Back Porch Sittin'

When was the last time you had a back porch talk with someone? I love them so much and here are the reasons....1. I LOVE sitting outside. 2. back porch talks mean that you are in company of someone really special. 3. the conversation that takes place are usually pretty darn awesome. 4. you are usually sippin' on something delicious. 5. they are the kind of thing you don't want to end

Well, I bet you can guess what I did last night! If not, I had me a back porch talk! One of the BFF's, Jessica (hand slap, slide around, side wave, whoop!) came over - we went for a nice energizing stroll around the neighborhood, cooked us a healthy meal and headed to the back porch, where all 5 of the things above happened. 1. we sat outside and loved it - nice weather, perfect lighting, a couple of mosquitoes (until citronella candles were lit) but no bites. 2. Jessica makes real company! No matter what we do, it's always great when she is around. She is the real deal. 3. our conversation was awesome - no agenda, nothing really to talk about so we jumped around a lot and covered it all. 4. we were sipping on ice cold refreshing water [note to self I will make sure we have something more delicious next time!] 5. yup, didn't want to leave but when 10:40pm rolled around I decided I should hit the sack.

Back porch talks are good for the soul.

The First Half

It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t blogging for the first half of 2013. It has been one crazy, hectic year filled with parties, showers, and weddings…. But all filled with so much love! So much love that I WOULD have posted about 10,000 pictures from each. Lucky you 'cause now I have narrowed it down just 2 per wedding. I know it’s crazy… I can’t believe that I could only pick 2 for each, but I did. So here is a recap of them all! 

Friday, May 24^th – Josh & Hadyn’s

Their wedding was up in Flintstone, GA (yup, you heard me right!). It was an outdoor wedding and absolutely beautiful weather. The reception was held in a very chabby chic upscale barn that was so super adorable. The food was down home country and delicious! Hadyn’s family got Josh a shotgun that he opened at the reception… it was priceless! Their wedding favors were homemade bars of soap from a local Georgian! So cute. Here are 2 pics from their wedding! YAB-A-DAB-A-DO!!!

Saturday, June 1^st – Will & Erica

Erica meaning Erica Cox… MY SISTER! So crazy but she is a wife now! Their wedding was in Kennesaw, GA at the Hill Manor House. It was an all outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect… it started to drizzle at the very end but they didn’t care, they were headed to their honeymoon! The reception consisted of amazing food, cake and LOTS of dancing. The best part about the whole thing (other than the fact that I was her maid of honor and could not be more happy for them) was that it was their very first kiss at the ceremony. Yes folks, we were there to witness it all go down and it was the most precious thing ever!  I’m surprised Will made it through the whole ceremony without 1. Passing out and 2. Waiting to kiss until he was told to! PS- she was the most glowing & gorgeous bride! Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Sunday, June 2^nd – Josh & Tricia

Their wedding was in Lula, GA. It was supposed to be an outdoor ceremony but about 10 minutes before she was about to walk down the aisle, it started POURING! We waited for about 15 minutes and then decided to switch it up and have it inside the beautiful newly built barn…it couldn’t have been prettier. The colors inside, the sun and rain coming down behind them, and those 2 just caring that they were getting married and starting their lives together as a family! The company & cupcakes were awesome but the most amazing thing of the whole wedding happened at the altar…. Josh & Tricia decided that their first act as a married couple, they wanted to serve each other just as Jesus served us during his time here on earth. So they washed each others feet. The most humbling act of service a person could do… especially a bride on her wedding day... in her wedding dress! It was the absolute most beautiful thing I had ever seen at a wedding. “We are not here to be served but to serve one another.” Wow. Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Saturday, June 8^th – Nick & Lauren

Their wedding was in Lawrenceville, GA. It was an indoor wedding at the brand new wedding venue, Ashton Gardens. They had a mac n’ cheese bar and an oreo cake… need I say more? Okay… the ceremony was stunning with the natural light from the glass windows and Lauren’s AMAZING dress.... plus Steven married them! Yep, Steven performed their ceremony and he did a fabulous job! I was so proud! The whole wedding was right up Nick & Lauren’s alley – from the laid back ceremony where jokes were being cracked to dancing to Justin Beiber  & Nsync to the glow sticks at the end! Plus their wedding favor was a super awesome neon green koozie with a pink moustache on it (someplace cool to STACHE your drink!). Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Saturday, June 22^nd – Daniel & Lauren

Their wedding was in good ole Roswell, GA – the home of the fun little town with cute restaurants and Lauren’s favorite hang out place! They had an outdoor wedding on a beautiful shaded lawn at the Primose Cottage. The reception took place partially inside and partially outside of the house. Inside there was wonderful food and a lot more dancing; outside there were lines to the bar… everywhere you went, people were having fun and knew how to do it! Lauren was 1 beautiful bride and Daniel was 1 happy groom… together they were in awe that this day was finally here. It was bittersweet because on one hand I got to see one of my best friends marry the guy of her dreams (and who she had dated for 8 years) but on the other hand, I had to let her go…. And I know you are thinking “Jordan, you are married and have to let go of all your friends when they get married…” but she is different… Her and Daniel now live in CALIFORNIA.  AHHH but freakin’ finally! (See I told you its bittersweet!) I know she is where she needs to be so I am okay with it… but as they ran to their limo that night, I think Rachel and I both almost jumped in with them! Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Ah. And my job here is done. No more weddings this year... I can work on being the best wife I can be to my amazing husband! I sure do love wedding season but I am sure happy it's over for this year! I know, I know... Here come the babies! :)

Heads up about my next blog post... it might be a little bit (like a week... don't get your panties in a wad!) because I am leaving for a trip and NOT taking my computer! Here is a clue at where i'll be and what i'll be doing:

Cheers! 

