Oh Happy Day!

This morning, I woke up around 6AM, feeling energized, thankful and so excited to start the day. What better way to share this happiness than a What I Love Wednesday post?

Here's what I'm loving this week!

1. I'm loving that today is Wednesday and we're half way through the work week!

I'm beyond excited for next week to arrive because I'm traveling to see Jake and I have five full days off work! It can't get here soon enough!

2. I'm loving the new dog toy I bought for Paisley yesterday on sale for $5.99! 

(She's loving this one too!)

I finally got Paisley one of the animal toys that has an empty water bottle inside it. Pet Supplies Plus had a sale going on yesterday, and with the toys 50% off, I couldn't resist. The only animal they had left was a skunk, but Paisley doesn't discriminate haha! She's been toting this thing around everywhere!

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3. I'm loving that I get to see my boyfriend one week from today, after going a whole month without seeing him!

I'm so excited to be traveling to see Jake's new apartment and the law school that he'll be attending for the next three years! I may even be more excited about all these changes than he is!

4. I'm loving that Paisley has slept in her crate for the past six nights! Hallelujah!

For those of you that have heard my anxiety and trouble with crate training, you know that I had given up on it, at least for a little while. Last week, my Mom's best friend came to visit Paisley and gave me a lot of inspiration/support about the crate training. I went to the basement, got the crate back out of the box and put it up in our kitchen. I put Paisley in it that night and there was no problem whatsoever! It was the craziest thing! Thank you so much for all of your sweet thoughts and prayers that you've sent my way during this new experience.

5. I'm loving the cute dressy capris that I found at Target on sale for $16.99

Target has a style of capri pants that I really like. You may have seen them because they have them season after season in the same few colors (black, royal blue, fuchsia, and navy), and they come in shorts, skirts, etc. While scanning the sale rack last Sunday, I found a cute pair of black ones in my size, and for 30% off. They fit perfectly and I wore them to work on Monday! Score!

6. I'm loving that Sweet Like a Song is getting a face lift!

This is probably the thing I'm most excited about this Wednesday and into the coming weeks! In honor of my one year "blogoversary", Sweet Like a Song is going under construction, and will be looking oh so beautiful once it's done! I have been admiring the designs of Jenn from Munchkin Land Designs for months, but I finally took the plunge and ordered my new design! If you haven't heard of Munchkin Land Designs, you can check out her site here. 

I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

What are you loving this Wednesday? Link-up with Jamie and let us know!

Craft Tutorial: Chevron Picture Frame!

A few days ago, I spotted a craft on Pinterest that I thought was just too cute!

Remember seeing this floating around?

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I saw it and fell in love!

With Jake getting ready to leave for law school, I've been looking for something cute to make for him, that he could set up in his new apartment. Even though it ended up looking a little girly, I hope that he'll still love it!

I know this is a pretty simple craft, but don't let it fool you! It's tedious! Here's my craft tutorial, just in case!

The Supplies:

Paper plate

Two main paint colors

Black paint

Ruler

Pencil

Sharpie

Various paint brushes

1 - 5x7 Photo

$1.00 Wooden frame from Michael's

I started out by taking some measurements of the frame and hand drawing chevron stripes over the whole thing. This is the hardest part by far! With the heart cut-out in the center, you have to make sure all your lines match-up. I know I worked on drawing and re-drawing these lines for a couple hours. I used a ruler, but I think next time, I would try tape or another option.

When you have your lines exactly how you want them, paint the first line with one of your two colors, and then alternate over the whole frame. I started with white.

Paint the remaining lines with your second color.

Don't forget to paint the rim of the picture frame and the thin edge inside of the heart, once the front side of the frame is completely dry.

My Mom has much better handwriting than me, so I had her write the words "The Only Fish In The Sea For Me" (just like the original craft) in Sharpie on the frame. This made it much easier for me to trace with a paint brush.

