about the Farmer's Market

On Wednesday, I took the boys downtown to hang with my mom for the day like we do every week. After some morning setbacks, we got down there an hour later than usual.

Instead of going to Pullen Park as planned, my mom said they were having a special Farmer's Market thing with bees and honey and things.

I don't like bees and made sure they weren't going to be flying out and about.

She said no.

So we went.

And it was pretty cool.

We've walked to the Farmer's Market a couple other times this summer but hadn't ever been able to spend too much time. We didn't spend too much time this day either, but we did get to make our own honey butter!

They put heavy cream in a jar and we shook it until it hardened. Then they added honey and we shook it more. And then we got to take it home.

Bensen and Keyen got a couple giveaways too.

And we saw lots of bees safe and sound in their hives, just where I like them to be.

So yeah, Raleigh is fun.

a (different) Friday flashback

Last weekend, my parents went home to upstate New York for my mom's 30 year high school reunion. I was born up there and lived there until I was five. All of my family is from up there actually, but now we live all along the east coast.

My great grandma Haight collected glass bottles when she was alive. Her whole house was filled with them. Some she emptied out herself. Some were dug up outside. Some were found by friends and family.

When she died, they got put into storage at my great aunt and uncle's house up north.

Insert here that ever since Aaron and I bought our house, we have wanted to decorate on top of the kitchen cabinets with glass bottles. So far we have collected five. It's been slow going.


When my parents left last week, they said they would try to stop and get some of my grandma's bottles if they had time.

Friday night of last week, I got a voicemail from my mom saying, and I quote, "We hit the mother load on glass bottles!"

We were excited.

After 18:25 on Wednesday, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and Aaron and myself, brought three boxes filled with bottles inside the lobby at Journey and sorted them out.

Aaron and I took most of them after everyone else picked a few.

They. are. so. cool.

I spent last evening cleaning them with Windex, sorting them, reading them, and then placing them carefully above our cabinets.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

This is all of them after I wiped them down.

There are pretty bluish ones.

Clear ones.

Brown ones and tiny ones.

And green ones. And that random dark blue one.

Some were funny. What is "Soothing Syrup?"

"My Wife's Salad Dressing" Ha!

An old Mountain Dew bottle!

My great grandma labeled a lot of them with where they were found or who found them. This one says "Debbie and Randy." That's my dad and his older sister. :)

This one was found by my great aunt and great uncle, Ginny and Jim.

If you look closely, this one has our last name on it!

Old, blue mason jar

A lot of the bottles have "Waverly Dump, 1970" written on them. My dad was only 8!

What is "vegetable compound??"

"For the Teeth and Breath"

I put some of the very small ones on the counter.

And there they are! I love them!

I am so thankful to have something from my great grandma passed down to me. I wish I could go back and talk to her to ask her about some of the bottles. One day...

about pumpkins

On Sunday I brought home a surprise from the grocery store. 

I tucked it safely in the car.

One for me. One for Aaron. And one for Penny, of course.

Now, it's officially fall at our house.

I do love October.

a Penny post

Penny gets groomed at PetsMart every six weeks or so. She usually just gets a bath and a trim around her face.

She's not really a fan of going to the groomer, although once she gets there, she's excited to see her stylist (not sure if that's the right name for a dog groomer), Delilah.

I make her appointments on Sunday so she gets groomed while we are at church, then I pick her up after.

This past Sunday, she had an appointment with Delilah, and we got her trimmed.

She was so sad when I left her, but she looks SO cute now!

I just loved her cute purple bows.

They didn't last too long...she had them out after a few hours!

about Patrick and Vesal's wedding

We had a very busy weekend! The end of September brought a long-awaited event...

The wedding of two of our best friends, Patrick and Vesal!

I took off work early on Friday and we headed up north about an hour to Oxford, NC for the rehearsal. The plan was for Patrick and Vesal to get married at a farm outside. It was going to be a 360 degree ceremony, and it was very pretty.

Unfortunately, God had other plans, and the rain came late Friday night and when we woke up on Saturday, it was still pouring outside.

