A Southern Accent

My mind is already a confusing mess of what I want to accomplish in 2013. And it seems like every other hour, I think of something new or read someone's idea and say "Hey, I'm gonna do that in 2013." Overachiever, not so much. But I do get excited this time of the year to start anew, symbolic as it is, and have an excuse to step back for a minute, press the hold button and think about what I want for the next 12 months. My 2012 goals were to get a promotion (check) while maintaining good work/life balance (check), and lose thirty lbs (not checked). My blog took a bit more of a back seat in 2012 as other items came to the front and I worked on that balance, but hopefully 2013 will provide the opportunity to spend more time here growing my online friendships and sharing my stories/projects/news... For 2013 I jump from wanting to save, save, save so I can either completely redo my house in 2014 or move to a new house ... to wanting to travel to NYC again in the ...

It's the quiet days that sometimes get to me. I just got off the phone with my mom. I told her I have cabin fever. She said, "You probably won't be someone who should retire." I replied, "I don't ever plan to". This year Christmas was a bit slower, a bit quieter than usual. Maybe because everyone is getting a bit older, there are no babies around to cry or wail, and my grandparents seemed so feeble. With my uncle's passing this year, Mike having to work the day after Christmas and my dad not around - such a significant absence of the male figures that had always been there over the holidays. My mother had bronchitis, and my nephew the flu. Walker and I both ended up with awful colds that we're still trying to get over. My parents were kind to one another, amicable and friendly. The presents were plentiful and Santa exceeded expectations. The three sons/cousins/grandsons were happy and hyper. So much buildup, and it always goes by to...

If you still haven't purchased that teacher gift, the present for your mother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece, best friend...heck buy one for yourself... Let me suggest my brand new digital print!  For this week only - if you buy one print, you get a free Kiss My Grits digital print! Digital prints are fast - easy and affordable. You buy, I send you the print via e-mail, you print and frame and that's all there is to it! Or, for a long-distance friend, you can even forward the digital file directly to them for printing! (But please only do it once per purchased copy)... This one is even more fabulous because it's black and white - and goes with anything and everything! Check this one out - along with many more prints in my shop here! And head on over to Erin and Nina's blogs to enter to win a fun giveaway from my shop as well!

Walker's now at the age he doesn't like mommy taking pictures of him. He finds mommy "annoying" at those times. Gone are the days I can dress my little guy in a cute red and green outfit, with cute little green trees on his pants and have him pose with Christmas ornaments and Santa Claus. So for this year's Christmas card, I needed to get creative. So I trekked on over to Michaels and picked up some fake snow and a couple of styrofoam balls and decided I'd let Walker have a snowball fight with me and his dad and hope I could get some good pics out of it. He was down with my idea. Of course, we got a lot of good outtakes on this one...and it was funny because I had him all dressed up for winter, but it was actually pretty warm out (yep bare feet - we keep it real).   But the winner and my fave had daddy sprinkling fake snow over Walker's head while he threw "snowballs" at me.  I've gotten several perplexed e-mails and ca...

My fabulous friend Laura is probably the most creative person I know. So when she says she's going to throw a wreath party, you know it's going to be good. To entice moms to volunteer for our upcoming school fundraiser and show them how cool it is to work with the fundraising committee, several moms got together and threw a wreath-making party. We invited school moms to come to a local clubhouse, bring a bag of fresh greenery from their yard and learn how to make a wreath. And who knew it would be so easy to make a gorgeous wreath for next-to-nothing (I'm talking the kind of wreath you pay $75+ for in the stores and nurserys)... The clubhouse didn't have much to work with, so we got creative and wrapped the bookcase filled with trophies - and we went tacky on this in case anyone thought we were serious...but the centerpiece was the best. Laura found it at Anthropologie I think and bought it right off of the display... We also had a cut...

Let me introduce you to a new blog that will provide you plenty of pee-in-your-pants laughter - For Whom the Belle Tolls . Its hilarious author Susie recently contacted me to set up her blog and create a cute header to get her started. I asked Susie to write a post to introduce herself to my readers, and this is the fabulouness she came up with. Enjoy....and go read her blog for some great stories... Just the facts ma'am: born and raised in the great state of Georgia, I am a true Southern belle who loves all things prissy, frilly and frou frou . My family has self-diagnosed me with OCD , which I call HOE...highly organized and efficient. That's right, I am a proud HOE. I graduated from Clemson and adore everything about it. My blood runneth orange. I married my mom's college roommate's son (take a minute, that one's tricky to diagnose) whom I met when our moms reunited after 20+ years and quickly realized they had some matchmaking to do. My hubs turned ...

"Mom, how old are you? I can't ever remember  because you look 17..." How I love this child...