I need some "oink"ment!

I have swine flu.

Saturday morning, I woke up feeling a little bit achy but it was just bad enough that it felt like I must have just slept in an awkward position, and after a few hours of being awake, the pain went away. During the day, I kept coughing -- just a dry cough. I still did not feel sick or that I was getting sick at all! That night I went to bed and woke up around 5:00 a.m. and was hurting EVERYWHERE! My muscles hurt, my joints hurt, even my toes and fingers hurt! Chris got me some Tylenol and I tried to go back to sleep.

I woke up Sunday morning and made the official decision that we would not be going to church because I was still in so much pain. During the day the pain kept on -- even being on Tylenol every 4 hours, the pain was excrutiating! Poor Christopher massaged me I bet a million and one times! The coughing kept up, but I still was coughing up anything -- it was just dry still and tasted metallic.. yuck! I tried my best not to cough! Around lunch, I got to FREEZING! I had on a t-shirt & pj pants, but had to add socks, 2 blankets and a sweatshirt, and poor Christopher had our air on 77 - I was sweating him out of the house, however, I was still so cold! I kept an eye on my temperature and about 2:30 p.m. it peaked at 102 degrees before it finally broke! Good grief! I was sweating then! After that everything pretty much felt better... The muscle and joint pain was better -- not gone -- just better, coughing had seemed to cease, etc.

So I spent the night on the day bed in my school room.

I woke up at 2:00 a.m. feeling so nauseous! I immediately called Chris to bring me a trashcan and barely made it! From then on, I threw up every hour on the hour. I would wake up, throw up 4 or 5 times, and go back to sleep until the exact same time - just an hour later - and do it all over again!

So this morning I had Christopher drive me to the doctor...where we found out they no longer take my insurance so we ended up having to pay it out of pocket. The doctor brought me back, checked me over, swabbed my nose, and came back with the results that I did in fact have the flu -- and that since it is not "flu season" they are 100% guaranteeing that it is swine flu. Lucky me!

So now, I'm on three different kinds of "oink"ment to try to get rid of this swine flu!

Wish me luck!

It just may be true...

It just may be true that a cat has 9 lives!

On Friday, July 24, 2009, Chris & I headed to Newnan for the weekend, and to hear my Preacher Pa preach his last sermon at Newnan FUMC. (Which, by the way, was amazing! I cried tears the whole way through!) We left Milledgeville around 6:30 Friday evening. Saturday morning, Christopher's mom came to feed Delilah around 11:30, didn't see her, but that wasn't a big deal - Delilah's always off wandering! However, when we came home around 7:00 Sunday evening, Delilah's food had not been touched! The food was still in it's perfect little pyramid form from when you pour it into the bowl. I thought this was strange, but Delilah is known for figuring out that since Chris & I are gone to vacation, she deserves a vacation too - and usually disappears until we come home. Monday night: still no sign of her. Tuesday night: she was still a no-show. By Wednesday night, I had counted her out and given up on her. I just cried like a baby! Chris and I had been all around the perimeter of our woods calling and looking for her. We were devastated! Delilah is our baby -- and I could not wrap my mind around the idea that something had killed her, because she is too tough!

It rained on Thursday. And on this day, Chris came home from work -- and like always, he honked his horn, and I went out on the porch to welcome him home from his hard day. Something caught my eye! I looked over, and there was Delilah sitting in her favorite chair on our porch! I really did not believe it, because all week long my ears had been playing tricks on me and I kept thinking I was hearing her meow or scratch at the door. This time, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, too! Chris & I went over there immediately to love on her. She was very lethargic and really muddy. We quickly started searching for wounds, scratches, etc. and found dried blood on her side. We knew she was not acting herself, and since finding dried blood, we wasted no time getting her to the vet! It was 5:50 p.m. and they closed at 6:00! So, we scooped her up and took her to the vet just down the road.

