Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Pioneer Woman in Music City!

A month or so ago, Momma and Karen called me to say "P-DUB is coming to Nashville for a book signing!! You have to gooooo!" And since I also love me some Pioneer Woman so I put the date on my calendar.

My Mom began following Ree Drummond quite some time ago (and got me hooked soon there after). Ree is a city girl that fell in love with a cowboy and now lives an amazing life on a beautiful ranch, homeschooling her 4 children, cooking up lovely meals, and taking stunning pictures of it all! You could easily spend hours on her blog surfing through recipes, pictures, and stories. Her writing is so down to earth and easy to connect with. Bazillions of people follow her and her blog has become one of the top in the nation! She recently published a cook book that includes tons of the wonderful photos and stories we all know and loved, sprinkled throughout YUMMY recipes.

Here are some pictures from this great adventure that I set out on all by my lonesome! It didn't take long to make friends in this crowd of P-Dub fans!

This was my first view of her speaking to the crowd. She said "I am soooo nervous!!! I am sweating like crazy! I am blogger, not a public speaker so I will keep this short....are there any burning questions?" Some one screamed "Where's Marlboro Man?" She laughed and said "he is at home teaching the kids while she is away." She was very gracious and starting signing quickly.

This is the book and my line ticket! Thank goodness I went to the bookstore last week to pick these up, I was in group 7 and when I got there tonight someone said there was a group 27!! Super glad I thought ahead on that one!

This was my first good view of her as we rounded the corner in line. She is super pretty!!

That guy works at the book store and his job for the night was to take pictures on our personal cameras--him and all these ladies!

But wait! Another guy! This cute couple got their picture taken as a couple with Ree. There were several other guys at the event, but mostly toting bags and taking pictures for their wives. :-)

YAY! I made it....I had soo much I planned on saying but I couldn't find a word when I got up there. I said thank you a lot...and stuttered something like, "My mom wants to be you when she grows up." She said, "How sweet!" Then I explained that I made a puffy paint sweat shirt that says "Look Mom, it's P-Dub!", but the arrow is pointing the wrong way... Ha. She once again said, "How sweet!" and asked if I wanted to slide to the other side of her so the arrow would be right and I said "Yes Please!"

I crawled around all of her gift bags and made it to the other side so my arrow would point to her. She laughed and said, "Well, you had a 50/50 chance of being right." Of course, I would pick the wrong way. Hah. We posed for this great shot and I am sure I said thank you another 5 times.

Taking a closer look at my sweater as we say goodbye....and thank you again...and how sweet.

This is Kelly, my friend in line for 2 hours. She was kind and we debated about The Biggest Loser while we were in line. Thanks to my Mom and Allyson P. for The Biggest Loser finale updates via text messages. Thanks to Kelly for keeping me company.

Tagging along in Music City were Ree's sister and friend. There are many great stories about them on the blog as well. They signed too! And they handed out the pretty t-shirts to everyone.

This is a closer look at the puffy paint goodness for my Momma. I was hoping to make P-Dub's website wearing this lil ditty, but no one was taking pictures for her :-(

This is the pretty t-shirt that we all got for free :-) Pretty awesome, especially since I didn't have money to get a book for myself! I ended up with a parting gift and lots of fun stories.

What a wonderful night! Soo wish Mom and Karen could have been there with me, but thankful that I was able to go meet her in person. She is a pleasure to follow online and I hope you will check her out!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving and EBTTF 09!



Gettin' in the spirit with the Oreo Turkey's!
Devin figuring out how to make his.
Brown Suga Pie! Thanks Jenny :-)
I DID IT!!
Amangela.
Me, Martha, and Manda.
Harris' and Vaughans!
Happy Turkey Day!
Friend Family.
Tim carving that Turkey!
OH YEAH!
AMAZING Pies!
Leftovers at Everything but the Turkey Feast '09 (our apt).
Puffy Painting our Christmas Sweaters!
Such talent in this group!
Me and Leslie :-)
Ladies!
Gents!
Dance Party.
Do the Stanky Leg....
Phase 10! Dev finally made it past Phase 3!
Art by Colin! So awesome!
And Martha reminded me how to crochet and I got started right away!
Saturday- Sportin' the finished products!
Stroll through the park eating Las Paletas, gourmet popsicles. AMAZING!
Bridge Photoshoot!
Jazz Hands!
The whole Christmas crew!


What a wonderful break we had! We really missed being with our families, but this group made it a little easier to be away from home. Thanks to Amanda, Tim, Dave, Justice, Kyle, Kelsey, Martha, Colin, and Leslie -- we are thankful for each and every one of you!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

100 Things I am Thankful For!

One of my most favorite bloggers ever, Ms. Day-bed-son, listed 100 things she was thankful for this year and I felt like I should step up to the challenge. Not that I don't have 100 things to be thankful for, but it can be difficult in the mix of drama, stress, and sometimes sadness to think of 100 things that are positive all at once. However, I know I have well over 100 things to be grateful for and I want to meditate on those things this Thanksgiving season.

