12.09.2010

Something I LOVE that I hope you will LOVE!

Hi Ladies,

As it is the gift giving season I thought I may share with you one of my favorite things, I hope that it will become one of yours and that maybe you might gift it on to someone else. Step one of this gift is Real Simple Magazine... sigh... I love you. When you come in the mail, it is a very happy day. My mom got this subscription for me a few months back in hopes that I would find great wedding ideas in it. Which of course I did, and many other great ideas on organization, things for my home, gifts for others, and most importantly a very special gift for my mother.

You see, my mom is a worrier, like mother like daughter I suppose, but she is also a big believer in the power of prayer. So much so that rather then spending time in her car listening to the radio, she will often spend that time praying for people she knows need someone thinking of them. She's a wonderful lady. She's an amazing lady. She's a lady through and through. I believe God listens to her. Maybe she doesn't always get the answer in the form she thought, but I believe he listens when we truly call on Him, with the deepest most sincere desires of our hearts. Sometimes prayers we think go unanswered are in fact blessings in disguise... part of Gods plan you see. So knowing all of these things about my mom, now you can understand why when I saw THIS article in real simple magazine I knew what she would be getting for her birthday. Please read it. If you don't read it now most of the rest of this bloggy won't really seem as meaningful. You will be moved to tears because of the amazing truth, love, and warmth displayed in the simplest forms... a pray for her child... or her friends... or for anyone who needs it.

I gave this article along with a God Box, to my mom on her birthday. I know some of you may have read some posts where I have discussed difficulties my family is currently experiencing. My mom takes each of these circumstances not only to heart but to her soul. As a woman who has beat breast cancer 2 times, being the only female survivor of her family, shes a pretty tough cookie. Her internal worry is often hidden by her smile and her warmth. It worries me because re-occurrence of breast cancer often occurs when someones immune system is weakened by the external stress of work, family, or other unforeseen issues. Thus... The God Box was born to our family. My parents have been using it, I have used it, and I think it really works. Its almost like a direct line of communication to the Big Man Upstairs. Its something special, some sacred, and something personal you can always count on to be there.

I think this is a great gift for anyone this holiday season. Print the article, put it in the box, and maybe just maybe get the person started by putting a few of your own prayers in the box first. This can be a scary idea for some.. you know letting go and giving something to God. You see once the prayer goes into the God Box... you've turned it over to God. You may no longer worry, stress, or panic over this prayer because if you do you... have to take it out until you are truly able to give it whole heartily to Him. Its a good way to renew faith in the power of prayer and honestly that's really what this season is all about.

Cheers,


12.02.2010

Top 5 Reasons I KNOW I Have Spent TOO Much Time at....

... MY Desk.

Ladies,

It has occurred to me recently that I have spent far too much time at my cube. Although decorated to be comfy, but clearly not as fantastic as Pink Lou Lou's, it's the place where I spend the majority of my week. See below for proof of my less the then lustrous but more then mundane desk space.

Main work space... the Computer and Telephone... mostly telephone. Specifically voice mails. 

Some of the people I love! The pictures I post here I usually choose because I specifically love the memory of the particular moment. I don't know why but for some reason the smallest snapshot of a day ends up being my favorite moment to remember. 

Some other lovelies I love!


 So now that you see the place where I spend the most time I feel you are prepped to understand the points I am about to make regarding the time spent in this area.

# 1) I have more food in my desk drawer then I do in my pantry at home... You can ask Michael. He will tell you he eats subway most days because there is typically nothing to eat at our house. Except the weeks when I go to the grocery and I'm hungry. We typically end up with a fair amount of food, granted it ends up being things that make no sense, in the moment in the grocery lane it was a great idea!
# 2) Anytime I order something online. I have it sent to my office address because if it is sent to my house I would never be there to receive it. Plus when it comes to my office Michael is less likely to know that I bought something new.
# 3) There are more decorative items hanging on the walls of my cubical then there are on the walls of my house. Pictures, plants, etc... Recently I acquired a nice "hook" to hang my car keys on my cube wall. At my house I lose them, throw them on the sofa table, or leave them in Michael's car.
# 4) I have been throwing around the idea of bring a really nice blank to my cube. One because its 27 degrees back here and I am freezing to death and two the sad but true reason because my desk chair needs a little flair and I feel a throw blank would really give it something extra special.
# 5) The main, final and most ridiculous reason. A few weeks ago I was at a bridal luncheon at a local tea room with my girlfriends (Pre-Wedding for the new Mrs. Kapp). After several rounds of tea I needed a serious bathroom break. (Now keep in mind on this lovely ladies Saturday I had spent the first few hours of the morning at work in my cube.) During said potty break I started to wash my hands and was immediately infuriated that the toilet had not automatically flushed. WHAT?! REALLY DANA? Reality check girlfriend... toilets in all bathrooms do not flush automatically just because the toilets at work do... holy cow.

