TGIF

SMILE!!! It's Friday!

What are yall's weekend plans? Jeff and I are headed to Arkansas to visit his grandparents. We are driving to Monticello, AR to stay with his mom's parents and then on Saturday we are taking a day trip to visit his dad's mom in Monroe, LA. Road Trip!!

Of Course, I have a few pit stops planned :)

Antiques Stores!! Yep, Jeff is willing to make a few stops with me as long as I make them short and sweet - unless we find a gold mine.

I have done some research, thanks to Google Maps, and found some Antique stores, flea markets, and outlet shops along the way!! Lately, I have LOVED shopping and searching for great buys at antique stores. I used to hear about people going "antiquing" and thought it sounded so boring but now, I can't get enough. I have found a few good places in Memphis but by far the best one's I have been to are in Birmingham, AL. My sister, Anne, shares the same passion for bargain hunting so whenever I go visit her in Birmingham we search for treasures together.

I have a few things in particular that I am searching for: Antique mirror, Vintage pictures or picture frames, and a picture for our coffee nook. I am also searching for glass door knobs for Anne. She has been updating the doors in her house with glass knobs like the ones below:

I always find a wide variety of items in antiques stores and flea markets. It is so fun to see what other people use to value. Our townhouse is so small otherwise I would be searching for a lot more. Of course, I will be keeping my eye out for any great furniture buys.

What are some of your antiques finds? Please share!

I hope yall have a great and relaxing weekend!!

I want to be...

I want to be one of these girls!!
If I had to choose a song/video that best describes how great it is to be a girl this would be it!

(Found on Lox Papers)

How can you not help but Smile after watching this :)

Out with the Old & In with the New

It's sad to say but when Jeff moved in he got pushed to the guestroom -- as far as where his clothes go. I have two closets in my room but they are full with clothes, winter jackets, shoes, etc. - you know how girls are and their clothes. So.. I offered him the closets in the guest room. Unfortunately, this space is also used to store some of our wedding gifts and Christmas items. We decided it was time to bite the bullet and buy ourselves a grownup dresser, one that would last a lifetime. Previously, I had been using a pine hand-me-down dresser that we stained. It did the job but was not the greatest to look at. So we bought this:

Restoration Hardware 5- Drawer dresser

I absolutely love this store and it helped out that we were able to find a promotion code on-line!

We moved the new dresser in our bedroom and put the old dresser in the guest room for him to use. (FYI - I did offer to share the new dresser with him but he let me have it all to myself)

To go with our new dresser, Jeff just had to have a new TV. So we went to Target and bought ourselves a 32 inch LCD HDTV flat screen. I must say, if it was up to me we would have just used our old one but it sure does look a whole lot better than the bulky box TV we had before. So once again we moved the new one in and the old one to the guest room.

Of course not all old items are bad. My parents gave us an old rug they weren't using. They got it years ago from Thailand when my mom went to visit my dad, he was on a cruise there with the Navy. They used it when we were little but have since upgraded to seagrass. I was thrilled when my dad casually told us about it and offered it to us over the 4th of July weekend. After checking it out with my sister to make sure it was still in decent condition we piled it in our car and drove it up to Memphis. It is a great size and fits in perfectly with our color scheme. Thanks again mom and dad!

Below is a picture of our updated room:

I had no idea what it was missing until we added the rug. Who would of thought that a rug on top of a rug would add so much to the room. It definitely helps frame the area. This room is pretty much complete - minus a few pictures I want to add on the wall.

I know yall must be thinking that our guest room must look awful with all or our old furniture pushed in there. I promise it isn't too bad looking. It is just the one room I have held off decorating or fully furnishing until the others were done. The next items purchased or upgraded will be for the guest bedroom. One step at a time.

Pensacola, Florida -- The Fun Goes On

Puppy Time

Jeff and I are soo excited to announce that we are gaining a new addition to our family!!!

A black or yellow Labrador Retriever puppy!!

We have been wanting a puppy for some time now and have had no luck. We had contacted some great breeders in Chattanooga, Little Rock, and Atlanta but we were either too far down on the list for a female or the pregnancy did not take. Finally we found one right here in Memphis! YAY!! Check out the owner Pam Ireland's site at Seawind Labradors.

