Must See Monday!

I started getting Better Home & Gardens magazine again, thanks to my mother-in-law.  I just got April's issue and saw something in it that I thought was so cool!  I love cool gadgets for the house and anything to make my life simple and easier.  Thought I'd share them with you on this Monday.

The SodaStream. 

Is this cool or what!  Better Homes & Gardens says that according the the U.S. Recycling Institute more than 80% of our soda cans end up in landfills.  Wow!  80%!  That's a lot!  SodaStream turns your water into soda!  It's so eco friendly.  It comes with the plastic bottles you use and they are made from reusable materials.  You buy the packages of your favorite sodas to make with your water!  I don't drink a lot of soda, but JT does and I want one of these.  And there's an added bonus!  SodaStream's flavors have two-thirds fewer carbs, calories, and sugar than retail sodas.  The packets cost less than $5 and make 33 cans of soda.  (and no, they aren't paying to me advertise!)

Along with my Better Homes & Garden, I got the new Pottery Barn Kids and let me just say.  Oh. My.  Goodness.  I love getting ideas from that magazine.  My list of things in Pottery Barn for JT to build me just keeps getting longer and longer.  Here are a few things that jumped out at me.  Things I "tagged" for the future.  (you know, when JT and I build our dream house and I have rooms like that.  HA!)

Ok, this picture just really struck me for many reasons. 

1. It's two little girls, sharing a room.  This hit close to home because my sister and I shared a room when we were about this age and our beds were set up very similar.  I would love for my baby girl to have a sister this close to her and for them to share a room....which brings me to #2....

2. I have two antique white, iron twin beds from Pottery Barn.  Not exactly like these pictured, but very similar.  They were my neices' beds and my sister sold them to me for a very low price of $60!  (she paid I'm sure close to $1,000).  I have a dream that my two little girls will use them and hanging above them will be the framed prints my mom is saving that were hanging over our twin beds when we shared a room. 

3. The doll house.  John Taylor's grandfather was a master carpenter (now you know where he gets his talents from) and he built each grand-daughter a doll house.  Those grand-daughters have now passed those down to their daughters.  I think that is so special and I told JT that he WILL be building the Button a doll house. 

I LOVE these Anytime chairs, which now come in a sofa like lounger!  (shown in green)  Great ways for your children to have a place to sit and watch TV without it looking tacky!  I also love their Anywhere Recycled Bean Bags.  Jack has one in denim.

I love every thing about this picture.  The tung and groove walls and the shelving system.  I like for everything to have it's own place to call home.  I also don't like things that are just sitting around for looks that have no purpose.  Maybe that is a decorating no-no, but I just don't see the point in having things sitting around that aren't meant for something.  They either have to have a function or they have to be a framed picture or artwork.  I also love the fact there are 2 boys and 2 girls in this picture.  "Look John Taylor, it's our 4 kids hanging out in our game room we'll have one day!".  He just shot me a look that said, "FOUR????"  Yes, four.  I feel every girl should have a sister and every boy should have a brother.  :)

Last, this picture of one of Pottery Barn's "Study Rooms".  If you look at Pottery Barn magazine often like I do (because they send one in the mail once a week!), then have you ever realized they have a lot of rooms that look like they are geared towards Homeschooling families?  I mean, think about it....who has spaces like this for their kids to just do homework?  I would love to have a space like this for my kids to learn one day.  Ha!  Forget the kids, I would love a space like this to work every day!  :)

Happy Monday!

all images via Pottery Barn Kids

One day at a time.....

So, our business......

We're taking it one day at a time. 


It's stressful, but I expected that.  I just keep telling myself that sometimes you gotta go through the bad to get to the good.  Right?  RIGHT!  Please tell me that's what we're doing --- just going through the bad and the good will come later. 

No, seriously.  It hasn't been that bad.  Things are going, they just aren't going as smoothly and quickly as we planned.  It's actually wonderful having my husband here all the time.  It's wonderful getting to sleep in a little later than I used to.  It's wonderful having an extra hand if I need it.  It's wonderful just getting to be with him and sharing our ideas.  You know, our ideas that we always agree on (wink, wink).   But, the good thing is that I feel like today was a very productive day.  So productive that I had time to sit down and reply to emails (my inbox was out of control!) and write a blog post!  This was probably due to the fact that my dad came and played with the little Stinker from 9:00 to 12:00 this morning and the little Button decided to actually take a nap that lasted longer than a minute today! 

