Traveling South

What a busy last few days! I had an amazing weekend in Canton, TX and in my hometown Minden, LA. Wednesday evening I left Arkansas with my Kelly Moore bag, our winnings from Vegas and and antique shopping on the brain. Upon arriving in my hometown I was pleasantly surprised that the Subway there serves gluten free sandwiches. Yay! I ate at Subway three times in the course of 5 days! That's how excited I was about those sandwiches. In high school and college I probably ate there at least 3 times a week until I found out about my Celiac Disease. Apparently Subway has put gluten free options in several test markets and the Shreveport/Minden area just happens to be one of the test markets. It's too bad that Little Rock is not one of those test markets.

Thursday morning my alarm went off at 5:15am. Wow! I don't remember that last time I woke up that early! It was all in the name of CANTON, though. I went to Canton, TX for the first time last fall with my mom and I had a BLAST! I actually promised to blog about my trip to Canton and never did. So please forgive me! Maybe this post will make up for it. :)

We met up with some of mom's life long friends. :)

We arrived in Canton right at 9am when all the booths were opening. I had my list all made out from our fall trip. I still had several items I was looking for so I hit up some of favorite spots I remembered from last time, including Simplicity. They have the most wonderful smelling candles as well as home decor. To find most of the items that were on my list, we went to the flea market area where people basically bring "old junk" to sell. This is where I find all the good stuff - like 2 handmade quilts for $50 when they normally sell for several hundred dollars a piece.

Probably one of my favorite booths was this one where they made homemade Happy Meals for Doggies! :) How cute are these!? Of course, I picked up a meal for both Scooter and Conner!

Overall, it was a great trip! We literally were there when the shops opened and stayed til they closed. Thursday is a great day to go because the crowds aren't as bad as they are on on weekend! It was perfect! Also, I found several things on my list including a couple photo props, some home decor, some treats for the dogs and even some treats for me! I am definitely already looking forward to our next trip to Canton!

Discount Code!

Where do you do most of your shopping? Are you one of those shoppers who seeks the thrill of Black Friday? Do you LOVE the crowds and the traffic and fighting for the best price? Or are you like me, on the other hand, who prefers to do all (every. single. bit.) of shopping online? Like down to the socks and boxers that will inevitabily be in my husbands stockings every single year - I buy EVERYTHING online. It's just so wonderful to have someone out there in neverneverland preparing my packages just for me and then have a wonderful mailman (I pretend that they are little elves) dropping off my goodies on my doorstep. It's magical! What is most magical is that I never have to step foot in a single store or curse at one single person for cutting me off in traffic. Life is really just better this way.

One of my favorite places lately is Overstock.com. They have been so kind to offer YOU, my lovely readers, a discount code just for being so wonderful. Take a look at some of the things that I have my eye on.

So, for the good stuff. Go to Overstock.com, check out their fabulous sale items and when you find something you can't live without, enter discount code: 121728. This is good for 10% off ALL Overstock.com products.

202234 ** - free shipping promo code for electronics.

Happy Shopping and thanks so much for being loyal readers! :)

*All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.*

Wish List

My mother in law requested that I make my wish list again because it was so helpful last year. Also, it helps my husband earn major brownie points in my book because he gets me just what I want! :) He usually surprises with one or two things but my wish list helps him with a bigger item. And as I mentioned before, Christmas on my side of the family is pretty much taken care of because we are helping out a family in Nicaragua. We will still buy something for my parents and of course for my little nephew Landon and for the one on the way! (My OTHER brother is expecting. We find out December 19th if it's a boy or a girl!) This will be our first Christmas will a little one running around! ... well, maybe not running quite yet. ;)

Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet book

Fugi Film Camera

Getting it Together Kit

Modern Family Season 1 on DVD.

a nice toaster

Pet Ornaments from Pottery Barn: One for Scooter and one for Conner, of course. :)

J.Crew.com

Vintage Pajama Set (sz. L)

cozy J.Crew slippers (sz M)

One Big Present

Christmas is fast approaching and that means family, food and gifts! Our family (mainly my mother) has always been big on presents. She kinda goes nutts, to say the least. My theory is she doesn't realize how much she has bought until Christmas Eve when she finally finishes up her wrapping and puts everything under the tree. I'm certain she steps back and looks at the enormous display of gifts and Brittney Spears's "Oopps I did it again" song starts playing in her head. It's true. I get my love of gift giving honestly from my mother. I LOVE giving gifts, not only at Christmas, but year round. I guess you could say, it is my love language.

conner in front of the tree

This year our family has decided to do something a little different. We have decided to pull our resources (in this case, our FINANCIAL resources) and purchase one big gift from a family (ies) in need. I remember doing this exact same thing when I was little. My parents made sure to teach us the importance of giving by tithing year round but also by giving to those less fortunate. Each year we would buy Christmas presents for a family in town and wrapped them all up and brought them to their front door and left them annonymously (whoops I guess it's not annonymous if you blog about it years later... hmmm..) Anyway, my point is, my parents did well by teaching the importance of giving. I still enjoy picking a name or two off the angel tree and going to buy presents for a child who may not get anything otherwise.