We just got back from visiting our "puppy to be" and were able to take some pictures of the litter.

One of these puppies could be "Ellie Sue Brooks"

Here are some more pictures of the litter:















































This is a picture of the only male in the litter









The Dam/mom, Belle, was soo sweet and didn't mind at all that we were invading on her puppies. Below is a picture of her on the left and her daughter from another litter on the right. They both had the best temperament and were great looking.

Sorry it's a little blurry- it was taken on an iphone.

We don't know if we are getting a black or yellow because there are three people in front of us that want the best show quality dog no matter of the color. So basically, they have the pick of the litter. It doesn't matter to us because both the yellow and the black look great! I am sure I will post updates as things progress and we learn more about our new puppy! Stay Tuned!!

Happy Friday

I just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Friday and I hope you have a great weekend!

Unfortunately we are missing two big events this weekend:

The first is one of my good friends wedding :( __ Leah I hope you have a wonderful wedding!! I know you will be a beautiful bride and everybody will have a great time. For those of you able to go please take a lot of pictures!!

The Second is my sisters Birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNE!!!!!
(She's just a little older now! Haha Don't worry I wont tell them your age)

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful weekend with lots of celebration!

I got married in April and just don't have any vacation days left to travel for these fun events - I am saving the rest for Christmas (Next year I will get 3 weeks off!!). Since we aren't going out of town I plan on doing a little of this ...

Cooling myself off from this Memphis heat with a cold Tottie!
Cheers!!

Came Home to.....

Look what I came home to:


I have the best husband Ever!! Lately work has been extremely busy with forecasting, month-end and quarter end. I won't bore you with the details but lets just say it has caused me to go in early and stay late. Knowing that I have had a stressful week he got me these flowers and had a glass of wine waiting on me for when I got home! Aren't they beautiful!

Artistic Bone

Those of you who know me, know that I do not have an artistic bone in my body. Yep, I missed that gene - It all went to Anne (my sister who has always been great at painting, music, and crafts). When we were growing up my parents supported the arts and our development by sending us both to piano lessons. After several years of lessons I never got any better. I dreaded those semi-annual piano performances when we had to play in front of all of all the other students and their families. I messed up every time- how embarrassing.

Anyways back to the point. Every now and then I think I have some artistic ability and try to upgrade a piece of furniture or paint something. Lately, I have decided to tackle a "hand me down" stool that my parents gave me. (I think it was originally my grandparents) I wanted to start off with a simple recovering before tackling my desired bigger projects.

As you can see from the before picture the old fabric was worn and outdated.

I choose a neutral fabric color to go with the rest of the house. Here is the after picture:

Isn't it soo much better?!?

I will also share some recent paintings I have done. Now you have to remember what I said earlier, I am not the one in the family with the talent.

The first painting is something that was done for a leadership work event. I participated in a leadership class and for one of they night events they had a "Sip and Stroke" - Soo fun I recommend it to everybody. Get a bunch of girls together and have a good time :) At this class they had a paint instructor come in and take us step by step through the painting. Although it is nothing I would ever hang in my house I think it turned out pretty well.

The second painting is something I did while at the Laughing Place (our Camp House). Anne had brought her paints and an extra canvas. She painted some tomatoes which turned out great and I choose to paint an abstract Angel.

I like it but have not hung it yet. It is a small painting that might look good on a bookcase, bathroom, or nursery some day.

That's it for painting for now. I think my next projects will be more craft and furniture related. I want to make a headboard for the guest room and refinishing some old side tables. Wish me luck!

It's Official

Yep- It's official!! I have joined the blogging world!! After being an avid follower of several wonderful blogs including my sisters, mom's, aunts, and several of my friends, I have decided to give it a go!

I just want to give you all a warm welcome!

I imagine that this blog will contain a little bit of everything: comments about decorating our little townhouse, sharing my love of cooking and traveling, to notes about my family and friends. I am not the best at keeping up with everybody so this is just another avenue to share what has been going on in my life. Please feel free to comment and share your opinions on whatever it is I have posted!! Let the journey begin!