Fall Cookie Bake!

Sunday evening you would have found me dusted in flour and enjoying a favorite hobby of mine: baking! I put on some music, poured myself a glass of wine, and indulged myself in a little baking therapy!

 I wanted to try something new with the icing, so I decided to try a marbleized look. First I iced with orange:

 Then, I drizzled some yellow:

 I took a toothpick and swirled the yellow, creating this:

College Road Trip!

It seems like I just returned home from Birmingham, and yesterday I was back again! When Kathryn told me that she and her friend Ellie were going to visit Samford University, I asked if I could join them for their "College Road Trip!" I had a blast with these super fun girls! The trip down, I sat in the back and knitted while being entertained by their conversation! I am pretty much all caught up on high school drama! :)

 These girls crack me up! They kept calling me "mom" on the tour, and I am sure that we had people quite confused about exactly who I was! I did my duty and asked the tour guide lots of questions on their behalf, though...including the all important question of the guy to girl ratio! haha I think that the girls were a little disappointed to find out that there are about 2 girls to every 1 guy! ;)

 I am so thankful for the opportunity to create fun memories with my little sis!

 We spent the night with these fun redheads! Ivey made a fabulous homemade pizza for supper, and we enjoyed catching up!

 This little sweetheart is growing up so fast!

 We spent the night, and were greeted this morning by this happy little face:

 Ivey and I love working on projects together! We seem to make a good team! Today's project was to create a focal point behind the bed in the master bedroom.

 We spray painted some frames and made them look antiqued:

 Here is the wall before:

 And after:

 The large empty frame we found in the basement at my grandparent's house, and the three small ones actually came from Walmart (required a little makeover with spray paint)

 I love how it turned out!

 Ivey has just learned how to smock, and I am so proud of her! She does a great job, and I can't wait for her to teach me how! We have plans for me to learn sometime over Christmas! She made this little dress for Elaine Mae:

 The aunts with Thomas! He is SO cute, and I love having a conversation with him! We were sitting at dinner talking about the day, and Thomas piped up, "Whatcha dink about Samford, Auntie Tat?" He had just picked up on what we were talking about and wanted to join in our conversation! He always surprises us with what he can say!

 Kathryn and I packed up and headed to a beautiful spot in B-ham on our way out of town, the Botanical Gardens. Kathryn asked me to take her senior pictures, and we thought that would be a good place. I am by no means a professional, but I do enjoy photography.

I am so proud of this beautiful girl! I took about 200 pictures, but here are a few of my favs:

 I LOVE this ginko tree, and when Kathryn offered to take my picture with it, I took her up on her offer!

 A full, fun weekend! Stay tuned for some baking projects that should be coming up shortly! Fun times!

My little darlings...

Today my mom and I took a quick little day trip to Birmingham to see these precious little ones (who are growing up so fast!)

Love that sweet little dimple!

Looks like Elaine Mae has a dimple just like her brother!

 I know that I am their aunt, so my opinion is a little biased, but I think they are so darn cute!

Elaine Mae and her pretty mommy:

Grammie and Thomas:

 Thomas is such a hoot, and had us laughing the whole time! He is talking so much now, and says the cutest things! It just melts my heart when he says my name!

 Little Elaine and her namesake!

  We had such a wonderful visit! Can't wait to see them again soon!

So glad, too, to get to see our working fellows this evening at dinner! Tom and Robby were both able to get off work in time to grab a little dinner before the Grammie/Auntie bus hit the road back home!

Weekend with lil' sis

I had a really fun weekend with my younger sister Kathryn! Our parents went to the beach so Kathryn spent a couple of days with me! I can't tell you how much she means to me! I was almost 14 when she was born and for many years she was just my baby sister whom I loved dearly, but now she is so much more! As she has grown older, she has developed into such an amazing young woman, and I can honestly say that she is not so much of my baby sister anymore as she is my dear friend! She and I share a lot in common from our sense of humor to our similarity in looks (you should see the looks we get when we get asked if we are twins and I say that I am almost 14 years older! Speaks well for that anti-aging cream I guess! ;)

Anyway, back to this weekend! She had to fend for herself for two days while I worked, but then on Friday we started our fun! I made some potato soup and put it in the crock pot while I went for a little run:

 When I got home, I chopped up some broccoli crowns, drizzled some olive oil, sprinkled with garlic salt and pepper, and baked at 400 for about 15 minutes while I stretched out (had some multi-tasking going on this evening! :)

 Ended up with some yummy loaded baked potato soup (just missing some bacon!)

 We were going to go out on Friday night, but we ended up just crashing at the house and watched this show called Duck Dynasty (they were airing a marathon of Duck Dynasty episodes and somehow we got sucked in! haha). Hilarious!

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early and headed over to a fabulous little family owned and operated restaurant called Bluegrass Grill for some pancakes and bacon! We ended up meeting a couple while we were waiting for a table, and when a table of 4 opened up, we decided to just eat breakfast together! We actually had a lot in common and several mutual friends! Wish I had taken a picture with our new friends, but I didn't want to scare them! :)

Saturday afternoon we headed here for an afternoon hike:

 The weather could not have been more perfect, and the changing foliage was impressive. Our Creator put on a color show this fall!

 I think Kathryn might have been a little nervous about my trail blazing skills as she kept asking me if I knew where I was going!

 Amazing!

 Sisters:

 After our hike, we went out for some Mexican food, went and saw a movie, and even fit in a little shopping! It was a full day of fun together!

I guess that's why today felt like such a contrast! My little companion had to leave! She returned home this morning to go to her church. After my service ended I called her and told her that I wanted her to come back, that I wasn't done playing with her!! She said something about homework...whatever! I just know that I missed her today!

A lot of my friends were either out of town or busy with other things this weekend, so it meant that today I got to explore this fine city on my own (which to be honest felt really weird!). First off, I went to the open air market where today happened to be "dog day." I felt like I needed to borrow a dog to walk around to fit in! There were some beautiful ones of all types and sizes. Didn't get any pictures!

Next, I wandered to the Hunter Art Museum where they were having free admission because it is the first Sunday of the month! It has been a long time since I have been there, and I enjoyed meandering among great pieces of art!
Kathryn tells me this is called a "selfie!" (a photographic self-portrait). She keeps me up with all these hip phrases!

 I sat for a while in front of this one, and prayed for the elections coming up on Tuesday. I thought about how much our country has changed since his presidency! Thankfully the God who holds the heart of a king in his hands has not changed!

 Beautiful view from the terrace:

 I ended up my solo tour of the city at one of my favorite spots! Enjoyed some pumpkin cheesecake and a cup of Autumn Spice coffee while I studied Mark 7 for my Tuesday morning Bible Study!

Haircut and Halloween

Tuesday, I headed to my favorite hairstylist and got about 6 or 7 inches cut off! I have kept my hair long for a while now, so I am loving the change! Sometimes a haircut can be more than just a trim; it can become symbolic of a fresh start! I wish I had before/after pics to show how much I got cut off, but I don't! The only pics I have with the "new do" are from Halloween!! :)

Halloween is always fun at Children's Hospital! I am glad I was scheduled to work, because I had so much fun being Buzzy the bee! Here are the Child Life Specialists (missing one). I am so thankful to work with such an amazing group of women! We all get along really well and have a blast working together!! I made my tutu and enjoyed buzzing around the ER keeping the kiddos happy! :)

 Here I am again at 1 o'clock in the morning with Minnie Mouse! A tired little bumble bee! :)