A New Chapter...

Hello everyone!

I have some news to share today.

We are moving to...

Am I excited?  Ummm... not yet.  It is really cold there.  Really, really, really cold.  It is 61 here today in Charleston and I am wearing a jacket in the house.  It is going to take some adjustment that is for sure.  

I love Charleston.  I love the South and all things southern.  It is who I am.  I love my palm trees and my ocean.  Will I miss it?  Absolutely.  I am so much closer to family here than I have been in a long time and Minnesota is so FAR away from family, but hey... that is what planes are for.  Right?  

Am I so proud of the BHW that I can hardly stand it?  ABSOLUTELY!!!!  He will be a director at his work and one of 6 that will sort of be running the place!  How cool is that?  He has worked so hard to be a director and when the automotive industry tanked, he was unable to reach this level as quickly as he should have, but he never gave up.  Through his dedication and work ethic, he has made a great name for himself, and he has always persevered  to achieve his goals.  I am very proud of this man who sets his sights for the stars and works hard to reach them.  

It is a new chapter in our lives and I am happy/scared/excited/sad and already cold!  It is a great opportunity for the BHW, great schools, and a new home to decorate!

I adore Terry (I feel like I have known her my whole life!) from La Bella Vie and she said this when I was bemoaning my fate one day to her...

"I can sure understand not wanting to move to Minnesota especially after living in beautiful Charleston. A place on my bucket list; a picturesque, charming town that they write about in novels, but imagine this..."On Golden Pond" which is kind of what Minnesota is like from what my in-laws tell me and just as lovely and picturesque in its own way...you know I've heard it called "the land of 10,000 lakes" so there must be a reason for that :o)

Also, you'll have all four seasons including a snowy white Christmas, perfect for baking cookies, cozy little girl sleep-over's and family snuggling in front of a warm fireplace that won't cook you out of the house because its 100 degrees outside :o) One thing is for sure like you said, where ever the three of you are will be home..."

Debbie from Debbiedoos said,  ""God puts you where you are meant to be."  

She is so right!  Now I just have to wrap my head around it!

I have always said that as long as the three of us are together, we are home.  So it is time to buy winter wear and a snow blower because we are on our way!  We are looking in the towns of Lakeville and Prior Lake.  The BHW will probably leave in May but Jemma and I will stay until June so she can graduate from her Kindergarten class.  I will drag all of you along with me during this time so stay tuned!

I am joining Suzanne from Privet and Holly at her Monday Moments chat at the water cooler!

A Valentine Mantle

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to join Beth at Home Stories A2Z for her Valentine Mantle party so here she is all gussied up and ready!  I have actually had this mantle up since January!  I figured after Christmas the little mantle was sad to have all her bling go and she needed a little love!  

I bought the frames at Walmart for $3 and $5.  I used a typewriter font for the letters.  This is how the BHW and I have always written I love you to each other.  It is even engraved in our wedding bands!

Jemma's sweet handprint

This is a tiny vignette on our end table.  A lady came to a local store to do silhouettes of children.  She whipped this out in about 10 minutes!  It was amazing to watch her and I couldn't get over how much it looks just like Jemma!  I love it!

We are feeling the love around her and getting ready for Valentine's Day!

I am also linking up to Jenni at Dear Lillie!  This is her first ever linky party!

A Little Getaway!

Last weekend the BHW and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary with a one night getaway to Savannah, Georgia.  It is only an hour an a half away so we thought that we be a neat place to go, but not too far away especially since it would be the first time ever we have left Jemma overnight.  Yes, you heard me right... the first time ever!  I know... I know... she is 6 and we need to do it more often.  Trust me.  I totally get it and can't believe it has taken us this long, but we have never lived close to any family who are the only ones I would have trusted when she was little!  Now that she is bigger, we felt comfortable leaving her with our friends' nanny who we carpool with.  Jemma had a great time and so did we!

We stayed at the beautiful Amethyst Inn.  It was built in 1888 and was just lovely!  We stayed in the Dahlia suite which had this gorgeous canopy bed, a small kitchen and bath, and a little sitting room with a pull out couch (perfect for another trip with Jemma!).  It was cozy, comfortable and romantic.  The floors and rooms were all beautiful.  The kitchen had been totally redone and I was in love, but unfortunately my pictures of the rest of the house weren't able to download.  Read below for the deatils on that!

