA and show it to them. Happy caffeine and carb induced Tuesday!



PS...Rookie wasn't the only one who got a new do this weekend! We had to get our "Summer cuts."

Stud Muffin

I'm a terrible dog mom. It's 106 degrees and I'm letting my little man melt away behind all of his fur. I couldn't even see his eyes last week so I did a bang up "at home hair care" session to trim around his face. Time for an intervention. Jonathan wasn't available for a blow-out so we did the next best thing....

On the way to the salon...(Salon: read Petsmart. You know, Petsmart is pretty darn fancy though. What, with all the fish and hamsters and stuff...) It's almost as though he's smiling he so hyped about his car ride.

All this hair is so stinkin' hot...

Now look who thinks he's big pimpin'...

Work it baby, work it! Own it!

Homeboy literally struts around when he gets back from the groomer. If I could read his mind I'm sure he's thinking, "I look dang good!"

Fabulous Find Friday!

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails....I promised an entire post dedicated to your precious little men! Little boys are so much fun and have overflowing energy! Here are just a few things I found for those handsome little blessings.

I'm a fan of all things monogrammed. These are precious and perfect for your newborn little man.

I'm fully prepared for you to laugh at me but aside from this being cute the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was, "Edward!" I'm a little wrapped up in the Twilight series right now. Pathetic, I know! But isn't this just too cute?

Seriously? It's approximately 107 today in Texas and I couldn't even resist this.

Best dressed? Why not. Are those little shorts not the cutest things EVER!

These next 2 items are from Potterybarn kids and I love it! Both of these items are great for when the little ones get a little bit older. The chair can be personalized to your favorite MLB team and the basketball goal is just genius. Outside of the whole "throwing balls in the house" thing. :)

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Oh my gosh! I can't believe my BLOG is a year old today!! It's almost unbelievable to think that I've been telling you pointless stories and sharing random facts about my life with you for one whole year! I'm sorry. Then again, many of you have shared with me that your husbands have become better gift givers because you have forwarded them some of my fabulous finds. You're welcome. In all it's been a really fun year. It's hard to believe that this blog was born out of boredom among my friends at work. They wanted something to entertain them for the whole 2 minutes it takes them to read a post and I obliged. I never dreamed I would stick with it and enjoy it as much as I do. And as I was looking back through posts I realized how thankful I am that I actually started this blog. So many things were written about that I forgot had even happened! Some of it wasn't terribly important, but it was funny and it made me laugh again to remember those good times. Here are a few of my favorites from the past year. Some of them are milestones for me and my family, some just made me smile to relive the memory, and some just made me laugh out loud. XOXO

The one that started it all.

Buying our first home!

Being written out of the will because of this post :)

Playing the Fashion Police.

My Brother being drafted.

Remembering our wedding day.

Lest we forget Lucky Boots?

The realization that came to me when writing this post. I'm so blessed.

A.MAZE.ING.

Sharing fun craft projects with you!

My 27th year.

Reliving the joy of our first Christmas in our home.

I LOVED doing this for my friends

You'll thank me later. Yum.

These pictures were SO cool.

Life really is Glamorous and Fabulous....