Short & Sweet

What's been going on with me, short & sweet version:

• Got my hair trimmed and colored Tuesday. She toned down some of the highlights with the result more like what I wanted the first time around. I really like it. No pic yet - sorry.
• I've felt pretty crappy the last few days...I think it's all the junk I ate last week/weekend. BLAH.
• I'm really looking forward to going to Nashville tomorrow, although I hope I feel better by then. Gotta be able to enjoy all the food Saturday!
• I haven't packed the first thing for said trip and have tons to do before I go! (laundry, bathe the dogs, put away all my scrappy stuff from Saturday, etc.)
• I could sooo go back to bed right now.

Scrapping with Friends

Two of my friends, Jeannie & Heather, came over yesterday around noon and we had ourselves a little scrappy slumber party. Brandon was working, so they brought their stuff and we just made a night of it. It was so fun! Our other friend, Rachel, was supposed to come, but she's not feeling well and couldn't make it. Hope you're better after tomorrow, Rachel! :)

You can't scrapbook with out good food, right? Well, we had tons of it! You can see most of the spread in this picture of Heather. We had spinach dip & tortilla chips, onion dip & potato chips, spicy pretzels, apples & grapes with unbelievably good fruit dip, barbecue nachos, Oreo delight (made by Heather with a recipe courtesy of Becky Higgins' awesome blog, here), marinated cheese, and mimosas. Everything was great, especially the mimosas, which I'm posting the recipe for below. Click the links above for some of the other recipes we used.

Party Mimosa

(From AllRecipes.com)
6 oz. mango nectar

6 oz. apricot nectar
12 oz. pineapple juice
3/4 cup cold water
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 (750 milliliter) bottle cold champagne

Stir together apricot nectar, pineapple juice, water, and orange juice concentrate in a large pitcher until combined. Pour in bottle of champagne just before serving.

This recipe would also be awesome with ginger ale instead of champagne. It would make a great punch and would be really pretty with some frozen fruit or sliced citrus floating in the punch bowl with it. Ginger ale would also be a little safer method of making this drink. Have you ever opened a bottle of champagne?? Well, it's not something I do very often. In fact, I'm not sure if I ever had before last night. Let's just say that when you see a warning label on the top of a bottle, they mean business. I nearly took out a whole shelf of photos and other breakables when the cork finally popped out on the first bottle. (Photo on Heather's blog here.) Later that night when I made another batch to go with our yummy BBQ nachos, I was understandably a little gun-shy! LOL

We had a lot of fun scrapbooking and talking into the night. We were still scrapbooking away when I looked at the clock and realized it was after 2:00! We got to stopping points, put away all the food, and got ready for bed. By the time I crawled under the covers it was 2:30! I can't believe we all got up and going this morning. Go us! I did succumb to a nap when Brandon & I got home from the meeting this afternoon. I'm getting too old to pull all-nighters! LOL

Here are the layouts I did for the kids' albums last night. (Click to enlarge.) I was really happy with how they all turned out, and I'm using up lots of paper scraps and embellishments that have been in my stash for years. Yay!

I cut this anchor out several times from my Going Places cartridge and then just stacked them on top of each other for some depth. I was very pleased with the result.

See the little shrimps on Logan's version of the layouts below? His journalling will tell about the two plates of shrimp he ate at dinner the first night on our cruise. I found the SVG file here and cut them out with my Sure Cuts a Lot software. Score!

A Little Catching Up (Edited)

I haven't posted in a few days and so I thought I'd catch up a little. It wouldn't be a big deal except that by the time I get around to this week on my Project 365 album, I'll be like, "WHAT did I do that week??" Sadly, I have slacked on my daily photo taking, but if I can keep up with my day-to-day activities on my blog, then at least I'll have something to say for each day of the year, even when I'm missing a photo.

Let's see...

Last Monday, Brandon & I drove to Sheffield when I got off work. I had found a wicker table & chair on Craigslist. It was listed for $35, but I took a chance and offered $25, and the girl took it. It needs some paint and a little work on the seat, but I think I got a great deal. I can't wait to have all these pieces I've been collecting all put together on our newly re-decorated back porch!

