God is so good.

Happy Friday Everyone!

No class nor clinicals today for me! Whoo-hoooo :) Yesterday I spent the day at a local middle school doing our school nurse rotations. It was fun!

I've been keeping up with a few fun blogs now for months.

One of which, come to find out, went to Georgia Southern and lives pretty close. 

She graduated from there with an Education degree and has since not been able to find a full-time job due to the economic madness going on throughout the school systems. She has done what she could, substituting and filling in as much as possible. Along and along, she has had several interviews and as of Wednesday, she is now a full-time TEACHER! She is soo sweet & I just know those kids will be truly blessed to have her as their teacher. Congrats again girlie :)

Meet Jamie!

On a second note, Lyndsie over at A Love Worth Waiting For has not only won the victory over ovarian cancer [-not once, but twice-], she is now is going to be blessed with a precious baby girl! She is truly an amazing person and God is doing miraculous work in their lives! Not too long ago, she posted her testimony. It's a prime example of the buoyantly strong-willed and highly devoted Christian that Lyndsie really is. Once she let herself go, and let God take the wheel, miracles began to take place. I'm so happy for her and Daniel as they begin a new chapter in their lives. Congrats to you both! I can't wait to hear more about Miss Aubrey Ann!

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I ran across this video of FB just the other day and I have been completely amazed since.

Meet Rhema Marvanne, a 7 year old girl who lost her Mom to ovarian cancer back in 2008. 

What a beautiful voice she has been blessed with!

Be sure to check out her music website here.

Click on her "about" section and watch that video as well. 

Such a great way to begin the morning! :)

Today, I have decided  to link up and play along with the Follow Me Friday blog parties!

I stole this from Lyndsie's blog because I thought it fit perfect for today's post. 

May God bless all of these wonderful women mentioned above ♥

"Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Psalm 37:4

wedding wednesday's: dilemma

This past weekend I didn't have much on my agenda. Saturday I drove over to Mama's where we discussed "the guest list". Boy, I didn't realize just how important this part really was. To begin with, we were basing our number of guests off of our engagement party. We had about 100 close friends and family in attendance for it. So with a few more friends and relatives added, we figured we would be looking at about 250-300 people total. Not quite. Once combining all 3 guests lists [1 from my family, 1 from Cliff's Dad/Step-Mom's side, 1 from Cliff's Mom/Step-Dad side], we now have a total of......

 Yes, that is correct. 507 guests....and that's not including ALL of the children. I haven't went back in and changed the date from the 11th to the 10th, but it is still the 10th.

Originally we had made plans to have the ceremony underneath this pavilion, which would seat 250 people.

After the ceremony, we would have a tent set up for the reception to the right of this old barn.

[This is actually at the front entrance of the barn/pavilion]

Due to the fact that our date is set for a Friday evening, it's about 30 minutes from our hometown, many family members live out of town/state, elderly family members, weather conflicts, etc., we will probably shoot for about 350 attendees total that will actually show for the big day. So we are thinking, anyhow.

At this point, 1) we are considering taking the ceremony to a local church and maybe just do the reception as planned, 2) have a smaller ceremony for just close friends and family with a blow-out reception all still at the Botanical Gardens, 3) continue with the plan as set thus far, just make the ceremony short & sweet due to the fact that there will only be room for 250, [maybe 300 if the rain holds off and weather permits], but the remainder of our guests will have to stand and gather around, 4) leave the Botanical Garden idea completely and take the ceremony/reception to the Fiance's Dad/Step-Mom's plantation where we could have the ceremony underneath some oak trees with a tent reception set up nearby. There would be plenty of parking space and plenty of space to accommodate 500 guests if need be. However, the only problem here is the fact that we are talking June. The trees will give some shade [so hopefully no tent would be needed there], but we still risk the problem of it raining [and we wouldn't have shelter for the guests]. Lotssss to think about and decide on!

We just had no idea we would have so many people.
We've trimmed it down where we could [example: rather than sending out several invitations to church members, we are going to just send the church a single invite].

Any suggestions or ideas?

GTKY

To play: copy these questions, answer them in your own post, then head over to MannLand5 and link up ♥

1. If you could host a Reality TV show, which one would it be? extreme makeover home-edition. It's for a great cause!

2. Do you put your seatbelt on before or after you start the car? after I start the car.

3. Shave or hair removal cream? shave.

4. What's your favorite feature in a house? each room is a different color.

5. What is your favorite "Fall" scent? cinnamon for the indoors and pine for the outdoors

6. What tv show are you looking forward to seeing the most this Fall?? now, this I don't know. I'm not a big t.v. freak, so I have no idea which shows are even supposed to be coming on this Fall..

