the zoo

i'd like to introduce you all to a sweet little rescue kitten my parents have adopted and named Elliot

we found this little guy in a pile of wood in my brother's backyard

isn't he precious and tiny?!?

we scooped him right up and took him home, even though we weren't sure if he was going to be living in lubbock with my parents or in dallas with ME!

i decided that it was best for him to stay where he already was comfortable, and look at these two... they adore the little man, i just couldn't take him

"Elliot's room" is a powder bathroom, full of toys, a bed, blanket, litter box, and mama even soaks his food in a milk replacement formula so its easier for him to eat till he gets more teeth. spoiled much?

i'd say he lucked out going from abandoned in a pile of wood to having his own room and all the attention he can handle!

BUT--

Fluffer-Doodle (my 18 year old cat Fluffy, who is quite moody) is not Elliot's biggest fan, she in fact has been very unwelcoming to him (lets not lie, fluff is unwelcoming to lots of people and is finally tolerating coach after 2 years) yikes!

see, she doesn't even want to pose with me in my wedding dress?

she can be downright hateful, but i adore her anyway!

so,

for the record

living at my parents house now is:

 1. fluffy 2. coco picasso (the bird) and 3.Elliot

living with two cats,

i might have a drinking problem too

(its actually diet dr. pepper-- but he loves it)

and the occasional visit from this prince charming

that pretty much makes mama & daddy's house

a bit of a zoo.

I love them all (okay, well not really coco-bird, he bit me and we aren't on speaking terms for about 2 months now, but i have a feeling Elliot is going to show coco-bird who rules the roost pretty soon)

welcome to the family Elliot!

happy friday

a new project

i've had this idea for a while that i wanted to put our tv on a dresser in the living room (yep-- dressers usually belong in bedrooms, but since the "rules" don't apply to me... into the living room one goes!)

i have searched and hunted, looking for just the right shape and height (it needed to be a bit lower than average, since a tv would be on it ) ... and i've found her! isn't she gorgeous?!? i just love her dainty little legs!

keep in mind, this is the before picture! i'm going to do something fabulous to her and make her stunning!

originally, i thought i would paint the dresser a bright color, like this...

then i moved on to something more like this

or perhaps this

but thats a bit "beachy" for my house,

 really i just fell in love with this one

i seriously doubt husband is going to be okay with that in our living room, which is fine... but hopefully someday (don't get excited i said someday) i'll find something like this for a baby room! doesn't that just look like they rolled a piece of furniture in cotton candy? ugh, LOVE it!

so, mama and i are putting our thinking caps on to come up with a beautiful finish for my darling little dresser, perhaps something more subtle. i haven't started refinishing it yet, i'll put pics up as the progress begins!

happy thursday

date night

i have to brag on my sweet hubby, i got home from running errands on thursday and he told me to get a dress on cause we were going out to dinner. wooohoo! he surprised me and took me to one of our favs (which we dont do often because its quite $$$) Fogo De Chao! yummmmmy!

and of course, delicious cheesecake for dessert!

it was such a treat to go out to a fancy dinner

 "just because"

you're the best honey!

ps. i FINALLY got to wear my strappy shoes that have just been waiting for the right occasion, so double bonus!!! i forgot to get a full length picture of my outfit, next time friends...

happy tuesday!

eclipse

yes yes, friends... last night was the premier of eclipse, and our friend julie had two extra tickets to the 3 part premier (twilight, new moon, and eclipse) so, jordan and i happily agreed to join the madness!

**i'd like to let everyone know that yes, i have read the twilight books. yes, i enjoyed them. am i a twi-hard? (as E! calls twilight fans) ... no, not really. no hate to those of you who adore all that is "twilight" -- i just enjoy twilight simply as books and movies... rather than an obsession. i'm not team edward or team jacob... i'm actually Team Andrew-- cause my sweet husband is way more awesome than either of them, and ta-da he is not a vampire or a wolf... always a bonus. **

all that said, when the girls in our group busted out some stickers... i just had to go all out. all the other ladies took one sticker, and i wanted 4... i mean, come on... i had to out-twi the twi-hards!!!

