Soul Searching

I think this post is a little deep. Uh oh. But it's just something that I feel led to say. 

So of course I watched the Bachelorette last night. (team JP) That's not what this post is about though. Major sigh of relief across blog land, right? I stayed off Twitter and Facebook until I was finished watching so that I wouldn't find out who won.

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When I finally returned to my social media addiction, there were SO many tweets/status updates about the bachelorette. And y'all...almost all of them were negative. There were some about "this couple will never make it" and some saying "she is the worst bachelorette ever." There were tons about "the crazy mean sister" and several about "can't wait to see how long it takes this love to fail." It basically hurt my heart. Even as I type this, I know that it kinda sounds SO cheesy of me, but I just really felt like the devil was alive and working through social media. 

(Awkward silence?)

I think that the way we act on our blogs, Facebook, email, Twitter, etc reflect the kinds of people that we are in real life. And not that we aren't all entitled to our opinions, but when did everyone become so negative, so judgmental, so jaded? That's what I really felt last night...this negative energy just pervading everything. 

Now I know that by this point, 75% of y'all think that I'm nuts, but refraining from gossiping and judging others has really been on my heart lately. It's something that the Lord has convicted me of and mercifully is trying to redeem me from. And it's insanely hard. Human nature is to want to gossip and share stories. But so many times the information that we share is hurtful and negative. 

And let's face it, we are pretty two faced. It's okay if we talk about someone, but they better not talk about us. Or is that just me? (I really hope it's not just me!) 

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Maybe I wear my rose colored glasses a little too much. But I think I'll keep them. : )

So there. From the depths of my soul to the public pages of this blog. 

Lord, save me from my sinful ways. 

Love, love. 

PS: This post is not about any one person in particular! Promise!

The Pond Scheme

The hubs and I have been pretty blessed with time off together lately. 

Seeing as how I rarely cook and lately barely clean, I decided to vie for the #bestwifeever title in another way: I agreed to go fishing again. Just for the record, that's two times in one month. Sorry, wives, I win. 

Last Wednesday night we were talking about what to do the next day. 

Hubs: "Hey I found a catfish pond advertised in the Thrifty Nickle and I wanna go try it out." 

Me: "Huh?"

Hubs: "It's a catfish pond where you can go and fish. At this guy's house."

Me: (Uncontrollable laughter)

So Thursday we went.

We pulled up to the house and this older woman came out and told us to "pull your truck on up behind the house so it won't be in the way." Red flag #1. Then she proceeds to say "we usually have a lot of people here fishing, but everyone else just left, so it's just y'all right now." Red flag #2. And the kicker? She says "we are just going to sit out here with y'all and watch y'all fish." Sure, old lady, sure.

I've seen enough Criminal Minds to know that they were going to kill us and eat us for dinner. Great "catfish pond" scheme. I started inwardly freaking out...but I couldn't let them know that I "knew" that they were killers. #smarter

The only thing that we had going for us was that we had invited my sister and her husband and this evil old couple didn't know that they were coming. I issued a silent message to husband: "My sis will save us."

I texted my sister: "Unsubs straight out of Criminal Minds. Help."

Long story short: they weren't killers. They were a nice older couple who built a pond behind their house to make some extra money. They enjoyed chatting with the people who came to fish. There WAS an actual pond and actual catfish...which we caught.

This could look creepy, right?

Rawr. Cute butt. 

Yes, I wear pearls to fish.

As we were leaving, I told husband that I really thought we were goners there for a little bit. He gave me a dumbfounded look and said I was a drama queen. Poor husband. He would have never seen them coming. Good thing he has me there to overreact save him. : )

Love, love!

Little Loves

Just a quick little post to share some little loves that are making me happy this weekend:

- Husband and I are both off ALL weekend...and have been since Wednesday. 

- We drove and saw my family yesterday. 

- I got new shoes and new jewelry on the cheap. 

- We ate cinnamon pretzels and cookie dough shakes for snacks yesterday. #atthesametime. 

