Labor Day came and went & we shed what was left of our summer skin

     Labor day weekend this year was spent pent up inside because of the oh so sweet tropical storm Lee. The water rose and turned our homes into house boats & island homes... swanky! We did some playing in the rain & flood water, movie watching, catching up with family and napping! We also threw a little family sprinkle shower for MR's sister who is due in October. We're very excited to have a new baby to spoil and love on :)

      While that all sounds like a great time, after days of being stuck at home I was literally bouncing off of walls and pawing at the door to get the heck out of the house. So since the water went down today, MR & I took a trip to the mall, grocery & Hobby Lobby and then spent our evening on the porch with some drinks and snacks to enjoy the cool front that Lee brought us. We also did some little projects while we were out enjoying the weather, but I'm saving those for another post!

Movies watched: I'm Reed Fish & The Good Guy. Yes, these are both movies containing Alexis Bledel. No, I'm not a stalker. Netflix just recommended one because I watched the other! I thought they were both pretty decent little movies. They're not gonna change your life, but they'll bring some entertainment on a lazy rainy day!

So, how was your labor day weekend?  Indulge me!!

New is good, right?

Hello there 2011. It is lovely to meet you!
I am Lacey and I'm hoping you and I will be fast friends.

Honestly, I am hoping for a lot from you, 2011.

I hope you'll bring my sweet friends beautiful babies.

I hope you'll bring my MR a bit of good luck.

I hope you'll bring my dear friend a beautiful wedding day.

I hope you'll bring my family & friends good health.

I hope you'll spread some happiness and help heal last years pain.

I hope you'll bring me motivation, inspiration & better time management.

I hope you'll bring nights of love and laughter and perfection.

Be good to us 2011, and we'll be good to you.

(pst, it's 1-1-11... isn't that weird?!)

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Making traditions

MR and I had a wonderful first Christmas together & even cooked up a couple of

traditions for ourselves!
The first is our Christmas ornament. We wanted a "1st Christmas" ornament to hang on the tree, and being us... we decided we needed to make it ourselves. After throwing a few ideas around we settled on one we thought suited us, MR sketched it out
& then we painted it together :)
We decided we will make our own ornament every year until there are kiddos in the picture,
and then we'll hang their "creations" on the tree instead :)

The second tradition we began is our Christmas date!
We had dinner at Dominique's on Magazine Street.

It is a quaint little place that you could easily pass up if you weren't paying close attention. I assume it was once a double shotgun home that was turned into one "large" space. Cute, isn't it?

The inside was beautiful as well. There was exposed brick, wooden walls, gorgeous beamed ceilings which were painted white and it was all candlelit. We brought a bottle of wine that my best friend gifted us & had them uncork it for us. Then we ordered... and ordered... and ordered!

We had a cheese board to start, sweet breads for an appetizer, I ordered drum w/ corn risotto & MR ordered duck with parsnip puree.

By the time dessert rolled around we were full, the wine was gone & it seemed like a good time to head out. It was an amazing dinner!

Next we headed down to Christmas on Fulton street, only to find it was all closed down.

It was a tiny bummer, but we were just fine with going home and cuddling up b/c it was c-c-cold.Such sweet little traditions :)

Did you create any traditions this year?

Oh Holy Free Stuff

Y'all know how I love a good deal, right?

& Do you know what I love even more than a good deal?
FREE!
[free is the best deal EVER]
All that to say...

Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas Cards to Bloggers!

Sahhhhweeet!

Shutterfly has the cutest designs around this year & I'm all about hopping on the Holiday card band wagon! I'm pretty sure I have seen every card design they offer & Hrmmpphh, it's going to be a tough decision.

I think photo cards are the way to go, right?
Who doesn't love a picture?

[Perfect for a few pictures & a family update!]

[Super sweet simplicity]

[Love this one! I've got a mega cute kissy picture of the Mr. & I that could be put to use here!]

