Going to the Chapel

Last Saturday night, I got to witness my high school best friend get married. The weather was warm, but absolutely gorgeous and Ashley was absolutely stunning! The wedding took place at a beautiful old home just outside of Birmingham that has been renovated for these types of events. Such Southern charm I LOVED the shabby-chic of the decorations...do you see those chandeliers and lights hanging from the tree? SO PRETTY!! This was the favor table with homemade jam...such a cute idea! Pretty monogrammed cake

The happy couple - Adam and Ashley! Ashley and I met on the first day of band camp in the ninth grade (insert joke here, haha). She had just transferred to our high school and was being introduced to people in our class. The first time we met, I think she thought I was a snob and I thought she had GREAT hair! haha! It didn't take us long to become BEST friends! Ashley and I have had a crazy friendship that I wouldn't trade for anything! Though we don't get to see each other very often, I think we always know that the other is only a phone call away!

I'm very happy Ashley has found someone to spend her life with and Rob and I wish them NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS!

Adoption Update and Nursery Sneak Peak

Today we got news that our homestudy is FINALLY COMPLETE!!! We have had a CRAZY time getting this, thanks to my fingerprints. I had to end up sending 2 sets of prints in because they kept being "smudgy," and then had to wait on the Federal Government to accept them and then the State of Alabama had to accept them. Needless to say, we are ecstatic for this stage to be finished!!!! Now we move to the waiting stage! Since we have chosen private adoption, we wait until a baby comes along. So, that being said, many times word of mouth is what gets couple their baby. So, if any of you in Blogger Land know of a situation of a birthmother looking for a family for her baby, please keep us in mind! It's amazing how many adoptions end up this way!!! Unlike a pregnancy, with adoption there is no timeline. Therefore, you need to be somewhat prepared early on. For those of you that know me, know that I'm a planner so I've been planning this nursery for a LONG time! Since we also have no idea the sex of our baby, the nursery has to be gender neutral, which isn't always the easiest thing to plan. However, I'm so excited with the colors and patterns that we have chosen and can't wait for it all come together. I keep looking at the crib and I just long for the day when I am looking at our sleeping baby!!! We have also finally agreed on names (we think), and both names have the same monogram (Don't say it, yes I know I have a problem). So, here is a sneak peak of the colors and "shabby-chic" nursery that we are working on. I absolutely cannot wait to share the rest of it with you guys. We have most of the furniture up but still need to paint the room and get a couple of other things. I have the bedding picked out but was waiting to hear from the home study before ordering. A few weeks ago, we got our first "baby gift." My grandparents bought us this ADORABLE cart cover from Three Little Miracles, LLC. A few months ago, my grandmother told me to pick out a pattern and this is the one I chose and it's even cuter in person than in this picture. The owner of Three Little Miracles is a family friend of ours and she does GREAT work! This cart cover is SO much nicer than any other that I have seen! I absolutely cannot wait to use it!!!! Thanks Nanny and Bob! :)

If you have stuck with this blog post through all of this, Bless your heart!! ;) I just had a lot to say tonight!

Modern Technology

Well, I have finally joined the rest of the technologically savvy world with this recent purchase...

(thanks to apple.com for the picture)

To give myself a little credit, we are Verizon customers so the iPhone wasn't even available for us until January. We have been Verizon customers for YEARS and weren't going to change providers just for a phone so we waited YEARS (literally) to finally get our hands on this gem! Are you noticing a pattern in how long I've waited for this....YEARS! :)

I've had it for a couple of weeks and I LOVE IT!! I've been a Blackberry user for the last 4 or so years so it was bittersweet to say goodbye to the roller ball! But that's okay because I'm in a new relationship with this little guy and we are soul mates....at least until the iPhone 5!

If there are any apps that are must haves, let me know! I'm always looking for new, cool apps!

Happy 1st Birthday Mallory!

On Saturday we celebrated the first birthday of our friend Karla's little girl, Mallory. If you live here in the South, you know it rained ALL day on Saturday! We all looked like drowned rats by the time the party got going, but we all had a fun time.

