Happy 9th Birthday Braxton!

Yesterday was my nephew Braxton's 9th birthday!!  

What can I say about this kid other than he changed my life. 

 I was an aunt for the first time.  

I was the biggest baby hog you have ever seen. 

 I probably took more pictures of him than his parents.  Not kidding either.  

Words can't even begin to describe how this child made my life completely different.  

I acted as if he was mine, but of course I didn't do the all night feedings, so it was even more perfect!  

I can't take credit for him, but I would if I could.  

He captured my heart the minute I saw him and hasn't let go.

My heart hurts that he is getting too big to come and cuddle up with Aunt Wiz (as he used to call me), and it embarrasses him when I want to give him a kiss, but there are those times when he looks me in the eye and asks me not to go that just make me want to cry, like I am doing now.

 I worry about Braxton and Thatcher growing up and making the right choices, and will they be careful when they start driving, and I know I have a few years, but I still worry.

I'm a sucker for them!

This pic is about 2 years old, but it's one of my favorites.

Braxton, always know that Aunt Liz loves you and will do anything for you!

Thank you for making me an aunt!!

StayCation 2014

Every summer Jake stays with Lou for a week...Lou takes the whole week off, and I have lots of vacation time saved up, so I decided to take a week off also!! 

Monday we went to meet my mom for lunch at a place in Nolensville that Lou and I had eaten at before and it was soooooo good!  I highly recommend Amico's New York Pizza! 

Mom and I went and ran a few errands where I got lots of washi tape and cute stickers for my planner!!

Yes, I am a 34 year old lady who likes stickers.  Don't judge.  You know you do too :)

Came home and spent the rest of the day working on my week layouts :)

To me it was a great first day - relaxing and a good meal - what more could you ask for!

Tuesday I ran a few more errands that consisted of buying more washi tape.  Yep, it's an obsession. 

Took Jake to the bookstore, where I ordered him a book and bought one for me that I had seen lots of bloggers that I follow endorse.  I haven't read a bad one yet that they had suggested, so I knew this one would be good also.  So far, so good! 

 I got the four rolls above at Office Depot.  I also had a coupon so it was cheap! 

So cute!!!

For weeks we had planned on taking Jake to Six Flags in Atlanta, so we were up by 5 am and out the door before 6!  We were ready to go! 

Now I am the first to admit, roller coasters are not my first pick for a trip, but I wanted to go and I was determined to ride some rides.  (My last ride experience was at Hollywood Studios at Disney riding the Start Wars ride thing, and I about lost my stomach.)

Lou had bought the tickets online, the parking pass online, and the flash pass online, so we didn't have to wait too long to get in.  We got our flash pass and went to the first ride and it was not working at the moment, so we went to the Scorcher.  We got right on, and the seats were like bicycle seats and you had to climb on it and then push down.  My buckle would not connect to the harness so the lady had to help me.  She pushed the harness in and at that moment it was not a good day to be a girl.  And I couldn't breathe to well, but off we went.  About 2 seconds in I could feel my stomach churning.  I just had to pretend I was at the beach and pray that the ride would be over soon.  As soon as I got off I literally stumbled over to the rail and sat down.  The workers came running over and I was fine, just was about to puke everywhere.  But, I didn't!!!

The next ride Jake wanted to ride was the Dare Devil.  I took one look and decided that I would really puke if I rode that one, so I opted out.  Of course I sat where they were starting karaoke.  Fun times!  

We grabbed lunch and then headed towards the MindBender.  I was going to ride this one, even though it had a few upside down loops.  It was AWESOME!!  I kept my eyes open and I really let myself enjoy it!  

We then headed to Gotham City to ride Batman, but again I took one look and knew it would not be good.  This getting old stuff is not good.  I used to ride rides all the time at Opryland!  

I took a pics of the guys in front of the Bat Mobile...

We then headed to ride a water ride, similar to the Grizzly River Rampage at Opryland.  It was pretty good, my kind of ride.  HA!  

Next ride was the Ninja, and again I opted to sit out.  Of course I want to ride the old, rickety wooden roller coasters that don't flip or twist like the new ones, but we were going to ride the Superman, but decided to ride the Georgia Cyclone and then let Jake play some games.  

We got right on the Georgia Cyclone, and this was the one we tried to ride as soon as we got there which was closed for maintenance or something, that should have been my first sign not to ride it.  We hopped on, started up the incline and stopped.  Yep, we got stuck.  It was maybe a total of 10 minutes, but still, it was scary.  And then once the ride started, I understood why Lou doesn't like the old wooden ones.  I was never so glad to get off a ride in my life!!

