Anniston Nicole

Our new little niece arrived yesterday afternoon around 2:30 here in Ruston with the chubbiest little cheeks and a head full of dark hair! Anniston Nicole Walker weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces at birth and was so alert and bright eyed for her first few hours of life! She is precious! Nicole did wonderfully during labor, too! From what she said, it was quite an easy labor and birth. We are so thankful for another healthy baby to add to our big extended family. I can't wait to spoil another niece and watch her grow up under the protection of her two older brothers, Landon and Carson. Being the youngest of three and having two older brothers myself, I can honestly say from experience that she is in for a wonderful life. Having two older brothers is the best! They watch out for you. They teach you the ropes. They let you drive with them to school with the cool kids. They will be your friends for life, Anniston, if you let them. 

Mommy and Daddy with Anniston in her first few hours of life. 

Landon holding baby sister for the first time. He was so cute with her. 

Honey and Pop meeting Anniston.

Me & B meeting Anniston. 

 We love you, Anniston!

My Favorite Etsy Artwork

I didn't realize how much art work I have purchased on Etsy until a friend of mine was getting the 2 dollar tour of the casa de Buie and kept asking where all of my framed prints were from. My response to nearly every single piece: ETSY. The internet: it really is an amazing place. But even more than that, ETSY...where artists, vintage lovers, recyclers, crafters, and most of all hoarders can unite as one! 

My most recent purchase celebrates the love for my home state of Louisiana and yes my home town made the map! I LOVE this print! It's so fun and colorful. I just wish that this particular artist made Buie's home state of Arkansas.

Etsy Shop: joebmapart

I'm sure you've noticed in the last few years that chalk art is EVERYWHERE! I can't write very pretty with chalk to save my life. But I don't need do when someone else has done it for me. :) But these are permanent. They don't rub off so no worries! I put the first one right above our coffee area and the second one I actually gave to B as part of his anniversary present. It's what I say to him every night right before we go to sleep. I know I know, we're adorable. ;)

Etsy Shop: Lily & Val

I think this print accurately describes me and my interests: silly, dog, cat, coffee. If only one of them were holding a camera we'd be all set. This print is in our breakfast room and it brightens up my morning! Sometimes when I'm still delirious (before I've had MY coffee) I image our dog Conner and our big orange cat Charlie chumming it up over a hot cup of Joe and it makes me giggle. (Yes, I know I'm weird and spend waaay too much time with my animals. Give me a break, people. I work from home!)

Etsy Shop: 3 Crows

Of course, I HAVE to mention one of my dear friends, Christen Byrd. She is so fabulously talented in every area of her life. She's one of those people you want to hate because she's so darn good at everything creative but you just can't because she's so funny and nice. I'm glad she's my friend. She custom designs these prints for children's room or for a nursery. They make the PERFECT baby shower gift. While I don't currently have any hanging in our home, my brother and sister in law have FIVE of these prints between the two families. As long as they keep popping out babies, I'll keep ordering these prints! :)

Etsy Shop: baby byrds

This shop is probably one of my favorite discoveries thus far on Etsy. The artist's work is simply magical to me, filled with flowers and inspiring quotes. I currently have 6 (maybe 7) prints by Katie in our home and one of my best friends just sent me another print for my birthday that I need to get hung too! Her work inspires me as any good artist's should. I wish she could come paint a whole room full of wildflowers for me. I would never leave it. :) Check out her Instagram feed too @katieisadaisy.

Etsy Shop: the wheatfield

There are thousands of more wonderful and talented artists to discover. If you have found someone I need to know about let me know! I love finding new talent and displaying beautiful artwork. 

My Current Season of Life.

I saw this quote somewhere recently that talked about embracing the current season of your life and it really stuck with me. I think it's natural for us to always be looking forward to something...I mean, after all, time is always moving forward and it seems to do so faster and faster the older we get. My husband and I have recently made a pretty big life change and it drastically changed our day to day life. Instead of looking ahead to when this phase will be over, I'm learning to embrace it. My husband, affectionately known as Buie, has gone back to graduate school to get his Masters in History in order to one day teach (hopefully at the college level). Depending on how the future goes, he may go on to get his doctorate. The Masters is a two year program and so far he has finished one class with flying colors! We still have a long road ahead of us. He gave up a stressful career in retail management to do a complete 180 and go back to school because it was what we thought was best for our family. History has always been Buie's passion. Also, my photography business has done really well since moving back to my home state! However, we still have not sold our home back in Arkansas which is a HUGE prayer request. We need to get that sucker sold like yesterday!

