Positivity

When Marcus and I got married we talked a lot about living a positive life and keeping positive people around us. This is something that was very important to us because we felt like there were certain things that put stress on our lives and we really wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

One of the things I have changed about my life is that I have started reading the Bible. I can't say started reading the Bible "more", because I technically never read it on my own. Don't get me wrong, I am and have been a Christian pretty much all my life. I was baptized at age 14, was a member of a great church, but I don't think I ever knew how to read the Bible on my own. How do you pick a section and study it? In comes She Reads the Truth.




I can't quite remember where I saw this first, but a few bloggers and high school friends have mentioned it, and I finally got on board. It brings a sense of peace to read the Bible and really makes you think. Anyway, this is a large step in the right direction, for me, when it comes to living a life of positivity.

But here's the thing about living a life of "positivity" as we are trying to do. It is hard. Everywhere I look, I feel like there is so much negativity. People are down about something, or overly critical, or just plain mean. Let's take Pinterest and those lovely little e-cards. They are so funny! And then when you really start looking at them, almost all are sarcastic and mean. I realize that they are meant to be taken lightly, but really, when you are flooded with these thoughts on a regular basis, they start to become your thoughts, not to be taken lightly. For example, this particular e-card rang true for me.

Source: Uploaded by user via Angela on Pinterest

Seriously. And when you start to not like someone, or have ill feelings toward them, EVERYTHING starts to annoy you. I was catching up on my Surrendered Life portion of She Reads the Truth, and I found several verses that helped me with this, particularly Ephesians 3:17-18 and also James 2:12-13. These (to me) speak of giving people mercy and forgiveness, and tell us not to make negative comments and bring people down. We should build them up!! Will people let you down? Of course. But holding on to those feelings only brings YOU down. Still, I struggle. Lets say there are particular people who bring you down. Is it the right thing to distance yourself from them? I don't know. I think so, but how do you do it in a positive way? I'm really not sure. Seeking that answer.


And, don't get me started on Facebook. Lawd, help me.

So, question, how do you stay away from all of the negative things in life? I know you can't from ALL, but does it weigh on your heart?

Wedding Invitations

Here is a picture of our wedding invitations!

We got them at Party City.

I know what you're thinking...Party City??

Yes. They have like 15 books and they are 30% off the book price. This particular invitation came with a brown envelope, which we didn't like. They called the manufacturer and got it changed to grey for us! We got to pick our colors, and the wording.

I loved the little pocked, so nothing got lost.

Here are our responce cards:

I saw the wording on pinterest and LOVED. So we included it :)

A bit of advice: Do your best to send your invites out as early as possible, give yourself more than two months. The LOVELY USPS took forever delivering invitations, lost some, and we got some back with a ""wrong address" because their machines smudged the ink on the address. We were getting them back up to a week before the wedding. So frustrating.

In case you're having a bad day....

Watch this :)

ource: youtube.com via Audrey on Pinterest

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my brodie, Jared! He is the best big brother I could ever ask for. I pretty much ignored him for the first eight years of my life, but he has taught me so much about life, soccer, being a better person, and working hard.

Oh how Pinteresting!!

Linking up this morning with The Vintage Apple



1. Cake Batter Muddy Buddies...Mmm, this reminds me of my friend Pam

Source: unbearablygood.blogspot.com via Angela on Pinterest

2. Wedding Bands...I think these are so pretty! I have two wedding bands, one on each side of my ring, which is why I loved this.

Source: tumblr.com via Angela on Pinterest

3. Exercise. This girl has an amazing body. Always looking for new working out ideas.

Source: bodybuilding.com via Angela on Pinterest

4. New Premier Jewelry!! So excited to get it in.

Source: Uploaded by user via Angela on Pinterest

5. I love this :)

Source: redhousetattoo.blogspot.com via Angela on Pinterest

Our Honeymoon...

We just got back from our honeymoon, we had so much fun!! Marcus and I went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and got a sweet little cabin in the mountains. We struggled a bit when it came time to pick a honeymoon location. My first idea was BEACH! I wanted to do a couples resort in the Caribbean somewhere...and then we got to looking at prices, which were a bit too high for us. The next idea was a cruise, but Marcus has never been on one and I could tell he didn't seem too thrilled about it. Then one day I was talking to my coworkers about cruises and fun vacations, and they mentioned Asheville or the mountains and how pretty it was. When I mentioned it to Marcus, his face lit up. I knew that we had to find something up there. I would still get some sun, and we could still do some outdoorsy stuff that I wanted to do on a cruise.

We chose Pigeon Forge, as Marcus had been there before and really liked it. We drove up to my sisters, who lives in North Georgia, on Thursday, and Friday morning we continued our trek to Tennessee. Along the way we saw some beautiful views in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

 Our first day there we enjoyed the Dixie Stampede, and then the next day we went to Dollywood Splash Park super cheap because of a chance run in with a Dollywood employee who gave us tickets for 10 dollars (normally 50 a piece!). We also went to a pretty little winery, explored the Forbidden Caverns, and kayaked down the river (SO FUN!). It was so beautiful in the mountains, we cannot wait to go back. Seriously, we are considering moving to North Georgia to be in all their glory. I am SO, SO glad we chose to go to the mountains instead of the beach, especially since we live so close to the beach anyway!

