I am a hunting season widow.

November brings many things such as my birthday, my dad's birthday, Thanksgiving, and now the most important in my household.....deer season. Oddly enough Matt finished harvesting soybeans at 10:30 PM on Friday, November 7....how timely since deer season opened the morning of Saturday, November 8....and he was definitely up at 4:30 with all his scent-free gear on ready to kill that big buck. Oh and I didn't mention that we had to celebrate my birthday on Thursday, November 6...no time for bday celebrations during opening weekend! Also hunting... his best friend, the best dressed hunter I've ever seen, my dad, and my father-in-law. They were decked out in camo, orange vests and hats, and their muck boots with a backpack on their back with all their hunting goodies they would need and their shotgun on their shoulder. Sadly enough no big buck came that weekend. "They just weren't moving" they all claimed. And my father-in-law "missed the biggest buck!"...he said that last year too.

Matt showed up to the shop on that next Wednesday morning and backed up to the front doors. He let down his tailgate and lo and behold what lay in the back of his truck, but a 13-point deer, his first kill of the season. That certainly got the three other deerless fired up and sure enough Friday brought the hunters back - this time with all kinds of hunting gadgets like electronic calls and deer incense...the smell was supposed to attract the deer...after smelling it I think it would do quite the opposite. Saturday morning as I am laying in bed at 7 AM my phone rings and it's Dad. He got a 12-point...on his birthday. Mom thought it was a weird looking deer, wasn't a mantle deer...she soon learned you NEVER tell a man is deer is ugly. That crushes them.

So, I guess I'm telling this since Matt just got his second deer of the season...a 9 point, but "a big deer...points doesn't matter"....so he says. I asked him since he's killed his two bucks for the season does that mean he is done hunting....he said no....of course, did I expect him to say yes?

Happy Monday :) I'm finally posting Ashley and Dean's engagement pictures. Ashley is my sister-in-law and we will be taking a much needed vacation to Cabo San Lucas in February for the wedding! We took their engagement pictures at the Old Mill in North Little Rock several weekends ago.

Well, I am officially a quarter of a century old!

I have the sweetest friends! One of my besties, Katie, posted a birthday tribute to me on her blog today. Thank you, it was very sweet! It's been a great birthday so far. We've had a few visitors here at the shop including Lily Beth, the super cute baby in the pictures from a few posts back. My parents are on their way to spend the weekend, which should make for a good birthday! My husband surprised me with a beautiful diamond necklace this morning. The picture is not "photographer" quality as I took it with my phone this morning :)

Hope you all have a great Friday! Glad it's the weekend. I'll be heading to Holiday House tonight in Little Rock and birthday celebrations tomorrow night. Matt will meet little Lily on Sunday...I think he's nervous! He gets nervous around babies, but it's his best friends new baby - he has no choice!

Happy Election Day! I hope everyone has been or is going to the polls today. I went at 8:30 this morning thinking that surely in Carlisle I will not have to wait more than 30 minutes - plus, most everyone should be at work by now - well, I was wrong. Every farmer was there I do believe. I didn't get the shop opened until about 9:15!

I have decided to start sending out a weekly email to highlight some of our goodies at Park Street Market. If you'd like to be on our mailing list, let me know and I'll get you added! You can order by email and I will ship directly to you :)

Finished up a birth announcement today and will work on engagement pictures tonight and tomorrow. Should be posted soon!

One of my best friends, Allison, said it best as she said "and this is all in love, but Whitney has been a blog slacker these days". Sadly she is correct! It's been a week since my last post, but it's been a little busy! We had our grand opening for Park Street Market, which was a huge success! We had a very good turnout and had to place 5 more orders on Monday, only our third day to be open. One of my nearest and dearest, Jordan, surprised me by showing up with her two kiddos, Ellis and Whit, her sister, and niece. It truly made my day! I think I got a little teary!

My sister-in-law and her fiance were in town this weekend. We had a great weekend, and spent yesterday morning taking their engagement pictures at the Old Mill in North Little Rock. Hopefully I can get a few of them posted this week so I can avoid being a blog slacker :)