It was a crazy weekend that started early with an event at my children's school.  

My daughter along with the rest of the fourth grade class participated in the annual Wax Museum.  They all picked a famous Kentuckian, researched that person 

and then put together a speech detailing the person's life. 

 My daughter chose Louis Marshall Jones, aka Grandpa Jones from the show Hee Haw. 

Here she is in character.

And here's Grandpa Jones with her proud grandpa. 

And here is little brother's version of Grandpa Jones. 

He tried to draw his own mustache on with a marker.

He clearly doesn't understand that a mustache is located under the nose, not above it!

 I gave him an "A" for effort and creativity. 

Next up in the whirlwind weekend was a quick trip to Chicago for my daughter's gymnastics meet. 

She did a great job and ended up placing 10th in the All Around. 

After getting up at 4:45 a.m. to make the drive to Chicago, a 4 1/2 hour long meet and a lovely dinner out, we made it back to the hotel for a party with all the gymnasts.  

Hundreds of energetic screaming girls, four DJs and some sugary snacks, 

equals a nine year old little girl's dream come true. 

The most fascinating part of the night was the handstand contest.  

A handstand contest between a bunch of gymnasts is something to see, believe me.

It was amazing how long those girls could hold a handstand.  Fascinating, I say!

We were both completely exhausted, but my daughter was determined 

to make it to the end of the party.  Mission accomplished!

We made a quick dash to the American Girl Store on Saturday morning and had breakfast.  

The 2012 American Girl doll of the year is McKenna, the gymnast.  

My daughter has been doing extra chores for the past few months to earn money to buy McKenna.

She was in heaven!

We rushed back home just in time for her to make it to a Father/Daughter Valentine's dance at school. 

Poor little girl was so tired, she could barley stand. 

Sunday also happened to be my birthday.  My parents came in town on Saturday and my mom helped my boys make me a cake from scratch.  My little guy was in charge of the candles.  

He put three at one end and seven at the other end.  In case you're wondering, I'm 37! 

It was an exhausting weekend, but I loved every single minute of it.  

Such great memories that I will cherish always.

What all did you cram in to your weekend?

Somehow I completely missed my blog's first birthday!  

It was technically last Wednesday, January 18, 2012.  

Starting this blog was one of my New Year's resolutions last year.

This was my first post....

Look how far the "money pit" has come. 

Looks like as a first birthday blog present, 

we get to buy the house six new windows, another roof repair and a new air conditioner.

What a way to celebrate!  

I saw Layla's post about declaring a "Word the Year" and it got me thinking about it.  Last Thursday, as I was driving home from the gym, after a challenging morning, it hit me, my word of the year.
My word of 2012 is......

Now, let's be clear, I'm not talking about an authentic Louis Vuitton bag,
which just happens to be on my wish list (hint , hint, honey.)

I'm talking about a characteristic that I deem to be of utmost importance, authenticity. 

One of the great things about growing older is gaining wisdom.  There are plenty of things about growing older that I don't care for, but becoming wiser and more confident is definitely a plus.
As I age, I become more aware of who I really am.  I have my good qualities and I have my bad qualities.  I have made my fair share of mistakes in life and I will make plenty more.  All of those mistakes have taught me something and I wouldn't be who I am today, without those experiences.


There have been times in my life when I thought I needed to be someone different, perhaps more outgoing, or funnier, or more serious.  Maybe I thought if I changed who I was, I would fit in better with a group of friends or colleagues.  Well, I'm here to tell you that I am who I am and I don't intend to change for anyone.  I certainly don't mean I have no room for improvement.  Of course I do and I feel like I work on "myself" on a daily basis.  But, so what I don't dance on the table at parties, or I tend to get quiet in a large group, or I say exactly what's on my mind in a meeting, or I would rather curl up in bed with a good book rather than paint the town red sometimes. And who cares that I am almost 37 years old and I can't whistle to save my life, I can't snap and I can't wink worth a damn.
I'm okay with it!
That  is the AUTHENTIC me.


Not quite sure why I make that ridiculous face every time I attempt to wink.
Disclaimer - no photoshopping was done to enhance the above image. It is 100% Authentic!

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I do this every year, but this is the first time I have put it out there for the whole world to see.  

I know, I know, the whole world is certainly not reading this, but you get the drift.

So, here goes ....

1.  Eat Less Sugar

This one will be hard for me. I love sweets, more specifically, chocolate.

2.  Improve My Meal Planning

I go in stages with this one.  I am good at it sometimes and

 then I will get into a rut and we will eat cereal for dinner or order out. 

3.  Run a Half Marathon

I wanted to do this last year and it didn't happen. 

