Twenty-One

Today my girl turned 21.

 

 

I can't hardly believe it. It just seemed like yesterday that I gave birth to a healthy 7lbs. 13oz. 21 inch long baby girl. She was the best thing in my life. And still is.

Its sad to see her grow up but she has become a beautiful, smart, young lady. She is strong. She is easily intimidated but not persuaded. She's a college senior with good grades and has even made it on the Chancellors list. She has Christian values and moral standards. She makes us proud. We are best friends. We share stories and even clothes. There is nothing I would want change about her. Well, I take that back. If I could keep her young forever, I would.

I usually make her a cake every year but for this milestone birthday, I decided to actually buy a plain iced caked from the bakery and decorate it myself. I didn't have much time so I came up with something kind of quick to do. I used decorating gel to look like spilled wine, and added a few fake flowers (washed first of course).

 

 

I wanted to find a theme that represented her being a legal adult. Ok that scares me a little. But again, I remind myself that shes smart.

The family all met up to celebrate at a local restaurant. We let her pick the place. She chose Captain Steves seafood restaurant. 

 

My Husband had Grilled flounder

 

I had flounder and oysters.

 

 We all had a good time and the food was delicious.

She will be celebrating all week long, ending next weekend with all of her college friends and sorority sisters taking her out to celebrate big!

"Happy Birthday Daughter, we love you."

Vacation!

Wow its been a week since my last post. I have been on vacation and between poor internet connections and sharing a computer with the rest of the family, it was something I decided to put off until I have some time to myself.
It was a pretty good week at Myrtle Beach. We started our mornings off with long walks on the sand. The shells would wash up with the tide like little pieces of broken pottery while I would look for some sea treasures.



I never noticed how colorful the little muscle shells were until I got down to take a picture of them.
 


I found a piece of yellow sea glass and I also found a piece of drift wood that will work well with a project I have in mind.



We enjoyed a little hula dancing and fire dancing show from a Hawaiian family at the campground.

 

There were five sisters (one not pictured) and they did great! Now I want to learn to belly dance. Ha!

Most of the days were sunny as we sat on the beach getting our tan on and getting under the umbrellas at times for some shade. The ocean water was warm and calm. Perfect for some wave jumping and swimming.
 

We had to fight the weather in the afternoons as the clouds would roll in and thunder and lightning would run everyone off the beaches.


 

But that didn’t stop us from cooking out on the grill and relaxing under the picnic shelter at our camper.
 

I hated to hang it up and head back home but work comes Monday and then my daughter will be heading back to college on the weekend. Soon it will be time to prepare for Fall.

Have you taken a vacation yet? Where did you go?

Paint Party 3

I have been to three Madhatter paint parties. You can read about my first class and what a Madhatter paint party is  HERE . The most recent one I attended, I believe was my favorite one so far. We painted a cubism style picture of wine bottles. We had alot of fun. It was a pretty small class this time of only five of us and the two art instructors..

I love to do pencil drawings but Im getting used this painting on canvas thing pretty quick.

The first thing we did was drew a rough sketch of our painting. We normally do not draw the picture first, we just paint it but with this style of painting it was easier.

Eat a cookie, sip a drink....then ....

Eat a another cookie, sip some more....then

Its finally looking like something.

Ya known, when you get several girls in a room painting, you get alot of silly stuff.
While everyone is busy painting, we tell stories, talk about songs, things going on around us and joke around. You may even learn a new word or two like, "swirly dizzle" or dibble dabble".  I even learned what a Tangent was. I also learned that when someone is asked to paint a "woody" they mean a style of car. Ha!

Wah Lah!

My painting is complete.

I'm no Picasso but it goes pretty good in my kitchen along with all my vineyard and fat chef decor so I'm ok with it...all except the black mark on the left hand side where I dropped my brush on it at the end. pfpffhh.

A Visit to the Farmers Market

You always know its summer time here in the South when the farmers market opens.


























