ATCO Embroidery...Feeding My Monogramming Obsession, One Item At A Time

I know this shop has been in Fort Payne for a while now, but I have been visiting it more often lately. For my birthday in January, my mother-in-law got me the cutest bag! It was a black and white damask design, which is always a winner in my book, and it had plenty of room- ideal for an overnight trip. I took the bag to the shop the following week, and asked the lady's (Barbara's) opinion. She gave me all kinds of ideas on fonts and colors. I knew I wanted my 3 initials, but she let me look through the book of options for as long as I wanted. I wanted a bright color to make the initials pop, and I think we succeeded.

(These pictures were taken with my camera, so it doesn't really do the colors justice. I had my camera handy because I have been taking several pics of things to put on eBay lately, so I just took these at that time.)

I got to carry the bag to our Couple's Retreat a few months ago. It was perfect for the one-night stay!

I just stopped by the shop again last week to pick up my latest item. Zach and I had spent last Saturday exploring the "World's Longest Yard Sale" (yee haw!), and I actually found something I had been looking for for a while. I found a cute small shoulder bag- perfect for one of our future trips to Disney. It was also black & white (it's another obsession of mine, I know). I just wanted an "A" on the front in hot pink. Once again, it turned out perfectly!

I definitely have her in mind to use for some of the people on my Christmas gifts list (which, of course, has yet to be made...I'm not that organized, you know!) Hope everyone likes monogrammed things as much as I do!

Aside from that, things are peachy here. We have had a little chaos going on around the house- our garage door is being uncooperative again, then we just discovered a small leak in our master bathroom this morning. It's always nice to wake up to that faint trickling water sound. We've had this problem in our guest bath before, so it's not a big deal (thank the Lord!) My handyman husband is going to work on it today. That would be awesome if he can fix it, so let's hope so! I've always heard, "When it rains, it pours," so I guess it's just a part of life for things to seem to go wrong all at once. We'll deal with it though, just like everything else. :)

Wednesday night choir rehearsal has started back, and it's better than ever. I'm so excited to get into Fall and enjoy new songs. Our childrens' choirs will be starting back in September, so I'm pumped about that too! Since LaRae is not helping this year, Miranda Chambers will be helping me with our group. I loved it so much last year, I couldn't give it up just because LaRae wouldn't be there. I'm excited about all the new things we'll get into this year!

We're really looking forward to this next weekend too. We are driving to Chattanooga for Zach's sister's baby shower (Baby Girl #2!), with our friends David & Amy. We girls will go to the shower while the guys hang out together. We plan to go out to dinner after the shower, so it looks like a really good weekend is in the making!

Life Lately

Things have been a little busy in the Jones household lately. I made a little list of some of the recent happenings, and was really surprised at how much has been going on just since my last post. I haven't been getting online as much as I did before, which I really enjoy...especially with Facebook. There is so much else to be doing than wasting your time with that (that's what I keep telling myself, anyways.) :) Here are just a few things that have been going on in our lives lately:

* My precious Aunt Renea has been in and out of the hospital for a few weeks now, going through many tests. She was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), which is known to be a children's cancer. We don't know for sure yet if this is a good thing or a bad thing. She is extremely optimistic about the whole thing, which gives us all some comfort and inspiration. Like she said in a recent email to us, "We're expecting a miracle!" Just pray for her situation, all who are reading this, that this is exactly what we get!

* Our Back to School Fair was held last weekend and it was an enormous success! We were able to hand out over 500 backpacks with all kinds of school supplies and goodies, and ended up feeding over 1000 people during the day! Our Christian Women group had our blow-up "bouncy" for the kids, and it was a big hit! We hope to have it again next year, and I can't wait to participate again!

* Two words: summer highlights. I had my hair highlighted a bit lighter than usual a few months ago, then just had it done again last weekend. It was one of those deals where you try something different, then you aren't so sure about it...after the fact. After over a week of going back and forth, styling it, and getting used to it, I think I love it! As they say, change is a good thing! :) (However, this does mean more maintenance, more often, so we'll see how I feel about it after a few more highlight rounds. I could always do what I did a few years ago and start all over by dying it back to my original color. We'll see.)

* We hit the yard sales (world's longest, to be exact) this Saturday, and had a great time! We weren't looking for anything really, but we ended up finding a few neat things. Zach is all about antiques, especially war-related things and old cameras, so he enjoyed the day. I found a really pretty wall shelf originally purchased from Bombay (not an antique, but I'm okay with that), and it's now waiting to be hung up on the wall. We'll see when that gets done...:) Visiting the yard sales got me in the mood to have one of our own when the weather cools a bit. I had already started gathering things together a few weeks ago, and we actually put some of those things on eBay last night. Maybe we'll have it all sold before it's time to have the yard sale. I would be delighted with that! We also enjoyed a yummy, reminiscent lunch at Windwood Farms. Hopefully when football season rolls around, we'll hit it more often (which is actually not too far in the future, yay!)

* Our adult choir rehearsals start back this week, which I have mixed emotions about. It was definitely sweet to have an extra night at home each week. I'm not saying I took that extra time to cook a four-course meal or anything (because I didn't); I'm just saying I enjoyed going to the rec and having more time to spend with my sweetie at home. Speaking of the rec center, I have to say I'm proud of ourselves for the way we have been faithfully sticking to our plan of going atleast 3 or 4 days out of the week. It's really fun to go, once you start going. I'm already starting to see results (thanks in part, I firmly believe, to my Reebok Easy Tones...*insert sarcastic line from Zach*). Zach's even getting serious about the idea of cutting down on what we eat. I'm enjoying feeling better about myself, and I know he is too. I'm also enjoying swims at Mom and Dad's about one night a week. The pool feels like bath water, but it's great exercise.

* It's definitely still wedding season! We have two more weddings to go to next month. Since it's also our anniversary month (our 2nd coming up soon!!), we've been trying to plan a trip around these weddings. We've considered several different things, all dependent upon scheduling and what we want to spend, of course. Before those weddings though, I have a bridal tea to attend, and a lingerie shower to help host! Fun, fun! I did opt out of the weekend bachelorette get-away to Atlanta though. I would miss Zach too much. And plus, those are more fun for the single girls. I am much happier enjoying a cozy night at home watching a movie with Zach. Ah, married life is wonderful, isn't it? :)