Kitty.

This past weekend was INSANE. And it is only going to get worse! I wish I could show y'all a picture of my bulletin board that is FULL of wedding invitations and party invitations. It is definitely wedding season, y'all!!!

Friday night, I went to Uncle Dave Macon Days with my grandparents and parents after work. Most of my family goes to this festival for the music, but I definitely go for the food...funnel cakes, lemonade, fried pies, fried fish, yum yum yum!

On Saturday, while I was outside watering my flowers, I noticed a momma cat and a few baby kittens. Of course, since I am the cat-lover in my family, I was worried about them. Brad assured me that they would be fine, so I left for work. I worked most of the afternoon, went to a fun Luau Shower for my sweet friend, Jaclyn, and then I met my parents at our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. As soon as I got home, I immediately looked for the kittens again. Brad told me he had seen one around the porch for a while during the day, so I was worried that the momma cat moved them and left one behind.

The next morning as Brad and I were getting ready, we noticed a tiny kitten under my car. It was pouring rain, so we chased it around the backyard until we could catch it. We had several things to do that day, so we left the kitten in my garage so it could be in a dry and warm place. When we got home, we decided to bring the kitten in and give it a bath since it was covered in mud. As we were giving it a bath, we noticed a small hole in it's neck. I knew it wasn't a good thing, as we noticed several maggot-looking things around it. (Y'all, I know this is disgusting and probably too much info). Anyways, I immediately called my older sister, who is a vet tech, and she gave us specific directions for the kitten. During the night, Brad and I basically got up every 2 hours to feed her, clean her wound, and help her use the bathroom. Brad did a lot of it because I have a very weak stomach.

I took her to the vet the next morning before I went to work, and they decided to keep her and do some tests. I got a call later that morning from the vet explaining the kitten's condition. If you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip this part. Anyways, he basically said that she had swallowed a fly larva, and the larvae had to go somewhere - you get the picture. They gave us some oral antibiotics and other meds after they had cleaned the wound. They said she was probably 4 weeks old and weighed .8 lbs.

Brad picked her up after work, and he fed her and gave her her medications. She slept for pretty much the rest of the evening, which I thought was probably pretty common. Brad and I tried to decide on names for "Kitty" as we had been calling her, but we couldn't agree on one. Brad woke me up right before 3 a.m. and told me that he thought Kitty was about to die. She looked so pitiful. Brad was holding her in his hands, and she took one big breath and died right in his hands. Of course, I was a mess after that. Brad and I cleaned her off, and he took her out at 3 a.m. and buried her near our sweet Georgia.

I know y'all are probably like "why in the world is she telling us this horrible story???" I have to tell you, I think that little kitten was a gift from God. Brad and I tried and tried to save her, but she was not meant to stay here. For the past two days, I saw a completely different side of Brad - I saw an unbelievably loving and fatherly side - I truly think that God sent us that kitten to show me what an amazing father Brad will be. He would swaddle the kitty up and carry her around. He lovingly called her "Little Bit" and "Turtle" because she would curl up and tuck her head in whatever we had her wrapped up in. He got up nearly every other hour to check on her. She was seriously like our baby, and we treated her like that. I am still emotional about the whole thing, but Brad just lets me cry, and he tells me that her little body just couldn't handle all the stress.

We are both exhausted now, but I know that we will never forget our sweet Kitty!

So, that's the craziness that was my weekend - sorry for the strange post, but I just needed to get it out!

Blessings, y'all!

Model for a day.

Today was such a beautiful day, and I was reminded of another beautiful day last May - no, not my wedding...the day I made my bridal portraits!

My wedding photographer does a lot of fashion stuff, so I for real felt like a model during my bridal portrait. It was such a fun time getting my hair done, make-up done and putting on all the wedding jewelry and attire for the first time. We spent about 3 hours taking pictures - my photographer took over 400! And I love every single one of them!

I love my dress so much, and I would so put it on tomorrow and do it all again - although I doubt I would fit in it. Looking at all these pictures motivates me to get back into shape! Ha! When my mom, grandmother and I went to view all the pictures to pick my actual portrait, I had a hard time really believing that it was me in the pictures...next to the wedding day, this was the best thing about getting married! Here are a few of my favorite shots (all photos property of Chuck Arlund) -

I had my portraits made at a Civil War-dated plantation here in Murfreesboro called Daffodil Hill. The owner of the house is a family friend, so he was gracious enough to let us use his BEAUTIFUL Southern home!

This was the first picture Chuck took.

This was one of my mom's favorites - I love the orange chaise and the color of the room.

This is a picture of Daffodil Hill - I am standing on the balcony. I just love this house!

Outside the house.

This picture is taken outside of another Southern mansion in Murfreesboro - Oaklands Mansion. Most people think Chuck made my veil look like this - I actually had to throw it up and immediately pull my hands down. I kept laughing the whole time - I love the "floating veil" look!

This was actually one of the last shots Chuck got - I just sat down on the front steps of Oaklands and told him to take my picture. I think he got my true personality in this one - I had actually taken my shoes off by this point. This was my favorite picture, and it is the one we chose for my portrait. (can you see my toes poking out??)

I truly felt like a model during this time - you can see some of my other pictures here from a previous post. I will actually post more pictures of the wedding and memories from that day closer to our anniversary...I can't believe it has almost been a year!

During the entire day, I kept thinking about the next time I would be wearing my dress - the day that I would be marrying my best friend, and I seriously could not stop smiling!

So I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with me!

Blessings, y'all!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, y'all! I hope you are all enjoying this day of L-O-V-E!!! Today has been a wonderful day for me, and I have lots of pictures to share with you!

