High 5 for Friday!

Seems like the only time I am able to blog is Fridays! But that's alright. ( :

I've had a pretty good week. I've been extremely tired since my child has not been sleeping well (except for that blessed Wednesday night, when she slept all night long in her crib!!), and I've been staying up way too late. I am determined to start going to bed earlier, though! 12:30-1am is way too late for this workin mama.

 So, without further ado, here's my 5 highlights of the week!

1. Sunday night we went to the local Olive Garden for my niece's 18th birthday party. It was my first time at that location (they just opened last summer) and I was really looking forward to it. Turned out, I wasn't all that impressed with the food. Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat, so I was pretty bummed this one didn't live up to my expectations. But the fun time with my family more than made up for the food! We had a great time. I don't get to hang out with my sister and her kids that often, so it was nice to get that opportunity. And of course, C kept us all entertained!

2. Last Saturday, I rode my horse Wiley. I'm trying to ride every weekend now. I just feel so much better when I get to ride. Wiley did pretty well. I didn't have high hopes since the last time I rode him he laid down....yes, he literally laid down on the ground while I was on him! Luckily I was able to get off before he crushed my leg, but woah. Kinda scary. Crazy pony. Anyway, Saturday he was good. We had some discussions when I asked for the canter, but I was prepared for that since we haven't cantered in a really long time. Like over 2 years. (Long story.) In the end, I won (of course) and he gave me a nice little canter, both directions.

 

3. Last night, C and I went to a Thirty-One party at my friend's house. We had so much fun! Thirty-One is kinda a big deal here in the south - not sure if that's the case all over the country. They have all kinds of cute bags, totes, purses, baskets, etc. in really pretty prints, plus everything is monogrammable! Monogramming is another big deal here in the south. We like our initials on everything. I haven't really jumped on that bandwagon so much, though I do appreciate a nice monogram. I have a Thirty-One skirt purse and one of the skirts has my initials on it. (By the way, the skirt purse is the absolute BEST purse I have ever had - seriously! Its the perfect size, very comfortable on my shoulder, and I love that I can change the look in about 15 seconds, without having to move all my junk.) Last night, I ordered another skirt for my purse, a cute scarf to use as decoration on my purse (I know, I know, its another southern thing), and a camera strap in a really fun print. I also qualified for one of their new products at 1/2 off, so I got a hang-up family organizer. I can't wait to it to come in and I can put it to use! 

4. The Premonition series by Amy Bartol. Love love love!! I'm a huge bookworm, even more so since I got my Kindle. I can't remember how I stumbled across this gem of a series, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I think the series is geared toward a younger than me audience, but I don't care. I am also obsessed with the Twilight series, so there ya go. ( :  (Oh, and I loved the Hunger Games series, as well, though not as much.) The Premonition series starts off with Evie, a college freshman looking to make a new start. In time she discovers she's half angel, and other angels - both fallen and divine - are out to get her. Of course, she gets a love interest (two actually - an angel and a human) and makes some great friends. They all go through some intense events together, which I won't talk about because it'll ruin the book for you! I was hooked from the first page of book 1. I just finished book 2 this week (which is why I have been staying up way too late - its hard to put down!!), and I purchased book 3 yesterday. Though I need to read my book for the women's church group first (more on that at another time). For some reason, the books are super cheap on Amazon - like $3.99 or so each. I can totally see this series becoming a movie series, and if that happens I will be all over it, haha.

this was from 2008 - I used this pic as my entry for the RTF competition

5. Finally, an important part of this week for me was the Rock the Frock competition. Just Becca Photography hosts this competition every year. Its for any woman who can still fit into her wedding dress (whether she's still married or not). Its basically a chance for you to wear your wedding dress again! Since I am still in love with my wedding dress, I am all for anything that lets me put it on again. The contestants campaign for votes (which is done online and is free), and the three women with the most votes become the finalists. Those three get a free photo session in their wedding dress. You can do anything you want in your session. Some girls have done a trash the dress session before, some stick with more traditional stuff, really whatever you can dream up Becca can make happen. My dream was to get a picture of me galloping in a field on my horse. I did use Sunshine in my bridal portraits, and I did sit on her, but we were all so worried that I'd ruin my dress that I couldn't relax and get exactly what I wanted (though I was very pleased with my pictures, and still love them). Anyway, after the three photo sessions, a panel of judges will select the winner, who gets to appear on the cover of Down Home Magazine, which is a local magazine. There's a story on each of the finalists inside the magazine, but the main focus is on the overall winner. The winner also receives other smaller prizes.

