Run4Kids

on May 15th we had the 8th Annual Run4Kids 5K benefiting the Tennessee Baptist Children's Homes. I'm so blessed to work for such a great ministry who gives me the opportunity to plan these fun events. It's always such a stressful time but then Race Day comes and I love every minute of it. Here are a few of the moments I love that I captured with my camera!

and I will leave you with my two favorites...volunteers hard at work...

Thanks to all of you who helped out and volunteered SUPER early in the morning.  Many of you do this year after year and I can't express my depth of gratitude.  On behalf of everyone at TBCH, Thank You!

Little Laney Shower, part two

alright, the first post was the paper post.  part two will be the People post!

it was a fun night to say the least...

too organized?

The other day I got in Josh's car.  I looked down at the cup holders.  There was an open bottle of water WITH water in it WITH MY SHARPIE PEN in the water.  ummm, hello?!?!! does he not read my blog? seriously.

I went on to explain that some girls buy lots of shoes, others buy pretty summer dresses...me? I buy office supplies.  cool huh?

I would buy a new calendar every month if I could just because I love filling it out.  Here is a typical month's calendar in my planner - love me some color coding...

oh...and so I have my planner...but I keep another calendar in my purse at all times.  as well as my notebook...so here's what we've got going on:

I love my notebook.  It not only helps me  make lists but also gives me a place to doodle :)

all organization tools brought to you by TARGET. how do you stay organized?

Little Laney Shower, part 1

So my friends Lele and Eric are having a sweet baby girl, Laney Kathryn, at the end of June. Lele is uber crafty and loves her some Amy Butler fabric. Naturally, we decided to have an Amy Butler inspired baby shower.

I'll dedicate this first post about the shower to all the things we made with Amy Butler Paper!

We hung these letters above the gift table.  They now hang above Laney's crib, too cute!  Ryan painted them white and used Amy Butler Paper scallops to decorate.

I've started making banners for pretty much every party.  I think it's fun and it makes it personable.  Naturally little Laney needed her own banner.  We used more Amy Butler paper and added the trees on the end to match the invitation.

My friend Courtney had made a few wreaths like this before, she used paper for one and then fabric for the other. We decided to use more Amy Butler Paper to make this wreath and a larger one to go outside. Caitlin did a great job making these...it always helps when your city floods and your stuck inside with nothing to do!

Continuing on with the "white" idea and more Amy Buter I had the idea to spray paint some wine bottles to use as vases. Caitlin made paper flowers to add a little pizzazz. They turned out quite nice.

Here is a picture of one of the inviations with some of the grass we grew. That's a certian sign of love, right? "We grew you grass!" It goes along the lines of "I wore a BIRD in my HAIR!" anybody?

Anyway, you can see more of Caitlin's paper flowers. Too cute. We used these along with the white wine bottle vases as table decorations.

The strawberry cupcakes needed some Amy Butler love so we used the scallops again and made cut little toppers.

And we'll end this segment with the diaper cake.  Now, I've done a few diaper cakes (blog about that soon to come) but never with paper.  It's a little trickier but I love how were able to use more Amy Butler and really bring it all together.  I think I like how it turned out.

happy 3 birthday

Today is Sean's birthday.  His THREE birthday.  I can't believe he is 3!!!  Happy birthday buddy!

sweet cece's celebration

It was supposed to be a surprise.  We would go get a normal dinner somewhere chill...really somewhere we had a coupon to and then go to Sweet Cece's.  Tuesdays are "Two Punch Tuesdays!" at Sweet Cece's and we've gone every week for quite awhile.  It would have been a normal Tuesday night...except he was planning to propose.  He had planned it all out.  His brother would save a parking spot, lele would be there to take pictures, and all my friends and our families would be there to celebrate with us.

Instead...his basement flooded and he couldn't wait any longer.  Knowing how important it is to me to celebrate with others we decided to keep the Sweet Cece's celebration as planned...just not really a surprise anymore.  Lele was gracious enough to still take pictures of a fake proposal and other fun moments of the night. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leleg/

I know the proposal stuff is getting a bit old...new blog about the amy butler insprired baby shower coming soon!

Come Hell or Highwater

On Saturday May 1, Nashville found itself in the beginning stages of what would turn into a flood of the city.  Like MANY homes in the area Josh's basement began to fill with water.  I was on my way back from Mississippi and felt so helpless from far away.  By Sunday morning, May 2, I had returned home and the water had risen to about 3 feet (please know, Josh's story is far from the worst and we know that...I'm just filling in you in on what has now become "our story").  I needed to be there with him so I braved the flooded streets and pending storms to make it to his house.  When I got there it had risen more, we had 6 more steps to go before it reached floor level.  We turned the power off in the basement, turned off the AC unit since it's in the basement, picked up things from the floor and prepared for his house to flood.  We were ready to leave it all should the moment come.

