It's War !

The dogs are on thin ice around here. I came home yesterday during lunch to find the three of them passed out on the patio...I thought to myself...look how sweet they look. Then I looked closer and what should I see but my brand new honeysuckle vine dug up and ripped to shreds in the yard...strike one. Brandon, thankfully, was able to come home after work to replant the remaining pieces that still had some roots on them. He put some left over fencing around it...and life went on. I think you can see where this is going. Let's take a minute to meet the culprits

{Sophie: the Ringleader}

Sophie is the organizer of the destruction she is a smart girl that can sit, stay, speak, and play dead. She is the oldest the "momma" dog who dominates the other two and likes to frequently remind them who is boss.

{Max: The Follower}

Max is the middle child. While he is very cute and cuddly, he is not the brightest little thing but most of the time his cuteness makes up for it. Since he is not very capable of thinking for himself he usually just follows Sophie around. Sophie barks and Max comes running.

{Curby: The Scapegoat}

Curby is the newest addition to our family. We saw her on the side of the road {hence the name CURBy...we stole that from someone we aren't that clever} and then she happened to wander into our neighborhood later that day and ended up staying {it was cold outside and we are suckers}. We have had a few unfortunate incidences with Curby chewing things up {my grandparents bench, Brandon's shoes, patio furniture, crepe myrtle trees etc...} she therefore has become the scapegoat for the other two since they automatically think we will blame Curby...but I am catching on to their game {SHHH...don't tell them}

So of course I come home today to see they have dug under the fencing but didn't quite make it to pulling my honeysuckle out of the ground...but still...strike two.

{ I can't even stand to look at it's sadness}

{look at it's beauty just a mere 5 days ago}

And just to top it all off take a look at this....Strike three.

Yep, that's right that is one of the pots I planted last weekend...with it's contents on the ground...the ground that they have beaten the grass right off. So this was the last straw. I marched myself into the garage grabbed some extra soil to replant {again} my honeysuckle, a bag of rocks to dump on top of it when I was done and last but not least:

Let those suckers get a nose full of this next time they want to start digging. Momma ain't playin' now. I about emptied the entire thing on top of the rocks...although with my luck we will get a shower here in the morning and it will all wash away. However, I know that my sweet honeysuckle will at least live to see one more day because the yard man is coming tomorrow to punch holes in our yard so maybe the next time it rains we won't float away, and the dogs get to stay in their crates tomorrow {lucky for their furry little lives}.

At least I had a box full of goodies waiting for me at home from my sister to brighten my afternoon...Thanks Sis !

Won't Brandon be so cute in those orange gloves when he washes the dishes, and I promise my house is not entirely orange...I am not that colorful....but hopefully the magazines will help.

Hope everyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend....we have some manual labor headed our way so that should be interesting....very interesting.

Second Monthly Girl's Night

The girls in my office {all three of us} have taken it upon ourselves to declare a girl's night once a month. It all started last month when we banned together like a bunch of 13 year olds to go see Twilight like a bunch of 13 year olds at the dollar theater. We had such a good time that we decided to make it a monthly event.

This month, we decided to head to Sips n' Strokes. You may remember that this is where I first discovered I loved piddling with paint...ok well it is more of a love/hate relationship at the moment. Anyway, after work today we headed out to dinner and then on to Sips n' Strokes to paint our masterpieces. We thought it was kind of weird that we were the first to show up since the class was set to start in 30 minutes....WRONG-O. The class started thirty minutes later than we thought so we had plenty of time {an hour} to snag the prime real estate seats and set up shop.

We also got to watch everyone come in. People always make me SO nervous when they walk in all dressed up. I myself must dress like a homeless person because it is inevitable that before the class even begins I will have paint down my arm and in my hair. So I love to sit and marvel at the people who show up in their flowing tops with sleeves that are begging to be dragged through paint...it totally makes me panic, but you know what the crazy thing is? They usually leave in the same condition they came in, it's unnatural...It is an unwritten rule that when you cook and paint you should end up wearing at least some of it.

