Keith and Nicole

Well, I finally saw them...

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman.

I was looking around Davis-Kidd booksellers today in Green Hills in Nashville and decided to go downstairs to look at the magazines.  Coming up the stairs with their Bronte cafe take away bag was Keith and Nicole. 

They are adorable....and TINY!! They were talking to each other just like normal. They looked at me like stars do, thinking, "Yep, she recognizes us. Is she going to say something?" I looked down, mainly to watch my step, but I also didn't want to bother them.  I imagine they are bugged enough. Wish my friend Cleo had been with me...she would have talked their ears off.  

Yes, he IS adorable and she IS gorgeous even in a black velour track suit, just like everybody says. 

Yummy Apricot Ginger Glazed Pork Dinner

I made the most delicious dinner tonight.  I doubled what I had planned to make Elaine and Phil so I didn't have to make two different menus.

Apricot ginger glazed pork tenderloin. Roasted potatoes (Savannah cut two bags up for me). Savannah made the green beans and then I finished with making 2 fudge pies for dessert.  Jodie was making her green beans for Elaine, sweet baked apples and ice cream for the pie. She also made two lovely spring bouquets for their table from her yard. 

The pork was yummy!  Salt & Peppered, garlic powder rubbed in. Searing and then spreading it with the apricot glaze (Sarah Beth's apricot/orange preserves, soy sauce, ginger puree, and minced garlic) and baked in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes.  Save half of the sauce for later at the plate. DH and Sav had seconds. Isn't that the best compliment to your dinner prep?

The secret to the roasted potatoes being so good was after they are roasted with the olive oil and the onion soup mix, when they come out of the oven, sprinkle 1/4 cup or so of grated parmesan.  I just sprinkle a handful or more.

Wish you could have had a taste!

Just the Little Things

Today it felt like Spring. The March winds are blowing here and blooms from the trees were swirling around me.  A gorgeous day. 

I had to go to the grocery store and passed people walking their dogs, jogging, mowing their grass and working in their yards. On the way out of the grocery pushing my cart, I stepped up on my cart and rode it down across the parking lot. It was one of those happy moments when you are just grateful and you don't care if someone sees you doing something silly. 

Elaine got home from Boston today and Jodie and I took them dinner.  Her heart is so heavy with worry for Barry, Clare and the boys, but she was so happy to see the colors of Spring in her yard. 

The little things mean so much!

Pray for Barry, Clare, Sam & Joseph

Okay, I am sending this out to all my friends, family, loved ones, people I have met and people I have not met. 

Most of you who have followed my blog know who Clare is. Elaine and Phil's daughter. Clare is the one we always go visit in Boston and she takes us to all the wonderful literary sites and finds places like Celia Thaxter's garden, Monhegan Island, Little Red Riding Hood's Pickety Place, Thoreau's Walden pond, Longfellow's gravesite at Mt. Auburn cemetery, Burdick's chocolate and so much more! She is an angel and kindred spirit! 

Clare's husband Barry has recently discovered cancer in his kidney and one lung.  They are going to remove his kidney next Friday and he will start a chemo pill for his lung.

Do this for me please...do this for Clare please....for Sam and Joseph their 12 year old and 8 year old sons. Barry is an incredible husband and father. I REALLY love this family! I know exactly what they are feeling right now and what they need most is prayer. Pray for God's will to be done in all things and He will be given the glory.

Clare was down here last month before all this started and we had a sweet lunch together and her son Sam came over here and Savannah gave him an art lesson in cartooning. A precious, precious family.

Please ask God to heal Barry. Pray for a miracle. Pray for the surgery to be successful. Pray for that pill to work.

God can move mountains! Praise Him! Praise the Lord!

Happy Birthday Todd!

Happy Birthday to my crazy (yes, he really wears that hat) but lovable brother-in-law! ...try to behave!

Mary Cassatt is a Favorite

I adore the impressionistic work of Mary Cassatt. I have two prints out of these five hanging in my home. She was able to view and paint the beautiful bond between a mother and child. Not having had children herself, she usually used her nieces and nephews as her subjects. She must have been a great Aunt!

 I saw "the child's bath" in Chicago at the museum there and it covers a HUGE wall taller than I am. I almost cried when I walked in the room and saw it.

I viewed 'the children playing in the sand' when we visited Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art.

To see these paintings in "real" and living color is an amazing gift.

Out of all the things she could have painted, I love that she chose Mothers and children in their daily lives. You don't see it that much anymore do you?

Leslie Is the Best Sister!

This afternoon I spotted the UPS man coming down the road. I always get excited to see the UPS truck. Someone is usually getting something fun! Well, he swung (is that the correct word?) into our street and came to a stop in front of our house! I thought...I don't have anything coming...what could this be?...is it business stuff for DH?

