Friday Faves

I'm finally back with a Friday Faves post! I was busy out on the lake last Friday to do a post, but I'm not going to complain about that one! Which brings me to my first favorite of the week.

One
Spending a long weekend at Lake Eufaula with my favorite people. We had an absolute blast and made so many memories. It was fantastic!

Two
And speaking of long weekends, I'm totally looking forward to spending some time with my family at Indian Pass this weekend! Woot, woot!!! I love, love, love the beaches of Gulf County. Mainly because it still feels like "Old Florida" to me and isn't all commercialized and a million tourists aren't there to annoy me. It's quiet and relaxing. And not to mention beautiful!

Three
Getting a surprise visit yesterday from my mother and my aunt. That was the best surprise! These ladies are travelers, let me tell you! They started out in Pensacola, FL yesterday morning and by that afternoon were in Thomasville, GA. They are now headed up to Dothan, AL and will be in Indian Pass, FL tomorrow. Professionals. 'Nuff said. They were in Thomasville to hit up the Bridal Shop. My aunt is trying to find her mother of the groom dress for Heath's upcoming wedding. And the one she tried on that she is considering is Gorgeous with a capital G! Loved it!

Four
I love my fake J-Crew necklace. I tried to take a picture of me wearing it the other day. That was an unmitigated disaster.

As you can see, the timer on my phone wasn't wanting to cooperate with me that day.

Five
My new favorite cup. I am officially obsessed. I've been wanting one of these cups for a while. Mainly one with my monogram on it (and that is still going to be in the cards), but I picked this one up when David and I were in Charleston. Love it!

Bonus
I usually only do 5 favorites, but this totally made my week. Hopefully it's ok that I post it :-) Heath sent me this picture and I died laughing!

I told him that he looked like he should be in the cast of Hee Haw!

Image via

Alright peeps. That's all I have for you this week. Have a fabulous weekend!

Group Trip to Lake Eufaula

I finally remembered to bring my camera to do a post about our trip to Lake Eufaula in Alabama today. I did not remember, however, to bring the camera cord. So all I have today are pictures from my phone. Guess they will have to do!

This past weekend, a big group of our friends rented 3 houses on Lake Eufaula for a long weekend. As per usual, this group is always has way too much fun when we all get together. We had the absolute best time!

This was only a few of the people that came on the trip. A lot of people had left on Saturday to go get ready before we could take a true group picture.

Lake Eufaula was absolutely beautiful. It is such a huge lake! All the many times I have driven past it, I guess I just never realized the massive size that it really is. We all decided to hang out on the sandbar at Rabbit Island on Friday and Saturday. It was the perfect spot to just float in the water.

We packed sandwiches and snacks and pretty much stayed out on the water from sun up to sun down.

We even had something to keep us occupied. Only a bunch of people with small children would have a toy boat that they keep in their boats! The sandbar was full of mussels, so we spent a lot of time trying to ring the boat. We had quite the load by the end of the day!

The fun didn't just stop at the sandbar, we even took a swim in the slough that our house was on and jumped off the dock and played in the water there.

If you can tell, the water around the boat dock had a little algae issue going, which is why I didn't swim there. Or it could have been because they had spotted an alligator chilling back there, as well!

My brother has the ugliest swim shirt in the world that he brought with him. We all found it amusing to steal it from him at every opportunity and wear it. Here I am proudly sporting the "shark shirt" that is soooo hideous!

Later that night, I stole it out of Brad's room for Kyle to sport. Sadly, our rough housing with the shirt ended badly with a hole in the armpit. Poor Brad!

And speaking of ugly clothes, we decided that Friday night would be redneck night. We all had to dress the part. We are a special group, I tell ya! I of course brought my jorts and camo Alabama Wing House shirt.

I thought it was appropriate to wear a camo shirt with Alabama written across the back with a deer head. Ha!

However, I think Brad took the prize for the evening.

Nothing like a mullet wig and a Bush Hog mesh hat to amp up the redneck vibe! Our poor waitress, KK thought he was a celebrity in hiding. SMH....
Needless to say, we had a blast. It's wonderful to have a group of friends like I have. We can't wait until we go back next year!

Go Indians!

Via

Just wanted to give a shout out to a fellow Chipola Junior College alum and Toronto Blue Jays right fielder, Jose Bautista for coming in second in the Home Run Derby yesterday. I went to Chipola with him and he was such a sweet, sweet guy (back in my hanging-out-with-baseball-player days, ha!). So he deserves all the best that comes his way!

Congratulations, Jose! You make Chipola proud!

We Finally Went to Charleston!

After not making it to Charleston last weekend, we finally travelled up there this past weekend. We had the best time with all of David's friends, who had gathered for a 30th birthday celebration of David's friend from the Citadel, Brian. It's been a minute since I have been to Charleston, so it was wonderful getting to go up there and spend a little bit of time, no matter how brief.

