all that i love & all that i strongly dislike about our new home {downstairs edition}

We are loving our new home...well we're loving the potential that is our new home! I finally have uploaded the "before moving-in" pictures, and honestly, the kitchen doesn't look much different right now other than we have our stuff filling the cabinets & counter tops... but, we have a list of priorities to start making the home our own, and while the kitchen is by far my least favorite room, it is functional for now. 

 

Things I Love - the potential :)

Things I STRONGLY Dislike - Everything {especially the hideous wall paper that resembles insects crawling across every inch of wall space, and the horrible cabinet knobs with a huge brass screw through the middle of a white ceramic circle, and the terrible gray tile with brown grout, and the tiny sink that make a squeaking noise every time it is turned on.... and the list could go on, and on, and on! But, all the dislikes make me all that more excited to tackle Project Kicthen!}

 We did rather quickly remove those wonderfully, ugly silk flowers.

 This picture is very dark {sorry!} This is directly opposite the fridge from the last picture. I do LOVE the windows, and the potential for a cute little breakfast nook!

 Behind the open door is our laundry room closet. Our plan is to move the laundry situation upstairs to one of the tiny bedrooms and make more of a laundry / craft / wrapping paper {what girls out there understand how awesome an organized wrapping paper area truly is? Jay doesn't quite get it, but thats okay, his loss} room. We then want to make that closet into a kitchen pantry. I am pretty excited about that switch-a-roo!

 The Dining Room

Things I LOVE - The picture frame molding and the great white trim that doesn't need to be re-painted!

Things I LOATH - the baby pink walls. Worst choice E.V.E.R. for a dining room. 

 We also need to update most of the light fixtures. The gold need to hit the road!

I also want to paint the front door black to match the shutters. 

And, its a given, but the entry way cannot remain baby pink :) 

 We do love the hardwood floors throughout the downstairs, and all the closet space!

 The Half Bath needs to loose that beautiful pansy border...

The Living Room

I Love - All the natural light and the brick fireplace

I Hate - The track lighting and the fact that the crown molding is white while the base molding is a horrible beige color, all in the same room? We don't understand the thought process behind that one... 

We also may want to create a walkway through the wall directly opposite the fireplace into the little office room which opens into the entry way, in order to create more "flow". We're still debating that project, but its a possibility. We are excited to have a home full of possibilities! 

Thanks for touring with me! More pictures of the upstairs bedrooms & bathrooms to come! 

Beach Vacation {Bella Style}

Bella LOVED the beach! She was literally in Dog heaven! It was so cute to see her enjoying the water. She was quite a good swimmer, and swam like a pro over the waves to Jay. It was fun to see how different Bella was from the little puppy who last summer was scared of the ocean. 

She is such a good girl! 

Jay and I also had a blast with our family. Lyndsey is such a cute little pregnant mama, but you would never be able to tell in any of these pictures because she hides her Gavin Belly so well. We are excited for Gavin to be here in only 3 short months!

Ben & Stella's Wedding Day Photos!

I took a few wedding day pictures while we were waiting on the ceremony to start. I love the pure JOY in Benny's face. He is so happy and simply enjoying every moment of his special day. I also loved, loved, loved my Mama's dress. She was beautiful! 

Love my Benny! 

 Our Family - {it was a slight challenge to get even the majority of people to look in the same direction!}

 

 please disregard the sweat pour off our faces;

It was so dang hot on the dance floor

 It was such a great day! 

a reason to smile on Father's Day

Today, instead of being sad that my sweet Daddy is in Heaven, I am rejoicing in the fact that I know what it means to have truly know the love of my earthly Father for 24 years! While that is not long enough in my book, it is so, so much more than many people get for lots of different reasons.

There is not a single day of my life that I don't remember my Daddy telling me he loved me. What I wouldn't give to take back all the times that I said, "yeah, yeah Dad, love you too" without really understanding just how special those words were.

My sweet Mama sent my brother and me an email this morning reminding us of all the reason's to continue celebrating Father's Day, and to enjoy the many wonderful memories. Here is just a little part of her email that I wanted to share:

He listened, he was patience, he was ALWAYS there when u needed him (even if you didn't think you did), his focus was always on you both to what could he do for you, he was always dependable and a great provider, he had a gr8 laugh, and made the best cinnamon toast ever! He loved loved loved his family and was so proud of you both.

This is why I am grateful for my Daddy, and this is why I smile today :)

my mama is way more creative than she gives herself credit for.

We just got back from Ben & Stella's wedding weekend, and 5 days of relaxing at the beach. Its always hard to come back to the reality of daily life, but also nice to get back to our bed and our new home!

I promise that house pictures are coming soon, but first I have to share all the details from the wedding and our little family vacation. {Be patient, bear with me, I know your on the edge of your seat wondering just how tacky our wall paper truly is.  I am simply sparing you the desire to high-tail it to Waynesboro as fast as you can and start ripping down the hideousness that is our kitchen}

Okay, now back to my Mama's creative & crafty side - she planned one heck of a rehearsal dinner party! Here are several pictures from the celebration of my little brother and new sister.

