Long Overdue Girl's Weekend

This is me with my dear, dear friend Lindsay at my rehearsal dinner.

Lindsay was one of the first girls that I met in Auburn, shortly after we both pledged ADPi.  It wasn't until sophomore year, however, that I began to consider her one of my very best friends.  Lindsay played a huge role in my college experience, and she even got married only two weeks after me.  It was such a blessing to have her to call throughout that first year of marriage as I was realizing that maybe marriage isn't quite what I had always expected it to be. Ha:)  It always helped to hear that I wasn't the only one going through a bit of an adjustment period.

She was always super smart and super studious in school, and it has paid off as she is now a physical therapist.  Because we are now in different stages of life, we don't get to talk nearly as often as I would like to.  But we agree that when we do talk, it is as if no time has passed at all.  I have been meaning to go visit Lindsay in Birmingham since before John was born.  Now, it is over a year later, and I think the trip is actually going to happen. 

Just a few short days ago, I thought I was going to have to cancel yet again, due to this crazy virus that has attacked my home, but Scott assures me that he wants me to go and that he "will be fine."  So, as of this evening, I plan to head to Birmingham this weekend for some MUCH NEEDED girl time.  I am beside myself with excitement. 

As a mom, it is always bittersweet to be away from my children.  On the one hand, it is such refreshment.  On the other hand, any time spent away includes a bit of a homesick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I can't help it.  These kiddos are a part of me.  I know they will be fine without me, though, and if they aren't, it's just one night.  Plus, I think Scott's parents are coming for the weekend to help out, so that will be a treat for Ada and John. 

Bring on the girl time.  I can't wait to talk and relax and eat a meal without being interrupted 500 times.  I am so excited.

Homemade Yogurt

As you know, we eat a lot of yogurt around here, usually Dannon Activia. Recently, my friend, Tutti, began to talk about making her own yogurt, and she has explained to me all the benefits. Though it did sound interesting and definitely healthy, I haven't found the time or money to get started, but now is my chance. And I have no doubt that it would be great for Ada's little digestive system as well as mine!!

Tutti is doing a give away on her blog for free Milk Kefer Grains and a Yogurt Starter, a 30.00 value!! Here is where you can learn more about it and sign up for a chance to win.

Sites worth checking out

I know that many of you who read this blog, are in the same stage of life as me, and that means lots of lots of friends who are having babies. And here in the south, we can appreciate a good smocked or monogrammed outfit or gift. Can we not?

I can't help but get excited over a cute monogrammed item, and that is where the following websites come in. Please check them out.

The first belongs to a friend of mine whose husband works with Scott. Her little boy is a few months younger than Ada, and though it's not often enough, we like to get together for the occasional adult conversation disguised as a play date. She has made Ada several things throughout the past months, and I love them all. She now has a website and etsy shop where you can order your very own items. Check it out. It is all so very cute. I promise you will not be disappointed!!

The second site belongs to a friend's mom, who is a gifted seamstress. Her stuff is beautiful and also worth checking out. And right now, if you sign up for the website's e-mail list, you will receive 10% off your order of 50.00 or more, so go sign up!!

Really, both sites are perfect for shower, birthday, or any time gifts. Trust me.

Best Couponing Sources

I feel like I haven't talked couponing in a while, but I am still trucking along, clipping, sorting, filing, saving money.

I collect the majority of my coupons from the Sunday paper, even buying multiple copies every weekend. In fact, the cashier at the gas station beside my house refers to me as the "coupon lady." So very cool, I know. Though the Sunday paper is my main source, I do look elsewhere for coupons--online, the Thursday edition of the paper, and tear pads in the grocery store.

Another great source for coupons that you may not know about it is the magazine All You. All the serious couponers swear by this magazine as a great source for money saved. Right now, my friend Jessica, is teaming up with Carrie at Money Saving Methods, to give everyone a great deal on an All You subscription. To take advantage, go here. I highly recommend subscribing. It will save you tons of money couponing.

Rainy Thursday Afternoon

Here is my list of things that need to be done--Tae Bo, prepare dinner, fold and put away clothes, clean, clean, clean, clean, and I could repeat that word over and over and it would not suffice because this house is always a crazy mess.

What have I been doing? Oh, you know. Lying on the couch watching Gilmore Girls while the rain pours down outside my window.

Ada and I joined Ashley and Knox for brunch this morning--it was lovely. Eggs Benedict, sweet potato fries, and yummy fruit. Ada and Knox were a little moody, but Ashley and I blamed it on the weather. After enjoying tea, brunch, and conversation at Ashley's, I thought the perfect way to spend the afternoon would be lying on the couch while Ada slept. I can't really enjoy it, though, because that voice in my head is ticking off the things that I need to be doing.

