green thumb?

So, last year about this time, Edwin and I got excited to do some yard work. If you recall a previous post, Edwin showed up in the Malibu with a snowball bush sticking out the trunk. Well, we planted that beauty and waited for it to bloom all summer... and well... it never did. I was a little bummed.

Until... this spring, our little beauty started to BLOOM. :)



It is SO pretty. I can't stop looking at it. It makes me wish I had a dozen of these!!!!




My mom would be so proud!

strap it on

A while back, Brandy, Erica, and mom decided to make covers for our camera straps. They were cute/great/fabulous - don't get me wrong - however, it got annoying because the cover would get all bunched up and would show what was underneath it. So, I had been looking for a cute camera strap to make my huge "mom" camera super cute.

My sister's friend, Nikki, makes really cute stuff. So, I asked her if she'd make me a camera strap... and VWALA:





isn't it cute!?! I am so excited about it! Thanks Nikki!!!!!

sunday.funday.

Sundays are usually spent at JoJo's eating our after church dinner. However, today our Aunt Linda and Uncle Fred cooked for the family. Linda lives on the lake and we spent the day enjoying each others company. It sure was nice.

Houston enjoyed Linda's rabbit.

Note: his new kicks are SUPER cute.

Fred and Houston looked too cute dressed alike. Houstonie-Houst sure loves his Fred! :)


Houston and Jonah loved watching the posts spin in circles. Oh the small things in life!



Everyone sat and enjoyed the weather. What a beautiful day it was.



And after dinner, Fred went outside and decided to go fishing. Oh the perks of living on the lake.



I sure hope one day, I will have this luxury! Til then, I thank God for beautiful days such as these to spend with my family, no matter where it may be!

Goodbye.sweet.tea

Guess what I am giving up for LENT?



SWEET TEA. I drink sweet tea EVERY day. I am not sure how this is going to pan out... but NO more tea for ME.

As I decided to give up tea. I asked Edwin what he was going to give up. And he decided on...



SWEETS. Ha. We will see how this ends up working out for him because we ALL know Edwin LOVES his sweets!!!!! I have faith, though. Maybe we will both be able to make it til Easter!

all.things.blue.

If you know me, then you know I am obsessed with all things blue or shall I say turquoise, light blue, bright blue, whatever blue. If I could have a room full of nothing but blue, I would.

Here are a few things I would love to have for our house:







And if I could have my dream room... well, maybe not my dream room, but this one is pretty cool. I really wish I could have that large clock!




Well, for now, these are a little inspirational ideas for me this summer. Once this grad school stuff is over, I want to begin working on my house and my sewing abilities. We will see how this is going come August. Hopefully I will have lots of posts this summer to keep everyone updated! :)

come on in... {little birdies}

So, during Christmas, my dad's side of the family has the tradition of celebrating the holidays in the Chinese Christmas style. And if you don't know what that is... well, google it. {I just don't feel like explaining it all- ha.}

Anyway, during all the stealing, Edwin and I landed with this:



A pair of "out houses" for birds (thanks to Erica and Matt). I love it. So, this weekend, we finally took the time to hang it up for all the sweet little birdies that are going to need a home this spring.

Enjoy little birdies! Make us some more little tweet tweets! :)

way {too} cute... I had to get it!!!!!

Today Erica and I went on a little shopping trip. She had to get some make-up and begged me to go with her... and of course I did. :)

We went to Sandhills and walked in and out of a couple stores, just enjoying the beautiful day!!! While we were shopping, we came across this:




I couldn't resist.... I had to get it!!! It has now found a place in our home and is currently being used as our cercie fund. It's way too cute that I'm gonna want to do nothing but give it some mula! Ha. :)

:: sweetness ::

Something is seriously wrong with Edwin. I can't figure it out...

The other day he came home from work and said, "Would you like to go get a cercie?" Of course I said, "YES! What kind of a cercie?" He said, "Well, don't you have your eyes on something?" I thought long and hard about this. Of course a number of things came to mind {a traverse, a watch, etc.}, but I knew he could be talking about those. I finally said, "I don't know. What did I have my mind on?" He laughed. At this point, I was trying to figure out what I had told him I wanted and then my next thought was, am I still going to get a cercie???