Since my last post about our new business venture, a few new things have evolved.  We did finalize the name of our business.  I'll tell you the name and the story behind the name as soon as JT gives me the go ahead to do so.  :)  It's cute.

[Oh, perhaps I should back up here and officially inform you that yes, John Taylor is starting his own business.  I guess I only hinted around to that before.  PS....started your own business is hard, stressful and nerve racking.  I'm guessing it's rewarding too.  Hopefully more of the rewarding part to come.]

We also now have a logo for our business.  That was a long process.  We just couldn't make up our minds how we wanted it to look and the feel we wanted it to have.  My very talented friend Emily made us a whole bunch of really cute designs, but it just wasn't what JT had in mind for his business.  I decided since I design things for my photography customers (Christmas cards, birth announcements, etc.), I'd give it a try.  So, I played around with some things in Photo Shop and came up with lots of different looks.  Finally we found a font and just knew that was exactly what we were looking for!  And our logo was born! 

Along with designing the logo, I'm also designing and creating our website.  You didn't know all my many talents did you!!!  Well, we are on a very tight budget and since I've created my photography websites the past, I knew I could do it.  It's just s HUGE project to tackle.  It's so time consuming and takes a lot of time

 and patience.  (two things I don't have a lot of right now)  Anyway, it's finally coming together and looks great if I do say so myself!  I knew I wanted it to have a very simple look, not too busy.  Can't wait to share it with y'all!

JT has been busy building.  He's working on little jobs he has here and there.  But, he's also working on sample pieces that will be photographed for our website.  Who will photograph them?  You guessed it!  Well, I figure I have this nice, professional camera so why not!  Well, it has been harder than I thought.  I've been playing around with photographing the sample pieces and it's hard to take photos of something in which you're trying to showcase the color.  The lighting has to be just right for it to look the color it actually is.  We spent a whole day on trying to get things to look right and decided to give it a rest.  We were starting to get frustrated and I think we we're thinking too hard about it.  We had looked at pictures of the same thing on the computer so many times and in so many different ways that we were about to go mad!  It doesn't help that JT and I both are perfectionist when it comes to stuff like that. 

Before I show you a few pics of what's been going on lately, I wanted to tell you about my new baby....my new pride and joy.  Something that makes me SO much better at what I do.  Ok, so it doesn't make me actually better, but it makes me look like I'm better.  It's my computer and oh let me just tell you how much I heart it!  It all started at Best Buy.....

....It was a sunny day and we decided to go look at computers.  You know, since we were starting our own business we needed something good, fast, reliable (unlike our 2006 Gateway that has crashed once and is probably infected with so many little bugs that it will soon crash again).  Yeah, it was just "time" for the Gateway to retire and for us to join the other people in the Mac Daddy computer world.  No, we didn't get a Mac.  Better than that (in my opinion).  Mac Daddy is just a little nick name my sister gave our new computer when I texted her to tell her about it and it's awesome screen.  Her exact words: "May God bless you through your mac daddy screen".  Ok, I'm getting side tracked....focus....Sunny day.  Best Buy.  We had our game face on.  The story goes a little something like this......

JT: Ok now, we're just looking...

Me: Ok, but we really need a computer for our business to run and function smoothly.

JT: I know.  I'm just saying we don't have to buy one today.

Me asking sales associate: Why do all these computers look like that on the screen? 

Sales Associate: Because they have a glossy screen.  Most computers have that.

Me: My computer doesn't look like that.

JT: That's because our computer is 4 years old....

Sales Associate: It's supposed to reduce glare.

Me: I don't like it.  Looks like theres more of a glare to me.  There's a darkness about all these screens.....wait a minute.....what's THAT one........

(I spot a computer pretty far away from us on the end of the next row that has a crystal clear screen and picture.  It looked great.  I mean, better than real life!)

Sales Associate: That's a Dell such and such and such and such (I really wasn't paying much attention at that point because I was so enthralled in the picture on this screen, but I think he said something along the lines of a Dell intel 1.5 CORE with Windows 7 and a 17" HD screen)

Me: WOW!

JT: Oh Lord.....

