Another Met Monday

I made another fall wreath. My friend Wendy decided that she wanted one. I made a quick Hob Lob run Saturday morning & was still able to get some things. The selection of fall floral stuff & picks was really small. They just didn't have a lot left but I think I was able to find some cute things.

I used a grapevine wreath & a fall swag. Then I added a few picks & flowers & made the bow. The fall ribbon was scarce but I managed to find one that I liked. Normally, I like to use two different types of ribbon for the bow but I only found one that was the size I like to work with so I just used it & made a big bow.

I also bought some things to start on Christmas wreaths that I'm making for my mom & some friends.

I'm linking to Susan's Met Monday party at Between Naps on the Porch & to Kristin's Uncommon Slice of Suburbia blog.

Toodles!

Overwhelmed!

Last night Dean & I ate at Texas de Brazil. We'd never been there before but have friends that have & highly recommended it. I was a little leery because the whole concept of this place is these gaucho guys walk around with slabs of meat & they slice it off onto your plate. It's all you can eat. I'm not a huge fan of meat. I mean it's ok & I'm by no means a vegetarian but I'm perfectly happy to have a meal consisting of appetizers & dips. When you sign up for their emails they send coupons for your birthday & anniversary. Our anniversary coupon was buy on get one free so we decided to try it. Regular price is $43 per person. They have a great salad bar. It has assorted cheeses, soups, veggies, grilled shrimp & what Dean says are the best black beans he's ever eaten in his life. I wouldn't know. I'm not a fan of beans. Anyway, we started with salad & then the meat started coming. My first problem is that the meat is prepared medium rare. Apparently, that's how the Brazilians eat meat. I'm a well done kind of girl. Like I don't want to see ANY pink whatsoever. All you have to do is tell them it's too rare & they'll go cook it more but if you're like me, the sight of the blood dripping from the meat makes you nauseous & pretty much negates any appetite you may have had. There were a few pieces of meat I liked. However, there was more that I didn't like. I tried lamb just because I've never had it. I'll never have it again. It tasted very gamey. I didn't like the chicken wrapped in bacon because it just tasted like a hot dog & I don't like hot dogs. Aside from the salad bar & the meat they bring garlic mashed potatoes, fried bananas & these little bread things that look like donut holes. The mashed potatoes were good & Dean says the bananas were too. I only like bananas in banana pudding & even then I could do without them. The bananas cleanse your pallet so you can "enjoy the different flavors of the meat".  The little bread things were REALLY good. It was almost like a sopapilla. Overall, I wasn't impressed. I was overwhelmed when the gauchos started swarming with meat but that was about it. I wouldn't go back. Dean liked a lot of the meat he tried but even he said it was a one time thing. What did we do after we left??? Went & got shakes at Sonic!!! I was way happier with my shake than I was with the meal!!

This morning I went & had a manicure. It was time for a new set of nails. I think I know how torture victims feel when their nails are ripped out. The nail guy asked if I wanted to soak my hands or for him to pop them off. Popping is quicker so I told him to do that. Several popped right off but several were a little stubborn & it HURT! Thankfully, this isn't something I have to do real often. Of course if I did I'd probably still do it. They look good & I'm all about looks over comfort.

I don't know if y'all have ever heard of Bargain Bee or Living Social but it's sites you can sign up on & they email you half price deals. Most are for restaurants in your area. I've bought several of them for some of our favorite restaurants. One day there was one for a bakery in town, Ambrosia. This bakery has some of the BEST baked stuff ever. After my mani I went to get a sweet treat.

This is the Fresh Strawberry Cake from Ambrosia. It is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!

Today is LSU's biggest game of the season so far. We play Auburn. Our games against them have a history of weird things happening. With Les coaching I can't see it being any different this year. Both teams are undefeated & ranked high in the BCS. It's going to be interesting.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Toodles!

Drop a Bozo!

Here's the thing...our fantasy football team No Thugs, is really not very good. I've been over this before. We had the last pick, we've only won 2 games this season, etc. Well, NOW we have injuries to deal with. Let me say this, talent has pretty much nothing to do with fantasy football. Seriously, it's all about luck. If anyone's husbands are trying to convince you of how smart they are because they're leading their league, don't buy it. It's LUCK!! And our luck isn't very good. This week our Kicker, Nate Kaeding,  is injured. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal because after all, he's a kicker BUT our Kicker is sometimes our second leading scorer. Yes, he scores more points than our RB & WR!! That would be running backs & wide receivers for those of you that are actually trying to keep up & have no idea what I'm talking about. So back to the injury, it's his shoulder. A kicker doesn't use his shoulder so why can't he play?? Anyway, when injuries occur teams are allowed to pick up a player to replace the injured one. This also requires teams to drop a player because of roster limitations. We don't know how serious Kaeding's injury is & being that he scores lots of points we don't want to drop him. My conversation with my co-owner went like this:

Me: I'd like to keep Kaeding & drop one of the Bozo's that sits on our bench & doesn't get us any points. What do you think?

