Traveling to Tybee

We will be celebrating our anniversary (August 7th) by taking the entire week before on a trip down to Tybee Island, (near Savannah) Georgia. We are taking Matt's parent's Airstream to a campsite on the beach!! I am pretty excited to have the us time we so desperately need!!
And I can't wait to post about our exciting adventure!!
I know you're jealous about the vintage Airstream!! ;)

But, before we leave, we are moving! Yikes! 

So, right now I am busy packing and getting things together for us to head out tomorrow!! 

Getting Creative for Brooke's Shower

HeyHey! I'm Haley.... Jamie's bff and we're doin a little blog swappin.

Jamie has SO graciously kept my pup Lucy while I've been living in East Asia for the last year- for which I am beyond grateful. She has been a good mama to my sweet girl. I used getting Lucy back to me as an excuse to see her the weekend after we returned and she so graciously made the drive and met me at my parent's in East TN. So during our time together, we knew we had to be crafty
and saw the perfect opportunity with Brooke's approaching baby shower.

Brooke went to UK with us, and was such a dear friend in college. She and her husband are so much fun, and love the Lord passionately. She has always been such an encouraging friend. We are super excited about her sweet boy Finn's arrival in just a couple of months now. Finn isn't Brooke & Brandon's first baby, but he will be the first little one that they bring home with them. They had to release their first little boy into the arms of Jesus last September when he was born. It's definitely worth your time to read some of their story over on her blog.
Its an incredible story of perseverance
and hope in the midst of a lot of pain and sorrow.

Brooke is also super creative and fun, so we wanted to show her love by putting some time and love into making some special gifts for her and Finn. Jamie had the fantastic idea of using ideas from some of Brooke's Pinterest boards. I tell ya, she's a smart one. 

After clicking around on Brooke's Pinterest pages, we picked a few things that we really liked:

A photographer assistant onesie {as Brooke is a new aspiring photographer}

source

Dr. Seuss inspired art....

source

.... and embroidery hoops- clearly not girly ones, but just the idea in general. 

source

So we decided at the least we wanted to make these things and maybe a few others if we could.

Since we were visiting my parents, we didn't have many things on hand so off to Michael's we went. This was my first time setting foot in crafting heaven since I came back to America a week before, so I went a little crazy. Feel free to come visit my blog soon to see the loot. 

The "Oh The Places You'll Go" painting on her Pinterest page is so super cute. Ours didn't quite turn out how we intended, but our lack of patience got the best of us and we decided to just free-hand it. 

Little Finn's nursery is gray, so we decided to just paint it gray with the yellow and ended up with this:

a little wonky, but cute nonetheless. 

Then the embroidery hoop..... 

This trend started when I was in East Asia this year, and so I'd been dying to buy a bunch of them and insisted that we make at least one for her. We decided that we'd make an Africa one since Finn will eventually have a brother from Ethiopia {they're currently in the process of adopting as well}. We thought this would be just one more fun way to anticipate his brother's arrival. 

We chose this cute striped fabric Jamie had and then decided on thread colors. Then Jamie did a ballin job freehand sketching a picture of Africa on a piece of paper. Then she poked holes in the paper, and then made a little "connect-the-dot" pattern on the fabric. She did the embroidering and then topped it off with a heart in Ethiopia. 

I was impressed to say the least. 

I think this is my favorite of everything we made. It turned out so well! 

Then onto the onesies. We sent my helpful mama to Wal-Mart while we were working on the first 2 projects to buy the onesies for us, and she came back with a 3 pack, so we decided we needed to use all 3. Jamie brought some SUPER fun fabric to use with her.
She seriously finds such great stuff. 

First I really wanted to make one with his name. We used that interfusing stuff. We cut out the letters, ironed it all on and then hand stitched around the boarder of the letters. The only mistake that we made was using the "don't sew with this kind" of interfusing and went ahead and sewed with it anyway... and bent needles and created hand cramps in the process. Next time, we'll follow the instructions.

Then we decided to make a sail boat, as it is a hobby of their family's. Jamie did a fantastic job on it. 

And finally the "Assistant" onesie

I think it's so stinkin cute. Hopefully Brooke can shoot

 some fun things with her little assistant next spring!!

And finally for a little something extra, I made a paper frame. I have a slight obsession with making these and have a made a few for different people in the last year. They're super easy and fun. 

I just painted the edges of the frame, cut paper to fit,

 and mod-podged it on the front. 

Then, I painted this little monkey and gave him paper body parts, and filled in the features with a sharpie. 

And then I painted the letters and stuck them on there. 

Such a simple, but fun little craft that anyone can make. 

Here is everything we got done during our time together. It was so fun to get to craft together after quite the hiatus.... and for such a special friend. I was glad that I could do something for her as I wasn't able to go to the shower. 

I hope that you have enjoyed our little blog swap.
Please do come over to my blog to see Jamie's highlights from Brooke's shower! Let me know you came over from here to say "Hey!" It'll make my day! So head on over to check it out!!!

Blog Swap

I'm doing a blog swap with my bestest at
The Joys of Life with Lucy tomorrow....

celebrating our 

sweet friend Brooke

Haley, Me, & Brooke

Brooke & I 

So come back and show some love!!

& become a follower too!

Our Engagement Story {by Matt}

Girls turn out to be more expensive than first thought.......

