Getting Over the Hump...

As if this nasty heat wasn't enough to deal with...now it seems like the summertime bug is upon all of us here in Dallas.  Allergies are running amok, bodies are aching, chests are congesting... you name it, the folks I'm surrounded with, have it.  And our house, unfortunately, hasn't been spared.  Not only has the Mister been working over time... (don't really remember the last time the poor guy had a real day off)  ;(...but he's been battling what seems like a bad cold?...or flu?...or maybe it's just a combination of stress, exhaustion and old age. :/  Whatever the case may be, I thought I'd devote this post to some "Pick Me Up" pictures I'm sure we ALL could use to get us through this next leg of the week.  Just. Because. I. Need. to. Smile.  :)

How could you NOT smile when you look at this picture?!  hehehehehehe.. I love it.

Little White Whale

Poor Little Guys...:)

hahahaha..

Photo by : Colour Me Happy

"Must Have Been The Tequila"...

Now who wouldn't be in a better mood with these beauties sitting around..??

Martha Stewart Weddings

Why Hello Nose... :)

Flicker.Com

This soooo reminds me of Chad and I.. ;)

(If I were to actually WEAR the glasses I have and probably still need)

Etsy.Com - Clink

"I win"... :)

In honor of the boxers Chad had growing up.. :)

Pretty Amazing..

Anastassia Elias - Artist

Wheeeeeee.....

Cracks me UP!

Awwww..

hello-little-girl

HAPPY WEDNESDAY EVERYONE!!

Sangria Funday Recipe :)

In honor of the holidays (HAPPY 4th of July Everyone!) and this scorching Texas summer heat, I've decided to do a quick post on our very popular Sunday Funday Sangria Recipe!  A few of you have asked for the recipe after posting some photos on Facebook, so I thought I'd put it out there for everyone to enjoy.  (Sorry, by the way, that the pictures are just "Eh.." , they were taken with my phone a while ago...waaaay before the "Sangria Ban" went into effect at our house.)  Lol.. with that said, a little word to the wise...these things are unexpectedly powerful!  After our last Sangria "Session", Chad said we needed to "cool it" for a while if "we" wanted to be fully functional at work the next day...And by "we", I mean "HE".  Amateur.  ;)

Ok.. so here's what you'll need.  

- The biggest pitcher you can find.. (ours was too small to start) 
- 2 medium/large oranges
- 3 medium limes
- 2 large lemons 
- 1 and 1/2 cartons of strawberries (all fruit sliced somewhat thin)
- Agave Nectar OR sugar to taste 
- and a splash of ginger ale added at the end for fizz (to taste really..not necessary)

Spirits:  
- We ended up using four white wines (two moscato's which are generally sweeter whites which means less sugar needed to your sangria, and two pinot grigios) you don't have to buy expensive kinds either.. (we used Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi for the Moscato and Beringer for the Pinots)
- Shot of Cointreau for each bottle used

Combine all ingredients and lightly muddle fruit.  Let sit for as long as possible for maximum flavor marriage.  :)  

Enjoy!  

Wall Flower Project

A few weeks ago, as I was doing my usual afternoon rounds through Pinterest.. I came across a project so simple, I'm kinda upset I didn't think of it myself!  :)  I'm never short on wanting something creative, easy and distracting to do while the hub's away at work so I showed the project to Chad.  I thought surely he'd think I was nuts for wanting to incorporate a craft project involving paper towel and toilet paper rolls into our house...BUT, after a few moments of stunned silence..or maybe it was confusion...he said "cool..let's do it."  And by "let's do it", he just meant, YOU do it.. I approve... and I only think you're SLIGHTLY nuts ;)  

Either way, I set out to collect as many toilet/paper towel rolls as I could find... (which actually didn't take as long as I expected..scouring the break room areas at work and such)... and I FINALLY had enough to get started.  This project has actually been done several times over in blog-land...so I'm not exactly sure who to give FULL credit to...but if you find that I stink at giving directions..here's a pretty good tutorial on it (with FINISHED pictures as mine's still a work in progress.  ;)  

Home Work - Toilet Paper Flower Project

Step One: Start Your Collection

Step Two:  Flatten and Cut (equal parts..you'll usually get 5 strips per toilet roll)

I actually had a mix of white lined interior rolls and natural ones.. 

(I kept my whites together and the natural ones together to make my flowers.. )

My Project Manager Macie, keeping an eye on the progress... ;)

Apply tacky glue and start your flowers!  Yes folks.. it really is, THAT simple.  :)

Some flowers got left small... 

Some were made bigger... 

Yup... still taking that project manager role VEERRRYY seriously... ;)  

And some were left in their natural state.. 

I'm thinking I'll probably end up painting these bad boys next weekend.. 

