Exhaling

What. A. Weekend.

I can't even begin to drum up the proper words to describe all that happened, not just in physical realms, but in spiritual and internal realms as well.

Fear not, I will share.

Right now I am basking in the glow of everything.

Every tear. Every laugh. Every hug. Every new face. Every familiar face.

Every detail. Every fragrance. Every sound. 

I am releasing a long, slow, deep breath that has been building up and held in for years.

Exhaling.

It feels so good to finally let it all out.

Before I can share I need to get my technical act together. 

You see, sentimental and nostalgic me has filled up 314+ GB of 300GB of storage on our dear old Mac Book.

What exactly does that mean, you ask?

In just a little over 3 years I have managed to create 343 events containing a whopping total of 23,898 pictures, not counting those taken over the past month, in iPhoto.

I haven't had the storage to upload!

Not to mention the fact that I've already filled up 2 external hard drives with photos taken before 3 years ago.

Brandon is very amused by all of this, thankfully.

He was a true gent and bought me an external hard drive as well as 32 and 64 GB memory cards for my camera.

I'm out of control.

THANK GOD there are intelligent folks who keep inventing products that can store more data!

The icing on the cake was that he followed all of this up by saying, "I'll try to work on getting you a new Mac Book soon, babe."

He is a dream-on most occasions. :)

To which I responded, "I should be really good for a while now, babe!" 

"I don't need a new computer-this one works just fine, most of the time. I just needed more storage."

Let's face it, I'm certainly not about to reduce the amount of photographs I take.

So, as soon as I can get myself organized mentally and technically, I'll try to adequately share the love of God, The Pearl Event.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend & A Winner!

I want to wish ALL of the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you know how loved you are, how special you are, how appreciated you are and how beautiful you are.

You are qualified, you are exceptional, you are unique!

I pray that you would feel all of those things this weekend and more importantly BELIEVE those TRUTHS! 

I hope you get to spend the weekend with the ones you love.

I am especially thankful for my mama. She is one of the most giving people I know and she always makes everything extra special by paying attention to all the details. 

She has always encouraged me to have roots and wings, and just like her, I am a free spirit. 

I am blessed to call her my mama and I love her deeply.

 I am also especially thankful for my mother-in-love. She has loved me like her own daughter and taught me how to can tomatoes, divide hosta, and  I hope she will teach me how to play the piano someday, too.

She is a wonderful listener with a lot of patience. 

She is a blessing to me and I love her dearly.

The Pearl Event Giveaway Winner is entry #7!

 Congratulations to Tonya Wilson!! I will email you the details so that you can get your tickets!

I can't wait to see you in Nashville next Friday!

I'm Giving Away...

...an incredible gift that will bring you a multitude of blessings...

 

I'm giving away tickets to The Pearl Event III, [The Triple Strand]!

The event is next Friday, May 17 in Nashville, TN and I just know God is going to show up BIG TIME!! He already has! 

I have been so consumed by this event that I haven't been writing as often as I normally do.

It's just going to be that amazing! 

We have all been so steeped in the Word and in prayer over this event that I just can't imagine the blessings that are going to flow from the God-authored stories and orchestrated bonds that have and will form over His glory and magnitude.

All you have to do to enter is enter a comment below telling who you'd love to bring and your email address.

Winners will be announced Friday morning!
If you just can't wait and you want to purchase tickets, just click here!

We can't wait to see you in Nashville!! xoxo

Spring Landscaping Progress: Part 2

It's a rainy weekend here in Georgia and we are planted on the sofa watching the Kentucky Derby.
We've been doing a major landscape renovation at our house for the past several months.

You can see previous posts here.

 This was when we purchased the house.

 This was about 3 months after we moved in (notice the underbrush).

 This is during the clearing out phase (Jan.-March 2013). Notice the stumps.

 As you can see, these wooded areas were completely overgrown and unkempt.

A year ago exactly I began creating a mental picture of what I wanted the front yard to look like.

I literally spent hours walking around, drawing sketches, measuring, and dissecting this area of our property.

I also began clearing out the underbrush by hand and Brandon cut down several sweet gum trees.

Once I got everything cleaned out I called a local tree service company to come out and grind up all of the stumps that were left behind.

Let me just tell you how awesome this company was-they were miracle workers and made all the difference.

It was well worth every single penny we spent. 

Not only did they grind up every stump, the mulched all of the trees Brandon had cut down and they did such a great job cleaning up that you couldn't even tell they had been there. 

