12 on 12

Sunday 10 on 10s are hard for me, for some reason. I snapped a few pictures of the girls in the morning, but didn't get much more than that, so I decided to do a special set for my birthday. Because, why not? So here it is. My 36th birthday.

{1}

 {2}

 {3}

 {4}

 {5}

{6}

{7}

 {8}

 {9}

 {10}

{11}

{12}

{1} Ginny made me a necklace for my "burthbay." {2} Second cup. {3} Trav got me beautiful flowers even though he already gave me an amazing present. {4} Over the past week Livy and I have watched, with great interest, the demolition of the house next door. I need to do a whole separate post about that. It was really something. We also watched them pull down this HUGE tree. I took this from my dining room window. {5} She watched Monsters, Inc. and I took a nap. That movie is her favorite and naps are mine. {6} Yeah, that's me. {7} Blue skies in the school pick-up line. {8} Second grade homework. {9} Baking my own birthday cake. {10} I'm pretty proud that I was able to watch this happen without having heart palpitations. {11} Sweet dirty faced girl. {12} Ginny insisted on the candle and sang to me. I made a wish. I don't remember now what it was. But I'm sure it will come true.

Read more...

Stuff I Didn't Buy at Goodwill

I ran away from home yesterday. Just for a couple of  hours. I don't remember the last time I left my house alone to do something I wanted to do. And I was feeling the strain. You know where I went, of course.  I bought a pair of jeans and a glass tumbler to replace the one I broke day before yesterday. These are a few of the jewels I left behind. 

Here we have a set of Emancipation Proclamation commemorative drinking glasses, featuring portraits of all your favorite emancipators -- Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, and the like. Why not enjoy a history lesson with that refreshing beverage?

What could be more charming on your breakfast table? Perfect for all of your lobster-eating, champagne-swilling occasions.

Apparently this washPOD is all the rage for infant bathing in Europe. Just fill 'er up and dunk Petit Junior in. It's the most natural way! Olivia would have fit in this for approximately 10 days after her birth.

I think the less said about this the better. 

Now this is a tricky one.  Why -- you are most certainly wondering -- didn't she buy this? Besides the fact that it is a fantastic movie with which I have a long and glorious history, the price is a steal. ($19 on Amazon!) But when I picked it up the case felt suspiciously light. So I opened it up. 

Heartbreak. What kind of a wretch pulls a stunt like this? Unconscionable. 

So, how about you? Had any major retail disappointments lately?

Read more...

Friday

It's Friday, people. Or, as we're calling it in our house, Fall Break Eve. Ginny has the next 2 weeks off from school, and as is my wont, I have grand plans for our doing lots of fun and exciting things. In reality we will probably spend most days in our pajamas watching Disney Junior and eating cereal or popcorn for lunch. Who's excited?

I am still a bit giddy about having a cell phone with a camera that takes half-decent pictures, and I've been having way too much fun with Instagram. Here's what's making me happy.

A few girlfriends and I drove into Nashville last Friday. We went to Burger Up and then walked down the street to Jeni's. It was sprinkling when we got there. It was pouring when we came out. We got drenched... and it was totally worth it. I had Loveless Bisquits + Peach Jam and Black Coffee. Yum.

We had a really foggy morning last week -- so much so that I could barely see to drive Ginny to school. Slightly nerve-wracking, but so beautiful, too.

Ginny had spirit day at school (GO WILDCATS!) and I gave her a fancy braid for maximum school color impact.

This week her school held a Fun Run fund raiser and she ran 35 laps. (Around what? I didn't ask.) She had been looking forward to it for weeks. Last night she told me that she wished every day could be Fun Run day. Personally, I don't feel that the words "Fun" and "Run" should ever be uttered in the same sentence, but I am really, really glad that she loves running. In this case, at least, don't be like me, child.

I put Livy's hair in pigtails today. The joy that this brings to my soul is more than words can tell. She couldn't be any cuter if she tried.

Read more...

In which I look for things to paint.

I spent a good part of this week wandering around my house looking for things to paint. Because sometimes you just need to paint something, you know? A couple of months ago I rearranged a couple of cabinets in my kitchen and dining room, which I should have done years ago, but for some reason it never occurred to me before. Anyway, once the switch had been made I went crazy and decided to redecorate my dining room. All because of this:

Valspar Pantone Universe in Emerald

I went to Lowe's for a perfectly good reason (which I do not now recall) and walked out with this. No plan. Just a color I had to have. Then I spent the next 24 hours wandering around my house looking for something to paint. (Have you noticed a pattern here?) I wound up painting this:

And this (just the shelves. They were a much darker green before.):

 And suddenly the wall color totally didn't work anymore. And it still doesn't because for various reasons (not the least of which was Ginny's being out of school for the summer) I still haven't repainted. But I have plans! Which I will post about another time. Because this post is about how I randomly walk around my house looking for things (besides walls) to paint.

