Yes Yes I know....

I have been under construction again. I just want a new look and am having trouble getting it perfect. You know how insecure I am about my appearance! I even have a poll going!

So here is my attempt at making my own header.... I think I love it but I am still a bit troubled over the size - I wanted 3 columns but it pushes the background so far out you miss it. Well, I have learned a lot so I guess it's not a total loss. I like the new look..let's see how long I let it stick around.

Not too much going on this week. Kyle and I have been whittling down our TO DO list of things to clean and organize before my Mom comes to visit this weekend. We are doing really good - although it is mostly Kyle doing everything. Love you honey! I am so excited for my Mom to get here - last time she was here with lived in the apartment and hadn't even dreamed of our little Harley yet! I can't wait to show her our home and introduce her to my little precious puppy.

So, that is all that is up today - I took all my posting time at lunch to work on my new header-
Have a fabulous Tuesday and you know what I will be doing tonight?

Watching the new episode or The Rachel Zoe Project - yay!! Love it!

mondays are hazardous to my health

Its gonna take more than my healthy choice meal to get me through my lunch today - I need something sweet. Anyone ever have that can't resist Must have kind of craving?
I am on my way to Walgreens.....
Twizzlers, Reese's, Candy Corn??? What diet?

Enough purses? NEVER!

Alright girlies! Get yourself over to Handbag Planet to sign up for a free handbag giveaway!
I mean seriously..who doesn't love a fun new FREE handbag!!!!!!!!!!!!

Construction!!!!!!!

Thought I would work on a few things...bear with me!

Thirteen Things about Thursday

So today is the sacred Thursday Thirteen so I thought for lack of a better idea that I would just share 13 random things about my Thursday. I hope to cook up something more creative next week. But...anyways...here ya go!

1. I found out yesterday that I will have to have back surgery...this is definitely on my mind today.

2. I was supposed to go to a job site today and get some measurements. I was dreading this because it is almost physically impossible for me at the moment - but it is my job so I needed to do. Through acts of fate this is postponed due to small change of events. All I can say is Wahoo!

3. I have spent way too much of my day online. I need to be tweaking this floor plan and working on other things. But blogger has sucked me in and I am being unfocused on my work.

4. I had starbucks. Emily at Chatting at the Sky inspired me with her Pumpkin Spice Latte post a few weeks ago and I have been craving ever since. Today I caved and then unbeknownst to me (Hmmmm..) a blueberry scone hopped into my hands as well. For shame.

5. I told my co-worker about Harley's puppy spa trip after he commented on my desktop picture of my precious puppy. He stepped slowly away from me and showed concern for my mental state. This made me laugh. I mean whose dog doesn't wear cologne? I mean seriously...

6. I am now addicted to Project Runway (even though this season kinda sucks) and a new show: The Rachel Zoe Project. Why Oh Why am I so reeled in by reality TV? Maybe I should have been in fashion design. Hmmm....

7. I wore SPANX today. If you know what those are then you know that I was trying to look uber good in my dressy work clothes since I was going to go on site. But, I am not now and I am tempted to go in the restroom and take them off so my flab can be set free! SPANX are great when you want to feel sexy and chic but when you are just sitting at your desk.....lets just say that I prefer slacks that feel more like sweatpants. What a waste....

8. Tonight is the premiere of Grey's Anatomy and The Office (which Kyle and I just got addicted to this summer) and I am way excited - also since I am almost comatose at night with pain pills and the achiness of a day in a desk chair having fun new TV is way more entertaining than the History channel my hubby wants to watch. That is a whole post in itself there...

9. I have a healthy choice meal in the fridge at work but have been contemplating Chicken Fried Rice since 9 am.

10. I have 3 blogs..I have spent at least 15 minutes today pondering a new blog I want to start

11. Today is a lot about food for me. Kyle is making spaghetti for dinner. This is my favorite. I can't wait for tonight. No wonder I am fat. Thats what happens when food = comfort.

