She's Sun and Rain

I'm still working on the eating healthy thing. I've found one of my favorite snacks is Triscuits (the original, they have only 3 ingredients and no junk!) and hummus. But every time I go to the Teeter they are out of the sun dried tomato so I end up with garlic... and in turn end up with garlic breath. Oh the lengths we go to be healthy ;) Today I'm buckling down on Alley's baby book. I make a Shutterfly book for each year since Adam and I have been married and so far I LOVE the way they turn out. I started the old fashioned scrapbooking when I was in college. My Mom had made ours up through high school and I continued it through about 2005. So when Adam and I got married I started the digital books. I've done one so far for 2010 and 2011. I am working on 2012 so I can get caught up :) But, for the baby I want to do an old fashioned baby book with all the photos for at least the first couple of months or the first year. I also want to do one of the "fill out...

I love being at home. Waking up at home, smelling the coffee brewing, hearing the birds chirping and just... being.at.home. I hate leaving for work in the morning and I love coming home in the afternoon. I enjoy having the windows open and yes, even cleaning. It's not just my home, I am the same way at my parents house. I"m sure you can relate.  They have moved a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to matter where they are, it still has that same "homey" feel. We are going to visit them this weekend for Easter and I am so excited. Besides the fact that they live at the coast (who doesn't love that?) I just really look forward to being around them and feeling like I'm "at home". I also look forward to the day I get to stay home with our kids. There's something that really excites me about making our home have the same feel. Where guests feel welcome just dropping by and saying hi, and our kids' friends want to come hang out. I really wa...

I started off the year saying that I was going to do a picture a day, and then, well, we found out I was pregnant on January 10th! It's hard to blog about "other" things when you have such exciting things going on. So, that's why I haven't followed through on my promise and why I haven't been blogging. :) We are in fact, having a baby! We are due on September 23rd, and we find out in about a month if it's a boy or a girl. YES, we are definitely going to find out. I'm sure I will be just as surprised that a human being found it's way out of me, after God created it in me when it comes. I like to plan, I like to decorate...and what other excuse in your life do you have to purposefully spend 6-9 months on one room in your house and noone can judge you?!! I am fully going to take advantage of this situation! :-) I'll post some pictures later - if you haven't already seen them on facebook. I really was overwhelmed this morning by the outpourin...

Today we ran a mararthon. Not really, but we did take down the Christmas Tree, did a ton of laundry, did the budget, got money out for our envelopes, and went to the grocery store. We are exhausted. Right now I'm on the computer and Adam is watching the caucuses. Here's some pics of our Christmas decor this year. We hosted a few Christmas parties. Will post this pics later :) Adam's Mom gave us a  Coca-Cola train so we put it around the gifts and tree! Had to post just a few pics of Ava and Marla. BTW, I skipped yesterday, but we were traveling back home. Resolutions are made to be broken but you keep going :)

Every year Tay and I, or well, I don't remember who started it... but anyway, we name the year. 2009 was "A time to shine", 2010 was "Let the fun begin", etc. But, this year... I am borrowing an idea from Taylor's new blog, and I am going to post a picture every day of the year on this blog. Not that my life is all that exciting, but this will be a great way for me to blog and share our story. Our crazy life story.  I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve :) We are in Atlanta (or Villa Rica, really) visiting my in-laws and doing Christmas with them. On New Year's eve we opened Christmas presents, ate KFC, painted Joyce and Dennis' dining room as their gift, and then went over to Aaron and Val's house to light lanterns. You know, like the movie tangled. IT.WAS.AWESOME.  Here are a few pictures from the experience! If I had a better camera, (sponsor's welcome) I'd probably have better pictures of the lanterns in the air.   Adam and V...

If you've known me any length of time or been to my house, you probably know that I am a photo freak. I love taking photos and I love putting them into scrapbooks for later viewing! I am behind, and I mean wayyy behind on scrapbooking. My mom did all of ours from birth to high school. When I got to college at N.C. State, I decided I would keep up the tradition. I scrapbooked my freshman through senior year and did a separate scrapbook for cheerleading. Since I graduated I have been struggling to keep up! I just finished my Alaska book from 2008. I had a conversation one time with Adam that put things into perspective. It went like this: Ginny "Babe, I love you. Can we be married forever?" Adam "I love you too. And no, there isn't marriage in heaven". Such is life when you marry a minister. See what seminary does to people? ;) I pouted. Like a 5 year old who was just told she can't have a candy bar. But it gave me some pretty good perspective that n...

For those of you who were just dying to know....Nope, I didn't win the pottery barn sweeps. Haha. I did, however, purchase a few frames that were on sale and cannot wait to get them in the mail. I ordered one of these:  And one of the 9 opening large frame :) Who doesn't love frames? In other news...life has been busy. We had Adam's family in town for Labor Day and then they left a day early so, of course, we left 30 minutes after they did and headed to the coast. We are spontaneous like that. I plan on posting some photos from that weekend as well as some others...coming soon!

