Picture Love

As most of y'all know, we had our one year wedding anniversary this past October. To celebrate, I forced talked the hubs into taking anniversary pictures. 

I have fallen absolutely in love with this local photographer (Brandi Smyth Photography) and we will be using her for every single picture for the rest of our lives! : ) As long as the husband agrees, of course. 

Enjoy!

I have a few more to share, but I figured that was enough for today! : )

(All photos are by Brandi Smyth Photography. Do not use them without her permission.)

Love, love!

Words

We don't/can't always understand or comprehend the things of this world. 

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Things happen beyond our control, despite our attempts, against our wishes. 

The friends who lose a baby, the parent who succumbs to cancer, the best friend who betrays you, the teenager who dies in a car wreck, the grandparent who develops Alzheimer's, the child who commits suicide due to being bullied, the mom who dies in childbirth, the husband who gets killed in combat fighting for his country. 

There are some really bad things in this world. It's true. We all know it. We can't understand why. We don't have to understand why. We just have to turn to God and say "Lord, I need you."

He wants to be there to pick us up. He wants to be the shoulder that we cry on, the friend that we turn to, the hand that we hold. He loves us...He loves YOU. 

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A little deep for a Friday, but hey, that's what spilled out onto the screen. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love, love!

These Three Things - Fabulous but Evil

I'm so excited to have the ever wonderful Tara from Fabulous but Evil here today for my weekly "These Three Things" series! This girl is the creative mind behind the infamous "Target Tuesday" link up. She also started the more recent "Link Love" where she spreads bloggy love to other blogs for posts written during the week. Basically, it's amazingly sweet and she's amazingly selfless. Plus, she's totally gorgeous and pretty dang funny. Read on and enjoy!

hi. my name is tara and you can usually find me blogging at fabulous but evil. i am super happy to be here sharing these three things that define ME! i blog about all kinds of random nonsense, so that's exactly what you are going to see here today! if you follow my blog or follow me on twitter or know me in real life, you'd know that these three things are things that i am pretty much obsessed with.

[one]

mean girls! 

um. hello! THISISTHEBESTMOVIEEVER. i have been obsessed with this movie since it first came out in 2004! i find ways to quote it daily. don't be surprised if i randomly ask you: "is butter a carb?" or yell out "YOU CAN'T SIT WITH US" if you're not wearing pink on wednesday! and guess what? the title of my blog is actually a quote from mean girls! 

[two]

cheeseburgers!

y'all. i'm addicted to cheeseburgers. ADDICTED. they are like a little taste of paradise. what's crazy is i never eat cheeseburgers at restaurants, only at fast food places! mcdonald's, wendy's, burger king, sonic, whataburger, in-n-out.. NOM NOM NOM. for serious, i went and got a cheeseburger for thanksgiving dinner. and actually, i'm craving one right now.

[three]

unicorns!

i don't know how you could not be obsessed with the most amazingly magical animal ever. unicorns just scream rainbows and glitter and happiness to me, so i love them. hubs even bought me a little unicorn that i named 'princess sparkles!' she rides around with me in my car. speaking of unicorns, please go find out your unicorn name. mine is: 

Windflower Golden Nostrils

"Windflower is silly and loveable.

She is as golden as a sunrise,

and she dances in clouds of falling stars."

what three things define you?

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Ahhhh, Tara. I totally adore you! Anyone who is a friend of cheeseburgers is a friend of mine! Plus, your unicorn name is amazing! I just checked mine and it's "Tulip Charming Reins." I'm not gonna lie...I kinda love it. Tulips ARE my favorite flower! : )

Thanks so much for being here!

Love, love!

Life Lately

A quick look at some things that have been happening around our little household:

Decorating for Christmas.

Buying fall stuff on clearance. 

Playing with cute puppies. 

Painting nails.  

Enjoying the cold weather!

Throw in a lot of working, a little bit of sleeping, tons of eating and some snuggling/loving...and that's been our life in a nutshell. And y'all know what? We are loving it. It's really been on my heart lately to be intentionally grateful at all times...and that's what we are doing. We are just enjoying this sweet time in life, relishing in the day whether it's busy or boring, and riding the hills and valleys of this ride called life. 

Love, love!

Sometimes and Always #3

Sometimes: I wish that I lived up north somewhere because I adore cold weather!

Always: I'm really glad that I don't ever have to shovel any snow. 

Sometimes: I wish I was a puppy so I could curl up by the heater and sleep all day. 

Always: I like human food too much to be a puppy. 

Sometimes: I think about getting up early on my days off so that I can get stuff done. 