Wednesday night I stopped at Jeannie's on my way home from the meeting and picked up Harley. We kept her until Friday so they could go out of town to take care of some family business. Needless to say, we had a doggie party for a couple of days. Bogart loved having someone to run around and play with since Duchess rarely wants to play with him.

Friday evening, Kim came over and we made a bunch of bookmarks for her to take with her to Paris this week. She wanted something to give out to her new friends with her contact info. They turned out cute, and I enjoyed having someone to craft with. Brandon had to work that night, so I also had some company instead of sitting at home by myself. Jeannie picked up Harley around 10:00, and then Kim left around 10:30.

Saturday morning I went out with my aunt Mary, Kim, Rachel, and Colleen. We had a really nice morning. Afterwards, Mary & I cut bouquets of zinnias from her garden and took them to a couple of friends in the local assisted living facility. I wish I had had my camera. The bouquets were really pretty and colorful, and they brightened the days of those two sweet ladies. I enjoyed our visit with both of them.

Sunday morning Brandon and I had a little adventure. After working all night, he came home and got ready to go to the meeting with me. At 9:30, we started out the door. For a fleeting moment, it occurred to me that I'd better grab my keys off the desk where I had left them the day before, but then I was distracted by a light left on in the back of the house. By the time I turned that off, I had totally forgotten that my keys weren't in my purse where they always are, and I rushed out to the car where Brandon was waiting on me. Locking the door behind me. With my keys inside. Aaagghh! It took us an hour and a half to get back into our house. Suffice it to say that we missed the meeting that morning.

That evening after Brandon went back to work, I finally got some progress made on the albums I'm putting together for Hannah & Logan. Each layout is pretty much the same for each album, except with different colors. I'm trying to let go of trying to do the "perfect" page with tons of details and embellishments and just be simple for this project so I can get done and get them in the mail. I'm getting the pages done first and then will go back and fill in all the journaling at the end. I love what I have so far! Hopefully I'll get lots more done this weekend. I've invited a few friends over for a day of scrapbooking. I'm really looking forward to it!

Food Network Festival

There is a Food Network Southern Food & Wine Festival coming up in Nashville at the end of the month. My very favorite celebrity chef - Alton Brown - will be doing one of the seminars. How fun will that be?

Unfortunately, Brandon's working that weekend. I talked to him about it though and he had no problem with me going without him...which I hate to do because I know he would enjoy it. However, I really want to go, so I'll go enjoy it for both of us. :) His sister Abby lives in the area, so I'll be spending the weekend with her. She's going to the festival with me. She isn't an AB fan and didn't care about going to his seminar, so I'll be doing that part by myself. I can live with that! I just ordered our tickets. I can't wait!!

I do have one gripe about the festival. There is a meet & greet after Alton Brown's seminar, but you have to have a separate ticket to attend. I can deal with that part; I was willing to buy one. The catch is that you have to buy a hotel package with 2 nights (we're talking hundreds of dollars here) and all this other stuff in order to get one of the meet & greet tickets. How fair is that to the people who live in Nashville?? Not to mention the rest of us... Oh well. At least I can do the seminar!!

Girls' Weekend

Saturday morning, I picked Jeannie up around 10:00 and we headed to Memphis for our girls' weekend away. We had tickets for a show at the Orpheum for 2:00 and had decided to go straight there, get a parking spot, and then find somewhere to eat lunch. At 12:30, we pulled into the almost-full parking lot right next to the Orpheum. I was hoping we would be able to park close by and we barely did. We wanted to be in our seats early, so we set out walking to find lunch somewhere close.

We decided to eat at BB Kings, which is only about a block away on Beale Street. I had never been there and wanted to try it anyway. We shared an appetizer combo plate which consisted of ribs, fried pickles, hot wings, and potato skins. It was all great! We also got some fries because we werne't sure how big the combo would be, but we couldn't eat it all. And they were really busy, so it took forever to get our food and so we had to eat fast when it came out. We barely made it back to the Orpheum and got our seats before our show started.

