Back to Blogland...

Happy Monday...I'm back to my little home on the internet. Amazingly, I managed to pick up about 30 followers in the few weeks I was gone. How does this happen? I don't know but I'm happy it does:-)

Yes, I took a little break. I can choose between writing about my life/family and the Holidays or I can live it. Unlike many of you gifted people out there, I'm not capable of doing both.

The bad news...I had my annual Holiday meltdown. The good news...it's over early and I'm good to go:-) About 2 weeks ago I called my mom and started bawling on the phone about how I feel I let everyone down... Blah, blah, blah. (Martha, this is because of you and my quest for the perfect Holiday:-) I've let go of a few things since then. Since my girls were little, I've always had to have the perfect Christmas card. I know photo cards have been around forever but I think I was one of the first that I know of to go with a "theme" picture for our cards, such as angels, mermaids... maybe I'll do a post about it and show a few. I can't show you the one of them when they were 7 and 5, lounging around the pool in old-fashioned bathing suits with flowered bathing caps on like some vintage bathing beauty, because that was the one card they refused to be a part of...and I never let them forget it! hahaha...

Anyway, this year the cards are ready to go out with a short, sweet note and a simple, fun photo. And it's killing me... lol

Okay, well, this is Thanksgiving week. Hope you're all enjoying this special time of year. Me...I'm not a big Thanksgiving person. In the old days when cousins aunts and Uncles crammed around a long table at my Grandma's...that was Thanksgiving. These days just aren't quite the same. Don't get me wrong, we are very thankful. But we are more than ready to move on to Christmas.
Sorry...one of those people:-) To top it off, I don't like turkey.

(You're safe from me, Mr. Turkey!)
But I do love mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Carbs anyone??? Geez...good thing I am serving dinner at the hospital with my husband instead of eating it! My girls are spending Thanksgiving with their grandparents so I will have my first Holiday with an empty nest...seems kind of strange but they'll have fun.

What else, what else... Well, we are in full Nutcracker mode around here. This is the Flower Fairy or Dew Drop, which is Taylor's main role. And she wears pink:-)



Rehearsals, rehearsals and more rehearsals...long ones...but it's looking good, so it's worth it. And we are making lots of these little cuties...




I know I write about a pink Christmas but the only rooms I can pull that off this year are Taylor's room and maybe the guest room. The great room is mainly a white Christmas with touches of red. Because I am worried about my curious BIG puppy, our tree has only those family ornaments that are not breakable as well as a lot of other sturdy ones, just in case I come home to find the tree toppled over. We glittered some starfish and white poinsettias and it looks so pretty.



One of my favorite decorations was the simplest. I had all of these colored glass ornaments and a huge glass cylinder I picked up for $7 at a yard sale this year so I dumped them in and voila...instant decoration!




I also love, love, love feather trees and here is one by the front door...




Just look at these shells...I'm not sure you can see but they're all glittery. Thanks to Tales from an OC Cottage for the idea!



Guess that's enough rambling for today. I'll leave you with a thought for the Holidays...
"Remember, the more expensive and big the gift, the more kids will enjoy playing with the box it came in more than anything".

Have a great day!
Au revoir,
Suzanne

My Hula-Girl and Football Player

They're growing up but I still got one more year of costumes out of them. Taylor had dance so her costume had to be "ballet-friendly". Meet the Hawaiian ballerina...






Jordie dressed like her favorite football player from her favorite team...




I would have so dressed like this when I was her age, too:-)

That's it for today...short and sweet!

Pumpkins are "Pink"...

Happy Halloween and Happy Pink Saturday!
Hope you get lots of treats and NO tricks:-)
Now why didn't I think of pink pumpkins myself...so perfect for the hot tropical Halloween we are having down south!
Please visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for more Pink Saturday












(pink painted pumpkins courtesy of Holly from Holly's Haven)
(sweater pumpkin idea courtesy of Debi)

Today I will...

~do my devotions. I have a new book called Daily Steps for God Chicks. Sounds kind of silly but it is really good.




~exercise...if I must...and I must:-)



~treat myself to a Starbucks. It has been banned from my diet but I'm desperate for a Pumpkin Spice latte! (But not right after exercise. hahaha) Does anyone else prefer a Starbucks in the evening? It seems like such a treat that way and not just an everyday morning habit. (And this sign is for me...I never get on a plane without my Starbucks. Love it!!!) Are we crazy, or what???



~try to learn something in our French lesson...but so far I think I am tres stupide!!!!!



~make Taylor's costume for her Halloween party at ballet...she is a hula girl and I need to work on the Hawaiian tutu:-) Thank goodness I have this to do as I am feeling kind of sappy that we are moving out of the little kid halloween age and all of that excitement.

~watch my new dog training video. I have been so bad about this but the "season" is coming and so are visitors. It's just a bad combination...my dogs are so darn cute and I am so darn lazy:-)



~have at least one melt-down since they seem to be popping up daily.

~go on a date with my husband. We're thinking of seeing The Informant. Any thoughts/suggestions?

~take a nap since I am up at 2:30 a.m:-) I wish, but not likely!

~waste time on the computer doing things like these online puzzles. Click on the puzzle if you want to join me. My time was 2 min, 10 sec. Go ahead...you know you want to beat me!

~what about you...what's on your to-do list?
Inspire me, please!!!

Random Wednesday Questions...

(Swiped from Kellie @ La Vida Dulce , because I am at a total loss of something to say! I even swiped this comment:-)

1.. What's the last state you visited other than your own? Alabama...Tuscaloosa, to be exact. Go Bama:-)

2. What's your middle name? Elizabeth...after my great-grandmother. I love it. My oldest daughter has it as her middle name and I wish I had given it to my younger daughter, too.

3. What is something you don't like...even though everyone else seems to? Hmmm...where to start:-) A few days ago I would have said FB but I have happily moved on. Okay, I have a hard time cooking meat. Seriously. I do it, but it creeps me out. Last night I opened a small box of steaks we received as a gift and I was going to make this for my husband for dinner but they were so bloody, I couldn't do it. We had pasta instead:-)

4. What's the first costume you remember dressing up in for Halloween? Okay, believe it or not I was a tomboy from the get-go. I remember being a football player once and I think I was a race car driver. We bought one of those costumes with a plastic mask and the costume is like a jumpsuit.

5. Have you ever played a sport? Yes...I played volleyball in high school. Played a little tennis. As a kid, I played football and...I was very good at it, if I say so myself:-)

6. What is a talent you have that people might not know about? Hmmm....that's a good one. I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue...and do so every time I eat a cherry. hahaha

7. What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud? My daughter is a ballet dancer and the other night while she was at rehearsal, my younger daughter and I put the Nutcracker CD on and did our own version of ballet. We are NOT ballerinas so yes, it did crack us up:-)

8. Are you an oldest, middle, or youngest child? I'm the youngest.

9. What's the best thing you've had someone say to you lately? After reading my last blog post, my mom sent me an email saying she loved it, loved my writing and she was proud of me. (She is my biggest fan. No wait, she is probably my only fan:-)

10. What are you wearing right now? What else...my pj's. It's only 10 a.m and like the commercial says...we do school in our pajamas. Unfortunately that also means I walked the dogs in them, too.