12. My lipgloss is Pomegranate. I love it.

13. We are having a garage sale this weekend with our community. I am so excited to get rid of some of our junk. I will just have to keep from going to look around at the others and find stuff to spend my earnings on. I so need a console table! Actually, I should probably put projects on hold for a bit huh? Blah! I guess I will have to live vicariously through all my fun friends creative projects!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Copy Cat

So once again I have ripped off a great idea from a fellow blogger: The Nester. I loved this idea for my guest bathroom. If you check out the link above and scroll down you will see hers. This works great for our rental house where we cant just rip the awful mirror out and put in a beautiful framed piece like I would like. What I did here is I took the glass out and used it on the counter to givc it a bit more oola la and then I hung the frame up on a black knob with some great black satin ribbon. The pick doesn't really do it justice and my walls are looking a little ucky as well - they are actually a fun asparagus green! Remember? If not: Check it out here!



This is such a fun and easy project and it really gives some interest to the space. I love that! I need to get to work on the rest of the house. Right now the guest bathroom is my favorite room!

My name is Leslie and I paint everything black....

This is Kyle and I's latest little project. I could have sworn I had a before picture but I just cannot locate it. We bought this Antique Secretary Desk at a garage sale for 25.00 dollars. I was in shock and it was in really good condition. The lady told us that she had refinished it not too long before but I knew immediately what I would do with it! I would paint it black! All antique collectors will gasp and faint at the thought! Why do people have such a problem with refinishing antiques? I mean, it is just old wood and I dont like it until I refinish it and Voila! I love it! I see it as giving the furniture a new little life and personality! Who doesn't love a makeover? So to all you old fuddy duddy's who protect your antiques....Don't scoff at me cuz my little secretary is looking soooooo fab! Here she is! We sanded it down and painted it solid black and bought some brushed nickel hardware to finish her off! I love the piece we got for the top drawer. It really updates the look.


Next. I took the inside piece that was separate with little mail drawers and shelves and I spray painted it Fire Engine Red! I am sooo in love with it! It really gives it a bit of spice!
And here she is in her new little home. I am so happy to have that done! Now my living room is finally finished!

Spa Day!! for Harley????

glitter-graphics.com

So here I am filing my own nails and painting my own toes, deep conditioning my hair at home! And my puppy spends the morning at the spa? What is up with that? hee hee By request, my Mom wanted me to post some pics of Harley's haircut. Last time I didnt post them because they butchered him and he looked like a different puppy entirely! So on Saturday we dropped him off to get puppy pampered. He even got cologne! So here he is looking all sweet and adorable. Three seconds after this picture he was chewing up my rug...

Here he is with his favorite person, MOI! Kyle will despute this fact!

I am sorry guys....I am just over the moon for the little fur ball!

No Rhyme nor Reason

I'm glad it's Friday.

not much more to say...

its been a week

I won't soon forget

And yes I have lots to say.

But, its weekend time,

two holly days before

I must work and think again

More to share next week.

Happy Friday

Thirteen Dreams

First things first! I have to blab a bit about what a special day today is. 4 years ago today my husband and I had our very first date. We went to Chilis for dinner in our little college town and then we went for a romantic walk around the lake. Every year we go and relive our precious memory. If it wasn't for that I would probably never go to Chilis. It's okay I guess. So tonight we are celebrating our first date - cuz that is just the sappy kind of couple that we are. Love you honey! Happy first dateiversary!

Now...... 13 dreams of mine

1. Live in New York City
2. Have my own studio in my house
3. Go on an extended vacation to Italy
4. Own a summer home and spend every summer there as a tradition
5. Write a book
6. Learn to speak Italian
7. Participate in Shakespeare in the Park
8. Design my own home
9. Have an apartment in Paris
10. Go back to Hawaii with my husband
11. Design the interior of a yacht
12. Host a TV show
13. Lose all my excess weight and look like Heidi Klum

"Dreams are nothing more than Wishes and a Wish is just a Dream...Your wish could come true..."
-You've Got Mail soundtrack

Wordless Wednesday

The Heart wants what the Heart wants.

