Five on Friday: A Link-up!

Hello Friday! Boy am I excited to see you! You know what else I'm excited about? My FIVE..!

- ONE -  Recently I've become obsessed with lemonade - rosemary lemonade to be more specific. As soon as I bring home a new bottle of Simply Lemonade or a gallon of Chick-fil-A lemonade, I pop in a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and let it marinade for a few hours. 

I promise this is the best combination of the summer. In fact, I guarantee it. 

And on Friday's I jazz up my cocktail with a splash of Firefly Sweet Tea vodka. 

- TWO - With all the rain we've had lately, I've decided to revert back to my naturally wavy hair. I recently order a bottle of Mop Top, a gel specially made for dry, frizzy hair at the recommendation of a friend. Her hair is always perfectly wavy so I had to try it. Thumbs up!

- THREE - Our Shark arrived last night! Being lab parents, we are forced to vacuum our house daily, sometimes even twice a day. So when our cheapo vacuum bit the dust we spent an entire afternoon reading vacuum reviews and finally decided on the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe! I've never been more excited to vacuum! By the way, I officially feel old {and lame} for being excited about a vacuum.

- FOUR - I know, you are all so shocked that I am blogging about coffee - again! But this time it's even more serious. After recognizing how much we splurge on coffee daily, Matt and I decided to pay for the bottomless mug at Bruegger's. So for the rest of the year we have access to unlimited coffee/tea/soda. Every afternoon I've been grabbing a cup of Iced Coconut Coffee. I'm addicted and it's unlimited so I don't sleep at night anymore.

- FIVE - Matt and I are heading to mountains this afternoon to celebrate the wedding weekend of our dear friends, Tim and Kristen. We are beyond excited to see these two tie the knot and the wedding is going to be insanely beautiful. Pictures to come!

Wanna join  Darci, April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is... 1.)  Write  your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!). 2.)  Share the logo above on your blog and link back. 3.)  Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!

You can also follow me here:

Facebook // Bloglovin' // Instagram

Christmas in July

I actually got Christmas fever a few weeks ago. I've already purchased several gifts, added a few Christmas pins to my {Christmas board} and even listened to Christmas music for a few hours one day. I am so ready. And since today marks the 5 month countdown, I thought we'd celebrate with a little bit of Christmas...

DECORATING: Stockings for place settings? YES, you will see this on my dining room table in less than 5 months.And in front of my fireplace - a basket filled with Christmas tree clippings, logs and lights!

{via}  A simple yet beautiful decoration - candles and bells!

 {via} FESTIVE DRINKS: I can't wait to partake it lots of warm festive beverages...like Hot Caramel Pear Cider...

{via} and Christmas Sangria!

{via} GIFTS: I can't wait to wrap lots of beautiful presents

 {via} CHRISTMAS PARTIES: sparkly dresses and red shoes!

 {similar, similar}  CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING: My ornament collection grew so much last year that I am so anxious to decorate my tree.

 

{via} CHRISTMAS COOKIES: Too early to start thinking about our annual cookie exchange? Nope!

{via} JESUS: My favorite part and the real reason for the season!

{via} Merry Christmas in July!

Happy Campers: Panthertown Valley

Last weekend six of us went camping in Panthertown Valley, aka Yosemite of the East. Located just northeast of Cashiers and northwest of Lake Toxaway, this location is walled and surrounded by mountains which create a bowled valley. It was absolutely gorgeous.

 Saturday morning we met bright and early, packed the truck, grabbed some coffee and hit the road.

Once we arrived we loaded up our gear and hiked about 1.5 miles in the pouring down rain.

Our first stop was Schoolhouse Falls.

 After taking in the scenery and snapping a few pictures we continued our hike to a nice flat campsite near a beautiful stream.

 Once the rain stopped we set up camp and hung our clothes out to dry. Thankfully we had great weather for the rest of the trip.

 Home sweet home for the weekend.

 While the boys searched for firewood the girls stayed behind, kept the fire going and drank vodka.

 For dinner we cooked hotdogs and pita pizzas {my favorite}!

And I can't forget some of our snacks - s'more granola and dried fruit!

 After dinner we sat around the campfire, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.   One family picture before we went to sleep!

 Since Panthertown is a bear sanctuary we made sure to put all our extra food in a bear bag overnight. The next morning I snapped a picture before we broke up camp. We backpacked out the way we came in, about 1.5 miles, but since the hike goes back up and out of the valley, the trek back was definitely more strenuous.

I'd say we were all very happy campers!