Life

Life these days is wonderful. I've finally found the love of my life and feel content with where I'm at in life. We're talking about getting married and having another baby. Seems everyone is anxious for us to do these things, so are we, to be honest & it's exciting to think about the future. I'm focusing on going back to school in the spring! I'm ready!!! Dylan is doing excellent in 5th grade, as expected. I got his test scores in PC (Program Challenge)and he scored 100%. I'm so proud of that boy! He's not only smart but caring and compassionate, too. Everything is wonderful in our little corner of the world. :)

It's Friday...I'm in Love

I'm in love with....


❥My boyfriend, the best man in the entire world.
❥Weekends at home with my boys.
❥Dylan's wonderful, super, amazing teacher who took an extra minute to send a picture of him at school.
❥This fall like weather.
❥My life.


Happy Friday my loves!

Moments

There are moments in life that are so precious and pure that I feel completely overwhelmed and taken by emotion. This morning was one of them. I took my buddy to Chick-fil-A for breakfast before school, he wanted to dine-in, so we did and I'm so very glad. We were in the restaurant almost alone (there were only 4 other people there), it was peaceful. It was a slow start to a normal, busy day. As we sat there we talked, really talked. Usually he's too busy rushing to the next thing to carry on conversations with but this morning was different. He sat and he talked. He told me about things going on in school and friends. It was a nice morning. As he got out of the car this morning he said, "I Love you, Mom." Not that he doesn't always but this morning it really filled my heart with happiness and made me full of emotion but I know his morning got off to a wonderful start. I know mine did.

5th Grade

My buddy started fifth grade this week. Fifth grade!?! Can you believe it? I think he was more excited than he let me know though. Our neighbor is his teacher, we loved her before so we are super happy that she's his teacher! I think it helped ease is nerves because he thought 5th grade would be so much harder.

He came home from school Wednesday (their first day). I asked him what they did, he said "Mrs. Shadix made us write it in our agendas because she knows we all tell our parents nothing when they ask what we did." I texted her immediately telling her I already love having her as Dylan's teacher! I think it's going to be a fantastic year!!!

L-O-V-E

Thirty the number of years it took me to find the love of my life.
Nine the number of years I was a single mom before I found him.
Tweleve the number of years he was my best friend before he was my boyfriend.
Five the number of months we've been together.
Forever, how long we'll be together.


It's true that it took me thirty years to find true love, and it's true that when we started dating we had been best friends for twelve years.

We met right out of high school at a mutual friend's house and became insta-friends. We never dated, though if I had known then what I know now we'd have been together all this time. Anyway, life happened, he got married, I got pregnant, our group of friends changed and most of us lost touch (for me it was by choice) but he and I always stayed in touch. We talked weekly, sometimes more and he was always the guy I cried on when my relationships with other guys were rocky. He gave me advice, some of the best being "never settle, some day you'll find someone who deserves you."

Over the next 10 years, he was married and I was in two serious (or somewhat serious) relationships and dated a few guys. My last relationship was getting rocky, I was always un-happy and ready to get out of it but I couldn't shake the guy. I was settling because I felt like time was running out. I was in my thirties, I'd never be able to complete my family, I'd never get married, blah blah blah. Crazy thoughts, right? Especially since I'm the one who's always telling people age is nothing but a number. Tell that to your internal clock though, she doesn't get it.

One day I get a call from my bestie, no big deal, I thought, he called all the time. "She left me", say what? "My wife, she left. Can I come see you?" Of course was my answer was yes but all along i'm kinda panicking inside, "if my boyfriend finds out he'll be jealous, he'll be mad" Then my good ol conscious kicked in and went "shut up, your friend needs you and if bf can't get it he's certainly not the one for you." True conscious, true. Besides I was kinda over him at this point anyway. It was then I realized that I HAD to break up with bf and I did. He begged, pleaded, and even called my mom to try to talk some sense in to me, or so he thought-that didn't go as planned.

