I'm never EVER ever having a yard sale again...

You want to know why? Because it is just too stinkin' exhausting! Plus I hate haggling with someone over a quarter??? Anyways, this was the strangest yard sale I have ever had - Brad and I had several nice pieces, but it seemed like everyone was just interested in the junk. We made $65 on a bunch of JUNK. Ha!

I went to my grandparents' house the other day to do a few things, and while I was there, my granny gave me this book...

It is over 250 pages, and I seriously read it in around 3 hours. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. It's an amazing story of faith, hope, love, death, joy, happiness - it's just an amazing story. For more information on the book's subject, click HERE.

As far as my interview goes, it went really well, and I am just waiting to hear back from HR after they check my resources and whatnot! I'm pretty excited about the possibility of a new career, and I am completely trusting God to lead me down the right path. In the meantime, I am going to be working a few days a week at the shop, and I am super excited! It's the busiest time of the year for us (bridal season), and I am pumped!

Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!

Check out Some Like it Southern - she has some fantastic news on her blog!

Blessings, y'all!

Updates!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your sweetness about our Georgia. We are doing better today - it gets a little easier each day. It's hard to come home and immediately look for her, but that's just habit. We still have our other dog, Turner, and he has made it a little easier as well.

In other news, I had an interview at a middle school for an Educational Assistant position - the interview went well, and the department head submitted my name to work with 8th graders! Now, I just have to interview with the principal on Friday - so say a prayer for me! I am also going to meet with an advisor at my alma mater to discuss either getting my teaching certification or finishing an education degree.

Things are starting to look up, which is something that my morale needs tremendously! Please keep the prayers coming - we truly appreciate them!

For now, I have enjoyed being a "domestic" wife! My house is cleaner than it has ever been before, my garden is beautiful, and I have a huge pile of things for our yard sale on Saturday! I have a lot of different projects going on, but I have a million pictures to upload, so hopefully you'll get some pictures soon!

Blessings, y'all!

Dedicated in honor of our sweet Georgia Dooley.

Today has been a hard day for the Warnocks. We had to put our sweet baby girl, Georgia, to sleep this morning. She stayed at the vet on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and I got to bring her home on Thursday afternoon. She was doing much better, but by Friday morning, she was worse. She basically had kidney failure, and there was nothing else we could do for her. She was our first dog that we got together.

I actually got Georgia for Brad as a surprise in the summer of 2006. We had gone to the local animal shelter to play with the puppies, and Brad had played with Georgia and another male dog out of the same litter. Brad really wanted the male one, so when I went back the next day to get him, he was already gone. So, I took the female instead, and she has been with us since she was 10 weeks old. She was a goofy dog, and we often referred to her as "special."

It was a very hard decision for Brad and me, but in the end, we knew we could not let her suffer anymore. So, today we will probably mope around the house and forget about all the plans we had today. If you have a pet - any pet- give it some extra loving for me today (and tell them it's from Georgia!).

Blessings, y'all!

Georgia at around 10 weeks old after I picked her up from her first visit from the vet.

Brad and Georgia after I surprised him with a new puppy!

Brad and Georgia after we had her for a few months.

Georgia and I when she was a big puppy!

Georgia doing her favorite thing - playing outside!

Georgia, our sweet angel.

Please say a prayer for Brad - this was his first dog that was all his, and he is having a terrible time dealing with her death. We have just had a rough couple of weeks, and it doesn't seem like we are ever going to get ahead.

New blog design! And other random happenings...

Okay, so as you can see, I got a new blog makeover! Sweet Ashley at Great Grabbie Designs did a fabulous job and made exactly what I wanted! Thanks, Caroline for the tip about your friend!

