All Natural

Gardening is something I never thought I would care about, much less enjoy. However, Daniel had a garden before we got married. Not only that, but chickens too! The garden had grown over, but this summer he got it going again. I wanted to share some of the food that we get to enjoy, and what I get to make out of it!

Our garden has tomatoes, cucumbers (my FAVORITE!), squash, zucchini, green beans, and peppers right now.

And of course, the hens produce eggs. I have to say, it is pretty nice never having to buy any of that at the grocery store!

And this would be the delicious salsa that I made from all our tomatoes! I got the recipe from Mrs. Tracy (best cook ever)! You just mix tomatoes, onions, parsley, garlic, peppers, and lime juice.

While I was outside, I took a picture of Abram. He has been keeping watch over the garden this week since some deer got into it. He's enjoying the shade!

Hope you enjoy the shade this weekend, too! It's HOT outside!
~Gabby



Happy Birthday to Mom!!!

Today is my amazing mom's birthday!

My grandmother took us to Ali V's for lunch. Yummy! I can never get enough of their chicken salad. Then I hung out with Mom all day. We looked around in PrissEllie's Gifts and Decor and she added a new Troll bead to her bracelet! So cute...it's the tortoise and the hare.

I took a break and shipped off some stuff to Amazon that we were returning and ran in Kroger to grab a few deals. Got some great deals on body wash, toothpaste, hand soap, and a toothbrush! I only picked up seven items. The total was $6.32 and I saved $11.51!

The fam went to Chili's for dinner. Their new chicken club quesadillas are delish! We went a little overboard and also had chips and queso and Texas cheese fries. Here are some pics from dinner!

So thankful for my family, especially my Mom. Hope she had a wonderful birthday!
~Gabby

Couponing Craziness

$47.96...What's that you ask? That would be how much I saved at Target today!!! I was so proud of myself. Even though I still had to pay a good bit, I got a lot of stuff, and some great deals! Before I started couponing I did not know that you could use two coupons on one item. You can use a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon! I had lots of Target coupons so I was able to use those and manufacturer coupons I had saved up. I stocked up on toiletries for Daniel and me. The cabinets are full! That was my first big shopping trip since I started couponing. We'll see how I do next time!
~Gabby

Ready for Work!

Last week, my mom and I went shopping for work clothes. I have to wear business clothes, so longer dressy skirts or dress pants with a dressy top and jacket. We had lots of luck at the mall! I took these pictures last week because I was so excited, just never made the post. We shopped in Macy's, where I got three cute skirts!

Then, Ann Taylor, where everything on clearance was an additional 50% off! I got several cute tops and a pair of dress pants there.

And finally, Express, where I got another couple of pairs of dress pants and several tops along with a jacket. I'm so excited about all my new clothes. My mom also picked me up this cute cardigan from Eddie Bauer!

All these new clothes will make working a little more fun! On top of all this, my wonderful sister-in-law had some work clothes she was trying to get rid of, so I picked up these cute tops, skirts, and dresses.

All I need now is a new pair of shoes and I'll be set! One week from today I'll be starting my new job!!!
~Gabby

A 'Girls Day' Saturday

*This was supposed to be posted last night, but the old Inspiron is on its last leg and was not cooperating at all. So I had to finish it up this morning!*

What a great day! Earlier today, I went to a baby shower for my friend, Stephanie. She is having a little girl, Mercie Lynn Minish, in FIVE weeks! I can't believe it's so soon. We can't wait to meet her. Her sister, Amber, also a good friend of mine, hosted the shower at their mom's house. They had decorated so cute! Here is Stephanie and the food table~

Look how creative they are--check out the diaper cake, wreath, and marshmallow booties

And here are Amber, Stephanie, and me.

After the shower we went out to the pool for a while. Then I came home for a quick shower and headed to Lauren's. We went to Dawsonville to meet up with friends we met our freshman year of college. Can't believe that was four years ago! We met at Longhorns to catch up and have dinner. Love them!

Lauren, Me, Maleah, and Jordan

Have a joyful Sunday! So thankful for the wonderful people in my life!
~Gabby

Healthier, lighter, and shorter!

