Happy Mother's Day Mom

Happy Mother's Day Mom.

My first bloom of spring

(Obviously I wrote this awhile back and am just getting around to posting it)
(I just can't seem to get healthy and get on the ball)


today's the first day of spring  

the first day of spring makes me happy 

(although I'll admit to being a fall girl at heart)

Spring brings:

little girls in sundresses

flowers blooming

easter bunnies

john john's on baby boys
neighbors grilling
birds singing

I was happy to find in the mail my first bloom of the season

The children at Trees of Glory made "flower" for their sponsor

families.  Look at that sweet face. 

If you interested in making a difference and becoming a sponsor family,

contact Karen at Family From Afar.

Happy Spring!

Forever Gifts

   Mike's Valentine Gift

One of my all time favorite blogs, Dixie Delights, did a post on special "forever" birthday gifts she 

gives her sons on their birthdays rather than the usual toys.  We all know how our kids get plenty of toys from grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends.  She buys them a gift that they will carry with them and hopefully cherish and use when they have families of their own.  One of her gifts to her boys was 

a house portrait.  She linked an artist on etsy who does pin and ink drawings as well as watercolors.

Mike spends a lot of time taking care of our house, especially in the yard.  He's very proud of it and gets lots of compliments for his hard work.  As we age (don't you just love that expression) we are beginning to think more often about what to do in the future.  Do we want to downsize? 

Do we want to move to a new weather friendly location?  What do we want our future to look like?  We don't have all the answers yet but we know some point in our future we will have to make a decision.  When we first got married we lived in Mike's house for a few years but it was really never our home.  This house we had built.  We went through all the decisions of what we wanted and needed.  Some decisions we choose well and others not so much but I know this will be the house

 that always represents "our family home".   I thought it would be a great idea to have a 

painting so that we would always have it as a reminder should make to decision to move on.

I commissioned a watercolor and the artist did such an awesome job.  We were so happy with it.

The watercolor itself is 9x12.  It comes with a white matte which makes the portrait 12x16.  I thought I would easily be able to find a pre-made frame in that size.  After searching Michaels, JoAnns, Kohls, Walmart, Target and Hobby Lobby, I just could not find a frame that I was happy with.     In order to have a custom frame made it was going to cost about $140.00 which wasn't in my budget.  A very sweet employee in the framing department at Hobby Lobby suggested that I just get an 11x14 frame and have a new mat cut.  Now why didn't I think of that.  I knew a wanted a pewter color frame because I'm going to hang this in our bedroom and am planning on a "renovation" this year.   The colors will be grey, white, silver and an accent color not determined yet.   I found the perfect style and color 11x14 in frame at 50 % off from Hobby Lobby for 14.99.  I decided the have the matte ($6.00) cut in black to play off the future wall color.   So for a total of $21.00 I got the custom look I wanted.  

The artist, Paul Young has an etsy shop.  Not only does he do beautiful work,  he was professional and made sure I got my portrait in time for Valentine's day for my sweetie even though

I didn't make the order until January.

I want to thank A from Dixie Delights  once again for her constant inspiration
and resource list.  I just love her traditional and southern coastal style not to mention
her very sweet children and family parties.  Thank you for my new tradition of
forever gifts for my husband, children and grandchildren.

Valentines (better late than never)

I'm really going with the "simplicity"theme this year in my seasonal decorating.  I added a few new ideas to a few of my old favorites and spread little touches throughout.

I made this with a heart styrofoam wreath and tule, cut in strips and tied around 

the shape.

Easy but somewhat time consuming. 

Very happy with the results.

I gave my daughters, sisters and friends some homemade sugar scrub and put into

cute little mason jars as little token of what they mean to me.

Wishing you all the blessing of love on this special day.

Remembering to be grateful in all things

911.  grandkids smiling for pictures

912.  my grandma and papaw enjoying their shared birthday in heaven today with jesus

913.  mike's new hearing aids 

(he can finally hear well after 22 years)

914.  lent

915.  trip next week to see my northern grandbabies

916.  taylor who amazes me constantly with her courage to try new things

917.  my little sister's engagement

916.  gno birthday's for two of our girls

917.  blogging friends who encourage and inspire

918.  a beautiful weekend with cold snuggling weather

919.  my sister-in-law done with her radiation treats

                       

Playing Catch-up

I really had great intentions on posting more often.  I don't really have an excuse, just nothing interesting to say.  Playing catch up with some fun events.

