Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas 2011 Recap

Hey friends! I just wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas this year. It was a pretty good one. I will admit it felt like something was missing since Papaw wasn't there. It was great to spend time with the family though. There's really nothing better than getting together with family!

Tina got a bike!

My sister and cousin goofing off on Christmas Eve

 Sister kisses


My Nana Emma has a knack for giving us some very eclectic gifts. This year we got these crazy furry house shoes and some hats. The house shoes are so crazy (and warm!) and I kind of love them. I will probably wear them a lot around the house when it's cold. We had to get a picture of all the girls in their house shoes and hats :)


I also went to Rhett's on Christmas eve. It was fun to play with his niece on her first Christmas. She's so adorable...I just...I can't even explain. She's got the cutest personality! Anyway, Rhett gave me a Roku, which I can use to stream Netflix to my tv! Hooray! No more watching Netflix on my ipod or computer. I've already been using it a ton. He also got me a gorgeous skirt from Etsy. I might wear it when we go out to eat tonight! 




It was a rather non-Christmasy Christmas here in West Tennessee. Blue skies, nice and breezy. I'm not complaining, but it's weird for it not to feel like winter. I enjoyed playing with Mom and Guy's dog though. He got hit by a car recently so he's not moving around much. I gave him plenty of snuggles and belly rubs though! He kind of reminds me of my childhood dog, Moose. 


In addition to my gifts, mom sent me on a scavenger hunt for cash. It was a lot of fun! The undesirable chore in the first clue was polishing her silver. I always point it out. haha! I'm a terrible daughter...anyway, she had hidden a 20 and another clue in one of the silver pieces (it's a serving set). The Christmas angel/large black cat was Dudley. Dudley is from the movie The Bishop's Wife, so I found the dvd and there was a 20 and another clue in there. The next clue led me to coffee mugs, and it was in one that my roommate made. It was a fun little game to play on Christmas morning.

The last two pieces from our Star Wars Lego "advent" calendar. Definitely not your traditional advent calendar, but it was fun to put the pieces together for each day. Also, Yoda looks like a gremlin.

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season! I can't believe it's about to be 2012 already. I say that every year, but it always feels like the year went by way too fast! Everyone have fun and be safe tonight. See you in January!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Arlington Bowling

You guys! Christmas has come and gone...and it was a whirlwind. It was so nice getting to see family and eat delicious food, but it's nice to be settling back down. I'll definitely get a recap up once I have a chance to get pictures off my camera. In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures from an evening of bowling a while back.


This is at the old bowling alley on Arlington, and as you can see, it's not busy! This place is mainly used for league bowling these days, but I like it much better than the newer bowling alley in town. If I wasn't such a home-body, I'd probably bowl a lot more often!


You see that 165?! THAT'S ME! That was after two games of not breaking 100. I will admit, the first strike wasn't me. Mark accidentally bowled under my name and let me keep it. But after that I was on a roll. It'll probably never happen again, so I had to take a picture of it.


I love the weird retro mural on the wall. I can't remember if it was there when I was a kid...but I imagine it probably was. I would recommend this place, but I don't want to be responsible for sending people to that part of town. Also, the men working aren't the most friendly...they aren't mean or anything. I actually like them a lot, but it's an old establishment so they aren't going out of their way to make anybody happy. Haha! I feel bad saying that...but it's true. But if you go when my Nana Emma is working, she'll be a sweetheart, I promise :)

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas. I will share some of my pictures (and gifts) on here in the next couple of days.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Being a Waitress

I hope my title isn't misleading. Being a waitress is something I could never ever do...in a million years. I'm impatient, I'm not compassionate, and most of all I'm clumsy. But a while back, I got the chance to give it a go when T and Pop hosted a rehearsal dinner at their place.



Those are the three tables that me and Kelsey waited on. I think I did ok, but I did almost fall into the pool a couple of times. I also poured water into the bride's seat...luckily while she wasn't sitting there. Apparently when I pour with my left hand, my right hand mimics the action. Since I know how clumsy I am, I didn't even attempt to carry more than two plates at a time. I was also glad that it was dark by the time we were serving so people couldn't see my face as well. I'm not good at holding a smile, especially when I'm concentrating, so people always think I'm not friendly.



