Sweet Summertime...

This is where I can be found for the next week:
http://www.thebeachhousestthomas.com/
Hopefully when we get back next Sunday I will be much tanner, relaxed, and have lots of goodies!
I am really looking forward to spending some time with the family. This will be Annelise's first vacation! :)
Our flight leaves at 6am tomorrow morning, so I am off to bed!
I will post pictures as soon as we get back

"Big, orange ball, sinkin in the water
toes in the sand, couldn't get much hotter
little umbrella-shaded margaritas
coconut oil tannin' senoritas
oh now i know how jimmy buffet feel..."

Paige's Visit

One of my really good friends from college, Paige, came to visit us last weekend from Midland, Texas. It was such a wonderful 4 days for us to get to catch up and have some girl time together!
We took here around Baton Rouge to get some Cajun food when she got into town on Friday. Saturday, we went to get pedicures, did some shopping, and then took her down to see the main sights in New Orleans, including Bourbon, Cafe Du Monde, Jackson Square, etc... definitely a must for first timers!
Sunday we went to Mandeville and Covington to have lunch with Stori and Elysha. We did some more shopping (I was looking for a china cabinet) and then got some cheescake at Copelands. We took it easy Sunday night and rented some movies and just enjoyed our time together.
Monday, she had to go home :( . We got some lunch and I showed her around Ponchatoula for a bit before taking her to the airport.
Thank you Paige for coming to see me! You have no idea how much it meant!
P.S. I posted the rest of the pics on Facebook if you want to see them

So Sweet

This is one of the cutest things I have seen in a while...

A Little Inspiration

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
* If you plant faith, you will reap a harvest

So, be careful what you plant now;
it will determine what you will reap later.

"Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"

LOST...

Here is another thought:

What about that time that Christian and Claire were in the cabin? Can MIB (man in black) be two people at once? Is Claire even really dead for him to take her form? She could just be brainwashed to follow him since Christian is her dad, she may just be doing anything he says, trusting that he is right.
Also, an "Anubis" Egyptian god of the underworld (which is what the statue is of), so if MIB is an Anubis, then it would make since that he could take the forms of dead people.

Dedication

Love Actually was on TV tonight and so I thought I would dedicate my favorite part to my sisters, Emily and Hannah, since they share my love for the movie and this scene:

LOST Finale Review

Season 5 is over :(
The episode was pretty amazing! They have opened a whole new "can of worms" when it comes to questions. Here is my attempt to list all of my outstanding questions and comments in as best of an order as I can get them:

1.Jacob makes the point to say in the beginning that "there is only one ending, everything that happens prior is just progress." I take this to mean that You can not change the future.
2. Jacob also never ages and shows up everywhere. Where did he come from? Why are these characters special? Why choose them? Why does he heal some people (John) and not others (Nadia)?
3. Who is the guy wearing the black shirt at the beginning? He is obviously Jacob's enemy. Jacob was wearing white; are they supposed to represent good vs. evil?
4. I am really sad that my theory that John Locke is Jacob did not pan out. It did in a way, though, since the bad guy took over Locke's body...
5. Richard is the only character that shows up in 1977 and present time
6. I was so glad that they found Rose and Bernard and they have been taking care of Vincent! They have sure turned into a bunch of hippies, though! I am happy for them.
7. Who does Radensky think he is, taking control of everyone and everything?!
8. If John is not John and the bad guy is using his body, how does he have all of John's memories, thoughts, and feelings?
9. Obviously the other passengers from the Ajira flight are working for Jacob, this is why "Locke" wants to kill them
10. Why can't the bad guy kill Jacob himself?
11. What did they mean by "candidate" when referring to Lapidus?
12. How did John's body get into the cargo crate? Is someone working for the "black shirt guy"?
13. How did "black shirt guy" go about taking over Locke's body? I would love to see that!
14. Obviously "black shirt guy" orchestrates the whole thing! He is the one that tells Richard to tell John that he would have to get everyone back to the island and would have to die to do it. This is when he is able to take over his body, causing the chain of events to start
15. The Ship at the beginning is possibly the Black Rock. Maybe when it got close to the island it traveled back in time to the Egyptian time.
16. The "war" that has been mentioned is not between Widmore and Ben, as we thought, it is between Jacob and "black shirt guy" which could also mean good vs. evil
17. Jacob knew that Ben had come to kill him and he know that it was "black shirt guy" in John's body. How did he know that? Why didn't he stop Ben?
18. what's the deal with the loop hole?
19. Whoever built the Dharma houses knew about the Temple since there was access through the house
20. I can't believe they killed Sayid!!! I hope he gets healed or isn't really dead
21. What is the significance of the cabin and the ash?
22. The guy that is with Elana is the same guy that kidnapped Miles in the van and told him not to go to the island
23. I thought it was kinda lame that Jin had to write down is vows at their wedding... it was only like 2 lines! lol
24. Juliet is such a girl! I hate all of that unnecessary drama that she had to throw in there about not having to lose Sawyer. He said he loved her, so she should believe him and stop being dumb!
25. I didn't like Juliet but I didnt want her to die. I feel bad for Sawyer!
26. It's about time that Jack and Sawyer got into a fist fight! It was hilarious to watch Jack stumble around in the background after the fight!
27. Who is Christian!! Where is Claire!!!
28. Why did Jacob have a guitar? I think that he brought it to Hurley so that when Hurley is back on the island in 1977 he can place it in the woods where he knew that Locke could find it for Charlie, back in season 1. Hurley always missed Charley and probably does this to make him feel good
29. Did the bomb explosion blow up the statue?
30. I like Miles' theory. I was thinking it all along and so when he said it I was really happy!
31. When Jacob dies, he says "They're coming." Who was he talking about? Elana and his other helpers?

