My First Giveaway!

Do you remember the part in Elf, where Buddy thinks he's found "the worlds best cup of coffee?" well, i did it! I found the World's Best Cup of Coffee! I am not even kidding, I found the best coffee in the world! You know that place that I post about every time I visit my hometown...you know, the most amazing chocolate doughnuts in the WORLD! The doughnuts that I've encouraged you to drive thousands of miles just to pick up? I'm seriously thinking about getting in my car right now to head down for one...or twelve! I seriously don't think I can express in words how amazing they are! They may be the only thing holding me back from a Forks Over Knives lifestyle! 

In fact, when I saw this girl (who obviously lives a FOK lifestyle), I thought, "she definitely hasn't ever had Mi-Lady Bakery or my momma's food! Dang, now I have myself craving a doughnut when I started out talking about coffee! I promise the two are related! Not only does Mi-Lady Bakery have the best doughnuts, they also have the best cup of coffee you'll ever drink! You know that I pride myself as being a coffee connoisseur, so you should trust me on this! This coffee is...well, first, let me ask you if you're sitting down? Ok, you're sitting? Hold on to your seat...this coffee is...better than STARBUCKS! Don't you dare lose faith in me! You haven't tried it! The best word I've found to explain it is, smooth! It is so smooth! It is so doggone smooth! Even if you don't like coffee, you'll love this coffee! I have been thinking about it ever since my first sip! And, let me tell you this, the awesome ladies who work there (and know my sister's name & order my heart) can make it perfectly! They helped me figure it out on my last visit, 1.5 packs of sugar & extra cream...perfection!
 
 Well, I got tired of wondering, so I contacted my high school friend and one of the owners of Mi-Lady Bakery, Kyle, and he was so great to fill me in on what kind of coffee it is! I swore to him that I wouldn't tell a soul, but then he informed me that they actually sell it at the bakery. I'm glad, because it would've been tough to keep this quiet! It is made by a company in Athens, GA, called Jittery Joe's, but this particular blend is made especially for Mi-Lady and called, Mi-Lady blend. Huh, who knew? When I got his reply, I immediately called my mom and asked her to pick up two cans (one for me & one for my F.I.L) Then, I called her right back to request a few more! She mailed them out overnight, and they arrived this morning! You just have to try it! In fact, for those of you who didn't exit out of this post after that Starbucks comment I made, you're in for a treat! I'm giving a can of that coffee away! My very first giveaway! I know you're thinking, "she's excited about giving away a can of coffee?" No, I'm excited because I'm giving away the world's best can of coffee! If I could give away that chocolate doughnut too, I would, but it may not travel well. After you're done reading, go check out their website.
 
To enter the giveaway, you need to do three things:
1. Go "like" Mi-Lady Bakery's Facebook Page. (Right here)
2. Become a follower of this blog (if you aren't already).
3. Leave me a comment on this post!
 
It's that simple! I will use the random number generator, to find our lucky winner! You will have until 11:59 PM on Thursday, February 2, 2012 to enter, and the winner will be announced Friday right here! Are you as excited as I am?

Last Night...

Last night, Matthew drove down to stay at my mom's on his way to a business meeting at FSU. MC and I stayed here. It's always an adventure staying home without him, and last night was no different! Y'all aren't going to believe this! I wrote him a letter explaining what happened...


