Five on Friday: September 12

It feels good to be back in the swing of things - and by "things" I mean blogging again! This summer was a whirlwind, and I'm still trying to figure out why. Whatever the reason, it didn't leave much time for writing.

I'm still catching up, but in the meantime, here are 5 things that have me smiling this Friday! 

ONE. New Gator gear that my besties gave me for my birthday last week! Sadly I don't get to many games in The Swamp, but I don my orange and blue each weekend the boys play.

TWO. I became a UF Alumni Association Life Member a few months back and just got my official swag to let the world know! (Photobombed by my foot) 

THREE. My sweet hubby bought me an espresso maker for my birthday, and got up early this morning just to make me a cappuccino! So delicious. 

FOUR. I am a big supporter of greeting cards. Yes, I know - it's like paying for words - but I love sending and receiving them. Enjoying all the sweet cards I got for my big 3-0! 

FIVE. I'm still laughing over this...

Full birthday recap coming soon! 

Enjoy the weekend! 

xo

KH

Five on Friday: Furniture, Workouts, GSC, GHD, and EOM

Once again, I'm thankful that Friday is here, though I've had a great week overall. What made my week so great? Apparently, a bunch of acronyms.

One. New couch! It was backordered for a long time, but it was finally delivered last weekend. (Ikea or Pottery Barn? I'll never tell! Ha!) Anyway, getting the couch for our "formal" living room (aka a room that has been empty since we moved in) means that I finally feel our house is full - not done, but getting there. It's a great feeling!

Two. I've been doing Barre 3 workouts for a few weeks now and I'm hooked. They're easy - but really hard. Know what I mean?  I bought them a few weeks back with a Living Social deal and I think they cost $49 for a set of 5 DVDs and a workout ball. That's a lot cheaper than paying $20 a class at Pure Barre. Can I get an amen? Couple these workouts with my running routine in preparation for my first race, and I'm feeling preeeeeety strong.

Three. Girl Scout Cookies. I found some last weekend at a market in town (finally). There's something about those Peanut Butter Patties with their crispiness, creamy peanut butter, and waxy chocolate that takes me back to elementary school every time. And what's a GSC without a glass of milk? #dairyfarmersdaughter

Four.  After much deliberation, internet scouring, and extensive qualitative research with my girlfriends, I broke down and bought a GHD flat iron -- and lemme tell ya, it was a good $150 spent! At least I got 20% off (thanks, Ulta!) and it comes with a 2 year warranty. I can tell that me and GHD, we're gonna be best frans.

Five. Tomorrow starts Essentials Only Month in the Hamilton Household. Watch your back, pantry - I'm starting with you. EVERYTHING MUST GO! J/K - just the things we should eat this month before they expire. And the boxes of brownies I have in there because I have a feeling I'm going to need some chocolate. Even though I won't be able to indulge in my usual weekend shopping for entertainment (which is part of the problem), I'm SO looking forward to getting some projects knocked out around the house and saving some cashola along the way!

That's me in a nutshell. Have a fabulous weekend - and I hope you're having some spring-ish weather, wherever you are!

xo
KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

Five on Friday: flowers, smoothies, organizing, a good read, and running

I am terribly happy it's Friday, friends! Last week was kind of a break, since we had a few snow days, and I guess that made this week feel extra long. Whatever the reason, it's Friday now, and that makes me happy!

ONE. Since we spent Valentine's Day with my in-laws last week, Alex and I had a mini V-day on Tuesday night (he flew to Texas for work on Wednesday). He not only planned and made dinner, but showed up with flowers. Random flowers trump Valentine's Day flowers, any day.

TWO. I've been on a green smoothie kick lately and although they ain't cute, they taste good. I'm trying to drink one each day to help reach all of my servings of fruits and veggies.

This recipe is my favorite:
2 cups (tightly packed) spinach
1 cup water
1/2 cup Diet V8 Splash (I use Tropical Blend)
1 banana, frozen
4 strawberries, frozen
1 peach, not frozen

Blend the spinach and liquids, then add the fruit and VOILA - you've got 2 smoothies! I keep the second one in the fridge for the next day so I can just grab it, shake it, and drink it up.


