Happy Friday, all!  Has your week treated you nicely?  I hope so.

As you know, I’ve recently been chosen as the luckiest girl on earth.  I am to marry Sir Billy.  He begged and begged and begged and finally, I said ‘yes.’

Ok, so he didn’t have to beg–but he did get down on his knees!  Or was it just one knee?  Either way, I’m wearing the gorgeous ring you chose for me and can’t wait to say ‘I do.’

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So, being that you are the best readers a girl could ask for, I’ve decided to include you on the inspirations of planning my wedding.  

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A date?  No, we haven’t picked on yet. We haven’t even decided how we’re going to do it yet.  Elope?  Surprise wedding? Reception later?  Its a surprise and I can’t tell.  I only know it will be small.  I mean only one maid/matron of honor and one best man. Oh and a lovely lady to photograph.

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And of course Lilie will be all up in it.  I couldn’t have it any other way.

It might be soon {two months} or it might be later {two years}.  I’m not telling and you can’t make me.

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But, I thought it would be fun to post some of the fun stuff on here along the way.  Pictures that inspire me.  Such as dress choices {because everyone knows its all about the dress, right}?  Centerpieces and flowers.  Color schemes.

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You know: the fun stuff.  The physical beauty of a wedding.

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I hope you’ll share all of your opinions!  Good and bad.  Hope you have a beautiful weekend, friends!

Hello, lovelies!!  Thursday is upon us, once more and its time for some more Summer of Growth posting.

Today I wanted to talk about planning yourself a little quiet time.  A spiritual time you set aside for yourself each day.  Time for thought, study, prayer, meditation or what ever you may choose to do with that special time.

When choosing to start a quiet time for yourself, you need to start out by planning a certain time to do it.  Try to set aside about 10-15 minutes.  Choose a time that works best for you.  A time you will be able to stick with regularly.  Choosing a specific time, rather than whenever’s convenient, will help you to stick with it.

Choose the right place.  Your thoughts, feelings and moods can be greatly influenced by your atmosphere.  Be sure to choose a place you feel comfortable and calm in.  A place you feel at peace, rather than distracted.

When going into your quiet time, have a pen and paper for taking notes.  You may want to write down some of your thoughts or findings during that time.  You will be amazed to go back and read these years later.

Also, pick a passage to focus on during each session.  Nothing too large, because you don’t want to overwhelm yourself.  Make sure its short enough to read at a comfortable pace and still have plenty of time to sit in thought and recollect what you have read.  Try following a reading plan.

Finally, possibly most importantly, go into your quiet time with the proper attitude.  I’m a strong believer in ‘attitude is everything.’  It can make or break your experience.  If you go in frustrated or distracted by everything you have to do that day, you will not so likely benefit from your time at peace.  Try to clear your mind and leave everything behind.  I know its hard, but its only for 15 minutes, and I promise you’ll only benefit from it.

I hope these tips help.  I’m still struggling with getting the set time down.  Not having a set time causes me to get distracted by other things and then forget to do it all together.  I need to make it part of my daily routine.  An automatic thing. A must.  Just like my morning coffee.  Can’t start the day {properly} without it.

Do you keep a quiet time scheduled for yourself?  Where?  What types of surroundings do you prefer?  In what ways have you seen having a quiet time benefit you elsewhere in life?

When I was little, I was this awkward little red haired freckle-faced girl.  I hated it.  I denied my hair, obviously, red hair, claiming it was really brown.  Considering my hair was copper orange upon birth, there was no denying this carrot- top.

I wished for the day I was old enough to wear makeup, to cover up the ugly brown spots that covered my prepubescent face.  ”They’re angel kisses,” ladies would tell me.  Who were they kidding, though?  Tell that to the kids at school.

I eventually got used to them–didn’t like them, but got used to them.  In high school, I finally decided to own them.  I figured after having the freckles for this long, I’d probably look pretty funny if they were ever taken away.   Might as well deal with it.

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I became proud of my red hair.  After all, it was a rare feature only found naturally in 4% of the world’s population.  And my freckles?  Ehh….  I stopped getting picked on for them around middle school.  They were still there.  I didn’t really care about them either way.

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Then I hit my early to mid twenties.  I finally bloomed–that’s right ya’ll*: I said ‘bloomed’ (*excuse my language).

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I love looking up pictures of freckles, now.  I find them interesting and beautiful.  Such a look of sweet innocence and beauty.  How could I have ever have hated them.  But then, I guess we all have something we don’t like about our bodies, when we’re young.  Sometimes it may even go completely unnoticed by others.

