Casey's Easter Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend celebrating the unselfish sacrifice of our sinless lord Jesus and his resurrection on the third day so that all of our transgressions would be wiped away. Oh how he loves us. 

"He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world and set Him free...But He died alone, for you and me."

Check out this Easter wreath I forgot to tell you I made last weekend!

Today I have the most adorable little guest poster here with me to recap her own Easter weekend. Everyone meet me dog child, Casey Michelle! I assume that we all are not living under a rock and have seen the Geico pothole commercial. Yeah, you know the one. Well, I hope that when your read her post, you hear it in your head as if a pot hole was talking. I am convinced that if Casey could talk, she would sound like a pothole. 

Hi ya'll. I'm Casey, and Megan is my mom. I spent the weekend with her, because my dad was out of town and I can't stay alone, because I'm a dog. Well, I was really excited because Mom took me to Dad's baseball game Friday night. It was his birthday, so I was glad I got to watch him coach my favorite team that I just so happen to believe I am the mascot for. I love going to his games. I like to smell all the people, and try to eat peanut shells. Mom doesn't like for me to eat them, but I'll sneak when she's not looking ;). I also got in some quality time campaigning for the major of Cumming. Shaking hands and kissing babies.. I love babies!

After the game mom and dad went out with all of my friends, but they wouldn't let me go.. something about me not being allowed inside because I'm fuzzy and nobody likes hair in their food. That excuse is really getting old. I don't know why I get treated different just because I am a dog.

Mom and I went to my grandparents early that next morning--too early if you ask me. Mom was cranky. I was cranky. The good news, she rolled my window down so I could hang my head out and smell and let my ears flap in the wind. I love that! Mom ignored me most of the way and kept mumbling something about how she was going to make sure that she educated me on all the best road trip music. Then she just talked or sang to herself the rest of the way. Kind of annoying.. she's a really bad road tripping partner. Especially because I tried to sleep, and I couldn't do it over her horrible singing and loud music. I tried to turn it down, but I couldn't because I don't have thumbs, because I'm a dog. 

Almost getting off the fast road!

Woohoo! Two-lane roads where mom lets me hang my head out again and I can smell chicken houses. Yay! It's almost as good as being at the cabin!

Grams had an Easter basket with all of dad's birthday stuff in it for him. I guess since he isn't here to get it, that means it's mine, right? hmm.. what else did I do Saturday?

Oh I caught up on some much needed napping and beauty sleep. I mean, I don't get this cute face naturally you know.

The Easter morning I snuggled with mom. I really liked it, because I don't get to snuggle with her very often. I can speak for her to say that she loved it too. I'm quite the snuggler, so I think anybody that gets the privilege to snuggle with me loves it. 

Then mom got into the Easter spirit and decided to embarrassing me and send incriminating pictures of me to dad. You are lucky I am even sharing these pictures with you. Mom is also lucky that I love her unconditionally  because this sucks dude. At least I'm cute?

Mom went off to church and to see the rest of her litter (or family as you humans call it). She was gone for a while, but she came back with lots of leftovers. That let me know that I missed out on something good--lots of table scraps. Man, I bet they had lots of suckers that would have fed me table scraps. Mom and Dad would have NEVER known either, so they couldn't get mad. But no, I had to stay home and hang out with the cats. I also decided to eat some of the kitty litter. I thought it was some sort of snack, but it didn't taste good and Mom complained about how bad my breath smelled the rest of the day. You win some, you lose some. 

After Mom got back, we went home to see Dad! I love Dad. He's the best! (insert wagging tail) 

Mom made me sit on the stupid blanket, because it was rainy and something about how I needed a paw-dicure and I was going to get her seats dirty. She sure knows how to put a puppy down  and feel like she's in trouble :(  We finally made it back home and I got to see my pops. I missed him. Oh, and uncle Jeff was home too! I loves my uncle Jeff. I don't think the feeling is mutual for some reason. He never scratches my ears. He just pats me. Sometimes he'll let me cuddle with him in his bed, but then he complains about how much he sheds. Well, at least I assume it was him. I don't shed, who is he kidding? Do I look like I am going bald? No, I have plenty, so all that hair has to be his. Now, back to my story. I helped Uncle Jeff watch Dad cook dinner. Well, their dinner.. ugh. 