I am ready for some fresh vegetables to throw on the grill, make some casseroles, or throw in a salad. So, this morning my daughter and I stopped in our local farmers market before heading to our workout. We thought we would never get in this place because the line of cars going in was crazy. But we managed to get a good parking place and get in and out in a jiffy.
As we began to walk in the first thing I saw was one of  my dance classmates selling her hens eggs. But that was only the beginning. While walking  through the metal building filled with vendors selling their products of labor, we saw a variety of many delicious  vegetables, homemade sweets, honey, flowers, birdhouses, fruit and more. 

       



























 I was actually on a mission to find some nice tomatoes and squash.











 

There were no tomatoes that caught my eye but I did buy some squash and peaches.




The peaches were so good. They were soft and just sweet enough. I would love to have spent more time looking around and plan to go again soon. Until then, I have a squash casserole to make.

Dad and I

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! I just want to say I think I have the best dad ever. He is a great christian man and is very special to me. My dad always set a godly example for me and my siblings and I am thankful for that. Ive learned alot from him and we are same in many ways. Here are just a few ways I am like him.

•  We are funny and share the same humor.
•  We like quick cars
•   I have his nose
•  We both suffer hay fever and allergies
•  I have his knees
•  We like blue grass music
•  We are emotional
•  Impatient
•  If I'm not mistaking, I think we have the same birthmark
•  and neither one of us will turn down a piece of chocolate cake.

I will be heading to church today and honor not only my father here on earth but also my heavenly father.

After church I will be spending time with my husband and daughter as we celebrate his well deserved fathers Day and later we will be celebrating all the dads in the family with a cookout at my house.
I smell the grill already!

Happy Fathers Day .

New Art Experience

One day me and my husband visited a new art gallery in our town called arts on main.  It's full of art displays, a gift shop and artists studios. I have always had an interest in art and when this opened up, I knew I had to visit.

I put my name on a mailing list so I could keep up with events and news the gallery had to offer. And guess what, I started getting emails inviting me to attend a MadHatters Paint Party. Its held every Wednesday for anyone to come paint and they supply everything needed to accomplish the "painting of the week".

The first one I attended was on a night that evidently was a busy night for returning partiers because I was the only one there. It was pretty funny but it ended up being a wonderful experience (even though I chose not to paint and wait until the next week.). What I did get to do was probably more exciting to me than actually getting to paint.
There are two fabulous ladies that host the party. They both have an art studio at the gallery one is Rachel Cotton studio and one is Anastasia happy trees studio. Instead of painting, I got to take a more in depth tour of the gallery than the time I went with my husband during the opening. They showed me around at everything it had to offer. It was amazing! I had no idea there was so much talent in my town. I also didn't know there was a really nice gift shop that anyone can purchase everything from jewelry to greeting cards made by the person that will probably be standing right next to you. It was really a treat.

So, the next week I went to the Madhatter paint party and we all drew a Lotus flower.
Every ones painting looked so good. We had a really good time laughing, talking, sipping wine and nibbling cookies all while painting in the presence of two wonderful artist to help make it all happen. I cant wait to try it again soon.
Thanks Anastasia and Rachel!

Whats up Downtown

Saturday, the town I live in held a celebration in its honor. There were games and jump houses for kids, several bands, car shows, funnel cakes, etc. I even got to meet Ronald McDonald! As me and my husband walked through the streets we could smell the cookers and smokehouses of BBQ. It smelled so good and made me hungry. I thought I could get a taste of the BBQ but it was just a cook off amongst the BBQ chefs. So, we went into a little cafe uptown where I got me a gourmet hot dog.

"G-Town" dog. It was delicious! I didn't even think of taking this

 picture until it was half eaten. 

A couple of the cars in the car show.

They even had wine tasting from a local winery.

Later that evening we returned to the streets where they were having an Oktoberfest with several bands, beer and dancing. I even participated in a demo, with my dance class while the band took a break. It was fun but it was cold! We didnt stay long. Just long enough for me to dance then we headed out to eat. Events like this are nice because you get to see friends, mingle and support the town you live in. Three years ago this place was like a ghost town.