We took Jake to play some games and then headed home.  Getting out of Atlanta was fun because I missed the exit, and then Lou navigated us back to it, and I missed it again.  Never a dull moment.

We made it home at a good time and I was beat.  But we had a great time!!  Jake loved it and that was what mattered!  It was a successful day!!  

Thursday we didn't do much of anything, I slept a lot, Lou grilled out hamburgers, it was a good day :)

Friday, Lou took Jake to a zip lining/ropes course at Nashville Shores and mom and I went to eat at Olive Garden and then did some running around.  We had Jake's karate belt graduation last night and we were so proud of him for graduating to his purple belt, and becoming a member of the black belt club!!  He is doing great!

Today is a lazy day.  Of course having to get up at 4:40 on Monday morning won't be easy, but it won't be as bad since I have had a relaxing week!

Happy!

 

Inside My Erin Condren Planner

I have had lots of people ask me about my planner, so I wanted to post some pics of the fun things I have done to it!!

Here is the front cover.  You can get them personalized with your name, family name, a picture, etc.  

I just wanted my name :)  I have ordered another cover because they are inter changable! 

 

This is what the normal weekly page layout looks like.

 

 I covered up the wording with white out and then added some washi tape to decorate it and make it look pretty!  Then my friend Ashley said she was making a line between Friday and Saturday to distinguish the weekend and it was a great idea!  

 This is this weeks decorations!  It also comes with stickers that you can use that say Birthday, Vacation, doc appt,. etc.  

This is next week's! 

I found some cute free printables on Pinterest and printed some out on a full sheet label.

 

 

 

This is what happens when you put the washi tape in, but it is worth it!

I bought washi tape at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joann's, Target, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, and off of Etsy.  

There are so many cute things to do with the planner!  I'm like a kid in a candy store when I get to decorate it!!  

Enjoy!

Looking Back...

I love looking at everyone's "Throwback Thursday" pics on Facebook and Instagram, so when I was at my parents on the 4th of July, I grabbed some old photo albums and started taking pics of the pics. 

I posted my first one last week.  It was horrid, but I must have been in the 2nd grade (I think) and had huge glasses.  Who knows.  I had lots of funny comments and then others told me I should take that off, asking why would I ever put that on the internet.  Why not? 

I don't think that any one person will judge me today based on what I looked like in 1987.  And if they do, they have bigger problems. 

It was fun for me to look back at some of the pictures I forgot about (or maybe purposely pushed them out of my mind.)  There are some dance pictures where I literally cringe when I look at them.  But I love looking at my early years dance pics. 

Wasn't I just precious!!

Look at those bangs!!!

This is my absolute favorite dance pic :)

 

I was also looking at my mom's pics growing up and all I could see where my nephews!!  Both of them!!  This is my oldest nephew Braxton, but that picture is about 5 years old, but he looks just like my mom!!

This is my younger nephew Thatcher and again, this picture is a few years old, but I think he looks just like my mom also!  And Thatcher does his hands the same way a lot!  

Here is a pic of my mom's parents.  How romantic do they look!  Old Hollywood! 

This is a pic of my dad's mom and stepfather.  I love the old glasses!!  

 My mom's sisters and parents in Arkansas.  I'm guessing 1976 because Jennie is pregnant. 

I loved looking at my grandparents and parents from many years ago. 

 This is my dad's dad.  He died in 1947. 

 This is my mom's dad.  He served in the Army and was in WWII.

 My grandpa in Alaska in the Army.

 Grandpa (far left) in Alaska in the Army.

 My mom's mom. 

I also love the pictures of my grandparents in their years before kids.  My grandparents would go to Washington State to pick apples and eventually got married there.  They have pictures of them on the beach and in front of old cars.  I love them!

My mom and I love to do genealogy, of course she does it a lot more than I do, but I want to know the stories of the lives of my ancestors.  These pics just help me imagine what life was like back when they were growing up.  

My New Erin Condren Planner!

So early sometime in January, I wrote a post about my fabulous Vera Bradley planner and how I loved it and knew I would never find anything better.  Well, I did. 

I first read about the planner on a blog and looked them up, but said no way am I going to pay that much for a planner.  But then I saw they had wedding planners and almost ordered one, but it has so much more than I needed since I was having a small wedding. 

