Ninety To Nothin'

Have you ever heard the old saying, "I feel like I'm going ninety to nothin'"? Well that's me today!

*Woke up this morning and got my nails done. I always get a french manicure. That is my favorite.


But, there IS a problem with getting your nails done in the summer. For some reason when I put on sunscreen, it makes my nails turn really sticky and gooey. Does anyone else have this problem?? I have to wear a glove when I put on sunscreen and I look ridiculous! haha

*Did some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. That job is never done, right??

*Put a roast in the crockpot for dinner.

*Took Lindy to the doctor. She has been having so much stomach trouble lately, so they did some tests to see what could be causing the problem. Hopefully it is nothing serious and we can fix it soon.

*Mark got a hole in his tire two days ago and needed a new tire, so I went and picked it up for him. I know he is ready to get his car back asap!


*Since Mark is without a car, I picked him up from a study session he was having at Barnes and Noble and took him home so he could go to work. He is taking a summer math course and has his final tomorrow night.

*Grabbed some lunch with Lindy at our favorite Greek restaurant, Showmars. Got their Greek salad with chicken. I LOVE those pepperoncini peppers they put on their salads! Yumm!



*Ran errands at Wal-Mart.

*Came home and talked to Ashley about her cake tasting today. Her cake is going to have five layers (each layer will be a different flavor) and will look similar to this one except she will be using her wedding flowers in all the fall colors instead of the white balls shown here...


We were going to meet at Hobby Lobby to finalize the center pieces for her reception, but that didn't work out.

*Went to dinner with a good friend of mine. That was fun!

Now I'm getting ready for bed and looking forward to a slower day tomorrow. But before I go, I have a question for you...

Does anyone know a good Bible study for couples to do together?? Not a Beth Moore study or one that is more geared for women. I'm looking for one that would be fun for a couple to do maybe on their own and then come together and talk about after they finish a section. Any ideas??

Simple Summer Fun

I love spending summer nights on our porch. Tonight Laura and Lindy took a big TV out there and invited friends over for The Bachelorette...


and some seven layer cookies! Just some simple fun!


Now for a little wedding update...

We've gotten alot done this week on Ashley's wedding! We decided on center pieces for the reception and got the engagement announcement sent into the paper. Ashley and John also started their pre-marital counseling sessions with my dad today and tomorrow they are going to a cake tasting. And we have been looking at TONS of invitations! Look at these gigantic books!


They have every kind of invitation imaginable in them. We actually found the one she wanted online. It is so classic and pretty. I love it!

Hopefully this week we can go do a little shopping for my dress! I've seen a couple that I really like already.

And this....


is where John and Ashley are most likely going on their honeymoon. I won't say exactly where it is, but it is somewhere tropical. I know they are going to love it and hopefully it will be relaxing and restful after all the wedding hustle and bustle!

And...I am FINALLY almost done with My Sister's Keeper! I know...it takes me forever to read a book. I just hardly have any time! But I think I've decided NOT to see the movie. I have heard how sad it is and I hate sad movies. They give me a really bad headache from all the crying! I think I'll just see The Proposal instead. That one looks cute and happy. That's more my style! :)

New Beginnings...

Today we went to a baby shower for a couple in our Sunday School class. We are having so many boys in our class lately! Just this week, two couples in our class had little boys. Here are Laura and Zach with their new baby boy, Knox.


And another couple, Michael and Heather, had this little sweetie pie, Asher. Isn't he the cutest thing??


And the couple having the shower today are having a little boy in September, so we had a shower/cookout for them today. It was sooooo HOT! We stayed in the nice cool air conditioning though.

Tonight Steve's parents had us over for dinner which was really sweet. They had gone to a farmer's market earlier today and gotten lots of fresh vegetables, so they cooked those for us. I love when someone cooks for me! :)

I thought when summer got here things might slow down. Was that just wishful thinking?? I had a math workshop for school all day on Friday (uuuggghh!...not my idea of a fun way to spend a summer day!). Then I drove to Boone and met Steve and Laura at the freshman orientation at Appalachian. I was so happy for Laura. The orientation is meant to get the freshman excited about coming to school there, and that's just what it did! She loved it and can't wait for school to start. Even though I will miss her so much, I just want her to be happy!

