HELP!

You have no idea what I am about to do! Let's just say, because my son and I were sick last week, we are having a re-do tonight. Oh, he will have tons of fun...me, not so sure.

More tomorrow...for now...keep your fingers crossed and a prayer or six wouldn't hurt!

GiGi

I am definitely a sentimental girl. Close to my heart, I hold those things that link me to my past...a blanket, a painting, a photo, a doll or even just a memory. I was blessed with a wonderful childhood and complete unconditional love from both my mom and my dad. I love the treasures from my past because my past was a good one.

One of my earliest memories is riding in the car with my mother, back in the day when a two year old could not only ride in the front seat, she didn't have to worry about being confined by a seat belt either. Normally, I would be in the back, standing on the floor, hanging my head out the window and singing along with the song on the radio, but this day was different. We had just picked up our newest family member....GiGi, our six weeks old Toy Poodle.

I can remember sitting on the floor in the front on the passenger side, and GiGi was sitting on the seat. She pulled my hair with her tiny little puppy teeth, and I thought she was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I was blessed with her love for seventeen years.

GiGi is one of those childhood memories I hold close to my heart. There has been other puppy love since her, but she was the first. She also inspired my newest puppy love...Oliver, our almost six months old Standard Poodle...with whom she shares the title of this blog.

Here we are when I was 10 years old, and GiGi was 8 years old. Check out GiGi's nail polish. It matches her bow!





There is nothing like a puppy to help make sweet childhood memories live on in your heart

Today

Today is my first day back at work in over a week and the second day without a fever. My son and I both had the flu all last week. It was not fun at all. And my precious daughter worried sick about both of us...constantly checking my temperature.

Today, I am tired and don't feel all that great. I wonder how my son is doing at school. I bet he is tired too although he is a few days ahead of me on recovery.

I'm ready to get back to normal. I'm hopeful that will be sometime soon.

All Dressed Up For Halloween

We are finally ready for trick-or-treaters!

This past weekend, my daughter and I had an all girls' weekend while the boys were away camping. We shopped, went to dinner and a movie and put the final touches on our Halloween decor.

The bats turned out adorable. This project was so easy and produced big results.



Those are purple and orange lights wrapped around the columns and twinkling skeletons hanging from the top. What can I say...I love Halloween!



We also bought 3 pumpkins from Michaels and painted B O O on them. They are so cute sitting on our front porch bench.



And here's a close up of our mantel....spiders, jack-o-lanterns, candles and fall leaves.



Now, I'm off to take care of my little camper who came home with no voice and a fever. Let's hope this won't last long...he has a big birthday coming up!

Friday and Fantastic Giveaways

Today is Friday. I absolutely adore Fridays because I finally, FINALLY get to sleep in tomorrow. Fridays are like a weekly Christmas Eve for me. Sure everyone loves Christmas but that day before, when you know what tomorrow will bring, well that is just a special kind of something. I can take a deep breath and smile, knowing what tomorrow will bring...no alarm ringing at 5:45am!

I've also discovered something else wonderful this Friday...some fantastic giveaways. While cruising through some of the blogs I follow, I found quite a few giveaways from some very talented ladies.

The Flying Bee is having not one but two great giveaways. One winner will win some of her beautiful vintage postcards and these are not only beautiful they are the real thing...truly vintage.



A second winner will win a $50.00 gift certificate to The Beautiful Life. If you haven't visited The Beautiful Life, run don't walk there right now. This shop has so many fabulous finds there. I have my eye on the chandelier print. I think it will look perfect in my game room...funky and cool...just like any game room should be.



Also check out Oh, Hello Friend and enter to win a great gift wrap set from Hooray Design. I love to give gifts wrapped up in prettiness, and this set helps you do just that!



And definitely check out Down and Out Chic. One very lucky D&OC reader will win a photograph from Diana at Our City Lights. And these photographs are wonderful. When I checked out her shop, I immediately thought of my childhood and family vacations. I absolutely love the amusement park photos. I can so see a grouping of these in my game room.



