Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for June 2015

Life Lately

I haven’t done a life lately post in a while, so this is what’s been going on in my life this past week.

I had no idea how time-consuming grad school would be this summer.  I got desperate one day and just wanted a one hour break in the sun, so I went out on our back patio to lay out before I had to get back to grad school work.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?


 I’m still eating healthy breakfasts this summer!  Excuse the mess in the background–grad school and diabetic supplies….it’s our life.


 After Vacation Bible School on Monday, my friend Sarah and I went to Earthfare to eat since she’d never been, and she knows how much I love it.  She ended up liking it, too!


I got ginger tuna, creamed kale and artichoke hearts, vegan mac and cheese (not healthy but I wanted it ha!), and Mexican corn.  It was so good!


Sarah and I are teaching 2nd grade again this year at VBS and we really out-did ourselves decorating this year!  If you saw our last year’s VBS room or our table from this year’s ladies luncheon, you know that we are not super decorators.  It took us about 5 hours to get that whole room done, and the decorations started falling around Wednesday.  We just told the kids the jungle had a huge rain storm ha!


 Opening service one morning during VBS


 My mom is so precious!  She has been teaching 1st grade this week at VBS and I know how blessed I am to be serving alongside my mom in our church.


 And this has been my view pretty much all summer.  It’s killing me, but I know it’s temporary.  Statistics is on the screen in this picture, but I’ve got a lit class, too.

What’s been going on in your life lately?


Spending the Day in Tuscaloosa

Last Thursday, I spent the day in Tuscaloosa with my best friends, Janie and Mary Beth.  All three of us live in three different places–Hartselle, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa–so we have to strategically plan times when we are able to see each other.  It’s not often, but we really cherish the time we have together.

Janie and I met in early high school and instantly became best friends.  Since I’m a year older than her, I went to Alabama first, and then she came the next year.  We met Mary Beth immediately after that at the BCM and never looked back!  The three of us were inseparable during college and never would have though we would be getting married during the same year and all within four months of one another!

 Mary Beth got married first on June 21, 2014, in Tuscaloosa.


 I got married next on July 26, 2014, in Hartselle.


 Janie got married last on October 25, 2014, in Birmingham.

The three of us had scheduled June 4th in our calendars for over a month–that’s what happens when you live apart and your lives are crazy busy.  I drove down to Janie’s in Birmingham early that morning and then rode with her to Tuscaloosa.  Mary Beth and her husband, Brandon, moved into their new house about a month ago and Janie and I had been dying to see it since they bought their house!

Mary Beth lives in the cutest neighborhood!  I could not get over how nice her neighborhood was, and it wasn’t until I got back in the car with Janie that I figured out the look of her entire neighborhood–French country.  I love it!



We then decided to pretend like we were in college again and eat at our favorite places during our college years.

Up first–City Cafe.  
This is the college kid’s dream restaurant.  It’s home cooked, southern food and it’s cheap.  What college kid doesn’t love that combination?  The only thing about City Cafe–expect to wait in line.  And if it’s your first time, ask the person in front of you how the line etiquette works.  One time while in college, some ladies cut in line and I thought there would be fight breaking out over an open booth.  Seriously, it got heated.

 My meat and two: baked chicken tenders, field peas, and mac and cheese!

After City Cafe, we drove around letting our food settle while Mary Beth took us on an updated tour of Tuscaloosa to see what had changed.  That city is always under construction, and we hadn’t been there since Mary Beth’s wedding the summer before.  Then we headed to our other favorite place for dessert!


 SUMMER SNOW!!  This place is a shack on the edge of Alberta, and I don’t know how I would have survived college without it.  It’s “shaved ice” but not really….more like heaven in a cup.  I have no idea how they get it the consistency that they do because I’ve never had shaved ice like it anywhere else, and I’ve had a lot of shaved ice.  I ordered the Jimmy Buffet which is my absolute favorite, and it’s strawberry and margarita flavors mixed together.  If it’s your first time there, ask to see the VIP menu and order off of it!


We had the best time together and I wish we all lived much closer to each other.  It just makes our time together much more special!

Friday Favorites (6.5.15)

Happy Friday, y’all!  It’s Friday and right now, I’m just glad I knew it was Friday ha!  Since it’s the summer and I’m a teacher, I can’t remember what day it is half the time.  Every day is Saturday in my life!  (Except not really because….grad school, but I’m dealing.)

As usual, I’m linking up with Andrea for today’s post.
ONE
On Monday I went with my dad to Birmingham and he let me pick our lunch place!  I took him to my FAVORITE restaurant, the Little Donkey in Homewood, but didn’t think to take any pictures.  I guess I was too ready to dig into my guac and Green Goat salad.  BUT afterward, we walked down to Steel City Pops and had a popsicle.  I tried something new and got the strawberry lemonade one while my dad just got plain chocolate.  It was good….until I got sick.   I have a bad stomach and acidic things make me sick but I love them!!

TWO
Since summer has started I literally have not had a break.  I’ve been so busy and taking two grad school classes hasn’t helped.  I recently bought my FAVORITE magazine, Southern Living, and made the time to sit down a read it.  I still haven’t read through the entire magazine, but I love everything I’m reading so far.  I loved the article about the vintage bungalow renovation in all white.  I dream of someday living in a home consisting of various shades of white, but it’s not a reality with Dustin. 🙂



THREE
Speaking of the busyness that is my life right now, I had scheduled to paint my entire classroom on Wednesday of this past week.  I had a few high school helpers who needed philanthropy hours so I decided to bake them some goodies Tuesday night to show my appreciation.  I’m normally pretty good at baking things…especially pre-packaged cookies.  For some reason my first batch turned out runny.  I baked them on my FAVORITE cookie sheet, The Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan, and I decided to let them sit a little longer to harden.  I grabbed a regular cookie sheet to bake the rest and realized that I misread the instructions and turned my oven from 325 to 425.  Next batch:
Apparently the recommended oven setting is 350, not 325 or 425.  This is what happens when you’re trying to multitask and bake at the same time!


FOUR

 This was a FAVORITE sight to see this past week!  Since I started blogging in October of 2014, I finally hit the 10,000 pageview mark!  That was a really exciting sight to see.  I  remember when my published my first post and it got over 150 views.  My highest number of pageviews was on the post announcing our decision to build a house–over 500!  I am so thankful to each and every one of you who takes the time to read this little blog.  I love this blog and can’t wait to see where it takes me!

FIVE
Who’s ready for some house pictures??  This is the month that we get to move into our house!  I am so excited that I talk about it to anyone who will listen 🙂  Here are a few updates from Wednesday night after church:

 laundry room—I’m obsessed with that tile!!  It really is a FAVORITE of mine!  It took some convincing on my part to get Dustin to agree to it, but I’m so happy he followed my design.

 Downstairs guest bath–that tile really ties in the countertops….love in an understatement 

 Dining room–they had the hardwood out ready to put in the next day.  I love that chandelier, too–another FAVORITE!  That was the first thing I picked out at the light store and so we based all of our other lights around the chandelier. 

They cut into the front porch and will stain it to look like tile.  Seriously, I’m in love.  And if you can see my reflection in the front door, you can see I’ve had my roots done and it’s like I’m a whole new woman!