So here we are...

30 Day Meme

2010-06-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a couple other blogs and I thought it would be really fun to do! I love filling out surveys and stuff like that so this is perfect for me! Here is the whole list...

Day 01 - your favorite song
Day 02 - your favorite movie
Day 03 - your favorite television program
Day 04 - your favorite book
Day 05 - your favorite quote
Day 06 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 08 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - a photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - a fanfic
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a YouTube video
Day 24 - whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - this month, in great detail
Day 28 - this year, in great detail
Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - whatever tickles your fancy

So there you have it. I'll start today and hopefully I can keep this up (blogging every day for a whole month, that is)! Here's goes nuthin'...

DAY 1 - Your favorite song

If you know me at all, you know I love music. Pretty much any kind. So picking my favorite is tough. I'm going to go with Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I know, it's random, but that song never fails to get me singing and head-banging! I love it! I love that they did that song on Glee and I blare it in my car now that I have all the soundtracks! (Thanks, honey!) I realize it's probably not the most uplifting song in the whole world, but hey, this is my list! I can do what I want! :)

P.S. I never realized how much I say "so" until I started this blog. It's a real problem.

Proposal Story

2010-06-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

This is probably my favorite "Show Us Your Life" yet! Here we go...

Ok let me set the mood for this one! So Jeremy and I had been dating for about 6 months when he proposed to me. I had absolutely NO IDEA it was coming! I mean, we had talked about it and jokingly (or so I thought) looked at a couple rings, but I just didn't think he was that serious!

Anyway, it all started on July 2, 2004. That night we got together with a bunch of our friends and we played all-night paintball. Yes, I know, we are crazy. So we were up all night running around a huge field getting shot at until about 5 am. ANNNNNND we had to go to work the next day! Again, I know we were crazy! So we went to work the next morning, July 3, and worked all day until about 4 pm. We were going to head up to his parent's house that night to hang out since his step-sister, Misty, was home on leave from the ARMY and I had never met her before. So I got home and showered and Jeremy came over to get me. We get in the car and he says, "Hey, I forgot my phone inside. I'll be right back." I didn't think anything about it since he's one of those guys who empties his pockets as soon as he gets somewhere. So I sit in the car dozing while I'm waiting on him. He finally comes back and we head to his house. We get there and it's his turn to take a shower so I laid on the couch in his house and slept while he was getting ready. When he got done he came and woke me up and said, "Let's go sit on the porch swing." At this point I am groggy, grouchy, and trying to figure out why we're going to go sit on the porch when the whole purpose of us being there was to see Misty. But I went. So we're sitting on the swing, not really talking, and he says, "There's something I need to tell you." Again, I'm half out of it so I'm not getting any clues here. He proceeds to tell me that he thinks I'm amazing and that he's so happy I'm in his life and that he loves me. Ok, stop right there. Up until this point, we had not said the Big L Word. We both had agreed that we wanted to be really sure before we threw that word around. So I'm thinking that's what this is all about. He just wanted to tell me he loved me. WRONG! He gets down on one knee and pulls out this AMAZING ring! Nothing like the ones we looked at! And he asks me to marry him. My response? "DID YOU ASK MY DAD????" Of course he did! My next response? "DO YOUR PARENTS KNOW???" Of course they did. Actually his mom watched the whole thing through the kitchen window! So of course I said yes! And it was perfect!

Fun fact. He was actually supposed to propose to me on the 4th of July, but he says he couldn't wait another day. When he told me he forgot his phone, he actually went back in and told my dad that he was going to pop the question that night instead of the next day.

Another fun fact. His mom actually has her house on the market right now, and you want to know what my husband asked for? The porch swing. We're going to bring it home and build a stand for it so we can keep it. He's sweet like that! :)

We've been married a little over 5 years now, and I gotta say, the decision to marry that man was probably the best one I've ever made! I am a lucky girl! :)

What's YOUR proposal story??

P.S. I'll be starting the 30 Day meme next week so be sure to check back!!

FRIDAY FOLLOW

2010-06-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'm Erin and this is my blog! (DUH!) I'm kind of a random blogger, but I'm trying to do better! I love crafts and being able to make something usable. I love to cook although I don't do it much.

Look around, make yourself at home. I love reading new blogs so leave me a link back to yours! Thanks for stopping by!!

Flower Clippies!

2010-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, The Crafty Charlestonian, and she had a DIY on making flower clippies/headbands. For any of you that know my little girl in real life, you know she is the girliest. child. EVER! No lie. So when I saw how easy they were to make, I knew I had to hook my girl up! (Because let's be honest, there was no way I was going to pay $12 for one of these things no matter how cute they are!)