They saw her right away! She had a 104 degree temperature (101 is normal for a cat) and was pretty dehydrated. They decided that since she was so long haired and matted from the dried blood, they needed to see what they were dealing with, wound wise --- so they shaved her beautiful, long fur! About 5 minutes later, they called us back in there. They had shaved her, if you can imagine on yourself -- from your under arm to your hip, and from your belly-button to your spine. I was in shock! They then showed us the MASSIVE bruise she had that covered about 80% of the area they had shaved. On that bruise were 5 bite marks -- that appeared to have come from a tom-cat. They kept her overnight, gave her morphine, and injected antibiotics. The next morning, they took x-rays to check for bleeding around her heart, and found none -- thank goodness! However, they did discover fractured ribs and nerve damage to her back right leg. Poor thing!

She probably thinks she has died and gone to heaven as she is now a full-time indoor kitty, has canned food for every meal and has a memory foam therapeutic catbed to sleep in.

Ah, to be a cat... :)

Welcome to our humble home!

(* WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG BLOG AND MAY NEED TO BE BROKEN UP INTO SEVERAL PARTS BEFORE THE WHOLE THING IS READ. IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ THROUGH IT ALL IN ONE SITTING, MAY WE SUGGEST A PILLOW UNDER YOUR TUSH, A CUP OF COFFEE, AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO FOR A GOOD WHILE.)

Welcome, Friends to our humble home! :)

Alrighty, so although Christopher & I have been living together for quite some time now, since we've been married we've spruced our place up a bit -- given it a "face lift," if you will. For many of you, a trip to Milledgeville is too far of a drive, or have had other obligations come up on your free weekends. Nonetheless, here it is: the good. the bad. the ugly. (and the beautiful!).

(Note: If you sent us something home decor-wise, keep your eyes peeled, you just may spot it in a picture!)

The first thing we decided to change in our humble abode is our bedroom. Now, when Chris first moved into this house, they decided to paint the entire thing one neutral color...."Bleh" by Bleh-bleh-bleh-bleh-bleh -- it's really beautiful, you should paint yours this color sometime! ... not so much! You will, however, notice the color when you see the rest of the house. But now (thank goodness!), our bedroom is "Mistletoe" green by Benjamin Moore. It really is beautiful. Our bedroom is HUGE and really needed this boost of confidence to bring out its true beauty. :) We also gave it new blinds (the thick vinyl ones that look like wood), and.... rearranged! Ah!

(* I wish I had some before pictures to show you, but let's just say this... what you pictured in your mind before with the "bleh" description.. it was probably worse!)

These were our blinds before: (all chuckles are completely excusable)

Aren't they just precious? (Sike!) Here are our blinds now: (ahhhhh!)

Much better....right?

We also moved our bed over to the wall across from the window, whereas before, it was against the wall adjacent to the wall with the window. Yes, I know this is the smallest wall, but it really does fit so cozy against it, and just looks like it feels at home. Therefore, I'm leaving it.

(* Please disregard our bedding...it is hot in Milledgeville, and we just sweat the comforter right off the bed every night, therefore, what you see is what you get. Sorry!)

Now for the living room (or "den" as Chris likes to call it... I prefer not to sound like a family of bears, but to each his own...)

If you were to walk in our front door, get to the kitchen and turn around so that you're facing the door again... this is what you'd see:

The furniture is arranged in such a way that it creates a nice entrance way into our home. The beautiful cross picture frame was a wedding gift to us from Mr. & Mrs. Joe Nixon (thank y'all so much!) I really cherish this frame and cannot wait to put pictures of our family in it one day!

(* Please note the thick vinyl imitated-wood blinds we also put up in our family/living room/den... special thank you to his parents & grandparents!)

If then, you were to turn your head slightly to the left of your previous gaze, you would see that on the other side of that window (in between our two windows in the family/living room/den) is another great picture frame that I love!:

I bought this frame at Target right before I transferred schools to North Georgia College & State University. I wanted to hang it above my bed in my "apartment." You can tell this was also shortly after Christopher & I started dating, as every picture in the frame is from our first 2 weeks of dating... :)

(* The picture frame leaning against the right window was given to us as a wedding gift by my sister, Christy. We are hoping to one day soon, take down the picture frame you see, and put up a collage of black-and-white wedding photos with her framed quote in the middle. It says "It's that can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of love." Perfect for Christopher & I. Thank you, Christy!)