The birthday girl

The party was a cowgirl theme and was SO cute! I just love these centerpieces with the Mason jars.

Instead of cake, Karla used cupcakes, which I think is SOOOO much easier than cake! And they were delish! The cupcake toppers matched the centerpieces...so cute!

The birthday girl after her cake :)

I can't believe this little one is a year old!! I can't wait to see how she changes as she gets older!

Louisiana Weekend - Part 2

On Sunday, we got up early to head to the parades. But before that, we stopped off at the Coffee House, for beignets. YUMMO! This is such a neat little village. They have taken old farm houses from the area and put them all in the same spot to form The Cajun Village, which houses a wine shop, an antique store, etc. So cute, right?

The parade we went to was in Thibodaux, Louisiana where Stephanie has family. We had MORE great food and LOTS of king cake!

Stephanie, her sister Trish, and her neice Addison

Dobbins (the chef and Stephanie's dad) and Stephanie

Some of the floats

This parade actually goes by twice so you get both sides of the floats, which I thought was neat. It is also a more family friendly parade so the crazies were limited (thank goodness). Rob and I with our collection of beads!

The weather was absolutely perfect for the parade, high 70's with a breeze! We had such a great time the entire weekend and want to go back and do more sight-seeing. We headed home Monday morning, of course after a huge breakfast, compliments of Stephanie's family! :)

Right now we have no more trips planned on our calendar. Guess it's time to start planning! :)

Louisiana Weekend - Part 1

Our friends, Matt and Stephanie, invited us to spend the weekend in Louisiana with Steph's family for Mardi Gras! We rolled in to Louisiana on Friday afternoon and had dinner at Kevin's, some yummy seafood! After dinner we got "dessert" at a drive-thru daiquiri bar. Can I just say how weird it is to get an alcoholic beverage at a drive-thru???After a long day of traveling we turned in pretty early so we could get up early Saturday for some sight-seeing. Stephanie's parents live in a small area, St. Amant, which is an outskirt of Baton Rouge. Since this was my first trip to the area, Stephanie took us around Baton Rouge and the campus of LSU.

LSU's campus is neat because of the huge trees that branch out really low to the ground. Somehow, I forgot to get a picture of the trees. However, I did catch a pic of Tiger Stadium.

After going around LSU's campus, we headed to downtown Baton Rouge. There are some beautiful old buildings with LOTS of history. This is the old governor's mansion.

This is the new state capitol building, which I thought was really neat. It is so different looking than other state capitols that I have seen.

This is the old state capitol building that has been refurbished and now houses a gift shop and other things. Doesn't it look like a castle?

After sightseeing, we headed to Rocco's for po'boys. Rob got these red beans and rice and I got the shrimp po'boy. YUMMY!

After lunch we did a little shopping. Saturday night we ate dinner with Stephanie's parents and had a FEAST! I was so busy eating, I didn't take any pictures!! Dobbins, Steph's dad, is the BEST cook...he grilled deer sausage, deer backstrap, and steaks! I can't even tell you how great this meatfest was! Mary Lou, Stephanie's mom, made all the sides...potatoes, Watergate salad, broccoli salad, squash/shrimp casserole, among other things! You guys should be SO jealous!

Stay tuned for Part 2 - Mardi Gras

We Need a Baby, Like BAD!

Rob and I bought this jumperoo a few weeks ago from a co-worker. I got it out yesterday to clean it up and before I put it away, I decided to try it out. Well not me, but a dog! :) Minnie's always game for anything so I put her in it, turned the music on, and let her play! Ha!

Doesn't she look like she's having a BLAST??

She really couldn't figure out what was going on, but she didn't even attempt to get out of it!

Of course Buster couldn't be left out of the fun. He stood by the jumperoo with his tail wagging until I put him in too. Of course, he's a little hefty so he kind of weighed it down. He didn't enjoy too much jumping. haha! I really don't think he wanted to get out.

Yes, we need a baby SOON!!!!! We are totally ready and I know the dogs will be glad to have a baby in the house too! :)