We walk over to it.  There it sat in all it's 17" HD screen glory with a big sticker on it that reads:

"GREAT FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND BLOGGERS"

It was love at first sight.  Game face out the window.  Here I sit today, just me and my Mac Daddy.  Or should I say my Mac Baby.  :) 

Yes, it's a weird feeling to wake up in the mornings now and remind myself that once again I won't be doing all the normal things I used to do every day.  It's like my life has been put on hold to get this business started.  Some days I feel like I'm going to simply go crazy if things aren't in order again!  Dishes and laundry have taken a backseat to things.  Every day I may just go mad and every night I say a prayer that tomorrow I will wake up and God decided to grant me days with more hours.  Little by little things are happening.  Even if it is just one thing that gets done each day.  One day we'll be those people that get to say, "When we first started, we had nothing and we worked out of our garage.....".  :)  We'll just keep taking it one day at a time. 

What surrounds my kitchen sink most days.  No, all days.

A few more ways I found art in what my hubby's doing out in the garage each day......(and maybe a few more hint and glimpses into his new business....I'm so proud of him and I love him so much.)

Giada's Bolognese Recipe

Sorry I was M.I.A. last week.  We had a lot of "business" stuff to take care of and we had some friends in town most of the week.  I promise to post more about "business" later, but for now would like to share with you a delish recipe that we make at least once a week.  First, let me preface with saying that I don't cook.  And I don't mean that humbly.  When I say I don't cook, I mean I don't cook.  Seriously.  I am dead serious when I say I've only cooked dinner about 5 times.  And we've been married 7 years this August!  I know how lucky I am.  But, it works out good and God just really knew how to place with me with my soul mate because JT loves to cook.  Not only does he love to cook, but cooking loves him.  He is The.Best.Cook.  Period.  I'm not just saying that because he's my hubby and he's cooked me dinner every night for the past 6.5 years.  No, I mean our guest this past week told him he should have a show on Food Network.  Yes, lucky I am.  I totally know where he gets it from too.  JT's mom has made some of the tastiest foods to ever enter my mouth. 

So, considering I don't cook and I've never done a recipe post, why did I decide to do one now?  Well, I'm always seeing recipe posts on other blogs with pictures and I love photography.  What better way to spend time with the hubs while he's cooking (doing something he enjoys) and me photographing it (doing something I enjoy).  It was a lot of fun and we will do it again!  He's such a wonderful cook, you'll really enjoy his recipes so in a way, everybody wins!  :)

Shall we move on to the recipe already!!!!

Ok, I'm new at this posting recipe stuff so I'll try and do it like other blogs I've seen.  I'm sure I took WAY too many pictures and I apologize.  I'll post about the process and show pictures and I'll put the actual recipe from the cook book at the bottom.......here it goes.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My favorite type of food is Italian and Giada De Laurentiis is my fave!  She is a true Italian and has the greatest recipes.  This recipe is called Simple Bolognese and comes from her Everyday Italian cookbook.

JT chops the carrots, celery and onion first and sets it aside :

{As a side note, I told JT to please use our nice, wooden cutting board and our nicest kitchen stuff while I was shooting this recipe.  He laughed and said, "Well, this is going to show how we are in real life."  So, here we are.....our real life, ugly cutting board and all!}

Next, he heats olive oil over medium flame, then adds the onion and garlic. 

He sautes the onion until it's tender and then adds the celery and carrots.  He increases heat to high to add the ground beef:

Saute until meat is no longer pink.

Add the tomatoes, parsley, basil and salt and pepper:

{JT likes to use kosher salt and fresh ground pepper when cooking.}

After it cooks, he stirs in the cheese.  My favorite part! 

Now for boiling the pasta.  The recipe calls for Penne pasta, but we like to use Mini Penne:

For sides, I (yes, JT lets me make the salad) make a "simple salad".  Just a spring mix of greens, a few olives and some Zesty Italian dressing:

I like to toss the salad in dressing while JT is cooking and set it in the fridge to keep cool.

As our other side, we like to make a little bread the way JT's mom makes it --- soft, buttery and hot!  I forgot to take a picture of the dinner loafs we get, but you can use any bread you want.  We use the Wheat French Rolls. 

Slice:

Butter:

 Sprinkle garlic:

Wrap in tin foil and bake:

Serve with your favorite wine:

My new favorite wine happens to be:

And....

ENJOY!

