Fab Find Friday: One Family, Thirty Years

We are totally stealing this as a Fenton family tradition. {Click on the photo for the full effect, it doesn't entirely fit in my tiny margins.}


“On June 17th every year, my family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop, for a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.”
- Diego Goldberg, Buenos Aires, Argentina

I stumbled across this gem on Marvelous Kiddo. You can also find it on Maquette and How to be a Retronaut, as well as an updated version here.

Love,

Oops! We forgot our anniversary.

...Our "dating" anniversary, that is. Monday, October 11th marked the fourth year we have been together, and both of us just straight-up forgot about it. Which is kinda weird, because we used to make a pretty big deal about it in the past:



For our one-year date, we discovered our absolute favorite restaurant in Atlanta {if that's possible}: Two Urban Licks. Kyle took me back there this summer for my birthday, but I have to say I'm partial to our first experience at Two. With it being dark outside, the cool October breeze gently blowing in, the candles lit all over the restaurant and the Atlanta skyline in view, our first experience was simply more romantic. Here are some photos from that night in October 2007 {notice anything different about Kyle? haha}:









{Kyle learned how to play "I Wanna Grow Old With You" from the Wedding Singer on the guitar. It was so cute!}

For our two-year date, we went to The Basil Press in downtown Athens. Sadly, that restaurant is now closed, but that means our pictures of it must be super-exclusive or something, right? ;) We'd like to think that. We then enjoyed a movie together afterward {Kyle was a trooper and let me see The Duchess}. Oh and that super-cute blue dress was borrowed from the wardrobe of Mrs. Julie Minton {thanks roomie!}.













You'll notice Kyle's hair looks different in these pictures as well, all because of that fateful blackout game vs. Alabama when College Gameday rolled into town. Ick. {no way was I letting him keep that mohawk, hence the shaved head}:



And finally, for our three-year date, we were feeling particularly localvore-ish so we dined at Farm 255 in downtown Athens. Post-amazing-shrimp-and-grits-dinner, we perused around North Campus and found the perfect place to sit and share our future dreams together, the Herty Field Fountain.





And that fabulous dress was borrowed from the lovely Jaclyn Elliot {p.s. whose June wedding was featured in Atlanta Weddings Magazine, she's a fancy pants! Check it out here and here. Way to rock the wedding scene, Elliots!}.



So like I said, this year October 11 came and went without a peep, and I guess that is our silent way of saying that the only anniversary that matters now is March 6. The day that we truly promised forever to each other, before the Lord and before everyone we love. {But we like to pretend that we celebrated sorta-kinda our four-year dating anniversary with the camping trip we took this weekend, though their proximity to each other was totally non-purposeful! A post about our trip coming soon!} :D

Fab Find Friday: Southern Savers

It's Friday, so let's play a game! What does saving enough for a down payment on a house, providing for our children, taking them on awesome trips, and opening up our own business have to do with each other? Besides being future plans of ours, they all have to do with Southern Savers, of course! This site is like the be-all end-all site for couponing, and it will convert anyone into a savvy shopper. Which, in turn, will be a huge help in reaching A, B, C, and D above for us.

I've been wanting to learn how to coupon for a while, but there were so many sites out there about it that I just didn't know where to start, so I got frustrated and gave up before I even began. And then one day, when I was reading one of my favorite brand design blogs, the author mentioned Southern Savers as one of her new favorite sites (she's about to have her first baby, so she's especially in thrifty mode!). Like any good reader would do, I clicked through the link and voilà!, there was the exact site I've been looking for. Extremely helpful information all laid out in a clean, non-vertigo-inducing design.


{Love their graphics!}

Whether you want to learn the trick of the trade, clarify some coupon lingo, get organized, or simply print off some coupons before your next grocery trip, it's all right there for you. So get out there and shop savvy, sister!

We Want a Weimaraner!

{Photo by ee photography}

Meet Doc, our little buddy that we do not have as of yet. Named after our dads, who are both veterinarians, but sometimes I think we made that explanation up. Anyway, we've wanted a Weimaraner for about a year and half now, and recently the itch to get one has been especially itchy.

So why don't we just go out and get him, you ask? Well, plain and simple, our current townhouse just isn't big enough for the three of us. I mean, take a gander at our "backyard":



Kinda sad, right? Oh and there's the 20 lb. weight limit on pets, too. Doc will only get about 50 lbs. bigger than that, we can totally get away with it I'm sure. So needless to say we are praying and thinking about what we should do, possibly looking into moving once our lease is up here in the spring. But getting a Weim wouldn't be the only reason why we want to move. We would really love to rent a house where we don't share a wall with our neighbors, among other things!

