Always Pretty in Pink

Sunday Sweets.

2012-02-05T22:42:00.001-06:00

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Sunday Sweets.

2012-01-22T20:28:00.001-06:00

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A Pajama Kind of Day.

2012-01-03T20:33:00.001-06:00

Random pictures from my day. I did not even change out of my pajamas today! It was quite amazing. This is the first time I have done this in months, maybe even longer. There is always somewhere to be, or something to do. Especially during school months. But not today! Today I just left the phone on the night stand all day, and pretended like no else existed. I highly recommend it. I was able to do lots of laundry, catch up on the DVR and cleaning of course, and snuggle my pups.

My outfit of the day, plaid PJ's and cupcake uggs. So comfy.

My faithful sidekick, taking a little cat nap.

My laundry gets divided into four categories:

Darks, Whites, Towels, and Pinks!

Our master bedroom and our family room with the laundry room are on completely different sides of the house. Both of these rooms have a big TV, so while I was cleaning I had them both on so I could walk around the whole house and still hear my HGTV. Apparently, it was a little too loud though... because I walked into my bedroom and was putting the clean laundry up, and I heard someone knocking on my bedroom window. I snuck up to the window so I could peep out and see who it was. But I could not see anyone there, then a little head jumped up hit the window and went back down. It was my two littlest sisters, and they had to jump up so they could knock on the window. They scared me so bad, but I was glad to get to see them for a few minutes. They had rang the door bell, but I never heard it. They just stopped by with my Dad to say hello. We do not get that often because we live pretty far out of the way, so it was an unexpected surprise.

Random Thoughts.

2012-01-02T23:47:00.000-06:00

1. It is so much easier to clean the house on the night before trash day. Something about knowing that I can just put whatever I want outside, and it will disappear from the driveway makes it so much easier to want to get rid of stuff. If I could get Goodwill to come by every week, my house would be so clutter free.
2. Our Christmas decorations are totally still up. I am going to take down the outside ones tomorrow, but the inside ones might be up for a while. We don't really have anywhere to store them, so I am probably going to leave them up until we get a storage shed to put them into. Maybe it will passively aggressively tell John that we really need one... stat. And I was looking at our Christmas pictures today, and I do want to take some more pictures of our house decorated.

3. John is laying next to me eating cereal. I hate listening to people eat, and the thought of milk. So I am sure you can understand how I feel about this. I sure am glad he is cute. ;)

4. We super cleaned our bedroom yesterday, so we are trying to go back to the whole no pets in the bedrooms rule. It is pretty sad for me. Every time I open the door to go into the hallway I am greeted by at least two pitiful little waggly tails that just want some snuggles.

5. The world isn't really going to end in 2012, right?

Thoughts For The New Year.

2012-01-01T15:55:00.000-06:00

Source: thegirlwhoworeyellow.tumblr.com via Leah on Pinterest

Source: shannondarrough.com via Leah on Pinterest

This year, I am going to try my best to focus more on the present, and less about things I cannot control. I have a tendency to dwell on the negative things in the past, or set myself up for failure by trying to plan things to far in advance.

I jumped on the bandwagon and got a Life Planner, so I am going to try and be really good about using it, and using my time wisely but still fitting in lots of fun. Instead of looking at a massive to-do list, I am going to give myself monthly goals and see how that works.

Of course, I still have the same goals as always...
Save money. Cook more. Finish school.
But I am going to take it slowly, and not stress myself out.

Sunday Sweets.

2012-01-01T11:47:00.000-06:00

Sunday Sweets

2011-12-10T21:18:00.001-06:00

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Sunday Sweets.

2011-10-23T18:23:00.001-05:00

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Protected.

2011-10-12T07:08:00.001-05:00

I sure do feel safe knowing eight pounds of fury is guarding my dirty clothes while I shower. Or who knows what might happen. ;)

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Happy October!

2011-10-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

Me: A to Z

2011-09-30T20:30:00.001-05:00

A. Age - 22. I totally just published this and said I was 23, and John had to correct me. Sad.

B. Bed Size - Queen.

C. Chore you hate - Loading the dishwasher. Or laundry.

D. Dogs - Peppie & Princess, my chihuahuas. Kahlua, the huge black lab.

E. Essential start to your day - Brushing my teeth, taking out the dogs. Sounds pretty boring, but definitely essential.

F. Favorite color - Pink of course.

G. Gold or Silver - Silver, or white gold.

H. Height - 5 ft, 0 in.

I. Instruments you play - None! I have always wanted to learn how to play the piano though. I plan to once I am done with school.

J. Job Title - "Lead Cake Decorator"

K. Kids - Hopefully in like two years. Or sooner. ;)

L. Live - Mount Juliet born and raised. When we were house shopping, that was the only place we really considered. I love my schools, and the area. But now we are actually thinking about living somewhere else.

M. Mother’s Name - Melody. You can call her Mel Belle. If you want her to hate you that is.

N. Nicknames - None really. Kayle calls me Leah May.

O. Overnight hospital stays - None. Thankfully.

P. Pet Peeves - Hearing people eating, OMG it makes me sick. Or watching people eat as well. Anything that has to do with people's mouths, or breathing. Which is funny because my dogs do such gross stuff, and I am totally cool with it. But if I have to hear someone eat an apple, I freak out. True story, there are some people I will not even be in the break room at work with while they eat. Luckily, I can see everyone walk to the break room from the bakery, so I can time my lunch accordingly.

Q. Quote from a movie - "Why you wanna marry me anyway?" "So I can kiss ya anytime I want."

R. Right or Left handed - Righty

S. Siblings - Rebekah, Hannah, Sarah, and Emily. Oldest of five.

T. Time you wake up - Usually around 7. Sometimes earlier. Sundays I go into work at five, and atleast one Monday a month I have to go in at four. My dad tried to raise me as a morning person, I try and sleep in sometimes and I can't. If I do it stresses me out, and gives me a headache. Same with taking naps. It makes me feel like I am wasting time.

U. Underwear - VS. Usually Pink.

V. Vegetable you hate - Squash, Cauliflower, Cabbage, I could go on forever.

W. What makes you run late - Usually my pets. They don't understand when playtime really has to be over. They won't come inside sometimes. Or John, he might be the only guy who really loves to snuggle. He will keep asking me to stay in bed with him for five more minutes. He can be pretty tempting.

X. X-rays you’ve had - I have broken my wrist, my coller bone, and one of my fingers. I had several X-rays after the bad wreck I was in during January of last year.

Y. Yummy food that you make - Right now I cam craving my own Pumpkin bread. I also get asked for my chocolate cupcakes with homemade icing quite often. My fried chicken is frequently requested as well. This list could get pretty long. John's favorites are the fried chicken, pot roast, lasagna, and chocolate chip cookies.

Z. Zoo animals - Zebras. Or Penguins.

Random Thoughts.

2011-09-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

I am trying to get myself to start taking my lunch to work again. I got all this cute stuff that was on clearance to inspire myself. We will see how that works.

My idea of fun shopping includes picking out landscaping supplies.
Oh what a fun life. It actually is, to me atleast.

Puppy Fun.

2011-09-19T10:25:00.001-05:00

Peppie broke in the new mini wheelbarrow.

He is such a cutie.

I also bought a new pumkin yesterday, and got some of my fake pumkins out of storage.

Can you tell the difference? I barely can.

Current House Exterior: Front Yard

2011-09-18T22:06:00.000-05:00

This picture isn't the greatest, but I wanted to share what our house looks like today.

We started out like this over two years ago:

Here is what it looks like today:

We had a few bushes removed. And even though we keep trimming them, I actually did not realize until comparing these pictures how huge the bushes had gotten.

In the last two years, we have added shutters, painted the front door, updated the light fixture, and added accessories. But most importantly we added the sidewalk and driveway. When we bought the house, we did not have a driveway at all. I guess there was supposed to be a gravel driveway, but it had been badly neglected. The sidewalk that was there was just a bunch of square pavers lined up.

Our Kind Of Adventures.

2011-09-18T21:21:00.001-05:00

John and I got to spend most of the day together today. We definitely did not spend the day how I had envisioned, but it was still fun. I wanted him to go to the Farmer's Market and some stuff downtown, but we ended up running errands and such.

First, we went to Wal-Mart, because we have been trying to buy more pumpkin candles and everywhere has been sold out. Well, actually Target had some but they were super expensive, and I am super cheap. The Wal-Mart in the nicer part of town had plenty! It was exciting for me. We stocked up of course. And got some Christmas presents for family as well. I also got a little Easy-Go Cart because it was on clearance for half off.

Then, we went to Lowes, so John could get some lumber for a project. I also wanted to look at border options for some landscaping I want to do. I got a few packs of Pansies, to get started. Of course we had to get the boring home maintenance stuff, too.

After that we went to Jo-Ann's, but they did not even have what we wanted. I got a little planter for the front porch and some pumpkin scented stuff, and I don't even remember what John got.

