He got here as fast as he could...

Bryan probably didn't expect the reaction he got when he played me this song for the first time. Tears. And I don't mean a couple twinkling in my eyes, I'm talking big fat tears. Happy tears, but still...poor guy. He got a repeat performance when we heard Josh sing it live at the fair, it gets me EVERY TIME. In my defense, they were showing pictures of real life couples at their weddings, with kids, grandkids, etc. on the big screen. Also: eHarmony commercials make me tear up now. (that's how we met) Now excuse me while I go find a kleenex, I watched the video before I posted it.



(Please excuse the shaky live video, there isn't an official one on his youtube channel)

People Who Understand You? Priceless...

I LOVE this commercial!! Last night we were watching a movie with George Clinton in it, and it took me until this morning to place where I remembered this song from :-)

Monday Links

I may not do this all the time, because I don't love it when other people post nothing but a list of links...but here are a few posts that have gotten stars on my google reader lately:

Chatting at the Sky about Grace

Flower tutorials from Oopsey Daisy

Simple Mom's ideas for Fall Projects

A sweet post at (In)Courage that reminds me of my grandparents

Five Things Friday

I forgot how fun this is!

1) Baby Pig in Galoshes. Go on, click on it. You won't be sorry.

2) A $16.67 natural gas bill. So. Happy. !!!

3) Cooler weather! Fall is probably my favorite time of year, with spring as a close second.

4) Burger King Fridays. The Double Stacker is my fav.

5) An upcoming weekend of beautiful weather with no plans...just me and my sweetheart ;-)

"The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances" ~ Martha Washington

Fall Cookies

Marie and I made some decorated sugar cookies this week for girls night: sprinkles, cinnamon sugar, candy corn, and orange sugar. Orange sugar, by the way, is my new favorite thing. Just zest one orange and mix it with about 1/4 cup of sugar. DELICIOUS.


I went the simple route with the cookies, just pillsbury slice and bake sugar cookie dough. Lazy was the name of the game for dinner this week - chili dogs that took about three minutes total to make and then these.

Here they are in the oven! We were impatiently waiting...and drooling...



And pan #1 out of the oven! The orange sugar ones were a success, and of course the ones with the sprinkles. The candy corn, on the other hand, did this...


The candy corn melted through the cookies and stuck to the pan...I have yet to try one, when they solidified again the candy corn stayed really sticky. On pan #2 I also tried combining the orange sugar and cinnamon, which was good even though I got heavy handed with the cinnamon. Next time they will be perfect :-)

Wow...Time Files!

So...

::crickets chirping::

...Anybody still here?


Life happens, huh. I missed blogging! I think my motivation to blog has changed while I was gone though. My "Five Things Friday" was me whistling in the dark at first, but now it is a nice reminder to count my blessings. I'm going to switch gears a little and make this more of a normal blog and less the "Happiness Project" that it started out as. I miss photoblogging too, so maybe I'll combine the two. I said maybe. That would involve taking pictures, which I forget to do. Ahem. Where were we?

So if you've given up on me, come back! And if you weren't reading before, welcome! I'll be writing about life, love, family, friends, house projects, crafty things, flowers, babies, food (can't forget the food!), movies, books, yarn, music, tv shows, other blogs, road trips, legos, football, the cats that won't leave my yard, QT Cappuccino, purses, sewing, painting, and who knows what else. Something for everyone ;-)

Anybody know how to publish from a Blackberry?

Very Good Advice

I am neither an Oprah or Judge Judy fan, but I do love the blog "It's Almost Naptime!!". This post made me laugh, mostly because I can hear Judge Judy's voice saying these things...can you?

Five Things Friday: Long Overdue

A month? Sorry guys and gals! Let's see...how about ten things this week!

1) Old friends :-)

2) Cable TV...I cannot describe how much I missed my TiVo...pathetic, no?

