Are you (in)spired...

Encourage: to inspire with courage, spirit or hope.

We all have good days and bad, nothing picks me up more than encouraging words from a family member or a good friend, especially when those words are combined with God's Word. I am an extremely "techy" kind of gal and love to send encouraging texts, emails, and Facebook posts. I will be honest though, sometimes it is so refreshing to walk to the mailbox and have a heartfelt note from a friend waiting for me there.

I am a huge fan of all things DaySpring, so I was so excited when I received the Sassy and Sophisticated card pack to review! These cards where shipped to me at the perfect time, as I have several girlfriends and family members who are going through major trials in their lives. Many times I am at a loss for words when friends are going through a rough patch, but inside each card there is a Bible verse that I try to focus on as I am writing my own words of encouragement.

The Sassy and Sophisticated Pack includes cards for encouragement as well as a few darling birthday cards. I have picked out these two to mail to a couple of precious girlfriends who I hope to encourage while they are going through storms in their lives.

What are somethings that you like to do to encourage others? You can head on over to the (in)spired deals page to read reviews on other DaySpring products that help you encourage those in your life.

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble

He cares for those who trust in Him.

Nahum 1:7

**I was given this product by DaySpring for free to review - all opinions are my own.**

Photobooth F.U.N.!!!!

How fun are photo booths?? Saturday night we attended my cousins wedding and we had an amazing time playing in the photo booth!! Congrats, Mackenzie and Shane!!

You can read more about Mackenzie and Shane as they start their new life together by clicking HERE.

Aunt Liz, me, A, and Momma

me and Momma

me, Kara, and Connie

me and A

I had to pick her up and as you can see in the first shot, I was NOT ready!!

I loved that as soon as we stepped out of the photo booth our pictures were printed, cut, and ready to share with friends and family!!

If you are in the Memphis area and planning a party, you should check out Hot Shots Photo Booth!!

Happy Father's Day!!

A little poem I found that I thought was PERFECT for Father's Day. I love my Dad more than words can express. He has been the rock and strength of our family. I will FOREVER be a Daddy's girl!!I LOVE YOU DAD!!


Life Lessons

You may have thought I didn't see,
Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be
The woman I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I've grown up with your values,
And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.

By Joanna Fuchs
I know without a doubt that Addison will feel the same way about Shawn one day. He is such an amazing Dad and Husband and we are blessed that he is OURS!! :)

Tale As Old As Time..

Thursday night, Addison and I went to see Beauty and The Beast at the Orpheum Theater. My Mom had originally bought the tickets for herself and Addison to have a special outing. My Mom's brother became suddenly ill and she was needed at the hospital so I ended up going to the performance with Addison. My dad was kind enough to drive us downtown and drop us right at the entrance to the theater, and Shawn came and picked us up when it was over! I cannot complain about that kind of shuttle service!! The play was magical and just so much fun!! Ahhh, to be the little girl who believed in fairy tales and make believe again. If you ever get the chance to see the stage production of this show, I promise you will not be disappointed!

I did manage to snap a few pictures - please ignore the quality because they are all from my cell phone!

Belle AKA Addison standing in front of the Orpheum.

As we were waiting for Shawn to pick us up, Addison spotted "Gaston" and before I knew it she was over there giving him a hug!! She has the "celeb" eye, just like her Momma!! She even asked "Gaston" if he minded if her Mom took a quick pick of them together! I promise to you that every bit of this was HER idea, I did not ask her or tell her what to say!! After she had her dose of the cast she was on a HUNT to find more cast members. She begged and begged to stand at the stage door but Shawn was there to pick us up and it was almost 11:00pm!

Belle after her night at the theater!!

THANKS SO MUCH NE NE!!

We love you and missed you at the show!

P.S. - Addison is already asking to see Mamma Mia - I LOVE that my girl LOVES musicals!!!!

Gettin' Crafty With It...

The weather has just been wicked hot lately so Saturday the girls and I decided to head to Paint A Piece and get crafty. It was nice and cool inside and the three of us enjoyed our girl time together!

A and her "magical" horse - your eyes are not playing tricks on you, it is a purple horse with green stars!!

J working on her cute ice cream trinket box.

Another shot of the horse with some polka dots added, by now he was a happy magical horse!!

The girls with their finished pottery.

We left them there to have the glaze put on and were able to pick them up today.

TA DA!! Here are their finished pieces!!

The girls had a really fun time and it was nice to get out of the house and let them be creative for the afternoon. Any of you have any crafty ideas that I could do with the girls this summer?

Graduation Gift Girls Getaway!!!

Here lately, I just have not been in the mood to blog and then out of no where the urge strikes me and I wanna write. I have several posts to make tonight so I hope the urge stays with me!

Graduation night, I was surprised by three of my good girlfriends with a girls getaway to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a fabulous gift and a much needed one at that!! Memorial Day Weekend the four of us packed up and hit the road. I will use initials to protect the innocent as I tell of our weekend travels. :) M must have been a travel agent in her past life because she can plan a trip with the best of them. She had all our stops, meals, and activities all planned out for us. In good travel agent fashion she even sent us all an email with our schedule and links to everything we needed to know about our weekend.

Our first stop was at Brown's Country Store in Benton, Arkansas. This was a cute store/buffet - think Cracker Barrel but buffet. It was really, really, really good and so much fun to shop in the two story gift shop!!

M, L, and J outside of Brown's Country Store

M, me, L, and J outside of Brown's - pardon the grainy pic, the person that we asked to take it was too busy smoking a cig to get a good shot! :)

After we were full from eating at Brown's we made our way on to Hot Springs. Once in our hotel room we settled in for the night, watched a movie and shared tons of laughs!!

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for our day of pampering at The Arlington Hotel. M and I were scheduled for facials and paraffin mani/pedi's. L and J joined us for the facials and then they also enjoyed massages/body wraps as well.

ahhhhh - nice mud mask during my facial

As we were finished up on our facials the talk turned to the subject of ear candling and the benefits of having this process done. Ear candling is where a candle is used to clean out the ear and get rid of wax, pollen, toxins, etc. I had heard that it works wonders for sinus/allergy issues and well I suffer from awful sinus issues year round. Since they performed ear candling at the spa, I thought what the heck...

the candle is hollow in the middle and the heat causes a suction to clean out the ear

FYI......these next pics are G.R.O.S.S. but I want to show you what came out of my ears!! I bathe and clean out my ears on a regular basis, so just know that before you judge these pics!!

Ear 1

Ear 2

I told you it was DISGUSTING!!!

After we were pampered and all our ears were clean we headed out for dinner and some shopping. We ate at Picante's Mexican Grill and then walked/shopped downtown Hot Springs. I bought six pairs of fabulous earrings and wish I had shot a picture of them before I put them all in my jewelry box. I bought some owl earrings that are just to precious for words! Once we were done shopping and waiting on the hotel shuttle to pick us up for the night we decided to take a horse and carriage ride around historical Hot Springs. I just realized that M took the pictures of the carriage ride so I do not have any to share!! It was a really nice ride and we learned that several of the hotels in the city are actually haunted. YIKES!!

Sunday we had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel before we headed back to Memphis. We had a fabulous relaxing weekend and I cannot thank M, L, and J enough for the amazing graduation gift!! I love you girls!! XOXO