A Friday Off

1. New specs. 2. Quiet time on the patio. 3. Big breakfast outside. 4. Kids playing a game. 5. Trey in the bookstore. 6. Danica in the bookstore. 7. Movie time. 8. New Harry Potter Cookbook. 9. Homemade fudge from the cookbook.

Impromptu Photoshoot

My daughter and I had an impromptu photoshoot at the Florida Everglades this evening at sunset. She has a great camera and a big talent for photography but the photos posted here are from my iPhone. She got to drive me there with her new permit which she was excited about. All-in-all it was a great mother-daughter time.

Things I am Pinterested in Lately

Mamanellie's Pinterest

DIY & Crafts

Feather Tee DIY (made one of my own!)
Step-by-Step:
http://sincerelykinsey.blogspot.com/2012/10/feather-tee-diy-inspiration.html


Hand-Sewn Journals
Step-by-step:
http://www.marthastewart.com/945504/hand-sewn-journals/@center/276976/memorykeeping-crafts


Upcycle Unwanted Jeans
Step-by Step:
http://www.thelittlegiggler.com/2012/05/pink-skinny-jeans-re-fashion.html


Specialty Carved FrameStep-by-Step:
http://froufrugal.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-emboss-wood-part-1-piping-style.html

Lovely Outfits

Comfy and cute!


Perfect for Fall.


Florida living kinda style.


LOVE a skirt with pockets!

Hair!

Love the long waves and flower crown. Perfect!


Love the hair. LOVE the glasses!


Perfect waves with bangs.


Super cute up do.

Upcycled Skirt

I just recently upcycled a skirt from one of my husbands old flannel button up shirts. I love how it turned out. The scalloped bottom is such a cute feature. Here are the easy, simple steps.

1. Lay the shirt flat smoothing to remove all wrinkles.


2. Cut the shirt horizontally from one armpit to the other.


3. Fold under where you cut to create the space for the elastic and iron to keep in place.


4. Sew the piece you folded leaving at least a two inch opening to feed the elastic.


5. Feed the elastic through and sew together. [I attach a safety pin on one end to help feed it through.]


6. See two inch gap where you fed the elastic through.

DONE! Now you have a cute stylish skirt that is pretty much FREE!

Permitted to Drive

It's official!  She is now "permitted" to drive.  Well, technically, she has to drive with a licensed adult in the car for now.  I have to be honest, I am quite excited for her but am also very nervous as my first child hits the roads.

I learned to drive on back country roads in Mississippi.  My poor children have to learn to drive in crazy south Florida.  We consistently "win" the '#1 for road rage in the U.S.' award each year.  God help us!

A Mother's Prayer

I am a mother that prays fervently for my children and for my parenting. This is a perfect prayer to memorize for that purpose.

A New View

Everyone in our family is quite blind and wears contacts except for my husband who had the lasik surgery done a couple of years ago.  Trey was the only one left wearing glasses 100% of the time.  He has been asking to get contacts now for over a year.  Now that he's in middle school, we thought we'd give it a shot.  It's been a week and so far, so good.  Now we just get to see more of those beautiful blue eyes!

Cool Nights Ahead

South Florida in the winter is the ideal place to be. It's perfect cool and comfortable nights. The cool nights do tend to come later in the year so I thought I would go ahead get prepared. I've always wanted to put up "cafe" lights in my back yard. My husband came into possession of a bunch of outdoor lights for free this past week so it became the perfect opportunity. I completed half the yard tonight and am super exited about it! The other half will come later. Tonight is sushi dinner outside. Tomorrow is a seafood boil. Let the cool nights begin!

Oh How I've Missed Thee

As I stated in a previous post, the craziness of a new the school schedule was upon me. Well, now I'm two months in and so far so good but the schedule is very right. This leaves little room for anything else. I used to go to the beach multiple times per week and go paddleboarding at least once per week but haven't done either in over two months. I was jonesing hard. Today I finally went and it was definitely the missing link I'd been feeling. I got up early and went to the beach in order to get a parking spot. I did a short paddle at the beach but it was really choppy. Then I laid on the beach for a while totally losing track of time, thus getting a parking ticket. Oh, well. I left the beach with ticket in hand and headed north to meet my brother for an intercoastal paddle.

The beach and paddleboarding is my stress reliever; my happy place. It was five hours of pure amazing!

The Hair Assessment

In the past, when searching for a new hairstyle or haircut, I would spend countless hours going through magazines and doing Google image searching to find the perfect cut. I would print out or put on my iPhone this perfect hair pic that I found. Sometimes this process would work out great and sometimes not so great.