But, what does it want? Through the means of peer pressure I created a myspace page a few months ago. I don't use it except to go on on the off chance that I remember I have it and check and see what new photos people might have posted. The other thing I enjoy is that you post what you are doing and then you pick a little emoticon to display your current mood.

I like checking others peoples and seeing what their mood is. There are lots of choices and I try to be very truthful. If I were to log on today I would pick: conflicted.

Why am I conflicted? I don't know! I seem to have nothing going on but then 4 inches under the surface my life is just a mass of stress and madness. So...why the cool serene exterior? Because its the only way I can be. If I let all the drama envelope me I would be someone I don't want to be. Know what I mean? Me + drama = me 4 years ago. Ever since I met Kyle my life has been completely different. Yes I am dramatic and yes I am still ME but a total change took over my life and that change is called: Control. I am the epitemy of self control. I think before everything I do and I think 360 degrees around it. This can be maddening but it is who I have become. And I will run 100 miles out of my way to avoid the uncomfortable, problematic, drama filled moments that make me cringe. Are ya feelin' me? Am I a nutcase? Maybe. But the thing is that I seem to have developed this internal device that organizes, files and deals with all scenarios. That is why I can be a mass of conflict, drama, ulcers, indecision and dreams, plans, and ideas and come across as completely together, organized and in control.

Because I am. The problem is that sometimes the device shuts down and overload happens and I have a crisis.

This happened to me the the other night. I woke up in the middle of the night having this dream about family and home. All the homesickness hit but then the conflict bubbled up and I was crying. These aren't on the surface problems..these are the nitty gritty little stickpins that we all have from our imperfect lives. But here they were bubbling up. When I woke up I was thinking about it all....thankgoodness the server was back up and I was able to rework some things, move some files around, download some reality and get back online. Did I just make myself sound like a robot? That is sooo not the image I was working towards.

I guess my point is this: I have learned how to deal with the things that bother me. I have learned to sensor and control my environment so I function the best. I dont ignore issues - I deal with them head on but, I have figured out how to deal with them in the best possible way and keep myself as close to nuetral as I can.

The title: So what does my heart want? Does it want to burst free, run wild and deal with everything as it sees fit or feels fit? Or does it want the ulcer controlling mechanism I have designed for it? It wants what it wants. But what if I don't know?

Have I changed who I am? Have I just become a more mature and better person? Have I squashed something neccessary?

What do I want?

Thirteen Things I Remember Vividly...

I am writing this on Wednesday because I am sitting at work with little...okay nothing to do. My company laid two people off last week and I feel like my future here is uncertain. Depressing start to a post isn't it? Well, it's all I have. Ready for some more? The shot I had for my back several weeks ago has not helped. I have no idea what this means for me - I am scared that it means that this pain is now part of my life for good. Does that mean I won't get to go golfing with my husband again or ride a rollercoaster? Does it mean if I have kids I wont be able to pick them up? I know there is a whole court thing to go through as well and I dread it because I don't want money - I want my life back. If I wasn't at work I think I would be sobbing onto my keyboard right now. Thank goodness I am at work.


Okay this is sooo not what this post is about! But I guess it is about sharing a bit of myself with you so thanks if you haven't jumped ship and headed to a happier post.


So, this Thursday Thirteen is Thirteen Things I remember vividly. These are happy moments, sad times, things many people remember and some things I might not have ever even said aloud (and I am still not - typing is so much safer). Moments in my life that I remember perfectly, devoid of blurs and missing parts. They are times that when I close my eyes I can still feel the heartache, the laughter, the smiles or the tears as they ran down my cheeks. It took me less than 5 minutes to make the list as I sat and closed my eyes for a second; these memories flashed through my mind. Hope you enjoy the list and the peak into a little bit of my heart and soul.