Check out Stori and Laura's reviews, too. They have some pretty good input.

What's Your Style?

I took a quiz on www.sproost.com to see what they said my style was...I think this is a pretty good generalization of my favorite styles. Looks like I am pretty evenly spread:

33% Rustic Revival
You can take kid out of the country but you can't take the country out of the kid... or is your theme "you can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid?" Either way you play it, you are one of the unique individuals who loves a mix of modern and country. The clean lines of the modern softened by rustic /vintage elements is the perfect mix in your mind. And can we blame you? You've taken the best aspects of two popular designs and mixed them in a manner that appeals young and old alike. A subtle background of white or light colors provides a nice canvas for all the wonderful flea market, eBay or garage sale finds as well as the classic modern pieces that you love.

33% Nantucket Style
Oh how you love the beach! Who doesn't, right? And so your dream home is either perched in your favorite beach town, or you've brought that favorite beach town into your house.

34% Cottage Chic
Who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheesy? Not you! You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each. What better way to show off these treasures than with a light background?

LOST Finale

Those of you who are as obsessed with LOST as I am will appreciate the hard work that I put into the following cookies. Thanks to Lauren for some wonderful baking tips, I think they have come out pretty good. I ordered an airplane cookie cutter online but when I got it in the mail it was really small, so I scanned it into my computer, blew it up and printed it on clear Overhead paper. This got a little tedious, so I only made 3 airplanes. I also didnt have an octagon cookie cutter (which I am not sure how that happened since I have a huge collection of cookie cutters) so I had to cut the Dharma Initiative Cookies out by hand, too. I was not really as prepared as I thought.
This is really my first time to use royal icing, so I did some pretty basic stuff, and I need to work on my craftsmanship, but it was a lot of fun and addicting! I don't think this is going to be the last time I bake decorated cookies!

The Biggest Loser

And the winner is... Helen Phillips!
Helen is a 48 year old mother who went to the campus with her daughter. Everyone thought she would be eliminated early and be easy to beat. No one really gave her a second look, they didn't see her as a threat, but while they were focusing on other people, she turned into a little fire cracker!! Look at her before and after photos:


I wish I had arms like that!!!
Anyways, she went from 257 lbs down to 117 lbs; a 54.47% weight loss! That is awesome!
I love this show; I love to watch not only the physical transformations, but the emotional and psychological changes, too. It is very inspirational. If you ever get a chance, you should catch a season. The next one is this fall... I know you will get inspired, too!

Happy Anniversary

Here is to some very special friends of ours here in Louisiana. Allyson, Tim better take you out somewhere nice! :) Congratulations!

Another Blogger!

I got my other sister, Hannah to start blogging, too! :)
You can get to her blog in the left hand column of my blog, titled "Hannah's Habits",
or click here to check it out.