Here is a picture of our house yesterday as the snow was coming down - you can't see the snow, but there were some pretty big snowflakes coming down at one point! You would have thought we were in the middle of a blizzard the way people were flocking to the grocery stores! Ha!

The Warnock's Home

I was so excited to get the mail yesterday, and we had TWO Valentine cards in the mailbox! Thanks, Marcia and Ron! Thank you, Miss Ada! Here is our bulletin board on the fridge where we keep cards, invitations, save-the-dates (those are coming in like crazy) and

pictures of our friends' babies!

Here is my cute clock that I got from Hobby Lobby yesterday for THREE DOLLARS! What a bargain - it says "le thé pour deux" (tea for two in french). I love it!

How do you make me smile from ear to ear????

(notice my NEW short haircut???)

Take some raspberry sherbet, add Jones FUFU Berry Soda, and you get the CUTEST PINK FLOAT!!! One of my sorority sisters works at The Waverly Café, and this is one of their specialities! Brad made them as a surprise dessert for us last night!I made strawberry cupcakes with pink icing last night for mine and Brad's co-workers. Here I am mixing the batter....

Brad decided to help out - doesn't he look like he's having a BLAST??? (He would kill me if he knew I put this on my blog! Ha!)

Filling up the cupcakes...

Here are all 30 of my precious pink cupcakes! I hope everyone enjoyed them today!

Today, we had an Executive Committee Meeting and Board Meeting, so I have pretty much been in meetings all morning long, and I have seen all these women getting flowers at my office. One of my co-workers, Ruth, seriously got the biggest arrangement of roses I have ever seen. I was really hoping that Brad would get me some since I LOVE flowers, but I was beginning to think I wasn't getting any. Then, my handsome husband showed up at my office with this...

It's a BEAUTIFUL arrangement of hydrangeas and pink roses (my favorite flowers) with stargazer lillies! It's the biggest arrangement I have ever gotten! I just kept saying over and over again "It's so huge!" Everyone had to come look, and they were all impressed! I'm not really a red flower kind of girl - I love pink, so I was so happy to see pink roses! Thank you, sweetie!

I hope y'all are having a blessed Valentine's Day!

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

- Deuteronomy 7:9

The Ultimate Love Language

When I started in my small group this past fall, all of the women talked about this one particular book, and they talked about it A LOT - they said wonderful things about this book, talked about how it changed their life, etc. So, I HAD to have this book! What is this book, you ask? It's called The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. One night after my small group, I went to Hastings to see if they had it, and I even found a used copy! (even better!)

To be honest, I haven't really made time to read it until last night. Now, I can't stop reading it. If there was a way that I could read while I was driving, well I'd do it! It's so amazing, and it makes me see things that I have never even thought about. To get you caught up on the book, it's main purpose is to show women the power of praying - and applying it to your relationship. She challenges you to pray for your husband in the key areas of his life including his spiritual walk, his emotions, his role as a father, leader and decision-maker, his security in work and finances, his health, his faith and finally his future.

Last night I was reading about "The Ultimate Love Language" (prayer), and I would like to share this passage with you:
"When you pray for your husband, the love of God will grow in your heart for him. Not only that, you'll find love growing in his heart for you, without him even knowing you are praying. That's because prayer is the ultimate love language. It communicates in ways we can't. I've seen women with no feelings of love for their husbands find that as they prayed, over time, those feelings came. Sometimes they felt differently even after the first heartfelt prayer...The point in all this is that as husband and wife we don't want to be taking separate roads. We want to be on the same path together. We want to be deeply compatible, lifelong companions, and have the love that last a lifetime. Prayer, as the ultimate love language, can make that happen."

I am so excited to see what else this book has to offer - I have a feeling that this book is going to take my relationship with my husband to a new level, and I cannot wait to see what awesome things God has in store for us through prayer.

Have any of you read the book? I would love to know your thoughts...do you pray for your husband? How has it changed your relationship?

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." - Proverbs 31:10-12

We're better together.

This post is going to be totally dedicated to my husband, Brad. We are coming up on our six-month anniversary, and I just wanted everyone to know how much I love my man! The picture above was taken after our wedding ceremony - it completely describes our relationship - JOY. FUN. and LOTS OF LOVE.

Brad and I got engaged after three months of dating - he proposed in front of my whole family (and everyone at my favorite restaurant, Miller's Grocery), and I, of course, said YES! We planned the wedding of our dreams that took place 14 months after we were engaged.

Our relationship is truly "opposites attract." Brad is everything I'm not - he's sarcastic, witty, realistic and a "numbers" guy. I'm a dreamer, not a big fan of sarcasm, and I hate math. I am a morning gal, and he is a night owl. But somehow, it works.

There are so many things that I love about Brad - I love coming home every night knowing that he is hiding somewhere in our house waiting to scare me. I love that even when we are in the most serious conversations, I can look at him and just bust out in laughter. I love that he keeps me in line regarding finances - otherwise, we'd be broke. I love hearing him sing Johnny Cash songs in the shower EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING. I love it when he dances and makes the "froggy" face. I love that he'll watch all the old classic movies with me that I love so very much - Gone with the Wind, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, etc. And I love that every night he tucks me in, kisses my forehead and tells me he loves me.

And tomorrow, we will start a new adventure in our lives as HOMEOWNERS, and we couldn't be more excited. So, here's to you, Jimmy B - I LOVE YOU to the moon and back!

So, if you've got a man you love - hold him close, kiss him sweetly, and let him know how much you truly love him!