chocolate understands

Its been a very tough, emotional draining week.

And I've been eating out of the nutella jar by the spoonful.

And this was supposed to be the week i "got back on track"

Well, at least chocolate understands...

It's Fall Ya'll!

It's time for hearty soups,

tall boots (wishing these were in my budget!),

and hanging with friends around the bonfire!

What are you looking foward to the most?

is it fall yet?

so is fall here yet? i need cool crisp air to breath...

my best friend just found out she is having a little girl...

(her first! she has two little boys already!)

i've been a little under the weather here lately, no good!

and had to call in sick on my 2nd day of work at my new job!

(mortified! b/c i'm NEVER sick!)

don't you just love the fox and the hound...

yard sale

Wish me luck! This weekend I'm having my first every yard sale!

I've been getting ready all week! Keeping my fingers crossed for a nice time!

hang it up on the wall...

If you're going to live on a farm you have to hang some farm pictures up on the wall... and these prints are AMAZING! I'll definitely have to remeber these when the time comes.

Source: The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Monrtose

Wide Open Spaces

With the de-treeing, de-stumping, clearing and scraping of our 30 acres of heaven over the past few months, beautiful dialogue has taken place over the future layout of the Mr. & Mrs. Shane Evans family abode. The discourse conclusion: wide open spaces! Yes, my friends swing wide those heavenly gates! Wide open is on the menu: open fields, wide porches, large airy rooms, simple, clean, classic. We've definitley decided on a one story houseplan and actually loved this "U" style houseplan {toned down a bit with less rooms (music room, guest suite... theatre? really?) & more open spaces}. We've also discovered we like the idea of the courtyard {no pool} with our barn situated in a disant corner insead of a garage. This is the dreaming & imagining stage & I'm in LOVE with the process.

Images: house, entry, kitchen, kids room, bathroom .... see more of my pins & ideas here!

you fill up my senses

Source: inspirationsdeco.blogspot.com via Evie on Pinterest

When I saw this image, my home & then John Denver's song Country Roads immediately popped into mind. Yes, we all knows that song {lets sing together, shall we: "country rooooaaads take me hoooome to the plaaaace I belooong..." ok, ok, enough}. But isn't it such a great song? He definitely had some good ones. This one almost makes you wish you did live in West Virginia!

Lately I've been yearning for home. I mean really craving it. And wanting to go back as much as possible. I dream of rising early in the morning when there's just a bit of light out, putting on my old tennis shoes and walking the edge of the fields, still damp with the morning dew. Maybe I'll walk across to the pond, over the dam, into the "coastal" field. I yearn to lounge lazily in a hammock in the soft shade, one of my mom's old Victoria magazines in my lap. There is something sacred about coming home sometimes. The idea gets into my blood until I think I'll go crazy if I don't just go home. So when my car finally does pull into the long dirt road at dusk, all I want to do is let the warm evening air soak into my senses. I am home.

Annie's Song: John Denver

Take me to The Prairie

So I was browsing through my September Southern Living magazine this morning & came across this fabulous bed & breakfast {i love a great b&b} by Rachel Ashwell called The Prairie! I'm probably the last southerner to know about it{who knew and didn't tell me!} since opening earlier this year, but I got so excited anyway & I'm ready to plan a trip with my sisters and mom ASAP! The place is beautifully designed with her Shabby Chic collections and is the perfect combination between rustic and lush elegance. Plus its in the heart of a Texan town's antique utopia! Uhh, perfect!

{sigh!!!}

And check out these amazing cottages too!!

Sunday Quiet Time

Source: etsy.com via Evie on Pinterest

Proverbs 31.21

good thing to remember

Source: healthylivingforyou.tumblr.com via Evie on Pinterest

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Evie on Pinterest

Aww, Shucks! :0)

around the corner

Source: lizawithaz.tumblr.com via Julia on Pinterest

There is one thing that gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of somthing around the corner. ~G.K. Chesterton

long, hot, summer

Jimmy Rodgers: Long Hot Summer

August has arrived, with it brings one long, hot summer her in the Carolinas. In some ways I wouldn't mind just skipping this month, ya know? Kids go back to school {near the beginning!}, summer vacation is over, people start shopping for fall wear... yet it is still hot as BLAZES! And so all I can think about is lounging near cool water instead of being productive. With that said, I vote to skip August this year and go straight to September. All in favor say Aye! :o)

all things Paris

Source: pinterest.com via Amelia on Pinterest

Yes, well said Mr. Darcy... uh, I mean Mr. Firth. I have been a bit MIA on the blog seen. I've been vacationing at the beach, working, reading, dreaming, looking at everything through a different prism... you know, the usual.

