MY 25th BIRTHDAY...WEEK...

What a wonderful Birthday Week I had! The best gift of all was my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were intown. I posted about my work birthday party. What wonderful gift I got from those girls. Also two of my fav day shift nurses got me such a cute necklace. I love it!

All week was so much fun. Wednesday while Jason and Sarah were in Hot Springs, mom and I kept sweet Hollis! We had our nap time together and then when they got back intown we ended the night with my "Wed night birthday week celebration" at my fav... Fuji's!

Friday was my family birthday party. It was such a special one. I celebrated it with Hollis. He turned 1 on July 8. We weren't there to celebrate with him on his day, so we had a big celebration for both of us. My family, Aunt, Cousin and her two girls came over for dinner and cake and presents. The Sweet Man mad us steaks (my favorite thing that he cooks) we had a little cake for Hollis to tear into and a big cake for me and the rest of the family to eat. I got such great gifts too!

Hollis and me with our birthday cakes!

Lenzi and Lexi helping me blow out my candles

After the party my parents kept Hollis while we went out for a little birthday celebration at Hopkins.

Ash, Me and Sarah (sorry pic from Iphone..not too good)

Saturday my brother and his family had to head back to North Carolina! So Sad when they leave us! Wish they would move closer! Saturday night The Sweet Man took me to dinner for my birthday and then we went to Timothy's with my sister and some friends. He has to leave on my birthday for business so we celebrated early!

Birthday picture with my baby dogs, Lottie and Miller

Sunday, my actual birthday, Taylor woke me up way too early wanting to take me to breakfast. I was thinking...why don't you just cook me breakfast and let sleep in. But he insisted on letting me have my favorite... cream cheese stuffed french toast from Ihop! I know some may think nasty... but i love it! I took him to the airport then headed to church. After church I met some of my favorite T-town girls for brunch at Hopkins then off to the pool. I am so mad we didn't take any pictures! I got such a cute little necklace from these lovely ladies! I ended the night with our normal Sunday Night routine (although The Sweet Man wasn't with us) at Hopkins for Trivia.

I had such sweet phone calls, cards, texts, and fb messages. Thank you everyone. This year has been a wonderful year.... Brought our little Lottie home, Married the man of my dreams, Moved into "our" home, bought my first car, i could go on and on. I feel like I grew up during my 24th year of life. Can't wait to see what 25th year has in store for me!

Fun changes!

We have some fun changes being made to "How Sweet It Is." Hope you enjoy... will give you updates later!

By the way wonderful Birthday weekend...will have more about this too!

Let the countdown begin....

I love birthdays! This year is my 25th birthday on July 25...so it is my golden birthday on SUNDAY! Meaning the date of my birthday and my age are the same! Anyone else heard of this or just me...? Your birthday should be YOUR day! To do mostly whatever you want to do. I know most of you that know me well are thinking here she goes again. But my entire life my birthday used to really upset me... it is July 25. Well that is the end of the summer. People always seem to be busy, out of town, camp, etc. So all growing up at my birthday parties (which should be fun since it is in the summer) no one could ever come b/c the are taking vacation before school starts or whatever else. My own parents took a trip over my birthday one year. They obviously knew when it was, but just didn't pay attention i guess. As you can see this has really bothered me. So now as an adult i like to make a big deal of my big day.. more like my big week. Which I think everyone should! This is why i LOVE my work. We make big deals out of everyones birthday...and this week happens to be mine. It is the last day that work before i am off and get to enjoy my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!

To start it off GREAT... the nurses at work had a Birthday party for me. Most all of the nurses came to the hospital to celebrate...even ones that weren't working. WE ordered Mexican food...my fav! The same sweet little lady makes everyone's Birthday cake...well should i say attempts. Kidding. But something really always happens to the dessert she makes. They might not always be pretty but they taste great. This time i was told i was getting a BUNDT cake but instead i got my FAVORITE.....Strawberry cupcakes, some with strawberry icing and others with cream cheese icing. YUM! She also made choc covered strawberries and put them on top!! So wonderful!

This is the sweet little lady that makes the birthday desserts. Caught her eating her Strawberry!

I got such great gifts. Some of my favorite things. Wine, wine journal, wine stopper, reusable bag with birds on it. Peaches from the wonderful DeQueen...yum. Gift card for a mani/pedi, note pad with birds, candy, flip flops, $75 gift card to TJ Max (one of my fav stores), a monogrammed beach towel (not in the picture, it is being sent to my house) and $100 to go towards my special birthday present that i am going to buy myself... will tell you more about this...crossing my fingers that either The Sweet Man, my family or in laws surprise me with this wonderful gift i want! But not likely!

I know everyone is thinking man i want to work there. They are great. It is the only thing that keeps me working these long dreadful nights. We are like family....we might have a little drama or disagreements at times but for the most part we are all very close and would do anything for each other. Makes work fun!

This is a picture of a few of us work girls last summer. We went to Hot Springs for Angie and my "Bachelorette weekend." Such fun! 3 wonderful ladies are not in this picture. We also have two new Rn's that will soon be part of our family!

(Brittney, Me, Mandy, Angie & Rhonda)

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"THE GIRLS"

Many people have nicknames for their group of friends such as clique, fab 5, fab 4, St. Mich's crew (this is what one of the Nurses I work with calls all of us Nurses), etc. For some reason I call my friends "The Girls." For example when I would tell The sweet man what i was doing I would say "I am going to go lay out with the girls, then probably go eat with the girls, and then i will meet up with you later."