For the actual picture:

 It's best to choose a picture that's been sized up to a 5x7. I tried a 4x6 at first, but it was too small for the heart shape. You can use the cardboard insert that comes in the frame as a guide to cutting your picture.

Right before putting the picture in, I painted over the hand-written words in black paint. This really made them stand out! 

I love how this craft turned out, and I can't wait to give it to Jake! The best part, the whole thing only cost me about $2! 

Hopefully it'll find a special spot in his new place!

Jake's Birthday Celebration

On Tuesday of our stay in Hilton Head, we celebrated Jake's 22nd birthday! We started the day off with some chocolate milk, coffee and donuts from Dunkin' Donuts! Yumm!

After finishing our breakfast, Jake and I headed to the Tanger Outlets for a little shopping. Hilton Head actually has two different Tanger Outlets, so we made sure to spend a little time at both. Later that evening, we went back to the condo to get ready for our night in Savannah, GA. This is also when Jake decided to open his presents! My parents and I got him two pair of J.CREW boxers, some of his favorite candy and a Tucker Blaire needlepoint belt that he really wanted!

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 Jake's sister lives in Savannah, so we headed into downtown to have dinner with her! We weren't familiar with any of the restaurants there, so she picked one that she'd heard of called The Olde Pink House Restaurant. We had a reservation, walked right from her apartment and didn't have to wait at all!

In honor of Jake's birthday, we all had a celebratory drink. I'm sure I looked so funny drinking out of the large flute glasses they poured them in!

 

I checked out the menu earlier that day and it all sounded so delicious! I finally decided on a mixture of a few things. The "BLT" Salad (fried green tomatoes, bacon and buttermilk dressing), the She Crab Soup and a side of macaroni and cheese. I'm a huge macaroni fan and like to try it anywhere I go! You can check out their menu here!

After our meal, we looked at the dessert menu, but decided to forgo the last course because we were all so full! It turns out, for birthdays at this restaurant, they bring out a plate with Happy Birthday written in chocolate. I think I enjoyed this little treat more than Jake did! They also sat a single lit candlestick in the middle of our table.

And...If you were wondering, the restaurant really was pink!

Our Hilton Head Vacation

It's hard to believe I've gone without blogging for 8 full days, but I have been so busy! Vacations and birthdays and puppies, OH MY! Everything has been moving 100 miles an hour! This coming week, I'm hoping things will slow down a little so I can enjoy the Fourth of July Holiday! 

In order to get you caught back up on my life, I figured we'd go in chronological order! First thing's first! This past Sunday morning I left for Hilton Head Island with the fam and enjoyed an amazing 3-night stay, despite the cloudy weather the whole time! Yes, every day was rainy and gloomy, but we still had a great time!

Jake and I arrived on Sunday around one in the afternoon. We met my family at Coligny Plaza to have lunch at Stu's Subs. 

Stu's is apparently the place to be, because even at almost two in the afternoon, the line was going out the door! People were all over the place, waiting for there lunch fill. I enjoyed the "Harbour Town Classic" twice during our stay.

 The place was so good, Jake and I stopped back by as we left the island!

After relaxing for the rest of the day on the beach, we enjoyed dinner and drinks at Hudson's Seafood! My Mom and I had visited Hudson's on our last trip and really enjoyed it. We thought it would be a great place to take the whole group.

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Monday was spent relaxing at the condo and riding bicycles inside our little community. Jake and I got up early to go to the beach, but the rain sent us straight back indoors. We stayed in a cute 3-bedroom condo in Palmetto Dunes. This place was big enough so that everyone had their own space, but still quaint like a beach cottage. We really enjoyed it here. 

We also made sure to visit the Palmetto Dunes General Store! Jake enjoyed an assortment of southern cooking, while I had pizza for lunch. This place was so neat! They honestly sold everything you could think of from breakfast sandwiches and souvenirs to t-shirts!

