Pineapple Tree

 Give me a small themed tree any time. 
I love them.

Don't get me wrong a big beautiful tree is eye catching but I love (and have) little trees 
(here, here and here for starters!) 
tucked all over the house during the holidays!

This little pineapple tree sitting on the sideboard in my kitchen makes me smile.

A few weeks ago I saw a sparkly pineapple ornament 
in a bin at a bargain store and bought it.

Then I saw another one somewhere else and picked it up. 

And then it was like "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie."

I had a couple of ornaments and  I wanted more. 
And a tree to hang them on.

And then I found that big sparkly one on top and knew I could cut the string off,
 drill a small hole in the bottom and, voila, a perfect pineapple tree topper!

Are you a one tree or multi tree kind of person?

School's Out For Summer!!

In our area school will get out at 12:30 today and it is officially SUMMER!!

I love. love. love Summer and it seems to take longer to get here every year!!

#hurryupsummer

This is what I would like to do ALL Summer!

Are you a beach person or a mountain vacation person?

   

This year's beach hat is fro the Dollar Spot at Target!

I'm Team BEACH all the way!

We are not sure where we are going yet!!

I can't believe I just wrote that! 

We have been waiting to see if perhaps, just maybe, our condo that was flattened

 last Fall by the hurricane might, just maybe, be ready by July.

Nope. 

I'm headed out to spend my June 

living out of a backpack on Mission trips but believe me - Mollie is on it!!

She is a researcher extraordinaire and she is determined to find our little July spot

 in a paradise somewhere. :)

We are going to (practically) throw a dart at Florida, 

find a place to hang our (beach) hats 

and have an adventure!

Maybe it will be as funny as the one I talked about here.

Where are you going this Summer? 

Like, I really want to know! 

I want to know about great places to visit!!

So dish!!

Easy Peasy Valentine's Day Treat for All Ages.

These are so cute and so quick. 

The picture got a lot of "play" on IG so I thought I'd share a few details.

Valentine's Day Candy Skewers!

These are quick and easy. Inexpensive even if you are making quite a few.

Easy to make ahead and transport.   

Cute, fun and pretty in pink!

I bought wooden skewers from Wal Mart. The dollar store often has them. 

One end is flat and the other is pointed. 

They were 97 cents for 50.

The cello bags are inexpensive and available at Wal Mart or Hobby Lobby. 

I had a stash from Nashville Wraps. 

They have every size and shape and I think everything looks better wrapped up in cello.

The prices are good if you need cello in bulk and they ship quickly.

The candy!!

You want any and all soft candy or candy with a hole in the center that you can find 

plus big pink and white marshmallows.

We bought ours at Wal Mart, Dollar General and Dollar Tree. 

There are tons of dollar bag choices. 

We bought fruit chew type candies in multiple shapes and flavors - anything pink, peachy pink or red. 

Gummie Lifesavers and a couple of other chewey candles are ring shaped 

so they just drop right on the skewer. 

The rest of the candy you simply slide down the skewer. 

This is why you want "soft" candy.

I also bought Little Debbie heart shaped cakes for the "topper." 

Spread out all the candy, slide it on the skewer in any order 

(I didn't even try to make them exactly the same but you could), 

pop them in the cello bag and tie them closed. 

We dropped a few Red Hots in each cello bag.

We used a twist tie to get them sealed tightly and then put pink and red grosgrain ribbon (any pink or red ribbon would be fine. I always pick up the cute rolls of "themed" ribbon at the Target Dollar Spot)

 and white curling ribbon over the twist tie to make them frilly and fun!

*Please note: One end of the skewer is pointed. You need the point in order to easily slide the candies on. If you are making these for children you can snip the pointed end of the skewer off with kitchen shears (very easy) and then add the Little Debbie Cake to the end.

Red, White, Blue and Bamboo.

The Fourth of July.

It's all about the Red, White and Blue.

And bamboo.


(Just add blue checked napkins and this combo from February works for July!!)

