Farmhouse with Altitude

Hello Folks!

I have been away from the blog for a couple of days now as I've been hosting guests and doing homework. Last week I had Thursday off from school and Nathan, my brother was out of school on Friday, so it was the perfect time for me to take Friday off and my mom and him took a trip over Thursday evening. They were here thru Sunday and we had a great time visiting. Friday we took off for some bargain shopping and hit up a couple of Goodwill's and some thrift stores. I was able to snag up a couple of good deals and we also ate up some yummy cupcakes from a new cupcakery in Downtown Camden. Here is a photo of the treats we enjoyed:

Happy Thursday everyone!

I hope that this post finds you well and that you are super excited the weekend is on the horizon. I am! Last weekend was quite fun though! Me and Daniel took a spur of the moment trip over to Myrtle Beach for Saturday and Sunday! I got a great deal on the oceanview room and we had a wonderful time just spending time together!


Here was the view from our room:

Wreath I made for Whitney for her birthday

Today's post is going to be dedicated to our recent outside house renovations. We worked hard on these changes back in August and got most of everything done, but we still had a few extra things to do before I wanted to post the pictures.

So the time has come and here is the big reveal of our outside house renovations! Enjoy!














If I must say so myself, I think we did a good job transforming the place. The hard work definitely paid off and it looks 10x better than when we bought it!

P.S. Daniel reminded me that I did 4 posts this week! How good is that! Now don't always hold me to that standard! LOL Have a great week!


♥ Whitney

Better late than never! Happy Thursday everyone!! I am excited that it is Thursday already and the weekend is so near!! We are hoping to have a great weekend! If you missed yesterday's post of pics featuring my fall decor at home, check it out here.

Today I am finding myself thankful for:

• good health: Somehow moving to SC has created chaos in the fall and spring for my allergies, so I got my semi-annual sinus infection last week. I was pretty sure I was going to die but somehow I managed to recover. LOL I am feeling great now and I am so glad to be back to normal. There are many people who are sick a lot and maybe even terminally, and I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with good health. Knock on wood, I don't get sick really but those two times a year. 

• sweet tea: Lately me and Daniel have been going through some gallons of sweet tea, partly because he is taking 32 oz. in his lunch everyday, but I really LOVE sweet tea. I mean who would ever drink the stuff without sugar is beyond me! Thank the Lord for the South!!

• warm and cozy house: Have I mentioned how happy I am that we have a beautiful house, because I AM! I love our house! I love spending time in it and decorating it!! It is also really nice to not have to worry where I will be laying my head down at night and sleeping in a dry safe place! 

Well last week I did not get to follow through with my promises of posting pics of my fall decor and the house renovations. That was because I got sick on Wednesday and just tried to make it through the rest of the week. We didn't go anywhere over the weekend either, I just got rest and I am so glad that I am now back to full health. It was for sure a rough couple of days!!

So on to the good stuff! Today I'm going to share my fall decor with ya'll!! Hope you enjoy! (Btw: in case you were wondering, we had a great anniversary dinner last evening and I enjoyed spending that quality time with my love! Thank you all for the well wishes!)

Dining table with the newly finished chairs (thanks Whit!)

Place setting with cute little pumpkin salt and pepper shakers in the background!

Dining room

Cute little kitchen towels I got at Big Lots

Matching Rug

Living Room bookshelf: pumpkins and wax dipped pinecones in lantern

Love this sign from TjMaxx!!

Mantle

Carport door

Straw wreath wrapped in burlap with leaf flowers and glitter pumpkin

Front door wreath: grapevine wreath, ribbon & burlap rosettes, burlap flowers, hemp wrapped wooden letter

So this isn't fall decor, but it is a new gallery wall I (me and Daniel) hung this past weekend!



Hope that you enjoyed the photo dump!! Have a good evening!

♥ Whitney

Today I am dedicating to my dear hubby, Daniel! Here is to the past two most wonderful years of my life!

Things to note about the past two years.......

- Daniel works very hard all the time, like very hard (even when he doesn't feel like it)
- Daniel loves me no matter what I say or do to him
- It is really fun making a family of our own and being grown ups
- I love snuggling up with Daniel every morning before we get up for work
- Laughing is necessary, including when we are supposed to be going to sleep and we decide to start teasing each other
- Cooking every night is overestimated
- Planning a menu is never easy
- Your house is never as clean as you would like it to be
- Sometimes you get mad, but you get over it because you can't just leave you have to sleep in the same bed so making up is a necessity
- Daniel is not perfect and I can not change him no matter what I may try
- Others always look like they may have it easy but when you take a step back and look at your situation you really are the lucky one
- Communication is key!
- Challenges make you stronger

There are many things I have learned about myself, Daniel, and us over the past two years. We still have years to go full of learning. But there are two things I feel like have been the most important things I have learned/realized over the time though.