Most of the time she was in meetings, but she did get to spend a little bit of time with us. We had a good time walking around campus and exploring. It is in the mountains, so it is really pretty. My legs are so sore from all the hills! I am really out of shape apparently. Here are some of our pictures....












We have Lindy's orientation in July. I have never been to East Carolina University before, so I am excited to see it! Keep praying for us...we have so many changes and new beginnings ahead of us!

2ew7juambd

We Have A Winner!

Yay! I have had so much fun reading about everyone's favorite perfume! Now I need to make a list of them all and go have a sniffing session at the mall. :)


I loved hearing from all of you, too. It is so great meeting new blogging friends! Maybe I will do another give away in July!??

Okay...I did the Random Integer Generator and this is the lucky winner of the Target Card...

Here are your random numbers:

14
Timestamp: 2009-06-26 00:01:39 UTC

It's number 14...so that is "heartchild"! Send me an e-mail with your address and I will get this card right in the mail to you! Congratulations!

We are in the mountains today up in Boone, North Carolina. We are with Laura at her Appalachian State University orientation. She is having the best time and has already met some new friends. It is absolutely beautiful up here. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow!

While I was driving up here today, I heard on the radio that Farrah Fawcett died today. I remember her from the Charlie's Angel's days. My brother had this poster on his wall. haha


She really was pretty back then and all my friends and I wanted our hair cut like hers! :)

Then while we were attending a barbeque tonight for all the freshmen, we got a text from Lindy that Michael Jackson had died.

He was totally weird, but that is still sad. He just seemed like a tortured soul to me. But I have to admit, I loved him and the Jackson 5 back in the '70's!! ABC, I Want You Back, Got To Be There, Never Can Say Goodbye...I had all those 45 records. He was really cute when he was little, back in the day.


It's crazy that two 70's/80's icons died on the same day!

Perfumania And A Giveaway!

I love anything that smells good...potpourri, candles, and perfume! When I go to a department store, I love sampling all the different perfumes at the cosmetics counter. I like to spray my favorites on one of those little cards and keep it in my purse to make my purse smell good!

Isn't it funny how a certain smell can take you back in time? Since I have always loved perfume, I have had certain fragrances that I have worn at different times in my life and every time I smell them, it takes me right back to that age and stage of life!

The first bottle of perfume I can ever remember owning was back in 1974 when I was in 6th grade! Do you remember Charlie?


I got some for Christmas and I thought it smelled so good and I wore it all the time. I was a "Charlie Girl"!!



Not too long after my Charlie years, I got introduced to Avon's Sweet Honesty. And Avon always had their perfume in some kind of cute little jar or container. I happened to have this little owl...


The perfume inside was really a cream!

When I got to junior high, I went into my Love's phase. I had two favorites...Love's Baby Soft


and Love's Fresh Lemon!!


I alternated between these two for a long time. I thought I was so grown up because I saw advertisements for these two perfumes all the time in my new favorite magazine...Seventeen!


From there, I was on to Clinique's Aromatics Elixer!


This was the hottest thing ever when I was in ninth grade. This fragrance is so unique. I have never smelled anything like it before or since and little goes a long way. I liked it so much, I wore it pretty much all through high school.

Then, in college, I discovered one of my all-time favorite scents...Lauren by Ralph Lauren! When I got to Baylor, I had some friends who wore this and I instantly fell in love with it. I wore it all of my college years and I still love it today.


Now that I'm all grown up, there have been a few perfumes that I have worn and really liked...

I was hooked on Giorgio of Beverly Hills for a while back in the '90's.


Then I started wearing Amarige by Givenchy...


But for a long time now I have been wearing Clinique's Happy!


And I have to say that it is my favorite perfume ever!!! I love it so much and I think I will be wearing it for a long time. I don't ever seem to get tired of it.

So...I want to know what your favorite perfume is!? If you have read my blog very long, you know that I always have tons of gift cards floating around in my purse. I have so many right now that I decided to have a little give away just for fun. I have a $20 gift card to Target to give to away! If you want to play, just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite perfume is. Then I will pick a winner and send you this card.

