Four years ago today, my sister Debra and brother-in-law Lance got married in Savannah, Georgia. It was a really beautiful wedding! Most of the good photos belong to the photographer, but I’m sharing a few of my favorite non-professional shots since I didn’t have this blog back then.
Taking a trolley over to the wedding location.
I think this is such a cute moment.
My dad walking Debra down the aisle.
My brother Kevin reads Scripture.
Yay!
Group shot!
Happy anniversary Debra and Lance. I’m so thankful for your marriage and love you very much!
5 Comments + Posted in: family
To be honest, I am Just Not Feeling It this week. Despite the beautiful fall trees, I feel exhausted and bummed. Part of it is some bleah circumstances, part of it is just November (which is historically not a happy month for me). So I haven’t had a lot to say here, but here are some things that have been going on.
Tiger basketball season started well last Thursday with a solid win over Austin Peay! But last night we were utterly humiliated by Oklahoma State on national television. November beatdowns are often par for the course for Tiger fans, but this was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. By the end of the game, most sports media had (unfairly, IMHO) kicked us out of the top 25 and written us off for the season. I’m distraught, and will remain so until the next victory.
Alanna and I ran the Meowathon 5K last Saturday for the House of Mews, a local cat shelter. It was really fun! We even saw a lady running with her cat in a baby sling. I didn’t get a picture, but people were crowding around with their phone cameras like the cat was a celebrity. My time wasn’t as good as the True Blue 5K a few weeks ago, but I did set a new personal record for fastest mile, so I was pleased.
In other kitty news, my Peach turned 9 last week! Given her ongoing health issues, I’m extra thankful for every birthday. Recently she started refusing the pill pocket treats she’s happily eaten for a year. I’ve tried all kinds of alternatives with no success, but last night I ground up her pill and sprinkled it on some chicken, and she went for it. Let’s pray that this continues to work.
A few months ago I bought new glasses from Warby Parker. I’d had the same frames since high school (no joke) and wanted glasses I could feel cute in if I needed to wear them. Good thing I made that purchase, because I’ve been having an extended series of eye problems. It peaked last week when I got an ulcer in my eye (something I didn’t know was possible). Turns out it’s kind of serious, and I’ll be in glasses at least through Thanksgiving. Lacking peripheral vision, and having something on my face all the time, is annoying… and medication and office visits have eaten up my entire Christmas budget and then some. But, you know, my eye still works.
I had a clothing swap at my house on Sunday! A few friends brought clothes and accessories they didn’t want anymore, and we went to town. I think everyone left with at least one new-to-them item. It was a small and well-behaved group, so I didn’t impose any sort of system. I also kept a lot of the leftover items so we can have another swap in the spring. Oh and if you need an easy snacky dessert to bring to a party, Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies are a safe bet. I’ve already made them twice.
What’s new with you?
7 Comments + Posted in: cats, fashion, fitness, health, tigers
I’m doing a linkup today with the organization We Speak Now. See below to learn what they’re all about – it’s definitely a message I support! Thanks.
Ellie Coburn // elliecoburn.com | Christina Soto // Piecing it all together | Shane Prather // Whispering Sweet Nothings | Vicki // My Vickilicious Life | Kristine Foley // The Foley Fam | Jenny // Diary of a Dreamer | Nina // Nina’s Bargain Beauty | Ashley Griffith // After Nine to Five | Christine Rosko // Life With a Side of Coffee | Megan Flynn // Freckled Italian Kendra Newton // Kandid Kendra | Julie Grimmett // Julie is Coco and Cocoa | Kayla Leppelman // Love Sparkle Pretty | Ashlea Durrett // Ashlea with an A | Sarah Hallstead // A Plethora of Pondering’s blog | Cassie Yielding // Live. Laugh. Love. | Laura Euler // Storybook Reality | Brett // What Happens at Bakertown | Brittany Trevino // Sunny Tales and Happy Mail | Ashley Wilhite // Your Super Awesome Life | Eliza St. Clair // Case Study | Diana // Fly to the Wall | Elle // Dig Deep Studio | Cody Doll // Catching Cody K. | Wendy E. // Blush and Barbells | Brenda Wilkerson // Don’t Stop Believing
Special Thanks to,
Sarah Moog, Casey Wiegand of the Wiegands,
This Event is Sponsored By: 
Add a Comment + Posted in: womanhood
Yesterday I took pictures of my day for Hollywood Housewife’s One Day 2013 project! I did something like this once, about ten years ago, and have since lost the pictures. Hence, I know that what feels ridiculously mundane to document in the moment can be precious to you later. So I decided to participate for the sake of ten-years-from-now me! All photos were taken with my phone for simplicity’s sake.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
6:20 am. Get up after snoozing several times. As always, my morning companions are Gandalf and the Action News 5 news team. Ron Childers says it’s going to be a cold day!
7:15 am. Eat my usual breakfast of two muffins (today, pumpkin).
7:36 am. Listening to Drake & Zeke on the way to work. Daily showdown with the school bus: do I have enough space and time to merge around it? Will anyone let me in? Should I give up and get behind it, adding 10 minutes to my commute? Beside me is what I carry to work each day – coffee, purse, and tote bag (containing my dayplanner and, today, Addie Zierman’s When We Were On Fire). Myla made the tote bag for my birthday about eight years ago.
8:00 am. Arrive at work.