THREE. Over the weekend, I began to tackle a task on my list of 14 things to do this year: organize my life! I started with our office files. This was the scene in the study while I was underway. I'm still not 100% satisfied that I've found the perfect system, but I'm getting there. Why is organizing so therapeutic?

FOUR. I finished reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin this week, and I highly recommend it. It's a great read and I promise you will take something away from it. Some of my favorite takeaways: a clean house is a happier life (see #3 above), use the pretty stationery (why do I "save" it anyway???), tackle a nagging task first, and be a storehouse of memories (which I guess explains my obsession with Shutterfly).

FIVE. I got closer to crossing off another one of my 14 goals: I registered for a 5k! I'm no runner, but I'm trying to pretend to be. I'm doing the Couch 2 5k program for the second time, and I intend to culminate this one with an actual race. The 5k is April 12, so I still have plenty of time to train (and I'm already on week 4 of the 9-week program). I'm feeling great about it, and I even signed Alex up, too! I cannot believe I am so excited about running. Who is this person?

On another note - I'm thinking about doing our annual Essentials Only Month in March to jump start a savings goal. Is anyone interested in doing it alongside me, so we can challenge each other and hold each other accountable? Maybe with a weekly link-up? Let me know if you're down!

That's it for me, ladies. Y'all have a wonderful weekend!

xo
KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

Five on Friday: happy Love Day!

Happy love day, friends! It's no secret that I love this day. Candy, flowers, and lots of pink, frilly stuff - it's a fun holiday, even if it's wayyyy over-commercialized! It's just a good excuse to say "I love you." Preferably with wine and chocolate.

I've been cooped up in the house since Tuesday afternoon due to Mr. Winter Storm Pax who decided to wreak havoc on the South and beyond. We were very fortunate - no power outages and no damage due to the ice! Which is amazing considering how much of it we got, along with sleet, freezing rain, and snow. Fun fact: Columbia had four consecutive days with snowfall for the first time since 1899 - so this is a rarity, y'all. 

Which brings me to my Five on Friday! 

I first want to say that I scheduled this post before I knew about the "Team Teddy" challenge, but I wanted to mention it to do my part in spreading awareness. This darling 7-month-old baby boy has been diagnosed with Menkes Syndrome, an incredibly rare genetic disease that is terminal. No one should ever have to lose a child. It's a terrible, horrible, very sad thing. I lift this family up in prayer that they may find peace and understanding in the tragedy, but joy in the rest of Teddy's life! Read more about Teddy's story here.
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One. I'm thankful for snuggle time with my furkids and husband during the storm! We didn't get out and play as much as we did two weeks ago (hello, ice!), but it was a nice break from the ordinary. 

Me and Ellie playing in the ice/snow/wintry precipitation

Two. Ellie cut her paws on the ice, poor baby. The silver lining in it is that it reminded me of what a wonderful Golden we have, who will let us do anything to her, like bandaging her paws time and again. She's such a good girl. 

In good spirits!

Is this a pitiful face or what?!

Three. It's not every day that I get to see my man shovel snow (with a ghetto garden shovel, no less). But it's pretty hot to see my golf coach husband in bean boots, jeans, and 2 days of unshaven face. 

Four. The cabin fever made me bake. I have no other explanation. Calories don't count on snow days, right??

Five. It's Valentine's Day! So tell those you love that you love them. Say something nice to a stranger. And be thankful for your blessings! 

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

I feel like I just totally updated my wardrobe

Notice anything different? Young & Southern got a whole new look. It's simple, it's fresh, it's classic. I love it!

I've also added some social icons over there on the left, so if you'd like, follow along.

I'm still changing things around a little, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

And besides the blog redesign, I really do feel like I have a whole new wardrobe: I scored two pairs of work pants, a blazer, and a blouse for a grand total of $32 today. Have I ever mentioned I'm a Maxxinista??