Wendy: Drop a Bozo.

So there you have it. Good luck to us!!

Toodles!

A Bargain!!

You may remember last week I got this adorable little camera.

It's replacing the "pencil camera" & I'm calling it an early birthday gift. I said in my last post that I needed to find a cute case. After scouring the internet & not finding anything I was overjoyed about. Well, except the Louis Vuitton Wapity but being that it has Louis Vuitton in front of the "Wapity" that isn't happening. You can't very well pay more for the case than you can the camera now can you?? I also found this one on ebay.

I thought it would be super cute, especially for walking around LSU. Sadly, it ships directly from Hong Kong & I was a little leary. Aside from the 6 yr. olds that are probably making these things in a warehouse (it was only $2.75), I would like to receive it before we go to Disney in December & I just wasn't sure that would happen (shipping was free). I went to Penney's at lunch to return something (yes I will buy something if it's on sale & return the same thing I paid regular price for. Don't hate!), so I looked around to see what they had. I found this.

It's perfect! I know it's not really a camera case but it will work. The camera fits in the front pouch & my phone fits in the inside & there's also a couple of credit card slots & a place for your drivers license. It fits fine in my purse & when I don't want to carry a purse everything I need will fit. Even lipstick! This thing will be great in Disney!

Now comes the bargain! I NEVER, EVER, EVER pay full price for anything at JCPenny's. Seriously. They have great sales. PLUS the coupons! I have a JCP credit card & anything I buy I put on that card. Points are earned on all purchases & they send lots of coupons in the mail. I always pay the balance in full so there's no interest either. Every time you purchase something you can go online & fill out a short survey & get a 15% coupon. That's not a lot off but if you're able to use one on every purchase it adds up. So, my little Liz Claiborne wristlet was regularly priced at $26.00 but it was on sale for $15. I had a 15% off coupon from my last purchase, plus since I was using my JCP card they were giving an additional 15% off & I had a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon that I'd gotten in the mail. My total with tax & rounded up to the nearest dollar for the after school program was $1.00!!!! YEP, you read that right $1.00!! How awesome is that??? I love love love a deal!! With my return, I came out $6.62 ahead on this little trip!! Oh & since I was at the mall I had Chick Fil A for lunch! DELISH!!

Toodles!

Hungry anyone??

My camera came in the other day! WOO HOO!! I was excited. It took forever! Anyway, it's here & so far I really like it. The only pictures I've taken were of stuff in the living room while I was laying on the sofa watching TV. I did load the software on to my computer, get the battery installed & set the date. I had every intention of reading through the manual to figure out how to work it but of course it doesn't have a manual. Just a quick start-up guide. To read the manual I have to go online. I hate doing that. Oh well, I'll give it a try.

I was surprised to see how small the camera was. I knew it was going to be smaller than what I had but this thing is smaller than my iPhone!

It's PINK too!!! How cute is that?? This thing is going to be great! It will fit in a pocket! Now I'm on a mission to find a cute little case for it. I can't carry around a camera as cute as this in an old ugly black case can I??

Moving on. Thursday night Dean & I joined Cliff & Sheri at a wine tasting. It was a fundraiser for Boys Hope/Girls Hope of Baton Rouge. The wine tasting was at Texas de Brazil. There was wine, wine, wine & appetizers. There was this one that was advocado on a cracker thingy with a boiled shrimp on top. DELISH!!!!

Dean & I were both off Friday. We went to Lowe's & Sam's. I LOVE SAM'S!!! Seriously, love love love. I know some people wouldn't be caught dead buying clothes at Sam's, but I'm not one of those people. I found these flip flops. They are some of the most comfortable shoes I've ever put on my feet!! The were marked down to $9.71. Can't beat that!!

 Sam's always has name brand clothes. This sweater is Kenneth Cole & it was $18.

 This one is Izod. I think it was $16.

After Sam's & Lowe's, we had lunch at DeAngelo's. They have really great pizza & the slices are huge!

My favorite is the Cheesy Italian. Sooo good. This morning I got up really early to go have my hair cut & highlighted. I'm really happy I was able to get that done. My hair was getting a tad flat & I don't do flat hair.

