WOW! Just WOW!

my girl turns 7

If you're afraid of snakes, don't look down! 

Aunt Jessica, that means you.

Our girl turned 7 last week. S E V E N! We hired Mr. Greg's Reptile Roadshow to entertain her friends.

Lil channeled her inner-Bindi and had a ball with these scaly creatures.

Lil holding a milk snake

Nice bracelet!

Lil passing around a Blue-tongued Skink

This alligator was by far the scariest reptile in the program. Don't worry, there was no touching this guy.

A Mexican Gopher Snake

Lil is one brave kid.

The grande finale - a very large boa contrictor!

And six very happy girls.

Happy New Year!

1000 gifts continued. So much to be thankful for.

#4 Autumn leaves

#5 For views out windows. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with our home. So many windows. I love watching as the view changes from season to season.

#6 For this church of ours. I didn't grow up going to church, nor did I really understand why people went to church, until I found this one. The perfect fit.

#7 Our church has 2 choirs, the Sanctuary Mass Choir, which sings African American gospel music, and the Chancel Choir (pictured), which sings more traditional hymns. This year, the Chancel Choir sang Handel's Messiah and it was SO beautiful, impressive, and moving. 

#8 We scored FREE tickets to The Nutcracker this year!! Best seats we've ever had too.

#9 Handmade Christmas cards. I never even get around to mailing store-bought cards, but I SO appreciate these handmade cards my friend Kathy makes each year. She started sending them to me in 2002 and they now fill our mantle each Christmas.

#10 The perfect-sized Christmas tree for our little parlor. It, along with our new wall paint color, up-cycled wreath made out of wool sweaters, and handmade Christmas cards made for such a festive living room this year.

#11 A white Christmas for us in North Carolina. We got 9 inches of snow when all was said and done. Alan's childhood friend, Clif, his wife, Trish, and their 3 kids joined us. We saw so many of Alan's good friends during this visit.

#12 Lilly went up and down this hill dozens of times.

#13 A girl and her pal, CJ

#14 I love to watch my daughter dance. She's so graceful, so unselfconscious.

#15 Comice pears are like candy. Juice, sweet, and so good in a salad with goat cheese, pecans, and pomegranate arils.

#16 This one is odd, I know. I'm grateful for the stroller cluttering up my front porch. I know I won't need it much longer.

#16 Old friends. My lovely college roommate came through town with her husband and their son. She still looks like she's in college, but I won't hold that against her. I need to spend more time with old friends. I miss them so.

1000 Gifts

 #1 Jonny got his first haircut. I loved those little red curls, but now his appearance matches his personality. The kid is ALL-boy.

#2 Jonny loves to help his Daddy fix things. Here he is holding the flashlight while Alan reattaches the thing-a-ma-giger to the do-what's-it. 

#3 This Norman Rockwell moment of our very own. 

Sunday quote of the day

"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people."


by Abraham Joshua Heschel

The wonder of make believe

Roasting marshmallows by a camp fire. 

Searching the internet with her new laptop.

Some things I love

Freshly painted rooms. Our dining room used to be red and the living room was beige. Thanks to my husband's mad-painting skills, both rooms are now painted Blue Gray by Farrow & Ball. Only 2 stores in Atlanta even sell F&B, but you can order it online if you can stomach the shipping costs. It contains no plastics, zero VOCs, is a clay-based paint and the formula has been the same since 1946. It's pricey, at over $80 a gallon, but in my opinion is worth every penny. The Blue Gray color is warm and has much more depth to it than the picture shows. It almost has a slight green undertone and goes REALLY well with our cream trim & olive green built-ins.

I love that Lil still loves to fall asleep in her Granddad's lap, even though she's nearly as tall as he is.

I love my new bangs!

 I love Autumn and this little boy with his bright red hair.

I love my little girl's toothless grin, even though it reminds me she's not so little anymore.