Shutterfly doesn't just do cute cards though,
they have some awesome calendars, tons of photo gifts, stationary, prints, canvas, photobooks...
you get the idea:
They've got it all.
& at reasonable prices!
I do a photo calendar for my Mom's birthday every year & will most definitely be using Shutterfly this year. It is so much easier than the company I was using before! You can even start the calendar with the month you're ordering it! Mom's will be February to February this year(b/c her birthday is at the end of January)!

Alright, now that's I've spread the word about the greatness...
I'm off to create a Holiday card!
Why aren't you yet?

xo

Nuggets, Egg Blowing & The Incredible Hulk

Easter was just lovely...

My day was spent:
Helping hunt for eggs

[he was in it to win it]

[she had no interest]

[& she took her sweet time]

Dying eggs with my favorite nuggets
Some of us are over achievers and want to make an egg so lovely it's kept forever,
so we take the time to hollow it out...

[this is my, "Did you really think I'd let you see me blowing this egg?" face]
& Some of us dye our hand green and call it a day!

Swinging with the girls

[& then claiming that bad boy as my own mid-afternoon for a nap!]

& Then once most of the family had cleared out, I claimed that swing once again to snuggle up to and laugh endlessly with the fella that I'm going a little ga-ga over.

It was a day full of perfect little moments!
You can't really ask for more than that.

xo


Thanks for your comments on my chair re-do! You're all so sweet!
I really couldn't be happier with it!
For those of you who think you can't do that project, you're a bunch of sillies! I know you can totally do this! Yes, I'm talking to you!
& the pillow some of you are crushing on? Well, I made it , of course ;)
You can get your own oh-so-very-soon, in the form of a "Holy cow, 300 people want to read about me? Giveaway"! Get pumped, gals and guys!

Hip hop, the hippie, the hippie, to the hip hip hop

Happy Easter, lover bunnies!

Hope your day is spent with people you care about.
I know mine will be :)

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Thoughts on Valentine's Day

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♥ I've always said "Valentine's Day isn't my thing"... "Nah, it's not important to me."
& You know, that might be true if everyone else in the world weren't being given flowers and candy. They're getting flowers and candy? I want flowers and candy too!

♥ I remember feeling really bad Valentine's day of my Senior year b/c 2 guys(who I wasn't dating and not planning on dating) brought me flowers and stuffed animals. To this day
I still don't understand why! I felt so awful not having anything for them though. Ick, it still bugs me. I think you should have to ask someone to be your Valentine to prepare them! I hate not having a gift to give in return!

♥ Every year of elementary school (k-3rd) I was sick on Valentine's day. EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. Never failed. I always missed out on passing out Valentine's, and receiving mine. My Mom would have to go to school to drop mine off for me. Mostly, this upset me because my Mom always had the best Valentine outfit for me to wear & I ended up wearing it while laying on the couch.

♥ One of my exes once bought me a REALLY nice necklace that i adored for Valentine's one year & then the next year he gave me a card. Uhmmm, what? I mean, it wouldn't have been weird if he had given me only a card the first year. He could have at least sprung for some flowers. You can't down grade that much, sheesh!

♥ I used to not care for red roses. They seemed cliche' to me. Now I realize I should just be happy with what I've been given! haha

♥ One Valentine's day there were 2 signs nailed to the tree at the end of my road that read "I still love you" & "Always will." There were only 3 girls who lived on the road that it possibly could have been for. None of us ever figured out who it was, but whew...
it was sweet.

♥ I really love y'all. Thank you so much for hangin' around these parts & showing me so much love! Will you be my Valentine?

Monday's Mishap

Hey Hey Heeyyy people!

Thanks for all of your sweet words on Friday. I was in a bit of a funk but am A-OK now, thanks!
Well, cept for this...
Mmmm hmm, notice that awesome blackish-blue tint my ring finger has?
Yah, that's not a shadow.
I couldn't get a very good picture of it b/c the flash kept washing it out... (that sucker is a lovely shade that just can't be expressed on film) so I went webcam style on ya'.
Still doesn't do it justice.
You're probably thinking, "Oh slamming your finger in the door SUUUCCKKS." & yeah, you're right... except I didn't do that. THAT'S TOO NORMAL for me.
As I was heading home from WG's today, I stopped to fill up my tank(you tend to do a lot of this when your boyfriend lives an hour and a half away) and SOMEHOW when I pressed the lever to pop open my gas door, my ring finger lingered a bit and when i pulled my hand up from the button, my finger was snapped into the darn thing.