Recently B & I had the whole life plan talk which is exciting and scary all at the same time considering our life plan has sort of changed so much here in the last 6 months. I mean, we are 30 and almost 36 years old and sometimes I feel like we are starting over! But then it hit me. How many people get to start over in life? We really felt like Louisiana is where God wanted us now. It was Arkansas for a season and we embraced it. I loved my job so much at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and miss all of my friends in Little Rock. Buie talks about his work friends all the time. We embraced our time there...but our time was up and it was time to move on.

So now we're in this new season of life where I am still building clientele for my business and Buie is a student all over again. Yes, we talk about what the future holds... when we'll have babies, if we'll be horrible parents (ha!), if we'll get another dog (I really want a King Charles Cavalier and an Irish Wolfhound), when are we ever going to take our trip to Scotland and Ireland...

But most importantly, we are embracing the now. We are enjoying the fact that we live in Louisiana. We sit outside on our sunporch and listen to the rain poring down and talk about all the places we want to travel to. It may not be exactly what we had "planned," but I kind of like this season in our life.

Surprise!

Today is my 30th birthday and actually I'm 100% okay with it. I've heard different people saying they had a hard time "dealing with" turning 30 so honestly I was curious about how I'd feel once the day arrived. I knew I wanted to celebrate with close friends and family but that was all I really cared about. Little did I know that my wonderful husband had been planning a wonderful surprise party for months! 

Buie sent out Facebook messages back in April and then worked closely with two of my best friends to iron out all the details. The night went off without a hitch thanks to my husband, Alicia, Melissa, my two brothers and many other of my closest friends who showed up to make my birthday surprise the best ever! 

So B TOLD me we were just going to dinner to celebrate our anniversary that we didn't go out for the weekend before...just the two of us. But when I arrived at the restaurant, there were about 25 of my closest friends waiting on me. I was totally caught of guard, like completely flabbergasted! I kept saying over and over again, "I had NO IDEA!" The fact that it was actually a week before my actual birthday made me even less suspicious. This surprise dinner took place last Friday. 

That was just the first surprise of the night. Buie, along with a few of our close friends, booked rooms in downtown Shreveport. We went out downtown and stayed in Shreveport. It was just a fun night! 

And the fun continues! My best friends that came down from Arkansas stayed through the weekend. We had a big slumber party at our house. It was so fun! We had big plans to do a big meal but kept it simple with frozen pizzas, candy and a movie night for the kiddos and they loved it!

Thanks to everyone who helped make my 30th birthday the best yet!

 Today, on my actual birthday, I enjoyed relaxing at home with Buie and our animals. I'm looking forward to the next 30.

Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

The last time we chatted, I was in a panic over Conner's scare that he gave us. Since then, my little buddy has been doing just fine! No more seizures to report! Let's hope it was a one time thing.

So much has happened since I last blogged... Let's get updated, shall we?

Peach season has come and gone in Ruston and they were AMAZING! Since this is our first summer as Ruston residents, we took full advantage in this little peach crazy town. If you aren't familiar with the town, Ruston is known for its peaches. They have a big family owned and operated Peach Orchard. Every year, the whole town comes together for the Peach Festival. I think I ate enough peaches to last until next summer! :)

We are LOVING being closer to some of our best friends. While we miss our Arkansas friends everyday, we are so grateful for the friends we have that live close. Some of us have only dreamed about living close to each other since high school days. I love being close enough to call them up to meet for dinner or an afternoon swim. 

Fourth of July came and went as well. This is probably my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. Unfortunately this year I was in bed sick for days so the only celebrating I did was listening to the fireworks from our back porch. 

 July 5th was our 5 year anniversary and since I was still under the weather we didn't do anything special really. We had a few gifts to exchange to each other and then we took the dogs on a walk around the neighborhood together. It was simple and quite nice actually. It's hard to believe it's already been five years!

Hopefully I can stay caught up on the blog. Some days I think, I don't have anything exciting to write about. Other days, I look back and wish I had written more...even about the simple things in life. So here's so writing more.

I hope your July is going splendidly! :)