Happy New Year!

I thought it would be fun to look back at some photos of New Year's Eves of the past~~
I Googled vintage new years photos and here are only a few of the many

Mae West

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Everyone be safe tonight!

Love, Kelli

New Year's Eve eve

Ken and me last New Year's Eve..  What a great year it has been. We'll be with many friends tomorrow night.  Some that we don't get to see very often and some that we see in our neighborhood quite a bit - they are all special to us.  We feel very fortunate to call them all friends.  Hope you have a very happy and safe New Year's!  Cheers!

Love, Kelli

My Christmas Gift

Yeay!  I'm so excited about my new book.  Can't wait to wile away the hours reading this beauty.  But first I need to start packing up my decorations....  right?  I'll just look at the book for a little while, then I'll start packing.. yeah, sounds good.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

We have had a wonderful holiday season here at 818~  I am truly blessed to have the family and the friends I hold dear.  I really don't want to take down the decorations because it just seems that when we have those decorations in front of us we remember to be a little nicer, a little more patient, and a little more loving.  I know it's not about the decorations, etc., but if they help the mood, then I say let's have more!  I know they affect my mood!  I get just awe-struck when I turn the corner and see the tree all lit up in the evenings.  And when I pull into the driveway at the end of my work day I see the little twinkling lights on the garland around the front door and it instantly makes the hour commute melt away.  And lighting the Hanukkah candles every night makes us stop and reflect on God's great love for us all.

Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season - but somewhere along the way those decorations became important.  When I was little I can remember laying on the floor looking up at the tree, seeing my reflection in the gold glass ornaments.  I remember feeling the magic!  the excitement!  In many ways I still feel that same excitement now and I love it.  I'm still like a little kid at Christmas and sometimes get teary at movies and songs about the holidays

 

But, down they must come.  I am off work this week so I will probably start packing up my stuff tomorrow.  Little by little, bit by bit, until it's all neatly tucked away until Thanksgiving weekend 2012. 

"Christmas Day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp"

Here's to 2012!  

Love, Kelli

Work Work Work

It's that time of year again - our organization goes to its annual meeting for 6 days.  We leave our homes and live in a hotel for 6 days in December.  REALLY?  December?  Yes we do!  And it is not my favorite thing.  I miss my family and all of the Christmasy things I like to do in December. 

One thing in particular that is happening today is the SEC Championship game. UGA vs. LSU this year!  I know, it's not a Christmasy thing, but it is an important thing that happens in December!  I would be watching this with my sweetie and some other Dawg fans today if I were home.  Instead, I hope I make it out of this meeting in time to see the kick-off!

Well, if I can't be decorating, baking, and hanging out with friends today, at least I will be able to watch some of the game.  Just need to find some Dawg fans to hang out with!

Life gets in the way sometimes

Two weeks since my last post.. wow - I thought it was more like 3 or 4 days.  So much inspiration, so many things going on - I get ideas and if I don't write them down that instant - they're gone and it's on the to the next idea/place/thing/emotion.

Yesterday my daughter, Amanda, and I spend hours watching old videos from when she was a baby.  We had so much fun laughing at my very southern accent, my sisters, and at me!  It was awesome.  And it was a little bittersweet...  several family members in the videos are no longer with us, most of them passing just recently.  All I can say is thank goodness we have the videos.  But we loved watching and laughing - it was great~

And one thing that really made my weekend:

My sweet husband started priming and painting the chairs.  Can't wait to show you how they turned out!

How was your weekend?

Weekend!

I literally live for the weekend

And here are a few reasons why :o)

Nothing like spending time with my family.  

Happy Weekend!

Me and Decorating

Decorating is probably my biggest passion, besides my family and friends.  I have always loved to pour over decorating magazines and books and now blogs!  It’s like I live in a dream world of paint, chairs, rugs, and lamps.  I dream about this headboard in my bedroom or that light fixture in my kitchen.  I would have the most awesome house! – IF I could only afford it.  Decorating can be very expensive!  And if you’re like me you live on a budget with not much left over for expensive furniture, etc.  But you can decorate your home even if you don’t have a lot of disposable income.  You just gotta do it yourself.  I’ve been DIYing some things for years, but it’s just been recently that I have had the confidence in myself to tackle some real decorating.

I have always known what I liked – even if it didn’t go along with what was popular in decorating – but I kind of didn’t have the nerve to just be myself and do what I really liked.  So I basically did almost nothing.  I would hang a few pictures, sit out a few things, but I have always played it safe.  I figured if I couldn’t hang with the real decorators then I better stay out of it all together.  I didn’t want people to think “what the heck was she thinking” so I played it safe.  Know what?  That's dumb! 

Not anymore – I’m going all out and it’s going to be exciting!  I have some great ideas for the house that I can’t wait to try!  Another blogger made a list of the things she wanted to do and posted it in her blog.  Then, as she accomplished each task, she marks through them so you can see the progression.  Great idea that I might have to steal (if I can figure out how to do the links, etc., to each project.)

We have already finished several projects at the house (Painted the foyer; painted office, moved furniture in; painted Robbie’s room; painted mantle; couple of furniture paint projects) and Ken is nearly done with a major renovation of the basement.  I’m going to post pictures of those projects soon, but I am very excited about my next little project!  I found four dining room chairs on craigslist for $40!  They stunk like crazy so as soon as I got them home I pulled the seats off and threw them away.  I'm going to paint them and reupholster the seats.  I can't wait to show you how they turn out.  This will definitely be a weekend project so it’ll be a few days :D

What projects have you been working on?

