Alaina's Visit

Alaina spent two weeks with us in June, almost as soon as her summer vacay began, and before horse camps started.  I enjoyed having her here so much, she was wonderful company while Jason's work schedule became so demanding.  We had tons of fun shopping, swimming, going to play mini-golf in Emerald Isle, going to dinner, playing Wii, watching movies, spending a day in Raleigh, and some time just lounging.  We are hoping to get her back down here in the next month or so for another week (if we can drag her away from her new horse, Domino) before she starts her SENIOR YEAR of high school.  This surely can't be right! 

I think Kojak wants her to come back too;o)

Countertop Ice Cream Maker

I've had my eye on this baby for a few months, and it was on my birthday list.  And J got it for me.  I think he got it for himself a little too.  I had picked out the berry blue color because it's just so pretty.  I am so very happy with the way this thing works.  It's so easy, comes with yummy recipes, and it's fast!  Once you have your ingredients mixed and refrigerated, it only takes 15-20 minutes to freeze, no salt or anything.  And the ice cream is right in between too soft and too hard.  It doesn't make as much as traditional ice cream makers, but still made about 4-5 bowls.  We have left overs in the freezer, and it saved really well.  A little harder, but pretty much the same as when it comes out of the machine.  The trick is that you freeze the special container and then when you're ready, you fill it with the ingredients, place it on the base, put the mixing paddle in, cover it and turn it on.  It's still a little loud, but nothing like they usually are.  I highly recommend this, it's a Cuisinart and for 50 something bucks, it's not a bad price.  Yummy.

Coping with the Heat Wave

This is how I'm dealing with heat.  My pool isn't even offering relief at this point, it's like taking a bath.  Outside.  In the hotness.  I wonder if it's possible to have ice brought in by the truckload.  I might swim then.

1.  Ice cream.  It cools from the inside.  This is of the homemade variety.  Our first batch in my new ice cream maker.

2.  Cold Drinks.  These are my two go-tos.  Iced coffee instead of the regular kind with breakfast, and cold, cold water throughout the rest of the day to stay hydrated.

3.  The Wii.  Not only for the sedentary games, but this is how I get my exercise when outside is not an option.  The Michael Jackson Experience, Zumba, and the Just Dances are my favorites.

4.  My fave lounging shorts and a tank.  They even have ice cream cones on them to remind me to eat my ice cream.  As if I need reminding...

5.  Lots and lots of garden veggies.  Especially tomatoes.  And BLT's.  That's dinner for the third time this week tonight.

6.  A pile of new magazines and a good book, my tv remote, my ceiling fan, and the mood lights.  Makes for a cozy afternoon pretending it's not 100 degrees outside.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone!  It is hot, hot, hot here today, and J is on duty recovery, so we don't have much planned this year (again), but a cool day indoors relaxing is nice.  We are planning on having a pork roast and some garden fresh veggies for dinner, and then watching Act of Valor this evening.  Hope everyone enjoys their festivities and remember what we are thankful for this day!

In lieu of this nasty heatwave, I have been dreaming and longing for fall, and all the favorite things it brings along with it, so I am starting my countdowns here.  The first one is for the days until fall, the second until our family vacation to Tennessee.  This Christmas lights are because the week we are going to Gatlinburg, is the first week of Winterfest and all of the Christmas celebrations.  I'm just a little totally excited!

Delightful

This is pure YUM!  I heart iced coffee, but don't like making it, so you can imagine my delight when I came across this perfect little carton at Walmart.  Mocha is always my first choice, but they have vanilla and original too.  Definitely worth a try, but for now, Mocha rules!  What makes it even better is when you drink it out of a super cute Tinkerbell glass.  With a straw.

My 27th Birthday...Yet Again!

After plans fell through for our trip to Georgia, due to the USMC's needs, we decided to head home last week.  The weekend of Father's Day, we celebrated my birthday early with my family who was down visiting because we didn't know we were going to go home for my actual birthday.  My real birthday was Monday, the 25th, and thanks to J and my fab fam, it was awesome:)  I woke up to be greeted by Momma, who fixed me cinnamon toast for my breakfast.  It's always so yummy, and I don't get it often, so it was perfect!  After a major smallish breakdown over being 30 (shhh...refer to post title, I'm claiming 27 forEVER), we got ready and ran a few errands, one of which being a stop at the mall to pick up my cookie cake, which I wasn't allowed to see until later that night.  My sugar came out with not only the cookie, but a bag of goodies to replinish my dwindling supply of Bath and Body Works products.  Yay!  Then to meet Ash and Matt for dinner and a very generous gift of a night at the hotel at the vineyards.  Our dinner destination was Darryl's in Greensboro.  I haven't been there in probably 10 years.  It was SO good and totally surpassed my expectations.  I do believe they have gotten even better since my last visit.

(next 2 pictures from Google due to the fact that I'm a slacker and forgot to bring my camera and my iPhone just wasn't hacking it, the rest are with the phone, so please excuse the graininess.)

Our super-neato-cool booth.  It's an old ferris wheel car.  A little unnerving though, since it is suspended above the bar.

