Ten Things

~Ten things I am happy about/excited/thankful for at this moment~


1. I am so thankful for a supportive and loving husband!


2. I am thankful that I have found my place in teaching. It is a joy to walk down this path as a elementary teacher. I am substitute teaching now, and loving every moment. I am so excited and happy to know one day (SOON) I will have my own classroom!!!!!


3. My family is my rock!!!


4. I love that fall is coming. I love the cooler weather and all the fall decorations! I am looking forward to pumpkin shopping soon.


5. I am thankful for Hobby Lobby... without this store I would be lost!!! :)
Seriously, I know it sounds crazy.... but so true!


6. I am thankful and happy that we have so many great friends! They bring so much happiest to our lives!


7. I am grateful for our home and our health!


8. I love that at 6am my cat comes and snuggles with me in bed! I love that!


9.I am grateful for ICED TEA!


10. I am grateful for pumpkin bread, cookies and pie. Time to eat yummy pumpkin food again! :)



What are y'all thankful for?

Happy Fall Y'all !!!!

Three Generations

Family is everything to this SOUTHERN woman!

I am so grateful for these two women in my life.I am so lucky to have my best friend as a my mom. My grandmother is one of the brightest, happiest and loving woman I have ever met. :) She is the glue to my family!





They are beautiful in every way!

I love them more than words can express.... I am so blessed! :)

Craft Day

Recently, Ruth and I had a craft day! This post is long overdue, but that's not surprising right? Right! There is nothing that I love more than finding a great craft idea. I had recently found this great craft idea on another blog to make Apothecary's Jars. They were so stinking cute. I could not say " NO" to them. I knew Ruth wouldn't either. So I hit her up on the idea and she was sold. From then on we only thought about this craft. Seriously, we were two women who could not wait to get our hands dirty.

Here are some pictures of the before and after. We were so happy to see that our craft turned out so cute. We have big plans for these jars. We are anxious for fall to get here so we can spruce them up!

Before: Here is the craft before painted, glued and sanded.
5 pieces make up 1 apothecary jar and stand.



Here are all my pieces painted:




Here are the tops of the jars: Painted and jute glued on. This was thought to be the hardest part, but it turned out fine and my favorite detail.




After: They are done!



What do you think? I just love them... I see cute pumpkins, leaves and acorns etc. for fall. Oh, the ideas are endless!



The heat has been unbearable lately. I have to say I am ready for fall. Maybe I should get a cinnamon and cidar candle out? That might help it come sooner. Oh, us Texans still have a ways to go until fall. Boo. Boo.

ABC

Thanks to Lyndsey for this great blog post idea. She has a great blog and I just love catching up with her!

Just For Fun

ABC's


A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 73 and I love it! I love sitting on the couch with a blanket. I guess I love a cold house because right now it's a cool 110 in Texas today.

B- My BEDROOM theme is: Brown and Turquoise! I love it. It's still a work in progress, but it's coming along.

C- The CAR in the driveway is: Honda Civic. MY New car will make it's debut in Spring 2010.


D- My DESK looks: messy and full of bills, teaching stuff,to do lists, recipes and everything else that I haven't gotten accomplished!

E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: during the school year around 630am. This summer I have had the luxury to wake up around 8ish! Its been great to be on my schedule!

F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: My hair

G- My GARAGE is filled with: Cars, our small sailboat, paint supplies and everything else that hubs wants on his workbench.

H- My HOUSE is: ever changing! I love finding new pieces of furniture and decorative pieces. Our house is a work in progress. We love our home and it brings us so much joy!

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: Many books on my nightstand, lots of pictures of Family and hubs. Our cat relaxing on the comforter.

J- My favorite JUICE is: Pomegranate

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: the openness. I love how big and open it is to everything else. I never miss a thing while cooking.


L- The LAST person who visited my home was: My father in law!

M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: a cute card from a great friend! Those are the best!

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: nice, I hope! They probably think I am crazy, but I think the world of them. We are so lucky to have one of our best friends live a few house down!

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: Fruit, veggies and leftovers.

P- My last house PARTY was: a few weeks ago. My great friend Ruth and I had a Southern Living at Home party. We had a blast. What's better than friends laughing, eating good food and looking at beautiful decor accessories.

Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Annie's Mac-n-Cheese

R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: that's a hard choice! I love our office/craft room. It's a great place for me to go and unwind and get creative!

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Aveda Rosemary Mint.

T- My largest TELEVISION is:We have a 47" in our living room. My hubs pride and joy!

U- UNDER my bed you will find: Our cat napping

V- The last time I VACUUMED was: A few days ago. My father in law is pretty allergic to animals. I really tried to make sure the house was "cat hair free" for him.

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: our front yard.


X- I wish I had X-TRA: Living room. We have a great open floor plan, but I wish we had another living room. I guess that will be a must have for House #2. This house is great for us now!

Y- My YARD is: Green and getting watered as we speak. My hubs does a great job taking care of our yard! I am so proud of it. My job mainly is just taking care of the pots and hanging baskets. I think I am doing good so far...

Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: usually around 9-10. It just depends on whats going on. Hubs has to get up really early for work, so he doesn't get the luxury of being a night owl when he wants. On the weekends we tend to stay up much later.


Well, that looks to be it.

It's about time

YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!

Time flies when you are having fun! I have been flying by the seat of my pants all summer. My blog has not seen hardly any TLC, but I have stayed very current with all of my daily reads. As usual! :)

My teaching career is in full speed ahead! I am getting closer and closer to making my passion my CAREER! Just saying those words puts a smile on my face and butterflies in my stomach!

Keep checking up on me! There are some exciting posts to come this week!

Happy Summer... at least what's left of it!

California Trip

In June, J and I went to California to visit his dad. We were so excited to get a pretty long weekend in CA with my father in law. It was so WONDERFUL to see him, we think the world of him and loved every day we had. We were there to see one of J good guy friend get married. Andrew was a groomsmen in our wedding and we just love him. We were excited to be apart of their special day and see more of J childhood friends. The most exciting day was the day we went to Yosemite National Park. Wow, that was a day!!

It was so much fun and there was SO much to see. If you have never been to Yosemite I highly recommend you make a trip out there. It is a beautiful, peaceful, fun and adventurous family vacation destination. We loved our day there and hope to go back to this great place when we have children. Yosemite was a very special place that my hubs and his dad used to go to alot when he was younger. There are many great memories at this park, including climbing half dome at age 12. It was very special for me to see where those great memories were made.

It was a great time to go to the park because all the snow had melted so the meant there were MASSIVE waterfalls everywhere. They were breathtaking and water drenching. The sequoia trees were gigantic. The pictures hardly do them justice. The mountains were huge, nothing like I have ever seen. There were many moments throughout the day where I was literally.. speechless. If you know me, that's pretty rare! :)

This post is filled with pictures... warning: picture overload!




J and I. Behind is the bridalville waterfall and Half Dome



The three guys were pretty happy to together again!

.



J, that's a pretty big tree log!



Oh, that's a pretty cute baby bear. Ekk....



The seqouia trees are just breathtaking. The biggest tree I have ever seen!



Half Dome



J and Dad













These last three pictures just give a glimpse at how beautiful all the waterfalls were. I can't wait to frame some of these beautiful pictures, there are so many to choose from. :) We will never forget our 1st trip together to California!

Happy

Things that make me Happy :

Drinking a cold glass of Iced Tea

Reading Southern Living Magazine :)

Daydreaming about future decorating ideas.

Entertaining at my home

Sailing

Bike riding with my husband

Working on our yard and taking care of our many hanging baskets, pots and flowerbeds

Cooking and baking

Shopping ( especially finding good deals)

Traveling

And last, but not least...

My husband and Wonderful Family!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

I have a pretty amazing mother, she is a mom that is always giving advice and listening. She is a mother that loves UNCONDITIONALLY. she always gives her best to her family. She is a mother who shows her children what happiness and joy you can have in life. She always believes in me, even when I did not in myself. She is a mother that is proud of my success and calming when their are mistakes. She is a mother that I look up to everyday. She is a woman I hope I can be with my children. I can not imagine life without her! I am so blessed to say that my mother is one of my best friends! I am so happy that we have the special relationship. We talk daily and we wouldn't have it any other way! I love ya Momma!



