Come on in house

I guess it's time to start showing y'all the house.  Come the end of October, we will be here a year and I haven't been a good hostess and showed y'all around:)  We'll start with the entry.

The door was stained but of course with me and all my door troubles, I had to have it painted.

Bit Bit is right there to welcome you.

I used the same table that I had up in Cincy but now it is our foyer table.

I added to my collection of little treasures and put some pretty white shells from the Turks & Caico in with the rocks from Lake Tahoe.

The painting came from HomeGoods in Myrtle Beach.  I can say that this is the only thing that I have found at that HomeGoods.  I really miss the one in Cincinnati.

Monday Musings.

Good Monday morning everyone.  I have been MIA most of the summer but I am hoping that I when school starts back, I will get back to blogging.

1.  Caden and I went to Georgia last week.  He got sick while there and didn't get better until the day before we left.  He was still happy that he got to be with his best friend.

2.  Erin Cobb sent me all of our picture from our photo session.  Just let me say that it is going to be a very hard decision on which pictures to buy:)

3.  I got false eyelashes a couple of weeks ago and boy do I wish they made permanent ones.  They started coming off last week but I really loved them.

4.  Went shopping while I was in Georgia (something I don't do much) and let's just say that Charming Charlie's really loved my wallet!

5.  Dreaming of going back to the Turks & Caicos.  It was so beautiful and such a relaxing trip.  I hope that we can take Caden there for his graduation present.

6.  I'm ready for college football to start.  Can I get an amen?

7.  Started doing a low carb diet about 3 weeks ago.  I haven't had a lick of sugar and I have only lost 2.8 pounds:(  Not off to a great start but I am going to stick with it.  I have to lose some weight so that I can fit back into my clothes.

8.  Caden is starting his senior year soon.  Bitter sweet, I must say.

9.  Being gone a week leaves a lot of laundry.  I am going to busy today.

10.  And lastly, here is a link to a sneak peek of our photo session with Erin.

Hope you all are having a good summer.  House pictures to come soon.

30 Day Photo Fun.

Here's the last of my pictures from the month of June.  This was a lot of fun to do.  No pressure,  just pictures:)

Day 23  Black & White.

Day 24  Love.

Day 25  Citrus.

Day 26  Favorite Color.

Day 27  Weakness.  (rum punch on vacation:)

Day 28  Transportation. (our little get about car in the Turks.)

Erin Cobb.

I forgot to tell y'all that we are having our pictures taken today by the fabulous Erin Cobb.  I am beyond excited.  In all of our 20 years together, we have had our pictures taken at Olan Mills one time.  Last year when we lived in Cincinnati, Erin was in Columbus taking clients and I really wanted to go and have our family pictures taken.  BUT, we had not lived there long and I didn't want to ask Gary to take off work and then drive the two hours to Columbus.

Well, we just happened to move to SC and what do you know?  She posted on her blog that she was going to the Isle of Palms in SC to stay at the beach.  I knew right then that we were going to have a photo session with her no matter what we had to do.

I asked Gary about it and he said that if I wanted to do it we would.  I know that it is pricey but I am justifying it since we have never had professional pictures taken and because this will be the only chance since Caden will be graduating next May.  (sniff sniff)

She is going to take photos outside (she is a natural light photographer) at the beach house and then some at the beach.  I got our outfits together on Saturday and we are going to be casual since that is how we really our:)  I am beyond excited and can't wait to see the outcome.  She will give a sneak peek on her blog in a couple of weeks and I will let you know when she does.

So I leave you with a sneak peak of our vacation in The Turks & Caicos since I can't blog without a picture;-)

Happy Monday.

30 Day Photo Fun

Let's play catch up on my little monthly project that I have going on.  This has been a fun thing to do and I haven't put any pressure on myself about it.  I have taken pictures with my phone and a couple with my camera so it hasn't been a big deal.

Day 13 A childhood memory.

Day 14 Someone You Love.

Day 15 Action.

Day 16 Mason or Jelly Jars.

Day 17 Bokeh.

Day 18 Eyes.

30 Day Photo Fun.

I ran across this online and thought that it would be fun to do.  I am surprised at how much fun I am having doing this little project.  I am doing Project Life but I am not really doing a photo a day.  I am doing it the way I want to.  I am taking pictures but will put my book together by events instead of daily.

