Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Today I'm happy for two reasons:

It's snowing! This is my neighborhood. It hasn't been a TRUE snow day because I did go to work early this morning but even then it was still the feel of excitement that it was snowing outside and walking to get lunch and we did leave at 2 so I have a short snow day and probably tomorrow will be a partial one as well! Way to start the weekend! I Love SNOW!

and it's back tonight!!!

We LOVE Lost at our house so we are very pumped to watch it. We didn't watch the old episode last night so we will probably have a 4 hour marathon of old and new! Yeay! So fun!

Who else watches Lost out there and who is your favorite character? I love John Locke because he is always messing stuff up and such an interesting character. I also love Sawyer. He's hilarious!

Random Tuesday

An assortment of stuff:

Judy at Gracious Southern Living tagged me to write about how I met my husband. (She has a great site). Judy - thank you so much for tagging me. I wrote about it a while back here. So you can go there to read my story.

This morning when I left for work it was 65 degrees. When I left work tonight, it was 25 degrees. Brrrrrr.........I am SO ready for spring.

Here is the bulletin board I did a few weeks ago hanging up. I have started to refer to it as my "blessings board" because I have all of the sweet cards that people have sent me recently to encourage me. God has blessed me with an abundance of thoughtful friends.

Just this week - I got this hand made card and Bible Verse in the mail from Lena. It meant so much to me. This has inspired me to work harder at sending people cards or writing e-mails or making a phone call to encourage them and let them know I am thinking of them. It's amazing how such a small gesture can mean so much.

Biggest Loser AND American Idol are on tonight! I'm in my PJ's (6:30 p.m.) and primed and ready to watch!!!!

These are the days of my Life

So it's time for my hair-u-mentary as Lindsey called it. Beware: this post might not be suitable for young children - it's pretty scary! :-)

I'm not starting too young because my mom fixed me up pretty cute until I started to have a say in it.

Nothing screams the 70's like a terry cloth jump suit and the Dorothy Hammil haircut. You know you had it too if you are anywhere near my age!

I like this look - braids and no tooth. It worked for me. And my preppy izod shirt! This was a good year - maybe the peak!

This was a typical look for me when I was young - my mom would roll my hair in those pink sponge rollers and I would sleep in them - pretty much every night for about 8 years. We are a totally 80's family in this picture.

Oh yes - the bi-level hair cut (mullet) and the big glasses. Nothing like being 12/13 and awkward. Just wait until I added braces and head gear in the mix (no pictures of that)

Then I decided that wearing big bows in my hair was the way to go. This continued on into college. WHY?

This was the beginning of big hair. My hair was still straight but I would hold the sides out, spray a ton of aqua net and then hold the blow dryer on it so it would stay out that way. Who else out there did it? It was genius!
I don't know what concerns me more about this picture - my humongous hair or these bubble suits that we used to wear. I had a ton of them. And I wonder why I didn't have a lot of dates in high school. ha!

These are 2 of my best friends from high school. Obviously I reigned supreme with the big hair. It's why they had to put me in the middle.

These next 2 pictures got out of order but I'm rolling with it. This was college. Shorter but still big hair and oh yes - the beginning of the poofy dresses. I had a ton of these dresses with the big shoulder pads and the bigger bows. Really - what were we thinking?
Do not adjust your screens? There are no shadows in this picture - this is all of my hair! This was first thing in the morning before it "fell". And I think I may have fallen into a bucket of make-up. WHOA!
This was at a college function as I began to grow the big bangs out. It was a big step for me. I remember thinking that was one of the coolest shirts I had ever worn. I borrowed it from my suitmate.
This was me working at a church camp in the summer of college. I actually like my hair here except I look kind of like I should be Miss Georgia 1992. (It just kind of screams pageant hair to me). (and no I haven't watched Miss America yet - it's on the agenda for tonight)
Me and my dad at OBU homecoming my junior year. My hair is starting to tame down but it's really dark (my natural color)(it just seems dark to me now).
Here I am in my early 20's with a short do - I remember really loving that velvet-ish outfit.

Whoa pink lipstick. And my hair seems exceptionally dark there. That was one attempt at growing my hair out.

This is one of my favorite looks because it was at my wedding rehearsal with my bridesmaids and I was tan and blonde and so excited! And I love my friends!

A few years ago - I started wearing my hair curly

Then last year - I cut if off and added bangs

And this is where we are today.

