Fivers

I cannot believe this!!! Ellie has turned 5 years old. You all know what this means... I'm getting old. I really don't know how this happened! I mean wasn't she just born... Wasn't it just yesterday when she was wee one in our arms?? But alas it is back to reality. She is a five year old now. Growing faster than a weed - her personality coming through more and more. She a precious sweet girl!

So Uncle Joe and I took Ms. Elle-belle out for dinner the night before her birthday. We thought it would be fun to experience Ellie's first time at a Japanese Steakhouse. And boy was it! And of course after dinner we had to get some celebratory ice cream!

And ice cream makes us happy....

REAL happy

Ellie went with cotton candy with sprinkles. Hey it's all the range with the 5 year old's!

Uncle Joe went with dark chocolate with m&m's and chocolate sprinkles. I guess that's all the rage with the 5+30 year old's.

We had an amazing time! Happy Birthday sweet girl - Enjoy every day of year 5!!

Check out Ellie's super cool birthday party here.

Ladies Luncheon

This past Sunday, my friend Shannon, had a special guest in town. Erica (see below with the popped collar) was in town for a long weekend. They had a most lovely weekend!! Art class on Saturday morning, brunch at the Flying Biscuit, Farmer's Market for soap shopping, dinner on the town @ 300 East and drinks out on St. Patty's Weekend - where else but the Gin Mill. But on her last day in town, Shannon showed her some true southern hospitality with a "Ladies Luncheon" at the casa.

What a lovely group of ladies!

What's a ladies luncheon without a little vino? BTW I highly recommend you make a run to Trader Joe's for some wine buying! There are some really great wines for amazing prices!! This Riesling was very nice! We had some really nice Lambrusco as well!

photo courtesy of here

And then there was the main course... Spaghetti and meatballs. (You need to make sure you are saying that with an Italian accent!) Now these weren't just any meatballs. No these were homemade by the guest of honor. And they were DELISH!

Check out the bubbly goodness on the stove! I know your tummy is grumbling!
Now a little tag team on the pasta. Nice work ladies!



Add a smidgen of this - a dab of butter - a pinch of that. And viola! Lunch is served!

Looks good enough to EAT!

And oh, was it!

So glad I got to spend some time with you ladies! Come back soon ERICA!!

**edited to note - did Erica look a little familiar to you?? Well you have probably seen her on TV! Yes I know it's super cool. She has a recurring role on Law & Order SVU. She also was recently on "The Good Wife." Yes you google her name and she is all over the place! Shows on broadway, etc! She has her own page on the "internet movie database" - I mean HELLO?!?! ok just wanted y'all to know I was cool by association on Sunday. It doesn't happen often!**

A new girl in town...

We have had this bessie for over 5 years. She has been good. Consistent. Loyal. Our stand by for all things that warranted documentation.

You hate to tell a good ol' pal that there's someone new in your life.

But, yes dear friend meet the new girl in town...

I know she's super HOT isn't she!?!? I promise dear old friend you won't be forgotten or unappreciated but you probably won't be coming out near as often. I mean look at what this new girl can do...

Gorgeous, right?? Does that make our relationship ending more understandable? Or was that even more rude throwing in your lens what you just can't do. What? We all have our limitations.

Success!!

The BBQ was a great success thanks to help of a lot of amazing people! Thank you so much for volunteering, eating, contributing, cooking, cleaning, driving and the list could go on and on...

The countdown is on til we leave! Everyone is getting super excited. I can't wait to see Joe experience this!

Thank you Lord for the amazing opportunity you have given us!!

Fundraising for Mission Trip

We are heading back to Honduras to spend time with the children of New Life Orphanage in Jalaca, Honduras. Last year my friend Rhonda and I went for a week and had an amazing life changing experience.


Here we are last year skipping rope with the kids. Yes that's me in the dew rag - nice look, huh? We had so much fun with the kids! And many of them touched our hearts - some more than others.

This is Meilan - isn't she gorgeous!! And she's just precious! I can't wait to get back to Honduras to be with her!

Here's part of the team that's going this year.

So... we are planning our big fundraiser this weekend. Our church is helping put on a BBQ. The men are going to be smokin' the shoulders and the ladies are going to slinging some slaw. Should be some tasty treats!! Please swing by and get you some 'que!

If you would like to give, you can give a completely tax deductible gift right here.

"Carolina Reds"

courtesy of Garden & Gun magazine - yes this is a real magazine!

This is my brother. Holding a fish. Sticking his tongue out. He loves to fish. If you couldn't tell!

I've never completely understood his love for fishing. Me - I've always been more of a girly girl. (Which truthfully I think he's found annoying over the years.) I'm more about lounging on a float than I am reeling in the big one. But fishing is his thing!

My brother and his family have recently moved down to Charleston SC and they are loving the Lowcountry life! And what's not to love?? It's gorgeous countryside, amazing history, and lots of fun things to do!

But I think the #1 on my brother's list of "Why live in Charleston" would be the fishing. More specifically the red fishing. With his fishing has come an unlikely but super cool event... He has been featured in a documentary that follows three anglers across the marshes of the South Carolina Low Country. Check out the trailer!! After just seeing this little bit of the film - I'm beginning to understand this "love" my brother has! Check out the write up in Garden & Gun. (yes that is the name of a magazine published here in the South.)

