Proud to say...

I am an official owner of Winsome Jones! We launched our website today! You can visit us at winsomejones.com! You can also like our facebook page! We are starting out small but plan to grow bigger and bigger through everyone's support! I opened Winsome Jones with one of my great friends Carli! You can read about how we came together to create Winsome Jones here. 

Check out even more of our style at our website!

Last weekend Charlie and I had an awesome thanksgiving! We went down to Peachtree City to eat with my parents and our best family friends, the Smartt's! 

I told Charlie that we never take pictures on Holiday's- this is the result!

Jones', Crose's, Smartt's, Madsen's, & Hale

Afterwards we played some games, and then we drove home early since I had to work Black Friday at 5am... Gotta love working in retail! 

Later that weekend we checked out Paces Mill. It is a State Park near our place! It was really pretty and a fun walk! I got jabbed by a stick, but other than that it was perfect. It is right on the Chattahoochee! People were fly fishing in the freezing water, and there are biking and hiking trails throughout it. 

Chattahoochee love

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving week as well!

insta awesome

So, I kinda take forever completing little diy projects... Please tell me I am not the only one! I blame not enough time/ sleep in a day.... and maybe too many great tv shows that occupy too much of my time. (anyone else addicted to Bones or Breaking Bad right now)? Anyway, I finally actually got around to finishing this. I am in love!!

This is now framed and on our wall. I wanted to combine some of our family pictures but have a little bit of a separation as well. Big thanks to my sister in law Katie for rounding up some of Charlie's pictures for me. I would like to point out a specific picture. Check out row one column four. Charlie was fat at one point in his life! Obese baby! Love you babe :)

news so cool you might jump for joy(or at least you should)!

Remember that one time I didn't post anything on my blog for like 2 months. Oops! Can you tell that things have been a little crazy lately?! Every weekend has seemed to be insanely scheduled. The weekends are supposed to be my time to rest up and prepare for a new week. My typical work week is Monday thru Friday from 7am-4pm. Waking up that early can be the death of me sometimes! However, after my 2 hour nap this afternoon, I am feeling quite refreshed!

So what is new, you ask? Well lots! 

ummm can I get a drumroll please... (I really hope that you are mentally doing a drumroll as you read this).... My friend Carli and I are working on opening up our own online clothing store. I am beyond excited!!!! I have always wanted to own a boutique- like since I was 10! An online store just felt like a perfect fit in both of our lives- especially at this time. It was only a short time after meeting and getting to know each other that Carli and I realized we both had the same goals and inspirations. It honestly felt like a lightbulb turned on as soon as we met... and we both knew...we were actually capable of doing this! All it took was that. I am now a believer in the power of two. We are hoping to open up in January... maybe sooner. We are currently in the boring business stages, but I am so excited to show all of you our ideas and clothing we are waiting to purchase. I can't wait to make this step in my life. Everything seems to be falling into place :)

is coming soon!!!!

chop chop

 Last Friday, we went to the braves vs dodgers game with our friends Lindsay and Cory. I am happy to say that we beat the dodgers in extra innings! Especially, since last year they beat us at the game we went to. For some weird reason Charlie still claims that he is a dodgers fan over the braves. We will see how long that lasts :)

our ventura trip

Remember that one time we went to Ventura, California for Charlie's grandpa's 80th birthday.... Well, we just got around to finishing the video I wanted to have. When I say "we" I mean Charlie. Ha.. He did all the work.

music by: Keith Kenniff; video via my itouch using the 8mm app

                   

lets paint the walls...

We have decided to stay at our apartment for at least another year, so i want to paint a little bit. I am trying to come up with some perfect color schemes for our walls. Basically, I would like your help deciding what you think would look best. Please comment below with your opinion :)

Choose away friends. Thank you:)

ventura called our names

more to come...

kinda wish I could be this cool

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE PERSON!!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH CHARLIE CROSE! YOU ARE THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD! HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

It's only Tuesday

I wish I could go back to the weekend. It was the perfect weekend, and very much needed! Why you ask? 

I had a yummy dinner with the husband (see picture below). 

I was able to sleep in Saturday. 