As I mentioned before, I've been on a little Paris obsessed lately, ever since watching the movie Midnight in Paris. & so I dived into my current fixation with gusto, reading The Paris Wife & The Last Time I Saw Paris {by Lynn Sheene} while lounging on the beaches of Edisto Island all last week. It was heaven! My favorite of the two? Hands down the latter. And I should have known too, for the Paris wife which tells the story of Hemingway's first {of 4} wife & couldn't end anyway but tragic. But it was still a glimpse into a young married American couple living in Paris in the 1920s so was interesting enough if not a bit of a "debbie downer". But Lynn Sheene's novel had a bit of romance, adventure, history, & mystery. I enjoyed it very much. {Then I watched the movie, The Last Time I Saw Paris {1954}, with Elizabeth Taylor which was nothing like the book by the way.}

Also if you haven't check out O Happy Day's blog, do! About a young party planner for San Francisco who moves with her family to the city of lights! Its very lovely as well.

cute kid

Source: blogger.com via Evie on Pinterest

i interrupt this program to introduce you to the cutest kid ever...

his name is Sawyer...

and i want to just squeeze him sometimes...

and that's his beautiful mother, my best friend...

she's going to be a mommy of 3 soon...

she's my hero too...

just because

Source: 9gag.com via Evie on Pinterest

i need all the help i can {especially trying to tie a scarf}

i dream of paris...

Source: dressdesigndecor.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

So i can't get enough of Paris... I dragged Shane to the movies a couple days ago to see Midnight in Paris & it was totally worth seeing if not for just the beautiful Paris itself. The city played a huge and beautiful character in this movie & deserves an academy award for it's performance.. it was breathtakingly beautiful! I about died... and now I am reading a novel I picked up today at B&N called The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain that tells the story of Ernest Hemingway's first {of 4} marriage which is set in Paris in the 1920s! Love it! {actually i'm only on chapter 4 & its a little slow going} but i'm a bit obsessed with that current time and place because the movie touches during that time as well. Have you seen it? or read this book? what did ya'll think?

Frustration!

very frustrated and irritated right now with blogger! for some reason, for a while now, i am not able to comment on other blogs!! is says i have to sign into an account. I'M ALREADY SIGNED INTO MY GOOGLE ACCOUNT PEOPLE! and even after i sign into my account AGAIN, it will prompt me to sign in AGAIN AND AGAIN... frustration. the other day i was able to comment one ONE blog... frustration. whats wrong!!

a girl who reads

*****

I recently stumbled onto a blog and saw this post, stolen from this blog, & I decided it needed to be stolen again...

Date a Girl Who Reads

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

Written by Rosemary Urquico

let freedom ring

Source: workofheartphoto.com via Linda on Pinterest

Today Shane and I are headed back home for my small town's annual hot dog supper & 4th of july parade. ah yes, I love growing up in a small town. Everyone have a happy 4th of july weekend. I'll be at hospital all weekend but excited to be off monday for the 4th with my hubs! This country is so blessed, let freedom ring!

so happy together

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

lately i've felt so loved. and it seems like i've fallen in love with my husband all over again. he just makes my heart smile...

and i never want to take that for granted... ever.

life is too short...

today you are you

*****

because i'm not some disney princess

i'm not elizabeth bennett or carrie bradshaw

i'm not even anne shirley. i'm not my fabulous older sister, bess

or that skinny girl at the beach i saw last week

i am not that girl from that fabulous blog who travels the world

i am me and you are you

and some days i just need that reminder

Officially Summer

Well folks, summertime is here officially. I'd say unofficially, summer arrived weeks ago. But officially, the calendar tell us those hot, dog days are here to stay.

Summertime: Billie Holiday

After a day of working this past Sunday, Shane and I made our way through the thick evening heat to mom & dad's for a small & quiet impromptu father's day celebration {officially my fam is celebrating his special day this coming weekend because my siblings were scattered}, but my oldest sister decided to surprise him by driving down and cooking him a steak dinner just to show some extra love {since officially it was father's day}. So Shane and I decided to make a slight detour after picking me up from work to get in on the little celebration. We arrived in time for dessert: blackberry cobbler, one of my families all time favorite.