It was from Restoration Hardware! I quickly opened it and looked at the paper inside and it is from Leslie!  That sweetie!  Sending me an early birthday present!

It is a BEAUTIFUL pair of Eiffel tower book ends! I am over the moon in love with them!! Thanks Les!!! My french books look sooo good in between them! 

In June Les, Savannah and I are off with our girls to France and what a perfect gift this is to always remember our special time together!

"Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares,

    And take the winds of March with beauty."

                               -Shakespeare

My New Calling Card

Counting Down.....

It's a Small World

I love running into friends out and about and friends who pop in to say hello!

Last week Mom, Savannah and I were getting some gelato in Destin and ran into Melissa and Stuart F.  Savannah is friends with their daughter Camille at Lipscomb high school here in Nashville. They were craving some gelato too! Small world!

There was a knock on the screen porch door at the cottage in Grayton beach and a beautiful red head is waving like crazy...it was Mary Ann Kelly and her husband John visiting with their grandkids from Oklahoma.  They are some of my parents dear friends that went to church with us for years in Peachtree City, Ga. 

Then today Savannah and I were at Borders picking up some required reading and ran into Kae Mc. whose son Sean was a classmate with Sav at Franklin Classical 6th-8th grade! Kae is a pharmacist and I have missed visiting with her...it was really great to see her! 

Also, the girl who lost her cat two cottages down from Mom and Dad, Gayle, said she is an attorney in Nashville whose son goes to Franklin Road Academy two miles from Sav's school and she lives in Franklin, same as us! She wants to coordinate trips to the beach together now! (Mojo lives in Franklin! Crazy cat!) It's such a small world! 

I still can't beat my dad's story of running into his cousin in Japan on a park bench though!

Between the Covers: The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures by Margo Hammond & Ellen Heltzel

I love books that "list" books.  This one was recommended to me!

"The Book Babes have put together a book that's like a box of chocolates, offering something for every mood and every taste...Between the Covers is a must-have for individual readers and book clubs alike."

  -Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

The Coffee Mom's Devotional

I found this sweet little book in Florida and it has had some really good thoughts....first fruits for my day!

"'Oh, Aslan,' said Lucy. 'Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?'

'I shall be telling you all the time,' said Aslan. 'But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder.'"

 -C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader")

Beignets at the Beach

The Right Way to Start a Day

My mom's friend Rosemary told mom what her Grandmother used to say first thing in the morning....

"Yipppppppeeee! I ain't never lived this day before!"

Isn't that adorable!
What a positive, wonderful way to start the day!

Mistral d'Or

I have been catching up on my jewelry making. I just finished this lovely yellow/golden "Mistral d'Or" kit and it came out beautifully!

Beachside reading












p.s. Mojo showed up. We think she was in her house all along.

Surfing Gator

Yesterday this big guy got caught in the ocean riptide! How would you like to go to the beach and run into him?!

He was caught about a mile away from the cottage! 7 1/2 feet long!

"This is the first stray alligator of the season," deputy Johnson said. "With it starting to warm up, others will be on the move around the coastal lakes and we'll be busy."

Sharks AND alligators, oh my!!

Just Another Day

Today it has rained most of the day and we started off relaxing on the porch swing. A neighbor was playing guitar on his porch and is actually very good, in a 'Jack Johnson/Dave Matthews' kind of way.

Savannah and I wandered around Seaside, stopping in Sundog books, Quincy's art store and Hooch and Holly's. DH stayed at the cottage and has enjoyed relaxing by vacuuming out the pool and sweeping up every leaf that has had the nerve to fall on his watch.

Mom and Dad came in this afternoon. Another neighbor had a 9 month old cat named Mojo get out her door and we spent an hour helping her find the cat. We gave her a can of crabmeat hoping the scent would attract the cat. Hopefully Mojo will show up.

Then Les called and said mom and dad's security fire alarm was going off at the house in Georgia and she had been called! Of course every code Les told them didn't work. Dad called the neighbor and he said the fire trucks and police were already there. I told my mom that maybe they had to use an ax to bust down the door. (My poor attempt at humor) Mom said "Land Sakes!" This kind of stuff always happens when any of us head out of town! We are used to it!

Then we said maybe the police would arrest Les when she got over there. DH said Les could use a little time 'under the jail'. (They are always into it.) No luck there...she said she would just call us for bond.

Thank heavens, all was fine...just another day around here!

Okay, here is the most ridiculous thing for sale! Lenox company is selling Peeps china! You can have a Peeps tea light, Peeps bunny Easter basket, salt/pepper shakers and a Peeps chick sit-around monogrammed.

