A Relaxing Summer

     Summer 2015 is quickly coming to an end. I have to say, I've had the most relaxing summer! I've mostly spent a lot of it at my parents' house. It was truly refreshing to my soul!!! I love getting to have some quality time with my parents and the occasional visit with my brother, sister-in-law, and new niece! I also got to meet up with a couple of my friends and meet some new babies. It's been raining babies this summer lol! 
     On Father's Day weekend, I really wanted to surprise my dad with something special and different. My parents rarely go out to eat. So, I decided to take them to Outback Steakhouse! I told him we were going to a painting class hahahaha! He was not excited. But as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and saw where we really were going he had the biggest smile on his face! We had a fabulous dinner and he even ordered the Chocolate Thunder From Down Under which is a conundrum to me because he claims he doesn't like chocolate! LOL. I'm so glad I was able to do this for them. 
     On the Fourth of July, we spent the day with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. Then we went to the annual fireworks show that never disappoints! It was a fun day. 
     Other things I did over the summer included working on my butterfly quilt top and school projects. This break has flown by and I can't believe I'll soon be starting my 7th year as a school speech pathologist! I feel refreshed, renewed, and rejuvenated. Summer has worked its magic once again. 

Sleepy Effie

With my friend Merrill

Effie sleeps again

Coke family minus Daddy and slight misspelling of Candace

Me and Mama

Happy Father's Day!

Outback!

Steak!

Chocolate Dessert, yummy!

Summer baby number 2!

Selfie

Happy Fourth of July!

Fireworks

The apple was my fave!

Lunch with Merrill

Summer baby number 3!

My Alma Mater. So beautiful!

KK fashion show :)

Lovely Mama and Effie Pooh :)

Love my sweet Effie!!!

Daddy loves her too!

She sleeps with her head on a pillow lol!

There is always a silver lining to every cloud

Longwood and Windsor Ruins

     My parents and I went to Natchez one day. We had a picnic lunch on the Mississippi River and then went to visit Longwood. My dad said he always wanted to tour it. He told us that it was never finished. My mom and I were like, "Why in the world would you want to see an unfinished antebellum home?!" But, it really was so interesting!! It was built right at the time the Civil War started. There are 5 stories, but only the bottom floor is finished. The workers had to go back to the North when the war started. If they had finished it, it would have been really grand!  It is octagonal in shape and has a rotunda. I am so proud of myself too because I asked the tour guide several questions! 4 years ago, I would have never done that!!! :)
     On the way back, we took a detour to see the Windsor Ruins, a landmark of a grand home in the middle of nowhere. Kinda tricky to find, but we eventually made it. The only thing that is still there are HUGE columns. Unfortunately, it burned down from a lit cigar. I've always wanted to see it and I'm glad I got to go. It was raining and extremely muddy, but I managed to get some pictures. Overall, we had a fun day!

On the way

Old Man River, keep on rolling....

So pretty

Looking up in the rotunda

No zip codes

The workers' tools

Looking down through skylight

Love this!

Will you look at that? Chevron was around in the 1860s!

Whirlwind Weekends

     The past two weekends have been so busy and like a whirlwind! The first one I randomly went home for fun with a couple of friends. One of my friends lives in town and the other one lives out of town. The latter asked me if I wanted to have a girl's night. I told her I wasn't going to be in town because I was going to be there the next weekend. She texted, "You never heard of driving two weeks in a row?" LOL. That's all it took. She really twisted my arm! I gave myself permission to do this simply because I am single and I have the freedom to do so. Everyone can't just drop what they're doing and visit friends so I'm going to seize these opportunities as they come my way!

      Once I decided to make this random trip home, I immediately made plans to have brunch with my friend who recently moved back to the area. I got to tour her new house and meet her pet bunny. She also showed me some of the schools where she works. Brunch was also delicious and we even fit in some shopping just like old times! We had such a fun time. I really enjoyed seeing her again and catching up!

     She has the cutest baby girl who I got to see for the second time in her life! We had such a fun time! I really enjoyed seeing her again and catching up.  Her mom and I had a fun little girl's night on the town. We went to a local pizza restaurant and then we went to see The Longest Ride. We had the biggest laugh at the movie theater because we felt old! She said she felt old because it was 10:00 and thought she couldn't stay awake for the whole movie. As she was saying this I looked up to see tons of teenagers. It was raining that night. Pretty heavily at times. We were the only ones carrying umbrellas! I said, "I can tell we are getting old because we are the only ones out here with umbrellas!" At this point, we both completely lost it. We stalled where we were because we were laughing soooo hard. She then said, "You can tell we are old because we have to stop and cross our legs while we are laughing so we don't wet our pants!!!" OH ME! So funny and so true!!!!!!! That's exactly what we were doing. The perils of being in your 30s LOL!!! Needless to say, we had a great time! :)

     Then the following weekend I went home to help co-host a baby shower for my sister-in-law! She is due soon and I am so excited to become an aunt to a baby girl!!! The shower turned out super cute! Her mother has several vintage-esque and shabby chic decorations and we built around that. Her sister made a cute pennant and I made a diaper cake that looked like a bassinet. It was darling! I can't take credit for the idea...I totally followed this tutorial I found on pinterest. :) My mom and I also transformed an old cabinet door from her kitchen to make a cute chalkboard sign. I was able to give her the baby blanket I had been making. I hope little baby loves it! :) It was a fun weekend! 

Diaper cake!

Me and Megan

Mama and Megan

Baby blanket

     Oh and I almost forgot! It was Effie's birthday the other day as well! I made her a little chalkboard sign to celebrate her 4 years! ;) I also attempted to make Effie cupcakes from a picture everyone had shared with me from facebook. Let's just say mine didn't exactly turn out great. :) Effie is still absolutely adorable though!

Happy Birthday, Effie!

Effie and I are road warriors! She helps me drive sometimes! ;)