1st Annual Girls Beach Trip

As you can see, we were 2 miles from our destination at 5:12 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Call me dumb, but I didn't know that all the blue stuff on the screen was the ocean!!! Shannon pointed that out to me!

After we checked into our motel, we got out and walked on the beach about 6:00 p.m. so the girls could pick up shells. This is how the sky looked....isn't it amazing?

Someone had spent a lot of time building this sandcastle

McKinley is proud of her little seashell

Taylor (blue swimsuit) McKinley and DIL Jennifer


Taylor found a big beautiful shell but she wanted ya'll to see this one!

Now I've got to explain the next few pictures. We could not get into our condo until Friday so DIL went on line and found a "nice" motel for us to stay at Thursday night. She said it had great reviews and pictures and had recently been remodeled. Well, I don't know what they call "recently" but this place made the Bates Motel look like the Taj Mahal! The first thing that greeted us when we opened the door was a dead roach! Uck! I wanted to go to the office and get our money back but they had a "no refund" policy. So, when you see the cracked cement patio the girls are standing on, please know that this is not the kind of place we are used to!!

Taylor put on her sunglasses when she got up cause she was so excited to be at the beach!

Both girls WIDE AWAKE at the crack of dawn!

Ms. Ta-Ta all ready for her day at the beach in her swimsuit, hat and glasses!
McKinley looks like she's found something interesting.

McKinley is ready to go swimming Taylor "instructing" my sister's grandson, Mason (remember, she is the 'big sister' and just a little bossy)!

Mason (love those eyes)

Taylor and her floaties (she took off swimming like a little fish)

McKinley in her "big girl" float

I told ya'll most of my pictures were of the girls! We didn't get to spend much time with my sister (Besty), her daughter Elizabeth and Betsy's grandson Mason because they stayed in a different condo but we got together to eat on Friday night and they went swimming with us Saturday.

We ended the day swimming - so peaceful and relaxing.

I don't know where we'll spend the 2nd annual girl's trip but we have a year to decide. This coming weekend the my daughter and her husband are going to son and DIL for the weekend so MiMi and Pop will be keeping the twins!

Seagrass Love

Look what arrived while I was at the beach -- my seagrass rug!! Hubby called me Friday night saying it had been delivered. I could hardly wait to get home to see it. He had it all unpacked and ready to be placed in the dining room. I really love the wide black border. All that's left for me to do now is refinish and recover the dining room chairs. (I also need to put the switchplates back on too!) The walls are not yellow as they appear but a pretty gold color with a chocolate glaze - they look so bright here.


We got back from the beach yesterday afternoon. Of all things, I got a head cold while we were there. I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and headache and didn't get up until 11:00 a.m. I finally went down to the pool and felt a little better but I was pretty sick the whole trip. Today I'm just taking it easy but I promise to post some of the pictures I took real soon. I must warn ya'll that a lot of the pictures are of Taylor and McKinley (how can you resist the little girls in their swimsuits)?

Lazy Days at the Beach....

Thursday I'm off for a little R&R at the beach with the girls! According to the weather forecast, it will be hot, hot, hot! I bought a new swimsuit cause I couldn't find my old one (plus I WANTED a new one!), flip flaps (what Taylor calls flip flops), sunglasses, beach bag, lots of bottled water, and good books. There will be a caravan of three cars heading to the panhandle of Florida so if you see a bunch of crazy looking women and kids.....get out of the way!


See, they've got my chair set up just waiting for me!!!




