Where's Waldo?

Hey there friends. 

I'm so sorry I've been MIA. I had every intention of updating two weeks ago, then last week & well....the time just got away from me. I do have a slightly valid excuse that may buy me a little sympathy. I started online courses for my Masters on Monday. My study skills are rusty. I've been thrown back into a world I've been absent from for 2.5 years now. Scary! But I think I finally alleviated my anxiety enough that I can accomplish the tasks before me in week 2 with ease & ahead of schedule. Two "beginners" courses in 8 weeks = tons o info in not tons o time. Yikes! Daily prayers are much appreciated :)

Well, now that I have some time to visit grab a seat & let's catch up.

I've finished two 5ks.
I made my second fall wreath I promised many moons ago.
I managed to pick up some pumpkins & mums.
I painted my kitchen (again!).
I made a lovely Pottery Barn inspired wall college.
I've gained a new love for old "treasures."

Before I dive off into all of our adventures, I've got some big & exciting news to share.

My best friend is going to be a mommy!!!

Shanna & her hubby Jonathan will be welcoming a sweet little one into the world in May 2011. I'm super excited!! I've been dying to share the news but wasn't at liberty as the couple wanted to wait until after their first doctor appointment to make it public knowledge. Many of you may not know my bff, but we've been lifelong friends & she's like a sister to me. For cute pictures & updates of how she & baby Moody are doing check out her blog.

Those who can't run marathons run 5ks. At least this is true for me. Something about 26+ miles totally overwhelms me at this point. But me & 3.1 miles have become buds.

The family & I ran or walked a 5k for Ovarian Cancer research in mid-September. We were on "Teal for Toni," a team for Toni Keyes, & had a great turnout in support of her. I also ran in memory of Vickie Knox, mother of one of my college roommates, who passed away the Monday before the race on Saturday after a nearly 4 year fight with ovarian cancer.

 Erin & I before the race

 My hubby finishing the race :)

 My sweet mother-in-law power walking to the finish line

family after Bulterfest 5k/2 mile walk /fun run

We represented! We each came home with a ribbon for placing!

When we were in town for Butlerfest, I grabbed some magnolia leaves from Nana's yard because I wanted to use them to create a fall wreath for my front door. My inspiration came from Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality. Hers is beautiful! But I added a little spice of my own & this is what I came up with.

Do you like it? I'm pretty proud of it. Best of all, it was free.

The supplies included:
-a grapevine wreath (I reused one I had on hand)
-magnolia leaves (I collected two plastic bags full - only used 1/4 of them)
-pinecones (I found mine in Nana's yard)
-burlap (had it on hand)
-floral accessories (bought awhile back on sale)
-acorn (you can barely see it, but I used it in the middle of my burlap bow)
-ribbon
-hot glue gun

Does anyone else have a hard time keeping mums alive?? Maybe it's me, but no amount of water or sun seems to satisfy these little boogers. And note to self for next year....don't get WHITE! They look worse when they turn brown before their time :) I wonder if they can be revived from their brown state?? Oh well. At least the pumpkins are low maintenance...and pretty. That's my kind of decoration.

Sometimes I get an itch for a good change in my home decor. Actually this happens more than I care to admit, but at least I realize it. And I do the work myself. This time I had the itch to change my wall color. I was tired of the same color scheme all over my house: red, green & tan. So I mixed it WAY up & went blue.

Just a little peep at the finished product. I'm pretty obsessed.

I started refinishing my dining room table chairs. When I finish those, I'm going to recover the seats.

I've ordered curtains & plan to get matching fabric to sew along the bottom to match my seat cushions.
To see the "before" photo, see this post.

In the spirit of change, I found a wall layout in my latest issue of Pottery Barn that I had to recreate. See my inspiration below.

All of our Crimson Tide love on one wall. Jake LOVES it. The photo does it no justice. It really does look good, if I do say so myself. Thanks Pottery Barn. Hubby thanks you too.

I've never been an avid craig's lister, partially for fear of finding some psycho crazy serial killer type at the other end of the ad. But I stepped out on a limb when I found this beauty & decided to commit to meeting the seller at her home. Turns out she was the very nice wife of a very nice husband & it all worked out to my advantage. I got this baby for a steal. I can't wait to get that sander cranked up & fix her up real pretty.

The end of October is sneaking up on us. Do you have trick-or-treat plans? Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I'm a big ole scaredy cat! But this year we're spending it with some of my favorite people in the world so I'm really excited. I'm even going to branch out & go on a "haunted hayride" of sorts. I may not open my eyes the whole time, but I'll be able to say I did it.

Thanks for hanging with me until the bitter end of this loooong post. Until we meet again, blessings to you & your family.