What Megan & Lacey Have in Common

What do my friend Megan and my dog Lacey have in common?

They both share the love of Sonic ice!

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, I'm serious.

My dog and my friend Megan LOVE this stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Sonic ice, just not as much as these two!  When she was so out of it on Monday after her surgery, she kept huffing and puffing like she was hot. She hadn't had food or water since the night before, but every time I put water in front of her, she wouldn't move to get any.  Luckily, I had some Sonic ice left over from my drink earlier that day.  I gave her some and it worked! She gobbled it up.

Today, I stopped at Sonic to grab a drink before leaving Starkville and ordered Lacey some ice. Did you know for $0.10 plus tax, you can score a small cup of Sonic ice?  I did!  Lacey had half of the ice gobbled up before we made it to West Point.  By the time we made it thirty minutes outside of Memphis and were at standstill traffic because two semis had collided, she had downed the whole cup!  Watching Lacey enjoy her ice brought back sweet memories of Sonic ice and my friend Megan.  Just wanted to share a few with y'all.  Who knew these two would have so much in common.  {Sorry Megs for comparing you to a dog, but you both are obsessed with this stuff!}

I think this love for Sonic ice began when we lived in the Chi Omega house. We had an ice machine in the basement that made Sonic style ice, and it was the most awesome thing EVER {besides being able to do four loads of laundry all at once at the Chi O house}.  Every day, Meg would have a cup of ice from the basement in her room and she would just munch on it all day.  Sometimes, she'd pour a diet coke in there, but for the most part, she would just chow down on ice.  It made such an impression on me that I too took up this habit. Now, you wonder why I know ice is $0.10 for a small from Sonic?  Our senior year, the ice machine BROKE at the Chi O house.  It had lived a long life. 1986-2008, I think.  But when it broke, we pitched a fit to Mama Jones that we HAD to replace it with the same type ice. None other would do.  She informed us of how much more expensive it would be and how much longer it would take to order it.  We didn't care.  I'm not sure if she politicked to House Corp or what, but somehow the Sonic ice machine was replaced with a new Sonic ice machine!  However, in the meantime to get our fix, Meg and I would head to Sonic and get cups of ice!  We were that addicted!

Now, while we always chomped on it alone, there was something about Sonic diet cokes that were just better than pouring our own.  And MANY times we would go to Sonic during Happy Hour and bring back diet cokes with EXTRA ice.  Meg taught me that trick. Who knew you could ask them for extra ice.  Meg is an admissions counselor for MSU and two summers I've lived in Starkville while Meg has worked Orientation.  It's kind of a tradition for me to bring her a large Sonic Diet Coke during her afternoon break on the first day of Orientation. I'm not sure what she's going to do this year without me!

On more than one occasion, we would all wind up going to see a movie at the movie theater in Starkville.  It was Megan's tradition to stop at CVS and get snacks and then head to Sonic to buy a cup of ice. She often got upset because the nice people would charge us 23 cents for a large cup of ice and when you paid a quarter, they'd assume you didn't want change. She never said anything to the carhops, of course, but when you hold a love for Sonic ice as much as we do, that's at least a dollar per month in change that Sonic kept!  Maybe not quite that much, but still. It was the fact that they assumed you didn't want your 2 pennies. And that just didn't sit well with either of us.  We'd smuggle in the cups of ice in our purse along with a diet coke from CVS and enjoy whatever movie Megan had talked me into going to see.

When Megan and I lived in Birmingham together one summer, the Sonic was forever away from our house!  Like so far away that Megan would rarely go get her Sonic fix!  So one weekend I had been to Starkville to visit David and when I left I stopped at Sonic and bought a Route 44 ice.  {yes, I really did}.  I then drove to Bham and brought Meg her ice.  It had not melted much on the two hour drive, and we stayed up and pretended like we still lived in the Chi O house!

It all started here, but thanks to Megan and the Chi Omega house, my DOG now shares a love of the Sonic style ice. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to visit Sonic again without getting Lacey a cup of ice!  She is, however, doing much better after her surgery.  You wouldn't even know she had major surgery on Monday if you saw her today!

