Minnesota Summer trip 1

A few days after Mini me got home from jersey, we flew to Minnesota- - - seriously i thought vacationing was so much fun. UNTIL that's all we did this summer. Im burnt out and LOVE being at home ;) We had a family reunion and the last time we had one was 5 years ago.

*Best seat on the plane.. my own.. and HE had the kids, LOL. I'd had only 2 hrs of sleep so was able to catch up. When we got to Mn, we waited for my aunt to get there for 45 min. I finally called my grandpa and there was miscommunication - she thought we were coming in the FOLLOWING day. We rented a car, and headed to Mall of America, where our close friends from Oregon, who now live there met us last minute. Havent seen them in YEARS and had a fabulous time with them!!*

*Pool and Yaht club- played at the pool all day= it was a calm before the storm *

* This picture was before she was almost KNOCKED OUT with one of those huge mallots! I was sitting eating during the reunion and one of the kids was taking the mallot and SWINGING IT in the air around and around- it was literally 4 inches away from her head and i SCREAMED bloody murder at the kid to STOP swinging.. i scared the ever living poo out of the kid, but better than having little muffin knocked out with head injuries! *

*All of the cousins- minus 3 due to being pregnant, out of town, or underage. I have NEVER had so much fun.. arent we all a good looking bunch? We had SO much fun just laughing and catching up. We shut the place down! *

*My West Coastie Cousins- The one on the far left and far right are brothers.Seriously i could spend EVERY day with these boys, they are a trip, i love them! *

*We went to a place called Stella's- its a fish house by day and fun bar at night- it had cute sayings all over the walls. I thought this one was humerous and TRUE! *

*Another cousin- she wants to be a mortician.. takes a special person to want to do that job. *

*The Husband and Cousin *

*One last picture before we all parted our seperate ways- Cheers to such a good time and SO MANY LAUGHS!*

Jersey in a Weekend!

Since mini me was a baby, we've said to the husbands brother and wife that she could come for a few weeks during the summer. Now that we live in Ga, they are only a drive away-- a LONG drive, but being 12 hrs isnt TOO bad.. until you start driving.. seriously, i wish i'd had some tylenol PM or something to knock me out.. i was BORED.OUT.OF.MY.MIND!! We left on Friday and literally turned around and came home Sunday-- SUPER short, but we were able to spend some time with them and dropped the mini me off for 2 wks to have fun-

*Recognize this little monument on the left? I'd have to say i got a little excited when i saw it in person, even if it was far away!! *

*The day after we got there, we spent the day at their neighborhood pool- half of the time was spent on the tennis courts. she would run on the courts and catch the fly balls, and dance all over the place it was adorable. Here she is taking a break and a picture with her cousin. We'll call him Sweet one. He is the BEST kid EVER, like every mothers DREAM!*

*playing a little tennis with her Uncle *

*that night we went to dinner- i got this RARE sweet picture of the girls WITHOUT the paci*

*a cute shot of the cousins- This is highschool cousin. It scares me to think that MY daughter is going to be this age. Constant cell phone texting ( who am i to say anything, i'm guilty of that, IPOD in the ear) i cant lie, i'm NOT looking forward to this age. She just LOVES her highschool cousin and looks up to her so much*

*Lil Muffin hugging sweet one goodbye before driving BACK to Georgia*

* "Mom, i'm really going to miss you guys" was what she said before she left- not gonna lie.. i got choked up as we drove away!! She just loves her little sister and this picture just shows it all!!*

*We literally stopped only 2 times on the way home- i promised lil muffin a treat when we stopped.. she got a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles, ate all of that off and then handed me the bread part of the donut. HA! Why i didnt buy her munchkins, i dont know- live and learn. Her tongue sticking out is funny to me.. really funny *

The decorating bug has BIT!

I have yet to feel like our house is a home.. i know what i want, but putting everything in its place takes so much time!!! since we've been traveling so much i really havent had a chance to focus on the house- well.. thursday, it hit me. Awhile back, i stumbled on some Linen Fabric at an outlet that was TWO BUCKS! I snatched it up and its been sitting in my closet for about a month.
I'm pretty much obsessed with the blog Thrifty decor chick and get MANY ideas from her smart brain! So.. from that my new window treatment was born.. on a DIME!!
I had the curtain rod already.. Target of course. I bought some el cheapo brackets at Walmart that were gold.. EWWWWW_ i whipped out the ol' trust silver spray paint and changed their color.

