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...

Two years ago I won a Kelly Moore bag through a random Twitter contest. I'd been eying her bags for a while, but hadn't yet pulled the trigger to purchase one on my own. If you don't know about Kelly Moore bags, let me introduce you to the most versatile, beautiful, well-made and sturdy bags you've ever seen. Seen I'm a bit of a bag lady in that I like to carry EVERYTHING around with me. But I only like to carry ONE bag at a time. And my Kelly Moore bag fits everything - including my laptop - perfectly. I have the Two Sues bag in Walnut - and it goes with everything too. Not a week doesn't go by that I don't get a compliment on this bag. Kelly Moore bags were created to use when carrying cameras - which I use mine for as well when I carry mine with me - but since I'm not anything close to being a professional photographer, I use my purse for other things too.  And I use it every day - and it is still in perfect condition - just like the day I bo...

I know, I know...it's not even Thanksgiving yet... But here's a little gift from me to you, via our favorite Christmas villian...The Grinch! Just click on the picture to download a high resolution version for printing! And don't forget to check out my other prints (great for gift-giving) in my Etsy shop here .

Walker: "Mom, how many times have you gone to the bathroom in your entire life?" Me: "Good question Walker, let's do the math" And without hesitation, I pull out my cell phone and open the calculator. "Well, let's say the average person goes to the bathroom 5 times a day, so that's 5 times 365 days in a year times 37 years of my life and you get 67,525." Walker: "Cool. Now do mine." Me: "Ok, that's 5 times 365 times 7 and you get 12,775." Walker: "Cool." Me: "And that, my son, is why you learn math in school - so you can calculate these important figures." Walker: "Mom, you're crazy."

Y'all know I get crazy for Halloween. So this year, we decided to have a little spooky sleepover for Walker and a couple of his friends. The boys favorite part - apple bobbing. They could have kept going for hours if it hadn't gotten dark. And then they brought in the bucket and bobbed in the shower. And let's just say - how did I live without Pinterest? And I think the first couple of pins I ever pinned were Halloween - love all of the great ideas and I've already started pinning for Christmas! So, here are a couple of shots from our Halloween festivities. No picture of Mike - he's not quite as into the holiday as Walker and I are - but I did get him to dress up in one of my UNC t-shirts - he went as a UNC fan (he's a die-hard Dookie). Walker went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and one of his best friend's neighborhoods - so he was pretty happy Halloween night. And here's how I handle the candy - and always have - we just dump it out and he...

For so long I've held back on my blog because I was scared I'd lose readers and worried that I would anger someone, but I'm done with that. And in all honestly, I'm not trying to upset anyone or criticize, but let's be honest - in the never-ending debate of working vs. non-working mommies, someone's feelings are always gonna get hurt. So let's throw caution to the wind ... working moms - this one's for you. I woke up this morning, rolled over to snuggle with my little guy (yes he still ends up in the bed with me most nights) and watched as he slowly opened his eyes and smiled. He looked and me and said, "Mommie, I want waffles." And so it goes each morning. I wake around 7:00, get Mike to warm up some waffles, or do it myself, then shower, dress...and off to school. And it's all we've ever known. When he was 4 months old - same thing - yep, different breakfast - no waffles then, but he was off to daycare and I was off to wo...

Two years ago, for Walker's Star Wars birthday, I created Yoda tags to attach to the gift bags for the party. Little did I know these bag tags would become so popular on Pinterest! To date, these tags have been repinned almost 500 times!!! So I thought since there's so much interest, I'd add them to my Etsy shop . So now, for just $8.00 - you can receive the file electronically and print them for yourself! I jazzed them up a bit with some sliver glitter puff paint on the light saber and some silver ribbon to attach to the dollar store bags. Print as many or as few as you want! So, if you are planning a Star Wars party, check them out ! And may the force be with you!

