What a Great Monday!!

Mike shedding a tear over how much the hardwood floors were going to cost

Our final choice- handscraped 5 inch wide plank walnut stained hardwoods
As my husband was taking pictures of me posed in front of signs so I could blog about our day, he pondered why I didn't follow him into the bathroom to get a picture of him so I could blog about what he did today. I'm telling you- he's a funny dude. At least he "gets" the whole blog thing!!
Doug, Leigh Ann and Mike at Maggiano's
Pretty self exlanatory. Check out the crazy close-up of my double chin. I really look like a need a piece of cheesecake!!
I was able to spend my Monday in my most favorite way, with my most favorite person. Mike and I don't get to spend much time together, so I treasure the days that we get to have fun with each other. We slept in, ate breakfast in bed watching t.v. and then went to Charlotte to look for hardwood floors for our new house. After a successful stop at Lumber Liquidators, we went to Ferguson to look at plumbing fixtures and appliances. After seeing way too much that we couldn't afford, we met our friend Doug (one of Mike's groomsmen) at Maggiano's for dinner. Yummy!! We then got some Starbucks eggnog non-fat lattes, shopped at Sephora, Pottery Barn and The Walking Co. Aahh!! More stores that we can't afford!! The joy of building a house!! We have become master window shoppers!! I just love South Park Mall, though, because they have all the stores that we don't have in Columbia. We topped the night off by getting pumpkin pecan cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Simply devine!! My husband makes me laugh every day, and today was no exception. He did not disappoint!!

Friendship Friday

This week I dedicate my Friendship Friday to my friend Margaret. I first met Margaret when I was working as a paper sales rep. She worked at a scrapbook store that I sold to, and we became instant friends. She is such a creative person who constantly inspires me with her crafty talents. She made me a beautiful scrapbook for a wedding shower gift, and plans to make me a wedding scrapbook when we move and I get all of my stuff out of storage. When I need help with something, she is my go-to person. I can always depend on her to help me when I need anything. (I also give props to her husband. He is the computer whiz who saved my laptop after I had been told that I needed to buy a new one!!! If I have a techy question or need a truck to pick something up, he's my guy!! Thank you!!) I also adore her daughter. She is such a sweet, smart, well-behaved, adorable little girl. Margaret is a great mother, and I just hope that I can be as good of a Mom as she is. I owe her big time for leading me back to church. I wasn't going very often until she invited me to Seacoast. I knew my life had changed from the first time I attended our church. I have enjoyed growing spiritually with her, teaching Sunday School with her and going out to lunch with her and her family on Sundays after church. In fact, this picture was taken last week in our Sunday School classroom. As you can imagine, everyone asked us if we had called each other that morning and planned to dress alike. Of course, I had to take a picture of the two of us dressed alike with plans to blog about it:) If anyone understands that, I know she will because she buys her daughter outfits to match scrapbook paper that she has purchased with a layout already dancing around in her head!! Thanks for being such a great friend!!

Unexpected Death

I was struggling to figure out what to blog about today. I always write about happy things, but I finally decided that today I was supposed to write about what was tugging on my heart. Yesterday, Mike called me to let me know that a member had passed away. She was about my age, and left her husband with two small children to raise alone. Right after I talked to him, I watched the Memorial service for the 6 USC students who died in the fire in a Ocean Isle beach house. This morning I received an e-mail about a benefit in Illinois for a girl's children. She was married to a friend of mine, and she was raped and brutally murdered. The night before Thanksgiving will mark a year since my brother's unexpected death. This month will also mark a year since my first miscarriage. I have prayed to understand unexpected death. I am not scared of death because I know I have a place in heaven, but I don't understand unexpected death. As my niece said when her father passed away, "People say to me that it was just his time to go. I have a really hard time with that. Was it really his time to go?" Maybe in our grief we become selfish about our own pain and how it would be easier on us if we had the chance to say goodbye. I don't know. I just know that it brings so much hurt and sadness to people when they aren't expecting a loved one to die. I don't understand murder or tragedies like a house fire that kills 7 college students or a mother being taken from her small children or miscarrying when you want a child so badly. Really? Was it really their time to die? I also don't understand a mother having to lose a child before they pass on. It's just not the natural order of life. My heart hurts for my mother, and I know this Thanksgiving is going to be a rough one for our whole family. Life is so fragile and so precious. We often get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget to tell people that we love them. You truly never know how 1 second can change your life. I always tell my husband that I love him before he leaves for work, and I always tell him I love him when I kiss him goodnight. I want him to know if anything were to happen to either one of us during the day or while we sleep at night that he was loved by me. I try to tell my family that I love them everytime that I talk to them. Many times I tell my friends that I love them when I hang up the phone from a good conversation with them. I need to work on telling them more often. I first started thinking about this when I began working as a flight attendant. 9-11 really hit home too. I was supposed to fly that day. Instead, I watched the events unfold on television and called everyone in my address book to tell them that I loved them. You never know what can happen. I don't understand unexpected death, but I WILL try to let my friends and family know that I love them.

