Ten on Tuesday

1. Two weekends ago I drove to Wrightsville Beach, NC (which is actually part of Wilmington—who knew?) to celebrate Flanz’s bachelorette.  The eight of us had the best time hanging out, and we stayed in an unbelievable house.  I’m talking four floors, an elevator, a Jacuzzi, an indoor pool, six bedrooms, and about twelve porches…. Right on the water.

2. Last weekend Gaines and I went to Augusta to have dinner at our good friends Amy and Nate’s house, and it was so good to see them and catch up. We brought along Molly and she and their pup Sadie had the best time running around the backyard.  I’m pretty sure Molly still hasn’t fully recovered. 

3. The next day we drove to Atlanta to see Amy’s new house (which is near Toko Hills), and it is so adorable!  It’s a great house in a great location and she’s already had a lot of work done to it.  We helped out where we could and just had fun being together. 

4. Yesterday was my mom's birthday and as much as I hate not being closer to help her celebrate, I am so thankful that I get to call her my mom!! 

5. Our coffee table is finished! We started working it in September before Gaines’ back surgery and finally got around to completing it, staining it, and adding the “X’s” on the side.  We stained it "walnut” and overall, I’d say we probably spend a total of 12-15 hours on it.  You can find the plans we used here.  I LOVE IT!

6. One of my girlfriends Kristina gave me a framed “Burke County” printable she had made and I just love it.  It not only fits in perfectly with our TV console, but I like how she included personalized places around town.  Thanks again, girl. :)

7. Speaking of printables, I found another great one on Pinterest and printed it for our bedroom.  I don’t know about you, but I just love Pinterest and I just love that song.  

8. At school we just started learning about space and to start the astronomy unit we always focus on the theories of the universe.  So on a little classwork assignment I had my kids describe the “Big Bang Theory” and literally laughed out loud when I saw what one of my kids had written.  Gotta love his creativity.

9.  I mentioned that I got an iPhone in December and I just love it.  I seriously never thought I would love a phone as much as I do this one.  It’s just so easy to use and really like certain apps I’ve found, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorites (even though you’ve probably heard of most of these by now).

• Starbucks – I loaded the gift card I got for Christmas and now all I have to do when I get coffee is open the app and scan my card.  How awesome is that?

• Daily Bible Devotion – This app gives me two bible verses a day to focus on and each one includes a brief explanation.  I love how quick, easy, and insightful they are.   

• Shazam – Have you ever heard a song, and wanted to know the name or artist?  Just open the app, let it “listen,” and it provides info about the song that is playing.

• Sleep Cycle – This one is worth every penny of the $0.99 I spent on it.  You just set your alarm and put in by your pillow before you go to sleep and then it tracks how you sleep at night.  In the morning it not only provides a graph and lots of other information, but it also chooses the optimal time to wake you.  I seriously recommend this one!

10. Annnd I can’t really think of a tenth thing, so here are two more random pictures from my iPhone of the two things I photograph the most. :)

Happy Tuesday! 

Back Up & Running

Yay! The picture problem is fixed - All I had to do was download Google Chrome.   I re-uploaded (is that a word?) the pictures that were missing from the two previous posts in case you wanted to check those out.  

Well, This weekend I'm off to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina...

to join my fellow Godwin Eagle...

my AXO little sister...

and my good friend Lauren, or "Flanz" as we lovingly call her...

and celebrate her "last fling before the bling" before marrying her college sweetheart Shepard in March!!

:)

Technical Difficulties

Well, apparently the pictures I just copied and pasted in the last post did not actually upload.  Hopefully I can figure out what is going on and upload pictures soon... ;)

Ten on Tuesday

1. In my Christmas post I said I would be back with more pictures, but unfortunately Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures.  Has anyone else ever had this problem?  Anyways, I've been copying and pasting them from emails, but not all of them are working, so if you want to see more pictures from Christmas there are some on Facebook. :)  Here are three pictures that did work, though, of our three favorite places decorated for Christmas.  I just can't express enough what a great holiday we had with our families.  We are so blessed!

2. Every year for Christmas Grampy gave us money in these cute boxes that would hang on the tree. It was always one of the last gifts we'd open, and this year was no different, which was definitely emotional. I decided to spend my money on a Yurman bracelet that I haven't taken it off since I bought, and every time I look down at it I smile and think of him. :)

3. I have the best memories of sitting in Annie and Grampy's kitchen after getting in from the airport and chatting as Annie made Toas-tites. Sometimes they would be filled with cheese and other times they would have peanut butter and jelly, but either way they were delicious. On Christmas morning, Sam, Dales, and I opened our gift from her and at the same time screamed, "TOAS-TITES!" She had bought us 1949 replicas of the sandwich maker we grew up loving and they are every bit as good as I remember.

 4.  After we spend Christmas at the river, we came back to Richmond and I got to see some of my "bahs" from home - Brittany, Steph, and Gabby, plus their significant others.  There is nothing like dinner with good food, good drinks, and good friends. :)

 5.  I'll admit, it was a little strange not being at the river for New Years Eve with my family and best friends from home, but we still had a great time ringing in the 2013 with our friends in Waynesboro!

6. On New Years Day we enjoyed watching our Dawgs play their last game of the season against Nebraska, and it was icing on the cake that we won 45-31. Plus, we found Aaron Murray, our quarterback, will be returning next season for his final year. UGA National Champions 2014... I can feel it in my bones.

7.  A while ago I mentioned that we were making a coffee table. Four months later we finally got around to staining it and, boy, are we excited!  As Gaines' Uncle Charlie was helping us cut the two "X's" to go on the sides, we realized we were about two feet of wood short.  Hopefully we'll finish that last part of the project, apply some sealer, and welcome our new table into our home soon.

8.  Welp, after two weeks off I'm finally back to the grind.  Yesterday was a Teacher Workday, so the kids will be back today.  Here's to a productive, successful second nine weeks... and lots of coffee in the mornings!

9.  Speaking of "getting back into things," I accidentally took about a nine-month hiatus from running.  When I say running, I only be 1-3 miles, but with the new year comes new motivation, so I've gotten back to pounding the pavement with my new Nike pants and my side-kick Molly.

10.  And last but not least, I started reading "Safe Haven," which was recommended by a friend of mine at work.  I read half of it on Sunday, so needless to say, I think it's pretty good so far.  Plus, it's been made into a movie, which will be out in February with Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough.

Happy Tuesday!