1. Devin (i could write a whole list about him)
2. the day off
3. Christmas decorations
4. The DREAM TEAM
5. our porch
6. Mehamed/World Vision
7. Bermuda
8. ichat with far away fam/friends
9. naps
10. CHEESE
11. drums
12. The Twilight Saga books
13. our fireplace
14. cousins (mine are the best)
15. cinnamon toast
16. Chick-fil-a
17. Hangriffs and Fishpianos
18. live music
19. Christmas music
20. phone chats with my Momma
21. phone chats with my Daddy
22. country music
23. The Biggest Loser
24. getting massages
25. Everything but the Turkey Feast
26. studio time
27. Jersey Mike's #8
28. TARGET
29. family recipes
30. couponing
31. picture-taking
32. a warm coat
33. getting mail
34. laughter in the workplace
37. teachers that love their jobs
38. arts and crafts projects
29. online bill pay
30. fresh flowers
31. genius mixes on itunes
33. So You Think You Can Dance
34. medicine when I am sick
35. MacMorans--all of em.
36. blankies
37. paid off vehicles
38. new worship music
39. gettin' my hair did
40. scarves
41. my vacuum cleaner
42. Phase 10 & "card names"
43. All things "Mamaw"
44. El Ranchero Mexican Restaurant
45. insurance
46. Glee
47. wedding anniversaries
48. friends having babies
49. keeping in touch
50. lotion and Chapstick this winter
51. photo albums
52. frozen pizza
53. giant vanilla coke at Sonic
54. cleaning products
55. cheerful chats with strangers
56. days when the kids "turn it around"
57. teachers that taught me
58. chicken
59. meetings that go unexpectedly well
60. waves and smiles to/from babies in public grocery carts/high chairs
61. family traditions
62. sweet tea
63. text messages
64. meeting new people
65. Christmas Carols
66. birthday cake
67. girly days that included pedicures
68. for reality show debriefing with my Mom
69. for moments when I realize that I am more like my Dad than I thought
70. calls from my sister/her loud country song phone ring
71. The Ellen DeGeneres show
72. compliments and encouragement
73. G'ma Shaw's turkey dressing (stuffing)
74. a clean car
75. having guests at our apt.
76. our Charlotte, NC friend-family
77. our Charleston, SC actual family and friend-family
78. our scattered about the us/world friends too!
79. our gifts/talents
81. Cool baby names
82. Mac N Cheese
83. blasts from the past
84. candles
85. good examples
86. pajama pants
87. my in-laws
88. DANCING
89. list making and color coding
90. for the peace and quiet of NO upstairs neighbor right now
91. window shopping
92. provision
93. wife/mother/friend blogs
94. long distance phone calls
95. safety
96. comedy
97. hugs
98. clean water
99. prayer
100. our freedom

WOW--that took me a long time. I wanted each one to be juuuust right. What a wonderful activity for the day before Thanksgiving as all of these things BIG and small, meaningful and ridiculous--will resonate in my mind over this break. I hope you will consider taking some time to populate a list of your own.

I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU too!!


Sunday, November 22, 2009

Getting FESTIVE!

Since we will be going home before Christmas...and staying in Charleston for about two weeks, we thought we should decorate early to enjoy it for as long as possible. SO, we busted out all of the Christmas decor boxes (also bought some new stuff) and we went to town in this little apartment! It is soo warm and cozy in here now--Mr. Christmas is very happy with our little Holiday Village :-) Take a look....



















Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Drum Photo Shoot Footage!

Our friend Leslie is a fantastic photographer and she was too kind spend an afternoon taking some live action shots of Devin on his drums in fun locations. We would like to use the fancy photos to make a legitimate website and work on some sponsorships. Check out the footage I took on my lil camera ;-) ! It was such a fun day! We had audiences every where we went!
video

Sunday, November 8, 2009

26th Birthday Festivities!

My birthday started off with Brunch at 417 Union with Dev and Amanda. We enjoyed Mimosas and I stuffed myself with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Oh so good!
We chatted about the past year and just enjoyed each other's company.
After brunch, Devin went home to complete his "secret mission" and Amanda and I went off to have a girly afternoon. We got Pedicures at The Venetian Nail Spa in Green Hills. We went shopping at MODA and truly enjoyed catching up after a long busy week at work.
We came home to a sweet smell and congratulated Devin on baking his FIRST CAKE!
He did such a good job! He even surprised me with new shoes and my favorite christmas tree cake snacks :-)
We had dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, El Ranchero !
I LOVE CHEESE DIP! I think we killed four bowls all together! Soo yummy!
A good time was had by all: Amanda Mac, Amanda W., Tyler W., Leslie, Rebekah, Timbo, Dev and I.

He makes me laugh til my face hurts.
Leslie and Rebekah--love these roomies!
Oh no! Some one summoned the birthday crew.
Oh goodness...feeding me?!
OH NO HE DIDN'T!! Whip Cream and Flan every where. Ew.
Cleaning up....trying to keep laughing.
My hot Mexican Hubby!!
Some of the crew joined us at the apartment after dinner for Devin's famous first cake!
Precious.
The kids. hahha.
New friends :-)
A GOOOD ending to a fantastic Birthday!!


I had a great day in Nashville, even though I REALLY missed everyone in Charlotte and Charleston. I felt the love though with tons of cards, facebook messages, blogs! (this made my day--seriously), and texts/phone calls. It was great. I LOVE MY PEOPLES :-) Thank you all for making my 26th so special.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween Weekend.

Friday Night Amanda and Logan came over for pizza and pumpkin carving. We had a great time hanging out and listenin' to sweet halloween tunes. We carved a white pumpkin and made "witches fingers" cookies. The night ended with 28 days later--a zombie movie, I can't believe I even watched 5 minutes of it! Scary!









Saturday Night (Halloween), Devin and I went to see "This is It," the Michael Jackson movie...it was great. We came home and built a fire...it was a perfect Halloween date night. We even snacked on candy that Jenny Lou sent us!

Sunday, we took a drive out to Franklin, TN. We strolled the streets taking pictures of the beautiful leaves changing colors and we stopped in some of the cutesy stores along the way. It was a lovely afternoon!













Now off to a work week! Counting down til my birthday next weekend!! Planning a b-day brunch...dinner and cake with friends later in the evening, and MUTE MATH on Sunday night!! Can't wait....26 is gonna be great! :-)