A Blessed Life

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25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:25-34

We live a Blessed Life

just call me Jennifer Hudson!

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Just call me Jennifer Hudson, ya'll! I recently saw her on a weight watchers video and she really looks awesome! I heard she started at a size 14 and is down to a size 6! Crazy! Although I've always thought she looked wonderful! (We're kinda built the same way!) So.... I've joined weight watchers online and today is day 2! Its official now that I've blogged about it so I HAVE to keep it up! I want to see how much weight I can loose till Christmas! I'm excited! My sisters are doing it too so wish us luck!! I'll catch u up on my progress as I go!

the welcoming of fall...

“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.” -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

I've blogged before that with the welcoming of fall comes the celebration of my big sis's birthday. And this year was a big one, saying goodbye to her 20s and welcoming in her 30s. Yep, she turned 30! And she couldn't be more fabulous! Had a wonderful weekend celebrating!

loverly...

I was just browsing Under the Sycamore's precious blog (where lately she is my only inspiration for having kids one day) where she introduced me to this fabulous Etsy Shop where I just made a couple purchases for a good cause! I couldn't help it, they're so great and I'm a sucker for a good cause! Look below at Ashley Ann of Uner the Sycamore and her precious daughter sporting a couple of the wonderful head gear this shop makes.

And i got this...

and this! i'm so excited about the clutch. Ya'll check out her shop, she has lots more cute things!

Thanks Theodore...

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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Thanks Theodore, I needed that...

blue feathers

This past weekend I was browsing through Etsy and encountered this fabulous hair clip. I immediately thought of Carrie Bradshaw and her unique hair attire in the first Sex & the City Movie (*sigh, I love that movie). And while I probably wouldn't wear Carrie's bird, these sweet blue feathers will suite me quite nicely. What ya think?

Carrie: "After 10 years of what he already put me through, he couldn't make the effort and get out of the car. I made the effort! I put a bird on my head."

Miranda: "Is that what that was? I thought it was feathers."

Carrie: "It was a bird."

Yes, it's true. I, and half the female population, am a little obsessed with Sex & the City. And my obessession is completely out of character too, with my living down south in the sticks with my barn and small country kitchen. Here's my S&TC story (don't we all have one?). My obsession didn't start until 2008 when the first movie arrived. For some reason I really wanted to see the movie. I was never really interested in watching any episodes so it was a bit odd that I REALLY wanted to see it. But after I did, I was hooked. I watched the movie at least once a week for 2 months and then went out and bought the entire DVD collection and went on this crazy Sex & the City frenzy catching myself up! While I don't agree with their scandalous immoral behaviour, I do love seeing the clever writing unfold and their strong, very different personalities interact. One can't help getting caught up in their crazy, wonderful, fashion filled lives! And so I did... and still am... are you?

Happy Monday to all!

Clemson Vs little bitty PC

So I am a little bummed that I have to work today and missing all the fun football festivities that my whole entire family is participating in, including My Love... my whole family that is, except me. Yep, they're all headed to Tiger Town, aka Clemson University, for some tailgating, birthday party fun, and to watch the huge blowout that is going to commence at Death Valley when little bitty PC takes on the Clemson Tigers (yes, it's true... I hope none of my little PC Bluehose actually do die, thank the Lord my brother already graduated and isn't on the field, maybe it's a blessing I won't have to watch). However, I've decided instead of pouting I'm ready to find some cute football attire to wear to the next game! Sugar Boutique was a great place to start!

I know this is a little summery but how cute is this sailboat dress!

Fried Green Tomatoes

yummm**

Last night My Love and I enjoyed a night full of fried green tomatoes. After spending some time in Belk's, spending some hundreds of dollars in gift cards that we had consolidated from wedding presents/returns, we stopped in at our ultra charming Southern Fried Green Tomatoes restaurant. I love this place. It is a great family restaurant full of warm southern hospitality and delicious comfort foods. While we nibbled on hot biscuits and cornbread, we started reminiscing over the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes and I couldn't believe how little I could remember about the movie! I could remember, "Tawandaaaa!" and the basic plot, but I loved this movie growing up and couldn't remember the last time I'd watched it. So it was decided, while eating my fried green tomato BLT, homemade apple sauce and green been casserole we'd stop by our blockbuster on the way home & watch it that night.

This movie is such a classic because it ultimately is about friendships and the value they add to our lives. These characters hold such debt that you really feel their emotions while watching, and I especially love watching the strong loyalty that develops because of these strong relationships. I had forgotten Chris O'Donnell was in the film and what a major crush I had/ still have on him! And Big George was always one of my favorites in this movie! And I could always relate to Idgie because I was a bit of a tom boy back in the days and I loved her sense of fashion!(*sigh, if you haven't seen this movie in a while, hurry and watch it before the hot weather leaves because it is definitely a sweltering, hot southern movie!)

What If...

Do you ever wonder what your life would look like if you had been born into a completely different lifestyle? Perhaps born into wealth or privilege... on some huge working farm or maybe a huge city like NYC. Some days I do... This past weekend I was at my brother-in -law's home, enjoying a little Labor Day celebration with family. My husband's brother has recently become captivated with the idea of sailing, and when I say captivated I really mean a little obsessed! He's decided he and his wife could totally just sale his huge house, his restaurant, cars and pack their small bags into a sail boat. When he presented the idea to us I completely encouraged! "Yeah, awesome! Then ya'll can sail us around!" But secretly I thought he was a little crazy! But when I picked up one of his gazillion boating magazines this past weekend just to brows through while at the pool, surprisingly I became intrigued! I read about this family who had done just what my brother-in-law wanted... and this family had 2 small girls! These girls age 8 & 12 have been sailing for the past 2 years and have seen 10 times more stuff that I in my 26 years. What an experience! I couldn't believe it! What if I were one of those small girls. Would I appreciate the experience? Would I complain the whole time, wanting to go back home to my friends? Go back to my "normal" life? What if...

Miranda knows how I'm feeling:

Land Update...

I feel the need to update ya'll on our land situation. As some of ya'll may know from here, we're in the process of purchasing about 30 acres of land back in my home town. Everything was just practically falling into our laps until a couple weeks ago. My love called and said there was, I quote him, "A hiccup with the land" (isn't he presh!). Turns out that the owner of the land's lawyer screwed something up on paperwork and it has to be fixed. We're not discouraged and we hope "the hiccup" will be righted by the end of this year and we will finally be land owners! So in the mean time I'm still looking at fun ideas for my barn! Take a peek at some small kitchen ideas!

one comment...

I have been blogging for a little over a year now. And have really grown to loved my 'lil blog (that could). I am proud of the little thoughtful deposits of myself I compile together on any given day. I'm proud I've stuck with it for this long (you who know me know I'm no writer, not too creative or artsy :0) And I realize some posts are completely random and come from out in left field somewhere. You never know exactly what you're going to see pop up under In My Tennis Shoes on a daily basis. But I guess that's just me. Maybe I'd have more followers if there was a theme... I don't know. But of those 14 followers (lost one a couple days ago), I know only a handful actually read my little deposits. I completely understand those that don't. Maybe you saw something in me that wasn't actually there. We all change. Our interests change. And if you need to drop me I completely understand. I actually recently went through and filtered out some blogs I used to follow religiously but just no longer really read anymore. Like I said, we do change. But I do want to take this opportunity to thank my followers who have interacted with me over the last year! Ya'll are awesome! Some days your one comment will completely make my day! :0) So I do thank you for taking the time for a quick visit into my thoughts and into my life!