Fun finds

If you have not logged on to see the great finds at Etsy, do it today! Everything is handmade and most of it is super cute and/or super trendy! Here's a few of my favorite things I've seen so far:








Letters I bought one for every member of my family and am hanging them in my hallway dispersed among all the photos I have there already.

Monkey Hat This reminds me so much of the Mickey Mouse costume I wore when I was 2 and my cousin Steve & I dressed alike for Halloween. I'm just hoping one of my friends gets pregnant soon so I have an excuse to buy this adorable head piece!

Apron Maybe it's because of all the baking I've been doing lately but I just love the idea of a full apron. If I had one, I might not have scalded my stomach with boiling caramel last night. Oh yeah, Dad called me "Grace" as a child for a reason.

Explore Etsy for yourself and see what amazing items there are! I swear I could almost furnish my entire home with the cool stuff listed! If only I had the money......

To get you through Hump Day

Because I have no kiddos to blog about this week, I'm finding other ways to amuse myself. Our dog, Bella is getting lots of extra attention and consequently not defecating on any of our floors. Hooray! She has, however, tried to eat a couple pit bulls, a mutt, and a cute little shitzu that lives down the street. Someone told me boxers were smart. I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Anyway, during the summer reruns, I've been on Hulu and buying TV shows on DVD left and right. If you are a person who has not seen Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia, or Flight of the Conchords, start now! You do not know what you're missing.
This clip is not actually from the Flight of the Conchords show but it is my favorite song of theirs. Enjoy:

Make a Wish

We introduced Layla to the wonders of making a wish on dandelion fuzz. She didn't quite get the hang of blowing but had fun with them anyway. The girl loves to pick flowers. I never have to pull weeds because she does it for me.

Why I love Photoshop

On Friday in Destin, it was cloudy & rainy all day. Very heartbreaking when you're on the beach. As we were driving back to the house from a failed attempt at kiddy rides, I looked out at the ocean and proclaimed, "How cool! You can see exactly where the rain starts!" And promptly jumped out of the car and took a picture. Well this is what I got:

It's not terrible and you can tell it's a storm but even Chuck looking over my shoulder said, "That didn't turn out very good, did it?" And he was right.
But then I got to work and plugged this little baby into photoshop and VOILA! I got what I wanted:

See how much more beautiful the water looks and how much more menacing the clouds look? Photoshop is my new favorite toy. :)

The most amazing view

No pictures right now but just wait. All I will say is this - if you ever have the opportunity to go parasailing, TAKE IT!
I don't even mind the resulting sunburn.
I totally married into the right family.

She Swims!

Somehow my father-in-law is a miracle worker. Mia spent one afternoon swimming with him and at the next swim meet, swam over half the length of the pool without use of the rope! It was a great Mia moment!! I captured it here for your viewing pleasure. It just kills me how much she enjoys swimming which is apparent from the huge grin on her face! I apologize for the sideways video. I turned my camera to get the long shot and forgot that videos don't rotate. Oops.

Donna Martin graduates!

This is almost a week overdue but Congratulations to my brother Sean on graduating from high school!! We were worried there for awhile and I'm not talking about the rain storm preceding the outdoor ceremony.
Said ceremony was pretty typical, highlighted only by making Sean dance and wave frantically for 5 minutes until Mom finally spotted him in the sea of blue. Also by the Valedictorian's speech about how he couldn't stand up there and tell everyone what a bright future they had ahead of them because he was no prophet. Erin described it as epic.
Here's a few photos of the momentous occasion. I am so proud of you Seany!!

Cupcake Explosion!

I have been on a baking spree here lately. At least one baked good a week. It's crazy. Chuck's not complaining. Nor or my co-workers. Mia likes to help. She's especially good at licking the spatula.

Here's a couple of my latest creations:

Red Velvet Cupcakes w/ White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes w/ Malted Butter Cream Icing

Plate lickin' good!

It's becoming a near weekly tradition in our family to eat at Vallarta Mexican Grill. This place is the best (sorry Chamblee folks, it blows La Botana out of the water!)

I love it for the bottomless margaritas and delcious nachos. Mia loves it for the free cheesecake bites.In other news, in case you were wondering how I finished off the cinnamon cream cheese icing. And don't kid yourself, you know you were dying inside to know! I spread it on some Pillsbury Grands and they were divine!

Cupcakes are for lovers

While perusing blogs I came across an adorable cupcake site and it inspired me. I flipped through my cupcake cookbook, made a mad dash to the store, and whipped up these babies:Add another thing to my happiness list! Normally I go straight for the chocolate but I had been craving some homemade banana bread lately so I made banana cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Heavenly! I still have some of the frosting leftover in the fridge and I'm trying to think of the most creative way to finish it off (barring just eating it with a spoon.) I'm thinking about spreading it between two cinnamon waffles for a scrumptious breakfast sandwich. Or is that a little over the top?? Decisions, decisions.......

What makes you happy?

There are certain things in this world, seen or heard, that brighten up my day in strange and beautiful ways. Some examples:

1. Every time I drive down Peachtree Rd. I see progress on a development converting an old mechanic's shop to a coffee shop. It's called "Get Coffee" and I can't help but say "Yes I will, thank you".

2. There's a commercial on the radio right now for Amp Energy Drink. It features a need to sing Metal and do surgery at the same time and it kills me. "CLOSE HIM UP - HE'S GONNA MAKE IT! YOU'RE LOOKIN' HOT NURSE! OW!" It's the best commercial ever.

3. Chocolate brown combined with any soft color. On Easter, Mom, Erin, and Sean all had outfits with brown and pale teal combinations and it was beautiful. I've even begun to like the color pink (God help me) with brown. The girls' room is all pink and brown and I love it! If my bed didn't have a ginormous black frame , I would totally decorate our bedroom in browns & blues. It's so soothing.

4. Anything that reminds me of The Office. One of my soccer dads is Michael Scott. I took a picture of a menu the other day because it had a beet salad listed. I thought Chuck was going to keel over in embarrassment right then and there. Someone has Mixed Berry yogurt in the fridge here at work! It's endless entertainment for me.

5. Making (and eating) homemade guacamole! I've eaten dinner consisting entirely of guac and chips and not thought anything of it. (Also, I love taking photos of food, another thing that embarrasses the crap out of my husband)

6. When Chuck is out of town, he always calls on the way home. He lies about where he is on the road to be able to surprise me when he walks in the door. It's adorable.

7. The squirrels Mom have trained to come when you cluck at them. The kids feed them nuts on the front porch. I caught myself tittering at a perfectly innocent squirrel in a parking lot the other day.

8. Any time spent with the Campbell Clan. They rock my world!

9. Comfort food at the end of a long day. Normally I go for chocolate or coffee flavored goodness but we just discovered a Mexican place that does bottomless margaritas. Bottomless. Margaritas. And free cheesecake. When I get to heaven, I want it to be like Vallarta.

10. Moments like this:

I'd love to hear from you all out there on the internet. What makes you happy?