2019: Year in Review

I had so much fun doing this last year and so I decided I wanted to do another Year in Review post for 2019! This has been such a special year for myself + my business and I love getting to look back on everything God has done in the year and then share it with all of you!

J A N U A R Y

In January, I met one of my favorite people of the social media world! Wesley from @farmshenanigans was at Atlanta Market the same time I was and I totally freaked out internally getting to meet him! He is seriously the sweetest, and if you haven't, go follow him on Instagram! His home and business are BEAUTIFUL!

F E B R U A R Y

Meeting my favorite influencers continued in February when I got to meet Emily of @champagneandchanel and Dede of @dressupbuttercup in Miami! Such sweet gals!

February was a HUGE month!! My storefront relocated to a new and bigger location that we-- and all of you-- have been loving this year!

What was I doing in Miami you may ask? I was celebrating my best girl, Lauren, on her Bachelorette trip! So fun!

February was seriously the month of travels. Shane & I went to Nashville for a weekend getaway and my sister & I took my mom on the Disney World trip we got her for Christmas! Both of those trips were so fun!

The last highlight of the month was the best advocacy event for the Carroll County Child Advocacy Center!

M A R C H

I got my baby Kenny! If you didn't know, I'm a goat mama! I have quite a few animals at home, which include 2 goats! We added baby Kenny in March and he is far from a baby now!

My gal got MARRIED! It was the most beautiful ceremony and reception for two of the most precious people!

I teamed up with The Wylie Team to stage a house on the market in Carrollton! The house sold super quickly and the family was able to move into a home that was already staged beautifully!

A P R I L

Joy Prom 2019!! It was the best one yet and I am still so thankful for all of the incredible volunteers that made our 6th annual Joy Prom so amazing for all of the participants!

M A Y

I spent a day at one of my favorite market events of the year-- Vintage Pickin'! April is a doll and invited us to come early to add Pin it goodies to the swag bags for the first people in line! We got to see all of the amazing vintage goodness and I met Jenny of @bigfamilylittlefarmhouse who is just the sweetest soul!

I celebrated my 2nd birthday using CommentSold for my business! They have helped Pin it Co. grow tremendously and I am so thankful for this killer software system and the genius individuals behind it!

J U N E

My girl Jessi got married!! Almost all of us went to her wedding to celebrate her!

J U L Y

Took a trip to the beach with Shane, Amanda & Bryan! It was quite a good time!

I opened a Cafe! Pin it Co. Cafe is located inside my business and it has been one of my best decisions! Seriously, such yummy food!

Sweet Jenny from @bigfamilylittle farmhouse invited us to the Haven Party to kick off the Haven Conference at her beautiful home! Pin it Co. was able to put some sweet goodies in influencer bags and it was such a fun time!

A U G U S T

On our way to an Alaskan cruise, I got to take Maw & her sister to where I used to live in Washington! I got to revisit Shane & I's first home, a family that meant to much to me, and the place I used to call home!

S E P T E M B E R

Speaking of which, in September I took Maw & her sister on an Alaskan cruise! This was the last state in the U.S. that Maw hadn't seen yet and so we crossed it off her bucket list! It was such a fun trip and such a beautiful place!

Shane & I went to quite a few fairs in September! We went to the massive North Georgia State Fair and our small town Carrollton fair!

O C T O B E R

My business started Thursday story-times! One thing Pin it Co. focused on this year was better serving our community in unique ways and story time has been a favorite of ours as well as the kids in our area! We read them stories, they can have lunch at the Cafe, and occasionally we offer a seasonal craft!

I had my 10th class reunion! Does that mean I'm getting old yet??

Lauren & I went to the most beautiful local orchard in Tallapoosa and picked all the yummy apples! Best ever!!

N O V E M B E R

One of the highlights of my entire YEAR was in November! My sister & I got to attend the RISE Business conference and get inspired by Rachel Hollis to chase those goals with tactile strategies! It was epic.

I traded spaces with a face you just might be familiar with... Alison from Jules & James! We did a trading spaces live event that was EPIC!

Would it even be a year in review if I didn't include Bowdon by Candlelight?? It was another amazing year debuting Pin it Co. Christmas to our community and all who came from miles around! The store is a winter wonderland and I could not be more pleased!

We spent a very sweet Thanksgiving Day eating allll the things with our families!

Black Friday is always a HUGE night for business and this year was no exception! Our awesome customers stood in line for hours and snagged some CRAZY deals!

D E C E M B E R

Shane & I cut down a tree! For Christmas, of course! We procrastinated a bit, but we got a live tree from Spring Brook Farm in Carrollton and it was beautiful!