1. September 11, 2001

There is a different generation than mine that can all tell you where they were the day Kennedy was assasinated. For my generation we have this date: September 11, 2001. This is what brought on this post today - because today is the 7 year anniversary of that awful day. But I can close my eyes and remember everything about that day as if it happened just a day ago. As if the news is still showing the buildings collapsing and people covered in ash. I was sitting in my Political Science class, it was my Freshman year in college, I was next to my friend Joey ready for class to start. Then I heard the guy next to me talking loudly about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center two minutes later my professor came in and had more details. Halfway through the class someone knocked on the door and asked for a student. This student was in the military. I rushed to a friends dorm after class and they all were sitting in front of the TV too. I remember crying as we watched the news coverage. Going back to my apartment later and watching more coverage with tears in my eyes. I remember walking across campus to the Libary Lawn for a candelight vigil. I will never forget that day.

2. April 19, 1995

This is another day that I won't forget. It's the day of the Oklahoma City Bombing. You might not know this about me but I grew up in Oklahoma not too far from Oklahoma City. I was in 6th grade and a teacher rushed into our classroom and told my teacher Mrs. Anderson to turn on the news. We began watching as my teacher picked up her phone and ran out of the room, her daughter worked downtown in OKC. She was fine. But I remember the fear that day and the awe of being a child and seeing something so overwhelming. I might forget that classroom and those kids, the chalkboards, the Camelot play we did where I was the Lady of the Lake but the memory of the bombing won't fade.

3. The night I met my husband

Ready for a happier memory? I would think so. I remember the night I met my husband so clearly that I can transport myself back there so easily it is like my secret daydream I can pull out whenever I want. The funny thing about it is that we really shouldn't have met - but fate was on our side. I was at an overnight event for my sorority - We had rented this building out for this all out Girls Bash, the next morning we were supposed to drive to the city and participate in Race for the Cure. At the last minute about ten of our girls had conflicts and emergencies and had to bail. This left 3 of us who were supposed to participate in the event. The evening was fun but in the end 5 more people said that they hadnt plan to stay the whole night. This left about 4 of us who were going to. Long story short it was a bummer night for the planning committee of the event and when one more person bailed on the Race for the Cure that fell apart as well. (This all led to a little speech about commitments etc. at the next chapter meeting....via the president..aka Moi) We cleaned up the part of the party that did happen and headed home a little after midnight. On my drive home I called my best friend to see what she was up to and she was at a local hangout and she insisted I join her. I wasn't an easy sell but after several minutes I agreed to go home and change and meet her there. I threw on this black top and put my crazy Pajama Party hair into a pony tail. I met up with our little group and had fun visiting with everyone until....I noticed this guy looking over at our table. I caught his eye once or twice and smiled but didn't think too much of it. He then waved at a good friend of mine and she went over to talk to him. I saw him look at me and then ask her a question or something and a few minutes after she came back he came over to say hello. Ummm.. .You had me at Hello? hee hee She introduced us and we chatted for a minute and he then went back to his group. I caught his eyes a few more times before we left. I felt a little butterfly. And that was the night I met my husband. Several weeks later we ran into each other accidentally again and he called soon after. The rest is history. His side of the story? He wasn't supposed to be there either - at the last minute decided to join his friends as well. Funny huh? I still wear that shirt sometimes (4 years old but still sooo cute!) and remember that night.

4. The last day of High School

Not everyone had a great high school experience but I have to say that mine was pretty good although I look back at photos with total horror. I was involved in a lot of things in school from being the mascot (for a short time) and the yearbook editor but my favorite thing that I did was Drama. I remember the last day of school during my 6th period class. We were all standing around chatting and saying our good byes, talking about the future, planning summer trips and I remember walking up the steps to the stage for one last time. I was planning to major in Theatre at school in the Fall but I had to stand on that stage one last time and feel that rush and that energy that you only get from performance art. I remember sitting Upstage and taking it all in one last time.

5. My Wedding Day



The day I married my best friend. I remember every detail of that day. The perfect weather (minus the wind that had my veil flying everywhere) and the smiles on people's faces, the willingness of everyone to help out with any little detail. My best friends all in Florida with me, my family was there as we took pictures on the beach. My Mom fixing my hair (she's a beautician)...I just remember everything about the day. Standing inside waiting for the signal to come outside and have my Dad walk me down the sandy aisle. Meeting Kyle's eyes as I walked towards him....everything was so beautiful and perfect. I plan to freeze that memory forever.

