Happiness Is......

What is happiness?  Hmmm.....

Well, I don't look too happy in this picture.  But sometimes in our search for big things in life to make us happy, we miss the small things that bring us a smile!

Oh, that's better!  See that smile?  And all it took was a bag of "Reece's Mini's"

Yes, chocolate saves the day again!

Shirt: Old Navy

Vest: Old Navy

Jewelry:  PacSun

Jeans: BR

Shoes: Sofft

Purse:  Coach

Joy took these pictures by the "Bread Basket" where we hang sometimes in the morning.  It was a gorgeous morning, and of course chocolate makes it better.  Then I look down to see......oh, yuck! LOLOL

Interesting........

A couple weeks ago I learned a great lesson from Ida (MIL).  I haven't seen her in a week and miss her terribly.  Her stories touch me, make me laugh and sometimes make me cry.  I need to spend more time with her!  But she was telling me about picking cotton again.  She started in the cotton fields about the time she could walk around on her own.  She remembers being so young that she didn't even have to bend over to do the picking!  Because of the season that cotton blossoms, she and her 10 siblings started school late so they could do the picking.  Armed with a cotton sack across her shoulders, she spent the day picking away! 

When the sack was full, she would take it over to the large sheet and dump it out before going back to fill it up again.  At the end of the day the cotton was taken to the gin.  There the seed was taken out and it was weighed.  The seed weighs almost as much as the cotton itself so it takes A LOT of cotton.  How much cotton does it take for a bale? About 1300 lbs. !!!  And Ida picked 200 lbs of cotton a day.   But she spoke of how it felt at the end of the day to lay down on the soft sheet out in the field and just rest after a very long day of picking!

Want to know her really favorite thing though?  Every great once in a while she would see the mail truck before her sisters and sneak through the fields to get the mail!!!  She laughs as she tells how it felt to hold those letters from all over and she alone got to take it to the house!  Small things, but great joys.

Do we do this?  In our fast paced world of technology, running around and working, do we remember that sometimes the things that will bring us the greatest joy and more happiness in the long run are the very small things.  Hand picked flowers from a child,  a smile from a stranger, a hug from a friend or spouse,  fresh veggies from the garden, and yes, even finding a wonderful letter in the mailbox.  Even more important, what if WE were that shoulder to cry on, that giver of flowers that brings a smile, the instigator of the hug or the sender of the letter?   And a big hug to Ida who brings great joy to all those around her.

Stripes and Plaids

Before we get to the outfit part of this post, let me introduce you to our new baby fish! We recently acquired some fish from one of Ben's friends and one had a baby last night! Does this make me a grandmother?

Isn't it cute?

This weeks theme seems to have been stripes and plaids. I started the week out in this striped shirt and navy pants and my plaid shoes. I figured I could pattern mix since they were pretty far apart.

Striped Shirt: J Crew clearance

Navy Pants: JC Penney Clearance

Plaid Shoes: Payless

Thursday was St Patrick's Day, so, of course, I had to wear green. But I paired the green shirt with a blue striped cardi.

Striped cardi: Target

Green Tee: Target

Green jewelry: Kohls

Sunglasses: Michael Kors

And on Friday, I continued the theme of the week, with a silk blue striped scarf that I thrifted for $4! And I wore my plaid shoes again.

Blue striped scarf: PS Too

Coral shirt: Target

Denim skirt: Kohls

Plaid shoes: Payless

Blue also seemed to be the theme of the week! Friday and Saturday were beautiful here! The weather was perfect! I sat in the sun and read and got a little color. But apparently the super moon scared Spring away! Today it's just in the 50's and overcast. I need it to be hot and sunny!!!

Have a good week, Everyone!

These Boots Are Made For Walking

  Actually, these boots are NOT made for walking.  More like lounging around and looking good on my feet! LOL

And today I had a really hard time getting the picture taken since I had been gone most of the day and Baron Von Hershey would not leave my side.  No problem.  We can work around a 70 lb. poodle.

Or not.

