My New Venture

I am sooo excited about my new venture!!! I have become a sales consultant for a brand new company based out of Columbia, SC. It is called Home & Garden Direct, and we offer home decor and furniture (furniture coming soon). This is not a direct sales/home party type of company. There are NO HOME PARTIES or RECRUITING involved. Just check out the products at http://www.homeandgardendirect.net/. The products are good quality, and the prices are great. There is free local delivery and a nominal delivery charge (DHL) to non-local areas. Just shop the website and then e-mail me at ladoolen@msn.com with what you would like to order. Both credit cards and checks are accepted. Please pass this info along to anyone who you think might be interested- bloggie buddies, friends, family, etc. I look forward to being your link to some fun home decor and furniture!!

Our Hilton Head Island Vacation

In April, we took our annual trip to Hilton Head Island. This is one of those catch-up posts that I have had on my list to complete.

We stayed down the road from The Salty Dog Cafe, which is always one of the highlights of our trip. A one man band + frozen drinks + a waterfront view = A good time.

We are so fortunate to have some fabulous friends (Paul and Billie-see below) who have invited us to come stay at their vacation rental every year for the past several years. It is so wonderful to be blessed with generous friends!!!

Here is the 5 bedroom 5 1/2 bath beach house where we stayed.
Our room was just steps from the pool and hot tub.
The upstairs living room opened to the dining room. I have wanted to paint the back of my built-in bookshelves since we have moved to our new house, and this confirmed that I like a darker color painted in the back of the bookshelves.
One of the many projects that are on my list for the new house. I wish my kitchen was this size!!! I love a kitchen island, and I love having my husband cook me breakfast even more:)
Mike at the back of the house.
How could you not love this pool and hot tub?
One night we made dinner at the house and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.
We shopped. Imagine that. Notice I found a store named The Birds Nest. Of course, I had to take a pic of that for the blog:)
We shopped and ate around the lighthouse.

This is what we actually came to Hilton Head to do...go to the MCI Heritage golf tournament. Here's part of our crew in front of the clubhouse.
Our friend Paul (the one that we stay with) has been playing in the Pro-Am for several years. This tournament is played the day before the MCI Heritage begins. A three man amateur team is paired with one of the PGA professionals who will be playing in the MCI Heritage. Paul was paired with Ken Duke this year.
Ken was such a great guy. Look at how cute he is- beautiful blue eyes!! I mean, you know I have a thing for golf pros:)
Paul with Ken Duke's caddie on the 18th tee. Check out the parasailer in the background.
The whole group on the 17th green.
This is one of the houses on the 17th green. There are some gorgeous houses on the course!!
Here we are on the 18th tee. You can see the lighthouse and the parasailer in the the background.
Of course, as we were on our way home we stopped to tour the HGTV Dream Home (which I posted about on June 8th). Then it ended. So. Fast. Vacation always does.

Happy Father's Day!!!

My Daddy- My First Love!!

This moment scared him...
...the one below was even worse!! He was terrified to dance with me at our wedding. He had never danced until that weekend. I told the band to make it short and slow. He even danced with my Mom that night. I don't know what he was scared of because he did a great job. I doubt if he'll do it again, though:)
I was so happy that I was able to spend Father's Day with him this year. From these next few pics, though, it looks like all he did was work!! He had only been at my house for an hour and was already pulling weeds. I had to take a picture of him out of my dining room window, thinking that he was going to be bent over and doing a lot of pulling to try to make those weeds-on-steriods-beds look anywhere even close to looking decent. I'm sure he had a hard time sleeping at night worrying about how bad my yard looked (he likes a very pristine yard). The landscapers were here today, Dad, so it actually looks much better.
He is the BEST picture hanger that I know!!! I had been waiting to hang everything until he came to visit because he can hang anything you want hung like nobody's business!!! (Plus, my husband puts lots of holes in our walls trying to hang something:) (Bless your heart, hubs. You have definitely improved through the years.) I have moved a lot and my Dad has had to hang stuff in lots of my houses so I'm sure that he hopes that I stay put for awhile!!
He's also very good at putting things together. In fact, he's just darn right handy!!! Boy, I wish he lived closer!!! He would have my house whipped into shape in no time. He's in his 70s and I can't even begin to keep up with him!! (Disclaimer: The high-water window treatments in the background of the below pic are from our old house and are a temporary fix until we get blinds and/or shutters and new window treatments.)
My father-in-law wasn't scared to dance at our wedding. He cut a rug all night long!! Thank you for raising that wonderful man that I am so lucky to have for a husband!!
My hubs sure loves "our girls". He lets them sleep on him...
...and even holds them like they're babies. I am so lucky to have found someone to love my girls as much as I do!!! It is evident by how you treat our puppies that you are going to be an incredible father one of these days!!
I know this post is a few days belated, but I have been trying to get this post done since Father's Day. I was busy with my parents on Sunday and Monday. Couldn't get it finished. Since then I have been trying to upload these photos. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have tried to get this to work in the last 3 days. Anyone else been having problems with blogger?? Anyway, I hope you had a Happy Father's Day, Dad. I really enjoyed having you here!!! I also hope my father-in-law, brother, brother-in-laws, cousins, friends and of course my hubby ("our girls" told me to include you) all enjoyed their day too!!! I love all of you!! Boy, I have been blessed with some great men in my life!!!