6. My worst day at camp

During college I worked at a summer camp for two summers. It was totally not ME - it was the opposite of me but then it was ME. It was pudding fights, teaching sailing, hiking mountains, canoing, bugs, sweating, outside nature stuff nonstop. This is the opposite of me. It took two weeks of mocking before I stopped wearing makeup. It was one of the best things I have ever done. But there was this one day. I was the leader of the 7-9 year old cabins and a counselor for one of the cabins with 14 little girls. It was our day for going to Devil's Island. We took a pontoon boat trip to the island and hiked to the top for an amazing view. On the way up I was leading and had a single file trail of girls and two junior counselors with me. Suddenly I noticed a mouse about a foot in front of me. As I opened my mouth to tell the girls about the mouse I noticed another animal friend nearby. A 3 to 4 foot rattlesnake in striking position about 2 feet in front of me. Thankfully its eyes were on the mouse not me. I have never been more terrified as the possibly outcomes flashed through my head - getting bitten and them not being able to get me back down the trail, worse - it biting one of the girls and we were a long way from camp - almost at the top of the peak. I turned around quickly and shouted some gibberish about the wrong way and got the entire line to turn back and reroute without knowing why. Once we were safe (I am sure the same cannot be said for the mouse) I grabbed one of the other counselors and told them what happened. We were not really content until we had all the girls (totally oblivious) back on the boat. No my friends..that is not all. Once we had a quick swim and were on the boat pushing off the rocks the next disaster struck. I was pushing the boat out from the rocks and doing that ancient practice of hopping onto some thing you just pushed away from you (you know what I mean!) amd I slipped on my way and sliced my leg on a rock. BAD. It was not pretty and it was bleeding pretty good. The girls were distracted and did not see and to savc frightening them the other counselor got me something to hold onto the cut until we had got back to camp. It was awful. Later that day I was on the blog tower ( its like a tall diving board into the lake except that there is no board and you jump on this giant inflated tube that bounces you into the lake - it's about ten feet off of the dock) and I was stung by a wasp and had to jump off the tower into the lake to get away from the angry wasp. I can still see that snake (total body shudder). Ahhhh...the delights of summer camp. Most people who know me cannot even picture me in any of those situations.

7. That one Thursday night...

I was blessed in high school with some amazing friends. We met our sophomore year and are still the best of friends today. We hung out all the time after school and in the summers and at some point in high school we all read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. We always remember this night as a Thursday for some reason and refer to it that way. A few of us planned the get together to hang out at Pam's house and we got that fancy sparkling grape juice (we were good gals) and we had a little speech and glasses to toast and that song Count on Me from Waiting to Exhale and we toasted our friendship and talked about how we knew we would always love and care about each other and we would remain friends no matter where life took each of us. That was such a cool night and so girly....just writing about it makes me miss those gals and wish we could relive just a little bit of that now. Love you girlies!!!

8. My first kiss with my first crush

Well, you knew there had to be a few of these stories too. Kyle, if you are reading (my hubby always follows my blog) you might want to skip the next two!

I was head over heels for my brother's best friend when I was 14. He was 17 and I lived purely in the dream world concerning him. We always talked and had fun when he was at our house but it was not a realistic thought that anything would happen. Oh but I had crazy butterflies for that boy and of course everyone knew and teased me constantly. And then one day he and my brother were at the house getting ready to go to work and my brother went to take a shower. I walked into my room to get something and he followed me and before I knew it he kissed me! He wasn't the best kisser - lets be honest here - but Oh My gosh did I lose my mind over him after that. It wasn't my first kiss but I wish it had been because it was one of those princess in the castle tower prince charming dreams come true kind of kisses. (sigh) I have the overwhelming 14 year old like need to giggle now after telling that.