We started to go home after that, but we decided to stop at another Wal-Mart since the wheelbarrows were half off. We wanted to go ahead and get one, because we had been needing one anyway. But of course, they were not on sale at the other Wal-Mart, but they did have pumpkin candles. Which was ironic since the candles was what we originally wanted. This was when we learned that Wal-Marts do not price match to other Wal-Marts, only to other stores. John was less than thrilled.

So of course we did the cheap-o thing to do, and trucked it back to the other Wal-Mart.

Not without stopping at Sonic first though.

Here is what our wheelbarrow looks like. I really wanted one with two wheels on the front, because our yard is really hilly and has lots of lovely doggie dug holes.

More importantly, this is how I got it home.

But of course, I did secure it safely.

This is when John and I would yell "ADVENTURES" together.

It's embarrassing, but it's even better because we have a little hand thing we do together when we say it. Aww... Real Life.

You can tell by the picture we made another stop at Lowes, and then finally went home. We played with the puppies, and took care of our plants. Now we are just hanging out, I just fixed dinner and now we are watching old episodes of "Bones." John is working on some work stuff, and I am supposed to be working on homework.

Planning for Fall.

2011-09-16T17:52:00.001-05:00

After my shopping spree at Lowes and Home Depot that other day, I came home and cleaned off my front porch and switched it over to fall stuff.

The mums aren't actually blooming yet, but they should be soon. :) I will have to update again.

On our back patio, I still have my summer annuals blooming. I really want to plant more mums and pansies and violas, but my petunias are too cute to get rid of. I am torn. Actually I know I want to plant pansies, but I am not sure yet if violas are hardy enough to come back in the spring. I hope they are. :) As of now, on the back patio, I have several planters of petunias, a hibiscus tree, two hibiscus bushes,

On this side of the potting bench, I have a massive pot with Autumn Joy sedum, and the other hibiscus bush. A little mum, and some other type of sedum.

I love the color of this hydrangea I planted at the beginning of summer. It is white with just a little pink in the center.

Random Thoughts.

2011-09-13T21:52:00.001-05:00

1. Going to school full-time and working full-time sucks.

2. I am so tired. Please refer back to number one.

3. Giving away stuff on Craigslist is hard. How do you decide who to give it to? I did not expect so many nice polite people to respond. I feel guilty like I am picking the wrong one.

4. It really sucks when the person you made plans mentioned in number three thinks that it is okay to just not show up. No email or apology or excuse.

5. The weather was amazing today. I spent as much time as possible with the top down on my car today. Even if that time was just driving to the drug store between classes because my head hurt so bad I might have wanted to cry.

Guess What I Did Today?

2011-09-12T19:35:00.001-05:00

I had to go into work at four this morning, so I got off at one.

I stopped by Home Depot and Lowes on the way home. I got some pretty awesome stuff.

I learned that it is possible to fit six azeleas, three gigantic mums, and a hibiscus .

I also got my first pumpkin of the season today!

More pictures to come soon.

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The Price I Pay.

2011-09-10T19:36:00.001-05:00

Commonly known fact about me: I have three dogs and one evil cat.

Little known fact about me: I am allergic to both cats and dogs.

Its usually not that big of a deal. On a good day I'm fine. Just some sneezing and eye rubbing. But on a day with lots of pet playtime and snuggling ... It can get pretty bad. You can see my eyes get crazy, and my tonge swells up and I itch basically everywhere. But I just go take a long shower and then go in one of the rooms we keep pet free. And all is well again usually. _

So worth it though.
I love my (fur)kids.

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What I've Been Reading

2011-09-09T06:54:00.000-05:00

I have read several books lately, and thought I would share.

Everyone has been talking about how good Emily Giffin's books are, so I had to find out. These are the only two that were available at my local library. So apparently they are really popular, but I just don't get it. Not to ruin the books for you or anything... but I just have no desire to read about people's cheating and such. I would like to think that some marriages can work out, and apparently in her books they don't have a very good chance. I was not impressed. I actually skipped ahead in these books, because I knew what was going to happen... but it was so drug out to me. From the googling I did after I read these, apparently in just about all of her books someone cheats. So unless this is all I have to pick from, I will probably be passing on the rest of her work.

I know I am really behind reading this. Everyone was talking about it when the movie was out, so I bought it and just found it again the other day. So I actually just read this over the Labor Day weekend since I had an extra day at home. I really liked it, it was not what I expected but I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend it.

I bought this book randomly, I usually buy what is cheap and looks interesting. It was funny, but predictable. I really liked the characters, they were the kind of characters where she could have been writing about my friends. It was a fun summer read. I would definitely buy more of her books.

This is the best book I have read in a while. I really thought my Mom gave this one to me, she usually passes her books on to me. But when I tried to talk to her about how much I liked it, she had no idea what I was talking about. So I am not sure where it came from, but I really recommend it. It follows four female friends through their ups and downs. You really get to know the characters, and get a feel for what they are going through. I tend to want to skip ahead in life, and take alot of things for granted. This really helped me put some things in perspective.

I am not really sure what made me buy this book, but it was a really easy read. Sad, but easy. It definitly made me appreciate my life. And now that I am taking more education classes in school, we have been talking about abuse and this case has come up, so I am glad I know about it. I think I am going to buy the other books about his life also, to see what came next for him.

2011-09-08T21:43:00.001-05:00

Fun Fact of the Day: Cupcakes taste better when someone else made them.

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Highlights of the Week.

2011-09-08T16:04:00.007-05:00

I am loving this new nail color.

I wanted to try something not pink for a change.

And yes, I did take this picture with my phone sitting at a red light.

John and I had a date night the other day, and went out to Fulins.

I got chicken fried rice.

John got sushi, crab ragoons, and chicken lo mein.

Plus, more sushi to go.

After dinner, we walked to Books-A-Million, and then went to Target.

Before dinner we went to Southeastern Salvage, and GasLamp Antique Mall.

Basically the perfect day. Except for all the rain... that I can do without.

I took my change to coinstar.
If you get a giftcard instead of cash, it is free.
I had quite a bit of change, so I thought...
Maybe this will be like $15, and I can use it to buy some mums.
But it was almost $60! Totally made my day.
And I already put it to good use.
I had a really fun shopping trip with my Mom and Emily.
We actually spent the whole night shopping.
We started out at Lowes, were I stocked up on some stuff.
Then we had to go to Walmart, and then we stopped by Home Goods.
Love that store! Emily and I were in Home Goods so long, my Mom actually had time to walk to Target, look at what she wanted, and come back and shop with us some more. We also stopped by Ross, and Jo-Anns. My mom needed to look at dresses for a wedding she is going to, and we were also looking at all the new Fall stuff stores have gotten in. We ended with dinner, and hanging out at my Mom's house. I love spending time with them!

It has been so cold here! And raining like everyday. But my grass did really need that.
Last week at school, it was so hot walking around, today I was freezing!

My Day.

2011-09-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

Umm. Really? She thought this was okay?

I guess she was too tired to walk to her own water. Grr.

I just got this adorableness at Hobby Lobby.
I have no idea where I am going to put it,
but it was too perfect to pass up.

Random Thoughts.

2011-09-06T16:12:00.000-05:00

1. Is it bad to be buying mums and hibiscus plants at the same time?

2. Is it too early to be wrapping Christmas presents?

3. Is it bad to be planning Halloween and Christmas at the same time? When it isn't even halfway into September yet.

4. Is is bad that I am skipping right ahead to planning Christmas, and totally bypassing Thanksgiving? Is it bad that I don't plan on really celebrating Thanksgiving this year? That's totally my birthday and I totally plan on spending it doing nothing, hopefully convincing John to fix chicken parmasean, and staying at home.

5. Is it bad that I deleted my facebook because it was such a waste of time, but now I keep getting on Pinterest instead of doing my homework?

I guess I should tell you that I am totally doing all of the above. Shamelessly.

Sunday Sweets

2011-09-04T17:48:00.001-05:00

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Maybe One Day

2011-08-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

It's totally random... but how cute are these? Makes me want to have a baby. Just to decorate their room.

Mini Road Trip.

2011-08-11T23:17:00.000-05:00

John and I just got back from a little over night road trip to Atlanta. We went down there to see a couple of bands play, Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto.

And of course, also to shop. ;) We had to go to Ikea.

Here are a few random snapshots from our trip.

John had been wanting to go here for a while. I think it is in South Pittsburgh, Tenn.

This was in the same town. So cute.

This sticker made my day.

I don't know what these purple flower things are, but I love them.

John took this picture, because we were borrowed his sister's car for the trip. When he first picked me up, we were talking about where we would stop at and such and he said we would have to stop often because her car only held seven gallons of gas. I thought he was lying, but he totally wasn't.

John testing out chairs at Ikea.

Pink and Green.

Can you believe this is all I got at Ikea?

I actually got five of those bigger pots, and three of the little ones.

So I did get a little more than is pictured, but not much.

What can I say, I love plants.

We ended our trip by stopping here.

I will post more about it tomorrow.

I feel like I took way more pictures than this, but this is from what is on my camera.