Lounge around the house all day with Charlie. 

Play tennis. 

Organize our apartment (much much needed). 

Use my new ice cream maker for the first time. 

Had an amazing Sunday (all my sunday school kids were so great)! 

We celebrated my brother in law, Brian's birthday with my family! 

We hosted and ate some delicious chicken tacos (courtesy of Charlie--- he is by far the better cook). 

Yeah, so now you see what I mean. These past few work weeks have been crazy. Gotta enjoy the sweet sweet moments life brings you!

The cutest little restaurant with the yummiest mac & cheese and pork crepes. 

Not me, not Hermione, you HARRY!

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

We had such an AMAZING time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter last Friday! It is a part of the Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. We went with my sister whitney, and my mom. We are all big time Harry Potter fans- which made it that much more fun. Here are some things that we learned:

Get there right when it opens. (we were able to ride the dragon challenge twice in a row without lines... there are 2 dragon's you can ride too...we read previously on another blog to hit this up first and we totally agree)

Next hit up the  Hogwarts castle for the Forbidden Journey ride. This was our absolute favorite. The line goes quickly. Don't worry about the wait time. The castle is so much fun to look at you won't realize how long you have been standing in line for. (We ended up going on this ride twice)

Get your butterbeer in the three broom sticks and not the butterbeer stands that are located throughout the park. You will not have a line in the three broom sticks and you get to enjoy some good ole' air conditioning and the atmosphere of three broom sticks. It's a win win situation. We also ate the feast for 4 people in three broom sticks. It was delicious. It had chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, potatoes, and some more vegetables. I recommend it if you are with a group and are planning on eating in the park. 

Wait for Ollivanders wand shop show once the line is smaller (night time is best). The line is directly in the sun and only a few people get in for each show. The show is 7 minutes long. It was a cute show- I guess they normally always choose a little kid to test out the wands, so if you bring kids have them stand in the front row for a possibility to get picked.

We all loved the regular butterbeer, frozen butterbeer, and the pumpkin juice!!!!Frozen butterbeer was my favorite!! They taste so good y'all. And they are relatively cheap too. I ended up having 2 by the end of the day. 

If you want to hit up the rest of the park, I would suggest going to it very last. The last 2 hours of the park being open, we were able to walk right on to almost every line. We even rode the Hulk twice. The spiderman ride was my least favorite- long line! Maybe if we waited later to ride it when the line was shorter, I would have liked it more. All in all, we had the BEST time there! 

strawberry freezer jam

We have made this strawberry jam for the longest time. It has been a few years since we actually made it though... and boy was I craving it! Adams Farm is a self pick farm near my hometown. When my mom called me and said that they had their "ready to pick" strawberry sign up... I came down that weekend to make it with my momma. Precious huh?

So how do you make it? It's simple: strawberries(freshly picked preferred) + sugar + lemon juice + box of pectin(use it's instructions) = the most delicious strawberry jam ever

Oh, and if you're lucky like me you will have some left over strawberries to enjoy. mmm!

Stacey's Baby Shower

I promised that I would show more pictures of the baby shower I threw for my best friend Stacey. I wasn't lying:) Here are some pictures we snapped. 

pictures were taken via mine and stacey's camera

One year down!

This weekend Charlie and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! It is beyond crazy that it has already been a year! Time is flying past us! However, a lot has happened for us during our first year of marriage. So I guess it all makes sense in the end. We celebrated by going downtown and staying at the Westin hotel. We also ate at The Sun Dial. It was awesome! It is located on one of the top floors of the westin. The floor slowly moves so you can get a 360 view of Atlanta. And the food was AMAZING!!!!

 our view from our room!

  a reflection of me from our bedroom window 

Highlights from my week

Date night with the husband at farm burger. So delicious! Do you see the size of my burger?!!!! The root beer on tap was a nice touch too!

My sister Whitney had her birthday this week:) 

I threw a baby shower for one of my best friends, Stacey!!!(more pictures to come)

We had couples FHE at our apartment and played a game of spoons (well pens)! I was the winner:)

All in all... it was a crazy, hectic, fun week!