A Quick Hello!

As promised I am checking in before my trip to the East Coast for my dear friend's wedding.

Its just a quick "Hello" because I have so much to do!!

BUT, I'm guest posting today over at The Chronicles of Chaos about my Top Three Decorating Rules!  Head on over and get a peak of my Fall decor and while you are there check out Mia's fabulous blog!

Today's my Friday!  Woooohooooo!!!!

I Can Hardly Wait for Martha's!

Usually on Wednesday I link up for Oh, How Pinteresting, but I am way too excited to post about Pinterest because:

I leave for Martha's Vineyard in less than two days!!!  I can hardly focus I am so excited!  Just a few more days and I will be here:

Source

I can't wait to celebrate with my friends Lauren and Derek on their wedding day.  Stay tuned for posts about the details of my trip!

I'll be back briefly tomorrow if I can reign in my excitement enough to sit behind the computer.  Happy Wednesday!!!

Perfect Moments.

This post has been on my mind for a few weeks now.  I'm just now getting around to writing it because I have been trying to figure out how I can express my thoughts in words that make sense.  This post is about perfect moments.

The best example that I can think to describe was last week.

Thursday, Caleb and I went to a wine class with one of his co-workers.  I was dying to take pictures because the setting was so beautiful.  We were in a small room with floor to ceiling windows on all sides.  The table was set with white linens and pristine crystal glasses.  We sat at long tables with twenty people all gathered and sharing a common passion.  Wine.

The instructor of the class opened all the windows to allow the breeze of the first perfect Fall day to wisp around the room ever so lightly.  The restaurant was riverfront and the sun was setting on the water.  The light was golden and rays of sun streamed into the room, playing off of the wine glasses filled with varying shades of red wines.  The scent in the room was that of fresh baked bread, aged grapes, wood, and the very first scents of Fall.  Clean.  Crisp.  Clear.

Glasses were clinking.  People were softly laughing.  Caleb was smiling.

Most participants in the class were taking notes on paper supplied by the instructor.  Scribbling reminders of the hints of smoke and fruit, brick color, or scent.  Anything that would remind them of the wines that they tasted during the class.  I quickly lost interest in the note taking.  I was entranced by the atmosphere.  The sun.  The linens.  The scent.  The sounds.  It was a perfect moment.  My first instinct was to capture the moment on film, but I dared not tarnish it by searching for my camera.

The moment was fleeting as most perfect moments tend to be so.  Some outside noise distracted me or the man across from me started talking about his son's liquor store.  It was gone, but not forgotten.

There are so many of these perfect little moments in this life.  The question is will you recognize them?  Will you appreciate them?

Sun beams bursting through the trees at the Cloudland Canyon waterfall.

Clear water, green moss, waterfall, a hike with my Love.

A perfect Southern Indiana wedding.  Cool breezes, friends,
locally brewed beers, dancing.

Cool green grass, Caleb's arms, wearing cowboy boots, feeling pretty.

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.

I would love to hear about one of your perfect moments...

Progress?

I know, I know... its been a bit since I have given an update on the status of my house.  I'll be the first to admit that I have gotten pretty lazy and things have pretty much been at a stand-still.  I did finally finish my striped wall {sneak peak here} and our new couches were delivered yesterday, but I'm not quite ready to show you the living area.

The main splinter in my finger has been our office/craft room.  Do you have that one closet/space/whole room that tends to become the dumping ground for everything else that doesn't seem to have a space?

Say, for your childhood dollhouse, picture frames you have good intentions to use but never have, or 25 boxes that you didn't unpack when you moved in three months ago?  Well, that was the situation in which this room found itself...  Full. Of. Crap.

And this was after I put away the air mattress that sat in here blown up for the past several months and started throwing away obvious junk...

It took me several hours and two glasses of wine to finally go through everything and clear out most of the junk that I didn't really want and to put the things that I did want to keep in their rightful place.

Its still a work in progress and we need a few more pieces of furniture in here to make the room complete, but I think that it is coming along nicely.  

Any advice for staying organized in places that serve dual purposes like this one?  I could use all the help I can get!

Aaaaand... just because they are so darn cute....

Happy Thursday!!!

Me, Myself, and I

It's time for my favorite link up party with Breanna, Shane, Kristen, Danielle, Jenna, Amanda, and Chelsea!
FYI, I just started following Chelsea's blog Adventures With My Enemy Melanoma and I think she has a great message.  You should definitely go and check it out!

1) When you're feeling down, what do you do to pick yourself up?

When I'm feeling down my favorite pick-me-up is getting outside into the sunshine, listening to music on an upbeat playlist, and reminding myself that in the scheme of things "its not that bad."

2)  If you had to live in a different time period which would you prefer?

See... I would fit in just fine!

I initially thought I would probably choose the 1950's.  Love the clothes, love the music, and love that it seems like a simpler time.  I even love to cook and clean!  But then I started thinking about the oppression of the 1950's housewife and started to have some second thoughts... so can I choose 1950's without all the parts I don't like?