Then about a month ago, my friend said she had ordered an Erin Condren planner.  So of course I wanted to do the same thing, but again couldn't justify paying that much for a planner when I had a perfectly good Vera one and only paid maybe 12 bucks for it. 

But that very next week I went to General Assembly to hang out with my family for the day and went to the silent auction and there it was.  TWO gift cards for Erin Condren.  You best believe I bid on both.  The silent auction ended on Wednesday and I was only there on Tuesday, but my fantastic family kept an eye on one of the bids and made sure I got it!!  WOOHOO!!!  My mom got home a few days later and I called to get the code.  I already had my cover and everything picked out, just needed to input the gift card code to buy!! 

I knew it would take a while to get here since they are personalized, so I wasn't dying to get it, but I was anticipating its arrival very much!! 

TODAY IT CAME IN THE MAIL!!!!!! 

 Even the box is pretty!!!  It was the only thing in the mail today and when Lou asked me what it was, I told him it was something that would keep me occupied for the rest of the night!! 

It's just so fun and colorful!!  I have already written stuff in and taken washi tape and stickers and made it all pretty!  I still have a lot to do, but I am SOOOOOO excited!!  

I know it's just a planner, but it's something that I enjoy working on.  

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/elizabethmills0123

 Copy and paste this into your browser to see some fantastic stuff!!!

Instant Gratification

Yes, it's 6 am on a Wednesday morning and I am writing a post, but when I woke up (even though I don't have to be at work until 12:30), and I checked my email like I always do on my phone, I had one that I needed to get figured out, so I am up. 

But now I am thinking, that person is probably not like me and does not expect an email back, especially at 5:45 in the morning.  So why do I feel the need to respond so quickly?

Instant gratification. 

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and we were talking about how I was waiting for my Erin Condren Life Planner to arrive (dad if you are reading, it's what the gift card I won at the silent auction bought me) and that it was supposed to ship on July 2, but the label wasn't created until July 4, and probably really didn't ship until the 5th or even Monday, and that people had left nasty messages on Erin Condren's Instagram about 'how could she go on vacation when she has orders to fill' or 'I have left messages with customer service and my order is wrong and it needs to get fixed immediately.'

Honestly, I know a few people that would have that reaction, but we have become a society of 'give it to me now', and 'answer me immediately', and 'I want it shipped today'...why aren't willing to wait anymore?  We don't have patience.  We need instant gratification.  

I know I sure don't have patience, and I sure do love the rush of having something new.  I order something from Etsy or Old Navy, and I am constantly tracking the package to see where it is.  Anticipation can be good or bad.  Am I going to survive one day without my pink pair of linen pants and white shirt?  Of course.  Is it like Christmas when they are sitting in your mailbox?  Heck yeah!!  But then I get to wear the new clothes the next day, and I'm feeling all good...and then I can't wear them to work again for a few days/weeks cause people will know you just wore them - haha!  So where does the good feeling go?

My friend reminded me of the old JC Penney catalogs, (of course my favorite was the huge Sears catalog that was always at my grandma's house in AR), and how you would pick out the things you wanted, tear out the order form in the back, and fill it out, figure up how much you owed, and wrote a check and put it in the mail.  As in the post office mail.  As in, they won't get it for a few days, maybe a week.  Then it has to be processed, and then it has to ship.  As in it may take a few weeks to even get your order.  GASP!! 

It made me start to think this morning about how we are like that with God.  We pray and we want an answer immediately.  We don't want to wait for what He has in store for us.  We don't have patience when it comes to His timing.  I know I sure don't.

When did we/I become so needy that we have to have things instantly or we are not happy or satisfied? 

I keep thinking to the Instagram comment that basically said "How dare you go on vacation with your family on a holiday weekend when you have orders to fix and fill and phone calls to return and blah blah blah."  I wanted to comment and say Bless Your Pretty Little Heart that you can't wait a few extra days to get your planner, and if you are anything like me, you will go back and write everything in from the first of the month, even though it has passed because we are OCD like that.  And who are we to tell someone they can't go on vacation with their family on a holiday? 

We have got to stop being a society that has to have everything right now.  We will go on living just the same, unless it is life saving medicine, and that's a whole different ball-game.  But it's a planner people.  I can't wait to get mine, even though my friend has already received hers and told me about it, it just makes the waiting more fun.  Am I tracking it's every move on FedEx Tracking?  You bet.  But I am not going to sit there and bash someone from spending precious, invaluable time with their family on a holiday just to get my planner.  I have more important things to do.  Now when I get my planner, do I plan on sitting down and writing everything in with my fabulous new pens that I got just for my planner? ABSOLUTELY!!  But that's just me, and I know people would think I am crazy for doing that, but we all have our thing.

