Feeling Beachy

Since it's the middle of February, I decided to do a little beachy house tour.

This is the beach home of a local family that was featured in our Greenville Talk magazine.

Let's take a look around.......

Simply beautiful.

Now, I'm ready for a vacation.

Really??

Seriously??

And we wonder why our country's in such a mess?

It's a great day to be a kid or a dog.

When you're a kid, one of the best sights in the world to see is a yard full of snow.

Clean, white, fluffy snow.  Not that icy stuff we've been getting here in the Upstate of SC.

Well, it became a reality for a lot of children yesterday and I have to admit that even though I was fighting it with all my being.....it is pretty.

Thanks to basketball games and baseball evaluations being cancelled, this is what the kids have been doing all day.

The boys built their fort for the snowball fight.  It got pretty intense for a while but they had so much fun.

Chase loves the snow and stayed outside for hours watching the kids and playing soccer.

Now, this is what mom is left with.

What a great day to be a mom.  Cookies and hot chocolate are now being enjoyed by all.

Oh, I almost forgot to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!
(I'm not a huge fan but I'm not a Valentine's Scrooge either, so enjoy.)

Result: Fail

Many of you may have heard of a wonderful company of products called Burt's Bees.

We absolutely love these all natural products that just happened to be made by a company in our home state of North Carolina.

Well, last fall I discovered that they have a lip balm that has color in it.  I was sold instantly - my lips won't chap and will have a beautiful tint to them without using a heavy lipstick or gloss.

I decided to buy it immediately.

Loved it.  Used it all the time.

After a few days, I started to notice that my lips were starting to get this tingly feeling & feeling a little puffy and sore in some spots.  (nice description, I know).

At the time, we had a lot going on family wise. My step-father had passed away & we were at my mom's house and with everything going on, I didn't put two & two together and realize that my favorite new product was causing an allergic reaction.

Gasp!

Once I finally figured it out - I was in complete denial.  It can't be - I love this stuff.

So....I had to eventually cave in and stop using the product but every time I'd pass it in the stores, I'd be a little sad.

In the meantime, while I was still in the dark, I had also picked up another one of their products.  It's a little glossier but still wonderful. 

Fast forward to last week.  I was passing their cute little display and stopped to linger.  I can't possibly be allergic to their lip shimmer, I thought.  It must have been something else - maybe stress, or the moon, or something other than this lip balm.  I'll give it another try - my husband at this point is rolling his eyes and chuckling at my state of denial. 

So, I bought another tube.  Ahh, I do love this stuff, I thought as I put it on.  

A few hours later - uh, oh!

My lips failed the test.

I must, indeed, be allergic.  I almost cried tears of sadness - almost.  Then I remembered that I still have their Super Shiny lip gloss waiting for me at home.

I highly recommend that you try your own test & if you pass....I'll try not to be jealous.

Misc. stuff

I don't have a lot to say - that's why I haven't posted in a few days.  

We've been busy. 

Gymnastics meets (which I can't post pictures of because the laptop with the photos has decided to be fickle).

She did well and came in 3rd all around - at both. 

Basketball games (which I won't post pictures of because I've already done that)

Before mentioned computer problems.  It started out as an internet connection issue (I think) and we've been on limited connectivity for about a week.  Internet repair man came today.  Out of three computers, two were working when he arrived.  Only one was working when he left.

I was not sad to see "Willy" leave.  He didn't really know what he was doing and his accent was hard for me to understand but I didn't have any problem understanding - "I don't know what the problem is or how to fix it."  (said with Quatemalen flair).

It took a woman from the Philippines to fix at least one of the laptops for me while on the phone.

(She didn't even have to come to my house, stay for two hours & then tell me she couldn't fix the problem.)

Bless her.

They're calling for more snow/ice wintery mix crud tonight.  This could be part of the reason I'm so blah.

I have to go to the grocery store for something e.v.e.r.y. day.  I'm tired of being at the grocery store. 

That's about it for now - hope your week is going a little better than mine but in the grand scheme of things - we're doing Great!

Superbowl Sunday Plans

So, are you a football family or couldn't you care less about Sunday night's game?

We, most definitely are a football family.

We (the boys) usually watch games every Sunday during the regular season and anticipate the "big" game for weeks.

