Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays {if you must know Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas are} but one thing I always look forward to is the HOTDOGS! As long as I can remember I’ve gone to my Grandparents house in Travelers Rest for a yummy dinner! Awesome chili, chips, candy… carbalicious goodness!

When I was little we would go to have hotdogs after we made our rounds for candy and my brother and I would sit in the floor and pick through all the goodies we got. Now that I’m an adult and too old to trick or treat I drove over to my Grandma’s house after a busy day of work while wearing my work pants and blazer but I couldn’t help it… I got excited!

That’s the thing I love about traditions, even when you change they don’t. You continue making memories and I am blessed to have a loving family that stick to traditions and love making new ones. One of the new parts of our tradition this year was my brother's dog. I never thought I'd live to see the day that a dog was in my grandmothers house... especially a HUGE dog. She is a Pitt Bull and she is so precious. Crazy and hyper... yes, but very loving! We are great friends now since she almost licked my ear off! 

I mean, look at that face!!! 

Waiting to play with her toy!

And after she finally calmed down she almost broke my arm by simply lying on it. 

I guess I'm used to a tiny 6lb dog! ;) haha!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and hopefully you had some traditions you enjoyed as well!

Forgiving.

via pinterest

I completely agree with this quote. We can't truly love if we don't forgive. 

Forgive others. Forgive ourselves.

Life is tricky... it's messy and at times annoying when it doesn't go our way. We can become stubborn and make excuses for it. Holding grudges and staying angry. 

Or we can forgive. Move forward... trying to learn how to love the messy parts because those are the parts that make you into the person God intended for you to be. 

"But when you are praying first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too." {Mark 11:25} 

When I read that a few nights ago I felt everything settle into place. That's what God wants. He wants to forgive us for our sins... that's why He chose to die for us but for God to forgive us we have to forgive others first. Turning our hearts toward our heavenly Father which is the ultimate love. 

I'm starting to realize that when we forgive someone we are showing what God is doing within our heart. Sharing His love in a sincere act of kindness. Even when it's the hardest thing to do... we do it, because God shows us how with His endless grace and undying love. 

Forgiveness = Love

and LOVE is a beautiful thing!

DIY {Headboard Awesomeness-Part Deux}

Since I had the late night of fun with friends on Friday I had a wonderful lazy morning on Saturday. I may or may not have slept in till 2. Don’t worry, I wasn’t completely worthless!!!

That night I had some more DIY fun! This time Mom and I worked on HER headboard and we built it from scratch! Yes, it was nerve wracking (mainly because the fabric we were using was an expensive silk that Mom could NOT buy more of because she bought all they had) but it was a success and we had a lot of fun in the process.

Here are all the fun details:

First start with the wood and foam. Ours was 1 inch thick.
{Neat Fact: The Army Navy Store in downtown Greenville will cut any piece of foam for you, even if you have a funky shape as long as you have a template of the design.}

After spraying the wood with the adhesive press firmly on the foam to secure it to the wood.

Then take the batting; tighten and staple to the foam covering completely.

Lay out the fabric of choice and start tightening and stapling the fabric like above but also hammering the staples in completely all the way around.

Folding the corner down and stapling tightly so the corners won't pucker. 

{Katie Ayer... this picture is for you since you asked about the corners}

Once complete you will hang the headboard on the wall with a heavy duty hanging kit which are very easy to find on the internet. 

Then, voila! You have a custom made headboard to complete your room.

The main thing I like about a custom headboard is the availability to change it at any time, it’s such an easy way to make your room extra special and show off your personality.

Happy Tuesday, I’m hoping the rest of this busy week FLIES by!

lots of fun and only 1 picture...

The weekend flew by WAY too fast but it was a great one! Friday night was such a fun night and Sunday was busyyyyyy but super fun too! 

Friday night was the first Dinner Club in forever. I mean FOR-EV-ER! We ladies have been such slackers but finally all 7 of us made time for a girls night! The food was so yummy but I am sad that we didn't take any pictures. Totally bummed!

After we finished hanging out at Maddie's house a couple of us wanted to venture out downtown. I can't remember the last time I went out just to go out... and it was nice! There's a new Hookah Bar in downtown Greenville and I never thought that would fly but it's always packed. A little sketchy at times but definitely busy.

Kelley, Madison and I

Sunday was packed full... woke up for the 9:15 service at church (it was a great), had lunch with Mom (Midtown Deli-YUM), rushed around buying everything we needed for a fantastic night... and then we had our first cookout with sweet friends! The house was full of wonderful people and adorable babies!! 

What did I do on Saturday you ask....? Well, that is for tomorrow's post! :)

DIY {Headboard Awesomeness}

So this is my first official DIY post! :) Kinda excited about it.... not gonna lie. 

My bed used to look like this.... 

This was my room a few weeks ago... 

Old head board, no blanket on the bed and no tie backs for the curtains yet.

So, this is what we (My mom, Jocie, and I) did.... 

First of all we unscrewed the headboard and popped the padded part out. 

Lie the padded board on the floor and place the fabric in the desired area. 

Tighten the fabric on the back side by pulling and staple in place.

After all the fabric is stapled in place use scissors to cut the excess fabric.

Possibly for pillows.... :)  

And here is my lovely assistant pressing on the new headboard while it's screwed in place. 

Close up of the corner of the board once it was complete. 

And this is the view from my doorway NOW! 

Now I need to hang some things on the wall which I will also have a special DIY Project for! Can’t wait to have everything completed… This month is FLYING by and I have to have everything complete by November 4th, that's the big day for the Shower for my lovely friend, Katie Ayer!  

Hope you all had a beautiful week and I REALLY hope you enjoyed the crisp, cold air! I sure did since this is my favorite time of year!!! I thought I’d leave you with a bible verse from one of my devotionals this week… I really love it and I hope you do too! Happy Weekend!!

“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.” {Hebrews 12:28-29} (NLT)