So here I am, on the brink of 26 years old.  I can finally confidently say, I’m happy being me.  In fact, I wouldn’t want to be anyone else.  I love me, red hair, freckles, pale can’t-get-a-tan-for-nothing skin and all.  They’re something special not everyone can claim.  My Wilson Green Eyes only make it better.

What’s something you hated about yourself as a child?  Did you ever get over it?  Own what’s yours.  Claim it so no one else can.  You’re stuck with it, so why not rock it?  Right?

Hey there, darlin’!  I don’t know if you noticed, but that title up there has changed.  The blog title?  

I know, I keep changing it up on you and I’m sorry if its caused any confusion.  Back when I did the small remodel, I wanted a new name, but just could decide on the right one.  I’d thought of this one, but wasn’t set.  I chewed on it for a couple months and haven’t thought of anything I like better.  This is it.

Don’t let up your guard too much, though.  In the next month or two, I’m planning to switch my hosting to else where.  So beware.  Change will come again, but only for the better, and I do hope you’ll be right there with me, the whole way.

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When we started talking about hair products, we started from the beginning with my suggestions of best shampoos to use without breaking your wallet. After you’ve done your lather-rinse-repeat routine, you want to follow with a good conditioner.

Are you ready?  Pull out your shopping list:

• Paul Mitchell’s The Conditioner – This is a good any-hair-type conditioner.  Its not overly heavy or  moisturizing.  Its just right.  You get a good thick cream that easily coats the hair and leaves your locks feel soft and light.
• Nexxus Humectress Ultra Moisturizing Conditioner – This product is loaded with moisture.  ’Nuff said.  Its rich, creamy and a little goes a long way.  If you shop wisely, you can find liters for a bargain at JC Penney.  This one is great for curls, frizz and damaged hair.  If you notice your hair starts looking weighed down or feels a bit oily, you may want to switch it out with a less moisture-loaded product.  
• Clairol Shimmer Lights – My dear blonde friends.  I told you about the shampoo last time.  I also want to suggest the conditioner. But here’s the thing: choose one or the other.  Both products are great, but together can be over-kill.  Remember I warned you of the purple-ish hue you could pick up.  Yeah.  Go easy.  Personally, I prefer the conditioner, because it only has to last through one more rinse before you’re finished in the shower.
• So Gorgeous Volumizing Conditioner – This one actually isn’t a professional product and can only be found at Sally’s.  I love it, though.  Its light and really does help give a little umph to your do.  The best thing about it?  It doesn’t leave your hair still feeling dry, like most volumizing products.  Oh!  And it smells fabulously sweet.

Good morning, friends!  I just wanted to write you a quick note before I ran back out to the patio for more coffee and muffins–I’m thinking I should have made it iced coffee this morning. Ugh.

The lovely Alexis, over at North on Harper, has featured me in her Notorious Neon theme of the week!  I haven’t sent any photos in for anything like this before, but figured, ‘why not?’

Browse around Alexis’ site.  I think you’ll find lots to love over there.  She’s a fashion blogger and really seems to stay on top of her game.

Well, the sun tea is about ready, and I’m thinking a glass of iced sweet tea is sounding a lot more appetizing that a hot cup of coffee this morning.  

Wish you could join me!!

Hello, darlin’!  How’s your day starting off?  Smoldering, here.  It is the middle of July, after all.  I’m rocking my fishtail today!  Come on, September!

Time to throw another post into our Summer of Growth series.  We’re going to work on the growth of your waist line, today.  But not too bad.  I promise, it will be worth it.  You’ll see.

Lets make a black berry cobbler, shall we?  They’re great for desserts or even breakfast.  This is probably the easiest thing you’ll ever make–besides maybe a bowl of cereal.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• some butter
• cinnamon

Salutations, wonderful readers!!  Looks like another hot week here in Soky.  The heat warnings are not letting up.  And don’t even get me started on the humidity.  Ugh!  TGFST–thank goodness for sweet tea!!

Due to the crazy heat, my hair hasn’t had a lot of down time lately.  I’m constantly braiding it back out of my face, throwing it up into a clip and/or pulling it back into a pony or bobby pins.  

If you’re like me, that gets old.  I’m growing my hair out, but why grow it out if I’m just going to put it into a boring pony tail all the time?  Are you with me?

 Time for some new ideas.

I’ve been looking around for some good, easy, quick styles for both you and me.  So, here we go.  Let the photo list commence.

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I love messy buns.  And you curly headed people make me sick with these.  It takes little effort for you to look fabulous with your ringlets.  Want a little more pizazz?  Throw a simple little accessory in there like the photo below.