I took Ryan out for a birthday lunch.  Loved playing catch up.  I told him he needs

a hair cut but he's letting it grow for a specific event in March and he promised he'd get it 

cut afterwards.  Am I ever gonna stop being "that" mom.  The one who suggests to her all grown up

son that he needs a haircut, shave and all the other "suggestions" that I'm sure he doesn't need or

want to hear but always listens to with a smile.  Love this boy.

Happy Birthday Bubba

Had a fun GNO in January at Kathie's house.  We've been doing alot

of craft nights since last September.  This night we made pillows.

I made a cute silvery gray pillow for my bedroom reno that I'm planning this year.

I'll be adding a flower with a rhinestone pin in the corners and will update a

picture when I finish.   

I didn't get pictures of everyone (or their finished results) but I wanted to show what cute and 

delicious treats that Kathie's daughter, Krysta, made for us.

Button cookies and cupcakes with fondant spools of thread on top

Other exciting happening:

My BFF (am I allowed to say that at my age) drove into town all the way

from Mobile for a much needed and long awaited weekend together.

our dog Koby loves his Aunt Janet

We had a two day visit:

stayed up "really late" at night talking

mike took us to the movie, identity theft  (really funny)

quick hobby lobby shopping trip

janet treated us to lunch

girls day shopping together

yummy salads at the mall

oh yes janet, i did post a picture of our lunch  ha

she made her famous fried rice for dinner when we got home

she makes the best in the world as every member of my family has 

declared time and time again

yep, i put a picture of your fried rice too

after dinner we had a late night marathon of season 1 of "the walking dead"

i know, what is a person my age watching this show

i admit it, i'm a closet fan of the show and janet is a true

kindred spirit.  janet had never seen the show and loved it, hence the marathon

sadly she had to go home to be with her family the next day but

happy to say we've already planned my next visit to her

until then bff, phone calls and texts will have to do 

the quality of the pictures above are awful because i have been

using my cell phone.  so easy to use but i always hate the results.

Remembering to be grateful in all things

903.  visits from best friends

904.  girls night out crafting (my favorite)

905.  eli's 1st birthday

906.  spending time with my sisters at a cooking class

(thanks Michelle for setting that up)

907.  a sweet valentine from Dylan for my mom

908.  my sweet friend how made a cute outfit for my granddaughter who loves twirly skirts

909. God who is always willing to give second and third chances

910.  two friends expecting grandbabies in September

Favorite Pick

This favorite find came about by accident.  One of my Christmas gifts from my husband was a beautiful

heart necklace from Brighton.  The problem is he'd already gotten me "very similar" necklaces before.

                                                                               Opps!

Even though I was thankful for it, I asked if he minded if I just took it back because, well as I stated before, I already had so many of them.  I didn't want anything in exchange.  I told him just to put the

money back on the card.  I didn't want or need anything and he was just fine with that.  :-)

We decided to walk around the mall for a little while (first mistake) and ended up in Anthropologie.

My husband actually saw it first and found me in the store (second mistake).  I feel instantly in love.

We both did actually.   I have a mirror hanging over my piano that I've never really been fond of.

It was my husband's before I even met him but it was a nice mirror and I never really saw a reason to change it.  Well, now I had a reason.  So today's favorite find is:

Coat of Arms Anthropologie Mirror

Mike, stop reading this post now.

My only problem is the frames that have my kid's senior pictures on each side don't exactly 

match so I'll be trying to decide on exactly what to do about that in the future.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Everyone have a blessed weekend.

Winter Mantle

when you live in Florida you pretty much have to dream of a "white winter"

after the christmas ornaments came down everything looked so bare 

and empty and even though  my word of the year is simplify 

 i just needed a little something

and i  felt the beginning of January might be pushing it on the valentine decor

so my solution was a little winter mantle

i already had everything except the wooden snowflake banner and a framed winter sayings list

i would of loved to make  a winter "to do list" but  that's not going to happen here

I already had the frame (from Hobby Lobby) so all it cost was a piece of scrapebook paper.

the wooden snow flakes were were 80% off at Michaels (after Christmas sale)

which made them about 50 cents a piece and I just sprayed painted them white

and strung them on fishing line

***************

I was so blessed to be the winner of a giveaway from Melissa of  "A Little Loveliness"

I will tell you that this is the best smelling homemade soap I ever seen

and it has the softest texture too it

I haven't decided if I'm gonna use it myself or save it for my best friend 

who's coming for a visit soon

that's gonna be a hard one

:-)

Thank you Melissa 

(One of my favorite blogs ever who puts on the most beautiful and fun parties)

and Thank you My Sister's Antiques

located in Loganville, Georgia

(770) 554-4900

for sponsoring the giveaway and making such a lovely product