Here it is, the Dec 2011/Jan 2012 cover...

And, if you want to be one of the firsts to see it online, click here!

Our 2011 Christmas Card

We sent out our Christmas cards last Friday, and since most have already received their cards by mail... it's time to send it out to our blog readers!!  We wish you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Have a blessed Christmas season, y'all!!

Mr. & Mrs. Singley

Two weekends ago, I photographed a wedding in Kemper County.  The cousin (Tommie) of the bride asked me around this time last year to take their wedding photos.  Now, this isn't something I do all the time, but I do take them from time to time.  I had a blast capturing their day and I hope you enjoy the photos.  Here is a little sneak at their wedding day.  Congratulations Mindi and Kyle — I wish you both all the happiness this world has to offer!

 

2011 Thanksgiving Thankful Thursday

 

For the past three weeks I have blogged about being thankful on "thankful thursday" and if you happened to miss the first post, click here to view it, to view the second post, click here and to view the third post, click here.  Here is my top five for this, my last 2011 "thankful thursday" series.

• I'm thankful for my love, Terry.  This is our third Thanksgiving together and each year gets sweeter and sweeter.  Life before him was just life, but I now know it was just my preparation for my future with him.  God did bless the road that led me straight to him.  I love our past, I love our present and I'm already praying for our future and I know I will love it as well.  I use to ask friends, "how did you know he's the one?"  Their answers were always vague and I didn't understand, but now I do.  You really can't explain it — however, when you know, you really do know.  And I'm blessed to know he is the one.  I'm very thankful for our life together and the love we share.   

• I'm thankful for my parents.  I'm thankful for the life they provided for me growing up and the example they set as husband and wife.  They have been married for 40 years and that's rare to hear of these days.  I'm thankful that they are proud of the woman I am today and I love the fact that they consider Terry part of our family.     

• I'm thankful for my papaw and my granny.  My papaw (my dad's dad) and my granny (my mom's mom) are the only two grandparents I have living.  I know most of my friend's grandparents aren't living anymore and I'm blessed to have them still here with us.  I don't get a chance to see them often, but I'm thankful to see them during the holidays and special occasions.

• I'm thankful for extended family.  Family time during the holidays are important to us.  There is always laughter and cameras flashing.  Stories from earlier days are always told and hugs coming and going are guaranteed.  And as most will probably say, their family is the best, but we know our families are the best! 

• I'm thankful for my friends.  My friends are more than just friends, they are the sisters I never had.  They are always there and never take advantage of our friendship.  They are supportive and tell it like it is.  Some I see on a regular basis and others have the iPhone always on the charger.  =)  Our conversations are never short and both parties listen and talk.  They are excited about my future and can't wait to share in our future memories. 

Thanksgiving isn't the only time we should stop to think about what all we are thankful for, but it's wonderful to be reminded that we all should be thankful.  Today and always, give thanks to the Lord above for without him, none of this is possible. 

Enjoy your day with family and friends and never forget to be thankful because we are all blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!

It's beginning to look alot like CHRISTMAS!

Saturday morning, we decided if we were going to put up the tree — that was the day.  Of course, having the air running while putting the 9.5 foot tree in place was miserable, but I'm happy to say it's done.  Not to say there wasn't any issues that came our way.

Like I said, the tree is 9.5 foot very full, prelit tree.  When I bought the house in 2007, the previous owners had bought this tree and decided to leave it when the house sold because the house they were moving to didn't have high enough ceilings.  So, it became my baby — well, BIG baby.  It's been a great tree, even though Terry hates to put it up every year.  And this year, after we put the first of four parts of the tree together — some of the lights weren't working.  Now, you know you can't decorate the tree until the lights are working and it's been fluffed.

Off to Lowes we go in search of this...

 
Guess what?  IT WORKS!!  Saved the Christmas tree and helped get the ball rolling again.  Then it was time to finish the assembly, fluff and decorate. 

Here is our 2012 Christmas tree...

Busler/Misenar Father/Daughter Art Show

Tonight, we had the pleasure of attending Charlie Busler and Rachel Misenar's father/daughter art reception at Lucas Road Art Gallery.  Their work is amazing... both individually different, but alike in some ways.  Enjoy the photos from tonight...

Rachel Misenar and her sweet daddy Charlie Busler

Sharon, Charlie, Rachel and Seth and little Jude and Hazel — Hazel's facial expression is too cute!

Me and my favorite Mississippi artist!

I finally got to see JENNIFER!!!  Wish I lived closer to these sweet friends!!  

But, always good to see them when they are in town!

Thankful Thursday 2011 #3

 

The past two weeks I have blogged about being thankful on "thankful thursday" and if you happened to miss the first week's post, click here to view it and to view last week's post, click here.  Here is my five for this "thankful thursday" series.