Playing in the snow which strangely resembles Sonic ice!

Hi, My Name is Lacey

If you haven't met me, meet me.  My name is Lacey or as my parents often call me sweet Lace dog, Lacey Lou, Lace, or LayLay.  I'm not sure why they seem to think shortening my name is cute.  Then again, I have a really long French name that my originally breeders gave me. I'd hate for them to try to pronounce that.  

I came to live with Mom and David after they got back from the Gator Bowl and have spent most of my time with them learning how to explore new things.  David won't let me call him Dad.  He gets mad at Mommy when she calls him Dad.  I'm not a big fan of the backyard and would rather stay inside.  There is a big chocolate lab two houses over that barks at me through our cyclone fence.  Mom and David can't make out if he is a he or she.  They think he might jump the fence and come after me.  I used to ignore him until he said something one day that made me mad.  At 5am, I decided to wake the neighborhood and put him in his place.  For some reason, Mom didn't think that was too cool.  There is a Beagle on the other side of me.  He's smaller than me so I think I can take him.  I just ignore them both most of the time.  There's another big dog who lives inside the house behind mine.  We rarely see him outside, but his owner doesn't let him bark at me and makes him come inside if he starts. While I'm not a fan of the backyard, recently with the cool weather, David has been taking me on walks.  And I like walks.  But as soon as I get tired, I start lagging behind.  David's legs are much longer than mine, and I have to hurry to keep up.

I've really enjoyed my time with these people.  They are nice, they feed me, and they pet behind my ears.  David lets me get in bed and cuddle with Mom when he gets up to get ready for work.  I really liked these people until Monday....

On Sunday afternoon, I should have known something was up.  Mom cried to David all afternoon.  She doesn't usually do this so I didn't know what was wrong.  David got up to take me for a walk and when we came back, Mom had everything loaded in the car.  I suppose it was so I couldn't groan and whine while she did it.  We got in the car and she cried some more.  She even called people to cry to them.

We got to Starkville {my favorite of all of the houses Mom takes me to} and I barreled up the stairs.  Strangely, we slept downstairs.  We never sleep downstairs.  Mom always puts me in the big queen size bed with her.  We slept in a twin, and I made sure Mom didn't get any sleep because there wasn't room for me to stretch out.

Monday morning we woke up and she took me to the vets office.  I'm not like most dogs.  I like going to the vet.  There are a bunch of people there to pet me!  Mom was filling out paperwork and the nice girl that worked there picked me up and started petting me.  When she stopped, I took my paw and touched her to let her know she didn't have to stop.  Mom walked over, gave me a hug, said I love you, and left.  She wasn't crying, but she looked like she was about to.

Next thing I know, they are taking me to the back and drawing blood.  Then I don't remember anything except waking up with a terrible pain in my belly, drowsy, and sore teeth.  I realized I was missing a tooth and that there was a scar on my tummy.  I felt really woozy and was shaking, but Mom let me ride in her lap when she came to get me.  I barely recognized that it was my Mom.

When we got home, I slept a bunch and felt awful. I would barely move.  Mom kept calling people to see if I was okay and a bunch of people were calling to check on me.  She told me so.  I slept okay that night and woke up feeling a little better in the morning.

But all day I kept getting in trouble because I kept trying to lick that big scar.  Mom won't let me and she keeps threatening to go get my "eCollar."  Wonder what that means?  She acts like she really doesn't want to put it on me, but I think she's serious!  She watches me like a hawk.  She even caught me in the middle of the night trying to lick it.

I'm really hoping I feel better soon.  I'd post a picture of myself right now, but my hair isn't done, and I still feel bad.  And really, would you want a picture of yourself online for the world to see if you had just been "spayed."  I don't know what that means, but that's the word Mom keeps using.  She told me my teeth hurt because the vet cleaned them so my breath would be fresh.

I woke up this morning feeling much better. I ate all of my breakfast as soon as Mom put it in my bowl and drank a bunch of water.  Sometimes I forget that I'm sore and get too excited.  But then I stop because the pain hurts.