Only I can manage these kinds of things. I blow my own mind.
I wondered for a moment if part of my finger was going to be missing when I pushed the lever down again to pull my hand out, it hurt so badly. SO bad so, that I couldn't even manage to spit out any expletives. I sat in my car and felt tears fill up in my eyes. I felt like a ninny butt, but it seriously hurt. By the time my tank was half full, my finger tip was swollen to double it's normal size & beginning to turn purple.

Sooo yeah, don't do that, mmmkay? I did it for you, told you all about it...
so there's just no need for you to go there.
YOU'RE WELCOME.


Don't forget the Holiday How To event is going to be going down over here (&here, here & here)
on December 1st! Get yours together & link up and join us!
(heck, you can continue to add to the list all through Dec. to be honest... I won't judge your tardiness)

Remember, it can be How To ANYTHING!
I've been thinking of tons I'd love to see! Like...
How to:
table settings, tree decorating, be a good hostess, wrap a pretty present,
perfect appetizers, budget your Christmas shopping list....
I could go on and on.

Alright, I'm pooped &
I'm pretty sure my heart has relocated to the tip of my ring finger...
throbs, throbs, throbs.


XOXO

Halloween, Nakeyness & A Birthday Boy

Hey, hey, heeyyyy!

Gosh, I missed this place so stinkin' much! Happy to be "home" y'all!
I feel like I have a ton to catch up on... but ya know, not REALLY! Just jibber jabber from my rambling mind.

First of all, today is WG's Birthday! Y'all wish him a Happy one, will ya?
Wish I were with him today, but I have work and he has school and studying to do for the week ahead.
I hid his present in his closet behind some clothes before I left yesterday though,
he found it before he was supposed to, but whatever! At least he still got to find some random goodies in his closet. Who doesn't love that?
Some of the randomness included LSU Pez dispenser & pez (he told me he used to collect them when he was a kid), butterfinger & milk duds(faves), beer (clearly...he's a man, therefore he likes beer), a dinner "coupon" to a sushi joint we both love but have never actually been to together, some cute boxers & one of these...
cross stitched constellations
I did Orion for him. Two of you know why :)
All of the ones above are from Miniature Rhino, so if you want one, go on Etsy and look 'em up! I just saw it and knew I could figure out how to do one of my own.
If there is ever an opportunity for me to give someone something handmade, I go for it. I love receiving things people have made for me or had made for me :) Seems thoughtful. I'd already done a painting for him, so I couldn't do that... and when I saw this, it reminded me of this night, and that was that. (Whew, that was a lot of this and that's!)
He has a framed picture of Starry Night in his room and I thought it'd look nice hanging under it, right?

Anyway...
How was your Halloween? Mine was dandy!
I was the Progressive Insurance girl, Flo
&
WG was Bret Michaels
I made the apron and headband & it was super easy! I cutesied up the bottom of my apron... b/c ya know, that's what I do. It didn't make it in any of my pictures, so I'll snap one for you now!
I'm wearing a white tube top and jeans(& i had a cardigan on earlier, b/c it's chilly... amen.), but this picture kind of makes me look nakey. Whoops. I wore white cropped pants and red patent peep toes, for those of you who are wondering ;)
WG's costume literally came together the night before & I couldn't keep a straight face while helping him get ready. He looked HILARIOUS. Before he put on the bandana and glasses, he just looked like a cross dresser or something. He kept tossing his hair and giving me pretty eyes. :) haha Good times.

Woke up Sunday feeling a bit sluggish b/c of an oncoming cold... booooo! Trying to drink a ton of water and rest, but I just have ohsomuch to do.

Saying a little prayer that this week flies on by, because I'm
ready for another weekend!

♥Have a pretty pretty kind of day!♥