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I love this (above) braided style.  I’ve always been a lover of braids and the romantic, fun texture they bring to a look.  It looks like they braided this one in pigtails and then joined them into one braid at the base.  Very cute and relaxed.  Perfect for summer.  

And check out this fishtail braid, below!  I love putting Lilie’s hair into a fishtail braid.  its rarely seen, any more.  Can’t wait ’til mine gets long enough for this.

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Now, if you’re hair is long enough, this (above) knotted style is perfect for you.  Its easy, clever and cute.  I think you can go either way with this one: dressed up or relaxed.  It just depends on how you dress and accessorize.  But if you do think this is too messy and not up to par for a night out, try this one below.

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Ok, I need my hair to grow faster, now!  I hope these ideas help make the rest of your summer cooler, more comfortable and stylish.

I’m going to leave you with a video to learn how to do a fishtail braid.  I know I, personally, never knew how until cosmetology school.  Get to working those fingers, ladies!

Have I mentioned lately that my readers are the best?  Well, just so you know, they are.

Lately, my little monster has been just that: a monster.  I don’t know if she’s going through a phase, testing her boundaries, dealing with some mental issues or what.

Lilie has been super argumentative (with us and her friends), back talking included.  Also, she seems to find great joy in merely pestering the holy bajeezus out of poor little Frankie.  She has even taken to hitting her on a couple of occasions, which has never been a problem, until just recently.  

I’m seriously to the point where I feel bad because she is constantly getting fussed at.  Until about two days ago, I felt I was at the end of my rope and didn’t know what else to do.

Thus far, I’ve tried everything I could think of.  I’ve fussed, yelled, used timeout and woopin’s.  Yes, we sometimes spank.  Please hold back any comments on your side of that theory, because frankly, I’ve heard it all and am sticking to my guns.  You parent your way and I’ll parent mine.  

I can’t really threaten to take anything away, because honestly, there’s not a certain toy she chooses to play with much.  She’s very active and playful, there’s just not anything I think I could hold over her head for punishment.

So, for today’s installment of the Summer of Growth series, I want to talk about working on my patience with her and my game plan for tackling this recent behavior.

First of all, I’m done yelling and bickering with her.  It obviously gets me no where.  All I’m teaching her is to yell to get her way, which is the opposite of what I want.  I want to teach her to use her words wisely, but her tone matters greatly, as well.

New plan: calmly and sternly ask/tell her stop arguing.  This requires me to work on my patience with her, which seems to be helping over the past day or two.  If she persists, a light pop in the mouth will follow.  If she continues, she will just be sent to my room to sit on the boring, empty bed for timeout.  I started this yesterday and so far, it seems to be working.

Also, I am putting together a chart for her.  For every time she handles a situation without arguing, she will be get to add a sticker to her little chart, which will be visible at all times on the fridge.  Once she collects 15 stickers, I will treat her to a date at Starbucks.  I know 15 seems like a lot, but that’s just how bad it has gotten.  Yes, my girl will be all too thrilled about that prize–and Mama will too!

And lastly, a new vitamin.  Back about a two years or so ago, we started having problems with tantrums.  I know all kids have them, but hers seemed different.  A little more extreme and a little more frequent.

While talking to my lovely step mother about this, she suggested something she had read in a magazine.  We constantly hear about Omega 6, but overlook Omega 3 which is just as important but pushed to the side and forgotten about.  

This supplement is often used for mental/emotional/behavioral disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and ADHD.  A couple of which she strongly has pumping though those veins thanks to her father’s side.

Anyway, when I provided her with a fruity gummy supplement of the Omega 3 the last time, I honestly saw a great difference in her behavior, thus, I’m trying it again.  When I go to the grocery this afternoon, that is number one on my list.  We’re going to give it another go and see how she does.  

Maybe this is just a vitamin she may need to start taking permanently.  Perhaps it will aid her in her possible possession of ADHD or Bipolar disorder.  I would be thrilled to be able to use just this to keep her mind and actions in order, rather than taking her to a doctor and possibly having her put on medication, later on, if this is all related.

I’ll keep you posted in the following weeks.

Do you ever have times of trial with your children?  What sort of actions to do you take?

Want to learn more about Omega 3 and your children?  Check this article out.

Dear, friends!  Last night was awesome.  I think I’m still a little high from the experience.  Well, ok, since you asked nicely, I’ll share the details.  You’re so convincing.

I spent the night up on cloud nine.  Been there?  I got to go to attend my very first book tour.  And not just any book tour, darlin’.  Dorothea Benton Frank.

