A Weekend of Celebrating

Emily flew home for a visit this weekend. Little did she know, it was no ordinary visit. My little Emmy got engaged this weekend. She is all grown up and she is going to be a bride! Lucky for her, I have a Pinterest wedding board and I have been pinning away ideas for my sisters to use. 

Chad proposed in Parkville where they had their first date...precious. 

After, they came back to my house where friends and family were waiting to celebrate. 

The celebrating continued on Saturday when we traveled to Columbia to tailgate for the MU Homecoming Game.

What a fun weekend! 

Congrats to Emily and Chad...now on to wedding planning!

Free Fall Decorating

My grandma was cleaning up her garden and she had a box full of dried gourds that she was going to trash. They were looking pretty bad but I thought that they had potential.

I scrubbed the dirt off and used some leftover spray paint/acrylic paint to give them new life. 

I was pretty impressed with how well they turned out. They are so fun and festive! 

Yay for free fall decorating! Happy crafting! 

San Fran

Remember when Emily moved out?  It was a very sad day. 

We miss seeing her sweet face every day and hearing her run up the stairs like my mom. My siblings will know exactly what I am talking about! 

This past weekend, I flew to San Fran to see Emily. I had a great time catching up with her, seeing her new place, and exploring the city. 

Rumor has it that Emily will be moving home sooner rather than later. 

I sure hope so! 

It is almost fall...

Rememeber when I introduced you to my sister Abby?

I finally made the trip to Maryville to see her room all put together! 

She worked hard all summer to re-purpose used furniture to make her room extra special this year and it totally paid off! Abby lives with 5 other girls in a old house and she did an awesome job making her maybe 12x12 foot room extra special. 

Abby re-purposed the loft from her dorm room by giving it a fresh coat of white paint and cutting the legs shorter to accommodate the lower ceilings. Under her bed is the armoire that she painted this summer and fabric attached to a curtain rod hides her hanging clothes (she does not have a closet). The rolling chair originally belonged to our other sister Emily and Ab just recovered the cushion to match her room! 

Of course the best part...the embroidery hoops with the coordinating fabrics...so cute!

I am so impressed!  Way to go Sassy!

A Few Snips Shy of a Pixie

Please allow me to take a moment to tell you all a sad tale...

Over the weekend, I was getting ready to go to a tailgate party with my hubs and some of his friends. I took a shower and blow dried my hair as usual and then went to straighten my hair like I do everyday. I picked up my first section of hair, placed the Chi right up to my scalp, and as I clamped down, my hair started smoking. 

I pulled my Chi away and a section of my hair came with it. 

I freaked...almost broke down in tears...then panicked.

What hairs didn't get singed off were burnt to a crisp on the left side of my head.

It was fried, crispy, frizzy, and totally untamable.

Luckily I had an appointment with my bff in the hair stylist world, Clover, scheduled for today. I had texted Clover to give her an advanced warning but she was a little overwhelmed when I showed up. She consulted another stylist and together they went after my hair.  Apparently if you burn your hair all you can do is cut it becasue no amount of conditioning or hot oil treatments (which we tried) can reverse the damage. 

In the end, I ended up with what I think is my shortest haircut ever. 

It is going to take some getting used to but sweet Clover gave it her best shot. 

It is just a few snips shy of being a pixie cut.

Labor Day Weekend - 2012

For Labor Day my family went to the Lake of the Ozarks for the weekend. 

It also happened to be my oldest brother, Shawn's, 30th birthday!

The weekend was filled with lots of food, games, swimming,

 jet skiing, and general togetherness.

For the love of greenbeans...

Last weekend the hubs and I went to my grandparents to do some picking and canning! My grandparents have a massive sized garden. They grow corn, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, peanuts, and okra. They eat some fresh, give some away, and then they can the rest for winter.

I always try to make a point to go help over the summer because my grandparents are always so generous and give us lots of their produce. 

Not to mention, when we go, I get meals like this...

Why yes, that is chicken-fried-chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh corn, and fried okra. When I go to grandma's house, calories go out the window!

Ok, back to the canning. 
We spent Saturday morning picking...we got up super early to beat the heat and I am not a morning person hence the lack of pics of me.  I promise I did help!

Once it was all picked, it was time for some shucking, cutting the corn off the cob, and snapping the tips off the greenbeans. 

We left the corn with my aunt who was going to freeze it all and we got to work on the greenbeans. And by "we" I mean my grandparents and I...the hubs decided he needed to take a 3 hour nap in the middle of canning!

So fun! In total we canned 28 quarts of green beans and cut enough corn off the cob to make 16 bags full. My grandma's record for one day is 90 quarts of greenbeans! 
Seriously, my grandparents are amazing and so are those greenbeans!

Sidenote:

My hubs has said a few times that he thinks he could be a farmer. I am not so sure...case-in-point...here he is doing an impression of the donkey. Quite the little farmer!

Laney Goes to College

My baby of babiest sisters left for college yesterday. It seems pretty impossible that she is even old enough to drive let alone be heading to her freshman year of college! She chose to go to MU and yesterday was the big move in day! She was totally ready and I am so excited for her! Little Laney is so smart and grounded. She has the most passionate attitude and she is honestly a joy to be around. 

I am so excited to see what the next few years bring for her 

and I look forward to many trips to Columbia to visit! 

P.S...my parents have experienced this day 7 times! 

Can you even imagine? Erica was just 7 when our oldest brother left for college!

Natalie's Nursery

Meet my friend Liz and her precious daughter Natalie...

Liz and her hubby recently moved and baby Natalie needed her room decorated!

Liz was in love with this Pottery Barn nursery. 

She loved the tissue paper flowers and lanterns in the corner.

It didn't seem to hard so we gave it a shot!

We originally planned to make our own flowers out of tissue paper but when we went to Party City, we found lanterns,  flowers, and fans. It actually turned out to be cheaper just to buy them over making them...cheaper and less time consuming...sold!

Liz spent around $25 for all the supplies and this is what we came up with...

Some of the fans didn't make it through the first night so Liz had to do a little rearranging. This is her updated masterpiece...

So fun! So cute! So bright!

Happy Crafting!