Yardage

Spent the weekend working in the yard prepping for the two parties coming up. My azaleas and red buds are in bloom.
Enjoy!

Sunday funday

Since I needed to run a few errands in Birmingham, I figured I would make a day out of it.
I met my friend H from college up for brunch at Chez Lulu's. Their delicious chocolate hazelnut crepe and stoneground grits really hit the spot. Per usual I got a chocolate croissant to go.
I then met my sister to look at a few stores since I need tea cups for an upcoming party I am hosting. We foud some cute stuff in Homewood's Edgewood neighborhood. We also saw several cute things that were added to our Wish Lists.
After dropping my sister off, I went to Old Time Pottery, a store I always swore I would not visit. The vow was broken since they have glass cocktail plates for a reasonable price. Should you need to host a party for 50 people ever, hit me up because I am the proud owner of 60 glass cocktail plates.
I also stopped by Costco for some groceries.

Accomplished

That was the theme of my weekend.
I spent it running errands, catching up on the past week with LML and doing a few things around the house.
LML makes fun of my lack of organisation in our closet. I tend to toss things in a "spot" without much thought. I am embarrassed and will not show you the top of my closet. Proudly, I did check my purse area this weekend. I found that a majority of my purses had not been completely emptied when I switched them out. I found markers, pens, receipts, the infamous loose bobby pins, travel brochures and plenty of change. Thankfully, my purses are now empty, missing lip gloss has been located, and the purses are now all rightfully organised.
Next step, work on top of closet.

Baby Shower, part one

I am hosting a baby shower at my house with two other ladies in April for one of my closest friends. This is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.
Exciting because my friend has asked me to be one of the godparents (my first godchild).
Nerve wracking due to my trip that week before that ended up being extended. I now return to town exactly 24 hours prior to the shower. And during that time I need to bake a cake on top of everything else.
Anyways, included is the pic of the sample we picked for the invite. I promise that my info is not on that card. I hope the info was not real.

I will update you more on the shower as the date nears.

Blame pinterest

I do! Because of pinterest, I have sorely neglected this blog. Working on finding a balance between blogging and pinterest.

Have learned a few good things from pinterest:
1. Have some awesome recipes to link in the future
2. I found an awesome craft to make for an upcoming baby shower (many future posts)
3. Found my purse from Christmas on there...I love it and it's already been over two months

Many more but it is 1 am so I will stop the list. Promise to be more faithful.

iPhone dump

Bad blogger (slapping my own hand)!
Here is the iPhone version of what I have been up to since forever ago!

My dog woke up with a bad hair day and I could not resist a quick picture.

Lots of Bama football games. Hoping for a rematch against LSU. Will find out tomorrow

Trip to DC for LML's work and I tagged along. I had a great time and got to see good friends!

LML hit a deer and this is the duct tape repair job to get him to the body shop that Monday morning. Everything is fixed now and he installed a deer whistle on the car. Hopefully that means no more deer hitting the car!


Cooking dinner for 16 people and dealing with a breaker issue was not fun. It was eventually resolved and we were only 1 hour behind schedule. The only casualty was a minor busted lip for me.


This word of the day on my dictionary app made my day. I still crack up at it!

Saw Bama defeat VCU thanks to my parents not using their tickets. Unfortunately they lost to Georgetown on Thursday....


My early Christmas gift from LML. I adore it and have wanted a Basil Ede print for a while!

Great find

While cleaning out the closet this weekend, I did discover a quaint tea set! It is just so precious and I hope one day to share it with my daughter!



- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Goodby my 50 years of junk

It is official, our house is now junk free! I guess I really mean the only junk that resides here is ours!
I am not sure if I mentioned this previously, but LML and I purchased the family home. We love it because there is history in it.
On the flip side, it can be a headache since we have to deal with things you do not normally. We had to clean a house out that two generations had contributed to and no one had cleaned in the ensuing years. Do not get me started on the junk in the closets ( in our case, the furniture was distributed, but the closets, cabinets, etc were still junkified) and the inch thick of makeup powder in one cabinet.
Once we got the inside up to par, we neglected two outdoor closets. We were just overwhelmed and tired at that point, so two nonessential areas did not make the list.
Fast forward two years, LML tackled our pool closet back during my illnesses.
Today, we cleaned out the utility closet. Two loads of trash later, we now have a closer we can use! I am so excited to move the extra paint out there tomorrow! This will free up our hall coat closet, which I have missed.