Grooms Log: Dated March 14, 2010. 8 AM

-I know that I want to marry this woman, I have for a while, but where do I even begin searching for a ring. What are the 4 C's, what do they mean (could they possibly mean Cake, Cheesecake, Cookies, Cola, and Carbs?) and how will I know what Jamie wants? I need to answer these questions before I begin searching for a ring, but my goal in all of this is complete and utter surprise. She can't even suspect this will happen. (*i hate surprises)

Grooms Log: Dated March 15th, 2010. 4 PM

- So now I have called Jamie's best friend, Haley, and gotten an idea of what she wants. Now is the time for a daily search for the perfect ring. Let the "bling" searching begin.

Grooms Log: Dated March 22, 2010. 9 PM

-I have been looking for over a week...is it really this expensive to buy a tiny piece of stupid rock that's been sitting thousands of feet down in the earth's crust just to harden and become somewhat clear(Refer to 4 C's)? Apparently so. Daily conference calls with Haley still a priority because of the difficulty of this task.

Grooms Log: Dated March 26, 2010. 3 PM

-I have found it! The perfect stone, the perfect ring, and the perfect price. Now to wait until it is ready so I can propose THIS WEEKEND.

Grooms Log: Dated April 3, 2010. 12 PM


Jamie's best friend Haley is here in Columbia helping me set up the back yard of my parents house, while Jamie is at the church painting faces at the Easter Egg Hunt being held there. I have set up a brick pathway leading to a bench set up around the corner of the house, out of sight. Pictures are lined along the pathway in chronological order from the time we started dating to the most recent picture of us in East Asia on a Vision trip. The last picture, however, is blank, with a question mark in the center of it. Everything is in place.

Grooms Log: Dated April 3rd, 2010. 2 PM

- We are now engaged! I was waiting on the bench at the end of the path with the ring in my pocket. Jamie came home with my sister-in-law Lauren and my Mom. As they were heading up the stairs they directed Jamie to heed the sign with her name on it and an arrow pointing in the direction of the brick pathway. She walked down the pathway, looking at the pictures, hands on her face, wearing a look of complete surprise. I asked her if she would spend the rest of her life with me, and she said "yes". To top it all off, she had no idea her best friend was there, and as we were walking to tell everyone the news, she was standing there ready to take a picture of us, the newly engaged couple. Jamie was completely surprised, yet again, and we spent the rest of the day calling family and friends and relaying the good news!

April 3, 2010

Captains Log: Dated May 3, 2010. 2:06 PM

-Who knew wedding planning took so much time?

Our engagement pictures taken in Franklin, TN

* Read Haley's story of our engagement!!!! 

Our Story {the Short Version}

With our 1 year anniversary coming up, I thought I would share our story (taken from our wedding website and written by Matt) :)

How we survived for over 3 years!

The Rundown 
No, I didn't actually run her down...but I would have! Actually, since we met in Columbia, South Carolina, it is more accurate to say that we met one mildy warm day in December of 2006. It was the Christmas season, a time filled with family, friends, gifts, and in this case the meeting of Matthew and Jamie.

We met at a Christmas party over break. Games were played, cider was served, carols were sung, and we met each other for the first time, unconscious to the fact that we would be spending the rest of our lives together. We exchanged phone numbers, with promises of an activity after christmas where everyone could get back together again to hang out.

We called each other increasingly over break, hung out a few times, and then, abruptly, Christmas break was over. Back to reality. We both went our separate ways, one to Paris, France to study business for a semester, and the other to Lexington, Kentucky to finish their Senior Year.

The night we became "official" {2007}

We kept in touch more often than we thought we would, with phone bills reaching into the hundreds, mail being sent back and forth, and e-mails arriving weekly. Just keeping in touch. That's all. As May rolled around and both of us came back to South Carolina, we met up a few times, and continued "talking" until a hot sticky weekend in October...the weekend of the University of South Carolina vs. University of Kentucky football game. Who would have ever guessed that the Gamecocks beating the Wildcats would have resulted in us becoming an "official" couple?

Matt cheering on my Kentucky Wildcats!! 

My first Pepin family vacation {2008}

Cheering on Matt's South Carolina Gamecocks 

We dated long distance from October 2007 until February 2010 and in April we became engaged.... 

 (see Engagement story for juicy details)!!

It All Ends at Midnight

huh?

what am I talking about?

this Friday is the end

(10 years)

for

HARRY POTTER!!!!

so go ahead and make fun now.......

i have to admit, when these books first came out when i was in high school, i made fun of my friends (they would stand in line to purchase the books at midnight when they came out)!

BUT

During my junior year of college, i picked up the first book to read because the boys i nannied for had gotten the boxed set for Christmas. The first one was good and i went on to the second shortly after. i was soon hooked. As we read thru the books, we also started watching movies 1-5 together.

We saw The Half-Blood Prince (#6) together the day it came out

We saw The Deathly Hallows  (#7) Part I

and this coming weekend we are going to see Part II together! :)

i. can't. wait.

With gearing up for the final movie, i'm not sure how to feel...... i know i'll probably cry.....because it will all be over! the books are well-written, unexpected, entertaining, funny, and clever (and the ending is great)!! i don't care what anyone else thinks, these books rock!! the movies are great too and they progress in quality and appeal thru the years.

if i could i would so throw a party (all images via Pinterest):

Mail out these fun invitations

 

Serve Butterbeer,

Cauldron Cakes, Butterbeer Cupcakes, & other themed foods

Dress-up 

 

Decorate 

Hand out Goody bags when you leave

and some extra eye candy:

The actors then & now

Bahahaha! 

 

and yes, i do want to visit Universal Studios just to go to Harry Potter world ;)