The Beautiful and Talented...Amy Taylor!

I am proud to say that there is nothing groundbreaking going on in my life that is blogworthy. And don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. My family has a saying that "No news is good news", so I am completely content with regular ole life.

BUT, as I've told her many times, my sister's life is totally blogworthy. A former co-worker of mine calls her the "Superstar" of the family because she is a news reporter for MSU with a million dollar smile. (That she got for free--I on the other hand had to have braces TWICE. It was that bad.) Here she is:

Do you hate her already? (To really drive it in, her heart is as big as her smile.) Along with a fun job, she has the CRAZIEST stories that could only happen to her. (Let's face it-we all have that sibling that has better stories than you.) My recent favorite is that she "rescued" a stray cat in the neighborhood and took it to the vet school to have it neutered.  Well, after shaving the cat's butt, turns out he was already neutered and belong to her neighbor. She conspicuously released the cat back into the neighborhood and let the neighbor wonder why the heck his cat's butt was shaved. Love it! So in her free time, she also has a crafty talent and makes all sorts of things. This means I have amazing, original pieces all over my house. Here are a few: 

This is my personal favorite.....

For any of you who will be in the Starkville area, Amy will have a booth at the Cotton District Arts Festival  during Super Bulldog Weekend! She can custom make all types of pieces! These pics are just a sample of what she has done! 

Okay-that's it! Love ya sis!

My Birthday Boys

This past week we celebrated Jeremie's and Manny's birthdays! Actually, since we don't know Manny's birthday, we just celebrated on the anniversary of his adoption, March 6th. This was actually the first year we celebrated a special day for Manny, which I know sounds terrible as parents. But since we don't know his birthday, we never felt obligated to a specific day. So every now & then, we'd ask Manny: "Buddy, do you want today to be your birthday? Happy Birthday Manny!!!" Although this sounds totally stupid even to me as a type, it has become a regular household joke. Personally, I think every day is like a birthday for Manny...I mean, he really lives the life of ease.  

Anyway--Jeremie kinda got the shaft last year for his birthday because we were in the middle of all the moving....so this year we had a good ole fashioned house party with his requested cookie cake (Um, there is a Nestle Toll House STORE here) and lots of gifts. Usually I get J lots of happies (for those of you who don't know this is a passed down word from my Grammy meaning "small gift") and he picks out his own big gift. This year, I prevailed and found the Miss. State baseball symbol (J's favorite logo) made out of metal/copper. He loved it! He also racked up on gift cards which I have a strong feeling will be used for manly tools. Here is the birthday boy! 

BTW, I think I got ONE piece of the cookie cake. Let's just say we have a cookie monster on our hands and it's not Manny. J was FOR REAL about that cake. He ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner.....until it was gone. I didn't even have time to take a picture of it! 

As for the little pup, he received a stuffed racoon, Pigs N' a Blanket dog treats, and Denta Sticks. (A selfish gift on our part.) After 15 minutes of squeaking, all of a sudden it stopped, and the coon's life was over. Does this dog look guilty to you? 

Notice the extracted squeaky--mission accomplished.

I can't believe we've had Manny for 3 years now! I'll never forget the day I picked him up. J actually found where the Humane Society listed him on Craigslist, and this was his photo: 

How sad is this picture???? I had actually been to two other humane societies and just didn't click with any of the dogs. The minute I walked in the kennel, I saw this little guy, took him out of the pen and told the people he was mine! And just like that, he went from a stray Craigslist puppy to this: 

And that's about all I have for this week! Happy Trails! 

*Disclaimer: I bet by now you are thinking we are those weird people that are obsessed with their dog. You are exactly right. But do I care what you think? No, I do not.  ; ) 

A Little Bit this, Little Bit of That...