I really like it when people text Mom to check on me. I'll make sure she updates the blog to tell you how I'm feeling.  Until then, I'm going to sleep next to Mom on the couch.  She keeps petting my ears!

Nine Months of Marriage

Can you believe nine months ago we were doing this...

Signing this...

Standing here...

 

Praying this...

Running through this...

Kissing here...

Dancing in like this...

Eating this....

 

Singing this...

Ringing these...

 

Yeah, I know...neither can we!

We spent this past weekend in Memphis celebrating the wedding of two of David's high school friends Michael and Emily.  Michael was a groomsman in our wedding, and the only picture I have on my computer to post is this one.  You'll have to click on it to make it bigger on your screen, but Michael is the one to David's left and your right.

Emily and Michael have been dating since high school, and it was a joyous occasion to say the least Friday and Saturday night.  

Michael and Emily from our wedding rehearsal dinner

Interesting fact:  If you are married, it is always important to calculate how long you've been married before going to weddings.  Inevitably, the first question out of someone's mouth will be, "so how long have y'all been married."  To which your response should not be..."um, er, uh, hm...let me see."  Too often though, that's our response.  It's not enough to say we got married in June.  We have to put a month on it.  David and I have never been the ones who celebrate each "month" anniversary since marriage.  We're lucky if we remember it's Monday and to take the garbage out!  So we stand awkwardly at rehearsal dinners, receptions, and family get togethers and count in our heads how many months it's been.  I'm not sure if it's because it feels like we've been married more or less, but I was surprised to say 9 months this weekend.  And upon further inspection, our nine months fell on the same day that Michael and Emily were getting married.  And neither one of us had realized that!

There's just something about going to a wedding and thinking, we did that exactly nine months ago.  I know I've alluded to some of my friend's weddings in past posts, but it seriously is one of the most fun things to experience.  You get to actually LISTEN to the pastor.  And the pastor did such a great job talking about marriage this weekend.  When you're standing up there, you're in la la land and don't realize that marriage is going to have bumps and fights.  I don't know if we just thought we'd be the exception to the rule or if we just didn't care to think about it.  I firmly believe I thought we'd be the exception.  But throw two different people into one house, give them finances to manage together, submission, respect, and love....oh and a pile of dirty laundry, a vacuum cleaner, and ONE bathroom and see what you get.  It won't always be tulips and roses.  However, I think a large part of being married is how you respond to those circumstances.  Nine months down the road, and I absolutely LOVE being married to my best friend.  

David and I at Michael and Emily's wedding

Oh and please prepare yourselves, we'll probably be reliving this post in three months! :)

Pinch Me, I'm Irish!

Okay, so I'm not really Irish!  But the point of this post was to share with you my cute St. Paddy's day decor.  The only problem with this was......I didn't think it turned out cute.  So rather than taint your opinion of my artistic skills, I decided I wouldn't post it.  I did, however, have high hopes of refurbishing it and trying to improve upon it on Monday.  My grand plan involved coming home from Brandon on Sunday night where we attended the lovely wedding of Kayla McCarver and Stephen Bryant and redecorating it in hopes that it could make the blog.

Problem...

When we returned Sunday night, I was feeling ANYTHING but good.  I climbed in the bed with chills, and asked David if he was cold.  When he said no, I knew I was in trouble.  After waking up in the night constantly to fever, I woke up Monday to a sore, swollen throat, headache, 101 fever, and my ear was hurting.  Not cool.  After laying around for TWO days with a constant 101 fever and increasing ear pain, I finally went to the "Doc in a box" nurse practitioner.  She did a strep test (which came back negative) and decided I had...get this...an ear infection.  Yes, 1 month olds to five year olds are laughing at me everywhere.  I know. Seriously, I don't think I've had one of those since I was five!  BUT, she gave me a Zpack and like that the fever and ear ache were gone.  Still have more meds to go, but I'm so thankful for the relief.  And thankful for a husband who takes care of me (and our puppy) when I'm sick!