Anywho... Hope you gals are looking forward to restful time away from your cubies this weekend! Have a great rest of the work week!

Cheers,

11.15.2010

ENGAGEY SESH... Posted!!!

Ladies,

Excellent NEWS! Our engagey sesh with Alicia is posted on her bloggy blog! Check it out here!!!

I am literally so pumped I can't even tell you! That is all! Have a super day! :)

11.12.2010

Christmas is Calling!

Ladies,

Great news!!! Christmas is well on its way! Now even though Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday,because of the mass quantities of carbs I consume Christmas is extra special this year! This is my one engaged Christmas with my honey and since I didn't get to do a Christmas style wedding, I will be sending out Christmas Card Save the Dates! Whoop Whoop! The greatest thing is that I'm doing it through Shutterfly.com and they have an awesome promotion going on that I know all my bloggy sister will love! You can get 50 cards for free when you register your blog with them and then write a post about the promotion and what you plan to do with your Christmas cards!

All you have to do is go HERE to register your bloggy, enter your info, follow the instruction sent to your email, and then post! Then ladies its time to get your holiday shop on! We are using this super cutie card below... To find your card go here!

Side Note... The photo will not be of 2 children we don't know. Instead it will be one of the master pieces created by the lovely Alicia and the card will read...
"May your Christmas be MARRIED and Bright!"
With Love,
Dana Elliott & Michael Peddicord
Hoping you will
SAVE THE DATE!
June 4, 2011Formal Invitation to follow

Whilst perusing further I found some other super fun nick nack patty wacks I decided are must haves this holiday season...First are the absolutely precious holiday tags. These are my 2 personal favs!




My other new found must have for gift giving will likely involve gifts for the wedding and art for our home using Canvas Wall Art found here. Super cool and perfect for gifts! SO ladies... Happy shopping and Happy Friday as well!

Cheers,

10.28.2010

Good at Heart?

Ladies,

Sometimes as I go through times of difficulty it causes me to wonder whether people are truly good at heart or whether good behavior comes from a selfish need to get a "thank you" or a pat on the back for good deeds. I really want and strive to believe that deep down people are innately good, kind, and genuine. However, these qualities are very different from being self-less, honest, and moral. I think finding true selflessness in someone is one of the rarest qualities, but to me is one that people should covet and strive the most to be. Recently I have experienced several disheartening things from people close to me, close to my family, and people in my family have experience some difficulties as well... i.e. my family members and some of my closest friends.

For me personally, realizing a person I trusted and thought was a friend actually isn't trust worthy, genuine or selfless in the least. Instead I found her to be selfish, backstabbing, and ultimately she was only looking out for herself. I guess sometimes its good to learn the things early on. You know before you've invested too much in the friendship to recover your losses later. I would compare my reaction to betrayal of any kind to Kristen's description here. Overall, I'm done with you...you no longer exist to me. If I pass you on the street don't bother to say 'Hi' because one of 2 things will happen depending on who you are 1.) I will ignore completely and you will for sure be embarrassed because I will make it super awkward or 2.) I will ninja chop you in the throat if you have done something completely unthinkable. I'm still up in the air on my course of action for our first encounter post break-up of friendship for this particular instance...

For my family... struggling with issues work work to marriage. My brother's wife was gone, came back, and is now gone again. With all of her comings and goings, my brother would likely still tell you today that he loves her and wants her to be happy. Rather selfless, rather genuine, very kind and good. My mom has had a streak of bad luck that just continues to follow her. Stresses of work, of kids (although grown), projects, of planning, of life happening. To me, my mom is one of the absolute most honest, true, and selfless people in the world. She's good and moral and ethical and always always tries to do the right thing. Its because of her that I want to always believe that people, even those molded, bittered, and engrossed in things negative, start out in life with goodness in their heart. I think life circumstances occur and may change or make someone become less good, less moral, and more out for their own rewards in life, but they still have buried inside them the ability to think about someone else ahead of themselves. Ultimately the person has to make that choice for themselves, because after all God gave each of us free will.