Friendship Friday

My friend Nancy just got married last September, and will be a mother before her first anniversary. Yay!!! She has wanted to be a mother for so long, and I couldn't be happier for her. I can't wait to be "Aunt Lele" again!! Her daddy wants to take her hunting and fishing and make her a tomboy. Which is fine, but I said "You just wait. Aunt Lele will be buying everything princess and dress up and pink and crowns and wands....for that sweet little girl." I think she can be both:) Nancy's mom just sent me some pics of Nancy because since I live so far from her, I haven't seen her pregnant. If she had not sent some belly shots too, I wouldn't have known she was even pregnant. How cute does she look? I thought she might be a little upset if I showed her prego belly to the blogosphere:)

See how cute. You can't even tell. She looks great being pregnant.
Nancy and Brad heading into the doctor's office.
Brad's face when it was confirmed that it was definitely a little girl. He has wanted a boy for so long, but you just wait. That little girl will have him wrapped around her little finger the moment he lays eyes on her. (Just giving Brad a hard time. All he really wants is a healthy baby.)

Crafty Craftiness

Remember this stuff??? Well, I finally turned it into something...

...to match these (they still need a big fat monogram on them).
The finished product is my front door wreath.
The red ticking stripe ribbon matches my pillows. I saw this wreath in a really fun home decor store, but it was around $100.00. What??? Pooey. I could make that myself. I asked if I could buy all the pieces separately and not only did I save a ton of money but I think I did almost as good a job as they did:)
My old home had a navy door and navy shutters, so I had painted my wrought iron doormat navy.
That wouldn't work in my new home, so I took the paint that was used on our shutters and repainted it. I love it with my stained front door and now it matches our shutters!!

Surcie

Who doesn't love to get a surcie (little surprise gift) in the mail? My friend Brandy saw this book and thought of me. She thought there were some cute ideas for my new home. How thoughtful!! Thanks Brandy!! I will blog my craftiness when I make something from the book.

On a funny note, the cable company sent someone to install a new outlet in my office because the old one wasn't working correctly. He accidentally drilled some holes....
...on each side of the wall. I wish you could have seen the 18 inch drill bit hanging out on the other side of the wall in the staircase. I tried to get a pic before he took it out because it made for a much funnier post. The holes give you a good idea of his little oops, though:) By the way, he made a total of 4 holes in my walls, and no he did not fix them. Supposedly, they will be sending someone else out to fix them. Ha! We'll see if that happens.

Moving Day...

...Posted a few months later. I have been trying to play catch up on all of the things that I have not had time to post in the last few months. This moving day was such a big day for us after everything that we have been through the last few years (I'll save that for another post).

If you have a move coming up, I highly recommend getting a POD. We were able to load our garage and other boxes before the movers ever showed up. They moved the POD to our new house and dropped it off by the garage for us to unload at our leisure. Of course, they put it in the most difficult location that prevented the movers from being able to put the moving truck in the driveway and they had to park on the road and carry all the way through the yard. It worked, but was just more difficult. Kinda like my life I guess...it eventually comes together but in the most difficult of ways:)

Two trucks + two and a half trips= we have too much stuff!!
As I had posted before in "The thirteen things that didn't go exactly as planned with our move" post, we ordered 4 men and 2 trucks but got 3 1/2 men and 1 1/2 trucks. That is the 1/2 man that is smiling for the camera (he was injured- why would you come to work as a mover when you have an injury- makes you useless- these are the things that I don't understand).

It's amazing to see these people pack a truck to the top!!
Little Ashleigh was terrified that she was going to get left. She was pitiful looking through the door from the back yard. I don't think a rescued dog that has been dropped off to fend for themselves ever really gets over that. In fact, she ran away the last time that we moved so we had to be careful that she stayed in the fenced in back yard.
The best part of the day was getting to sleep in our new home!!
Boxes, boxes, everywhere!!
Stacks of boxes everywhere!!
What a mess the movers made in this room. They even stacked boxes on top of a glass topped piece of furniture. Guess what??? The glass was broken when we moved the boxes. Wow- who would have ever thought that that would happen??? As I said before, rocket scientists these movers were not.
What is the world are we supposed to do with all of this stuff??? I feel sure that is what hubs was thinking when he was trying to move these boxes around.
Ashleigh was so discombobulated that she snuggled up on these covers that had come off of our bed for days. I didn't have the heart to move them until she felt adjusted and comfortable in her new home. I guess this was her security.
Our first housewarming gift. Thank you Chad and Sara!!!