Making the time...

This past week Brian and I decided to break up the work grind with a dose of nature and a hike.  There is a mountain with a beautiful trail very close to our house. So, off we went...

This is the bridge that greets you at the beginning. 

It really is a very scenic trail.

Now, I didn't get any pictures of all the rocks we tripped over or the trees that I had to hang on to to keep from sliding down the side of the mountain when I was gasping for air trying to keep up with Brian.  Apparently, we chose the shorter but steeper trail and the switchbacks were a killer.  It was a challenge but in the end it was totally worth it.

Look at the view!

You can see Atlanta from the top and a nearby lake.

It was so peaceful & quiet with perfect weather.  We really enjoyed it because rarely do things go this right for us when we try to do something outdoors.

We sat on this bench a good while and talked about everything & nothing.

Sweaty, happy people.

We left our mark..

God is good.

We slept well that night.  I hope you take time to enjoy something simple this week.

Happy Day!

Today is a special anniversary for me and my husband.  We met exactly 6 years ago..so every July 14 we try to do something just a little special..nothing major, but something nice.  Usually we go to the restaurant where we had our 1st date.  It's a very charming place off a very cute square in a nearby town.

Well, this year I pulled out ALL the stops for Brian.  Do you want to see what I gave him for our special day?? 

A destroyed hallway that needs to be put back together!!!  JUST what he wanted...

  While he's doing the trim & molding...I'll be painting these frames (all for $25 at ReStore)..

and finish taping then paint the hall door..

So.....

He's VERY understanding of my wonky ways...one of the many, many reasons I adore him!

I'll leave you with some Norah Jones and one of our favorite songs.....

Stargazers, Catch Up & Hallway!

 If you were here, I would tell you that you MUST smell this beauty....

Stargazers are my favorite flower.  

I have a few that come back every year and this year they were huge!

 I didn't have to edit these pics. They had just bloomed & were perfect.

Ok, now on to this last week.. I'm not going to bore you with all the details, so here's the Reader's Digest version.

First of all..do you guys know what this is?

That's Goliath. It's an INSANE roller coaster at Six Flags.  

Rule #1, don't ride roller coasters when you're stopping for Pepto on the WAY TO Six Flags because you feel queasy.  Rule #2, LOOK at the roller coaster BEFORE you get on it.  I didn't do that. I just got in line behind my husband and hopped on...like an idiot.

 Sure, it was a thrill to feel my face smearing off as we zoomed along the track and down a 175 ft. drop at 70 mph, but was it worth it? You tell me, I got off the ride, went straight to the ladies' room & barfed.  I was a trooper though..we were at the park another 7 hours (SEVEN HOURS) after that, spending the last 2 hours soaking wet from all the water rides.  My conclusion, I think I'm getting too old for some of this.

The next highlight was a fierce storm that blew through July 4th.  Lightning knocked on my front door, came in and cooked my modem, seriously..it was FRIED.  So after many, many phone calls to AT&T and a delivery from UPS, we have a new modem and are up & running.  Being offline was strange, to say the least.  I didn't realize how much I rely on the internet; the upside is, I got a stupid amount of projects either finished or nearly finished (applause, applause).  The newest one started is my hallway...

 Kinda before:

 I took all of our pictures down, then remembered to take a picture.

 After I have worked my magic with spackle.  Since this is a small space, I'm going to do something that packs a punch.

I'm inspired by this:

                                       Coco&Kelley

 I'm not quite sure exactly how I'm going to paint the hall or the frames yet but I love LOVE this picture. This is beadboard all over but I think white paint will have a similar impact, as long as the details are done well.

I finally have stuff to share on the den but since I didn't want to do megapost, I thought I'd wait until tomorrow.  I'll talk to you later & it's good to be back online!!

Hugs,

Whatchadoin?

I've been up to my eyeballs in alligators!

Work, work, work..

I work from home which is awesome and I'm totally blessed to have such a good job, so I don't complain.  But when it gets busy at my office, I just settle in because I know that I'm not going anywhere or doing anything except meeting deadlines (the joke around my office is we'll all have company issued catheters, so we won't ever have to leave our computer!)

That means..no blogging, no painting, no new cool finds...

seriously, it's sad.

But, wait..what's this?

It's daylight!!  I'm coming out of the dark tunnel of deadlines, conference calls & late nights and into the light!

And I'm thrilled!!!

But I have to tell you this,  you know I LOVE my cats but I swear they are going to put us in the poorhouse!  Three of them came down with a terrible case of the kitty flu/strep.  They are all ok now, thank goodness (after several trips to the vet and swipes on my debit card)!  Giving one cat meds is bad enough, but THREE was miserable and they all have devil claws to boot!

That was at the beginning of the week THEN I was cleaning out a desk drawer and moved the garage door opener - didn't think a thing about it. So I'm just piddling around the house, doing my own thing and then I wondered where all the cats where..no one was around.  Well,  I accidentally OPENED the garage door when I moved the opener and let all my cats out and didn't realize it until about 1.5 hours later.  So we had to round them up at 10pm with flashlights and that took hours..one came back the next morning like the conquering hero..bunch of dummies.

