The only thing that cannot be bought

You know what?! I wish I had a remote for life because I would rewind to last night and pause it... just so I could be in that moment one more time :)

Yesterday I wrote about using every day to show someone that you love them and I definitely meant every word I typed. Kevin does a great job of that and last night was no different. He made me feel extra special last night and I felt like I should share that for all those Valentine lovers out there. But let me clarify... It was not because he took me out to an amazing dinner or because he had flowers and chocolates waiting for me (although I loved all of that more than I could write about)... he made me feel special because he gave me the one thing that can never be bought. True quality time! And because of that, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

Oh, but these definitely made me smile too...

Told you... I'm a sucker for beautiful flowers!

Thanks Kevin for making me feel special, 365 days a year!

The other 364 days

It's Valentine's Day!

A truly Hallmark holiday where you're supposed to shower your significant other with love by way of flowers and chocolate and cards and reservations and anything else that screams 'on this day I love you!' But what about the other 364 days of the year? Shouldn't those days be the same. Shouldn't it be that every day is a another day show your significant other just how much you love them?

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day. It's cutsie and I'm a sucker for flowers, but I do believe that every day should reflect love in a relationship. Every day that you wake up is another day for you to show them that you adore them, you love them and you are persistently pursuing them! There should be a Hallmark card for that!

I hope every one enjoys their Valentine's! My challenge to each of you is tomorrow when you wake up, make sure it's with the same initiative in mind... showing the one you love just how much you love them...and then repeat that for the next 364 days :)

Theme: Transition

I see a trend... of me not writing. Sad I know!

I'm honestly still trying to figure out how to juggle everything. Working all day, then coming home and working most of the night while throwing in a social life, a boyfriend and time to meet new people and learn names....Sheesh I'm tired by 8:30 every night and that's way too early for this 28 year old to go to bed.

To catch everyone up, I am a week and a half in to my new job at Buckhead Church and all I can say is AMAZING. I am fully infatuated with my new postion and every day I learn a little more...making me more confident in the tasks I am handling. You see, I started at a really busy time for the High School Ministry. I entered the scene two weeks before the MyLife conference. There's registration going on and forms being dropped on my desk and leaders calling about food and travel and... well you name it. Everything that goes into planning a 1000 + student event is in full effect and I walked in to a fast paced learning time, haha! But honestly, that's my favorite. Throw me in full force and let me figure it out!

Bottom line: The new job is great. I have absolutely no complaints!

Transition seems to be the theme this year... at least in the first month! New job, New Roommate, New outlook on my Relationship, New friends and more. I'm excited.

My new roommate is precious! Although I'm going to miss my lovely Michelle and all the fun moments in our basement nook. Good thing she's only a few miles away!

My new outlook on my relationship is something I'll keep to myself but I will say it was very much needed and the outcome has been worth every day that I spent thinking and contemplating. Worth the tears...and I can't say that about much.

Wow, It's been a busy first month. Hmmm, I wonder what February is going to bring?

Ready for New

New Years Eve through Pictures :)

Here's our stylish group, all glammed up and ready to go out!

Heather and I were extremely excited that we found fun hats to wear!

Let's celebrate. Break out the horns

My beautiful friend Kristi.

And Stephen... not really sure what's going on here, haha!

Happy New Years!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

14 inches of snow that is!

Probably the most snow I've ever seen :)

And my niece and I made the most of it...

Where did my feet go?

Even Cambi had fun in the snow :)

I think we should get that much snow every year! Here's hoping for another white Christmas next year.

Fingers crossed.

Holiday Parties

Wow I haven't written in a almost a month. What is wrong with me?!

So much has happened and I have so many fun things to tell everyone. Hmmmm where should I start....

How about with the holiday parties! That's always a fun topic.

I attended 3 this year (one being Kenny's birthday party, but we'll include it since it's in December). All 3 were so much fun. I mean who doesn't love getting all dolled, going out to a fancy place with a cute guy by their side? That's what I thought... no one! :)

Here's some pictures from the parties....

Black Tie, White Christmas

Everyone needs blow up guitars and flashy light up glasses!

Santa was there. I told him I wanted a pony for Christmas :)

And here's that cute guy I was telling you about!

BCC Single's Party @ East Andrews

There was this cage there... a great photo opt :)

All dressed up, looking Christmasy and beautiful!

I love taking pictures with him :)

Kenny's Birthday Party

I didn't have many to choose from but these were cute...