Compromises

I knew getting married would come with some compromises and learning to live with a boy has really been interesting...
This weekend I made 2 of those compromises that affected the decor of our house.
#1 was Jeff's deer heads were hung on the walls:


#2 This Leather Recliner will be arriving on Thursday:


I can't really complain at all since Jeff has let me take control of the rest of the house, but these were definitely rough.
As far as the deer go, I am lucky to have grown up with a dad that hunts so I am used to this. The dining room was really the only place in the house with a tall enough ceiling for them, though.
The recliner took a lot of shopping. He wanted one of those awful 80's recliners that are about 4 foot wide and super poofy (yes, they are comfortable but as an interior designer in training I can not let one of those pass) but I wanted to get a really pretty designer chair. Long story short, this was our outcome. Not too shabby... Slowly but surely he is going to turn our place into a rustic motif, lol.
He is happy, so that is all that really matters.

WOW!

The Show "Britain's Got Talent" this season really has some interesting contestants! Check this one out:

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's to 2 of the most wonderful moms in the whole world! Jeff and I love you very much; Have a wonderful Mother's Day! (Of course, the most recent picture I can find of both of them they are holding Annelise, lol)

Snake!!!

I went out to my garden to pick some of my ripe tomatoes yesterday, minding my own business when something dark to the right of my hand caught my eye... this was staring me in the face:

This water moccasin got tangled up in the mesh I have draping over my tomato plants to keep the birds and pests out. I guess it did it's job... sort of. Needless to day, I jumped back and let out a little scream and went running inside. I called Jeff to come home as soon as he could to come to my rescue and kill this ugly snake (at the time I did not stay out there long enough to investigate if it was alive or dead). As soon as he got home he found that it had died and just cut it out of the mesh (my hero!) lol. It had to be at least 3 1/2 feet long! I'm glad that it was already dead when I went out there since my hand was right next to it's head. This was a little too close for comfort if you ask me! The people that live behind us have a pond and there is a ditch between the properties, so I guess this was inevitable, but now I am going to be a lot more careful and keep my eyes pealed for more of these guys.

The Saga Continues...

I just finished book #3 of the Twilight Saga, Eclipse. yay! I'm off to start Breaking Dawn, the final book ASAP!

Home Sweet Home

I'm so excited! We have a bird making a nest in our Magnolia Tree :). I really hope she lays some eggs, too.

LOST "Follow the Leader"

This week's episode of LOST was one of the best in a long time! I am actually in the process of rewatching it as I speak so since there seemed to be so much that went on...

We find out that most of the "Others" are way more confused about what is going on than we thought. Eloise, Charles, Richard, and Ben seem to be lost, literally!

I was hoping to learn more about Richard's past. We got to see a lot of him, but he didn't answer any questions or give us some history... typical!

It seems to be proving that this is just going to be a continuous loop since they can not change the future. Jack seems to be convinced otherwise, however. This, in turn, breaks Kate's heart since Jack wants to erase everything that has happened the last 3 years.

John seems to have a new air of confidence about him. I like it; he obviously knows a lot and has complete control over what is going on.

I love how Ben just mopes around and pouts about not being the leader anymore. He is such a baby! (Sorry, Allyson) lol I think that he is back to his old ways and going to try to get Richard to go against John. He is such a trouble maker!

My favorite part of the whole episode is when John brings Richard and Ben in the forest to watch himself come out of the forest; sending Richard to take the bullet out of his leg... very trippy!
Best line is from Ben to John, "This must be quite the out of body experience!"

Ben seemed to read my mind when he asked John, "how did you know when to be here?" and John replied, "the Island told me." COME ON!! Give me something more than that! geez!

Favorite part #2 is Hugo trying to prove that he is not from the future, claiming he was 46, there is no such thing as the Korean War, and had no clue who was President of the US... I have to sympathize since I wouldn't have known that stuff either. lol Of course, typical Hurley stumbles over his words and just gives up.

Now we just need to figure out who Jacob is... Why hasn't anyone seen him?? Why didn't he ask what Christian Shepherd's role was? What about Claire, did he forget about her??
I really hope that I was right in guessing that John is Jacob, but when John admits at the end of the episode that he wants to kill Jacob (dum dum dum!), that might prove me wrong... We'll see!

Are Juliet and Sawyer going to go back to the real world and live happilier every after, buying Microsoft and betting on Cowboys football games?? I hope not! Kate is such a home wrecker; I dont like Juliet, but Kate is a hussy...

I can't believe next week is the finale... I'm so excited!

Online Shopping...

I admit that i do lots of online shopping. I don't actually purchase that much stuff, but I love to look anyways. It is like the modern "window shopping" venue...
Anyhoo... I ordered this swim suit for our trip to St. Thomas in a few weeks:


Although I will not look nearly as good as this model, I loved the way the top can convert to a halter. It will be great for catchin' some rays! 20 days in counting until we leave and are here.