How great are these one line a day journals?  Each day has five sections, one per year for five years.  Wouldn't these make great Christmas gifts? Perfect for someone like me, who wants to journal but finds it very intimidating.  One line a day? I can do that!

Good Morning! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's Monday already.  Bring on the Christmas music and present wrapping!  Even though it's early in the season this week is super busy with lots of holiday parties and plans for the coming weekend.
Take a look at the new designs in the Ashley Brooke Designs online shop! I may be biased (aka ABQ is my bff and I do work for ABD) but I'm completely smitten with these new designs and if I didn't already have ABD Christmas cards, I'd be ordering these in a heartbeat!  And each design has a coordinating invitations--perfect for those holiday parties you are already planning!

This past weekend my family and I headed up to Thomasville, GA for a family shower thrown by my aunts to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, moms, dads--everyone! We were so excited to see family and friends and celebrate with everyone.  

One of my aunts gave me an especially sweet gift.  My mom's mother passed away before I was born and I've always grown up hearing stories about how lovely she was.  At the shower, my aunt (my dad's sister) told the story of how on my parent's wedding day, my grandmother lent her a handkerchief  to clean my cousin's face off with.  My aunt tried to give it back but my grandmother told her to keep it, which my aunt took to mean, return it after you've cleaned and my grandmother, said "no, you just hang on to it."  Over the years, the handkerchief would pop up in moves, etc. and my aunt made sure to keep it safe.  On Saturday, she gave it to me to carry on my wedding day, to have a special piece of my grandmother with me.  It was such a sweet moment and one I will never forget.  I can't wait to carry the handkerchief and pass it on to my sister and my two cousins on their wedding days.

Now for the pictures!

THE handkerchief

Our delicious cake

the family :)

Only 86 days to go!

Thanks to McKay over at Oatmeal Lace, I was recently introduced to Deep South Magazine via Twitter, which is full of lovely, useful musings on life in the South.  This past week they published their gift guides and there are several great gifts for all kinds of people on your list.  Here's a sneak peek at their four gift guides--but click over to find some southern gifting inspiration!





Happy Shopping!

This weekend was so wonderful-- I have lots of pictures and stories to share with you on Wedding Wednesday! For now, if you'll beg my pardon, I'll just leave you with today's outfit, as ABQ and I are up to our eyeballs in paper and envelopes!

Tonight, the parents and I are headed out of town for my third and final shower (sad to see them go!).  This is one is extra special because its more of a couple shower/party that LAS will attend as well as tons of my family up in north Florida and south Georgia. I'm so excited to see my grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles--lots of people I haven't seen since we've been engaged!

My sweet Aunts are throwing the shower at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Thomasville:

The Ashley Brooke Designs gift guide is here! I'm so excited to pass on some ABD to my loved ones this Christmas and I highly suggest you do the same--check out the featured gifts in the gift guide and be sure and visit the online shop.

I'm always inspired by my Martha Stewart craft of the day emails, I even have a folder to store the emails of the crafts I'm dying to try.  This one is so cute, it's still in my inbox:

Click here to watch the how-to video!

Wow! I'm blogging--can you believe it? This week has been insane and I hate that this is only time I've had to blog.

A week ago today we found out LAS got the job over on the coast, which is super exciting (don't worry, we aren't moving far)!  And naturally, I began looking at real estate as soon as we got word (truthfully, I had been looking before that but shh!).  We looked at a historic home on the riverside but didn't care for the street or area it was in.  So Tuesday we looked a house beachside and loved it! Renter applications submitted and they should be drawing up our lease today!  I feel so blessed that everything has fallen in to place so quickly--makes me even more certain that this is the right thing for us!  Get ready for photos and decorating and design posts--I'm already itching to nest!!

I had my other shower last weekend and it was wonderful--thought you might like a few photos:

Future SIL J and me

CBK, me and Ky

Aunt V, Mom and Me

ABQ and me

me and my future MIL

 Thanks to LAS' mom (above) who worked so hard to throw such a lovely shower! The best part was a video LAS' aunt shot where she asked him questions like what was his favorite color, band, meal, etc. and they would pause the video and I'd have to answer and if I was incorrect I had to put a piece of bubblegum in my mouth--I acquired multiple pieces of gum but did very well overall!

Bless your heart if you've made it to the end of this post--next week I'll be back on track with posting! Have a great weekend!

There is something about Fall and the imminent arrival of Thanksgiving that makes me think of pie! I can just see the Thanksgiving dessert table lined with pies, can't you?

108 days 'til the wedding! Woo Hoo! The past couple of weeks have been super exciting:

• My dress is in! I'm going to try it on this weekend and I'm so excited!
• My 3rd pair of shoes came in nice and clean! 
• Wedding rings are purchased!
• The bridesmaid dresses are here! They are even lovelier than I imagined and am so excited for the girls .  A sneak peek:

Everything is in full swing and I have shower #2 on Sunday--can't wait!!

What better way to mark your place than with something lovely? Much prettier than a dog-eared page, no?  Next time you need to mark your spot, thread your favorite ribbon down the page and tie in the front.  It even might entice you to pick up your current read a little more often :)

Good Morning! Nothing I love more than a good Monday morning--the week is so new and fresh and full of promise.  What about you? Love Mondays or no?

Yesterday LAS and I had a fun Fall fest sort of day: we got pumpkins, stopped by a local church's Pumpkin Fest and dropped in on Ky, Bobbus and Darcy!




LAS free-handed our ferocious pumpkin and I was in charge of glittering the baby ones...yes that is an FSU pumpkin (despite the fact our hearts were ripped out and stomped on Thursday night...we still <3 them, we can't help it!)

Stella and Darcy had a delightful time and despite 1,345,678 attempts, this was THE only photo we could get of them being still--needless to say, Stella crashed big time when we got home!

I roasted the seeds from our pumpkin for the first time ever and they were SO good...made me wish we had a larger pumpkin! Per cup of seeds, I just added a 1/2 tablespoon of butter and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and roasted them at 300 for 30-45 minutes...I really just watched them until they were a nice golden color (LAS did not approve of this method, but I think he'll agree everything turned out for the best!)