September? Really?

I cannot believe it is September.

I am not about to post about Pumpkin Spice anything so you can relax.

It is still very, very warm in the Deep South

 so I do not bid farewell to Summer on Labor Day.

I go kicking and screaming into cold weather.

But I like September in the South.

A lot.

It's still warm enough to keep me happy but the humidity slacks off a bit

 and everyone in the entire Southeast has better hair days!

Steel Magnolias. There are some really good hair quotes in this movie :)

It is also the month of our birthdays!

All of us. Three in one month. 

(Which means we have to buy our car tags in Georgia. On your birthday. Really?)

It is the title of a fabulous Fall read by British author Rosamunde Pilcher. 

My mom got me hooked on her books and we like to reread September every couple of years.

New cover. I've had mine for years and it doesn't look like that.

September means Mums!!

I absolutely love mums!! 

I could buy zillions and put them everywhere. 

We can't start buying pumpkins this early

 (they won't survive the heat or critters) but mums are a go!!

I love the pink-y coral ones!

And I love, love the purple ones, too!!

Eddie Ross 

And what about the bright yellow ones in these incredible champagne buckets?

 Seriously tho - dead plants would look good in those urns!!

But white flowers are my absolute favorite

(white is my favorite color for anything and everything actually!)

I like everything in this picture and again with the silver champagne bucket.

And our ferns are still going strong around here

 so I like this combo with white mums and asparagus ferns.

Here's a big purple mum on our porch.

I ask Mollie for big mums for my birthday every year!

September means football!! Big deal in the South.

Friday nights are for High School football

(look at that sky last week!)

and Saturday is for college ball. 

We are a house divided and Mollie has friends playing at schools all over the South 

so sometimes we just cheer for the player!!

Years ago we had to cheer for a GT Yellow Jacket (I went to UGA), he graduated and went pro but now we are back to cheering for GT again. Go Josh!

It makes Saturday games a lot of fun!

September is the best kind of month!

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

I Love a Good Garden Center.

I love a good garden center.

To me that means it is charming and has paths, looks landscaped not like plants for sale on a bunch of big box store shelves and they don't care if I wander. 
I like atmosphere and ideas I can use.

You just know it when you come around the corner and spot one of these special places.

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting my parents 
and my mom directed me to the cutest garden center ever, Liberty Landscapes.

If you are anywhere near Bedford VA it is worth the trip. 
(The D-Day Memorial is in Bedford and it's amazing. 
Make the trip and see it, then go buy a plant. Or two.)

 #yourewelcome

(See - not your average garden center!! It's gorgeous! #backyardgoals)

This place is like wandering around a really pretty backyard on a garden tour. 

Except it's big and fabulous.

It is housed in an old coal and ice warehouse and railroad yard 
right along the railroad tracks.

 I could just move in.

(original, real deal sliding doors!)

It's good from the old rusty truck out front that announces they are open 

(don't you want to find an old, rusty truck now?)

all the way through to their social media presence. 
They post a plant of the day every day on IG with an informative blurb.  

Gardening eye candy and you learn something too.

#winwin

They are so nice.(Ask for Ashby - he's awesome!!)
 And obviously talented so be sure to go.

I tried to convince them to serve refreshments to me in the garden.
#umbrelladrink

#betterlucknexttime

I wanted all.the.plants.
I did buy a plant even though I was traveling.
The displays are irresistible!!

From My iphone 5/2017

Some randomness from my phone.

It's a mixed bag for sure!

This one pan ( read 5 minute clean up) recipe is turning into a major favorite around here. I've made it for my parents when visiting and they are big fans too. The original came from Waiting On Martha but I have tweaked it slightly. 

I have switched WOM's green beans for the asparagus. 

The timing still works perfectly and we love it.

It's in the rotation!

I bought tickets to see India Hicks speak at a garden club fundraiser.

 I have been a fan since an article in a magazine decades ago. She's my hero - she ran away to  small island and lives in a big white house. What more do you need??

She was delightful.

Go see her if you have the chance.

I'm loving these two chinoiserie fabrics currently.

Where, oh where, can I use them?

(I've used this fabric before but in a different colorway. This colorway is growing on me!)

I posted pics on IG and on the blog of a blue version
of these hand stamped anthro knock off curtains. 

I printed the pink version for my One Room Challenge.
The details of how I went about it and what I used are here.
I will tell you that for the blue version I used old sheets, laid them out on a table and eye-balled the layout. You can read why time was a major factor.
For the pink version I was printing on IKEA panels and I laid them out and used painters tape and a t-square to create a registration process for the hand blocked layout. It didn't take much longer to do the measured registration if you feel the need for more definite order. However, when the two different treatments were hanging I couldn't really see where the more precise layout made any difference. So if you are pretty sure handed and can eye things then you may not feel the need to register the block printing.