• I'm thankful for little babies.  I have friends that have little ones and they are so precious to be around.  The giggles, smiles and little noises bring me pure joy.  They have no idea what the future holds for them, but we already know exactly what they might grow up to be.  Our hopes and dreams for them are huge and we know they will never want for anything in this world.  Maybe one day we will have the pleasure of raising a little one.

• I'm thankful for Mississippi State Football.  No, they aren't having the season we thought they would have this year, but I still LOVE my bulldawgs.  We bleed maroon and love the sound of a cowbell.  And no matter what, you'll always hear me saying, "GO DAWGS!" 

• I'm thankful for toe socks.  Mississippi doesn't have the coldest of winters, but I'm pretty sure I have the coldest feet on the planet.  You can't really see the toe socks while I'm wearing my shoes, but they come in the cutest colors and they are very comfortable and very warm for my little toesies.

• I'm thankful for Christmas lights.  Especially this time of year, it's wonderful to pass by houses with their twinkling lights glowing through the windows.  It brings a smile to my face to see them lit up for the season.

• I'm thankful for my iPhone.  I'm not really sure how I got by without it all those years.  Everything I know is on that phone, from phone numbers to my calendar of things to do... Thank you Steve Jobs for designing something that we can't seem to live without, but also thank you for designing it to do everything we need it to!

You might not think these things are something to be thankful for, but I do.  Each means something to me and I'm thankful for them.  Come back next Thursday to see my last Thankful Thursday list...

Happening this Friday

Charlie Busler & Rachel Misenar

Father/Daughter Art Show

Lucas Road Art Gallery

2211 5th Street Suite 105

Meridian, MS 39301

601-483-0028

November 18th - December 9th

With a reception this Friday, November 18th from 6-8

Holiday Memories: Guest Host — Camylla Leonardi

Today's post is an addition in the November Sunday series on the Holidays.  And today's guest post is by my wonderful bloggy friend, Camylla!! 

Camylla has a super cute blog called "Simply Me" and if you don't already follow her, well, you will want to now!  I LOVE her sense of style and her tutorials and this chick knows how to cook.  She will be guest posting again soon with a wonderful recipe you'll be dying to try!

Hello all of Joy's lovely readers! I'm Camylla from "Simply Me" and I'm so happy that Joy invited me to guest post today. I loved the topic she gave me... Christmas!!! {my all time favorite holiday}

I have a really big family My mom's side of the family all live in Brazil, and my dad's side all lives here and even though were kind of separated, the family that lives here is still huge. Brazilians are known for their sence of humor, personality, parties and my family is no exception, We LOVE PARTIES! and when we do them, we do it BIG! Getting together with all my family is awesome. I have 12 cousins that live here, and were all around the same age, so when we get together the party lasts all night. No, literally, ALL NIGHT! The party is usually at my Grandmas house, so we bring our pijamas and sleep there because we make so much food that everyone comes back and has it for lunch the next day!

Dressing up is also one of my favorite things! It's like a fashion show, we start all year looking for the PERFECT outfit to wear for christmas. Every year we do secret Santa and its deff one of the best parts of the whole night! It's so fun to share presents with the ones you LOVE!



Christmas 2008 {first christmas being married}with my father in law

Christmas 2009 the appetizer table

Christmas 2009, with my daddy and younger sister

My puppy cherry checking out the presents {Christmas 2009}

Christmas 2010 with my mom and sisters!

Only some of the cousins I mentioned

 This is already the day after. When we all came back for leftovers.

I have to admit, this year I'm not looking forward to Christmas that much. It will be the first time in my life that I don't spend with my mom, dad and sisters. Christmas just wont be the same without them, but I'll try to enjoy it as much as possible and hopefully this is the first and LAST time this happens... 

I hope you all have an amazing Holidays, filled with love and joy! Come and visit me sometime at Simply Me.

Thanks Camylla!  It looks like you and your family have a wonderful time during the Holidays!  And even though your mom, dad and sisters won't be with you this Christmas, you know they will be with you in spirit and thank goodness for pictures, right!  =)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!! 

Joy



Veteran's Day Program at Clarkdale

This morning, we attended the Veteran's Day Program at Clarkdale Attendance Center.  The 1st through 4th grade classes presented a patriot performance for family and friends.  My mom is the music teacher at Clarkdale, and here are some of the photos I took at the program.  Enjoy!  And thank you to all our Veteran's — without you, we wouldn't have the freedom we have, today.

Lily enjoying the program and looking forward to starting kindergarten next year 

and then smiling with "Aunt NeNe" aka, my mom.

Thankful Thursday 2011 #2

 

Last week, I started my series on "thankful thursday" and if you happened to miss last week's post, click here to view it.  Here is my five for this "thankful thursday" series.

• I'm thankful for my talents.  Whether they are being used everyday or once a week, I'm very thankful for them.  I believe God gives everyone a talent and it is their job to figure out what that talent is and to use it to the best of their ability.  Talents can be as different as reading to children or singing on Broadway.  Isn't it a blessing to know that we are all given talents?!