Jane, the owner, booked our dinner for us at the Chart House and we were not disappointed.  We took a pedicab there and were escorted in by the manager who welcomed us and informed us that Jane had ordered the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer as a Happy Anniversary gift!  We were treated wonderfully and the food was delicious!  I had a crab stuffed baked shrimp with risotto and the BHW had a lowcountry sampler of fried oysters, caramelized catfish and deviled crab.  We finished the dinner off with a raspberry peach cobbler. Oh my word!!  It was all so good!!!  It was so nice to sit at a dinner and just enjoy each other's conversation for almost 2 hours.  We missed Jemma, but had such a lovely time being together.

Fried green tomatoes with shrimp salsa, jack cheese and cajun buttermilk ranch... Oh my!!!  

Guess who we called????

We booked a ghost tour through Blue Orb Ghost Tours and we were not disappointed!  Tobias, the owner, was the best tour guide I have ever had!  When my BFF, Cindy, comes, we may have to drive to Savannah!  He was that good!  Savannah is said to be the most haunted city in America.  The stories were quite creepy.  I don't know if I believe in all of that.  I had a picture that one time that everyone said was an orb, but whatever.  I will say though that something happened that has sort of freaked us out.  The last home we saw on the tour was reported to be haunted by a little 7 year old girl who was tortured and killed by her father.  He would often lock her in her room for hours at a time, but on this day, he tied her to a chair, gagged her and had her such a position that the sun actually baked her.  Tobias tells the story from the square and said that after strange events, he won't go over to the side of the street that the house is on anymore.  For example, throughout the year 2011, 11 people fainted on the tour standing in front of the house.  People's cameras quit working.  He had a scary encounter there also where he felt something "go through him".  It also went through his water and when he drank it, he said it was the most foul revolting thing he had ever tasted and he promptly spewed it all over a customer.  He comped her ticket for her.  That was nice!

 Anyhoo, I crossed the street to take pictures.  The BHW did not.  He said he was good where he was!  Tobias said if I felt my camera get hot to move back over.  I didn't have any trouble at all until today.  I was trying to download our pictures from our trip and it wouldn't download half my pictures.  It said the file was not recognized.  I tried it several more times and still no luck.  I checked all my settings, took a few more and still no pictures.  When I looked at what it did download and where it stopped, I was shocked.  It downloaded all the pictures up to the point where I crossed the street.  The pictures from that side of the street and all the next day would not download.  I deleted the pictures of the house from that side of the street but kept the ones of our B&B and some of downtown from the next day.  No luck.  I deleted all the pictures and then took 2 new ones.  The two new ones downloaded perfectly.  HOW FREAKY IS THAT???????  I don't know how I feel about ghosts and all that jazz, but that is weird... seriously weird.  Cindy wants to go now more than ever!  Oh my... I think I will leave the camera at home!

The cemeteries in Savannah are quite beautiful.  We didn't visit the famous Bonaventure Cemetery from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but we are going back to visit!

This is the house where my camera quit taking pictures.  As you can tell, I am across the street.  Not a picture one would download after that.  CRAZY!!!!

The next morning, I woke up feeling awful!  I was so congested and my eyes looked like I had tied one on.  We think it was the gas heat that sent my sinuses into overdrive.  I am still struggling with being sick at Christmas and am on my second round of antibiotics.  I actually felt bad enough to cancel our tour we had scheduled and slept the whole way home.  We got home to a little girl who had missed us and was happy to see us!  It was a wonderful trip and yes I know... we need to do it more often!

BHW... I love you with all my heart.  Thank you for 17 years of joy, happiness, and love.  You are my best friend and my soul mate.  Thank you for making all my dreams come true and I hope we have many many more years to live life and experience all it has to offer.  I love you.

Christmas 2011 Part II

Christmas morning was jut wonderful!  Santa was very good to Jemma and she got all the things on her list and then a little!  She was so excited and so cute!  I made our traditional Santa squares and we all just relaxed and played.  Some of us sat on the couch coughing and sneezing, but loved every minute of just being with family!  We had planned to walk on the beach, but I just didn't feel up to it and it rained so that took care of that!  It was one of the most relaxing laid back Christmases that we have ever had.

The next day, we headed to Tennessee to my parents where we had a wonderful time!  Just hanging out and being with family.  That is what Christmas is all about.