Then I felt the need for a pink pagoda pillow. The example I found while making my Olio Board was $91.00. So you know what that means? I had to make my own! I used a white pillow cover I happened to have, some of  the gorgeous Sherwin Williams paint - Ruby Shade- I used for my block printed curtains, and a small flat brush and painted it freehand.

 I like it. 

I am currenty obsessed with the Watermelon Mint Lemonade at Chic Fil A.

It is sooooooo good!

Where have I been??

I just discovered @blueandwhitehome on IG. 

Great feed!

Look at this porch. I want to be there. Sipping Watermelon Mint Lemonade!!

I'm also loving this blog right now!

I fell in love with their room on the One Room Challenge that I just participated in and now I'm reading the blog like a book!

J and J Design group.

This room!!!!

And school is out here. 

So we are putting together a Summer Bucket List and getting ready for FUN!!

For us that means lots of porch time with friends. Grilling. Relaxing. Chatting!

BTW, Chloe is more excited than she looks!

Time on the Boules court...

And maybe an umbrella drink around 5 o'clock right here on the shady chaise!

 

Happy Summer!

PS. I love to see pics of fabulous backyards to hang out it.

Tag me on IG if you post your backyard hang out spots!

from my iphone 10 20 2016

1. We had a Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party at church last week after our  Missions Lunch.

This is one of the easiest and truly helpful projects I have ever helped with. 

You cut shoes pieces out of old blue jeans.

 Mail them to Sole Hope, they ship to Uganda and teach people there how to make shoes thus employing people and the shoes are given to children who are in danger of disease, being crippled, amputation or worse due to jiggers.

#zerojiggers.

You order a kit with all you need but blue jeans 

and it's great as a home party or with a large group. 

Watch the videos of children with jiggers.

 Really. Do it. 

And the quote by Asher Collie at the beginning of the video about who the problem belongs to is one of the best!!)

Then have a Shoe Cutting Party. 

And all ages can help.

 Look at Frank cranking out the denim shoe parts.

 If a retired doctor of mathematics can do it, so can you :)

A very kind person donated their coin jar(s) to Edu-Pack to help with Hurricane Matthew Relief efforts in Haiti.

 However, it needed to be rolled. The WCYouth Group spent hours rolling it. 

And we haven't finished. We are at $1500.00

That's a big coin jar!!

2. I spend a lot of time in this gym from October until March Madness. 

I don't know a thing about basketball. I played tennis.

Thankfully I have a great team of basketball loving volunteers. 

And they are all 2 feet taller than I am :)

 3.  I went river rafting on the Nantahala. 

We used Nantahala Outdoor Center for our group and it was a fantastic experience.
Beautiful day on the river.
 Do it. 
It's good for the soul. 
Take your kids. #nocellservice

Someone did have what they call an OOBE.

Out of Boat Experience. 

It ended well - so no worries!

#oholivia

4. The purple mums Mollie gave me for my birthday in September are still going strong!

5.  Mollie turned 25!! 

#howdidthathappen

6. Compassion Experience.

I went to a Compassion Experience program in Roswell a few weeks ago.

Well done!

You experience life in an emerging nation through the eyes of a child. I learned a lot.

  If you get a chance to go to one - do it. 

And take your kids. It's interactive and you use ipods so there's that!!

7. I have had some great thrifting luck lately!

I love it when you find a pair!

(I have a new favorite mustard yellow spray paint!!)

This lamp!!! 

Bamboo shelf in perfect condition. $20.00 

#loaditup

Vintage bamboo swivel chairs.

Going white.

8. I made this one pan lemon rosemary chicken dish from Southern Living. 

Seriously good. And easy. And one pan!!

#winnerwinnerchickendinner

And this is my picture - not the professional SL one. 

It's really that gorgeous!!

9. I want to live in a house that is situated just like this.

But someplace warm.

10. I'm all in on flamingos. 

11. Mollie and our friend, Handel, from Haiti. We had dinner a few days after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the end of the island. His family and friends are okay.

There are lots of ways to help if you are able.

12. We have had a few cool nights in Atlanta and the firepit has been in use.

 It goes well with red wine ;)

Well, if you are still with me I promise to "empty" my cell phone more often. 

This was a long one!

I was invited to link up at White Spray Paint Blog.

Check it out and that's a blog name I can relate to!