9. The second time my heart was broken

I remember this heart break because it wasn't the first time this same person had broke it. I had dated this guy for several months the year before and it had ended and I just hadn't moved on - it wasn't long before I jumped in and got burned again. So here is my memory: I hadn't heard from him (it was a semi long distance thing) in a week or so and had called the night before. He was pulling away but I was so intent on working things out that I couldn't see that there was nothing worth saving (know what I mean?). So I am at work (my design internship before my senior year) and I notice that I missed a call from him. I am so anxious that I go ahead and listen to it even though I typically didn't use my cell phone at work. I remember the cold office and my desk looking out the windows of the glass building, the hot summer day outside and his voice telling me that he had to focus on other things and didn't want to be in a relationship. I felt the hot tears on my cheeks, wiped them and then lost control. I held back what I could as I told one of the designers that I had to go home. She had my purse and had me out the door before I even got it explained. Women just know don't they? When I got in the car I lost it - and then I cried and drove all the way home listening to the message a few more times. When I walked in the door my Mom was there and well...those Women..they just know! After a little while I sucked it up and went back to work after I had regained some composure. Gosh that was an awful day.

10. The night we jumped the median

Hee Hee this is a great one! Heather and I went to a play at the Performing Arts Center (we went a lot b/c our Drama class required it and we loved it) a fellow student of ours was in the play and we were all set to enjoy it but - it was awful! We snuck out with muffled giggles and decided to bury our Theatrical woes in some pasta at our then fave - Olive Garden. I guess this is just a girl thing and a giggly thing but something happened while we were waiting for our food that got us laughing and then some ridiculously hilarious italian song came on over the speakers in the restaurant and someone had them turned on too loud and we were laughing so hard about it that ten minutes after we got our food our waiter came back and we still hadn't been able to stifle the laughter enough to eat our food. We have talked for years about that moment and other funny things that happened. I just remember the smell of pasta, the hilarious song and the worst laughing tummy ache I have ever had. Oh yeah, and then on the way home I took the wrong exit and wanted to back out to get back on the interstate. Heather refused to allow backing up on the interstate so...we jumped the median! Even now whenever I drive by it (and I always look and remember that night) it never seems as steep and crazy as it did then. The giggles never ended!

11. The day my best friend got married

I remember the day my best friend got married. I couldn't believe one of us was getting married. I was the maid of honor and she had picked out the cutest dresses! I felt beautiful. Our friendship had had some rocky points that year but that day I was so proud to stand up with her and watch her marry the love of her life and was so grateful for our friendship and the life journeys we had been through together. It was a really beautiful and sweet day and it is a precious memory of mine.

12. Making friends with one of my best friends

When I switched from Theatre to Interior Design for a major in college - my whole world changed. Everything I had learned and gotten use to in college was suddenly different. My roommate had to leave for the semester so I was living alone. I walked into my first Drafting class and sat down. I sat next to the girl who would be one of my best friends. We started off with very interesting opinions of each other. I dressed up for class and she thought I was a wee bit snooty (we found this all out later) and I thought she was shy and quiet and wondered why I hadn't sat at the loud table across the room. A few weeks later we ended up talking more and working in the studio into all hours of the night together. We found out we were in one of the same Leadership Organizations on campus and our outlook for friendship looked good. But there was one day that we became friends and I don't mean to toot my own horn here but somehow it just clicked and we have been friends ever since. We had a project that we were working on the night before and she messed up her mylar that she was supposed to transfer her drafted plan to in ink. It was late and no stores were open to get a new piece. Her class schedule wouldn't allow her to finish the project before it was due in class the next day so, I gave her my piece that I was planning to transfer onto that night because I had a free schedule the next day before our class and could go get a new sheet I would just have to get up before my typical time. I remember her face when I suggested this: Total disbelief and then the sincerest thank you and that was how we became friends. I love that that memory stays with me.

13. Falling into the Orchestra Pit in High School

This little memory might give you a bit of a chuckle. I have no idea why this one has stuck around in my head. I would have hoped the embarassment alone would have created a mental block. I guess it is just too funny and what makes it great is that my memory of it is still in slow motion the way I remember it happening.