Oh, and I also got to see Cadbury out in the yard again today! He's our neighborhood bunny!

So after dinner I napped again while everyone else watched baseball. I like baseball. Well, I like going to baseball games. There are people to pet me, smells, and things to eat from under the bleachers. I can't really watch baseball on tv, because of me being color blind and all. It just all blurs together. So I find it to be quality nap time. 

Then mom left to go home, and I'm spending the rest of the night keeping dad's feet warm. It was a good weekend. I'm glad I got to see some of my friends and spend it with my super awesome mom. Thanks for stopping by ya'll!

Somebody is getting older..

The man that I love more than life itself is celebrating his 25th Birthday today. I'm sad that I won't be able to dedicate this weekend to everything he loves and likes to do because it coincides with an equally important holiday to me. Tonight we plan on going out with some friends to basically the only restaurant that will be open after his away game tonight. It will still be a good time for him I hope, and we can celebrate in more depth later. I mean, who is actually that picky about when they get spoiled as long as they get spoiled, right?

So as of right now, 1980 years ago, Jesus would have been hanging on the cross for just shy of the 6 hours that he spent there that day sacrificing his sinless life for you and for me. . The day Someone took all our brokenness and gave us wholeness, felt great hurt so we could have true healing, said “It is finished” so we would never have to. Oh, what a feeling of guilt and and thankfulness I have. 

Did you miss me?

I'm sorry for going MIA for the past few days; not like you actually noticed me missing or anything. I just have been really slammed at work with it being tax season and all and I have had nothing interesting to share. Unless you guys want to hear more about computers, taxes, and what being a baseball widow feels like. I didn't think you wanted to hear about it either..

So since I have nothing of any substance to write about today, we'll just do a link up with these lovely ladies!



It's ok.. that I may or may not have thought about checking out craigslist for a hit man to do murder the person who put the dent in the back bumper of my car. You are a real jerk whoever you are. The other just for just any random stupid person that crosses my path. I mean, seriously.. where have people's minds gone?

It's ok.. that I am counting down the days till the Braves opening day. FYI the count stands at 4!

That being said. It's ok..   that I did the most embarrassing dance of joy when my college roommate told us she got us all tickets for opening night. I can't wait to get in those gates Monday!

It's ok.. that as much as I want Summer to be here. I was fine with it being cold every day this week, because I've been too lazy to shave my legs.

It's ok.. that I yet again, am already planning my life weeks in advance all around concerts. Zac Brown, Chase Rice, and Alabama, I will NOT miss you guys.

It's ok.. that I was thrilled when Amanda asked me to make the playlist to give to her DJ at her wedding reception. Now it is a fact, that she will have the most awesome reception and music ever. Just sayin..

It's ok.. that I stopped at Krispy Kreme this morning and got a dozen donuts and attempted to eat them all myself. So much for prepping for bikini season :( but they were totally worth it.

It's ok.. that I may have went a little overboard when planning the Bachelorette weekend in Hilton Head this summer. I've seriously started compiling our weekend travel guide complete with restaurants and their reviews, night spots, things to do, addresses, and any sort of nitty gritty detail I can think of. I mean, who does that? I need a life. Hey! but at least we'll all be super informed and never lacking of anything to do while we're on the island.

We'll look back one day and remember these are the best days

My grandmother once called me out about how I would always get excited about plans and things in the future. She would always caution me that I was wishing my life away waiting one something that wasn't even here yet.

"Watch it girl! You are wishing your life away" she would say.