New Year's was spent on our street at an Oyster Roast and birthday party with the neighbors.  Jemma stayed up until 2:00 a.m.  Yes... I said 2!  We got home around 1:00 and as we were getting into bed, the t.v. was on an old Batman series from the 1960's.  She got so interested that we all curled up in bed and watched it until 2!  Then we crashed.  The next morning was chocolate chip pancakes and an easy day of playing with friends, football and relaxing.

I got a new Pandora bracelet

Jemma's Nonna made a quilt and pillows to go with her new bed for Felicity that Santa brought

The BHW got what he wanted.  A touchless garbage can!  He loved it!  I am not lying!

Jemma loved her Leap Pad and Princess castle

I love the aftermath pictures!  

Gaga got some gift cards

Poppy got a neck massager that we all liked!

This was the year of Barbies and trust me... she has played with all of them!

I love the look on her face as she opens her Barbie RV!

Gaga and Jemma always read books together

Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2012!

Best Faces Photo

I am entering in the Best Faces Photo on iheartfaces!  This was one of my favorite pictures that I took last year.  Yes, she looks very solemn, but there is just something about her eyes that just lures me in!  Have a great week everyone!

Rewind!

I have to go back and post about my Thanksgiving!  In the rush of the holidays and all that was going on with my family, I failed to show some pictures of our wonderful Thanksgiving meal with my husband's family!

We decided two years ago to alternate holidays between my family and his.  Jemma wants to be in her bed on Christmas and we want that too.  It was just too much to drive to Tennessee and visit two families in a week, get back and have any down time before school and work started back.  It was a hard decision to make, but it is best for our family for now!

This year was Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's.  She loves Thanksgiving and every year she makes the turkey (who is always named George!) and the italian dressing from my husband's grandmother.  It is made with italian sausage, mushrooms, oregano, poultry seasoning, and breadcrumbs with a few other things thrown in!  Oh my goodness, but is it ever so yummy!  She sets a beautiful table and is always so proud to use the Waterford Crystal collection that we started for her on her first trip to Ireland.  It is so beautiful!  I hope to collect it myself one day!  I love it that much!!!!

We got there on Tuesday night and my SIL and her boyfriend came on Wednesday.  My BIL and his family decided to go to the beach this year so it was a smaller group, but wonderful all the same!

This year was the big year when Jemma really wanted to help Nana with the turkey and all the cooking.    My SIL, Vicki, came up with the great idea to get them matching aprons!  How cute are these???

The girls are ready and everyone is excited!

Check out Jemma's face... it is all fine and dandy to talk about helping with the turkey and another to rub butter on a slimy turkey!  She doesn't really like to get her hands dirty so this didn't last too long!  At least she looked super cute in her apron!!

Gorgeous Waterford crystal from Ireland

Horrible lighting, but would you look at the cuteness of this shirt!  The same lady who did the aprons made this shirt.  It is a turkey applique with ribbons folded over and stitched for the feathers.  It is the cutest thing and it is pretty big so she can wear it for several years!

Ready for the feast!

George... oh George... how good you were this year!

The BHW carving the turkey

This was our Christmas too so we exchanged gifts that night.  Some short person was ready to open gifts!

I used photoshop to add a prayer that my SIL fell in love with to a picture of the cross from Ireland.  I think she liked it!

My MIL loved this coat in Ireland but didn't get it because she didn't want to have to pack it and lug it back home, so we bought it, hid it and surprised her with it for Christmas!

All four Barbie sisters singing Christmas carols.  I take that back... singing one Christmas carol.  Only one song...
It is cool though.  They each have their own voice and can sing alone or with the others.  It would just be nice if they had a couple of songs to sing!

Aunt Vickie got her roller skates!  She was so excited!  She put them on, stood up and both feet flew out from under her and she landed right on her tail without ever actually moving!  She was a bit timid from then on, but determined to do it as long as she could hold on to her dad!

Practicing the next day.  She found her groove by hanging on to his back pockets.  He would walk around the patio dragging her behind, stop, hitch up his pants, and keep on going!  He is a good daddy!

The next night we went to the Bristol Speedway to see the lights.  If you haven't done this and you live anywhere near east Tennessee, I highly recommend it!  The lights are absolutely incredible!  

Waiting to get in...

Still waiting...
I promise this is not child neglect without her seatbelt on!  It took us about an hour of creeping along until we got in!  

Finally!!!!!

The next day Jemma played in Nana's front yard before we left and I just sat and took some pictures of her with the lovely light.

One last hug before saying good bye and heading home.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!