Girls Night Out! :)

Tonight I meet up with 2 of my best friends Lisa & Ruth. We went into Harrisburg and had dinner & watched a drama group do "imprompto comedy" then we went to a great local coffee house. We had such a great time just talking and catching up. It's been such a busy summer for all 3 of us...and it's only going to get busier once school starts up here at the end of the month.

Oh, here's the flowers that I received on my birthday Wednesday...

As for Bobby and the girls? My wonderful husband not only watched our girls, but also a neighbors kid while they went out to eat dinner tonight before their granddaughter flew back to Texas.

Tomorrow/Saturday is scheduled to be a day of home improvement projects!

Shopping Purchases:

• New curtain rod
• Kitchen Shutters
• Rattan Blinds for the Study
• wire (cable job)

To Do:

• Open Cable up in opposite wall in living room
• Re-arrange Living room (including moving piano)
• Re-arrange Study
• Install new curtain rod - living room
• Install new shutters - kitchen
• Install new blinds - study

Okay, that's enough for one day! :) Honestly though, there's tons of work to do though. We still have one wall in the kitchen that needs wallpaper put up on. Did I ever share what it looks like? If not, here it is. :) (mind you, we re-did the cabinets last summer and put up the wal-paper last Aug...it's been a year already??? Man how the time flies!)

Just another day...

We had errands today again, I picked up a few cute things for the girls room.

Hancock Fabrics opened up in a new shop here, and I got a beautiful fabric that I'm going to make drapes out of for our living room. Since it's their grand opening, I got it at 50% off! That rocks, because had I gone to Jo-Anns last week and bought it, it would have cost me over $50 :)
I'm looking forward to making these. I want to get a new curtain rod while I'm redoing the living room. Right now I've got a cream colored rod-iron rod...I want to get the black rod-iron rod & rings. Maybe I'll go back out tomorrow...I'll check Hancocks & Linens & Things.

Tomorrow night I'll be going out with my friends Ruth & Lisa for a "girls night out"/my birthday combo! :) I'm looking forward to it.

This evening we're going over to another friends house for a small birthday party for their daughter Ellen (Catherine's friend).

My house is nice & clean again! :) I've got a ton of laundry to do tomorrow though. I don't know why it get's away from me every week. Each week I think I'll stay on top of it and it will be just a simple cycle...but I guess I get burned out from 1 major day of laundry that I don't want to touch it for several days! :) I need to get better about that!

We got another letter from the school that Catherine will be attending at the end of this month. We have all the special dates that the PTO has scheduled. That's nice to have it already!

I'm almost done with the mini album that I'm working on for Catherine to keep in her backpack (bus #, picture of her teacher, our phone # & address, etc...). I've made a lot of progress on the lunch pail tin that I bought. It looks really good so far, and I'm loving it! :) I'll share pictures later!

It's my Birthday today!

Help me celebrate, and eat a special treat today! :)

I ran around doing several errands yesterday, got my cake, came home prepared dinner, visited with my friend/neighbor, DH came home late from work. The family thought I should have my cake last night since tonight we'd be going out to eat. So here I am after a long day with no make-up, hair a mess, but you know what....that's me! :)

You know what? 28 candles all aglow makes a pretty warm fire! I made my wish and blew them all out with one breath. :)

I can't forget to call my twin sister and wish her a happy birthday this evening! :) I hope her family does something special for her.

Got Cake?

Today we went to Pennsylvania Bakery and picked up my birthday cake. It's a Strawberry Torte....oh it's delicious too! I can hardly wait until tomorrow when we can eat it! :) Any cake that comes in a sweet shade of pink has to be good, right?! :)

Isn't the Bakery itself just beautiful?! I love that building it's so pretty!

I'm not sure why both girls are doing this "tilt the head and scrunch down your neck" look...but it's showing up in almost every picture lately! ;~)




Saturday after we went to the Farmers Market, we took the girls to Libery Forge - Mini Golf. This was the first time that they had been, and they enjoyed themselves.

Catherine really worked hard to hold the club right and to swing it correctly. Abby just didn't care, she'd whack at it, and in the end, she would just pick up the ball and throw it in the hole! :)

At first it was hard watching them and not doing it right..but then we realized they should just do it whatever way they wanted to...they'll get better as they get older! Afterall they're only 3 & 5! It was fun watching them play!

It's Friday Night

Today, we went shopping...

Catherine got her first packpack! She picked it out herself, and is so proud of it! :)

I got the coolest little lunch pail tin from Michaels...did you all see this that Jen made? It's so awesome. I'll be working on my own little project...I think I'll make it to hold cards that I've made...but not 100% sure.

I somehow lost $10 out of my purse today...lots of stores...so who knows where...so somebody else had a "happy" day at my expense! :( Good for them though...I hope they'll use it for something fun.

I guess I'm on strike...because my house is a disaster area and I have no desire to clean it (which is not normal...I usually can't stand for it to get messy, especially going into the weekend!) But here I sit....doing nothing productive! Perhaps tomorrow I'll feel like it! :) I do want to remember to go to the Farmers Market...then the grochery store for other food...I know I should have taken care of that before Saturday (what was I thinking?) but I didn't feel like grochery shopping either! This is not good...I hope it's not a new pattern! :) LOL
I do think it has something to do with the fact that I bought myself some new scrapbook goodies and started a project (ahem...or two). The creative juices are flowing...and well....you just can't stop it! :) So...I'll apologize here and now to my loving and kind DH that will undoubtably read this (isn't he sweet?....except when he makes those (um...what's the word) "?" comments...like me being to aggresive & things LOL).