It's no secret around here that I am a lover of Halloween. I say it every year, but both my sister and I are nuts about Halloween and honestly, I think it's because we used to have the best time with our church family with Halloween carnivals and haunted houses in the church basement (that's before everything turned into the "fall festival"). We would go for hay rides, run around in the church cemetery and our pastor was even in on all of the fun. Can you believe that? Anyway, October kicks off each year with my annual Halloween mantel, which I worked on this weekend. This year I decided to go with a green, black and white theme, inspired by Mrs. Limestone's feature in BHG Treats & Tricks magazine . And I thought I loved Halloween, this lovely lady puts me to shame! I really really wanted to run out to Michael's and see what new fun things I could find, but I decided to work with what I had in my box of Halloween decor (yes, I have one, just like C...

These are always pretty popular here on the blog this time of the year, so, here's a repost of some Halloween printables I designed last year to get you in the spirit! Just click on the image and it will take you to Flickr, where you can choose the size you'd like to download! I think they would look cute framed on a mantel or wall, or just print out and put up on your fridge or office wall to bring a little spooky spirit into your day!

Yes I haven't posted in about a month. And I absolutely did not feel guilty about it. I just needed a break from the pressure to post. I don't want this blog to become something I don't enjoy because it's always been fun for me, but lately it just wasn't feeling that way. If you missed me, do let me know in the comments! I missed you guys! But now I'm diving back in. Want to know what I've been up to lately? Lots of work, work and work. Busy time these days, which is a good thing because the days are so much more interesting and go by very fast! I hate being behind at work and I finally feel like I'm catching up on things. Instead of working on my blog at night, I've been doing real work - ughhh. But I'm hoping that trend is headed downwards. The wedding was this weekend!!! Our niece made a gorgeous bride! I helped out with some of the details, which is so fun for me. How in the world did we plan anything before Pinterest? I found the inspi...

Mustard seems to be everywhere this season. Specifically, I've seen it in a lot of different pant styles paired with other solid jewel tones. Top it off with that gold jewelry you've been dying to bring out and it's a perfect ease into fall. I love this color and already have quite a bit of it in my wardrobe, so very excited that I am finally in fashion! About time! Mustard by southernstuff featuring a satchel bag  And for you youngsters out there that don't get the Grey Poupon reference, check the commercial from 1988 here.

Thanks to my neighbor and great friend Mary Beth for introducing me to this fun new site - sneakpeeq ! I'm so excited about it that I wanted to share with you guys! So far I've bought three things from the site at great discounts - and two of the things I've bought are Christmas gifts, so I'm totally getting ahead this year! What is sneakpeeq? I'd say it's a little like One Kings Lane, but the difference is the more you visit, the more you buy, the more rewards you get! And I mean real rewards! Also, you have a limited number of "peeks" per day. These peeks allow you to see the super low sale prices they offer - and they are so low, they keep them private until you peek! Today I bought a Big Buddha purse that was regularly $70 for only $39!! And tonight I bought some fun cucumber eye treatment pads for only $4.00!! They have accessories, home decor, clothing, cosmetics...and more new things every day! So, if you're looking for a good deal and...

Helmet 2 Hip Pads 2 Thigh Pads 2 Knee Pads Tailbone Pad Practice Pants Game Pants Practice Jersey Chin Strap Game Jersey (ordered) Mouth Guard Cleats Socks Cooler Athletic Cup (oh my!) Shoulder Pads Equipment Bag... GAME.ON.

I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal. Will Ferrell and I share the same birthday. And my grandaddy Alvin too. We share the same birthday. And like 6 people in my home church. So, maybe I'm not really a big deal. Anywho, this year, Mike asked what I wanted for my birthday and although there is a Dooney and Bourke purse I'm dying to have, I opted for an experience we could both enjoy and something we'd been talking about doing for a while. A couple's portrait. No, not really. I wanted him to take me to the Inn at Fearrington in Pittsboro, NC for a night. The couple's portrait in our room was a bonus. (More on the Inn at Fearrington in another post) We have very few pictures together since I'm always the one behind the camera and he refuses to learn how to use the darn thing, so I managed to use the self-timer for like the second time ever and capture some shots of us right before dinner Saturday night. So unlike that ...