After talking to my bestie and letting him cry on my shoulder for a couple weeks he started talking about girls he was meeting around town and how he was getting their numbers, it was actually at this point I broke up with my bf because I was totally interested in my bestie, had been for quiet a while actually but that whole wife thing stood in the way. I'm not bold enough to say hey, i'm interested in you" even to my best friend. We could talk to each other about everything and did up until that point but that, that was a game changer and I didn't have the guts so I hoped he'd see me as a possible love. After I broke up with what's his face I told bestie that we go out to dinner one night, in my mind, just as friends because at this point I didn't think he was interested in me In any other way because of one comment he made "You're the perfect woman for me except you have a kid." Thanks for the compliment, I think but it didn't hurt me because our friendship was that purely honest. We just said what we were feeling and that left no room for guessing or un-certainty.

The next night, on Saturday December 15th, we went to out. I asked him where he wanted to meet, his answer was "I'll pick you up" hint #1 it's a date ladies! Of course I thought he was just being the gentleman he is. We went to O'Charley's this is where he'll tell you every single detail of the night, from what I was wearing to what I ordered to the way I looked at him (hint #2 it's a date). I just remember feeling like something was different between us as I gazed at him, thinking how gorgeous he was as he was telling me how he was thinking about moving to South Carolina after everything went down. I felt devastated, I felt panicked and I must have looked that way too because he assured me he wasn't moving and it was because of me. Now, at this point you'd think I'd be entertaining the thought of this as a date, maybe more but nope, not me. I swear if he had held a banner up saying "I love you" I wouldn't have believed him.

After dinner he casually mentioned that he needed to go check on his house because his neighbor had been burning leaves close to his house when he left, he asked if that was okay, my answer was "sure." Naïve on my part and smooth on his. Once we got to the house there was no fire, maybe there was earlier in the day but not then. So we sat on the couch, he turned on the t.v., scrolled through and there was nothing on so we picked out a movie on Netflix. I surprised him by picking Machine Gun Preacher, I'd been wanting to see it since people in my math class the summer before were talking about it.

I laid on the couch, my head in his lap and we watched the movie. At some point in the movie he reached for my hand and held it until it was over. It was at this point it hit me "this might be a date". Still un-sure and not wanting to over think it I just laid there, my hand in his and a million thoughts in my mind. When it was over we got in his truck and headed home, where again, he held my hand the entire time. At this point my heart is about to race out of my chest, thank God it was dark in there because i'm sure my facial expression was matching my freaking out on the inside. When we got home, he walked me to the door, told me goodnight and he had a great night then he kissed me, not a little goodbye friend kind either. Of course I kissed him back! Since then we've been inseperable.

The rest of the story had to wait for later, time to go get my boy from school and cook and clean. Back to mommy life, which I wouldn't trade for the world!

Let's Play Favorites

I just did my Meet The Cast post but maybe y'all are wondering about me. I'm pretty much an open book and I think my about me section at the top of my page and to the left tells you a lot about me but you want to know more? Here's a little Favorites Quiz that'll let you in on some secrets.

Here Goes:

Favorite pizza:
Homemade Chicken Spinach Alfredo
OR
California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken
OR
Hungry Howie's Philly Cheesesteak on Garlic Herb Crust


Favorite place to buy clothes:
I love local Boutiques but I'll shop anywhere.
I love Target and NY & Co

Favorite home decor store:
Target, World Market, Pier 1, Kirklands
And I can dream of shopping at Restoration Hardware

Favorite Starbucks drink:
White Chocolate Mocha or Caramel Frappuccino

Favorite technology gadget:
iPhone. Can't. live. without. it

Favorite football team:
Surprisingly I'm a Southern Girl who doesn't get into football.
I'll go with our Georgia Bulldogs.

Favorite breakfast food:
My Daddy's biscuits and gravy
My Mama's homemade dounuts

Favorite seafood:
California Roll
OR
Thai Shrimp Wraps
OR
any kind of Lobster

Favorite dog breed:
Golden Retrievers

Favorite dessert:
Cheesecake of any kind.
I'm serious about my cheesecake y'all.

Favorite music genre:
It all depends on my mood.
Sometimes Country, Classic Rock, Jimmy Buffett, Pop.
I like it all.

