Afternoon, love!

One of the greatest things about our move further south has been the neighborhood/area we now live in.  We live within walking distance from Lost River Cave, which offers more than just boat rides into a cave.  They also have some short walking trails on their property which are free to take advantage of.  Even better than that is the fact that these walking trails also have water and rocks for more outdoor fun.

We had nothing on the schedule a couple weeks ago, so we grabbed a big water bottle and set off for a hike.  Lilie thoroughly enjoyed the rock climbing and searching for rocks in Lost River Spring.  Its mostly shaded, so I’ll definitely have to remember to take advantage of that this summer.  summer + book + shade + trickling water = happy girls

You might be surprised to hear I’m not one of those mothers who mopes about how my baby isn’t really a baby anymore.  When I think about it, I think, “Good!  Now we can go do the really fun stuff.”  I love that Lilie is finally getting old enough for these types of outdoor adventures, for this is the first of many.  We would like to go on at least a few hiking/camping trips this year.  Hopefully some canoeing, too.

What are your favorite outdoor activities? Any planned for the coming months??

Mornin’, darlin’!  Looks like another beautiful day is waking up to say ‘hey,’

This past weekend was a much needed break, from the usual, for me.  Two of my college sweeties and I headed down to Nashville for a girls’ day.  We started the trip with some way-back tunes from the always curious music collection of my good friend, MB.  That girl….

I’m not writing to get into the details of the who, what and where of the day, though.  And while there was a lot of fun times reminiscing the past, I have something else I want to talk about.  Its more about the end of the trip that really did so much for my soul.  These girls have been there for it all.  Alicia is my oldest friend {15yrs} and MB came in just in time for college {9yrs}.  They’ve seen me at my best and–Heaven forbid–my worst.

While I always knew I had the best friends a girl could ever ask for, I still always felt like there was something in my head that just made me different from the rest.  Something that kept me slightly on the edge of the group.  I couldn’t explain it, but even if/when I tried, I knew they just wouldn’t understand.  Its something that plagued me for a few years of my life.  Some sort of secret mind struggle I was having yet had absolutely no idea how to even describe or deal with it.

Then, there was that random little Shoney’s on the side of I-65.  That’s where, over brunch, we sorted it all out… well sort of.  We laid our hearts on the table for some Spring Cleaning.

We’re all in our mid twenties and have a bit more life experience under our belts.  As we sat there and talked, I felt like we just connected, all over again.  Like maybe we just finally really figured each other out…kind of.  Haha.  This is harder to put into words than I thought, but I just wanted to get it out.

I guess the point to the story is this: Whether its physical, mental or emotional, we’re all going to go through things that we don’t understand.  Sometimes, we’ll feel like we’re in it alone.  But here’s the thing: we’re not.  If you’re as lucky as me, you’ll be blessed with amazing people, who might not completely get you, but they’ll get your pain.  Eventually, they’ll experience something which makes them feel the same way.

Just when you think you’re growing apart and life is taking you in separate directions, a little experience called growing up can bring you right back together.

Does it make sense that I feel closer to a friend since they’ve started experiencing some mental/emotional hardship in life?  I feel like we’ve some how connect on a deeper level, or something, lately.  Like the “flame has been rekindled” {haha}?  I think its just the support we are able to share and appreciate for/from one another, which really brings us closer.  She’s a keeper, for sure.  We even have a “song,” now {it must be love}!

Enough rambling, though.

In conclusion, make friends, hold on to the good ones and get a therapist.  I have the first two in the bag.  Hope your weekend was even half as beneficial as mine.  I love St. Patrick’s Day.

Morning, sweet pea! Hope you’re enjoying this week as much as me!  A few things I’d like to note:

First: I attended my first small group meeting last night.  It was wonderful.  We’re following a lesson book by Beth Moore.  From what I’ve seen so far, this woman is amazing.  I really feel her speaking to me on a personal level.  I can’t wait to dive in deeper.  Also, I love the relationships I’m building, here.

Second: The weather has been absolutely perfect this week.  I even {accidentally} got my first sunburn of the season.  Time to pull out my sun screen and floppy hat, I suppose.  Dandelions are in abundance and my vases are being put to use once more.  These photos were taken during a break from the August heat, last summer.  I’m excited for sun dresses and playful days in the sun, to come.

Third:  I may just be silly and imagining things, but I feel something coming.  I don’t know if it will bring happiness or hurt to us, but I feel it looming.  Intuition is a real thing, right?  If its a good thing, great.  If not, I invited it none the less.  Bring it.  I picked up a great verse at my small group meeting which is a great reminder of why we should appreciate the bad as much as the good.  I invite you to read John 16:20-24.