David was chomping at the bit on Friday evening to go up and see his friends, so as soon as I arrived in Savannah I basically threw my stuff in his car and we were off to Charleston. It made for a very long day, but it wasn't too bad. Plus, I could just sit back and relax while David drove. Mr. Moxley army crawled his way to the front seat despite our protests and efforts to keep him in the back. He was determined to come sit with me, and he succeeded.

He is so big, it was hard to budge him. I really thought I was going to have to hold him for the entire 2 hour drive up to Charleston. He was a big fan of the front seat. AC, a nice view, and me. What's not to love? We finally got him safely into the backseat, so thankfully he cooperated.

David has become somewhat of a pyromaniac since going to Lake Hartwell. He has a new love of fireworks, all beginning when I wrote this post. We had to stop in Hardeeville, SC at the huge fireworks stand for David to get some supplies for the weekend.

 This place was massive. I liked that they had a tv going that previewed all of the fireworks boxes, so you know what they do before you buy them.

David was a happy camper after getting his fireworks. He was truly like a kid in a candy shop. Needless to say, all of the guys this weekend were in hog heaven playing with these things. A poor trashcan wasn't as happy about it, after they exploded a homemade (yes) M80 in it that I swear made the windows in the house shake.

Saturday, we decided to hit up the beach. We opted to go to Edisto Beach about an hour outside of Charleston instead of Folly Beach. I loved Edisto. It was so beautiful. I wish I had taken my camera to take some photos. Gorgeous drive and gorgeous part of the country. I really didn't take many photos this weekend. Wish I would have though. Oh well!

After the beach, we got ready to go to dinner. We all went to Pearlz Oyster Bar in Charleston. It was delish. I would totally recommend it!

Soon it was Sunday and I was bummed that we didn't really get to tool around downtown Charleston. So after brunch, David and I headed out to go home. We did however, take a brief detour downtown so that David could show me a few sights before we came back. We were all excited! Even Mox.

David drove me around the Battery and through downtown Charleston. I had forgotten how beautiful Charleston is! I loved the Ashley River (of course, what can be bad about a river named Ashley? ha!!)

Or the best road in Charleston? A road named Ashley? Hmm..

I'm a dork, so please excuse me!
The only stop that we did make in Charleston was the Citadel. We had the dog with us, so we couldn't really do too much. David gave me a drive thru tour and we stopped at the bookstore. I really enjoyed my tour. The Citadel is a gorgeous campus and David was so cute telling me stories about everything.

I was even able to get a picture of the Barracks with David's company letter painted on the wall.

 If the barracks weren't locked, I would have totally gotten our picture taken inside by the "I" maybe our next trip we can :-) Or I guess there is always photoshop. Ha!

Well, that's it considering my limited picture taking over the weekend. Now it's back to the daily grind of work. Sigh...

Friday Faves-4th of July Edition

I don't really have any Friday Faves of the week, other than spending some quality family time over the 4th of July holiday. Who's with me about hating when the 4th falls in the middle of the week? Add to it that we had several people out of the office this week, which meant no extra days off for Ashley this week, which is fine I guess.

First, let me take a moment to talk about my favorite man on this earth, my father.

You will never find him just sitting around. He is ALWAYS piddling on some project or another. He is the hardest working man I know and I absolutely adore him. He really is my hero. <3 This weekend, he had a new toy- a bow. More specifically for bow fishing. (SMH..) My brother and father had to get it rigged up and tested a few times on Tuesday. It was pretty comical to watch. My brother was teaching him how to use it "properly" and if you have a brother/father combo like I do, it is always funny to watch them interact.

Needless to say, things didn't go according to plans during the test run and an arrow had to be retrieved out of the water.

Luckily, Brad was able to find it, so all's well that ends well.

Unfortunately on Wednesday, it rained all day long, so we weren't able to get out and enjoy the sunshine. But that was ok with me as well. I got a much needed nap in snuggled up with my puppies. So no complaints on my end, especially since I had a late night the night before.

Tuesday night, I headed out on the river with my father and cousin Brandon, for a little fish gigging excursion. {how redneck are we? ha!}

It was so pretty out on the Chipola River with the full moon and all. It was gorgeous, and if my camera would have cooperated, or if I knew how to use it in low light..., I could have taken some pretty pictures.
Brandon and I took turns between holding the lights and gigging. I'm not really that great at either, but especially the gigging part. Guess my hand/eye coordination and depth perception aren't the best. But I did manage to get this ugly guy.

That would be a gar fish. His face is hanging down, if you can't tell. And I totally look like a deer caught in the headlights, which I was. Having a bright flash go off in your face when it's pitch black dark outside is startling.
All in all it was a great holiday. I even got to go down to Scott's Ferry and watch my nephew and his cousin swim a little bit on Wednesday evening. Isn't Rendi cute?

