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!

Craftivities

     So, I love crafting and unleashing my creative side. I've had some extra time this summer to work on a couple of projects. Some of these are inspired by pinterest :). 

This was an old dynamite box that I painted pink and transformed into a cabinet! :)

Very imperfect yet cute baby blanket for my friend's soon to be born baby boy!

Pineapple door hanger my dad cut out for me and I painted! 

#Themouse

     It all started around a month and a half ago. I decided to work on a little sewing project in my little sewing corner in the living room. I went to sit down in the chair and noticed some little brown things. "What could this be?" I wondered. I discovered more on the side table. It dawned on me......there must be a mouse in my house! Cue Jaws music. EEEEEEK!!!!!!! I don't do spiders, roaches, snakes, or mice. I was literally jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl. I was absolutely terrified! But I had to put my brave girl pants on and take care of business. I immediately made a trip to Walmart to get some glue boards to catch Mr. Mouse. I cleaned really well and set my traps. The next day......nothing. I thought I heard something under the stove which was confirmed when my dog, Effie, went to check it out. So I had a feeling he was under there. So I added s glue board there. Every day I checked the boards and nothing! I stopped seeing any visual evidence that Mr. Mouse was still visiting so I thought he packed his bags and left the premises. WRONG! Eventually I started seeing where he was throwing a little party at night. So I went for the big guns. I got some traps and baited them with peanut butter and placed them strategically where I knew he had been hanging out. I very anxiously check them each morning scared of what I might find. And.....nothing! The little booger nibbled on the peanut butter and set the trap off but somehow escaped being captured! A friend from work suggested I put peanut butter on the glue boards. So, I tried that. I seriously saw teeth marks in the peanut butter the next day but no mouse. It was then I had to call in the experts. Enter Mighty Dad (& Mom) to save the day! See, my dad was in pest control for about 20 years and he was the best in the business (I may be slightly biased). He strategically placed more traps in better places after investigating things. He even slept in the living room because I was not sleeping in there with a mouse partying in there every night!!! Still, we never caught a mouse. However, my dad and mom plugged several holes in the wall behind my stove with steel wool to seal Mr. Mouse out of my house. As far as I know, our plan worked! Fingers crossed!!!

Properly set trap

Trap that had been set off by Mr. Mouse who must be related to Speedy Gonzalez

Teeth marks in the bait....which I was informed by the experts that I used entirely too much bait. Live and Learn!

A Niece Is Born!

     So, the other day, my sweet little niece, Josephine, came into the world! She is beautiful and we all love her so! :)  

Aunt Candace!

Getting our daily dose of Josephine :)

How To Throw a "Surprise" 60th Birthday Party

Sneak home to surprise the recipient!

Have the perfect greeting committee!

And an accomplice to help you pull everything off......

Make a very crooked, lopsided cake......

Place tiara and sash on the party girl, even though she probably doesn't want to wear it!

Give the lady of the hour gifts! 

Take a selfie!

Smile for the Camera!

Attempt to light defective sparkler candles.....

But most of all, laugh, have FUN, and eat lots of cake!!!

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! ;)