1. TRUST=Success! It is so critical to trust your spouse with all your heart. I have truly dedicated myself to trusting Daniel and understanding that he is never going to put me in a situation that I don't need to be in. He is looking out for our best interest, so why would I ever think otherwise. Speaking as a worrier, this has been a huge step for me but it has been one of the most rewarding I think as well. My advise to all who may be getting married or who are newlyweds is to please trust your spouse literally with your life. Never doubt that what they say is looking out for the best of you as a couple!

2. Living away from family is the best thing that we could experience starting out as a married couple. I know, I know that sounds very weird. You would think that would be bad and that we would want to be close to family and don't get me wrong we love our family and love visiting them. But learning to depend on ONLY each other for these first 2 crucial building block years of our marriage has been amazing! We can't run home to mommy or daddy or friends, nope we go home to each other and have to learn and grow with each other! I can't stress how grateful I am that the Lord has blessed us with this opportunity that many may never get the chance of learning. We are grateful and feel that this was just one of God's way of showing us his plan for the rest of our life.

So in saying all that, I am so grateful to my Father that he laid out my life before I was born and picked such an amazing spouse for me to spend my life with and glorify His name through! When I was younger, I continually prayed for the Lord to lead me to someone and for me not to have to go through all the heartbreaks that many experience. I truly just wanted a high school sweetheart! As I followed his plan for my life, he answered my prayers and today I say THANK YOU FATHER!!

Right after we got engaged, I was a mess, but o so happy!

Daniel, I said "I do" 2 years ago today and every day I thank the Lord we get the opportunity to live out our love story! I love you so much! Here is to the rest of our lives in each other's arms.......

Blessed,

♥ Mrs. Daniel Rabern

So I realized lately that I have failed as a blogger at a couple of things:

Where to begin today?

I'm going to be completely transparent today. You know those days when Satan completely attacks you! He tells you "you suck", your house is ugly, you are lazy and need to clean, you have problems that no one else has (what's wrong with me?). You feel depressed and agitated. Well today is definitely one of those days. I'm not sure why, but I just feel attacked. So to say that this blog post is going to be a challenge is an understatement. But I figured, I started this blog to share my life with you, the good days and the bad days. Because who realistically always has good days??

But in spite of this defeat I am filling, at the end of the day I still have many things to be thankful for......

......a family (including my in-laws) who loves me

.....being able to get an education, although most times it is incredibly stressful and I don't want to be there, it is a huge opportunity that many across the world do not get (I try to remind myself of this often)

.....coffee, for some reason this morning I was craving a good ole dose of caffeine, I turned to my old friend coffee, who of course did not let me down. I'm sorry I abandon you during the summer months, for you are o so delicious!

.....hat days. I love being able to sweep my raggedy hair up into a bun on my head and throw on a hat to cover up the mess

Disregard all the stupid signs behind me....I'm sitting at school

.....quick weeks. It seems the older I get the quicker time moves! Weeks fly by and don't get me wrong I'm glad because I love the weekends. But it is a continual reminder that you have to savor every day because it is gonna be gone before you know it.

.....eating out. I know I sound like a complete snob, lazy wife. But for some reason this week I have been completely uninspired to cook....at all! Thank goodness, Daniel was able to make something last night so we didn't go hungry! LOL


That's all folks......I hope you are feeling more like conquerors than I am today. But in case I'm not the only one....here's a scripture for encouragement:

1 Peter 5:8-11
Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Whitney

Linking up to:

Happy Thursday everyone! We are one day away from fun....the weekend! Now if that doesn't deserve a shout out I don't know what does.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Cooler Weather!!

Here in Columbia it has been in the low 80s during the day and it has actually gotten down in the high 50s/low 60s during the evenings! That is so exciting because it is miserably hot here the majority of the year. Last night we even slept with the windows open for the first time and I must say it was so delightful!

2. Having friends

I am so grateful that we have friends here in SC now. We have been greatly enjoying hanging out with friends recently and are excited at the new friends that we are making thru our friends as well. We are already planning our fun activities for this weekend now, so look forward to Monday to hear all about it!!

3. Football

I am so excited that it is finally football season! I love cheering on the DAWGS every Saturday and just hoping that South Carolina loses every Saturday (LOL)! I know a lot of girls may not like to watch football, but I guess my competitive side gets the best of me because I love watching it and screaming at the TV.....LOL!

Cheering on the DAWGS back in 2008 at the Ga vs. Kentucky game in Kentucky! We had a fun road trip with the aunt and uncle!!

Well folks I hope everyone "Made it a good Thursday"!!

Until next time,
XOXO