Girl's Weekend

Ok, if you haven't ever been to the Spring Pilgrimage in Natchez, MS you absolutely MUST go!  Last weekend, my mom and I went on a belated birthday trip (for her) to Natchez to partake in their spring pilgrimage festivities.  It was too much fun!  We stayed at the cutest bed & breakfast,The Dr's In, right in the heart of downtown Natchez.  We were so close to everything that we walked just about everywhere we went the whole weekend.  We had delicious suppers at The Castle at Dunleith and Magnolia Grill.  We had the best lunch at Cotton Alley Cafe.  We toured two mansions, Rosalie and Longwood and three homes: Texada, The Burn and Twin Oaks.  Twin Oaks and The Burn also serve as working b&b's...they were super neat!  We also took a fun carriage tour which I highly recommend.  Being the bookworm that I am, I had to see the Turning Angel statue in the Natchez City Cemetary.  Kinda creepy, I know, BUT I absolutely love Greg Iles (his books are so good) and this statue was the title of the very first book that I read of his. 

I'm already ready to go back for the Fall Pilgrimage in October...I love Natchez!!  Check out their pilgrimage website here to plan your trip! 

Clockwise: Mom & me, the Turning Angel, the Mississip', our carriage tour and Rosalie

Clockwise: Confederate graves in the city cemetary, Longwood, unfinished upper floors of Longwood and The Dr's Inn

TWO WORDS...

COMPUTER PROBLEMS (or idiot-user problems). Seriously. For the last 3 months. YIKES!!  So, although I've missed several months, you haven't missed much at all.  Well, except for the fact that our baby is getting cuter, sweeter and bigger every day...but DUH.  :)  So, let's start with:

JANUARY:  It's cold in January, the fireplace is always on and I always have cabin fever.  This naturally leads to long Saturdays out running errands and shopping...much to my credit card's dismay.  I can't help it.  I get bored and I want to buy things!  Stafford, on the other hand, discovered that his palate is expanding to include: McDonald's cheeseburgers!  This kiddo LOVES a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (Plain) and French Fries from McDonald's.  He's borderline obsessed with this meal so being the naturally good cook that I am, I let him eat it whenever and wherever he wants.  Is it bad that my two year old sees the arches and instantly says "fwench fwies?"  To counter-act this new found love...we've started back at his gym classes.  He loves them!!

January Happenings

FEBRUARY:  Ah, the month of LOVE! I've always loved February because it contains my favorite holiday - Valentine's Day!  It never gets old for me...I love the red & pink themes, the chocolates, the flowers and the gushy cards.  This Valetine's Day was spent all together as a fam - eating hibachi.  Stafford inherited his love for fried rice from his Daddy.  This month also involved spending time in Oxford and Memphis.  Sis and I had a sister-date to Wicked and it was PHENOM.  I want to go see it again.  LOVED IT! Of course, since we have a cheeseburger lover, we had to have lunch at Huey's!

February Happenings

MARCH:  Why is March such a tease?  Beautiful, spring weather one day and cold, rainy weather the next.  Despite the can't-make-up-it's-mind weather, March was slam-packed with fun activities.  We journeyed to Oxford for a full weekend of Ole Miss sports.  Marshall Henderson's last home basketball game as a Rebel and Ole Miss baseball!  Saying that we love Ole Miss sports is an understatement!  We also played at the outlet mall, watched TONS of March Madness and "learned" how to play golf at Perry's birthday party.  March was FUN!

March Happenings

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Welp, since we are three days in to 2014, there goes my intention to do "A Year in Review" before the new year actually hit.  OH WELL! Believe it or not, picture queen over here did not take one single picture on New Years Eve ( I am so mad at myself for that!) but we had a great time dining and celebrating with great friends anyway!

Now...the dreaded New Year's Resolutions.  Do you make those?!!  I debated on whether or not it's even worth it to make them this year...I mean, really.  I'm pretty sure that I've never followed through with any that I've made.  I've made sincere ones and silly ones but I simply cannot get them to stick. For example, in grad school, one of my resolutions was to eat less crispitos, burritos and potato logs from Chevron...uh, major fail.  I think I probably ate MORE of them! Regardless of my success (or rather fail) rate, I've decided to make a few resolutions anyway...after all, I am a sucker for tradition.  So, here are my "resolutions" for 2014:

1.  To REALLY start training for a half marathon
2.  To spend more time with God
3.  To put down my phone, my Ipad, my computer, etc. and just be PRESENT
4.  To read more and DVR less :)
5.  To not sweat the small stuff

Best of luck to all of you in making (and following through!) with your resolutions!  I hope 2014 will bring you much love, lots of happiness and constant joy! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Scenes of Christmas

CHRISTMAS...my favorite time of the year!  Our Christmas was amazing and I'm sad that it has already come and gone.  We started out by having the Stacy family Christmas the weekend before we left for Tennessee.  I love getting all of the cousins together - they are so much fun to watch!  Opening presents is pure, organized chaos with all four of them diving in at once.  It really is so cute to see how excited they get! LOVE these big families.



 

The week of Christmas, our family of three (Ace got to stay home this go-round!) headed to Tennessee for the Stafford family Christmas.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I was SO ready to get home!  We hightailed it out of Mississippi on Monday and got to spend five whole nights in Dyersburg.  It was pure Heaven!!!  We literally had something going every day and every night but I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I got to see my besties (except for Stace...where were YOU?!), eat at my favorite places, travel to Greenfield, lay on the couch and spend lots of QT with my family.  I seriously did not want the week to end.  Is it weird that I still cry when I pull out of my driveway?  Literally, I've been doing that since I left for college so it's probably time to stop now! :) 

 

We were all spoiled rotten this year and we're thankful for another wonderful year with our families.

Merry Christmas!!

 

Christmas, Christmas Time is Near

Does my title have you singing the Chipmunks Christmas song yet?! I am SO EXCITED that Christmas IS HERE!!  This is hands-down my favorite time of the year and I'm already getting sad that it's so close to being over.  December is always such a fun and busy month for the Stacy crew.  I love all of the shopping, wrapping, partying and movie watching.  We've had several super fun Christmas parties and Santa encounters thus far.  Stafford is a Santa's, lap-sitting PRO.  I secretly hoped for one of those screaming kid pictures on Santa's lap (is it awful that I love those and think they're hysterical?!) but no-can-do for my little man.  He LOVES Santa even though the picture below doesn't seem like it! I definitely do not have a "smiler" when it comes to getting pictures made. 

Just a few Christmas-y pictures below to leave you with.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

scenes from December

Reason for the Season

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-L-Y beautiful reminder of the reason for the season. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Stacy Family!! 

the three of us