This time, when trying to figure out what in the world to do with this mop on my head, I decided to go through my own past hairstyle pics. Why in the world didn't I think of this before? It's brilliant. Honestly, what was I thinking with using celebrity hair pics anyway? I will NEVER come out on the other side looking like a celebrity. I have my own color, hair type and face shape. Going this route means that my hair will be the best me I can be.

The search brought me to this collage. I've chosen to get a trim in order to grow my hair out to look like the pic on the bottom left. It's by far my best hair yet.

Wreaths for Heart

Here is a beautiful Halloween wreath that my mom made that will be raffled off.  All proceeds will be donated to The American Heart Association!  My mom will be participating in the 5K walk on September 29.  Raffle tickets are selling -1 for $2.00, 5 for $3.00 or 6 for $5.00!

Heart Disease is still the #1 killer!  American Heart Association pays for research for so much that helps in so many ways; pace makers, defibrillators, and improvements and innovations made through the years. It also helps those who are born with heart defects! Your raffle ticket purchase can help so many people; possibly someone you know!

Email me or comment to buy a raffle ticket today!

The Black Belt

My son received his black belt earlier this year. Since then, he was asked to be on the karate schools demonstration team. This team is made up if the best karate students in the school and they perform at different events in the community. Here is a collage of some pics from his performance today at a city event. He truly is an amazing martial artist. So proud of this guy!

A Little Cup of Insanity and God

It has become a yearly tradition where we go the first weekend in September to see the biggest names in Christian rock take stage at either Disney or Universal.  Usually one has better bands than the other.  The first year the church took the entire youth, which means that I didn't go.  The second year, it was just our family.  The third year, it was me chaperoning my daughter and a couple of her friends.  This year it morphed into me chaperoning 5 girls ages 15-17.  It was a whole lot of screaming, everyone talking at once, looking at boys, staying up all night and a dead truck battery at 2 am.  In the midst of this insanity was some really great singers, bands and performances all with an amazing message about living life for God.  I am totally exhausted and drained but it was worth it.  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Here are some great pics from our weekend.


Toby Mac concert




Britt Nicole walking to Signing Session




Britt Nicole in Concert



Britt Nicole up close. True paparazzi shot!




Starting day 2 at IHOP at 1 pm



So cool in 3D glasses as they wait to ride



Rhett Walker Band - Now a new fave



Me and Rhett Walker after the concert



Skillet opening with a violin



These girls are always ready for the wave

Back to School

It's that time of year again; homework, lunches, hectic schedules, tests, activities, etc., etc.  Back to school for my two kiddos.  I have one off to 10th grade and the other off to first day of middle school.

My daughters big concern as she starts 10th grade is her GPA and meeting her goal of doing dual-enrollment in high school and college starting her junior year.  My sons big feat this year is managing the huge leap from being one classroom with one teacher to switching between six classes and six teachers.  Also, he will go from having 30 minutes of homework to having up to 3 or more hours of homework per night.  This will be another big adjustment as homework in any capacity is not his forte.

For me, this year is going to be a bit more challenging that the past years have been.  Up until two months ago. my husband worked from home so he handled all homework and evening activity carpools.  With my husband getting home late from his new job, I get to take on this new responsibility.  This means I get up at 5:30 am and crash at 11pm with no time for myself.  This includes not having hardly any time to workout which is my life line.  I was worn out after week one and just doing a rain dance today since schools are closed because of tropical storm Isaac.  Such is the life of a working mom.

I love my kids more than life itself and I'd do this and more for them any day or every day of the week.  I'm just praying for the strength to do the balancing act and to avoid a nervous break down by the end of the school year.

2012-2013 school year here we come!

The Keys - Kid-Free Trip #2

The trip down to the Florida Keys was quite enjoyable and less of an "adventure" than the last trip.  We left Saturday morning and rode down to Islamorada with no problems.  We ate a great little lunch before heading to Key West.

We stayed at a small bed and breakfast off Duval Street.  The lady at the front desk walked us to our room.  There was free happy hour where the staff and guests sit together and tell stories.  We also enjoyed relaxing by their small pool surrounded by tropical trees.  We absolutely loved it!

That particular weekend was Lobster Fest in Key West.  There were tons of grills in the middle of Duval Street grilling fresh lobster in the half shell.  Holy crap, it was the best lobster I've ever had.  It may have even the best seafood I've ever had and that's saying a lot since I'm a seafood fanatic.  We watched street performances where my husband was called from the crowd to participate because he looked like a "strong guy".  We also watched the infamous Key West sunset even though it was cloudy and then toiled around from place to place afterwards.

We had a lazy Sunday morning eating breakfast by the pool then hopped back on the motorcycle and headed north.  Overall it was an amazing weekend.  I just simply love hanging out with my husband.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life and such an amazing marriage.

Here are some pics from the trip.