thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) My dear friend Amy. It is her birthday today. She is one of my bestest friends ever. We were college roommates for 4 years and played volleyball together at Troy. She knows me inside and out. She is one of those people that you just feel calmer by being around her. Seriously. She is grounded, wise and tender-hearted. She will tell me things I might not want to hear, but in such a way that I don't mind hearing them. She has the most beautiful family (with the newest addition just arriving 6 weeks ago). Happy birthday Amy... I love you!

2) Golden Oreo Cakesters. Oh.my.goodness. Have you tried these things? I thought the Golden Oreos were amazing... but these take the cake! Literally. The fluffy cake-like texture and creamy filling is to-die-for. Seriously, what am I going to do when I have kids one day and am trying to convince them to eat healthy... as I stuff my face with Oreo Cakesters and Dr. Pepper?

3) Chapstick. I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to chapstick. I use it numerous times throughout the day and have various brands/flavors scattered throughout the house... in the bathroom drawer, on the bedside table, in the container on the coffee table, on my desk, and 2 in my purse. My personal favorites are Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick (this looks exactly like a giant glue stick, no lie) and Arbonne's Lip Saver Sunscreen with SPF 30 (a little more expensive, but Arbonne has fabulous products and is completely animal friendly).

janaye & jonny :: engaged!! {louisville wedding photographer}

Meet Jonny and Janaye. Seriously... how cute are they? Janaye grew up in Missouri, but is finishing school in Tulsa, OK. Jonny is from Northern Ireland and is currently studying at Southern Seminary. Their wedding is in May and I feel absolutely honored to be able to capture it all. I mean, who wouldn't... this couple is adorable.

Last weekend we went all over Louisville for their engagement session and had an absolute blast. We started on the beautiful acreage at Locust Grove, then headed toward downtown to get some shots with the river... Jonny and Janaye were up for anything, which I loved. ...hope you enjoy!

{be sure to leave a comment and tell the happy couple how awesome they look... for every 10 comments, Jonny & Janaye get a complimentary 5x7 print}

top 2 tuesday

This week's Top 2 Tuesday is choose your top 2 favorite old pictures... This was a tough one. I couldn't decide if I should go waaayyy back... back to the days of Keds and permed hair, or maybe just a few oldies from the college days... Hmmmm... let's see. I think we'll go with college days & such... as I don't have many older than that already scanned in to the computer.

1) Ha!! We'll start with this one. This one is from my sophomore year of college, about 10 years ago, at a conference in Atlanta. It was New Year's Eve, which obviously explains the massive feather boa I am sporting... duh. I love this photo because it's of me, my future husband (right) and my future brother-in-law (left)... but at the time, who knew? I love Bryan's hair in this pic. Speaking of hair... look how flippin' short mine is! And Lance actually has hair... crazy.

2) This photo was taken about 5 years ago at the NYC Hard Rock Cafe. My sister had her first college volleyball tournament there (New York, that is... not Hard Rock Cafe:), so I hopped on a flight to cheer her on. We of course found time for a little bit of sight seeing... and hard rocking....

Feel free to join in the Top 2 Tuesday fun and link up over on the Undomestic Momma's blog.

house tour {part I}

I realized after this past week's Top 2 Tuesday post that it was high time for a house tour. I have been teasing you for too long now... with a post here and a post there. But you deserve more then that. You deserve the full house tour. So, without further adieu... welcome. Welcome to our humble abode. Our humble, rental abode, that is...

This is what you see right when you walk in our front door. A little peek into the entry/kitchen/living room. I guess you would call this our 'dining area.' We don't have a kitchen table anymore... so this is as good as it gets. I seriously love these stools. They are one of the first things I purchased over 6 years ago when Lance and I got married. They are from the Old Clarkesville Mill... they are some of the actual stools that the factory workers used. I love that they are used... They are real. They don't match, they are a little rickety, and they have graffiti writing on the legs. That my friends, is what I call character. People pay big bucks for furniture with character. I however, paid $10.

This is our kitchen. So, it's a little bit small. Okay, it's really small. Good thing I don't cook. It works for us though. We have all the essentials... well, except for a dishwasher (another incentive to not cook). And depending on how long we stick around in this little rental, I may consider asking for permission to paint the cabinets. What do you think? Wouldn't it look super cute in a distressed white or black, with some new knobs and pulls? Hmmmm... will have to think about that one.

Here is the living area... One couch. One chair. But... it's one super cute couch and chair. I'm kind of obsessed with this whole black & white theme I have going on. We had all of this in the front room of our last rental, and I just loved the way it all came together. You can read more about the pieces in this area on this post.

And here is the other side of the living room... I guess where our kitchen table would go, if we tried to make it fit. When Lance and I first moved in, we voted. Kitchen table or TV... you see which one made the cut. We are really good at eating on TV trays. High class, I know. I'm still working on some ideas for these bare walls... but I think I might have found a solution this weekend... will keep you posted.