Oh and meet WeeMan...he's not so cute :-)

He's a Blue Heeler/Jack Russell mix. But he's sweet.

Well, that's about all I have to share with you and my favorite moments from the weekend. Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day and that you have a fantastic weekend!

Change of Plans

Last weekend, we were supposed to go to Charleston. We ended up not going, due to the super high heat index and the fact that David's dog would have to stay outside in the 100+ degree weather. So we have postponed our trip until next weekend, which I guess works out better since it is his friend's birthday and a lot of his other friends are coming into town for the festivities.

We did however, manage to take a quick road trip up to Hilton Head, SC though....and all at David's suggestion! I have been hinting around that I wanted him to take me to the outlet mall, which is only 30 miles away, and quite torturous for me knowing they are so close. So on Saturday, David surprised me and told me he was finally taking me! So we loaded up and hit the road. The outlets in Hilton Head are in 3 separate phases, all about 1 mile apart, so we only hit up the first one. I figured that was all David could handle. But I got to hit up JCrew, BCBG, and Saks so I was satisfied.

After shopping, we rode down to Hilton Head Island for lunch. I always see people wearing Salty Dog Cafe t-shirts, so I told David we should check it out and try to go there for lunch. So that's exactly what we did. And after all my obsessive picture taking of late, I will have you know that I barely took any pictures this weekend! Shocking, I know! I did manage to snap two while we were down at the Salty Dog, but I'm sure you are tired of seeing David's mug, so I will spare you that one :-)

This was looking down onto the outside dining area. I wish I would have taken one of the marina that the deck looks onto because it was so pretty. I am trying to convince David to buy a boat, so we can float up to Hilton Head when we want to. It's not far at all from Savannah, especially by boat!

We had a nice day until the drive home. That's when we got into a small car accident. We got hit from behind, but luckily there was no damage to either vehicle, so we called it a day.

I did snap a picture of David and the other driver though. I can see the relief on David's face that everything was good!

One interesting part of the weekend, was that I got to watch a movie being filmed!! They were filming the movie CBGB in different places in Savannah and we happened upon the set on Friday night.

They were filming on Congress Street right beside Paula Deen's restaurant and right beside our favorite hang out spot. So, we got to walk right past the scene and all the makeup stations, cameras, etc. It was so neat to see the behind the scenes. This was what we watched being filmed:

We watched that guy playing the cop and the one and only Professor Severus Snape Alan Rickman!  There was another Harry Potter cast mate there that I was hoping to see, and that is Ron Weasley. The movie also has Ashley Greene of Twilight fame, as well as Leonard aka Johnny Galecki from Big Bang Theory! Sadly, I saw no random celebrity sightings, although we did pass a lady who looked so much like Paula Deen that Paden seriously about freaked out and went back to have his picture taken with her. We finally convinced him that it was not Paula, just a lady with white hair :) ha!

Well, that's about it. Hopefully next week I will have some Charleston pictures to share! Hope everyone has a fabulous Fourth of July!

Friday Faves

It's Friday, ya'll! Do the happy dance with me! This week has flown by and June is now almost a memory. Here are some things that I am loving this week:

1. My little "happy" for me: I had to get on the J-Crew Bubble necklace bandwagon. I finally broke down and ordered one...but from Ebay of course! I wasn't about to drop 250 beans on a piece of costume jewelry. So, $30 later, I have my knock off!

Not bad, huh? I love it. There were a few options on Ebay, some as cheap as $15. However, by looking at them, they didn't seem to be of the same quality of this one that I found. This one looked a little more authentic to me. I might have to break down and get a couple more colors. I love it! (Please excuse the messy hair and tired face. I'm not fully awake yet this am!)

2. My new "happpy" for the office: I finally got around to purchasing a frame for my artwork for my office. And I kinda "love" it! It makes me smile.

Mainly because it is next to my three canine loves. It is also a good reminder when I get frustrated or aggravated at work with someone. I look over and its like God is telling me to  "love one another." So it's my own personal attitude adjustment.
3. My weekend trip: I am sooo looking forward to heading back to South Carolina this weekend to visit Charleston!

David and I are mixing it up this weekend and going to stay with his friends for the weekend and bum around Charleston. I will definitely be stopping here for a few pictures:

And no trip to Charleston would be complete without a personal tour of David's alma mater, the Citadel!

It should be a fabulous weekend!

4. Planning for a future trip: I am looking forward to spending some time with my family here next month:

And hopefully squeeze in a little of this along the way:

 And a little of that:

5. Finding some old "love letters" from high school:

Ok, this isn't exactly a love letter from David, but he did draw me a nice picture of his Bronco and our Scrambler. We were so retarded! But at the same time, I thought it was cute :-) I like how he labeled us driving, since I wouldn't be able to figure that out otherwise ha!

Well, that about sums it up for me this week. Hopefully I can come up with something a little better next week!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!