Decorating Dilemma

I have a decent size wall in our upstairs hallway that is giving me trouble.

(please excuse the heinous light fixture)

I used to have this whole wall art thing spelling our last name in this spot, but then I stole those frames for the dining room. (more people see that room than our upstairs hallway....sorry hallway, you lose)

Should I do family/friend photos? (note: there are family/friend photos on the opposite wall already) Should I do one or two large prints that we like? It's just an odd space. The hallway is narrow, so I can't put up shelves. I would like to do something fun, but I'm lacking in the creativity department at the moment.

I thought about doing a little vintage mirror thing on this wall.....all different shapes and sizes???

Anyone seen anything interesting lately???

I need help ASAP! This wall mocks me every time I walk past it....it's blankness is upsetting. (that and the tiny holes dotting the wall from the 'last name project' that used to be up there. spackle shmackle, I'm hoping the next thing I hang covers those puppies up!)

let me count the ways

Sometimes I find myself more in love than I ever thought possible.

I look at my husband, and I love him to the deepest part of my being.

It's simple things really.

~the way the sun catches the blonde hairs on his arms

~his blue eyes, the way they tear up when he laughs really hard

~how he brings me a cup of water to bed

~how sometimes he will hug me extra tight, for no reason
~the way his hand seems to have been made to perfectly hold mine

Sometimes it's overwhelming.

Can a heart burst?

Reality Sets In

For the past week I have been riding high on a delicious memory.

The Angus Burger from McDonalds.

Yup. Stone and I split one last week. The memory of that most perfect of fast food burgers has been nudging my taste buds for a week.

I talked Stone into a McDonalds dinner date tonight. On the menu, of course, were 2 Deluxe Angus burgers. (sharing is lame)

About half way through our burgers we looked at each other....

"Stone, this Angus burger has let me down."

"Yeah, I'm over it too."

Dear Angus Burger,

Our love affair, though brief, was passionate.

I sang your praise to anyone who would listen.
I shall cherish the week of happiness we had. I will try not to linger on the let down that was tonight's meal.
Broken Hearted,

Court (& Stone)

Shall We Dance?

When I was in the shower this morning (OK, it was afternoon...I'm on a stay-cation!!!) I got a

little tune stuck in my head.

The obvious tune would be "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" from South Pacific.

not so fast my friend!

The inner workings of my mind are much more complex!

or perhaps random?....no, complex. Complex definitely sounds better.

"Getting To Know You" from The King and I popped right into my mind.

I couldn't help but sing my little heart out!

I need to watch this movie...soon.

PS: I even liked Jodie Foster's take on this classic.....perhaps it's the hoop skirt, but I can't get enough of Anna!

RECAP

The birthday fest/feast was SPLENDID!....

....take a look.

On the menu:

*veggies & dip

*cheesy potatoes

*spinach salad

*tomato pesto pinwheels

*7-layer dip

*mini beef wellingtons

*sushi (spicy tuna roll)

*deviled eggs

*homemade mac-n-cheese

*cheese & crackers

*artichoke dip

*veggie pizza

*fruit pizza

All my favorite side dishes/party food.

IT.WAS.DELICIOUS!

Stone got the hint.

He presented me with a sweet red velvet cupcake from The Flying Cupcake.

I loved/love it! (couldn't eat it all last night, so I'm still loving it today!)

See....

PS: Thank you to everyone who pitched-in to make my b-day feast so awesome...especially you Madre!

PPS: If you would like the recipe for any of the food above, let me know. I have a couple recipes I'll be posting very soon so I can just tack any others on with it!

Golden

Today is my 'Golden Birthday'.

Today I am 26....

...on the 26th.

me, 20 years ago

It seems strange to be able to look at a picture and say, "that was me 20 years ago" and the picture not be of an infant or of mi madre with a baby in her belly.

26

I know I am not old, but I can't help but feel like time is slipping away from me. Geez!...if I feel that way now, think about how I'll feel in 20 more years!

Let's not think about it, OK?

Let's eat cake (perhaps a red velvet cupcake...Stone?), give hugs and kisses and cheers to a great year ahead!

MUAH!