And it's all about the food and fun.
How fun are these straws?? They would make even a glass of water fun to sip!

(From the Dollar Tree!)

For years we did the Marietta Square Parade, checked out the craft and food booths, went home to cool off in the pool and then to a friends' home in the Marietta Historic District for a cookout and fireworks. The kids were young and ran around and had so much fun. 

As Mollie got older our plans became more flexible. 

We have rented cabins, joined friends at their places, traveled home from Hawaii one year on July 4th and spent one Fourth of July in England.

One of our favorite travel quotes comes from that trip.

We were in a pub in Reading, England waiting for our next train. 

We popped in the pub to have a ploughman's lunch. 

When we went to pay the tab I noticed the date and said, "Oh, it's July 4th!" 

(You lose track of the dates when you travel!)

 The bartender said, "Happy Independence Day!"  

We said thank you 

and then he paused, got  funny look on his face and said, "We lost, you know!!"

We laugh about that all the time.

But, I still miss it when we don't start the  July 4th celebrations with a parade!!

Do you love a parade?

Do you decorate?
This house went all out. 
I'm at the other end of the holiday decorations  spectrum.



And this patriotic little pooch is adorable
( but my two Golden's think July 4th is awful once the fireworks start.)


We do love sparklers though!! 
We always do a few packs of sparklers since they don't make a big, loud noise!


So, however you celebrate - have a safe Fourth of July holiday and maybe have some cake!







#bestuseofsparklers

*all images from google images except the dinner plate and Mollie with sparklers

Happy New Year!

The first blog post of the year on 1/1 !!

Don't be impressed.

 I'm putting off the inevitable- using lopping shears to trim the branches off the tree to be able to get it out of the house.

 It grew - a lot- when we took the mesh off at the beginning of December.

We had friends over for NYE - small scale and quiet-

 but I wanted to do a little bit of festive decor to welcome 2017 in the door!

I justified the glittery 2017 banner because I am giving it to the only girl in my youth group to graduate this year!! 

She can repurpose it into Graduation Party decor!

And of course the fabulous Bamboo Bar Carts made a reappearance!

I bought amber colored Christmas lights on clearance because I thought they would add a warm glow to the bamboo and brass pineapples I was planning to use on the carts.

I used one bamboo cart in the foyer again - just like for our Christmas Brunch - 

but I put party hats, horns and noisemakers on it. 

Target and Dollar Store all the way.

Just inside the Family Room Door I placed the other Bamboo bar cart. 

It held the essentials for our under 21 guests!

(I forgot to take a picture after it was completely stocked - oops!)

It wasn't very cold but we also had the new Keurig corner

 (one of Mollie's Christmas surprises - coffee is important to her!! Isn't the color fab??) 

stocked if anyone wanted Hot Chocolate, Hot Cider or Coffee!

I hope you got to ring in the New Year with family and friends.

 I'm headed to "undecorate" some more, cook our traditional Southern New Years Day meal 

(Hoppin' John, Greens, and pork roast) and then we are headed out to a rockin' worship service called "Day One" (complete with food trucks afterwards) to get this party known as 2017 started!!! 

Three Dollar Gold Elephant

I love the Dollar Spot at Target.

Who doesn't?

I do get miffed that it is now the $3.00 and $5.00 spot as well. 

But last week I found a cute mounted elephant head for $3.00.

You just screw the two pieces together.

Not our colors so I had to go for the gold. 

At this point you can still see the polka dots.

They do disappear more with each coat but if you think it would bother you then you could sand the back piece first. 

I used our favorite gold spray paint that I've mentioned before 

and used on other elephant heads :)

 

We added it to the gallery wall in Mollie's bathroom which was our "challenge room" for the previous One Room Challenge on Calling It Home.

It's almost time to gear up for the next ORC.

 It's the best way to get a room going and get it finished.

 I think I'm going to get another room puled together this Spring.

Be sure to follow along or join in!