House Update

The last few days has brought us cabinets, and they delivered the interior doors. As you can tell, a Thanksgiving move is not going to happen. Our builder has been keeping everyone busy, so we might be able to move in before Christmas.

The bookcases that surround the fireplace

A view of the kitchen cabinets from the breakfast nook
The side of the kitchen that is open to the Great room-there will be bar stools on the other side of the cabinets
A view of the kitchen cabinets from the Great room
The window seat and bookcases in the Master bedroom
The bead board interior doors

The Doodlebops!!!

The Doodlebops Concert (Annie calls them Doodybox): FREE

*We love Uncle Mike's contact that gives us comp tickets*

Lunch at Wild Wings before the show: $47.08

Parking at The Colonial Center: $5.00

Candy Nuts (Annie's favorite): $3.50

Pink plastic Dee Dee hair hat which included a bag of cotton candy: $15.00

*Marketing geniuses- the only way you could buy cotton candy was to buy the hair*

Annie falling asleep in my lap using the cotton candy as a pillow: PRICELESS!!!

Friendship Friday

I dedicate my Friendship Friday to my sister, Cathy. We just enjoyed a fantastic visit!! This was the first time that she had been to South Carolina to visit me (other than my wedding). She was my matron of honor and I was a flower girl in her wedding. I think that is so special!! We actually did everything that I had listed on last week's Thursday Thirteen. I didn't list her falling out of my car an hour after I picked her up and having a medical scare as one of the 13 things that we would do, though. Darn those handles on her carry-on bag that tripped her up!! Thanks goodness we didn't have to go to the hospital for stitches!! We did miss some stores, so I guess she'll just have to come back out to visit:) Even though there is 14 1/2 years difference between us, we enjoy each other's company and I think we're finding that we have a lot in common now that I'm older. You know how they say the age gap shortens as you get older? That's us. You know how they say "I've become my mother"? That's also us. We both have become our mother, and we both feel proud that we could be even half the women that our mother is. My sister inspires me with her faith and what a fantastic mother that she is. She has raised some great boys!! I can't wait to have a child so I can call her to ask for advice. We both love to cook, and unfortunately love to eat!!

We had some great food while she was visiting, and she loved The Fresh Market as much as I do!! We both love to shop and are both purveyors of stuff!!! I can't even imagine how many shopping hours that we logged in the 5 short days that she was here. I hope that this fall visit will become a yearly tradition with us!!

Aunt Cathy brought the girls a toy and some treats. You can see that they were really "into" her.
I gave her a surcie for coming to visit me: a monogrammed flag.
She bought a Spring Valley Country Club camoflauged hat for her husband (the hunter in the family). This would be her "Git 'er done" pose!!
I think she formed a bond with Ashleigh. She even let her sleep between her legs while she played on the computer.
My parents would have been so proud if they would have been with us. This is our "Pig Party"!! Growing up, when you went on vacation with my parents you always had a "pig party" in the hotel room. It required bringing lots of junk to the room and pigging out!!! We might not have been in a hotel room, but we definitely pigged out!!!
We were able to visit Dena at her store on the way to Charleston. Of course, we both had to walk away from the store with some bags of stuff. As I said before, my sister and I both love stuff!!!
On our way home from Charleston, we stopped at Dena's house to visit with Dena, Annie and Georgia. Although she was watching t.v. when we got there, Annie definitely turned to entertaining us. Georgia is always fun to play with too.

Here we are in front of Rainbow Row in Charleston.
There are many beautiful gates in Charleston. We stopped to take a pic in front of one of them.
Cathy and Mike enjoyed the Joggling Board in front of Hyman's Seafood.
I had to take a picture of Cathy trying to pack her bags. We had sooo much fun shopping!! Mom is so proud of us because we bought some matching outfits (She loved dressing us alike when I was young). We bought so much that she had to leave some bags for my parents to bring home to her when they come to visit plus she had to buy another bag at the airport because hers weighed too much!!! (Don't you love all my boxes stacked in the background? Only a few more weeks and I will finally be able to unpack all those boxes that I am so sick of looking at.)
I hated telling her goodbye at the airport. I miss her already, and hope that she comes down to visit again soon!!!

Happy Fall Ya'll

The girls had so much fun on Halloween!! They couldn't stand to be cooped up in the house, and had to come outside on the porch to "help" us with the Trick or Treaters. We all 4 got to see many cute kids, and the girls loved being able to say hello to all of them.