Road-trip to SD

I am headed to South Dakota today for the holiday weekend to spend some time with the family. My sister is flying in from WI with her two boys & my brother, his wife & 3 kids are also going to be there for the weekend. I ended up working this morning & was on the road by noon. Put the top down on the convertible, set the iPod to shuffle & settled in for the 7 hour road-trip up north.

Arrived to my parents place around 7pm where I was greeted by my adorable niece Joslyn & nephew Tanner. Turns out they had "helped" bake me a belated b-day cake & couldn't wait for me to get there. As soon as I walked in the door the two little ones were excited to light candles, blow them out & eat cake. They helped put the candles in the cake & then took them out to lick the icing off them & then put them back in - it was too cute!

I enjoyed the rest of the evening playing with my nieces, nephews & catching up with family. It's good to be home & see everyone :)

Miss Ava

After 27 days in the NICU, I am happy to report that Miss Ava gets to go home today :)

Stacey & Tommy are so very excited to get to take her home & have her meet her big brother Marshall for the first time! What a very special day for them! Sending lots of prayers that she continues to keep growing & stays healthy!

Happy homecoming Miss Ava!!!

Miss Ava in her flower headband that "Auntie Heather" sent her :)

Fall Party

Tonight the neighbor girls headed over to Keri's house to celebrate the beginning of the Fall season -according to Keri :) She is a girl after my own heart!

Come Sept 1st Keri has her house decorated in beautiful fall decor & has the fall candles already burning. She invited us over to "welcome fall" while we indulged in dee-lish pumpkin cookies w/cream cheese frosting & a very good amaretto bread pudding, had a glass of wine & enjoyed the yummy scent of pumpkin spice candles burning away!

It was nice being able to catch up with these girls as it had been awhile since we were all together!Thanks Keri for a fun evening - let the fall season begin :)

Eeeek!

So our grill cover has been laying on the floor of our deck for a couple weeks now since we grill out almost everynight & it is just easier to keep it off. Since it is supposed to rain this evening Shane attempted to cover the grill - until he saw this: Looks like Mama Mouse & her 5 babies have set up house under our grill cover! I do have to admit the babies are super cute & I must have sat there for at least 5 minutes watching them! I am SO torn with the idea of having to set out some D-Con tomorrow :( Tough decision to make but we can't risk these furry critters getting into our house.

I wonder if Animal Control would come & get them if they are still on the deck tomorrow morning? YES - I am a sucker for furry animals....even mice!

Top 2

Top 2 Favorite Cities

1) Charleston, SC - when I lived in Columbia, SC we would often drive to Charleston & spend the weekend shopping, seeing the sites, going to the beach & just taking in the whole city. I fell in love with this city the first time I laid eyes on it & am so fortunate to have such great girlfriends who still live there so I can visit anytime! These are my favorite places to visit: Cooper River Bridge, City Public Market, Isle of Palms and The Battery.
2) Las Vegas - everytime I have gone to Vegas I have had the BEST time. I love the sights, the shopping, the shows, the fountains, the people-watching, the casinos, the restaurants, the clubs...I just love it all!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Shane snapped this photo after I fell asleep on the couch the other night. Look who snuggled in to share some zzzzz's :)

That Bubba sure loves his Mama!

Smores Bars

Was in a baking mood today & whipped up these little gooey-chocolaty-morsels: Smores Bars
If you like Smores then you will love these! They are OH-SO good!!! Thought I would share the recipe with you all:

Easy Indoor Smores Bars

8 cups Golden Grahams cereal

5 cups mini marshmallows

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 semi-sweet choc chips

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 T vanilla

6T butter

Grease a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Measure cereal into a large bowl & set aside. Melt 5 cups of marshmallows, corn syrup, butter & choc chips in a 3qt saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until all marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat & stir in vanilla. Pour melted mixture over cereal. Mix melted ingredients w/cereal quickly & stir until completely coated with chocolate. Stir in 1 cup of marshmallows.

Press mixture with a buttered spoon into the glass dish until spread evenly. Let stand at least 1 hour or refrigerate if a firmer bar is desired. Cut into 2" squares & ENJOY :)

(Makes ALOT of bars so if you want, you can halve the recipe & use an 8x8 glass baking dish)

Belated Gift

Today I went to check the mailbox for mail & to my surprise I had a package from my dear blog friend Desiree. It was a belated b-day gift & I was so very excited to see what she had sent me. This is what was inside along with a very sweet card:

Love, love, love it! The earrings are big & dangly - just how I like them & the necklace is so very precious! The little heart has the word "love" engraved in it, there are two little pearls (one black/one white) & the big gold charm has an "H" on it. Desiree said the H could represent Hope, Health, Happiness & Hole lotta babies :) LOL - she is too funny! Let's hope with this good-luck necklace that she is one day right!

