snow day

i haven't had a snow day since i was in college. which really wasn't a snow day...i just decided to skip classes if i didn't feel like walking in the snow. but, as i am sure you have heard, the south got dumped on this week and i have had 3 snow days from work. that's right - i wake up in the morning to check my email and get all excited when i see "office closed today". it's just like when you were in high school and you wake up to watch the school closing run across the bottom of the tv. 3 snow days from work. i mean how fabulous is that?

this means that i have been doing a whole lot of nothing. i haven't changed out of my pjs. i keep them on all day. i mean - it really is a treat. i have watched tv, cleaned my apartment (some), played with K and caught up on my blog reading. 

speaking of K - somebody is obsessed with the snow. OBSESSED people. i have seen my puppy throw tantrums because i don't let him go outside to run in the snow for hours on end. how i wish i had a backyard!

so i will leave you with my absolute favorite one of K in the snow...

happy snow days my friends :)

a white sand christmas

while my christmas was quite unfortunate and uneventful (i got pretty sick over the holiday), it was still great. great because i got to spend time in florida with my family. and although i am 25 years old, it feels pretty nice to have your mama around when you don't feel good.

even though i was under the weather and mostly in bed, it was nice to have a christmas that looked like this...

i hope y'all had a very merry christmas and celebrated with joy.

engagement

hello dear readers! well, i teased you with a little picture and then left you hanging. if you read any of my besties blogs you definitely read a little bit about the big engagement party {here, here, here or here}. but from the bride to be's perspective, i can honestly say it was the most perfect day.

after leaving work a little early, A and i began the trip up to lexington. we stopped up at windy gap (the younglife camp that we met and where we work a few weekends a year). i was under the impression we were stopping to visit a dear friend. while that was true, we were also stopping so A could pop the question. WG has a little island with a big old willow tree and a wooden bench. surrounded by a winter wonderland, A got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. it was so great. i couldn't have been more excited.

moving along - we got back in the car for the 4 hour trek up to lexington. i was so very antsy to get there, as one can imagine. we ended up getting to lexington at about 10:30pm. upon walking into jen's house, i was greeted by all of my loved ones. a handful of dear friends and my mom and sister (dad couldn't make it) were all there for a surprise engagement party. it couldn't have been more perfect and i couldn't have been anymore surprised.

i'll let the pictures do the talking.

the most perfect engagement story ever. :)

wishing and hoping and thinking and praying...

12.10.2010 - A and shan get engaged.

details to come...

birthday girl

{photo}

birthday girl = me.

best day of the year. celebrate with me will you?

hello to you again

it has been like 3 weeks. should we discuss? there really isn't much to say other than i haven't felt very inspired to write. and everytime i think about blogging, i don't know what to say. or i think "i need to take pictures and write that post" and it just doesn't happen. so here we are. 3 weeks later...with no updates. which is unacceptable in my blogging book.

so let's get a little update on shan, shall we?

1. the besties came in town for a weekend. if you are a friend IRL, then you have probably already read about it here, here, here or even here. we're (read: they're) dedicated bloggers like that. to say the weekend was perfect would be an understatement. i feel incredibly blessed to have these women in my life and to have them visit me for a weekend. we got to celebrate birthdays, babies and friendships.

{all of these gorg photos from my friend jenna}

2. i love my city. see above pictures.

3. it is officially fall here in SC. it has been pretty warm up until 2ish weeks ago and then it started to feel like fall. i've been wearing my jeggings and new boots. and i *lurve* it.

4.  speaking of *lurve*, i have fallen into *lurve* with fro yo. there is a little place downtown that is perfect. organic and healthy. i would definitely say it is an acquired taste but my taste buds acquired it pretty quickly.

5. halloween weekend was pretty low key around here. on friday, my company participated in a little event here in town for special needs kids. my friend from work, cc, and i got to dress up and give out candy to little kids. CUTE.

the rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with A and my pup. on sunday (halloween), A and i went to the movies and saw "the town". it was very much a shoot 'em up, bang bang kind of guy flick but i still really liked it.

{photo}

and then we went to chipotle. in past years, i have dressed myself as a giant burrito (wrapped myself in loads of aluminum foil) and gotten a free burrito. this year, chipotle changed it up a bit and you had to dress up as a scary processed food and you got a free $2 burrito/bowl/salad. you can bet i participated and i dragged A along as well. with my craftiness and construction paper, i dressed up as a piece of pizza. A was a french fry. and we ate delicious food for all of $5. i know you are jealous.

6. this weekend i finally finished up "eat pray love". it was good. however, as a girl who loves the Lord, you definitely need to take it with a grain of salt. i definitely didn't believe everything that she believes/wrote about. however, it was still a good read. now onto the movie...

7. this weekend, my mama and sister come into town for my bday weekend. i couldn't be more excited (especially since it has been 4 months since i have seen them). too bad pops can't come along but we will all be together for christmas (which is so soon and i still refuse to accept it).

8. my bday is in 3 days. get ready to celebrate the best holiday of the year my friends :)

until next time (which i promise will be soon)....

sunday musings

wow. it has been about 2 weeks since i posted...maybe the longest i have ever gone neglecting my little ol' blog. but i have been busy and am ready to share what's going on in the life of shan.

1. last weekend, i scooted out of town for a little trip with two of my besties. julie and laura are two of the most wonderful girls in my life. we all led on the same younglife team in lexington. it was beyond perfect. exactly what i needed. we had been talking about taking a little trip and it finally happened. we all met up in destin for 5 days of girl vacation. i can't even begin to tell you how much it was needed for me. girl time. all we did was talk and eat and layout and relax and spend time just the 3 of us. and the only pictures we took were the ones "make the most ugly face that comes to mind" kind of pictures...and all on julie's camera. but the last day we were there, i did sneak out on our balcony and take a picture of our view. 

2. and this weekend was a fabulous one too. have i mentioned to you that downtown greenville is absolutely fabulous and they have lots of fun events in the fall? this weekend was "fall for greenville". a little food tasting event where all the local businesses come out and you go to whatever tents you want and score some grub. it wasn't that expensive and was oh so fun. that will definitely have to be a yearly tradition.

{photo}

3. i discovered a new blog. one that is teaching me little by little how to save dollars and go from couponing beginner to couponing queen. {this blog} is fabulous. crystal teaches you about how to coupon right and gives you deal after deal. i started off reading "31 days to a better budget" series and am hooked. she teaches you ways to save and (my favorite) teaches you how to play the drug store game. it really is a great resource and i am slowly learning how to save dollars.

4. it is fall outside. although, SC weather is a little confused. its like 50 degrees in the AM and by 1:00 in the afternoon it turns into 80 degree heat. this makes it hard to dress to go anywhere. and this is the first year i have really had trouble transitioning into fall. and it is SUCH a problem. (note the hint of sarcasm in that sentence).

5. since it is fall, i may as well make my apartment smell like it. i decorated for fall this weekend (aka: put two fall-ish decorations out...hence "decorated" shouldn't be used very strongly). glade has a limited edition candle out right now and since i have a "buy one get one free" coupon, i have been on the hunt for this specific scent. cashmere woods. smells amazing. but i can't find it anywhere. so i suggest you go get your hands on one quick. unless you live in the greenville, sc area. then ignore this and scroll on down to number 6. 

{photo}

6. UK football needs to get it together. that is all i have to say on that subject. moving on...