18 Years and Counting...

Eighteen year ago,

Scott and I became husband and wife!

(well...yesterday, was the actual day)

We promised to love, honor and cherish,

until death do we part...

And I told Scott that the the last line...

whether he went naturally or I killed him

was yet to be determined!

Just Kidding!

We were talking the other night

about how it did not feel like we have been married

for 18 years.  It sounds like such a long time,

but has felt like time has just flown by.

In eighteen years,

we have moved into an apartment...

into our first home...

in with my parents...

(to build our current home)

and then into our house we built.

We have had 7 different cars

that we have driven between the two of us...

Two beautiful boys

that keep us moving all the time...

One dog that tested the vow...

for better or worse...

she was an awful dog...

but she also made me realize that 

Scott really did love me!

Lots of Vacations,

never ending Honey-do lists,

some times fussing 

and a few good fights...

but in the end,

a whole lot of love

and that is all we need to see us

through just about anything.

Here's to the next 18...

may they be filled with many more wonderful memories

And may the years not pass quite so quickly...

A Summer Farewell

Well, It's official....

All school aged children in the state of Alabama

have returned to their studies,

and Summer is officially over.

Austin thought it was totally unfair that his 

school started a week ago,

but, once again we reminded him,

No one ever said life was fair.

I have one more year to keep Jackson by my side,

but he really wishes that he was big enough

to start Kindergarten.

We hope this enthusiasm keeps up 

until next year...

The weather has finally started to cool off around here.

I know it will probably turn hot again, but for now,

I am enjoying the cool evenings and the crisp breeze

 that comes in the garage

of a morning on our way to school.

I have restrained myself from pulling out

fall decor and putting pumpkins all around and about,

however, these stayed out when I was rearranging a cabinet

the other day.

Back to school for some reason always puts me in a mood to 

clean and organize and purge things...

But before I jumped head first into fall and Halloween

(Oh, how I love me some Halloween!)

I decided I would set the table with one last 

Summer inspired setting.

Won't you come and join me...

The table is set for our family of four,

but we would gladly have you pull up a chair

A simple table with one last splash of summer color.

Natural place mats hold each place setting.

The flowers were an assortment from 

our local grocery store...

for $12 you can add a lot of color and it makes

everything seem a little happier.

I pulled out my olive green chargers to top the woven placemats.

and stacked them with my white scalloped dinnerware.

A close up of the woven placemats and the olive charger.

I can't wait to use these this fall...

oh, and wouldn't they be fun with a deep burgundy for 

Christmas...

listen to me...now I have jumped past

 Halloween and straight to Christmas!!

Oh, MY!

I had found this flatware on Ebay a while back

for next to nothing.

I think they were $5.99 for 

four place settings.

I may never find any more to use with 

more than my family, but they are fun for a

family night!

Natural wood napkin rings with a simple green napkin.

I used my acrylic goblets that I had bought

at the beginning of the summer for outdoor dinners,

but then it turned 400 degrees and the thought of 

eating outside was out of the question.

These will be great for outdoor dining,

because if they fall, they won't break.

A quick shot from above...

Thanks for joining me in saying goodbye to Summer.

Looking forward to falling leaves, pumpkins and 

then Ghosts and Goblins, too!

Come back again and visit soon!

Table Details:

Woven Placemats:  Pier 1

Olive Chargers:  Design World (a local floral and home store)

White Dinnerware:  TJ Maxx

Napkins:  TJ Maxx

Napkin Rings:  Tuesday Morning

Cambridge Tortoise Flatware:  Ebay

Acrylic Stemware:  Tuesday Morning 

Woven Floral Container:  Hobby Lobby

Check out all of the other tablescapes this week at

Between Naps on the Porch

Wait...AUGUST??

OK...where did the summer go??

We just got out of school a couple of weeks ago,

and now it is already time to start back?

I am not ready for early mornings...

Nope, not at all.

But as much as I am not looking forward

to the early mornings, I am ready for some 

sort of routine.

Friday is when our routine begins...

Ugh.

So, today we set out of buy all of Austin's school

supplies and get him set up for the year.

While out shopping for supplies,

I decided that I wanted to try and make 

something that I had seen on Pinterest.

I had seen several people make Pencil Vases

and knew it was time to get my craft on...

I grabbed my supplies from the Dollar Store.

Three packs of yellow wooden pencils,

clear glass vase,

my glue gun and some ribbon that I had on hand.

It took about 40 pencils to go all the way around the vase.

I tool my glue gun and ran it down one side of the pencil from the eraser tip

to the end.  I didn't  try to be neat...I figured the more glue the better.

Then I just pressed them into the glass and worked my 

way all around the vase until ever last spot was filled in.

Pretty pencils all in a row.

The inside is not so pretty... gooey glue... 

I also ran a row of glue around the top of the inside of the vase

just to be safe.

Tied a little ribbon around and now it's done!

Ready for some flowers and a cute back to school

tablescape, maybe.

Austin even said

"Wow, That's cool!"

when I was done...

Then he asked what I made it for and when 

I replied a back to school table centerpiece,

he rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.

Gotta love the compliments of a 13 year old boy,

and then the typical reaction of a 13 year old boy...

related to anything girly...

hee hee.