I must have been shocked

The boys. Sad I didn't get a good picture of the birthday boy.

That's all for today. I'll write more about my Christmas in a bit :)

Methods

People have all sorts of outlets when it comes to how they release anger, aggression, depression. Most people know their style very well and tend to resort back to that outlet at all times when conflict arises. Me, well my outlet is discussion. If an argument comes up, I want to talk about it, fix it and move forward otherwise I tend to hold a little resentment and for some reason I hold conversations and hurtful words inside, well forever. My question though is how do you have a discussion with someone whose outlet is time.

Does that make sense?

They need a moment, a night, a day to think about it... figure out their game plan and get back to you. Complete opposite of me!

I've always needed immediate answers...immediate resolutions. I'm not a fan of someone having an issue with me so all throughout my life I have worked on ways to deal with these kinds of opposition. Up until this point, I've been pretty successful. But I think I've met my match and I'm a having a really hard time transitioning out of my secure outlet and respect theirs.

Does anyone have any pointers on how to deal with someone who doesn't think the way you do when it comes to conflict?

Dumb question, I know but I'm serious. Is there a learning method that could be taught to me so I could stop worrying myself sick and start embracing the challenges head on?

Please advise.

My boyfriend's eccentric Christmas

In some of my recent posts, I have mentioned 'the guy's house.' I'm not sure that I've ever fully explained what that is... so I thought this would be a good time.

The Guy's House is the 3 story house that my boyfriend lives in with his 5 other roommates(Jeremiah, Triplett, Jason, Kyle and Tat). A classic example of a frat house minus the college campus, ha. The house is great and I do spend a good bit of time there. It's so homey and comfortable!

Well, the guy's decided to decorate for the holiday season. Last night, while putting the finishing touches on the decorations we came to the conclusion that their house is having an eccentric Christmas haha :)

Check it out...

Decorating the tree

I have to admit, the tree is amazing! And not just because I helped decorate it. It really is amazing!

Christmas lights tacked under the coffee table = A floating table, ha

I think this is the eccentric part. An eclectic variety of Christmas - ness

They also have icicle lights hanging from their ledge, candy canes greeting you when you enter the front door and a singing snowman playing the piano.

LOVE IT!

You should come see it.

Baby Blue Waterfall

I love candles!

They make my room smell so good. They provide a relaxing flicker when the overhead lights are just too bright. They add to the decor and they boost color in the dull areas of my house.

So, funny story about candles (well it's funny now)...

This past Saturday I decided to burn a candle while I was home. I lite it about 2 PM and went about my day cleaning, moving things around, showering...you know, the things you do on Saturdays, ha. My room smelled lovely the entire time by the way.

Around 4 pm I decided to head to the mall to return some things I bought during my impulse shopping binge on Black Friday. I mean they were $30 jeans, who wouldn't buy them ... that's what I said Friday. On Saturday, however it was more like ... Why did I buy another pair of jeans that I don't need and don't really have the funds for? Needless to say, I took them back.

After shopping I went over to the guy's house, had dinner, watched the Georgia/GTech, ate mashed potatoes in SOLO cups, went to Flip Flops, fell asleep, woke up, went to Upstreet, sang for the kids, went back to the guy's house, took a nap, watched a movie, went to the 6 o' clock service, ate dinner with my roommates, Ron and Kevin, then went back to the guy's house and watched Iron Man.

Around 10 pm, I got a text from my roommate Michelle. Our texting conversation went something like this...

Michelle: When was the last time you were home?

Me: Yesterday afternoon. Why? Everything OK?

Michelle: Haha ya. I have good news and I have bad news...

Me: What? I don't like bad news

Michelle: Good: You have/had an amazing candle that burned for ehhhh 24+ hours. Bad: It made a gigantic mess in your room :(

Me: Oh S***

Yep, I cursed.

This is what I saw when I got home

It was like a baby blue waterfall.

Good news, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined and it wiped right off without messing up the wall.

Better news, I still have candle left to burn.

The Best news, I didn't burn the house down!

Lesson learned.

Cake Boss?

Presenting...

My Cheeseburger Cupcakes!

Vanilla Cake for the bun.

Chocolate Cake for the burger.

Vanilla icing mixed with several food colorings for the cheese, ketchup, mayo and lettuce.

So you think I'm good enough for Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss yet?

