the gifts

Sweet Jamie didn't want me to post on this, but I don't see how I can't (plus I assured him that I have a total of about 11 people who read my blog :).

In the weeks leading up to our 1 year, Jamie had mentioned that he had no idea what to get me for our anniversary. There's not much that I necessarily wanted, other than household things, and none of those seemed very anniversary-ish. Not even my closest friends and family had any ideas for hiim.

So about a week ago, he mentioned that 1 - I wasn't allowed in the guest room closet, and 2 - his gift wasn't something he could/wanted to take with him to California. So, that's when we decided it would be anniversary week, and he planned dinner last night and wanted to give me part of my gift. (Another part is a manicure/pedicure tonight! Yesss!)

He called me on his way home last night, and told me I had to wait in our bedroom while he set everything up. I heard him clinging and clanging in the kitchen, and was so confused. Anyhow, he finally told me I could come out. With the warning that he had gone more sentimental this year.

And it was amazing.

There was this bouquet of pretty much all of my favorite flowers (save daffodils, which were impossible to find).

And then there was this...

He painted for me! And it's actually good! It's technically his anniversary card, with the note written on the back (he won't let me call it a painting b/c he says it's not).

I know, to anyone who reads this, you may not be freaking out over this like I was. But this is the thing...my husband is amazing. Truly amazing. But he's not necessarily the most sentimental man. It's amazing how the little things mean more than most anything else. He remembered my favorite flowers. He heard me mention that I hadn't had my nails and toes done in forever. He painted something...for me!!!

I, on the other hand, gave him the part of his gift that has no sentimental value what-so-ever. Well...I take that back. I had given him a pocket video camera as part of his wedding gift. Lost it. And gave him another one on our anniversary. Does that count as sentimental?? I am excited about my other gift tho...post to come after it's been given.

In the meantime, have a great weekend and next week! Think of us as we're sipping on wines, hanging by the pool, and relaxing!

361

361 is the number of days that Jamie and I have been married. Crazy to think that's we are (very quickly) coming up on one year! Part of me doesn't want it to end....and part of me can't wait for 50 more.

15 is the number of thank you notes I still have left to write. Shame on me, I know. But technically you do have one year. I sure did drag that one out, didn't I?

One week is the duration of our anniversary celebration! We have deemed this Anniversary Week, and plan to take advantage of that. Tonight we're going to Parish to celebrate and hand off the first round of gifts.

1 is the number of hot air balloon rides we were gifted as an anniversary present. My boss is pretty good like that, so we'll be celebrating eaaarrrrrly in the morning of the 25th, flying high above Napa Valley.

5 is the number of people we'll be with on our actual anniversary. For our wedding, we were gifted an amazing Sonoma Valley, CA vacation home from some close family friends. It was too great of a deal and set-up not to invite some of our favorite people along.

9 is the number of days we'll be on vacation!

Countless are the number of amazing and blessed moments we've had during our first year of marriage. Cheesy? Absolutely. But oh so true. Marriage is the best, and I am so thankful that God created it like He did.

dogwoods, sweet potato fries, and spoons

This past weekend was a classic Atlanta weekend. It's not often that we're in town and capitalize on the fun, spring offerings of the city.

Piedmont Park hosted the Dogwood Festival, and I decided it would be a great opportunity to get some friends together and enjoy the weather. Although a mish-mosh of friends (neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc), we roamed the booths (twice!), filled our tummies with yummy festival food, and soaked in the sun while we listened to the easy-listening main-stage bands.

The girls at the park

After the festival, we came back to our house, made pizzas, lit up the chiminea, and played spoons.

The girls at the house

Lindsay, her cards, and the spoons

The men were the last ones left

And just because he's the cutest lil' babe I know, here's a picture of baby Grant. We got to play with him after church, which is always a favorite!

Happy Friday!

Thank you, Spring, for finally coming!

I know I'm picky, but my only request (well, 2 requests) is that you get rid of this pollen and these annoying tiny green worms they hang from little webs. My car is filthy, my nose is stuffy, and every time I climb our porch stairs, I end up in a mass of webs, pollen, and inch worms (just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out exactly what these little green worms are, but still unsure).