So I went to my local Walmart to get some silk flowers ($3 for 7 blooms) because all the ones at Hobby Lobby were too expensive ($5 for 6 blooms) and I didn't like the colors they had. I opted for pink carnations since that's pretty much the only color my child wears. Anyway, I grabbed those and the little jewels ($1.27 for a little bag) and I was on my way. I already had the clips at home since I make all of Kate's bows too.

These were seriously the easiest things I've ever made! You can get to Elizabeth's DIY instructions here. Tell her I sent you! And without further ado, here is my finished product!

Cute, right? This is actually the one I made for my niece. The only difference is that Kate's has a light pink jewel in the middle. And here is my darling child modeling her new favorite hair accessory!

Yep, she loves it! (Please pay no attention to her dirty daycare hair. It wasn't bath time yet!) Anyway, go give Elizabeth a shout and tell her that you love her DIYs, because I sure do! Thanks for stopping by!!

Random Acts of Kindness - Show us your life!

2010-06-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love these! Random acts of kindness (or RAK as it shall be called) really restores the hope I have in humanity. There are some really, really, REALLY terrible things out there, but every once in awhile you hear about something really, really, REALLY wonderful! And it all starts with one little act...

Make the call. I love it when someone actually takes the time to call me. Now don't get me wrong! I love getting texts and emails too, but when someone takes time our of their day to call me and say "hey, I'm thinking about you" it really just makes my day so much better!

Tip someone who helps you. I remember working in retail and really trying to help a mother find her extremely difficult teenage daughter school clothes. I must have brought her 100 different outfits and accessories and shoes and everything under the sun, and I swear she hated EVERYTHING (probably because her mom liked it)!! At the end of probably about 2 hours they were finally ready to check out and when it was all said and done the mom hugged me and gave me $5. I know it's not a lot, but she knew that I had really tried to be patient and help her and it really made it all worth while to see how grateful she was.

Give a little gift. I LOVE getting gifts, but I love giving them more! I love seeing the look on someones face when you KNOW you've gotten them the perfect gift! It doesn't have to be something big. It really is the thought that counts!

Help someone in need. Work at a soup kitchen for a day. Help someone clean their yard. Buy someone groceries. Buy Christmas presents for needy children. There are so many opportunities out there to give back!

At some point, everyone needs a random act of kindness shown to them. What do YOU do to show your kindness?

Lazy Weekends

2010-05-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

I live for the weekends. We haven't really done anything special so far, but I just love being able to be lazy!

Yesterday I went to lunch with my sister and our friend V at Beef O'Brady's then we went to see Sex and the City 2. It was really funny, but definitely as raunchy in some parts as the first movie. It was fun though and we had a good time! So I got home from that, then immediately went to the store with Jeremy and Kate to get some rock salt for making homemade ice cream! I had never had it before so this was a big deal! I gotta say, we made a test batch Friday night, and while it didn't work right in the machine, we stuck it in the freezer and it was SOOOO good!!! It was super creamy but still icy. I can't really explain it, but let's just say I am hooked! There was also a UFC fight last night so we watched it over at my sister's house. I can tell I'm getting old because it is so hard for me to stay up long enough to see the main event! Life is rough...

Today was church and it was awesome as always! After church we headed over to Augusta to eat at Cheddar's since I was given a gift card at the Survivor's Dinner. We had never been before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was really good! The service was a little slow, but lunch on a Sunday is never speedy! It was so cheap and you get a ton of food! We will definitely go again!

The best part about this weekend is that we don't have to work tomorrow! I looooove long weekends! It's time for me to put this computer away and get to enjoying to rest of the weekend! Have a Happy Memorial Day!!

What Makes YOU Happy??

2010-05-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged since LAST "Show Us Your Life", but it's been a ssslllllooooowwwww and I just haven't felt very good. So that makes me a slacker. It also makes this topic a perfect topic for me because I need some happy right now!!

Things That Make Me Happy

(In no particular order except the first)

Jeremy and Kate

My Nephew and Nieces

Ok, really just my whole family (yes, that includes my husband's family because lemme tell ya.... they pretty much rock!)

Babies

Music. Pretty much any kind as long as I can sing to it! And it has to make me FEEL something!

My AH-MAY-ZING friends! Seriously they are the best. Sometimes I wonder how I still even have friends since my attitude can get a little crazy sometimes but they have stuck with me and I am so grateful!

Cold Sunny days

Sweet Tea

When Kate tells me that I make her happy

My awesome church

Weekends

Tennessee... When my parents moved me there, I was sure I would hate it forever, and yet now, it seems like more of a home to me than SC. Weird.