Matthew,

I'm laying here in our bed. A few minutes ago, my heart started racing, and now, well, now it's pounding...so hard that you might be able to hear it all the way in Georgia! I heard a noise. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Delecta, not again!" This time, I think it's real! It kind of sounded like a bang, maybe a door, well, I think it was footsteps, yeah, footsteps! It was footsteps in our house! I'm sweating. There's a man walking around in our house trying to find me! Right now, you're thinking, "you, Delecta, are the only person I know that can make 1000 sq feet sound like 10,000," but stay focused here, there's a man in our house! Remember that time you came home and found that butter knife under my pillow? Well, i forgot to get my butter knife this time! Anyway, can you believe there's a masked man in our house? Oh yeah, I think I saw a mask. He's surely got a mask on. I'm paralyzed! Yep, I can't move! I'm paralyzed! There's a masked man walking around our house and I'm paralyzed! Ok, my leg just moved, I'm not paralyzed after all. Ok, back to the man in our house, wearing a mask, and carrying a knife. Well, he's gonna get me. He's going to shoot me dead, right here with his gun! And here, you're thinking, "I thought you said he has a knife?" I just opened my eyes again and you're right, it was a knife, but I'm sure he has a gun too! Oh my goodness, a knife carrying gunslinger is in our house searching for me! I'm under the covers...completely! It's so doggone hot under here. For some reason, I don't think he will notice the outline of my body raised on the bed because I'm under the comforter! What I'd do for an invisibility cloak right now! Ok, Delecta, stop thinking Harry Potter, and begin thinking about how you are going to fight off this group of men in your house! "Men," you say? Yeah, I thought there was one, but when I opened my eyes again, I think there were three of them! Three masked knife carrying gunslingers right here in our house! I'm about to open my eyes one more time...I think I'm going to sneak out of bed and get the shotgun...ok, got it! Man, this thing is heavier than the last time I thought there were men in the house! I'm going looking for them, hold on a sec...not in the room...not in here either...they're surely in this closet...nope! Whew! Ok, you'll be happy to know that I've checked all of the rooms, the closets, under the beds, and in the showers, and there isn't anyone in here. It must have been that refrigerator noise again! Well, I'm going to bed now, MC's got ballet in the morning. Isn't she so cute in her leotard? Call me when you get back on the road. I think we'll have those chicken wontons for dinner tomorrow night. Mmm. Ok, I love you! Night!

Love, Delecta


Ok, does anyone else do this? I was just talking to my friends, Robin and Dani, about this on Sunday, and here I am doing it again! This fear thing cripples me! Y'all know this, I've talked about it on here before. Listen, those of you who are about to send me scripture about fear, don't worry about it! Got them all memorized! I quote them often every time masked intruders are in my house! I know what it is I need to do, but what I don't know, are the steps to get there! I'm praying that God will deliver me from this, and also praying that I will allow him to! I want to hear your stories! Do you do this? Do you think I'm crazy? Do you think this is normal? I want to hear it!

P.S. - the butter knife story...once, Matthew was gone, and I was of course scared to death. I got a butter knife and put it under my pillow for protection. The next morning I forgot to remove it, and he found it when he got home. When he asked me why there was a piece of silverware in our bed, I explained that I needed protection, and felt like a butter knife was my best bet. You know, anything sharper might cut me in the middle of the night! So, now, we have a gun!

Ballerina

I remember walking in to my very first dance class like it was yesterday. In fact, it's one of the only memories I have as a small child. I remember the smell of the hardwood floors. I remember the smell of my ballet shoes. I remember peeing in my pants because I was having so much fun that I didn't want to take a potty break. Sad, but true!

All of these memories came rushing back on Tuesday morning when I walked my baby girl in to her first class. As I watched her, tears started welling up, mainly because I realized how fast she is growing up, and if I'm honest, partly because I am growing up too.

From the moment that the nurse said, "it's a girl," I have been thinking about her first dance class. I take that back, it was a few moments after the nurse told us she was a girl, because I took about five minutes asking the nurse on a scale of 1-10, how sure was she that we were having a girl. Apparently, this was offensive? While Matthew was thinking about how many boys he was going to have to beat off of her one day, I was thinking about a beautiful ballerina!

I know what you're thinking, "well, what if MC doesn't want to dance, what she wants to play softball instead?" TOUGH! Ok, I'm kind of kidding. I promised myself that if she didn't like dance after the four trial classes, that I wouldn't force, I mean, encourage her to go back. Thankfully, she loved her first class, and has asked to go back every day. In fact, that night she begged me to let her wear her leotard and tap shoes to bed. Looking back, I should've just let her, I mean, what is it going to hurt?

I snapped what the other moms probably thought was a thousand shots, but I wanted every single detail documented. No, I'm not going to be one of those moms who ends up on the TLC show, "Dance Moms!" Calm Down!

I did make MC a video to keep, which was fun, because I haven't made one in a while. Please know, that the photos look like they do because I was shooting through a glass window with parents glares showing up on the glass. I did think for a moment, of asking them to move, then decided they would probably hold a dance mom meeting about how to get us out. I chose to smile, while trying to will them out of the shots with my eyes! Oh well, darn my manners!

Before you watch the video, I'd like to share my commentary...you will see in the actual video shots: 1. MC doing her "own moves" throughout the entire class. 2. MC being more interested in looking at herself in the mirror than anything else. 3. MC actually bending over while using her hands to try to force her feet to move to ballet first position (my favorite moment) and 4. MC loving those tap shoes so much that she jumps while everyone else does what the teacher instructs so that she can hear them tap! I can't wait for her to watch this back when she gets older, I feel like it will answer a lot of questions she has about herself and maybe her mom too!

