New Year's Cards with Shutterfly!

I love snail mail, and the only thing I love more than receiving it, is sending cute little surprises to my friends and family. That's why, when I didn't have time to send Christmas cards this year, it broke my heart! 

Last year, Paisley and I had the cutest Christmas cards, and it ended up being one of my favorite pictures of us to date!

This Christmas, I was so busy with Commencement, work and exams of my own, we didn't have time to take a picture at all. I had completely ruled them out as a possibility, until my friend Marcia suggested I send out New Year's cards! I absolutely love New Year's, and thought this was the perfect idea for us! With a card for literally everything these days, I knew I'd have no problem finding one that I could use. 

On the Saturday after Christmas, Paisley and I got all dressed up for my Mom to take our New Year's card picture. NYE is one of my favorite holidays because it revolves around champagne, confetti and dresses. What better time to send a card?! I wore my New Year's dress that I bought in New York with Lilly Pulitzer gold Resort Chic Wedges, while Pais modeled her pink and green Christmas sweater and gold bead necklace! There's no such thing as being plain around our house!

After the photo was done, it was time to choose a card! You'd think Shutterfly made the gold glitter New Year's card that I ended up picking just for me! It was perfect! Once I chose my favorite photo and card, my Mom went to town on fixing up everything else.

Our 2014 New Year's Card!

 Of course, I had to do the back as well!

I think they have Melody written all over them! Though I didn't get to send out my usual Christmas cards, I'm so glad that 50 of my closest friends and family got this fun little card to brighten up their 2014! My Mom was also able to find the cutest matching gold glitter return address labels! Thanks Mama for all your help!

Did you send Christmas/New Year's cards this year?

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As always, Have a Sweet Day!

Paisley Ann Turns One!

My sweet Paisley Ann turned a year old on May 8th, but since I was stressed to the max with commencement prep at the time, we celebrated her birthday yesterday!

I had originally planned on having a big party with all of Paisley's human friends, but with so much going on at church, work, and in our family, we thought it was best with just the five of us. It worked out perfectly!

Earlier in the week, I picked up some princess hats, noisemakers and birthday gifts and had them all ready to go around noon. After church, my Dad whipped up some pimento cheese sandwiches and potato chips, while Paisley got some special doggie birthday cookies!

At first, she wasn't quite sure what to think of them, but quickly decided they were just her style!

We even made her a spot at the table for this special occasion!

My Mom was so sweet and picked up Gigi's cupcakes for the four of us to eat! 

We enjoyed a chocolate chip cheesecake, birthday cake, Cola Chocolate, and Italian Cream cupcake, all piled high with icing. They were SO good!

How cute is this one!?

After enjoying her doggie treats, Paisley spent the afternoon modeling her new pink collar and playing with a new toy. 

She might be just a little bit spoiled....

Happy Birthday Paisley Ann! We love you!

As always, Have a Sweet Day!

A Paisley Birthday Party!

I can hardly believe that in a few short weeks my Goldendoodle Paisley is going to be one year old!

It seems like just yesterday we were making the 10-hour trip to pick her up and bring her home...

and now she's all grown up!

As a huge lover of birthdays, cake and ice cream, and my Doodle's biggest fan, I can't imagine not celebrating this exciting day!

After chatting with Paisley about it, and asking my parents what they thought, we've decided we're going to have a small birthday party at our house, with all of Paisley's favorite human friends!

This puppy party wouldn't be complete without a fun outfit for Pais, cute cupcakes, snacks and invitations! Just make sure you RSVP! 

Her actual birthday is on May 8th, but since that falls on a Wednesday, and I'll be prepping for commencement, we're looking at either May 4th or May 19th! 

A few items of inspiration:

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Saying that I'm excited would be an understatement!

It's going to be the puppy party of the year!

As always, Have a Sweet Day!

A Valentine Just for You!

Happy Valentine's Day from my sweet doodlebug & me!

 

My 2013 Valentine's Day Card:

I hope y'all have the most amazing day! I can't wait to read about what everyone did!

 

As always (and especially today), Have a Sweet Day!



A Paisley Update!

While I'm off in Atlanta "Making Things Happen," I thought I'd give you an update on my favorite little ray of sunshine, Paisley!

I cannot believe that Paisley is 5 months old already! It seems like just yesterday we were driving all those hours to go and pick up this little ball of fur!

Wasn't she the sweetest thing?!

Paisley has been doing great at our house, enjoying her new bed...

 Meeting new doggie friends at Music for Mutts at the park...

And getting her first hair cut yesterday!

Before

 After

She's even getting excited for Halloween, when she'll be dressing up as a Rufferee!

As always, Have a Sweet Day!

Puppies: The Good, The Bad, & The Hilarious

As any dog-owner knows, there are many things that come along with getting a new puppy. You gain a wonderful companion, some very sharp teeth and a whole lot of patience. These are just a few of the things that Paisley has taught me over the past month.

I've divided some of my new experiences into three different categories: The Good, The Bad and The Hilarious (you know those times you can't help but laugh)!

The Good:

-I love that Paisley knows I'm her owner. I can call her name once from the other end of the house and she will come running to me! Even though I hate leaving her to go to work, it's worth her excited reaction as soon as I get home! 

-I love that when she's not quite sure about something, (like loud noises) she hides behind my legs. It's like she knows I'm there to protect her.

-I love how she looks when she's sleeping! How could you resist this little face?!