Anyways, I am for real in job-search mode! I have sent my resume off to several different places, and now I'm just waiting to see the outcome. I am trying to really pick and choose where I want to work because I have so many different things running through my head. For those of you who really know me, you know that I have always wanted to be a teacher. I started out as an elementary education major, but then I changed mid-way through. Anyways, I have always kind of kicked myself for not doing what my true heart desires. So, there are some options there. I have also considered going back to school to get my Master's. There are just too many things I want to do! Part of me is really nervous about going back to work in the marketing/special event field - it can be really dirty, never-ending work. Plus, I am hesitant to work for anyone that I do not know, because I don't want to get hurt like I did at my previous job. Oh goodness, so many things to think about!

So, for the meantime, I am putting my feelers out (as well as telling everyone I know) about my job hunt. I am completely trusting God right now that He will point me in the right direction. I am trying to find some small odd jobs around town (i.e., babysitting) so if you're in my area and know of someone who needs a good babysitter, send them my way!


All of your prayers are greatly appreciated, things are still rocky right now, so please continue to keep my family in your thoughts!

Have a blessed Thursday!

Prayer warriors needed for Georgia!

So, when it rains, it pours, right?

Anyways, about 10 days ago (before the big termination), our sweet dog, Georgia, got really sick. We had to take her to the animal hospital, and she had to stay there for over 24 hours. It ended up costing us close to $600, but she seemed much better.

Last night, she fell ill again. I took her to our permanent veternarian, and they said she has some kidney problems. They are keeping her for the next two nights to keep her fluids up. There is a possibility that it could be something really horrible, or it may be something that we can fight with medication.

Could you all please say a prayer for our precious baby? She is our first dog, and we rescued her from the pound almost 2 years ago! I know some of you may think I'm crazy, but she's our baby! I'm in a hurry, but I'll try to post more later!

One year.

Has it really been a whole year? I cannot believe it! One year ago today, I married my best friend. I married the man that God has designed for me before I could even fathom being a wife. It was the best day of my life, and everything about the day was perfect.


The weather was perfect.

The dress was perfect.


Our bridal party was perfect.


Our entire day was perfect.


I can seriously say without a doubt that my wedding day was the best day of my life thus far. I have dreamt about my wedding since I was a little girl. I always knew I wanted to have a southern, country wedding, and I wanted to get married at my grandparents' church. I could not have had the dream that I did without the dedication of my family - we worked for months up until the wedding making sure every single little detail was perfect (I'm definitely a detail kind of gal).

So, without further adieu, here are a few (actually a lot) of my favorite images from our wedding....

lena + brad = pure happiness

Thank you for giving me some of the happiest times of my life, Brad! I love you!

5.19.2007

These are some of my favorite images from our wedding. All photos courtesy of Chuck Arlund - http://www.arlundimagery.com/

My wedding dress - a simple, lace, A-line, Henry Roth gown.

The main flower arrangements at the church.

Our flower girl, Tessa, and her sweet button-mum hairpiece.

My parents before the ceremony.

Brad's parents before the ceremony.

My bridal bouquet - my only request was that it had sunflowers.

I love this picture of Tessa - it looks like a painting!

My darling bridesmaids and I before the wedding ceremony.

This picture is very special to me - it is right as I was about the walk down the aisle, and I lost it. My sister saw me crying, and she cried the entire way down the aisle. This picture shows our amazing connection.

I love this picture of my daddy as he was giving me away.

I think I shed a few tears here.

I now pronounce you husband and wife - the kiss!

After our exit as husband and wife.

The bridal party at an old country store that my papa owns.

One of my absolute favorites - I love the way the church looks!

Playing the "kissing game" - I love how happy we look!

Leaving the church in a sea of flower petals.We left for the reception site (my grandparents' barn) in vintage trucks - the bluish green one is my papa's.

Cutting the cake - it was seriously the most delicious cake! I told my caterer that I didn't care what it looked like, as long as it was good!!!

We had flip-flops for all the ladies so you could really dance!

Old photographs of our family displayed in an antique window - I think our family enjoyed this display!

My mom and I collect red and white enamelwear, and I wanted it used throughout the entire reception. We had large jugs of lemonade and tea, and we decorated the outside with fresh fruit.



Our candy bar (using the red and white enamelware again).



