"hello lovers"

I'll take these in a size 8.
Please and thank you.

thankful

i am so thankful. today, i came home to a package waiting for me. My sweet bestie jen sent me a few plates to start my little kitchen collection (i have no plates...well i didn't!). It was such a sweet gesture.

I then started to look around my apartment. I have so many things that friends and family have given to me to help fill my small apartment. In that moment, I felt like I was home. I am not surrounded down here by my besties and family but at that moment, I felt surrounded by their love. It was a perfect moment full of love.

A few pictures of the sweet things that my friends have so graciously given to me...

From Rach and Eric



From Jen and Ben


From Angie and Micah


From my wonderful family


There is so much more that I have in the apartment that so many people have given to me. I feel incredibly blessed. I couldn't take pictures of everything (it would show the state of my messy apartment at this time) but I hope everyone knows how incredibly thankful and loved I feel for helping a girl out.

I am so blessed...

a sneak peak (of a completed project)

I know many of y'all (ok maybe not "many"...maybe more like "a small few") have been itching for some apartment pictures. and I promise they are coming. pinky swear. i just need to get everything put away and a few more things done and then they will be here quicker than you can say..."pretty apartment."

So i had the idea awhile back to do an "S" wall. Seeing as my name is Shannon, it would be perfect. I love monograms. So I have been slowly collecting. Right now I only have three. Hoping to add some pretty ones to that collection soon.

One "S" that I found was from Hobby Lobby (freaking love that place). However, it was a brassy gold. Not knocking on that at all. Just didn't really go with my decor. So I had to paint it. My color choice? a pretty minty blue green. Turned out fabulous if you ask me!

I will apologize up front for the poor horrible picture quality. It was night time and I had to use the flash on my blackberry so you could see the before color.

Here is the before (a part of it...i remembered halfway through the first coat to take a before picture):


And here is the after:


And here is the collection so far (+ a little sneak peak of the apartment decorating):


It doesn't look very proportionate. They take up more room than that. And that blue is way lighter than it shows up.

The "S" wall sits in my dining room area. I love it so far and can't wait to add to my collection. Let me know if you see any pretty monograms out there my sweets!

i hear it becomes a quick addiction

so on saturday, A and I decided to jump on the "Lost" bandwagon {i can hear cheers and applause coming from my besties and my parents right now}. They are all obsessed and so I feel pretty excited to begin the addiction.


As of today, we are 6 episodes in. It is good so far (sometimes scary for me?) but I think it's a keeper. We also have the series premier of "Flash Forward" recorded on his DVR. I need to scoot down to his place to watch that. I have heard good things about it so far. Have any of y'all watched it? What did you think?

So as we were watching "Lost" on Saturday, a scene came on that got me to thinking. They are having a memorial service for the people who passed away in the crash and they are saying words about each person based on their belongings that they find or if they interacted with them. Many were surface-y comments and some were what people observed about the person. And it got my mind racing..."what would someone say about me?"

The only thing that I want someone to remember me by is my love for the Lord. I want to live a life that when people observe me, interact with me or sit down and talk with me, the one thing they can walk away saying about me is that the Lord's grace and love shines through on to everyone that I encounter. That is my utmost desire.

That scene affected me. I have thought about it everyday since then. I am going to make that a constant prayer of mine (sometimes it is but I want it to be constant). I want to leave a legacy of the Lord. A legacy and life that reflects only him. That will be my prayer.

blue

tonight, my beloved wildcats take on the devil florida in what will hopefully be a great game. i hope my cats beat them to a pulp. seriously...

I will be sporting my Kentucky blue, plopping in front of the tv and i'm sure some screaming might be involved. what can i say? i get really into the game.

GO CATS!

eye candy

every once in awhile, I am going to post some favorite pictures from Flickr. I find so many pictures that I just love and I want to share them with you. Last time, they were from a bunch of photographers. This time, I want to feature just one.

Beth Retro is a fabulous photographer that i found on flickr. Her pictures are so pretty. Someday, I would love to get my hands on some for my house. Could you imagine hanging these pictures in your living room, bedroom (as long as your hubby doesn't mind the girlyness it brings) or even a little girls rooms? it would add a little sparkle, don't you think?

I narrowed down my favorites. There are so many more. Go check her out on flickr. I hope you love her work as much as i do.

that last one is my favorite :)
soak in the girlyness...

an organizing project

so right in the middle of unpacking a few days ago, i got a little distracted. i unpacked a case of cd's that i have (a hunker of a case. like 100+ cd's stuffed in there.) So i thought right then would be the best time to go through and organize/get rid of tons of them

I went through and pulled out the ones i never listen to anymore (examples include Titanic Soundtrack, Will Smith, Spice Girls, Celine Dion, etc). I found a little hidden gem. I had no idea that I had the No Doubt "Tragic Kingdom" cd...that was a treat. I love them. Then I went through and pulled out all the blank cd's. I needed to go through these to see if they were keepers or not. This is where the fun began...

