WDE Weekend

Back when NTP and I decided to move back to the South from California I resolved to go to as many FSU and Auburn games as possible. So far this season we've been to two FSU games (headed back to Tally again this weekend!) and went to the Auburn vs. UF game this past weekend. We obviously had to meet up with a few of our favorite twitter friends and indulge in some amazing tailgate food!

The weather was perfect, the tailgate was right across the street from Samford Hall, the food was AMAZING (_grits pulled pork sammies are off the chain!), and Auburn won! War eagle! Now I just have to recover from last week so I can get ready for girls' weekend with my two besties in Thomasville/Tallahassee this weekend!

Anyway, here's a few of my favorite photos from the weekend. :) Please excuse our boys. They're out of control.



Love, hugs, and WDE!

GA Official

Sorry I haven't posted in over a month (Ahh!), but I've been super busy with my wonderful new job (woohoo!), moving into my fantastic apartment in Sandy Springs, and becoming an official resident of Atlanta, Georgia!! I'm so incredibly thrilled with how everything is falling into place for me. I truly feel God has led me right where I need to be and I'm so thankful. Now we're just hoping that NTP finds the perfect job very soon. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

I promise to catch up on all of your blog posts ASAP. I've missed y'all!

Love, hugs, and new beginnings...

A Porch's Story

For those that don't know this, we have a large farm here in West Georgia. About 700 acres of hay, cattle, a granite quarry, a small kitchen garden, and about 22 rental properties. So as you can imagine, there's no lack of things to do. I don't weigh enough to operate the tractor to bale hay so lately I've been working on the rental houses. One of which was my great-grandparent's house, built in 1900 by my Great Grandpa, fondly referred to as Daddy Cooley (James Brinkley Cooley). And like any 111 year old house it has its issues. A few cracks in the doors (all original) and unfortunately the last renters didn't treat it as well as it deserved. Let's just say I gagged when I walked in for the first time. (Think non-pottytrained animals and pests.)

Anyway, I've been put in charge of turning the house around and getting it ready to rent again. And wouldn't ya know it, we already have renters ready to move in August first! So between replacing the floors, cleaning, and completely renovating the porch, I'm a busy girl. The porch has been my favorite and most time-consuming because porches just hold so much meaning. So much happens on a Southern porch. It's simply a part of life here and this porch has always been special to me. It has seen many births, deaths, marriages, parties, cookouts, and even served as a bedroom for Daddy Cooley before AC found its way to LaGrange. Yep, he slept on the porch. It served as a place to shell butterbeans, shuck corn, tell exaggerated stories, pull pranks, and watch the sun set while rocking in a handmade rocking chair. It's where Mama Cooley rang the bronze dinner bell her momma used and where the "kid table", made of plywood on top of sawhorses sat every Sunday. My grandmother was born in this house and my grandfather proposed to her on the steps of this porch that's seen it all. It still has it's original wood and banisters and I've seen so many pictures of my mom as a little girl sitting on the steps grinning and holding a different animal in each picture. Oh, and the clothesline out back is still the same one that my momma's pony ran under and knocked her off with when she was about 8. So needless to say, I love this porch and I love this house. And I hope I do it justice.

Bridal Shower! (As Promised!)

Look at me on top of things! I've been running around like a crazy person getting things ready for the meeting with the recruiter tomorrow and I just received another e-mail seconds ago informing me that a recruiter is also reviewing my resume for a position at Emory! Sweet! I plan on staying in GA for about two weeks so I don't have to drive back and forth over and over. So if any of you lovely ladies are in LaGrange, HOLLA! Momma and I also plan on making a trip over to her alma mater, Auburn, (WAR EAGLE!) for the day sometime while we're up there. I'll be sure to post pics from Toomer's. :) But without further ado, here are some of my favorite pics from the bridal shower we hosted last weekend! I literally made all the decorations, favors, and a majority of the food. It was a blast. I should totes do it for a living. Who wants a party planner!? Ok I'm done rambling. Enjoy! (P.S. Not posting a ton of pics of the guests because I don't really know many of them. Respecting some privacy.)







The lovely bride with her sister and mother.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week so far! I'll try my best to keep y'all posted on interview/job updates. I have a feeling something is going to come up very soon! Feeling oddly calm... but I'll take it!

It Just Don't Slow Down!

Wow. I suck. I don't know how all you lovely ladies lead such awesome and exciting lives AND still have time to blog every day. It blows my mind. Obvs I don't have those kinds of time management skills. Anywhooooo...