3) Blueberry pancakes

4) A good conversation

5) Turning the AC down really low and getting under a warm fluffy blanket

6) Watching Clean House and Hoarders ... "Mayhem and foolishness!!"

7) Drumsticks...the ice cream kind!!

8) Caramel icing

9) Fireworks and sparklers!

10) Bare Minerals Eyeshadow - Plum and City Lights

Five Things Friday

This week's five things:

1) ziplist.com is AMAZING. I love that I can text things to add to my list or have it send me my list by store...if I forget things, it is entirely my own fault now!!

2) Have I mentioned that I'm cheating on the Big Mac? Burger King's Doublestacker is just plain good...and since I pack my lunch for work and save money four days out of the week now, it's a nice treat on Fridays, especially with a frozen Coke!

3) Getting things done around the house makes me really happy. Except for the front room and hallways that we haven't touched, there is almost nothing left to do in the main living areas of the house! The electrician is coming next week to give us an estimate, after that I'll have it made :-)

4) My daddy cut my grass!! I hadn't even mentioned how it's been bugging me, once it got too high to cut in the back with my push mower I didn't know what to do. He brought his riding mower up while I was at work yesterday and surprised me when I got home! Now I just have to keep it maintained...half an acre of grass to cut...I need to plant some more flowers!!

5) Saving money is kinda fun. I've gotten into the coupon clipping and salepaper reading grocery game...we'll see how it goes! It really is a game, I look at it as a challenge to see how much I can save.

I used to think I was a list-oriented person. And then I read this post on Fiddle-Dee-Dee about a Wal*Mart remodel and I realized that I don't even come close to being a "list person". Not that I haven't had the same complaint about the Kroger remodel when I lived in Stockbridge, or the fact that stores don't have consistent layouts from location to location (don't even get me started on how my Kroger moved the PB&J from picnic supplies to the bread aisle and I had to ASK where the peanut butter was...). But that's not me. I can go to the grocery store with a list and STILL not come home with everything I need. Hi, my name is Melissa and I get distracted easily.

Don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. I Corinthians 7:17a (The Message)

Five Things Friday (late)

1) Chicken Fajita Soup at Six Feet Under

2) Rita's Italian Ice

3) Grilled hamburgers, barbecue potato chips, and toasted marshmallows

4) QT French Vanilla cappuccino (only $.95 with a QT refillable coffee mug!)

5) Brownies with caramel icing

(I'm hungry this morning...can you tell?)

Food for Thought

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means you've decided to look beyond the imperfections" ~Unknown

Five Things Friday

1) Raspberry Ginger Ale

2) Late night trips to the grocery store when it's quiet

3) Flip flop weather

4) Naps in the hammock

5) Finding money in my pockets!!

Memories

It's funny how something so small can trigger such a vivid memory. Today someone left a box of Beechies Chewing Gum on my desk from a salesman, the same kind my grandaddy used to get from the Farm Bureau in Thomaston. As soon as I put the first piece in my mouth, I was back in my grandparents' dining room...I could almost smell the lingering Marlboro Red smoke mixed with Virginia Slims Menthol, spearmint gum, and vanilla candles. I could feel the worn yellow linoleum and braided rug under my feet. I closed my eyes and could see the chunky wood mantel on the brick wall, the hurricane lamps, and feel the heat from the gas log fireplace.

I spent days at a time with my grandparents when I was growing up. My grandaddy was just a phone call away, no matter what was going on he would hop in the truck and come pick me up. We went to pay bills around town, to visit family that lived close by, to the fire station, police station, courthouse, archives, city hall, Red Cross, grocery store, Dairy Queen, feed store (baby chicks!), hospital, library, cemetery, Burger King, Piggie Park...you name it, we went there. He took me to every animated Disney movie that came to the Ritz. We played catch and kickball. We cut the grass, trimmed the hedge, picked snap beans, and picked up sticks. We made things in his workshop - with lots of nails. I was his Sunshine, Troublemaker, and, best of all, The Boss ;-)

It's bittersweet to go visit them now, things have changed so much since I was a child running around their house. Sometimes it helps just to take a moment to remember the good times...