Favorite soda:
I don't drink much soda at all but when I do,
Cherry Coke

Favorite queso:
Definitely white.
Yellow doesn't even come close.

Favorite holiday:
Christmas.
I love the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Everything is decorated. Christmas music is playing. Everyone is jolly.
There's a lot of cooking and baking going on.
A lot of family togetherness.

Favorite cajun dish:
Fried Gator Bites
OR
Seafood Boil.
It's just a shame that my honey is highly allergic to seafood.

Favorite nail color:
Bright Pink
OR
Light Tiffany Blue

Favorite mascara:
Aloette A List

Favorite foundation:
Beauty by Aloette

Favorite outside temperature:
Sunny & 70

Favorite perfume:
The Limited Edition No. 1 Cardigan

Favorite handbag designer:
Currently Coach

Favorite retail store:
Target, obviously!

Favorite wine:
Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet

Favorite dish:
It's a tie between
a steak, sweet potato, and Bloomin Onion with Sangria at Longhorn's
OR
Tilapia Nocciola and Reisling at Carrabba's

Favorite beer:
Bud Light with Lime Straw-BER-ritas

Favorite t.v. show:
I never get tired of Friends or I Love Lucy
My fave current shows are: The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory.
I also secretly love The Bachelor this season.

Favorite song:
It changes all the time but currently i'm loving everything from T. Swift's new album
AND
UpTown Funk

And a bonus question...

If you were on the show Real Housewives of ----what would your tag line be?
Just a modern day June Cleaver want to be with antics of I Love Lucy/Super Woman.


Feel free to copy this and play along! I'd love to hear your answers.

Meet The Cast

Hi Y'all welcome to my Blog Sweet Blog. This blog started out as a place for me to share life with my family but part of my New Year's Goals were to work on growing my blog. I joined The Peony Project and Southern Girl Blog Building Group and have sank my heart into this blog in the last 2 months. It's still a work in progress but I'm loving the journey so far.

If you're going to stick around my blog then you'll need to know the cast ;) So let's meet the cast.

My Fiance.
Name:Alex
Aliases: Babe, Baby, Honey, Sweets
We were best friends for 13 years before we started dating. We've dated for 1 year before we got engaged. We've been engaged for 2 years & 2 months. We're getting married in September 2015!
I've never been happier in my life. We have the kind of relationship that probably makes others want to gag. We've never had a serious argument. We're so happy to be together that it doesn't matter what we're doing. Grocery shopping, partying, going on adventures, it doesn't matter we have fun no matter what. We sing together, make up songs together, dance in our kitchen together, I would say have nerf wars together but since he's the only one with a nerf gun it's not really a war. I may need to work on that ;) We're just big dorks together and that's the way I like it + he knows when to just feed me and tell me i'm pretty ;) That's a winner in my book.



Our son.
Name:Dylan
Aliases: D, Doodle, Dude
Goofball. This kid is just a goofball with a big heart and a big brain. He's seriously the smartest kid. He was using the computer at 3 to play his games, which were only the Disney Channel games. I used to sit at the computer with him in my lap and let him play but it got to the point where he'd drag my Dad to the computer and say "Pa, i'll show you how to use it" and he did. At 2 he decided he wanted to swim on his own and did that, too. Once he makes up his mind to do something he just does it.

He's 12 now (ahh! 12) and is in gifted classes (Program Challenge OR Advanced Placement) and makes excellent grades. He'll give you his last $, too. He's always bribing me to take him to Chick-fil-A, he'll pay for it as if that's my reason for not taking him to Chick-fil-A every day. On vacation when he was about 7 he wanted to spend his $ he had saved on my best friend, who was with us. His heart is really that big! Behind that smart, kind hearted boy is a goofball. He loves to make up songs, too and dance. He'll act like he doesn't know how but I have videos to prove otherwise. He's very witty, too. Usually he hits me with some kind of witty remark when i'm driving and have a hard time keeping it between the lines because i'm laughing so hard. I'm going to start sharing those moments here ;) He's at the age where he doesn't like me to share things on Facebook because it embarrasses him. He doesn't know about Momma's Blog yet though. He also has a BIG heart for animals. Loves them all!