J and I don't have any kids yet, but we do have a furry cat that is our baby! I am happy to be a pet momma today. We are excited and happy to know that children are in our future. For right now, we are loving our lives as a married couple and enjoying our time to do whatever we want! :) So for today, I am very grateful for my mother and happy to be a momma to our spoiled, loving cat!

Tulips

Here is a glimpse at my 2 year old "Hens and Chicks". They are growing so fast. I can't believe how much they grew during the winter. Wow, they are blooming baby chicks every day.



Check out my tulips.. here they come. I was so excited when I saw they coming up in mid March.













This spring was my 1st year to plant Tulip bulbs. I planted 50 bulbs and 47 bloomed. I think it was a very successful first year! Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I love the symbol, of nature blooming again and a start of a new season! It makes me smile a little more each day. :)

Here are some pictures that I took when my tulips were in full bloom. Sadly, they were trimmed last week. They lasted for a couple of weeks and then they were gone,just like that! I can't wait to see them next year. I will be posting again on the spring planting that we have done this past week! More to come. Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Planting Everyone!

Decorating Advice

Alright girls gather around, I need your advice......


My wonderful hubby got me a much needed craft table today. I love it and it will come in handy. Crafting on floor has worked, but let me tell you it hasn't been much fun. I am hoping this will help me get so many more cards completed, since I won't be sprawled out in the floor. I have so many ideas running around in my head.




How can I make this plain table into something that's cute and Chic? This table will not always be upright it is smaller than most normal size card tables. I can fold it up and place in under the bed. Its great! So I need the idea to be able to move up and down with the table. :)








I thought about putting paper on the top to give it a design.... not sure what type of pattern yet. I have a pretty funky office/craft room right now. It is painted green ( like green grass green) and we just love it. I know it will get a toned down later, but for now we love it. I will upload a couple more pictures of the room so you know what the entire room looks like.










This picture wall is above the craft table.

This is chair I am thinking about adding to the room.. what do you think?

I am going to be adding more black and white accents soon, and I thought this ottoman would be really fun! It could slide under the table just perfectly. Last thing I want is a room full of chairs.






So ladies... what do you think? I would love any suggestions. Thank You!

Spring is coming

My tulips are coming up in the front flower bed. I am so excited.
This is my 1st year to have tulips.I planted 50 bulds and 47 have come up. Hooray!



Looking forward to seeing these beautiful tulips pop!




Here are a few of my Easter decorations around the house.










I Hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather. I know we will.
I am so excited that it is Friday. Happy Weekend!

Updates and Snow

Warning: This is a very long post.

Snow in Texas. This is 1st for me and a 1st for Texas.



























I guess you could say it "takes a miracle" to write a post on this blog. The miracle came today because Dallas/Fort Worth had close to a foot of snow. I have been absent from blogging, but very much apart of all your current posts. I have gotten lost in the joy of reading everyone posts. I have collected so many great new craft ideas, house cleaning tips and so much more. I had forgotten about my own blog. :(

So much has happened since I last posted in December. I have graduated with my Bachelors, applied and got accepted into a Alternative Teaching program in Texas. I am currently knee deep in teacher prep work along with studying for my state board test.I am loving my days as a teacher in training and a wife. Life is simple, but yet still so very busy. I worked so hard to get my Bachelors. I always worked a part time job ( sometimes a full time job) during my college career that I feel I have earned this time to be at home and just concentrating on one thing. It feels amazing. These are truly the days that I worked hard for... and wished for. :)

Well on to the pictures of our snow. It started snowing on Thursday morning and did not stop until Friday morning. We got a total of 9 1/2 inches. WOW.... 9 1/2 inches in Texas... that's a lot of snow. It has been a beautiful couple of days here in the south. I have been praying for spring to come, so I guess my prayer was changed a bit with snow. I am still dreaming of my tulips, green grass and warm weather.







Happy Valentine's Day!!! I am off to work on my valentines card for " my valentine". I am so happy that it is finally the weekend.

Sorry that my format is not really working well. I am not sure how to fix this problem, so for know just live with it.

I hope you all are warm and safe.

~All the best~

Inspiration Song

I hope you enjoy this song. It has been such an inspirational song in my life, and the movie " Fireproof" has such a great message for all Marriages! I truely enjoyed this movie.

