More Birthday...

My very sweet friend Katie gave me a gift card to Hobby Lobby for my birthday, so I decided to make the most out of it.
I was very bored with the current look of my dining room chairs:


So, for $7 per yard I now have this:

So much more me! Love it! Thank you Katie!

Birthday Celebration Number Two

Brandon gave me tickets to see Rick and Bubba! I love listening to Rick and Bubba on the way to and from work every day. They are not only hilarious but we also share a lot of the same beliefs. The Golden Ticket Seat experience was a blast!




Next, we went to the Summit and shopped around a little bit, had lunch at PF Changs and spent the rest of the day at Ross Bridge. We layed out at the pool and ordered room service for dinner. It was a very relaxing birthday celebration! Thanks Brandon, I love you!

Birthday Celebration Number One

So the big 3-0 is a week away and I really cannot believe it. For my first birthday celebration me, Brandon, Mom and Dad had lunch at Miss Bobo's in Lynchburg, TN. Brandon had never been before and I knew he would like it so, off we went. The food was fantastic and we also enjoyed walking around the town square, going in a couple of shops and listening to local music. We had a wonderful time thanks Mom and Dad!

New Life for Old Furniture

I love fabric and I love to have furniture reupholstered. I do not have the patience to do it myself so I have a very affordable lady who does this for me in Hartselle. Here are the recent items:

This rocker/glider I found at my grandparents house and I found the fabric at Fant's. I love the result!

This is an ottoman I found at my parents house. I am also loving this!

New Addition

We are the proud new owners of a 91 Honda 4-Wheeler!

San Diego

So, I went on another work trip to San Diego! Mom went with me and we had a great time! We made the most of our time by taking an Old Town Trolley tour one day and visiting the San Diego Zoo one day. Here are a few pics from our trip:





My new favorite animal is the Meerkcat, they had the cutest little personalities.



We had dinner in Little Italy at Filippi's.


Balboa Park


Old Town, The Whaley House is supposed to be haunted, so we had to take a tour.


All in all we had a wonderful mother/daughter trip!

Oh and if you were wondering this is what Brandon did while I was gone:

Binge

So, some people binge eat, some people binge drink, well I binge read. I really enjoy reading but for example I will read three or four books in a short period of time and then it will be months before I read again. This binge has consisted of the following titles: Bed Rest, Some Like It Haute, The Lovely Bones and right now I am reading The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder.

Labor of Love

I finally finished another craft project. I have been working on this for quite a while and spent more money than I had planned. I received inspiration at the Cotton Tails Craft Show in Birmingham and I am very pleased with the result. I got the brass chandelier from my parents house along with five of the teacups. The other five I got at Goodwill. I simply used spray primer and apple green spray paint. I had to purchase a diamond drill bit in order to drill holes through the bottom of the teacups. Brandon drilled all of the holes for me (thanks hus-ban-dino). After much searching I finally found the right kind of nut to hold the teacups onto the chandelier. Here is the final result:

Bloomin Festival

Today Brandon and I ventured out to the Bloomin Festival at the St Bernard Prep School here in Cullman. We went early so hopefully it would not be so crowded. I really enjoyed just walking around holding hands being silly newlyweds. We did walk away with a couple of purchases, a couple of rock oil candles and a plant stand. I can't wait to put the plant stand together. Here is the website www.amazingplantstand.biz...I will post another picture after I put it together.

Oh the Places I've Been

Thanks to my job I get to travel a pretty good bit. Over the last three years I have been to the Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ area multiple times, Orlando, FL multiple times, Washington, DC, Fort Worth, TX a couple of times, Fort Walton Beach a couple of times, Nashville, TN a couple of times and the UK.

Hodges-Nix European Vacation

Last summer I had the opportunity to go to Yeovil, UK to visit a customer. It was a wonderful trip full of fun new experiences. Mom and Dad actually went with me and we had a wonderful time. The first new experience was driving on the other side of the road which took a lot of concentration. The roundabouts were also very confusing until I got the hang of it. It was a long drive to Yeovil but well worth it. On the way to Yeovil we drove past Stonehenge which is amazing. Yeovil is a quiet little town in the country with their main industry being Agusta Westland which manufactures helicopters.

The British were very good hosts and provided a social evening for us and included my parents. During the social evening I had another new experience. We played a game called Skittles. The following is a quick description I pulled off the internet: Skittles or Nine Pins has long been played in the Inns of England. In general, players take turns to throw wooden balls down a lane at the end of which are several wooden skittles in an attempt to knock them all over. The following pictures are of the Skittles experience.

I so enjoyed the countryside. It is just so neat to drive past all of these hedges and then suddenly there is an opening and inside is another little town.

The first photo is of a clock in downtown Yeovil. It was kind of a marker to remind me which direction I was going. The second photo is of our Bed and Breakfast where we stayed for the first half of our trip.

While at the below pub myself and a co-worker had a "ghostly" experience. While chatting and enjoying a brew she and I both saw a menu sitting upright on a table slide from one end of the table to the other. We both looked at each other and both said "Did you see that?" I am sure this occurrence can be explained away but I will always believe it was an encounter of a different kind!

One evening we drove to Lyme Regis which is a beautiful coastal town.

Once the work part of my trip was over we spent the rest of our trip exploring London. We stayed at a beautiful hotel which was close to several of the sights. We saw Big Ben, the Tower of London, London Bridge and Westminster Abbey just to name a few. Dad and I rode the London Eye which provided a beautiful view of London. The first pic is of Mom and I in front of Westminster Abbey. The second pic is of our hotel...it was right beside the London Eye! The third pic is Big Ben...something about this always makes me think of Peter Pan and how magical fairy tales are to little girls.

Since I am a child of the 80s we saw Dirty Dancing in the Theatre. I really enjoyed the show but in my mind I kept reviewing the movie (that I have watched more times than I can count) and thinking "that's not the way Johnny or Baby said it in the movie."

The only part of England that I did not enjoy was the food. My stomach did not have a good time abroad.

One Year Anniversary

For our one year anniversary Brandon came along with me on a work trip to Arizona. After the work was over we spent the rest of our time visiting the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and Sedona.

The Grand Canyon was amazing. It is more expansive than you could ever imagine. It is one of those things you just have to see for yourself. I do not know how to describe it but we had a wonderful trip...I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

When the sun began to set the views became magical.







And finally because we could not believe it ourselves...Cotton Fields in Arizona!