I am not big on blue, but lately it has been my "go to" color.  And with spring TRYING to show itself, I wanted to look a bit springy but still keep warm in the very cool of the morning!  Voila!  Cardi's and scarves and tights! 

Oh my!



I love this scarf from CHARMING CHARLIES (it matches my tights I got there!)
Cardigan: ATL
Skirt: White House/Black Market-thrifted!
Boots: Anne Klein


 This past weekend I took my kids to the movie "Rango".  I don't recommend it.  But the kids seemed to love it so...OK.  And for some reason deep in my subconscious I wore clothes appropriate for this reptilian type of western!  This vest is just like the one Joy bought (only hers is black)!  Seriously I sometimes wonder if our brains are connected somehow. LOL

  

  

 Boots: BORN

Jeans: BR

Shirt: Target

Purse: Christmas gift from Grant (It's a Coach)

Kaja loved these turquoise earrings so here is the closeup

Thanks again to Kaja for being my photographer!!!  I hope you are all doing well and have great plans for this upcoming weekend!

Today, I Married My Best Friend

^{I Corinthians 13:4-8
4} Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  ⁸ Love never fails.

15 years ago today, I married my best friend. He is the first one I run to with good news, bad news or even just gossipy news. He's the one I want to share everything. He gave me 2 beautiful, wonderful children and he is good to us. He makes me laugh. I mean, he seriously makes me laugh every day. I tell Leah all the time, Marry a man that makes you laugh, Leah. That laughter can get you through even the toughest of times. If she marries a man half as good as Ben, she'll be a lucky girl.

We met in high school. He says that he sat sort of behind me in Geometry when I was in 10th and he in 11th. I don't remember him from then AT ALL. But when he came back to school for his Senior year, I took notice.  We dated a while when he was a Senior and I a Junior, and went to the prom together. When he graduated though, he didn't have time for some little high school girl. Oh, well. Life goes on.

 We didn't see each other or talk to each for like 8 years. Then on the 8th anniversary of our first date, March 23rd, we met again...in a bar. Don't judge me! We danced a little that night. And he got my number and said he'd call. I told my best friend when we left, Write this date down. I'm going to marry that man. She was like, Oh, shut up. (NO, I was not drinking!) I said, I'm serious. I'm going to marry him. Well, we were inseparable for the next week. By the next weekend, we had decided we were getting married. We didn't get officially engaged til June. We bought land for a house in August, broke ground in Thanksgiving, house was done in February and we married March 16th. We wanted to get married on the 23rd but someone else had booked the church. THEN they eloped! But it was too late to change our date because we'd already booked the florist and caterer. It didn't matter, though. I didn't care what day we married, as long as we did!

We've changed a lot through the years. The things that drove us crazy about each other, still do. Don't marry a man thinking you're going to change him, ladies. It doesn't work that way. He still can't put a dish in the dishwasher to save his life! LOL I'm sure he'd tell you the things that drive him nuts, too. But I can't imagine my life without him., that hasn't changed. I probably love him more now than I did back then. He can make me angrier than anyone but we also have the best times together, and he can make me happier than anyone. I mean, look at us dressed up as Lois and Clark at Dragon*Con! How many people do you know that do that?

I hope all you have a best friend as great as mine! Happy Anniversary, Ben. We've come a long way, baby!!

This vid is George Strait singing "our" song, Cross My Heart. This was played at our wedding and it's as true today as it was 15 years ago.

Our love is unconditional, we knew it from the start.
I see it in your eyes, you can feel it from my heart.
From here on after let's stay the way we are right now,
And share all the love and laughter
That a lifetime will allow.

I cross my heart and promise to
Give all I've got to give to make all your dreams come true.
In all the world you'll never find a love as true as mine.

You will always be the miracle that makes my life complete,
And as long as there's a breath in me, I'll make yours just as sweet.
As we look into the future, it's as far as we can see,
So let's make each tomorrow be the best that it can be.

I cross my heart and promise to
Give all I've got to give to make all your dreams come true.
In all the world you'll never find a love as true as mine.