Now, let's imagine you walk directly in front of the two windows in our family/living room/den... (to look at that cute picture frame of course!), and you turned to your left....

This beautiful canvas picture and stand was given to us as a wedding gift from Christopher's aunt & uncle, Rae & Todd Danielson. We love the quote on it, "the roots of a familiy tree begin with two hearts," because our families are both so important to us, and we like to remember that often! :) Next to this lovely print, you will find....

Well, golly-gee-whiz, it's ANOTHER picture frame - :)

(*Note: If you are ever in the position of "hey, I don't know what to get Becca for her birthday/christmas/anniversary..." GET ME A UNIQUE PICTURE FRAME -- I LOVE THEM!)

This one was sweetly given to us as a wedding gift from my dear Aunt Mary and her family. It means so much to us (more importantly, me), as I designed/printed our wedding invitations all on my own and didn't have any left over to keep... when I opened this up - it was the sweetest and most thoughtful gift of all, because not only do I have one now as a keepsake, it is preserved in the most precious way possible -- thank you, Wentlents! :)

Now, imagine you were done looking at our wedding invitation (what?? you don't want to look at it anymore?!??.... eh, just kidding!) and you looked directly to your right. You would see this:

(* Please minus me out of this picture...)

Christopher & I bought this table at Target with some of our wedding giftcards. We needed a table right there close to the door to catch keys, mail, etc. The mirror was already there, and purchased for us by my mom - thanks, mom! We love it! The scroll decoration above the mirror was a wedding gift to us from his great-aunt, Carol. Each one of his family members has one of these in their house - they look great! Another decorating tradition in the Giles family is fake fruit. You can see my plate of it at the bottom.. :) It is a compilation of apples, grapes, and miniature apples gathered from here, there, and yonder all collected on a china platter we received as a wedding gift! :) On top of the table, you will find 5 crystal candle stick holders -- love them! -- and a grouping of treasured items that you can get a better look of here:

The crystal angel on the far left, was a gift Christopher gave to his grandmother, Big Mama. He received it back after she passed away last December. The candle with the scriptive "G" on it, was my first shot at making our own unity candle for our wedding. The Willow Tree couple, "The Promise," was our wedding cake topper. And, the crystal cross was the one thing of his grandmothers that we both really wanted after she passed away. Our faith means a lot to us, and love to have crosses displayed throughout our house to remind us of our constant faith. She was also one of the most christian women I knew, making this a perfect reminder of her spirit and faith as a person. :) I love this part of my home the most, because it holds so many special things to us in one spot!

After you finished taking in the moment I just portrayed for you as you looked at my catch-all table, you could turn to right and step into our kitchen... Now, we're cookin' with gas! (actually, not really, we still have one of those really old stoves that just require you to turn a knob...nothing special. That, and, I would probably catch myself on fire if we had a gas stove... just saying.)

Our kitchen is a compilation of our dining room & kitchen area, and since we haven't upgraded our kitchen lately, you'll just be seeing our "dining room" which looks like this:

Our dining room table & chairs are all about to be upgraded to a bigger set (as of this week), but this is the basic layout. Our placemats were wedding gifts from our dear friends Summer & Daniel Leggat -- thanks y'all! -- and the napkins and napkin rings were bought with giftcards we got for wedding gifts to Target! Our dining room table always looks just like this....because it never gets eaten on! :)

Just beside our table is our....