I'm having that sudden moment of realization that I feel like we all go through once we become adults and we realize that our elders had been right all along. You know, that same realization you have now when you realize why your parents hated your high school boyfriend.
I'm wishing so much of my time away waiting for the next big milestone or event in my life and I'm totally taking for granted all of the little things right now. I'm anxiously awaiting an engagement and marriage, buying a house, checking things off my bucket list. As much fun as these things are going to be when their time arrive, I really need to start counting my lucky stars for the days I have now. One day I'm going to look back thinking about how much fun I had back when I was single or wishing I had peace and quiet on the weekends like I do now.. These are special and important days of my life too. I've got to start taking more advantage of being young before life decides to kick me in the face.
In high school I was always living life on the edge (within limits of the law). I was always really truly taking every moment in.. At some point, I let that crazy girl get away from me, and I'm beginning to miss her.

We've got to stop focusing so much on the future that we forget to live for today. 

Here's to starting to cherish these times, as unimportant as they may seem now, these are still good days. When I'm older, I'm going to look back at these times and I am going to want to be able to say that I had the time of my life..

Ok, now I promise to get off my touchy-feely soap box and get on with our lives. 

Detoxing your Technology

Happy Spring! We all have probably (hopefully) started some sort of spring cleaning project. It may not be a  full fledged scrub down, but I'm sure you've given your homes a nice thorough rub down and opened the windows and let those musty winter smells out. Of course we mustn't forget to clean out your technology too!

May the Spring Cleaning commence!

Spywear

We've all heard of viruses, and I'm sure you all have some form of antivirus on your computers. However, these rarely also protect you from Spyware or Trojans. These bad boys aid in gathering your information without your consent or knowledge. Typically it was used to see what types of ads marketers should show you, it can also be malicious such as logging your passwords, your visited sites, and whatever else it can get its hands on. Sometimes these can be as annoying as full-fledged viruses, because they can sometimes now allow you to visit sites that you want to.

I use Spyboy Search & Destroy frequently at work for all of our company computers. I'm going to compare it those blackhead removing nose strips. As soon as your done, you just stare in aw of all the nasty junk that it just pulled out that you didn't realize was even there. I dare you! Try it, you'll be impressed with the stuff you didn't know was slowing down your computer.

Download it here for free

Clean Out Your Temporary Folders
Hoarders called, they want to run an episode on your computer.
You'd be surprised how much crap your computer saves over just a short period of time. Every single little thing you open gets saved in your temp files, regardless of if you saved it to your computer or not. This happens most when you open documents from the internet or email attatchments. The computer has to save it somewhere in order for it to open, it can't just open it from space, therefore everything gets saved into your temporary folders.

For windows users, the easiest way to clean this out is to type in %temp% into the search bar of the start menu. Just hit enter and it will open up your user's temporary folder.
Go ahead, oooh and ahh over how much garbage that has accumulated in there. Next, delete it ALL. Yes, every single thing can go. If you even think about combing through this folder, and I find out about it.. I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish. Seriously, you are a hoarder if you do. I've seen people with up to 10 gigs of files in here. To put that into non technical terms, most people don't even have 10 gigs worth of stuff on their entire computer. So go ahead, clean it out.

Decrapify Your Life
By this I mean, all of those useless things that you have on your computer, especially all of the bogus stuff that came pre loaded. I have this snazzy little program that will scan your computer and list all of the programs and unnecessary start up items and icons that can slow down your pc. After it scans you'll be reminded all the stuff you've downloaded and you never actually use anymore. This will also remove all of those pesky toolbars nobody likes anyway.

Download it here for free

Email
Now, I don't expect you to ever clean your email down to where you have 0 messages in your inbox. That's asking a lot. However, you can easily go through and rid yourself of all of those newsletters, some of your confirmation messages, and other messages that have sense been resolved. Also, don't forget that you can empty out your deleted items, sent items, and junk mail to free up some extra space. The OCD person that's buried deep inside of you will sigh with relief.

