Sunday, March 30, 2008

Will He Go for This?

OK, so I found where I want to go for our little trip sans kiddos. (See, I'm already speaking French without even trying!)

Westin Trianon Palace and Spa in Versailles, France.


And then I can walk down this lane...


To get here:


Is this a better picture of who our neighbor would be?


And I want to go here:


And here:


And I'm not sure what this is, but I wanna do it, too:


And then we can take a train ride into see this:


And this:


And do a little of this:



See what fun?

I have to say to this:

That I love you.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Enough, already....

...of the doldrums! I actually accomplished somethings, yesterday, which cheered me up immensely.



So, spring has come to the inside of the house, as well as the garden. I really like this centerpiece. Maybe, even the most favorite of all. It's just really calming with the blues and greens.

I also made a couple of CDs for a friend and came across the song Fascination by Alphabeat. Awesome.

Plus, how can you be bored when you have a cutie like this running around your house?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Bored, bored, bored...

...I'm not sure what it is, but I've been thoroughly bored this week. It's like anytime I have downtime, I'm just ho-humming and twiddling my thumbs. Don't I usually have things that I'm dying to do that take up alot of time? Like laundry? Don't I relish doing laundry? No? Hmm...


It must be let down from an uber-fab (That means "great" for all you non-German speakers.)Spring Break. The girls and I had a blast. Plus, I had a great book to fill up the non-partying hours. But now we're back to school and I can't seem to remember what I use to do all day long. I'm the stay-at-home, non-mean version of Samantha Who?.
Except I didn't get in a car accident. What do you think that means? Do I need to get checked out? Does insurance cover self-diagnosed amnesia? See, I told you I was a hypochondriac.

Of course, while typing this, I realize that I'm finally done with the celebrations of the spring. (Valentine's Dance, 5yo's birthday, hubby's birthday, 7yo's birthday, Easter) I must have end-of-major-projects-depression. Surely, this is a viable disease. Symptoms: lethargy even when watching British period-piece-dramas (except, of course, The Tudors), wandering around the house but studiedly avoiding the laundry room, checking your blog for comments every 5 minutes. There are others, but I can't be bothered to write them out, or think of them for that matter.

Well, as long as I'm self-diagnosing, I might as well self-prescribe. I am going to come up with a project for the house, even if it kills me. Because the EOMPD just might, otherwise!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Lack of Inspiration

Recently, I've been scrounging for topics for my blog. Sure, sure, I could talk to you about my kids, but I'm not a good enough writer to keep it interesting. I could talk about politics, but I'm too stupid to have anything new to add. I could, perhaps, talk about the many, many movies that I've seen lately, but then you'd realize what a complete loser I am and how much time I waste. So, I've been talking about nothing, really, and just posting some cute (in my eyes) pictures. Entertaining, maybe, but not really informative or creative. Well...who cares?! Here's so more:


My life this past week:




Hampton Court

Hever Castle

Richmond Palace


And what a week it's been! Full of good-looking and really quite awful Henry VIIIs. How can I simultaneously love and hate the man? Well, let's just say that Jonathan Rhys Meyer makes it too easy to love, but then Philippa Gregory is keepin' it real. Oh, and the other way too handsome guy is Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, played by Henry Cavill. Seriously drool worthy. So, yippee for The Tudors and DirectTV for playing the entire first season cut! And, of course, Jenni who shared it with me! (And squealled like a little girl, right along with me, everytime Henry Cavill came onto the screen.)

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Seven Years Ago, Today...

...my life changed forever. I became a mother. Thank you, my dear, sweet, oldest girl for being my guinea pig. And for forgiving me my mistakes and loving me anyway. You'll never know the depth of my love until you become a mother yourself. I pray that will happen for you so that you can experience this change in being as I have. Happy Birthday, gorgeous girl!


So, because of said birthday, the girls and I went over to Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. Gorgeous! Beautiful day, beautiful surroundings and beautiful company! What more can a girl ask for? Besides winning the HGTV Dream House.

Last picture of my girls, but I love this one! It absolutely captures how they truly interact!



I love this clustered daffodil. It's called "Baby Boomer" and it's a cross between a daffodil and a narcissus.


Seeing this urn somewhat appeased the dull ache of longing I've had for England since last month. (Or maybe it made it worse. Jury's still out.) Most of you know that I went with some girlfriends last April and today brought back alot of memories. The weather was so similar to what we experienced and walking around a breathtaking garden seemed familiar.



OK, I lied about the last picture of my kids thing. But, doesn't this bench rock? Katri, if I could, I would totally buy this for you!!! Huggy hugs.

Monday, March 17, 2008

St. Patrick's

You'd think that being a redhead, I'd really be into St. Patrick's Day. But you'd be wrong. I don't have a lick of Irish blood in me, and having people continually assume that I do got quite annoying while growing up. But, that being said, I wear green like everyone else. And I like to make the occassional corned beef and cabbage. (Didn't happen this year, but maybe tomorrow.)

