We've known we were closing on our new house for a few weeks, and we also knew we were going to do some renos as soon as we signed on the dotted line. (Technically we signed a million times, and it was on a straight line. LOL) While we know exactly what we want to do to the new house, we wanted to make sure what we were picking went together, looked good, etc. And there was no one better to ask than our sweet and precious friend, Abs!! She is Miss Creative USA and also believes in the value of the dollar.

So Friday, she drove all the way from NOLA to Birmingham to help us finalize our decisions, and to have a little fun! And, because she's a cupcake fan... I went to Edgars (which I just found out is right by my office) and picked out some cupcakes for her arrival.

clockwise... salted caramel (which the Mr calls "salty dog"), root beer, red velvet, and white russian...

But before we could dig into these, we had dinner at J. Alexanders.

We all three had steak, but I decided on the filet. Y'all, that steak was perfect, and that volcano of mashed potatoes were divine. Too bad I couldn't eat it all!!

After dinner, we went to the new house for Abs to get a good look at what we would need help with the following day. Let's just say the drive back to the house was a memory in itself. You know you're best friends when driving down the interstate, me in the passenger seat taking the wheel so she can take pictures of a perfect rainbow. Then laughing til we hurt all the way to the house.

And after we devoured the cupcakes back at the apartment, we all crashed. It was a long week for the Mr and I, but we didn't drive near about the miles that Abs did.

We let her sleep as long as we could, but I'm pretty sure all the noise I was making in the kitchen making breakfast had her up earlier than she wanted to be. (I wanted her fueled and ready to go!)

We made a lot of stops, and I do mean a lot. But in the end, we found some steals on lighting, and brought back to the house pints of paint to see if we really liked it on the walls. We also got everything just about planned out for the renos. We made a LOT of decisions yesterday which drained us completely!!! But poor Abs had to suffer with all the terrific finds stuffed next to her in the back seat on the way home.

And she didn't have a problem with it until we made the big left turn off the interstate and all the boxes came crashing on top of her!

Once back at the house, the Mr unloaded the fab finds and we started putting the paint on the walls to see if we really loved it.

And we did!! The top left is one of the bathroom colors, the right is another bathroom color (the farthest green to the right is the one we picked) and the bottom left is our kitchen color (gray)!! The entire inside of the house is painted Lenox Tan, and we plan to keep most of the rooms that color for the time being. The house is a 5/3 with a living room, dining room and a huge laundry room... so we figured three rooms of color was enough right now. Of course, I can't wait to see the paint now after it has finally dried with a second coat, and see the rooms after the professionals get it painted completely!!

We said goodbye to our Aborito, but in five short weeks she'll be back to see everything we picked installed and done!! We came back to the apartment and realized what a whirlwind of a day it was and... crashed.

Sunday, we had a lot to accomplish. We had to get an idea of what appliances and furniture were going in the house. But before we could start that process... we had to get our grub on.

We've been wanting to eat here, and we finally tried it out! The music was pumping, and the food wasn't bad either.

Actually, the food was pretty yummy. One of the best burgers I've had next to the Mr's. And the menu has tons to choose from... so we will be back!

And after a long afternoon of looking at couches, fridges and other fun stuff. We decided to call it a day and go home.

We got a lot accomplished, but there is still so much more to do. I guess that's what next weekend is for. =)

Hope y'all are having a wonderful end to July!

We did it...

As I mentioned in last night's post, we've had a busy week. Along with working long hours everyday, we also managed to sign our lives away on Friday morning. And we couldn't be happier about it!!

We've officially planted roots in Alabama!! Of course we have some renos beginning this week, but we plan to be moved in our new abode by the end of August. We are so excited about this newest adventure and plan to keep y'all updated along the way. Look for before, during and after photos coming soon. And thanks to our wonderful and dedicated realtor, Wanda Turner. She started helping us look for our dream home back in December, and boy did she ever find us a gem! We still can't believe it's ours!!

Better late than never...

As many of you know, we've had a very busy week (more on that tomorrow) but here is last weekend's recap of the Mr's birthday.

Saturday we went to my parents house to play with the Mars...

Sweet girl ready for belly rubs!

She loves playing with ALL her toys...

Want to know what she is thinking.... "stop with the camera in my face, mom!"

A serious conversation going on here... something about no licking in the face?!?1 ;)

Sunday, we celebrated with the Mr's family...

The mil's birthday was the day after the Mr's... so we celebrated her day that weekend, too!

We LOVE coke icees... so this was the perfect birthday cake!

You're never too old for a fun birthday cake...

And you're never too old to make a wish...

Happy Birthday to the #1 Hubs

Sssshhhh.... today is the Mr's birthday! =)

And this is the face I'm sure to get when he reads the blog and sees that this post is all about him!

However, I couldn't let this day go by without letting the blog world know what an amazing hubs I have. And he deserves all the attention today.

We're back in Meridian celebrating with our families. However, I hope he knows how much he is loved... not only today, but all the other days of the year.

I love you to the moon and back, and I mean it, always!! ~ Mrs. Sowell

Top 5...

We close on our house next week, and here is a list of my top 5 reasons why I can't wait to move into our lovely, Sweet Home Alabama.

#5...

 I can't wait to not live with bins all around us. Having a place for everything to go (not just piled up somewhere or stacked in bins) will make me ever so happy.

#4...

A bigger bathroom with two sinks, again. This will make us both so SO happy. =) (BTW, the Mr thinks I have too much "stuff" so having our on vanities will be HUGE)

#3...

A bigger kitchen! It's pretty hard to cook as much as I do (and love to) with this little counter space and storage space. The new house has so much room and I can't wait to cook our first meal there!

