Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was last week, but I'm just dropping a few photos 

of some of the highlights.

Delicious Swiss Chocolate cake with pretty pink frosting made just for me by {my sweetie}.

My mom indulged my new obsession with the history of {The Homeland} by sending me this beautiful old book about {Forest Park} by a Springfield author. 

Lovely birthday roses from Chris

And some lovely earrings as well!

My On-Going, Ever-Growing Thrifting Search List

I've been bitten by the thrifting bug. I was previously kind of meh about it because thrift stores always feel seedy and dirty to me, but I'm on the fence no more. I just scrub my hands real hard when I get home. 

How could I turn up my nose at all this goodness??

Anyway, since there's always just an absolute ton of crap to sort through at these places, I end up deciding that I desperately need another plastic animal to {spray paint and "ceramicize"} so my house/life crush on John and Sherry of Young House Love can move ever closer to creepy. Or, you know, I need that broken down plastic child-sized tool bench even though I don't even have kids but-when-kids-come-to-visit-it'll-be-totally-awesome...

So I'm putting paper to pen (metaphorically) and beginning a list of stuff that I want to keep an eye out for when I'm shopping. That way, if I find something that's not on this list, I'll know that I better think long and hard about whether it needs to come home with me.  

• Rolling cart for in between washer and dryer
• Really big drum lamp shade
• Actually, any size drum lamp shades
• Great lamps
• A not-deep shelf or table for entryway
• Great blankets (particularly plaid and wool)
• Mini lacrosse stick
• Good small, storable toys to have for visiting kiddos
• Vanity set
• Old, round-rung wooden ladder
• First edition hard cover Harry Potters (stop laughing)
• Prettily-covered Readers Digest books that I don't have
• Brown leather messenger/tote bag/briefcase
• Two three-drawer filing cabinets

A couple weeks all mashed together

Impromptu  tasting of fah-ncy beers with some friends

The Rick

 

That face.

And this one. I ruv them. 

Friday was glorious because I received these spoils from {Long Winter Farm}. This lip balm cannot be beat. 

Played this for the first time, and now I'm a fan. 

Our azaleas are blooming in February and I'm so sad because what's April gonna be like??
Weird winter weather. 

Lovely Saturday at the park. 

I'm not overly crazy about barbecue, but this place is kind of awesome.
I've never had potato salad that my mom didn't make that I actually liked, until I came here. 

Doing what hound-doggie do. 

Welcome February!!

Stunning weather this weekend means extra-long Saturday walk with the puppies.
We walked down to the trail and then all the way down and back. 

That resulted in lots of steps! Big accomplishment!

The spoils of my trip to the Goodwill. I got that woven chevron blanket for $1.99! And Hilary's autobiography for $1.29, which turned out to be a very apropos purchase because apparently she retired as Secretary of State?!? What rock have I been living under that I just found out about that this evening!

Got some good lovey-snuggles in with the puppies, very important stuff. 

Oh, and I finally finished the "command center" in our laundry room. My board was inspired by {this design}, but I used foam board covered in fabric
and mounted into a $1.99 frame from Goodwill instead of plywood. 

{McKenzie} provided a couple of printables with her tutorial,
which I gratefully used on my board. 

Did you know that you can write on glass with dry erase markers (and {dry erase crayons}) and it wipes right off when you need it to? These frames were a dollar each from Dollar Tree. 

One of the snacks I made for the Super Bowl were these {PB&J Thumbprint cookies} from Emma at A Beautiful Mess.
She used blackberry jam in hers; these ones are made with strawberry. Delish. 

Got some good Parcheesi playing in before the Super Bowl.
These crazy Texans call it something else, but it's the same game ;-)
And this particular version is home-made and vintage-y, and I love it. 

Clydus needs a mani-pedi.

It's true: I made curtains.

I sure do love this boy.

Soon to be pecan pie.

The elusive hound dog in his natural habitat.

I made these!! Check out {this tutorial} from Young House Love. 

No one does '80s bangs like The Nug. No one.

Chalkboard on our laundry room door.
Made from a little chalkboard paint and the decorative frame from an old ceiling light. 

What do you do when you have a million wine corks? Call them decorations.

Yum.

Rainy Saturdays call for Bean Boots. 

Mmmmmm...venison French Dip. Check out the recipe {here}. 

Raspberry sherbet skies

Texas has the most stunning sunsets, like delicious sherbet.
Photographs can rarely do them justice, and this is no exception. 

Cute surprise for some special ladies.
Can't give away too much cause these are in the mail as I type.

If you've never been here, I'm sorry.
If you're not in East or Central Texas, you're pretty much s-o-l, cause it's kinda local.

I went to Ikea on Saturday...and it was glorious.

Custer got brushed today. This was just the fur from his haunches.
Clearly, it's almost time for his spring hair cut. 

I feel like I can finally call myself a real blogger. I now have an {Expedit}.
The decor is a work in progress, obvi but, man, is this a great shelf for storing records.