But here's some pretty green things, anyway:


Domino Magazine


Pretty! And, apparently, it's a vegetable. So, yummy, too!


Speaking of yummy...


Here's a guest bedroom from the HGTV Dreamhouse that I didn't win last night! Bummer.

And here's my fam, all dressed in green. All right, aqua. Close enough. Happy St. Patrick's day!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Weekend Getaway

Just a little something that will take us into the weekend. Who wouldn't want to stay here?








Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

April Showers Bring May Flowers....Wait, It's March!?

Well, living in Texas, we get a head start on all the spring stuff! (Not that that fact stopped a winter storm from coming in last week!) But hopefully all that white stuff they apparently call "snow" will not return for a while, meaning 9 months, because I just planting our spring beds!

My blogger friend, Jean, in her awesome blog A Thing of Beauty posted pictures from this month's Cottage Living. This picture in particular totally inspired me.

I ran right out an bought a copy, cause this house is too cute. I love everything about this picture. The ivy, the potted boxwood, the windows, the double french doors, everything! And the good news is that hubby really likes it, too. So, now we have direction for our curb appeal. For years, I've been unsuccessfully trying to get hubby to agree to climbing roses. This picture convinced him! Thank you, thank you Cottage Living!

Since I have a similar porch and entry, I thought that I might be able to somewhat duplicate this. Now, before I show pictures of my house, let me just say that I know this will be an ongoing project for the next few years. You can't make a garden in a day. (Unless you are the production team on the movie set "The Holiday". Hmph. But I digress.)

Here is what I started with this morning.
(Yes, yes, our tree is crooked. We're not exactly sure how that happened. We just woke up one morning and couldn't get it straight! Whoops!)

And here's where I ended up.



Basically, my two additions that were inspired by the Cottage Living article were this hydrangea planter and my climbing roses. The climbing roses are suppose to grow fast, so fingers crossed.


I also added two hybiscus topiaries. We do that every year. They're suppose to last the winter, but so far, no luck. Also, a smattering of snapdragons was planted.

So, like I said, it's a work in progress, but at least it's progressing. Hopefully later this spring I'll have more pictures to show.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Fun New Project

How do you choose where to take a vacation?

Do you go somewhere that you've never been?

Do you continually go to a place you know you love?
Or do you throw a dart at a map, hoping that it doesn't land in the middle of the Atlantic, cause you're pretty sure that the water is somewhat cold and floating around in the ocean didn't really serve Jack from Titanic very well?

Well, this is my newly acquired project.

Hubby and I landed a babysitter from our church, tentatively scheduled for this summer. Yippee! So, off on our adventure we go, but where? Here's the list of possiblities so far:

Prague:
I really want to go to Prague before they adopt the Euro in 2010. (BTW- Are we gonna say, "Twenty ten" or "Two thousand ten"? Personally, I like the "twenty".)

But, hubby's business might eventually send him to Munich to check up on one of their subsidiaries there. The plan is to squeeze in Prague and Vienna after the business trip. Question is: Will this ever really happen?

Paris:

And this could be us!

I really want to go to Paris, because I want hubby to start taking the girls when they each turn 10. I once saw an Oprah interview with Gwenyth Paltrow, and Gwenyth said her father took her there when she was 10 because he wanted her first time in Paris to be with a man who would always love her. Obviously, I need hubby to take me there before he goes with the kids. And we're kinda running out of time.

Hawaii:

I feel like the only person left on the planet who has never been. But, is it bad to say that I'm really not all that raring to go? Maybe if I go, I'll see what all the fuss is about.

Savannah, Georgia:

This is the only place in the states right now that I would want to go. It seems like it'd be way more fun and relaxing sans small kiddos. Cause let's be real here, they tend to break things and Savannah's kinda old.

Hubby, of course, wants to go to NYC:

This is always his first answer to the question, "Where should we go on vacay?" But, we've been there, and I now file it under the category of, "Somewhere to Go on an Extended Weekend When You Find a Great Flight".

And I, of course, want to go to the English Countryside, particularly Bath:
(Note: Subsequent blogging should now be read with British accent.)

Is it really, very awful to want to go back again and again to one country and really not even care for the rest of the world? I mean, someone has to support British Tourism. Why can't it be me?


In the future, I fancy I will let a cottage for a fortnight or two and have a go at living in the country. Then maybe I should postpone my holiday in Britain, just for a bit so that I might experience other amiable areas of the world? Righto!(Note: end of accent previously mentioned)

I know that there are a million other places that would be fabulous to go visit. And, honestly, this isn't even my complete list. I could seriously blog about this forever. Too. Many. Gorgeous. Places. Any help? Any ideas? Where's your favorite place? Please, pretty please, give input.