Always: I end up sleeping in...until at least noon. 

Sometimes: I look at the healthy options on a menu when we go out to eat. 

Always: I never end up ordering the healthy options. : )

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(Question...several people have asked me to make Sometimes & Always a link up. Would y'all be interested in that? Leave me a comment if y'all would link up and I'll definitely consider it!) 

Please welcome my sweet sponsor Amy from Oh So Charming!

Amy is totally adorable and her blog is full of beautiful photographs, creative inspiration and fun fashion. Head on over and make a sweet new friend! Plus, she has a giveaway going on right now! Enter it here. 

Love, love!

PS: I still have 3 sponsor spots open for December! Special holiday rate of only $10! 

Turkey Recap

My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the food family. I especially (is that a word?) love when my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, because then I get to spend it surrounded by all my closest family. And lucky for me, that's exactly how it happened this year. 

Hubs got off later that afternoon from the fire station.

The fam. 

Believe it or not, this was my mom's idea! Gotta love her. 

My sweet sister...whose birthday is TODAY! Happy happy birthday, sis!

My Kohl's boots. 

And the birthday part wasn't so bad either. 

The birthday loot. : )

And with this post, it's officially time to put Thanksgiving to rest and welcome Christmas with open arms, Yankee candles and silver bells. Y'all get the picture. 

Love, love!

PS: Sponsor holiday discount -- only $10 for the month of December! I only have a few spots left!

The Lone Diner

Last night the hubs and I went on a date to Outback. 

Sidenote: that place is delicious. 

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We definitely had a Bloomin' Onion! YUM!

Anyway. 

As we were waiting for our table, an elderly man in a huge cowboy hat struck up a random conversation with us, discussing the rainy weather, hunting (seeing as my hubs was in his camo jacket), and anything else that came to mind. He was so friendly and the light conversation definitely helped to pass the time. 

He got called to his table and we said our goodbyes. We assumed he was the first to arrive and was waiting for his family. We thought nothing else about it. A few minutes later, we were called to our table. Once we sat down, we noticed our sweet cowboy sitting in a little corner by himself, enjoying his dinner, looking completely content with life. 

And the truth is...he inspired me. I'll admit it, I'd never go eat anywhere by myself. I'm way too self-conscious and I would feel like people were thinking "oh that poor girl doesn't have any friends." And that is shameful, because who really cares what anyone else thinks? We don't know that man's story. Maybe his wife has passed, maybe his family was simply out of town, but regardless, the man wanted Outback and he went. 

And I want to be that carefree and brave. 

Would y'all go eat somewhere by yourself? If y'all do, I admire it!

Love, love!!

PS: Check out my amazing sponsor Jolie and Me. She makes adorable eco-friendly pieces, perfect for gift giving at Christmas! : )

Christmas Choices

Thank y'all for the sweet birthday wishes the other day! We had an amazing Thanksgiving and my birthday was so special and full of family and food. So far 26 is looking to be a great year! And now we can officially start counting down the days to Christmas! 

One thing that I have started doing is looking at Christmas cards. I'm still a little bit stuffed from Thanksgiving/birthday meals, so browsing the internet is the only acceptable activity right now. : )

I've been looking through the Christmas cards over at Tiny Prints and I'm seriously in love with about fifty. 

Love these colors. 

Love this wording. 

These are precious because they can hang on the tree!

Adore the red/green Christmas color combo. 

So what do y'all think?? Which one should we pick?? I'm definitely leaning towards the ones that have the typical Christmas colors involved! They just feel more "real" to me. 

They have SO many options...check them all out here! But first leave me some feedback! I'd appreciate it!!

Love, love!!

Disclaimer: Tiny Prints is giving me 50 Christmas cards in exchange for writing this post. 

A Thanksgiving Birthday

Hi everyone! I'm Michaela, one of Megan's BFF's! I blog over at Michaela Noelle Designs.

Today's a veryyyy special day, as it's Thanksgiving AND someone's birthday!

Yep, it's Megan's birthday!

Among the many things I'm thankful for this year, Meg is very high up on my list! I was able to fly to Louisiana this summer to spend a whole week with her. She's truly one of the most caring and loving girls with an unbelievably good heart. I love her desire to serve others and the Lord in all she does.  Meg is like the sister I never had {and always wanted!} and I'm truly so blessed to have her as one of my best friends. (:

We wish you another amazing year full of joy, family, friends, and lots of blessings!

Have a cupcake on us! (:

So...wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And enjoy the rest of your Turkey Day!

xoxo,