For my friends... A very close gal pal of mine has been struggling for the last month + with her fiance calling off their wedding. Not only the end of a 5 year relationship, but of her dreams of the life she wanted to have together, with him. If you knew this friend you would love her. Shes gorgeous from the inside of her heart to the lovely blonde hair on her head. A man will meet her in the very near future, I'm sure, and sweep her completely off her feet and give her a love like she had never known or dreamed of having. I'm positive of this. After all this happening to her she has said to me that even though she is hurt, she still cares deeply for this man who hurt her. Sounds pretty good at heart to me, sounds pretty selfless to me. Its friends like her who help make me believe that people are good at heart.

Perhaps then its love that makes people good to their core. Not necessarily love for another specifically, but maybe a love for life, a love for humanity, a love for things unseen, unknown... unrequited. Possibly a love unrequited is the answer to it all. Never a need for reciprocation, but instead, it just exists to create good in us all.

Well enough of my ponderings for today, Happy Thursday!!

10.11.2010

Wedding Weekend, Updates, and A Special Dedication!

Hi Ladies,

Hope you all are off to a fantastic Monday morning! I am struggling today after our Wedding Weekend in Rochester, NY for the Liberti/LeFrois nuptials. It was super fantastic... to say the least. So for your enjoyment...a recap in words, but more importantly, photo evidence memories of a wonderful time and amazing party.

We arrived Thursday and went to a Fish Boil. I am absolutely shocked that I have never attend one of these before. I mean we are in the south and it definitely has southern flare written all over it! Not to mention 10 pounds of melted butter, which would've made Paula Dean very proud. Good Work Mr Liberti!


Friday... was a nice little personal day for me! YAY! Nails with the lovely Bride and her friends, shopping, and getting Bean the most awesome Halloween costume very (separate post to follow on that one) Michael and the boys played at Oak Hill, likely misbehaving, and most likely being over-beveraged...which was a general theme for the entire weekend. Over beveraging = Misbehavior. The rehearsal dinner was gorgeous good friends, good food, and a secret round of bowling ensued!
                                

                                     
My soon to be Groomy and I

Erica and TR

Erica and I

 Groomsman gift time!

 I was unaware this bowling tournament was going to occur, thus the purple argyle socks under my boots. Good news is people thought I knew about the bowling and planned my lovely socks... Go me.

The Dayton Boys

The Bride! 

 The Grooms Parents...Phyllis and Richie!

 More Dayton boys added to the mix

 The Groom realizing his 12:00 night before the wedding curfew had been breached!

You Go Weber!

Saturday night...time for the wedding and reception! Absolutely amazing! Jennifer was beautiful and of course Johnny looked great in his monkey suit! We will all remember the 3 J's... Jennifer, John, and Jesus! :)

 The Bride...Hello Gorgeous.



 Break it down!



 Speeches...
 Speeches...
 All Awesome Roasts Speeches... :)


 Sweetheart of Sigma Chi


 Dayton Boy Band...


 Poker Face haha

 More Poker Face :)


 Johnny decided he needed to hand out some flower arrangements to the crowd of dancers.

 Other Arrangements Johnny clearly saw and needed to make them into hats.

 And then sing.
 Get a room!

 You guys too!

 Awe! Trying to steal the Bride!


 In closing I would like to take a moment and dedicate this blog to 2 of my most loyal followers...
one Tom Monahan and one Andrew Weber. (enjoy photo below) 
Boys, without your following I would clearly be lost and so would all of your roommates and Dayton friends, who depend on you both to provide the latest "Pieces of the Peddicords" news to them. Thanks Boys! Kisses.


10.01.2010

Pink Tie Gala is finally here!!

Hi Gals,

So this weekend is Pink Tie Gala and I couldn't be more relieved and excited that its finally here! Of course I will be posting some most fabulous pics after the event so you can check everything out! The purpose of this post is more to say a HUGE and overwhelming THANK YOU to all of my lovely friends who helped me get items together for our auctions! We ended up with around $15,000 in  raffle and silent auctions items to sell for the Susan G Komen Foundation plus some awesome things in the Live Auction as well.

