Untitled is the name of this one!

Hmmm, What should be my title when I have not posted in SIX MONTHS! How crazy is that?

Today as I was driving to Greer's school for her "Birthday Party for Jesus" I felt that writing a blog post would make me feel better.

You see, I'm sad this month... and it's CHRISTMAS! There are so many things that are just bringing me down I thought
"If I just write them all in one tiny paragraph, then make a super long post listing all the amazing things I have in my life it will lift this fog."

So that's what I'm going to do here.  I can't cover all of the last six months, but I'll get to a few recent things.
First things first, let's purge all this unhappy stuff.
Families loosing their children. Picturing unopened gifts under each family's tree. Fear over our divided country. Having my rights taken away because some people cannot use them responsibly.
Not celebrating Christmas in my home for the first time since we bought our house six years ago. Not having all my Christmas decorations (petty I know - just laying it all out there). Missing Christmas Eve at the church I grew up in.

Sigh.

Feels good to just put it out there - and
let.
it.
go.

Now prepare yourself for picture overload!
 
In September we moved to Auburn Alabama. We could not sell our house, so we rented it out.
Adam's mom couldn't sell her house so we moved in with her for awhile.
Things are going really well. Better than expected.
Before we left, my dad came and took some pictures of us in our home. I am so grateful he did that.

Greer has started at a new preschool and to say we love it is an understatement. She is going five mornings a week, and learning, playing and soaking up so much like a little sponge!
I've been able to focus on my freelance business more and I am really glad for that.
For the Christmas Program her class "sang" Jingle Bells... or really they shook bells while sitting on the stage. It was adorable. Being a first time parent is a learning process, and getting to go to this was simply amazing.
We went to Samford Lawn (on Campus) to have Greer's picture with Aubie. The line was around the block, so first we tried a picture with the Cheerleaders. Greer was less than impressed, so after this round we headed to Big Blue Bagel for lunch and then home!

One of the many things we are enjoying here in Auburn is the space. Adam's mom owns a beautiful home on several acres, complete with a pond for fishing. Greer and I have been able to spend lots and lots of time outside in the afternoons.
Here she is on her tricycle that she got from my aunt and uncle. She is wearing her Auburn hat, with a big flower that is supposed to be worn on the side. Perfect example of her personality - if I try to shift the hat she tells me no, and then readjusts it to the front. Miss Opinionated is just one of her nicknames :)

Here is a view looking back at the house from the end of the driveway. You can just barely see the house in the top right. It's perfect for playing outside, so much room. Very thankful for this opportunity!

Two more things I'm grateful for are
1. My husband
2. My friends
The weekend we moved just happened to double book with a weekend girls trip to celebrate a Bachelorette party for Beth and baby shower for Suzanne.... both in NYC.
Somehow my wonderful husband moved us all by himself that weekend! He insisted I go as I stood crying in the driveway. I pulled it together, got in the car and drove away from our house for the last time. I then spent an incredible refreshing weekend with six of the best friends I have.
 
It feels good to list out so many puzzle pieces of JOY in my life. I have so many things to be happy about. Yes there are sad things going on in the world each and every day but the blessings I have outnumber them.
I wish you and your families wonderful celebrations next week. Merry Christmas.

Coastal Living - Week Three

Busy week three here in Indialantic Florida!
We ventured out for dinner at "Squid Lips" where they have a pirate ship docked for the kiddos to play on.

We also got to watch a group of adults swim out into the River. They said they swim a quarter mile!

Adam honed his engineering skills and invented a new chair. Step two is adding a cup holder.

This is a typical morning for us. Greer loves the hose, and playing with the cooler and whatever is in it.

I put water into her little tea set. It is from Green Toys, made from recycled milk jugs. She loves playing with it and was so excited to have water in it. Although I spent the entire time filling the teapot back up.

One thing I will miss about this house is the Florida room (or sunroom to us southerners). It's so bright and sunny and we've enjoyed lots of reading out here.

We spent a morning at the Brevard Zoo with our friend Carlye, and her son Levi. Carlye rowed on the AU Crew team with us back in the day. The kids, and the moms, had such a good time.

 It was very very hot so Greer's favorite part was the pool at the end.

 Greer is not a fan of the entire house being tiled here. We bought a small rug from Target for her and she loves it.

 Our pool was turning slightly green this week, so we had it professionally cleaned.

Over the weekend, we spent some more time with Adam's high school friends and had dinner with Carlye and her family. Father's day was spent at the beach. It's been a great week!

It's our last week here. We're trying to smash in a few last minute adventures. See you all soon!

Coastal Living - Week Two

After a bumpy first few days, we had a great second week here in our rental house.

Sunday night our air conditioning went out and by Monday at 3pm the house was 87º and we were all so grumpy we just got in the car and left. We spent the afternoon driving through Adam's old neighborhood and then got a fish sandwich by the water. Once we returned home the air was fixed but still took over 12 hours to cool back down.
It's warm hot down here y'all!

I spent Tuesday at the Apple Store in Orlando, getting my entire Operating System wiped after my computer crashed.

 

Greer loved playing with the iPad.

We have ducks that wander our yard, and swim in our pool.

A bunch of Adam's friends from High School came to spend the weekend with us.
There was a good bit of eating, drinking and late night wrestling in the pool. I know nothing of the last part because I fall asleep at 10pm every night!

Adam and Seth. This gives you a good view of our kitchen.

The table in the background we use as a changing table. I have no idea what the table is for - but that's just how we roll.
Saturday was spent at the beach and in the pool.