I will announce the winner on Thursday night. :)

3 K's

1-Keeping Bailey
This morning I got to babysit for my niece Bailey! Ashley has been nannying for her all summer, but today she wanted to have the morning to go to different schools and drop off her resume, so I said I would gladly keep Bailey! She is the cutest thing! First we went to the grocery store. I was buying some squash and I let her hold one. She didn't want to let it go! She held it the whole time we were shopping and kept putting it up to her cheek and saying, "Oooooo...it's cold!!"



After the grocery store, we hit the pool. Wow...I forgot how fast a two year old can move! Bailey loves the water and isn't afraid at all! I got my excercise keeping up with her. :)


Having a snack...



After the pool, Ashley met us for a trip to Wal-Mart and then Laura and Lindy joined us at McAlister's Deli for lunch. Bailey was super good the whole morning!

2-Kit Kitredge
Does anyone have Netflix? We have had it for over a year now and I really love it. I am one of those delinquent people who never can remember to turn a movie in on time, so this plan works well for me. You pay about $16 a month and get unlimited movies...two at a time. Then you can send them back whenever you are done watching them and they send you two new ones. Anyway, tonight Lindy and I are watching Kit Kitredge.


I have been wanting to see it because one of the little girls in second grade at my school is in it! She had leukemia two years ago and her "Make-A-Wish" request was to be in this movie, so she was granted her wish! I can't wait to see her!

3-King Ranch Chicken
Also, several of you requested that I post my King Ranch Chicken recipe from the other day, so here it is!

King Ranch Chicken

4-5 chicken breasts
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. grated cheddar cheese
1 package flour tortillas
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic salt

Boil chicken breasts until cooked through, then chop into bite size pieces. Dice onion and green pepper and sautee in a small amount of vegetable oil until onion is clear. Grease a large casserole dish. Cut tortillas into fourths and place one layer in the bottom of the dish. Layer half the chicken, half the onion and green peppers, and half the cheese. Add another layer of tortillas, chicken, onions and green peppers, and cheese. Sprinkle the top with chili powder and garlic salt.

Mix soups together and pour over layers. Top with Ro-tel tomatoes, including liquid. Top of the casserole will be wet.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

I always eat this casserole with what I call Mexican Salad. Since I'm giving out recipes, here is the recipe for this salad:

Mexican Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce
1 large tomato
1/2 vidalia onion
1 can Ranch-style beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Fritoes (optional)
1 bottle Catalina dressing

Chop up lettuce, tomato, and onion. Add beans, cheese, and fritoes and enough dressing to coat. Toss gently.

PS...Lindy is my "hat girl"! She has always loved hats and loves getting new ones. She got this fedora today and I thought it looked really cute on her.



I just had to take her picture in it! :)

Happy Father's Day!

When I got married, I knew I wanted lots of kids. When I was little, some of my favorite shows were The Brady Bunch and The Waltons. I just loved those big families! And I had a few good friends growing up that had big families and I always thought they were so much fun. There was always something going on and someone to talk to or play with. Steve is actually one of five kids and he always felt the same as I did about having lots of kids. We were definitely on the same page when it came to that.

Now we have that big family of our own! God has blessed us and given us what we both really wanted and it has been just as wonderful as I thought it would be. But I have to admit, although it has been wonderful, I didn't know how difficult it could be or how exhausting (mentally and physically) it could be! So God knew just what He was doing when He put Steve and me together. You really need a good partner in this adventure called parenting and Steve has been the best father and husband I could have ever dreamed of! He is so loving and encouraging and positive. Sometimes he makes me laugh at just the right moment...right before I'm just about to lose it!! He is such a good provider for our family, too, and he works so hard for us. He loves to hang out with Mark and play basketball together or talk about world events and politics. And he is so patient with all the girls and their shopping sprees and wedding plans and emotional rollercoasters.

Tonight we went over to Steve's parents' house and grilled out steaks. My parents came too. It was a fun night just to sit outside and talk and enjoy visiting together. Laura and Lindy got back from Florida tonight and were telling us all about their trip. Mark didn't get there until late and Ashley went to John's grandparents' house for a cookout, so they weren't with us, but I did get a picture of Steve with his girls!