So, he told me to get in the car and he just drove. He told me that I had been working too hard to not earn a little something for it. I was PUMPED. I knew I had been over working myself with work, Grad School, Church pre-school committee meetings, unit leader meetings/duties, and just trying to find time for family and friends, but I thought it was just getting unnoticed {and I was okay with that}. He took me to go get dinner and then let me go on a "mini shopping spree". I got 5 new shirts and an earring organizer thingy. I was SO excited. Some of you may be thinking, that's not a shopping spree! BUT if you knew Edwin, it's like pulling teeth to get him to let me get some new clothes.

Then another day, he surprised me with these:




And it doesn't end here. {Trust me, I know what your thinking. It's scary. Shocking. Edwin isn't this nice!!!!} Today, he took me to a movie and let me order 3 new swimsuits for our trip to Mexico. And with all this, I can't help but stop and think....I am loved. :)

monkeyin around

So, I tried to get creative and make something cute for a baby shower. I thought about a diaper cake, but EVERYONE is begginging to do those... So, I started googling ideas of what I could make. I found a giraffe, elephant, tricycle, and a .... MONKEY.

Edwin and I worked for about an hour trying to make the monkey and here is our final product:




Isn't she cute!?! :)

{I really needed clear rubber bands, but I used what I had... next time I make one, clear it will be!!! Hopefully we'll be a little bit more skilled at this monkey making and can create all different kinds.}

{ah} moments.

When I get a spare moment, I love searching for new things. Clothes, items for the house, presents for people, or sometimes, just things... While looking around, I found this cute boutique. I LOVE some of the clothes at SUGAR Boutique. If you look them up on facebook, they have a lot more views of their spring collection. Just precious.

Here are some of the things that make me go {ooooo.... ahhhh.... I want that}:






Now, all I have to do is find an upcoming holiday and an excuse to buy all these super cute things. Hmmm... "Ohhhh, Edwin...." :)

{Birthday} Shoutouts :)

A couple weeks ago (1.23.11) was Josie's 4th birthday. We did not have a big celebration since JoJo (my grandma) was still in the hospital. So, we ordered some Chic-Fil-A nuggets (her favorite) and had the immediate family over. She decorated her own cookie cake and had a picnic at Bob Bob's house.



After blowing out candles and eating cake... we went on to opening presents. And boy did she get a lot of good stuff:












She has been wanting a dollhouse for quite a while now and finally got it for her birthday along with all the fun furniture that comes along with all that greatness.

Next came our POP's Birthday!!! He turned 64 on 2.1.11... well, maybe it was 46 (wink wink). This past Sunday, we celebrated his birthday at Brandy's house. Here are a couple pics that we took:

Happy Birthday {Hou-Hou} Houston!

Well, tomorrow (1.18.11) will be Houston's first birthday. But on Saturday, Erica and Matt had the family over for his very first birthday party. I had grad school from 9-7 and did not think I was going to make it. So, Edwin and I took Houston his birthday present on Friday night. Houston was excited about his new train set, HOWEVER, the boys were 10 times more as excited because it meant they got to put it all together.



On Saturday, I worked with my professor for my second class during our lunch time and was able to come to his BIRTHDAY PARTY! I was so excited because I really did not think I was going to be able to make it to see this cute face:





At the end of the party, Erica had made these cute favors. Everything was wonderful and super cute.





HAPPY {first} BIRTHDAY MR. HOUSTON BILLINGSLEY. We LOVE you! :)

{{baby love}}

Well, today was day 3 of being locked up in the house from this "snow storm" and I just couldn't take it ANYMORE!!!!!

So, my day began with lunch with Megan, Spense, Erica and Mr. Houston. We enjoyed our little time together. Adult interaction was just what we all needed.

We then began to venture downtown to get my books for Grad School and drop off a present for Ms. Lilly. Houston and Lilly sure enjoyed their time together!



That was until Houston got tired of Lilly pulling on him. Lilly has such a cute personality and is VERY outgoing... so, for Houston, that meant he had to be as excited as Lilly and it just wasn't happening...



As if all this baby love wasn't enough, we even stopped by to meet Mr. Landon for the first time. Ashley and Steven Cogburn's sweet boy!!!



Houston even enjoyed Landon for all of 2 seconds, then was instantly interested in the balls (or Christmas ornaments).