So, off to do Tae Bo. How do you like to spend your rainy days?

the week's menu and a weekend recap

I have been out of town all weekend living the college life for a few nights. It was quite fun (and tiring). I was sleeping on my sister, Sarah's, couch, and Friday night I arrived in Auburn around 9 pm AL time. Sarah, Kate, and her roommates were all hanging out, and I ended up staying up as late as they did, which I think was 2 am. (3 am GA time). I then woke up at 8:30 am because my body does not know how to sleep in. 8:30 is sleeping in for me. I then spent the day with all of my college friends, celebrating the coming birth of Shannon Farrar Vinson's baby. It was so much fun talking and laughing and catching up. We laughed so hard. And reminisced. And caught up. The shower started at 2 pm, and a few of us extended the party into dinner at one of our favorite AU restaurants, Amsterdam Cafe. We finally said good-bye around 10 pm on Saturday night. We just didn't want it to end because the visits are few and far between these days. It was incredibly refreshing and encouraging to be around these girls who know me so very well.

I then headed back to Sarah's house, where I proceeded to stay up until 2 am again. There was some college girl drama, which I found myself in the middle of, mainly because I have been there, and being on this side of things, I tried to give a bit of perspective to the situation. As in, this too shall pass, and it will pass quickly. At 2 am I finally climbed into Sarah's bed and left her and the other girls up watching a movie. She said she would sleep on the couch if I needed to go to bed, and, indeed, I did need to go to bed. It was so much fun playing the college role again, going to Sonic at 1 am for diet coke and a snack, and coming back to find out who my celebrity husband is (Ryan Gosling--if you were dying to know). What a fun time college is--hanging out with your best friends until all hours of the night, the future ahead of you full of endless possibility, more freedom than you will ever have again. It's just fun. There is no better word to describe it.

Anyway...I am now back home and back to the reality that is my life, which is, you guessed, meal planning (or that is one aspect of the reality of my life). So...here's the plan for the week

Monday--frozen pizza because I forgot to take out the meat that needed to defrost. Never fear, a Tombstone pizza is in the freezer for just this occasion.

Tuesday--spaghetti, bread, broccoli (the ground beef is in the fridge, so that it will be good to go tomorrow)

Wednesday--chicken enchiladas (never made these last week)

Thursday--probably Arby's because we have a coupon for a free sandwich with the purchase of anything else. It expires soon, so we want to take advantage of it this week. And Thursday's are crazy days, so Arby's will be perfect.

It looks like it will be an easy cooking week for me, which is good because I am back to tutoring online after I get home from tutoring in students' homes. I am looking at some late nights this week, so I need easy cooking and cleaning to make up for the late nights.

For many more meal ideas, go to Organizing Junkie every Monday.

p.s. there will be some changes around here soon. As you know if you read this blog often, it isn't so much "All Things Ada" anymore, so I am planning a blog title change. I am in the process of creating the heading. Stay tuned...

Spoiled by the Grandparents

Scott's parents, or grams and pop as Ada calls (will call) them, came to visit for Scott's and Ada's birthday. They arrived last Friday and stayed through Wednesday morning, and Scott and I both agreed that it was quite nice to have two extra people to entertain Ada and allow us to do some things that we rarely get to do. While they were here, Scott and I attended a wedding in Atlanta, had dinner with friends from South Point, and even had an impromptu lunch date at Arby's on the way to pick up Ada's birthday cake. And that list doesn't even include the various naps that we got to take while Scott's parents kept an eye on Ada. All in all it was a very nice break from our normal day to day. Plus, Scott's parents came along with us to Target and BrandSmart, and they played with Ada while we shopped--so nice. We were all sad to see them go. And not just because they played the role of full time baby-sitters, we also enjoyed their company:) As did Ada. She became quite attached to Grams and Pop. I am posting a few pictures below, though I didn't take nearly enough. And I didn't even get one with Ada and Pop, which is a shame because they became very good friends during the visit.
And the following picture is Ada's birthday gift from Scott and me. Elmo now protects Ada from hitting her head on the faucet, and he protects me from getting sprayed by the shower because Ada can no longer turn the shower on as long as Elmo is there. This makes bath time much easier for everyone. We also gave her a bag full of bath time letters and numbers.
And finally a few snapshots from our visit with Jane and Elisha today. These two wouldn't slow down long enough for us to take their picture, so this is the best I got.