I will check my phone and John's for anymore important ones. But we didn't really do anything monumental to take pictures of.

John picked me up from work at noon, and we left straight from there. We stopped at the Lodge store, and then drove straight to Atlanta from there. We had dinner at a really cute Chinese restaurant, checked into our hotel, and then went to the show. Which was the worst thing I have ever been to. The bands were great, but it was like a million degrees, and there were way too many people there, and people thought it was an okay idea to just leave their trash where ever they wanted. We went back to the hotel after the show, and then got up the next day and had breakfast at Ikea, and did some shopping. On the way home we stopped in Chattanooga, and visited the aquariums there. We went through the salt water aquarium first, then we walked around the area and had an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was near by. Then we went to the freshwater aquarium, and then we played in this little water area they had. It was really fun. I will post pictures from the aquarium tomorrow.

Savings Plan.

2011-08-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

My new legit grown up savings plan is that I am not going to spend any money on anything that I don't have to, so that I can go on a shopping spree at Ikea.
I don't know how they do it, but every time we go I come home and think about five million things I should have bought while we were there.

There are tons of little things that I wish I had gotten to organize, and several big things that I am really going to start saving for.

Here are the main things I want...

Even though I am pretty sure this is supposed to be an inside table, I would love to get this to use on our deck, and move our current set down into the yard instead of a picnic table.

I took the picture of this with the door open, so I could remember what the inside of it looked like. I would love two of these to use in our dining room.

Right now, I have a whole bedroom for my crafts and computer stuff. But down the road if a little one needed that room, I think this is a really cute desk that would look good in the living room or something.

Our living room is not that big, and I think two of these shoe storage things would look awesome on either side of our fireplace. I wouldn't use them to store shoes, I don't actually know what I would store in them... but it would be awesome.

Wanna know what's funny though? The more I think about it, the less I want each of these things. Haha. I think the only one I will for sure get is the shoe organizers, but I am not sure about the other things. I could get just about everything I want for about $2000. But when it is added up, that's a lot... and I would rather get new kitchen cabinets. ;)

Sunday Sweets: Summery Flowers

2011-08-07T22:54:00.001-05:00

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Random Thoughts.

2011-08-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

Of all of her toys, Mollie loves this bag more than anything.

Look at my sweet innocent Peppie.

He was guarding his little Aunts.

I am pretty sure that this is Sarah and Emily's favorite section of Target. I am also pretty sure that I could paint these. I might try actually, I think that would be a good Christmas present idea.

Here are some more random pictures from the last few weeks.

My dad is so OCD, think Monk but a little more normal. I used to stay the night there randomly, like whenever it is storming or snowing, because it is way closer... and also my dad will come pick me up in his Tahoe vs. my tiny convertible. Anyway, back to the story... I left an extra set of work clothes there. But because my dad is OCD, he can't just have them in a drawer somewhere. He made me this little work clothes packet. Isn't it adorable. It's a perfectly sized bag, with the clothes perfectly folded inside.

Wreath Ideas.

2011-08-05T21:39:00.000-05:00

I want to make a new wreath to go on our front door.
These are some I have been looking at for inspiration.

Source: polka-dot-market.com via Leah on Pinterest

Source: vivaterra.com via Leah on Pinterest

Source: lizmarieblog.com via Leah on Pinterest

Source: inthiswonderfullife.com via Leah on Pinterest

Random Thoughts.

2011-08-05T00:43:00.000-05:00

1. I really liked how these people had a little garden area in the very front of their yard.

2. This is what happens every time I start cleaning.
Whatever I am cleaning, that's where Mollie wants to be.

3. This is what happens when you go to Aldi's and forget your bags. Haha. I just grabbed these random bags out of my truck. Thank goodness my car was so messy, huh?

4. I want to make something like these. These were really cute, and actually super cheap... but they wouldn't really match any where that I would want to put them. I think I could make something similar, but in the right colors, etc.

5. It is so hot outside! Princess looks about how I feel everyday when I get home.

Work In Progress.

2011-08-04T12:26:00.000-05:00

I have several projects going on right now. One thing I have been working on is the extra bedroom that we have not been using since we moved in. Well I suppose we have technically been using it, as a storage room that was a massive disaster. All of our holiday decorations and just about everything else was thrown in there. We avoided it, and just made sure the door was always shut.

A few weeks ago, during our staycation, I got it under control. I organized all of the decorations, threw a lot of stuff away, and gave several car loads of stuff to Goodwill.

Here are some sneak peaks of what I have been working on to get it all together.

This a picture I took to send John after I got the room mostly cleaned out, and Mollie was trying to figure out what was going on. You can see in this picture, when I started cleaning this room out another time... I got frustrated and gave up, because I picked up a box and everything fell out of the bottom of it. Including several cans of black spray paint, one of which exploded over everything. I was so mad! It is on the walls, the carpet, everything in the room, and was all over me. The room really went downhill from there, because at that point it was a disaster.

I love both of these knobs from Hobby Lobby, it took me way too long to decide.

I found this mirror that I loved the detail on. It just needed a little work.

What I've been up to.

2011-08-04T10:26:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed a really fun and productive staycation with John.

Of course I have still been decorating lots of cakes.

Taking the time to shop for the perfect things.

Making memories with my sisters.

Hanging out with Kayle. (this was from CMA Fest)

This summer has gone by so fast! It has been so long since I have blogged about anything. It's like we have had so much going on, yet nothing really. Just hanging out at home and with family & friends. We took our staycation, and celebrated John's 24th birthday. We have been spending a lot of time in our backyard, and attempting to work on some landscaping.

2 Years.

2011-06-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

It has been two years now since we bought our home.

It feels like it was just a couple of months ago. We were so excited!

So much has changed in two years.

We have added a driveway, there was not one before. There wasn't even really a gravel one.

We also added a sidewalk, there was only square pavers down before.

We also had to have someone add slash redo the foundation.

We got a new energy efficient HVAC system, and all the loveliness that came with it.

We have painted literally every wall in this house.

Most of the light fixtures have been replaced.

We have a new patio at the bottom of the stairs for our covered deck.

We worked on the curb appeal, by adding a new mail box, a bird area, painting the front door, and adding shutters. We removed some bushes as well.

We had a privacy fence put up. It has been one of my favorite purchases ever. We also got a picket type fence put in on the property line in our front yard, on one side. The other has a wall of bushes.

We re-did the kitchen floor, and added a kitchen island. New counter tops in the kitchen, too. Along with new sink and faucet.

We took out all of the old doors inside, and replaced them with new ones. And pretty new door knobs of course.

Every single appliance has been replaced. We have gotten new energy efficient ones. A new washer and dryer, oven, fridge, dishwasher, and built in microwave.

We have planted three trees, 5 azaleas, 2 hydrangeas and numerous other plants. Those are just my favorites.

Two out of three of the bathrooms have new mirrors, sinks, and faucets.

Wow, that was a much longer list than I thought it would be. It really feels like home now, there is no where I would rather be.

I love our house. I love being here, I love having my family and friends here.

We have done so much, and there are still so many things I would like to do. I really need to blog about and show pictures of the changes, but I never have time. I am usually just blogging about my random thoughts, but I am going to try and get better about this.

Random Thoughts.

2011-06-09T18:50:00.000-05:00

My littlest sisters are staying with us a lot this summer. On Monday John taught Sarah how to use the riding mower. She actually loved it. On Tuesday she actually asked if she could mow the yard again, to practice driving. Even though she is only twelve. I thought my parents might freak out when I told them, and my mom sort of did. I promised I would always be near by when she does it, and then my mom actually said that is probably good practice for her to learn to drive. So hopefully Sarah liked it enough to want to do it every week. :) Our yard is actually pretty big, a little over an acre. So I am sure John gets sick of doing it, and now he'll have more time to weed eat! Haha. I am sure he loves this idea. I actually did that a lot while Sarah was mowing.

We saw this antique mirror that Kayle really liked, and so she tried to recreate it with an antique mirror that I already had. We already tried burning it once, and it didn't do anything. So we left it outside for a couple of months (this is why my neighbors love us) and then she tried to burn it again. This time did not turn out so well. It totally shattered, but at least they cleaned it all up. :) I was less than thrilled when it happened though.

And of course we did enjoy some less destructive fire. Our fire pit has turned out to be a great investment. We did not use it that much last fall, because we never had wood. But we use it at least a few nights a week now. Especially when my sisters or our friends are here, s'mores have been the theme of many of our nights lately. John brought home some firewood from his parents house yesterday actually, and this morning we were talking about where we were going to start keeping it. I was really worried about it being too close to our house, because I think his dad told me that was how they got termites. But John made a very valid point in that our firewood never sits around long enough for that to happen. Thank goodness. Bugs and property damage? Two of my biggest fears.

How redneck would it be if I got a fake swimming pool? I wish we had kids so we had an excuse to. I can just say it is for my little sisters though. I think at the end of summer, if I see any really good deals on ones I might like... I am going to get it for next summer.

Hannah's Graduation.

2011-06-08T05:35:00.000-05:00

How cute are my sisters? Gahh. I love them!