And if along the way we find a day it starts to storm,
You've got the promise of my love to keep you warm.
In all the world you'll never find a love as true as mine,
A love as true as mine.

So Over It!

I'm so over winter already. Why can't Old Man Winter just die already?! We get teased with a few days of GORGEOUS weather only to get cold and rain again. (Mind you, I think it's cold if it's under 70!)

But the gorgeous weather, along with a few other things, has made us very slack about blogging. We have been so busy with just life in general that we haven't had time to take pictures and blog. I signed up to start selling Avon and I haven't even had time to do that! Lise and I did manage to find some time to go to Kohl's. It's that time of year when the kids seem to need EVERYTHING! Oh, we went to Old Navy, too, where I got some cute summer weight scarves and a couple of t shirts.

Here's a few pictures of me from this week. I know Lise has a few that hopefully she will be able to post in the next few days.

Red Shirt:Ann Taylor Loft

Pants: New York and Co via PS Too

Jacket: Goodwill

JEAN FRIDAY-I love jean fridays!

Jeans: Faded Glory, Walmart

Turtleneck: Kohls

Gray Sweater vest: Ps Too

Loafers: JC Penney

Leah had a band competition this past week and wanted curly hair for the occasion.  She has hair that is pretty straight. So we washed it with curly shampoo, put curl boosting mousse in it and rolled it up with hot rollers TWICE.  She said it stayed most of the day, but not all of it. I don't know how to style straight hair! Anyway, here's a picture of her. I thought it turned out pretty.

 

Everybody Everywear- POLKA DOTS

 This month's Everybody Everywear is polka dots!! Go here and see what everyone is wearing!!

I love polka dots. I mean, really, what's not to love?!!  Remember the above Julia Robert's polka dot dress from Pretty Woman? I think that's where my obsession started.

So here's a few ways I've done polka dots.

Serendipity

 Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

Lise was showing me an old picture of her. I can't even remember why we started going through the album exactly. But there was a picture of her from 1983 that made me stop and go back. I was like, Umm...I have a sweater just like that from the same year. She was like NO WAY. So, I go home and get my mom to bring the picture boxes to my house so I could go through them. My kids had the best time looking at those old pictures. And there were a few of my parents from before they were married that I'd never seen. My parents were goooood looking.

Anyway. I FOUND the picture. So here we are. 28 years ago. 1000 miles apart and 26 years from meeting and Lise and I are dressed alike!  Is it any wonder that we became friends? LOL

It's amazing how far in advance God's plans are, isn't it? When our kids were little, we bought a new dining room set. The table is huge. It has not 1 but 2 leaves for it. Without the leaves, it will sit 6, with 1 leaf, it'll sit 8 and with both, it sits 10. We never put the 2nd leaf in until Christmas when Lise's family joined our's for the Scarborough-Tyner Extravaganza!  I told Ben, see, God knew we'd need this table one day because He knew the Tyner's would be coming into our lives.

How very seredipitious!!

Girls Day Out!

Tuesday Lise and I decided we needed a little pampering. So after a breakfast of country ham and bacon, we headed to the nail salon for pedicures.  I always go for some shade of red, and I talked Lise into red this time, too. The name of mine was just boring OPI red. But the name of Lise's was So Hot it Hurts! How awesome is that?

 After we pampered our feet-incidentally, Lise didn't want to leave because they were playing Emma on the dvd-we walked around the mall and window shopped a bit. Then it was onto the salon for Grant to work his magic on Lise's hair. I do have pictures of her sitting in the chair, but I promised not to post them! LOL

Two hours later, she was ready for pictures. And her hair looks amazing, as does her outfit. And I don't know where ANY of her outfit came from! She'll have to fill you in. 

Let's see. I need an outfit photo, too.  Hmmm...I've been pretty boring this week. Here, I can prove it to you.

 

Or I can show you the redneck side of me. Here I am at the river on Sunday afternoon.

I just realized that I've worn quite a bit of BLUE this week. That's kind of odd, for me. And I haven't worn ANY RED this week! What's up with that?!