And that’s all.  As I said before, I hope your week is going as well as mine.  Nothing big has taken place, but then again, its the small things that matter most, right?

Share: Tell me one thing that has made you smile this week.

Almost a year and a half ago, my family up and moved towns.  We’re not too far from our home town, but far enough to be just the change we needed.  We wanted to move further, but the timing didn’t feel right.  Baby steps, though, right?

Though there’s not much our new town lacks compared to our old one {other than some special people}, one thing was missing.  One big thing.

A church home.

The church we attended in our home town {RCC} did not make choosing a new one easy.  Its an amazing church, full of amazing people, doing amazing things.  I love the feeling I walked away with after every service.  There were plenty of ways to get involved.  And did I mention the people were amazing?  They were loving, fun, supportive, open minded, accepting and non-judgmental.  Not to mention the worship.  Don’t even get me started on the awesomeness of their worship group.

After leaving RCC, our expectations were high.  Searching for a new church home hasn’t been easy.  We’ve been suggested a few, but still insisted on something more like RCC.  We even tried making the commute as much as possible, but that just resulted in lots of fuel and excuses.  Our trips trickeld and so did our walk with God.

Then, someone at RCC told us about RLC.  She said someone from RLC had actually been up to RCC and stated that’s the kind of organization they wanted to be like, as well.  Hmm… sounds promising.  When I looked them up that same day, everything I saw on their site just made me more curious and interested.  Billy and I talked about it and decided to try them out.

This was about a month ago, now.  We haven’t joined, but I think we’re really close to doing so.  We haven’t found a single thing we don’t like about it.  We’ve attended three Sunday services and a couple of Sunday night “classes” which have been very informative.  This week, we are going to try out their men’s and women’s small groups.

Most importantly, we’re getting to know new people.  Godly people who may likely benefit us and our lives.

The week after our first visit, we were at our neighborhood park and the pastor’s wife and kids just so happened to be playing there, too.  We’ve now met up a couple of times for park visits.  After a year and a half, we’re finally making new friends around here.

I can’t help but think this is all just another part of God’s plan.  He could have brought this church to us sooner.  He could have waited longer.  But things haven’t been so sunshiny and easy, lately.  Billy is still out of work and I’ve battled with thoughts of putting school on hold.  Its been stressful.  Something has been reoccurring in my thoughts, studies and readings, lately, though: His always perfect timing.

He’s never early, never late, but always right on time.  He’s shown us time and time again.  Trust and He will be there. Always.  Right on time.

Coincidence?  I’m not so sure.

Has there ever been a time in your life you maybe were asking for something or needed something and received it just in the nick of time?

Happy Friday, darlin’.  Are you relieved its here?

Spring Break is winding down and I feel it wasn’t a waste.  I have a completely clean house to show for it.  Oh, and A nice new shop open for business.  :)

Though I have tried to keep myself from being completely worthless, I’ve also allowed myself to be  lazy a bit.  Time sipping coffee and finding time lost in a day dream, time writing, designing, planting some herb seeds, time wasted in front of the boob tube and time aimlessly wandering the web.

I hadn’t used StumbleUpon in a while, so the other day I thought I’d see what I could find.  I love finding new things to feast my mind on.

Over at Stylist I found this really great list of the Top 100 Opening Lines from Books.  I was happy to see some of my favorites made the list.

I found this list of  ideal food combinations to be both interesting and helpful.  I know that growing certain herbs/veggies together was beneficial to growth, but I didn’t realize eating certain food paired together could be beneficial to your health.

I’ve seen this site before, but I’m not sure if I shared it or not.  It is probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while.  This lady takes drawings by children and gives them life as a toy.  So clever.  What a special little treasure to hold on to.

The National Education Association has a list of Top 100 Books for Kids.

Though I have yet to hop onto the ebook wagon, if I did finally decide to own one, I’d insist on this case.  I don’t really think I have to tell you how amazing I think these are.  They’re gorgeous and I love them.

T’ is all.

Have a blessed weekend!

Hey, there, doll!

This week is my Spring Break.  I have yet to figure out why anyone would plan Spring Break to be in Winter, but then no one asked me what I thought, huh?  It hasn’t been too much of a break around here, though.  We’ve been Spring cleaning and I’ve been doing a bit of computer work.