I'd love to see everyone out there make your own hair time line. It's fun to see all the styles (hair and clothes) that we have gone through. PLEASE don't let the 80's/early 90's come back - I urge you!

Hairy Issue

I've been thinking about hair a lot lately. I don't know if it's because I'm trying to grow mine out or because of Big Mama's hilarious hair time line post or because last night I was at Bible Study watching a Beth Moore video and she talked for about 10 minutes on her hair and it was just hilarious. Her hair amazes me. She was talking about her texas hair and she said "the higher the hair - the closer you are to God. ha!" She showed a picture of her family when it her girls were small and she said "there we were the five of us : Her husband, Beth, the 2 girl's and Beth's hair."
Then I started thinking about how big my hair was in high school. No really - it defied gravity - you will not believe it. And I think I may do a hair time line post of mine own tonight - because it is so hilarious.
And I have started something new last week. I have always been the "have to wash my hair in the morning every morning" type of girl no matter where I am or what circumstances I am under. My hair is wavy and coarse and difficult and it requires many products, hair dryers, two brushes and a straightening iron just to look decent enough to leave the house. But all of those products and all of the color I have to use has been killing my hair. So I saw recently on E (the source of all my news) that you really should only wash your hair every other day - in fact some stars only wash their hair once a week. (That's a little extreme)
So I've tried it for a week - and I have to say - it's working great. I think my hair actually looks better on the days I don't wash it and it might be my imagination but I think it's already looking healthier. Maybe I can go longer between color jobs. Hallelujah! And I'm early to work on those fabulous days I don't wash my hair!

So - how often do you wash your hair and what are you hair trials? Because we ALL have them!

Weekend

We kicked off the weekend by babysitting Emily so her parents could have a date night. We really enjoyed her but she did not enjoy us. She spent 3/4 of the night standing at the door, holding her coat and crying "momma". ha! She had been in mother's day out and was pretty tired by the time she got to us (or that is what I'm telling myself). She was very sweet and easy to keep.
Today I just did work around the house and then went to over to Laurie's to help her update her blog and teach her a few tricks. Check back with her - I think she'll start updating a lot more. Tonight we went out to eat for our friend Guy's birthday. We ate at our favorite place - Doe's.

This is Mike and Kacy

Steve and the birthday boy Guy

Us ( and yes I'm wearing the Gap dress I liked so much - I got myself a treat!)

Julie and Laurie (and Emily was there but I didn't get her picture)

We have a lot going on at church tomorrow so we will literally be there almost all day - from 7:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. with a small afternoon break. It's going to be a busy day - but I know it will be great!

It didn't snow today.......but it is raining babies!

The forecast called for snow today but of course we got nothing.

But it does seem to be raining babies!

The "Sweet" Shower we had on Tuesday - it couldn't have been any better timing - the baby came early - TODAY! She wasn't due for 4 more weeks but Ella Kate is here and is almost 6 lbs and it sounds like she and mom are both doing okay.

And I just got an e-mail from my roommate my senior year at OBU - and she had little Ty Parker last week. She has a little girl named Makayla also. She may kill me if she looks on here and sees her picture but I thought she looked so pretty!

Congratulations on all the babies!!!!

I can't wait until next week because my friends Laurie and Kacy both find out what they are having and I am in suspense!!!!!

Fall into the Gap

I have fallen back in love.......................................................with the GAP!
I used to like the Gap about 10 years ago and then they started mostly carrying khaki pants and bright colored sweaters and I'm just more of a dress girl. I've never liked pants or jeans and I don't imagine I'll change anytime soon. I'm more comfortable in dresses than anything. Slip one on - put on boots or sandals depending on the season and you are good to go. No matching up outfits for me!
Anyway - in the last couple of months - I have found the cutest things at the Gap. And they are good to mark down their stuff pretty quickly. I also love it's Older more mature sister - Banana Republic - but it is a little high even on sale. And I love it's little sister Old navy too. But Gap has stolen my heart once again.
And here is why:

This cute little chambray dress would look so cute in spring with sandals or right now with a long sleeve t-shirt, tights and maybe some funky boots!
I love shirt dresses - they make you look a lot slimmer in the waist! So cute!
Love this Cowboys blue dress. If the cowboys had made it to the super bowl - I would have needed to wear this to the watch party.
and hello Green! Does this not just scream spring? yeay!!!