3)  What is the most creative Halloween costume you've ever worn?

Hmmm... I don't know that I have ever had a creative costume, but I did always have amazing costumes.  My mom is very talented at sewing so my costumes were always handmade.  One costume that stands out as being especially memorable was the year that I dressed as Belle in her yellow ball gown.  My mom spent weeks making this costume for me and I remember feeling like a real princess when I went trick-or-treating that night.

4)  Five weird things about you we wouldn't know without being told?

1. I have a complete nighttime routine that consists of making sure all the doors are locked, checking the cats' food and water, brushing my teeth, washing my face, putting a glass of water by the bed, straightening the covers, and applying chapstick.  OCD?  Probably.  ;)

2. I don't like raw tomatoes, but I like cooked tomatoes {This one is Caleb's idea... he thinks its strange.}

3. I could eat corndogs every.single.day.  My very favorite are the Morningstar veggie corndogs.  I have to limit myself by buying them only on select occasions because I would eat them nonstop.  

4. I hate the sound of feet dragging on carpet.  Its like nails on a chalk board.  It makes me cringe.  It gives me the shivers.  Weird, I know.

5. I have a collection of antique ladies makeup compacts.  I currently have over a hundred {my grandmother has around a thousand... maybe more!} and I have been collecting them since I was young.  I showcase them in cases in my living room.

5)  What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

I would tell my 16 year old self not to worry about fitting in so much and to hang on because  in a couple years she will be starting college thats when the good stuff happens.  She will figure out she has met the man of her dreams, make true friends, and things will end up just as they should.

Birthday Weekend Recap.

Over the weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday!  I'm always telling Caleb that I don't really feel like an adult, but this birthday it really hit me that I am all grown up {well mostly!}.  I've been married and out of school for several years now, we own a house, and our friends are starting to have babies.

Even though I'm a grown-up, I don't think you are ever too old to celebrate!  After all, celebration is what makes life fun!

For my birthday weekend my sister and mother-in-law came down to Chattanooga to help celebrate and we took a mini road trip to Chickamauga to try out a new little cafe that I heard about called Chocolate Therapy Cafe.

We dined on chicken salad, pimento cheese, and fruit before moving on to the main course.  Dessert.

Just looking at these pictures makes me drool a little bit.  We chose to get a platter with a little bit of everything.  Creatively, the platter is called "Family Therapy."  So cute.

The chocolate cobbler was my favorite.  It was like the best molten lava chocolate explosion experience that you could possibly imagine.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On the way back we listened to some good tunes, enjoyed the sunny day, and stopped at a roadside farm stand.  

They had pumpkins!!!

Then on Sunday {my actual birthday} Caleb and I went to Cloudland Canyon.  It was beautiful.  More on that later!

What did you do this weekend?

I'm linking up again with Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Update!

Fall Is Here!

Its official!  The Fall decorations are out!  

Enjoying a birthday weekend of cooler temperatures, family, and wine.  What are you up to this weekend?

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.

What a Beautiful Woman.

I've been thinking lately about what inspires me.  This woman.

Lizzie Beautiful.

An interview from HLN with Dr. Drew

Oh How Pinteresting & Living Room Sneak Peak

I actually featured this pin a few weeks ago on Oh How Pinteresting, but I actually had a surge of motivation this week and completed the project.  I saw this picture several months ago {before we even bought our house!!} and was dreaming about painting a striped wall.  

I fell in LOVE.

Petrella Interior Designs via Jodi Whitted on Pinterest

The black and white is beautiful, but I knew that I didn't want something quite this dramatic.  I did teeter-totter back and forth between a grey and white striped wall and a gray and navy striped wall.  I also debated and debated about whether I should paint a wall in the bedroom, office, or living room.  Eventually I decided to go for it and paint a wall in the living room.  Right when you enter.  Front and center.  Go big or go home right?

So I gathered some essentials... tape measure, level, pen, tape, paint, roller... and I got started.

I had a mishap when I initially started taping and didn't measure correctly.  It was a little tricky because when you tape off the spaces will NOT appear to be even.  This is because you have to take into consideration the space taken up by the tape.  Initially I taped off the wall and if I would have painted without going back and re-taping my stripes would have ended up being uneven.

The smaller areas were left gray.  The areas that appear to be a bigger stripe were painted white.  I also used a pen and lightly wrote "white" in the areas that I was going to paint... just to be sure I didn't make a mistake! ;)

Its best to remove the tape while the paint is still wet.  I splurged for the more expensive Scotch brand painters tape and it made a huge difference!  My lines turned out crisp just like the commercial advertised!

Here is a little sneak peak into my living room redo!  

I LOVE love LOVE my new stripes!!!  I love the wood against the gray and white and it really adds the interest that I was looking for in this space.  We are expecting our new couches to arrive later this week and I can't wait to show off our living room when its finally finished.

I'm just so proud of myself for actually bringing one of my Pins to life.  I can't stop staring at it!