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
xo
K

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday! 

This week has absolutely flown by. I'm gearing up for a big event at work next week, so I've been going hard for the last few weeks. I'm down to just 3 business days before this big annual event, so I'm a mix of relieved/anxious/excited/exhausted. Let's just say that I'll be happy when Thursday rolls around and it's over!

Let's jump into these 5 things that are making me super happy!

ONE. Alex and I went to Hilton Head last weekend for a mini-trip. Actually, we went because he was going on a recruiting trip anyway, which meant our hotel, travel, and half our meals were covered. I just went along to enjoy to beautiful HHI scenery (below) and to hit up the Outlets.

Which brings me to my next point...

TWO. I am still on a shopper's high from this purchase. Yes, you're reading that correctly: I saved $461.01 and only spent $57.23 at Off 5th, which means I saved 90%. YES. I know. Amazing. And even better? For that $57.23, I got an adorable Yumi Kim blouse and TWO pairs of Jack Rogers sandals. Shopping success doesn't get much better than that, friends.

THREE. This might seem ridiculous, but I am extremely pumped that Richland County finally got their stuff together and gave all residents an Herbie Curbie for recyclables! Not only is it bigger than our trash container, they're picking up recycling more frequently AND it's all mixed load, meaning you can throw everything in there together and they sort it at the recycling facility. I work with a lot of recycling clients and have recently been made aware of the economical impact of recycling. It's amazing how many jobs recycling supports!

FOUR. My Gator boys are on FIRE right now. After the horrendous football season we had, I was very much looking forward to basketball season, and the Gators have delivered! Is it March yet??

FIVE. This has been my mantra lately! More about this soon! 

Have a fantastic weekend, y'all! 

Linking up with April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

Why I started blogging

I blog {obviously} and so do probably 90% of my readers. Why blog and put it all out there? Why say things publicly on the big, bad World Wide Web that you might not even as candidly talk about with your real-life girlfriends?

I started this blog January 1, 2012 as a way to keep up with what was happening day-to-day. I was a newlywed - we got married July 9, 2011 - and I thought it would be cute to chronicle our new life together. I used to journal a lot, in high school and college, but stopped when life got busy with work and marriage and all that jazz. I thought a blog would be a good way to write it all down, as to not forget the little things in life along with the biggest events, and to have it all in one place. But what I didn't expect was to grow to love reading other blogs and keeping up with all of your little things and big events, too. 

I'm not a fashion blogger, a DIY blogger, a coupon blogger, or a health blogger, but all of those things are wrapped into Young & Southern from time to time. Most of all, the reason I started my blog is still the heart of it. My hope is to keep it going for a long, long time and be able to read back on that time when Alex and I went to DC for a whirlwind weekend or about the long process of finally being diagnosed with Crohn's. Because these are the little (and sometimes big) things in life I don't want to forget the details of. So thanks for reading Young & Southern along with me. xoxo

Coffee & Conversation

Linking up again this week for Coffee & Conversation!


This week's question:
Who has influenced you the most in your life - personally or professionally - and why?

This is a tough question for me. There are a lot of people who have influenced me in one way or another, for good or for not so good. But overall, the person who has laid the most influence on my life has to be my Mom.

Mom was and always has been a stay-at-home mom. She made parenting look easy, and I am sure she made many other moms very jealous back in the day (and by back in the day, I mean when I was a kiddo). My brother and I (and my dad, for that matter), were very fortunate that my Mom could stay at home with us. This allowed her to do a lot of things that would have been harder to do had she been a working mom, like volunteering almost daily at my elementary school, being the "team mom" for my brother's soccer team and my cheerleading squad, and being very active in the PTO and American Cancer Society.

Growing up, it was normal for me that my Mom was in my classroom or at my school all the time. She knew every kid's name in my grade. She was there to help the teachers - any teachers, not just mine or my brother's - and I can't tell you how many art projects she helped with, or school parties she planned. And she did it without a single paycheck.

Her dedication to my school, my goals, my sports teams, my extracurriculars, and everything else was amazing.