So off we went armed with our color copies and paint to create our "Big Pink Flower" {and Leigh Anne's big orange flower}...Here's what happened:

{Brooke drew a pretty flower}


{Leigh Anne drew a pretty flower}

{I forgot what a flower looks like}

{But they were concentrating harder than me}

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of pain, we moved on to something I could handle...painting the background....well maybe not so much.

{Brown, Black, and hey dummy that's part of your flower not your background}


{Then we started coloring stuff in}

{Then I quit taking pictures of mine}

{Then I quit taking pictures b/c this is the next one I have...TA DA!}

{and yes Leigh Anne is dressed in her work clothes...the brave soul}

I, of course, sat around after everyone left fiddling with mine until I realized it was useless. Then I just threw it in my trunk, turned up the old school Madonna/ Ace of Base, and brought it home to fiddle with it...that part in the bottom right hand corner was driving me crazy...so here is how it stands sits leans on my kitchen table.

It is what it is and I have made peace with that plus, it's 12:36 am and I need to go to bed...and yes, that is my very first ever Sips n' Strokes painting behind it because I can't afford real art.

A Post....With Words....I'm Sorry

So I have a confession to make...I was completely lazy last night. {shocker I know} I had high hopes of spending my Monday me time working on a piece of art {I guess that's what you would call it} that has been sitting on a table for....oh...about a week now....give or take a month. However, making that apple pie really put me over the edge this weekend {cooking usually does} and I was worn out. I found myself counting the minutes until I would be alone {Brandon says I have a problem} with my bath tub.

Photo courtesy of Country Living

Ok so this isn't really my bath tub but wouldn't it be cool if it was? Except I am not really sure what that chair next to the tub is for because that would be kinda weird if someone were to sit in it...while you were in the tub. Anyway, reining myself back in, I have this little tradition whenever I get one of my magazines in the mail I run a nice bubble bath and get to reading...because that is how they were meant to be read...in the bathtub...the paper does well in water and the steam is good for my ruddy complexion. While we are on the subject, {because we are} why do they put those annoying paper advertisement things in there without attaching them? It really burns me up when they fall out into my bath water...but I digress, again. Yesterday, when I checked the mail one of my favorites was waiting for me...PERFECT timing.



I love to look at the inspiring pictures of other people's houses. I make mental notes for the dream house that Brandon and I will one day live in, and if I really love something I rip out the page and stick in my "idea" binder {because I am organized like that}. I will take a minute here to say I have a total fear of commitment when it comes to decorating and my style can only be summed up with the word schizophrenic. So while I have great intentions and grand ideas, you can ask my bare/ vanilla walls how they feel about my love of decorating...and my one sad nightstand in our room that I stupidly put on Brandon's side of the bed {it's the side you can see from the door}. So that is how I spent my me time {I know you were dying to know} making mental notes...admiring other's non fear of commitment...ok and laying on the couch with a glass of chocolate milk watching 24....AHHH bliss.

all photos courtesy of BHG.com

....and I feel myself getting carried away. Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Scenes

Open Letter

Dear Lowe's/ Home Depot:

Your welcome.

Sincerely,
Your biggest supporter

Happy Friday!

Well as you can tell nothing much has been happening in our lives. I am sure there are a few things I could have blogged about, but I have been too busy reading this. I don't know why I haven't discovered it before but I did this week and man...I have to admit there has been little time for anything else. Her recipes, photography, and stories make for the perfect combination of addiction. I had to start banning myself from the site so I could get things done. {I know I am ashamed too} So I guess I'll go ahead and say goodbye to my five readers since once you click on that site I may lose you forever, and I'll go ahead and apologize for rendering you useless as well.
Hope everyone has a great Friday and I actually have the weekend off so I am excited to get into something fun. I'll leave you with a picture from Italy...I'm so excited I can't stand it.

Practice Makes Perfect

After our busy day Saturday I decided to wind down by working a little bit on my latest idea. Here is how it started.

