pants

My husband keeps me laughing. Usually its a little more of the laugh at you than laugh with you kind of laugh, but either way he is an excellent sport and tolerates my giggling...and with out a doubt he brings me joy.

Last fall, John and I went to a party with some friends. John looked handsome as ever in his tuxedo and I tried to dress the part as well. We had a ball (pun intended) :) with our friends dancing the night away. After a very late night we fell in to bed. The next day, John was getting his stuff together for me to take to the drycleaners when I heard him yelling from the bedroom. I was sure Barley had done something he wasn't supposed to, but when I walked in to bedroom and found John holding his tux pants to say we laughed would be an understatement...because his pants, well, um..they looked a little bit like this...

(picture taken before pants were taken to be fixed. had to capture the evidence)

Ripped from seam to seam! WIDE OPEN! What is almost funnier than his pants actually ripping, is the fact that neither of us have a clue as to when it happened! I personally like to think it happened on one of John's early signature dance moves as he cut a rug on the dance floor. But surely if he ran around the rest of the night with pants literally ripped in half surely someone would have noticed...right!?

The lady at the alterations place did not find the story NEARLY as funny as we did. but it only seemed fair to tell the story when bringing in pants in such a condition. $4 in alterations...priceless

one year

Exactly one year ago this morning I got the very best text message I had ever received.

It simply said:

"Mo is here."

beneath the picture he wrote: "my baby"

beautiful.

Happy Birthday Mo!!

 ONE year! The snow is piling up at your house today, and I am so thankful it was not this time last year. I would have been a nervous wreck wondering if your midwife and doula could get to you.. not to even mention all of your grandparents who were dying to meet you!

We LOVE you!

A is for

Addison Grace!

Early in her pregnancy, my friend Sarah Beth asked me to paint a sign with Addison Grace's name. I love my friends for LOTS of reasons, but the confidence she had in me is just one more reason why I love her so much. I mean, I do like to paint things from time to time, mostly walls or furniture, but I have never painted something like a name...for her to think I was even capable of doing this was beyond me, but you really can't tell your pregnant friend no, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Sarah Beth chose this sweet bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, and promised me she really did not have ANYTHING in mind as to what this canvas should look like...

I played around painting a square canvas for a while, but I could never get really happy with how it turned out. I promised Sarah Beth I was working on it, and was REALLY hoping I would be able to paint something she would like. She assured me she would LOVE anything, didn't want me to stress, and said she could not wait to hang it on the hospital door on her arrival...AND in her nursery once she got home..hmm....no pressure, right?!?

So, I made another trip to the store deciding that it was the SIZE of the canvas that was throwing me off, surely not my artistic ability (ha!) I knew I had to get the painting done pronto or it would never make it to the hospital in time. I crossed my fingers and started with the part I knew how to do...mix colors.

I stared at the blank canvas, but then decided I had to just dive right in. I dusted off my trusty t-square (see Mom and Dad, it did not go to waste!) and made the border in which I would attempt to paint her name. I wanted the painting to coordinate with her bedding, so I decided the polka dots would be a fun way to tie it all together.

After I painted for a little while I started to really enjoy it! Her nursery walls are Kittery Point Green by Benjamin Moore, so that was the one color I knew had to be an exact match. I cheated and bought a tester to be sure it would be a "hit" instead of a "miss"...then I just tried to match some of the colors of the bedding to paint polka dots...

(this picture makes the colors look brighter than they really are)

The stripes on the bedskirt were too much fun to pass up, so I painted stripes on the sides of the canvas

The finished product! Ready for Addison Grace to make her big debut!

Sarah Beth and Michael welcomed their perfect and BEAUTIFUL baby girl in to the world late Friday night. John and I had the honor of being there to cheer them on.

Here is Addison Grace just a few minutes after she was born. Her beaming Daddy held her up to the hospital window to introduce her to all of us. Isn't she a GORGEOUS brand new baby!? A little hard to tell in this picture but she absolutly has her mama's mouth!

Addison Grace meeting her grandmothers for the first time! Absolutly love at first site!

Hello, Addison Grace! Welcome to the world!

I love you already and I hope you love your sign! Your mama and your nurses seemed to like it a lot!

