It's official!!

We are now members of First Presbyterian of Greenville! We are thrilled and very excited that we have made the commitment and have a church home. We are really looking forward to growing as a family with other church families and be more involved. We had three membership classes the past three weeks and went before the session last Sunday. The session approved our membership and we were introduced to the congregation at the 11 o'clock service!

We are teaching Sunday School to 3 year olds this Sunday and are excited about sharing with these babies about Jesus' love! Josh is especially excited about using the "teaching aid" of the Shaggy Donkey puppet! Should be fun!

silly Gracie

This is how our dog eats...she must slip her body through the side of the table and have her head come out the other side. She continually keeps us laughing.

first wedding of the year!

We went to Charlotte on Saturday to celebrate with Josh's cousin, Courtney and her new hubby, David. They had a beautiful ceremony at the Ballantyne Country Club and we had a great time. Josh loves wedding food and enjoyed eating crabcakes and lamb, which he never gets to eat unless we're at a wedding! Courtney looked beautiful!! I wish I had a picture to share--she was a stunning bride. Here are some pictures that I did managage to take...
Josh and his Aunt CarolynJosh hates wraps...but what's a girl to do when you need a little something on your shoulders?
stole this picture off of facebook so you could see how pretty she looked :)

sewing up a storm!

I have been sewing lots lately and taken many classes. The past two weeks I specifically took a drop yoke dress and wanted to share its cuteness :) (and yes, I realize we're probably going to have all boys when we're ready to have babies)

Happy Birthday, Mary Alice!

Today is Mary Alice's 26th Birthday! In honor of her, I will write 26 reasons why I love her!

1. She is the hardest working person I know! She is very "business world". Something I will never be...so I like listening to her stories.
2. She goes shopping with me--and doesn't mind spending an hour in Crate and Barrell.
3. She will eat a piece of Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake in the parking lot of a grocery store with me.
4. She understands my "taste"--probably because they are the same!
5. She passed the CPA exam!! and is now a liscensed CPA.
6. Meaning...she can do our taxes! :) (Kidding...)
7. She gives me an excuse to go to Atlanta, since she lives there!
8. We can do pretty much anything together--and it will be fun.
9. She attends MAP/Brooke annual weekends in Greenville!
10. We met on the sailboating orientation trip before our freshmen year at PC. She puked the entire trip--we had to move her from side to side so that the wind was blowing it appropriately overboard. Poor Mary Alice!
11. We are both obsessed with Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer.
12. She put up with me while planning the wedding...even through the bridezilla moments!
13. We drove to NYC together (yes DROVE) and didn't kill one another.
14. A good time is had going to Barnes and Noble and drinking coffee and looking at magazines.
15. She always gives it to me honestly.
16. She introduced me to Swoozies!
17. She watches chick flicks with me...and movies that Josh won't watch. (Think--High School Musical!)
18. We frequented Clock in Laurens when we needed to "get away" from PC.
19. We both pledged ADPi and spent good times going to our parties together.
20. We both go into Target and can't leave without spending $50.
21. Our guest room is really Mary Alice's room. The blue room.
22. It takes Mary Alice 2 years and me coming to Atlanta to fill picture frames that were given to her.
23. We're concert-goers together...even when it's in the pouring rain allllllll day long!
24. We both love dresses--and buy the same ones. and wear them to the same wedding. oops.
25. She eats all of my baked goods.
26. She's my best friend in the entire world!! I hope you have an awesome 26th birthday!!!! I love you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I hope you are wearing green today!! Josh and I are! He had to remind me this morning, otherwise I would have been pinched all day by my lovelies at school. Kids take this day seriously! Speaking of being pinched, Josh pinched Gracie this morning for not having green on. Guess I should have at least put a green bandana on her!
Our St. Patrick's Day plans consist of me going to sewing class--I was going to cook an "Irish" dinner--menu courtesy of Paula Deen's Celebrations--but, it will either have to be postponed or cancelled until next year!
We had a great weekend and spent it with Thomas and April celebrating their engagement! We went to the big town of Thomson, GA and enjoyed toasting to them and their upcoming marriage. Less than 3 months away! Did I take pictures? NO! How slack have I been since my camera broke? No excuses...I will get better. Blogs are much more fun with pics.
Sunday we went to another big town of Batesburg for our family reunion. Josh enjoyed the food...I enjoyed observing my huge family and how it has changed in the past year. My grandmother comes from a family of 8 siblings...yes, EIGHT!...and all of them are still alive. It's pretty amazing and such a blessing. You can imagine a family reunion with 4 generations times 8 people. Gets a little crazy.
And last but not least...I know I have mentioned Sugarlump before...but, Jess has re-done her website and it is so cute. She makes the best stationery/invitations/announcements. Check her new site out...it's not completely finished, but you'll get the gist of how cute it is!
www.sugarlumpstationery.com

We have converted...