And for other family waiting to see the rest of the birthday pictures...I think that if you click on this link, you will get to ALL 152 birthday pictures. Some are good, some not so good. Look if you wish.

Painting pictures of Egypt

I returned to Auburn this past weekend to celebrate the coming birth of my best friend's baby girl, and as I drove into town, waves of nostalgia swept over me. I was drowning in nostalgia. Auburn feels like coming home. I suppose it always will. My parents house feels like home, but, for some odd reason, Scottsboro has never felt like home to me. If I could move my parents' house to Auburn, that would be home to me. Every square inch of that place holds some kind of memory for me, and I was bombarded by those memories all at once--choking me, almost, as I passed the sign letting me know that I was entering Lee County. And, to add to the nostalgia, most of my closest college friends, roommates, bridesmaids, were all together for lunch at Amsterdam and a baby shower afterward, and with a gathering like that comes much conversation about old memories and stories that we love to tell. And again, I don't know if my hormones are going crazy or what, but throughout the weekend, I had tears always at the surface, threatening to spill over, exposing all of that nostalgia. It was such a refreshing weekend to be with old friends, but I was sad, of course, because I left Scott and Ada behind. It was a couple's shower, so most of the husbands were there except for mine. I always want Scott and Ada with me because I never feel quite myself when I am separated from them, but it just wasn't practical to bring Ada when I was the one hosting the shower. And, while in Auburn, especially those first few moments when I was so overwhelmed by memories, I have this longing to return, if only for a day or two, to that old college life, but as I headed up 75 this morning on my way back to Atlanta, I couldn't wait to be home. Home in McDonough. Funny how that works, and it reminded me of the lyrics of a favorite song by Sara Groves. Enjoy...

I don’t want to leave here I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend
It’s not about losing faith It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

CHORUS: I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me Cannot hold the things I"ve learned
And those roads closed off to me While my back was turned

The past is so tangible I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise And the things I know

BRIDGE: If it comes too quick I may not recognize it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand? If it comes too quick I may not appreciate it Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Live Blogging from the Double Tree Guest Suites

I have a little time all to myself this afternoon, as Scott is at the church getting ready to be a groomsman in Sheffer's wedding, and mom, Mary Ann(my aunt/mom's sister), and Sarah, are in McDonough with Ada, so I decided to blog a little bit.

I have to leave for the church in a little over an hour, but I am soaking in all of this quiet rest. So wonderful. So refreshing.

I just finished reading the first in Robin Jones Gunn's new series about Katie Welden--Christy Miller's best friend. I felt like I was hanging out with old familiar friends. Loved it. Loved it. And I so hope Ada will read them all one day. I am sure she will say, no way, mom, they are so old fashioned, or whatever term she might use, but they have so much truth hidden in the middle of good escape type story telling.

In the middle of all of that reading, I also found time to have lunch with my hubby. We headed over to Atlantic Station around noon, and lo and behold, H & M is officially open as of yesterday. And it is glorious in all it's inexpensive fashionable perfection. But as inexpensive as it may be, we have no room in the budget this month. Sad. So very sad. I was practically drooling over all of the adorable clothes...including the ones in Ada's size, but not this month. The sewing machine may have to wait until I have had a chance to spend a few dollars at H & M. How can I not? It was two floors filled to the brim with cuteness just waiting to be tried on by me.

So, there's a quick update on what's going on with us this weekend. We are sleeping in, enjoying a fun wedding with Scott's friends from G-ville, and as always when we are away from her, missing Ada.

Beach Pictures

I know, I know...two posts in one day, but I've been meaning to post these, so I wanted to go ahead or I would never get around to it, and I want all of these life events to be well documented in my "blog book."

our view--nice, right?

walking to lunch on Saturday--our condo in the background. We walked everywhere. It was great.

Lindsay and me at dinner on Saturday night. So burned despite wearing sunscreen. (And I usually don't even wear sunscreen).

One last lunch before going home on Sunday. This is all of us except for Kasey, who had to leave on Saturday.

Beach Weekend Recap

I will post pictures later, but I wanted to go ahead and recap the beach weekend while it is fresh on my mind.

First of all--the place where we stayed was amazing. All bedrooms had a view of the water, and from the living area both the ocean and the bay were visible--breathtaking!! Plus, the condo was huge and brand new and completely FREE because it belongs to Shannon's aunt. Thanks again, Shannon!!! Also, it was completely uncrowded. We spent a lot of time by the pool because it was rather hot and there were lots of jellyfish in the ocean. The pool was never crowded at all. So nice!! And the weather was perfect. The sky was so blue with perfect white clouds. Perfect beach weather.