I am super excited to go to see the full film along with 10 other fly fishing documentaries when it comes to town on March 17th. To see if they are Fly Fishing Film tour is making a stop near you - check this out. The films locale range from Alaska to Australia, but I have to say I'll be waiting for the one filmed in our neck of the woods.

So if you happen to attend the Charlotte screening and you hear some crazy woman squealing - that will be me! What?!?! It's my big brother - it's pretty cool!!

Winter Beach Weekend

photo from 2010 winter storm in Myrtle Beach

A group of us girls are heading to the beach this weekend! I love a girls getaway - a great time to re-charge with good friends! This is our 4th year going together in February. It's a really rigorous weekend! There's lots of eating, and then there's sleeping, and then you have to have a snack after you nap, and then maybe a little book reading, which leads to another nap, and the cycle continues.

We split up the meals so you only have to worry about cooking one meal each. I'm in charge of breakfast. I'm thinking of trying PW's Breakfast Casserole... Looks pretty good right?!?!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!! Are you doing lots of projects or will you also be doing the lazy day option?? Either way - enjoy!!

A Valentine's Surprise

Friday I came home to a sweet surprise at my door! My friend Shannon had dropped off a Valentine's gift!

Check it out...

Uber cute, right!?! And there was CHOCOLATE! The gift combined all the things a good Valentine's present should... something home made, something to eat, something to wear and something to share.

She gave me "coupons" to cash in. Super cute idea!!

And how sweet of her to think of Joe as well - gum! You always need fresh breath @ Valentines!

And how sweet are these socks! It's been a long time that I've had a sweet surprise at my door. Thanks so much Shannon!

And Happy Valentine's to all of you as well!!

Date Night

Joe and I celebrated Valentine's last night with a fun date night out on the town. The snow was coming down but we didn't let that keep us from our date! A friend had brought the Charlotte Folk Society to my attention. On the second Friday of every month they have a free concert event. Last night was Master Piedmont Bluesman, John Dee Holeman.

For more info on Mr. Holeman, check this out.

The concert was at the Great Aunt Stella Center in uptown Charlotte. We have never been to this venue before but it was so cool! An awesome environment for a quaint evening of music! Here's Mr Holeman singin' the blues...

And some pictures of the venue... How cool would it be to see Dave Matthews or Sugarland in a small venue like this!! It reminds me of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. I love finding new spots in our city!

After the concert, we headed out for some tapas and wine. We checked out a new spot called, Yn. That's pronounced -wine- We both did a flight of wines. That's where you have a small sampling (2.5 oz) of 3 different wines. They provide a info sheet with each flight so you know what you're trying and what characteristics each one has.

The interior of the restaurant was pretty cool. It's in a very small space with very few windows, and low ceiling. But they have totally run with that and have made it feel like you're in a basement pub. The colors are very warm and cozy. The lobby/lounge area has copper gas lanterns that adds a cozy touch. The bar top is a hammered brass as well. There are lots of timbers, and warm wood tones. The wall colors range from burnt oranges and mossy greens.

I didn't want to look like a total dork taking pictures while sipping on my vino... but I did happen to take my camera to the restroom. Don't you love checking out the bathrooms in the restaurants - or wait maybe that's just me. But I will say I found something cool in there!

Check out that sink! Funky right?!? I can't decide if I love it or not so much?? The concept is really cool but the stark white is throwing me off. And it also gives the look of a smiley face. Do you see if or did I have too much wine?

And I do have to say... check out the flooring. Yes that is very 50's right? My grandparent's put these floors in their home they built . So hey Aunt Mark - your floors are chic!

We had an awesome date night! The concert was fun, the food was yummy, the wine was tasty but the company was beyond compare!!

Love you babe!

Be our guest...

Sorry for the delay in our tour. Funny how life gets in the way of blogging!

So here's our guest room. I don't have a before on this one so we'll just be seeing the present.

I wanted the walls in this room to be the color of a Tiffany box. I think we hit the nail on the head!

The room consists of a good many "hand-me-downs." The iron bed has been in the family for years. One of the side tables is actually my sewing machine, you know the old school kind that's set-in a table. The dressing table was in my bedroom growing up. My mom surprised me a few years ago by having it re-finished. The dresser (which I neglected to photograph) is from Joe's room growing up. We've painted it and replace knobs, etc.

The artwork is done by moi. Yes such talent. I saw an ad in a magazines years ago that had a piece of artwork very similar. And once again, I thought I could do something similar myself!


I actually used the wall paint for the blue so it would go nicely. The brown paint was left over paint from the first color we painted the living room. The canvas was given to me by my mom. So Artwork = $0.00 Love it!!

Once I had decided on the wall color I wanted a punch of color and pattern so off we went to the fabric store. And this is what we found.

I wanted to do one long continuous pillow. So since the fabric was 54" wide, we used that for our width and then a half yard of fabric and we had a super cute accent pillow. We used an old white sheet (actually a hand me down sheet from my grandparents - it's so soft) for the back of the pillow and existing stuffing from old throw pillow and ta-da!! Accent pillow $15.00! And just so I give props where props are due - Joe did the sewing on this bessy! He's much better with the sewing machine than I am. Sad but true!

And there you have it. Our little guest suite for the very few over night guests we entertain.

So who wants to come spend the night??? Joe will make us a mean breakfast in the a.m.!!