And don't get me started on baby Gap. I can't even go in there because I'm afraid I would be buying all kinds of precious baby goodies and I'm not good with unisex things.

What is your favorite store?

Here she comes......................

What good southern girl doesn't love pageants? I have always LOVED Miss America. I can remember as a little girl my mom and I would always watch it together and eat popcorn and I would keep a little notepad to write down my scores. And then in college and after - Laurie and I traded in the popcorn for a tube of cookie dough as we watched those girls strut themselves in bathing suits and we criticized their large thighs. (between huge spoonfuls of chocolate chip goodness). ha!
Well - now my two loves have collided - reality TV and Miss America. Have you been watching? On TLC for the last 3 weeks - they have had all the contestants on there - trying to make them more modern. Trying to do away with the big hair and sequins and giving them up to date looks. I LOVE IT! Friday night is the last episode and then Saturday night is the pageant. It's so fun because now - I will already kind of "know" the girls I'm watching. Of course I will (as always) be cheering for Miss Arkansas (seen above). But she hasn't received any attention on the show - so it doesn't look good. I won't be home Saturday night but you can bet your bottom dollar I will DVR it and watch it the first chance I get!
Do you like Miss America? Have you been watching the reality show? And were you in pageants?

"Sweet" Shower

Our shower went really well. First of all - I'm so sad because I realized when I was almost home that I had left my camera at work and I didn't have time to go back so I took Scott's big professional camera that I don't know how to use and all the pictures but these 4 turned out blurry - so all the cute posed pictures I thought I was taking of everyone were all fuzzy.
My friend Berkli was kind enough to host the shower at her house and we had a great turnout.

I got to use my new drink dispenser that my mom got me for Christmas! It worked great. I'm a little nervous about cleaning it but I really love it! I made a punch recipe from Paula Deen and it was very good. All you do is take 2 bags of frozen fruit (thawed) any kind and puree it with about a cup of sugar and mix in a couple of bottles of ginger ale (I used rasberry).
The sign is made out of scrap book paper and scrap book sticker letters. I just cut out rectangles and folded them over a ribbon and taped them to spell out the words. So easy and fun!

Here is the mom-to-be Amy. She got so many cute things. She got a TON of monogrammed burp cloths, bibs, bags and onesies for little Ella Kate.

Here is everyone watching the gifts being opened

This is Leah, Amy, and Elizabeth with the famous hands on the belly shot.

And now I am home and tired and just remembered that Scott's work is having a potluck lunch tomorrow and I'm supposed to make a dessert. So I'm just making another batch of cookies that I made for the shower. I've made them before but you can also see the recipe (and other forms of the recipe) here on Pioneer Woman Cooks.
And then I'm going to bed. :-)

On a Sweeter Note..................................

I had decided for tonight's shower that we would have a dessert shower and it didn't dawn on me until last week that the mom-to-be's last name is Sweet and how fun that ties in to the theme. We are going to have several chocolate desserts and a mini candy bar (with an assortment of candies!)

I made these monogrammed cookies in pink and brown
And this sign to hang on the table or above it - it says "sweet things"

I'm sure I'll take lots of pictures and make a post tonight about the shower!

Edit: I just want to thank you for all of your sweet comments. I had no idea when I started this little blog that I would meet so many neat women and that I would be so encouraged by people I had never met. Every word ya'll have said has meant SO much to me and has helped me. I thank God for sending "angels" on earth to give me comfort when I need it. (P.S. Sorry for the downer post. I'll try to post some happy things this week!)

It's been a hard day. I found out this morning that our first IUI didn't work and once again - I'm not pregnant. And despite my hopeful post I wrote last week about waiting - I have to admit I felt really defeated and a little hopeless today. The words to one of my favorite songs "Made me Glad" by Hillsong came to mind (as I was crying in the bathroom) where it says "I WILL bless the Lord forever......I WILL trust Him at all times". Boy is that hard to do on days like today but I think God wants to see if I can still praise Him even when He is not blessing me. So I'm trying.
I was glad, though, to not be at my church yesterday because it is our annual "Sanctity of Life" Sunday. This a Sunday I believe in 100% and I'm so thankful for a pastor who will preach against abortion but it's hard for me to hear about the millions of babies who are aborted each year because I would do anything to have just one of those babies. I knew it would have been a very difficult Sunday for me to sit through. I saw this video a while back and I've watched it SEVERAL times (it makes me cry very hard each time). But I think it really sums up how I feel right now and how anyone who is going through infertility feels.