Had the husband hang the rod up... many curse words spoken --- i like to laugh at him during these home projects cause its so comical watching him get upset. Oh wait.. back up.. i'm getting ahead of myself. I DONT SEW- so i used some super duper adhesive tape and made a loop for the rod to go thru.
Then.. i used this Linen jacket you see pictured below.

Lemme give you some background on it. My grandma passed away years ago and i was given a few pieces of her clothing. One of them was this linen jacket pictured below. I wanted to do something with it where i could USE it instead of sitting in my closet. So, i CUT up the back of it and made 4 strips. I tied 2 strips together pulled up the linen and then tied at the top in a bow.. and there you have it folks.. Hides my window with funky glass in the bathroom that lets in too much light--

Seriously.. out of pocket for this project was only 4 DOLLARS!!! i already had the curtain rod and the spray paint.. Im pretty sure my Grandma would be proud.. i'm trying to figure out how to use the rest of the jacket--- pillows for my bed would be cute!!

And.. Since i found out my In laws will be here in a month, i have even more incentive to keep on decorating! I painted Lil Muffins room tonight for 6 hours-- you'd think its a big room, but the problem is, i'm a SUPER crazy painter and have to have everything done perfect..

The color? Its by Behr paint, called Refreshing pool - and it reminds me of Tiffany Blue. I'm in LOVE, people!! Absolutely IN LOVE! Pictures will come, i promise..

Oregon trip 2

Here's part 2 of the Oregon trip, ya'll -

*The Oregon state Bird- ok.. .. not really, but there are BIG slugs out there.. and ALOT of them*

*The carousel- how about i got in a verbal fight with the custodian there- SWEAR! mini me had to go to the bathroom, so as i walked in with her, HE was standing in there. About in his late 20's- the moron had stuck the bathroom closed sign that was like a foot tall too far from the entrance and didnt put his cart out front.. he started yelling at me, i started yelling at him telling him HE was in the wrong Bathroom-- long story short, i LIED to him ( great example, i know) and told him we came into the bathroom to look at the horse mural) *

*lil Muffin riding with help from grandma*

*Grandma and the girls talking to some of the people that volunteer there and that carve the horses there*

*BOTH girls helping in Grandpa's garden! *

*before going to dinner one night, we quick stopped at the junior high that my trainer has her classes at and suprised her and her husband- i miss them like CRAZY! Havent been able to find anyone since i moved- she was my trainer for YEARS*

**Mini Me and James - he used to goof around with her during workouts if she got bored.. and at times, she actually DID the workouts with us **

** This pic is a start to the ""FUN"" that began on our trip home- due to flying standby, we got tickets on the plane if there were seats left over.. in the summer, those chances are slim. We spent the ENTIRE day in the PDX airport-- and found out that are chances were WAY bigger in Seattle the next morning... which was 3 hrs away.. so i started racking my brain on how to get up there-- meanwhile we met this fun family and her kids ended up playing with the girls the whole day , and were kind enough to buy the girls these stuffed animals**

**Waking up at 4 am and waiting at the airport all day is exhausting!! **

* One of the great parts about getting stuck at the airport was my dad flew IN to PDX that day and we were able to spend a little bit of time with him before my sweet brother picked us up and drove us to Seattle that afternoon *

* Already exhausted and we had NO clue this was the START to a 3 day journey of sitting in airports and WAITING to get home *

*talking to daddy on mommys phone- paci included in convo *

*after staying the night in Seattle with Uncle, he dropped us off at the airport at 430 am the next am.. interesting enough, the fam we met at PDX ALSO stayed in same hotel as us. I gave them all info and they too were flying standby- we made the flight to Denver, they didnt *

**Day 2 of my outfit, people- when you check a bag, IT goes ahead of you and i had no other clothes packed for me.. But had the makeup packed in the carry ons, of course ;) *

* Thank you, Jesus for portable DVD players!!!! -our old one was broken and since this was such a last min trip, we went to Wal **rt the night before at 10 pm and bought this. AHHHHHHH- peace and quiet! *

* I believe this is out of Seattle and is Mt. Hood- beautiful, huh?! Well, the trip came to a SCREECHING halt after this flight to Denver- the lady that gate checked the car seats, didnt inform me that she'd checked them ALL THE WAY TO ATLANTA. So, on my connection from Denver to ATL, i waited for the car seats and in that time MISSED my flight..i was LIVID!