What kind of work, you ask?  I’d be more than happy to tell you.  First of all, I finally purchased a pack of card stock in order to  print out my own card designs.  So, Monday was a day of printing, writing and mailing.  I love getting little ‘just because’ notes in the mail and possibly love sending them even more.

But that’s not all.

One of my goals for this year is to actually make some sort of profit off my own designs.  Therefore, I’ve finally opened my very own online shop.  I have just been dying to share this with you all.  However, I knew I needed a few days to tinker and move things around to make sure I got it just right.

And now, I think it is.

I’m ready to share my newest baby with you, today.  The grand opening of Fuzzy Wishball Designs.  I can’t wait for you to check it out.  I’ve also added a link/page onto the Facebook page and a button to the right to make finding the shop easy and convenient.

To celebrate the grand opening, I’ve created a promotion just for you!  It will only be posted here, for my readers, so I hope you feel special… because you are!  Type in the code open4business anytime between today and March 17th {Saturday} and you’ll receive 10% off.

Also, after you’ve checked out the new addition, I hope you’ll come back here and tell me what you think in the comments.  Can’t wait to hear from you!!!

I want to share something special with you.  I searched through previous posts and didn’t find anything, so I think this is the first mention of it.

Back at the beginning of January, Lilie and I decided to have a movie night in Mama’s bed.  I have my collection of Disney VHS from when I was a kid and Lilie hadn’t watched Peter Pan yet.  Being one of my all time faves {right in between The Little Mermaid and Aladdin} I was more than happy to oblige and thrilled to share the first viewing with her.

Since then, it has become one of her most favorite stories.  She received a Peter Pan book for Christmas which has now been read several times.  We have also sat down and watched Hook and the 2003 Peter Pan a few times {I hear the same from her stepmom}.  Like I said before, though, Mama is more than happy to feed this interest.

Lilie’s imagination is amazing and has been commented on by many.  She spent a few weeks searching for Neverland only to realize she’d need to find some pixie dust, first.  We went to Hobby Lobby and bought some {glitter}, only to find out we must have gotten the off-brand because we still couldn’t get off the ground.

Since then, Peter Pan–I mean Lilie–has been on many adventures and found lots of buried treasure.  She has claimed me as her Wendy and was shocked to find out Billy was a pirate.  Thank goodness, however, he’s not a bad one.  He turned out to be a good pirate who tried teaching her to read a map in hopes of better treasure hunting.

I’ve found the story Peter Pan to be full of inspiration, really.  So much so, that I’ve created a sweet little 8.5”x11” printable to share with you all.  Feel free to download and do with it what you will {personal use only}.  And if it finds its way to Pinterest, too…. great!

Its a beautiful day, out, so I better run.  Have a good one, love!

Hey, sweet cheeks!  Ready to wrap up this Spring Hair series?

Now that we have our hair healthy, shiny and fabulously colored, let’s style it!  I’ve put together a pretty good collection of fun and easy styles for you to try out.  There should be a little something for everyone in this list.  Not really one to put a lot of time into such tasks?  Girl, this is the season for you.

This Spring, lets put the “natural” back into “naturally pretty.”

Are you one of those girls that tends to throw the hair up in a ponytail all the time?  Well, boy, do I have great news for you.  Ponytails are so in this season.  But these aren’t just regular ponytails; these ponies are packing some kick.

1. FunkyHead 2. MSN Living 3. Blog Wonders 4. Beautylish 5. Handbag

Something else to add to your styling bag would be a big round brush, because, baby, big is in.  Grab your favorite root booster and get to lifting.

1. All You 2. Stells and Co. 3. 2012 Hairstyles 4. Cosmopolitan 

Much like last year, braids and twists are still coming on hard.  Everyone is really starting to get creative with this one, but you won’t hear me complaining.  I think my hair spend most of last Summer braided, so I can’t wait to get my hands on these.  And, as it seems, the messier, the better.

1. Shine.Yahoo  2. Daily Makeover  3. Tip Top Tens  4. My Yellow Sandbox  5. A Beautiful Mess

Last, but not least, wave.  Don’t feel like messing with the flat iron?  Good!!  Don’t!  The health and appearance of your hair just might thank you for it.  Don’t fear the au naturale look.  So your hair isn’t really curly, but not quite straight?  That’s perfect.  Just add a smoothing/shine serum and go.

1. All Womens Talk 2. Hairstyles Design 3. Naturally Curly 4. Makeup By Selina

Now, how do you feel about styling your hair?  A little less intimidated, hopefully, and maybe even a little excited.

Do you have a favorite on the list?  Which hair style are you most excited to try?