Those of you just joining us may need to know that this lady is my absolute, most favorite author.  I take in her  words with an addiction.

Frank’s books are laugh-out-loud funny, saucy, touching, and salty with a capital ‘S.’  They all take place in South Caroline (my favorite place) and are near impossible to put down once I get started.

Some people feared I may be disappointed once I met her.  Well, let me tell you!

I thought she was even more fabulous in person.  She was down-to-earth, casual, congenial and honestly quite lovely.  I bet she’d make a great girl friend.  I can definitely see where here lead characters come from.  I think the protagonists of these books are just a wonderful reflection of the author herself.

Dottie had me laughing the whole time.  She told a couple of funny stories from past book stories and then talked about the becoming of Folly Beach, her latest.  During her Q&A session, I confessed her to be my hero and told her I wanted to be just like her when I grew up!

I also recieved some great advice as a writer and was suggested a book called On Writing, by Steven King, to help me along.  That was followed up with a “If you have any more questions, just email me!”  I was a giddy school girl, right there in the front row.  I could not wipe the smile off of my face for hours (the Bloody Mary that followed probably didn’t help).

I had her sign a copy of my very favorite book, Sullivan’s Island.  What a treasure, I have, now!

So no.  No disappointment over here!  Dottie seemed like the best kind of friend a girl could have.  She was everything I hoped for and more.  It was exciting, wonderful and something I’ll never forget.

When the show was over, I was too excited to go home to a quiet, empty house.   Instead, I took myself to Cheddars for Bloody Mary.  Maybe next time she’s in town, she can join me!

Biggest. Fan. Ever.

Tuesday!  Its finally here!  Today’s the day I’ve been so patiently waiting for. 

Tonight, I have my very own special date with the library.  Yep, my most beloved author will be there for her book tour.  I’m so excited and totally nervous.  Should I try to strike up a chat with her?  What should I say?

Anyway… On with the business at hand.

Via

Today, I want to talk to you about some hair product.  Its a big messy world, that of hair product.  And I’ll be honest: for the most part, when it comes to the world of hair, I have found that you get what you pay for.  

You want a low price?  Be prepared for a lower quality.  I’m not saying that all nonprofessional products are bad.  Not at all, really.  

Garnier Frustis and Aussie are two grocery store brands I never bad mouth.  And Sally’s has several knock-off brands that really aren’t that bad.  But, they are what they are.  At least Sally’s offers a guarantee they stand by.

Since the hair product world is so big, I figured we could just start from the beginning.  Shampoo:

• Bed Head Moisture Maniac – Great moisturizing formula for dry, damaged and/or curly hair.  I could feel a difference as soon as I rinsed the suds.  If your hair is more fine and light weight, be sure to follow with a lighter conditioner so you don’t weigh your hair down.
• Biolage Color Care – This one is wonderful for colored hair of any texture. But notice I’m using the word colored instead of lightened.  As you know from last week’s post, highlights are not usually done with color, rather with powder lightener (unless you’re mostly gray).  This product is for people who change their natural tone or go darker.
• Clairol Shimmer Lights – This is for you blondes (and mostly grays).  You know how your pretty cool shade can sometimes get a yellow/goldish tint?  Well, try this purple product no more than every other time you shampoo and I can almost promise you’ll notice a difference.  People you often see, definitely will.  You may even be questioned about having refreshed your highlights.  If you start noticing a purple/blueish tint, ease off.  You’re using it too often.
• Big and Sexy Big Volume – This shampoo is great for two types of dolls: those with flat and/or oily hair.  I don’t think I need to tell you why its great for flat hair.  The thing about most volumizing shampoos, though, is that they tend to dry your hair out which is great for you poor oil pits.  But if oil is not an issue, you want to be sure to follow this with a standard to moisturizing conditioner, to avoid excess drying.
• Redken Extreme – If your hair is extremely damaged with lots of major split, dry and broken ends, this is the one for you.  However, it can leave your hair feeling a bit dry.  Be sure to use a good moisturizing conditioner to help put the moisture back into those lovely locks.  After all, moist hair is healthy hair.  Healthy hair is shiny hair.  And shiny hair is beautiful hair. Also keep in mind, that sometimes your hair is just too severely damaged to be fixed with a product.  Sometimes only the scissors can help.
• Matrix So Sleek – Does your hair have all the frizz and lacking in the pretty natural wave and curl? Try this one but go easy on the conditioner.  Its great for smoothing down the aggrivating frizz, but is a heavy formula that can weigh your hair down if its fine in texture.  You may need to try a lighter condition–maybe even a leave-in formula–so you don’t weigh it down to the point of being greasy.