snow!!

This has been SUCH a fun weekend:) We got about 5-6 inches of snow and it is so pretty. I have not seen this much snow since I was a little girl! It started up Friday morning and snowed pretty much all day Friday and some of Saturday.

Josh, his brother & our neighbor Ronnie have started a snow plowing business. It is good money but poor things have been out in this mess since Friday night. They worked all night Friday night (during the night) and came home around 11 on Saturday and took a 2 hour nap. Then headed back out yesterday and did not get back home til late last night. Then left again at 4 am this morning and he is STILL not home. He is going to pass out as soon as he gets home I am sure.

So it has been pretty much a girls weekend so it has been fun:) Friday night me, my sister in law Tiffani (who is expecting her 1st baby in August so we will be an aunt & uncle!! yay!), and Jennifer (Ronnie's wife) hung out and watched movies. Then yesterday morning my other sister in law, Sarah, came over and stayed the night. She just left and I am worn out! Here is what our weekend consisted of:)

Kobe LOVED the snow!! He ran around like crazy when he first got out in it! He didn't know what to think. Then he started eating the snow!

Here are my in laws! I am so happy they were able to bring Sarah over!This is Jennifer & Ronnie's (our next door neighbors) little boy, Tripp! Is he not the CUTEST thing ever:) We took him for a ride on the sled down our road and he just loved it. He cried when Jennifer took him back in..We also found a huge hill close to our house & went sledding!! Talk about FUN!

The worst part was walking back up the hill! Talk about a WORK OUT!

Today after church, Sarah and I decided to build a snowman:) Sounds easy, right???? Nope. I never knew how hard it was to build one! Ha! But he turned out really cute!

We also made snow cream and watched the Miss America pageant! I really wanted Miss Tennessee to win but I thought Miss Virginia was so gorgeous!!

I am so ready for Josh to be back home. Tonight we are going to eat leftover chili and watch 19 kids and counting. Its the new episode and I am so excited:) Hope yall have a great night as well!

Fake bakin.

This time of year is definitely not my favorite. Not only because it is so cold but I am so white! But I refuse to get in the tanning bed for many reasons.. skin cancer not only runs in my family but last April I had a mole removed that was in the beginning stages of melanoma!! Scary, I know!! The crazy thing is that it looked like a freckle. But it just came up one day about 2 years ago and it caught my eye. I noticed that it would get dark and then get light and get dark and get light.... so I decided to go have it checked out.

First of all, let me back up to about 6 years ago. My mom had a mole removed that was melanoma :( Scariest thing ever. They said it had spread to her lymph nodes but the Lord healed her!! She never had to go through chemo or anything!! But since then, they keep a close eye on her and she gets her moles checked every 6 months. And since I used to get in the tanning bed all the time & because of my family history I get mine checked every 6 months too. We go to the best doctor here in Nashville, Dr. Melissa Langley. We love her!! (Btw, my mom has never been in the tanning bed. She is just fair skinned, red hair, light eyes, and it runs in her family as well)

Anyway, so I had Dr. Langley look at my freckle looking mole and she said it did not look bad but to keep a close eye on it. So I did. A whole year went by and last March it started to itch. Then it started bleeding.... Which are both signs of skin cancer so I made another appointment with Dr. Langley. She took it off and it was in the beginning stages of melanoma. It was not cancer yet, but it would have turned into cancer. I am so happy we caught it before that point! I know it was God who gave me an uneasy feeling about it in the first place and I am so thankful:)

So since then I have been really careful. When I am out in the sun I make sure I ALWAYS wear sunscreen. But this time of year just sucks!! Used to around this time of year, I would start getting in the tanning bed to get some color. But not anymore, its just not worth it! I have been wanting to get a spray tan but I just can't bring myself to pay $25 for something that may turn orange or only last a few days. But let me tell you what I have been using that I just LOVE :)

Fake Bake!! This stuff is awesome. It will not turn you orange. The lotion itself is dark so when you put it on, you can tell exactly what it is going to look like so you can rub it all in and not have any streaking going on! I use this sometimes at night. You have to be sure to let it dry all the way though before you get dressed or get in bed. Or else it will kinda rub off onto your clothes or sheets:)

They also have the one for your face. It won't clog your pores or make you break out. I put this on some mornings before my make up. Love it!This is something new I have just discovered and I am in love! It is an everyday gradual lotion. It is by Hempz and it is called Touch Of Summer. It gives you a good color and the best thing about it? It doesn't have that smell that most sunless tanners have. It actually smells really good! :)So I don't feel quite as depressed as I normally do this time of year:) Something about just having a little bit of color makes a girl feel good!

let it snow!