That's why I want to be like her. I want to be a Mom just like her. I don't know if we will be able to swing the whole stay-at-home thing once we have kids, but I sure hope we can. And if not, I will find ways to be like her anyway: making my children's birthday parties themed and perfect, being supportive of my kids' dreams, and being an involved parent every step of the way.

Coffee & Conversation

Hey ladies! Good Monday to you all! Today I am taking part in a brand new (well, almost brand new - it's week 2) link-up hosted by Love. Laughter. Happy Ever After and Simply Free!



This week's question is:

What is one of the most valuable lessons you have learned this year so far?


This year has already brought several good, old fashioned life lessons to our house. If you've been reading my blog for any time at all, you know that the Hubs made another career change in January. This is following a career change he made in September last year. Not job changes: full-on career changes. 

In the span of 5 months, Alex went from being a professional golfer, to selling medical equipment, to an assistant golf coach for a men's collegiate team. These changes have brought a series of highs and lows to our home, and to me personally. 

As a touring pro, Alex was traveling all the time and away from home a lot, but I was used to it: it was what he had done since I had met him. Although he enjoyed it (most of the time), it was stressful because the money was unpredictable and entirely based on how he - and those he was playing against - played that week. Plus, he was gone a lot on the weekends and we planned most everything around his tournament schedule.

When he was in medical sales, he was home from work each night before I was. We ate dinner together every night. We could make plans on the weekends because he never had to work on Saturday or Sunday. Plus, he was making good money and for the first time in our marriage, we were both salaried. Although there were a lot of perks with this job, he hated it. Within 3 months, he knew he wanted out. 

So he took a plunge - rather, we took a plunge into collegiate coaching. I say "we" because it is truly a sacrifice for both of us. We are back to living on one income (mine), since he is getting paid right now in room, board, education and experience. We are once again in a long distance relationship, something we did for a few years before we got married. The things I have come to know and love in our 1 year, 8 months of marriage, like cooking big dinners every week night, going to church together every Sunday, and yes, even doing his laundry - are on hold right now. But he is so happy, y'all. He misses me and the dogs, of course. But I hear the happiness in his voice every time I talk to him. And it's worth it. 

All this to say that the lesson I've learned is that marriage isn't about what I want. It's what we want, it's what's best for us in the long run, and it's about making decisions together. I would be lying if I told you I joyfully exclaimed, "Yes darling, move to Georgia for an undetermined amount of time! And give up your salary! Great idea, I am SO PUMPED!" Yeah, 'cause I definitely didn't say that. I pouted. I cried. But I came around. Because in the end, this is the best decision for what we both want out of life in the long run. 

 

Say my name

Alright, if you didn't love Destiny's Child circa 1999, we are no longer friends. I kid, I kid. But seriously, Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle were blared many a times from my high school ride. Good times...

This link-up is all about how we landed on the blog name that we have! So fun! Obviously, my blog's name is Young & Southern. When I began blogging a little over a year ago, I was a newlywed. (I guess I'm still kinda a newlywed, but it will be 2 years in July, so I don't really consider us newlyweds anymore). I didn't want to use "newlywed" or anything relating to it in my blog name, because if there's one thing I learned from "Newlyweds" with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, it's that when you name something, pick a name that will last and still be relevant in a year! (Or, MTV, pick a couple that will last. Sigh.)

Anywho, Alex and I both take a lot of pride in the fact that we're Southern, and I think that affects a lot of things we do, a lot of the choices we make, and a lot of the things that make us, us. For instance, college football is king. We love sweet tea. Snail-mail Thank You notes and Just Because notes are must-dos. Monogramming everything we own, friends and family with double names, and Carolina BBQ are facts of life that we love. Life might take us out of the South at some point, but no matter where we live, Southern we will be.

Now for the "Young" part: unlike Southern, we won't always be young of course. But I truly believe that we will be young in our hearts. We met when we were in our early 20s, young by any standard. And although Alex recently hit the 30 mark and I will be there in 18 months, I still picture us as 24 and 23, like we were when we met.