Trust me...it's all good!

Happy Friday!

Big Ideas and Big Plans

I don't know where I have been, but I am completely amazed by the blog world. I have gotten so many wonderful ideas and inspirations from all over the planet. The creativity out there is just, well, just amazing. My To-Do list keeps getting longer and longer thanks to so many wonderful bloggers out there willing to share.

This weekend, I have big ideas and big plans. I am going to finish decorating my front porch for Halloween, and I'm going to start a project to gussy up my daughter's bedroom just a little. Oh, the excitement!

First, the front porch. It's decorated, but every time I walk up those steps, I keep thinking, "Something is missing." Well, thanks to Karla at It's the little things that make a house a home, I finally figured out what is missing...BATS! Lots and lots of bats.

Take a look at her flock of bats...



She found her inspiration from this photo at CountryLiving.com.




I'll be sure to share my flock as soon as they are up and flying!

As for my daughter's bedroom, what can I say, she loves pink, sparkles, and frilly frou frou that makes a girl feel like a girl. And nothing could fit that description better than tulle and twinkle lights.

What little girl wouldn't love to have her bed transformed into a bed fit for a princess! To be surrounded with fluffy tulle and sparkling lights as she drifts off to sleep and dream of fairy tales come true.

I happily stumbled upon this photo from Emily at chatting at the sky and was completely inspired!



Oh, I DIE! Sorry, channeling Rachel Zoe for a minute there. But seriously, the loveliness of it makes me just sigh.

Emily found her inspiration from fellow blogger Amy at Playing Sublimely . Her photo is pure loveliness too!




My daughter is going to love this!

I have all idea that the tulle and twinkle light project will take a little longer than a weekend for me, but I will share photos once it is complete.

Thank you ladies for sharing such big ideas and inspiring such big plans.

This Weekend

Fall is so near, but this weekend, I found signs of summer still clinging. As much as I love fall, Halloween, and cooler weather, watching summer fade away, always brings a little sadness for me. I love summer and all it brings. I live on the coast and summer is a spectacular time. This past weekend, I enjoyed discovering the last bits of summer.








My absolute favorite flower! It is summer to me.




I have big plans for all this basil! Stay tuned!



This would be Oliver of Gigi&Oliver. More to come on this little grasshopper!

Oh Summer...until we meet again!

Blogging and Cupcakes

You know, I consider myself relatively smart, but this blogging is making me second guess that assumption. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Sure, I can type up a new post without a problem, but links, photos...you know all the interesting stuff...are kicking my butt here. I really need to go get that Blogging For Dummies book. Google is not helping me much with free advice, so I'm going to have to break down and purchase some help.

My plan today was to write a cute little article about cupcakes. I love cupcakes, and they will be a part of my day today. I was going to write about them and post some delicious pictures to yummy up my post, but I don't know the rules about posting pictures belonging to others. I have asked for help but will just have to continue my no picture blogging while I wait for a response.

My sweet son will hit the double digits later on this month. Ten years old! Now that is something to celebrate. And today, all the October birthdays will be celebrated in his classroom.
What a great idea. Every child gets to celebrate their birthday at school. No one is left out! That is definitely my kind of party.

And nothing says party like cupcakes! They're just fun! Children can not help but smile when a plate of colorful, dripping with frosting, sprinkled to within an inch of their lives cupcakes shows up. It's their very own mini-cake. It's a party no matter what day it is. Oh, how wonderful the cupcake is.

So today, I'm delivering a plate full of smile inducing cupcakes to celebrate the birth of my precious child, and his classmates who were also born in the cool month of October. What a great way to end the school week. Cupcakes...possibly the easiest way to get your child out the door and to school on time. Who would of thunk it!