So, we spent ANOTHER day in the Denver airport waiting LITERALLY ALL day for another seat on another flight.. by 730 pm, it didnt happen. With a crying 7 yr old in tow, and a VERY upset husband, my friend found us a hotel - we ate dinner in the airport and shuttled to this SWEET new hotel -- it was fabulous. *

* That morning, FATHERS DAY, i might add, we made the first flight out of Denver and had a layover in the Memphis airport ( after taking this picture, i almost knocked this huge pic over with all the bags i was carrying.. now would THAT have been embarrassing?! ) *

*After DAYS of trying to get home, we finally found daddy at the ATL airport.. the girls were SO excited to see their daddy!! Definately a Fathers day He'll never forget either ;) *

Suprise Oregon Trip 1

In June i REALLY wanted to fly to Oregon and it just so happened i got my hands on some buddy passes and flew STANDBY- key word there!! So, with only telling 2 people i was coming ( my best friend and hair dresser, wanted to make sure we could get an appt ) we flew there, leaving Atlanta at 6. We got on BOTH flights there- here is part 1 of the trip in pictures

*On the FIRST flight to Denver*

*Mini Me and her BEST friend in Oregon, we'll call her Blondie- when they get together, there is MISCHIEF that goes on! Reminds me of me and my Bestie at that age*


*Lil Mufin enjoying Bampa's backyard*


*Bampa and me time while grilling burgers*

*Amie and I- little story to THIS night. We went to a comedy show- that night ended up being a NUDE parade, with police escorts, im NOT lyin.. THOUSANDS of nude people riding their bikes!it was like a trainwreck--- yes, i have pics.. no i wont post it would burn your eyes, lol. but really.. only on the West coast could you do something that outrageous, have police escorts and not be arrested. I've never seen so many people HAPPY to be stuck in a cab and not able to move in traffic! *

*muffin and mini Me enjoying Blondies nana and papas property*

*Carrie and i advertising for what used to be HER coffee stand where we teamed up and worked for years and was called Dublin Brew. MANY happy memories at that place, now owned by a former employee*

* One of my closest friends in Oregon and hairstylist, Cleme- only he could do something so fun on mini me. I WANT HIM HERE IN GA!!!*

*After not getting her hair cut in a year.. we waited for our Cleme to do it.. her summer fun hair*


That's it for today.. more tomorrow-- for all of you i DIDNT see while i was there.. it was NOTHING against ANY of you.. i literally saw no one and barely went anywhere. i needed mental detox!!

Please know i love and miss all of you!!

Back To School ALREADY?!!!

Here goes my 3rd attempt at this post- somehow erased the last 2 while typing- i refuse to give up!! LOL
After a fun filled summer this year, i feel like we hit the ground running for another school year and i mean running. We cut our Minnesota trip short by 2 days than originally planned, due to school starting August 10th this year. THATS STILL SUMMER, but whatevs.. it is what it is, right?!

We did so much this summer from Making a suprise visit to Oregon and getting stranded for 3 days on the way back, having friends up from SC, Driving to Jersey and back in a weekend to drop off Mini Me for 2 Wks, our Jersey family coming for 4 days, then flying to Minnesota and driving to Iowa to spend time with the family and enjoy a reunion. I will make the next few posts pictures of each of the events..

BUT FIRST- Here are some first day pictures of school for mini me. She started at a new school this year due to us buying a new house in a new area. I was apprehensive at first because we LOVED her school last year- probably because her teacher ended up being one of my best friends out here in GA!
I was PLEASANTLY suprised at this new school- the staff is outstanding and ever so friendly. Her teacher is super sweet and mini me seems to really enjoy her. I didnt really get the pictures i wanted but i think that was due to being overwhelmed with just getting home. The poor kid didnt even have fresh bread for a sandwich in her lunch so got cheese and crackers instead of a sandwich. ( mom of the year award, i know!!)

walking into school- you had to park pretty far out and walk due to traffic- there is a cop there daily directing traffic- there seems to be alot of that for school and churches out here

At her new desk- doesnt she seem thrilled that i'm taking her picture?!

Sitting in her fort she made with sissy talking to grandma and grandpa about her first day at school-