A special L and B for our chairs - although, I think I only sat there for about 2.5 seconds!

Our first dance - we danced to "Whenever I see your smiling face" by James Taylor. It's our favorite still to this day!
Daddy-Daughter dance - we danced to "Isn't she lovely?" My beautiful mother. Our beautiful wedding would not have been possible without her.



The entire bridal party - I love this picture.




Another one of my favorites - out in a field behind the barn.



Brad and his frat brother, Dustin, breaking it down. We had an amazing band, Marino Music!

The barn with our white tent - it was seriously one of the most beautiful nights! And they lived happily ever after....

A heartfelt thank you.

First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your kind thoughts, emails and prayers. You have no idea how much that all means to me. Although I am still shocked and confused, I feel that God has been preparing my heart for this for a few months now.

I loved my job very much, but I already feel a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. I am so excited about the many opportunities that are waiting for me.

I cannot not thank my family enough for all of their kindness and thoughtfulness. Although the next few months will be extremely difficult for Brad and myself - financial wise - I know that we will make it. God will provide.

There are a lot of things going on with my termination that are very sticky, so please pray that things will end swiftly so that I can move on from this. Also pray that my heart will not stay bitter. At first, I was devastated. I cried for almost 3 days straight. Now I'm mad, and I don't like the way I feel.

Throughout all of this, Brad and I almost forgot about our one-year anniversary is on Monday! We are not doing gifts as we are trying to save as much money as possible, but we did purchase something for a very good price - more details to come on Monday!

My mom has kept me very busy each day (she owns her own cleaning business, so I've been helping her), and that has helped me tremendously. Brad has gone to Kentucky with my dad for the weekend to watch my brother play Western Kentucky in baseball, so momma and I have the whole weekend to do lots of little projects to complete! One project involves making a homemade fountain for my patio! I'm so excited - hopefully, it will go as well as we hope!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings to you!

Weekend goodies.

I have become such a BAD blogger! Work is so overwhelming right now, especially with the High Tea on Thursday! I'm so so so excited, I seriously cannot sleep because I start thinking about it! My mom and I are doing the floral arrangements, and I cannot wait to see what everything looks like!

So, back on to weekend details...Brad and I received our stimulus check (thank you, Mr. Bush!) this past week! Yay! We had already decided that we were NOT going to save this money, and we were going to use it to stimulate the economy (aka, go shopping)!!! Anyways, we had planned to buy a new sofa set, but we could not find exactly what we wanted. Let me explain, part of me wants to be practical and get a nice microfiber sofa (that is pretty much indestructible), and part of me wants to splurge and get something cute - see my dilemma??? So, we have been looking for a while, and we decided to put part of our stimulus check back into savings so we could save up for something (plus this gives us more time to look).

We got to have a lot of fun this weekend shopping for all sorts of things that we have needed, but just haven't splurged on yet. I got several dresses for work, Brad got lots of nice clothes for work and play, and we bought tons of flowers/other things for our patio.

Here is a picture of our patio with some of the flower pots my mom and I arranged yesterday:

I love our patio so much - we are considering building a pergola to cover the patio area. We also have a HUGE backyard with a fire pit and a horseshoe pit, so we are planning on building a nice little patio area back there as well - it's such a nice and cool, shaded area, so it will be perfect for dining outdoors!

This is a picture of one of the flower beds beside the patio - we added some yellow lantana (spreads very nicely), some type of purple wildflower, and 2 pink rosebushes! Isn't it darling? I love lots of color in flowerbeds!

It's a good thing I got some rosebushes, because my mom and I start our flower arranging class tonight! Mom and I love to do floral arrangements, but we have never been "formally trained." We are taking it at the technical school here in my hometown - it lasts for several weeks, but we get to learn lots! I'm sure I'll be posting pictures from that adventure!

Brad and I are still working on some things for the front porch - can't wait to post pictures!!!

Anyways, I have lots of other things to update, but I'm just running out of time! I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

Blessings, y'all!