The sign over our seats with lights and everything:)

Like my lamp shade halo?

Divine menu!

The view from our room at sunset.  It really was a gorgeous evening.

My cookie cake, isn't it perfect for my 27th birthday!!??

As soon as the last 2 surprises come in the mail, I will post some of the gifts I was showered with, I was totally spoiled!

Thank you to my sweetie and my whole family for making me feel so loved and special on my birthday, it really was a perfect day.  I can't wait to turn 27 again next year:)

Cheapo Target Plates

I have had this plate hanger up since Christmas.  Sans plates.  I took my red snowflake plates down in January, and had nothing to replace them with.  I have been looking for regular plates ever since with no avail.  FINALLY found some last week at Target.  And they aren't glass, even though they look like it.  I thought they were until I picked them up.  They are melamine.  Awesome..cheaper and more durable for what I needed them for.  So for less than 10 bucks, I finally filled up my plate display.

New Bling

While shopping for some new summer clothes for J, the sales lady directed me to the new jewelry display at Old Navy.  Usually, I never find anything I like there, but she told me they had just gotten all new stuff and I was thrilled with all the new choices!  I'm very into teal and coral this season, but have not been able to find much in the way of jewelry.  Old Navy solved that problem for me with each color having it's own rack!  Score!  This is what I came away with.  I could have picked more, but I was trying to practice moderation (and even then, I didn't do too well).  But I must say the prices were pretty good in keeping with Old Navy's competitive pricing.  I'm excited to wear all my new pieces!

Last Wednesday...

I got to see Mandi!!!  This girl has been my BFF since first grade!  I won't tell you how many years that is.  I feel like she has been in my life forever!  I don't have a ton of friends, but the ones that I do have mean the world to me, and I hang on to them.  Mandi lives in Texas now with her husband, Chris (which gets confusing since she has called me Chris since before she was with him).  We don't get to see each other nearly enough, but usually can figure out a time at least once a year to get together.  We worked it out at Christmas, AND last week.  Twice within six months.  Yay!  Mandi was back home (where we are both from) visiting for summer break since she's a teacher, and since I wasn't home the same week, we worked it out to meet in Raleigh for the day.  She brought her sister, who I've known just as long, and I brought Alaina.  Her sister has two precious little girls who were so much fun too,  Hannah and Kara.  We walked around the Crabtree Valley Mall, and then ate at The Cheesecake Factory (it's really good that the closest one is 2 hours from me, because I would eat there every day).  We finished up at Old Navy and had to part ways, but I feel so lucky to have gotten to see her if only for a little bit. 

Here we are before time to go with Kara and Hannah (I'm holding Hannah).

Some Stuff

I have been so MIA lately, but with good reason!  I have been a busy, busy girl!  J started back with MCT classes in May after a year off with SAC company (the students who get held back due to sickness, legal trouble, family matters, etc.), and he is trying to get back in the swing of things, and get readjusted to the horrible hours and scheduling.  Although it's been a little better so far due to the fact that they aren't quite as under-staffed as the first year, so he only has duty about once a week compared to every four days.  He has 3 days left til this class graduates and man, are we both ready for the 3 week break!  28 days straight of work is the pits, and I kinda totally miss my husband during that month.  He somewhat resembles a zombie at times.  And tends to be a bit cranky (I try and understand and sympathize b/c I know he's exhausted, but sometimes, he comes really close to being the recipient of a swift slap to the back of the head).

So, here's what I've been doing to stay busy this past month:

Ashwee, Matt, and Austin came down to visit the last weekend of May...well it was closer to a week long visit at 5 days.  It was so nice to have some company with J being gone a lot.  We had a wonderful time, as always.

I rode home with the gang on Memorial Day to surprise Daddy, Momma, and Alaina.  I loved seeing their surprise faces...so much fun!  The traffic and heavy rains on Memorial Day made for terrible traveling conditions, and what usually takes us 3 1/2 hours, took us over 5.  It was amusing to watch Austin and Matt cram into the backseat of Matt's car with two 50+ pound dogs, though.  Ashley drove and Matt reluctantly so graciously gave up the front seat, so I was saved from the dog pile (literally).

While at home, I got my hair did.  Stylists (good ones anyways) charge an arm and a leg in this town, so I went to Ashley's girl and she did a magnificent job.  I finally got some extensions too.  And they match perfectly!  Didn't think I would find any to match as well as they do!  See:

Wednesday, Daddy and his girls did a double feature movie night date, and we saw The Avengers - excellent! - and MIB 3 - ok but not as good as I had hoped.  We had a blast and got home a little after midnight when we all crashed into bed.

Thursday, the gals (minus Alaina who was working) did some shopping in town, where I finally found Essie's new summer colors at Target.  Yay!

And, then, Friday, J made a day trip to come retrieve his wife.  It was a quick turn around for him because he had work the next day, but he got a really yummy meal out of it, and got to see everybody for a little bit, which was a little mood booster for him.  Last minute, after looking at scheduling, we arranged for Alaina to come back with us for two weeks until everyone comes for Father's Day weekend to visit.  She is done with school and was ready for a little vacay.  I've enjoyed having her around, I don't get to spend much time with just her since she's a teenager, and usually pretty busy these days.  I think she jumped on the chance for a slower paced couple of weeks before her internship at the barn continues and a summer of horse camps starts up.