Do you have any long ignored organizing/cleaning projects?

- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Calender Girl

No I am not singing the song (well at least that song)!  But I do have to admit that I do love a good calender.  In fact, I obsess over a good calender.  I do have some pretty specific requirements in terms of the calender.

Today, I found a great deal on calender that makes my heart go a pitter patter.  The Erin Condren Life Planner makes me drool. It comes personalized and you know how I love me some personalization!
Erin over at Blueeyedbride has been talking about this calender a lot lately, but the cheapskate in me would not let me blow $50 on it at this time.
Well yesterday, Erin let us in on the deal at Plumdistrict.com where you can get the calender for $25 (plus shipping and such).  (I actually got it for $20 because I had $5 off since it was my first purchase with plumdistrict.com)
I jumped on the deal quickly with the approval of my coworkers/reality checkers.  (Everyone needs someone to judge if the impulsive idea of the day is a good one or not...Just sayin')
Needless to say, I have the calender below on order and should be here in the middle of August!

Anyways, have a great day and please check out the calender and deal!  The links provided link directly to the deal!

Emotional week

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.- Psalm 34:18

This week has been hard in my neck of the woods. While they do not directly affect me, my heart still breaks for my friends.

I wish there was more I could do to help ease their pain. I am praying for the Lord to lift them up and provide them solace.

Dreaming Big

I am very lucky that I married someone who came with furniture of some quality.  I am unlucky in that not every piece is something that fits my style.  

I have finally determined that I love Chippendale, Federal, Georgian or Empire style furniture.  Most of the pieces that I do not love are Victorian style furniture.  I plan on living with it until sometime in the distant future I can afford to replace it with pieces that I absolutely love.  

In fact, in the pieces that I do buy current (i.e. saving money right now for a new couch), my policy is that I must adore the piece and see it fitting into my long range design plans.  

Recently, I had a night where I could not sleep, so I spent a few hours dreaming while playing on ebay.  I have determined that I want a piece of furniture that resembles the following pieces.  While I would love the authentic antique pieces, I am willing to settle on quality reproductions.

Source

I want this style table and hope that it can seat 10-12 with leaves in it because I adore the idea of the future family gathered around the table.
Source

This style chair with a different fabric. Source

My first hydrangea

My little nico blue hydrangeas are chugging along during this HOT summer. I know they do not look their best, but I got my first flowers on the new plants.





Granted they are pink and not blue. I am so excited and look forward to more next year. (excuse the bad picture but I am excited)

I am tempted to leave the soil as is and let these remain pink and plant more next year in a different area that I can try and make blue.

Illness be gone

Part of the reason I have been missing in action:





I had been battling a major sinus infection (or so I thought) since my trip to Little Rock. Two different antibiotics and steroid treatments later, I had a relapse again. The third and final trip to the doctor (I hope) resulted in my diagnosis with Mono.

Before you laugh too hard, I did not cheat on LML. My guess is that I caught it from my tendency to share food and drinks with anyone. (Lesson learned and I will not be so eager to share in the future since I can pass this virus to people even after I recover.)

The doc in the box ordered me three days of IV antibiotics and steriods in addition to a stronger oral antibiotics. LML was at the doctor's office with me since I was miserable. Let's just say that he now understands why I dread doctor's offices. I spent over an hour with three different nurses and four different attempts to locate veins. (What can I say, I was born with it.) I am feeling pretty good right now, just tired.

I just have to spend the next few weeks trying to take it easy. It seems that is harder for me that I realized. I get really bored easily when it is me and the dogs at home alone during the week.
I am very grateful that my work is flexible and allowed me to work less hours while I recover.
So that is my update on life lately.

Oh where has the summer gone

I cannot believe that it is almost August already! This summer has disappeared quickly.


I made a quick trip to Little Rock back in June. The only thing I remember at this point was the fabulous drink I had one night at Capital Bar and Grill.

