I Gave In...

If you know me, you know that I'm not much of an animal person.  I never have been....I'm not really sure why?  I have been terrified of all animals my whole life! Brian on the other hand LOVES ANIMALS.  He grew up with them and his parents currently have 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh!!!!!!

This is one of our main discussions/arguments when it comes to marital disputes.  Brian has wanted a black lab FOREVER and I just told him that it wasn't going to happen because I didn't want to be scared to come into my own home everyday...........but this past Friday I lost my battle......this came to my house....

His name is Hooch....like Chattahoochee.  He is an 8 week old black lab.......and he has peed on my floor 5 times ANXIETY!!!!!  He is a sweet dog and has started to grow on me.  He has a lot of personality (which is good) and is really ADHD (which is bad).   BUT Brian is so happy and that is why I wanted him to have him.  I mean look at his face (Brian's)

smiling

I even let him (dog) in my car!!!!  I'm so proud of myself

is Brian driving with his eyes closed?

Hooch is OBSESSED with Brian.  He follows him everywhere.  We have been trying to walk him every night, and Brian keeps tripping over him because we won't get out from under his feet....it's kinda cute.

Here he is chasing his blue, squeaky thing that my mom, Grandma Greta, got him.  He loves it.  

I never thought I would have a dog, but I will say....he is pretty cute...and is growing on me until he pees inside for the 6th time.

quick shout out to my beautiful mom.....it's her BIRTHDAY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRETA!!!

And it's Brian's grandmother's birthday!!  Happy Birthday Gan Gan!!!!!!  We love you!

Lunch with the Governor

Today Brian and I got to go to Atlanta and have lunch with the Governor, Nathan Deal, and his wife at the Governor's mansion.  

image via gov.georgia.gov

We headed down to Atlanta with a group from United Way of Hall County and I was SO excited to see the inside of this house! I actually was more excited to see what they were going to feed us. 

This place is HUGE and has so much history.

We had a delicious lunch in the basement of the mansion and had the privilege of hearing what Governor Deal had to say about leadership and current topics impacting Georgia and the nation.  He is very intelligent and a great speaker! When the governor had to go back to work, we got a private tour of the WHOLE house by the first lady herself! It was a rare occasion because we got to see their living quarters.

First I want to show you some of the rugs....they were amazing and I would of gladly taken any of them for my home!!!!

check out these chandeliers

YES PLEASE!!!!!

 I'll take both

I wouldn't mind walking down these halls everyday  I made sure to ask Brian if he was interested in being in politics....I'm sure you can image what he said....I won't have halls like this.....


Okay, now we're getting personal......this is actually where Nathan Deal sleeps!

I'm sure these people thought I was
so weird taking this picture

love this mirror

view out their bedroom window

This is Nathan Deal's actual recliner in his den!!!!!

I had to sneak this picture in too....this is me in the presidential suite.

I love this bathroom

Oh HEY George Washington

Here are some more pics of things I loved...

This paneling looks better than ours did!

the most spectacular china and silver cabinets!!!!!

It was great!

I did get some cool ideas for things in our house later on too.

Oh and I'm sure you saw how terrible that Auburn/Clemson game was for us Auburn fans this past weekend....but we did get to hangout with the HUGHS cousins while we were there!

Natalie, Will, David, Shawn, Brad, Nan, Me, and Brian

MelaNoMo'

I wanted to tell you about my friend, Neil, and his amazing fundraiser for the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Neil suffers from stage 4 Melanoma.  Three years ago, he started MelaNoMo and has been raising money ever since! Neil has a blog called Diet Cancer where he optimistically writes about his fight against Melanoma.  Please read it and learn about his story and what a neat,encouraging person he is.  What I really want you to do is visit his Melanomo' fundraiser website HERE and read about his cause and DONATE if you can!!!  My mom has had three Melanoma spots over the past view years, and it is pretty scary stuff.  Skin cancer is genetic too, so everyone needs to make sure that they regularly have a body scan with their dermatologist.  GO DONATE!

My Favorite Room

My favorite room in the house is the den/kitchen.  It's all one big room and is the heart of our home.  I've been waiting to post pictures because It wasn't quite fixed to my liking, but we've been working on it and it's definitely getting there.  Here is how this room looked when we bought the house...

and during the renovation process.....

and here it is now!!!!!!!!!!!!

(keep in mind, some of our cabinets and crown molding hasn't been painted, oh and we don't have face plates over the outlets and switches)

I love that I can cook right here and still be a part of the den

I got this painting on Etsy and then had it framed.

This coffee table was a wedding gift.  WE LOVE IT!

That's the Auburn game on the TV...War Eagle!

Gotta have some cheetah in a room.  Guess who arranged these shelves........that's right! My mother-in-law Shannon! 

This couch was the first thing I bought for my other house.  It had really crazy colored pillows and no back cushions, just lots of colorful pillows. That wasn't going to fly in this house, so these pillows were made and act as back cushions now.

I love the trim.

I was going to have some pillows made similar to these, but then my mom found them in St. Simons.  Thanks Greta.

A family friend of mine, Debbie Puckett, is an INCREDIBLE decorator.  She came over one day to show me some stuff.  She has this magical van, and stuff kept flying out of the back of it and into our house!

She saw this gray chair and thought of me.  It's a keeper, Brian loves it.  Gonna add a pillow some day.

Debbie also brought me these chairs. Then the stuff all the walls kept coming out of her magical van, it's nuts...she just has this stuff laying in the back!!!!!!  I LOVE THIS ARRANGEMENT.  It looks a lot better in person though.

The watercolor mountain scene is my favorite!

This gold lamp was also a wedding gift from Brian's cousins in Columbia, SC.  I'm obsessed with it.  My mom said she saw it in a decorating magazine the other day too!!!

And how awesome are these gray, retro lamps!!!

It got them for $15 dollars each (that's cheaper than T.J. Maxx)  at my cousins and uncle's store, Yard Sale Station, here in Gainesville.  Check them out on FACEBOOK.  My little brother furnished his whole college apartment from their store!  

Brian and I spend ALL of our time in this room.  I love the colors and the natural light that shines it.  Very happy with it!