And I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Dad in my life, too. He has always loved me and encouraged me and given me such great advice. He is a sweet grandfather to my children and an excellent role model!


So many blessings...I'm just thankful for them all today! I hope you had a good Father's Day, too! :)

Home Again, Home Again...

When my kids were little they had a children's poetry book with this poem in it:

To market, to market to buy a fat pig
Home again, home again, jiggety jig
To market, to market to buy a fat hog
Home again, home again jiggety jog!

I knew this poem when I was a little girl, too. Now when I get home from somewhere, it always comes to my mind! haha

Anyway...we are home now! I always love coming home even though it is so much fun to go somewhere. I've already gotten our clothes washed and done our grocery shopping. I made one of our favorites for dinner tonight...King Ranch Chicken! Ashley and I also made Paula Deen's Brownie Pizza.


After dinner, she and John went to play cards at Steve's parents' house and she took part of it over there to share.

I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. Isn't that the best thing ever??

We had such a good time in Charleston this week. Right before we left today, we went to an amazing farmer's market that was right across the street from our hotel. I got some home grown tomatoes and corn on the cob, but they had everything from vegetables to jewelry to canned goods to artwork. I took lots of pictures because it was all so pretty! I put them all together in a little collage along with a few pictures I took during the week but didn't show you. So...here is our last day in Charleston!

Charleston-Shopping, Sunning, and Sweltering!

Well, today was our last full day in Charleston! If you ever come here, one of the things you HAVE to do is go to King Street.


I read somewhere today that it is being called the "SoHo of the South" and I can see why! I spent all morning there today shopping. I promise you it has every store you can think of and it is all right there together and so convenient and fun. Steve was working again this morning, so it was the perfect thing to do since he is not a huge fan of shopping! :)

While I was walking down the street this morning, I saw this huge line.


You can't tell it here, but the line wrapped around the building. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I got closer and saw that it was people standing in line to get the new iPhone! :) It was so hot, they had huge coolers of bottled water for everyone in line! If anyone has an iPhone...how do you like it?? It must be wonderful since so many people want one!!

I came back to the hotel around lunch time to meet Steve and on my phone was a text message from Laura. She is on a senior church trip to Florida and she thinks she may have gotten food poisoning. She has been very sick. :( I was worried about her all day, but I talked to her tonight and she said she is feeling better now. Maybe it wasn't food poisoning after all??

This afternoon, Steve and I went to the beach.


It is only about 15-20 minutes from where we are staying. We stopped by Wal-Mart and bought some of those low beach chairs and we had a lot of fun just sitting with our feet in the water and people watching. I think people watching is so entertaining! God sure did get creative when he made so many kinds of people, didn't He??

My sweet friend, Alise, is from Charleston and she told us about a restaurant we should try while we were here, so tonight we got dressed and decided to walk over there. I was even crazy enough to leave my hair down! haha Here I am before we left the hotel.


But by the time we got there we were both drenching in sweat. It was extremely hot today and the humidity is so thick. It feels like you could practically wring water out of the air!! By then, my hair was up and I was ready to get into some air conditioning. But the restaurant was closed! :(

I called Alise and she recommended another place called Hank's. It did not disappoint! We loved it and ended up having a really fun night. I'm thinking when I get back home, I need to go on a very strict diet for about the next month just to recover from the past few days! haha

Tomorrow we are leaving to go back to Charlotte. We may stop and tour a plantation, but we're not sure. Hope you have a great weekend!!

Charleston-Day 2

When we woke up this morning, it was pouring down rain, so I thought the day might consist of just hanging out in the hotel room and watching movies or something since Steve had to work all day today. But by the time I got up and got dressed, the rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing!

Even though I was by myself I didn't let that stop me. I had planned on taking a horse and buggy ride while we were here, but I heard that the walking tours of Charleston are really informative and more in depth, so I decided to do that today. On my way out the door, I had to stop by the coffee bar in our hotel. It smells so good everytime I get off the elevator. So I had my coffee in hand and was off!