Thank you so much for all of the people who have loved, supported, and poured into myself and my business this year! It has not gone unnoticed and it has certainly not gone unappreciated. Here's to a great year, an unbelievable decade, and an awesome life! Let's get it 2020! 

My Go-To Eats: What I Order At My Favorite Restaurants!

This blog is a little different, but with the opening of our new cafe, I wanted to bring you guys my go-to orders at all of my favorite restaurants! For all of you who want to try a place you've never been, or just can never decide what to order, this might help you out! All of this food is quite yummy, and we know ya girl loves to eat!

Pin it Co. Cafe:
Of course I had to include our new cafe! I always get the half + half: Hometown Turkey with Tomato Basil soup! So delish!

Nama:
Hibachi Steak with fried rice and always, always with cheesecake ragoons at the end!

Bowdon Coffee Roasters:
The Jittery Bobby (Iced Coffee with two pumps of agave, almond milk and cold brew) and a blueberry scone.
Yall, seriously-- try this. Or just BCR in general, it's bomb.

Las Palomas:
Fo sho' cheese dip. A steak quesadilla with rice and beans, and queso inside. Clearly I love the queso.

Corner Cafe:
The Pita Frampton with no jalapeños and vegetable soup on the side. And definitely the spin dip with bagel chips. The best.

Chick-Fil-A:
#1 with a Lemonade. Mayo for my sandwich and ketchup for my fries. Call me basic, it's fine. Also, gotta have an Ice Dream if it's hot outside.

Subway:
6 inch on wheat bread with turkey, American cheese, spinach, salt + pepper, and mayo. And Baked Lays chips.

Wendys:
#1 plain with cheese and a Sprite. Ketchup for my fries of course. I'm getting a trend that I'm pretty basic when it comes to my fast food orders!

Dairy Queen:
A large fry and a cookie dough blizzard with extra cookie dough! If you don't dip fries in your ice cream, girl, what is you doing?

Waffle House: 
All-Star Special-- eggs scrambled with cheese, hash browns instead of grits, regular toast, bacon instead of sausage, regular waffle. OJ to drink.

Highland Deli:
Mary Queen of Scotts or Salad Sampler. I always get pasta salad on the side if I get the Mary Queen of Scotts. Highland is really one of my all time favorite places.

If you try any of these orders and love them-- definitely let me know! And make sure to follow @pinitcocafe on Instagram for yummy content and updates on our brand new cafe!

Our 2 Year CommentSold Birthday!

If you saw the title of this blog, you know that we are celebrating our two year birthday with CommentSold! May 19th marks two whole trips around the sun using this awesome software and it has been such a fun time! We wanted to take a look back on some of the milestones and memories we've shared along the way, since CommentSold has really allowed us to take you guys on this crazy journey that is Pin it Co!

Check out this fun and adorable video that highlights some of our best Live Sale moments!

I also wanted to re-cap some other highlights from our 2 years!

Our first item: Vintage Hardware Tray

The first item we ever posted with CommentSold went up on May 19th at 9:00 a.m. The Vintage Hardware Tray was a hot seller for months!

Our Best-Selling Item: Hand-Poured Soy Melts

Can you guess what our best-selling item ever has been?? Our Hand-Poured Soy Melts took the lead! We have sold 2,104 melts in total! That's craziness! Our best selling sent has been Gather-- we've sold 394 of that scent alone!

We hit a huge group member milestone when we reached 15,000 members on July 1st, 2017-- just less than two months after being with CommentSold we grew 10,000 members!

Our first live sale went down on May 30th, 2017-- they weren't regular then, but that was our beginning... and the rest was history!

On May 5th, 2018 we launched an app with CommentSold! It's gotten a new look since then because on June 1st of that same year, we rebranded!

Our journey with CommentSold has been one like no other! We have loved the last two years and loved sharing it with all of you!

We hope you'll continue to stay along for the ride!

We Get it From Our Mamas: The Pin it Co. Moms

Here at Pin it Co., we are a big family! And today, we want to introduce you to our families-- particularly, our mothers!

In honor of Mother's Day weekend, I wanted to put together a compilation of all of my Pin it Co. employee's moms! We sent out a message and asked them to each give a mom tip and some funny stories about their kiddos! All of the moms definitely had so much fun doing this and we enjoyed reading what they had to say-- and definitely got a laugh out of the stories!

Lyn-- My mama!

"Ally has always been an energetic, hard working, fun loving, creative and very smart young lady! There are so many memories I could share with you about Ally, because there is never a dull moment when she is around. When Ally was a small child, we made several trips to the emergency room. She loved sticking beads, small items, and even small pieces of baby wipes up her nose. She would run to me and say 'Mommy, look what I did!'. I would almost panic seeing her nose so full, but I would get what I could out and take her to the hospital for the remainder. Another memory, that I can recall, is when she was in Kindergarten. Ally went to school with her cousin Curtis' underwear on because he had left a pair at our house. She wanted to wear them so bad because they were different from hers with that hole in the front. I wouldn't let her wear them, but she switched one morning before school without me knowing. When the teacher helped her zip her pants up she asked Ally, 'Does your mommy know you are wearing little boy's underwear?' Ally replied, 'Yeah my mommy doesn't know the difference!' I was so embarrassed being a young mother!!"

