thanksgiving

we had a great thanksgiving. we got to announce to our families the name we decided for baby G:

Norah Christy

chris & i also felt her kick for the first time, which was exciting! we spent some time in south georgia with chris' family. a few years ago, i started doing a craft/kitchen project with his cousin's children, and it has sort of become a tradition. this year we did gingerbread people. the girls said the large gingerbread cookie cutter was christopher, the medium one was me, and the tiny one was baby norah. then they made half their cookies with a cutout of norah within a larger gingerbread person's belly- "since that's where she is." so precious! here's a picture of the golden family with mema. we are very excited for kevin & andra (pictured far left) as they finalize their wedding plans for next april. i've always wanted a sister! we left the farm early to go to the georgia game on saturday. despite the outcome, we had a great time with friends in our final tailgate of the season. they surprised us with a shower! the cake says if i had a daughter...i'd dress her in white & gold, which is from the GT fight song. i've always heard the best way to get new tech fans is to breed them! here are some of the sweet things we received for norah. she will be ready for next football season!

november so far

we've had some great weekends in november, and it's not even thanksgiving yet! we went to atlanta for the vt game (we won't talk about that too much) and got to meet up with some of the yorks- here's me with our sweet friend blakely and her precious boys, ashton & collin. (please ignore the beer sign behind us. i think the photographer- aka christopher- must not have noticed!) blakely also has another boy on the way, due two days before our girl! her husband wes had to work, so he couldn't join us for lunch. we love hanging out with them and wish we could see them more often! i hope we will be as great parents as they are!! the rest of the weekend, i had a mini-reunion with three of my best friends from middle school: (left to right) carrie, tori, & jessie. i'm not exactly sure how it got started, but back then at sleepovers we used to blow kisses at the clock at 11:11 and make a wish. we have been saying for years (about 13 to be exact) that we were going to get together at 11:11 on 11/11/11 at a 7-eleven and make a big wish! well, we nixed the 7-eleven part, but had a great weekend at carrie's house reminiscing (i even dug up our old middle school yearbooks!). we also recently went to a wedding in greenville for some friends from bible study. it was fun to see some of the beautiful venues in our city and enjoy good food, friends, & dancing! i also finished a craft project with my friends liz & lori. it is a frame to display christmas cards. i saw something very similar (for $200) in a pottery barn catalog and knew i could make it for much cheaper (less than $40). i wish i had taken step-by-step pictures, but just try to imagine: 1) i took a plain black wooden frame and spray painted it a metallic champagne. 2) after it dried, i used sandpaper to scrape some of the edges to make it look weathered. thanks to liz for showing me the basics of "antiquing" furniture! 3) i measured & cut picture hanging wire and attached it to the back using a staple gun. 4) i used metal clips to hang the cards- in this case, birth/adoption announcements. i think i may use it year round for other cards & announcements, maybe photos too. but for now i will have a great place to collect all the christmas cards that usually take up counter space!

halloween weekend

we had quite a busy weekend. we spent all day saturday in atlanta at the clemson game. some sweet clemson friends of ours from greenville, matt & meg, made the drive with us (pictured on the left). we also got to meet up with some of our other clemson friends, tim & blaire (on the right). they moved to the atlanta area almost a year ago, and we miss getting to see them more often! of course we got to see our usual favorite tech friends (er, tech friends & their wives): justin & linda (left) and derek & katherine (right). you see a sea of white and gold (and navy) behind us storming the field because we weren't expecting to win against clemson!
sunday night we went to a halloween party with some church friends.for a while, i have been wanting to find a reason to wear my tiara from my wedding day again. i am (a redheaded, pregnant) holly golightly from breakfast at tiffany's. all i bought were the evening gloves and the plastic cigarette holder. christopher is beaker from the muppets. he did a great job of making his head, and he borrowed the lab coat from his mom (it was too big for her, in case you were wondering!).
in other news, here's what i look like at (almost) 21 weeks. and here are two outfits i recently bought for baby G. if i had a daughter, sir, i'd dress her in white & gold!

recent happenings

i do intend to blog more often than once every six weeks or so...it has been a busy fall for us between weekends away for football games, church activities, christopher under a work deadline right now, and me trying to finish my professional license before the baby comes.

i think "nesting" has begun as i started to realize that there are many projects i would like to get done to my house over the next few months. one thing that was long overdue (mostly because i took my time deciding what i wanted!) was finding some kind of window treatment for our master bedroom. i finally settled on thick white (faux-)wood blinds. i have to commend my sweet husband for installing these the same day we bought them, despite his having to work 60+ hour weeks lately.
i also picked a paint color for our guest bedroom. it is called easy green and is sort of seafoamy. i just liked the shade but loved it even more when i realized it goes perfectly with a great picture my photographer friend liz took at a random (defunct) gas station somewhere in the SC countryside. my picture doesn't do it justice, but it hopefully shows how the wall color brings out the photo color.
i had been waiting to start thinking about the nursery until we found out the baby's gender...we are having a girl!!! so i'd like to do the walls in a shade of brown and the room in pink and green, since i was inspired by this precious bedding.