Steak-ums

Guess what I made for dinner last night. Steak-Ums! I don't even want to know what is in them but they were yummy. Even my 9 year old son enjoyed them...and he ate them with onions and peppers. I figure the onions and peppers balanced out whatever was in the Steak-ums. Very easy and no complaints. You've gotta love a dinner like that.

This morning, I arrive at work bright and early only to be told there is a mouse hiding in the closet right next to my office. Eek! I love animals as much if not more than the next guy, and I'm not real keen on the idea of "exterminating" the little guy, but I do not want a mouse in the closet next to my office!

The exterminator is on his way. He is also going to spray for bugs while he is here with a "green" bug spray. I wonder if I can talk him into a catch and release. After all, he is using "green" bug spray wouldn't a catch and release be considered green too?

I decided to distract myself a little while by reading through the blogs. I'm a recent discoverer of the blogs and boy, have I been missing out. All the love, laughs and incredible inspiration out there! There are just so many wonderful blogs and so many more to discover. Blogs have to be one of the best inventions ever made.

Today, I am going to figure out how to add my favorite blogs to my blog. I'm hopeful that this will be an easy task. Wish me luck!

Ballet, a date, and a call from U2

The weekend has come and gone, and I'm still tired!

I got to sleep in Saturday, although my precious bug waking me up to find out what time I planned to wake up cut the sleep in shorter than I would have liked. It was still nice.

We spent most of Saturday cheering on the bug while she danced at a very popular local festival. She is so beautiful. And I think the most precious moment was when she realized some of her older brother's friends were front and center watching her. Her eyes got so big, and her sweet face turned red, but she couldn't help a little smile.




I actually got to go on a date Saturday night too! Big weekend for me. My hubby and I saw The Informant, which was a huge let down, and then on to dinner at On the Border. We were home and in bed by 10pm. LOL!! You know there was a time in my life when I didn't even begin a Saturday night until after 10pm.

Once we were home and snuggled in our bed, I got a phone call from some very dear friends, BFFs for over 25 years now, who were enjoying themselves at the U2 concert. I am so sorry I missed the show, and I'm not talking about the concert. I have laughed out loud all morning long in my office checking out their pictures on Facebook. You gotta love some slightly over 40 year old chicks who still know how to party like rockstars.

Okay, here is one of those things I'm putting out there so that I have to do it...I am going to learn how to post pictures to my blog. I have to. Pictures really liven it up. Wish me luck. I'm just not the technically advanced type. Thank goodness my husband is. I am more the bare bones when it comes to this stuff.

And if I can figure out the pictures, I will be sure to post some of our Halloween decorations we have going on at our house.

Happy Monday!

TGIF

TGIF!!!!!!!!!

I love fridays, but who doesn't. One reason I love, love, love fridays is that I can sleep in tomorrow! Oh how I miss the "stay up late watching tv because I can sleep until noon the next day" weekends. But that's okay, loving my 2 pumpkins can beat that any day!

Today, I am suprising my children with a movie after school. We are going to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Afterwards, I'm going to drag them to Michael's. They won't mind, I hope, because they both are artsy and will love checking out all the goodies. I'm in search of inspiration. I need an art outlet. Wish me luck!

Tonight, we will be engaged in our family night dart fight! This is absolutely my son's most favorite thing we do as a family. He plots and he plans. And he screams with laughter and joy. You've gotta love family night dart fight!

And have a great friday!

Day 1

October 1...a good day to start a blog!

I don't know what I'm doing so this is definitely a learning experiment for me.

Why am I doing this? Well, I think this could be a creative outlet for me...something that I have been missing. Also, if I put it out there, well, then I have to do it. What's that line from When Harry Met Sally...one of my all time favorite movies by the way..."Oh jeez what are we gonna do? Call the cops it's already out there!"

So, this will be my learning experiment, creative outlet, have to do it because I already put it out there thingy. And hopefully, some of y'all will actually enjoy it.

I wonder if they make a Blogging for Dummies book?