A city all dressed up

New Orleans is decorated with an array of purples, golds, blues and pretty much any color you could think of! And no, I'm not talking about paint... I'm talking about BEADS.

Almost anywhere you look, there are beads. In the trees, hanging on power lines, wrapped around balcony rails, laying in the curbs... they are literally everywhere! We took a walk through Tulane University and there are beads hanging from their trees. I'm pretty sure New Orleans needs to adopt beads as their city Mascot! Oh wait... did they already do that?

Anyway, we went to a Halloween parade while we were there and instead of the ghosts and goblins throwing out candy, they threw out beads. Sheesh, I should have known, ha! I think between Kevin and I, we caught around 30 strands along with 3 cups, 1 pen, a flower and partridge in a pear tree. Just kidding about that last one, of course, ha!

Okay... enough with the beads!

We walked around the city on Saturday checking out everything from Jackson Square to Bourbon Street. There were art vendors, an awesome market, silver people (I think they were mimes), and tons of (intoxicated)people dressed up for Halloween. We also checked out some of the graveyards in the area since New Orleans is on the Top Ten Haunted Cities list. Luckily I didn't see any ghosts, or shadow people as the Bert Show likes to call them.

Here's a few pictures for you...

Bourbon Street was packed and it wasn't even 4 o' clock yet!

I love the balconies! I must have one... for my house, of course. Not just to carry around in my car or sit at the end of my driveway. Just clarifying!

Jackson Square

Did you know that the graveyards in New Orleans are all above ground? Me either. That was a fun little fact I found out.

We even had time to find the Real World house from this past season (24th season). I looked for Ryan and luckily that crazy guy wasn't there!

The trip was a success! I ate lots of food, listened to some great music, saw lots of sites and even brought back a souvenir! New Orleans, I will be back!

Cajun food craving

On the days leading up to leaving for New Orleans, all I could talk about was getting gumbo and eating craw fish and trying jambalaya. I was pretty much a fat kid talking about food 24/7. It was a slight obsession that I had as the countdown for our departure dwindled. I may have even dreamed about it, haha! It was serious...but not as serious as I am about cupcakes! Those are my first love :)

Anywho, New Orleans is known for their Cajun style food... craw fish and sausage and enough spices to make anyone's eyes water. They have pralines and beignets and hurricanes...wait that's not a food, oops, ha! Let's just say there were so many options that I had such a hard time picking my meals. Luckily, I didn't have to pick where we ate, just what I ate. That made things a lot easier! Thanks Brent for living in New Orleans and for knowing great local places to eat.

So here's where we dined...

Camellia Grill - brunch, diner style!

Joey K's - They have Po Boys... soo good.

Voodoo BBQ - BBQ, duh.

Cafe Du Monde - Beignets with enough powered sugar to coat 17 funnel cakes.

Reginelli's - Pizza at it's best.

Cafe Elaine - She made homemade jambalaya for us at the house! Amazing.

Now I know you're looking at that list and you're thinking to yourself, "no seafood?" You are correct, we did not eat any seafood but that just gives us a reason to go back soon! Besides we had beignets... What more do you need?!

Do you see that powdered sugar! Goodness :)

Tomorrow I'll upload pics from Jackson Square, The parade and Bourbon Street!

VooDoo Fest

Wow, what a weekend!

Halloween in New Orleans was definitely crazy. I don't even know where to begin... so many things I could write about! How about I tell you my full trip over a three day blog sweep. Plenty of things for you guys to look forward to! Now do I start with the delicious food or the multitude of amazing costumes?! I could write about our walk around Tulane University or seeing Chucky get hit by a car, ha! I'll save that story for the Bourbon Street blog post.

I think I'll start with VooDoo Fest. Music is always a good place to start.

How about I post some pictures and let them tell most of the story!

For those of you who have never heard of Voodoo Fest, it's a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park in New Orleans, LA. The festival's start was Halloween weekend 1999 and since then has held some of the greatest bands on a hand full of stages throughout the park.

The things about traveling and walking around New Orleans all day is it's exhausting! Kevin and I had to take a little nap before the bands made it to the stage. we had to rest up for Weezer and Muse!

Muse! Such an awesome show.

Clever costume of the evening Deadmau5. This guy posed for a lot of pictures!

I'll add a video or two tomorrow once I get them uploaded.

Stay tuned... tomorrow I will make you hungry for some New Orleans treats!

