My daughter as a model

It can happen not very often when I make pictures of my jewelry on models. Here my daughter Ivanna is serving me as a model. At that time she was just back from the Burning Man Festival, she grabbed my necklace and put it on! I called that free-form necklace Southwestern Taste because of its color combination.

I'm a World Traveler!

Okay, not really...but this weekend I did hangout with people from all over the United States. In one weekend there was Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, and more places that we never discussed. Back in the day, before I married into the Marine Corps family, I never thought I would spend a weekend with people from all over the country. Call me a nerd, but I think that's pretty cool!

Friday night I gave my house to the guys for a poker night (Miley supervised!) and I headed out for a girls night. First, never under estimate how much pizza a bunch of girls can eat. Second, Apples to Apples is a great way to really get to know someone. Let me just tell you, my friends all have a sick sense of humor...and I love it! And I also I had my one-and-only s'more of the year. It was heavenly!

Saturday morning I did some early morning baking and headed to Katie's bridal shower brunch. If you know me, you know I love brunch, so I was thrilled when her sister said that's what we were going to do! We had delicious chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, yummy cookies, and my special strata. And we drank a lot of coffee. I was so excited to give her my gift, I had a panty bouquet made for her...and a lingerie cupcake. Seriously, the cutest things EVER! I can't wait for her sister to post the pictures..my camera apparently didn't like to take early morning pictures!

After the shower me and Danny made a brief appearance at Oktoberfest. It was a bust. (Rachel, I should have listened to you.....) But that's only because Danny left his ID at home. Um, Oktoberfest with no ID? Not gonna happen! I took a picture to prove we were there, ran home to get his ID...and ended up having a sushi date night. When we got home there was a little concert going on in our neighborhood, we went up for a little bit but Miley didn't really like the crowd (can't blame her...there were some creeps!)

We had a family day today, went for a walk, cleaned the house, did the Sunday-haircut-routine, and watched a movie.Now I'm sipping on a pumpkin spiced latte and ready to enjoy the evening with my little family! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Muscadine Harvest Festival

What a fun time! Yesterday Me, Danny, Carmen and Mike headed to a wine festival. Ever since me and Danny started dating we have loved drinking wine together. So we were really looking forward to the festival to get to try new wines and have some fun!

One of the many things I love about being a military wife...discounts. What would have cost of $50 to just get in the door, only cost us $24. Except when the man taking my ticket sees that I only have a $12 ticket, he assumes I'm underage...and gives me a funny look when I tell him I'm 24. So, there it is...this haircut might actually make me look younger than my long hair.

There were over 20 wineries at the festival. Over 150 wines. A band, food, and drunk old people. Sounds like my kind of fun! When you walked in they gave you a wine glass, you walk up to each stand, and get as many samples as you want. The samples aren't big...but when there are that many of them...they build up! You could also buy glasses of wine for $5.

Muscadine grapes are really sweet. So there were some wines that I didn't like...at all. Like apple wine, no good! But I did buy a glass of blackberry wine, which was amazing. We hungout in the Duplin tent for a while and tried all their Christmas wines and some of my old favorites. AND I had a grape cider slushie...amazing!

Of course we left with a bottle of wine. Our big purchase of the day was Catawba Belle by Vineyards on the Scuppernong, NC. It was yummy!!!


My goal for the season? Go to one fair every weekend! This is one of the many reasons why autumn is my favorite season!

96 Hours

I have always loved holiday weekends. But a military holiday weekend is amazing. Danny got out of work early on Friday. We headed to Raleigh for dinner with the in-laws. Danny's step-dad got a new truck, one of those fancy-schmancy ones with OnStar. Seriously, how cool is that? You call, a lady picks up, and you tell her where you want to go. She then sends the directions to your truck. When a direction comes up, the radio volume and air conditioner get quiet so you can actually  hear whats coming up. AND it has a built in phone. The TRUCK has it's own PHONE NUMBER! All five of us called Danny's grandma. Oh, and dinner was good too!

Saturday, after Miley peed on our bed, me and Danny had a long-overdue date night. First, we headed to Target to get some shelves for our living room, I love having pictures around the house...you can never have enough! We had dinner at the Olive Garden. Red wine, pasta...mmm, it was a good night! We were going to see a movie, and I don't really remember why we didn't...but we ended up back at the house finishing up season 1 of LOST. Danny swore he would never get addicted to it...but if you're a fan, you know that's impossible! We slept on the floor Saturday night....after Miley peed on the bed, I washed my sheets...and was waaaay to lazy to make the bed!

 Date night!

Sunday we hung the new shelves and put up some new pictures. I've never celebrated the 4th without a crowd, so it was a little different for me. We made ribs and corn on the cob...very yummy! Then we headed out to New Bern for the air show. We got there waaay early. We sat in the sun, listened to music and people watched. For doing absolutely  nothing, I had a lot of fun. The air show was awesome. The first guy went straight up in the air and shut his engine off! A lady walked on the wings of an airplane. That is I-N-S-A-N-E. We wanted to beat the traffic, so we left early. We settled in for the night with the Boston Pops and Toby Keith. I love the Pops, I've seen their Christmas show so many times. Watching it totally made  me miss home!

 Drawbridge in New Bern

This dog was waaaay bigger than me!

This girl was so cute! And I loved her dress!

LOVED the air show!

Monday I woke up, and my hips hurt. I think the night on the floor and sitting at the airshow killed my hips. Danny says its because I don't drink milk (I like it in coffee, cereal, ice cream and cheese...can't do it straight.) I seriously think he is going to make me take vitamins. ICK! We went to the golf course, he hit a bucket of balls. I was just getting getting enough nerve to hit a ball myself when a ton of people came. I'm such a wimp, totally bailed. I promised him next time I would hit a whole bucket. We took Miley to the pet store, she get's SO excited when another dog comes up to her...she always pees. That girl needs some bladder control! We ended the day with a great dinner and a trip to Starbucks!

Fun in the sun!

Today was the last day of "vacation." We went down to Wilmington to do a little shopping. Jacksonville has so many stores, including two Walmarts, but there is NO KOHLS! We got some cheap beach towels, a couple area rugs and I got the cutest dress! I also started scoping out ideas for the summer essentials swap! We're grilling out again tonight...and probably going to end the day with more LOST.

You know what my favorite part of a 96 is? Danny only has 3 days of work...and then it's the weekend! LOVE IT! 

And just a little blogging business: if you are going to sign up for the swap, please do it before noon tomorrow. That way I can figure out the pairs in time for Thursday's post!  I haven't decided if I'm going to do it by location or randomly. Any feedback would be great!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far! 

Azalea Festival?

Yes, with a question mark.

I was expecting flowers. You know, because an azalea is a flower.

But nope, no flowers were to be seen. But we still had fun. The weather was bea-u-ti-ful! I even got a little sun on my shoulders. Yay and nay, I like being pale..but love that it's warm enough to start getting sun! The festival reminded me of my college World Music class. There were African drums and kids playing trash cans. I thought it was pretty awesome. Danny liked all that stuff..and the food and beer. If there is food...we will find, and we will eat it!

Portable Greek salad. Mmmm perfect!