Five Things Friday

Hmm...What should I choose this week...the new haircut is still pretty high on the list

1) Finishing projects

2) Making things myself!

3) Hanging out with the girls :-)

4) M&M sugar cookies (there has to be at least one food thing on the list!)

5) My sugar scrub (see #2!) It was super easy, I just mixed granulated sugar, baby oil (the recipe I got the idea from said sunflower oil, but I couldn't find any and baby oil won't go rancid and already smells pretty good), and a few drops of lemon verbena scent from Hobby Lobby in a pretty jar with a lid and rubber seal (also from HL). I have no idea how much, I'm not a measurer...I just dumped and poured until it was a consistency I liked. It's like what I used at the nail salon (when I could afford to go to there...).

I plan on trying it with the different kinds of scented baby oil, and I had also seen a recipe with half brown sugar, half white sugar, vanilla, and oil (sunflower supposedly) that I want to try. I'm really happy with how it turned out, my hands were very soft and smelled sooooo good! I wish I had thought to make this when I was doing so much painting, my hands got really dry from all the paint peeling and frequent washing.

Five Things Friday

Five things that make me happy today:

1) My new haircut! I had it all chopped off yesterday and barely recognized myself in the mirror this morning at 6:30 (of course the smudged mascara that I forgot to take off last night probably didn't help!!)

2) Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla coffee...mmmmm...

3) My newly painted pink claw foot tub :-)

4) Finding the frame kits I needed on clearance for $2.00 apiece at Michaels...4 frames for $16.00!!

5) Peanut butter and honey sandwiches and chocolate milk (and getting up in time to pack them for lunch and still be at work by 8:30!)


Remember my FB status last week about rompers? I emailed Melanie at Big Mama and she feels the same way! Check out her Fashion Friday post today for some summer cuteness NOT involving bad 80's-90's fashion...

Kitchen Floor Progress

Before:


During:

After!!


This is the last "big" project for the house, at least for now. After this it's just more painting and some bookcase construction, maybe refinishing floors in a couple rooms. We're on the downhill slide, folks :-) I'll post pictures of my super cute bathroom closet doors later too! I can't find a before picture of them, which is slightly annoying, but I have one more folder to look in before I set up the post. It's nice to have gotten to the fun, decorating part now. I like accessorizing and accenting!

Five Things Friday

1) Gilmore Girls....as in the complete set of dvd's. I have missed Lorelai and Rori (and Luke) since I haven't had cable to watch reruns. Now I can watch any episode I want whenever I want :-)

2) Having a dining room to eat in - I love having friends over and actually talking at dinner instead of being in front of the TV because there's nowhere else to sit and eat.

3) Getting things in the mail! Especially boxes of stuff. Not so much with the bills...but at least those are something in the mailbox. It makes me sad when the mailbox is empty.

4) Peanut butter and brown sugar sandwiches. Just try it, you'll see!

5) My little brown teapot stuffed with hot pink roses from my yard. I don't want them to stop blooming, they're so pretty!

Photoshop is My Friend

HA! I can't wait to print this and frame it for my room :-) I love me some photoshop, is that font not perfect for a 50-60's movie star!?

Five Things Friday: Garden Edition

I promise I will replace these pictures with the ones of the actual plants in my yard. That just involves getting home from work in time to catch daylight, which hasn't happened in a few days. That, and my hydrangeas haven't actually bloomed out yet but they're covered up in buds!! I can't wait :-)


1) Peachy yellow roses - this is sort of what mine look like. I was super excited when two of the bushes in my yard bloomed out to be my FAVORITE kind!!




2) Red Geraniums. McDonough is the geranium city, so these are everywhere. I like them anyway and both of my grandmothers always had pots of these on their front porches, so now I do too! Family tradition :-)



3) LOVE Impatiens. I got pink and white, but I think the place where I stuck some may be too sunny, we'll see...I can always move them up under the ginormous bush with big rose-like flowers that I keep forgetting the name of. Seriously...I'm losing it. I think it starts with a C? or a G?



