My Bucket List.

I hope everyone out there in "blog land" is having a wonderful Wednesday.  Things are slow here at work this afternoon which is causing my day to drag by. 
I know this is pretty random, but I thought I would share my bucket list with you.  I'm always interested to see what's on others.
These are in no particular order and I'm sure I will be adding to it as time goes on.
1. Get at least a Master's degree
2.  Ski in Utah
3.  Learn to surf in Hawaii
4.  Have an amazing bod
5.  Own a BMW
6.  Nanny at the beach or abroad
7.  Visit these places...Ireland, Australia, Bora Bora, Coastal Italy, Cannes, California, London and Vegas
8.  Return to Paris
9.  Take mama to Monet's Garden
10.  Take a Mediterranean cruise with my family
11.  Learn to play the piano.
12.  Buy a nicer camera and become an AMAZING photographer
13.  Eat healthier
14.  Learn to run
15.  Be successful in whatever career I decide to pursuit
16.  Find my prince charming and have my dream wedding.
17.  Have 3 kids
18.  Own a home
19.  Own a place at the beach
22.  Graduate

10 Reasons Fall is my Favorite!

In the past few days, I have noticed several people writing blogs about their favorite things about Fall.  I really enjoyed reading them and found we have many of the same favorites.  Here are my top 10 reasons Fall is my favorite time of the year.

1.  Burlap-I LOVE burlap! I personally think burlap looks nice all year round but I feel it looks especially nice during the Fall season. Last year my mom made me a burlap table runner for my dining room to go with my Fall tablescape. It was perfect! I pulled it out last night to use it again this year and it looks lovely. 

2.  Mums- These plants are my sure sign that Fall is officially here! I went by Walmart when I got off of work yesterday and bought a couple for my deck.  I plan to go back to get more soon to plant in pumpkins like I did last year. 

3.  Leaves-They are so pretty this time of year! I absolutely love their colors and how beautiful they make everything.  Sometimes when I am driving I will catch myself admiring the leaves changing on trees and forget for a second that I need to be paying attention to the road. Oops! :)

4.  Clothes-  I can't be more excited to pull out my riding boots, cardis, and scarves! Some of my favorite pieces of clothing are orange, brown, and oatmeal.  My favorite outfit to wear during this time is a dress with leggings and my brown leather riding boots.  I'm so ready to be sporting these items soon!

5.  Fair- If you are from Middle Georgia, the GA National Fair in Perry is "the" place to go in the Fall. I have gone every year since I was little.  There are rides, exhibit booths, concerts, and who can forget about the fair food?!  I love going with my family and the weather is always so nice.  One of my favorite memories of the fair is spending Senior skip day there.  A large group of us went and spent the whole day riding rides.  I went to Perry High School so we all use to go several times while it was in town. 

That's my cousin, Monica.  We were playing around with the cowboy hats a vendor was selling.

6.  Football-  I love to watch college football!! I am an avid LSU fan and try to watch every game.  I also love going to Athens to watch the Dawgs play but you won't catch me cheering them on.  I like going because college football is fun to watch live and b/c I LOVE Athens.  It's just such a fun little place to me. With all that being said, "GEAUX TIGERS"!

7.  Pumpkins-  I love pumpkins.  I like to decorate with them, use them for photo props, carve them, ect ect. Pinterest has been a great source for ways to be creative with pumpkins!  I don't like pumpkin flavored foods/coffees though.  I'm kinda bummed about that b/c everyone is always going on and on about reciepts that include pumpkin. 

8.  Thanksgiving-  My family always has a great turnout for Thanksgiving lunch.  We usually gather at my great aunt's house in Eastman because that is where most of my family lives.  I'm not really big into the food ( I hate turkey, dressing, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, gibblet gravy, cranberry sauce, ect.).  I know, I'm crazy.  Lucky for me there is a huge spread of other foods avaliable for me to stuff my face with.  I don't just look forward to Thanksgiving for the food.  I love my family more than anything and I  love having a day to spend with all of them.  I always try to remember the reason we celebrate this holiday.  Always count your blessings!

9.  Cool weather-  I'm obsessed with the weather this time of the year.  I just want to stay outside all of the time and I am NOT, I repeat, NOT an outdoor girl.  I hope to someday go to the mountains this time of year because the leaves are my favorite thing about Fall and I would love to see them there. I just never seem to have time. I really want that to change!

10.  Decor-  Now that I have my own house, I spend most of my free time sprucing things up.  I love to decorate for the different seasons and you guessed it, Fall is one of my favorties to decorate for.  I love the warm tones and the way the candles smell that I burn.  Last year I made these cute mumkins.   This year I plan to buy some fake pumpkins at Hobby Lobby to carve bc the real ones rotted in a week and I had to throw my cute little table decorations away.   :(  I blogged about that tablescape here.

This was taken on a trip to Pottery Barn recently. Don't we all wish our house looked like something out of PB?!

I hope you enjoy the Fall season!!

Last Hoo-rah...

This past weekend, my brother and I went down to St. Simons to meet my dad for our last beach trip of the summer.  Daddy has rented a house for 10 days and is enjoying some much needed alone time.  I'm super jealous! 
On Saturday, Cody and I scooted down the Golden Isle Parkway to spend the day on the beach.  I found my first sand dollars ever that day!  I was so proud!  My paternal grandfather, Jack, was notorious for finding tons of sand dollars every summer in SSI.  Daddy dubbed me "Little Jack" by the end of the day. I had lots of fun. If you have ever wondered how to find them, simply drag your feet along the bottom of the ocean and you will feel them (they are rough).  I threw all of mine back.  I just couldn't kill them.  Lol.

