Say YES to the DRESS!

Prom Closet. I have found my calling. I am in love with a cause. A really good one at that! We had over 200 dresses...most were very pretty, a few were sort of old fashioned. No dresses were over $20. We held the PC at one of our local YMCA's. Ladies, teenagers, and kids were lined up outside when I arrived this morning...in the cold.

I wish I had a picture to show you how everything was set up and how excited the women were.

I loved being a personal assistant/stylist/shopper/seamstress/friend. I followed women around, held dresses, helped them try on dresses, gave my input, picked out dresses that I thought would be perfect on them, gave tips on taking things up and letting them out, shoe height, etc. !!!!! So much FUN!

I helped one sweet teenager find a pageant gown.

I also helped two managers of SONIC that were going to a corporate meeting in a few weeks. I found dresses for both of them. I definitely let them know how much I adore Vanilla Diet Coke's from them!! Ha!

I helped a sophomore find a few dresses too. We had tons of options. I hung them all over the locker room aka fitting room. We had a yes, no, and maybe pile. Somehow I ended up having a line of women waiting on this girls rejects. After about 2 hours. This particular girl, ended up finding the perfect prom dress. She ran up to me before she left and gave me the sweetest hug. Made my day!

To make the morning even more perfect...Jill got the new Lady A cd, which I love, and had it set to repeat, blasting over and over again!

I cannot wait until next year. Until them, I'm going to be hardcore about collecting pageant dresses, prom dresses, and bridesmaid dresses!

These two dresses are similar to my two favorites that I sold!



This sums up the rest of my day!

Don't stop believin!

How 'bout a little GLEE?


I'm off to Prom Closet for League this morning! Yay for Saturday!!!!

Play something country

Brickyard Pizza, country music, and CVS.

We ate at BYP for the first time. It was really good.




They played awesome country music the entire time. I just wanted to dance!!!!

We stopped by CVS on the way home (my favorite store) for a certain magazine. Charleston is on the front of the new Southern Living mag, and South Carolina just happens to be our FAVORITE!!!! Can't you see the sunshine? Can't you just feel the moonshine?

I love Josh Turner, but love this song even more :)


Some of our favorite memories of South Carolina!

Favorites lately...

I am addicted to watching "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" on MTV! Matt is sort of hooked too. We basically cry after each little baby is born! So sweet! Although, I can't IMAGINE raising a child at that age.


Toy Watches and corkscrew scarves are two of my favorite accessories right now! Oh yeah, and hoodie sweatshirts (although I only own 2). Maybe it is all this cold weather we've been getting.



I also love Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper! Almost as good as a Sonic Vanilla Diet Coke!


I am loving Bath and Body Works Exotic Coconut lotion and bubble bath. AND reading Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Frank too! Can you tell that I am dreaming about warmer weather?



Ready for a fast Friday and great weekend! I'm going to bed really early tonight...for once! :) Hoping to get my energy back soon!

Wednesday Wrap up!

I've had a very productive week! I'm way ahead at school and housework! :) That makes me happy!

I have ZERO energy and have felt achy all night. I am hoping that the flu stays away from me as it is spreading down my hall and into my classroom. As well as pink eye and the stomach bug!

This is my prayer and song tonight.


I am obsessed with Life Light Up by Christy Nockels. Every song is such a blessing to me. They all seem to fit perfectly with the Bible Study I'm doing right now. It is all I listen to lately. Well, that and the Glee Soundtracks! :)

Psalm 18:2
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

This and That

Yesterday was a whirlwind! My hubby turned 28 and I barely saw him! We did get to spend some quality time together after I got home from Bible Study. We watched The Bachelor: women tell all. Oh my!! We are addicted to the show. I LOVE ELLA!!! And I can't believe Rosalyn! Enough about that though, I could go on and on! :)


Do you see this picture? My beloved red purse. I love purses. Who am I kidding...I just love a great accessory! Anyway, it is big, bright, and hard to miss. Right? Apparently not! I was running errands the other day...and pulled up to my final stop of the night and....no purse. I realized that I left it at Office Depot. I set it down to go through all of the things in my hands (I always do a final check to see if I really need something...or if I just am just shopping like a lunatic) and just didn't pick it back up. I was chawed. I'll leave it at that. I am beginning to show characteristics of forgetfulness again. :)

Today was good. Although, I've felt sort of yucky all day. I just feel like I am about to be sick. It could be the lack of sleep that I've gotten the past few nights too though. I had some company after school today. My doorbell rang this afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised to find my sweet Abby and her Mama, Becky. They were walking around the neighborhood and stopped by to visit for a bit.

Abby ended up staying and playing upstairs in our bonus room with Blakely for 45 minutes. I loved hearing her strumming Matt's guitar and the sound of Spongebob drifting down the stairs as I cleaned and did dishes. I went up and spent some time with her and Blakely....and we had a good little talk. We opened up the windows because it was the most beautiful day here in GA! I watched her walk most of the way home, then got supper ready for my hubby.


