Twelve Saturdays

Well guys, it's August...and you know what that means. Football season is almost here. I love college football, namely the SEC and the good ole Florida Gators. I found the cutest website that specializes in cute game day dresses for girls. I love, love, love all of their stuff. It would be perfect to wear for games.

http://www.twelvesaturdays.com/

Don't these girls look cute on the website all decked out for game day. Here is one of my favorite picks for UF:

How freaking adorable is that? I could see me tailgating in that for sure! And this cute dress is screaming for me to take it home.

And I couldn't not look at the Auburn dresses. I loved this one and might have to purchase it for any Auburn games that Stacey and I go to this year. We are already planning on the Auburn/Florida game at Auburn. Which dress to wear? Decisions, decisions.

And I guess now that I am no longer married to a Georgia fan, I won't have to worry about getting some dresses to wear to a UGA game...unless I find a nice gentlemen down the road that happens to be a crazy Bulldog. I do live in Georgia now, so that is probably a possibility. But these dresses are really cute.

So go check out Twelve Saturdays and grab a cute dress to show your school spirit!

And here are a few cute Etsy finds that would be perfect to complete your game day ensemble

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This cute flower pin would be the perfect pop for a sweater or jacket on cold game days. Or this scarf

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Or a cute necklace that would be perfect with a plain t-shirt or a white button up shirt

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And because your house needs to be decked out too, and these ribbon wreaths are all the rage these days.

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Ok...I'm gonna go and day dream about tailgating, football games, food, and friends. Go Gators! (and I guess I can throw in a Weagle, weagle War Damn Eagle in there...for you Stacey)

Archi-Camp 2011

I just realized that I never posted about my other experience with day camp in Thomasville this summer. If you never heard of History Camp, I can believe you probably have never heard of Architecture Camp either! But it does exist. Thomasville Landmarks partnered with the Thomasville Resource Center to put on a three day camp teaching some kids about the unique architecture in Thomasville. Granted, I worked for the Historical Society at the Museum of History, but I still got recruited to help with Landmarks' "Archi-Camp" nonetheless. Monday, the kids came to the Museum where I gave them a tour of the 1860 log-house and to take measurements of the 1910 Flowers' Playhouse. After snacks, I took the kids across the street to the 1885 Lapham-Patterson House. Here I gave them a brief tour of this whimsical Queen Anne home, pointing out all the unique architectural details. The kids then went out front to the sidewalk and made sidewalk art with chalk. They picked out their favorite architectural detail of the house and then drew it on the sidewalk. I wish I had pictures on my camera-phone, but I do not, so I can't share them with you. Sorry because the kids did a really bang up job with that project.

1885 Lapham-Patterson House

I did such a fabulous job helping out with camp on Monday, I was recruited to help give a downtown tour to the kids the next day. So off we went in 100+ degree heat roaming the streets of Thomasville, doing a scavenger hunt for things like "dental moldings" and "keystones".

The kids looking for items on their scavenger hunt

After returning from downtown came my favorite part of the day....snack time! We had the kids build and "design" their own cupcake houses. Here are a few pictures of them hard at work.

And here was my creation that I made. I thought I did a cute job. But it was really nice to be able to enjoy my handiwork--you know by eating it.

One of the highlights of participating in Archi Camp, besides getting to be around some really awesome children, was being able to tour the Episcopal Church. I had never been to this particular church in town and it was absolutely gorgeous. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I had a kid on each arm wanting to hold my hand the whole time, so I didn't get too many pictures!

One cool thing was this swiveling door.

I had no idea it was a door. It just looked like a big wooden panel. But it is a secret little door. Super cool. But the best part was seeing the stained glass windows. And I apologize because I don't have close ups of the windows. The church was established in 1868 and I believe the church building was built either in the mid 1880s or early 1890s (i can't remember) But the stained glass windows are phenomenal. They were made by Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. It was neat to really learn what makes Tiffany stained glass so unique.

So that was my experience with the 1st annual Archi Camp. If you {care} want to see more pictures or learn more about Thomasville Landmarks, you can visit their website at www.thomasvillelandmarks.org. There is a great picture of me and all the kids on the porch of the Lapham-Patterson House on the front page of the website.

Can't Keep a Good Man Down

This post is about my very precious Oscar. Just when I think that he is down for the count, he perks up and surprises me. I have had Oscar since I was 20 years old. He has been by my side for a decade. I drove through the pouring rain a cold night in February down to Crawfordville, FL to go pick up this special dog. It seems like ages ago that I welcomed Oscar into my life and it is hard to imagine my life without him in it. He has been in bad shape this past week due to his issues with his degenerative disc disorder. Whenever this flares up, his slipped disc swells and presses on his nerves, therefore rendering his left side of his body basically paralyzed . He is pitiful when he is having an episode. It got so bad that I was at the point of putting him down.




Oscar at the vet's office

So on Saturday, I took him to the vet to see what they recommended. It is either spend $2,500 (which I don't have) to have back surgery, crate and sedate him and pump him with lots of steroids, or put him down. So I talked it over with my vet and asked her if she could make him comfortable for at least a week so that I could spend some time with him and say goodbye. So she prescribed him some Predinsone and some more pain medication and sent us home. And would you believe it? The Predinsone is working like a charm. He is back to being Oscar. It is truly a miracle. I think Oscar and the good Lord knew that I couldn't say goodbye to him just yet.

So this week, Oscar has come with me to work every day. He makes a wonderful office mascot. He pretty much just sleeps in his bed all day beside my desk in my office. The only time he gets up is if someone comes in with lunch. Then he sneaks off while I'm busy and harasses the people eating to give him some of their food. He is such a mess!