A pretty view of a mountain river

Pigeon Forge at night

Please check out these peoples sweet shirts

 Yummy ice cream

That ring means he's alll mine :)

So handsome

Opening the door for dinner

Yummy wine :)

And now, in two days, starts school. Ahhh back to work again!

The Powell's

The little details...

One of the things Marcus and I were really adamant about with our wedding is that we wanted it to be personal. We worked on several little different details for the wedding to make it a little more special. Here are a few of them:

Home made signs:

These were carried by Marcus' sons, Buddy and Riley. Buddy was VERY tired, which is why he is crying, but it was still cute. We got chalkboards from JoAnns and painted on them with white acrylic paint. My dad cut this particular board in half and drilled holes in the top so we could string ribbon. We didn't want to use chalk because we wanted it to stay.

This was done in the same way as the one above it. The princess bride is my favorite movie, which is why I wanted this quote. We did one of Marcus' favorite love quotes, also, but I didn't see it anywhere, so I'm not sure if it was put up :/

OUR love story. I saw this idea on Pinterest. Again, this is a chalk board from JoAnn's, with white acrylic paint.

Circuit machine sign:

This was a sign my friend made for my wedding shower and we kept it. I told the people at the venue to just hang it somewhere they thought was cute...and they picked the gift table! We loved it. For those of you getting married, keep cute decorations from your shower, you can use them for your wedding!!

Centerpieces:

Again, we wanted something a little special for our centerpieces. We wanted Mason jars as an ode to my mom's family (the Masons). My mom found these lanterns at IKEA for a great price. Then we spray painted wine bottles. I originally put a tape design on the wine bottles, but when I pulled the tape off, it didn't turn out well, so I spray painted again. You could still see the lines but not so much of the mess up.

We did the flowers ourselves. We just wanted Gerber daisies, so we ordered some from Fifty Flowers.com, and made all the center pieces and bouquets. My awesome mother made the boutonnieres and corsages from flowers we got at publix. We put the favors, koozies with the date and our name, around the table so everyone would see and get them.

And the cakes:

The cakes were done by Confection Perfection near Atlanta. They were BEAUTIFUL, and they tasted amazing. We were SO, SO pleased with them!

Many of our ideas came from pinterest, and we put our own little twist on them.

A big thank you to Amber for the photo's.

~Angela

Wedded Bliss

Hello all! This post is coming to you from a newly married woman! Please notice the blog name-change. It may change again, but as of now it is "The Powell Platoon". Cute, right??

The wedding was wonderful! Marcus and I are married, so clearly everything went well :) I will be posting several times about the wedding, so be on the lookout for that. Some of the things I will be posting are obviously pictures, details, some crafts we did, and advice for future brides, wedding party, and guests.

We want to thank everyone for being a part of our special day. The new photo at the top was taken courtesy of our photographer, Billy Davis. Please check out his website if you need any pictures taken ever. www.whdphotography.com Billy is a family friend, but he has a great way of making people laugh, he is very funny, and can put anyone at ease. We absolutely love him. He has posted about 15 pictures so far, and all of them are great! We can't wait to see more pictures!!

Of course, several other people have been posting pictures on facebook, and we love them all!! I love pictures, there are so many around our house, so we are really enjoying seeing what everyone took pictures of.

We leave for our honeymoon on Thursday and are super excited about that. I am hoping to get all of the name change business done before then :)
Again, thanks to all!

~Angela

Shopping trip

If you saw my facebook post yesterday, you know I went shopping yesterday. Shopping has become more and more frustrating for me over the years. I don't like spending money on things that are ill-fitting. I've resorted to wearing "flowy" shirts a lot, but my biggest issue is always with my bottom half. It is SO frustrating to go into a store and see the majority of their fits are "straight through the hip and thigh". Seriously, don't most women have hips that curve? Lately, the only pants I've found that fit well are from the Loft, and their curvy fit. Even Gap's curvy fit gap at the waist.

Needless to say, yesterday I tried on about 100 things and was unhappy with most of what I tried on. Part of this is because I want to lose a few pounds, but I also find it hard to find things that flatter me, regardless of my insecurities. It was a frustrating day, but I did get a really cute blue and white striped cardigan from The Loft, and some capris, along with a mint colored tank top (I've been wanting something mint), and a plain white tee from Gap.

Also, I got these shoes! I'm so excited to wear them and actually use them! They're pretty comfy and super light.

and, in case you were wondering...6 days!!

8 days a week...

8 days. 8 measly little days until I will officially be Mrs. Powell.

EEEEKKK!!! So excited. There is still a good bit to do, but I am so so so so so excited for this day to come. The past year and five months have been the best of my life and I am so happy to make this official :)

Oh, and let me also point out that I am getting three for the price of one. That's right, on July 14 not only do I get this handsome face...

But I also get this one...

(Ri-guy)

AND this one

(Mr. Buddy).

Can you say lucky girl?? Cause I can ;)

Tonight, Marcus and I are going on our last date as an engaged couple. My parents and brother will be in town for Marcus' bachelor party, and my mom and I are going to get into trouble go shopping Hilton Head.

Updates on all that, later

Love and Thanks,

Angela