On to more fun things — this weekend is Atlanta's first real spring "festival" weekend! Tomorrow, we've got a big group going to the Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park. Music, art, and a big, green park on a sunny day! Perfect. The Sweetwater420 fest is also going on in Candler Park. If we get a chance, we might do both, but the Dogwood Festival was on my radar first, so it wins.

Oh — a random picture of one of my favorite people and I, taken for another one of my favorites, to let her know just how much we miss her at work and in Atlanta.

Happy weekend!

blissful weekend recap

Masters weekend in Augusta, GA is just about one of my favorite times of the year. Because my family is based there, we've grown up going to the tournament, working out there, and coming back each year that we're away. This year we were able to have the entire family in town and it was a blast!

Here's a quick recap of our weekend.

Thursday :: shrimp creole, catching up, friends in and out, but no pictures. :(

Friday :: a day at the tournament with egg salad sandwiches & azaleas, mini-engagement/meet Betsy party, more friends and family, and pretending to play catch phrase*.

*long story!

Saturday :: celebrating Honey's birthday!

Jamey cooks his signature meal [breakfast] for the birthday lady!

Family photos in mom's garden

The most anticipated event? Taking dad's new boat out for a cocktail cruise!

Celebrating the April and May birthdays!

Sunday :: watching Phil win the Masters!

If you need me over the weekend...

Don't bother to call, cause this is where I'll be -

With all of these cuties -

And the rest of my fabulous family! Even picking up Andy + Betsy at the airport in just a few hours! Celebrating mom's bday (and Kathryn's!! from afar), my favorite time of the year in the AUG, and just being together!

one persistant egg

On Sunday, Sue, my mother-in-law, planned an egg hunt for Jamie, Kelly, and I. A grown-up egg hunt. With money instead of candy! And it got a little competitive (see below pictures for proof).

Jamie got the most eggs, but I got the most money. :)

And to top it off, yesterday I was on my drive home from work and noticed this little straggler.

Somehow we missed it, and it had made it from home to work, work to Atlantic Station and back, then half way through my drive back home! Hilarious! (And it brought my grand total up $1.50 more.)

How He Loves Us

Happy Easter, friends! What an amazing day to celebrate life...real, full, joyous life. All thanks to an amazing Savior who loves us more than we can imagine!

This year, I got to host lupper (well, it wasn't brunch, so what do we call a 3pm meal?!). Since it was a three day weekend, I got to spend most of Saturday cooking, baking, and planning out the decor - so fun!

Not all of my original ideas actually played out, but with a little improvising, it worked out just fine.

Saw this adorable idea for place cards (necessary when there are only four of you? Nope. Fun anyway? Yep!). However, my wheatgrass just didn't grow like I needed it to, so that plan flopped. But, while I was making my iced sugar cookies, I decided to made four cookie

cutouts - one with each of our first initials.

For the centerpiece, I decided on lots of moss, a few hydrangeas, and some colored Easter eggs. I was working with a small grocery budget - the moss can be used over and over again, the hydrangeas were from the Dekalb Farmer's Market, already had the wire bowl, few magnolia leaves from the backyard, and we've always got eggs. The tulips are from Walmart....tried to convince husband that flowers weren't groceries, but he wasn't having it.

While our everyday lives are not formal at all, having Easter at our house gave me an excuse to pull out the fine china and silver. Some of which was just handed down from Mimi, Jamie's grandma, to us (as mentioned previously here). Here's a picture of the table set up, before we moved it outside to sit in the gorgeous weather!

And the outside set-up.

Menu: Lamb chops, asparagus, tomato pie, kale, and sweet potato biscuits. Yummy!

For dessert, I made more of the iced sugar cookies. I had no Easter cookie cut outs, but it was simple to cut out my own (notice that there are more eggs than anything...hey! they're round!)

And in honor of the kick-off of Masters Week, we served Azaleas.

Finally, some family photos -

Hope your Easter was as lovely and enjoyable!

dear mr. sun

I love that you have now decided to stay out a little longer at night. However, I would really appreciate if you would hurry up and begin to peek out earlier in the mornings. As if it wasn't hard enough for me already, getting up in the dark is really tough. Sigh.