hump day~

look at these beauties......

like candy to a kid...

my girl katie in franklin, tn sent these to me...
such yummy colors....

merci mon ami..xox

getting good manor ready for one of the bffs

to fly in from the home of bill clinton...lol

dinner tonight......lol

big one!

i really do not like white hydrangeas and i have tried to kill mine several time,

i have cut them down to the dirt and

they keep coming back bigger and better and fuller!!

look at this one the head is huge!!

nighttime nature at good manor~

i admit these pictures arent the best...but i couldnt find my camera..but anyway the story is i was letting the dogs out before we went to bed late last night and i am standing on the patio and i see the spider, a little one a little bigger than the thumbnail and then crap! i see her HUGE web that goes from the drain gutter on the top of the screened patio to the back of the wicker chair...

i could not believe it! so i ran in and grabbed the camera and snapped away

the web was beautiful......i wonder how long it took her to spin?

i am hoping you can see it..the second picture is the closeup....but sadly it is gone i am sure the torrential rain we had today blew it away, but i am so happy to have the pictures......

whats going on where you live???

the night the lights went out at good manor.....

you know it just doesnt get any better...went to roosters after work...came home

to pitch blackness.....

yep, had a storm.. nothing big and the friggin' electricity is off..

oh yeah it came back on for seconds and then did some kind of friggin dance to

mess with us..on off on off on off for about 30seconds....

i hate being without electricity..

i would never have survived as a settler....

but the bright side is the computer is juiced up and running....

and the winner is...........

miss kecia from http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/
winner of a $10 starbucks gift card....

some thursday randomness and giveaway~

has anyone had the cheery cherry tart from starbucks???

OMG!!

run out right now and get one...they are the best cherry tarts/pies

in the world

and

i know my pie..

the crust is some flakey goodness with sprinkles of sugar on the top

and of course

at home i will top with my staple of

cool whip original as shown below!

i made this necklace inspired by one my friend katie had on during one of my valley ride class.

my daughter doesnt like it which is fine, cant please everyone, right?

my pages for a round robin, theme was reflection of yourself..okay, isnt this picture of biggie adorable..gawd i so adore him....

so leave me your favorite pie and i will draw a name on monday night for a starbucks card, so you can try the cheery cherry pie!!!

wip~

just a couple of the many things i have been working on..

weekend randomness~

thank- you... thank-you.....thank-you
for all the well wishes to julies mom from this wonderful blogging community!!!!
she is doing wonderful and feeling so much better...
there is power in prayer!!
yesterday was a rainy saturday and i knew something was in the air as my bad knee
was aching something terrible friday night..
saturday morning it felt fine once the rain started,

i guess there is some truth to that old wives tale...

today is sunday and it is hot humid and hazy...

went to get a new wireless card for the computers,

the recent one died 7days after the warranty expired..

doesnt that stink!!

oh well we did get a rebate so it was pretty cheap in the long run....

this pretty girl is honey..one of my daughters dogs, she decided to stay on for awhile after we returned from vally ridge in june..

biggie with one of his toys..

ruby and kaj..i love this picture, they are like cats ..love to lay in the sun..

julie and i were driving around and i wanted to see my grandmas house that i remember from my childhood, boy it sure looks small, i so remember it being so much bigger, but it still looks in great condition!! good memories..

this is the church my parents got married in, the name is changed which i find interesting..why would they have to change the name of the church? it still is in great condition too....

okay that is all i got and i am so so happy to be back online.....

monday morning~

good morning people!

not much to say today but just wanted you all to keep julies mom in your thoughts...she is recovering from surgery that she had a week ago and having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things..julie is currently in the er with her as i write this..hopefully they can find the root of her pain...i know she will recover but keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully she will recover all the more quickly...thanks from my heart....

xox.xox.xox

just breathe~

sitting on our back patio..just relaxing....after a long week......

valley ridge recap~

before we dropped anchor at valley ridge we spent a couple of days with our good friend beth,
she took us to a couple of goods spots and then back to her house for a little arting, laughter

and just a lot of fun and some super secret spots that she loves to photograph!!

thank you beth!
xox

a week ago today, i was sitting in the valley ridge art studio listening to nina bagley

giving instructions on our 3day journey together....
this valley ridge experience was my favorite so far!
everything was perfect, the weather, the food, the teacher, kathy & bill, the cool classmates

and the farm we stayed on!!
all glorious!!

here is kathy modeling my turquoise triple necklace that i made.

her own nina necklace is on the inside

here is a picture of my 2nd necklace that i finished

thank you to all my new and old valley ridge friends, it makes it all worthwhile...

destination wisconsin~

we arrived yesterday to our home for a week-the oriley farm..

how wonderful to wake up to the smell of french press coffee

a la julie and the sound of the high stepping rooster, being greeted

by the

hen committee and my favorite face

mamma kitty...

a little bit of heaven on earth...

roadbound

we are in the westin hotel in downtown chicago on michigan avenue.....

julie is out getting us our morning starbucks....while me and our wonderful friend sharon andrews are laying in bed talking.....

i love me some chicago....home to the cubs, white sox, da bears, awesome shopping, awesome friends, antiques, and the best darn hotdogs....

we are making our way to valley ridge art studio .. sharon and i will be taking a class with nina bagley yesterday we spent the day with more of our wonderful friends jane and laura ..going to our favorite antique mall..jackson square mall, then to an estate sale, then to a totally cool bead store called bead heaven and then next door is a wine store where we finally got to sit down and relax with some good wine and snacks...we sat and talked for awhile and laughed ourselves silly!
then we made our way to a slice of heaven...
PORTILLOS..for chicago style hotdogs....

no visit to chicago is ever complete without a stop at portillos...yummy!!

more later as class doesnt start until friday!

i LOVE me some maija~

okay who doesnt LOVE getting packages in the mail especially SURPRISE
ones..well this was one of those days!! miss maija sent me a caffeine care package

of her favorite vietnamese instant coffee..how damn awesome is that!!!

and OMG! it tastes FABULOUS!!!!

wow, i am shocked as im not a fan of instant coffees but this is delicious

i hope that i can find it here or maija will have to be my supply!!

i love you maija!!

thank you from my heart...xox

this is something i worked on the last couple days

xox