Saturday was Hannah's high school graduation. John and I both went. After we cheered for Hannah, what did we do while everyone else was cheering for their people? We had a little photo shoot of course. :) I am sure Hannah would approve. I have never been to any other school's graduation, but our high school's graduations are really laid back. There is way more joking around than formalness. Like this year, everyone of the seniors had a mardi-gra necklace they put on their principal as they shock his hand. It was really funny, but I was really worried about him choking.

It was nice to get to spend time with my family, and I know Hannah is really excited about starting the next adventure in her life.

Her graduation was downtown at Belmont, and afterwords we all went to the Cheesecake Factory in Green Hills.

P.S. How funny is that my 12 and 11 year old sisters totally have on more make-up than me or my mom? Haha.

Random Thoughts

2011-06-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

John used to love Mello Yello. I love when I see it at place now. Because it is pretty rare, and it always makes me think of him and the memories from when we first met.

You know I have had a productive day when my kitchen is looking like this, and it is only eleven a.m.

Hannah's high school graduation is today, so I am making cupcakes and then getting ready to go downtown. It seems like I just graduated, and now four years later I am going to the same place to watch my original littlest sister graduate. It's kind of weird. Like I feel like I should be a lot more grown up that I am. Which sounds pretty dumb, since I am really grown up in some ways, but I am not gonna be done with college anytime soon. Some days I am totally okay with that, and then when I see other people I went to high school with already graduating I wish I could just be done with it. But I am basically going everything backwards. Most people go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house. I got a job, got married, bought a house, and now I am trying to focus on going to school more. Well... I got really off topic. From cupcakes to college. Oh well. That's why it is called random thoughts.

When I Grow Up.

2011-06-04T11:06:00.000-05:00

I am going to have a daughter who is going to have this.

And Kayle is going to have a daughter who is going to have this one.

And they are going to be best friends.

I mean, plans like that always work out right? ;)

FlashBack Friday

2011-06-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

These are my original furbabies. Oliver the cat and Ralphie the rabbit. Ralph was the funniest pet. I got him when I was fifteen, from my friend that was moving away. But he grew way too big for his cage, and I started to let him live outside. He dug a burrow under my Mom's flower bed, right next to the front door. Whenever we went outside, he would greet us. It was adorable. Oliver was actually Sarah's cat. Except everybody in my family called him something different, Emily called him Florida, my Mom called him FatCat, and so on... Sarah got him when she started kindergarten so she would stop crying when they dropped her off at school. A pretty high maintenance bribe, huh? She got him when she was just five, so I was about thirteen or so.

Memorial Day Fun

2011-05-31T13:37:00.002-05:00

I really did not want to do anything on Memorial day because I wasn't feeling that great and I just wanted to rest. But John really wanted to have a cookout, and he asked me about a million times... are you sure you don't want to have your sisters over? I told him he could invite them over himself if that's what he wanted. So he invited both of our families, but only my Mom and two littlest sisters were able to come. We had fun though.

John barbqued for us. We had burgers, ribs, corn, and chips. After we had dinner John made a fire in the patio and we had s'mores.

I wish we had more pictures, but I wasn't thinking about it.

My family had to leave pretty early but after that Miss Kayle Jo came over. I made her and John watch the special wedding episode of The Secret Life of The American Teen-ager. Then we had more firepit time.

How funny is the picture of Kayle taking a picture of me? Haha.

I am glad John forced me into doing something. It was super fun.

I think my mom took some pictures too, so I will try and add them if I can.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Random Thoughts

2011-05-29T17:47:00.002-05:00

It is so hot here all of a sudden. I am actually pretty much over it. But I am loving cute summer shoes.

I did mine and Emily's nails the other day. Mine were rock star pink. They were so glittery! I didn't like it at first, but they really grew on me. I loved them by the next day.

Kayle Jo made these cute little cheeseburger things the other day. She used two vanilla wafers and icing. They were adorable. And delicious.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-05-29T03:43:00.002-05:00

FlashBack Friday

2011-05-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

When John and I were dating, we used to go on picnics all the time. I found these pictures I took one day. We put out wine glasses of sparkling grape juice in my shoes some times so they would not fall over. It probably looks funny, but it brings back memories for me.

Farm House.

2011-05-25T05:11:00.006-05:00

Before we bought our new house, I used to drive past this old Farm House all the time. It has always intrigued me. I would love to buy a house like this one day, and restore it.

Kayle and I went exploring here the other day, but there were people in it... so we couldn't be as stalkerish as we wanted. This was as close as we got.

Sweet Thoughts.

2011-05-24T17:17:00.001-05:00

When I open my own bakery... all of the bar stools and chairs are going to have to be decorated adorably like these that I saw at an antique store in Lebanon not long ago.

I love them!

Pretend Camping.

2011-05-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

Last week, John picked up Emily and I picked up Sarah, and we came home for some pretend camping. Before he brought her home, John took Emily grocery shopping with him, which made me smile. I always wanted a big brother... so I want John to be the brother to her (&Sarah) that I always wanted.

John taught us how to cook steak on a stick, he made us hobo packs of potatoes and carrots, and he enjoyed the amazing weather. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was a little distracted by having fun. :) After dinner, we went to the lake to go fishing. Kayle came to join us, since she is basically our other sister. Emily caught her first fish! Emily, John and Kayle each caught two fish... Sarah and I were just watching and working on her homework. When we got home, we hung out on the patio, put the firepit to good use, and made some amazing s'mores.

To conclude our camping fun, John and I camped out in the back yard. I hate sleeping bags, so I drug my blankets out to the tent and made a bed. :) It was fun. We let my sisters sleep in the house alone, but I locked all the doors behind us, and made sure they felt safe.

Here are some pictures of our fishing adventures:

These are the only pictures I took of the tent. I had to get up super early to drive the girls across town to their schools. When I got home, I rejoined John in the tent. But someone else wanted to join us also. And she did not want to take no for an answer.

Blessed.

2011-05-24T14:01:00.000-05:00

So... I had this post all planned where I would show you my cute new car, that John surprised me with. It's so ironic, because I just got my car washed the day before yesterday... so that it would be clean and look all nice and shiny so I could take pictures of it. But I never made the time to take the pics. And now I never will.

He just drove home one day, and called me when he was almost home, and asked me to come outside to help him carry something in. So I walked outside, and walked up the driveway to check the mail. I was standing next to the street, and this strange car pulled in my driveway... it was pretty scary. But when I walked closer, I could see John inside. It was really funny. He rolled down the window, and the first thing he said was... Are you mad? I honestly sort of was... Because I stress out about money, alot. It's sad.

John picked out the perfect car. A black Ford Escape. Which I loved, and promptly decorated with a pink monogram on the back, a zebra license plate frame, and a lime green zebra print monogrammed license plate on the front, with a pink cupcake on the corner of each side. Basically perfect...

But apparently someone had other plans for my new car... Last night Kayle and I were on the way home, and we were T-Boned by another car. Even though we had a green light, they apparently did not care. They hit us hard enough for the car to jump off the ground and flip over. I'm pretty sure there was some bouncing involved, but I honestly can't be sure.

All I know is, I was waiting at the red light, it turned green... and I started to drive. All of a sudden, all I could see were headlights that I knew should not be there or that close. All I could think about was... My new car, this is happening again, and OMG AIRBAGS. The next thing I knew, I was hanging in my seat, and Kayle was standing up, Like she was standing up through the car. I was just hanging in my seat, and I couldn't see. {I haven't really talked about this on my blog, but I am literally on my way to being leg*lly bl*ind. At twelve my eyes were already worse than my grandfathers.} During the flipping, my glasses had fallen off. Hanging stuck in my seat, not being able to see was terrifying.

I don't know what I would have done if I did not have Kayle there. She cut me out of my seat belt, and got me out of the car. She was pretty amazing. Except for when I was stuck and couldn't see, and she asked the people... Someone just tell me that we aren't going to catch on fire. I could have gone without hearing that. Haha. She was pretty amazing, she really took charge of making sure they got me out ASAP, and then she went back in the car to find my glasses and cell phone.

Luckily, some really nice people stopped to help us. They opened the back hatch of my car, and guided us out through there. It was so crazy. The police came, and a firetruck and ambulance of course. The weirdest part was, we were totally fine basically. I don't even have any scratches.

The other car just drove away. They didn't even check on us or anything. Apparently, it looked like they started to pull over and some of the people helping us started to check on them... but they never stopped. They just left. The people who stopped to help us got the first part of the drivers license plate number, and they know the color of the car and such. Hopefully they will find the people who did it.

Side airbags are amazing. I think they made a major difference in our safety. If it wasn't for Kayle's side one, she would have hit the ground and then been laying on the ground in glass and everything else. With how sore my left side it now, and the bruises that show how hard my body hit the side of the car, I think my head would have gone through my window without the side airbag. I had never given any thought to airbags before, but I am so glad my car had them. I'm crying as I write this, because I feel so amazingly lucky.