Well, again, I don't have any major happening to blog about, so here's what I got:

• Manny killed a bunny this week. We let him out one morning and I looked out the window and just saw legs and a cotton ball tail in the air. I was horrified! If it were something uglier, like a possum, I probably wouldn't have cared. But poor little Peter Cottontail???
• I FINALLY got my hair trimmed this week, which made me feel so much better! Haven't felt pretty in about 2 months! 
• I am READY for spring. Warm weather. Green grass. Birds chirping. Usually I love cold weather, but this year, I'm just ready to feel the sunshine!
• Speaking of cold weather, we experienced our first snow here in Dallas a few weeks ago! It didn't really stick though.  Our Christmas tree was still in the back yard, so J propped it back up and we had ourselves a white Christmas. 

• I also had my first Thirty-One party since all this sickness! It was nice to get back in business! So I wouldn't overdo it, my sweet hubby agreed to help....he drove me there and back and carried all my bags : )  He is a H.O.T. husband....Husband Of Thirty-One. : ) 

• On the home improvement side, J has been quite the lighting pro and has changed out all of the outdated fans to lovely, remote controlled fans. The problem is that one remote actually reaches to all three fans in the house, so if for example, I turn the light on or off in our bedroom, it does the same in the upstairs loft & guest bedroom. I'm sure our neighbors think it's Flashdance over here or something. We also made some headway in our bedroom, so this is what we have so far: 

I still have to add some fabric to the bottom of our curtains because we hung them really high, but we are getting there! I finally got my pig painting hung...isn't it darlin?

• We got a new leather couch!!! It is SO cozy! And I love that we can just wipe it clean and Manny's fur doesn't stick to it!! Hallelujah! We are getting rid of our old couch, chair & ottoman, which kinda makes me sad, because it was my first big purchase out of college! I was so proud of it! But I'm sure I'll cope as I nap on this one.....

• This week we celebrated Valentine's Day! I enjoyed my lovely roses and dinner date with my favorite Valentine. 

• Manny's New Year's resolution was to nap more. And he is fully achieving his goal.

And that's it for now! Happy Trails!

No-Sew Pillow!!!

Okay-so I'm trying to get crafty people. And I don't mean Amy Taylor (dear sister) crafty. That girl could pull a toilet out of the dumpster and make it cute. (I must blog one day about all her creations.) I just want to be able to do some simple things to "customize" my space. Painting candlesticks and making throw pillow covers is on the list of DIY this week. I have so many throw pillows that are from different "eras" of my decorating tastes and I hate to just chunk them! Throw pillows are expensive! Plus, I have lots of leftover fabric that matches my dining chair covers. So to "marry" the dining room & living room together, I was determined to use some of this fabric to make covers for my existing throw pillows. After I priced this project with some professionals, I decided to get crafty.....and so I found a blog where a girl used hem tape to make an "easy and adorable" envelope type pillow cover. It looked fool proof, so off to the Hobby Lobby with my 40% Off Coupon I went. $1.50 and 2 hours later this is what I ended up with....

The cover came out shockingly good & secure!!! The problem was that the pillow was too FAT for the case! (Should have measured extra room for the width of the hem tape.) I looked like I was stuffing a turkey! So after I got The Big Lebowski out of the case I balled up one of my old *magic pillows (definition below) and it fit perfect!  Here's the end product:

And the back actually does close! It's good enough for me! It really wasn't that hard, but I'm going to keep my eye out for a sewing machine.  : )

Magic Pillow: The term "magic pillow" originally came the softest set of down pillows that my Grammy & Big Jack had at their house. They told me that the pillows were magic and if I layed down on them they would make me go to sleep! And like any kid wanting to be a victim of magic, I MAGICALLY, I did fall asleep! Hmmm.....Ladies and Gentlemen, the only magic here was this idea by my grandparents! What a genius way to get the kids to hush and go to sleep!!! HA! So anyway, when I was 11, Grammy & Big Jack gave me my own set of magic pillows! I was elated. And hooked. Ya'll, if Jeremie didn't just make me buy a new pillow when we got married (for the health of my spine), I'd probably still be sleeping on them, even though they have worn down flat as a flitter. I could never bring myself to throw the pillows away, so I was thrilled that one has been re-purposed for this throw pillow! And once we do have kids, I WILL be putting this thing back to work!  

Dining Room Transformation!

This week we finally finished the dining room!!!! (With the exception of a rug and some artwork.) I love how the colors turned out together!