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.

I'm linking up this post with The Vintage Apple.  Head on over and check out all the links for some great new Pins and ideas!

Also with My Three Bittles, Lula & Sweet Pea, and Fortune Favors the Brave for The Pinterest Project!

September 11.

I remember.

A rose at ground zero.  Taken on a trip to New York City in 2007.  

So thankful and appreciative.  I will never forget the events of that day 11 years ago.

In Between the Busy.

I'm sitting outside right now.  And I'm a little bit cold.

After the summer that we have had this is a pretty profound statement.  Along with the rest of the South, I was excited to look at the weather report and welcome cooler temperatures for the weekend.  Speaking of weekends... its become this crazy habit that Caleb and I squeeze in every little bit activity possible between Friday evening and Sunday evening.  This is one of the first times that I have sat down with nothing to do but relax.

Friday we had our very first dinner guests {aside from family when they helped us move in}.  Caleb grilled his famous chicken on the grill and I took the opportunity it make some recipes I found on Pinterest that I had been dying to try.  I made:

Hasselback Potatoes
Recipe and picture via Seasaltwithfood

They were delish, but I kinda skimped on the butter.  Lesson learned.

Roasted Okra

Recipe via All Recipes

And this recipe is double yum.  When I told my friend that I was going to roast the okra she was worried that it would turn out slimy, but if you roast it long enough its perfect.  It has a little bit of a crisp and is perfectly salty.  Definitely is keeper.

         

Snickers Salad.  So good!

Recipe via One Good Thing.

Since I was using the oven for both of my sides and I needed something relatively quick, this was perfection.  It was a hit and I'll definitely be making it again.  The best part is that you only need a few ingredients.

Image from Indulgy.com

Saturday I was invited to brunch with some ladies that are married to Caleb's co-workers, we went on a bus trip to Jacksonville State for the UTC football game {lets not even talk about that... UGH!}, and then concluded our weekend activities by meeting up to watch the Colts/Bears game this afternoon and buying a new sofa and love seat.  Phew!  Busy Busy!

In between all that craziness, Caleb and I found time to enjoy the pretty weather out on our deck.  There aren't many things better than Sunday brunch and relaxing with a good book.

What did you do this weekend?

P.S.  If you haven't already, check out Operation Beautiful over at Shane's blog Whispering Sweet Nothings!  Its all about learning to appreciate the simple things about yourself.  She will be featuring each woman who enters.  Love it!

I also linked up with Sami's Shenanigans Weekend Update!

Current Crush Thursday

Weekly Link up for:

Whats my current crush you ask?  Really no explanation is needed...

Pumpkin.  Spice.  Latte.

{and Fall}

Enough said! ;)

Fall. by jodi-shapuras-whitted featuring fringe scarves

Diesel fringe scarve
diesel.com

The Best Day

I've been thinking that I haven't written a sappy heartfelt post in a while so its about time.  I've been in a little bit of a blogging slump as I have had a pretty tough week.  Tough as in if there was an award for the most difficult week ever, I would definitely medal.  So I think that makes it the perfect time to write this post.

Besides, I've eaten all the grilled cheese sandwiches that my jeans will allow.  Time to use a different coping skill.

I read something last week that I fell in love with.  I subscribe to daily e-mails from Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project {you can check out her blog/website and sign up for your own e-mails here.} and each day you get an inspirational quote in your inbox.  My favorite from last week {or maybe ever} was this:

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

It made me think about my everyday expectations, perspectives, and that one self-defeating thought that we all have {especially on Mondays ;)} the thought that runs through your head when the day has barely begun.  You know what I'm talking about?  When you're brushing your teeth and looking in the mirror, dreading work or whatever mundane task that you have to accomplish and you think, "Today is really going to suck."  We've all done it.  We start thinking about all we have to accomplish at work, the crappy chores that have to be completed, and the responsibilities that we would rather not have.

But what if we could change that?  What if instead we made up our mind to be intentional and to run this quote through our head at the beginning of each day?  Would it make a difference?  Maybe it wouldn't literally be the best day, but maybe it would challenge us to recognize the simple things that make our everyday extraordinary.  And maybe then we would start to think that those things aren't really so mundane after all.

Maybe we would recognize that helping Mr. SoandSo get a power scooter was pretty phenomenal, and that the turkey sandwich we had for lunch was the best darn turkey sandwich we have ever packed in our lunch, or that the sky is exceptionally blue and the breeze that feels so crisp on our cheeks really does make this day feel like one of the best of the year.

And sometimes this is difficult and we need reminders not to focus all on the bad, but look for some of the good.   This week I have needed a lot of reminders about the simple things as sometimes there are just days that no matter how much you remember that darn quote it will not, in fact, be the best day in the year.

Simple things like how my cats are finally getting along.

And its time for Fall colored nail polish {and the pumpkin spice latte it back!!!).

Or how I got to see this little one last weekend

and spend time with his Mama.

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.  Lets not forget!