Enjoy!

Have you ever found yourself here?

"But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, Who knows all secrets, will reward you." Matthew 6:6, NLT

As I was reading this morning, I noticed my mind wandering (not unusual), but the strange part is where my mind was wandering. I was actually reading God's word, but thinking about who else could use it and where I could share it. While, I don't believe these are horrible things to think, I do believe that my time with Lord wasn't time with the Lord. I wasn't with him at all. Instead of engaging in communication with him, I was engaging in myself! (not unusual) I should've been reading that verse, allowing it to sink in, and asking him how to apply it in my relationship with Him.

Often times, I (and maybe you too) are too engrossed in our "ministry," that we miss what He is trying to say to us. We get caught up trying to: plan a ministry event, create that event on FB, see how many friends "like" it, and dwell on why the others don't! What I mean is, sometimes, we get so busy trying to minister to others that we abandon our relationship with the One we are ministering for!

Maybe you've found yourself in this moment too? Maybe, we need to slow down, find a quiet place, and spend real time with our heavenly Father! The good news is that He desires that time with us, and He wants us to desire time with Him.

This may have just been for me today, but I'm glad that I got it out! :) Happy Thursday!

Operation Bridesmaid Dress

If your name is Erin Shaw, you were my college roommate, and I'm in your wedding on April 21st, DO NOT READ this post. I repeat, DO NOT READ this post!

Have you ever had to order a bridesmaids dress? Don't you despise having to order ten sizes larger than you typically wear? I have a theory about this...they order so large so that you are forced to pay their alterations fee! Makes sense huh? When they do this, they suck the last ounce of positive self confidence we have right down the drain! I mean, that number stamped in bold on the tag of that dress is a reflection of how our day is going to be when we slide it on, even if we had to practically remake the dress to get it to stay on. And, when that tag starts itching and irritating our back, it's as if it's saying, " remember what that bold number was?"

Well, I ordered what I think will probably be my last bridesmaids dress I will ever wear a few weeks ago for my college roommates wedding in a few months. This was the first time I'd ever ordered over the phone, so I had an idea! I was going to beat the system! That's right, you bridal bullies, you weren't going to get me this time. As I measured myself (which you are never supposed to do for accurate measurements) I pulled tight the measuring tape as I sucked in to get the size I wanted. When I told the bridal consultant my "measurements," she said something that caught me by surprise. (By, "caught me by surprise'" I mean, I started feeling chunks form in my throat and sweat began to bead up on my upper lip). She said, "you are a perfect size _!" As I tried to register the number that just been spoken on the other side of the phone, I was silent! "Mrs. Rollins, are you still there?" she said. I regained my composure, well, enough to assure her that was the size I wore. (I left out the part that it was the size I wore...in college!) We ended the conversation with me paying for a dress that I surely couldn't fit my right thigh in, as sweat was now dripping off my face. So, I'm sitting there thinking, ok, what now? Snack? No!

After the initial shock, I actually talked myself in to this being a great thing! What better way to get back my college body? I mean, I don't have a choice! So, here we go, Operation Bridesmaid Dress is in full swing! I'm talking: daily food logs, spin class, body pump class, and The Greenville Sportsclub getting to know me by name. Join me in my journey to zip up that dress!

Erin, if you read this against my warnings, I'M SORRY! Don't freak out, that dress will zip on April 21st! :)

DIY Felt Rose Scarf

I have been dying to make this scarf since I saw the one my sister, Sherri, made at Christmas. The nerve of her not to make me one! It's not only pretty, it actually keeps you warm too, which is good seeing that's the purpose of a scarf. It's actually pretty easy to make, but I will say, it's time consuming! If you have a three and half year old, you're going to want to put them down for a nap first! :)

Felt is super easy to work with, comes in a ton of colors, and is inexpensive. For these reasons, I've been inspired to create many more projects using it! While making this scarf, I started thinking about how cute it would be around a certain adorable three and half year old little girl's neck in soft pink! Then, my mind started racing faster than my mom's car when she's behind the wheel! Hair clips, cardigan's, jeans, jewelry.... You all will be sick of felt before 2013!

If you want to make one of these scarves too, check out the tutorial here.

I'd love to see your scarf once it's made, so send me a pic....please!