The song is by: Side Walk Prophets, " The words I would Say"


The Invisible Woman





I saw this video from Nicole Blog at www.samandnicolegraves@blogspot.com. This video was so true to what us moms, wives and mostly woman of God do everyday. Great video Nicole!

Show Us Your Life- Pets

Hello! Today I am participating in Kelly's Korner Show us your life posts. This wee we are talking about our beloved pets. It has been a couple of months since i posted with Kelly's blog and I am so happy to finally have the time to be apart of show us your life. I am looking forward to the holiday decorations post are coming soon... many projects in the works.

Tack always has to be in the same room with us.

He has to know EVERYTHING that is going on.

This is Tack our Siberian Kitten. Tack became apart of our family in June 2007. This picture was taken the night we got home, he was only 14 weeks old and just a couple of pounds. He was adorable. He was such a playful kitten and he was into everything. We choose a Siberian breed because they are very loyal cats, very playful, and he greets us when we come home. Siberians are long haired cats and are thought to be very " dog like" in personality. He brings so much happiness to both of us. He truly is our baby until we decide to have kids.... and then he will always be our 1st.

This is Tack around 18 weeks old, hanging out on our desk. He was so small. It was his favorite place at the apartment b/c he could look out the window.... his parents clearly did not tell him no.

Guess who loves to sit under the Christmas tree????

J and Tack are just the best of buddies. He clearly is a daddy's boy, but when he's not around I get to be 2ND best. :)

So, even though Tack is the our world and we love him dearly I can not do this post without his sister.

My cat that I had growing up moved with me when we came to Texas to be with J. She was a Persian cat named "Oprah". I got her on my 5Th birthday from my parents. She was a wonderful cat and brought so much happiness, love and companionship to our family. She was such a trooper and she lived a very long and happy life. I am thankful for all my memories of her. She truly was " the family Cat". Even though she was my cat, she was just as much my parents cat... she loved them just as much and sometimes wanted them more than me... haha :)

She got sick around April 2007 and we found out that she had a tumor in her stomach. While I was away with my parents, J had to be strong and helped her in a away that I couldn't. I could not let her go, it was so hard and he helped me and her through that time. She passed away at a strong age of 17. Thankfully, we helped her not struggle with pain and now she lives in all our memories.

We miss you Oprah! Love you!

Our family has been very blessed to have such great companions. We know the unconditional love lives forever with them.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I hope you all enjoy spending time with your families.

Let the holiday season Begin....

A blog Rut and Recipe

It seems like I can never get myself on here to post whats new in our lives. We have so much going one that it seems impossible to get it in writing. Do you ever feel like the things in your life are not really blog worthy? Sometimes I think why would anyone care to know that. Oh well. I am trying again to get the hang of this blog posting. I have to tell you... I am reading and enjoying so many other blogs every week for hours that I forget that I have my own to write about. There are so many of you that have such great ideas, new techniques, great recipes and your just plain fun to read about. :)

I made these delicious pumpkin swirl brownies recently. They were divine. We had them last year, but lets just say I tweaked them ( screwed them up). This year I followed the recipe to a "T" they turned out perfectly.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies ~ Martha Stewart

Makes 16

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter lining.



Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.



Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter.

Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don't set.


With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.



Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares


It is not a simple recipe, but I will guarantee it is worth every bit of effort. I just love it, and J loves it even more. Points for the Wife!

Almond or Mahogany ???

Which one should we choose???

J and I are picking our a new Storm door to add more security to our home. The problem is we have choices to make that we are having problems with... So I thought why not ask my decorating friends on Blog land... you have always helped others int heir decisions whether it was interior or exterior decorating. The storm door is the "King of all doors" it has a lot of special security options that others don't, so I love it!

The problem:

Almond door to match the trim of the house?

or

Mahogany ( reddish) frame to match the Front door?

This picture is much more red! Not really a great representation. Much more Burgundy or mahogany.

Which one? They both will have brushed nickel handles.

What would look best and help to accent our front entrance area?

I would love to have your opinions. They would be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much!

More Fall posts to come tomorrow.. I promise!!!

I am looking forward to hearing your comments.

P.S. We are going private soon. Please leave me your email address if you would like to be put on the list. I will be going private next Monday!