I found so many songs that brought back so many fun memories from middle school, high school and the beginning of college. Do y'all remember these songs/bands?

*BSB, N'Sync, Britney, Christina, 98 degrees (classics)
*Jewel "Who will save your soul?"
*Jagged Edge "Let's get married"
*Eve 6 "Here's to the night" (SUCH a good one)
*Destiny's Child "Bootylicious" (Also great)
*No Doubt "Spiderwebs"
*Mandy Moore "Candy"
*Ja Rule/J.Lo "I'm Real"
*Missy Elliott "Pass that dutch"

There are others that I will leave unmentioned. Some are just embarrassing or too inappropriate (what can I say? Sometimes I just need some rap music in my life.)

I had a great time jamming out in my new apartment to these gems. I also can't believe how many songs I knew word for word (slim shady anyone?) Now that's embarrassing.

I didn't get rid of these cd's yet. I need to make sure I have them on my computer. But in the end, I did get rid of 114 cd's. Can you believe that? So much money spent. All in the trash can. What else was I gonna do with them you know?

Anyway, it was a great project to take on. It brought back some great memories and I loved every second of it.

What songs do you love that bring back good memories from MS/HS? If I had to choose just one, I would have to say Britney (not embarrassed. I'm still a huge fan) Don't judge...

photo linked to owner

an apartment update

hello my sweets! my how much i have missed you these past few days!

my life has been hectic to say the least. i moved into my new place on monday. so far my days have looked like this...

Monday-
1:00 - sign my life away my lease
1:30 - begin moving in
6:00 - 12:00 - lots and lots of deep cleaning
12:00 - put bed together (most important task)
-3 boxes unpacked*

Tuesday
5:00 - get home from work and errands
5:30 - 11:00 - clean dishes, unpack and organize cd's (to be explained in a later post.)
-7 boxes unpacked*

Wednesday
TBD. Probably more unpacking and organizing (duh.)
I have gotten lots accomplished today. Such as changing my address at the post office, opening a new bank account, getting power bill in my name and blogging (that's my fave part of the day.)

*There is an exception to the "unpacking" of the boxes. When I say unpack, I mean I take everything out of the box and get to throw the box away. However, most of said stuff gets placed on floor/counter/etc...anywhere but where it is supposed to go. My living room and dining room are jam packed with boxes, bags, clothes and furniture (none of which is in the right place). It kind of looks like a tornado ripped through my apartment. But it's progressing.. I am getting there.

So my blogging sweets, that is the update on my crazy life. I can't wait to show you pictures. I am so excited. Before I moved anything in, I went around and took pictures on my blackberry of the empty apartment. Once everything is unpacked, I will do a big before and after post of my apartment. Give y'all a little "house tour" of sorts.

Also...my favorite part has been sleeping in my bed. Oh my body is just so happy. The days have been long and stressful recently but my body is so happy to be able to be in my own bed at the end of the day. It has been great.

Ok ok...so a little sneak preview. I will give you one picture. And only because y'all have been so patient with my blogging (or lack thereof) the past few days. I took this pic for my mama on Monday night. It was my first night there and of course, the most important thing to me was getting my bed set up. This is a picture of A helping me get my bed ready (sorry it's not made...i was putting it together).


Muhaha. I feel like this is such a teaser. Well...it is. Just be patient and pretty soon you will have a before and after apartment extravaganza!

Until then...

and so it begins...

tomorrow afternoon the moving process continues. i have all my boxes packed. my reservation for a uhaul truck and now i just have to wait.

and oh man, i can't wait. i am going to be itching to get off of work tomorrow just so that I can begin to move. I am so excited. i will keep all you sweets posted (no pun intended) on the moving process and how it goes.

I can't wait for...
-sleeping in my OWN bed (it's been 11 weeks..i counted)
-having my besties and family all visit
-having a place to go that i can call mine
-alone time
-decorating
-cooking my food and not eating out

A little story from a few weeks ago...
For summertime, I had all of my boxes and bags stored up at my parents house. I had all my furniture and more boxes stored at one of my besties' house an hour away. My family rented a van in lexington so we had to make the hour long trip down to lexington to pick up the van and do some rearranging. It was INSANE.



Mind you this was about 6:45 in the morning. I was exhausted but excited. That's my mama in the front seat cracking up. Isn't she pretty?