• I'm thankful for the right to vote.  Two days ago, we went back to the poles to vote on elected officials and three other amendments.  Thankfully, we have the right to vote however we see fit.  Republican, Democrat, yes or no, it's our decision and our vote.   

• I'm thankful for the four seasons.  Even though in Mississippi we really only have "hot and cold," I'm thankful for fall, winter, spring and summer.  Fall is my favorite, but there is something I love about all of them. 

• I'm thankful for common sense.  The ability to think for myself, and know what is right from wrong.  The roads we've traveled in life help bring our common sense to a new level.  I'm thankful for those experiences and how they have helped me along the way.  

• I'm thankful for having my senses.  Can you imagine not being able to taste, hear, see, feel and/or smell the season that is among us?  We go through life with these senses and forget to thank God for giving them to us.  Some people don't have all of these wonderful senses, so we should be thankful every day for them.

You might not think these things are something to be thankful for, but I do.  Each means something to me and I'm thankful for them.  Come back next Thursday to see what else I'm thankful for...

Judgement Day

I'm going to attempt to say this without hurting anyone's feelings... and if I do, please forgive me.

Facebook can be a wonderful thing.  You get to keep up with friends and classmates that you don't get to see regularly, remember birthdays that otherwise you would forget and you get to read statuses from your friends (what they are doing, photos, etc.).  I do enjoy having a facebook, but today was the first day I've thought about deleting my page. 

Yesterday was election day and on top of all the elected official offices we were voting on, there was also three other things to vote on.  One had facebook all in an uproar for months, especially the past three days.  In case you aren't in Mississippi, I'll post what Amendment 26 is...

"Initiative #26 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to define the word 'person' or 'persons', as those terms are used in Article III of the state constitution, to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof."

Now, if you still don't know what I'm talking about, you can google it and read the pros and cons and see the different views people were taking on this issue.

I, for one, did not vote yes or no, I left it blank.  Why?  Because I didn't feel this was ready for vote.  I am "pro-life" even though certain Christians are saying I can't be a Christian and/or be "pro-life" and vote no.  I'm not trying to start WWIII with this post, I'm just saying who are we to judge anyone's vote.  Voting is a right that we have living here in the United States. 

Now, here is why I wanted to delete my facebook (especially today), I had certain people on facebook judging others who voiced their opinion on how they voted.  And unless I'm wrong, and I'm 100% sure I'm not, there is only one God and yesterday nor today is judgment day, otherwise we Christians would not be here arguing about this.

Whether you voted yes or no, or left it blank as I did, it was your right to vote this way.  You had your own reasons just like everyone else who voted.  And just like many of you, I prayed about this and my decision was clear as to how I was going to vote yesterday when I arrived.  However, criticizing people for the way they voted is not going to solve anything. 

Maybe by the weekend, hatred from yesterday's vote will be no more.

Holiday Recipes: Guest Host — Darby Hawley

Today starts a November Sunday series on my blog for Holiday Recipes.  And today's guest post is by my wonderful bloggy friend, Darby!! 

Darby has a super cute blog called "Life with the Hawleys" and if you don't already follow her, well, you will want to now!  She is also the mom of one precious pup named Tomlin.  Enjoy this first post of the series!! 

I have to be honest, I am beyond thrilled and honored to be guest posting today on a Socialite’s blog.  Does that make me a socialite too? I sure do hope so ;-) 
I wanted to share with you a special recipe in our house for this season.  Family, friends, and my husband beg me to make them all the time.  I cook these mini pumpkin muffins so many times throughout October & November that I’ve practically memorized the recipe.  Personally I think these little gems are delicious, but they are also so pretty and festive.  My husband and I love these muffins with our coffee in the morning. hmmmmmm just thinking about that makes me crave them.  This recipe was originally for Pumpkin Spice Cake (by Better Homes), but I’ve adapted it to work for muffins. The pan I use is from Pampered Chef, and I think it’s been discontinued, but it looks very similar to this one from William-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (As a staple in my baking I only use Libby's Pumpkin)
• vanilla icing (I buy mine and then dye it myself)

Directions:

1.    Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile grease and flour pan and set aside.  In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; set aside.

2.    In a mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on a medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  In a separate small bowl, mix together butter and canned pumpkin.  Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk-pumpkin mixture to butter mixture, beating on a low speed after each addition just until combined.  Pour into prepared pans, only filing cups halfway. 

3.    Bake in a preheated over at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before trying to take out of the pan and then allow to cool for an additional 30 minutes before trying to frost or glaze.

I made these around Halloween and added a plastic rat because I was trying to be spooky :-)  

Thank you so much Joy for having me :-) I hope you all enjoy these festive muffins as much as we do!


Thanks Darby!  I can't wait to try your recipe!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!