It was called Southern Comfortably and featured a pecan soda (It had vodka and not SOCO). This was my first pecan drink but I definitely enjoyed it. It was the perfect sipping drink that lasted me through appetizers and dinner. The mint julep cup definitely made the drink even more appetizing for my eyes. Love the cool condensation on the silver!

I am sure there would have been more to say had I been a good blogger and written you about my trip last month.

Father's day

I just finished spending the afternoon on a local river with my father to celebrate his special day.
I grew up spending many summer days cruising the local rivers with my dad. I can always say it was an adventure.
This year was no different! My dad bought his current boat for $600 at an auction, so you can imagine the condition of it. In fact, my mother has been stuck out on the river on it so many times when it chooses to break down that she refused to go out today!


Dad and I started at an local put in spot. We rode down looking for my aunt's house on the river. We tied up on her banks and climbed up to her house. After scaring her slightly with our sudden appearance, she went for a ride.




It was a fun ride with the exception of hitting a log stirred up by a barge. We saw some pretty limestone bluffs and friends at a local sand bar.
I enjoyed spending the day with my father.

- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Wading in the Water

FORTY-EIGHT HOURS LATER...The pool is filled.  I am really dreading the water bill now!  In fact, I think I might cry.  48 hours of the water running constantly was not only going to hit my pocket book, it also drove me crazy.
I was not able to run the washing machine, dish washer or even take a shower without having to first cut the water off to the pool because of our stinky water pressure!  So umm...no clothes or dishes was cleaned for 48 hours!  (I just wanted that thing filled!)

The good news is that the pool is filled and no more 48 hours of water running needed this summer!  Yippee!

The bad news is that our filter/pump system is not working.  The plumber and I were able to coordinate our schedule for him to come back on this Friday morning.  That means that until the pool cleaning robot arrives on Wednesday, the only cleaning the pool gets is from me skimming it and the chemicals I add to the pool.  Not ideal but in this weather, I will take it!

In fact, I embraced it so much that I am now almost a bright pink/red on my legs from having fun in the pool!

I did toss my medium sized dog in the pool on Friday because she needed to get wet.  And then on Saturday, I did load her up on the foam raft and left her float around the pool with me.  Unfortunately, she did not appreciate either event and now hides from me under the fig tree or the outdoor sofa.  (I promise now actual harm was done to her...she is just stubborn.)

Anyways, Have a wonderful Monday and stay cool during this hot summer!

Pool time

Currently, I am in the process of filling up my pool. I was a delusional person in that I thought 24 hrs would get me filled. Here it is 26 hour later and we still have just under 3 ft left to go.
I have added the chlorine to treat the pool and by my calculations, the pool contains more than 30000 gallons. Are you have a heart attack yet?
I am!
I am dreading the upcoming water bill. I am sure it will give me seizures.
This is the first time that LML and I have filled the pool since we moved in. I am excited since it is already topping 100 degrees in our area and it is barely June!

I am looking forward to a summer spent in the pool this year! (maybe I will get tan!)

Here is a cute pic of my friends teenage nephew and her dog hanging out in the almost empty shallow end .


- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Pinterest

I have discovered this wonderful addiction. Are any of you out there a fan of pinterest? If so, Let me know and we can follow each other!


- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Fun cupcakes

Last month, sweet little Baby H celebrated her first birthday. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to her party, but I did make her some fun cupcakes. I also made a smash cake with half the sugar is regular cake and a yogurt icing flavored with maple syrup.
I think it turned out well, unfortunately I only have the pics I took on my iPhone.
They are decorated with little ants and watermelons. The theme her mom chose was a picnic.


- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

Developing a new normal

It has been a while since I last wrote. I have had trouble finding the right voice to move on from the tragedy that struck my hometown.
I have begun to see a new normal begin to emerge. It is not the same old same old from the past, but instead it is a beautiful thing. I see neighbors helping neighbors.
I spent three mornings last week volunteering with a local elementary school whose children were greatly affected. It has been a very emotional experience and I found myself spending my afternoons in more quiet contemplation than normal. I am grateful for all that God has given me and appreciate my friends and family much more.
I do ask that you keep Tuscaloosa in your prayers over the next few months and years. I do have confidence that this city will emerge stronger and more united than it was prior to April 27, 2011.

I promise to get back to my regular blogging now.


Art work from the kids expressing their feelings from the storm.

- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words