Also, if you are like me, you probably get a million newsletters a day. Don't automatically delete them! I know you probably aren't going to read them the 1st time nor the 982374 time groupon tries to get you to buy a basket weaving underwater lesson, but hear me out. If you'd scroll down to the bottom of the email, simply hit unsubscribe, they'll leave you alone. I hear so many people complain about constantly getting bombarded with emails from stores everyday, when they could stop them with just a few simple clicks.

Phone
Part 1 - Contacts
Go through your contacts. If you have people you honestly couldn't tell me who they were or where you knew them from. Chunk them! I am not going to tell you erase ever person you haven't talked to in the past year. That's a bit extreme.. but I will say, we all have contacts that we couldn't place if we ever passed them again in a dark or well lit alley. So even if you ever did need to contact them, you wouldn't even know who you were looking for. Also go through, and add lasts names or descriptions for you contacts if you know them.

Part 2 - Pictures
I know I'm not the only one who takes multiples of every picture. Clean out the multiples, or the originals that you already instagrammed. Back them all up to your computer or an external hard drive. If it's something you haven't used in months, go ahead and get rid of it. I mean hey, it's backed up if you really need it.

Part 3 - Apps
My name is Megan, and I am an app hoarder. (Hi, Megan)
I promise to heed my own advice on this one. Get rid of those huge apps you never really use. Like for me, it's a barcode scanner that never actually works when I want it to or my Geocaching App (Don't you even judge) that I only use once in a blue moon. If worse comes to worse, you can easily reload that little puppy on there.

Part 4 - Voicemail
I'm sure you are tired of reading by now, so I'll just keep it short and sweet. If it holds no sentimental value, and you've already responded to the message, let it go.

Back, Back, Back it up
If you don't already own one, go out and buy an external hard drive. They cost next to nothing. Heck, depending on how much data you have, a large USB drive will do. Back up all of your files, pictures, music, and whatever other embarrassing crap you may have floating around there. It never hurts to take a back up of your hard drive just in case your computer decides it hates you and will never turn on again, or that faithful day you leave it sitting on top of your car and drive off.. or if you are like Billy's grandpa, and you spill coffee all over it. Luckily I was able to use some equipment from work to retrieve his data, but not everyone is lucky enough to have the tools to slave a hard drive at their disposal.

Kind of like changing the batteries in your smoke detector, you probably will never need it, but you sure as hell hope you have it in case of emergency.

Note: That I am not responsible if you click on the wrong thing or accidentally delete something you didn't mean to. Proceed at your own risk. However, these are very user friendly and I have faith in you.

Bedroom Redecorating Adventure

I've decided that I want to revamp my bedroom this Summer. I'm starting now looking for inspriation, because I am the ultimate bargain shopper. Plus, my birthday is coming up, so I was going to ask for the comforter set from my parents. I've decided I want coral and some combination of other colors.

This is what I'm working with now. This isn't my current bedroom, it's my college apartment, but everything is still the same. I'm not personally fond of the bed frame, but it was cheap, and I refuse to buy real furniture until I get a house. The bedding is pink toile, which I do like, but it's starting to wear and when/if Billy and I get hitched and he moves in, I think he'd rather have something less "fru-fru." Besides, the whites won't hold up against him and the puppy. 

My dream room would look something like this. However, as much as I love neutrals, I have come to grasp that my dog would have these ruined in no time. Plus, I find that I can't resist throwing in a vibrant color or two. I'd love to add some monogrammed pillows to this. I love vintage anything. So this padded mantle head board and those chandeliers.. my heart, be still! 

with this oversized chair in the corner.. 

Source: sweetpeahome.blogspot.com viaMegan on Pinterest

But let's get back to reality and see what we might could really pull off.

Here's bedding I've found so far..

Note: I only spent an hour or two Sunday looking, so please share your favorites too!

(Macy's)

Who can tell me where this is from?! 