so far i have only had one intense food craving: for fried chicken. on the bone. nothing else would satisfy, so fortunately chris had no problem with us getting bojangles that night.here is my most recent "belly shot" around the end of 18 weeks. this past weekend was a special one since christopher was ordained as a deacon in our church. both sets of parents came for the ceremony, and we had a great time as a family.here are the men: and us:

labor day weekend: HHI and an annoucement

we got back last week from a wonderful long labor day weekend in hilton head. i have great memories of going to HHI during spring break in high school with my sweet friend jessie's family. it is one of my favorite beaches. we started our weekend on thursday in atlanta, which was christopher's birthday. the ncaa was kind enough to schedule georgia tech's opening game of the season that day- a birthday present to my husband, maybe? because it was a thursday night game, we didn't get to tailgate. but we did eat at five guys with some friends and enjoyed birthday/game day cupcakes. we spent the night in atlanta and drove to HHI on friday. we had lots of relaxing time on the beach to read and be lazy. check out chris' beard! i even got a little tan (only noticeable when you see where my straps were, but for me that counts!). we really enjoyed people-watching as we walked up and down the beach. one of christopher's favorite things about the coast is the fresh seafood. the best place we went was a little hole-in-the-wall appropriately named the sea shack. in true golden family tradition, i am posting a picture of the food:our delicious seafood sampler plate (a.k.a. the shack attack) included crabcake, fish, shrimp, scallops, and oysters. we also went to another seafood place that is not even worth mentioning the name (so chris tells me, i had a steak and it was good). but, they did have a cool boat on the marina named the yellow jacket that we posed with. one morning i woke up early (very unlike me!) to watch the sun rise. it was actually too cloudy to see, but still very peaceful and relaxing. i was reading psalm 139 and was touched and overwhelmed at verses 17-18 about God's thoughts of me (and you) outnumbering the grains of sand!

this is probably our last vacation for a while because...we are having a baby! baby G is due march 12, 2012. here is a picture from earlier this week (13 weeks). not much of a baby bump yet (last i checked i had only gained 2 lbs.), but it will be a good baseline shot: we are very grateful for a safe & healthy pregnancy so far!

why i love having a dog

this is pretty much a normal day of eva greeting me when i get home from work. it's even better when chris gets home first and he's already let her out. then she's waiting for me at the door.

two sounds i love: her tail banging against stuff when she's wagging it so enthusiastically and her feet pitter-pattering on the hardwoods.

...pictures to come of our beach vacation!

live free or die

this is the state motto for new hampshire, where we spent my birthday last weekend. we actually went there for a friend's wedding, and my birthday just happened to coincide. brienne is a friend from college who moved to new hampshire after she finished her doctorate in physical therapy. we got to do a few fun activities while we were visiting. on friday before the wedding, we visited mount washington, the tallest peak in new england. here we are about halfway up, with another college friend, michael. well, michael is a college friend to me, but he & chris went to school together since 1st grade!notice how i added layers of clothing as we went up. the base of the mountain was in the mid-70s that day, while the peak was mid-40s! there was a gift shop on top of the mountain that was chained down because of the wind. the top wind speed ever recorded was 231mph! in case you were wondering, that's a world record. on to the wedding- here's brienne & andy, newly married. and us at the reception, happily married for almost 4 years. chris liked the getaway car. we enjoyed some other activities i don't have pictures of- hiking, tubing, and a cook out at the bride & groom's adorable house. and here's a sign you don't see in the south. all in all, new hampshire was really beautiful. i didn't know much about it before we went, but i can see why they enjoy living there.

sweet home alabama

june was the month of weddings for my extended family in alabama. i had two cousins get married in or near birmingham within three weeks. the first was my mom's sister's daughter- victoria. i don't have as many pictures of this event, but here i am with the bride. the wedding was at a beautiful farm in the country. the night was completed with fireworks over the lake. victoria was recently accepted to school for music technology in birmingham, where she and her husband michael will live. she is a talented guitarist and recorded her own wedding march playing classical guitar!

last weekend we had the second wedding, in which i was a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?). it was my dad's brother's daughter- ashley. she was in my wedding nearly four years ago. here's a flashback of that.back then she was dating patrick off and on. they are high school sweethearts, which is neat because so are her parents- my aunt jenny and uncle larry. here they all are. uncle larry looks like he's tired of taking pictures! ashley & patrick will live in birmingham where she recently got a new job as an editor at southern living. but her passion is clothing design, and she is very talented! you can see some of her original designs at her website, addie & elon.

the weekend was so relaxing & fun because we stayed at a hotel downtown very close to all the events. i always find staying at hotels really luxurious, i guess because i don't have to make my bed, clean up after myself, or cook! birmingham has some great shopping, so after the bridesmaids' luncheon on friday we went to the summit where christopher got some new shoes and i got to visit anthropologie. the rehearsal dinner was delicious, at a restaurant called brick & tin. the wedding was at historic rucker place. here we are in the bride's room...and at the reception. chris & me with my dad's parents. mom & dad with grandmother & daddy buck. my mom played piano for the ceremony and my dad helped turn the pages. we are almost done with weddings for a little while. we have one more this summer, on my birthday in new hampshire. christopher is a trooper, because i know weddings are not as fun for boys. but i do love weddings!

playing catch-up: memorial day weekend

i'm a couple weeks behind on blogging...for memorial day weekend, we went to the farm where chris' mom's side of the family gathers for eating, laughing, and relaxing. the male grandchildren have revived the tradition of smoking a whole pig. here they are being manly. sorry for any vegetarians out there, but this stuff's delicious! eva even enjoyed some scraps.here's a picture of me with my future sister-in-law, andra (kevin's fiancee- immediately next to me). if i look a little different, it's because i tried a spray-tan. i've always wanted to because God did not give me the ability to tan naturally! it felt funny, but i think i could get used to it.

i can't remember who the middle lady is, and the one on the far right is angie, who is a super cool mom and lets me borrow her sweet daughters for some crafts. this year we made beach cupcakes with blue sprinkles, crushed nilla wafers, goldfish, and gummies. thanks to my friend meg for the idea & mrs. cathy for helping gather the supplies!