The wedding was moved to Journey, but Patrick and Vesal were awesome about it! They were such an example of being calm and going with the flow. I probably would have panicked!

It worked out for the best, and it was a BEAUTIFUL set-up!

I didn't get too many pictures as I was busy with my bridesmaid duties, but here are a couple pictures of them seeing each other before the ceremony.

The wedding was performed by none other than my handsome husband, who did a wonderful job.

They wrote their own vows which were SO sweet. I know I was crying.

The reception was a lot of fun with great food and dancing.

Aaron (middle), Justin (left), and Patrick (right), former roommates, are now ALL married!

In other randomness, I only managed to get a picture taken with my little brother! He is now roommates with Patrick and Vesal...he lives downstairs in their townhouse. I don't believe I've introduced my brother on the blog...his name is Tyler. :)

It was a great day, but I was so ready to come home at night and crash. My feet and back were killing me, not to mention, my head felt a lot better when all of the bobby pins were out of it!

 Congratulations to Patrick and Vesal! We love you!

Happy October!

It's October 1st! Oh how I love October. It's in a close race with December and Christmastime. I can't ever quite decide my favorite!

There is so much I love about October, and this October has some extra things that make it even more fun. Here's a list of some things I'm looking forward to this month. They are in no particular order of importance, but there are a couple that are way important. I'll let you know how they go as they happen!

1. FX.  This month at Journey, we start a brand new Family Experience. It's going to be awesome! We are all about bring families closer to each other and to God, and we fully believe that parents have the responsibility of being the spiritual leaders of their children. That's a BIG job! And we are here to help. One way we do that is providing an environment for parents AND kids to worship TOGETHER. On October 5th, bring your family to FX at 7pm for a great night of family fun, games, and worship!
2. Girls' night.  I am very fortunate to be able to say that I am still good friends with girls that I've been together with since elementary and middle school. This month, some of my closest friends are getting together to catch up with each other. Most of us still live around here, but with school, work, husbands, and life in general, we don't see each other often. I'm excited to get together with them!
3. NC State Fair.    Now, I'm not a crazy fair person. No offense if you are. I like the fair to a reasonable amount. And I am excited about it. Aaron and I look forward to going on a chilly day with hoodies and walking around to people watch. We like to get a corn dog, Cheerwine, ribbon fries, and a funnel cake. And we like to look at the animals and the art. I, personally, only enjoy the ferris wheel, because all other fair rides will cause me to throw up. Nonetheless, we will be there at least once!
4. Aaron's birthday.     If I was being honest, I might have to say October 13th is in my top 3 days of the whole year. I am so glad my Aaron entered into the world on his birthday, and I LOVE to celebrate it with him! He's not too excited because he's entering into his last year of being in his twenties. But, I am. I am so glad he was born and that he has had 28 birthdays so far, and I am glad to celebrate his 29th with him as well as many more!
5. Music and Movies.    If you read my post last week, you already know that I am excited that Cinderella comes out on Blu-ray this month. I love Cinderella so much! Also, two of my favorite artists, Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat, are BOTH coming out with new records this month. I mean, I'm so glad they all recognized that it's...
6. My Birthday.   It's my birthday at the end of the month! On the 29th, I will turn 25. Twenty five. A quarter of a century. Goodness. That's pretty crazy! I don't freak out too much about age and things, so I'm fine with turning 25. Hey, I won't have to pay that extra fee for a rental car AND I can drive a 15 passenger van. Talk about a party. Anyway, I am excited about my birthday, although I do wish it wasn't on a Monday. Oh well, next year it won't be! I love celebrating with Aaron and our families and the presents are nice too! :)
7. It's still fall.    And I love fall! It's my favorite season, and October is when it really starts to feel like fall! The leaves start changing, it's cool enough to wear hoodies and jeans and my Sperrys. There are pumpkin lattes and candles and fires and cool breezes. It's pretty much wonderful.

Do you have any fun plans for October? I'd love to know! Happy October 1st!