And there you have it: Young & Southern.

High Five for Friday!

TGIF, ladies!! Even though it was a short week, I am really happy to see Friday!

Here's my H54F!

1. Happy New Year! This was the 6th NYE I've spent with Alex :)
2. My new planner: the first work week with it was fab!
3. The living room without the Christmas tree and decorations. It feels so...clean.
4. My new Michael Kors purse. Yummy. 
5. Lunch with my former co-workers on Saturday - love these girls!

My First Blogiversary!

Today marks one year since my first blog post on this little place known as Young & Southern! AND this is also my 100th post! Big day! For old time's sake, you can read my very first post here.

I've said before that I started blogging as a New Year Resolution to keep a record of the little things in life, and celebrate the big things, too. I've always been a scrapbooker and a picture person, but journaling is something that I always seemed to slack on even though I love to write. Blogging was a natural choice to combine words and pictures and record-keeping.

I am so thankful for all my readers: I didn't set out to get any followers at all, since this blog was really just for me. But knowing that I have readers and followers makes writing and keeping up with this so much more fun! Your comments mean the world to me. Thank you for following along!

This year I have some fun plans for the blog that I think you'll enjoy. The idea is that every month will bring a new challenge for me. I have some ideas already - for instance, I know we will be doing another Essentials Only Month - but if you have any ideas, please share! After all, I will need 12 challenges in all. January's challenge is still TBD, but I have an idea. I'll share soon!

Thank you again for reading about our little life in Greenville, SC. It means more than you know!

xoxo!
Kristin

High Five for Friday

In the spirit of Christmas, I am taking part in this link-up for the first time because there is just so much goodness going on! So let's see what I'm High-Fiving on this lovely Friday, shall we?

1. Our upstairs Christmas tree, aka the "Fun Tree" - I love having this right outside our bedroom door! It lives the upstairs landing such a nice, warm glow.
2.  Wrapped gifts give me such a sense of accomplishment. These gifts were for the hubby's clients
3. Festive nails: OPI Big Apple Red
4. Christmas cookies! I've been a baking machine the last week!
5. Christmas cards are the BEST thing to come home to (so much better than a mailbox full of bills!). I heart snail mail!

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: Christmas Traditions

Linking up again for Wedded Bliss Wednesday with Table for More and Life After!
This week's question is about sharing holiday traditions with your hubby:

What is a holiday tradition that you and your husband do or plan to do each year? If you don't have any, what is an idea you could try out this year?!

This is our second Christmas as a married couple. Last year, on our first married Christmas, it was actually our first Christmas morning/day we had EVER spent together as a couple (in 5 years of Christmases)! This is because my family is in Florida, and his is in South Carolina, and we agreed to spend Christmas (and Thanksgiving for that matter) with our own families until we got married. And we did.

So anyway- we had to make our first married Christmas/First Christmas actually together extra special!

We started with the tradition of driving to the mountains to choose and cut down our live tree. We did this with Alex's parents (he is the only child, so I think they really love to be involved in things like this!). We continued that tradition this year, as you can read about here!

Another tradition is sort of an every-other-year tradition: seeing the Nutcracker Ballet. We first saw it together in 2010, the year we were engaged. Then we saw it this year. We agreed that it's more of an every 2 years thing instead of an every year thing!

Finally, a new tradition we started this year was our Advent calendar! I made it myself. :) I love Advent calendars - I think it's a great way to focus on the reason for the season and count down the days to Jesus's birthday. I was inspired by a Pottery Barn version from a few years ago in which there is an ornament for every day leading up to Christmas. We transfer the ornaments from the calendar onto a separate, small Advent Christmas Tree instead of our main tree. I think this will be a fun tradition that we can keep alive for years to come, especially when we have kids. {sidenote: I am aware that there are only 24 ornaments, when I do believe there should be 25. Let's just say I ran out of room...} 

So there you have it! Our little traditions. I love tradition - it makes Christmas so much fun! I can't wait to add more traditions to our celebrations in the years to come.