"and a happy new year"

...the words I've been clinging to to justify leaving my Christmas cards up for SO long! Yes, Christmas is over, but surely I can continue admiring them because afterall...it is a happy new year, right?

Well, I gave myself a month, and decided it was time to take them all down. I am always so sad to see all of the cards go...

...but not nearly as sad as my naked bulletin board! 

The only thing that made it okay was the "happy" I got this year out of my love for all things Christmas Cards. This year I decided to start a little tradition for us by creating a place for us to keep a copy of each of the Christmas cards we send out. My hope is to add to this book each year, one day filling the book with a growing family, special memories and have a place to look back at all of our cards year after year.

I ordered the book from Jenni Bick Bookbinding and I was thrilled the day it came! Isn't it fun when something you order arrives just as you pictured it?!

This book is called the Classic European Bookcloth Photo Album. It is available in so many fun colors, sizes and personalization options. My wheels are already spinning on other fun ways to used these books! I love them! How much fun to have a book of photographs for each year? OR if we're dreaming a book for each season! Lime for Spring, Yellow for Summer, Orange for Fall, Sky for Winter! And don't forget you can emboss ANYTHING on the front cover. TOO FUN.

My book is beige and was embossed with gold. I bought inexpensive gold picture tabs from Hobby Lobby and put our cards in right away. My only regret is that we do not have a Christmas card from our first married year. Sadly, this would have been the easiest year because we could have used a wedding picture, but for some reason it just didn't happen. I've left a spot for 2005 and will have to use a picture from our first married Christmas in place of an actual Christmas card.

2006

2007

2008

2009

...goin' on a treasure hunt!

Earlier this month I went on a treasure hunt.

My friends Rebekah and Annie hunted along side me.

Huntin' for treasure is a lot like huntin' for animals.

You wake up early. Eat a hardy breakfast. Drive a few hours....and HUNT

When you return home from the hunt you display your trophies proudly.

treasure #1: lamp 

husband's response, "..cool um, I'm surprised you chose a lamp"

darn, well at least it makes me happy. AND he had just worked over 16 hours.

happy shade already feeling at home...collecting dust

treasure #2 fabric

this fabric was love at first site. It yelled for me to take it home. How could I say no?

Scott's, thanks for the hunt and the treasures! I hope to see you again sometime soon! 

dad cave

I've told you about my precious ladybug and bumble bee, but tied at the top of my list of "fun things about the holidays" was getting to spend time with this little guy. Sadly for us, Mo lives in Maryland so we don't get to love on him nearly as much as we would like... BUT despite the distance it is safe to say we are all obsessed. Such a treat to enjoy him with out the help of skype and flicker!

During his last trip to Alabama one of Mo's many tricks was entertaining us with "The Dad Cave"

Who knew a blanket could be so much fun!?!

making sure his audience was ready...

is EVERYBODY watching?!

 ta da! here I am!

aren't I funny!?!

Good show, Dad! They LOVED it!

cheers to 2010

I think "low key" was the universal theme for this year's New Year's Eve. This could either mean a) that people just weren't in to 2009, or b) quite possibly be yet another sign that we are growing up. I'm thinking the answer is b). We hang on to phrases like "low key" meaning we could be doing something wild and spectaculor, we just choose to do something a little more "relaxed"...I think I like getting old.

New Year's Eve is a holiday that I always want to want it to be a bigger deal than it is. This has been quite a problem in the past. I have no desire to spend a fortune to stand in the freezing cold with millions of strangers with no restrooms to watch a ball drop in New York, or be oblivous to the rising sun in a dark, smoky bar, but I do love champagne, glitter and sequins. I am thrilled as a late twenty something I have reached a stage of life that I can put on my bling and do nothing....delightful.

This year we rang in the new year with a few of our favorite friends at Chop House. The food was better than excellent and the company was hard to beat. Low key and perfect.

After dinner we counted blessings for 2009, and made predictions for 2010. John scribbled our predictions for ourselves, as well as our predictions for each of the other couples present. The envelopes are sealed, but I am already looking forward to seeing what predictions have become blessings as we say farewell to 2010.

Happy New Year!! Here's to 2010 and all that it has to bring!