- Lunch today consists of meeting my best friends at a Cajun restaurant, followed by a trip to the alligator farm.

- I don't work again until Tuesday. : )

Life is good, y'all...life is good. 

Have a great weekend!

Love, love!

These Three Things - Run With Me

One of my best blogging buds is here today to guest post for my "These Three Things" series! I am SO pumped to have Miss Ashley from Run With Me here. This girl is one major hottie and is one of my daily reads! She has a fabulous sense of humor and always has the most amazing (and strange/crazy) stories! She actually enjoys running (unlike moi) and looks like she stepped off a runway at all times. It's basically disgusting how precious she is. ; ) We are going to be real life best friends one day...when we can finally meet. #stupiddistance

So here's Ash to share three things that define her! Enjoy!

Hi Dolls! I'm Ashley and I blog over at Run With Me. Every time a new "These 3 Things" got posted, I would secretly wish that Megan would ask me to post next. And finally, one day, my wish came true! This obviously means that I can still hold out hope that I'll run into Ryan Reynolds at the Flip Burger in Atlanta where we will fall madly in love (at first sight naturally), get married and have two beautiful love children and one fur-baby.

Needless to say, this is one of my favorite blog series so I was beyond excited when Megan asked me to guest post! 

1.) The Beach - The beach is my home. It's where I was born (not literally, I was born in a hospital for obvious sanitary reasons) but, born in a beach town. My summers growing up and all the way through college were spent sunbathing and splashing in the Atlantic. The beach is "home." It's where family is. And to me, it's the ultimate form of luxury. There's nothing better than spending a day on the sand, under the sun with people you love or even partially tolerate. The beach is THAT magical!

2.) Exercise - Fitness is something I really never took an interest in until Senior year of college and now, I can't imagine a day without it. Although not every day provides the opportunity to squeeze in a sweat-inducing workout, I try to manage some kind of physical activity. And over the years, I've taken a real interest in fitness and health so much that it became the starting inspiration for my blog!

 Yes, yes I only run races where they give me medals ;)

3.) Fashion - I secretly think I may be the love child of Rachel Zoe. I live and breathe fashion. I can spend hours putting outfits together or surfing the internet to stalk what some celebrity was seen wearing.Some days part of me wishes I had done the whole "New York Thing" and worked in runway or some dynamic fashion house. 

Thanks for having me Megan. You're a real dream-maker! :)

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You are SO adorable...you're the only person I know who can run a race and still look gorgeous! When you finally meet and fall in love with Ryan, just remember me and send some of that money my way! : )

Thanks for being here, Ashley!!

Love, love!

Good Eats

There sure has been a LOT of eating going on over here lately. 

I'm linking up with Jenn today for What I Ate Wednesday. 

Yes, I actually HAVE been cooking. Once or twice in the past two weeks week. 

Ham and egg casserole. Breakfast for dinner? Yes, please!

My new obsession: squash, broccoli, and zucchini. I eat it every single night. #craving

Caramel banana ravioli via Nicole. These were divine. Husband ate one. I ate the rest. Literally.

Thank goodness for that pregnancy test being negative. : ) 

I know that's what y'all were thinking. 

Love, love!

PS: Tomorrow's guest poster hint: smokin' hot Atlanta babe!

I'm Barely Here

Hi, I'm not blogging today. 

Okay, technically I am blogging, but not really. Husband and I were both off yesterday and we had the BEST day together...and I just didn't feel like writing a full or deep blog post. : ) 

BUT...sneak peek: we both bought bikes yesterday. 

My fabulous new hot pink bike.

Confession: we rode 1.5 miles on our new bikes last night and called it quits. Our bums were hurting. They are used to the couch, not bicycle seats. #adjustmentperiodneeded

Riding totally made me relive my childhood days. I'm not gonna lie...I got a rush of excitement when I started pedaling. 

Do any of y'all ride bikes routinely?

Love, love!

Sound the Alarm

Lately I have been dreaming in babies. 

