a little Mardi Gras revelrie...

Is it really almost February?!  How did that happen?  I still feel like we just rounded the bend after Halloween and are heading full-speed ahead to Christmas.  But then I shake off the ol' noggin fog and realize... no, it's mid-winter, almost February, and before you can say "Happy Valentine's Day!" -- it'll be warm out!  How does that happen and, more importantly, can we slow this ride down?



Gosh, I didn't know Father Time moonlighted as the Grim Reaper (check out that scythe)!  I guess everyone was doing what they had to do in ye olde 1880's and 1890's to make a shilling.

On the day AFTER Christmas, my true love gave to me....

Hello dear readers and I hope that all our Christian readers had a wonderful Christmas day yesterday. We enjoyed time with family and friends, and actually, my family is not quite done with our get-togethers!  And that's A-OK with me, as I like to spread out the festivities and good cheer. 

For today's post, at the risk of being redundant, I want to share a few more images of Christmas around our home and a few other places this season.  Christmas cards, cookies, and the Pink Pig, oh my!!  Please indulge me, as I figure that this is my last chance til about 11 months from now to get in the Christmas spirit!

Without further adieu....

The below cake was actually my birthday cake, which was celebrated earlier in December.  Thanks to the hubby and my stepmom for this great cake!  Don't you love the tall candles??

 

Peppermint Wreath

I was flipping through this month's issue of Better Homes and Gardens and on page 39 I saw this really fun peppermint candy wreath. This inspired me to try and make my own so I went to Michael’s today and picked up a few things to get started. I'm not finished with this yet, it takes some time for the glue to dry so you're attaching the candy in stages, but thought I'd go ahead and post a couple pictures since I'm so behind on blogging. My apologies for the delay, but it's been a crazy week and I still have so much to do before the 25th! :) And since I won't be posting until after Christmas I thought it would be best to go ahead and share this in case it should give you a last minute gift idea. This little wreath would make the perfect holiday hostess gift... in fact that's what I intend to do with mine once it's finished! :)

And Visions of Sugarplums Danced in Their Heads...

For today's post, I just wanted to share some Christmas images from around my house.... hope all are enjoying their holiday seasons!

 

10 Holiday Gifts All Under $20!

Forgive me for not getting this post up sooner, but blogging took a back seat to my Christmas cards this week! So much to do, so little time. Anyway, I'd like to share with you some of my top picks for Holiday gifts, and the best part is that all of these items are under $20. I thought this might stir up an idea or two for those of us who love to give, but need to watch what we spend! Read on for my top 10 gifts under $20.

Anthropologie's Voluspa candle. They have several scents to choose from, but my absolute favorite is the Santiago Huckleberry. I could stand around with this to my nose literally all day and never get sick of it. Love this three wick candle, and at $18 it makes the perfect gift under $20.

 

 

 

Christmas planning is underway!

Hello dear readers!

I hope that each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  As for us, we spent 4 days enjoying family, friends, food and good times.  I've been battling a sinus infection (yuck), but let me tell you, that didn't stop me from having a great time with loved ones this past week.  Since just this past Wednesday, my husband and I have enjoyed: a date night at Empire State South (read about sister restaurant 5 and 10 in one of my Athens-centered posts, here), a performance by Yacht Rock Revue - y'all recall how we love this band! - at classic Atlanta haunt Smith's Old Bar, two days of family get-togethers, and a smashing wedding reception for one of my oldest friends and his lovely bride (they married about a month ago on a mountain-top in the northeast - how romantic is that?)  Oh, and lest I forget, we also enjoyed watching another delicious win (4 in a row, to be exact) for our beloved Georgia Bulldogs over in-state rival Georgia Tech.  It was a great weekend for the Forlines!
 

Our Bunco Group Sends Some Love to our Military this Holiday Season!

Each year our bunco group comes together for some sort of charity around the holiday season. Last year, we supported our troops through a group called Operation Homefront where we sponsored a few military families and purchased Christmas gifts for their children. (Read that post here.) This year, we kept with the same military theme only changed it up to send care packages to the troops who are currently overseas. Some of us met up at Target and purchased items such as candy, beef jerky, cans of Chef Boyardee, Hostess Cakes (long live the Twinkie!) and even some playing cards. These things were compiled with some of our own baked goods, magazines, letters of gratitude, and artwork from our children to make up several packages. One of the girls in our group then sorted and shipped these goodies to the various places around the world where some of our military men and women are currently serving. I believe she said one of the packages went to someone stationed on a ship off the coast of Libya. Considering the recent events in this country, it's unnerving when you think about the danger this young man or woman could be in while stationed near such a hostile environment. Our prayers for protection go with each package that was sent over.