These pictures don't even do it justice. The car was jammed. You couldn't open the other back door because things would fall out. I had bags at my feet and on my lap. My dad couldn't see out the back window at all. My mama had things at her feet and in her lap. That is how i sat for over an hour. My legs fell asleep. I was hot. I get carsick when I can't see the road (i was sooooo sick). Also, I couldn't see either one of my parents. They were both sitting right in front of me. That is how PACKED i was.

So that is how the story begins. Moving all of my stuff down to SC. And tomorrow, the story continutes. I can't wait to share it all with the blog world.

a little list

here is a little random list of things that i wanted to blog about right now. all unrelated but all worth sharing.

1. Today was a rainy and gray day here in SC. I wanted to crawl into bed all day long. I got to fall asleep on A's bed for about 20 minutes while he was packing for the weekend. Then I was abruptly woken up. Dang it. I still love him though...

A rainy day calls for soup and the only thing on my heart was some broccoli cheddar soup from Panera. It was worth the 15 minute drive.


2. This weekend, A and I will be taking a little trip up to NC. We are training at the Young Life camp that we love so much. We will get to see some great friends, eat some good food and see the beautiful city of Asheville (one of my faves!).

We get to be here all weekend...


I get to see this lady of mine (she's not really mine. although i would like to her to be. she is just my favorite...my Savannah.)


A and I met at this camp. I was volunteering on horses for a month in the summer of 2007 and he was an intern on the ropes course. We met and fell into like which blossomed into love.

Here is a picture of the month in which we met. I'm pretty sure a few days after this picture, he asked if we could begin a little relationship....


This picture is one of my favorites we have ever taken. It's just perfect and we were just beginning to super like each other. so sweet.

3. I GOT AN APARTMENT! Thank you for all of your prayers friends. I am so excited! I get to move in on Monday and of course will take many many pictures to share with my besties and the blog world. I just can't wait to sleep in my bed! 3 days and counting.

Have a good weekend my sweets. I will talk to y'all again when the weekend is over!

panera photo linked to owner

laughter

background: so i am sitting in starbucks and blog stalking (catching up..haven't stalked in a few days. i'm behind) anyway, don't know how i found this blog. it was like click on this random blog then they are on the favorites, click through one more time and you find it kinda thing. i was reading her first few posts and i found this post. pretty sure it was originally an email. anyway...HAD to re-post it to my blog. (blog i found it on? chat tea kathy)

why you ask? well, i am sitting in a comfy chair at starbucks and as i read this, i literally shook and cried with laughter. shaking to keep my laughter contained in my body. it's very crowded. i would look like a freak if let it all out. but it did escape a few times. don't care. i mean...this is freaking funny.

it's long. seriously...read all of these. i hope you shake with laughter like i just did.

Random Thoughts of the Day:

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? What!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the [heck] was going on when I first saw it.

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

That's enough, Nickelback.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

It really ticks me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

m. antoinette

"let them eat cake" marie antoinette.

i really love anything to do with miss antoinette. i loved learning about her in european history. she was just so girly. and that's me. (minus the whole crazy woman who eventually gets beheaded...so not me)

when the move came out a few years back, i immediately wanted to see it. and i loved it. how could i not? it was like candy for my eyes. i think my favorite thing about the move was the costumes and the colors. it was so pretty. half the time, i find myself yearning to watch that movie again because my eyes dance across the screen while all the gorgeous pale colors make me swoon and my heart flutter.




i tell you all of this because a few months ago, i made my first etsy purchase. i had my eye on it for quite sometime. and knowing i was getting an apartment in the near future (which turned out to be way later than i expected. grrr. sorry...tangent) i knew it was the perfect time for a buy. framed in my kitchen? oh it will be. and it is in one of my favorite colors. mint green.


mine will be put into a frame where you can see the rough edges of the paper. and i am so excited to have place to hang it (hopefully really soon!)

the etsy seller is blulima. go visit her. she has some great things (and a SALE coming up soon!)

new apartment treats

no...no new apartment yet. but i am getting close. real close. of course, i will keep all of you sweets updated.

but i found a little website full of things i would love to fill my new apartment with when the day comes. or maybe someday, when me and A have a sweet little place together, i will get some of these things. they are just so dainty and unique.

the site is madison belle. she also has a blog that you can visit here. definitely go look around at all that they offer. i'm sure y'all will be just as impressed as i am! let me (and her) know what you think! i have put together a few (or more than a few) pieces that i love from the collection.

look how precious....


can you now see why i am just a little bit obsessed with the sweet collection of madison belle?