After printing an additional 50 photos, I've finally finished our wedding album! I am so proud of how it turned out. I'll have to share a picture of the album cover once we design it. It has an 8x10 space and then four smaller 2x2 spaces. Exciting stuff! Here is a picture of two of my favorite pages.
Most of you are very aware of how much I love my dog, Delia. I also tend to take a billion pictures of her. Tonight was no different. Doug and I both laid down on the ground and got the Delia all frazzled because we kept blowing in her face. Torture? Nah, she loved it. It was fun to get down on her level and mess with her. We love that little dog!
Today a sweet couple tied the knot- Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Sloan! Here are a few highlights I was able to capture at the wedding reception.
Their First Dance- It Had to be You
I love the expression on Jonathan's face here- pure bliss
Doug and I recently got our hands on an article titled 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. After counting how many we both already had, we decided it would be a fun challenge to see how many we could try over the next few years. Today, after spending time in the city, we decided to try something on the list: limeade from Gilchrist Drugstore. Gilchrist used to be a drugstore/soda fountain and has been in business about 83 years in the same location. There's no more sign of a drugstore but the old fashioned soda fountain still remains. Sure enough, the limeade was delicious. Here's a picture of Doug finishing it off on our way to dinner at Cracker Barrel.
A few days ago I found this old jug that I thought would be cool to keep my loose change. Today I washed it out and filled it up with what change I have collected over the past few months. Maybe when it's full I'll go on vacation. :)
Coconut oil... pretty neat stuff if you ask me. Doug and I have been cooking with coconut oil in place of butter and olive oil for some time now. Sometimes we'll use extra virgin olive oil, but have really enjoyed using the "new" stuff. It's actually really good for you and makes the kitchen smell amazing. An article on why coconut oil is good for you can be found if you click here. We used it this afternoon for reheating lunch- chicken fried rice, a favorite.
The afternoon was spent cleaning and doing laundry. Church was good and I may be bias, but I think Doug did a really good job preaching. He's preaching through the book of Philippians this summer. After church I headed over to Jen's house to drop a gift off for her. She and Jonathan are getting married on Saturday! Jennifer has been friends with Doug's sister for a long time and has been so kind and welcoming to me since Doug and I started dating. I'm just so thankful for the friends that I've made here, they are all true blessings!
One phrase I think every dog is born knowing is, "Wanna go for a ride?" I've been wanting to snap a picture of Delia enjoying the wind for a while now. Tonight, I remembered to bring my camera for such an occasion!
Fresh from Mr. and Mrs. Cluckers themselves. Mr. Patrick and Ms. Maureen Cluckers live in the backyard of our good friends, the Brashers. They lay eggs every day which are collected and were enjoyed today by me and Douglas. Please note that Mr. Patrick is actually a woman.
We had the pleasure of meeting the Cluckers a few weeks back. Check out the "Day 16" blog from that experience by clicking here.
Happy Father's Day, Dad! I'm pretty sure I have the best dad in the whole world and I'm thankful for the influence he's had in my life. I value his opinion, I treasure his company and I love him more than I could put into words.
We celebrated Father's Day with my dad by driving up to Helen and tubing (see the post from Friday). Today we celebrated with Doug's dad by having lunch and playing Saved By the Bell after church.
Today's lesson in Sunday School was about modesty. Seems to be a hot topic these days... pun intended. Pastor, author and speaker, CJ Mahaney says, “Any biblical discussion of modesty begins by addressing the heart, not the hemline.” I just love this quote! I'm encouraged that scripture is clear about this topic and even has words for when someone has a problem with modesty. Paul speaks about it in 1 Timothy 2:8-10 and Solomon in Proverbs 11:22. There are also several other supporting passages. In my opinion, a good article to find these passages is found here.
Since there was no church planned for tonight, Doug and I invited his family to go see Toy Story 3 with us. It was such a good movie! I was skeptical at first but Pixar did a fantastic job reaching audience members of all ages.
After the movie Doug and I went to Whole Foods to pick up some healthy, farm raised chicken meat and some Zevia, basically coke but sweetened with stevia instead of high fructose corn syrup.
Summer in the south means HEAT and lots of it. Where the asphalt is too hot to walk across barefoot and no matter how much work you put into fixing your hair, the humidity and heat will turn it into a frizz ball before you make it to your car. South summer heat also means you can line dry clothes in less than an hour and it's impossible not to sweat, ahem, glisten, even when sitting down outdoors.
A few months ago Doug and I bought a fan for our bedroom. PRAISE THE LORD WE DID- we keep the house at a cool 78 degrees so it makes the fan feels amazing. Today, I was extra glad we had one, so I took a picture of it just to share with you.
Go turn on your fan today and be thankful.
Today we also had a really great rainstorm and the power went out. We had lunch at "Our Place" with Doug's parents and discussed the possibility of raising a calf... to eat. Am I a fan of this yet? Ehh... not sure. I quickly get attached to animals and am afraid if we had a calf that I'd never be able to eat her after she's grown. We'll see what happens, and of course, I'll keep you updated.