So last year, we told mom she was out of control and the gift giving needed to stop. haha. Who would have ever thought children would tell their parents to stop giving them presents!? My brothers and I (along with our spouses) had discussed the fact that we are literally searching for things for our parents to buy for us just so they could wrap it up and put it under the tree. Ridiculous if you ask me when their are so many people who don't even have one single Christmas gift.

my brothers & my husband, overwhelmed with way too many presents!

My mom proposed the idea of giving to this organization in Nicaragua that my home church supports. My mom goes to Nicaragua every year, sometimes twice a year, to hand out gifts, food and other resources to the people in this village. It is incredible to hear the stories of these orphans who literally live in a dump and survive off other people's trash. Think about THAT next time you throw things away! In the past few years, I haven't been healthy enough to travel to Nicaragua with my mother but this coming year I hope to go with her to see first hand how these families and espcially how these children live.

these children actually live at this dump. here my mom is handing out toys, clothes, food, etc. They live off other people giving to them!

These children are in line to receive toys, clothes, etc. Notice the housing in the background. Just pitiful.

So what is our present this year? We are buying a house in Nicaragua. What? Yes. It may sound strange but for Christmas this year our family is pooling our money and are putting it toward the construction of a home for a family without a home in Nicaragua. For about $1800, the mission team from my home church can construct a basic one room house complete with a concrete slab and a metal roof. That might not sound like much of a house to you but that is more house than most of these people have ever seen before. It might just be the best $1800 that our family has ever spent.

this is what a typical home looks like in their villiage.

Here is a family standing in front of a newly constructed home that my home church built.

See how different the homes are. You can clearly see how the one on the right is more solid and sturdy. It actually is made out of concrete and is on a solid concrete foundation, unlike their homes constructed out of scraps of metal they find in the dump.

Why am I telling you this? Not to gain any sort of recognition or to sound super holy, but to challenge you to do the same. Do you find yourself thinking WAY to hard to come up with a decent Christmas list from your parents or in-laws? Or perhaps you LOVE making out your Christmas list - you may already have made one out but it is full of things you don't *really* NEED. Think twice about the money you spend this Christmas and spend it on someone in NEED. Just give up ONE Christmas gift on your list and ask for a donation instead to your favorite charity. There are countless way to give this Christmas, I challenge you to give from your heart.

I love this picture of my mother. She is happiest when she is giving to someone in need. Love you, mom! Can't wait to go to Nicaragua with you!

Kelly Moore Bag

I used some birthday money from my in-laws to buy myself a little present. So, Mrs. Carole, if you're reading this, this is what you bought me. :) I am checking the mail everyday until it arrives on my doorstep. I think it was on backorder but it should be here very soon!

Visit Kelly Moore Bag to buy one (or two) for yourself! :)

Wish List

About this time every year, I start thinking about birthdays and growing older. Recently I was having dinner with a childhood friend for her birthday. When I said, "Happy 28th birthday!" to her, I realized - Man, 28 sounds old, but then I thought that's okay because I'll always be younger than her. hehe. But then it hit me! - I'll be 27! TWENTY SEVEN! It seriously hit me like a ton of bricks. For some reason, I had been thinking all year long I was 25. Somewhere, somehow, I completely skipped my 26th birthday and not on purpose, although I have heard of people doing that. So as tough as it is to admit this, I'll be 27 next month. Geez, that sounds old. But I am every bit of that 27. I go to bed at 9:30pm. I wear cotton over-sized non flattering pajamas. I take (on average) 37 pills a day. I am old.

So, for my "I am officially old" birthday, here is my wish list:

an Otterbox for my iPhone because in my old age, apparently coordination is the first to go. I have dropped my iPhone about 15 times and it's still kicking. new Toms summer shoes (size 9.5) Aren't they adorable? I'll take one in every color. :)

Williams Sonoma recipe binder

UNO DVD

Now, we all know birthdays aren't about getting presents but it never hurts, right? ;)

Give-A-way!

Lookin for a little give-a-way LOVE? Head on over to my friend, Lindsey's blog. She is giving these away! I secretly hope that I win, but I wanted you to have a chance to hear about this fabulous give-a-way too! :) These have been on my wish list for over a year! I've just been waiting on someone really nice to buy them for me. (hint. hint.) I know that Scooter and Conner would LOVE these containers!

Conner, lounging on the porch

Scooter, soaking wet and loving it!

Dog Arteest

So I just had a brief conversation via email with an amazing artist! Seriously, she is amazing! Let me introduce you to Aimee Hover. (She actually has a little asterick over the first "e" but for the life of me I can't figure out how to type it - So sorry, Aimee! Her name is pronounced like A-may.)Anyway, Aimee paints custom pet portraits for your four-legged family members! Take a look at some of my favorites that I found while browsing her website. Aren't they amazing? She is certain to concentrate on every single detail that makes your pooch so special. She specializes in doggies but also does cats and I even found a horse portrait on her website! :)
Check out her blog for her latest work! And while you're at it, go ahead and follow her on Twitter @dogarteest. On her blog she even gives step-by-step pictures of some of her work. It's really neat to see her work go from something like this... ...to something like THIS! Amazing!
It was nice "meeting" you, Aimee. I am putting you at the top of my "wish list." I could totally see these boys in a custom portrait by Aimee.

Wist List: Ballard Designs!

Anyone else out there obsessed with Ballard Designs like I am? Just in case you were looking to buy me anything, here are some ideas? ;)