New Endeavors (and an easy card!) and a sneak peek!

So, this won't surprise most of you, but I am NOT a fry-girl! I have never event attempted fried chicken, the closest thing is a pan saute. But lately I'm trying to be a big girl and take on things that I normally would say "ehh, that's too much work" and try it. So because my dear boy loves fried shrimp I thought I would try this Rachel Ray recipe. Cast iron skillet and all!


They were dusted with poppy and sesame seeds as well as garlic salt and pepper.


Kinda tasted like a kicked-up version of Captain D's. Cornbread wasn't too great - no flavor even with added cheese - neede some jalapenos. But the rest was a huge hit and they can't wait to do it again.


And an easy card - white base, three varying sizes of circles, and a sentiment. This went to my niece who had a sweet boy in January - Eli.

WARNING: Total Cuteness Alert - if you can't handle cute - close this out now!

Taylor got to spend the night since it is Spring Break (for my kiddos at least!) and poor Tori had to stay home cause she had "diarina" (diahrrea for the rest of us) and vomitting -poor thing!

When Daddy came to pick Taylor up, it took Tori a bit to warm up and she still kept saying "i don't want a picture!" but Aunt Stacey snuck a couple in anyway. Here is my fav - LOVE that face!

Taylor just couldn't stand being a by-stander as Braden climbed the tree - before you know it there were three monkey's in the tree at once - I'll make you wait til next post to see which ones those were!

Moral - don't be afraid to try something new - you just might like it! Happy Tuesday:)

Where in the Sam Hill's Have you Been?

That's what my mother used to say when she hadn't been able to locate me - that's what you might be saying since it's been so long since I've posted. Several, several things keeping me busy and here are a few.....

Wonderworks field trip. That's us in the picture - he loved changing the screen.


A birthday party with Sweet Bella - you can't get a better face!

Except for maybe this sweet one!!! (I might, just might, be a little partial?!?)

Here is my latest sold project - camera strap cover with zebra fabric and a ruffle. My first ruffle and it too had it's learning curves but it was cute in the end.

Close up - of course the camera never gets the colors exact - ugh!!!

In the midst of all this is church, bridal showers (pics posted later), work, volunteering, etc. The big day is in just 9 days (if I'm counting right) and 10 days til my vacay. Spring Break, who needs Spring Break - Teresa and I are both going on Honeymoons (to separate places of course) so we won't mind working through Spring Break to get to that magical day!

Happy Friday (early!)

$8 - SERIOUSLY!!!

So, I make cards because I love to do it! It's a quick, creative burst that let's my friends know "She really cares enough!" Whatever enough is? Anyway, So this one was for the kid's friends birthday a few weeks back. Cute, with layers, and some rub-ons and Thickers (who doesn't love thickers?) and if I love ya enough to use them on your card - then I love ya! Ha Ha!



This however is a very distant secondary reason for making cards - $8.04! REALLY?!?! YES!!! I meant to make a card, time got away (very seriously away from me!) and so on the way to a party on Saturday I asked David to pick up the card I almost bought Friday night and decided I would make one. So I sent him in after it - when he came out he said "You really should make your own cards! I had no idea it was $8 or I never would've told him to get that one! Anywho - hope you are inspired to save $ and use "old" stash to make your next card.


Happy Tuesday!

Valentine's Recap

So, Valentine's is one of my FAVORITE holidays...is it the chance to unashamedly show your love, is it the sweets, is it the color RED, most likely all of the above! This Valentine's was a bit different since I had been a bit busy with birthday parties and working.

Well I did get some cute stuff together. I have had this desire for a "real" sifter but the old standards are hard to find. However, my dad went on a visit to N. Carolina and found this great one for me. Couldn't have been more excited to use it. I made banana nut bread for the kids teachers for V-day!


Here is the little tag I made with my Cricut Zooballoo cartridge - not red or pink but super cute!


I went to Bradens class and we decorated sugar cookies - they loved it!

Here is a card I made for a friend - I stitched the ribbon and then ran it through the Xyron (cause apparently I have the wrong needle for paper it it messes up everytime!)

A special shout-out to my friends (you know who you are) who check up on me when I am a bit spaced out! I love you and I appreciate your love and friendship! Happy Late Valentine's Day to you all!