And We're Back...

I love how gchat says that when you have been disconnected from Internet and then get it back again. This is exactly how I feel. I have been disconnected from the blogging world and now I’m back.  Two of my very good friends are to blame for this.

The first blamer is Jessica over at JessKateNamy because she told me last night that she was going to start blogging. That’s where the interest was sparked… I thought, “(happy face) Omgosh, I have a blog…(sad face) but I never write anymore.” And she says, “Why don’t we blog together.” So then I turn to the next blamer, Wendi over at FreemanFam, at work today (I literally turn to my left and she is there… we just took out the window that was in between us so that we could better communicate on social matters work projects) and said “I think I am going to start blogging again!” and she says “Well it’s about time, I am about to unfollow you, you are boring!”  - I looked back and my last post was January 1 so I guess I have been boring for the first half of 2013. But watch out Jess and Wendi (and all 5 of my followers!)… the rest of 2013 is going to be a fun filled, crazy, not boring, information overloading, photo dumping kind of a year!

Here is what you can expect from me:

• Lots and lots of Instagram worthy photo dumps
• Captions & stories that go to those photos
• New recipes that I try from Pinterest (if I ever get around to going to the grocery store!)
• DIY projects from Pinterest
• My garden updates
• My workout/eating goals and plans (successes and failures… I’m human people!)
• Fun things I get to do with my high school students
• Day to Day stuff aka other things that I forgot to mention here!

#shoutouts

Here is Jess and I - Father/Grandpa shirts and matching purses! 

Here is Wendi through our now missing window  - working hard! 

AH. Love them both!

TTFNBNFL (TaTaForNow but not for long!)

A Long Lost Blog Post Update.

Wow. Where have I been? So much has happened since the last post, SO this one I am just going to jump right in like I never went MIA! First things first.... I bet you are DYING to know what our new loft looks like. I hope you weren't holding your breath 'cause that was a major teaser! Without further ado... here is our new loft... AKA The Arts & Crafts Room! 

Pretty nifty huh? We love it and use it 10x more than that plain ole boring sitting room! We did move the sitting room furniture to a back bedroom and we now use that as a reading room (and Santa's Workshop during Christmas!).

A few more things going on...

Erica got engaged!

Yup, Will proposed on Dec 30th, 2012 up in Cleveland, GA at Woodlands Camp. After she walked through the chapel to find a note directing her to the bridge where then she had to walk through about 100 candle-lit mason jars and lanterns, Will was handsomely waiting for her! Once she said yes, the chapel bell was rang by my brothers and the rest of our family came out from the woodworks! We then had a surprise engagement party for them at our house! What a fun day! 

And then last but not least... we had 45 people over for a New Years Eve Party... no big deal. 

Happy 2013!! Let's do this! 

Hoot Hoot!

Today is the first day of college for my first baby brother and sister (I have another baby brother that started high school this year too!) They are growing up and I am growing old. Story of my life!

So Tyler and Erica are both following in not only their mom, a little bit of their dad but also my lovely footsteps! They are Kennesaw State Owls. Hoot Hoot! So on Tuesday, Tyler moved into the dorms on campus and Erica and I thought it would be a great time to come up and bring him dinner before he gets too cool to hang out with us. We went with the typical college dinner…fast food! We did all of the things that sisters love to do:

1. Sat on the floor outside his dorm room door and ate our dinner until he came walking around the corner with his new buds and naturally we freaked out like we hadn’t seen him in ages (I think he may have blushed a bit!).
2. We rearranged his furniture.
3. Made sure his roommates seemed like “good guys” and we might have taken a peek at their rooms too to see what kind of people they were. Maybe.
4. Checked the laundry room for detergent (which they actually had like 10 containers of it….that will last them a lifetime!).
5. Made sure that no one could see through his window when he went to the bathroom (this one could have been realized by accident but that’s for Erica and I to know!).
6. Hid under his bed and in the shower when he walked into his room to scare him.
7. Opened up his utensils and started digging into his ice cream.
8. Tried stealing his Swedish Fish but were caught and he pulled the “poor college student” card on us.
9. Took lots of pictures.
10. After leaving his room, walking around a bit, and were headed back to our car we saw him in his room from outside so jumped around and waved our hands like crazy to get his attention. We got it. He shut his blinds. Can you say too cool for school? Haha He loves us!

Anywhooo (get it? like an owl?) keep going… while I was there I was also reminiscing on when I lived in those exact dorms as a freshman in college and decided to do some comparisons! So here it goes:

This is Tyler’s room.

This was my room (and my friend Lauren who came to visit me from Ole Miss!).

This was their living area (typical guys area – plain, stuff everywhere, a laundry basket on the kitchen counter, and mountain dew!).

This was our living room. Now I didn’t have a picture of our living area (can you believe that?? I can’t!) so I had to watch the video of Lester and I swing dancing and capture a shot from there! (Please notice the tube TV with -a feather boa might I add, the old school boom box, lamps, throw pillows, and pink everywhere…we were newly Phi Mu’s, can you blame us?). *Also, you can’t see their furniture but it is the exact same as what we had – some things never change!

Here is Tyler – all proud to be living on his own! And Erica on her first day of college!

Here are my roomies - Sam, Leslie, and I (oh, and Lady, our cat that we snuck into the dorm to live with us for about 8 months until we got caught!)

Man, college was awesome! I miss it.

I totally took it for granted while I was there!

OWLS FOR LIFE! HOOT HOOT!

(Tyler's view from his room - Gotta love the beautiful Kennesaw!)