Sweet Southern Pearl

In 2015, I learned that you need to be content with what you have while working for what you want.  I made new friends. I watched my brother graduate from college. I watched my sister get her license. I watched my kindergarten teacher retire after 44 years. I finished my first year of teaching. I landed dream job number one, after years of prayer and yearning. I realized that the comfort zone might not necessarily be the best place to be, no matter how wonderful it can be.  I became physically stronger through fitness... And spiritually stronger through scripture and prayer.  I learned a lot more than I thought I would ever learn about real estate and buying a house.  I went camping for the first time.  I fell in love with New York City.  I went to my first Broadway show.  (And almost threw up during it) I learned more about trusting God and his plan through prayer and closed doors and opened doors....

So, over the past couple months I've been looking to buy a house and since it's Thanksgiving break, I've finally had time to start seriously looking at home decor ideas for the living room that I don't yet have... I'm thinking I want it to be girly / Southwestern / mountain lodge... ish. I found some inspiration: via via via hobbylobby.com eBa

I didn't go all out this year on Black Friday like I normally do, but I don't think there will ever be a time when I pass up the $19.99 deal that Belk has on their Rampage boots every year. Typically, I do lots of research before Black Friday, but this year I just didn't have time, so I didn't really know what I wanted - I was just going to go see what they had at the store when I got there. I kind of went with the intention of getting riding boots since the ones I got a few years ago are starting to wear out. I got two pairs of riding boots for $19.99 each. Regular price is $89.99. The first ones I love because of the light taupe color, the dark brown straps, and especially the shiny little accents on them. They are unique and reminded me of boots that Disney princes (yes PRINCES, not princesses, LOL) wear. via I had been thinking a lot lately about how I didn't have any black riding boots - I had never wanted any until lately....

Annual cousins + Granny pumpkin painting party... Me and Joellyn looking fly in fall 'fits... Joellyn and I accidentally coordinating in school spirit jerseys from our alumni weekends this year *COINCIDENCES, RIGHT?!* ......... Chick-fil-A with my dear friend Flash on her birthday! * Sweet memories * eBa

Written on Thursday, November 26th - Thanksgiving Day As many of you know, I've been struggling with the spirit of ungratefulness. For the past couple months, as hard as I've tried, I haven't been able to overcome it and be thankful. My heart has been so hard. But for the past few days I have been feeling my heart softening again and it's so great. I'm starting to become thankful for the tiniest little things again - genuinely thankful. For the past month or so I've been forcing myself to thank God for things that I know I should be thankful for without forcing it. This morning I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful Thanksgiving morning. The sky was a beautiful blue and had these cool looking clouds in it and the weather just looked perfect. I got my car and drove over to Granny's to help her get ready for Thanksgiving lunch and as I started driving in the beautiful morning my heart just started exploding with thankfulness that I was brou...

I'm really surprised at myself and my reactions to everyone's November "thankfulness" statuses on Facebook. I've been borderline scoffing at them, and it's the spirit of ungratefulness in me. Typically, that is NOT my demeanor, and typically I am all about looking for the positives and things to be thankful for, so I'm shocked at myself. Again, I believe it's a spiritual battle, and I believe the best way to fight it is to cling to the Lord and His promises and focus on being INTENTIONAL about being thankful. November is officially halfway over, so for the last half of the month, I'm going to post something each day, but for today, I will post 15 things to make up for the first 15 days of November. I'm thankful for: 1. High Point. This is probably the hardest one for me right now, because I'm antsy here. But God has me here right now for a reason. I've fought with a love/hate relationship with good ol HP for a long time now. High ...

It's ironic how in the month of thankfulness I have been the most ungrateful. I know that this is an attack from the devil. He knows how much I grew last year in the most uncomfortable place and now I have landed ( God has blessed me with ) dream job number one and I'm too comfortable for my own good, I'm finding that it's so hard to be thankful and grateful. I keep finding different things to complain about and be upset about when I should just be overjoyed at what all God has blessed me with. I'm definitely fighting a spirit of ungratefulness right now and it's breaking my heart but hopefully it will break my heart to the point that I experience growth out of even this.  Last Sunday I went to Green Street Baptist, the church I grew up in. The pastor that was leading the church when I was young was back for a special occasion (he is now Tim Tebow's pastor in Florida). Dr. Brunson's message was about thankfulness and how so many people are depressed and ...