I entered Rock the Frock last year and did pretty well. I don't know what place I ended up in, but until the last day I was staying in the top 5. My cousin ended up winning last year and her pictures were absolutely breathtaking. This year I decided to try again. Next year I might not fit into my dress, who knows! Well, the contest started at 6pm last Friday and ended at midnight Monday. I campaigned hard! I was so overwhelmed by the amount of support I had. People for campaigning for me and every day someone had a facebook status about me. It was so heartwarming. I stayed consistently in the top 5 every day (Becca did updates twice a day). Unfortunately, I didn't win. I finished FOURTH! So close! I couldn't even be upset though, because of all the nice things people were saying about me. I updated my facebook status to show my appreciation for everyone's support, and people were commenting on how I was the winner in their eyes and all this nice stuff. Almost brought tears to my eyes, and I am not a crier!

What was really amazing happened the next day. Becca e-mailed me and said that someone contacted her and said that I really deserved to win the competition, so they were paying for me to have my own Rock the Frock session! I was shocked and so grateful. It was my best friend and her husband, who live in England right now (he's in the air force). I couldn't believe someone would want to do that for me. I'm still kinda in shock about it. So, sometime soon I'll have a photo session in my wedding dress! I'll get my dream of having my picture taken in my dress on my horse. I am SO excited!!


So that's my exciting week in a nutshell. I am linking up with Lauren at from my grey desk blog. Welcome to any new readers that come over from Lauren's! ( :

High 5 for Friday!

I haven't done this in a while. Not sure why, since its pretty fun to think back on my week and pick out the highlights for a blog post. Most of the good stuff happened last weekend, but I'll count it since this weekend hasn't started yet. ( :

1. Last Saturday, I took C to her first parade! She loved it. We met up with my friend Angela and her baby Ashton, who is super adorable. He just turned 1 and C used to be smitten with him, but now she thinks he needs to stay far away from her, which is hilarious. Anyway, my mama and my cousin also met us there. We all had a great time. After the parade, we played in the park, which was also fun. Saturday was a great day. C and I were busy the entire day, but we loved it. ( :

2. Sunday, DH and I took C to have her pictures taken. These are technically her 2 year shots, even though she's not quite 2 yet. We like to do them early so we can give prints as Christmas gifts. We use Erica at Erica Letchworth Photography and she is awesome (and if you go to her site, you'll most likely see pics of me, DH, and C!)! Erica's been taking pictures of me and DH since we got engaged. She did our engagement pics, my bridal portraits, family pics of me, my brother, and my sisters, my wedding, my maternity pics, and all of C's milestone pics. We love her! I haven't seen any sneak peaks yet (Erica is super busy with Christmas fast-approaching), but I know they're gonna be totally awesome. First, because Erica is the best photographer I've ever seen, and second, because C was in a great mood and had so much fun during the shoot. (Normally, she's pouty during a photo shoot, and we can't get smiles out of her.) I brought a bunch of balloons, we had bubbles, and her rocking horse and I cannot wait to see the results!!

3. After the photo session Sunday, we got our Christmas tree! We normally don't put it up quite this early, but I was ready, so I convinced DH. There's just somethin about a live tree in my house that really gets me in the Christmas spirit.

4. This week I started an Advent celebration. I've never observed Advent before, but I stumbled across Truth in the Tinsel and I couldn't resist. This is definitely a tradition that we will continue!

5. This is my cat Jordan. He just makes me happy.

This week I'm linking up with Lauren at from my grey desk blog. And I think its safe to assume that the button I attempted to post below was done incorrectly! I am so blog-posting-illiterate! ( :

<a href="http://www.frommygreydeskblog.com/2012/01/high-five-for-friday-button.html"><img src="http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd361/lauren_FMGD/H54Fbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>

High Five for Friday!

Highlights of my week:

1 - I had a follow up appointment with my GI doctor. Actually, his NP-C, but she was very thorough and I loved her. She was surprised I haven't seen any relief yet. When I asked her about my milk allergy, she said milk was probably contributing to my reflux, but it probably wasn't the source of it. She said to continue to eliminate all dairy, though. She also gave me a steroid inhaler to use for 2 months. Apparently, some of my issue is an allergic reaction in my esophagus. The theory is that an inhaler used for asthma symptoms can help. I was willing to try it. Today is day 4 of the inhaler, and I think its helping. I'm still on my other 2 meds for reflux. I can't say I'm symptom free yet, but I'll take any relief I get! I have to go back in 2 months to see how I'm doing. If I'm still having issues, we're gonna run more tests.

2 - Today marks day 10 of being dairy free. I can honestly say its getting easier! I still crave dairy products, especially chocolate. But cooking is getting easier. I still want to try cooking with almond milk or something like that. Maybe I'll attempt that this weekend. I bought myself some expensive dark chocolate that is dairy free. Its much more bitter than I like, but it does satisfy my cravings.