China cabinet! This was given to me by my Memaw, and I could not love it anymore! Especially now that we have actual fine china to display in it! (In highschool, I used this china cabinet to put my folded laundry in...not so cute!)
If you venture into our guest bathroom (no, really, go ahead, we keep it clean!), you will see we have chosen a "beach" theme for the decor. We both love the beach (Chris a little more than the rest of.... see here). Each year, we try to bring back a souveneir to commemorate our treasured times spent at the beach! :) We hope that by looking at this next picture, you can hear ocean waves in the background and that your blood pressure lowers as you feel a little more relaxed... ;)

This was the pelican we picked up last year at a store called, Shipwreck, in Panama City Beach, Florida, where Chris likes to gamble his quarters at the quarter machines, while I shop to spend the quarters he makes! ;) On the way home, however, its neck snapped in two (awful, I know..) but I was able to save it's life and glue him back together! The little froggy was a tuck-and-run I picked up from my parent's house... don't know where he came from or what purpose he served, but he's made out of seashells, we love frogs, and so, hey -- he fits! :)

Well folks, that was basically our home in a nutshell, because well, let's face it... we're nutty! :) We hope you enjoyed the trip through our home as we documented how our first home once looked, and hopefully you'll be able to see it in person some time! There's lots more to see...but trust us when we say, you'll have to see it to believe it! :)

Love y'all!

Mr. &

Beach Bums... :)

Every year, Chris's family takes a week-long trip to a beach in Florida. For years they went to Destin, but ever since I've been going (for the last 3 years), it's been to Panama City Beach. They have some friends they rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo from that is right on the beach and is immaculate! It has tile floors throughout and granite countertops, and the decorating is absolutely superb! It's all the way up on the 12th of 17 floors and so our view is amazing! (The hotel actually doesn't have a 13th floor for superstitious reasons... funny, huh?)

This was Macie's first year to go to the beach, and she did pretty well! It's actually funny, because it was this same trip the year before where they decided she was, in fact, going to be named Macie (up until then, they had been calling her "Emily.")

I was especially excited about going this year, because it gave me a break from school work, and we had our own room! Yes, this may sound silly and unimportant, but for the last 2 years, we've always invited one of his grandmothers to go with us, and we gave the extra room to them, leaving Chris, Jonathan, & I to sleep on the single couch, pushed together chairs & ottoman, or the tile floor.... not fun!

Every morning, we would all get up, have a nice breakfast that our brother-in-law, Wesley would usually fix, and go down to the beach until lunch. Chris & I were especially excited about laying out at the beach this year, because we got these great beach chairs with some of our wedding giftcards to Target (sorry, i can't find a picture of them!). They have footrests, cupholders, gadget pockets, headrests, etc. We were set!

Macie would do great, but since we were in the middle of a heat wave, she didn't cope with the heat as well as everyone else, so in order to keep her happy just a little while longer (so no one had to go up to the condo just minutes after coming down), I decided to share my bag of Blow-Pops I had gotten for the trip down there, and boy did she love them! She is just now starting to want to taste "real food" and as she was watching me lick mine, her little lips and tongue were just a goin' mimicking my motions. She also only has 2 bottom teeth, and was currently getting 2 more in, so knowing she couldn't bite it, I gave her a classic Cherry one for her very first taste at yummy goodness! Boy, oh boy! She was loving it!

I ended up enjoying a lot of my trip down at the pool. It was great! I found a great lounge chair that was in a great location and waiting just for me everyday! It was near the part of the pool that had this great cove where you could sit in the deep in on a step that put that water just at chest high -- so it was away from all the little children learning to swim, and right near my chair! I even made new friends down there -- they loved my little cove too!

All in all, it was a really great trip... I am always ready to come home and get back to reality, Chris however will be sulking for weeks that we're not still there... Bless his heart! We're already looking forward to our next trip, though, to Lake Junaluska, N.C. for the 4th of July with our family! :)

Enjoy these next few pictures of our trip down there...