Pink and Brown

I'm helping throw a baby shower on Tuesday night. I found the zebra print pink and brown napkins below and thought I would use that as the colors. So tonight I made this diaper cake. It's the first one I've made and FAR from great - but hopefully it will be a cute decoration for the table. The baby's name is Ella Kate. So cute! I painted this E giraffe print. I've never really painted anything before so I was fairly happy with how it turned out.

I'll share a few more cute things from the shower on Tuesday.

P.S. The "E" came from Hobby Lobby (where else?)

Ordination

Today was a really special day. Laurie, me and another friend, Shannon, drove down a couple of hours to go to Hillary's fiancee's ordination into the ministry. Josh preached this morning and he did such a good job. He will make a wonderful pastor one day. Then we all went to lunch at the Western Sizzlin! Oh yeah! And then we came back and they had his ordination service. The counsel of men asked him a lot of tough questions which he answered so well. After witnessing him preach and answer these questions today - I felt like I knew him so much better and I told Hillary I was so glad she was marrying him or I would have forced her to! ha! He is just such a neat guy - she got a great catch. (and so did he!)

The cute couple this morning before church

Shannon, Katie (one of Hillary's best friends since high school) and her new baby Zach and Hillary

This sign was out in front of the church! I prayed for so long for God to bring Hillary a husband and He far exceeded my expectations! I can't wait for the wedding now!
We had such a fun time driving there and back and visiting!

Hope you had a good Sunday too!

Clean House, Fresh Color and BBQ

I love Saturdays. First I got to sleep in late (until 8!) ha! Then I got up and spent most of the morning cleaning our house real good. I got myself a Christmas gift in form of a hard wood floor cleaner that is wonderful. It's so much better than a mop. It's almost fun to clean! But really - there is just not much better than a really clean house.
Except maybe for getting your hair done. After hitting a couple of stores this afternoon - I had a hair appointment to "wash that gray right out of my hair".

And then I met my husband for a date at a BBQ restaurant. He had been craving ribs. And yes - we do have on matching gray outfits. I don't know why we seem to keep showing up with matching outfits. We really aren't trying to be one of those cutesy twinkie couples (but we are one of those silly couples who take pictures of themselves in restaurants). (Scott does it under protest).
I'd say it's been a great day!

Shoes do a heart good

Yesterday, my friend Julie went to a store in town and got all kinds of Christmas goodies 75% off. So today at lunch I rushed over to see what I could find but sadly they were wiped out. But I didn't leave empty handed. Oh no - I came out with these!

The Bottoms

I don't have any good news yet - but positive thinking made me hope that by Christmas we might have a baby that could wear these. They cost me $4. So if we don't have a baby by Christmas - surely I can find someone who will and give these to them.

Oh and they play "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer". Really - could you resist such cuteness?

Four Things Friday!

Judy at Gracious Southern Living tagged me with this so here goes:

4 jobs I've had:

1. Camp Counselor
2. Bank Teller
3. Account Manager at Wal-Mart
4. Category Manager for Black & Decker

4 movies watched over and over:

1. Steel Magnolias
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Legally Blonde
4. How to Lose a guy in 10 days

4 places I've lived:

1. New Orleans, LA
2. Fort Worth, TX
3. Arkadelphia, AR
4. Benton, AR

4 shows I watch:

1. Biggest Loser
2. American Idol
3. Gray's Anatomy
4. Amazing Race

4 places I've been:

1. Cozumel, Mexico
2. Maui
3. Kauai
4. New York City

4 people who e-mail me regularly:

1. My mom.
2. Laurie
3. Hillary
4. Elizabeth

4 favorite things to eat:

1. Mexican.
2. Pizza
3. Sushi
4. Chocolate.


4 places I'd rather be:

1. Gulf Shores, AL
2. Maui
3. Kauai
4. Destin, FL

4 things I look forward to this year:

1. Hopefully a vacation
2. Knowing God better
3. My brother's wedding (and Hillary's wedding!)
4. Getting pregnant

4 people to tag: (I wish everyone would do this because it's fun - but I'm limited to 4 people)

1. Hillary
2. Leigh Ann
3. Sandra
4. April

Lady in Waiting

"I've been dating since I was 15. I'm exhausted. WHERE IS HE?" (a quote I heard on TV once)

I got the sweetest e-mail today from a really cute girl, Caroline. She wrote me to tell me she enjoyed reading my blog and loved that I mentioned singleness and she and her friends wished I would talk more on the subject. So I decided I would dedicate a post to the journey that is "waiting for the right one".

