High Five For Friday

Hello! It’s been a pretty great week! I celebrated my birthday, finished my Christmas shopping and am getting ready to celebrate the Christmas holiday with family and friends. I’m linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for High Five For Friday to share pictures from my week. I hope you had a great week too!

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

1. Holiday nails in Essie Fishnet Stockings (red) and Beyond Cozy (silver). That’s Macy waiting impatiently for my nails to dry so that I can take her outside. She has impeccable timing. 
2. My office mate for the day. I moved her bed next to the space heater and I, and she snuggled up for the day while I worked.
3. I turned 30-ish! Okay, 33 to be exact. I made these tasty Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcake Crowns to celebrate!
4. Josh surprised me at work for our hot chocolate bar event and he stayed to hang out and play Gestures with us. Fun!
5. Celebratory birthday sushi!

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO ::

THREE ::

FOUR :: 

ONE :: Spent the weekend at the lovely Kirkland Manor in St. Michaels, MD, working a wedding. We had perfect weather on Saturday and Sunday, just glorious!

TWO :: Incredible sunsets on the waters off St. Michaels. Perfect ending to a beautiful day.

THREE :: So a couple of weeks ago I treated myself to my first (and likely last) gel manicure. It did not last the 2-3 weeks as promised by the nail tech. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to save a few bucks with this DIY process for removing gel manicures. I look like I have tinfoil club fingers. 🙂

FOUR :: My patient Macy. She will let me do anything embarrassing to her. What dog doesn’t want to wear a scarf in the house? Oh, and to get her to tilt her head in this adorable position, all you have to do is say one of her favorite words, supper, squirrel, rabbits, outside, ball…the list goes on and on. Really if you just talk to her, she’ll tilt her head to one side. Freaking. Adorable!

Time On My Mind

Lately time has been on my mind, like …

1. It’s been a REALLY long time since I last posted.
2. J & I celebrated 6 years of marriage recently; time has flown by.
3. With a full time job, owning my own business and a fun, “quarter-time” job…is there enough time to get it all done and be the best I can be at all of it?
4. When will it be our time to start a family?
5. Has it really only been 6 months time since BAKE went home to be with our Lord? Will there ever be a time when the pain isn’t still so raw?
6. How did my adorable Macy grow up so quickly? In a matter of time she went from being a 10lb. 8 week old pup to a funny, sweet 4 year old dog.
7. Where does the time go each evening, that it becomes too late to call my family or FaceTime with my nieces and nephew?
8. Has it really only been 1 month since I got my braces on? Can’t time hurry up so I can get these things off?
9. When will time slow down?

Lately I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by my lack of “time”. But the reality is that I’m not in control of my time here on Earth. God has a plan for me, and it’s His hands that are orchestrating, mold and shaping me to be more like Him. So I need to stop trying to control all the time I have or don’t have in my life and be thankful and have faith in God and His plan for me. My goal is to refocus my attention on Him, and less on the amount of time I have to get things done. I have this incredible life to live, and we aren’t promised tomorrow. So regardless of whether or not time is on my side, I”m going to choose joy, be thankful and make the most of my time.

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO ::

THREE ::

FOUR :: 

FIVE :: 

SIX :: 

ONE :: Macy apparently got a little chilly in the middle of the night and snuggled her way under the covers. Needless to say, Operation Keep Macy Off the Bed – Part Deux will commence shortly.

TWO :: Spent the afternoon shopping for bathroom accessories for my newly painted powder room. Stay tuned for a post on the before and after of this project…I still need to paint the ceiling and do a little touch up.

THREE :: Love this cute little birdie for the bathroom.

FOUR :: Not the best picture in the world, but I went to a DivaFit Pole Masters show on Saturday night with my girls. What’s DivaFit and Pole Masters you ask? Look closely behind us in the pictures. Yup those are poles, as in “stripper” poles. DivaFit is a local pole fitness studio. Don’t knock it till you try it. These women have incredible strength. They were handing parallel to the floor, holding on with just one arm. Amazing strength and beauty.

FIVE :: Saw this at the grocery store, and this southern gal had to give it a try. Y’all, Front Porch has taken the classic drink of the south, sweet tea and turned it into an incredible ice cream flavor! Seriously this stuff is amazing. It is sweet tea ice cream with bits of tea cake pieces mixed in. Delicious.

SIX ::  Master bathroom renovation update. The needle is moving, y’all. We have tile on the walls and things are coming along. The image on the left is the wall next to our soaking tub and shows the beginning of some of the decorative tile. The image on the right is the inside of your shower and shows a sample of what our shower floor tile will look like next to the wall tile.

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO :: 

THREE ::

FOUR ::

ONE :: Macy & I took a road trip this weekend to visit my parents in Williamsburg! She’s the perfect little traveling companion. Isn’t she cute just sitting the back seat watching the cars go by?!

TWO :: Mom & I had dinner at the Baker’s Crust on Friday evening and enjoyed these delicious blackberry sangria cocktails. MMM!

