12.22.2010

Here and there all around the Square...

*WARNING* This post contains a crazy number of pictures

Greetings from Beech Mountain!  We are on a pre-Christmas trip with my entire family that we take annually.  Sorry it's been a few weeks since I posted...we have been in the road just like all of you I am sure.  I am going to try to recap what we've been up to this month! 

December started with a VERY successful Junior League Holiday Market!  We had over 90 merchants from around the country selling everything you could imagine!  I did take a few pictures, but didn't download them before we left town so I will have to post those later.  It is always a long week, but at the end I think we are all a little sad it's over.
We also helped Gigi decorate the Christmas tree...we always have fun reminiscing over each ornament!

Boys and their Gigi

 December also meant Lee traveled to Costa Rica to go deep sea fishing...he was gone almost a week so we were soooo glad he was home! He missed the boys program at school so I videoed and took as many pictures as I could.  The boys were in the Heavenly Angel choir {which they insisted was just "the angel choir" because "it's at church, mama, not heaven"}








Jackson and Tradd


Boys with Nana and Pop {Lee's Parents}

Boys with Bryson and Liz {My brother and his girlfriend}

Boys with Papa and Gigi {My parents}


Last week at the boy's prechool, they had a Christmas party and little performance for the parents.  We all cracked up when they all filed in dressed as the Blues Brothers!  They sang a "blues" song and Joy to the World followed by lunch and crafts.  We have truly been blessed with the friendships that have come from our preschool family!
Jackson

Jackson and Tradd

Mama and Jackson

Mama and Tradd

December has also meant a lot of changes to our house!  The sheetrock has been completed and the trim guys have been working for a solid two weeks.  The interior doors have been hung, the trim has been finished around the windows and doors, and the built in cabinetry was wrapping up today!  The tile in most of the bathrooms has also been installed.  We have been out of town since Sunday, so I am dying to see the changes that have taken place.
Locker/Charging Station

Laundry Room

Laundry Room Cabinets

Downstairs bathroom tile

Dining Room

Dining Room



More to come from our "BEECH" trip and Christmas, but until then Merry Merry! 








11.30.2010

Southern Home and catching up

So I'm checking in, but I can't stay long...seems like my computer time for the past few weeks has been trumped by my Junior League obligations.  If you live nearby, we'd love to have to come shop with us!  You can check out all the details at http://www.jlcolumbia.org/.


As for the house, it's coming along great! Most all of the work from this point on is interior so it's harder to take really great pictures. They are working on the sheetrock this week and the trim guys should be able to start by weeks end! I am overwhelmed at times at all of the decisions that we are making!



Dining Room

Foyer looking into Den

Looking into Den from Kitchen

My FAVORITE!  Our fireplace on the back porch!!!  Can't wait to watch football out there next fall!

Room over the garage

My bathroom

Garage

11.15.2010

Free Cards from Shutterfly

Every year, the daunting task of getting our Christmas cards ordered, addressed, and mailed falls to yours truly.  For the past two years I have ordered my cards through Shutterfly, the awesome website that provides free online photo storage as well as countless photo gifts. I usually use a picture that I have taken during the year or one snapped my someone else during our family vacation.   I have purchased photo books, prints, and cards and have never been less than pleased.  My favorite card line sold through Shutterfly are the flat stationery cards designed by Fresh Lemonade!  This year I have considered making a calendar for grandparents and maybe next year {when we are able to have our Christmas party again} we will order invitations from Shutterfly!   The cards below are a few of my favorites from the 2010 Collection...     





Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly -- Sign up here!!! 






Southern Home






11.11.2010

God Bless America

NEW YORK {Day 2}

We slept in and took our time getting out Saturday morning, but we had a hop-on-hop off tour scheduled.  If you've never been to New York, I would really recommend doing something like this because you get to see so much of the city in a short amount of time.  Basically, you can get off at the stops you wish and when you are ready to move on down the line you go back to the bus stop and hop on a different bus.  It's a crap shoot with the guides on the buses, but ours on each bus ended up being really good!  We took the downtown tour because we wanted to go to Ground Zero.
This is us on the bus!  It was really windy that day so I was cold!!!  Our first hop off was at Madison Square Park.  It was coincidence that we were there during the weeks they were having an outside market!  The park itself sits in the shadow of the Flatiron Building.  We ate lunch here from two different spots...Pies 'n' Thighs and Roberta's.  We had a homemade chicken pot pie and a brick oven pizza.  Lee usually hates to share food, but he was feelin' all romantic like so he agreed.  The picture below shows one of the vendors cooking on the street!  Taxi's and cars were literally zooming down the road right beside him!!! 




 Back on the bus, Lee and I decided that if we ever move to New York, we would live in Greenwich Village and go to this church!  ha!
 The fence below is covered with tiles created by New York school children.  All of the tiles will be moved to the memorial site when it's complete...it was simple and breathtaking.

And for all the Sex and The City fans....it's CARRIE'S HOUSE!!!!!


 The AVON Breast Cancer walk was going on the weekend we were there...
 Ground Zero.  What can you say?  Really not a lot to "see", but strange to see that much sky in NYC.  And people are just quiet there.  The picture of the cemetery was probably one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.  That church is right across the street from Ground Zero... if you look hard enough you can see the cranes in the background. 

 And for all the REAL  Housewives, it's Zarin Fabrics!  Didn't get to go in to look for Jill....

 I wanted to shop here...is that not the cutest little grocery? 

We hopped off the tour for good at Rockafellar Center because we were going on the NBC Studio Tour at four that afternoon.  We had a little time to kill, so we walked all the way up Fifth Avenue to FAO Schwarz to get the boys a little something.  We walked around a little while and stumbled on The BIG Piano!  They must have performances throughout the day...we were just  lucky! Oh, and we ended up buying the boys an FAO Schwarz teddy bear! 

We were not allowed to take any pictures during the NBC Studio tour, so being the rule follower I am, I didn't try it!  It was neat, but I don't think we'd do it again.  We got to see the sets of The Dr. OZ Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live.  All are MUCH smaller in person than on TV!  I totally forgot to tell you about the randomness that happened to us on Friday!  We tried to do the NBC tour on Friday, but the tickets were gone for the day.  As we were leaving, we were approached by a Jimmy Fallon intern and given tickets to Jimmy's {I act like I know him:)} monologue rehearsal!  The only downside was that we had to wait around for a while in a hot little hallway with 50 strangers.  Once on set, we sat down in the audience and out came Jimmy Fallon.  His writer's sat beside his desk in the guest chairs and he read his jokes for that night off of a piece of paper!  He marked the jokes we laughed at and struck through the ones he didn't like.  Because it was a Friday night he also did his 'thank you note' segment...that was a hoot!  We fell asleep trying to wait on it to come on that night so I'll have to Hulu it!  

On the way back to the hotel after NBC, we stopped by Magnolia Bakery and STOOD IN LINE to buy cupcakes!  I bought two red velvet and a breast cancer awareness {vanilla cake and icing}!  They were good, but I gotta say it.  I like our Cupcake cupcakes better!  It think it was the icing...I like A LOT of icing!    



We headed back to the hotel to watch the game and stopped to buy a six pack on the way...
a $16 six pack!!!  We were cracking up!  Cupcakes and Miller Lite!  This was Lee during the game.  Biting his lip....and this was me, under the covers messing with my camera!  After the game, we walked down the street to a little Italian place to eat and we called it a night!