{coconut oil-y hair}

Girl friends are great for more than just gossip and shopping! My group of girl friends and I often trade recipes, decorating, and beauty tips. One day, during one of our long walks, we were talking about how to naturally make our hair grow and ticken faster. Than goodness for my friend Lora or I would have never even tried this trick! 

Now, I've always heard that coconut oil has many benefits for the inside of your body, but who knew you could plaster it all over the outside of your body and reap the benefits too? 

Lora told me to combine a couple spoonfuls of coconut oil {more if you have tick hair} and about 5 drops of lavender--amaazzzinng aromatherapy. Mix it together and start rubbing it all over your head. I start at my scalp and work its way all over the scalp and then gradually work my way down. I use a small comb to comb through my hair to make sure I covered it, then I twist my hair and put it in a clip. You want to use a clip instead of a pony tail holder because clips don't break your hair! 

Make sure you have at least 2 hours to sit around the house and do nothing because you want to let this soak in as long as possible. I suggest making a nice warm bubble bath, turning on a show or reading a good book, lighting some candles, and letting the oil work it's magic. This does wonders for the stress in your life. 

Ingredients: 

Coconut Oil

Essential Oils {I use lavender} 

*Make sure you buy pure 100% organic coconut oil to reap all of the benefits* 

I bought mine at Trader Joes

{christmas cocktail 2012}

This year we hosted our first ever Christmas Cocktail and it was a b.l.a.s.t.! 

As I began to decorate for Christmas this year and unpacked all of my boxes, I  realized how much stuff we actually have. I unpacked boxes and boxes of Christmas serving dishes, hot cocoa mugs, dessert plates, cake platters and so much more. I figured we had to have a get together or else all of this stuff would go to waste yet another year. I quickly texted all of my girl friends and we figured the best date would be December 1st because as soon as our med school hubbies are finished everyone is going every which way. 

Next came the question--tacky Christmas sweater party or classy cocktail? Since we live in a super small town and have no where to go to dress up, we figured we'd take a night to get fancy and wear some heels! Hence the name, Christmas Cocktail 2012 {cleaver, right?} 

We planned to have small appetizers instead of doing a sit down dinner {because my house can't really hold 17 people--more like 6 comfortably}. Each couple came bearing an appetizer or a dessert and man-o-man it was amazing! We had everything from beef dip, spinach fritattas, broccoli bites, and bruchetta to cake balls and pecan pie bars. Drinks consisted of "skinny" champagne punch, vodka tonics, whiskey and diet coke, and wine for the ladies. Everything was so delicious! 

I wanted to plan a fun game since our parties usually go like this--couples arrive, every one says hello, boys go to one side of the room, girls go to the other side of the room and that's that! Everyone arrived at 7pm and I planned a game at 5:45! Talk about pressure! We played the game "Who Am I?" I made up a bunch of different Christmas words, which some people would beg to differ whether their word was, in fact, a Christmas word. Each person chose a name tag and stuck it on their forehead. We stood in an oblong circle in my kitchen and could only ask yes/no questions. We laughed so hard during this game my abs are legitimately sore this morning! I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone hosting a Christmas party! 

This party was everything I wanted it to be and more. Many laughs were shared and it was a great time to get everyone together before we part ways for the Holidays. The boys and Ashlin were able to take a break and forget about studying for a few hours and everyone could relax and have a good time! 

Here are some photos from the evening:

{easiest DIY puppy bed}

Although my fur ball is super duper cute, don't let that cuteness fool you. He can be pretty destructive, especially when we leave him alone too long. Polo has cost us a lot of moola over stupid stuff---tore a hole in the carpet at my in-laws, tore up three dog beds, ate three rugs, and even ate, yes i said ate, holes in our guest room bath tub. Needless to say, I am sick of spending money on dumb stuff. 

When Polo tore up his second and third dog beds I got this awesome idea to save the stuffing and just make him a new one. Originally I planned to buy some fabric, stitch it together and stuff it full. While I was in Knoxville I was shopping at homegoods {best store ever} and found the cutest, softest blanket with dog bones all over it for $12.99. PERFECTION! Scooped that up and came on home. As soon as I got home I measured the correct size I wanted for Polo. I literally folded the blanket in half, sewed a seam across the bottom, and up the side. Then sewed in some velcro {because Polo looovvess to chew zippers}, turned in inside out, stuffed it full and waa-lah! Perfect, fluffly dog bed for my furry best friend!! 