Things have been, ohhhh just a wee bit crazy. Not too long after I posted the last post I sent my resume to my bestie's father, who then sent it to an old co-worked in Atlanta, who then sent it to his company's marketing director, who then sent it to a recruiter. Whew. Anyway, the recruiter called and we had a great phone interview. Half an hour later, she asked me to come in the next day for a face-to-face interview with both her and then the marketing director of this GINORMOUS international company. Umm, yes. Of course I'll be there. Nevermind that means waking up at 4 am to drive 8+ hours back up to Georgia to be there in time. I totally did it. Me and my giant coffees. Long story short, not sure it went so well, but who knows. Like my mom said, if anyone doubted how much I want a good job, they don't doubt it anymore. After the interview I then drove 2 and a half hours to LaGrange to spend the night at my grandparent's house and then headed back to Florida the next day. On a holiday weekend. You can only imagine the traffic. But again, it was an experience and I'm better for it.

Since then, my mom and I managed to throw a BOMB-A** bridal shower for a girl I grew up with. Pictures to come ASAP because for real, not to toot my own horn, but toot toot! Not only that, but today I was asked to make the bride's veil. As in take her mother's old veil, sew on new lace, and attach it to a comb. No pressure or anything.

But the fun don't stop there folks! Guess who got ANOTHER call from a recruiter today!? That'd be me! That's right I'm heading back up to Georgia after my post op in Gainesville Wednesday and meet with the recruiter Thursday afternoon to discuss a marketing position with a manufacturing company in Kennesaw. Should be interesting. Fingers crossed!

And that's about it for now. I promise to put the bridal shower pictures up as soon as I can - hopefully tomorrow. So stay tuned for some eye-candy!

Hope all of you lovely ladies are doing well!

To Do List

Okay, so things are FINALLY starting to settle down a little. My ear surgery went well, thank goodness and recovery has been soooo much better than the last one. We're all very thankful for that. I spent a week in Georgia at my grandparents' house doing work for the farm (not manual labor, just paying the bills, taxes, collecting checks from renters, stuff like that), but now I'm back in Florida and have the house to myself so I can crack down on my to do list.

1. Find a job.

2. Finally finish unpacking so I can stop living out of boxes.

3. Find a job.

4. Get majorly crafty to prepare for an upcoming bridal shower Momma and I are throwing.

5. Find a job.

6. Wash my car.

7. Find a job.

Yeah that pretty much covers it. Hope y'all have a wonderful Monday! (I'm sure that's possible, right?)

P.S. If anyone knows of any jobs in the Atlanta area please help a sister out! E-mail me! alyson.m.hart@gmail.com Thanks lovelies :)

I'm Alive... Barely.

This is exactly how I feel right now. I'm exhausted! Since I've been MIA for the past few weeks, let me catch y'all up.

I shipped all my stuff home and flew to Orlando on a red-eye flight on which the man behind me proceeded to kick my chair the ENTIRE four and a half hours. I tried to lean my chair back, he'd push it up. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep. Oh, and I lost my earplanes in the middle of the flight, so decent was super fun on my poor ear.

After I landed I was reunited with my mom and dad (tears from mom and me) and we headed to Tiny Town, Florida. Not 10 minutes into the drive my dad was hounding me about graduate school and the first argument began. Sweet, right? But we survived and made it home, where I immediately went to sleep for... 30 minutes. Long day of errands and then I headed off to Orlando with the bestie for her Bachelorette Partyyyy! We had soooo much fun, even though the minivan (that's right, kickin' it in the minivan!) we all squeezed into got towed during dinner and when we called the police dept. to find which towing company took it they didn't have on record anyone towing it, so then we thought it was stolen and they sent a cop out to stay with us until we found something out, and one of my ex boyfriend's (who is the sister of the bride's good friend) came and picked us up to ferry us back home. Awkward and hilarious at the same time.

Then after that it was off to Blue Ridge, GA for the wedding which was stunning and super fun. I have an amazingly gorgeous best friend and that's all there is too it. Sorry I don't have any pictures up. I was so busy running around setting things up that I never had much time to take some.

Then it was back to Florida for a multitude of doctor's appointments. One of which almost stopped my heart completely. I think I posted a little vague somethin'-somethin' about some "girl" issues I've been having. Well on my last pap, it came back abnormal and they've detected what looks like precancerous cells on my cervix. I'm 22. I FREAKED. Went to the Dr. the next day and she said this isn't anything to get too worried about yet. It's treatable and cervical cancer takes decades to form. So, with God's help and y'all's prayers I should be just fine. It was immensely terrifying at the time though. And speaking of health, I go in for my THIRD ear surgery this Friday. We drive over to Gainesville Thursday for my pre-op and then surgery is Friday morning. Bleh. Hopefully this one will go much better than the last one though.

And to cheer myself up over all of this I had a garage sale this past weekend to get rid of all my old stuff. AKA clothes from middle school, old boyfriend's clothes, old stalker's weird presents, etc. I made a pretty penny and now I'm going shopping. Which actually means I'll just be keeping my friend company while she shops since I'm unemployed and all. But hey, it's all good!

And if you made it this far, bless you. I promise to not be such a Debbie-Downer anymore. I really am feeling much better and am just ready to be past this speed-bump in my life. MOVING FORWARD!