Christmas on the Coosa and Dance Recital

What a weekend so far! Friday night Taylor had a little Christmas recital and Saturday she was on a float at the annual Christmas on the Coosa parade. The parade is held in Wetumpka, a small town just outside of Montgomery. I can't believe this is the first time I've ever been! Wetumpka is such a charming small town. It seems the whole town shows up to support the parade and participants and you really get the sense of a united community. That's what I love about smaller towns....you don't feel lost in the crowd....someone is always calling out to you and you know just about everyone you see.

These first three pictures are courtesy of my wonderful friend Melissa at A Little Loveliness. Melissa's daughter Mary Ashley is in the dance class after Taylor's and Melissa took these photos and e-mailed them to me. Thanks Melissa! And if you haven't been to her blog, you don't know what you are missing. In addition to lovely pictures of her family, she is one of the most inspiring women I know.

Look at her tummy hanging out (she insisted on wearing her tu-tu this low)


When Ms. Gi Gi (the dance teacher) went around asking everyone to tell their name, Taylor said "Mary Ashley"! She loves Mary Ashley

Mary Ashley is 5th from left (sorry it is so blurry)

Here she is 3rd from left

After all that dancing we went for mexican and Taylor had to try on the sombrero (she is a real drama queen)

Gorgeous curls (while they lasted)

Look at this little angel I found under the tree - as always, she is my heart

There is a park here on the river

Can you see the arched bridge in the background?

I love the pretty church here in the background

Here comes the parade!

Jackson talking to Santa

If this dog could talk he'd be saying "Roll Tide" (I can't believe I took this cause ya'll know we are Auburn fans)

Here's Ms. Taylor waving to the crowd (she has on the pink gloves)

And last but not least - my sweet grandbabies - TWIN LOVE!


Be sure to check back on Monday when I'll be posting my dining room all decked out for Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.....

....it's not likely that we'll have a white Christmas here in Alabama so I decided to create one for myself. In keeping with the cottage makeover I've made in my kitchen, it seemed to call out for an all white decor, with a little turquoise thrown in for good measure!


But first, here's the "piece de resistance" of the kitchen, my little french-type chandelier. I found this one last weekend in a little boutique and it was just what I'd been looking for to hang over the kitchen sink. I mentioned to my daughter and DIL that I had found the "perfect" chandy and they told me that if that's what I wanted for Christmas, they'd get it for me! I just love it! Thanks Shannon and Jennifer! (And yes, you are looking at unfinished shutters which will be painted and installed next week (hopefully) along with finishing the painting where the old light fixture was and some other touch ups....)

This is a short wall next to the French door leading in to the laundry room area where I hung one of my $5.00 architectural pieces and the existing "Love" picture frame (remember it has the scrapbook paper inside the openings). I got the "Grandkids" frame at Ross but have yet to put a picture inside....those people in the frame are not us!

Here's the cabinet we had built over the stove during the kitchen re-vamp. I used some of my white pieces here and threw in some white and silver ornaments with a little greenery. Don't you love the turquoise "Joy" ornanment?

Love the cute "bottle brush" type wreath I got at Big Lots which I hung on the french door

I used turquoise Christmas balls here with the round mirror. Go here to read about how I turned it from a white mirror to the yummy color it is now.

Brought in an old urn from the deck, filled it with greenery and white Christmas balls, and placed it in the center of our kitchen table

I just love how my chandelier turned out....I used two garlands, lots of white ornaments and some Dollar Tree ribbon....oh, also the turqouise glass dangly-things from Wal Mart finished the look. (More pics of the chandy further down)

I had a lot of fun decorating my three corner cabinet

Here's more of the chandy....these pics are out of order

Tarnished silver trays and coffee/tea urns on top

Well, that's the Christmas kitchen tour. Still working on the den, dining room and foyer. I hope you enjoyed seeing my "White Christmas".

Under the Weather

Now is not the time to get sick but guess who is? Me!!! I started out with a head cold last week, thought I was better by the weekend, but I guess I pushed myself a little too hard with the holidays, attempting to decorate for Christmas, etc. I've pretty much been in the bed since Wednesday. Hubby picked up some pretty powerful (and expensive!) medicine for me yesterday at the pharmacy so hopefully I'm on the road to recovery. I want to get all my decorating finished and hopefully post some pictures soon.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

The $6 million man!

Well, it's official....Tommy Tuberville is leaving Auburn, along with $6 million to buy out his contract. Funny, I never had anyone give me $6 million when I left their employment!



According to ESPN, during Tommy Tuberville's 10 seasons at Auburn, the Tigers were the best football team in the state. His tenure included a perfect season and a string of teams that contended for SEC championships.

In 2004 Auburn had a 13-0 season when we finished No. 2 in the nation and won the SEC title for the first time in 15 years. How well I remember that year....it was great!

This year Auburn went 5-7 and shamefully lost to Alabama 36-0 in the Iron Bowl, our biggest rivalry.

Tuberville issued the following statement: "The last 10 years have been a great time in my life, both professionally and personally. It's been a great place to coach and live, and we've had a lot of success along the way. I'm going to remain in Auburn and help the Auburn family however I can. I'm very appreciative of the coaches, players, staff and Auburn fans over the last decade."

