How 'bout them Cowgirls...

Despite my daydreams of being a cowgirl that title really has nothing to do with me or what I'm doing except that I am in...

(This is my grandma's purse)

the Wild West visiting my wonderful grandparents for a week.

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They live in the honest-to-goodness desert: sand, saguaro cactus, cholla (pronounced "choy-uh") cactus, all manner of other cactus, bunnies, quail, javalinas (wild desert pigs), coyotes and a high yesterday of 111 degrees. I love the desert, even in August!

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I've been tagging along with Grandpa on his 6 am two-mile walk. This is not stroll, folks; we were pushing a 15-minute mile pace. Don't think that sounds fast? Go outside and try it, and then let me know what you think. And then turn 79 and tell me what you think. He is in better shape than I am!

Here's a bit of what we see on our walk...

And a bit of our dinner last night...

And here's Aflac.

He earns his keep bobbing around the pool dispensing chlorine to keep the water nice and sparkling clean. He was up for a performance review, so we went for a post-dinner dip to conduct research. He's doing a great job.

Yes, I could get used to life in the desert. Except they did tell me the power was out for 20 hours a few weeks ago...so as long as I had a generator on hand to keep the AC running, I could get used to life in the desert.

Viva Las Vegas!

I recently ran away to Vegas for almost two action-packed days. A college friend got married at the Flamingo hotel, and I had to be there! From her pink save-the-date card to her pink invitation (pictures to come!) to our stay in the Flamingo Hotel (how much more pink does it get??) it was a wonderful love-filled weekend.



I left my house at 4:06 am to head to the airport where a pirate was waiting at my gate. I am not kidding you. Here's the only picture I had the nerve to take with my phone:







From his black hat complete with jaunty pheasant feather over his long red hair in multiple braids to his slouchy leather boots he was a PIRATE! We finally started boarding the plane, and as I got closer to my aisle seat (18-D) who do you think I spied sitting in 18-F? Have you ever flown to Minnesota with a pirate two seats over?? Someone sat down between us otherwise I might have actually worked up the guts to ask him if he was a real pirate or only pretend.



My connecting flight to Vegas had me next to a grandfatherly Asian gentlemen who used to go gamble in Vegas 5 times a year...but now he only goes once a year or so...can you say HIGH ROLLER. (Although, why was he flying coach...) He was very nice and bought my lunch for me (you know those airplanes charge you to for everything now...pretty soon we'll have to put in a quarter to use the bathroom on board), and he and his son had the driver from their hotel drop me off at the Flamingo which saved me $12 on a shuttle van. Ladies, I promise I was on high alert and didn't just go with these guys without really making sure I felt ok about it...I was praying under my breath the whole time, and I didn't feel God trying to warn me it wasn't safe.



I got to the hotel and met up with the bride-to-be and a couple other friends around 1:30 pm VEGAS time, and we got lunch at Burger Joint right there in the Flamingo.

I had the salmon burger with cucumber dill relish and sour cream on a homemade pesto bun...yes, it was sooo good.

Then it was time to lay around one of the Flamingo's pools--there were at least 3--all of which were crammed with TONS of people hanging out. And the water was FRIGID. Of course the high temperature for the day was over 100, so in comparison to the air temperature warm water would probably have felt frigid. After we waded around and lounged on our chairs for a while it was time for dinner. The bride and groom treated all their wedding guests in town Friday night to dinner and cocktails at Bahama Breeze just down the street from the Flamingo. I can't even tell you how much fun we had combing through the extensive cocktail menu, reading about all sorts of fruity concoctions, picking what we wanted and then passing each around the table for samples. I had a caipirinha, a lemon hurricane and half of a mojito. They were SO good! The buffet dinner was also delicious, and by the end of the night I couldn't eat another bite.

We hung out with the bride for a while after dinner. I know what you're thinking: bachelorette craziness in Vegas, right? Wrong. I for one was pretty much less than zero fun for the bride. A bunch of us ladies took her to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville (also in the hotel) for drinks on the patio overlooking the Strip. I was still full from dinner, so I didn't get anything to drink, but the tiredness finally hit me and I felt like such a zombie that when a friend ordered chips and salsa I ate some to see if they would help me wake up/actually be fun. Incidently the chips and salsa were very good, and I highly recommend them if you ever find yourself at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. They did not help wake me up, so about 10:30 two of my roomies and I headed back up to the room to rest for a bit. We rejoined all the ladies in the bride-to-be's room around midnight and then about 1 am I had to call it a night. As I dragged myself in bed around 1:15 am it dawned on me that with the 3 hour time difference it was now 4:15 am at home, and I had been up for 24 hours (minus a 1-hour nap at 11 pm)!! I am just not fun enough to do that kind of thing anymore.