Last year, I was in another bad wreck in my last new car. I feel so guilty, because I feel so unlucky for having this happen two times. This is the second time that John has gotten me a new car, and it has been destroyed within a month. So I feel so unlucky that this has happened twice, and then I feel so guilty for feeling that way... because I know I am so amazingly lucky that I have been safe in both wrecks.

I am so blessed to have such a sweet husband who got me a new car, and a best friend like Kayle who was just as worried about me as she was herself last night. My new car kept us safe, and everything will be okay.

I am amazingly sore today, and my side is pretty bruised. But I know it is only temporary, and I am so lucky that those are my only problems.

Sunday Sweets

2011-05-22T07:59:00.001-05:00

Just FYI.

2011-05-19T14:48:00.000-05:00

I am trying to catch up on blogging, and because I use my blog as a journal... I am going to back date the post. I want them to be in order. I plan on getting my blog printed off into a book to always have.

Anyways, If you want to see read about my Easter Click Here!

I am probably going to try and make up for all of the tons of Flashback Fridays and Sunday Sweets. Because the real reason I do those is so that when I get my blog printed off, and I am looking back at it.. all the old pictures I love will be in it, and I can remember the cakes I have made.

Random Thoughts.

2011-05-19T14:44:00.000-05:00

- Remember a little while back when I was all... I with it would be Spring already! Well, guess what... Spring has changed into Summer basically... and I am so ready for it to be Fall already. I swear it was like 100 degrees on Tuesday. I am beyond over it.

- Spring did go by too fast. That's sad.

- Our vacation is six weeks away. I am pretty excited about it. Even though John and I will be vacationing separately. But I am excited about it any way.

- I have been super moody lately. It is basically ridiculous.

- I am sort of trying not to spend any money... trying to save for the vacation that I was talking about... but I have been wanting a massive blue pot for our patio, so somehow yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to text Kayle and have her meet me @ Hobby Lobby. Followed by a trip to Marshall's. At Hobby Lobby all I got was some ribbon, little bags to put cookies in for a bake sale, and a nice (aka un-tacky) "Beware of Dog" sign. The pot I wanted from Hobby Lobby was cracked, so that was pretty saddening. At Marshall's I got a large-ish awesome blue ceramic pot, and a small white one. It was a compromise. I am still on the hunt for my dream pot, but I have been looking for a while. After Marshall's we went into Target to get a few things to cook-out, but somehow I ended up with the food, a new bra, wrapping paper, and two new pairs of shoes. I'm not really sure how that happened, but everything I got is adorable... so I am just going to be okay with it. I am going to try not to go shopping at all next week. Of course, I said that last week, too. Last week I spent my weekly money at Old Time Pottery, and it was amazing.

- Peppie has been beyond adorable lately. But Kahlua has not been. We have found a couple dead squirrels in our back yard, and tons of moles, and today she caught a bird. John got it away from her, but it was really scary. We made it a little bed in an empty pot, and I am going to take it to a wildlife rehabilitation place tomorrow, if that's what they say I need to do. Kahlua was so bad... I had to hold her down while John got the bird, it was pretty hard. I don't understand how she can even catch birds or squirrels. They seem so fast, but she will just sit under the huge tree in our back yard and watch them, so I guess practice makes perfect. R

Random Thoughts.

2011-05-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

Love these Furbabies...

I am thinking of trying to recreate this using some adorable scrapbook paper, and hopefully some cheap cute frames. I have high ambitions, huh?

Someone has been trying to undo my hard work in the back yard... Between digging huge holes, and carrying random plastic stuff around the whole yard... I think she thought if she layed down on top of this huge whole she dug, I wouldn't notice.

This lazy daisy thinks he is a person.

These cupcakes we got in at work really brightened my day...

Look at this little guy sitting up, looking all formal... So cute.

You know it was a good day when my car looked like this when I got home... It was a very successful shopping trip with Miss Kayle Jo. We went to Southeastern Salvage, Michael's, TJ Maxx, my favorite antique store the Gas Lamp, and Marshall's of course. Followed by dinner at Kayle's favorite... Chipotle.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-05-15T03:33:00.002-05:00

Sunday Sweets.

2011-05-08T15:37:00.001-05:00

Slowly But Surely...

2011-05-05T10:14:00.000-05:00

I am finishing up this semester... Eventually. I still have a lot of online stuff I have to have done by midnight tomorrow. But I am not as stressed out as I was before. Which is good. :)

Last night I went out with a group of my friends, so that was really fun. And I have already done a lot of the stuff that was on my list of what I wanted to do that I posted the other day. So that has been really fun. I'll have to share some pictures soon. I got to go to Southeastern Salvage with Kayle, and I'm pretty sure we are going to Old Time Pottery after school today. After that I think she has plans of kidnapping me to go downtown to celebrate cinco de mayo. So that should be interesting.

I am so glad it is finally spring! Even though it was freezing when I left for school this morning. But I wanted to get to the library for some last minute studying as soon as they opened, so I had to leave my house at about six thirty. I was not happy about getting up that early, but I am glad I did. I feel pretty confident about the exam I just took... But I have two more this afternoon.

Yes, this is where I work.

2011-05-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

As a member of the safety team at work, I was a little upset to find my manager doing this the other day. And yes, he was standing on boxes, and he did think it was okay to lift that table over his head ALONE to get it down. It was basically the scariest thing I have ever watched. I am really just putting this on my blog though so that I can save it to my computer and upload it to facebook. I don't really have a better game plan, that's basically what I do with all pictures. :)

Sunday Sweets.

2011-05-01T15:39:00.001-05:00

Stressed.

2011-04-26T22:17:00.000-05:00

Is what I am.

Even though my semester is not over yet, basically everything I have left to turn in is due between now and Thursday. So stressful. Especially since last weekend was spent celebrating Easter, not working on projects.

For the next 48 hours I will be finishing portofolios, papers, quizzes, and all the homework assignments I am behind on.

All I can think about right now is all the things I would rather be doing.
What is it about homework that make me want to be thinking about anything else?

But I am making a list of all the things I am going to be doing after Thursday, to give myself motivation to get this boring stuff over with...

I will drag John with me to Satco. Not matter how late it is when I am craving it.

Drive way out of my way just to go to Southeastern Salvage.

Make an Old Time Pottery date with Kayle.

Visit Papa.

Ask Grandmommie to meet me at Nashville West for some retail therapy.

Pick Sarah up from school and get some serious yard work done.

Have lunch at school with Emily.

Have either a very merry un-birthday party or a junk food dinner party.

And I also need to get this blog caught up. :)

I think I will be considering these my May goals. I think my one month vacation from school needs fun goals, not serious ones.

Just Because.

2011-04-24T22:15:00.000-05:00

I think he has the right idea.

Easter Fun.

2011-04-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

These Princess eggs my Grandmother got the girls were so adorable. I think they used them in the trail that they made from the girl's bedroom's to where the Easter baskets where.

I watched my Grandmother, Aunt, and Mom making the Easter baskets.

I had to take a picture of what I was wearing.. because I was not wearing any pink!! It was so weird. I felt really plain all day. But I went over there straight from work.

I helped this cutie dye eggs. This is my youngest cousin Kate.

I had everybody using my phone to take pictures... here is the rest of my family getting in on the egg action.

It was really fun.

I really like this picture of Sarah.

My mom over seeing the potentially disasterous situation.

My family plays a game where they hit their eggs againt each others, and this is the egg Beka made that she thought was going to win. Haha. It is supposed to say sucker.

Natalie loves to have her picture taken.

Hannah and Claire.

I loved the color of these pink cups! But of course with so many people, we have to label them. Look how blue my fingers turned! It was worth it though. It made my nail polish look really pink. :)

Kate fell asleep with Beka.

These are mine and Kate's eggs.

This is the Easter baskey I made for John. Except I just gave all the EasterEaster type of baskets to Goodwill, so I had to use this kind of basket.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-04-24T16:42:00.002-05:00

Time for Resting.

2011-04-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

After we got done eating dinner on the deck tonight we stayed out there watching Kahlua hunt squirrels and such. I looked over at John and this is what I saw. They were just resting their eyes supposedly. That meant it was time to move down to the patio to our comfier chairs. I love this time of year.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-04-17T16:46:00.002-05:00

Road Trip Recap.

2011-04-17T10:21:00.022-05:00

Of course there was tons of driving.

We excited when we saw these signs.

We actually got the beach at around midnight, and I wanted us to go to the beach before we went to the hotel so that when we were getting up for the sunrise we wouldn't get lossed. I have great memories of the beach when I was little, and it was always fun to go out to the beach at night. I thought it would be fun to go out the beach at night that night, but there were a few things that I did not think about. A.) We were in a a totally new to us place. It looked super nice, but we had no idea what kind of area we were in. B.) It was just me and Kayle. Not my whole family, not even a few friends. Just us. C.) There was no moon! It was completely dark. And of course we did not have a flashlight, and the flashlight apps on our phones can only help so much. D.) I am terrified of alligators. And I was not sure if there were alligators in SC, but at the time it was a really legit concern. Even if it wasn't an alligator that got me, something else horrible could have happened... like a bug might have touched me, or I might have seen a lizard.

