May 2013

RELAY MONTH -- it finally arrived!!

I started the month of by celebrating our survivors at the Relay Survivors Celebration!  It was a Mexican theme and our survivor committee did an excellent job cooking and having a vision of the day.  It was awesome!!

Cameron had her 3rd dance recital.  She did great and earned her 3 year trophy!!  We followed up with dinner at Outback. Mom and dad gave her an infinity necklace and I gave her a Willow Tree figurine.

We celebrated Mother's Day by making a trip to Belk -- mom had one of her special coupons.  We stopped by to see Nana and she loved her "Nana Faye" party set I gave her.  Mom, Rochelle, Linda and I went to Belk and then grabbed a bite to eat at Red Robin.  Unfortunately, Ro had to go back home and missed lunch.  Mom received her Alabama "Mom" shirt, CD and "C" purse I gave her. Daisy gave me "Safe Haven" - she takes hints very well, LOL.

RELAY NIGHT!!!!  We all met around noon and begin to set up.  While Kristi, Amy and I grabbed lunch it became a downpour.  After several text messages and calls, we decided to move Relay indoors.  We still had a great time and raised over $76K.  Purple Power was 2nd overall !!!  So excited!!!!  And to top off a great evening, Suzanne surprised me when she appeared at Relay!

IMS moved into our new location the same weekend as Relay.  It is beautiful and we are finally settling in to our new surroundings.

The girls got together for our monthly Girls Night Out.  As usual, it was a great time had by everyone!

Mom, dad and I celebrated Memorial Day together and had waffles for breakfast and Costa's lasagna and baked ziti for dinner.  We also had a successful trip to Sam's too!

April 2013

I started the month off at Ross Bridge...for a work meeting.  One day I am actually going to stay out there for fun!

I participated in IMS / Habitat For Humanity again this year.  It always feels good to give back to the community.  That same night I went to Tim Hawkins at the church.  He was hilarious!!!

We had our last Team Captain and committee meetings for Relay.  Time flies when you are having fun. 

I hosted Girl's Night Out with the ladies from church.  It was a smaller crowd, but we had a great time!

Dad and I worked on mom's mustang and my TA.  We even took the TA for a quick spin :)

Mom, dad, Nana, Linda, Lindsay, Cameron and I met for dinner at Villa Fiesta for "Flaming Cheese"!  Since I had so much fun working the fall Belk Charity Day Sale - I decided to work it again in the Spring.  It was alot of work but rewarding to know the money I raised would go to Relay.  I held my first Purple Power team captain meeting.  We met at Yogurt Mountain to help give everyone an idea of how we would handle the night.

Another wonderful month. #blessed

March 2013

The month of March started out with mom's homemade French toast!  YUM!!!  I supported Relay at Sips N Strokes night!

Monthly Relay meeting -- lots of preparation for Relay in May!

I enjoyed Girls Night Out at Gina Mayfield's.  We had breakfast for dinner and the evening was complete with laughter.  So glad to have found these new friends.  I also attended Bunco for the Moody's (friends from church who will spend a month in Uganda). 

We also had mine and dad's birthday!  Mom, dad and I had Red Lobster for our birthday dinner!  For the family gathering we had Costa's salad and lasagna.  Mom made me a peanut butter moose cake and she made dad an orange cream cake.  They were both delicious!!   We celebrated with Nana, Uncle Larry, Linda, Richard, Lindsay and Cameron. 

Flowers from mom and dad

Flowers from Ann and Sandra

I received several nice gifts from everyone!  Becky, from church, even made me a chocolate cake and Anthony, from work, made me a purple pound cake.

I concluded the month celebrating my Risen Savior!!! 

January 2013

January was a busy month!!!

We are now in full swing of Relay For Life promotions. 

On January 8th, we had spirit night at Chick-fil-a.  They gave us 10% of all proceeds from 4-8 pm.  We just had to tell them to put our receipt towards Relay.  Dad, Nana, Pete, Rhiannon and Tracey Pohlman came.   Mom had a busy night, so dad took home some dinner for her.

On January 10th, we had our committee meeting where we made final details for kick-off!

January 12th we had our KICKOFF and it was phenomenal!!!!  Jim N Nicks donated all the food and Gigi's cupcakes donated 3 dozen Relay cupcakes.  We had a great turnout and recruited several new teams!  That night Angela, Sam and Sawyer came to mom and dad's.  We had pizza, the boys watched a movie and the girls chatted =)

January 15th was our first give back to Relay at Gigi's cupcakes.  They are giving us 10% of profits from cupcakes purchased from 5-8 pm.  We are so blessed to have them on board!