Landon is precious!!! :)

Boys Sledding :)

Yesterday, I posted some pictures of our snow day. BUT for some reason, it would only let me post one video at a time... so, I saved this one for today. Here is a video of the boys sledding behind the four-wheeler.

Snow FUN :)

Today was a beautiful day. It snowed all morning long and put a LARGE blanket of snow over all of South Carolina. Our house in the pretty snow! At about 9:00 AM we already had 5 1/2 inches of snow... and it kept on falling!! Not shortly after taking these pretty pictures, our neighbor, Trent, came by on the 4-wheeler ready to play. We put on our gear and hopped on the 4-wheeler. Only problem was that the boys did not have a sled. So, they put their heads together and created one out of scrap wood and a lid to a tupperware box. It ended up working out great!

After two days of being locked up, Chevy was dying to go outside. So, we put him out. Only problem was his little feet were not use to the cold snow... So, probably 2 seconds later, this is what we saw: Sweet little booger. Knocks at the door when he wants in or out. I LOVE IT. :)

sewing frenzy

I know I have been a little slack on this blogging thing... but I am trying to "pick it up" again. Since grad school, I have been spending most of my "free" time for myself and my family. So, that left very little time for other things... ha-ummm... THIS BLOG.

But now that I am only 6 more class meetings away from graduating, I am trying to find something that I want to spend my time doing and this is it...

{SEWING}

I am determined to get a sewing machine, get cute fabric, and go to town! In my family, it is a must to know how to sew... and I've done a few things here and there, but I have not taken it on full time. This summer, my goal is to master this task and create a lot of cute stuff for my house! The first thing I want to learn to make is a cute camera strap!



I've been looking around for cute fabric to get started with...





I have already conned my friend Megan in to making things with me. We've been talking about a lot of stuff we could make. Pillows, shirts, dresses, curtains, cute place mats, etc.

I thought about making a cute dog bed for Mr. Remmi...



I don't think he'll mind if it's girly... do you? :)

missing: daisy dukes

A couple weekends ago, we went up to Pigeon Forge. Mom and Dad got a cabin for everyone to come up and visit. It was nice. Everyone had a place to stay and we were all together.

When we were there, we did A LOT of shopping! I mean, we hit up outlet after outlet. I knew I couldn't make many purchases because I had been saving up for something GOOD...

BOOTS.... not any kind of boots: FUN, colorful, cowboy boots.





Hopefully they will make their debut before the end of the summer... just waiting on the perfect day and outfit to wear them! :)

{our first anniversary}

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary. We wanted to go out of town and do something special, but my graduate school classes said NOPE. So, instead, we decided to keep it cheap and romantic at home.

That morning I got up, cut Edwin's hair, folded clothes, showered up and got dressed to go to class. It did not feel like much of an anniversary. I was kind of sad. I thought it was supposed to be this great day and seem just as special as the day we got married... and it wasn't. :(

I went to class and came home to this:



I was so excited! Edwin did make it special! He set the table with all the things that have been special to us. He pulled out our China for the first time, we got to drink out of our crystal for the first time, use our napkins and pretty napkin rings...



He got the flowers we had at our wedding (minus the turquoise gerber daisies). He even put them in the pretty vase Mrs. Donna gave to us for our wedding...



He found the candles that were given to us from Mrs. Lori to burn for our first anniversary and put them out for our nice dinner...



We pulled our cake out of the freezer... it was still just as beautiful as our wedding day...



Two years ago on 6.28.08, Edwin took me up to the Biltmore House to see the beautiful house and to have wine tasting. That same day he popped the question, we bought a bottle of wine to drink on our first anniversary. This bottle of wine has traveled with us throughout the last two years... in this adventure, we had made it clear to all that this was our special bottle and not allowed to be open until our special day...


I got dressed and put in my hair piece from our wedding day. Yes, I am a dork, but I cannot help it!! I loved that thing and to only wear it a couple times was not enough for me! :)


Edwin worked hard in preparing our delicious meal. The biggest steaks I have ever seen, mac and cheese, and lima beans. YUM.



After we ate all we could, we cut into the cake. Edwin was very excited to have the first bite!!!





For our anniversary, Edwin had my ring engraved all over so all my bands would match. I love it.



We enjoyed our first anniversary. Everything ended up the way I knew it would. He knows how to make a day special and I am blessed he loves me so much.

Happy Anniversary Hun.