Thank you SO very much Desiree for such a thoughtful gift! You are truly the bomb-diggity :) Hugs from HT!

Top 2

Top 2....Biggest Indulgences

1) Dessert - specifically a Chocolate Bag from McCormick & Schmicks. This is my all-time favorite dessert! It consists of a three-inch-tall department store shopping bag made entirely out of semisweet chocolate, filled with creamy white chocolate mousse, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries flowing out of the bag with a cinnamon stick. Me & my girlfriends have been known to go out of our way to stop in to this restaurant just to indulge on this dee-lish dessert. Oh so yummy!

2) Pampering - I often indulge in pampering of myself & it definitely keeps me sane! I get a haircut & brow wax every 8 weeks, a pedicure every 4 weeks & a massage every 2 mos! I indulge on fancy lotions & soaps because there isn't anything better than getting out of the shower or bath after using fancy soap & applying some yummy smelling lotion :) I am a sucker for "smell-good" products - no matter what they are!

Flight of Wine

Tonight I met my girlfriend Jill for a belated B-Day dinner. She picked a fabulous new little bistro to take me to that she has been wanting to try. It is called A Wine Flights Bar & is located at 135th & Nall. It was a super cute place with great atmosphere, a really nice outside patio & a HUGE selection of wine.

Before we ate, we chose to do a "flight" of wine which consisted of 3 - 2oz samples of any wine of your choice. I chose a Reisling, a Cabernet & a Shiraz. My favorite was the Paso de Piedro Malbac - a Cabernet made in Argentina. Very good with hints of cherry & blackberry along with a cedary taste & very smooth. Will definitely be looking for this one at the liquor store. The other two were good as well but the Cabernet was by far the best.

Before our meal came, Jilly handed me a cute little bag & instructed me to open it. Inside was a beautiful jade & silver necklace that she had bought for me while she was in Puerto Vallarta on vacation. It is SO unique & not like anything I have in my jewelry box! I LOVE it!

Next up was our meal. I ordered the Halibut w/a small side salad & Jill opted for the Scallops. They were BOTH dee-lish & the Halibut was perfectly cooked! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, the wine, great conversation & great atmosphere. I am so very thankful & fortunate to have this dear friend in my life!

While we were eating, a huge thunderstorm rolled in with tons of lightening & torrential downpouring rain. We managed to get to the car without getting too wet but the drive home was a different story. It was raining SO hard that we couldn't see cars in front of us. The lightening show was amazing & so cool to watch. We were almost to Jilly's house when we saw lightening hit a transformer & a bright blue light flashed before us. Next thing you know, the street lights, businesses & houses all around us lost electricity. Once we pulled up to Jilly's house we noticed her neighborhood was pitch black & she too was without power. Poor thing had to spend the rest of the evening by candlelight :(

Despite all the excitement on the way home, it turned out to be a perfect evening. Thank you Jilly for a wonderful evening spent with a wonderful friend! :)

Miss Ava update

I have had lots of friends asking how Miss Ava is doing so I thought I would provide a little update.

Mama informs me she is doing great! Stacey & Tommy got to hold her for the very first time on Sunday (she was 1 week old) & she even got to wear her very first outfit :) They were SO excited! Miss Ava has also started to take in her momma's milk through a feeding tube & is totally off the C-PAP machine so she is breathing on her own. She is getting bigger & stronger every day! Sounds like she will be staying in the NICU for another 4-5 weeks.

Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers - I know Stacey & Tommy appreciate them more than you know!

Top 2

This weeks topic is:

Top 2 characters you would like to play on a tv show/movie

1) Lauren Conrad - who wouldn't love to live her life!? She is beautiful, a celebutante, fashion designer, author and appears to be a super sweet girl. I loved her on The Hills & was so sad to see her go :( The show just wasn't the same without her.

2) Carrie Bradshaw - a girl after my own heart. She "lives for fashion," is a shoe lover & owner of expensive designer shoes (Manolo Blahniks, Louboutin & Jimmy Choo's), has a fabulous wardrobe, & lives the life in New York City. She was my favorite on "Sex & the City" & is yet another show that I'm sad has ended :(