So no redo on the St. Patrick's wreath.  Oh well.  There's always next year.

Is it bad that, while I know we're supposed to think March 17th=St. Paddy's day, I think ooohh...Billy and Mary Beth's birthday!?  Those are two of my very good friends and St. Paddy's day is simply a way to remember that it's their birthday.  So if you know those two people (and I highly doubt you know both unless you're in my family), make sure you plan on wishing them a happy birthday!  And by all means, don't pinch them if they actually forget to wear green!

And all of the pictures I have on my computer of Billy are embarrassing pictures of me!  Billy and my husband love to golf when we're in Brandon, and I'm very surprised I don't have any photos of them together.  So I just stole some from his wife's facebook page!  We miss you guys!

They came to Memphis right before we moved here.

Happy birthday friends!

Celebrating Mardi Gras

Yesterday at about 2pm, a nice FedEx man rang my doorbell.  Lace and I aren't used to people dropping by unannounced so yes, I can't believe I'm admitting this to blogland, but I was just getting out of the shower.  We had Downline early yesterday morning, and I had simply come in from that at 8am and started working.  I'd had clothes on and not my PJs all day, but for some reason, I felt the need to wait until 2pm to take a shower. Shame on me.  So since I didn't know who was there, I quickly threw my PJs on, as they were in the dirty clothes, and I peaked out the window.  When I saw the FedEx man standing with that oh so perfect box decorated with Mardi Gras beads {Gambinos sends King Cakes in Mardi Gras FedEx boxes}, I jumped up and RAN to throw clothes on. I had this horrible thought that he would put it back on the truck and, heaven forbid, LEAVE.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

Next step was to rip open the box.  Gambinos usually sends Mardi Gras beads so I was going to put them on Lacey and send a picture to my Dad.  My Dad is a wonderful Dad.  When I was a little kid, my Dad used to dress up  us both up and have Mardi Gras parades.  I've never actually BEEN to Mardi Gras, but you can tell from this picture that I've celebrated Mardi Gras every year since I was little.

 

Anyway, so Gambinos did not send Mardi Gras beads this year {which is fine}, but they sent a sign that said Happy Mardi Gras. So Lacey posed with it. You can also see the FedEx Mardi Gras box and King Cake in the background.  I didn't have my real camera inside so I took this with my cell phone. That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

 

I sent that picture to my Dad {and Mom} and said "Lacey says Happy Mardi Gras and that she can't wait to try her first King Cake. She is after all French-Canadian!"  My Dad's response back was priceless:

"Yay. Glad it got there. Now you have to take that mean stuff about me off your blog. Happy Madi Gras and tell Lace I said to let the good times roll!"

So this is me, officially taking it all back.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.  I have the best Dad in the world, and I may be married, but not cut off from King Cakes.  David enjoyed his first piece of REAL DEAL King Cake last night, and while he liked it, I'm not sure it held the same meaning to him as it does to me. It's a lifetime of memories with my Dad {and Mom too, just more Dad...sorry Mom}, and when I eat it, I'm back to my childhood.  I text David yesterday and said, "King Cake for lunch, dinner, dessert, and breakfast! Woo Hoo!"  This morning I ate breakfast in my sleepy stupor and went back to put my bowl up, saw the King Cake, and thought, what the heck?  You only get to enjoy it once a year!

So last night, we ate Red Beans and Rice, French Bread, and....King Cake.  And I have a nice, unopened tube of cinnamon rolls in my refrigerator.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake. 

Thanks to the World's Best Dad! I love you!

Mardi Gras

It's that time of year again!  Mardi Gras of course!  It's tomorrow, March 8th.  And with that comes one of my favorite things--King Cakes!

For those of you who have never heard of King Cakes or don't know the history, I did my homework. This comes from Mardi Gras New Orleans: 

"As part of our Christian faith, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. We refer to this as the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night. This is a time of celebration, exchanging gifts and feasting. Today, the tradition continues as people all over the world gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. A popular custom was and still is the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings called "A King's Cake."