We are not "trying" to get pregnant, but sometimes I seem to have babies on the brain. Husband, don't read any further. ; ) My obsession lately has been all things fireman related...since my hubby is a fireman. Duh. I just can't help but think of all the adorable fireman related clothing, toys, items, photoshoots, etc. 

There is just something about picturing my strong fireman husband with a sweet precious baby. #swoon

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Okay okay, that last one is just a little joke. Some people take things WAY too far. : ) 

Did I just devote a whole entire post to fireman related baby pictures?

Why yes, yes I did. 

I'm sorry. #notreally

Love, love. 

PS: Still love me please. : ) I wasn't obsessed like this until I married a fireman. I blame him. 

Chi Curls

Husband is finally back home and this little wifey couldn't be happier. : )

Oh, y'all didn't know that he was gone? That's right...I couldn't tell y'all in case someone decided to come and kill me while I was home alone. Hey, it happens...just watch Criminal Minds. #itwillchangeyourlife

Yesterday I was playing around on Pinterest and looking up hair tutorials. Luckily, I stumbled onto this pin:

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I fell in love...both with the hairstyle and the waves. I saw that the picture came from a blog, so I knew that I had to check it out. The blogger, Abby, is absolutely adorable!! She did a 30 day challenge, but instead of clothes, she did it with hairstyles! So basically, she wore her hair different for 30 days. And of course blogged about it! : ) 

She has a video tutorial on how to curl hair with a chi flat iron. I have been DYING to find a way to easily curl my thick and frizzy hair. That whole "sleep in a french braid and wake up with perfect curls" does not work for me. At all. 

It was actually pretty easy, although it definitely took some getting used to. I loved the perfectly wavy curls and plan to do it every single day for the rest of my life. #wheniactuallygetdressedthatis

Those pictures were at the end of the day and the curls held ALL day long. Major success for my hair. 

Do y'all have any great (easy) ways to curl your hair?

Love, love!

Down Da Bayou - part III (and final)

It's the last part of my weekend trip. I'm sure y'all are ready for it to be over. (Except you, Melis!)

Nothing like taking a weekend trip to keep your blog alive for the week. : )

There is an old slave camp called Laurel Valley right next to where we stayed. After turning down a gravel road, we traveled about a mile back between sugar cane fields and eventually came to the slave quarters. 

It was heartbreaking, intriguing, and astonishing all at once. 

Did I mention that we went the night before at midnight?! Talk about your imagination coming alive. I knew that I shouldn't have watched that Criminal Minds episode the night before. 

I'm glad that God was a refuge for these people, even during such a horrible time. 

Makes me realize how much I'm blessed. Thank you, Jesus. 

Thibodaux is filled with sugar cane fields. My friend desperately wanted us to taste the sugar inside one, as she kept telling us stories about remembering how sweet and sugary the cane was when she used to do it. So we took the opportunity to stop and "taste the sugar." I hope this isn't illegal. : )

This one was broken and loose. Promise. 

The problem that we ran in to: the sugar cane wasn't ready yet...it was SO bitter. #neverdoingthatagain

To get that bitter taste out of our mouths, we decided to find some good Cajun cooking that night.

We didn't even end up eating here...I just liked the sign. : )

My meal: fried shrimp and boiled potatoes = divine. 

Shan and Melissa's meals: seafood gumbo = scrumptious! I barely caught a picture before they ate it all!

This was hanging outside the restaurant...I thought it was SO typically Cajun and perfect to share. I kinda wonder if some of y'all will even be able to read it. Haha. : ) Let me know. 

We really had the most wonderful trip and it was so nice to spend so much time together since life keeps us so busy these days. I love those girls (and their families/babies) with all of my being. 

As I was driving home, I was feeling so blessed and so grateful for the friendships that I have...and I looked up and saw this. It truly looked like Jesus was shining through...it literally took my breath away. 

The pictures do not do it justice. 

And when I came home, husband had left a sweet surprise for me. : )

The card said: "I can't keep my paws off you." Love that husband of mine. 

Thanks for hanging in there for THREE posts about ONE weekend. Y'all are THE best!!

(part one here, part two here)

Love, love!!