We're heading to St. Simons Island tonight for our beach summer vacation. And it couldn't come at a better time. Really. Just looking at these pictures below makes me breathe easier.

Hope you enjoy your week!

DIY: Pallet Shelves

This was my inspiration for an empty wall space in our bedroom...

Shipping Pallet Shelves

I won't take you through the whole tutorial on here, but you can find a basic one that I followed loosely here.

what I started with (thank you husband for grabbing the pallet!)

Too much time and too much sweat and soreness later, I discovered we had one of these ---->>>>

Made my life, and this project so much easier!

about half way through

The only significant difference b/t the way I did my shelves and the

tutorial I linked to is that I didn't nail the bottom of the shelves into place.

It was just going to be too much. Instead, I measured the bottom pieces

of wood (from the leftover pallet) to exactly match the width of the

opening. Then I used wood glue and a hot glue gun to set in place!

I'd say we're satisfied with the final product!

Confession...

i. love. harry. potter.

(I guess I have technically already confessed this before.)

Today is a big day. Tonight is the premiere for the final installment of the Harry Potter series. Now, I'm a huge, huge HP fan, but I'm not obsessed. I think J.K. Rowling is a beautiful writer. I have fallen in love with the cast of characters. I laughed with them. Cried with them (used almost an entire box of tissues for that last book). I was so bummed when it was over.

But, I'm not going to dress up like any of the characters and sacrifice sleep to catch the first view of the film tonight. In fact, I haven't even seen the last movie. Now that's partially due to the fact that I knew it would be really hard to watch Part 1, and then wait 8 months for the final one. But also because the books were really what did it for me.

However, I will be seeing this movie sometime soon (hopefully in theatres...maybe IMAX?...and of course I've got to watch the first one before). And I still want to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal and visit Hogwarts, browse around Hogsmeade, and sip on some butterbeer.

And you should definitely check out the preview below.

Only one can live.

Celebrations with Food

This past Friday was Jamie's 29th birthday! In true fashion, we ate our way through the weekend, while celebrating one of the greatest men I know. And definitely the handsome-est.

Exciting morning...happy birthday, J!

(Pretty sure I love birthdays more than he.)

First up, Lindsay's amazing Oat flour pancakes for bfast. I used her

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes recipe, but I substituted bananas

(Jamie's favorite) for the pineapple. I had never baked with oat

flour before (or Greek yogurt), but they were amazing! And so

much better for you...don't know that I'll ever go back!

Next up: (later that night, of course!)

Jamie's favorite appetizer in the world.

Bistro Niko's mussels. Yum!

On to my mom's pecan crusted salmon recipe with

roasted brocolli, yukon gold mashed potatoes and

french bread - all at his request.

We capped off the weekend at Kyma with Jamie's

mom and sister. Yummy Greek, and they've

got fabulous $7 appetizers on Sunday nights.

Was a really great, exciting weekend, and I can't wait to tell you more about it! More pictures to come too, as we had a Saturday visit from the cutest nieces and nephew you've seen!

7.4 in photos

The Allen family annual 4th of July mountain weekend was such a fun time, as usual. Here's a look at some of the weekend's events, in pictures.

watched + sent off lots of fireworks

enjoyed a dinner out at Wade Hampton

Lots of time at the lake (High Hampton pictured here)

On Daddy Big's boat at Lake Glenville

tubing til we couldn't tube anymore :)

High Hampton's annual 4th of July cloggers

So much good food...mom's 4th of July ribs

So grateful for such a wonderful family!

(We missed you, Andy, Betsy, Sue + Kelly!!)

Caroline Mae

This past Thursday night, we got to welcome Caroline Mae Burkhalter into the world.

Her mom (so crazy saying that) is the oldest friend I have. Kathryn and I grew up playing in the crib together, then going through potty training, on to making up our own plays in the backyard, family vacations, high school drama, college road trips, dating relationships, weddings, and now a baby!

I already love this little girl and I haven't had the chance to meet her yet! But I'm on the schedule for a late-August trip to Jackson, MS to love and hug on this girl til she just can't stand it anymore.

Kathryn, I hope you don't kill me for putting up this picture without asking, but I couldn't help it. I mean, you sure do look AMAZING for just having had a baby (well, actually, just in general!)!

Kathryn + Caroline leaving the hospital