The tour I went on was sooo interesting. Our tour guide was amazing and very friendly. He made Charleston really come alive. The tour was two hours long and I am such a nerd...I was taking notes the whole time so I could tell Steve everything I learned! If you are ever in Charleston, I would totally recommend the Tommy Dew Walking Tour. He is an expert on anything you might want to know and so friendly, too! (I didn't take this picture, but this is Tommy leading a tour!)


One thing you just have to accept here in Charleston is that you ARE going to sweat all day and there are pretty much no good hair days here. haha I just came to terms with that and it made for a much happier day.

After the tour, I stopped by Jim 'N Nick's Barbeque for lunch and had a yummy salad with smoked turkey. That place just smells so good when you are walking by, it just draws you in. I ate my salad and talked on my cell phone to Ashley who was interviewing in Charlotte today for some open teaching positions. Please pray for her! She just wants a job somewhere!! :)

When I got back to the hotel, it was time to hit the pool. I took my book and my drink and it was perfect. I LOVE lying by the pool with a good book!!


When Steve got back from work, we got dressed and went to dinner. Here we are as we were leaving the hotel.


After dinner we went on a horse and buggy tour, so I got to do that after all!



Our tour guide had just graduated from USC about two years ago and was a history major so he was really fun and informative! We learned alot and it was relaxing just to sit and ride around.


After our tour, we got our favorite mint chocolate chip hot fudge sundae at Haagan Daaz! We always love those! Since I had been out all day, I was ready to come back to the hotel and just watch a movie and hang out, so that's what we are doing tonight!

Charleston

Our day started bright and early this morning...at around 5:00 actually! Laura and Lindy had to be at the church at 5:30 to leave for their senior trip and Steve was sweet enough to take them. But, of course, I wouldn't let them leave without hugging them goodbye, so I was up early, too.

We had a little mini-crisis this morning. For the past few years, Laura, Lindy, and I have all shared a flat iron and Ashley has one of her own. It has always worked fine...even on vacations. Somehow I've been able to use Ashley's if Laura and Lindy wanted to take theirs somewhere. But today they took theirs and I realized I didn't have one to take to Charleston. So, I figured I would just buy one when I got here since I will need one of my own anyway soon when they leave for college.

Meanwhile, I decided to use Ashley's this morning and then I would be good to go for the day. But when I heated up her flat iron, it never got hot! It kept going on and off, and I managed to get my hair somewhat straight, but not like usual. Then Ashley couldn't straighten her hair either! Her flat iron had broken. That may seem trivial, but believe me, all of us have the curliest, coarsest hair and we NEEEED our flat irons...especially in a city like Charleston that is about 200% humidity!!! So, needless to say, when we got to Charleston today, that was the first order of business...finding a store with a Chi! (Steve thinks I'm crazy, but he is sweet enough to indulge me on this one! haha)

We had a lot of fun today. Here is the Cooper River bridge that we have to cross over to get into Charleston. Isn't it amazing? It is the longest cable-stay bridge in the Western Hemisphere!


Once we got here, we were getting hungry, so we checked into our hotel, then decided to get some lunch. Here I am in the courtyard of our hotel...


For lunch we went to a place called Virginia's on King. Virginia is an actual grandma who loved cooking for her family and eventually opened a restaurant that is a huge hit in Charleston. Here is her picture with her family!


I got one of my all-time Charleston favorite things...She-Crab Soup! It was sooooo good! And I also got another southern favorite...a BLT with fried green tomatoes. Mmmmmm!!

There is every store imaginable here...anything from Gucci to Gap and everything in between. So we did some browsing around after lunch. One of the art galleries that we walked by had this painting in the window and I thought it was so cool. It is a group of Republican presidents (dead and alive...Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George Bush, Nixon, Ford, George W. Bush, Reagan) sitting around a table together just talking and laughing together. They had one for the Democratic presidents too.


One of the things that I love about Charleston is all the beautiful historical buildings. I know I probably went a little crazy taking pictures, but everything is just so pretty.












Tonight we ate dinner at one of our Charleston favorites...Hyman's Seafood. We sat at a table that Erma Bombeck had eaten at! (I love her!)


After dinner, we just walked around downtown Charleston and went down to the waterfront. We got ice cream and just had fun hanging out! I am looking forward to tomorrow!