For dinner on Monday, we headed to The Old Oyster Factory. This place was also so good! If you like seafood, it's definitely a good place to try! This restaurant is fairly large, and since our table was off to itself, I had a chance to make some pictures of the group.

I'm loving my Dad's smile in this one!

 My Dad & Brother decided to split this huge seafood platter! I couldn't believe the size of this thing!

The Oyster Factory has a large deck area in the back of the restaurant, where they have live music and other entertainment. We stopped by on our way out for a group picture!

It was such a nice family vacation!

 The last day of vacation was spent celebrating Jake's 22nd birthday! Make sure to stop by tomorrow to read about our trip to Savannah and what I ended up giving him for his birthday!

Happy Monday Yall!

My Life as of Late!

Happy Hump Day! We're halfway through this week and I am so happy to have a day off from both of my jobs today! Not that I don't miss being there, it's just nice to get some things done today!

It seems like this month has gone by so fast! Lately I've been getting ready for the beach, Jake's birthday and for Miss Paisley to arrive! Everything coming together has made for a pretty crazy couple of days!

If you haven't heard yet, on Monday morning, I finally talked to the Goldendoodle breeder and found out that I would be getting the smaller puppy that I mentioned in this post! I am still beyond excited and I can't believe it's really happening. My family will be driving to Georgia to pick her up on Saturday, June 30th, ten days from now!!  With that in mind, I feel like I have so much to do! Today, I'm going on a mini puppy shopping spree at PetSmart! They better get ready!

All this is happening amongst our family vacation to Hilton Head on Saturday! We're packing up our beach chairs and sunscreen to enjoy 4 nights and 5 days of fun in the sun. My parents, my brother and his girlfriend Samantha are going down on Saturday morning, while Jake and I are leaving early Sunday morning since I have a wedding to work on Saturday night!

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We were so excited to find out that Jake's 22nd birthday fell during our trip! On Tuesday, Jake & I will be traveling to Savannah, GA to visit his sister who lives there. I've only been there once and don't even remember the trip, so I am so excited to see Savannah from a native's perspective. Jake's gift is just about finished & I can't wait to share it with you next week!

On another exciting note, I'm almost done reading The Help, after about two weeks of working on it. I was looking at Twitter the other day, and saw where Ashley from Everyday AEM was selling her three 50 Shades of Grey books, which I have been dying to read! I tweeted her immediately & got all three books for $20 shipped! These will serve as my beach reading during our trip!

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What I'm Loving About June!

Though we're only eleven days into June, there are so many things that I'm already loving about this month!

1. There's still more than half of summer left!

Even though almost a month and a half of summer has already passed, there's still so many things I want to do! Thank goodness it's only June, and I still have a while left of summer!

2. Father's Day is less than a week away!

I am beyond excited for my Daddy to open his Father's Day gift this year! I think he's going to fall in love with his gift! The best part? My Mom, Brother & I only spent about $30 total!

One of my favorite pictures from our fishing trip last night!

3. It's Jake's birthday month!

Birthdays are a big deal  around my house, and this month I'm so excited to celebrate Jake's 22nd birthday! It's hard to believe he was just 20 when we met! Where does the time go? Last year, I was working on the day of Jake's actual birthday, but we celebrated a few days before. This year, we will be vacationing with my family in Hilton Head and visiting Jake's sister in Savannah, GA! 

How perfect!

4. I get to work two weddings this month!

During my internship this summer, I've had the pleasure of working/attending two weddings so far. I can't believe how much I've already learned. I have a wedding the next two weekends as well, and I'm so excited to see how everything goes.

5. My family leaves for Hilton Head in 12 days!

For my family's vacation this year, we're heading to Hilton Head Island on June 23rd! We rented this cute cottage a short walk from the beach and I can't wait! I've been to HHI a few times before, and I enjoy the island more and more each time! I think this trip is going to be especially fun because Jake and my brother's girlfriend Samantha are coming along!

The whole gang at my graduation!

What are you looking forward to this month?