Ok, so I'll be a little more frequent now.  Maybe.  It's still a busy month ahead.  But I'll try to be better!

A Little Crafting

Yarn wrapped glass bottle turned into a vase (complete with some lilies J picked for me).  Saw this on pinterest, pinned here.  I plan on doing something like the picture on pinterest with several of these, but this is yarn I had on hand, so I figured I'd give it a shot before I bought more yarn.  Mod podge and yarn is all I used!

A little container of pain medicine that you can pick up at the checkout of a grocery store for a few bucks, usually containing Advil or Tylenol.  I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper to fit and covered the tube with mod podge and glued the paper on, and then sealed it with another coat of mod podge.  Same thing with the strip of ribbon on the cap.  So easy, but such a fun way to re-use those little containers.  Now I refill it with my Tylenol, Advil, or whatever little pills I need to carry with me!  

Outdoor Stuff

New chairs, repurposed table, birdhouse that J built me, & a citronella candle for mosquito free lounging.

Daisy wreath.

We took the house numbers off of the steps and bought a plaque, painted it to match the star, and painted the numbers to match the shed.  You can see it much better now, and it's closer to the road.  Everyone ALWAYS stops here and asks what house number we are, so hopefully now they can see it!

Our new maple tree (it's supposed to have the pretty red leaves come fall) from the cutest landscaping place.  We met an older couple on our day trip to Fayetteville a few weeks ago who runs their own nursery about an hour from here.  They were selling azaleas for 2 bucks a pop, so after loading up on those, we went back to their place and bought the trees, and another rare color azalea.  It's the red that sells at Lowe's for about 40.00.  We got ours for 10:)  So, 5 azaleas, and 2 trees for a total of 36.00.  We will be regular customers now, even if we have to drive an hour.  We ended up staying out there for about 45 minutes just talking with them.  Very nice people, with great life stories.  It was a fun day all around.

Our tulip poplar.  I can't wait until it gets a little bigger and the flowers bloom.  Both of the trees we got are supposed to be quick growing, so hopefully we will be here long enough to see them grow a bit.  (Please don't look at our grass..we have been working on this since we moved in and it's come a long way, but let me tell you, this sand down here is a pain in the you know what to get grass to grow in.  It loves weeds though.  Tell me how that happens!)

We are slowly getting everything together.  Next is pine needles, and more grass seed!  And I'm thinking of some big plans for a little corner of the backyard.  Pictures will follow.  Oh, and getting the pool clean and going for the season!  Busy, busy!

BB Cream

I have been hearing about BB Creams and how they are so much more than just a primer.  So, after finding a coupon in this month's Cosmo for it (1.00 off), I headed to Walmart.  And CVS.  And Walgreens.  Every place was sold out of the light/medium.  But I did find that Walgreens had it on sale for 3 dollars off!  Making it 4 dollars off with my coupon.  Score!  Well, on the way back from Morehead City on Monday, we stopped by two Walgreens.  No luck at the first one, but the second one had it!  Finally!  Well, let me tell you.  It is all that they say it is.  I love this stuff and would recommend it to anyone.  It's slightly tinted, so if you don't want to do full makeup, this is perfect.  And it's got SPF in it, so it's a good go-to for a day at the beach when you don't wear makeup, but still want a little coverage (I always feel I need something).  It goes on somewhere in between a foundation and lotion.  Anyways, go get some, you won't be disappointed!

Mantle Makeover

I wanted to lighten things up a little bit, so I spray painted my faith sign, the candle holders, and a few picture frames, then I filled in with other white/light colors, and printed out some more current pictures of the fam.  I think I'm digging it.

New Car!!!

With gas prices ever on the rise, we decided it was time to trade in my gas guzzling hemi powered Jeep, that only got 18 hwy miles and 14 city.  Yikes, right!?  So after some test driving and searching around, we decided that we really like the Kia Optimas.  After driving one, I was sold.  Plus the warranties on these things are far better than any other we found.  And the gas mileage is amazing.  35 hwy and 24 city.  When they filled it up for us, and it said we had 500 miles to empty, I about passed out!  I'm used to the Jeep saying 280 miles to empty on a full tank.  I seriously wanted to do a little dance right there in the gas station parking lot.  Plus, this car is fully loaded, and around the same price as other cars this size (not fully loaded) are going for.  It's got the panoramic sunroof too, and that's something I loved about my Ford Edge but didn't even know they had in a car.  And I finally got my charcoal colored car:)  Not to mention, the seats are air conditioned (as well as heated), how awesome is that!?  Especially when it gets so super hot and humid down here at the coast in the summer.  And this car has so much interior space, but you wouldn't think it because it still looks sporty.  The backseat is bigger than the one we had in the Jeep.  And the trunk is huge, so it will still be great for traveling.  So, here are some pictures of my new wheels.  I'm pretty excited:)