PS: My friend Kelly just emailed me the following:

HaPpY hApPy BiRtHdAy !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you have a GREAT Day today! And hey, be proud you share a birthday with Macaulay Culkin and Corky from Life Goes On!!!!

heehee!

POP!

I've been feeling the need for a splash of color.
In my 'do' that is.
I've been running through the same broaches turned hair pins/headbands.
I need to shake things up a bit!
What do you think about these?

OH, and this little party hat is too fun!!!!

from APEZOPPA'S Etsy Shop

Tumble

What do you get when you combine.....


*hands full of water, cell phone and glasses case

*a groggy head (I had just been nudged from dreamland on the couch)

*sandals that are out to get me

???????????

You get sweet bruises on your arms from where you fell up/down the stairs.

I've got another on the other arm too....it.is.dead.sexy.

Oh, you also get a puckered bottom lip due to your bruised ego. It's mildly embarrassing to be found sprawled on your tummy half way up the stairs with a glass of water poured all over you.

PS: it doesn't help that our stairs are basically a vertical ladder to our 'attic conversion' of an upstairs. I'm actually slightly surprised one of us hasn't fallen up/down the stairs already.

PPS: does this mean I should get a prize for being the 1st to take the tumble???...I think YES!

Have you ever been away from home, and then when you come home it smells like 'home'?

That happened to me tonight.

We were at a party (30th b-day party) having a great time, but we decided to go home.

We walked in the door and the smell of home slapped me in the face. I was wrapped in a cocoon of warm and fuzzy bliss. It smelled like a house filled with love....and history.

History

Two people who joined their lives together.

Through thick or thin.....together.

Our house smelled like

a 'home'.

I'm proud of that old lived in smell. The smell that says,

"Hey! People live here!!!!"

"People live here and make memories!...HAPPY memories!!!"

Stone is downstairs, wondering what I am doing.

I'm getting ready to go downstairs and make a cheese quesadilla. I'm getting ready to go downstairs and hug my husband. I'm getting ready to go downstairs and breathe in the joy that is our life together.

Good Night

Domestic Goddess...

Yeah, I made that.

TOOT TOOT!

I'm pretty proud of myself. I was up to my elbows in egg whites (which look quite disgusting), but I think it turned out lovely.

It's Great-Grandmother Pearl's Angel Food Cake. (from Food & Wine magazine)

Add strawberries (for Stone) or peaches (for me...although I was dooped by the grocery and actually purchased white nectarines) a dollop of whipped cream and you are good to go!

NOTE: the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of pure almond extract...I added it and to be completely honest, I'm not a fan. I can really taste it...and it almost ruins it for me.

PS:

Two photos of Stone and I from the 'family photo shoot' we had a couple of weeks ago.

(photos by Jamie Sangar)

Dear Rachel McAdams,

Is it your life goal to rip my heart out?

I cried for a good 4 hours after The Notebook. Yup, balled and balled and balled. (And I became obsessed with Ryan Gosling.)

Apparently I'm a glutton for your particular brand of punishment. Against my better judgement, I saw The Time Traveler's Wife this evening. The book almost did me in, so why in the name of yogurt covered raisins did I think it was a good idea to see the movie???

Perhaps I thought you, Rachel, wouldn't put me through the ringer...again.

tisk tisk tisk

How silly of me.

Yes, I cried all the way home. Yes, you were lovely and yes I am now obsessed with Eric Bana.

Are you happy?

RIP.MY.HEART.OUT.

Sniffling,
Courtney

PS: Yes, the book was loads better...but when are they not?
PPS: You wanna talk about sexy Eric Bana?...watch The Other Boleyn Girl. Sheeeeesh!...good lookin!
PPPS: Thank you for the tickets my sweet bean Katie Jean!

The bottle says it all

I'm a rebel. See? It even says so on the bottle of wine Katie Jean got for me.....to celebrate with.

Celebrate?

Oh, how rude of me!

The big news around these parts is.....I.QUIT.MY.JOB.

Yup, I did it. I wasn't happy, (haven't been for a while) so I sort of snapped and quit.

(note: I gave them 3 weeks notice...no need to burn bridges....to the ground)

Luckily, The Gods were shinning down on me and I was able to hastily procure another J.O.B.

I don't start my new job until Sept. 1st.