The Jersey Shore - classic

I am obsessed Jersey Shore watcher. I admit it! Didn't miss a single episode from last season. I will admit that I looked forward to seeing JWOW and Sammi's cat fight and you better believe that I was glued to the TV when any kind of drama hit the fan.

I say all this because when a friend sent me this picture, I was blown away. These six kids dressed up like the cast of The Jersey Shore. The best part, these kids could really pass for the cast at their age!

Okay from left to right in the picture above... Pauly D, JWOW, Sammi Sweatheart, Snooki, Ronnie and in the back Mike otherwise know as 'The Situation.'

Halloween... New Orleans Style!

Four friends on a mission... trunk packed full of luggage and sleeping must haves... a grocery bag full of Sweet Tarts, Sprees and Bit O Honeys... and one 8 hour drive separating us from the party that is known as New Orleans!

I'm ready for some gumbo!

I'm ready for some seafood!

I'm ready to experience Burbon Street!

Ugh... Are we there yet?

I will updated everyone with pictures and fun stories when I return :)

Aaron's Sermon

I received an email from a good friend of mine, Aaron Hinton this week. It was embedded with a sermon that he had preached the previous Sunday at Generations Church near Southport, NC. I was so proud of him so I decided to share it with all of you. Here's the email and a link to his sermon. Enjoy!

I just wanted to send you a link to the video of the sermon I preached at Generations a few weeks ago. It was a hard series to preach in as it was on different doubts that people have and/or different things that make them doubt God. It certainly challenged me to make what seemed more like a debate into a sermon that people could learn and grow from. I pray I did just that. Anyways, I wanted to send you a link to the sermon so you could watch, enjoy, and/or give me any criticism/feedback that you might have to offer. Thanks for watching and listening when you can. Please feel free to pass on to others that you know may want to see me preach. Take care and God bless!

http://generationschurch.com/sermon-media/the-doubts-of-the-product/

AARON HINTON

Marketing Coordinator

NC Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell

100 Caswell Beach Rd

Oak Island, NC 28465

Taste of Atlanta 2010

Yep! You should pretty much be able to guess what happens at this event :)

If you guessed tasting some of Atlanta's finest foods, you guessed correctly... And tasting we did!

This was the 9th annual Taste of Atlanta... a dynamic, flavor-filled 2-day outdoor food and wine festival which showcases the diversity of Atlanta's food scene and has been known to attract food lovers from Atlanta, the Southeast and beyond. The festival was held at Tech Square in the heart of Midtown Atlanta encompassing Spring Street and 5th Street. There were so many people and SO much food to try. I think, at one point, I described it as "State Fair-like" without the rickety fair rides and creepy carnies! Maybe I only said that because they had funnel cakes...hmmmm.

This is how it works... you pay $25 and that covers your admission and gives you 15 food tickets to use at the vendor tents. Some would think that it would be no problem to use 15 tickets and try all the delicious food...wrong. It's very difficult because there is so much food and me personally, I can't consume that much in a small amount of time. My tummy was definitely full and I had a slight sick feeling as we made our way down the streets looking for the next item to consume.

So what did we eat? I'm glad you asked...

* Spinach Pie from The Greek

* Shrimp and Crab Bisque from Wildfire

* BBQ Ribs from 5th Street Ribs & Blues

* Chicken & Waffles from Glady's Knights Chicken & Waffles

* Organic Pumpkin Ice Cream from 5 Seasons Westside

* Porcini Ravioli in Champagne Cream Sauce from Il Mulino

* Chocolate drizzled strawberries, brownies & pound cake from The Melting Pot

* Red Velvet cupcake from Mosaic

That's all I can remember right now but there was way more than that... I'm full all over again just thinking about it all :)

I had such and awesome time eating great food, spending time with Kevin, Kristi and Brent and just being in downtown Atlanta on a beautiful Saturday afternoon!

Flower clip surprise

So, one of my awesome co-workers and friends made me a sweet surprise this week...

...homemade flower clips. Aren't they adorable?

I see a business opportunity in her future and I would totally partner with her. They are so easy to make and there are endless possibilities of colors, styles and designs. Want one?

Last Stop... The Wedding!

Weddings are always fun!

There's usually good food, fun people to hang out with and a night filled with dancing. Danielle and Dave's wedding was just that!

Here's all the fun expressed in a few pictures...

The adorable couple, Dave and Danielle

Happy Birthday to you! and 3...2...1, release cup, haha!