For the past 3 days it has been flurrying non stop :) It has not accumulated to much but it sure is pretty! We were supposed to get 2-4 inches Wednesday night but we didn't. I was not surprised in the least bit. I did have to run to the grocery store Wednesday afternoon and it was PACKED! That's what happens when they call for snow in the south, everyone goes crazy and then the whole town shuts down. But that's ok. I wouldn't have it any other way :) Have a great weekend!!

SEW CUTE baby bib

Do you remember me talking about visiting my cousin, Shauna, in Knoxville back in this post? If you don't remember her sweet baby girl, Sidney, then let me remind you :)She is PRECIOUS! I wanted to make something special for her. I remember seeing this tutorial about 6 months ago and thinking I could do something like that one day. So I saved it to my favorites and forgot about it :) Until I started thinking about what I could make and then it hit me!! It was pretty simple.

Please note this was the 1st time I have ever made anything with a pattern.. so is it perfect?? Nope. Did it turn out exactly like the pattern?? Nope. But it did turn out super cute and I can see myself making many more of these in the future!

Print the pattern that is in the tutorial above and find some cute fabric. I loved the cute pink & chocolate fabric I got at Hobby Lobby about 6 months ago. It has been in the pile of "projects to be done" for a while now. You know, the pile that drives my hubby CRAZY!

After you cut your fabric, lay it on top of a towel. I chose a chocolate towel from Wal-Mart. This will be the back of your bib.

Now you have the front and back of your bib. I will have to admit that the hardest thing about making this bib was cutting out the hole for the neck. Don't ask why. It was just awkward.

Please refer to the tutorial above for the rest of the instructions!! I tried to tell you but decided to delete it all because it just sounded confusing!! Jill is much better at explaining :)

This is what it looked like when I was done!! I thought it turned out super cute. Shauna and Sidney thought so too:)

{I should have ironed it before I took these pictures but you get the picture!}

I used my embroidery machine to do the "S". I have had my embroidery machine for about a year now and have barely used it at all. It takes time to learn how to use it and we have moved twice since I have had it...so no time! But I am learning to make time now and I am getting the hang of it. I LOVE IT!

I made this all by myself and without my hubby so I am linking this to Shanty 2 Chic as well! Have a great day :)

cute salon chairs

As some of you know (and for those of you who do not know!) I am now working from home!! Yep, that's right. We finished out part of our basement & made it a salon :) I love love LOVE it. I am especially loving it now that it is freeeeezing and I never want to leave the house! Anyway, finishing out part of our basement pretty much broke us so when it came to furnishing the salon, I had to do the cheapest .... but cutest :) ..... things possible. I will do a post very soon with pics of the salon, but right now I want to show you the chairs that I did for the waiting area. My mom had these old antique chairs.. Note: Please excuse the mess in the basement :)

The first thing I did was try to find some cute fabric to cover the chairs with. I looked everywhere. Nothing was really standing out that I wanted. That's when my mom introduced me to The Fabric Gallery in Nashville. (Again, what would I do without her?!) This place has THE cutest fabric ever.

This was a very easy project. I just spray painted the chairs black and re-covered them! Ta-Da!

I just LOVE the way the red looks with the aqua walls! Here is another chair that I did but used a cute black and white giraffe pattern :)
I am linking this to Shanty to Chic's website. Please check out their website to see other cute things we did without our hubbys!

I am also linking this to The DIY Show & Tell Suprise Party. Yay! Because I just love parties :)

More pics of my new salon coming soon! Also, a few other projects I'm working on..

awake at 4 am

That's what happens when your husband wakes up while it is still dark outside to go sit in a duck blind. Can I mention that I checked the weather and it is 14 degrees out there??? I don't care how you bribe me, I will not get out of my warm bed for that :)

Normally, when he gets up that early, I go back to sleep right away. This time all I can think about is all I need to do this morning before church... or all that I want to do before church. (Writing this was not on my list but oh well!) I have several things I want to accomplish this year. I guess you could call them New Years Resolutions but I won't because then that would mean I probably won't get them done since most people break theirs. They are pretty typical but very important to me!