On the upside, we actually started putting the finishing touches on the den this weekend.  My goal is to get everything finished (except the flooring) this week. We're painting the ceiling now and it's NOT white!  Woohoo!

Well, I just wanted to say hi!  Talk to ya soon -

Aliens & Tables & Mom!

That pretty much sums up my Mother's Day! Before anything else, I want to thank my mother, Betty Jane. My brother, sister & I have been blessed, truly blessed, with a generous, strong, kind, light-hearted, sincere, faith-walking, praying, spanked you when you needed it, unconditional-loving mother. I spent Saturday (Sunday too!) with her...

If this picture disappears you'll know she didn't like it and made me take it down.

We had a nice lunch & bought beautiful fabric!  How awesome is that?  Here are a few of the things I gave Mom..

I just love the whole look of this one.  It's perfect in her living room!  It was part of the furniture pile I brought home a week or two ago.

Here's the before:

I had already sanded the top down.

Next, lamps....

 I also gave her set of brass lamps a lift.  She loves them - mission accomplished!  (But let me just say this, you'd have to pay me $1000 to make another lampshade like this...no how, no way..nuh-uh.  Burlap is miserable to work with..I know it's dearly loved by many, but it sure can mess up your contacts with all that lint flying around.  Not to mention when you have hot glue stuck to your fingers and burlap lint stuck to the hot glue..MIS-ER-yyyy.) But if you are up for a challenge, then click here to see how I made this shade.

Here's the lamp before:

We had these when I was a kid..time for a change.  Oil Rubbed Bronze & the shade update brought them back to life!

One more table..

Looking a little tired & very, very brown.

 Again, it's perfect for her living room. I just love the lines of these tables..SO pretty! A little paint & elbow grease go a long way..and a really good sander.

 

And seriously, how could you not appreciate that beauty?

As for my Mother's Day...

 Hey...what's this?  For moi?  

(BTW, delivery person - don't mind the plants, just drop it anywhere!)

On top of living with two funny guys who keep my life interesting & full of love, they gave me a spray painter for my special day!  No more aching hands or wrists from holding a brush for hours!

 My two sweetheart aliens take good care of me!

Before I go..

 Little Birdie here is hoping you all had a wonderful time celebrating Moms!

and Betty left you some flowers....

Talk to you soon!


P.S.  I'm linking to the side bar parties!

Savannah or Bust...

Hello, Hello!!!  I'm back all refreshed & rested...it feels great (I hope it lasts).  We headed south this past weekend and spent 3 days in gorgeous Savannah, GA.  We really needed to get out of town and just relax.  It was a 5 hour drive and our timing was perfect because we missed a bunch of storms while we were gone.

I'm just going to load you down with some shots around town.  We started at the Bonaventure Cemetery.

 These pictures don't do justice to the beauty of this statue.  It's carved marble from Italy. The azalea's were scattered around her when we got there.  It was stunning and very sad.

"Allured to brighter worlds and led the way."

Brian taking in the Jesus statue marking a family grave.

The details were amazing.  Again carved marble from Italy.

 

This lady was an actor telling the story of her husband's death.  It was a little jarring to see her gliding through the graves.

  

 Azaleas were in full bloom.

 Trees covered in Spanish moss.

 John Wesley Square

 Market Square
This is where you can get some great pizza at Vinnie Van Go-Go's.

 Lady & Sons block 

(We didn't go to Paula Deen's restaurant, btw.  You have to queue at 830am inorder to make reservations by 9am and the line goes around the block THEN you end up waiting for over an hour to eat.  Sounded like too much work to me.)  We went to a place call The Pirate House and it was amazing food!

 

 This stove was in The Pirate House. It's the oldest house in Georgia and is rumored to be haunted.  They encourage you to explore the building, so you can do your own ghost hunting!

 The patina on the railings and brick were so pretty.

Right before I took this picture a man was picking flowers to give to his wife - what a good husband!

  These horses were huge!  We saw a woman wiping one of the horse's rear end...that's dedication.

Savannah is so beautiful.   There are tons of nice hotels to stay in right in town, you can walk to most places. We must've walked 10 miles (no joke) including up and down this flight of stairs!

 They were super steep...but look what waited for me....

 

 !!!FIESTA!!!

 I've been collecting Fiesta for years and it's fun to see the older pieces.  These nesting bowls were over $2,000.

 There were tons of antique shops to poke around too...

Entry to 37th & Abercorn

Peeking into a closet.

                                                                                  

 Delicate hankies, linens & silver were in this room.

 Clocks everywhere.

 

Very, very old babies.

This piece was just gorgeous!

Look at these details!

And of course the resident kitty found the coolest chair to call his own!
 

Shiny happy people!

 I'm painting furniture this week and working on my new blog - all fun stuff but we're also seeing our accountant to file taxes...double blech!  Weekends like this make dealing with the day-in/day-out things a whole lot easier!  I hope you all can make a little time for yourselves soon!