Anyhoo, I am taking my photos daily and thought I would start sharing them with you.

June 1 Self Portrait

June 2 Favorite Shoes

June 3 Hands

June 4 Clouds

June 5 Breakfast

Cupcake

How can you not love a wine called Cupcake?

I am going to make braised short ribs and goat cheese polenta today and I needed some red wine.

Just checking in.

I have been MIA and I don't really know why.  I just can't decide what to do with my blog.

Should I keep blogging or should I just call it a day?  That is the question.

I am not blogging like I use to and I know that blogging once or twice a month isn't really going to keep people reading.

So, that is where I am at.  To blog or not to blog.

Summer is in full swing here at the home front:)  Caden and I have been watching a lot of this.

We are already halfway through season 11.  We have had so much fun watching it together.  We talk about it and rank the winners....it's kinda an obsession;-)

I am also hooked on this.

Pure evil.  That's all I have to say about that.

So excited for the new season of SYTYCD!

I can't dance at all and I am in such awe of these dancers.  I am pretty new to this show as I have only watched for a couple of seasons but I am absolutely hooked.

The new season of Masterchef has started and I love any cooking competition.  I watch Top Chef, Chopped, Top Chef Masters.....you name it, I watch it.

Thinking I need to start this.

I have gained a lot of weight in the last year.  I have eaten for fun but mostly for comfort.  The last year and a half has been harder on me than I thought and food has been my main source of comfort.  I must get a handle on it and get it under control.  I am thinking that after vacation I will get back on track.

Speaking of vacation, we are headed here soon.

The Turks & Caicos.  I am very excited to be going to the Caribbean!  We have never been to an island and never done a beach vacation.  Hubby is NOT a beach person and definitely doesn't like the heat so don't ask me how we picked an island.  :)

It is our 20th anniversary and we want to celebrate it relaxing and not doing much.  We normally travel while we are on vacation meaning that we go from place to place.  This year we decided that we wanted to go to one place and stay put.  With all the moving we have done in the last year, we thought that staying put would be nice.  We are going to snorkel, take a sunset cruise, and take a ferry to the other islands and sightsee.  It will be fun.

I just wanted to check in with everyone and say hello.  Still deciding what to do about the blog.  I am open to your thoughts about it.

Friendship.

This is my bestie Nancy.  She lives a long way from me.  She's a Texan and that means that we live about 1000 miles apart:(  That makes for a lot of texting, ichatting, and phone calls.  We've know each other for about 3 years but it has just been in the last year or so that we have become very close.

She has been a huge support to me in the last year.  When I knew that we were headed to Ft. Worth for spring break, we decided to do a girls trip.  She drove up from Houston to Ft. Worth and picked me up and we stayed in downtown Ft. Worth.

The first evening we ate dinner at P. F. Chang's.  We enjoyed a nice long meal and compared IPad's at the table.

Then we walked around downtown Fort Worth.

The next day we went to a store called Sam Moon's.  For those of you that don't live in Texas, it is a store with bags, bags, and more bags along with jewelry.  I was doing some serious shopping at that store.

And yes, I bought the gray one, the brown, one and the black one:)  Also added a white one to the total and had to buy a suitcase to get them all home.

We then headed off to get a pedicure and when we got there, I decided to get a manicure too.

Then it was off to dinner at Saltgrass.  We split a filet and got some key lime pie to go.

After dinner we headed back to downtown Fort Worth to do a little more walking.

The Birthday Boy.

Today my boy is 17 years old!

Let me say that again.  SEVENTEEN!

Where did all the time go?

Every year I say that we blinked and he grew up but it really is true.

He is almost a senior....almost an adult....making me an almost empty nester.

We will not be discussing his graduation or his upcoming move to Texas.

No we will not:(

We are making our way through all of the seasons of Survivor.  We are almost finished with season 4 and I am loving every minute of it.

We go to the gym together.

We laugh a lot.

We talk about politics every single day.

He has been the easiest child and teenager to raise.  We have been so lucky and so blessed to be given a son who has not been a minutes trouble.  I have enjoyed being his mom and in the next year, he will be spreading his wings and leaving the nest.

I will be thinking a lot about that this year and preparing myself in the process.

But until then, I remember my one little word.....present.

Present in the moment and remembering that he was the best present I have ever received.

Happy Birthday Caden!  I love you with all of my heart.