I don't have any in between pictures because I got a little caught up in the painting. I could have reworked this one 1,000 times I think. {the beauty of acrylic} I tried out a new {to me} technique using transfers for the lettering because my handwriting is terrible and would have ruined it for sure. I printed off the words on a laser jet printer { I think ink jet will work too} after I mirrored them using paint.net {the free version of photoshop}. Everything transfers backwards when you lay it on the canvas so words have to be mirrored so you can read them. I rubbed my varnish medium onto the paper using my finger and then stuck it on the canvas and rubbed with the back of the spoon. I should have left it over night to dry but I was a little anxious to see how it was going to turn out so I jumped the gun a little on that. After I peeled back the top layer of paper, I took a wet washcloth and rubbed over the letters to try to remove some of the left over paper...in the process I rubbed off some of the black ink {should have let it dry} so when I had my "final" version I went back over the letters with black paint to help fill them back in. Here is my first "final" version.

I wasn't sure if I liked the clouds so I painted over them. I also thought "The Cow" lettering could be a little bigger so I painted over that too...AND I wanted to add a C for Cow in the corner because I love children's alphabets so here is the second "final" version.



Honestly, now that I see them both in a picture I am not sure which one I prefer...I guess they both work in their own way...I guess that is just part of the process...I'll continue to piddle around with my paint to see what else I can come up with...practice makes perfect..and this may not be the final version either.

And a little WOO HOO for Italy one month from TODAY!!

A Little of This a Little of That and Then it Rained

It's Monday so here is the obligatory weekend review. I guess it's not really obligatory, but I feel like I should since this is a blog about OUR life...remember. I may just have to hijack the blog like I did "our" office.

The weekend started like any other...me awake Brandon asleep...me staring at Brandon waiting for him to get up so I could share the day's plans with him. On the agenda for Saturday was The Birmingham Botanical Garden plant sale and the Crestline Art Show. Brandon has often accused me of just wanting to go to Lowe's on a Saturday to find something to plant in our yard. It's true I love flowers mostly because I love to have them in the house and buying fresh flowers every week isn't so economical. So we were off to the plant sale to get a replacement hydrangea for the one I killed last year {ok so maybe me planting flowers isn't so economical either}. I took my camera and was excited about getting some pics of the sale, but I thought Brandon was going to die of embarrassment when I pulled it out. So I put it up and have no pictures.

{First flowers of the year}

Next we headed to the Crestline art show. My favorite local artist Tricia Robinson was going to be there so I wanted to drop by to check out some of her latest stuff. Her art is so happy and it inspires me to get working on some of my own ideas. I have already warned Brandon that if we have a little girl, I will probably plaster her room with Tricia's artwork. I also have no pictures of that either because I was too busy looking at all the art...sorry.

I'll skip to something I do have a picture of, but first a little backstory. I dream of the day when I can drag Brandon to the middle of nowhere so that our children have room to run and play. I was raised in Kentucky and to steal from the Dixie Chicks I need wide open spaces. It may never happen but a girl can dream. Here is a little photoshop {ok paint.net} rendering of our land and the historic house we are going to drag to said land. They both exist and in Birmingham...lucky for us.

We took a drive out to the land in the picture above on Saturday and it was a TAAAD bit further than I had anticipated but still beautiful none the less. I guess I'll have to keep looking. That pretty much rounded out Saturday since we had to drive home from the boonies country.

Wow...this is a little longer than anticipated. Moving things on along Sunday was a lazy day. {as it should be} We spent time with Brandon's family celebrating his cousin's first birthday, but he was a little under the weather and not so much in a party mood, but we had a good time and the birthday cake was fantastic. The rest of the day we spent on the couch...and then the rain came. As if our backyard has not already suffered enough with three dogs trampling it, the rain just helped speed along the process of turning it into a mud bowl. I am pretty convinced that our builder built our house on the biggest lump of clay/rock he could find. I have never seen our yard so flooded and I think little Max would have drowned if we had let him out.

{Our splash guard floating away}

{My squash drowning}

{not the face of a swimmer}

And that was about it for the weekend. I did have some time to wrap up the latest painting so check back soon...it's drying in "our" office. Happy Monday...almost Tuesday!