Having an in-between Southern Accent... I know this sounds weird, but my parents were raised in Oregon so they definitely don't have a southern accent. So we were raised talking the way they talk. However, living in the South my entire life has given me an in-between accent where people who live in the South think I have no accent and people that live everywhere else think I do. It's fun and it's a good conversation starter because people always want to know where I am from.

Flip Flops

Pretty flowers

Puppies (as along as they are not mine)

Perfect weather **this does not include Summer**

I really could sit here and list things all day, but these are a few of the best ones. What makes YOU happy??

**Sorry for no pictures in this post! I'm at work so I don't have access to all of the cuteness that is my child! Next time!**

Aiken, SC

2010-05-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Today over at Kelly's Korner the "Show Us Your Life" is about where you live. This is the first time I have participated, but I thought this would be a good one!

I live in good ol' Aiken, South Carolina! Our town mainly consists of golf and horses. It's a pretty wealthy town overall (No, I am not included in this statement) and it shows with how well the town is taken care of. It has so many beautiful historical buildings and homes. It really is a swett litte quaint town!

Probably the most famous and photographed street in Aiken is South Boundary. It has these gorgeous old oak trees that line each side of the road. It really does look magical!

We also have a beautiful little park called Hopeland Gardens that is free to go to and it has the most beautiful trees and paths! We like to go to the little pond there and feed the ducks and turtles.

As I said before, Aiken is REALLY big into horses. We have the Steeplechase every year and polo matches all the time. It really is a neat thing! Obviously a much smaller scale than the Kentucky Derby (although a horse from Aiken raced in the Kentucky Derby this year!!) but the ladies wear the wide-brimmed hats and dresses and the guys wear bow-ties! It's lots of fun!

All in all Aiken is a really great town! The people are super nice and will make you feel right at home here! Y'all should come on down and visit!!

Fun in the Sun

2010-05-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hilton Head Island, beach, sun, sand, and amazing weather! What more could you ask for? Amazing friends! Last weekend we took a trip down to the coast for a super relaxing getaway! It was so much fun! We went with my sister and her family, and also our friend Vanessa and her whole family! So needless to say it was a little crazy, but it was honestly one of the best times I've ever had!

We went down after work on Friday and just hung out that night. Saturday we got up and V and I went and got donuts from a little bakery and brought them back to feed the masses. By that time, Loren was up so we went back out and got stuff for lunch. When we got back all the kids were lotioned up and in their swimsuits so we were ready to hit the beach!

All the kids had a great time playing in the sand and going down to the water and getting buckets full of water and bringing it back up to their "castles!

There was lots of soccer playing and football throwing also! Kate could be quite the little soccer girl! She was very impressive in her ball-kicking skills! The moms had a great time relaxing and laying out! So much fun in fact that Kate decided she wanted to lay out with Aunt Loren and listen to her iPod!

(Aunt Loren had gotten up to take this picture so daddy decided to lay down!)

We saw lots of cool stuff when the tide went out and we could go explore the inlet! We saw jellyfish, stingrays, horseshoe crabs that were mating (although for the record, I never would have known they were mating if someone hadn't told me!) cranes, live sand dollars, starfish, and so much more! Fun was had by all!

The best part was still sitting in our chairs most of the day soaking up the sun! Here's me and V doing just that!

Towards the end of the day we all took our chairs down to the edge of the water to put our feet in and all the kids came with us and jumped the waves and threw sand and just had a blast!

We are so glad we went and we hope we can do it again soon! That was too much fun!

Sorry for the hiatus!

2010-05-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

So it's not like I was much of a blogger before, but I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I have so many ideas and recipes and crafts, but I just haven't had time to blog about them! I will be back VERY soon with all kinds of fun stuff!

Is all this pollen really necessary?

2010-04-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh! I have never seen so much pollen in all my years in the south! It's so crazy! Everything is yellow. Allergy sufferers beware!!

In spite of the yellow haze, we had an awesome Easter weekend! Saturday morning Jeremy went to our church to help set up for Sunday morning so they wouldn't have to be there super early. Kate and I went and got some shopping done with Amber then it was back home for lunch! We ate lunch then chilled for awhile until Jeremy was done mowing our much-overgrown yard (I'm sure our neighbors were grateful!). After that we decided to go to Publix to grocery shop. Now folks, I am an avid Kroger supporter, but Publix was have tons of "buy one get one free" sales so were off to explore a whole new world! Armed with my coupons and new knowledge of scoring a few deals, I was kind of excited! I'm really starting to get drawn in to the coupon world! I'm even going to a coupon workshop on May 8th that The Crafty Charlestonian is hosting. I'm so excited! (You should check out her blog because not only will she inspire you to save money on groceries, but she TONS of adorable frugal crafts!)

