Tuesday Tunes

Do you love music as much as I do?  I mean, when I say I love music, I really mean it.  My iTunes account ranges from anything from classical to rap and everything in between.  Music speaks to my heart, takes me back to certain places, reminds me of some of my favorite people and is involved in many of my all time favorite memories.  I think on the blog I will dedicate Tuesdays to music.  I will share favorite lyrics, favorite albums, new songs, etc.  

Here is a song I am currently very obsessed with.  It is not a new song.  But came up when my iTunes play list was on shuffle.  Alison Krauss is one of the most talented musicians.  I have had the chance to see her in concert twice and have been blown away by her talent each time.  And not to mention, she say behind me at church once when I was visiting some friends in Nashville.  I am pretty sure that puts us on a first name basis!  I love this song and hope it will make you smile on this chilly Tuesday evening!

What song are you obsessed with right now?   

And the Winner Is...

Wow friends...thank you so much for spreading the word about my giveaway!  It was so fun to have new people come and check out the blog!  I am very excited about new followers and blog friends!  

I want to apologize for not getting this post up sooner, but I decided last minute to go spend a day in Asheville with my momma!  And that was a great decision.  

We had a wonderful day full of great food from one of our favorite local places, Sunny Point Cafe.  I mean how delicious does this breakfast sandwich look.  

We did some shopping at some of our favorite places, The Screen Door and TJ Maxx Home goods.   And last minute we decided to go to the movies to see 12 Years a Slave.  I am not sure I took a breath the entire movie and the tears certainly flowed.  I highly recommend this film and can see why it is up for some many awards.  

So since my mom was with me, I decided it would be great for her to pick the winner of the blog giveaway.  

I wrote all the names and put them in this cute bag to find a winner!  Here is Suz before picking the big winner!  She was super happy to be the one to pick the lucky gal!

And we might or might not have made a pit stop at McDonalds to have this little photo shoot of picking the winner.  I needed some caffeine for the ride home anyway!  :)  

Drum Roll Please....

And the winner is.....

I am so excited for you Beth Collins!  Can't wait to share some of my favorite things with you!  

And again, thank you to all those who entered.  I think I will make this a monthly thing on the blog. What do you all think?  

Have a great rest of the weekend friends!

Five for Friday

Linking up with some great gals today to share my 5 for Friday!


One.

I am hosting my very first giveaway on the blog this week.  It has been so fun to see people get excited about the giveaway and share my blog with lots of their friends.  I loved being able to put together a little basket of my favorite things!  Can't wait to find out the winner later today!

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Two.

I did something this week I never thought I would do.  I joined the local YMCA.  My great friend Kristi is a member and we decided we could meet up at the gym afterschool for some friend time!  It has been a week and I have really enjoyed getting a little workout in on the way home.  I am by no means a workout guru but its more moving than I have been doing!  Here we are after our first friend workout!

Three.

Last weekend I met up with 3 of my forever friends for our annual Christmas gathering and a little birthday celebrating!  It is always so good to be with people who know you inside and out.  Our time together was full of gift giving, laughter, yummy food and just all around fun.  We even made a little trip to the Harrah's Casino for lunch to celebrate Beth's birthday!  Love these gals!

Four.

I had been wanting to go to our local Wine and Design place for a while and was glad to organize a little girls night out with some great gals.  We had such a good time painting and catching up.  Such a fun group of girls.  Hope we will be able to do something again soon!  Here are our finished masterpieces!

Five.

Thursday afternoon I came home to a little surprise in my mailbox. Don't you love that?  I had forgotten I had ordered some great bracelets.  When I opened the envelope I was so excited.  I love them!  I am especially fond of the black bracelet with the 3 gold charms.  I can't wait to layer these up with some other pieces I have!  I do love some great arm candy!  :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Be on the lookout for the Giveaway winner on Saturday morning!  So excited!

Favorite Things Giveaway!