Julie, myself & my stickers, and Jordan

eventually i narrowed the sticker collection down to just one,

i made some 9-year-olds very jealous

with my awesome collection of twilight paraphernalia :)

Jordan and I poked fun and laughed at how seriously everyone was taking these movies, but it was still fun. not gonna lie, eclipse didn't premier till midnight, so getting home at 3am after dropping everyone off was something i've not done in quite some time! haha... if only the stickers could make me younger!!!

props to the movie people,

the movies get better each time,

the acting......... no comment.

my favorite characters: Alice & Charlie

oh, and i way love Dakota Fanning as a vampire, she's super adorable!

i really think the greatest part of the whole night was how many poor guys got stuck participating in the Twilight-ness! brave souls. i have a feeling that the guy with the pink mowhawk was there willingly and enthusiastically! good times people, good times!

could you become a vet instead of a nurse?

--j&jmiller, i hope you're laughing at my title--

 have we only been home from vacation a week?

how does it happen that as soon as you're back, you get slammed with a busy schedule? on top of work, laundry and general chaos... Coach got sick!

 -its not pretty, i'll spare you all the details, he had an upset tummy- on the floor, 3 days in a row- so Coach took a visit to the vet, with a great dane sized price tag to get his "potty-situation" under control.  11 pills a day and new bag of science diet "hospital" food for a week, he should be back in tip top shape! ick! poor little guy, he lost 8lbs and looks all gangly again. back to trying to thicken him up!

here we are watching the saturday night fireworks show, Coach did much better with the fireworks this year (last year, he was scared to death and drew had to take him back inside, boo!)

friday night our sweet friends Tommy & Jennifer (tommy was a groomsman in our wedding) came to visit us! they're so fun & easy going, we like when they pop into town! we met for dinner at Maggianos, yuuummmm! then we spend all saturday in pj's-- how fun is that? (that explains my wardrobe above) then our neighborhood did their fireworks show on sat night, which is cool, cause i love fireworks, so now i get them two weekends in a row, waaahhhoooooo!

did i mention that tommy and jennifer are expecting a baby?!? little Matthew Aaron Tritz is going to be gracing the world with his presence sometime in mid-september :) this was "MAT's" first fireworks, awww!

thanks again for coming to visit Tommy & Jennifer and baby Matthew!

we are so looking forward to meeting the little man, he will be here before we know it!

more weekend pictures to come!

39 little golden books

have i mentioned to y'all that i collect little golden books? well... i do. its a pretty recent thing, but such a fun hobby! i just love them, they remind me of my childhood :)

the 39 i found today!

since i've been on vacation, today was the first day in a long time (okay, really just 2 weeks) i've had the time to hit up my favorite thrift stores, yay! and sure enough, i found 39 little golden books-------- oooh happy day! (read/sing that in your head gospel style)

these are my 2 favorites of today

love barbie, love cookie monster.

awesome!

here is my entire collection thus far...

i did not count how many i have total-- any guesses?

hershey's syrup curtains

back before swofford family vacation, my sweet mama came to visit and help me sew kitchen curtains. okay, well i mostly kept her company, and she did an awesome job. here is our kitchen before we bought the house, previous owners table/decor.

and, here is what we see now!

arent they gorgeous?!?

they look yummy like chocolate syrup :)

I just LOVE them, we picked the fabric over spring break this year (love Childress fabric store: locations in Frisco & Addison if you're fabric hunting)

how did we do this you may ask?

1. secret mama talent- the woman knows everything!

2. call for reinforcements

i was lucky to have my sweet friends Jennifer and Jordan come over and help sew loops on the back of the curtains (you use the loops to gather from behind, thus creating the "balloon" effect-- each curtain had 36 loops, so 108 loops total. it was quite hysterical, but i think we ended up really having fun) Thank you girls for all your help, i owe you both big time!

i am so thrilled with them, i think they made a huge difference in the room.

thank you again mama, you're the best!