I am hoping you lovely people will inspire me and cheer me on.

4.  Forgive and Forget

Life is too short to hold grudges.

5.  Tell My Friends and Family "I Love You" More

Again, life is too short and I don't want to regret not letting 

my friends and family know how important they are to me. 

There you have it.  

Are you the resolution making kind?

This picture just makes me smile.  

I ordered the cards from here. 

I was thrilled with how the picture turned out.  

I love the cards, but the coloring was a tad orange when they were printed. 

Nonetheless, that's one more thing checked off my holiday to do list. 

I started sending Christmas cards in college and I have done so every year. 

 It's a tradition I definitely plan to continue.  

I get so excited when the mail comes this time of year.  

I just love getting cards from friends and family and 

seeing how all the kids have grown from year to year. 

How about you, do you send Christmas cards every year?

I shared here what we do with all the Christmas cards we receive after the holidays are over. 

Try saying that three times in a row quickly.  Difficult, huh?  

Anyway, I have added a new ornament to our decor and it will be a permanent one.  

Here she is......She's a beauty, isn't she?  You get my sarcasm, right?  

Here is the other side of the permanent ornament. 

Here is the story, since my husband is working from home now,

 the noise level in the house is sometimes a bit of an issue. 

His office is right off the living room, which is where the piano is.  

He is on the phone quite a bit during the day and apparently our seven year old practicing 

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing" 40 times a day on the piano is a bit distracting. 

So when the ornament is green, the kids are free to sing, dance, play 

and bounce basketballs through the house.

When my husband needs to get on a call, 

he will (or at least has been instructed by me) to flip the ornament to red.  

Hopefully this little system will work out.  

And just for the record, the working from home situation is going very well.

I thought my husband would be in my way, but I was wrong. 

I actually really enjoy getting to spend the extra time with him 

and my little one loves having both mommy and daddy all to himself five days a week.  

I have been up to eyeballs in flowers for the last couple of weeks, Posh Petals to be exact.  

For the past two years, I have been making Posh Petals and selling them around the holidays.  

I also give them as gifts often.  

My daughter is my walking advertisement, as she wears them in her hair almost daily.  

My good friend, Lisa and I did a show over the weekend.  I sold my Posh Petals. 

And Lisa sold these adorable shirts she makes.  We live in a town where high school football is the end all be all.  Our team is darn good and they have won the State Tournament more times than I can count.  The "H" stands for Highlands, the name of the local high school. Everyone in town loves to show their support for the Highlands Bluebirds and Lisa has been selling these shirts like crazy. 

We had so much fun putting our display together. 

These are all headbands. 

The rest have hair clips and pins on the backs so they can be worn in your hair, on your jacket, 

on your shirt, on your purse or on your scarf.  They can even be clipped onto a package to pretty it up. 

I brought my model with me.  She walked around the show, 

doing some shopping for herself, and drumming up some business for us.  

My daughter had a great idea and suggested I make Posh Petals for American Girl dolls.

Little Nikki got to go to the show too.

Now that my flower making is behind me for the holiday season, 

I am getting geared up to deck the halls.  

I do love Christmas, but I'm not one to rush into holiday decorating.  

My very favorite holiday is Thanksgiving and I want to thoroughly enjoy that holiday 

and spending time with my family before I hang any tinsel.  

I will be hosting my entire family at our house the entire weekend after Thanksgiving. 

There will be 16 of us under one roof.  I can't wait!  I had better get started planning.

Nothing like going away for a few days with great friends and recharging your soul.  It may take me a day to mentally re-enter my reality, but I promise to be back tomorrow with some fabulous design ideas.  

Cheers to Monday!!

My baby is officially a handful today, he's 5!!  

Oh well, it's just hair, it will grow back, right?

One of these days I'll learn.

How about you, ever give yourself a little makeover?

The one and only thing I did manage to do around the house made me a bit weepy and sentimental.  

I pulled out some old Fall pictures of the kids and hung them on our little display frame.
The display frame started out as a mirror.  You can read about it here.  

I hung them up in chronological order and seeing how fast they have grown made me so sad. 

We have a tradition of visiting the same pumpkin patch every year and then putting our car on a ferry and riding across the Ohio River.  I look forward to this day every year and the kids do too.  

I hope we can continue this tradition even when our kids are teenagers and 

think they are way too cool for us.  

We made our annual pumpkin patch trip last weekend and when we got there, 

I pulled out my camera to snap a few pictures and there was no memory card it in!  

Fortunately, my husband got a few shots with his iphone.  Yet, another reason I need want an iphone.  

What are your favorite Fall traditions?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to Arcadian Lighting.  You can enter here. 

It is open until Tuesday, 11/25.

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