This is how the room was designed before we bought the house:

Although I really liked their decor, I had my heart set on mixing & matching a dark table with white chairs. So we started out with J's great aunt's table, which I love because it's a family antique and it's beautiful! Then, I prowled Craigslist for about a month and finally found the dining chairs that had just the style I was looking for. So the next phase looked like this:

I thought I was going to paint the chairs myself, but after realizing what a huge project this would be (and the fact that I have NO artsy-knack) I found a lady in town (The Dumpster Diva) who painted & distressed them for me. I DID recover the cushions on my own with the help of J's measuring and a very powerful staple gun. To finish the room off, we found an awesome rustic chandelier! And here's the final product:

I LOVE how it turned out! It was so nice to see my vision come together!!! Now on to the Living room!

A Few Thoughts....

I don't really have any special topic to report on, so here are just a few thoughts:

• Someone please tell me HOW it got to be the middle of January already. 
• I really don't want to jinx myself, but 7 less pounds, another sinus infection & a set of steroids later, I am finally feeling like myself again! There are no words for how thankful I am. I have never been so happy to do house work in my life. 
• I don't think I've publicly announced this on my blog, but I have the BEST hubby in the world. J has done an awesome job this past month taking care of me. So if YOU think you have the best hubby in the world, I'm sorry, you are wrong. ; ) 
• As HOT as Texas is in the summer, it has been equally as cold. It sort of hailed the other night, except it looked like Dippin Dots. Just wished it would've come in Mint Chocolate Chip.
• I signed Jeremie & I up for an event at church to find a Bible Study group. I totally had the box checked that said "Married 3+ years: Empty Nesters".  HA! Sort of wish I hadn't have noticed and we walk into a room of elderly newlyweds. 
• I get emails from Stein Mart about all their sales & new merchandise. This week, I received an email that said "It's Rodeo Season! Get your perfect look here!" Yes, among Spring, Summer, Winter & Fall, apparently Texas has another season called "Rodeo". And apparently I need to make room in my closet for the appropriate apparel during such season.
• I am in love with the show Downtown Abbey! Makes me talk like a Brit!
• I haven't put gas in my car since November 28th!!!! That is how much I have been couped up in the house! The low fuel light finally came on today-hope I remember how to operate a pump!
• I am not making resolutions for this year! After reviewing the list I made for 2012, I laughed out loud. 

Well, that's about all I can think of for now. Happy Trails!

Happy 2013!

Here we are entering another year!!!  I try not to be one of those people that is always saying that "Oh, this year has flown by!" or "Where has this year gone?!"  I like my year to feel like a year and know where it has gone.  But I'm gonna be totally cliche, and say "This year has FLOWN by." This year was essentially consumed by deciding to move to Texas, to actually moving to Texas, to buying our first home and moving AGAIN. I read most of my blog posts from this past year and it feels like everything happened yesterday! (And it made me terribly miss my Tallahassee folks--love ya'll!) But it was interesting to look back at everything that has transpired this year! I PRAISE God for his presence this year. I have never talked so much to the Lord like sweet Jesus himself was sitting in the room, but I know I talked his poor ear off this year! (And some of this might have been adjusting to being at home by myself with no one else to talk to.....LOL.)  An excerpt about the new year by Jim Reimann really spoke to me:

"It seems we often approach a new year with mixed emotions, sometimes hesitant to let go of the past, even as difficult as our past year may have been.  We tend to view the past with the idea that at least it is something known, while we view the future as a complete unknown.  For believers, however, this should not be the case.  Although we do not know the future in detail,we know the One who has made great promises to us as He guides us there.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  
-Jeremiah 29:11-13.

So.....on a lighter note, our New Year's celebration was quite calm compared to our Christmas-tree-burning, ball-dropping party we hosted last year. We both were more interested in rest & relaxation, so we cooked a  good meal and rang in the New Year in our pajamas. I think lights were out by 12:30. I did snap one picture of my boys....

Now if that doesn't make your New Year happy, I don't know what will!!!

Happy New Year from the Wells!