Happy Halloween!!

I must confess that I am a so-called blog "stalker." I don't like that term one bit. "Stalker" has a negative connotation that I do not want to be associated with. I, henceforth, will refer to myself as a blog "cruiser."

So, as I have "cruised" many blogs, I have seen some really funny and cute Halloween pictures. I would like to share these with you. So, if you are a blog "cruiser" and happen to see one of your very own images, please don't be offended. Instead be flattered that I thought your picture was too precious or funny not to share! My intentions are pure. (I'm assuming that I actually have blog "cruisers" --ha)

Now, for your Halloween Enjoyment!

Big Bird looks dead! So hilarious!

What a cute dino.

This might be the most precious chicken I have EVER seen!!

I love scarecrows :)

Yes, that's her PG belly!

Quads in a Pod

Can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!

Too cute! I love it!

I love Donald...he gonna kill his parents later for this...

80 Candles Make a Lovely Light

(Mama, Aunt Becky, Gma, Aunt Sister)

This past weekend we celebrated the dearest Grandma in the world in the big A-T-L. Rachel (my cousin) planned the weekend and it was a smashing success. The biggest surprise of the weekend, was Cole. Cole recently graduated from boot camp in the Navy. He is training to be a medic for the Marines. Grandma is not one to cry, but she was so surprised that she produced a few tears for the occasion.

We met Mama, Daddy, Geems, and Papa at the mall for some party attire shopping that afternoon. We met the Booth family, minus Richardo :(, at 5:30 sharp in the hotel lobby.

(party bus!)
We then got on the limo, aka "party bus," for the trip to the Sundial. On the trip we toast Grandma, Frances, Mama, Geems, GramCracker, etc. A few tears were shared. The Sundial is on top of the Peachtree Westin in downtown Atlanta. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees, so you can get a view of the entire skyline. It's really cool.

I did get motion sickness though. I think it was a combo of hunger and dizziness. My sweetie, went to the gift shop and purchased Dramamine for me. I was good after that. It never dawned on me that I would have that problem.

(sorry Justin, but the background is so cool)
After a great dinner, we went back to the party bus for a tour of ATL. We didn't view much of the city, because we had a great photo montage video of Grandma through the years. It was so fun! Leigh also did a great mix of jams for the ride. Grandma busted a few moves to "It's Your Birthday." If you haven't heard it, you should download it and play it for every one's birthday in the future. After a luxurious nights sleep at the Atlanta Perimeter North Westin. We met for church and headed to Babette's Cafe for brunch. Can we say YUMMY?!!!! We've eaten there before, but wow, I loved it so much. We all had fabulous food! I had goat cheese and herbed scrambled eggs, with fried potatoes, fresh fruit and a few bites of Justin's cheese grits! It was super. Oh, I also had a cup of white bean soup. So good!!

It was a lovely weekend for a lovely lady...My Grandma!

(me and Daddy)

(Gma and the cousins)

(Yes, she's my Mama-not Rachel's ;)

Flea Market Finds

On Saturday Leigh and I took a little trip up to Prattville. We went to Bogg's Pottery and looked at urns and lions for our houses. This is the lion I like. What do you think? I'm 'fo reals.

We also heard of a Flea Market (fm) that might have some fun finds. Not only was the fm next to “Piggly Wiggly,” locals were milling about. As we broke through the stale cigarette smoke we came upon a big mess of potential treasures. (Thankfully the cigarette smell was only at the entrance-we would have left if it was throughout) Leigh mentioned that she felt like she was back in the ‘Houn. I agreed. As we shopped, we noticed rules for your shopping experience. (1) You will be fined if you buy directly from a dealer. (2) The dealer will be expelled from the fm if they conduct purchases from their booth and do not do business “up front.” (3) You would also be fined $50.00 if you go in the “employees only” area. I commented that the owners must have been librarians in their past life. Not only were the rules posted, the girls up front would remind us and get on the loud speaker commanding shoppers to “not play with the ‘antique’ toys.” They were fm Nazis.

As I was browsing a "local" came up beside me. He was gross. His stomach was hanging out of the bottom of his shirt, his hair had not been touched in quite some time and he had a few teeth missing. He randomly and loudly asked me, "How would you like to be 16 and pregnant with twins?!" My first thought was, well I can bet that these multiples are not from IVF. Then I though about responding with, "well that's what happens when you have sex! duh!" That was cold, so I opted for, "that would be terrible." Let's hope that nothing horrible happened to the girl and that they babies will be blessed by the Lord so they will come to know him. And we can say a prayer for the yucky local guy to find the double stroller he saw there last week.

We were there for 3 hours and only went along the perimeter of the store! We didn’t even get to the middle. We definitely want to go back! But our #1 find (that we did not leave with) was a coffee table that had the Last Supper carved in it. Not only was it quite a work of art, it had The Da Vinci Code twist to it. (Mary Mag. is included). Leigh took time to reflect and meditate. All (six specifically) are welcome at this table... The other good finds we made were:

A Frankoma planter. I’ve been looking at some websites to determine the real value of the piece, but I’m not sure what its worth yet. My preliminary research points to not more than $20. I paid $3, so I’m still doing well.
Leigh found a piece of McCoy pottery. It was only $10.