Inside every cake is a tiny baby (generally plastic now, but sometimes this baby might be made of porcelain or even gold). The tradition of having King Cake Parties has evolved through time, and the person who receives the slice of cake with the baby is asked to continue the festivities by hosting the next King Cake party.

Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of dough with a small amount of decoration. Today's King Cakes are much more festive. After the rich Danish dough is braided and baked, the "baby" is inserted. The top of the ring or oval cake is then covered with delicious sugar toppings in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

In more recent years, some bakeries have been creative with stuffing and topping their cakes with different flavors of cream cheese and fruit fillings.

January 6, the Twelfth Night after Christmas, is also the day our Mardi Gras season begins. Mardi Gras Day is always 47 days prior to Easter Sunday (Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday)."

Back in the day, my father would mail me a King Cake from the best bakery in New Orleans, but considering last year he cut me off and only sent my brother one {cruel}, I had to do something to suffice.   Many of you reading used to come partake in my room.  The FedEx box would come with its purple, green, and gold beads on the box, I'd rip it open, we'd ice it in the middle of our dorm/XO house floor, and dive in.  Thanks for the memories Dad.  Getting engaged = cut off.

If you're like me and live no where close to New Orleans, you don't get good King Cakes. And honestly, the thought of spending $7 on one from the grocery store disgusts me.  1. Because they are overpriced for a nasty product.  2. Because they don't taste like the real deal.  So, in effort to make a cheaper version {thank you coupons} and moist version close to the real deal, my mom gave me this recipe last year.  All you need is food coloring, sugar, cinnamon rolls, and the icing that comes with it.

Directions: Buy a package of packaged cinnamon rolls--you know the kind in a can?  Note that you need to buy the kind that you can unroll and not the kind that come as single rolls.  Take an individual roll, unroll it, fold it in half and twist to create a braided look.  Lay in bundt pan.  Use three to form the outer ring and two to form the inner ring.  Cook on 375 for about 20 minutes {350 and less if you have a gas oven like me that tends to burn things if left in for the specified time}.

I forgot to take a picture of the product un-iced so this is last years king cake.

While the cake is cooking, you need to prepare your sugar.  Use 1/2 cup sugar for every 1/2 teaspoon food coloring.  I usually decrease this to 1/4 of each.  You'll have plenty left over.  Whisk in a bowl until color is dispersed then store in plastic bags. You don't think this is going to work, but I promise it does.

Cool, ice {with the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls--I usually buy cream cheese icing cinnamon rolls}, sprinkle, and serve!

The final product {make sure that you have a super cute cake stand to display on}:

Mmmmm! Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

I Have an Addiction...

I have an addiction, and it's called art supplies.  Yes, I know you think I'm exaggerating, but I swear to you I'm not!

You see, I've never had a place for my art supplies to call home. They've always been stashed in the closet at the Chi O house, a downstairs closet, or the bottom of the pantry.  They have been crammed together and it was only recently, when we moved, that they were able to claim an entire closet of their own.  Until recently, I've just been buying, collecting, accumulating supplies for projects I thought up.  Well...

After simply cramming my supplies in said closet at our home in Memphis, I decided it was high time that I organize my stash.  So I found a blog that suggested buying a clear over the door shoe organizer from Target for $7.  So I did, and I got to work. I also invested in a new 12 x 12 paper holder (I already had two).  

I really do wish I had taken a before picture, but I didn't.  Trust me when I say it was overwhelming!  The results can be seen below!

In case you can't tell, let me break something down for you.  I discovered two things about myself and craft supplies:

1. I'm an impulse buyer.  If it's cute or I think I might use it, I buy it.
2. If I plan a project, rather than go to my supplies and see what I have, I just buy everything I need.  The results are insane.

I did not count the sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper I own.  However, you can fit a lot in those drawers.  1 drawer is stuff from the wedding {programs, invites, guest pages}, 1 is stickers, 1 is scrap paper.  So I have 6 drawers full of paper.  Nice.

Below details a list of what is organized in our shoe organizer in my craft room.