Halloween 'Hood Party

Yes, Halloween 2012 is now in the past, but I want to share some highlights from a party a few of us on my street organized in honor of the holiday. The majority of the effort was lead by, the King and Queen of Halloween themselves – The Sokolowskis, who, I might add, were responsible for the very idea of this spooky soiree! Everyone gathered in their front yard so the house you see in my pictures below actually belongs to them. Needless to say, the SPOOKolowskis go all out with their decorations, they even purchased a projector so we could all watch a Halloween movie displayed on the side of their house once the sun went down. And another neighbor took the time to decorate a trailer he hitched to the back of his truck with orange lights. He created seating with hay stacks where the kids proudly sat as they rode up and down the streets parading their costumes for all those whom we passed by. We were suppose to have a jack-o-lantern contest too, but never got around to that... we must have lost track of time due to all the fun we were having!

It goes without saying that I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such awesome families. I love getting together with my neighbors and hope we can make this an annual celebration!

 

Our fabulous hayride!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween dear readers!

Hope you've had a wonderful day, tricking and treating, dressing up, eating candy, having fun with little ones, or whatever else Halloween might mean to you. 

For today's post, I wanted to share some of what Halloween meant around these parts, in terms of decor that is.  ;-)

A look at our front door... some squashes, gourds, and pumpkins (in vintage iron baskets from happy place Scott's Antique Market) alongside some ceramic jack o'lanterns from Kroger and an autumnal berry wreath from Target a few years back and I'm good to go!

 

Burt's Pumpkin Farm & The Cumming Country Fair and Festival all in a weekend... Oh and Zoo Atlanta too!

In the year of 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue... and who knows how the rest goes? Just glad they didn't have GPS back in those days or ole Columbus wouldn't have missed his mark by two or three oceans and most of us would agree that was a good thing. Geez, he really was no where close to India. Well happy Columbus Day everyone, hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Sorry my post is a little late, Lindsay and I like to have one out by Friday or Saturday if possible, but this weekend was a busy one for me. I actually got around to doing some of those Autumn activities I mentioned when I last blogged. You can read about those here. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the highlights/pictures from my weekend, we hit up 2 of the 5 places I mentioned – Burt's Pumpkin Farm and the Cumming Country Fair and Festival. And we're headed to Ellijay next weekend for some apple picking so my list is close to being checked off.

Fall Delights

In keeping with Catherine's post from last week about her favorite Fall things to do in the greater Atlanta area, I thought this week I would share some images I've been hoarding that are giving me oodles of inspiration this season as I start to decorate our home.  It doesn't hinder me in the least that we won't be getting cool weather for a few (to maybe even several) weeks, thanks to our mild Georgia weather.  I mean, I guess colorful leaves would be more fitting if I needed a sweater, but hey! you go with what you got.  ;o)

Most of these images are also featured on the "holiday decor" board of my Pinterest page, so if you want to follow me there, please do!  You can find me here.

My Top 5 Autumn Activities

Ahh Fall... brings about cooler weather, football, festivals, 'warm the soul' kind of food such as chili, and the aroma of those cinnamon brooms you buy at the grocery store fills the air. Of course, it helps that everyone is a little giddy knowing that the holidays are right around the corner which means a much needed break and more time spent with family and friends is on the way.

Who doesn't love Fall? It's my favorite time of the year!

Below is my Awesome Autumn Activities List and despite my cheesy title, I think you'll find this list is a 'cornucopia' of fun Fall things to do if living in the state of Georgia. ;) OK, that whole sentence was cheesy, but I just couldn't help myself. Anyway, I drafted an activities list for summertime (see that post here) and thought I'd do something similar for the cooler months. I hope you enjoy! :)

Burt's Pumpkin Patch

There are many great pumpkin patches to visit in Georgia, but this one has been around since I was a kid and it's my favorite for a number of reasons. One being that it's set in such a pretty location, the North Georgia Mountains. You have to drive over an hour to get there from Atlanta, but it's worth the trek because you really feel like you're out in the country, and you are! The mountains surround you as you walk through hoards of gourds. Ha! Seriously, there are thousands of these big, orange fruits sitting around - yes, pumpkins are actually classified as a fruit and not a vegetable. Burt's pumpkins really are beautiful. They come in all different sizes too, some of their big boys are around 150 lbs! Once you pick out your pumpkin and load it on to your wheelbarrow, you can buy some pumpkin baked goodies, take a hayride, purchase some indian corn, or bale of hay for your Fall decorations... what ever tickles your fancy. We took my daughter last year when she was around 9 or 10 months old and now that she's walking I can't wait to take her back!