THREE :: The weather was just glorious this weekend, so Mom & I rode around town in her fun little convertible.

FOUR :: The ‘rents…aren’t they just the cutest?!

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO :: 

THREE ::

FOUR ::

FIVE :: 

SIX :: 

Sorry for the delayed post, I had a killer migraine yesterday.  Hope y’all had a great weekend!

ONE :: Successful shoe shopping trip with my FSIL!

TWO :: Lovely evening at Tarara Vineyards.

THREE :: FSIL & I at Tarara Vineyards.

FOUR :: Pretty lake on the vineyard property.

FIVE :: Found fabric for my next DIY sewing project.

SIX :: Sunday catnap mutt-nap.

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO :: 

THREE ::

FOUR ::

FIVE :: 

ONE :: Geaux hubby for mixing me a yummy vodka & lemonade cocktail in my favorite cup.

TWO :: Celebrated National Donut Day with this amazing donut. YUM!

THREE :: Visited the beautiful St. Michaels on Saturday.

FOUR :: Lovely moonlit night enjoying the Hatfields & McCoy’s mini-series.

FIVE :: Oh lazy Macy, I love this dog. She kept me company Sunday morning, watching reruns of the original 90210. Little unknown fact about me, I can pretty much guarantee that I’ve seen every single episode of 90210.

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO :: 

THREE ::

FOUR ::

FIVE ::

ONE :: J worked on finishing the addition of pavers to extend our driveway. Macy loves to help out by following him around and dropping her ball for him to throw. She’s pretty persistent.  If he doesn’t throw the ball she goes inside and brings out another toy. At one point she had three toys out on the driveway. Love them! Love the driveway renovation and love my honey for all his hard work!

TWO :: Some of the fixin’s for our BBQ with our BF&N (best friends and neighbors) to kick off Memorial Day and summer!

THREE :: We rode in the Ride of the Patriots from Patriot Harley in Fairfax down to Washington, DC. People stand on the side of the road and on the overpasses to greet the motorcycles, waving flags, signs and cheering us on. This year one stretch of road was lined with friends and family members holding signs & pictures of loved one in the military. A tearful ride of honor for those who serve and fight for our freedom.

FOUR :: Rolling Thunder 2012! As riders enter Washington, DC a Marine stands at attention saluting boots, helmet and riffle, signifying the fallen, POW and MIA. Moving beyond words. Thank you to all those who serve.

FIVE :: J & Macy sittin’ on the front step enjoying the warm evening. I love these two!

Weekend Without Words

ONE :: 

TWO :: 

THREE ::

FOUR ::

FIVE :: 

SIX ::

ONE :: Macy visited the vet this weekend because she decided to pull out her staples from her injury (neighbor dog bit her) earlier in the week.

TWO :: Celebratory birthday dinner at The Cajun Experience with wine from Breaux Vineyards.

THREE :: Birthday beignets, regular and chocolate filled. Yum!

FOUR :: That’s right, you can now call me “Garden Barbie”. I purchased and planted those flowers and spread three bags of mulch.

FIVE :: Incredible 80+ degree weather on Sunday allowed us to get out on the motorcycle for the afternoon.

SIX ::  Adorable chick-a-dees for sale at the local hardware store in Middleburg, VA.

Lovelies List — 2.3.12

Happy Friday, Lovelies! I’m linking up with Lauren from From My Grey Desk for High Five For Fridays to share with you my top lovelies from this week. I hope you’ve had a great week and have something super fun planned for the weekend!

1.  Houston, We Have Landed — Well soon we will have landed! I booked our trip to Houston to see our good friends and their new baby. Another bonus, we booked our flight with points so we didn’t have to pay any $$!

2. Wonderful Weather — We’ve had unseasonably warm, incredible weather this week in the Washington, DC area. I don’t care if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, this spring like weather can ignore him and just stay put.

3. Friends & Family — This week I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with so many family members,  local and from out-of-town. We always have a great time and laugh so hard. I heart my family! This week I’ve also been able to catch up with friends at various lunches and dinners. I love that I can reconnect, catch up and it doesn’t seem like a minute has passed since we last saw each other.

4.  Girl Scout Cookies — My adorable, super funny and incredible fashionista niece is selling girl scout cookies. I received a cute voicemail in her little raspy voice (she’s getting over being sick), “Hi Aunt Amy, it’s Audrey. I was calling to see if you wanted to order some girl scout cookies. Call me back and I can take your order.” I LOVE HER! Of course I ordered cookies, but donated them to the military instead of bringing them into my house. I LOVE that the Girl Scouts let you donate the cookies…give someone in need a special treat and the calories.

5.  Super Bowl — My Macy is exhausted from football practice. While our team, the deadskins Redskins aren’t playing, we will definitely be watching and rooting for the Giants. She’s ahh-dorable, if I do say so myself! Who do you want to win?

Want to link up and join the High Five For Friday fun? Grab a button and go!