After the show was over, we went to our friend Vanessa's house. She and Tim were nice enough to let us stay with them so we didn't have to get a hotel room. Jeannie, Vanessa, and I have all known each other for years - Vanessa & I practically since diapers, and then Jeannie and her family moved here about twenty years ago. Anyway, so the four of us went out to Joe's Crab Shack for supper. Mmmm!!! After supper, Tim went to play pool with a friend and left us at the house watching a movie. It was a fun night. :)

Sunday before we went home, Jeannie & I hit a couple of stores that we don't have at home. First stop was Jo-Ann. We love that place! And we scored big time too because almost all their scrapbooking supplies were 40% off. I got paper (liked I needed more), a couple of adorable stamp sets, and some Xyron refills. They also had a lot of summer things marked 70% off, so I got a really pretty candle holder for the back porch. After JoAnn's, we went down the street to Aldi for a few groceries. We made it home around 4:30.

Something to Make You Smile

My sister-in-law sent me a link to this video of an a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia performing the 80's song, "Africa." It's amazing and definitely worth your time. Turn up the volume and enjoy! :)

Mom's Plant Stand

My aunt Mary brought over something else to add to my growing collection of things to fix up for the back porch makeover. It's one of my mom's iron plant stands. It's not in great shape right now. It needs a couple of spots welded back together and a good coat of paint, but it will be perfect when I get it fixed up. Plus, it was my mother's, so it's special to me! :)

In other outside news, my little garden has really picked up! Check out my gardening blog for an update and pictures.

Ready for the Weekend!

I'm really looking forward to my girls' night out this Saturday. Jeannie & I are going to Memphis for a show and then are spending the night with Vanessa & Tim. It'll be nice seeing Vanessa again and will be fun being there with Jeannie as well. We'll have to talk old times! :)

Last night Brandon rented New in Town for me when he took his video game back to Movie Gallery. I've been wanting to see it again since the night Jeannie & I saw it in the theater. It's so funny! Brandon even thought so. We watched it while he smoked a rack of ribs for supper. Yum!

I finally started on the kids' scrapbooks last night. It looks like it's going to be a long process. Why can't I just pick out some paper and slap a few pictures down on the page and be done with it?? I'm sooooooo slooooooooow when it comes to scrapbooking. Maybe I can pick up the pace and get done before too long. I need a scrap night with my girlfriends to motivate me! (Hint, hint, ladies!)

3-Day Weekend

I had a nice, long weekend. Thursday when I got off work, Brandon and I went to his mom’s house to spend some time with Hannah & Logan before they had to go back to Kentucky. Cathy made chicken piccata for supper, which was awesome. We really enjoyed our evening with the kids. We even went out with them to pick veggies in the garden. They really enjoyed that. We’re going to miss them!

We ended up staying at Cathy & Eddie’s until nearly 9:30. On our way home, we stopped at Kroger for groceries. It was nice that I didn’t have to get up and go to work the next morning, so we took our time. We got home around midnight and got all our groceries put away and finally went to bed.

The next morning, the dogs woke me up at 5:30 needing out. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to go ahead and get up and head out. I had decided the day before to get out and look for some yard sales to see if I could pick up some inexpensive stuff to help redo our back porch. I had already called my aunt Mary and our friend Martha, who both wanted to go with me. Since it was still so early, I hit a few yard sales in town before going to pick them up.

We went all over the whole county, driving back roads and watching for signs on the highway. We actually found a lot more sales than I expected with it being a holiday weekend. It was a lot of fun. I don’t remember the last time I went to yard sales, and I really enjoyed spending the time with both of them! And Mary treated us (she insisted!) to lunch at a local restaurant, so that was nice. We wrapped up our shopping after lunch, and I took them home. Here are a few of my finds that I intend to fix up and use on our back porch. (“After” pictures to come soon!)