"The Girls" consist of my college girl friends. A couple I knew in High school. Some I became very close to my first year of college and others sophomore year when we moved into the Pi Phi house. We all lived together with the rest of the sorority, I think of total of 90 something girls lived together. This is the time when we all became very close, like family. We were always together. We would seriously pile in one car, maybe two, and all go to the mall, eat, or whatever we were into that night. We all knew everything about each other, strengths, weaknesses, secrets, emotions, temper. We knew each others habits, good or bad,and still loved each other for it. After moving out of the Pi Phi house we all found our roommates within "our group" and still remained close with the ones we weren't living with at the time. Below is a pictures of my wonderful roomies! These were the Turtle Creek Girls! (Turtle Creek was the street we lived on)

(Katie, Jenni, Scarlet, Mary Kate....Candel, Britani)

We have now, sadly, had to move on and separate "The Girls" but will ALWAYS have that special bond and remain the closest of friends. There are some you talk to more than others but always have a special place for each person. We were all so different but together we made "The Girls." I just can't imagine my life without each one of them in it. We grew together, learned together, and experienced most of trying to figure out "who we are" together.

The Sweet Man and I moved back to our home town, as did some of the others. Many still live in Arkansas, one in Tennessee, one in Missouri, one moved off to Cali but then back to Ark. Two of us are married, many with serious relationships, no one with children...yet... :)

When we all get together (which maybe only happens twice a year...we are going to work on this) it is one of my favorite things. Every now and then a few will get together but it is not the same without all "The Girls." I started thinking about it this weekend when I had a few of the girls in town. We had so much fun...wish we could do that every weekend. But while I was very much enjoying my time I was also thinking how much I wished the others were there with us.

Here are a few pictures over the years of my group of friends I like to call "The Girls."

This is the only picture I could find with everyone in it. Such a beautiful group of girls!

(Candel, Jordan, Britani, Katie, Jena, Scarlet, Lindy, Jenni, Caitlin, Natalie, Michelle, Mary Kate)

We were always ready for some fun. This is a picture at one of our many float trips.

(Lauren, Jordan, Mary Kate, Britani, Jenni...Lindy, Katie)

One of our many nights on Dickson Street. I thought this pictures was funny bc we all look so different than in this pictures!

(Jordan, Lauren, Mary Kate, Scarlet, Jenni, Katie)

This was a picture from a cookout at The Sweet Man's house one summer! We loved for him to cook for us!

(Britani, Jenni, Katie, Michelle, Scarlet, Mary Kate)

Another night out on Dickson!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Jenni, Mary Kate, Scarlet, Caitlin, Margaret, Jordan, Britani)

These pictures are from this weekend. One of our sorority sister got married. A few of the girls came in town. We had such a fun time. We really enjoyed out time in Freeze Frame photo booth. Will hopefully be able to share that photo with y'all soon!

This pictures was actually taken at the end of the night and the fabulous Shooters...kidding about the fabulous thing. But I wanted to hang out with everyone so I had to go, although I very much dislike that place.

(Katie, Lindy, Jenni, Scarlet)

(Mary Kate, Scarlet, Katie, Lindy, Jenni)
This photo was at the wedding. I am so glad y'all came in town to come to the wedding and visit ME! I get soo excited when I have friends in town because that hardly ever happens. But I sure love when it does. I had so much fun with you all and can't wait to get together again.

Much Love!

My Favorite Baby.....

I can't believe my sweet little nephew's birthday is already here. Happy 1st Birthday to my favorite baby in the world. He isn't going to be a baby much longer. I can't believe it.

I won't be able to celebrate with him today but only 2 more weeks they will be in town to visit us. Guess we will have to have a joint birthday! Sweet Baby's 1st birthday, My 25th birthday. Both very important years!! Love this little guy so much. Didn't know you could love a child that is not your own as much as I love him. Just wish they lived closer. I pray everyday for it. So one day they will have to be close to us!
My brother's sweet family! Much love!



Happy little guy!


This pictures make me laugh..we know he loves us!!! Maybe he was a little overwhelmed. But we know he is just as high maintenance. He doesn't fool us! This is for sure framed in my home!



Photos by Niki @ One Creation Studios

Wednesday Night Tradition!!

So even before The Sweet Man and I got married we started a Wednesday night routine. His parents very good friend owns a fish place, Lee's, that all the guys get together and go eat. So this was always a good night for me to do my own thing for dinner. So Mom and I started going to my FAV... Fuji Kim's sushi and grill.

The Kim's are like family to us. We walk in and they bring diet dp and big salad with dressing on the side. No soup. We have our own chop sticks. They have the best food. We just love the Kim family so much. I can't wait for Wednesdays to get here. Sometime I go there 2 or maybe even 3 times a week! If you are in the area and haven't made it there to eat you are missing out. Most of the time i order chef special and leave it up to Mr. Kim. What a wonderful Wednesday tradition!


One of the Chef specials. Look how good this looks!


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Sweet Baby Cohen!

Sweet Baby Cohen touched so many lives in the 12 days he was here. Please keep his family in your prayers today. It will be a very emotional day for his family at his service! May God give them peace and comfort.