Greer loved hanging out with Seth

At dinner I tried to get a picture of me and Greer... she was mad that we took the phone away to take the picture because she could not keep watching videos!

When she got bored with videos, she snuck over to my purse to use my lip gloss.

Lot's more fun to come this week. Planning a trip to the zoo and we're keeping our fingers crossed that Adam's sister will make it down for a quick visit.
Our trip is half over now, going so fast!!

Coastal Living - Week One

We've taken the month of June to rent a house near the coast in Indialantic Florida. If you drove down to Orlando and turned East and drove until you got to the ocean.. that's about where we are!
We both have the blessing to be able to work remotely, so we thought we would take some time to check out the small town that Adam called home for his High School years.
We've done a lot in the first week.
It took a while to get settled in.
We've found all the retail stores we could need. Also a three-morning a week daycare for Greer, and spent lots of time in the pool and ocean!
I am promising to update the blog, each of the 4 weeks that we are here! Let's see how I do.
Here is our first week, in pictures.

 

First Burger King hat. Nice hat - horrible food, never going back!

 

 

First time in the Atlantic Ocean

Eye Candy

 

 

These grow in our yard. So beautiful and smell like honeysuckles!

 

As her teachers say "she's a pistol"

Roasted Beets and Carrots with Goat Cheese Dressing

Found this gem in Food & Wine magazine.
The reason you're getting a picture of the magazine is I did not separate everything out and the beets pretty much dyed the whole dish purple and it's not looking so appetizing!
But it was still so tasty!
And I have to say this post goes out to Sarah, my friend who has a love affair with beets just like me!

*I have amended a few things from the original recipe.





1 bunch golden beets with tops
1 bunch red beets with tops
3 T. EVOO
3 large garlic cloves, halved
Salt and Pepper
1 bunch carrots
1 T. sherry vinegar
1 large shallot, minced
1 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 425º. Peel the beets and cut them into 1 in wedges. Discard the tough stems and coarsely chop the leaves. Slice the carrots into 1 in pieces.
Coat each vegetable separately (to keep the beets from dying everything) with evoo salt and pepper and lay out on a baking sheet. Add 2 halves of garlic to each section of veggies on the sheet.
Roast for about 40 minutes in the oven.
In a small bowl whisk the vinegar and 1 T. evoo, season with S&P and add in the goat cheese.
In a skillet heat the remaining evoo and saute the shallot and beet leaves until tender, about 6 minutes. Season with S&P.
The recipe says to combine everything together and toss once or twice. I would still say just layer everything and drizzle the dressing on top - or have each person drizzle on their portion.

Enjoy!

This Year

I've resolved in 2012 to cut my cost of living as much as possible.
So I wanted to show you what I call my Do It Yo' Self Shelf!
I can't really say I did it myself, I should say it was "Dad can you come over and hang a shelf for me?"... But who's keeping track of that!?

I wanted some Pottery Barn shelves that were super expensive (to me) for Christmas and I didn't get them. So after contemplating do I really want to spend money to have particle board shipped to me from China..? I thought NO!
So I went in our shed and found an old piece of molding from the old kitchen before we renovated.
Here is the before and after.
It's not the straightest piece of wood but it is centered over the TV I promise!
Dad threw it up with a few screws and then I was able to set a few things that had basically been sitting on the floor for months!I'm still going to paint it, but it does have quite the rustic charm right now!
Total cost of the project? $0
LOVE THIS!

I'm doing several other things - if anyone is interested...
We've cancelled our cable, re-financed the house, cancelled our cleaning service (this gives me lots of apprehension but I'm determined I can clean this place like those amazing women!)
We're eating in more, using cash for all food purchases, and I really hope to grow some of our own food this year!
And I also recommend this book. I've enjoyed it so far, lots of good cost cutting ideas! And I checked it out from the library - even better!
I also wanted to tell you about the prints up there.
Toomer's Corner after Auburn won the National Championship.A silhouette of Greer that a good friend gave to me for Greer's first birthday. I get teary almost every time I look at it. Sweetest present ever for a new mommy!Print from a thrift store that I just love.

Merry Christmas!

I've been taking some heat from all three of my faithful blog readers for my lack of posting.
So this one is dedicated to Shaina, Allison and Joanie!

It has been a great Christmas this year so I thought I would share just a bit of our days.
We've celebrated with Adam's mom, who was with us for 3 days. We've celebrated with my family on Christmas Day. Adam's dad, step-mom and sister will be here for New Years! It's been full, busy and lots of fun.
On Christmas Eve there was no mistaking that Greer is a girl. (Strangers love to call her a boy)I'm in love with this dress and shoes from Gap. We headed to our Christmas Eve Service at church. Greer did really well most of the time, although she wanted to run around :)The tradition at Smoke Rise Baptist is to hand out an ornament made by church members. This year we received this. It is so beautiful and made me think of each one I received as a child and now my child gets one. I got a little choked up.

We did some "santa" this year.We've been discussing all of that and we're probably going to go the route where she understands that we put the presents out for her... but that's pretty complicated. Just refer to this post for where we're going with that! Jen Hatmaker can explain it much better than me!!

When Greer woke up she went directly for the tri-cycle, which was actually a birthday gift from my aunt and uncle and we hid it away for when she was older. We've now spent the last 4 days pushing her in a circle around the house - it's all she wants.
She also got a new key-chain, some puzzles, books and blocks.
It's been a good Christmas and we look forward to celebrating with the rest of our family this weekend.
I hope you all are enjoying the holidays with your family!