Lovin' it

Here's a few things I've been really loving lately...

The Summer Olympics

Specificallly the girls gymnastics team.

Love them!

I have cried more this past week than I have in the  past year.

Seriously...all they have to do is show the parents and I tear up.
When you realize as your'e watching that your youngest child is now older than many of the athletes competing...well,  I've have reached that place where I identify more with the parents. lol.

Have y'all seen this video?

I'm really loving it!

My boy, Philip Philips made his oympic debut too!

I was so proud when I heard it.

I feel like he's family or something.

And the song is a perfect fit to honor our girls.

So excited about that.

***Well..blogger is being all wonky and I can't get it to work for me. I'll try again later!***

I'm also loving this pic that Lydia posted.

Last week was my mom's birthday and it is so neato to us how much these two look alike.

That's my gorgeous momma on the left and my beautiful Lydia on the right.

Craziness.

Loving finding my favorite hat that I thought I had lost for good.  I've had a few scares through the years but I hadn't seen it for a while this time.  I'm glad to be reunited. 

Anywho, It's nasty and grungy but perfect.

(I know my girls are sad about this...they hate my nasty hat.)

I'm loving coffee this week (and every week) ..specifically this kind though.

 And I'm really loving it out of my two new cups.

This one is from Lauren.  Monopoly..another fave of mine.  

Do y'all have that app on your iPad?  Don't get it.  Unless of course you have a lot of time to waste.  Then that would be perfectly fine cuz it's kinda addictive.

And I'm loving this cup. A sweet friend on Instagram (Jenni.. holla!!)  posted hers one day and I drooled over it and commented on how awesome it was.  She told me where to find one but alas.... our closest Target is an hour and a half away. Bummmer.  But then she tells me she wants to bless me with one! How sweet is that? Very sweet I tell you. And it showed up all packaged happy, filled with all kinds of goodies.  Wow.  I'm so lovin it.  And Jenni.

 Go follow her on instagram y'all.

She spreads sunshine wherever she goes with her encouragement.

@ragamuffinbeauties

I'm also loving poppin in to visit Mrs. Linton in her new house and how she puts her daddy to work.  So sweet.  I might have to give y'all a little house tour one day soon if she'll let me.

Speaking of Mrs. Linton and her living in her new house...I now have a craft room/studio/guest room to work in and I'm really loving that! 

 Along with watching LOST on  my IPad while I work.

I'm loving Camellia red beans on Monday nights (of course) ..

With fried chicken on the side.

I'm lovin this ministry that my friend, Laura is heading up.

You can read all about it here.

I'm also loving this necklace and the reason behind it's prettiness..
Please go read about it here.

As of a text from her last night, she has already sold over 25 of them and I could not be more over the moon tickled for her and her family!

I'm loving these corsages I made for my cousin's son's wedding that is this weekend!  I can't wait to see some of our family  back home.  Which means a little road trip is in the very near future.  As in  several hours from now and I still haven't packed..

So to wrap things up, I'm really loving that my shop is now open again!!!  

Woo Hoo!!

All the shabby chic vintage loveliness  from Lydia's wedding has kinda spilled over into the shop.  I'd love for you to go check it out!  Heck....I'll even through in a discount for all my faithful friends who keep up with all our shenanigans on here.  

Use the code HONEYPOTPALS20 for a 20% discount! 

 Woo to the Hoo for discounts!

I'm loving these darlings in my shop.  

Their dresses are made from vintage handkerchiefs I've collected through the years. 

 They are my faves.

And I'm loving  packaging it all up pretty and shipping them out. 

Well I gotta go y'all.  I still haven't picked out what I'm wearing nor painted my toenails and I'm supposed to be pulling out in in a couple of hours.

But I'll leave  you with this.. last night on one of our many runs to Sonic for half price shakes, my boy Philip tweeted that he had JUST debuted his new video for "Home".  It's great y'all..

You can watch it here just in case you didn't get enough earlier.

I'm lovin it!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Stephanie :)

ps.  DON"T forget to write your post about your thrifty love swap!!

That goes up Monday and I will keep you posted as to how and where to link it up to!

Things I'm Loving

A few things I've been lovin' this week..

Shrimp Po boys

Perculated coffee

Escorts to the mailbox by  this sweet nephew.

Big crowds for Face Time.

Lunch Dates with this sweet niece.

Wearing these shoes.

Visits with my favorite aunt in the world..and knowing I'll always be her "Queen Bee" even though she has a ton of grandkids and great grand kids of her own.

 Getting to see my best friend and laughing when we both showed up wearing black and gray.

Walking past this frog to see it grew hair over night compliments of

 Sissy Holden and a new pelt from Ms. Gretchen.

Rides down the Lake Road.

Random discoveries of pink tombs. wow.

Muddy little boys having good old fashioned fun.

And I'm loving linking up with the lovely Kristy and Rachel  and Jeannett today.

What's some things you've been lovin' lately?

Stephanie:)

This time last year...

This is the text I got from my daughter one year ago today. 

At the time this was written, they had a 2 yr old daughter  and 6 month old daughter.

This meant she would soon have three children under the age of three.

I think from the moment she found out, the Lord equipped her with this awesome, laid back_You got this Lord_kind of attitude.   She blesses and amazes me each time I witness her with the incredible patience the Lord has given her to raise and nurture her children.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8

Wow! I love that!
 First off, God is able. Stop right there. That truth alone is enough. period.

But there's more!  God's grace IS sufficient for ALL things....

The big stuff of life, the little everyday things of life and everything in-between.

And it's not only sufficient.. It's abuduntalty sufficient! 