I think all the red looked really nice in the outdoor setting. I'm pretty sure they used the rose petals for the wedding too, so it was a cohesive weekend...decor-wise. Don't you love those lanterns?! I wish I had a pool so I could put those around it...because they look awesome.


The waitresses (minus my mommy) enjoying the quiet before the big dinner. That's Kelsey in the red, me in the black, and Paige in the yellow.  We always have a good time when we hang out. I think Kelsey was the best waitress of the night. She's the only one that was asked for her number.


After everyone left, T and Pop gave us our own little desserts! Honestly, it's been a while, so I can't remember exactly what was in them. I think it was some kind of pudding with berries and such. Whatever it was...it was GOOOOD! I always say, if you're going to eat dessert, don't waste your calories on something mediocre. Well this was definitely worth the calories!

I really enjoy doing things like this. It's just nice to get out of my routine and away from the house. I know it's not some grand adventure, but even being a waitress can be a nice little relief from ho-hum life!

Also, I'm off work until January 3rd...be jealous :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Rejuvenating

In my last post, I mentioned that I got to go visit Shepherd's Haven a couple weeks ago on my day off. At work we get our birthday off, but we can take that day whenever we want, so I decided to take mine a couple of weeks ago and drive to Memphis! Of course my first stop was Shepherd's Haven.


This is Elizabeth, my friend Emily's sister. She's the reason I even got involved with Shepherd's Haven. I love that girl! It was so nice to see her and chat with her while she painted ceramics. I'm totally her favorite :) I also got to meet some of the newer Shepherd's Haven artists while I was there. Joy and Angelica (below) were just a couple of the sweet new faces.




It was just fantastic to get to visit! It always rejuvenates my desire to keep running their Etsy shop. I know how important it is to keep that place going. It means the world to all of those wonderful people.

After I left there, Emily and I went to eat lunch and shop around for a couple of hours. I always enjoy visiting with her, no matter how short the visit is. We ate at Firehouse Subs, which was amazing! I'd never been there, and I was so impressed. I wish we had one in my town!



Friday, December 16, 2011

Shepherd's Haven Shop Update

It's been a while since I posted a shop update for Shepherd's Haven. I have added lots of new things lately, but several of my favorites have sold already! It really gives me so much joy to see sales going well for them. Here are some of my favorites that are still in the shop...





Most of these are my favorites because of the color. I love all the fun glazes they've been using (especially the blue on that cross ornament). Isn't that bowl so great?! I feel like it looks very Easter-y with those pastel colors. I don't care much for the pink on the spoon rest, but I know it's right for someone. I just love that we have a spoon rest in the shop! And let's talk about that awesome drip glaze on the soup mug...wow. I really love functional pieces that are also decorative. That mug is the PERFECT size for soup, or even an extra big cup of coffee (we all have those days). 

I hope you all like these! I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year :) My visit to the Shepherd's Haven Day Center last week was so much fun. I'll definitely post some pictures for you guys. I took lots of the people working on their ceramics. They were having so much fun!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Critiquee Becomes Critiquer

 Scott critiquing a student

If any of you have been in art classes, you know how important critiques are! It's when you get to show off your hard work and hope that your professor/client has good things to say about it. It's good to get some constructive criticism (that's kind of what it's all about), but you definitely hope for more positive comments than negative.

Since I work a little bit on graphic design at Union University (and the other designer was out that day), our creative director asked me to go with him to a typography class critique. This is one of the things I love about my job! It's actually not that uncommon for me to get to participate in other aspects of the campus. It just makes work so much more fun to be able to contribute in other places. For this class we were critiquing the chapel guides that the students made for consideration. They do this every year, and it's always kind of fun to see what they come up with!

students presenting their chapel guides

Our favorite was the one from the girl on the left. She did some drawings of places on campus and made a great collage of these places. That attention to detail and her nice layout really impressed us. I think the Spiritual Life department will definitely pick hers.