The blackberry cobblers my mom makes are special in that each one holds special memories. Memories of my childhood summers when the time was just right to head across the pond to the "coastal field" {as we always called it} for some blackberry picking. I can remember mom waking my 4 sibling and me up just before daybreak {usually with a frown and a grumble on our breath}, explaining she'd thank us when we were through. So groggily we'd pull on our old jeans and tennis shoes and head to our field where the wild blackberries grew. After giving us each a small container we'd start a'pick'n just as the sun came over the horizon. Sometimes the bushes would be heavy with large plump fruit, other years when it had been very dry they'd be slim pickin's literally. I especially remember my inner competitor coming out in seeing if I could fill my container the fastest or how many times I'd empty it into the larger bucket usually sitting close to mama. And of course there was the shouts of triumph to the group as one displayed an especially large and juicy berry prior to popping it into our mouths without remorse. But we'd always walk away a couple hours later with a few scratches, a couple bug bites, many stained fingertips and a sense of accomplishment. Then it was back to the house to wash them and, for the majority, pack them away in the freezer for another time.

Its been many years since I've been blackberry picking. And our coastal field no longer holds our wild back berry bushes but large chicken houses built by my uncle. So when mama explained that she'd used her last berries from the freezer on this pie, there was a little tug on my heart as I realized that I was eating the last bit of fruit from our labors. At that moment I wished mom had gotten me up early a couple more summer mornings. But my heart and memory thanked her too, as I she said we would & have many times over, as I took another bite, this one perhaps even sweeter than the last.

happy weekend

I apologize....

I just thought this was hilarious... and very interesting...

I'm a sucker for a Cinderella story.

Happy weekend!

breaking blogger silence

So i guess its about time for me to break my blogger silence that has been going on for... well... awhile now. what have i been up to? here goes:

Shane and I had a marvelous 1 year anniversary down in Savannah last month. I'm thinking its my new happy place. I love the old historic building and the charming square gardens that are on every other turn. Its so romantic. We took a horse carriage tour and then an evening trolley ghost tour as well & I loved introducing "my Savannah" to Shane. I've just about decided that if i had to live anywhere else than my beloved Mountville, I'd choose Savannah. This trip we stayed further back off the river at our cozy bed and breakfast, The Azalea Inn, and I think I liked it much better. I could walk those old charming backstreets any day. {I'm ready to go back tomorrow}

Here we are finishing dinner one night at the underground Alligator Soul ! Yummmm.....

Yes, Savannah was definitely a highlight this past month for my family also experienced a bit of heartache recently as well. Not the end of the world kinda of stuff but when a family is as close as mine, when one member experiences troubled times, we all do. But Jesus is good through the good and bad... and time really does have a way of healing as well.

{I want you by: Kelly Clarkson}

Its been hot hot here the last couple of days with thunderstorm (with even hale last night). I recently broke out my Kelley Clarkson All I Ever Wanted CD and have been jamming while on the road. I love that girl! She can SANG!

Summertime food is here! The last couple nights I've made this stuffed zucchini:

and this lime {i used lemon}, avocado & shrimp salad {but made it into a sandwich with roll & a bit of lettuce}:

other interesting info includes: getting cussed out by a man yesterday in the publix parking lot for not putting my buggy up in front of his 8 year old daughter who was in a catholic school uniform {and just FYI: i usually put my buggy up but it was SO hot and the buggy holder was way across the parking lot from me so i didn't... hate me, whatever} I wanted to roll my eyes, flip him a finger, and fly out of the parking lot... but then i remembered I have a Jesus sticker on the back of my car so I couldn't... instead i just gave a sigh, smiled and drove off. Situations like that always throw me for a loop.

Good Friday

******

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been save.
Ephesians 2:4-5

Everyone have a lovely Good Friday & Happy Easter!

Because He Lives!

One year ago...

~ Happy 1 year Anniversary to my best friend~

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be!"

~Browning

One Year

Ohmygoodness! I'm so excited! And just so very blessed! My love & I are off for the weekend to celebrate one year of wedded bliss {it really has been a great year }! :D Shane was completely in charge! & surprised me with a long weekend to Savannah, GA at this beautiful bed & breakfast, The Azalea Inn & Gardens.

Oh, & PS... I'm excited about the food! I've been careful for the past 3 weeks {and lost 5 lbs, woot woot} but I'm taking a little break this weekend {can you gain 5 lbs in one weekend... probably}!

yummmm

it's monday...

*****

because today is my one day of rest before going back to work {after working all weekend}

because this is the day that the lord has made & i will rejoice & be glad in it

because today starts the rest of my life...