A Southern Accent

It's been one of those days - two days actually. Motrin, Tylenol. Wash sheets. Motrin, Tylenol. Snuggle. Motrin, Tylenol. Cold washcloth, ice chips. Repeat. This house is under quarantine. My little sick guy only wants to snuggle with his mommie, and I feel helpless because I can't make it all better. Juggling working from home and mommie duty, dealing with the crazy dog that peed on my new rug (!!!!!!!), trying to stay away from the carbs (so hard to do when you're stuck in the house for two days) and keeping up with the laundry that piles up from upset tummies and showers - this day is finally done! The crud is currently making its rounds at school, so I had a feeling this was coming. Walker is typically pretty resilient, but he's been pretty puny today. He actually fell asleep this afternoon leaning on my shoulder in the chair downstairs while I was on the computer. I shut down shop and took him upstairs for a nap.  He woke up and wanted to know what...

You may remember last year how I discussed our search for a new church. I needed something new, something that was good for all three members of my family, a place that would appeal to all of us. Last year I visited two new churches, didn't really get that feeling I was looking for. I wanted to feel like I was the girl ready to "Say Yes to the Dress" - that this was "the one". Sunday, Mike, Walker and I piled into the car to visit another "new church". I had been talking to Walker about this place all week, and he was excited about going. I was nervous about how Mike would react. He gets picky about church and always has an opinion. It was an experience like no other. New Hope Church in Durham, NC was named as the 10th fastest growing church in America last summer, and it's in my back yard. It's not your traditional church, but that's what attracts me to it. In the world of video games, 3-D movies and iPods, service at the churc...

Check it out y'all - I submitted the pic of my room with my new rug (that I haven't even told you guys about) to Rate My Space, and I'm currently a top rated pick right now on the main Rate My Space page! How cool is that??? Click the photo to visit my room and "Rate My Space"!! Seriously, my husband thought I was crazy when I unrolled this too fabulous rug I picked up at the Pottery Barn Outlet in Gaffney, South Carolina on the way back from my best friends baby shower in Atlanta. But when I saw it in the store, I knew it was just what I'd been looking for and hadn't been able to find! Now that he's gotten used to the dots, he's decided that he likes it. Duh, knew he would.

This morning was one of those mornings I feel torn between my career and my family, selfish for liking my job. Walker woke up in an awful mood (one of the wonderful traits he inherited from his mother) and didn’t want to go to school. His tummy hurt and he didn’t want to get dressed, brush his teeth - do anything really that would propel us closer to getting out the door. Finally, we successfully checked the morning to-dos off the list and we were backing out the driveway, only one minute behind schedule, according to the car clock. “Mommie, why do I have to go to after school. I don’t like after school. Why can’t you pick me up in the carpool?” I feel it right in the gut, all I hear is “Mommie, why can’t you pick me up like the other kids that get picked up in the carpool lane?” Then I proceed to tell him how much I know he loves after school and how some of his friends wish they could go to after school but they can’t and how he will get to see his girlfriend Sydney and will...

I've patiently awaited the availability of the iPhone through Verizon. I've watched as my other friends switched providers, gotten their cool new phones with the touchscreens while I clicked away on my Blackberry. I watched them play with their neat little apps while I tried to install Twitter and wait for the hourglass to stop turning so I could actually make a call. But I love Verizon. I've been with them since college (and that's about 15 years) and their coverage is great, their service is great...so I stuck by them, knowing that they would come through for me in the end. I love it when a company really gets it marketing right. When a commercial speaks directly to me and I know they've really done their research and care about their target audience. This one, it's like they've been reading my thoughts. Seriously. I saw this yesterday while painting my son's room and I yelled "Yes! That's me they are talking to!" Mike and Walker ju...

I showed this to you guys last year after a friend of mine received it on Valentine's day andI love the idea so much, I'm going to attempt to make these for Walker's classmates this year! I think the five and six-year olds will love it! And there are only 12 of them, so that makes it much more doable than 30. I just have the picture from last year, but I Googled the idea and found the complete instructions and printable scroll wheel and playlist here if you want to make your own!

Walker - 3 Days Old It’s the little things I enjoy most about having an only. Of course, I don’t know any other way, so I don’t have anything else to compare it to. But when I see a mother with three clinging to her in the grocery store, fighting with each other and my little guy is riding along in the cart, satisfied just hanging out with me, I’m secretly happy that I’m not her. When I’m at the store and I can say yes to that toy, I know I can give him things he wants (of course, I don’t give him everything he wants).      I can have a successful career and be a successful mommie. So many women I know have given up their lives to be moms and have lost themselves in the process – their lives are consumed with driving their child to the next practice or play date. I believe women can be mothers and have their own interests and life too. For me, one is the perfect balance and enables me to still be me, and not lose myself in mommie duties. Yes, siblings have each oth...