Mel

aka Mom

Ramblings.

* I guess I took another blogging break since I haven't blogged in 2 weeks.

* I can't wait for The Voice to start this week.

* I am really really happy that the sun is shining and that the weather has warmed up.

* I miss my besties Nancy.  We had a great time together in Texas and I have lots of pictures to show you of our trip.

* I am beyond jealous that the fabulous Kasey Buick is going to up and move to Hawaii for a year.  I can't wait to read about her exciting new life that is to come.

* I am so looking forward to school being over.  It's been a long year and I can't wait to not have to drive Caden across town every morning:)

* It's going to be a busy summer for us and I am looking forward to it.

* Loving Cee Lo Green and Adele right now.

* My sweet pea had to work nights last week and one day I passed him on the road when I was taking Caden to school.  When I got back home, this was sitting on the counter in front of the Keurig.

* While I was in Texas, I got a my nails done in black;-)  I LOVED it!  It kinda had a silver tint to it and I fell in love with it.

* Caden and I started watching the very first season of Survivor.  We are going to watch every single season.  We are half way thru season 2 and I am loving every single minute of it.  I am relishing every moment with him because he will be graduating and moving to Texas next year.  I sure am gonna miss that boy.

* And lastly, I am getting excited about the Royal Wedding this week.  I didn't think I would care but I think that the future Queen, Kate, is just lovely.  A commoner (as they call her) marrying her Prince.  I will be watching this week.  Will you?

Melanie

Getting to know YOU!

Hello again.

It's Sunday and you know what that means.  Here's this weeks questions.

1. do you watch/read the news?  I don't.  I do watch Rush Limbaugh though.  Now don't go hate'in on me:)

2. how would you describe your "look"?  I don't really have a look.  I wear what I like but I could be a little bit of a hippie.

3. did you play sports in high school or college?  I didn't.  I am not athletic.

4. would you rather give up lipstick/gloss or high heels?  High Heels because I don't wear them a lot.

5. what's your favorite show to watch on tv?   I love to many to name just one.  Deadliest Catch is the first one that popped in my head.  Amazing Race, Survivor, 48 Hours Mysteries, The First 48......

6. would you rather bake or cook?  Cook.  I use to do it all the time but with this last move, I haven't cooked that much.  I do love to bake too.

7. shorts or skirts?  Lately it has been skirts since I have gained 10 pounds.  My shorts don't fit as well.

8. what's your favorite scary movie?  I don't watch scary movies.

Check out other's answers over at Mann Land 5. 

 Hope y'all have a good week.

Mel

Texas and a game of basketball.

I should call this Texas Post 1 since I can't show you all the pictures in one post.  So, I will break it up into a couple of posts for y'all.  As I just typed this, I remembered that I haven't even showed you all the pictures from our vacation last year.  That is a must do post!

We decided to fly to Texas to visit my sister in law and her family.  We usually try to visit every summer but since we have moved so much in the last couple of years, we haven't been since 2009.  It was high time for a trip out there for some family fun.

Had to travel in my new Pleated Poppy scarf.  Loving my new purchase:)

Waiting on dad to park the car.

Usually I read on any flight that I take but this time Caden asked to play me in a game of scrabble on my IPad so that is what we did.  Gary always brings some type of history book to read:)

Flying into Ft. Worth and loving all the wide open spaces with touches of green!

So we flew out on a Thursday evening because my nephew was only going to be home until Sunday and we wanted to see him.  He is in college in Arkansas and his spring break was the week before Caden's so that is why we left a little early.

I have to say that when this group gets together, it is nothing but a big competition.  Courtney & Christopher (my niece and nephew) play college basketball and Gary & Chris seem to forget that they are 43 & 45 years old.  I think you know where this is headed.

This was the first thing they all did.

The grown men trying to whip up on the college kids:)

The boy who doesn't play basketball;-)

The whole time my sweet pea was playing, I was praying that he wouldn't have a heart attack!  (that's him shooting the ball)

A great father and son shot.

And lastly, the two old guys resting after dipping their heads in the pool to cool off!  They forget that they are middle aged now:)  I have to say that the old guys held up pretty well. They didn't lose by much;-) That was the only game that they got to play since Christopher had to return to school.

Up next I'll tell you about all the board games we played and my visit with my bestie Nancy that drove up from Houston to see me.