 Mom had a table set up with people to leave wisdom and wishes for a happy marriage for Ben and Stella. She plans to put all the cards in an album with photos from the night!

 I thought these vases were BEAUTIFUL! 

 The table decorations! They were perfect and gave just enough color to the tables. Mom also had engagement photos of Ben & Stella and a few cute baby pictures :)

 We had the Rehearsal Dinner at Zen in downtown Greenville. It was such a neat, laid back place, and was within walking distance of our hotels. 

 We had a Low Country Boil for dinner - it was delicious! 

Our sweet cousins! Wil was one of Ben's groomsmen - It is always wonderful to have time with them!

 Greensboro friends! Blessed to have several "2nd Families"

 Mom did a great job picking out the Groom's cake! It was a huge tiger paw with #78!  

 I love this one! Its a classic Ben face!

 This is my favorite picture from the whole evening. I love the joy on their faces! Charles is Ben's best friend from High School - they have been there for each other through so much. 

It was a fun, relaxed night and one things for sure: my Mom can plan a great party! A few pictures of the wedding day to come..

Lots of Big News for the Hawkins...

Nope... no baby! And I am a blogging slacker... but in my defense our lives have been super crazy, and we have been without internet because we moved to our NEW HOME!!

 We are so excited! I have lots more pictures of the inside to share. Its far from my style or really any style remotely related to 2011, but I think that is partially why I am so in love with it. It is a canvas for some major creativity {and lots of wall paper pulling!}.

We are headed to South Carolina this weekend for Ben & Stella's Wedding. Can't believe my little brother is getting married. Makes me feel too old, or that he is too young, or that life is flying by wayyyy too fast {or all 3!}.

More pictures of the house to come! 

A fun weekend with Lisa Joy!

I have this really fun, sweet, and super creative friend Lisa Joy. We have been friends since High school an its always fun when we have time to get together and catch up in real life {and not only through our blogs!}

She is very talented and has, along with her handy husband, Logan, completely remodeled their old bungalow themselves. You should most definitely check out her blog and her fun DIY projects!

Also, check out the great photos she took from our day hiking crabtree falls a few weekends ago! It was a blast and such a beautiful spring day spent with friends!

Lime Chicken & Orzo Salad

yes, another recipe...
but is delicious, & simple, & healthy, so at least take a look :)
i've been cooking a lot recently...Jay has even been doing some grilling now that the weather is warming up and its been fun!
I found the recipe in southern living a just tweaked it a little.

What you'll need:
1 Lime
Chicken Tenders  

5 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 minced Garlic Gloves

2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

Grate the zest from lime to equal 1 tsp. Cut lime in half & squeeze juice. Save a little bit of lime juice for the pasta sauce {about a 1 tablespoon}. Combine zest, lime juice, 4 Tbsp Oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Marinate Chicken for 10 minutes and promptly hand to your hunk of a husband to grill for you. Or be a real woman to do it yourself. Both get the job done. 

Now for the Orzo Salad:

1 Cup Uncooked Orzo Pasta

3 Tbsp Red wine Vinegar -- {this stuff is amazing! Buy it and use it often!}

2 Tbsp Honey Dijon Mustard 

1 Med. Red Bell Pepper, Chopped

1 Med. sized Cucumber, peeled & Diced

1/2 tsp dried Dill

Prepare pasta according to box directions. Combine vinegar, mustard, remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil, Dill, & juice from the little bit of left over lime juice. Toss Orzo, Bell Pepper, and cucumber in vinegar mix. 

Its so yummy and very light!

On a side note, remember I mentioned how Jay has been grilling a lot recently? Well we decided to grill hamburgers one night last week. It was fairly late, probably 8:30ish {which is a normal time for us to eat because we own a chick-fil-a which equals never eating meals at the designated "normal times" and I've come to terms with the fact that we simply eat when hungry and just forget looking a a clock} Anyway, it was late and Jay was grilling hamburgers and it began to POUR down rain so I quickly threw Jay an umbrella and naturally stayed inside to snap this photo of my sweet husband finishing our dinner in the rain. {the photo doesn't do justice to the rain, but just take my word for it... it was raining. hard.}

While I was busy photographing Jay stuck in the rain sweet bella decided it was the perfect time to escape and run like a wild woman all over the back yard and return soaking wet & muddy & very, very gross. I did not photograph this because I finally decided it was a good time to join my husband outside and get wet chasing her down. Her hiney was immediately thrown into the bath tub and we ate cold hamburgers at around 9:30 {so basically we learned that Chick-fil-A is not the sle source of our eating dinner at un-naturally awful times of the night}

On that note, Happy Mother's Day to my sweet Mama, and all you mamas out there!