I’ve always had a thing for babies. Always loved keeping the nursery at church and playing with my baby cousins. But that love for babies didn’t necessarily lead me down the path of mommy-hood like you’d think it would. Key word here is that I loved “playing” with them. It was the taking care part of them that always scared me. I was never that girl that wanted to get married, have lots of babies, and stay at home while my husband went off to make us money. The thought never occurred to me growing up that I would ever stay at home. My mother worked as a teacher, and I was going to go to college, get a good job, and make some good money to take care of myself. I graduated from college, got a job, found a husband, and there I was. I branched out into our community and met new friends, had some hobbies, got a cat. I was happy. Then my friends started having babies. I didn’t have baby fever, knew that I wanted a family one day, but not sure when. Then my friends started having ...

It doesn't get much cuter than this. Even if I am a little biased about my babies.

So I'll start with the curtains, since that's what everyone asked about the most. Here's the secret - they aren't curtains. If you remember, a while back, I showed you this idea I found on a fabulous blog called Knight Moves: I fell in love with the idea because I'd been struggling with curtains for this room. I just couldn't find the right print and color I wanted without paying a fortune for custom window treatments. I fell in love with it even more when I read that this awesome print was a duvet from Walmart, for only $29.99. Seriously, I couldn't get to Walmart.com fast enough and order one for myself. When I got it, I opened it up and felt the fabric, expecting something cheap and thin, but it actually felt pretty good for the price. So, once I finally got the walls and floors done, I opened up my duvet and stared at it for a while. I was scared to cut it, to do anything with it quite frankly. But I figured hey, if I mess it up, I can afford a...

You may remember this room, that my sweet, crazy puppy had previously destroyed with her puppy ways, and my desire to reclaim it as part of our house: Well, after endless trips to HomeGoods, thrift shops, online decor blogs and Target (of course), we are finally able to enjoy this room once again. I guess it's been over a year since I ripped the carpet out. During that time, I researched and purchased the floors, picked out a wall color (thanks to Sherry and John at Young House Love) hit the local Habitat for Humanity shop and found that great side table, trolled Craig's List, visited flea markets, searched high and low for the perfect pillows and on and on... My inspiration for this room was always about being fun, modern, colorful and live-able. I've still got a couple more items to purchase (still haven't found the perfect rug), but I worked from home yesterday in this room in my little office area and loved every minute of it. So, what do you think?  I...

Yep, I'm adding another side venture to my box of tricks. You may have noticed my new linky on the right side of my home page, maybe not, so I'll bring your attention to it. I've created a new website to showcase my photography. Just click on the picture below to open the site and see more pics! I've started to get random requests from friends of friends to do photos and since I offer great rates and it gives me a chance to learn, it's a win win for all! I recently was asked to shoot a very small wedding and I didn't have any samples to show, so I set this site up one afternoon over Christmas! I've still so much to learn about photography and I'm taking a class in February to learn more about my DSLR, so hopefully my pics will continue to improve. I never knew photography could be such a complicated subject!

So I'm sure you've heard the amazing story of Ted Williams, the homeless man who was discovered by a local reporter. His YouTube video and velvet voice landed him on the Today show couch with Matt and Meredith the last two days. I'm so captivated by this story for so many reasons. One, because it shows that people do get second chances in life. Two, because it shows that people can overcome addictions. I've seen people very close to me fight addictions, and I truly believe that alcoholism and drug addiction is so misunderstood in our society and world. I 100% believe that addictions are driven by the brain and that they are a disease. No one would choose to be so completely and utterly obsessed with something that controls and ruins their life. But it seems like our society is having to deal with addictions more and more. Maybe it's because we aren't as strong in our convictions, maybe it's because we aren't leaning on the Lord as much to give us g...

I'm so excited about this I can't stand it. Basically the only reason I ever go to Crabtree is for Crate and Barrel. Durham totally deserves bigger and better.  March can't get here fast enough.

So you're saying I could go with either definition when I say my new year's resolution is to lose 20 lbs this year? I'm gonna go with number 12.

And now for another update on my never-ending renovation of the previous bedroom now playroom/office space. I've finally finished the small office area of the room and I'm excited about how it turned out. I took a lot of inspiration from online resources and blogs, but was careful to truly make it a space of my own. This picture was taken last night, after the last little touch had been added to my new space. Inspiration: - I fell in love with this shelving idea from John and Sherry at Young House Love and knew I wanted to somehow incorporate it into my room when I saw it on their blog last summer. I lined my shelves with pictures and items to remind me of the past year, along with a metro map from our recent trip to New York and a print from my Etsy shop . I'm thinking of adding one additional shelf above the existing one to give me more space to play with, but as you know, I'm slow. - I followed the directions here for the small chevron canvas behind my lap...

While I was home for Christmas, I came across some small wallet photos of friends from Junior High in my room. It made me think of my Junior High crush, Ned, and the quiet obsession we all had with boys at that age. I’m not really sure where the natural obsession with boys comes from, of course, there's hormones and such, but why were we girls always searching for Prince Charming? What’s so interesting is that the girls at that age are obsessed with boys and the boys that age are obsessed with everything else but girls. Come to think of it, guys are basically like that until they hit their thirties. I think my first Junior High crush was Ned*. He was so handsome and had big beautiful blue eyes. When school pictures came out, everyone would trade with their friends and gather a big stack of little wallet photos. The person that had the most was the coolest because obviously, they had more friends. I remember I was able to trade photos with Ned and I carried that photo around all...