3 - We went to the beach again this past Sunday! This time, me and DH went with my dad and took C out on the boat. She loved it! We couldn't stay long because a really bad storm came up, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

4 - Last Saturday, I got up super early and drove several hours to the Constitution Party of NC State Convention. To be honest, I was dreading the event. Especially the drive! 8 hours by myself in a car? No thanks. But, it turns out the drive wasn't so bad. And it was only a little over 3 hours instead of the 4 that mapquest said. And I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the convention! We had great speakers and I learned a lot. I don't want to repeat almost 7 hours of driving alone any time soon, but it did give me a chance to think and be quiet for once. ( :

5 - C and I attended the local La Leche Leage (LLL) meeting Monday night. We haven't been since she was around 10 months old. They only meet once a month, and something always came up on meeting nights. I was so glad we went to this one, though. Attendance was low (just us, the leader with her 3 super loud kids, and two other mamas with their 6 month old babies), but we had good discussions. Its always nice to talk to other breastfeeding mamas.

I'd almost like to add a 6th highlight here. I don't have much planned for this weekend! I've got a few projects I'd like to get done around the house, but if they don't happen I won't be upset. I have a riding lesson to teach tomorrow morning, and that's about it. I'm so excited for a relaxing weekend! ( :

High Five for Friday!

This week has thankfully been a slow, pretty event-free week for me. I'm definitely not complaining! Here's a quick list of the highlights from my week:

1. I got my hair cut. Well, trimmed. I'm growing it out (or trying to), and right now it sits just a tad below my shoulders. The last time I had it trimmed, I had my sister (don't worry, she's a professional!) do something different. I wanted the ends to be more fringe-y instead of straight across. I saw it in a magazine and thought it looked really cool. Not so cool on me. It was terrible to work with! So this week my sister just trimmed my hair normally and it is SO much better. Hey, when you're at this awkward length like I am you take what you can get with your hair!

2. I got a new flat iron! I know that sounds pretty dumb, but I'm super excited about it. I realized my el cheap-o flat iron was part of my problem, and it was probably ruining my hair. So I got one that's a little more expensive (still only $30, but that was at TJ Maxx, so its really more like $60) and I can already tell its much better. And its pink!

3. I discovered deep conditioner for hair. Yes, this is three hair events in one week, and yes its probably very shallow of me. But I don't care. This is what has made me happy this week! One of my favorite blogs, The Small Things Blog, is written by a professional hair stylist in Raleigh. She's got all kinds of tutorials for hair styles on there, and so much more. Recently, she did a FAQ video and one of the questions she answered concerned deep conditioners. I'd never used one before, but after hearing her advice, decided to try it. I got the Organix Moroccan Argan Oil deep conditioner from Target. Probably not the best stuff out there, but I really liked it. It made my hair feel really silky and moisturized.

I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week because it (like the rest of my body) is extremely dry, and washing any more than that is too much for it. I already use a pretty intense conditioner (I think), but this stuff just made it feel so much better. Today I'm on day 2 post-wash and my hair still feels great, not dry at all!

4. Okay, enough talk about hair! Last night, it hit me how truly happy I am with my life. God has blessed me so much. Sure, nothing is perfect, and I get discouraged and upset sometimes, but really, I've got a great life.

This week, I bought my daughter a pair of "shortalls" (that's overalls, but shorts instead of long pants) from Target. I've been eyeballing them all summer, waiting for them to go on sale. They went on clearance this week, so I snagged them. She, of course, loved them. (My child loves all clothes, God help me.) Immediately wanted to put them on. So last night I put them on her and she walked around the house so proud, with her hands in the little pockets. Then DH came home to mow the grass, and C wanted to ride with him. So I put her shoes and sunglasses on and took her outside. As I watched them ride off on the mower, it just struck me: I am so happy. Its probably going to be super annoying when she's a teenager, but right now C's assertion of her own fashion sense is super cute, and seeing the love between my husband and my child just lights me up.

5. The last thing is something I'm trying really hard to make positive. This week, I was diagnosed with a milk allergy. My allergist recommended I avoid everything that contains milk products. I didn't realize this at first, but milk is in everything. Even deli meats and hot dogs! The only way to tell how severe my allergy is is to eliminate it from my diet, then slowly add things back and see how I react. So for one month I am going completely dairy free. Its hard. I'm only on day 2 and its a struggle. I don't know how to cook without using milk or butter, so I'm having to relearn everything in the kitchen. Its frustrating. The silver lining I'm trying to see is that hopefully this is the cause of my severe reflux (GERD, whatever you want to call it), and once I get milk out of my body I'll feel better. Fingers crossed!

High Five for Friday!

This week has been a challenge, to say the least. Last weekend, our big freezer in the laundry room broke. Everything in there thawed out. It was a disaster. And it led to more problems later in the week. We have now recovered (I think), and looking back, all I can say is "MAN!" I am just glad its Friday and this week is almost over!