The rest of the afternoon was spent working in the backyard. Ugghhh!! Note to self, when you want the entire backyard landscaped remember that means the entire backyard will need to be weeded & re-mulched. Dean did the front yard Thursday when he was off. 13 bales of pine straw later he was finished. We put 20 down today in the backyard around the pool. We still have 2 beds to go but they're not really big so it shouldn't take long. Thankfully, the weather was somewhat cooperative. It was only 77 when we were working.

We went to Mass this afternoon & then stopped at Mike Anderson's to eat. Seems like we did an awful lot of eating this weekend. Anyway, it was delish as usual. We had a group of 18 high school kids sitting next to us. They were going to homecoming. One of the girls had on the most AWESOME pair of shoes I've ever seen!! I refrained from asking the 15 yr. old where she got them but oh they were greatness. Gold glitter heels, ribbon, GREATNESS!!! I think I'm suffering from shoe withdrawals. When I was going to Communion the lady next to me had on a fabulous pair too! The pair of flip flops I got at Sam's are the first pair of shoes I've bought since I can't remember when. I haven't bought a purse since Christmas either! 

So, now we're home watching this sorry excuse for a football game. LSU is winning but this is one of the most boring games I've ever watched. I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be a day filled with a whole lot of nothing!!

Toodles!

Play Ball??

I'm very excited! I won a giveaway!!! I won a Southern Living cookbook. Those of you that know me, please no jokes about how much I need this. Kendra at Domestic Princess in Training hosted a costume parade. Costumes & Halloween aren't generally my thing. I don't have anything against them, it's just like every other project I attempt. It starts out as a FABULOUS (to me) idea & then never goes according to plan, ends up being a lot more involved than I originally thought & some sort of modification ends up being made. The ONE Halloween costume I've worn was no exception. These pictures are from 2006.

Yes, I'm a pear shaped baseball. I know I looked thrilled in the picture. That thing I'm standing next to is the famous, or maybe infamous is a better word,  pole at my brother's house. Before little Logan came along they had an annual Halloween party. The pole has made an appearance at every party my brother has had & it has followed him from apt. to apt. to house. If you've been reading awhile you may remember the pole from here.

In case you're wondering Dean is dressed as Jimmy Buffet. Bet y'all knew that right?? Let's just say that Dean isn't into costumes or dressing up AT ALL. Anyway, back to my costume. Approximately 15 years ago I decided that this would be an awesome costume for me to wear to two parties I was invited to. The only problem is that I can't sew. When I say can't sew, I mean can't thread a needle, sew a button, anything. However, my mom's friend can & she did. So what's the problem you ask? Me not thinking this through or not knowing enough about science or whatever is the problem. You see my plan was to stuff the ball with something to make me nice & round & full. My thought was batting like you stuff in pillows or whatever. Only problem is I didn't bother to try any of this out until the night of the first party & clearly 3 bags of batting wasn't going to do the job. Not to mention that everything that you stuff inside immediately goes to the bottom of the costume creating the pear shape. I wasn't happy about looking like a pear. Luckily, my daddy is a amazing when it comes to these types of things. He stuffed about a gazillion plastic grocery bags full of newspaper & strung them together with fishing line & made what can only be described as the weirdest looking shoulder pads you've ever seen. It worked great. You guessed it though, the problems didn't end there. Getting in the car was an issue. We had to detach some of the bags so that I was able to drive to the party & then reattach when I got there. Oh if you could've been a fly on the wall. Once I was all stuffed there was no sitting down. If I sat the whole baseball pushed up & was up around my head. I went from looking like a pear to humpty dumpty! And don't even think about sitting in a chair with a back. That wasn't happening. I was just thinking that I don't remember what I did about going to the bathroom.  Hmmm?? All this brings me to the pictures above in 2006. I decided to wear my baseball costume to Scott & Lydia's party but I wasn't going through all that with the "shoulder pads". I stuffed some newspapers in plastic bags, tied them up & stuffed them inside. That is why I looked like a pear.

Toodles!!

Outdoor Wednesday

Sunday afternoon Dean & I went to the nursery so I could get some mums & pumpkins for the porch. I could've spent hundreds of dollars! They had pumpkins all different sizes & colors & the mums were soooo pretty. I seriously wanted to buy a bunch of stuff but I refrained. Well, somewhat. When we got home I hung the wreaths I made on the door.

Then I put the mums & pumpkins out.

I love mums!

I saw a pepper plant & couldn't resist.

I've seen these on other blogs & always thought they were so pretty but I never think to look for them when I'm at the nursery. Sunday, they were the first plant that I saw. I'm going to try really hard to keep it alive. I seem to have problems with potted plants & hanging plants. Hopefully, the pepper plant will be different!!

I'm linking to A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

Toodles!