The last little corner of our living area... aka, the library. This piece of furniture is by far my absolute favorite. This was actually a pie safe that belonged to Lance's great grandmother. It used to have glass cabinet doors, but they were already broken when we inherited this piece... so I took the doors off and painted the inside a fun turquoise color (I didn't touch the outside) and filled it with our favorite books. Love. The black & white photos are from a photography class I took my last semester of college... all are photos taken somewhere in Troy, AL and developed and processed myself. Those have been with us since the beginning as well.

And finally... a little sneak peek into our master bedroom... Part II of the house tour.

Thanks for stopping by... come again soon! No, really... come visit.

janaye & jonny :: sneak peek

More coming soon!

my personal assistant

Once I started working from home, I decided I could really benefit from an assistant. I went through a tedious hiring process, interviewing candidate after candidate, but finally found an assistant that I felt was right for the job...

He started out okay. Updating me on my daily to-do list every morning... Taking notes... And overall, being very focused on the task at hand. However... lately, I've been noticing some disapproving behavior from my new assistant.

For one, he's been drinking way too much Dr. Pepper, usually causing a massive sugar crash in the afternoon.

He's been caught sleeping on the job on numerous occasions.

I've even had recent complaints about his poor customer service.

I've thought about hiring a new assistant, but I'm not sure that I could find another one that would work solely for cat food and a little love and attention...

thankful thursday

Thanks to a concerned blog reader (aka, my mother), I was informed that today is in fact Thursday... Yes, it's true. Sometimes I totally forget what day it is... But being that it is Thursday...

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This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) Fall Festivals. You know the ones... with candied apples, pumpkin patches, boiled peanuts, and corn mazes. We just happen to be going to one this weekend. I'm not sure if they will have boiled peanuts (as we are not really in the south anymore), but we are guaranteed beautiful fall weather in the mid-60's... which is enough for me.

2) Cocoa Krispies. Yes, the cereal. I love this stuff. (My mom is rolling her eyes right now... I know it.) I've always been a sucker for sugary cereals, specifically Lucky Charms and Cocoa Krispies. My mom always did her best to keep these out of the house when I was growing up... but now that I buy my own groceries, I can get Cocoa Krispies when ever I want:) Anything that creates chocolate milk in the process, I'm a fan of.

3) My Nana. You may remember about about a month ago, I posted about my Nana and Pop's 80th birthday... Well, this past Saturday was my Nana's actual birthday. I have inherited quite a lot from my Nana... my super narrow feet, my love for shoe shopping, and my middle name, just to name a few... Happy birthday Nana! Be checking your mailbox:)

{PS... how fabulous does my Nana look in her off-the-shoulder top and gorgeous necklace?? I also like to think that I inherited her great taste in fashion...}

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Another favorite blog of mine, Elle's Studio, has also started participating in Thankful Thursday... be sure to check out what everyone else is thankful for... always encouraging.

a love/hate relationship...

A friend of mine posted about some of her love/hate relationships yesterday... and I realized that I have a few of my own...

I love the smell of freshly laundered sheets... I hate folding them.

(especially those dang fitted sheets)

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I love icecream... I hate brain freeze.

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I love the colorful autum leaves... I hate having to rake/bag them.

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I love Little Cat... I hate that he now has a litter box.

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I love to read... I hate that I never make time to do it.

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What do you love/hate??

top 2 tuesday

My good friend over at Tales From the Fairy Dust has been participating in "Top 2 Tuesdays" (from the Undomestic Momma) for a few weeks now. Even though it's barely Tuesday anymore, I figured I'd jump in on this one... because it's show me your top 2 favorite places in your home!

Since our new place is literally the size of a small shoe box, picking out my 2 favorite spots wasn't too hard...

1) Our living room. (slash dining room, slash TV room, slash...) We really lucked out with the pretty blue paint color on the walls, as it was already up when we moved in. The rug was a great find from Lowes... The adorable bird pillow was from TJ Maxx... The black & white photos on the wall are pictures I took in a photography class in college... The mirrored coffee table was from some random furniture store in Birmingham, AL that I painted black.

2) My office. I figured I should probably really like my office set up, since I spend pretty much all flippin' day sitting at this desk. We even bought a fancy ergonomic office chair... nice huh? The office chair was purchased at Overstock.com... The desk is from IKEA, (it is actually 2 units, but we put both desks on one shelving unit and used the other set of shelves elsewhere)... The bulletin board is from TJ Maxx... and the awesome framed yellow quote can be found in Elise's shop. {don't mind the post-it notes and lint roller... oh, and how do you like Lance's desk chair? He got the shaft on that one for sure.}

So, welcome to Top 2 Tuesday! I think this might stick around...

girls just wanna have fun {atlanta family photographer}

During my visit to Georgia this past week, I was lucky enough to book a photo shoot with this adorable mother/daughter duo. We had a blast in downtown Roswell... with delicious restaurants and cute cafes lining the streets. These two are really quite a pair... not only do they look exactly alike, they act just alike... I love these two.