So to recap this little part of the adventure, we were in a totally random place with no one except me and Kayle. We are both only like 5' tall, and totally vulnerable, and it was completely dark. And Kayle wanted me to go down to the water! Can you imagine my fear. We found a public access thing, and we parked in what might have been someones driveway. We walked over to the dock deck thing to walk to the water, I was freaking out before we even started going up the stairs... and we got about halfway before I lossed it and turned around.

As always, we know how to start the morning off right.

Orange Juice is a must. We got up at six, and went to watch the sunrise.

We went here to watch the sunrise.

We enjoyed this for a while.

After that, we needed real breakfast at the Early Bird Diner. I really liked it, I thought it was adorable. If I lived there, it is totally the kind of place I go to all the time.

After Folly Beach, the next stop was Myrtle Beach.

We did some shopping on the way, but that is a post on it's own. :)

Myrtle Beach is where we did the most playing on the beach.

We got to put our feet in the sand. Ignore the paleness.

Of course I had to bury My Legs. I don't know why, but I have always loved to do that. When I was little we buried each other's whole bodies.

I have a ton more pictures to go through, and a few more highlights so share later.

After this, we we had to head back home. On the way home it was dark, and raining, and I actually drove part of the way... so there is not photographically evidence of it. But you will just have to take my word for it that is happened, I mean obviously we did not beam back home. Haha. It was not that exciting. Just random girl talk and gossiping. And sleeping.

The second scariest part of the trip happened somewhere in South Carolina. We were sitting at a red light, and all of a sudden there was a horrible noise coming from either us, or another car really close. And the car next to us looked brand new and super nice, so we both freaked out and thought it was coming from Kayle's car. It was pretty terrifying. I thought we were going to be stuck in some random town, and that my manager was going to kill us for not coming home in time for when we had to work again. Because before out trip I had actually had a dream that we got stuck at the beach, and that my manager came to get me. Anyway, back to the story... thankfully the horrible noise was coming from the super nice car. It was so relieving.

On the way to the beach, we saw a sign for Bojangles... and Kayle flipped out. She was so excited, she thought it was somewhere awesome. Not just a fast food chicken place. I don't really remember what happened.. but somehow in her excitement we almost got lost or something. I kept making fun of her for the rest of the trip every time we passed one, or even a sign for one. They don't have them here in Tennessee, or in California where Kayle is from either apparently. So on the way home, I made us have dinner there. It was so funny. Luckily, I love chicken, and anywhere that will let me order breakfast all day is totally cool in my book.

Reminder.

2011-04-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

This was in Folly Beach, Sc.

Just Because.

2011-04-16T22:19:00.000-05:00

This is my new philosophy.

Marriage.

2011-04-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest thing I have watched in so long. John just came to check on me because I think he was worried I was dying, because I was cracking up so bad. But you should probably be warned that I am pro-gay marriage so if you aren't... you might not think it's too funny.

But I totally agree with basically everything she said. I have to say basically everything, in case I missed something I don't agree with while I was cracking up too much to listen. Except I would have left out the cussing. But it was still hilarious.

I know it is a really big deal to some people, but I really feel like being married is just having an expensive piece of paper.

Getting divorced is too easy for marriage to mean much more than that.

Saying "I do" did not make me love John more. He was my best friend long before that, and I knew I wanted to be with him forever before I walked down the aisle.

Well... I have some more thoughts on this subject... but I think I will save them for another time. Or until I make sure my marriage actually works out. Haha.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-04-10T17:01:00.001-05:00

Birdies and (fur)Kids.

2011-04-07T08:55:00.000-05:00

I was trying to take a picture of these cute ceramic birds I got at Micheals a couple of weeks ago. I love them! They are so cute. I got all four of them for about ten bucks, so that's pretty cool. I am going to put them in different rooms, so it won't be like bird overload, I promise.

Princess thought I was taking a picture of her...

Molly had to show me how she could sit on the ledge, too.
Birdies got nothing on her.

His Highness, Peppie could not be bothered to wake up for our little good morning photo shoot.

The reason I was up so early was because I had to let Kahlua outside. She always wakes me up. So while everybody else was inside still in bed... our good dog was outside making sure nobody was messing around in our back yard. When I looked out the window, this is what I saw. She just sits there and looks around.

Excuse the mess that is our back yard, our lovely contractors just left stuff around.
But you can tell the grass is finally starting to be green again!

Random Thoughts.

2011-04-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

I am so over this semester. I am so ready for it to be summer.
I can't wait to plant more flowers. My daffodils are already basically dead, and I am ready to replace them with something else. My pansies are doing okay, hopefully they will last a little longer.
I keep seeing the commercials for The Secret Life of the American Teen. It looked pretty fun, so I recorded it to see if I would like it... and I am so hooked. I can't believe it. I really get sucked into the drama though. How sad is that?
On a side note, other than getting sucked into teenage drama... I have been feeling really grown up lately. It's funny. I don't know why. I just had an epiphany the other day, and I am just really thankful for everything I have and how lucky we are, and I'm just trying to be more responsible and everything... John said that our house really feels like a home lately. He was like... I feel like I should be drinking coffee and reading the paper or something.

Sleepie Heads.

2011-04-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

Look how much little Peppie loves his Aunt Kayle. He fell right asleep in her lap the other day.

Can you see his little leg hanging down? Too cute.

Somebody else was pretty tired, too...

Beach House Love.

2011-04-01T07:48:00.001-05:00

I adore beach houses. They are one of my favorite things about traveling to the beach. I remember even when I was much younger loving to go on walks in the nice beachy neighboorhoods where we stayed. I love to look at houses, admire the colors and architecture, and dream about what it would be like to live there.

Here are some of my favorite houses from both of our destinations from mine and Kayle's last road trip. Some are from Myrtle Beach, but most are from Folly Beach.

This was on of my favorites, I wish I had a picture of it from the other side. It was right on the beach. And it's pink and green. What could be better? We were driving past it, and I literally made Kayle stop the car so I could jump out and get a good picture. All of the other houses I have pictures of are ones that we walked by. I was like, if somebody comes up behind you just drive away. You can come back and find me. That's how in love I am with this place.

And of course... I have to include a picture of the one we could probably afford...

There were so many more that I loved, but these were my most favorites.

Do you think I could get away with painting my house pink in Tennessee?

Sunrise on the Atlantic.

2011-03-31T20:42:00.001-05:00

The whole reason behind our road trip was so that Kayle could see the sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean, and put her feet in the Atlantic Ocean. Neither of which she had done before, and they were on her bucket list. So her birthday present from her Mom was this trip. Which was a pretty awesome present for me, too. :)

Since this was the whole reason behind our trip... of course we took tons of pictures.

And of course, I have to share them.

These pictures were taken at Folly Beach.

When we woke up, it was still dark outside. When we got down to the beach, it was light out but the the sun was not up yet. It was really pretty. Kayle was really excited.

Excuse My Absence.

2011-03-29T15:28:00.001-05:00

I've been busy with a little of this and everything that goes with it.

Don't worry I'll be sharing the details soon.

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Sunday Sweets.

2011-03-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

Sad slash Random Story.

2011-03-24T12:07:00.011-05:00

Someone sent me this, and it made me cry, but I wanted to share it.

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Katie. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Katie so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Katie.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that every day for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Katie about my wife's divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Katie about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Katie opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Katie, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Katie, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.

Katie seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead.

My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Katie to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push thru with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I'm a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

2011-03-24T00:48:00.000-05:00

Where I Live.

2011-03-24T00:27:00.002-05:00

This is where you can usually find me. I move back in forth from the corner desk with a computer to the bed with my laptop. Right now I am working on math on the desk and an English paper in the bed. Whenever I get too extremely bored or stumped on one, I move over to the other one. I love having everything all together though. I used to think, well still think, the printer is ugly and I did not want it in my pink room... but I came to my senses and decided I needed it too much to have it hidden away somewhere else. Although I do wish it was smaller, I do really need the scanner part for school.

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{ALMOST} The Most Expensive Table I Have.

2011-03-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

I have to start this story several months ago, way back in December.

Sometime around the beginning of December I lost my phone, totally lost it. I looked everywhere. Called everywhere I could have left it, even though I knew the last place I had it was as home. But I looked everywere in our house, and I mean everywhere. So it had to be somewhere else.

Finally, I just gave up. And to be honest, it was sort of nice. Because have you ever noticed... people basically only call when they want something. And if you do not have a pone, you don't have to worry about that.

But for Christmas, John suprised me with a new phone. Way nicer than my old one. I love it! It is basically Verizon's version of the Iphone, and it's great.

Sometime during the middle of January my littlest sister Emily came over, and it happened to be really pretty outside so I was painting some things outside. Everytime she walked by me she made these tiny bugs jump in my paint. So caring big sister that I am... I made her walk through the middle of my yard so that she would not mess up what I was painting on the sidewalk.