I can not thank all of my friends enough for getting these items donated for the event! My mom is a 2 time breast cancer survivor and as I mentioned before here is the recipient of the Celebration of Life Award this year. So clearly this a a very near and dear to my heart event/weekend! I am so very lucky and grateful to have friends who were willing to help make this event full of awesome prizes! THANK YOU LADIES and Michael so so much!! To get more info or to buy tickets for those in the Lexington area check out the website here and photos from last year here! Stay Tuned for Photos and event highlights next week!!! Happy Friday!!

Cheers Ladies!


9.15.2010

Proud to be My Mother's Daughter... Leaving a Legacy.

Ladies,

I know many of us in our teen years are reluctant to become "Our Mothers" in the future. Although, I think its safe to say as we grow older and understand our mothers and some of their inner workings and thoughts...we strive to be half the woman we know they are. This is very much the case with my mom and I.

Last summer during Miss Kentucky, some of the former winners posed a question to us in one of our interviews.... What is the legacy you hope to leave behind? A simple question, a loaded question, and an interesting question...it changes the focus of competition... it changes the path you may choose to take... it causes reflection and definitely opens your eyes if you answer it honestly. I had never really thought much about this until the moment the question came from Chera-Lyn's mouth (a former and wonderfully fabulous Miss KY). My immediate thought/answer was, "I have recently graduated, started working in the professional world and often times I meet people who recognize my last name and know my mother. Typically the person making the connection between my mom and I will say something to the effect of 'Nancy Elliott, what a lovely lady' or 'She is so kind, and such a classy woman.' I hope that one day people will talk about me that way, maybe even to my daughter... that would be a wonderful legacy." I obviously didnt make it through this answer without shedding a couple of tears. My mom is a two time breast cancer survivor, she's the reason I work with the Komen foundation, and the reason I was even standing in this interview to begin with. She's amazing, wonderful, and bascially I would be lucky to be half the woman that she is.

This is my Mom celebrating survivor sisterhood with 136 other ladies being honored at the 136th Running of the Oaks - "Pink Out for Breast Cancer"

The reason I boast about her and about legacies today is because my mom is leaving hers left and right and in a few weeks she will be recognized for it at PINK TIE GALA! My mom and I work closely with the Komen Foundation and you can read all about the PINK TIE GALA here. I've discussed it a little before. Each year at the gala a "Celebration of Life" Award Winner is recognized. The people who win this award are those who are actively involved in the fight against breast cancer, and are dedicated to helping find a cure. Who is this year's winner? You guessed it ladies... MY MOM, Nancy Elliott. Gushing, beaming, glowing with pride and admiration for her. I could not be more proud to be her daughter. I will get to be there on OCT. 2nd when she accepts her award and gives a speech about her experiences. I couldnt ask for anymore, especially considering many women don't make it through 1 round of breast cancer, much less a reoccurance. Every big moment we have together is so precious, such a milestone, and so worth everything our family went through to get here. To talk about her legacy, what she has given, who she is to her soul and very core... I could never put into words. I can only thank God that shes here to show me how to be like her.

So ladies, in CELEBRATION of this milestone and this exciting award for my mom... I would love for you to reflect on your legacy. What will you leave behind? I would love to hear about them all! Please leave them here or email them to me at mrsstorytelling@yahoo.com.


8.24.2010

S.O.S...To Stylish Ladies with Fab Ideas...

Hi Ladies,

In one month from today Michael and I will be having our engagey sesh with the lovely Alicia of Aesthetiica Photography. You can enjoy her lovely stylings here and here. Because Alicia is the bomb.com I really need some input on how to make our sesh creative, us, and super fabulous chic. I have a few ideas in mind, but I am not able to committ to any of the ideas completely.

We got engaged at Talon Winery and it was raining that day. My thought was to incorporate a super cute umbrella into the photos and of course Bean would be there as well! What to wear? HELP! I need suggestions stat. You girls all know a thing or two about what looks good and what doesnt. I'm just not sure what I want to look like on that day.

Also, I need some suggestions fo some really easy 4 week diets. I would really like to lose about 5-7 pounds in the next 4 weeks. I don't want to be miserable without carbs, however, if it works I wouldn't be opposed to mild carb starvation if it means my butt looks really small. :)

Please Advise Ladies...I'm sending out an S.O.S!