My friends tell me I'm a lady of leisure, but I don't agree.

To be a lady of leisure I feel you need at least the following three things, which I don't have.

1. Unlimited (or enough to do whatever you damn well please) Funds

2. A Trainer (gah!...I really do need this one)

3. A weekly trip to the nail salon to have my fake nails "filled-in".

Since I clearly have non of the above, I like to say I'm on a "stay-cation".

Stone asked me what I did yesterday (when he got home from work). "I read the last Harry Potter book."

"So you were a couch potato?"

"Hey! I'm on vacation!"

"Touche"

PS: Thank you Katie Jean and Babs for the wine and for celebrating me spreading my wings!

Monday Morning (on a Tuesday morning)

I woke up to the house still smelling like the big family dinner I cooked on Sunday night. You know, that cozy homey smell? It smelled like someone was already in the kitchen cooking up a storm.

It made me smile.

I have mason jars full of sunflowers all over my house...left over decor from the family dinner.

They make me smile.

MONDAY MORNING WAS A GOOD MORNING.

MONDAY MORNING WAS THE FIRST MORNING (WORK DAY) SINCE MY "HICCUPS" HAVE GONE AWAY.

PS: more on the family dinner soon

Sunny Saturday mornings equal us waking to the breeze blowing through the curtains, crickets cricketing and birds singing. But this sunny Saturday morning there was something else....

"PPPPPHHHHHHHHSSHHHHHHHHHHH"

"PPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

What is this strange sound pulling us from dreamland? Stone and Matilda get out of bed. I hear him down the hall looking out the window.

"Look Tilly. Look at the balloons!"

What a great site to wake up to!

sway with me

For my 21st birthday, Stone got me a Nat King Cole CD I wanted. It's been stationed in my car CD player ever since.

I love him, Nat King Cole.

Wonderful buttery song effortlessly passed through his lips. Nat and his smokey velvet voice makes me sway.




See? His voice wraps around you, warm and cozy doesn't it?

PS: When Katie Jean graduated from college I got her a little keepsake box. I had the lid (which was a mirror) etched with a message.

Katie Jean: (opening present) "Oh a music box"
Court: "Um, it's not a music box. Just a keepsake box"
Katie Jean: "What's this dial on the bottom then?"
Court: (furrows brow)
Katie Jean: (twisting dial on the bottom)
Keepsake Box: (starts playing "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons" by Nat King Cole)
Court: "Well, I do love you for sentimental reasons...."

Shady...but funny

"Shady"

That was the one word text response I received back, from my friend Angie, in regards to a local Jasper, IN motel called The Camelot Inn. (Ang is from Jasper)

"How shady???" I asked

"call me"

So I called and explained to her that Katie Jean had snagged 4 free passes to Holiday Word Splash-N-Safari and we had thought we could fly by the seat of our pants and just stop at any old hotel on the drive down....we seriously misjudged the popularity of this water park! Every hotel within a 30 mile radius was booked solid.

Except for that is, The Camelot Inn. Which by the way as "luck" would have it, did NOT have a website nor were there any customer reviews on any travel websites.....aka: not a good sign

After a convo with Ang, we decided what the hell let's do it.

I present:

The Camelot Inn

If The Camelot Inn isn't classy (complete with knight in shining armor logo), then I don't know what is!

A"Psycho"-ish old car parked in front welcomed us to the main office/check-in. Now all we needed was a murder in the shower.....

Room 354....notice the cozy adirondack chair by the screen door. SO INVITING!

We felt it entirely necessary to drink our tasty wine out of plastic glasses, while sitting on the sexy leopard print beds.

You stay classy Camelot Inn.

(note: we packed blankets and pillows to sleep on top of the covers if need be...however upon further inspection of the beds, the sheets were Snuggle fresh. Seriously, they smelled like Grandma had just popped them out of the dryer!)

No hotel,with a knight in shining armor logo, would be complete without a completely drained dilapidated swimming pool.

Anyone for a dip???

or perhaps a turn down the slide???

All in all, our stay at The Camelot Inn proved to be pretty silly. The trip to Holiday World Splash-N-Safari turned out to be a whole lot of crazy....lost contact lens, public urination (not by us), interesting swimsuit choices (not ours) and whip-lash.

more on that to come!