January 17th - Birmingham got snow!!!! I rushed, well actually went 5 mph, home to make sure Daisy could experience her first snow.  She LOVED it!

January 19th - I attended my first Girls Supper club with some ladies from GFBC.   This is a group that I had tried to connect with when I first started to attend GFBC.  It was His plan for me to connect with them now.  We had a great meal, made our on soap scrub and then watched 'Pitch Perfect'.  GREAT night.

January 20th - we celebrated my cousin Lindsay's birthday and my cousin Rochelle's boyfriend Nick's birthday.  We had a delicious dinner completed with cake and ice cream!

Here is to February =)

Busy, Busy...

So, like everyone it was a little crazy this Christmas season.  Just a quick update and here is hoping I can do better in 2013 =)

Mom had eye tuck surgery on Dec 7th.  She was loosing 30% of her peripheral vision and her eye tuck will give her better peripheral vision.  It has been almost been a month and the bruising is almost gone and her eyes look great!!

Our Relay For Life team participated in the Trussville Christmas Parade on Dec 8th and I got to drive the truck - talk about nerve racking.  HA.  But, I think I did pretty good for a 1st timer =)

I kept Gidget and Cassie while mom recovered from her eye surgery.  On Dec 12th we had a 1st birthday party for Daisy complete with Frosty Paws (ice cream for dogs).  I think she had a good time!  Daisy shares her birthday with Nana, who turned 79 this year!

John and I attended The Nutcracker on Dec 13th.  I had forgotten the story, so I was a little confused in the 1st act but completed remembered when the 2nd act began, it was AMAZING!

We had our GFBC Christmas program "He Changes Everything" on Dec 15th and Dec 16th.  It was my favorite program to date.  After we celebrated Nana's birthday on the 16th, mom, dad, Nana, Linda and Richard came to the Christmas Program.  I came by and picked up Rhiannon too so she could join us for the program.

IMS had our Christmas lunch on Dec 17th and we were given IMS gym bags as our gift.  I was also awarded $100 for my 14 years of service.  So blessed!

On Dec 21st we had our annual GFBC orchestra Christmas party.  It was a great time with awesome friends.  We played the left-right game related to the Christmas story and the gift we had when the story ended was the gift we kept. I received two Santa Claus pot holders and hot sauce.  Thanks Janelle and family for a great time and our memory ornament.

I attended a beautiful wedding on Dec 22nd.  The lucky couple was Chris Hallman (co-worker at IMS) and Heather Gray (former co-worker at IMS).  It was a gorgeous ceremony and I am so excited for them and their new life.

ALIVE 2012

On Sunday, July 1st, Gardendale First Baptist orchestra and choir participated in ALIVE 2012.  It was a joint service with Crosspoint Baptist, held at Homestead Hollow.  John and about 7 of the guys (including Dylan) came down for the event.  Mom, dad, nana and I got there about 7:15 and we waited for GFBC's warm-up time.  While we waited, Dad bought everyone with us (11 total people) a funnel cake.  YUM!!!!

We had a great time playing/singing and only experienced a little bit of rain.  The evening was finished with fireworks.

BLESSED night!!

Birmingham Area Combined Church Orchestra concert

On Sunday, April 29th I played in the 1st annual Birmingham Area Combined Church orchestra concert.  There were several churches represented.  Our directors were from Gardendale First Baptist, Dawson Memorial Baptist and Shades Mountain Baptist.  We played about 12 songs.  It was a great experience and I look foward to participating again next year!

WICKED!

On Wednesday, Feb 22nd I went to see my 2nd musical -- WICKED!   I went with Blake, Angela, Sawyer and Sam.  Blake and Angela didn't tell the boys until we were headed to the BJCC.  They were both excited but to see Sam's face was priceless!  It was a fun night and a great musical.  I think I might be hooked :)

GFBC Orchestra Christmas Party

I was able to spend Friday night with some of my favorite people - GFBC Orchestra!  Our party was held at Janelle's moms house.  They had a beautiful spread and had ornaments for each of us.

John attended the party with me and we had a great time!  We play 'White Elephant' or 'Dirty Santa' and as luck would have it John was the first one to steal a present!

I am so blessed to have met such a wonderful group of friends!  God is good ALL the time!

Me and John

my gift I came home with thanks to The Strickland's

Me and my BFF

Our ornaments

Angela, Sam and I being silly