4) I can't wait for my big hydrangea bushes to bloom...they're old and established and should be absolutely covered in blooms. I want to dry some, does anyone know if there's a way to help them hold their color?



5) I love funky flowers, I got a hanging basket of Fuschia like this for the porch. I need to find some more odd things to mix in with my traditional shrubs. Fortunately hanging baskets go on sale right after Mother's Day, I want to get some hot pink Bougainvillea too ;-)

Five Things Friday

Let's see...this week...short and sweet

1) Friends :-)

2) Cherry limeades

3) Strawberry tarts

4) Warm summer nights (ok, wishful thinking!)

5) Peachy yellow roses

Shoes!!

Since I saved so much money on the mattress set I had budgeted for (my goal was to stay around $800, but thanks to the card holder sale at Sears I was well under that!) I splurged on some new summer shoes. Mostly because I really don't need to wear plastic flipflops to work so often...or at least that's how I'm justifying it ;-) I'm totally into wedges this summer, so I ended up with these by American Eagle at Payless:



And these, which are the same brand as the turquoise ones I got last summer and still love :-)




I really wanted these too, but I'm also on a skirt kick this summer and I'm on the fence about wearing slingbacks with skirts...opinions?



Also, how STINKIN' CUTE are these?? I think I might have to go back and rescue them...I wear a lot of blue, so yellow is a good accent color :-)

Phoebe in Wonderland: Dare to Dream Your Life

"At a certain part in your life, probably when too much of it has gone by, you will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are. Especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful normals. And you will say to yourself, 'But I am this person.' And in that statement, that correction, there will be a kind of love."

Five Things Friday: I Fell Off the Wagon...Again...

Sorry folks, I'm lazy these days... Maybe I need to start posting every day so I won't make excuses.

Sooooo...here we go!

1) Snickerdoodles. Cinnamon + sugar cookie = delicious.

2) My mailbox. Where I grew up we had to go get the mail at the post office, so the idea that someone brings it to my house is still cool. Yes, I'm easily entertained.

3) This chocolate pie. Make it today, you won't be sorry. And yes, you really do have to beat it for five minutes between each egg, it's totally worth it. Also, go for the deep dish pie shell.

4) My kitchen sink



5) Unpacking boxes. I need to take a picture of my mountain of empty boxes, it makes me super happy!!

Five Things Friday

Five things that make me happy today:

1) This skirt from Old Navy, which I am wearing today because it's GORGEOUS outside!!



2) Catching up with old friends...thanks for the phone call, Jacs :-)

3) The beautiful weather!!

4) This album, Bethany Dillon's self titled first release...powerful stuff. Track 3, Beautiful, gets me very time. I am not exaggerating when I say that that one song has gotten me through some very bad moments during the last year.

5) Being myself makes me happy. Maybe it's easy for some people to be the same no matter who they're with, but I tend to be a bit of a chameleon. Sometimes I just need to take a step back and think about what it is I've actually been doing. What's that verse in Romans? "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial"...I'm working on putting a little more of my life through that filter...

Five Things Friday

Five things that make me happy:


1) "A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

2) Lunch breaks at work. Today's theme was "This one time, when I got pulled over..."

3) Easy Mac. I am probably going to hate it by the time my kitchen is done, but food is food and it can be made in the microwave.

4) Libraries (though I can rack up some serious overdue fines...$7.90!?)

5) This mirror:

What "Happy" Really Means...

OK folks...time to do some redefining. Or I at least need to remind myself what my definition was in the beginning, because y'all, it's been a rough few days.

I'm not going to lie, I thought buying a house would be a magic happy pill. It hasn't been so far, but only because I get so caught up in the tiny little things that go wrong - the flies in the ointment, as my grandmother would say. Last night when I was too nervous to sleep and I was trying to distract myself from imagining people crawling around under my house knocking stuff over (and, y'all, it was probably MY DAD that did it when we were down in there on Saturday!) I had a lightbulb moment.