I really enjoy getting out of the office and doing fun things like this. I'm thankful every day that I was able to get this job! It's really a great place to work, and the people I get to work with are pretty alright :)

ALSO. I'd like to draw your attention to the very top button on my sidebar! I decided to be a St. Jude Hero for the Country Music half marathon on April 28th. I'll do another post about it closer to the time, but I wanted to point it out. I know I set my goal really high, but I know I can do it! By clicking that button, you can give any amount to sponsor my run (every dollar helps!) Even if my awesome readers can't afford to give (which I totally understand), I will be forever grateful just for folks spreading the word :)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Clayton Family

We got snow AGAIN yesterday! It's been kind of surprising to get snow twice already this winter, but I'm not complaining. A few weeks ago, I took some pictures of some friends of mine. I'm lucky that a lot of people I know actually want me to take pictures for them. The extra income helps with my Etsy addiction :)


Braylen was NOT wanting to get his picture made that day, but we did manage to get a couple of good ones. I took these at one of my favorite Jackson locations, Casey Jones Village. There's so much there that you can get all kinds of backdrops! There's also usually a good amount of shade on sunny days (like this day) so I can still get decently lit pictures.






I hope you're all enjoying your week! I think I'm might take part of today off work and go visit Shepherd's Haven. There are a couple of new things I want to pick up, and it's actually a nice day.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Build Your Wishlist

Hello friends and wonderful followers! Thank you to everyone for the sweet sympathy for my family after my last post. It means a lot to me that you guys care.


Today I want to talk about wishlists. If you're like me, your family member/friend/partner is always asking what you want for Christmas. I can almost never think of something off the top of my head, because at this point in life I just buy things I want. I don't mean I have an unlimited supply of money, but if something comes up that I need/want and is within budget, I get it.

I hope I'm not the only one that can never come up with anything. I'm usually thinking of things I need for the house, like a blender or a vacuum, but I feel like most people want to give something more fun and personal. So my solution to this is to create a wishlist on Etsy and Pinterest to keep up with things I like throughout the year. I usually include things that I would love to have, but can't justify buying for myself. Luckily, this is the perfect type of thing to ask for! (Confession: a few of my favorites are actually things that are so ridiculously expensive, I would never ever get them...but I still wish for them. haha)

I love this headband from Branchbound. It's close enough to my hair color so it would be a subtle accessory, which I would love. This is the kind of gift I would suggest to someone who asked.

This gorgeous ring from vdeux is something I would ask for from my boyfriend. We've always stayed around $100, so this is just about perfect! Of course it might be weird for him to give me a ring that wasn't an engagement ring at this point :)

How do you guys keep up with your wishlists? Do your relatives/friends/partner ask for some ideas?


Friday, December 2, 2011

Holiday Cheer

I've had a rough-ish week, guys. I don't want to be a bummer on such a beautiful Friday, but my Papaw Jerry passed away this week (step-mom's dad...don't let the "step" fool you, they are absolutely my family). He has been sick for over a year, and just the last few weeks have been really bad. Anyway, I needed a little cheer in my week so we decided to decorate the house last night.

We put up the old tree in the living room and a few ornaments. I'm still building up a collection, but I love the ones I have. I think over half of my ornaments feature cats :) I also put some stockings up and some little figurines around the room.



I'm planning on making a curtain to cover the fireplace since we don't use it. It's on my to-do list! Also, don't you love the tree skirt?! My Granddaddy's sister made it years ago...I think it's absolutely gorgeous. 


I also tried to put Dudley's Santa costume on, but in true Santa fashion he was too big for it. Sometimes I forget that my cat is twice the size of a normal cat! Anyway, we also put some lights around the porch outside and garland on the stair rail. I made a wreath last week and I'll post all about that another time. I'm really proud of it, I just wish you could see it from the road. It blends into the door...I'm tempted to paint my door. Is that a little extreme? (Yes...it is, I'll answer my own question).

All the holiday cheer did make me feel a little better, but I know the holidays just won't be the same this year. Rest in peace, Papaw! I'm glad you're no longer suffering.