#2...

Parking in a garage, again. And not having to get in and out in the rain with groceries, etc. I love that our apartment is on the bottom floor, but it's still not convenient parking so far away from the entry to our unit.

AND......

#1...

yeah, we haven't even removed it from the packaging =(

Having our first official home as Mr & Mrs Sowell!!! Finally a place to hang our wedding pictures. Finally a place to host and entertain with our friends and family. Finally a place to raise our future (one day, not now) kids. Finally a place to enjoy "the Sowell life!"

and to live happily ever after....

Our weekend in an instagram...

Honestly, today is the first day of the weekend that I've been awake. Friday at noon I had some oral surgery that has had me out of commission for a few days. Yes, I've been out of it and when I'm not, I'm in pain. But thankfully, it's getting a little better each day. The Mr has been pretty wonderful (even more than normal) helping me with staying medicated, getting up to walk around and making sure I'm staying hydrated and nourished.

The food keeping me going...

And when I wasn't in a coma, this was my view...

However, tonight I had ...

loaded potato soup from O'Charleys. I couldn't eat the potatoes and bacon, but the broth was pretty good.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go back to work. Hoping for a restful night, and a pain free day tomorrow.

Thanks for all the emails, fb messages and texts. The Mr keeps me up-to-date after I wake up with the messages while I was asleep. And thanks for all the prayers. I'm blessed with sweet family and friends.

Sweet Home Alabama

The Mr and I have some excited news for all our readers. I've been wanting to scream it from the rooftops for a couple of weeks, but we wanted to make sure we had all our t's crossed and our i's dotted... basically just making sure the inspection came back all clear. Yep, you know what that means...

We've officially planted roots in Alabama!!

That's right... it's all ours in less than two and a half weeks!!! It's the perfect house for us. We love entertaining, and it has enough room for that and more! We have some renovations we are planning to do, so we won't be moving in right away, however we should be in before Labor Day... maybe even sooner!! We are so excited, and can't wait to get settled in our new abode. And I can't wait to have our personal decorator come and help make our house a home!

Don't worry, I've already taken the before shots and plan on updating y'all along the way with the afters. =)

But until we move in, our apartment is basically a storage unit. All those bins we moved this past weekend from Mdn, well... half of them (the ones that wouldn't fit in the storage unit) are all over the apartment. The best part, we won't be living like this much longer, and that's what keeps me from going insane with the nonexistent organization.

So, stay tuned for upcoming posts about our "Sweet Home Alabama!" We've got a calendar with weeks/weekends already booked with guests, and this makes me very happy!!
 

Our weekend in an instagram...

This past weekend included a lot of hard work, heavy lifting, and sweating! But, before all that began... we had dinner at McAlisters with my parents and...

and she loved it! Not only because she got to see us, but they also give her her own bowl of water AND a bowl of turkey. Which just happens to be her favorite!!

That evening, mom and dad helped us with some packing before we got some sleep, and began the huge process of packing it all up on Saturday.

Saturday morning, the mil and my mom came to help pack the rest of our belongings in bins. We sold a lot of our furniture, and other items so we thought we didn't have that much more to pack. Boy were we wrong. Thankfully, the fil and our friend Craig came over to help with some VERY heavy lifting.

After we couldn't do anything else physically, we headed to my folks house for dinner and some rest. This was the first time for me to stay at their house in at least four years. And of course, Mar Belle thought she could whine/pout her way into letting us let her sleep with us...

however, it didn't work. LOL Yet she did come and check on us twice during the night. =)

We woke up Sunday morning and played with little MB until mom had breakfast waiting on us...

There wasn't a Sunday morning that I remember not having pancakes for breakfast.

Of course, pancakes can make you really sleepy and ready for a mid morning nap...

But, there was no time for a nap for us. We gave the Mars some more loving and off to finish the packing and loading we went.

But we stopped and got some fuel for energy.

One for me, the Mr and the fil.

I should have gotten a before shot, but this is what we walked into Sunday morning before loading up...

It doesn't look like a lot, but we filled my car to the max, the Mr's truck to the max and had to rent a u-haul to pull behind his truck. And yes, it was loaded top to bottom, side to side.

After loading and saying our goodbyes, we took off headed to Bham.

Next time we pull into Meridian, we will officially be out of towners. How crazy is that?!?!

We seriously could not have done all of this without our parents' help. They were life savers this weekend. Just another reason why we can say we have the best family, ever!
 

Camera Bag & Strap

So, if y'all remember, I got a new camera for my birthday. =)

My parents and the Mr's parents gave me a Kelly MOORE camera bag!

The Kelly MOORE MiMi bag in grey... LOVE!

 

A snap shot of the inside of the bag... I just put the camera in, gotta put the rest of my camera accessories in now.

And here is the new camera strap and the bag together...

I love yellow and grey together!! It was the perfect pop of color!

I'm so excited to own this bag. It serves as a camera bag (main purpose/why she sells them), but you can pull out the dividers and just use it as a purse. She has more on her website to chose from at kellymoorebag.com.

So... what do you think?!?! I can't wait to start using it and getting all my new camera gear in there.

Shannon's Salute to America

The end of our 4th of July celebration was pretty awesome. Shannon spent all afternoon working to make sure he had everything set up for the show that evening.

The beginning was a video of the Koren War, and the end, well... I'll let my photographs explain the rest!

The boat with all the fireworks in the lake... detonating from Shannon's computer next to us...

I've seen plenty of firework shows in my life, but this one topped them all. BTW, they were set to music!!

Thanks again Shannon for all your hard work. We can't wait to see what you come up with next year!!