Most of you know that my Dad passed away 9 ish years ago in April of 2002. Saddest day of my life thank you very much. This year I have been on 'Project Dad' trying to collect and save some of the things that remind me of him and can be passed down when we have kiddos. My dad sang and taught people about Jesus a lot. We have him recorded singing the national anthem at a Charlotte Hornets game on VHS. We have tapes of him singing in churches and giving his testimony. I'm very thankful for my cousin Steph and my aunt Carol and uncle Mark for all their help after Dad passed to put those things together. Now, we're in the process of converting them all to current technology, DVDs and CDs etc. This past weekend after a wedding we visited my grandparents (Dad's parents). They are just awesome and fun to be around so we like spending as much time with them as we can. Their names are Ruby and Jewell and they've been married 66? years this November. My grandmother handed...

My beautiful, wonderful, fashionista, loving, sweet, caring, fiesty, great grandmother went to be with Jesus last night. That is something I'm sure of, she loved the Lord. She was a member of Austin Grove Baptist Church since, well, a really long time.  In honor of her, I decided I would post. She and my great grandfather Arthur created an amazing, gigantic family. I literally had to plan our wedding around how massive my family is. We count off at Christmas and we never have less than 30 of our immediate family. They had 4 boys, who had lots of kids, who had lots of kids. They had one great-great grandson, my second cousin, Miles. I love these people. Clara and Art were married over 70 years! What a testimony to marriage. They lived in the same house forever. They had a farm, orchards, chicken houses. Now the chicken houses are all full of old furniture and just stuff. They have a "Christmas house" which hosts a Christmas tree all year round. It has photos all along the ...

 Love you Dad.

Greg on the other boat, I think he was posing for my picture :)   This Mother's Day we went down to visit my parents who now live at the beach. (I heard once that the wealthier you are, you either call it the beach, the coast, or the shore) Based on my earlier post, I think we will just call it the beach :) Adam and I on the "Wendy D" (my mom's name) Greg caught these, and they tasted yummy! Adam grilling out some burgers  We also went down to "The Day At The Docks" festival. I can't wait for the one coming in the fall (even though it is the one that prevented us from getting married down there!) called "Festival By The Sea". This is the picture I took to enter into the 96.9 flip flop photo contest to win Kenny Chesney tickets. But then I forgot to enter it. Oh well, it's a fun photo. What a fun weekend with family!

Congrats to my cousin Zac for winning the State Championship in High School Football. He played at Charlotte Country Day this year. So most of you probably know I have a younger brother named Greg that I am always very proud of. He played baseball at Charlotte Christian and is now a Freshman at ECU. I also have two younger cousins Zac and Trent, and they too, are kindof like 'little brothers' to me. I'm very proud of Zac and enjoyed getting to watch some of his games the last 2 years. I'm so thankful they have moved to Charlotte :) Here's a picture of the team! And here's a picture of some of our family that was there. Notice, I am wearing Leonard's Clemson hat. Which...I almost went to school there and my family are big fans, so I'm not ashamed :) I love my family :)

 This year Adam and I got to go to Villa Rica for Halloween weekend. Adam was asked to preach at his parents church and so we were able to do the 'trunk or treat' with our niece Ava. She was tooo precious. Tinkerbell of course.  Tinkerbell with Uncle Adam  Mom and Dad and Tinkerbell  Getting candy out of the pool  The cake walk! Man that cake was good!  Mostly she just wanted to swing :) With Aunt Ginny :) I love being an aunt! My non-techy self can't figure out how to rotate the video. So, here it is sideways. She loves Phil Collins. LOL.

Today was an emotional day for me. I'm sure in part because I am a woman and certain times call for certain emotions, but also because my not so little brother left for college today. Excuse me, August 1992, weren't you just here? I was 11 when my brother was born and we actually shared a room for a while when he was little. I babysat many a nights/days and then once I could drive became a taxi driver sister :) I wouldn't take back a day of it, it was such a blast. I was 'cool'. I was cool throughout high school and college. I think I'm still cool but I'm sure that is debatable in the eyes of a college freshman. You see, I am my brother's biggest fan. I watched him play t-ball, basketball, take horseback riding lessons, more baseball, went to awards banquets, graduations, you name it...I was there if I could be. I am so proud of my brother. He graduated from HS with a great GPA, lots of awards in sports, and most importantly, great character. I took him ...

Over the weekend my aunt Sharlene got married. All my family was in town for the wedding. On Saturday evening Adam, Carrie and I went downtown to the riverfront to take some pictures. I've been emailing my girlfriends Tay, Shae, and Kristen about how much I really love working downtown. It's a casual downtown, not uppity like other places. It doesn't matter what you wear, what designer names you represent, or how you present yourself. You just BE yourself. I love that. Here's a sneak peak. This is Kilwin's Ice Cream. It is fabulous! Sometimes we go get Pizza at Slice of Life downtown and then get Ice Cream. :)  This is the Wilmington Riverfront. It's the Cape Fear River. You can walk from one end of Water Street to the other on the river. It's awesome. A Sailboat on the Cape Fear. A Trolley that goes through downtown.  The Cotton Exchange. A building full of cute shops and restaurants.  The U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship at sunset. Baby Bugs! This is the ...