Maybe you've seen this -- "color-dipped" furniture? It's sort of a thing now, I guess.

Source

Source

Source

It isn't actually dipped, of course. Can you imagine what a mess that would be? Although I am sure somewhere there is someone trying to figure out how they are going to dip the top half of a dining chair into a bucket of paint. If that person is you, I apologize. But I really hope that person isn't you. Anyway, here's mine. I love it. Unfortunately it didn't require nearly enough painting to satisfy me, so the wandering continues. 

Read more...

Well, That Happened: Summer 2013 Edition

Summer is over. Today is the last day of Ginny first week of 1st grade. Yeah.  

I had all sorts of great plans for summer. We were going to go to the Splash Pad (We did -- once.), the zoo (twice), the Frist Center (nope), the movies (twice)... basically I thought we would get out of the house and go somewhere new and exciting at least once a week. Realistically speaking that's the most I can handle. Actually, that isn't true. As it turns out, realistically speaking, all I can handle is taking Ginny to her allergy shot once a week and doing my grocery shopping at Walmart (*SIGH*). Is it crazy and terrible that I hate leaving my house? It's not like I'm a hermit or anything. I just hate driving and when we go out somebody always misses a nap or a snack and someone (or everyone) always ends up crying and, I don't know about you, but that really kills my buzz. People don't say that, do they? Whatever. It stinks. 

We did manage to have a little fun (mostly accidental), despite my failures as an activities coordinator. And since I finally got a smartphone (WHOO-PA-DEE-DOO!) I actually took pictures of some of it. Ah, the wonders of this modern age. 

We met Granny for dinner at Cracker Barrel when Trav was out of town.

We went to the Splash Pad and Livy wore her green hat.

I took Ginny to the movies a couple of times. She loved it. And ate a lot of popcorn.

We saw Aslan at Goodwill. 

 We (okay, just Ginny) played with inchworms. 

We took silly selfies.

See? Even Alice thinks it's best if we just stay home.

We (okay, just Ginny again) played Fairy Princess.

 Cora... well, I don't really know what to say about this.

Livy had bed-head...

... and read books with Sissy. And yes I am going to paint the girls' room. But not in either of those colors. And I don't know when. Eventually.

Also, it rained. It rained a lot. And I got trapped in my car, in my own drive-way, with a sleeping toddler and the only reasonable thing to do was to just wait for it to clear up. So I took pictures with my phone and listened to the BBC A History of the World in 100 Objects podcast. Nerd alert.

This darling girl was serving salt and pepper to her baby doll, and talking so sweetly to her. Actually, that was my blond, blue-eyed baby doll when I was a little girl. Who'd have ever imagined that I would one day have a blond, blue-eyed real baby of my very own?

Read more...

On taste and how it changes (or doesn't)

Want to see something funny?

Are you laughing yet? No. That's okay. I haven't told you the funny part yet. I tore this page out of the April 2006 issue of (sadly now-defunct) Domino magazine. I love magazines but I figured out long ago that if I kept every issue of every magazine that ever entered my house we would not longer have any space for slightly more important things like clothing or toilet paper, so I recycle past issues (Don't we all? Wink. Wink.) but not before I tear out the pages of things I want to remember -- pretty rooms that I just like to look at, ideas that I'd like to try, products I want to look up online.  Sometimes recipes, but not so much anymore, because I find I rarely wind up using them, delicious though they may be. All of this I stuff into a big folder, which I look through a couple of times a year. If I can't remember why I tore the page out months later I toss it. Sometimes I'm completely stumped. As in, "Sweet Moses, what was I thinking?" 

Tastes change. Fashions come and go. Fortunately I am not such a slave to trends that most of what I save I still love months, even years later. Which brings me to the page above. See that Urban Outfitters bedspread in the top left corner? Cute, right? Now check this out. 

This is my kitchen window. Look familiar? I bought this fabric (a table cloth and matching napkins -- which we now use every day) at Goodwill early this year and made cafe curtains to brighten up my kitchen. 7 years later, having no memory of tearing that page out of a magazine, the exact same print caught my eye and made its way into my house. I love it. Still. 

Read more...