free christmas cards

What's better than receiving Christmas cards in the mail at Christmas time?

FREE Christmas cards!

Shutterfly is giving away free Christmas cards to anyone who blogs!

I can't pass up a free deal!

Here are some really cute ideas....

Shutterfly not only produces great cards, but you can also design your own photo calendar, create a mousepad, coffee cup, tree ornament, collage canvas...the list goes on. There is nothing more personal than adding your special picture and your special touch to a gift like these!

I am trying to decide what to do with my 50 free cards this year. I may begin a new tradition, or i may give them to my sister so my favorite neice's picture can go out to many more mailboxes!

I can't wait to see which free cards all these bloggers choose!

If youre interested in getting your own free cards, go here!

A Fab Two Years!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary!

The past two years have been more than I could have ever asked for. I am so blessed to have married my best friend and can't wait to see what God has in store for us many years down the road! I love you babe and thank you for being you!

My Little D tuns 1!!!

I wanted to be the first to tell my little D happy one year birthday!

This past year has been such a joy and blessing watching Durham grow and change into a little lady! I love her more than I could ever have imagined loving a child, and that love continues to grow each day! This year has flown by and she has developed quite the personality. She knows what she wants and how to get it...and of course being the aunt, I give her whatever she wants!

And to say that her Uncle JJ is smitten with her is an understatement!

Durham,

We love you and are so excited about celebrating your birthday this weekend! We pray for many many more birthdays to come that we can watch you grow into the girl God has created you to be!

All our love and His,

Aunt CamCam

Uncle JJ

EDISTO

We had an awesome week at Edisto! Aside from the Thain crew, J's family, and even his Nana was able to be there the same week.

We also had some other fun visitors: Shelby, Henry, and Manning!!

It was a great week spent with family!

The weather was great and we did a lot of nothing...my kind of vacation! Laying in the sun, reading, laughing, and being entertained by all the little ones was the best part of the week!

A little update...

It's been forever, but I wanted to fill everyone in on my first two weeks as a grad student. First of all, it's not near as fun as undergrad, but the classes are much more interesting and i'm learning a ton. Actually one research class i'm taking is a bore, but what can you expect with a class called Educational Research? It's been keeping me very busy and I am so thankful that all of my TV shows have already ended for the season, because everyday after class, if i don't go to work, I come straight home and do not stop doing school work until around 11 or 12 at night. No more TV time for me! I'm not kidding you, and if any of you know me and my study habits you would find this hard to believe. But it's true, all I do these days is school, school, and more school. I'm hoping it will slow down when the fall semester starts but during the summer they cram so much into such a little amount of time, you are doing good to just keep your head above the water. I'm making some friends in my program and I really think i'm going to enjoy this whole grad school thing, even though it might take me a while to get back into the school mode. If it were not for Jonathan I don't know if I would have gotten through these last two weeks, he has been so supportive and loving through this whole process, and i'm so thankful for that!

A few things that have happened since i've started school (not even 2 weeks ago):

-written 2 papers

-taken many quizzes

-taken my first grad school test today and have another one on monday

-in the process of applying for a grant (please pray that I receive this, it will cover my full tuition if I get it)

-was in a minor "fender bender"(and yes it was my fault)

-went on the lake for the first time this summer

-went to a USC baseball game

-went wedding dress shopping with Jess

And a side note on that....Jess and her mom came to Augusta this afternoon to go to a few dress shops, so we went to lunch and then made our way to start trying on dresses. It was so neat and fun to see her in those beautiful white dresses! The whole experience made me wish I was doing that same thing all over again, but of course with the same guy! hehe We had so much fun as we pulled dresses from the racks not even looking at the prices, when we got into the dressing room we saw that the majority of the ones we picked were over $4000. Jess still found some beautiful dresses that were a little more reasonable! The second place we went was a joke. We couldn't get out of there fast enough, but didn't want to be rude so we pretended that she had found "the one," but she needed to sleep on it, and she would let them know soon. All the dresses were terrible and our consultant was even more terrible! At least we made fun memories! Thanks Jess and Carol for letting me join in on this fun and special time!!!

me, court, and jess at the USC baseball game

This weekend J and I are going to a wedding in Charlotte, next weekend is father's day, and then the following weekend we are going to another wedding, and then heading to Edisto for the week...this is what I have to keep thinking about when I get stressed about all my school work...a whole week at the beach and nothing to do nothing but relax! I probably won't blog much more this summer, but wanted to let you know that school is going good and i'm excited to finally start the process of my lifelong career!!!!

TAG!!!

Tag...you're it!