Guess what she found in the middle of my yard? My poor old phone.

John was less than happy that it had been so close all along.

But he should be used to it... I lose stuff quite a lot.

Now onto my table story.....

One day after work Kayle and I went to the movies. On the way there we say all this stuff out by the side of the road, but we did not stop or anytthing. When we were at the movies, I thought I lost my phone... but it was in my purse the whole time.

After we go to the movies, we go back to her apartment and stay there for a little while before she takes me home.

On the way home, we drive past this stuff again... I guess she saw me looking at it, and asked if I wanted to stop. I said no, but then I changed my mind when I saw this cute little table. Like a true friend she un-judgingly stopped at let me grab it.

Then, she continues taking me home. And I realize I don't have my phone... But it is probably just lost in my purse again. Except it wasn't. Oh well, it must have fallen in the floor. Nope. Stuck by the door? No. Wedged in the seat? Naw. All the way behind the seat? NOO!

This is when I realize.... OMG! IREALLYLOSTMYPHONE!

Thankfully, we had not gotten to far, and Kayle as able to turn around and take me back to where I had snatched the littlle table from. I get out of the car, and start looking in the grass. Even thought it is dark, and I totally cannot see anything. Luckily, Kayle was able to call it and sure enough it was laying face up by where the table had been sitting. I am so glad it fell out in the grass where it did not get run over, and that no one else came along and found it, and that it happened to be laying face side up so that I could see the light. And of course I am pretty lucky to have a friend that un-judgingly goes on these little adventures with me.

So there you have it, the story of how I got my free, almost super expensive, little table.

I almost cost me the hundreds to replace my phone, and possibly a little of my husband's faith in me.

Now onto the fun part, the pictures! I didn't really take that many. But the table was in pretty rough condition, plus it was super dirty. So I cleaned it really well and sanded the whole thing basically down to the wood.

I used my favorite paint and primer, both Rustoleum's Painter's Touch. On this, I used the color Lagoon in a satin finish. It might be my new favorite color. I have already painted one other thing this color, and plan to use it again soon.

Before:

After:

Gosh, this post was super long. But I thought my story was really funny. :)

When I'm Home Alone.

2011-03-22T12:06:00.001-05:00

When you're home alone:

10%-Say "who is it"

64%-Look throw the peep hole then open it if you know them

25%-Open the door

1%-Crawl around on the ground like a ninja,...

and look through the window very quietly to make sure it isn't a masked murder

I found this when I was looking at my little sister's FB, and it cracked me up. I am totally in that 1%. I flip out about everything when I am home alone. I wonder if I will ever outgrow that? Hopefully. I crawl to the window, and look through the gaps in the blinds. I don't know what I think is going to happen, but OMG it scares the crap out of me.

Once, when we first bought our house, me and my sister Beka were here alone. One of my neighbours came over to introduce themselves, and they knocked on the front door. Me and Beka just froze. Looking back it was hilarious. We were like should be do? We talked about it for a minute before we decided what to do. The funniest part was that they could totally see us, especially since the could see right in through the massive window that is next to my front door. So of course, we had to open it and talk to them.

2011-03-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

2011-03-21T11:39:00.002-05:00

St. Patty's Day Adventures.

2011-03-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

We had quite an eventful St. Patrick's day, which is quite ironic considering that I do not drink. The original plan was for John to go out to celebrate his friend's birthday, which actually is on St. Patrick's day. Kayle's birthday is the day before, so I had planned on staying with her. But somehow the plans changed, and John didn't get to go out with his friends. So came and hijacked me and Kayle, and wanted to go do something.

The first place we went was McGuiness downtown, it was crazy. I actually didn't take any pictures here. I felt to out of place. With the whole I don't drink thing, combined with how plain I was dressed, especially compared to all of the sk*nky girls that were there. But this was sort of the most eventful stop. We were flashed by an old lady in a trench coat, and got the pleasure of seeing an old couple having a little too much fun and personal contact on the dance floor. John thought this was like a restaurant, and he was pretty let down when he didn't get to eat any real food. So we left here, on a quest to go to another Irish Pub.

Our next stop was Findley's inside the Opry Land Hotel. Kayle was the GPS, and she got us from downtown to the hotel, but we could not figure out where to park. Usually, we park at the mall and walk over since that is free! and it cost like twenty dollars to park at the hotel. But picture us driving around in the dark at eleven, with no other cars, and we had no idea where we were trying to go. John finally just left the hotel, and drove to the abandoned mall and parked where we usually park. I had heard that this was gated off now, but luckily the gates were open, and we were able to cut through. It was dark, and creepy, but we made it to the hotel. But then the doors were locked! Luckily, Kayle is really friendly and got one of the guests to let us in with their key. Now we just had to find the pub. The hotel was so pretty at night, plus we were like the only people there. That was fun. John and Kayle figured out how to get to the pub, I never would have found it. I never realized before how massive the hotel is, and it is pretty much a maze.

Our first stop was Findley's. There were still open, but not serving food. John was let down again. Kayle had a drink poured on her, and we just sat there and listened to the band.

Our next stop was the Jack Daniel's place. We had not intended to go here, but as we were walking by John heard that a band he loves was playing, so we had to stop by. Keep in mind it is like midnight by now, and I am not a night person.

John got to talk to a couple people in the band before we left. That was fun for him.

After we left there, we walked around the hotel, which was the funnest part for me. It is so pretty, and it was nice being the only people there. I took a ton of pictures, but it was pretty dark, so they are not that great.

By the end of the night, we were so tired. John was a trooper, leading the way and carrying our purses. :)

Since it was so late by this time, and none of the places we went were serving food...

We ended the night at McDonald's.

Product Review: Perfect Size Cutting Board.

2011-03-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

I was contacted by CSN, about doing product reviews. I love CSN, a ton of stuff in my home came from their various websites, so of course I said yes! I hae always had great experiences with CSN, they have great shipping prices and ship very quickly. Too qualities I find very important with how much I shop online.

This happened during my month of cooking, so as you can imagine the products I picked were kitchen related.

One thing I have been needing was a smaller cutting board. My island does have butcher block counters, but I do NOT want to mess it up. So I always use a cutting board. I have a glass one for meat, and a large wood one for fruits and veggies, but I wanted a small one that I can leave out to cut bread and such on.

I fund the perfect one at CSN, it is adorable and just the right size for a loaf of bread. I chose the Ironwood Gourmet Rectangular Prep Board, it measures 15 by 8. Plus it is pretty enough to leave out, I just stand it on it's side and lean it up between my mixer and the wall.

In these pictures, you can see the nice wood grain, and the beveled detail.

You can get your own

You can get your own here. It is actually on sale now for just $9.95, which is 72% off the regular price of $34.99.

Shopping Trip: Old Time Pottery

2011-03-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie, I judged Old Time Pottery pretty badly. I love good deals, but for some reason I had a really bad first impression of the store, I think it was the time of year I first went. After Halloween but before Christmas, the store was pretty empty and worst of all dirty. The stuff for sale looked a little janky- and I just didn't like it. I kept getting their ad in the mail, and the stuff looked cute... but I never went back.

Fast forward a year, and I have a new bestie who apparently loves Old Time Pottery. I think this was only the second time she has taken me there with her, but I honestly can't be certain since we shop so much... it is hard to remember.

She has totally changed my opinion about it. I love Old Time Pottery now.

Maybe even more than Southeastern Salvage.

I took some pictures to share the cuteness (and cheapness!) of Old Time Pottery.

Right when we got there, the first thing that stole my heart were all of the trees, and other plants they had for sale.

And of course, as the name says... they had plenty of cute pottery to choose from!

One thing I sort of need, slash want, is new cushions for our wicker chairs.

These were my favorite, but they had tons of options.

I love the bright and cheerful blue of these pots!

They had everything you need to have a colorful outdoor party!

I wanted several things from this section, but I refrained. All I got was a napkin holder, which I am telling myself will be useful.

I might be planning on going back for some of these pink chairs.

I can't decide. They are adorable, and cheap. But I am looking for something that I can actually put down in the yard, and I am afraid these might just blow away. :)

We loved the saying on this piggy, but not so much the pig.

How cute are these hourglasses? I have seen these everywhere, and this is definitely the best price I have seen.

I loved this rose thing, but not the color.

I envision it painted a glossy white, I think it would look adorable mixed in with other pieces possibly on a gallery wall. It looks smallish in the picture, but it was actually a little large. And I think this picture might be sideways, too. :)

I don't know if you know this, but I love baskets!

If I didn't have a cat, these would be great for stowing my junk.

One thing that Old Time Pottery was not lacking was great lamps.

In previous visits, the lamps were more outdated looking to me, and more dreary. Neither things that make me smile. They have definitely stepped it up in the lamp area, and they were all great prices, too!

One thing I was happy to see was this little monogrammed area! I love pink, green, and monograms just make it better! I might have spent more than I should have in this area.