Our Wedding Day

It has come & gone. Thank you so much to everyone who blessed us with your presence, gifts, showers, prayers, toasts, thoughts, etc. The day was perfect -- absolutely flawless! We were so blessed to have been surrounded by so many of our closest friends and family members on our very special day! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We are absolutely loving being married & have already started decorating and settling further into our "home." Everytime I have gotten to call him my husband, I get butterflies all over again! I love signing the credit card receipts with my new last name, since I haven't gotten to change my name over anywhere else, like the bank, as we just received our Marriage Certificate on Friday. My favorite part is seeing him with a ring on his finger! :)

If you missed our big day, don't worry! Our videographer, Roy Spillers with Moonrize Studios, did a fantastic job of capturing the day on film! We love to watch the video over and over to relive the best day of our lives so far! You can check the video out here: www.moonrizestudios.com/giles. There you will find our "Love Story" that we filmed at his parent's lake house in Milledgeville, Georgia. This was where we, well... told our love story! It is absolutely precious! You can also see our Rehearsal, Rehearsal Dinner, The Ceremony (which includes the pre-wedding festivities!), The Reception, Family & Friends (their advice and sweet comments to us!), and the Cast of the big production (Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, etc., and of course starring: The Bride & Groom!)

Here are a few professional pictures we have so far. Enjoy!

To my husband... :)

Today is the "big day." The day that I become Mrs. Christopher M. Giles. I am a little nervous, very excited, and sort of... numb feeling. It is all so surreal that I am getting to marry the man of my dreams today! To Christopher, I just want to say this:

I love you with my whole heart. You are my whole heart, and with every beat of it, I love you more. I find something new to love about you every day. You never cease to amaze me. You are so smart! I will always feel safe with you around me, and never feel as if I have to be someone I am not. I love who I have become since I met you. I've become myself -- the real me. You are creative and fun and never fail to make me smile. I laugh continuously when I am with you. Not at you. With you. :) You are my world, my heart... and you know you're my favorite everything! I love you, Christopher... husband of mine! :)
(officially!)

Counting Down the Days... :)

Okay. We have about 4 days left until our wedding day! We get asked all the time "How are you feeling?," "Are you getting nervous?," "Are you excited yet?" Well, it depends on who you ask....

My Story:

I have waited, and waited, and waited for May to get here. It got here, and I still wasn't nervous. I started Maymester in school where I had to keep an intense calendar of what is due everyday -- looking at the calendar everyday, and marking off days as they got closer... still wasn't nervous. The week before the week of my wedding, people would say "Are you getting nervous?" And I would say "Eh, not really..." Then, Enter.Newnan. I went to Newnan this weekend for my Bachelorette & last Wedding Shower -- and it HIT me like a ton of bricks, y'all! Literally pounded me! When I started seeing all of the details, and buying the last minute things, and finding my lipstick I was going to wear, and finalizing on a hairstyle, etc., etc., etc., ... it just hit me! I wasn't able to sleep at night -- I would just lie in bed. Awake. Until the wee hours of the morning when my body just finally would give out. And then I was up again bright and early to do it all over again! I have never been in such a hurry to get back to Milledgeville so that I could SLEEEEEEEEEP!!!

Oh, but it hasn't stopped here! Oh no, I think it followed me... Atleast, I was able to sleep! In fact, I got home to Milledgeville about 6:30, slept from 7-8:30, went back to sleep around 11 and slept in until 9.. I have also taken another 2 hour nap since then! Boy! Oh, boy! All day, I have thought about this wedding, made appointments to meet with vendors so they could set up, checked on the delivery of the tux's, bought the attendants gifts, etc. Atleast I am able to sleep now, though!

I absolutely cannot wait until the Big Day! I know it is going to just be absolutely beautiful and I am eternally grateful to the many hands and opinions, and bank accounts that have gone into making this wedding possible! Thank you, thank you, thank you -- from the bottom of our hearts! :)

His Story:

I ask him "Are you getting nervous?" He says "I'm nervous that I'm not nervous." Typical.

Wish us luck! Hope to see you there! & if you are unable to make it, for whatever reason, toast us, pray for us, think of us, and share a little smile at 5:00 Saturday - for that's when the magic begins! :)