Anyway, Easter Sunday was amazing! I had to teach the 2 and 3 year olds for the 9am service (we usually only have one service, but for Easter we had two) and then I got to worship at the 11am service. I just gotta say, my church is awesome! I can't even describe how loving and wonderful it is! It is such a blessing to be able to serve there! After church we went home to get ready for our Easter festivities with our HomeGroup! We had egg dying...

Then we had an egg hunt and Kate even found the GOLDEN EGG! She was super excited! Especially because it had $2 in it! That little saver was in heaven!!

We had a wonderful time and lots of wonderful food! We had ham, sweet potato casserole, fried okra, corn bread, green beans, pecan pie, and apple pie! It was divine!

What are YOUR Easter traditions? Do you spend it with family? Friends? Do you do fun crafts? Or make special recipes???

Not so much

2010-04-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not as big a fan of Tumblr as I thought I would be. It just doesn't seem as user friendly, so I'm staying here! Anyway...

This is Holy Week, as I'm sure you all know, and I have had a song stuck in my head all week so I thought I'd share it with y'all. Maybe some of you have heard it. It's on the Passions CD called Sacred Revolution.

Sing to the King

Sing to the King who is coming to reign
Glory to Jesus the Lamb that was slain
Life and salvation His empire shall bring
Joy to the nations when Jesus is King

Come let us sing a song
A song declaring we belong to Jesus
And He is all we need
Lift up your heart in praise
Sing now with voices raised to Jesus
Sing to our King

For His returning we watch and we pray
We will be ready the dawn of that day
We'll join in singing with all the redeemed
'CAUSE SATAN IS VANQUISHED AND JESUS IS KING!!

Man, that song gets me every time. Even as I was writing it I started to get emotional. It's such an amazing hope that we have in Jesus!

I hope everyone has an AMAZING Easter weekend! What do YOU have planned??

We're moving!!!

2010-03-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Not houses... just blog sites! I have moved to Tumblr.com because I think it's pretty cool so come check me out at alifetolive.tumblr.com

See you soon!!

Tie-Dyed Cupcakes

2010-03-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

So I saw this idea about a year ago on a blog that I can't remember and I remember thinking "That is so cool!", but I never had time to try it. Well my baby (who is no longer a baby) turns FOUR tomorrow so I thought I'd try them out for her to take to daycare. Here are some pictures of the adventure...

These are the colors I chose. Pink and purple are Kate's favorite colors (of course) and I decided to do blue so the boys in her class wouldn't feel too left out! **NOTE** IF you ask your husband to help, make sure he knows it DOES NOT take the entire bottle of blue food coloring to dye a small portion of batter!
Here they are all pretty and swirled! I just took one spoonful of each color and put it in the muffin cup then took a toothpick and swirled all the colors around. Psychedelic, right? Haha!

Taadaaaaaaa!! See how pretty they are? I hope Kate appreciates them as much as an almost-four-year-old can! What do you think??

A new era?

2010-03-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

Well I'm going to try this again. I've become addicted to reading blogs lately and I decided to give this a go again! I want to make it more of a crafty/mom/recipe sharing thing... ya know? Does that make sense? Anyway, this is what I'm planning, but I need to get some stuff together before I put it all out there! Let's hope it works out! Haha! See you soon! (Hopefully!!)

Sorry!

2009-04-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

I am a TERRIBLE blogger. I always forget, and then Tiffany gets all over me for not keeping up with it. (But I'll have you know, she hasn't blogged any since March 20th so she's not doing so hot herself!) ANYWAY, whatever.

So I had surgery. Got my gallbladder taken out. It wasn't too bad, I was really just sore afterwards. I'm pretty much better now. I had it exactly 2 weeks ago. It was weird though because I never even knew my gallbladder was bad, and then when I got it taken out it turned out to be REALLY bad. They said it was so bad it actually infected one of my lymph nodes and they had to remove that also. My doctor did give me a really cool picture of my liver and gallbladder though. He said he wanted to give me my gall stone but he wasn't allowed to. Too bad. He said it was really big.

