Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!

This year I have been obsessed with turkeys. These two guys are so cute in my living room!

I am a little sad to put them away soon...

I hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with family, friends, food, and thanksgiving. 

There is so much to be thankful for in my life-my wonderful husband, family, friends, church, job and the list could go on and on. I am a blessed young woman.



Have a happy thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Game Day Munchies

To be perfectly honest I am not a cook and have never really cared anything about cooking. Most people are surprised to learn that I can barely boil water! This is even more tragic considering the wonderful role model I grew up with.  My mom can make something out of nothing in the blink of an eye AND it will taste like the best thing you ever put in your mouth.  Not me though.  Sorry mommy!  Last weekend, however, I had an unusual desire to "attempt" to make some game day dishes for me and the hubs to munch on during the Alabama game. Should I mention my hubs was shocked to say the least? He is such a good sport and very encouraging. Bless him!

Okay, ya'll don't laugh as I share my "creations." A girl has to start somewhere!

A blackbean salsa.
I apologize for the poor presentation. Jeremy had already eaten half of it before I could take a pic.

My next creation was a taco dip.
This was actually really good! It is a hot cheesy dip served with fritos scoops!

I also made warm ham and cheese sandwiches.
These were also yummy.


To finish up the evening we had double dutch hot chocolate! Yum!


And blonde brownies.
Don't get too excited. I did not make these!
Our wonderful neighbor bought them over!


Well those are my attempts to cook. It's nothing special but it's a start. I think I am inspired to continue my cooking efforts. I'll keep ya'll updated!
Hope everyone has had a happy Monday!

Rain Rain Go Away....

you have ruined my pumpkin display.  Sad day. The oh-so-cute arrangement that once seemed so welcoming at my front door has now suffered greatly due to the never-ending rain we have had for 3 days. Don't get me wrong. I am thankful for the liquid sunshine but my poor fall decor will never be the same.  I arrived home from work last night (after an exhausting 13 hour shift and an alarm system debaucle, mind you) to find that the great cinderella pumpkin had tumbled from its resting place on the mound of hay to land right in the middle of my beautiful mum. Tragedy. The mum is broken and so is my heart. I worked hard to keep those plants alive for 2 weeks and now all the rain is killing them. The broken mum is propped up against the bale of hay. Maybe no one will notice its crushed backside and gaping hole on the top. Ha! The hay is so soggy it can no longer support the weight of the cinderella pumpkin so now it is unhappily residing on the ground. The cute scarecrow sign blew away in the wind. After an extensive search with only a fierce lightning storm to light up the yard, I finally found the little sign stuck in a bush. A small victory.

I didn't think I could share a picture, but the rain let up for a second so I just ran outside to snap a quick pic. We can all mourn together!

It's Fall Ya'll

For years I have dreaded fall. I tend to associate the season with the beginning of a school year which has always meant the beginning of a stressful time for me. After all, I did go to school for 20 years and I took my education very seriously and that's putting it mildly!!!   Fortunately, those days are all over now and I can finally enjoy the change of seasons. This year fall has been especially fun because now I have a husband. I enjoy decorating our home and making it cozy and inviting. I want to make our house something we can both be proud of. Decorating makes me feel so domestic. Haha!!

On Friday night, the hubs and I went to a pumpkin patch and bought all shapes, colors, and types of pumpkins and a bale of hay. I think he thought I was crazy when I kept picking out more and more pumpkins to add to the collection, but thankfully he kept quiet and trusted his wife. Good husband!! =) Saturday, my mommy and I attended a harvest festival and found beautiful yellow mums. So mom and I combined all the fall goodies and got to decorating. Here is the finished product.



Love these cinderella pumpkins!

The great white pumpkin!

I love the "handle" on this one.


The front entrance with fall wreaths.
I have to admit I am proud of my efforts!

A little taste of fall in my kitchen.

The foyer.

Closeup! My momma made the pumpkin in the center.

That is her in the picture in case you were wondering...



More foyer decor. My mother-in-law gave me the pumpkins and my mom made the Alabama football.

How fall is this? Too cute!!



Closeup of the football.

Yes she is talented. I am aware and grateful.

Well that's about all of the fall explosion in our home. I have more goodies to put out for Thanksgiving. Whoo hoo! Hope ya'll enjoyed! Thanks for visiting!

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, my mommy, daddy, and I took a trip to Atlanta to see the Atlanta Braves play the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a day game and oh my word it was hot!!

Turner Field

We had great seats! Right behind the Braves dugout!

When Amber was alive, she loved the Braves so we went to games several times a year.  This was our first game without her sitting with us. She was definitely there in Spirit though! I think she protected us from getting hit by foul balls! Thanks Ber!

Me and mommy!

Look at her sunburned shoulder! Ouch!

Mommy and daddy!

They match! How cute!

The family minus Amber.

See that white shirt in mom's lap?

The guy that took this picture caught it and gave it to my mommy. 