7. Personal Shopper or Personal Chef? personal shopper [they can hunt all the coupons down and help me save!]

8. What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of "Fall"? hunting season!

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inspiration.

Breathe deep,
Talk slow...


Give big,
Take less...


Don't count,
Just guess...


Touch kind,
Act fair...


Plan bold,
Try prayer...


Do peace,
Dream far...


Feel loved,
You are!

I was in definite need of some inspiration tonight. I opened my dashboard to find the first post listed from 52 Flea, a blog I just begun following today. The title was "Breathe Deep, Talk Slow". As I started reading, I realized that the smallest things, such as this poem, can make a big difference. Not only in ones attitude, but concerning their outlook as well. I have a few things lying heavy on my mind tonight and this made me feel a little more at ease.

Thanks for sharing! 

weekend recap

Friday the 13th, my parents rented a white Hummer limo for a little birthday celebration. I've been wanting to go across the bridge into South Carolina to a new bar called Stallion's. I figured all of us girls would dig out our old cowgirl boots and freshen up our boot scootin' boogy skills! And that's JUST what we did. We had an absolute BLAST!

Did I ever mention Brooke was an identical twin?

Meet Blair! [on the right]

 

My "pouty" face. I'm not very good at it, as you can tell. But that straight shot of tequila, whewwww.

here's a different camera's shot from the 2nd shot of the night.. red headed slut.

 

Sam was a trooper and took a free shot from this Bachelor out for his Bachelor party. Him & his fellas were just out for a good time.

Stallion's is somewhat of a "country club" I guess you would say. It has just recently opened. They have the big wooden dance floor, they do a little bit of line dancing, and of course, they have the MECHANICAL BULL! 


When I had called a few weeks prior to see if they had the bull or not [us girls had to know what to wear, and if they had a bull, we were going to find something other than dresses to wear]. 

They said they didn't have it, YET. So we dressed accordingly. 


Once we arrived, we saw all of these crazy mattresses piled up behind the back of the building. Holy cow, what are these for?! 

[those two little heads poking between the mattresses are some of ours, they had a quick tinkle break]

Then it dawned on us. 

Once they fired that bad boy up, we were the next in line. We talked the guy into letting all three of us girls on at one time. He laughed and said, ok.

Our 8 second ride was like 2.2, if that. He flipped us off head first in no time.

Some of the other members of our tribe decided they wanted a shot. Cliff got on while I was on the dance floor. He swears he rode it for longer than 8 seconds, but I wasn't there to witness it. 

This is Michael riding [Amy's man- I stole it from her FB]. 

 After our lovely incident of being tossed off. Amy uploaded this picture to FB. HA, she got the bad end of the deal. 

 After we shut the bar down [requesting a few extra songs because we couldn't find the right one to end the night on!]...we "thought" we were headed back home to Georgia. Boyyyy, were we wrong. The next thing I know, I hear Cliff yelling to the limo driver to "turn, TURN, TURRRRNNN. Right here!". "TURN where, Cliff?! Where are we going???" 

.......................hmmmmmmm......................................Drum-roll please.


We arrive at non-other than, "The Gold Club".  [ya, a strip club.]


No joke. 


We stayed probably about 30-45 minutes or so I would say. Then, headed home for good.


I think we pulled back up in the driveway about 4:30am. 


We still carried on for an hour or two. 


Eventually Cliff's alarm clock started going off. It was then we realized, it's time to go to B.E.D.


Everyone crashed at the house wherever they could find an empty spot.


A definite night to remember.

For more pictures of the night, click here! And go to "21st birthday". 

It literally took Cliff and I all day Saturday to re-cooperate. We slept, slept, and slept some more.

Sunday wasn't much better. 

We went to church, ate afterwards with his family, came home for a nap, then went back out to his Dad's to hang out. What bums!

It felt good to relax and take it easy, catch up on sleep, tidy up around the house, and get prepared mentally for the start of school come Monday.

Tonight is the AUCTION! 

Brooke is coming into town to stay since we both have to be in Savannah tomorrow morning at 9:00AM for clinical orientation at the hospital. 

Saturday I'm hoping to meet with a local florist and toss around a few ideas for the wedding.

Hope y'all have a terrific Thursday!

 

wedding wednesday's: cake tasting

Last Wednesday was a busy day for me... 