{recipe is below}

GIADA DE LAURENTIS' SIMPLE BOLOGNESE RECIPE

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 celery stalk, minced

1 carrot, peeled and minced

1 pound ground beef chuck

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

In large skillet, heat oil over medium flame.  When almost smoking, add onion + garlic and saute until onion is tender (about 8 minutes).  Add celery + carrot and saute for 5 minutes.  Increase heat to high, add ground beef.  Saute until meat is no longer pink (about 10 minutes).  Add tomatoes + parsley + basil + salt + pepper and cook over medium heat until thickens (about 30 minutes).  Stir in cheese.

A little break....

Just wanted to drop in and say happy Monday!!  I may not be blogging a whole lot this week and wanted to let you know.  I've got 2 sick kidos....AGAIN.  Back to the doctor today.  We're having company this Wednesday.  And, we're both super busy with some other things going on in life right now that have deadlines.  I hope you'll understand!  I'll be back as soon as possible and I've got lots to blog about, including a delish recipe that we make often at our house!!!

Have a great day!

:)

Today's Red Letters

I 

[the LORD] 

alone am the one 

who is going to wipe away 

your rebellious actions 

for my own sake. 

I will not remember your sins 

.

.

.

.

anymore.

:)

Isaiah 43:25

Words to live by this Wednesday, right from the mind of Mr. Covey

One of my all time favorite books is 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  I love, love, love this book!  I think everyone should be required to read this book when reaching adulthood!  And, I think it should simply be titled "How You Should Live Your Life".  Anyway, I like to read it every few years because it is SO stinkin good! (does that make me a nerd?!)  Anyway, I have been thinking about reading it again because the last time I read it was when I was pregnant with my son which is now 2.5!  I knew that with the business we're trying to build I could use the lessons in this book right now.  Picking just one quote from this man was so hard this morning.  (Hmmmm, perhaps I'll create a day in which we only talk about quotes from 7 Habits....HA!)  But, I'm going to have to go with the following.  Why did I choose the quote above for today? Well, it just really jumped out at me. I guess it really hit close to home this morning because we (JT and I) are learning all about how we need to change to fit our new routine around here considering he and I are going to be partners in more ways than one. It's hard to not feel like every day of the week is a weekend now! But, I'm so proud of him and us and so far we're doing pretty good.

"Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. It also includes the capacity to overcome deeply embedded habits and to cultivate higher, more effective ones."

I searched for 7 Habits on Google Images and found this drawing that a student obviously created for a class because it was on a University hosting site.  So, maybe college kids are being required to read this book!  Sweet!  I remember the book having a lot of picture graphs (but they were in black & white) and it helped a lot.  It just made such perfect sense.  I'm telling you, if you've never read this book GO BUY IT TODAY!  You can click on the title at the top of this post and it will take you to Amazon's page and you can even buy it used.  It will change your life forever! 

Here is the picture I found on Google images:

(click on picture to make it bigger so you can read the words better)

Just to give you an idea on the 7 Habits and what he goes into in the book.  I LOVE this drawing.  I wish I knew who did it so I could give them some much deserved credit.  And, I hope it's ok that I'm using it on my blog!  :) 

I hope the first half of everyone's week has been good and I hope the second half is even better!  Here's to creating good, productive habits!  :)

Some things are soooo special they need to be published twice....

Intro to the following post:

Yes, there are some things that are so blog worthy they deserve to be published on 2 blogs!  The following post was published on our family blog yesterday.  It will be the first of many about a journey my family and I (my husband in particular) are about to embark on.  I debated about which blog to post this post and other like it on.  I want to share this experience with everyone, but it's also important enough that I want on our family blog.  I realize this iBlog only has a handful of readers right now, and they probably come from our family blog, but perhaps one day it'll have more and our story will inspire someone.  At least that's my funny little hopeful idea.  :)  So, please bear with me for some post will appear on BOTH blogs for now.  Hope you understand!  Next Monday I'll be back to usual where I'll feature a blog/website that I love and next week I have a guest writer that I'm excited about!  I didn't get up with her in time over the weekend to plan her post.  Sorry, I've had sick kids this past weekend so I'm a little behind.  But, it ended up working out great so I could share the following with you!  Happy Monday!

