The weekend I had been waiting for!! (one of them anyways)

So even though we're already into the new weekend, I wanted to revisit last weekend. The weekend I had been waiting for!! Okay, so not including May 9th, which I would have to say I have a little bit more since of mounting excitement for! But nonetheless, I had been counting down to Easter weekend. Yes I've always loved Easter, the flowers, the dresses, the baskets, and of course the beautiful story of our arisen Saviour. However, this particular Easter had many extra goodies. I had my last dress fitting and finally got to take home the most beautiful dress in the world! I got to decorate Easter eggs with Maeve. I had a whimsical garden lingerie soiree under blue skies and warm sunshine. I had an incredible bachelorette bash and night out with my best girls, pink boa included!! And I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon on my parents back patio just spending time with my family. Oh, and did I mention that my fiance spent the whole weekend fishing with my brother-in-law?? So really, could there be a better weekend?

Well, I obviously can't show you pictures of the dress, so lets start with Saturday morning egg decorating...

Of course, there were some casualties...

Here's some from the hunt..

And I love this one! Mama with her babe...

And onto the Lingerie Soiree!!! Mama, Leah and Amanda did and unbelievable job!! It could not have been any more perfect and was more then I could ask for. Not to mention I got some incredible things!! Most of which would not be appropriate to post on-line... ;)




And into the night...


Here's my loyal, fun-loving gals!


Give a girl a pink boa, some great friends and a Greek restaurant where everyone HAS to dance on the table??? That's one memorable night, haha!!! For more details, visit my sister's blog here.

I can't say thank you enough. I have the most incredible, loyal friends and I love each of them dearly. I am overwhelmed with gratitude! I mean, a whole weekend dedicated and in celebration of me finding my love?!?! Speechless really...

And of course, I am beyond blessed to have a family that from day one has demonstrated nothing but unconditional love. I am aware and grateful for every action and sacrifice made for me. I love you from the bottom of my heart.

Okay, so I can't help myself! I'm going to end with another barrage of photos of my beautiful niece!

Only three weeks to go people!!!

Spring!

Since yesterday was absolutely freezing! And yes, even a smidgen of snow flurries! I thought I would pay homage to Spring in hopes of encouraging it's arrival to settle in for good. After pulling out a turtleneck to wear to work yesterday, it made me thankful for this past weekend. A beautiful sunny and 70 degrees! A good ole working in the yard kind of weekend! Actually Steven worked in the yard, I took my guitar and played outside, then read my book some outside and then walked around taking pictures of the flowers in bloom! But I was ready to help if he needed me :) I know I've talked about how much I love being outside, but I wanted to share some of my favorite wise words that I wish I could say were mine…


This one I absolutely LOVE. I always imagine painting this on my daughter's bedroom wall :)


Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair!
~ Kahlil Gibran


Another one I love reading over and over again.

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for you soul is alive.
~Eleonora Duse

So I put a collage together of some of the pictures I took around the yard. So here's my actual homage to Spring!!





Here's a picture of my one of my favorite trees in our backyard. It only stays like this for a few weeks, but for those weeks, every time I look at I can't stop gasping at how beautiful it is!

And of course, my girls. Enjoying the weekend with us!

So go play in the dirt!!!

No, not Tacoma, not Toyota…it's Toccoa

Oh little Toccoa! Named after the very river Steven and I were standing in when he knelt down on one knee and asked to spend the rest of his life with me. And yes, our family had a little trouble catching on to the name (just wait till you here my baby names, haha!) But the Toccoa River is very special and sacred to Steven and I and we thought it was perfect for this precious, cute new ball of fur we now had! Some of you might be thinking, "What? Two dogs is not enough??" So let me back up and tell you how Toccoa was sent to us…

It was Friday, August 29th, 2 days before my birthday. I had gotten off work at 5 and was heading to meet Steven so that we could pack up and leave to go see my family for the weekend. I got to the house and he met me at the door and said he wanted to show me something that one of the neighbors had. Curious, I said yes and began to follow him. We got to the driveway a few houses down and there she was… racing toward us was this tiny, furry, over sized pawed 7 week old labradoodle! Cutest thing you've ever seen. We all just sat in the grass playing with her which is when I first heard the story. Our neighbor teaches at a private school here in Rome and apparently one of her senior students was given this puppy as a gift, but between school and some part time jobs, she was just too overwhelmed to take car of a dog and sorrowfully brought the pup to school where our neighbor swore she would have no problem finding her a loving home. And, Steven knew all this already! So even though he acts like I'm the one who made us get Toccoa, who in their right mind would take a girl to just go look at a free homeless puppy and not plan on taking it home??!!?? So there we were walking back to the house with our new addition wondering what in the world we just agreed to, lol!! Below is a picture from the first weekend we had her.
Swoon… :)

Toccoa is now 8 months old, but still full blown pup!! She is definitely our baby. I'm sitting here trying to think of the right words to describe her but I can't! If you could see my face right now, you'd see a huge grin while trying to stifle some chuckles while sitting here at work. But just thinking about her makes me laugh! It's impossible to take her serious, and when you see that face you'll understand. Being very much still a puppy and all that implies, we seem to have to scold her the most. Except, she doesn't get it! When we use our stern voice to call her, she drops down on her belly and then literally does an army crawl all the way to us and then gets to our feet, and rolls over on her back so we can scratch her belly. So by the time she gets to us and we're supposed to be scolding her for something, we're cracking up! (I know, we'll need to work on those parenting skills)

Sometimes she thinks she's tougher then she is, especially at night. She'll bark at noises and shadows and then run behind Shelby for protection! And she is still working on the whole personal space thing. We'll be on the couch and all of a sudden she'll walk by and then jump in your lap and very calmly get right in your face and just gaze at you. This being because, one, she really is a sweet heart and wants to make sure you're okay. And two, as pictures below will show, she can't really see through her plethora of fur!!

Again, it's hard to describe Toccoa with words. Her enthusiasm for life is so contagious! She will play with us or the girls all day long, but be just as thrilled to entertain herself with pine cones and sticks. But when she's not playing, like in the early mornings and late evenings, she cuddles like no other! More than anything though, she makes us laugh. And who isn't blessed by laughter? :)

You will be seeing lots more pictures of Shelby the Protector, Callie the Gentle Spirit, and Toccoa the Comedian in my future posts. Because well, they go everywhere with us and they are just so fun to photograph! Below are some of my favorites :)

My sweet, sweet girls.