I'll have lots of pictures when I get back so see ya'll then! Have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Cajun Shrimp

Let me tell ya'll a true story that happened to me last year when I was getting a pedicure. My favorite color to wear is Cajun Shrimp by Opi. I ALWAYS wear that color beginning in the spring and throughout the summer. Sometimes I go wild and try something new but I always come back to Cajun Shrimp. When I got to the salon, I could not find my polish and asked the owner if she was out. A lady sitting near the front over heard me asking about the polish color and held up her little bottle saying, here, I've got what you're looking for but it's not Cajun Shrimp, it's Peel Here. (The bottles have a number on them and the bottle she was holding had the Cajun Shrimp number on it). Since she was not ready for her pedicure she gave me the bottle and told me to go ahead and use it and she'd get it from me later during her pedicure. I thanked her and went back to get my pedicure with my bottle of Cajun Shrimp clutched tightly in my little fist. When the lady came to get her pedicure, she sat next to me. (I had already looked on the bottom of the bottle to be ab-so-loute-ly certain that it WAS Cajun Shrimp and of course, it was). I thanked her for letting me use the polish ahead of her and she told me this: "My mother discovered this polish color last summer and we've been using it ever since....we love Peel Here!" I told her that I'd always known it as Cajun Shrimp and the number on the bottle was the number the salon used to identify it as Cajun Shrimp. The nail technician turned over the bottle and said "Lady, this is Cajun Shrimp!" At that point, my friend turned over the bottle, turned beet red and said, "Oh, my gosh, my mom saw the little sticker on the bottom of the polish that says 'peel here' (you remove that sticker to reveal the polish color) and we've been calling it peel here! I'm soooo embarrassed!" Well, let me tell ya'll, the whole place just died laughing. Thankfully the woman had a great sense of humor, cause she laughed too. I remember that story every time I use Cajun Shrimp a/k/a peel here!

This coming Thursday I'm going to the beach for 4 days of fun and sun! My daughter, her daughter Taylor (almost 4), my DIL Jennifer, her daughter McKinley (almost 3), my sister and her daughter (2 months pregnant) are heading to Panama City Beach, Florida!! I'm hoping the weather stays as nice as it's been the past few days. This will be one interesting trip, let me tell ya!

Ya'll have a great week!

Little Blue Wagon

I rescued this little fella dumpster diving last year! On Saturdays, the City sends the garbage trucks to local schools and folks take their junk there to be crushed. We were sitting behind this guy and I spotted this rusty, broken wagon on the back of his truck. I "made" hubby get out and confiscate the wagon off the guy's truck before it could be demolished (hubby is used to my strange requests but the man looked at us like we were weird....who would want a broken wagon?). Anyway, it sat behind the storage building all fall and winter. One day while in the paint section of Wal Mart ( my 2nd home lately) I saw this bright blue paint color and thought....why not paint that old wagon a bright color and plant it full of vibrant and pretty flowers? Sooo....today was the day! I didn't scrape, sand or prime the wagon (hope I'm not sorry later) but got right to work spraying away. I covered the wheels with an old tee shirt cause I didn't want the entire wagon the bright blue...I wanted to leave a little of the old wagon showing. One wheel is broken but we put a brick under it to level it off and here she is all ready to be given a new life!

Hubby drilled holes in the bottom for drainage



After a quick trip to the "one stop" plant shop this is what we came home with

"Creeping Jenny"; Petunias, Lantana, Spike Grass; Begonias and my favorite...

....Sweet potato vine! It will trail all over the place and I'll have to keep it cut back

You can see the wagon patiently waiting to be all dressed up!

And here she is....all ready for summer!

(Don't mind the "bald spot" in the yard...we don't get much sunlight through all the trees)

A lot of neighbors came out to see what we had done (they are used to my "unusual" planters) and some people even stopped driving by....everyone liked my little "blue" wagon and so do I!!!

I love using unusual objects to plant in. Years ago people used whatever they had because that's ALL they had....coffee cans, old shoes, porcelain pottys (yuck), but nowadays, it's the "in" thing to do to use whatever your heart desires. I have an old metal bread box planted on the front porch. Most of my things are in urns because I LOVE urns but I do like to "mix it up" and use a few unexpected things.

What's the most unusual thing you've used as a planter or seen used? Please let me know and if possible, post a few pictures of your favorite unusual planters.