The Parentals.
Names:Mike & Whitney
Aliases: Dad, Daddy, Pa & Mom, Momma, Mimi
Seriously y'all they are the best parents ever! They're the kind of parents that never really gave us a lot of rules growing up because they trusted us. We were good kids :) Now days they're two of my best friends & i'll always be Daddy's Girl.
My Dad is one of the most laid back guys ever. Not much ruffles his feathers. He's definitely the rock of our family. He's a true supporter of The Atlanta Braves and Falcons and loves the beach. I think if it wasn't for me and my brothers he might move to the beach. Hey Dad, i'll move with you!
My MomShe's the most kind hearted woman I've ever known. She'll give you the shirt off her back if you need it. If you like it, she'll likely buy you one just like it. She's so crafty. Growing up she always made our Halloween costumes and birthday cakes and she often made me fancy dresses for special occasions. There was no run-of-the-mill, the same thing everyone else has costumes, cakes, or dresses for us. Now she makes stained glass pieces that are beautiful and sews curtains and things. She loves the beach and crafting and cooking, too. We know when we go to Mama's house for dinner we're going to eat good!


My Grandma
Name: Linda
Aliases: Grandma
The Matriarch of our family. Without her basically none of us would exist. Okay so technically it dates back looong before her but still. She's kinda hearted and beautiful. She often puts herself last because she's busy taking care of everyone else. If you need something she's on it. She's patient and loving and all the things Grandmas should be.
When my brothers and I were kids she never missed a baseball game, gymnastics performance, awards show or whatever we were involved in. She continues the tradition now with my son. She's a blessing to our family.


My Brother & Sister in Law
Names:Tyler and Jordan
Aliases:Ty-too, Ty, Brother, Brother Bear & Jo, Aunt Pretty Girl
These two are definitely two important people in my life. We've all been through so much together and have so many memories. Growing up my brothers and I were inseperable. Most kids fight with their siblings, not us. I know that shocks everyone but it's true. I had friends who would beat their sisters up with Coke bottles (scrappers, y'all. Not really. Just bullies.) That was never us and in fact, if someone ever tried to hurt my brothers I wouldn't have it. Since we grew up so close it's only natural that we're super tight now. I love my sister in law, too. I couldn't have picked a better one myself. She's really like the sister I never had.
My brother plays guitar and makes up silly songs, too. I think this silly song thing really started with him ;) Anytime we're all together there are guaranteed to be tons of laughs.


My Aunt, Uncle & Cousin Emily.
Names: Scott, Melody, Emily.
Aliases: Aunty, Uncle, & Em or Emmy
If you need anything at all they're there for you in a pinch. The sweetest, most fun, loving peeps. I absolutely adore spending time with them. My son and uncle have an on-going prank wars going on when they're together these days. My aunt, she's a fun aunt. She climbs trees with my son. I told you she's fun! Emily, she's the sweetest. I love doing girly things with her + girlfriend has a big imagination.



Aunt, Uncle & Cousins
Names: Tom, Devon, Brecken, Asher, Farren
Alises: The Illinois Crew
These guys live in Illinois so we only see each other once a year. They come down for a week every summer and stay at my parent's house. It's the most amazing, fun filled week. We look forward to it all year long.
Even though they're so far away they're there if they need to be. My Aunt has hopped a plane more than once to be down here with us. If I ever need someone to vent to she's the one to call. Sometimes I wonder how she does it all. She's seriously like Super Woman! My Uncle and the kids are comic relief. Always up to something hysterical. They're proof that you can still be close no matter how many miles are between you.


My Best Friend & her son
Names: Missy & Blayne
Aliases: Bestie, Best Friend, Girlfriend, Sweets & Monkey (I've called him this since day one)
She and I have been through everything together. She's the definition of a true best friend. Sure we don't get to see each other nearly as much as we'd like to but that doesn't change the fact that if I need her or vice versa we're there. We have tons of memories together and will continue to have many many more. She's been my rock more than once and I love that boy like he's my own.


And that is my main crew.

I hope you enjoy reading about my crazy life!