Fishing

A while back, Matt & Spencer went fishing early in the morning with our neighbor and his 3-year-old. Spencer loves to fish and it's nice thata we have lake access so close by.

My Birthday

Wednesday was my 29th birthday. I don't have any photos so thought I'd just recap the day here. Work was normal, actually we had a big meeting and it was quite hectic. But after that, things improved.

When I got home, Matt & Spencer had decorated the house for me with streamers and what not. Then I had to do a scavenger hunt to find my gifts. After that, the three of us went to eat at TGI Friday's with my sister and two nephews. It was a good evening.

It might seem a little mushy, but my birthday did remind me of how many wonderful people I have in my life. I expect the obligatory well wishes from my family and all. But it was surprising the cards, e-mails and calls that I got from other friends and co-workers.

I have gotten some fun gifts also:

• Money (which will be well-spent at the CK Convention in a few weeks).
• A cute South Carolina koozie
• Nifty condiment tray from Crate and Barrel (love that place!)
• Mary Engelbreit Croppin' Queen notepad
• Handmade bookmark
• John Patterson's new release: Quickie
• A Polo shirt

My mom sent a gorgeous handmade card and said she'd give me my gift when I see her in a few weeks. I need to take a photo of the card to share!

Awesome neighbors

We have been so incredibly blessed to have truly awesome neighbors! There are two families that we are super close to...hang out all the time. We have "porch parties" where we just hang out on someone's porch or patio. There are 2-3 other families that we are getting to know better, as well.

The pictures below are of the three closest (geographically speaking) kids in the neighbor. Griffin, the little boy, is 3 and lives next door. Tessa, the little girl, is 6, I believe and she lives directly across the street.

Despite the age difference, the three of them play quite well together. On this particular night, the kids decided to play in a sand pile in the neighbors' yard. They were filthy but had a great time.

Archie

This is Archie, my neighbor's love bird. Isn't he beautiful?

Straight A's

I'm way behind on posting pictures on here...so this little bragging bit is long overdue. Spencer got Straight A's on his report again. What does that mean? That he got all A's the entire school year!!! Needless to say, we were proud. And being the proud step-mama that I was...forced Spencer to take this photo.

Layout - Pig Pickin'

This layout was a ton of fun to do! I don't know if it's my mood (ready for vaca!) or that I love this event (always super fun) or that I was excited to use pink or what...but it was fun.

Supplies:

Chipboard accents - Cloud 9

Rubons - American Crafts

Metal Pieces - Heidi Grace

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Staz On

Chipboard letters - not sure

Paint: deco art

black eyelets

letter stickers - Miss Elizabeth

heart clip

Layout - Build a Bear

This was from our beach vacation two years ago - Spencer and his cousin after Build a Bear. Super simple.

Build a Bear paper is by Creative Imaginations.

Layout - Kickoff...

The Kick-Off to Spurrier's Reighn!

These are photos from us watching the first Gamecock game of the season in 2005, when Spurrier came to USC. We made a big deal out of it with Spencer...decorations and all. This will go in my gamecock album, of course.

Questions...

I found these question's on Elsie's blog...thought they might be fun to answer.

1. What is your favorite word? serendipity

2. What is your least favorite word? I've never thought of this. I think "GD" (well what it stands for) is probably the worst for me.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Creatively - seeing awesome work by others; listening to music I love; sometimes shopping

Spiritually - seeing actions of someone that is doing the work of God

Emotionally - watching a girly movie - ha ha!!!

4. What turns you off?

Lies. I can't stand liars.

5. What is your favorite curse word?

You shouldn't have a favorite.

6. What sound or noise do you love?

Music that I love

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

Any loud, ongoing noice - like a lawn mower or vacuum cleaner

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Professional Organizer, Photographer, something artistic.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

Gosh, I'm sure there are tons...anything on Dirty Jobs!

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

I'm proud of you.

Movies

Here are some movies on which I've wasted valuable life hours...this is how I can tell it's summer...nothing to watch on TV so I watch bad movies instead. Just kidding - they aren't all bad.

Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington
Matt actually rented this one for me. I had never heard of it, which is surprising with Denzel and all. Anyway, it was good. It had a creative story line and a surprise ending. Denzel's an FBI agent - so it's all right up my alley of stuff I like.

Liberty Stands Still starring Wesley Snipes
This was just something I saw on and decided to DVR. It's a little slow at times, but it was a good "veg in front of the TV" movie. The basic idea is that this woman is on her cell phone with a guy that wants to kill her and she can't hang up or a bomb will go off.

Superman Returns
I can't believe it took me this long to see it. Matt had rented it a while ago but watched it without me. It came on HBO or something, so Matt, Spencer and I watched it together the other night. It was very good, of course. I don't think Spencer enjoyed it as much as he thought he would because he didn't know a lot of the background stuff on Superman and was a little confused. We probably should've made him watch the original first!

Fever Pitch starring Drew Barrymore
This was cute. I love romantic comedies and Drew Barrymore is good in them. I even saved this on our DVR for Spencer to watch because he's such a Red Sox fan.

That's all I can think of right now...