The Auburn family has lost a great coach but maybe it's time to move on.

W-A- R

E A G L E!!

364 days to go.....

For those of you who follow the Auburn/Alabama Iron Bowl game every year, and for those of us who are Auburn fans, it's gonna be a l-o-o-o-g time until we meet the Tide again. Man, that was a real train wreck to watch! My SIL is the only Alabama fan and his hiney was in Tuscaloosa while the rest of us sat at home, trying to stay warm and dry. By the end of the game, David, Shannon and I were just sitting there staring at the TV in stunned silence.

Well, we had 6 years where we beat Alabama and the tradition had to be broken at some point, but did it have to be so-o-o-o bad????!!!

Some Yummy Thanksgiving Favorites

Can ya'll believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away? It seems just yesterday it was August here in Dixie and we were sweltering and now here we are smack dab in the middle of November and baby it's cold outside!

Thought I'd share a few of my favorite receipes that I ALWAYS make at Thanksgiving. This year my sweet daughter is playing hostess in her brand new gorgeous house.....of course she wants everything perfect, including getting out the Christmas tree this weekend! I'll be at her house this weekend "helping" her hang a "wall of fame" (grouping of family photos, etc.) and other than a few other things, that should be about it for now.

Anyway, here are my old standbys that never fail me:

CORN CASSEROLE

2 large cans yellow corn

1 large and 1 small package yellow rice

2 cans cr. of mushroom soup

1 package shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Combine the corn and cr. of mushroom soup in one pan, adding water from the soup cans to the corn just to make it soupy and not dry. Cook over medium heat stirring until the soup and corn are throughly mixed and heated.

In a separate pan cook the yellow rice according to the directions.

After the rice is done, combine the corn and rice together in a large bowl until they are blended together, then transfer to a glass casserole dish. Top with 1 package of sharp cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts.

Easy as pie and takes no time. Depending on how many people you are serving, you can add or delete ingredients as needed. The above receipe should serve about 8 people.

BROCCOLI SALAD

1 bunch broccoli (chopped with stems)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 sweet onion (chopped fine)
1/2 cup bacon bits

Sauce:

1 cup mayo

1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. vinegar

Combine first 5 ingredients in bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients together, then stir the sauce into the broccoli salad until thoroughly mixed. Best if refrigerated for several hours or overnight.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

Filling:

2 large cans sweet potatos, mashed

2/3 to 1 1/14 cup brown sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 to 3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Spray a casserole dish with pam. Mix all of the above ingredients and put into the dish.

Topping:

1 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. flour (can be self-rising)

1 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. butter, melted

Mix ingredients together and sprinkle on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I wanted to share a little of our Thanksgiving traditions with you. If any of you are traveling next week out of town, please be safe. One of my sisters and her family will be in Paris (guess that's one of the perks of being married to an airline pilot!) The rest of us will celebrate here in good ole Alabama!

Love You Forever

Several years ago on Christmas Eve my sister gave me what I considered to be a very strange gift.... a little paperback book entitled "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. Her gifts always reflect a lot of thought for the person she is gifting so I thought that she had either (a) given me this book by mistake or (b) finally flipped out! I thanked her and put the book aside.

Later that evening after cleaning up all the wrappings and general mess, I picked up the little book to see why in the world she had given me such a strange present. Little did I know that I could not read through the book without crying my eyes out! Anyone who has ever read this book knows exactly what I mean.


The book begins with a mother rocking her new baby and singing to him:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

From there, it follows the child as he grows up, following every stage and how the relationship between mother and child changes......from a two year old toddler driving his mom crazy, the pre-teen years when the little boy never wants to be home for dinner, never wants to take a bath, and says bad words when his grandmother visits! But every night the mother checks on her little boy when he's sound asleep and sings the words of the song to him.

The little boy grows and grows until he becomes a grown man and moves out. Sometimes the mother drives across town to her son's home, crawls in the window and holds her son and sings her song to him.

Eventually the mom gets very old and calls her son to ask him to come see her because she's sick and old. She tries to sing to him but is so sick she can't finish her song....

When the son gets to him mom's house, he picks her up and rocks her, singing:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my Mommy you'll be.

When the son gets back to his house, he goes to little baby daughter's room and begins singing to her:


I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Life has come full circle...

I'm crying as I'm typing this....if you haven't read this book, please do, but have lots of tissue handy!

Biloxi Bound Weekend

Staying here.....






Dining here....






Sleeping here....

Suite (sweet) dreams!




A few years ago hubby and I started visiting the Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi area. While he likes the excitement of the casinos, I enjoy finding new places to shop. This weekend we are getting away for a few days before the hectic holiday season begins.

The Beau Rivage in Biloxi is our favorite place to stay. The hotel is absoloutely beautiful and it was restored to perfection after Hurricane Katrina. There are quite a few restaurants inside the hotel/casino area as well as a promenade of shops. In the years we have been going to the area, I am quite familiar with the shops in the area but I'm always seeking out new ones and this weekend will be no exception. I've even "googled" some flea markets in the area and plan on checking them out.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!