Critty Joy

Snapshots of Summer 2012.

Jen had this fun idea for sharing snapshots of our summer for SDG and my small group is sharing theirs this week.

So be prepared for a long photo filled post as I am doing project 365 and have tons of photos from this summer.  :)  I also adore instagram so my photos are from there.  

Critty's summer included....

This girl turning 2.  We had a fun day at the mall followed by her birthday party that evening.  She had a blast!  I must admit this photo makes my Auntie heart hurt a little.  She is growing so fast.  :)

 

The day she was born and her second birthday.

The following day we left for a week at the beach.  It was just my immediate family (minus my dad) and my sister in law's Mom.  My cousin lives in St Augustine so he joined us a few days.

 

Coa's first evening on the beach.

Sunrise on the beach.

 

 

On my last night in St Augustine I was able to have dinner with a sweet friend. I adore that we connected on the interwebs but now... we have met face to face twice! So glad Alison is in my life.

 

I did a lot of job searching this summer so I followed that up with reading some great books...

 

There is nothing quite like a beautiful evening and a great book.

A day of Nora Roberts and Christmas movies in July!

Love Does by Bob Goff...one of the BEST books I have ever read.

 

I was able to enjoy some of the most wonderful things nature has to offer. 

 

Amazing rainstorms. One of my favorite things about summer is the afternoon storms.

 

 

Deliciousness from the garden!

Gorgeous nights that have cooled off and are perfect for sitting and being quiet.

Quiet foggy mornings on the patio with tea and scones.

The delightfulness of found beauty.

 

I was able to look through some old photos of my family and found two photos of my grandparents I had not seen.  

 

I adore this one of my Memaw (she's the one being silly!) it just shows where I get my silly sassy from.

My Memaw and Pappy.

 

I spent some amazing time with this girl.  Being her Aunt Christy is the best thing EVER.

 

I love this face.

 

I received some of the most wonderful tangible encouragement from sweet friends. Mail is really one of my favorite things!

One of the highlights of my summer was seeing a Braves game.  I am a huge fan so it was amazing to cheer and watch my team win...and for the amazing Chipper to hit not one but two home runs.  I got to share it with favorite people.  The four of us are actually going back September 28th!  I can't wait!

 

GO BRAVES!!

 

You know...before I did this post I would have told you summer was difficult...but as I have gone back and looked at the photos and thought of those moments...I realize it was a beautiful summer full of little wonders and love.

And just this weekend a little owl told me....

Coa is adoring her Halloween costume!

Autumn is on it's way!

 

What is a favorite moment(s) from your summer?

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

Ha!

I have always wanted to title a blog post with that.  So I did!

The winner of the e-giftcard according to random.org is.......

Number 12...Lousiana Tara!  Yay!  I laughed when I counted and saw that Tara had won seeing as she gave me the idea of the 10 things in the first place :)  I guess good ideas do get rewarded!

 

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I thought I would give you a little photo tour of my weekend!

Saturday I slept in and caught up on some shows on hulu...and then spent some time with this girl...

Seriously.  I adore this little one.  My Mum and I were talking about how love just grows and grows.  Every time I see her my heart gets a little more full!

Of course...Sunday was the big b-day!

I had such a fun day.  I spent part of the day with my Mum...which is the first time she has actually been home on my birthday in several years.  We ended up being heathens and skipping church to go to the Apple Festival in a neighboring town.  Mum had plans for the afternoon with the Tres Dias community so I was thrilled to spend some time with her.

We saw fun country line dancers!  They were an absolute hoot!  

We bought fried oreos....and tried one and saved the rest...I hope they taste good cold today!

We bought little Miss Toccoa a cute little Christmas ornament!

One of my favorite things about the Apple Festival is all of the handmade goodness!  The variety of things and talents you get to see while there for a few hours amazes me!

I also found my birthday gift while we were there!  (sorry for the bad quality of photo...cell phone picture!)

It is a claddagh ring!  I have wanted one for a real long time (A friend had one in college...the first go around...and I also loved the symbolism and well...it is Irish!)  There was a booth called Highlands Jewelry so you know I had to look!

We got home and unfortunately I got sick we think it was from the sun....so I ended up taking a cool shower and napped for a while and then cooked dinner pretty late.

After enjoying some spaghetti (which I did not like a year ago...ha!) I spent the rest of the evening with some old favorites...

It was a fabulous day and a wonderful weekend!

What did YOU do this weekend, Peaches?

A Glimpse of Joy

Sometimes you just need a beautiful glimpse of joy in your life.

I got one through one of my bloggy friends.

My friend Amy and her family have been on quite the journey this year.  Yesterday that journey ended with a sweet baby boy named Elijah in her and her husband's arms.  It was their Gotcha day.

So if you need to see a beautiful glimpse of JOY today go see Elijah in their arms.

A family made whole.  I know Elijah's three siblings cannot wait to meet him.

And we are filled with joy and praise to the One who made it so.

Introducing....

 

 
 

 
 
 

A Bee's Knees kind of Day.

I mentioned on Friday I was spending the day on Saturday with one of my college besties.  In fact I have introduced you to her before as she is the one who gave me the nickname, Critty Joy, which has since become my blog and online moniker.  It was also my first nickname ever.  In my 20's.  Yes I am aware of how sad that is ;)  

So, Allison is one of my favorite people in the world.  She and I enjoy many of the same favorite things....one of those is the theatre.  If you know anything about Atlanta you know we have a glorious theatre called The Fabulous Fox.  It is full of old world beauty and one of my favorite things about Atlanta.

 

Mary Poppins is one of her favorite movies so when she found out the musical was coming to Atlanta she called and asked if I would go with her....and I said yes of course ;)   Oh and...we always go for the good seats.

So Saturday was a bee's knees kind of day that I just want to remember.  So I am making a bee's knees list of highlights...

- The Fabulous Fox.

-A fantastic musical with fabulous actors.

- the hustle and bustle of the streets.

-laughing

- coke and a big tub of shared popcorn

- passing some of my favorite things in Atlanta on the drive to the Cheesecake Factory....The High Museum of Art, the Woodruff Performing Arts Center, Piedmont Park, great neighborhoods, beautiful stately homes...

- sitting on the patio at the Cheesecake Factory enjoying the beautiful spring day.

- yummy food.

- Cheesecake!

- catching up.

- remembering.

- sharing dreams and being supported in those dreams.

- Allison dreaming bigger dreams for me than even I dream.

- watching Prom goers try to eat and not spill anything and both concurring we would not want to go back to high school....college on the other hand.

- talking about God's perfect plans and how we would have never met if not for His plans being different from mine.

- sharing similar loves for art and theatre and vowing to do things that involved those delights.

- sharing details of my life that stay off limits to most people.

- knowing I can trust Allison with all the big things...as well as the small things too.

- listening to her share about her amazing daughter.

-laughing.  (yes I know that is listed twice but it's a favorite)

So Saturday was a bee's knees kind of day....and I realized I wanted to be more aware of those moments...so from time to time you might see a bee's knees post.  You may be asking why bee's knees? I was watching SNL with Betty White (the only reason I watched!) and she said something was the bee's knees and I realized how delightful the phrase is...and how much I love that idea.  I did some research and found out it was a flapper term from the 20's...how fun is that.  It means excellent.  Of course bee's knees is way more fun to say, erhm type, then excellent!

Even more....I was reminded again this weekend how beautiful friendship is.  More on that tomorrow.

Have you had a bee's knees moment lately Peaches?