Birthday's, Black Crowes, & Bird Poop?

This past weekend we went to the Black Crowe's concert at the Ryman. Jonas introduced me to the Crowes back in the 10th grade and we have loved their music ever since. It was a great night surrounded by great music, hippies, beer, and smoke. =)

On our way to the show we decided to kill some time by walking around on the riverfront and take some pictures. We started walking towards the Ryman and all of a sudden i felt something hit me in the head, and i told Jonas, "Crap i think it's raining..." Nope! Just a big Ol' poop from a bird that decided he wanted to relieve himself on my head...it would happen to me. I reached my hand back there and it wasn't your normal run of the mill white bird crap. It was PURPLE! With berries in it...this bird had had one too many berries that day. So we walk over to Sbarroto use their bathroom and there reads a sign that says "Bathroom's are for Sbarro customers only" SAWEET.... so Jonas takes one for the team and gets himself a beer while i go in the bathroom to literally throw water on my head because of course they were out of paper towels.

He bought a beer just so i could use the bathroom...how sweet right? haha

Pre- bird crapping in my hair. =)

Also on friday night we celebrated Kater's 24th birthday!!! We went to J Alexander's on West End and celebrated with Katelyn and Chad, Aubs and Matt, and Cherry, Elliott and Lofton. We love yall!

What I Love about Fall

I love this time of the year and because today, September 22, is the first official day of Autumn i wanted to share a few things i love about this season. Fall has always been my favorite part of the year i guess because of the amazing weather with NO humidity and fun things to do like hayrides, football games, tailgates, and of course the clothes! I love being able to wear a dress with tights and tall boots, baking pumpkin pies, and enjoying family time with a bowl of chili crowded around the TV yelling at your favorite football team.

Like i said boots...

These were at my door last night when we got home from our long day of work and meetings and i had totally forgotten that they were coming yesterday! I have been in search for cute tall boots that dont make my giant feet look like i am going skiing, and i really like them!

And of course the change in weather and colors is an amazing thing to watch in the fall and always reminds me of how much God loves us for Him to give us such a beautiful creation that we get to watch change and show his creativity.

I saw a blue pumpkin at Cherry's baby shower last thursday night outside her aunt's house and i loved it! I am going to go on a search for one this weekend!

And last but not least, TN football is a huge reason of why i love fall. This picture still gives me chill bumps and brings back sweet memories of going to football games in Knoxville every year with my family growing up as a kid, and even though we haven't been doing that great these past couple of years I still love my VOLS!

Fixed Roman Shade

Meet Japs...

Japs has been my needle and pin holder since my sewing class my senior year of high school, which was 7 years ago. (sigh)

I found a turtorial on this girl's blog that i love to look at/stalk everyday for a FIXED roman shade, and realised how easy it would be to make so i decided to make it this weekend! For those of you who i have been telling for about 2 weeks now that i was making a curtain, here is it...

This fabric was something me and my mom found about 3 months ago and we got some for her to cover her old wing back chairs with, which turned out awesome. I loved this pattern so i went back and got some for myself! To make this curtain all you need to do is get enough black-out backing fabric and whatever cute pattern of fabric you like to fit your window. I would recomend not gettin a super heavy fabric cause its hard to get it to hang right with your folds you pin up. To make sure you get enough fabric make sure you measure from one side of your window to the next, and if you have window siding, measure from teh outer edge of it. Measure the width and add 2" for a 1"hem on each side, and then measure the length of your window and add 6" so you can have a good 2" hem on top and a 4" hem on the bottom.

So for ex. my window was: 34" W + 2" = 36"(1 yard of fabric)

56"L + 6" = 62" for my length. Normally with length you wont have to worry about it since the fabric is cut in yards for width and the length on the roll at the store is normally at least 65". So all i needed was 1 yd of fabric.

Then you sew your backing fabric to the WRONG side of your fabric leaving about a 1/2" rim on 3 sides. For the bottom of your curtain you wont have to worry about sewing it closed quite yet.

Then you fold over you fabric on both of your sides, overlapping your seam you sewed and hot glue, yes i said hot glue, your fabric to the backing like this...( DO NOT hot glue unless you use black-out backing)

After you have hot glued your two sides, be sure and iron your folds so that they have a good crease on them.

Then you will need to mount the top of your curtain to a 2"x1" board cut to the width of your window and then mount it onto your wall with these nifty 90 degree wall hangers. Please dont ask me what they are called because i got them from my dad. =) But im sure if you go to Lowe's they can point you in the right direction.