Original post is as follows:

If you read my last post then you know I'm suffering from lack of sleep due to a certain baby that wasn't sleeping good (Update! We're back to our old routine of sleeping from bedtime to 3:00 am, then 3:00 am to 6:30 am! Whooo-Hoooo!) But, that's not the only reason I've been loosing sleep. I've been experiencing insomnia. Along with that, nervousness, excitement, joy, stress and anxiety. Yes, it's been a whirlwind of emotions the past few months. As most of you already know, John Taylor got laid off in December. It's been hard, but somehow I haven't been so worried about it. About us. Neither has John Taylor. The fact that we haven't been worried did surprise me at first, but now I know what it truly feels like to be held in the palm of His hands during times of brokenness and despair in our life. We have been more than well taken care of. It really, in truly amazes the dickens out of me just how well we've been taken care of. People (some friends, some family and some anonymously) have given us money to help us through the tough times of the holidays and there after. My email inbox was blowing up with emails from friends giving us information of jobs they knew open, recruiters they had contacts with, or people they knew in the same line of work as JT that he could call. We didn't ask for any of this. It was just poured out to us. We don't deserve friends and family this wonderful! Thank you (you know who you are) for everything. And, thanks for all the prayers. If you know me, or have read my blog for some time, you know that I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer and we greatly appreciate everyone lifting us up in prayer during this time. We could not have gotten where we are today if it weren't for prayer, I'm sure of it.

We're also thankful for our God given talents that have allowed us to make a little extra money during this time. If you know JT, then you know he's pretty darn talented! I'm so proud of him. I'm actually thinking of dedicating a whole post to JT in the near future because I'm so proud of him and his accomplishments. He has grown so much the past 2 years. There is no doubt in my mind that was all part of God's plan when He threw all those trying obstacles at us the past 2 years. I can't tell you how many times JT and I asked each other why. Why us when we're good people? I remember telling him once that we would one day get what we deserved. There was a plan in all this misfortune. One day we'd reap the benefits of doing right.

Well, that day has come and I honestly just can NOT believe it! I'm so pumped I just don't know what to do with myself. This is one of those days that I'm so thankful for my blog and so glad I've kept it up and continued to dedicate time to it. I think it's so awesome that I can keep up with this journey we're embarking on and journal about this time in our life. I can't say much (yet), but just know that BIG things are happening in our lives and we are so incredibly blessed. I just can not even begin to describe to you how blessed we are. Doors are opening for John Taylor on the job front and it's funny how everything works out in the tangled web of life that we weave. Looking back over the past two years, I can see how one thing that happened effected another and another and another and if none of those things would have happened to us, I would not be writing this post about the major life changes that are happening for us. I know you're all going to hate me because I can't just spill the beans right now, but I'm sorry! Just know that we're ok. No, we're more than ok. Big, wonderful things are happening. We're excited. Nervous, but excited. And we (JT in particular) need your prayers! Thank you so much! I can't wait to share more details with you, but all I can say for now is that John Taylor is a very lucky man that has been given an opportunity to do what he loves, be his own boss, and get to be with his family a lot more than most husbands/dads! It's something that I (along with others that know JT) have been encouraging him to do but there was just no resources for him to do it. Well, with a little financial help from the government (a.k.a. our tax refund), we think we're going to be able to make "this" happen and do it right. Coincidence that this year was the first and ONLY year that we've gotten am enormous amount back in our tax refund? Well, it could have been the fact we have my photography business to write off and I actually did good in business this year. It could have been the fact that we had another child to write off. It could have been the fact that JT was a drug rep the past year and got big bonus withholding larger amounts. And yes, it could be a coincidence. But, I like to think it's just God's gift and God's timing. :)

You have no idea how much planning has been going into this since we decided to "take the risk". We've been busy, busy, busy. Nap time now equals "meeting time" and I now wear many, many hats. I was already wife, mother, nurse and maid, but now I'm partner, secretary, book-keeper, account executive, marketing director, designer and head of research and development! Whew! Now you understand the tiredness. My wheels have been spinning all day and all night for the past few weeks as we've been coming up with our business plan. I'm sure you've all guessed by now what is happening.....but I can't explain everything just yet. I can, however, give you these hints. I know you're wondering why I CAN say everything I'm saying, but I can't just come out and say it. Well, we sort-of want to have a big reveal once everything (the name, logo, website, etc.) is all up and running. You understand right? You can know that so far we have come up with a plan. We've bought some equipment, software, etc. that we'll need. A logo and website are in the works. We've sat down and come up with our mission statement and well as a lifetime goal of our business --- to ALWAYS remain debt free and to ALWAYS give 10% of our earnings. John Taylor and I have BOTH signed a document stating that we'll:
1) Never let this come between us and our strong marriage
2) Never fight about money
3) Never bring work home with us (meaning at the end of a work day, it's all about us and family)