His grace at work in our lives produces an abundance of whatever is needed for the task at hand.

Elizabeth needed patience. 

She needed to be able to trust what God was doing with her family.

She needed to let go of control and let God have control.

And He has done that in and through her.

Sure, she still has moments of being worn out physically and emotionally.

But, I witnessed the Lord graciously equip her with what she needs for this season of her life.

It's a crazy season no doubt.

Yet He has blessed her with a calm spirit.

She is one laid back "Baby Lady".

God is so good like that.

Oh and one year later we have this little man.

He's four months old now.

And he's even more laid back than his momma.

Except when his parents do stuff like this.

According to his face...this might be causing a little stress.

The adventures of being a youth pastor's kid!

Just roll with it Nate Dog.

God's grace is enough!!

Yes it is.   Yes. it. is.

Stephanie :)

  

Insta-Friday Faves

Here are a few of my favorite happenings from the week as chronicled in cell phone pics:)

Drinking Lattes with my man...everyday now since Thanksgiving.

(Thanks Mom for the Latte maker. Definitely one of your BEST happies!)

 Thankful for the provision of some meat in the freezer.
~~That's Mah Man!!~~

Sorry to any of you who might find this offensive. I don't mean to.

I use venison ground meat for everything and had used up my last pack last week..

So this was right on time and I am so very thankful!

I think some tacos and chili and lasagna and meatballs will be popping up on the menu real soon!!  

Going through my boxes and boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations and reminiscing about all the wonderful Christmas memories I have had in my lifetime.... and crying a little.

**Christmas tip:  don't go through your children's handmade ornaments all alone, by yourself, days after your daughter gets engaged while listening to Norah Jones Christmas Station on Pandora!  EVERY song is saaaaad. 

I deleted it and moved on to Amy Grant Christmas...much better :)

Finally using our gift certificates from a sweet friend to Painting With a Twist.  Me and Lydia were the last two to get our canvases....here we are twiddling each other's thumbs...

Painting ....

My surprise visitor while we were there...

They were traveling through on their way home from visiting Chris's parents for Thanksgiving..

I'm pretty sure her painting was the best in the building!

(What?!...I am a proud grandma you know!)

Making these super fun Christmas pins!

You can buy them in my shop if you like. Wink wink ;)

Stumbling upon this discovery while looking for an old picture...

That's my Lydia on the left and my Momma on the right...

Are they twinkies or what?!

Couldn't not show the other half of this pic...my handsome Daddy.

He passed away when I was 13.

They would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past October.
I am loving his pink shirt and white tie...smashing!

Me and my pastor heading across the yard to worship with our church family...

Hard to believe we are older in this pic than my parents were in the above picture.

When did that happen?!  I mean for reals!

Slow.  Down.  Life!

Of course, we are having fun planning weddings and stuff..
But I can't show pics of that!
That info is top secret! ;)

Stephanie :)

 

Eleanor's got a new BFF

Do y'all remember meeting Eleanor?

She's our new vintage couch who got a little make-over.

You can read about that { here }.

Well Eleanor just got a new BFF!!

Meet Lola!

With Eleanor's stellar self, we knew we had to find just the right friend to hang out with her.

Don't she have the most beautamous legs you've ever seen?

This lady has actually been in the family for a looooooong time.

She goes way back to when I was little.

That's me and Lola back in the day.

Back when my momma used a can of Pledge a week to keep Lola shiny.

And back when my momma let me wear my hair like THIS!! 

Here is Lola again.

..And me and my brothers.

(That's me in the middle in case you can't figure out which one's the girl)

Like I said, she's been in the family for a while.

And one day I was perusing Pinterest and saw this picture....

source

And I was in LOVE.  

I could just see Lola in all her glory done up just like this with her beautemous legs.

In my original vision she was painted turquoise just like the pic but then I went and painted my kitchen a lovely shade of aqua and thought we'd be swimming in too much blue so I decided to go a different direction....a  happy sunshine yellow :)

So this last trip I made to my momma's, 

We loaded up Lola and brought her home.

My mom was a little apprehensive about her pending makeover and she made me promise not to sand or buff out a single scratch on the top.  She said every scratch had a memory behind it and was full of family history... which is so funny to me since that is NOT how she felt about the scratches when me and my brothers were growing up!

My sweet husband, who is not that fond of little projects such as these and that's why I thank him so much for this, spray-painted her legs a lovely almond color and then we brought her inside to paint the top. Since we only had a teensy bit to paint, we bought a sample jar of the paint color I wanted. It cost us a whopping $2.86!!

So, he pours it out and I'm like "Hon was it this  French's mustardy in the store?"

Now I'm beginning to get a little nervous.

 But no problem.

We just put the Holden Motto into practice...

Improvise,  Adapt,  and Overcome.

That's when my drawers full of craft paint came in handy.

We just mixed up some green and then added a little brown...

 and then finished rolling her out....

And now Eleanor and her new BFF 

are getting along just great!

Don't they look cute together?!

I think so.

Momma, I hope you approve of the makeover.

Don't tell me if you don't.

Although somehow, I know you will anyway...

:)

And Mom, while we are on the subject..

What WERE you thinking when you dressed me this day?

Although, I do like the purse I'm carrying.

But seriously Mom... those thighs were never meant to be in a dress that short.

And the hair?...  Well we won't even go there!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Stephanie, Eleanor and Lola :)


today i'm thankful for:
~spray paint~
~my amazing hairdresser, Amber~
~daily deals at Subway~
~A package in my mailbox I ordered from a friend's{Etsy shop} filled with gorgeousness
and extra unexpected gorgeousness~