I could have shared a million more pictures, but these were my main favorites. I really didn't spend that much, and I was able to get somethings for myself, as well as a couple of gifts. I have an armoire that we call my gift closet, when I see something that makes me think of someone I usually get it for them. Then I just save it until their birthday or usually Christmas. I have a large family, and lots of people I like to get gifts for, so this helps spread the cost over the year instead of leaving me broke all holiday season. To be honest, I have already made quite the dent in my Christmas shopping. As I buy things, I keep it written down under their name on a list.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-03-20T06:55:00.000-05:00

Just Because.

2011-03-17T12:07:00.001-05:00

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11.Eleven.11

2011-03-14T21:56:00.000-05:00

Eleven.Eleven.Eleven.

Yes, I know it's not November... I'm not crazy!

On March 11th, on two thousand and 11, my littlest sister Emily turned 11!

How fun! We had her a "Candy" themed birthday.

Here is the mantle decked out in birthday/candy decor.

Signs right when you walk in the front door.

Hannah actually taped up the Candy Land board.

My Mom decorated the front porch.

Craft tables set up for the girlies.

The food table of course! :) So much sugar!

Once the girls started eating we go the candy down from the mantle, too.

To go with the candy theme, Kayle got these cute marshmellow cupcakes.

Cute cupcakes! And guess what? I didn't make them!

Kayle did!

The girls working on their crafts.

They made paper shoes, and they were going to make paper bag scrapbooks, but once they got so hoped up on sugar... they had more fun dancing around than anything else.

Little Emily blowing out her candles.

It turned out adorable, and the kids loved it.

So much sugar, pink, and green.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-03-13T07:03:00.002-05:00

Current Loves.

2011-03-10T10:50:00.000-06:00

Here is what I am loving lately:

Young House Love. I started reading their blog when we first bought our house, and I still love to read it now... especially since they moved into their new house, and we can see them work on it from the beginning. And their daughter is adorable! And Peppie's cousin lives with them! You can see evidence of that here.
I am in love with my new phone... a Samsung Fascinate. The apps are great, and it has been super handy to have.
My new phone has helped with one of my other loves, CraigsList! The Craigsnotifica app is so great, it has made it so much easier to shop for stuff on Craigslist. I can email the seller straight from my phone, and can check by email compulsively to see if they have emailed back.
That it is almost Spring! :) I can't wait for it to really be warm out!

Sick.

2011-03-08T20:03:00.000-06:00

This is about how I feel. Slightly like I might be dying.

I will spare you the details, but I will say... I have been denying it, but I started getting sick a few days ago. I have basically been in bed since 11 last night, and yes it is almost 8 p.m. the next day. I say basically been in bed, because I have gotten up to take my needy furkids out, and to take two amazing bubble baths. I thought they would help... Like a whole body heating pad, but no. I am not that lucky today.

Hopefully, I will be feeling better... and back to regular posting soon.

Dining Room Inspiration.

2011-03-07T10:53:00.000-06:00

Source.

I think I am going to use this as inspiration, and put my own spin on it...

I want to redo our dining room this spring, I'm just looking for the right pieces.

Spring Time Ready.

2011-03-07T10:48:00.000-06:00

We went out to Cheddar's to celebrate my Mom's Birthday. We spent the rest of the day shopping. :) So fun. Hannah tried on a ton of dresses, and actually got three. Hopefully one will be her prom dress, and one will be for her Senior night. The other one was just because. We also go a lot of the stuff for Emily's birthday party which is going to be this Friday. My mom has a ton of stuff planned for it.

My little plants are growing so well! I can't wait till I can transplant them outside. I am so ready for it to really be spring time.

Now that it's getting warmer... can you tell what I have been up to? I have been getting caught up on all of the painting and spray painting I didn't do when it was cold. I am so excited about some of the projects I am working on.

Other Random Thoughts:

- After last months cooking every day... we are making up for it by going out way too much so far this month. Thursday it was out with my my family. Friday it was out to Mexican with friends. Last night it was out to Chili's and a show with other friends. I am looking forward to going home and going to sleep as soon as I get off from work tonite. How boring is that? I can't wait though!

- Forget Christmas... this is like the month of giving for me. I'll have to share some pictures of what all I have going on this month.

- This semester is half way over! I need to decide if I am going to take a summer semester or not. So far we have been paying for all of my school, since I lost my scholarship when I took a year off. I think if I can get a scholarship, or maybe even a loan for the summer semester I am going to take it. But not if I have to pay for it right now.

- If I take a summer semester, I will be done with my Associate degree by atleast December. Then I have to figure out where I want to go to school next. That is going to be sort of sad. Where I go to school now it like ten minutes from John's work, and I am so used to going there. I hate change.

Sunday Sweets.

2011-03-06T08:29:00.003-06:00

Flashback Friday.

2011-03-04T07:05:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite pictures.

It is from Christmas day in around 1996, I think. From left to right, it's Beka, my Granddaddy, Me, and Hannah cracking up about something. I love my family so much, and this really shows how happy and how much fun we have had together.

Random Thoughts.

2011-03-03T10:41:00.000-06:00

- I just took my hardest midterm ever, so now I am taking a little break before I go to my next class. My head hurts so bad, I really want to go home.

- Even when I get out of school, I will not be going home... Because today is my Mom's Birthday! :) I am excited. I am going to run home, get her gifts and go over to her house. I think we are going to go out to dinner, I can't wait. I miss her. Alot.

- It's sounds dumb that I miss her. But I do. Kayle lives like 3000 miles away from her mom, and John's sister lives like three hours away from their parents... And his other sister wants to move to Florida. That seems super far to me. My mom lives all of twenty minutes from my house. So I guess I really am lucky. I used to want to move to like North Carolina or something, but I can't imagine being away from my sisters, or my parents.

- I can't wait for Beka to come home for Spring Break. I plan on kidnapping her for some very important shopping. And we need to take Hannah prom dress shopping. And I want to visit my Grandparents. So I plan on us having a busy week. :)

- After going through all the old pictures of our house to get a picture of the original mantle... it is so weird to see how much our home has changed. I love it so much, going home everyday makes me smile. The other day John wanted to go do something, and I kept suggesting things we could do at home. I don't think even he understands how much I love our house. I was like we can have a picnic in the back yard, we can grill, we can hang pictures, we can paint, we can rearrange the living room. It was really funny. But that is what makes me happy.

- Unfortunately, I have to go to class now. I am not excited.

I Spy...

2011-03-03T07:34:00.002-06:00

Can you spy a cute little nosie in this picture?

There is my Little Princess.

I was working on my homework, and I looked over from the screen and she was just watching me. It was adorable. She always has to be right next to me. It is a little annoying, but pretty adorable, too.

The Evolution of A Mantle.

2011-03-02T09:33:00.008-06:00

There was the before:

Then, we had the during. I actually painted the gray a glossy white. But when we first bought our house, in case you don't remember... I was all of barely twenty-years-old. I had no idea there were different types of paint, or that primer was important. Gosh, a lots changed in two years. But what happened was... the white I used was latex, and the grey that I painted over was oil based. As you can imagine, it all peeled off. Slowly but surely, we were back to having a grey mantle.

If you remember my Winter goals, one was to do something about the mantle. I hated the white speckles, and I wanted to do something to beef it up a little. I had planned on some how gluing or nailing a piece of wood to the top, and adding molding. But John was not exactly okay with me doing it myself, and not doing it by the book. As you can see... he sort of took over.

We couldn't just nail the wood and trim on...

John had to have this.

We now have three types of nail guns.

We're prepared.

Instead of it being a little project for me...

Our dining room turned into this.

Tools everywhere.

But look at our beefed up mantle.

It stayed naked for a while. I got the flu, and between that and work... this wasn't exactly high on my priority list. But luckily, Ms. Kayle loves to paint... which worked out perfectly. She painted it all, and it looks great.

Even though, John and Kayle did all the work... I couldn't wait to redecorate it.

I love it!

It looks great!

Look at the difference between the real before and the after. It looks so much better to me.

Shopping Trip: JoAnn's Craft Store.

2011-03-02T09:05:00.001-06:00

In practicality, these planters are what I really should be getting from Jo-Ann's.

A lot of my poor pots broke over the winter,

so I am looking for ones I love to replace them with.

I'm trying to stay in the blue and green families.

I had to share this, because it says my name!

Nothing ever says my name, or if it does it spells it wrong.

Like all of those personalized pencils everybody else had in elementary school.

This was with the one that said my name, and I thought it was adorable.

This is what I would want my daughter to make.

Now that I've shared my love of birds,

you will know how adorable I thought this little section was.

Pink, Green, and Birds!

My three favorites!

Too cute!

I love these little things, I'm not really sure what they are for.

But, I picture them looking adorable organizing pencils, and crayons, etc.

Quotables.

2011-03-01T22:41:00.000-06:00

Leah: Will you please help me move (whateveritwas) tomorrow?

John: Yeah. I asked you to start waking me up earlier. Get me up, and I'll help you do it before work tomorrow.

Leah: Yeah right. Are you kidding? You would kill me.

John: No, I wouldn't. I'm all talk.