His old dog bed pre-rampage

post rampage {after I removed the fabric}

New blanket

Lovin' his new bed. "Don't turn on the bright lights mom"

{our love story pt. 3: the engagement}

I already posted practically this entire story when I did the marriage link-upp but I thought since I already had it written, I'd do a separate post!

Junior year of college {2010} I got a phone call from Dale. 

"Hey, do you want to go to New York City for Easter with my parents?" 

"YES!!" 

I had never been to NYC before so I was so excited! Thinking of all the wonderful things we would do and see... I was like a little kid anticipating Christmas morning! When it finally arrived, Dale came to Birmingham the night before, I had to take a test in a class, and then we were off to the airport. I remember asking him tons of questions about NYC. We arrived late Friday night and walked around the city. I, of course, was snapping pictures of everything in sight. Again, little kid on Christmas morning. Saturday morning {April 3rd} we woke up and it was a normal day. Dale and his dad went down to get breakfast while the girls got ready for the day. We were going shopping to get Kailey a graduation present. We walked the streets of NYC for a bit until we came to 5th Ave.

We were in a store while K was looking at purses and Dale was casually like, hey, let's go see if we can catch a carriage and take a ride through central park. I love love love carriage rides! We got to central park and it was packed because it was an absolutely beautiful day. Being southerners, I think we moved a little too slow. EVERYONE was jumping in front of us taking the carriage we were waiting on. I was like gee wiz I didn't know we had to be THIS aggressive, let's just take a walk instead through the park. {I'm sure Dale's heart started beating hard at this point}. He agreed but after walking like 15 steps he turned around and said, no I think I want to take a ride NOW. We turned around to go back to the carriages. After trying my best to find a pretty horse and pretty carriage I pretty much said screw it and we hailed the first horse our slow selves could jump on to. 

When we got in to the carriage Dale casually asked our driver if he could take our picture when we got in to central park. {Still thinking nothing of it at this point} We started trotting along. I, again, was snapping pictures of everything in sight. The driver stopped the carriage and said, "ok, hand me your camera I'll take your photo now." I stood up to hand him my camera and when I turned around, my handsome man was down on one knee IN the carriage!! Thank goodness our driver had my camera so he took a ton of pictures for us. Dale told me all of these sweet things which, of course, I cannot remember and asked me to marry him and the first thing I could think of was "did you already ask my dad?" I didn't think my parents would be able to keep it from me. 

Back tracking a little bit. When I told my mom we were going to NYC she told me to go get a manicure. I was like what? no! I'm not spending money to get my nails done.. I'll just do them myself. She knew that when I got engaged I wanted my nails painted {if you know me at all, you know my nails always look terrriibblle}. She was like "oohhh text me a picture when you paint your nails" "what color did you paint them" I should've known right then that something was up. 

I said yes and all I could do was kiss Dale for the rest of the carriage ride. Everyone in central park was probably sick of our PDA but I didn't care! I was happy in love and I was getting married and wanted every one to know about it! 

This was the official beginning of the rest of our lives together! 

{happy almost holidays}

Happy {almost} holidays everyone! My momma bought me a sweater for Christmas that is WAY too small! Oh well, back to the store she goes. 

{sharpe family christmas card}

This afternoon I got the boys and myself dressed up to take our Christmas card pictures. I knew this was going to be impossible difficult with a 7 month old puppy but I had no idea how difficult. 

You see, we do not have a tri pod, therefore, we had to set my camera on a chair and position it just right. Then, I set the self timer and took off running to my destination. 

Here are a few of our "duds"// outtakes! 

at this point, dale was ready to kill Polo

This picture cracks me up! Dale was fed up at this point...I had my camera on the deck trying to find a better view..and polo took off and knocked the chair across the yard!!! I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard!! 

**43 pictures later...we finally found the winner picture!!**

{allergy free doggie treats}

If you have a pup like mine, who seems to be allergic to everything under the sun {chicken- eggs too, and corn} then you know how hard it is to find quality dog treats. It took us a while to find out what Polo was allergic to but I think we've finally got him on a  good diet. Since we don't have any "pet stores" where we live I have resorted to making my own dog treats. 

We are carving a pumpkin today and I wanted to use my whole pumpkin--keeping the seeds for us and using the "meat" for Polo. I looked up a pumpkin treat recipe but everything I found had eggs in it. Then, a light bulb went off in my head, why not substitute just like we can with our baking? 

Here is what I used:

1 c applesauce (or 2 eggs if your fur isn't allergic)

1 c pumpkin

3 c whole wheat flour

Follow the instructions on the linked site to get the best whole food doggie treat recipe!

*tip* make sure you refrigerate your treats! If not, they will mold!