• 26 Rolls of Ribbon
• A bag full of left over ribbon
• 2 Bottles Rubber Cement
• 49 Paint Brushes
• 9 Foam Brushes
• 1 bottle glossy Modge Podge
• 1 bottle matte Modge Podge
• 1 fabric glue
• 1 elmers glue
• 1 wood glue
• 26 Paint Pens
• 22 Markers
• 8 Glitter Glue Pens 
• 3 hot glue guns {yes, three--I can pick from blue, white, or pink}
• 2 packs of glue sticks
• 2 packs of Stitch Witch
• 16 magnets 
• A bunch of clear glass beads that most people use for filling vases
• Enough cello bags to last till the end of my life
• 5 sandpaper blocks
• 4 4x6 clear magnetic picture frames
• 4 rubber stamps and 2 stamp pads

And this does not include the 2 BIG boxes that are full of bottles of acrylic paint. My guess would be around 60 bottles are in the top of the closet.  This is ridiculous.

Is there a rehab for a craft supplies addiction?  If so, someone sign me up.  My husband would be grateful!

Home Sweet Home

I promised to give an update of our Saturday in yesterday's post.  So here goes.  But trust me, you want to keep reading as I've finally fulfilled my promise of posting photos of our home! {eek!}

I had a morning session to go to with Downline {the ministry organization David and I have been doing here}. They were offering a session on biblical counseling.  Since I've had two youth girls in the past three weeks come to me with issues of friends and suicide, I decided I needed to go.  How on earth do you respond to that?  Maybe too heavy of a note to start our blog post off with, but it's the truth.  So I spent my Saturday morning learning how to counsel better.  It was SUCH a great morning.  I learned a lot.

David spent his morning raising money for the Junior Achievement organization by bowling with the International Paper team.  He didn't win, but I'm pretty sure he had fun.  He won a box of Rice Krispies?  Random.  Guess we'll be making Rice Krispie treats soon.

We spent that afternoon getting ready for David's parents and Grandmother to visit for dinner.  David helped by grilling the chicken and planning the entire menu.  It was so good! I wish I had remembered to take pictures.  We watched the basketball game and listened to Jack Cristill announce his last game.  Such a sad day.  If you're not an MSU fan, I'm sorry for this tangent, but Jack Cristill is a legend.  I've never heard a football or basketball game announced by anyone else on the radio.  And before you say, "24 years isn't that long," my mother {who shall remain ageless} has NEVER heard a game he didn't call either.  That is insane and wonderful all at the same time!  I would really like a Top Ten Jack Cristill quotes t-shirt. Someone get to work on that please!  It was so great to hear Jack say "Wrap it in maroon and white again."  I've heard those words my whole life.  In fact, I painted a piece of pottery for it this fall and blogged about it.  And you know if there was a game on and we invited people over that means we had to make Captain Rodney's.

One of my friends informed me that if I was going to have my in-laws over, that meant I was ready to put pictures of our house on the blog.  So, since I knew she was right...  I mean, let's face it.  I love my in-laws, but the cleanest my house is EVER going to be is when my in-laws come over.  And in second place is when my parents come.  So, I grabbed my camera about 10 minutes before they arrived and shot some photos.  I'll try to do a play by play of where you are in our humble abode.  Please know that it is not like I want it as I'm sure you'll be able to tell by the comments.  And it's too hard of a process to get these photos in order, so bear with me. 


When you walk into our house, you see the living room.  If you continue to the left, you'll see a hallway leading to three bedrooms and a bathroom.  Here is ours.

Walking into our bedroom

Our bed with the infamous decorative pillows that David SO loves.

Our dresser and mirror which was a pain to hang. Please pardon the fact that ALL of the pictures in our room are wedding/engagement pictures.  I had engagement pictures framed for our reception. They were packed and upacked that way, and I don't have time to frame other ones. At least that's what I tell myself.

This is a photo of one of the lamps I redid. Also, I have the best hubby who lets me decorate with owls on his nightstand.  And of course engagement pics from the wedding. And also my Gaudi cross that my brother brought back to me from Europe this summer.