For one reason or another, God has had me in a waiting status for the biggest part of my adult life. Probably because I'm a planner and a control freak but most likely because He wants to teach me to trust Him and He also wants me to know Him and I have learned to cling to Him during these times. I had to wait a while for a husband and now I'm waiting for a baby. And the one thing I know for sure is God has let me go through both of these things so that I can have the ministry of encouraging women who are single or are infertile. I have such a huge burden for both groups because I know the pain that is in the waiting.

I grew up thinking I would go to college and meet the man I would marry. I thought that was how it worked and I tried to help this along by going to a Baptist college where I would for sure meet a Christian guy to be my soulmate. Well graduation came and went and I didn't have a ring, a M.R.S. degree or even a boyfriend. As the years passed, I began to feel more desperate and hopeless. I tried to put my trust in God but I felt like He had forgotten me. And I constantly compared myself to other girls who had gotten married - what was wrong with me? Satan really tried to attack my self esteem. That is one of the main things that burdens me about single girls is that you can really start to feel like you aren't "enough".

Well - the truth is that God has the perfect match for you if He has given you the desire to be married. And He is a God of perfect timing. And the thing I learned the most after years of trying to be who I thought guys wanted so they would like me is that there is nothing you can do or say - if he is the ONE - he will fall for you and it will work. If he is not IT - there is nothing you can do or say to make it be different. I used to think if I was just thinner or blonder or more stylish or funnier or smarter or more athletic or more Godly, THEN he would like me and want to marry me. Or if I would have just said this or done that - it would have worked out. But the thing is - if he is not who God has for you - there is nothing you can do to "make it work". The only guy I ever dated who I was just myself around was my husband. I never pretended to be something I wasn't. I never played games. I never tried to make it work - it just did. It fit. It felt like I had always known him. It just felt like home.

And I remember on my wedding day finally getting it. It HAD been worth the wait. I was a month shy of 30 and I thought that day might never come - but it did. And God IS so good. And I know now He needed to shape me into the woman I needed to be to make a good wife.

And marriage is not perfect. It can be wonderful but it can also be very hard. I always thought the answer to all of my problems was a husband. And I put a lot on hold until I was married. "I'll tithe when I am married. I'll get involved in church when I'm married. I'll invest in my retirement when I'm married." If you are single - don't wait on life to start when you get married. Marriage can just bring a WHOLE new set of trials and issues. But the one good part - is you have a partner to get through the problems with! God is so good to have ordained marriage and to give us these best friends to spend our lives with.

I pray if you are single - that you will just trust God that He does have a plan. I pray that you'll look forward to the day you are on the other side of the tunnel looking back and realize the journey you have been on has made you a better woman.

Sweet Caroline said something in her e-mail that I LOVED so much that it made me cry. My favorite verse right now (that I had made into a nursery sign) is Psalms 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart". That was my life verse when I was single and it's on my heart again as I wait for a baby. Caroline said "Don't forget the verse before that says 'Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the Land and enjoy safe pastures'" She said her and her friends love to say "they are just dwelling in the Land". Isn't that awesome?

I'm just dwelling in the land right now and I hope if you are too - that you will be encouraged that God loves you more than anything and if we humans who are evil like to give our children (or friends or family) good gifts - how much more does He want to give good gifts to those who ask Him? (Matthew 7:11)

What's on your Ipod?

We had one of our sales guys in today from Florida and he was doing a pitch of a new radio we have that also plays ipods (and does a variety of other things) and he needed an ipod to use during the meeting with the buyer. I gave him mine and he spent the next fifteen minutes making fun of the music I had in it.
For the record - Scott got me this two years ago and I love it but I have never really taken the time to load much into it. I took a few old CD's and loaded them and quit. Scott on the other hand has over 5,000 songs on his so when I need something to walk with - I try to take his.
But I thought for fun - so you can see how random I am - I would shuffle the songs and see what the first 5 or 6 that came up were:

1. Fantasy by Mariah Carey

2. I am Yours by Spur 58

3. Made me Glad by Hillsong

4. Hard to Handle by the Black Crowes

5. Say Goodbye by Dave Matthews

6. Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan

7. Over my Head by the Fray

So do you have an Ipod - and do you have a lot of random songs too?