Then comes the time consuming part. You will pin your fold into place rather than sewing and having a seam show on your fabric. Get 2" plain pins and pin your folds into place.

Go get yourself some fabric and make one. It's easy!!!

Celebration's Anyone?

So last night after 4 years our friends Chad and Katelyn got engaged! It was so fun to celebrate with them and hear the story of how he proposed! She woke up yesterday to her car filled with roses and rose petals, a puffy muffin giftcard, and balloons. He sent her a text that said "Dodohead, wake up and forget your plans for the day. Get dressed cause your mom is coming to pic you up at 12!" So she gets ready has lunch with her mom at Puffy Muffin, then gets another card from Chad that has a gift certificate for Kinko's for her to go get her nametags made for BSF. And then she gets another giftcard to get her nails done! She goes home to get ready to go for dinner with Chad and he has been to her apartment and given her MORE roses! He picks her up and take her to The Parthenon to pop the question and then they have dinner at Flemings with both of their families! How fun is that! She had day filled with surprises from her love. :) After dinner we all surprised her at the Crowe's Nest in Green Hills for a mini-celebration.

Also, last saturday we had a really fun shower for my friend, Cherry, who is having a baby so soon! Lofton is due October 29th but we may see him a little sooner than that.  We had a beautiful shower at Bob and Karen Wood's house and so many girls came to shower Lofton with some awesome gifts! We can't wait to meet the little guy! Here are some pictures from the shower.

Leighton came to support her cousin =)

Getting a little practice

Sweet gift from Kater, she took one of Cherry's maternity pictures and wrote a scripture around it. It is adorable!

The hosteses with Cherry and Lofton. We love you guys!

Hump Day Treat

This is how i feel today. =)

Picture of the Day

I Need to Quit...But I Cant!

Boy or Girl? Dayton or Sandrine? Pheobe or Pheobo?

Ashley finds out on Wednesday! What do yo think she will have??

A Dog, a Monkey, a Cow, & Man

I Got this from James Ryle's blog that i follow. He does a devotional every day. I thought this was histerical and since i like dogs, monkeys, and cows i figured i could post it. :)

“Who could ever have told GOD what to do or taught him his business?” (Isaiah 40:13, The Message).

On the first day, God created the dog and said: “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.” The dog said: “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?”

So God agreed..

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.” The monkey said: “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?”

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and labor under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.” The cow said: “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?”

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.” But man said: “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?”

“Okay,” said God, “You asked for it; you got it.” So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we labor in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

The moral of the story is: It’s best to let God do His own work in His own way. He knows what He is doing. When we interject our own ideas into the process, we only mess things up royally!

Living from a suitcase

So these next few months are going to be absolutely crazy. I was looking at my work calendar today and realised just how much we are going to be gone and how much is going to be happening around us in the next few weeks/months!

This weekend with Labor day we have family stuff everyday. Ash and Matt are coming in town, Gavin and Margaret will be here, and then Jan and Lisa will be here on Monday so we will see them as well.

Next weekend is Cherry's baby shower, Holy Moly i cant believe its here.

The weekend after that we are going to the Black Crowes concert.

The first weekend in October i am leaving to go to Indianapolis for some work thingy for a whole week! Not awesome

When i get back from Indy i go strait to Bham for the Brandi Carlile concert with Bird!

Then the next weekend we will be in Denver with family. Hopefully being snowed in for the rest of the week. :)

Then after Denver we have Norwegian family coming in town to stay with us. Yes, i said Norwegian. People i have never met who dont exactly speak English. But i am excited to meet them and bake something for them! Because if i dont have something to do with my hands or something to talk about i may explode with awkwardness.

And somewhere in this crazy October, Sweet baby Lofton will be born! And i just hope we are here to witness it and see them!

The final weekend in October(Halloween) we dont have anything. Hallelujah. We will break for candy. :)

Then in November we will be leaving for 2 weeks to go to Europe!I can not wait i am so stinkin excited. I have already had requests from Bird for a big burly Swiss Alps man and chocolate, and a Eiffel Tower onzie from Ash. So if you have any requests shout them out.

When we get back from Europe we will have ti jump into Christmas decorating mode because i will already be like a week behind! And not to mention somewhere in there get ready for a baby shower for Ash!

And for the 3 maybe 4 people who read my blog yall already knew that. And most likely knew about all these things i am writing. But i needed something to blog about at work today. :)

-Blessings-