As you now know, I was in Drama in HS and in most auditoriums there is the stage and the the Orchestra pit and then the seating. The Orchestra pit was a typical place for us to hang out during class as the Auditorium was our classroom and thus a couch had been placed down there at some point. I remember my great friend Kevin sitting on the couch in the pit and most everyone else was off doing something or preoccupied in conversation (what I mean is that no one really saw this happen besides Kevin). I was leaning over the wall on the audience side of the pit and doing some ridiculous thing when suddenly I lost my footing and flipped over the edge. This is my slow motion memory. I remember falling the 6 or 7 feet into the pit it felt like it happened slowly and I could feel myself falling and I look at the ground and see it coming and see my body flying over the edge and I see Kevin sitting on the couch watching me as I fall past him into a heap on the floor beside him. The pain, the hysterical laughter, his face, the horror...all emotions are still totally intact in my precious little memory. Classic Leslie. Now who has done that?

By the way, I hurt my leg really bad - it swelled up like a grape fruit on one side, it was still there a month or so later when I finally fessed up to my drama teacher when we were laughing about the incident.

If you made it through all 13 of those memories than I am ever so happy! If you didn't I totally understand...I can be really long winded. But I had so much fun reminscing and even jogging up details that I had forgotten. Have a great Thursday!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

I heart your blog!

Yay! So much fun! While I was on my little vacation I was given my very first blog award by Lisa over at JujuBoo. She first visited my blog through Blog Around The World. And now that I have been given this lovely award I just HAVE to pass it onto some more of my new and old bloggy friends! The award instructions are:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

2. Link to the person you received the award from.

3. Nominate 7 other blogs ( or just take your award for fun! I passed it along b/c I have never had an award before! )

4.Put links of those blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message on those blogs you have nominated.

Here are 7 Blogs that I Love!

1. Just a Girl

2.Through a Glass, Darkly

3.Something to Blog About

4.At Home ReDesigns

5.Dressing for Motherhood

6.Seriously

7.Karli & Kijsa

Thanks for having such interesting, funny and amazing blogs!

Family, Fun and a wee bit of adventure!

Despite my back "issues", Kyle and I had quite an adventure on our trip to visit his Mom and Dad in Deadwood, SD. We did lots of things as I had mentioned in last weeks Thursday Thirteen. I am exhausted now that we are home but am delighted to have so many great memories to reflect on from our trip. Here is what we did while we were away:
We arrived late on Friday night and headed to bed soon after getting to his parent's home. On Saturday morning we got up early and ate some delicious blueberry scones that Kyle's Mom had ready for us. We headed to Spearfish to see Kyle's Grandpa and take him out to lunch. His Grandfather suffered a terrible stroke in January and is now in an assisted living home, it was difficult to see him so changed from when we had spent time with him at Christmas but it was comforting to see the wonderful place they had found for him and we were so happy when he recognized Kyle immediately upon our coming in the door. We had a good visit with him although he was quickly worn out and it was time to go. Kyle and his Dad headed back home to watch the OSU's first game of the season and his Mom and I headed into town for some last minute things for the BBQ on Monday. On Sunday we headed to the Badlands and traveled most of the day. It was a great time and I saw a lot of amazing things that I never knew existed in the middle of South Dakota. It is definitely worth seeing. On Monday Kyle and his father and I headed to Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park and had a wonderful half day trip getting home just in time for the BBQ to start. Lots of family and friends came by and we had a great time playing Horseshoe Golf despite the rain and suddenly cool temperatures. On Tuesday we had breakfast with Kyle's Great Uncle before he headed back home and then we gambled a bit before heading to a museum about the town of Deadwood and then to Mount Myriah where we hiked up a steep trail so overlook the whole city. It was great although I was really worn out when we got back to the car. We went to see his Grandpa one more time and got to visit with some other family members again before heading back to Deadwood to try our luck once more at the penny slot machines. On Wednesday we got up and had breakfast at the casino that Kyle's Dad supervises and then they took us to Rapid City to catch our flight and start our day of travel. We were lucky enough to catch an earlier flight from Chicago to Tampa and made it home an hour or so ahead of schedule. We picked up our little Harley from our friends who had offered to pet-sit the little thing and finally got home and went straight to sleep. Why is it that you always seem to need a little vacation to recover from your real vacation? Anywhoo- we are home and happy to be so! Enjoy the pics!