So back to being patient and waiting for God's timing.  We always hear that His timing is perfect and it will be worth the wait.  I have to agree with that because I waited a long time to find my husband, and it was/is perfect.  Now it's not all rainbows and unicorns everyday, but God had someone perfectly picked for me.  And I had to learn to be patient and go through some cray cray days to get to where I would truly appreciate what I have.  And I do. 

As with anything in life, we have to be patient and wait.  Even though we are praying for it right now and can get angry that we don't get what we want, when we want, and exactly how we want it.  I've learned and still learning that it really doesn't work that way.  Never has, never will.  I know God laughs at me every single day because I still try to plan out my life and my next steps, but I am learning to enjoy each and every day.  I don't want to look back on my life and be disappointed in how I was so needing to have something immediately and then was upset, that I didn't enjoy the time I had right then.  I learned early on that I did not need to be wishing my life away, and remind myself of that constantly.  We can't wait for summer, or for vacation, or for Christmas, or for our birthdays, or for this and that and this again and that again.  And then we get to that point and it's everything we hoped for and more, and then it's over and we have to wait again...but we/I need to start living as if everyday is special.  Because it is.  Every single day we have is special.  We don't need to know what will happen tomorrow.  We don't need the instant gratification to make us happy.  We just need to be patient and live. 

It's just a planner.  I can wait, and while I am waiting, I am going to live my life, (and check FedEx tracking ever so often.) 

Patience never comes easy, but when we have been patient and obedient, we have always had good things come our way.  I know I have. 

4th of July Recap

I must say that this 4th of July had to be one of the best.  I had the day off, and even though Lou had to work, it was a good recharge day for me.  I did some laundry, ran to the grocery store, and had the hair brained idea that I was going to bake my grandma's strawberry cake.  

This cake is amazing.  I can remember almost every time we would go to Mississippi that there would be a strawberry cake sitting on the hutch in the glass cake stand.  I had her tell me her recipe so I could make it at home.  I made it a few times and it turned out great!  The last time I attempted to make it was on Thanksgiving in 2005.  I did everything perfect and it collapsed in the middle.  But with all of the icing mixed with cake, my sister and I enjoyed it while riding in the car to see my grandma.  

I searched for my recipe and called mom and finally messaged my aunt Peggy, who informed me it was her recipe first and grandma started making it after that.  Well I had know idea my aunt could bake, (being honest Aunt Peggy), and I have to say that it is sooooo good.  But it will still be grandma's strawberry cake to me. 

Lou had called and asked me to go and grab a few extra things for the night at the store, so I decided I wanted to bake the cake to take to my parents.  It would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday and I thought that would be a great way to celebrate.  I had to get out of the checkout line once because I forgot something and then while I was putting my stuff on the belt, I realized I forgot hotdog buns and the lady behind me ran to grab me some!  I will repay the favor!

So I get home and I am all ready to bake the cake!!

 

So I put it in to bake, test it after 30 minutes, put it in for a few more....

Take it out of the oven and let them cool....

and...

 Yep, this happened.

But when I put the picture on facebook, I got lots of ways to make it work!!

I had already made a huge bowl of homemade icing and did not want to waste it, so I crumbled up the pieces into a bowl and drizzled icing over it and did that in layers.

It was delicious!

Lou came home and started up the grill with hamburgers and hotdogs...

 We then loaded up the car with the food and fireworks and headed to my parents house.  We can't shoot fireworks in my neighborhood, but of course people like to break the rules, but we don't and just go somewhere else.  Plus my parents neighborhood is not very big and there is hardly any traffic so it's perfect for fireworks.

Mom had pasta salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, and chips, and we brought the rest!  It was a great meal!!  

Here is our traditional holiday "we can't take a serious picture" picture.  

 Jake with a sparkler...

Lou and Jake

My sparkler.

Lou always buys awesome fireworks and this year did not disappoint.  Plus my parents neighbors were shooting theirs and so it was a back and forth type thing.  

Just one of the many awesome displays.  Who needs Nashville when you've got Eagleville fireworks!!  

Just thankful for a great day and a great family to spend it with.

Happy Birthday America!