The next bedroom is our guest bedroom that I can't WAIT to get my hands on to redo!  It simply has a bed in it.  Hoping to get my desk from home to put over to the side. I'm so proud to say it's not a junk room anymore!  This is my bedding from college.  It was on clearance from Target for $19.99 and came with a ton of stuff.  It looks way prettier than this picture, but I'm sick of it. And when you spend $19.99 on it, you can afford to redo it whenever you want.  Can't wait to show y'all what I'm thinking!

Our one and only bathroom.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be as we get ready at completely different times.  I can't wait to paint it brown, but sadly, it hasn't been a priority. I. Hate. Butter. Yellow. Bathrooms.  Plus my shower curtain doesn't match and that drives me insane!

This is our dining room. It usually is only set for four, but since we had five for dinner, the office chair is set at the table also.

My favorite piece of furniture!  Our buffet!  Ready for company to come eat.

Standing in the dining room looking back at the living room.  Please ignore the picture that is not centered.  It will be soon. We simply have not crossed it off our honey-do list.  And our couch always blends into the carpet in photos. It doesn't really do that in person so much as here. Please pardon my puppy dog who feels we need to photograph her.

TV with MSU game on. Please pardon my husband's phone and keys on the bookcase. They are supposed to be in the key spot by the door. But they are rarely there unless I put them there for him.

Our front door. Note the key spot below. How convenient that is!

I can't believe I'm posting this photo before I give it a post of it's own.  It's coming Mrs. Patti! I promise!  Our sitting area for company and putting on shoes.

And now we move into the office.  This is the space we threw together with what we had.

What you see when you walk into the office.  You can see the door to the left that connects to the kitchen. It's blocked so you can't walk through, but still great for passing things through to the other side of the house. As you can tell, this is our MSU room. All things MSU.

On top of the desk.  Please excuse the 5x7 picture in the 4x6 picture slot. It was the only picture I had printed out. Plan to replace with a Gator Bowl picture.

The monstrous bookcase. For the record, this bookcase came from the Union when they were moving out all of the furniture to redo it. David helped move furniture and they "gave" him this in return.  I'm pretty sure they were trashing it and he salvaged it.  I'd love to repaint it, but not right now. Currently it sits opposite the chairs and has a TV on it that we've yet to hook up.  Our entire 8+ months of marriage and we've only had one TV in our home. EVER. David says this shall change before March Madness! Guess he doesn't want to watch the Food Network with me! 

And now to the opposite side of our house!  This is the back door (to the right) and the dryer (obviously). Kind of the utility room but it connects to the kitchen so it has to stay clean...most of the time. The bookcase to the left is full of my cookbooks and the aprons are hung right above it!

You may recognize this from this post.  And of course, my two FAVORITE loves can be found on top.  My mixer that my parents gave me for Christmas two years ago and my coffee pot that grinds.  We thought my mixer had gotten lost in the move. I cried for thirty minutes before I found it.  Seriously.

This is Lacey who followed me around the house for 10 minutes snapping photos. Then she gave up and looked at me like...are we done yet?  I walked into the living room to find this!

Back to the kitchen.  My owl I painted. My friend Bethany painted one too.  Her's name is Chi and mine's name is Omega. They hope to be reunited one day soon.

Other side of the sink.  Love my Good Earth Pottery. But especially love that it was made in Starkville, MS. While my pattern is not this one, I loved the colors for my red and brown kitchen that was not supposed to include yellow walls.  Still haven't painted it brown.

You may remember this from this post.  Pardon the pot on the stove. I was cooking for my in-laws remember?

And finally, standing in the dining room and looking back to the utility room.

Hope you enjoyed the house tour.  I need to remember to take an outside photo for you.  Hopefully now that I've finally posted these photos, you won't quit reading the blog. It was all I had to hook you into reading!  I hope that you're hooked on reading and won't quit just because you know what our home looks like! I promise to write lots of posts with new craft ideas and lots of fun stories about the Adventures of the Adams. Hope y'all have a great day! Let me know what you think about our Memphis home!