The only downside to this one, is that I can't use any of the green decor I have already. (Macy's)

Source: softsurroundings.com viaMegan on Pinterest

Man, oh man, do I wish I could do white. :(

Does anyone else have experience with white duvets or comforters? Is it possible to keep this white with a smelly boy and an adorable but messy puppy?

Other things I want to incorporate..

Source: jedicraftgirl.blogspot.com viaMegan on Pinterest

Shelves like this, but bigger and less cluttered, over the dresser

Source: chippingwithcharm.blogspot.ca viaMegan on Pinterest

Maybe a window or collage over the bed instead of my Kim Anderson print

Maybe I could paint my bed frame to add some fun!?

Source: softsurroundings.com viaMegan on Pinterest

Source: potterybarn.com viaMegan on Pinterest

I love these silver frames

Source: madebygirl.blogspot.com viaMegan on Pinterest

I'll have to do something with my bookshelf as well.

So what do you guys think? Know of any other good inspiration pieces, or where I can find some of these? If this is totally hideous, ya'll better tell me!!

Moonlight through the pines

Billy and I have been tossing around the idea of moving to Nashville to start our lives together for a long time.   My dad's health is the only thing really holding me back. I'm afraid that once I move, and I get those dreaded phone calls, I wont' be able to make it home or to the hospital as quickly as I am now. I know one day, I will have to go, otherwise I will regret it. I vow to never regret anything.

When I imagine myself moving, I always wondering if I'll eventually know Tennessee like I know all the backroads of Georgia. This state is just plain gorgeous. There are so many hidden gems that most people don't eve get to see. When you think of Georgia, you think of Atlanta.. you don't think of my breath taking Blue Ridge Mountains, the cotton fields of South Georgia, the history of middle Georgia, the sweet sandy beaches of the coast or the stunning streets of Savannah. I honestly am obsessed with my home state.

I also realize, that even though I could tell you where just city is on a map (regardless of size), there are still so many things that I have yet to do or visit. There are just so many small towns filled with history, character, and breathtaking scenary.

Black Rock Mountain, which I hope to be hiking this Summer. 

I love classic antebellum homes almost as much as I love farm houses. I actually used to work next door to this exact one when I was in college!

How stunning!

There is nothing like a snow white cotton field in the middle of the dog days of Summer.

Something nostalgic about being inside of an orchard. It makes my soul shine.. 

My beloved!

Really, my Georgia friends, you should get out and see everything there is waiting for you in your own back yard! There is such a vast array of places to visit and see just a few miles from home. I want to do it all! I know I'd miss it come the time I leave, but I'll always have my roots firmly planted here.

They just don't make them like they used to

I mean, how awesome were the 90's? I kind of wish I was a year or two older so that I could have really been able to take in all of the goodness that it was. I was almost too young to really be able to appreciate such great music, fabulous tv shows, and let us not forget the amazing toys we used to have back in the day..

I could never keep him alive. He was digital, yet he still pooped everywhere. A friend of mine let me borrow hers for the night. I took it home and Salem died. I freaked out, and so did my parents, because I didn't know you could bring him back to life by hitting the reset button on the back. My parents were so upset, because they thought I had ruined this poor girl's toy and they were going to have to buy her another one to replace it. 

I don't think I ever actually played a real whole game of mouse trap. I just set up  the plastic pieces and let it fly. 

I'm not sure why we actually liked these stupid things. I mean, it's not like they did anything.. 

What I would giiiiiive to have this delicious nectar of the gods back!

I think every girl either had, or wanted, one of these. I never actually got mine to work as well as it did for the chicks on the commercial, but I still thought I was cool.

I actually had this exact Polly Pocket. All of the pieces in the bottom popped out and were stamps! Those toy makers were just absolutely brilliant in the glory days.

This game was so much fun. It was great for road trips.

I remember asking for a yo-yo. my parents bought me and old school one. I had to save my allowance and go by the cool motorized light up ones like these. These were so dumb, but we all wanted one.