Life as I know it right now.

I saw this post HERE and thought I would like to copy it. Maybe it'll save a bit of where I am right now for when I might actually get to scrapbook about it (which seems VERY far off right now) My only ME thing I've done in a bit is buy myself a new wallet (great but kinda necessary) and posting this post. Kinda pitiful: anyway, on to the post.

Outside my window.....It is AMAZING 72 degrees and gorgeous! This, people, is why we live in Florida
I am thinking......of how good it feels today not to have anything that HAS to be done with regards to school.
We are learning .... by we I mean me (but that would be bad grammer!) to take deep breaths and use the word NO more often, just not nearly as often as I should just yet.
I am Thankful for.....my amazing husband. He gets upset at me but is always there to support and help me in all the things I am crazy enough to take on.
From the kitchen......will be frozen pizza tonight. It's Wednesday and that just works out best.
I am wearing...khaki's and a new sweater from LOFT. Oh, and the great bracelet Mason got me for Christmas.
I am going....to keep my sanity for at least one more day - that's all I can promise.
I am reading.....PTO by-laws in an effort to create our personal set - boring, I know.
I am creating .... scrapbook pages for other people. and a random card or two.
I am Hoping .... for five minutes silence at the end of the day to put my feet up.
I am Hearing... my kiddos practice piano.
Around the House....it feels like it is a disaster even though it was just pretty clean two days ago.
My Favorite Thing....is hard to know for sure.
The Rest of the Week ..... PTO meeting, soccer practice, possible hair cut, lingerie shower for my sister, and possibly a free day on Saturday, followed up by church on Sunday.
My Picture to Share....is at Zachary's Restaurant where my love and I went for Valentine's Dinner on Friday night. Followed up by a lovely concert of Phillips, Craig, and Dean.


Try it, it might just feel good to write it all down. Happy Wednesday!

A Good Reason for a Party!

So there's this really great girl I know...she is a wife, a mother, an employee, a runner, oh and did I mention - she's now a CPA! As you might know, my SIL Melissa recently passed the final stage of her CPA exam. After many years of school, several years of study - the wait is over! Now, I am not one who has to look hard to have a party but this one was a while in the making and boy was it a blast to do! Primarily because, Melissa deserves it!

If I were half the blogger I hope to be I would've been better behind the camera, Melissa did alot of picture taking and I'm too impatient to wait for copies so I'm posting what I have.

Here is a little behind the scenes:


The balloons kept Braden busy for a while - he would gather them all up while standing in a chair on his tippy toes and then move them to the other side of the room and then proceed to do the whole thing over again!


The party was a numbers theme (Lisa so loves a theme and as my like-minded party planning friend - we ate that up in about 30 seconds flat) We used black & white with "splashes" of yellow since that is said honoree's favorite color. It turned out really cute. Our prize area was this dessert table. Whatcha think?

This little area was kinda cute too - props to Lisa who bought that candle stand for 25 cents and painted black was quite a hit.

This is an after party pic with the silver candlesticks missing but this looked pretty neat too - very grand with the silver candlesticks - as I said - blogger in training I guess.

p.s. - this number banner for the mantle was my absolute favorite part - probably because it was my brainchild and I did the work myself on this part - either way, I thought it was cute and can imagine so many different ideas for different themes.

We had some little darlings running around too who were quite proud of Mommy as well (and Mommy's cupcakes!)

And of course, very little darlings who enjoyed a little special time (or at least the big one enjoyed her time with the littlest darling)

Once again, a super HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Melissa and a huge THANK YOU to Lisa for helping put this together - it was certainly a highlight!

A Quick Card

and super easy! I just cut a piece of white paper to the width of my chosen envelope and folded it in half. Then I cut the pretty "Vera Bradley" style paper (Abbi's words) to be just shy of all four edges. Instead of cutting a white oval and placing it on top - I cut out an oval from the patterned paper and then placed the letters across the opening. I used my slick writer to line the inside just to ground it with the black letters. This card took a total of EIGHT minutes! Sweet easy and used up some supplies - a good thing!


Hope you can use this for your next "on the fly" card - Happy Tuesday:)