(must get the pics from my water proof camera developed first)

Much To Do

The invitations have been sent.

The menu is set.

To Start:

• bruschetta
• stuffed red potatoes

To Sit:

• salad
• lasagna
• garlic bread

To Finish: (still debating which one)

• fresh fruit
• cupcakes
• toffee trifle

To Drink:

• vino
• sparkling juice (for the wee ones)
• brew
• soda pop
  

The clock is ticking down until our home is filled with the ones we love.

There is still much to do in the dinner party decor department.

Time for me to turn into a woman on a mission.

Ready

Set

GO!

The truth shall set me free.....

I have a (another) confession.

I have a dirty crush on Gary Oldman.

I can't help it. There is something about him that suits my fancy!

I especially love my Gary as Sirius Black from Harry Potter.

(and yes, I have dubbed him "my Gary"....get used to it!)

ya gotta love her...

I think I might have mentioned a time or two (or three) that a VERY MUCH SO enjoy surprises.

Mi Madre went skipping of to Target this afternoon. Before she departed she inquired if I was in need of anything from said store.

"No, but you know I'm always down for a surprise."

When she returned, she presented me with a bag. What was in that bag you ask?

A tub of potato salad and two peaches of course!!!!!

Would it be anything else?!?!?!?

"I walked past the potato salad and thought...OH, THAT JUST LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING COURT WOULD WANT! So I had to buy it!"

Thank you for the rockin surprise Madre!

PS: I'm well aware that it may or may not technically be a surprise if you mention or drops hints or nudge the person in the direction of or FLAT OUT tell them "I want a surprise".

It.Is.On.

Dear Chocolate Chips in my cabinet,

Every time I open the cabinet you mock me. Your untouched chocolate goodness slaps me across the face. Your undisturbed factory sealed package points the finger of shame at me.

I know I pinkie promised Stone (5 days ago) that I would bake him homemade cookies. I know that at the close of each cookie-less day, Stone's confidence in the sacred vow (that is the pinkie promise) fades.

Consider this letter a warning you semi-sweet bits of chocolate heaven. Your days are numbered.....

Seriously,

The Wife

What I Said-updated

I'm a relatively healthy lady. Until recently, I had never been to the emergency room. I prided myself on this. I always made sure to "knock on wood" whenever discussion of broken bones, sickness, stitches, etc. came up.

"I've never been to the hospital. EVER! (knock on wood)"

A lot of good that "knocking on wood" did! It really came back to bite me in the rear.

literally.....

This morning I had to have a colonoscopy.

For obvious reasons, I was nervous. Besides the fact of what the actual procedure involves, I was pretty iffy about being completely sedated.

The nurse came in to push my hospital bed back to "the room". While pushing me through the halls and then into the room, the nurse was having friendly conversation with me. Asking my name, my birth date, what I'm here for..etc (don't want to wake up missing a limb, when all I really needed was a colonoscopy) The oxygen tubes inside my nose started going at full blast and it was burning the back of my throat.

"Ma'am it's kind of burning my throat. Is that supposed to happen?"

If she responded, I didn't hear it.

The next thing I know mi Madre and Stone are gently shaking me awake.

Madre/Stone: "Court, wake up. It's all over"
Court : (shaking my finger at them) "says who?"

Madre/Stone: "The doctor. He came in and said it was all done."
Court: "I feel tricked!" (falling back asleep)

Madre: "Court, wake up so we can go home."
Court: "I've been dooped!" (falling back asleep)

Stone: "Wake up Court."
Court: "They tricked me!.........Don't you think they would have the common decency to tell me before they knocked me out." (falling back asleep)


NOTE:
I'm OK

UPDATE:
I also apparently "confessed" that I packed a bag of cheesy bread in my purse.

(mi Madre searched my bag...and found nothing of the sort)

Right Now

Right now I am content. I am smiling inside.

I have one of my Gran Estelle's aprons wrapped around my waist. My house smells of freshly baked bread.

I brewed a pot of Earl Grey tea this afternoon. I drank it out of the strawberry tea cup mi Madre got me (for Valentine's Day). It made me smile.

Right now I am cozy. I am warm and comfortable in my home.

Right now I am thankful for the good in my life.