Despite all the stress, I can say there have been good things about this week:

1 - I can count on my daddy to be there for me when I need him. I already knew that, but the knowledge was reinforced this week. I was having a major breakdown over an issue yesterday morning (another problem stemming from the broken freezer), and DH was already at work. I called Daddy and he came right over. I am not ashamed, either. Yes, I am a grown woman and I should be able to handle my own problems. But there's nothin like callin your daddy to come make everything better! (For the record, I can count on my mama, too. But she was having issues with one of her horses that morning and couldn't come.) I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Which is awesome because he's technically my step-father. He raised me, though, so I rarely even think of that label.

2 - I learned this week that sometimes, you need to take a step back from a situation and recognize that its the Devil workin against you! I did that Saturday, when the freezer broke. Things were extremely tense at our house. I went outside to transfer some food to the other freezer (we're hoping everything wasn't totally ruined, but we'll see), and while I was out there it struck me that yes, the freezer breaking is stressful and it sucks, but the Devil is totally making it worse by making us lash out at each other. I prayed about it, and when I went back inside I felt much calmer. You just have to see the Devil's work for what it is, and then its easier to deal with. Now, the hard part is realizing that when something's going wrong! I certainly don't always do that, and even later in the week struggled with it.

3 - This week, I "taught" C how to eat Oreos - you know, the RIGHT way. DH bought a package and gave one to C. Of course she loved it. I only eat Oreos after dipping them in milk, which DH thinks is nasty, so I introduced it to C. She loved it, but I think she prefers eating them plain. She just likes the mess associated with dunking the cookies in milk! We probably shouldn't be encouraging our child to eat sweets and other "bad" foods like Oreos, but come on, you gotta live a little! At any rate, its so cute watchin her try somethin new. ( :

4 - I've been able to sleep on just one pillow this week. I have GERD and the reflux has been terrible lately, so I've been sleeping on 3 pillows to prop me up. Which makes my back hurt. I went to a specialist, had some tests run, got on new medication, and its starting to help. At least enough so that now I can lay flat at night and sleep like normal people. And I'm not in constant pain all day. So its a huge improvement, and I am grateful for any relief!

5 - We got a new kithcen table this week! I already posted about it earlier, but I'm so tickled with it,  had to include it here. I feel less cramped in my kitchen now, and it "goes" with our kitchen much better than the old table did. C loves it, too. Every day when we get home, she goes into the kitchen and says "new table!" ( :

So what are the highlights from YOUR week?

High Five for Friday!

I'm going to eventually link up with Lauren at from my grey desk for these High 5 posts. Every week, Lauren gives the top 5 highlights of her week, and invites other bloggers to do the same. I don't feel I'm quite ready to link up and really get my blog out there, so for now I'll just share my own 5 highlights and not tell the entire world. ( :

1. My husband and I had a great day together yesterday! I had an upper endoscopy done first thing in the morning, which was not exactly fun, but afterwards, we spent the whole day together. Granted, I was groggy and extremely tired from the sedation, but I'll take what I can get. We did a little shopping, and a lot of talking, which was wonderful.

2. I discovered Pancake Puppies at Denny's! Yesterday was my first time eating at a Denny's restaurant, and it was really good. But my favorite thing was the Pancake Puppies we got as an appetizer. (I know, right? Who needs an appetizer for breakfast?? I do, when I've not been allowed to eat since the night before and its waaaaay past my normal breakfast time!

3. Even better, I found out how to make them! Maybe this shouldn't count as 2 things, but if you tried them, you'd probably understand. Its actually not as hard as I thought, so this is definitely something I am going to try soon! (This recipe is for the blueberry/white chocolate ones, which sound Divine, but I had the strawberry ones yesterday. You dip them in cream cheese icing and it is heavenly!)

4. Dye-free children's ibuprofen. We don't use a lot of pain medication for C, but lately we've been giving her ibuprofen at bedtime. She's cutting 4 molars and she is in serious pain (as evidenced by her constant waking up and screaming throughout the night). The doctor told us it was fine to give her ibuprofen every night until the molars are in. She likes the grape flavored stuff (I always buy generic to save money), but its dyed purple. I recently purchased some dye-free generic (I think I have the Target version). Its berry flavored. I gave it to C last night and she loved it. Score! I read a long time ago that all the dyes that go into foods, drinks, and medications can be irritating for some people, especially kids. All kinds of issues have been linked to dyes. So just in case, I like to avoid them when possible.

5. The beach! DH and I took C this past Sunday. It wasn't C's first time at the beach, but it was her first time this year. Meaning, it was her first time when she could actually play! Last summer, she wasn't walking and the beach did not impress her. She loved it this time! We went in the morning when it wasn't so hot or crowded. We played in the water, built sandcastles (which C immediately destroyed, haha), and looked for seashells (which C decided should be thrown back into the ocean right away). Our beach day was a perfect day. ( :

What are the highlights from YOUR week?