If you know Josh than you know he isn't the best at keeping secrets.  Not that he just flat out tells you, but he is the world's worst liar so if you ask him a question...he's going to tell you.  If you know me at all, you know that I'm not the best at not being in control...however I LOVE to be surprised.  So here I am...we've talked about getting married, we've looked at rings...I really want to know when he's going to do it, but at the same time I really want to be totally surprised.  My solution was to simply get my nails done, just in case, and try and be on guard as best I could.

Back to Sunday...In the midst of tears, worry, stress, and simply not knowing what would come next, Josh knew this was the perfect time to ask me an important question. "I want to do it now!" he said. "But you have plans," I responded. "But they are underwater!" he replied.  This was the first of a few attempts to propose.  I wouldn't let him.  I knew he had worked hard to plan something I would love.  This wasn't how he wanted it to happen.  After stalling him for about an hour he finally said, "You don't get to argue with me about this." 

He began to tell me wonderful things, commit himself to the Lord and to love me, and he knew that come hell or highwater he loved me and wanted to marry me.  I said, "YES!"

I can't believe I get to marry my best friend.  This wonderful man who has put a smile on my face since the moment I met him.  The past nine months have been an absolute roller coaster in my life and Josh Drake has remained unbelievably steady, constant, and strong for me throughout all of it (except for the night he had a stroke, but that's forgiveable!). We've been through a whole heck of a lot together and all of it seemed amazingly normal with Josh by my side.  I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!

a flood of emotions

nashville is flooded.

josh's basement is flooded and will require a good bit of work.

I got engaged.

It's happened on more than one occasion in my life that in the midst of something tragic the Lord sends a blessing.  I guess it's just how He works.  I didn't want to not acknowledge the sorrow that Nashville is facing and will continue to work through over the next months to come.  This city is amazing and I love all the stories of people reaching and churches being The Church to all the communities.

Happy and sad all at the same time.  BEYOND excited and completely stressed.  Certianly a flood of emotions.

(love story, engagement story, and pictures soon to come.  I promise!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LELE!

Today is my dear friend Lele's birthday! You should all find a way to tell her how awesome she is. Oh, you don't know her? Let me tell you a little bit about her...

Lele ....

loves Jesus with all hear heart and inspires others to do the same.

is hilarious!

supports and loves her husband...even when he spends SO MUCH time studying.

has a cute little dog named Max.

is incrediably crafty!

can sew, paint, cook, and DANCE!

has a really cute house...and new nursery!

is going to be a MOM!!!! in just a few short weeks :)

is going to be such a WONDERFUL mom to the sweetest little girl.

has lots of wisdom.

is one of the few people I trust with my camera.

has a heart for others.

sings beautifully!

is a dear friend who I hope feels so very celebrated on this special day of her's!

in love with lunch

so I'm kind of in love with my new lunch menu.

in efforts to save money and hopefully loose some weight I went to the grocery store to buy some things so I could "pack my lunch." Really I just keep it all in the work refridgerator so I can go home and take a nap during lunch. Gosh I love naps. (must be where Bauer gets his love of sleep, I trained him well)

Anyway...I've been known to take home some items so I can have them for dinner as well. Seriuosly? what is my deal? Am I just an awesome lunch planner?! ...just kidding. (sidenote: the day I bought this food and was excited to take it back and it some of it, I left the grocery store and drove straight to Chickfila. awesome.)

So...here's what I'm packin':

Sandwich Thins - these are all the rage in Williamson Country

Boar's Head Honey Maple Turkey. LOVE IT! (esp on a Publix sub with their honey mustard! LOVE!)

Colby Cheese

What do you pack for lunch? Do you love it?!

my own dog park

At any given time there is a combination of these 3 dogs inside my house.

Bauer, he is mine. Though my mom has threatened to not let me take him with me if I ever move out. While he certainly gets excited when people come over to the house OR there is any sort of food on the table, his favorite activity really is sleeping. Seriously. Starting about 9:00pm every night he will bark at you until you go to bed so he can get under the covers. (Don't let the picture fool you. He's pushing 40 pounds these days).

Rosie Bell is the old lady of the house. She is 10. I know you can't see her face, but I love this picture of her just watching the door. Rosie spent majority of her childhood as an outside dog. Then it progressed into half basement/half outside dog...until there was a snake in the basement. She is now an inside dog when we are home...unless she pees on the carpet.

Luna is the neighbors dog but it's kind of joint custody situation. Completely adorable and always ready for her belly to be scratched. She and Bauer have a deep love for one another and would kiss each other all day if we let them...and if Bauer would stay awake long enough. Though she may be the smallest, she certianly is more a watch dog than the other two.

do you have a dog? you should bring them over to our ever exciting little backyard dog park!