In my weekend recap post, I let you in on one way my friends and I like to celebrate Christmas!  We started our Favorite Things Christmas last year and it is so much fun!  The concept is simple...think about your favorite things and buy them for your friends so they can enjoy the goodness too! I have given things like K-cups, nail polish, office supplies, music and much more!  So for my first giveaway on my blog, I thought I would share some of my favorite things with you, dear readers!  

So what is tucked away in this little basket of fun?  Just a few of my favorite things!  Here is the breakdown of what is included...

1.  If you have read this blog, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I LOVE COFFEE!  I have a Keurig and enjoy fun K-Cups.  These are from Target and are yummy!  And coffee has to have a fun mug to go with it!

2.  While perusing the Target Dollar Spot last week, I found this cute Valentine tea towel.  It will certainly help to spruce up your kitchen for the holiday!  And who doesn't love chocolate.  These fun little bars are super good!

3.  Back in November, I joined some good friends and 100 of my closest Young Life kids for a great weekend at Windy Gap.  The group that led worship that weekend was Jenny and Tyler.  I think I had heard their music before, but fell in love with their sound, lyrics and heart over that weekend!  I simply had to share one of their CDs with you all!

4.  One of my absolute favorite things is to receive mail.  And while I don't write as many notes as I would like to, I do love cute paper products.  And these pens...oh these pens.  They are the best!  

5.  Every girl needs a little pampering!  I have always been a Burt's Bees gal, but recently decided to branch out and try some new chapstick!  I was not disappointed with this EOS Sweet Mint lip balm.  I think you will love it too!  And speaking of lip care, the ELF Lip Exfoliator is great for the winter weather!  And cheap :)  Fun nail polish is a must for any gal!  These are two of my favorite colors!

6.  Target.  Need I say more.  I know they have been in a bit of trouble lately,  but I sure do love this store!  So a little Target GiftCard rounds out the giveaway!  Treat yourself to one of your favorite things!

Whew!  I am so excited to send this Giveaway Package to one of you readers.  Giveaway starts tonight and goes through Friday.  I will announce the winner on Saturday!  There are 3 simple ways to enter this giveaway! Make sure you leave your name and email address in your comment! Here you go!

1.  Leave a comment on this blog post letting me know what your favorite thing from the giveaway is!

2.  Follow my blog!  On the side bar of the blog is a simple way to follow the blog with your email address!

3.  Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!  One entry for each!  Just leave me a comment letting me know you have shared! 

Happy Wednesday friends!  

Coming soon...

Tonight I will be posting my first ever....

Stay tuned friends for a fun New Year Giveaway!  

A Weekend Recap and a Surprise

Happy Monday friends!  Hope Monday was good to you.  Due to sickness and record cold temps this is my first real full week back at work since Christmas break, sure hope I can make it to Friday!  

Do you ever have those kinds of weekends where you stop on Sunday to reflect on it and your heart is just full?  I had one of those weekends this past weekend.  It was such a great one.  So dear readers, here is a little weekend review for you!

Before I left for school on Friday, I packed up the ole Altima because as soon as the bell rang at 3:15, I was going to hit the road for Sylva.  One of my favorite weekends of the year is when I get to celebrate "Freindly Christmas" with Beth, Lori and Sarai.  And yes, I know I spelled friend wrong, we will save that for another post.  I love this tradition we have of gathering in January to celebrate Christmas together.  We rotate houses, eat good food, laugh til we cry and just celebrate each other.  Last year we started the tradition of doing Favorite Things Christmas.  We buy our current favorite things for each other and it is so much fun!  

After a wonderful Christmas celebration Friday evening, we continued the celebration by celebrating Beth's birthday on Saturday!  We opened presents, went to the Casino for a yummy lunch and of course had birthday cake!  I am so very thankful for these forever friends.  And cherish every celebration we have together! 