I want to have a closer relationship with the Lord! No matter how close we are to him, we can always be closer. I'm tired of that "comfortable" feeling that I have had lately. I want to pray more and read my bible more. Last year, my resolution was to read through the whole bible... well, let's just say I got pretty bored with the Old Testament and stopped somewhere around Joshua! That's bad, I know! I need to come up with some kind of plan that will help me get through the hard chapters so I won't just give up :)

I want to be a better wife, daughter, daughter in law, sister, friend, etc... Enough said!

I want to get this crazy house in order!!! There are still tons of things that need to be unpacked and organized. I worked on this for a long time yesterday and I have a huge pile of clothes I am getting rid of. I have a hard time getting rid of cute clothes, shoes, purses, smell good lotions, blah, blah, blah- but if I have not used it or worn it in a while, its gotta GO! I do love our house but its not as big as I would like for it to be to store all of my things that "I may want to wear or use someday!!" (and it drives the hubby crazy, ha!)

We want to do better this year and get all of our debt paid off and save some money. If we ever get that tax credit thing back for being a first time home buyer.... Ummm....$8000.... that would help A LOT! We are going to use that money to pay off Josh's student loans, a couple of other small loans we have, and then put the rest in savings. I know we waste a ton of money by going out to eat all the time and buying things we don't need. But we are going to try and be better about that :)

And I am sure like everyone else, I want to get in shape!!! I don't have to look like I just stepped out of a Victoria's Secret catalog or Glamour magazine.. (because I can't airbrush my body in the real world!) But I do want to be in shape and work out and eat healthy. Just feel good about myself. Don't take that the wrong way!! I am happy with myself but there are a few things I would change if I could... I mean, I am a woman and we always want what we don't have, right? :)

There are a few more things I hope to accomplish this year but that's all I will say for now! I am needing to make some coffee so I can make it through this day! Have a great day :)

*Edit*

I am linking this to Kelly's Korner :) Please head over to her blog to see everyone else's New Years Resolutions!

If I Marry

I love this poem that Ruth Bell wrote. She was only 17 years old when she wrote this and had decided to remain single & be a missionary. But if she did marry, this is what she wanted-

"If I marry: He must be so tall that when he is on his knees he reaches all the way to heaven. His shoulders must be broad enough to carry the burden of a family. His lips must be strong enough to smile, firm enough to say no, and tender enough to kiss. Love must be so deep that it takes its stand in Christ and so wide that it takes in the whole lost world. He must be active enough to save souls. He must be big enough to be gentle and great enough to be thoughtful. His arms must be strong enough to carry a little child."

This poem makes me smile for so many reasons :) For one, I love that she chose to not settle when it comes to choosing a husband. We need to wait for the one the Lord has picked out for us!! That is why I am so thankful for my husband!! I know God made him for me and he made me for him!!

Another reason this poem makes me smile is because it shows how the LORD is SO faithful. If we follow him and keep him first, he will give us the desires of our heart. Because not long after Ruth Bell wrote this poem, she met her soon to be husband, Billy Graham!! A few months after that, he proposed! Isn't God just great?!!!

Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4

Welcome 2010!

I can't believe another year has come and gone. 2009 was a HUGE year for us!! What did we accomplish?

- Josh graduated college
- we bought our first home
- we celebrated our 1st year of marriage
- I started my own salon
- Kobe turned 1

And those are just the majors ;) Every year when a new year comes and goes, it really makes me thankful for all the Lord has blessed me with! (and I feel like I don't even deserve all he has given me!!) I can't wait to see what 2010 has to bring!

We brought in the new year with my best friend, Annie, and her hubby and their family! Annie is PREGNANT :) and they will be finding out Jan 15 what they are having!! I am sooo excited! It was so good to be able to see her and her belly bump:) She is starting to show a little more and looks so cute.
All the guys watched the UT game.. we lost :( ... maybe we will be better next year! All the girls were in the kitchen (of course!) cooking and having fun! Have you seen on TV where you can make the little hamburger sliders?? Well, Annie's MIL has one and that thing is so cool! I want one :) Annie also made some cheese fondue. It is the Melting Pot's recipe and oh my word!! So good! After the game was over, we played a domino's game called Wild Fire. It was fun!! We did stop in the middle of the game so we could watch the ball drop. Welcome 2010!! Now I just have to decide one thing.....

Am I going to say two thousand ten??? Or twenty ten???? Decisions Decisions.