Court tagged me on this fun picture game...here's how you play:

1. open your first photo folder

2. scroll to the 10th picture

3. post the photo and the story behind it

4. tag 5 or more people

My first folder on our computer is Alyssa and Matt's wedding weekend! So, here is the 10th picture from that album. It's at Alyssa's bridal/bridesmaid's luncheon the day before her wedding. These are all of Alyssa's 11 bridesmaids (with Laura missing). The luncheon was held at Nonnah's on Gervais St. in Columbia and it was such a fun time! Alyssa was the first of our best friends from college t0 get married, so that whole weekend was an awesome time for all of us...i'll never forget it! Love all these pretty ladies!

I tag: Shelby

Soaking up the Rays!

No worries, I got to see my Little D this weekend. We made a trip to lexington on friday night just to see the cutiest little one in the world, and then made our way back home on Saturday night after dinner. I worked all day yesterday, and then we went out for dinner to our favorite, Mexican, last night with Catie and Will.

I have today off of work and I couldn't be more happy about it. Not only do I have tons of house work and spring cleaning to do, it's a beautiful SPRING day out. I just got done cleaning the house and i'm now washing/drying/folding heaps of clothes. Once i'm done with that i'm heading outside to sit out in the warm sun and spend a little time with the Lord as I work on my bible study. I also have plans to do some fun reading and relaxing as I soak up the rays! Later this afternoon i'm going on a fun walk with Catie after she gets home from school. What a wonderful, delightful day!

Hope you are enjoying this nice weather!

Miss my little D!

I haven't seen my little D since the weekend before last, and lets just say i'm missing her like crazy! Not sure when i'll get to see her again, but hopefully sooner than later...court's blog is great and all, but it doesn't do justice t0 seeing my DurC in person!

Great Super Bowl Appetizer Recipe

Guacamole has become one of my new favorite dips recently. Jonathan's uncle made some while we were in Florida over Christmas and I just discovered that our favorite Mexican restaurant has the best guacamole ever! For some reason I have taken a big liking to this fun dip and wanted to share a recipe I just saw on Oprah that looks so easy and delicious! I like my guacamole very creamy, so this recipe looked like a great one for me to try. Depending on what we do on Sunday night for the big game, I might have to make this and see how it turns out.

4 ripe avocados

1/4 cup white onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

2 limes , juiced

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 jalapeno , finely chopped

Directions:

Split the avocados along their sides and divide in half. Remove the pits.

In a ceramic or glass bowl, smash the avocados with a potato masher until smooth.

Add the next 5 ingredients, and continue to mash until fluffy.

Place one of the pits in the middle of the guacamole to help keep it from turning dark. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour before serving.

Serve with warm tortilla chips.

The Best Flat Iron to Ever Touch Your Hair!

I wanted to do a post for Kelly's Korner Show us Your Life, Beauty Tips and Favorite Products.

About a year ago my Chi straightener decided to quite working on me and one side of the iron didn't work. I can't go more than a day without my straightener so I had to splurge and buy another one that very day. I had only had it for a little over a year and I had always sworn by Chi. I never would use anything else, thinking it was THE Best! When I had to break down and spend over $100 on another one I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to happen again and my mom told me about a flat iron that her hair dresser uses in her salon. I went out on a limb and decided to trust a lady that I personally don't even really like (the hair dresser, not my mom), because she has curly, thick hair and uses this iron on all her customers. I may not like the lady, but boy does she know hair. This flat iron is the best thing that has happened to my hair in so long! It's a Bio Ionic Itools Ceramic flat iron. I can't go back to a Chi now. Anytime we stay with my parents, my sister, and J's parents and I have use one of their Chi's instead of my Itools because i'm trying to learn to be a lighter packer, it just doesn't work the same. You set the temperature on it and it goes as high as 400 degrees. And with my hair, I def need the extra heat to smooth out all my kinks. Anyway, the point of this post is for all of those who still swear by their Chi's...next time you have to buy a new flat iron, take my curly, thick haired advice and try out, the same a little over $100 price, and get yourself an Bio Ionic Itools!!!

Quarter of a Century!

Jonathan turned 25 last Monday and we celebrated by inviting out families to town for the weekend! On Saturday the girls went shopping and played around town while some of the boys played golf. That night we cooked Beaufort Stew and had fun just hanging out! Jonathan did most of the cooking and it was more than delicious. I love you babe and hope you had a wonderful birthday! Here's to hopefully your best year yet!

Thanks to our families for taking time out of their busy schedules to come hang out with us!

J's favorite guest at his bday party: little D!

Do you see the trend the she eats ALOT!!!

Everyone helping with the cooking and eating appetizers in the kitchen