We love Moe's. Seriously...love it. BUT, we discovered Chipotle and it is number one in our hearts now. Sorry Moe's. Thank You Chipotle for arriving in Greenville! We Love You! The best burrito ever placed in my mouth!!! Josh got tacos--they were delicous as well. Their chips have a limey/salty taste. YUMMY!!!! Our lives are changed :)

Beautiful Weekend

We have gone from snowing and icy weather to the high 70's in five days! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed being outside and not having too much planned. Josh played golf with some friends from work on Saturday--he played great, even after not playing for many months! I drove around and did some shopping and killing time until Mary Alice arrived! She had to work yesterday...she even went in at 6:30 so she could arrive in Greenville by 5! I was so thankful to spend some time with her and catch up since the last time I saw her.
I must brag a little on her, as well! She passed all 4 tests on her CPA exam around Christmas and this past week, it became official with her liscense that she is a CPA! I am so proud of you and admire all the hard work that you put in to studying and making your dreams a reality! You are awesome!!
Josh and I went to church this morning and came home and took a nap--that lost hour of sleep threw us for a loop! We've spent the afternoon doing some yardwork (well, Josh did yardwork...I layed out on the picnic blanket and read) and went out for some Marble Slab.
It was a great, relaxing weekend...we have a busy couple of weekends ahead of us, so I was thankful for a little downtime before the spring madness begins! Will post pictures later...

Continued Snow

**I began this post Tuesday--finishing it on Friday--don't be confused with the days being off!**

I sorta feel as if we're never going to go back to school. It would feel better if we didn't have to make it up! The past two days have been bliss though, and I am rested--and for that, I am thankful. Josh took the day off yesterday, which I was thankful for, so that he could drive me around to ease cabin fever. (Y'all know I can't drive in normal conditions, much less in snow!) We went to the mall, Barnes and Noble, Loft, Sam's, and the grocery store. We were pretty exhausted by the time we made it back to the house. We hung out the rest of the night and I saw the news where we didn't have school on Tuesday! I was able to sleep in and run several errands throughout the day that I wanted to do--fabric shopping, Swoozies, etc--the roads were definitely fine and I had no problems driving around. I got home after lunch and did some chores around the house. While ironing, I saw where we were on a two hour delay on Wednesday! YIPPEE!!! How I love 2 hour delays. I think I would work a lot more efficiently if I didn't have to go in until 9:45 each day!
Anyway--back to reality--this week has been short, thankfully--without too much going on. This weekend Mary Alice is coming up, which I am estatic about--we are celebrating her birthday and having a good ol' girls weekend! Josh and I are also beginning our membership class on Sunday at church, which we are pretty excited about as well. The weather is supposed to be delightful...I am more than ready for spring and the summer countdown is ON! I got my oil changed last week and realized that the next time I get it changed, I will be out for the summer! That's a pretty spectactular feeling :o)

Snow Day in March

Personally, I wanted to take the "make up" day snow day later on in the month--but whatever, guess it is what it is--and I might as well enjoy the snow while we have it. The snow pounded down all of yesterday and it mounded up nicely in our yard. It really is beautiful--we got 6 1/2 inches!!!! I don't think I've ever seen this much snow at one time in my 25 years of life. Gracie doesn't appreciate the snow too much and is glad that the sunshine is melting it away!

Gracie with snowflakes on her backthe beginning of our winter wonderland

Josh went out this morning and took the following pictures...

A Rainy Saturday

We went to the Clemson/USC Baseball game on Saturday. We don't have much luck with baseball games...it either rains or we lose when we go. This particular game, we got both! The game was originally scheduled to begin at 2--so we were thinking we'd be around 5ish--not an all day event. Due to the rain, the first pitch wasn't thrown until 3:45--so it was definitely an all day event, but it was fun anyway! We ate at Pot Belly Deli for lunch (my favorite) so I'm always up for a trip to Clemson when I'm promised that!
Jack and Ray talking it over before the game.the rain drenched fieldwhy am I making a weird face? self-portrait yet again...in a very wet situation!