So...that was the setting.

The company consisted of TEN of us. That never happens. There are always conflicts, and we can't ever find a time when all of us can get together. Of course, there were still a few people missing, but we were still amazed that so many of us made it. Of course it was so much fun to see everyone and catch up. We laughed at how different our conversations are these days. Friday night, we all sat around talking about politics (which I know nothing about), then we went to bed fairly early, and were all awake by 7 am Saturday morning. Not quite the same as past beach trips.

I will admit that I experienced a lot of Ada homesickness. I didn't think I would because I was okay the other two times I left her, but I think being so far away made it worse. The farthest away I had been was Auburn, so she had been less than two hours away, and I always had the option of hopping in the car and being where she was fairly quickly. When I thought about the fact that I was seven hours away, I became pretty overwhelmed. I tried not to think about it because I wanted to soak up the time away with friends. Friday night as I was going to bed is when I felt it the worst, but I just prayed until I fell asleep, and I was okay.

Another strange emotion I felt was feeling somewhat disconnected to everyone else's lives. Most of my friends are living, what seem to me, exciting lives. They are all working successful jobs or planning mission trips to "far away" lands. I had to spend some time praying for contentment where God has me--in a rather mundane place. Now, I am well aware that each life situation has postive and negatives, but you know how it is so easy to only see the positive when you are on the outside looking in. Because, honestly, I have all I ever wanted--a Godly husband, a daughter, and a "career" as a stay-at-home-mom, so I am sure that if I was in any other situation, the mom thing might seem a lot different than the reality that it is. It's all in perspective, right? But in an effort to make this blog as transparent as possible, I wanted to share some of the struggles I had this past weekend.

Don't get me wrong--overall it was a fabulous weekend, and it was so sad to leave. Those girls are my best, best friends. I think that they always will be, but I did feel slightly out of place at times. Like the "dorky" mom if that makes sense. I mean, let's face it, my tight budget and dreams of a mini-van don't paint the most glamorous picture, and it's easy to find myself envious of other life situations. But...I prayed my little heart out each time I felt those feelings creeping up, and God was faithful to take those lies away and allow me to relax and simply enjoy the company of my closest college friends. It was a great weekend despite my sinful nature trying to rear it's ugly head.

Finally, Memorial Day Pictures

Ada got into the toilet paper--she loves to do this. She does it with the paper towels as well. One of these days I am going to learn not to leave things where she can get to them.
Ada with the birthday boy. Ada loved the tissue paper that came with all of the presents.

Weekend update

so the trip into the city didn't happen. Traffic was crazy on Friday, thanks to Memorial Day, which we had forgotten to factor in, so the new shoes have been postponed. We are going to ATL for Elisha's birthday party tomorrow, so hopefully while there I will purchase new shoes. I was a little sad on Friday because I was looking forward to CPK and new running shoes all day long. There was a little extra pep in my step because of it, but oh well, what can you do? It would not have been wise to load Ada into her car seat and then sit in traffic forever.

So the weekend got off to a mediocre start, but things have picked up since then. Yesterday was a very full day beginning with an 8:30 hair appointment in Vinings and ending with an afternoon wedding in Rome, GA. The wedding was held on the campus of Berry College. It was absolutely beautiful. It felt as if we had traveled back in time. I told Scott that I would feel so scholarly if I attended school there. I pictured students traipsing across stone walkways, having Socrates inspired question and answer sessions with their professors, books tucked neatly under their arms. I felt more intellectual just being there. Sadly we left our camera in the car--it would be a beautiful location for Ada pictures. In fact, I would almost be willing to load up the car, pack a picnic, and head that way in the fall for a family outing/photo session.

After the wedding, lots of Scott's highschool friends and wives gathered at our house, where we promptly separated into girl and guy groups. We stayed up much too late, talking and laughing. But it was such fun to catch up. However, this afternoon I am feeling the effects of the late hour. The rest of the group is at an afternoon Braves game, but I opted to stay home with Ada. The thought of taking a almost 10 month old to a three hour long baseball game seemed somewhat nightmarish, so here we sit. Honestly, after the hustle and bustle of yesterday, I am enjoying today's quiet.

I have loved playing hostess this weekend, though, and it makes me thankful all over again for a home with room enough for friends and family to gather. Of course, we only have one extra bed, so poor Amanda and Taylor were on an air mattress upstairs. But they did have their own room--as empty as if may have been:)

I know many of you (family mostly) stop by mainly for the Ada photos, so I will try to post new ones either today or tomorrow. Until then, Happy Memorial Day everyone!!