The problems that I had going on before I bought this house and moved in it are STILL THERE. Moving isn't going to change my heart. I have been so caught up in what hasn't gone right and who doesn't seem to care that I've overlooked all the good things and the people who HAVE been there and DO care. Not to mention the single most important part - I bought a house!? ME? The person who can't remember what she had for lunch yesterday, kills houseplants, forgets to lock herself in at night, and has gone to the gym without shoes before is responsible enough to buy a HOUSE? (By the way, there is only ONE KEY to my entire house and it's a weird size that they can't copy at Lowe's...I am terrified of losing it. Changing the locks needs to be higher on the to do list)

Sure I have crappy things in my life, but who doesn't? I can always find things to complain about, but I can also find many more blessings if I take a minute to breathe before I react. And a little chocolate, a few texts to a reliable friend or two, and some happy background music (or Star Wars for the millionth time) go a long way :-)

Five Things Friday: Home Edition

HA! Finally :-) Now where to start...I meant to take pictures, I'll have to do another one once I remember to do that The brain, it's not running on all six cylinders these days...that whole burning the candle on both ends thing...I'm surprised I can even function, I'm so tired. And I possibly have a case of strep in the making, thanks to coworkers who COME TO WORK SICK. Ugh. But that's beside the point. Happy things!!

1) Wall color in my room and the small bathroom: Kingston Aqua, by Olympic



2) A plate from Hobby Lobby, perfect for the mantel in my bedroom!



3) This mirror is over the bathroom vanity, I changed the ribbon to a tiffany blue and hot pink paisley from Hobby Lobby, it's PRECIOUS!!



4) Laundry hamper from Pier 1, which was only $1 more than the smaller one that the McDonough Target was out of by the time I went to get it. Score :-)



5) The cutest chandelier ever :-) Spotted at IKEA thanks to Rori!!

Five Things Friday (on Saturday)

Oops!

1) Clean laundry that smells like Tide and Bounce (soon this will be back in my life, everything at the parents' is unscented because of my mom's allergies)

2) When someone compliments my jewelry or asks where I bought it, and I can say "I made it!"

3) Leaving work feeling like I actually accomplished something that day

4) Spending an entire day doing nothing but watch tv and movies in pajamas

5) This mascara

Five Things Friday

Well, folks, it's been a rough week in the happy department. My already virtually nonexistent patience is wearing very thin, but we're in the final countdown - something will happen with this house by March 19th. Three weeks from today. In the meantime:

1) Hello, beautiful...


2) I have a job that I love. This is more of a "thankful" than a "happy"...my job has not made me happy this week...but I'm glad I have it.

3) I found a refrigerator that I like!

4) Clearance jeans at Banana Republic

5) Wednesday nights with my Marie. Even though we can't convince anyone else to join us, the two of us have fun :-)

Five Things Friday

Five things that make me happy this week...

1) Billy Ray brought me back this fortune cookie from his lunch today...he calls me Sunshine like my grandaddy used to :-)

2) These shoes. They had to come home with me from Target.


3) The fact that there are three Dunkin' Donuts between my parents house and work...if there's a long line at the first one, just try the next one!!

4) My DVD's from half.com coming in the mail (Forrest Gump, Joe Vs. the Volcano, and You've Got Mail...Tom Hanks makes me smile)

5) The Charlotte Russe outlet at Tanger...ruffles and flowers...it's downright dangerous.

Five Things Friday

Well, so much for my dreams of posting every day...life is just a bit too hectic at the moment!! It's been a roller coaster around here these last few weeks, but at least things are moving... So...things that make me happy here lately:

1) Customer service at my bank - I can't brag on them enough, every single person I talk to is so helpful and pleasant and gets me exactly what I need. And I have talked to them a lot, I have my home branch's number memorized now...