Friday FUN!

I stumbled upon a blog the other day and discovered this website where you can Yearbook Yourself . You input your picture and select photos from different years with hairstyles of that year. Hope you have a good laugh at my expense and go and have some fun yourself!

Kyle and I got back from our trip on Wednesday night and were so happy to see our little Harley again. We had a great time and I will be posting about our Labor Day adventure really soon - I have lots of fun pics to share!

Please be patient with me as I go through my lovely comments you all have left on my auto posts I had set up during our trip. I can't wait to read what everyone has written and go and visit all my friends old and new! Thanks for stopping by! Now go and yearbook yourself!

1954

1960
1962
1966
1968
1974

Now a little torture for my favorite guy!

1954
19501956

1978

1962

1982

Is that gal mistreating again??!!??

It all started with this:When we moved into out new house the first thing that had to happen was to cover the spooky glass window. The natural light was great during the day but at night.....SPOOKINESS. It had to go and it had to go quick! If we owned the house I would have just went for a solid door or perhaps a door with built-in blinds - however this is a rental so cover it we must! This was the quick walmart decision. I saw the curtains. Hoped they would match okay and got that baby covered up real nice. It was just fine except that I was doing some Fleur de leis in the kitchen and the gingham didn't want to mesh, my Mom gave me these great black and white dishes for my birthday (pictured below) and they didn't want to mesh....and then the burgundy trim that said it was RED was burgundy so it clashed with my red dishes...blah blah blah the list goes on and on.
So, I had found a lovely fabric remnant a month or so ago that I bought because I loved it and had no idea where I might be able to use it. And After the Nester's Mistreatment Party I was finally inspired. I picked up two tension rods at Walmart and got ready to majorly mistreat some fabric.
So here is Step One: I iron adhered the fabric to slide onto the tension rods and fit it into the window. It covered well and was double layered so it keeps the heat out but is light enough to let the light in during the day. It looked sad though...So I gave it a friend. Step Two: I used the rod the other curtain had been hanging on and hot glued the expertly folded and iron adhered piece onto the curtain rod until it looked like I wanted. Now it didn't look sad...it looked incomplete.The fabric store called my name and I knew what it wanted. It wanted me to add some little trimmy fixin's to the curtain to give it the spice it needed. So I obliged.
Step Three: A added some rope trim to the top to add a little character.

And then I added a matching tassel to hang from thr triangle valance piece to give it more of a sense or purpose. Yeah..thats what I did! I gave my mistreatment a little more purpose. yeah...Finito!I am pretty dern happy with it! It matched the room. It refused to clash with my dishes. The trim and sheen of the fabric add a touch of elegance that works better with my fleur de leis accents and it doesn't get stuck in the door everytime we go outside.

What do you gals think??

Just for kicks while I had the camera out-

I thought I would share some pics of my alcoves in my house. I didnt want them to be too cluttered - I like how they turned out. Kind of simple but fun.

Kitchen Alcove

(above mentioned black and white plates)

Living room

(red fabric matches living room mistreatments)

You are what you read?

"I am not exactly sure what this list is, but it has something to do with the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read program, though I couldn’t find this list on their website to verify that claim. I stole this from a fellow blogger. Apparently the NEA estimates that the average adult has only read six of these books. At least, that is the statistic that is bandied about the internet. So, basically, this is a random unverified list with a random unverified statistic attached to it. But let’s see how I do anyway, shall we? (Hint: more than six.)"

Here’s how it works:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Mark in red the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your blog

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - My favorite book.
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliott

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy .
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection -

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


I have read 37 of them. I now I have a new list of things I need to read. You know how I love the classics.

Has anyone heard that new word for some of the reading frenzies going on? Crackliture
Funny funny stuff...if you loved the Twilight Series follow the link above for some good chat time about the addiction.