This is another little piece I thought was cute...

A great antique print for $20, framed…its very similar to a painting my great Aunt Deda had above her bed. It’s a beautiful piece. It now lives in my living room. Leigh also found a huge print similar to mine, but it has an agricultural theme. She needed a huge piece for one of her rooms. I’ll try to get pics of her purchases too.

I also got a few antique books to decorate my shelves with. The red book is a first printing. They are all pretty old and will look great on the shelves!

Weekend before last I purchase some plates to decorate my shelves. I hope they had some punches of color to the dark end of the room.

We had a great time shopping and look forward to completing the fm circuit. We also went to Target and got some great stuff off the clearance rack. And we found the Chilton County Fruit Stand and Nursery. They had beautiful pumpkins and gourds. They also had some of the biggest ferns ever (mom you would have died). We purchased our pumpkins, some produce and I got an urn there. It's made out of some kind of "durable" styrofoam stuff, but it is way cool. Needless to say, Leigh's 2 door Honda was PACKED! I don't think we could fit much more in.

Well, my pictures are a mess and I have figured out how to make them pretty...sorry.

ZERO

That's what's been going on here. I'm just about to pass out from sleepiness! Nothing major to share. A few things that have been going on are:
(1) I began Weight Watchers two weeks ago and have lost 3.5 pounds! (Yah)
(2) I joined Jazzercise. It's such fun. Leigh is very pleased I finally signed up.
(3) I slept through a pretty good storm last night for the first time (I'm becoming such a big girl)
(4) I signed our house up to be on the Capitol Heights Christmas Candlelight Tour. Wow. That's going to be a lot of work and stress.
(5) Justin's parents are coming to Montgomery to share Thanksgiving with us! I'm really excited. It's my very first holiday event to host!
(6) We are going to have Christmas with my parents & Leigh at our house too! It will be our very first Christmas that we'll spend at our house! That's very exciting too.
So, in other words, I've committed to quite a bit the past 2 weeks.

I need to give a shout out to my friend, Ashley, who signed up for WW too! So we have a trio (me, Leigh, Ash) support group. Last night we all went to Jazzercise and then we had to-go steamed Chinese dumplings, egg drop soup, and sauted veggies (a la me). It was a feast and a total of 7 points! Who knew Chinese could be low points and yummo!

Have a great weekend. I think I'll begin painting our sunroom!

Happy Friday!!

So glad it's the weekend! I wanted to share where I got my inspiration for the letter canvas I made Leigh. It is on a photographer's website. He does some pretty cool stuff! http://www.behindthecamera.info/

Here's the inspiration picture. This one is a bit more artsy than mine...

Project Disaster & Success

Thank you Christopher Columbus for a day off! I can’t say just how much I love not going to work! I had Monday off and it was so super. I woke up with Justin like I always to but, cooked him breakfast. Nutritious and delicious! Worked around the house. Then Leigh, Laura (my new friend), and I shared a morning of shopping and lunch at Café Louisa. Yummy.

Leigh and I returned home and I was determined to finish up my sunroom curtains. So, I get them done and we go to hang them. The sheers are way too short. We didn’t think about the rod pocket taking up room. Genius! So I’ll have to redo those. We also hung the panels and they look blah. Just too plain. I also didn’t buy enough hardware to hang them. They definitely need help. So, I have one panel hung to get the feel for it and determine what needs to be done. I also have to let out all the seams I sewed by hand on the sheers and do them again. Thank goodness there is a big hem! So overall the project was a disaster!

Last night I decided that I needed to finish yet another project I started, but have not finished. I began this project for Leigh when she moved down the street. So it’s been going on since August. I saw the project on a photographer’s blog (surprise). It is four blocks of color painted on a canvas. The project requires only two colors. The blocks opposite each other are the same color. Each block has a letter, in this case an “L,” in the opposite color. Each letter is a different font. I told myself last night, “no more hemin’ and hawin’ around, Just Do It!” Well, I finished last night. I called Leigh over to see it. She was surprised and loved it.

4 Day Weekend

I was lucky enough this weekend to be the first person for Brock's first overnight visit! Jennifer and Brock came on Friday night. He did great. Just watching Jennifer care for Brock made me exhausted! It's amazing how he depends on her for EVERYTHING! He did really well through the night. Jennifer thought the night feeding would quell any baby fever I had. Although he didn't fuss until 5:00 a.m. I did wake up and think, "I couldn't get up right now." I talked to Jen about it and she assured me that God gives Mommy's extra strength and so much love that it isn't an issue. Of course you are tired, but there is a joy in being a sole provider. Most of you know that I am a big time blog stalker. One blog I was reading talked about the love experienced in the parent/child relationship and how parents get a taste of the love God has for us and how amazing and special it is.

Brock was also amazing at the football game, which happened to be his first football game to attend. Too bad it was a Faulkner game and not something more dramatic. But it was a great warm up for all the Auburn games he'll attend in the future! Brock's Mama is so thoughtful and brought the onesie Justin and I bought him. It was his first 3 mo. outfit to wear (0-3 were pulling around his neck-what a chunk). Jennifer put it on with sadness, but quickly realized it was still a bit big and made him look little again. Such fun. Thanks for coming Jennifer and Brock! I loved it!!