I was exhausted by the time I got back home around 1:00. Brandon was still asleep (he had to work that night) so I crashed on the couch and took a nap myself. The rest of the day was pretty much lounging around until after he left for work. By then, it had cooled off enough for me to get out and work on the back porch some. I cleared off all the clutter that has accumulated for so long. Some stuff went in the trash, some back to our shed, and some is sitting inside the back door waiting for a home. LOL Anyway, it looked much better when I was done!  Here's a before picture.  I'll post an after picture when I'm totally done. :)

Saturday morning I got up and went out in service when Brandon got in from work. I got to work with my aunt and some friends I don’t get to work with much. We had a good morning. That afternoon was pretty laid-back. It was just too hot to get outside and do anything else! I had intended to work on the kids’ scrapbooks from our cruise, but I couldn’t seem to get myself into a scrappy mood. I hate that!

Yesterday after the meeting, Brandon and I came straight home. He was exhausted from working the past two nights. We fixed some lunch from the taco-fixings we had leftover from Friday’s supper, and then he fell asleep on the couch. I watched the rest of “Little Dorrit”, the mini-series I had recorded on PBS a while back. It was really good, even if it was a tear-jerker part of the way through. For supper, we had rib eyes and fries, another unhealthy meal…We’ve GOT to do better about that! But, Brandon wanted to celebrate having a Sunday evening off. LOL And they were good!

We Rescued Him!

Just look at that face!! This poor little doggie was sitting in a live trap in our main plant this morning. The guard said they've been trying to catch him and his littermate for a while. Apparently, they were born on the property and have been roaming around, getting in the garbage, and generally being nuisances for the last few months. They finally got a trap from the city and caught this little guy last night.

It broke my heart to see this baby shivering in that cage. He was scared to death, and no doubt thirsty & hungry too. The guard had fed him a little bit and given him some water, but surely he needed more! The guard told me that the city was sending someone to pick him up today...I couldn't bear to think about what would happen to him once he was picked up, so I went to the car and got my camera and decided to at least try to find him a home.

I honestly didn't think I would be able to in time, but low & behold, one of the guys in my department called his mother, and she said she would take him! Chris called the guard to tell him, and his reply was that she'd better hurry up and get up here because they were coming for the little guy. Another animal-lover in our department stepped up to the plate and said we'd just go get him and take him to his new home before the city could get here!

In no time, we had the little dog, now named "Red" at his new home. It took a while to coax him out of his cage, but before long he was exploring and getting to know his new doggie friends. Mission accomplished!

In a Makeover Mood!

I'm seriously unhappy with our back porch. It's pretty much just a place for Brandon to grill and a catch-all for lawn & garden tools. I really want a nice, inviting place where we can sit outside on nice days. Our budget for a back porch makeover is virtually non-existent, so I need some creative ideas for using things we already have to make our back porch a nice place to hang out while still having some functional storage for what's already out there. I thought my friends in blog land might have some suggestions!

A little info for those who haven't seen our back porch: It's a concrete slab...maybe 10'x20'. (I'll have to measure to be sure.) It's accessed by French doors and a rock step-down. Our house is brick, so of course one side of the porch is lined by a brick wall. Around the other three sides are some pretty neglected raised beds. They're pretty much just dirt and the occasional weed. I plan to fill them with mulch. Brandon has two grills out there, one on either side of the door. We have no patio furniture other than some molded plastic chairs, but that is one thing we plan to purchase.

Some things I've thought of are hanging some Christmas lights around the roof, setting some potted plants out, and finding some kind of storage for all our junk that's out there. I also thought of hanging something on the walls. I need some inspiration! Anyone have ideas? Photos? I'm thinking of working on this this weekend...and maybe even while Brandon's at work and surprise him. We'll see! :)

Quiet Week

Most of our department is at work this week, as well as a handful in the other offices, but the plant is shut down. It's been pretty quiet around here. It makes for a long day! At least we're off Friday for an "observed" holiday. I'm looking forward to vegging around the house all day! :D

Yesterday Brandon and I went with Kim & Gerald on their studies with Olga & Josh. They are doing so great, and I really enjoyed sitting in on Olga's study with Kim. It's really encouraging to see people learn about the Bible and progress. :) When we got home we watched our new DVD, which is awesome!

I think tomorrow we're going to Brandon's mom's house to visit with Hannah & Logan before they have to go back to Kentucky. We want to see them one more time before they leave because it might be a while before we get to see them again. It should be a fun evening and will be nice that I don't have to get up early on Friday morning!