We had such a fun day today!!! Doug, David, Mrs. Debbie and I drove to meet my parents in Helen and spent the day tubing the Chattahoochee. We were not only celebrating Father's Day, but also my parent's 27th anniversary. I only had my camera for lunch so I snapped a few pics. Sorry Dad, I should have warned you!
Today was a very special day in Birmingham, spent with my favorite person in the whole world. We went to Camp Taco for lunch and then to Reed Books. There's no real way to describe how cool this place was so I did my best to capture it on film. I'm not that great of a photographer, so you may just have to use your imagination. :)
We also stopped by the Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh fruits and veggies! Yummmm!
Tonight I drove past a church here in town and it was on fire! After calling the 911 to inform them of the fire, I turned around and headed back to the church once I saw the trucks to get a picture. I realized that this had to be my pic for the day but all I had was my phone! That had to do, so here you go!
Doug ordered the Saved by the Bell board game! We played a few rounds tonight and Doug is the current reigning champion.
This morning before Doug woke up, I caught this precious moment on camera- Delia whimpering because she wanted Doug to wake up and play with her. She loves him soooo much!
Today I spent the majority of the day working on our wedding pictures! We hired 6 of Four to document our special day and I am so proud of our decision. They did a fabulous job and I would recommend them to anyone. Here is the picture for today (which, I confess, I didn't actually take today) and a few of my favorite wedding pictures. To see a slide show of photos, click here.
This is the album which holds the DVD with our images.
6 of Four makes sure that every detail is done with class and excellence.
Today we have been married 100 days! In celebration of that, I made cinnamon rolls served with chocolate milk from Wright Dairy. We had breakfast in bed and enjoyed watching Lost before Doug headed off to work.
I'll tell you what, we have some incredible kids in our youth group. Today, because of a group of teenagers who have a desire to serve outside the church, we took a group of 17 people to a nursing home just to visit with the residents. It made their day. It was so encouraging to see high schoolers and middle schoolers open up and have conversations with older people. They sang, shared stories and just spent time with these people. All in all it was a very productive trip and I'm proud of each student who was able to come along.
Sorry! I know you have just been itching for my updates. Okay, probably not. Anyway, I finally decided it's been long enough and I'm ready to give you a few snapshots of what's been going on in the Barnwell family.
I left off on Sunday, almost a week ago. After a normal day of church, lunch, family time and more church, I headed to Bed Bath & Beyond for their bridal registry closeout event. I would recommend anyone who is thinking about registering to check out BB&B. They were certainly the easiest for us to work with, especially with returns. With the registry closeout event, they offered us 20% off our entire purchase, they stayed open late for brides and they provided finger foods! I left really excited because I was able to get a ton of stuff, both on the registry and not, for less than what I had in gift card money! Yay for savings!
Today I got to see my mom for lunch! She handed off our wedding pictures and we explored the tiny town of Tallapoosa, GA. I forgot my camera but fortunately was able to use my phone to take a few pictures. You'll have to forgive me as they are rather small files.
Mom and I got a good laugh out of this, it looks like a police car from Mayberry!
I thought this was neat, a store from over 100 years ago.
After eating and exploring, Mom and I said goodbye and parted ways. I headed to Wright Dairy to pick up a few things. Can I tell you something? I have never been so excited to buy ground meat; the cows were grass fed and had no hormones added. After watching Food, Inc. I've had a hard time eating or even looking at meat. The documentary went into the meat packaging process. Bleeugh. Disgusting.
For dinner Doug and I had breakfast food! Remember a while back I told you we'd be having Saturday morning breakfasts? Well, today we had it for dinner. :)
Today was the last day of VBS. It was such a fun week. I finally feel like I belong here. Over the last six years or so I haven't had a "home" church. I feel like Brookwood has always been my home church, and West Rome for the time that I was at school, but between living in Rome, Atlanta and now Birmingham, I haven't been able to stay very active in any one church body. The people here have been so welcoming and so loving. I could keep going but instead I'll go ahead with the post. :)
After VBS the youth had pizza and "water day". After asking the blessing, the group was sabotaged by a few of the other youth with water balloons and water guns. After almost 1,000 balloons, buckets and buckets of water, lots of water guns and even a few guys in pelleting balloons from the dumpster, we got to enjoy our lunch. Doug and I, of course, got water poured all over us but hey, it was fun and I wouldn't have traded it for staying dry.
After all the fun Doug and I decided to make some fresh squeezed lemonade. It was SO GOOD!
And last but not least, Delia's haircut! Don't judge my skills as this is my first attempt at grooming a squirmy dog. I think she looks pretty cute though!
Fresh peaches and homemade pasta. Today I visited the local Farmer's Market. There were lots of fresh veggies but what caught my eye was the fruit. For dinner Doug used our KitchenAid to make fettuccine chicken alfredo! Here are today's pictures. (By the way, I'm enjoying one of those fresh peaches as I type... delicious!!!)
For those of you who have asked about Delia's haircut, well, it's still a work in progress. As it turns out she doesn't like the clippers very much so I have to be strategic about how I go about grooming her. An "after" picture will be up in a few days once we finish.
