hello, christmas tree (in pictures)

We've had a fake tree for the last five years. I am not sure why we transitioned to one exactly, except I have always loved the tall skinny fake trees you can find and maybe thought I was buying one when I bought the one we've been using. Well, it wasn't one of those. Also, I guess it just seemed less fun and more of a chore to go and pick out a Christmas tree. I think we did it the first year we were married and it really didn't go well - I think we might have had a fight or something on the way there... anyway... many reasons. In reading this now I am not 100% sure where it all went wrong -- I always loved looking for a tree with my Dad when I was a kid. I have many wonderful Christmas memories preceding my own negative experiences. But I am working through it, people! Ah, well. Things are going well this year and I am enjoying everything so far. Dakota is even staying home instead of going to his Dad's! 

With wanting to have more of a real Christmas time this year, and wanting to create memories with my kids, we decided to get a real tree this year. My mom and stepdad always do so we thought it might be fun to visit a tree farm and cut our own this year with them; perhaps start a new tradition. My mom found a place in Macedonia, Georgia that has unbelievably gorgeous views (the photos cannot do it justice) and had a great selection of trees. We took a good while picking ours out, looking at all the options. The Leyland Cypress were the main type of tree we could cut down and that's what we ended up with. I really like it! I wasn't sure I would having always had fir trees, but it has nice strong stems for hanging ornaments and draping beads and things. 

The tree is up now and looks gorgeous. I will post some photos soon of the ornaments we made and the tree. I am kinda proud of it all. 

stroll at gold branch

Last week Noah and I went on a hike at Gold Branch along the Chattahoochee.

I took these photos with my iPhone.. they aren't too good, but they capture the beautiful features of this hike. You can stroll the water line of an inlet and view a ton of wildlife along the way. It was a gorgeous day and our hour or so on the trail only left me wanting for a much longer hike. There is a longer trail that goes along the water line that I want to do - hoping for this week for another go at it. 

For now, enjoy these photos.

So good to be in the woods...

bloggy-blog all stars: repost #3: trip to Athens

Hey friends! I thought as part of my posts this week I would include a few reposts of YOUR favorite blog posts I've ever put up here. 

Thanks to a little help from my friend Bekah at My Little Loves, this post got the most views ever.  This is a recap of my family's trip to Athens  this past June to visit Bekah and my friend Paige. 

Can I just take a little moment right now to thank Bekah  for all of her love and support over this past year? She has been my biggest supporter and without that I don't think I would have really grown at all! She is a great friend and has a beautiful heart.  

Published on July 6, 2012

This post is loooong overdue. I just haven't had time and truthfully have been trying to step back from the internet in general for now. I love sharing our adventures and my thoughts and musings with you all, so I'll be here more often than elsewhere (Twitter/FB/instagram).

A couple of weekends ago, Jason and I packed the kids up to pay a visit to my friends Bekah and Paige. Both were/are scheduled to move sometime around the end of June/beginning of July at the time, and I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of them being in the same place at the same time and relatively close to where I live before that time. 

Bekah, as many of you may know, blogs over at my little loves and she and I have been friends for over three years.You can read more about how we met and our friendship here. Paige and I met at the blogger meetup I attended in March. She is a precious friend. She blogs at Pilgrims.

Our girls (mine and Bekah's) are great buddies. We spent the earlier part of the evening minding the kids and letting them play, while catching up with each other. Later we left the kids with the daddies and went out for our girls' night. :)

AthFest was going on while we were there and Paige had a booth where she sold wares from her lovely shop, Lightnest Collective. As a side note, I am in the process of buying a bag from her right now and I would highly suggest that you do the same - (she is in that process of moving that I told you about, and I know that she would love to have your business right now! Message her via Etsy and she will get back to you!) I have seen her bags in person and they are beautiful - very high quality and sturdy. 

Bekah and I met Paige at Athfest late Friday night when she was closing up her booth and went to have a drink at Trapeze. We had some great talks. We spent some time in downtown Athens bar hopping a little and then decided to head in for the night, which didn't really end things. I don't suppose there's a way to describe the rest of the night, but it was a late one. 

The next morning we lazied around (all of us very tired - kids up at 7AM and all). We left later in the morning to head to Big City Bread. Lord help me, the food is sooo good there! I had a BLT and a prociutto/baby arugula salad. DIVINE. The morning got away from us and we weren't able to get back to AthFest to see Paige one last time, so we headed home since I had to go straight to work. I am hopeful that I will be able to get back up to Athens in the next couple weeks for just a day trip to see my ladies again. 

The play by play I am doing here really doesn't do much except fill space for you readers... our time together was blessed and it is always so good to connect with dear friends. I am so thankful to have them in my life. 

Here are some pictures I've selected to show you. Bekah probably took half of them. :)

    

unfortunately for Paige, there was a pile of doggie poop on the sidewalk...

and we all had to tweet about it...

  

random fiddler guy.

off to Big City Bread with the families.

Sweet Luna's funny face :)

<3

yummmmmmy

our families

me and Bekah