Peeps are the cheap (cheep) marshmallow treat that you end up having for 6 months, but you STILL just have to have them in your Easter basket.  I read somewhere that the little red eyes NEVER digest.

Lenox China Peeps! Ha!

p.s. the salt/pepper shaker Peeps are cute, aren't they?

Glorious Tulips

Here are some of the glorious tulips that I got for the baby shower at the new Trader Joe's in town! $4.99 for a bunch of ten!  An affordable way to pick up a little sunshine!  

Jodie showed me a cool tip to give the flowers some lift in your crystal container. Wad (is that a word?) up some clear saran wrap and place it in the bottom of your container, then fill with your water.  It's actually pretty and gives the flowers that extra ooomph!  I learn so much from my friends!

Right now they have 10 daffodil/buttercups for $1.49! Gorgeous and such happy Spring flowers! 

Books I Am Looking Forward To Reading

These are a few of the books I look forward to reading this summer. I always like to read a really thick, long, absorbing, epic novel in the summer too. Last year it was The House at Riverton and it was wonderful! My mom read it right after I did at the beach and she loved it also and hated for it to end too! 

Tonight is book group! We discuss Geraldine Brooks book, Year of Wonders.

Today I Cleaned My Closet

Today I have been cleaning out my closet.  I have been needing to for months.  DH came out of there and said, "Is that the suitcase in there that we took to Florida at Christmas?"  Okay, I hear you! I get it! 

It is a walk-in closet that we had a hard time walking in.  If there is a tornado, we usually go in this closet to wait out the storm.  We would have been hurt worse from things flying around in that closet, falling off a shelf or just finding a place to sit down.  (I keep a helmet in there for Savannah for that purpose)

Anywho, for two days I have culled and pulled out clothes that I don't wear enough, wear at all, have had since high school, hoping that I can get back into. 

Isn't it strange (and a shame) how even if we haven't gained lots of weight, how our (my) bodies have just "shifted"?  That's a good word.  I have shifted.  Not gained weight, shifted.....right, yea, dream on.

And....pulling clothes out, I still don't seem to have enough or the right kind of hangers!  DH and I fight over the good plastic ones.  I have busted him before removing a plastic hanger from one of my shirts to swap it to put a yucky metal one on mine! Caught him!

I had to dust my shoes.  I don't keep my shoes boxed because they take up too much room that I don't have. My Nonnie kept every shoe box she ever had. When you looked up, you saw boxes and boxes all stacked and lined up. It was a beautiful sight! Every time I have to dust my shoes, I wish I had those shoe boxes back. I ended up grabbing my house coat to dust them today. That was the closest at hand. (Maybe I should have used one of DH's shirts, HA!)

I Love This Wall Art!

DH and I love these pieces of 'wall art'! It's as close as we would ever have an animal hanging on our wall!

An extremely whimsical artist from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Jessica Knapp, did these.

The first is a 'Plushkill mouse' and the second one is a 'Plushkill Forest Fall Buck'.  Aren't they fabulous and funny! 

Dana's Baby Shower

Last Saturday I gave a baby shower for Jodie's daughter-in-law Dana.  She flew up from Ft. Lauderdale and received some beautiful things for their baby girl due in May.  

Nineteen lovely ladies came and we ooooohed and aaaaaahed over all the adorable gifts.

Savannah was a great help with the preparations! She made these adorable mint candy pacifiers, tied up the favors and helped Dana with the presents.

I had fun making the tiny little pink ribboned corsage with the booties (bought those) for Dana to wear.

Jodie has four sons, so we are extremely excited about this little baby girl coming into their family!

Sav and Friends

Savannah is so blessed to have lots of good friends! This was a birthday party for her friend Amy.  They all had so much fun being together!

What has been sad is that this whole crew has been off and on sick this week...feel better!!

Great deal

Years ago Leslie introduced me to 'Tracy Porter'.  She is an artist/designer who makes everything from china to clothes.  Leslie has given me some really fun teapots and vases that she designed.

Some of my favorite clothes also come from 'Tracy Porter'. She always designs beautiful things and always adds an extra special touch. I have a couple shirts that whenever I wear them, someone asks me where I got it and also compliments.  And I love a great sale! I am on her email list and she will let you know when everything gets marked down.

Right now she is having her Spring clearance!  These incredible pieces that retail for over $250 are going for $26 or $32!?! It's a great deal for great quality and on top of that, you don't have to pay tax if you don't live in Wisconsin!

She has a great blog too! A very talented girl!

www.tracyporter.com

p.s. I got this coat (reg$250) for $38.00!!

Current Reading

Snow! Snow! We have snow again! 

Gone in a day...that's a good thing!