2) Netflix instant streaming movies and tv shows. best. invention. ever.

3) Work has begun on my house, which means closing is getting closer!!

4) Caesar, Caesar! pizza at Mellow Mushroom (minus the salad)

5) My friends. I've been through so much trying to get this house, and then I got more bad news this week...it makes all the difference to have good friends to go to. You know who you are - thank you for all the calls, texts, facebook messages, gmail chats, meals, etc...I couldn't get by without you :-)

Five Things Friday

First of all, let me just say that packing does NOT make me happy. UNpacking makes me happy. Though, apparently I was braindead when I unpacked some of my kitchen boxes last time, because I have now found three things that I have been looking for since we moved in. What idiot puts cast iron skillets on top of the kitchen cabinets with the small appliances?? This idiot. Also, I need a real blender in my life...I'm pretty sure my stick blender, while awesome for milkshakes and soup, would crawl into the corner and cry if I asked it to chop ice...as would my mini food processor. Maybe I'll get one of those cute retro blenders like this one to go in my future cute retro kitchen :-)

So...Things that make me happy...I think I'll do another picture edition:

1) This Formica. Is. Awesome.


2) While packing related, bubble wrap still amuses...


3) Widow's Walk - Andrew Wyeth...if only there were prints of this painting


4) OK, for this one you have to use your imagination...but picture my signature on the new contract for my house because, believe me, that makes me incredibly happy :-)

5) Last but not least: How cool is this??

Five Things Friday

I'm wishing I had made this "Four Things Friday" instead of five. For some reason it's hard to come up with that fifth thing, and I can't keep using chocolate chip cookies every week. Actually it's hard for me to come up with more than one thing that isn't food. I am a big fan of food, in case you hadn't noticed that already. But I digress :-)

Five things that make me happy:

1) Spending time with friends - something I haven't been doing enough of lately.

2) Clearing my desk at work

3) QT French Vanilla Coffee

4) Being on time 4 out of 5 mornings this week

5) PW's Steak Bites, Tater Tots, and A1...my stomach is growling just thinking about it...

Yummy in My Tummy

Last night as I was standing in the grocery store line waiting to check out I glanced over the contents of my shopping cart. Meat, meat, dairy, beans, pizza, fish, meat, potatoes, and more meat...and one bag of salad. I think I need an intervention...

Five Things Friday: Picture Edition

1) Last night I watched (500) Days of Summer - Loooove Zooey Deschanel in this movie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn't half bad all grown up (Angels in the Outfield, anybody?)



2) This is the coffee cup I use at work...they know I'm not a morning person, I'm barely a person until I get my coffee and breakfast!! :-)


3) Toll House Cookies...need I say more?


4) I was on a one way street to a bad mood until I watched Bones last night...never fails to make me smile :-)
5) If only they sold these chips in the state of Georgia...Texas, I miss you!!!!

Falling Off the Wagon

Well, folks, I haven't posted as much as I originally intended, but life has been on the hectic side lately! As I mentioned in my first post, I found my inspiration in Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project. I read her blog almost every day, and a few words from an interview in her post today stuck out to me: (Entire post here)

"Happiness is, in my mind, a mental choice. We'll all have adversity, challenges, and setbacks, but we get to decide how we'll handle them. We get to decide to view things as opportunities. We get to decide to be nice. We get to decide who we work with and what kind of ways in which we’ll work. When I’m not over-committed, I generally can keep perspective and make good choices."

Today, I choose happiness :-)

Happy Dishes

Kate Spade's St. Kitt's Mix and Match...stick a fork in me, I'm done...


And this: Also Kate Spade, Gwinnett Lane Cream


With a bit of this: Gwinnett Lane Chocolate thrown in to tone it all down a little


Which led me to this, Lenox Chirp, on sale at Macy's...


Never in my wildest dreams will I be able to afford china that is $129 a place setting and $112 for a sugar bowl...but a girl can still dream, right?