Pumpkins, I love Pumpkins

Just showing off my little craft project from last week - for each one I found three pumpkins - small, medium and large - and just hot-glued them together!  Then I glued some dried spanish moss where they join and it all looks adorable!  Don't you just love my one-eared bunny?  I still feel like I need something else - probably a wreath on the door... 

Today Robbie and I are going to Lilburn Daze - a small community craft fair with food, music, and lots of cool things to look at (will definitely be looking for that wreath!). After I promised him we'd go to Game Stop (to get a present for a friend's birthday party) and then to New Generation Skate Shop (because he loves everything to do with skateboarding).

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kelli

Fall is in the Air!

 (photo by Amanda Hunter)

Oh I do love summer with it's endless sunshine and going to the beach and hanging out at the neighborhood pool with all my friends.  It seems like that's when we see the most of each other.  I'm always sad when the pool closes because I know summer is over.  It just seems like summer is that time for no commitments, being lazy in the heat, and riding in boats and drinking beer. 

Winter on the other hand is so not fun to me.  I do not like being cold and wearing all the clothes and coats and scarfs!  It gets dark so early and you feel like you don't have a day (when you work 8 hours at a job like I do).  You get home and it's dark so you have dinner, clean up and BAM! it's time for bed!  The only good thing about winter is Christmas and New Years - yay for them!!!

Good thing there is fall to ease us into the coldness of winter.  Fall is my third favorite season behind spring (spring lets you know that summer is almost here!).  All the pumpkins and cinnamon and sweaters and jeans - not to mention the best part of fall - FOOTBALL!! 

So today we'll go to our local little downtown area for their Second Annual Rockin' Rib Fest - can't wait.  The neighborhood gang will all be there for good eats and a good Led Zeppelin cover band. 

Happy Weekend!  What are you going to be doing?

friends

So we had a great time at the Yellow Daisy Festival today at Stone Mountain Park. This was one of the most interesting things I saw there.  Saw some beautiful jewelry too!  Lots of cool stuff~

Joanne, Mary Kay, and I walked around and talked and just enjoyed being together.  After we left we took Mary Kay to her car and right before she got out she and I gave Joanne her birthday gifts.  Yeay!  She loved 'em.. 

This is what I love - that these two women and I are friends and always will be.  Aren't I lucky?  Yes, I am.

RIP Steve Hunter

This is from Amanda's facebook:

‎"But I whisper that I love this man
Now and for forever
To your soul as it floats out of the window
To the world that you turned your back on
To the world that never really let you be"

 Rest in peace, Steve.  We all love you.

How to console

I was married to her father for 4 years.  We were young.  We didn't think twice when we decided to divorce.  That was 24 years ago.  Now she is 28 and her father is sick.  He's in the hospital and it is not looking good.  His liver is shot and he hasn't taken care of himself for years.

How do I console her?  How do you help your child while she watches her father die?  I have always maintained a very good relationship with him, so I am very sadden by the news of his declining health.  But it is going to kill me to watch my only daughter go through this.  And only two days before she got the news about her dad her boyfriend had proposed!  This should be the happiest time in her life and it is turning out to be one of the saddest.

God give me the strength and the wisdom to figure out how to get through this.

It's the end, but it's not

This month has been so crazy - with Tyler graduating there is so much going on, so much to do. And I think about him all the time!  I so just want him to be happy, for his girlfriend to be wonderful to him, and for him to have the time of his life.  I guess I'm like most moms, but sometimes I think that I'm worrying too much. 

He's having a great senior year and this is what I've always wanted for him.  He has lots of friends and makes more friends all the time. I love all of his friends!  They're always doing something fun.  The girls are adorable and the guys so much fun - I'm going to miss all the fun stuff I hear about from them.  He did okay on his grades.  He could have done so much better, but what's done is done.  He's a smart kid and I have enjoyed watching him grow into this awesome, funny, handsome person.

He's my Tyler.  My big, football-playing, strong, handsome, baby.  It took me weeks to get past the football season being over, knowing it was his last.  The team went to the playoffs but lost the first-round game in the last 4 seconds when the other team kicked a field goal from 52 yards out.  52 yards!  Some pro teams can't even do that!  But that's how our season ended - hearts broken and Tyler sitting on the bench with a mild concussion. 

He hasn't always been the easiest kid to get along with, but he always comes through when I need him.  He's moving on to the next phase in life, like we all do.  But as parents, how do we live through it with them without being utterly exhausted?  If anyone has tips on how to do that please pass them along! :D

first time for everything

I've never had a blog.  Always thought about doing one... just have not.  So, now I have. Yeay me!

I actually had something really cool I wanted to write about but now cannot remember what it was. That's the story of my life theses days!  I have a thought then before I know it, it escapes! Is it age? Is it the deodorant I wear?  Or is the simple fact that I have way too much on my mind..?? I don't know, but it's pretty frustrating.

The memory loss extends to many other areas of my life as well.  When I am out and run into friends I have a hard time remembering their name to introduce them to my husband/kids/other friends. I mean, I know these people!  But their names just escape me at the moment.  Or, I'll go to the store to pick up three things.. three things, this, this and that..  What happens?  You guessed it - once in the store I have somehow forgotten this or that.

The only thing I can do is work on it... and hope for the best.  :o)

I guess my first post on my blog isn't going to be very memorable.. haha - how appropriate.