Found a coffee type personality thing...and hey, I love Frappacino's too! My wonderful FIL sent us Rival's Snow Cone Maker....oh man, do I love this little machine! Besides making the "snow cone" (tons of sryups to choose from too, although I can't find the root beer flavor that he had in AL), I now shave all my ice for my soda's, for my iced coffees that I make, for mixed drinks (Oh yeah!). This machine just totally rocks!!!!!!! If you love crushed ice...you have to buy this thing! ...I should be payed to endorse this I "love" this so much! :)

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

I've searched the b&n and have come up with a long list of chic lit I'd like to read. :) Way to many! All Chic Lit too! :) Yeah, I'm a shallow reader...(okay, not always...I do like other books...but hey it's the summer!!! For a little while longer anyways!)

• Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
• Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
• To Have and to Hold by Jane Green
• The Botox Diaries by Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger
• Apocalipstick by Sue Margolis
• What a Girl Wants (Ashley Stockingdale) by Kristin Billerbeck
• Theodora's Diary: Faith, Hope and Chocolate by Penny Culliford
• The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes
• Twins of TriBeCa by Rachel Pine
• Soapsudsby Finola Hughes & Digby Diehl
• The Next Big Thing by Johanna Edwards
• Slightly Settled by Wendy Markham
• The Girlfriend Curse by Valerie Frankel
• I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson
• With This Ring, I'm Confused by Kristin Billerbeck
• Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
• The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
• Play Dates by Leslie Sara Carroll
• The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn
• The Bronxville Book Club by Pamela Hackett Hobson
• Silent Auction by Pamela Hackett Hobson
• The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer
• The Second Assistant by Clare Naylor
• Handbags and Gladrags by Maggie Alderson
• Citizen Girl by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus
• As Seen On TV by Sarah Mlynowski
• Asking for Trouble: A Novel by Elizabeth Young & Liz Young
• Tales of a Drama Queen by Lee Nichols
• Bundle of Joy? by Ariella Papa
• Pink Slip Party by Cara Lockwood
• Original Cyn by Sue Margolis
• Fashionistas by Lynn Messina
• A Promising Man (and About Time, Too) by Elizabeth Young & Liz Young
• The Waitress by Melissa Nathan
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
• The Big Love: A Novel by Sarah Dun
• Sleeping Over by Stacey Ballis
• 32AA by Michelle Cunnah
• Wolves in Chic Clothing by Carrie Karasyov & Jill Kargman
• Lipstick Jungle: A Novel by Candace Bushnell
• A Little Change of Face by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
• The Thin Pink Line by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
• The Go-To Girl by Louise Bagshawe
• Getting Over It by Anna Maxted
• For Better, for Worse: A Novel by Carole Matthews
• The Sweetest Taboo by Carole Matthews
• Catching Alice by Clare Naylor & Clare Alice
• Bookends by Jane Green
• The Whitney Chronicles by Judy Baer
• L. A. Woman by Cathy Yardley
• The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul by Kathleen O'Reilly
• What a Girl Wants by Liz Maverick
• Slave to Fashion by Rebecca Campbell
• Night I Got Lucky by Laura Caldwell
• Bad Heir Day by Wendy Holden
• Simply Divine by Wendy Holden
• Are You in the Mood? by Stephanie Lehmann
• and a ton of books by Nicholas Sparks

EDITED TO ADD: I checked out a book by Sue Margolis....I couldn't get into it. So books by her are now off my list! I guess in Chic Lit, I like the story told in first person. The book I read just didn't flow well, and I didn't care for it.

We went Camping

(click photo for better details!)

We went camping this past weekend. It was really nice, the weather was perfect, the girls had a fun playing, and Bobby & I relaxed.

We put up the tent & hammocks Friday. After we ate, we roasted marshmallows over the campfire. After we ate a big breakfast Saturday morning we took the girls fishing, then we went out on the lake in a row boat (with sections covered in beautiful lilly pads), came back to the camp site, had lunch then went swimming that afternoon.

We had planned on only staying one night, but we were having such a great time, we stayed another night (thank goodness I always overpack!). I started and completed my book Shopaholic and Sister , Bobby continued to read his
I, Claudius book. (yeah, I'm a shallow reader, and he's a deap reader!).

We had a fabulous weekend! I'd like to go again much to my own suprise! :) It's been 2 years since the last time I was camping. We went for a week in upstate New York in the Adirondak mountains. It was beautiful, but Abby had just turned 1 (actually the day we drove up there) and it rainted while we were there...so in my mind camping was hard. Now that they're older it was really great! Oh, and we had such wonderful treats too! Some of my favorites!


I hope you all are having a great summer! School starts back up soon so make the most of what's left!

I hit the jackpot! :)

Look at all these fabric sample books I found! :)
So many projects ahead of me now! :)

Scan & use as digital paper, make cards with, sew pillows, etc.. ;) tons of stuff!

My husband hates when I bring home new finds...but I was driving out of our development, and saw someone was throwing these all out...I couldn't let them meet their fate with the garbage truck now could I?!? :) LOL

Now I have to figure out how to release the studs that are holding them together...so I can get the best use out of the fabrics I want! :) Anyone have luck with that before? Let me know please!!!