I love this look!

Greenfront USA

Here's a picture of Kolette and Jennifer on our "girls" trip to Greenfront.

At the end of September, Jennifer, Kolette, and I went to Greenfront, VA. We left on a Friday night and despite the GPS's best efforts we made it to Greenfront in one peice and on the same day as our journey began. On our way we stopped at a Mexican restaurant that was so bad the hostess looked embarassed when we asked her if the food was good.

We finally arrived at Greenfront and stayed at the Comfort Inn, where, Jennifer, Kolette and I ended our 8 hour conversation and went to sleep.

Saturday, we woke up, got ready and ate breakfast at the hotel. We were more than ready to hit the stores.

The shopping day started out beautifully for me, I found the rug of my dreams with a price tag that was waaayyy too good to be true. My buying day had begun and ended within 10 minutes of arriving at the warehouses. Trust me, I wasn't complaining.

We shopped around, there was LOTS to see, but not lots for me to buy. The prices were significantly lower than you'd find at a furniture store, but, I'm not used to shopping at furniture stores, so the prices were still a little high for me. I was reminded that I really do prefer buying furniture then making it my own. I don't like my furniture (or my friends) to appear "too" perfect, it makes me uncomfortable.

We had lunch at The Mad Hatter's, a restaurant whose theme was all about Alice in Wonderland. I wasn't disappointed, which made the day all the better.

We discovered a store, that was most like the Miller taste, and it was there that Jennifer, or should I say, I found fabric swatches that nearly brought her to tears. We also saw a blue cabinet that we both LOVED.

As our day came to a close we decided to go get ice cream. I had a delicious moose tracks ice cream cone, Jennifer and Kolette got some sort of chocolate drink that gave Jennifer a MAJOR headache and Kolette the shakes.

After the ice cream shop we got back into the truck and began our journey home. We talked and talked and talked while "Fitz," (our new "English speaking male" commentator) resumed attempts at leaving our children motherless.

A great trip with great friends and great results!

Adios Stephanie!

From this Broadway play
to this Broadway play.

When I went to NYC last year with my friends/family we saw the Broadway musical "Wicked." It was AMAZING! Stephanie Block played Elphaba (the witch) and she was absolutely wonderful! If I rubbed a lamp and a genie appeared that would be one of my wishes, to have a phenomenal talent like hers, the part she played, and an audience full of people with lumps in their throats and chills running up their spines. I feel very fortunate that I was able to see Wicked with Stephanie Block before she traded her broomstick for high heels and a coffee pot.

How To Feel Great About Being A Mother

I recently read the most inspiring book, it's called How to Feel Great About Being a Mother. It was one of those books that leaves you with all sorts of plans and great ideas. It was a very motivational book for me. One of the things the author, Amy Hardison, talks about is goal setting. Goal setting should be easy shouldn't it? Her method of goal setting seems simple, but as I've sat down to set goals it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Has anyone out there not been a goal setter and then become one? How did you do it? Any pointers?

The Great Escape!

The house was amazing! The decor was nothing to write home about, and the floors needed refinishing but the house itself was SO beautiful! I would have LOVED to see it done well.
A chair on the porch.

This is the living room, there are stairs going down to the breakfast room.
This was the magnificent suite that was mine, all mine. All $95 worth. Ha ha!
I loved looking up and seeing the staircases, the house was so big.
This is the dining room, I loved this room.



Last week I had had it with EVERYTHING! I needed a break from life...

I recalled a conversation that I had had with a good friend where she told me that occasionally she would go and revive her spirits by getting away to a bed and breakfast all by herself. I thought that that was just the thing for me! So, I looked on the internet, found a bed and breakfast, and arranged for Rob to arrive home early from work.

The day came, it was a Friday. Rob got home at 4:30, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I screeched out of the driveway. I got to the bed and breakfast at around 5:30. I sat by the pool, read, thought and just relaxed. Well... I went to bed around 10:30, and turned on Clueless, then I started to think about the refridgerator downstairs and how dirty it was, then I started to think about the fact that I didn't want the people to make me breakfast because the fridge was so dirty, then I started to think about the fact that I didn't want to sit with a stranger at breakfast, then I started to think about how old the house was, then I started to think about ghosts, then I started to think about the other person whom I'd never met sleeping in the next room, then I started to think more about ghosts, then I began to think that a ghost was watching me, then I was afraid to turn out the lights, then I started to think about the reason I came to the bed and breakfast in the first place. That purpose being to get a break and a good nights sleep. I then began to think about breakfast again, and then I began to think about Rob and the girls.

So, then I started making the rounds, first round, I called Rob and said, "can I come home?"

Second round, I called my mom and said "should I go home?"

Let me tell you, once I started talking about the fridge, she said "go ahead and leave."

So at midnight, I wrote a note and walked out the door.




Next time I want to runaway...talk me out of it.

Pride and Prejudice

Several years ago I was visiting Jennifer. I lived in Las Vegas and always looked forward to the beauty and shade of the east. Jennifer lived in the middle of a forest. She lived in a small two story house that was cozy and charming. There were low ceilings, a steep staircase, big wooden doors, a wooden built-in bed, a free standing bathtub, and hanging flowers. It was like nowhere I had ever stayed before.

At that point in my life it was well known that I was a hopeless romantic, I even had two friends write stories about my condition in their college courses. Needless to say, Jennifer's cottage in the middle of a dreamy forest was all I needed to be "perfectly content." I used to think "wouldn't it be perfect to fall in love here?" But that's another story.

Jennifer mentioned that she had borrowed a movie from her mother-in-law and that we could watch it. It was Pride and Prejudice and it was six tapes long. That sounded like it was right up my alley. The only other Pride and Prejudice I had seen was the old black and white one and that was in high school. I was definitely game. We turned it on and for six straight hours we watched; our behinds glued to our chairs and our eyes glued to Mr. Darcy. We sat there grinning and often we would look at each other in disbelief. We were overwhelmed!

To this day I can't get over how the producers, directors, etc... thought of everything. The cast was UNBELIEVABLY suited for their roles, the settings were magnificent, the screenplay was so like the book, and their clothing and color schemes were superb!

What's funny, is one day I was looking around my house and realized that I had the same color schemes as the movie. Greenish blues, browns, golds, with some of Lucas Lodge's pink thrown in. I've always loved this particular time period, but it was interesting to see how this movie had possibly influenced my personal style.

Pride and Prejudice has always had a way of calming me down, cheering me up, and making me feel like all is right with the world. I enjoy turning it on just to hear their voices while I do things around the house. It's my all time favorite movie! Thanks BBC!

Some of my favorite things!

I forgot to say that my favorite ice cream right now is Haagen Dazs Cookie Dough. It is fabulous!