Flashback Friday: NGC Homecoming 2010

Tonight is homecoming at the school I work at {and also graduated high school from!}, so in honor of that, I thought I would feature some pictures of one of my favorite high school memories: Homecoming 2010!

Door Decoration Contest

Pep Rally Homecoming Court Presentation with
the two cutest escorts around! 

My beautiful mother!

Senior girls on Homecoming Court 

Homecoming Court Presentation

Inspiration to Change

I'm pretty excited about how this year is turning out so far. It's not been easy, but the changes I so desperately needed are happening. My relationships are improving, as is my health, and I credit it all to God and putting my "the desires of {my} heart" in his hands {Psalm 37:4}. I wanted to take a moment to share a few sources of inspiration that are helping me on this journey. My family has started attending Newspring Church in Anderson, S.C., and while I'm not there most Sundays, I've really been enjoying the podcasts of Newspring's pastor Perry Coble.

They're currently working through a sermon series about change on Sundays, and this week they have been posting daily vlogs about "5 Days to Change". These are great little three and four minute videos that really get you thinking and your day started off right. Another great resource is "Journey to Change: A 21 Day Bible Study" that follows 21 different people who had interactions with Jesus.

This series and church have me really excited about my faith, and I hope these resources will inspire you to make changes in 2014 too!

The Great Debate

I am at a crossroads in my life. One, that when presented with the idea originally, many years ago, there were but a limited number of choices. Now, there are many more. And some of them...are sparkly!

Help me! I don't know which pair of Jack Rogers to order for this year! My original beloved pair {the ones I got engaged in, rushed in, shopped in, beached in} began losing the heel pads over the past few summers. Then in September, the entire rubber heel fell off the right shoe. So I gave them a good memorial remembering our great times over the past three years and tossed them, vowing to replace in the spring.

Well now that the time has come, and I am distraught. There are too many options. I need another platinum pair, as they are basically my summer staple, but do I go with the originals again? Or do I take it a step further with some sequins for texture and bling? Or go all the way with full-on glitter sparkle to make a statement: bling Bling?

Let me know what you would do!

Option #1
Hamptons Navajo, $110
The Original. Goes with everything. 

Option #2
Sequins Navajo, $138
A little bit of bling, and some nice texture detail. 

Option #3
Sparkle Glitter Navajo, $138. 
Bling, Bling. 'Nuff said. 

Why can't I just have them all?!

Getting Ready for Giveaways!

Picking out wedding colors and bridesmaids gifts in the past week have gotten me so excited for our June 2015 wedding! I ordered way too many books from Amazon {Southern Living Wedding Planner, Emily Post's Wedding Ettiquite, etc.} and am ready for the planning process to begin! I'm thankful to have a year and a half to plan to reduce stress and hopefully costs. We haven't exactly established a budget yet, but would like to be as cost-efficient as possible.

While perusing some wedding websites, I ran across some giveaways I thought I would share with other brides-to-be! They only take a few seconds to enter, and who knows--you could be the big winner! 

David's Bridal is hosting a giveaway of a bridal gown or five bridesmaids dresses. Such an accommodating contest; if you already have a dress but no maids' dresses you can still win, and vice versa! Visit www.davidsbridal.com and click "Bridal Dresses" then "All Dresses" and the interactive form pops up. This contest runs through March.

Hopefully you're already following Southern Living on Pinterest. If so, you're all set to enter their wedding giveaway! It's for an all inclusive wedding for you, the groom, and 100 guests at The Willcox in Aiken, SC. This looks like it would be the most perfect venue for a southern belle's dream wedding! Look under the Sweepstakes & Giveaways Southern Living board on Pinterest to find the pin that links to the form above. This contest runs through February.

Dress...check. Wedding...check. Honeymoon?

I keep on hearing and reading about the wonders of an all inclusive honeymoon the reduce stress and maximize fun and relaxation. Sandals is offering a four-day, three-night honeymoon on them that you definitely should apply for! It's kind of hard to find--there is a small box at the bottom of the homepage where you enter your email before it takes you it the above page with the full form. 

Have you found any other giveaways I should apply for? Also, what do you think about wedding websites? 

Happy Planning! 

The Best is Yet to Come

If New Years Eve is any indication, 2014 will be a blast--literally! I spent the week in Dublin with the fiance and his family, just hanging out and getting ready for NYE. Christopher and I had gone to Clemson earlier the week before and stocked up on what promised to be the best fireworks around. Crazy Steve did not lie! These were the best home-done fireworks I have ever seen! All 24 were absolutely huge! Of course the boys had to not just shoot them out of the {rocket launcher? fireworks tube?}, but had to throw them by hand--I'm so glad no one lost a hand...