So, are you wondering what our plans are for Superbowl Sunday?

You think we have a party planned with lots of good appetizers, snacks and lots of friends over to watch while Peyton & Drew battle it out?

I wish!

The truth is, we will be at our daughter's gymnastics meet that Sunday night.

You read correctly - a gymnastics meet on Superbowl Sunday - who comes up with that?

Daddy is less than trilled.

This will be just one of many things we do to support those we love so much.

So, what are your plans for Superbowl Sunday and who are you pulling for?

Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts?

or Drew Brees and his New Orleans Saints?

I have to admit that I like both of these teams, but I think I have to pull for my man, Peyton.  He's just the best.  You can see why I like the Saints here.

Hope you have a good weekend planned.  I think I heard the mention of more wintery weather for our area but I'm choosing to ignore it while I search online for a new home in a warmer climate.

Enjoy your Superbowl Sunday, no matter what you're doing.

Trees of Glass

It definitely is a winter wonderland in the Upstate of South Carolina.

That winter storm that swept the country finally paid a visit and left us with some beautiful scenery if not some trecherous roads.

Take a look around.

When I looked outside this morning with the sun shining bright, I realized that God had left us with trees that looked as if they were made of glass.

Hope you are enjoying this last weekend of January (can you believe that?). 

Now I say let's bring on the spring blooms and warmer temps.

Good-bye Mr. Winter - thanks for dropping by.

Sticker Shock

I'm in a state of shock and denial right now.

I had this wonderful little project in my head.

The kids and I headed out to Lowe's this afternoon to pick up all my supplies.

Paint. Check.

Corbels. Check - whoa!

Wait just a minute.

I check the sticker underneath one more time.....Yep, no change.

$58????  For ONE corbel?

Seriously?

I had NO idea!

This perfect little carved chunk of wood costs $58.

I needed THREE.

I was so disappointed.

You probably can figure out the rest of the story - got paint but left without beautiful corbels and came home to formulate how to make my wonderful little project become a reality without spending $174 on unfinished corbels.

Any ideas or suggestions on how to get around this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

He's playing bas-ket-ball.

Does anybody else remember that song?

Anyone?

Ok, I guess it's just me. I am a product of the 80's afterall.

Now, onto the look into one of our weekend activities.

My son is on a church basketball league this year. The age range is from 6th thru 8th grades.

Here are a few pictures for friends and family members that don't live close by:

(Sorry some of them don't look so good. I was playing with my camera & it's really difficult to get good shots when they're moving so fast.)

They lost.  They've lost every game they've played but they have fun doing it and I guess that's really the whole point.  Looking at the kid in the bottom right picture - are you really surprised our little guys lost against that?  He's almost hitting his head on the backboard!  Oh, well....there's always next week.


Hope you had a good weekend - I'm off to get school started.

A Quick Trip

Hope everyone enjoyed the three-day weekend.

We did although it happened to be a busy one.

G had a gymnastics meet scheduled bright and early Monday morning, so that meant an overnight trip was going to be necessary since we had to be in Knoxville, TN at 7:30 am.

Hubby wasn't able to make this little adventure so the kids and I packed up and left town on Sunday.

Here are a few pictures from our quick trip:

We saw a lot of frozen waterfalls even though the temp was in the 50's. I guess it takes a few days of warmer weather to thaw those out. They were pretty though.

One thing I learned on this trip - it's really difficult to get good, clear pictures while driving.

We made it to our hotel. I thought the room was cute with the apple green, black & orange.

Since my son was forced to come along on this trip and would be around girls & gymnastics all the next day, I let him have his choice of things to do once we arrived.

This may have included a trip to Bass Pro Shops and dinner at his favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel.

Another thing I learned on this trip - it's really hard to get good, clear pictures while trying to be discreet in a busy store.


It may have included a little swimming back at the hotel, as well.

Before the meet started.

It was a tough meet with a lot of tough competition from around the country. She did place in a couple of events and came in 6th overall. Not too bad and she had a great time in the process.

We had some friends that now live close to Knoxville and were able to come to the meet, as well. She really enjoyed that.

One final picture from our trip to Knoxville.

What did you do over your weekend?