Wouldn't you know my eyes popped open at 6:56 am Saturday morning...our room full of 4 ladies was up, dressed and ready to go by 8 am. We were SO proud of ourselves. We went with the bride to the Paris hotel for breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi and oh-my-gosh it was SO good. I definitely want to go back when hubs and I make our Great Las Vegas Adventure Trip of a Lifetime.

I had the eggs benedict special which consisted of a perfectly toasted, chewy english muffin topped with lobster, roasted yellow pepper, poached egg and tarragon hollandaise sauce. Oh. My. Goodness. So good. Even the hashbrowns which looked pretty normal tasted fantastic.

I got to have some of this lusciousness, too. I can't remember the exact description but the words "carmelized" and "berries" were used along with a couple other seductive adjectives. And there was creme fraiche involved, too.

These were the Skinny Pancake special to supplement the other types of Skinny Pancakes on the menu. Wonder how skinny I'd be if I had these with any sort of regularity.

While we digest our delicious breakfast I'll take a break and bring you the rest of the Excellent Vegas Vacation very soon. Fun stuff!

Summer time, Beach time!

Between the craziness and the laziness my blog is suffering from major neglect. I still love you, blog! I still love writing and reading!

Here's a little update: We went to the beach! Last week was a furlough week for us and what better to do during a week when one is not being paid than to go somewhere and spend money!?! Not much is better, that's what! We tend to go to places where there are lots of things to see and do (Savannah, Seattle, Chicago, Asheville, etc), but this year we decided we wanted to go somewhere warm where we could sit around and not be pressured to see/do/eat everything. We settled on Myrtle Beach after we went to Priceline, bid on and won four nights at the Sheraton Convention Center hotel 2 1/2 blocks from the beach for $55 a night!!! Can you believe that deal!!!

We swam and sat under a big beach umbrella and watched people and watched the Wednesday night fireworks at the 2nd St. pier and ate and hit TJ Maxx and Ross on the way in and went to MagiQuest (I read about this online and, being a Harry Potter fan, SO wanted to go...hubs humored me, bless him...we were definitely the only people over the age of 12 without kids in tow)...

The 2-story castle at MagiQuest

(Photo: lickyoats)

...and went clubbing one night (we discovered techno music makes for super fun dancing; for real!) and cruised Ocean Boulevard looking at all the hotels and houses and got "HOT NOW" Krispy Kreme doughnuts and went shag dancing at Fat Harold's...it was such fun, and we can't wait to go back. I have lived in South Carolina my entire life and have never been to Myrtle Beach that I know of (except a 2 night stay 9 years ago at Garden City Beach just down the road). I'm glad I've remedied that problem.

I really enjoyed driving along Ocean Boulevard looking at the larger fancy houses and smaller fancy houses and cute beach cottages on the north end and hotel after hotel afterhotelafterhotelafterhotel (really, its crazy) on the south end, many of which have that kitschy-retro vibe and have been around for years. My favorite was the...

(Photo: Cary Scott Photography)

Cutest sign!

This trip only increased my love for the beach. I just know that someday I will have my own dreamy little cottage by the sea, and until then I will fill my house with shells and sand and these beauties that I can make with my own two hands...

(Photo and wreath: Paint, Decorate, Design on the Cheap)

(Photo: Heather Bullard)

Cindy has a tutorial for making a shell wreath like hers.

(Photo and wreath: Cindy at My Romantic Home)

In other news I'm very excited to be going to Vegas(!!) for my friend's wedding this weekend. Yay for weddings! I've never been to Vegas, and this will be a very short trip, so I will definitely have to go again and take hubs with me.

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Here's hoping you are having a lovely summer time!

In the Good Ole Summertime...

Ah, summer.

Time for a little bit of this...

from our local strawberry patch sliced, sugared and eaten with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream (the only vanilla I've ever wanted to eat plain).

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Perfect time for this...

Squash that hubs grew (yay, hubs!) and grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper; and fennel rice salad I made (the leftovers were great; I didn't have scallions so I left them out). What a lovely summer meal.