Laura Gail-- Lindsey + Callie's Mom

"I'm the lucky mom of two Pin-it kiddos. Callie is my youngest, the babe of the fam. She was, by far, the easiest child to raise. Not just because of her naturally sunny disposition, but because I had used all the energy and insight I could muster towards parenting her brother and older sister. Let's just say it's a good thing Callie liked to swing. A funny story... One morning, when I couldn't find her in her bed, I discovered her playing behind a chair in the family room. Here, she had methodically portioned out an entire bottle of syrup into a circle of little overflowing cups and containers. What Callie has taught me as a parent... a Hershey bar a day really won't kill your kid. I love my Callie-pillar.

My second Pin it kid is Lindsey. As a young (and only) child until age nine, Lindsey was an obedient conformist. That's right, she did no wrong. Truly, a highly imaginative and creative child never did write on the walls, or paint on the furniture. Funny story: When Lindsey was a preschooler, we had trouble with our phone line going out. After a couple of attempts to solve the problem by the phone company a technician was sent to our home. Mystified at the inconsistency in the line working then shorting out, he decided to inspect each phone jack, one by one. Minutes later he called me and Lindsey into the living room where he held out a disconnected jack. 'I found your problem ma'am.' Inside the phone hack were crammed a couple of raisins. Lindsey had poked them in several jacks throughout the house that didn't have phones attached. Phones worked just fine after that day. What Lindsey has taught me... Blue and yellow make green. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Raisins re-hydrate, even in a phone jack."

Sandy-- Shane's Mom

"Raising Shane was a great blessing, he was an easy going child. The one tip I learned from him was to never underestimate your kid, they will always surprise you. As he grew older he loved playing practical jokes: waiting around the corner to jump out to scare us, putting a rubber band around the kitchen sink spray handle so we would get soaked, or loosening the salt shaker cap. Shane could talk anyone into doing some of the craziest things: putting a paperclip into an electric socket, letting him hit "Corey" over the head with a broomstick, or the time he video-taped kids doing dangerous tricks on skateboards and bikes. His brother tells a funny story of when Shane was clearing off some land and got into a yellow jacket nest (not funny to Shane). He rain to his brother, face all swollen, and told him to take him to the ER. I am so very proud to be Shane's mom, he has brought me great joy."

Melinda-- Brittany's Mom

"Brittany was always a very smart, creative, and sweet child growing up. She was also very independent. One of my favorite stories to tell about Brittany happened when she was about 6 years old. After teaching all day at Ephesus Elementary, I had a parent/teacher conference after school. Brittany was in my classroom playing, so I told her to go outside and play during the conference. After a fairly long conference, I was extremely tired and left to go home-- without Brittany!! You would think a normal 6 year old would have gotten upset about being left behind by her mom at school, but not Britt. She walked right up to my principal's office and asked if the principal would call her mother for her. You can imagine my surprise when my principal called and said, 'I think you forgot something at school!'

Brittany's now a great mom to little Myra Grace and we often laugh about how much Myra is like her mommy. If I shared some parental advice, it would probably be to spend lots of quality time with your children & most importantly make sure that you look to the Lord for guidance in all areas of raising your child."

Christy-- Jessi's Mom

"I'm Jessi's mom, but I didn't become her Mom until I married her Dad a few years ago. Jessi was 15 years old when she became mine. I never had any children of my own so she is my one & only. She has been a blessing to help raise because of her sweet, loving personality. I don't have any baby stories just teenage tales-- In order to get Jessi motivated to do her chores, I offered to pay her $20 per week, but each time I found her things left lying around (dirty towels, dishes, food wrappers, etc.) I would subtract $1.00. By the end of the first week, SHE owed ME five dollars. Yep, -$5.00 in one week... experiment over. Even money was not a motivator. Another story: Jessi wanted to know if Nana was going to hatch out any baby chickens. I told her Nana didn't have any roosters. Jessi looked confused & asked 'then how are there eggs & how do you get baby chickens?' I said, 'Well, when a Daddy chicken & a Mommy chicken really love each other...' I got a huge sigh & eye roll. Also, this was last week..."