Around 6:00 we decided to go in and get ready for dinner.  We ended up ordering our dinner to-go from our favorite resturant, The Crap Trap.  It was delish as always!  After dinner, Cody and I went for ice cream at The Moo Cow and then went back to the house for bed.  We were tired from the drive and the sun.

The next morning we slept late and then went to the village for lunch.  We ate at another favorite, The Sandcastle.  I had the crab cake sandwich with clam chowder.  Amazing.

 After lunch, we strolled down to the pier to see what the fishermen were catching.  The city has recently re-done their pier area and it's beautiful!  Once at the end of the pier we spotted people taking pictures near a pelican.  The bird was huge and was being so sweet to let people snap photos.  I was a little aprehesive.  I didn't want to get too close incase it changed it's mind!  I have never seen a pelican that close before though. I think it must visit often.

Later that afternoon we went back down to the beach.  We went out to a sandbar and just sat around and talked.  It was so nice. 

Our trip was quick, but nice and relaxing.  I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did!  

 

Shopping in St. Joe Beach

Last week, while in Mexico Beach for family vacation, the 4 of us (Cody, Taylor, mama, and me) went over to St. Joe Beach to have birthday lunch for Taylor and do some shopping.  We went to Pepper's Mexican Restaurant and it was simply amazing.  I had a steak taco salad and it was perfect.  Taylor had the traditional pie-in-the-face after being sung the birthday song in Spanish while wearing the corny sombrero.

I gave Taylor Victoria's Secret perfume and mom gave her a purse.

Cody being sweet...getting pie off of Taylor's face. Lol.

After lunch, we went to a few cute stores downtown.  I wanted to share with you a few things I fell in love with. 

Here is Cody being silly on a old phone in a consignment shop.

Love this beautiful white lacquer peacock vase.

Love this idea for kitchen decor.

Beautiful sunburst mirror that would be perfect for a beach house.

Check out this baby....a chandelier coated in oyster shells.  Talk about a "heavy" statement piece.

Loved these! Pieces of reclaimed wood with wood sharks and fish.

I liked the way these beautiful sand dollars looked in this blue pail.

I don't think I will ever get tired of birds.

This was a cute locally owned pet store.  Mama and I bought Molly a few goodies here.  The owner's dog was ringing her up! :)

I'm obsessed with blue and burlap right now so this pillow is right up my alley. 

Molly loved her treat....

....but loved her new squeaky dragon even more!

Becca B Get's Hitched!

My friend Becca "B." Boy's (as I have called her since I was little) got married a couple of weeks ago on June 2nd.  Her day was so perfect and fun!  As cliche as it sounds, you could just see the love radiating between her and her fiance.  They were so precious.  I hope to find someone that makes me as happy as Rick makes Becca someday. 
Becca's colors were orange and pink and I am a sucker for orange and pink.  The decor was so lovely and fun!  Her reception was held at an old historic home now turned events place called "The Columns of Georgia".  It is a beautiful house and a great place for Hawkinsville to have for events.
Becca means a lot to me and I value our friendship so much.  I was so happy to be there on her big day.  We have been friends since we were probably 4.  Always spending time at each other's houses and playing dress-up and having tea parties.  She has grown up to be an awesome, caring person and I'm so blessed to call her friend.  Congrats Becca B!

*Decorating by Maggie Griffin

The beautiful reception site.

Entrance into the courtyard/reception area.

A sweet photo of Becca and her daddy.

Friends forever! Me, Becca, and Sarah.

Our good friend, Becca, caught the bouquet!

Mr. and Mrs. Rick Devens with Becca's parents.

Costa Rica Mission Trip Part 2

The last 2 days we were in Costa Rica were our "play" days.  On Saturday, we went to Manuel Antonio National Park, which was the film location for the Blue Lagoon (one of Brooke Shield's first movies).  It was beautiful!!! I have always wanted to visit a beautiful blue ocean (other than the Gulf) and my dream came true this day.  The park also had trails that we hiked.  We saw monkeys, rainforest crabs, sloths, iguanas, and other neat creatures.  One trail we hiked was all uphill and super long....I almost died.  Not even kidding.  Once we got to the top, we had a beautiful view of the ocean.  It was worth it I suppose.  :)  The other trail we walked took us to a spot on the beach that was pretty private since you could only get to it by trail.  I can't even describe the feeling I had when I first put my feet in that beautiful Pacific Ocean.  Once we were done with the trails and had spent time on the beach, several of us went out on a banana boat.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  I laughed the whole time, lol.   I took mental pictures the whole ride because I never want to forget what I saw.  The driver of the boat took us way out to a cliff that was in the middle of the ocean.  We circled around it and while we were out there, it started flooding!  It rained so hard we couldn't even open our eyes.  It still so much fun though!!  The water was so warm and the waves were huge!
Here are my pictures of Manuel Antonio National Park.

Does this not look like a baby alligator?!

First sighting of the ocean after our trail hike.

View from the top of the longest and hardest trail in the park.  So pretty!

Me and Mama!

On Sunday we attended the church service at the church we were working with.  It was amazing and uplifting even though we couldn't understand a word of it. Lol.  The people there are so kind and are on fire for the Lord.  Since it was Father's Day, they did a special prayer at the end of the sermon for all of the father's in the congregation. 

After church, the pastor took us to a resturant in town that specialized in roasted chicken.  It was amazing and the fellowship was even better!

One day during the middle of the week, we went trout fishing at a trout farm.  We did this last year so I knew what to expect.  I caught only one fish.  After you catch them, the guys that work there fry them and you eat them for lunch.  I brought a PB&J. :)

Dennis, took the title of eating the most trout!

Thanks for reading about my trip! It was truly a blessing to be able to go and to interact with the people of Costa Rica.