Other than that, we've been gearing up for Easter. My parents are coming down for the weekend to see us and the grandkids. We're really excited! I love having them come now that we have a house so they can stay with us. Kate loves it too. It was my mom's birthday on April 5th so when they get here we're going to have a party for my mom. Loren is making her a cake, I'm making baked ziti, and my brother is bringing the extras. I hope it turns out well! I'm pretty excited! I've decided I like cooking for people. Especially when it's something good like baked ziti! I'm a little nervous because I've never made it before, but I figure if it turns out bad we can just order pizza or something. :) I think we're also going to make tie-dyed cupcakes with the kids. I found a cool recipe and they look really neat. Loren and I are loving having the kids at this fun age where they like to help and make stuff. Sometimes (ok, ALL the time) it ends up being way messier, but it's still fun! And they like being able to say that they made it! They're cute!

Well I guess that's about it. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures up soon of our Easter festivities. If I can figure out how to upload them, that is. :) I guess I'm going to go now... maybe I'll be back soon... :)

A bit of a break...

2009-03-04T09:07:00.001-08:00

Well it's been a bit since I blogged last. Sorry 'bout that! :) So since last time, they have caught the guy that robbed me! HOORAY! He robbed another bank in GA wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT that he wore when he robbed me, and the teller somehow gave him a GPS device in the money so they tracked him down I-20 back to ATL and shut down the interstate to catch him. He's a career bank robber and knew what he was doing, but luckily he was outsmarted! I'm not sure if I'll have to testify or not, the FBI is supposed to get back to me once everything is in place. So keep your fingers crossed!

Also since my last post, Jeremy and I have finally moved into our new house! Hooray again! Even though it's technically not "our" house, it is sooooo much nicer to live there than in an apartment! We're having a bunch of people over this weekend for Kate's 3rd birthday party (I can't believe she's going to be 3!!!) and we're also hosting the UFC fight for the first time at our house! I'm really excited about that. I always hated having to do things somewhere else since our apartment was too small.

Let's see... what else? Oh! We got a puppy! Her name is Izzy and she's a miniature schnauzer. She's really cute! If we can make it past the biting phase, I think she's going to be a great dog! I just really hate the nipping all the time. I'll post pictures soon!

I think that's about it for now. Gotta go do some work! See ya soon!

Never again

2009-02-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

So I got robbed at work. It was so not cool. I can't really talk a whole lot about it... police orders and all, but it was really scary. Anyway, it really showed me, in a split second's time, how important my family is. I have had such overwhelming support from all my friends and family and I can't thank you guys enough! I love you guys so much and you mean the world to me! Ok... enough about this...

I have FINALLY talked Jeremy into letting me get a puppy and now we can't find one! All the ones we want are so expensive. When did they get so expensive? Anyway, we're going to take a quick trip up to TN this weekend to see family and maybe we'll find something there. I really really really want one though. The problem we've run into is that Jeremy and I don't like any of the same dogs. It's really quite funny. The only dogs we really agree on are Miniature Schnauzers, Basenji's, and possible a Jack Russell Terrier, but Jeremy says it has to be a long-legged JRT so that makes the findings slim to none. So hopefully we can find something soon. :)

Anyway, I guess that's about it for tonight! Keep checking to find out what kind of puppy we get! Hoooorrrrraaayyy!!!!!

SO FRUSTRATING!!!

2009-02-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have somehow locked myself out of Facebook. I am so annoyed. I don't even know how it happened! It keeps telling me that my e-mail address is not registered, but when I try and register it, it still won't let me log in! And it keeps telling me I'm not allowed to create a new account because that violates the terms and conditions or something like that. UGH! What am I supposed to do all day now? Boo on Facebook!

(Someone please text me or something so I can have someone to talk to!)

The start of something new

2009-02-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well where do I start? I have no idea how to blog... sorry guys! I've always wanted to be a "cool blogger", but have never really felt I have anything interesting to write about. Tiffany pressured me into it though so here we are! :)

Things are starting to get busy here in Aiken. Jeremy and I are moving the end of this month to an actual house instead of an apartment! Hooray! I am so ready to get out of this tiny apartment with our outrageously loud neighbors! It is going to be so nice to have a garage to park in again and not have to get our crazy neighbor's girlfriend to move her car all the time. Seriously? We still live here! It's STILL not ok to park there! GO HOME ALREADY! Sheesh, people! How 'bout being a little more considerate? Thanks!

Anyway, we're really excited about it. We're also trying to plan Kate's 3rd birthday party. I can't believe she's going to be 3... THREE! How did this happen? Where is my little baby girl? Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that she's potty trained now, but I sure do miss the stage where she would stay where I put her! Oh well, what can you do? So I'm trying to decide what to get her for her birthday. I'm thinking about buying her a new kitchen since the one she has is old and falling apart. It was a hand-me-down and is missing pretty much everything that came with it. I just can't decide though! Any ideas?

Ok, this concludes my very first blog. Grey's Anatomy is about to come on so I gotta go! See ya soon! :)