Yes, that would be my new hair style. I have been counting down the days until my hair cut all week. I have had pretty long hair for a while. I absolutely love long hair, but not when it's 100 degrees outside! It was time for a cut, and I decided I would chop about 4-5 inches off. It had gotten pretty long, and it was time for something new! I actually remembered before shots this time. So here it was before...

 And after...

What do you think? I'm loving it! I feel 10 pounds lighter!

~Gabby

Blessed Beyond Measure

I am SO blessed!

First of all...I still can't believe I have a job! I went today to pick up all the paperwork I have to fill out. She also gave me lots of information and a big book of company policies. That should keep me busy until August 1st!

Second...blessed that I survived my first car wreck. Well...maybe I'm a little dramatic. Daniel said it was just a fender-bender. While in Gainesville today getting the paperwork, a man rear-ended me. Blessed again, that it did NO damage to my car. My hitch did some pretty big damage to his LeSabre, but just got a little paint on my hitch. It was a little nerve-racking, but could have been a LOT worse.

Third...blessed with family! My sister-in-law, Erin, just gave me lots of business clothes! And tomorrow I get to go shopping for more with my mom. Can't wait!

Fourth...thankful for friends! I got to have dinner at Mellow Mushroom last night with two wonderful friends! Kristen and I have been friends since middle school and Jessica and I go back to first grade. It was great to catch up with Jessica since I had not seen her in a while! Not to mention we had some delicious pizza.

And last but not least, glad I got to attend my first coupon workshop! I learned a lot, bought some coupons and a newspaper subscription, and hopefully am going to start saving some serious money. Thanks Dana at VanDoss for hosting this fun class! Gotta start clipping!

~Gabby

A Relaxing Weekend

Friday I texted Daniel and said we're going to Outback tonight on me. I was hungry and had babysat all week,. Finally, I had made a little money, AND we had a coupon. Not to mention, Daniel and I can devour a bloomin' onion! Even though Daniel got off work pretty late, we enjoyed a relaxing meal at Outback. We ate way too much, but I enjoyed not having to cook and we both enjoyed a bloomin' onion and some delicious steak!

Saturday, Daniel's friend Birch came over and he and Daniel built a fire wood rack in our back yard so that Daniel can clean up the front yard. It looks great! I cleaned all morning since I had been so busy last week. The weather was so nice, so we went over to my parents' and hung out by the pool and grilled out for my sister's birthday. The dairy queen cake was the highlight of the night!

On Sunday, we went to 12Stone Church. Afterwards, we went to Home Depot. We needed some stuff for the house. Most imporantly, a drain for our bathtub. Daniel learned real quickly that something was going to have to change. Let's just say, it got clogged up very easily. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right tools. Hopefully he will be able to fix it today.

I'm so excited! Tonight I'm going to dinner with friends, and then I'm going to a coupon class where I will hopefully learn how to save more money!

(This was supposed to post earlier, so it's a little late!)

~Gabby

Oh Communication

Well...I've always known how important communication is, but marriage makes that so much more evident. Especially when you are away from each other all day! I'm about worn out from babysitting all week! One more day and then my babysitting days will be over for good! Can't believe I start my job in two weeks. Anyway, I know you're wondering what happened. After Daniel gets off work at the truss plant around 2:30, he cuts grass for his lawn company. I never know when he's getting home. And I'm still getting used to this cooking thing.

Yesterday, he walked in the door a little after five and I was just starting to figure out something to eat. He wasn't very happy. Starving, tired, and dirty, he had nothing to eat, AND the water wasn't working right. We have a well and something was going on with it. So...he had to work on that and I sautéed some zucchini, squash, and tomatoes from the garden. We also had salad. That wasn't near enough for us, so I made a frozen pizza. Ha! That didn't turn out so healthy after all.

Then, today, I had this great idea to make poppyseed chicken casserole. My roommate, Maleah, introduced it to me in college. I had it made at six. He called right as everything was getting finished. I told him it was perfect timing, just to find out he won't be home until after seven! Needless to say, supper is cold. I got a little mad when he told me that he would be so late because I never know what time he will be home! He then informed me that we have got to communicate better. Yes, I would say we do. Normally we are pretty good at it, but I guess we're both so tired at this time of day that we just want to eat! So, from now on I will find out what time he will be home before I took a big meal. Anybody want to come eat with me? :) ~Gabby

I GOT A JOB!