I'm determined to document (in writing and in pictures) every step of this right here on our blog, so stay tuned and you will find out more as it happens. For now I've leave you with these pictures of what we've been up to! :)

Went To Memphis. Saw Some Antiques.

This post is long overdue.  Last weekend, we traveled to Memphis, TN to visit a long time friend of mine.  We had The. Best. Time......EVER!  Don't you really love those nights that you have so much fun that for weeks you can exchange "inside jokes" with the people you hung out with and it still be flippin hilarious!  Well, this was one of those kind of nights.  We met some new, great friends and saw some old ones.  I won't mention that the highlight of my trip was the fact that my 5 month old daughter slept from 7:30 pm until 1:45 am without even stirring!  So I did mention it but believe me, that's something to get excited about in our family.  I must mention that the reason we went on this trip was to attend a party.  Not the one that you see in the pictures below.  That's the party after the party.  The main party was for my friend's baby who was turning one.  He is an absolute doll!  Aren't the first birthday parties always more for the adults anyway?  Well, as you can see, this party sure showed that to be ture.  We partied well into the night.  We had good food and great wine and got to experience fun and fellowship with some wonderful people. 

I really did want to post pictures of everyone having a grand time, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I had another motive.  I truly just wanted to tell everyone about this:

It's a first edition.  It belongs to Scott, my friend's brother-in-law.  I got to hold it.  If you look closely, you can see that it says "20GB".  I'm pretty sure I heard someone say it holds 15,000 songs.  And, I'm here to tell you that we only heard 8,549 of them but they were ALL good songs!  Scott even rocks out to some of my fave tunes, including the Moulin Rouge soundtrack!  Don't judge, he's a yankee.  I kid, I kid.  (not about the yankee part - he really is a yankee)

This is my friend, her name is Erin.  I've known her since 6th grade.  We know a lot about each other.  She is such a people pleaser!  Isn't she goureous!

Erin's son, Ford, turned one.  He is named after Erin.  Ford is her maiden name.  I am the one that suggested she name her son that while he was still in the womb.  I think that's pretty cool.  :)

Here's Scott, the yankee.  He's working on it though.  For example, at the party, we all heard Scott say "I'm fixin to...".  Oh my....where do I start about Scott.  Let's just say he is the proud owner of the Macintosh computer iPod.  He has a beautiful wife and family and he likes Moulin Rouge....what more can I say!  I also happen to know that he's a fan of the movie The Princess Bride.  Yes ladies, he's one of those men that will always be up for watching a chick flick with you.  Hold your horses cow girls!  He's married. 

[As a side note: If you ever become one of Scott's Facebook friends, don't tag him in photos.  Your inbox will be OOC if you do!  Don't say I didn't warn you.....]

Well, I guess now would not be a good time to mention that behind Scott's hand is an iPhone (which I'm sure he'll still own THAT same exact one 10 years from now).  On that iPhone screen is a picture.  A picture of Erin's husband......wearing lipstick....and eye liner.  Don't ask. 

Ahem.....

Ok, next we have beautiful Elizabeth.  Ah, what a breath of fresh air....Elizabeth.  Isn't she super cute and super cool! 

I mean, look at those cute boots!  Love them!

She's an interior designer.  You can visit her blog by clicking on her name.  She has known Erin longer than I have!  She's in business for herself and I happen to know she's very talented.  So, if you're ever in need of a room make-over then she's your girl.  She'll even sell you a super stylish red leather sofa!  Red's the new black, haven't you heard? 

We really had a great time and can't wait to go back!  And I assure you, the picture below was not staged!

Thanks Erin! Even though the morning before the party, it appeared as though we should have all been on a reality TV show, thanks for having us all in your home and throwing such a great party! We enjoyed ourselves, the food, the music and your hospitality!  You are such a people pleaser!!!!  Thanks for going above and beyond!

~Cheers~