All Year Long

We may have to keep these up all year long!  Seeing our friend's and family's faces simply makes our day, no matter the time of year! 

(Plus, it's a great way to distract from the bare side of our fridge)

We hope you had a blessed Christmas!

Peace on Earth

From our home to yours,

We wish you peace and joy this holiday season!

 Merry Christmas!

Showered with Love

At the beginning of December, I traveled up to Atlanta to help host a baby shower for my sister in law, Laura.  My brother Bryan and his wife Laura are expecting their first baby in February!  Everyone is pretty thrilled to welcome baby Melton into the world in a few months, or as he's sometimes referred to as: Milton Melton. (I think it totally works...don't you think?)

Hop on over to my photography blog, Hurst Photo to check out the rest! 

Thanksgiving @ the Hurst Home

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home for the second year in a row!  I love having our home filled with family and even more, I like having an excuse to spend days in my kitchen!

My favorite part about our little town are the Christmas lights!  They are strung from the top of City Hall to the surrounding buildings on the square. It's awesome! Heading downtown after Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite tradition of the year! Hands down.  (Check out last year's Thanksgiving here). 

Away from Home {in North Georgia}

I really want to share this year's Christmas details with you from around our home, but first I have some catching up to do from the past couple of months....

During the week of Thanksgiving, Alan and I traveled to North Georgia for a hiking and camping trip (I'll let the pictures do the talking). 


Our first stop: Amicalola Falls State Park

From there, we headed to the Appalachian Trail, where we set out on a hike.  I was looking forward to the view, but the fog had other ideas.

Come morning, the fog was still lingering, so we packed up camp and headed down the mountain.

Our next stop: Tallulah Gorge State Park

Next, we headed to Helen, GA, which ironically looks exactly like a little German town. Weird and quirky, but great fun! 

We had a delicious pizza for lunch, and I ate quite possibly the most delicious dark chocolate turtle with sea salt.  I really need to try to recreate it! Yep, it sounds odd, but it's delicious. 

From Helen, we drove over to the base of Mt. Yonah and started our hike. I was thankful there wasn't any fog when we finally made it to the top! 

On our way down the mountain, we came across several Ranger platoons in training.  It was fun to watch them tackle the mountain...and, we were thankful to have already made it to the top! 

If you ever get the chance to visit North Georgia, do it!  It's simply beautiful! 

Catching Up and Giving Thanks

I painted this pumpkin before Halloween.  

It was on display on our back steps until I threw it away. 

2 days ago. 

Yep, that's how life has been as of late. 

Or, as of last time I posted. Back in September.

Not much has been happening around our home since I have been working hard getting my photography website up and running!

Check it out here: www.amandahurst.com

I am so proud of it and am excited for others to see and use it!

I am so thankful for the time I have had with family in the past few months and I'm excited to share all of our adventures with you!

Hopefully I can figure out this whole full-time work - part-time photography business - giving our home some love and blogging about it here - thing! 

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season!

Two years ago today we were in New York City getting married! I am so thankful for my fedora-wearing husband and the home we have made over the past two years!

This picture makes me cold, since we am currently enjoying 75 degree weather here in South Georgia.  We sat outside for lunch today (and I wore sandals).

Cheers to marriage!

We wish you a Merry Christmas! 

Finding Time

Lately, I feel as if I have no time to do the things I want to do. The things I HAVE to do are top on my priority list, unfortunately. That's how life works though, right, we're too busy paying bills and scheduling appointments that we forget to actually LIVE!

If I had my way, I would spend my days doing what I love - living what I love (photography, working on house projects, crafts, blogging), but instead, I spend my days at work and then return home and start on the endless amounts of laundry, dishes, and chores (or so it seems). 

Most recently, the chores have been neglected. As I sit here there is a kitchen full of dishes that need cleaning, a bathroom that needs scrubbing and trash that needs emptying, but for today, I'm okay with that. Today I did the things I love, instead of the things I had to do.  

So, whenever the chores are done, hopefully I will be back to blogging. I will add it to my to-do list, which is somewhere around 10 pages...give or take 10 or 20.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

(Photo above: Last week I found some time to revamp my house plants. I repotted a few, purchased a few new ones and added pea gravel to the tops to hold in more moisture. Hopefully they will thrive.)

Photo Challenge: Days 24-31

Yep, this photo challenge was during the month of August and I still haven't shared the final week's photos. I figured it's better late than never.

Day 24: A Smile

I had photos taken for my website and blog. (This is me after, really happy about how fun it was to have been on the other side of the camera for a change). 

Day 25: Sunflare

From our porch, I saw the sun peaking through the trees. 

Day 26: Something Old

My Canon 50mm 1.8 lens is my "something old" now that I upgraded to the 50mm 1.4! I am sad to retire this little guy since he was a gift from my hubby, but I am excited to break in my new lens! 

Day 27: After Dark

We helped Eric celebrate his 30th Birthday!

Day 28: Daily Routine

Before bed every evening, I write in my One Line a Day book. I am not much of a journal writer, but this book gives me a few lines a day (for 5 years) to jot down something I am thankful for, or something memorable about my day.

Day 29: Purchased

I am really loving my new ONA Camera Bag! It allows me to turn any bag into a camera bag, with a safe, protected spot for my camera and lenses. 

Day 30: In Motion

Our sweet Baxter is always in motion, unless he's fast asleep in kitty dreamland.

Day 31: There wasn't a photo prompt for the last day of the month. So, I made my own: My Furballs

Harley has been really sick recently. Normally, she's not a big fan of Baxter, but this day she let Baxter lay by her side. I think Baxter knew she wasn't feeling well and was trying to cheer her up or something. It was just too sweet. Thankfully, Harley is doing much better now.

Challenge Complete! I hope you enjoyed following along on my daily photo challenge! Thanks for stopping by!

Photo Challenge: Days 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23

I have some catching up to do on my August photo challenge! I have taken pictures daily, but haven't had time to post them. We have been away from home, attending football games and traveling to friend's wedding showers. It has been a fun couple of days! 

Day 19: Where I Slept

I took one amazing nap here last Friday. 

Day 20: What I Read

I recently had the urge to watch The Time Traveler's Wife, but since it's not on Netflix yet I decided I would read it instead. I think it's a better book than it is movie. I'll let you know for sure when I finish reading!

Day 21: Pretty Pattern

While we were out of town, we stayed at my brother and sister-in-law's house and their guest room bedding had a great pattern! 

Day 22: Trees

I love the oak tree in our backyard.

Day 23: Sunset

The sky had a pink glow tonight.