I love how the evenings are starting to stay lighter longer! I am getting Spring Fever! Overall, a great relaxing afternoon. My favorite kind!

I am watching Idol right now! I keep on seeing GLEE previews for APRIL! Ha! I'm excited about it starting up, but still feel like it is pretty far away!


Getting ready for another great day!

We're depending on God; he's everything we need. What's more, our hearts brim with joy since we've taken for our own his holy name. Love us, God, with all you've got— that's what we're depending on. Psalm 33:21 (The Message)

I'm calling it a night!

We had Matt's birthday supper tonight. I had everything ready and waiting when he got home from his meeting this afternoon.

His lopsided cake. He wanted it layered like that. He also wanted chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles :) He said it was the most beautiful cake he's ever seen. Ha! Do you think he was telling me the truth? :)

MMW...the almost Birthday Boy!


Blowing out his candles and making a wish. There's nothing better than spoiling my hubby!


The Pioneer Woman's lasagna cooling for tomorrow! My sis-in-law, Rachel, gave me Ree Drummond's cookbook for Christmas. This is the first thing that I've made from it. I will let you know how it turned it! I have a plate that matches the dish, and I am going to write our theme verse for our Bible Study on it.


Have a great Monday everyone!
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save.

Lots of cooking and lots of Birthdaying :)

Saturday afternoon we went downtown and ate lunch at Savannah Moon. I had a vegetable panini and Matt had a club sandwich and Savannah salad! So good!


I laugh at this picture because Matt looks so cute in his turq. polo and I look like like grunge city hiding behind my sunglasses.


We also browsed a few of our favorite shops. Then we went to Hibbit Sports at our "mall" to get some softballs and baseballs for Mr. Matt :). Church softball season is coming soon and he wanted to start practicing. With me...haha! The girl who quit softball after ONE year of playing because they made me play 3rd base (and I didn't know the rules about tagging people or stepping on the base at that time). After I quit, I became really good and probably would've been able to add a new favorite sport to my list. Instead, I became obsessed with baseball, and learned all about the sport and went to every one of my brother's traveling baseball games. Anyway, that is what I got Matt for his birthday....a new glove (his glove for highschool burned in a housefire) and a paper shredder for his office. Here are some pictures of his new favorite thing. And a few pics of us getting ready to play some catch.




We spent about two hours looking at old pictures of us and us and our friends last night. Basically our college glory days. It was fun. This picture was taken before we settled in for the night.


Now for today, church was wonderful. I made a Publix run, I am going to be cooking ALL day today. I am making lasagna for Bible Study tomorrow night...more on that later. And I am making Matt a special birthday dinner and a birthday cake. So look for some food posts coming soon concerning this...


One last thing,
We went to a Fee concert a while back, and he sang this song and I fell in love with it. I heard it on my way home from church this morning. It is nice to hear this reminder from time to time.

Faith + Hope + Love

We've had a good night. We watched the movie, Ice Castles (Matty picked it out on his own :))! Pefect movie...went right along with the Olympics! And finally got some much needed time together!

Up in the pickin' shed...loving every minute. I wouldn't trade our Friday nights in for anything. Just wishing that my family could be here with us this weekend. Matt is turning 28 on Monday, so I'll be getting things together for his big day while he is at work!

SLEEP....what's that?

My eyes are closing as I type this...I'm sooooo tired. I don't like to stay away from blogging for too long though, b/c then I get behind on my oh so interesting life..haha! I do like to document each event separately though.

Tuesday night we went to Tallahassee after work and purchased a kitchen table, 6 chairs, and 3 chairs for the bar! We're so excited!! Although, they won't be here for probably another month to month and a half. We ended up getting home pretty late, and I still had to make Paula Deen's Chocolate Pecan Pie for a friend (Blakely's vet and a girl in my provisional class) that just had a baby. Me and two other teacher friends/league members went in together to make a big meal. I also brought ice cream and garlic bread. However, late nights and early mornings basically begin to wear you out after several in a row.



Wednesday I had to stay at school late, then go over to my friend Emily's to get a card ready to send with the food from our Provisional class. We were waiting on another girl, and chatting, so I didn't leave there until it was time for me to be at church. I rushed to church and enjoyed my girl time and my time in our church library. Then rushed home to spend a little time with my poor husband before I crashed.

I stayed at school late again today...finishing up some paperwork, then got home just in time to get ready for a Project Rosebud meeting at a local clubhouse. We ate supper and talked details about our big service project. It is exciting and we have a lot of fun ideas! I can't wait! It was funny looking around at our little group. We're all so different. We have teachers, bankers, nurses, doctor's wives, and PR ladies in our class! I really love it!

Some of my class at Hands on Thomas County this Fall


I have a good bit of work to finish tonight before I can call it quits for today. I just couldn't stand not blogging another day and this is helping me put off what I really need to be doing!

Thankful that tomorrow is Friday! I'm looking forward to a really good weekend!