Sneak Peek at My New Hardwood Floors!

My floors are in and they are absoloutely GORGEOUS!! The crew got started Monday mid-morning and finished the den, then on Tuesday they came back and did the dining room. We decided to run the floor into the hallway to carry a "seamless" look from the den to the hall - it was a great decision! The only problem is, my entire house is covered in dust! The installers had electrical saws in the house to make cuts and it created a big mess.....it will take me forever to get everything dusted and put back. One thing about moving everything out of your rooms is you see how much "stuff" you have. Some stuff will stay and some will be rotated out to storage for a new "fresher" look.

In a previous post I showed ya'll the seagrass rug I ordered for the dining room which will probably not be in for 2-3 weeks. We have not ordered anything for the den yet but I will most likely order the same type of rug - only bigger. I am amazed at how elegant these floors make your furnishings look.

We have not put the chairs back in the room yet because hubby now insists on putting those little felts dots on EVERY PIECE of furniture we have! You should have seen him last night, running around with lots of different size felt dots putting them under and on every surface imaginable to protect the floors! Can't say that I blame him cause we sure want to protect our investment but it was sooo funny!

As you can see, I re-set the table with my Savannah inspired tablescape

Now for my little "secret"....I saw this photo in the Decorating Den "before and after" gallery and fell in love with the white and chocolate brown kitchen. Even before I saw this photo, I have been wanting to change my red kitchen with all its rooster stuff....I love it but I'm ready for a BIG change. I just have to convince my husband that the walls need to be painted brown when our cabinets get re-painted. I've scoped out a wall clock like the one in the picture and found one I like, my chandelier is almost like this one (I can work a little "magic" on the finish to get it more like the one shown), my floors are like the ones shown, so my argument will be, we only need to paint, right?!!! Isn't this the yummiest kitchen?

Seagrass Rug

This is the rug we ordered today to go in the dining room after the hardwood floors are installed. It's called Seagrass (weave), Seaside (color) and extra wide black border. The web site (http://www.sisalrugs.com/) has some really pretty rugs, a big selection, and great prices. You can actually customize your rugs as to weave, color, border color, and border size. I never knew there were so many choices to make just to get a rug! We did go to a carpet store and almost ordered one there but I wanted to check out on line prices before we committed to the carpet guy....I'm glad I did cause I saved about $150! Hubby wants to go ahead and order one for the den, which will be quite a bit bigger than the dining room rug, but I might wait to get this one before I order another. I've waited 20+ years for the hardwood floors and rugs, so what's another few weeks?

New Hardwood Floors!

This is the hardwood floor that will be installed in my den and dining room Monday! I'm so excited. I've wanted hardwood floors for so long and I can't wait to see how they look in MY HOUSE! Now, I've got to find two rugs for both rooms. I'm thinking sisal with a neutral border in the dining room (I'd love to do a black border but thought it would be best to go with the neutral color). Not sure what I'll put down in the den.

After the floor gets down, I'll post pics.

Spring Fluffing and Azaleas In Bloom

Melissa at The Inspired Room is hosting a "Spring Fluffing"....the way I understand it is anything that reflects spring around your house, indoors or out, is your way of welcoming spring. Go to Melissa's blog and link your blog after you post your pics.

Let the "fluffing" begin!

This is from the back of my garden "gate" by the side of my house

Azaleas in full bloom!
Little flute playing boy (actually it is a sprinkler!) sits beneath a crepe myrtle tree
Garden bench (in need of a fresh coat of paint) nestled among the azaleas

"Four seasons" statue at home in the front flower bed

Rooster Parade

For all you rooster lovers out there, BJ at Sweet Nothings is hosting a rooster parade for Beverly. Head on over to BJ's blog and read all about it....you can e-mail BJ your favorite rooster, and she will see that Beverly adds them next week to the parade. I can't wait to see all the "rooster love" out there!

This a one of my favorite trays that hangs over my stove