I love this picture. The whole drive home yesterday, he just looked at me with his big brown eyes. I could tell he was just happy to have me all to himself without having to compete with attention from Brutus and JR. So for now, I will just keep his medication going if he starts getting down. I can't keep him on the steroids forever, due to the damage it will do to his liver. But as long as I give it to him whenever he has a flare up, I think that we may just be able to keep him around a little bit longer. Like I said, you can't keep a good man {dog} down! I am just thankful to the Lord for blessing me with this time with him. Every time I look at Oscar, I am just reminded of God's love for us. A dog loves you unconditionally. They don't care what you look like, how much money you make, what kind of car you drive, what clothes you wear, what house you live in. They don't care. All they care about is loving you. The same with the good Lord. And its just a good reminder of that love.

I had to come back and add something to this post that just happened. For the past two hours Oscar has been passed out in his bed behind me. A few minutes ago, I was sitting here eating my lunch, not really paying attention to him. I didn't notice he had gotten up until I heard his talons hit the tile right outside my office door. He was standing in my doorway, sniffing the air and then started to walk off. I of course called to him and politely told him to get his butt back in my office. He reluctantly obliged my request. But my curiosity was peaked. I went down to the back of the building to Randy's office. Sure enough, there Randy was grubbing on some Popeye's. Oscar did not hesitate to take advantage of me getting up and walking to the back. He came trotting out of my office, down the hall, and the next thing I know he has zipped past me and procedes to get in his begging position and waits for Randy to feed him. So needless to say, he has a new office nickname. He is now known as Mooch Pooch. That's because he only likes other people here when they feed him. Then he goes back to his anti-social antics. I swear this dog is such a mess!!

HELP!

Who else is excited about the movie coming out this weekend?!?!?!? I absolutely adored this book. I guess I didn't technically "read" it, but I had it downloaded onto my iPod and listened to it many, many moons ago. I was floored when I heard that they were turning it into a movie. I am always leery when they make movies out of my favorite books, so hopefully this one won't disappoint me. I thought the take on Water for Elephants was good and stayed pretty much in line with the novel . Hopefully this one will too. Stacey said that Abeliene reminded her of me...maybe its time for a prayer notebook!

On another note, it looks like our rag-tag book club is working on getting started again. We had to stop because some people decided that having babies and/or getting married and moving was more important than book club. Hahaha! But now that all the babies have been born and are grown up a bit, I think we may be able to start up this group again. I am excited about that. I love, love, love to read. Always have. Guess it was my love of the Babysitters Club books that really got me going on the reading. (I know I just majorly dated myself!) I especially love to read a good book and then be able to discuss it with my friends. Even better!! Actually I think we end up just laughing and talking more than deep discussion on the book at hand - but that's the fun of book club!

Animal Rescue

Sunday before we left the beach, I took a good long walk on the beach by myself. I was just walking, enjoying the scenery. Even watching that bird above. After the thunderstorm on Saturday morning, there was some trash that had washed up on the beach. This piece of trash caught my eye.

Other than being a milk jug that someone should have thrown away, something else was odd about this.

Notice anything about the picture?

How about now? Yep!! There was a tiny little fish that had gotten stuck in the jug, then washed up on the shore. So of course, I had to rescue the poor little guy, who I affectionately named Nemo. I picked up the jug and just poured the water out on the beach.

See poor Nemo on the sand? Bless his heart. Then the waves knocked him a little farther up the beach.

Finally, I got Nemo where he needed to be and watched him swim away.

Bye, Nemo! Glad I could help the little thing  and get him back to his fish family. :-)

Some Beach, Some Where

I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves on this post. We spent a lot of time fishing, scalloping, and just chilling at the beach.

B-Rad showing us how its done...that is before 3 sharks ate his fish.

Good start scalloping. We ended up with a full bucket after getting on a good spot.

The smallest starfish I have ever seen. It was so cute!

The thunderstorm that thwarted a morning fishing trip

Can't beat the beauty of God's creation. The view alone was worth having to sleep in a pop-up!

Saddle Up, Partner

This past weekend, I went on quite the adventure. I took a little "pony" ride to the state park on Cape San Blas. There are two things you should know about me: 1)I don't like camping 2) I don't do community bathrooms. And I did both last weekend.

Umm...yeah. Negative, ghostrider.

Me, Stacey, and Brad ended up staying in the Pony pop-up camper while everyone else stayed in the bigger camper. It was an adventure to say the least. Here are our accommodations:

Looks cozy, right? Ha ha. I do believe I packed enough for 3 weeks, not 3 days. But that's how I roll...literally. Here is Brad diligently setting up the camper at about 10 pm. We got a slight late start Friday night.

He got it up quick. All in about 20 minutes or so. I did a fabulous job of supervising. The other camper was a bit larger.

I may have been a bit unhappy about being drug off to go camping. I was a real unhappy camper for a bit. But I got over it. I honestly can say I did have a good time, even if I was "roughing it" and we all had a good time. Although I had to listen to Brad sing "Pony" by Genuine all weekend (the camper's name was pony, btw). I even learned to ride a bike. I do believe that I'm ready for the training wheels to come off.

Yeah, it might be a bit small. And my three-year-old nephew might have been slightly upset that I was riding his bike. But he got over it.

The beach was gorgeous and I am so lucky to have grown up in the great state of Florida and be spoiled by the beautiful unforgotten coast. Only here can you find natural beaches with grapes growing right off the beach!

Stay tuned for our other adventures...