They even cut down a few more trees that were in the way and leveled everything out.

If you live in Middle Georgia I highly recommend All Seasons Tree Service.

 After the stump grinding...

 Mulching up that huge pile of trees along the edge of the property line.

 Mulching up another huge pile of cut down sweet gum trees in the back yard.

 Spreading the mulch.

 I created a rock lined pathway to divide the two areas.

 Since then we've planted 2 Kwanzan Cherry trees, 2 Yoschino Cherry trees, 4 Southern Magnolias, 1 Saucer Magnolia, 1 Jane Magnolia, about 30 Azaleas, hosta, hydrangeas, and several other perennials.

**We aren't finished yet, but you can get the general idea. **

As you can see we lined the beds with huge river rocks that we found around our property.

We still have to get a load of pea gravel for the pathway and we have to finish putting out the pine straw in the islands.

I also have some other things left to plant and I have to hang the Spanish Moss.

Do you see my "Savannah Girl?" She is the statue that's on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I love her because she is just a piece of Savannah that we've brought here with us.
We were so surprised that everything we planted has bloomed already!

Cherry blossoms

Azaleas

Knockout Roses

Saucer and Jane Magnolias

Dogwoods

Irises and Hosta

I

I absolutely can't wait to get the final details of the front finished!

Then it will be onto the wooded areas beside and behind our house in the years to come.

Landscaping is one of those things that is extremely time consuming and can get incredibly expensive.

We saved money by doing the majority of the work ourselves, plus it just means more when you've used your own hands.

Landscaping is so important to the curb appeal and value of your home that it is always a good idea to invest in landscaping as early as possible in the event that if you do have to sell your foliage will be more mature and add more value.

"The earth laughs in flowers." E. E. Cummings

Welcome!

Hey Y'all! I want to thank you for visiting me at Southern Soul Mates. We hope you feel right at home here and that you'll come back and visit soon!
Today I am linking up over at Kelly's Korner for Girls in Our 20s Without Kids!
Plus, I've gotten some new readers lately and I want y'all to get to know me as best you can!

I am a Georgia peach, and the wife of a Veterinarian.
I now live in Middle Georgia just outside of Macon where my husband and I purchased a veterinary practice in February of 2012.
We have 4 dogs (a pug, a yellow lab, a lab-German Shorthair Pointer, & a mutt) and 3 cats.
Yes, we are crazy and we live in a zoo.
I majored in Fashion at the University of Georgia.
All things Coastal and Southern are my true loves.
I am a true creative personality type, so I dabble in a little bit of everything: cooking, gardening, designing, decorating, photographing, painting, writing, sewing and scheming more projects that may never reach completion.
You can only imagine the toll Pinterest has taken on me.
I don't know if it's making me or breaking me.
A little of both, I suppose.
I believe in God, the power of prayer, manners, sir and ma'am, respecting my elders, spending time with family, monogramming whatever I possibly can, traveling, having roots and wings, and having passion for life and love.
 I am really just a simple Southern girl from the country, and it doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy.
At the end of the day, I relish in sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair
reflecting, seeking humility and giving thanks to God above.

Click on the "Meet Me" tab at the top to learn more about "us!"
Again, I am so happy you've stopped by and I look forward to getting to know each of you-please comment or email me and introduce yourself!
xoxo


Happenings Lately

The past few weeks have been a blur and I'm desperately trying to get back on track despite the busyness of this time of year with spring holidays, showers, weddings and graduations.
This post is really nothing too exciting, just an iPhone dump of daily life.
I apologize in advance if this bores you to tears.

Our new technician is from Mobile, AL, and when she went back home one weekend she brought us back 5lbs. of fresh crawfish straight out of Bayou LaBatre. 

They were divine!

  I made some jambalaya to go with it.

 We attended a Veterinary CE dinner on feline heartworms one night.

 Brandon was filmed by a tv crew for some rehabilitation work he has done with this particular Pit Bull. It really is an amazing story and they are trying to get it to air on Animal Planet.
If that works out I will be sure to let everyone know when it will air.

 Daddy and Puggy time.
One of Brandon's best friends is getting married in June, so we helped host a wedding shower for them a few weeks ago.
We are so happy for Britt and Andrea and we can't wait to share their special day in a little over  month!!

The bride is the little one in the front. Isn't she darling?

Brandon with the groom, Britt.

Is it just me or is time really flying by lately?
I can't seem to get a handle on it.