Georgia on My Mind...

Hey y'all!

I hope that all our readers are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  (To reminisce on the meaning of the holiday and some other fun bits related to Labor Day, you can peruse my posts from last year here and here).  And on a side note, I simply cannot believe that a year has gone by since I wrote those.  It's so trite but so true - time flies when you're having fun, and it flies faster and faster the older you get...

True to the times a'flyin' thought, my family just returned from a wonderful week-long getaway to St. Simon's Island, Georgia.  I've been to this special place many times over the years, both with family and friends.  It's one of those places I hold near and dear to my heart.  This time, we stayed in the beautiful High Tide Cottage and loved it so much, we can't wait to go back and stay here again.  It's right on the beach on the southern side of the island, just up from the pier.   

Isn't she gorgeous??

My Checklist for Summer

In this post I list 10 things that I'd like to do this summer! We are taking a little vacation late August, but my list below are some activities I'd like to do locally. Some are cheap or even free, others I will have to save up for, but all of it sounds F-U-N! If you live in Atlanta, then maybe some of these ideas will appeal to you too!

Oh and it goes without saying that Tanglewood Farm would be at the top of this list, but as Lindsay shared with you last week we've managed to make that trip. That said, I am definitely going back next summer!

Two Parties in Two Days - Part Two

And now.... on to the Egg Hunt!!  (To get up to speed, be sure to check out Two Parties in Two Days - Part One.  :o)

There are the balloons from the foyer the night before, tied along our back fence.

Nothing really that Eastery here, but I changed the furniture in front of our living
room mantle around and like it so much better!  :o)

Happy Easter, Peeps!

I started brainstorming about creative Easter ideas for this week's blog post and as I was perusing the world wide web I came across a blog called Neatorama. If you have never heard of this blog you should definitely check it out, it's an entertaining read. One of their posts featured dioramas made with Peeps which is what caught my eye. For those of you who don't know, Peeps are the sugar-coated, marshmallow candies retailers sell around the Easter holiday. As a kid, I thought they tasted spectacular... now, not so much. Anyway, Neatorama's post I'm referring to is called 13 Hilarious Peep Candy Easter Dioramas. It's definitely worth taking a look, the creator (or creators) of these scenes are so imaginative. They're creativity is really impressive and they're really humorous as well. The most hysterical of these settings is the first one you'll see... the 'peep' show. I've included a picture of it below.

Bunco Go Bragh

Hi ladies! I hope you all have big weekend plans in store.... as for me, I'm gearing up to co-host a coed baby shower for some special friends this Saturday night. I promise to take lots of pictures to share! It's at my good friend Staci's house (she's the wife of one of my husband's fraternity brothers and a fellow Bunco-er to boot) and she's got some great ideas cooked up. We have a nautical theme going (to celebrate the baby BOY), and we hope our guests will enjoy.

But first, I'm in the mood for a little St. Patrick's Day pre-planning.... shall we? :o)

Break out your heart shaped doilies, it's V Day!

Throwing a party in honor of Cupid? Then check out some of these fabulous, flirty finds! You may just fall in love with them. ;)
Love that blue is the prominent color here, not pink.

Merry Christmas!

Well, the shopping, decorating, cooking, running about, and general holiday craziness will soon be at an end.... and we will all have a chance to enjoy the true and sacred meaning of this wondrous holiday.  To our readers that celebrate Christmas, Catherine and I hope that you have a wonderful time commemorating Christ's birth with your friends and family!


But first.... 

I'm dreaming of a {Fabulous} Christmas....

Happy Friday dear readers!  


I am so excited that we are right in the heart of the Christmas season.... I've been busy shopping for the children my husband and I sponsored through a local charity, enjoying time at Christmas parties, dinners, lunches, and teas, and taking our almost-6 month old (!!) to fun activities such as Christmas photos with Santa, Christmas at Callanwolde (recall a previous post on Callanwolde here),