 We like to think it was a blessing from Amber.

The Braves won the game!

Then the Beach Boys performed on the field.

We had a great Memorial Day!!

Bridal Portraits

Oh no! As I was uploading my post yesterday, I discovered this post that I had written months ago but never actually posted!! Oops!  Oh well, better late than never!! 


On May 17th, I had my bridal portraits taken. Mom and I loaded up the dresses (yes, I have two!) and headed off to Fort McClellan in Anniston to meet my photographer for pictures. It was so much fun but so hot! I may roast in that dress on the wedding day!! 

For pictures, my florist made a bouquet similar to the one I will carry at the wedding. It was just gorgeous and smelled wonderful! It was full of mini green hydrangeas, white hydrangeas, white freesia, white roses, and peonies!

Since I can't share pictures of the dresses, I can share pics of the bouquet! That's better than nothing!

Lingerie Shower

So I haven't blogged in quite a while, but now I am going to try to catch up!  This could be challenging!!

I really want to blog about my lingerie shower that was held in May. The shower was given by some of my bridesmaids and they did an outstanding job. I had so much fun!

The adorable invitation.

Purple and green to coordinate with the wedding colors.

We started the evening with dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants.

Me and some of the bridesmaids.

Lindsay, Caroline, Cameron, me, Audrey

Katie (another bridesmaid) and I.

Lauren and I.

Me and my mommy!

After dinner, we went to Caroline and Cameron's house for a dessert shower. All the girls brought the yummiest desserts! It was all sooo good! I am sure everything was fat free too! Haha!

Adorable bra and panty cookies!

The best chocolate things ever! I forgot what the are called...  Anyway, take note of the attention to detail here. The icing is in green! So cute!

Delicious strawberry creamcheese cake with a purple J!!

More desserts!! 

An oreo cookie ball, chocolate cranberry fudge, and chocolate covered strawberries!!

Margaritas to drink with precious "W" cups!!

More attention to detail to make me feel special!

Yet another thoughtful gesture! A "J" glass for me to drink from!

Love it!!!!

The girls ordered a "Future Mrs. Willis" sash for me to wear all night! How cute is that! And once again it was a perfect match to my wedding colors!!

Look at all the gifts!

The goodies inside the packages! Whoo hoo!

With the help of my bridesmaid Audrey, my hubby even sent a gift that night!  In fact, he sent two packages. One was an empty box from Victoria's Secret!! =) The second was a Victoria's Secret gift card! How sweet and thoughtful!

The whole night was soo much fun. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends! I wish I had a picture of everyone that was there to celebrate..  Everyone went above and beyond to make my lingerie shower memorable!  I love all of you girls and I simply cannot thank you enough!!

Wedding Invitation

I love to use this blog for my wedding documentation so that I will remember all the details down the road.  So today I thought I would blog about my invitation. 

I absolutely love the wedding invitation I chose. At first, I was worried it would be too boring, but I just kept coming back to it.  I am so glad I did.  It is so pretty and elegant!

It is ivory with mocha print. The lining of the envelope is also mocha!

Love, Love, Love!

2 Weeks and Counting!

Two weeks from today will be my wedding day!

We will actually get to wear these beautiful rings we purchased over a month ago!

Jeremy and I were so excited about our rings we had to try them on and take some pictures.

By the way, I promise I will have my nails done before the wedding!! HaHa! They look awful!

Wedding Napkins

I recently ordered and received our napkins for the wedding reception. I wanted something classic and reusable in case there were any left over. After all, I ordered 400 so I hope I can keep some and use them for future parties and gatherings!

The napkin is ivory with white mongramming (J W J)!

Simple but elegant.

Sorry it doesn't show up very well in the picture!

                                            Click on the pic to enlarge it and it is a little better!

Hometown Bridal Shower

On Saturday May 8th, I had another fabulous bridal shower.  This shower was so much fun because it was in my home town.  I love going home and seeing all the people that have known, supported, and loved me for years!  My mom and I have amazing relationships with some wonderful women. I am so glad they took the time to come and celebrate with me!!

My mommy hosted the shower at her home, the home where I grew up. She did a beautiful job decorating and the food was fantabulous!!  Thank you mommy!

Front door decor!  Can you see the butterfly topiary?

Cinderella's Carriage

The sign in table!

Food and the best cake ever!

Would you believe that the entire cake was eaten that day?! It was huge but oh so yummy!

Me and the mommies.

Me and my bridesmaids that were able to attend.

The shower was so much fun and I got so many great things including tons of my everyday china, towels, sheets, corningware, and soooo much more!!

Beautiful Arthur Court soup tureen and serving tray!

Butler's Pantry serving platter!

Butler's Pantry soup tureen from my mommy!

She filled it with green apples and used it as the centerpiece for the table.

Precious gift from my aunt in remembrance of my sister Amber!!

I will cherish this hand towel forever!!!

I am so blessed to have had such a wonderful shower!

My heart is happy and grateful!