1. It was my LAST day of work. Not only for the summer, but for the remainder of the year and until next May [for the majority]. My co-workers surprised me with a few going away gifts! They are all SOO incredibly sweet and I am going to miss them terribly. Mrs. C got her daughter to hand-make me some beautiful earrings! [2 pair!!] I wore one pair this past Friday. And Miss L. bought me an adorable Mickey Mouse scrub top to wear for this semester in my PEDS clinical rotations for nursing school! How sweet?! Here are a few of my co-workers, including the two mentioned above.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   
   It was my baby brother's 18^th birthday! We celebrated that evening at my Grandma's [better known as “Mema”] by grilling ranch burgers & having a bunch of family and Cody's friends over for dinner. He's not a big cake fanatic, so we devoured a Dairy Queen icecream cake instead :) YUM!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. 
   
   
   I had my very first cake tasting appointment with Kerry O'Connor Cake's in Savannah at 11:30 [on my lunch break!]. I brought in a few ideas I had printed out previously in hopes that we could figure something out that would go along with our theme, but also that was in our budget range. Soo, as I enter, the entrace door had a “The Knot Recommended” sticker on it! Cha-ching! So far, so good. She hands me a form to fill out first off with our wedding date/time, wedding coordinator's info, place of ceremony/reception, etc. We began discussing various ideas as far as the individual theme we were going with, our colors, how many guests, and so forth. We came up with a cake that will definitely fit the theme we are going with, but it's $100 over budget. Regardless of the flavors/fillings we decide to go with, there will be no further addition/reduction(s) in cost. Major plus. However, I am going with a fairly basic cake design as it is. Nothing fancy whatsoever since we have chosen to go with a country/rustic theme. We cut down on the slices per guest due to the fact that we will also have a groom's cake that will feed the remainder of the guests. 
   But, here's the problem: I just don't know exactly where I will be able to cut the cost of the cake and still make it presentable, yet beneath our budgeted price. Any suggestions? Should I spend the extra $100, get it exactly as I had envisioned, yet save the $100 elsewhere?

Since I went alone to the cake tasting, I brought home the leftover pieces for the family to sample taste. Before gathering for Cody's birthday celebration, my Dad had the idea of blind folding whoever wanted to taste test, then make them choose the number(s) that they liked best [after tasting of course, but still while blindfolded and without knowing which flavor was what!]. It was fun! And believe it or not, the majority chose pretty much the same flavors! I hope to make a final decision here in the next month or so in order to go ahead and sign a final cake contract and have it well under way! One more thing I can check off the to-do list.

Here are the pictures from the “at home-version” cake tasting, enjoy!

abc's of me.

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 72

B- My BEDROOM theme is: hunting/rustic/wooden

C- The CAR in the driveway is: 08' Chevy Equinox

D- My DESK looks: I bought a desk for $7.50 a few weeks ago at our local auction. I have sanded it down and in the process of re-staining it! I can't wait to put it in the house and use it :)

E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: 6:30AM

F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: My face. I use the Clinique Take the Day Off cleansing balm to remove my make-up, then wash it with some face wash.

G- My GARAGE is filled with: No garage here. We have a shelter..? Filled with a dog box, a tool box, a wheelbarrow, and a ton of tools.

H- My HOUSE is: a late 1970's-early 1980's one & a half story home built by my great grandmother.

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: a wooden mantle electric fireplace, a camo bed, a closet full of clothes for him, & a closet full of clothes for her.

J- My favorite JUICE is: Apple, Cranapple, or Orange.. I like them all.

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: The color of the walls-- mocha. Next, the dishwasher :)

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: Cliff's younger brother & sister.

M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: My customized "Y" drink dispenser that I won over at LyndsieGivesAway!

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: the best Granddaughter in the world ;) [It's my Grandparents!]

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: A gallon sized bag full of fresh blueberries that I picked from a friends, 2% milk, a dozen of our chicken's eggs, and a whole bunch of condiments.

P- My last house PARTY was: Girl's night in June.

Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Chicken Alfredo [out of the box- Complete Meals!] We both LOVE it.

R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: The laundry/master bath. I love the sage green color on the walls & the sun lights up this room the most!

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use: Tresemme 

T- My largest TELEVISION is: The one in our bedroom.

[Yes, we choose to save our money instead of paying for cable so we can spend it elsewhere. Gota love those bunny ears!]

U- UNDER my bed you will find: One of Cliff's shotgun's.

V- The last time I VACUUMED was:....... yes, it's been that long. Since we haven't been staying at home all week, it's probably been two-three weeks now.

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: A yard full of pecan trees & a dog named Jasmine.

X- I wish I had X-TRA: time. Just one more day in the week! I never find enough time to get in everything I'd like to. 

Y- My YARD is: 0.8th of an acre with a big back yard full of green grass, a peach tree, a pear tree, and ton of pecan trees, with a few daisies here & there.

Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: No later than 11. I have to have at least 7 hours of sleep or I can absolutely not stay awake during the day. Cliff & I would both much rather go to bed early & wake up early than go to bed late and sleep the day away.