the Versatile Blogger

Rule #1: Thank the person who gave you your award
So a BIG thank you goes to http://its6am.blogspot.com/ for giving me a little shout out for Versatile Blogger!  Super sweet, right!  Connie is Shannon’s stepmom and has been blogging for years.  She’s an old pro!  I love her fun banter, enlightening thoughts, and all over creativity!  You gotta go check her out!
Rule #2: Share seven things about yourself.
1.  I love cars.  I love the details of cars.  I can normally tell you what make and model a car is from about 100 yards away.  I can normally tell what kind of car it is just from the quarter panel.  Joe and I actually play this game while driving down the road.  Oh and I can I mention that I normally win. 
2.  I like to add ketchup to my leftover spaghetti.  Joe finds this very weird / disguisting but it adds a little sweetness and sauciness. 
3.  I love to sing. I have a degree in voice performance but the only place I use my skillz is in our Praise Team at church.
4.  My PJ’s are my best friend.  If I am home for any amount of time I change into my pj’s.  Even if I know I’m going back out in less than 2 hours, I still put on my comfy’s.
5.  One of my all time favorite TV shows is Murder She Wrote – I love me some Jessica Fletcher!  She was solving crimes way before Grissom even liked bugs.
6.  Everyone has that one thing they’re afraid of…  frogs, snakes, etc.  My nemesis is the cockroach.  At age 16, I was stuck on a boat filled with roaches.  At age 21, I woke up to a palmetto bug (aka ROACH) crawling across my cheek.  It’s not good people!  Now my current place of work has those nasty creatures roaming around.  A few weeks ago during our Monday morning meeting one fell on the conference table right by my spot.  NASTY!!!!! 
7.  I’ve taken Spanish, German and French and can’t speak any of them very well.
Rule #3: Pass the award onto 7 bloggers whom you have recently discovered, and who you think are fantastic!

1.  2 Down the Lane

2.  Ramblings

3.  C & C Marriage Factory

4.  Honey Were Home

5.  From Aisle to Aloha

6.  The Bee Charmer

7.  The Country Chic Cottage

Please go check out these great blogs.  I love discovering new blogs to follow!  Have you found any blogs that are worth sharing??  I would love to know about them!
Oh and thanks again Connie!!

20 years and counting!

20 years ago today Joe and I went on our first date!  I was a freshman in high school and Joe was a junior.  We both ran Cross Country so that’s where we got our first look at each other.  I can remember the different meets we would go to and being all giddy about sitting on the bus with him.  It makes me smile just thinking about it!
I thought I would share a few pictures from the past 20 years.  There were a few doosey that I wasn’t quite brave enough to share but here are a couple here just to give you an idea…

@ my Aunt’s house 1990

My freshman / His Junior Prom 1991

Joe’s oldest brother’s wedding 1992

My Junior Prom / His 2nd yr of college 1993

 

Mom’s house – Thanksgiving 1996

Our Wedding 1998

  

Friend’s wedding - 2000

That’s a visual run down of the first ten years…  Let’s see how many different hairstyles I can come up with between 2000 and 2010 – we’ll save that for the next post!

And can I just say I love digital pictures - thanks goodness for whoever invented that! 

  So how long have you been with your honey?

Celebration Weekend

This weekend we are celebrating our 12th year of marriage!  It’s crazy to think about, really.  12 years – are you sure!?!?  I feel like we’re still those crazy kids that fell in love in high school – dorky and silly.  Oh wait we are!
We’ve got plans this weekend to have dinner with some great friends of ours at a new restaurant in town, 15 North Roadside.  The owners of this restaurant have a similar concept in Charleston 17 North Roadside.  So here’s hoping that it will be yummy.
Then tomorrow we are going to see…

I am SO excited!!  Anyone that knows me – knows I love a musical!  And believe it or not Joe is a fan as well!  I’ll let you know how it is!

What do you have on tap for this lovely weekend??