Ornament swap!

I recently participated in a ornament swap that was organized by Living in Yellow and Dreaming of Dimples. This is my second bloggie swap ever, and who doesn't love Christmas ornaments?! You can never have enough!

This swap was a daisy-chain style: I sent an ornament to Kristin at  Husband, Wife, Blessed Life and my ornament came from Kristen at This Radiant Life. (Yes, there were a lot of Kristin/ens involved in this transaction! Ha!)

I was pumped when I got Kristen's package in the mail. It was officially my first Christmas gift of the year! I told her that I liked traditional Christmas styles and my favorite thing about the Christmas season is just the tradition of it all! She totally hit the nail on the head with this ornament - a 2012 "Bless this Home" ornament. I love it!

Thanks so much, Kristen!

I can't wait to read about all the other ornaments everyone received. This was a mega-huge swap with lots of bloggers involved. It's so neat how it connects us during this festive time of year!

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: Alex's Style

Hey hey - I'm back on the WBW train! After two weeks of not feeling too fab (and not blogging too much), I really hated missing out on this link-up. It's such a fun one!


This week's questions are all about: MAN Fashion! :)

What is your husband's style?

His style is a mix of preppy, casual, and what I like to call Southern (which yes, I know, can encompass anything from bowties to camo. And it does). 

He also likes getting dressed up...he LOVES a 3-piece suit! 
 

What is your LEAST favorite piece(s) of his wardrobe? 

I'm not even sure if he still has this shirt, but if he does, it has to be the Kenny Chesney concert t-shirt from probably 8 years ago (long before we met!). It is my least favorite because A) it was a concert t-shirt... B) It was faded and had shrunk, making it a little too short, and C) it had an obnoxiously large picture of Kenny in a Stetson on it. It was just all wrong and SO not Alex's style!! I never understood why he liked it so much.

 

If you have a picture show us!!

Sadly, no pic...IF it's still around, it must be at his parent's house. 
(I shall try to locate and destroy next time we're there...)

 

What would you love for your man to wear? 

My favorite look (and not one that he wears a whole lot, but will wear some in the summer) is a classic Southern boy outfit: a button down with the sleeves rolled up, khaki shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses. Ahhhhh, I LOVE it! 

All in all, I LOVE Alex's style. He is such a great dresser and always looks very dapper! 

Wedded Bliss Wednesday: Expectations of Marriage

It's Wedded Bliss Wednesday again! Today the questions are all about what I expected marriage to be (before I was married, that is!). Join in and link up!


CHILDHOOD EXPECTATIONS OF MARRIAGE!

1. When you were a child what did you imagine YOUR Prince Charming to be like?
When I was really little, I thought my Prince would be a lot like my dad: outdoorsy, rugged and a farmer! But I knew he would have dark hair (no real reason, just what I always pictured in my head!). 
 

2. Does you husband match your prediction as a child?
Alex is not what I would call "rugged" or very much "outdoorsy", and he definitely ain't no farmer! :) But he is one hotttt brunette.

3. What about when you were a teenager and knew it all about love, does your relationship match that scenario you had during those rebel years? 
 Yes and no. I wasn't terribly rebellious as a teenager, but my taste in men sure did change between dating my high school boyfriends and when I started dating Alex. I did think I knew it all about love in some ways, though. Isn't it hilarious to think that you will marry some boy you think is cute in 9th grade?? I mean, I know some people marry their high school sweethearts, but I think the vast majority of us THANK GOD for unanswered prayers (to quote Mr. Garth Brooks), know what I'm sayin'?
 

4. What love movie would you best match your relationship to? Why?
Definitely Pretty Woman...HA! Kidding. 
Hmmmm....I have never thought about this. Honestly, it's probably because I've never seen a movie where I thought, 'That is so US!'. Once we started dating, we never once broke up. There was no rekindling of love or chance happening to bring us back together or cutesy way we met. It's just been us, together, from the beginning. To tell you the truth, a movie about our love story would be pretty predictable without any curveballs or twists. Just the way I like it!