Kelli-- Haley's Mom

"Haley is my very ambitious, loving, precious, and DRAMATIC child! My mom tip that I learned from her is that it's important to pick and choose your battles!! My favorite story about Haley is a story that we all love to tell, except Haley! Haley and her brother were riding bikes around the pool. It was February and freezing outside! Haley was showing off and fell head first into the pool! We love to tease her about this! Allen said she literally climbed up his arm and screamed and cried as she was running into the house! Like I said... dramatic!! But seriously, we are blessed! She makes us very proud!!"

Kristin- Danai's Mom

"Danai is the sweetest, sassiest, shyest, intelligent girl. We have grown up together having her at 18 myself. What she has taught me is a daughter is God's gift of a bestest friend for life. We have so much fun together. My advice is to always have an open relationship with your child, and always be a listening ear. My funniest memory is on Christmas morning her stomping her foot saying, 'If I didn't have you 2 sisters, this would all be for me!'. She is such a hard worker and I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments."

Beverly-- Anna K's Mom

"First, I must say that Anna has kept her dad and me young well beyond our actual years just trying to keep up with her! She has always been very busy and involved in dance and sports, but we probably laid that foundation as we dragged the poor child to every game that both her older brother and sister ever played in! I had to keep her strapped in an umbrella stroller just to keep up with her. One time she actually turned the whole stroller over and landed face down on the ground! I think the scariest time was when we had laid down for a nap together when she was around 3-years-old-- I woke up to find her gone, the front door was open and she was nowhere to be found, at least as far as I could see. I called out so many times until I was just crying sitting there. I heard someone call me and here she came, walking with a neighbor who lived two doors up-- she had gone to visit! Needless to say, we came to an understanding that afternoon! Anna has grown into a very independent, creative young woman with a huge heart for others-- I am so very proud of her and love her so much! My best mothering tips-- enjoy every minute, stay involved, listen and speak with love, and definitely pick your battles!"

Sherrie-- Katie's Mom

"Katie has always been quite independent and into crafting. One of her favorite phrases when she was little was, 'Me do diss myself'. This usually meant an extra 10 to 15 minutes was added on to whatever we were doing, but she almost always succeeded! As far as crafting goes, one day on our way home from daycare (she was about 2 years old) during the middle of rush hour traffic she was talking and talking about her day and from the back seat I hear 'Mom, I put a button up my nose today'. Me, 'That's nice'. I didn't have another thought about that statement the rest of the week. On Saturday morning her Dad came down from her room with a look of concern on his face and a button in his hand. He tells me Katie has just pulled it out of her nose. I say, 'Oh yeah, she told me she put one up there earlier in the week when I was driving and I forgot about it'. Motherly advice-- listen to your children no matter how much they talk and support them in their efforts to be independent! I love you Katie and am so proud and honored to be your mother!"

Lisa-- Anna T's Mom

"Anna is a very smart, creative and caring young woman! I've always thought Anna is wise beyond her years. Anna has a heart for nations and for that I am so thankful she is using her gift to spread the gospel. Anna plans to move to Guatemala after graduating college and that makes this momma very proud! Now to the good stuff... When Anna was in her early teen years, let's just say she didn't have what I call common sense. So teaching her to drive was very fun. She thought the car would follow the road and she didn't have to turn the wheel, so her first few times driving were very exciting. She also thought if she was backing up everything should just move out of her way. She has definitely gotten better, but if you see her car at Pin it you will recognize it because of the scratches and dents! For the mothering tips I would say always listen to your children's opinions even if you don't agree. You might be amazed what you can learn from them! Also let them know whatever mistakes they make you are always there for them. The best thing a mom can do for their child is to pray for them."

Melissa-- EJ's Mom

"Emily-Jane is my first born and she is a very literal person. Once as a child I sent her in the grocery store to buy cup cakes for her class. She came out with a cake mix and icing. When she was 3 I enrolled her in ballet and when it was over she thanked me for letting her go to karate. She is very athletic and loves to be outside. PE was her favorite class. God blessed her with the ability to be genuinely happy for other people. She is typically the first person to congratulate a person on their accomplishments and the first to lend a hand if someone needs something. Two different times in high-school she identified and befriended kids that needed help and we as a family helped take care of them. Parenting her has been a joy and adventure."

Michelle-- Rex's Mom

"Rex would come home everyday and play school in his bedroom and he would try to convince me to move out his bed and put desks in his bedroom because he was going to have his own classroom with his own students and own grade book. He also loved doing hair. He would love watching hair go back and forth with the hairdryer. He was so little he would stand up on the back of the couch and do hair. He still does my hair to this day. He's always had Jesus in his heart and always followed God keeping Him first in everything he does. He respects everyone he comes in contact with and he loves everyone."

I hope you enjoyed getting to know all of our mothers a bit better-- I certainly enjoyed reading all of the stories and tips they provided!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers out there, especially the Pin it Co. mamas!