Oh and on the subject of loving my honey…  Check out this Warren Barfield song.  It truly speaks to nature of marriage – it’s good stuff.  Oh and then I am also diggin’ this ditty by Sugarland.   Happy Weekend Y’all!!!

Swinging back by Shannon’s

Ok kids, this is our last stop at Shannon’s.  I know you’ve loved checking out her living room, dining and kitchen so far.  Today we’re moving into the back of the house.  We’ll be checking out the Master Bedroom, Craft Room and Bathroom.  And we’re off…
Master Bedroom Before:

For a smaller home the master bedroom is nice and roomy.  Ok enough suspense let’s check out what’s she’s done with it…
 
Shannon painted the walls a soft pink and hung black and white damask window treatments nice and high.  Keeping the bedding white creates a nice crisp feel in the room.  I’m in love with the Cherry Blossom artwork above the headboard.  And of course the bubble lamps are super cool as well.

The space allowed her to work in a seating area at the end of the bed with two black slipper chairs.  A great spot for a cup of tea and a book!

And now the details:

 

Bathroom Before:

Just your plain jane ol’ bathroom and then…
 

 

Dramatic turquoise wall color, light airy shower curtain, original artwork =  Lover-ly

Craft Room Before:

And for the now:

A soft green on the walls creates a great environment for painting, crafting and working on the computer.  What a great way to display your crafting tools!  This room is full of “creative” opportunities!!
The details:

    

Amazing space!  Just being in here I want to make something!

A BIG thank you to Shannon for opening up her house for us to see.  She’s an amazing designer as you have been able to see.  I’m sure if you have any questions she would be happy to answer! 

So what was your favorite space in her house?

Back @ Shannon’s

Our next stop at Shannon’s house is going to be the kitchen and dining room. 

So…  the kitchen shall we say is spacially challenged, i.e. small.  But Shannon saw these challenges and said “I’ll show you, Mr. Kitchen!”  The refrigerator was located on the wall that backs up to the dining room – the main entry into the space.  So as you walked into the space it felt like the fridge was on top of you!  Then the oven was on the opposite wall leaving all kinds of un-used space on either side?!?! 

Design dilemma solved!

Shannon had them flip flop the appliances so it is so much more welcoming when you walk in the kitchen!  MUCHO BETTER-O!  She also had them switch some cabinetry around.  She took the large cabinet that set right beside the sink feeling like it was all up in your grill.  So she moved that over the oven in it’s new home.  Put the short little cabinet way up top beside the sink and added some shelving for plates and glasses. 

Ok – that’s a lot of words let’s just get on to the pictures:

 

Now for the much better space planned kitchen:

 

Ahhh…  Fresh and bright!  Look at how she has maximized every inch of this space!  She found the cart with a marble top that fit perfectly in the space that for some reason didn’t have any cabinetry?!?!  This is a small kitchen but she can do some mean cooking in here!!  Remember our yummy dinner we had?

Now to the dining room…

BEFORE:

And the NOW:

I love her mixture of clean modern pieces with the painted table.  The table and chairs were actually a piece she grew up with!  I love re-purposing pieces with memories!  She painted a grayish blue below the chair rail.  And check out the BEAUTIFUL light fixture she added.  (I have just a little light envy but with counseling I’m working through it – and she’s also left it to me in the will.)

Check out the details:

   

 

  

Aren’t you loving Shannon’s house so far!!  I told y’all she’s talented!!  Stay tuned for the next installment!

Dropping in @ Shannon’s

Welcome to Shannon’s House – she’s our next contestant on “DROPPING IN”

 

Shannon has a sweet little cottage house.  The space is small but perfect for her and she maximizes every inch!  Today we’re going to start in the living room.  Check out the space before she moved in:

 

Good bones, right!  Well just wait til you see what she’s done with it!!


 
The details…

 

Don’t you love the mobile that I mentioned here.  And who wouldn't want a bubble gum vending machine in their living room, right?  What a beautiful room!  The mixture of whimsy with clean modern lines is exactly what Shannon is all about.  I can’t wait to share the rest of the house with you!!