The fun continued Saturday evening when I met up with some gals at the local Wine and Design studio for some painting, wine and great times.  I loved being able to catch up with these friends and I don't get to see very often.  I can see many more girls nights in our future!  And Wine and Design was so much fun, once I became comfortable with making some artistic decisions!  

Ended the evening Saturday catching up with some of my favorite people, the Lemkes and Amanda!  What a fun and full Saturday! 

Sunday was spent watching the Panthers in the playoffs with the Alfaros.  Sad game but what a great season and then some Downton Abbey with the Lemkes and Amanda.  What a shocking episode.  Loving this season and can't wait til next week.  Although I am not a huge fan of that Edna.  She is no good! 

So now for the surprise...

Later this week I will be posting a giveaway!  I am so excited and hope you will check it out and share my blog with friends!  Also have something exciting in the works with my friend Alisha.  Go check out her blog, Pondering Reality. I love this girl and her heart!  You will love her too!  

Hope your weekend was full and fun as well!  Have a great week friends!

Less is More

I typically don't like to set myself up for failure, so this is why I have typically shied away from the New Year's Resolution hype.  Are resolutions bad?  Certainly not, but I know myself, and I know that I will not follow through with the weight loss goals, the blog everyday mandate or the make 5 new recipes from Pinterest goal.  

I have read and seen many people choosing a word for the year as their goal.  This word sums up what they want to be, accomplish, strive for in the new year.  I like this idea.  I think I can do that.  So my word for 2014 is....

I have thought about this so much and really what it boils down to is I want less of me and more of Him.  I have always loved John 3:30 that reminds us that we must decrease and he must increase.  And I think that is what must happen for 2014 to be a great year.  What will that look like?  I am not 100% sure but I do know a few ways I think this can play out in the upcoming year.

Less worry and more trust.

I don't have all the answers, never will.  It's time to give the worry up and trust that not having all the answers and not being in control can be a beautiful thing.  There is a bigger plan,  a bigger purpose that I must trust.  That plan is better than anything I have dreamed up, made up or pinned on Pinterest.  So it is time to trust. 

Less unhealthy habits more healthy habits.

I wogged a 5K in October.  I enjoyed it.  It made me feel good about myself.  I want to do more things that make me feel good about myself in 2014.  I want to make better choices when eating.  I want to be happy when I look in the mirror.  Will I give up Diet Coke, probably not!  But will I limit myself, yes.  

Less hurt more healing.

Sometimes you hold onto hurt for so long that it becomes part of who you are, you can't imagine it not being with you.  I think this has become my reality with many situations in my life.  It is time to let go of somethings that need to be let go of. It's time to come to grips with who I really am, who God says I am and what I believe about myself.  I have made mistakes, I have been hurt, I have let my choices define who I think I am.  I have ignored phone calls and texts because I know friends know when I burrow in.  Maybe it is time to not let that be the norm this year. 

Less judgement more encouragement.

Judgement has become more natural than encouragement.  I find it an easy trap to fall into and one that is so hard to get out of.  Everyone is going through something, and we often don't know what it is. Instead of judging what I see and what I perceive is going on, it is time to encourage, to empathize, to support.  

Less comparing more acceptance.

Maybe I am the only woman who finds herself wondering how many people are going to give my Facebook status a thumbs up or my Instagram picture a heart.  Or maybe I am the only one who compares my life, successes, worth to what I see on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  I seriously doubt I am alone in this one.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE seeing what is going on in people's lives and keeping up with friends far and near on social media, I have to learn that even though my life might not look like what they are posting,  doesn't make my life any less important, wonderful or fulfilling!  I need to be happy with the season I am in.  

Wow, reading back over this,  I might be setting myself up for failure :)  And I am accepting the fact that I will fail.  I know I will not be good at all these things everyday of this new year.  But I hopeful that as I decrease these things will become easier and as I decrease my desire to do the right thing will become more.  It's gonna be a tough road, but one I am ready to travel.

What is your word for the new year?