I have some exciting news!!! I got a job! I am so excited and thankful for this opportunity. I will be working at BatesCarter, an accounting firm in Gainesville. I will be doing mostly taxes, but since it is a smaller firm I will be doing a little of everything. This is the job I wanted, and it has worked out perfectly. I start on August 1st. Daniel can't wait for us to have two incomes, and I have to say I'm pretty excited too! You can check out BatesCarter's website here.

Mom, Dad, Mariah, and Olivia are having lots of fun at Disney. I am too...cleaning their house and taking care of the dog. Haha. I said I can quit my cleaning job now that I have a real job! Something so neat happened to them at Disney yesterday. They were at Hollywood Studios (used to be MGM) just walking down the road and ran into Mariah's Scotland Exchange partner from a few years ago! She and her family were in Florida on vacation too! Pretty crazy, huh!? Mariah and I both participated in the Scotland Exchange program at different times while in high school. The program worked so that in June we stayed 2 weeks with out partner and his/her family in Scotland, then in October they came and stayed with us. It was such a neat program! Here are pictures of each of us and our partners. It was so neat that they ran into her yesterday. Talk about a SMALL world!!!

Mariah and Eilidh in Scotland!

Me, Ally, and my grandparents. Only pic I could find of him on this computer! I'll have to do a Scotland post later!

Couldn't resist putting this adorable pic of Olivia and Ally on here. Look how tiny she was!! This was summer of 2005!

 I thought that was so neat!! They are having a blast in Disney. Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday. I sure am!!! :)
~Gabby

Lots to Gab About!

It has been a very busy week! We had a wonderful time in St. Augustine. We even took Abram, our English Mastive!! That was interesting!

We celebrated Daniel's brother's birthday on Friday and spent the night at their house in Statesboro. It is so nice to have them half way between Jefferson and St. Augustine. Everyone enjoys being able to stay there and split up the driving time. We had a lot of fun with them and enjoyed some delicious barbeque and ribs, and Kristina's wonderful oreo dessert!

Saturday we had beach day with Daniel's dad and Sunday we went to the beach with Daniel's sister's family and his mom and dad. Lots of fun there even though we couldn't get the jet ski to work. Monday was all day on the beach with everyone celebrating our "dependence" as Daniel would say.

We finished off the day with some amazing fireworks! St. Augustine puts on a great show over the water.

Tuesday, we picked up our new hobby. We took bikes with us and spent the day biking around St. Augustine with Ben, Kristina, and the girls. We had so much fun! On Wednesday we headed home! And that was our 2011 Fourth of July Trip!

Praise the Lord-- Friday I had another interview! This one was in Athens. When I got home, I got more good news! I have a second interview with a firm in Gainesville tomorrow! So excited! We are continously praying, and hoping that I get a job in the next week or so!!

In the meantime...I am babysitting the kids I watched last summer for the week. My friend, Baileigh, is watching them this summer and she's on vacation. So...I have them for the week. I'm loving spending time with them! I am also keeping watch over the fam's house and dog while they spend the week at Disney World. Not as easy as it sounds. Poor Freddie is getting old and I have to give him pills and put drops in his ears. I love him, but I do not enjoy doctoring the poor dog.

Daniel and I continue to look for a church family. We are praying that we find the church that God wants to grow and use us in.

A lot going on for us as you can see! We are enjoying married life so much and staying busy!
~Gabby

Have a Happy Fourth!

We're about to leave for the beach, and I'm going to take a tech free trip! So...I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend. So thankful for our freedom and all those who fight for it, including my cousin Zach!

It was this very trip one year ago that Daniel proposed to me in St. Augustine. I could not be happier! I'm so thankful I get to spend every day with him. Here's a picture of that moment on July 2nd, 2010. We were so excited!!!

I want to also congratulate Daniel's brother, David, and his FIANCE Kelley! David proposed to her last night! We are so excited for them!!!

Have a Happy Fourth!!! Be safe!

~Gabby