October is my favorite, and I'm known to go all out for it. I think these two pictures should speak for themselves - the first is from last week. It was the warm-up PowerPoint I made for my classes. The second is my October celebration / 'outfit of the day' post from October 1st two years ago. October is just so great. So many fun things happen. It's so beautiful outside. The weather is usually great - not too hot or too cold (when it's not raining for 11 days straight...). The leaves look gorgeous and the air is crisp. People travel and do cool festive things. MY BIRTHDAY IS OCTOBER 30TH. This October has already been great... excited for the rest of the month!! eBa

As usual, the weekend flew by-they always do! This one was wonderful, as most of them are. It was extra special, though. :) Friday was an early release day at school. ASHLEY GOT HER LICENSE!!! We went to Country BBQ and let Margaret serve us our food. I had to go to Petsmart because Emery ran out of food and *whoops* I can't ever go in there and get JUST dog food... So Emery ended up with a pumpkin costume and a ski vest, ha! Church youth trip to Steak n Shake and the bowling alley, where we had a really dank private room and guess what, I'M STILL TERRIBLE AT BOWLING! But it was super fun. ON SATURDAY I WENT WITH BROOKE AND HER FAMILY TO HER ULTRASOUND APPOINTMENT TO SEE IF THE BABY WAS A BOY OR GIRL. I hadn't seen one in person since I was ten years old and Ashley was a lil fetus, and oh my. Seeing that little baby move was amazing. It made me so emotional! Life is so precious, and that baby seemed to already have a little perso...

Mondays seem to be a struggle, but good things usually happen on Mondays.  Last Monday, my day evolved a bit from the time I woke up to the end of the day. It was like the 10th rainy day in a row and I did NOT want to get out of bed and do anything. But then in English class, The Crucible woke everyone up! My students got really into it for the first time, which made me soooo happy because I love The Crucible!  When we stopped reading for the day they said, "Can't we just keep reading?!"  I said, "Oooooh... wait, are y'all ENJOYING The Crucible?!" Sheepishly: "Yes..." YAY! #win Dropping a Golden Corral roll on the floor was a fail... But the pizza Alex C. and I had after school was DANK. First time at Uncle Maddio's and I will most definitely be back. (They have a great Monday special.) Alex got a new Jeep (we both had Jeeps in high school so it's like the old days except more l...

On Saturday, I drove to Raleigh to meet up with Grace and Yadavan and go see Luke Bryan in concert! :) We knew it was going to rain, but I didn't care. I saw Luke Bryan in the summer of 2014 in the pouring rain in Charlotte and it was worth every minute that I stood there getting soaked. We danced in the rain and had a blast anyway. So I knew that I definitely wanted to see him again, rain or shine. Grace was visiting her grandparents, and I got to meet them, and they were PRECIOUS. We met up with Yadavan and two of his friends at the concert. The concert was AMAZING. Thankfully, it didn't rain too much and it didn't rain the whole time, either. We were okay wearing our hoods most of the time. We danced and sang our hearts out. Luke puts on a fabulous concert. They didn't name him the CMA "Entertainer of the Year" for nothing! He's so funny and awesome. He performs all his best songs and does hilarious cov...

My Facebook status on Sunday evening as soon as I left church: "Completely WRECKED! The Lord spoke to me loud and clear and wrecked my heart this evening at a service at a church I'd never been to before. I cannot wait to write about it!" This is why: I've been wanting to visit this church nearby for a while now, because I really enjoy visiting churches. I enjoy worshiping the Lord in different ways, meeting fellow believers, making connections, hearing the Word taught in different ways, etc. I am not looking to leave Oak View; I absolutely love it there! With that being said, I went to Mercy Hill on Sunday evening, in the pouring rain, alone (I like doing things by myself when I can!). I had tried to go the week before and meet a friend there, but accidentally took a three hour nap and missed it (these naps are killin' me lately). To be honest, I was there mainly to meet people, and not as focused on learning more about the Lord. So boy did it hit me like ...

A few years ago, tall riding boots were all the rage. I still love mine and plan to wear them a lot this fall / winter, but BOOTIES have really taken the shoe scene by storm and made their way into my heart lately. They're just so easy to wear with whatever. They're easy to slide on, and with pants or leggings, or a dress, or even shorts. Pictured are my favorite booties from Belk.com. [[  http://www.belk.com/AST/Main/Belk_Primary/Shoes.jsp  ]] This last pair I actually bought a few weeks ago and LOVE. As you can see, I'm really into the natural / fringe / earthy look right now. Booties are great. eBa