Bless Your Heart

back from alaska



marc & sara came over last night to show us pictures from their honeymoon cruise to alaska. mom, hale & morgan came over too and the next thing you know we had a house full. we ordered pizza and looked at pictures and opened some of their wedding presents. their pictures were just beautiful. i would love to take an alaskan cruise one day. husband has been very anti-cruise since our last one about 3 years ago, but after hearing marc talk about theirs i think i can get him on a cruise again one day.

new fun girly stuff

i love sheets & comforters, bedspreads, shams, all that stuff. we’d been using the same bedspread for a few years so it was time for a new one. i’d heard about west elm, a williams sonoma company so i ordered a catalog and we found the prettiest duvet & sheet set. i love the idea of the duvet- the look of a new comforter at half the price! i sound like a commercial! i ordered our set and it came so quickly and i just thing it’s so pretty so i think i’ll show it off a little here. =) (the picture doesn’t show the true color- it’s a rich periwinkle with a dark indigo pattern. the sheets are embroidered on the edge with the same periwinkle color)

mmm fried goodness



last night husband and i went to this local dive place called charlie browns for some fried pickles. oh yum. they are so good i can’t even tell you. the 1st time i ever had fried pickles was a long, long time ago down in florida. i’ve been hooked ever since. not many places make them though, so they are a once in a blue moon treat. the funny thing is…i don’t like dill pickles. never have. still don’t like em cold. but throw them in some beer batter & i’m all over it. husband says us southerners will deep fry just about anything!

**update** my comments don’t seem to be working. but to answer your question rachel, yes they are served piping hot with ranch dressing for dipping.

the new ya-ya sisterhood?

so saturday night julie & stacey invited me to join this group of women who will be meeting up the 1st saturday night of each month for a get- together. each month there will be a different activity. it’s going to get started in august with a trip to the melting pot for fondue. one month we’ll be ice skating, one month bowling, pottery painting, etc. it should be a lot of fun. i think it’s a great idea. i hope i can make the 1st meeting. it’s on my birthday (august 3rd…the countdown has begun!) so i may have to join in in september. it’s kind of tradition in my family to have a big birthday dinner out, and you have to wear the birthday hat (it’s shaped like a birthday cake, complete with candles). but i’m excited about this group. we might be giving the ya-yas a run for their money!

scrapping

saturday i got together with julie & stacey to scrapbook. we’re finishing the scrapbook melissa and i started on, but couldn’t finish because of her passing away last month. (julie & stacey are her sisters). we went shopping for supplies at memories, this new scrapbook store. you know, i always forget how expensive of a hobby this is, until i see the bill! we ordered chinese for dinner and scrapped over at stacey’s house. it was a lot of fun, if not a little sad. each time we’d come across a picture of melissa it just makes you miss her all over again. i also started working on a scrapbook i’m doing for marc & sara. i’m scrapping the showers and rehearsal dinner for them. it’s looking so cute already.

movies movies

friday after work husband and i went to see bourne identity . it was really good and even made me jump a couple of times. i loved franka potente in it. and i liked seeing julia stiles & clive owen as well. we’ve been clive owen fans since lock, stock & 2 smoking barrels . and you can’t help but just love matt damon. but i was not crazy about chris cooper. he does such a good job at playing a creep that he just creeps me out. i think it’s his mouth. ew.

i forgot to mention that one night last week i rented shallow hal on dvd. it was so cute. i really loved seeing charlotte. it was filmed primarily here in charlotte so if you’d like to see what my city looks like, go check out shallow hal. the park scene is at freedom park right down the road from me. and the restaurants are all local. and the downtown scenes are really cool as well as the shots of the skyline. maybe now we’ll become the next hollywood!

and this is my cousin epsilon?

scene: wal-mart photo center. picking up pictures. there’s a little photo place in the same nook the film developing is. there are 2 adorable little boy toddlers dressed alike in cute red shorts outfits. they are obviously twins. as i’m waiting in line i’m observing their little photo shoot when i hear mom keep saying things like: “alpha, look at the lady.” “omega, stop crying”. i’m thinking what is she talking about? then she scoops up the boys and is waiting for their proofs to come up on the little computer screen. that’s when i ask their names because come on, say it isn’t so. it is. they are 18 month old twin boys named alpha & omega. oh good lord. what are parents thinking? or should i say, what are they smoking? i suppose they could be like prince and just use their symbols.

happy independence day!! *belated*



independence day has always been one of my favorite holidays because there is a casualness and sense of ease about it. it’s just fun. you still have the family get together, but they aren’t as stressed as thanksgiving or christmas. we usually take off to south carolina or tennessee where we can get big time fireworks, then get together for a cook out or picnic, set off our fireworks, then head downtown to see the big firework show. and of course you have to wear the required goofy clothes. for as long as i can remember we’d all try our best to be in some sort of red, white and blue outfit that usually broke all fashion rules. i remember one year my grandmom bought us girls these awful 1 piece jumpers that had red & blue dots on top and red short bottoms. ugh. so yesterday i had my red, white & blue star flip flops & my blue tee shirt with sparky silver & red stars on the chest. oh yeah, i get in to it. i still think though, that the best part is the fireworks & the star spangled banner. my grandmom- we call her nanny- is an irish immigrant and she really taught me a deep love & respect for my country. the national anthem always makes her cry, and as a kid i never quite understood why. but as an adult i get it. and it makes me cry too. p.s. nanny officially became a citizen last year. but her irish brogue is just as thick as ever!

yearbook

kane blues has a cool link on his blog. you can go here to create the yearbook picture you always wanted. remember the really goofy yearbook pics? i had a couple that turned out pretty well, but some were just sad. what was i thinking with the day glo eye shadow in middle school?? =)

wedding pics

are now posted on my sister’s wedding blog. what a good sister i am. =) she’s off being pampered in alaska on a cruise ship and i’m here posting pics. sigh.