So if you know of anyone who is planning on breeding their Weimaraner within the next six months -OR- if you know of anyone who is renting their house in the Evans/Augusta area in Spring 2011, give us a holler! I don't know how much longer I can get Kyle to wait on the dog, I catch him looking at the AJC Classifieds and pictures like the ones below all the time. :D







{Previous three photos by ee photography}

Aren't they just so beautiful? Those big blue eyes are going to get me into a lot of trouble!

{Photo by Belletti Photography}

Fab Find Friday: Columbus Day Sales!

Forget Black Friday, with a little planning you could finish all your Christmas shopping this weekend by hitting up these amazing Columbus Day sales. Even better, get all your wrapping done by downloading free gift wrap, cards and tags from Gift-Wrap It and call it a day!



Clothing/Accessories:
Express - Up to 70% off Sale + Extra 30% off
J.Crew - Up to 70% off Final Sale + Extra 20% off w/ coupon EXTRA20
Kohls - Take an extra 15% off any purchase or, spend $100+ and take an extra 20% off
Macy's - 20% to 60% off sale + extra 25% off clearance [Exp 10/12]
Polo Ralph Lauren - 25% off coupon RLCCP or PINK [Exp 10/10]

SHOES!
Shoes.com - Up to 65% off + extra 25% off w/ coupon 1492
6pm.com - End of season sale on sandals, plus up to 60% off Sperry Top-Siders
Famous Footwear - Fall Boot Sale (savings of up to 50%), + extra 15% off w/ coupon SAIL15
Shoebuy - Extra 20% off your order w/ coupon EMLCOLUMBUS10

Home:
IKEA - Free Breakfast [10/10-10/12]
Pottery Barn - save up to 50% on over 100 new items

Other:
Best Buy - 10-15% off printable coupons
Michaels - 50% off any regular priced item printable coupon
Petco - 20% off your entire purchase
Restaurant.com - 80% off coupon ($25 GC for $2.00) FOUR
Bath & Body Works - Up to 50% off select items, B3G3, 2 for $20 candles and more!
Yankee Candle - 3 for $15 + 5 scents (sea harbor, cinnamon roll, cinnamon & sugar, baby powder, & Café Au Lait) large jars $15 and medium jars $12

So get out there and save! :D

Nostalgia

When my Dad's side of the family got together to celebrate Meemaw's life, naturally we got out a pile of old photos and started reminiscing about our favorite memories with her. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I love love love pictures, especially old pictures that have an authentic vintage look, and so I was really excited to have a chance to see family photos dating all the way back to the 1800s (yeah, amazing). I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you just because (1) they light up my brain and (2) it might just inspire a trip down memory lane of your own...

{Taken in the 1800s, my great-great grandmother is the one holding the child by the fence. The fact that I have this photo on my computer on a blog two hundred years later just blows my mind.}

{My great-great grandmother is the third one from the right. She had the most southern of southern names, Gussie Pearl!}

{L-R: My grandmother Lillian and great-grandmother Mary Lou (joined together in heaven now), standing with my grandmother's Uncle F.M. and apparently a dog.}

{Meemaw was a contestant in a beauty pageant at Georgia Southern, she sure was beautiful! They had the left photo framed in their house, and I used to stare and stare at it when I was little, dreaming of wearing a big, beautiful gown and feeling like a southern belle.}

{Meemaw witnessed many graduations: obviously her own from high school, my Dad's from UGA's Vet School, and my Mom's from undergrad when she got her BSEd. Pawpaw is wearing a robe as well because he was a UGA professor of Ag Education at the time.}

{And now a few photos of the lovebirds...Pete + Lillian Dickerson :D}





{The love of a grandmother is irreplaceable. You can see it in the look in her eyes with all three of these photos. I'm on the left, top-right is my sister Ashley, and bottom-right is my brother Drew.}

{From her own children to her grandchildren, there was no place like Meemaw's lap.}





{Halloween! My cousin David as a mummy never fails to crack me up.}





{Meemaw was always so supportive of us, pictured here at one of Drew's baseball All-Star games and my tennis senior night in high school. And yes, I did the whole tie-your-t-shirt-in-a-scrunchie-thing. Who didn't? ;)}

{Celebrating Meemaw + Pawpaw's Golden Anniversary at Uncle Chris + Aunt Melanie's house.}

{Growing up...Thanksgiving 2006. When Kyle met the family!}

{The entire family at Meemaw's 80th birthday party, the last time we were all together before she passed.}

And now for some of my personal favorites from Dad's side of the family:

{Party in the jacuzzi! I especially love how freaked out Drew looks.}

{My cousin Brian and me at Fernandina Beach.}

{Ashley "picking cotton(?)" at Grandma Lou Lou's plantation.}

{Probably my all-time fave of Ashley, Drew and me.}

Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.

-Don Draper, Mad Men