9:00 am. I ran out and cut the last of my roses on Tuesday morning before the hard freeze, and brought them to work to enjoy. They’re fading a lot faster than the last batch.
10:00 am. Daily necessities: planner, hand lotion, and some variant of Crystal Light in a well-worn insulated McAlister’s cup. The glare on the cup is from my sun lamp, which I started using immediately after the time change.
12:45 pm. Lunch! Lean Cuisine cheese rigatoni.
1:45 pm. Hitting the elliptical.
2:15 pm. I live and die by this dry-erase schedule board. Having scheduling information right in front of my face really helps me. My job involves real estate closings, if you couldn’t tell. (Hopefully this is all vague enough not to constitute confidential information.)
3:30 pm. Hey, my friend Janet launched a food blog today! Go say hello! Excited for her. Also: snack time!
5:05 pm. Leaving work. Heading to Muddy’s to pick up a little surprise for my friend Tessa since it’s her birthday! The last of the daylight reflecting off the Clark Tower is always beautiful to me.
5:40 pm. On a normal Wednesday, I’d be killing some time in the Target parking lot before heading to church for dinner and small groups. But tonight I have other plans! I stealthily leave the birthday cupcake on Tessa’s doorstep, then drive downtown for a networking event that my friend Lexie invited me to. I’ve been working up the motivation to go to one for like a year.
7:30 pm. Sampling craft beers with Lexie at the new High Cotton brewery! The founder gave us a group tour and samples, and answered questions. I’m not a big beer drinker and didn’t know much about the brewing process, but it was FASCINATING. These guys are artists.
8:30 pm. Heading home. I was near our iconic Wonder Bread/Hostess factory (which is now closed), so here’s a picture of the sign!
9:00 pm. Arrive home. Feed and tend to cats, who are displeased by my late homecoming. :)
9:30 pm. Since I never ate an actual dinner, and I baked biscuits last night, I decide to have sweet and savory biscuits. One with ham and cheese, one with blueberry jam. My diet is usually much more vegetable-based… this was an off day.
11:00 pm. Good night!
12 Comments + Posted in: life lately, linkup
I’m low on blogging ideas this week, so I checked out some daily prompts at The Daily Post. Today’s topic is the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. Well, the furthest I’ve ever traveled was to Europe in the summer of 1995 as a People to People Student Ambassador. Our group of about 20 teenagers from Memphis traveled with a similar group from Michigan for three weeks. This is Christine from Detroit with me in front of the Eiffel Tower. We still exchange Christmas cards. And yes, I do appear to be wearing a tablecloth.
Here are some snapshot memories of my trip to Europe, many years later:
♦ Staying with a kind elderly lady who spoke NO English in Salamanca, Spain. One of the Michigan girls was my roommate, and we totally exhausted my conversational Spanish, both with our host and in getting around town. One afternoon, it took us two hours to find the post office.
♦ Our one-night stay in Barcelona and visit to the Olympic stadium. From the little I saw, it was a beautiful city and I’d love to go back and experience it for real.
♦ My homestay with a nice family in Toulouse, France. They lived out in the countryside, spoke English, and had a daughter about my age. I remember my few days with them as very peaceful and pleasant.
♦ The miles and miles and miles of sunflower fields in France. Think of the bounty of cotton and bean fields in the American South; now imagine they’re all full of sunflowers. On our long bus rides, Christine and I wished we could pull over and run through the rows.
♦ Buying my first pair of Birkenstocks in Germany. I wore those shoes for years (it was the 90s!) and still have them.
♦ Taking a bus tour through the Black Forest in Germany, then stopping somewhere to eat authentic Black Forest cake. I wasn’t super impressed at the time, but as an adult I’ve become a huge fan of Black Forest cake.
♦ Visiting a concentration camp. I think it was one of the smaller ones, not that that made it any easier to process emotionally. Before we got on the bus to leave, I somehow got some stinging nettle in my hand, which hurt for hours. I remember thinking that it was appropriate, a tiny empathy with the suffering that transpired there.
♦ Seeing ice sculptures and going down an Alpine slide in the French Alps. I’ve never liked roller coasters, but I loved that Alpine slide!
♦ I don’t recall where, but late in the trip we stayed in a sports hotel for a few nights. Every major sport had a field or court on the grounds, which was really interesting. The elevator was microscopic, so when we arrived, we all threw our luggage into the elevator, sent it up, and raced up the stairs to meet it. I’ve kept this good idea tucked away in case I’m ever in that situation again.
♦ Touring the United Nations in BEAUTIFUL Geneva, Switzerland – another city I would love to see again.
♦ Paris was our last stop, and probably my favorite. Of course, we hiked up to Sacre Coeur, went to the Louvre and Notre Dame, and took a river cruise on the Seine. And everywhere we went, “Waterfalls” by TLC was playing, so that song is permanently associated with Paris for me.
♦ I bought two dresses in Paris, at what was probably their equivalent of Old Navy or the Gap. I cherished them for years. One of them, a denim dress, is still in my closet in good shape and still fits. It would actually sort of work with current trends!
I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity to go on a trip like this, but I was young and didn’t appreciate it as much as I would now. Also, I’ll always regret not taking more pictures. Obviously this was before digital cameras, film was expensive, and you never knew for sure whether you got a good shot. So I only took two rolls of film in three weeks, and didn’t have much that was frame-worthy in the end. The foolishness of youth.
8 Comments + Posted in: memory lane, travel