-I love that she loves to lay in my bed with me and she wants to be right up against me!

-I love knowing that someone is depending on me and needs me.

The Not-So-Good:

-My normal sleep schedule is now non-existent. To tell you the truth, sleep in general is non-existent.

-She doesn't like to listen to me when we're outside.

-When she tears a huge hole in the living room carpet.

-When she uses the bathroom in the house when you're trying to tend to said hole.

-When she bites your legs, arms, hair, etc...basically anything she can get her mouth on. I know this is a puppy thing, but it's painful!

-When she tries to get into the cat's litter box

The Hilarious:

-When she wrestled my Mom's topiary tree to the ground. I found her in the living room with fake leaves all over her mouth.

-When she runs up to our cat and licks his face

-When she wants to watch TV with my Dad

Paisley has only been with us for a month, but has already made a huge impact on our lives, especially mine. She's my little princess! Happy 3 month birthday to my sweet girl today!

A Puppy/Melody Shopping Trip: Second Edition!

With all the working that I've been doing lately at Sam's and my internship, I haven't had much time for retail therapy (insert sad face here). I mean, a girl's got needs! On Tuesday, I couldn't stand it any longer, so I grabbed my Mom and off we went!

First thing that morning, we hit Pet Supplies Plus! As you may know, this is my favorite pet store. The people are seriously so nice! I talked about my first shopping trip for Paisley in this post. Picking out things for Paisley is almost as much fun as buying clothes for myself, so we had a great time looking around! 

Paisley's new things:

1. Flower print collar by Pet Attire

Paisley had a collar that she was wearing when we got her from the breeder, but it was getting a little small, and had gotten dingy, so we picked her up a cute new one that's white with yellow and pink flowers.

2. Pink pet ID tag
For some reason, I hadn't got around to buying one of these yet. Since Paisley spends a lot of time running around our house outside, we thought it was best if she had one. My Mom was nice enough to buy this for Paisley. Oh the joys of having a grand-dog!

Here's Paisley modeling her new collar and ID tag this morning!

3. Small flower print harness
I had been thinking about buying Paisley a harness to wear when we're out in public with other dogs. She does well on her leash, but I thought this would give me some extra support if I need to hold her back for any reason. We actually tried it out around our house yesterday and it worked really well! It also matches her new collar!

4. Pink retractable leash
A retractable leash is something that I've heard both good and bad things about. I ended up buying a 16 foot Flexi leash for a medium to large dog (there's no use buying more than one). Around my house, we have a lot of trees, tall grass, and other things that I don't feel like exploring that Paisley goes crazy over. Hopefully this will give her a little more room to run, without me having to go with her! We'll see how it goes!

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5. Smell good spray

This isn't the actual name of what we bought, but it's what I'm calling it! My Mom picked up a can of pet spray that's supposed to decrease her puppy smell. It seems to be working so far!

Then we were off to get the things that were on my list!

1. The new Emily Giffin book
I love Emily Giffin and own/have read all five of her books! They are some of my favorites! In May, I heard that she had a new book coming out this July, and I've had the release date on my calendar ever since. Luckily, I had a Barnes & Noble gift card and was able to get it pretty cheap!

2. Craft Supplies
I saw a cute craft on Pinterest the other day that I wanted to try, so I picked up the supplies for that! The best part, it only cost me one dollar! I'm making it to sit in Jake's apartment, so if you can guess what it is, sssshhh! It's a surprise! There will be more on this later!

3. Forever 21 Dress
For me, Forever 21 is always hit or miss. More often than not, if I'm on the lookout for something, it's a miss, but on Tuesday, I got lucky! I found the cutest navy and pink dress for just over $20. Had to have it! I'm thinking about pairing it with a gold necklace that belonged to my Grandma! Did I mention is has pockets! What do you think?

I'd say it was a pretty good shopping day!


interested in seeing more pictures of Paisley and what I'm up to? Follow along with me on Instagram! 
Username: sweetlikeasong

July 4th Recap & Bow Craft!

I hope you all had a fab Fourth of July! Mine was really relaxing and low key. I was at home all day yesterday playing with Paisley and doing things around the house. My family grilled out for dinner and then spent the night watching The Help. It was actually the first time I'd ever seen the movie and I was so impressed!

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Paisley enjoyed her holiday by playing in the monkey grass outside our house and posing in her July 4th bow!

My friend Kim made this bow especially for her and was sweet enough to tell me how she did it for my readers!

Materials:

Ribbon (usually around 1 yard)

Blank hair blips

Glue gun & glue sticks

Yarn

Scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of ribbon six inches in length and tie a knot in the center

2. Fold the long piece of ribbon in half, fold the last two inches on the unfolded side, then fold in half one more time. Make sharp creases!

3.    Let the long piece of ribbon unfold once the creases are made. Starting at one end of the ribbon: place the first crease onto the second crease, the second onto the third, and the third onto the fourth.

4.Once the ribbon is folded, tie a piece of yarn around the middle to secure the placement of the folded bow.

5.    Use hot glue to secure the folded ribbon onto the hair clip. Be careful where you glue, I do mine on towels so I don’t mess the counter up!

6. Glue the short piece on top of the hair bow on the side without the clip. Wrap the two edges around the back of the bow, glue and trim.

Ta Da!

Thanks so much Kim for all your help! Here are a few of the bows that Kim has made for herself!

To make Miss Paisley’s bow, she made two and stacked them on top of each other! Her dog Boone helped to model it!