Rest in Peace...

Rest in Peace...Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson...

Cozy Bedrooms

A 'la Country Living style...take a look at these beauties!
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This would be a beautiful room for Ava when she's a little older...



This one look so plush and relaxing...love the little children's chair at the foot of the bed...



BEAUTIFUL wall paper...I absolutely love the pink/grey/white color combo...so sophisticated and elegant, but still comfortable!



I am in love with this chair:


There are a total of 70 pictures of beautiful bedrooms at Country Living! Check them out for some inspiration if you're looking for a bedroom re-do.

Finished!

Just finished the reading the sweetest little novel…I just bought it the night before last while I was at the grocery store: “Sundays at Tiffany’s” by James Patterson. I absolutely loved his “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas,” so when I saw this one, I thought I’d give it a whirl…I showed it to a co-worker who also has an affinity for reading, and she said that it has actually been on the best-sellers list for a while…so anyway. It was a quick little read, especially on a slow day, and I really really enjoyed it. The premise is the story of a now-grown woman, Jane, who has been unable to forget or move on from her dear friendship with her imaginary childhood friend, Michael, (who is in his 30’s.) {Some people who had written reviews for this book said that at first, it was a little creepy for a 30 yr old to be a little girls’ imaginary friend, but I thought it was sweet. At that point in her life, he was just like a guardian angel.} She is the daughter of a successful Broadway producer, and Michael is pretty much her only friend, sharing ice cream sundae’s with her while her mother is visiting with friends, too busy to bother with her little girl. He leaves her on her 9th birthday (which is how it’s supposed to go with imaginary friends, apparently), and tells her that when she wakes up the next morning, he’ll be nothing more than a dream to her. Well, little did he know that for the next 23 years, she would think about him every day. And he, her. And then, one day in New York, the unimaginable happens!

Loved the story, and I won’t ruin it for those of you who may want to read it, but her 9th birthday party is not the end of Jane and Michael’s story! :)

Summer Lovin'

I don't know about you, but when summer eventually (FINALLY!) rolls around, I start getting the itch to have lots of BBQ parties with our friends...I love entertaining and having people over, and getting everything all decorated and set up for the bash is my favorite part...We're fortunate our back deck is covered with shade, b/c the sun sets in the front of the house, so it's always nice and shaded in our back yard on those warm and cozy evenings...

I found some decorating inspiration below...I'd like to pull some ideas from these for our own soirees! LOL

These beautiful arrangements can be found at HGTV, and they are to die for...

This first one I love because of the calming, cool color combo...the white furniture, pale seashells, and light blue plates and glasses...It's absolutely beautiful!


I love the bright punch of colors used in this also...The big leafy fern, the adorable throw pillows, and the reds used on the tablescape...I love how they mixed in different colors and patterns...It all works so well together!



This one is a nice and simple setting for an intimate dinner affair...It wouldn't be too hard to buy a few different small pillows for your chairs, and have a couple of brightly colored chargers to place your settings on...I love it. (Having the pool nearby wouldn't be bad, either!)

Hope you have a fabulous kick-off to summer!

Do you have any easy entertaining tips or tricks?

6/4/09-Big day!

Baby girl is getting so big! On 6/4/09 (my birthday) our baby girl turned 4 months old! She's getting such a big and fun personality!


This picture was taken with my new 50mm...For those DSLR owners, you NEED this lens! It's wonderful, and I'm having so much fun getting to play around with it!


On another note, in a previous post I had mentioned some adorable necklaces I had found on www.etsy.com and my sweet, wonderful hubby bought two of them for my birthday! Here's one, seen below:

It includes three charms, with each family members' name and their birthday...I think it turned out beautifully! Very simple, neat. I love it. He also bought me a 2nd necklace with a single charm, with the letter "A" for baby girl, and a single pink "pearl," included on the chain. I'll have to get a picture of it later...

Big weekend coming up...I have a wedding on Friday, a Busch race on Saturday (don't get me started on the Nascar/redneck argument! Have you taken a good look at Dale, Jr. or Kasey Kahne? Enough said.), and then a family cookout on Sunday...it's gonna be great! I love summer!

Any more Nascar fans out there? *crickets*

Hmmm....

All I Ever Want...Is Everything!

This book I'm currently reading is pretty good...reviews coming up when I'm done...

Weekend Warriors-Part I, cont'd

As promised...here are the before and afters of our little weekend landscaping project!


Wow, these are kind of embarassing! Last years mulch had faded soooo much!

The damn weeds had totally taken over the place...you can't get rid of 'em!

And...drum roll please...a few boxwoods, grass, and Zinnia's later...plus a couple Bobcat scoops of mulch...

Our edging needs a little "neatening" up, and we need some grass seed in places, as well as cleaning up *under* the top level of the deck, {hence the concrete blocks} but I think it's a big improvement from before! (As do my sunburnt and painful shoulders. *tear*)

Budget breakdown may or may not follow...lol.

Birthday goodies comin' up next! :) (I'm now officially 24!)

Weekend Warriors-Part I

This weekend was alllll about the landscaping in our backyard...

Last summer, the hubby built an addition onto our back deck, which extended it to a whole other level...so nice and roomy. We did minimal landscaping around it, basically just throwing down some mulch, a few stepping stones, a few azalea bushes and called it a day.

Not for long! We started by pulling out the old and dead bushes, and then putting down a fresh layer of landscaping paper over that old layer of mulch to further help keep the weeds out. We layed fresh black mulch bought from a local family owned landscaping company. (They only sell mulch and rock, so then we headed to rusty trusty Lowe's.) We bought several Winter Gem Boxwoods, some "grassy" plants, and two other bushes, can't remember their name right now! What a difference they make! I also bought several hot pink Zinnia plants to add some color to our predominately green color scheme. We then re-laid the stepping stones coming off the bottom of our deck...and let me tell you, this took 2 days! We both have the sunburn to prove it, even after SPF 50 applied several times over!

I'll have a list and a budget break down as well as before and after pictures in a later post, so stay tuned!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Movie Awards Re-Cap

I have to say, if you're a fan of Twilight, last night's MTV Movie Awards was for you!


The movie (and it's actors) won 5 of the 7 Popcorn trophies they were nominated for...


My personal fave (aside from the trailer that took my breath away) was this scene: Rob and Kirsten accepting the award for "Best Kiss." Not a Rachel McAdams/Ryan Gosling moment, but close!

They have some amazing chemistry! Love it! This image is courtesy of www.ew.com

Twilight fever has hit again...