Ta Da!  

As I mentioned before.. It's very much still a work in progress.  I didn't have quite enough to fill the space I was hoping to fill... so after I see how they all come together on our wall, I'll be sure and post a Wall Flower Update.  So far, so good though... Stay tuned!  

Food Porn Daily - Feature Shot :)

What an AWESOME way to start the day!!... :) 

I'm BEYOND giddy right now :)  Food Porn Daily, a foodie lover's website which highlights a single, daily photo of some pretty amazing food, actually featured one of MY photos from one of Chad's beer dinners!  (Dinner Club with Jim White - The Meddlesome Moth) :)  Little 'ol ME...can you EVEN BELIEVE IT?!  How amazing is that?! Can you tell I'm a bit excited?!

When I ventured over to their website yesterday to see what the daily food shot was...something came over me.  For whatever reason, I thought I could hang with the big boys and decided (in a certain rush of insanity no doubt) to submit a photo.  I thought, "what the heck...it's worth a shot, right?"  Who knew that I'd be at the very front of the line for their daily photo... TODAY!  Not next week, not next month...not in...maybe-we'll-get-to-you-when-we've-run-out-of-other-great-and-inspiring-shots....noooo...TODAY!! Less than 12 hours after submission...there it was.  In all its glory.  Wow.  I'm kinda still in shock.  :)  I hope they weren't just low on submissions or something.. ;)  Oh well, even if they were, it's still an incredible honor.  Thank you, Food Porn Daily!  Now..Click. Drool. Repeat.  :)

Screen Shot of what I saw this morning.. :) Isn't she preeetttyy??  ;)

And lastly...I'd like to thank the Academy photo editors of Food Porn Daily ;)... for driving an insane amount of traffic to our little wee blog... :) 

And if you've made it to the bottom of this post WITHOUT having yet gone to see the foodporndaily website with my NOW famous duck photo (hehehehe..)... shame on you!  Click HERE. 

Patterned Pieces...

There are times when I'll stop dead in my tracks when I realize just how much of my mom and grandma I have in me.  Crafty in our own special ways, I find myself now appreciating AND DOING the things they once did.  My grandmother, who we all know and love as Nana, quilted for as long as I can remember.  She even had a group of ladies who would come over to her house just to quilt every week.  I wish now that her sweet hands could still make things like these... I could definitely keep her busy with these inspiring pieces. ;)  Or maybe this is just my next project.  I don't exactly know how to sew...or have a sewing machine for that matter, but it's in the blood... so I have no doubts that I could get it done if I really tried.  ;)  Maybe one day....  Until then... I'll just admire other people's handiwork.  :)  

Chevron Quilt - Pinterest

Film In the Fridge - Strip Quilt Tutorial

Bijou Lovely Designs Blog - Modern Baby Quilt

Mommy Loves... Quilt - Pinterest

Film In The Fridge Blog - Sunburst Quilt

A Few Scraps Blog - Bunting Quilt Tutorial

The Secret Life...

Every so often Chad and I will sit down on a random I've-had-a-crap-day-and-I-either-need-a-strong-drink-OR-a-little-inspiration....and watch The Secret.  We have it on our instant watch list on Netflix for just such occassions.  It's such an inspirational piece of work... it helps Chad and I put everything in perspective... reminds us to focus on the positive things in our life... and to start dreaming and thinking of all the wonderful things that we WILL have someday.  We just have to believe it.. Anyone else watch The Secret?

A few months ago (and I don't think for whatever reason that I blogged about it....BAD blogger.... BAD!) Chad and I took a little trip down to Austin for their annual tour of homes.  Almost every single house we saw was just spectacular.  And I mean, jaw dropping spectacular.  Not just plain spectacular. ;) Amazing architecture, amazing use of space...just plain Amazing.  Capital A.  The kinds of houses that make you want to lock yourself up in a random closet until they have locked up and left for the evening...just so you could pretend it was yours...if only for a night... (just in the non-occupied houses of course..so as to not be creepy).  Cue that movie with Natalie Portman where she gets locked up at Wal-Mart then starts staying there...I forget the name.  Anyway...yeah, like that.

One particular house on that tour is set to be OUR house one day.  I don't know how.  I don't know when.  But someday it will be the Kelley House.  As part of our "Secret" plans to visualize and plan ahead for all the things that will one day be ours.. I've decided to let you all see what we WILL call our very OWN.  Dream big or go home.. right???  ;)

Meet our architect... Mr. James La Rue

I bet Chef Chad Kelley could create some pretty awesome menu items in this kitchen :)

downstairs gameroom

Ready for more than a few dinner parties... 

Beautiful!

Consider this an official invitation for all of you to attend the dinner parties we will one day have here.  Just throwing it out there.  :)