The other night we realized it was time for this, too...

Green tomatoes and squash from our garden fried up just right by the Mr. YUM!! Hubs, have I told you lately you're the best hubs ever?

This plate is ALL hub's doing: squash and green tomatoes he grew and then turned into fried green tomatoes (with some jarred marinara sauce), fried squash, grilled squash and squash casserole.

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Is this man good or what??!

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Summer + Hubs makes for a very lovely time indeed.

Blog posts I've enjoyed

(Picture: ___Ally via Flickr)

Where does the time go? I have so many projects to do and pictures to take and posts to post...for now I'll share a round-up of some posts I have really enjoyed recently:

Surprise benefits of an uncluttered life -- this is hub's and my goal in housekeeping. We want to have a comfortable house for us and one that is ready for guests whenever they should appear. We are still working toward this!

Do you have a big 'But...'? -- there are excuses for anything and everything in life. Nothing changes when we use excuses, but the potential for great things to happen when excuses are let go is just too big to ignore. I am working on getting rid of my big 'But...'!! Literally and figuratively!

Everyone can learn to be organized -- there is hope for me! Actually I've come a long way from where I used to be, and this post is very encouraging as I continue on my quest for organization in all areas of life.

Are you an unclutterer? -- not fully, but I'm working on it! Clutter can take on many forms, and I don't want to fool with any of them.

(Picture: Country Living via My Sweet Savannah)

~for the birds~ -- Oh, how I love bird cages! This post has some great eye candy.

You never know what will inspire you next. Keep your eyes open and notice the little things!

Oh, the conviction

(Photo credit: fensterbme)

So I got on the scale several weeks ago after not getting on the scale for several months because of a dead battery. The scale's dead battery, not mine. And I was NOT pleased with what I saw. And I already knew I'd been eating too much and that my clothes were feeling tight, so the number shouldn't have been a surprise, but don't we hold out hope that things will be different than we know them to be? In so many areas of life? I do. I still walk in the door after work hoping my fairy godmother has dinner all ready for us.


So I'm back to weighing in once a week, monitering my portion sizes and my calorie intake and fitting in exercise where I can. I still eat pretty much whatever I want; I just have to pay attention to how much I eat.


Several weeks ago I signed up for daily "Devotion for Dieters" emails from Crosswalk (they have all sorts of daily devotionals), and today's was REALLY good. Let me share it with you:


June 2

1 John 3:2-3
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.


Sometimes we fool ourselves into believing that to be like Jesus means to act like Him or think like Him or pray like Him, and we ignore that we should try to look like Him, too. We don't know that Jesus was thin, but we can be confident that He was not overweight, because He preached moderation and denounced gluttony. He cared for Himself, and He called others to care for themselves, also. How wonderful it would be to be able to stand face-to-face with our Lord and to mirror Him in both His spiritual and physical perfection!


Today's thought: When people look at me, I want them to see Jesus!

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Yikes! Is that clear and specific or what!

Here are some sites that I've found to be very helpful in my journey to learn about health and proper nutrition:


My Pyramid website
What Would Jesus Eat by Dr. Don Colbert


God, help me to drink my water today and savor my food and partake of the proper amount. I want people to see Jesus when they look at me!

1 Year of Pink Saturday!

Happy 1st Birthday, Pink Saturday! Beverly made Pink Saturday a group event one year ago, and aren't we glad? Check Beverly's site How Sweet The Sound for tons more posts on pink!
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I took a stroll through my archives to see what I could find...




June 2007: Pink suitcase, estate sale near Cross Hill, SC. I love how the light reflecting off the suitcase is turning the concrete pillar behind it pink. The lady who owned this suitcase also had...

A pink and purple kitchen! What a fun lady! This part of the house was closed to the public, so I got the best picture I could from a distance, and I'm pretty sure I got fussed at :)

Sunday, August 19, 2007: Orchids at the Palo Alto, CA farmer's market.

Thursday August 16, 2007: Glads (I think) at the Medford, Oregan farmer's market.

November 2007: The Birthday Queen, I mean, hubs trying out a wonderful pink product at Swoozie's in Greenville, SC.

May 30, 2009: Hubs will have his revenge in this life or the next when he finds out I've posted this picture.

What a wonderful Pink year its been! Thank you, Beverly!