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

Me Myself & Lies

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Our Spring Bible Study started tonight! The Women's Ministry at our church does one or two during the day for women that do not work, and then one at night, for women that do work. I haven't been able to participate in a study with my church since BGS (Before Grad School :)) and it felt great to be back tonight! I was sort of nervous, because I didn't know anyone that would be there. I knew I'd know people, but hadn't planned on doing it with anyone. But it was great and perfect. I ended up knowing about half or more of the women. I met a new friend too. The study is exactly what I need to be doing right now. Plus, I kept on reminding myself of the first Bible Study I did at my church. It was Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself...Spring 07. I had barely been married a year and didn't even have a real teaching job yet...I had just graduated with my Bachelor's, and I really didn't know anyone :) Now that was nerve wracking, and took a huge step of faith on my part!


We are doing a Bible Study by Jennifer Rothschild. The introduction video was awesome today. This is a fun BS to be in, because we eat dinner and have dessert and coffee, discuss our homework, and then watch the video. I already learned a lot about my "thought closet". I can't wait to learn more and dig into the homework. I'm sure I will be sharing some of the things I'm learning.

You can still see my name tag! Ha!


This week will be busy! Tomorrow we are going to order our table and chairs!!! Can't wait!

Happy Heart Day!

We enjoyed church this morning. Then went out to lunch, to Wal-Mart and to Publix. Romantic huh? :)

We came home and sat outside for awhile...it was so beautiful out today. Then we took a short nap with all of our windows open. A Perfect Sunday afternoon.

We got Matt a new jacket and shirt at the Sidewalk Sale downtown yesterday...just because they were great deals, both 50% off. We had decided not to do Valentine's gifts this year because we are always buying house stuff. Well, he had a little surprise for me last night. He went shopping by himself and got me two pinky/coral ruffle shirts. One cardigan and one shirt and a little pair of mary jane slipper socks with hearts on them. I loved it all!!! I proudly wore the pink shirt this morning to church, which Matt loved! Here we are just hanging out and acting silly, like usual.



We have been watching the Olympics tonight and working on stuff for tomorrow. We both have to work. BOO!

Leaving church this morning.



Posing for my hubby on our 8th Valentine's Day together!


So, all in all, we had a laid back day. I'm just thankful that everyday feels like Valentine's Day! :) Ha! I am serious though. I'm so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man!

I've posted this before, because I attended this simulcast at my church. Anyway, I'm posting it again, because our church choir sang this song this morning, and I just love it! It also got me excited about seeing Beth and hearing Travis in April!

Living Proof Live - Simulcast - Green Bay WI from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

EVENTFUL...to say the least ;)

So far this weekend....

Friday night we took a trip to the ER. We were there for several hours. Turns out Matt had a concussion. I was chawed, because of course, I ran into 3 people from my school, and go to church with the doctor and nurse that saw us in the ER. One of my good teacher friends was having her baby upstairs too, so her entire family was up at the hospial. Let's just say that I couldn't wait to get out of there! I set my alarm for every 3 hours and woke him up all throughtout the night. The story is the most awkward/longest story to tell, so if you want to know and don't already know just ask me! It is a funny memory! Now that he is OK.


Saturday morning we decided to take Matt's Acura into town to sell. We went downtown, picked up a cup of coffee, and had a phone call 20 minues later from a buyer who had cash. We sold it by noon. I thought I'd be thrilled to get rid of it. However, seeing Matty take his tag off and hand her the title and sign the sales agreement, made me kind of sad. He LOVED that car. I even used to love it. I loved the smell of it, the comfy heated seats.


Two of my favorite memories. 1. Driving home on late spring nights from the softball fields in Valdosta in college. We would be listening to Dave Matthews Band with the windows and sunroof down! 2. Driving it to Valdosta, a few days before my wedding, to pick Matt up. June heat, no AC, a window that wouldn't roll down. Oh well, I think it went to a good home. Also, we are going to use some of the money to buy our kitchen table and chairs for the bar that we've already picked out! I can't wait to go order them!!!
Sort of a cross between this and this. You'll see soon!



Saturday afternoon, we had family come into town. We ate at Jonah's fish and grits. My father-in-law really liked it...so I'm glad that we picked it tonight. I can't wait to take them back!


Saturday night, I volunteered at the Pig Gig. I didn't really feel like going, because I wanted to stay at the house and visit with our family. However, once I got there, my opinion changed. The mood was set just right, red lights, an awesome band, yummy smelling food. It was just an all together good time. I always laugh until my sides hurt when I work with Gena. And I had to snap a picture of the dreaded "show pig" and our tight working conditions. :) Here are some pics of our night.






Matty and I got a little camera happy when I got home from Pig Gig. We were trying to get the color better, with less flash, but just kept snapping away. I liked all of them, so here they are :)




Excited about a low-key Valentine's Day! We are going to enjoy church, spend the afternoon together, and then have dinner at home!